October 31, 2025 • 45 mins
Matt and Wes scout the Colts as they get ready for Sunday's big matchup.
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
Good afternoon, Steelers Nation.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
It's the Drive on the Steelers Audio Network here on
a Friday, as we rock and we roll on Halloween,
last day of October, getting ready, of course for Steelers
Colts this Sunday, one o'clock.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
At Akrocher Stadium. What Sheeler and Matt Williamson with you
here for the next two hours on a typical jam
packed Friday show. Matt, how we feeling? How we doing?
Speaker 3 (00:37):
I guess I'm a little under the weather, but I
think I'm doing all right and just a normal day
here at the office.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Right, Yeah, you look pretty skinny today. I'm working out,
working out. You've been I'm night been a rough. Yeah,
I had a little bit of a rough night. I
woke up, I lost all my hair. I don't know.
I don't know what happened. That signature head of west
Hare is now gone. But I don't know if I'm Yeah,
we'll get through it together here this morning on the
(01:02):
show or this afternoon part of me on the show.
We will talk to Missy Matthews in about ten minutes
or so get her thoughts on the sideline. But Matt,
I want to kind of jump right into this with
an x's and o's question for you, sure, I know
that this Indianapolis Colts defense likes to play a lot
of nickel Okay.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Yes, that is yes, yes.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
And also with that, we know that the status of
Isaac Sayamalu is up in the air for Sunday afternoon's kickoff.
Is this still the time to bring out the corn
beef packages? We've called it a couple of times. How
do you try and use what the Steelers can do well,
use their size advantage, use that offensive line, six offensive
lineman packaged Darnell Washington, all these things against a Colts
(01:49):
defense that is typically lighter that that to me feels
like a real kind of game within the game here.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Yeah, it's a great, great way of looking at it.
And first off, just so Friday's go quick. The Colts
offense might shock people that they use as much thirteen
personnel as they do, and they do it a lot,
and the reason they do it is because they want
to get a lot of linebackers and big bodies on
the field and throw out of it. The Colts are great.
(02:17):
They're great on first downs in general, but they're really
good at throwing when people run and running when people
throw and so maybe the Steelers could steal a page
out of that book. Now. I think the league as
a whole is trying to figure out what's the best
way to defend twelve personnel. Is it nickel or is
(02:37):
it base? And a lot of it depends on what
type of tight ends you have, and I think that's
a big reason the Steelers have a wide variety of
tight ends. The Colts generally defend twelve with nickel. As
you mentioned, they want to be faster, they want to
be now. They also have the advantage of playing with
the lead sometimes too, you know, which helps everything on
(02:59):
their defense this week. I'm not sure how to attack
them in the end. I think my number one goal,
no matter how I get there, is controlling time and possession,
limiting possessions for the Colts offense, helping my Steeler defense
to the max. But if that means running out of
(03:23):
thirteen or jumbo corn beef as we like to call it,
and make them stay in there three to four, you know,
or their base, I'm fine with that as well. But
I think Mike Pursudo in Maryland I did a show
and we were talking about this too, because there's a
lot of angles of how do you play offense against
(03:44):
this defense, because clearly the Colts' weakest position is also corner.
You know, they're on backups, so you would think in
a vacuum, let's just Aaron, just throw it all attack,
get DK on corners, and we're just going to attack
through the air.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
They do have like the twenty sixth ranked pass defense
or twenty eighth whatever it was that we talked about
yesterday in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Yes, but that could lead to three and outs and
not leading the time possession. So I think that's the
real challenge. And I'm not exactly present presenting answers, but
I am trying to put avenues of approach here, you
know what I mean, ye, because I think you're walking
a razor's edge and you're gonna have to keep up
this team. It's best, it's one of the best teams
(04:25):
in the league. It's one of the best offenses in
the league. So how do I balance time of possession
with attacking their biggest weakness and trying to get big
bodies on the field which they don't aren't as comfortable with.
And that's why I'm on yours offense coordinator. I don't
know exactly how to do that now. I do think
if you're down and you feel like you have to
(04:46):
abandon a run, all's not lost against this group of
corners too, So that's kind of, you know, appealing. I
trust Rogers to orchestrate all the above better than anybody
out there, you know, checking a run, checking the PA,
attacking one on ones. I think we know at this
point whether it's Austin Metcalf, whoever. But if you're gonna
(05:07):
get one on ones with their corners, he's gonna throw it,
you know. I mean, he's gonna check to that call.
And I got no problem with that whatsoever. But I
still think time of possession has to be your biggest
goal to gout this game with the win, because your
defense is gonna hold these guys at thirteen you know.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
No, absolutely absolutely, and I think you're absolutely right. That
to me is kind of the biggest burning question.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Is a Steelers offense that needs to run the football
has had success, a lot of success running the football
the last.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
Few weeks, right, and you're good at it.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Right, You're good at it. Jayalen Warren is playing in
an outstanding level. I think you're as confident in your
offensive line as you have been in a long time. Agreed,
But it's a Colts defense that is success succepted. The
bit easy for me to say. It's a Colts defense
that is susceptible through the air. Yes, And so how
do you balance that? How do you balance trying to
control the clock, the snap count, time of possession, all
(05:57):
those things while potentially attacking what is Indianapolis's biggest weakness that,
to me, Matt is is really and particularly offensive standpoint. Yeah,
the biggest storyline or X factor that I'm looking at
here on a Friday.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
The thousand percent. And again, I don't feel like I
have a great answer of how to do all those things.
I've never gain planned for an NFL defense, but I
think we have laid it out what the goals should be,
you know. And one thing I keep coming back to
all week, and I'm not necessarily even blaming him for
being conservative, but I would certainly be more aggressive on
fourth downs if I was coach Tomlin, you know, just
(06:35):
for that reason. Whether that's and the beauty of this
is such like a lion's eagles thing that goes for
it all the time and forth the commanders. It's so
much easier on the play caller on third down totally
if he knows I got two downs to get this first,
not one. You know, it's third and one that you're
midfield rogers. Take a shot here, absolutely, because we're gonna
(06:57):
come back and can at the war. If it doesn't,
you know, connect we're bringing out the big boys. Isn't
gonna pound it, you.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Know, Third and seven here, let's pick up five yards
instead of the whole thing.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
That's the thing I say all the time is third
and medium, Third and even long can often be a rundown,
you know, like Saquon but busted a ton of long
runs against Nickel dime in third and seven's last year,
you know what I mean. Because you still have your
big people out there and they want you to run.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
They sure do, they sure do. So there's kind of
a scene setter to get us started here today on
this Friday, this Halloween Friday, we will talk to the
great Missy Matthews, the Queen of the sideline when we
return on the other side.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
And get better than us. At the moment, she looks
a lot.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Better than us. Well, I mean every day, but especially
today and so just like I did yesterday. If you're
kind of wondering what if you're listening on audio and
kind of wondering what the Hecker Matt and West talking about?
Why does Wes sound a little muffled? Maybe make sure
you're watching this opening segment on YouTube and hopefully you're
gonna out of all of that. We'll talk to the
great Missy Matthews when we return. Watch your aler Matt
(08:00):
Williamson having some fun on a Friday. It's the Drive
on Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network. Back
(08:37):
on the Drive here on a Friday, getting you ready,
of course for Steelers Cult Sunday one o'clock at Akroscher Stadium.
Joining us. Now you'll hear her on the call with
Rob King and Max Starks. You'll see her roam in
the sidelines on Sunday. Of course, it is the great
Missy Matthews. Missy, thank you for taking the time for us.
As always on a Friday, let's jump right into it
(08:58):
here as as this is a big one for a
lot of different reasons, but I think particularly for a
Steelers team that knows they have not been up to
par in their last two performances, not wanting to drop
a third straight game, not wanting to drop back to
back games at home, you know, keeping some distance between
them and the rest of the division, all these different storylines.
(09:20):
Do you sense, like, I don't missy. I don't want
to say, a sense of desperation, because we're halfway through
the season. It is, it'll be November by the time
this game kicks off, but it is still October. But
do you maybe sense of urgency Maybe that's the best
way to put it, you set, Do you sense any
sense of urgency with this team, with this organization as
it relates to Sunday against the Colts?
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (09:44):
Yeah, I mean, I don't think it's like panic, you know,
that kind of thing. But I think, especially with the
way the two losses went, your first two back to
back losses of the season, it's still kind of early.
We're in the middle ish portion, you know of those
Steelers twenty twenty five scal But knowing you haven't played
the Raven Jet, you still have to placency in Cleveland
(10:06):
one more time as well. Oh, by the way, the Bills,
you know, the Lions. You know, you're just you're going
through and looking and you're like all right, this is
this is where we kind of need to come together.
And I think the defense just has a nasty taste
in their mouth, and clearly the only way to get
rid of it is to get a win and to
show people that the past two games are not who
(10:27):
you are and go back to the sacks, the force fumbles,
the splash plays, just being a stout defense that we
saw prior to that.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
You mentioned the nasty taste in the defense's mouth. I mean,
what was the what was the temperature anxiety on the
sidelines halfway through the fourth quarter or so when things
were really going rough.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
I mean, you know, I've only experienced one person throw
gatory cooler in my time on the sidelines, and that
was Antonio Brown. I you know, it's it's more of
like looking at the tablet, talking to each other, talking
to TA, talking to their position coach. It's really trying
to figure it out and to stop the bleeding. There's
(11:11):
really nothing else you can do at that point.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
But it's tantrums and.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
Yeah, no, no, no, you're not seeing that. I mean,
of course, sometimes you know, emotions flood over, but you know,
I always say when you go in the locker room
after a really bad loss like that, you know, when
you put a camera in TJ. Wat face Cam Hayward.
Just there's certain guys where when they're giving you, like
the one word answers, you're kind of like, all right,
we should stop asking them questions because you can just
(11:41):
tell that they're like biting their tongue as hard as
they can because it's they don't have the answers right now.
