October 7, 2025 • 28 mins
Ed Troup and Jacob Recht debate the potential overreactions following Week 5 such as are the Steelers the top candidate to win the AFC North, and is TJ Watt on pace for another DPOY candidacy.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
It is the Steelers standard with that troop.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
And Jacob Brect on Steelers Nation Radio, part of the
Steelers Audio network. Did you catch the game last night,
Jacob Monday Night Football? It was a classic, came down
to the wire between the Jaguars and the Chiefs.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
You know, I have an early bedtime with the morning
show getting started so early, and I was paying attention.
I saw the Chiefs go up fourteen to nothing after
the Jags, if you remember, Trevor Lawren tried to sneak
the jump over the line of scrimmage and sneak the
ball in from the one. The Chiefs were able to
punch it out, drove ninety nine yards and then scored
(00:40):
a touchdown to go up fourteen and nothing. And I thought,
oh man, Chiefs are for real. Here we go. And
I kind of started to fall asleep after that. Saw
the Jags score the one touchdown to make it fourteen
to seven. I know, they got it back to fourteen fourteen,
and that's when, like right when I fell asleep, was
like right before that. So I missed the end of
(01:00):
the game and I caught the highlights this morning. But
you have to applaud the Jags and their effort and
that comeback when they are a legit team.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
They're four to one, they were down twenty four to
twenty one in the fourth quarter, where the Chiefs with
about a little less than six minutes to go, and
you knew what was gonna happen.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Patrick Mahomes took over. Yeah, and he got some breaks.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
There were some passes that were caught that probably shouldn't
have been and he said, okay, typical Patrick Mahomes, Typical
Chiefs offense. Just like we used to say about Brady
and the Patriots. It's the same type of field. And
I'm watching the game and I'm thinking Chiefs are gonna
go down, They're gonna score. The biggest question is will
Jacksonville have enough time left on the clock to potentially
come back and make a run at this.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Well, that's exactly what happened.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Patrick Mahomes marches down, the Chiefs offense down the field,
they score, They take a twenty eight to twenty four
lead just under two minutes remaining.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
But this was the biggest mistake of the game.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
The kickoff to the Jaguars goes out of bouts and
the Chiefs take The Chiefs kick it out of bouts,
the Jaguar take over at their own forty yard line.
They have great field position under two minutes to play.
The beginning of the drives a little bit rough. Lawrence
is sacked, he's pushed out of the pockets several times,
but makes a big third down pass the Brian Thomas Junior,
(02:13):
who had four catches for eighty yards in this game,
sets the Jags up on the chief side of the
fifty down towards their fort thirty five or forty yard
line somewhere in there. And then the Jacksonville Jaguars get
another big pass play from Lawrence. They get the ball
within the five yard line and then I don't know
if you saw what turns out to be the winning
touchdown less than thirty seconds left. Lawrence goes down, he
(02:34):
trips over seven, yeah, but nobody touches him and he
gets up and he runs into the end zone for
the touchdown. It turns out to be the winning score
with just twenty seconds left in the game, the Jaguars
going to win thirty one to twenty eight. The Chiefs
the defending AFC Champs two and three. Now they're in
that same narrative as the Ravens. Ravens a little worse
shape at one and four, but the Chiefs two and
(02:55):
three at this point, the Jaguars four and one. The
biggest takeaway I had, Jacob was that's a game in
which the Chiefs and.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Mahomes always win. They don't lose those types of games.
And so when they went up in this game twenty
eight twenty four, under two minutes left, you said, Okay,
here you go. They're gonna win like they always do.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
So the fact that the Jacks came back to beat
to beat the Chiefs, I think speaks volumes for Jacksonville.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
And I saw somewhere that the Chiefs had won twenty
three straight games or something like that when having a
fourteen point lead at any point during the game, and
that's that streak is obviously over now, I said earlier,
you really have to applaud the Jaguars for standing strong.
You have to applaud first first year head coach Liam
(03:40):
Cohen for the job he's done. I think a lot
of people were like him. Yeah, I think a lot
of people were getting ready to to kind of quit
on the Jags and the Trevor Lawrence era, just because
you remember, he was the highest touted or highest rated
high school prospect coming out of high school for Clemson,
and then he was thought of as the next no
brain for a quarterback coming out of college behind Andrew
(04:03):
Luck and really they just kind of underperformed. They made
one playoff run, They had that one playoff win against
the Chargers, and that.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Was really it.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
They hadn't really done anything since then. But this year
it looks different. This year looks like they have a
coach that can really lead this team. And it's a
young team. We know it's a young team defensively. We
know they brought in a lot of young talent offensively
with Travis Hunter coming in this year alongside Brian Brian
Thomas junior, who was a rookie last year. So things
(04:34):
look to be going okay right now for Jacksonville, which
is good because the Colts are obviously a competitive team
as well. They're one of the highest scoring offenses in
football right now, so it's good for the Jaguars to
be able to keep up.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
If you get a chance, watch the pass play from
Lawrence to Thomas that.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Oh yeah, I saw it on like third down on
the on the near sideline I saw it.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Yeah, you put that football rate on the money. Split
two defenders for Kansas City double coverage, not your thinking
us off. You're throwing in a double coverage on the
on the near sideline. But Thomas comes up with a
great catch.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Yeah, and that was on a third down right right,
as I said, it was like third and eight or something.
And then also, I don't know if you saw the
play that Travis Hunter made just going up in Moss
and a guy. Yes, but he's a talent too, Yeah,
of course I'm That's that's why I was pointing out
he now, Trevor Lawrence seems to have offensive weapons Schalore.
I mean Travis atn I think is his top five
(05:25):
in rushing yards of the season across all running backs.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
So it got a good offense going right now in Jacksonville.
But he didn't score last night and some of us
had an NY five touchdown. I'll right out.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
There, we'll just we'll continue, We'll move on. Hey, AFC
standings real quick for the conference. Just want to point
this out, Colts number one at four and one, Buffalo
four and one at number two, your Pittsburgh Steelers three
and one at number three. Chargers three and two at
four Jacksonville now four and one, they're the fifth seed
if the playoffs were to start today. In my goodness,
that's even stupid to say, we're only we're only five
(05:54):
weeks in, but Denver's number six at three and two
in the New England would be the seventh seed at
three and two. The Bengals, Texans, and Chiefs all with
two wins and three losses on the outside currently looking in.
And then after that it's all the one win teams,
which includes the Ravens and the Browns. So when you
look at the AFC North again, we talked about a
lot about this yesterday. Steelers three and one, first place,
(06:17):
Cincinnati two and three, Baltimore one and four, in Cleveland
one and four.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Yeah, just getting back to really quickly that those standings
and the game that we saw last night Jacksonville, and
I was mentioning Indianapolis something I just was able to
look up. Fans in Jacksonville and Indianapolis are gonna have
the same anxiety as fans in Baltimore and Pittsburgh because
for some reason, the NFL hasn't doesn't have the first
(06:42):
matchup for those two games between the Jags and the
Colts until December. So similar to Pittsburgh and Baltimore, those
two teams who are at top of their division right
now will not face each other until December and then
have to face each other like three weeks after that.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
The Colts owned the tiebreaker right now with the Jaguars.
