December 4, 2025 • 46 mins
Mike, Matt, and Merril discuss how the Steelers can bounce back against the Ravens in Baltimore as the winner will take a solo AFC North lead.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Steelers Preview show on WDVE 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
offended by your neighborhood Ford Store. The F one fifty
is the official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers here on
Steelers Nation Radio and your Steelers flagship one of two
point five DVE. Mike Persuda and Matt Williamson with you,
getting you ready for the Steelers at the Ravens on
(00:43):
Sunday in Baltimore. MERYORL Hodge, our factor back, will be
joining us as he always does. And I don't know
about you, Matt, but as this week progresses, I'm starting
to get really excited about another Steelers Ravens game. Yeah.
I circle my calendar when the schedule comes out I've
seen enough of these, I've seen almost all of them
(01:05):
dating back to nineteen ninety six to know that they
are their own entity and what has transpired leading up
to it often does not matter. And I think people
in these parts anyway. When I say these parts, I
mean Steeler Nation.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
The dour.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Comportment of the fan base, and you know the chanting
at the stadium line right, This is this is why
you follow the team, isn't it? For a December game
such as this one? With this kind of.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
Yeah, it's funny because you and I didn't talk about
this before we hit record on the show tonight. But
you know, you watch that Bills game, and you and
I do a show with Rob King on Monday, and usually,
you know, after a loss, I'm pretty man, this is
roh blah blah blah. But you know, you start comparing
notes with you guys, and then I see and everybody
(02:00):
in here, and I'm usually feeling a little bit better
about a loss late into the Monday afternoon. Not this week.
I just looked at the Buffalo game like they got walloped.
I can't take Cartland and good about that. This is
gonna be a long week. And then you start thinking
Ravens around Wednesday or so and breaking them down, and
then Labs was on the drive today talking Steelers Ravens
(02:23):
history and more and more. I'm like, let's go, you know,
I mean, division's on the line. This is gonna be
a blast. You know, it comes down to a five
game season.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Pittsburgh is six and six, Baltimore is six and six,
and you get them twice and this isn't even a
must win. I mean, it would be a really helpful win.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Yeah, but if you can at least split this series
based on what Pittsburgh has left and one has what
Baltimore has left, maybe Cincinnati comes roaring up for Bene.
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (02:48):
That would be a long shot, but it's not dead yet.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
But I was with you. I thought the Buffalo thing
that there was much not to take, nothing to sift
through and cling to other than it's over. It happened,
and now you move on and it's the NFL and
it resets every week, and see what they have for
their respected rivals down in Baltimore.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
He shouldn't have any problem getting motivated for this one, though,
especially after gett embarrassed, especially the defense. Well, both sides
of the ball.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Really, let's take a quick look at today's practice participation report.
I'll just go through the highlights. Patrick Queen glute didn't
practice yesterday, he was limited today. Aaron Rodgers left wrist
didn't practice yesterday. He was a full goat today. TJ
Watt toe didn't practice yesterday. He was a full goat today.
(03:37):
And Kyle Dugger showed up. That's a new one hand
did not practice.
Speaker 4 (03:43):
I also had heard Pierre is moving along in the
concussion protocol as well.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
One day I overlooked Perre. Yeah, he was upgraded from
limited to full today.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
Okay, Now, concussion protocol can be a little sticky. Who knows,
you can always take a step back. But sounds like
the ones to watch are Queen, Pierre, and now Dugger.
So again all on defense.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
As for the Ravens, quarterback Lamar Jackson ankle limited on Wednesday,
did not practice today.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
I didn't see today's for them.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
I imagine he's going to play, but he's been banged up,
He's missed some time. He said, yeah, I'm string, he's
had a toe's They were all.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
Optimistic or washing their Baltimore reporters were all optimistic because
he since he's returned, he has not done anything. On
Wednesday and yesterday he did something, but they had an
extended week after playing on Thanksgiving. I didn't know he
didn't do anything today. But I'm sure he'll.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Play it and I'm sure he'll play also. But yeah,
they didn't list it as veteran rest or anything, it
says Ankle. So who knows quarterback? Make Wiggins. I think
he's their best cover guy.
Speaker 4 (04:49):
I think he's a really good player.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
He's he's been limited two days in a row and
Trent Jones defensive tackle non injury related personal reasons, did nothing.
Have no idea what that means.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
But I like him. He's a big nose tackle type
power player, and their defensive front is one of the
weaknesses of the team. They can't afford to lose anybody
else there. But I'm with you on Wigans. He's one
of my favorite young corners in the league.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
So let's let's not bury the lee. Let's talk about
Lamar Jackson, who the Steelers had pretty good success against
historically until those two games last year, and it was interesting.
Tall Austin, the Steelers defensive coordinator, was asked today if
the kind of change in how they're able to deal
(05:33):
with Jackson is related to Derrek Henry's presidence in Baltimore.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
And get something to do it.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Yes, yes, yes, you got two guys to worry about now.
And they didn't do a very good job last year,
either either schematically or the way they played.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
One game, one guy blew up. The next game, the
other guy blew up.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
This is another shot at it. But you know, watching
Jackson on Thanksgiving night, I mentioned hamstring tow and now
an ankle.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
Situations on all kinds of lower body issues.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
We sat here last week, Matt and I talked about
Josh Allen and I said I had never seen him
as disheveled as he had been in that Houston game
before Buffalo played Pittsburgh. Now, Buffalo ended up dominating the Steelers,
but Allen was a guy who handed.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
The ball off.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
Yeah, he did some good things sideway.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
He started running a little bit at the end of
the game when it was out of hand because he
was bored. I think, uh, he was not Superman. No,
it didn't need to be. Now, let's go back to
Thanksgiving night. Lamar Jackson against the Bengals. The worst defense
statistically in the National Football League, and he was alarmingly inaccurate.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
I thought the first last several weeks, I mean like
I was wearing overs.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
It was. It was Mike Tarrico and Jason Garrett doing
the broadcasting on NBC. I kept waiting for the bob
Yucker just a bit outside. Yeah, I mean he was missing.
He hit the mascot mile right, God, right, right right.
Exact appreciation playing a lot? Is that injury related thing's
(07:08):
going on there?
Speaker 4 (07:09):
He doesn't get the credit he deserves over the last
couple of years of becoming an exceptional not just a
good pure pocket passer, because he wasn't when he came
in the league. But he's gotten better and better and better.
And I think it's a thousand percent injury related because
he threw the ball really well before his injury. Although
the Ravens had some issues then that have not gone
(07:30):
away and we can get to later in the show.
I think his lower body balance feel, you know, all
that stuff is off right now.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
It was seventeen to thirty two for two hundred and
forty six yards, which sounds better than it was on
the surface. Is not horrible, but it did not pass
the eye test, no touchdowns, one interception, and even some
of the completions. Matt, he had some guys wide open
and they had to stop and lean back. Yeah, they
had to die or they had to jump. There were
(08:01):
yards left on the bone, a lot yeac that they
the Ravens couldn't get because Jackson was not accurate.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
And it was him, you know. It wasn't like these
receivers let him down or any of those things. Now,
the one thing I did notice in this game compared
to his previous three or so since returning from injury,
was there was glimpses of his scampers and runs where oh,
he kind of looked pretty explosive there. Now that scares
(08:28):
me because ten days rest for this game, might some
of those ailments be improving at all the wrong times
for the Steelers.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
I think maybe it's a great observation. Yes, but he
didn't practice today, That's all. I was wondering about whether
the throwing issues were injury related, because you think so.
He ran for a couple three first downs and kind
of looked like himself. It was one play where he
extended it for I think Garrett had a clock on it.
He said it took nine seconds. You know, he scrambled left,
he scrambled right, he went backwards, he went forwards, and
(08:58):
then he finally hit I think it was like downfield
for about forty yards. Uh. Lamar Jackson has not thrown
a touchdown pass in three consecutive games, and he has
not rushed for a touchdown since the season opener. He
has one nuts won this season.
Speaker 4 (09:14):
Yeah, and all his rushing numbers are really really low.
The ones that stand out to me though, are the
designed rushes. I mean, they don't ask him to run along.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Let's never see it. You almost never see it. A
couple of red option keeps against the Bengals.
Speaker 4 (09:28):
Yeah, yeah, I mean he still scrambles here and there
when he has to. And again, maybe he's getting a
little healthier at the wrong time that you get more
of that stuff. And you probably know it's better than
I do. But I think Tomlin said something along the
lines today. You just have to prepare for him, like
he's the Superman version. Oh okay, okay, yeah, somebody said it.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Yeah, as far as they're concerned, he's one hundred percent.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
Yeah, don't take it lightly.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Yeah, but you know what that's really showing up in
red zone offense. The Ravens are thirtieth. They used to be,
they were the best in the league last year. Yeah,
and I think that's because Lamar doesn't run.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
Yeah, and none of the guy is accurate too, you know,
the windows are tighter and yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
So they're working at forty six point five percent in
the red zone. And the Steelers defensively the one area
where they really show up. Statistically, they're tenth in the
league in red zone defense at fifty four point eight percent.
So I think I think that's an area where the
Steelers got to.
Speaker 4 (10:22):
Win a thousand percent thousand percent. And I'm very excited
to talk to Merrill about to stopping this rushing attack,
even if Lamar isn't himself, because I'm sure you're gonna
get a lot of Derrick Henry red zone or not,
probably in a real similar manner that you know, Buffalo
attacked you, which wasn't pretty.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
I think maybe, Uh, watching a Buffalo game, I thought, Wow,
the only guy that can stop Derrick Henry is John Harbaugh.
But maybe, but he's done that before.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
He's done that for too. I mean, they get into
any kind of he's on the fields.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Much you think including against the Bengals. True, true, but
something tells, something tell after he got ten carries and
they lost, He's gonna get ten carries in the first quarter.
Speaker 4 (11:04):
Why would you not? I mean, I'm sure he watched
the Steeler Buffalo game.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
When we come back, we'll be joined by our factor back,
Merril Hodge, and we'll get to some of the particulars
about whether or not the Steelers can stop the Ravens run,
whether or not they can run on the Ravens. The
Bengals did a little bit. Steelers Preview presented by your
neighborhood Ford Store. The F one fifty is the official
truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers comes to you here on
(11:28):
Steelers Nation Radio and your Steelers flagship. One of two
point five DVE.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Back to the Steelers Preview show on DVE.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Welcome back Mike Pursuita and Matt Williamson getting ready for
the Steelers in the Ravens Sunday in Baltimore. Time Now
to welcome our factor back to the program, Meryl Hodge
joining us and Merrill. I imagine there was a part of
you that watched the Buffalo Bills run the ball with
great physicality and force and efficiency and being the factor
(12:01):
back that you are really appreciated it. And then I
imagine there was another part of you that thought, wait
a minute, they're doing that to the Steelers and I've
seen this too many times previously.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
Well true story there. You forgot one other adjective easy,
you know, yeah, I'll be honest, you forgot that one
because that was probably the most disturbing because that that's unacceptable,
especially this level, when you go back and you look
at what they were doing incorrectly, which is you got
(12:35):
to missing playing contain and I'll being a defender and
playing contain is a staple. Everybody knows how to play contain,
you know, and you know you're and you're the contained player.
