Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
At least.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
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 1 (00:15):
And welcome to the Drive. I am Dale Lolly. He
is the Matt Williamson. And it is a snowy Friday
here in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
Pretty blustery parking lot walking, and well we're up here
on mountain.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Just blows right across. But if the weather is similar
to this tomorrow, it's not. The snow is supposed to
be gone, but it is supposed to be chilly, and Wendy,
I thought, and Wendy, yeah, yeah, what does that favor
of the Steelers?
Speaker 3 (00:41):
I was gonna say the same thing. I mean, part
of me thinks Tomlin might just be like, we are
running the football, you know, and we're going to get
back to being ourselves for the playoffs, you know. And
Bengals aren't exactly great against the run. That wasn't the
case when they met first time, of course, you know.
But I part of me this thinks he might be like,
(01:01):
we're just going to be physical and we're going to
run the football, and that's all I care about in
this game. And let the chip Fall where they may
either way, they're the better running team and they have
the better defense.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
So I got you was Chase Brown out right exact,
the Bengals may not have any running game, I know,
I thought they might even just abandon it to begin with,
you know, yeah, so you know, we'll see how this
all plays out. You know, if the weather it does
become a factor in this game. Let's take a look.
We didn't take a look at to schedule earlier in
the week. Let's let's look through this slate of games
this weekend and kind of look at who's playing. Doesn't yeah,
(01:36):
something really don't obviously, the Saturday games both both games meaningful.
You got Cleveland at Baltimore four thirty. You've got Cincinnati
at Pittsburgh at eight, both meaningful games, and overall, I
guess Brown's motivation is the only thing to question, you know,
that's been questionable all year long, right, and thus the
(01:58):
huge spread. Moving on to Sunday's slate, Carolina Atlanta. Atlanta
obviously still cares. If they own that game in Tampa,
were to lose, they would win the division.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
And they're both at one, so they can't you know, yeah,
they can scoreboard watch a little. But they're gonna have
to give it everything they got.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Which is what I thought was going to happen with
the Cincinnati situation with Denver and Miami. Yeah, right, right right,
as well as the Pittsburgh Baltimore situation. That would have
been more fair.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
I guess, so a little more even at least right
And I think Carolina is gonna give everything they got too.
I mean, somebody teams that are eliminated. Oh yeah, they're
playing their guys. They're trying to establish something. Yes, Washington
is at Dallas. Washington's playoff spot is is locked in.
But they're gonna they said they're gonna play their guys.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
I don't know how long though. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
I mean that's one of those ones that it seems,
you know, Dallas is already out. I assume they'll play
rush the whole time, but are they gonna I mean,
Lamb's already shut down. Will Parsons played the whole game,
But Washington's the one to consider, Like I could see
the second half being backups galore in that game and
not much fun to watch.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Yeah, Chicago is a green Bay. Green Bay's got everything
locked up. I haven't heard anything about whether they're playing
their guys or not. I guess they could. They're kind
of locked in, aren't they. I think so. I'm not
sure if them in the Rams can the Rams on
the division Rams are a division champions. Yeah, so they
the sixth seeds Washington Washington, I guess could move ahead.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
And Washington Green Bay move I guess, yeah, question, and
that would only be six and seven to be determined.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Yeah, yeah, but I wouldn't know that I would go
crazy to do that. I don't think Chicago rests anybody, though, No,
they're trying to. There's a couple of establish some things. Yeah.
I mean, there's some teams that are want to playing
for a job.
Speaker 4 (03:41):
Right.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
I haven't won on the road in like four years,
right in a one o'clock game. Uh, Houston is at Tennessee.
Houston is not playing there. They're not gonna play anybody,
I think.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
I mean that's gonna be There's a couple of teams
that are really shutting it down.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
I think they're at the top of the list. That's
to me a mistake by Houston because are not playing well. Yeah,
I see what you're saying. Maybe i'd play the old
line in strout or at least a couple of series
to try to get some of the something going. You
scored two points last week.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
I mean it's been bad, bad, Ye bad, and Tennessee.
I think they might beat him bad.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
They might.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
They're going to be trying give it all they got.
They're going to play both quarterbacks, I know, which is
also strange, but they have a defense at least.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Jacksonville is at Indianapolis, who knows, who knows?
Speaker 3 (04:29):
I just saw my phone just blurbed on the way
here that Richardson's not playing. I don't know that either
team is super interested.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Buffalo is at New England. Buffalo already they're gonna play.
All's gonna play like a series to keep his his
start streak alive. Did you say Milton might play that
Milton has got some first team reps for the Patriots
this week. Okay, I assume the Bills are going through
the motions. Yeah. The Giants are at the Eagles. Well,
we already know the Eagles aren't playing anybody, and the
(05:00):
Giants don't have any starters available.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
Yeah, but at least they won recently and they're all
playing for jobs. I mean, they're gonna play their best
players at least, I guess yeah. I mean it's not
that they're good. I mean, Eagle's gonna shut everybody down.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Well here's the problem. You can't shut everybody.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
I know, O line stuff and D line stuff, but
defensive backs are tough.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Like, yeah, you're gonna play Nickel. Well you've only got
maybe five cornerbacks on your rosters, so somebody's gonna have
to play.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
So like I know, like Barkley's not gonna play. Goddard
and Hurts are both banged up, and there should be ready.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
J Brown probably doesn't played, Smith doesn't play, Yane Johnson
probably not. You're still go. I mean you're not gonna
bet have Grant Calcaterra sitting out even though guys like that. No,
definitely not, definitely not, I mean I think, but they
have a lot of stars like Jalen Carter or the
rookie corners or Sleigh or linebackers. I don't know, it's
(05:51):
tough stuff, but I wouldn't keep those guys bubble wrapped
up as much as possible. New Orleans is it Tampa? Tampa?
