November 3, 2025 • 50 mins
The Drive highlights schematic changes the Steelers deployed against Indianapolis, as well as going around the league to recap Week 9 in the NFL.
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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 evening, Steeler Nation. How we doing well? That's good
us too, our number two on a victory Monday West
Ruler Matt Williamson Here, as the calendar has switched to November,
the clocks have rolled back. A bunch of nonsense, by
the way.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Too, I mean, we're not anymore we do.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Yeah, I didn't know this. I've never been accused of
being the smartest man in the world. Okay, but Max
was telling me, of course, the great Max Starks fun wisdom,
fun game for him too, I mean, gets to call
a win, gets to go down on the field at
halftime and get.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
On Yeah, itty cool. Right.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
You should have seen it was funny. They had like
the Steelers like a handler, I don't know who it was,
if it was an intern or somebody who works for
the team whatever, who came up to the booth at
like the two minute warning to get Max. And Max
was like, wait, hold on, give me, give me like
a couple more plays here because something's gonna happen. Then
they kind of rushed Max down there and rushed them
back up, so we really only missed maybe two, like
(01:19):
I think, I think Kinger did the last two or
three plays by himself of the half, and that's about it.
And Max was backs. They had it very down pat
but yeah, but but they were able to get Max
down on the field, so he deservedly so could enjoy
that moment with his teammates. And there were some great
crowd pops in there.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
But man had to be a great weekend for him too.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Dick Lebau got the crowd going crazy. Of course, Ben
and Jerome Bettis at the at the end there as
well too.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Was I didn't see any of it.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
I mean, yeah, because that's the being at home and everything.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Yeah, I slipped on red zone during halftime or whatever,
you know, right, Yeah, absolutely absolutely, and they were going
to cover it like you know in the stadium.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
No they were not. But it was pretty pretty stinking cool.
And really, I mean, hey, I don't think there's much
of a coincidence that those guys come back into town
and the defense forces five turnovers and the special teams
gets one and and.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
We mentioned even last week. I mean that stuff matters,
it does you know? If I'm Tomlin, mister Rooney, etc.
I want those guys around the current players.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
And to speak to that. One of the cool things.
And Rob King and I talked about this on kind
of the special Alumni Dinner broadcast that we did on
Saturday night. How many iconic moments came from that Super
Bowl forty run. You start with Jerome Bettis over Erlacker
in the snow right when the Steelers had to win
four straight games to get into the playoffs. And then
that game in Cincinnati you have the trick play touchdown
(02:46):
and you beat the division winning Bengals on the road.
And then you go to Indianapolis and the Jerome fumble
and the Ben tackle and the Palamalu interception bs that
they overturned, and then vander Jack misses his first field
goal of the season for you would get out of
there right. And then you go to Denver and Ben
plays one of the best games of his career and
he throws that touchdown at the end to ice it,
(03:06):
and he does the double gun ship that you always see.
But one of those something that is still with the
Steelers organization now that got birth in that run was
who run that would use that as a rallying call
for the defense. And that was in the locker room
after that Colts playoff win. He's like, you know, Bill
(03:27):
Cower was like, you guys backed it up. Pez said
this group was soft, and you came in here and
proved that they were soft. But Pez, can you please
keep your mouth shut this week? And Pez goes, no coach,
they shot me in Denver?
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Who Run?
Speaker 2 (03:40):
They still do that now? TJ. Warwris now when he
breaks down the linebackers, you know it used to be
debo for a while and then you know, like that's
continued even after Joey Porter. That's the kind of final
rallying cry for the linebackers before they take the field,
as they all huddle up and they do that who
Ride chant. Missy was sharing this with us yesterday in
(04:00):
the pregame. TJ. Watt gathers all the linebackers to do
their kind of final breakdown and who Ride, And he
sees Joey Porter Sr. And James Ferrier standing on the
sideline and emotions over for him and he has them
joined the So they're all doing who Ride? We rude?
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Who Right?
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Let's ride on three pas and pots you're standing there
in the huddle, you know, like that that stuff I
think really matters. Yeah, you only get that type of
lineage and and heritage and a couple organizations and all
of American sports, and the Steelers are certainly one of them.
And I think some of that, I think some of
(04:36):
that magic was was was there at Akroshur Stadium and
they needed it. They they certainly absolutely needed it. Matt.
Kind of ironic too that that'll happen against the Colts,
and that was such a huge part of that Super
Bowl forty run was beating that Peyton Manning Colts team.
It was kind of the prettig dogs, big dogs. Well,
they had gone to Indy like a month or two earlier,
(04:57):
it had gotten I don't want to say boat race right,
comfortably comfortably beat it was. It was pretty cool, pretty
cool to see all of that come together here, certainly
on a Sunday where again, the Steelers absolutely needed it.
I don't even remember where I started a couple of
minutes ago getting into all this and talking about Max
and on the broadcast and everything. But regardless, one of
(05:20):
the things that I wanted to make sure to talk
to you about here, Matt, and we should do this now,
was you reference it's a little bit in the first hour,
but I wanted to dig deeper into it. A lot
of the Steelers are so static. Steelers never change anything
that they do, particularly on defense. And I'm not saying
that there hasn't been validity to that at times in
the past. That certainly wasn't the case on Sunday afternoon.
(05:41):
I thought schematically, particularly in the secondary, they did a
lot of things. I mean, they kind of had to
because of what the situation, but they in a way
took lemons and made lemonade.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Yeah, and again I credit the coaching staff for taking
a step back and being like, what we're asking these
guys to do on defense isn't working. You know, we
got to change things up. And frankly, against the Packers
and especially the Bengals, a lot of the scheme stuff
didn't make a lot of sense to me. I'm like,
you're asking it's got to cover. You know, you're he's
your help defender and he's so far away or I
(06:17):
understand big blitz, but then there's no middle of the
field help and you're playing man and he's got all
his grass to cover. But from what I saw, and
again I need to rewatch it, I watched the first
half again just TV copy, but I'm gonna watch the
all twenty two of course. And some things I did
see late in the game. I don't know if they
were just having fun or not, but Cam Hayward came
(06:38):
over to watch side a few times for late late
pass rush stuff and maybe just to put it on tape,
maybe just to flirt with it, see how it's going.
But that stood out to me. Something that really stood
out to me, though, is they played a lot of
like base four three, like you never see three true
(06:59):
off the ball line. I'm not talking about Herbig and
Watt and high Smith. I'm talking about Wilson and.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Harrison, Harrison Holcome even though he's not available this one.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
But with Harrison, they played the three of them on
the field.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
They did quite a bit.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
And that's not a look that I remember seeing at
all this year. And I was shocked. I don't think
it's like, man, we think Harrison's so great, we have.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
To get if anything, you probably wanted him on like
sometime snatch.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
I thought special teams only. Yeah, I mean, you know,
and from what I what I gathered was I think
he gave them a big run presence in lighter boxes
because the biggest thing we saw was way less single high.
You know, they call it middle of the field closed
because there's a middle guy middlefield open is too high,
(07:48):
or you know, the middle of the field is open.
We saw a lot more snaps of middle of the
field open. Now. I don't think Dugger is a great
deep player, but they played a lot of Cover four
And I don't want to explain it too much, but
those guys aren't necessarily it's not necessarily Cover two where
we're just last layers of defense. They're they're they're very
(08:08):
active and coming forward because you kind of have a
four man wall there. It's a big Eagles thing, it's
a big Fangio thing. And frankly, just moving Ramsey to
free safety I think was a really stabilizing force. And
it sounded like he took Dougger under his wing and
coached them up as he went along, and.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
A lot of communication between those two. And yeah, I
mean like the bad like palms up right right before
every snap. It was like hand motions and this and
that and check here, and it almost looked like a
Ramsey almost looked like a first base coach.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, right right, and all.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
The different touches, nose touches, ears swipe.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Across absolutely and for in good ways.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Yeah right, I mean that in a positive way, like
we are going to over communicate here and make sure
we are on the same page.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Yeah, And I think their blitz percentage was lower than
it's been they they they definitely did some things we
haven't seen before. And this would be something I wanna
talk about in the THUR in the week, not now.
But is the safety situation solved? Is Ramsey now basically
a full time safety? I mean it was pretty encouraging
and it's easy to say that today, But you also
(09:16):
concede something there too, like well what if you're not
good enough a corner anymore?
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Sure?
Speaker 3 (09:20):
Wow, that could happen too, Yeah, I don't else.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Did have two hundred yard receivers?
Speaker 3 (09:24):
And they did? They did, you know, So there were
changes some of them, as all inventions are, mostly because
of necessity, you know, I mean, or an accident or whatever.
But they didn't plan on playing doug Er and Ramsey
as full time safeties three weeks ago, right, I mean,
this isn't like been the plan all along.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
I like I said, took some not that Jalen Ramsey
is a lemon, but you get what I'm saying. Then
they took lemons and made lemonade, and that to me
was very encouraging because again, we talk about this every week,
but you know, today and yet yesterday and today it's
like the highest of highs wh division. We're gonna go
on a run all that. Just a few days ago
(10:03):
it was this team's gonna fall apart, we might not
even make the playoffs. Here come the Ravens. The answer
is always somewhere in the middle. But to me, when
you can now have the benefit of hindsight, certainly, Okay,
what happened in Cincinnati on a Thursday night on a
short week, older defense on the road against Michael Jordan
(10:25):
and Pippin wide.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Receiver, Yeah, you know, real good. Since then, he's.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Been putting up numbers on everybody. Now if their defense
could just stop a nosebleed. But we'll get to that
maybe in the next segment. It happens in Cincinnati, and
if you're the Steeler's brain trust, if you're if you're Tomlin,
you're TA and everybody involved, you're going, Okay, it's one
off on a short week on the road against a
(10:53):
guy and Jamar Chase it's going into Hall of fame,
and a guy in t Higgins that's in the hall
of really good.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Let's keep the ship on the same course.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
We're not We're not gonna mash the panic button. After
one week, then the second half transpires like it does
against Green Bay, and.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
You're watching a lot of rough tape for over two weeks.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
And all of a sudden it's like, okay, two weeks
now it's not a one off.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
We have a problem.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
I'm glad now is the time that you want to
see them make that because you also, as much as
we all scream and yelled, don't be static, don't stick
to your guns when it's not working. You also don't
want to be overreactionary. You don't want to be two
knee jer and the second something goes wrong, we're gonna
blow up our game plan and try something else.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
I we've had this plan since camp and frankly since
the draft, and.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
We're not game off of that. But two games it
starts to becoming a different story.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
And we know how teams are gonna start attacking us.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
And love how they responded, and again, not even with
all of their cards in their deck, and they were
still able to respond and play the right hand.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Yeah, And one thing we brought up a lot during
the course of last week was man, I bet Stichens
just twisting his mustache, going I'm going to attack there,
so I don't care he crazy, right, I mean, the
safety situation is so tenuous going into the game. How
can I not attack them like crazy? Didn't much success
doing it.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
No, they did not know. And again in the first
quarter they had more success, hit a couple of big plays.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
Seem like a lot of the completions were outside the numbers.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
A lot of the completions were outside the numbers. And
Daniel Jones did make a couple of nice throws in
that oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Player and their receivers in general are really good.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Very good players. They got a lot of guys on
that offense that you would love to have. There's there's
no doubt about that. They've got some talented eligibles. But
the Steelers had a game plan. The Steelers got the
better of them when it mattered most. And like I said,
some of the numbers Pierce six receptions one hundred and
fifteen yards, Pittman nine receptions one hundred and fifteen yards.
Doesn't look great in the box score, but a lot
(12:49):
of that was empty calories at the end of the
game too.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Pierce got up early. I mean Pierce was early.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
What thirty some yards receiving in the first quarter.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
But then he kind of went dry from what I remember,
and then it was time. Now there was a drive
late that I thought the Steelers d was a little
too generous, you know.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
But yeah, all in all, great success, Matt. Let's uh,
let's take our first break of the second hour here.
We do need to go around the league because it
was a wild Sunday. A lot of teams that were
kind of the proverbial favorites at this point losing yesterday.
Not just the Colts. The Chiefs take a loss, albeit
(13:30):
on the road up in.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
Buffalo, shame in that, but all of a sudden.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
The loss, the Lions take a loss. I mean, there
was there was a lot happening at home to the Panthers. Wow,
plenty to get into, and we will do that as
we roll along here and uh and and get into uh.