You know how to play contain and how critical it
is to play contained and that means, you know, you
got to keep the runner inside into where all the
traffic is, where all your help is. You can't let
them get to the perimeter. Now I could tell you
(12:58):
this you had going into that week. That was probably
a bigger emphasis. Well, this emphaside is how disturbing it
is because that wasn't a game where you're like, you
know what I didn't see that coming. You know, I
didn't see that runner getting to the perimeter like you did.
That's like a staple of that kid. I mean, he's
(13:18):
a true pro runner. He'll stay in the tackle box.
But you give him a perimeter, you block something up
for him, he's gonna find it, and he's dynamic enough
to do it. You had to talk I know they
have not one in those meetings, but it had to
have been talked about all week. This guy will get
to the perimeter. We have to play content, our contained
players have to be really good at keeping him inside,
(13:40):
not letting get outside. First play of the game, nineteen
yards and and we looked like we didn't even know
what we were doing, and we didn't see. Actually Arkaitane
players didn't seen until he was back stuff and I
was like, wow, you know, and now in that whole game,
I think they got got us on the perimeter for
(14:01):
like three for sixty. Some are not ballpark, maybe four
for sixty. But in the fourth quarter they start playing it, right,
and how many yards did you get? Two yards? Three yards?
I mean that's the difference in it, you know. But
he can't play it in the fourth quarter when it's over.
You know, you got to do that kind of stuff
at the start of the game, you know, and.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
The entire game, no question. And obviously the Ravens are
a different style team, recard a lot of tight ends
on the field, not that Buffalo didn't do that, and
and Henry's a very different back than Cook. But how
much do you think, how much do you think they
just cut and past and make the Steelers stop it again?
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Well, I there's any doubt.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
Yeah, you can't.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
You can't. They're that team. You know, They've just gotten
in situations where you know, like Lamar's not playing as
good as he has in his last five years. He's
really i mean his processing, he's throwing, his accuracy, you know,
he's not been like a truly a pristine accurate thrower
(15:07):
and a precise processor. But he's been he's played better,
you know, he hasn't. He's missed a lot of throws,
missed a lot of reads injury wise or whatever. You know,
his really escape from the pocket, he's he's not done
that as as much. You know, he seems like to
be a little bit late in some areas. That being said,
(15:29):
their ability to run the ball is still there. They're staple,
you know, and if they get that going, a lot
of things that they have struggled with will be rectified.
And you you have to know that in this game,
we already know what's a problem. We all know we
have to start it. But here's the bigger concern. If
they get it going, it might clean up a lot
(15:50):
of their problems on offense. We can't let that happen.
Yeah right, yeah, that's their going in our car goes.
We can't let that happen. We got to keep him
in the in the environment where they're not comfortable, and
that's putting the ball in in Lamar's hands more, forcing
him to throw in ways he's not the best at
(16:11):
and not allowing him to be where he's really good at.
And that's like you know that he's under center more.
I've noticed he's been under centered a lot more. And
you know they're trying to do that to help Abraa
on the ball and be to help him with the
run action plays. And they start out like that, you know,
they started out that shoot, they did that star. They
started out with Cincinnati like that, they started out with
(16:31):
Cleveland like that. And because there's such a threat to run,
they paralyzed the box. They get one on one match
of it, and it's usually you're the tied end who
nobody can cover him. You know, your defensive back's too small.
He may run with him, but he's too small. Your
linebackers probably can't run with them, you know. So he's
(16:52):
a problem. So and then number four, I mean that
explosive dude, they you know you you get a moment
of hesitation with that. Yeah, he's he's gonna hang fifty
yards or twenty five or a massive play on you.
So that is it's still no different in this matchup
(17:12):
than what people have heard in the past, what people
think in the past. If they don't utilize that, if
they don't make that an argerous journey for them, it'll
be a long day for the Steelers.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
Here's my suspicion of what might happen. Meryll. I know
Lamar Jackson, Matt and I talked about this in the
opening segment. He's been banged up some he's missed some time,
he is not running nearly as often as he used to.
But I sense that the Ravens will embrace the stakes here.
Both teams are six and six. The winner is going
to be in control in the AFC North, and I
(17:44):
think this is one of those you do what you
got to do to win it kind of games. And
based on the success that the Ravens had last year
with Jackson on the Reid option and with the complete
inability until the fourth quarter that you detailed regarding the Steelers'
ability to defend runs on the perimeter, I think we're
going to see an awful lot of read option keep
from number eight and he's going to be getting out
(18:05):
on that wing in space, and then I don't know
what's gonna happen after that.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
I have no evidence to defend otherwise, I just do
not beget well, well, what could I possibly say to
that to make it not possible and not likely? Well,
first of all, initially, everybody attacks your weakness. Everybody attacks
what you don't do well, what you haven't done well,
and they want to make you show me you can
(18:32):
do it, and if you can't, we're going to find out,
because that's where we're gonna come at you. So I'm
not I'm not gonna di scripe that at all. Probably
go about it. You get the read option and those
perimeters give them more to read and think, you know,
more processing, more true team football, where you've got to
have an assignment and you've got to state of that assignment.
You can't let your can't get fooled. You've got a
(18:55):
job to do. You stay inside. If he's if he's
got you got your If he hands off the back,
you got the back okay, and we're spilling okay, and
then our defender who's over our spill defender's got to
be there. You know, you can't hot up with thinking
he handed it off and lose sight. I mean, so
it's I do not doubt it. I I think they're
(19:16):
gonna do everything they can to run the football downhill.
I mean, the their power stuff, their perimeter stuff, lamar stuff.
I just I would not disagree with that. That will
be a point of eferensis. And it still moved back
to what I said that they're getting they rectify that,
they rectify a lot of their problems offensively. If they
can't then they then they then they stick around.
Speaker 4 (19:39):
No doubt. And so I thought the Steeler offense was
probably every bit as bad as the Steelers run defense
last week. And to me, they just don't run the
ball often enough and I know they didn't run a
lot of plays, but they're lasting league in time of possession.
I know Mike brought this up the Different Show on Monday,
(20:01):
and I wholeheartedly agree that Rogers' inability to go under
center certainly impacted that.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
You agree, Well, what I say, I'm seeing the see
like I don't. Yeah, I don't. Just you know, I
don't just study the Steelers, I got it. I studied
this entire league, so you get to see samples. There's
more and more people you're seeing under center, more and more.
And I will tell you this. Teams that are struggling
with that, I'll give you one still named State Philadelphia.
(20:31):
They can't get their quarterback under center. It's taking them monumental,
I mean moving Earth mountains, I mean land Sea, just
to get him to go under center so that they
can help their running game. And dude, well how does
that help the running Well, here's you know how it
helps your running game. Anytime you have a quarterback under
center and you can put that back straight behind him, well,
(20:55):
my ability to run the football strong and week becomes
a lot more favorable and easier and harder for you
to read. You know, I put it back over the
side of a court. But no, not a lot of side.
We're strong stright a week side and I snapped the shot.
I snap it back to him. Okay, that ball handling
is on display for everybody to see, and the initial
(21:15):
movement of that back easy to tell which way he's going. Man,
understand it. When I turn my back a first of all,
you just assume he's handing it off. I'll go back
to what the Ravens did. This is what the teams
that really want to want to be successful and reset
their offense. You do this type of stuff when our
quarterback turns the ball. Yeah, you're expecting to run that.
You've got to You've got to anticipate he's going to
(21:37):
hand the ball off. That's why you got to react
to it. And then the last second he pulls it out,
turns around and now you're too late. Your tight ends
already two yards behind you. Now there's a void between
you and the safety and I either got a chunk
or yard or I got a chance for a touchdown.
I mean, that's what the that's what run action does
for you. That's the power of a quarterback being under there.
The things that you can do to actually that are
simple but powerful and they help your offense. And when
(22:00):
you can't do that and you don't implement that, well,
you know, I don't know what to tell you. I
just tell you this. I know a team our remember
team that was in disheveled. They got funcked by the
Kansas City Chiefs. It's week five. I think at home,
Cincinnati Bengals are coming in and they're four to zero,
(22:21):
and I think this team on top gout is two
and two. There's a new England Patriots. Arguably they have
the best quarterback in football. You know what they did? Okay,
And I'm doing our matchup show and I'm like, you know,
watch your tape. There is no way the Patriots can
beat the Bengals. There's no evidence there of four weeks
of there's nothing. I mean, the Patriots are a mess
(22:42):
the entire game. In fact, for an entire month. I
think Tom Brady was under center fifty percent of the time,
a big chunk of it. I had two tight ends,
two backs, one wide receiver. And what they do They
turn around, ran the football, turn around, run action to
reset their offense, get them back on track, and then
they built from that. And oh, by the way, one
Super Bowl here.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
Yeah, the latest on that Rogers' ability to go under
center that they're hopeful, but nobody has said it's going
to happen, not Mike Tomlin, not Aaron Rodgers, and not
Arthur Smith.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
And I'm with you, guys.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
I don't like it that he didn't do it at all. Yeah,
I think that was a problem.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
Yeah, it's it is, and I just understand you. It is.
From a schematic presentation, it's a problem. You just you
get more out of it. I just documented it. I mean,
and I don't have I didn't get half of what
you really can do with it and the value in it,
you know. I just I just think it's beneficial to
have in your offense at all times to help you
(23:46):
in all times. And there's powerful, simple ways to be
explosive and successful with a quarterback under center.
Speaker 4 (23:56):
Yeah, I agree back to the defense. And I'm not
suggesting that Derek Harmon is Aaron Smith or Casey Hampton.
But how much do you think he was missed? I mean,
they just had to put some guys out there that probably.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
Yeah, I'm telling you, yeah, you know, listen, he has
He's made a big enough impact that you know when
he's not there, yeah, you know that depth you could
you can touch. So that's the best way I can
answer that. You know, I'm not necessarily watching for that
number all the time, but I know when he's there,
and when he's there, you know, he he plays with
(24:27):
better leverage than ninety five and ninety four. Do you
know ninety five? I you know, I just I thought
at this point, I thought he would be more developed
and be a better player. I gotta believe you're they're
a little disappointed in his development right now because coming
out of Wisconsin he was just man, he's a train wreck.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
I mean he.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
Wrecked things, you know, and he really struggles with double teams,
a double team or win a double team. Individually, He's
about a fifty to fifty player, And to me, that
would be like, he's my winner. You know, he's my winner.
