October 13, 2025 • 27 mins
Ed Troup and Jacob Recht look at the stat sheet from Steelers vs Browns and point out the biggest individual and team numbers.
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
Play actually pass rolling.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
He was right looking downfield, looking.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Throws back across his body. Get talk in the end zone.
What a grab by Connor Hayward.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Macnificent throw by Rogers and Hayward with his first touchdown
of the season. A great throw from Aaron Rodgers to
Connor Hayward.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
I don't know if that was Max Starks or whoever,
maybe our producer dan Quinlan clapping in the background, but.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Well deserve was necessary, Well deserved absolutely, Rob King and
Max Starks on the call yesterday here on Steelers Audio Network.
It is the Steelers Standard with Ed Troop and Jacob
wrect here on Steelers Nation Radio. As I said, part
of the Steelers Audio Network, we're recapping victory Monday. Feels
good around here is a good place to be. Steelers
twenty three Browns nine, as the Steelers win their twenty
(00:56):
second straight regular season game at home against the Eveland Browns.
And there was really no doubt in this one, Jacob.
A little bit of a slow start, you know, three
boss Field goals early, and then you got a couple
of touchdowns rolling, The defense did what they had to do,
and the Steelers again build momentum in the AFC North.
With the Ravens losing yesterday now one and five, as
(01:18):
well as Cincinnati losing yesterday to the Green Bay Packers,
who are now two and four, the Steelers have strengthened
their lead in the AFC North. They have a two
game lead on the Bengals and now a full what
four game lead on the Ravens and Browns.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Yeah, it's massive.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
I mean, this is exactly what we called for them
to do, right against this Cleveland brown team. You are
a better team. We know the Browns are going to
play you tough, but they're one and four for a reason,
and you were three one entering that game for a reason.
Stack another one here, get to four and one with
the assumption that the Bengals were going to lose against
Green Bay, which they did, and the assumption that the
Ravens were going to lose against the Rams, which they did.
(01:55):
It is remarkable to see the Steelers be so far
ahead of the rest of the division so early on.
And you have another key matchup coming up on Thursday night.
It's gonna be against the Bengals. They're obviously not your
biggest threat this year because without Joe Burrow, Uh, that
kind of discounts them as a legitimate playoff threat.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
But get that win, right.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
I mean, you gotta you gotta take advantage when when
the advantages are in your lap. Right, So get this
win against Cincinnati improved to five and one, which would
get you two to zero in the division, which would
get you to what, uh, four and oh on the
conference or I guess it would be three to oh
in the conference. Do everything you can to stack these
wins because as we know, and it's been pointed out
(02:39):
to us, uh, the schedule will get harder as the
year goes on. Right you you called about you called
the Bears game on the road. There's that Sunday night
matchup against the Packers. They host the Bills, they go,
they go, right they they play the Colds, who are
atop the conference right now, they go to Baltimore, they
go to Detroit.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
It's gonna get harder. So right now, you really have
to take advantage of these opportunities.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Stack those wins. And I guess technically, you know, the
Steelers have played five games where the Bengals, Ravens, and
Browns have all played six, So the lead is technically
two and a half games over the Bengals.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Great free and a half the last three weeks including
the bye week, the AVES North is a combined I
believe two and nine. Who has those two wins and
the only two wins are coming from the Steelers.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Yeah, and no losses.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Really, all three teams in the AVES North over the
last three weeks, between Cincinnati, Cleveland and Baltimore are all
owned three.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
It really has been a remarkable couple weeks for the
Pittsburgh Steelers, who have only played one game in the
last two weeks, so they get that much wiggle room,
but the rest of the division losing and the Steelers
again picking up key wins in Dublin a couple of
weeks ago against the Vikings and then of course yesterday
against the Browns twenty three to nine. Jacob, let's get
to our standard report. Some notes from yesterday. The Steelers,
(03:53):
as we've been talking, three straight wins on the season,
last loss and only loss of the season non AFC
loss the Seattle Seahawks in Week two. Other than that,
three straight wins, their stacking wins. Miles Garrett have to
talk about his performance yesterday. Two tackles, that's it, and
they were to assist tackles, not even full tackles on
his own. Zero's across the board. Broderick Jones wins that
(04:16):
battle yesterday. He got helped a couple times, but he
was one on one a bunch of times too. And
Broderick Jones, this is why you drafted him three years ago,
to bring him in to have these types of matchups
and dominate a guy like Miles Garrett. That's also good
between the ears for Broderick Jones, who probably needed that yesterday.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
You could probably argue, if you wanted to, Broderick Jones
was the most valuable player of the game yesterday simply
because of taking Miles Garrett and making him a non factor,
which is something that we were not prepared for. You
were preparing for Garrett to be a factor in the
backfield and be a disruptor. But the fact that the
(04:54):
Browns finished with zero sacks as a team correct.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Zero zero.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
I mean, that is a defensive front that has been
terrorizing opposing offenses all season long. Just overall, we know
the pedigree of that defense and the fact that they
came up with what zero turnovers and zero sacks in
the day. Huge credit to the offensive line. For keeping
Rogers upright. I don't think he was expecting that either,
(05:19):
But I think that's why you saw those twenty three
points what could have been twenty six points. It's because
that offensive line performed so well.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Garrett was a non factor, as we just said, just
two combined tackles on the day, no solo tackles, no
quarterback hits, no pressures. As a team, the Browns only
had three quarterback hits on Aaron Rodgers for the entire day,
and as a team rushing for the Steelers one hundred
yards even on the day rushing, that's a great That's
not a good that's a great job by the offensive
(05:47):
line against the Browns. Listen, we knew their offense had
struggles coming in, and we knew that going into the
season there was gonna be a lot of question marks
in and around that offense, especially with the quarterback situation.
But defensively, we knew the Browns would be with Miles
Garrett and company, and even even yesterday, even at one
and four going in, their defense was still their strength,
especially that front seven, that defensive line, those four big
(06:09):
guys up front that you and I talked about so
much last week, here on the standard in the offense,
they had a game plan behind it. They brought in
the extra blocker with Spencer Anderson several times to help.
They are now Washington taken eighty percent of the snaps
yesterday and that's not because of his catching skills, which
he did good yesterday, with a lot of us to
do with his blocking skills. So yeah, a plus plus
plus plus for the offensive line.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Yeah, I don't think you threw in enough pluses to
be honest there, Ed, I really have to give them credit.
