September 18, 2025 • 44 mins
Mike, Matt, and Merril touch on last week's result for the Steelers and apply it to their upcoming matchup in New England against the Patriots on Sunday.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Steelers Preview show on WDV Pittsburgh, brought
to you by your neighborhood Ford Store. The F one
fifty is the official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers by
Brian Patton and associates. It's all about the benefits and
by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct from the
team at shop dot Steelers dot com. And now here
are your hosts, Merril Hodge, Matt Williamson, and Mike Persuda.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Good evening and welcome to another edition of Steelers Preview.
I'm Mike Persuda, along with Matt Williamson Merril Hodge will
be along directly as we get you ready for the
Steelers and the New England Patriots on Sunday in Foxboro, Massachusetts.
A house of whores. Yeah, not just for the Steelers,
but for.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
A lot of people. Yeah, over the years, but last
couple decades. Yeah, Tom Brady's in.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Vegas and Bill Belichick's and Carolina is so doable this time.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
They're a long way from Gronk and Randy Moss and yeah,
the Brady years. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Let's start things off as we usually do, by catching
you up with what happened at practice today. Our injury
report is presented by your neighborhood Ford store. The F
one fifty is the official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
In Matt Nothing jumping off the page for either team.
No Joey Porter junior hamstring or Deshaun Elliott's safety for
(01:16):
the second consecutive day. For the Steelers today, Derek Harmon
knee was limited for the second consecutive day. Now.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Terrell Austin Kina news Worthy. I mean at least he's
getting out there.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Terrorll Austin, a defensive coordinator, said if they play Harmon,
he would be on a pitch count because of conditioning concerns,
a rookie that hasn't played yet coming off an injury.
So it sounds like it would be a cameo at best.
He's not going to come in and be Aaron Donald
and mix the run. Defense.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
History tends to no, and you'd be better at this
than me with being down there a lot. I would
think Tomlin leads towards you play the Vikes in Ireland,
you know.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Yeah, sometimes particularly with the younger guys. Yeah, if they're
not getting full practices in then.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
There's a level of trust there. You know if it
was Cam Hayward, it's different, you know.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Right absolutely For New England, a bunch of guys limited
both days. I think the headliner is Christian Gonzales Hamstring.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
He's a difference maker.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
The reporting I'm getting access to out of New England,
the Patriots are talking as if he's going to play.
Speaker 5 (02:17):
M hm.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
This is a horrendous secondary without him.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Horrendous without him. I mean people are throwing like crazy
against the Patriots despite having an excellent pass rush. I mean,
the back seven isn't covering anyone at the moment. But
to me, he's a Sauce Gardener like type of corner.
I mean, a top five ish corner. I mean he's
a difference maker for them that.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Probably would get a lot of metcalf and another guy
key on White defensive end edge, pretty good edge guy. Yeah,
he didn't play in Miami this past Sunday. He was
back to full participation today after not working yesterday illnesses.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
That's someone they're really high on. They'll move him all
over the line of scrimmage. Very talented, very disruptive. One
thing I just wanted to note about the Steeler injury
report is last week and I was down at the
facility to day. I go every Thursday. Missy Matthews mentioned me.
She's like, all I'm hearing down here is communication communication,
you know, especially on the back end. But all five
(03:14):
of the Steeler defensive backs with Elliott and Porter out
that played a snap last week weren't Steelers the year before.
You know, I mean, if this is week ten, that's
that's not excuse anymore. But it's only week two, and
maybe it's the same go round and you throw peppers
in the mix. Who got here like a week ago?
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Funny, uh you mentioned that because Tera Austin, the defensive coordinator,
brought that up today.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Wes and I brought this up like three days ago.
We were talking through it. I'm like, you know what,
none of those guys were with the team, So maybe
he listens to.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
The drive and you know, I think it was it
was maybe done. What do you mean, maybe who wouldn't
loop in his office? Maybe an underreported component of the
whole preseason process. I mean, they went, they went out
and got these veteran guys, but you don't just throw
them all into a pot and that comes out soup.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
I mean, right, it takes a simmer right, and it's
a real like O line. It's a very communicative you know,
I got him, I'm gonna pass him off to you
in this zone? Do you have me over the top
and that doesn't happen overnight, and not making excuses for
him because the defense leaves a lot to be desired.
But I think it is noteworthy that everyone in the
secondary had never been here until this year.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
A couple other nuggets out of Tarl Austin's media briefing today,
it sounds like we're going to see more Cole holcom.
It's going to be some alteration of the division of
labor and inside linebacker.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
I can't fight that at that point.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
I can't either. Yeah, you know, I talk with Peyton
Wilson this week and he is still trying to find
middle ground. He said last year when he played, he
was just worried about don't screw up. And this year
they make him a starter and there's a lot of
talk he's a three down guy. He said, I'm trying
to make every play and I much. I gotta realize
sometimes it's not my play, okay, and I just got
(05:01):
to do my job.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
It doesn't mean he's not gonna be a good player,
but maybe taking a little off his plate would be
the move, because Holkom's a nice luxury to have as
a third linebacker.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
You know, they brought him here and he was perceived
prett as part of the solution and had a three
down guy and all that. The other potential alteration Daniel Qualay,
Oh really.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
I've been pushing it for that for I think he
needs a bump.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
I'm not sure how that's going to work out between
the Qualite and Chono Benton, but.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
I know it's easy for me to say this, and
it would be a lot easier to do this in
the beginning of training camp or OTAs. But I would
love a Quality to basically be the stop gap hold
down the fort nose, because I don't really think Benton's
a nose. I think he'd be much better served, the
team would be much better served if he was playing
(05:56):
cam to its position, you know, three four defensive end
as well as nickel interior. He gets pushed back a
lot on the nose and in the meantime kind of
cross train ya Black to be your future nos. I
mean that's easier said than done in while the train's
rolling though.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Of course, so the Steelers aren't the only team that
has a lot of new components, and they're not the
only team in this game coming up Sunday that has
a lot of new components. I look at this new
England team, Matt and the left side of the offensive
lines a couple of rookies, talented rookies, but rookies nonetheless,
Will Campbell and Jared Wilson. The center Bradbury is new
(06:36):
from Minnesota. The right tackle, Morgan Moses is new from
the Jets.
Speaker 5 (06:42):
Defense of the.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Arrow line was like the worst in the league last year.
It needed a lot of work.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Stefan Diggs knew at receiver and he's still working his
way back from He doesn't look quite say this is
not the Oh my god, that's Stefan Diggs at least.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Not the Bills Vikings version yet right.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
I mean, he played fifty two percent of this snaps
against Miami, just.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
As their receiver group as a whole, nobody's really emerged.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Then you look at the defensive side, uh, Milton Williams
has come over up front from Philadelphia. Harold Landry edge
guy from Tennessee, kylevon Chase on edge guy from Vegas.
Craig Woodson's strong safety is a fourth round rookie.
Speaker 5 (07:25):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
They're they're trying to figure it out.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Uh, Davis Corners lane right right. They had a lot
of free agents, they had a ton of cap space
and had a lot of holes, and so they are
revamping things in a big way. I think, for better
or worse. They want to get a lot of the
Belichick guys out of here. It's time for the may
vrabel era. And I think that's the only reason Peppers
isn't right.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
He might agree with you on that if.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
We and same with bentleyho The Seelers just picked up
on the practice squad.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
So I look at this Patriots team and there's great
excitement in New England. A scoring They've got five touchdowns
of it. It took him two months to get five
touchdowns last year. But I'm not blown away, Oh.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
No, I think this seems very much a work in progress.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
There's not a lot of splash, there's not a lot
of star power. They are rushing the passer well. They
have nine sacks.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
They had the lowest in the league a year ago,
so that's a nice step in the right there. Actually,
I've been saying all week, but you can't get.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
The guy on the ground every time, and when he
doesn't get on the ground, throwing on them happens. Starfield.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Yeah, the back seven is having a rough go of things.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
A couple guys I wanted to mention toward that end. Now,
I'm not sure if Gonzalez comes back how this will
affect the rotation. But number twenty eight Alex Austen cornerback.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
Played a lot in Miami. Yeah, and I don't think
that's how they drew it up. Whenever they built the roster.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
My notes say he got beat on crossers, fades, slants,
and deep shots.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Well, other than that, it was great.
Speaker 5 (08:50):
Huh.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Yeah, he's the guy you want to throw at down
the field. He's out there.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
And then the other one, our old buddy Robert Splaine,
who you know, I give full props to for having
his long careers.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Sure, coaches seem to love him for his.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Effort and for his work ethic and for his you know,
sense of team. He still can't cover the pass.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
I know, the national media seems to love him and
everywhere he goes like, oh he's our answer. I'm like,
have you ever watched him? Play the playing coverage. I mean,
I'm picking on him all day long.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
When I was done with him. Was the Cleveland COVID
playoff game at atter sure, Steelers fell away behind and
they were threatening to get back into the game. And
it was a third down where the Browns had three
tight ends on the field. So the Steelers went heavy
and then they spread the formation and they wound up
with Splaine on Jarvis Landry three steps right, turn Clyde
(09:46):
catch the ball, twenty something yard play right. Well, this
past Sunday in Miami, a chain is the back yep
and Splaine is in the middle of the field, and
all a chain does what a mismatch that is, takes
a half circle out of the backfield. Splaine overplays it
towards the sideline, cuts back to the middle, catch run
twenty nine yard touchdown, wasn't touched.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
I could see Gainwell doing that. I could see Warren
doing that. I certainly think either of your more pass
catcher ish tight ends Friar Muther or John who let's
go you know, right.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
I mean, I know you do what you do, but
you also look at these other teams and you find
week spots that you can attack.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
And there's a lot in their back seven.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
I don't know if twenty eight is gonna play, but
if he does, he needs to be attacked. And fourteen
Splaine is going to play, he needs to be attacked
in the pass.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
I don't think their safeties are particularly and you don't
have to avoid them, you know, I mean, all in all,
I've been saying this a bunch about the Patriots, like
they were really, really down and out, and their coach
last year was a problem. I think they got a quarterback.
I think they now have a legit coach, and they
have a pass rush. That's a great way to start
(10:54):
the rebuild. But all the other boxes and he checked,
you know.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
I assess them on the morning show to day. I
can't remember if I corrected myself or not, but I
initially said they're not as good as Seattle the Patriots,
but they're better than the Jets. I want to amend
that to say, no, they're not as good as the Jets.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
I only, yeah, Seattle's definitely the best of three, no
question in my mind. I don't know how to sort
the other two out.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Gear up with the latest game day necessities at the
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(11:39):
team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop dot Steelers
dot com. When we come back, Merril Hodge gets the
ball and starts running with it, So keep it here
with Matt Williamson on Mike Pursuer This is Steelers Preview
presented by your neighborhood Ford Store. The F one fifty
is the official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
Back to the Steelers Preview show on DV.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Welcome back Mike PURSUITA and Matt Williamson here on the
preview getting You're ready for the Steelers at the New
England Patriots on Sunday Time. Now to welcome to the show,
our factor back Merril Hodge and Merrill We've got a
lot to unpack with the Steelers. But before I get
to anything, including how this season is trending toward going
(12:24):
back to nineteen eighty nine. As they all do, I
have to make an announcement in your presence, just in case,
just in case you haven't heard, you probably have, But
your favorite NFL player of all time, guess who's back?
