Hr1: Matt's Stats

It's time to dive into Matt's Stats as the guys get ready for Cincinnati.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Your tunes about Drive on your twenty four to seven
home of the Black and Goal Steelers Nation Radio.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Good afternoon, Steelers Nation. It's the Drive on the Steelers
Audio Network Web. Shooler and Matt Williamson with you here
on a Thursday, getting ready, getting closer to a big
battle in the AFC North this Sunday at Akrashuer Stadium.
Planning to get into today. We are going to deep
dive into bout stats like we always do. We're gonna
catch up with our buddy Bob Labriola here before too

(00:49):
much longer. Really start turning the page to the Cincinnati game, Matt,
as we do on a Thursday.

Speaker 3 (00:55):
Well quick on that, and I know we got other
things to talk about. But this is one of the
least in depth game breakdowns that I've done in a
long time. I think, no matter what Bengals game you
break down, it's like the defense stinks and they let
up a lot of points. The passing game's awesome, and
they score a little less than they usually give up,
you know, and there's not a lot of intricacies to

(01:16):
this team.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
No I was. I was doing a segment with with
with Ed and Jacob Steelers Steelers standard, and I was like,
there's there's no questions about familiarity with these things now.

Speaker 3 (01:28):
And there's that part too, like everybody knows everybody and
you just played him a couple of weeks ago.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
And it was kind of funny to me. You know,
the ebb and flow of Mike Tomlin's weekly press conference.
You know, every Tuesday, he recaps the previous game, he
gives quick injury updates, and then he previews the upcoming opponent.
And I was kind of laughing in the back of
my head because when he started talking about the Cincinnati Bengals,
he was like, well, they traded Logan Wilson, so they've
been doing some new stuff with their linebackers. Because that's really,

(01:54):
like I'm thinking, in my mind, that's probably the only
thing he can talk about that people that isn't gonna
just sound redundant.

Speaker 3 (02:00):
Yeah. Yeah, And he was kind of benched. I mean,
he wasn't even a starter a couple of weeks ago.
I mean, at least the Bengals head coach could be like, well,
they moved Ramsey to safety and they've had a couple
of defensive backs, and yeah, there's a little bit of difference,
But Missy and Rob and I did. It was on
facility today, which I know is going to lead to
next conversation, but it was on the facility today, and

(02:20):
we do this video and Rob and Missy and I
each pick a key match up on each side of
the ball, and it's like, probably should just take the
video from three weeks ago.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
A couple of weeks it's still to slow down.

Speaker 3 (02:36):
Still t Higgins exactly Brown, pretty similar.

Speaker 2 (02:39):
Not a lot of unknown going into this one. And
you know, styles make fights. That's an old, an old saying,
and it quite often can go one of two ways.
When you have this type of familiarity, it makes for
a great fight, or it makes for kind of a
boring who's gonna blink first, who's gonna make the first
mistake fights.

Speaker 3 (02:56):
I'm leading to see a lot of like Raven Steelers
with that, like Harvought and Tom kind of Likey versus
Spy kind.

Speaker 2 (03:01):
Of I'm leaning towards the this is going to be
a high scoring, high flying flight fight like we like
we saw in Cincinnati and will be kind of like
what you said after that Thursday night game when we
came in here on Friday. If you're the other thirty
teams around the NFL. You really enjoyed that one last Yeah.

Speaker 3 (03:17):
Right right, fun Gunslingers.

Speaker 2 (03:19):
Yeah, it's going to be similar on Sunday, albeit it
won't obviously have all the eyes on it like a
standalone Thursday night game. Did.

Speaker 3 (03:27):
I'm not downplaying the importance of it. I just don't
think there's a lot of intricacies of you know, I
know what you're going to do, and when they kind
of do what they do, you know.

Speaker 2 (03:35):
The importance of it is massive. Yeah, yeah, I mean.

Speaker 3 (03:39):
Maybe even more so for the Bengals. I mean the
losses they lost.

Speaker 2 (03:42):
Their seasons over. But you know what for the Steelers,
a loss and like all the good that you had
built up at the start of the season and division
lead is gone.

Speaker 3 (03:50):
Washed right, You're back to even steven.

Speaker 2 (03:52):
And this was another thing I was talking about with
with Ed and Jacob, was you know, it's one thing
you lose to the Packers, you lose to Seattle. Okay,
those are NFC losses. Yeah, if it comes down to
a scenario at the end of the season where the
Steelers and the Ravens are both ten and seven, they
split the head to head matchups. That tie breaker is
gonna be division record AFC conference, So it's very big

(04:14):
in that scope as well too, potentially down the road, like, yeah,
you want to win both, but you'd rather win this
than lose to Cincinnati and beat Chicago, you know what
I mean? Because the division win, the conference win. What
that means for tie breakers? And how close this could
be with Baltimore now straight.

Speaker 3 (04:31):
And a couple of weeks ago I thought it was
a four gone conclusion only one team out of the
North would go to the playoffs. I think there's a
real good chance of Steelers and Ravens could go, certainly possible,
or if the Bengals get on a run, they could
even be in that man.

Speaker 2 (04:43):
But again, though you're gonna need it's gonna come down to, Okay, Houston,
Pittsburgh or who's who's got the better AFC conference record,
who's got the better division record? That is massive in
this one. And yet don't look now the Chicago Bearris,
who have won five of their last six games, that.

Speaker 3 (04:58):
Can be a pushover all.