They're not happy, and I get it, you know, there's
a little bit of a cooling off period before the
locker room opens. But you know, for guys like that
that takes so much pride in their work, that's not
an easy to do.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Yeah, and Missy, you know, they have a lot of
those guys on the defensive side of the football, a
lot of All pros, a lot of future Hall of Famers,
you know, some veterans that were added that have Super
Bowl rings as well too, you know, and despite that,
we see a lot of you know, it feels like
a miscommunication is just the way to say it. A
lot of guys looking at each other, a lot of
(12:21):
confusion too often, you know, guys standing around with their
palms up looking at each other like what just happened
after a play and now you lose I think one
of the beacons of that communication into Shaun Elliott and
just a very untimely and unfortunate injury for him on
Sunday night. How do you go about getting that ironed
(12:42):
out against the Colts offense? That man, if you give
them an inch, they will take a mile. They're putting
thirty points on everybody already. That to me feels like
a real kind of X factor for this week.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
Yeah, and maybe because it is, you know, the hottest
offense coming into your house, it does something for them
in terms of like perfect medicine to remedy this almost
but I think you know, like you said, the penalty
is the communication not having you know, the right amount
(13:15):
of guys on the field. I understand things happened, but
just from a almost operational standpoint, those are things that
can't happen. So, whether it's simplifying things, maybe not having
as many people move around, I think obviously they knew
Deshaun was going to be out this week at the
beginning of the week, so you have to plan accordingly.
(13:35):
You knew Kyle Dugger was coming. He didn't practice until yesterday,
but that's still two days of work. He's a veteran
type guy. Jabrill Peppers, I'm sure is you know, translating
the Steelers playbook for him so it looks and sounds
how it was in New England for them and helping
him out that way. But definitely, I think, you know,
(13:56):
the not knowing where people should be type thing. It
all goes back to the communication and simplifying and whether
that's a practice that's walked throughs that's just talking to
each other meetings. I mean, that's really on the players.
It's not necessarily it's it's more of an execution type thing.
I guess I should say that needs to be hammered
(14:16):
out and figured somehow someway.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
So it's a big thing that we've been stressing all week.
Is a really high percentage. Forty seven percent of the
points the Steelers have allowed this season has been in
the fourth quarter, and to me, that just screams being
on the field too much. Time of possession has been
their enemy pretty much every step of the way. And
you know, in the first half against Green Bay they
(14:40):
controlled the clock and things went their way. They didn't
score touchdowns, but that has to be the formula. Do
you think this is a real ground heavy offensive approach
for those reasons, it's going to be a team effort.
Speaker 4 (14:53):
Well, I think because Jalen Warren is kind of doing
what they want him to do. I you know, at
some photos and videos of Isaac Daumalo at practice today.
We haven't got the status report yet, but you know,
having him in there would obviously help because then you
can do what you do with Spencer Anderson and Darnell
washing right now. You know, obviously if it's Spencer, sorry,
(15:17):
if Isaac can't go, Spencer would fill in, and then
you have to decide, you know, is it McCollum, is
it you know Andrews Pete, Like, who's going to be
the guy to possibly take that over? But I agree
with the time of possession. The fust lost time of
possession last week, but they still won. This is just
a team that better left off the field in all
circumstances because they score touchdowns too. And I do think
(15:40):
that the way the Packers game was going, it was
only a nine point lead at the half, I just
feel like if they would have been able to get
points on that first drive, you know, bookend halftime, that
would have changed a lot of things, obviously not just
the point total, but then you just like feel the momentum.
And I think that's where a lot of the comments
(16:02):
after the game that some people were like, wait, they're
not trying. You know, why did can Heyward say this?
Why did this? You know, Coach Shumlin say this. It's
that penalty sucked. You know, the off side that was
not called that they could not fix. But they could
not fix it, and it is what it is. And
even Arthur Smith's that, hey, we still had a chance
to catch that ball, but we did it. So you know,
(16:24):
you do have to be able to handle that type
of adversity and move forward. But I think part of
the time of possession thing is also, as you said,
keeping the Steelers defense, who's clearly dealing with some injuries
and some you know, moving people around type things off
the field, and then also not settling for the field
goals or having to punt the ball, but getting the
(16:46):
touchdown because then that way, at least you're aut in
points if you're not on the field for that long.
So it's, you know, this complimentary football thing that we
talk about all the time, but it's just been so
out of whack for the Steelers lately that you're kind
of like shaking your head, like, how did we get
here these past two weeks?
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Yeah, and kind of staying with that, Missy. You know,
Matt and I spent a lot of time on Monday
and Tuesday discussing how did we get here? What's going
on with the defense, while at the same time a
lot of positive from the offense. It's kind of been
almost a one to eighty of the conversations and what
we've seen over the last few years with that. One
of the things that Matt and I talked about was, Hey,
(17:25):
it's great how reliable Chris Boswell is. Right, I mean,
he's unbelievable. He's going to be the franchise all time
leader in points, He's going to be in the Steelers
all of honor one day. But you also don't want
your kicker to be the MVP, you know, because that's
kind of saying something about the rest of your roster
and and your offense and all those different things. We
talked about it on Monday, Mike Tomlin mentioned it on Tuesday.
(17:47):
You know, getting a little more aggressive, not settling for
threes is often finding the back of the end zone
instead of the golden toe of Chris Boswell. With that,
do you think we could see a Steelers team, especially
as we've laid out here and against the Colts offense,
that can certainly put up some points. Does this feel
like a week when you know you've got a fourth
and three from from the opponent's thirty two yard line,
(18:09):
like the Steelers did last week, and maybe going for
it instead of settling for a field goal, maybe operating
a little bit on third down in certain scenarios differently,
knowing that you're gonna get aggressive and go for it
on fourth down? Does that feel like something that would
not only help the offense, but would hopefully extend drives
and keep the defense on the sideline as well too.
Speaker 4 (18:31):
Oh one hundred percent. I think you have the perfect
quarterback who wants to be aggressive, who wants to get
the first down, who wants to go for it on
fourth down. We saw it. I can't remember what game
it was, where it was. You know, Aaron's telling coach
Tom and he wants to stay on. They pull himp,
they they were going to kick it, and then you go,
never mind. You know you can go for the two
that's his mentality. I mean, he he is, you know,
(18:51):
like the conductor of this orchestra, you know, little not
to your dad there, love it, love it, you know,
like he wants to run those kind of plays, to
call those kind of plays and you know, help the offense.
And I do agree, and I think, you know, it's interesting.
I was going through mats lovely notes that he sends
(19:11):
all of us every week and the Cults are on
their second kicker, and like this guy's never even gone
from past fifty. So like welcome to Pittsburgh. I don't
want it to like pour, but like a little drizzle
and you know, cloudy weather to make his life, you know,
not so comfortable. Because I was telling Max and Rob
earlier today, they've played five home games, obviously in a
(19:33):
dome to it's so far against the Rams and the Chargers,
and the only game they've played outside so far this
season was Tennessee and it was in Week three. So
you know, maybe they don't want to rely on their
kickers so much. Not that they've really had to to
be quite honest, clearly when you have that tape of offense,
but maybe the Pittsburgh football weather could help them in
(19:55):
some former fashion that obviously Chris Boswell is more than
a tune with and used to that. If you do
have to have him kick for you, you know, he's
about as automatic as it gets.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
I'm glad you brought up there the Colts kicker and
indoor outdoor situation. We have been aware of it, but
I never brought it up this whole time that we've
been doing shows all week. So glad that got out
there for our listeners. I do think that's, you know,
something that could come into play for sure. Miss. The
Steelers O line, to me, is probably the most improved
(20:26):
unit from week one till now. You get the impression
that the play callers, the quarterback, everybody involved is starting
to trust that group more and.
Speaker 4 (20:35):
More one percent. I mean, I remember, you know, even
training camp Roderick Jones was dealing with an injury. Just
felt like there wasn't any fluidity even the beginning of
the season. You're like, man, like, if this O line
can't get it together and hold up, like we have
a forty one year old quarterback, and I do. I
think everyone is probably pleasantly surprised from the outside. I'm
(20:57):
sure from the inside they'll say like we knew this
was possible. But I really think those young guys give
Broderick Jones credit, even Troy Fatano, you know, guys who
basically are starting new positions this year NFL wise, and
I just think they've been phenomenal. And obviously, you know,
Isaac is kind of the leader, the silent leader, I
should say, of that unit. And I think Aaron spent
(21:20):
a lot of time, especially in Latrobe, with Zach Frazier
and Nathan McCormick and all of those guys just to
kind of really get everybody on the same page. But
also he almost built confidence in them in a weird
way to try to take them out of their shell.
Maybe as you know, I'm with this future Hall of Famer,
I'm a second year player, third year player or whatever,
and now all of a sudden, you know, that's our
(21:42):
quarterback and we have to protect him. I just he
broke some ice or something with them that just like
flipped a switch at least from you know, outside looking
in in terms of confidence and the continuity that I
think we're seeing among that line.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
Missy great stuff is always I.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
Go one more, go ahead, yay or nay? On Coconut
and candy bards. I steal it. Okay, it's been a
great debate always well.
Speaker 4 (22:11):
I'm a yay. I love, I love enjoy like I Yeah,
I can do it. I know that's not everybody's preference.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
But candy corn next, Missy No.
Speaker 4 (22:24):
Heck no, no candy corn. But no one in my
house likes coconut but me. So like I, no one
else is gonna take Yeah, so like I know, that's
just a gimme. And that's why I steel the reasons.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
That'd be a nice position to be in. I'm always
trading my own.
Speaker 4 (22:38):
Yeah, there you go. Yeah, no, I'm I'm a fan
of coconut chocolate.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Okay, So what's on your don't like Halloween candy list?
Speaker 3 (22:46):
M marshmallows? Low on my list?
Speaker 4 (22:51):
Oh anything marshmallow? Heck now, I'm out of cut Nickers,
Milky ways, They're okay. Kit cats aren't my favorite. I'll
eat them, don't get me wrong.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
Do you have a opinion on nerds gummy clusters?
Speaker 4 (23:09):
I mean, my children are obsessed with them. I find
them in my car, in covered in their rooms, in
cockey bags. They're the bane of my existence. I think
they're disgusting. I like I literally cringe when they eat
them because I know it is just like a sugar
rush about to explode. And I'm always like fine, yeah,
(23:32):
like here we go, and I can only imagine how
many they're going to consume just tonight, so it should
be fun. I found some actually the other day, and
I like threw them in the top of one of
our cupboards that like I can't even reach some. I'm like, well,
they're going to get enough anyways. They don't mean to
know about these ones.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
That's great stuff, Missy, you'll laugh. We've kind of been,
you know, asking our guests throughout the week just some
you know, some quick hitter thoughts on Halloween candy and
that type of thing. Yesterday, we had, of course, Bob
Labriola on like we do on Thursdays and before we
have him on Matt's. Like I wouldn't ask him about
Halloween candy. Save that for Missy tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (24:09):
Hey, labs nose. He's a fan of the Resis family.