I get him single up. I mean, this guy in
his second year is a winner. I mean, he's gonna
(25:11):
be whoever he's got to play or he's going to
give them everything they got. And he is just not
long not won many battles. Then it's funny. I was
just going through this assessment, this week, and I'm like, Okay,
here is what it is a little scary. Your best
defensive lineman is still Cam Hayward by a long shot,
(25:32):
and he doesn't have a lot of years left, you know.
So you know that's you know, at the level you
got to be able to play it this league, you know.
I mean the way he plays is leverage.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
How he I mean he plays.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
He plays to play in the back of the line,
screen in the in the backyard. He gets in the
backyard all the time. And just we just don't have
enough guys to do that in the trenches, you know,
the big problem.
Speaker 4 (26:00):
Seventy eight and ninety three should never be out there
the replacement games.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
Yeah, again, no evidence to argue, right, yea, I will
your honor, I will. I will have no cross examination
on that.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
You know me, there is a little evidence that this
defense can stop the run, because it's stopped the run
against Indianapolis, and Indianapolis is a very good rushing team.
It stopped the run against Chicago. And then me, like
an idiot, I watched the Bears in the Eagles play
Friday after Thanksgiving and I saw the Bears run right
through Philly and I thought, wow, Pittsburgh's run defense must
(26:35):
be pretty good. I think they're gonna beat Buffalo wrong.
And now all of a sudden, you look at you
look at the two forty nine for Buffalo. Let's go
back to last December, the regular season game between the
Steelers and the Ravens, Baltimore got two twenty. Then in
a playoff game they got to ninety nine. Henry only
has three hundred and forty eight rushing yards against the
(26:57):
Steelers in his last two games, and that is pretty good.
Why are they so remarkably inconsistent? I mean that it
just doesn't it doesn't add up that you could stop
Jonathan Taylor and then just be helpless against Cook or
helpless against him.
Speaker 3 (27:15):
Yeah yeah, well okay, So the simple answer to that is,
like if you watch, you know, it's the fundamentals of
the game of football. You know, I used this all
the time. It was Chuck Nole's principles. He preached, He
established them, and he preached them, and he taught them
and he believed in them, and they are the truth
in football. It doesn't matter what position we're talking about,
(27:36):
what play we're talking about. We could walk through each
one of them and then I would walk you through
how it implemented in that position. But same for the
same shoulder rising blow and first contact wins. There's the
fundamentals of the game. If you don't execute those three
things in harmony consistently, you're just not gonna win. And
(27:58):
of all the three, is there any anyone more important? No,
they're all important, and they have to be worked in
a sequence, and we don't do that consistently enough in
the trenches the cult game, same foot sentisul rising below
first contact wins. You would if I have a time
we snapped the ball, I'd say, okay, everybody's executing that
right now. They absolutely control the line of scrimmage. Talking
(28:21):
from our perspective, then in games that we just saw
and snapped the ball, I'm like, okay, we have we
have out to executed any of those three things. That's
why we're two yards in the backfield in our own backfield,
Like that's why they pushed us two yards back already.
We don't execute those things consistently. That's it is. There's
no other way. Now, can you do some scheme stuff,
(28:41):
which I think they're gonna have to do in this game? Now?
Scheme stuff when you have to do scheme stuff that
is a good thing to do from a coaching perspective
when you're struggling. However, I can tell you from experience,
when we see that, we know you're in trouble, and
we know if we're patient, we're gonna get big runs
on you. Because here's what I'm talking about, Like, you
start slanting your defensive line, scraping your linebackers technically like
(29:05):
a blitz on in the running game. Okay, you drop
somebody in the box, late, hit a gap, so forth.
So on, they may blow up some plays. I remember
Dick Coach saying that the first time. I can't know
who were playing it, but they were. Man, they were
doing all kinds of stuff to try to improve their
run games. And Dick Cox said, hey, listen, we love this,
even though it was creating a mess initially it was
the game we were watching. He's like, eventually you get
(29:27):
the biggest runs against teams like that, and sure enough, man,
like the second quarter, they start hitting them on it.
So you got to be selective too, Like, you can't
live on it, but you have to, I think strategically
do some things like that to help you out a
little bit from where you're playing now. But the best
way is really to be fundamentally better and more consistent.
(29:49):
You know, they do that, which you just mentioned the
Cults there was probably the best display all year. That's
exactly how they played, and that's exactly what they did,
and that's why they're able to contain that running game.
Speaker 4 (30:00):
Marril LESSI I got for you is I'm not implying
DK Metcalf's a poor player or it's a bad trade
or anything like that, but it's consistently he doesn't play
as big as his huge body, especially at the catchpoint
and particularly off man coverage, in my opinion, and it
sure seems to me in passing situations almost every team
(30:22):
is pressing him with a safety over the top and
that's more than he can deal with, which is a
lot to deal with. And it's a blatant disrespect for
wide receiver number two because they don't fear that guy.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
Well, I think that's probably the bigger highlight. Yeah, and
both of them, both of them, both of them are
spot on against you know, from the court of law,
I'm losing to you on every debate because again I
have no evidence your honor, I would defer, but you
are spot on. They're gonna say a number four.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
You're supposed to make a deal before it goes to
trial when you got nothing.
Speaker 4 (30:58):
We can both be on the same side as are you.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
Hey, hey, your honor, could I get a recess? That
being said, yes, they say four, we're gonna take care
of four in the manner in what you just talked.
We're neutralizing at the line of scrimmage because he does
not play as big and dynamic as he as he is.
Speaker 4 (31:22):
And Rogers doesn't want to hold the ball while he
fights off the man coverage.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
Correct, and then you have nobody else you know now
that that's where you know, I think coaching does come
into play, Like you got to start creating matchups, you know,
for for guys.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
I mean eighty eight, I don't know where Friar moves.
Speaker 4 (31:40):
Seems like the one that should benefit from that. And
he ran nine roundes last week.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
Yeah, and he's you know, I remember coming out of
Penn State, I remember studying this is for Steers drafted him.
So you're just anticipating, like, boy, I'm watching a kid.
I'm like, he's really good, but that he could be
so much better once he learns how to run rounds.
And I think the kid really worked hard at that
but not been rewarded for it, you know. And and
(32:04):
you listen, you got to work in life and you
can't worry about the results because the results are not
in your control. But how you get prepared is and
that's all you can do. But to not try to
create some options for him, you know, even Washington, you
know his big size, How can you not many people? Now,
he might not be quite the route runner, which he's
(32:25):
not the Ravens act, but he might be a lot bigger.
We know that. So who's gonna run with them?
Speaker 2 (32:31):
You know?
Speaker 3 (32:31):
I mean who's gonna And he runs well enough that
you know you're not gonna put a dB on it.
A linebacker is going to be dwarfing. I mean he's
a Dwarfl linebacker and problems, yes, so you know, so
you know you gotta find ways in that manner, you know, listen,
(32:54):
does if that, if that's what you have, that's what
you gotta work with, and you got to make the
most of that. You know, you can't you can't surrender
and go ah, you know, he just don't have another
wire receiver. We'll make one, you'll create another guy, create
some options. I mean, listen, everybody whoever coach in this league,
played in this league knows. This is a matchup orient
of the league. It is schematically. That's how you win games,
(33:15):
creating the right matchup, setting up the right things. It's
not like college. We're listening eighty percent of the time.
My guys are better than your guy, period, no matter
what you do. I'm just better than you. I can
show up and I'm gonna beat you. Okay, that does
not exist in our league. I don't care what your
record is. Nobody can show up and say I'm better
than you and not schematically do something strategically and be
(33:36):
buttoned up to beat to play you and beat you. So,
you know, hoping that they could do that, because you know,
eighty eight has just not been anywhere, you know, and
to his credit, he's just played football. You know, he's
just done what he's been asked to do. But I
still think that to your point, you know that's happening
with four? Does that? Because you're yes, there's not like
(34:01):
it ain't even a mystery, you know, And boy, that
was start you start stealing them for you know, ken
yard games fifteen to twenty chunks. You start rethinking things,
you know, then you start leaving him one on one
little more. You start to cover the middle of the field,
then you can work them on the perimeter better.
Speaker 4 (34:18):
You know, the middle of the field stuff makes me crazy,
But wow, we'll save that for next week.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
We got enough to worry about with Baltimore coming up. Thanks.
As always, we'll look forward to talking to you before
the Steelers take on the Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
You got boys. Have a great night. Guys.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
That was factor back Merrill Hodge. Gear up with the
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(34:59):
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One more segment to come, so keep it here with
Matt Williams and on Mike Pursuda. This is Steelers 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 of
(35:22):
two point five DVE.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
Back to the Steelers Preview show on DVE.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
Welcome back Mike Pursuer and Matt Williamson getting you ready
for the Steelers and the Ravens on Sunday in Baltimore.
I hated to cut Merril off, but if we go
to that middle of the field stuff, oh wait, go,
we were gonna be here for about an hour and
a half.
Speaker 4 (35:42):
That's a fact.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
Although I did find it interesting in that game Thursday night,
Thanksgiving Night, Bengals at the Ravens, the Bengals largely ignored
the middle of the field for the better part of
three quarters. They attacked a perimeter Bengals offenser time. Yes,
oh okay, yeah, they took their shots deep when they
had one on one and even if they didn't have
(36:03):
one on one, I think number twelve a low high Gilman, Gilman, Yeah,
it's again. They traded for either Ravens traded for from
the Chargers. Sometimes he lines up on that hash like
he's gonna play double coverage, and then he's looking inside
or he's actually doing something else, kind of like they're
trying to get the quarterback to think, Okay, this guy's doubled,
(36:23):
so he's off the off the table on this play,
but he's not really doubled.
Speaker 3 (36:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
Yeah, I think that's something Rogers can suss out the
way Burrow did.
Speaker 4 (36:32):
Yeah. I totally agree, And I think it's noteworthy that
you made that observation in a Bengals game that didn't
have t Higgins even you know, I mean, they only
have one guy. Now, I'm not saying Chase is one
for one with Metcalf, but it is a situation where
you have one receiver that's way better than all the rest.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
You know. Tonight's injury report is presented by your neighborhood
for the store of the f one. Fifty is the official
truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Matt. We mentioned in
segment number one that James Pierre full participant today. He's
still working his way through the concussion protocol, so who
knows where that goes by Sunday. But we also saw
a Sante Samuel hit the field. Yeah. On Sunday, Darius
(37:11):
Slay no longer with your Pittsburgh Steelers. Pierre continues to
play well. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (37:16):
I think he's been a really pleasant surprise.
