September 30, 2025 • 43 mins
Matt and Wes react to the win in Ireland over the Vikings, and share some stories from their time in Dublin.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Your tunes about Drive on your twenty four to seven
home of the Black and Gold Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Good afternoon, Steelers Nation. It's the Drive on the Steelers
Audio Network. Wes Ruler and Matt Williamson finally back state
side with you here for the next two hours on
your twenty four to seven Home of the Black and
the Gold. And Matt, I think it's safe to say
we have just a little bit to talk about today.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Got that right, Yeah, short condensed week. I mean, we're
gonna pack it in this week, and that's kind of
what the trip was. Yeah, And it was glorious, to
be honest with you. I mean, some of it wears
on you and travel, and I'm not good at travel,
to be honest. But man, I just did a show
with Rob and Mike Pursuita and Pursuda said something along
lines up. I am so honored to be a part
(00:59):
of it, you know, I'm like, and that's a great
way to really look at it.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
Great way to put it, Yeah, great way to put it.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
I in fact, I found myself thinking that a lot too,
Like I think one of the things there's a lot
that we.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
All love about the Steelers.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you kind of grew up on the
tail end of the Steel Curtain era, right in that
in that in that glorious time period, I grew up.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
I mean it was shoved on my throat, you know,
I grew up. I was ten years older. It wouldn't
have been exactly right, exactly right.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
And I was in high school freshman when the Steelers
got one for the thumb in Super Bowl forty. I
was a senior when Santonio Holmes to tap in the
back of the end zone super Bowl forty three. So
we kind of were both like in the the golden.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
Eras of it.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Yeah, So we know how much the Steelers mean to us,
to this city, to every like the generations, generations families, right.
I think the thing that I love about the Steelers
is how much they mean to Pittsburgh. Everybody across the
world knows Pittsburgh because of the Pittsburgh Steelers a lot.
And that's special. Like the Steelers brand is bigger than
(01:59):
Pittsburgh's brand. Like the Yankees aren't bigger than New York,
you know, Celtics aren't bigger than Boston. Pittsburgh is bigger.
The Steelers are bigger than Pittsburgh, and.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
I'm just racking my brain, like Packers are bigger than
Green Bay. Maybe the Canadians are bigger than montre.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
There's not many of those. The you know, the Lakers
are not bigger than La Hardwood and all that.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
Stuff is La.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
You know. I was struck by that, Like because of
this football team that we all love so much. The
Steelers are Pittsburgh. Part of me is known across the world.
That's pretty stink and cool. And man, did we see
that show up in Dublin, Ireland for four or five days?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Yeah, I mean I had one uber driver that said, oh,
you're with it. I mean it was obviously I was
with the Steelers. Like Gary picked me up and he
asked something like, yeah, Steelers are from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, right,
And he's like, what the what's Pittsburgh known for. I'm
like football, Well, the Steelers football, steel Yeah. He's like, oh, okay, yeah,
(02:58):
I mean, but there's so many cool experience.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
It really was, and we'll get into some of those
as we roll along, obviously. But the Steelers take down
the Vikings twenty four to twenty one in the NFL's
first ever regular season game in Dublin not the last,
I have a feeling and certainly will not be the last.
It was first class the entire way. The atmosphere at
Croke Park was unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
It really was.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
And you know, it ended up Matt two being a
maybe not for reasons that you know is Steelers people
and Black and Gold supporters that we wanted, but ended
up being a heck of a football game, an exciting game.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Too, more than it should have been down this ye
more than it should have been because I really thought,
unlike some other games this year, see part of me
was like, Karma's gonna get you, you know, like because
there were one of those some of those first three games,
I'm like, I'm not sure the Steelers are the better team,
but they got either with a win because they made
a big play at the right time. And we've talked
that to no end, and I'm sitting there going, Steelers
are pretty much dominated, you know, other than that first series.
(03:53):
From that point on both sides of the ball, I
thought it was very clear who the better team was.
And then you're sitting there at the end, going, they
may lose this, you.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
Know, and a little bit tighter than we want to do.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Yeah, and more so than any other game of the year.
Could you imagine the ramifications going into the bye week
and our trip home, and I mean everything about it,
I mean, and the importance to the Rooney family, and
mister Rooney spoke to the team. I guess on Wednesday,
I'm thinking this could be catastrophic, you know, and you're
starting to hear skull chants and like, uh oh, I'm
(04:24):
getting I'm tightening up here more than I have in
a long time for a game. And then they took
care of business and they were the better team. And
I think there's so many positives football and life to
take away from this whole experience.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
You are absolutely right, and they did. Man, it felt
like it.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
It felt like at a time they had a chance
to blow Minnesota out in that game, and.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
I feel like they were for a while.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
They certainly were. They were, without a doubt, for eighty
percent of that game. They had the upper hand, They
were were in control, better team, they were in control.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
And you're right.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
It's a regular season game, it's one out of seventeen,
but this one meant a lot more for all those
reasons that you just touched on. To have lost that moment,
that opportunity would have been huge, would have been catastrophic,
would have been something that they would have regretted forever.
But now it flips the other way. Ten you and
I both agree, Yes, there's going to be plenty more
(05:14):
NFL games in Dublin.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Oh, I think so. I can't wait till the Steelers
actually get to be there as a road team so
they don't have to sacrifice a hope.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Absolutely, absolutely, all the details, all the minutia that we'll
get in today here, as we roll along ten years
from now, when there's more NFL games in Dublin, they're
going to show the first highlights of that. Yeah. Yeah,
twenty years from now, thirty years from now, fifty years
from now, eighty years from now, when you and I.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
Are both long gone, it'll be remember that.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Every time there's a game in Dublin, they'll roll that
sixty second highlight package of the first time the NFL
ever played here. It was the Steelers in the Vikings
and you'll see DK Metcalf going eighty yards and you'll
see the TJ. Watt interception in the Punta time capsule.
Stuff that is going to last forever.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Yeah, It's funny because we open the show saying, you know,
the eras we both grew up and what the Steelers
mean to us. So I'm sure there's a lot of
folks in Dublin and Ireland that this was their first exposure.
Speaker 4 (06:09):
You know.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
The first game I truly remember was the Steelers being
the Rams in the Super Bowl. Like I kind of knew,
like what a cornerback was and how interceptions are bad,
you know, things like that. I was old enough to
really understand a little bit. But now I'm sure these
people and maybe subsequently their kids and grandkids will remember, Oh,
I remember when I was exposed to this, you know, Yes,
(06:29):
which is cool. Which is the whole purpose of all
this NFL state. I mean, this isn't Steeler thing. That's
an NFL expanding their wings.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
And they've done it so well, and we see it
payoff in London and Germany and Mexico and Brazil and
all those different places. I and the Sunday night madness
at fitz Simon's. You had gone back right smartfully, so
you had gone back to the hotel at this point.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
You just wanted to watch watch games.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Yeah, we had kind of all had enough of the chaos.
But I had to drop up drop off some equipment
there to the DV morning show before.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Where I left, and they were recording Sunday night.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Yeah, they were recording their Monday morning show for on
Sunday night. I met a Irish guy from Cork. His
name was Terry. He's a Bengals fan, but he had
come to Dublin for the game because he was his
first chance to lifetime.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
And game close.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
That's what he said. And he came up and was
just chatting with us briefly. Very nice guy, but he
said something that I thought was great. He said, he said,
I want to thank you for something, and I got
a bone to pick with you for something and I said, okay.
He said, I want to thank you guys for bringing this,
bringing football to this island, to Ireland. What that What
this meant today for people like me who love the
(07:38):
NFL and want to see it grow in places like here.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Which you and I had very little to do with.
But thank you.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
You're welcome, exactly right, he said.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
The bone I have to pick though, is he said,
you know how many Steelers fans you all.
Speaker 4 (07:51):
Just created here and.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
Right, right, and times are tough for the bagels. No
one's jumping on that ship right now.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Said sorry, buddy, you know, yeah, you know what we
can that we we tend to have this.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
On places that we go.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
But Matt, it was all, well, that ends well for
the Pittsburgh Steelers, and there are a million different things
that we want to get into. We'll continue to tell
stories as we kind of analyze and do the x's
and o's. Does the conversation though these sixty minutes on
the field there at Croke Park to start with Aaron
Rodgers and another incredibly efficient, tidy, buttoned up performance from
(08:27):
the signal caller.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Yeah, I mean a couple of bullet points to me
that are the headlines are both sides of this. Of
the coaching staff changed things I thought, and well and
positive results and some things we've kind of called for
and brought up in the past. Not that they're listening,
but I approve of it, even if it wouldn't have worked.
(08:49):
I liked some of the coaching changes they made. They
ran the football. I mean that's a bullet point in itself,
you know, I mean, great defense continues to really shape
into you know, we we got laughed at a little
bit after the first couple of weeks, you guys thought
this might be a top five defense, and I'm like,
that was a hard limb to still be walking out on.
And now I'm feeling a little better that this defense
(09:11):
has a chance to be really good. But I'm glad
you brought up Rogers first because you look at his
stat line. I see you the box score open.
Speaker 4 (09:18):
It was eighteen of twenty two, two hundred yards and
a touchdown.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Yeah, but he brought so much more. I mean, he's
such an elevator and whatever ingredients you give him, he
makes a really good stew you know. And I think
that is really impressive. From the neck up. I think
he's so good. And a couple things like, yes, it's
Tim versus Flores, Sure, but Rogers even said before the game,
(09:43):
I have all respect in the world for Floraes, but
he's not playing this game. It's me versus Harrison Smith,
and he and Harrison Smith have done battle in the
NFC nors for decade. Yeah, I mean like they know
each other really really well, and it's him versus the
players and knowing where to go with the football and
even if you don't know the play calls or know
much about the game. It's so obvious that they get
(10:05):
out of bad situations pre snap and at least put
themselves in areas to succeed, even if their guard can't
block that defensive tackle or your tight end kick it
open or whatever. If you don't have a ton of
matchups in your favor, I'm at least going to the
poker table playing the right odds, you know what I mean.
I might not get the right card dealt to me
(10:25):
that time, but if I at least don't do dumb
stuff and hit on twenty at the blackjack table, you
got a better chance to win. You know, you're always
gonna at least be in the right situation, know where
the most dangerous rushers are, where the part in the
run play that's most likely to blow you up. And
(10:46):
then I haven't got a chance to My schedule's weird.