Jiddaveon Clowney wearing the star of the Dallas Cowboys.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Obvious replacement for Micah Parsons. It'll be justified.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Let me see if I remember it's right, Meryl. On
one play's great. On one play he takes it off,
and on the other play he does something.
Speaker 4 (12:57):
You really don't want him to do. Yeah, and play
a third of the time. You get what you really
need all the time.
Speaker 5 (13:04):
But tell you how desperate Dallas is, Yeah, it does.
Tell you. It speaks to how desperate they are.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
Because as he's always been able to make splast plays.
But he just he hurts your team, morning helps your
team when you just size it all up. He just
he's always been like that. He's like that in college.
That's how he plays. Nobody's ever changed him. If the
Houston Texans could just go back in time and make
(13:29):
one adjustment in their draft order, you take Khalil mack
over that guy. They have a completely different outlook on
their franchise, completely different looking.
Speaker 5 (13:40):
It's interesting.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
It's always interesting with daveon clowning Uh Steelers. Then Steelers
have an interesting game coming up. And I mentioned this
is trending toward nineteen eighty nine. They haven't gotten beat
ninety two to ten by combined score in the first
two games as the nineteen eighty nine Steelers did on
the way to the playoffs. But I think we're all
in agree with this does not yet look like a
(14:04):
playoff team correct well.
Speaker 4 (14:09):
And obviously the area, you know, it's somewhat simple, you know,
and you really, you know, you narrow it down, it's
very simple.
Speaker 5 (14:16):
Where they have to get better. But where they have
to get better is.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
Like monumental in far as winning championships, being successful in
the NFL, And it goes no further than like the
line of scrimmage.
Speaker 5 (14:27):
You know that war.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
There are better the battle that goes there to help
you win the war. They're just not winning those battles
consistently enough on both sides of the ball. I mean,
if you really want to sum up their problem, now
that being said, you can fix those things. You know,
it takes a lot of work and then there's going
to be you might have to get some different personnel
(14:53):
at times. You know, there are times you have to scheme.
And keep mind, you don't know, nobody ever wins it all
the time. You know, let's make that clear. Nobody does.
And you know there's ever we talked about like coaching
and scheme. Okay, everybody gets out schemed at times. You know,
it's how how bad did you get out schemed? And
you do you continue to get out schemed, Like if
(15:13):
you went back back to the last game, I'll I'll
tell you what SA did a pretty good job of
where they out schemed us. He was with their motions
and their shifts, like and then the way they ran
the ball, so they outnumbered us.
Speaker 5 (15:24):
You know, they always had like four to R three.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
They had four blockers the three defenders, where they had
five blockers to four or even three defenders. So which
shifts and motions You're like, that sometimes gets lost. You
can't watch that during the game. It happens too fast sometimes.
But they did a good job of that, you know,
scheme wise, and we didn't adjust. Fact, we actually shifted
one time to the strength of their formation. They motioned
(15:49):
across and shoot, they had us out number five to
three and they and they gassed us. So you know,
those things are part everybody does that, you know, it's
just how many times do you and sometimes you have
schemes you still don't get beat though, you know, your
guys make plays and are able to adjust to it.
Speaker 5 (16:07):
So but both sides of the ball, they just don't
win in the trenches consistently enough.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
We'll only went about forty percent of the time, and
you got to win a minimum of sixty to have
a reasonable chance to win six successfully in the NFL Merril.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
Another thing Seattle did a lot of was they stayed
in base personnel either twelve or twenty one, and often
with a fullback. Do you expect the same from the
Patriots full back aside and you know, not a lot
of three receiver sets and how much did the fullback
give this toe those trouble.
Speaker 5 (16:40):
Yeah, well, Matt, you know that's listen. Well he was.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
He's your wild card, especially from behind the center. And
when you're under center, you see, there's the advantage to being
under center and run on the football. Okay, when two
guys are directly behind you, you really Okay, you have
you have flexibility, you know, the strong side week side.
You know, right, how are you going to label it
when your quarterback is under center, when he's standing in
that shotgun or in the pistol, and your back's on
(17:08):
one side or the other, even if the backs backs
are split they have two backs back there, which that
seldom happens. You're still limited, you know, you're still extremely limited,
especially to run some type of power type of running attack,
which Seattle did. And oh, by the way, the Patriots do. Now,
the Patriots a little more inside zone. They're not going
(17:29):
to come at you right at you, but they do
outside going too. But they're they're determined to come at you.
So based on the problems that they're going to see that.
Speaker 5 (17:42):
They would be crazy not too.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
Yeah, they like the Steelers a lot.
Speaker 5 (17:46):
Look at a team you want to pay. They don't
do this well. Anybody that says you know what or this,
even if it isn't something that you do really well,
you do it that game. You try attached games.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
I would say more design quarterback runs too, considering what
fields did.
Speaker 5 (18:02):
Yeah, because you know, really the kid and make he
can you know.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
He can run.
Speaker 4 (18:06):
Yeah, he's got he's he's got some he's got some wills,
and they moved him quite a bit. They move him
at times more than probably most. And he's still a
young kid.
Speaker 5 (18:15):
You know.
Speaker 4 (18:15):
Probably his best game against the Miami Dolphins last week,
that's the best I've seen play, you know, and he's
played much better than I thought he would play coming
out of college. You know, watching him in college, I
was just like, whoa. He didn't consistency was like off
the charts. Like the only game he played really well
was against Pitt ironically in Pitt, and they won that game.
But you wouldn't have walked away from that game going
(18:38):
I like that guy in the first round.
Speaker 5 (18:40):
In fact, I thought he was. He's dangerous.
Speaker 4 (18:42):
He still does some things, didn't consistent when it matters,
and that's enough there to still be concerned.
Speaker 5 (18:47):
But last week he was. He was spot on. I mean,
he made some big time throws. Bro.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
I wanted to ask you about tendencies because in each
game the Steelers have played, the opponent has broken a pattern,
at least according to the people that I talked to
on the South Side. The Justin Fields walking touchdown in
the Jets game, he did that from under center, and
I was told that the trend was he would do
(19:14):
read option keepers from shotgun and hand off from center,
and that's why they all crashed down. And then the
Kenneth Walker nineteen yard touchdown run at the end of
the Seattle game. Now, I'm not sure where these they
came up with this tendency because it's pretty early in
the season, but I was told the expectation was Seattle
always runs to the tight end side, and the tight
(19:34):
ends on the right side of the formation, and he
ran Walker to the weak side. Now, clearly that wasn't
the only problem with that play bad angles, and you know,
three or four things went horrifically wrong. But how much
do you count on tendencies, not just in preparation, but
when you're out there just before the snap.
Speaker 5 (19:53):
Well, you know, Tennessey's our big deal.
Speaker 4 (19:56):
That'd being say, I said, really good teams will look
at their own tendencies and try to break So.
Speaker 5 (20:01):
It's pretty early in the year to do that, quite honestly.
Speaker 4 (20:03):
But if you already know a team is vulnerable, which
that that's how you're spelling it out to me. They
knew there was some vulnerability in it, so now you
go back to that Walker.
Speaker 5 (20:12):
I want to say Matt helped me YouTube Mike.
Speaker 4 (20:15):
Were they in that formation on that one, because see
like now now here's all I shoot up. I wish
i'd have my I was gonna put that game up
anyway on my computer. Anyway, if they were that, there's
the advantage to why they probably played out of the
eye so much is to do that. And here's probably
what they were doing is they were they're reading it
(20:37):
at the line of scrimmage. They're making a decision that
the line of scrimmage based on what they what we
were doing, would be, my guest, is a possibility. I'm
not saying it did because I'm not looking at the play,
but well, I'll tay, I'll tell you this.
Speaker 5 (20:51):
I mean, you're talking about tendencies.
Speaker 4 (20:53):
Okay, the jet and the touchdown passed that justin fields through. Okay,
that was the exact same play and passed the seattle
through their first touchdown or that's whatever the touchdown was
where they had the crosser. Yep, it was almost exact
same part of the field. They got the exact same coverage.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
A free safety and conflict yep.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Yeah, that actually that actually came up today in the
Terror Austin press conference, and they they had changed the
coverage and didn't play it the way they were supposed to.
Speaker 5 (21:22):
Well, here's what I'm just telling you that.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
There was a miscommunication, Meryl. I don't know if you've
heard that before.
Speaker 4 (21:28):
Yeah, I've I've heard a lot, been a part of
it a lot. And that's a real thing. I'm not
saying that's not not true. But here's it happened twice.
Don't think for a second.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
It's gonna happen a third time.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
They're they're gus going to Yah, they gotta get down
there and they're going to see if they still play
that same tendency. And did they figure it out? You know,
did they they have the communication thing right? You know,
you have always have outlets and checkdowns if it doesn't materialize.
But I was like, man, I'm watching this saying, I mean,
they played the exact same It looked to be the
same covered.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
So yeah, if you go back and look at it
all twenty two, you might catch h one Thornhill, the safety.
As soon as as the play unfolds and he looks
and sees where the ball's going, he grabs his helmet
with both hands and starts jumping up and down like,
oh my god, we messed it up like that. I
believe the coordinator. He said, you know, it was gone
(22:24):
over during the week and it didn't play out the
way it was gone over. So it happens.
Speaker 5 (22:29):
Can you see that? Yeah? No, yea.
Speaker 4 (22:32):
Well that's why you get challenged all the time. You know,
that's why nobody ever looks at that and goes, boy,
they're messed up twice, or they didn't play it right twice,
or they struggled with this twice. You'd be teams are
crazy not to try it. You know, there's always there
was another option to it. If that doesn't work. So
if they play it right, then we have an outlet.
(22:52):
But they'll see it again. They'll see it again.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
You alluded to it earlier. I mean, the Steeler run
game needs a lot of work, and it's from where
it needs to be. But if we just focused on
who's the ball carriers? Would you go heavy heavy warrant
at this point? I think they're kind of in a
tough spot of how to distribute carries.
Speaker 4 (23:13):
Well, he's your best runner, He's the best pro runner
from from every perspective, you know, I you know, on
the morning, Shot talked about this that his very best rung.
Speaker 5 (23:26):
People think it's that. You know, when they adjusted, they.
Speaker 4 (23:28):
Went downfield and Aaron threw him the ball and well
ended up being sixty eight yards, breaks tackles.
Speaker 5 (23:32):
You know, he's a beast.
Speaker 4 (23:34):
It was the first carry of the second half where
I mean two defensive linemen get I mean they don't.
