December 1, 2025 • 25 mins
Ed Troup and Jacob Recht look at the stat sheet from Bills at Steelers and point out the most glaring individual and team numbers.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
Play action patch. Rudolf back looking surveying, throwing left and
intended for Washington and intercepted on the overthrow, and it
is Bentford who already has a touchdown. Now he comes
up with an interception at the forty four yard line
of the Steelers.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Back here on the Steelers Standard, I am at Troop
alongside Jacob Brett here on Steelers Nation Radio, part of
the Steelers Audio Network. You just heard the play by
play call by our good friend Rob King and Max
Starks and Missy Matthews on the call yesterday on the
Steelers Audio Network. And yeah, Jacob, that was another moment.
That was another gloomy moment here on a gloomy Monday. Again,
(00:47):
we're trying to polish this up a little bit and
make you feel a bit better as the week goes on.
Flush this game, get it out of your system. I
think the thing that everyone is struggling with here this
morning is what is happened the last few weeks. Right,
they haven't been close games and you know, maybe one
score games that you barely lose. I guess you can
make that case for the Bears game, but games in
(01:09):
which the Steelers have controlled again five and four on
the season, and games in which they led at halftime,
including yesterday.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Yeah, they just there is no rhyme or reason to it.
If they have the lead, it's a fifty to fifty shot.
It seems like for them to hold on to it
if they are trailing at halftime. What you said, they
were one and two in those games, Yep, so it's
even less likely that they'll come back and win those games.
It's just I think the narrative of the season is
inconsistency and disappointments. And that's fair to put point on
(01:40):
the offense, the defense, the coaching staff, you can even
say the front office for putting together a team that
they thought was going to be capable of trotting out
a really old Darius Lay cornerback, a wide receiver corps
without a true number two to compliment DK Metcalf. Using
a third round draft pick on a guy in Caleb
(02:02):
Johnson who's had what less than twenty snaps all year long.
Speaker 4 (02:06):
It feels like that. Yeah, everyone is to.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Blame here for the product you've seen through twelve games
so far.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Let's get into our standard report key stats in Week twelve,
Bills twenty six Steelers seven. We'll start with my key
stats to victory. Jacob will go through the overall team
stats of yesterday's game, and again, not good for the
Black and Gold. Total yards. We've talked about this already
here this morning. The Bills three hundred and seventy two
total yards to the Steelers, one sixty six first downs,
(02:35):
Bills twenty six to the Steelers ten.
Speaker 5 (02:38):
Time of possession and you mentioned.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
It already, the Bills forty one minutes and fifty nine
seconds to the Steelers eighteen minutes.
Speaker 5 (02:46):
And just one second.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Wow, that's you don't have any chance in football games
if you lose any of these categories. But how about
time of possession? When you lose that badly, not going
to be a good outcome. And we talked about the Bills,
and give give credit the Buffalo a lot of those
scoring drives late in the game yesterday, and I'm just
going to go through them quickly.
Speaker 5 (03:07):
The let's see the uh.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
We'll start with the keyon Coleman one yard touchdown in
the third quarter that ate up just four minutes and
twenty seven seconds. Here are the two I want to highlight,
the fourth quarter scores by the Bills, the Josh Allen
eight yard rushing touchdown eight up, eight minutes and fourteen
seconds on the clock, and even the field goal just
a minute seven left was fourteen play seventy two yard,
nine minutes and four seconds off the clock. Scoring drives
(03:32):
that's how you put teams away in the fourth quarter.
Two scoring drives that basically eat up the entire fourth quarter,
and that's why they go on to win. The time
of position, as we said, forty one to fifty nine
to eighteen oh one. Penalties not bad again for the
black and Goal yesterday. Steelers five penalties for sixty seven yards.
Speaker 5 (03:47):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Bills meanwhile, seven penalties for forty five total yards. Third
down conversions Bill's very good yesterday over fifty percent eight
to fifteen to fifty three percent. Steelers only three of
nine and thirty three percent. A special note on fourth
down conversions Bills two of two at one hundred percent,
Steelers zero for one.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
Yeah, just really bad. I mean, there's no sugarcoating it there.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Pretty Much everything that went wrong or that could have
gone wrong for the Steelers went wrong, and pretty much
everything that went right they could have gone right for
the Bills did go right, Like you said, Steelers couldnt
stop Josh Allen on third down, they could not convert
their own third downs. Time in possession was as bad
as it was, as bad as it could ever be.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
They could only take advantage of the turnovers.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
And then after going a whole first half without giving
the ball away, they have what two turnovers on what
four plays or the course of four plays so to
start the second half, and that really set the tone
for the rest of the day.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
So, yeah, two crucial turnovers in the second half of
the Steelers the interception and then the fumble by Aaron
Rodgers to start the quarter, and then the interception by
Mason Rudolph Bills. Meanwhile, their two interceptions came in the
first half, within the first quarter. It was almost a
flip flop of a script, right, Steelers early on producing
a couple turnovers. Though they couldn't score off of the first,
(05:07):
the Brendan Eckles interception, they did take advantage of the
James Cook fumble going down, scoring their only touchdown the game. Meanwhile,
on the other side, the Bills get the strip sack
of Rogers with Joey Boza to start the third quarter.
Then they get the interception off of Mason Rudoff. They
go down and put points on the board after that.
Definitely two key moments in that second half of the
Bills to come back and beat the Steelers with again
(05:27):
twenty six unanswered points. Only one sack between the two
teams yesterday, and it was the Bills who got the
loan sack of the game on that Joey Boza strip sack.
The Steelers no sacks yesterday, did not get home on
Josh Allen, and they were without their two starting tackles
and Jacob just like the Bears, I don't want to
see that anymore. Play all your starters because anytime during
(05:48):
the week when it's like, hey, our backups are going
to be in, you get excited thinking this could be
an advantage for the Steelers, and now two weeks in
a row they have not been able to take advantage
of that.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
It goes beyond two weeks.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Also, it feels like for years we've heard the narrative of, oh,
the opposing team is going to be without their best
offensive lineman or a couple of their tackles. I remember
a couple of weeks ago when they played the Chargers,
Joe Alt had just been ruled out for the season.
Joe Alt's one of the best offensive linemen in football,
if not maybe the number one guy right now. Of
(06:22):
course he's out to injury. But dating back to that
game too, I mean, forget Chicago. Every single time the
Steelers have an opportunity to really have Alex Heismith and
t J. Watt and Nick herbig eat up on the quarterback.
