Hr1: Tuesday Rewind

Matt and Wes get into their rewatch observations from Steelers-Packers.

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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 (00:21):
Good afternoon, Steeler Nation. It's the Drive on the Steelers
Audio Network. Wes Jeweler and Matt Williamson with you here
on a Tuesday where we have got plenty to get to.
We're gonna catch up with Chris Adamski. We've got all
the latest from Mike Tomlin's latest press conference. Oh yeah,
little fantasy football focused, power rankings, all that good Tuesday stuff.
Matthew here, as we get closer to the month of

(00:44):
October and the road, may you look at it across
the NFL now, we are at the road narrowing portion
of the season.

Speaker 3 (00:51):
Yeah, that's your point.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
The good teams are separating a little bit. Yeah, bad
teams have continued to fall down, and there is kind
of a clear middle class now of teams that are,
you know, looking to keep their head above water and
stay in it.

Speaker 3 (01:04):
Yeah. And I think we've seen for a while now,
or earlier than most NFL seasons, who the junco teams are.
I mean, who the crappy teams are. I mean, they've
been pretty apparent. And I don't think i've changed my
opinion on any of them, Like boy, they're coming back,
you know. And I didn't put like Houston in that category.
I never thought they were Jets shoting Raiders. But this

(01:28):
past weekend, I think there were six games won by
twenty or more points at something along those lines.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
Clost Yeah, it would have been one, Buffalo would have
been one.

Speaker 3 (01:37):
Yeah, and Miami doesn't qualify. Good for them for the win.
But I think some of the teams, including the Chiefs
last night, said Okay, now we're a tier the Tier
one teams are starting to show or another one, yeah, exactly.
And we're, you know, one week away from the trade
deadline today. We might hear something at this point, you know,
on that day. So there's the haves and have nots

(02:01):
are becoming more and more clear. Now there are the
Steelers people in the middle, and some of them will
go one direction or the other. And now it's pivotal time.
The road's erring for those teams.

Speaker 2 (02:11):
The road is certainly narrowing for those teams. And this
is getting close to getting close to crunch time. Here
is we're staring down Halloween on Friday, and you know
that's that's kind of the first of the holiday season here,
and the road will get more narrow and narrow as
we get to Thanksgiving and Christmas and on down the line. Certainly,
let's give kind of maybe the final Packers Steelers dedicated

(02:37):
segment of the week. No, people will continue to reference
the game and talk about it, obviously, but sure the
way that we kind of finish directly talking about it
and really you know, dedicated segments to it every single
week is, of course, with our Tuesday rewind and Matt,
let's start. We did the good old fashioned radio teas
thing yesterday when we said, let's talk a little bit
more about safety. Let's talk a little bit more about

(02:59):
Jalen Ramsey. Matt, what do you do at safety now
if you are the Pittsburgh Steelers. Sounds like it might
not be season ending for Deshaun Elliott. That is one thing. Okay,
we'll talk about this a little bit more with Chris
Danski next, but still up in the air if they're
gonna put him on IR or not, So that at
least makes it sound a little more optimistic than just
he's gonna miss a ton of time. If they're contemplating

(03:21):
putting him on IR or not, it's a hyper extended
knee for Deshaun Elliott. That's actually good, I mean, better
news than we anticipate.

Speaker 3 (03:28):
Yeah, so I think I've mentioned this on a Tuesday before,
but my Tuesdays are weird and I don't get to
I'm not privileged to by Tomlin's press conference until we
get in here and we talk about it live, which
works for me because then I'm like, oh, that's good news.
I just gotta react organically. You're right, right, I assumed,

(03:49):
and I've just been operating since you know, the game ended,
that Elliott season was over. So anything's great. I mean,
if you're an avoid I are, this is way better
than I expect. Huge, huge, I mean, that's wonderful news.
But in the meantime, we know he's not playing soon,
you know. Yes, I don't have this answer yet, and
it's something I'm excited to talk to Chris and Chris

(04:11):
the next two days too, people that are down there.
I'm going to be at the building on Thursday. I
want to know more about Peppers. Why isn't he getting more?
I think he was at twelve or thirteen snaps this
year or this week. I kind of seen enough of Clark,
but he's playing a lot, a lot of snaps, and
I think they trust him. They must trust him more
than Peppers. Killer Brew's obviously not in the mix. I

(04:35):
think Ramsey's a possibility. I think it's safety from outside
the organization is a possibility. Thornhill's been all over the
place too. I mean, he's for this defensive situation. He's
been more of the problem in the solution too. And
actually all these guys have been I mean Peppers, I
can't blame yeah, exactly exactly, and I can't blame Peppers,

(04:59):
but there a job there to grab. Why haven't you
you know that? So I I don't know. I'm I
think we need to talk through it this week.

Speaker 2 (05:06):
We do, and let's get into some of that now.
According to Mike Tomlin, the Steelers are working out Von
Bell and Eddie Jackson today. Okay, he said, if we
sign them, you'll hear about it. Uh. But the biggest
question to me, I think, is what to do until
we know safety? Both safety, Yes, should should have mentioned
everybody new both veteran safeties.

Speaker 3 (05:28):
Yeah, they've had decent careers. No, exactly, they're kind of specially.

Speaker 2 (05:32):
Yeah, there's a reason why they're still available in late October.
I think the real X factor in this is Jalen
Ramsey And what would you do with him? Would you
continue to move him around, use him at Nickel, put him,
put him out in the boundary, or would you just say, hey,
you know almost, Matt. I think there's some parallels and
you and I also hit on this yesterday. It becomes
more difficult now because your bye week is behind you,

(05:54):
your ten day extra stretch after Thursday night football is
behind you.

Speaker 3 (05:58):
Yeah, things are gonna start quick.

Speaker 2 (06:00):
But like I keep remembering what the Ravens did last year,
and they went to Kyle Hamilton after the bye week
and they asked him to just be that center fielder
and and and stabilize the secondary.

Speaker 3 (06:11):
And like Hamilton, Ramsey knows how to do that. It's
not an old dog nude trick exactly when I asked
you to play left tackle.

