October 23, 2025 • 27 mins
Ray Fittpaldo of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette joins Jacob and Ed to discuss how the Steelers secondary and the defensive front have managed to play so far below expectations and have a massive task ahead on Sunday night against the Packers.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Back here on the Steelers Standard. I am a troop
alongside Jacob brect here on Steelers Nation Radio, part of
the Steelers Audio Network. It's time for our Steelers Spotlight
segment with Ray Filpaldo from the Pittsburgh Post Cazette. Ray,
good morning, How are you welcome back from Cincinnati? Are
you ready for Green Bay?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Good morning guys. Yeah, quite at night last week in Cincinnati,
another primetime game. Maybe the Steelers can pull it out
in the last second this time instead of out letting
it go in the last second they did against the Bengals.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Ray, my first opening question to you is is last
week's disappointment to thirty three to thirty one loss to
the Bengals. Do you think this is just a blimp
on the radar, a speed bump in their season, or
we backed what we saw during those last five games
of last year to end the twenty twenty four season.
Because last Thursday night felt a lot like that.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Yeah did. From a defensive standpoint, I'm not going to
downplay that. A lot of the same issues to keep
popping up, you know, the inability to get off the
field on third downs. They're among the worst in the NFL.
At the third down conversion percentage against the run defense
continues to be a problem. That looked like they might
(01:21):
have had that fixed, but it continues to be an issue.
That the Bengals were the worst team in the NFL
entering that game, and Chase Brown had had a career
night against the Steelers. So yes, from a defensive standpoint,
obviously a step back, guys. If you want to put
(01:42):
a positive spin on it, I think we can. The
offense is on the verge of being a top ten
scoring offense. They've been really good all year, scoring in
the red zone. Aaron Rodgers looks really good. Fourteen touchdown passes,
tied for the AFC lead with the guy by the
name of Patrick Mahomes. So I don't want to think
(02:03):
we're back to where we were, guys, But I think
there's some negatives that came out of that game, but
there's certainly some positives as well.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Absolutely, Ray, you touched on it.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
With the offense, the running games getting better each and
every week. There were no sacks in the last two
games by the offensive line in early two in the
last four games. If you look back prior to the
Patriots game and the Vikings game.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
But back to the defense Ray, as we're talking about it.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
The secondary got beat for three hundred and forty two
yards three touchdowns last week. No interceptions. They only have
five interceptions in six games so far this season. It's
by five different players, so it's quite spread out.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Is the issue.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
The main issue on defense right now? A leaky secondary?
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Well yeah, I mean the run defense plays into that
as well, because teams are able to, you know, certainly
open it up and it's easier for the quarterbacks when
the linebackers are backing off rather than to force the run.
But yeah, I mean, listen, they went out and got
Jalen Ramsey, paying him over twenty million a year. Darius
(03:08):
Lay on the books for ten million, and you know,
Ramsey's played well at times, but certainly at against the
Bengals that was not his best game. Same thing with Slay.
So they poured a lot of money into that secondary.
They revamped it. You know, they traded away make of Fitzpatrick,
so you know, they we thought maybe things might be different,
(03:32):
but again we're seeing some of the same old stuff.
So hopefully they can get that rectified. It does make
a difference playing at home crowd noise will be a factor.
But the fact of the matter is the Packers are
I think eighth in the NFL scoring. They've got a
really good quarterback of their own in Jordan Love, and
that's a very dangerous offense come into town.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Yeah it is.
Speaker 4 (03:55):
I mean, I guess the only silver lining when you
have when you talk about the secondary and their potential
this Sunday night, is they're not going up against one
of the best in the league this year.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Right.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
We've seen them struggle against JSN and Seattle, Jefferson and
Addison in Minnesota, and then of course last Thursday with
Higgins and Jamar Chase. But when they were up against
Garrett Wilson in New York, when there was just one guy,
they did pretty well, right, and Garret Wilson obviously not
having as good of a year. And then in New
England Stefan Diggs, you know, fifty five year old Stefan Diggs,
(04:27):
and whoever else. I guess you could say that the
tight ends really burned him. Hunter Henry specifically, I don't
know which receiver to you stands out in Green Bay.
Tucker Craft pretty pretty good tight end. But I guess
the only thing I can say about the secondary that
that could be on a positive spin is that there
isn't that X fact, there isn't There isn't that top
(04:49):
tier receiver or tight end option that the Packers have.
But still, I mean they have they have plenty of
weapons to go around, like you were saying, So I
don't really know if that silver lining is is legitimate
or not.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Well, they're a little bit like the Steelers. I mean,
obviously the Steelers have a guy like DK Metcalf, but they
you know, they distribute the ball and Aaron Rodgers like
Jordan Love does a really good job of spreading the
wealth around. I would say even more into this game.
Going into this game, guys, I think their focus and
this is the case every week, it's just how they operate.
(05:24):
They want to shut down Josh Jacobs first, and they
feel like if it can shut down that running game,
get Jordan Love in the third and long situations, they
feel like that's the way they're going to ultimately get
out of this defensive fuck. Now. I say that knowing
they gave up a third and ten against the Bengals
and a third and fourteen that cannot happen. That's not
(05:45):
Steelers defense. But they feel like if they can continue
to get teams in the circumstances in the end, when
it all comes out in the wash, they're going to
be more successful than not.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
I uh, ray, I mean it's just the defense overall.
I saw this morning that Mike Tomlin in his first
five years as head coach, he didn't have a defense
that ranked below fifth overall, and in the last six
years they haven't been better than twelve. So to your point,
I mean, what what could actually change? Like you were
(06:18):
saying to start the segment. Yeah, they threw a lot
of money by bringing in slay By, by bringing in Ramsey,
by drafting Harmon, But you can you can throw as
much money at the wall as you want. If the
if the personnel isn't right, if the scheme isn't right,
at the coaching isn't right, these are the results you're
gonna get.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Yeah, Listen, they're giving up three hundred and seventy five
yards per game. I think there's only four teams in
the NFL who are giving up more. Now, you listened
to the central coordinator, Tarrell Austin, He'll tell you he
looks at other metrics. You know, he'll tell you. The
red zone defense has been good obviously, the turnovers and
you know, being able to you know, create those and
(06:58):
stops teams from the completing those drives have been huge.
But in the end, the more yards you give up,
that's more opportunities for other things to score and to
score touchdowns. And guys, you saw it against the Bengals.