Obviously if they win, they win the division, So yeah,
they're going they want to get Mike Evans that Yeah, yeah, yeah,
they're giving everything definitely something to look at their in
dfs when we get to that. Uh, some of.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Those teams though, you know, that's a perfect example. Will
Baker play the last series or two if if they
truly are up by ten, fourteen, seventeen, probably wouldn't do
that anyways, true, true, but I mean, you just have
a big game next week.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
I'm not saying we wouldn't put them in lineup, it's
just yeah, yeah, I don't know if they'll play sixty
minutes Kansas City's at Denver. We already know that Denver.
Denver needs to win that to get in and win
or a tie, they can get to tie and get in.
They'll also already know whether the Bengals have lost, and
then they'll be watching scorebird watching with Miami. Okay, because
(06:42):
if Miami also if since if the Steelers beat Cincinnati
or tie and going yeah, and Miami is losing or
tying against the Jets, then then's over. Yeah. Yeah, it
doesn't matter what Denver does because their game ahead. Kansas
City is another one is tough to shut down. Like
Mahomes and Kelsey obviously aren't dressed. Chris Jones isn't gonna dress.
(07:03):
I don't, Humphrey, you will, But most of their O
line would like i'd play the tackles, see if they
could get better, you know, things like that. They're not
gonna play the three interior guys, I would think not,
which would mean they're not going to play their left
starting left tackle. Right.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
If you don't play the three interior guys, who's your
interior line. I'm sure if somebody, but I don't know.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
I mean, it's not easy, No, it's it's certainly not easy.
And they've already said like Pacheco is not playing, so
it's gonna be a lot of Kareem Hunt stuff like that.
They might keep it close though, I think they'll keep
it in range. They already play a bunch of defensive
backs already anyway, and linebackers. Yeah, the Chargers are at Vegas.
(07:42):
The Chargers have nothing to play for. If the Steelers
the Steelers lose, they do.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
I don't think Harbaugh has shut it down kind of
guy though, No, I mean, I don't know if Herbert
plays the whole game if there's nothing to play for.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
He's got a lot of injury, so Belichick earlier this
week was on I think the McAfee show or some
thing and said that he would have a tough time
selling to his locker room. This guy's gonna sit and
that guy's not. Mm hmm. And and I understand that
it's hard. You know, what do you mean, I'm not
as important as this guy? You know that. Yeah, but
(08:16):
I mean I'm trying to think what Belichick did in
the day, though.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
I think they played everybody all the time, no matter what,
even Brady. Yeah, I get it, but man, you don't
want to lose Richard Seymour or Randy Moss.
Speaker 4 (08:27):
Or you know.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
In Vegas has played well of late. Their defense have
been pretty good. Yeah. Yeah, so even without Crosby, Uh,
Seattle is at the Rams. That game not quite as
meaningful as it. I think nobody likes sitting people more
than McVeigh. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
McVeigh is, if you don't get me rest, I'm gonna
rest them all. I don't think he cares one bit
about that game. Yeah, but I think Seattle does. They're
trying to build something younger staff. You know, maybe it's
a lot of how.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
But yeah, Miami is at New York. We know in
Miami would need to win and have Denver lose paying
I thought there was some doubt about that. Yeah, right,
right right? Has he been playing all season? Right? I
mean they're a miserable Organs. Can we please stop with
the Aaron Rodgers to Pittsburgh stuff too? Can we can
(09:13):
we just knock that off? I can't even imagine that
being in the parts. Uh, San Francisco's at Arizona. That's
another four to twenty five game. I don't think Arizona
shuts it down now in San Francisco's.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
I think they're making reservations elsewhe Yeah, yeah, it's been
a tough year, they're done, tying to be done.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
And then the big game, the eight twenty game, Minnesota
at Detroit.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Yeah, crucial, crucial. Yeah yeah, I'm sure we'll talk about
that a little bit more in the second hour. But fun,
get fun way to end the regular season. That's four
Sunday slate could be a little a little weird.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Yeah, I don't know what games are going to be
showing locally here but or what the national game is
but yuck. Yeah, Fantasy's a mass DFS. It's hard to pick.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
But there's also the Willie Parkers of the world though. Yeah,
like happens when guys get shut down, opportunity arises and
someone will make a name for himself, like a preseason
game and you know some young quarterback, Well, okay, maybe
he's better than we thought.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Or something like that. I'm looking at this one o'clock window. Yeah,
and Atlantic, I say, the two NFC South games matter.
Two NFC South games matter, ones on CBS, the other
ones on Fox. I wonder if those are going to
be the national games, it would be the only ones
they really want to pay attention to. Yeah, because then Washington, Dallas,
Sat stink, Chicago, Green Bay, Houston, Tennessee, now Jacksonville, Indianapolis, No, Buffalo,
(10:33):
New England, No, New York, Philadelphia No, And so they
really don't mean anything. It might be the two NFC games.
They're the only games that even ones that they should
put out to everybody.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, besides draft order, that's the only thing,
the only games that actually mean anything, right.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
And then then the four to twenty five window, you're
looking at Kansas City, Denver, Okay, yeah, that's on CBS.
And then the Fox game. You got Miami, Say, Miami's
at one or no, okay, good. Yeah, Miami New York
is also is on Fox. So if they want to
have the meaningful games on TV, those are the meaningful
games and they're on separate networks. So if since he wins,
(11:09):
Miami Denver can't lose, then right right, they can tie.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
They could tie, they can't lose, Okay, So I mean
there's if the Bengals win. Those guys have real motivation,
the motivation either way because they're both playing, okay.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
And Miami would finish ahead of Cincinnati anyways, right, I
know they they would and Sincinnati. If Cincinnati wins and
Denver loses, Cincinnati actually dump dumps Denver out of the playoffs.