Speaker 2 (06:17):
And so they don't have the luxury like Baltimore did.
Of we've got an extra week here to really talk
about this, study, this install this change your role. But
Jalen Ramsey's also more of a veteran at this stage
in his career than Hamilton was last year Hamilton's still
a guy on his rookie deal at that time, or
maybe he had just gotten the extension, whatever, just a couple,
you know, a couple of years in the league at

(06:37):
that time. Would you consider moving Jalen Ramsey back there,
if even full time majority of the time, to stabilize
some things.

Speaker 3 (06:47):
Yeah, I would consider it. I'm not saying again that's
my answer because so there's two wild cards to me
currently in the secondary Pepper, as I mentioned, I mean,
I still hold and not hope that he can that
he was a nice signing and can get back to
where we saw him recently and be an impact player
and an every down type guy. But Trice's windows also

(07:09):
I think ready to be open or is on the horizon.
I need to double check that too, but I think
Trice could get back in the mix. And why I
bring that up is if you were to move Ramsey
to center field, Basically your corner situation is pretty obvious.
It's Sleigh on one side, Porter on the other, Echoles
in the middle, which is okay, but I'm souring on Sleigh.

(07:32):
I at least want some other outside option.

Speaker 2 (07:35):
Or you'd probably rather have Echos outside. But then what
do you do a Nickel right exactly.

Speaker 3 (07:42):
Out there too.

Speaker 4 (07:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (07:43):
I might even gonna call him a wild card, but
at least you I'm happy he's here all of a sudden.
You know, that's the way that's way the league works.
I mean, you're one injury away from calling him up too.
But maybe Trice could compete with Sleigh on the outside.
But you get worse everywhere, you know. I mean, now,
I guess you're not worse at free safety. I think
Ramsey at free safety is better than Thornhill at free safety,

(08:06):
but you're definitely worse in the slot, the run defense,
all the Ramsey stuff near the line of scrimmage, which
is why you got him in the first place. He's
still really good at that stuff. And I've been asked
a lot this week the Steelers miss Minka Fitzpatrick, and frankly,
I think make him might get traded. Yeah, I don't
know if he's coming back what I'm applying, but right right,

(08:28):
and I'm like, yes, I'm like, I'm not implying that
it was a bad trade, but he'd be really useful
right now, no doubt. I mean, I always equated him
to like a great hockey goalie because your defenseman can
like be more earl Thomas, those ten guys in front
of him used to be way more aggressive because I.

Speaker 2 (08:47):
Got to get a good goalie behind.

Speaker 3 (08:49):
Yeah, exactly exact Grant Furor with Paul Coffee.

Speaker 2 (08:52):
You know that type of thing. A good rim protector
in basketball, right, yeah, second foot three layer defence.

Speaker 3 (08:57):
You know, I just trust that.

Speaker 2 (08:58):
Dude, good rim protector in the paint.

Speaker 3 (09:00):
So I do think Ramsey could be that guy though,
if you just kind of parked them in the deep
middle a lot, I think you'd feel more confident about
the other ten being aggressive than if it's Thornhill. And again,
I'm just talking about all this stuff out loud. I
don't have this answer yet. No, it's a mess.

Speaker 2 (09:17):
Yeah, I don't think, and I don't think anybody does.

Speaker 3 (09:19):
Right.

Speaker 2 (09:19):
Maybe even down in those four walls on the south side,
they tell you the same thing.

Speaker 3 (09:24):
And maybe the answer to the question is Elliott not
in the picture. Who are your five best defensive backs?

Speaker 2 (09:31):
Oh this is a good way to you, you.

Speaker 3 (09:32):
Know what I mean. And we'll figure out the puzzle
pieces later. But what five do you want on the field?

Speaker 2 (09:38):
Joey Porter?

Speaker 3 (09:40):
Yes, I think that's so three.

Speaker 2 (09:42):
Those three for sure. And then I mean, then it's
at this stage, I think you still have to put
Sleigh which doesn't speak great to their depth, but I
think you would still have.

Speaker 3 (09:50):
To in Thornhill or Clark or you maybe hope it's Peppers,
but yeah, you know what I mean it. And then
that is since ram has changed, Yeah, Ramsey's a safety.

Speaker 2 (10:03):
Whereas we felt like and I'm not sold to sleighs
one of them. I'm not either, you know. And going
into this season, and even the first couple of weeks,
we were singing the complete opposite tune. You've got an
extra body.

Speaker 3 (10:13):
In that exactly exactly.

Speaker 2 (10:15):
Well, now some guys aren't performing quite up to snuff,
and you get another injury to Shaun Elliott, and it
feels like you're one short in that group.

Speaker 3 (10:22):
Right, right, And one, I love Elliott, he's a really
good player. He's been a nice signing, but his absence shouldn't.

Speaker 2 (10:29):
Tip the scales, right, I completely agree with that's a
good already.

Speaker 3 (10:35):
You know. And then as soon as he goes out
of the game, it's bad, Like he's not Paul Malu.
I mean, he's a good player, but He's not the
best safety it's ever lived, right right, Yeah, absolutely shouldn't
tip the scales that much.

Speaker 2 (10:46):
No, it's not the you know at times where there
was that like the Steelers were one in ten without
t J. Watt you know that stat undred years ago? Right?

Speaker 3 (10:54):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (10:54):
Yeah, this this he is. His value has certainly been
on display this season. But man, it should not tip
the scales that much.

Speaker 3 (11:02):
I'd be to everyone else.

Speaker 2 (11:05):
I'm completely with you on that one, Matt. A few
more Tuesday rewind things Tuesday rewatch that I want to
run past you here. I want to talk a little
bit about the Steelers wide receivers, namely DK Metcalfe and
Robin Wilson, but I don't want to short change that conversation.
We only got a couple of minutes here. Yeah, So
what about we catch up with our buddy Chris Danski,
get some more on Elliott and some of these injuries

(11:27):
and guys that the team are working out, and then
we'll get back into some some rewind observations to close
down the first hour of the show. Well, Schuler, Matt
Williamson off and running. Here, It's the Drive on a
Tuesday afternoon on the Steelers Audio Network, your tunes.

