October 8, 2025 • 28 mins
Ed Troup and Jacob Recht look at the highs and lows through the Steelers first four games plus the bye week.
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
This is the Steelers Standard.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
With Ed Troop and Jacob Wrect on Steelers Nation Radio,
part of the Steelers Audio Network, we continue to get
you set for Week six across the NFL and for
the Pittsburgh Steelers, another matchup against the Cleveland Browns, their
first AFC North matchup of the twenty twenty five season.
And as we were just talking with ray Fitlpaldo in
our last segment from the Pittsburgh Post, because at the
Steelers in the driver's seat in the AFC North at
(00:32):
three and one and another or not another, but their
first AFC North the visional win. Potentially this Sunday could
even extend that lead even further and continue to put
them in the driving seat, especially Jacob, what happens in
Baltimore with the Ravens, who do not have an easy
game this upcoming week in Cincinnati out there as well,
so and then you get the Bengals on Thursday night.
(00:53):
So really these next two games and a five day window,
the Steelers can go either way. They lose both and
look out in the AFC North, it's it's up for
grabs again, but they can really further their league sure,
and their strength in this division with two division wins
in five days.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Yeah, if they if they beat the Browns this week,
they jump up to four and one, and you look around.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
The rest of the division.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
As we've talked about it at length, the Ravens playing
against the Rams. Now, I know that game's in Baltimore,
but the Ravens just played Houston in Baltimore and Houston
put up forty four points. The Ravens have the worst
scoring defense in the NFL right now. They're averaging about
thirty three points per game against them.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
That is not sustainable.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
And that is no fault to Lamar Jackson in his absence,
right That is all on the defense. And that was
with a healthy lineup of amount of BK being out there,
Kyle van Noy being out there, Kyle Hamilton being out there,
and you know, you just saw them trade away their
middle linebacker. Oh to get some help in the secondary
(02:02):
from San Diego the Chargers in Los Angeles. But I
don't know if that's gonna be a fixed all kind
of guy or a kind of move for them, because,
like I said, they're gonna bolster up their secondary, but
they're losing one of their starting middle guys in the
linebacking corpse, So it's kind of a give and take there.
(02:24):
I don't see that Baltimore defense improving. I mean last year,
you remember their secondary was really struggling. They were thirty
second in the league in past defense, but they weren't
this bad against or allowing points scored against them.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
So I don't know.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
Even though they got better as the season went on
last year on defense, I don't know how they climb
out of this hole this year. So if the Rams
were able to take care of business, that's a huge help.
And then you look at the Bengals this week. You remember,
yes it's a green Bay. A couple of weeks ago,
when the Packers traveled to Cleveland and the Browns upset
(02:58):
the Packers.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
I think this would be a way bigger upset.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
If the Bengals were able to go on the row
without Joe Burrow into Green Bay and win that game.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
I don't think that's happening. I think the Packers are gonna.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Take care of easily this Bengals team, even with Joe
Flacco a quarterback. So if the if the Bengals lose
that game, they'll fall to further under five hundred. Remember
they start off the year two to zero, but really
ever since losing Joe Burrow, they've lost three in a row.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
This could be their fourth.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
And then with the Ravens, like we mentioned, with their defense,
if their defense is that big of a liability, and
playing another game without Lamar, Rayfa Depaldo, who we had
on last segment, brought up the point that we don't
know for sure if Lamar Jackson is out this week,
but it's looking that way.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
That's the safe assumption there, and if he is, you.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Just have to assume that the Ravens are gonna lose
that game without Lamar and without a capable defense, that
would plunge them into a one to five record, while
the Steelers couldn't prove to four and one. And like
you mentioned, next week playing the Bengals, I don't know
if the quarterback we would feel better, but I still
(04:08):
think there's no real need to fear Joe Flacco in
a Bengals uniform after he played in a Browns uniform,
after he played in a Colt's uniform.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
The guy is just getting older and older. And remember he.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Got benched, like that's that's how much he struggled that Browns.
We talked a lot about with rayfel Opaludo last segment
how good that Browns defense is. We didn't really touch
on the Browns offense at all, simply because it's that bad.
That Brown's offense is one of the worst UH statistical
offenses this year in pretty much every category you can
think of, so there was really no need to talk
(04:41):
about it. So with the guy who was leading that
historically bad offense now playing in Cincinnati, who's been struggling
without Joe Burrow, I don't see them as a threat.
And if you can win, you if you can win
that game against the Bengals, the Ravens are on the
bye next week, and the Browns, let's see who they
played next week. They played the Dolphins. It doesn't matter.
(05:02):
The Browns are going to fallow to one and four
this week, so you really don't need to pay too
much attention to them. But yeah, if you can win
these next two games against two divisional opponents, and meanwhile,
have the Ravens lose this week against the Rams, oh
my gosh, that is a that is a division lead
of mountainous proportions.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
This early on in the season, you just don't see that.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
The Green Bay Packers are a two touchdown favorite at
home on Sunday at four, and then the Ravens are
underdogs at home by a full touchdown seven and a
half points.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
The Rams are you know what it is for the
Steelers and Browns.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
It is a six and a half point current line.
The Steelers favored almost by a touchdown at home too.
So those are Those are three games of at least
one touchdown or more for the three AFC North teams,
with the Steelers being the only favorite out of those.
All those teams in the AFC North. You know, one
more point, good, Jacob.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
I also bet it's the lowest over under across the
entire league for next week, wouldn't surprise.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Let's see thirty eight and a half for the Steeler
game for the Baltimore it's forty five and a half
in Cincinnati.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Yeah, I'm just staying across the entire NFL. I bet
you it's the lowest over under. I'm looking real quick
and just a real quick, Yes they are. They have
the lowest. Yeah, what I can see here? You go?
