HR1: Victory Tuesday

Matt and Wes break down last night's victory over the Miami Dolphins. The guys are joined by Chris Adamski to get his thoughts on the Monday Night win over the Dolphins.

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Episode Transcript

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

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Good afternoon, Steelers Nation, and welcome to the Drive here
on the Steelers Audio Network. Wes Shooler and Matt Williamson
with you for the next two hours on a Tuesday,
and Matt dare I say a victory Tuesday as the
Steelers get it done twenty eight to fifteen over the
Miami Dolphins. That score line was comfortable, but I think
it was even more comfortable than that as it played out. Yeah,

(00:43):
I mean middle of the third when the Steelers scored
that fourth straight or I guess that was maybe early fourth.
Then right where they scored their fourth possessions, right, I
mean it was it was start the buses. This game
is over. Yeah, the Dolphins are cooked and maybe at
the Steelers' best, most complete, most impressive sixty minute performance

(01:05):
from start to finish.

Speaker 3 (01:06):
I agree wholeheartedly. Now, I don't mean to start negative.
There was a stretch there where the Steelers defense was
being a little lax and a little soft and Waller's
catching balls left and right, and it's six seven play
drives touchdown, Like, let's not get too comfortable here, but

(01:27):
other than that, and even at that point, never once
the Steelers actually scored their first touchdown did I think
they weren't in control of the game. And that's a
big thing to me, Like what like they the Steelers
were beating the Bills at the half, but they were
not in control of the game correct at all? And
maybe the scorer favored them, but they were not in

(01:48):
control the game.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
Even the Packers game, right, they were up I think
nine at halftime. Yeah, and it felt like this is a.

Speaker 3 (01:53):
Lot better team at the time. Yeah, but they were
the better team basically start to finish. Did a lot
of good stuff on both sides of the ball. Rogers
is super impressive and he's bringing elevating everyone with them.
One we should open time possession day. One time won
the play.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
Differential right double whammie?

Speaker 3 (02:12):
Yes, how about that?

Speaker 2 (02:13):
See more total plays than their opposition and over thirty
three and a half minutes a time of possession. We've
been screaming and yelling.

Speaker 3 (02:22):
I got you. I bet you're happy about you, Like
I'm not gonna stop talking about It's one game, but
I am happy.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
And I also you know I you and I both
you do like a billion different shows and things throughout
the week. I do like a million different shows and
things throughout the week. I had the Mike Tomlin press conference.
It'll be a weird week this week. It's already Tuesday.

Speaker 3 (02:43):
We have so much. We didn't talked about all the
things that happening on the league and Tomlin and injuries,
let on this game.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
We've barely started to touch on this game and have
to get around the NFL. But we have Mike Tomlin updates,
so we have so much to get to and we'll
quickly be turning the page to the Lions. But I
do that Mike Tomlin press conference. It's recap show with
Jerry Dulac, and Dulac was talking about how, you know,
how impressed he was with how the Steelers defense just
felt in command, felt in control, and I was like,

(03:11):
I think there's a direct parallel there to what we've
all been screaming about. Fourteen more plays the Steelers' offense ran,
and that even includes kind of that garbage time stuff
at the end, so that could have been way more lobsided.

Speaker 3 (03:23):
Right, A lot of the final numbers favor Miami more
than they even should, and.

Speaker 2 (03:27):
Even without what even without Harmon, even with losing her
big in the course of that game.

Speaker 3 (03:32):
No, I mean, Pierre's a legit starter. Okay, right, right right,
Samuel will talk about but you know.

Speaker 2 (03:37):
No one puts Pierre in the corner.

Speaker 3 (03:39):
They were inactives came out. I'm like, oh no, this
is pretty thin, man.

Speaker 2 (03:43):
They were fresh, they were ready to go, and I
think they finally they felt I think the defense felt
that like this, it's nice to get to the end
of the third midle the middle of the third quarter
here and not feel gash, not have been on the
field already for forty some plays, not to end up
playing in sixty seventy some plays. I think you can see.
I think you can draw a direct correlation on thousand

(04:05):
person with how the offense was able to control the
football and finally give the defense that position of advantage
we've been talking about.

Speaker 3 (04:12):
Yeah, it's been lacking so bad, and I know we've
brought it up. I bring it up all the time
and people probably get sick of it, but I feel
like I still haven't stressed it enough. I mean, how
big a disadvantage that is? I mean the play differential
you're asking your defense to play versus the offense. It's
great that we're finally trending the other direction. Yeah, it is,
and you can see the difference. I mean the energy,

(04:34):
the amount of players that get to the ball in
the fourth quarter, I mean the way they hit, the
way they take on blocks. I mean, people get tired.
These are human beings.

Speaker 2 (04:42):
So often, even in some of the games that they've
held on to win, Matt it felt like they were
the nail, not the hammer. Hold on for your life,
holding on for dear life. Yeah, second half, particularly in
the fourth quarter, shoe was totally on the other foot.
They were the hammer and the Dolphins were the nail.
Couldn't wait to get back on those buses and get
home and get out of that environment.

Speaker 3 (05:03):
I don't know if you felt the same way and
then you were there. I'm watching, but I really did
think the Miami team, especially their defense and special teams,
in the first half, were really hitting. They were they
were flying around. They did not show up flat or
disinterested or we're out of this thing. But then it
starts to settle in and it's cold, and we're not

(05:24):
doing much and our quarterbacks are not very good. I
can't look in the huddle and look at Rogers and
be like I got this, and defense has been on
the field a lot, and it's like, let's go home.

Speaker 2 (05:37):
Back to South each year. Come on, guys, it's been
fun up here for the weekend.

Speaker 3 (05:41):
But we've had a good run. We've won four in
a row, we've saved some jobs, baby, but it's time
to go.