I didn't dig too much into the weeze to figure
that out. Maybe point differential at this point of the season,
but that's why the culture number one. The Jaguars are
number five. But you could flip those right very simply.
Jacksonville can go from five to one. So a lot
to be determined. We're still very early into the NFL season,
but like you said, though, Jacob, or a quarter of
(07:18):
the way through now, so things are starting to take
place and you're starting to figure.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
A few things out.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
I think the tiebreaker there is because they both have
the same record, they both have the same division record,
it's the conference record. The Colts are four and oh
in the conference, whereas the Jacks are two and one.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Good catch, yep, that's exactly I'm looking at right now
with you. Yep, it would be conference play within the AFC.
So far, let's get to some Pittsburgh Steeler injury news
as of today, not too much to report officially. Again,
Mike Tomlin, as we record this podcast a little bit
here before eleven am on Tuesday, he will speak to
the media at noon today, so we'll get some clarification
on the injury situation and tomorrow, Jacob, you and I
(07:54):
can talk more on this. But Joey Porter Junior with
that hamstring they interviewed him yesterday. The Steelers got back
to the practice facility on the South Side yesterday after
the bye I'm not sure how intense that practice was.
My guess would be probably not that intense, just getting
back into the groove of things after a bye week.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
But Joey Porter Junior did practice fully.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
He talked to reporters afterwards and said he is feeling
great and ready to go. Sam can be said for
Alex Highsmith with that knee injury that's missed the last
couple of games.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
He's hopeful to return.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
He says he likes the plan that the coaches have
in place this week for him, and then after practice
he told everyone he's ready to go, and he had
no setbacks yesterday either. So two encouraging pieces of the puzzle.
Jalen Warren, we're not sure. We're expecting him to be back,
but we'll get an update from Mike Tomlin as well
as Calvin Austen and Jalen Ramsey another one that we're
not sure about. He went down in that Vikings game
(08:45):
late and really haven't heard anything about Jalen Ramsey.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Is he back? Is he gonna miss a few games again.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
That'll be another big, big player that we're gonna have
to find out today for Mike Tomlin to see what
his status is going forward.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Definitely.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
I mean, I think what's helpful for the bye week
is not only do you get that time off, but
then you also get that extra practice on Monday.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
At least the Steelers do that.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
I don't know if every team does that, but remember
most most weeks, I mean, you're playing on Sunday, the
team doesn't report for practice until Tuesday or sometimes even Wednesday.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
If if it's a good win.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
You know, you see those locker room footage of coaches saying, hey,
we'll see you on Wednesday.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
The guys get a little excited.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
They get an extra day off to kind of recuperate
after a tough win. Sometimes, but the bye week is
always needed, but it also helps you prepare more for
the actual week of your next game, at least in
Mike Thomins case, having his guys out there for a
practice yesterday afternoon, which is why we saw or which
is rather when we saw both Joey Porter Junior and
(09:43):
Alex Heigsmith as full participants. But yeah, definitely gonna be
winning on pins and needles. Waiting to hear updates on
on Jalen Warren and Jilan Ramsey. I think we we
know that Calvin Austin is a no shot this week,
and I mean they're even debating putting him on an IR.
That's how serious that injury is or how long term
(10:04):
that injury can be. But those two guys, the two
Jalens Ramsey and Warren are obviously huge contributors on both
offense and defense. Uh so hugely important to have both
of those guys back, especially consideringly, you know, like what,
like we mentioned, you got the Sean Elliott back last week,
you got or you're getting Joey Porters in your back
this week. It would be a shame to get those
(10:26):
guys back together in the lineup. But also at the
same time, removed Jalen Ramsey from the starting lineup. You
want to have your entire secondary fully healthy and playing together,
so we'll obviously be.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Waiting to hear what Tom has to say about him. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
I think the Jalen Ramsey along with Calvin Austin on
both sides of the ball, the most the two most
important sure players. We need to get some updates on
here and figure out. You know, again, all indications are
there at least going to miss this game against Cleveland,
but how much further after that? At least, as you said, Jacob,
they had some extra time during the bye week to
get healthy as both both of those injuries occurred in Dublin, Ireland,
(11:00):
which will almost be two weeks this upcoming Sunday from
the last time that the Steelers played. Okay, time for
our terrible takes, our favorite segment.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Of the week, our favorite one, right.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Steelers over reactions or not, We'll start with this one, Jacob.
The Steelers secondary when healthy is the best in the NFL.
Porter Junior Sleigh Ramsey, Elliott Thornhill, and now you can
put Brandon Eckles into that conversation.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
After we talked about Eccles yesterday.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
I'm gonna say it's a terrible take simply because the
numbers weak for itself.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
I mean, we really have.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
We We're seeing improvements for sure, but still it's even
those to go. I think maybe you could say on
paper they have one of the better secondaries out there,
but still they they need to be more in sync
playing together.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
So yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna call that one a
terrible take.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Next up, I you know, I give my opinion on it.
I think we talked so much in the first segment
today about trends and then the Steelers trending in the
right direction. Maybe not as steep as we want them
to be trending after the last game against the Vikings
and prior to the New England Patriots, but they are
trending in the right direction. I'd put the secondary in
that category two, along with the offensive line.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Yeah, and it'll help too when you, like I said,
when you get those guys back. But as I mentioned before,
the numbers speak for themselves. They are the number three
worst passing defense in the NFL right now. I really
can't say that they're the best secondary out there if
they rank bottom third in the league in that category.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
You know, those numbers certainly aren't speaking to it. Next up,
the AFC North for the Pittsburgh Steelers will happen this year.
The Steelers are three and one and control their own
fake going forward, But the AFC North title will happen
for the Steelers.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
I won't say that's a terrible take simply because as
we laid out, the Browns are brownsing right now. They're
just they don't look good at all, except for on defense.
But I mean, they allowed Baltimore to carve them up.
I think in week two, they allowed the Lions to
carve them up. A few weeks ago, they allowed Minnesota
(12:59):
to have come from behind victory against them this past week.
So despite them having a solid defense overall, it's not
good enough, right. And then you look at Cincinnati, who's
in a free fall without Joe Burrow and the Ravens
who were one and three with Lamar Jackson, zero to
one without him and allowing forty four points on defense
against the Texans, who were a really vanilla offense coming
(13:24):
into that game. I believe they scored forty four points
in that game, but before that they hadn't scored more
than twenty six before that game. So Houston, of all teams,
was able to explode on that Baltimore defense. That defense
is such a liability to them. Given all that, and
hopefully if Aaron Rodgers says healthy for the majority of
the season, maybe he misses a game or two that
(13:45):
won't kill them, I think that can lead to an easy,
easy road for the Steelers.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Winning the division.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
And I think you're if you're looking at the Steelers
and looking at the rest of the division, you kind
of have to say you need to win the division
this year. It would kind of be a if you didn't.
