HR1: Matt’s Stats

The Drive begins to preview the Ravens with Matt's Stats

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Your tunes about Drive on your twenty four to seven
home of the Black and Goal Steelers Nation Radio.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Good afternoon, Steelers Nation. It's the Drive on the Steelers
Audio Network. West Huler and Matt Williamson with you here
for the next two hours on a Thursday, as it
is time to fully turn that page and focus on
the Baltimore Ravens.

Speaker 3 (00:37):
The Rats about that time.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
Yeah, the Purple people, although I guess that's still associated
with the Vikings because of the history there. But you
get what I'm saying. It's a big day today. We'll
talk to Bob Labriola. We got a big Thursday night
game tonight to talk about a little bit more before
we get out of here. It absolutely is, and we
are going to deep dive into Matt's stats as we

(01:00):
like to do on Thursdays as well, to kind of
set the scene, set the tone, begin to paint the
picture for Steelers and Ravens on Sunday. Before we jump there, Matt,
there is some kind of NFL news of the day
that I want to run by with you. We do this,
I'd say maybe fifty percent of the time to start shows,
you know, just kind of you know, front page of

(01:23):
the sports page type stuff, And this one, to me
is it won't grab a lot of headlines today in
this time of year, but this is pretty significant for
the National Football League moving forward. The NFL and the NFLPA,
the NFL Players Association, have agreed to a new model
for selecting playing surfaces in stadiums, one that will require

(01:44):
every team to choose from an improved set of manufacturers
and styles for both natural and synthetic fields. The policy,
teams are supposed to begin to replace their surfaces for
twenty twenty six, but must be recorded to do so
to have the approved fields by twenty twenty eight.

Speaker 3 (02:04):
Okay, I think that's huge.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
I think that that's long overdue, long over, long over
And you know, I we've had conversations forever about some
of these, you know, places like MetLife and whatever they
call where the Commanders play now, and you know how
notoriously bad those places are. How many knee and ankle
and achilles and ligament injuries happen.

Speaker 3 (02:29):
Sure, I'm with you.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
For a billion dollar entertainment product, multi billion, multi billion
dollar entertainment business, this seems like something that should have
probably been mandated a while ago. But I think it's
about time for this to happen.

Speaker 3 (02:45):
Now, yeah, I think it's long overdue for two reasons.
First off, I think it's a better product. It's more
fun to watch than use a recent example when boswell,
you know this footing is terrible, so you know you
don't get the maximum product from a great athlete or
a great football play or whatever. Now we know sometimes
weather's going to screw things up. I mean, like these,

(03:06):
it's never gonna be perfect.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
It's an out it's an outdoor sport. An outdoor sport
takes a lot of December and January.

Speaker 3 (03:13):
And yeah, I mean like it's going to be rough
on growing grass and whatnot. Sure, but they have the money,
I mean we know that, and the NFL's greatest assets.
I guess we could argue this because they're players, so
protect them better, you know what I mean, less ankles
than these, And you don't want Saquon or Justin Jefferson.

Speaker 2 (03:35):
Neighbors a couple months ago.

Speaker 3 (03:36):
Yeah, right, right right. I wonder how many injuries could
have been prevented over the last decade with better surfaces.

Speaker 2 (03:43):
There's a couple to pop the mind right away, Like
you know that Melik neighbors. One, yeah, Adrian Peterson all
those years ago. What was FedEx Field at the time. Again,
they changed the name every year where the Commanders play
there now. But so I think it makes a ton
of sense. You're right, I mean, those are their greatest assets,
and injuries are still going to happen. It's a national football.

(04:04):
Bigger part of football is blocking and tackling, as Mike
Tomlin likes to say a couple times a year.

Speaker 3 (04:09):
But even a guy run around edge off tackle and
he slips like I don't want to see that, no
back slips and a guy catching an easy touchdown, you know.
You know.

Speaker 2 (04:17):
Kind of the parallel to draw I think is we
know there's the same kind of parameters for players in
the helmets that they're allowed to wear. Right, NFL players
are allowed to pick their own helmet, but within certain
parameters you have to you have to you know, they
have to pass so many baselines to be available as
a choice. I think that makes it's kind of a

(04:40):
similar type thing here. You'll still have some wiggle room.
Do you want to go natural grass? Do you want
to go turf? You know, synthetic?

Speaker 3 (04:46):
Three different companies you can call.

Speaker 2 (04:48):
Companies you can call and get estimates and what type
of grass they're going to use, and what type of
this and that they're going to use, just like you
can for helmets. So there's still some wiggle room for
personal decision there, but it's within the guidelines that are
acceptable and a league wide standard across the board makes
a ton of sense.

Speaker 3 (05:03):
It makes a ton of sense. And I assume this
like the Steelers field crew and maintenance staff, it does
all that work at Latrobe and we analyze it while
we're on the air and stuff. It's I mean, they
would still do the same amount of work. It's just
maybe guidelines would be different, you know, like you kept
I don't know, I'm really talking out of my butt here,
but like you gotta cut the grass certain way, are

(05:25):
you are going.

Speaker 2 (05:25):
To be the certain seed that you have to use
or dream so.

Speaker 3 (05:28):
Is different or whatever?

Speaker 2 (05:30):
Right, Like you remember this was a We've talked about
this before a lot of times. It'd be like in
the past, it would be like I remember this like
it was yesterday, twenty years ago. Those electric USC teams
that had matt Liner and registers.

Speaker 3 (05:45):
Oh yeah, yeah, they were fast. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (05:47):
Every time they'd go somewhere like Notre Dame where it
was natural grass. They'd be they'd can plain. Pete Carroll
would complain and be like that grass should have been cut,
you know, a week ago, Like they had trying to.

Speaker 3 (05:57):
Slow us down for three weeks because USC's coming to
town a month, right, yeah, yeah, yeah, And.