Speaker 2 (37:18):
And Samuel, I think was a real good addition given
the circumstances.
Speaker 4 (37:22):
I think this Samuel situation was one of the positives
to take out of that game, because I don't think
you want to say you're the starter the first time
you're active. You got to play seventy snaps or whatever.
He got worked in, he got knocked I hate terms
like knocked the rust off or whatever, but it got
some of that where he was thrown in there half
the snaps, and who knows. I'm very happy with Pierre.
(37:46):
Clearly the Steelers didn't think they had to keep Sleigh around,
who I would think would be fourth in your cornerback
packing order right now, actually fifth behind Echles too. But
maybe Samuel is something. I mean, I think that's one
thing to get excited about.
Speaker 2 (37:59):
You know, these teas are almost identical statistically, and everybody
perceives the Ravens now as the really bad Ravens and
the Steelers stink. But Baltimore has a two hundred and
eighty nine points scored. Pittsburgh has two hundred and eighty one.
Baltimore is allowed two hundred and ninety three points. Pittsburgh
has allowed two hundred and eighty nine. Ravens differentials minus four,
(38:19):
Steelers differentials minus eight.
Speaker 4 (38:21):
They are both six and six, Yeah, and they're neither ones.
Probably thrilled with all their seasons going at the moment,
you know. I mean a lot of people picked the
Ravens for the super Bowl type team. Steelers started much
stronger than they have now. Now they've gotten there in
different paths. Of course, there was that stretch that Lamar
was out, that they were getting hammered, and then they
(38:43):
come back on a winning streak. But I never thought
that winning streak was was like the old Ravens. You know,
they were beaten some pretty bad teams.
Speaker 2 (38:52):
Unimpressive against bad teams, yeah, and the good one. The
good teams they've played other than Chicago they have.
Speaker 4 (38:57):
Lost, yeah, exactly. So I don't think this is a
particularly scary team. But if I was sitting near in Baltimore,
I'd say the same thing about Steelers.
Speaker 2 (39:05):
Now. We talked in Segment one one area, we think
the Steelers have a chance to really make some hay
is when Baltimore gets in the red zone. Pittsburgh's really
good at red zone defense. Baltimore is struggling at red
zone offense. Two others and I picked these up. I
bought this phone book size preview. It's called Matt's Status. Yeah,
(39:25):
putting it out, I see. I don't know if you're
familiar with this, but a couple of these got my attention.
Here's another.
Speaker 4 (39:32):
Once in a while, there's a good nugget or two
in there.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
There's always good nuggetsy you have too many and you
lose the you know, it's like panning for gold. There's
a lot of gold, a good hit rate. You could
lose some of the dirt. But here's a good one.
Baltimore's minus four and turnover differential Pittsburgh is plus eight.
This is another way the Steelers can win. Win the
(39:56):
turnover thing.
Speaker 4 (39:57):
And Lamar's been turning it over a lot lately. I mean,
they'd five turnovers against the Bengals were probably opened.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
With that by him, and then one more.
Speaker 4 (40:05):
The Ravens have any need of my stats for that one, though, Well, I.
Speaker 2 (40:10):
Went through it and got the yellow highlighter outs a
lot of yellow highlight and going over there, Ravens have
a minus fifteen sack differential Pittsburgh at plus twelve. Now
think about that for a minute. Massive, You have Lamar Jackson, right,
and you have given up thirty four sacks and you've
only registered nineteen.
Speaker 4 (40:29):
Yeah, and he's like the should be the hardest guy
to sacks right there with like Josh Allen, you know, yeah,
but he's not. And the other aspect of the other
side of the coin, though, is Baltimore's pass rush.
Speaker 2 (40:39):
For all their yeah, putting eight guys at the line
and faking blitzes and the way they get out jumping
around and trying to fool you again, which Rogers should
be able to suss out.
Speaker 4 (40:51):
Uh, they don't really have good pass rushers.
Speaker 2 (40:53):
Yeah, especially this is another area the Steelers can win.
Speaker 4 (40:57):
And I would hope that maybe you throw the ball
down field a little bit more too, you know, not
everything has to come out now, especially against this pass rush.
I mean a little bit more intermediate passing.
Speaker 2 (41:07):
Yeah, I think that's going to be critical Again. Joe
Burrow took shot, yes, I mean he was aggressive when
there was one on one they took shots. They didn't
hit them all, but they hit a couple. They got
a DPI and one guy, Marlon Humphrey, God bless him.
Speaker 4 (41:24):
His best days might be.
Speaker 2 (41:25):
I think he's had a fine career. Yeah, but I
think you can get behind him. In fact, the Bengals did, yes, exactly.
Speaker 4 (41:31):
I think that's why they drafted Wiggins in the first
round last year. Is they they realize he's on the
back nine or maybe he's on hole fifteen or so.
Speaker 2 (41:38):
And again, I don't think Gilman is necessarily the greatest safety.
Speaker 4 (41:42):
No, but he allows hamp Ham or Hamilton to come
into the box.
Speaker 2 (41:46):
More he does. But he makes them vulnerable downfield.
Speaker 4 (41:48):
As you're saying, same historics the first round pick, if
you attack them, Yes, the secondary looks better on paper
than it plays downfield.
Speaker 2 (41:56):
Now, I mentioned Cincinnati worked a lot of perimeter stuff
and then kind of changed their plan in the late
third quarter or fourth court started going down the middle.
They isolated Roquan Smith a couple of times. The Bengals
not somebody you have to avoid either. You know, the
Bengals ran the ball consistently. They only averaged three point
nine a carry, but they had thirty three carries and
one hundred and twenty eight total run.
Speaker 4 (42:16):
I'd love to see the Steelers have thirty three carries
and even if it's only three to ninety carry, just
stick with it.
Speaker 2 (42:21):
And it was a it was a funny game. Lamar
could have had a couple of touchdown passes. Yeah, Isaiah
likely the big tight end, had the ball knocked out
of his hand right before he crossed the goal line.
It turned into a touchback. And then there was an
offensive pass interference call against a Flowers that I'll say
fifty to fifty.
Speaker 4 (42:40):
Yeah, there was a little alarm extension. But like Lamar's
numbers could have been a lot better.
Speaker 2 (42:44):
Could have been, right, But by by the same token,
the Bengals kicked six field goals. I mean they were Yeah,
they were one of six in the red zone. Yeah, right,
they could have scored more. Right. They got one of
the fumbles at the Ravens two yard line and ended
up getting nothing. I mean right, that could have been
a really bad night defensively for Baltimore.
Speaker 4 (43:05):
That's a great point.
Speaker 2 (43:06):
I just think this team it's kind of like I
hate to say, because I said this about Buffalo less,
we can look what happened. There's a perception of who
the Buffalo Bills are or who the Baltimore Ravens are,
and it's well earned over the years. Yeah yeah, but
I don't think this team's that team.
Speaker 4 (43:24):
I don't either. I don't either, And I thought that
the first couple of weeks of the year watching them,
I thought they were poor at both lines of scrimmage.
I mentioned the pass rushers aren't there. I bet they
hate the fact that Matta Bouque got injured early because
they have no sort of replacement for him as a
force in the middle of the D line. And I'm
not impressed with the offensive line besides Linderbaum in the
(43:46):
center either. They're just kind of a bunch of guys
that haven't progressed.
Speaker 2 (43:50):
Yeah. One on the point I wanted to make about
what Cincinnati did and why the Bengals were effective. They
obviously don't want Joe Burrow getting hit very much because
he's coming back from injury. There were times in that game,
Matt where they decided we're throwing the ball, whether it
was starting long or whether they were just throwing it,
and they max protected with seven. They brought a tight
end into the backfield and a running back into the backfield.
(44:12):
And they sent three guys in a route, and you
know Baltimore. Sometimes Baltimore rushes three, sometimes four. Yeah, it
doesn't blitz much. But they were just not gonna get
Borrow tackled. And they're sending three guys against five or
six late seven and making it work.
Speaker 4 (44:29):
Yeah. I mean I'd like to see more of that
from the Steelers in general. Absolutely, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (44:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (44:34):
I mean Washington, You're playing these six offensive live Washington, right,
And I can't stress enough how we didn't get deep
into it. Not the middle of the field stuff, but
more Friarmouth. I mean, him running nine routes to me
makes me crazy.
Speaker 2 (44:47):
I don't get it either. Yeah, I think he's their
second best receiver. I think he's a really good player.
I think they got to figure out what they have
and what they can do with it, yeah, and start
doing it.
Speaker 4 (44:56):
I mean, if he needs to outplay Johnny Smith, it
makes no sense to me.
Speaker 2 (45:02):
You know that. I'm a big fan to throw it
to the guy who's open, and I'm a big fan
of having a lot of people and having depth, but
sometimes you got to settle in on who your guys.
Speaker 4 (45:10):
Are, and especially when times are tough.
Speaker 2 (45:12):
Like Jimmy's and Joe's not x'es and O's right.
Speaker 4 (45:15):
I went Metcalf, Warren and Fireman touching the ball and Washington.
I guess you know right, that's.
Speaker 2 (45:21):
Gonna do it for us tonight. I want to thank
Justin Miller, as I always do, for his expert handling
of the board. Thanks to Brian law Martine of Steelers
Nation Radio Heat make sure that's always running as smoothly
as it does. A reminder will be doing this again
next week. It's a Monday night game against the Miami Dolphins,
(45:41):
but at least it is for the time being that
maybe we'll change by tomorrow. We'll wait and see. I
guess there's flex potential.
Speaker 4 (45:47):
Oh really, that's new to me.
Speaker 2 (45:48):
Yeah, well, I mean it's they haven't got to the
date where you can't yet, so nobody said they might
flex it. But I'm just speculating. Maybe you know, it's
two losing teams, not the best that an attractive Monday
night matchup. Then again, the Pittsburgh Steelers are always a draw.
But either way, we'll be coming to you next Thursday night.
(46:09):
Until then, for Merrow, Hodge and Matt Williamson, a Mike Persuda.
This has been Steeler'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 Steelers Flagship.