Speaker 2 (04:59):
The road could be nasty weather elements like always in
Chicago this time of year. You've got the Buffalo Bills
coming to town. Not too much longer. You know, you
base a few days after Thanksgiving, you still got the
Ravens twice. You still have to go to Detroit. I
mean that's still over a month away.

Speaker 3 (05:14):
But no, but we're coming down the homestack. Look at that.

Speaker 2 (05:17):
The road is narrowing, and the path. I don't want
to say it even becomes easier with a win Sunday
against Cincinnati. No, but it's a lot worse. It's a
lot more difficult with a loss.

Speaker 3 (05:28):
Right, not to mention what our audience is going to
be thinking about. I mean, I know they don't they
don't have to play on Sundays, but man, it's going
to be a very different vibe if you lose that game,
even if it's thirty one to thirty on the last
second kick and you played well, right, I mean, but
it's gonna be a lot different feeling. It's a big game.

Speaker 2 (05:48):
I'm thinking of our departed brother, tuns Jilkin, who used
to say, don't tell me about the labor, just show
me the baby.

Speaker 1 (05:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (05:55):
Yeah, this is one of those just right, don't care
about the labor or don't care what it looks like.
Just get a win.

Speaker 3 (06:02):
You lit a five hundred yards and thirty points. Well,
as long as you score thirty one, I don't care.

Speaker 2 (06:06):
Whether it's forty eight to forty five, Yeah, eight to five.
Just get a win, man, Just get a win in
an important AFC North tilt here in November, something that
feels like a birthright in this division. Speaking of which,
you were down at the facility.

Speaker 3 (06:22):
Today, Yeah, it's my Thursday routine, right, And I.

Speaker 2 (06:24):
Heard that some of the some of the crew down there,
some of our people down at Steelers HQ, we're getting
a kick out of.

Speaker 3 (06:31):
Our yesterday conversation.

Speaker 2 (06:33):
Yesterday's conversation about like building your All AFC North team
and you're starting eleven and you're all fifty three, man Ross,
we might be able to roundtable this thing in the
off season.

Speaker 3 (06:41):
I think we might, so people like that. A couple
of folks down there were like, man, I like that
segment about the All AFC North team, and I've been
giving it some thought, and they're like, let's take a
step further, let's build it all fifty three. That's like
in a media I'm like, dude, I don't have that
kind of time. But then you start and through it.
It's not that hard.

Speaker 2 (07:01):
For the AFC North, it would be pretty because you
just know the teams going to do the other seven divisions.
That would take a lot more research.

Speaker 3 (07:08):
And I'll be honest, I'd be good at the other
seven divisions, but this one would be easier obviously. And oh,
by the way, on that fifty three man roster, about
twenty five of them are probably Steelers. Yes, yeah, I
mean there's not many Bengals. We were chatting through it
and I decided, let's make the rules super Bowl era

(07:31):
because Jim Brown was going to be the running back.
But then it's like then we get into like Graham
and Ernie Stottner, like real just like helmets as much,
and it's really apples to oranges. Then, you know, so
Jim Brown would be great, But let's start it with
like Super Bowl era. It's not as hard as you think.

(07:53):
I mean, you don't even have to have a depth
chart for this division. Right, give me Dawson and Webby
at center. Yeah, right, you know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (08:00):
Like wide receiver be a lot of fun.

Speaker 3 (08:03):
Wide receivers a lot of fun.

Speaker 2 (08:04):
I want I want a b I want Chase, I
want Swan, I.

Speaker 3 (08:08):
Want Star And then a fifth guy.

Speaker 2 (08:11):
I think I'm going Hines because I want a different
I want someone who could play in the slot and
knock some head off.

Speaker 3 (08:18):
Yeah, but even like our edge, getting.

Speaker 2 (08:20):
Someone like Steve Smith from Baltimore, you'd be leaving off right.
It's true though he's more of a Carolina Panthers raven
to be fair.

Speaker 3 (08:29):
But like tight end isn't super strong. It was Ozzie
is be your one, he Heath or Heap, Andrews Mark Andrews. Yeah,
I think we came up with Andrews is a two.

Speaker 2 (08:42):
The offensive line would be really good, really good quarterback
depth would be really good.

Speaker 3 (08:46):
I mean, you could fight about the depth chart, but
we came up with Lamar and Ben. And then that
was Bradshaw versus Burrow.

Speaker 2 (08:53):
Oh, you're gonna make some people angry about it. Direct
all angry tweets and comments towards Matt Williamson.

Speaker 3 (08:59):
That was not I'm just tying how the conversations went.
We didn't make any final decisions. We were just chatting
through it. But like, I think, Lamar and Benn have
to be there. And I know there's some people that
take Bradshaw over Ben. I get that. I'm a Ben
over Brad.

Speaker 2 (09:12):
I was gonna say, forget Lamar over. There'd be some
people that are like, how you're leaving Bradshaw out for Ben?
Oh Man, this could be fun.

Speaker 3 (09:18):
I mean, you're gonna take three so we don't even
have to do the death charge.

Speaker 2 (09:21):
Well we need to do ano. There's somebody out there
listening right now who runs a fine dining establishment or
something in the western Pennsylvania area. Invite us out in
the off season. All right, Well we'll sit around, we'll
have this. All these debates of Ben and Bradshaw, Lamar
Burrow running back would be tough too, man.

Speaker 3 (09:38):
Running without Jim Brown in the mix. It's tough like
Franco lev Bettis, Jamal Lewis and.

Speaker 2 (09:44):
J Lewis gonna say, has to be in that conversation.