Some stuff happened in Week nine around the National Football League.
When we returned Wes Shuler Matt Williams, and it is
(13:54):
the Drive on Steelers Nation Radio, on the Steelers Audio Network,
your tuns.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
About Drive on your twenty four to seven home of
the Black and Goal, Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
It's time to go around the league here on the Drive.
As we are now in November, the road is narrowing.
The trade deadline is tomorrow. We will obviously have a
jam packed show reacting to all of that. The Eagles
have made a ton of moves here.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
Yeah, three defensive trades right, a pretty big one today.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Acquiring a couple of defensive backs and a pass rusher
and a wide receiver. A few days ago. The Howie Roseman,
I'll tell you what. He's riverboat, riverboat gambler, baby. But
we will have plenty. I mean tomorrow, Tuesday will be
a big trade deadline reaction show.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
I expect a lot of action Steelers aside. You know,
I think the Steelers will be I would would you
bet yes or no that they make a deal. Yes,
I would do.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
I don't think it's gonna be an earth shattering Oh
my goodness. They just traded a second or third round
pick for a household name.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
But I bet they do something.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
I don't think there's any one way to go about
doing this. The Eagles have been hyper aggressive and they've
had a ton of success in the last handful of years.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
The Chiefs have been a little more I don't even
want to say conservative, but traditional. They've had a ton
of success the last hand There's more than one way
to skin a cat.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
There's no perfect way to do it.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
But I always think you take every opportunity you can
to improve and get better, even if it's just the
forty something guy on your roster, where you think you
can upgrade, every opportunity to get better. And I think so.
I think they'll do something.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
I think they'll something, and I would guess it's something
in the secondary or more likely a wide receiver.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
I would agree, Yeah, I think those are the two
Those are the two areas that you can really pinpoint
as they could use some reinforcements, and there's reinforcements to
be had.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
I gue, I think there's options.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
We need a left tackle right or we need a quarterback,
or we need a you know, an edge rusher. Although
Miami and Philly just just had a deal to to.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
Make notice will be better. He's a really good player.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
I think. Listen when the when the Eagles in that
defense can rush with four and get home with four,
they are a tough defense to to go up against.
Saw that last year as they won the Super Bowl,
hasn't been quite that same. You know, Milton Williams off
the New England and they you know, they lost gone,
Sweat's gone. They lost a couple of pieces, but they
could be getting back to that, which would be scary
(16:54):
for everybody in the NFC. Matt an insane game that
played out yesterday in Cincinnati. They've had a lot of
these as of late.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
There's only one way they can play.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
There's only one way they can play, and it's to
score forty some points, and a lot of times that's
still not enough. A combined Matt thirty one points between
these two teams in the fourth quarter. Yeah, the Bengals
scored twice in the final two minutes. The Bear scored
with like seventeen seconds left to retake the lead. Chicago
(17:25):
wins forty seven to forty two. And for Chicago, hey
don't look now, but they're five and three.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
Yeah, they're in pretty decent chack.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
They're a two to oh start. They've won five of
their last six. Steelers got to go there in a
couple weeks. The Bengals, after feeling like they had some life,
now dropped the three and six as they fall forty
seven to forty two. Matt nearly ninety points scored in
this one.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Yeah, and again Flaco's playing well as a Bengal and
I give them all the credit in the world. Their defense,
I mean, we talked about it last week because their
defense coordinated. The Steelers is faced from me year ago,
you know, and it's worse than it's ever been. I mean,
I think it took a step back from last year totally.
I mean, it's brutal, it's right there. We'll see Dallas tonight,
(18:10):
but it's one of the worst two or three in
the league for sure, if not last. And tough way
to live, I mean, you know, a real tough way
to live, even when you Joe Burrow is a tough
way to live. And Flacco's good, but he's on Burrow.
The Bears are interesting that they have a ton of takeaways.
Their defense needs work. I'm sure that'll be the off season.
This offseason, they rebuild an offensive line and drafted skill
(18:33):
guys for an offensive minded head coach and a first
overall pick who looks like he's progressing. Well, you know
that Bears fans should be optimistic of where the franchise is.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Completely agree. Yeah, another one of those you know, I
like to use this line, not saying Church different Pew
YouTube commenters signed for that in blood. If you would
have told Chicago fans early November you're gonna be five
and three, I think they.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
Would have and you look like you have a quarterback
and a coach, I think they.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
Would have said. I don't think, I know that they
would assigned in blood and just man that game, Watching
that game we had it on in the booth, I mean,
eighty nine points scored between those two teams, like the.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
Points the Bengals will let up the last couple of weeks.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
To unbelievable reminded me a little bit of that famous
Monday night football game between goth and Mahomes and the
Rams chief years.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
Ago, super Bowl calibery team.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Unbelievable, unbelievable. You see, you see games like that sometimes,
but it's still it is just insane to see it
at the NFL level.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
It has to be so frustrating to lose it.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
It has to be so frustrating to lose it. I
think you saw some of that emotion poor I mean
t Higgins and Jamar Chase did not spare any any
punches in that post game. Chase Brown, I didn't even
Chase Brown was like, we have to get a couple
four letter words stop and we have to finish these games.
I mean, like, I don't want to say throwing the
defense under the bus, but it's not sugarcoating it either.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
I don't even know if that's being like a bad teammate.
I mean, on the planet sees the problem, you know what.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
I mean exactly right in Cincinnati now at three and six,
feel and that defense just playing the way they are,
it feels like they have to be a seller here
in the next twenty four hours.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
I think they're crazy if they don't.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
I agree. Yeah, Trey Hendrickson is in all likelihood not
going to be on your team next year anyways.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
Waiting to get something for him. Yeah, I agree.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Lions would take them, Niners would take them, A lot
of teams up would happily line up for his services
as the Bengals after having some momentum not too long ago,
fall to three and six and might be out of
this thing.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
I said, the Ohio teams, I think are done. It's
now a two horse race, and the Steelers winning was big, much.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Needed, much needed. Vikings go to Detroit. JJ McCarthy two
touchdown passes in his return and maybe one of the
more surprising results of that. There were a few surprising
results this weekend. Certainly what happened at Lambeau is high
on the list as well too. But the Vikings in
Detroit as nine and a half point underdogs, they win
twenty seven to twenty four.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Yeah's had a lot of penalties and turnovers and Montgomery
had a really bad fumble that was inopportune. But I'm
I think the big story is I'm not saying the
Vike's quarterback situation is set, but it was kind of
a Michigan McCarthy style where his numbers aren't great, but
he made plays when he had to, especially downstretch. They're
(21:20):
in pretty good. I mean, I don't think Minnesota is
a contender all of a sudden, but the second half
of the season could go better than the first.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
It could and don't look now, but the two teams
that wear purple will meet in Minnesota this upcoming weekend. Yeah, okay, right,
I am, I am. I do believe I'm correct on that.
I know it's Baltimore and Minnesota. I think the game
is in it is in Minnesota, Yeah, on Sunday. Now,
Baltimore has a long week to prepare, but they have
to go on the roads.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
It's more losable now than it did a day ago.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
Certainly, let's go, hey, Vikings, how about a little help baby?
Speaker 3 (21:53):
Come on again?
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Come on baby is now the Vikings are back to
four and four and have plenty to play for the
rest of the way. If that wasn't the most surprising
result of the weekend, this certainly was the Packers back.
And we talked about this a little bit, Matt, like
it was a huge spread. Yeah, I told you I
want the points just because I think green Bay, coming
off of a huge emotional win in Pittsburgh, was gonna
(22:15):
have a little bit of a letdown. I still thought
that they would win, but not by the two touchdowns
or whatever that they were favorited. But I did not
see Panthers sixteen, Packers thirteen coming at all. No at
lambeau Field as well too.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Now, what's making things be worse is Tucker Craft is
now off of the year now there that yeah stinks.
I mean, I know he just destroyed the Steelers, but
he's really fun to root for. And I don't want
to see Jaydon Daniels and Tucker Craft and this guy's getting.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Joe as much as we're going to see him this weekend.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Like that works out really well for this one works out.
We'll talk about We'll talk about that coming up, yeah,
during the week. But they are a different team with
and without him, and Kraft is the straw that sers
a drink in the passing game, whether people want to
realize it or not. And the Packers have had these moments.
I mean, like.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Cowboys lost to the Right.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
I mean, so there's some uneven this with them. And
they couldn't stop the run at all. I mean, it
was the best run defense in the league.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
It's not or Jonathan Taylor, Jon Robinson that they're going
up against.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
And Caroline runs the ball well.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
I mean, it's one of the few things that they
do well.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
They do they invested in guards, Carolina and four. What's crazy.
I heard this this morning. I can't verify it, but
I think it's true. They've been an underdog in every game.
It would shock if it wasn't, right, and.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Unless they played like the Jets or the Titans.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Right, right, right. I don't think they've played the Saints yet,
you know, in the division. So they're five and four.
They've beat you know, this happens in the league a
lot of folks.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
I tell you what, there's a lot of viable Coach
of the Year candidates. But if the Panthers somehow winning record.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
Right, yeah, I'm kicking the coverage.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Five and four right now. They are one of the
more surprise and a good way teams in the NFL
this season. For sure.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
Their defense was so bad last year and it's back
to being pretty.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
You would have had them pegged if I would have
told you what's more likely they have five wins in November,
they get a top five pick, you would have been like, definitely, easy,
top five pick. Yeah, impressive what they've been doing. In
an impressive win there at Lambeau. Titans in Tennessee fall
to the Chargers. Funny enough, the Steelers next opponent.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
This is a weird game too, wins by.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
The same scores the Steelers did this week twenty seven
to twenty Steelers take down the Colts. Chargers take down
the Titans by the same score. This was a weird one.
Titans jumped out on them early, fourteen to nothing.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Two scorers that were not from the offense.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Correct, correct, and but the Chargers able to get back
in that one move to six and three stay, you know,
right on the heels of the Broncos and a heead
of the Chiefs. But maybe they won the battle and
lost the war. Maybe as were Shawn Slader's out, Joe
wall Is out, they had another offensive line injury in
that game. You'll you'll laugh at this. I was talking
(24:56):
about this after the Steelers game. You know, Max and
I were in the booth. His Max always does a
radio hit with Pursuda and Charlie Batch on the postgame show.
So he's kind of hanging around waiting to do that.
And I'm like, you gotta be liking this. We're going
out to LA next week. It's a much shorter flight
for you than usually Da da da, And we're like,
how about the Chargers, Like they won, but man, they
(25:17):
lost him not an offensive lineman again. And Joe wall
Max does this from time to time. He goes he goes.
If I'm TJ, if I'm Cam, if I'm Herbig, if
I'm high Smith, and if you're watching on YouTube, I'm
like licking my fingers here. Yeah, yeah, barbecue chicken. That
Chargers offensive line is gonna be barbecue chicken on Sunday night.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
It really is. And so the game wasn't as close
as it sounds, because Tennessee got two weird scores right
off the bat early on. But the takeaway for me
was Tennessee was possibly the worst pass rushing team in
the league going into there. I think they had eight
sacks before this game or something like that, and Herbert
was under duress the entire time by a bad pass rush.
(25:59):
And not coincidentally, you went through offensive tackles left and right,
and it's pretty clear we know Slater was gone before
the season, and that's unfortunate. He's a really, really good
player too, and they just gave him money. But the
games with a healthy ALT versus not a healthy ALT
have been night and day for the Chargers. And he's
one of the best tackles in the league already already
(26:21):
just looks like a natural.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
And it's a man, I mean, especially when you combine
that they lost for Sean Slater too before the season.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
Even, Yeah, you can't overcome that stuff. And then the
right tackle heart I think his name is, who's been
a total journeyman, also left the game, also got hurt.
So they could be on their fourth and fifth tackle.
And itagine if we were doing that here, right, I mean,
Calvin Anderson's like your best guy. Yeah right, all right,
that's a tough way to live and cook. And you know,
I mean, that's that's what they're doing, right, especially as
you and I overcome it.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
One of the things we talk about in the off
seasons a lot is just how good defensive lines are
across the NFL, particularly edge rushers in the league. Now
they're all Apex, Predator, Alien Abbage.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
Every team has somebody.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Yeah, and now you're down to your fourth, fifth tackle.