All of our schedules are weird, and travel and you know,
jet lag and all that kind of stuff. So I
haven't really studied the rewatch yet, but watching it from
the stadium, which is also odd for me. I don't
watch games live. It sure seemed like Rogers was so
good pre snap, not only his charisma and command and wisdom,
(11:11):
but it seemed like he waited really late into the
down a lot. The Vikings are doing all their stuff
and he's just kind of holding his water and watching,
and I'm gonna snap this thing late after you've pretty
much shown me your hand to use another card and
analogy or sometimes I'm just gonna speed it up and
(11:31):
not let you do that, you know, like I'm gonna
be you do all your stuff. And I made a
joke when I did that show with Mike and Rob
It's like Indiana Jones, you know, the swordsman comes out
and he's wo and then India shoots him. You know,
like you can do all your stuff. That's great, But
in the end you've shown me everything, and I'm just
(11:52):
gonna get myself in the right position, and if my
guys make plays more often than not, the dice are
gonna come up in my favor, you know.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
And his guys made some play. Metcalf certainly, Kenneth Gainwell certainly.
But I think that's spot on by you.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
There was a.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
How do I want to put this almost like I
think it was the most vanilla we've seen Brian Flores's
defense in Minnesota since he got maybe the most bored
we've seen a Brian Flores defense since you know, he
really got that thing humming in Minnesota last year because
ers a lot of his game brain, a lot of
the game brain man, And I think that DK metcalf
touchdown was a perfect example. Had DK lineup in the slot,
(12:30):
got the right matchup for him, Boom, here we go,
quick hit or get that thing out. I think a
lot of the times that we saw him checking the
things at the line of scrimmage ended up being the more. Again,
like you said, no one's perfect. It's not always gonna work,
but it's playing the high odds at the at the
casino or at the blackjack table, or at the roulette
wheel or whatever it may be.
Speaker 4 (12:49):
And he just has such savvy for that. Obviously as
a guy who has been in the league for two
decades and is going to walk into the Hall of
Fame one day, and you know, has has seen a
lot of elements, obviously not Brian Flores in Minnesota, but
has seen some elements of that defense throughout his career.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
But he's getting more comfortable with his teammates and I
could just see this guy to run this route, and
I know he's going to make the right adjustment and Okay,
maybe this guy's going to struggle with this block. Okay,
I know that that's where my danger areas are. I'm
going to roll away from it or get it out
or whatever, you know. I mean, his command is off
the charts right now.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
It's off the charts right now. And you know what
really helps that is when you're running the football like
they were Finally, Yeah, that gets when you're going for
when you're going over five yards a clip for Kenneth Gainwall,
when's the last time we could say that about running back.
When you're going over five yards a clip, it makes
Aaron Rodgers' ability and his opportunity to do all that
line of scrimmage stuff even greater. Yes, because you're not
(13:45):
nearly as predictable as an offense, they have to respect
every element of that offense. You throw in the explosive
plays in the past game, you throw in a lot more.
Darnell Washington, I'm sure you want to talk about that
more in depth at some point than we've seen you
bring in Anderson.
Speaker 4 (13:59):
You go big, you go beef package.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
You know, extra eligible, extra down lineman more than we've
seen so far. When all those things come together and
you've got the the ultimate conductor that Aaron Rodgers is
at this stage of the game. Like he certainly doesn't
have the athleticism. How about that run and that fumble
that bounced right to Roger chunks. Yeah, but like he
(14:21):
doesn't have the athleticism and mobility that he used to have,
But his game brain is as good as it's ever been,
his experiences as has ever been. When all those elements
start clicking around him, then he can really show that
stuff off because he he's not playing with one hand
tied behind his back. He's got everything available in the
arsenal stick with a.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Poker analogy, I feel like Rogers hasn't had great cards
dealt to him up to this point. You know, he's
had a bluff itself through some pots, Like boy when
I squeaked that one out, but I didn't have the
best cards at the table, you know. And now all
of a sudden, Oh I got the old as you know,
like I haven't seen an ace in a long time,
you know, Like, oh I got a face cards, Yeah,
I got a pair of delt to me, Like, okay,
(15:00):
I can work with that, I'm starting to understand what
I can get out of this team. And before it
was a little and there's still some smoking mirrors, but
that every team's dealing with some of that too, you know,
Like I don't think they protect particularly well. The protection
still worries me. I mean, they only threw three passes
past ten yards down the line, passed down the field.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
That passing chart is telling it's.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
Crazy, you know, And I think a lot of it's
just because they don't trust the protection, you know. I mean,
and I also think they've kept a little bit in
their back pocket that if they people start creeping up
and really keying on the quick hitters, they will max
protect and throw some bombs. You know. I don't think
they need to throw Russell Wilson moonball after moonball, but
I wouldn't mind to a game. I mean, three passes
past ten yards down the field is crazy, crazy, But
(15:44):
again it's manipulating what you've been.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Dealt, absolutely absolutely, and again he does that as well
as anybody. And I thought, just an outstanding performance for
Kenneth gainwell as well too. Oh man, you know, he
had the nine nine yards rushing bummer. Just get him
one more there to get him, to get him to
the to the century mark. But you had in thirty
five yards on six receptions in the past game as
(16:10):
well too, for you know, well over one hundred yards
all purpose for him. We talked a lot about that,
Jalen Warren, what if scenario leading up to the game.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
I was the worried.
Speaker 4 (16:20):
I was pretty worried, very worried.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Yeah, I mean, and you know, we talked about do
you throw Caleb Johnson into the fire? Do you throw
him into the deep end and see if he can swim?
They didn't have to because Kenneth Gainwell and hey, maybe
he's a little beat up. Maybe you used him a
little bit more than you wanted to do. Twenty five
touches in total for Kenneth Gainwell is a lot, Yeah,
but you got the.
Speaker 4 (16:40):
Bye week rest him up. The timing for that was perfect,
and he delivered one.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
So I think I go out of my way to
admit when I'm wrong. But on the pregame show, I'm
standing there because we're doing it live with Jerry and Mike,
and they asked me, so, how do you handle a
running back situation? You know, Warren's not going to go
and I think the first words out of my mouth are, well,
you can't give game, weell the whole workload, you know,
flat out wrong. But because I think you can once
(17:07):
or maybe one other time, you know, because in this instance,
I only need you for one day, Kenneth, and you
get a law, You get an extra week. You know,
I didn't even think about the buy. You get that
whole time to rest your body. You're not used to
this workload. You're not built like Jerome, you know, you're
not built like Saquon. But I need you for one
day and then you can put your feet up for
two weeks and then we'll readdress it at the time
(17:29):
because I thought, and as you mentioned, we brought it
up to the times like, well, you drafted Caleb Johnson the
third round. Maybe things haven't been perfect at this point.
You throw the young kid in the pool deep end,
either your swim or you're gonna sink, buddy, you know.
And they didn't have to even go down that road,
you know.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
No, they didn't, and they, you know, got a fair contribution.
I think from Caleb Johnson six carries twenty two yards.
At least he showed up, you know, h you had
that really nice nine yard run at the one point
as well too.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
I think they feel better about him today than they
did three days ago, So that's something.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
It's probably we felt about him from this entire process.
He did what they asked him to do. He was
effective in those moments. And again, I think for as
much as the conversation with the offense starts with Aaron Rodgers,
a lot of other guyss are of credit in that.
I think Washington is one of those, Anderson's one of those.
Let's talk about that a little bit more because I
don't want to sure change that conversation.
Speaker 4 (18:25):
We'll talk about some beef, maybe some corned beef.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Iris Irish edition there when we return on the other side,
and keep this conversation going west. Yueler, Matt Williamson. It
is the Drive on Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers
Audio Network, your.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Tunes about Drive on your twenty four to seven home
of the Black and Goal Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Back on the Drive here as we continue to discuss
our trip to Dublin, all things Ireland, and of course
the most important aspect, a twenty four to twenty one
win for your Pittsburgh Steelers as they move to three
and one, and hey, don't look now, but sitting in
a pretty good position compared to the rest of the
AFC North.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
We'll discuss the visions in trouble. We'll discuss them a
little bit.
Speaker 4 (19:23):
More an hour number two. But you're right. I mean,
the Browns have always been in trouble. I think we
knew that. But the Bengals, the Ravens hanging on by
a threat as well.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
I'm not digging a grave yet for Baltimore, but those
Ohio teams you can stick a fork to most.
Speaker 4 (19:35):
You absolutely can.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Like they're a nice corned beef or a nice fish
and chips over there. And speaking of the beef, Matt,
I tell you what I thought a big part of
the Steelers success in the run game, the by far
best performance in that department that we've seen through the
first four games of the season. Yeah, the starting five
offensive line deserves some credit for I think having their
(19:59):
best performance. But I love the usage that we saw
of Washington. I mean he played more snaps than DK
metcalf I believe correct.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
He led all non all skill position players in snats.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
I mean always quarter Aaron Rodgers and the offensive line
out of the equation.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
He was number one.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
He was number one, which any of us expected that
going into Dublin.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
No, that's even more extreme than I've called for. But
I've I've been on the soapbox now for about two
years that this league is full of freaks and athletic marvels,
and there's no question, but sometimes there's outliars. He's an
outliar and teams have to hate playing against him. They
have to. I mean there's like the lineman bouncing off
(20:40):
him with the ball in his hands and his ability
to block. And people have even asked me today then
they've asked me for a year. Rodger Jones doesn't work
out he's making a left tackle. I'm like, no, but
you could you know what I mean, you know, like
that's an option, which is insanity. There's not what you
can't do that with any other running down. I'm just saying,
use them as you use them, and do it more. Now.
(21:03):
I think there's a lot of things. A play here
is first the negative. It sure looked to me and
I haven't rewatched it, but friar Mouth was the culprit
on the blockfield goal. You know, yes, And I think
he's in the doghouse right now. I mean he played
fifteen snaps. He was near the bottom.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
Connor Hayward hay he was the fourth of the four
tight ends, right. I don't think any of us thought
we'd see that. I don't care how you feel about
Pas friar Mouth. I don't think anybody thought we would
see that the end.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
No, Now, I think Washington's roll spiked, Anderson's role spike,
call him an extra tight end whatever. So someone's going
to suffer, we know that. But I think there's more
to that story with Friarmuth, and he's going to have
to dig himself out of the costo, the pero, you know,
I mean the house of the dog, and so we'll
see where he's at over the bye week. But he
(21:50):
needs to bring more to the table period, and they
demoted him, you know, you know, I think that's flat
out what happened. So not everything's roses. If someone's going
to step up, then someone else loses playing time. But
Washington is a total freak and teams are gonna hate
playing against him, and you plug him next to Anderson
often on the same side the line of scrimmage. It's
(22:11):
back with my Larry with Pitt example, Like, I don't
even have to tell it. There's no deception here. We're
throwing the fade to number one. It's you know, yeah,
and we're gonna run right behind those guys and whoever
else there. And if you stop us, great, but you're not,
it's it's gonna wear on you.