Due to the mismatch on the offensive line, they're a
no show. Like you said, zero sacks on the day.
This was an opportunity for them to really put pressure
(06:43):
on Josh Allen and keep this game close, because that's
how you keep this game closes by containing him, and
that wasn't the case. I mean, they got into the backfield,
but there was just such an overall lack of pressure
on him. He was just kind of running all over.
James Cook also too, was able to kind of break
away into the secondary multiple times. I think his long
(07:04):
end of the day was thirty five, but he had
a couple that went ten or more yards throughout the day.
So yeah, just an overall terrible day by the pass
rush and rush and run containment as well.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
You know, I put Josh Allen in that Hall of
Fame quarterback room right in current quarterbacks like Patrick Mahomes,
Jalen Hurts, even Tom Brady, you know, the Peyton Mannings
of the world. All these Hall of Fame high performing
quarterbacks do not make very many mistakes. And whether they're
offensive around him, playmakers, their lack of they still find
(07:36):
ways to win football games. So when they make mistakes,
you have to be able to capitalize and when you cannot,
they will make you pay. And that is what happened yesterday.
Allen makes those mistakes in the first half, especially with
the interception, the Steelers cannot convert points after that. Those
are situations that you have to take advantage of when
you play these types of quarterbacks and these types of offenses.
When and that does not happen and you leave that
(07:58):
door Ajar for them to be able to make you pay,
they certainly do.
Speaker 5 (08:01):
And that's what happened yesterday. I want to walk you
through this, Jacob.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
The first four possessions for the Bills yesterday, ready, interception, punt, punt,
fumble on the flip side. For the Steelers, their first
possessions punt, punt and punt on their first three offensive
possessions and then they get the touchdown after the fumble
by James Cooks. They do take advantage of that. However,
they did not take advantage of that opening interception and
(08:24):
the other two possessions by the Bills in the first half,
both leading the punts.
Speaker 5 (08:29):
Now flip it to the second half.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
The Bills fil goal to end the first half, and
then their first two possessions of the second half touchdown, touchdown,
their last field goal, twenty six unanswered points. Meanwhile, on
the other side, for the Steelers, first possession of the
second half, fumble, second interception, third punt, fourth turnover on downs.
Speaker 5 (08:48):
There's your ball game.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
I mean that second half, specifically, that third quarter all
went about as bad as it possibly could have for
the Steelers. There were no positives to take away, there
were no silver linings. It was all bad all the time,
and you can't have that. It's just really unfortunate, simply
because this team was in it. This team was leading
at halftime, but once they came out in the second half,
(09:14):
it was obvious very early on the Bills were excuse me,
taking control and had an easy.
Speaker 4 (09:20):
Path to victory.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Steelers had a good opportunity yesterday, a home game at
Akuscher Stadium, a four to twenty five National Window packed house,
and against an injury stripped Bills offense that was struggling
in recent weeks, and once again, that third quarter meltdown
just flipped a very winnable game for the Steelers, at
least at that point, a winnable game. The injury situation
(09:42):
for the Bills yesterday, they're playing with out there both
starting offensive tackles. Dalton Kincaid, their big tight end was
also out. He's Josh Allen's security blanket that he often
goes to. Allen had been struggling recently. To Jacob eleven sacks,
five interceptions in the last three weeks, but the Steelers
could not get any pre rush or disrupt him. And
then of course there's James Cook. First quarter eight carries
(10:04):
for forty six yards. Halftime he had nineteen carries for
ninety eight yards. Third quarter twenty six touches for one
hundred and fifty one total yards up to that point.
He finishes the game with thirty five rushes one hundred
and seventy seven yards. For James Cook yesterday, Hey, look
we talked about it last week. He's one of the
best in the NFL, the leader when it comes to
(10:25):
running the football. We knew that the Steelers had a
big test against him, but they had responded against Jonathan Taylor,
who was the leading NFL rusher at the time when
they faced him earlier this season from the Colts. There's
been other big running backs that they've faced this year
that they've contained, but facts are facts. James Cook yesterday
four and a half yards per carry every time he
touched the football.
Speaker 4 (10:45):
Yeah, just tough day against a really good running back.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
And it's two weeks in a row now, and you've
had really good rushing attacks that you're being asked to
stop and try to slow down.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
And it's two weeks in a row where you've really struggled.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Last week against Chicago with Kayleb Williams and Deandrest, you
missed the bag on that one, and yesterday James Cook
just never seemed to struggle from from the first quarter run.
I know we were talking about how you came out
of that first half thinking, Okay, this has gone pretty
well as bad as good as it could.
Speaker 4 (11:14):
Have gone considering what we've shown on the field.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
But the defense really even from the get go, was
really struggling to contain Cook, and it just exploded.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
In the second half when they just ran away with it.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Josh Allen yesterday fifteen of twenty three for one hundred
and twenty three yards, a touchdown and an interception. He
was not sacked again with the way the conditions were,
I think the wind speeds were up to thirty to
forty miles per hour at the start of the game
and throughout, so that obviously limited Alan and Rogers or
Rudolph's ability to really throw the football effective. And yesterday
(11:48):
again Alan didn't need much because when you have Cook
at the one hundred and seventy seven yards, you don't
have to throw the ball much. No other Bills receiver
had over twenty eight yards yesterday, So the Steelers did
a good job in their secondary in that aspect. Bill's
three first quarter possessions again and interception, two punts. The
Steelers offense only two first downs.
Speaker 5 (12:07):
In that first half. They just could not get things going.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
That big third quarter collapses we talked about Joey Boza,
the strip sack of Rogers again. Christian Benford a big day.
He scores on the scoop and score of seventeen yards
and the interception on Mason Rudolph. Rudolph again struggled first,
passing complete second one cannot stress it enough. Second week
in a row, throwing across the football field trying to
make a play. This time it was the Darnell Washington
(12:32):
overthrew him. Bedford took took advantage of that with the interception,
and the Bills immediately turn those into touchdowns. Fueled by
Cook again rushing for forty six of the fifty six
yards in six minutes, the Steelers go from a seven
to three lead to a sixteen to seven deficit, eventually
twenty three to seven in the fourth quarter. Third time,
(12:52):
as we said, in a six and five stretch where
the Steelers were clearly outplayed and struggled. The good news
is though, again as we said, six and six tied
for first place in the AFC North. Despite all this
ugly play the week the week chaos of what the
NFL has turned into keeps them alive. Big game next
weekends Baltimore to break the tie in the North, and
again the Ravens coming off a home loss to Cincinnati
(13:14):
where their offense only scored fourteen points despite the Bengals
allowing thirty two points per game going in. Defensively, the
Ravens have had their struggles, Jacob, So there is an
opportunity to still save the twenty twenty five season and
get right this week. A lot of changes are gonna
have to be made as far as getting better, and
I'm sure that starts with this offense.