It's a tough situation.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
Now they o Marion Hampton I think is capable of
coming off ir this week. Yes, and their pass catchers
are really good. I mean, we'll talk Chargers going for
plenty plenty A huge Herbert fan, but this was an
alarming turn of events.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
For that Another one of the surprising in a good
way record wise teams in the NFL this season has
certainly been the Patriots. They moved to seven and two
with a twenty four to twenty three win over the Falcons.
Matt when we did our pick them on Friday, I
told you that spread of it was, I think Atlanta
minus four or Atlanta plus four and a half, Patriots
only four and a half points favorites at home. I
(27:39):
was like, this has to be rat poison. It's too
good to be true. And Atlanta scores ten points in
the last five minutes to make the score look close
and respectable. But New England once again from start to
finish in the driver's seat in control. I still do
think that they're a little head of schedule and they're
bound to take a step back at some point. Seven
and two is seven and two. I mean, they're with
(28:01):
the Colts and they're going they're going to the playoff.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
I mean, they're basically a lock at this point. And
my big takeaways from that one or basically when Atlanta
had the ball, Drake London was the best player in
the field. I mean he was.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
He's outstanding force, and.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
They're making great catches, routine catches like everyone the planet.
New I mean I always use this reference because part
of it is like when we had Larry at pitt Ball,
going to Larry.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Larry Fitzgerald over the top.
Speaker 3 (28:29):
And once in a while you get that feeling, you know,
Jamar Chase against Steelers London against the Patriots and Gonzalez,
their best corner got hurt, but they shoved. They they
stuffed the run and the Patriot D. It's really easy.
Look at May and the offense and they should but
the Patriot d is legit and they're hard to run against.
Jon didn't do anything.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
He did not. It's a good Patriots Again. I think
they're a little ahead of schedule.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
Me too, with their.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
Defense, with their quarterback, they've got a talented tandem of
running backs.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
They're in a good place as an organization for They're.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
In a very very good place. And I don't like
that one bit. The Niners, Matt, despite every reason not
to continue to win, they go to MetLife, that kind
of always tricky West Coast team coming to the East
Coast for a one o'clock kickoff, but they take care
of business thirty four to twenty four over the Giants.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
Yeah, I gotta do some more homework on this game.
I don't. It wasn't on Red Zone much. I was
busy doing a lot of other things. I basically got
the impression that the Giants are pretty shot. You know
that they're they're kind of at the end of their rope,
and they've had some injuries, and you.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
Got some optimism rolling into next year about a couple
of things. If you're New York, Oh yeah, yeah, but
it's neighbors. I mean, you lose Scatty, right, and it
just you can only get so much out of Dart
when he's down his top two weapons. That defensive front
is talented for them, but they're on the field so much.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
Uh, it's it's not pill climb.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
It's a not pill climb. They're gonna be talking about
coaching changes and do you stick with the staff, do
you go in direction?
Speaker 3 (30:00):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (30:01):
I one thing that I really like though, And we've
continued to get some questions about this, and we will
obviously do more of this on Wednesday when we go
around campus and certainly in the offseason when all of
our eyes will go to the Combine in the NFL Draft,
I thenk you can take the Giants off the list
of teams that'll be taking a first round quarterback. Oh,
for sure, they'll be. They'll be building around Jackson Dark
going forward, which is good, but it's going to be
a tough back half of the season for Big Blue.
Speaker 3 (30:23):
And the other note though, was, we know the Niners
have sustained a lot of major injuries Warren or Bosa,
I mean ones that are bad. The first round pick
is pretty promising, Michael Williams. I think he's going to
be out for a big stretch too. I mean they're
just eventually it's got to keep up and or you've
got to catch up.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
And another one of those if it continued. I'm talking
about Shanahan Coach of the Year. Yeah, teams like they do,
but I.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Don't think they can keep up with the Rams and Seahawks.
Those two teams look so good right now.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
The NFC is crazy impressive. Yeah, it really is.
Speaker 3 (30:55):
There's a lot of good teams there.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
Certainly are. Matt. We said at three and six, you
can pretty much count Cincinnati out at this point. Yeah,
at three and five and coughing up one at home
like they did to the Broncos. Can you count the
Houston Texans out of this one? The Broncos again with
a with a massive fourth quarter to uh to come
back and win eighteen to fifteen in Houston against the
(31:19):
Texans seven and two as well.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
Yeah, and they don't still seem not to really trust Nicks.
Stroud left this game early on with the for Houston. Yeah,
and their O line stuff doesn't look much better had
those two really good defenses, which we knew was coming in.
But to your point, is Houston in too big a hole? Probably?
(31:43):
You know, like the Jackson will one again doesn't help them, right.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
I mean, you know, out of Buffalo and you get
three wild card spots, you know, out of Buffalo and
New England, one's going to be there for for sure.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
At least two teams are coming out of the West.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
And at least two teams, if not three, are coming
out of the West.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
I only think one from the North. I think it'll
be the Steelers or the raven Completely agree, Yeah, completely agree.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Yeah, tough sledding for Houston. The Broncos still continue to
just find ways to win games.
Speaker 3 (32:09):
Yeah, they weren't super impressive though.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
No, they weren't, but they've won six in a row
on the bounce, and there's something, yeah, something to be
from one to two to seven and two. Uh. If
they can get moving in the right direction, Denver will
be very scary.
Speaker 3 (32:23):
I mentioned that Michael Williams thing with the Niners. My
phone just lit up that he tore his ac always
out of.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
The year, the man. The Niners just horrible, horrible love
two years in a row. Now they like walked under
too many ladders, or shattered too many mirrors, or opened
up their umbrella inside maybe all of those things. The
Raiders off their bye week, Matt. We talked about this
on Friday too. Could we see some life from the
Raiders out of a bye week? And we did?
Speaker 3 (32:49):
Yeah, yeah, but goes a long way too.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
My goodness, is he sensational? And you know, and Gino
Smith threw four touchdowns, looking much better out of a
bye week. But Matt, in a typical Raiders fashion, it
ends up being a missed extra point in the first
quarter that cost you overtime. And then I kind of
liked how they played overtime. Jacksonville got the ball first,
(33:13):
went down the field and scored. The Raiders got the
ball first, they said, screw this, We're not going for
a tie. They go for two and they don't get it.
Speaker 3 (33:19):
Yeah, they answered it with a touchdown.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
But they'll be one of those teams in the Raiders
that they're clearly now, Hey, at three and five, you
could have maybe fooled yourself into we've still got something
to play for it. Two and six, not a chance.
But I bet you they'll knock off somebody good down
the stretch.
Speaker 3 (33:35):
Yeah, when at least sign.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
They'll be in Kansas City or la or Denver or somebody.
They'll throw a monkey wrench into the AFC playoff picture.
Speaker 3 (33:44):
I can see that.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
But another gut wrenching loss for the Black and Silver.
Speaker 3 (33:50):
And I don't know who'll end up here, but I
don't think Jacobe Myers will be a Raider.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
He's another one he better not be.
Speaker 3 (33:55):
I mean, makes no sense.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
Probably not going to have him passed this year. Why
don't you recoup something room. The Rams continue to win,
and do so in impressive fashion. They're pretty good, they're
very good. Six and two and they just I mean
thoroughly a thirty four to ten commanding victory over the Saints.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
Yeah, I mean the Saints are overmatched. They're starting to
have a line problems. Shucks, not much any better.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
And again it's like I don't think the Saints are
as bad as they're one and eight.
Speaker 3 (34:21):
Rudn't either, but they're one eight yeah, yeah, and.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
They're gonna have to start having that conversation of they've
got half a season here still to figure it out,
but we rolling with shuck. Are we going to be
picking a quarterback in the top five?
Speaker 3 (34:34):
Yeah, it's definitely a time to think about that for them.
The Rams can win the Super Bowl. Stafford should be
in the MVP conversation totally. They're really good.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
The Bills getting back to feeling good after a couple
straight losses. They've now stacked a couple straight wins at
home against their bugaboo, the Kansas City Chiefs twenty eight
to twenty one. Buffalo gets it done, and.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
They moved the ball better than I thought than Yeah,
say the Chiefs.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
I still think the Chiefs are fine.
Speaker 3 (35:04):
But again, I mean, if two days ago, if you
asked me you pick one team that's gonna win the
Super Bowl, I would pick the Chiefs. I fine, four,
it's hard to get over. You may not even make
the playoffs. I mean it's possible.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
If the playoffs started this weekend. They're outright Chiefs would
not be in it. They'd be the first team out.
Speaker 3 (35:19):
I think the Jags are in over them.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
The Jags would be over because they have the head
to head win tie breaker. I also think Chiefs haven't
had their bye week yet and the Jags have, so
there's like the half game game half game difference there.
But Jacksonville also has the head to head tie breaker.
When they had that Monday night victory over Kansas City,
I still think Kansas City's crazy dangerous. I don't think
there's anything wrong with going to Buffalo and losing by
(35:42):
a touchdown. No, no, they're five and four.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
Yeah, exactly. They were worried about them.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
They should count their lucky stars that it looks like
Houston's falling off, you know what I mean? There might
be that kind.
Speaker 3 (35:53):
Of I don't know if Jacksonville maintained, there might.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
Be that kind of The Chiefs get the last chair
on the Titanic, you know. Yeah, some of these other teams.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
Are possible, and I can see them being aggressive in
the next twenty four hours.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
Too, I think so. And finally, the team that might
have turned in the most impressive performance of the weekend,
Matt if I were the Seattle Seahawks. I just want
to play every game on the road, particularly particularly on
the East Coast. Let me sign up if I'm a
Seattle fan. I want to play every game on the
East Coast on the road. Thirty eight to fourteen over
(36:26):
the Commanders. At one point, Matt, last night, Sunday Nights,
we kind of record our WVU reaction show, the WVU
show that I do talking about, Hey, how about a
ranked road win for the Mountaineers, needed that one On Saturday.
We're recording that show Sunday night, are kind of reaction show,
and I've got that game on my TV. While I'm
(36:47):
in my little basement setup, I'm like, man, Seattle's rolling,
Man Seattle's rolling, Man Seattle's.
Speaker 3 (36:52):
Rolling, all never hits the ground.
Speaker 2 (36:53):
I look up at one point and Sam Darnold was
like thirteen of thirteen for two hundred yards and three
or four touchdown passes.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
I think I end up being like eighteen straight or something.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
Unbelievable performance from him from that Seattle offense, from them
as a.
Speaker 3 (37:06):
Whole, the defense was every bit as good.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
As they continue to look like one of the best
teams in the league, legit Super Bowl contender. They're Matt
they're two and two at home, they're four and oh
on the road the Seattle Seahawks, which.
Speaker 3 (37:17):
Is like two years in a row. They think they've
lost one game on the road over two years.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
And but maybe the bigger story of that, other than
of course Seattle looking like a bona fide Super Bowl contender,
is the Commanders not only lose fall to three and six,
they're probably out of it. But a nasty injury to
Jayden Daniels that might have him out probably will have
him out.
Speaker 3 (37:37):
For the rest of the year, I would assume, if
and an ugly one. Obviously they've had a couple of injuries.
They're not going anywhere. McLaurin can't get on the field,
and then Daniels, I think it's his third injury of
the season. It hurt a lot at LSU two. I mean,
it was one of my worries coming out, but this
was just a terrible They probably could have anybody the
(37:57):
way landed.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
And yeah, the one silver of it is it's his
non throwing arm at least right right, I mean, if
that happens to his right arm, who knows what kind
of career ending type. At least a career altering, never
the same type injury.
Speaker 3 (38:11):
But they're in a bad spot overall because they are
so old and they've they've sent a lot of future
picks for guys thinking they were closer than they were,
which this is I saw coming from our way, Like
you're not a final four team last year. You just
happened to make the Final four. You know you're not.
Speaker 2 (38:27):
You're not Duke or Kentucky. You were just one of these,
you know, twelve seeds that got hot at the right
time the year before.
Speaker 3 (38:33):
You earned the second overall pick. You're not Deebo Samuel
a way from beating the Chiefs and Bills.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
Yes, and I know that I've told you this before.