He introduced me to the animal crackers that are covered
with the peanut and chocolate from Reese's. Didn't good, Yeah, Lab,
don't let Labs you know for you. He knows the
thing you're two about.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
Good labs, nose, football, labs, nose candy. We'll have to
all right, Sunday Sunday in the booth, I'll ask him
some candy questions. I'll, i'll, I'll muster up the strength
and do it. By then, the great Missy Matthews, the
Queen of the Sideline, kind enough to join us here
on a Friday. Missy, have a good Friday, have a
happy Halloween, and we'll see you on Sunday.
Speaker 4 (24:46):
All right, happy Halloween. Do you guys to see a Sunday?
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Thanks Missy. There she goes. Good stuff from her as
always touching on a lot of different bases there. And yeah,
I I.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
Was long overdue to bring up the kicker and indoor
outdoor thing.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
That was great.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
I'm glad you did.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
No, I'm you know what, because that was one of
the things I kind of jotted down some last minute
notes of things that we hadn't talked about. That was
one of the things that I had in there. And
I think, matt if you're talking about Chris Boswell or
Justin Tucker.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
I don't care where they can, I don't care where
they kick or what they've done or right yet.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
But for a kicker that's on a little bit of
rocky footing that they clearly don't, not that they've needed to,
but they haven't.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
They've never had to rely on them. He's definitely not
their MVP.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
He's definitely not in the consideration for team MVP. Hey,
if it ends up being a close game down the stretch,
or maybe that's one of the things that makes it
a close game, you know, maybe he misses one that
we would otherwise think as a chip shot. Something like that.
Certainly certainly something to keep an eye on. Oh, it
absolutely does. It absolutely does. As much as Chris Boswell
(25:45):
has gotten the Steelers out of stadiums with wins, a
lot of kickers around the NFL have cost their teams
getting out of stadiums.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
With the Colts, you know, like, man, I don't want
our kicking situation to be what the rails Us.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
Agreed absolutely, because hey, when you're playing the way they
are and you have the best record in the NFL,
it's hard to find weaknesses. But that could certainly be
something that could be won. And maybe we'll see if
that plays out. Sunday afternoon at Akroshure Stadium. One more
segment to go on the other side. You know what
that means. It's time to get into our Friday matchup segments.
Here for a little bit a little five star Friday.
(26:20):
We'll talk about the key matchups between the Steelers and
the Colts on both sides of the football. We'll do
all that more as we roll along. Wat Shooler Matt Williamson.
It is the Drive on Steelers Nation Radio on the
Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 5 (26:40):
Your tunes about Drive on your twenty four to seven
home of the Black and Goal Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
All right, little hectic start to the show, Matt, But
I think we're on track now.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
Oh yeah, We're back where we need to be.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
I had had some Halloween shenanigans in the first segment.
For those of you that did watch on YouTube or
didn't watch on YouTube, we did a little little Halloween
thing in the first segment. That mask that I was
wearing a great creepy mask. But it's was made in
nineteen seventy seven. Yes, so I borrowed it from one
of our neighbors.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
Shout out to uh oh, I figured like your parents had.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Shout out to Nikky and Dan our neighbors. It was
their dad's. He bought it in the Strip District in
nineteen seventy seven. It has the engraving on the back of.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
It's still holding up.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
Well, it's great, it's scary, it's terrifying right well, but
being from the seventies, it doesn't breathe.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
Very well at all, I bet.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
And we got about three four minutes into that opening
segment and I was sweating like a greased monkey. I mean,
it was not comfortable.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
And you wouldn't think our jobs and they're not are
physically demanding, but you do have to be up and
you got to talk with some energy and you know,
like you're not breathing. Great, it's yeah, getting really hot
and sweating.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
Yeah, I'm like trying to look through the one eyeball
like how much times on the clock and make sure
all the.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
The mouth isn't exactly perfect for a great audio.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Right, But having some fun here on a Friday. But
now for the rest of the show, we will obviously,
uh turn our attention to Steelers Colts get a little
serious and uh some unfortunate news Matt Uh, Deshaun Elliott,
and daniel A Qualley. It's happened that they have both
been placed on injured reserves, So we'll see what that
(28:35):
means for the rest of the roster. There will obviously
be corresponding moves with that, but for now, unfortunately that yes, yeah, yeah,
so that that's a good point. That's kind of a
one from one swap there. Now the question obviously becomes
how long are those guys going to be out? Is
it going to be you know, four weeks on the
IR and then they can try and return, or could
(28:56):
it be something longer term? Obviously not great there, Matt,
but that is life in the National Football League and
the Stylers. The Steelers defense a big week, a big
challenge that they're gonna be a little shorthanded as well too,
particularly on the back end of that secondary.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Yeah, real quick, on Equalley, I'm a fan. I wasn't
real blown away when they signed him, but he kind
of won me over when Harmon came back. Though, not
that he's been phased out, but he's never had e
quas many snaps as I would have guessed. I mean,
he's always been like eight nine ten, especially with Harmon
in the mix. So he's a loss, but I get
(29:30):
the impression he's probably out for the year. Is the
way that they made that sound that he's not a
temporary deal. We could keep an eye on Elliott though,
I mean, like some reports, I don't know what the
trust but some are like, oh, this could be really long.
We know it's four or more. At least four. Isn't
the end of the world War is? I mean, it's
not an end of the world. But it's not great.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
It's not great. That would you know? You would that
would that not? You think God does take him out
until the end of November.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
Right.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
That means he'd missed that game against Buffalo after thank Giving,
which of course will be one where you'll really need
that secondary and tip top shape. But certainly something we
will keep an eye on. But unfortunate, again, we kind
of saw it coming. You could. You could read the
writing on the wall, on the wall, read the tea leaves.
But now it is official with those two moving too,
I are I really.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
Am interested what the safety allocation of resource is gonna be?
Speaker 1 (30:22):
Me too, And maybe as we kind of start talking
about matchups and all these different things. Here, hold on, Matt,
let me let me hit the sounder so we can
make it official, and then we'll then we'll really dive
into this.
Speaker 5 (30:33):
It's a five star matchup because we're.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
In and Matt. I know this isn't a specific matchup,
but it's got to feel like that Colts offense, Stiching,
Danny Dimes, Tyler Warren, all those wide receivers. Doesn't matter
who's lined up at safety, We're going to attack them.
Speaker 3 (30:55):
Oh yeah, yeah, I mean this is what coaches do, folks,
is I mean, you watch the tape and frankly, there's
not a abundance of places not to attack right now against
Steeler defense, and there there's plenty of spots to say, well,
we're gonna test that, We're gonna test that they haven't
handled this adjustment well blah blah blah. I mean, we
know that there's issues, but I gotta think priority number
(31:18):
one is boy Elliott was a pretty good player for
these guys, and the other safeties have been in a
lineup and consistent, not real playmakers. You go back and
watch the tape when Elliott was out, so you have
something you know just to you approve.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
There, right. There is plenty of sample of that this year.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
So I absolutely think that we are going to attack
those safeties and most likely with Warren, but also with
deep routes. Pierce goes deep like no one else in
the league, getting anyone you possibly can. And my hunch is,
when there's four defensive backs on the field, I think
it'll be Ramsey at safety and.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
Eccles, Ramsey at safety, Porter and Eckles.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
Okay, yeah, and some other That's what I don't I mean,
I'm not even sure who safety one is a Peppers.
I kind of hope it's not Clark. Is that asking
too much out of Dugger? Immediately? Pepper's is my favorite
of the group, But the day he the game, he
played a lot when Clark was inactive, I thought he
(32:23):
was a real asset that played well and was noticeably
better and certainly more athletic than Clark. But since then
he hasn't played much, which I don't know how to
read those tea leaves and Thornhills still in the mix too,
and my hunch, and then it brings a question of okay,
what about when you have five defensive backs on the field, Well, Ramsey,
(32:44):
Eckles and Porter will be three of them. Will slay
keep Ramsey at safety and have to be your third
corner because I think Eckles gone past Lagh. I think
people probably caught onto that at this point. Yeah, or
is Slay that much in the doghouse or maybe even
an active that Ramsey becomes your slot, Eccles goes to
(33:06):
the outside, and two of these safeties were figuring out
are your safeties? I just don't know. I'm just gonna
be really intriguing.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
Answer.
Speaker 3 (33:16):
Obviously, they're not the easiest puzzle to build.
Speaker 4 (33:18):
It is.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
It is absolutely not the easiest puzzle to build. In fact,
it's probably a more challenging one than most to build.
I did want to. By the way, Missy texted me this,
so big shout out to her. Remember with the personal
day for Darius Slay yesterday, there was a lot of speculation,
what's going on there? All the things. He went down
(33:39):
to Houston. It was his son's senior night for his
high school football team today. Okay, so he went, he
flew down yesterday to be with his to be with
his son for senior night and all those things. That's
what his absence was for. So it fair enough, fair
enough something that you know, again, a lot of people
had been speculating about. I thought it was good to
just kind of put that to bed.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
I'm not certain the pot and that doesn't sound fishy
to me at all. That sounds absolutely fine. That is
a fine excuse to miss a practice in the middle
of the week, in the middle of the season. But
would everybody have gone I don't know. I mean, I'm
just sorrying, I'm not trying to stow the pot. Sure,
if it was Aaron Rodgerson, I don't think it had
been there, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (34:20):
Yeah, I get what you're saying in that regard. But
a nice follow up there from from Missy at least
to some of the where for for Sleigh and his
kind of you know, listed as a a personal day.
I believe it was on the Steelers Thursday practice, which.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
Did raise some red flags. That's weird.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
And again with the timing and the trade deadline and
all these things, there was Trice looming. There was some
fair speculation there, I think, But that at least is
some rhyme to the reason Matt, it's I don't know,
do I want to go to the trenches here? Next,
Let's stick with the secondary since that's what we're talking
about obviously, the talented wide receivers. But man, it feels
(35:03):
like this Steelers team, and we just saw a perfect
example of it Sunday night against Tucker Craft. Your boy
has struggled against tight ends and now maybe the guy
who was the most reliable in that department, and Deshaun
Elliott is no longer there. Not only is Tyler warranted talented,
not only have the Steelers struggled in that department through
the first half of the season, they also do a
(35:24):
lot to just scheme him open as well too. It's
not just running past people, it's not just in and
out of his routes, and and you know, in timing
and things like that. He also finds himself wide open
a couple times throughout a game as well too. How
are you matching up against him? What are you looking
for from him? How can they go about limiting you know, again,
(35:46):
a guy who was putting up rookie tight end numbers
that have only ever been done by Mike Ditka and
Brock Bowers.