Speaker 4 (22:28):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
And it's again, it is one thing when you face
those type of big athletic tight ends who are just
using the run game and you know you got that
coming at you. It's a whole other thing when he's
going for seven yards of reception and you have to
respect that element of his game as well too, because
not only can he run through you, he can run
past you. Yeah, it's just it's a nightmare matchup. Like
you kind of alluded to, that guy's on the field
(22:50):
and defensive coordinators who drives him nuts.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
I don't know what to do with that.
Speaker 4 (22:53):
If they don't want to see it's right.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
This might be an extreme example, and maybe it's because
we were in Europe, but like, do you know, joke
the basketball player for the Denver Nuggets and TVs are
our video producers wearing a Nuggets hat today.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
So I only really watch NBA playoffs and said, he
blows me away.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
And he is probably the best basketball player in the world.
So again, a little bit of that.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
But but he's so unique.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
He he can run past you, he can run through you.
He's a center, but he can trovel like a point guard.
He can step.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
Dunk on you like shack. He can step out and
knock down a three.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
He's the best passing big man I've ever seen.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
He is.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
He is truly one of the unique unicorns in NBA history. Yeah,
just the athleticism and the shooting ability that he has
at his size.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
There's like some and again he might be probably.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
He's an MVP.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Oh my gosh, he's an MVP League Final MVP. Like
I said, one of the true all time great might be.
I mean probably him or dark Nowitzki are the best
European basketball players ever. Yeah, but there is like there's something.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
He's a multiple time MVP, I believe.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
I know he's one at least one, but I think
he's won an NBA championship. I mean, and he's an
all timer.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
But he's an outlier.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
He is an outlier that you don't see somebody like
this very often. It's hey Jamar Chase and t Higgins
and Joe Burrow or matchup nightmares. There's a lot of
great quarterbacks and wide receivers around the NFL.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
And defense quarters have dealt with other awesome receivers in
awesome quarters.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Lamar and Derreck Henry or matchup nightmares. But there's a
lot of great athletic quarterbacks and running backs across the NFL,
Hurts and Barkley. You know, there's not a lot of
guys that can do what Darnell Washington.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
Can you do. He's not as valuable as any of
the names we mentioned, No.
Speaker 4 (24:32):
Absolutely, He's an outlier, that's the word.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
And I think I think we're starting to see those
ingredients come together for him.
Speaker 4 (24:40):
In the offense.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
There's a few dudes, and I not that I'm smarter
than their staff or anything like that, but I've been
lobbying for several weeks and with Washington frankly for about
two years. I don't know how you take like Washington
and herbig off the field. They're two good I mean,
teams say thank you when you take him off the field,
and it almost doesn't even That's not a knock on
(25:02):
Highsmith or Friarmouth or John Who. But they're a nightmare
to play again.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Evitable, Yeah, just something good's gonna happen when they're on
the field.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
If you know, this happened to like Russell Wilson whenever
he was a rookie. They had drafted Flynn to be
the starter. They drafted this young short dude out of
NC State in the third round. And every time they
put something on his plate, Pete Carroll is like, he
devoured it. So he put more in his plate, devoured it,
put more in his plate, devoured it, you know, like
I had to make him a starter. To me, that's
(25:32):
like Washington and her Big. It's like, okay, we saw
limited snaps. Now we'll give you eighteen. Now we'll give
you twenty. Now you'll be the skill position player that
has the most and every step of the way you've
translated to like, oh, this isn't sustainable. Herbig can't get
that many sacks per pass rush attempt. Well maybe let's see.
(25:55):
Let's see, let's see.
Speaker 4 (25:56):
All right, and he's still doing as well too. We
will talk about it.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
I know I'm on the defense at some point, but
you're absolutely right. And then like Matt though when you
combine that with Darnell his skill set, his outlier nature
playing that many snaps, you bring Spencer Anderson in the
fold as well too. Yeah, that's that's a nightmare. And
I think you and I just again the unique tight
end usage and what they have there. And as you said,
(26:20):
Anderson's kind of part of that equation when he comes
in is the extra big man in.
Speaker 4 (26:23):
A way too.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
I mean he's an eligible receiver, you know.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Right, that's the Steelers matchup calling card. I think that
we've been looking for all season and we finally saw
come to fruition on Sunday.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
I thought it would be thirteen personnel. Yes, you know
that they would be way higher than the league average
and thirteen personnel and that's not going the way and
they would be that would be their bread and butter,
and Washington would be heavily involved in that. And we've
talked about this for several weeks now, you and I
that if you look at the best offenses in the league,
(26:54):
almost all of them have something that's different than the others.
I mean, like last year, the Bills were by far
the most six offensive line ravens with Ricard right, I
mean it's just weird stuff that not only you super
talented with Lamar and Allen and all their stars, but
boyd they have something else. I also have to prepare
for during the week, which sucks, you know, Like I
(27:16):
gotta spend all this time dealing with what do we
do with Darnell Washington?
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Now?
Speaker 3 (27:20):
What do we do with him and Anderson on the
field together? How do we practice that? You know, we
haven't dealt with that or teams that use a true fullback.
That's hard, you know, we have this, haven't. It's not
the usual week of prep, you know. Like as great
as the burrow led Bengals are with three wide I
at least see that every week, you know what I mean.
They're better at it than most teams. But it's not unique,
(27:42):
you know. It's not an outlier. And I thought thirteen
personnel would be their outlier. And then he makes in
the wide receiver who's the biggest in the league too,
Like he's a monster too, you know. But if this
is it, okay, take it and run with it. Literally,
I mean, I mean it's you be that parallel, but
taking run with it, right, Take it and.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Run with it sometimes and it sometimes you need a
game like that. I think, like as you kind of
alluded to, like putting more on guys plates, and we're
gonna give you this and you handle it well and
then we'll go here.
Speaker 4 (28:11):
I think there was a natural progression to get to
that point.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
Yeah. Yeah, if you would have tried playing Washington that
many snaps in week one, tried play Anderson that many
snaps in week one. That's not to say like they
should have been doing this.
Speaker 4 (28:22):
The whole time.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
It takes time to come together, but that to me
is about as encouraging as I think pretty much anything
we mentioned. Like I said, I think there's a very
direct correlation that you can draw between that and the
Steelers having their most successful ground game of the season
so far.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
Yes, now, Anderson isn't close through an outlier like Washington,
but I do want to give him credit too, because
almost every time you see a six offensive lineman on
the field, it's a tackle into your guys aren't used
to having all this space over here. That I get it.
Oh no, there's a Wat or a Garrett. I don't
know how to do that. Yeah I can. I'm a
close quarter type of guy. But Anderson is a very
(29:02):
smart and especially early in his Steeler career, versatile player.
I mean, now he's really settled in at guard, he
might be Isaac's you know successor next year. He played
a ton with the first team as the left guard.
But if you remember when he came out of school,
he flirted at right tackle. He played a lot of center.
Those two first two training camps, he played every position
(29:24):
but left tackle, So he might be more you know,
when I looked at like, well, if they ever go
six offensive lineman, do you want it to be a
Dylan Cook or a Calvin Anderson? Like, Okay, I'd prefer
it was a third round pick that had, you know,
tackle type guy. But this dude has played farther away
from the ball, So give him credit to be able
(29:46):
to do it, because most guards don't get asked to
do that.
Speaker 4 (29:48):
No, that's very well said by you.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
He is not a He's played every position on the
offensive line at some point in his career, but he
is not a tackle by trade, and that is a
that can be a tall ask for some. But he Yeah,
he's taken what they put on his plate and he
has handled it certainly very well. Got to talk about
some of these elements of the defense as well too.
Her Big DJ Watt, Cam Hayward, big game from a
(30:11):
lot of guys on the defensive side of the football,
will do that when we return on the other side.
West Shouler, Matt Williamson. It's the Drive on Steelers Nation
Radio on the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Your tunes about Drive on your twenty four to seven
home of the Black and Goal, Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
Closing down the first hour of the drive here, we're
going to talk to our buddy Chris Adamski of the
trip in about ten minutes to get his thoughts on
the Steelers victory over the Vikings. Matt, the offense, we've
kind of spent most of the the start of the
first hour there and they certainly deserve plenty of credit,
But so does this Steelers defense. The sacks were there,
the TFLs were there, the big impactful splash plays were
(31:19):
there against an offense that has a lot of superstars.
Justin Jefferson got his and that's to be expected. He
does that against everybody.
Speaker 4 (31:28):
But other than that, good he is pretty stickid.
Speaker 3 (31:31):
Yeah, he's one.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
There's every once in a while I'm like very excited
to see somebody in person live. Yeah, you know, like
I remember a couple of years ago when Tom Brady,
you know, came came to the Hines dak Rasher State,
Like this is great last year on Christmas, being able
to see mahomes with my own two eyes, you know,
those types of things. Even though I've seen him a
couple of times, I'm looking forward to seeing Josh Allen
here again, you know, a Thanksgiving weekend. He's one of
(31:55):
those guys. He got his that's to be expected. But
I thought across the board they kept the lid on
everything else. They frustrated that Vikings offense the whole day. Yeah,
you take that busted coverage out of the equation and
it's hard to find a lot of negative with what
the defense did.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
One thousand percent. I thought it was definitely their best performance,
and you touched on it. But my favorite part about
the defense was they took the fight to them. They
were highly aggressive with lits and Okay, maybe you are
gonna beat us once in a while with single coverage
or whatever, but we're gonna come after you. And they
(32:32):
they got some things that went their way. You know,
O'Neill only lasted like ten or eleven snaps a really
good right tackle, and the poor guy that I've been
making fun of all week that was stuck at left tackle,
Skull had to go in, Who's bad.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
As soon as that happened, you tapped me on the
shoulder and you were like, watch.
Speaker 4 (32:47):
This, yeah, the feast.
Speaker 3 (32:50):
Yeah. And then they did smart things though too, like
the whole planet knew and Wat gets this all the time.