Speaker 5 (13:34):
Because the defense, they've been up and down.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
It's been a bumpy road, but they've kept them in
a lot of games, including yesterday seven to three at
half time for what it's worth, second half big letdown.
But the offense has got to get things going well.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
I want to ask you this, ed, who has played
the more inconsistent season between the offense and the defense so.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Far, defense, because the offense was averaging twenty five points
per game up until that Chargers game. Now, since the
Chargers game, the offense has been bumpy Rogers and company.
But up until then we were praising this offense one
of the best Steeler offenses we've seen in the last
five years, Jacob. But defensively, you look at how many
games they've given up thirty or more points, including the
opener against the Jets that they still squeaked out a win.
Speaker 5 (14:13):
It's been the defense.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
I think that's and again, the defense is the most
talent too, the big kay right. Yeah, one of the
highest paid defenses in the league. But it's a good question,
good point by you.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
That's the inconsistent So I would assume if already asked
you again who's been the more disappointing unit between the
offensive defense, you would still say the defense.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
I have to yeah, five and four in games that
you met at halftime, you got to hold the lead
in the second half.
Speaker 5 (14:35):
It's unfortunate, but that's where the Steelers currently sit.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Other stats looking yesterday in the Bills twenty six Steelers
seven Jalen Warren ten rushes for thirty five yards only
average three point five yards per Carrie did have that touchdown.
As we mentioned, Kenny Gainwell five carries for twenty yards.
The Steelers as a team eighteen total carries for just
fifty eight yards.
Speaker 5 (14:58):
Eighteen carries.
Speaker 4 (14:59):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
So again they got away from the running game like
they did against Chicago. The dink and dunk passing game
also not effective. Was effective against the Bears last week,
not so much yesterday. The Bills were ready for it,
as Aaron Rodgers goes ten of only twenty one pass
attempts for one hundred and seventeen yards, one sack on
the day, no touchdowns, no interceptions. Mason Rudolph did not
(15:21):
complete a pass, only three pass attempts zero for three,
no yards and interceptions. So the Steelers as a team
one hundred and seventeen passing yards by Aaron Rodgers and
the key stat there, one sack and one interception.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Yeah, it's just it's hard to talk about the offense
just because there was really nothing to talk about. When
you're on the field for eighteen minutes, you're barely out there.
We know that coming into this game and it never
changed after. They have the highest three and out rate
among all offenses among all thirty two offenses in the
(15:54):
NFL this year, and that was clearly on on tape
this this past Sunday against the Bills, because, like you said,
give me the rundown of again of the of the
drives to open up the second.
Speaker 5 (16:08):
Half, head second half for the Steelers or the Bills.
Speaker 4 (16:11):
The Steelers.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
The Steelers second half open up with a fumble, interception,
punt and turnover all downs.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
I mean, just as bad as it gets, right. I
feel like I've said that all days. It's as bad
as it can get for the Steelers on offense, and
it wasn't much better defensively for them in the second half.
I'll give them credit for holding the Bills offense to
only three points in that first half. Uh, But like
I said, it just all came unraveling. It really all
(16:40):
unraveled in that second half. And I think if I
had to pick, I know we were just discussing between
the offense and defense. He's been missing more disappointing, but
I think the more on the season. But I think
the more disappointing performance was by the offense.
Speaker 4 (16:55):
Despite allowing two hundred and forty.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
Yards rushing on defense, I still think the offense only
mustering seven points against the leagues. I believe the Bills
had the worst, if not second worst run defense in
the NFL coming into this game. There was no reason
why you couldn't have used that as your point of attack.
There was no reason why. I think you said eighteen
carries total for the Steelers.
Speaker 4 (17:18):
On the day.
Speaker 5 (17:18):
Yeah, the run gameighteen for fifty eight.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
There's no reason if the bills were that bad defensively
against the run that you should be held to that
few of yards on the day.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Receiving numbers aren't gonna be good because again rogers in
the passing offense only one hundred and seventeen yards will
give them to you anyhow, DK Metcalf five targets, three
catches for thirty two yards. D kyah so DK another
game in which, as I said, I've been saying for
weeks maybe months now going on, you got to get
him into double figures for targets only five yesterday. Darnell
Washington four targets, two catches forty five yards, Kenny Gamewell
(17:52):
two catches for twenty five yards, and a handful of
others with a catcher two which included John Smith, Calvin, Austin,
Roman Wilson, and Ben Scronick. On the other side the
flip side, as we said, Josh Allen one hundred and
twenty three yards passing. We talked about Cook's big day
of one hundred and forty four yards on the ground.
Josh Allen eight carries for thirty eight yards and that
touchdown as well, so that needs to be added into
(18:13):
his day with one hundred and twenty three passing yards
quick out of the backfield, caught three balls for thirty
three yards, knocks three catches for twenty eight yards at
the tight end position. And one note here on keyon Coleman.
He scores after two weeks of disciplinary scratches, so he
had not played the last two games due to disciplinary reasons.
They did not give him a hat. He got a
(18:35):
hat yesterday and he scores that touchdown on the eight
yard reception in the back of the end zone. And
again can't say enough about Benford on defense gets the
fumble recovery for a touchdown, and also the key interception
on Mason Rudolph.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Yeah, absolutely, that key On Coleman play. You could say
that was the nail on the coffin. Even though the
Benford interception I said was a turning point. But once
they got into the end zone off of that, like
I said, they were the Steelers were.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
Up seven to three coming into the second half.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
But then they have an unfortunate stripsack on Aaron Rodgers
that was taken into the end zone.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
It's still only a three point game.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Your defense is fully rested, right, They haven't played a
single snap all the second half. But then your offense
goes right back out there, turns the ball over immediately.
Speaker 4 (19:20):
The Bills capitalize.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
They score on on that drive to Keyon Coleman, and
once they went up sixteen to seven.
