November 7, 2025 • 45 mins
Matt and Wes get ready for Sunday Night Football with a full preview of Steelers-Chargers.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Your tunes about Drive on your twenty four to seven
home of the Black and Goal Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Good afternoon, Steelers Nation, and welcome to the Drive on
the Steelers Audio Network. Wes Shuoler and Matt Williamson with
you here on a Friday as we are charged up
for this big game against the Chargers on Sunday Night football.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Matt, how we doing partner better?
Speaker 4 (00:33):
Before that joke? It wasn't so great? Charged up?
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Come on, man, I mean I could have made a
couple other right though.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
That was pretty corny. That was pretty corny. I'm sorry.
We'll get better as we go along.
Speaker 4 (00:48):
You're charged up for Billy Strings tonight.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
I'm charged up for Billy Strings tonight.
Speaker 4 (00:52):
Yes, for those big weekend going for those.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
That are familiar. Yeah, Billy Strings one of the best
young guitar players in the game. He's a a PPG
Paints Arena tonight. So I'm doing that with my wife
and some friends before an early morning flight to the
City of Angels tomorrow morning. We've got one of those
Steeler pep rally shows tomorrow with myself, Rob King, Missy Matthews,
and then of course Sunday Night football. A red eye
(01:17):
home Sunday night will be bright eyed and bushy tailed
and ready to do so it's gonna be a long
couple days, but hopefully a fun couple days. And of course,
you know the nice part of this bat just to
peel back to Carton a little bit, is we all
do this when the schedule comes out every year. We
look and we book our fall and what are weekends
gonna look like?
Speaker 3 (01:38):
What are the holidays gonna look like? All that stuff.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
That was the good news of this year's Steeler schedule
is that nothing really on Thanksgiving a christ which.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
Is I get arrows from the wife on that.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Absolutely you can imagine that too. For me last year
it was like the first year that my daughters were
excited for Christmas and Dad's gone, see them gone.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
For thirteen fourteen hours.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
You know that was that was, you know, so that
glad to be avoiding the holidays this year. When the
schedule came out, one of the first things I noticed was,
like most of our hefty travel is done before Thanksgiving.
Oh yeah, before like the Dublin trip right cross country
to La like after the top trips. After this, the
travel is pretty manageable. It's like all the division teams.
(02:20):
It's it's Detroit, it's Chicago. You know, easy up and down.
Speaker 4 (02:24):
Uh flights.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Correct.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
And last year it was tough down the stretch because
we had a lot of those crazy games down the stretch,
and you know, you get to you get to December
and like the grind of the season, you're a little
worn out. And so fortunately in this regard, it does
end up well that yeah, it'll be a long couple
days here, but after this the travel gets much lighter
down the back half of the season, which which works
out well. I'll take it that way certainly. But it
(02:50):
will be Steelers Chargers Sunday night football in prime time
there at Sofi Stadium. Missy Matthews is going to join
us here in about fifty minutes or so to end
herview from the sideline. We'll get into five Star Friday,
we'll go all around the league, all of that stuff.
But matt a typical kind of Friday scene setter, just
to get us started as we dip our toe into
(03:12):
Steelers and Chargers here. And I feel like a lot
of this conversation centers around the Steelers defense at justin Herbert.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
Is that fair?
Speaker 2 (03:22):
I mean, is that the kind of the biggest thing
for this matchup Sunday night.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
For me, it is, and I'll be honest, I feel
like I have a little bit of a blind spot
on the other side of the ball that I just
don't have a great feel for the Chargers defense as
a whole or how the Steelers are going to go
about attacking them. I know, I want to talk spend
more time on the other side, but I do think
that it'll be a somewhat controlled run the ball, try
(03:49):
to win time possession Steeler approach. Rogers picking spots he likes,
but that's kind of always the approach. I mean, I
think the run percentage should go up as than it
has in recent week. I don't see crazy defensive players
that you have to avoid the Michael Parsons conversations and
Al Garrett conversations. You know, Deurwin's a real interesting movable
(04:13):
chess piece. But you know, I mean the safety. But
the other side of the ball to me is super
intriguing in that I can't stop thinking about what a
disadvantage their O line is that and I feel bad
for them almost in a way. I mean other weeks,
you know what I mean. Yeah, yeah, because the rest
of the offense is pretty in good shape other than
running back.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Absolutely, if they were just kind of okay, if they
had one devastating injury to that offensive line, it happens.
It's the National Football League. Yeah, yeah, but they've had
multiple and you're right, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
Who's gonna play where, and I don't think that I'm
sure they do, but they're piecing together as Beck then
gonna play. I mean, what are you gonna do with
the new guy Penning? I mean, like, they don't have
any tackles.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
They don't, they're they're they're out their top three tackles
from the start of the season, which is just insane saying.
I mean, imagine if you know the Steelers were in
that situation and what we'd be saying. It's a it's
a heck of a road to navigate for them.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
Yeah, and you're starting Dylan Cook and you know somebody
like that. Yeah, all right, I mean that's why they're
on the roster. But still it's hard to win that way.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Absolutely, maybe picking guys off other practice squads and things
like that, it's it's tough to win that way, especially
against a defense like this. Steelers one they do have,
you know, outside of that offensive line, it's a talented offense.
They're they're the pass catcher, they're banged up at running back,
They've got some talented wide receivers, they've got one of
the better young tight ends in football. And so that's
(05:36):
why to me, it feels like, and this has been
the case for them all season, but it's really in
Herbert's hands a lot.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
Now. One thing we haven't talked about a lot, but
we've thrown it out there is Matt Locke and Fisk. Okay,
I mean people are like, who are those two dudes? Well,
those are like the Patrick or Card guys for them.
I mean they're like defensive linemen by trade that are
now just hammerhead, beat your face blocker types. And if
(06:05):
I were them, I think I would try to get
heavy with my personnel, Like I don't think I want
to put Herbert in the gun and have all those
weapons out there and just trust my line. I mean,
I don't think they're going to be able to throw
the ball downfield much. I threw us out on Twitter
to and Matt stats that the Steelers. I think you
have brought it up yesterday Steelers face like the lowest
(06:26):
percentage of downfield passing basically in the league, and that's
a recurring theme. So I'm sure the Chargers approach is,
let's get big and physical, let's run the football. Let's
have get the ball out of Herbert's hands quickly. You know,
can keenan Allen get me a quick slant here, boom
gad's in a quick quick hit or the Flacco stuff,
(06:48):
and then justin we need you to make seven or
eight big plays, you know, deep outs, tough throws, you know,
extend to play, you know, use your feet, which is
a dangerous aspect. And I get that, you know, I mean,
I think that's an illogical approach. Playing against the matt
Locks and those type of dudes isn't easy. Darnel Washington. Sure,
(07:08):
I mean they're they're rare players to play against, but
they also don't put points on the board or you know,
you're taking a skill guy off the field to get
those guys out there.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Yeah, no, absolutely, that makes a lot of sense. And
it seems like a game that the way the Steelers
like to win the last few years twenty to seventeen,
seventeen to ten. Yeah, yeah, it seems like that's the
type of game that the Chargers. Chargers would want to
play this weekend, but Charba will embrace which without question absolutely.
Speaker 4 (07:36):
But what I BET's making him crazy is the thing
we were talking about yesterday too, is in those games,
the Steelers have been so good over the years and
it's been a Tomlin thing of winning in the margins,
you know, penalties, turnover, differential, special teams, those type of things,
and other than just like time of possession as a whole,
all those type of aspects all favor the Steelers. Yeah,
(07:58):
time of possession is the one that the Steelers are
really at a disadvantage yet. So that's why.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
But my dad start to change for LA this week.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
Yeah, can LA have thirty five minutes of uh?
Speaker 3 (08:08):
With a rag offensive line?
Speaker 4 (08:10):
I don't, right, I mean that's why I think they're
gonna run the ball. But the ball carriers aren't great,
you know.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Yeah, it's a it's a very interesting conundrum I think
for the Chargers as they get ready for this one,
they are you know, you send myself and your co
host on the pre pregame show, Tom op From and
our buddy Tommy Radio. Uh kind of this breakdown that
you do every single week. Chargers offense number one in
the NFL rushing versus a light box. That that to
(08:36):
me is I wonder if there's a thought in their
mind that like, Okay, maybe we don't want to go
as heavy because we've had more success. Spread them out,
get them into nickel, and then we can mash. They're
also one of the best teams at rushing outside of
the tackles, but I wonder how much of that has
(08:57):
been with Joe ald and them, you know, kind of
better tackle play, better tackle play that they're not going
to have on Sunday.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
Now the matt Locks and Fisks of the world will
also be edged. Dude. But it's really hard to run
TJ's way. We know that. I mean teams run to
the offenses left a heavy, heavy percentage of the time.
Actually a number I heard on the way here. I
was just listening to a general podcast. They said, if
you eliminate blitz and you just look at like pressure
(09:27):
rate allowed, not only the Chargers last, but they're like
ten percent worse than everybody else. Interesting, and that's with
allt half the season, you know what I mean, Like
it's only getting worse. You know. So, I know that's
not weird to talk about now, but I would be
very hesitant if I'm the Steelers to get back to
(09:48):
my blitz heavy ways. I mean, it worked so well.
Not blitzing much against the Colts. You're getting torched and
leaving slower secondary guys in tough situations against Green Bay,
against the right, right, I mean, I think you try
to keep a Maybe you'd bring in a heavier box
and keep people close to the line of scrimmage, but
you don't blitz a lot. You know.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
That would make sense. Yeah, that would make sense.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
And of course, Matt, it's another match up between two
household names at the quarterback position. I think, of course
Aaron Rodgers and Justin Herbert each has a chance to
potentially make some history on Sunday Night Football. I don't
know if you saw this, but Labs sent us this,
then I did the first. So let's go with Justin
Herbert here first.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
Yeah, he had some milestones, He's got.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Some potential milestones, some potential big names that he's hunting
down here. With two or more touchdown passes on Sunday
Night Football, Herbert can surpass Peyton Manning for the fourth
most games with at least two touchdown passes by a
player in their first six seasons in league history. Yeah, okay,
so multiple touchdown games games in their first six years.
(10:58):
Patrick Mahomes and Dan Marino are for first at fifty eight.
One Hall of famer another going in. Josh Allen is
third with fifty four, not shocking. Future Hall of Famer
Peyton Manning right now and Justin Herbert are tied for fourth.
But Herbert could surpass Peyton Manning sometimes fourth. That would
(11:19):
be shocked if he didn't at some point this year.
So let's not have that happen on Sunday night. Let's
make him wait another couple of weeks to do that
here real quick.
Speaker 4 (11:30):
I mean, some of it's because people throw more now
than ever, and you know the next generation will pass
him quicker or nuts.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
That Dan Marino's in a group, But those other guys.
Speaker 4 (11:39):
Going to say that too, Like man, people forget how
good Marino was to start his career was ridiculous. But
Herbert had a pretty rare start to his career by
NFL history. I mean, it's as good as basically any
quarterback ever over the first five six years.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
And you're just a distraction here for a second. Yeah,
you're very like I know, Justin Herbert's one of those
almost polarizing enigma type quarterbacks.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Yeah, because people.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Will go, well, what has he ever won? Who has
he ever beaten? He's done nothing in the postseason. But
I I get that, I do, But I also think
it's tough to deny that he's a top five, top six,
top seven quarterback in the NFL right.