I never wanted to see a Steelers team in the
position of like, all right, we're punting on the back
half of this season. It's over. We're focusing on next
year because then all of a sudden, our job gets
much more difficult.
Speaker 3 (38:52):
But it does.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
Yeh, But if I'm the Commanders, it might be time
to start thinking about twenty twenty.
Speaker 3 (38:56):
Six, especially after this injury happened.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
After this injury happens, you are so old on defense,
you're going to have a top twelve draft pick, top
ten draft pick.
Speaker 3 (39:06):
You can't be counting on the Ertzes and Bobby Wagner.
You can't those guys.
Speaker 2 (39:10):
You can't, right, And you still have to have faith
in your young quarterback that this year will just be
an unlucky, injury filled one off. Right, let's let's let's
let's start looking towards twenty twenty six, which is a
tough place for them to be in after they really
felt like they took a step forward last year. Yep, yep,
Matt Monday Night Football Tonight, Cardinals Cowboys. Not the sexiest matchup.
Speaker 3 (39:32):
No it's not, but it could be a lot of offense.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
Dallas half, highest over under the week, Dallas. It is
in Dallas, Yep.
Speaker 3 (39:39):
I'd probably take the Cowboys. We're getting Jacoby Rssett again,
which actually might make them better than Murray. But I
just think Dallas scores on everybody.
Speaker 2 (39:47):
I think Dak's probably the best player on the field. Yeah,
game and Nick Lamb, you know that'll go a long
way for Dallas. I think they win a high scoring one.
I'm with you. I'd like that number a lot more
if it was two and a half. But I'd still
lay the three and a half with Dallas when we
return on the other side, we don't have much time here.
That was a beast. Okay, here's what we're gonna do.
We're gonna save we do. I do have a lot
(40:09):
of tweets bookmarked and saved. We will get to those tomorrow.
I got a good I got a good Steelers alumni
dinner story for a good Jeff Reid story that I
have that I have to share with you in our
final minutes before we get out of here. We'll do
all of that to wrap this thing up. On the
other side. What Schueler, Matt Williamson, it's this. It's the
(40:31):
The Drive on Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network,
your tunes.
Speaker 1 (40:41):
About Drive on your twenty four to seven home of
the Black and Gold Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (41:00):
Final segment of the Drive here on a victory Monday,
as we've put a bow on a busy week nine
across the National Football League and of course a much
needed victory for your Steelers Sunday at Akrashuer Stadium. It was,
of course, Matt, a big weekend, not just because Steelers
needed to win. Colts came into it with the best
(41:20):
record in the NFL. But of course, as we've alluded
to a couple of times, it was the twenty year reunion. Lord,
that makes me feel old, I bet, or maybe not old,
but just not young. And I'm thirty four. I'm gonna
be thirty five here in a couple months.
Speaker 3 (41:35):
You're not old, but you're not young.
Speaker 2 (41:36):
I'm not old, but I'm not young. But I was
fifteen years old when that team won the Super Bowl.
They were the first team in my life that I
was old enough to really be all in emotionally investing,
understand what's going on the backdrop of going fifteen and
one the year before and losing the AFC Championship Game
at home. Normally, when I do those alumni dinner shows,
(41:58):
I did a couple in the past with Dale and Wolf.
This one was with Rob King. It's nerve racking for
me because it's a lot of the seventies Steelers. Oh sure,
And I just wasn't I didn't watch those guys playing.
Speaker 3 (42:12):
I don't think ancient history.
Speaker 2 (42:14):
I don't remember that even though it was twenty years ago.
I can tell you every little detail about that two
thousand and five team. They lose to Cincinnati. TJ. Housmanzata
does the Terrible town. Please, I'm putting my foot in
the air here if you're watching on YouTube. The Steelers
fall to seven and five after they were just fifteen
and one in the AFC Championship Game before and had
all these high expectations. They go from seven to five.
(42:36):
They win four straight to get into the playoffs. They
go on that gauntlet run, the Crazy Game in Indianapolis,
the AFC Championship Game in December, all that stuff. They
win eight straight games between the four regular season and
the four playoffs. They become the first sixth seed in
league history to win the Super Bowl. Like I remember
(42:57):
all those details like it was yesterday.
Speaker 3 (42:59):
And as test to this weekend, there's a lot of
big personalities.
Speaker 2 (43:02):
So many big watersonality, and so I was very excited
for this one to talk to these guys because that's
right in my wheelhouse. And I was watching the Super
Bowl forty broadcast, and this is something I brought up
to all these guys. I brought this up to Jeff Hardings,
I brought this up to Brett Keesel, I brought this
up to Chemo von Olhoff, and I went back and
watched the the most of the broadcast, like I just
(43:27):
found it on YouTube. Super Bowl super Bowl forty. In
the intro, of course, everyone remembers how Joey Porter told
everybody hold back, let your own out there by himself,
which is really cool. And all all those guys will
tell you best. You asked those guys, who's the best
you know, you played football your whole life, high school, college, pros,
(43:48):
best teammates you ever had, And almost to a man,
they'll all say Joey Porter, Like oh really, just the
way that he looked out for his guys and always
thought about stuff like that, that there was no buddy
on that steel Al Michael said this on the broadcast
at the beginning of the game, and I was like,
wait a second, had to go back and rewind. None
of the Steelers on that roster had ever played in
the Super Bowl before. Not a single stealer on that
(44:11):
Super Bowl forty team won or played in a super
Bowl before. We never thought about that or questioned that
or talked about that because they had so much leadership
on the roster. Yeah, you know what I mean, like
a lot of a lot of you know, from from
obviously Joey Porter and Jerome Bettis. But on down the
list of the Farriers and the Polamalus and the Wards,
and the Roethlisbergers and the Fanicas and the Chemo von Olhoffens,
(44:34):
you know, guys that had experience, experience and goodness unbelievable.
So that was one of the thing that I brought
up to those guys and they were all like, we
didn't know that. I don't know. Oh yeah, nobody on
the roster I'd ever been to a super Bowl before.
Like that makes sense, that makes a lot of sense.
So it was a ton of fun to talk to
those guys about that, just to get them relive in
(44:55):
those memories and all those different things. Do you know
Teresa Varley from from the steel and Steelers dot com,
she did a great job. I mean it was like
every ten minutes she was bringing us new guests and
new guest. We did mat a ninety minute show. Kinger
and I. We were on from five thirty to seven.
I think we took two We took two breaks the
whole time.
Speaker 3 (45:12):
Yeah, because it was just story.
Speaker 2 (45:14):
There was a story after story, and our guy Tom
was producing for us back here and he was like,
don't break, like, just keep going. Screw like, yeah, I'll
make it work in the log and everything later like
this is too good, just keep going. So you know,
again I mentioned a lot of the names that we
got to talk to even more it was you know,
it was a ton of fun catching up with those guys.
(45:35):
But one of the guys that we got to talk
to that's always a whot is Jeff Reid. And this
was the story I had to tell you before we
got out of here. So Jeff comes to sit down,
and that was one of the breaks that we took,
was right before he came on. And so he's sitting
there with us and we're like, thanks for doing this.
We're back in sixty seconds here, and Jeff was like,
all right, this so this is live, Like this isn't
(45:55):
a podcast or anything like, this is live radio. And
we're like yep, and he was like all right, cool.
I got to make sure I watched my mouth. Three
minutes later, he dropped the four letter.
Speaker 3 (46:04):
Word on the broad Nice. Didn't do a great job
with that.
Speaker 2 (46:08):
I wouldn't expected anything less of Jeff Reid. It wasn't
the one word you can't say because it was a
little it was a little less. Not the end of
the world. But it was just it was like that
was one.
Speaker 3 (46:17):
Of my favorites.
Speaker 2 (46:19):
It was one of one of my favorite moments of
the night. Was was Jeff Reid being like, this is
live radio, all right, I gotta watch my mouth got it.
Three minutes later, three minutes later he drops, he drops
a four letter word on the broadcast. But it was
it was just awesome seeing all the I mean, you know,
Bill Cower was back there, like a couple of guys
weren't able to make it. Hines and Randall LL both weren't.
Speaker 3 (46:39):
There because he was on the flew back.
Speaker 2 (46:44):
Like Hines wasn't there because he's the wide receiver coach
in Arizona State and they had a game.
Speaker 1 (46:49):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (46:50):
Randall LL wasn't there because he now is coach with
the Bears. I believe he was with the Lions for
the last thing he went. He exactly right and got
a little bit of a bum, so he was not there.
But just so many of those guys, so many of
those personalities, amazing to see them and like I mean,
twenty years later, man, like that's that's just nuts pretty cool.
(47:12):
And like I said, it was especially cool for me
because I remember every detail of that. I also told
those guys the story. I know, I've told you this before.
My mom pulled me out of school that day for
the Steelers parade. So Steelers win the Super Bowl. Yeah,
Steelers win the Super Bowl on Sunday. Parade was in Tuesday.
Speaker 3 (47:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (47:30):
My mom was like, I told this. I told this
story to Jeff Hardings and Chemo von Olhoffen and they
were cracking up. They were like, you got to give
your mom props for that one. It was a school day.
My mom was like, you have to go to this parade.
Haven't won a Super Bowl in twenty five years, Like,
who knows how long it's going to be, you know,
like we have to go to the parade. We have
to go to the parade. God bless my mom. Coolest
lady in the world. So she's like, but you're not
gonna miss math class or whatever I had early in
(47:52):
the morning. She was like, I'll come pick you up
in third period. I'll take you out for the rest
of the day and we'll go to the parade. So
she does that. They called me down to the office.
We're getting ready to leave. The secretary in the office goes, hey, So,
you know, like hey before before, Wesley goes, what's what's
his excuse for the absence here? Why are you taking
him out? And my mom froze and panicked, and she goes,
he's got a doctor's appointment. Meanwhile she's decked in Steeler.
(48:15):
I'm decked. And so we got like our terrible towels
hanging out of our pocket and they go, okay, just
make sure he brings in a doctor's excuse tomorrow when
he comes back. So we get in the car and
my mom is like, good Christian lady, hardly ever told
a lie in her life. She's like, I can't believe
I did that. I can't believe I lied. Felt so guilty.
We're driving downtown. She gets on her cell phone and
(48:37):
calls the school office and it's like, I'm.
Speaker 4 (48:39):
So sorry, I lied. I'm taking Wesley to the Steelers parade.
And they were like the secretariat at Mars High School
at the time was like, oh, no problem, we knew
that you guys were going to the parade.
Speaker 2 (48:51):
We're jealous, have a good time, enjoy. So I told
those guys they were they were cracking up, but no,
it was a lot of fun. And one of those
groups that just you know that one for the I
know you'll remember this, that one for the Thumb for
twenty five years, per I mean, Joe Green talked about
one for the Thumb in nineteen eighty one.
Speaker 3 (49:12):
I say, when I was old enough to at that stage,
I was like eighth and first I've heard.
Speaker 2 (49:16):
It twenty five years. They got close a couple of times.
In the nineties, they got close a couple of times
with Cordell Stewart and the year before Ben's Yeah, obviously
it went to a handful of AFC Championship games in
a super Bowl in that in that stretch for them
to finally get over the hump. What it meant to
the city at that time, You if you weren't around
for it, you can't possibly quantify it. Now. Everywhere you
(49:38):
went it was one for the Thumb, the strip, district,
T shirts, the everything, and so it was a lot
of fun to see those guys get the get the
acknowledgement that they deserves. That'll do it for our show today.
Thanks to everybody for rocking and rolling with us. Thanks
to Rob King for joining us. Big shout out as
always to our video producer Tyler V Mister TV for
(49:59):
making us look hand them on the YouTube tomorrow, Matt
Big Tray Deadlines Show. We'll talk to Chris Adamski as
well too. Who knows, maybe we'll be reacting to a
Steelers move. Maybe we'll be reacting to something big across
the league, like a Trey Hendrickson type name getting moved,
something like that.
Speaker 3 (50:16):
Stuff's going to happen.
Speaker 2 (50:17):
But stuff is going to happen, and we will be
here tomorrow to react to it all. But that'll do
it for us today. Take care, everybody. We will talk
to you tomorrow as always. You know where to find us.