And now with six weeks into the season, five games played, Ed,
remember we were very concerned with the state of the
offensive line after the first two weeks. Ever since then,
this offensive line we were saying, Okay, it's showing signs
(06:50):
are getting better and better. But the fact that they
showed even more signs of an improvement and had a
marquee day against a Mark Key defense, I don't think
you can ignore any longer the progress the offensive line
has made. They looked good against New England, they looked
a little bit better against Minnesota, and then they had
(07:11):
their best performance of the year against arguably the not
I don't think it's arguable. I think they had their
best performance against the best defense they faced all year long.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
So I think it's no longer too small of a window.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
I think you have to say the Stewers offensive line
is gelling.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
It is clearly getting better.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Broderick Jones, who you thought was going to be the
weak point or the weakest link of that offensive line,
is getting back into form. He's playing at left tackle
where he played for his entire time played at Georgia,
Troy Fatanu playing sound. Everyone in the middle or in
the interior playing sound. I think this offensive line is
getting better, and as a result, the offense was able
(07:51):
to put up twenty three what could have been twenty
six points.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
The team ran for what one hundred yards as a total.
It's it's humming.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
When when when Max Starks called into the postgame show
with Mike Pursuit yesterday, Charlie Batch, as he does after
each and every game, he talked about it. And it's true,
I talk about it all the time when I'm doing
a high school game or where we're talking here about
the Steelers, we're even talking about college football. When you
don't hear an offensive lineman's name, that's a good thing.
That's that's what you want. As an offensive lineman. You
(08:20):
never want to hear your name called during the game
because normally it's just gonna be a negative aspect. Yesterday,
I didn't hear any of those offensive linemans being called out.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
You didn't except for when Max Starks, who is a
former offensive lineman himself, was giving credit where credit was
due because he knew him some love.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
He knew they needed some love, and that's what they got.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
And just and we'll wrap up the offensive line. I
want to go over some other stats. There's a lot
to get to, but but just back one last thought
on the offensive line. And you and I early on
in the season mentioned this when we were questioning and
they were struggling those first two games of the year.
What would Craig, the late great Craig woofly say. What
would Woof say? And Woof would say, look, settle down.
(08:58):
It's a long season. This unit had us to jael
give them some time, and we taught you and I
talked about that and it's now playing out. They were
getting better each and every week. They're starting to jail together.
Remember Jones, it's gonna take a few games for him
to get acclimated. Now he's starting to get acclimated. Same
with Fontan, who coming back after being a whole year off.
This is really fun to on his rookie season.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
Yeah, I mean he was a red shirt last year, right,
He played in what two games, not even a full
two games last year. So I think Wolf would have
been as much credit as Max gave the offensive line yesterday.
I think Wolf would have even added more support onto
that cause of giving the offensive line their their pit,
(09:36):
their their proper credit, he.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Would have been saying put some jelly on that.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
To him and his food analogies are second to nine
and I would have loved to hear what he come
up what he could have come up with yesterday.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
I love that guy. Uh TJ. Watt on the other side,
five tackles, half a sack, three quarterback hits and two
pass deflections on Friday. That was one of our keys
of the game, Watt versus Garrett. They both, even though
they will come out and publicly say it, they're after
each other to the other one, and yesterday TJ. Watt
certainly did. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
I mean we talked about it last week leading up
to this game, saying we know that TJ. Wat can
do a lot more than just getting to the quarterback.
But in this kind of game, a physical Abs North matchup,
you kind of want to see him Just register those sacks.
You don't have to get too fancy with it. Just
get in the backfield. But what was great about TJ's
performance was he was able to register a sack. He
(10:28):
was able to create pressure which allowed other guys to
get sacks, such as the both Alex Heismith and Nick
Herbig got home. Guys up front like Derek Harmon got
home for a sack, and like I mentioned earlier, sixteen
quarterback hits ed and TJ. Watt had a lot of those.
And then you mentioned the two pass reflections. That's something
that he'd him and Kenon Hayward do better than any
(10:49):
other non second, non defensive back in the NFL. I
believe that they are number one and two in the
NFL for guys not playing in the secondary at at
batting balls down at the line of scrimmage. Just just
what an overall performance by TJ.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
Watt.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
And even though we were saying just get to the quarterback,
that's all you need to do to really make a difference. Well,
he did that, and then he created he created coverage
pressure for the offensive line for Cleveland to allow other
his teammates to get home for sacks, and then the
batted balls down. I mean just he was everywhere and
it's really remarkable to see how this defense has turned
(11:29):
things around the team, really overall the offensive line and
defense specifically though where they started to where they are now,
that progress is undeniable.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
At this point, Aaron Rodgers is now four and oh
lifetime versus the Cleveland Browns. Eleven touchdown passes, no interceptions, and.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
How about that?
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Another game without a pick for Aaron Rodgers only at
least the great on the year for through five games.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Smart just smart manages the game. And that's what I
think when they brought him in. That was a big
part of it was we don't need you to go
out and throw for If you throw for four hundred
yards and four touchdowns, we'll take it every day, but
we don't need it. We just need you to manage
the game and not lose the game. And that's what
you're getting with Aaron Rodgers right now. He's making throws
when he has to, he's not turning the ball over
and even his quick instincts of getting rid of the
(12:15):
football before he can potentially get sacked has paid off
so far this season. Did you hear this quote? But
you probably didn't you were traveling yesterday, Jacob, I though,
but Mike Tomlin at halftime, UH said we need to
get the loose change out of our lives. Uh. And
that was for That was his quote on settling for
field goals in the first half versus touchdowns, And that
got a good reaction from from the uh Ian Eagle
(12:39):
and JJ Watsy. We're calling the game yesterday. But yeah, fun,
fun quote from a new tomlinism for you, we need
to get the loose change out of our lives.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
But also too, it resonated clearly whatever message he gave
in the locker room coming out paid off. Coming out
of the second half paid off because they had three
field goals. What it was, right, nine to nothing to
start the second half, and they scored two touchdowns in
the second half, the first one to Connor Hayward and
the second one the DK Metcalf, So clearly his message
(13:10):
was heard by the offense.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Jacob and I are recapping Steelers twenty three Browns nine
here on the Standard. It's victory Monday here on the
standard where we are in the standard report, lots of
standards in that. Here's another standard for you. Bullet point
in our other note segment here rookie wide receiver Keishawn.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
Williams out of Indiana.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Here you go. I'm pining point to you every time
you appreciate continues to spark the return game. So we
talked about this at the top of the show in
our last segment, but I think it needs to be
mentioned again. The Steelers are in desperate need of a
punt returner and kick returner. They need a spark on
special teams, and Mike Tomlin went to that yesterday bringing
in Keishawn Williams off of the practice squad. He was
(13:50):
he was sensational in training camp and that's why they
kept him around on the practice squad. And yesterday he
provided I thought a spark. Yeah he didn't break one,
he didn't go crazy, but he almost did. Yeah, he
almost did a couple times. And the one got called back.