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Hold on, let's see Monday night. Yeah, it's fifty points
for Buffalo in Atlanta and forty nine for Chicago Washington. Yep,
they have good call my friend, yep they have. They
have the lowest. So there you go.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
Yeah, as much as I was kind of crapping on
the Browns offense scoring in their scoring ability, the Steelers
aren't much better. I mean, they are better. They're averaging
about twenty four points a game, but that's not.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
It used to be. You know, ten fifteen years ago,
that was great.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
But nowadays with the offenses in football in the around
the NFL, right now, that's that's not gonna get that's
not going to be enough.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Before we get to our seven shots of Hits and
Misses segment. Here in our third segment this morning, I
say this afternoon. We're almost afternoon here in Yeah, I
want to mention this real quick. Jalen Ramsey and we
were talking to Ray fit Depado about the Steeler injury
situation again. Joey Porter, Junior, Alex Highsmith, Jay and Moore,
Jalen Warren all looking very good to play on Sunday.
(07:12):
Austin and Ramsey Tomlin felt good about but Ray kind
of pulled back on that a little bit once to
see how practice goes this week.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
And I don't think.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
He said that he'd be surprised if they played, but
he's a little bit more less optimistic about those two.
But here's the thought about Jalen Ramsey. If he's borderlined
to possibly go on Sunday, do you hold him back?
So then he's one hundred percent ready to go against
a Cincinnati offense. It's a lot more threatening than Cleveland,
especially with Jamar chasing company on the upcoming Thursday night.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
If it was me and he's borderline, I would rest him.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
So he's absolutely ready to go against that Cincinnati passing
game because the Bengals wide receivers to me, are a
lot more intimidating than what the Browns have.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Yeah, I think that's a good strategy.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Ed.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
My only concern is that by saying, oh, let's save
him for the next week, you're kind of overlooking the
Browns this week. And I know, I know, I know
the Browns offense is not one to be intimidated by.
And considering you're getting you're for sure going to get
back Joey Porter Junior. You're for sure gonna get back
Alex Highsmith. You're gonna have Deshaun Elliott for the second
(08:14):
week in a row right following his return from the
injury report.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
You don't want to be over confidence.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Oh we're getting three guys back in his fan of
two weeks, so we don't really need Ramsey here, But
you don't want to get caught, you know, with your
hand into the cookie jar. I think being a little
too confident there overlooking the Browns. So I get I
get the strategy there, giving him some extra rests against
a bigger tests for a better offense. But my worry
(08:40):
for the Browns is weird things happen in these AFC
North games. So I don't know where. I don't know
where I stand on that. It's a good question. I
really don't have an answer.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
I just I feel like, you know, Brandon eccles has
played well coming in in that secondary. You got it now,
a healthy Deshaun Elliott, you got a healthy Joey Porter junior.
If you can get by this Cleveland game and then
have Ramsey ready to go on Thursday night football, because
a quick turnaround. That's what worries me. If he comes
out Sunday, tweaks something or it isn't one hundred percent
and then he only has three days of rest before
(09:10):
he has to go the following Thursday night in Cincinnati
against a much more talented wide receiver group. I'd rather
hold him back and just just having ready to be
one hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
We shall see.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
I think practice will indicate that today and tomorrow, especially
if these guys are able to practice, if they're limited,
if they're full, that will tell us to tell as
we go throughout the rest of this week. Let's get
to our seven shots of seven hits and seven misses
so far this season. Speaking of which, perfect segue our
first shot, which is a hit. The Steelers are relatively
healthy coming out of the bye week. They're expecting the
(09:40):
return of several key players from injury for this upcoming
game against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, including Joey Porter,
Junior Alex Highsmith, and Jalen Warren. As we just talked about,
and again Tomlin yesterday semi optimistic about the possibility of
Austin and Ramsey both playing this Sunday. But the Steelers
are in a good spot from a health perspective, and
Jacob I say all the time, and we've now seen
(10:01):
it in Cincinnati with Joe Burrow. Now we're seeing it
in Baltimore Lamar Jackson. That's a huge, huge, if not
maybe the number one X factor of an NFL season
is can you stay healthy? Especially with your playmakers?
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
I mean they've had their ups and downs on the
injury reports so far this year, but luckily for them,
none of those injuries have been long lasting, right. I
think the two biggest examples of that are Deshaun Elliott
and Calvin Austin. When Deshaun Elliott went down in Week
one and when Calvin Austin went down two weeks ago
against Minnesota, you really thought that when those injuries happened,
(10:38):
Oh no, these guys could be out for a significant time.
And we know how big of a contributor each guy
is to their respective unit. Deshaun and the secondary and
Calvin as your really only other receiver option behind DK
Metcalf at that position. I know you have the tight ends,
but at the receiver really, Calvin Austen is the only
other guy you have compl ning DK Metcalf, And luckily
(11:02):
for them, I mean, as we saw Deshaun Elliott already playing,
he played in that Minnesota game, only missed two games
in weeks two and three, and Calvin Austin. As you said,
he's already back on the trending upward trajectory returning from
his injury just two weeks ago.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
I think of all the guys right between.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
Ramsey and Austin and Warren and Porter and high Smith,
Calvin Austin has the least amount of chance to play
this week. But the fact that we're even talking about
him having a chance should mean that all things should
be okay for him by next week on Thursday Night.