Speaker 3 (09:48):
There's another obvious when I'm missing Corey Dillons wasn't good enough,
But I mean it could be all Steelers. I mean
you start going position by position, then you build a
defensive front. That was interesting too, Like we took two
nose tackles, took not Ann Hampton.

Speaker 2 (10:01):
Of course, and base fifty three roster loaded.

Speaker 3 (10:04):
Up, yeah, and basically played like a three four with
Joe Green as Joe Green and Cam as the guy's
next to the nose, and then people debate. Let me
go Watt and Garrett here. I know it's kind of early,
but what and Garrett of the guys.

Speaker 2 (10:16):
I I'm the The off ball linebacker debate would be incredible,
the linebacker debate in general, because we build it like
the guys. But you realize you're leaving sugs out. Then
who's like fifth all time?

Speaker 3 (10:27):
And he's the He's in the fifty three.

Speaker 2 (10:29):
He's like fifth or sixth all time in Saxon League history.

Speaker 3 (10:32):
He's on the fifty three. And then I put Harrison
as my fourth outside linebacker guy. But that's I mean,
it's like no l C or Dwight White.

Speaker 2 (10:40):
Or could you imagine being a running back coming through
the A gap and you got Ray Lewis and Jack
Lambert waiting for you, right, have fun.

Speaker 3 (10:46):
Right right right?

Speaker 2 (10:47):
Show that one.

Speaker 3 (10:48):
Yeah, I mean we had those build him. We built
it like a modern day team, like who's your nickel?
All right? The nickel corners kind of tough because I
got Woodsend and Blunt on the edge on the outside.
That's pretty good. But who am I gonna do? In
the nickel, you know, like it's not quite as strong.

Speaker 2 (11:05):
I might have, like a you may have blunt, you're
gonna have Blunt and Rod Woodson on the outside. That's
as good as it get. That's as good as I mean,
you would be hard pressed. That's a defined much better
than that.

Speaker 3 (11:17):
And I got Troy and that's my starting second.

Speaker 2 (11:20):
I don't need a nickel formation the whole game.

Speaker 3 (11:24):
But let's make Donny Shell the modern day nickel. I'm like,
because he actually kind of did that at the time too,
I'm like, he's Hall of Famer. I mean, that's not bad.
Riley the safety from.

Speaker 2 (11:34):
The Bangle, Like someone like Kyle Hamilton is a nickel.

Speaker 3 (11:37):
His name came up. I'm like, too early for those guys.
It's not too early for Chase, but Hamilton's name came up.

Speaker 2 (11:44):
Like I wouldn't want Joe Hayden in a nickel role.
That's not his it's not his game on the fifty three.
Probably is one of your debuts.

Speaker 3 (11:50):
He spent enough time in the division too. Yeah, so
that's it's not a terrible name. But like I mentioned,
likes Ward Minifield and Dixon. Chris McAllister was a really
good player. I'm a big fan of those, but none
of them are nickelish, you know, kind of cool. But
it's a fun conversation maker.

Speaker 2 (12:06):
Kyle Hamilton playing the nickel.

Speaker 3 (12:08):
That's not bad. It got to be something, is Hamilton.

Speaker 2 (12:11):
It's got to be some safety type.

Speaker 3 (12:12):
And I said, we're making a fifty two man roster
because I am not picking a long snapper.

Speaker 2 (12:17):
But give me, give me a long snap. Remember swim
Literally the ball was in the water. It worked out swimmingly.
As you can see. We could kill a whole showing
this conversation things, but we will table this for later.
I love that our friends down on the South Side
enjoyed this. I'm also glad to know they're listening too. Yeah, yeah, yeah,

(12:39):
I'm always glad to know somebody other than my mom
is listening to the show. It's always always, always good
to know. Let's take a break here, reset. We're going
to dive into Matt's stats when we return on the
other side and really start to get into some Bengals
and some Stiller's conversation. All of that and more. Just
getting started here on the Drive on Steelers Nation Radio
on the Steelers Audio Network.

Speaker 1 (13:04):
Your tune's about drive on your twenty four to seven
Home of the Black and Gold Steelers Nation Radio.

Speaker 2 (13:41):
All right, so I'm thinking more about this fifty three
man roster and what about.

Speaker 3 (13:46):
It.

Speaker 2 (13:47):
It is a lot of fun. And you know this too.
I always laugh at like the low Hanging fruit Fodder
radio every time I hear somebody do a mount rushmore
of Yeah, that was happening today. Paul Skeens won the
cy Young I congratulations to Paul, outstanding pitcher. Unfortunately not
much else around him. And like I'm here, everyone's like,
oos your mount rushmore of Pittsburgh Pirates pitchers, and I'm like,

(14:09):
We're like, really, we're doing this. We're doing this in November,
in the middle of football season and everything going on.
But it's also a lot of fun. I'll put my
hand up. I'm guilty of it too. It's a lot
of fun to have those conversations. We will do plenty
of that in about June time when we're kind of
wandering through the wilderness looking for content. But Matt, we
are not looking for content today because we have got

(14:30):
angles on tap. We've got another outstanding edition of Matt's
stats to comb through, and I feel like there's kind
of a funny ebb and flow of what I like
to pick first to discuss with you.

Speaker 3 (14:43):
Yeah, I always wonder what you're dropping on me first, Like.

Speaker 2 (14:46):
If the offense has a really good week, I'm like,
we're gonna go to an offensive statistic. The defense force
is six to well five turnovers against the Colts and
you get one on special teams. I'm like, we're gonna
talk about some defensive statistics. I want to start with
something that kind of jumped out at me because I.

