HR3: Live from Dublin

Matt and Wes discuss Steelers Vikings as we approach closer and closer to kickoff Sunday.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Your Tunes about Drive on your twenty four to seven
home of the Black and Gold Steelers Nation.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Radio Bonus hour. Here on the Drive, we are live.

Speaker 3 (00:20):
From Fitzsimon's Temple Bar in Dublin, where the crack is amazing.

Speaker 4 (00:25):
That's what they say here in Ireland. What's the crack?
Like I heard that.

Speaker 3 (00:28):
What's happening? What's the word? You know, what's going on?
What's the crack? Well, the crack is fantastic here on
a Friday night, and I think just one of the
coolest cities in the world. Man, this place is off
like we're gonna keep saying that, but this place is awesome.

Speaker 4 (00:42):
And Matt I was laughing.

Speaker 5 (00:43):
They have a good time even when Stueler Nation doesn't
invade it.

Speaker 4 (00:46):
I think they're known for that. In fact.

Speaker 3 (00:47):
Actually yeah, and I was telling you this off air,
and Justin and you guys were laughing. I learned today
at Guinness that Artur Guinness, you know who started Guinness
working way back, you know, hundred some years ago, signed
a nine thousand year lease for that piece of property
at Saint James's Gate where they have the Guinness Brewery
for like forty bucks a month.

Speaker 4 (01:08):
Oh really, yeah, a pretty good deal.

Speaker 3 (01:11):
Oh you want to talk about like some of these
Mark Cuban, these business people like that's a pretty good deal.

Speaker 5 (01:15):
By they don't they do now, okay, okay, right.

Speaker 4 (01:18):
But they were like they were like, we leave that
They were like, we leave that information.

Speaker 3 (01:21):
To the side because it just sounds cooler if we
signed a nine thousand year lease for forty bucks a
month for a month. Incredible, incredible. Also contract that's a
great exam Every year on July first gets one point
one million dollars from the New York Mets.

Speaker 4 (01:38):
Maybe he drinks a Guinness to see every July first. Uh.

Speaker 3 (01:41):
Our guy Wallace on Twitter, who's a OYL Steelers Nation
radio listener and tweeter tweeted us this and I thought
this was pretty cool, he said, just so you guys know.
And and Wallace has tweeted us like a couple Irish
sayings over over the last week, so he must speak
Gaelic pretty well, he said. F yi, the fits and

(02:02):
FitzSimons is the Norman French equivalent of Irish and Scottish
Gaelic Mac, which means son or son of. So the
bar you guys are broadcasting at FitzSimons means son of Simon,
like Williams Son, like Williams Son, Matt, oh, Williamson, gotcha.

Speaker 4 (02:21):
Okay, so cool, so cool?

Speaker 3 (02:23):
Maybe, uh, you know, maybe Simon's dad had a bar
and then fitz.

Speaker 4 (02:28):
Simon's dad or whatever.

Speaker 3 (02:30):
Right, okay, but pretty cool stuff there as uh, you know,
we'll continue to kind of peel back the curtain on
all the things.

Speaker 5 (02:35):
You guys want to chime in with that stuff educate us.
I'm the first to say I am not edited worldly
in any way.

Speaker 4 (02:43):
I think I'm slightly but not not nearly to the
extent of some people. Matt. But you are very football educated.
And you said there in our our last segment of
the second hour before we got to this yere bonus hour,
that you wanted to talk a little bit more about
Nick Herbert.

Speaker 5 (02:56):
Yeah. I think he's so good. I mean it, I
know that it can be small sample sizes, and it's
kind of like Warren before he got a full time
role that you know, his past rush production per snap
is as good as anyone to leave. I mean, it's
Miles Garrett, Michael Parsons maybe better, and it's easier to

(03:18):
do it on just third and eight and you're not
getting doubled. And TJ. Watt's over there.

Speaker 4 (03:21):
We know, all in your ears back after the quarterback.

Speaker 5 (03:24):
But he was pretty much in every down player this
past week and they're running at him and he held
up fair enough. He'll never be a dominant TJ. Watt
edge defender against the run. He's gonna be James Harrison
set in the edge. But what he brings to the
table is so valuable. You know it's been a while,
but let me just take a step back here. The

(03:47):
salary cap has gone up thirty four percent since COVID.
I mean, we know it's growing up like crazy.

Speaker 4 (03:53):
I know where you're going at.

Speaker 5 (03:55):
So all these players think, man, I'm getting I'm getting
so much more than the last guy. And they are,
but they still aren't getting thirty four percent more. The
owner Steve Downer going, this is good.

Speaker 4 (04:07):
I like that, right, all right?

Speaker 5 (04:08):
I mean this running back, it's a two million dollar raise.
They think it's great, but it's twenty percent raise. It's
not a thirty four percent raise in the pocket man, right,
I mean there's more income coming in on the back
end here then, So as much as most of these
contracts have escalated over the last couple of years, and
a lot of fans are like, how do you get
DK me Cat that kind of money. Well, it's still

(04:29):
a deal. It's all read the pie so much bigger,
that's it. But other than quarterback, which is a weird
thing because if you're Josh Allen, I mean some of
those quarterback contracts are so big. Yeah, yeah, I mean
they're they're kind of their own beast, and they're not
even ballooning so much as they're just some guys are
gonna get a ton and some will get they kind
of slot. But edge rushers are the only position that's

(04:52):
kept up with inflation. So if you look at like
the top ten or twenty edge rusher contracts signed since COVID,
they're all getting in the thirty thirty five percent bump
because the league knows how valuable they are and how
hard they are to find, you know what I mean,
no doubt, So I have often I love everyone's loved
Herbig from the start, of course, but we know what

(05:15):
just signed a monster deal. High Smith was signed recently,
so I've kind of just assumed that Herbig's a really
nice player. He'll let him walk, he'll probably yield a
third round compick because he's going to get up nice.
That guy on the open market would make a fortune.

Speaker 4 (05:32):
He had. Pressures like that don't hit the open market
very often.

Speaker 5 (05:34):
It's so hard to find. And I thought, Okay, you
get four really good years out of him. He goes
on his way, third round pick, comes back draft another.

Speaker 4 (05:42):
In the third round or was he second round?

Speaker 5 (05:45):
He was a third, he was a fourth, he was
a fourth third. Yeah, so he made money and you
got a lot of production out of him. I just
don't know how you can let him walk out the door.
And I know we're not here to all, you know,
talk about off season and all that stuff. It's like,
I'm I'm not letting that I walk high. Smith's got
a bit of an injury history. Wat's not young.

Speaker 4 (06:05):
He is on the other side of thirty, no.