Speaker 1 (11:50):
About drive on your twenty four to seven home of
the Black and Goal Steelers Nation Radio.

Speaker 2 (12:12):
Back on the Drive here on a Tuesday, and you
know what time it is, It's time to catch up
with our buddy Chris Adamski, of course, covers the Steelers
for the trip. He is the co host along with
Tom Opferman, of the Steelers Blitz here on the Steelers
Audio Network as well. Buzz, thank you for taking the time.
As always, let's jump right into it and at a

(12:33):
time where maybe this fan base could use some good news,
it sounds like it might not be as bad as
we all thought for Deshaun Elliott. What are you hearing
on his status?

Speaker 4 (12:44):
Yeah, I assumed or maybe you know it afterward and
it's a late night there and everything that's going on,
and I think the way maybe well, first off, the
injury just looked kind of gruesome and just watching its
everybody saw on TV and everything. And then you seeing
the way he went off in pain and they kind
of quickly announced him out. That's never a good sign.
And they don't give him a little questionable to start

(13:06):
with or anything. You know, it's somebody saw something pretty
bad from the beginning there, and then afterward. I think
Mike Tomlin when he lumped it in sort of with
the equality injury saying, we have a couple of I
don't know, what do you say, significant injuries. So I
think that sort of made everybody on this path of
assumption that it was, you know, the worst as well.

(13:26):
Of course quality is an acl so that's kind of
what was kind of operating into that assumption for their
while there. And yes, that's not it. And it is
kind of crazy how this is a guy who was
what four teams and kind of with a journeyman and
got here and I don't say that afterthought, but you know,
he's kind of signed to be maybe at the time
people thought maybe the third safety or something, and the defense,

(13:48):
and he's become kind of in some ways in the
defense and so many big names, so many former All
pros and Hall of Famers, you know guys and things
like that, and in some way he's kind of the
soul of the defense. He's kind of a you know,
the glue and the sort of the IMNST say emotional
but there's a lot to him here, right, and he
helps and run defense helps in past defense, there's he's

(14:11):
an awful become a pretty important part of what the
Steelers do, and he missed him for a couple of
games there early in the season. It's going to be
obviously a handful of market games here.

Speaker 2 (14:19):
So coming on forward, Chris, what.

Speaker 3 (14:22):
Do you know about Jabriel Peppers? It shocks me that
he's not more involved at this time, you know, this
deep into his Steelers tenure. Frankly, I think he's a
better player than Clark, but I haven't seen enough of
them to really make that assessment in twenty twenty five.
But he's only playing twelve thirteen snaps And are they

(14:43):
going to count on him to step up or is
he out of favor or don't they trust him? Or
do you have any any feeling on that?

Speaker 4 (14:50):
Yeah, yeah, it's crazy. I thought, what what game was?

Speaker 3 (14:54):
It?

Speaker 4 (14:54):
Was it Clark? Was it the Cleveland game? I believe
it toought my head that that Clark was scratched. I
thought that was sort of the one of demarcation there
where they say passed the torch. We're talking, you know,
third safety or whatever you want to say. But that's
sort of where that was going to be kind of
going forward, and then then it went back on of
the other way, and Clark was pretty tough on himself,

(15:15):
I mean, after one of the Tucker Craft touchdowns and
can't keep all them straight what happened the other night
with Tucker Craft. But in terms of getting beat on
the on the on the touchdowns over the middle of there,
and so yeah, I would think, although you know, well,
if I guess this kind of flavor of the week,
right it's what concerns you more of the run defense

(15:37):
of the past defense, And right now we're back to
worry more about the past defense. And I don't know
if either one of those guys are really your answer
in that area, to be totally honest about it. But yeah,
And in terms of I would have thought by now
when when they signed him and the way he sort
of turned up the first couple of weeks there, that
Peppers would be more of a more part of the

(15:58):
game plan. And now that you have a full week
to prepare, Noan Elliott's not there and everything, and Pepper's
now been with the organization for six or seven weeks,
that maybe now is the time to you know, deploy
him a little bit more.

Speaker 2 (16:11):
Well, sticking with kind of that same conversation here, Chris,
would you consider moving Jalen Ramsey back to safety more often?
We you know, Matt brought this up like you brought
him in here for everything that he can do close
to the line of scrimmage and his versatility, but at
the same time you need some stability. Now it feels
like in a major way in that secondary. Is that

(16:32):
something that's been discussed at all? Do you think we
could see Jalen Ramsey kind of playing that free role
and you know, his just athleticism and acumen and knowledge
and again trying to stabilize everything they're doing there on
the back end.

Speaker 4 (16:46):
I could definitely see that. But it's the problem or
the question, I guess would be, then if you take
him out of the however you wanted to find that
the three cornerback were taking this loot and the two outside,
you take him out of that right now, there's obvious
I think I don't want to speak to you guys.
People watching and the Steelers themselves have have told us

(17:07):
there's there's questions. Now, there's the confidence in Darius Slay right,
So if you need to play Echoles more on the
outside or you're choosing to play Echles more on the outside,
then who plays in the inside?

Speaker 3 (17:18):
Right?

Speaker 4 (17:20):
I don't know what I mean. Trice isn't coming back
this week, that's for sure, Ardans If he did, I
don't know if he is the answer if that's longer term,
If he does, that's an option I suppose. I don't know,
but yeah, I guess that's the easiest question, is if
if Echles is not available to play the Nickel per
se or every down. And I think even when you're

(17:42):
asking me, you're not saying put him back there every
single snap, right. I think there's always going to be
some degree, as there should be with Jayden Ramsey have
kind of deployed different places. But maybe since you've yeah,
exactly so, you could probably get away with it. But
obviously it's nothing's in a vacuum and quite there's no
real perfect great answers right now. And I guess that

(18:04):
would be my you know, counter to it or my
devil's advocate to it. Is well, if you take them,
you know, away from that or away from that role,
then who kind of back fills me on the other
side of it.