As we said with the block, the questionable block in
the in the back. But I like Keishawn Williams and
I like him in this return role and I'm excited
to see him continue to excel on punt returns and
(14:12):
kick returns hopefully totally.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Yeah. I mean you just you don't have to have
Devin Hester back there.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
If you do, that's great, but you don't need that
guy that it's going to bring back five or six
touchdowns every year for you. Just like you say, just
give us something more than five three to five yards
per return, right, because that is such a such a
backbreaker when it comes to momentum. If if the defense
forces to stop and the offense is trunning out there
all of a sudden, instead of being on the twenty
(14:39):
yard line, if they're on the thirty or thirty five.
It's okay, great, that's a set of downs that we
didn't have to convert ourselves.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
I'm gonna give you one last thought on your Hoosiers. Yeah, okay,
Signetti the head coach of tremendous Did you see his
I'm sure you did. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
It sound like I watched the game and I watched
the entire postgame press conference. What he well, First that
that silent interview he did with the Femme our reporter,
Then he joined the CBS booth and then his postgame
press conference.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
He's great, He's great. Yeah, I watched it all, so
I had a little bit of a senior moment here.
I'm a lot older than Jacob. So I'm watching, I'm
listening to his Pittsburgh geese, and I'm thinking to myself,
he's from Pittsburgh, right signetti? His dad I thought was
he was the coroner pitt I think back in the day.
So then it all started to click. So I did
a quick Google search just to confirm that he did.
He was born and raised in Pittsburgh. Coached at IUPE
(15:24):
before going he was an assistant coach at PITTA one time,
an assistant coach of pitt By the way, when I
say Indiana Pennsylvania, yeah, I up right, I up. But
trust me, I've had the distinction a lot for forever
with me. When a few weeks ago, when everyone, you know,
everyone's like, oh, where'd you go to school, and I'm
meeting them for the first time, Oh, I went to Indiana.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
I'm like, oh, no, way, I got cousins from Indiana.
I'm like no, no, no, no, no, no, no, not Ip
the other one.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Yes, sir, yep. So we got to give Jacob some
love today because his Hoosiers are what number three, number
three in the nation, So congratulations, my friend. Good stuff
that they're a fun team to watch, absolutely, and they
got a guy a Pittsburgher like Signetti in control as
the head. She's fun to watch and listen to as well. Okay,
back to Steelers Browns shirt. Brown's longest gain of the
day twenty four and twenty two yards. That's it, two
(16:08):
times over twenty yards. The Steelers really did shut down
the Browns offense for limiting the big splash plays yesterday,
only two plays over twenty yards.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
I think coming into this game they led the NFL
with splash plays with plays allowed for twenty yards or more.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
In the fact that they only were twenty or two.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Of those plays and they were both very inconsequential too. Right,
There wasn't backbreakers, It wasn't something that really ruined the momentum.
It was just something that kind of came in random
moments and the Steelers were able to tighten up and
again they only allowed nine points in the day against
a really bad offense. I mean, we've seen this Browns
offense fine the end zone. We've seen them win a
(16:48):
game against green Bay, right, so it's not ridiculous to
think that they could have gotten into the end zone.
It's the first time all year the Browns failed to
score a touchdown.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
The Steelers beat the Browns for the twenty second straight
time at home or in the in the regular season.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
So dating back to what two thousand and four, every
Steelers quarterback is undefeated. So that includes in Pittsburghs that
includes Ben and Charlesdre Jones, Andrew Jones, Duck Hodges, Mason Rudolph.
I believe think it was the quarter Josh Dobbs.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Might have been thrown in there at some point, who knows.
We already talked about this as well. That the the
field conditions yesterday, bos slips misses that big, that that
Phil goal attempt Akishur Stadium field needs to be fixure total.
It's going to be resatted today and it should be
better next time around. The current AFC North standing Steelers
four and one, Bengals two and four, Ravens and Browns
(17:40):
both at one and five. Three key stats. The victory
is I always like to talk about here on Monday.
Who won time of possession yesterday? The Steelers one time
of possesion. It might be the first time all year,
even in their other victories, this was one stat that
they didn't win yesterday. They controlled the clock pretty close though,
thirty one minutes fifty two seconds to the Browns twenty
eight minutes and eight seconds. Who had less penalties, Well
(18:01):
that was the Browns yesterday. Six of forty four Steelers
ten penalties for fifty nine yards. That was an issue yesterday,
and a couple of those ten yard are ten penalties
negliated a big games On offense, the Steelers had big
splash plays that got called back because of either holding
or something else a procedure call. I think they had
a couple couple illegal procedure calls yesterday too.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
Yeah, and the ones on defense were really hard to
watch too. You mentioned that the off sides called by TJ. Watt,
there were a couple of hard hits laid out by
the secondary that were called for excessive or whatever unnecessary roughness.
So really unsound day when it comes to that was
really the one thing you can point to as a
(18:42):
criticism for this team, because they believe coming into the
game they had the fewest amount of penalties called on
them all year.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Long, but of course ten.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
They actually got very lucky though, for to have ten
penalties called and only sixty yards in total, that's not
too bad, right right.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
When I first looked at that, I knew they had
a lot of penalties, being double digits with ten, But
when I looked at the yards, I thought the same
thing you did. Let's get into some game stats yesterday.
Aaron Rodgers twenty one to thirty for two hundred and
thirty five yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions, no sacks on
the day. The Steelers running the football yesterday not bad.
Jalen Warren eleven carries for fifty two yards, Kenneth Gamewell
(19:20):
Kenny g six carries for twenty two yards, and also
Caleb Johnson's six carries for fifteen yards yesterday. So as
a team, the top three running backs twenty three carries
for eighty nine yards. The Steelers as a team though
one hundred yards, averaging three point six yards per carry.
It was running back by committee yesterday, and I liked it.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Yeah, I mean that's something that we called for right
coming into this game.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
Was you no longer have to just go all out
with Jalen Warren.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Right after watching Kenneth Gamewell really have a great day,
a career day, you.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Could call it.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Against Minnesota, getting nearly to one hundred yards on his own.
You thought that, okay, you're allowed to trot out more
than one guy. And also credit to Caleb Johnson, he
had a nice one. He had a nice game that
went for nearly a first down. I think it was
a nine yard game was as high on the day.
But if you got three guys back there, you can
all you can together totally you over one hundred yards.
(20:12):
You know, we talk about the control of the time
of possession. You do that by running the football effectively.
And if those three guys can get you to over
one hundred yards, you're gonna do that.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
They're easing Caleb Johnson back in, Yeah, they are, with
which I like, which I like. I think just getting
him some confidence, some builders, right, getting working him into
the game plan. Don't go through a game where he
doesn't get any touches. Give him a handful of touches
just to kind of get him going here in his
rookie season. Another committee yesterday was tight end by committee.
