HR1: Pro Bowl Bound

Matt and Dale review the injury reports for the Bengals and Steelers, critique the 2024 Pro Bowl selections for the AFC and NFC, and much more.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
This is the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson
on your twenty four to seven home of the Black
and Gold cast in Steelers Nation Radio.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Well, Happy New Year, Happy New Year.

Speaker 3 (00:18):
This is the Drive on the Steelers Audio Network. Of
course we didn't do a show yesterday because it was
New Year's Day, but we're back at it today, fresh
new year, wiped a slate clean, and uh well, we
have a Steelers injury report. Yeah, we're today, great place
to start. The only guy on the injury report who
is actually on the active roster who has any injury

(00:41):
designation for this game for the Pittsburgh Steelers game being
Saturday night against the Cincinnati Bengals, is Dante Jackson, the cornerback.
He was limited the last two days of the back issue,
but he said he is playing.

Speaker 4 (00:54):
Okay, great, great, Obviously you made those qualifiers. You're not
talking about the Holcombs of the world.

Speaker 3 (01:02):
All out for this game. And I tweeted the tweeted
the injury report out. We're exited out. What do you
call that?

Speaker 2 (01:08):
I still call it Twitter.

Speaker 3 (01:09):
It's it's the ex Twitter.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
Yeah, it's what it is.

Speaker 3 (01:12):
So I put that out there earlier today a little
bit a little bit while ago, and immediately I get
what's going on. Why isn't Room and Wilson active? Oh?

Speaker 2 (01:21):
I know, I've been getting a lot of Room and
Wilson feedback.

Speaker 3 (01:23):
He's practiced like three weeks this season totally all season,
including camp, right, including training camp, and you expect him
to just hop right in here and jump right out
there and play who are you playing him over?

Speaker 2 (01:34):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:34):
Tell me who?

Speaker 4 (01:35):
Give me give me an idea who you're playing him over? Well,
that's the thing. I mean, like, you're not going to
take scronica of the mix. I mean, he's a key
special teamer. Yeah, Mike Williams, No, I mean I don't think.
I mean, you need big bodies, You only need another
little guy.

Speaker 3 (01:48):
You might say, well, Scotty Miller.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
Well, Scotty Miller, Yeah, he's not always active anyway, No,
he is. He does. I mean, I guess most of
the time.

Speaker 3 (01:55):
But Scotty Miller. Earlier this season when they needed to
back up Hole, he did it, and they needed to
back up Gunner, he did it.

Speaker 2 (02:04):
And I say the gunner things more important than the holder.

Speaker 3 (02:06):
I mean, the guys around unless you don't have another holder,
right right, But no, you're not gonna suddenly go you
know what, Scottie, thanks a lot for everything, but you're
going to be an active this week. So we're going
to bring up the kid that hasn't done anything all
season long, just because the fans are crazy about it.

Speaker 4 (02:23):
I know, I know, and I'm totally in your corner
and I understand it. What would Wilson have to do
in practice to make that a discussion.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
But he have to be just lighted up or that
was even possible that would help. I mean, at this.

Speaker 3 (02:37):
Point, now you're he's running scout team stuff. There's here's
the thing, folks. They activated those three players.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
And he's not a run with the ones.

Speaker 3 (02:45):
No, right, right, They activated Wilson, Holcombe and Lee at
this point because they had nothing to lose. They have
nothing to lose if you have an injury. Now all
these teams are gonna do that. Yeah, the smart ones
are right because you've got you You've got these You've
got these spots where you can bring these guys back.
You get eight of them during the regular season, get
twenty one days. Yeah yeah, I think you get two

(03:06):
more in the postseason. Oh really, but you got eight
of them. So you got to use them.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
As well, or they don't carry over next year.

Speaker 3 (03:12):
Okay, then you have twenty one days. Well, that takes
you through this week, That takes you through next week,
which is the first week in your playoffs. It takes
you through the following week, which is the second week
of the playoffs. Yeah, and then you get to make
a decision about, well, are we going to put this
guy in the active roster or are we just going
to have them done for the year. Yeah, because at
that point, if you make it that far, you've only
got two games potentially left.

Speaker 2 (03:32):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (03:32):
Yeah, I mean, and in the meantime, Wilson's out there
running against get better. Yeah, you're getting a better look
at him and Lee except I mean, I'm thinking about
those two because they're both young. You have both rookies
right right, But it's not goal number one. Let's put
them right out there. Let's put Logan, Let's work on
Logan Lee's hands placements all day Wednesday and Thursday.

Speaker 2 (03:50):
No, you got to beat the you know, the upcoming
teams here. You know, let's see what we got in
Roman Wilson in the playoffs. Let's see what he can do.

Speaker 4 (03:57):
Yeah, come on, I understand the excitement, folks, I do too,
but there's those logistics behind.

Speaker 3 (04:01):
Him to break. The guy misseding olive training camp and
then he practiced for three weeks earlier in the season.
They finally got him into a game and then he
got hurt again. Yeah, like to expect this guy to
jump on I mean, you want to talk about jumping
on a moving train, like, come on, he's a rookie.

Speaker 2 (04:18):
Yeah, it's not a knock on him at all.

Speaker 3 (04:20):
No.

Speaker 4 (04:20):
Right, if by chance he would be active in any
of these stretch over the twenty one days, he's probably
blowing their doors off, you.

Speaker 3 (04:27):
Know, Or it's because the other guy's got hurt, right,
exactly exactly, that's what that's what you would do.

Speaker 2 (04:32):
It takes that role or whatever, but.

Speaker 3 (04:34):
You're not going to force it. I mean, it's just
it would be silly at this point to do so.
And what kind of message would it send the rest
of your locker room? Or we're gonna bring Roman Wilson
up now and we're gonna cut Scotty Miller.

Speaker 4 (04:46):
Yeah, yeah, because that's what you'd have to do, somebody.

Speaker 3 (04:49):
Else would have to go and yeah, again that sends
a bad message. Well, Scotty. We love you. We carried
you all all season long. He made some big catches
for us, like, for example, in the Jets game.

Speaker 2 (05:00):
But he has value. Yeah, but you're gone. Yeah. It
doesn't send a great message. No, it doesn't. I mean again,
Wilson would have to blow your doors.

Speaker 3 (05:09):
He would have if he were your first round, if
he were Troy Filatano.

Speaker 4 (05:12):
That's about to bring up since who's not in that group,
Does that mean there's a zero chance he plays?

Speaker 3 (05:17):
Means they're probably not ye?

Speaker 2 (05:19):
Yeah, yeah, I assume that was the answer to that.

Speaker 3 (05:21):
But they're at least opening the window for these guys
a to get to your point, to get them some
some practice.

Speaker 4 (05:26):
Yeah, that's the beauty of it. At least they get
out there and become a better football player.

Speaker 2 (05:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (05:29):
Times and for in the case of Hoholcombe, you want
to reward him a little bit because he has busted
his butt to get to to get healthy. You haven't
had a linebacker injury to need him, but if you did,
now you can bring him back.

Speaker 2 (05:42):
I should know this. But his contract is not up
right now, he's got I think he's got another year.

Speaker 4 (05:47):
He'll be in camp. Yeah, so yeah, Okay. I mean
I know the rookies will be of course, so you get.

Speaker 3 (05:51):
Him a little work and hey, you know, you may
want to make a decision about that in the offseason. Absolutely,
you get three weeks here to look at him practicing
and say, Okay, he looks like he would be back,
so we'll carry that contract over in the next season,
or maybe we like a land of Roberts better, we're
gonna move on.