Speaker 3 (18:15):
Yeah, we started talking through it in the first segment,
and I think we're gonna talk through it all week too.
And you know we mentioned Beanie Bishop is still on
the roster and he could play slot for you. You
mentioned Trice. I don't know how far away he is,
but he'd be an outside guy and Eccles could be
your slot. This Trice better than Sleigh at this point,
I don't know, you know, I mean, then when is
he back and when do you trust him? And kind

(18:38):
of my it's not a conclusion yet because I enjoy
talking through these things. But if you had to put
your five best defensive backs on the field, who are
those five? I think it's Ramsey Porter and then you
start asking Eccles and then you start asking questions.

Speaker 4 (18:52):
Yeah, yeah, it's they have like a and the thing
is they I guess there's I mean, as there's a
reason why to a to a point. And this doesn't
mean they're they're totally not useful anythink or not NFL
players still. But the reason why Truck Clark was there,
and you know the second week is or second week
of aug there's second week of training camp, right, there's
a reason why Pepper's was available for some reason why

(19:14):
although it's you could just you know, with what to
turnover and all that with the h with the with
the Patriots. But you know, yeah, so there's all these
guys who have like good red, that's kind of a sea.
Where's defense on whole? And this is a little bit
of but its just I feel like all these guys
have track record. Now you could say some of them

(19:35):
are are I guess there's a little bit concerned as
of you know, thirty agent age thirty and older, that
they they're never going to be the same player again.
I get that. I don't think they're on hole. The
group hasn't won't have a precipitous fall. However, I guess
they go back. Yeah, they have all these bodies in
the secondary and even you know, guys on I are
to go to practice squad he has mentioned. I can't
even forget about beaning bish for myself. You have all

(19:57):
these bodies and it's like you think you'd be okay,
you think it's a strength. Oh look at this, like
you know, Peppers is our for safety right now or
you know, however you want to tern with Corey Trice
is our fourth cornerback and we have all this almost
embarrassment of riches here. What we do, but now you're trying.
But all of a sudden, it's like, well, then one
or two guys goes down. It's pretty much been every game,
there's been one or two guys down, right, I'm going
from week one when when Porter went down, Elliott was

(20:18):
down for previously for a while, and and you kind
of wonder then where you're at with these guys, And yeah,
I don't know. Bishop was actually excellent point for some reason.
I hadn't never really even considered that yet, kind of
out of sight, out of mind, you know, I know
he's there in the locker room on the practice field.

Speaker 2 (20:34):
But.

Speaker 3 (20:37):
Woodson, but you know, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4 (20:39):
Yeah, exactly. But he was okay, I mean he you know,
I guess in some ways he fits with the Steel
I mean, he makes splash plays, essentially small you know,
small bets. He he's that type of player, I guess,
so in some ways he would fit in with what
they what they could do. I guess, I mean, you know,
for being an undrafted rookie, he was pretty good last year,
but I guess that's context to say A four being
an undrafted rookie, right.

Speaker 3 (21:00):
They wanted to upgrade over him.

Speaker 4 (21:02):
I mean, yeah, exactly that they clearly wanted to do that,
and they clearly you know, I didn't even put him
on a fifty three to start the season.

Speaker 2 (21:08):
So hey, don't don't you forget about Beanie A. Damski.
All right, Nobody, nobody, nobody puts the Mountaineers in the corner.
All right? It is uh, Chris Adamski here with us
on the drive. Uh, like kind of flipping to the
other side, spinning the block to the other side of
the ball. How are we feeling about the wide receiver
position now, and particularly with the emergence of Roman Wilson,

(21:29):
This is you know, has seemingly been something that it
feels like we talk about a lot, particularly when Calvin
Austin went down. This wide receiver conversation was back at
the forefront, you know, working out free agents, going and
trading for somebody. But with what we've seen from Roman
Wilson the last couple of weeks, are you about as
maybe as confident in that position group as we've seen
to this point, Buzz.

Speaker 4 (21:50):
I'm certainly as confident I've been in realin Wilson as
I've seen. I was kind of more you know, of
the camp that it was probably more likely that he
never was gonna you know, you know, be a sleeping
a part of an off the offense for the Steelers
that ever than I was to say he was going
to be a having one tournament starter or you know,
the one of the top three receivers. And so you're

(22:12):
getting the opportunity in these past couple of weeks and
he obviously has I mean, it goes a long way
with the state of the offense right now. If you
have the uh, have the ear of the eyes of
number eight, I think that that goes a long way
in terms of what you can what you can accomplish.
And I do think Rogers likes Roman Wilsoner has some
you know, affinity toward him and believes in him to

(22:32):
a point. And we saw that and hey, they are
what they are. You made the biggest play of in
terms of yards for the Steelers uh in that game.
He also had a touchdown in that game, so he
finally that was his you know, the most he's played
the most obviously he's been part of the offense. And
let's face it, you know, especially whenever Calvin Austin was out,
we saw with the lack of production up and down.

(22:53):
The lack of even targets, lack of catches, lack of
let alone touchdowns are big plays from the rest of
the wide receiver course. So there's a vacuum there. And
Rubin Wilson was a relatively high draft pick, and whatever's
gone on in the past with him and your injury
and everything else, somebody's got to be there. And you know,
you have a great trade deadline here coming up pretty soon.
Another way you can do it. But it was it

(23:14):
was certainly comforting to see I know a lot of
people from waiting for Rowan Wilson and to see that
there is something there, right. I mean, that was that
wasn't a preseason game, that wasn't a practice that and
that was a real life football game against a good team,
and he made a couple of big plays. That shows
it's in there, and that shows there is the future
you can be part of the offense.

Speaker 3 (23:31):
Yeah, he had four catches and five targets going into
that game, and he had four catches and five targets
in that game, you know, so, I mean that's doubled
his production. I will take that. I mean, I think
he's at least trending the right direction. Last thing I
really have for you. It's another puzzle to me. It's
not quite as confounding as the secondary at the moment,

(23:51):
but I would hate for a Ciamalu injury to derail
the six to zero line package. And obviously Anderson's a
very capable left guard replacement. Would you is there another
old lineman you would make the new sixth guy, or
is there a guard you'd put it left guard and

(24:13):
make Anderson the sixth guy for fifteen twenty snaps a game?
Or do we fear that that's shot?