One of two point five dve E. Good night, everybody,
Welcome to the Steelers Preview show on WDVE Pittsburgh, brought
to you by your neighborhood Ford Store. The F one
fifty is the official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers by
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Speaker 2 (00:23):
Good evening and welcome to another edition of Steelers Preview
offended by your neighborhood Ford Store. The F one fifty
is the official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers here on
Steelers Nation Radio and your Steelers flagship one of two
point five DVE. Mike Persuda and Matt Williamson with you,
getting you ready for the Steelers at the Ravens on
(00:43):
Sunday in Baltimore. MERYORL Hodge, our factor back, will be
joining us as he always does. And I don't know
about you, Matt, but as this week progresses, I'm starting
to get really excited about another Steelers Ravens game. Yeah.
I circle my calendar when the schedule comes out I've
seen enough of these, I've seen almost all of them
(01:05):
dating back to nineteen ninety six to know that they
are their own entity and what has transpired leading up
to it often does not matter. And I think people
in these parts anyway. When I say these parts, I
mean Steeler Nation.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
The dour.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Comportment of the fan base, and you know the chanting
at the stadium line right, This is this is why
you follow the team, isn't it? For a December game
such as this one? With this kind of.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
Yeah, it's funny because you and I didn't talk about
this before we hit record on the show tonight. But
you know, you watch that Bills game, and you and
I do a show with Rob King on Monday, and usually,
you know, after a loss, I'm pretty man, this is
roh blah blah blah. But you know, you start comparing
notes with you guys, and then I see and everybody
(02:00):
in here, and I'm usually feeling a little bit better
about a loss late into the Monday afternoon. Not this week.
I just looked at the Buffalo game like they got walloped.
I can't take Cartland and good about that. This is
gonna be a long week. And then you start thinking
Ravens around Wednesday or so and breaking them down, and
then Labs was on the drive today talking Steelers Ravens
(02:23):
history and more and more. I'm like, let's go, you know,
I mean, division's on the line. This is gonna be
a blast. You know, it comes down to a five
game season.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Pittsburgh is six and six, Baltimore is six and six,
and you get them twice and this isn't even a
must win. I mean, it would be a really helpful win.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Yeah, but if you can at least split this series
based on what Pittsburgh has left and one has what
Baltimore has left, maybe Cincinnati comes roaring up for Bene.
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (02:48):
That would be a long shot, but it's not dead yet.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
But I was with you. I thought the Buffalo thing
that there was much not to take, nothing to sift
through and cling to other than it's over. It happened,
and now you move on and it's the NFL and
it resets every week, and see what they have for
their respected rivals down in Baltimore.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
He shouldn't have any problem getting motivated for this one, though,
especially after gett embarrassed, especially the defense. Well, both sides
of the ball.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Really, let's take a quick look at today's practice participation report.
I'll just go through the highlights. Patrick Queen glute didn't
practice yesterday, he was limited today. Aaron Rodgers left wrist
didn't practice yesterday. He was a full goat today. TJ
Watt toe didn't practice yesterday. He was a full goat today.
(03:37):
And Kyle Dugger showed up. That's a new one hand
did not practice.
Speaker 4 (03:43):
I also had heard Pierre is moving along in the
concussion protocol as well.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
One day I overlooked Perre. Yeah, he was upgraded from
limited to full today.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
Okay, Now, concussion protocol can be a little sticky. Who knows,
you can always take a step back. But sounds like
the ones to watch are Queen, Pierre, and now Dugger.
So again all on defense.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
As for the Ravens, quarterback Lamar Jackson ankle limited on Wednesday,
did not practice today.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
I didn't see today's for them.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
I imagine he's going to play, but he's been banged up,
He's missed some time. He said, yeah, I'm string, he's
had a toe's They were all.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
Optimistic or washing their Baltimore reporters were all optimistic because
he since he's returned, he has not done anything. On
Wednesday and yesterday he did something, but they had an
extended week after playing on Thanksgiving. I didn't know he
didn't do anything today. But I'm sure he'll.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Play it and I'm sure he'll play also. But yeah,
they didn't list it as veteran rest or anything, it
says Ankle. So who knows quarterback? Make Wiggins. I think
he's their best cover guy.
Speaker 4 (04:49):
I think he's a really good player.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
He's he's been limited two days in a row and
Trent Jones defensive tackle non injury related personal reasons, did nothing.
Have no idea what that means.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
But I like him. He's a big nose tackle type
power player, and their defensive front is one of the
weaknesses of the team. They can't afford to lose anybody
else there. But I'm with you on Wigans. He's one
of my favorite young corners in the league.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
So let's let's not bury the lee. Let's talk about
Lamar Jackson, who the Steelers had pretty good success against
historically until those two games last year, and it was interesting.
Tall Austin, the Steelers defensive coordinator, was asked today if
the kind of change in how they're able to deal
(05:33):
with Jackson is related to Derrek Henry's presidence in Baltimore.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
And get something to do it.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Yes, yes, yes, you got two guys to worry about now.
And they didn't do a very good job last year,
either either schematically or the way they played.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
One game, one guy blew up. The next game, the
other guy blew up.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
This is another shot at it. But you know, watching
Jackson on Thanksgiving night, I mentioned hamstring tow and now
an ankle.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
Situations on all kinds of lower body issues.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
We sat here last week, Matt and I talked about
Josh Allen and I said I had never seen him
as disheveled as he had been in that Houston game
before Buffalo played Pittsburgh. Now, Buffalo ended up dominating the Steelers,
but Allen was a guy who handed.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
The ball off.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
Yeah, he did some good things sideway.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
He started running a little bit at the end of
the game when it was out of hand because he
was bored. I think, uh, he was not Superman. No,
it didn't need to be. Now, let's go back to
Thanksgiving night. Lamar Jackson against the Bengals. The worst defense
statistically in the National Football League, and he was alarmingly inaccurate.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
I thought the first last several weeks, I mean like
I was wearing overs.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
It was. It was Mike Tarrico and Jason Garrett doing
the broadcasting on NBC. I kept waiting for the bob
Yucker just a bit outside. Yeah, I mean he was missing.
He hit the mascot mile right, God, right, right right.
Exact appreciation playing a lot? Is that injury related thing's
(07:08):
going on there?
Speaker 4 (07:09):
He doesn't get the credit he deserves over the last
couple of years of becoming an exceptional not just a
good pure pocket passer, because he wasn't when he came
in the league. But he's gotten better and better and better.
And I think it's a thousand percent injury related because
he threw the ball really well before his injury. Although
the Ravens had some issues then that have not gone
(07:30):
away and we can get to later in the show.
I think his lower body balance feel, you know, all
that stuff is off right now.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
It was seventeen to thirty two for two hundred and
forty six yards, which sounds better than it was on
the surface. Is not horrible, but it did not pass
the eye test, no touchdowns, one interception, and even some
of the completions. Matt, he had some guys wide open
and they had to stop and lean back. Yeah, they
had to die or they had to jump. There were
(08:01):
yards left on the bone, a lot yeac that they
the Ravens couldn't get because Jackson was not accurate.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
And it was him, you know. It wasn't like these
receivers let him down or any of those things. Now,
the one thing I did notice in this game compared
to his previous three or so since returning from injury,
was there was glimpses of his scampers and runs where oh,
he kind of looked pretty explosive there. Now that scares
(08:28):
me because ten days rest for this game, might some
of those ailments be improving at all the wrong times
for the Steelers.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
I think maybe it's a great observation. Yes, but he
didn't practice today, That's all. I was wondering about whether
the throwing issues were injury related, because you think so.
He ran for a couple three first downs and kind
of looked like himself. It was one play where he
extended it for I think Garrett had a clock on it.
He said it took nine seconds. You know, he scrambled left,
he scrambled right, he went backwards, he went forwards, and
(08:58):
then he finally hit I think it was like downfield
for about forty yards. Uh. Lamar Jackson has not thrown
a touchdown pass in three consecutive games, and he has
not rushed for a touchdown since the season opener. He
has one nuts won this season.
Speaker 4 (09:14):
Yeah, and all his rushing numbers are really really low.
The ones that stand out to me though, are the
designed rushes. I mean, they don't ask him to run along.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Let's never see it. You almost never see it. A
couple of red option keeps against the Bengals.
Speaker 4 (09:28):
Yeah, yeah, I mean he still scrambles here and there
when he has to. And again, maybe he's getting a
little healthier at the wrong time that you get more
of that stuff. And you probably know it's better than
I do. But I think Tomlin said something along the
lines today. You just have to prepare for him, like
he's the Superman version. Oh okay, okay, yeah, somebody said it.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Yeah, as far as they're concerned, he's one hundred percent.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
Yeah, don't take it lightly.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Yeah, but you know what that's really showing up in
red zone offense. The Ravens are thirtieth. They used to be,
they were the best in the league last year. Yeah,
and I think that's because Lamar doesn't run.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
Yeah, and none of the guy is accurate too, you know,
the windows are tighter and yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
So they're working at forty six point five percent in
the red zone. And the Steelers defensively the one area
where they really show up. Statistically, they're tenth in the
league in red zone defense at fifty four point eight percent.
So I think I think that's an area where the
Steelers got to.
Speaker 4 (10:22):
Win a thousand percent thousand percent. And I'm very excited
to talk to Merrill about to stopping this rushing attack,
even if Lamar isn't himself, because I'm sure you're gonna
get a lot of Derrick Henry red zone or not,
probably in a real similar manner that you know, Buffalo
attacked you, which wasn't pretty.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
I think maybe, Uh, watching a Buffalo game, I thought, Wow,
the only guy that can stop Derrick Henry is John Harbaugh.
But maybe, but he's done that before.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
He's done that for too. I mean, they get into
any kind of he's on the fields.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Much you think including against the Bengals. True, true, but
something tells, something tell after he got ten carries and
they lost, He's gonna get ten carries in the first quarter.
Speaker 4 (11:04):
Why would you not? I mean, I'm sure he watched
the Steeler Buffalo game.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
When we come back, we'll be joined by our factor back,
Merril Hodge, and we'll get to some of the particulars
about whether or not the Steelers can stop the Ravens run,
whether or not they can run on the Ravens. The
Bengals did a little bit. Steelers Preview presented by your
neighborhood Ford Store. The F one fifty is the official
truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers comes to you here on
(11:28):
Steelers Nation Radio and your Steelers flagship. One of two
point five DVE.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Back to the Steelers Preview show on DVE.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Welcome back Mike Pursuita and Matt Williamson getting ready for
the Steelers in the Ravens Sunday in Baltimore. Time Now
to welcome our factor back to the program, Meryl Hodge
joining us and Merrill. I imagine there was a part of
you that watched the Buffalo Bills run the ball with
great physicality and force and efficiency and being the factor
(12:01):
back that you are really appreciated it. And then I
imagine there was another part of you that thought, wait
a minute, they're doing that to the Steelers and I've
seen this too many times previously.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
Well true story there. You forgot one other adjective easy,
you know, yeah, I'll be honest, you forgot that one
because that was probably the most disturbing because that that's unacceptable,
especially this level, when you go back and you look
at what they were doing incorrectly, which is you got
(12:35):
to missing playing contain and I'll being a defender and
playing contain is a staple. Everybody knows how to play contain,
you know, and you know you're and you're the contained player.