But because you get the head to head win and
then it comes down to Cincinnati versus Miami. Miami has
a better conference record, which is what we've talked about
for months now. If their conference record is going to
(11:41):
hurt them, yeah, and a lot of early conference losses
for Cincinnati. Yeah. I wonder if they'll reassess what September
is all about it. They probably should. It's been a
couple of years now. Yeah, I mean it keeps biting them. Yeah,
I don't understand it at all.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
So that's a slanting, right, I mean, the last game
is awesome, but yeah, the early Sunday stuff is, yeah,
not so great, and.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
The Saturday game should be fine. Oh yeah, well first
one might not be yeah, so yeah, the first one
not yeah, probably not competitive. Yeah, but that's what we're
looking at here. We don't know how the NFL avoids
this in future years though.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
I mean, it's so easy to get eliminated and if
you're not in it, yeah, what's the incentive?
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Really? This year, I think the difference is that there
were ten to twelve really just awful teams.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
That's the thing, So I forget what And on the
flip side of that, there could be a lot.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Of ten win teams if things go the right way.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
And there's ten at least junk garbage teams, so there's
less middle class than usual. So a lot of the
teams are already locked in because they're good, and so
many teams are so bad that it doesn't matter no
matter what except for draft seating.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Yeah, we've already got We've got eleven teams with double
digit wins already already, and there's probably some nine. Get
that doesn't include Tampa Bay has nine. They haven't clinched
anything yet. And obviously you've got Atlanta with eight, so
they could finish with a winning record, but they can't
get there. Denver has nine, they would be a twelve.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
We could get thirteen. Yeah, yeah, you get thirteen teams.
There's nine already, you said.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Right, yeah, okay, so almost half the league. How many
are like six wins or less or whatever. The opposite
end of that is, well, you can have seven and
still get to ten. So ten losses, yeah, yeah, yeah,
or ten wins and so oh you're talking about sometime
without the garbage team. Oh, the garbage So you're looking
at one, two three, four five in the NFC that
(13:41):
are six or less two three, four five six in
the so so like eleven teams, right right, right, six
or fewer wins and even more if you go double
digit losses. Yeah, So there's just not much in between there,
there's like six teams in between, and then everybody else's
so there's not the Miami, not many of the Miamis,
and he's.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Fighting for playoff spots, trying to you know, scrape in
at eight, nine, nine and eight.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Whatever. Yeah, and that's where you know, people like to
say that. Well, you know, for example, the when the
Steelers lose to Indianapolis, and Indianapolis that's a Tomlin loss.
Every team has those kind of losses because this is
the NFL. You know, India is one of those middle
(14:26):
class teams. As they can beat anybody in the league,
they can also lose anybody in the league. Cleveland Dallas
is another one. Yeah, Dallas is another one. When they
had had the quarterback, they were pretty dangerous. Yeah, you know,
losing to the Browns is not ideal. But on a
short week, they also beat the Ravens. Yeah, that was
(14:47):
a Jameis Winston thing. That's why they're not starting Jamis
Winston now. They don't want to win, no, right, because
he gives them a chance. That's what I was kind
of hoping for, is at least Winston slinging it all
over the place against the Ravens make it more fun
at least. I don't know if they're winning, but you're
give me a chance. At least give you a chance. Right, Yeah,
this will be Bailey Zappy's going to start that game
for them. Yeah, he will be the fortieth quarterback to
(15:11):
start for the Browns. I believe since they came back
into the league.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Wow, well he'll be the eighth one and two years now.
They were one of the four quarterback teams last year
and they're definitely won this year, if not more. Right,
I mean, they've had eight starters in two years.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Not even the same guys. You know, well, I guess
etr did twice. There were four and four. Yeah, so
they've had seven different human beings start games over the
last seven hundred days or whatever. Well one of those
was Watson two twice twice. Okay, so they were six
different human beings. Yeah. Still, that's that's horrendous, right right.
None of them are good? Yeah, and none of them right,
(15:51):
Ben Winston's probably been the best, and he's not good.
I think it's definitely the best. Flacco is one of them.
The same thing with Flacco at least gives you a
chance to win.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
Right, But that's only they're comets in the sky. They're
short lived, you know. I mean those guys played crazy
and you know, oh what a mess.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Yeah. So I mean going into this you only have
three teams. You have three teams fighting for one spot
in the AFC. Yeah, you've got just NFC in South.
The two teams fighting for one spot in the NFC.
It's not what the league wants.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
It's not right, And I guess, you know, from a
league perspective, I can understand doing the AFC northall on Saturday.
You're gonna get a lot of eyeballs on it. At
least they're gonna watch the Ravens, make sure that they
do what they're supposed to do. And then the second
game is good on both ends at least at least
both teams have something to play for. And then Sunday
(16:47):
at one, though, is bad.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
Yeah, the Colts losing last week really screwed things up.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Have Jonathan Taylor dropping the ball at the one really
screwed things up two weeks ago? Yeah, I mean like that,
like the Bengals would be in so much better shape
with the Denver loss there. I mean, that's a game
Denver should lose. You know, Taylor's running the end zone,
just drops it on the one. Yeah, amazing the butterfly.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Effect of that. You mean, how much that happens? I
know there's been a couple of times run the ball
going the end zone. Why this happens? At least like
two or three it's happened like three times this year.
I know, I don't get it at all, Like worried
about your dam taking the reservation for the touch, You're
keeping the reservation. It's the easy part. Yeah, carrying the
(17:33):
ball across the goal line is kind of the whole
point of getting.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
Breaking all the tackles and you know, getting doing all
that stuff hard and just actually taking one more hard.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Through the end zone. I wouldn't drop the ball. I
would run through the end zone and hand the ball
to a fan or hand it to the official that
the next week. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean do it
the Barry sand Just run to the ball through the
end zone and toss it to the official. That part
is not hard. That's not hard to do. Yeah, that's insane.