Speaker 4 (24:20):
Well, I did a little bit digging yesterday on the
jumbo tight end and Cayle Anderson said he although the
PFF that doesn't reflect it. So I don't know what
if he means. I don't know what he said. I
did it a lot. We said. He always says one
snap and the thing's all on one route, but I was.
He claims he's been he has, I don't expensive, I
don't know, you know, dozens of snaps in the NFL

(24:42):
level as the jumbo tight end. He knows we're doing,
capable of doing it, and he's wrapped out at some
I would imagine he's the most likely candidate, I mean
the other I guess it was on the table that
we talked a little bit about that that Pete would
Pete maybe even start I guess over Spencer Anderson. But
I think they really like Spencer Edd. I think organization,
I know they're not making a decision for this reason,

(25:03):
but I think that it's important maybe to you know,
if Sam All is out just for a couple of weeks,
get Spencer Anderson starting, you know, a couple starts in here,
you have a decision to make. You could probably sign
him next in March to like a Nate her big
type deal where he's getting between starter and backup money,
and then be your starter at left guard next year.
You know they're going forward the next couple of years.

Speaker 3 (25:24):
I bet that's the plan, no matter what.

Speaker 4 (25:26):
You know.

Speaker 3 (25:27):
Yeah, and maybe you draft the guard in the third
round and they compete or whatever. You have some depth.

Speaker 4 (25:31):
Yeah, So if that's the case and they see him
as that, then and because he's just the obvious guy
to start at left guard, and you kind of I
want to say, jumble back age be Dan, but obviously
he's more important to have the starting the better starting
left guard or your best option there and and I
and you know, Calvin said he's repted some during practices here.
But I imagine if if if Spencer Anderson is starting,

(25:52):
then Calvin this week would be the other. I mean,
I don't think Pete would necessarily be that guy. And McCollum,
I would think just for the sake of it's a
long shot he gets hurt. But you know, if you're down,
that's your emergency center.

Speaker 3 (26:05):
It's kind of like, yeah, they don't sleep well at night.

Speaker 4 (26:10):
I would imagine that the Calvin's the natural choice.

Speaker 3 (26:14):
You know.

Speaker 4 (26:14):
I didn't get that, you know, a coach or anything,
but Colvins said he's done, and he's comfortable doing it,
and he's done it for the Steelers and you know
occasionally in practice. So i'd imagine. I'd imagine full systems
go still for the jumbo and whether it gets a
target or not, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (26:25):
I can catch.

Speaker 3 (26:28):
Or anything.

Speaker 2 (26:28):
Yeah, Chris, last one I've got for you, and this
is you know something that this is when Matt and
I like, you know, chatting with you, real reporter types
that are in the locker rooms you know, every day
and around those guys. Just a thirty thousand foot view,
your thoughts on the temperature of the locker room? Like
some pretty you use the word damning there just a

(26:51):
minute ago, you know, Cam, heyw're talking about there's not
enough fight on our side, you know, if we feel
sorry for ourselves, it's gonna avalanche. You know, some some
very you know, direct and poignant quotes. What's the what's
kind of the temperature? What's kind of the gauge in
that locker room right now? Are they down on themselves?
Is it just a one off? Do they, you know,

(27:11):
seem like they have the fight to turn this thing around?

Speaker 3 (27:15):
What just kind of angry are they?

Speaker 4 (27:16):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (27:16):
Are they angry? Or they frustrated? Are they dejected and jaded?
What's kind of you know, again you the temperature in
that locker room of course Sunday night, and and what
you what you saw yesterday as well?

Speaker 4 (27:28):
Yeah, it's no I'll be with that question. It makes
just common human human sense that after a game versus
having you know, twenty four hours in that case, I
guess twelve or fourteen hours to digest, you're going to
be a little a little more raw emotion after a game.
So but even within that context and recognizing that that
that's going to happen after postgames wins or losses, the

(27:49):
emotions will be high er, the initial reaction will be different.
It was a stark difference because I thought Sunday night
they were pretty I mean, let's face it, the defense
was embarrassed. You know, the two games in a row, right,
I mean over especially the seven quarters. Some of the
stats if you break it down by quarter, which you don't,
butte the last seven quarters it was almost height henry

(28:11):
yards of offense they've allowed because that first quarter agains Cincinnati,
they were so good and the Bengals didn't do anything.
And then the last three quarters of that game and
in the fourth in the whole game of course against
Green Bay was bad. And just the touchdowns and what
is It's what I broke into was eighteen possessions. There
only been four punts there's been all the rest have
either been touchdowns or field goal of tempts and then
there's some field goals to Packers did So it's been

(28:32):
pretty bad since the start the second quarter a week
and a half ago in Cincinnati.

Speaker 3 (28:37):
So they were I think they're going on ten quarters
without creating a turnover to Yeah.

Speaker 4 (28:44):
That makes that makes sense.

Speaker 3 (28:45):
I think it's like the second quarter of the Browns game.
It's been a while.

Speaker 4 (28:49):
Yeah, there only been one sack the past seven quarters.
Even things like that. No, no, no, Now the Browns
obviously was a different story going back to that game.
But it but but I will say then yesterday, on Monday,
the day after the game, the practice there was not
a practice but the open locker room. I didn't get
that five at all. It was more will be okay
the secondary as much as I just even just referenced earlier,

(29:12):
how there's so many new faces this year and almost
a total makeover. Aside from you know, Joey and Shawn Elliott,
they've only been there two and three years respectively themselves.
I mean it's a that's a pretty confident that's a
prideful group, a confident group, a group that's accomplished a lot,
if you go, I mean, Chuck Hars's been part of
some good defenses. I mean Thornhill's just a guy who's

(29:34):
kind of a gregarious guy as it is, and a
confident guy as it is. And I mean slaves don
a you know borderline. You know, we go get some
hall of fame voats probable make it, but you know
that type of guy. So they all the secondary you
see them kind of congregate a lot as a group,
a lot of those safeties and corners and everything, and
they were with that, and they seemed it was a

(29:55):
lot more upbeat on yesterday than I thought it would be.
You know, again, this is only fourteen hours or so,
twelve hours whatever it was, thirteen hours after we've been
in the locker room and after sure to see them
at the on the south side. And so if you
would ask me this, you know, yesterday morning, Monday morning
or whatever, I would have been like, I don't know.
This team seems like it's it feels like it's you know,
cracking maybe the foundation in terms of their confidence. And

(30:17):
I don't say turning each other, but they definitely were,
you know, they're they're questioning kind of where they're at,
and but they sort of redeem themselves this passing. Now
they've better to do a lot of redeeming the challenge
they got coming up this week with the number one
offense in the league, though, so you know, but what
it's worth, they could turn a lot of things around.
But the Colts been doing it pretty much everybody you

(30:37):
know giving up three hundred and seventy four hundred yards
against them, It's pretty much just an average game for
them at this point.