Speaker 2 (06:03):
Like you know, like Tounch of Wolf used to tell
similar stories about like when Earl Campbell would come to town,
you know, and you wanted to flood the Houston. Houston
Oilers came to town in January, and so we sprayed
some extra water on the grass to make it nice
and slick and icy.

Speaker 3 (06:16):
The best one is Houston. Maybe we'll even ask Labs
about it. Is raiders come here for a playoff game.
Might have been an AFC championship mid seventies, and who
knows how it happened, But the tarp was only on
the middle of the field. Outside the numbers was all
ice and you know our lovely friends from the south Side.

(06:38):
Well that's the same for both guys. And now Davis
is like we have Clifford Branch, we throw deep all
the time. That's not the same. And I'm gonna side
with mister Davis on that one.

Speaker 2 (06:51):
I do love those old timey stories, but that would
fly five and Astro Turf December. Right, it's basically twenty
twenty six here. Uh. You gotta have some type of standards,
and I think in the same same parameters of with
a helmet, you have some some wiggle room to choose,
but it has to be underset guidelines. I think it
makes a ton of sense and it's overdue.

Speaker 3 (07:11):
So the two other points I have, and again this
is a long time ago. It's gotten way better. But
like my pit days, we played Temple and that was
the same field the Eagles had, which was the worst
in the league at the time, because it was was.

Speaker 2 (07:25):
That was this at the like the end of the
VET days.

Speaker 3 (07:27):
Yeah, yeah, terrible. I mean like it was described to me,
and it felt like this when you walked on the field.
I wasn't a player, but I was out there and
it didn't feel like any other field we've been on.
Was cement with a little bit of carpet over it,
you know, and there was weird scenes where they sewed
it together like whoever the someone's grandma sewed it together

(07:48):
or whatever is what it felt like. There was bumps.

Speaker 2 (07:50):
They brought it meme off from Levetaz.

Speaker 3 (07:52):
Exactly to show up the line. And there's a million
injuries on those fields, you know, like we can't have this,
you know, like right not to mention if I as
a player, I wouldn't go play for the Eagles if
I have a choice, you know, absolutely. And well my
other question too is the overseas stuff we're seeing more
and more, And Mora's a good question. I don't know.
I'm sure they have some kind of parameters, but the

(08:13):
fields are built for smaller people. They're from all over
the world, they're different climates. That always worries me overseas,
and now we got more and more foreign games.

Speaker 2 (08:22):
You know, I agree with you on that. The one
nice benefit of that though, is it's all natural grass.
H they don't do and usually weather's on an issue
or professional soccer players will not play on anything that's
not real grass.

Speaker 3 (08:35):
Is that a thing? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (08:37):
And you know what, maybe it ties this all together.
Interesting timing with this announcement being made when all so
many of these NFL stadiums that are hosting the World
Cup in July, the United States have to tear up
their synthetic field and put real grass down.

Speaker 3 (08:53):
So like that's happening no matter what.

Speaker 2 (08:55):
No matter what. MetLife is hosting the World Cup final,
and I think a couple other games, it was like mandated,
if you're gonna be the host site, you have to
rip up your like FIFA was, you have to rip
up your turf and put in real grass or we're
not playing games there.

Speaker 3 (09:09):
All because no soccer player plays.

Speaker 2 (09:11):
On No soccer player you think MESSI, you.

Speaker 3 (09:14):
Know, is gonna like they be like a baseball field
that's astro turf.

Speaker 2 (09:18):
Now exactly right, exactly like they do not play on that.
They don't do that in that in that sport, in
those countries, they don't even consider it. It's not even
in the realm of possibilities. And so that was one
of the big kickers of the United States and probably
I would imagine the Canada sites because I think Mexico
is probably already on board with that. You know, it's
United States, Canada and Mexico that are hosting a World Cup.

Speaker 3 (09:41):
I would think most Canadian football stadiums are especially with
the weather they get right.

Speaker 2 (09:48):
It was that was kind of like one of the
big first things was like if you're going to get
approved to host the World Cup. All the places that
are synthetic turf, you're ripping it out and you're putting
in real grass for the World Cup.

Speaker 3 (09:59):
Up.

Speaker 2 (09:59):
Okay, yeah, but then MetLife was like and then we'll
go right back to our turf, and it's like, come on, man,
like yeah, So at least this is I think it
raises the floor for what's required and that's realistically about
what is fair to ask for.

Speaker 3 (10:13):
Oh yeah, yeah. Again, everything should be regulated that ever
touches a player, period, you know. I mean the medications,
the shoes, the helmets, as you mentioned, the pads, everything,
you know, right, the jerseys are all the same. I
mean yeah, as safe as possible.

Speaker 2 (10:27):
As safe as possible, as quality as possible goes a
long way. I'm with you on that. And so I
like this by the NFL and the NFLPA. Let's take
a full couple couple, you know, like one.

Speaker 3 (10:37):
You can't just ask a team to like have this
done by Sunday.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
Here's the three suppliers you can choose from. Bid that
thing out and get it done on Sunday. But it's
nice that it starts to go into effect next year.
It has to be done by twenty twenty eight. Okay,
so you know, like a one to three year window
if you will.

Speaker 3 (10:56):
I'm sure I know your opinion on this, considering the
college I'm going to reference, But I wonder is the
next step. Are they going to say, hey, you can't
have a college game on this field the night before.

Speaker 2 (11:08):
That's an interesting one.

Speaker 3 (11:09):
You know, like if we take it another step forward,
you know, and just field quality, I don't know, I
don't love it from a Steeler perspective that they share
with another.

Speaker 2 (11:19):
I'm yeah, right, like I'm I don't know how gung
ho the Eagles are about Temple.

Speaker 3 (11:25):
Using that facility, right right right.

Speaker 2 (11:27):
I don't know how stoked the Dolphins are, although the
you might be bigger than Miami than the Dolphins that
they share, you know, ever since they demolished the Rose
bol ten years ago or whatever that was. It's an
interesting question.

Speaker 3 (11:38):
Right, Like the next step, if we're going to take
field quality, then don't play on the whippules.