Speaker 4 (12:18):
Now, me too. I mean, I'm very pro Herbert, and
there are some people like, oh he had that the
Chargers imploded against the Jags in the postseason, and there's
been some postseason stuff it's not great and some turnovers
in the postseason. Okay, I mean, I'm not saying people
overrate that. I mean because obviously the Steelers have not
(12:39):
had postseason success lately either. But I do think people
don't realize how hard it is to win a playoff
game in this league. I mean, Dale and I've talked
about that at the time, Like, man, they only give
out thirteen wins a year.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
You know, it's crazy.
Speaker 4 (12:52):
You don't get that.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Often the Super Bowl champs taken three or four or
four and the runner up is taken two or three.
Speaker 4 (12:58):
Right, and then you got six left for everybody else
or whatever. Right. I mean, now that's not okay. I
mean when you're comparing them against the top dudes. But
I think I said this the other day. I still
think there's a tier one that hasn't changed for me.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
That's Burrow, the Big four.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
Yeah, Burrow, Lamar Allen Mahomes. But he would be five.
And the only guy that I think I can.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
Come I guess Matthew Stafford Stafford.
Speaker 4 (13:21):
I could battle him out. Yeah, Mike. If I had
meant to make the case for Stafford over Herbert, I
could make that case. I would pick Herbert just because
it was athleticism.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
If it was like, maybe you had to go win
a game this weekend with one of them, you would
take Stafford.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
But if you're talking no one's playing better than Stafford
right this minute.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
If you're talking in terms of their age and their
long ge.
Speaker 4 (13:37):
Then it's of course, But I'm just talking about how
good they are right now as players overall, they're they're
the two fighting for number five.
Speaker 5 (13:45):
For me.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
I think that's fair. I'm with you on that, and
hopefully that won't rear its ugly head and Herbert takeover.
Speaker 4 (13:54):
He could take the game over. Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
He's done that a couple of times this season.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
And he's running a lot more too. I mean we
saw him two games ago just tear the Steelers up
with his legs.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
Yes, you know, that's a great point.
Speaker 4 (14:07):
And he throws ball as well as anyone the league,
if not better. I am.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
I'm a big fan of his. I really am liked
him coming out at Oregon and he is. He's really
leveled up this year. To use a Matt Williamson.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
Term, yeah, some history. One thing I miss about, not
like being on the road or being with the team,
is one of my favorite things I got with the Browns.
I never even traveled with him, was just going down
on the field pregame and watching some big time quarterbacks
warm up. You know, like I remember walking just just
being like near Carson Palmer when he was warming up,
when he was in the height of his powers. I'm like, oh,
(14:40):
that's what the first overall pick looks. Ye, you know,
like I bet Herbert's like, wow, just sit there goofing
off with his buddy's an hour before game day warming up.
Would be like, oh, baby, sign me up with that.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
So you'll laugh at this, Matt Okay, another quick shiny
silver object for yeah, yeah, you know, you know, Dan,
Quinnlan and I are kind of like the behind the
scenes guys for this for our Steelers game Dame broadcasts.
I'm the engineer, he's the producer. We're in the booth
with you know, with Max and and Rob. We are
the ones who, you know, first one's in, last one's out,
set everything up, all that stuff. One of the things
(15:12):
we have to set up is Missy Matthews wireless mike
for her for her sideline reports.
Speaker 4 (15:16):
Makes sense.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
So what we typically do is I set up all
the gear and the frequencies and everything, get it all ready.
Dan goes down onto the field and then I'm up
in the booth at the rack and we testy and
nine times out of ten it sounds great. But sometimes
I've got to tinker a few little things, you know,
like that, Let's try this frequency has a little interference.
Let's try a different one. Let's try the back up.
You know, Dan's down on the field, like walking the
(15:39):
sideline like sounds good.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
It's not popping. We're all good. We're getting ranged from everywhere.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
We're all set see if all different spots to yes, right,
Normally I let him do that because, you know, especially
like starting to be this time of year, I don't
want to be going down the sideline and the cold
and to walk through all the bowels of these stadiums
going through security. But there's been two times in my
four years now traveling with the team and working all
the game days that I've been like, damn, I'm going
(16:04):
down on the field. Can you guess the two quarterbacks
that I wanted to go down on the field Because
it was because I wanted to go watch two quarterbacks
throw in warm up? Okay, last year on Christmas.
Speaker 4 (16:14):
Josh Allen or Mahomes.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Last last year on Christmas Mahomes. And then uh a
little bit two years ago when Tom Brady was here
with the Bucks. Yeah, I might have to do it
with Josh Allen this year Thanksgiving weekend.
Speaker 4 (16:25):
Oh yeah, we see those guys that close.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
You're like, it's unbelievable.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
It's unbelievable, right, you and I we talked.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
To talked about it to death at training camp, just
sitting there watching Aaron Rodgers sling it in practice every day.
Oh yeah, and you watch him and Mason Rudolph, who's
a viable NFL quarterback like Mason is no slouch, and
just they're doing the same drill and it just looks
Aaron Rodgers. It's crisper, it's quicker, it's it's it's unbelievable.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
Again, I'll respect it. I mean, like, if you watched
Rudolph and those guys before Rogers signed up, You're like, oh,
you know, they're really impressed with throwing the football. I've
never seen by it like that if you're not, if
you don't do this for a living, and you see
that guy, oh boy, you know.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
Why he's going to trot into Canton when he retires.
Speaker 4 (17:06):
Yeah, similar to kind of a star store. I mean,
go ahead, let's do it. Pregame when the Ravens came
to Cleveland, when I was there and it was way
before the game, you know, like people just kind of hanging.
There was like five or six Ravens that were way
(17:27):
in their own corner, like it was like their own fraternity,
like nobody else could be in there. And I forget
exactly who they were, but it was definitely Ogden Suggs,
Lewis Reid, and I think it was Dion or Woodson,
I forget who was not like drafted by them, sure,
but like the backup left guard wasn't allowed to go
(17:48):
hang with those dudes. Like I just kept walking like
as close as I could, Like, I wonder what they're
talking about.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
I'd love to just be a fly.
Speaker 4 (17:56):
But some of the best guys I've ever played, you know,
right awesome, But they were in their own they were
way apart from everybody else. Just I don't know what
they were talking about. They could be talking about pizza
or who knows, But I'm like, I want to know
what they're doing.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Crab cakes and yeah. Right, So not only real quick
before we go to break and get to Missy Matthews.
Not only does Justin Herbert have a chance to separate
himself from Peyton Manning right in terms of a statistic here,
so does Aaron Rodgers Manning right. He is most games
with multiple touchdown passes in NFL history.
Speaker 4 (18:29):
Okay, so one of them's multiple touchdowns for the first
six years, one of them's ever ever.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
Tom Brady duh number one overall.
Speaker 4 (18:37):
I don't if anyone ever catch him, I know, I
don't know.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Maybe Mahomes can, but maybe maybe Drew Brees number two,
Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers are tied for number three
with one hundred and sixty five multiple touchdown games in
their career.
Speaker 4 (18:51):
These things that Labs sent us from the league. I mean,
the career stuff you get from Rogers is crazy. Mind boggling. Yeah,
crazy number of touchdowns. I mean it's multiple touchdown games.
That's not how many touchdowns he's thrown in his life.
That's games he's thrown multiple and some of them are
three and four And I.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
Was gonna say, spoiler, most of them are too, like
three or four five?
Speaker 4 (19:11):
Yeah, I bet fifty percent of them are two. Yeah, right,
because they just had another one exactly right. I mean
he has more than anyone since been in a Steier uniform.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
He's got more touchdown passes in what eight games than
any Steelers quarterback since Ben.
Speaker 4 (19:26):
Had an entire seaieson in the entire season. It's nuts,
It's crazy. And I don't mean to pick on the guy,
but just watching the game last night, they should Pickett's
career stats. I'm like, he's still only his fifteen touchdowns
in his whole career and he's a fifteen to fourteen
TDed interception Raceio. I'm like, you've been thrown any more
since that.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Aaron Rodgers has seventeen this year at age forty one.
Speaker 4 (19:45):
Right, Picket's been around what four or five years, five
six years, whatever it is, five years. I mean you
got it's fifteen career touchdown pass.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Like you said, if you just went out on a
field as a casual fan and watched Kenny Pickett for
all the football, you'd be like, that looks different, right,
I got an NFL quarterback.
Speaker 5 (20:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
When you get into this type of rarefied air, Oh yeah,
I mean this is the one percent of the one
percent right here.
Speaker 4 (20:06):
You try to go on the field and watch Herbert,
I mean he's pretty special to Davy. Yeah. Oh man.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
The only thing is that's so fie that that stadium
is a beast man. I might get lost walking around
at that place.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
We'll see. I might have to do it. I might
have to do it. I'll let you know.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
The weather's going to be lovely. We'll see, We'll see
how it all plays out. The great Missy Matthews joins
us when we return on the other side, just getting
started today, West Huler, Matt Williamson. It's the Drive on
Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network. Back on
(20:59):
the Drive here on a Friday, as we get ready
for Sunday night football set in the scene for Steelers Chargers,
a big one for both of these teams, and joining
us now the Queen of the Sideline. You will hear
her on the call with Rob King and Max Starks.
Of course, the great Missy Matthews. Missy, thank you for
taking the time for us here on a Friday as always.
(21:21):
Earlier in the week, I think it was Wednesday, Matt
and I had a you know, talking about Sofi Stadium,
kind of just a conversation of the coolest stadiums and
arenas that we had ever been to in our lives,
and Sofi was very high on my list. Would you
concur it's a pretty special stadium they have out there
in La Oh.
Speaker 5 (21:40):
Yeah, I mean I feel like, you know, Vegas is
cool too. There's just something different about Sofi. I kind
of like that it's the canopy, open air type concept,
but you're still, you know, not freezing your butt off,
not that would ever be really that cold there, but yeah, there,
(22:00):
I don't know even just how their field suites are
set up. I really like those. And yeah, it's I
don't even know what to say about it because it's
just like everything about it was very thoroughly thought out.
Speaker 4 (22:14):
So what percentage of you guessing of black and Gold
on Sunday night.
Speaker 5 (22:19):
I think it's going to be high. Yeah, I know
the you know, the Chargers have a good record. I
just I don't know. I still will never forget the
twenty nineteen game. Granted it was in a soccer stadium,
and you know, they weren't maybe Chargers fans weren't as
excited about the team as they potentially are now, but
Feelers fans like took it over. They try to rick
(22:42):
ross the team and play renegade and then scratch out
of it, and like fans were like, too bad, we're
singing it. It was just I don't know, it was
just insane the way that they can take over. And
I think because it's West Coast, you know, there's not
many games out there, although I feel like we go
out there a lot in recent years, probably because of Vegas.
(23:04):
But yeah, I think it's going to be a high
percentage of Steeler Sands certainly is.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
And Missy, I I know, you know, you like myself
were fortunate enough to see a lot of those Steelers
Nation takeovers and it still never ceases to amaze you.