I mean they win their battle and they are in
the backfield and they have him bracketed and he sticks
his feet in a grat and moves louderly and vertically
and gets five yards. Okay, at the end of the day,
that's an NFL runner. NFL runners that can do that,
(23:57):
get you out of a dirty plate and get you
five yards.
Speaker 5 (24:00):
That's the kind of runner you need. And he has
great power, he has his dynamic feet, good instincts.
Speaker 4 (24:08):
Is he like like the home run hitter, you know,
take one Barkley type.
Speaker 5 (24:13):
No, but I'm gonna tell you this.
Speaker 4 (24:15):
I mean he will keep you on schedule. I see,
the more you fed him, the more he's going to
keep you on schedule.
Speaker 5 (24:22):
By doing his part.
Speaker 4 (24:23):
Now that being said, there's so many times these guys
get hit in the backfield they have. The point of
attack is absolutely destroyed by the defense, and they have
absolutely no options. If they get better at creating those
options for those backs, I just think I would feed thirty.
I would get thirty rolling because I think twenty twenty
might take him a month or so to that.
Speaker 5 (24:45):
Recovers a week off the backle.
Speaker 4 (24:47):
Yeah, you know, you don't have a lot of confidence
in that, kay, because I was always going like, why
is he not the only reason? I don't know why
he's not playing, But I could tell you what I
think he's not playing, or this would be one of
the main reasons. And this is across the board in
every organization in any era. They don't trust him.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
They just don't trust He's unproven and pass pro I
can tell you that, well, then that I mean, that's
a big reason.
Speaker 4 (25:11):
Yeah, yeah, you know you can't you can just come
out there and stick him. You know, it just becomes
so obvious and it gives your entire thing away, your
entire you know, options away.
Speaker 5 (25:20):
If you're like, Okay, that guy can't pass. They know it.
We're running the ball. Okay, now we're really in trouble,
you know.
Speaker 4 (25:25):
So I got just that's the only reason. It's like
somebody asked me. I was like, you know, here's the
only thing I know. People that are like drafted that
high and don't play. The coach doesn't trust him. That's
all I can tell you. I don't know what they
don't trust. I'm just telling you that's across the board.
Speaker 5 (25:40):
That is why. The only thing I would know that
would keep him off the field. Mary.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
One thing I just want to throw out our listeners
is this was supposedly a wonderful running back class, and
it might be every one of them, and Johnson's a
poster boy is drastically underachieving over through two weeks. Yeah,
gent D Hampton, the Patriots, kid Henders, in all these guys,
no one's putting up big numbers yet.
Speaker 4 (26:04):
Very true. You know you'll see this week Henderson. You know,
he he's not really he's almost a third back. They
get him my field. But but he's like you by
Boshington preseason. He doesn't look like a guy who you
don't trust. I just think they have really great depth there.
You know, young guys, good, very good, powerful. I mean
(26:26):
they are no nonsense runners, you know, and we've got
a lot of power in his game.
Speaker 5 (26:33):
The Billy kids really good feet.
Speaker 4 (26:34):
And he's strong's not as powerful, but they're usually in
the passing game a lot. He's very effective there. So
there they are a problem, you know, as a group.
And yeah, you know, I've watched Jent now. You know,
I'll go back to if you if you ever want.
Speaker 5 (26:51):
To take some.
Speaker 4 (26:53):
It's not and I don't know if it's consolation, but
everybody that's really struggling. There's a lot of teams, not
just the Steelers. I mean, like I'm watching the Raiders.
They they're struggling up front. You know why is gently
struggling up front? I mean, genty It's like there's penetration
so far in the backfield, like the second gets the
ball gets hit, and that's happened with a lot of
(27:14):
these runners, it is, and like they have a lot
of options and they're just not hitting it or doing
their job.
Speaker 5 (27:19):
It's just they're not winning up front.
Speaker 4 (27:22):
So they're having similar problems to what the Steelers are
having right now upfront, which are all things that you
have to just keep grinding at and working at and
getting better at, you know, working together, underseeing things together.
You're fundamentals of how you block and the techniques feet
hips to hands, you know, just kind of you have
(27:42):
to hammer and work and work and work at that
and get better each and every week, and you know
eventually you dig yourself out. You're not going to do
it in a week. But if you don't start improving,
you're never going to get better. So this would be
an interesting week again because a lot of the similarities
of the two weeks that they have they they're gonna
face this week. This team's more directly at you from
(28:04):
a defensive perspective.
Speaker 5 (28:06):
I'm talking now, the way they run the ball. They
run at you.
Speaker 4 (28:08):
I mean they're like like right down and feel that,
see and see. And I actually think they will do
that to us because we are lining.
Speaker 5 (28:15):
See.
Speaker 4 (28:15):
Our linebackers are part of this too. And when you
when you're five yards deep and you stay five yards deep,
even if you move up two yards and you create
this separation with your defensive line and your linebackers, you
give vaccines. Like from running perspective, I would love that
those linebackers don't hit the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 5 (28:33):
I love that that's when they hit the line.
Speaker 4 (28:34):
Screamers I have a problem with because I know how
it neutralizes my success and we just our backers. Fifty
five is the best man. He hits the line of scrimmings.
The second he sees that, Bam, he's up there. He
frees up his double team. If there's a double team
where he takes on who he's got to take on,
and his gap is secure. And that's how you have
to do it across the board. Everybody has to do
(28:56):
that together. And that's why the ultimate team sport. You know,
you have the right side do it really well and
then the backside not do it very well. And most
every back in this league will find that if you're
not sound.
Speaker 5 (29:10):
So it's it's a really good challenge, you know, to
find out.
Speaker 4 (29:14):
If they've improved in that area, because that's that's.
Speaker 5 (29:17):
The area of growth that we have to that. I
know that they're.
Speaker 4 (29:20):
Trying to get at and if they get at then
you can see hope. If they don't get better there,
then you know that becomes a bigger concern.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
Meryl, lest thing I got for you Taking all that
into account, I think Aaron Rodgers is the right guy
in the right place at the right time to kind
of steer this ship while they work through all this stuff.
I know his numbers weren't great in the Seattle game,
but I thought he played really well. The deep ball
to Friar Mooth that should have been caught early in
the game, the play that Calvin Austin was in the
(29:50):
wrong spot that probably cost him a touchdown in the
third quarter, and even some of the throwaways when it
wasn't there, and he just lived to fight another day.
He looks like he's on top of his game.
Speaker 5 (29:59):
To me, didn't get a lot of help, right, I'm
not gonna. I don't want to.
Speaker 4 (30:05):
You all right in there all else areas, and he'll
get better every every week because what I what you
do see.
Speaker 5 (30:10):
And I've watched Aaron since he started playing.
Speaker 4 (30:11):
I remember his first game against Dallas, you know, and
Watchedtmon preseason and the years he was on the bench.
Speaker 5 (30:17):
So I've been sudden this the kids. Then it came
out of.
Speaker 4 (30:20):
Col and his growth from there and his ownership of
that and how he developed in the three years that
he sat, because.
Speaker 5 (30:26):
I think it was three right, and it wasn't two right,
we got.
Speaker 4 (30:28):
Three whatever was a long time as a long time
in the NFL standards and how he plays, you can
still tell this.
Speaker 5 (30:38):
Is not a knock on it. It is just the
environment that they have.
Speaker 4 (30:42):
The chemistry in which he's used to playing with is
just not there just because.
Speaker 5 (30:46):
You haven't played enough reps. He hadn't then together enough.
Speaker 4 (30:49):
I mean, that's that nobody Ben Roethlisberger comes back to.
Ain't that ain't gonna change? You know when you're playing
with whole bunch of new players.
Speaker 5 (30:57):
You know that.
Speaker 4 (30:58):
And I speak from experience of that. That just takes
reps and time together. Boy, I'm saying he'll get better
at that because I can tell this. He trusted k Mattcalf,
really trust and there's times he probably goes there when
there's other options, but he had He doesn't have that
trust and he doesn't have that chemistry with guys yet,
But the.
Speaker 5 (31:19):
More they play, the more that will be developed.
Speaker 4 (31:21):
So to your point, yes, is he like does he
hate some things that are incredible and amazing And it's
like you're I mean, we're lucky to have him. But
he's only gonna get better as all those things improve too,
So he'll he'll always have that And as they get
better and he trusts more people and more people start
(31:42):
to to earn.
Speaker 5 (31:44):
That trust that they'll become better in the passing game too.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Meryl, great stuff. As always. We will talk to you
from Ireland next week.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
Yeah, we're going to that.
Speaker 4 (31:54):
Well, we'll figure it's gonna be interesting to see what
time you guys are up over there.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
We will get it done one way or another before
Steelers Vikings in Dublin.
Speaker 5 (32:04):
Thanks Meryl, awesome, see you guys.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
That was Meryl Hodge, our factor back right here on
Steelers Preview, which is presented by your neighborhood Ford Store.
The F one fifty is the official truck of the
Pittsburgh Steelers. More to come, Mike Pursuda and Matt Williamson
getting you ready for the Steelers and the Patriots Sunday
in New England right here on Steelers Nation Radio and
(32:27):
your Steelers flagship one of two point five DVE.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
Back to the Steelers Preview show on DVE.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
Welcome back, Merril Hodge. You're bringing it as always here
on Steelers Preview And Matt, I wanted to start this
last segment talking about Trevon Henderson because I thought it
was interesting when you talked about all the other backs
that are struggling.
Speaker 3 (32:49):
Yeah, all the rookies are having a tough time.
Speaker 5 (32:51):
Yea.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
These guys haven't exactly just popped onto the scene, which
I've always looked at running back as kind of a
position where it's easier to do that than any other
that it's easy, but you would think.
Speaker 3 (33:01):
You just kind of insert them in there.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
Do you need an impact guy right away? That's a
good place to.
Speaker 3 (33:05):
Put them, right Yeah. Usually what holds the guys back
is fumbling or pass protection.
Speaker 5 (33:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
You know Treveon Henderson eight carries in two games for
thirty seven yards. That's good average, but it's only eight carries.
And against the Dolphins last Sunday, he got three penalties.
I know he got his pass pro was a disaster,
and he also got a penalty on special teams.
Speaker 3 (33:29):
Which I find kind of interesting in that when analyzing
this running back class way back in April, Boy, none
of these guys can protect except for Henderson from Ohio State.
He's getting crushed in protection, right, I mean, it's a
different world.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
So I wonder if that changes how they play him.
And then I mentioned he got.
Speaker 3 (33:48):
That's why you see that two both of them out
there together, which I think is kind of interesting.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
You know, he got a holding penalty on special teams.
Special teams a profound factor in that Patriots Miami game.