Speaker 4 (19:28):
Like I said, I think that was a nail on
the coffin.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
Even though sixteen to seven it's only a two possession game,
you're still technically in it with an entire fourth quarter
to go, essentially, but it didn't matter. Like I said,
they often show no signs of life, whether it was
with Aaron Rodgers, with Mason Rudolph, the game to me
was over before the fourth quarter even began.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Jacob and I are going through our standard report here
on the Steelers standard on a gloomy Monday, very gloomy
not I guess it's victory Monday when they win. We
haven't had one of those in a few weeks, and
now it's a gloomy Monday when lose. Here in week twelve,
Bills twenty six, Steelers seven, let's talk about some defensive
stats for the Steelers, again, trying to squeeze out any
silver linings. Peyton Wilson a total of thirteen tackles yesterday
(20:13):
that lead both teams for total tackles. Jalen Ramsey nine tackles,
the Cam Hayward, we got to talk about Cam eight
tackles to tackle for losses. So Cam, who had been
slow the last few weeks, fired up yesterday, said afterwards
that Josh Allen need him whenever he tackled him, and
that's what kind of prompt him to get in Allen's
face several times throughout that game. Allen on the flip
(20:35):
side said afterwards basically that you know, Cam's a great player,
saying that you know, he thinks highly of him, and
he appreciated him getting fired up and actually fired him up,
as he said Josh Allen said afterwards.
Speaker 5 (20:48):
But Cam said afterwards.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
That he took a knee and he was more upset,
not so much what Allen did, but that quarterbacks are
protected in the league and defensive players are not. So
when that's something like that happens and nothing's called, he
was just pretty much frustrated. I think Cam and that
entire defense frustrated by what happened yesterday. But on a
flip side, Cam eight total tackles and two tackle for losses,
so that was good to see him back on the
(21:11):
defensive score sheet here Kyle Duggar six tackles and a
pass deflection yesterday, Nick Herbik three tackles, two tackle for losses,
and then of course Brendan Eckles, as we said, had
the had one tackle on the day, the big interception
and two pass deflections. Those are your defensive highlights yesterday.
Thoughts on on Cam Hayward and the rest of the
defense yesterday, Jacob, Well.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
Cam, it was unfortunate if what he said was true,
that he was the one called for the flag for
excessive whatever it was after the whistle. Remember, he was
the one that got called for that people, it was
unfortunate to see the captain have that moment of weakness,
especially because that captain in particular, Cam Hayward, has registered
(21:54):
less than two sacks in total on the year. It's
something you and I have been pointing out for a
while now hasn't had a sack and I think nine
games and maybe ten games at this point.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Yeah, he has a sack and a half on the season,
but again that happened early on.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
I think like all one and a half of those
came within the first three weeks, so I think it's
been nine games in which Cam Hayward has gone without.
Speaker 4 (22:17):
Registering the sack TJ.
Speaker 5 (22:19):
Watt.
Speaker 4 (22:20):
I mean, I was pretty quick to move on from
camp to talk about TJ.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
But it's just the natural progression, right You talk about
how Can doesn't show up on the satsheet, and then
you have to do your due diligence and say, well,
neither did TJ. Watt, his co captain on defense. It's
just been a very bad season defensively for the two
of them.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Yeah, watches four tackles Yesterday's right, right, it didn't get
up And again the Steelers as a team yesterday no sacks,
quarterback hits only one and that was Brendan eccles or no,
I'm sorry check that. That was Patrick Queen who had
one quarterback hit on the day and that was it.
And just four tackle for losses as a total for
the defense and no sacks.
Speaker 5 (22:59):
That's definitely not going to get the job done. Speaking
of p Q left.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
The game with that injury a hip injury, did not return,
and James Pierre also left the game with a concussion.
In the protocol, Patrick Queen was a big loss. He's
usually right there with Peyton Wilson of the two inside
linebackers that lead the stats sheet with tackles. He goes
down early does not return, that'll be key to watch
this upcoming week, Jacob. They cannot afford to lose Patrick
(23:25):
Queen in the middle of that defense, and when he
went out yesterday, that certainly might not have been the
deciding factor for the defense unraveling in the second half,
but it certainly didn't help when you don't have Patrick.
Speaker 5 (23:34):
Queen in there.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
No, it doesn't, but clearly it didn't matter. Right the
sewers were struggling even with him out there. But hopefully
moving forward if you can get him back like that's
going to be a huge loss if you're playing without
him week after week.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
And James Pierre and the concussion protocol, and how about
that Darius Slay a healthy scratch yesterday, did not dress yesterday,
and James Pierre gets the start opposite side of Joey
Porter Junior and a Sante Samuel Junior activate for the
first time this season, and he is on the stat
sheet from yesterday. He had three total tackles in his
first game as a Pittsburgh Steelers. So they're slowly starting
(24:11):
to get Samuel. That was his first game action in
over a year in the NFL period, let alone with
the Steelers yesterday. It was good to see them finally
activate Samuel. And I think a key side note there
was some reporting out there over the weekend. Again he
was on the Steelers practice squad, so he could be
picked up by another NFL team if it is to
their active roster, and there were some runlings out there
(24:32):
that there were some.
Speaker 5 (24:32):
Teams potentially looking at Samuel.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
So good thing that the Steelers do put him on
the fifty three and activate him yesterday as he's now
protected on that fifty three man roster and made an impact.
Speaker 5 (24:41):
Like I said, three tackles yesterday.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
With James Pierre going out, it was good to have
that death at that cornerback position.
Speaker 4 (24:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (24:49):
And one other note too, Joey Boza.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Big day for the Buffalo Bills yesterday, as we said,
only two tackles, but of course the big tackle for
loss and then the big sack on the force fumble
recovery or force fumble rather on the sack on.
Speaker 5 (25:04):
Aaron Rodgers Rady to say Mason Rudolph.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
It was Rudolph on the next possession on his second
pass attempt that throws the interception. When Jacob and I
come back, we'll get into our renegade review and go
around the AFC North, the AFC and the NFL to
get you through this week. The good news, if there
is any here on a gloomy Monday, is the Steelers
are tied for first. They have a slight disadvantage half game,
(25:27):
if you will, because of a two to one AFC
North Divisional record behind the Baltimore Ravens, who are in
first place. They play him this Sunday at one o'clock
and have an opportunity here in the final weeks with
two games against the Ravens to still see how this
AFC North race plays out again. When we come back,
it'll be into our renegade review. It is the Steeler
(25:48):
standard with Ed Troop and Jacob Brect here on Steelers
Nation Radio, part of the Steelers Audio Network
Play action patch. Rudolf back looking surveying, throwing left and
intended for Washington and intercepted on the overthrow, and it
is Bentford who already has a touchdown. Now he comes
up with an interception at the forty four yard line
of the Steelers.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Back here on the Steelers Standard, I am at Troop
alongside Jacob Brett here on Steelers Nation Radio, part of
the Steelers Audio Network. You just heard the play by
play call by our good friend Rob King and Max
Starks and Missy Matthews on the call yesterday on the
Steelers Audio Network. And yeah, Jacob, that was another moment.