I'm expecting to see that again on Sunday night. One
of the things that you hear those guys talk about
all the time, like the TJ. Watts and the Cam Haywards,
the leaders of that defense, is just how demoralizing it
(23:30):
can be for an opposing team to have to go
to a silent count in their own stadium. And I think,
you know, just especially this week when it's a kind
of a patchwork, rag tag Chargers offensive line that they're
trying to figure out through so many injuries, if Steeler
fans can really show up and show out, that can
even add I think, just another roadblock for this Chargers
(23:51):
offense that's trying to figure things out in the trenches
and tackles.
Speaker 5 (23:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
Absolutely, that can cause some communication problems for a lot
of new faces.
Speaker 5 (24:00):
Yeah absolutely. You know, I think it was very startling
almost when I heard Aaron Rodgers say that, you know,
Packers fans got a little too loud there towards the
second half, and he was like, it's been a really
long time since I've used the silent count at home,
and I'm like, oh my gosh, that's horrible, and I mean,
we never have that problem, it feels like, and but
(24:20):
we're so used to doing it other places that you're like,
that is I can't even imagine, Like that's horrible, So
right right, like I was like, huh like, but I mean,
I will get Packersan's credit. They traveled well, they were
very loud, they were very into the game, and anytime
I've been at Lambeau, like, they're the nicest people. Like
(24:42):
their cutthroat and they want their team to win, but
they're still nice. It's it's a bizarre, bizarre thing. But
I do think, you know, especially with them losing their
two starting tackles, kind of the crown jewel of their
offensive line that they were so excited about heading into
this season. Losing both of those guys is huge, and
I just think that the Steelers can certainly defensively take
(25:05):
advantage of that and hopefully, you know, get Justin Herbert
to make some pretty bad decisions with the ball.
Speaker 4 (25:12):
So a very loyal listener that I was fortunate enough
to meet at training camp tweeted me just like half
an hour ago to ask you if you had any
input on the Cole Holcombe situation. I feel like we
should be talking about this more. He's still ill and
what's going on with Trice. If you don't, you don't,
But I was just curious if you had any input
on those I don't.
Speaker 5 (25:34):
I you know, when I did see that Corey Trice
was you know, they started as twenty one day window,
super excited, will not forget you know what he was
able to do in Denver last year and just you
know what he went through to get to that point,
and you know, end up back on IR eventually.
Speaker 4 (25:51):
And nothing interrupt messy, but it feels like the organization
loves this guy as a person. And I mean, like
everyone everyone in the planet's rooting for.
Speaker 5 (25:59):
Corey Trice, you know, a million percent, yes, And I think,
you know, like the whole I remember when Joe Hayden
kind of told everybody how coach Tomlin was calling Corey
and JPJ you know these avatar cornerbacks, and it's true,
that's how they're built. Obviously drafted very differently because of
their health history. But then when he popped up on
(26:19):
the injury report with like a new injury, you know,
the slash and the knee. I was like, oh, man, Like,
I just I don't know. So I don't have really
any insight into it. And obviously because he's still in
that practice window, it's not like it has to be
you know, discussed and whatnot. And then I think the
(26:39):
Cole holcome thing. It's just very strange. Yeah, okay, I
can say about it. I don't have any magical info
or insight into like what could have happened, but I
hope that you know, everything's okay, and it obviously Chuck
Clark is able to come back a little bit. So
I just I'm really anxious to see that status report
(27:02):
for the game that comes out later today.
Speaker 4 (27:05):
Speaking of illnesses, did you get the impression on Sunday
that DK Metcalf was battling through some stuff too.
Speaker 5 (27:14):
Illnesses?
Speaker 4 (27:15):
I don't know.
Speaker 5 (27:15):
I mean, obviously he had a very uh not that
you know, driven day. I do think that you were
seeing a little bit more and maybe it was just
you know, it just felt like even that one drive
where you're like, oh, Caleb Johnson's in the game, where
did that come from? And then he stayed in there
and then we saw some more Roman Wilson and until
(27:36):
really that phone headed, you know, mistake that coach Tumlin
kind of talked about on Tuesday. So I don't know
if it was just a matter of that or maybe
there was something, you know, a touch of something he
was dealing with and they he just you know, needed
to arrest.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
But Missy Matthews with us here on the drive. Missy,
I wanted to ask you from your standpoint on Sunday
in that Colts game. You know, one of the things
that Matt and I talked about earlier this week was
how it seemed like the move of Jalen Ramsey back
to safety really stabilized things on the back end, and
particularly from a communication standpoint, especially when you consider that,
(28:14):
you know, his running mate Kyle Dugger had just gotten
too town like forty eight or seventy two hours earlier,
too often, and particularly against Cincinnati and Green Bay and
those two losses. But we saw it a little bit,
you know, like Popcorn and some other games as well too,
Guys in that secondary after plays, you know, kind of
standing around with their palms up, looking at each other,
(28:35):
like what happened there? We weren't on the same page.
I thought you had him. No, I thought you had him.
That wasn't the case. On Sunday against one of the
NFL's best offenses in Indianapolis, they were very buttoned up
on that standpoint. I just wondered what you saw, what
you heard, how moving, how you thought Jalen Ramsey, you know,
moving back to safety was able to just again, I
think stabilize is the word I keep coming back to
(28:57):
for that group in the secondary.
Speaker 4 (28:59):
And I'm sure the conversations when they had the issues
extended the sidelines after too. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (29:06):
Right, And I agree with the move of Jalen Ramsey.
You knew going in there was going to be a
lot of undecided, undetermined not knowing who will be available things.
Kyle Duggar, as you said, basically, you know, spent like
a practice in a half getting to run through this defense,
and Ramsey knows where everybody should be and what should
(29:27):
be happening.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
And I agree.
Speaker 5 (29:28):
Stabilizing the word I keep using, too, but I think
it's it's very true, and I think it's you know,
he gives this amazing speech in the team meeting the
night before then he unselfishly is playing a position at
a very extensive level that he has not extensively played
for a very long time, and it's just like, whatever
we need to do, we need to get the win.
(29:49):
And I just think he really did help Kyle Duggar.
Just the interactions between those two on the field, on
the sidelines, you could just tell that Ramsey was like,
all right, this is my guy. Let's go like, I
got you under my wing. We're going to figure this out.
And I think one of my mentors throughout my career,
he would always, you know, whenever you start getting flustered
(30:09):
about something, just remember kiss keep it simple, stupid, and
he's like, when you say that to yourself, then you're
kind of like, wow, I'm overthinking this. And I truly
believe just from what all the players even said, they
simplified things on defense. There wasn't you know, intricate calls
where it really mattered who was in what position or
what personnel grouping that you know, could lead to confusion,
(30:32):
and I think simplifying it, knowing what you were going
to have to deal with with moving parts did help indeed,
and it just let them play fast and free and
it was just fun. Obviously not for Indie, but like
as a Steelers stand watching watching that, every single one
of my neighbors, friends, people I work out with were like,
that was just such a fun game, and it was
(30:53):
because of the way that they were playing fast and free.
Speaker 4 (30:57):
So I love asking you about Aaron Rodgers on game day,
and you know, the Steelers won, they put up points,
but even after the game, he said something along the
lines of, we got to put up more points whenever
that we get gifted the football, you know, through turnovers
that much. Did he sense any frustration with him against
the Colts.
Speaker 5 (31:16):
I don't necessarily think frustration. I think, you know, he
really wanted that touchdown that he went to Darnell twice
when they were down in the right ZWN. You know,
there were just the little things. I think, obviously not
to keep harving on Roman Wilton, but like that play,
Ben's Garnic wanted to kill him. So I fully imagine,
(31:37):
you know, I was so taken back by Ben that
I didn't really get a good look at Aaron right
after that. But I just think, you know, the three
and out those are just he's such a perfectionist. I
don't think it's like, you know, a bad frustration. It's
just like this is the play this is what everyone's
supposed to do. This is how it's supposed to work.
(31:57):
And when it doesn't, he wants to go into like
the why why didn't it work? Why wasn't this person there?
You know, So it's more or less like helping too,
And I think it's great for this young offense to
have somebody like that that is not afraid to go
up and down the bench, talks to different position groups,
talk to all the coaches. You know. He doesn't just
sit there and not communicate with people. He probably over communicates,
(32:21):
but I I am the person who would rather have
somebody over communicate with me than leave me in a
state where I'm still not sure what you're thinking, but
I'm probably thinking badly, so then it makes me worried.
So he's a straight shooter, and I think that is
a good thing for them in terms of it, and
even just you know, the minute chev he talks about
what happens in practice is and two and a half
(32:43):
weeks ago, you know, me and Pat Firoman finally got
this play down, Pat and then we were able to
put it, you know, into the game and score a touchdown.
I just think he's so into the details and obviously
that's why at forty one he is still able to
play and just have the you know, above the neck
advantage that no one can really touch it. It's just
incredible how good he is in terms of, you know,
(33:07):
using cadence, snapcounts, all those things, just the little things
that it doesn't matter what you can do with your arm.
You are above and beyond where other people are on
the other side of the field.
Speaker 4 (33:18):
It doesn't hurt to have his arm, no jo across his.
Speaker 5 (33:23):
Body and you know, all the things were it's still
some of those throws. I feel like, wow, Okay.
Speaker 3 (33:29):
It's incredible. It's incredible.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
It's why he's going to trot into Canton whenever he
does finally decide to hang him up. Yeah, a star
studded quarterback matchup. Certainly the stars always come out in
LA and hopefully Aaron Rodgers, back in his home state,
will be the one shining most bright. The great Missy
Matthews kind enough to give us some of her time
here on a Friday. Missy, great stuff.
Speaker 3 (33:51):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
I'll see on the plane tomorrow morning, and we'll be
listening for you on the call on Sunday.
Speaker 5 (33:57):
All right, sounds good. Thanks guys, there.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
She goes, thank you.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
See Matthews kind enough as always to join us. That's
an early flight out tomorrow, cousin.
Speaker 4 (34:05):
I tell you, why are you guys going so early?
Speaker 3 (34:07):
We always do when we go to West coast, just
to acclimate a little acclimate a little bit more.
Speaker 4 (34:11):
Yet, Okay, I was forging night game. I mean, there's
no reason, no rush to get there.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
It's normally like three o'clock if it's East coast or midwest,
will normally leave about three o'clockish on Sunday Saturdays.
Speaker 4 (34:22):
But if we go to one o'clock, right, okay, right, yes.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
If we go to like Vegas, Denver Vegas or further west,
we usually usually leave at nine o'clock in the morning
on Saturday.
Speaker 4 (34:34):
Okay, So how long was the flight?
Speaker 3 (34:37):
I think a little over five hours.
Speaker 4 (34:39):
Of course people should know this, but obviously you guys
don't have made layovers or any correct.
Speaker 5 (34:43):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (34:43):
And the nice thing about it, too, is when you
fly commercially, Matt and I'm sure you probably know this,
but just a quick little peak for our for our listeners.
When you fly commercially, you're kind of beholden to a
schedule because that flight escorts. That flight is going from
Pittsburgh to Charlotte, then it's going from Charlotte to Denver,
then it's going from Denver to San Francisco. It's a
(35:05):
lot like a bus schedule in school. Everything's timed out.
Yeah you walked, Yeah, you walked both ways uphill in
the one shoe. With a charter flight like this, a
private flight like this, they're not beholden to any schedule.