You don't hear that often, but yesterday it was Darnell
Washington three catches for sixty two yards. He played eighty
(20:43):
percent of the snaps to lead the tight end room. Again,
a lot of that has to do with his walking skills.
John new Smith three catches eighteen yards, he played sixty
nine percent of the snaps. Connor Hayward the one catch
for twelve yards in the touchdown, and Pat Friarmuth one
catch for solid eleven yards with only thirty six percent
of the snaps yesterday. Yeah, so the tight end room
a total of eight catches for one hundred and three
(21:06):
yards and a touchdown. It's the only time, the second
time rather in Steeler history, that they've had four tight
ends all with at least one catch or more.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Yeah, I mean, it's crazy.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
We saw one day in Latrobe they ran out with
a fourteen personnel, which was one running back and four
tight ends. I don't think they actually went out with
that personnel at all this past Sunday, But like you said,
they got all four involved. And you know it's unfortunate
with Pat Fyirron with his numbers going down. Uh, but
this was just what the matchup called for, right. You
(21:37):
heard Arthur Smith and you heard Mike Tomlins say it
in their press conferences leading up to this game was
Cleveland's a physical front seven, and you're gonna have to
put out your biggest guys, which is why you saw
a lot of Darnell, which is why you saw a
lot of Spencer Anderson as well as a sixth offensive lineman.
Really a seventh of you if you include when he
was out there at the same time as Darnell.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
But yeah, you had to use the matchups that were
best suited for you given that game. And Pat Farrimuth
just not as big as those other guys, and you
know what, like you mentioned, he still got a catch,
he still got involved. But credit to Arthur Smith using
all four guys. Darnell John new Smith remember had that
(22:20):
one end around, had that run for a first down.
I believe it was nine or ten yards. And then
Connor Hayward had the best catch of the day. I mean, yes,
DK metcalf found the end zone, but you can't argue
that DK's catch was better. Maybe the route was cleaner
and he got because he was wide open. But Connor
Hayward coming up with that diving catch in the end zone.
Credit to all four guys on and creditor again Arthur
(22:41):
Smith forgetting all of them involved.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
DK Metcalf four catches on nine targets yesterday for ninety
five yards, including that touchdown. Like we talked about it
in just one note on the Steelers special teams for
Corlis weightman only two punch yesterday. That's it. That's another
you know we talked about. We don't like to hear
offensive lineman. We don't like to talk about our punters either,
because if you don't talk about the punters, that means
they weren't on the field much. And yesterday only two punts,
(23:04):
both averaging forty two yards. Yeah, it's pretty good per hit. Yep,
not too bad at all. Defensively, the Steelers again, good day.
They limit Jenkins, the talented running back on the rookie
running back whit over one hundred yards versus the Vikings
the only twelve carries for thirty six yards. Jerome Ford
added just two catches two rushes for seventeen yards. So
as a team, the Browns sixty five yards rushing three
(23:27):
point eight yards per carry. Gabriel at quarterback twenty nine
to fifty two for two hundred and twenty one yards,
no touchdowns, no interceptions, Steelers again on defensively, breaking down
the numbers to Shaun Elliott twelve tackles on the day,
Patrick Queen nine tackles, one pass deflection. Jalen Ramsey might
be the player of the day on defense six combined tackles,
(23:50):
two sacks, two tackle for losses, and two quarterback hits.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
Yeah, it's always a good day.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
You can tell it's a good day when the MVP
is up for discussion. Right, There's a lot of candidates,
but Jalen Ramsey clearly one of them, coming up with
those two sacks and just being such a valued member
of this defense. This was what you wanted when you
brought him over. He needed to be that third wheel.
You remember, since Mika was here in twenty Since Mika
(24:17):
came here rather in twenty nineteen, the big three were
always regarded as TJ, Wat Cam Hayward and Niko Fitzpatrick.
I don't think you can argue the big They still
have a big three, but now you just substitute making
it for Jalen Ramsey. They have a guy at every level, right,
they have Cam upfront, TJ and the linebackers, and then
Jalen Ramsey locking down the secondary being a playmaker all
(24:37):
over the field. He is your your third best player
on your defense given the days that TJ and Cam
may have sometimes, Jalen is your best defender on defense,
so good to know that that transaction is already paying dividends.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
A few more stats to get to here in this
segment before we wrap it up. One thorn Hill six
tackles yesterday. Peyton Wilson five tackles, one time loss. Joey
Porter Junior came back after injury, five tackles, two pass deflections,
played very well. TJ Watt as we talked about earlier,
five tackles, a half a sack, three quarterback hits, two
pass deflections. He had a day. Darius Slay before he
(25:14):
got hurt, had four tackles and a pass deflection. Derek
Harmon had a sack yesterday and also two quarterback hits.
Alex Highsmith he comes back from injury, nice job as well,
three tackles, a half a sack and two quarterback hits.
And finally, Nick Herbig, as we said, two tackles, two sacks,
two tackle for losses, four quarterback hits and one pass deflection,
(25:37):
and he played sixty one percent of the snaps.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
Yeah, I mentioned this earlier today. This is the first
game he saw where you're starting eleven. The guys you
want to start the season with all played together, because
you remember they were ten of eleven in game one
in Week one, but the one missing piece with Derek Harmon.
Now they actually had all eleven guys who were their starters.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
Really twelve is if you I mean, if you.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Count the twelve guys they tried it out to introduce
to the fans in the stands, they had all twelve
available to start. I know they lost Darius Slay eventually,
but really didn't make much of a difference, did it,
Because you have such a deep squad back there that yeah,
he's gonna be missed, but it's not a backbreaker for you, right,
It's not like you lost Jelan Ramsey. So which remember
(26:23):
it's crazy to think that two weeks ago, when he
had that hamstering injury, we thought, are they going to
rush him back for the Cleveland game. Are they gonna
give him another week and then let him play Thursday,
or are they gonna do the smart, they really conservative
thing by not forcing him to play on a short
week with the rest of the team and just wait
until after the Thursday night game against Cincinnati. They didn't
miss a single game, didn't miss a snap really when
(26:44):
you think about it, except for when he had to
come off the field just due to personnel. And it
really was what you It was what the doctor ordered,
having all eleven guys be, twelve guys be available to
you against an offense like Cleveland, which is just so
bad and so slow and so ineffective. So to have
(27:05):
all eleven guys, twelve guys playing together for the first
time all year against defense which you know you force
those turnovers.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
You got six sacks. It's just what the doctor ordered.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
And you need to carry that momentum into next week
onto Thursday night.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
And sixteen quarterback hits yesterday today for the Steeler defense,
as well as six tackle for losses. They had quite
the day. When Jacob and I come back, we'll look
around week six across the NFL. We'll also get you
ready for two Monday night football games upcoming tonight. It
is Victory Monday here on the Steelers Standard with Ed
Trup and Jacob Breckt on Steelers Nation Radio, part of
(27:41):
the Steelers Audio Network.