Speaker 3 (35:53):
Yeah, and to go back to the draft, even Loveland
from Michigan, Yeah, went ahead of him.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
You know, they were two high tight end picks.
Speaker 3 (36:01):
Yeah, they both were between ten and fifteen or whatever overall,
So they were high picks. They weren't super super high,
but they were pretty high picks for a tight end
for sure. Now, one of the reasons I believe, I'm
pretty much certain of it. Loveland was better in college
of beating one on one matchups, and Michigan didn't have
a ton around him, you know, like he had to
(36:21):
beat man coverage a little bit more than joe average
college tight end at the end his last year, you know,
not the you know, they won it all with McCarthy,
and he was just better refined route runner beating man coverage.
Where Warren even at Penn State, to their credit, to
his credit, he's a great player. Schemed him up more,
(36:42):
you know, like we're gonna get him designed touches. You
guys all make it easy on Warren to get the
ball in space, and the Colts and psych and have
done a remarkably good job of translating that from college
to pro. Yes, with all respect to the Big Ten,
it's a lot different.
Speaker 5 (36:57):
It is.
Speaker 1 (36:58):
It plays good football, but it's not the AFC in
the NFC.
Speaker 3 (37:01):
Yeah, I mean, everything's a little bit.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
Just real quick, I love you. You see this every
year if Ohio State played the Jets, what would the
line be Jets minus thirty five. Get out of here
with that, right, drives me nuts.
Speaker 3 (37:17):
Even like if you even if it was the U
back in the day, when you look at the roster
and be like, there's thirty future pros on here, that's still.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
The Browns teams that won one game in two years,
like the oh to sixteen and the one and fifteen Browns.
Speaker 3 (37:31):
They would lose every time.
Speaker 1 (37:33):
They would be a four or five touchdown underdog. Yes,
I mean, it's just get out of here with that.
Speaker 3 (37:38):
And there's times they maybe even have better athletes. It
doesn't matter. It doesn't matter at all. I don't have
a great answer for Warren either. Again, there was a
bright spot. I thought Peyton Wilson played well. Yeah, and
he's gonna linebackers have a lot to do.
Speaker 1 (37:55):
His kind of task Number eight.
Speaker 3 (37:57):
I mean, I think just physically the way they look
and the way they run and his height, he's not
a bad matchup for him. I don't know how much
you ask a dugger. I tend to think as a
whole we might be drifting further away from as much
man coverage as we've seen, and we haven't seen a
lot of press, but there are pretty high percentage man
coverage team and it just isn't working that great, you know.
(38:20):
Not not that the zones are beautiful either, but it's
probably going to be a group effort, as it always is.
You got to tackle better, and you've got to be
better with your assignments and your recognition. But you do
have Wilson, Dugger Peppers who really haven't been the culprits.
I'm not saying that the two safeties are good or bad.
We just haven't seen much of them. But they could
(38:40):
have new people doing it.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
Then that, Matt leads to me of you better win
in the trenches in this game. Yeah, both sides of
the ball, but particularly for this Steelers defense, because if
Jonathan Taylor is running wild again, to use your Michael
Jordan analogy, he can score twenty five points, he's gonna
he can't score forty.
Speaker 3 (39:03):
Five yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
And if you can limit him in that regard, at
least become a little bit more predictable, get them into
down in distant scenarios, thank you, Captain Obvious. That'll make
things easier on your secondary as they're trying to figure
everything out on Sunday and Matt kind of the biggest
individual matchup in that regard to me, I mean it's
got to be Cam Heyward, right, Oh yeah, yeah, a
(39:25):
guy who is I know this might surprise some people,
but he's actually you tweeted this out this morning. He's
the third highest graded defensive player behind Michael Parsons and Miles.
Speaker 3 (39:36):
Garrett for Pro Football Focus.
Speaker 1 (39:39):
He also it's a small sample size, it's only been
a couple games, but he has had Quintin Nelson's number
over the course of his career. That to me is
a big, highlighted circle it matchup. If Cam can do
his thing there, that would mean a lot for the
rest of the trenches, which would mean a lot for
the rest of the defense.
Speaker 3 (39:57):
Yeah. I mean it's clearly a one on one heavyweight fight.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
Oh it's Tyson and Alie.
Speaker 3 (40:03):
Yeah, and they're gonna square off many snaps because Cam
doesn't really move off that spot. You know where Nelson's
gonna be. He's the left guard. Now, Nelson's always been awesome,
but the last couple of years he's been a little quieter,
you know. I mean, he hasn't been the best left
guard in the league. He's not an every week, every
year all pro type guy. This year, he's better than
(40:25):
he's been in the last couple of years, you know,
And I know, I tweeted out about Pro Football Focus
and I love Cam and I think that people. I
put it out there just so people, Oh, this whole
defense thinks everybody's terrible. No, that's not the case. Now.
I don't think he's playing better than every defensive player
on the planet besides Parsons and Garrett either. Yeah, I
mean that's pretty high praise. That would be by far
(40:48):
his best season of his awesome career. But that one
on one matchup still about as good as you're gonna get.
And you're gonna get it a lot.
Speaker 1 (40:57):
Yes you are. That is uh one that is unavoidable.
I mean, yeah, you know it's it's not a wide
receiver and a defensive back and could you move this
guy around those different things? And how do you get
DK Metcalf away from Sauce Garner or all those types
of conversation. This is two grizzly bears in a phone booth.
Speaker 3 (41:14):
Yeah, you know what I mean, And you're right. They've
done it before, and Cam has won more often than not.
Speaker 1 (41:18):
He has, he has and hopefully that will continue because,
like I said, Captain Obvious, the trenches are massively important
on every Sunday, Thursday, Monday, whenever the game is played,
every matchup, but particularly in this one, particularly for the
Steelers defense, because you have to at least make the
Colts a little predictable, You have to at least win
on first and second down in the run game, where
(41:40):
Indianapolis has been doing a ton of winning. Matt to
speak to that.
Speaker 3 (41:44):
Real quick too. I mean, Nelson's their best lineman, but
their O line overall is definitely top three. I mean,
it's a very good group. It's yeah, it's well coached.
Speaker 1 (41:54):
Certainly, if you were making a if you were power
ranking the thirty two offensive lines in the NFL, they
might not be number one, but you wouldn't get too
far down there until you would until you want. No
one's playing better, and especially right now. Yeah, yeah, Matt
speaks to that because you know you have a lot
of success on first down. That means you're running the
ball well, that means you're winning in the trenches and
(42:14):
you're setting your offense up to have to move the
sticks to have a lot of success. The Colts offense
on first downs in the NFL, second best in EPA,
fourth best in success rate.
Speaker 3 (42:25):
Yeah, and again a lot of it's because they want
your heavy personnel on the field. So this is something
that I just want everyone to understand and just take
a quick sidebar. There's a linebacker shortage of the NFL,
just off the ball, Fred Warner, and then there's who
knows who number two is. The Steelers are above average
(42:46):
in that department. I still believe that. I still believe
that no matter how the defense is played the last
two games. So this has been a Shanahan thing forever.
This is why you check so important and Kittle and
they don't go three wide because they want to make
team put linebackers on the field. I mean that is
an offensive minded thing, is how can we get this
(43:06):
team to put as many linebackers position right?
Speaker 1 (43:08):
But nobody in the NFL ball linebacker at it. So
keep two of those guys on the.
Speaker 3 (43:13):
Field and maybe even three, which is rare, but I mean, yes,
we don't want you in your dime and putting defensive
backs out there extra pass rushers. So they're really good
about that, and that's when they use their thirteen personnel.
A lot too is to keep you in personnel groups
to their liking, and they make you kind of play
left handed out of it, and Steelers have to be
(43:34):
very aware of that, which I'm sure they are, don't
get me wrong, but this team's really really good at it.
Speaker 1 (43:41):
They absolutely are. They certainly are. They are really good
at offense.
Speaker 3 (43:45):
They're good at everything right now, I mean they are.
Speaker 1 (43:47):
They've got one or two areas of the defense where
it feels like they're a little suspect. Okay, yeah, okay,
I wouldn't even say bad, just maybe they haven't been challenged.
Speaker 3 (43:56):
Playing with the lead really helps to one, absolutely one hundred.
Speaker 1 (44:00):
And I also think that's part of Listen, there, their
second and we'll get to this on the other side
in a minute, their secondary gives up, you know again
like the fifth most yards in the NFL. Yeah, I
do think part of that is kind of chicken or
an egg thing of they're playing with the lead so often,
so teams are throwing against.
Speaker 3 (44:16):
Them, and the fourth quarter, Buckner's got a baseball cap on,
and they're playing the Titans last wards getting some garbage
times exactly right. So some of these numbers get skewed
a little because the Layton game stuff doesn't matter because
they beat everyone so much. One thing I wanted to
mention about their offense though, and this is by no
means discrediting what they've done, but they're they're their play
(44:38):
caller stich In. It's kind of on a roll right
now too.
Speaker 1 (44:41):
Boy is he you know, like all him butter because
he's on a roll.
Speaker 3 (44:44):
Yeah, he's really good. The offense is the best in
the league. I'm not saying I mean, but he's also
that hitter that every every pitch looks like a beach ball,
you know, like he can't do anything wrong right now.
You know, he'd probably even sit here and tell you that.
Speaker 1 (44:57):
He's shooting free throws in the basket is like times
the size.
Speaker 3 (45:01):
Like this is, this is as good as it gets
it and that's bound to get back to them means
a little bit, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (45:08):
And again, hopefully you're the team that can do that.
Right they have maybe get some frustrations creeping into their
game that they haven't faced yet this season.
Speaker 3 (45:15):
And they've been really healthy on offense.
Speaker 1 (45:17):
And they certainly have they certainly.
Speaker 3 (45:19):
Have begging for injuries, but see if they can overcome something.
If it's in game, you know.