Speaker 2 (06:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (06:10):
I mean, obviously Wilson isn't. Queen isn't. I don't think
Roberts is up either, right, I believe he is. Yeah,
he's a two year deal. Okay, Okay, that adds up,
that ds up. Yeah, and chances of all four being
in camps em well, I don't know. I mean because
even when I thought Hope's money camp, maybe I thought
he might be a trade candidate.

Speaker 2 (06:28):
But I mean he was wasn't ready. I mean, he
just wasn't physically ready. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (06:31):
On the Sameway Cincinnati side of things, there's an interesting
one here. Yeah, Chase Brown did not practice all week long.
He is listed as questionable.

Speaker 2 (06:39):
Yeah, he's not playing.

Speaker 4 (06:41):
I guess the head coach said he's a game time decision.
I think that's gamesmanship. I can't imagine he played.

Speaker 3 (06:47):
I mean, I understand them wanting to leave the door
open for him, because again, he's ten yards short of
a thousand yards for the season and he's back, and
he's their best back by far, by far. I mean,
they don't even give the ball to anybody else when
he has been healthy. Orlando Brown Junior got back to
a full participant today, so he is going to play.
Same thing with Joe Burrow. He was limited all week

(07:07):
long until today. Trey Hendrickson to Burrough that he's calling
wrists or I mean risk and knee. Okay, the same
thing has been all Yeah, Trey Hendrickson was a full
participant today after resting yesterday. He is a no designation
t Higgins.

Speaker 2 (07:22):
That's the one that's interesting, peculiar.

Speaker 3 (07:25):
You know, limited all week long with ankle and knee
issues and he is questionable.

Speaker 2 (07:30):
Yes.

Speaker 4 (07:31):
Now, we predicted this five six months ago that there
might be a day that this arises. That if you're
mister Higgins and the team neglects to have long term
contract situation with you, are you super eager to run
out there.

Speaker 2 (07:45):
When you don't have to. I don't know.

Speaker 3 (07:49):
I don't know either. I mean, that's up, that's that's
the decision the.

Speaker 2 (07:52):
Seeds here, or say he's just going to tell him no.

Speaker 3 (07:54):
But he may look at this and say, hey, we
got a six percent chance to make the playoffs. Even
if we win this game, there are still two other
things that have to happen, and both teams in both
situations are favored, including the Broncos, who are heavily favored
to be chief against backups. So even if we win

(08:15):
this game, does it get us into the playoffs? Probably not.
I'm coming off an eleven catch three touchdown game last
week in Cincinnati where I said after the game that
this is probably my last, you know, game in front
of the home fans. If I go out there, let's
say we even if we win this game, but if
I go out there and get hurt in this game,

(08:38):
I'm going to lose millions.

Speaker 4 (08:40):
Ten maybe ten million or whatever, depending on the fare
of the injury. Right, even if it's something small that,
you know.

Speaker 3 (08:46):
The offseason surgery something, but God forbid, he tears at
acl for an achilles or something like that.

Speaker 2 (08:53):
He's gonna be the hottest free agent on the market.

Speaker 3 (08:55):
It's going to make thirty plus million dollars a year.

Speaker 4 (08:57):
Yeah, and he's coming off his best year And I
totally get that. And if I were the Patriots or
something like that, I would be very interested, and a
lot of teams will be and I wouldn't blame him
one bit if he said, eh, you know, my stocks
as high as ever going to be.

Speaker 3 (09:11):
And I do think he has a legitimate injury.

Speaker 2 (09:13):
I'm sure he does. I'm sure he's getting treatment. I
don't think there's making I mean.

Speaker 3 (09:16):
He has missed games this year because of stuff. That
would be my one question with T Higgins in the offseason.
I love the player.

Speaker 2 (09:24):
There is some durabilities, but.

Speaker 3 (09:25):
There's some dirty I mean, he's miss games in each
of the last two seasons. Would make me like, do
I want to give this guy thirty plus million? And
I totally get it, right, you know, because those are real.
He's miss games. Uh, been a variety of things too.
Sam Hubbard is out. We knew that he's Yeah. Yeah.
Chris Jenkins was back today, so it looks like he's

(09:46):
going to play. Charlie Jones the wide receiver, their their
kick returner limited all week long.

Speaker 2 (09:53):
He is questionable. A Marius Mims. Yeah, that's the one
that's really interesting.

Speaker 3 (09:58):
Me too, limited the first two days of a week,
did not practice today and is listed as questionable.

Speaker 4 (10:05):
Yeah, and so I mentioned that Taylor said something along
the lines of he's a game time decision about Brown.
I guess that's also Mims. I just got a you know,
earlier today, I got a blurb on my phone saying
those two are game time decisions, which I took as
I bet he's a rookie. He's still the best guy,

(10:25):
but he's also a rookie who had what eight games
of college experience and he's probably got now ten games
of starting experience in the NFL. And you're going to
have him go miss all practice all week long, not
practice on Friday, and then just step right in and
play against TJ.

Speaker 3 (10:40):
Watt.

Speaker 2 (10:41):
I think the answer is yes.

Speaker 4 (10:42):
I mean, if he can go, he's going to be
your starting right tackle.

Speaker 2 (10:45):
I mean the drop off is significant. It's not great.
I mean it's not a great situation.

Speaker 3 (10:50):
Well, Devin Cochran, who was the guy who placed.

Speaker 2 (10:52):
In trying to think of the name because I'd never
heard of him before last.

Speaker 3 (10:55):
Week, he did not practice on Tuesday, but then he
practiced in full the.

Speaker 2 (11:00):
Last two days. I think he's going to be your
right tackle. I think he's going to be the right tackle.

Speaker 4 (11:05):
I don't know much about him, but that should say
all you really need to know about him. Yeah, right, right, right,
because we kind of study this stuff a little right,
right right?

Speaker 2 (11:12):
Is he a rookie? No? Okay, so he's bounced out
a little bit.

Speaker 3 (11:15):
Yeah, Drew Sample, who's there blocking tight end?

Speaker 2 (11:20):
He'll be your chipper.

Speaker 3 (11:21):
Did not practice all week long? He has listed his question.

Speaker 2 (11:24):
Okay.

Speaker 4 (11:24):
He's important for them though, Yeah. I mean he's who
you run behind. He's the chip, the watt guy, you know,
especially if your right tackle is.

Speaker 3 (11:30):
A problem, because it's not going to be as sicky. No, no,
Seki's a receiver, you know. Uh. And then the final one,
Cam Taylor Britt added to the injury report today, limited
participant today with an ankle issue.

Speaker 2 (11:41):
He is questionable starting outside corner. I mean he's.

Speaker 3 (11:45):
They've tried to bench him a couple of times. He's
been a problem.

Speaker 4 (11:49):
They can't because he's still their best guy, still their
best guy, and he has some talent. And I mean
their corners in general are pretty brutal, but that would
be a big loss.

Speaker 2 (11:58):
Yeah, I mean even if half of those guys don't go.

Speaker 3 (12:01):
I mean you have to think they got six guys
who are listed as questionable. If three of those guys.

Speaker 4 (12:06):
Don't play, yeah, I was really thinking of four in Higgins, Taylor,
Britt Mimes, and Chase Brown. Yes, who I missed their
Oh and sample maybe a five hamps that I think
are really significant or pivotal some degree.

Speaker 3 (12:24):
Charlie Jones and Yeah, that's the one guy.