Speaker 5 (06:07):
Question, you know. I mean, and I'm not even implying,
you know, well, I am implying. I mean, if you
would sign herbig now not they wouldn't do it during
the season, they never do. But as soon as the
season the season, as soon as you possibly can, like
they did with Warren, you would get a better deal
than obviously if he's on the open market and you're
fighting the cowboys and bears for him, because then he

(06:29):
gets priced out. I mean, he's gonna make a time.
And then I might entertain trade offers for Heismith. You know,
you might get a really nice pick or another nice
pick piece. And that's not a knock on him at all.
Or I'm not worried as much about his injuries. So
that's a side note. Yeah, you know, because then you
have a younger guy and you have wat you can

(06:50):
stagger your money a little bit different. But I might
just give him money anyway, and I probably personally, I
probably would. And this teams know, if you really want Alex,
you could blow my doors off and then I might
draft one the second round as long as before the draft,
maybe you could. You know, you could convince me, but
it ain't gonna be cheap. I can live with these

(07:11):
three on our budget totally. And then the other thing,
it's more prudent and more you know, after the bye
type of thing. They haven't done a ton of it
over the years, but there was a stretch there when
Ingram was here in Dupree, and watch that they got
the three of them on the field a fair amount together.
If you want to get your best eleven out there,

(07:31):
If you want to put your best five basketball players
on the field, and you happen to have two centers,
you put Robinson and Duncan out there anyway.

Speaker 3 (07:41):
For the Golden State Warriors, and you got fifty guys
you can hit threes.

Speaker 4 (07:44):
You play a line up and you shoot three, and.

Speaker 5 (07:46):
You shoot three, right. I mean I know that someone
would plays somewhat out of position or whatever. Sure, but
nobody wants to block those guys, no, because nobody can.
So I think that's something you'd have to explore post
buy is let's get all three of them out there
a fair amount because they're hard to block. And Herbid
I know this sounds blasphemous, but one on one, Herbig

(08:09):
might be the hardest guy on the team to block
pass rushing, including what pass rushing right this minute. Yes,
and I don't not even implying watch declining. I'm just
saying I go one snap on thirty nine. Yeah, yeah,
and I know someone's gonna get singled. I probably would
pick Watt, but now it's probably it's.

Speaker 4 (08:28):
A testament to hurb good.

Speaker 5 (08:30):
It's even a conversation that good, is my point. And
I used to say these things to a lesser degree
about Warren, like you gotta get out there more, you
gotta get them out there more. He's one of your
best guys, you know, and herbig to me is a
potential Pro Bowl type producers.

Speaker 4 (08:45):
I think that's well said. I am.

Speaker 3 (08:48):
I'm with you in the sense of, hey, listen, you
need you need Highsmith to be healthy. And that's kind
of the baseline of this. You know, what could you
do with those three conversation? And that's also again, this
is a bigger picture thing that we could spend more
time on in the.

Speaker 5 (09:01):
Off season a later date, like now's not the time
for contraction.

Speaker 3 (09:04):
Yeah, and I just I don't know how gung ho
I would be to go out and give up a
bunch of picks for for high Smith when he's had
the injuries that he's had over the last couple of years.
But again, different different conversations for a different time.

Speaker 5 (09:14):
Last note on that, But if he comes back from
the by racks up seven or eight more sacks has
a typical high would take a chance. Yeah, there a shortage,
so I'm gonna give you a lot.

Speaker 3 (09:24):
You're absolutely right it's a position that almost everybody in
the league needs help, right.

Speaker 5 (09:28):
I could name eight I mean the Niners just lost
Fosa and the Cowboys just lost Parsons, and I mean
you can name eight or nine teams that would be
really excited about it.

Speaker 3 (09:37):
But I'm with you in the sense of getting those
three guys on the field together.

Speaker 5 (09:41):
That's the more conversation.

Speaker 3 (09:42):
Yeah, finding ways to to just creatively deploy them. Going
back to what we talked about Brian Flores two hours ago,
sometimes it's like he's rolling the dice and it predictable.

Speaker 4 (09:54):
Here's what we're gonna do it.

Speaker 3 (09:55):
We're gonna show a quarter's look and then we're gonna
drop this guy down, and our safeties are gonna drop
down on.

Speaker 4 (09:59):
Our line backers are gonna go.

Speaker 5 (10:00):
Like I got a lot of positionless football with his
defense too.

Speaker 3 (10:04):
It is very much in that kind of basketball sense.
That's what we were talking about. Like, positionless basketball is
a huge I know a lot of people who just
who listen to our shows or just football people who
don't really give a rip about anything else. Positionless basketball
is like a big thing in the basketball world right now.

Speaker 4 (10:18):
I don't need a joint guard I don't need a.

Speaker 3 (10:20):
Point guard and a shooting guard and in a center,
I need five guys who could play yeah, you know,
and my center can step out and hit a three
if he needs to.

Speaker 5 (10:27):
My you know, like the opponent goes big, I don't
have to stub out exactly my best out there because
they can all do stuff.

Speaker 3 (10:34):
I think that that's a fair you know, I don't
even if criticism is the right word, conversation point whatever
is they it's been three games, but again there's also
the backdrop of history there with the same head coach
and it's now been multiple years with the same defensive
coordinator of being static.

Speaker 4 (10:50):
And I think I think at times.

Speaker 3 (10:52):
That's worked very well for the Steelers when TJ and
Alex and Cam when they're when they had stuff on
to it almost are healthy and in their primes, yes,
stay static because you ain't gonna stop us. But I
think in times like now where you are, let's be honest, too,
as much as you added to that defense, you're still
kind of a defensive group. And in a little bit

(11:14):
of transition, you know, like there's a lot of different
faces in there. You've started to infuse the you know,
you've drafted Benton and Harmon and Ya Black and you
start doing you know, Peyton Wilson is a second year player.

Speaker 4 (11:27):
Like, I'm with you, I would I would like to
see a.

Speaker 5 (11:29):
Special versatility on the back end too, especially.

Speaker 3 (11:32):
Especially post bye week, because I think some people might
look at it and say, like, well, Flores has been
doing it all year with the Vikings, why can't you.

Speaker 5 (11:39):
You can't just implore it tonight.

Speaker 3 (11:40):
The Steelers also, they did, they made a ton of
changes to that defense this off season, but post bye week,
I'm with you, I think is when it would really
start to get interested.

Speaker 5 (11:48):
So and again, we know that the Steelers have not
won playoff games lately. They've gone, but they haven't.

Speaker 4 (11:53):
Won for the last five years they've been there.

Speaker 5 (11:55):
Yeah, And I even those really good defenses you mentioned
with two and those guys, Okay, they're really execution based.
And my guys are better than yours. And we'll have
fewer mental busts if we're not moving a lot of
things around, and you know, and and.

Speaker 4 (12:09):
Static teams have twelve plays drives down the field if
they're gonna score.

Speaker 5 (12:13):
Yeah, and we're gonna create big plays and all those things.
But when you get to the playoffs, you're almost inevitably
playing a good quarterback. You're almost inevitably playing at least
your equal team. The coach is probably pretty smart, and
they're probably pretty healthy, you know what I mean. Like,
you're not throughout the course of the year you're gonna
run into a team that's just beat up. They're limping,

(12:33):
even if it's the Chiefs or Eagles, as it's gonna
be not their day, they're they're beat up. That's rare
in the playoffs, or they wouldn't have gotten that far
or survived, you know what I mean. Sure, Like I
think those things show up much more in the postseason.
And I don't think they walk into Buffalo or walk
into Kansas City these last couple or Baltimore and win
those games if they just move cam to the left
or the right, of course, but I think it's something

(12:55):
you need to examine to start winning playoff those two.