And even if he doesn't play that week, you know,
we know how hard it is for guys to play
(11:44):
Sunday and in a quick turnaround to Thursday. So if
you really want to give him some extra time, give
him off the Thursday night game and give him along
along with the rest of the NFL, not the NFL,
the rest of the Steelers. Remember we talked about how
is to play Sunday to Thursday, but then you kind
of get a mini bye week after that Thursday to Sunday.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
If you really want to give him that extra rest.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
If he doesn't play either of these two weeks, you
have to assume he'll be ready by the following week
when they take on the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night.
So yeah, it's a huge hit for the Steelers so
far being relatively healthy and when they have been knocked
down due to injury, it hasn't been anything too serious
or too long term.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Speaking of Calvin Austin that you mentioned, he's our first
miss in our seven misses, because who's your number two
wide receiver. Who's going to step in if Austin is
a no go? On Sunday and Tom Offerman was talking
this morning. He does the Steeler Report daily for WDV,
and you headed on the morning show during the one break, So.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Tom, I do listen. There's evidence of that.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
I do listen to you, my friend, our colleague here
at the Steelers Audio Network, and Tom talked about how
it's an opportunity for a Roman Wilson now to step
up and show us what he could do, what he
gave us glimpses of the preseason a being that guy.
Because Calvin Austin hasn't been bad, but he also hasn't
been great as a Steelers number two receiver. So now
an opportunity opens the door for Roman Wilson and Mike
(13:09):
Tomlin talked about that in his press conference yesterday that
now you're gonna see him in Scornic get more reps
and good and opportunities to crack through potentially in this
lineup at that wide receiver spot if Calvin Austin can't
go on Sunday.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
It's it's concerning knowing where that second receiver is gonna
come from, simply or mostly because like you said, there
hasn't been anyone. It's not like as the season has
gone on, it's been dking Calvin at the one and
two and you've seen bits and spurts from other guys. No,
you've seen nothing from everyone else at that receiver position.
(13:44):
I don't know if you have any confidence in Ben
Scaronic or Roman Wilson stepping up.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
I certainly don't.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
And I don't know if I have too much confidence
in Johnny Smith simply because we haven't seen him used
enough to be considered that guy that could take over
that why receiver two position if Calvin Awsin is out
for a couple of games. So yeah, I have no
idea where the help is going to come from at
the receiver position, which makes me concerned for this week.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Well, I'm excited if it is Roman Wilson, if he
could show us what he can do, you know, I.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Mean, yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
Oh, I can tell about your reaction. You're not you're
not as optimistic. We haven't seen it at all. We
haven't seen a single single game where Roman Wilson has popped,
even from one play.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
There's a lot of ifs, and now we need to
we actually need to see results, right, we're not if.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
I don't even know if there's been ifs for Roman
Wilson because the ifs are because I think of when
I when I think of ifs, I think of guys
with potential.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
I don't look at Roman Wilson as a guy with potential.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
One guy that has a lot of potential and has
shown it is our next hit, and that's dk Metcalf.
He leads the team in receiving yards with two hundred
and sixty one.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
And here's the hit.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Three straight games with touchdowns going back to the game
against this former team, the Seahawks, and then he goes
to New England, gets a touchdown, and then over in Dublin,
Ireland against the Vikings. So three straight games with touchdown
receptions for DK Metcalf over one hundred yards versus the
Vikings in that Week four game.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
He was hot going into the bye week.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Hopefully they can continue to build on that momentum with
DK coming out of the bye week.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Yeah, I don't think there's been a bad week for
DK all season long. I know you mentioned that he's
had three consecutive games with the touchdown. The one game
with that one was against the Jets in Week one,
but you remember he had a couple of great plays
on an individual effort with a catch and run against
the Jets. So I don't think we've seen a single
bad performance out of DK so far in a Steelers uniform.
(15:37):
And that's really nice to see because how many times
were we saying, well, you gotta get George Picking some
help over the past couple of years. You gotta give
him a real number two to play alongside with, because
he's just not good enough to really take the reins
as the true number one.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
That's not the case here with DK Metcalf.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Even though he's been playing with Calvin Austin without him,
I still think he'll be okay.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
And that's really the only saving.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
Grace for this offense right now, just considering how good
he's been. Yeah, I really have no complaints about dk
Metcalf's individual efforts so far this year. The only thing
that was a bugaboo for him was those drops in
the first two weeks, but he's clearly fixed that issue now.
So really it's all about dk Metcalf getting him the
(16:23):
ball as much as possible.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Our next miss is Pat Friarmuth at the tight end position.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
This is an obvious one.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Yeah, his limited usage so far this season, a career
low snap count. Last game against the Vikings, He's only
caught seven passes for sixty five yards and four games.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Can they get him more reps?
Speaker 2 (16:39):
We just asked Ray Filipaldo that in our last segment,
and Ray brings up a good point. It's not so
much what they're not seeing with Pat Farmuth or what
they are seeing with him. It's because of the usage
right now. Their offensive line needs bigger personnel in so
they're going with Darnell Washington, the extra tackle with who
they get on the swing tackle. Lgible and Anderson's been
(17:02):
coming in. So it's not so much about youth as
much as they just want to go bigger, especially against
these four to three defenses like Cleveland has like Minnesota had. Uh,
that's the reason why we haven't seen youth as much.
But Ray, he said, it seems to think that this
trend's probably going to continue throughout the season, that they
need bigger personnel on that offensive line to try to
help this running game and try to help protect Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
Yeah, it's sad to see Pat really take such a
back seat in this offense, considering the pedigree he had
coming out of Penz. Being a second round draft pick,
you really had such high hopes for him. And I
know there are a lot of people out there saying, well,
if you're not going to use him, or if you
knew you were going to use him so few and
far between, why'd you take him in the second round
(17:44):
when a guy like Creed Humphrey that the center for
Kansas City has been such a help for them on
the offensive line because it took the Sealers so much, so.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Many more extra years to actually find their center.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Luckily they did in Zach Frasier, and he's worked out
so far, so good. Remember he made the Pro Football
Writers of America All Rookie Team last year, but still
that was like about a four year delay that you
you had with with a No man's land of centers.