Speaker 2 (05:46):
We've got some good social media content out here. Yeah yeah, right,
backing in and get out of here. And yet twenty
eight to three, it felt over. They were able to
score those two touchdowns, miss on both of the conversions,
so it ends up being a twelve point four quarter
from Miami. But Matt you mentioned him briefly as much
as I think my first kind of thirty thousand foot

(06:07):
surface view thing was that felt like the most complete,
complementary sixty minutes. The second thing kind of been on
my list of talking points and takeaways here twelve out.
I mean I literally left the stadium about twelve thirteen
hours ago. Is wow. Aaron Rodgers once again, much like
he was last week, I thought was the most best

(06:30):
is a you can go a million different directions who
is the best player out on the field last night?
But I think the most important I think the MVP
for the second straight week was Aaron Rodgers and Matt
It just it feels like it's becoming Aaron Rodgers season.
Aaron Rodgers time. He's not gonna be that quarterback anymore
that throws the ball all over the yard in September

(06:51):
forty five times, four hundred yards, four touchdowns. I just
don't think that's his game. Even if you put him
in the Dallas Cowboys offense, I don't think that that's
his game. What is his game, though, is December is cold,
is is doing everything to elevate the you know the
high tide that raises all ships. The catch in Miami
with too many men on a third down and getting

(07:12):
you a first down for freebie there that.

Speaker 3 (07:15):
The rest didn't even catch.

Speaker 2 (07:16):
But the rest didn't even right like this, this is
the time where I think you really want Aaron Rodgers
to show his value, his experience, his fortitude, and that
was on display for the second straight week once again.
Last night.

Speaker 3 (07:29):
We could do two hours on him. I mean I
really could, But so I was going to touch on
a few things that we haven't already. Is the more
you see him like shears have gone through a lot
of quarterbacks since Ben go through a lot of quarterbacks and.

Speaker 2 (07:43):
Not Cleveland Brown's level.

Speaker 3 (07:45):
No, it's been a revolving door over these last couple
of years. Everybody knows. And there's been times for better
or worse. Too often for worse. During that stretch where
you're like, okay, quarterback X Traubisky, you pick it, whoever?
Starting to understand the team, him in the league and
what's expected of him and blah blah blah. The way
I feel with this guy is I think the people

(08:06):
around him are finally starting to understand him. I mean
that departed, you know, like I don't want to be
a product of my environment. I want my environment to
be a product to me. And Rogers, years after a
quarterback couldn't get a job in this town, Yeah, I
mean it's like now they're catching on what he demands.

(08:27):
And I was on a show with Rob you know,
Mike couldn't join us for the night show, and I
said something like, I know, like from Afar, you can
look at Rogers' personality and the way he holds himself
and think, boy, he's cocky, he's brash. You know, maybe
he's not always kind everybody. And I've said that's probably

(08:49):
true because he's earned it. But I just think he's
always right. And Rob's like, did you watch him on Jeopardy?
He like blew everybody out. Like the guy's like never wrong,
Like heg gps, there was twelve guys on the field.
Of course he's right. Of course he's right. I mean, like,
I think everyone's realized that maybe he asked us to

(09:10):
do goofy things or doesn't always see the way. But
he's so wise and he's so smart, he's always right.

Speaker 2 (09:19):
It's a great call. It reminds me a little bit
of like you hear about some of these guys like
the Tom Cruises and the Leonardo Dicaprios of the world. Yeah, yeah,
that when they're on a movie set, it has to
be a b C, a certain way. We're doing things
this and if somebody steps out of line, if one
lighting guy is standing in the wrong spot, it's like,

(09:40):
blow the whole take up. We're doing this again.

Speaker 4 (09:42):
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (09:42):
It's like the Running Back mixes a missus a block,
it runs the wrong round and the.

Speaker 2 (09:45):
Movie comes out and it grosses three hundred million dollars
and wins a bunch of awards. And here's Tom Cruise.

Speaker 3 (09:51):
Brando is super hard to work with then real eccentric.

Speaker 2 (09:54):
Because he was right Tarantino like notorious pain in the
backside to work with. Seen the movies right right right,
and I think you're spot on. I think there's definitely
some of that. And what I love too is in
the postgame Aaron Rodgers too.

Speaker 3 (10:10):
Everything he says, everything he does.

Speaker 2 (10:12):
He goes out of his way to talk about Kenneth Gainwell.
You know nobody wanted this guy. He signed for pennies.
Look at him now, Connor.

Speaker 3 (10:19):
He he says things that they want to hear, like
I want to make I want gain Well. I want
to help him get a huge contract. That guy talking
about a good way to motivate your teammates and stuff too. Hey, Kenny,
I can make you four more million a year if
you stick with me.

Speaker 2 (10:32):
Listen to that guy th Wall, you're right, right, right right,
And he points out Connor Hayward, and he points out
a Sante, Samuel Junior and Ben Skronick and some of
these guys because he knows I'm gonna push them. I'm
gonna push those guys buttons in a good way. Yeah,
you know, everyone.

Speaker 3 (10:46):
I'm not up here in the penhouse, even though you
guys are sweeping the floor.

Speaker 2 (10:50):
Was gonna talk about me, And they're gonna give credit
to Dylan Cook who played a great game. Did you
hear him mentioned on the broadcast much? And how good
he was? Like, I'm not gonna praise the guys that
typically get praised, the Patrick Queens and the Cam Haywards
and the DK Metcalf. Yeah, I'm gonna talk about these
other guys that have been doing it quietly and in
the shadows that I'm gonna pot it in. I'm gonna

(11:11):
pump up their tires because he knows the forty seventh
guy on the roster is just as important as the
fourth guy on the roster.

Speaker 3 (11:19):
I'm gonna need him to pick up a block just
like anybody else. Or you know, it's a huge team
game and it's not a selfish approach.

Speaker 2 (11:25):
Feels like it's coming together at the right time and
in that regard, and he's the straw that's stern. A
lot of people deserve credit, but he's the straw that's
stir in the drink.