That was another gloomy moment here on a gloomy Monday. Again,
(00:47):
we're trying to polish this up a little bit and
make you feel a bit better as the week goes on.
Flush this game, get it out of your system. I
think the thing that everyone is struggling with here this
morning is what is happened the last few weeks. Right,
they haven't been close games and you know, maybe one
score games that you barely lose. I guess you can
make that case for the Bears game, but games in
(01:09):
which the Steelers have controlled again five and four on
the season, and games in which they led at halftime,
including yesterday.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Yeah, they just there is no rhyme or reason to it.
If they have the lead, it's a fifty to fifty shot.
It seems like for them to hold on to it
if they are trailing at halftime. What you said, they
were one and two in those games, Yep, so it's
even less likely that they'll come back and win those games.
It's just I think the narrative of the season is
inconsistency and disappointments. And that's fair to put point on
(01:40):
the offense, the defense, the coaching staff, you can even
say the front office for putting together a team that
they thought was going to be capable of trotting out
a really old Darius Lay cornerback, a wide receiver corps
without a true number two to compliment DK Metcalf. Using
a third round draft pick on a guy in Caleb
(02:02):
Johnson who's had what less than twenty snaps all year long.
Speaker 4 (02:06):
It feels like that. Yeah, everyone is to.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Blame here for the product you've seen through twelve games
so far.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Let's get into our standard report key stats in Week twelve,
Bills twenty six Steelers seven. We'll start with my key
stats to victory. Jacob will go through the overall team
stats of yesterday's game, and again, not good for the
Black and Gold. Total yards. We've talked about this already
here this morning. The Bills three hundred and seventy two
total yards to the Steelers, one sixty six first downs,
(02:35):
Bills twenty six to the Steelers ten.
Speaker 5 (02:38):
Time of possession and you mentioned.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
It already, the Bills forty one minutes and fifty nine
seconds to the Steelers eighteen minutes.
Speaker 5 (02:46):
And just one second.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Wow, that's you don't have any chance in football games
if you lose any of these categories. But how about
time of possession? When you lose that badly, not going
to be a good outcome. And we talked about the Bills,
and give give credit the Buffalo a lot of those
scoring drives late in the game yesterday, and I'm just
going to go through them quickly.
Speaker 5 (03:07):
The let's see the uh.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
We'll start with the keyon Coleman one yard touchdown in
the third quarter that ate up just four minutes and
twenty seven seconds. Here are the two I want to highlight,
the fourth quarter scores by the Bills, the Josh Allen
eight yard rushing touchdown eight up, eight minutes and fourteen
seconds on the clock, and even the field goal just
a minute seven left was fourteen play seventy two yard,
nine minutes and four seconds off the clock. Scoring drives
(03:32):
that's how you put teams away in the fourth quarter.
Two scoring drives that basically eat up the entire fourth quarter,
and that's why they go on to win. The time
of position, as we said, forty one to fifty nine
to eighteen oh one. Penalties not bad again for the
black and Goal yesterday. Steelers five penalties for sixty seven yards.
Speaker 5 (03:47):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Bills meanwhile, seven penalties for forty five total yards. Third
down conversions Bill's very good yesterday over fifty percent eight
to fifteen to fifty three percent. Steelers only three of
nine and thirty three percent. A special note on fourth
down conversions Bills two of two at one hundred percent,
Steelers zero for one.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
Yeah, just really bad. I mean, there's no sugarcoating it there.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Pretty Much everything that went wrong or that could have
gone wrong for the Steelers went wrong, and pretty much
everything that went right they could have gone right for
the Bills did go right, Like you said, Steelers couldnt
stop Josh Allen on third down, they could not convert
their own third downs. Time in possession was as bad
as it was, as bad as it could ever be.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
They could only take advantage of the turnovers.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
And then after going a whole first half without giving
the ball away, they have what two turnovers on what
four plays or the course of four plays so to
start the second half, and that really set the tone
for the rest of the day.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
So, yeah, two crucial turnovers in the second half of
the Steelers the interception and then the fumble by Aaron
Rodgers to start the quarter, and then the interception by
Mason Rudolph Bills. Meanwhile, their two interceptions came in the
first half, within the first quarter. It was almost a
flip flop of a script, right, Steelers early on producing
a couple turnovers. Though they couldn't score off of the first,
(05:07):
the Brendan Eckles interception, they did take advantage of the
James Cook fumble going down, scoring their only touchdown the game. Meanwhile,
on the other side, the Bills get the strip sack
of Rogers with Joey Boza to start the third quarter.
Then they get the interception off of Mason Rudoff. They
go down and put points on the board after that.
Definitely two key moments in that second half of the
Bills to come back and beat the Steelers with again
(05:27):
twenty six unanswered points. Only one sack between the two
teams yesterday, and it was the Bills who got the
loan sack of the game on that Joey Boza strip sack.
The Steelers no sacks yesterday, did not get home on
Josh Allen, and they were without their two starting tackles
and Jacob just like the Bears, I don't want to
see that anymore. Play all your starters because anytime during
(05:48):
the week when it's like, hey, our backups are going
to be in, you get excited thinking this could be
an advantage for the Steelers, and now two weeks in
a row they have not been able to take advantage
of that.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
It goes beyond two weeks.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Also, it feels like for years we've heard the narrative of, oh,
the opposing team is going to be without their best
offensive lineman or a couple of their tackles. I remember
a couple of weeks ago when they played the Chargers,
Joe Alt had just been ruled out for the season.
Joe Alt's one of the best offensive linemen in football,
if not maybe the number one guy right now. Of
(06:22):
course he's out to injury. But dating back to that
game too, I mean, forget Chicago. Every single time the
Steelers have an opportunity to really have Alex Heismith and
t J. Watt and Nick herbig eat up on the quarterback.