Speaker 4 (12:26):
That that's not going to hurt their chances of winning
or losing probably, But if two or three of those
guys we just mentioned can't go, that hurts the Bengals
pretty pretty significantly in my opinion, especially Higgins of course.

Speaker 3 (12:38):
Chase Brown, Ye, Chase significant.

Speaker 2 (12:40):
He's the one I've written off I don't think.

Speaker 4 (12:41):
I mean, just watching the injury happen live is like, hey,
I'm shocked he's even done anything.

Speaker 3 (12:46):
'es basically the same reason why Joey Porter Junior didn't
play last week against Kansas City because he had a
similar type injury where the knee got folded up underneath him. Yeah,
you know, as you're making a tackle, that's kind of
what happened to Chase Brown.

Speaker 4 (12:58):
Yeah, it wasn't pretty and mediately he was ruled out
as it happened too, I mean I thought it was
I guess he's lucky that there's not toward neither and
you know, nothing that's end of season type of thing.

Speaker 3 (13:08):
Yeah, So that's where they're at. And you know, so
the Steelers relatively healthy. Yeah, the Brown or the Bengals
are not.

Speaker 4 (13:17):
No, No, and that definitely works in their favor. You know,
coming off a long week helps too.

Speaker 3 (13:21):
So that's where we're at with that. Looking more farther
into this game, and we kind of talked about this
today on the Matchup show on the Steelers dot com
check I get on Steelers dot com. We can watch
it on YouTube. I broke down the numbers on the
burrow the last time these two teams played. Okay, his

(13:42):
average time to throw is two point six to one seconds,
pretty low. Yeah, so his throws under ten yards, which
you would assume is under two point.

Speaker 2 (13:52):
Six ones, they're gonna be the shorter one, right.

Speaker 3 (13:55):
He was eighteen of twenty four for one hundred and
thirty eight yards in an interception. His throws over ten yards,
he was ten of thirteen for one hundred and seventy
one yards and three touchdowns. Okay, Steelers sacked him four times,
he intercepted him once and also first does Yeah, two

(14:17):
stripsacks the If you look at that eighteen for twenty
four for one hundred and thirty eight yards, that works
out to about five point seven yards per attempt the
short stuff on the short stuff. Yeah, you will take
that all day long.

Speaker 2 (14:31):
Yeah, I agree, I agree.

Speaker 4 (14:32):
I mean, I think that the book is pretty well
written of how teams attack this defense, get it out quick.
Mahomes epitomized that Burrow has been great about it in general,
and stuff under two point five is really really good.
You know, two six is big too, because he does
extend plays well, and there'll be some snaps where it's
three four.

Speaker 3 (14:50):
You know, even even in that game if you remember,
you know, a couple of times early in the game,
he stepped up into the pocket. Well, the one touchdown
he threw Keonu Benton's wrap around his waist, pulling him
to the ground and he lobbed it into in the
chase in the end zone.

Speaker 4 (15:04):
It's like he does that better than ever too. So
he will extend plays, but no I guess your point
is if you can keep him at five to six
yards per attempt, I mean, was that attempt or per attemptempt? Okay,
it's not so bad. I mean death by a thousand
paper cuts in this one. It is painful.

Speaker 2 (15:25):
But I think he's going to complete a high percentage
of those short ones. Everybody done about all week.

Speaker 4 (15:29):
You got to tackle the catch, you know, and if
they throw as much as I expect them to, which
I think might be historic levels, like I'm not, I'm
assuming Brown's not going to be in I think they're
gonna throw a ton and be some tips.

Speaker 2 (15:41):
There's gonna be some overthrows. There's gonna be some misses.
There's gonna be some holding calls. You know, there's somebody negative.

Speaker 3 (15:46):
Somebody drops in the coverage expect yeah, yeah, yeah, those
kinds of things and the other The key part of
that is he was eighteen to twenty four on those attempts,
so he did it twenty four times. He had eighteen completions.

Speaker 2 (15:59):
Well, and I don't remember a lot of them being screens.

Speaker 3 (16:01):
I mean they were quick hitters, all quick hitter stuff,
so they tackled the catchwall. If you look at the
last game against Pat Mahomes almost the same number of throws.
He had twenty eight throw the same strategy, same strategy.
He was twenty four of twenty eight for two hundred
and twenty yards. Yeah, that's like almost eight yards per attempt.
You can't let that happen.

Speaker 4 (16:20):
Yeah, And a big thing that I think people were
aware of, but when the Steelers played the Bengals, they
were one of the best tackling teams in the league
over the course of the last three weeks. I think
some of it's because opponent. I think more of it's
because they've been on the field so much and they've
been playing so much football over an eleven game stretch.

Speaker 3 (16:38):
Also had a bunch of guys in there that you're
not going to have necessarily in the game this week.

Speaker 4 (16:42):
Clearly the tackling has not been as good at these
last three games.

Speaker 2 (16:46):
Is back in Bengal time.

Speaker 4 (16:47):
Yeah, the opponents also matters, no question, I mean, no
question about it. But I also think a lot of
that's just fatigue. And the first of that three game stretch,
your offense basically didn't play in the second half. I mean,
you were out there a ton, so this I can't
stress enough, how long, how important these extra days are
for them fix some problems, all that kind of stuff.

Speaker 3 (17:06):
The other thing about this Bengals team, in particular, about
the quick throws, The majority of those go to.

Speaker 2 (17:14):
Chase Yes, because he's so good after the catch.

Speaker 3 (17:17):
He's so good after the catchin Higgins is the downfield guy.

Speaker 2 (17:20):
Right right right, go up and get it. Plays can do.

Speaker 3 (17:22):
That, but they would prefer to get throughout him quickly
and let him try to break something. And Higgins can
break a tackle too. I mean, these guys are really
but they don't really like throw him bubble screens and
stuff like that down the field. Let him try to
be big and make.

Speaker 2 (17:34):
Those plays out.

Speaker 4 (17:35):
One quick slant to Chase breaks the tackle or run,
you know, get separation. Can be big games.

Speaker 3 (17:39):
But when you look at the other guys that they
try to do it with, I mean they'll do some
with Gasiki.

Speaker 2 (17:46):
Crossers and things like that.

Speaker 3 (17:47):
Yeah, you don't have Chase Brown. That's the Chase Brown
is fifty four catches.

Speaker 4 (17:53):
No, he's a really accomplished receiver. Yeah he's not a
sharp routerunner, but he's a very complidence.

Speaker 2 (17:57):
He gives him a dump off. Yeah that kind of
stuff screen game.

Speaker 3 (18:00):
Right, and then you're looking at like Tanner Hudson, You're
looking at I mean, just not real dynamic player.

Speaker 4 (18:05):
No, I say, the rest of the group isn't you know,
Burton's not ready yet. I don't if he ever will be,
but he's their most He's the next best athlete of
the receiving cores.

Speaker 2 (18:14):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (18:14):
Even Yosyvus is more of a down the field kind
of guy.

Speaker 2 (18:16):
He's kind of a linear, sigh speed guy, you know.

Speaker 3 (18:19):
But you know, I mean, so you can put a
lot of attention, especially if Brown isn't out there on Chase.

Speaker 2 (18:25):
Brown hurts a lot huge out there. Huge.

Speaker 4 (18:27):
I mean like Herbert can catch the ball and he's okay,
but he's not a dynamic or a big play threat.

Speaker 2 (18:32):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (18:33):
So I just think, you know, you you focus your Hey,
you see Chase within ten yards, we gotta have three
guys closing on him quickly. With Higgins Joey.