Speaker 3 (11:32):
Yes, and it helps he's playing better. I mean, there
was a stretch there there. I was worried about his
play on the field too, and not just because of
the injured wrist. It was because it was before that,
you know, the Chargers game, like, oh he looks old,
this is a problem. Well, he still looks old. He
is old. I'm not fair to Rivers, but I mean
he still does old man stuff. But he has such

(11:55):
command and even like the first half. Some of my
first half notes were if I didn't care about this game,
I wouldn't be super into it. And I'm looking at
the Steelers offense and it seems like every play is
either it was exaggeration, but I felt like every play
in the first half was throw it sideways or a
push push. They're like two of my least favorite plays

(12:16):
to watch it. Pitsford of flungs. I heard, yeah, and
then I'm thinking through it. At the half, you know,
you get a little bit of time and I'm like,
but that's exactly how the Dolphins give it to you,
you know, I mean like they're gonna play a ton
of cover two. He knew this coming in. You're watching
the tape, you're watching live. It's not like I can
diagnose the coverages on TV. But he says afterwards, they

(12:37):
gave us a bunch of cover too. The flats were
wide open. I'm just gonna take what you get. I mean,
it's just a wise approach, you know.

Speaker 2 (12:44):
I think we saw it play out in Baltimore and
then maybe even to another level Monday night last night
against the Dolphins. It it's it's an exciting it's an
exciting time here because it is because like I said,
this is this is when you want the veteran quarterback
to be rising that tide of every of of of

(13:06):
of you know, of the Kenneth Gainwells, of the Connor Heywards,
and even guys like DK Metcalf that are that are
you know, very accomplished in their own right. Sure, the
quarterback this time of year, you see it like Josh
Allen's playing his best football right now, Matthew Stafford playing
I mean he's been playing outstanding all year, but ye yeah,
playing his best football right now, whereas some of the

(13:30):
Drake Mays and the Baker Mayfields of the world are
maybe going a little bit in the opposite direction. Oh yeah,
these guys know, this time of year is when it matters.
This time of year is when you have to put
it together. The stuff that you were harping on the
guys throughout October and November that might have cost you
games then is gonna win you games now. And I
think we saw a little bit of that last season

(13:52):
with Russ at times. To be fair, I mean, this
team was, this team was ten and three at one
point last year. We saw glimpses of it. But this,
this feels like enough level. This feels like a greater
step forward.

Speaker 3 (14:02):
Yeah, I think the teammates respond differently than Ross. I
think this guy is a better football player than Ross.

Speaker 2 (14:07):
You know, he's one of I mean, he is one
of the greatest quarterbacks ever full stop.

Speaker 3 (14:11):
Yes, and you didn't you didn't see it yet, but
I mean even after you know how everybody, like after
the game, people come up and they were going to
they were interviewing Rogers. Well, Dolphin's defensive coordinator runs up
to him, gives him a hug, and he's like, you're
the greatest ever. So I want to tell you, yeah,
I've game planning against them all. You're the greatest ever
defense coordinator.

Speaker 2 (14:29):
You know.

Speaker 3 (14:29):
And you didn't know he was on camera, but like sure,
he probably gets at every game all the time, you
know what I mean. Of course, you know it's pretty awesome.
Now who knows where they'll take you, But it's an
encouraging couple of games in a row, and I think
that they are figuring it out at the right time.
And you mentioned some of the younger quarterbacks and this
league's grind and I forget who said it. It might

(14:50):
have been one of the really smart coaches. It's like
a Hall of Fame coach that there's a there's a
phrase that everyone's heard out there that the NFL is
a marathon, not a sprint. But it's really eighteen sprints.
Seventeen sprints. Each game is a sprint. But how do
I judge those sprints?

Speaker 2 (15:12):
But then you got a bunch of events until you're right, right, right,
it's a series of sprints.

Speaker 3 (15:17):
It's not really a marathon because I got to go fast, fast, fast, fast, fast.

Speaker 2 (15:20):
And then recover, recover, right.

Speaker 3 (15:23):
Yeah, and even just every plays that way, you know
basketball hockey, you go the whole time, this one it's
five seconds and then I rest for twenty five you know,
like it's it's not like most sports, you know, the
way that it's structured the games or the flow of
the game, and I think the Rogers of the world
understand how to pace themselves and win to sprint, you
know what I mean, and bring their teammates with them.

Speaker 2 (15:45):
Good conductor, you know, knows when it's knows when it's time. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
right right, and then bang right, here comes the woodwinds.

Speaker 3 (15:53):
Yeah, here it comes. Right.

Speaker 2 (15:54):
Let's get to our first break here. We've got plenty
more to discuss from this game from around the NFL,
from individuals on the Steelers roster. We'll continue to do
so and get into some Tomlin updates with our buddy
Chris Dampski when we return. On the other side, was
Shueler Matt Williamson just getting started here on a victory
Tuesday on the Drive on Steelers Nation Radio on the

(16:15):
Steelers Audio Network, your tunes.

Speaker 1 (16:18):
About Drive on your twenty four to seven home of
the Black and Goal, Steelers Nation Radio.