Speaker 3 (33:58):
Back to back returns.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
Yeah, the kicker is a drafted rookie Andy bore Agallis
from Miami. Missed a field goal in week one, missed
two extra points in the Miami game.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
Then they're chasing two point conversions, which is your favorite thing.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
Yeah. He did make a fifty three yard field goal
with a buck forty seven left in the fourth quarter,
which put them up six instead of three. Mike Rabel
talked about one of the reasons he's continuing enough confidence
in this guy's he makes the fourth quarter kicks. Okay, okay,
but after that kick, he didn't hit the landing zone
with the kickoff. Yeah, Dolphins got the ball on the
forty and there was still a ton of time left.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
Yeah, that's critical, man.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
New England was lucky to get out of it alive.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
Yeah. It was not a very well played game by
either team overall, and then the back to back return
thing was crazy.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
Yeah, that was nuts. New England Antonio Gibson a ninety
yard kickoff return touchdown after Miami had returned to punt
for a touchdown.
Speaker 5 (34:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
It's like one of the first times in history has
been back to back return return touchdown.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
I also have to mention their punter, Bryce Behringer, because
he's from Michigan State and he can kick the crap
out of it. He had a sixty five yard punt
that was the one Malik Washington of Miami returned all
the way back to the house. And he also had
a seventy one yard punt out of his own end zone.
Speaker 3 (35:23):
He's like he was decorated in college. Yeah, some people
don't study the punter. Maybe if he went to Michigan
or another school, you might not be as on top
of it.
Speaker 2 (35:34):
Well, I can't tell you this. When he was at
Michigan State, he got a lot of practice punting.
Speaker 3 (35:38):
Okay, that's a good school. Got to get a guy
from h.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
He was often required to go out there and punt
the ball.
Speaker 3 (35:45):
One note though, I mean, you head coaches hate not
being able to rely on their field goal kicker, and
I don't know how New England could right now.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
Yeah, so far they're staying the course. Drake May's the
other guy. I mean, we touched on his Miami game,
which was his best as a professional and.
Speaker 3 (36:03):
Most I'm a big fan, but no, right.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
I saw it differently when he was in college as well. Yeah,
forty nine for sixty nine. That's seventy one percent, three
touchdowns and a pick. But it was interesting to me.
Matt he carried ten times against Miami, and even the
vast majority were scrambled. I think there might have been
one design run in there, but he.
Speaker 3 (36:25):
Only had like three design runs all last year.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
He looks like a guy he'll drop back and if
it's not there and the pocket starts to colepse, he goes.
Speaker 3 (36:34):
He goes.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
He's not trying to get outside and extend the play
and break the defense. If he starts moving, he's going
to run the ball.
Speaker 3 (36:42):
It's I don't I'm guessing. But when I think he
gets to a second read, if it's no, no go,
you know, And he didn't, and he's really good at it.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
He ended up scoring a touchdown. It was I think
it was only a one yard run, but it was.
He was back in the pocket, and.
Speaker 3 (36:55):
I think he's going to be a very good player.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
He had to cover some grounds. Yeah, two throws he
made in that game were exquisite. One was a touchdown
pass to one of the wide receivers boutet to the
corner of the end zone, and then a big play,
a catch and run to Romondre Stevens where it looked
like hitting a wide receiver. Stevenson got his arms out
(37:19):
in front of his face and the ball just sky
and and he took off some of the stuff I
have on make scramble ability, Uh decisive either throwing or
running the ball accurate. It looks like he's really playing
with confidence.
Speaker 3 (37:35):
He didn't have a lot around him in North Carolina,
and he had nothing around him last year and he
hasn't rattled him.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
Yeah, look back to the you know, no no go thing.
He handles the pressure. It doesn't right, Yeah, which he's not.
Speaker 3 (37:47):
He's not dropping his eyes or you know, cowering in
any way.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
And he really likes the back some tight ends, man,
I mean, good point. They get targeted a lot.
Speaker 3 (37:56):
I think Hunter Henry's like their most trusted guy. I
mean he's not the most dynamic tight end in the world,
but he's been there a while trustworthy, and I think
that goes a long way with him.
Speaker 2 (38:06):
I believe you had it in Matt's stats this week
that you opened them this week Stefon Diggs was the
only wide receiver got targeted more than once.
Speaker 3 (38:12):
How about that. Their receiver rooms a little weird right now,
Like you mentioned, Butte everyone knows the LSU receivers. He
was expected to be the successor to Chase and Jefferson
at LSU, and some things not football related kind of
derailed that. But he's dangerous.
Speaker 2 (38:30):
Yeah, fourteen of twenty three targets last week or last
Sunday actually this week to running backs are tight ends.
Speaker 3 (38:39):
Yeah, the receiver rooms not trustworthy at the moment.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
And the rush pass breakdown. It was twenty nine runs
and twenty three passes. Now, again, there were a bunch
of quarterback scrambles.
Speaker 3 (38:50):
Good point, but designed run and designed runs weren't that high.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
They're trying to keep a balance, though.
Speaker 3 (38:56):
They are they are. I think they're sort of searching
in general. Yeah, I really don't have an identity. They
like their two backs.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
They don't want this kid to throw forty five times,
right right right.
Speaker 3 (39:05):
That's probably a bad recipe.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
He's a third overall pick, but they don't want him
trying to throw for four hundred yards and take the
game over.
Speaker 3 (39:11):
Now, I also think it's noteworthy Miami might be the
worst defense in the league right now.
Speaker 2 (39:14):
Yeah, I want to ask you. But I'm glad you
brought that up before we get out of here, because
I've been banging the September football drum, particularly as it
relates to the Steelers some of the points we mentioned,
you know, coalescing a bunch of new pieces and reacquaiming
and all that stuff. I don't think the Steelers are
a bad team. I don't think they're playing well, but
I agreed, I'm not panicked yet in terms of what
(39:36):
I think they're going to be now.
Speaker 3 (39:38):
My opinion may change after this game. I think this
game will tell us a lot because I expect them
to go up there and win. I do too. I
think that the better roster, they're more established, They're in
a better place to win now than the Patriots are.
And the big thing I've been saying all week is
there aren't as many matchups in this game. I'm like, oh,
this is going to be crucial. It's all this versus
metcalf whatever. It's more about you go out there and
(39:58):
run your plays and get better at them.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
You know now that the asterisk to the September football
theories I think Miami's really bad.
Speaker 3 (40:05):
I think it's really bad, and we'll see tonight if
it holds true. But I'm betting Josh Allen does it
number on them too.
Speaker 2 (40:11):
And that causes me to look at the Patriots with
a little skepticism. Sure, because they're one on one. They
lost to the Raiders, I don't think.
Speaker 3 (40:19):
Are great, and they haven't played anybody yet.
Speaker 2 (40:21):
And yeah, and they.
Speaker 3 (40:23):
Were really one of the worst teams in the league
last year in New England.
Speaker 2 (40:26):
The end of that Miami New England game, I mentioned
that they didn't hit the landing zone. So set Miami
up at the forty with one forty seven left. Dolphins
get the ball into Patriots territory at the forty four.
They ran another little dump down to a chane and
he gets outside and then he cuts it back. He
(40:47):
ends up going all the way to the house, except
he stepped on the sideline while he was cutting back.
And it's not like he made this incredible athletic play
where he was you know, it was fifty to fifty.
He just wasn't quite sure where he was on the field.
He could have stayed in bounds. Yeah, Yeah, So they
almost gave up the game, losing touchdown there.
Speaker 3 (41:09):
Oh, they weren't decisively the better team in Miami.
Speaker 2 (41:11):
In spectacular fashion than the Dolph.
Speaker 3 (41:13):
Pretty sloppy game in general.
Speaker 2 (41:15):
They're reviewing this play because it's scoring play, and they
determined that he stepped out of bound, so it was
only an eighteen yard game. Miami comes out of that
extended delay and gets a penalty for false start. Then
Miami gets a penalty for delay games. Yeah, in addition
to not having the touchdown, the Dolphins backed themselves through
(41:38):
no effort on the part of the Patriots.
Speaker 3 (41:41):
Three plays in a row that New England had nothing
to do with the bad fortune right now, it's first
and twenty perfect and then those touchdown there the chance and.
Speaker 2 (41:48):
They ended up not finishing it. So I guess that's
the way to labor the point.
Speaker 3 (41:51):
But it wasn't definedest NFL football game in Miami last week.
Speaker 2 (41:55):
I think we're gonna find out a lot about the
Patriots as well as the Steelers.
Speaker 3 (41:58):
Yes, if we were doing this from a Patriot perspective,
we'd be like, I'm not sure what this team is,
but I have a feeling it's not wonderful.
Speaker 2 (42:05):
Anything else. Uh, Front and center before we get out.
Speaker 3 (42:08):
We touched on it. But this is the third week
in a row that I think our listeners might not
know the defensive line that's the Steelers about to play.
But it's a really good one.
Speaker 4 (42:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (42:18):
And they're not a lot of household names. It's not
Miles Garrett, it's not Bosa, it's not Parsons. That's three
weeks in a row with some it's going to be
a challenge, especially in the past rush department.
Speaker 2 (42:27):
The other thing I wanted to mention, Yeah, Landry in particular,
he and Chase Will and Chase on the Live nine. Yeah,
hand on the ground. That's gonna be a challenge for
the tackles.
Speaker 3 (42:39):
Yeah, they're a little bit undersize speed guys, you know right. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:41):
I talked to Jabrill Peppers about the Patriots this week.
Speaker 3 (42:45):
I assume he plays, right, Uh.
Speaker 2 (42:47):
He says, he's you know, we'll see. I understand he
just played special teams last week. But this I think
is going to be a thumping game. Yeah, And Pepper said, uh,
you know, he got cut at the end of camp
with New England. He said, he said, I went to
the meetings with those guys. They're going to compete they're
going to play fundamentally sound. Uh they are. Yeah, it
(43:10):
was almost like yeah, he was describing Mike Rabel the player. Uh,
nothing splashy, as Merrill said, you know, the runs are
coming right at you, even the zone runs.
Speaker 3 (43:20):
It's gonna be kind of a battle of wills, I
would imagine. And it took me till today to even
put two and two together. But we mentioned today on
the drive Rabel employed Arthur Smith for a lot of
others in Tennessee. Ar should have put that together on Monday,
but Arthur talked about that a little bit too, because
I think that's a Rabel advantage he has great respect for. Oh,
I'm sure Rabele Arthur Smith does well.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
I think it's an Arthur Smith' advantage if he throws
the ball at fourteen or two.
Speaker 3 (43:46):
They got some, They got some targets.
Speaker 2 (43:48):
We'll see what Braves can do about that. That's gonna
do it for us. Thanks to uh, Justin Miller for
keeping things running swimmingly here in studio. Thank you, thank
you for finding us however, and wherever you found us,
we will do it again. Matt and I will be
in Ireland getting you ready for the Steelers and the
(44:10):
Minnesota Vikings in Dublin. Until then, this has been Steel's Preview,
presented by your neighborhood Ford Store. The F one fifty
is the official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers, right here
on Steelers Nation Radio and your Steelers flagship one o
two point five DV. Goodnight, everybody,
Welcome to the Steelers Preview show on WDV Pittsburgh, brought
to you by your neighborhood Ford Store. The F one
fifty is the official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers by
Brian Patton and associates. It's all about the benefits and
by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct from the
team at shop dot Steelers dot com. And now here
are your hosts, Merril Hodge, Matt Williamson, and Mike Persuda.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Good evening and welcome to another edition of Steelers Preview.