But I mean the Colts, wait, throw one of your
offensive linemen to get down there, hand it to him
(18:04):
and let him spy. Like yeah, right, But I think
the Colts would still be in it. Den would have
a loss, you know, right, Yeah, I.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Mean they would definitely still be it would still be
in it, right, It'd be a very The NFL is
not happy about it, Like there'd be a lot more
meaningful games going on right now.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
And I really think that if the Colts had won,
you might have seen that like that Denver Kansas City
game might have been Saturday. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that makes
sense because they would need you need to win to
get in. These guys all need. Yeah. I don't know,
I mean, I don't know how they would have positioned
this whole thing, or maybe you put the two NFC
(18:38):
South games on. Man, you don't want one sad board
and that watching the other though, well you're kind of
kind of have that with well scoreboard watch I mean,
but like you don't want to be like, oh, they lost,
I don't have to play anyone. So the night game,
the Steelers could if Mike Tomlin did that Saturday night,
I would understand it. I would understand. It's not what
(19:02):
I would do, right right, right, but it would be
a big thumb to the nose to the NFL, like, oh,
you want to put us here because you think we're okay,
we're just not going to play anybody. You're gonna get
a garbage game here. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
Yeah, And I would understand it too from a Steeler perspective. Yeah,
you know, i'd much sure. I would go to Houston.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
I understand why they're playing their guy. I mean, you
you know, you've lost three in a row. You want
to get that. That's why I don't understand why Houston
isn't doing that same reason.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
I see what you're saying on that. And it's not
like they're littered with injuries Houston. Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
They're not getting tanked all back, they're not getting no
right right. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
I don't know if I'd played Danil Hunter and Will
Anderson and those guys, but I think i'd work on
my my.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Offense out there. They scored two points last week. Yeah,
it's miserable. And they can't pick up a blitz, you know. Yeah.
Do you think any chance Tomlin does no late in
the game. I mean, like, would it have to be
a blowout? I think they'd have to be up yeah, okay,
okay or down heavy you know. Yeah, But I don't
(20:01):
think that's the move. I don't think the Chargers will either.
I think that's no. I think that's their mentality. And again,
as I mentioned that, that's something Belichick mentioned that I
can't go and say to this guy, you're you're more
important than that guy, or that guy's more important than
just Yeah, where do I draw the line yeah. I
mean he didn't pull Brady out of those games. No,
(20:21):
I know, how do I feeld my worst eleven? Yeah? Right, well,
I don't care if you go out there and blow
your knee out.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
Yeah, because he's thinking, right, anybody, there's nobody behind you.
It's worse than you, so you're gonna go out.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
It's just like so in the comments section today on
on our YouTube again, a lot of Roman Wilson stuff,
a how do you go to a guy? How do
you go to Scotty Miller? Sais Scotty You've practiced all
season long, but we're gonna cut you because Roman Wilson's back.
He's practiced I counted them up in my head since
(20:54):
the start of training camp.
Speaker 4 (20:55):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Roman Wilson's practiced about fifteen times all season long, while
including this week, and people want to shove him back
onto the never got a preseason game, He's never never
got a preseason game. He played five snaps in one
game this year. That was with three weeks of practice
leading up to that. When he came back from the
injury the first time, Yeah, he played five snaps in
the game. They were ready to start ramping him up
more and he got hurt again. That's the only time
(21:17):
he's ever put a uniform on. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah,
Like it just sends a bad message to everybody else
in that lock. Oh well, you know what's going to happen. Now,
I've been I've been here practicing all season long. I'm
out there and running scout team. I'm trying to make
our guys better. And oh, you're gonna cut me for
this guy because he's back. It's not how the Steelers operate,
(21:38):
nor is it how they should operate, because that's how
you get one of the one of the ways that
they've had success in getting undrafted free agent guys for example. Oh,
I know. That's a big part of it is that
they don't once you're on the team. They don't look
at guys that guy's the first round draft pick, or
that guy's that guy's not drafted, rookie free agent. No, yeah, yeah,
Like you're all on the same footing here and the
(22:01):
agents know it. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
I mean, man, you screwed my client a year ago
for no good reason, just because you wanted to.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
This guy was drafted higher and he not wrong. How
many how many snaps, realistically would Roman Wilson get He
got five the last time he was acting. That was
after three weeks of practice returning, right, Like, he's not
gonna play on teams. You're gonna you're gonna offer him
up to Danny Smith, and Danny Smith's gonna go, what
am I gonna do with them? No, he can't be
(22:28):
a gunner. We didn't get to work with him at
all in the preseason on doing any of this stuff. Well,
he's not built for teams anyway, right, I mean unless
he's a returner. Yeah, right, he's not gonna run that
on punter kickoffs. So you know, all you're doing is
taking a roster spot away from somebody else who might
actually help the team win.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
And you're actually taking a spot away from Danny. Yeah,
most likely it's somebody that can play teams.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Nobody thinks about. Like, yes, I understand the Steelers' receivers
haven't given you enough beyond pickens and you know some
of this, but no, yeah, he would have to be
head and shoulders above everybody that's try to keep coming
back or a first round draft pick coming back that
you you, oh, yeah, we got to get this guy
in the field. I would understand it. We're talking about
(23:10):
a third round guy. Yeah, he would have to be
dynamite in practice, dynamite, you know, like, boy, we really
got a special player here. He's practiced three times this week.
Tamp to breaks a little bit. People.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
Yeah, you'll get your chance at Roamin Wilson and Camp.
I mean, he'll be back next year.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
I mean, if they had three injuries in this wide receiver,
yeah you can see out there, they're gonna need him.