Speaker 1 (45:26):
Let's hope that that transpires. Certainly, so, there's kind of
a five star Friday focus Steelers defense, Colts offense. When
we come back to kick off our number two, we'll
spend the block, we'll talk to Steelers offense against the
Colts defense. More thoughts, more numbers from Matt here as
we continue to break down the big one Sunday at
Akroschure Stadium halfway home here on a Friday. It is
(45:47):
the Drive on Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio
Network
Good afternoon, Steelers Nation.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
It's the Drive on the Steelers Audio Network here on
a Friday, as we rock and we roll on Halloween,
last day of October, getting ready, of course for Steelers
Colts this Sunday, one o'clock.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
At Akrocher Stadium. What Sheeler and Matt Williamson with you
here for the next two hours on a typical jam
packed Friday show. Matt, how we feeling? How we doing?
Speaker 3 (00:37):
I guess I'm a little under the weather, but I
think I'm doing all right and just a normal day
here at the office.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Right, Yeah, you look pretty skinny today. I'm working out,
working out. You've been I'm night been a rough. Yeah,
I had a little bit of a rough night. I
woke up, I lost all my hair. I don't know.
I don't know what happened. That signature head of west
Hare is now gone. But I don't know if I'm Yeah,
we'll get through it together here this morning on the
(01:02):
show or this afternoon part of me on the show.
We will talk to Missy Matthews in about ten minutes
or so get her thoughts on the sideline. But Matt,
I want to kind of jump right into this with
an x's and o's question for you, sure, I know
that this Indianapolis Colts defense likes to play a lot
of nickel Okay.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Yes, that is yes, yes.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
And also with that, we know that the status of
Isaac Sayamalu is up in the air for Sunday afternoon's kickoff.
Is this still the time to bring out the corn
beef packages? We've called it a couple of times. How
do you try and use what the Steelers can do well,
use their size advantage, use that offensive line, six offensive
lineman packaged Darnell Washington, all these things against a Colts
(01:49):
defense that is typically lighter that that to me feels
like a real kind of game within the game here.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Yeah, it's a great, great way of looking at it.
And first off, just so Friday's go quick. The Colts
offense might shock people that they use as much thirteen
personnel as they do, and they do it a lot,
and the reason they do it is because they want
to get a lot of linebackers and big bodies on
the field and throw out of it. The Colts are great.
(02:17):
They're great on first downs in general, but they're really
good at throwing when people run and running when people
throw and so maybe the Steelers could steal a page
out of that book. Now. I think the league as
a whole is trying to figure out what's the best
way to defend twelve personnel. Is it nickel or is
(02:37):
it base? And a lot of it depends on what
type of tight ends you have, and I think that's
a big reason the Steelers have a wide variety of
tight ends. The Colts generally defend twelve with nickel. As
you mentioned, they want to be faster, they want to
be now. They also have the advantage of playing with
the lead sometimes too, you know, which helps everything on
(02:59):
their defense this week. I'm not sure how to attack
them in the end. I think my number one goal,
no matter how I get there, is controlling time and possession,
limiting possessions for the Colts offense, helping my Steeler defense
to the max. But if that means running out of
(03:23):
thirteen or jumbo corn beef as we like to call it,
and make them stay in there three to four, you know,
or their base, I'm fine with that as well. But
I think Mike Pursudo in Maryland I did a show
and we were talking about this too, because there's a
lot of angles of how do you play offense against
(03:44):
this defense, because clearly the Colts' weakest position is also corner.
You know, they're on backups, so you would think in
a vacuum, let's just Aaron, just throw it all attack,
get DK on corners, and we're just going to attack
through the air.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
They do have like the twenty sixth ranked pass defense
or twenty eighth whatever it was that we talked about
yesterday in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Yes, but that could lead to three and outs and
not leading the time possession. So I think that's the
real challenge. And I'm not exactly present presenting answers, but
I am trying to put avenues of approach here, you
know what I mean, ye, because I think you're walking
a razor's edge and you're gonna have to keep up
this team. It's best, it's one of the best teams
(04:25):
in the league. It's one of the best offenses in
the league. So how do I balance time of possession
with attacking their biggest weakness and trying to get big
bodies on the field which they don't aren't as comfortable with.
And that's why I'm on yours offense coordinator. I don't
know exactly how to do that now. I do think
if you're down and you feel like you have to
(04:46):
abandon a run, all's not lost against this group of
corners too, So that's kind of, you know, appealing. I
trust Rogers to orchestrate all the above better than anybody
out there, you know, checking a run, checking the PA,
attacking one on ones. I think we know at this
point whether it's Austin Metcalf, whoever. But if you're gonna
(05:07):
get one on ones with their corners, he's gonna throw it,
you know. I mean, he's gonna check to that call.
And I got no problem with that whatsoever. But I
still think time of possession has to be your biggest
goal to gout this game with the win, because your
defense is gonna hold these guys at thirteen you know.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
No, absolutely absolutely, and I think you're absolutely right. That
to me is kind of the biggest burning question.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Is a Steelers offense that needs to run the football
has had success, a lot of success running the football
the last.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
Few weeks, right, and you're good at it.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Right, You're good at it. Jayalen Warren is playing in
an outstanding level. I think you're as confident in your
offensive line as you have been in a long time. Agreed,
But it's a Colts defense that is success succepted. The
bit easy for me to say. It's a Colts defense
that is susceptible through the air. Yes, And so how
do you balance that? How do you balance trying to
control the clock, the snap count, time of possession, all
(05:57):
those things while potentially attacking what is Indianapolis's biggest weakness that,
to me, Matt is is really and particularly offensive standpoint. Yeah,
the biggest storyline or X factor that I'm looking at
here on a Friday.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
The thousand percent. And again, I don't feel like I
have a great answer of how to do all those things.
I've never gain planned for an NFL defense, but I
think we have laid it out what the goals should be,
you know. And one thing I keep coming back to
all week, and I'm not necessarily even blaming him for
being conservative, but I would certainly be more aggressive on
fourth downs if I was coach Tomlin, you know, just
(06:35):
for that reason. Whether that's and the beauty of this
is such like a lion's eagles thing that goes for
it all the time and forth the commanders. It's so
much easier on the play caller on third down totally
if he knows I got two downs to get this first,
not one. You know, it's third and one that you're
midfield rogers. Take a shot here, absolutely, because we're gonna
(06:57):
come back and can at the war. If it doesn't,
you know, connect we're bringing out the big boys. Isn't
gonna pound it, you.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Know, Third and seven here, let's pick up five yards
instead of the whole thing.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
That's the thing I say all the time is third
and medium, Third and even long can often be a rundown,
you know, like Saquon but busted a ton of long
runs against Nickel dime in third and seven's last year,
you know what I mean. Because you still have your
big people out there and they want you to run.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
They sure do, they sure do. So there's kind of
a scene setter to get us started here today on
this Friday, this Halloween Friday, we will talk to the
great Missy Matthews, the Queen of the sideline when we
return on the other side.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
And get better than us. At the moment, she looks
a lot.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Better than us. Well, I mean every day, but especially
today and so just like I did yesterday. If you're
kind of wondering what if you're listening on audio and
kind of wondering what the Hecker Matt and West talking about?
Why does Wes sound a little muffled? Maybe make sure
you're watching this opening segment on YouTube and hopefully you're
gonna out of all of that. We'll talk to the
great Missy Matthews when we return. Watch your aler Matt
(08:00):
Williamson having some fun on a Friday. It's the Drive
on Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network. Back
(08:37):
on the Drive here on a Friday, getting you ready,
of course for Steelers Cult Sunday one o'clock at Akroscher Stadium.
Joining us. Now you'll hear her on the call with
Rob King and Max Starks. You'll see her roam in
the sidelines on Sunday. Of course, it is the great
Missy Matthews. Missy, thank you for taking the time for us.
As always on a Friday, let's jump right into it
(08:58):
here as as this is a big one for a
lot of different reasons, but I think particularly for a
Steelers team that knows they have not been up to
par in their last two performances, not wanting to drop
a third straight game, not wanting to drop back to
back games at home, you know, keeping some distance between
them and the rest of the division, all these different storylines.
(09:20):
Do you sense, like, I don't missy. I don't want
to say, a sense of desperation, because we're halfway through
the season. It is, it'll be November by the time
this game kicks off, but it is still October. But
do you maybe sense of urgency Maybe that's the best
way to put it, you set, Do you sense any
sense of urgency with this team, with this organization as
it relates to Sunday against the Colts?
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (09:44):
Yeah, I mean, I don't think it's like panic, you know,
that kind of thing. But I think, especially with the
way the two losses went, your first two back to
back losses of the season, it's still kind of early.
We're in the middle ish portion, you know of those
Steelers twenty twenty five scal But knowing you haven't played
the Raven Jet, you still have to placency in Cleveland
(10:06):
one more time as well. Oh, by the way, the Bills,
you know, the Lions. You know, you're just you're going
through and looking and you're like all right, this is
this is where we kind of need to come together.
And I think the defense just has a nasty taste
in their mouth, and clearly the only way to get
rid of it is to get a win and to
show people that the past two games are not who
(10:27):
you are and go back to the sacks, the force fumbles,
the splash plays, just being a stout defense that we
saw prior to that.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
You mentioned the nasty taste in the defense's mouth. I mean,
what was the what was the temperature anxiety on the
sidelines halfway through the fourth quarter or so when things
were really going rough.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
I mean, you know, I've only experienced one person throw
gatory cooler in my time on the sidelines, and that
was Antonio Brown. I you know, it's it's more of
like looking at the tablet, talking to each other, talking
to TA, talking to their position coach. It's really trying
to figure it out and to stop the bleeding. There's
(11:11):
really nothing else you can do at that point.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
But it's tantrums and.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
Yeah, no, no, no, you're not seeing that. I mean,
of course, sometimes you know, emotions flood over, but you know,
I always say when you go in the locker room
after a really bad loss like that, you know, when
you put a camera in TJ. Wat face Cam Hayward.
Just there's certain guys where when they're giving you, like
the one word answers, you're kind of like, all right,
we should stop asking them questions because you can just
(11:41):
tell that they're like biting their tongue as hard as
they can because it's they don't have the answers right now.