Given the state of the AS North and the other.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Three teams, it certainly has been teed up to them
right now, right right, it doesn't get any better than
the position that they're in. Okay, up next, Pat, Let's
talk Pat Friarmth. Seven catches on ten targets for sixty
five yards, no touchdowns, and that was really doing the
first three games because he didn't do anything against the Vikings.
So my take for you, Jacob is Pat Frarmth will
(14:25):
still make an impact this season with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
I'm not gonna say that's a terrible take. I think
that there's definitely hope for that. I definitely think that.
I think he's talented enough. The thing that's holding him
back is the usage, right It's it's the play calling.
We've had that discussion surrounding Pat. Basically his whole career
is he was he was certainly worthy of a second
(14:49):
round draft pick in the NFL coming out of Penn State.
It's just maybe he's hindered playing on this offense, which
when he was playing as a rookie in his first
couple of years playing in the mac fence, and then
his quarterback room wasn't great between Mitch Trubisky and Kenny Pickett,
Mason Rudolph, and then last year the duo of Justin
Fields and and Russell Wilson. One guy is is winless.
(15:13):
Justin Fields his own five and Russell Wilson has been
benched the last two weeks, so obviously not great quarterback
play from those two guys. I can't really, I can't
really put the blame on Pat. It's just this offense
right now. And and again Aaron Rodgers, who in his
prime was an assassin using the middle of the field,
(15:34):
he just doesn't have that ability to throw up with
that power anymore. Like we said, he it's more check downs,
it's more horizontal throws that you're seeing to the sidelines
than anything. And that's kind of a continuation of the
offense you saw of Arthur Smith last year. So I
want to have hope and say that Pat is more
(15:55):
than capable and more has more potential to do what
he's done so far, which is very little.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
But I'm not gonna blame him.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
But if it doesn't happen, it would be pretty disappointing,
and I don't know if I would put the blame
on him.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Steelers need to start attacking the middle of the football field.
I feel like we said that the last couple of seasons.
You mentioned that in our last segment about the last
couple of seasons. We're saying the same stuff, but you know,
using your tight ends and a guy like Pat Fryarmuth
attacking the middle of the field, Darnell Washington another one,
you get John who Smith's more of your hybrid type
receiver slash tight end, So maybe not so much with
him in the middle of the field, but my goodness,
(16:31):
Washington and Friarmuth two guys you could really utilize in
the middle of the football field in your passing game.
Next up, offensive line, Broderick Jones has outplayed Troy Fontano's
so far this season.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
I'm gonna say that's a terrible takes sim but because
the season overall, you have to look at what Broderick
did the first two weeks, and he was putrid. So
I'm not gonna say that just because Broderick got better
over weeks three and four, not necessarily even more so
better than Troy Forton, but just on his individual level
got better. I'm not going to say that he's been
(17:04):
the better outside tackle all year long. Troy Fatano also
needs to get better too. I think as a former
first round draft pick, similar to Broderick, he's kind of
underperforming in the second year.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
You know, Fontan is interesting to me because last year
his rookie training camp, he looked so good and everybody
that's that was the talk of camp, and even in
the first one. I think he got hurt in Denver
the second game last year. So he played the first
game and I think it was the second in Denver.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Is that when he went.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
Second was in Denver, and that's when he got re injured.
Because you remember he got charged during camp. You're right,
it was real. I don't know if it was. I
don't don't remember if it was a reaggravation or a
different injury. But it was week two when he got
hurt and that kept him out for the rest of
the year.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
But all indications were we were pumped about this guy.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
Yeah, and we still are still as a rookie. He
was starting by week two. Yeah, that's a pretty good indication.
Then he's ready to go.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
But so far this season a mixed back through the
first four games. But again, anybody's played offense of line
ers coached, it will tell you that you know there
is an you got to get acclimators an acclamation, especially
for rookies and especially those tackle positions. I heard Max
Stark's talk with Rob king Door and a Steeler broadcast
a few games ago about how hard it was for
him to transition from one side to the other. So
(18:15):
both these tackles are going to go through some growing
pains this season. Hopefully, hopefully those growing pains have mostly
taken place during the first four games, and now a
bye week gets them even straighter and they're ready to
go this upcoming week against the Cleveland Browns. Okay, Jacob,
from my indications, we're two for two, two two good takes,
two bad takes. So let's let's see if we can
figure this out for you. For these last couple the
(18:35):
Steelers defense is once again going to be elite by
the end of the season.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
I think that's a that's a fine take to have.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
I mean, they've they've certainly have the firepower, right, they
have the uh, the name recognition at every level, right,
I mean right now, Cam Heyward, I think is is
on pace to get first team All Pro honors for
the second year in a row. Derek Harmon when he
came into the lineup, allowed his game to open up
(19:03):
alongside Keanu Benten. We know the strength at outside linebacker
no matter which guy the four you put out there.
We've praised Pat Queen a lot for getting a lot
better in his second year with the Steelers, and then
you were talking about the secondary being the best secondary
in football. Numbers wise, they're not doing great, but still
they were playing without the Shawn Elliott and without Joey
(19:26):
Porter from majority of the season. Maybe when you get
them together and if Jalen Ramsey remains healthy, maybe with
everyone playing healthy. That does improve. And then you look
at what they what they're able to do with the
sacks and the turnovers so far, if they continue to
be the top of the league. I know they going
into the bye week they were second in the league
(19:46):
in sacks and second in the league in takeaways. Obviously
with the bye week that they lose some grounding in
that in those races. But I if they are able
to stay at top of the league, then sure they
can be elite. It's just I have to get better
at the bend, don't break stuff. I know, I know
they're good at not breaking, but the bending is is
far too much.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Let me tee the next one up for you to
give you some stats. I want to talk TJ.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Watt.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
TJ Watt for the first four games of the season
three sacks, nineteen tackles, five tackle for losses, two pass
deflections and interception, one force, fumble and a fumble recovery.
So my take for you is TJ. Watt will win
Defensive Player of the Year in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
That's a tough oh. For the first time ever, I
puzzled you.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
Yeah, that's a tough one, just because it's such a
big field. That's like, you know, you remember in the
days when it was when Tiger Woods was at his best.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
You know, is it smarter to take Tiger Woods to
the field.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
I think I'm gonna go with the field right now,
just because it's more likely to take the entire rest
of the NFL compared to just one guy. But if
he continues to show that progression he's made over the
last two weeks, then you know, a lot of these
races MVP, Offensive Player of the Year, Defensive Player of
the Year, Coach of the Year awards, some guys just
(21:06):
get in the finals with name recognition alone.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
And I think TJ.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Watt, if he continues to show what we saw out
of him the last two weeks, he'll be a finalist
for sure. Will he win it, I don't know. It's
hard to say. It's really hard to say. I mean,
usually we thought there was a trend going for a
while that no one in the secondary was gonna win,
and then all of a sudden, pascertain went ahead and
did that last year. So when you look at guys
(21:33):
up front, I want to say it could be someone
like Nick Benito, who was a finalist last year, a
who I think was who finished first in the league
last year with sacks.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Aiden Hutchinson's another name.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
I remember he was out all of last year, but
he's really bounced back and a huge way for the
Lions this year. Hutch I think was I think hutch
was the leading candidate in like Week six before he
went down with that season ending injury last year, and
he's returned with avenge this year. But I do think
that it's not a terrible take to say that TJ.