I'm Mike Persuda, along with Matt Williamson Merril Hodge will
be along directly as we get you ready for the
Steelers and the New England Patriots on Sunday in Foxboro, Massachusetts.
A house of whores. Yeah, not just for the Steelers,
but for.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
A lot of people. Yeah, over the years, but last
couple decades. Yeah, Tom Brady's in.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Vegas and Bill Belichick's and Carolina is so doable this time.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
They're a long way from Gronk and Randy Moss and yeah,
the Brady years. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Let's start things off as we usually do, by catching
you up with what happened at practice today. Our injury
report is presented by your neighborhood Ford store. The F
one fifty is the official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
In Matt Nothing jumping off the page for either team.
No Joey Porter junior hamstring or Deshaun Elliott's safety for
(01:16):
the second consecutive day. For the Steelers today, Derek Harmon
knee was limited for the second consecutive day. Now.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Terrell Austin Kina news Worthy. I mean at least he's
getting out there.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Terrorll Austin, a defensive coordinator, said if they play Harmon,
he would be on a pitch count because of conditioning concerns,
a rookie that hasn't played yet coming off an injury.
So it sounds like it would be a cameo at best.
He's not going to come in and be Aaron Donald
and mix the run. Defense.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
History tends to no, and you'd be better at this
than me with being down there a lot. I would
think Tomlin leads towards you play the Vikes in Ireland,
you know.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Yeah, sometimes particularly with the younger guys. Yeah, if they're
not getting full practices in then.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
There's a level of trust there. You know if it
was Cam Hayward, it's different, you know.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Right absolutely For New England, a bunch of guys limited
both days. I think the headliner is Christian Gonzales Hamstring.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
He's a difference maker.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
The reporting I'm getting access to out of New England,
the Patriots are talking as if he's going to play.
Speaker 5 (02:17):
M hm.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
This is a horrendous secondary without him.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Horrendous without him. I mean people are throwing like crazy
against the Patriots despite having an excellent pass rush. I mean,
the back seven isn't covering anyone at the moment. But
to me, he's a Sauce Gardener like type of corner.
I mean, a top five ish corner. I mean he's
a difference maker for them that.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Probably would get a lot of metcalf and another guy
key on White defensive end edge, pretty good edge guy. Yeah,
he didn't play in Miami this past Sunday. He was
back to full participation today after not working yesterday illnesses.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
That's someone they're really high on. They'll move him all
over the line of scrimmage. Very talented, very disruptive. One
thing I just wanted to note about the Steeler injury
report is last week and I was down at the
facility to day. I go every Thursday. Missy Matthews mentioned me.
She's like, all I'm hearing down here is communication communication,
you know, especially on the back end. But all five
(03:14):
of the Steeler defensive backs with Elliott and Porter out
that played a snap last week weren't Steelers the year before.
You know, I mean, if this is week ten, that's
that's not excuse anymore. But it's only week two, and
maybe it's the same go round and you throw peppers
in the mix. Who got here like a week ago?
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Funny, uh you mentioned that because Tera Austin, the defensive coordinator,
brought that up today.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Wes and I brought this up like three days ago.
We were talking through it. I'm like, you know what,
none of those guys were with the team, So maybe
he listens to.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
The drive and you know, I think it was it
was maybe done. What do you mean, maybe who wouldn't
loop in his office? Maybe an underreported component of the
whole preseason process. I mean, they went, they went out
and got these veteran guys, but you don't just throw
them all into a pot and that comes out soup.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
I mean, right, it takes a simmer right, and it's
a real like O line. It's a very communicative you know,
I got him, I'm gonna pass him off to you
in this zone? Do you have me over the top
and that doesn't happen overnight, and not making excuses for
him because the defense leaves a lot to be desired.
But I think it is noteworthy that everyone in the
secondary had never been here until this year.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
A couple other nuggets out of Tarl Austin's media briefing today,
it sounds like we're going to see more Cole holcom.
It's going to be some alteration of the division of
labor and inside linebacker.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
I can't fight that at that point.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
I can't either. Yeah, you know, I talk with Peyton
Wilson this week and he is still trying to find
middle ground. He said last year when he played, he
was just worried about don't screw up. And this year
they make him a starter and there's a lot of
talk he's a three down guy. He said, I'm trying
to make every play and I much. I gotta realize
sometimes it's not my play, okay, and I just got
(05:01):
to do my job.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
It doesn't mean he's not gonna be a good player,
but maybe taking a little off his plate would be
the move, because Holkom's a nice luxury to have as
a third linebacker.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
You know, they brought him here and he was perceived
prett as part of the solution and had a three
down guy and all that. The other potential alteration Daniel Qualay,
Oh really.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
I've been pushing it for that for I think he
needs a bump.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
I'm not sure how that's going to work out between
the Qualite and Chono Benton, but.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
I know it's easy for me to say this, and
it would be a lot easier to do this in
the beginning of training camp or OTAs. But I would
love a Quality to basically be the stop gap hold
down the fort nose, because I don't really think Benton's
a nose. I think he'd be much better served, the
team would be much better served if he was playing
(05:56):
cam to its position, you know, three four defensive end
as well as nickel interior. He gets pushed back a
lot on the nose and in the meantime kind of
cross train ya Black to be your future nos. I
mean that's easier said than done in while the train's
rolling though.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Of course, so the Steelers aren't the only team that
has a lot of new components, and they're not the
only team in this game coming up Sunday that has
a lot of new components. I look at this new
England team, Matt and the left side of the offensive
lines a couple of rookies, talented rookies, but rookies nonetheless,
Will Campbell and Jared Wilson. The center Bradbury is new
(06:36):
from Minnesota. The right tackle, Morgan Moses is new from
the Jets.
Speaker 5 (06:42):
Defense of the.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Arrow line was like the worst in the league last year.
It needed a lot of work.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Stefan Diggs knew at receiver and he's still working his
way back from He doesn't look quite say this is
not the Oh my god, that's Stefan Diggs at least.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Not the Bills Vikings version yet right.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
I mean, he played fifty two percent of this snaps
against Miami, just.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
As their receiver group as a whole, nobody's really emerged.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Then you look at the defensive side, uh, Milton Williams
has come over up front from Philadelphia. Harold Landry edge
guy from Tennessee, kylevon Chase on edge guy from Vegas.
Craig Woodson's strong safety is a fourth round rookie.
Speaker 5 (07:25):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
They're they're trying to figure it out.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Uh, Davis Corners lane right right. They had a lot
of free agents, they had a ton of cap space
and had a lot of holes, and so they are
revamping things in a big way. I think, for better
or worse. They want to get a lot of the
Belichick guys out of here. It's time for the may
vrabel era. And I think that's the only reason Peppers
isn't right.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
He might agree with you on that if.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
We and same with bentleyho The Seelers just picked up
on the practice squad.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
So I look at this Patriots team and there's great
excitement in New England. A scoring They've got five touchdowns
of it. It took him two months to get five
touchdowns last year. But I'm not blown away, Oh.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
No, I think this seems very much a work in progress.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
There's not a lot of splash, there's not a lot
of star power. They are rushing the passer well. They
have nine sacks.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
They had the lowest in the league a year ago,
so that's a nice step in the right there. Actually,
I've been saying all week, but you can't get.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
The guy on the ground every time, and when he
doesn't get on the ground, throwing on them happens. Starfield.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Yeah, the back seven is having a rough go of things.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
A couple guys I wanted to mention toward that end. Now,
I'm not sure if Gonzalez comes back how this will
affect the rotation. But number twenty eight Alex Austen cornerback.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
Played a lot in Miami. Yeah, and I don't think
that's how they drew it up. Whenever they built the roster.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
My notes say he got beat on crossers, fades, slants,
and deep shots.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Well, other than that, it was great.
Speaker 5 (08:50):
Huh.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Yeah, he's the guy you want to throw at down
the field. He's out there.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
And then the other one, our old buddy Robert Splaine,
who you know, I give full props to for having
his long careers.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Sure, coaches seem to love him for his.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Effort and for his work ethic and for his you know,
sense of team. He still can't cover the pass.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
I know, the national media seems to love him and
everywhere he goes like, oh he's our answer. I'm like,
have you ever watched him? Play the playing coverage. I mean,
I'm picking on him all day long.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
When I was done with him. Was the Cleveland COVID
playoff game at atter sure, Steelers fell away behind and
they were threatening to get back into the game. And
it was a third down where the Browns had three
tight ends on the field. So the Steelers went heavy
and then they spread the formation and they wound up
with Splaine on Jarvis Landry three steps right, turn Clyde
(09:46):
catch the ball, twenty something yard play right. Well, this
past Sunday in Miami, a chain is the back yep
and Splaine is in the middle of the field, and
all a chain does what a mismatch that is, takes
a half circle out of the backfield. Splaine overplays it
towards the sideline, cuts back to the middle, catch run
twenty nine yard touchdown, wasn't touched.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
I could see Gainwell doing that. I could see Warren
doing that. I certainly think either of your more pass
catcher ish tight ends Friar Muther or John who let's
go you know, right.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
I mean, I know you do what you do, but
you also look at these other teams and you find
week spots that you can attack.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
And there's a lot in their back seven.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
I don't know if twenty eight is gonna play, but
if he does, he needs to be attacked. And fourteen
Splaine is going to play, he needs to be attacked
in the pass.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
I don't think their safeties are particularly and you don't
have to avoid them, you know, I mean, all in all,
I've been saying this a bunch about the Patriots, like
they were really, really down and out, and their coach
last year was a problem. I think they got a quarterback.
I think they now have a legit coach, and they
have a pass rush. That's a great way to start
(10:54):
the rebuild. But all the other boxes and he checked,
you know.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
I assess them on the morning show to day. I
can't remember if I corrected myself or not, but I
initially said they're not as good as Seattle the Patriots,
but they're better than the Jets. I want to amend
that to say, no, they're not as good as the Jets.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
I only, yeah, Seattle's definitely the best of three, no
question in my mind. I don't know how to sort
the other two out.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Gear up with the latest game day necessities at the
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(11:39):
team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop dot Steelers
dot com. When we come back, Merril Hodge gets the
ball and starts running with it, So keep it here
with Matt Williamson on Mike Pursuer This is Steelers Preview
presented by your neighborhood Ford Store. The F one fifty
is the official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
Back to the Steelers Preview show on DV.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Welcome back Mike PURSUITA and Matt Williamson here on the
preview getting You're ready for the Steelers at the New
England Patriots on Sunday Time. Now to welcome to the show,
our factor back Merril Hodge and Merrill We've got a
lot to unpack with the Steelers. But before I get
to anything, including how this season is trending toward going
(12:24):
back to nineteen eighty nine. As they all do, I
have to make an announcement in your presence, just in case,
just in case you haven't heard, you probably have, But
your favorite NFL player of all time, guess who's back?