Speaker 2 (30:43):
Yeah, Buzz, tell your Penn State buddy Tyler Warren to
take it easy on us on Sunday, right, can you
do that for us?

Speaker 4 (30:50):
All right? Well, maybe maybe the Steelers can have to
have have the more productive tight end on the field
comes Sunday. Well, we'll see if that can. I'm the
more productive Penn State tight ends.

Speaker 1 (30:58):
There.

Speaker 2 (30:59):
There you go. Now you're talking. Now you're talking. Chris
and Damski kind enough to join us here on a Tuesday. Buzz,
thank you for the time. Make sure you're checking out
all of his work in the trip and listening to
him and Tom on the Blitz every day. Take care, buddy,
and we'll talk to you soon.

Speaker 4 (31:13):
Talk to you guys later. Take care.

Speaker 2 (31:15):
There, he goes Chris Adamski, Mars High School, Penn State, Nitney,
lyon and keep a lit on Tyler Warren for us.
All right, Buzz, Come on, Matt, we got to get
back into our final kind of Tuesday rewind observations when
we return on the other side, and something that Chris
said there that I want to expand upon as well.
We'll do all of that to close down the first

(31:35):
hour of the show. West Shooler, Matt Williamson, It's the
Drive on Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network,
your tunes.

Speaker 1 (31:48):
About Drive on your twenty four to seven home of
the Black and Goal Steelers Nation Radio.

Speaker 2 (32:08):
Final observations for you here, Matt, for our Tuesday rewind.
As we kind of put a final bow on our thoughts.

Speaker 3 (32:16):
We gotta move on from this sucker.

Speaker 2 (32:18):
We sure do, we sure doe and not well reference.

Speaker 3 (32:21):
It, folks, obviously. Of course, of course we gotta move
on on to the cold.

Speaker 2 (32:26):
My goodness, and that's not a very pretty picture in
its own right. We will we will certainly.

Speaker 3 (32:32):
Do Tuesday morning. Yeah right.

Speaker 2 (32:34):
You sent me some preliminary Matt stats and some numbers
and some findings this morning.

Speaker 3 (32:38):
And the biggest portion of Matt's stats happens on Tuesday
mornings because all the games are in the books and
I can go look at where they rank in time
of possession and all the other basic stuff. Man, culture good.

Speaker 2 (32:51):
I believe it that looking through some of the stuff
you sent me this morning, and I made may or
may not have out loud uttered holy bleep. Yeah, not
in a good way, not a good way, not a
good way. But we will. We will obviously starting tomorrow
and then of course Thursday and Friday deep dive into
those seven and one Indianapolis Colts. Goodness, just a juggernaut,

(33:14):
Tyler Warren, Jonathan Taylor, Danny Dimes, that offensive line, a
lot of weapons at wide receiver certainly, certainly, and you
know what, speaking of wide receivers, let's stay there. I
got two more things that I want to run by
you as it relates to the the Tuesday rewatch. The
Tuesday rewind for those unfamiliar, it's just a kind of
you get a chance to rewatch the game. We go

(33:36):
back and rewind some thoughts here in the first hour
on Tuesdays as we try and put a bow on
the Steelers previous game. Let's talk about wide receivers. Matt
Arrow pointing up for Roman Wilson.

Speaker 3 (33:49):
I'm excited.

Speaker 2 (33:50):
I'm excited about that. It's it's been the linear progression
that we've been looking for in both his role and
his production. That's encouraged. I know, after a loss like that,
you don't like particularly on a Monday. You're not sitting
there harping on the positives. But I'm starting there are
some in every game. There are some in every game, certainly,

(34:11):
And I think Roman Wilson four catches seventy four yards
his first touchdown, eighteen point five average yards per catch,
five targets for him as well too. Yeah, Yeah, this
is we're starting to see the process of clearly they're
trusting him to take on a bigger role and he's
grabbing that opportunity and running with it.

Speaker 3 (34:30):
Yeah, and this is something from Matt Stats is I
shouldn't look it up here so I get it right
because I did tweet this one, and it basically reflects
that they're trusting him more and more so. He ran
a route on fifty four percent of their drop back

(34:51):
last week, okay, and was targeted on about twenty four
percent of his routes okay, But he had not This
is two weeks in a row where he's been at
fifty four percent of It doesn't sound like a lot.
You got to think every drop back he's on the
field running a route for fifty four of them. Sure,
two weeks in a row, and he had never been

(35:13):
at forty percent or even forty every day every game
this week. So I mean it's it's back to back games.
It's enough proof that Okay, we gave you fifty four
percent the two games ago, we'll do it again. You know,
we weren't much what you did.

Speaker 2 (35:28):
Gave you this much of the pie and you handled it.

Speaker 3 (35:31):
Yeah. Yeah. I always remember, like Pete Carroll talking about
Russell Wilson whenever he was a rookie. You know, they
had traded for Flynn. He was going to be the start.

Speaker 2 (35:39):
The night contract, Yeah right right, Green Bay.

Speaker 3 (35:42):
And Wilson's this third round dude, and he kept saying,
we just keep putting more on Russ's plate, and he
keeps handling it. So that's what you do, you know,
doll up of mashed potatoes, like, okay, handle the easy stuff,
and now we put more, you know. And I think
Wilson is getting to that point.

Speaker 2 (35:58):
I think so too, And that's inuraging.