Watt will be a finalist this year as long as
(22:08):
he continues to make these big plays, the sacks, the
turnovers and whatnot.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Because of time, we went with six and we're three
and three. So we're three and three on our terrible
takes this week for you're not bad. I kind of
teed it up for you said, with no game on
usually our terrible takes are from what happened on Sunday
during the game. No game this past week, so we
had two weeks of data to kind of throw together
where we are so far this season. So Jacob, you
go three for three, three good takes, three bad takes.
(22:33):
Let's get some NFL takes before the end of the segment.
After a surprising twenty three to twenty twenty three to
twenty victory at Buffalo on Sunday Night Football, the New
England Patriots will be playoff bound this year.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
That's tough. Let me let me go ahead and look
at the standings real quick. Let me cheat here.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
I think I think they're currently in right I think
I just I talked about they are.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
The seventh seed right now, and actually, well, let me
ask you this, ed, I'm gonna answer your question with
a question of rebuttal Okay, you have the Colts. The
standings right now are the Colts, the Bills, the Steelers
at number three, that's crazy, the Chargers, the Jags, the Broncos,
the Patriots, that's the cutoff. Below them are the Bengals,
(23:15):
the Texans, the Chiefs, the Raiders, Baltimore and Miami, and
then the really bad team. So between Cincinnati, Houston, Kansas City, Baltimore,
do you see any of those teams sneaking in? Maybe
Kansas City bounces back, maybe Baltimore bounces back. I don't
think Houston gets it done this year. I don't think
(23:35):
Cincinnati gets it done this year for sure. So it
really just comes down to Kansas City or Baltimore turning
things around and taking that seventh seed. Is that possible.
Probably it's gonna happen. It's just it's so weird. If
you were to tell someone any NFL fan, here's where
the AAFC standings look right now after more than a
(23:58):
month in Indian Apple, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, LA.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Jacksonville, Denver, New England.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
With no Cincinnati, no Houston, no Kansas City, no Baltimore.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
People would have thought you were on drugs, right, But
this is what makes the NFL the NFL.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Sure, it's on any given Sunday, it's on any given year,
every single season, there will be one team that will.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Go from worse to first.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
But even right now, it's it's more than one team
because I don't think any of us. I don't think
any of us saw the Colts or the Jags starting
off at four and one. I don't think any of
us saw the Patriots going into Buffalo and beating the Bills.
I don't think anyone saw the Steelers being a top
of their division.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Let me answer your question.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
I'm not going to do a political debate with you
where I just you know, changed your subject and never
answer your question.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
I will give you my answer, my friend. I think
the Chiefs.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
You're the champs until proven otherwise. They're the AFC champs
to prove an otherwise. And even despite a two and
three store, they started zeroing two and then one two straight.
Then the loss last night, which could have went either
way against Jacksonville. Again, give credit to the Jags for
pulling that out two and three. I'm not going to
count Patrick Mahomes out until he's completely dead, until you
know it's over, until it's over.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
So yeah, I think the Chiefs. I think the Texans man.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
I think they went into Baltimore and they took advantage
of a very deplete at Baltimore raving team, but still
to go in and put forty plus points in Baltimore,
I think speaks volumes of Houston, Cincinnati. No Raiders know.
I'm gonna say Ravens know at this point too. Yeah,
So yeah, I think Chiefs. May It's weird to see,
isn't it weird to see? You said the Raiders before
the Ravens.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
That's simply because the Raiders right now stand above the
Ravens and the AFC standings they do.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
They have a better conference record, but they're one and
two and the Ravens are one and three in the conference.
We may have to spill this one over into the
next segment, and I'm okay with that, but the yet time,
let's do a couple more before we wrap it up.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Bengals offense is.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Broken without Joe Burrow and the Bengals offense and the
lack of a running game, even the receiving corps that's
been so great. Jamar Chase got big numbers, but it
wasn't mop up duty this past week. The Bengals offense
is broken through four or five weeks of the regular season.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Yeah, I'm gonna say it is.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
And that shouldn't be a shocker to anyone, right, I
mean without Joe Burrow, this guy, I said it before.
If the Bengals had made it to the postseason last year,
Joe Burrow would have been the MVP. It's just it's
hard to give MVP to a guy that doesn't even
get his team to the playoffs. But if they had
won one more game, they they would have gotten in
(26:24):
and Joe Burrow would have been your MVP. So it's
no surprise to say without your MVP, quarterback that your
offenses could put. I mean it's not just Joe Burrow though,
I mean the run game this year compared to last year.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
Chase Brown had a great year last year.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
They were a top top fifteen or at least running
team last year. I don't know what the hell happened.
And just you remove the biggest factor of that equation,
which is Joe Burrow, and it changes everything.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
The Jets season at zero to five is over. Of course,
that is no brak.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
That might be the easiest one you've given me today
is the our Jet season is over.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
About this one.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Despite a four to one record, the Eagles are have
struggled late in most of those games they've played five.
If you can take a look at their scores and
what they've done, there's been some struggles. It's been a
sloppy four and one. The Eagles struggles are more than
just a blimp.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
No, I'm gonna say that's a terrible take because they're
still the defending Super Bowl champions. Let's not get that twisted, right,
And they've played a lot of good teams so far,
and they've won a lot of those games except for
this past week.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
And I'm not going to fault them for losing one game.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
All all the teams they've been The Cowboys are competitive, right,
the Chiefs are competitive, the Rams are competitive, the Bucks
are competitive.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
They've won all those games.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
I just got to give credit more so to the
Broncos for pulling off that upset victory, especially on the
road in Philadelphia. I think you had said yesterday, what Philadelphia,
Buffalo and Kansas City where your hardest home field advantages
to win football in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
And they all lost.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
Rights City was on the road right right right, and
Kensity has been struggling a lot. But still I got
I gotta give Philadelphia credit. I mean, Saquon Barkley is
still doing great things. You know, Jalen Hurts. I know
they're not as as of a pass friendly offense, and
a J.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Brown you know, has his has.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
His issues of course, but still they're an effective defense.
They are an effective offense. Yeah, I mean, I I really,
I know it's one loss, but I wouldn't be pressing
the panic button if I'm Philadelphia.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
All right, that's going to do it for this segment
of our Terrible Takes in NFL Terrible Takes when Jacob
and I come back. We'll jump into our still digits
of the week for the Pittsburgh Steelers and the NFL,
plus our power rankings for a week six. It is
the Steelers Standard with Ed Troop and Jacob Brett here
on Steelers Nation Radio, part of the Steelers Audio Network.