Speaker 2 (11:43):
I think whippiles like I think Acroture part of me
is like only one of two or three stadiums that
host high school games regularly at all.

Speaker 3 (11:50):
Right, yeah, and that's what four of them on a
Saturday all day. Sure, I mean it beats it up.
It's not the same as NFL game beats.

Speaker 2 (11:56):
I think, especially for the neat for the for the
grass surfaces.

Speaker 3 (12:00):
Oh sure, sure, yeah thousand.

Speaker 2 (12:02):
Like this Saturday, the Big Twelve Championship is at Jerry
World at the Cowboys Stadium.

Speaker 3 (12:06):
They play different.

Speaker 2 (12:07):
It's not it's not real grass, so does that really matter?
But it's an interesting point where like, you can only
have so many games in such an allotted time if
it's a real grass surface.

Speaker 3 (12:17):
Or I need four days with no one on this
field before I can play an NFL game.

Speaker 2 (12:22):
Sure, whatever they do, it's not a bunch, But I
think it's I know it's happened twice because it just
did this past weekend, and then it did before that.
Who did the Steelers host before Chicago? Who do we
have in town before Chicago? Was at the Colts. Yeah,
so that was that the same weekend that Pitt played
Notre Dame, and then this past weekend Pitt played Miami,
So that it's happened twice recently and then maybe once

(12:43):
at the beginning, so it's only two or three times
the whole year, Like I know it.

Speaker 3 (12:46):
Does happened a time, right and pit season's almost over
and there's effect playoffs or.

Speaker 2 (12:51):
Right, right, But that's a very interesting point where like, hey,
if we're.

Speaker 3 (12:55):
Gonna have that hurt field quality, I don't know.

Speaker 4 (12:58):
Very interesting, very very thin makes a product better, field
surface better, overall product better, better for performance and for safety.

Speaker 2 (13:09):
And again, billion dollar entertainment business, that's what you're looking for.
That's raise the raise the floor of the product, I
think is what you say.

Speaker 3 (13:18):
Yeah, I don't want to be like man games not
up the standards.

Speaker 2 (13:25):
Right, right, And that's not typically a seismic issue, but
it still has been an issue from time to time.
And again, like people love the rip on how bad
the MetLife services, people love the rip on how bad
the commander's service. They talk about these things all the time.

Speaker 3 (13:40):
I'm sure it's just public knowledge of players.

Speaker 2 (13:42):
Right, Yeah. Like I don't think so Far has as
much as it is an incredible stadium. I don't think
it's turf has the best reputation for being you know, maybe.

Speaker 3 (13:50):
It's just an off brand or not one of these
ones that are check the box.

Speaker 2 (13:54):
Right, sure, sure, And so again I don't you and
I were not going to pretend like we uh, you know,
went to college for turf man or anything like that.
But this is worth bringing up though, I think, definitely
worth bringing up in a pretty what I would call
good and a positive kind of news story of the
day to get us rolling here. Plenty more to get into.
We're going to get into Matt's stats. We've also got

(14:15):
some other kind of news and notables around the league
that we will discuss as we roll along as well. Well, Shuler,
Matt Williamson. Just getting started here on a Thursday. It's
the Drive on Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network,
your tunes.

Speaker 1 (14:34):
About Drive on your twenty four to seven home of
the Black and Goal Steelers Nation Radio.

Speaker 2 (14:54):
Matt, I do want to jump into your stats packet
here momentarily for the kind of back half. This first
hour should.

Speaker 3 (15:01):
Be on Steelers dot Com shortly. I assume if it's
not by now, it's usual you right around now on Thursdays.

Speaker 2 (15:06):
You gotta love it. I mean, I'm Matt Williamson, published author.

Speaker 3 (15:10):
Check it out.

Speaker 2 (15:10):
Yeah, no big deal. I mean you're just cranking out
four thousand words stories every week. Look at you.

Speaker 3 (15:16):
Stories is a strong word for that. Bullet points.

Speaker 2 (15:20):
You're painting the heck of a picture, though. I'll give
you that. A couple more things here at kind of
news and notables that I wanted to just kick around
with you before we get to the stat packet. Darius
Slay has been claimed right by a team that's in
the playoff hunt, in the playoff picture in a good position,
the Buffalo Bills. But Darius Slay, via his agent Drew Rosenhouse,

(15:41):
is unsure whether he wants to continue playing and will
not be reporting to Buffalo via Drew Rosenhouse, and I
quote Slagh is honored that a first class organization like
the Bills claimed him, but he is going to take
some time away from football right now and decide in
the next few days if he wants to keep playing.
And quote, of course, Slay, the thirty four year old,
was released by the Pittsburgh Steelers on Tuesday.

Speaker 3 (16:04):
I don't have a time to react. I mean, it
makes you wonder how much his heart's spending it all year,
or the last couple of weeks, or you know. I mean,
there's that old saying which I half believe that you're
thinking about your retirement. You're retiring.

Speaker 2 (16:18):
I think there is some truth to that, you know.

Speaker 3 (16:22):
I mean he watches his own tape too and has
to realize I'm not the player I used to be,
you know. I mean it happens everybody.

Speaker 2 (16:27):
I think football is one of those things. It requires
so much of you. It's so violent, it's so aggressive,
it's so detail oriented from from a study standpoint that
like you you can't sit on a fence.

Speaker 3 (16:40):
You can't. I think that's a thousand.

Speaker 2 (16:42):
You can't half backside it, as some people would like
to say.

Speaker 3 (16:46):
If Derek Henry's plowing at me after outside the numbers
and I don't much super interested and put my shoulder
into him, get him down, if he goes on tape
for everybody, and that's part of my legacy, and everybody
knows that stuff.

Speaker 2 (16:57):
You know, if you're not gung ho about reporting to
a Super Bowl contender with a quarterback like that on
a Wednesday, that.

Speaker 3 (17:04):
Was wondering, was he hoping to get claimed by somebody
else and just doesn't want to go to Buffalo, And
like that's a pretty good spot.