You know how to play contain and how critical it
is to play contained and that means, you know, you
got to keep the runner inside into where all the
traffic is, where all your help is. You can't let
them get to the perimeter. Now I could tell you
(12:58):
this you had going into that week. That was probably
a bigger emphasis. Well, this emphaside is how disturbing it
is because that wasn't a game where you're like, you
know what I didn't see that coming. You know, I
didn't see that runner getting to the perimeter like you did.
That's like a staple of that kid. I mean, he's
(13:18):
a true pro runner. He'll stay in the tackle box.
But you give him a perimeter, you block something up
for him, he's gonna find it, and he's dynamic enough
to do it. You had to talk I know they
have not one in those meetings, but it had to
have been talked about all week. This guy will get
to the perimeter. We have to play content, our contained
players have to be really good at keeping him inside,
(13:40):
not letting get outside. First play of the game, nineteen
yards and and we looked like we didn't even know
what we were doing, and we didn't see. Actually Arkaitane
players didn't seen until he was back stuff and I
was like, wow, you know, and now in that whole game,
I think they got got us on the perimeter for
(14:01):
like three for sixty. Some are not ballpark, maybe four
for sixty. But in the fourth quarter they start playing it, right,
and how many yards did you get? Two yards? Three yards?
I mean that's the difference in it, you know. But
he can't play it in the fourth quarter when it's over.
You know, you got to do that kind of stuff
at the start of the game, you know, and.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
The entire game, no question. And obviously the Ravens are
a different style team, recard a lot of tight ends
on the field, not that Buffalo didn't do that, and
and Henry's a very different back than Cook. But how
much do you think, how much do you think they
just cut and past and make the Steelers stop it again?
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Well, I there's any doubt.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
Yeah, you can't.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
You can't. They're that team. You know, They've just gotten
in situations where you know, like Lamar's not playing as
good as he has in his last five years. He's
really i mean his processing, he's throwing, his accuracy, you know,
he's not been like a truly a pristine accurate thrower
(15:07):
and a precise processor. But he's been he's played better,
you know, he hasn't. He's missed a lot of throws,
missed a lot of reads injury wise or whatever. You know,
his really escape from the pocket, he's he's not done
that as as much. You know, he seems like to
be a little bit late in some areas. That being said,
(15:29):
their ability to run the ball is still there. They're staple,
you know, and if they get that going, a lot
of things that they have struggled with will be rectified.
And you you have to know that in this game,
we already know what's a problem. We all know we
have to start it. But here's the bigger concern. If
they get it going, it might clean up a lot
(15:50):
of their problems on offense. We can't let that happen.
Yeah right, yeah, that's their going in our car goes.
We can't let that happen. We got to keep him
in the in the environment where they're not comfortable, and
that's putting the ball in in Lamar's hands more, forcing
him to throw in ways he's not the best at
(16:11):
and not allowing him to be where he's really good at.
And that's like you know that he's under center more.
I've noticed he's been under centered a lot more. And
you know they're trying to do that to help Abraa
on the ball and be to help him with the
run action plays. And they start out like that, you know,
they started out that shoot, they did that star. They
started out with Cincinnati like that, they started out with
(16:31):
Cleveland like that. And because there's such a threat to run,
they paralyzed the box. They get one on one match
of it, and it's usually you're the tied end who
nobody can cover him. You know, your defensive back's too small.
He may run with him, but he's too small. Your
linebackers probably can't run with them, you know. So he's
(16:52):
a problem. So and then number four, I mean that
explosive dude, they you know you you get a moment
of hesitation with that. Yeah, he's he's gonna hang fifty
yards or twenty five or a massive play on you.
So that is it's still no different in this matchup
(17:12):
than what people have heard in the past, what people
think in the past. If they don't utilize that, if
they don't make that an argerous journey for them, it'll
be a long day for the Steelers.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
Here's my suspicion of what might happen. Meryll. I know
Lamar Jackson, Matt and I talked about this in the
opening segment. He's been banged up some he's missed some time,
he is not running nearly as often as he used to.
But I sense that the Ravens will embrace the stakes here.
Both teams are six and six. The winner is going
to be in control in the AFC North, and I
(17:44):
think this is one of those you do what you
got to do to win it kind of games. And
based on the success that the Ravens had last year
with Jackson on the Reid option and with the complete
inability until the fourth quarter that you detailed regarding the Steelers'
ability to defend runs on the perimeter, I think we're
going to see an awful lot of read option keep
from number eight and he's going to be getting out
(18:05):
on that wing in space, and then I don't know
what's gonna happen after that.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
I have no evidence to defend otherwise, I just do
not beget well, well, what could I possibly say to
that to make it not possible and not likely? Well,
first of all, initially, everybody attacks your weakness. Everybody attacks
what you don't do well, what you haven't done well,
and they want to make you show me you can
(18:32):
do it, and if you can't, we're going to find out,
because that's where we're gonna come at you. So I'm
not I'm not gonna di scripe that at all. Probably
go about it. You get the read option and those
perimeters give them more to read and think, you know,
more processing, more true team football, where you've got to
have an assignment and you've got to state of that assignment.
You can't let your can't get fooled. You've got a
(18:55):
job to do. You stay inside. If he's if he's
got you got your If he hands off the back,
you got the back okay, and we're spilling okay, and
then our defender who's over our spill defender's got to
be there. You know, you can't hot up with thinking
he handed it off and lose sight. I mean, so
it's I do not doubt it. I I think they're
(19:16):
gonna do everything they can to run the football downhill.
I mean, the their power stuff, their perimeter stuff, lamar stuff.
I just I would not disagree with that. That will
be a point of eferensis. And it still moved back
to what I said that they're getting they rectify that,
they rectify a lot of their problems offensively. If they
can't then they then they then they stick around.
Speaker 4 (19:39):
No doubt. And so I thought the Steeler offense was
probably every bit as bad as the Steelers run defense
last week. And to me, they just don't run the
ball often enough and I know they didn't run a
lot of plays, but they're lasting league in time of possession.
I know Mike brought this up the Different Show on Monday,
(20:01):
and I wholeheartedly agree that Rogers' inability to go under
center certainly impacted that.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
You agree, Well, what I say, I'm seeing the see
like I don't. Yeah, I don't. Just you know, I
don't just study the Steelers, I got it. I studied
this entire league, so you get to see samples. There's
more and more people you're seeing under center, more and more.
And I will tell you this. Teams that are struggling
with that, I'll give you one still named State Philadelphia.
(20:31):
They can't get their quarterback under center. It's taking them monumental,
I mean moving Earth mountains, I mean land Sea, just
to get him to go under center so that they
can help their running game. And dude, well how does
that help the running Well, here's you know how it
helps your running game. Anytime you have a quarterback under
center and you can put that back straight behind him, well,
(20:55):
my ability to run the football strong and week becomes
a lot more favorable and easier and harder for you
to read. You know, I put it back over the
side of a court. But no, not a lot of side.
We're strong stright a week side and I snapped the shot.
I snap it back to him. Okay, that ball handling
is on display for everybody to see, and the initial
(21:15):
movement of that back easy to tell which way he's going. Man,
understand it. When I turn my back a first of all,
you just assume he's handing it off. I'll go back
to what the Ravens did. This is what the teams
that really want to want to be successful and reset
their offense. You do this type of stuff when our
quarterback turns the ball. Yeah, you're expecting to run that.
You've got to You've got to anticipate he's going to
(21:37):
hand the ball off. That's why you got to react
to it. And then the last second he pulls it out,
turns around and now you're too late. Your tight ends
already two yards behind you. Now there's a void between
you and the safety and I either got a chunk
or yard or I got a chance for a touchdown.
I mean, that's what the that's what run action does
for you. That's the power of a quarterback being under there.
The things that you can do to actually that are
simple but powerful and they help your offense. And when
(22:00):
you can't do that and you don't implement that, well,
you know, I don't know what to tell you. I
just tell you this. I know a team our remember
team that was in disheveled. They got funcked by the
Kansas City Chiefs. It's week five. I think at home,
Cincinnati Bengals are coming in and they're four to zero,
(22:21):
and I think this team on top gout is two
and two. There's a new England Patriots. Arguably they have
the best quarterback in football. You know what they did? Okay,
And I'm doing our matchup show and I'm like, you know,
watch your tape. There is no way the Patriots can
beat the Bengals. There's no evidence there of four weeks
of there's nothing. I mean, the Patriots are a mess
(22:42):
the entire game. In fact, for an entire month. I
think Tom Brady was under center fifty percent of the time,
a big chunk of it. I had two tight ends,
two backs, one wide receiver. And what they do They
turn around, ran the football, turn around, run action to
reset their offense, get them back on track, and then
they built from that. And oh, by the way, one
Super Bowl here.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
Yeah, the latest on that Rogers' ability to go under
center that they're hopeful, but nobody has said it's going
to happen, not Mike Tomlin, not Aaron Rodgers, and not
Arthur Smith.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
And I'm with you, guys.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
I don't like it that he didn't do it at all. Yeah,
I think that was a problem.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
Yeah, it's it is, and I just understand you. It is.
From a schematic presentation, it's a problem. You just you
get more out of it. I just documented it. I mean,
and I don't have I didn't get half of what
you really can do with it and the value in it,
you know. I just I just think it's beneficial to
have in your offense at all times to help you
(23:46):
in all times. And there's powerful, simple ways to be
explosive and successful with a quarterback under center.
Speaker 4 (23:56):
Yeah, I agree back to the defense. And I'm not
suggesting that Derek Harmon is Aaron Smith or Casey Hampton.
But how much do you think he was missed? I mean,
they just had to put some guys out there that probably.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
Yeah, I'm telling you, yeah, you know, listen, he has
He's made a big enough impact that you know when
he's not there, yeah, you know that depth you could
you can touch. So that's the best way I can
answer that. You know, I'm not necessarily watching for that
number all the time, but I know when he's there,
and when he's there, you know, he he plays with
(24:27):
better leverage than ninety five and ninety four. Do you
know ninety five? I you know, I just I thought
at this point, I thought he would be more developed
and be a better player. I gotta believe you're they're
a little disappointed in his development right now because coming
out of Wisconsin he was just man, he's a train wreck.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
I mean he.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
Wrecked things, you know, and he really struggles with double teams,
a double team or win a double team. Individually, He's
about a fifty to fifty player, And to me, that
would be like, he's my winner. You know, he's my winner.