Jiddaveon Clowney wearing the star of the Dallas Cowboys.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Obvious replacement for Micah Parsons. It'll be justified.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Let me see if I remember it's right, Meryl. On
one play's great. On one play he takes it off,
and on the other play he does something.
Speaker 4 (12:57):
You really don't want him to do. Yeah, and play
a third of the time. You get what you really
need all the time.
Speaker 5 (13:04):
But tell you how desperate Dallas is, Yeah, it does.
Tell you. It speaks to how desperate they are.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
Because as he's always been able to make splast plays.
But he just he hurts your team, morning helps your
team when you just size it all up. He just
he's always been like that. He's like that in college.
That's how he plays. Nobody's ever changed him. If the
Houston Texans could just go back in time and make
(13:29):
one adjustment in their draft order, you take Khalil mack
over that guy. They have a completely different outlook on
their franchise, completely different looking.
Speaker 5 (13:40):
It's interesting.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
It's always interesting with daveon clowning Uh Steelers. Then Steelers
have an interesting game coming up. And I mentioned this
is trending toward nineteen eighty nine. They haven't gotten beat
ninety two to ten by combined score in the first
two games as the nineteen eighty nine Steelers did on
the way to the playoffs. But I think we're all
in agree with this does not yet look like a
(14:04):
playoff team correct well.
Speaker 4 (14:09):
And obviously the area, you know, it's somewhat simple, you know,
and you really, you know, you narrow it down, it's
very simple.
Speaker 5 (14:16):
Where they have to get better. But where they have
to get better is.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
Like monumental in far as winning championships, being successful in
the NFL, And it goes no further than like the
line of scrimmage.
Speaker 5 (14:27):
You know that war.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
There are better the battle that goes there to help
you win the war. They're just not winning those battles
consistently enough on both sides of the ball. I mean,
if you really want to sum up their problem, now
that being said, you can fix those things. You know,
it takes a lot of work and then there's going
to be you might have to get some different personnel
(14:53):
at times. You know, there are times you have to scheme.
And keep mind, you don't know, nobody ever wins it all
the time. You know, let's make that clear. Nobody does.
And you know there's ever we talked about like coaching
and scheme. Okay, everybody gets out schemed at times. You know,
it's how how bad did you get out schemed? And
you do you continue to get out schemed, Like if
(15:13):
you went back back to the last game, I'll I'll
tell you what SA did a pretty good job of
where they out schemed us. He was with their motions
and their shifts, like and then the way they ran
the ball, so they outnumbered us.
Speaker 5 (15:24):
You know, they always had like four to R three.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
They had four blockers the three defenders, where they had
five blockers to four or even three defenders. So which
shifts and motions You're like, that sometimes gets lost. You
can't watch that during the game. It happens too fast sometimes.
But they did a good job of that, you know,
scheme wise, and we didn't adjust. Fact, we actually shifted
one time to the strength of their formation. They motioned
(15:49):
across and shoot, they had us out number five to
three and they and they gassed us. So you know,
those things are part everybody does that, you know, it's
just how many times do you and sometimes you have
schemes you still don't get beat though, you know, your
guys make plays and are able to adjust to it.
Speaker 5 (16:07):
So but both sides of the ball, they just don't
win in the trenches consistently enough.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
We'll only went about forty percent of the time, and
you got to win a minimum of sixty to have
a reasonable chance to win six successfully in the NFL Merril.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
Another thing Seattle did a lot of was they stayed
in base personnel either twelve or twenty one, and often
with a fullback. Do you expect the same from the
Patriots full back aside and you know, not a lot
of three receiver sets and how much did the fullback
give this toe those trouble.
Speaker 5 (16:40):
Yeah, well, Matt, you know that's listen. Well he was.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
He's your wild card, especially from behind the center. And
when you're under center, you see, there's the advantage to being
under center and run on the football. Okay, when two
guys are directly behind you, you really Okay, you have
you have flexibility, you know, the strong side week side.
You know, right, how are you going to label it
when your quarterback is under center, when he's standing in
that shotgun or in the pistol, and your back's on
(17:08):
one side or the other, even if the backs backs
are split they have two backs back there, which that
seldom happens. You're still limited, you know, you're still extremely limited,
especially to run some type of power type of running attack,
which Seattle did. And oh, by the way, the Patriots do. Now,
the Patriots a little more inside zone. They're not going
(17:29):
to come at you right at you, but they do
outside going too. But they're they're determined to come at you.
So based on the problems that they're going to see that.
Speaker 5 (17:42):
They would be crazy not too.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
Yeah, they like the Steelers a lot.
Speaker 5 (17:46):
Look at a team you want to pay. They don't
do this well. Anybody that says you know what or this,
even if it isn't something that you do really well,
you do it that game. You try attached games.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
I would say more design quarterback runs too, considering what
fields did.
Speaker 5 (18:02):
Yeah, because you know, really the kid and make he
can you know.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
He can run.
Speaker 4 (18:06):
Yeah, he's got he's he's got some he's got some wills,
and they moved him quite a bit. They move him
at times more than probably most. And he's still a
young kid.
Speaker 5 (18:15):
You know.
Speaker 4 (18:15):
Probably his best game against the Miami Dolphins last week,
that's the best I've seen play, you know, and he's
played much better than I thought he would play coming
out of college. You know, watching him in college, I
was just like, whoa. He didn't consistency was like off
the charts. Like the only game he played really well
was against Pitt ironically in Pitt, and they won that game.
But you wouldn't have walked away from that game going
(18:38):
I like that guy in the first round.
Speaker 5 (18:40):
In fact, I thought he was. He's dangerous.
Speaker 4 (18:42):
He still does some things, didn't consistent when it matters,
and that's enough there to still be concerned.
Speaker 5 (18:47):
But last week he was. He was spot on. I mean,
he made some big time throws. Bro.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
I wanted to ask you about tendencies because in each
game the Steelers have played, the opponent has broken a pattern,
at least according to the people that I talked to
on the South Side. The Justin Fields walking touchdown in
the Jets game, he did that from under center, and
I was told that the trend was he would do
(19:14):
read option keepers from shotgun and hand off from center,
and that's why they all crashed down. And then the
Kenneth Walker nineteen yard touchdown run at the end of
the Seattle game. Now, I'm not sure where these they
came up with this tendency because it's pretty early in
the season, but I was told the expectation was Seattle
always runs to the tight end side, and the tight
(19:34):
ends on the right side of the formation, and he
ran Walker to the weak side. Now, clearly that wasn't
the only problem with that play bad angles, and you know,
three or four things went horrifically wrong. But how much
do you count on tendencies, not just in preparation, but
when you're out there just before the snap.
Speaker 5 (19:53):
Well, you know, Tennessey's our big deal.
Speaker 4 (19:56):
That'd being say, I said, really good teams will look
at their own tendencies and try to break So.
Speaker 5 (20:01):
It's pretty early in the year to do that, quite honestly.
Speaker 4 (20:03):
But if you already know a team is vulnerable, which
that that's how you're spelling it out to me. They
knew there was some vulnerability in it, so now you
go back to that Walker.
Speaker 5 (20:12):
I want to say Matt helped me YouTube Mike.
Speaker 4 (20:15):
Were they in that formation on that one, because see
like now now here's all I shoot up. I wish
i'd have my I was gonna put that game up
anyway on my computer. Anyway, if they were that, there's
the advantage to why they probably played out of the
eye so much is to do that. And here's probably
what they were doing is they were they're reading it
(20:37):
at the line of scrimmage. They're making a decision that
the line of scrimmage based on what they what we
were doing, would be, my guest, is a possibility. I'm
not saying it did because I'm not looking at the play,
but well, I'll tay, I'll tell you this.
Speaker 5 (20:51):
I mean, you're talking about tendencies.
Speaker 4 (20:53):
Okay, the jet and the touchdown passed that justin fields through. Okay,
that was the exact same play and passed the seattle
through their first touchdown or that's whatever the touchdown was
where they had the crosser. Yep, it was almost exact
same part of the field. They got the exact same coverage.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
A free safety and conflict yep.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Yeah, that actually that actually came up today in the
Terror Austin press conference, and they they had changed the
coverage and didn't play it the way they were supposed to.
Speaker 5 (21:22):
Well, here's what I'm just telling you that.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
There was a miscommunication, Meryl. I don't know if you've
heard that before.
Speaker 4 (21:28):
Yeah, I've I've heard a lot, been a part of
it a lot. And that's a real thing. I'm not
saying that's not not true. But here's it happened twice.
Don't think for a second.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
It's gonna happen a third time.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
They're they're gus going to Yah, they gotta get down
there and they're going to see if they still play
that same tendency. And did they figure it out? You know,
did they they have the communication thing right? You know,
you have always have outlets and checkdowns if it doesn't materialize.
But I was like, man, I'm watching this saying, I mean,
they played the exact same It looked to be the
same covered.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
So yeah, if you go back and look at it
all twenty two, you might catch h one Thornhill, the safety.
As soon as as the play unfolds and he looks
and sees where the ball's going, he grabs his helmet
with both hands and starts jumping up and down like,
oh my god, we messed it up like that. I
believe the coordinator. He said, you know, it was gone
(22:24):
over during the week and it didn't play out the
way it was gone over. So it happens.
Speaker 5 (22:29):
Can you see that? Yeah? No, yea.
Speaker 4 (22:32):
Well that's why you get challenged all the time. You know,
that's why nobody ever looks at that and goes, boy,
they're messed up twice, or they didn't play it right twice,
or they struggled with this twice. You'd be teams are
crazy not to try it. You know, there's always there
was another option to it. If that doesn't work. So
if they play it right, then we have an outlet.
(22:52):
But they'll see it again. They'll see it again.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
You alluded to it earlier. I mean, the Steeler run
game needs a lot of work, and it's from where
it needs to be. But if we just focused on
who's the ball carriers? Would you go heavy heavy warrant
at this point? I think they're kind of in a
tough spot of how to distribute carries.
Speaker 4 (23:13):
Well, he's your best runner, He's the best pro runner
from from every perspective, you know, I you know, on
the morning, Shot talked about this that his very best rung.
Speaker 5 (23:26):
People think it's that. You know, when they adjusted, they.
Speaker 4 (23:28):
Went downfield and Aaron threw him the ball and well
ended up being sixty eight yards, breaks tackles.
Speaker 5 (23:32):
You know, he's a beast.
Speaker 4 (23:34):
It was the first carry of the second half where
I mean two defensive linemen get I mean they don't.