But if not, and he's next man up, yeah, they
need somebody go down. Somebody would have to get hurt.
That's just the way it is. I mean, now, I
understand the excitement. You want to see rookies and all
get it. They love one. Everyone loved the pick and
I thought was a good pick too. But you know,
(23:47):
there's no there's logistics to it a ton at this
point in the season. Everybody's spots on the roster. You're
on the roster at this point in the season because
you fill some kind of role. There's also a trust
factor too. I can't run the wrong route, you know.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
Now.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
The last thing I wanted came, you know is you
know Neo O'Donnell and Andre Hastings not reading the coverage
the same way, and you cut in and he and
the quarterback throws it out and it's picked six the
other way.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
That's you don't want to get home from Houston with
the loss. Yeah you lost by six points or whatever. Right,
that's how that works. Right, you can't have it anyways.
Let's get to a break. He is the Matt Williamson.
I am Dale Lolly. You're listening to the Driver on
the Steelers Audio Network. When we return, will be joined
by Steelers Sideline reporter Missy Matthews right after this.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
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 1 (24:46):
And welcome back. I am Dale Lolly. He is the
Matt Williamson, and this is the Drive on the Steelers
Audio Network, and we are welcome in on the Justin
Miller Hotline. Steelers Sideline reporter Missy Matthews, and Missy, I
hope you got some more clothing for Christmas because this
is chilly out there now. Eight o'clock game Saturday night
against the Bengals at Akrashuer Stadium. That doesn't figure to
(25:10):
be real warm Saturday night.
Speaker 4 (25:13):
No, it takes me back to the Christmas Eve game
against the Raiders. As soon as I saw that it
was a night game. Well, first of all, it was not.
It wasn't on Sunday. And then you know, of course
the Ravens got the earlier game. But yeah, it's it's
gonna be cold, so I'm gonna have to I'm gonna
bring out all my all my stuff.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
Assuming we get some sort of weather. It doesn't sound
like it's gonna be terrible, but it could be cold,
windy day. When I were thinking that greatly favors the Steelers,
you know, run the ball, be the more physical team,
not relying on the passing game as much.
Speaker 4 (25:43):
You agree, Yeah, no doubt. I mean I think especially
you know, Chase Brown with his ankle sprain, and you
know what Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase and T Higgins
like to do. Absolutely, and it would be good for
the Steelers to, you know, get the old pickup truck
going before the playoffs and get that run game going
(26:04):
as Arthur Smith had referred to it.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
You know, a few games, I wonder if they just
really run the ball like crazy to set the tone
for the playoffs too, you know, like we need to
goal number one of course is winning, but goal one
a might be we need to be the most physical
team out there and get a running game role and
to get ready for the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (26:23):
Yeah, I think the you know, winning the line of
scrimmage on both sides would be huge, just to have
that momentum, to get that taste back in your mouth
of what we have seen them do before the three
game losing streak. It just it does feel like it's
one of those games where they need to win it
just to like prove it to themselves before the postseason begins,
(26:44):
because you don't want to be one and done. I'm
sure it would you know, low icing on the cake
to make sure the Bengals don't make it. So I
just feel like it's, you know, all of the games
that have backup quarterbacks starting at least this one. It
feels like, Okay, this is going to be like a
legit game because there's going to be some games on
Sunday that are going to be unwatchable.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
I think, yeah, we just went through the schedule and
actually there's not just some games. There's a lot of
game to be watchable. So if you have something untill Sunday.
It's not going to be that hard to figure out
something else to do other than watching the NFL, especially
the one o'clock right yuck uh, Missy. When when the
smoke clears from this? However this game plays out, do
(27:31):
you expect that the Steelers will figured out some of
the communication issues that they they had or have been
having on defense.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
I'm very hopeful. I think I'm more hopeful about the
defense figuring it out because of the extended break that
they've had since their last game, which does feel like
like a year ago that Christmas was here and the
Chiefs are in town.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
Yeah, this is our second time talking to you, and
we haven't had a game in between.
Speaker 4 (27:57):
It's so weird, you know. I think we were just
like everyone put their head down and went through the
grind of those three games in eleven days, and then
you could finally, you know, come up for air and
you're like, wait a second, when's the next game. It's
very weird, But yeah, I just think that you know
that the defense has to figure it out. I feel
like they're doing all the right things, they're saying all
(28:18):
the right things, and it's a home games again, you're
going against a team that is fighting for its playoff life.
They need help obviously, but like they still have to
win this game first. The Steelers have been in this
position before that the Bengals are in you know, going
back to even just last year. So it is something
that hopefully we're not seeing, you know, hands in the
(28:40):
air and guys kind of looking at each other like
who was supposed to have that guy? How did we
get beaten? The flat?
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Yeah, you never like to see the Spider Man meme
taking place on the on the field where all the
Spider Man's are pointing at each other. That's that's not
good in terms of the communication with some of that stuff.
And there's been a lot written about other Steelers are
bickering and all this kind of stuff. Did you see
any of that on the sidelines in terms of guys
yelling at each other and stuff like that happens all
(29:06):
the time, I understand, but everybody, I think people are
making maybe a bit too much of this. Well, the
Steelers are in fighting. I don't necessarily see that.
Speaker 4 (29:17):
No, I mean I definitely think, you know, especially when
you get to the third loss and it just pulled
away from them because at halftime. They were still in
that game the third loss. You know, I think, of
course you're gonna it's more like the body language, but
it's not like guys telling each other off or getting
in faces. Of course you're gonna have the you know,
(29:39):
the few and far between like kind of dust ups
or whatnot. But I really don't think that it's a
personal attack on each other. Sometimes I think it's just
like frust. Yeah, and it's just like boils over. Not
that it's like you know, finger pointing, going back to
your your meme. But no, like I didn't a fistfight
(30:00):
and any of the three lasses, if that's what people
think is happening. But I do think that they are
all very blunt with each other. Like Deshaun Elliott, you know,
he said what I said after that Christmas game. I
should not have said publicly, but it's something I would
say in the locker room or to my teammates and whatnot,
and agree. I think they're all like that. I mean,
think about Cam Hayward. When you get him upset about something,
(30:24):
you know you might want to stay away from Cam.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
You're going to hear about it.