I get him single up. I mean, this guy in
his second year is a winner. I mean, he's gonna
(25:11):
be whoever he's got to play or he's going to
give them everything they got. And he is just not
long not won many battles. Then it's funny. I was
just going through this assessment, this week, and I'm like, Okay,
here is what it is a little scary. Your best
defensive lineman is still Cam Hayward by a long shot,
(25:32):
and he doesn't have a lot of years left, you know.
So you know that's you know, at the level you
got to be able to play it this league, you know.
I mean the way he plays is leverage.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
How he I mean he plays.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
He plays to play in the back of the line,
screen in the in the backyard. He gets in the
backyard all the time. And just we just don't have
enough guys to do that in the trenches, you know,
the big problem.
Speaker 4 (26:00):
Seventy eight and ninety three should never be out there
the replacement games.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
Yeah, again, no evidence to argue, right, yea, I will
your honor, I will. I will have no cross examination
on that.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
You know me, there is a little evidence that this
defense can stop the run, because it's stopped the run
against Indianapolis, and Indianapolis is a very good rushing team.
It stopped the run against Chicago. And then me, like
an idiot, I watched the Bears in the Eagles play
Friday after Thanksgiving and I saw the Bears run right
through Philly and I thought, wow, Pittsburgh's run defense must
(26:35):
be pretty good. I think they're gonna beat Buffalo wrong.
And now all of a sudden, you look at you
look at the two forty nine for Buffalo. Let's go
back to last December, the regular season game between the
Steelers and the Ravens, Baltimore got two twenty. Then in
a playoff game they got to ninety nine. Henry only
has three hundred and forty eight rushing yards against the
(26:57):
Steelers in his last two games, and that is pretty good.
Why are they so remarkably inconsistent? I mean that it
just doesn't it doesn't add up that you could stop
Jonathan Taylor and then just be helpless against Cook or
helpless against him.
Speaker 3 (27:15):
Yeah yeah, well okay, So the simple answer to that is,
like if you watch, you know, it's the fundamentals of
the game of football. You know, I used this all
the time. It was Chuck Nole's principles. He preached, He
established them, and he preached them, and he taught them
and he believed in them, and they are the truth
in football. It doesn't matter what position we're talking about,
(27:36):
what play we're talking about. We could walk through each
one of them and then I would walk you through
how it implemented in that position. But same for the
same shoulder rising blow and first contact wins. There's the
fundamentals of the game. If you don't execute those three
things in harmony consistently, you're just not gonna win. And
(27:58):
of all the three, is there any anyone more important? No,
they're all important, and they have to be worked in
a sequence, and we don't do that consistently enough in
the trenches the cult game, same foot sentisul rising below
first contact wins. You would if I have a time
we snapped the ball, I'd say, okay, everybody's executing that
right now. They absolutely control the line of scrimmage. Talking
(28:21):
from our perspective, then in games that we just saw
and snapped the ball, I'm like, okay, we have we
have out to executed any of those three things. That's
why we're two yards in the backfield in our own backfield,
Like that's why they pushed us two yards back already.
We don't execute those things consistently. That's it is. There's
no other way. Now, can you do some scheme stuff,
(28:41):
which I think they're gonna have to do in this game? Now?
Scheme stuff when you have to do scheme stuff that
is a good thing to do from a coaching perspective
when you're struggling. However, I can tell you from experience,
when we see that, we know you're in trouble, and
we know if we're patient, we're gonna get big runs
on you. Because here's what I'm talking about, Like, you
start slanting your defensive line, scraping your linebackers technically like
(29:05):
a blitz on in the running game. Okay, you drop
somebody in the box, late, hit a gap, so forth.
So on, they may blow up some plays. I remember
Dick Coach saying that the first time. I can't know
who were playing it, but they were. Man, they were
doing all kinds of stuff to try to improve their
run games. And Dick Cox said, hey, listen, we love this,
even though it was creating a mess initially it was
the game we were watching. He's like, eventually you get
(29:27):
the biggest runs against teams like that, and sure enough, man,
like the second quarter, they start hitting them on it.
So you got to be selective too, Like, you can't
live on it, but you have to, I think strategically
do some things like that to help you out a
little bit from where you're playing now. But the best
way is really to be fundamentally better and more consistent.
(29:49):
You know, they do that, which you just mentioned the
Cults there was probably the best display all year. That's
exactly how they played, and that's exactly what they did,
and that's why they're able to contain that running game.
Speaker 4 (30:00):
Marril LESSI I got for you is I'm not implying
DK Metcalf's a poor player or it's a bad trade
or anything like that, but it's consistently he doesn't play
as big as his huge body, especially at the catchpoint
and particularly off man coverage, in my opinion, and it
sure seems to me in passing situations almost every team
(30:22):
is pressing him with a safety over the top and
that's more than he can deal with, which is a
lot to deal with. And it's a blatant disrespect for
wide receiver number two because they don't fear that guy.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
Well, I think that's probably the bigger highlight. Yeah, and
both of them, both of them, both of them are
spot on against you know, from the court of law,
I'm losing to you on every debate because again I
have no evidence your honor, I would defer, but you
are spot on. They're gonna say a number four.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
You're supposed to make a deal before it goes to
trial when you got nothing.
Speaker 4 (30:58):
We can both be on the same side as are you.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
Hey, hey, your honor, could I get a recess? That
being said, yes, they say four, we're gonna take care
of four in the manner in what you just talked.
We're neutralizing at the line of scrimmage because he does
not play as big and dynamic as he as he is.
Speaker 4 (31:22):
And Rogers doesn't want to hold the ball while he
fights off the man coverage.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
Correct, and then you have nobody else you know now
that that's where you know, I think coaching does come
into play, Like you got to start creating matchups, you know,
for for guys.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
I mean eighty eight, I don't know where Friar moves.
Speaker 4 (31:40):
Seems like the one that should benefit from that. And
he ran nine roundes last week.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
Yeah, and he's you know, I remember coming out of
Penn State, I remember studying this is for Steers drafted him.
So you're just anticipating, like, boy, I'm watching a kid.
I'm like, he's really good, but that he could be
so much better once he learns how to run rounds.
And I think the kid really worked hard at that
but not been rewarded for it, you know. And and
(32:04):
you listen, you got to work in life and you
can't worry about the results because the results are not
in your control. But how you get prepared is and
that's all you can do. But to not try to
create some options for him, you know, even Washington, you
know his big size, How can you not many people? Now,
he might not be quite the route runner, which he's
(32:25):
not the Ravens act, but he might be a lot bigger.
We know that. So who's gonna run with them?
Speaker 2 (32:31):
You know?
Speaker 3 (32:31):
I mean who's gonna And he runs well enough that
you know you're not gonna put a dB on it.
A linebacker is going to be dwarfing. I mean he's
a Dwarfl linebacker and problems, yes, so you know, so
you know you gotta find ways in that manner, you know, listen,
(32:54):
does if that, if that's what you have, that's what
you gotta work with, and you got to make the
most of that. You know, you can't you can't surrender
and go ah, you know, he just don't have another
wire receiver. We'll make one, you'll create another guy, create
some options. I mean, listen, everybody whoever coach in this league,
played in this league knows. This is a matchup orient
of the league. It is schematically. That's how you win games,
(33:15):
creating the right matchup, setting up the right things. It's
not like college. We're listening eighty percent of the time.
My guys are better than your guy, period, no matter
what you do. I'm just better than you. I can
show up and I'm gonna beat you. Okay, that does
not exist in our league. I don't care what your
record is. Nobody can show up and say I'm better
than you and not schematically do something strategically and be
(33:36):
buttoned up to beat to play you and beat you. So,
you know, hoping that they could do that, because you know,
eighty eight has just not been anywhere, you know, and
to his credit, he's just played football. You know, he's
just done what he's been asked to do. But I
still think that to your point, you know that's happening
with four? Does that? Because you're yes, there's not like
(34:01):
it ain't even a mystery, you know, And boy, that
was start you start stealing them for you know, ken
yard games fifteen to twenty chunks. You start rethinking things,
you know, then you start leaving him one on one
little more. You start to cover the middle of the field,
then you can work them on the perimeter better.
Speaker 4 (34:18):
You know, the middle of the field stuff makes me crazy,
But wow, we'll save that for next week.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
We got enough to worry about with Baltimore coming up. Thanks.
As always, we'll look forward to talking to you before
the Steelers take on the Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
You got boys. Have a great night. Guys.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
That was factor back Merrill Hodge. Gear up with the
latest game day necessities. It's the official Steelers Pro shops.
Get the latest Sideline apparel, Jersey's Terrible towels, authentic memorabilia
and custom exclusives you can only find directly from the team.
Visit one of the official Steelers Pro shops located at
Akroscher Stadium, the Grove City Premium Mountlets and the Tanger
(34:59):
out that You can also gear up online at shop
dot Steelers dot com. Get it direct from the team
at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop dot Steelers dot com.
One more segment to come, so keep it here with
Matt Williams and on Mike Pursuda. This is Steelers 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 of
(35:22):
two point five DVE.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
Back to the Steelers Preview show on DVE.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
Welcome back Mike Pursuer and Matt Williamson getting you ready
for the Steelers and the Ravens on Sunday in Baltimore.
I hated to cut Merril off, but if we go
to that middle of the field stuff, oh wait, go,
we were gonna be here for about an hour and
a half.
Speaker 4 (35:42):
That's a fact.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
Although I did find it interesting in that game Thursday night,
Thanksgiving Night, Bengals at the Ravens, the Bengals largely ignored
the middle of the field for the better part of
three quarters. They attacked a perimeter Bengals offenser time. Yes,
oh okay, yeah, they took their shots deep when they
had one on one and even if they didn't have
(36:03):
one on one, I think number twelve a low high Gilman, Gilman, Yeah,
it's again. They traded for either Ravens traded for from
the Chargers. Sometimes he lines up on that hash like
he's gonna play double coverage, and then he's looking inside
or he's actually doing something else, kind of like they're
trying to get the quarterback to think, Okay, this guy's doubled,
(36:23):
so he's off the off the table on this play,
but he's not really doubled.
Speaker 3 (36:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
Yeah, I think that's something Rogers can suss out the
way Burrow did.