You remember, you were rocking with Kendrick Green, you were
rocking with Mason Cole. Neither guy stuck. But it's just
(18:15):
to that point, you know, it's it's just tough to
see Pat firing me really take such a backseat this year.
I mean, every year we talk about his potential and
what he could be as a contributor for this offense,
but we've never seen him have such a small role
and have such I don't want to say bad numbers
because that would reflect poorly on him individually and his effort.
(18:37):
I don't think that's really fair to do to him.
So I won't say bad numbers, but just minimal numbers, really,
and that's a reflection more so on his usage. You
have to you have to be honest with it, you
have to be frank about it. He is a myss
this year. And and again I don't want to be
too critical about Pat. I think it's more so about
it's just it's a crowded, tight end room, and like
(18:59):
Rain mentioned this week specifically, I don't you can't really
expect Pat to be more involved simply because of the
matchups that you're facing against the Browns, you have to
bring in the bigger guys, and darnellis just a better
matchup for this week.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
The one knock against Friar Youth throughout his career has
been the blocking, right. Yeah, He's very good at stretching
the field and receptions and chipping and getting down, but
when it comes to just a traditional block at the
tight end position, it's something they've always been trying to
work with Pat Frarmuth four And now that they need
that extra blocker, he's on the out and not the end.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
And you remember too, the one field goal Chris Bosl
has missed this year was the block against Minnesota. Yeah,
and the primary blocker on that play was Pat Friar
mu and the guy who eventually blocked that kick from Minnesota.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
The next hit. We'll stay with the offense for one
more before we start talking about defense's hits and misses.
How about running back Kenneth Game Well three rushing touchdowns
so far this season and is on the rise in
this offense, coming off the big game against Minnesota in
ninety nine yards receiving one hundred and thirty four total
all purpose yards. When you combine his receiving and rushing yards,
(20:04):
Gainwell took full advantage. We were talking about Roman Wilson
maybe having an opportunity this Sunday. If Austin can't go
with taking taking a full advantage of an opportunity, well,
Kenny Gamewell did that.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
When abbortately was the late scratch in.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Dublin, Kenny Gamewell stepped in and he showed us that
you know, he's on the rise in this offense so
far this season, and he has another opportunity this Sunday.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
I hope, I hope, even with.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Warren back, that we still see Kenny Gainwell highly involved
in this offense.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
I think we will.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
Yeah, I think if not this week, you'll have to
wait at least one more week. Simply because of how
good this Brown's defense is. You really can't understate it.
The car or overstated enough how south this Brown's defense is,
top to bottom, from the from the defensive front all
the way to the secondary. Don't get discouraged if you
(20:52):
don't see a lot of Kenny g this week, simply
because Gilian Warren is the bigger guy, and as we
were talking about for this week, he kind of need
to have that extra strength going up against Cleveland's defense
this week, so you might see more of Jalen Warren,
which isn't an indictment on on Kenny G. It's just
you know, you gotta go with your matchups and what
(21:12):
makes sense week by week. Next week, though, when you
get the Bengals, that's a bad defense overall.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Trey Hendricksindrale the only guy that's a threat there.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
You should be able to see a more balanced attack
pass and run, and when specifically you're looking at the run,
you should see a more balanced attack between Kenny G
and Jalen Warren. But like you said, that pretty much,
pretty pretty much overall, excuse me a pleasant surprise what
you've gotten out of Kenny G so far this year.
(21:42):
And so if the guy gets about fifty to sixty
yards and individually against this bounced defense, I think you
have to call that a win.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Jacob, you bring up a good point with the Steelers
next two opponents, they're almost flip flopped. When you have
Cleveland this week, their defense is their strength, their offense
not so much. When we go to Cincinnati on Thursday night,
they don't have Joe Burrow, so we know about the offense,
but the defense is not very good, right the offense,
that's what they were leaning on going into the season,
was for Burrow and that offense to put thirty five
(22:11):
forty points up a game, and if your defense gives
up thirty two to thirty four points, you're probably still
gonna win. While you take Burrow out of that equation,
and now you put in Joe Flacco, so we'll see
what he does this week with that offense. But yeah,
you're right, it's a tell of two different sides of
the coins against the Browns this Sunday, with a better
defense and a much better offense on Thursday going up
against the Bengals. A few more hits and misses as
(22:33):
we get through this segment. I'm gonna give you two
misses here. Just to wrap up the offensive side. The
Steelers rush average only three point three yards per carry
on offense trying to run the football. That ranks thirty
first in the NFL, so they're near the bottom and
that that has to get better. But we already kind
of talked about the offensive line, and you just talked
about Jalen Warren and Kenny Gainwell trying to improve those numbers.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
Let me give you another one.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
As far as a defensive standpoint opponent, third outs, third
down conversions, opponents are converting forty one point eight percent
of their third downs against the Steelers, which is the
eleventh highest rate in the NFL and their worst, the
Steelers worst as a defense since twenty sixteen. I've talked
about this each and every week. On offense, they got
to get better on third down, and on defense, they
(23:16):
got to get the heck off the football field because
teams all season long, through those four seasons have converted
some big third downs to keep drives alive against them.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
Yeah, it's something you and I have talked a lot
about all year long, is lack of success for the
Steelers offense on third down and the lack of success
on defense stopping opponents on third down.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
You got to get better at both.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
That's a huge indication of who can win a football games,
who's winning that battle on third downs. Slowly but steadily,
you've seen them both improve offensively and defensively, but still
you want to see those numbers get even more better,
just because they're not nearly sustainable right now. Yeah, it's
(23:58):
it's it's it's vastly important to a team success. Winning
a football game is winning that battle on third down.