It's on your twenty four to seven home of the
Black and Gold. It's Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers
Audio Network
Your tunes about drive on your twenty four to seven
home of the Black and Goal Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Good evening, Steeler Nation. How we doing well? That's good
us too, our number two on a victory Monday West
Ruler Matt Williamson Here, as the calendar has switched to November,
the clocks have rolled back. A bunch of nonsense, by
the way.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Too, I mean, we're not anymore we do.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Yeah, I didn't know this. I've never been accused of
being the smartest man in the world. Okay, but Max
was telling me, of course, the great Max Starks fun wisdom,
fun game for him too, I mean, gets to call
a win, gets to go down on the field at
halftime and get.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
On Yeah, itty cool. Right.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
You should have seen it was funny. They had like
the Steelers like a handler, I don't know who it was,
if it was an intern or somebody who works for
the team whatever, who came up to the booth at
like the two minute warning to get Max. And Max
was like, wait, hold on, give me, give me like
a couple more plays here because something's gonna happen. Then
they kind of rushed Max down there and rushed them
back up, so we really only missed maybe two, like
(01:19):
I think, I think Kinger did the last two or
three plays by himself of the half, and that's about it.
And Max was backs. They had it very down pat
but yeah, but but they were able to get Max
down on the field, so he deservedly so could enjoy
that moment with his teammates. And there were some great
crowd pops in there.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
But man had to be a great weekend for him too.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Dick Lebau got the crowd going crazy. Of course, Ben
and Jerome Bettis at the at the end there as
well too.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Was I didn't see any of it.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
I mean, yeah, because that's the being at home and everything.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Yeah, I slipped on red zone during halftime or whatever,
you know, right, Yeah, absolutely absolutely, and they were going
to cover it like you know in the stadium.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
No they were not. But it was pretty pretty stinking cool.
And really, I mean, hey, I don't think there's much
of a coincidence that those guys come back into town
and the defense forces five turnovers and the special teams
gets one and and.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
We mentioned even last week. I mean that stuff matters,
it does you know? If I'm Tomlin, mister Rooney, etc.
I want those guys around the current players.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
And to speak to that. One of the cool things.
And Rob King and I talked about this on kind
of the special Alumni Dinner broadcast that we did on
Saturday night. How many iconic moments came from that Super
Bowl forty run. You start with Jerome Bettis over Erlacker
in the snow right when the Steelers had to win
four straight games to get into the playoffs. And then
that game in Cincinnati you have the trick play touchdown
(02:46):
and you beat the division winning Bengals on the road.
And then you go to Indianapolis and the Jerome fumble
and the Ben tackle and the Palamalu interception bs that
they overturned, and then vander Jack misses his first field
goal of the season for you would get out of
there right. And then you go to Denver and Ben
plays one of the best games of his career and
he throws that touchdown at the end to ice it,
(03:06):
and he does the double gun ship that you always see.
But one of those something that is still with the
Steelers organization now that got birth in that run was
who run that would use that as a rallying call
for the defense. And that was in the locker room
after that Colts playoff win. He's like, you know, Bill
(03:27):
Cower was like, you guys backed it up. Pez said
this group was soft, and you came in here and
proved that they were soft. But Pez, can you please
keep your mouth shut this week? And Pez goes, no coach,
they shot me in Denver?
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Who Run?
Speaker 2 (03:40):
They still do that now? TJ. Warwris now when he
breaks down the linebackers, you know it used to be
debo for a while and then you know, like that's
continued even after Joey Porter. That's the kind of final
rallying cry for the linebackers before they take the field,
as they all huddle up and they do that who
Ride chant. Missy was sharing this with us yesterday in
(04:00):
the pregame. TJ. Watt gathers all the linebackers to do
their kind of final breakdown and who Ride, And he
sees Joey Porter Sr. And James Ferrier standing on the
sideline and emotions over for him and he has them
joined the So they're all doing who Ride? We rude?
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Who Right?
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Let's ride on three pas and pots you're standing there
in the huddle, you know, like that that stuff I
think really matters. Yeah, you only get that type of
lineage and and heritage and a couple organizations and all
of American sports, and the Steelers are certainly one of them.
And I think some of that, I think some of
(04:36):
that magic was was was there at Akroshur Stadium and
they needed it. They they certainly absolutely needed it. Matt.
Kind of ironic too that that'll happen against the Colts,
and that was such a huge part of that Super
Bowl forty run was beating that Peyton Manning Colts team.
It was kind of the prettig dogs, big dogs. Well,
they had gone to Indy like a month or two earlier,
(04:57):
it had gotten I don't want to say boat race right,
comfortably comfortably beat it was. It was pretty cool, pretty
cool to see all of that come together here, certainly
on a Sunday where again, the Steelers absolutely needed it.
I don't even remember where I started a couple of
minutes ago getting into all this and talking about Max
and on the broadcast and everything. But regardless, one of
(05:20):
the things that I wanted to make sure to talk
to you about here, Matt, and we should do this now,
was you reference it's a little bit in the first hour,
but I wanted to dig deeper into it. A lot
of the Steelers are so static. Steelers never change anything
that they do, particularly on defense. And I'm not saying
that there hasn't been validity to that at times in
the past. That certainly wasn't the case on Sunday afternoon.
(05:41):
I thought schematically, particularly in the secondary, they did a
lot of things. I mean, they kind of had to
because of what the situation, but they in a way
took lemons and made lemonade.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Yeah, and again I credit the coaching staff for taking
a step back and being like, what we're asking these
guys to do on defense isn't working. You know, we
got to change things up. And frankly, against the Packers
and especially the Bengals, a lot of the scheme stuff
didn't make a lot of sense to me. I'm like,
you're asking it's got to cover. You know, you're he's
your help defender and he's so far away or I
(06:17):
understand big blitz, but then there's no middle of the
field help and you're playing man and he's got all
his grass to cover. But from what I saw, and
again I need to rewatch it, I watched the first
half again just TV copy, but I'm gonna watch the
all twenty two of course. And some things I did
see late in the game. I don't know if they
were just having fun or not, but Cam Hayward came
(06:38):
over to watch side a few times for late late
pass rush stuff and maybe just to put it on tape,
maybe just to flirt with it, see how it's going.
But that stood out to me. Something that really stood
out to me, though, is they played a lot of
like base four three, like you never see three true
(06:59):
off the ball line. I'm not talking about Herbig and
Watt and high Smith. I'm talking about Wilson and.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Harrison, Harrison Holcome even though he's not available this one.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
But with Harrison, they played the three of them on
the field.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
They did quite a bit.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
And that's not a look that I remember seeing at
all this year. And I was shocked. I don't think
it's like, man, we think Harrison's so great, we have.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
To get if anything, you probably wanted him on like
sometime snatch.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
I thought special teams only. Yeah, I mean, you know,
and from what I what I gathered was I think
he gave them a big run presence in lighter boxes
because the biggest thing we saw was way less single high.
You know, they call it middle of the field closed
because there's a middle guy middlefield open is too high,
(07:48):
or you know, the middle of the field is open.
We saw a lot more snaps of middle of the
field open. Now. I don't think Dugger is a great
deep player, but they played a lot of Cover four
And I don't want to explain it too much, but
those guys aren't necessarily it's not necessarily Cover two where
we're just last layers of defense. They're they're they're very
(08:08):
active and coming forward because you kind of have a
four man wall there. It's a big Eagles thing, it's
a big Fangio thing. And frankly, just moving Ramsey to
free safety I think was a really stabilizing force. And
it sounded like he took Dougger under his wing and
coached them up as he went along, and.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
A lot of communication between those two. And yeah, I
mean like the bad like palms up right right before
every snap. It was like hand motions and this and
that and check here, and it almost looked like a
Ramsey almost looked like a first base coach.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, right right, and all.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
The different touches, nose touches, ears swipe.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Across absolutely and for in good ways.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Yeah right, I mean that in a positive way, like
we are going to over communicate here and make sure
we are on the same page.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Yeah, And I think their blitz percentage was lower than
it's been they they they definitely did some things we
haven't seen before. And this would be something I wanna
talk about in the THUR in the week, not now.
But is the safety situation solved? Is Ramsey now basically
a full time safety? I mean it was pretty encouraging
and it's easy to say that today, But you also
(09:16):
concede something there too, like well what if you're not
good enough a corner anymore?
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Sure?
Speaker 3 (09:20):
Wow, that could happen too, Yeah, I don't else.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Did have two hundred yard receivers?
Speaker 3 (09:24):
And they did? They did, you know, So there were
changes some of them, as all inventions are, mostly because
of necessity, you know, I mean, or an accident or whatever.
But they didn't plan on playing doug Er and Ramsey
as full time safeties three weeks ago, right, I mean,
this isn't like been the plan all along.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
I like I said, took some not that Jalen Ramsey
is a lemon, but you get what I'm saying. Then
they took lemons and made lemonade, and that to me
was very encouraging because again, we talk about this every week,
but you know, today and yet yesterday and today it's
like the highest of highs wh division. We're gonna go
on a run all that. Just a few days ago
(10:03):
it was this team's gonna fall apart, we might not
even make the playoffs. Here come the Ravens. The answer
is always somewhere in the middle. But to me, when
you can now have the benefit of hindsight, certainly, Okay,
what happened in Cincinnati on a Thursday night on a
short week, older defense on the road against Michael Jordan
(10:25):
and Pippin wide.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Receiver, Yeah, you know, real good. Since then, he's.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Been putting up numbers on everybody. Now if their defense
could just stop a nosebleed. But we'll get to that
maybe in the next segment. It happens in Cincinnati, and
if you're the Steeler's brain trust, if you're if you're Tomlin,
you're TA and everybody involved, you're going, Okay, it's one
off on a short week on the road against a
(10:53):
guy and Jamar Chase it's going into Hall of fame,
and a guy in t Higgins that's in the hall
of really good.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Let's keep the ship on the same course.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
We're not We're not gonna mash the panic button. After
one week, then the second half transpires like it does
against Green Bay, and.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
You're watching a lot of rough tape for over two weeks.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
And all of a sudden it's like, okay, two weeks
now it's not a one off.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
We have a problem.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
I'm glad now is the time that you want to
see them make that because you also, as much as
we all scream and yelled, don't be static, don't stick
to your guns when it's not working. You also don't
want to be overreactionary. You don't want to be two
knee jer and the second something goes wrong, we're gonna
blow up our game plan and try something else.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
I we've had this plan since camp and frankly since
the draft, and.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
We're not game off of that. But two games it
starts to becoming a different story.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
And we know how teams are gonna start attacking us.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
And love how they responded, and again, not even with
all of their cards in their deck, and they were
still able to respond and play the right hand.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Yeah, And one thing we brought up a lot during
the course of last week was man, I bet Stichens
just twisting his mustache, going I'm going to attack there,
so I don't care he crazy, right, I mean, the
safety situation is so tenuous going into the game. How
can I not attack them like crazy? Didn't much success
doing it.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
No, they did not know. And again in the first
quarter they had more success, hit a couple of big plays.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
Seem like a lot of the completions were outside the numbers.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
A lot of the completions were outside the numbers. And
Daniel Jones did make a couple of nice throws in
that oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Player and their receivers in general are really good.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Very good players. They got a lot of guys on
that offense that you would love to have. There's there's
no doubt about that. They've got some talented eligibles. But
the Steelers had a game plan. The Steelers got the
better of them when it mattered most. And like I said,
some of the numbers Pierce six receptions one hundred and
fifteen yards, Pittman nine receptions one hundred and fifteen yards.
Doesn't look great in the box score, but a lot
(12:49):
of that was empty calories at the end of the
game too.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Pierce got up early. I mean Pierce was early.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
What thirty some yards receiving in the first quarter.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
But then he kind of went dry from what I remember,
and then it was time. Now there was a drive
late that I thought the Steelers d was a little
too generous, you know.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
But yeah, all in all, great success, Matt. Let's uh,
let's take our first break of the second hour here.
We do need to go around the league because it
was a wild Sunday. A lot of teams that were
kind of the proverbial favorites at this point losing yesterday.
Not just the Colts. The Chiefs take a loss, albeit
(13:30):
on the road up in.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
Buffalo, shame in that, but all of a sudden.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
The loss, the Lions take a loss. I mean, there
was there was a lot happening at home to the Panthers. Wow,
plenty to get into, and we will do that as
we roll along here and uh and and get into uh.