Speaker 4 (36:32):
Yeah. I totally agree, And I think it's noteworthy that
you made that observation in a Bengals game that didn't
have t Higgins even you know, I mean, they only
have one guy. Now, I'm not saying Chase is one
for one with Metcalf, but it is a situation where
you have one receiver that's way better than all the rest.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
You know. Tonight's injury report is presented by your neighborhood
for the store of the f one. Fifty is the official
truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Matt. We mentioned in
segment number one that James Pierre full participant today. He's
still working his way through the concussion protocol, so who
knows where that goes by Sunday. But we also saw
a Sante Samuel hit the field. Yeah. On Sunday, Darius
(37:11):
Slay no longer with your Pittsburgh Steelers. Pierre continues to
play well. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (37:16):
I think he's been a really pleasant surprise.
Speaker 2 (37:18):
And Samuel, I think was a real good addition given
the circumstances.
Speaker 4 (37:22):
I think this Samuel situation was one of the positives
to take out of that game, because I don't think
you want to say you're the starter the first time
you're active. You got to play seventy snaps or whatever.
He got worked in, he got knocked I hate terms
like knocked the rust off or whatever, but it got
some of that where he was thrown in there half
the snaps, and who knows. I'm very happy with Pierre.
(37:46):
Clearly the Steelers didn't think they had to keep Sleigh around,
who I would think would be fourth in your cornerback
packing order right now, actually fifth behind Echles too. But
maybe Samuel is something. I mean, I think that's one
thing to get excited about.
Speaker 2 (37:59):
You know, these teas are almost identical statistically, and everybody
perceives the Ravens now as the really bad Ravens and
the Steelers stink. But Baltimore has a two hundred and
eighty nine points scored. Pittsburgh has two hundred and eighty one.
Baltimore is allowed two hundred and ninety three points. Pittsburgh
has allowed two hundred and eighty nine. Ravens differentials minus four,
(38:19):
Steelers differentials minus eight.
Speaker 4 (38:21):
They are both six and six, Yeah, and they're neither ones.
Probably thrilled with all their seasons going at the moment,
you know. I mean a lot of people picked the
Ravens for the super Bowl type team. Steelers started much
stronger than they have now. Now they've gotten there in
different paths. Of course, there was that stretch that Lamar
was out, that they were getting hammered, and then they
(38:43):
come back on a winning streak. But I never thought
that winning streak was was like the old Ravens. You know,
they were beaten some pretty bad teams.
Speaker 2 (38:52):
Unimpressive against bad teams, yeah, and the good one. The
good teams they've played other than Chicago they have.
Speaker 4 (38:57):
Lost, yeah, exactly. So I don't think this is a
particularly scary team. But if I was sitting near in Baltimore,
I'd say the same thing about Steelers.
Speaker 2 (39:05):
Now. We talked in Segment one one area, we think
the Steelers have a chance to really make some hay
is when Baltimore gets in the red zone. Pittsburgh's really
good at red zone defense. Baltimore is struggling at red
zone offense. Two others and I picked these up. I
bought this phone book size preview. It's called Matt's Status. Yeah,
(39:25):
putting it out, I see. I don't know if you're
familiar with this, but a couple of these got my attention.
Here's another.
Speaker 4 (39:32):
Once in a while, there's a good nugget or two
in there.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
There's always good nuggetsy you have too many and you
lose the you know, it's like panning for gold. There's
a lot of gold, a good hit rate. You could
lose some of the dirt. But here's a good one.
Baltimore's minus four and turnover differential Pittsburgh is plus eight.
This is another way the Steelers can win. Win the
(39:56):
turnover thing.
Speaker 4 (39:57):
And Lamar's been turning it over a lot lately. I mean,
they'd five turnovers against the Bengals were probably opened.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
With that by him, and then one more.
Speaker 4 (40:05):
The Ravens have any need of my stats for that one, though, Well, I.
Speaker 2 (40:10):
Went through it and got the yellow highlighter outs a
lot of yellow highlight and going over there, Ravens have
a minus fifteen sack differential Pittsburgh at plus twelve. Now
think about that for a minute. Massive, You have Lamar Jackson, right,
and you have given up thirty four sacks and you've
only registered nineteen.
Speaker 4 (40:29):
Yeah, and he's like the should be the hardest guy
to sacks right there with like Josh Allen, you know, yeah,
but he's not. And the other aspect of the other
side of the coin, though, is Baltimore's pass rush.
Speaker 2 (40:39):
For all their yeah, putting eight guys at the line
and faking blitzes and the way they get out jumping
around and trying to fool you again, which Rogers should
be able to suss out.
Speaker 4 (40:51):
Uh, they don't really have good pass rushers.
Speaker 2 (40:53):
Yeah, especially this is another area the Steelers can win.
Speaker 4 (40:57):
And I would hope that maybe you throw the ball
down field a little bit more too, you know, not
everything has to come out now, especially against this pass rush.
I mean a little bit more intermediate passing.
Speaker 2 (41:07):
Yeah, I think that's going to be critical Again. Joe
Burrow took shot, yes, I mean he was aggressive when
there was one on one they took shots. They didn't
hit them all, but they hit a couple. They got
a DPI and one guy, Marlon Humphrey, God bless him.
Speaker 4 (41:24):
His best days might be.
Speaker 2 (41:25):
I think he's had a fine career. Yeah, but I
think you can get behind him. In fact, the Bengals did, yes, exactly.
Speaker 4 (41:31):
I think that's why they drafted Wiggins in the first
round last year. Is they they realize he's on the
back nine or maybe he's on hole fifteen or so.
Speaker 2 (41:38):
And again, I don't think Gilman is necessarily the greatest safety.
Speaker 4 (41:42):
No, but he allows hamp Ham or Hamilton to come
into the box.
Speaker 2 (41:46):
More he does. But he makes them vulnerable downfield.
Speaker 4 (41:48):
As you're saying, same historics the first round pick, if
you attack them, Yes, the secondary looks better on paper
than it plays downfield.
Speaker 2 (41:56):
Now, I mentioned Cincinnati worked a lot of perimeter stuff
and then kind of changed their plan in the late
third quarter or fourth court started going down the middle.
They isolated Roquan Smith a couple of times. The Bengals
not somebody you have to avoid either. You know, the
Bengals ran the ball consistently. They only averaged three point
nine a carry, but they had thirty three carries and
one hundred and twenty eight total run.
Speaker 4 (42:16):
I'd love to see the Steelers have thirty three carries
and even if it's only three to ninety carry, just
stick with it.
Speaker 2 (42:21):
And it was a it was a funny game. Lamar
could have had a couple of touchdown passes. Yeah, Isaiah
likely the big tight end, had the ball knocked out
of his hand right before he crossed the goal line.
It turned into a touchback. And then there was an
offensive pass interference call against a Flowers that I'll say
fifty to fifty.
Speaker 4 (42:40):
Yeah, there was a little alarm extension. But like Lamar's
numbers could have been a lot better.
Speaker 2 (42:44):
Could have been, right, But by by the same token,
the Bengals kicked six field goals. I mean they were Yeah,
they were one of six in the red zone. Yeah, right,
they could have scored more. Right. They got one of
the fumbles at the Ravens two yard line and ended
up getting nothing. I mean right, that could have been
a really bad night defensively for Baltimore.
Speaker 4 (43:05):
That's a great point.
Speaker 2 (43:06):
I just think this team it's kind of like I
hate to say, because I said this about Buffalo less,
we can look what happened. There's a perception of who
the Buffalo Bills are or who the Baltimore Ravens are,
and it's well earned over the years. Yeah yeah, but
I don't think this team's that team.
Speaker 4 (43:24):
I don't either. I don't either, And I thought that
the first couple of weeks of the year watching them,
I thought they were poor at both lines of scrimmage.
I mentioned the pass rushers aren't there. I bet they
hate the fact that Matta Bouque got injured early because
they have no sort of replacement for him as a
force in the middle of the D line. And I'm
not impressed with the offensive line besides Linderbaum in the
(43:46):
center either. They're just kind of a bunch of guys
that haven't progressed.
Speaker 2 (43:50):
Yeah. One on the point I wanted to make about
what Cincinnati did and why the Bengals were effective. They
obviously don't want Joe Burrow getting hit very much because
he's coming back from injury. There were times in that game,
Matt where they decided we're throwing the ball, whether it
was starting long or whether they were just throwing it,
and they max protected with seven. They brought a tight
end into the backfield and a running back into the backfield.
(44:12):
And they sent three guys in a route, and you
know Baltimore. Sometimes Baltimore rushes three, sometimes four. Yeah, it
doesn't blitz much. But they were just not gonna get
Borrow tackled. And they're sending three guys against five or
six late seven and making it work.
Speaker 4 (44:29):
Yeah. I mean I'd like to see more of that
from the Steelers in general. Absolutely, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (44:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (44:34):
I mean Washington, You're playing these six offensive live Washington, right,
And I can't stress enough how we didn't get deep
into it. Not the middle of the field stuff, but
more Friarmouth. I mean, him running nine routes to me
makes me crazy.
Speaker 2 (44:47):
I don't get it either. Yeah, I think he's their
second best receiver. I think he's a really good player.
I think they got to figure out what they have
and what they can do with it, yeah, and start
doing it.
Speaker 4 (44:56):
I mean, if he needs to outplay Johnny Smith, it
makes no sense to me.
Speaker 2 (45:02):
You know that. I'm a big fan to throw it
to the guy who's open, and I'm a big fan
of having a lot of people and having depth, but
sometimes you got to settle in on who your guys.
Speaker 4 (45:10):
Are, and especially when times are tough.
Speaker 2 (45:12):
Like Jimmy's and Joe's not x'es and O's right.
Speaker 4 (45:15):
I went Metcalf, Warren and Fireman touching the ball and Washington.
I guess you know right, that's.
Speaker 2 (45:21):
Gonna do it for us tonight. I want to thank
Justin Miller, as I always do, for his expert handling
of the board. Thanks to Brian law Martine of Steelers
Nation Radio Heat make sure that's always running as smoothly
as it does. A reminder will be doing this again
next week. It's a Monday night game against the Miami Dolphins,
(45:41):
but at least it is for the time being that
maybe we'll change by tomorrow. We'll wait and see. I
guess there's flex potential.
Speaker 4 (45:47):
Oh really, that's new to me.
Speaker 2 (45:48):
Yeah, well, I mean it's they haven't got to the
date where you can't yet, so nobody said they might
flex it. But I'm just speculating. Maybe you know, it's
two losing teams, not the best that an attractive Monday
night matchup. Then again, the Pittsburgh Steelers are always a draw.
But either way, we'll be coming to you next Thursday night.
(46:09):
Until then, for Merrow, Hodge and Matt Williamson, a Mike Persuda.
This has been Steeler'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 Steelers Flagship.
One of two point five dve E. Good night, everybody,
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