And it's good to see them considering where they started
the year those first two weeks offensively and defensively against
on and against third down, Considering how much of an
improving they made the last two weeks, but still not
(24:18):
nearly enough. You want to see those numbers continue to
trend in the right direction.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Let me give you two hits here on our seven
shots of hits and misses. The Steelers linebacker corp has
really stepped it up the last couple of weeks inside
and outside. First with inside linebacker Patrick Queen leading the
team in tackles with thirty five and is looking like
a pro bowler already so far this season for the
Steelers on the inside and TJ.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
Watt on the outside.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
We talked about DK three straight games with touchdowns while
on the flip side on defense, TJ. Watt leads the
team in sacks with three and he has back to
back games with sacks.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
Yeah, I mean, Pacqueen, I don't think we could compliment
enough just the jump from year one to year two
in Pittsburgh that he's made so far.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
And then TJ. Watt just playing like the TJ. Watt
that we know.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
In the last two weeks, he's forcing sacks, right, He's
got back to back games with sacks. That's something that
you saw out of him in his peak when he
was winning the Defensive Player of the Year. And then
he's also forcing turnovers with via fumbles, fumble recoveries or interceptions.
So good to see him return to form after a
slow start this year.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
Our final two misses and then we'll give you our
final two hits so far this season for the Steelers
going into this Cleveland Browns Pittsburgh Steelers match up this Sunday,
the defense has allowed ninety eight points this season so far,
ranking them twentieth in the league. They're not elite yet
they got to get there and they got some work
to do. And part of that is our final miss
and that's misstackles. The Steelers defense has recorded eight more
(25:49):
mistackles than they have during the same span last season
through the first four games. Small sample size, but it's
a little bit concerning and raises some concerns about their
tackling efficiency. They were so good last year at makeing
open field tackles. This year, at least through the first
four games against small sample size, but so far they
have had some misstackles and that could be one of
(26:10):
the reason why the third nine conversions are up, and
it could be another reason why they've given up ninety
eight points in four games.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
Right.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
Misstackles is something that we've talked about as an issue
for this team over the past couple of years, and
it's concerning that they're not getting any better with it
this year. One thing, though, that's in the positive is
the return to Shawn Elliott, their most sound tackler since
joining the team at the beginning of last season.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
I think, as we talked.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
Out earlier this week, he is a good man to
have as a veteran leader in that locker room for
the secondary. I know there are other guys like Ramsey
and Darius Slay, but I really like Deshaun Elliott's impact
and what he can do is from a leadership standpoint.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
Hopefully his ability to make those.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
Sound tackle can kind of wear off or ruboff on
the other guys, because I know overall the secondary is
where you're seeing a lot of those mistackles come from.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Our final two hits on the seven shots. Is Pittsburgh
has this plus seven turnover differential, what ranks them among
the top in the league at number two. So they've
done a very good job of producing turnovers and not
turning the football over on offense. And finally, the Steelers
three of their next four games at home. We were
talking to Ray about that in the last segment, with
just one away game here in the next four weeks
(27:30):
and that's at Cincinnati on Thursday Night football. So opportunity,
I don't know if you can hear that is knocking
that have a really good control of your own fate
at this point in the season, and you should. It's
still relatively early, but they really have a chance to
stretch that lead in the AFC North. And again I
can't stress that enough. Three of the next four at home.
You got to take advantage of this point your schedule
(27:51):
because it is going to get harder as you go
into November and December.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Yeah, definitely, it's going to get I mean, every team
gets better.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
You know. It's funny how we talk about, Oh, there
are signs of improvement for the Steeler as well. Other
teams are getting better as well, so you have to
look out for that. But just good to see that
this team is actually turning in the right direction when
it comes to that. And again, they had such a
slow start to the year, So just because they're turning
in the right direction doesn't mean they are one hundred
percent fixed. There are one hundred percent in the green.
(28:21):
They need to continue on that trajectory because right now
it's okay, but it could be a lot better.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
On tomorrow's standard, Jacob and I will preview and scout
the Cleveland Browns and get you ready for this upcoming
Sunday Steelers Browns at one o'clock at Akrshore Stadium. This
is the Steelers standard with Ed Trup and Jacob Wrect
on Steelers Nation Radio, part of the Steelers Audio Network.
This is the Steelers Standard.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
With Ed Troop and Jacob Wrect on Steelers Nation Radio,
part of the Steelers Audio Network, we continue to get
you set for Week six across the NFL and for
the Pittsburgh Steelers, another matchup against the Cleveland Browns, their
first AFC North matchup of the twenty twenty five season.
And as we were just talking with ray Fitlpaldo in
our last segment from the Pittsburgh Post, because at the
Steelers in the driver's seat in the AFC North at
(00:32):
three and one and another or not another, but their
first AFC North the visional win. Potentially this Sunday could
even extend that lead even further and continue to put
them in the driving seat, especially Jacob, what happens in
Baltimore with the Ravens, who do not have an easy
game this upcoming week in Cincinnati out there as well,
so and then you get the Bengals on Thursday night.