I mean they win their battle and they are in
the backfield and they have him bracketed and he sticks
his feet in a grat and moves louderly and vertically
and gets five yards. Okay, at the end of the day,
that's an NFL runner. NFL runners that can do that,
(23:57):
get you out of a dirty plate and get you
five yards.
Speaker 5 (24:00):
That's the kind of runner you need. And he has
great power, he has his dynamic feet, good instincts.
Speaker 4 (24:08):
Is he like like the home run hitter, you know,
take one Barkley type.
Speaker 5 (24:13):
No, but I'm gonna tell you this.
Speaker 4 (24:15):
I mean he will keep you on schedule. I see,
the more you fed him, the more he's going to
keep you on schedule.
Speaker 5 (24:22):
By doing his part.
Speaker 4 (24:23):
Now that being said, there's so many times these guys
get hit in the backfield they have. The point of
attack is absolutely destroyed by the defense, and they have
absolutely no options. If they get better at creating those
options for those backs, I just think I would feed thirty.
I would get thirty rolling because I think twenty twenty
might take him a month or so to that.
Speaker 5 (24:45):
Recovers a week off the backle.
Speaker 4 (24:47):
Yeah, you know, you don't have a lot of confidence
in that, kay, because I was always going like, why
is he not the only reason? I don't know why
he's not playing, But I could tell you what I
think he's not playing, or this would be one of
the main reasons. And this is across the board in
every organization in any era. They don't trust him.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
They just don't trust He's unproven and pass pro I
can tell you that, well, then that I mean, that's
a big reason.
Speaker 4 (25:11):
Yeah, yeah, you know you can't you can just come
out there and stick him. You know, it just becomes
so obvious and it gives your entire thing away, your
entire you know, options away.
Speaker 5 (25:20):
If you're like, Okay, that guy can't pass. They know it.
We're running the ball. Okay, now we're really in trouble,
you know.
Speaker 4 (25:25):
So I got just that's the only reason. It's like
somebody asked me. I was like, you know, here's the
only thing I know. People that are like drafted that
high and don't play. The coach doesn't trust him. That's
all I can tell you. I don't know what they
don't trust. I'm just telling you that's across the board.
Speaker 5 (25:40):
That is why. The only thing I would know that
would keep him off the field. Mary.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
One thing I just want to throw out our listeners
is this was supposedly a wonderful running back class, and
it might be every one of them, and Johnson's a
poster boy is drastically underachieving over through two weeks. Yeah,
gent D Hampton, the Patriots, kid Henders, in all these guys,
no one's putting up big numbers yet.
Speaker 4 (26:04):
Very true. You know you'll see this week Henderson. You know,
he he's not really he's almost a third back. They
get him my field. But but he's like you by
Boshington preseason. He doesn't look like a guy who you
don't trust. I just think they have really great depth there.
You know, young guys, good, very good, powerful. I mean
(26:26):
they are no nonsense runners, you know, and we've got
a lot of power in his game.
Speaker 5 (26:33):
The Billy kids really good feet.
Speaker 4 (26:34):
And he's strong's not as powerful, but they're usually in
the passing game a lot. He's very effective there. So
there they are a problem, you know, as a group.
And yeah, you know, I've watched Jent now. You know,
I'll go back to if you if you ever want.
Speaker 5 (26:51):
To take some.
Speaker 4 (26:53):
It's not and I don't know if it's consolation, but
everybody that's really struggling. There's a lot of teams, not
just the Steelers. I mean, like I'm watching the Raiders.
They they're struggling up front. You know why is gently
struggling up front? I mean, genty It's like there's penetration
so far in the backfield, like the second gets the
ball gets hit, and that's happened with a lot of
(27:14):
these runners, it is, and like they have a lot
of options and they're just not hitting it or doing
their job.
Speaker 5 (27:19):
It's just they're not winning up front.
Speaker 4 (27:22):
So they're having similar problems to what the Steelers are
having right now upfront, which are all things that you
have to just keep grinding at and working at and
getting better at, you know, working together, underseeing things together.
You're fundamentals of how you block and the techniques feet
hips to hands, you know, just kind of you have
(27:42):
to hammer and work and work and work at that
and get better each and every week, and you know
eventually you dig yourself out. You're not going to do
it in a week. But if you don't start improving,
you're never going to get better. So this would be
an interesting week again because a lot of the similarities
of the two weeks that they have they they're gonna
face this week. This team's more directly at you from
(28:04):
a defensive perspective.
Speaker 5 (28:06):
I'm talking now, the way they run the ball. They
run at you.
Speaker 4 (28:08):
I mean they're like like right down and feel that,
see and see. And I actually think they will do
that to us because we are lining.
Speaker 5 (28:15):
See.
Speaker 4 (28:15):
Our linebackers are part of this too. And when you
when you're five yards deep and you stay five yards deep,
even if you move up two yards and you create
this separation with your defensive line and your linebackers, you
give vaccines. Like from running perspective, I would love that
those linebackers don't hit the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 5 (28:33):
I love that that's when they hit the line.
Speaker 4 (28:34):
Screamers I have a problem with because I know how
it neutralizes my success and we just our backers. Fifty
five is the best man. He hits the line of scrimmings.
The second he sees that, Bam, he's up there. He
frees up his double team. If there's a double team
where he takes on who he's got to take on,
and his gap is secure. And that's how you have
to do it across the board. Everybody has to do
(28:56):
that together. And that's why the ultimate team sport. You know,
you have the right side do it really well and
then the backside not do it very well. And most
every back in this league will find that if you're
not sound.
Speaker 5 (29:10):
So it's it's a really good challenge, you know, to
find out.
Speaker 4 (29:14):
If they've improved in that area, because that's that's.
Speaker 5 (29:17):
The area of growth that we have to that. I
know that they're.
Speaker 4 (29:20):
Trying to get at and if they get at then
you can see hope. If they don't get better there,
then you know that becomes a bigger concern.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
Meryl, lest thing I got for you Taking all that
into account, I think Aaron Rodgers is the right guy
in the right place at the right time to kind
of steer this ship while they work through all this stuff.
I know his numbers weren't great in the Seattle game,
but I thought he played really well. The deep ball
to Friar Mooth that should have been caught early in
the game, the play that Calvin Austin was in the
(29:50):
wrong spot that probably cost him a touchdown in the
third quarter, and even some of the throwaways when it
wasn't there, and he just lived to fight another day.
He looks like he's on top of his game.
Speaker 5 (29:59):
To me, didn't get a lot of help, right, I'm
not gonna. I don't want to.
Speaker 4 (30:05):
You all right in there all else areas, and he'll
get better every every week because what I what you
do see.
Speaker 5 (30:10):
And I've watched Aaron since he started playing.
Speaker 4 (30:11):
I remember his first game against Dallas, you know, and
Watchedtmon preseason and the years he was on the bench.
Speaker 5 (30:17):
So I've been sudden this the kids. Then it came
out of.
Speaker 4 (30:20):
Col and his growth from there and his ownership of
that and how he developed in the three years that
he sat, because.
Speaker 5 (30:26):
I think it was three right, and it wasn't two right,
we got.
Speaker 4 (30:28):
Three whatever was a long time as a long time
in the NFL standards and how he plays, you can
still tell this.
Speaker 5 (30:38):
Is not a knock on it. It is just the
environment that they have.
Speaker 4 (30:42):
The chemistry in which he's used to playing with is
just not there just because.
Speaker 5 (30:46):
You haven't played enough reps. He hadn't then together enough.
Speaker 4 (30:49):
I mean, that's that nobody Ben Roethlisberger comes back to.
Ain't that ain't gonna change? You know when you're playing
with whole bunch of new players.
Speaker 5 (30:57):
You know that.
Speaker 4 (30:58):
And I speak from experience of that. That just takes
reps and time together. Boy, I'm saying he'll get better
at that because I can tell this. He trusted k Mattcalf,
really trust and there's times he probably goes there when
there's other options, but he had He doesn't have that
trust and he doesn't have that chemistry with guys yet,
But the.
Speaker 5 (31:19):
More they play, the more that will be developed.
Speaker 4 (31:21):
So to your point, yes, is he like does he
hate some things that are incredible and amazing And it's
like you're I mean, we're lucky to have him. But
he's only gonna get better as all those things improve too,
So he'll he'll always have that And as they get
better and he trusts more people and more people start
(31:42):
to to earn.
Speaker 5 (31:44):
That trust that they'll become better in the passing game too.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Meryl, great stuff. As always. We will talk to you
from Ireland next week.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
Yeah, we're going to that.
Speaker 4 (31:54):
Well, we'll figure it's gonna be interesting to see what
time you guys are up over there.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
We will get it done one way or another before
Steelers Vikings in Dublin.
Speaker 5 (32:04):
Thanks Meryl, awesome, see you guys.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
That was Meryl Hodge, our factor back right here on
Steelers Preview, which is presented by your neighborhood Ford Store.
The F one fifty is the official truck of the
Pittsburgh Steelers. More to come, Mike Pursuda and Matt Williamson
getting you ready for the Steelers and the Patriots Sunday
in New England right here on Steelers Nation Radio and
(32:27):
your Steelers flagship one of two point five DVE.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
Back to the Steelers Preview show on DVE.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
Welcome back, Merril Hodge. You're bringing it as always here
on Steelers Preview And Matt, I wanted to start this
last segment talking about Trevon Henderson because I thought it
was interesting when you talked about all the other backs
that are struggling.
Speaker 3 (32:49):
Yeah, all the rookies are having a tough time.
Speaker 5 (32:51):
Yea.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
These guys haven't exactly just popped onto the scene, which
I've always looked at running back as kind of a
position where it's easier to do that than any other
that it's easy, but you would think.
Speaker 3 (33:01):
You just kind of insert them in there.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
Do you need an impact guy right away? That's a
good place to.
Speaker 3 (33:05):
Put them, right Yeah. Usually what holds the guys back
is fumbling or pass protection.
Speaker 5 (33:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
You know Treveon Henderson eight carries in two games for
thirty seven yards. That's good average, but it's only eight carries.
And against the Dolphins last Sunday, he got three penalties.
I know he got his pass pro was a disaster,
and he also got a penalty on special teams.
Speaker 3 (33:29):
Which I find kind of interesting in that when analyzing
this running back class way back in April, Boy, none
of these guys can protect except for Henderson from Ohio State.
He's getting crushed in protection, right, I mean, it's a
different world.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
So I wonder if that changes how they play him.
And then I mentioned he got.
Speaker 3 (33:48):
That's why you see that two both of them out
there together, which I think is kind of interesting.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
You know, he got a holding penalty on special teams.
Special teams a profound factor in that Patriots Miami game.