Speaker 4 (18:44):
You guys assume that's Joe you know, maybe that's off coverage,
press whatever. Don't get beat over the top, fighting for
the ball in the air.

Speaker 2 (18:51):
Go from there.

Speaker 4 (18:52):
Yeah, and if Higgins isn't playing, well, that's waysier. Yeah,
I mean I assume Porter would then follow Chase and then.

Speaker 3 (18:58):
With with Kasiki. You know, that's what you have Deshaun
Elliott form because he's a tall, you know, he's a
long rangey kind of athlete playing tight end. He's really
just a big wide receiver.

Speaker 2 (19:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (19:11):
I mean if you look at him, it's pretty obvious
that he had a really good volleyball background. Yeah, you know,
he's great vertical, he's super long, but he's not a
change of direction dude. I mean, he's a real tall, long, striding, fast,
you know, tight end slash receiver.

Speaker 3 (19:27):
But they don't try to necessarily throw him the ball
down the field. It's not ten yards, so you.

Speaker 4 (19:32):
Can get him in most you know, get him in stride,
and Burrow's great at that. Of course, he can run
away from people, you know, particularly linebackers, so.

Speaker 3 (19:40):
It does make them much easier to defend in my opinion.
I mean, if you look at it, Chase Brown has
two hundred and twenty nine carries. Yeah, Zach Moss, who's
not playing in this game, has seventy four. Burrow's the
third leading rusher in terms of carries with forty one.
Herbert has eight.

Speaker 4 (19:57):
It is eight yeah, I mean they anyone in the fans,
the community understood that when Moss went out, brown got
like every running back touch every game after game, Chase
has three carries, okay, Jake Browning has two carries, Tanner
Hudson has one, and Drew Sample has one.

Speaker 2 (20:14):
I wonder Browning just like Nils. At the end of
the game, they had.

Speaker 3 (20:17):
Three hundred and fifty nine carries and those are the
guys who have carried the ball for that.

Speaker 4 (20:21):
That's why I keep coming back to. I know they're
not going to become ground and pound, we know that,
but are they even going to have.

Speaker 2 (20:29):
Twenty running back touches they had?

Speaker 3 (20:32):
They had thirteen running back carries the first time these
two teams.

Speaker 2 (20:36):
Yeah, third at the height of his power. Yeah right.
I don't think they'll do that at all. The game.
You have to have burrow in the shotguns. It's all
on you here.

Speaker 3 (20:46):
Yes, We're put it all on your shoulders and we're
going to live and die by what you do.

Speaker 2 (20:50):
In this game.

Speaker 4 (20:50):
And expect to see some empty I mean, I think
that's going to happen in fair amount too.

Speaker 3 (20:54):
The scary thing about going empty against the Steelers, right
was protection?

Speaker 2 (20:57):
Yeah, and so.

Speaker 3 (20:58):
Again the ball has to come out quick.

Speaker 4 (21:00):
Empty's gonna be under two point five seconds. There's no
doubt about that. Yeah, So you can get your hands
on a couple of those and tackle the catch. Make
it tough on him at least.

Speaker 2 (21:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (21:09):
Absolutely, they're gonna move the ball. He's got to turn
him over a couple of times. He is Matt Williamson.
I am Dale Lolly. You're listening to the Drive here
on the Steelers Audio Network. Matt, the Pro Bowl rosters
have been released.

Speaker 2 (21:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (21:22):
I haven't even really looked at him and talk about that,
and that's all I know. We will do that when
we return right after this.

Speaker 2 (21:32):
At least.

Speaker 1 (21:33):
He's the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson on
your twenty four to seven Home of the Black and
Gold cast in Steelers Nation.

Speaker 3 (21:41):
Radio, and welcome back. I am Dale LOLLI he is
the Matt Williamson and Matt. As I mentioned before the break,
the Pro Bowl teams have been announced. Okay, where Steelers
make it. You have TJ. Watt, Sure, Cam Hayward Good,
Chris Boswell, nice make and Fitzpatrick.

Speaker 4 (22:02):
Some wouldn't be shocked about Maca. I think that's crazy.
I mean, it's pretty how many safeties they take. They
take four, they take three, two strongs and one free Okay,
so I know they take slots now and Nicols he's
the only free safety on the roster in the AFC.

Speaker 2 (22:17):
Yeah. Yeah, So here's the thing.

Speaker 3 (22:20):
Make it and for all the people out there saying,
Menca Fitzpatrick was having a bad season, mekea Fitzpatrick did
not win the fan vote, right at free safety. There's
a percentage, right, and it's thirty thirty three per players,
thirty three percent coaches.

Speaker 2 (22:39):
Oh okay, I believe media has no vote.

Speaker 3 (22:42):
That media has no saying they do the fan vote
and they do the players and coaches. Okay, So makea
Fitzpatrick did not win the fan vote. That was a
money hookerkay, But makea Fitzpatrick obviously won the coach and
player vote.

Speaker 2 (23:00):
Which one do you think is more?

Speaker 3 (23:02):
Who knows more about who's playing well?

Speaker 2 (23:05):
Is not exactly?

Speaker 4 (23:06):
Yeah, I think it's safe to say with all you fans,
I love your you know, Gusto, But I'll take the
coaches out on that, or the people playing against him.

Speaker 3 (23:14):
Yeah, the guys who have to scheme against him or
play against him now I understand that you might want
more splash plays out of make a his star. He
does as well. He even said today, he goes, yeah,
I didn't. I didn't think I would I would get
it this year because I don't have as many splash plays.
But in good interview today, huh yeah. If you look
at what he has done this year. For example, the

(23:35):
first time the Steelers played the Ravens, they matched Makea
Fitzpatrick up on Andrews espetually on pivotal down. Andrews had
two catches for third or twenty three yards.

Speaker 2 (23:47):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (23:49):
Second time around, they couldn't do that because Elliott was
out right all right, that was Andrews goes crazy.

Speaker 4 (23:57):
Now, I mean we've been saying it all along. I
have no concerns at all. I mean in the nature
of his position when he's not doing those things, which
a high percentage, he's the goalie, you, I mean, he's
the last layer of defense, and he allows those other
ten to be a lot more aggressive. It's the best
safety blanket feeling ever behind you, Ed Reid, Earl Thomas.

Speaker 3 (24:16):
He's one of the best tacklers in the league.

Speaker 4 (24:17):
Yep, yep, And we have seen glimpses, especially while Elliott
was out of doing more than that, and we all
know he's very, very capable. Yeah, so I have no
concerns with that guy at all.

Speaker 2 (24:28):
None, none.

Speaker 4 (24:29):
But I do like the southern stuff you mentioned in
the first segment about short crisp answers about you know,
getting things fixed and things like that too. You know,
there might have been another show is doing I'm a
little confused.

Speaker 3 (24:40):
That was another show.

Speaker 2 (24:41):
Yeah, yeah, anyway, that was another show is doing it.

Speaker 3 (24:44):
There's your Pro Bowl ross at quarterback, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow,
Lamar Jackson.

Speaker 2 (24:50):
It's amazing that Mahomes doesn't make.

Speaker 3 (24:52):
Mahomes doesn't make those three have to go, have to go.
Running back Derrick Henry, Joe Mixon, Jonathan Taylor.

Speaker 4 (25:00):
Henry's an easy one and he snubs. I can't say
the AFC is super strong.

Speaker 2 (25:07):
Yeah, I can't think of any.

Speaker 4 (25:11):
I don't think there's an I can't put a chan
over those guys or that's it's good enough.