It is the Steelers standard with that troop.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
And Jacob Brect on Steelers Nation Radio, part of the
Steelers Audio network. Did you catch the game last night,
Jacob Monday Night Football? It was a classic, came down
to the wire between the Jaguars and the Chiefs.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
You know, I have an early bedtime with the morning
show getting started so early, and I was paying attention.
I saw the Chiefs go up fourteen to nothing after
the Jags, if you remember, Trevor Lawren tried to sneak
the jump over the line of scrimmage and sneak the
ball in from the one. The Chiefs were able to
punch it out, drove ninety nine yards and then scored
(00:40):
a touchdown to go up fourteen and nothing. And I thought,
oh man, Chiefs are for real. Here we go. And
I kind of started to fall asleep after that. Saw
the Jags score the one touchdown to make it fourteen
to seven. I know, they got it back to fourteen fourteen,
and that's when, like right when I fell asleep, was
like right before that. So I missed the end of
(01:00):
the game and I caught the highlights this morning. But
you have to applaud the Jags and their effort and
that comeback when they are a legit team.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
They're four to one, they were down twenty four to
twenty one in the fourth quarter, where the Chiefs with
about a little less than six minutes to go, and
you knew what was gonna happen.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Patrick Mahomes took over. Yeah, and he got some breaks.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
There were some passes that were caught that probably shouldn't
have been and he said, okay, typical Patrick Mahomes, Typical
Chiefs offense. Just like we used to say about Brady
and the Patriots. It's the same type of field. And
I'm watching the game and I'm thinking Chiefs are gonna
go down, They're gonna score. The biggest question is will
Jacksonville have enough time left on the clock to potentially
come back and make a run at this.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Well, that's exactly what happened.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Patrick Mahomes marches down, the Chiefs offense down the field,
they score, They take a twenty eight to twenty four
lead just under two minutes remaining.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
But this was the biggest mistake of the game.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
The kickoff to the Jaguars goes out of bouts and
the Chiefs take The Chiefs kick it out of bouts,
the Jaguar take over at their own forty yard line.
They have great field position under two minutes to play.
The beginning of the drives a little bit rough. Lawrence
is sacked, he's pushed out of the pockets several times,
but makes a big third down pass the Brian Thomas Junior,
(02:13):
who had four catches for eighty yards in this game,
sets the Jags up on the chief side of the
fifty down towards their fort thirty five or forty yard
line somewhere in there. And then the Jacksonville Jaguars get
another big pass play from Lawrence. They get the ball
within the five yard line and then I don't know
if you saw what turns out to be the winning
touchdown less than thirty seconds left. Lawrence goes down, he
(02:34):
trips over seven, yeah, but nobody touches him and he
gets up and he runs into the end zone for
the touchdown. It turns out to be the winning score
with just twenty seconds left in the game, the Jaguars
going to win thirty one to twenty eight. The Chiefs
the defending AFC Champs two and three. Now they're in
that same narrative as the Ravens. Ravens a little worse
shape at one and four, but the Chiefs two and
(02:55):
three at this point, the Jaguars four and one. The
biggest takeaway I had, Jacob was that's a game in
which the Chiefs and.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Mahomes always win. They don't lose those types of games.
And so when they went up in this game twenty
eight twenty four, under two minutes left, you said, Okay,
here you go. They're gonna win like they always do.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
So the fact that the Jacks came back to beat
to beat the Chiefs, I think speaks volumes for Jacksonville.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
And I saw somewhere that the Chiefs had won twenty
three straight games or something like that when having a
fourteen point lead at any point during the game, and
that's that streak is obviously over now, I said earlier,
you really have to applaud the Jaguars for standing strong.
You have to applaud first first year head coach Liam
(03:40):
Cohen for the job he's done. I think a lot
of people were like him. Yeah, I think a lot
of people were getting ready to to kind of quit
on the Jags and the Trevor Lawrence era, just because
you remember, he was the highest touted or highest rated
high school prospect coming out of high school for Clemson,
and then he was thought of as the next no
brain for a quarterback coming out of college behind Andrew
(04:03):
Luck and really they just kind of underperformed. They made
one playoff run, They had that one playoff win against
the Chargers, and that.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Was really it.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
They hadn't really done anything since then. But this year
it looks different. This year looks like they have a
coach that can really lead this team. And it's a
young team. We know it's a young team defensively. We
know they brought in a lot of young talent offensively
with Travis Hunter coming in this year alongside Brian Brian
Thomas junior, who was a rookie last year. So things
(04:34):
look to be going okay right now for Jacksonville, which
is good because the Colts are obviously a competitive team
as well. They're one of the highest scoring offenses in
football right now, so it's good for the Jaguars to
be able to keep up.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
If you get a chance, watch the pass play from
Lawrence to Thomas that.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Oh yeah, I saw it on like third down on
the on the near sideline I saw it.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Yeah, you put that football rate on the money. Split
two defenders for Kansas City double coverage, not your thinking
us off. You're throwing in a double coverage on the
on the near sideline. But Thomas comes up with a
great catch.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Yeah, and that was on a third down right right,
as I said, it was like third and eight or something.
And then also, I don't know if you saw the
play that Travis Hunter made just going up in Moss
and a guy. Yes, but he's a talent too, Yeah,
of course I'm That's that's why I was pointing out
he now, Trevor Lawrence seems to have offensive weapons Schalore.
I mean Travis atn I think is his top five
(05:25):
in rushing yards of the season across all running backs.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
So it got a good offense going right now in Jacksonville.
But he didn't score last night and some of us
had an NY five touchdown. I'll right out.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
There, we'll just we'll continue, We'll move on. Hey, AFC
standings real quick for the conference. Just want to point
this out, Colts number one at four and one, Buffalo
four and one at number two, your Pittsburgh Steelers three
and one at number three. Chargers three and two at
four Jacksonville now four and one, they're the fifth seed
if the playoffs were to start today. In my goodness,
that's even stupid to say, we're only we're only five
(05:54):
weeks in, but Denver's number six at three and two
in the New England would be the seventh seed at
three and two. The Bengals, Texans, and Chiefs all with
two wins and three losses on the outside currently looking in.
And then after that it's all the one win teams,
which includes the Ravens and the Browns. So when you
look at the AFC North again, we talked about a
lot about this yesterday. Steelers three and one, first place,
(06:17):
Cincinnati two and three, Baltimore one and four, in Cleveland
one and four.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Yeah, just getting back to really quickly that those standings
and the game that we saw last night Jacksonville, and
I was mentioning Indianapolis something I just was able to
look up. Fans in Jacksonville and Indianapolis are gonna have
the same anxiety as fans in Baltimore and Pittsburgh because
for some reason, the NFL hasn't doesn't have the first
(06:42):
matchup for those two games between the Jags and the
Colts until December. So similar to Pittsburgh and Baltimore, those
two teams who are at top of their division right
now will not face each other until December and then
have to face each other like three weeks after that.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
The Colts owned the tiebreaker right now with the Jaguars.