Speaker 3 (15:02):
Some alarming good and bad in this packet.

Speaker 2 (15:04):
Yeah, you and I have pointed this out. I don't
think the defense played poorly on Sunday.

Speaker 3 (15:09):
No.

Speaker 2 (15:10):
I think they held off the dam for a long
time and it finally broke and they were on the field.
So you combine how often they were on the field
with the lack of splash plays, that's kind of the
kryptonite for this defense. Yeah, if they're on the field
a lot and they're not getting splash, that's when things leave.
But I thought that they overall did their part. I
don't think that.

Speaker 3 (15:28):
They were they played winning football.

Speaker 2 (15:30):
They played They played well enough for that team to win.

Speaker 3 (15:32):
Certainly, my two complaints of the defense was, and these
are going to happen as the game goes on when
you're out there too much. Was there were some holes
that were large for Viidel to run through.

Speaker 2 (15:42):
Particularly in the second half.

Speaker 3 (15:43):
Best particularly in the second half, and then not being
able to really stop mcconukee. But I didn't think eccles.
I mean, he had a tough game against mcconaukeae in particular,
and that one play was a remarkable throw catch. The
coverage wasn't bad, but that I mean, all in all,
I'll take that from the defense. Every game you win
more often than not when the defense plays like that.

Speaker 2 (16:04):
Agreed, Agreed. I want to go to a defensive stat
here that I think tells a tale. The Steelers defense
fifth highest and blitz rate. Okay, that's something we talked.

Speaker 3 (16:16):
About starting to drop, and I think it's going to
keep dropping.

Speaker 2 (16:18):
I think so too. It's something that we talked about
a lot going into this season. Play more man to man,
play more press coverage that allows you to dial up
some blitzes. Bring Patrick Queen, bring Peyton Wilson, Bring Jalen
Ramsey out of the slot. It's your birthright in the
black and gold here, and I think at times in
the beginning of the season it was working. I'm with you.

(16:39):
I think they have clearly dialed that back due to
injuries and just some.

Speaker 3 (16:42):
I don't think the man cover guys to do it right.
They have to do it.

Speaker 2 (16:46):
Differently, particularly when Ramsey is not up at the line
of scrimmage. Yeah, Steelers defense fifth highest and blitz rate,
but twenty third in EPA when they blitz.

Speaker 3 (16:55):
So it hasn't gone well either.

Speaker 2 (16:56):
So it hasn't gone well, which to me points to Okay.

Speaker 3 (17:00):
Yeah, exactly, doubt back. Your four man rush is great,
huge thing we talked about leaving in the Colts game,
which and they look like this juggernaut going into that game.
I don't know how they could ever beat the Colts
and there they are really good. I mean, they're the
only team that's done it well. Yeah, And the thing
we said over and over that week was just make
Daniel Jones tap the ball a second half a second longer,

(17:22):
you know, because the pass rusher will get home. Some
of the stuff I've been tweeting lately about, like the
Steeler pressure rate and things like that, are phenomenal. Like
I've gotten so much responses on Twitter. It's like, it's
not the pass rush's fault. I've been telling you this
for a one hundred years, right, I mean, I don't
need numbers to back it up. They have great pass rushers.
It's not the pass rush's fault. So they don't have
to disrupt the game by bringing five. And I also

(17:44):
think it's been a when they blitz, they bring six
a high percentage too. That's somewhere in the packet, and
they're at the top of the league in terms of
six or more man pressures, and that just that's just
a lot of grass to cover. And the Bengals game
is a perfect example. It's like, I don't even care
who's on Chase if Lacco hits him in stride. I
don't have any linebackers or safeties or anybody else to

(18:05):
at least, you know, dislodge the ball or help me
tackle them or so I think they've figured out, Hey,
maybe these corners aren't as good a man as we thought.
And even if Samuel factors in, or Whenny factors in,
he's much more of his own guy. And it doesn't
mean you have that's the only way to skin a cat.
You know, I mean just drop guys into into zones
and make them tap the football that way and you're

(18:26):
forced to get home.

Speaker 2 (18:29):
And you know, even with that, you tweeted out a
chart of EPA from.

Speaker 3 (18:35):
Yeah phrase like the big plays you've made and yeah,
right right.

Speaker 2 (18:38):
Based off of a solo and assisted tackles, interceptions, forced fumbles,
fumble recoveries, and sacks.

Speaker 3 (18:44):
And that's a EPAS two ways of looking at there's
like an EPA per game situation, you know, or per
Actually it's per play. I mean that's the beauty of
it is they break it down the clothes column dominator,
but when they talk about players sometimes they accumulate too,
like the quarterback is it's it's a counting stat as well.

Speaker 2 (19:01):
Yes, TJ. Watt at the top of that list.

Speaker 3 (19:05):
Number one amongst all defenders.

Speaker 2 (19:08):
And Nick Herbig number nine on that list.

Speaker 3 (19:10):
Yeah, and they're all the names you think so.

Speaker 2 (19:12):
Yeah, Josh Sweat, Will Anderson, Aiden Hutchins, Yeah, Jared Verse, Miles,
Garrett Montes, Sweat, Joey Bosa, all these guys. Yeah, Shaun Gary,
who we just saw a couple of weeks ago.

Speaker 3 (19:22):
Yeah, they're highly productive players.

Speaker 2 (19:24):
That to me even more kind of supports. You'll still
get home. You'll still get home before.