Speaker 2 (25:16):
Yeah, yeah, Tyler came one strong.

Speaker 3 (25:18):
Full back fullback Patrick Ricard.

Speaker 2 (25:22):
That guy's a good to a lot of Pro Bowls.

Speaker 3 (25:24):
This is like nine. Yeah, he just goes every year
how about this stat I saw this today. The NFL
send out some stats on this. Let me find this thing.
Someone's gonna make a Hall of Fame case for him.
He went, oh yeah, going to do that because when
you hear the names that he is.

Speaker 2 (25:38):
Let's just listen to this. This made me crazy. I
mean yesteryear because all Stott was listed as a fullback. Yeah,
but didn't block anybody. He went every year.

Speaker 3 (25:47):
Kyle Yuschek became the fifth running back slash fullback in
NFL history to make nine plus career Pro Bowls.

Speaker 4 (25:56):
Okay, and for people don't remember, like Franco Harris was
called a fullback because.

Speaker 3 (26:00):
He was here's the list fully back, you know, right,
here's the list of guys that Kyle way Back joins.
On that list Barry Sanders, Walter Payton, Frank o'harris, and
Jim Brown. Are we going to consider y Come on, right,

(26:20):
and one of these things is not like the others.

Speaker 4 (26:22):
Let's let's look at all their touches per game. He
is zero point two, you know right.

Speaker 2 (26:27):
Now, He's good at what he does.

Speaker 3 (26:29):
I mean, he's good at what he does, but he
plays less now than maybe he ever has. Like he's
at like forty percent of the snaps for them, But.

Speaker 4 (26:37):
If a full back's going to go, he should go.
It's crazy. I mean, it's still it's a glitch.

Speaker 3 (26:41):
Well, last year, I think last year went again. I
don't think it was I don't think it was used
check last year. I think it was the Miami fullback
whose name I can't even think of. It's full back.

Speaker 2 (26:50):
Yeah, why are we picking a full back for the
for the we pick a long snapper? Yeah? Is there
a long snapper to go?

Speaker 3 (26:55):
But most teams don't even have a full back?

Speaker 2 (26:57):
Right, say, there's not even thirty one other people you're coming?

Speaker 3 (27:00):
I mean the last time, yeah, the last time I looked, Uh,
this was a couple of hits. Sixteen of the teams had.

Speaker 4 (27:06):
Even had them, right, and some of them were like
what who was didn't go out there and lead block
hardly at all?

Speaker 2 (27:11):
You know, right?

Speaker 3 (27:11):
I mean the Steelers used Connor Heyward as a fullbacker.
They call him a tight end.

Speaker 4 (27:15):
Yeah, he got a tight end. He doesn't go with
Nausey and Warren on you know that kind of stuff. So,
I mean that's just a I mean, the Chargers use
those two d linemen as they'd use like a recard.
But those are the only ones that consistently use a big,
you know hammer all.

Speaker 3 (27:33):
But again they use a three hundred pounds defensive lineman
as their fullback. Yeah, yeah, I don't know if he's
better or worse than you.

Speaker 2 (27:41):
I mean he was always heard, but sorry.

Speaker 3 (27:43):
Patrick Ricard yuscheck is the one who's made it a
million a million times. We haven't gotten having but recards
made of the number of times as well.

Speaker 2 (27:49):
Oh, I'm sure. Yeah, And to keep going to.

Speaker 3 (27:53):
Yeah, at wide receiver, I have a little bit of
a problem with this. Your starters are Jamar Chase and
Jerry Judy.

Speaker 4 (28:05):
Judy's hard to swallow as a starter. Chase is a
slam dunk as a starter. Wow, AFC is a little down.

Speaker 2 (28:13):
Well.

Speaker 3 (28:13):
The other two receivers are Nico Collins and a Flowers.

Speaker 4 (28:17):
Okay, if Nico would have played all every game to
this point, he definitely should be a start. He still
had a better season than Jerry. Judy has the same thing.
Judy had a good month in maybe five or six games.
The Winston year. Yeah, is when all his production came
when they threw actually threw the ball.

Speaker 2 (28:34):
Would you take Judy over Pickens. No, I think Pickens
a better player.

Speaker 3 (28:38):
Yeah, Pickens missed time too, that's why he missed three games. Yeah,
but if you look at the impact and number, like
I might take like Sutton over him, Courtland Sultan would
be would be a great one.

Speaker 2 (28:50):
Yeah, trying to I'm just scanning the Yeah.

Speaker 3 (28:53):
I'm thinking about a little bit. Right, who else is
out there?

Speaker 2 (28:56):
Well?

Speaker 3 (28:57):
How about uh Brian Thomas.

Speaker 4 (28:59):
Thomas is a real good one toom it shouldn't be
in over a couple over Flowers too, Yeah, he might
be my number two in the car. Right, Jerry Judy
is a starter for god, Right, that's bad.

Speaker 3 (29:11):
Tight end Brock Bauers and Travis Kelcey.

Speaker 4 (29:14):
Cool Kelsey's a bit of a Lifetime Achievement award. But
it's not a little bit, I mean anymore. But right
Bowers an easy.

Speaker 3 (29:21):
One offensive tackle, Dion Dawkins, Laramie Tonsel that's not shameful.

Speaker 4 (29:27):
Yeah, that's that's bad. And Rashawn Slater Slater's been awesome.
They don't care about right and left? Right, No, I
mean I would take well take a ton of people
over Tonsole this year.

Speaker 3 (29:36):
Yeah, alt Remember they don't even play a game anymore.
It's just just oh, I know Pro Bowl games. Yeah yeah, yeah,
that's Tonsil should not be one of them. The guards,
Quentin Nelson, Joe Thuney, Tray Smith, Quinn Miners didn't go.

Speaker 2 (29:51):
Quinn Miners did not make it.

Speaker 3 (29:53):
I think he's the best guard in the league. Yeah
he did not make it. Wow, Okay, this is that
the centers, Creed Humphrey, Tyler, Linderbaum.

Speaker 4 (30:01):
So I think people know this, but especially Interiro lineman
so many times, like Minors is a perfect example.

Speaker 2 (30:09):
He should go, and then they have no stats, they
have no stats.

Speaker 4 (30:14):
It takes him a year before they actually get in,
and then sometimes they hang around a year or two
too long. Like Nelson's not one of the top three
or four guards in the league right at this moment. Now,
you know, he's kind of there in name. I would
have taken Fraser over Linderbaum. By the way, Yeah, I
think he's a better player. I was just for reference.
I was listening to Brandon Thorn and Duke Merriweather did
there these are.

Speaker 3 (30:35):
My offensive lineman experts, experts.

Speaker 2 (30:37):
I'm experts.

Speaker 4 (30:39):
Many weather is people go pay him to go to
his you know, the professional lineman go to his camp
and his instruction, and they went through their Pro Bowl
offensive line team. They went three deep. You know, just
who's my third left tackle? Zach Fraser was their number
two center. Yeah, they had Linderbaum as our three, but
they said Fraser is Creed Humphreys won and Frasers two.

Speaker 2 (31:01):
Even with the miss time.

Speaker 3 (31:04):
On the defensive side of the ball, your ends, Miles Garrett,
Trey Henderson, Max Crosby, Okay, your defensive tackles, Cam Hayward,
Chris Jones, nom the Metabuke. I feel like there's somebody, Yeah,
the guy in Denver.

Speaker 4 (31:23):
Yeah, that's bad. I assume Benito is going to be
called a linebacker.