Speaker 3 (12:58):
You know, Hey, it's the whole definition of insanity thing, right, Yeah,
you keep doing what you're doing, you're gonna keep getting
what you're getting. And the double digit win seasons playoffs
for the last five years, that's nothing to sneeze at,
you know, what I mean, that matters, But if you
want to take steps further, if you if you want
to get to the next level, I think all options

(13:18):
have to be on the table.

Speaker 4 (13:19):
Certainly two more segments.

Speaker 5 (13:21):
And lastly on that too, is in a lot of
those playoff matchups, you obviously overmatch the quarterback position, and
that's a whole different story, for a whole different hour,
you know what I mean. I mean, maybe Rogers on
his best day can duel with the Alan or in
a home maybe. Yeah, I mean better than the last

(13:42):
few have been able to at least give you a chance, you.

Speaker 3 (13:44):
Know, probably since since pre elbow injury Ben exactly.

Speaker 5 (13:48):
You know, at least you maybe have a dog in
that fight now. But that's always gonna be hard to overcome.
I mean, there's a lot of superheroes in the.

Speaker 4 (13:56):
Conference there, there's certainly there's a lot of superheroes in
the AFY and justin Herbert looks like he's ascending into
that territory.

Speaker 3 (14:04):
Cam Ward could be there before too much longer. Drake
may could be there before too. Muchever, Right, we gotta
get some of these guys in the NFC, man, Let's
get some of these guys. Let's get some of these
guys out of the AFC for sure. Two more segments
to go here live from FitzSimons. Simon says fitz Simon's
Temple Bar in Dublin. Steeler Nation is out here having
some fun, as are we, and we will continue the

(14:27):
conversation when we roll along on the other side.

Speaker 4 (14:29):
West Huuler.

Speaker 3 (14:30):
Matt Williamson, it is the Drive on Steelers Nation Radio
on the Steelers Audio Network.

Speaker 1 (14:38):
You were tuned about Drive on your twenty four to
seven home of the Black and Goal Steelers Nation Radio.

Speaker 3 (14:56):
I'm scrolling through the news of the day here, Matt,
and and uh, you know, Aaron Rodgers had his press conference,
uh not too long ago, of course, at that Carton
House castle outside of Dublin that we were talking about
in the first hour of the show, and he was
talking up Guinness. He was talking about how he needs
more time in Ireland, and I think that's something we

(15:16):
all agree. We were just talking to some bands commercial breakware.
People are asking us, like you enjoyed it? You having
a good time. We're like, this is incredible, and are
you kidding made It's like the best time I've ever
had in my life, But.

Speaker 4 (15:28):
Yeah, I I did. I'm sure for like it's it's
for us.

Speaker 3 (15:33):
We're kind of like towing the line of yeah, this
is a lot of fun, but it's still a work trip, right,
Like we still have shows, whatever responsibilities. Right for those guys,
it's got to be so tough, like they are the
center of the show. They are the reason that everybody's here. Yeah,
but they got they gotta be laser focused.

Speaker 5 (15:50):
Right, this is an important game. They only do seventeen
of them a year. You can't just kind of blow
it off.

Speaker 4 (15:55):
Or we're in Ireland, who cares?

Speaker 5 (15:57):
I mean, distractions galore. I would think for both of
the teams or all the all the overseas stuff. And
if I were in charge, I'd keep him far away
from this environment.

Speaker 3 (16:06):
I think that's smart that they're you know, like I
was saying, like not far, like thirty forty minutes outside
of the city whatever it is.

Speaker 4 (16:12):
I think that makes a lot.

Speaker 5 (16:13):
Of sense, absolutely right. I keep him well out.

Speaker 3 (16:16):
Of territory, well out of the Temple Bar area down here.

Speaker 4 (16:22):
For sure.

Speaker 5 (16:22):
There's something people want to talk to you, and I
mean it's great for our cause, but not for Aaron Rodgers.

Speaker 4 (16:26):
Or no right, No, right, no, absolutely not.

Speaker 3 (16:30):
And you know, maybe that's something that they kind of
deduced from that twenty thirteen experience when they were in London.

Speaker 4 (16:36):
Like I was taught.

Speaker 3 (16:37):
I've referenced our our Steelers radio broadcast producer.

Speaker 4 (16:41):
Dan Quinlan a couple of times.

Speaker 3 (16:42):
This is his fifteenth season being the producer of the
Steelers game day broadcasts, so it was like his second
year I think was that was that that London trip
in twenty and thirteen? Uh? And he said they stayed
in like an Intercontinental hotel, like right in the middle
of downtown London really, and so there was a lot
of reports from that game about the Steelers being jet lagged, right,

(17:04):
And like Hayward talked about that last week, and I
certainly think listen, that's just part of it.

Speaker 4 (17:10):
You and I alluded to.

Speaker 5 (17:11):
How you avoid it? I mean maybe, I mean you've
become two days early. I mean to help.

Speaker 3 (17:15):
I mean I think, like I think the only way
to avoid it would have been to get in here
like Monday or Tuesday, you know what I mean, and
really give yourself time.

Speaker 5 (17:23):
You wanted to ask Max that last night as he
came straight from the New England game. Yeah, is he
figured it.

Speaker 4 (17:29):
Out yet, because I'm far from it same. I can't believe.

Speaker 3 (17:32):
You know, it's it's in the five o'clock hour here
locally as you and I sit, it's just yeah, it's
it's all over the place.

Speaker 4 (17:39):
Ye, it's a mess.

Speaker 3 (17:42):
But for those guys, listen, that's one of those things
no one like, No one cares, No one cares about
the labor show me the baby.

Speaker 4 (17:49):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (17:49):
Yeah. You know, if you could beat bad, they don't
want to hear about it. Right.

Speaker 3 (17:51):
If you win, everyone's going to talk about how great
it was. If you lose, we don't want to hear
about it.

Speaker 5 (17:55):
You know, it's Minnesota's coming further than Pittsburgh, you know.

Speaker 3 (17:58):
They yeah, that's that's right, they all yeah. And they're
staying in London next week. It'd be a lot of
fun to be a Viking game.

Speaker 5 (18:03):
I think that's a big advantage for next week.

Speaker 4 (18:05):
Because they play the Browns. The brown of the Brown's
gonna come over Thursday Friday.

Speaker 5 (18:10):
Right, I mean, they're just gonna take a short trip
from here to London. I think that's a massive advantage
for that mass. It's kind of weird that the NFL
set that up for a team that I know. Jacksonville
did it once, but Jacksonville almost as London is.

Speaker 4 (18:22):
Our home games there a year usually.

Speaker 5 (18:24):
I don't know if it would be a regular thing
that they'll send some team over and let them stay
for two games.

Speaker 3 (18:30):
Wouldn't be terrible, Like I said, it'd be a lot
of fun. If you were an employee of the team,
you're like, oh, we get a few days in Dublin,
we get a few days a week in London.

Speaker 5 (18:36):
Yeah, that'd be even better than our seduce.

Speaker 4 (18:38):
It could be a lot worse. This could could be
a lot worse.

Speaker 3 (18:41):
Is yeah, that's one of Is that any home game
for Cleveland or for Minnesota next weekend?

Speaker 4 (18:47):
Do you know? I can look it up here.