Speaker 4 (30:26):
And I'm yeah, like his teammates know that too. I'm
sure I think it's probably a lot of very blunt conversations.
There was a little bit of it of Cam talking
it looked like to the defensive line guys on hard
knocks in this latest episode, just kind of setting the tone.
And you know, Cam's one of those voices that Mike
(30:47):
Tomlin respects, lets him vocalize what he's thinking. And Cam
has a respect of everybody. He's been here before, he's
done it, and he is somebody that cares deeply about
this team and about winning and about you know, getting
t J. Watt his first playoff win, all of this,
all of this stuff. Cam, you know, he's like the
(31:07):
historian slash veteran leader of the entire team.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
So Nause and Jalen are both going to get their touches.
But do you think we're in the kind of the
midst of Jalen Warren becoming the one A and Nause
not being the backup but being the one be.
Speaker 4 (31:24):
It does feel like that, And I think especially when
you just kind of look at the numbers, you know,
one of the NFL research packets had, you know, Jalen
Warren's average seventy scrimmage yards per game since Week seven.
You know, I just feel like you see what he
does in terms of just it's just like sheer determination
(31:45):
and will and just put his head down and goes
and you know that's how you said earlier. You know,
if it's a if it's a bad weather game, you
want to run the ball. Plus the clock goes down,
it goes faster, less hints of injuries, Like there's just
a number of reasons, and it does feel like he's
kind of taken over that angry running that you know
we saw from Naji earlier in this season with his
(32:06):
one hundred yard games. But it does feel more like
it's swinging in Jalen's favor of it just working out.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
Missy. We saw for Steelers name to the Pro Bowl
roster yesterday. There's been some pushback on Minca making it.
And my theory on this whole thing was this Minca
didn't win the fan vote. That was a money hooker
from the Tennessee Titans, which tells me that Minca did
(32:34):
win or overwhelmingly had the votes of the coaches and
the other players in the league, and to me that's
more important. And so people thinking that Minca doesn't deserve
to be in the Pro Bowl this year. Might want
to just take a step back and look at that.
If the players and coaches voted for this guy as
(32:55):
the number one free safety in the AFC, maybe he
is doing some things right.
Speaker 4 (33:01):
Yeah, And I do think sometimes, you know, you can
get into the Probow stuff where it's like name recognition.
Mika even said, what like, you know, I hadn't been
as splashy, So I don't know, but I do think,
you know, coach Tomlin talks about all the time, Tia,
every time they're asked about Mica and the lack of splash.
Obviously we saw the first interception in Baltimore just two
(33:22):
games ago. But agree, I think you know, everybody in
terms of around the league and on his team respects
what he means to the defense and kind of the
blue that helps keep it all together and is really
the last line of defense, you know, when things don't
go right in front of him.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
Would you expect to see justin fields in this game
in some capacity, I mean even just one snap and
think he gets in there.
Speaker 4 (33:45):
Yeah, I do. I do. I think, you know, maybe
we would have seen a bigger plan for him during
you know, the three game losing streak. We clearly saw
him in Philly, but then he you know, dealing with
that injury, he was the emergency guy or out completely.
So I do kind of feel like we need to
get back to maybe some little Justin field surprises. They
(34:08):
didn't do it, Oh, no, they did do it. And
what did he have like two or three snaps in Cincinnati?
Speaker 1 (34:13):
I think, yeah, he had the run at the end
of the game, finish it off.
Speaker 4 (34:16):
Yeah, but I think it was only two or three. Yeah,
it's good, and I think it's you still don't know
who you're playing yet for the wildcard round, so it's
you know, put some stuff on tape, make other opposing
defensive coordinators have to think about it, and who knows,
maybe it's something that can help them, you know, if
they're in a situation that they need to get out of.
(34:37):
Then we know that Justin can use his legs and
clearly has the trust of the coaching staff and the players.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
Well, Missy, we appreciate your time and we'll let you
get back to enjoying your day without the kids. For
the first time.
Speaker 4 (34:49):
Only forty five more.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
Minutes, our guest has been Missy. Matthew Steelers sideline reporter.
She drops by. She does every frame throughout the course
of the season. We appreciate that. I am Dale Lolly.
He is Matt Williamson. And this is the Drive on
the Steelers Audio Network. We'll be back with more right
after this.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
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 1 (35:26):
And welcome back. I am Dale LOLLI he is the
Matt Williamson and Matt an interesting discussion with somebody on
social media on the ex Twitter. It can be interesting discussions. Yeah,
Samuel Klein, I wrote today in my in my five
for Friday about Chris Bosworth Boswell, I should say Bosworth,
(35:46):
Brian Bosworth, Chris Boswell. I do that. I think you
got that from me. I have talked on that a
couple of times. We share a brain. So there's that.
But so he needs he's probably not going to break
the all time record for field goals in a season. Yeah,
I need to kick four in this game to tie
David Akers record from twenty eleven. He has one hundred
and fifty three points through the first sixteen games, Acres
(36:10):
has the NFL record for that with one hundred and
sixty six, so he could get there.
Speaker 3 (36:13):
It's not crazy. Yeah, if it's a barn burner like
it wasn't Cincinnati, yeah.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
Yeah, it could be something along those lines. And so
I wrote about that, talked to bos Well about it,
and you know, he said, look, I don't care about
the record is you know, if we need four field
goals to win the game, great, I'll go kick them.