But Skull's gonna need help on every pass rush snap
against what wouldn't needed plenty. Every right tackle needs some,
but now you have.
Speaker 4 (33:02):
To O'Neil's a two time Pro bowler and very good play.
Speaker 3 (33:05):
Yeah, a very good player. So what does the Steelers do.
They counter and they put Queen or a linebacker basically
sidecarring or right behind Watt, knowing and blitzing them, you know,
like they didn't do a lot of that in the past,
where Watt's going to command a double so I'm gonna
throw someone else at your front side, you know, and
(33:25):
someone like Queen. I thought they weaponized him really, really well,
and I think he's really starting to come into.
Speaker 4 (33:30):
His own best game of the season by far, flying.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
Around the field, tacking quarterbacks, a lot of Blitz and
Mike pursued at a good point. He thought that maybe
they would regret today, you know, in hindsight, not having
Ramsey follow Jefferson more. I think that's a good point.
And there were times where they left the back end
a little exposed due to Blitz. But another guy that
(33:55):
I think we have to call out is Elliott.
Speaker 4 (33:58):
Great to see him.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
And I said this earlier, but Dale and I used
to do our list of who are most important Steelers,
and if we were to just do the defense, rank
them one to fifteen. The guys that are out there
a lot. If I did that a month ago or
in training camp, Elliott with a lot of dudes ahead
of them because they're Watt and Hayward and Ramsey.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
Yeah, and like it's hard to put them, you know,
to they have to be high. But Elliott would have
been seven or eight, you know, with all due respect,
it's just a lot of guys or head. He might
be like third or fourth now, you know, because his
absence was so felt when he was gone. Communication errors
and they weaponize him too, you know, like he comes
in on that Blitz gets you know, flipped over, you know,
(34:49):
just attacking downhill attacking the run, you know, putting itself
in danger without any you know, playing fast aggressive. So
his presence was felt in a big way. Herbig's star
in the making. Yeah, exactly, yes, And now the the
D line rotation is where it should be and how
it thought it would be. With all respect to louder Milk,
(35:11):
you can't play guys like that as many snaps as
he did at the beginning of the season.
Speaker 4 (35:15):
Nice to see you too, right be and the Connor
McGregor strut down the field a couple of times.
Speaker 3 (35:19):
That's what I was gonna mention is you know, Harmon
is the one that everyone's noticing his his ripple effect
on the other D linemen. But Benton should send him
a fruit basket, you know, Like I'm getting a lot
less doubles now, I'm gup field, I'm being used a
lot more Nickel, I'm being I'm not asked to play
eighty percent of the snaps anymore. I'm getting my talents maximized.
And you still have Equalle and Black that are fourth
(35:43):
and fifth on the list, but I think their best
is you have to come to You're gonna see more
of those guys. So the things are really shaping into form.
But it starts with their aggression and their play calling
and coming after people and you know, dictating the flow
of the game.
Speaker 4 (35:57):
You know who else deserves some roses? Is Terara lost?
Speaker 3 (36:00):
Exactly?
Speaker 2 (36:01):
A lot of people spend a lot of time this
week reminding everyone how ticked off they were that we
let Brian Floores get out of the building and you
should have kept him over Tarrell Austin. And that is
not a knock on Brian floor as at all. He
is phenomenal. No, but TA had a game plan and
boy did they execute it.
Speaker 4 (36:17):
Matt. I don't know if you saw this stat.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
I'm gonna I like it when every once in a
while I can do this, all right, I'll hit you
with something that I'm I hope you haven't seen yet.
Speaker 3 (36:24):
I might just cheat me, like, oh yeah, I saw that.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
You and I were, you know, not far away from
each other on the plane and you were grinding out
the numbers and some of the stuff the whole flight
home across the Atlantic like you always do. The vikings
went under center nine plays. Yeah, Okay, did you see
this yet?
Speaker 3 (36:39):
I think so? And I know the play action stuff
I saw too.
Speaker 4 (36:42):
The Vikings went under center nine plays. The Steelers.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
Had in those nine plays three sacks, one throwaway, three
incomplete passes, one completion. The Steelers on those nine plays
under center on all but one, So there was a
clear cut when they go under when they go under center.
When they go under center, that's when the Vikings like
to run a lot of play action when they go
(37:09):
under center. Yeah, we are going to blow this thing
up now. As you mentioned the Vikings being down their
starting left guard and losing their starting right tackle just
a dozen plays into.
Speaker 3 (37:18):
The game, things went their way.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
It certainly aids the Steelers in that regard, but they
had a game plan every time Minnesota went under center,
and they blew it up every time Minnesota went under center.
And we talked a lot about how, you know, Aaron
Rodgers has been playing with some bad hands the first
three weeks of the season. They forced Carson Wentz in
that Minnesota offense into some bad hands all afternoon.
Speaker 3 (37:39):
Yeah, I'm glad you went down that road because I
saw similar numbers, not exactly what you were talking about,
but an O'Connell staple that was obviously scouted by the
Steeler defensive staff and especially with Wentz because he likes
to do this stuff too. You could at least have
more tendencies with Wentz, who made some plays but also
didn't help causes a time too. He hold the ball
(38:01):
and he likes to take bad sacks. But they want
I mean some of the O'Connell bread and butter stuff.
To your point is play action under center, and they're
good at it, and they run it well. And they
ran eleven play action dropbacks in this game, which is
a big number. I mean, that's fifth most in the
league last week. And they pressured them on six out
(38:23):
of the eleven. I mean, they were really key and
on and sacked them twice on those eleven play action
and on the other nine he didn't get sacked. He
was four of eight for twenty six twenty six yards,
and they averaged minus five point three yards per attempt
on play action. You know, like we've talked about how
play action is the cheat code everyone, and this is
(38:44):
still true on this game for the bikes, but across
the league, when you run play action you almost average
like a yard per play more. You know, in this case,
they were minus five point three when they did play
action ran play action, right, I mean they went backwards
when they ran play action by five yards person nap,
which is taking away making it left handed. But we
(39:06):
just chopped off your right arm, you know what I mean.
This is what you want to do, especially with a
quarterback that isn't an elite player at this point. Yeah,
I mean they have quarterback issues.
Speaker 2 (39:16):
You make a guy like that play left handed, Yeah,
you're gonna get a lot of sacks. You're gonna get
a lot of TFLs, You're gonna get a lot of turnovers.
Speaker 3 (39:21):
Yep.
Speaker 4 (39:21):
They got all those things, and they were much needed.
Speaker 3 (39:24):
And I know Wentz put up big numbers, but and
he did make some plays. He made some throws. The
Addison eighty one yarder skews things a little, of course,
and Jefferson was wide open a lot. He's awesome.
Speaker 2 (39:35):
I know he has not had the best start to
the season, or certainly the one that I think we
were all hopeful and wanted him to have. But huge
credit to Peyton Wilson on that play.
Speaker 3 (39:43):
Massive that ends up I think he's coming into his
own a lot.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
That ends up taking an extra minute off the clock.
It reminded me of a very similar play he made
a same type of play, Matt, I'm talking like.
Speaker 4 (39:52):
One of those.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
If you put the cutups next to each other, it
looks like the same play. When he was at NC
State against Notre Dame. I think it was where NC
State had a busted coverage eighty yards down the sideline.
This Notre Dame receiver goes streaking and he caught him
inside the five.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
Okay, and I mean a wide receivers. Wide receivers aren't
like Washington run down the field exactly right.
Speaker 2 (40:14):
He caught this Notre Dame wide receiver. It was the
fastest GPS next Gen stats that a linebacker had in
the entire Division one college football that year his senior year,
he hit like twenty three miles an hour on right,
are flying right right, right, stop this Notre Dame wide receiver.
NC State ended up holding him to a field goal.
It was a massive moment in the game. They ended
(40:36):
up scoring, but on fourth down they had to run
four more plays another minute off the clock.
Speaker 4 (40:40):
That was huge.
Speaker 3 (40:41):
It was huge, Like, yeah, I'm sure people could be like,
you guys are making a lot out of this. You know,
they end up scoring a minute later like they did.
But I think in hindsight. That's probably the difference of
do we kicking on sidekick which never never work out
in this league anymore, or are we kicking it away?
If I go one more minute, I'm kicking it away
(41:01):
and I'll take my chances and you better get you
forced the Steelers to make a couple of first down
we are to actually execute and then you're so in it.
I mean when you get to on side kick time,
it's just that. I mean that's the last string man.
I mean, that doesn't they don't work at all anymore.
Speaker 4 (41:18):
No, they don't.
Speaker 2 (41:19):
And they got to do it twice due to a
time out there, but Roan Wilson with the true hands
both times.
Speaker 4 (41:26):
But yeahick on.
Speaker 3 (41:27):
Wilson because because Mike pointed us out on the earlier
show he did. He's like, we can we can be
worried about Roman Wilson. I'm sure he's gonna come up
a lot with this Calvin Austin injury. But the fact
that he's out there on hands team, they trust him.
Speaker 4 (41:39):
There's some certain trust factor that.
Speaker 3 (41:41):
I'm not saying he's gonna step up like a lot
of these guys have. And I think that's another theme
we could talk about these next two weeks are boy
Omar has done a great job building depth, and a
lot of these dudes, like game Well is the perfect example,
have really stepped up when asked upon. I don't know
if Wilson's next or not Roman, but the fact that
he's out there on hands team, they trust him, you know,
(42:02):
that could call just store that away.
Speaker 4 (42:05):
That's a very good call by you.
Speaker 2 (42:06):
Maybe something that will go back to at some point,
and yeah, that would be a good conversation during the
bye week. Next week is obviously, we'll have plenty of
time to kind of hit a reset button, if you will,
and take a look at some things, you know, from
a more thirty thousand foot view.
Speaker 3 (42:20):
A bunch of people asked me about should they go
try trade for wide receiver maybe, and we'll say, you know,
we'll talk about it in the next couple of days
or the next leve That's.
Speaker 4 (42:27):
Exactly right, exactly right, and we'll get early next week.
Speaker 2 (42:30):
Well, we should get a more concrete update on Calvin
Austin as well too, when Mike Tomin meets with the media.
Speaker 3 (42:35):
And hopefully get like the quarterback and Warren back and yeah,
right right.
Speaker 2 (42:39):
Yeah, absolutely massive Alex Highsmith. Not too far time, by
the way, uh hour in the Boks another hour ago.