Speaker 2 (16:36):
Back on the drive here as we roll along on
a victory Tuesday, and to the phone lines we go
to talk to our friend Chris Adamski, of course covers
the Steelers for the trib and the co host of
the Steelers Blitz with our guy Tom opp froman at
noon every day here on the Steelers Audio Network. Chris,
thank you for taking the time plenty going on here.
It's a weird Tuesday, is We do have some Mike

(16:57):
Tomlin stuff that we want to ask you before we
get up out of here year. But of course the
first order of business Steelers twenty eight Dolphins fifteen, was
that the most encouraging sixty minutes complete performance of football
we've seen from the Steelers in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 4 (17:15):
Yeah, I don't think there's any question about that generally speaking.
And I know, I mean Miami I thought was pretty bad.
I mean, I know two was number stat lined and
ended up being that bad and a lot of fun
empty bad. Yeah, in the fourth quarter, but he was, Yeah,
he was not very good at all the first three
quarters of that game. And I don't know why Mike
mcdanel got away from you know, you're facing the team

(17:36):
that had given up the Steelers and Holmes like combined
five hundred rushing yards the previous two games and the
previous four games and their winning streak. They had had
to or throw what an average twenty two passes the
game twenty one past of the game and leaned on
devon a Chains. I don't know why they didn't do
that more, but hey, so part of it is I
think the opponent helped them out a lot in that sense.
So I guess you could parse this and say, well,

(17:57):
they you know, they'd be a new England team in
the road, whatever you want to do it. But even
that you could go back to turnover. So this one,
I just think generally speaking, it was just a beat
down offensively and defensively, the way they they score in
the four straights, possessions like they did, and just everything
clipping the script in so many ways. And again the
fourth quarter side kind of made these numbers a little

(18:18):
bit more. Not as wide the gap been the Steelers favor,
but to have such huge advantages in total yardage and
snaps played and time possession, and these are things that
the Steelers, even when they've been winning games, they were
facing pretty big deficits in almost every game they played
in all those categories. So to see that in both
sides of the ball, yeah, I think you're right. If

(18:39):
your mind's stocking the Steelers and their chances to, you know,
to make some noise in the playoffs, there's probably as
high as it's been all season after that game Monday night.

Speaker 3 (18:47):
So Chris, you're our second segment of the day, and
the first one was a lot of flowers and that
was you roses and the Steelers are doing well. And
I'm glad you brought it up though. I mean, I
love on Monday on this case, Tuesday talking about the
opponent or if this was you know, Dolphins Nation Radio.
I felt like, especially early in the game, every time

(19:09):
that they dropped back, they were doing the Steelers a favor.
It really was. I was like the pitch at the
ah chain on off tackle. Oh no, but oh they're
dropping back, It'll be all right.

Speaker 2 (19:22):
Yeah, it was.

Speaker 4 (19:22):
I mean, you could just I don't know. I mean,
I'm not gonna let's say here, and I watched too
much so much Dolphins as they've been on prime time,
and I watched last week's game or whatever to make
a definitive statement on where two is in his career
or where they are with him and his contract and
all that stuff. That You're right, you just felt like
there were some of those plays where it just looks like,
I mean, it's kind of things that the rookies do
in terms of his lack of awareness in terms of

(19:45):
taking sacks and not getting rid of the ball and
not going the right place. It just seems so jumps
off the page. Again, you don't have to be a
you know, a film study guy or whatever to see
how how bad he was, especially you know, in that game.
And yeah, it just was really puzzling. Like we talked about,
I mean, it seemed like it seemed way too obvious
to me. You got a freezing cold game, you gotta

(20:06):
team struggling against run defense without one of its best
run defenders out once again for you, and you have
the hottest running back in the league, and everything was
going for you, and it just for whatever reason, they
didn't do it. And I mean give a Steelers credit there.
They took advantage of that and once they got hot offensively,
those four straight drives are touchdowns that stealed the game
pretty quickly.

Speaker 2 (20:27):
Yes, it did.

Speaker 4 (20:28):
That.

Speaker 2 (20:28):
One went from feeling like it could go either way
to feeling like they could go ahead and start the
buses and get the Dolphins back to the airport pretty quickly.
And a big part of that, Chris, as it has
been listen, it feels like every time that we're in
here on a Monday or a Tuesday or whenever talking
about a Steelers win, talking optimism. You know, glass looking
more half full than half empty. It feels like that

(20:52):
glass is always revolving around Aaron Rodgers twenty three of
twenty seven, two hundred and twenty four yards, two touchdowns,
no turnovers. I mean, like I'm I'm thinking back in
my mind, Chris, and like the opening drive, he took
a sack that he probably shouldn't have. Other than that,
Other than that, I think ninety nine percent of the game.

(21:14):
It's tough to say perfect, right, because nobody's perfect but
very feat but he was. He was just just about perfect.
And that's a great way to put it, Matt. He
just minimizes air so much and he even catches you
on third down with twelve guys on the field when
the when the refs missed it.

Speaker 4 (21:31):
Yeah, that that that was pretty That was pretty neat
to see. Especially but by the way, I thought that
the whole replay review couldn't throw a flag. I thought
that or the eye and the sky couldn't do that.
I but you know, it seems like every week there's
a new either rule or wrinkle or something that comes
out or that or something I learned. I guess I
should say maybe I'm only one that you could get
a flag thrown, because I thought they made a big
deal about saying you couldn't add a flap. But regardless, Yeah,

(21:53):
it was what he had four incompletions, and I know
one for sure was a drop and there was a
throwaway in there. So I don't know how if you
ever missed anybody without going back and watching all twenty
seven throws, now you missed anybody one of the sacks
he took on purpose out of you know, here he
just gave himself off essentially, so out of this, even
the sacks he took. So yeah, trying to find a

(22:14):
negative play of that, and you know, I tend to
maybe it's on me and like I'm being kind of
talking into this now that I don't say roll my eyes,
but sort of like, oh, it's well, they've they've got
his you know, he got two veteran receivers are in
there now, guys that have a combined what it would
be now the twenty one seasons of NFL experience to
match him between MVS and Adam Feelen, and they have

(22:37):
a combined two catches together after two games, so I'm like,
how much of an impact that they're really making? But
and Rogers is saying, like, well, they're they're being these
professional route runners. It's opened things up and whatever. And
I tend to be skeptical of that, I guess to
a point and say it's not that simple, or you
got to produce more, I guess. But at the same time,
these have been if you go back to back games,
I would say, with again sinking back to September, it

(22:59):
seems like three years ago in terms of two games
in a row where the passing game looks this crisp
and you know, you combine big plays mostly you know,
the previous game against Baltimore, but still a couple on
this one, and just efficiency and everything else that the
passing games looks as good as it has since. They've
kind of did this sort of line change with the
with their receivers by getting the three new or three

(23:21):
but two brand new veterans in and putting Scotty Miller
back in the lineup and and swapping out Keishawn Williams
and rowand Wilson at the off the passing offense has
looked as good as it has all seeds, and so
there's got to be probably some correlation there, right, So.