It's not like we have to land in LA. They
(35:26):
put the pedal down and you get there faster. So
my wife and I go out to Vegas like once
a year. When we fly to Vegas on the Steelers plane,
it's less than a four it's like three hours and
fifty minutes. You fly to Vegas just out of Pittsburgh
International and it's like four and a half hours four miles.
So when you're flying cross country, you can really cut
some time off, but it'll still probably be like about
(35:48):
five hours, I would imagine, and then we'll be taking
the Red Eye back Sunday night after the game.
Speaker 4 (35:52):
Baby whoo is that just sleepy fest?
Speaker 5 (35:56):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (35:57):
I mean I'm not great at sleeping on a plane,
but it's like, yeah, we get in the air and
all the lights go off.
Speaker 4 (36:01):
And yeah, everyone are the players quiet?
Speaker 3 (36:03):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (36:04):
Yeah, yeah, they got the sleep they got the fancy
sleep pods and stuff at the front of the plane
from that, but they are.
Speaker 5 (36:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
That usually like when we take off. If it's and
you know this too again, if the atmosphere is completely
different after a loss than a win.
Speaker 4 (36:18):
Of course'd be a thousand times different, right, So if
you lose, it's like how you lose, it's like.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
Sit down, shut up, don't smile, you know what I mean.
Don't don't even look like you're thinking about smiling.
Speaker 5 (36:27):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
If it's a win, which hopefully it will be, then
usually for maybe the first hour, there'll be some haha
raw raw back, and then everybody will go to be okay, okay.
Speaker 3 (36:37):
Yeah, so it'll be an interesting one certainly, and a
big one on Sunday night. Fo yeah.
Speaker 5 (36:45):
You can.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
There's so much food. It's it's very it's it's really
good stuff.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
And then then they come through with like cookies and
ice cream bars and and all kinds of stuff too.
You will not go hungry when you're traveling with the Steelers.
I promise you that that's awesome. That was the one
thing we you didn't get to experience in Dublin. I'm
kind of bummed for you because that's food. We didn't
stay at the same place as the Steelers in Dublin.
They were outside of the city, so you didn't get
(37:14):
to experience the wonders of the miss Stee.
Speaker 4 (37:18):
You know, like you could go get it to go.
Thing just of anything you want is at like eleven
PM or whatever.
Speaker 3 (37:25):
Yeah, you walk in at eleven o'clock.
Speaker 4 (37:27):
The whole ballroom, full ballroom.
Speaker 3 (37:29):
There's a pasta bar where you can make whatever kind
of pasta you want. There's filaman yard. I miss It's incredible.
Speaker 4 (37:36):
I haven't really done that since pit.
Speaker 3 (37:38):
Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
Normally I only get the for the one o'clock games
on the road. I normally only get the breakfast and
then then quit the breakfast breakfast omelet bar and smoothie
bar every breakfast. Yeah, but I'll get the I'll get
the lunch for this one on Sunday too, the pregame meal,
which is usually like chicken bar and flame and yawn
and all that good stuff.
Speaker 4 (37:58):
Which, of course these are fine tune athletes. You can
eat very healthy if you want, but you can also
eat crappy if you want. You know, like there's sausage
and you know, bacon, and you know, like.
Speaker 3 (38:08):
Everything you could imagine.
Speaker 2 (38:10):
Right, certainly, one more segment ago when we return on
the other side, we'll start breaking down a little five
Star Friday. We'll get into some of these matchups between
Steelers and Chargers, all that and more. It's the Drive
on Steelers Nation Radio on a Steelers Audio network, your.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
Tunes about drive on your twenty four to seven home
of the Black and Goal Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
Back on the Drive here as we closed down the
first hour in Matt we only have a couple minutes
in this segment before we got to kind of reset
our clock for hour number two. I know I said
we were going to get into five Star Friday, but
I kind of found a shiny silver object here that
I want to run past you for a few minutes. Okay, cool,
and then we'll do five Star to start the second hour.
Playoff probabilities are out for Week ten in terms of
(39:27):
if the teams win, what their playoff status looks like,
if the team loves what their playoff status looks like.
Speaker 4 (39:32):
Before I don't know how much we'll talk I probably
won't talk much about last night's game, but that was
massive for Denver. It was an ugly, ugly win, but
just mathematically they're in such a good spot. Eight and two,
a conference win, a division.
Speaker 3 (39:45):
Win, long week to prepare for the Chiefs.
Speaker 4 (39:47):
Say they played one game in twenty three days and
that's the chief game, you know, like setting up really
well for Denver.
Speaker 3 (39:53):
That was an ugly one last night.
Speaker 4 (39:55):
Yeah, that's a bad football.
Speaker 2 (39:56):
Like the Raiders are a mess and they're what two
and six now? But he just had a field goal kicker.
They could be four and five.
Speaker 4 (40:02):
Yeah, they could have amazing a.
Speaker 3 (40:03):
Field goal kicker. They could have won two games in
the last five days and before and five.
Speaker 4 (40:07):
That's a great point. I mean, I don't want to
talk too much about the game. That was a tough watch.
It was a tough maybe dislike Thursday football even more,
and I'm not high on it to begin with. I'm like,
Denver couldn't punt, I mean, penalties left and right.
Speaker 5 (40:18):
It was bad.
Speaker 2 (40:19):
Thursday night football is typically not great, but that was
an extra extra key dose of not so good last night.
Let's get into some playoff probabilities here from this game.
And then maybe a couple other pertinent ones from across
the league. Steelers, Matt With a win, this was a win.
This is a stark difference. With a win, the Steelers
would drive their playoff probability to seventy five percent.
Speaker 4 (40:41):
I actually knew that because I put it. I always
put that in the stat pack, right, I only put
the Steelers, but I don't know the other teams. It's
a big difference, you know, what to be for the
Steelers that they lose, No I should remember, but I'm
guessing it's like fifty four forty two. Oh wow, it's
under fifty wow, okay, which and that doesn't even matter
what the Ravens did well.
Speaker 2 (40:59):
I think part of that is because these models are
expecting the Ravens to win some games down the stretch.
Speaker 4 (41:04):
Yeah, that still has to happen, right right.
Speaker 2 (41:06):
Like they've got a tough one Baltimore, They've really.
Speaker 4 (41:09):
Tough one this week. Yeah, we'll pick games later.
Speaker 3 (41:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (41:12):
I don't love their chance.
Speaker 2 (41:13):
I know that their schedule is much easier, but they
still go to Minnesota, they still have green Bay, they
still play the Steelers twice.
Speaker 4 (41:18):
Like it doesn't happen very often. Were teams win like
eight out of nine, rightly, you know, right right, And.
Speaker 2 (41:23):
A lot of people are giving the Ravens the benefit
of the doubt in that regard, and I get.
Speaker 4 (41:26):
It, right, but that Steeler winner of the Colts makes
their life a lot harder.
Speaker 2 (41:30):
That forty two percent seems I would think it would
be more like fifty something, like you said, But according to.
Speaker 4 (41:36):
A conference loss.
Speaker 3 (41:37):
Yeah, according to.
Speaker 2 (41:38):
The advanced analytics, Steelers seventy five percent chance to make
the playoffs if they win, forty two percent if they lose.
Speaker 4 (41:45):
Doesn't feel like that big a game, Yeah, you know,
but that's pretty huge for the Chargers.
Speaker 3 (41:49):
It's pretty significant.
Speaker 2 (41:50):
And you can imagine that in the scope of of
their division, and you know, the Chiefs right on their
heels and the Broncos obviously being eight and two already.
With a win, the Chargers playoff probability would go to
eighty five percent really with a loss fifty five percent.
Speaker 4 (42:06):
In that division too, I mean, there's more teams to
fight with less chance to win the division than the
Steelers or Ravens would have. Yeah, and I wonder I
mean they that they know that they don't have any
offensive lineman, you know, what I mean. Yeah, yeah, they have.
Speaker 2 (42:21):
They have taken care of some of their tougher games
on the schedule already. The Chargers have okay, But still
that Steelers seems a little low for me, Like I
would think with a win would be closer to eighty percent,
with a loss closer to fifty percent for the Chargers.
Maybe with a loss it dips down a little below
fifty percent. But that's again, who am I to argue with? Yeah, yeh,
(42:43):
I mean I believe it's clearly a method. Here a
couple others Matt up Stark difference for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Speaker 4 (42:51):
The Jaguars this week, this is a big game for them.
Speaker 3 (42:53):
Seventy three percent if they win, forty one percent.
Speaker 4 (42:56):
If they lose, I bet they're not even on there.
But if Houston loses, they might be done.
Speaker 3 (43:00):
Houston is on here?
Speaker 4 (43:00):
Oh are they okay?
Speaker 2 (43:02):
Just thirty four percent chance to make the playoffs if
they win? Nine percent chance if they lose.
Speaker 4 (43:07):
For the bat with Davis Mills, Yeah, and we might
be scratching them off the list.
Speaker 2 (43:11):
Might be scratching them off the list. And the last
one to run by you here that kind of stood
out to me. Actually two more, both from the NFC
North Detroit. I mean they're five and three. They've been
at the top of our power rankings for the past
couple of weeks until they lost to Minnesota.
Speaker 4 (43:25):
They seem like you should have a better record than
the Steelers, right right, with.
Speaker 2 (43:28):
A win seventy seven percent with a lost forty nine percent,
because again, like, yeah, that division race is tough, and
that NFC wild Card race is going to be loaded.
Speaker 4 (43:37):
I mean, in that division, you could lose two in
a row and be in last place.
Speaker 3 (43:40):
It's crazy.
Speaker 4 (43:41):
Yeah, yeah, if things don't go your way.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
Crazy And then a a obviously massive Sunday for the
Chicago Bears as well too. If they win, they've got
a forty two percent chance to make the playoffs. If
they lose just seventeen.
Speaker 4 (43:52):
Wow, okay, so we could almost be scratching them off
the list if they especially in that division.
Speaker 2 (43:57):
In that I think it's a it's a it's a
elimination type Sunday for Chicago. It's certainly an elimination Sunday
for the Houston Texans.
Speaker 4 (44:05):
And unfortunately you get your quarter and c J.
Speaker 2 (44:07):
Stroud has not been cleared out of concussion protocol. In fact,
they ruled them out all that, which in the long
term for them is probably the smart decision.
Speaker 4 (44:15):
But Man, kind of a wasted year though.
Speaker 2 (44:17):
It feels like for them and for the Washington Commanders
like a real sunken year. The largers Chargers get a
couple more losses here, it could start feeling that same
way for them.
Speaker 4 (44:27):
I'm going to predict that for the Chargers. There's a
couple of teams I think are ready to We'll talk
about this when we start talking about games, but I
think like the Eagles might be ready to show the
league that they're awesome again.
Speaker 3 (44:36):
Yeah, you know where they certainly beefed up with the
trade deadline too.
Speaker 5 (44:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (44:40):
Like I look at the Chargers and be like, man,
you don't get any lineman back period, Like this could
be when you look at the season, be like, man,
you hung around well, but then they just couldn't keep up.
Speaker 2 (44:50):
Hopefully that's the song that they're singing in Los Angeles
on Monday morning after a big Steelers Sunday Night victory.