If we don't and we win, great, I'm fine with
that too. Yeah, and wins more important. Right. And Samuel
(36:37):
Klein right so on that wrote to me on the
Twitter and he says, my belief is a record is
if a record was originally set when playing fourteen or
sixteen games, it cannot be tired or broken because the
league extended by a season an extra game. Same for
thousand yard rushing seasons. That does not take away from
that Boss is a great team player. Here's the thing.
(36:58):
The NFL also used to play twelve games seasons. The
NFL doesn't differentiate records. I know. The other thing here
to me is that if you look at Acres season
compared to boswell season, Acres was forty four or fifty
two will goals that year. Okay, they just had a
lot of attempts. Yeah, Boswell's forty of forty three. Yeah, yeah,
(37:20):
So I don't care if it took him seventeen games
to get there. To me, the fact that he would
do it in fewer attempts just kind of reinforces the
fact that he has been better this year. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (37:32):
I think there's two different conversations who had the better year,
and I think that's Boz. Yeah, you know, and like
I said, there's a lot of misses there for acres
a lot. You know, it's a lot, and I'm sure
and of course the league changes. I mean, it's not
like it was ancient history. But people are hitting longer
ones now than ever. And Bozz's misses are actually good misses.
(37:52):
One's you know, one's a block, ones in terrible conditions,
et cetera, et cetera, and one super long. However, I'm
kind of with this guy here too, that if Barkley
would have played and beat Dickerson, we have one more opportunity.
Speaker 1 (38:08):
Here's the laugh. If you look at the stats, Dickerson
had about three hundred and eighty carries that season. Okay, right,
now Barkley has three hundred and forty five. Again, he
may have a better year, but more opportunities to break
a cumulit record. The record is the record. The NFL
doesn't look at this. It's the same thing in basement,
(38:29):
like when Major League Baseball put the asterisks on Roger
Morris's home run record. It was wrong to do so
you changed the rules. The league changed the rules. The
league decided, no, we're going to go from one hundred
and whatever it was, one hundred and forty games to
one hundred and sixty two, one hundred and fifty four
it was to one hundred and sixty two. The player
didn't say, oh, no, I'm only going to break this
(38:51):
record in one hundred and fifty four. You play the
games that are put in front of you, and if
you break the record, you break the record. Because the
league doesn't. The NFL doesn't say, well, we got records
for pre nineteen whatever when they before they went to
from twelve to fourteen games, and then we have our
records when they're fourteen games, and then we have our
records when they're sixteen games.
Speaker 3 (39:10):
They just call them the record, which I get, and
I think there's two different conversations here though, you know,
like who had the better year is different than who
has the record. To me, like Dickerson might not have
had the best year in running back history just because
he ended up with the most yards. I mean, anyone
that played in the twelve game ear or less has
(39:31):
no chance to have the record. That doesn't mean they
had lesser years.
Speaker 1 (39:35):
Well that's why when you know, when people talk about
Jim Brown, right, like you know, right, right, But then
people will also argue, well, he was as big as
all the defensive line money was playing against, therefore he's better.
Speaker 3 (39:46):
I mean, right, I mean, if somebody was Jordan Malatta's size,
running a four to four, he'd be the best back
in the league. And that's who he was, you know,
Jim Brown. So the two examples I use a lot
which are along these lines or baseball ones my specialty,
but like I think you have to judge them against
who they're playing against at the time. You know, I
always use the Babe Ruth comparison. If he has more
(40:08):
home runs than half the teams in the league, he's
way better than everyone else in the league. Where Bob
Gibson had the best era ever. But that year was
the lowest era in MLB history or whatever, So it's relative. Yes,
they're all awesome years, but his one point one two
I should know the numbers I don't might not be
(40:30):
better than Greg Maddox's best year or Clemens's best year
and Nolan Ryan's best year. When the ball was flying
out of the park, the game also changed, of course.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
Well, of course, like Ricky Henderson just died last two weekends, Yeah,
two weekends ago. Ricky Henderson holds the all time record
for stolen bases in Major League Baseball. He's over fourteen
hundred stolen bases, and people don't steal bases anymore. Right,
for somebody to beat Ricky Henderson's record, they would have
to steal seventy bases a year for twenty consecutive years,
(40:58):
and that would only get them within six Like he
has fourteen hundred and six and they're still lost. Yeah,
they've been in the last since since the year two thousand.
We're going back quite a ways here. Four guys have
stolen seventy bases in a season. That's what I say,
Like what leads the league? Now? Like if you have
fifty do you leave? You have seventy now league. Yeah,
(41:19):
he's seventy now is an ridiculous number. He was still
one hundred plus bases on a regular basis.
Speaker 3 (41:25):
Yeah, yeah, oh I remember, even like Tim Rains back
then and Vince Coleman.
Speaker 1 (41:29):
I mean that's what I say. The game is. The
games do change, sure, And when Dickerson played, everybody was
running the football.
Speaker 3 (41:37):
Yes, I mean Wayne Gretzky had a thousand points when
he was twenty three years old.
Speaker 1 (41:42):
Yeah, like that's insanity. And I don't know a ton
about NBA either, but I'm sure the three point numbers
are blown to smithereens, you know, compared to ten years ago.
They shoot forty of them a game, right, Larry Bird
was a good three point shooter, but he's not up.
He wasn't thrown up fifteen of them a game. Yeah.
Right back to the original conversation though, for Bos's record
(42:05):
or Barkley's record, And it's not fun. But like when
I do my stat pack, I don't do the receiving
leader and they've played ten games and someone only played
nine because of bye, I do receiving yards per game
and that's not sexy, you know, But like who has
the most the rush. The single season rushing champion leader
(42:26):
in NFL history should ever should be whoever has the
most rushing yards per game. Okay, so with X amount
of games, kind of one big game and then get hurt.