Speaker 2 (17:09):
Pretty good landing spot. Playoff team, legit contender, legit Unicorn quarterback,
and yeah, if on a Wednesday, he's unsure if he
wants to continue. I can't imagine by Saturday he's gonna suddenly.

Speaker 3 (17:21):
Yeah, I'm PSYCHEDO feel better and right, right, right.

Speaker 2 (17:23):
I'm sure he's beat up. He's thirty four years old.
I mean, you know, been been strapping on the pads
since July back in Latrow.

Speaker 3 (17:30):
Oh yeah, and last year he played as many games
as he possibly can.

Speaker 2 (17:33):
And you know, right, had a lot of games over
the last few years with the Eagles, had a ton
of success. And maybe part of it is like I
just kind of picked up and moved across the state
of Pennsylvania a few months ago with my wife and
our kids. Like, do I want to go relocate the
Buffalo for the next couple of months.

Speaker 3 (17:49):
Yeah. It's not that I know anything or implying anything,
but we don't know what's going on all these guys'
personal lives too, you know, like his kids might be
like that, I don't want to move again, you know,
or whatever. I don't want.

Speaker 2 (17:59):
We don't want you to be gone buying Buffalo by
yourself for the next two months.

Speaker 3 (18:02):
Right. I didn't know if he has kids, but I mean,
you know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (18:04):
I know he's married. I think I think he does.
But that's actually.

Speaker 3 (18:08):
He has money in the bank. We know that he is.

Speaker 2 (18:10):
He has made a nice career earnings for himself, that
is for sure. Matt Eagles defensive tackle Jalen Carter ruled
out for Monday night football game against the Chargers after
a procedure this past Monday on both shoulders.

Speaker 3 (18:23):
Yeah. I think that's only a one week absence. That
always blows me away. That happens a couple of times
a year where someone will get a procedure on both shoulders, right,
Which must be bad because it means he couldn't wait
till postseason, which.

Speaker 2 (18:39):
Makes me think, is he just suddenly gonna weak off
and he'll be good.

Speaker 3 (18:42):
To go, right right? I mean, I don't know. I mean,
I don't think it's an ir thing. Nobody's implying that
from the no the headlines I saw.

Speaker 2 (18:49):
But that's a big loss for Phils.

Speaker 3 (18:51):
Oh, he's tremendous players at a.

Speaker 2 (18:52):
Time where they're kind of reeling and needing things to
go in the right direction.

Speaker 3 (18:55):
Yeah, they probably win the division either way, but things
aren't great right now.

Speaker 2 (19:00):
Oh. And you know, from an AFC playoff picture standpoint,
it would really help a lot of people out if
they could beat the Chargers on Monday night.

Speaker 3 (19:06):
I was wondering, who do they play?

Speaker 2 (19:07):
Yeah, but that task will get a little bit more
difficult without Jalen Carter.

Speaker 3 (19:11):
We will sometimes these guys only miss a crazy I
mean the Singleton the linebacker for the Broncos testicular cancer
surgery and missed like two weeks. It was right, like,
what are we talking about here?

Speaker 2 (19:28):
I'll never forget. And I'm not a big fan of his,
is you know as you just kind of alluded to
because of his alma mater, Tony Sarah Gusa, Like I
remember one time they like thought he was like paralyzed
in the middle of the game and he was back
out there in the second half.

Speaker 3 (19:42):
Good lord nuts. Yeah. Now, but some of these procedures
and surgeries, guys have they miss a week or two.

Speaker 2 (19:48):
It's like, wow, it's it is It's it's wild.

Speaker 3 (19:51):
Yeah, it's absolutely one of a They're not like you and.

Speaker 2 (19:54):
I, by the way, actually funny funny enough bringing up
Tony Sarah Goosa, Ravens Week, Ravens Week, every you know,
I I produced Touch and Wolf's show. Uh God, rest
their souls love those guys for a few years, I
would produce their morning show and then Motzen I would
be on in the afternoons every Ravens week. Every year,

(20:14):
Craig Wolfly would tell the story about Tony Sarah Goosea
doing the interview ahead of Steelers Ravens, where he told
Baltimore fans, if you see anybody wearing black and gold,
follow him into the bathroom and take care of business.

Speaker 3 (20:26):
Beat them up.

Speaker 2 (20:27):
There's no cameras in the.

Speaker 3 (20:28):
Bathroom like that.

Speaker 2 (20:29):
Wolf used to love to tell that story, like goose is,
goose Is talking and he's like, if you see anybody
wearing black and gold, follow him into the bathroom and
kick their butt, and they got no cameras in the bathroom,
and don't let those terrible pals into our stadium. Wolf
would have told that story at some point this week
much better than I just did.

Speaker 3 (20:47):
Meanwhile, if the Steelers would have drafted him instead of
the Ravens.

Speaker 2 (20:51):
One of those, he'd still be selling his mug on
a shirts down on the strip District. Matt speaking Baltimore,
and as we kind of start to transition and talk
about the Ravens here and Diagald that's but yeah, they
some news of the day just gave Mark Andrews shocked
to see the year extension. Same here where thirty nine

(21:14):
point three million includes twenty six million guaranteed thirty years
old was in the last couple of months here of
his contract. I think he's outstanding. I think he's had
a great career. But that's big money and nice term
to give a thirty year old at kind of this
stage of his career.

Speaker 3 (21:33):
Last I saw the contract. Exact details of where the
money's at is not exactly been released. I mean that's
from the agent saying, look at all the money I
got from my player, Like, can they get out of
it after a year or two?

Speaker 2 (21:45):
I bet they money's frontloaded and that.

Speaker 3 (21:47):
I don't know. But he was like getting death threats
and egg Egg's house and you know after that drop,
which is nuts people, but crazy, that stuffs wrong. But
there was a lot of talk that he might even
get traded this offseason because they have likely they have Cohler,

(22:08):
They draft tight ends left and right. I mean, he
he was a reasonably big cap hit.