I didn't dig too much into the weeze to figure
that out. Maybe point differential at this point of the season,
but that's why the culture number one. The Jaguars are
number five. But you could flip those right very simply.
Jacksonville can go from five to one. So a lot
to be determined. We're still very early into the NFL season,
but like you said, though, Jacob, or a quarter of
(07:18):
the way through now, so things are starting to take
place and you're starting to figure.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
A few things out.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
I think the tiebreaker there is because they both have
the same record, they both have the same division record,
it's the conference record. The Colts are four and oh
in the conference, whereas the Jacks are two and one.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Good catch, yep, that's exactly I'm looking at right now
with you. Yep, it would be conference play within the AFC.
So far, let's get to some Pittsburgh Steeler injury news
as of today, not too much to report officially. Again,
Mike Tomlin, as we record this podcast a little bit
here before eleven am on Tuesday, he will speak to
the media at noon today, so we'll get some clarification
on the injury situation and tomorrow, Jacob, you and I
(07:54):
can talk more on this. But Joey Porter Junior with
that hamstring they interviewed him yesterday. The Steelers got back
to the practice facility on the South Side yesterday after
the bye I'm not sure how intense that practice was.
My guess would be probably not that intense, just getting
back into the groove of things after a bye week.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
But Joey Porter Junior did practice fully.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
He talked to reporters afterwards and said he is feeling
great and ready to go. Sam can be said for
Alex Highsmith with that knee injury that's missed the last
couple of games.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
He's hopeful to return.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
He says he likes the plan that the coaches have
in place this week for him, and then after practice
he told everyone he's ready to go, and he had
no setbacks yesterday either. So two encouraging pieces of the puzzle.
Jalen Warren, we're not sure. We're expecting him to be back,
but we'll get an update from Mike Tomlin as well
as Calvin Austen and Jalen Ramsey another one that we're
not sure about. He went down in that Vikings game
(08:45):
late and really haven't heard anything about Jalen Ramsey.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Is he back? Is he gonna miss a few games again.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
That'll be another big, big player that we're gonna have
to find out today for Mike Tomlin to see what
his status is going forward.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Definitely.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
I mean, I think what's helpful for the bye week
is not only do you get that time off, but
then you also get that extra practice on Monday.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
At least the Steelers do that.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
I don't know if every team does that, but remember
most most weeks, I mean, you're playing on Sunday, the
team doesn't report for practice until Tuesday or sometimes even Wednesday.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
If if it's a good win.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
You know, you see those locker room footage of coaches saying, hey,
we'll see you on Wednesday.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
The guys get a little excited.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
They get an extra day off to kind of recuperate
after a tough win. Sometimes, but the bye week is
always needed, but it also helps you prepare more for
the actual week of your next game, at least in
Mike Thomins case, having his guys out there for a
practice yesterday afternoon, which is why we saw or which
is rather when we saw both Joey Porter Junior and
(09:43):
Alex Heigsmith as full participants. But yeah, definitely gonna be
winning on pins and needles. Waiting to hear updates on
on Jalen Warren and Jilan Ramsey. I think we we
know that Calvin Austin is a no shot this week,
and I mean they're even debating putting him on an IR.
That's how serious that injury is or how long term
(10:04):
that injury can be. But those two guys, the two
Jalens Ramsey and Warren are obviously huge contributors on both
offense and defense. Uh so hugely important to have both
of those guys back, especially consideringly, you know, like what,
like we mentioned, you got the Sean Elliott back last week,
you got or you're getting Joey Porters in your back
this week. It would be a shame to get those
(10:26):
guys back together in the lineup. But also at the
same time, removed Jalen Ramsey from the starting lineup. You
want to have your entire secondary fully healthy and playing together,
so we'll obviously be.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Waiting to hear what Tom has to say about him. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
I think the Jalen Ramsey along with Calvin Austin on
both sides of the ball, the most the two most
important sure players. We need to get some updates on
here and figure out. You know, again, all indications are
there at least going to miss this game against Cleveland,
but how much further after that? At least, as you said, Jacob,
they had some extra time during the bye week to
get healthy as both both of those injuries occurred in Dublin, Ireland,
(11:00):
which will almost be two weeks this upcoming Sunday from
the last time that the Steelers played. Okay, time for
our terrible takes, our favorite segment.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Of the week, our favorite one, right.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Steelers over reactions or not, We'll start with this one, Jacob.
The Steelers secondary when healthy is the best in the NFL.
Porter Junior Sleigh Ramsey, Elliott Thornhill, and now you can
put Brandon Eckles into that conversation.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
After we talked about Eccles yesterday.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
I'm gonna say it's a terrible take simply because the
numbers weak for itself.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
I mean, we really have.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
We We're seeing improvements for sure, but still it's even
those to go. I think maybe you could say on
paper they have one of the better secondaries out there,
but still they they need to be more in sync
playing together.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
So yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna call that one a
terrible take.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Next up, I you know, I give my opinion on it.
I think we talked so much in the first segment
today about trends and then the Steelers trending in the
right direction. Maybe not as steep as we want them
to be trending after the last game against the Vikings
and prior to the New England Patriots, but they are
trending in the right direction. I'd put the secondary in
that category two, along with the offensive line.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Yeah, and it'll help too when you, like I said,
when you get those guys back. But as I mentioned before,
the numbers speak for themselves. They are the number three
worst passing defense in the NFL right now. I really
can't say that they're the best secondary out there if
they rank bottom third in the league in that category.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
You know, those numbers certainly aren't speaking to it. Next up,
the AFC North for the Pittsburgh Steelers will happen this year.
The Steelers are three and one and control their own
fake going forward, But the AFC North title will happen
for the Steelers.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
I won't say that's a terrible take simply because as
we laid out, the Browns are brownsing right now. They're
just they don't look good at all, except for on defense.
But I mean, they allowed Baltimore to carve them up.
I think in week two, they allowed the Lions to
carve them up. A few weeks ago, they allowed Minnesota
(12:59):
to have come from behind victory against them this past week.
So despite them having a solid defense overall, it's not
good enough, right. And then you look at Cincinnati, who's
in a free fall without Joe Burrow and the Ravens
who were one and three with Lamar Jackson, zero to
one without him and allowing forty four points on defense
against the Texans, who were a really vanilla offense coming
(13:24):
into that game. I believe they scored forty four points
in that game, but before that they hadn't scored more
than twenty six before that game. So Houston, of all teams,
was able to explode on that Baltimore defense. That defense
is such a liability to them. Given all that, and
hopefully if Aaron Rodgers says healthy for the majority of
the season, maybe he misses a game or two that
(13:45):
won't kill them, I think that can lead to an easy,
easy road for the Steelers.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Winning the division.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
And I think you're if you're looking at the Steelers
and looking at the rest of the division, you kind
of have to say you need to win the division
this year. It would kind of be a if you didn't.