Speaker 3 (31:27):
Yes, like what I hate that part too, but Alan absolutely,
Zack Allen has had a He's knocking on the door
with those topics, Zach Allen or Josh Allen. Zach, Yeah,
he's He's been better than Matabuke.

Speaker 4 (31:40):
Yes, he's been better than maybe every defensive tackle except
those other.

Speaker 3 (31:43):
Two outside linebackers, Nick Benito, t J Watt, Khalil Mack.

Speaker 2 (31:49):
That's quality. I got no problem with that.

Speaker 3 (31:52):
Inside middle linebackers ro Kwan Smith and Zayer Franklin.

Speaker 2 (31:57):
No, No, I'm with you no and no.

Speaker 4 (32:01):
So we talked a lot of Ravens week and I
didn't know this then. By note now we talked about
all the changes that the Ravens have made in terms
of Simpson got benched and Humphrey's going to slot and
you know, we know all the different role changes. Well,
one of the things they did was they only let
Roquand call the defense for the front seven now because

(32:23):
he wasn't doing it well, you know, like that's part
of your job. You're the green dot guy. He didn't
handle he handled all the eleven calls until they made
those changes because he wasn't doing it well. You know,
Andy hasn't had a great year. And plus Franklin's just
a tackle now you're Franklin. Whoever the Colts scorer is
hands out tackles.

Speaker 3 (32:42):
The NFL and the NFL put out a tweet today
on the ex twitter zire Franklin's needs or can can
zaire Franklin lead the league in tackles? Well, first of all, NFL,
you don't recognize tax as an official statistic. You don't,
So why are are you pumping this up as something
that you look at because you don't recognize it? Yeah, yeah,

(33:04):
because you understand the league understands.

Speaker 2 (33:07):
That every it's willy nilly, right, willy nilly, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (33:10):
That every scorekeeper in every different stadium looks at it differently. Yeah,
you can't tell me that the Colts have five of
the of the league's top ten tacklers and they're not
Paden stats.

Speaker 4 (33:23):
Like, Leonard was a great player, but he was always
the top of the league. And then the linebacker next
to Hi, whoever it was, was always like right behind
him too.

Speaker 2 (33:29):
It's an awful defense, right, and you're making them downfield and.

Speaker 3 (33:33):
Yeah, right, he's a he's a fine player, he's a starter,
but he's he's not just one of the top two
linebackers in the.

Speaker 4 (33:41):
It's one of the weaker positions, especially in the AFC.
I'm sitting there scanning the league right now. The two
that should be on there ahead of him, for sure
are Brooks, the former first round pick who's now a Dolphin,
Jordan Brooks, and.

Speaker 2 (33:55):
What's his face? The Chargers young pup.

Speaker 3 (33:58):
I always forget his name, but he's a really good
player too, first year guy or second year.

Speaker 2 (34:03):
Guy anyway, Yeah, I have to look that up.

Speaker 3 (34:07):
At cornerback, Okay, Derek Stingley, Good, Patrick Certain good, Marlon Humphrey, Denzel.

Speaker 2 (34:15):
Ward pretty solid. Yeah, I'm cool with that.

Speaker 3 (34:19):
Free safety is make of Fitzpatrick Ross Gardner has not
had that kind of year, that's for sure. The strong
safety on Henley's name trying to get from the Chargers. Sorry,
The strong safety is Kyle Hamilton and Derwin James.

Speaker 2 (34:29):
Darwin's back to playing well.

Speaker 3 (34:31):
Long snapper Ross Mattesic from the Jaguars, the punter Logan
Cook from the Jaguars, a Lot Boswell, the place kicker
returned specialist Marvin mems and the special teams player Brent
Schooler from the New England.

Speaker 2 (34:44):
Patriots, killerbre who's gotten that before.

Speaker 3 (34:47):
Here's my issue with this whole thing. The team that
led all teams in the NFL in special in Pro
Bowl votes or Pro Bowl players. Yea, the Baltimore nine.

Speaker 2 (35:02):
Nine. So who were they? There was Lamar?

Speaker 3 (35:05):
You got Henry, Henry Ricard, Zay Flowers, Linderbaum, Matta Bouquet,
Rokwan Smith, Marlin Humphrey, and Kyle Hamilton. Okay, so I
would say one of those guys is widely being considered
the MVP of the league. Lamar Jackson right, maxx Right, Okay,
how in the hell do you lose five games if

(35:26):
you've got nine Pro bowlers you got you got four
more Pro Bowlers than the Detroit Lions. You got like
five more Pro Bowlers than the Kansas City Chiefs. Your
guys supposed to be the MVP of the league, Josh Allen.
The Bills have two and one of them Josh Allen,
and people are questioning who the.

Speaker 2 (35:44):
MVP of the league is. They have Dawkins.

Speaker 3 (35:47):
Dean Dawkins is the only other right tackle should.

Speaker 2 (35:49):
Have went now I'm thinking about it too. He definitely
should have gone. He's the only have gone.

Speaker 3 (35:54):
If I'm voting on the MVP award, I'm looking at
this one, okay. And you'll have Steeler fans who will
tell you, tell you with a straight face that John
Harbaugh is a better coach than Mike Tomlin.

Speaker 2 (36:05):
I think he's got a better roster than the Bills
or Steeler.

Speaker 3 (36:08):
That's what we're saying here. He's got nine Pro Bowl players,
including a guy who's two time MVP and Mike win
it again this year, and they've got five losses.

Speaker 2 (36:16):
Yeah, yeah, I mean I get it.

Speaker 4 (36:18):
I mean it doesn't mean they should undefeated and the
rope bond's not playing like a Pro Bowl or and
I don't think Jay Flowers is a Pro Bowler.

Speaker 2 (36:25):
And I mean, I.

Speaker 4 (36:28):
See what you're saying. But they made it. I see
what you're saying. I mean, their roster's phenomenal and should be.
I don't know, are you implying that they underachieved this year.

Speaker 3 (36:41):
I'm saying it's one or the other. Either they underachieved
or they shouldn't have had nine Pro Bowls?

Speaker 2 (36:46):
Which one? Is it?

Speaker 3 (36:47):
Right? Right?

Speaker 2 (36:47):
Right? Right? And it's probably somewhere in between.

Speaker 3 (36:49):
And is is Lamar really the MVP based on having
nine Pro Bowl players on your roster, including one, two, three,
four five on offense?

Speaker 4 (37:01):
Yeah, Mark Andrews probably wasn't far off. I'm not sure
that he had a worse yeah than Kelsey. Yeah, I'm
trying to think who else went? You know, I get
your point. I mean, and you could.

Speaker 3 (37:11):
Make a I mean I would I you could probably
make a stronger argument for the left tackle Ronnie Stanley
making this list.

Speaker 4 (37:20):
Yeah, one of the tackles that did go wasn't great. Yeah,
forget who it was then Matta Bouquet.

Speaker 2 (37:26):
Yeah, agreed and Andrews. I think it's in that category. Two.

Speaker 4 (37:31):
I still think Lamar is neck and neck with Alan,
and I said this last time we were on the air.
I would still pick Alan.

Speaker 3 (37:36):
I think he's if I'm if I'm voting and I'm
looking at this, I'm going, well, Alan did a hell
of a lot more with less.

Speaker 4 (37:42):
He did, and I think that's undeniable. I mean, I
think there's no question about that. I don't know that.

Speaker 2 (37:48):
This has been a disappointing year for the Ravens.