Our buddy Chris Adamski will join us to kick off
Hour number two. We'll get his thoughts on the dub
in Dublin when we return West Yuler Matt Williams and
it's the Drive on Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers
Audio Network M
Your tunes about Drive on your twenty four to seven
home of the Black and Gold Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Good afternoon, Steelers Nation. It's the Drive on the Steelers
Audio Network. Wes Ruler and Matt Williamson finally back state
side with you here for the next two hours on
your twenty four to seven Home of the Black and
the Gold. And Matt, I think it's safe to say
we have just a little bit to talk about today.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Got that right, Yeah, short condensed week. I mean, we're
gonna pack it in this week, and that's kind of
what the trip was. Yeah, And it was glorious, to
be honest with you. I mean, some of it wears
on you and travel, and I'm not good at travel,
to be honest. But man, I just did a show
with Rob and Mike Pursuita and Pursuda said something along
lines up. I am so honored to be a part
(00:59):
of it, you know, I'm like, and that's a great
way to really look at it.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
Great way to put it, Yeah, great way to put it.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
I in fact, I found myself thinking that a lot too,
Like I think one of the things there's a lot
that we.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
All love about the Steelers.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you kind of grew up on the
tail end of the Steel Curtain era, right in that
in that in that glorious time period, I grew up.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
I mean it was shoved on my throat, you know,
I grew up. I was ten years older. It wouldn't
have been exactly right, exactly right.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
And I was in high school freshman when the Steelers
got one for the thumb in Super Bowl forty. I
was a senior when Santonio Holmes to tap in the
back of the end zone super Bowl forty three. So
we kind of were both like in the the golden.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
Eras of it.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Yeah, So we know how much the Steelers mean to us,
to this city, to every like the generations, generations families, right.
I think the thing that I love about the Steelers
is how much they mean to Pittsburgh. Everybody across the
world knows Pittsburgh because of the Pittsburgh Steelers a lot.
And that's special. Like the Steelers brand is bigger than
(01:59):
Pittsburgh's brand. Like the Yankees aren't bigger than New York,
you know, Celtics aren't bigger than Boston. Pittsburgh is bigger.
The Steelers are bigger than Pittsburgh, and.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
I'm just racking my brain, like Packers are bigger than
Green Bay. Maybe the Canadians are bigger than montre.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
There's not many of those. The you know, the Lakers
are not bigger than La Hardwood and all that.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
Stuff is La.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
You know. I was struck by that, Like because of
this football team that we all love so much. The
Steelers are Pittsburgh. Part of me is known across the world.
That's pretty stink and cool. And man, did we see
that show up in Dublin, Ireland for four or five days?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Yeah, I mean I had one uber driver that said, oh,
you're with it. I mean it was obviously I was
with the Steelers. Like Gary picked me up and he
asked something like, yeah, Steelers are from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, right,
And he's like, what the what's Pittsburgh known for. I'm
like football, Well, the Steelers football, steel Yeah. He's like, oh, okay, yeah,
(02:58):
I mean, but there's so many cool experience.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
It really was, and we'll get into some of those
as we roll along, obviously. But the Steelers take down
the Vikings twenty four to twenty one in the NFL's
first ever regular season game in Dublin not the last,
I have a feeling and certainly will not be the last.
It was first class the entire way. The atmosphere at
Croke Park was unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
It really was.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
And you know, it ended up Matt two being a
maybe not for reasons that you know is Steelers people
and Black and Gold supporters that we wanted, but ended
up being a heck of a football game, an exciting game.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Too, more than it should have been down this ye
more than it should have been because I really thought,
unlike some other games this year, see part of me
was like, Karma's gonna get you, you know, like because
there were one of those some of those first three games,
I'm like, I'm not sure the Steelers are the better team,
but they got either with a win because they made
a big play at the right time. And we've talked
that to no end, and I'm sitting there going, Steelers
are pretty much dominated, you know, other than that first series.
(03:53):
From that point on both sides of the ball, I
thought it was very clear who the better team was.
And then you're sitting there at the end, going, they
may lose this, you.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
Know, and a little bit tighter than we want to do.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Yeah, and more so than any other game of the year.
Could you imagine the ramifications going into the bye week
and our trip home, and I mean everything about it,
I mean, and the importance to the Rooney family, and
mister Rooney spoke to the team. I guess on Wednesday,
I'm thinking this could be catastrophic, you know, and you're
starting to hear skull chants and like, uh oh, I'm
(04:24):
getting I'm tightening up here more than I have in
a long time for a game. And then they took
care of business and they were the better team. And
I think there's so many positives football and life to
take away from this whole experience.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
You are absolutely right, and they did. Man, it felt
like it.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
It felt like at a time they had a chance
to blow Minnesota out in that game, and.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
I feel like they were for a while.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
They certainly were. They were, without a doubt, for eighty
percent of that game. They had the upper hand, They
were were in control, better team, they were in control.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
And you're right.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
It's a regular season game, it's one out of seventeen,
but this one meant a lot more for all those
reasons that you just touched on. To have lost that moment,
that opportunity would have been huge, would have been catastrophic,
would have been something that they would have regretted forever.
But now it flips the other way. Ten you and
I both agree, Yes, there's going to be plenty more
(05:14):
NFL games in Dublin.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Oh, I think so. I can't wait till the Steelers
actually get to be there as a road team so
they don't have to sacrifice a hope.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Absolutely, absolutely, all the details, all the minutia that we'll
get in today here, as we roll along ten years
from now, when there's more NFL games in Dublin, they're
going to show the first highlights of that. Yeah. Yeah,
twenty years from now, thirty years from now, fifty years
from now, eighty years from now, when you and I.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
Are both long gone, it'll be remember that.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Every time there's a game in Dublin, they'll roll that
sixty second highlight package of the first time the NFL
ever played here. It was the Steelers in the Vikings
and you'll see DK Metcalf going eighty yards and you'll
see the TJ. Watt interception in the Punta time capsule.
Stuff that is going to last forever.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Yeah, It's funny because we open the show saying, you know,
the eras we both grew up and what the Steelers
mean to us. So I'm sure there's a lot of
folks in Dublin and Ireland that this was their first exposure.
Speaker 4 (06:09):
You know.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
The first game I truly remember was the Steelers being
the Rams in the Super Bowl. Like I kind of knew,
like what a cornerback was and how interceptions are bad,
you know, things like that. I was old enough to
really understand a little bit. But now I'm sure these
people and maybe subsequently their kids and grandkids will remember, Oh,
I remember when I was exposed to this, you know, Yes,
(06:29):
which is cool. Which is the whole purpose of all
this NFL state. I mean, this isn't Steeler thing. That's
an NFL expanding their wings.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
And they've done it so well, and we see it
payoff in London and Germany and Mexico and Brazil and
all those different places. I and the Sunday night madness
at fitz Simon's. You had gone back right smartfully, so
you had gone back to the hotel at this point.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
You just wanted to watch watch games.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Yeah, we had kind of all had enough of the chaos.
But I had to drop up drop off some equipment
there to the DV morning show before.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Where I left, and they were recording Sunday night.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Yeah, they were recording their Monday morning show for on
Sunday night. I met a Irish guy from Cork. His
name was Terry. He's a Bengals fan, but he had
come to Dublin for the game because he was his
first chance to lifetime.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
And game close.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
That's what he said. And he came up and was
just chatting with us briefly. Very nice guy, but he
said something that I thought was great. He said, he said,
I want to thank you for something, and I got
a bone to pick with you for something and I said, okay.
He said, I want to thank you guys for bringing this,
bringing football to this island, to Ireland. What that What
this meant today for people like me who love the
(07:38):
NFL and want to see it grow in places like here.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Which you and I had very little to do with.
But thank you.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
You're welcome, exactly right, he said.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
The bone I have to pick though, is he said,
you know how many Steelers fans you all.
Speaker 4 (07:51):
Just created here and.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
Right, right, and times are tough for the bagels. No
one's jumping on that ship right now.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Said sorry, buddy, you know, yeah, you know what we
can that we we tend to have this.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
On places that we go.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
But Matt, it was all, well, that ends well for
the Pittsburgh Steelers, and there are a million different things
that we want to get into. We'll continue to tell
stories as we kind of analyze and do the x's
and o's. Does the conversation though these sixty minutes on
the field there at Croke Park to start with Aaron
Rodgers and another incredibly efficient, tidy, buttoned up performance from
(08:27):
the signal caller.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Yeah, I mean a couple of bullet points to me
that are the headlines are both sides of this. Of
the coaching staff changed things I thought, and well and
positive results and some things we've kind of called for
and brought up in the past. Not that they're listening,
but I approve of it, even if it wouldn't have worked.
(08:49):
I liked some of the coaching changes they made. They
ran the football. I mean that's a bullet point in itself,
you know, I mean, great defense continues to really shape
into you know, we we got laughed at a little
bit after the first couple of weeks, you guys thought
this might be a top five defense, and I'm like,
that was a hard limb to still be walking out on.
And now I'm feeling a little better that this defense
(09:11):
has a chance to be really good. But I'm glad
you brought up Rogers first because you look at his
stat line. I see you the box score open.
Speaker 4 (09:18):
It was eighteen of twenty two, two hundred yards and
a touchdown.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Yeah, but he brought so much more. I mean, he's
such an elevator and whatever ingredients you give him, he
makes a really good stew you know. And I think
that is really impressive. From the neck up. I think
he's so good. And a couple things like, yes, it's
Tim versus Flores, Sure, but Rogers even said before the game,
(09:43):
I have all respect in the world for Floraes, but
he's not playing this game. It's me versus Harrison Smith,
and he and Harrison Smith have done battle in the
NFC nors for decade. Yeah, I mean like they know
each other really really well, and it's him versus the
players and knowing where to go with the football and
even if you don't know the play calls or know
much about the game. It's so obvious that they get
(10:05):
out of bad situations pre snap and at least put
themselves in areas to succeed, even if their guard can't
block that defensive tackle or your tight end kick it
open or whatever. If you don't have a ton of
matchups in your favor, I'm at least going to the
poker table playing the right odds, you know what I mean.
I might not get the right card dealt to me
(10:25):
that time, but if I at least don't do dumb
stuff and hit on twenty at the blackjack table, you
got a better chance to win. You know, you're always
gonna at least be in the right situation, know where
the most dangerous rushers are, where the part in the
run play that's most likely to blow you up. And
(10:46):
then I haven't got a chance to My schedule's weird.