(00:53):
So really these next two games and a five day window,
the Steelers can go either way. They lose both and
look out in the AFC North, it's it's up for
grabs again, but they can really further their league sure,
and their strength in this division with two division wins
in five days.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Yeah, if they if they beat the Browns this week,
they jump up to four and one, and you look around.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
The rest of the division.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
As we've talked about it at length, the Ravens playing
against the Rams. Now, I know that game's in Baltimore,
but the Ravens just played Houston in Baltimore and Houston
put up forty four points. The Ravens have the worst
scoring defense in the NFL right now. They're averaging about
thirty three points per game against them.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
That is not sustainable.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
And that is no fault to Lamar Jackson in his absence,
right That is all on the defense. And that was
with a healthy lineup of amount of BK being out there,
Kyle van Noy being out there, Kyle Hamilton being out there,
and you know, you just saw them trade away their
middle linebacker. Oh to get some help in the secondary
(02:02):
from San Diego the Chargers in Los Angeles. But I
don't know if that's gonna be a fixed all kind
of guy or a kind of move for them, because,
like I said, they're gonna bolster up their secondary, but
they're losing one of their starting middle guys in the
linebacking corpse, So it's kind of a give and take there.
(02:24):
I don't see that Baltimore defense improving. I mean last year,
you remember their secondary was really struggling. They were thirty
second in the league in past defense, but they weren't
this bad against or allowing points scored against them.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
So I don't know.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
Even though they got better as the season went on
last year on defense, I don't know how they climb
out of this hole this year. So if the Rams
were able to take care of business, that's a huge help.
And then you look at the Bengals this week. You remember,
yes it's a green Bay. A couple of weeks ago,
when the Packers traveled to Cleveland and the Browns upset
(02:58):
the Packers.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
I think this would be a way bigger upset.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
If the Bengals were able to go on the row
without Joe Burrow into Green Bay and win that game.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
I don't think that's happening. I think the Packers are gonna.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Take care of easily this Bengals team, even with Joe
Flacco a quarterback. So if the if the Bengals lose
that game, they'll fall to further under five hundred. Remember
they start off the year two to zero, but really
ever since losing Joe Burrow, they've lost three in a row.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
This could be their fourth.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
And then with the Ravens, like we mentioned, with their defense,
if their defense is that big of a liability, and
playing another game without Lamar, Rayfa Depaldo, who we had
on last segment, brought up the point that we don't
know for sure if Lamar Jackson is out this week,
but it's looking that way.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
That's the safe assumption there, and if he is, you.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Just have to assume that the Ravens are gonna lose
that game without Lamar and without a capable defense, that
would plunge them into a one to five record, while
the Steelers couldn't prove to four and one. And like
you mentioned, next week playing the Bengals, I don't know
if the quarterback we would feel better, but I still
(04:08):
think there's no real need to fear Joe Flacco in
a Bengals uniform after he played in a Browns uniform,
after he played in a Colt's uniform.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
The guy is just getting older and older. And remember he.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Got benched, like that's that's how much he struggled that Browns.
We talked a lot about with rayfel Opaludo last segment
how good that Browns defense is. We didn't really touch
on the Browns offense at all, simply because it's that bad.
That Brown's offense is one of the worst UH statistical
offenses this year in pretty much every category you can
think of, so there was really no need to talk
(04:41):
about it. So with the guy who was leading that
historically bad offense now playing in Cincinnati, who's been struggling
without Joe Burrow, I don't see them as a threat.
And if you can win, you if you can win
that game against the Bengals, the Ravens are on the
bye next week, and the Browns, let's see who they
played next week. They played the Dolphins. It doesn't matter.
(05:02):
The Browns are going to fallow to one and four
this week, so you really don't need to pay too
much attention to them. But yeah, if you can win
these next two games against two divisional opponents, and meanwhile,
have the Ravens lose this week against the Rams, oh
my gosh, that is a that is a division lead
of mountainous proportions.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
This early on in the season, you just don't see that.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
The Green Bay Packers are a two touchdown favorite at
home on Sunday at four, and then the Ravens are
underdogs at home by a full touchdown seven and a
half points.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
The Rams are you know what it is for the
Steelers and Browns.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
It is a six and a half point current line.
The Steelers favored almost by a touchdown at home too.
So those are Those are three games of at least
one touchdown or more for the three AFC North teams,
with the Steelers being the only favorite out of those.
All those teams in the AFC North. You know, one
more point, good, Jacob.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
I also bet it's the lowest over under across the
entire league for next week, wouldn't surprise.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Let's see thirty eight and a half for the Steeler
game for the Baltimore it's forty five and a half
in Cincinnati.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Yeah, I'm just staying across the entire NFL. I bet
you it's the lowest over under. I'm looking real quick
and just a real quick, Yes they are. They have
the lowest. Yeah, what I can see here? You go?
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Hold on, let's see Monday night. Yeah, it's fifty points
for Buffalo in Atlanta and forty nine for Chicago Washington. Yep,
they have good call my friend, yep they have. They
have the lowest. So there you go.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
Yeah, as much as I was kind of crapping on
the Browns offense scoring in their scoring ability, the Steelers
aren't much better. I mean, they are better. They're averaging
about twenty four points a game, but that's not.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
It used to be. You know, ten fifteen years ago,
that was great.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
But nowadays with the offenses in football in the around
the NFL, right now, that's that's not gonna get that's
not going to be enough.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Before we get to our seven shots of Hits and
Misses segment. Here in our third segment this morning, I
say this afternoon. We're almost afternoon here in Yeah, I
want to mention this real quick. Jalen Ramsey and we
were talking to Ray fit Depado about the Steeler injury
situation again. Joey Porter, Junior, Alex Highsmith, Jay and Moore,
Jalen Warren all looking very good to play on Sunday.
(07:12):
Austin and Ramsey Tomlin felt good about but Ray kind
of pulled back on that a little bit once to
see how practice goes this week.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
And I don't think.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
He said that he'd be surprised if they played, but
he's a little bit more less optimistic about those two.