Speaker 2 (22:12):
Was coming off of a despite that blunder in the playoffs,
was coming off of a great season last year.

Speaker 3 (22:17):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, And I think there's reason to think
he's declining a little, you know, like in the staff pack,
there's a couple of things like his average up the
target and some of his numbers are a little down,
But so are the entire offenses.

Speaker 2 (22:29):
But I think that's the toughest thing to judge for me.
Is he down or is it just the entire everybody?
Maybe a little bit of both.

Speaker 3 (22:36):
I think that's one hundred per cent true. But I
think when he's remembered, he's going to go down as
like a Ring of honor type guy. Good yeah, yeah, yeah,
like one of the best Ravens. You know him and
Todd Heap and you know it's like outstanding player, outstanding player.
And they still feature him heavily in the red zone.
He still catches a lot of touchdowns. And I guarantee

(22:58):
Lamar put his stamp on this too, because he's been
kind of they were drafted the same year. He's been
as will be every step of the way.

Speaker 2 (23:05):
Yeah, it's like, this is my guy. I don't want
him going anywhere.

Speaker 3 (23:08):
And what's crazy is that draft year for them, they
drafted a tight end before Lamar in the round one,
and then they took Andrews a couple of years.

Speaker 2 (23:16):
Who was that that they took?

Speaker 3 (23:17):
Why am I forgetting off the top of hayden Hurst.

Speaker 2 (23:19):
Hayden Hurst?

Speaker 3 (23:20):
Right, he was a pirate prospect for a while. He
was like a twenty six year old dude. And he's
I mean, he may even still be in the league.
I don't think he is, but whatever, he wasn't horrible.
But then they end up doubling down with Andrews in
the third or fourth round and that ends up being
Lamar's guy. You know. And Lamar wasn't even their first
first round pick that.

Speaker 2 (23:36):
Year, right, They traded back in to the to the
end of the first round to get him and what
ended up being a nice coup for the Baltimore Ravens. Certainly,
let's talk about that actually a little bit. Let's stay there, Matt.
I do not like we yesterday discussed a little bit
how from a again billion dollar entertainment business. Yeah, yeah,
how it's it's brilliant in that regard. But I do

(23:59):
not like how all these division games now are like
sandwiched at the end of the season and for the
drama and for the attention and the tie breakers and
all that particularly as it relates to the Ravens, because
one Lamar Jackson is pretty stinking good in the month
of December.

Speaker 3 (24:17):
So it's Henry. Yeah, yes, they both have some very
distinguished numbers. Side note too, we talked about this a
week ago with Josh Allen. You know, we were talking
about Tomlin off a loss, how good he's been, Josh
Allen off a loss, how good he's been. Well, Lamar
is one of the only guys better than Alan. It's Mahomes,

(24:38):
Allen and Lamar the best three ever quarterback win percentage
off a loss, and Lamar's number one and his record
once December hits regular season, it's insane. It's insane. Dereck
Henry's numbers late in the regular season are insane, Like
he doesn't wear down defenses due and he just pun

(25:00):
just like he does the end of games. You know.
So that's a good point. You know, like when the
schedule comes out next year, maybe it'd be nice to
have one Raven game in October and then one in December.

Speaker 2 (25:12):
You know, I'd love to go to the Inner Harbor
in September. Yeah, I'm sure it's lovely that time. I
bet it's nicer much different than when I'm gonna be
there on Saturday and I'll step outside of the hotel
and it's like, shit, yeah, that's a wind coming on
cold December wind coming off the water there in the
inner Harbor.

Speaker 1 (25:28):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (25:29):
Yeah. Lamar out standing in the month of December. So
is Derek Henry. But his December record, as you mentioned,
is one of the best in the history of the
National Football League.

Speaker 3 (25:37):
So that's something that kind of stuff can't be a fluke.
It's not. It's the organization figures things out as it
goes a long Well, if.

Speaker 2 (25:43):
It's maybe your third year in the league, you could
say Kay played twelve games, but at this point when
you've been in the league for eight years or whatever
he has, it's there's a large enough sample size there
to prove that it's a trend and it's something that
they do well.

Speaker 3 (25:55):
And even like the past two years past the sniff test,
because they made some they're bye week both years, made
some drastic changes, particularly on defense, particularly on defense, and
it worked, you know, like they figure things out as
the season goes along pretty well. Yes, I think it's
a hardbough thing too.

Speaker 2 (26:10):
I think that's very well said and Okay, so some
people might hear that and they might go, all right,
but this is not the same Ravens team. They haven't
been nearly as impressive. They haven't been nearly as good.
Not the same lamar nearly as impressive, nearly as good.
I will allow you that grain of salt. Fine, So
if that doesn't concern you, this I think certainly should,

(26:30):
or at least it does me.

Speaker 3 (26:33):
Matt.

Speaker 2 (26:33):
I know this is something in your stat packet, the
Baltimore Ravens' third quarter success this season.

Speaker 3 (26:41):
Oh, this is troubling.

Speaker 2 (26:43):
And we've talked.

Speaker 3 (26:44):
Plenty some of this second half stuff.

Speaker 2 (26:46):
We've talked plenty about how the Steelers have struggled in
the third quarter, struggled out of halftime when that was
such a strength of a team in twenty twenty four.
That better not be the case on Sunday, because Baltimore
has been really good in the third quarter, and the
Steelers have really struggled in the third quarter. And doesn't
Baltimore have the most points scored on average in the
third quarter I think NFL right now.

Speaker 3 (27:07):
Yeah, I think they're number one in points scored in third.

Speaker 2 (27:09):
Quar like over a touchdown average. They score in the
third quarter. The Steelers have really struggled in that department, Right,
That's that's something that I'm a little concerned about, is hey,
maybe it's a four point game, three point game, something
like that at half, like we've seen, but then all
of a sudden in the first five minutes of the
third quarter, here come the Ravens.