Due to the mismatch on the offensive line, they're a
no show. Like you said, zero sacks on the day.
This was an opportunity for them to really put pressure
(06:43):
on Josh Allen and keep this game close, because that's
how you keep this game closes by containing him, and
that wasn't the case. I mean, they got into the backfield,
but there was just such an overall lack of pressure
on him. He was just kind of running all over.
James Cook also too, was able to kind of break
away into the secondary multiple times. I think his long
(07:04):
end of the day was thirty five, but he had
a couple that went ten or more yards throughout the day.
So yeah, just an overall terrible day by the pass
rush and rush and run containment as well.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
You know, I put Josh Allen in that Hall of
Fame quarterback room right in current quarterbacks like Patrick Mahomes,
Jalen Hurts, even Tom Brady, you know, the Peyton Mannings
of the world. All these Hall of Fame high performing
quarterbacks do not make very many mistakes. And whether they're
offensive around him, playmakers, their lack of they still find
(07:36):
ways to win football games. So when they make mistakes,
you have to be able to capitalize and when you cannot,
they will make you pay. And that is what happened yesterday.
Allen makes those mistakes in the first half, especially with
the interception, the Steelers cannot convert points after that. Those
are situations that you have to take advantage of when
you play these types of quarterbacks and these types of offenses.
When and that does not happen and you leave that
(07:58):
door Ajar for them to be able to make you pay,
they certainly do.
Speaker 5 (08:01):
And that's what happened yesterday. I want to walk you
through this, Jacob.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
The first four possessions for the Bills yesterday, ready, interception, punt, punt,
fumble on the flip side. For the Steelers, their first
possessions punt, punt and punt on their first three offensive
possessions and then they get the touchdown after the fumble
by James Cooks. They do take advantage of that. However,
they did not take advantage of that opening interception and
(08:24):
the other two possessions by the Bills in the first half,
both leading the punts.
Speaker 5 (08:29):
Now flip it to the second half.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
The Bills fil goal to end the first half, and
then their first two possessions of the second half touchdown, touchdown,
their last field goal, twenty six unanswered points. Meanwhile, on
the other side, for the Steelers, first possession of the
second half, fumble, second interception, third punt, fourth turnover on downs.
Speaker 5 (08:48):
There's your ball game.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
I mean that second half, specifically, that third quarter all
went about as bad as it possibly could have for
the Steelers. There were no positives to take away, there
were no silver linings. It was all bad all the time,
and you can't have that. It's just really unfortunate, simply
because this team was in it. This team was leading
at halftime, but once they came out in the second half,
(09:14):
it was obvious very early on the Bills were excuse me,
taking control and had an easy.
Speaker 4 (09:20):
Path to victory.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Steelers had a good opportunity yesterday, a home game at
Akuscher Stadium, a four to twenty five National Window packed house,
and against an injury stripped Bills offense that was struggling
in recent weeks, and once again, that third quarter meltdown
just flipped a very winnable game for the Steelers, at
least at that point, a winnable game. The injury situation
(09:42):
for the Bills yesterday, they're playing with out there both
starting offensive tackles. Dalton Kincaid, their big tight end was
also out. He's Josh Allen's security blanket that he often
goes to. Allen had been struggling recently. To Jacob eleven sacks,
five interceptions in the last three weeks, but the Steelers
could not get any pre rush or disrupt him. And
then of course there's James Cook. First quarter eight carries
(10:04):
for forty six yards. Halftime he had nineteen carries for
ninety eight yards. Third quarter twenty six touches for one
hundred and fifty one total yards up to that point.
He finishes the game with thirty five rushes one hundred
and seventy seven yards. For James Cook yesterday, Hey, look
we talked about it last week. He's one of the
best in the NFL, the leader when it comes to
(10:25):
running the football. We knew that the Steelers had a
big test against him, but they had responded against Jonathan Taylor,
who was the leading NFL rusher at the time when
they faced him earlier this season from the Colts. There's
been other big running backs that they've faced this year
that they've contained, but facts are facts. James Cook yesterday
four and a half yards per carry every time he
touched the football.
Speaker 4 (10:45):
Yeah, just tough day against a really good running back.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
And it's two weeks in a row now, and you've
had really good rushing attacks that you're being asked to
stop and try to slow down.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
And it's two weeks in a row where you've really struggled.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Last week against Chicago with Kayleb Williams and Deandrest, you
missed the bag on that one, and yesterday James Cook
just never seemed to struggle from from the first quarter run.
I know we were talking about how you came out
of that first half thinking, Okay, this has gone pretty
well as bad as good as it could.
Speaker 4 (11:14):
Have gone considering what we've shown on the field.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
But the defense really even from the get go, was
really struggling to contain Cook, and it just exploded.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
In the second half when they just ran away with it.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Josh Allen yesterday fifteen of twenty three for one hundred
and twenty three yards, a touchdown and an interception. He
was not sacked again with the way the conditions were,
I think the wind speeds were up to thirty to
forty miles per hour at the start of the game
and throughout, so that obviously limited Alan and Rogers or
Rudolph's ability to really throw the football effective. And yesterday
(11:48):
again Alan didn't need much because when you have Cook
at the one hundred and seventy seven yards, you don't
have to throw the ball much. No other Bills receiver
had over twenty eight yards yesterday, So the Steelers did
a good job in their secondary in that aspect. Bill's
three first quarter possessions again and interception, two punts. The
Steelers offense only two first downs.
Speaker 5 (12:07):
In that first half. They just could not get things going.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
That big third quarter collapses we talked about Joey Boza,
the strip sack of Rogers again. Christian Benford a big day.
He scores on the scoop and score of seventeen yards
and the interception on Mason Rudolph. Rudolph again struggled first,
passing complete second one cannot stress it enough. Second week
in a row, throwing across the football field trying to
make a play. This time it was the Darnell Washington
(12:32):
overthrew him. Bedford took took advantage of that with the interception,
and the Bills immediately turn those into touchdowns. Fueled by
Cook again rushing for forty six of the fifty six
yards in six minutes, the Steelers go from a seven
to three lead to a sixteen to seven deficit, eventually
twenty three to seven in the fourth quarter. Third time,
(12:52):
as we said, in a six and five stretch where
the Steelers were clearly outplayed and struggled. The good news
is though, again as we said, six and six tied
for first place in the AFC North. Despite all this
ugly play the week the week chaos of what the
NFL has turned into keeps them alive. Big game next
weekends Baltimore to break the tie in the North, and
again the Ravens coming off a home loss to Cincinnati
(13:14):
where their offense only scored fourteen points despite the Bengals
allowing thirty two points per game going in. Defensively, the
Ravens have had their struggles, Jacob, So there is an
opportunity to still save the twenty twenty five season and
get right this week. A lot of changes are gonna
have to be made as far as getting better, and
I'm sure that starts with this offense.