Speaker 3 (19:30):
Trust these guys.

Speaker 2 (19:30):
Trust these guys.

Speaker 3 (19:31):
And everyone's like, that's the highest paid defense in the league. Yeah,
because those guys cost money because they're good. I mean,
Hei Smith doesn't play for free and Watt doesn't play
in cam and these guys.

Speaker 2 (19:40):
That's why I know, I've told you this before, and
I laugh at this, and I get it. I do
it too. But every time the Steelers defense doesn't have
their best outing, one hundred and eighty million dollars highest
paid defense is But when they forced five turnovers against
the Patriots or the Colts, no one's like, never, that's
money well spent.

Speaker 3 (19:57):
I've never heard on Monday boy. Good investment there.

Speaker 2 (20:00):
Wow, great investment. Right. It does work both ways.

Speaker 3 (20:02):
And everyone talks like it's their money. What do you
care what they pay?

Speaker 2 (20:06):
The salary caps fake anyways, I worked in Philadelphia for
three years. I keep an eye on what Howie Roseman's
been doing. Salary CAP's fake anyways, it's just a bunch
of I'm like Matthew McConaughey and absolutely fugazy fugazi.

Speaker 3 (20:19):
It's fairy dust exactly. Keep him investing Matt.

Speaker 2 (20:25):
Let's get to some stuff here on the offensive side
of the football. As we kind of bob and weave
through some Matt stats. Pittsburgh's offense facing a too high
shell fifty four percent of the times, the second highest
rate in the NFL. Yeah, run the ball, and I
think get back to some of those quick hitters that
we were seeing work so well with DK Metcalf at
the beginning of the season. Get him the ball four

(20:47):
or five, six, seven yards off the line of scrimmage
in space.

Speaker 3 (20:50):
Yeah, and that's a general thing. But the opposing teams
are as opposed a single high are having a too
high shell against Pittsburgh a high percentage the time. And
I bet people were shocked by that, and in some
ways I am too, Like why are teams choosing to
do that?

Speaker 2 (21:08):
Look at the pass chart. Steelers aren't throw the ball deep.

Speaker 3 (21:09):
They're not throwing the ball deep right right, I mean
they're not holding the ball. I mean the ball's coming
out as fast as any team in the league, ifs
not faster. But Seattle was the same way last year.
It's a Metcalf thing. People still fear him taking the
top off and say what you want about them needing
another receiver or whatnot. Anderson's or Austin is also fast.

(21:32):
Their pair of receivers are basically as fast as anyone
in the league. I mean they're Tyreeque and Waddel. I
mean just pure speed. One of them's seventy pounds or
the other. But just in terms of winning a race,
those two are fast. And I think that's that's the
only thing I can come up with, because not only
you're seeing a ton of two high shelves, but you

(21:53):
play with heavier personnel too. I mean, you're bringing three
tight ends on the field, an extra lineman on the field.
I mean, and you're playing with big, heavy people on offense,
and they're still not really crowd in the box. You
can't tell me that there's not run looks there, yeah,
I I mean you can't tell me.

Speaker 2 (22:11):
I'm not trying to tell you. Yeah. It's the opposite.
And even kind of piggybacking off of that as it
relates to this Sunday's clash with Cincinnati, the Steelers throw
short at the NFL's highest clip. I don't think that
surprises anybody, no, of course, but the actual percentage is
kind of alarming. Nearly seventy nearly seventy six percent of
the time. Seventy five point seven percent of the time

(22:33):
they're throwing short under ten yards are under the highest
clip in the league, a lot three out of four
passes right seventy six percent of the time. Bengals.

Speaker 3 (22:44):
I'd like to get a little less strong in that department.

Speaker 2 (22:47):
I'd like that to be down in the sixties.

Speaker 3 (22:49):
Yeah, especially in this game without a big pass rush
to worry about, you know, like, can we push them
all down field little bit? You know?

Speaker 2 (22:54):
But the Bengals defense is last in the NFL and EPA.

Speaker 3 (22:57):
Versus short throws, yes, c NDPA in a lot.

Speaker 2 (23:00):
Of you've seen them. The defense come up right right.

Speaker 3 (23:04):
Right, I mean their run defenses last or stuff for
short passing last, you know. But yes, I mean you
should be able to play your game, though, I think
it's the bottom, you know, going and looking at it
for this particular matchup.

Speaker 2 (23:16):
Feels like your strengths. I was gonna say, match the
Bengals weaknesses on defense, but again, they're kind of everything.

Speaker 3 (23:23):
Yeah, it's a remarkably bad group.

Speaker 2 (23:27):
Here's one that I want to talk with you about
that is not going to paint the greatest picture, sure,
but is is what it is. Over the last five games,
Aaron Rodgers passer rating and completion percentage has declined each
of the last five games and each.

Speaker 3 (23:45):
Of the last four games. His yards per attempt, not
how far he's necessarily going the ball, but what you're
getting per attempt, yes, has gone down.

Speaker 2 (23:54):
So let me ask you this. I think I did
this with you a couple of weeks ago. I forget
what the topic was, maybe the Steelers offensive line after
the first couple weeks of the season, but remember motes
and I would do this thing c CWP calm, concerned, worried, panicked. Okay,
when you hear that stat about Aaron Rodgers worried, are
you call him concerned, worried or panicked?

Speaker 3 (24:15):
Worried? Okay, not panicked. But I think he because of
his age.