But here's the thought about Jalen Ramsey. If he's borderlined
to possibly go on Sunday, do you hold him back?
So then he's one hundred percent ready to go against
a Cincinnati offense. It's a lot more threatening than Cleveland,
especially with Jamar chasing company on the upcoming Thursday night.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
If it was me and he's borderline, I would rest him.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
So he's absolutely ready to go against that Cincinnati passing
game because the Bengals wide receivers to me, are a
lot more intimidating than what the Browns have.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Yeah, I think that's a good strategy.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Ed.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
My only concern is that by saying, oh, let's save
him for the next week, you're kind of overlooking the
Browns this week. And I know, I know, I know
the Browns offense is not one to be intimidated by.
And considering you're getting you're for sure going to get
back Joey Porter Junior. You're for sure gonna get back
Alex Highsmith. You're gonna have Deshaun Elliott for the second
(08:14):
week in a row right following his return from the
injury report.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
You don't want to be over confidence.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Oh we're getting three guys back in his fan of
two weeks, so we don't really need Ramsey here, But
you don't want to get caught, you know, with your
hand into the cookie jar. I think being a little
too confident there overlooking the Browns. So I get I
get the strategy there, giving him some extra rests against
a bigger tests for a better offense. But my worry
(08:40):
for the Browns is weird things happen in these AFC
North games. So I don't know where. I don't know
where I stand on that. It's a good question. I
really don't have an answer.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
I just I feel like, you know, Brandon eccles has
played well coming in in that secondary. You got it now,
a healthy Deshaun Elliott, you got a healthy Joey Porter junior.
If you can get by this Cleveland game and then
have Ramsey ready to go on Thursday night football, because
a quick turnaround. That's what worries me. If he comes
out Sunday, tweaks something or it isn't one hundred percent
and then he only has three days of rest before
(09:10):
he has to go the following Thursday night in Cincinnati
against a much more talented wide receiver group. I'd rather
hold him back and just just having ready to be
one hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
We shall see.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
I think practice will indicate that today and tomorrow, especially
if these guys are able to practice, if they're limited,
if they're full, that will tell us to tell as
we go throughout the rest of this week. Let's get
to our seven shots of seven hits and seven misses
so far this season. Speaking of which, perfect segue our
first shot, which is a hit. The Steelers are relatively
healthy coming out of the bye week. They're expecting the
(09:40):
return of several key players from injury for this upcoming
game against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, including Joey Porter,
Junior Alex Highsmith, and Jalen Warren. As we just talked about,
and again Tomlin yesterday semi optimistic about the possibility of
Austin and Ramsey both playing this Sunday. But the Steelers
are in a good spot from a health perspective, and
Jacob I say all the time, and we've now seen
(10:01):
it in Cincinnati with Joe Burrow. Now we're seeing it
in Baltimore Lamar Jackson. That's a huge, huge, if not
maybe the number one X factor of an NFL season
is can you stay healthy? Especially with your playmakers?
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
I mean they've had their ups and downs on the
injury reports so far this year, but luckily for them,
none of those injuries have been long lasting, right. I
think the two biggest examples of that are Deshaun Elliott
and Calvin Austin. When Deshaun Elliott went down in Week
one and when Calvin Austin went down two weeks ago
against Minnesota, you really thought that when those injuries happened,
(10:38):
Oh no, these guys could be out for a significant time.
And we know how big of a contributor each guy
is to their respective unit. Deshaun and the secondary and
Calvin as your really only other receiver option behind DK
Metcalf at that position. I know you have the tight ends,
but at the receiver really, Calvin Austen is the only
other guy you have compl ning DK Metcalf, And luckily
(11:02):
for them, I mean, as we saw Deshaun Elliott already playing,
he played in that Minnesota game, only missed two games
in weeks two and three, and Calvin Austin. As you said,
he's already back on the trending upward trajectory returning from
his injury just two weeks ago.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
I think of all the guys right between.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
Ramsey and Austin and Warren and Porter and high Smith,
Calvin Austin has the least amount of chance to play
this week. But the fact that we're even talking about
him having a chance should mean that all things should
be okay for him by next week on Thursday Night.
And even if he doesn't play that week, you know,
we know how hard it is for guys to play
(11:44):
Sunday and in a quick turnaround to Thursday. So if
you really want to give him some extra time, give
him off the Thursday night game and give him along
along with the rest of the NFL, not the NFL,
the rest of the Steelers. Remember we talked about how
is to play Sunday to Thursday, but then you kind
of get a mini bye week after that Thursday to Sunday.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
If you really want to give him that extra rest.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
If he doesn't play either of these two weeks, you
have to assume he'll be ready by the following week
when they take on the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night.
So yeah, it's a huge hit for the Steelers so
far being relatively healthy and when they have been knocked
down due to injury, it hasn't been anything too serious
or too long term.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Speaking of Calvin Austin that you mentioned, he's our first
miss in our seven misses, because who's your number two
wide receiver. Who's going to step in if Austin is
a no go? On Sunday and Tom Offerman was talking
this morning. He does the Steeler Report daily for WDV,
and you headed on the morning show during the one break, So.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Tom, I do listen. There's evidence of that.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
I do listen to you, my friend, our colleague here
at the Steelers Audio Network, and Tom talked about how
it's an opportunity for a Roman Wilson now to step
up and show us what he could do, what he
gave us glimpses of the preseason a being that guy.