All of our schedules are weird, and travel and you know,
jet lag and all that kind of stuff. So I
haven't really studied the rewatch yet, but watching it from
the stadium, which is also odd for me. I don't
watch games live. It sure seemed like Rogers was so
good pre snap, not only his charisma and command and wisdom,
(11:11):
but it seemed like he waited really late into the
down a lot. The Vikings are doing all their stuff
and he's just kind of holding his water and watching,
and I'm gonna snap this thing late after you've pretty
much shown me your hand to use another card and
analogy or sometimes I'm just gonna speed it up and
(11:31):
not let you do that, you know, like I'm gonna
be you do all your stuff. And I made a
joke when I did that show with Mike and Rob
It's like Indiana Jones, you know, the swordsman comes out
and he's wo and then India shoots him. You know,
like you can do all your stuff. That's great, But
in the end you've shown me everything, and I'm just
(11:52):
gonna get myself in the right position, and if my
guys make plays more often than not, the dice are
gonna come up in my favor, you know.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
And his guys made some play. Metcalf certainly, Kenneth Gainwell certainly.
But I think that's spot on by you.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
There was a.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
How do I want to put this almost like I
think it was the most vanilla we've seen Brian Flores's
defense in Minnesota since he got maybe the most bored
we've seen a Brian Flores defense since you know, he
really got that thing humming in Minnesota last year because
ers a lot of his game brain, a lot of
the game brain man, And I think that DK metcalf
touchdown was a perfect example. Had DK lineup in the slot,
(12:30):
got the right matchup for him, Boom, here we go,
quick hit or get that thing out. I think a
lot of the times that we saw him checking the
things at the line of scrimmage ended up being the more. Again,
like you said, no one's perfect. It's not always gonna work,
but it's playing the high odds at the at the
casino or at the blackjack table, or at the roulette
wheel or whatever it may be.
Speaker 4 (12:49):
And he just has such savvy for that. Obviously as
a guy who has been in the league for two
decades and is going to walk into the Hall of
Fame one day, and you know, has has seen a
lot of elements, obviously not Brian Flores in Minnesota, but
has seen some elements of that defense throughout his career.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
But he's getting more comfortable with his teammates and I
could just see this guy to run this route, and
I know he's going to make the right adjustment and Okay,
maybe this guy's going to struggle with this block. Okay,
I know that that's where my danger areas are. I'm
going to roll away from it or get it out
or whatever, you know. I mean, his command is off
the charts right now.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
It's off the charts right now. And you know what
really helps that is when you're running the football like
they were Finally, Yeah, that gets when you're going for
when you're going over five yards a clip for Kenneth Gainwall,
when's the last time we could say that about running back.
When you're going over five yards a clip, it makes
Aaron Rodgers' ability and his opportunity to do all that
line of scrimmage stuff even greater. Yes, because you're not
(13:45):
nearly as predictable as an offense, they have to respect
every element of that offense. You throw in the explosive
plays in the past game, you throw in a lot more.
Darnell Washington, I'm sure you want to talk about that
more in depth at some point than we've seen you
bring in Anderson.
Speaker 4 (13:59):
You go big, you go beef package.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
You know, extra eligible, extra down lineman more than we've
seen so far. When all those things come together and
you've got the the ultimate conductor that Aaron Rodgers is
at this stage of the game. Like he certainly doesn't
have the athleticism. How about that run and that fumble
that bounced right to Roger chunks. Yeah, but like he
(14:21):
doesn't have the athleticism and mobility that he used to have,
But his game brain is as good as it's ever been,
his experiences as has ever been. When all those elements
start clicking around him, then he can really show that
stuff off because he he's not playing with one hand
tied behind his back. He's got everything available in the
arsenal stick with a.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Poker analogy, I feel like Rogers hasn't had great cards
dealt to him up to this point. You know, he's
had a bluff itself through some pots, Like boy when
I squeaked that one out, but I didn't have the
best cards at the table, you know. And now all
of a sudden, Oh I got the old as you know,
like I haven't seen an ace in a long time,
you know, Like, oh I got a face cards, Yeah,
I got a pair of delt to me, Like, okay,
(15:00):
I can work with that, I'm starting to understand what
I can get out of this team. And before it
was a little and there's still some smoking mirrors, but
that every team's dealing with some of that too, you know,
Like I don't think they protect particularly well. The protection
still worries me. I mean, they only threw three passes
past ten yards down the line, passed down the field.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
That passing chart is telling it's.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
Crazy, you know, And I think a lot of it's
just because they don't trust the protection, you know. I mean,
and I also think they've kept a little bit in
their back pocket that if they people start creeping up
and really keying on the quick hitters, they will max
protect and throw some bombs. You know. I don't think
they need to throw Russell Wilson moonball after moonball, but
I wouldn't mind to a game. I mean, three passes
past ten yards down the field is crazy, crazy, But
(15:44):
again it's manipulating what you've been.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Dealt, absolutely absolutely, and again he does that as well
as anybody. And I thought, just an outstanding performance for
Kenneth gainwell as well too. Oh man, you know, he
had the nine nine yards rushing bummer. Just get him
one more there to get him, to get him to
the to the century mark. But you had in thirty
five yards on six receptions in the past game as
(16:10):
well too, for you know, well over one hundred yards
all purpose for him. We talked a lot about that,
Jalen Warren, what if scenario leading up to the game.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
I was the worried.
Speaker 4 (16:20):
I was pretty worried, very worried.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Yeah, I mean, and you know, we talked about do
you throw Caleb Johnson into the fire? Do you throw
him into the deep end and see if he can swim?
They didn't have to because Kenneth Gainwell and hey, maybe
he's a little beat up. Maybe you used him a
little bit more than you wanted to do. Twenty five
touches in total for Kenneth Gainwell is a lot, Yeah,
but you got the.
Speaker 4 (16:40):
Bye week rest him up. The timing for that was perfect,
and he delivered one.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
So I think I go out of my way to
admit when I'm wrong. But on the pregame show, I'm
standing there because we're doing it live with Jerry and Mike,
and they asked me, so, how do you handle a
running back situation? You know, Warren's not going to go
and I think the first words out of my mouth are, well,
you can't give game, weell the whole workload, you know,
flat out wrong. But because I think you can once
(17:07):
or maybe one other time, you know, because in this instance,
I only need you for one day, Kenneth, and you
get a law, You get an extra week. You know,
I didn't even think about the buy. You get that
whole time to rest your body. You're not used to
this workload. You're not built like Jerome, you know, you're
not built like Saquon. But I need you for one
day and then you can put your feet up for
two weeks and then we'll readdress it at the time
(17:29):
because I thought, and as you mentioned, we brought it
up to the times like, well, you drafted Caleb Johnson the
third round. Maybe things haven't been perfect at this point.
You throw the young kid in the pool deep end,
either your swim or you're gonna sink, buddy, you know.
And they didn't have to even go down that road,
you know.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
No, they didn't, and they, you know, got a fair contribution.
I think from Caleb Johnson six carries twenty two yards.
At least he showed up, you know, h you had
that really nice nine yard run at the one point
as well too.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
I think they feel better about him today than they
did three days ago, So that's something.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
It's probably we felt about him from this entire process.
He did what they asked him to do. He was
effective in those moments. And again, I think for as
much as the conversation with the offense starts with Aaron Rodgers,
a lot of other guyss are of credit in that.
I think Washington is one of those, Anderson's one of those.
Let's talk about that a little bit more because I
don't want to sure change that conversation.
Speaker 4 (18:25):
We'll talk about some beef, maybe some corned beef.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Iris Irish edition there when we return on the other side,
and keep this conversation going west. Yueler, Matt Williamson. It
is the Drive on Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers
Audio Network, your.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Tunes about Drive on your twenty four to seven home
of the Black and Goal Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Back on the Drive here as we continue to discuss
our trip to Dublin, all things Ireland, and of course
the most important aspect, a twenty four to twenty one
win for your Pittsburgh Steelers as they move to three
and one, and hey, don't look now, but sitting in
a pretty good position compared to the rest of the
AFC North.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
We'll discuss the visions in trouble. We'll discuss them a
little bit.
Speaker 4 (19:23):
More an hour number two. But you're right. I mean,
the Browns have always been in trouble. I think we
knew that. But the Bengals, the Ravens hanging on by
a threat as well.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
I'm not digging a grave yet for Baltimore, but those
Ohio teams you can stick a fork to most.
Speaker 4 (19:35):
You absolutely can.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Like they're a nice corned beef or a nice fish
and chips over there. And speaking of the beef, Matt,
I tell you what I thought a big part of
the Steelers success in the run game, the by far
best performance in that department that we've seen through the
first four games of the season. Yeah, the starting five
offensive line deserves some credit for I think having their
(19:59):
best performance. But I love the usage that we saw
of Washington. I mean he played more snaps than DK
metcalf I believe correct.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
He led all non all skill position players in snats.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
I mean always quarter Aaron Rodgers and the offensive line
out of the equation.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
He was number one.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
He was number one, which any of us expected that
going into Dublin.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
No, that's even more extreme than I've called for. But
I've I've been on the soapbox now for about two
years that this league is full of freaks and athletic marvels,
and there's no question, but sometimes there's outliars. He's an
outliar and teams have to hate playing against him. They
have to. I mean there's like the lineman bouncing off
(20:40):
him with the ball in his hands and his ability
to block. And people have even asked me today then
they've asked me for a year. Rodger Jones doesn't work
out he's making a left tackle. I'm like, no, but
you could you know what I mean, you know, like
that's an option, which is insanity. There's not what you
can't do that with any other running down. I'm just saying,
use them as you use them, and do it more. Now.
(21:03):
I think there's a lot of things. A play here
is first the negative. It sure looked to me and
I haven't rewatched it, but friar Mouth was the culprit
on the blockfield goal. You know, yes, And I think
he's in the doghouse right now. I mean he played
fifteen snaps. He was near the bottom.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
Connor Hayward hay he was the fourth of the four
tight ends, right. I don't think any of us thought
we'd see that. I don't care how you feel about
Pas friar Mouth. I don't think anybody thought we would
see that the end.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
No, Now, I think Washington's roll spiked, Anderson's role spike,
call him an extra tight end whatever. So someone's going
to suffer, we know that. But I think there's more
to that story with Friarmuth, and he's going to have
to dig himself out of the costo, the pero, you know,
I mean the house of the dog, and so we'll
see where he's at over the bye week. But he
(21:50):
needs to bring more to the table period, and they
demoted him, you know, you know, I think that's flat
out what happened. So not everything's roses. If someone's going
to step up, then someone else loses playing time. But
Washington is a total freak and teams are gonna hate
playing against him, and you plug him next to Anderson
often on the same side the line of scrimmage. It's
(22:11):
back with my Larry with Pitt example, Like, I don't
even have to tell it. There's no deception here. We're
throwing the fade to number one. It's you know, yeah,
and we're gonna run right behind those guys and whoever
else there. And if you stop us, great, but you're not,
it's it's gonna wear on you.