Speaker 3 (27:29):
Yeah, and it's not as true this year because they
haven't had as good a year, but the Ravens and
Eagles over the last couple of years, while both those
teams have been really, really good, they when they have
a halftime lead to.

Speaker 2 (27:44):
They bury you because they run, run a lot of it.

Speaker 3 (27:47):
They throw in the first half to run in the
second half, and they just put the clamps on you
like the Cower teams used to. You know, now, I
don't think this team's is dominant, nor the Eagles for
that matter, is dominant in that regard. But that's what
they want to do, and that's what they're built to do.
You know, you're gonna get a lot of recard and
extra tight ends and Henry Henry Henry, and you know

(28:09):
right right that gets old.

Speaker 2 (28:10):
It does. It's more more difficult to do when Lamar
isn't clearly one hundred healthy and not the same rushing
threat that he has done in the past. But again,
still that number is from this that's not a Lamar
career thing. That's twenty five. That's the league best in
the league in the third quarter so far this season.
So those were So.

Speaker 3 (28:28):
If you won the toss, would you rather maybe get Yeah?
Does it change your tune? Almost every team takes it
in the second half. I think you just do what
you do, you know.

Speaker 2 (28:39):
I still like the Steelers taking it in the second half.

Speaker 1 (28:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (28:42):
Yeah, They've had the lead in that position so many
times getting the ball back that's a great place to be.
You laid it out there have been able to take
advantage of it.

Speaker 3 (28:48):
I mean those six drives that they've started the second
half with the football of all gone really bad, really bad.
Now that's only six drives, but you know three it's
four punts.

Speaker 2 (28:57):
Four punts I think a turnover.

Speaker 3 (29:00):
Down and the Bosa fumbo yes, a touchdown. Yeah, yeah,
that's right.

Speaker 2 (29:07):
So those things they have not.

Speaker 3 (29:08):
A successful drive when getting the ball coming out of
the second half. That doesn't mean you can't six times,
but you know.

Speaker 2 (29:13):
It's also it's almost one of those things of like
I think you almost have to you almost have to
do or die, You almost have to sink or swim
in that department and this. Okay, so this is going
to be.

Speaker 3 (29:23):
Throwing your defense back on the fields with the answer.

Speaker 2 (29:27):
This is this is going to be a really bad analogy,
but I think it might land. It's the only kind
of similar thing that I can think of wrestling. Okay,
and I'm not talking w W. I'm talking like like
like like real rats, college and high school and Olympic wrestling.
You know how like a lot of times there's pauses

(29:49):
in the match when the guys go out of the
ring or whatever, and the ref like resets and one
guy gets like the upper leverage on the other.

Speaker 3 (29:56):
Yeah, yeah, you know what I'm talking about. I understand
how that happens.

Speaker 2 (29:58):
Like the scene in Greece with John Travolta's trying out
for the wrestling team and he's like, you know, like, oh,
let's see how you do it with a leg up,
and the guy still flips him around at half of
a second. It's like I still want the leg up,
even though it hasn't worked out for me.

Speaker 3 (30:11):
Yeah, it doesn't mean if.

Speaker 2 (30:12):
I'm a wrestler and my numbers are really bad when
I get put in the advantage position. Okay, well, I
want to figure out how to change that. I don't
want to all of a sudden not be in the
advantage position just because I haven't been able to capitalize. Ye.
If I'm a golfer and I'm hitting the ball better
out of the rough than i am the fairway, I
still want to hit the ball out of the fairway.
I just want to figure out how to hit.

Speaker 3 (30:32):
It well out of the fairway.

Speaker 2 (30:34):
That's a better, easier analogy.

Speaker 3 (30:35):
Yeah. Yeah, you're gonna play a third quarter against them
either way, you know, right.

Speaker 2 (30:40):
Right, if I can only hit a fastball and not
a curveball, I better be figuring out how to hit
the curveball instead of just hoping to get more fastballs.

Speaker 3 (30:46):
They're greed, and I'm sure they're working on what are
we doing wrong coming out of half? You know, I'm
sure it's on their mind. And additionally, I'm glad you
brought that up because this team's a little scary from
that department.

Speaker 2 (30:54):
Scary from that department. Yeah, it worries me because of
the Steelers recent form in that regard, but I also
do have some optimism because they last year twenty twenty four,
they were so good there.

Speaker 3 (31:04):
Yeah. Again, and it's the combined tame.

Speaker 2 (31:07):
It's the same coordinators, it's a largely very similar coaching staff,
largely very similar roster.

Speaker 3 (31:12):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (31:13):
Like I if you're asking me of all the areas
that they've really struggled that could turn around quickly, that
might be the one that I would would point out
pretty early in the conversation.

Speaker 3 (31:22):
I bring it up, I think every show, but the
second half stuff. To me, it all comes down to time,
possession and running to me, plays in terms of the defense,
in terms of the defense, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (31:32):
And there's a correlation there with how slow the offense
has been out of out of the locker.

Speaker 3 (31:37):
Room as well. Yeah, oh yeah.

Speaker 2 (31:38):
Lately a lot of three and outs and quick three
and outs too, like three and complete passes and twenty
seconds off the clock and you're off the field type thing.

Speaker 3 (31:46):
All of a sudden, we got another twenty eight minutes
to play, right right.

Speaker 2 (31:50):
I want to get into some of thatth's specific numbers
on both the Steelers and the Ravens as we continue
to talk, some stats, some analytics, set in the stage,
set in the seat for Steelers Ravens Sunday at M
and T. Banks Stadium in Baltimore. We'll do that to
close down to the first hour. Talk to our buddy
Blob blah blah blah blah bluh. Talk to our buddy
Bob Labriola in about twenty minutes from now as well,

(32:13):
so plenty to get to here. On the Drive, West Shouler,
Matt Williamson, It's Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network,
your tunes.

Speaker 1 (32:26):
About Drive on your twenty four to seven home of
the Black and Goal, Steelers Nation.

Speaker 2 (32:30):
Radio, closing down the first hour here and more Matt stats,
more numbers, and Matt, let's get into it all right.