Some stuff happened in Week nine around the National Football League.
When we returned Wes Shuler Matt Williams, and it is
(13:54):
the Drive on Steelers Nation Radio, on the Steelers Audio Network,
your tuns.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
About Drive on your twenty four to seven home of
the Black and Goal, Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
It's time to go around the league here on the Drive.
As we are now in November, the road is narrowing.
The trade deadline is tomorrow. We will obviously have a
jam packed show reacting to all of that. The Eagles
have made a ton of moves here.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
Yeah, three defensive trades right, a pretty big one today.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Acquiring a couple of defensive backs and a pass rusher
and a wide receiver. A few days ago. The Howie Roseman,
I'll tell you what. He's riverboat, riverboat gambler, baby. But
we will have plenty. I mean tomorrow, Tuesday will be
a big trade deadline reaction show.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
I expect a lot of action Steelers aside. You know,
I think the Steelers will be I would would you
bet yes or no that they make a deal. Yes,
I would do.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
I don't think it's gonna be an earth shattering Oh
my goodness. They just traded a second or third round
pick for a household name.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
But I bet they do something.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
I don't think there's any one way to go about
doing this. The Eagles have been hyper aggressive and they've
had a ton of success in the last handful of years.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
The Chiefs have been a little more I don't even
want to say conservative, but traditional. They've had a ton
of success the last hand There's more than one way
to skin a cat.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
There's no perfect way to do it.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
But I always think you take every opportunity you can
to improve and get better, even if it's just the
forty something guy on your roster, where you think you
can upgrade, every opportunity to get better. And I think so.
I think they'll do something.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
I think they'll something, and I would guess it's something
in the secondary or more likely a wide receiver.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
I would agree, Yeah, I think those are the two
Those are the two areas that you can really pinpoint
as they could use some reinforcements, and there's reinforcements to
be had.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
I gue, I think there's options.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
We need a left tackle right or we need a quarterback,
or we need a you know, an edge rusher. Although
Miami and Philly just just had a deal to to.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
Make notice will be better. He's a really good player.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
I think. Listen when the when the Eagles in that
defense can rush with four and get home with four,
they are a tough defense to to go up against.
Saw that last year as they won the Super Bowl,
hasn't been quite that same. You know, Milton Williams off
the New England and they you know, they lost gone,
Sweat's gone. They lost a couple of pieces, but they
could be getting back to that, which would be scary
(16:54):
for everybody in the NFC. Matt an insane game that
played out yesterday in Cincinnati. They've had a lot of
these as of late.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
There's only one way they can play.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
There's only one way they can play, and it's to
score forty some points, and a lot of times that's
still not enough. A combined Matt thirty one points between
these two teams in the fourth quarter. Yeah, the Bengals
scored twice in the final two minutes. The Bear scored
with like seventeen seconds left to retake the lead. Chicago
(17:25):
wins forty seven to forty two. And for Chicago, hey
don't look now, but they're five and three.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
Yeah, they're in pretty decent chack.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
They're a two to oh start. They've won five of
their last six. Steelers got to go there in a
couple weeks. The Bengals, after feeling like they had some life,
now dropped the three and six as they fall forty
seven to forty two. Matt nearly ninety points scored in
this one.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Yeah, and again Flaco's playing well as a Bengal and
I give them all the credit in the world. Their defense,
I mean, we talked about it last week because their
defense coordinated. The Steelers is faced from me year ago,
you know, and it's worse than it's ever been. I mean,
I think it took a step back from last year totally.
I mean, it's brutal, it's right there. We'll see Dallas tonight,
(18:10):
but it's one of the worst two or three in
the league for sure, if not last. And tough way
to live, I mean, you know, a real tough way
to live, even when you Joe Burrow is a tough
way to live. And Flacco's good, but he's on Burrow.
The Bears are interesting that they have a ton of takeaways.
Their defense needs work. I'm sure that'll be the off season.
This offseason, they rebuild an offensive line and drafted skill
(18:33):
guys for an offensive minded head coach and a first
overall pick who looks like he's progressing. Well, you know
that Bears fans should be optimistic of where the franchise is.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Completely agree. Yeah, another one of those you know, I
like to use this line, not saying Church different Pew
YouTube commenters signed for that in blood. If you would
have told Chicago fans early November you're gonna be five
and three, I think they.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
Would have and you look like you have a quarterback
and a coach, I think they.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
Would have said. I don't think, I know that they
would assigned in blood and just man that game, Watching
that game we had it on in the booth, I mean,
eighty nine points scored between those two teams, like the.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
Points the Bengals will let up the last couple of weeks.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
To unbelievable reminded me a little bit of that famous
Monday night football game between goth and Mahomes and the
Rams chief years.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
Ago, super Bowl calibery team.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Unbelievable, unbelievable. You see, you see games like that sometimes,
but it's still it is just insane to see it
at the NFL level.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
It has to be so frustrating to lose it.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
It has to be so frustrating to lose it. I
think you saw some of that emotion poor I mean
t Higgins and Jamar Chase did not spare any any
punches in that post game. Chase Brown, I didn't even
Chase Brown was like, we have to get a couple
four letter words stop and we have to finish these games.
I mean, like, I don't want to say throwing the
defense under the bus, but it's not sugarcoating it either.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
I don't even know if that's being like a bad teammate.
I mean, on the planet sees the problem, you know what.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
I mean exactly right in Cincinnati now at three and six,
feel and that defense just playing the way they are,
it feels like they have to be a seller here
in the next twenty four hours.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
I think they're crazy if they don't.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
I agree. Yeah, Trey Hendrickson is in all likelihood not
going to be on your team next year anyways.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
Waiting to get something for him. Yeah, I agree.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Lions would take them, Niners would take them, A lot
of teams up would happily line up for his services
as the Bengals after having some momentum not too long ago,
fall to three and six and might be out of
this thing.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
I said, the Ohio teams, I think are done. It's
now a two horse race, and the Steelers winning was big, much.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Needed, much needed. Vikings go to Detroit. JJ McCarthy two
touchdown passes in his return and maybe one of the
more surprising results of that. There were a few surprising
results this weekend. Certainly what happened at Lambeau is high
on the list as well too. But the Vikings in
Detroit as nine and a half point underdogs, they win
twenty seven to twenty four.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Yeah's had a lot of penalties and turnovers and Montgomery
had a really bad fumble that was inopportune. But I'm
I think the big story is I'm not saying the
Vike's quarterback situation is set, but it was kind of
a Michigan McCarthy style where his numbers aren't great, but
he made plays when he had to, especially downstretch. They're
(21:20):
in pretty good. I mean, I don't think Minnesota is
a contender all of a sudden, but the second half
of the season could go better than the first.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
It could and don't look now, but the two teams
that wear purple will meet in Minnesota this upcoming weekend. Yeah, okay, right,
I am, I am. I do believe I'm correct on that.
I know it's Baltimore and Minnesota. I think the game
is in it is in Minnesota, Yeah, on Sunday. Now,
Baltimore has a long week to prepare, but they have
to go on the roads.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
It's more losable now than it did a day ago.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
Certainly, let's go, hey, Vikings, how about a little help baby?
Speaker 3 (21:53):
Come on again?
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Come on baby is now the Vikings are back to
four and four and have plenty to play for the
rest of the way. If that wasn't the most surprising
result of the weekend, this certainly was the Packers back.
And we talked about this a little bit, Matt, like
it was a huge spread. Yeah, I told you I
want the points just because I think green Bay, coming
off of a huge emotional win in Pittsburgh, was gonna
(22:15):
have a little bit of a letdown. I still thought
that they would win, but not by the two touchdowns
or whatever that they were favorited. But I did not
see Panthers sixteen, Packers thirteen coming at all. No at
lambeau Field as well too.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Now, what's making things be worse is Tucker Craft is
now off of the year now there that yeah stinks.
I mean, I know he just destroyed the Steelers, but
he's really fun to root for. And I don't want
to see Jaydon Daniels and Tucker Craft and this guy's getting.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Joe as much as we're going to see him this weekend.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Like that works out really well for this one works out.
We'll talk about We'll talk about that coming up, yeah,
during the week. But they are a different team with
and without him, and Kraft is the straw that sers
a drink in the passing game, whether people want to
realize it or not. And the Packers have had these moments.
I mean, like.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Cowboys lost to the Right.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
I mean, so there's some uneven this with them. And
they couldn't stop the run at all. I mean, it
was the best run defense in the league.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
It's not or Jonathan Taylor, Jon Robinson that they're going
up against.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
And Caroline runs the ball well.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
I mean, it's one of the few things that they
do well.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
They do they invested in guards, Carolina and four. What's crazy.
I heard this this morning. I can't verify it, but
I think it's true. They've been an underdog in every game.
It would shock if it wasn't, right, and.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Unless they played like the Jets or the Titans.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Right, right, right. I don't think they've played the Saints yet,
you know, in the division. So they're five and four.
They've beat you know, this happens in the league a
lot of folks.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
I tell you what, there's a lot of viable Coach
of the Year candidates. But if the Panthers somehow winning record.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
Right, yeah, I'm kicking the coverage.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Five and four right now. They are one of the
more surprise and a good way teams in the NFL
this season. For sure.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
Their defense was so bad last year and it's back
to being pretty.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
You would have had them pegged if I would have
told you what's more likely they have five wins in November,
they get a top five pick, you would have been like, definitely, easy,
top five pick. Yeah, impressive what they've been doing. In
an impressive win there at Lambeau. Titans in Tennessee fall
to the Chargers. Funny enough, the Steelers next opponent.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
This is a weird game too, wins by.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
The same scores the Steelers did this week twenty seven
to twenty Steelers take down the Colts. Chargers take down
the Titans by the same score. This was a weird one.
Titans jumped out on them early, fourteen to nothing.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Two scorers that were not from the offense.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Correct, correct, and but the Chargers able to get back
in that one move to six and three stay, you know,
right on the heels of the Broncos and a heead
of the Chiefs. But maybe they won the battle and
lost the war. Maybe as were Shawn Slader's out, Joe
wall Is out, they had another offensive line injury in
that game. You'll you'll laugh at this. I was talking
(24:56):
about this after the Steelers game. You know, Max and
I were in the booth. His Max always does a
radio hit with Pursuda and Charlie Batch on the postgame show.
So he's kind of hanging around waiting to do that.
And I'm like, you gotta be liking this. We're going
out to LA next week. It's a much shorter flight
for you than usually Da da da, And we're like,
how about the Chargers, Like they won, but man, they
(25:17):
lost him not an offensive lineman again. And Joe wall
Max does this from time to time. He goes he goes.
If I'm TJ, if I'm Cam, if I'm Herbig, if
I'm high Smith, and if you're watching on YouTube, I'm
like licking my fingers here. Yeah, yeah, barbecue chicken. That
Chargers offensive line is gonna be barbecue chicken on Sunday night.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
It really is. And so the game wasn't as close
as it sounds, because Tennessee got two weird scores right
off the bat early on. But the takeaway for me
was Tennessee was possibly the worst pass rushing team in
the league going into there. I think they had eight
sacks before this game or something like that, and Herbert
was under duress the entire time by a bad pass rush.
(25:59):
And not coincidentally, you went through offensive tackles left and right,
and it's pretty clear we know Slater was gone before
the season, and that's unfortunate. He's a really, really good
player too, and they just gave him money. But the
games with a healthy ALT versus not a healthy ALT
have been night and day for the Chargers. And he's
one of the best tackles in the league already already
(26:21):
just looks like a natural.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
And it's a man, I mean, especially when you combine
that they lost for Sean Slater too before the season.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
Even, Yeah, you can't overcome that stuff. And then the
right tackle heart I think his name is, who's been
a total journeyman, also left the game, also got hurt.
So they could be on their fourth and fifth tackle.
And itagine if we were doing that here, right, I mean,
Calvin Anderson's like your best guy. Yeah right, all right,
that's a tough way to live and cook. And you know,
I mean, that's that's what they're doing, right, especially as
you and I overcome it.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
One of the things we talk about in the off
seasons a lot is just how good defensive lines are
across the NFL, particularly edge rushers in the league. Now
they're all Apex, Predator, Alien Abbage.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
Every team has somebody.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Yeah, and now you're down to your fourth, fifth tackle.