Speaker 4 (22:28):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
And it's again, it is one thing when you face
those type of big athletic tight ends who are just
using the run game and you know you got that
coming at you. It's a whole other thing when he's
going for seven yards of reception and you have to
respect that element of his game as well too, because
not only can he run through you, he can run
past you. Yeah, it's just it's a nightmare matchup. Like
you kind of alluded to, that guy's on the field
(22:50):
and defensive coordinators who drives him nuts.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
I don't know what to do with that.
Speaker 4 (22:53):
If they don't want to see it's right.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
This might be an extreme example, and maybe it's because
we were in Europe, but like, do you know, joke
the basketball player for the Denver Nuggets and TVs are
our video producers wearing a Nuggets hat today.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
So I only really watch NBA playoffs and said, he
blows me away.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
And he is probably the best basketball player in the world.
So again, a little bit of that.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
But but he's so unique.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
He he can run past you, he can run through you.
He's a center, but he can trovel like a point guard.
He can step.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
Dunk on you like shack. He can step out and
knock down a three.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
He's the best passing big man I've ever seen.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
He is.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
He is truly one of the unique unicorns in NBA history. Yeah,
just the athleticism and the shooting ability that he has
at his size.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
There's like some and again he might be probably.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
He's an MVP.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Oh my gosh, he's an MVP League Final MVP. Like
I said, one of the true all time great might be.
I mean probably him or dark Nowitzki are the best
European basketball players ever. Yeah, but there is like there's something.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
He's a multiple time MVP, I believe.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
I know he's one at least one, but I think
he's won an NBA championship. I mean, and he's an
all timer.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
But he's an outlier.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
He is an outlier that you don't see somebody like
this very often. It's hey Jamar Chase and t Higgins
and Joe Burrow or matchup nightmares. There's a lot of
great quarterbacks and wide receivers around the NFL.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
And defense quarters have dealt with other awesome receivers in
awesome quarters.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Lamar and Derreck Henry or matchup nightmares. But there's a
lot of great athletic quarterbacks and running backs across the NFL,
Hurts and Barkley. You know, there's not a lot of
guys that can do what Darnell Washington.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
Can you do. He's not as valuable as any of
the names we mentioned, No.
Speaker 4 (24:32):
Absolutely, He's an outlier, that's the word.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
And I think I think we're starting to see those
ingredients come together for him.
Speaker 4 (24:40):
In the offense.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
There's a few dudes, and I not that I'm smarter
than their staff or anything like that, but I've been
lobbying for several weeks and with Washington frankly for about
two years. I don't know how you take like Washington
and herbig off the field. They're two good I mean,
teams say thank you when you take him off the field,
and it almost doesn't even That's not a knock on
(25:02):
Highsmith or Friarmouth or John Who. But they're a nightmare
to play again.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Evitable, Yeah, just something good's gonna happen when they're on
the field.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
If you know, this happened to like Russell Wilson whenever
he was a rookie. They had drafted Flynn to be
the starter. They drafted this young short dude out of
NC State in the third round. And every time they
put something on his plate, Pete Carroll is like, he
devoured it. So he put more in his plate, devoured it,
put more in his plate, devoured it, you know, like
I had to make him a starter. To me, that's
(25:32):
like Washington and her Big. It's like, okay, we saw
limited snaps. Now we'll give you eighteen. Now we'll give
you twenty. Now you'll be the skill position player that
has the most and every step of the way you've
translated to like, oh, this isn't sustainable. Herbig can't get
that many sacks per pass rush attempt. Well maybe let's see.
(25:55):
Let's see, let's see.
Speaker 4 (25:56):
All right, and he's still doing as well too. We
will talk about it.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
I know I'm on the defense at some point, but
you're absolutely right. And then like Matt though when you
combine that with Darnell his skill set, his outlier nature
playing that many snaps, you bring Spencer Anderson in the
fold as well too. Yeah, that's that's a nightmare. And
I think you and I just again the unique tight
end usage and what they have there. And as you said,
(26:20):
Anderson's kind of part of that equation when he comes
in is the extra big man in.
Speaker 4 (26:23):
A way too.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
I mean he's an eligible receiver, you know.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Right, that's the Steelers matchup calling card. I think that
we've been looking for all season and we finally saw
come to fruition on Sunday.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
I thought it would be thirteen personnel. Yes, you know
that they would be way higher than the league average
and thirteen personnel and that's not going the way and
they would be that would be their bread and butter,
and Washington would be heavily involved in that. And we've
talked about this for several weeks now, you and I
that if you look at the best offenses in the league,
(26:54):
almost all of them have something that's different than the others.
I mean, like last year, the Bills were by far
the most six offensive line ravens with Ricard right, I
mean it's just weird stuff that not only you super
talented with Lamar and Allen and all their stars, but
boyd they have something else. I also have to prepare
for during the week, which sucks, you know, Like I
(27:16):
gotta spend all this time dealing with what do we
do with Darnell Washington?
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Now?
Speaker 3 (27:20):
What do we do with him and Anderson on the
field together? How do we practice that? You know, we
haven't dealt with that or teams that use a true fullback.
That's hard, you know, we have this, haven't. It's not
the usual week of prep, you know. Like as great
as the burrow led Bengals are with three wide I
at least see that every week, you know what I mean.
They're better at it than most teams. But it's not unique,
(27:42):
you know. It's not an outlier. And I thought thirteen
personnel would be their outlier. And then he makes in
the wide receiver who's the biggest in the league too,
Like he's a monster too, you know. But if this
is it, okay, take it and run with it. Literally,
I mean, I mean it's you be that parallel, but
taking run with it, right, Take it and.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Run with it sometimes and it sometimes you need a
game like that. I think, like as you kind of
alluded to, like putting more on guys plates, and we're
gonna give you this and you handle it well and
then we'll go here.
Speaker 4 (28:11):
I think there was a natural progression to get to
that point.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
Yeah. Yeah, if you would have tried playing Washington that
many snaps in week one, tried play Anderson that many
snaps in week one. That's not to say like they
should have been doing this.
Speaker 4 (28:22):
The whole time.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
It takes time to come together, but that to me
is about as encouraging as I think pretty much anything
we mentioned. Like I said, I think there's a very
direct correlation that you can draw between that and the
Steelers having their most successful ground game of the season
so far.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
Yes, now, Anderson isn't close through an outlier like Washington,
but I do want to give him credit too, because
almost every time you see a six offensive lineman on
the field, it's a tackle into your guys aren't used
to having all this space over here. That I get it.
Oh no, there's a Wat or a Garrett. I don't
know how to do that. Yeah I can. I'm a
close quarter type of guy. But Anderson is a very
(29:02):
smart and especially early in his Steeler career, versatile player.
I mean, now he's really settled in at guard, he
might be Isaac's you know successor next year. He played
a ton with the first team as the left guard.
But if you remember when he came out of school,
he flirted at right tackle. He played a lot of center.
Those two first two training camps, he played every position
(29:24):
but left tackle, So he might be more you know,
when I looked at like, well, if they ever go
six offensive lineman, do you want it to be a
Dylan Cook or a Calvin Anderson? Like, Okay, I'd prefer
it was a third round pick that had, you know,
tackle type guy. But this dude has played farther away
from the ball, So give him credit to be able
(29:46):
to do it, because most guards don't get asked to
do that.
Speaker 4 (29:48):
No, that's very well said by you.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
He is not a He's played every position on the
offensive line at some point in his career, but he
is not a tackle by trade, and that is a
that can be a tall ask for some. But he Yeah,
he's taken what they put on his plate and he
has handled it certainly very well. Got to talk about
some of these elements of the defense as well too.
Her Big DJ Watt, Cam Hayward, big game from a
(30:11):
lot of guys on the defensive side of the football,
will do that when we return on the other side.
West Shouler, Matt Williamson. It's the Drive on Steelers Nation
Radio on the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Your tunes about Drive on your twenty four to seven
home of the Black and Goal, Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
Closing down the first hour of the drive here, we're
going to talk to our buddy Chris Adamski of the
trip in about ten minutes to get his thoughts on
the Steelers victory over the Vikings. Matt, the offense, we've
kind of spent most of the the start of the
first hour there and they certainly deserve plenty of credit,
But so does this Steelers defense. The sacks were there,
the TFLs were there, the big impactful splash plays were
(31:19):
there against an offense that has a lot of superstars.
Justin Jefferson got his and that's to be expected. He
does that against everybody.
Speaker 4 (31:28):
But other than that, good he is pretty stickid.
Speaker 3 (31:31):
Yeah, he's one.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
There's every once in a while I'm like very excited
to see somebody in person live. Yeah, you know, like
I remember a couple of years ago when Tom Brady,
you know, came came to the Hines dak Rasher State,
Like this is great last year on Christmas, being able
to see mahomes with my own two eyes, you know,
those types of things. Even though I've seen him a
couple of times, I'm looking forward to seeing Josh Allen
here again, you know, a Thanksgiving weekend. He's one of
(31:55):
those guys. He got his that's to be expected. But
I thought across the board they kept the lid on
everything else. They frustrated that Vikings offense the whole day. Yeah,
you take that busted coverage out of the equation and
it's hard to find a lot of negative with what
the defense did.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
One thousand percent. I thought it was definitely their best performance,
and you touched on it. But my favorite part about
the defense was they took the fight to them. They
were highly aggressive with lits and Okay, maybe you are
gonna beat us once in a while with single coverage
or whatever, but we're gonna come after you. And they
(32:32):
they got some things that went their way. You know,
O'Neill only lasted like ten or eleven snaps a really
good right tackle, and the poor guy that I've been
making fun of all week that was stuck at left tackle,
Skull had to go in, Who's bad.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
As soon as that happened, you tapped me on the
shoulder and you were like, watch.
Speaker 4 (32:47):
This, yeah, the feast.
Speaker 3 (32:50):
Yeah. And then they did smart things though too, like
the whole planet knew and Wat gets this all the time.
But Skull's gonna need help on every pass rush snap
against what wouldn't needed plenty. Every right tackle needs some,
but now you have.