When you're not creating turnovers, when you're not stopping around,
when you're not getting off the field, those yards duke come.
(07:20):
So they got to do a much step better job
overall without a turnover. Now for two weeks, two games,
that long stretch, yep for the Steelers. So they got
to get that turned around. And you know, we'll see
if what happens this week against the Packers.
Speaker 4 (07:34):
So you you reference the name Tara Austin, I don't
know if you have any thoughts on the job he's done.
Is it hard to blame him when we all know
that Mike Tomlin has his fingerprints all over this defense
and has that's been his mo since he came in
with the organization since two thousand and seven, or especially
(07:55):
in since two thousand and what fourteen or fifteen when
Keith Butler took over for Dick Lebow. Is it fair
to blame Austin like you were saying, I mean, he's
he doesn't seem to be panicking at all, Like you said,
he's not looking at those metric as are those statistics
as a metric to grade his defense?
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Yeah, listen, they're they're coaches in the NFL for a
long time, Mike, Tom and Austin. They're not going to
panic after won that game. I think the thing you
want to look at is just we saw last season
the defense played really well for about ten weeks and
then it kind of fell off the cliff. They still
(08:36):
have time to turn this around. You know. Maybe it's
not Yeah, maybe it's not Jalen Ramsey walking in on
Jamar Chase. Maybe he's not like a quote unquote shutdown
corner anymore. But you saw against the Jets he closed
that game out. You've seen it in other games this year.
He's still a very youthful player. So now I think
it's about okay. Maybe his skills have minis a little bit.
(09:01):
He could still be a very good slot. He could
still play safety. Now let's go find other pieces that
really fit. You know, obviously, Jolie Porter has to play better.
I brought this up this week with the Post Gazette.
Maybe Corey Trice comes off the IR at some point
and he could be a guy that maybe you put
in there more, maybe in place of Sleigh or somebody else.
(09:22):
Maybe Brandon Eckles gets a little bit more playing time
in place of Sleigh, who struggled a little bit against
the Bengals as well. So my point is there's time
to get this rectified. You want to be playing your
best football in December and January. And I know it
didn't look good on Thursday night, but maybe they still
have some time to get things straightened out.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
We're talking with Ray Philpaldo from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette
or Steeler Insider. Make sure you check out Ray's excellent
coverage of the Pittsburgh Steelers each and every day on
the PG. Ray, I hate to keep hammering on this defense,
but that's what makes good for sports talk radio right now.
Not so much the offense is the d that had
a lot of issues last week. I referenced earlier a
leaky secondary, which, as you and I get older, that
(10:05):
sounds more like a health condition than anything Jacob's young,
he doesn't have to worry about that type of stuff yet.
But back to Joey Porter Junior in that leaky secondary
you just mentioned him a bit of go ray. He's
under a lot of criticism right now, a lot of
pass interference calls over the last course of the year,
or even going back throughout most of his career slow
starting only three games, played, eleven tackles, four pass deflections,
(10:28):
and that is it. He's been more on the radar
for penalties rather than the plays he's making. What do
you do with Joey Porter Junior.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
I gotta keep unning him out there. You got to
make a call on him. They got on the side
by the spring or the summer. Are they going to
give him a new contract or are they just going
to let this play out? You know, boss to have
a prove it year in twenty twenty six, in the
final year of his deal. So he's talented, he's big,
(10:57):
he's about all the attributes you want in a corner
to play press man. But you guys, you guys mentioned
that the penalties. I mean that's now six penalties, uh
in his last two games against the Bengals. If you
go back to that that game in Cincinnati last year. Yeah, yeah,
so you just can't have that. It's been an issue
(11:18):
going back to college too, he's had he's not on
a second secondary coach with the Steelers, so you know,
the new guy, Gerald Alexander hasn't been able to to uh,
you know, get that out of his game either. So
I don't know if there's an easy answer for that, guys,
but I do know you've got to keep running him
out there. He's one of your best options, and you
(11:39):
just have to live with the mistakes, and you got
to hope that, you know, the talent at some point
rises to the surface.
Speaker 4 (11:46):
So let's let's play that hypothetical then, Ray, Let's say
he stays the course this year, doesn't do anything too impressed,
but doesn't hat. Let's let's say he doesn't get worse
in that game against the Bengals, which I think is
fair to say, because, like you mentioned, last year, his
worst game was in Cincinnati when he got flagged a
couple of times, and that forty four to thirty eight
win over the Bengals. Nonetheless, but let's say, you know,
(12:10):
it's nothing impressive. Let's say after three years his most
impressive year is his rookie year, of which it took
him a while to get into the starting lineup, and
when he finally did, he never left. Yeah, after next
year or I guess it would be going into this
year where they're debating picking up the fifth year option
(12:30):
for him.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
I don't know which way you lean on that.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Yeah, so's he's a number thirty two overall pick, but
he is a second round pick though.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
Oh, I guess, Oh my gosh, you're absolutely right. I
guess by definition he was a second round pick.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Yes, yeah, but your point as well made. They still
have to make a call on him, and I mean,
in that scenario, Jacob, I would just say, we'll probably
just let it play out. He'll play out the final
year of his deal and listen, if he's really good,
then that's perfect for the Steelers. Think sure, we'll sign
him out. You know, you have janu February, in the
(13:07):
first couple of weeks of March to get that done
before he becomes a free agent. You know, and with
the history with the Porter family here and his dad
playing and coaching here, you would think he would come
back in that circumstance if they offer a fair contract, Like,
the thing that you don't want to happen is for
him to play four years. You don't want to sign
(13:29):
him to a second contract, and then you're starting over
again at cornerback. And you guys know the bad history
the Steelers have a drafting corners. They didn't do it
well under Kevin Kolbert, and that would be a bad
first time for the new front office with the fille
Markahn as well.
Speaker 4 (13:46):
And I just don't I mean, you mentioned this guy's
name earlier, Corey Trice, who I'm one of those let's
wait and see. I'm on the patient side of Corey Trice.