Speaker 5 (18:49):
I assume Cleveland because the AFC has nine home games
and the NFC is.

Speaker 3 (18:53):
A great call, and it is. You are correct, it's Cleveland.

Speaker 5 (18:57):
Is their home game for Cleveland.

Speaker 4 (18:58):
That's kind of a ruse. For Minnesota.

Speaker 5 (19:01):
That's a nice perk for Minnesota, and like two fronts.
First off, they have that massive layover advantage next week
from being here, and they get two road games that
aren't really road games and they aren't really true home games.

Speaker 3 (19:15):
Now For granted, these games are early in the season,
right This one's in September.

Speaker 4 (19:19):
They'll be playing the Browns in October.

Speaker 3 (19:21):
But what if they had to come to Pittsburgh at
Thanksgiving and Cleveland at Christmas?

Speaker 5 (19:26):
Exactly?

Speaker 4 (19:26):
That's a completely different story.

Speaker 5 (19:27):
Completely different story in terms of fan base all that too.
You know, like most teams might not travel as well
as Pittsburgh, or how many Browns fans will be there,
I don't know, but whatever I think I would if
I have nine road games, as all NFC teams do,
and the Vikings are one of them, if I get
two of them, if I can knock off two of
them back to back at a neutral field, sign me up.

Speaker 3 (19:48):
That's you talk about, like those rest advantage statistics and
things like that, and how the schedule. That's a very
very nice way that it all played out for Minnesota,
does tougher Man. We've talked a lot about how Cleveland
kind of got the for the their first not that
we're crying for them, but the first six or.

Speaker 5 (20:03):
Seven weeks, difficult opponents.

Speaker 3 (20:05):
Difficult opponents. They're losing a home game to play the Vikings,
who are gonna be.

Speaker 5 (20:09):
He steer a week, But yeah, but you'd rather be
in the front end of that against the Vikings on
the back end.

Speaker 3 (20:14):
And then Cleveland comes home and they got to play
in Pittsburgh. They don't get a bye week. They don't
even get a home game.

Speaker 5 (20:19):
Everyone hits a bye after going overseas. And maybe the
Browns requested, they didn't And I've been told that the
Steelers requested they didn't get one either because they didn't
want one that early, that early, which I would understand.
But boy, if you had, like the Bears come in
to town next week, you wouldn't love that.

Speaker 4 (20:35):
No, you would not. You certainly would not. Matt another.

Speaker 3 (20:41):
Matt stats that I wanted to run by you here,
and we're starting to run out of time in today's show,
so I wanted to make sure I get this one in.
The Steelers opponents have twenty one more first downs, thirty
more rushing attempts, two hundred and twenty nine more rushing yards,
for an average of one and a half more yards
per rush than the Steelers do.

Speaker 5 (21:02):
Yeah. I mean that's all time possession stuff.

Speaker 3 (21:04):
That's you know, that's problematic for anybody, for anybody, but
especially again when kind of getting back to where we
started the show a couple hours ago. When you're an
offense that wants to be predicated on running the.

Speaker 5 (21:14):
Foot play, yeah yeah, And as good as Rogers is
and could be, you're not going to be a top
ten passing offense, just not. I mean, look around the league.
I mean, you're not going to compete.

Speaker 3 (21:24):
With such a mark Chason T. Higgins, Jordan Addison and
Justin Jefferson, right.

Speaker 5 (21:29):
And elite quarterbacks and all those things. And to me,
that stat just screams they're losing too many downs on
a down to down basis. And we mentioned, you know,
they're really good at creating splash, especially on defense and turnovers,
and I have a thousand percent that they're as good
as any team out there, and they stress it and

(21:51):
that's great. But if you're still losing on first and
ten time and time again, if those are six yard
runs and you're getting two yard runs, so it's your turn.
It's if it hasn't taken its toll yet, then it hasn't.
Because they're two and one. It will soon if you
keep it up. It just will.

Speaker 4 (22:09):
It absolutely will.

Speaker 3 (22:10):
And kind of piggyback off of that, the Steelers have
actually been outscored by five points this season if.

Speaker 4 (22:16):
You add up their their aggregate.

Speaker 3 (22:18):
Point totals Minnesota plus twenty five and now by that
massive thirty eight point win over Cincinnati last week. But
you know this, this to me is a real again
getting back to early in the season. It is easy
to say it's September. You know, it's an extension of

(22:39):
the preseason. We talked a lot about that with Bob
Labriola the first week or two. But this is the
point now where the rubber has to meet the road.
This is the point now. You know, I make this
reference a lot. It doesn't have to be a Mona Lisa,
it doesn't have to be a work of art, but
you need those trends are starting to develop, and for me,
most of them for the run game are concerning a

(23:01):
lot of other areas you can point to and you
can say it's either good or it's getting there.

Speaker 5 (23:05):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, but the right direction or at least
I can see the light at the end of the tunnel,
you know, right.

Speaker 4 (23:10):
I am.

Speaker 3 (23:11):
I'm hoping regardless of what the score is on Sunday,
and we're getting back on that plane Monday morning. We're
feeling better about the run game, that to me would
almost mean as much as a victory.

Speaker 4 (23:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (23:22):
I forget how Mike Pursuda mentioned it to me on
the morning show, but he said, what if the run
game is noticeably better and more consistent and you don't
see you see more down to down consistency and defense
is pretty stout, but in the end you lose on
the last second field goal or whatever. Sure, is that
a promising turn of events or not. I'm like, I

(23:44):
think that's.

Speaker 3 (23:45):
A promising heading into the bye week, I would say,
especially yeah.

Speaker 5 (23:48):
And then speaking on the by he kind of had
a two part question. He said something along the lines
of what if things are a disaster and you get
to win. I'm like, well, that wouldn't That would start
to worry me because we're getting to the point where
the season where I can't the excuses are they're not
facts or excuses. Now, Yeah, you know, like you've played

(24:11):
too much football, But at least you have that entire
bye week to work on it, you know what I mean? Like,
if things are bad on Sunday, and I'm not suggesting
they will be, but they might be. Any game could be,
I would think we'll spend a lot of time doing
our bye week shows, saying, well, times are tough, but
at least you have this long stretch. Go back to

(24:32):
the drawing board, get it right. Do some self scouting,
as teams do during the bye. How is everyone attacking us?
How are we handling it? Where are weak spots? Maybe
get a little healthier, you know, high Smith or whoever
or Porter Elliott doesn't play an out there. Yeah, you
would hope they're back by then. So I told him,
you know, he said, should I just like get in

(24:53):
line to jump off the bridge or should I just
jump off the bridge? And I said, just get in line,
you know. I mean, let's let's get the coaching ask
some credit for what they can do after the bye,
even if Sunday is disastrous, you.

Speaker 4 (25:05):
Know, and and listen.

Speaker 3 (25:07):
A lot like that is commonplace for a lot of
teams that end up having successful seasons.

Speaker 4 (25:13):
The Philadelphia Eagles were a mess at their bye week.
Oh Aj Brown and Jalen Hurts were bickering with each
other in the in the meat you remember that A. J.

Speaker 3 (25:21):
Brown was asked, what's your guys biggest issue right now?
And he said passing?