They're not happy, and I get it, you know, there's
a little bit of a cooling off period before the
locker room opens. But you know, for guys like that
that takes so much pride in their work, that's not
an easy to do.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Yeah, and Missy, you know, they have a lot of
those guys on the defensive side of the football, a
lot of All pros, a lot of future Hall of Famers,
you know, some veterans that were added that have Super
Bowl rings as well too, you know, and despite that,
we see a lot of you know, it feels like
a miscommunication is just the way to say it. A
lot of guys looking at each other, a lot of
(12:21):
confusion too often, you know, guys standing around with their
palms up looking at each other like what just happened
after a play and now you lose I think one
of the beacons of that communication into Shaun Elliott and
just a very untimely and unfortunate injury for him on
Sunday night. How do you go about getting that ironed
(12:42):
out against the Colts offense? That man, if you give
them an inch, they will take a mile. They're putting
thirty points on everybody already. That to me feels like
a real kind of X factor for this week.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
Yeah, and maybe because it is, you know, the hottest
offense coming into your house, it does something for them
in terms of like perfect medicine to remedy this almost
but I think you know, like you said, the penalty
is the communication not having you know, the right amount
(13:15):
of guys on the field. I understand things happened, but
just from a almost operational standpoint, those are things that
can't happen. So, whether it's simplifying things, maybe not having
as many people move around, I think obviously they knew
Deshaun was going to be out this week at the
beginning of the week, so you have to plan accordingly.
(13:35):
You knew Kyle Dugger was coming. He didn't practice until yesterday,
but that's still two days of work. He's a veteran
type guy. Jabrill Peppers, I'm sure is you know, translating
the Steelers playbook for him so it looks and sounds
how it was in New England for them and helping
him out that way. But definitely, I think, you know,
(13:56):
the not knowing where people should be type thing. It
all goes back to the communication and simplifying and whether
that's a practice that's walked throughs that's just talking to
each other meetings. I mean, that's really on the players.
It's not necessarily it's it's more of an execution type thing.
I guess I should say that needs to be hammered
(14:16):
out and figured somehow someway.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
So it's a big thing that we've been stressing all week.
Is a really high percentage. Forty seven percent of the
points the Steelers have allowed this season has been in
the fourth quarter, and to me, that just screams being
on the field too much. Time of possession has been
their enemy pretty much every step of the way. And
you know, in the first half against Green Bay they
(14:40):
controlled the clock and things went their way. They didn't
score touchdowns, but that has to be the formula. Do
you think this is a real ground heavy offensive approach
for those reasons, it's going to be a team effort.
Speaker 4 (14:53):
Well, I think because Jalen Warren is kind of doing
what they want him to do. I you know, at
some photos and videos of Isaac Daumalo at practice today.
We haven't got the status report yet, but you know,
having him in there would obviously help because then you
can do what you do with Spencer Anderson and Darnell
washing right now. You know, obviously if it's Spencer, sorry,
(15:17):
if Isaac can't go, Spencer would fill in, and then
you have to decide, you know, is it McCollum, is
it you know Andrews Pete, Like, who's going to be
the guy to possibly take that over? But I agree
with the time of possession. The fust lost time of
possession last week, but they still won. This is just
a team that better left off the field in all
circumstances because they score touchdowns too. And I do think
(15:40):
that the way the Packers game was going, it was
only a nine point lead at the half, I just
feel like if they would have been able to get
points on that first drive, you know, bookend halftime, that
would have changed a lot of things, obviously not just
the point total, but then you just like feel the momentum.
And I think that's where a lot of the comments
(16:02):
after the game that some people were like, wait, they're
not trying. You know, why did can Heyward say this?
Why did this? You know, Coach Shumlin say this. It's
that penalty sucked. You know, the off side that was
not called that they could not fix. But they could
not fix it, and it is what it is. And
even Arthur Smith's that, hey, we still had a chance
to catch that ball, but we did it. So you know,
(16:24):
you do have to be able to handle that type
of adversity and move forward. But I think part of
the time of possession thing is also, as you said,
keeping the Steelers defense, who's clearly dealing with some injuries
and some you know, moving people around type things off
the field, and then also not settling for the field
goals or having to punt the ball, but getting the
(16:46):
touchdown because then that way, at least you're aut in
points if you're not on the field for that long.
So it's, you know, this complimentary football thing that we
talk about all the time, but it's just been so
out of whack for the Steelers lately that you're kind
of like shaking your head, like, how did we get
here these past two weeks?
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Yeah, and kind of staying with that, Missy. You know,
Matt and I spent a lot of time on Monday
and Tuesday discussing how did we get here? What's going
on with the defense, while at the same time a
lot of positive from the offense. It's kind of been
almost a one to eighty of the conversations and what
we've seen over the last few years with that. One
of the things that Matt and I talked about was, Hey,
(17:25):
it's great how reliable Chris Boswell is. Right, I mean,
he's unbelievable. He's going to be the franchise all time
leader in points, He's going to be in the Steelers
all of honor one day. But you also don't want
your kicker to be the MVP, you know, because that's
kind of saying something about the rest of your roster
and and your offense and all those different things. We
talked about it on Monday, Mike Tomlin mentioned it on Tuesday.
(17:47):
You know, getting a little more aggressive, not settling for
threes is often finding the back of the end zone
instead of the golden toe of Chris Boswell. With that,
do you think we could see a Steelers team, especially
as we've laid out here and against the Colts offense,
that can certainly put up some points. Does this feel
like a week when you know you've got a fourth
and three from from the opponent's thirty two yard line,
(18:09):
like the Steelers did last week, and maybe going for
it instead of settling for a field goal, maybe operating
a little bit on third down in certain scenarios differently,
knowing that you're gonna get aggressive and go for it
on fourth down? Does that feel like something that would
not only help the offense, but would hopefully extend drives
and keep the defense on the sideline as well too.
Speaker 4 (18:31):
Oh one hundred percent. I think you have the perfect
quarterback who wants to be aggressive, who wants to get
the first down, who wants to go for it on
fourth down. We saw it. I can't remember what game
it was, where it was. You know, Aaron's telling coach
Tom and he wants to stay on. They pull himp,
they they were going to kick it, and then you go,
never mind. You know you can go for the two
that's his mentality. I mean, he he is, you know,
(18:51):
like the conductor of this orchestra, you know, little not
to your dad there, love it, love it, you know,
like he wants to run those kind of plays, to
call those kind of plays and you know, help the offense.
And I do agree, and I think, you know, it's interesting.
I was going through mats lovely notes that he sends
(19:11):
all of us every week and the Cults are on
their second kicker, and like this guy's never even gone
from past fifty. So like welcome to Pittsburgh. I don't
want it to like pour, but like a little drizzle
and you know, cloudy weather to make his life, you know,
not so comfortable. Because I was telling Max and Rob
earlier today, they've played five home games, obviously in a
(19:33):
dome to it's so far against the Rams and the Chargers,
and the only game they've played outside so far this
season was Tennessee and it was in Week three. So
you know, maybe they don't want to rely on their
kickers so much. Not that they've really had to to
be quite honest, clearly when you have that tape of offense,
but maybe the Pittsburgh football weather could help them in
(19:55):
some former fashion that obviously Chris Boswell is more than
a tune with and used to that. If you do
have to have him kick for you, you know, he's
about as automatic as it gets.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
I'm glad you brought up there the Colts kicker and
indoor outdoor situation. We have been aware of it, but
I never brought it up this whole time that we've
been doing shows all week. So glad that got out
there for our listeners. I do think that's, you know,
something that could come into play for sure. Miss. The
Steelers O line, to me, is probably the most improved
(20:26):
unit from week one till now. You get the impression
that the play callers, the quarterback, everybody involved is starting
to trust that group more and.
Speaker 4 (20:35):
More one percent. I mean, I remember, you know, even
training camp Roderick Jones was dealing with an injury. Just
felt like there wasn't any fluidity even the beginning of
the season. You're like, man, like, if this O line
can't get it together and hold up, like we have
a forty one year old quarterback, and I do. I
think everyone is probably pleasantly surprised from the outside. I'm
(20:57):
sure from the inside they'll say like we knew this
was possible. But I really think those young guys give
Broderick Jones credit, even Troy Fatano, you know, guys who
basically are starting new positions this year NFL wise, and
I just think they've been phenomenal. And obviously, you know,
Isaac is kind of the leader, the silent leader, I
should say, of that unit. And I think Aaron spent
(21:20):
a lot of time, especially in Latrobe, with Zach Frazier
and Nathan McCormick and all of those guys just to
kind of really get everybody on the same page. But
also he almost built confidence in them in a weird
way to try to take them out of their shell.
Maybe as you know, I'm with this future Hall of Famer,
I'm a second year player, third year player or whatever,
and now all of a sudden, you know, that's our
(21:42):
quarterback and we have to protect him. I just he
broke some ice or something with them that just like
flipped a switch at least from you know, outside looking
in in terms of confidence and the continuity that I
think we're seeing among that line.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
Missy great stuff is always I.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
Go one more, go ahead, yay or nay? On Coconut
and candy bards. I steal it. Okay, it's been a
great debate always well.
Speaker 4 (22:11):
I'm a yay. I love, I love enjoy like I Yeah,
I can do it. I know that's not everybody's preference.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
But candy corn next, Missy No.
Speaker 4 (22:24):
Heck no, no candy corn. But no one in my
house likes coconut but me. So like I, no one
else is gonna take Yeah, so like I know, that's
just a gimme. And that's why I steel the reasons.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
That'd be a nice position to be in. I'm always
trading my own.
Speaker 4 (22:38):
Yeah, there you go. Yeah, no, I'm I'm a fan
of coconut chocolate.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Okay, So what's on your don't like Halloween candy list?
Speaker 3 (22:46):
M marshmallows? Low on my list?
Speaker 4 (22:51):
Oh anything marshmallow? Heck now, I'm out of cut Nickers,
Milky ways, They're okay. Kit cats aren't my favorite. I'll
eat them, don't get me wrong.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
Do you have a opinion on nerds gummy clusters?
Speaker 4 (23:09):
I mean, my children are obsessed with them. I find
them in my car, in covered in their rooms, in
cockey bags. They're the bane of my existence. I think
they're disgusting. I like I literally cringe when they eat
them because I know it is just like a sugar
rush about to explode. And I'm always like fine, yeah,
(23:32):
like here we go, and I can only imagine how
many they're going to consume just tonight, so it should
be fun. I found some actually the other day, and
I like threw them in the top of one of
our cupboards that like I can't even reach some. I'm like, well,
they're going to get enough anyways. They don't mean to
know about these ones.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
That's great stuff, Missy, you'll laugh. We've kind of been,
you know, asking our guests throughout the week just some
you know, some quick hitter thoughts on Halloween candy and
that type of thing. Yesterday, we had, of course, Bob
Labriola on like we do on Thursdays and before we
have him on Matt's. Like I wouldn't ask him about
Halloween candy. Save that for Missy tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (24:09):
Hey, labs nose. He's a fan of the Resis family.
