Week In Review Episode 53 - Knocked

The Week In Review looks back at a tough loss in Philly, and ahead to a big opportunity in Baltimore.

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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 s. Euler, host
of the Steelers Blitz on the Steelers Audio Network. It's
time to get you up to speed on all the
latest for the Black and Gold. The Steelers fell short
in the Pennsylvania State Championship, losing to the Eagles twenty

(00:27):
seven to thirteen in Philadelphia. Mike Tomlin discussed the loss
and how the team moves forward on a short week.

Speaker 1 (00:34):
It just wasn't a good game for us. It wasn't
a good game for us from a coaching perspective, from
a strategy perspective, it wasn't a good game for us.
In terms of playing and executing. We owned that, you know,
it manifested itself in a lot of ways, and oftentimes,
even though it was a poor performance by us, a
game can be summed up in a limited number of plays.

(00:56):
That's just how close it is in our game at
this level. The difference between squashing wine excuse me, squashing
grapes and drinking wine, is that tight? And as poorly
as we executed, both playing and coaching, I thought the
game could be summarizing to a couple of red zone
possessions that we did maximize. We had the ball in

(01:18):
their territory when we had the fumble recovery on our
punt team and we settled for a field goal. And
then in the second half, we were driving into the
red zone after big play on the flee flicker and
we fumbled the ball. And you know, when you're playing
good people, as the road gets narrow, you got to
maximize those red zone possessions, and I thought those points
were significant. On the defensive side of the ball. There

(01:40):
were several three specifically that I'm thinking of possession downs
where we had a ball carrier netted short to line
the game and he made us miss and move the chains.
Not only do you lose that down, and that's why
we call them weighty downs, but those were drive producing
type plays and time of possession type plays. You make

(02:02):
those plays so you don't have to make plays that follow,
and we didn't. We didn't tackle well enough specifically in
those instances, and that's why time of possession was the
way it was. That's how they were able to possess
the ball and thus produce points. And so for me,
you gotta play well, you gotta strategize well. If you don't,
you position yourself to not be fortunate. And that could

(02:24):
describe some of the things that transpired in that game.
I know a lot has been said about, you know,
some controversial officiating calls in the game, But I just
believe when you play well, those things get minimized, and
when you play poorly, those things get highlighted. We're not
gonna hide behind those things or seek comfort relative to
those things. Things like that happen weekend and week out,

(02:47):
but when you're playing well, it doesn't become a talking point,
or specifically, it becomes less significant in our eyes in
terms of how the game unfolds. And so from my perspective,
I think a big component of us turning the page
this week is getting focused on the things that we
own in that performance and making necessary corrections while at

(03:08):
the same time understanding the awesome opportunity and preparing for
the awesome opportunity that we have this week.

Speaker 2 (03:15):
And as he always does, Coach Tomlin outlining injury concerns
and updates ahead of this weekend's clash with the Baltimore Ravens.

Speaker 1 (03:22):
We had some guys carrying some injury going into last week.
I don't have a lot of new information on those guys,
just in general, we'll formulate a plan for having increased
participation from those guys over the course of the week,
and we'll let the amount of that participation and the
quality of that participation be our guide in terms of

(03:43):
potentially including them. Those people are George Pickens with his hamstring,
dasharn Elliott with his hamstring, Larry Okunjobi with his growing
There were some guys that went down in game that
are going to be evaluated, and the doors of the
jar for those guys. TJ Wide, I just saw him

(04:04):
walking around rather comfortably, but again he's questionable with his akle.
We'll see with the Rose leaders, d'Arte Jackson with his back,
and Justin Fields with the adominal injury that he's sustained
in play. But as I mentioned, none of these six
guys could be characterized as out as I said here today,
we'll probably start with partial participation with them tomorrow and

(04:29):
increase that and make decisions as the week goes on.

Speaker 2 (04:33):
It will be these Steelers and the Ravens on a
Saturday for the second time this season, these two teams
meeting up and a whole bunch on the line. The
Steelers can clench an AFC North title with a victory.
Mike Tomlin talked about the effort that will be needed
to secure victory in Baltimore.