Speaker 3 (23:34):
Reporter question for you. I used to ask Dale these
all the time because I've never been the person that
holds the mic and asks the questions and does the
interviews like you guys do in the scrum, like when
you're eighty years old and retired, Crisp, I.

Speaker 2 (23:48):
Hope it retires before he's eight.

Speaker 4 (23:52):
Do you think we'll see I?

Speaker 3 (23:54):
Do you think Rogers is like a tell your grandkids
type of guy? You know, like it's it seems like
his quotes, the way he interacts with you guys, let
alone his teammates is so unique and so impressive and oh,
by the way, he's had a great career.

Speaker 4 (24:10):
You know. Yeah, that's what. Yeah. Unique is a good
way of putting it, for sure. And you're right in
terms of visits because we thought in a way and
I kept you know, last year, and it's funny now,
I don't know if I'm recncy biased now or if
I was getting ahead of myself last year or what
you know. There are several times when I'd referenced Russell
Wilson's Yeah, Russell Wilson and that's not I'm not trying

(24:33):
to belittle him at all, but he's not in the
same class in terms of all time generation. We're talking
you've got fifty years an how or whatever right here.
I mean Russell Wilson might make the Hall of Fame.
That's told another debate for another day. I'm not going
to get into that or not. But it's just he's
not wholly a candle to the unit. You can't compare
the career. You're not a debate. No one with the
baby with a better career and who's more established than
everything like that. So Rogers being here and you're right,

(24:57):
it's he does. And you know he has that because,
let's face it, pretty much everybody in his roster was
you know, it doesn't remember in the NFL watching NFL
as a kid without Aaron Rodgers in it, right, I mean,
other than Cam Hayward and you know Boswell or whatever.
I mean, there's not many guys. Letting the guys that

(25:17):
have been bringing in over the past few weeks here
at Wide Receiver, you know, their first memories is probably
you know, some of the first memories of Aaron Rodgers
playing the Super Bowl, beating the Steelers actually, so you
have that that combination of that earned respect on the
playing field with you know, his he clearly you know,
this cerebral guy and he I think he clearly thinks.
I don't know if he kind of psycholed you background

(25:38):
or your has or what, but you can tell he
even though he interacts with us in the moment, you
know whatever, everything, I like just hang on, you know, yeah, yeah,
he he he kind of knows who what buttons to
push with certain receivers and stuff, and he gets he
obviously has a temper on the field and he gets frustrated.
And I think maybe that's part of his calculation too,

(25:58):
is he knows that and he buys himself capital with
all of his teammates by bonding with him off the field.
I think that's part of his grand kind of plan.
Is you know, each of those each of those receivers,
the line, you know, even defensive players, whatever, he makes
sure he tries to get to know them, tries to
you know, whether I can needle this guy, I can,
you know, like I can tough love that, you know,
whatever it is, because he knows that when he's competitive,

(26:21):
he's on the field, we all see it. Right, he screams.
If somebody runs the wrong route, or somebody you know
or whatever drops the pass it might be in some scenario,
or doesn't know where to line up or whatever it
might be. He he gets mad, right, and he knows
he's gonnat mad. But because he's he has the resume,
and he has the respect of everybody, and because he
he makes it a point to go and get to

(26:42):
know every one of those guys and establish that personal relationship,
you know, when he explodes them on the field. Instead
of saying, oh, this guy has embarrassed me on national TV,
he says, Okay, you know what, he's the leader. He's
trying to get me to do the right thing. It's
for the team. I screwed up here. I need to
be better and I deserved it, you know what I'm saying.
He's bought his bought himself some some of that good
will with this teammates. And I do think you know,

(27:05):
everybody knows, you know that some of that. He's hosting
Jeopardy for crying out loud. You know, he is smart.
I think he I think that's part of his part
of his intelligence is he's he likes to get to
know people, and and I think it's kind of a
challenge to him, right, both reporters, players, coaches, you know, everybody,
just to get to know them and and see what, hey,
how can I how can I connect with this individual?

(27:26):
And you know that that will help the team down
the road.

Speaker 2 (27:29):
Hey, you know those cow guys, they're pretty bright. I
tell you out there out there out there in Berkley.
You gotta be.

Speaker 4 (27:35):
Bright, Cap you mean California? You right?

Speaker 2 (27:38):
Yeah, of course, go go? What are the Vulcans?

Speaker 4 (27:41):
Right?

Speaker 2 (27:41):
Isn't that what the cow pas.

Speaker 4 (27:44):
As our friend market boy? So it's the it's the
harbor of them on? Right? Is that what he went there?

Speaker 2 (27:50):
That's certainly not the case qualified with us here on
the drive. Uh, let's let's talk about some of those
you know, you mentioned Steelers being without Derek Harmon there.
It sounds optimistic that that might be the last absence
for him in this kind of stretch here dealing with
that knee injury. He's from Detroit, you know, Michigan guy

(28:14):
obviously started his career at Michigan State for a few
years before he finished at Oregon. Does it seem hey,
you know what they say happens when you assume, But
does it seem likely Maybe we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll go
with there. Does it seem likely that Derek Harmon will
return to action this Sunday in his hometown.