Speaker 5 (13:34):
Because the defense, they've been up and down.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
It's been a bumpy road, but they've kept them in
a lot of games, including yesterday seven to three at
half time for what it's worth, second half big letdown.
But the offense has got to get things going well.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
I want to ask you this, ed, who has played
the more inconsistent season between the offense and the defense so.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Far, defense, because the offense was averaging twenty five points
per game up until that Chargers game. Now, since the
Chargers game, the offense has been bumpy Rogers and company.
But up until then we were praising this offense one
of the best Steeler offenses we've seen in the last
five years, Jacob. But defensively, you look at how many
games they've given up thirty or more points, including the
opener against the Jets that they still squeaked out a win.
Speaker 5 (14:13):
It's been the defense.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
I think that's and again, the defense is the most
talent too, the big kay right. Yeah, one of the
highest paid defenses in the league. But it's a good question,
good point by you.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
That's the inconsistent So I would assume if already asked
you again who's been the more disappointing unit between the
offensive defense, you would still say the defense.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
I have to yeah, five and four in games that
you met at halftime, you got to hold the lead
in the second half.
Speaker 5 (14:35):
It's unfortunate, but that's where the Steelers currently sit.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Other stats looking yesterday in the Bills twenty six Steelers
seven Jalen Warren ten rushes for thirty five yards only
average three point five yards per Carrie did have that touchdown.
As we mentioned, Kenny Gainwell five carries for twenty yards.
The Steelers as a team eighteen total carries for just
fifty eight yards.
Speaker 5 (14:58):
Eighteen carries.
Speaker 4 (14:59):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
So again they got away from the running game like
they did against Chicago. The dink and dunk passing game
also not effective. Was effective against the Bears last week,
not so much yesterday. The Bills were ready for it,
as Aaron Rodgers goes ten of only twenty one pass
attempts for one hundred and seventeen yards, one sack on
the day, no touchdowns, no interceptions. Mason Rudolph did not
(15:21):
complete a pass, only three pass attempts zero for three,
no yards and interceptions. So the Steelers as a team
one hundred and seventeen passing yards by Aaron Rodgers and
the key stat there, one sack and one interception.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Yeah, it's just it's hard to talk about the offense
just because there was really nothing to talk about. When
you're on the field for eighteen minutes, you're barely out there.
We know that coming into this game and it never
changed after. They have the highest three and out rate
among all offenses among all thirty two offenses in the
(15:54):
NFL this year, and that was clearly on on tape
this this past Sunday against the Bills, because, like you said,
give me the rundown of again of the of the
drives to open up the second.
Speaker 5 (16:08):
Half, head second half for the Steelers or the Bills.
Speaker 4 (16:11):
The Steelers.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
The Steelers second half open up with a fumble, interception,
punt and turnover all downs.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
I mean, just as bad as it gets, right. I
feel like I've said that all days. It's as bad
as it can get for the Steelers on offense, and
it wasn't much better defensively for them in the second half.
I'll give them credit for holding the Bills offense to
only three points in that first half. Uh, But like
I said, it just all came unraveling. It really all
(16:40):
unraveled in that second half. And I think if I
had to pick, I know we were just discussing between
the offense and defense. He's been missing more disappointing, but
I think the more on the season. But I think
the more disappointing performance was by the offense.
Speaker 4 (16:55):
Despite allowing two hundred and forty.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
Yards rushing on defense, I still think the offense only
mustering seven points against the leagues. I believe the Bills
had the worst, if not second worst run defense in
the NFL coming into this game. There was no reason
why you couldn't have used that as your point of attack.
There was no reason why. I think you said eighteen
carries total for the Steelers.
Speaker 4 (17:18):
On the day.
Speaker 5 (17:18):
Yeah, the run gameighteen for fifty eight.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
There's no reason if the bills were that bad defensively
against the run that you should be held to that
few of yards on the day.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Receiving numbers aren't gonna be good because again rogers in
the passing offense only one hundred and seventeen yards will
give them to you anyhow, DK Metcalf five targets, three
catches for thirty two yards. D kyah so DK another
game in which, as I said, I've been saying for
weeks maybe months now going on, you got to get
him into double figures for targets only five yesterday. Darnell
Washington four targets, two catches forty five yards, Kenny Gamewell
(17:52):
two catches for twenty five yards, and a handful of
others with a catcher two which included John Smith, Calvin, Austin,
Roman Wilson, and Ben Scronick. On the other side the
flip side, as we said, Josh Allen one hundred and
twenty three yards passing. We talked about Cook's big day
of one hundred and forty four yards on the ground.
Josh Allen eight carries for thirty eight yards and that
touchdown as well, so that needs to be added into
(18:13):
his day with one hundred and twenty three passing yards
quick out of the backfield, caught three balls for thirty
three yards, knocks three catches for twenty eight yards at
the tight end position. And one note here on keyon Coleman.
He scores after two weeks of disciplinary scratches, so he
had not played the last two games due to disciplinary reasons.
They did not give him a hat. He got a
(18:35):
hat yesterday and he scores that touchdown on the eight
yard reception in the back of the end zone. And
again can't say enough about Benford on defense gets the
fumble recovery for a touchdown, and also the key interception
on Mason Rudolph.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Yeah, absolutely, that key On Coleman play. You could say
that was the nail on the coffin. Even though the
Benford interception I said was a turning point. But once
they got into the end zone off of that, like
I said, they were the Steelers were.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
Up seven to three coming into the second half.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
But then they have an unfortunate stripsack on Aaron Rodgers
that was taken into the end zone.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
It's still only a three point game.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Your defense is fully rested, right, They haven't played a
single snap all the second half. But then your offense
goes right back out there, turns the ball over immediately.
Speaker 4 (19:20):
The Bills capitalize.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
They score on on that drive to Keyon Coleman, and
once they went up sixteen to seven.