Speaker 5 (25:24):
Passing?

Speaker 3 (25:25):
I mean like there was there was a lot going
on there, and then they looked like world beaters and
rolled through a Super Bowl, right, I mean the Chiefs.
I always remember this, Matt and like Motes and I
used to laugh about this when we would bring up
examples like this.

Speaker 4 (25:41):
The year that the Chiefs.

Speaker 3 (25:45):
Won their first Super Bowl, so twenty twenty, right before
COVID hit in February of twenty twenty, when they when
they won that first Super Bowl for Andy Reid, for Mahomes.
Year after losing in the AFC Championship game in overtime
at home to Brady, Right, they the Chiefs heading into
that next seat, so they they bring Mahomes in, They
have a good year, They go to the AFC Championship Game,

(26:06):
they lose in overtime to the Patriots and Tom Brady.
The next season they were seven and five thirteen games
in before they won the rest of their games the
rest of the way, I believe, the regular season, end
of the playoffs, there were newspaper articles and you know,
the the Jerry Dulax and Mike Pursudas of the world
were writing articles in Kansas City, it's time to get
rid of Andy Reid.

Speaker 4 (26:25):
Yeah, like he's he can get your close. He can
get you good.

Speaker 3 (26:28):
But like, come on, like you're not you're you're not
taking a step forward with Patrick Mahomes in his third year.
Now you're just in THEFC Championship game seven and five
around Thanksgiving, it's time to make a change. And they
win the super Bowl and then win two more and
go four the year. You know, they're there every year.
So teams are allowed to get much better and improve,
you know, even after Halloween. But you have to start

(26:51):
seeing it at some point. It's not just gonna come
out of nowhere.

Speaker 5 (26:54):
A thousand and you'd like to see noticeable improvement this week. Now.
I'm in favor, especially with an older team like this,
that a later bye week could be better than earlier one.
I'm with you, you know, like coming back it could
be a grind. But if the down to down stuff
is bad, maybe you welcome the early bye week and

(27:15):
just say we need to fix stuff now. You know.

Speaker 4 (27:18):
It's a pretty good point.

Speaker 5 (27:19):
Yeah, and we have we have depth. Maybe we can
handle you know, coming off a bye a little healthier.
Trust some of these dudes that got thrown into the
action early to spell some of the older guys, the
echoes of the world. Guys like that that have played well,
the Echually's and those type of guys black and you know,

(27:40):
we've seen some of them in the first month and
they vote basically passed that test that we can give
Cam Hayward December snaps off, if we could fix the
running games, ring the bye week or you know what
I mean?

Speaker 4 (27:52):
Yes, you know which is important?

Speaker 5 (27:53):
It's important.

Speaker 3 (27:54):
Yeah, Matt, I've got two things, you know, and we've
got a couple of minutes left in this segment and
then one more segment to go. Two things that I
want to discuss with you before we get out of here, Kay,
Carson Wentz because you got to talk about a redhead
when you're in Ireland, obviously. The second is the Steelers'
final practice report just came out like seconds ago.

Speaker 4 (28:11):
You want that right now or you want to use
it on the other side, So let's do it right now. Okay? Good?
You want good news? Are bad news? First? Bad?

Speaker 3 (28:19):
Joey Porter Junior, Jalen Warren, and John new Smith all
listed as questionable for Sunday.

Speaker 5 (28:24):
Ooh that John new One and Warren are kind of.

Speaker 3 (28:26):
Newish, not great. I think we all expected that for
Joey Porter Junior.

Speaker 5 (28:29):
Right, that's not shocked.

Speaker 3 (28:30):
But Jalen Warren and John new Smith both limited in
practice all week and are listed is questionable going into Sunday.

Speaker 5 (28:37):
You hate being that reliant on one running back at
a position you can find guys, but they would be
in a lot of trouble without.

Speaker 4 (28:45):
Warren, big lot.

Speaker 3 (28:47):
I mean, other than Aaron Rodgers. He might be the
one guy on offense they could afford to lose the least.

Speaker 4 (28:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (28:51):
As much as I like Baltanu and Fraser and Metcalf
and all those guys, I mean, there's a conversation that
Warren's as valuable as anyone, which is a fragile position
to be And you don't want to be that reliant
on a running back. And I like Warren, but he's
not Walter Payton, you know what I mean?

Speaker 3 (29:05):
Correct, Correct, He's not Barry Sanders, right right, right, Good
news though, we need some good news. Yeah to Shaun Elliott,
no injury designition set to return.

Speaker 5 (29:13):
Cool. I think that's great. Hawkinson has really stepped up
for them this last week. Teams are attacking the middle
of the field from what I've been told, and no
one should be surprised. Elliott is really the communicator on
that back end. He's the quarterback of the secondary, so
even the mental stuff would be helpful. He's a very
good run defender as well, quality player. So I wonder,

(29:37):
and maybe this is post by, I think Clark's role
diminishes massively because Pepper. I think Pepper's goes ahead of
Clark flat out. But that was easier to say when
they were both. All three of them are strong, you know,
strong safeties. Now I wonder can Pepper's even put a
dent in Thornhill's. Yeah, I could write the story where

(30:02):
Elliott and Peppers are your best two safeties, you know.
And I don't dislike thorn Hill. Clark worries you need
to know end. I don't think he runs well enough.
And I think Clark all of a sudden we'll be
phased out or maybe even like to motor to the
practice squad before you know it or who knows, you know.
But I wonder is Thornhill not in trouble? But does

(30:22):
he not as good as Peppers? Which would be a
good problem, Like, I mean, this unpossible.

Speaker 3 (30:29):
Sure, I think I think that there is a certainly
certainly plenty of there to uh to get into. As
our buddy Chris Hallick from dk Pittsburgh sports off and
walks into the Fitz seven. We got one segment to
go after this. You want to you want to hop on?
All right, sweet, that'll be a great way to close
it down. We'll have our buddy Chris Hallick uh join
us to wrap this thing up on the other side

(30:49):
from an electric Fitzsimon's Temple Bar here in Dublin. Wes mculler,
Matto Williamson back for one more segment with you to
wrap this thing up and we return on the other
It's the Drive on Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio.

Speaker 1 (31:03):
Network, your tunes about Drive on your twenty four to
seven home of the Black and Goal Steelers Nation Radio.

Speaker 4 (31:21):
Our final segment here on this Friday from Fitzsimon's Temple
Bar in Dublin. We will be back tomorrow along with
the DV Morning Show.

Speaker 3 (31:28):
We're doing Geez Matt, what like six seven, eight, nine
hours of live shows here every day.

Speaker 5 (31:34):
Yeah, they've been great. Host hard tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (31:37):
Oh, we sure are literally and figuratively as uh. It's funny.
We were like we were just laughing. Man, this place,
it kind of like died down for like.

Speaker 5 (31:45):
An app maybe the relatively speaking, like the morning.

Speaker 4 (31:48):
The morning crew kind of cleared out right, and now
the evening crew is starting to roll in.

Speaker 5 (31:53):
Got a lot louder in the last fifteen minutes or so.