Speaker 3 (33:58):
Back to back returns.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
Yeah, the kicker is a drafted rookie Andy bore Agallis
from Miami. Missed a field goal in week one, missed
two extra points in the Miami game.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
Then they're chasing two point conversions, which is your favorite thing.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
Yeah. He did make a fifty three yard field goal
with a buck forty seven left in the fourth quarter,
which put them up six instead of three. Mike Rabel
talked about one of the reasons he's continuing enough confidence
in this guy's he makes the fourth quarter kicks. Okay, okay,
but after that kick, he didn't hit the landing zone
with the kickoff. Yeah, Dolphins got the ball on the
forty and there was still a ton of time left.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
Yeah, that's critical, man.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
New England was lucky to get out of it alive.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
Yeah. It was not a very well played game by
either team overall, and then the back to back return
thing was crazy.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
Yeah, that was nuts. New England Antonio Gibson a ninety
yard kickoff return touchdown after Miami had returned to punt
for a touchdown.
Speaker 5 (34:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
It's like one of the first times in history has
been back to back return return touchdown.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
I also have to mention their punter, Bryce Behringer, because
he's from Michigan State and he can kick the crap
out of it. He had a sixty five yard punt
that was the one Malik Washington of Miami returned all
the way back to the house. And he also had
a seventy one yard punt out of his own end zone.
Speaker 3 (35:23):
He's like he was decorated in college. Yeah, some people
don't study the punter. Maybe if he went to Michigan
or another school, you might not be as on top
of it.
Speaker 2 (35:34):
Well, I can't tell you this. When he was at
Michigan State, he got a lot of practice punting.
Speaker 3 (35:38):
Okay, that's a good school. Got to get a guy
from h.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
He was often required to go out there and punt
the ball.
Speaker 3 (35:45):
One note though, I mean, you head coaches hate not
being able to rely on their field goal kicker, and
I don't know how New England could right now.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
Yeah, so far they're staying the course. Drake May's the
other guy. I mean, we touched on his Miami game,
which was his best as a professional and.
Speaker 3 (36:03):
Most I'm a big fan, but no, right.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
I saw it differently when he was in college as well. Yeah,
forty nine for sixty nine. That's seventy one percent, three
touchdowns and a pick. But it was interesting to me.
Matt he carried ten times against Miami, and even the
vast majority were scrambled. I think there might have been
one design run in there, but he.
Speaker 3 (36:25):
Only had like three design runs all last year.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
He looks like a guy he'll drop back and if
it's not there and the pocket starts to colepse, he goes.
Speaker 3 (36:34):
He goes.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
He's not trying to get outside and extend the play
and break the defense. If he starts moving, he's going
to run the ball.
Speaker 3 (36:42):
It's I don't I'm guessing. But when I think he
gets to a second read, if it's no, no go,
you know, And he didn't, and he's really good at it.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
He ended up scoring a touchdown. It was I think
it was only a one yard run, but it was.
He was back in the pocket, and.
Speaker 3 (36:55):
I think he's going to be a very good player.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
He had to cover some grounds. Yeah, two throws he
made in that game were exquisite. One was a touchdown
pass to one of the wide receivers boutet to the
corner of the end zone, and then a big play,
a catch and run to Romondre Stevens where it looked
like hitting a wide receiver. Stevenson got his arms out
(37:19):
in front of his face and the ball just sky
and and he took off some of the stuff I
have on make scramble ability, Uh decisive either throwing or
running the ball accurate. It looks like he's really playing
with confidence.
Speaker 3 (37:35):
He didn't have a lot around him in North Carolina,
and he had nothing around him last year and he
hasn't rattled him.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
Yeah, look back to the you know, no no go thing.
He handles the pressure. It doesn't right, Yeah, which he's not.
Speaker 3 (37:47):
He's not dropping his eyes or you know, cowering in
any way.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
And he really likes the back some tight ends, man,
I mean, good point. They get targeted a lot.
Speaker 3 (37:56):
I think Hunter Henry's like their most trusted guy. I
mean he's not the most dynamic tight end in the world,
but he's been there a while trustworthy, and I think
that goes a long way with him.
Speaker 2 (38:06):
I believe you had it in Matt's stats this week
that you opened them this week Stefon Diggs was the
only wide receiver got targeted more than once.
Speaker 3 (38:12):
How about that. Their receiver rooms a little weird right now,
Like you mentioned, Butte everyone knows the LSU receivers. He
was expected to be the successor to Chase and Jefferson
at LSU, and some things not football related kind of
derailed that. But he's dangerous.
Speaker 2 (38:30):
Yeah, fourteen of twenty three targets last week or last
Sunday actually this week to running backs are tight ends.
Speaker 3 (38:39):
Yeah, the receiver rooms not trustworthy at the moment.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
And the rush pass breakdown. It was twenty nine runs
and twenty three passes. Now, again, there were a bunch
of quarterback scrambles.
Speaker 3 (38:50):
Good point, but designed run and designed runs weren't that high.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
They're trying to keep a balance, though.
Speaker 3 (38:56):
They are they are. I think they're sort of searching
in general. Yeah, I really don't have an identity. They
like their two backs.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
They don't want this kid to throw forty five times,
right right right.
Speaker 3 (39:05):
That's probably a bad recipe.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
He's a third overall pick, but they don't want him
trying to throw for four hundred yards and take the
game over.
Speaker 3 (39:11):
Now, I also think it's noteworthy Miami might be the
worst defense in the league right now.
Speaker 2 (39:14):
Yeah, I want to ask you. But I'm glad you
brought that up before we get out of here, because
I've been banging the September football drum, particularly as it
relates to the Steelers some of the points we mentioned,
you know, coalescing a bunch of new pieces and reacquaiming
and all that stuff. I don't think the Steelers are
a bad team. I don't think they're playing well, but
I agreed, I'm not panicked yet in terms of what
(39:36):
I think they're going to be now.
Speaker 3 (39:38):
My opinion may change after this game. I think this
game will tell us a lot because I expect them
to go up there and win. I do too. I
think that the better roster, they're more established, They're in
a better place to win now than the Patriots are.
And the big thing I've been saying all week is
there aren't as many matchups in this game. I'm like, oh,
this is going to be crucial. It's all this versus
metcalf whatever. It's more about you go out there and
(39:58):
run your plays and get better at them.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
You know now that the asterisk to the September football
theories I think Miami's really bad.
Speaker 3 (40:05):
I think it's really bad, and we'll see tonight if
it holds true. But I'm betting Josh Allen does it
number on them too.
Speaker 2 (40:11):
And that causes me to look at the Patriots with
a little skepticism. Sure, because they're one on one. They
lost to the Raiders, I don't think.
Speaker 3 (40:19):
Are great, and they haven't played anybody yet.
Speaker 2 (40:21):
And yeah, and they.
Speaker 3 (40:23):
Were really one of the worst teams in the league
last year in New England.
Speaker 2 (40:26):
The end of that Miami New England game, I mentioned
that they didn't hit the landing zone. So set Miami
up at the forty with one forty seven left. Dolphins
get the ball into Patriots territory at the forty four.
They ran another little dump down to a chane and
he gets outside and then he cuts it back. He
(40:47):
ends up going all the way to the house, except
he stepped on the sideline while he was cutting back.
And it's not like he made this incredible athletic play
where he was you know, it was fifty to fifty.
He just wasn't quite sure where he was on the field.
He could have stayed in bounds. Yeah, Yeah, So they
almost gave up the game, losing touchdown there.
Speaker 3 (41:09):
Oh, they weren't decisively the better team in Miami.
Speaker 2 (41:11):
In spectacular fashion than the Dolph.
Speaker 3 (41:13):
Pretty sloppy game in general.
Speaker 2 (41:15):
They're reviewing this play because it's scoring play, and they
determined that he stepped out of bound, so it was
only an eighteen yard game. Miami comes out of that
extended delay and gets a penalty for false start. Then
Miami gets a penalty for delay games. Yeah, in addition
to not having the touchdown, the Dolphins backed themselves through
(41:38):
no effort on the part of the Patriots.
Speaker 3 (41:41):
Three plays in a row that New England had nothing
to do with the bad fortune right now, it's first
and twenty perfect and then those touchdown there the chance and.
Speaker 2 (41:48):
They ended up not finishing it. So I guess that's
the way to labor the point.
Speaker 3 (41:51):
But it wasn't definedest NFL football game in Miami last week.
Speaker 2 (41:55):
I think we're gonna find out a lot about the
Patriots as well as the Steelers.
Speaker 3 (41:58):
Yes, if we were doing this from a Patriot perspective,
we'd be like, I'm not sure what this team is,
but I have a feeling it's not wonderful.
Speaker 2 (42:05):
Anything else. Uh, Front and center before we get out.
Speaker 3 (42:08):
We touched on it. But this is the third week
in a row that I think our listeners might not
know the defensive line that's the Steelers about to play.
But it's a really good one.
Speaker 4 (42:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (42:18):
And they're not a lot of household names. It's not
Miles Garrett, it's not Bosa, it's not Parsons. That's three
weeks in a row with some it's going to be
a challenge, especially in the past rush department.
Speaker 2 (42:27):
The other thing I wanted to mention, Yeah, Landry in particular,
he and Chase Will and Chase on the Live nine. Yeah,
hand on the ground. That's gonna be a challenge for
the tackles.
Speaker 3 (42:39):
Yeah, they're a little bit undersize speed guys, you know right. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:41):
I talked to Jabrill Peppers about the Patriots this week.
Speaker 3 (42:45):
I assume he plays, right, Uh.
Speaker 2 (42:47):
He says, he's you know, we'll see. I understand he
just played special teams last week. But this I think
is going to be a thumping game. Yeah, And Pepper said, uh,
you know, he got cut at the end of camp
with New England. He said, he said, I went to
the meetings with those guys. They're going to compete they're
going to play fundamentally sound. Uh they are. Yeah, it
(43:10):
was almost like yeah, he was describing Mike Rabel the player. Uh,
nothing splashy, as Merrill said, you know, the runs are
coming right at you, even the zone runs.
Speaker 3 (43:20):
It's gonna be kind of a battle of wills, I
would imagine. And it took me till today to even
put two and two together. But we mentioned today on
the drive Rabel employed Arthur Smith for a lot of
others in Tennessee. Ar should have put that together on Monday,
but Arthur talked about that a little bit too, because
I think that's a Rabel advantage he has great respect for. Oh,
I'm sure Rabele Arthur Smith does well.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
I think it's an Arthur Smith' advantage if he throws
the ball at fourteen or two.
Speaker 3 (43:46):
They got some, They got some targets.
Speaker 2 (43:48):
We'll see what Braves can do about that. That's gonna
do it for us. Thanks to uh, Justin Miller for
keeping things running swimmingly here in studio. Thank you, thank
you for finding us however, and wherever you found us,
we will do it again. Matt and I will be
in Ireland getting you ready for the Steelers and the
(44:10):
Minnesota Vikings in Dublin. Until then, this has been Steel's Preview,
presented by your neighborhood Ford Store. The F one fifty
is the official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers, right here
on Steelers Nation Radio and your Steelers flagship one o
two point five DV. Goodnight, everybody,
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