Speaker 1 (04:51):
Now, in reference to Baltimore, I'm really excited about this
opportunity for obvious reasons. It's a divisional game, road the
visual game, it's Baltimore, and I understand the nature of
this rivalry and the amount of attention that it brings,
and it's exciting and humbling to be a part of it.
While at the same time, we got an opportunity to

(05:14):
pursue a division championship this week. And so man, we're excited.
We respect this process of preparation. We're going to display
our excitement by getting singularly focused on what it is
that we need to do to prepare. That's what the
staff has been doing really since the plane touchdown last night.
And I'll outline these guys a little bit briefly. I
think the most significant thing about them is the transformation

(05:38):
that they're undergoing defensively. The last time we played these guys,
they brought on DMPs as a senior advisor, if you will,
a few weeks prior to our game, and I was
wondering what that impact might mean, to be quite honest
with you, the first game. Looking at the tape this
the last time we played them, I see exactly what

(05:59):
it means. Dean is a quality veteran defensive coach. We've
competed against him a lot over the years. We're highly
familiar with his schematics, and, to be quite honest with you,
man a lot of what they're doing more recently, specifically,
since our game looks a lot like Dean P's football,
they keep a lid on things. They mix up a

(06:21):
variety of two high safeties and so forth. They don't
give up big plays. They were thirty second in the
league going in the passing game going into our last game,
and since our last game, they've given up two passes
of twenty yards or more and that was just the
other day versus the Giants, and so that speaks to
a sea change. They're doing some things schematically different to

(06:45):
minimize big plays, and I think Coach P's is a
significant component of it. But they also have shuffled some personnel,
particularly on the back end. Last time we were getting
ready to play those guys, they had Williams and Eddie
Jack in that safety. They don't now they Washington has

(07:06):
emerged as a safety. We saw big time position flexibility
between fourteen and forty four. The last time we played them,
fourteen was playing nickel and safety, forty four was playing
outside corner and nickel. All of that settled down. Fourteen
is playing safety, forty four is almost playing exclusively nickel.

(07:27):
They've acquired White and he played against us the last time,
and his role continues to expand. I see a lot
of settling of the division of labor, a solidifying of roles,
and some altering of schematics. That is done an awesome
job of minimizing some of the explosion plays that kind

(07:48):
of characterized them coming into this last game, and so
that really has our attention. There's still the rough and
tumble run defense group that they've been. They minimized explosion
plays in that area of the game as well. They
shed blocks, they come off blocks, they make tackles, They've
got Mike Pierce back, who is a formidable run stopper,

(08:11):
who who is capable of being an additional hand in
terms of minimizing the run. And so they've really settled
some things down on defense, and they're making themselves a
more difficult group to move the ball with. To score
on the tape tells me that. The statistics tell me
that as well. And so, man, we're working with an
edge man there. They're about as different as you can

(08:32):
get defensively over the course of a month, and so
we got some work ahead of us in that area.
On the offensive side of the ball, man, it's more
of the same. You better deal with mister Jackson. If
yesterday is any indication of where he is, he was
twenty one to twenty five. I think with five touchdown passes.

(08:52):
I think he had sixty plus yards rushing. He's distributing
to the ball around to a lot of people. Last
time we played them. I think Mark Andrews was just
getting his footing after having returned. Man, you see the
relationship there, the depths of those waters in that relationship,
particularly in the red area and weighty moments. But he's

(09:12):
doing a good job of spreading the ball around to
a lot of people, man Zay Flowers, Bateman, I'd be
remiss if I didn't mention Justice Hill out of the backfield,
who is an awesome, complimentary back to the big runner.
He's good on the perimeter, he's good in the passing game. Man.
We got our hands full in preparation for this one.
But again, as I mentioned, we're highly familiar with these guys,

(09:34):
but the same thing could be said. I'm sure for them,
they're highly familiar with us. I think that's what makes
these games so exciting, the strategy so exciting, the process
of preparation, preparing so exciting, and ultimately exciting for the fans.

Speaker 2 (09:48):
Steller's Ravens with a division title on the line, Saturday
in Baltimore. I'm Steelers Audio Network host Wes Shuler. Thanks
for listening to this edition of the Steelers Week in Review.
Take care and I'll talk to the ends next week.