He introduced me to the animal crackers that are covered
with the peanut and chocolate from Reese's. Didn't good, Yeah, Lab,
don't let Labs you know for you. He knows the
thing you're two about.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
Good labs, nose, football, labs, nose candy. We'll have to
all right, Sunday Sunday in the booth, I'll ask him
some candy questions. I'll, i'll, I'll muster up the strength
and do it. By then, the great Missy Matthews, the
Queen of the Sideline, kind enough to join us here
on a Friday. Missy, have a good Friday, have a
happy Halloween, and we'll see you on Sunday.
Speaker 4 (24:46):
All right, happy Halloween. Do you guys to see a Sunday?
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Thanks Missy. There she goes. Good stuff from her as
always touching on a lot of different bases there. And yeah,
I I.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
Was long overdue to bring up the kicker and indoor
outdoor thing.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
That was great.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
I'm glad you did.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
No, I'm you know what, because that was one of
the things I kind of jotted down some last minute
notes of things that we hadn't talked about. That was
one of the things that I had in there. And
I think, matt if you're talking about Chris Boswell or
Justin Tucker.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
I don't care where they can, I don't care where
they kick or what they've done or right yet.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
But for a kicker that's on a little bit of
rocky footing that they clearly don't, not that they've needed to,
but they haven't.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
They've never had to rely on them. He's definitely not
their MVP.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
He's definitely not in the consideration for team MVP. Hey,
if it ends up being a close game down the stretch,
or maybe that's one of the things that makes it
a close game, you know, maybe he misses one that
we would otherwise think as a chip shot. Something like that.
Certainly certainly something to keep an eye on. Oh, it
absolutely does. It absolutely does. As much as Chris Boswell
(25:45):
has gotten the Steelers out of stadiums with wins, a
lot of kickers around the NFL have cost their teams
getting out of stadiums.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
With the Colts, you know, like, man, I don't want
our kicking situation to be what the rails Us.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
Agreed absolutely, because hey, when you're playing the way they
are and you have the best record in the NFL,
it's hard to find weaknesses. But that could certainly be
something that could be won. And maybe we'll see if
that plays out. Sunday afternoon at Akroshure Stadium. One more
segment to go on the other side. You know what
that means. It's time to get into our Friday matchup segments.
Here for a little bit a little five star Friday.
(26:20):
We'll talk about the key matchups between the Steelers and
the Colts on both sides of the football. We'll do
all that more as we roll along. Wat Shooler Matt Williamson.
It is the Drive on Steelers Nation Radio on the
Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 5 (26:40):
Your tunes about Drive on your twenty four to seven
home of the Black and Goal Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
All right, little hectic start to the show, Matt, But
I think we're on track now.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
Oh yeah, We're back where we need to be.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
I had had some Halloween shenanigans in the first segment.
For those of you that did watch on YouTube or
didn't watch on YouTube, we did a little little Halloween
thing in the first segment. That mask that I was
wearing a great creepy mask. But it's was made in
nineteen seventy seven. Yes, so I borrowed it from one
of our neighbors.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
Shout out to uh oh, I figured like your parents had.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Shout out to Nikky and Dan our neighbors. It was
their dad's. He bought it in the Strip District in
nineteen seventy seven. It has the engraving on the back of.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
It's still holding up.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
Well, it's great, it's scary, it's terrifying right well, but
being from the seventies, it doesn't breathe.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
Very well at all, I bet.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
And we got about three four minutes into that opening
segment and I was sweating like a greased monkey. I mean,
it was not comfortable.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
And you wouldn't think our jobs and they're not are
physically demanding, but you do have to be up and
you got to talk with some energy and you know,
like you're not breathing. Great, it's yeah, getting really hot
and sweating.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
Yeah, I'm like trying to look through the one eyeball
like how much times on the clock and make sure
all the.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
The mouth isn't exactly perfect for a great audio.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Right, But having some fun here on a Friday. But
now for the rest of the show, we will obviously,
uh turn our attention to Steelers Colts get a little
serious and uh some unfortunate news Matt Uh, Deshaun Elliott,
and daniel A Qualley. It's happened that they have both
been placed on injured reserves, So we'll see what that
(28:35):
means for the rest of the roster. There will obviously
be corresponding moves with that, but for now, unfortunately that yes, yeah, yeah,
so that that's a good point. That's kind of a
one from one swap there. Now the question obviously becomes
how long are those guys going to be out? Is
it going to be you know, four weeks on the
IR and then they can try and return, or could
(28:56):
it be something longer term? Obviously not great there, Matt,
but that is life in the National Football League and
the Stylers. The Steelers defense a big week, a big
challenge that they're gonna be a little shorthanded as well too,
particularly on the back end of that secondary.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Yeah, real quick, on Equalley, I'm a fan. I wasn't
real blown away when they signed him, but he kind
of won me over when Harmon came back. Though, not
that he's been phased out, but he's never had e
quas many snaps as I would have guessed. I mean,
he's always been like eight nine ten, especially with Harmon
in the mix. So he's a loss, but I get
(29:30):
the impression he's probably out for the year. Is the
way that they made that sound that he's not a
temporary deal. We could keep an eye on Elliott though,
I mean, like some reports, I don't know what the
trust but some are like, oh, this could be really long.
We know it's four or more. At least four. Isn't
the end of the world War is? I mean, it's
not an end of the world. But it's not great.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
It's not great. That would you know? You would that
would that not? You think God does take him out
until the end of November.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
Right.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
That means he'd missed that game against Buffalo after thank Giving,
which of course will be one where you'll really need
that secondary and tip top shape. But certainly something we
will keep an eye on. But unfortunate, again, we kind
of saw it coming. You could. You could read the
writing on the wall, on the wall, read the tea leaves.
But now it is official with those two moving too,
I are I really.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
Am interested what the safety allocation of resource is gonna be?
Speaker 1 (30:22):
Me too, And maybe as we kind of start talking
about matchups and all these different things. Here, hold on, Matt,
let me let me hit the sounder so we can
make it official, and then we'll then we'll really dive
into this.
Speaker 5 (30:33):
It's a five star matchup because we're.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
In and Matt. I know this isn't a specific matchup,
but it's got to feel like that Colts offense, Stiching,
Danny Dimes, Tyler Warren, all those wide receivers. Doesn't matter
who's lined up at safety, We're going to attack them.
Speaker 3 (30:55):
Oh yeah, yeah, I mean this is what coaches do, folks,
is I mean, you watch the tape and frankly, there's
not a abundance of places not to attack right now against
Steeler defense, and there there's plenty of spots to say, well,
we're gonna test that, We're gonna test that they haven't
handled this adjustment well blah blah blah. I mean, we
know that there's issues, but I gotta think priority number
(31:18):
one is boy Elliott was a pretty good player for
these guys, and the other safeties have been in a
lineup and consistent, not real playmakers. You go back and
watch the tape when Elliott was out, so you have
something you know just to you approve.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
There, right. There is plenty of sample of that this year.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
So I absolutely think that we are going to attack
those safeties and most likely with Warren, but also with
deep routes. Pierce goes deep like no one else in
the league, getting anyone you possibly can. And my hunch is,
when there's four defensive backs on the field, I think
it'll be Ramsey at safety and.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
Eccles, Ramsey at safety, Porter and Eckles.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
Okay, yeah, and some other That's what I don't I mean,
I'm not even sure who safety one is a Peppers.
I kind of hope it's not Clark. Is that asking
too much out of Dugger? Immediately? Pepper's is my favorite
of the group, But the day he the game, he
played a lot when Clark was inactive, I thought he
(32:23):
was a real asset that played well and was noticeably
better and certainly more athletic than Clark. But since then
he hasn't played much, which I don't know how to
read those tea leaves and Thornhills still in the mix too,
and my hunch, and then it brings a question of okay,
what about when you have five defensive backs on the field, Well, Ramsey,
(32:44):
Eckles and Porter will be three of them. Will slay
keep Ramsey at safety and have to be your third
corner because I think Eckles gone past Lagh. I think
people probably caught onto that at this point. Yeah, or
is Slay that much in the doghouse or maybe even
an active that Ramsey becomes your slot, Eccles goes to
(33:06):
the outside, and two of these safeties were figuring out
are your safeties? I just don't know. I'm just gonna
be really intriguing.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
Answer.
Speaker 3 (33:16):
Obviously, they're not the easiest puzzle to build.
Speaker 4 (33:18):
It is.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
It is absolutely not the easiest puzzle to build. In fact,
it's probably a more challenging one than most to build.
I did want to. By the way, Missy texted me this,
so big shout out to her. Remember with the personal
day for Darius Slay yesterday, there was a lot of speculation,
what's going on there? All the things. He went down
(33:39):
to Houston. It was his son's senior night for his
high school football team today. Okay, so he went, he
flew down yesterday to be with his to be with
his son for senior night and all those things. That's
what his absence was for. So it fair enough, fair
enough something that you know, again, a lot of people
had been speculating about. I thought it was good to
just kind of put that to bed.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
I'm not certain the pot and that doesn't sound fishy
to me at all. That sounds absolutely fine. That is
a fine excuse to miss a practice in the middle
of the week, in the middle of the season. But
would everybody have gone I don't know. I mean, I'm
just sorrying, I'm not trying to stow the pot. Sure,
if it was Aaron Rodgerson, I don't think it had
been there, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (34:20):
Yeah, I get what you're saying in that regard. But
a nice follow up there from from Missy at least
to some of the where for for Sleigh and his
kind of you know, listed as a a personal day.
I believe it was on the Steelers Thursday practice, which.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
Did raise some red flags. That's weird.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
And again with the timing and the trade deadline and
all these things, there was Trice looming. There was some
fair speculation there, I think, But that at least is
some rhyme to the reason Matt, it's I don't know,
do I want to go to the trenches here? Next,
Let's stick with the secondary since that's what we're talking
about obviously, the talented wide receivers. But man, it feels
(35:03):
like this Steelers team, and we just saw a perfect
example of it Sunday night against Tucker Craft. Your boy
has struggled against tight ends and now maybe the guy
who was the most reliable in that department, and Deshaun
Elliott is no longer there. Not only is Tyler warranted talented,
not only have the Steelers struggled in that department through
the first half of the season, they also do a
(35:24):
lot to just scheme him open as well too. It's
not just running past people, it's not just in and
out of his routes, and and you know, in timing
and things like that. He also finds himself wide open
a couple times throughout a game as well too. How
are you matching up against him? What are you looking
for from him? How can they go about limiting you know, again,
(35:46):
a guy who was putting up rookie tight end numbers
that have only ever been done by Mike Ditka and
Brock Bowers.