Play actually pass rolling.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
He was right looking downfield, looking.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Throws back across his body. Get talk in the end zone.
What a grab by Connor Hayward.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Macnificent throw by Rogers and Hayward with his first touchdown
of the season. A great throw from Aaron Rodgers to
Connor Hayward.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
I don't know if that was Max Starks or whoever,
maybe our producer dan Quinlan clapping in the background, but.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Well deserve was necessary, Well deserved absolutely, Rob King and
Max Starks on the call yesterday here on Steelers Audio Network.
It is the Steelers Standard with Ed Troop and Jacob
wrect here on Steelers Nation Radio. As I said, part
of the Steelers Audio Network, we're recapping victory Monday. Feels
good around here is a good place to be. Steelers
twenty three Browns nine, as the Steelers win their twenty
(00:56):
second straight regular season game at home against the Eveland Browns.
And there was really no doubt in this one, Jacob.
A little bit of a slow start, you know, three
boss Field goals early, and then you got a couple
of touchdowns rolling, The defense did what they had to do,
and the Steelers again build momentum in the AFC North.
With the Ravens losing yesterday now one and five, as
(01:18):
well as Cincinnati losing yesterday to the Green Bay Packers,
who are now two and four, the Steelers have strengthened
their lead in the AFC North. They have a two
game lead on the Bengals and now a full what
four game lead on the Ravens and Browns.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Yeah, it's massive.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
I mean, this is exactly what we called for them
to do, right against this Cleveland brown team. You are
a better team. We know the Browns are going to
play you tough, but they're one and four for a reason,
and you were three one entering that game for a reason.
Stack another one here, get to four and one with
the assumption that the Bengals were going to lose against
Green Bay, which they did, and the assumption that the
Ravens were going to lose against the Rams, which they did.
(01:55):
It is remarkable to see the Steelers be so far
ahead of the rest of the division so early on.
And you have another key matchup coming up on Thursday night.
It's gonna be against the Bengals. They're obviously not your
biggest threat this year because without Joe Burrow, Uh, that
kind of discounts them as a legitimate playoff threat.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
But get that win, right.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
I mean, you gotta you gotta take advantage when when
the advantages are in your lap. Right, So get this
win against Cincinnati improved to five and one, which would
get you two to zero in the division, which would
get you to what, uh, four and oh on the
conference or I guess it would be three to oh
in the conference. Do everything you can to stack these
wins because as we know, and it's been pointed out
(02:39):
to us, uh, the schedule will get harder as the
year goes on. Right you you called about you called
the Bears game on the road. There's that Sunday night
matchup against the Packers. They host the Bills, they go,
they go, right they they play the Colds, who are
atop the conference right now, they go to Baltimore, they
go to Detroit.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
It's gonna get harder. So right now, you really have
to take advantage of these opportunities.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Stack those wins. And I guess technically, you know, the
Steelers have played five games where the Bengals, Ravens, and
Browns have all played six, So the lead is technically
two and a half games over the Bengals.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Great free and a half the last three weeks including
the bye week, the AVES North is a combined I
believe two and nine. Who has those two wins and
the only two wins are coming from the Steelers.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Yeah, and no losses.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Really, all three teams in the AVES North over the
last three weeks, between Cincinnati, Cleveland and Baltimore are all
owned three.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
It really has been a remarkable couple weeks for the
Pittsburgh Steelers, who have only played one game in the
last two weeks, so they get that much wiggle room,
but the rest of the division losing and the Steelers
again picking up key wins in Dublin a couple of
weeks ago against the Vikings and then of course yesterday
against the Browns twenty three to nine. Jacob, let's get
to our standard report. Some notes from yesterday. The Steelers,
(03:53):
as we've been talking, three straight wins on the season,
last loss and only loss of the season non AFC
loss the Seattle Seahawks in Week two. Other than that,
three straight wins, their stacking wins. Miles Garrett have to
talk about his performance yesterday. Two tackles, that's it, and
they were to assist tackles, not even full tackles on
his own. Zero's across the board. Broderick Jones wins that
(04:16):
battle yesterday. He got helped a couple times, but he
was one on one a bunch of times too. And
Broderick Jones, this is why you drafted him three years ago,
to bring him in to have these types of matchups
and dominate a guy like Miles Garrett. That's also good
between the ears for Broderick Jones, who probably needed that yesterday.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
You could probably argue, if you wanted to, Broderick Jones
was the most valuable player of the game yesterday simply
because of taking Miles Garrett and making him a non factor,
which is something that we were not prepared for. You
were preparing for Garrett to be a factor in the
backfield and be a disruptor. But the fact that the
(04:54):
Browns finished with zero sacks as a team correct.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Zero zero.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
I mean, that is a defensive front that has been
terrorizing opposing offenses all season long. Just overall, we know
the pedigree of that defense and the fact that they
came up with what zero turnovers and zero sacks in
the day. Huge credit to the offensive line. For keeping
Rogers upright. I don't think he was expecting that either,
(05:19):
But I think that's why you saw those twenty three
points what could have been twenty six points. It's because
that offensive line performed so well.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Garrett was a non factor, as we just said, just
two combined tackles on the day, no solo tackles, no
quarterback hits, no pressures. As a team, the Browns only
had three quarterback hits on Aaron Rodgers for the entire day,
and as a team rushing for the Steelers one hundred
yards even on the day rushing, that's a great That's
not a good that's a great job by the offensive
(05:47):
line against the Browns. Listen, we knew their offense had
struggles coming in, and we knew that going into the
season there was gonna be a lot of question marks
in and around that offense, especially with the quarterback situation.
But defensively, we knew the Browns would be with Miles
Garrett and company, and even even yesterday, even at one
and four going in, their defense was still their strength,
especially that front seven, that defensive line, those four big
(06:09):
guys up front that you and I talked about so
much last week, here on the standard in the offense,
they had a game plan behind it. They brought in
the extra blocker with Spencer Anderson several times to help.
They are now Washington taken eighty percent of the snaps
yesterday and that's not because of his catching skills, which
he did good yesterday, with a lot of us to
do with his blocking skills. So yeah, a plus plus
plus plus for the offensive line.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Yeah, I don't think you threw in enough pluses to
be honest there, Ed, I really have to give them credit.