Speaker 4 (28:31):
Yeah, that was probably about as a declarative without totally
percent committing to it. As you'll hear Mike Tomlin about
a guy who's coming off, especially a three game injury
like that, not somebody who just got dinged up there
in the last game or something. He was he I
think he even said, we're looking forward to getting back,
you know, he was pretty he said, you know, essentially

(28:53):
that if if that was Cam Hayward, just just to
throw a name, you know, obviously it's the stream exit
a veteran that he trusts and he knows and knows
what he's doing. It had the same injury and only
with one limited practice and whatever he was doing moving
around and to walk through or before the game or whatever,
he would have played. It certainly sounds like that for sure.
He said it was because he was a rookie and
he didn't get much reps. I didn't think it was

(29:14):
fair to him or to us to throw him out there,
which would whatever I mean, they won the game, so
it all all worked out, and and he even mentioned
that having to Detroit, the homecoming and everything that's coming week,
obviously the game's going to be a lot to Derek
Harmon on the Sunday to get to play in his
hometown as a rookie in the NFL. So yeah, for
the Steelers to go and we talked, I mean, obviously

(29:34):
it didn't play out this way the rush defense or
the rush production from the opponent in this past game.
But to get emerged from the three game strets without
Harmon with two to one, and you know he's not
their MVP, I get it, and I'm going to overplay it,
I guess. But to get him back and man an
injury fort by the end of last week. Man, it's
and it's still not completely resolved by any stretching the imagination,
but that was one of them deeper in terms of

(29:56):
depth and breadth of the of the quality of players
and how many players are on the list, and you know,
there this is a lot of attrition even for you know,
every event, all team, every season has it when you
get to this point in late December here mid December.
But uh, the Steelers, this is that was one of
the longer, lengthier injury reports that I've seen in a while.
So it's sounds like there's a chance to you know,

(30:17):
to get to James Pierre back. And you know, even
problem was more optimistic about Samala. I thought maybe yesterday
after the game getting the field, that I didn't think
Samala was gonna gonna play this coming week. But Tomlin
went out of his way and when asked about let's
see who's he asked about Spencer Anderson, whether he would
do the A asked, and that actually about and Uh,
he had a lot of a I'm not ready to

(30:38):
roll out Samalo yet he didn't have to do that.
I don't think he would do that if he didn't
believe in himself that there's a pretty good chance Samala
could play against the lines.

Speaker 3 (30:46):
Chris, last thing I got for you is Sante Samuel
and Dylan Cook both got thrust into action at really
difficult positions, you know, like one bad play and everyone
thinks you're terrible. I mean they're they're hard positions to
find their premium positions. And I've only watched the TV copy,
but I thought both played way over expectations and very

(31:10):
very well not just good for replacements. Is that the
buzz you were getting to around, you know, from the
team and everybody as well.

Speaker 4 (31:18):
Yeah, I thought it. You know, Samuel obviously there are
two totally different profiles a career at this point in
terms of the players, but they both there was reason
to I mean, the Steelers have kept cooked around. What
is this is the third season he's been with the organization,
so you're going you know, back to back to May
twenty twenty three when they and he's been on the
fifty spen a whole year in the fifty three, so
that as well as a rookie, but as the first

(31:40):
year player that year, so that showed that they they
had they see something in him and they like him.
And he got hurt last year, so you kind of
wondered where he was at in his career. And he's
a little bit older for being being a soiate inexperienced player.
But I mean, you said it best, you did. You
didn't know you would notice a left tackle a lot
more than you wouldn't. Yeah, yeah, but unless you're just
you know, the washing for him. So that's a good sign.

(32:02):
And yeah, I do think I mean, the Steelers have
loved doing that over there over there the past couple
of days. I mean, going away is the main example,
of course, of a guy that kind of a different background.
You know, he was a junior college quarterback before he
goes to the University of Montana and he ends up here,
and he's obviously athletic, and you know, I don't know
if he'll ever be a starter for them or for

(32:23):
the Steelers in terms of that, but I do think
for sure that you know, he could if he finishes
out this season. And you know, we'll see what's going
on with Pete. There's a lot of moving parts here
because of Samo hadn't played his pika back to the
left guard, and yeah, you know, we'll see how this
all all shakes out, and that might be an option
then if if Samo they can't play, and maybe keep
cooking left tackling and Pete Fiell's in the guard at
least when Spence Anderson's doing his uh, mister eligible thing.

(32:46):
But yeah, and then and then Samuel him he began
to play every snap I thought was significant. You know,
it's a guy who hadn't played football for fifteen months
or whatever, and he didn't play much on defense last
week at all, and he was out there every single snap,
and I thought something they might monitor or watch, you know,
you never know when you have the type of surgery
and injury he had. And I'm sure they obviously vetted him,

(33:07):
and he was here from the practice squad and he
was practicing and he played some games. All he did,
but you still kind of wondered if they would have
you know, I don't say exposed him that way, but
he exposed them to Yeah, maybe DoD mean the right
expose him in terms of playing every snap like that,
and he and he and he he made it through.
Now again the opponent, I don't know if it was
the biggest tests in the world in terms of that,
and they got out. He got two really good wide

(33:28):
receivers in Detroit, so that's that'll be a whole other test.
But uh, yeah, we've you know, I think Samuel they
put it said, they definitely are hopeful they have a
future you know, multi year starter and Samuel'll be able
to keep here. And this is the audition here these
these next few weeks. But I think is more curious
as in the short term because everybody, I'm sure you

(33:49):
guys agree. I mean, James Pierre was was playing really
well for what he's been so far for them, and
if he's clear to come back, it's It's one of those,
I guess, the good problem to have, right if you
have two guys you believe in to play outside Corner.
I'm really curious to see if Pierre does play, how
they how they distribute that. I I mean, I was,
like I said, Samuel have played. I think I think
he only played after Pierre got hurt. And against Baltimore

(34:10):
you wouldn't have played all on defense, and as fast week,
you played every snap. So if you haven't both do
you do a time shared? Is one of them, definitely
ahead of the other. I you know, you could do
sub packages. I don't know how you do it, but
I'm curious to see if, assuming Pierre is able to play,
That's one of the things I want to be watching
for in practice and certainly Sunday afternoon and Detroit.