I feel bad he's been banged up, But what a
what a weird, twisted reality that would be between the
two of them who came into the Steelers in the
same year, where Corey Trice just makes more sense financially
(14:08):
as long as he can stay healthy to keep over
Joey Porter Jr. But I guess if Joey doesn't really
elevate his game too much, but they're comfortable bringing him back,
maybe he won't cost him that much.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Yeah, listen, Corey Trice, they really like him. The fact
that he's been on IR for three years. Yeah, it's
tough and he's not got yet that that really tells
you that they believe in his talent. So if he
ever does get healthy, I think he could be a
useful player for them. And you know, I wasn't looking
(14:40):
at Trace more more beyond the season. I'm just saying
this season, like you saw it last season in Philadelphia,
like they they draft those two rookie corners and then
by the end of the season, like Slay is kind
of on the margins a little bit, and you have
the Gene and Mitchell who were really the you know,
the focal points outside for that for that shchampionship football team,
(15:01):
And maybe you could see something similar with Trice. I
know he's not a rookie, but he's only had a
few games experience. Sometimes you need that. Sometimes you just
need that infusion of talentlegant young legs, and just a
different look to give your your defensive boost there maybe
in the second half of the season. So you know,
I asked Mike Palman about it on Tuesday. He said,
(15:24):
Trice is close. He hasn't been. They haven't opened this
twenty one day window yet, but maybe they will in
the future. Maybe it's next week and maybe by November
we can see Corey Trice back on the fifty three man.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Osh Ray, we sill have a few more minutes here
left with you. Let's talk Nick Herbig quickly. Only twenty
nine plays in Cincinnati last Thursday night, thirty eight percent
of the defensive snaps.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
I would think that has to change.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
They got to get Nick Herbig on the field more
often during these games they were prior, and the injury
to high Smith had a lot to do that and
do with that. But even when high Smith came back
that first game, he still played over sixty percent of
the snaps last week, a pretty dramatic step back. I
think they need that playmaker and Nick Herbig out there right.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Yeah. And you know, Mike Toman was asked about that
this week and he basically said, keep watching. So I
think they have big plans for Nick Herbig in this
game against the Packers. And you know, you just look
at that Bengals game. You know, Flack it was getting
the ball out in two point six seconds. I mean,
you know TJ had one sack and I you know,
Benton had a sack really on a very quick win
(16:30):
on the interior. But you know that ball was you know,
it was three step drops the balls out and it
was really fluid for that Bengals offense. So I don't
really blame the pass rush, but I do agree with
you that Nick Herbig deserves more playing time. They told
us a couple of weeks ago they weren't going to
limit him when high Smith came back, that it'll kind
(16:51):
of look like they did in that first outing against
the Bengals. Now, Palman blamed that from the Bengals being
able to run the ball and high Smith's better against
the run. But no matter what, Nick Herby is one
of your best defenders. You have to find ways to
get him into the game, and I think they'll do
that on Sunday night against the Packers.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Right, Malik Harrison appears to be probably going to come
out of that twenty one day window out of the
IR this week. He practiced fully yesterday on Wednesday, so
I would think Harrison will probably go. But my question
for you is, will Howard they've now gotten him out
of the twenty one or they put him into the
twenty one day window rather. He was a full participant
yesterday too, So one do you think Harrison will come
(17:34):
out of that and play this week for the first
time this season. And two, what's going on with Will Howard.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Yeah, it's going to depend on matchups and whether they
feel like they need an extra linebacker in this game,
So definitely could happen. I think they have to make
a call on that by next week. They either have
to activate him to the fifty three or keep him
on IR for the rest of the season. So I
think they will activate him there, but I'm not sure
it's going to be this week. You know, the Howard
(18:01):
situation is pretty interesting. The Steelers have not typically gary
just two quarterbacks on the fifty three. Now it's different,
you know this year. You know, there's all kinds of
different practice squad roles. But it does look like they're
they're maybe gonna do that within the next couple of
week weeks. With Will Howard, you know, that hand injury
(18:22):
is completely healed now he's practicing this week, so that's
a good sign for the Steelers. There are some other
issues with with the roster Nles Killerbrew went down, so
they're gonna need help on special teams, so maybe they
try to get by a few more weeks, you know,
with only two quarterbacks on the three. But I do
(18:44):
think eventually by seasons then you'll see either Howard or
Thompson back on the fifty three and I think by
the second week in November. Now, just they open that
window this week. They got to make that call on
Howard too, so they got to activate him back through
the fifty three. Going to be on IR for the
remainder of the year. So we'll see what happens there
in the next couple of weeks.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
Ray, we've got you for one more. We'll get you
out on this.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
We've talked about the defense all day. Just your quick
assessment how the Steelers match up with on offense against
the Packers defense. The Packers defense is legit. It's taken
a while for them to really get into groove, but
they've They've done a great job at stopping offenses except
for Dallas. Do you see another maybe shootout here with
(19:29):
Aaron Rodgers having to save the day if the defense
is going to let Jordan Love and company kind of
run all over.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Them again, Yeah, I mean, I think we might be
that point to that point, right I just think the
offense is better than the defense right now. I'm not
saying that's going to be the case for the rest
of the season. I think if youre Mike Tomlin and
Arthur Smith, you have to go in with that mentality
that you might not have to score twenty four twenty
seven points to win this game. You mentioned that the
(19:55):
Packers have a good offense, but they got a really
good defense too, So when they do get down and
that's boring area, I think they're gonna have to be aggressive.
This is not a game where you're going to want
to just settle for Chris boswell field. You're going to
want to punch it into the end zone because you
know the Packers are very good defensively and those trips
into the red zone might be limited. So yeah, I've
(20:16):
been really impressed with Arthur Smith and what he's done
with this offense. I think he's he's doing a really
good job. Aaron Rodgers obviously having a great season. So yeah,
that's going to be an important matchup in this game.
I think I agree with you. I think the Seiers
probably are going to need twenty four to twenty seven
points to get out of there with a win. On
Sunday Night.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
He is Ray Fittipaldo from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette joining
us here on our Steelers spotlight for this week. Thank
you so much, Ray, and enjoy your weekend of football.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
All right. Always good to be with you guys, and
we'll talk to you next week.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
Thanks right.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
All right, there he goes Ray Fittipaldo again. You can
catch all of his excellent coverage in the Pittsburgh Post
Gazette with the PG each and every day. Jacob, I
think he brings up an interesting point and we're going
to talk about it in our next segment when we
take our seven shots of hits and misses, when we
get to our injury news.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
But will will Howard practiced fully yesterday.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
And he was the biggest storyline of a non storyline
in La Trobe right at Dorian Train, everybody talked about
Will Howard. Then he got hurt. We didn't see him
in the preseason. But now he's practicing fully with the team.