(32:54):
A lot of talk about going part of me. I
just again, I can't no. It was just like a
little burt So TV brought me this outstanding like craft
root beer, like small batch homemade root beer, and it's
really good. But I just slug down like the second
half of it like thirty seconds before we came on

(33:17):
air here and just got.

Speaker 3 (33:18):
The little carbonation. Yeah, Okay, burp there for a second.

Speaker 2 (33:21):
We're surviving a lot of conversation this week about going
under center for the offense, what it means for the
run game, what it means for opposition defense, is all
that stuff. Last week, all of Pittsburgh's running plays were
out of shotgun or pistol.

Speaker 3 (33:35):
Sure.

Speaker 2 (33:36):
On the season, the Steelers running backs averaged three point
eight yards per carry out of shotgun or pistol compared
to four point six from under center, So nearly a
yard difference per carry. That's substantial. Why is that paint
the picture for us?

Speaker 3 (33:49):
I'm not great with this, to be honest with you.
I definitely think that backs get a better angle. I think, well,
I think linebackers get a better you of it all
seeing it there too, as opposed to getting a step
or two before I get the football, trying to think
like a running back as opposed to I'm basically flat

(34:09):
footed when I get the ball, as opposed to I'm
starting to build momentum. Build momentum like Henry is the
best example, because that guy takes him a second or
two to get the full speed. Sure, and you know
this is gonna be a Keith of Steelers. Is getting him,
getting some contact on him as early as possible. Yeah,
he's a track runner, so I think that's part of it.

(34:31):
I guarantee you offensive gurus could tell you, well, it's
easier to pull my guard and blocking angles and this
run play definitely works better out of it all those things.
But I do believe, and these numbers back it up,
that under center runs to me are better. They just
are now. I also think, and this bothers me a

(34:52):
little bit with the Steelers offense lately, is they've really
gotten away from play action.

Speaker 2 (35:00):
Just thirteen point three percent of their dropbacks, sixth lowest
in the National Football League.

Speaker 3 (35:05):
From what I remember doing the stat pack in like
week three four, they were in the top ten. Like
they started on.

Speaker 2 (35:13):
They started, yes, like it was what we were calling
for and it was happening.

Speaker 3 (35:17):
And it was happening right, And then I think it
was very effective from what I recall, just even just
the numbers of it all. And I don't know why
they got away from it, and I think it's I
think there's studies that play action work is a cheat code,
no matter what. I half believe that. I don't think

(35:37):
play action out of pistol or shotgun does that much
for you, you know, it's just not.

Speaker 2 (35:43):
As convinced it's not as convincing.

Speaker 3 (35:44):
It's just not as convincing, you know.

Speaker 2 (35:46):
But I do think the linebackers don't have to account
for as much in that scenario.

Speaker 3 (35:50):
Yeah, I just don't think you bite as hard.

Speaker 2 (35:52):
Right, You're not doing the like hold your water for
an extra half second that you're trying to get.

Speaker 3 (35:58):
You're watching the ball come in out of the guy's
stommach or whatever. You know. But I think these two
things correlate, sure, absolutely. Also, we don't know if Rogers
can go under center or.

Speaker 2 (36:09):
Not, and that's a big yeah. Yeah, maybe they could
do a smoking mirrors thing. If he's like struggling to
go under center first series of the game, have him
do it a couple of times, and then then don't
do it in the rest of the way.

Speaker 3 (36:22):
You think it's still in your.

Speaker 2 (36:23):
Think, it's still right in your possibility. Matt Steelers offense
is actually twelfth best in the league in rushing EPA,
tenth best in rushing success rate.

Speaker 3 (36:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (36:34):
Yeah, Yet the Steelers are throwing the ball this year
nearly fifty eight percent of the time, thirteenth highest in
the National Football League. Direcond correlation to the time of
possession problem.

Speaker 3 (36:44):
I think that well, two things. I could understand what
I wrote there if they were losing heavy on the
scoreboard a bunch. They haven't been down heavy all that
much this year. I mean there's times in their losses
where late in the game, it's especially Bill's game, like
we're in trouble here, we gotta throw, we gotta throw,
no row, no doubt. But it's for a six and

(37:05):
six team. They have not been in many instances where
you have to scrap the run, you know, for a
team that's lost half their games. I mean every team
gets in a two minute situation or whatever. I don't
think they've had to been forced, you know, to skew
these numbers that's strong into the pass for that reason.
So a big thing that's been going through my noodle
this week is, yeah, noodle time possession is a massive problem.

(37:29):
We talked about this every.

Speaker 2 (37:30):
Five We sound like a broken record.

Speaker 3 (37:32):
I can't stress it or enough. So how do you
fix it? Well, I mean it's easy to say, well,
get better at runs, yeah, but I think step one
is at least run the ball higher percentage of the time.
And these numbers, which success rate is basically your consistency
of it all EPA factors in more explosiveness and a

(37:53):
big play weighs more than a little play, et cetera.

Speaker 2 (37:56):
And those aren't top five, but twelve, you're tenth, thirteenth,
you're above the average line.

Speaker 3 (38:03):
Yeah, And I think there's been, especially lately in the season,
much more room for optimism with the Steeler running game
than how it started to. Like, I mean, just watching
the games, it's getting better. You know, it's getting better.
So assuming it's a close game and you can stick
with it, run the ball to higher percentage, you know.

(38:23):
I mean, even like last year when they were on
hot streaks, their run percentage was very high. I mean
they were with the Ravens and the Eagles and teams
that at the top of the league and percent of
run plays they were.

Speaker 2 (38:36):
And I think we all thought that that would drop
a little bit with sure Rogers at the helm, but
not maybe as drastically as it has.

Speaker 3 (38:43):
Yeah, But it just seems like to me that's step
one of making life easier on your defense, getting the
time possession stuff back to some sort of normalcy.