It's a tough situation.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
Now they o Marion Hampton I think is capable of
coming off ir this week. Yes, and their pass catchers
are really good. I mean, we'll talk Chargers going for
plenty plenty A huge Herbert fan, but this was an
alarming turn of events.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
For that Another one of the surprising in a good
way record wise teams in the NFL this season has
certainly been the Patriots. They moved to seven and two
with a twenty four to twenty three win over the Falcons.
Matt when we did our pick them on Friday, I
told you that spread of it was, I think Atlanta
minus four or Atlanta plus four and a half, Patriots
only four and a half points favorites at home. I
(27:39):
was like, this has to be rat poison. It's too
good to be true. And Atlanta scores ten points in
the last five minutes to make the score look close
and respectable. But New England once again from start to
finish in the driver's seat in control. I still do
think that they're a little head of schedule and they're
bound to take a step back at some point. Seven
and two is seven and two. I mean, they're with
(28:01):
the Colts and they're going they're going to the playoff.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
I mean, they're basically a lock at this point. And
my big takeaways from that one or basically when Atlanta
had the ball, Drake London was the best player in
the field. I mean he was.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
He's outstanding force, and.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
They're making great catches, routine catches like everyone the planet.
New I mean I always use this reference because part
of it is like when we had Larry at pitt Ball,
going to Larry.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Larry Fitzgerald over the top.
Speaker 3 (28:29):
And once in a while you get that feeling, you know,
Jamar Chase against Steelers London against the Patriots and Gonzalez,
their best corner got hurt, but they shoved. They they
stuffed the run and the Patriot D. It's really easy.
Look at May and the offense and they should but
the Patriot d is legit and they're hard to run against.
Jon didn't do anything.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
He did not. It's a good Patriots Again. I think
they're a little ahead of schedule.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
Me too, with their.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
Defense, with their quarterback, they've got a talented tandem of
running backs.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
They're in a good place as an organization for They're.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
In a very very good place. And I don't like
that one bit. The Niners, Matt, despite every reason not
to continue to win, they go to MetLife, that kind
of always tricky West Coast team coming to the East
Coast for a one o'clock kickoff, but they take care
of business thirty four to twenty four over the Giants.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
Yeah, I gotta do some more homework on this game.
I don't. It wasn't on Red Zone much. I was
busy doing a lot of other things. I basically got
the impression that the Giants are pretty shot. You know
that they're they're kind of at the end of their rope,
and they've had some injuries, and you.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
Got some optimism rolling into next year about a couple
of things. If you're New York, Oh yeah, yeah, but
it's neighbors. I mean, you lose Scatty, right, and it
just you can only get so much out of Dart
when he's down his top two weapons. That defensive front
is talented for them, but they're on the field so much.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
Uh, it's it's not pill climb.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
It's a not pill climb. They're gonna be talking about
coaching changes and do you stick with the staff, do
you go in direction?
Speaker 3 (30:00):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (30:01):
I one thing that I really like though, And we've
continued to get some questions about this, and we will
obviously do more of this on Wednesday when we go
around campus and certainly in the offseason when all of
our eyes will go to the Combine in the NFL Draft,
I thenk you can take the Giants off the list
of teams that'll be taking a first round quarterback. Oh,
for sure, they'll be. They'll be building around Jackson Dark
going forward, which is good, but it's going to be
a tough back half of the season for Big Blue.
Speaker 3 (30:23):
And the other note though, was, we know the Niners
have sustained a lot of major injuries Warren or Bosa,
I mean ones that are bad. The first round pick
is pretty promising, Michael Williams. I think he's going to
be out for a big stretch too. I mean they're
just eventually it's got to keep up and or you've
got to catch up.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
And another one of those if it continued. I'm talking
about Shanahan Coach of the Year. Yeah, teams like they do,
but I.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Don't think they can keep up with the Rams and Seahawks.
Those two teams look so good right now.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
The NFC is crazy impressive. Yeah, it really is.
Speaker 3 (30:55):
There's a lot of good teams there.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
Certainly are. Matt. We said at three and six, you
can pretty much count Cincinnati out at this point. Yeah,
at three and five and coughing up one at home
like they did to the Broncos. Can you count the
Houston Texans out of this one? The Broncos again with
a with a massive fourth quarter to uh to come
back and win eighteen to fifteen in Houston against the
(31:19):
Texans seven and two as well.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
Yeah, and they don't still seem not to really trust Nicks.
Stroud left this game early on with the for Houston. Yeah,
and their O line stuff doesn't look much better had
those two really good defenses, which we knew was coming in.
But to your point, is Houston in too big a hole? Probably?
(31:43):
You know, like the Jackson will one again doesn't help them, right.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
I mean, you know, out of Buffalo and you get
three wild card spots, you know, out of Buffalo and
New England, one's going to be there for for sure.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
At least two teams are coming out of the West.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
And at least two teams, if not three, are coming
out of the West.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
I only think one from the North. I think it'll
be the Steelers or the raven Completely agree, Yeah, completely agree.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Yeah, tough sledding for Houston. The Broncos still continue to
just find ways to win games.
Speaker 3 (32:09):
Yeah, they weren't super impressive though.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
No, they weren't, but they've won six in a row
on the bounce, and there's something, yeah, something to be
from one to two to seven and two. Uh. If
they can get moving in the right direction, Denver will
be very scary.
Speaker 3 (32:23):
I mentioned that Michael Williams thing with the Niners. My
phone just lit up that he tore his ac always
out of.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
The year, the man. The Niners just horrible, horrible love
two years in a row. Now they like walked under
too many ladders, or shattered too many mirrors, or opened
up their umbrella inside maybe all of those things. The
Raiders off their bye week, Matt. We talked about this
on Friday too. Could we see some life from the
Raiders out of a bye week? And we did?
Speaker 3 (32:49):
Yeah, yeah, but goes a long way too.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
My goodness, is he sensational? And you know, and Gino
Smith threw four touchdowns, looking much better out of a
bye week. But Matt, in a typical Raiders fashion, it
ends up being a missed extra point in the first
quarter that cost you overtime. And then I kind of
liked how they played overtime. Jacksonville got the ball first,
(33:13):
went down the field and scored. The Raiders got the
ball first, they said, screw this, We're not going for
a tie. They go for two and they don't get it.
Speaker 3 (33:19):
Yeah, they answered it with a touchdown.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
But they'll be one of those teams in the Raiders
that they're clearly now, Hey, at three and five, you
could have maybe fooled yourself into we've still got something
to play for it. Two and six, not a chance.
But I bet you they'll knock off somebody good down
the stretch.
Speaker 3 (33:35):
Yeah, when at least sign.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
They'll be in Kansas City or la or Denver or somebody.
They'll throw a monkey wrench into the AFC playoff picture.
Speaker 3 (33:44):
I can see that.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
But another gut wrenching loss for the Black and Silver.
Speaker 3 (33:50):
And I don't know who'll end up here, but I
don't think Jacobe Myers will be a Raider.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
He's another one he better not be.
Speaker 3 (33:55):
I mean, makes no sense.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
Probably not going to have him passed this year. Why
don't you recoup something room. The Rams continue to win,
and do so in impressive fashion. They're pretty good, they're
very good. Six and two and they just I mean
thoroughly a thirty four to ten commanding victory over the Saints.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
Yeah, I mean the Saints are overmatched. They're starting to
have a line problems. Shucks, not much any better.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
And again it's like I don't think the Saints are
as bad as they're one and eight.
Speaker 3 (34:21):
Rudn't either, but they're one eight yeah, yeah, and.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
They're gonna have to start having that conversation of they've
got half a season here still to figure it out,
but we rolling with shuck. Are we going to be
picking a quarterback in the top five?
Speaker 3 (34:34):
Yeah, it's definitely a time to think about that for them.
The Rams can win the Super Bowl. Stafford should be
in the MVP conversation totally. They're really good.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
The Bills getting back to feeling good after a couple
straight losses. They've now stacked a couple straight wins at
home against their bugaboo, the Kansas City Chiefs twenty eight
to twenty one. Buffalo gets it done, and.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
They moved the ball better than I thought than Yeah,
say the Chiefs.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
I still think the Chiefs are fine.
Speaker 3 (35:04):
But again, I mean, if two days ago, if you
asked me you pick one team that's gonna win the
Super Bowl, I would pick the Chiefs. I fine, four,
it's hard to get over. You may not even make
the playoffs. I mean it's possible.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
If the playoffs started this weekend. They're outright Chiefs would
not be in it. They'd be the first team out.
Speaker 3 (35:19):
I think the Jags are in over them.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
The Jags would be over because they have the head
to head win tie breaker. I also think Chiefs haven't
had their bye week yet and the Jags have, so
there's like the half game game half game difference there.
But Jacksonville also has the head to head tie breaker.
When they had that Monday night victory over Kansas City,
I still think Kansas City's crazy dangerous. I don't think
there's anything wrong with going to Buffalo and losing by
(35:42):
a touchdown. No, no, they're five and four.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
Yeah, exactly. They were worried about them.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
They should count their lucky stars that it looks like
Houston's falling off, you know what I mean? There might
be that kind.
Speaker 3 (35:53):
Of I don't know if Jacksonville maintained, there might.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
Be that kind of The Chiefs get the last chair
on the Titanic, you know. Yeah, some of these other teams.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
Are possible, and I can see them being aggressive in
the next twenty four hours.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
Too, I think so. And finally, the team that might
have turned in the most impressive performance of the weekend,
Matt if I were the Seattle Seahawks. I just want
to play every game on the road, particularly particularly on
the East Coast. Let me sign up if I'm a
Seattle fan. I want to play every game on the
East Coast on the road. Thirty eight to fourteen over
(36:26):
the Commanders. At one point, Matt, last night, Sunday Nights,
we kind of record our WVU reaction show, the WVU
show that I do talking about, Hey, how about a
ranked road win for the Mountaineers, needed that one On Saturday.
We're recording that show Sunday night, are kind of reaction show,
and I've got that game on my TV. While I'm
(36:47):
in my little basement setup, I'm like, man, Seattle's rolling,
Man Seattle's rolling, Man Seattle's.
Speaker 3 (36:52):
Rolling, all never hits the ground.
Speaker 2 (36:53):
I look up at one point and Sam Darnold was
like thirteen of thirteen for two hundred yards and three
or four touchdown passes.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
I think I end up being like eighteen straight or something.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
Unbelievable performance from him from that Seattle offense, from them
as a.
Speaker 3 (37:06):
Whole, the defense was every bit as good.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
As they continue to look like one of the best
teams in the league, legit Super Bowl contender. They're Matt
they're two and two at home, they're four and oh
on the road the Seattle Seahawks, which.
Speaker 3 (37:17):
Is like two years in a row. They think they've
lost one game on the road over two years.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
And but maybe the bigger story of that, other than
of course Seattle looking like a bona fide Super Bowl contender,
is the Commanders not only lose fall to three and six,
they're probably out of it. But a nasty injury to
Jayden Daniels that might have him out probably will have
him out.
Speaker 3 (37:37):
For the rest of the year, I would assume, if
and an ugly one. Obviously they've had a couple of injuries.
They're not going anywhere. McLaurin can't get on the field,
and then Daniels, I think it's his third injury of
the season. It hurt a lot at LSU two. I mean,
it was one of my worries coming out, but this
was just a terrible They probably could have anybody the
(37:57):
way landed.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
And yeah, the one silver of it is it's his
non throwing arm at least right right, I mean, if
that happens to his right arm, who knows what kind
of career ending type. At least a career altering, never
the same type injury.
Speaker 3 (38:11):
But they're in a bad spot overall because they are
so old and they've they've sent a lot of future
picks for guys thinking they were closer than they were,
which this is I saw coming from our way, Like
you're not a final four team last year. You just
happened to make the Final four. You know you're not.
Speaker 2 (38:27):
You're not Duke or Kentucky. You were just one of these,
you know, twelve seeds that got hot at the right
time the year before.
Speaker 3 (38:33):
You earned the second overall pick. You're not Deebo Samuel
a way from beating the Chiefs and Bills.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
Yes, and I know that I've told you this before.