In our number two five star f we'll go around
the league and we will of course give our predictions
for Sunday Night football. All of that when we return
halfway home. On the drive on Steelers Nation Radio,
Your tunes about Drive on your twenty four to seven
home of the Black and Goal Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Good afternoon, Steelers Nation, and welcome to the Drive on
the Steelers Audio Network. Wes Shuoler and Matt Williamson with
you here on a Friday as we are charged up
for this big game against the Chargers on Sunday Night football.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Matt, how we doing partner better?
Speaker 4 (00:33):
Before that joke? It wasn't so great? Charged up?
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Come on, man, I mean I could have made a
couple other right though.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
That was pretty corny. That was pretty corny. I'm sorry.
We'll get better as we go along.
Speaker 4 (00:48):
You're charged up for Billy Strings tonight.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
I'm charged up for Billy Strings tonight.
Speaker 4 (00:52):
Yes, for those big weekend going for those.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
That are familiar. Yeah, Billy Strings one of the best
young guitar players in the game. He's a a PPG
Paints Arena tonight. So I'm doing that with my wife
and some friends before an early morning flight to the
City of Angels tomorrow morning. We've got one of those
Steeler pep rally shows tomorrow with myself, Rob King, Missy Matthews,
and then of course Sunday Night football. A red eye
(01:17):
home Sunday night will be bright eyed and bushy tailed
and ready to do so it's gonna be a long
couple days, but hopefully a fun couple days. And of course,
you know the nice part of this bat just to
peel back to Carton a little bit, is we all
do this when the schedule comes out every year. We
look and we book our fall and what are weekends
gonna look like?
Speaker 3 (01:38):
What are the holidays gonna look like? All that stuff.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
That was the good news of this year's Steeler schedule
is that nothing really on Thanksgiving a christ which.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
Is I get arrows from the wife on that.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Absolutely you can imagine that too. For me last year
it was like the first year that my daughters were
excited for Christmas and Dad's gone, see them gone.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
For thirteen fourteen hours.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
You know that was that was, you know, so that
glad to be avoiding the holidays this year. When the
schedule came out, one of the first things I noticed was,
like most of our hefty travel is done before Thanksgiving.
Oh yeah, before like the Dublin trip right cross country
to La like after the top trips. After this, the
travel is pretty manageable. It's like all the division teams.
(02:20):
It's it's Detroit, it's Chicago. You know, easy up and down.
Speaker 4 (02:24):
Uh flights.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Correct.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
And last year it was tough down the stretch because
we had a lot of those crazy games down the stretch,
and you know, you get to you get to December
and like the grind of the season, you're a little
worn out. And so fortunately in this regard, it does
end up well that yeah, it'll be a long couple
days here, but after this the travel gets much lighter
down the back half of the season, which which works
out well. I'll take it that way certainly. But it
(02:50):
will be Steelers Chargers Sunday night football in prime time
there at Sofi Stadium. Missy Matthews is going to join
us here in about fifty minutes or so to end
herview from the sideline. We'll get into five Star Friday,
we'll go all around the league, all of that stuff.
But matt a typical kind of Friday scene setter, just
to get us started as we dip our toe into
(03:12):
Steelers and Chargers here. And I feel like a lot
of this conversation centers around the Steelers defense at justin Herbert.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
Is that fair?
Speaker 2 (03:22):
I mean, is that the kind of the biggest thing
for this matchup Sunday night.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
For me, it is, and I'll be honest, I feel
like I have a little bit of a blind spot
on the other side of the ball that I just
don't have a great feel for the Chargers defense as
a whole or how the Steelers are going to go
about attacking them. I know, I want to talk spend
more time on the other side, but I do think
that it'll be a somewhat controlled run the ball, try
(03:49):
to win time possession Steeler approach. Rogers picking spots he likes,
but that's kind of always the approach. I mean, I
think the run percentage should go up as than it
has in recent week. I don't see crazy defensive players
that you have to avoid the Michael Parsons conversations and
Al Garrett conversations. You know, Deurwin's a real interesting movable
(04:13):
chess piece. But you know, I mean the safety. But
the other side of the ball to me is super
intriguing in that I can't stop thinking about what a
disadvantage their O line is that and I feel bad
for them almost in a way. I mean other weeks,
you know what I mean. Yeah, yeah, because the rest
of the offense is pretty in good shape other than
running back.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Absolutely, if they were just kind of okay, if they
had one devastating injury to that offensive line, it happens.
It's the National Football League. Yeah, yeah, but they've had
multiple and you're right, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
Who's gonna play where, and I don't think that I'm
sure they do, but they're piecing together as Beck then
gonna play. I mean, what are you gonna do with
the new guy Penning? I mean, like, they don't have
any tackles.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
They don't, they're they're they're out their top three tackles
from the start of the season, which is just insane saying.
I mean, imagine if you know the Steelers were in
that situation and what we'd be saying. It's a it's
a heck of a road to navigate for them.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
Yeah, and you're starting Dylan Cook and you know somebody
like that. Yeah, all right, I mean that's why they're
on the roster. But still it's hard to win that way.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Absolutely, maybe picking guys off other practice squads and things
like that, it's it's tough to win that way, especially
against a defense like this. Steelers one they do have,
you know, outside of that offensive line, it's a talented offense.
They're they're the pass catcher, they're banged up at running back,
They've got some talented wide receivers, they've got one of
the better young tight ends in football. And so that's
(05:36):
why to me, it feels like, and this has been
the case for them all season, but it's really in
Herbert's hands a lot.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
Now. One thing we haven't talked about a lot, but
we've thrown it out there is Matt Locke and Fisk. Okay,
I mean people are like, who are those two dudes? Well,
those are like the Patrick or Card guys for them.
I mean they're like defensive linemen by trade that are
now just hammerhead, beat your face blocker types. And if
(06:05):
I were them, I think I would try to get
heavy with my personnel, Like I don't think I want
to put Herbert in the gun and have all those
weapons out there and just trust my line. I mean,
I don't think they're going to be able to throw
the ball downfield much. I threw us out on Twitter
to and Matt stats that the Steelers. I think you
have brought it up yesterday Steelers face like the lowest
(06:26):
percentage of downfield passing basically in the league, and that's
a recurring theme. So I'm sure the Chargers approach is,
let's get big and physical, let's run the football. Let's
have get the ball out of Herbert's hands quickly. You know,
can keenan Allen get me a quick slant here, boom
gad's in a quick quick hit or the Flacco stuff,
(06:48):
and then justin we need you to make seven or
eight big plays, you know, deep outs, tough throws, you know,
extend to play, you know, use your feet, which is
a dangerous aspect. And I get that, you know, I mean,
I think that's an illogical approach. Playing against the matt
Locks and those type of dudes isn't easy. Darnel Washington. Sure,
(07:08):
I mean they're they're rare players to play against, but
they also don't put points on the board or you know,
you're taking a skill guy off the field to get
those guys out there.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Yeah, no, absolutely, that makes a lot of sense. And
it seems like a game that the way the Steelers
like to win the last few years twenty to seventeen,
seventeen to ten. Yeah, yeah, it seems like that's the
type of game that the Chargers. Chargers would want to
play this weekend, but Charba will embrace which without question absolutely.
Speaker 4 (07:36):
But what I BET's making him crazy is the thing
we were talking about yesterday too, is in those games,
the Steelers have been so good over the years and
it's been a Tomlin thing of winning in the margins,
you know, penalties, turnover, differential, special teams, those type of things,
and other than just like time of possession as a whole,
all those type of aspects all favor the Steelers. Yeah,
(07:58):
time of possession is the one that the Steelers are
really at a disadvantage yet. So that's why.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
But my dad start to change for LA this week.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
Yeah, can LA have thirty five minutes of uh?
Speaker 3 (08:08):
With a rag offensive line?
Speaker 4 (08:10):
I don't, right, I mean that's why I think they're
gonna run the ball. But the ball carriers aren't great,
you know.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Yeah, it's a it's a very interesting conundrum I think
for the Chargers as they get ready for this one,
they are you know, you send myself and your co
host on the pre pregame show, Tom op From and
our buddy Tommy Radio. Uh kind of this breakdown that
you do every single week. Chargers offense number one in
the NFL rushing versus a light box. That that to
(08:36):
me is I wonder if there's a thought in their
mind that like, Okay, maybe we don't want to go
as heavy because we've had more success. Spread them out,
get them into nickel, and then we can mash. They're
also one of the best teams at rushing outside of
the tackles, but I wonder how much of that has
(08:57):
been with Joe ald and them, you know, kind of
better tackle play, better tackle play that they're not going
to have on Sunday.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
Now the matt Locks and Fisks of the world will
also be edged. Dude. But it's really hard to run
TJ's way. We know that. I mean teams run to
the offenses left a heavy, heavy percentage of the time.
Actually a number I heard on the way here. I
was just listening to a general podcast. They said, if
you eliminate blitz and you just look at like pressure
(09:27):
rate allowed, not only the Chargers last, but they're like
ten percent worse than everybody else. Interesting, and that's with
allt half the season, you know what I mean, Like
it's only getting worse. You know. So, I know that's
not weird to talk about now, but I would be
very hesitant if I'm the Steelers to get back to
(09:48):
my blitz heavy ways. I mean, it worked so well.
Not blitzing much against the Colts. You're getting torched and
leaving slower secondary guys in tough situations against Green Bay,
against the right, right, I mean, I think you try
to keep a Maybe you'd bring in a heavier box
and keep people close to the line of scrimmage, but
you don't blitz a lot. You know.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
That would make sense. Yeah, that would make sense.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
And of course, Matt, it's another match up between two
household names at the quarterback position. I think, of course
Aaron Rodgers and Justin Herbert each has a chance to
potentially make some history on Sunday Night Football. I don't
know if you saw this, but Labs sent us this,
then I did the first. So let's go with Justin
Herbert here first.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
Yeah, he had some milestones, He's got.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Some potential milestones, some potential big names that he's hunting
down here. With two or more touchdown passes on Sunday
Night Football, Herbert can surpass Peyton Manning for the fourth
most games with at least two touchdown passes by a
player in their first six seasons in league history. Yeah, okay,
so multiple touchdown games games in their first six years.
(10:58):
Patrick Mahomes and Dan Marino are for first at fifty eight.
One Hall of famer another going in. Josh Allen is
third with fifty four, not shocking. Future Hall of Famer
Peyton Manning right now and Justin Herbert are tied for fourth.
But Herbert could surpass Peyton Manning sometimes fourth. That would
(11:19):
be shocked if he didn't at some point this year.
So let's not have that happen on Sunday night. Let's
make him wait another couple of weeks to do that
here real quick.
Speaker 4 (11:30):
I mean, some of it's because people throw more now
than ever, and you know the next generation will pass
him quicker or nuts.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
That Dan Marino's in a group, But those other guys.
Speaker 4 (11:39):
Going to say that too, Like man, people forget how
good Marino was to start his career was ridiculous. But
Herbert had a pretty rare start to his career by
NFL history. I mean, it's as good as basically any
quarterback ever over the first five six years.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
And you're just a distraction here for a second. Yeah,
you're very like I know, Justin Herbert's one of those
almost polarizing enigma type quarterbacks.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Yeah, because people.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Will go, well, what has he ever won? Who has
he ever beaten? He's done nothing in the postseason. But
I I get that, I do, But I also think
it's tough to deny that he's a top five, top six,
top seven quarterback in the NFL right.