Speaker 4 (21:17):
Yeah, I mean I had no problem getting Will Howard
back out that you remember in his second game of
the season, he got that sack.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
Obviously he was a contributor.
Speaker 4 (21:26):
But I think the more important thing here to talk
about is, oh my god, I just had a completely
that's okay. Well, we're talking about Howard and I was
thinking of Jack Sawyer for some reason.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
I don't know why, am I I don't know why
am my brain?
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Listen, you're in your Big ten world right now, you're
getting ready for I don't know why.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
Am I brain?
Speaker 4 (21:47):
You know, I got my Buckeyes mixed up. I got
my attention focus on the Hoosiers this Saturday. Thank you
for steering the ship there for me, because I could
tell as I was talking, you were looking at me, like,
what the hell is he talking about?
Speaker 3 (21:59):
Yeah, I mean, I'm happy to have Will Howard out there.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
I think, though, given what we've seen out of Aaron
Rodgers so far this season, I don't know if I'm
willing to give up any reins. And I think, you know,
coming into this year, you know, we were saying, Okay,
let's see how Aaron Rodgers does, but let's still go
out there and maybe trade up with all of these
comp picks that Steelers got to get the quarterback of
the future and then maybe Will Howard could be his backup.
(22:22):
But we knew there was a lot of fans from
training camp saying, hey, Will Howard looks pretty good. But
after seeing Aaron Rodgers and we just heard Ray talk
about how how good of a job he's done, I
think the camp has now turned from let's draft the
next guy or maybe give Will Howard the shot next
year to saying we got to make sure Aaron Rodgers
comes back for one more year next year, right right?
Speaker 1 (22:42):
No, absolutely, And I think with Will Howard, the reason
why he comes off of that ir into that twenty
one day window, a lot of it has to do
They have to see what they have in Will Howard.
And we talked about that in La Trobe and in
training camp, and that's why it was such a disappointment
that he got hurt and he couldn't participate in the
preseason because there's all this talk. You know what he
did at Ohio State, we know what he looked like
(23:03):
during the spring, with the spring workouts in early in
training camp, he looked good. But you got to see
him in game action out. The Steelers do not want
to see him in game action, do not get me wrong,
during this twenty twenty five seasons.
Speaker 4 (23:13):
Unless it's something like where the Steers are up forty
two or nothing and then just say, hey, throw the
kid in there.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
Give him some snaps. Yeah, you're emptying your bench, But I.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
Don't know if the defense is capable of helping the
offense get out to a forty tude or nothing.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
Lead boy, with what we've seen so far that, I mean,
how about that.
Speaker 4 (23:28):
We just spend that entire twenty plus minutes with Ray
talking about the defense.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
The defense, Yeah, but in a good way. No, I
mean we barely.
Speaker 4 (23:35):
We lightly touched on Will Howard and then the offense
overall at the very end. But that was about it,
just because right now you have to focus on the
defense because you're saying to yourself, the offense is in
good hands with Aaron Rodgers. The defense is I don't
want to say, in shambles, but give it another week.
I mean, Ray was just talking about how good this
offense is, how good of a job Jordan Love does
(23:56):
it spreading the ball around and making sure everyone's eating.
If the defense suffers again, then you really have to say, yeah,
this is this is a bad, bad defense, and it
needs to be addressed.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
As you and I talked about the other day here.
You know, on the standard there was a time in
which the Steelers scored thirty one points their winning percentage
was like ninety nine percent. Right then, you know the
defense was not going to give up more than twenty points.
So as long as you hit twenty points or more
as an offense, your you're usually going to win football games.
That has not been the case the last couple of
(24:27):
seasons the defense. In the offseason, they have omar Con
in company. They have built, at least on paper, very
good looking defenses. A lot of veterans, a lot of
first round draft picks, a lot of equity and financially
involved investing in this defense. But unfortunately, as a season
has gone on last year and let's hope, and it's early, Jacob,
it's only one game, so you know again, I opened
(24:50):
my first question with Ray with that, I said, do
you think this is just a speed bump during the
twenty twenty five season, just a blimp.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
On the radar.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
If it is, we'll look back at that. Cincinnati lost
just of that. But last year there were five straight
games in which this defense was in shambles. So I
think it's important, even if they lose on Sunday, that
the defense plays better and doesn't play like they did
against Cincinnati last week.
Speaker 4 (25:11):
Absolutely, I mean they have to be better. I talked
with Ray about saying, oh, they don't. Green May doesn't
have the big splash players on offense, or rather a
plenty that Green Bay has, or I'm sorry that Cincinnati has.
You know, Cincinnati has one of the best passing duos
in the nation between See Higgins and Jamar Chase, But
we can't sleep on Josh Jacobs and right now that
(25:33):
that rushing defense is just as vulnerable as the secondary.
I mean, you asked him which was the bigger concern
between the run defense and in the secondary, and you
guys were leading toward talking about the secondary. But the
run defense has also shown its signs of struggle. I mean,
we cannot emphasize enough the performance by Chase Brown last
(25:55):
Thursday night a week ago, when the guy only had
two point eight yards per carry or two point something
yards per carry going into that game, and that night
he finished with a nine point eight yard per carrie
just a guaranteed first down whenever he got the ball.
So it doesn't matter if you have a beneficial matchup,
which you don't have this weekend. You have Josh Jacobs,
(26:15):
you have one of the top ten running backs in
the NFL. He is a scoring beast as well. The
guy finds the end zone. I just don't know where
the Steelers are going to be able to look at
themselves and say, hey, let's just fix this and this,
and we should be okay. Given the tape that we
saw last week, Given the tape that we've seen pretty
much overall, minus the Cleveland game and minus the turnovers
(26:38):
you got in the New England game, where is the positives?
Speaker 1 (26:42):
We're such a damaged fan base, right you look at
what happened last year, and again I said that the
Ray that game last Thursday night, and you and I
talked about it last Friday when we came here on
the standard to do our game recap. It felt a
lot like last season those last five games with the
defense struggling to stop the run, to stop the pass.
Now the flip side of that, and Ray brought it
(27:02):
up Aaron Rodgers and the offense was better than what
we saw last year down the stretch with just with
Russell Wilson and that Steeler offense. So they did play
better offensively, at least in that lost last Thursday night.
Speaker 3 (27:13):
So that is encouraging.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
When we come back, Jacob and I will jump into
our seven Shots of seven hits and seven Shots of
seven misses here on the Standard. You're listening to The
Steeler Standard with Ed Troop and Jacob Brett on Steelers
Nation Radio, part of the Steelers Audio Network.