Speaker 3 (36:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (36:01):
Another And I wondn't even call it negative. Matt with
the wide receiver room though that I want to discuss.
It's not a negative, but it's maybe just a little underwhelmed.
Need a little bit more from DK Metcalf. I know
he I want to preface this. He has not been bad.
He has not been a disappointment anything like that. He's
been good. He's just a couple of plays away from

(36:22):
being great, though.

Speaker 3 (36:23):
I have a thousand percent agree. And I've had this
conversation yesterday with several other people, different outlets as a
Mark show. I did the show with Rob and Pursuda,
and we all kind of they all kind of brought
it up, and it's funny to me, but it's like,
because he's really close to being great, you know, like.

Speaker 2 (36:41):
One play a game, one play a game goes an
opposite way exactly.

Speaker 3 (36:44):
I mean, his force is felt. He is a I'd
make that trade ten out of ten times. We're all
happy he's a Steeler, yep, But what if you could
haul that one play that one in or don't let
Turner rip the ball out of here, out of your midst.

Speaker 2 (37:00):
The interception in Cincinnati and then the broken up pass
on Sunday.

Speaker 3 (37:04):
Night, And there is a misnomer with him. And I
said this when they see when they traded it for him,
that people thought he was a direct replacement for Pickens.
In a lot of ways, he is, I mean, he's
being strong fast, you know, we know that, and.

Speaker 2 (37:16):
He's way more consistent than George Pickens.

Speaker 3 (37:20):
But he's not the catch point guy that George is.
He wins differently, he often runs past people. He's not
as good and few few if you are. I mean,
that's what George. That's better than anyone in the world.

Speaker 2 (37:33):
The one handed story falling backwards or even ten using.

Speaker 3 (37:37):
Your big body to the shield guys away at the point,
you know what I mean. And it's never been a
special day. I'm not saying he's bad at it, but
some of these catch point things could have went the
other way and then you'd be like, man, we really
got something here, and you know you're in a lot
better shape.

Speaker 2 (37:57):
Yeah, one hundred. I've loved the run after catch ability
that we've seen from him. That's been on display. You
saw it in New England, you saw it in Dublin,
you saw it against the Browns. That's a huge part
of his game and that's been huge for this offense.
But it's just some of those and that's that I wouldn't.

Speaker 3 (38:15):
Even call him plus right right, yeah, yeah, but I
wouldn't even call them fifty fifty catches they're more like
sixty forty in his favor.

Speaker 2 (38:23):
You know, just come down with one more of those
again and it's a completely different story. You're you're a thousand.
You're going from a B plus to like a valedictorian.

Speaker 3 (38:32):
Yeah, and I'm not asking scronic to turn into an
A plus. We're talking about the B plus to turn
into you know what I mean, right, h Yeah, you know.
So I have a thousand percent agree and again happy
with them. But there were plays to be made that
you wish he would have. Yes, I guess is one
way of playing it. Yeah, you go to make all
those you know, no one else.

Speaker 2 (38:50):
Last one for you, Matt for my Tuesday rewind. And
there's not much of a way to sugarcoat this one.
You and I are not the the hot take guys
come on here and call people idiots and call for
everybody's job or anything like that. But I don't know
how after what you were able to do on the
ground in the first half, I think you probably know

(39:11):
where I'm going with this.

Speaker 4 (39:12):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (39:12):
Yeah, with a nine point lead at halftime, where you're
getting the ball back out of.

Speaker 3 (39:16):
The lockers, so you get the first possession too.

Speaker 2 (39:19):
And you run the ball three times in the second half.

Speaker 3 (39:21):
Yeah, Warren is one of your best players, and he's
doing great.

Speaker 2 (39:24):
That first open you are up sixteen to seven. Yeah,
you've been controlling the game. You've been running the ball well,
eighty one yards rushing in the first half.

Speaker 3 (39:33):
Yeah, you're winning time of possession.

Speaker 2 (39:34):
Didn't run the ball once on that opening drive of
the second half. I think they were all once.

Speaker 3 (39:41):
Chris who's on tomorrow wrote an article about this, and
it was zero on the first drive. I think one
rushing attempt on the second drive, and maybe one on
the third drive because and he pointed those out because.

Speaker 2 (39:54):
And then you're chasing the game.

Speaker 3 (39:55):
Yeah, I mean it's different. If it's throwing.

Speaker 2 (39:59):
The title down nine at halftime, it's a different story.

Speaker 3 (40:02):
I totally get it. But the game was very much
at hand. The running game was working. Warren's really really
good football player.

Speaker 2 (40:10):
He averaged five point two yards per carry on the night.

Speaker 3 (40:12):
Yeah. Yeah, and all of a sudden, you get ten
minutes of time possession of the second half because you're
not running the football too.

Speaker 2 (40:18):
I mean you set the tone with it right out
of the locker room.

Speaker 3 (40:20):
Yeah, I don't understand that.

Speaker 2 (40:22):
Eighty one rushing yards in the first half, just twelve
in the second half, and again you had a two
possession lead getting the football back. That's the real malpractice
part to me. I agree, it is the scenario of
the foot up that you had and what you've been
doing well all night. And again, as you mentioned Jalen,
other than Aaron Rodgers, I think Jalen Warren is the
most reliable you know what you're getting down in a

(40:44):
down out part of that offense.

Speaker 3 (40:45):
Great, and he kind of has been since he's put
on a stealer uniform. He's never really been I don't
know about that.

Speaker 2 (40:52):
One of the more underrated weapons in the National Football.

Speaker 3 (40:54):
League one thousand percent. I mean again, never was I like,
I'm not sure what you're getting from Warren. I mean
never ever. McDonald's no doubt.

Speaker 2 (41:02):
I don't care if you're in Texas or Pennsylvania or Wisconsin.
McDonald's number one is Yeah. So there's two things. And
the coaching staff was far from perfect. The defense was
far Nobody was perfect in that game.

Speaker 3 (41:16):
We know that. But there's two things that I really
can't explain away in any way, shape or form or understand.
That's one of them, especially early in the second half.
Of course, you know when you're the lead for a
lot of it. I mean Rob pointed us out. I
mean they Steers were winning after the third quarter.