Speaker 4 (12:18):
Now, me too. I mean, I'm very pro Herbert, and
there are some people like, oh he had that the
Chargers imploded against the Jags in the postseason, and there's
been some postseason stuff it's not great and some turnovers
in the postseason. Okay, I mean, I'm not saying people
overrate that. I mean because obviously the Steelers have not
(12:39):
had postseason success lately either. But I do think people
don't realize how hard it is to win a playoff
game in this league. I mean, Dale and I've talked
about that at the time, Like, man, they only give
out thirteen wins a year.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
You know, it's crazy.
Speaker 4 (12:52):
You don't get that.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Often the Super Bowl champs taken three or four or
four and the runner up is taken two or three.
Speaker 4 (12:58):
Right, and then you got six left for everybody else
or whatever. Right. I mean, now that's not okay. I
mean when you're comparing them against the top dudes. But
I think I said this the other day. I still
think there's a tier one that hasn't changed for me.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
That's Burrow, the Big four.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
Yeah, Burrow, Lamar Allen Mahomes. But he would be five.
And the only guy that I think I can.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
Come I guess Matthew Stafford Stafford.
Speaker 4 (13:21):
I could battle him out. Yeah, Mike. If I had
meant to make the case for Stafford over Herbert, I
could make that case. I would pick Herbert just because
it was athleticism.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
If it was like, maybe you had to go win
a game this weekend with one of them, you would
take Stafford.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
But if you're talking no one's playing better than Stafford
right this minute.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
If you're talking in terms of their age and their
long ge.
Speaker 4 (13:37):
Then it's of course, But I'm just talking about how
good they are right now as players overall, they're they're
the two fighting for number five.
Speaker 5 (13:45):
For me.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
I think that's fair. I'm with you on that, and
hopefully that won't rear its ugly head and Herbert takeover.
Speaker 4 (13:54):
He could take the game over. Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
He's done that a couple of times this season.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
And he's running a lot more too. I mean we
saw him two games ago just tear the Steelers up
with his legs.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
Yes, you know, that's a great point.
Speaker 4 (14:07):
And he throws ball as well as anyone the league,
if not better. I am.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
I'm a big fan of his. I really am liked
him coming out at Oregon and he is. He's really
leveled up this year. To use a Matt Williamson.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
Term, yeah, some history. One thing I miss about, not
like being on the road or being with the team,
is one of my favorite things I got with the Browns.
I never even traveled with him, was just going down
on the field pregame and watching some big time quarterbacks
warm up. You know, like I remember walking just just
being like near Carson Palmer when he was warming up,
when he was in the height of his powers. I'm like, oh,
(14:40):
that's what the first overall pick looks. Ye, you know,
like I bet Herbert's like, wow, just sit there goofing
off with his buddy's an hour before game day warming up.
Would be like, oh, baby, sign me up with that.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
So you'll laugh at this, Matt Okay, another quick shiny
silver object for yeah, yeah, you know, you know, Dan,
Quinnlan and I are kind of like the behind the
scenes guys for this for our Steelers game Dame broadcasts.
I'm the engineer, he's the producer. We're in the booth
with you know, with Max and and Rob. We are
the ones who, you know, first one's in, last one's out,
set everything up, all that stuff. One of the things
(15:12):
we have to set up is Missy Matthews wireless mike
for her for her sideline reports.
Speaker 4 (15:16):
Makes sense.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
So what we typically do is I set up all
the gear and the frequencies and everything, get it all ready.
Dan goes down onto the field and then I'm up
in the booth at the rack and we testy and
nine times out of ten it sounds great. But sometimes
I've got to tinker a few little things, you know,
like that, Let's try this frequency has a little interference.
Let's try a different one. Let's try the back up.
You know, Dan's down on the field, like walking the
(15:39):
sideline like sounds good.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
It's not popping. We're all good. We're getting ranged from everywhere.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
We're all set see if all different spots to yes, right,
Normally I let him do that because, you know, especially
like starting to be this time of year, I don't
want to be going down the sideline and the cold
and to walk through all the bowels of these stadiums
going through security. But there's been two times in my
four years now traveling with the team and working all
the game days that I've been like, damn, I'm going
(16:04):
down on the field. Can you guess the two quarterbacks
that I wanted to go down on the field Because
it was because I wanted to go watch two quarterbacks
throw in warm up? Okay, last year on Christmas.
Speaker 4 (16:14):
Josh Allen or Mahomes.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Last last year on Christmas Mahomes. And then uh a
little bit two years ago when Tom Brady was here
with the Bucks. Yeah, I might have to do it
with Josh Allen this year Thanksgiving weekend.
Speaker 4 (16:25):
Oh yeah, we see those guys that close.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
You're like, it's unbelievable.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
It's unbelievable, right, you and I we talked.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
To talked about it to death at training camp, just
sitting there watching Aaron Rodgers sling it in practice every day.
Oh yeah, and you watch him and Mason Rudolph, who's
a viable NFL quarterback like Mason is no slouch, and
just they're doing the same drill and it just looks
Aaron Rodgers. It's crisper, it's quicker, it's it's it's unbelievable.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
Again, I'll respect it. I mean, like, if you watched
Rudolph and those guys before Rogers signed up, You're like, oh,
you know, they're really impressed with throwing the football. I've
never seen by it like that if you're not, if
you don't do this for a living, and you see
that guy, oh boy, you know.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
Why he's going to trot into Canton when he retires.
Speaker 4 (17:06):
Yeah, similar to kind of a star store. I mean,
go ahead, let's do it. Pregame when the Ravens came
to Cleveland, when I was there and it was way
before the game, you know, like people just kind of hanging.
There was like five or six Ravens that were way
(17:27):
in their own corner, like it was like their own fraternity,
like nobody else could be in there. And I forget
exactly who they were, but it was definitely Ogden Suggs,
Lewis Reid, and I think it was Dion or Woodson,
I forget who was not like drafted by them, sure,
but like the backup left guard wasn't allowed to go
(17:48):
hang with those dudes. Like I just kept walking like
as close as I could, Like, I wonder what they're
talking about.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
I'd love to just be a fly.
Speaker 4 (17:56):
But some of the best guys I've ever played, you know,
right awesome, But they were in their own they were
way apart from everybody else. Just I don't know what
they were talking about. They could be talking about pizza
or who knows, But I'm like, I want to know
what they're doing.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Crab cakes and yeah. Right, So not only real quick
before we go to break and get to Missy Matthews.
Not only does Justin Herbert have a chance to separate
himself from Peyton Manning right in terms of a statistic here,
so does Aaron Rodgers Manning right. He is most games
with multiple touchdown passes in NFL history.
Speaker 4 (18:29):
Okay, so one of them's multiple touchdowns for the first
six years, one of them's ever ever.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
Tom Brady duh number one overall.
Speaker 4 (18:37):
I don't if anyone ever catch him, I know, I
don't know.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Maybe Mahomes can, but maybe maybe Drew Brees number two,
Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers are tied for number three
with one hundred and sixty five multiple touchdown games in
their career.
Speaker 4 (18:51):
These things that Labs sent us from the league. I mean,
the career stuff you get from Rogers is crazy. Mind boggling. Yeah,
crazy number of touchdowns. I mean it's multiple touchdown games.
That's not how many touchdowns he's thrown in his life.
That's games he's thrown multiple and some of them are
three and four And I.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
Was gonna say, spoiler, most of them are too, like
three or four five?
Speaker 4 (19:11):
Yeah, I bet fifty percent of them are two. Yeah, right,
because they just had another one exactly right. I mean
he has more than anyone since been in a Steier uniform.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
He's got more touchdown passes in what eight games than
any Steelers quarterback since Ben.
Speaker 4 (19:26):
Had an entire seaieson in the entire season. It's nuts,
It's crazy. And I don't mean to pick on the guy,
but just watching the game last night, they should Pickett's
career stats. I'm like, he's still only his fifteen touchdowns
in his whole career and he's a fifteen to fourteen
TDed interception Raceio. I'm like, you've been thrown any more
since that.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Aaron Rodgers has seventeen this year at age forty one.
Speaker 4 (19:45):
Right, Picket's been around what four or five years, five
six years, whatever it is, five years. I mean you
got it's fifteen career touchdown pass.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Like you said, if you just went out on a
field as a casual fan and watched Kenny Pickett for
all the football, you'd be like, that looks different, right,
I got an NFL quarterback.
Speaker 5 (20:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
When you get into this type of rarefied air, Oh yeah,
I mean this is the one percent of the one
percent right here.
Speaker 4 (20:06):
You try to go on the field and watch Herbert,
I mean he's pretty special to Davy. Yeah. Oh man.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
The only thing is that's so fie that that stadium
is a beast man. I might get lost walking around
at that place.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
We'll see. I might have to do it. I might
have to do it. I'll let you know.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
The weather's going to be lovely. We'll see, We'll see
how it all plays out. The great Missy Matthews joins
us when we return on the other side, just getting
started today, West Huler, Matt Williamson. It's the Drive on
Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network. Back on
(20:59):
the Drive here on a Friday, as we get ready
for Sunday night football set in the scene for Steelers Chargers,
a big one for both of these teams, and joining
us now the Queen of the Sideline. You will hear
her on the call with Rob King and Max Starks.
Of course, the great Missy Matthews. Missy, thank you for
taking the time for us here on a Friday as always.
(21:21):
Earlier in the week, I think it was Wednesday, Matt
and I had a you know, talking about Sofi Stadium,
kind of just a conversation of the coolest stadiums and
arenas that we had ever been to in our lives,
and Sofi was very high on my list. Would you
concur it's a pretty special stadium they have out there
in La Oh.
Speaker 5 (21:40):
Yeah, I mean I feel like, you know, Vegas is
cool too. There's just something different about Sofi. I kind
of like that it's the canopy, open air type concept,
but you're still, you know, not freezing your butt off,
not that would ever be really that cold there, but yeah, there,
(22:00):
I don't know even just how their field suites are
set up. I really like those. And yeah, it's I
don't even know what to say about it because it's
just like everything about it was very thoroughly thought out.
Speaker 4 (22:14):
So what percentage of you guessing of black and Gold
on Sunday night.
Speaker 5 (22:19):
I think it's going to be high. Yeah, I know
the you know, the Chargers have a good record. I
just I don't know. I still will never forget the
twenty nineteen game. Granted it was in a soccer stadium,
and you know, they weren't maybe Chargers fans weren't as
excited about the team as they potentially are now, but
Feelers fans like took it over. They try to rick
(22:42):
ross the team and play renegade and then scratch out
of it, and like fans were like, too bad, we're
singing it. It was just I don't know, it was
just insane the way that they can take over. And
I think because it's West Coast, you know, there's not
many games out there, although I feel like we go
out there a lot in recent years, probably because of Vegas.
(23:04):
But yeah, I think it's going to be a high
percentage of Steeler Sands certainly is.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
And Missy, I I know, you know, you like myself
were fortunate enough to see a lot of those Steelers
Nation takeovers and it still never ceases to amaze you.