Back here on the Steelers Standard. I am a troop
alongside Jacob brect here on Steelers Nation Radio, part of
the Steelers Audio Network. It's time for our Steelers Spotlight
segment with Ray Filpaldo from the Pittsburgh Post Cazette. Ray,
good morning, How are you welcome back from Cincinnati? Are
you ready for Green Bay?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Good morning guys. Yeah, quite at night last week in Cincinnati,
another primetime game. Maybe the Steelers can pull it out
in the last second this time instead of out letting
it go in the last second they did against the Bengals.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Ray, my first opening question to you is is last
week's disappointment to thirty three to thirty one loss to
the Bengals. Do you think this is just a blimp
on the radar, a speed bump in their season, or
we backed what we saw during those last five games
of last year to end the twenty twenty four season.
Because last Thursday night felt a lot like that.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Yeah did. From a defensive standpoint, I'm not going to
downplay that. A lot of the same issues to keep
popping up, you know, the inability to get off the
field on third downs. They're among the worst in the NFL.
At the third down conversion percentage against the run defense
continues to be a problem. That looked like they might
(01:21):
have had that fixed, but it continues to be an issue.
That the Bengals were the worst team in the NFL
entering that game, and Chase Brown had had a career
night against the Steelers. So yes, from a defensive standpoint,
obviously a step back, guys. If you want to put
(01:42):
a positive spin on it, I think we can. The
offense is on the verge of being a top ten
scoring offense. They've been really good all year, scoring in
the red zone. Aaron Rodgers looks really good. Fourteen touchdown passes,
tied for the AFC lead with the guy by the
name of Patrick Mahomes. So I don't want to think
(02:03):
we're back to where we were, guys, But I think
there's some negatives that came out of that game, but
there's certainly some positives as well.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Absolutely, Ray, you touched on it.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
With the offense, the running games getting better each and
every week. There were no sacks in the last two
games by the offensive line in early two in the
last four games. If you look back prior to the
Patriots game and the Vikings game.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
But back to the defense Ray, as we're talking about it.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
The secondary got beat for three hundred and forty two
yards three touchdowns last week. No interceptions. They only have
five interceptions in six games so far this season. It's
by five different players, so it's quite spread out.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Is the issue.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
The main issue on defense right now? A leaky secondary?
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Well yeah, I mean the run defense plays into that
as well, because teams are able to, you know, certainly
open it up and it's easier for the quarterbacks when
the linebackers are backing off rather than to force the run.
But yeah, I mean, listen, they went out and got
Jalen Ramsey, paying him over twenty million a year. Darius
(03:08):
Lay on the books for ten million, and you know,
Ramsey's played well at times, but certainly at against the
Bengals that was not his best game. Same thing with Slay.
So they poured a lot of money into that secondary.
They revamped it. You know, they traded away make of Fitzpatrick,
so you know, they we thought maybe things might be different,
(03:32):
but again we're seeing some of the same old stuff.
So hopefully they can get that rectified. It does make
a difference playing at home crowd noise will be a factor.
But the fact of the matter is the Packers are
I think eighth in the NFL scoring. They've got a
really good quarterback of their own in Jordan Love, and
that's a very dangerous offense come into town.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Yeah it is.
Speaker 4 (03:55):
I mean, I guess the only silver lining when you
have when you talk about the secondary and their potential
this Sunday night, is they're not going up against one
of the best in the league this year.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Right.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
We've seen them struggle against JSN and Seattle, Jefferson and
Addison in Minnesota, and then of course last Thursday with
Higgins and Jamar Chase. But when they were up against
Garrett Wilson in New York, when there was just one guy,
they did pretty well, right, and Garret Wilson obviously not
having as good of a year. And then in New
England Stefan Diggs, you know, fifty five year old Stefan Diggs,
(04:27):
and whoever else. I guess you could say that the
tight ends really burned him. Hunter Henry specifically, I don't
know which receiver to you stands out in Green Bay.
Tucker Craft pretty pretty good tight end. But I guess
the only thing I can say about the secondary that
that could be on a positive spin is that there
isn't that X fact, there isn't There isn't that top
(04:49):
tier receiver or tight end option that the Packers have.
But still, I mean they have they have plenty of
weapons to go around, like you were saying, So I
don't really know if that silver lining is is legitimate
or not.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Well, they're a little bit like the Steelers. I mean,
obviously the Steelers have a guy like DK Metcalf, but they
you know, they distribute the ball and Aaron Rodgers like
Jordan Love does a really good job of spreading the
wealth around. I would say even more into this game.
Going into this game, guys, I think their focus and
this is the case every week, it's just how they operate.
(05:24):
They want to shut down Josh Jacobs first, and they
feel like if it can shut down that running game,
get Jordan Love in the third and long situations, they
feel like that's the way they're going to ultimately get
out of this defensive fuck. Now. I say that knowing
they gave up a third and ten against the Bengals
and a third and fourteen that cannot happen. That's not
(05:45):
Steelers defense. But they feel like if they can continue
to get teams in the circumstances in the end, when
it all comes out in the wash, they're going to
be more successful than not.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
I uh, ray, I mean it's just the defense overall.
I saw this morning that Mike Tomlin in his first
five years as head coach, he didn't have a defense
that ranked below fifth overall, and in the last six
years they haven't been better than twelve. So to your point,
I mean, what what could actually change? Like you were
(06:18):
saying to start the segment. Yeah, they threw a lot
of money by bringing in slay By, by bringing in Ramsey,
by drafting Harmon, But you can you can throw as
much money at the wall as you want. If the
if the personnel isn't right, if the scheme isn't right,
at the coaching isn't right, these are the results you're
gonna get.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Yeah, Listen, they're giving up three hundred and seventy five
yards per game. I think there's only four teams in
the NFL who are giving up more. Now, you listened
to the central coordinator, Tarrell Austin, He'll tell you he
looks at other metrics. You know, he'll tell you. The
red zone defense has been good obviously, the turnovers and
you know, being able to you know, create those and
(06:58):
stops teams from the completing those drives have been huge.
But in the end, the more yards you give up,
that's more opportunities for other things to score and to
score touchdowns. And guys, you saw it against the Bengals.
When you're not creating turnovers, when you're not stopping around,
when you're not getting off the field, those yards duke come.