Speaker 3 (31:55):
Yeah, it sure did, it absolutely sure did. But it's uh,
it's picking up. It's getting a little bit, getting a
little little little bit louder here as we you know,
as we as we get towards evening time here on
a Friday night in Dublin and joining us now with
a fresh point in his hand. He is He is
one of our regulars on the show. Covers the stillers

(32:17):
for dk Pittsburgh Sports Chris Hallick, Chris, what's up, dude?

Speaker 4 (32:21):
What's the crack?

Speaker 5 (32:22):
Oh my gosh, man, it is awesome here is unbelievable.

Speaker 6 (32:26):
It's awesome. I really cannot get over. This is like
my first time in Ireland all together. But man, all
three of us six. Not only is does the guinness
just taste so much better here? Wonderful, but the excitement
over this game. I've talked with a number of people
even here at Fitzsimmons, and then, uh, you know, just

(32:48):
throughout the city. Just the excitement here is just awesome.
And I'm I'm it's got me stoke for the game.
And I'm I'm like, I'm going there covering it as
a journalist.

Speaker 4 (32:57):
Right, how can you not get caught up.

Speaker 7 (33:00):
A lot of fun?

Speaker 5 (33:00):
It's just a lot of fun.

Speaker 4 (33:01):
Were you at practice today?

Speaker 7 (33:03):
Yes?

Speaker 4 (33:03):
Talk to us about practice and the setting there where
the Steelers are staying. Dude, it looks crazy like a castle.

Speaker 3 (33:08):
No.

Speaker 6 (33:08):
I mean, the first off, the grass, like the pitch,
the pitch you have to use the right, the right
ling over here, the pitch was immaculate, Like, is it different?
It's not the same grass that we have over on
the South. They didn't think so, Yeah, it was. It
was really cool and I was really paying attention to
like how are the players, like how are they acclimating?

Speaker 7 (33:29):
And I actually thought that they looked pretty awake.

Speaker 5 (33:34):
Really.

Speaker 7 (33:34):
They didn't look like they.

Speaker 6 (33:35):
Were groggy and like they were being dragged out there,
like oh god, yeah, no, no, no, they actually looked like
they were there and.

Speaker 5 (33:42):
Energetic and excited for a practice. And I'm sure they
had them sleep as much as humanly possible, but who knows.

Speaker 7 (33:47):
You know, it was it was good.

Speaker 4 (33:49):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (33:49):
I actually I thought it was a pretty good practice.
They didn't do anything like crazy. They didn't have helmets
on or.

Speaker 7 (33:55):
Anything like that.

Speaker 6 (33:55):
I didn't expect it to come out full pads and
stuff like that, but.

Speaker 7 (33:59):
I think they got their work end that they wanted
to get into.

Speaker 4 (34:01):
Today.

Speaker 5 (34:01):
Well, let's talk a little bit about it. Though we
mentioned it quickly. Sounds like Elliott is back, Yes, Is
it time to worry about John hu or Warren or
do you think that's just precautionary.

Speaker 7 (34:12):
Well, they're officially questionable for the game.

Speaker 6 (34:15):
So I whenever I saw the injury designation come across
for both of those guys in the jury report, I'm like, Okay,
this isn't just vet rest, like they're actually going with
some stuff.

Speaker 7 (34:25):
And the big.

Speaker 6 (34:26):
Concern with Jalen Warren really is like, Okay, you want
him to be the feature back.

Speaker 7 (34:30):
He looks like a feature back out there.

Speaker 6 (34:32):
But then also at the same time, the big concern
with him has been durability.

Speaker 5 (34:37):
You know, even when he hand.

Speaker 7 (34:40):
He's played a lot of games.

Speaker 6 (34:41):
I think he's only missed three games in his career,
but he's been less than a hundred percent, you know,
a decent amount, you know, a little too often, so
I'm a bit concerned about it.

Speaker 5 (34:50):
But we were saying he's more critical than ever. I mean,
you're being really rough shape without Warren right now.

Speaker 6 (34:57):
I mean Caleb Johnson, like he's obvious not been in
a really good like headspace, like especially ever since the
return issue. And you kind of wonder, like, is he
gonna be like if Warren can't go for whatever reason,
like you're gonna have to lean on him. Are you
gonna bring Trey Sermon up to immediately becoming RB three?
I mean, it's possible.

Speaker 5 (35:18):
He's here.

Speaker 7 (35:19):
I mean, you can do that.

Speaker 5 (35:20):
But and I would think you want to run the
ball a lot in this game to get Flores out
of his crazy zone. You know, you would like to, Yeah,
you would love.

Speaker 6 (35:26):
To be able to run the ball and then be
able to dictate what Floraes does on the defensive side
and not just allow him to just throw everything he
has at you.

Speaker 3 (35:33):
I do want to talk with you about that a
little bit more, but but first let's get to that
kind of I guess good news of the day, if
you will to Shaun Elliott, no more injury designation.

Speaker 4 (35:43):
Good to go? How important is that gonna be for
the secondary?

Speaker 6 (35:46):
Uh, that's huge, And I know there's like some concern
from fans at least on our app whenever they get
questions like, okay, but ja Brow Pepper has looked really
really good. Know they kind of play the same position. Well, yeah,
but that's a great problem to have.

Speaker 5 (36:01):
We were just talking about that little Now you don't have.

Speaker 6 (36:02):
To worry about rushing Deshaun Elliott back to play this
insanley high snap count you can have. Hey, you know,
we don't want to go too fast, too soon. We
want to make sure he's healthy. We can put Peppers
out there for a certain number of snaps, and again,
when you have too many good players, then what can
be on the field at the same time. It's a
great problem any team will take. But it's still been

(36:23):
I mean, Deshaun Elliott, his impact is very, very clear.
It's great for them to have him back, for sure.
But again, that's just a great problem for the Steelers
to have.

Speaker 5 (36:32):
I'm getting the point where the least Chuck Clark I
see the better. To be honest, I know that sounds rough,
but with Peppers, Thornhill now Elliott back, I think Peppers
could even I know they played different positions even challenge
Thornhill for snaps and some packages, let alone, really relegate
Clark to a backup role, I mean a total backup role.

Speaker 6 (36:54):
Well, the thing that I'm wondering, the thing that I'm
wondering about that is Chuck Clark played more snaps than
one thorn.

Speaker 5 (37:01):
Hill last week. I know, I'm wondering where Thornhill fits
in at the moment.

Speaker 6 (37:05):
Because you know, Elliott's not a free guy and pepperis
is in a free guy.

Speaker 5 (37:09):
So like, are we gonna see less single high That's
what I've been I'm hoping. I mean, they're so static
with their single high stuff, you know, I.

Speaker 6 (37:18):
Mean I would I would like to think, and I
have a pretty good hunch that the Steelers have more
too high looks in their defensive playbook than what we've
seen so far. At the same time, I still think
that I think I think, yeah, a single team, whether
it's Cover one or Cover three, I think they are
more of a single high team.

Speaker 7 (37:38):
But hopefully we see more too high looks.

Speaker 3 (37:41):
Certainly think that that is a possibility. And I'm with
you guys there it is. Chris Halleck of DK Pittsburgh
Sports with us here. Yeah, I was gonna say, I'm
trying to this is me trying to cover time for you,
so you could take a sip of your of your
delicious frosty beverage.