Given the state of the AS North and the other.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Three teams, it certainly has been teed up to them
right now, right right, it doesn't get any better than
the position that they're in. Okay, up next, Pat, Let's
talk Pat Friarmth. Seven catches on ten targets for sixty
five yards, no touchdowns, and that was really doing the
first three games because he didn't do anything against the Vikings.
So my take for you, Jacob is Pat Frarmth will
(14:25):
still make an impact this season with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
I'm not gonna say that's a terrible take. I think
that there's definitely hope for that. I definitely think that.
I think he's talented enough. The thing that's holding him
back is the usage, right It's it's the play calling.
We've had that discussion surrounding Pat. Basically his whole career
is he was he was certainly worthy of a second
(14:49):
round draft pick in the NFL coming out of Penn State.
It's just maybe he's hindered playing on this offense, which
when he was playing as a rookie in his first
couple of years playing in the mac fence, and then
his quarterback room wasn't great between Mitch Trubisky and Kenny Pickett,
Mason Rudolph, and then last year the duo of Justin
Fields and and Russell Wilson. One guy is is winless.
(15:13):
Justin Fields his own five and Russell Wilson has been
benched the last two weeks, so obviously not great quarterback
play from those two guys. I can't really, I can't
really put the blame on Pat. It's just this offense
right now. And and again Aaron Rodgers, who in his
prime was an assassin using the middle of the field,
(15:34):
he just doesn't have that ability to throw up with
that power anymore. Like we said, he it's more check downs,
it's more horizontal throws that you're seeing to the sidelines
than anything. And that's kind of a continuation of the
offense you saw of Arthur Smith last year. So I
want to have hope and say that Pat is more
(15:55):
than capable and more has more potential to do what
he's done so far, which is very little.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
But I'm not gonna blame him.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
But if it doesn't happen, it would be pretty disappointing,
and I don't know if I would put the blame
on him.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Steelers need to start attacking the middle of the football field.
I feel like we said that the last couple of seasons.
You mentioned that in our last segment about the last
couple of seasons. We're saying the same stuff, but you know,
using your tight ends and a guy like Pat Fryarmuth
attacking the middle of the field, Darnell Washington another one,
you get John who Smith's more of your hybrid type
receiver slash tight end, So maybe not so much with
him in the middle of the field, but my goodness,
(16:31):
Washington and Friarmuth two guys you could really utilize in
the middle of the football field in your passing game.
Next up, offensive line, Broderick Jones has outplayed Troy Fontano's
so far this season.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
I'm gonna say that's a terrible takes sim but because
the season overall, you have to look at what Broderick
did the first two weeks, and he was putrid. So
I'm not gonna say that just because Broderick got better
over weeks three and four, not necessarily even more so
better than Troy Forton, but just on his individual level
got better. I'm not going to say that he's been
(17:04):
the better outside tackle all year long. Troy Fatano also
needs to get better too. I think as a former
first round draft pick, similar to Broderick, he's kind of
underperforming in the second year.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
You know, Fontan is interesting to me because last year
his rookie training camp, he looked so good and everybody
that's that was the talk of camp, and even in
the first one. I think he got hurt in Denver
the second game last year. So he played the first
game and I think it was the second in Denver.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Is that when he went.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
Second was in Denver, and that's when he got re injured.
Because you remember he got charged during camp. You're right,
it was real. I don't know if it was. I
don't don't remember if it was a reaggravation or a
different injury. But it was week two when he got
hurt and that kept him out for the rest of
the year.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
But all indications were we were pumped about this guy.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
Yeah, and we still are still as a rookie. He
was starting by week two. Yeah, that's a pretty good indication.
Then he's ready to go.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
But so far this season a mixed back through the
first four games. But again, anybody's played offense of line
ers coached, it will tell you that you know there
is an you got to get acclimators an acclamation, especially
for rookies and especially those tackle positions. I heard Max
Stark's talk with Rob king Door and a Steeler broadcast
a few games ago about how hard it was for
him to transition from one side to the other. So
(18:15):
both these tackles are going to go through some growing
pains this season. Hopefully, hopefully those growing pains have mostly
taken place during the first four games, and now a
bye week gets them even straighter and they're ready to
go this upcoming week against the Cleveland Browns. Okay, Jacob,
from my indications, we're two for two, two two good takes,
two bad takes. So let's let's see if we can
figure this out for you. For these last couple the
(18:35):
Steelers defense is once again going to be elite by
the end of the season.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
I think that's a that's a fine take to have.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
I mean, they've they've certainly have the firepower, right, they
have the uh, the name recognition at every level, right,
I mean right now, Cam Heyward, I think is is
on pace to get first team All Pro honors for
the second year in a row. Derek Harmon when he
came into the lineup, allowed his game to open up
(19:03):
alongside Keanu Benten. We know the strength at outside linebacker
no matter which guy the four you put out there.
We've praised Pat Queen a lot for getting a lot
better in his second year with the Steelers, and then
you were talking about the secondary being the best secondary
in football. Numbers wise, they're not doing great, but still
they were playing without the Shawn Elliott and without Joey
(19:26):
Porter from majority of the season. Maybe when you get
them together and if Jalen Ramsey remains healthy, maybe with
everyone playing healthy. That does improve. And then you look
at what they what they're able to do with the
sacks and the turnovers so far, if they continue to
be the top of the league. I know they going
into the bye week they were second in the league
(19:46):
in sacks and second in the league in takeaways. Obviously
with the bye week that they lose some grounding in
that in those races. But I if they are able
to stay at top of the league, then sure they
can be elite. It's just I have to get better
at the bend, don't break stuff. I know, I know
they're good at not breaking, but the bending is is
far too much.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Let me tee the next one up for you to
give you some stats. I want to talk TJ.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Watt.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
TJ Watt for the first four games of the season
three sacks, nineteen tackles, five tackle for losses, two pass
deflections and interception, one force, fumble and a fumble recovery.
So my take for you is TJ. Watt will win
Defensive Player of the Year in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
That's a tough oh. For the first time ever, I
puzzled you.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
Yeah, that's a tough one, just because it's such a
big field. That's like, you know, you remember in the
days when it was when Tiger Woods was at his best.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
You know, is it smarter to take Tiger Woods to
the field.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
I think I'm gonna go with the field right now,
just because it's more likely to take the entire rest
of the NFL compared to just one guy. But if
he continues to show that progression he's made over the
last two weeks, then you know, a lot of these
races MVP, Offensive Player of the Year, Defensive Player of
the Year, Coach of the Year awards, some guys just
(21:06):
get in the finals with name recognition alone.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
And I think TJ.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Watt, if he continues to show what we saw out
of him the last two weeks, he'll be a finalist
for sure. Will he win it, I don't know. It's
hard to say. It's really hard to say. I mean,
usually we thought there was a trend going for a
while that no one in the secondary was gonna win,
and then all of a sudden, pascertain went ahead and
did that last year. So when you look at guys
(21:33):
up front, I want to say it could be someone
like Nick Benito, who was a finalist last year, a
who I think was who finished first in the league
last year with sacks.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Aiden Hutchinson's another name.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
I remember he was out all of last year, but
he's really bounced back and a huge way for the
Lions this year. Hutch I think was I think hutch
was the leading candidate in like Week six before he
went down with that season ending injury last year, and
he's returned with avenge this year. But I do think
that it's not a terrible take to say that TJ.