I'm expecting to see that again on Sunday night. One
of the things that you hear those guys talk about
all the time, like the TJ. Watts and the Cam Haywards,
the leaders of that defense, is just how demoralizing it
(23:30):
can be for an opposing team to have to go
to a silent count in their own stadium. And I think,
you know, just especially this week when it's a kind
of a patchwork, rag tag Chargers offensive line that they're
trying to figure out through so many injuries, if Steeler
fans can really show up and show out, that can
even add I think, just another roadblock for this Chargers
(23:51):
offense that's trying to figure things out in the trenches
and tackles.
Speaker 5 (23:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
Absolutely, that can cause some communication problems for a lot
of new faces.
Speaker 5 (24:00):
Yeah absolutely. You know, I think it was very startling
almost when I heard Aaron Rodgers say that, you know,
Packers fans got a little too loud there towards the
second half, and he was like, it's been a really
long time since I've used the silent count at home,
and I'm like, oh my gosh, that's horrible, and I mean,
we never have that problem, it feels like, and but
(24:20):
we're so used to doing it other places that you're like,
that is I can't even imagine, Like that's horrible, So
right right, like I was like, huh like, but I mean,
I will get Packersan's credit. They traveled well, they were
very loud, they were very into the game, and anytime
I've been at Lambeau, like, they're the nicest people. Like
(24:42):
their cutthroat and they want their team to win, but
they're still nice. It's it's a bizarre, bizarre thing. But
I do think, you know, especially with them losing their
two starting tackles, kind of the crown jewel of their
offensive line that they were so excited about heading into
this season. Losing both of those guys is huge, and
I just think that the Steelers can certainly defensively take
(25:05):
advantage of that and hopefully, you know, get Justin Herbert
to make some pretty bad decisions with the ball.
Speaker 4 (25:12):
So a very loyal listener that I was fortunate enough
to meet at training camp tweeted me just like half
an hour ago to ask you if you had any
input on the Cole Holcombe situation. I feel like we
should be talking about this more. He's still ill and
what's going on with Trice. If you don't, you don't,
But I was just curious if you had any input
on those I don't.
Speaker 5 (25:34):
I you know, when I did see that Corey Trice
was you know, they started as twenty one day window,
super excited, will not forget you know what he was
able to do in Denver last year and just you
know what he went through to get to that point,
and you know, end up back on IR eventually.
Speaker 4 (25:51):
And nothing interrupt messy, but it feels like the organization
loves this guy as a person. And I mean, like
everyone everyone in the planet's rooting for.
Speaker 5 (25:59):
Corey Trice, you know, a million percent, yes, And I think,
you know, like the whole I remember when Joe Hayden
kind of told everybody how coach Tomlin was calling Corey
and JPJ you know these avatar cornerbacks, and it's true,
that's how they're built. Obviously drafted very differently because of
their health history. But then when he popped up on
(26:19):
the injury report with like a new injury, you know,
the slash and the knee. I was like, oh, man, Like,
I just I don't know. So I don't have really
any insight into it. And obviously because he's still in
that practice window, it's not like it has to be
you know, discussed and whatnot. And then I think the
(26:39):
Cole holcome thing. It's just very strange. Yeah, okay, I
can say about it. I don't have any magical info
or insight into like what could have happened, but I
hope that you know, everything's okay, and it obviously Chuck
Clark is able to come back a little bit. So
I just I'm really anxious to see that status report
(27:02):
for the game that comes out later today.
Speaker 4 (27:05):
Speaking of illnesses, did you get the impression on Sunday
that DK Metcalf was battling through some stuff too.
Speaker 5 (27:14):
Illnesses?
Speaker 4 (27:15):
I don't know.
Speaker 5 (27:15):
I mean, obviously he had a very uh not that
you know, driven day. I do think that you were
seeing a little bit more and maybe it was just
you know, it just felt like even that one drive
where you're like, oh, Caleb Johnson's in the game, where
did that come from? And then he stayed in there
and then we saw some more Roman Wilson and until
(27:36):
really that phone headed, you know, mistake that coach Tumlin
kind of talked about on Tuesday. So I don't know
if it was just a matter of that or maybe
there was something, you know, a touch of something he
was dealing with and they he just you know, needed
to arrest.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
But Missy Matthews with us here on the drive. Missy,
I wanted to ask you from your standpoint on Sunday
in that Colts game. You know, one of the things
that Matt and I talked about earlier this week was
how it seemed like the move of Jalen Ramsey back
to safety really stabilized things on the back end, and
particularly from a communication standpoint, especially when you consider that,
(28:14):
you know, his running mate Kyle Dugger had just gotten
too town like forty eight or seventy two hours earlier,
too often, and particularly against Cincinnati and Green Bay and
those two losses. But we saw it a little bit,
you know, like Popcorn and some other games as well too,
Guys in that secondary after plays, you know, kind of
standing around with their palms up, looking at each other,
(28:35):
like what happened there? We weren't on the same page.
I thought you had him. No, I thought you had him.
That wasn't the case. On Sunday against one of the
NFL's best offenses in Indianapolis, they were very buttoned up
on that standpoint. I just wondered what you saw, what
you heard, how moving, how you thought Jalen Ramsey, you know,
moving back to safety was able to just again, I
think stabilize is the word I keep coming back to
(28:57):
for that group in the secondary.
Speaker 4 (28:59):
And I'm sure the conversations when they had the issues
extended the sidelines after too. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (29:06):
Right, And I agree with the move of Jalen Ramsey.
You knew going in there was going to be a
lot of undecided, undetermined not knowing who will be available things.
Kyle Duggar, as you said, basically, you know, spent like
a practice in a half getting to run through this defense,
and Ramsey knows where everybody should be and what should
(29:27):
be happening.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
And I agree.
Speaker 5 (29:28):
Stabilizing the word I keep using, too, but I think
it's it's very true, and I think it's you know,
he gives this amazing speech in the team meeting the
night before then he unselfishly is playing a position at
a very extensive level that he has not extensively played
for a very long time, and it's just like, whatever
we need to do, we need to get the win.
(29:49):
And I just think he really did help Kyle Duggar.
Just the interactions between those two on the field, on
the sidelines, you could just tell that Ramsey was like,
all right, this is my guy. Let's go like, I
got you under my wing. We're going to figure this out.
And I think one of my mentors throughout my career,
he would always, you know, whenever you start getting flustered
(30:09):
about something, just remember kiss keep it simple, stupid, and
he's like, when you say that to yourself, then you're
kind of like, wow, I'm overthinking this. And I truly
believe just from what all the players even said, they
simplified things on defense. There wasn't you know, intricate calls
where it really mattered who was in what position or
what personnel grouping that you know, could lead to confusion,
(30:32):
and I think simplifying it, knowing what you were going
to have to deal with with moving parts did help indeed,
and it just let them play fast and free and
it was just fun. Obviously not for Indie, but like
as a Steelers stand watching watching that, every single one
of my neighbors, friends, people I work out with were like,
that was just such a fun game, and it was
(30:53):
because of the way that they were playing fast and free.
Speaker 4 (30:57):
So I love asking you about Aaron Rodgers on game day,
and you know, the Steelers won, they put up points,
but even after the game, he said something along the
lines of, we got to put up more points whenever
that we get gifted the football, you know, through turnovers
that much. Did he sense any frustration with him against
the Colts.
Speaker 5 (31:16):
I don't necessarily think frustration. I think, you know, he
really wanted that touchdown that he went to Darnell twice
when they were down in the right ZWN. You know,
there were just the little things. I think, obviously not
to keep harving on Roman Wilton, but like that play,
Ben's Garnic wanted to kill him. So I fully imagine,
(31:37):
you know, I was so taken back by Ben that
I didn't really get a good look at Aaron right
after that. But I just think, you know, the three
and out those are just he's such a perfectionist. I
don't think it's like, you know, a bad frustration. It's
just like this is the play this is what everyone's
supposed to do. This is how it's supposed to work.
(31:57):
And when it doesn't, he wants to go into like
the why why didn't it work? Why wasn't this person there?
You know, So it's more or less like helping too,
And I think it's great for this young offense to
have somebody like that that is not afraid to go
up and down the bench, talks to different position groups,
talk to all the coaches. You know. He doesn't just
sit there and not communicate with people. He probably over communicates,
(32:21):
but I I am the person who would rather have
somebody over communicate with me than leave me in a
state where I'm still not sure what you're thinking, but
I'm probably thinking badly, so then it makes me worried.
So he's a straight shooter, and I think that is
a good thing for them in terms of it, and
even just you know, the minute chev he talks about
what happens in practice is and two and a half
(32:43):
weeks ago, you know, me and Pat Firoman finally got
this play down, Pat and then we were able to
put it, you know, into the game and score a touchdown.
I just think he's so into the details and obviously
that's why at forty one he is still able to
play and just have the you know, above the neck
advantage that no one can really touch it. It's just
incredible how good he is in terms of, you know,
(33:07):
using cadence, snapcounts, all those things, just the little things
that it doesn't matter what you can do with your arm.
You are above and beyond where other people are on
the other side of the field.
Speaker 4 (33:18):
It doesn't hurt to have his arm, no jo across his.
Speaker 5 (33:23):
Body and you know, all the things were it's still
some of those throws. I feel like, wow, Okay.
Speaker 3 (33:29):
It's incredible. It's incredible.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
It's why he's going to trot into Canton whenever he
does finally decide to hang him up. Yeah, a star
studded quarterback matchup. Certainly the stars always come out in
LA and hopefully Aaron Rodgers, back in his home state,
will be the one shining most bright. The great Missy
Matthews kind enough to give us some of her time
here on a Friday. Missy, great stuff.
Speaker 3 (33:51):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
I'll see on the plane tomorrow morning, and we'll be
listening for you on the call on Sunday.
Speaker 5 (33:57):
All right, sounds good. Thanks guys, there.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
She goes, thank you.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
See Matthews kind enough as always to join us. That's
an early flight out tomorrow, cousin.
Speaker 4 (34:05):
I tell you, why are you guys going so early?
Speaker 3 (34:07):
We always do when we go to West coast, just
to acclimate a little acclimate a little bit more.
Speaker 4 (34:11):
Yet, Okay, I was forging night game. I mean, there's
no reason, no rush to get there.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
It's normally like three o'clock if it's East coast or midwest,
will normally leave about three o'clockish on Sunday Saturdays.
Speaker 4 (34:22):
But if we go to one o'clock, right, okay, right, yes.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
If we go to like Vegas, Denver Vegas or further west,
we usually usually leave at nine o'clock in the morning
on Saturday.
Speaker 4 (34:34):
Okay, So how long was the flight?
Speaker 3 (34:37):
I think a little over five hours.
Speaker 4 (34:39):
Of course people should know this, but obviously you guys
don't have made layovers or any correct.
Speaker 5 (34:43):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (34:43):
And the nice thing about it, too, is when you
fly commercially, Matt and I'm sure you probably know this,
but just a quick little peak for our for our listeners.
When you fly commercially, you're kind of beholden to a
schedule because that flight escorts. That flight is going from
Pittsburgh to Charlotte, then it's going from Charlotte to Denver,
then it's going from Denver to San Francisco. It's a
(35:05):
lot like a bus schedule in school. Everything's timed out.
Yeah you walked, Yeah, you walked both ways uphill in
the one shoe. With a charter flight like this, a
private flight like this, they're not beholden to any schedule.