I never wanted to see a Steelers team in the
position of like, all right, we're punting on the back
half of this season. It's over. We're focusing on next
year because then all of a sudden, our job gets
much more difficult.
Speaker 3 (38:52):
But it does.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
Yeh, But if I'm the Commanders, it might be time
to start thinking about twenty twenty.
Speaker 3 (38:56):
Six, especially after this injury happened.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
After this injury happens, you are so old on defense,
you're going to have a top twelve draft pick, top
ten draft pick.
Speaker 3 (39:06):
You can't be counting on the Ertzes and Bobby Wagner.
You can't those guys.
Speaker 2 (39:10):
You can't, right, And you still have to have faith
in your young quarterback that this year will just be
an unlucky, injury filled one off. Right, let's let's let's
let's start looking towards twenty twenty six, which is a
tough place for them to be in after they really
felt like they took a step forward last year. Yep, yep,
Matt Monday Night Football Tonight, Cardinals Cowboys. Not the sexiest matchup.
Speaker 3 (39:32):
No it's not, but it could be a lot of offense.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
Dallas half, highest over under the week, Dallas. It is
in Dallas, Yep.
Speaker 3 (39:39):
I'd probably take the Cowboys. We're getting Jacoby Rssett again,
which actually might make them better than Murray. But I
just think Dallas scores on everybody.
Speaker 2 (39:47):
I think Dak's probably the best player on the field. Yeah,
game and Nick Lamb, you know that'll go a long
way for Dallas. I think they win a high scoring one.
I'm with you. I'd like that number a lot more
if it was two and a half. But I'd still
lay the three and a half with Dallas when we
return on the other side, we don't have much time here.
That was a beast. Okay, here's what we're gonna do.
We're gonna save we do. I do have a lot
(40:09):
of tweets bookmarked and saved. We will get to those tomorrow.
I got a good I got a good Steelers alumni
dinner story for a good Jeff Reid story that I
have that I have to share with you in our
final minutes before we get out of here. We'll do
all of that to wrap this thing up. On the
other side. What Schueler, Matt Williamson, it's this. It's the
(40:31):
The Drive on Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network,
your tunes.
Speaker 1 (40:41):
About Drive on your twenty four to seven home of
the Black and Gold Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 2 (41:00):
Final segment of the Drive here on a victory Monday,
as we've put a bow on a busy week nine
across the National Football League and of course a much
needed victory for your Steelers Sunday at Akrashuer Stadium. It was,
of course, Matt, a big weekend, not just because Steelers
needed to win. Colts came into it with the best
(41:20):
record in the NFL. But of course, as we've alluded
to a couple of times, it was the twenty year reunion. Lord,
that makes me feel old, I bet, or maybe not old,
but just not young. And I'm thirty four. I'm gonna
be thirty five here in a couple months.
Speaker 3 (41:35):
You're not old, but you're not young.
Speaker 2 (41:36):
I'm not old, but I'm not young. But I was
fifteen years old when that team won the Super Bowl.
They were the first team in my life that I
was old enough to really be all in emotionally investing,
understand what's going on the backdrop of going fifteen and
one the year before and losing the AFC Championship Game
at home. Normally, when I do those alumni dinner shows,
(41:58):
I did a couple in the past with Dale and Wolf.
This one was with Rob King. It's nerve racking for
me because it's a lot of the seventies Steelers. Oh sure,
And I just wasn't I didn't watch those guys playing.
Speaker 3 (42:12):
I don't think ancient history.
Speaker 2 (42:14):
I don't remember that even though it was twenty years ago.
I can tell you every little detail about that two
thousand and five team. They lose to Cincinnati. TJ. Housmanzata
does the Terrible town. Please, I'm putting my foot in
the air here if you're watching on YouTube. The Steelers
fall to seven and five after they were just fifteen
and one in the AFC Championship Game before and had
all these high expectations. They go from seven to five.
(42:36):
They win four straight to get into the playoffs. They
go on that gauntlet run, the Crazy Game in Indianapolis,
the AFC Championship Game in December, all that stuff. They
win eight straight games between the four regular season and
the four playoffs. They become the first sixth seed in
league history to win the Super Bowl. Like I remember
(42:57):
all those details like it was yesterday.
Speaker 3 (42:59):
And as test to this weekend, there's a lot of
big personalities.
Speaker 2 (43:02):
So many big watersonality, and so I was very excited
for this one to talk to these guys because that's
right in my wheelhouse. And I was watching the Super
Bowl forty broadcast, and this is something I brought up
to all these guys. I brought this up to Jeff Hardings,
I brought this up to Brett Keesel, I brought this
up to Chemo von Olhoff, and I went back and
watched the the most of the broadcast, like I just
(43:27):
found it on YouTube. Super Bowl super Bowl forty. In
the intro, of course, everyone remembers how Joey Porter told
everybody hold back, let your own out there by himself,
which is really cool. And all all those guys will
tell you best. You asked those guys, who's the best
you know, you played football your whole life, high school, college, pros,
(43:48):
best teammates you ever had, And almost to a man,
they'll all say Joey Porter, Like oh really, just the
way that he looked out for his guys and always
thought about stuff like that, that there was no buddy
on that steel Al Michael said this on the broadcast
at the beginning of the game, and I was like,
wait a second, had to go back and rewind. None
of the Steelers on that roster had ever played in
the Super Bowl before. Not a single stealer on that
(44:11):
Super Bowl forty team won or played in a super
Bowl before. We never thought about that or questioned that
or talked about that because they had so much leadership
on the roster. Yeah, you know what I mean, like
a lot of a lot of you know, from from
obviously Joey Porter and Jerome Bettis. But on down the
list of the Farriers and the Polamalus and the Wards,
and the Roethlisbergers and the Fanicas and the Chemo von Olhoffens,
(44:34):
you know, guys that had experience, experience and goodness unbelievable.
So that was one of the thing that I brought
up to those guys and they were all like, we
didn't know that. I don't know. Oh yeah, nobody on
the roster I'd ever been to a super Bowl before.
Like that makes sense, that makes a lot of sense.
So it was a ton of fun to talk to
those guys about that, just to get them relive in
(44:55):
those memories and all those different things. Do you know
Teresa Varley from from the steel and Steelers dot com,
she did a great job. I mean it was like
every ten minutes she was bringing us new guests and
new guest. We did mat a ninety minute show. Kinger
and I. We were on from five thirty to seven.
I think we took two We took two breaks the
whole time.
Speaker 3 (45:12):
Yeah, because it was just story.
Speaker 2 (45:14):
There was a story after story, and our guy Tom
was producing for us back here and he was like,
don't break, like, just keep going. Screw like, yeah, I'll
make it work in the log and everything later like
this is too good, just keep going. So you know,
again I mentioned a lot of the names that we
got to talk to even more it was you know,
it was a ton of fun catching up with those guys.
(45:35):
But one of the guys that we got to talk
to that's always a whot is Jeff Reid. And this
was the story I had to tell you before we
got out of here. So Jeff comes to sit down,
and that was one of the breaks that we took,
was right before he came on. And so he's sitting
there with us and we're like, thanks for doing this.
We're back in sixty seconds here, and Jeff was like,
all right, this so this is live, Like this isn't
(45:55):
a podcast or anything like, this is live radio. And
we're like yep, and he was like all right, cool.
I got to make sure I watched my mouth. Three
minutes later, he dropped the four letter.
Speaker 3 (46:04):
Word on the broad Nice. Didn't do a great job
with that.
Speaker 2 (46:08):
I wouldn't expected anything less of Jeff Reid. It wasn't
the one word you can't say because it was a
little it was a little less. Not the end of
the world. But it was just it was like that
was one.
Speaker 3 (46:17):
Of my favorites.
Speaker 2 (46:19):
It was one of one of my favorite moments of
the night. Was was Jeff Reid being like, this is
live radio, all right, I gotta watch my mouth got it.
Three minutes later, three minutes later he drops, he drops
a four letter word on the broadcast. But it was
it was just awesome seeing all the I mean, you know,
Bill Cower was back there, like a couple of guys
weren't able to make it. Hines and Randall LL both weren't.
Speaker 3 (46:39):
There because he was on the flew back.
Speaker 2 (46:44):
Like Hines wasn't there because he's the wide receiver coach
in Arizona State and they had a game.
Speaker 1 (46:49):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (46:50):
Randall LL wasn't there because he now is coach with
the Bears. I believe he was with the Lions for
the last thing he went. He exactly right and got
a little bit of a bum, so he was not there.
But just so many of those guys, so many of
those personalities, amazing to see them and like I mean,
twenty years later, man, like that's that's just nuts pretty cool.
(47:12):
And like I said, it was especially cool for me
because I remember every detail of that. I also told
those guys the story. I know, I've told you this before.
My mom pulled me out of school that day for
the Steelers parade. So Steelers win the Super Bowl. Yeah,
Steelers win the Super Bowl on Sunday. Parade was in Tuesday.
Speaker 3 (47:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (47:30):
My mom was like, I told this. I told this
story to Jeff Hardings and Chemo von Olhoffen and they
were cracking up. They were like, you got to give
your mom props for that one. It was a school day.
My mom was like, you have to go to this parade.
Haven't won a Super Bowl in twenty five years, Like,
who knows how long it's going to be, you know,
like we have to go to the parade. We have
to go to the parade. God bless my mom. Coolest
lady in the world. So she's like, but you're not
gonna miss math class or whatever I had early in
(47:52):
the morning. She was like, I'll come pick you up
in third period. I'll take you out for the rest
of the day and we'll go to the parade. So
she does that. They called me down to the office.
We're getting ready to leave. The secretary in the office goes, hey, So,
you know, like hey before before, Wesley goes, what's what's
his excuse for the absence here? Why are you taking
him out? And my mom froze and panicked, and she goes,
he's got a doctor's appointment. Meanwhile she's decked in Steeler.
(48:15):
I'm decked. And so we got like our terrible towels
hanging out of our pocket and they go, okay, just
make sure he brings in a doctor's excuse tomorrow when
he comes back. So we get in the car and
my mom is like, good Christian lady, hardly ever told
a lie in her life. She's like, I can't believe
I did that. I can't believe I lied. Felt so guilty.
We're driving downtown. She gets on her cell phone and
(48:37):
calls the school office and it's like, I'm.
Speaker 4 (48:39):
So sorry, I lied. I'm taking Wesley to the Steelers parade.
And they were like the secretariat at Mars High School
at the time was like, oh, no problem, we knew
that you guys were going to the parade.
Speaker 2 (48:51):
We're jealous, have a good time, enjoy. So I told
those guys they were they were cracking up, but no,
it was a lot of fun. And one of those
groups that just you know that one for the I
know you'll remember this, that one for the Thumb for
twenty five years, per I mean, Joe Green talked about
one for the Thumb in nineteen eighty one.
Speaker 3 (49:12):
I say, when I was old enough to at that stage,
I was like eighth and first I've heard.
Speaker 2 (49:16):
It twenty five years. They got close a couple of times.
In the nineties, they got close a couple of times
with Cordell Stewart and the year before Ben's Yeah, obviously
it went to a handful of AFC Championship games in
a super Bowl in that in that stretch for them
to finally get over the hump. What it meant to
the city at that time, You if you weren't around
for it, you can't possibly quantify it. Now. Everywhere you
(49:38):
went it was one for the Thumb, the strip, district,
T shirts, the everything, and so it was a lot
of fun to see those guys get the get the
acknowledgement that they deserves. That'll do it for our show today.
Thanks to everybody for rocking and rolling with us. Thanks
to Rob King for joining us. Big shout out as
always to our video producer Tyler V Mister TV for
(49:59):
making us look hand them on the YouTube tomorrow, Matt
Big Tray Deadlines Show. We'll talk to Chris Adamski as
well too. Who knows, maybe we'll be reacting to a
Steelers move. Maybe we'll be reacting to something big across
the league, like a Trey Hendrickson type name getting moved,
something like that.
Speaker 3 (50:16):
Stuff's going to happen.
Speaker 2 (50:17):
But stuff is going to happen, and we will be
here tomorrow to react to it all. But that'll do
it for us today. Take care, everybody. We will talk
to you tomorrow as always. You know where to find us.
It's on your twenty four to seven home of the
Black and Gold. It's Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers
Audio Network
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