Week In Review Episode 47 - Start Spreading the News

The Week In Review looks back at a win over New York, and ahead to a Monday night clash with New York!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
He's the Steelers we can review with Wesley Hueler on
Steelers Nation Radio at Steelers dot com.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Hello Steelers Nation, and welcome to the Steelers Week in Review,
your one stop shop for all the current news and
headlines for your Pittsburgh Steelers. I'm Wes Shuler, host of
the Steelers Blitz on the Steelers Audio Network. Let's get
you up to speed on all the latest for the
Black and Gold. The Steelers took care of business Sunday
night in primetime in a five star matchup, taking down

(00:28):
Aaron Rodgers and the Jets in Russell Wilson's Black and
Gold debut. Mike Tomlin spoke about the effort that was
needed to secure victory in such a big spot.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
The first thing that comes to mind is the environment.
I thought it was just an excellent football environment. I
thought our fans were special. We don't take those things
for granted. Man, those home game, primetime television football games.
Just the way that it inspires us and energizes us
as a collective, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that,

(01:00):
And it makes me excited about about this next opportunity.
Monday night. Football is a precious thing. And it's just
really awesome to know that we get an opportunity to
do it, and do it in Acture stadium in front
of our fans. I thought that they were significant in
terms of how the game unfolded from a momentum perspective.
Crowd noise, et cetera. Was just an asset to us.

(01:24):
Looking at how we performed in game, I thought we
warmed up offensively. I thought we warmed up for a
lot of reasons. Obviously Russ having to knock the rust
off being a significant amount of time since he's played
in stadium football being a component, but also just a
continual shuffling that we have up front, Ryan McCullum getting

(01:46):
an opportunity to start. Oftentimes, when you're when you're changing,
you know, collectives up front, it takes a series or
two to gain your footing and your the type of
cohesion you need to be success school and particularly to
win weighty moments possession down ball. I'd like us to

(02:06):
you know, warm up to put put possession down ball
execution a little quicker. I thought that that defined our
performance in the first half. We were settling for field
goals because we were losing some possession downs, particularly in
the red area, and I thought on the other side
that you know, they were winning those downs in the
red area, and I think that's why we kind of

(02:27):
went in at halftime a way that you could describe
it as you know, we had a couple of field goals,
they had a couple of touchdowns until the Beanie interception,
And so the Beanie interception obviously was a significant swing
and momentum. It got them out of a scoring circumstance
and allowed us to finish one of those drives that

(02:48):
we hadn't been finishing in the first half and and
go in essentially in a close football game. And I
thought in the second half, we just continued to settle
in with some of the adjustment is that we've made
that we made in game and and found our footing
and took off in all three phases. And I say
all three phases intentionally because you know, special teams is

(03:12):
it has been a component of of what it is
that we do in the way that we engineer. Victory
can't say enough about our block units. It's not just
an agenda for us. We try to live it. We
developed skills in that area. If you just look at
the type of guys that have block kicks for us,
and in recent experience, you know makers of safety. Connors

(03:35):
a tight end, uh Dean as a defensive lineman, Miles
Killerbrew is a safety. They played various home positions, but
they're all teamers and that's the way we work to
develop skill in that area, to not make any assumptions
regarding who is capable of what, and to to position

(03:56):
ourselves to take advantage of opportunities. And I just can't
say enough about Danny and that group and how they
make that visionary reality. I did talk to New York
and they did tell me Minka's block was legal, which
I knew in stadium. But that's life. None of us
are perfect, man. There's gonna be mistakes made in game.

(04:18):
There's strategic strategic mistakes made by guys like me, there's
playing mistakes made by players, and there's officiate mistakes. The
bottom line is, if you're capable and you're on your
job for sixty minutes, mistakes by others often doesn't define
the outcome of games. But it is a shame because
that was a significant play by Mink and it did

(04:41):
create a two point scenario for them. That kind of
could have changed the texture of how that game was unfolding.
But that's life, man. You gotta smile in the face
of it, and I expect our group to do so.

Speaker 2 (04:54):
As he always does on Tuesdays. Coach Tomlin outlined injury
concerns and updates for the Steelers head of this week's
clash with the New York Giants.

Speaker 1 (05:03):
Mount Adams sustained the knee injury in game. He could
be characterized out as we sit here today. We don't
have a lot of details about the trajectory of what
needs to transpire or how long he may be out,
and I just know that he's out as we as
we stand here today. In terms of this week, he's
got a couple of guys that are positioning themselves to

(05:24):
return to action. Tyler at the linebacker position is in
position to work his way back to us, and so
is Patterson at running back, and so like in all circumstances,
we'll first start with limited participation and then look at
the amount of that participation and the quality of that
participation to determine whether or not we'll consider those guys

(05:47):
as we get close to game time. Dante Jackson went
down in game with a shoulder, but that could be
described as minor. It may affect him at the front
part of this week and limited his participation, but in
no means what I expected to limit his game availability.
The rest of the injuries are kind of status quo.
No new news on some of those extended people. Guys

(06:10):
like Nick Herbick and Zach Fraser and others nothing to
add in terms of their availability. Do expect Kz to
be back in action. He was a partial participant at
the beginning of last week and moved to a full participant,
but as we got close to game time, we thought
it was prudent that we wait another week to include him.

(06:32):
I don't expect any restrictions with him, to be quite honest,
because he was at the doorstep of availability on Sunday night.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
It is another primetime opportunity for the Steelers, their third
at home in the month of October. This time it
is the New York Giants coming to Akroscher Stadium. Mike
Tomlin previewed the challenge that they will present.