Speaker 3 (35:53):
Yeah, and to go back to the draft, even Loveland
from Michigan, Yeah, went ahead of him.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
You know, they were two high tight end picks.
Speaker 3 (36:01):
Yeah, they both were between ten and fifteen or whatever overall,
So they were high picks. They weren't super super high,
but they were pretty high picks for a tight end
for sure. Now, one of the reasons I believe, I'm
pretty much certain of it. Loveland was better in college
of beating one on one matchups, and Michigan didn't have
a ton around him, you know, like he had to
(36:21):
beat man coverage a little bit more than joe average
college tight end at the end his last year, you know,
not the you know, they won it all with McCarthy,
and he was just better refined route runner beating man coverage.
Where Warren even at Penn State, to their credit, to
his credit, he's a great player. Schemed him up more,
(36:42):
you know, like we're gonna get him designed touches. You
guys all make it easy on Warren to get the
ball in space, and the Colts and psych and have
done a remarkably good job of translating that from college
to pro. Yes, with all respect to the Big Ten,
it's a lot different.
Speaker 5 (36:57):
It is.
Speaker 1 (36:58):
It plays good football, but it's not the AFC in
the NFC.
Speaker 3 (37:01):
Yeah, I mean, everything's a little bit.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
Just real quick, I love you. You see this every
year if Ohio State played the Jets, what would the
line be Jets minus thirty five. Get out of here
with that, right, drives me nuts.
Speaker 3 (37:17):
Even like if you even if it was the U
back in the day, when you look at the roster
and be like, there's thirty future pros on here, that's still.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
The Browns teams that won one game in two years,
like the oh to sixteen and the one and fifteen Browns.
Speaker 3 (37:31):
They would lose every time.
Speaker 1 (37:33):
They would be a four or five touchdown underdog. Yes,
I mean, it's just get out of here with that.
Speaker 3 (37:38):
And there's times they maybe even have better athletes. It
doesn't matter. It doesn't matter at all. I don't have
a great answer for Warren either. Again, there was a
bright spot. I thought Peyton Wilson played well. Yeah, and
he's gonna linebackers have a lot to do.
Speaker 1 (37:55):
His kind of task Number eight.
Speaker 3 (37:57):
I mean, I think just physically the way they look
and the way they run and his height, he's not
a bad matchup for him. I don't know how much
you ask a dugger. I tend to think as a
whole we might be drifting further away from as much
man coverage as we've seen, and we haven't seen a
lot of press, but there are pretty high percentage man
coverage team and it just isn't working that great, you know.
(38:20):
Not not that the zones are beautiful either, but it's
probably going to be a group effort, as it always is.
You got to tackle better, and you've got to be
better with your assignments and your recognition. But you do
have Wilson, Dugger Peppers who really haven't been the culprits.
I'm not saying that the two safeties are good or bad.
We just haven't seen much of them. But they could
(38:40):
have new people doing it.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
Then that, Matt leads to me of you better win
in the trenches in this game. Yeah, both sides of
the ball, but particularly for this Steelers defense, because if
Jonathan Taylor is running wild again, to use your Michael
Jordan analogy, he can score twenty five points, he's gonna
he can't score forty.
Speaker 3 (39:03):
Five yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
And if you can limit him in that regard, at
least become a little bit more predictable, get them into
down in distant scenarios, thank you, Captain Obvious. That'll make
things easier on your secondary as they're trying to figure
everything out on Sunday and Matt kind of the biggest
individual matchup in that regard to me, I mean it's
got to be Cam Heyward, right, Oh yeah, yeah, a
(39:25):
guy who is I know this might surprise some people,
but he's actually you tweeted this out this morning. He's
the third highest graded defensive player behind Michael Parsons and Miles.
Speaker 3 (39:36):
Garrett for Pro Football Focus.
Speaker 1 (39:39):
He also it's a small sample size, it's only been
a couple games, but he has had Quintin Nelson's number
over the course of his career. That to me is
a big, highlighted circle it matchup. If Cam can do
his thing there, that would mean a lot for the
rest of the trenches, which would mean a lot for
the rest of the defense.
Speaker 3 (39:57):
Yeah. I mean it's clearly a one on one heavyweight fight.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
Oh it's Tyson and Alie.
Speaker 3 (40:03):
Yeah, and they're gonna square off many snaps because Cam
doesn't really move off that spot. You know where Nelson's
gonna be. He's the left guard. Now, Nelson's always been awesome,
but the last couple of years he's been a little quieter,
you know. I mean, he hasn't been the best left
guard in the league. He's not an every week, every
year all pro type guy. This year, he's better than
(40:25):
he's been in the last couple of years, you know,
And I know, I tweeted out about Pro Football Focus
and I love Cam and I think that people. I
put it out there just so people, Oh, this whole
defense thinks everybody's terrible. No, that's not the case. Now.
I don't think he's playing better than every defensive player
on the planet besides Parsons and Garrett either. Yeah, I
mean that's pretty high praise. That would be by far
(40:48):
his best season of his awesome career. But that one
on one matchup still about as good as you're gonna get.
And you're gonna get it a lot.
Speaker 1 (40:57):
Yes you are. That is uh one that is unavoidable.
I mean, yeah, you know it's it's not a wide
receiver and a defensive back and could you move this
guy around those different things? And how do you get
DK Metcalf away from Sauce Garner or all those types
of conversation. This is two grizzly bears in a phone booth.
Speaker 3 (41:14):
Yeah, you know what I mean, And you're right. They've
done it before, and Cam has won more often than not.
Speaker 1 (41:18):
He has, he has and hopefully that will continue because,
like I said, Captain Obvious, the trenches are massively important
on every Sunday, Thursday, Monday, whenever the game is played,
every matchup, but particularly in this one, particularly for the
Steelers defense, because you have to at least make the
Colts a little predictable, You have to at least win
on first and second down in the run game, where
(41:40):
Indianapolis has been doing a ton of winning. Matt to
speak to that.
Speaker 3 (41:44):
Real quick too. I mean, Nelson's their best lineman, but
their O line overall is definitely top three. I mean,
it's a very good group. It's yeah, it's well coached.
Speaker 1 (41:54):
Certainly, if you were making a if you were power
ranking the thirty two offensive lines in the NFL, they
might not be number one, but you wouldn't get too
far down there until you would until you want. No
one's playing better, and especially right now. Yeah, yeah, Matt
speaks to that because you know you have a lot
of success on first down. That means you're running the
ball well, that means you're winning in the trenches and
(42:14):
you're setting your offense up to have to move the
sticks to have a lot of success. The Colts offense
on first downs in the NFL, second best in EPA,
fourth best in success rate.
Speaker 3 (42:25):
Yeah, and again a lot of it's because they want
your heavy personnel on the field. So this is something
that I just want everyone to understand and just take
a quick sidebar. There's a linebacker shortage of the NFL,
just off the ball, Fred Warner, and then there's who
knows who number two is. The Steelers are above average
(42:46):
in that department. I still believe that. I still believe
that no matter how the defense is played the last
two games. So this has been a Shanahan thing forever.
This is why you check so important and Kittle and
they don't go three wide because they want to make
team put linebackers on the field. I mean that is
an offensive minded thing, is how can we get this
(43:06):
team to put as many linebackers position right?
Speaker 1 (43:08):
But nobody in the NFL ball linebacker at it. So
keep two of those guys on the.
Speaker 3 (43:13):
Field and maybe even three, which is rare, but I mean, yes,
we don't want you in your dime and putting defensive
backs out there extra pass rushers. So they're really good
about that, and that's when they use their thirteen personnel.
A lot too is to keep you in personnel groups
to their liking, and they make you kind of play
left handed out of it, and Steelers have to be
(43:34):
very aware of that, which I'm sure they are, don't
get me wrong, but this team's really really good at it.
Speaker 1 (43:41):
They absolutely are. They certainly are. They are really good
at offense.
Speaker 3 (43:45):
They're good at everything right now, I mean they are.
Speaker 1 (43:47):
They've got one or two areas of the defense where
it feels like they're a little suspect. Okay, yeah, okay,
I wouldn't even say bad, just maybe they haven't been challenged.
Speaker 3 (43:56):
Playing with the lead really helps to one, absolutely one hundred.
Speaker 1 (44:00):
And I also think that's part of Listen, there, their
second and we'll get to this on the other side
in a minute, their secondary gives up, you know again
like the fifth most yards in the NFL. Yeah, I
do think part of that is kind of chicken or
an egg thing of they're playing with the lead so often,
so teams are throwing against.
Speaker 3 (44:16):
Them, and the fourth quarter, Buckner's got a baseball cap on,
and they're playing the Titans last wards getting some garbage
times exactly right. So some of these numbers get skewed
a little because the Layton game stuff doesn't matter because
they beat everyone so much. One thing I wanted to
mention about their offense though, and this is by no
means discrediting what they've done, but they're they're their play
(44:38):
caller stich In. It's kind of on a roll right
now too.
Speaker 1 (44:41):
Boy is he you know, like all him butter because
he's on a roll.
Speaker 3 (44:44):
Yeah, he's really good. The offense is the best in
the league. I'm not saying I mean, but he's also
that hitter that every every pitch looks like a beach ball,
you know, like he can't do anything wrong right now.
You know, he'd probably even sit here and tell you that.
Speaker 1 (44:57):
He's shooting free throws in the basket is like times
the size.
Speaker 3 (45:01):
Like this is, this is as good as it gets
it and that's bound to get back to them means
a little bit, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (45:08):
And again, hopefully you're the team that can do that.
Right they have maybe get some frustrations creeping into their
game that they haven't faced yet this season.
Speaker 3 (45:15):
And they've been really healthy on offense.
Speaker 1 (45:17):
And they certainly have they certainly.
Speaker 3 (45:19):
Have begging for injuries, but see if they can overcome something.
If it's in game, you know.
Speaker 1 (45:26):
Let's hope that that transpires. Certainly, so, there's kind of
a five star Friday focus Steelers defense, Colts offense. When
we come back to kick off our number two, we'll
spend the block, we'll talk to Steelers offense against the
Colts defense. More thoughts, more numbers from Matt here as
we continue to break down the big one Sunday at
Akroschure Stadium halfway home here on a Friday. It is
(45:47):
the Drive on Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio
Network
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