Speaker 2 (38:52):
You know, completely agree, And I think, especially this week,
because we know how much the Steelers like the short
passing game, right. That is well, it has been a
challenge already and could only get worse this week. Here's why, Matt,
you actually referenced this, I think in our opening segment.
But I know it's something Ravens games last year. I

(39:13):
know you and Dale talked about it. Motz and I
talked about it throughout training camp this year when we
would go round the AFC North and talk about some
other teams in the division. This would pop up. Last
year at the bye week, they essentially changed. They made
drastic changes to their defense, and I think chief most
amongst them, not the Kansas City Chiefs, was Kyle Hamilton

(39:33):
moving back to kind of like a Minka Fitzpatrick true
free safety center fielder, you know, safety blanket for the defense.

Speaker 3 (39:42):
Yeah, yeah, like let everyone else. I'll take one for
the team here.

Speaker 2 (39:45):
And it might not have best utilized his skill set,
but for the greater good of the whole, it was
obviously the right move and paid dividends and they took
off from there and you know, ended up winning the
division and winning the playoff game and all that stuff. Right,
this year, it's been different. They've moved him closer to
the line of scrimm the total opposite total opposite, which

(40:06):
really showcases his versatility.

Speaker 3 (40:07):
But right this shows how awesome he is. Very good player.

Speaker 2 (40:10):
The Steelers have the highest short pass rate in the league.
And get this, since the Ravens move Kyle Hamilton back
closer to the line of scrimmage, their defense ranks number
one in EPA on short passes allowed.

Speaker 3 (40:21):
Yeah, I mean, you know, Roquan carries a ton, you know,
covers a ton of ground tracking SF down if Hamilton's
close to the line of scrimmage, phenomenal at it. Their
corners tackle well. They don't have great edge pass rushers,
but those guys can get out to the flats well
and they get a lot of bodies to the ball.
So real quick, I'll just tell the tell the story
of the last two years of the Ravens d SO

(40:45):
two off seasons ago, Seattle high.

Speaker 2 (40:48):
The head coach to Seattle.

Speaker 3 (40:49):
Yeah, they take the defense coordinator from and he goes
and leaves for Seattle. Was the one who replaced Pete
Carroll there a few years, Yes, and good for him,
and it's worked out great for Seattle.

Speaker 2 (40:59):
Yeah. The playoffs, yeah, it might be the one seed.

Speaker 3 (41:02):
But people, unless you're Baltimore might not noticed. Two other
of their top assistants became defensive coordinators elsewhere, like Weaver
went to Miami and Tennessee stole a defensive backs coach
or whatever. So they lost like their top three minds.
Yeah right, so they promoted from within or and I
don't know if he's good or bad or whatever, but
at their bye week last week last year, they went

(41:25):
out and got some like senior advisors and brought some
more people in the building to look at the defense.
And that's when they made these huge changes. And the
Ravens defense again, this is twenty twenty four. Before the
bye week was a disaster. After the bye week, yeah, it.

Speaker 2 (41:42):
Was a night and day type difference.

Speaker 3 (41:44):
Yes, and this year is kind of similar. I think
it correlates with their bye week, but it also correlates
with a trade they made. So first of all, i'll
rewind it a little bit. Mentioned how having Hamilton as
your deep middle neuters him a little bit, because I mean,
he's like the best blitzing safety in the league. He
can take on guards, I mean like him near the

(42:05):
line of scrimmage is a problem, and a Paula Mallo.

Speaker 2 (42:08):
Like I was just gonna say to that level, right,
same type of concept.

Speaker 3 (42:12):
Yes, So they draft a safety in the first round.
You know, didn't think safety was a huge need, but
we want to maximize the firepower of Hamilton's So we
take a safety in the first round Starks, who's okay Georgia. Yeah,
And but he wasn't the immediate fix that they needed.
So they trade their best edge pass rusher, oh Way

(42:35):
for Gilman, who's basically a true free safety. And immediately
I thought, man, your pass rush stinks, Now, why you
get the best guy in a Harbaugh Harbor trade with
the Chargers. And since then and their bye week, which
might be the same week or a week or two apart,
I can't remember, they've been much better on defense too

(42:57):
for that reason. Now, their pass rush still isn't good.
It wasn't good before the trade, it's not good now. Weakness,
but their thought process was, which is kind of smart
is and they have a good secondary, they have a
real good secondary. If we have a great secondary, what
does splitz like crazy? Then you know we're not getting
home with.

Speaker 2 (43:14):
Those guys up in coverage for an extra one or
two second.

Speaker 3 (43:18):
If I can blitz Hamilton four more times because he's
close to the line of scrimmage as opposed to deep
middle where Gilman and Starks are going to handle now,
and this team's nick makes up.

Speaker 2 (43:27):
For my lack of not and sugs on the defense front.

Speaker 3 (43:30):
I don't have the edge, guy, I mean, I don't
have the one on one beaters, but I'll dow stuff
up and trust my corners. Yeah, and for the most
part it's worked well. The defense as a whole is
way better since those moves, So I mean give Harbaugh credit.

Speaker 2 (43:44):
For I was gonna say they deserve credit for that.

Speaker 3 (43:46):
Yeah, getting getting out of your lane and doing something different.

Speaker 2 (43:48):
They've kind of zigged and zagged when needed to over
the last two seasons, and yeah, getting out of their
lane doing something different. Last year it was moving Kyle
Hamilton back, stabilizing the back into that defense. Now it's
getting him back up to the line of scrimmage and
letting him cause some chaos and he certainly has, and
that's made them really good in the short pass game,
like you mentioned, with the combination of Roquan Smith there

(44:10):
as well.

Speaker 3 (44:10):
Yeah, he's playing well again this year.

Speaker 2 (44:12):
It's certainly something to keep an eye on on Sunday afternoon. Yeah,
we will get into more Matt's stats than hour number two.
But when we return on the other side, we will
lead off with the Dean of Doom, the Lord of
living in his fears. Bob Labriola joins us. When we
return to kick off our number two, you'll Ler williamsonence
the drive on Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network.