Speaker 4 (33:02):
To O'Neil's a two time Pro bowler and very good play.
Speaker 3 (33:05):
Yeah, a very good player. So what does the Steelers do.
They counter and they put Queen or a linebacker basically
sidecarring or right behind Watt, knowing and blitzing them, you know,
like they didn't do a lot of that in the past,
where Watt's going to command a double so I'm gonna
throw someone else at your front side, you know, and
(33:25):
someone like Queen. I thought they weaponized him really, really well,
and I think he's really starting to come into.
Speaker 4 (33:30):
His own best game of the season by far, flying.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
Around the field, tacking quarterbacks, a lot of Blitz and
Mike pursued at a good point. He thought that maybe
they would regret today, you know, in hindsight, not having
Ramsey follow Jefferson more. I think that's a good point.
And there were times where they left the back end
a little exposed due to Blitz. But another guy that
(33:55):
I think we have to call out is Elliott.
Speaker 4 (33:58):
Great to see him.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
And I said this earlier, but Dale and I used
to do our list of who are most important Steelers,
and if we were to just do the defense, rank
them one to fifteen. The guys that are out there
a lot. If I did that a month ago or
in training camp, Elliott with a lot of dudes ahead
of them because they're Watt and Hayward and Ramsey.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
Yeah, and like it's hard to put them, you know,
to they have to be high. But Elliott would have
been seven or eight, you know, with all due respect,
it's just a lot of guys or head. He might
be like third or fourth now, you know, because his
absence was so felt when he was gone. Communication errors
and they weaponize him too, you know, like he comes
in on that Blitz gets you know, flipped over, you know,
(34:49):
just attacking downhill attacking the run, you know, putting itself
in danger without any you know, playing fast aggressive. So
his presence was felt in a big way. Herbig's star
in the making. Yeah, exactly, yes, And now the the
D line rotation is where it should be and how
it thought it would be. With all respect to louder Milk,
(35:11):
you can't play guys like that as many snaps as
he did at the beginning of the season.
Speaker 4 (35:15):
Nice to see you too, right be and the Connor
McGregor strut down the field a couple of times.
Speaker 3 (35:19):
That's what I was gonna mention is you know, Harmon
is the one that everyone's noticing his his ripple effect
on the other D linemen. But Benton should send him
a fruit basket, you know, Like I'm getting a lot
less doubles now, I'm gup field, I'm being used a
lot more Nickel, I'm being I'm not asked to play
eighty percent of the snaps anymore. I'm getting my talents maximized.
And you still have Equalle and Black that are fourth
(35:43):
and fifth on the list, but I think their best
is you have to come to You're gonna see more
of those guys. So the things are really shaping into form.
But it starts with their aggression and their play calling
and coming after people and you know, dictating the flow
of the game.
Speaker 4 (35:57):
You know who else deserves some roses? Is Terara lost?
Speaker 3 (36:00):
Exactly?
Speaker 2 (36:01):
A lot of people spend a lot of time this
week reminding everyone how ticked off they were that we
let Brian Floores get out of the building and you
should have kept him over Tarrell Austin. And that is
not a knock on Brian floor as at all. He
is phenomenal. No, but TA had a game plan and
boy did they execute it.
Speaker 4 (36:17):
Matt. I don't know if you saw this stat.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
I'm gonna I like it when every once in a
while I can do this, all right, I'll hit you
with something that I'm I hope you haven't seen yet.
Speaker 3 (36:24):
I might just cheat me, like, oh yeah, I saw that.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
You and I were, you know, not far away from
each other on the plane and you were grinding out
the numbers and some of the stuff the whole flight
home across the Atlantic like you always do. The vikings
went under center nine plays. Yeah, Okay, did you see
this yet?
Speaker 3 (36:39):
I think so? And I know the play action stuff
I saw too.
Speaker 4 (36:42):
The Vikings went under center nine plays. The Steelers.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
Had in those nine plays three sacks, one throwaway, three
incomplete passes, one completion. The Steelers on those nine plays
under center on all but one, So there was a
clear cut when they go under when they go under center.
When they go under center, that's when the Vikings like
to run a lot of play action when they go
(37:09):
under center. Yeah, we are going to blow this thing
up now. As you mentioned the Vikings being down their
starting left guard and losing their starting right tackle just
a dozen plays into.
Speaker 3 (37:18):
The game, things went their way.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
It certainly aids the Steelers in that regard, but they
had a game plan every time Minnesota went under center,
and they blew it up every time Minnesota went under center.
And we talked a lot about how, you know, Aaron
Rodgers has been playing with some bad hands the first
three weeks of the season. They forced Carson Wentz in
that Minnesota offense into some bad hands all afternoon.
Speaker 3 (37:39):
Yeah, I'm glad you went down that road because I
saw similar numbers, not exactly what you were talking about,
but an O'Connell staple that was obviously scouted by the
Steeler defensive staff and especially with Wentz because he likes
to do this stuff too. You could at least have
more tendencies with Wentz, who made some plays but also
didn't help causes a time too. He hold the ball
(38:01):
and he likes to take bad sacks. But they want
I mean some of the O'Connell bread and butter stuff.
To your point is play action under center, and they're
good at it, and they run it well. And they
ran eleven play action dropbacks in this game, which is
a big number. I mean, that's fifth most in the
league last week. And they pressured them on six out
(38:23):
of the eleven. I mean, they were really key and
on and sacked them twice on those eleven play action
and on the other nine he didn't get sacked. He
was four of eight for twenty six twenty six yards,
and they averaged minus five point three yards per attempt
on play action. You know, like we've talked about how
play action is the cheat code everyone, and this is
(38:44):
still true on this game for the bikes, but across
the league, when you run play action you almost average
like a yard per play more. You know, in this case,
they were minus five point three when they did play
action ran play action, right, I mean they went backwards
when they ran play action by five yards person nap,
which is taking away making it left handed. But we
(39:06):
just chopped off your right arm, you know what I mean.
This is what you want to do, especially with a
quarterback that isn't an elite player at this point. Yeah,
I mean they have quarterback issues.
Speaker 2 (39:16):
You make a guy like that play left handed, Yeah,
you're gonna get a lot of sacks. You're gonna get
a lot of TFLs, You're gonna get a lot of turnovers.
Speaker 3 (39:21):
Yep.
Speaker 4 (39:21):
They got all those things, and they were much needed.
Speaker 3 (39:24):
And I know Wentz put up big numbers, but and
he did make some plays. He made some throws. The
Addison eighty one yarder skews things a little, of course,
and Jefferson was wide open a lot. He's awesome.
Speaker 2 (39:35):
I know he has not had the best start to
the season, or certainly the one that I think we
were all hopeful and wanted him to have. But huge
credit to Peyton Wilson on that play.
Speaker 3 (39:43):
Massive that ends up I think he's coming into his
own a lot.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
That ends up taking an extra minute off the clock.
It reminded me of a very similar play he made
a same type of play, Matt, I'm talking like.
Speaker 4 (39:52):
One of those.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
If you put the cutups next to each other, it
looks like the same play. When he was at NC
State against Notre Dame. I think it was where NC
State had a busted coverage eighty yards down the sideline.
This Notre Dame receiver goes streaking and he caught him
inside the five.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
Okay, and I mean a wide receivers. Wide receivers aren't
like Washington run down the field exactly right.
Speaker 2 (40:14):
He caught this Notre Dame wide receiver. It was the
fastest GPS next Gen stats that a linebacker had in
the entire Division one college football that year his senior year,
he hit like twenty three miles an hour on right,
are flying right right, right, stop this Notre Dame wide receiver.
NC State ended up holding him to a field goal.
It was a massive moment in the game. They ended
(40:36):
up scoring, but on fourth down they had to run
four more plays another minute off the clock.
Speaker 4 (40:40):
That was huge.
Speaker 3 (40:41):
It was huge, Like, yeah, I'm sure people could be like,
you guys are making a lot out of this. You know,
they end up scoring a minute later like they did.
But I think in hindsight. That's probably the difference of
do we kicking on sidekick which never never work out
in this league anymore, or are we kicking it away?
If I go one more minute, I'm kicking it away
(41:01):
and I'll take my chances and you better get you
forced the Steelers to make a couple of first down
we are to actually execute and then you're so in it.
I mean when you get to on side kick time,
it's just that. I mean that's the last string man.
I mean, that doesn't they don't work at all anymore.
Speaker 4 (41:18):
No, they don't.
Speaker 2 (41:19):
And they got to do it twice due to a
time out there, but Roan Wilson with the true hands
both times.
Speaker 4 (41:26):
But yeahick on.
Speaker 3 (41:27):
Wilson because because Mike pointed us out on the earlier
show he did. He's like, we can we can be
worried about Roman Wilson. I'm sure he's gonna come up
a lot with this Calvin Austin injury. But the fact
that he's out there on hands team, they trust him.
Speaker 4 (41:39):
There's some certain trust factor that.
Speaker 3 (41:41):
I'm not saying he's gonna step up like a lot
of these guys have. And I think that's another theme
we could talk about these next two weeks are boy
Omar has done a great job building depth, and a
lot of these dudes, like game Well is the perfect example,
have really stepped up when asked upon. I don't know
if Wilson's next or not Roman, but the fact that
he's out there on hands team, they trust him, you know,
(42:02):
that could call just store that away.
Speaker 4 (42:05):
That's a very good call by you.
Speaker 2 (42:06):
Maybe something that will go back to at some point,
and yeah, that would be a good conversation during the
bye week. Next week is obviously, we'll have plenty of
time to kind of hit a reset button, if you will,
and take a look at some things, you know, from
a more thirty thousand foot view.
Speaker 3 (42:20):
A bunch of people asked me about should they go
try trade for wide receiver maybe, and we'll say, you know,
we'll talk about it in the next couple of days
or the next leve That's.
Speaker 4 (42:27):
Exactly right, exactly right, and we'll get early next week.
Speaker 2 (42:30):
Well, we should get a more concrete update on Calvin
Austin as well too, when Mike Tomin meets with the media.
Speaker 3 (42:35):
And hopefully get like the quarterback and Warren back and yeah,
right right.
Speaker 2 (42:39):
Yeah, absolutely massive Alex Highsmith. Not too far time, by
the way, uh hour in the Boks another hour ago.
Our buddy Chris Adamski will join us to kick off
Hour number two. We'll get his thoughts on the dub
in Dublin when we return West Yuler Matt Williams and
it's the Drive on Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers
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