Speaker 2 (24:20):
That's the I mean. And the weather's getting colder, and
it's yeah, I mean any of those.

Speaker 3 (24:27):
I'm sure Ben would sit here and tell you or
maybe even did it while he was still a Steeler
at the end. It's not that he is recover slower.
Wednesdays are as much fun as they used to be.
You know what I mean like at this start of
the season, the first month or two, when the weather's
nice and you didn't do anything all off season and

(24:48):
you trained how you wanted and you weren't fighting three
different injuries. But when these older quarterbacks, it's this time
of year when things I mean, I could just give
you a nine. I mean, breeze on, you know, Matt
Ryan on on on all in recent memory bruises associated
with play man last year exactly. You know, so if

(25:08):
he was thirty two and he's playing exactly like this,
I'm like, yeah, that's fine. Yeah, I mean it was
a bad game, and really there was one bad game.
You know, it's not like, boy, all these games are terrible,
but the Colts game wasn't as good as you think.
They just happened they win, you know, and they.

Speaker 2 (25:24):
Got a lot of help from the defense.

Speaker 3 (25:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (25:25):
Yeah, one hundred and eighty million dollars well spent exactly.

Speaker 3 (25:28):
You go, right. I Mean, I think even Rogers after
the Colts game, and he's very self aware and smart,
said something like, we need to score more points when
they give us the ball that much, and they did
score points, but they need to score more, you know,
like realized we could been better on that game too.
The offense did not win that game, and then the
offense basically lost the last game. But just rigors of

(25:48):
the season for an old quarterback, not an aging quarter
he's an old quarterback over forty that were That's what
That's why the worry.

Speaker 2 (25:56):
Yeah, no doubt, no doubt. And this kind of putting
a full circle on a couple of the things we
just discussed there. On pass attempts of ten or more
yards downfield, Aaron Rodgers has completed just about forty percent
of those attempts, slightly over forty point three percent.

Speaker 3 (26:13):
That's the season. That's for the season, right, And there's
fewer than just about anybody because such a high percentage.

Speaker 2 (26:20):
Of short throws.

Speaker 3 (26:22):
Yes, yeah, and some of them we've all watched the tape.
Some of them are watched the games live. I mean,
some of them are when the play breaks down, he's
rolling to his right and fire people are chasing them. Sure,
but he's not the only one doing that in the
league either, right, right, right. But his deep ball accuracy
or mid to deep ball accuracy hasn't been average. I mean,

(26:43):
it's below average.

Speaker 2 (26:45):
Nearly sixty nine percent of the Steelers passing yards have
come after the catch highest percentage in the league. Only
team in the league over sixty percent.

Speaker 3 (26:53):
And that's a lot more than Number two, a lot more.

Speaker 2 (26:56):
And that again gets back to their throwing short often
and at times guys like DK Metcalf and Pat Fryer,
Mooth and Darnel Washington, they've been able to take a
six or seven yarder and turn it into a twenty
or thirty yarder. But unfortunately we haven't seen as much
of that the last couple of weeks.

Speaker 3 (27:12):
No we haven't. And I don't even know if that's
a bad stat that's just a style of play. And frankly,
yards after the catch is a feather in the quarterbacks cap.
I mean, if you're not super accurate with football, they
don't stop their feet, you know, like.

Speaker 2 (27:28):
It's those things work in concert together.

Speaker 3 (27:30):
Yeah, you need to be good with the ball in
your hands, whoever is getting the ball, and the guy
has to get it to you on time, six inches
in front of the numbers as walls, she used to say,
and then you can do it. I can't be catching
it behind me, stop my feet, or I'm not to
get any right exactly. So Roger's been great in that respect,
and most of it has come from Warren in Metcalf.

(27:52):
You know, the big plays have been Metcalf, but Warren,
you give them the ball, you know, those ones at
the line of scrimmage or yards downfield and he picks
up another eight yards. Well that's you know, you could
do the percentages of how much of it came after
the catch, you know.

Speaker 2 (28:07):
Right, right, So some interesting, interesting numbers there that kind
of stood out to me when I started to comb
through this picture, though, they do, and that's that's all
we're trying to do. Yeah, yeah, yeah, some good, some
concerning as we continue to I.

Speaker 3 (28:23):
Don't have a crystal ball. I'm not predicting the future.
I'm just telling you these are the picture of these
teams and how what we know about them today.

Speaker 2 (28:30):
And all it takes, Matt is sixty minutes on a
Sunday for trends to start to change as well to
exactly so. Nothing is written in stone, nothing is chiseled
in concrete until the end of the year. Let's take
our last break of the first hour. Here some more
Matt stats, more numbers. I want to kick around with
you before we get to our buddy Bob Laberry.

Speaker 3 (28:48):
You all looks like Matt's stats are now available on
Steelers dot com.

Speaker 2 (28:51):
Ooh, so if you want to fall along home kids,
this will be on the test Eu'ler Williamson The Drive
Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network.

Speaker 1 (29:07):
Your tunes about Drive on your twenty four to seven
home of the Black and Goal Steelers Nation Radio.

Speaker 2 (29:45):
Final segment here of the first hour. We will get
to our buddy Bob Labriola about fifteen minutes from now
to kick off hour number two. Matt, I wanted to
look back into another It's not technically your stats packet,
but it's another thing that you're.

Speaker 3 (29:59):
Charge after every game. Just throw them in the spreadsheet,
at them up again.

Speaker 2 (30:04):
We are you know, we're not hard. I was just
talking about Colorado football with you during the U During
the break there, Dion Sanders likes to say, I'm not
hard to.