It's not like we have to land in LA. They
(35:26):
put the pedal down and you get there faster. So
my wife and I go out to Vegas like once
a year. When we fly to Vegas on the Steelers plane,
it's less than a four it's like three hours and
fifty minutes. You fly to Vegas just out of Pittsburgh
International and it's like four and a half hours four miles.
So when you're flying cross country, you can really cut
some time off, but it'll still probably be like about
(35:48):
five hours, I would imagine, and then we'll be taking
the Red Eye back Sunday night after the game.
Speaker 4 (35:52):
Baby whoo is that just sleepy fest?
Speaker 5 (35:56):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (35:57):
I mean I'm not great at sleeping on a plane,
but it's like, yeah, we get in the air and
all the lights go off.
Speaker 4 (36:01):
And yeah, everyone are the players quiet?
Speaker 3 (36:03):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (36:04):
Yeah, yeah, they got the sleep they got the fancy
sleep pods and stuff at the front of the plane
from that, but they are.
Speaker 5 (36:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
That usually like when we take off. If it's and
you know this too again, if the atmosphere is completely
different after a loss than a win.
Speaker 4 (36:18):
Of course'd be a thousand times different, right, So if
you lose, it's like how you lose, it's like.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
Sit down, shut up, don't smile, you know what I mean.
Don't don't even look like you're thinking about smiling.
Speaker 5 (36:27):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
If it's a win, which hopefully it will be, then
usually for maybe the first hour, there'll be some haha
raw raw back, and then everybody will go to be okay, okay.
Speaker 3 (36:37):
Yeah, so it'll be an interesting one certainly, and a
big one on Sunday night. Fo yeah.
Speaker 5 (36:45):
You can.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
There's so much food. It's it's very it's it's really
good stuff.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
And then then they come through with like cookies and
ice cream bars and and all kinds of stuff too.
You will not go hungry when you're traveling with the Steelers.
I promise you that that's awesome. That was the one
thing we you didn't get to experience in Dublin. I'm
kind of bummed for you because that's food. We didn't
stay at the same place as the Steelers in Dublin.
They were outside of the city, so you didn't get
(37:14):
to experience the wonders of the miss Stee.
Speaker 4 (37:18):
You know, like you could go get it to go.
Thing just of anything you want is at like eleven
PM or whatever.
Speaker 3 (37:25):
Yeah, you walk in at eleven o'clock.
Speaker 4 (37:27):
The whole ballroom, full ballroom.
Speaker 3 (37:29):
There's a pasta bar where you can make whatever kind
of pasta you want. There's filaman yard. I miss It's incredible.
Speaker 4 (37:36):
I haven't really done that since pit.
Speaker 3 (37:38):
Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
Normally I only get the for the one o'clock games
on the road. I normally only get the breakfast and
then then quit the breakfast breakfast omelet bar and smoothie
bar every breakfast. Yeah, but I'll get the I'll get
the lunch for this one on Sunday too, the pregame meal,
which is usually like chicken bar and flame and yawn
and all that good stuff.
Speaker 4 (37:58):
Which, of course these are fine tune athletes. You can
eat very healthy if you want, but you can also
eat crappy if you want. You know, like there's sausage
and you know, bacon, and you know, like.
Speaker 3 (38:08):
Everything you could imagine.
Speaker 2 (38:10):
Right, certainly, one more segment ago when we return on
the other side, we'll start breaking down a little five
Star Friday. We'll get into some of these matchups between
Steelers and Chargers, all that and more. It's the Drive
on Steelers Nation Radio on a Steelers Audio network, your.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
Tunes about drive on your twenty four to seven home
of the Black and Goal Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
Back on the Drive here as we closed down the
first hour in Matt we only have a couple minutes
in this segment before we got to kind of reset
our clock for hour number two. I know I said
we were going to get into five Star Friday, but
I kind of found a shiny silver object here that
I want to run past you for a few minutes. Okay, cool,
and then we'll do five Star to start the second hour.
Playoff probabilities are out for Week ten in terms of
(39:27):
if the teams win, what their playoff status looks like,
if the team loves what their playoff status looks like.
Speaker 4 (39:32):
Before I don't know how much we'll talk I probably
won't talk much about last night's game, but that was
massive for Denver. It was an ugly, ugly win, but
just mathematically they're in such a good spot. Eight and two,
a conference win, a division.
Speaker 3 (39:45):
Win, long week to prepare for the Chiefs.
Speaker 4 (39:47):
Say they played one game in twenty three days and
that's the chief game, you know, like setting up really
well for Denver.
Speaker 3 (39:53):
That was an ugly one last night.
Speaker 4 (39:55):
Yeah, that's a bad football.
Speaker 2 (39:56):
Like the Raiders are a mess and they're what two
and six now? But he just had a field goal kicker.
They could be four and five.
Speaker 4 (40:02):
Yeah, they could have amazing a.
Speaker 3 (40:03):
Field goal kicker. They could have won two games in
the last five days and before and five.
Speaker 4 (40:07):
That's a great point. I mean, I don't want to
talk too much about the game. That was a tough watch.
It was a tough maybe dislike Thursday football even more,
and I'm not high on it to begin with. I'm like,
Denver couldn't punt, I mean, penalties left and right.
Speaker 5 (40:18):
It was bad.
Speaker 2 (40:19):
Thursday night football is typically not great, but that was
an extra extra key dose of not so good last night.
Let's get into some playoff probabilities here from this game.
And then maybe a couple other pertinent ones from across
the league. Steelers, Matt With a win, this was a win.
This is a stark difference. With a win, the Steelers
would drive their playoff probability to seventy five percent.
Speaker 4 (40:41):
I actually knew that because I put it. I always
put that in the stat pack, right, I only put
the Steelers, but I don't know the other teams. It's
a big difference, you know, what to be for the
Steelers that they lose, No I should remember, but I'm
guessing it's like fifty four forty two. Oh wow, it's
under fifty wow, okay, which and that doesn't even matter
what the Ravens did well.
Speaker 2 (40:59):
I think part of that is because these models are
expecting the Ravens to win some games down the stretch.
Speaker 4 (41:04):
Yeah, that still has to happen, right right.
Speaker 2 (41:06):
Like they've got a tough one Baltimore, They've really.
Speaker 4 (41:09):
Tough one this week. Yeah, we'll pick games later.
Speaker 3 (41:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (41:12):
I don't love their chance.
Speaker 2 (41:13):
I know that their schedule is much easier, but they
still go to Minnesota, they still have green Bay, they
still play the Steelers twice.
Speaker 4 (41:18):
Like it doesn't happen very often. Were teams win like
eight out of nine, rightly, you know, right right, And.
Speaker 2 (41:23):
A lot of people are giving the Ravens the benefit
of the doubt in that regard, and I get.
Speaker 4 (41:26):
It, right, but that Steeler winner of the Colts makes
their life a lot harder.
Speaker 2 (41:30):
That forty two percent seems I would think it would
be more like fifty something, like you said, But according to.
Speaker 4 (41:36):
A conference loss.
Speaker 3 (41:37):
Yeah, according to.
Speaker 2 (41:38):
The advanced analytics, Steelers seventy five percent chance to make
the playoffs if they win, forty two percent if they lose.
Speaker 4 (41:45):
Doesn't feel like that big a game, Yeah, you know,
but that's pretty huge for the Chargers.
Speaker 3 (41:49):
It's pretty significant.
Speaker 2 (41:50):
And you can imagine that in the scope of of
their division, and you know, the Chiefs right on their
heels and the Broncos obviously being eight and two already.
With a win, the Chargers playoff probability would go to
eighty five percent really with a loss fifty five percent.
Speaker 4 (42:06):
In that division too, I mean, there's more teams to
fight with less chance to win the division than the
Steelers or Ravens would have. Yeah, and I wonder I
mean they that they know that they don't have any
offensive lineman, you know, what I mean. Yeah, yeah, they have.
Speaker 2 (42:21):
They have taken care of some of their tougher games
on the schedule already. The Chargers have okay, But still
that Steelers seems a little low for me, Like I
would think with a win would be closer to eighty percent,
with a loss closer to fifty percent for the Chargers.
Maybe with a loss it dips down a little below
fifty percent. But that's again, who am I to argue with? Yeah, yeh,
(42:43):
I mean I believe it's clearly a method. Here a
couple others Matt up Stark difference for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Speaker 4 (42:51):
The Jaguars this week, this is a big game for them.
Speaker 3 (42:53):
Seventy three percent if they win, forty one percent.
Speaker 4 (42:56):
If they lose, I bet they're not even on there.
But if Houston loses, they might be done.
Speaker 3 (43:00):
Houston is on here?
Speaker 4 (43:00):
Oh are they okay?
Speaker 2 (43:02):
Just thirty four percent chance to make the playoffs if
they win? Nine percent chance if they lose.
Speaker 4 (43:07):
For the bat with Davis Mills, Yeah, and we might
be scratching them off the list.
Speaker 2 (43:11):
Might be scratching them off the list. And the last
one to run by you here that kind of stood
out to me. Actually two more, both from the NFC
North Detroit. I mean they're five and three. They've been
at the top of our power rankings for the past
couple of weeks until they lost to Minnesota.
Speaker 4 (43:25):
They seem like you should have a better record than
the Steelers, right right, with.
Speaker 2 (43:28):
A win seventy seven percent with a lost forty nine percent,
because again, like, yeah, that division race is tough, and
that NFC wild Card race is going to be loaded.
Speaker 4 (43:37):
I mean, in that division, you could lose two in
a row and be in last place.
Speaker 3 (43:40):
It's crazy.
Speaker 4 (43:41):
Yeah, yeah, if things don't go your way.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
Crazy And then a a obviously massive Sunday for the
Chicago Bears as well too. If they win, they've got
a forty two percent chance to make the playoffs. If
they lose just seventeen.
Speaker 4 (43:52):
Wow, okay, so we could almost be scratching them off
the list if they especially in that division.
Speaker 2 (43:57):
In that I think it's a it's a it's a
elimination type Sunday for Chicago. It's certainly an elimination Sunday
for the Houston Texans.
Speaker 4 (44:05):
And unfortunately you get your quarter and c J.
Speaker 2 (44:07):
Stroud has not been cleared out of concussion protocol. In fact,
they ruled them out all that, which in the long
term for them is probably the smart decision.
Speaker 4 (44:15):
But Man, kind of a wasted year though.
Speaker 2 (44:17):
It feels like for them and for the Washington Commanders
like a real sunken year. The largers Chargers get a
couple more losses here, it could start feeling that same
way for them.
Speaker 4 (44:27):
I'm going to predict that for the Chargers. There's a
couple of teams I think are ready to We'll talk
about this when we start talking about games, but I
think like the Eagles might be ready to show the
league that they're awesome again.
Speaker 3 (44:36):
Yeah, you know where they certainly beefed up with the
trade deadline too.
Speaker 5 (44:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (44:40):
Like I look at the Chargers and be like, man,
you don't get any lineman back period, Like this could
be when you look at the season, be like, man,
you hung around well, but then they just couldn't keep up.
Speaker 2 (44:50):
Hopefully that's the song that they're singing in Los Angeles
on Monday morning after a big Steelers Sunday Night victory.
In our number two five star f we'll go around
the league and we will of course give our predictions
for Sunday Night football. All of that when we return
halfway home. On the drive on Steelers Nation Radio,
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