Speaker 3 (34:29):
It's definitely a great problem to have at Corner, and
I think they should probably be open to the idea
that one or both could be the opening next year. Yeah,
I mean, even looking ahead for the future seasons.

Speaker 4 (34:44):
Yeah, I mean, I guess is Pierre, I think it
would have been an expiring car.

Speaker 3 (34:48):
I think they're both yeah, yeah, so I don't know
if that.

Speaker 4 (34:53):
Yeah, And obviously if you pick one then the other
might have a better, better option to go somewhere else.
Then maybe if they they're both putting on good tape
out there. But yeah, I think they and that, and
that would be big because if you you know, this
is something that as of you know, September, you didn't
have Samu at all, and Pierre, you're you're thinking just
a specialty, a good special team roster. Yeah, so, I mean,

(35:17):
I know, the whole slave thing didn't work. Yeah, that's right,
the whole slave thing didn't work out. And but you know,
all of a sudden now instead of having to especially
you know, go back to week you know, six or
seven or eight or whatever it was, and slave was
struggling and in a one year to do you anyway,
you're thinking they going to invest a high draft pick
in a corner next year and at the luxury and
then all of a sudden with all the draft capital,
who knows the quarter, but whatever it is, you got

(35:38):
holes to fill. Otherwise, if you feel like one of
these guys can be your starter next year across from Torter.
You don't have to spend a draft pick, a high
premium pick on a corner that that gives you a
lot more flexibility to other things the roster, right.

Speaker 2 (35:48):
Yeaheah hey from the from the Island of Misfit Toys
to maybe now a strength of position. It's it's funny
how quickly that can happen in this league. And certainly
I'm with you guys, a good problem to have it
this way as opposed the other way around. Kris Adamski,
great stuff from him as always. Make sure you're listening
to him on the Steelers Blitz at noon with Tom
here on the Steelers Audio Network. Thanks for the time

(36:11):
as always, partner, and we'll see in Detroit.

Speaker 4 (36:14):
All right, we're talk then, Thank guys.

Speaker 2 (36:16):
There he goes, Chris Adamski, great stuff from him.

Speaker 3 (36:18):
Ah meant to ask him something I got.

Speaker 2 (36:22):
The remember someone tweeted us and I'm forgetting who, but
I'm not gonna go back and look because it'll take
me too long. But someone tweeted us last week and
was like, why do you call him?

Speaker 4 (36:29):
Buzz?

Speaker 2 (36:30):
I got the story last night? I asked him in
the cafeteria. So I was gonna have him tell it,
but we wait for him.

Speaker 4 (36:36):
I guess.

Speaker 2 (36:36):
Well, long story short. He it was when he was
in college, he with the Penn State and he was
writing for the student newspaper. Got asked to do some
radio stuff at the radio station. So it was like
his first day at the radio station, and they were
in the middle of a trivia contest competition, and so
they threw him in as the last seed because they

(36:57):
were like, we need one more person to make it
an even number. Give this kid the bracket. Put him
in the last seat, and he upset like the guy
who had been hosting at the radio station for years
and was like the sports guy exactly. Yeah, So like
here comes you know, like nineteen year old Chris Dansky,
like taking down this thirty year old full time sports host.
And one of the producers was like, he's a buzzsaw.

(37:18):
This kid is a buzz saw, and they started calling
him buzz off. Off of that, it just kind of stuck.

Speaker 3 (37:23):
Okay, okay, that's how those things tend to happen, right,
It earned it then, Yeah, he sure did.

Speaker 2 (37:27):
He shared did, and thankful to him for the time.
As always Matt, let's get to another break here. We
got to come through some more, some numbers, some more
thoughts obviously from this twenty eight to fifteen victory last
night on Monday Night Football over the Dolphins. Before we'll
do some around the league stuff, some Tomlin stuff in
our number two, so plenty to get to as we
roll along West Huuler, Matt Williams, And it is the

(37:48):
Drive on Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network,
your tunes about.

Speaker 1 (37:53):
Drive on your twenty four to seven home of the
Black and Goal Steelers Nation Radio.

Speaker 2 (38:08):
Matt, you want to know a statistic that I wrote
down here bookmarked last night that's still making me smile
thirteen fourteen hours later. Third quarter yardage?

Speaker 3 (38:19):
Oh wow, I have this one too.

Speaker 2 (38:21):
Yeah, Steelers one hundred and sixty three Dolphins minus twenty.

Speaker 3 (38:24):
Minus twenty up sacks. And I mean that's when they
just totally controlled the game. You know that many drives
in a row with a with a touchdown, dominant drives,
just getting chunk yardage after chunk yardage, rarely going backwards,
sending Miami backwards. They just took control at that point
they did.

Speaker 2 (38:44):
I mean, it was it was like the the prize fight,
where you know, in the eighth round you can start
to see, all right, one of these guys is beating
up by the other one and they're kind of holding
and anything can happen here still, but man, this seems
like it's going one way. That really paints it paints
a picture sure of that dominant third quarter by the
Pittsburgh Steelers.

Speaker 3 (39:03):
And I know he complained about it earlier, but the
fourth quarter really didn't matter.

Speaker 2 (39:06):
No, you know it didn't.

Speaker 3 (39:08):
I mean it didn't irrelevant.

Speaker 2 (39:10):
Start the buses time already. And I was joking with you,
like before we were recording, the Dolphins were in no
hurry there in the fourth quarter. I mean I heard
Aikman was obviously yet but I hear I heard Aikman
was crushing them on the broadcast.

Speaker 3 (39:24):
Which I was taking. Show no urgency at all here.

Speaker 2 (39:29):
Something onside kicks until till the very end.

Speaker 3 (39:31):
All that s playing fast.