(07:20):
So they got to do a much step better job
overall without a turnover. Now for two weeks, two games,
that long stretch, yep for the Steelers. So they got
to get that turned around. And you know, we'll see
if what happens this week against the Packers.
Speaker 4 (07:34):
So you you reference the name Tara Austin, I don't
know if you have any thoughts on the job he's done.
Is it hard to blame him when we all know
that Mike Tomlin has his fingerprints all over this defense
and has that's been his mo since he came in
with the organization since two thousand and seven, or especially
(07:55):
in since two thousand and what fourteen or fifteen when
Keith Butler took over for Dick Lebow. Is it fair
to blame Austin like you were saying, I mean, he's
he doesn't seem to be panicking at all, Like you said,
he's not looking at those metric as are those statistics
as a metric to grade his defense?
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Yeah, listen, they're they're coaches in the NFL for a
long time, Mike, Tom and Austin. They're not going to
panic after won that game. I think the thing you
want to look at is just we saw last season
the defense played really well for about ten weeks and
then it kind of fell off the cliff. They still
(08:36):
have time to turn this around. You know. Maybe it's
not Yeah, maybe it's not Jalen Ramsey walking in on
Jamar Chase. Maybe he's not like a quote unquote shutdown
corner anymore. But you saw against the Jets he closed
that game out. You've seen it in other games this year.
He's still a very youthful player. So now I think
it's about okay. Maybe his skills have minis a little bit.
(09:01):
He could still be a very good slot. He could
still play safety. Now let's go find other pieces that
really fit. You know, obviously, Jolie Porter has to play better.
I brought this up this week with the Post Gazette.
Maybe Corey Trice comes off the IR at some point
and he could be a guy that maybe you put
in there more, maybe in place of Sleigh or somebody else.
(09:22):
Maybe Brandon Eckles gets a little bit more playing time
in place of Sleigh, who struggled a little bit against
the Bengals as well. So my point is there's time
to get this rectified. You want to be playing your
best football in December and January. And I know it
didn't look good on Thursday night, but maybe they still
have some time to get things straightened out.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
We're talking with Ray Philpaldo from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette
or Steeler Insider. Make sure you check out Ray's excellent
coverage of the Pittsburgh Steelers each and every day on
the PG. Ray, I hate to keep hammering on this defense,
but that's what makes good for sports talk radio right now.
Not so much the offense is the d that had
a lot of issues last week. I referenced earlier a
leaky secondary, which, as you and I get older, that
(10:05):
sounds more like a health condition than anything Jacob's young,
he doesn't have to worry about that type of stuff yet.
But back to Joey Porter Junior in that leaky secondary
you just mentioned him a bit of go ray. He's
under a lot of criticism right now, a lot of
pass interference calls over the last course of the year,
or even going back throughout most of his career slow
starting only three games, played, eleven tackles, four pass deflections,
(10:28):
and that is it. He's been more on the radar
for penalties rather than the plays he's making. What do
you do with Joey Porter Junior.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
I gotta keep unning him out there. You got to
make a call on him. They got on the side
by the spring or the summer. Are they going to
give him a new contract or are they just going
to let this play out? You know, boss to have
a prove it year in twenty twenty six, in the
final year of his deal. So he's talented, he's big,
(10:57):
he's about all the attributes you want in a corner
to play press man. But you guys, you guys mentioned
that the penalties. I mean that's now six penalties, uh
in his last two games against the Bengals. If you
go back to that that game in Cincinnati last year. Yeah, yeah,
so you just can't have that. It's been an issue
(11:18):
going back to college too, he's had he's not on
a second secondary coach with the Steelers, so you know,
the new guy, Gerald Alexander hasn't been able to to uh,
you know, get that out of his game either. So
I don't know if there's an easy answer for that, guys,
but I do know you've got to keep running him
out there. He's one of your best options, and you
(11:39):
just have to live with the mistakes, and you got
to hope that, you know, the talent at some point
rises to the surface.
Speaker 4 (11:46):
So let's let's play that hypothetical then, Ray, Let's say
he stays the course this year, doesn't do anything too impressed,
but doesn't hat. Let's let's say he doesn't get worse
in that game against the Bengals, which I think is
fair to say, because, like you mentioned, last year, his
worst game was in Cincinnati when he got flagged a
couple of times, and that forty four to thirty eight
win over the Bengals. Nonetheless, but let's say, you know,
(12:10):
it's nothing impressive. Let's say after three years his most
impressive year is his rookie year, of which it took
him a while to get into the starting lineup, and
when he finally did, he never left. Yeah, after next
year or I guess it would be going into this
year where they're debating picking up the fifth year option
(12:30):
for him.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
I don't know which way you lean on that.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Yeah, so's he's a number thirty two overall pick, but
he is a second round pick though.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
Oh, I guess, Oh my gosh, you're absolutely right. I
guess by definition he was a second round pick.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Yes, yeah, but your point as well made. They still
have to make a call on him, and I mean,
in that scenario, Jacob, I would just say, we'll probably
just let it play out. He'll play out the final
year of his deal and listen, if he's really good,
then that's perfect for the Steelers. Think sure, we'll sign
him out. You know, you have janu February, in the
(13:07):
first couple of weeks of March to get that done
before he becomes a free agent. You know, and with
the history with the Porter family here and his dad
playing and coaching here, you would think he would come
back in that circumstance if they offer a fair contract, Like,
the thing that you don't want to happen is for
him to play four years. You don't want to sign
(13:29):
him to a second contract, and then you're starting over
again at cornerback. And you guys know the bad history
the Steelers have a drafting corners. They didn't do it
well under Kevin Kolbert, and that would be a bad
first time for the new front office with the fille
Markahn as well.
Speaker 4 (13:46):
And I just don't I mean, you mentioned this guy's
name earlier, Corey Trice, who I'm one of those let's
wait and see. I'm on the patient side of Corey Trice.