Speaker 4 (19:28):
Like I said, I think that was a nail on
the coffin.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
Even though sixteen to seven it's only a two possession game,
you're still technically in it with an entire fourth quarter
to go, essentially, but it didn't matter. Like I said,
they often show no signs of life, whether it was
with Aaron Rodgers, with Mason Rudolph, the game to me
was over before the fourth quarter even began.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Jacob and I are going through our standard report here
on the Steelers standard on a gloomy Monday, very gloomy
not I guess it's victory Monday when they win. We
haven't had one of those in a few weeks, and
now it's a gloomy Monday when lose. Here in week twelve,
Bills twenty six, Steelers seven, let's talk about some defensive
stats for the Steelers, again, trying to squeeze out any
silver linings. Peyton Wilson a total of thirteen tackles yesterday
(20:13):
that lead both teams for total tackles. Jalen Ramsey nine tackles,
the Cam Hayward, we got to talk about Cam eight
tackles to tackle for losses. So Cam, who had been
slow the last few weeks, fired up yesterday, said afterwards
that Josh Allen need him whenever he tackled him, and
that's what kind of prompt him to get in Allen's
face several times throughout that game. Allen on the flip
(20:35):
side said afterwards basically that you know, Cam's a great player,
saying that you know, he thinks highly of him, and
he appreciated him getting fired up and actually fired him up,
as he said Josh Allen said afterwards.
Speaker 5 (20:48):
But Cam said afterwards.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
That he took a knee and he was more upset,
not so much what Allen did, but that quarterbacks are
protected in the league and defensive players are not. So
when that's something like that happens and nothing's called, he
was just pretty much frustrated. I think Cam and that
entire defense frustrated by what happened yesterday. But on a
flip side, Cam eight total tackles and two tackle for losses,
so that was good to see him back on the
(21:11):
defensive score sheet here Kyle Duggar six tackles and a
pass deflection yesterday, Nick Herbik three tackles, two tackle for losses,
and then of course Brendan Eckles, as we said, had
the had one tackle on the day, the big interception
and two pass deflections. Those are your defensive highlights yesterday.
Thoughts on on Cam Hayward and the rest of the
defense yesterday, Jacob, Well.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
Cam, it was unfortunate if what he said was true,
that he was the one called for the flag for
excessive whatever it was after the whistle. Remember, he was
the one that got called for that people, it was
unfortunate to see the captain have that moment of weakness,
especially because that captain in particular, Cam Hayward, has registered
(21:54):
less than two sacks in total on the year. It's
something you and I have been pointing out for a
while now hasn't had a sack and I think nine
games and maybe ten games at this point.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Yeah, he has a sack and a half on the season,
but again that happened early on.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
I think like all one and a half of those
came within the first three weeks, so I think it's
been nine games in which Cam Hayward has gone without.
Speaker 4 (22:17):
Registering the sack TJ.
Speaker 5 (22:19):
Watt.
Speaker 4 (22:20):
I mean, I was pretty quick to move on from
camp to talk about TJ.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
But it's just the natural progression, right You talk about
how Can doesn't show up on the satsheet, and then
you have to do your due diligence and say, well,
neither did TJ. Watt, his co captain on defense. It's
just been a very bad season defensively for the two
of them.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Yeah, watches four tackles Yesterday's right, right, it didn't get
up And again the Steelers as a team yesterday no sacks,
quarterback hits only one and that was Brendan eccles or no,
I'm sorry check that. That was Patrick Queen who had
one quarterback hit on the day and that was it.
And just four tackle for losses as a total for
the defense and no sacks.
Speaker 5 (22:59):
That's definitely not going to get the job done. Speaking
of p Q left.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
The game with that injury a hip injury, did not return,
and James Pierre also left the game with a concussion.
In the protocol, Patrick Queen was a big loss. He's
usually right there with Peyton Wilson of the two inside
linebackers that lead the stats sheet with tackles. He goes
down early does not return, that'll be key to watch
this upcoming week, Jacob. They cannot afford to lose Patrick
(23:25):
Queen in the middle of that defense, and when he
went out yesterday, that certainly might not have been the
deciding factor for the defense unraveling in the second half,
but it certainly didn't help when you don't have Patrick.
Speaker 5 (23:34):
Queen in there.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
No, it doesn't, but clearly it didn't matter. Right the
sewers were struggling even with him out there. But hopefully
moving forward if you can get him back like that's
going to be a huge loss if you're playing without
him week after week.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
And James Pierre and the concussion protocol, and how about
that Darius Slay a healthy scratch yesterday, did not dress yesterday,
and James Pierre gets the start opposite side of Joey
Porter Junior and a Sante Samuel Junior activate for the
first time this season, and he is on the stat
sheet from yesterday. He had three total tackles in his
first game as a Pittsburgh Steelers. So they're slowly starting
(24:11):
to get Samuel. That was his first game action in
over a year in the NFL period, let alone with
the Steelers yesterday. It was good to see them finally
activate Samuel. And I think a key side note there
was some reporting out there over the weekend. Again he
was on the Steelers practice squad, so he could be
picked up by another NFL team if it is to
their active roster, and there were some runlings out there
(24:32):
that there were some.
Speaker 5 (24:32):
Teams potentially looking at Samuel.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
So good thing that the Steelers do put him on
the fifty three and activate him yesterday as he's now
protected on that fifty three man roster and made an impact.
Speaker 5 (24:41):
Like I said, three tackles yesterday.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
With James Pierre going out, it was good to have
that death at that cornerback position.
Speaker 4 (24:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (24:49):
And one other note too, Joey Boza.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Big day for the Buffalo Bills yesterday, as we said,
only two tackles, but of course the big tackle for
loss and then the big sack on the force fumble
recovery or force fumble rather on the sack on.
Speaker 5 (25:04):
Aaron Rodgers Rady to say Mason Rudolph.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
It was Rudolph on the next possession on his second
pass attempt that throws the interception. When Jacob and I
come back, we'll get into our renegade review and go
around the AFC North, the AFC and the NFL to
get you through this week. The good news, if there
is any here on a gloomy Monday, is the Steelers
are tied for first. They have a slight disadvantage half game,
(25:27):
if you will, because of a two to one AFC
North Divisional record behind the Baltimore Ravens, who are in
first place. They play him this Sunday at one o'clock
and have an opportunity here in the final weeks with
two games against the Ravens to still see how this
AFC North race plays out again. When we come back,
it'll be into our renegade review. It is the Steeler
(25:48):
standard with Ed Troop and Jacob Brect here on Steelers
Nation Radio, part of the Steelers Audio Network
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