Speaker 3 (30:14):
Find, right, Okay.

Speaker 2 (30:15):
The topics that you and I talk about on the
show here are not hard to find. The themes are
not hard to find. And one of those, ever.

Speaker 3 (30:24):
Country and probably belief. I'm not a mathematician or no
a great research person. These things are are all out there.

Speaker 2 (30:30):
No but let's spend seven years in college, six twelve terms.
They're called doctors, Richard one of the sorry to throw
you under the bus like that.

Speaker 3 (30:42):
Hey, yeah, that two to one in creative writing was
not easy to come by, Pitt Johnstown of the Fine Institution.

Speaker 2 (30:50):
My my two point eight in uh in broadcast media
and sports communications wasn't too much better, uh, Matt. One
of the things that we have been talking about since July.

Speaker 3 (31:00):
Yeah, I mean before the season started, right.

Speaker 2 (31:02):
Three key indicators turnover differential, sack differential, explosive play differential. Yeah,
and everyone. Not every single week, but maybe like bi weekly. Here,
you and I can revisit that and see where we're at.
Turnover differential. Even taking a pretty substantial hit in LA
minus three on Sunday, you're still plus six on the season.

Speaker 3 (31:23):
Yeah. Yeah, it's still amongst the best in the league.

Speaker 2 (31:25):
Although I will say sometimes the playing just comes together.
Steelers have lost three of their last four games. The
three they lost, they lost the turnover differential. The one
they won, they won the turnover differential.

Speaker 3 (31:38):
Sometimes it's that simple.

Speaker 2 (31:39):
Sometimes it's it's just that cutting.

Speaker 3 (31:42):
These teams aren't that far out matching each other, you.

Speaker 2 (31:45):
Know, sacked differential. This one doesn't shock anybody. Steelers are
plus fourteen in that department. It's been a strength, which
is really good. They lost sack differential the first two
weeks of the season hm in the opener against the
Jets and then in the home opener against Seattle, but
since then they have only lost it against Green Bay.

(32:07):
They've won it every other game plus plus sixteen on
the year. That's a real strength, real strength, explosive play differential.

Speaker 3 (32:16):
And I expect the sack one to keep up.

Speaker 2 (32:17):
Yes, yeah, I mean, no matter what, the blitz just
bring four. I expect that to continue.

Speaker 3 (32:24):
Even with the ball coming out of quarterbacks hands quick
and all that stuff.

Speaker 2 (32:27):
Expect that to get Maybe there'll be some games, you know,
against certain teams where it's it's not quite the same
advantage because they are playing some teams like the Lions
that can get after the quarterback as well too, But
that I expect to maintain a a in the team's
type advantage Steelers as the season rolls along.

Speaker 3 (32:46):
They may. I think they'll build on that even as
the season goes on.

Speaker 2 (32:49):
Agreed. Agreed. This other one though, What really hurts you, though,
is your explosive play differential Matt really poor. The Steelers
have only won it once this season, and it was
that Browns game at home. Negative four in that department
against the Chargers, negative eight in that department against Indianapolis,
negative five in that department against Green Bay. And man, it's.

Speaker 3 (33:11):
It's particularly bad in the run game right.

Speaker 2 (33:13):
Particularly well, it's kind of gone back and forth. Like
against the Chargers, you were even in past explosive play differential,
but minus four in the run game differential. Against the
Colts you were even in run game explosive plays. And man,
you would have signed for that in blood minus eight
in the past game. Imagine here if you didn't get

(33:37):
you know, all those turnovers. So to me, that's a man,
that's a real struggle. We we know it's.

Speaker 3 (33:44):
A Steeler thing. It's not an opponent thing. We've watched
enough now when if you just look, it's in the
stat pack, it's not in that spreadsheet. Steelers offensive explosive
play rate is at the bottom of the league.

Speaker 2 (33:57):
The bottom of league. It doesn't matter.

Speaker 3 (34:00):
Flosive plays. I think they're thirty two or right right
around there. They're twenty seven or later. I can't remember.
Off the top of my head. Yes, And the defense,
I think the defense has gotten better in this regard. Well,
I'm not even sure, but the defense has allowed way
too many big plays too.

Speaker 2 (34:16):
And a big part of it. You know what, Matt,
You've almost up until this loss at the Chargers, you
were doing much better in the run excess play department.

Speaker 3 (34:24):
A lot of that was early in the season, I think,
like the Jets had big runs and yeah.

Speaker 2 (34:28):
Correct, since Dublin. You won the explosive run play differential
against Minnesota, against Cleveland, against Cincinnati, tied stalemate with Green
Bay in Indianapolis. But then but then minus four against
the Chargers, and like you mentioned, a lot of those
second half backbreaking not forty fifty yard runs.

Speaker 3 (34:46):
I would say that by by Dell, but it wasn't
Taylor taking twelve.

Speaker 2 (34:51):
Thirteen yard run right right, moving the chains, keeping your
defense on the field, keeping your offense on the sideline.

Speaker 3 (34:57):
And I'm sure some real advanced stats people could tell
you all explosives are the same. It's different if you
score an eighty yarder on the first play of the drive.

Speaker 2 (35:04):
A ten yard run is an explosive run. Yeah, sixty
yard run is an explosive run.

Speaker 3 (35:08):
There's a big difference. But over the course of the year,
do you think you get an idea?

Speaker 2 (35:12):
Yeah, water finds its level a little bit.