I feel bad he's been banged up, But what a
what a weird, twisted reality that would be between the
two of them who came into the Steelers in the
same year, where Corey Trice just makes more sense financially
(14:08):
as long as he can stay healthy to keep over
Joey Porter Jr. But I guess if Joey doesn't really
elevate his game too much, but they're comfortable bringing him back,
maybe he won't cost him that much.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Yeah, listen, Corey Trice, they really like him. The fact
that he's been on IR for three years. Yeah, it's
tough and he's not got yet that that really tells
you that they believe in his talent. So if he
ever does get healthy, I think he could be a
useful player for them. And you know, I wasn't looking
(14:40):
at Trace more more beyond the season. I'm just saying
this season, like you saw it last season in Philadelphia,
like they they draft those two rookie corners and then
by the end of the season, like Slay is kind
of on the margins a little bit, and you have
the Gene and Mitchell who were really the you know,
the focal points outside for that for that shchampionship football team,
(15:01):
And maybe you could see something similar with Trice. I
know he's not a rookie, but he's only had a
few games experience. Sometimes you need that. Sometimes you just
need that infusion of talentlegant young legs, and just a
different look to give your your defensive boost there maybe
in the second half of the season. So you know,
I asked Mike Palman about it on Tuesday. He said,
(15:24):
Trice is close. He hasn't been. They haven't opened this
twenty one day window yet, but maybe they will in
the future. Maybe it's next week and maybe by November
we can see Corey Trice back on the fifty three man.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Osh Ray, we sill have a few more minutes here
left with you. Let's talk Nick Herbig quickly. Only twenty
nine plays in Cincinnati last Thursday night, thirty eight percent
of the defensive snaps.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
I would think that has to change.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
They got to get Nick Herbig on the field more
often during these games they were prior, and the injury
to high Smith had a lot to do that and
do with that. But even when high Smith came back
that first game, he still played over sixty percent of
the snaps last week, a pretty dramatic step back. I
think they need that playmaker and Nick Herbig out there right.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Yeah. And you know, Mike Toman was asked about that
this week and he basically said, keep watching. So I
think they have big plans for Nick Herbig in this
game against the Packers. And you know, you just look
at that Bengals game. You know, Flack it was getting
the ball out in two point six seconds. I mean,
you know TJ had one sack and I you know,
Benton had a sack really on a very quick win
(16:30):
on the interior. But you know that ball was you know,
it was three step drops the balls out and it
was really fluid for that Bengals offense. So I don't
really blame the pass rush, but I do agree with
you that Nick Herbig deserves more playing time. They told
us a couple of weeks ago they weren't going to
limit him when high Smith came back, that it'll kind
(16:51):
of look like they did in that first outing against
the Bengals. Now, Palman blamed that from the Bengals being
able to run the ball and high Smith's better against
the run. But no matter what, Nick Herby is one
of your best defenders. You have to find ways to
get him into the game, and I think they'll do
that on Sunday night against the Packers.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Right, Malik Harrison appears to be probably going to come
out of that twenty one day window out of the
IR this week. He practiced fully yesterday on Wednesday, so
I would think Harrison will probably go. But my question
for you is, will Howard they've now gotten him out
of the twenty one or they put him into the
twenty one day window rather. He was a full participant
yesterday too, So one do you think Harrison will come
(17:34):
out of that and play this week for the first
time this season. And two, what's going on with Will Howard.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Yeah, it's going to depend on matchups and whether they
feel like they need an extra linebacker in this game,
So definitely could happen. I think they have to make
a call on that by next week. They either have
to activate him to the fifty three or keep him
on IR for the rest of the season. So I
think they will activate him there, but I'm not sure
it's going to be this week. You know, the Howard
(18:01):
situation is pretty interesting. The Steelers have not typically gary
just two quarterbacks on the fifty three. Now it's different,
you know this year. You know, there's all kinds of
different practice squad roles. But it does look like they're
they're maybe gonna do that within the next couple of
week weeks. With Will Howard, you know, that hand injury
(18:22):
is completely healed now he's practicing this week, so that's
a good sign for the Steelers. There are some other
issues with with the roster Nles Killerbrew went down, so
they're gonna need help on special teams, so maybe they
try to get by a few more weeks, you know,
with only two quarterbacks on the three. But I do
(18:44):
think eventually by seasons then you'll see either Howard or
Thompson back on the fifty three and I think by
the second week in November. Now, just they open that
window this week. They got to make that call on
Howard too, so they got to activate him back through
the fifty three. Going to be on IR for the
remainder of the year. So we'll see what happens there
in the next couple of weeks.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
Ray, we've got you for one more. We'll get you
out on this.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
We've talked about the defense all day. Just your quick
assessment how the Steelers match up with on offense against
the Packers defense. The Packers defense is legit. It's taken
a while for them to really get into groove, but
they've They've done a great job at stopping offenses except
for Dallas. Do you see another maybe shootout here with
(19:29):
Aaron Rodgers having to save the day if the defense
is going to let Jordan Love and company kind of
run all over.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Them again, Yeah, I mean, I think we might be
that point to that point, right I just think the
offense is better than the defense right now. I'm not
saying that's going to be the case for the rest
of the season. I think if youre Mike Tomlin and
Arthur Smith, you have to go in with that mentality
that you might not have to score twenty four twenty
seven points to win this game. You mentioned that the
(19:55):
Packers have a good offense, but they got a really
good defense too, So when they do get down and
that's boring area, I think they're gonna have to be aggressive.
This is not a game where you're going to want
to just settle for Chris boswell field. You're going to
want to punch it into the end zone because you
know the Packers are very good defensively and those trips
into the red zone might be limited. So yeah, I've
(20:16):
been really impressed with Arthur Smith and what he's done
with this offense. I think he's he's doing a really
good job. Aaron Rodgers obviously having a great season. So yeah,
that's going to be an important matchup in this game.
I think I agree with you. I think the Seiers
probably are going to need twenty four to twenty seven
points to get out of there with a win. On
Sunday Night.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
He is Ray Fittipaldo from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette joining
us here on our Steelers spotlight for this week. Thank
you so much, Ray, and enjoy your weekend of football.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
All right. Always good to be with you guys, and
we'll talk to you next week.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
Thanks right.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
All right, there he goes Ray Fittipaldo again. You can
catch all of his excellent coverage in the Pittsburgh Post
Gazette with the PG each and every day. Jacob, I
think he brings up an interesting point and we're going
to talk about it in our next segment when we
take our seven shots of hits and misses, when we
get to our injury news.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
But will will Howard practiced fully yesterday.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
And he was the biggest storyline of a non storyline
in La Trobe right at Dorian Train, everybody talked about
Will Howard. Then he got hurt. We didn't see him
in the preseason. But now he's practicing fully with the team.
Speaker 4 (21:17):
Yeah, I mean I had no problem getting Will Howard
back out that you remember in his second game of
the season, he got that sack.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
Obviously he was a contributor.