Speaker 2 (39:33):
Hey, it was nice of them to keep milking time
off the clock and get us all out of there
a little bit earlier late on a late on a
Monday night from Miami. But Matt I did want to
in the first hour here too, and we touched on
a little bit with a dam Ski but man Sante
Samuel Junior, and his first meaningful action in about fifteen months.
Like like Buzz said, because he played one snap against

(39:55):
Baltimore last week, I think he played one hundred percent
of the snaps for the defense, all fifty for the
Steelers defense, plus five special teams snaps for a Sante
Samuel fifty five snaps in total. Matt he had the interception,
which obviously stands out, but even if you take that
out of the equation, I thought he really looked the part.

(40:16):
He really looked comfortable. He looked like a guy who's
been part of his defense all season, not one who
just kind of hop back into the picture after major
surgery a couple weeks ago.

Speaker 3 (40:25):
Yeah, and I think one of the Waller touchdowns was
against him late. You know, he kind of got out
muscled by a bigger than stuff.

Speaker 2 (40:32):
You know, I mean asking the point guard to cover
the power for.

Speaker 3 (40:35):
It exactly down in the paint. Yeah, not out in
the outside the three point land. But he never showed
up in a negative way that they picked on him
in any way. He definitely contributed to something we haven't
talked about yet. I thought the Steelers defense as a whole.
Often when we come the day after game day, we're
talking about the Steelers defense. If it's in good tone,

(40:55):
it's because a splash. And they had some splash. They
had his pick and I had four sacks, But I
never thought like the pass rush took over. I mean,
those sacks were not meaningless, but they were. They didn't
influence the game as much as they often can in
my opinion. But the other thing that you and I
have talked about a lot is the defense lately has

(41:18):
been making the opponent play left handed. And what I
mean by that is taking away your bread and butter
and your best guys. And yes, a Chan had some
numbers when it was all said and done, and I'm
with Chris, I would have ran them ball every time.
They didn't choose to do that. But in the end,
he didn't destroy you.

Speaker 2 (41:36):
I mean, had twelve carries that right now, he had
six receptions.

Speaker 3 (41:39):
Yeah, but he always does no matter what the game
script is. You love him in fantasy because no matter what,
he touches the ball. But I mean, if you told
me his his stat line and his impact on the
game before the game, I would sign me up for that, yes,
but more importantly was Waddle. I mean, Wattle's clearly their
best wide receiver and two for twenty six, two for
twenty six, and he's had a really good year, and

(42:00):
they do We commended them going into this game that
they get the ball in the right people's hands, in
the right circumstances. What's one of the things their offense
does best. And Waller end up putting up really good numbers,
but a lot of it was garbage time. And it
was impressive too though, I mean he plays well, he's
a good player. He's a good player too.

Speaker 2 (42:16):
But it was it was empty calories, there were them.

Speaker 3 (42:19):
But my point is Samuel and Porter in particular had
a lot to do with take it away Waddle and
that goes a long way for playing this team.

Speaker 2 (42:28):
Glad you mentioned Porter air two. Yes, man, I think
since about Halloween ish time he has been so quietly
good he had I mean, he really If you're kind
of this is a completely different conversation. This is something
we'll do during the offseason. But if you're if you're
asking me to go to the grease board and write
down the things I'm most excited about about this team

(42:50):
in twenty twenty six, he'd be very high on that list.

Speaker 3 (42:53):
Yeah, he might be a top five.

Speaker 2 (42:55):
I think he's I think he's getting close to to
to turn good into great.

Speaker 3 (43:01):
Yeah, yeah, I agree with you.

Speaker 2 (43:02):
And because he has just been so these last five
or six games. He has been so reliable, so solid,
not only in coverage but in the run game too,
Like he's a sure tackler there on the edge.

Speaker 3 (43:14):
Fewer penalties, fewer negatives.

Speaker 2 (43:16):
Right, I'm glad you said that too, because I mean,
remember after the Thursday night loss, and which was ugly
for everybody in Cincinnati everyone. I think he had two
or three flags in that game, which it seems like
that happened to him a couple of times early in
his career. He was chasing Higgins and those guys. Everyone
was bringing that up, is this guy's never going to
be good enough, he's always going to take too many penalties.
And since then it's it's a complete.

Speaker 3 (43:38):
One eighties way better. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (43:39):
Yeah, and encouraged by that big time.

Speaker 3 (43:42):
We've probably brought it up. And some people will contradict
this by saying, well, that's just because everybody's running on him,
but really the line of demarcation especially for like advanced
stats like EPA and things like that, and they're just
looking at your pass defense when they moved Ramsey to
safety full time and the rip effect of oh, by
the way, you I don't want to say you locked

(44:03):
into Pierre and Samuel, but you opened the door for them. Yes,
and Porter's improved and you grab dugger who wasn't in
the mix, like it all really finally fell into play.

Speaker 4 (44:14):
Really.

Speaker 3 (44:14):
I mean, this secondary for years feels like a bunch
of puzzle pieces that don't quite go together. Or you
build it and it's like, that's not what's on the box,
you know what I mean, Like that's all what I
signed to Applebee's.

Speaker 2 (44:26):
And they throw the meal down in front of you
and you're like, wait, that looks different than in the
commercial that.

Speaker 3 (44:30):
Big max not like perfectly on top of each other.
It's all squashed and you know someone sat on it.
But now it's like, now I understand the secondary and
it's in a really good place for all those reasons.
You know, Pierre, Samuel Ramsey in the right spot, et cetera,
et cetera.

Speaker 2 (44:45):
Guy, there's the meat, there's the potatoes, there's the veg
right right, there's the ice cold water. I'm with you.
It's it's really come together nicely and a lot of
those guys deserve credit hour in the books. Another hour ago,
more on this game, more on what Mike Tomlin had
to say today, and weekly press conference, and of course
we will go around the league and recap Week fifteen
across the National Football League. We'll do all that and

(45:07):
more when we return for Hour number two. Halfway Home
on the Drive Euler Williamson, Steelers Audio Network