Speaker 4 (37:55):
Let's go.

Speaker 3 (37:55):
Okay, So going back to that run game thing, Listen
Vikings have some super stars on their roster, particularly on
the offensive side of the ball, but it like, it
feels like the biggest key of the game for the
Steelers is just the run game. We have yet to
see it really fine footing, really grow and progress and
have an real impact on a game. It kind of
looked that way at the start at Foxborough last week,

(38:17):
right first drive was encouraging, and then reverted to what
we had seen the first two games. I know it's
kind of very simple, like very black and white, But
is that the biggest key of the game from a Steelers'
perspective is just establishing that run in line of scrimmage.

Speaker 6 (38:29):
I think it's the biggest key for them. Almost doesn't
matter who the opponent is, because I.

Speaker 5 (38:33):
Think it's the biggest key for the Sea the season
for sure.

Speaker 6 (38:35):
Like, well, yeah, I was just gonna go this team,
I don't remember what the exact number is, but I
looked at it earlier this week and I think according
to Fantasy points, the Steelers are seeing like the six
or seventh highest amount of two high looks from defenses
throughout the league. Like they're seeing a lot of too
high looks and that is pretty much the defenses. And
you know you're gonna get it from Flores because that's.

Speaker 5 (38:55):
What the Vikings do. Good point, but they're.

Speaker 6 (38:57):
Pretty much telling the Steelers, hey, we're gonna played two
safeties back here.

Speaker 7 (39:01):
I dare you to run the ball. And right now,
the Steelers aren't doing that.

Speaker 6 (39:04):
Yeah, and until they forced defenses to bring an extra
guy down.

Speaker 5 (39:10):
But to there throwing it behind the line of scrimmage
and that kind of stuff because they don't trust the
run game. But it's opportune looks to run the ball,
and they're not successful at.

Speaker 7 (39:18):
No they have to.

Speaker 6 (39:19):
So what they have to do is they I think
back to like when they were running the ball so
well in the one twenty twenty.

Speaker 7 (39:26):
Three game against the Seahawks.

Speaker 6 (39:28):
It's like it didn't matter what the Seahawks were doing,
they couldn't stay one step ahead of the Steelers because
they were running the ball very effectively, and as soon
as the Seahawks started trying to come up and take
that away, because I think they were trying to initially
take away the deep ball because of what they had
seen with Mason Rudolph George Dickens in the pass that
they were like, Okay, we're going to take that away.

(39:48):
But then the Steelers started running the ball, forcing the
Seahawks to bring a team, bring an extra guy down,
and then that's whenever they're able to hit the downsfield passes.
This offense needs to do the same thing they needed
to force defenses of bring an extra guy into the box,
because by running the football, then when we're talking about
all this downfield passing stuff, you'll see that open up
more often if they can run the ball.

Speaker 7 (40:08):
Aaron Rodgers said the same thing today. He's like, we
got to run the ball.

Speaker 5 (40:11):
It's funny that you mentioned the too high looks they're seeing.
I don't look at that as a compliment that we're
so afraid of your deep ball. I think it's more
a slap in the face and we're not afraid of
your run game. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 6 (40:25):
That could absolutely be part because I think when defenses defenses,
ideally in today's NFL, with how much cover flow there
is and how much too high there is. Ideally, if
a defense can be like, we're gonna run too high
and still stop the run, then that's like that's goalie. Yeah,
that's exactly. And right now the Steelers are playing into that.

(40:46):
They're they're not forcing defenses to adjust.

Speaker 7 (40:49):
And that's a problem. Until that's taken care of.

Speaker 6 (40:52):
It's you got to run the ball, just like you're saying,
was she got to run the ball?

Speaker 4 (40:57):
Chris.

Speaker 3 (40:58):
I want to ask to you a little bit of
your thoughts on Carson Wentz as well too. I can
kind of see both sides of this equation. I think
you could argue it. You could say, man, this stinks
like JJ McCarthy for all intents and purposes as a rookie.
He's made you can count the amount of starts he's
made in his career on one hand. But Carson Wentz
is also still a backup and a journeyman for a reason.
Small sample size so far this year, just the one game.

(41:21):
What's that going to be like? Game planning for him?
And do you think it might actually be a greater
challenge for the Steelers than if it was JJ McCarthy.

Speaker 6 (41:28):
Listen, I understand there's a lot there are a lot
of fans that are like, oh great, we get the
back of Carson.

Speaker 4 (41:33):
He's a redhead in Dublin here, come on, man.

Speaker 6 (41:37):
Even outside of that, listen, before he had his injury
on that Eagles team that won the Super.

Speaker 7 (41:45):
Bowl, he was playing at an MVP.

Speaker 6 (41:47):
Level, like he was playing a really, really good football
And I understand that.

Speaker 7 (41:53):
No, it's not the same it's not the same guy
that he was back then.

Speaker 6 (41:57):
But at the same time, he's got Kevin O'Connor as
his coach, very very brilliant offensive mind. He's got Justin
Jefferson to throw to, Jordan Natas to throw to TJ.
Howcketts in the throw to Like, he's got weapons, He's
got a great offensive mine who knows how to get
those guys open. All Carson Wentz has to do is
play with instructure.

Speaker 7 (42:16):
And he's been in the league long enough or he
can do that.

Speaker 6 (42:19):
He can play with instructure, he can operate it within
an offense totally. I don't think that this is one
of those games where you're like, oh, great, we have
the backup end.

Speaker 7 (42:27):
This should No, I don't think it's that type of
a game at all.

Speaker 5 (42:29):
And you and I haven't had this conversation yet because
we talk three hours, but we didn't quite get to it,
and you popped in and we're like, oh, let's put
Chris on it, so to what Chris was saying. But
even to take this step further, I think O'Connell has
really had to trim his playbook. And his playbook is brilliant.
It's it's a Shakespeare novel. I mean, it's wonderful. It's

(42:51):
a Mona Lisa even using that a lot. And I
think now a lot of chapters that haven't been explored
are going to be open for this game because now
we have went you know, he might not be Kirk
Cousins or what you know, some of the other older
guys they've had, But like Donald, I can do all
my stuff as a coach.

Speaker 4 (43:08):
You know. Interesting that makes a lot of sense he does.

Speaker 5 (43:11):
Which makes them harder to play against.

Speaker 4 (43:12):
Totals totally totally, because I.

Speaker 5 (43:15):
Fear O'Connell more than I fear or either one of
their quarterbacks.

Speaker 3 (43:17):
Yes, yes, yeah, it's like the one thing on their
roster that maybe you don't fear is the quarterbacks, which
is odd for a team that won fourteen games last year,
but I guess that's the reason why Sam Darnold got
that money from Seattle.

Speaker 4 (43:28):
Chris.

Speaker 3 (43:29):
As we start to wind this thing out, you mentioned
first time in Ireland.

Speaker 4 (43:32):
Correct, all three of us in the same boat there.

Speaker 3 (43:35):
Matt and I were talking a little bit in the
first hour, like swapping, so we did one segment where
we just talked about Ireland.

Speaker 4 (43:41):
So far. It is a work trip for all of us,
but obviously it's it's not covering a game in Cincinnati
or Carolina skyline, right, Like we'll all be looking forward
to going to Chicago in La later on in the year,
but it ain't Dublin, and.