Speaker 1 (06:53):
When you look at their offense. It starts with Daniel
Jones for us and the many ways that they utilize
his talent. The design run has my attention, particularly because
he's coming off of an injury. I didn't I don't
know that I expected to see as much design running
from him and them in twenty twenty four as I've seen,

(07:14):
but he is a talented guy in that area. The
QB draws and the QB counters and the zone read
keats are a major component of what they do. And
it's simply a mathematics thing, if you will. If you've
got a guy in the middle of the field, which
usually we do Mika, and they're utilizing the quarterback to run,
they're essentially playing eleven on ten, and so you know,

(07:36):
we got to defeat blocks and come off of blocks
and make tackles. That's how you minimize quarterback running. Very
rarely are we interested in going zero and things of
that nature that others are. And that's no secret. That's
just philosophical approaches the ball, and so we better do
a really good job of coming off of blocks and

(07:57):
working to minimize some of those things. They're also really
good at their spread football, his rhythm passing, his ability
to spread the ball around to a number of different eligibles.
Johnson is an interesting talent at tight end familiar with
him obviously from Penn State, and has been a lot
written and said about neighbors and got a lot of
video of neighbors and his talents. Man, he's got really

(08:20):
good separation ability, his stop and start, his ability to
create space at breakpoints, and you couple that with a
real competitive spirit and strong hands. He attacks the ball
what's in the air. He makes those competitive plays. And
that's why he's drafted his high as he's drafted those
guys that get an opportunity to hug Roger Goodell Man,

(08:42):
it's usually because of some real tangible things and some
also some real intangible things, and he has both and
he has our attention in that regard. They've had some
shuffling in the offensive line, particularly in recent weeks at
left tackle. You know, don't know what to expect in
terms of some of that. I'd imagine there'll be some

(09:03):
changes there, just reflecting on last week's game, and so,
you know, I think that's always a challenge when you're
when you're playing a group like this man the unknown,
as they as they pivot to to to correct their
ills or to best position themselves to win. Oftentimes it
creates questions for for groups like us. And so we're

(09:25):
leaning in on this week with respect to that and
and and what they're capable of, their ability to adjust,
and some of the talents that they have, particularly as
it pertains to the mobility with Daniel Jones on the
defensive side of the ball, it starts upfront with them.
Dexter Lawrence is a problem. He is. He's a problem

(09:45):
in the running game. He's a problem in the passing game.
I think he leads the NFL in sacks. But he's
just a dominant, dominant player. I remember when I took
those guys out to dinner when he came out of
Clemson number of years back, and you know, I was
sitting having a conversation with him and Christian Wilkins, and
they were sitting on a love seat, man, and that
love seat was crowded, and Christian Wilkins looked really small,

(10:10):
and we all know Christian is not small. And so
that's what I think about when I think about him. Man,
His career is kind of kind of bear that that
thought out. He is a dominant, dominant player. You're not
gonna get a lot done unless you're prepared to put
four hands on him. Guys like Ryan McCullum who are
getting an opportunity to ascend and play. It's gonna be

(10:32):
a significant challenge. But we better do more than wish
Ryan McCullum luck. We better give him some schematic help
and be highly sensitive to to this man's capabilities and
not only his capabilities, but just simply what he's putting
on tape weekend and week out as we sit here
right now. Burns was a big off season acquisition for them,

(10:53):
and you know, you see why. He is a dominant
edge presence. Know, as significant as Lawrence is on the interior,
he's equally significant on the perimeter, and they really kind
of work hand in hand with interior people collapse in
the pocket and the edge people work in your tackles. Man.
They got a veteran D line coaching group and Andre

(11:16):
Patterson and Brian cox Man, I got a lot of
respect for those guys, and you just see the spirit
of those two men in the in the play of
the guys that play for the Giants. They got top
quality talent in the secondary, although it may lack experience
in some cases. Tay Banks is the second year player.
First rounder. Nuban is a second rounder rookie from Minnesota,

(11:42):
highly thought of in draft, and their nickel, the third
rounder out of Kentucky. I liked him a lot, uh
in draft preparation. Uh So, those guys might be somewhat
new to the National Football League, but they they they
certainly have the capabilities and they have our attention, and
I think they do a really nice job of mixing

(12:02):
up a variety of coverage schematics, be it spot drop zones,
man demands, relatable zones, and pressures. They do a really
good job of challenging use chematically in that area. And
it's not only the rush. The secondary mix is a
component of why I think they're fifth and sixth in
the league. Fifth or sixth in the league versus the past,

(12:24):
and then the special teams game. We gotta be on
our p's and q's. There. They got some top quality players,
some guys that are tough schematic matchups, guys that are
often too big for DB's to handle and too athletic
for linebackers to handle in One name that comes to
mind is Isaiah Simmons, former first rounder from Clemson. It's

(12:45):
kind of reflective of that he's an oversized safety or
super athletic linebacker, if you will. And those are the
type of guys that create mismatch issues and special teams
as you try to figure out how the best position
yourselves in terms of match in man on man. And
so we got an additional day to work and we're
excited about about that. When we get an additional day,

(13:08):
we usually do Friday twice. Friday is situational football for us.
Those players are waited differently. Oftentimes they shape the texture
of the game, They define how the game unfolds. We
know that we respect that, and so we're given an
additional day. That's where we choose to direct our additional

(13:28):
time and energy towards some of those weighty moments, position
ourselves to win those circumstantial or situational plays.

Speaker 2 (13:37):
Steelers Giants Monday Night Football starts spreading the news. I'm
Steeler's Audio network host West Huler. Thanks for listening to
this episode of the Steelers Week in Review. Take care
and I'll talk to the ends next week.