Speaker 3 (35:14):
Now. I love Jalen Warren, but I don't think all
of a sudden he's gonna start ripping off thirty forty fifties.
He never really has nause never.

Speaker 2 (35:23):
What he does well is he turns a four yarder
into nine yards.

Speaker 3 (35:26):
Yeah, exactly, exactly. Yeah. I mean he's just not a
long speed guy.

Speaker 2 (35:30):
Neither was nausey, ye know, right, He's not a home
run hitter in that No.

Speaker 3 (35:34):
I mean there's been stretches over the last couple of
years where the Steelers have a lot of ten plus
yard runs but hardly any twenties. Yes, you know. I mean,
so that's one thing that's not going to probably change
is the real long run.

Speaker 2 (35:47):
They've got to get back to. See, like explosive run differential.
You're minus eight on the year. That's not great.

Speaker 3 (35:52):
I can live with it.

Speaker 2 (35:53):
That's one per game. Yeah, yeah, it's not terrible. Minus
twenty five in the past game is is bad.

Speaker 3 (35:59):
It's great.

Speaker 2 (36:00):
Is real bad? You've only won that that differential battle
twice this year.

Speaker 3 (36:04):
I mean some of the real alarming stats in the
staff packet are like the number of yards they allow
to wide receiver position. Yes, I mean it's like one
hundred and ninety four yards a game just to the
wide outs and guys outside the numbers if you just
or just slough.

Speaker 2 (36:19):
And the only time all year that you can excuse
that is it was garbage time. Was the Colts game,
right right, right right?

Speaker 3 (36:24):
That's I mean then was the most glaring example.

Speaker 2 (36:30):
To yeah, yeah, yeah, it goes back to back games. Yeah,
so it doesn't.

Speaker 3 (36:35):
And to their credit, they've made a lot of defensive
back changes knowing these things, I assume.

Speaker 2 (36:42):
I mean, it's not real hard to figure out, no doubt,
no doubt. And one thing that kind of strikes me
too is the Steelers missed field goal differential this season
is only plus one. And I'm not saying that to
say like, wow, Boss is missing. No, but it's opposition
or not missing as many as the steel field goal luck. Yes,
I l year it went very I bet you if
we would have been doing this exercise, I don't even

(37:03):
know if you and Dale did last year, but I
bet you the Steelers missed field goal differential last year
was pretty substantial. I'm sure in the red in a
good way.

Speaker 3 (37:11):
It definitely was positive or in the black.

Speaker 2 (37:13):
Sorry, Red's negative, Black's positive. I didn't go to accounting,
right created black? Yeah, you want to be in the black,
not in the red. Are right?

Speaker 3 (37:21):
Yes, I think you're right. Did you take any I
think you're right about that.

Speaker 2 (37:26):
Plus one is not there and they always are.

Speaker 3 (37:28):
Boz is going to make a higher percentage than his
Steelers opponent.

Speaker 2 (37:32):
But you haven't had the luck of the mist maybe
the misses from your opponents as much as you have
in the past, And people.

Speaker 3 (37:38):
Might be like, what are you talking about. I'm like,
I've explained this before, but I thoroughly believe in field
goal luck. Maybe the Steelers are slightly better than most
teams are blocking a field goal over the course of
the year because Danny Smith's good and they block a
lot of punts too.

Speaker 2 (37:53):
Sure.

Speaker 3 (37:53):
Maybe, sure, But for the most part, if it goes
between the uprights or not, has nothing to do with
the defense the path, you.

Speaker 2 (38:01):
Know, think about it. I mean, like, well missed the
field goal this year because he slipped on the turf,
got nothing the defense like that.

Speaker 3 (38:08):
The opponent was so good at blocking kicks, right, I
mean sometimes you just they hand you three points, you know,
and they don't take three points away from me, and
they give you the ball midfield because they missed, you know,
and that's not really in your hands.

Speaker 2 (38:24):
No, no it is not. No, it is not. And
so certainly something that we keep an eye on, something
that we track around here, but wanted to.

Speaker 3 (38:33):
Uh, every couple of weeks. We need this.

Speaker 2 (38:35):
Every every couple of weeks, stop in on that, keep
an eye on that.

Speaker 3 (38:38):
The explosive play differential is terrible. The other stuff's good.

Speaker 2 (38:42):
And this feels like a Sunday. You got to get
that move in the right direction because we know you're
going to be able to hit explosives against that defense. Yeah,
we saw it. We saw it a few weeks ago.

Speaker 3 (38:51):
But I bet the Bengals explosive play rates pretty darn high.

Speaker 2 (38:54):
But they're sitting in their offensive meetings right now and saying,
we can really get some chunk plays on these guys. Now.

Speaker 3 (38:59):
One thing about the Bengals in particular, I know their
explosive run rate is way down. I mean like a
distant last and the only game that they had any
explosive runs was against the Steelers. Okay, I mean Chase
Brown's doesn't I mean their run games done nothing and
breaking off long runs or any kind of consistency. So yeah,

(39:21):
I like that their receivers are very explosed.

Speaker 2 (39:23):
I like that A lot hour in the books, another
hour to go when we return. On the other side,
the Dean of Doom, the lord of living in his fears.
What will he have to say after a lackluster effort
out in LA and a dangerous Cincinnati team rolling into
town to the north Shore this weekend? All of that

(39:43):
and more with Bob Blabriola on the other side, as
we kick off our number two Weser Matt Williamson, You
are tuned into the Drive on Steelers Nation Radio on
the Steelers Audio Network,