Speaker 3 (37:50):
So not yet, right, I mean, they lost to the Raiders,
they lost to the Browns. People want to kill Mike
Tomlin for losing to then, Well so did these guys?

Speaker 2 (38:02):
Just curious what team was the second most.

Speaker 3 (38:05):
I believe it was in the NFC, and maybe the
Lions had seven, the Vikings had six, Eagles had six,
Kansas City had five, Dallas.

Speaker 2 (38:14):
Had five, Dallas had five.

Speaker 3 (38:17):
Parsons go must have I can yeah, buzz through the
NFC here real quick. Uh So looking at the n.

Speaker 4 (38:24):
NFC quarterbacks, aren't it pretty pretty bleak, pretty light?

Speaker 2 (38:28):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (38:28):
Over in the NFC you got let's see here, flip
on me here, NFC you got quarterbacks Jared Goff, Jade
and Daniel Sam Darnold.

Speaker 2 (38:38):
Those are the three. Okay.

Speaker 4 (38:39):
Baker's probably kind of not happy about it, but I
get it.

Speaker 3 (38:42):
Uh, running back, you got Saquon Barkley, Jamiir Gibbs, Josh Jacobs.

Speaker 2 (38:47):
Hard argue with that, okay.

Speaker 3 (38:48):
Karen Williams would have a pretty good argument.

Speaker 4 (38:50):
Yeah, those three are all deserving, though I don't think
any of them are.

Speaker 2 (38:54):
Miss b Jhon Robinson. Jon should be in the top three. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (38:59):
Uh, fullback is of course, Kyle, you check Hall of Future,
Hall of Famer apparently. Wide receiver Justin Jefferson, A Mon Ross,
Saint Brown, Ceed Lamb and Terry McLaurin.

Speaker 4 (39:12):
Pretty good group. I mean, Mike Evans has a shot.
I mean there's other miss.

Speaker 3 (39:16):
Time tight end George Kittle, Trey McBride.

Speaker 2 (39:21):
Yeah, I think Kittle's had the best year of any
tight end.

Speaker 3 (39:24):
Offensive tackles Lane Johnson, Pinasul, Tristan Wurfs. It's home runs
two right tackles though. Yeah that offensive guard Landon Dickerson,
Tyler Smith, Chris Linstrom.

Speaker 2 (39:37):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (39:38):
The centers are Frank Ragnow and Cam Jurgens.

Speaker 4 (39:43):
Okay, I'll take that that's fine. It's not great, but fine.

Speaker 3 (39:46):
Defensively Nick Bosa defensive end Nick Bosa, Micah Parsons, were
Shawn Gary Parsons A d n too.

Speaker 4 (39:56):
Been awesome since he's been back, but he doesn't played
many games in tier.

Speaker 3 (40:00):
He your alignement Jalen Carter, Dexter, Lawrence Vida VEYA.

Speaker 2 (40:03):
Vey has had a much better year than people realize.

Speaker 3 (40:06):
Outside backers Jonathan greenerd Andrew van Ginkel, Jared Vers Okay,
Van Ginkles put up crazy numbers. Middle linebacker Fred Warner,
Zach Bond good.

Speaker 2 (40:16):
I'm glad Bob made it.

Speaker 3 (40:18):
Cornerbacks Jayalen Johnson, Byron Murphy, j C. Horn, Devin Witherspoon.

Speaker 2 (40:24):
Good group.

Speaker 4 (40:24):
Okay, Free safety, some snubs are missing, but I don't
think any of these names are horrible.

Speaker 3 (40:28):
Free safety is Xavier McKinney. Yeah, strong safety. I don't
know how they decipher between free and strong anymore. That's
a little tough.

Speaker 2 (40:36):
Defense in general can be a little gray.

Speaker 3 (40:38):
Buddha Baker and Brian Branch.

Speaker 2 (40:40):
Yeah, I'm fine with those guys. I mean, if they
do it all.

Speaker 3 (40:44):
Long snapper Andrew DePaolo from the Vikings, Punter Jack Fox
from the Lions. He never has to punt. Yeah, placekicker
Brandon Aubrey, returned specialist Cavante Turpin, and specially.

Speaker 2 (40:55):
Team the Cowboys are coming in those yeah yeah, yeah, and.

Speaker 3 (40:58):
Then the special teamer caderill High from the Atlanta Falcons.

Speaker 4 (41:02):
Okay, I mean I got much comment on the specialists
other than Aubrey and Turpin. Those two are very deserving
in the NFC. Yeah, that's where all the Cowboys came in.

Speaker 2 (41:10):
That makes sense.

Speaker 3 (41:11):
Yeah, so that's where we're at.

Speaker 4 (41:13):
But again, I'm sure there's a lot of snubs that
I need to dig into, but it's always an inexact science,
to say the least.

Speaker 3 (41:20):
Yeah, if you think Mica Fitzpatrick was having a bad season,
the coaches and players in the league would disagree.

Speaker 4 (41:26):
I wonder too, like did Ravens fans come out more
than any other you know, like they is that something that.

Speaker 3 (41:33):
They're doing They do that every year? Okay, they were
one of the most heavy lead over to them. Yeah,
between them and Alliance, and that's why they ended up
with seven each.

Speaker 4 (41:40):
So that's something that happened to year after year though,
that they vote heavier than most fan bases. Yeah, Okay,
so you.

Speaker 3 (41:45):
Gotta work harder at that Steeler fans. Anyways, let's get
to a break. He is the Matt Williamson. I am
Dale Lolly. You're listening to the Drive here on the
Steelers Audio Network. Matt and I will be back with
more right after this.

Speaker 2 (42:01):
At least.

Speaker 1 (42:01):
He's the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson on
your twenty four to seven Home of the Black and
Gold Steelers Nation Radio.

Speaker 3 (42:12):
And we are back. I am Dale Lolly. He is
the Matt Williamson and you're listening to the Drive here
on the Steelers Audio Network. And of course you can
hear the Drive every Monday through Friday from four to
six pm. And we will continue this throughout the playoffs.
And yeah, we'll let you know we're not going to
be doing five days a week, but for the time being,

(42:33):
it looks like five days a week from now until
the starter free agency, and by that time we'll be
talking all kinds of draft stuff.

Speaker 4 (42:40):
At that point, we're going to Senior Bowl. We got
a lot of stuff on tap Senior Bowl. We always
do the combine. Yeah, Georgia's meetings, Georgia Notre Dame's going
on as we speak. I mean, there's draft stuff going
on around the world too, so kind of like to
dig in this draft.

Speaker 3 (42:53):
Absolutely, Matt. We're getting some more clarity on who's in
and who's out this weekend. It looks like Josh Allen
is going to start the game because he's got a
he's got a streak a streak going, so they're going
to play their guys and get him the heck out
of there. Also hearing news out of New England that
there's a potential that they're back up the kid out

(43:13):
of Florida from last year. Oh yeah, Tennessee. I'm sorry Milton, Yeah, yeah, Milton.
He did some good things in the preseason. He's been
running with the ones a little bit this week because
I guess, uh, you know, there May's taking them.

Speaker 2 (43:27):
May's banged up. Yeah, I would not.

Speaker 4 (43:29):
If there's anything wrong with May, and I bet there's
six things wrong with them. With the punishment he's taken.

Speaker 2 (43:33):
And you get to see him, I mean, maybe somebody
offers you a pick for Milton or you know whatever.

Speaker 3 (43:39):
Yeah, so there's that. There's reports reports out of Cleveland
that Bailey ZAPPI.