And now with six weeks into the season, five games played, Ed,
remember we were very concerned with the state of the
offensive line after the first two weeks. Ever since then,
this offensive line we were saying, Okay, it's showing signs
(06:50):
are getting better and better. But the fact that they
showed even more signs of an improvement and had a
marquee day against a Mark Key defense, I don't think
you can ignore any longer the progress the offensive line
has made. They looked good against New England, they looked
a little bit better against Minnesota, and then they had
(07:11):
their best performance of the year against arguably the not
I don't think it's arguable. I think they had their
best performance against the best defense they faced all year long.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
So I think it's no longer too small of a window.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
I think you have to say the Stewers offensive line
is gelling.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
It is clearly getting better.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Broderick Jones, who you thought was going to be the
weak point or the weakest link of that offensive line,
is getting back into form. He's playing at left tackle
where he played for his entire time played at Georgia,
Troy Fatanu playing sound. Everyone in the middle or in
the interior playing sound. I think this offensive line is
getting better, and as a result, the offense was able
(07:51):
to put up twenty three what could have been twenty
six points.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
The team ran for what one hundred yards as a total.
It's it's humming.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
When when when Max Starks called into the postgame show
with Mike Pursuit yesterday, Charlie Batch, as he does after
each and every game, he talked about it. And it's true,
I talk about it all the time when I'm doing
a high school game or where we're talking here about
the Steelers, we're even talking about college football. When you
don't hear an offensive lineman's name, that's a good thing.
That's that's what you want. As an offensive lineman. You
(08:20):
never want to hear your name called during the game
because normally it's just gonna be a negative aspect. Yesterday,
I didn't hear any of those offensive linemans being called out.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
You didn't except for when Max Starks, who is a
former offensive lineman himself, was giving credit where credit was
due because he knew him some love.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
He knew they needed some love, and that's what they got.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
And just and we'll wrap up the offensive line. I
want to go over some other stats. There's a lot
to get to, but but just back one last thought
on the offensive line. And you and I early on
in the season mentioned this when we were questioning and
they were struggling those first two games of the year.
What would Craig, the late great Craig woofly say. What
would Woof say? And Woof would say, look, settle down.
(08:58):
It's a long season. This unit had us to jael
give them some time, and we taught you and I
talked about that and it's now playing out. They were
getting better each and every week. They're starting to jail together.
Remember Jones, it's gonna take a few games for him
to get acclimated. Now he's starting to get acclimated. Same
with Fontan, who coming back after being a whole year off.
This is really fun to on his rookie season.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
Yeah, I mean he was a red shirt last year, right,
He played in what two games, not even a full
two games last year. So I think Wolf would have
been as much credit as Max gave the offensive line yesterday.
I think Wolf would have even added more support onto
that cause of giving the offensive line their their pit,
(09:36):
their their proper credit, he.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Would have been saying put some jelly on that.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
To him and his food analogies are second to nine
and I would have loved to hear what he come
up what he could have come up with yesterday.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
I love that guy. Uh TJ. Watt on the other side,
five tackles, half a sack, three quarterback hits and two
pass deflections on Friday. That was one of our keys
of the game, Watt versus Garrett. They both, even though
they will come out and publicly say it, they're after
each other to the other one, and yesterday TJ. Watt
certainly did. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
I mean we talked about it last week leading up
to this game, saying we know that TJ. Wat can
do a lot more than just getting to the quarterback.
But in this kind of game, a physical Abs North matchup,
you kind of want to see him Just register those sacks.
You don't have to get too fancy with it. Just
get in the backfield. But what was great about TJ's
performance was he was able to register a sack. He
(10:28):
was able to create pressure which allowed other guys to
get sacks, such as the both Alex Heismith and Nick
Herbig got home. Guys up front like Derek Harmon got
home for a sack, and like I mentioned earlier, sixteen
quarterback hits ed and TJ. Watt had a lot of those.
And then you mentioned the two pass reflections. That's something
that he'd him and Kenon Hayward do better than any
(10:49):
other non second, non defensive back in the NFL. I
believe that they are number one and two in the
NFL for guys not playing in the secondary at at
batting balls down at the line of scrimmage. Just just
what an overall performance by TJ.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
Watt.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
And even though we were saying just get to the quarterback,
that's all you need to do to really make a difference. Well,
he did that, and then he created he created coverage
pressure for the offensive line for Cleveland to allow other
his teammates to get home for sacks, and then the
batted balls down. I mean just he was everywhere and
it's really remarkable to see how this defense has turned
(11:29):
things around the team, really overall the offensive line and
defense specifically though where they started to where they are now,
that progress is undeniable.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
At this point, Aaron Rodgers is now four and oh
lifetime versus the Cleveland Browns. Eleven touchdown passes, no interceptions, and.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
How about that?
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Another game without a pick for Aaron Rodgers only at
least the great on the year for through five games.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Smart just smart manages the game. And that's what I
think when they brought him in. That was a big
part of it was we don't need you to go
out and throw for If you throw for four hundred
yards and four touchdowns, we'll take it every day, but
we don't need it. We just need you to manage
the game and not lose the game. And that's what
you're getting with Aaron Rodgers right now. He's making throws
when he has to, he's not turning the ball over
and even his quick instincts of getting rid of the
(12:15):
football before he can potentially get sacked has paid off
so far this season. Did you hear this quote? But
you probably didn't you were traveling yesterday, Jacob, I though,
but Mike Tomlin at halftime, UH said we need to
get the loose change out of our lives. Uh. And
that was for That was his quote on settling for
field goals in the first half versus touchdowns, And that
got a good reaction from from the uh Ian Eagle
(12:39):
and JJ Watsy. We're calling the game yesterday. But yeah, fun,
fun quote from a new tomlinism for you, we need
to get the loose change out of our lives.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
But also too, it resonated clearly whatever message he gave
in the locker room coming out paid off. Coming out
of the second half paid off because they had three
field goals. What it was, right, nine to nothing to
start the second half, and they scored two touchdowns in
the second half, the first one to Connor Hayward and
the second one the DK Metcalf, So clearly his message
(13:10):
was heard by the offense.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Jacob and I are recapping Steelers twenty three Browns nine
here on the Standard. It's victory Monday here on the
standard where we are in the standard report, lots of
standards in that. Here's another standard for you. Bullet point
in our other note segment here rookie wide receiver Keishawn.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
Williams out of Indiana.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Here you go. I'm pining point to you every time
you appreciate continues to spark the return game. So we
talked about this at the top of the show in
our last segment, but I think it needs to be
mentioned again. The Steelers are in desperate need of a
punt returner and kick returner. They need a spark on
special teams, and Mike Tomlin went to that yesterday bringing
in Keishawn Williams off of the practice squad. He was
(13:50):
he was sensational in training camp and that's why they
kept him around on the practice squad. And yesterday he
provided I thought a spark. Yeah he didn't break one,
he didn't go crazy, but he almost did. Yeah, he
almost did a couple times. And the one got called back.