Watt will be a finalist this year as long as
(22:08):
he continues to make these big plays, the sacks, the
turnovers and whatnot.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Because of time, we went with six and we're three
and three. So we're three and three on our terrible
takes this week for you're not bad. I kind of
teed it up for you said, with no game on
usually our terrible takes are from what happened on Sunday
during the game. No game this past week, so we
had two weeks of data to kind of throw together
where we are so far this season. So Jacob, you
go three for three, three good takes, three bad takes.
(22:33):
Let's get some NFL takes before the end of the segment.
After a surprising twenty three to twenty twenty three to
twenty victory at Buffalo on Sunday Night Football, the New
England Patriots will be playoff bound this year.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
That's tough. Let me let me go ahead and look
at the standings real quick. Let me cheat here.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
I think I think they're currently in right I think
I just I talked about they are.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
The seventh seed right now, and actually, well, let me
ask you this, ed, I'm gonna answer your question with
a question of rebuttal Okay, you have the Colts. The
standings right now are the Colts, the Bills, the Steelers
at number three, that's crazy, the Chargers, the Jags, the Broncos,
the Patriots, that's the cutoff. Below them are the Bengals,
(23:15):
the Texans, the Chiefs, the Raiders, Baltimore and Miami, and
then the really bad team. So between Cincinnati, Houston, Kansas City, Baltimore,
do you see any of those teams sneaking in? Maybe
Kansas City bounces back, maybe Baltimore bounces back. I don't
think Houston gets it done this year. I don't think
(23:35):
Cincinnati gets it done this year for sure. So it
really just comes down to Kansas City or Baltimore turning
things around and taking that seventh seed. Is that possible.
Probably it's gonna happen. It's just it's so weird. If
you were to tell someone any NFL fan, here's where
the AAFC standings look right now after more than a
(23:58):
month in Indian Apple, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, LA.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Jacksonville, Denver, New England.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
With no Cincinnati, no Houston, no Kansas City, no Baltimore.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
People would have thought you were on drugs, right, But
this is what makes the NFL the NFL.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Sure, it's on any given Sunday, it's on any given year,
every single season, there will be one team that will.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Go from worse to first.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
But even right now, it's it's more than one team
because I don't think any of us. I don't think
any of us saw the Colts or the Jags starting
off at four and one. I don't think any of
us saw the Patriots going into Buffalo and beating the Bills.
I don't think anyone saw the Steelers being a top
of their division.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Let me answer your question.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
I'm not going to do a political debate with you
where I just you know, changed your subject and never
answer your question.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
I will give you my answer, my friend. I think
the Chiefs.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
You're the champs until proven otherwise. They're the AFC champs
to prove an otherwise. And even despite a two and
three store, they started zeroing two and then one two straight.
Then the loss last night, which could have went either
way against Jacksonville. Again, give credit to the Jags for
pulling that out two and three. I'm not going to
count Patrick Mahomes out until he's completely dead, until you
know it's over, until it's over.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
So yeah, I think the Chiefs. I think the Texans man.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
I think they went into Baltimore and they took advantage
of a very deplete at Baltimore raving team, but still
to go in and put forty plus points in Baltimore,
I think speaks volumes of Houston, Cincinnati. No Raiders know.
I'm gonna say Ravens know at this point too. Yeah,
So yeah, I think Chiefs. May It's weird to see,
isn't it weird to see? You said the Raiders before
the Ravens.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
That's simply because the Raiders right now stand above the
Ravens and the AFC standings they do.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
They have a better conference record, but they're one and
two and the Ravens are one and three in the conference.
We may have to spill this one over into the
next segment, and I'm okay with that, but the yet time,
let's do a couple more before we wrap it up.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Bengals offense is.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Broken without Joe Burrow and the Bengals offense and the
lack of a running game, even the receiving corps that's
been so great. Jamar Chase got big numbers, but it
wasn't mop up duty this past week. The Bengals offense
is broken through four or five weeks of the regular season.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Yeah, I'm gonna say it is.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
And that shouldn't be a shocker to anyone, right, I
mean without Joe Burrow, this guy, I said it before.
If the Bengals had made it to the postseason last year,
Joe Burrow would have been the MVP. It's just it's
hard to give MVP to a guy that doesn't even
get his team to the playoffs. But if they had
won one more game, they they would have gotten in
(26:24):
and Joe Burrow would have been your MVP. So it's
no surprise to say without your MVP, quarterback that your
offenses could put. I mean it's not just Joe Burrow though,
I mean the run game this year compared to last year.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
Chase Brown had a great year last year.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
They were a top top fifteen or at least running
team last year. I don't know what the hell happened.
And just you remove the biggest factor of that equation,
which is Joe Burrow, and it changes everything.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
The Jets season at zero to five is over. Of course,
that is no brak.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
That might be the easiest one you've given me today
is the our Jet season is over.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
About this one.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Despite a four to one record, the Eagles are have
struggled late in most of those games they've played five.
If you can take a look at their scores and
what they've done, there's been some struggles. It's been a
sloppy four and one. The Eagles struggles are more than
just a blimp.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
No, I'm gonna say that's a terrible take because they're
still the defending Super Bowl champions. Let's not get that twisted, right,
And they've played a lot of good teams so far,
and they've won a lot of those games except for
this past week.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
And I'm not going to fault them for losing one game.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
All all the teams they've been The Cowboys are competitive, right,
the Chiefs are competitive, the Rams are competitive, the Bucks
are competitive.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
They've won all those games.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
I just got to give credit more so to the
Broncos for pulling off that upset victory, especially on the
road in Philadelphia. I think you had said yesterday, what Philadelphia,
Buffalo and Kansas City where your hardest home field advantages
to win football in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
And they all lost.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
Rights City was on the road right right right, and
Kensity has been struggling a lot. But still I got
I gotta give Philadelphia credit. I mean, Saquon Barkley is
still doing great things. You know, Jalen Hurts. I know
they're not as as of a pass friendly offense, and
a J.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Brown you know, has his has.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
His issues of course, but still they're an effective defense.
They are an effective offense. Yeah, I mean, I I really,
I know it's one loss, but I wouldn't be pressing
the panic button if I'm Philadelphia.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
All right, that's going to do it for this segment
of our Terrible Takes in NFL Terrible Takes when Jacob
and I come back. We'll jump into our still digits
of the week for the Pittsburgh Steelers and the NFL,
plus our power rankings for a week six. It is
the Steelers Standard with Ed Troop and Jacob Brett here
on Steelers Nation Radio, part of the Steelers Audio Network.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com