Speaker 4 (21:26):
But I think the more important thing here to talk
about is, oh my god, I just had a completely
that's okay. Well, we're talking about Howard and I was
thinking of Jack Sawyer for some reason.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
I don't know why, am I I don't know why
am my brain?
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Listen, you're in your Big ten world right now, you're
getting ready for I don't know why.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
Am I brain?
Speaker 4 (21:47):
You know, I got my Buckeyes mixed up. I got
my attention focus on the Hoosiers this Saturday. Thank you
for steering the ship there for me, because I could
tell as I was talking, you were looking at me, like,
what the hell is he talking about?
Speaker 3 (21:59):
Yeah, I mean, I'm happy to have Will Howard out there.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
I think, though, given what we've seen out of Aaron
Rodgers so far this season, I don't know if I'm
willing to give up any reins. And I think, you know,
coming into this year, you know, we were saying, Okay,
let's see how Aaron Rodgers does, but let's still go
out there and maybe trade up with all of these
comp picks that Steelers got to get the quarterback of
the future and then maybe Will Howard could be his backup.
(22:22):
But we knew there was a lot of fans from
training camp saying, hey, Will Howard looks pretty good. But
after seeing Aaron Rodgers and we just heard Ray talk
about how how good of a job he's done, I
think the camp has now turned from let's draft the
next guy or maybe give Will Howard the shot next
year to saying we got to make sure Aaron Rodgers
comes back for one more year next year, right right?
Speaker 1 (22:42):
No, absolutely, And I think with Will Howard, the reason
why he comes off of that ir into that twenty
one day window, a lot of it has to do
They have to see what they have in Will Howard.
And we talked about that in La Trobe and in
training camp, and that's why it was such a disappointment
that he got hurt and he couldn't participate in the
preseason because there's all this talk. You know what he
did at Ohio State, we know what he looked like
(23:03):
during the spring, with the spring workouts in early in
training camp, he looked good. But you got to see
him in game action out. The Steelers do not want
to see him in game action, do not get me wrong,
during this twenty twenty five seasons.
Speaker 4 (23:13):
Unless it's something like where the Steers are up forty
two or nothing and then just say, hey, throw the
kid in there.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
Give him some snaps. Yeah, you're emptying your bench, But I.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
Don't know if the defense is capable of helping the
offense get out to a forty tude or nothing.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
Lead boy, with what we've seen so far that, I mean,
how about that.
Speaker 4 (23:28):
We just spend that entire twenty plus minutes with Ray
talking about the defense.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
The defense, Yeah, but in a good way. No, I
mean we barely.
Speaker 4 (23:35):
We lightly touched on Will Howard and then the offense
overall at the very end. But that was about it,
just because right now you have to focus on the
defense because you're saying to yourself, the offense is in
good hands with Aaron Rodgers. The defense is I don't
want to say, in shambles, but give it another week.
I mean, Ray was just talking about how good this
offense is, how good of a job Jordan Love does
(23:56):
it spreading the ball around and making sure everyone's eating.
If the defense suffers again, then you really have to say, yeah,
this is this is a bad, bad defense, and it
needs to be addressed.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
As you and I talked about the other day here.
You know, on the standard there was a time in
which the Steelers scored thirty one points their winning percentage
was like ninety nine percent. Right then, you know the
defense was not going to give up more than twenty points.
So as long as you hit twenty points or more
as an offense, your you're usually going to win football games.
That has not been the case the last couple of
(24:27):
seasons the defense. In the offseason, they have omar Con
in company. They have built, at least on paper, very
good looking defenses. A lot of veterans, a lot of
first round draft picks, a lot of equity and financially
involved investing in this defense. But unfortunately, as a season
has gone on last year and let's hope, and it's early, Jacob,
it's only one game, so you know again, I opened
(24:50):
my first question with Ray with that, I said, do
you think this is just a speed bump during the
twenty twenty five season, just a blimp.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
On the radar.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
If it is, we'll look back at that. Cincinnati lost
just of that. But last year there were five straight
games in which this defense was in shambles. So I
think it's important, even if they lose on Sunday, that
the defense plays better and doesn't play like they did
against Cincinnati last week.
Speaker 4 (25:11):
Absolutely, I mean they have to be better. I talked
with Ray about saying, oh, they don't. Green May doesn't
have the big splash players on offense, or rather a
plenty that Green Bay has, or I'm sorry that Cincinnati has.
You know, Cincinnati has one of the best passing duos
in the nation between See Higgins and Jamar Chase, But
we can't sleep on Josh Jacobs and right now that
(25:33):
that rushing defense is just as vulnerable as the secondary.
I mean, you asked him which was the bigger concern
between the run defense and in the secondary, and you
guys were leading toward talking about the secondary. But the
run defense has also shown its signs of struggle. I mean,
we cannot emphasize enough the performance by Chase Brown last
(25:55):
Thursday night a week ago, when the guy only had
two point eight yards per carry or two point something
yards per carry going into that game, and that night
he finished with a nine point eight yard per carrie
just a guaranteed first down whenever he got the ball.
So it doesn't matter if you have a beneficial matchup,
which you don't have this weekend. You have Josh Jacobs,
(26:15):
you have one of the top ten running backs in
the NFL. He is a scoring beast as well. The
guy finds the end zone. I just don't know where
the Steelers are going to be able to look at
themselves and say, hey, let's just fix this and this,
and we should be okay. Given the tape that we
saw last week, Given the tape that we've seen pretty
much overall, minus the Cleveland game and minus the turnovers
(26:38):
you got in the New England game, where is the positives?
Speaker 1 (26:42):
We're such a damaged fan base, right you look at
what happened last year, and again I said that the
Ray that game last Thursday night, and you and I
talked about it last Friday when we came here on
the standard to do our game recap. It felt a
lot like last season those last five games with the
defense struggling to stop the run, to stop the pass.
Now the flip side of that, and Ray brought it
(27:02):
up Aaron Rodgers and the offense was better than what
we saw last year down the stretch with just with
Russell Wilson and that Steeler offense. So they did play
better offensively, at least in that lost last Thursday night.
Speaker 3 (27:13):
So that is encouraging.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
When we come back, Jacob and I will jump into
our seven Shots of seven hits and seven Shots of
seven misses here on the Standard. You're listening to The
Steeler Standard with Ed Troop and Jacob Brett on Steelers
Nation Radio, part of the Steelers Audio Network.
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