As we said with the block, the questionable block in
the in the back. But I like Keishawn Williams and
I like him in this return role and I'm excited
to see him continue to excel on punt returns and
(14:12):
kick returns hopefully totally.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Yeah. I mean you just you don't have to have
Devin Hester back there.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
If you do, that's great, but you don't need that
guy that it's going to bring back five or six
touchdowns every year for you. Just like you say, just
give us something more than five three to five yards
per return, right, because that is such a such a
backbreaker when it comes to momentum. If if the defense
forces to stop and the offense is trunning out there
all of a sudden, instead of being on the twenty
(14:39):
yard line, if they're on the thirty or thirty five.
It's okay, great, that's a set of downs that we
didn't have to convert ourselves.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
I'm gonna give you one last thought on your Hoosiers. Yeah, okay,
Signetti the head coach of tremendous Did you see his
I'm sure you did. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
It sound like I watched the game and I watched
the entire postgame press conference. What he well, First that
that silent interview he did with the Femme our reporter,
Then he joined the CBS booth and then his postgame
press conference.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
He's great, He's great. Yeah, I watched it all, so
I had a little bit of a senior moment here.
I'm a lot older than Jacob. So I'm watching, I'm
listening to his Pittsburgh geese, and I'm thinking to myself,
he's from Pittsburgh, right signetti? His dad I thought was
he was the coroner pitt I think back in the day.
So then it all started to click. So I did
a quick Google search just to confirm that he did.
He was born and raised in Pittsburgh. Coached at IUPE
(15:24):
before going he was an assistant coach at PITTA one time,
an assistant coach of pitt By the way, when I
say Indiana Pennsylvania, yeah, I up right, I up. But
trust me, I've had the distinction a lot for forever
with me. When a few weeks ago, when everyone, you know,
everyone's like, oh, where'd you go to school, and I'm
meeting them for the first time, Oh, I went to Indiana.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
I'm like, oh, no, way, I got cousins from Indiana.
I'm like no, no, no, no, no, no, no, not Ip
the other one.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Yes, sir, yep. So we got to give Jacob some
love today because his Hoosiers are what number three, number
three in the nation, So congratulations, my friend. Good stuff
that they're a fun team to watch, absolutely, and they
got a guy a Pittsburgher like Signetti in control as
the head. She's fun to watch and listen to as well. Okay,
back to Steelers Browns shirt. Brown's longest gain of the
day twenty four and twenty two yards. That's it, two
(16:08):
times over twenty yards. The Steelers really did shut down
the Browns offense for limiting the big splash plays yesterday,
only two plays over twenty yards.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
I think coming into this game they led the NFL
with splash plays with plays allowed for twenty yards or more.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
In the fact that they only were twenty or two.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Of those plays and they were both very inconsequential too. Right,
There wasn't backbreakers, It wasn't something that really ruined the momentum.
It was just something that kind of came in random
moments and the Steelers were able to tighten up and
again they only allowed nine points in the day against
a really bad offense. I mean, we've seen this Browns
offense fine the end zone. We've seen them win a
(16:48):
game against green Bay, right, so it's not ridiculous to
think that they could have gotten into the end zone.
It's the first time all year the Browns failed to
score a touchdown.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
The Steelers beat the Browns for the twenty second straight
time at home or in the in the regular season.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
So dating back to what two thousand and four, every
Steelers quarterback is undefeated. So that includes in Pittsburghs that
includes Ben and Charlesdre Jones, Andrew Jones, Duck Hodges, Mason Rudolph.
I believe think it was the quarter Josh Dobbs.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Might have been thrown in there at some point, who knows.
We already talked about this as well. That the the
field conditions yesterday, bos slips misses that big, that that
Phil goal attempt Akishur Stadium field needs to be fixure total.
It's going to be resatted today and it should be
better next time around. The current AFC North standing Steelers
four and one, Bengals two and four, Ravens and Browns
(17:40):
both at one and five. Three key stats. The victory
is I always like to talk about here on Monday.
Who won time of possession yesterday? The Steelers one time
of possesion. It might be the first time all year,
even in their other victories, this was one stat that
they didn't win yesterday. They controlled the clock pretty close though,
thirty one minutes fifty two seconds to the Browns twenty
eight minutes and eight seconds. Who had less penalties, Well
(18:01):
that was the Browns yesterday. Six of forty four Steelers
ten penalties for fifty nine yards. That was an issue yesterday,
and a couple of those ten yard are ten penalties
negliated a big games On offense, the Steelers had big
splash plays that got called back because of either holding
or something else a procedure call. I think they had
a couple couple illegal procedure calls yesterday too.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
Yeah, and the ones on defense were really hard to
watch too. You mentioned that the off sides called by TJ. Watt,
there were a couple of hard hits laid out by
the secondary that were called for excessive or whatever unnecessary roughness.
So really unsound day when it comes to that was
really the one thing you can point to as a
(18:42):
criticism for this team, because they believe coming into the
game they had the fewest amount of penalties called on
them all year.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Long, but of course ten.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
They actually got very lucky though, for to have ten
penalties called and only sixty yards in total, that's not
too bad, right right.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
When I first looked at that, I knew they had
a lot of penalties, being double digits with ten, But
when I looked at the yards, I thought the same
thing you did. Let's get into some game stats yesterday.
Aaron Rodgers twenty one to thirty for two hundred and
thirty five yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions, no sacks on
the day. The Steelers running the football yesterday not bad.
Jalen Warren eleven carries for fifty two yards, Kenneth Gamewell
(19:20):
Kenny g six carries for twenty two yards, and also
Caleb Johnson's six carries for fifteen yards yesterday. So as
a team, the top three running backs twenty three carries
for eighty nine yards. The Steelers as a team though
one hundred yards, averaging three point six yards per carry.
It was running back by committee yesterday, and I liked it.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Yeah, I mean that's something that we called for right
coming into this game.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
Was you no longer have to just go all out
with Jalen Warren.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Right after watching Kenneth Gamewell really have a great day,
a career day, you.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Could call it.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Against Minnesota, getting nearly to one hundred yards on his own.
You thought that, okay, you're allowed to trot out more
than one guy. And also credit to Caleb Johnson, he
had a nice one. He had a nice game that
went for nearly a first down. I think it was
a nine yard game was as high on the day.
But if you got three guys back there, you can
all you can together totally you over one hundred yards.
(20:12):
You know, we talk about the control of the time
of possession. You do that by running the football effectively.
And if those three guys can get you to over
one hundred yards, you're gonna do that.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
They're easing Caleb Johnson back in, Yeah, they are, with
which I like, which I like. I think just getting
him some confidence, some builders, right, getting working him into
the game plan. Don't go through a game where he
doesn't get any touches. Give him a handful of touches
just to kind of get him going here in his
rookie season. Another committee yesterday was tight end by committee.
You don't hear that often, but yesterday it was Darnell
Washington three catches for sixty two yards. He played eighty
(20:43):
percent of the snaps to lead the tight end room. Again,
a lot of that has to do with his walking skills.