Speaker 2 (41:33):
Was playing the fourth quarter, they took the lead.

Speaker 3 (41:35):
But but yeah, you're still in it deep into the game.
You know you're right there with these guys. And this
is two weeks in a row. For my second one
is this is two weeks in a row where herbig's
not seeing the field knife He's great. I mean, and
I know a lot of people have word like, I
know exactly what I'm getting every time.

Speaker 2 (41:53):
A lot of people have said he was in the
doghouse after that personal foul penalty. I don't think it
can be that sim It can't be that cut and dry.

Speaker 3 (42:00):
I can't believe that that would be enough. I mean,
he's got a pretty stellar career of being a model citizen,
great special team or do whatever you want coach.

Speaker 2 (42:07):
Don't get me wrong, in that moment, he's got to
keep his composure a little bit better too. But that
wasn't so much oligiously dumb. You hit the guy ten
yards out of it, But he's sticking up for his teammates.
Who's getting mauled by two packers or center field right.

Speaker 3 (42:20):
And he's too good of a pass rusher to say,
we're not putting on. We're going to teach you a lesson, right,
Come on, man, no way.

Speaker 2 (42:25):
Yeah, that he played what like thirty three percent of
the snaps thirty four to thirty five. That's not enough.
Be closer to sixty percent.

Speaker 3 (42:33):
And I know that's a hard puzzle to build.

Speaker 2 (42:34):
Too, easier easier said than done.

Speaker 3 (42:37):
It absolutely is. But in the end, he's too good
to not play a lot. I don't care how you
get there. Not my job, right, My job is to
criticize you for not doing your job.

Speaker 2 (42:47):
I'm the guy who's doing job. Who are you? You
must be the other guy. Yeah, So that was that
was kind of the one that I'd saved for last there,
and that to me is again all all these different things.
And I was happy to Mike Tomlin. I meant to
say this in the first hour before we go to break.
I want to make sure to bring this up. Mike
Tomlin opened his press conference talking about we got to

(43:08):
get sevens more than threes against teams. That's the first
thing he said.

Speaker 3 (43:12):
Again, what happened that press conference.

Speaker 2 (43:15):
Against teams against teams like that, if you're settling for
threes too often, it's gonna come back and bite you. Yeah,
that to me, you know, when we started the show yesterday,
that was one of the first things that I brought up.
It's easy to say in hindsight, and you were up
nine points at halftime.

Speaker 3 (43:29):
But the other thing my halftime notes were touchdowns would
be nice. This could come bite you.

Speaker 2 (43:33):
You knows as you and I are starting to. When
you have red paint, you paint the barn red. When
you have green paint, you paint the barn green. It's
abundantly clear that this offense needs to score points and
needs to do a better job of controlling the clock.

Speaker 3 (43:47):
Yeah, and they might have to carry the team for
a bit.

Speaker 2 (43:49):
The first half of that is, yeah, you need to
find the end zone more than the golden toe of
Chris Boswell. But the other part of that is you
gotta run the football man, and you've been doing It'd
be one thing if you've been struggling to do it,
but you've been doing it effectively.

Speaker 3 (44:02):
It's getting better and better.

Speaker 2 (44:03):
It's getting better and better against really.

Speaker 3 (44:05):
Good run defense.

Speaker 2 (44:08):
That's gotta be your meat and potatoes.

Speaker 3 (44:09):
A thousand percent, and again don't get away from it.
And it's very Unarthur Smith like to get away from
its surprising too. But now Tomlin is never gonna tell
us this stuff. And I did not go to his
press conference and I haven't yet. You know, as I
mentioned five times, I don't know whattee. But I think

(44:31):
he also needs to look himself in the mirror in
that regard too, and be like, if we got to
turn touchdown field goals in the touchdowns, you're probably gonna
to be more aggressive on four thousands. Sure, yeah, I
mean you.

Speaker 2 (44:41):
Know what help you get there though? Is picking up
five yards on first down when you run the ball.

Speaker 3 (44:47):
Right, I think you can see the path.

Speaker 2 (44:49):
If it's third and four, third and five, and you go, okay,
we get three four yards here, we got fourth and short,
we're in great position to go for it as opposed
to it's s in nine, it's third and eight. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (45:02):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (45:02):
It becomes much more manageable to get aggressive on fourth
down if you're setting yourself up for a more successful
opportunity when.

Speaker 3 (45:09):
You do so. And that's something I mentioned yesterday too,
Like let's say it's third and one and you're in
field goal range or midfield or whatever, but deep down
you know you're going forward on fourth. If you don't
get it, take a shot, Yeah, Rogers the metcalf over
the top, you know, like, because I'm coming back and
I'm not going to settle for three still, you know,
I don't have to have to get my yard here.

Speaker 2 (45:28):
Playing an action Maybe it hit Friar movie the same.
I mean, there's a lot of a lot of different
things there, and I do hope that we start to
see some of that Sunday against the Colts.

Speaker 3 (45:36):
Because the red zone stuff's gotten a lot better too.
You're way better. Yeah. They only had three snaps from
in the red zones that game, only one possession.

Speaker 2 (45:44):
It's not nearly enough. No, No, again, particularly against an
upper echelon team and an upper echelon offense like the
Green Bay Pack.

Speaker 3 (45:51):
That's the thing. If you play the Browns, you're like, wow,
they probably aren't going to get the thirty five, but
you might have sortly in your defense, like most teams
are going to get the thirty five, let alone the Colts.

Speaker 2 (46:00):
Specially leagues, especially some of these talented offenses you got
coming up. Colt's best offense in the league. Chargers they
got Herbert, they got they got weapons. Even a team
like Chicago can score some points that you're gonna have
to see soon. Cincinnati you got to see again in
a few weeks. We know that they they've got their issues,
but they can score points. We saw that. It's uh, yeah,

(46:20):
it's it's It's certainly something that I'll be keeping an
eye on beginning Sunday against Indianapolis. That's an hour in
the books, Another hour Togo, Fantasy Football Focus, NFL Power Rankings,
all that and more. An hour number two Euler Williamson
The Drive Steelers Audio Network