Speaker 3 (43:56):
It it's not this talk to us just a little
bit about what you've seen around the city, what you've
done so far, and what you're looking forward to doing
while while we're still here.

Speaker 6 (44:05):
I have, unfortunately, have not gotten a chance to do
a lot of personal things just yet, just because I've like,
ever since I got here, it's been working practice and yeah.

Speaker 7 (44:15):
Yeah, so I've kind of been going all over like
for work.

Speaker 6 (44:18):
But I think tomorrow I'm finally gonna get a chance
to to kind of look at I'm.

Speaker 7 (44:22):
Gonna go to Guinness tomorrow and and become.

Speaker 5 (44:24):
Are you a certified poor of Guinness?

Speaker 4 (44:29):
And I got my picture printed in like the foam
on the top.

Speaker 7 (44:33):
You gotta teach everybody back in the States how to
do this.

Speaker 4 (44:36):
The best changed my life forever. Man.

Speaker 7 (44:38):
Yeah, I mean it was.

Speaker 4 (44:39):
It was so cool here.

Speaker 7 (44:41):
That's amazing. Oh that's your picturing. That's awesome. No, I
mean so I'm gonna do that tomorrow.

Speaker 6 (44:49):
I'm gonna try to get some shots on the countryside.

Speaker 7 (44:52):
Just go somewhere and just get some pictures.

Speaker 6 (44:56):
Part of my my duties here is also a big
a good husband because my wife.

Speaker 7 (45:00):
Unfortunately couldn't come with me. And Ireland has.

Speaker 6 (45:02):
Been at the top of her bucket list, okay for
like forever, and she is insanely jealous that I'm here,
and she's like riding that line between like I hate you,
but please send me everything.

Speaker 4 (45:12):
That you see.

Speaker 5 (45:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (45:13):
So I am going to be continued to do that
as well whenever I get that done. So it's been
it's been a great experience so far. And I'm I'm
these five days are gonna go by so fast.

Speaker 7 (45:26):
But it's been it's been great.

Speaker 5 (45:27):
So like when we go to the combine, they'll take
us to an awesome dinner and I'll like take pictures
of it and send the fam this is and they're
they're like, we have nothing in the fridge. We've been
eating these. We got a couple of four grapes in
the fridge. I hate you. So she's talk quite to
that point with your wife, but she's jealous, but she
wants the pictures of them.

Speaker 6 (45:45):
She she's obviously really happy and like, I'm like determined now,
like we are going to come back here for a
non work related to like it's gonna be like your vacation,
and who knows, maybe we'll even include a trip across
to the other island over here. I'm to the UK too,
but No Ireland's been at the top of her list
and I'm kind of trying to do what I can.

Speaker 5 (46:07):
You're a scouting mission for yeah, scouting right now as
well too.

Speaker 3 (46:11):
Yeah, it's it's been incredible.

Speaker 4 (46:14):
I mean, it absolutely is.

Speaker 3 (46:16):
And and just last thing before we go, how about
I know this surprise is absolutely no one because it's
what we do, it's everywhere we go. But how about
the Steeler Nation presence here in Dublin, dude, it is.
It's overwheeling, it's overwhelming. It's on all the all the
buildings down here in the downtown district. There's Welcome to
Steelers Country banners hanging everywhere you go, people wearing Steeler stuff.

(46:37):
I told Matt when I went to Guinness today, like
I walked past Saint Patrick's Cathedral and Trinity College, two
big tourist locations as well, eighty percent of the people
in lines for those things are wearing Steelers gear as well. Again,
it doesn't surprise anybody, but it's still it blows you
away when you see it.

Speaker 6 (46:53):
You absolutely, So I was a little skeptical because I
know how much of the Vikings like they're how big
their fan base is like in the UK, and so
it's it's not a long flight to come over here.
It's less than an hour from Manchester, it's an hour
from London.

Speaker 7 (47:09):
Like, It's it's not far.

Speaker 6 (47:11):
And on my flight from I had a layover in
Rakavic Iceland before coming over here, and my flight from
Raykvic to Dublin had more Vikings fans on it than
Steelers fans.

Speaker 7 (47:20):
So I'm like maybe this will be more even split.

Speaker 6 (47:22):
Yeah, no, like I got here, and yes, definitely over
in this like Temple Bar area, there are more Steelers fans.

Speaker 7 (47:29):
But even when you go further down to where the.

Speaker 6 (47:31):
Vikings Pub is, like, you still see a lot of
Steelers fans over there too. So I do think that
when we get to Croke Park on Sunday afternoon, we
are going to see more Steelers fans here than Vikings fans.
But I think you're gonna see great representation from both
fan base for sure. And I think that's exactly like
like both Art Rooney, Andy and already talked about it
today where they want this to be a.

Speaker 7 (47:53):
Launching pad for future games here too.

Speaker 6 (47:55):
It's not just it's not just a one and done
deal where it's one game in Dublin.

Speaker 5 (47:59):
Oh remember that one.

Speaker 4 (48:00):
Look what's happened to London.

Speaker 3 (48:01):
I mean they have multiple games there now, a multiple
stadiums every year.

Speaker 7 (48:04):
Yeah, and that's what they want for Dublin.

Speaker 6 (48:06):
Maybe not quite on the London scale, sure, but at
least have a game here, whether it be every year,
every other year, whatever it is. They want Dublin to
be part of this rotation. That's part of the NFL
International Yeah.

Speaker 4 (48:18):
I think we would all agree.

Speaker 3 (48:19):
We'll sign every other year when the Steelers have the
extra home game, we'll all sign up to come back here,
you know, every twenty four months or so and do
this again. Chris Alec DK Pittsburgh Sports one of our
regular guests here on the Drive, but we're doing it
on location in Dublin, as he takes one more ship
of his delicious Guinness.

Speaker 4 (48:36):
Thank you for the time, dude, and have some fun.

Speaker 7 (48:38):
Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.

Speaker 4 (48:39):
Guys that will do it for our show today.

Speaker 3 (48:41):
We will be back with you tomorrow with more here
from the FitzSimons Temple Bar. Big shout out to Steeler Nation,
and a big thank you to our guy Justin back
at the ranch like five hours behind.

Speaker 4 (48:52):
Us producing this whole thing.

Speaker 5 (48:53):
Nice Justin.

Speaker 4 (48:54):
Big thanks to Justin.

Speaker 3 (48:55):
If you are a Steeler fan who's getting into Dublin
today or tomorrow morning, make sure you come out and
see us tomorrow here at fitz Simons. It's been a
blast and it's only going to get better from this point.
For Matt Williamson, I'm Wes Shuhler. Take care everybody, Oh
Williamson and mick Yueler will talk to you tomorrow.

Speaker 4 (49:13):
As always.

Speaker 3 (49:13):
You know where I'm gonna keep saying that is the
whole weekend while we're here. In fact, my halftime report
on the broadcast, i'm gonna say, I'm Wesley mckuler.

Speaker 4 (49:20):
Here at Rok Park.

Speaker 3 (49:23):
It is the Drive on Steelers Nation Radio on the
Steelers Audio Network