John new Smith three catches eighteen yards, he played sixty
nine percent of the snaps. Connor Hayward the one catch
for twelve yards in the touchdown, and Pat Friarmuth one
catch for solid eleven yards with only thirty six percent
of the snaps yesterday. Yeah, so the tight end room
a total of eight catches for one hundred and three
(21:06):
yards and a touchdown. It's the only time, the second
time rather in Steeler history, that they've had four tight
ends all with at least one catch or more.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Yeah, I mean, it's crazy.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
We saw one day in Latrobe they ran out with
a fourteen personnel, which was one running back and four
tight ends. I don't think they actually went out with
that personnel at all this past Sunday, But like you said,
they got all four involved. And you know it's unfortunate
with Pat Fyirron with his numbers going down. Uh, but
this was just what the matchup called for, right. You
(21:37):
heard Arthur Smith and you heard Mike Tomlins say it
in their press conferences leading up to this game was
Cleveland's a physical front seven, and you're gonna have to
put out your biggest guys, which is why you saw
a lot of Darnell, which is why you saw a
lot of Spencer Anderson as well as a sixth offensive lineman.
Really a seventh of you if you include when he
was out there at the same time as Darnell.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
But yeah, you had to use the matchups that were
best suited for you given that game. And Pat Farrimuth
just not as big as those other guys, and you
know what, like you mentioned, he still got a catch,
he still got involved. But credit to Arthur Smith using
all four guys. Darnell John new Smith remember had that
(22:20):
one end around, had that run for a first down.
I believe it was nine or ten yards. And then
Connor Hayward had the best catch of the day. I mean, yes,
DK metcalf found the end zone, but you can't argue
that DK's catch was better. Maybe the route was cleaner
and he got because he was wide open. But Connor
Hayward coming up with that diving catch in the end zone.
Credit to all four guys on and creditor again Arthur
(22:41):
Smith forgetting all of them involved.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
DK Metcalf four catches on nine targets yesterday for ninety
five yards, including that touchdown. Like we talked about it
in just one note on the Steelers special teams for
Corlis weightman only two punch yesterday. That's it. That's another
you know we talked about. We don't like to hear
offensive lineman. We don't like to talk about our punters either,
because if you don't talk about the punters, that means
they weren't on the field much. And yesterday only two punts,
(23:04):
both averaging forty two yards. Yeah, it's pretty good per hit. Yep,
not too bad at all. Defensively, the Steelers again, good day.
They limit Jenkins, the talented running back on the rookie
running back whit over one hundred yards versus the Vikings
the only twelve carries for thirty six yards. Jerome Ford
added just two catches two rushes for seventeen yards. So
as a team, the Browns sixty five yards rushing three
(23:27):
point eight yards per carry. Gabriel at quarterback twenty nine
to fifty two for two hundred and twenty one yards,
no touchdowns, no interceptions, Steelers again on defensively, breaking down
the numbers to Shaun Elliott twelve tackles on the day,
Patrick Queen nine tackles, one pass deflection. Jalen Ramsey might
be the player of the day on defense six combined tackles,
(23:50):
two sacks, two tackle for losses, and two quarterback hits.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
Yeah, it's always a good day.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
You can tell it's a good day when the MVP
is up for discussion. Right, There's a lot of candidates,
but Jalen Ramsey clearly one of them, coming up with
those two sacks and just being such a valued member
of this defense. This was what you wanted when you
brought him over. He needed to be that third wheel.
You remember, since Mika was here in twenty Since Mika
(24:17):
came here rather in twenty nineteen, the big three were
always regarded as TJ, Wat Cam Hayward and Niko Fitzpatrick.
I don't think you can argue the big They still
have a big three, but now you just substitute making
it for Jalen Ramsey. They have a guy at every level, right,
they have Cam upfront, TJ and the linebackers, and then
Jalen Ramsey locking down the secondary being a playmaker all
(24:37):
over the field. He is your your third best player
on your defense given the days that TJ and Cam
may have sometimes, Jalen is your best defender on defense,
so good to know that that transaction is already paying dividends.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
A few more stats to get to here in this
segment before we wrap it up. One thorn Hill six
tackles yesterday. Peyton Wilson five tackles, one time loss. Joey
Porter Junior came back after injury, five tackles, two pass deflections,
played very well. TJ Watt as we talked about earlier,
five tackles, a half a sack, three quarterback hits, two
pass deflections. He had a day. Darius Slay before he
(25:14):
got hurt, had four tackles and a pass deflection. Derek
Harmon had a sack yesterday and also two quarterback hits.
Alex Highsmith he comes back from injury, nice job as well,
three tackles, a half a sack and two quarterback hits.
And finally, Nick Herbig, as we said, two tackles, two sacks,
two tackle for losses, four quarterback hits and one pass deflection,
(25:37):
and he played sixty one percent of the snaps.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
Yeah, I mentioned this earlier today. This is the first
game he saw where you're starting eleven. The guys you
want to start the season with all played together, because
you remember they were ten of eleven in game one
in Week one, but the one missing piece with Derek Harmon.
Now they actually had all eleven guys who were their starters.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
Really twelve is if you I mean, if you.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Count the twelve guys they tried it out to introduce
to the fans in the stands, they had all twelve
available to start. I know they lost Darius Slay eventually,
but really didn't make much of a difference, did it,
Because you have such a deep squad back there that yeah,
he's gonna be missed, but it's not a backbreaker for you, right,
It's not like you lost Jelan Ramsey. So which remember
(26:23):
it's crazy to think that two weeks ago, when he
had that hamstering injury, we thought, are they going to
rush him back for the Cleveland game. Are they gonna
give him another week and then let him play Thursday,
or are they gonna do the smart, they really conservative
thing by not forcing him to play on a short
week with the rest of the team and just wait
until after the Thursday night game against Cincinnati. They didn't
miss a single game, didn't miss a snap really when
(26:44):
you think about it, except for when he had to
come off the field just due to personnel. And it
really was what you It was what the doctor ordered,
having all eleven guys be, twelve guys be available to
you against an offense like Cleveland, which is just so
bad and so slow and so ineffective. So to have
(27:05):
all eleven guys, twelve guys playing together for the first
time all year against defense which you know you force
those turnovers.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
You got six sacks. It's just what the doctor ordered.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
And you need to carry that momentum into next week
onto Thursday night.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
And sixteen quarterback hits yesterday today for the Steeler defense,
as well as six tackle for losses. They had quite
the day. When Jacob and I come back, we'll look
around week six across the NFL. We'll also get you
ready for two Monday night football games upcoming tonight. It
is Victory Monday here on the Steelers Standard with Ed
Trup and Jacob Breckt on Steelers Nation Radio, part of
(27:41):
the Steelers Audio Network.
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