Right now, Barkley needs he needs exactly one hundred and
one yards or whatever to break the record. So if
he played in this game and got the same number
of carry let's say he has three forty five in
terms of carries right now, Dickerson had I think three
(42:48):
seventy nine. So if but the carry thing doesn't matter
to me. It matters to me who had the better year.
But I don't care.
Speaker 3 (42:55):
That's like saying, well, yeah, you came to plate more often,
so you should have more home run.
Speaker 1 (43:00):
Okay, but I'll just let's say he had two hundred
rushing yards against the Giants, yea, and blows the record,
blows the record away. Does that then diminish the record
because well he did it in seventeen games?
Speaker 3 (43:12):
No, because he still might whatever his rushing total was
divided by seventeen might be still better than what Dickerson was.
And then to me, it was a better year, not
necessarily a better year, but a better accomplishment.
Speaker 1 (43:25):
You know what I mean, But they don't look at
they used the yardage as the as the record. They
don't use yards per game as the record, but I
know they don't. I'm just saying that's for example, when
when TJ Wat tied the all time sack record single
season sack record, he did in fifteen games, not seventeen.
He missed two games. I know nobody looked at that
and said, well, yeah, but he did it in an
extra game. No, because he didn't actually one fewer game.
Speaker 3 (43:48):
But let's say hypothetically, Lawrence Taylor is the best pass
rusher have ever lived. And I know in his era
they weren't playing twelve, But if that was a twelve
game series season, he did no chance, you know what
I mean, Like might have a chance. Not against the
guy who's played seventeen games. Yeah, I mean it played.
Speaker 1 (44:06):
He's the best ever. If he's the best ever, if
he ever played twelve games, he played sixteen, he's a
bad example. But I'm the twelve. If Joe Green's the
best pass rusher in NFL history, if somebody you know,
whoever it is, or whoever, the twelve game guys have
no chance. The only thing that the league differentiates, and
you'll see this a lot, is you'll see pre than
that pre nineteen seventy merger and post nineteen seventy merger.
(44:29):
That's the way league one. That's the only differential things
that the league uses, because you know, if you look
at the pre nineteen seventy stuff, if you're going to
look at the who is the best, totally different team,
the best receiver ever, you know, you're looking at Don
Hudson who was putting up eighteen hundred yards in twelve
game season.
Speaker 3 (44:47):
That's baby Ruth hitting more home runs than you know,
the other teams. Yeah, I mean, like off the charts stuff.
Right again, it is Apple's oranges.
Speaker 1 (44:55):
But I do think but it was also a completely
different ballgame back then. I know.
Speaker 3 (45:00):
I mean again, I think there's two different conversations of
who has the record, who accumulates the most, and who
had the best year. And to me, the best year
is comparing them to only to who they played against.
Speaker 1 (45:12):
But the best the record is the record it is.
Speaker 3 (45:15):
And that doesn't diminish Boz or Barkley at all. But
when they're playing twenty games, all these are going to
be gone to you know what I mean, part of it.
It's fine. I mean, it's doesn't make it less.
Speaker 1 (45:28):
I don't know if they'll ever be playing twenty games.
They'll be playing eighteen. I think that's coming up. I
mean eighteen, verse, twelve, fifty more. But again in the NFL,
they don't look at that seventy stuff is it's not
the same. But I think they should. I'm not saying
that should be the record, but if they if you
told me, I forget when they stopped playing twelve games.
(45:50):
Was oj a twelve game guy? I think a couple
of years. Yeah, yeah, I think seventy eight was the
first year. If he averaged seven, No, when they went
to fourteen to sixteen, it was like seventy eight.
Speaker 3 (46:00):
Okay, Well, if in seventy six Peyton or Juice average
one hundred and sixty five rushing yards per game and
Barkley averages one twenty a game.
Speaker 1 (46:09):
But they had better years. There's a difference between the
better year and the record. The record. Now, the record
is the record for conversation, right, and to me, there's
there's no asterisk next to the next to the record. Now,
this was sixteen games, and that was seventeen the records,
the record. It's also harder to play seventeen games than twelve.
There's that as well.
Speaker 3 (46:28):
There's there's counter arguments to that as well. I mean,
your body has to with stand that many more hits.
Speaker 1 (46:32):
You're also doing a heck of a lot more travel.
I understand the travel was harder back, you know, thirty
five years ago, but you're traveling a lot. You know,
I gotta go to I gotta go play a game
in London and then come back and play the next
week in the United States, and then I'm flying to
the West Coast. I mean, it's just a different yeah.
I mean they're not on a train with Babe Ruth,
but I mean it it is everything. It's apple taxing, right, yeah,
(46:54):
no question. And you're playing on Thursdays and you're playing
on Saturday. And then you're like they didn't do that either,
no know, and even like the back of like the
Babe Ruth conversation too, it is one hundred years ago
when he played more even but he didn't play against
African Americans, he didn't play.
Speaker 3 (47:09):
Against Latino, right. I mean it's a lot different group,
you know. I Mean, hockey wasn't guys.
Speaker 1 (47:15):
Were throwing a hundred either. You know, but guys weren't
throwing a hundred either, right, right, right?
Speaker 3 (47:19):
I mean Bobby or didn't play against Russians, and you know,
I'm in a different world.
Speaker 1 (47:25):
Yeah, absolutely, Just an interesting discussion, is it is? So
what do you think? Let us know in your comments
in the on the YouTube channel. We'll check those out.
But that's going to do it for our number one.
He is Matt Williamson. I am Dale, Lolly. You're listening
to the drive here on the Steelers Audio Network. Matt.
I'll be back with our number two right after this