Speaker 4 (43:44):
Yeah, get to start too. So no wonder the line
is where it is, it's moved up to nineteen. I say,
it's probably going up.

Speaker 3 (43:51):
How about this, I saw this. Somebody put this out
that when Cleveland went to sixteen a few years ago,
at no point where they more than a thirteen point underdog.

Speaker 4 (44:01):
So this is even big by those standards, I assume.
I mean, like, does Miles Garrett play.

Speaker 3 (44:07):
Yeah, because he's trying to win the you know, he's
got to win the sack title for the first time
in his career.

Speaker 2 (44:11):
I mean, he has two bad feet and he has
a broken collarbone. But it's all about I mean, maybe
they's put him out there like on third eights or something.
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (44:18):
I mean, if you're that's what I heard today. I
know he's got both feet, needs some sort of surgical
attention too. He's got all kinds of stuff going on.

Speaker 3 (44:26):
Yeah, you know when you I don't know, watching hard
far obviously from the sack leader. He's tied he and
Henryshem Patterson both at fourteen. Yeah, low year. It is
a low year, very.

Speaker 4 (44:38):
Much because everybody's getting the ball out quickly and a
lot of guys have gotten hurt too and miss time. Yeah,
Hutchinson was letting the lead, you know.

Speaker 3 (44:45):
Yeah, Saquon Barkley, uh, not going to an opportunity to
break the all time rushing record.

Speaker 4 (44:55):
That kind of mixed feelings about it. I mean, there
are things in this lifetime that are historic that you
should just try for, you know what I mean. And
it's also probably not the smart move. I mean, because
if you're going to do that, that means Lane Johnson's
playing in a lota and.

Speaker 3 (45:12):
You know what I mean, he needs one hundred yards too.
It's not like he needs not thirty or forty right
right right, like he can get him out of there
after the first quarter.

Speaker 4 (45:19):
And unlike some records, he set a nice milestone just
last week too. We hit two thousands. Pretty special year.

Speaker 3 (45:27):
Some people are like, oh, well, he didn't do it
in sixteen games. Here's the thing.

Speaker 2 (45:31):
We had two thousand.

Speaker 3 (45:32):
He had forty less carries than Dickerson had in his
when he broke it in sixty or set the record
in sixteen games. Brou has forty fewer carries.

Speaker 2 (45:41):
It doesn't surprise me.

Speaker 4 (45:42):
It's run heavy as the league was back then, and
the Eagles of the run heaviest team in the league.

Speaker 3 (45:46):
Yeah, and still well he doesn't get any of those
the short yardage stuff and all that. Yeah, how many
how many more yards would he have if they just
third and one from the fifty let's give it the saque.
Maybe he busted for fifty yard he would have the
you know, he'd probably be a lot closer to the
record right now.

Speaker 2 (46:03):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (46:03):
Maybe if I were the head coach, I probably would
have went, Heyquon, how important is this to you? You know,
and he'd have to make a pretty strong case for
me to put him out there.

Speaker 3 (46:13):
I would also ask the offensive line, Hey, offensive line,
how important is this to you? Guys?

Speaker 2 (46:17):
Gonna be my next question? Yeah, and then you bring
it it's important to them too.

Speaker 4 (46:21):
Yeah, I mean that, you know, like Dickerson's line was
super proud of it, as they should be, and all
those things too.

Speaker 2 (46:27):
Yeah. I get both sides. I do too.

Speaker 3 (46:29):
I mean, you certainly don't want Saquon Barkley to get hurt,
because you know, if it would be a little bit
different if you already had a buy, if you were
the number one seed, Oh, then I think I think
you'd go for it, Yeah, because then you'd have a
week off the rest. As long as he doesn't tear
his a cl or something like that. You you know,
he's probably a good chance even if he springs an ankle,
he's gonna be out there.

Speaker 2 (46:46):
So I assume they're sitting everyone.

Speaker 3 (46:48):
Yeah, I mean as many as you can.

Speaker 2 (46:50):
Does m key start They even mentioned that stuff.

Speaker 3 (46:53):
I would assume so because Kenny Pickt's hurt.

Speaker 2 (46:55):
Yeah, so yeah, that's terrible. By the way, that's what
you're that's what you're looking at. The J Brown goes
out there or you know a lot of those guys.

Speaker 3 (47:01):
How about this last one for the hour here, Dan
Campbell said that the game this week against the Vikings,
while important, it's not. It's not like it's a playoff
game or something. You can't have it both ways, Dan, Yeah,
because you treated last week's game against the forty nine
ers like it was a playoff game. Now you're selling, well,

(47:22):
if we lose this game, it's not the end of
the world. It isn't, but it kind of is. Because
you dropped to the five seed. Now you're gonna have
to go on the road throughout the entire playoffs.

Speaker 2 (47:30):
I was to say, this is a substantial loss, especially
if you're them. I mean, you've been on top of
the season long you were a final four team and
really them in the vikings are exact same spot, and
but the perception is different, you know, absolutely, Yeah, I
mean one was expected to this is this is Carl
Lewis leading the race the whole way around, and then

(47:52):
somebody comes up with the final kick, a closing kick
and beat you.

Speaker 4 (47:57):
Yeah, maybe because you pushed you hard. Except you don't
get a sil you fall to fifth. You don't get
a medal at all, right, and there's no guarantee they
win in Tampa, No, I mean after a loss and
you got to go right away and you've had a
bye forever. Like I would probably bet on the Bucks
plus seven and a half at home or whatever against
the Lions in round one.

Speaker 2 (48:18):
That's huge, huge game. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (48:19):
Yeah, I mean he can try to downplay it as
much as he wants to his team.

Speaker 2 (48:22):
Yeah, but that's not his style either. It sounds like
he's coaching on both sides of the mouth.

Speaker 3 (48:25):
Yeah, it's kind kind of a strange one.

Speaker 4 (48:27):
But I really respect him as a coach. But I
still think he's peddled the medal too much. I think
that we'll see if it comes back to Burham.

Speaker 3 (48:34):
They have never or I should say since the nineteen
seventy merger. The Detroit Lions have not won back to
back division championships in their hit since.

Speaker 2 (48:44):
I mean, that's not surprising. That's really terrible. Yeah yeah,
I mean division has been good, but it hasn't been
phenomenal either.

Speaker 3 (48:52):
I mean you hit the Packers for a while.

Speaker 4 (48:54):
Yeah, you know, but I mean, like over the Super
Bowl era, I wouldn't say it's the best division out there.

Speaker 2 (48:59):
No, it wasn't a tree at level.

Speaker 3 (49:01):
I mean it was a Viking Vikings in the seventies, yeah,
you know, and then the Packers got good in the
late eighties.

Speaker 2 (49:06):
Bears were good, but they had a lot of down
years too. Yeah you know.

Speaker 3 (49:09):
So it's the Bears, the Bears, the Bears history. If
you throw out all the Papa Bear Hallis stuff.

Speaker 2 (49:15):
It's pretty bad.

Speaker 3 (49:16):
It's pretty bleak.

Speaker 2 (49:17):
Yeah, it's pretty bad. I mean, if it's not for
the DIA, then that was only they won.

Speaker 3 (49:21):
They won one Super Bowl. People talk about that like
it was it was some kind of you know, dynasty.

Speaker 2 (49:25):
They won one. Like all their all their Hall of
Famers since the Hallis era were on those teams.

Speaker 3 (49:32):
You know what, I mean so anyways, let's get to
a break. That's going to do it for our number
one of the drive here on the Steelers Audio Network.
Matt Now, I'll be back with our number two right
after this