Because Calvin Austin hasn't been bad, but he also hasn't
been great as a Steelers number two receiver. So now
an opportunity opens the door for Roman Wilson and Mike
(13:09):
Tomlin talked about that in his press conference yesterday that
now you're gonna see him in Scornic get more reps
and good and opportunities to crack through potentially in this
lineup at that wide receiver spot if Calvin Austin can't
go on Sunday.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
It's it's concerning knowing where that second receiver is gonna
come from, simply or mostly because like you said, there
hasn't been anyone. It's not like as the season has
gone on, it's been dking Calvin at the one and
two and you've seen bits and spurts from other guys. No,
you've seen nothing from everyone else at that receiver position.
(13:44):
I don't know if you have any confidence in Ben
Scaronic or Roman Wilson stepping up.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
I certainly don't.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
And I don't know if I have too much confidence
in Johnny Smith simply because we haven't seen him used
enough to be considered that guy that could take over
that why receiver two position if Calvin Awsin is out
for a couple of games. So yeah, I have no
idea where the help is going to come from at
the receiver position, which makes me concerned for this week.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Well, I'm excited if it is Roman Wilson, if he
could show us what he can do, you know, I.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Mean, yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
Oh, I can tell about your reaction. You're not you're
not as optimistic. We haven't seen it at all. We
haven't seen a single single game where Roman Wilson has popped,
even from one play.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
There's a lot of ifs, and now we need to
we actually need to see results, right, we're not if.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
I don't even know if there's been ifs for Roman
Wilson because the ifs are because I think of when
I when I think of ifs, I think of guys
with potential.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
I don't look at Roman Wilson as a guy with potential.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
One guy that has a lot of potential and has
shown it is our next hit, and that's dk Metcalf.
He leads the team in receiving yards with two hundred
and sixty one.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
And here's the hit.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Three straight games with touchdowns going back to the game
against this former team, the Seahawks, and then he goes
to New England, gets a touchdown, and then over in Dublin,
Ireland against the Vikings. So three straight games with touchdown
receptions for DK Metcalf over one hundred yards versus the
Vikings in that Week four game.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
He was hot going into the bye week.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Hopefully they can continue to build on that momentum with
DK coming out of the bye week.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Yeah, I don't think there's been a bad week for
DK all season long. I know you mentioned that he's
had three consecutive games with the touchdown. The one game
with that one was against the Jets in Week one,
but you remember he had a couple of great plays
on an individual effort with a catch and run against
the Jets. So I don't think we've seen a single
bad performance out of DK so far in a Steelers uniform.
(15:37):
And that's really nice to see because how many times
were we saying, well, you gotta get George Picking some
help over the past couple of years. You gotta give
him a real number two to play alongside with, because
he's just not good enough to really take the reins
as the true number one.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
That's not the case here with DK Metcalf.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Even though he's been playing with Calvin Austin without him,
I still think he'll be okay.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
And that's really the only saving.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
Grace for this offense right now, just considering how good
he's been. Yeah, I really have no complaints about dk
Metcalf's individual efforts so far this year. The only thing
that was a bugaboo for him was those drops in
the first two weeks, but he's clearly fixed that issue now.
So really it's all about dk Metcalf getting him the
(16:23):
ball as much as possible.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Our next miss is Pat Friarmuth at the tight end position.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
This is an obvious one.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Yeah, his limited usage so far this season, a career
low snap count. Last game against the Vikings, He's only
caught seven passes for sixty five yards and four games.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Can they get him more reps?
Speaker 2 (16:39):
We just asked Ray Filipaldo that in our last segment,
and Ray brings up a good point. It's not so
much what they're not seeing with Pat Farmuth or what
they are seeing with him. It's because of the usage
right now. Their offensive line needs bigger personnel in so
they're going with Darnell Washington, the extra tackle with who
they get on the swing tackle. Lgible and Anderson's been
(17:02):
coming in. So it's not so much about youth as
much as they just want to go bigger, especially against
these four to three defenses like Cleveland has like Minnesota had. Uh,
that's the reason why we haven't seen youth as much.
But Ray, he said, it seems to think that this
trend's probably going to continue throughout the season, that they
need bigger personnel on that offensive line to try to
help this running game and try to help protect Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
Yeah, it's sad to see Pat really take such a
back seat in this offense, considering the pedigree he had
coming out of Penz. Being a second round draft pick,
you really had such high hopes for him. And I
know there are a lot of people out there saying, well,
if you're not going to use him, or if you
knew you were going to use him so few and
far between, why'd you take him in the second round
(17:44):
when a guy like Creed Humphrey that the center for
Kansas City has been such a help for them on
the offensive line because it took the Sealers so much, so.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Many more extra years to actually find their center.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Luckily they did in Zach Frasier, and he's worked out
so far, so good. Remember he made the Pro Football
Writers of America All Rookie Team last year, but still
that was like about a four year delay that you
you had with with a No man's land of centers.
You remember, you were rocking with Kendrick Green, you were
rocking with Mason Cole. Neither guy stuck. But it's just
(18:15):
to that point, you know, it's it's just tough to
see Pat firing me really take such a backseat this year.
I mean, every year we talk about his potential and
what he could be as a contributor for this offense,
but we've never seen him have such a small role
and have such I don't want to say bad numbers
because that would reflect poorly on him individually and his effort.
(18:37):
I don't think that's really fair to do to him.
So I won't say bad numbers, but just minimal numbers, really,
and that's a reflection more so on his usage. You
have to you have to be honest with it, you
have to be frank about it. He is a myss
this year. And and again I don't want to be
too critical about Pat. I think it's more so about
it's just it's a crowded, tight end room, and like
(18:59):
Rain mentioned this week specifically, I don't you can't really
expect Pat to be more involved simply because of the
matchups that you're facing against the Browns, you have to
bring in the bigger guys, and darnellis just a better
matchup for this week.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
The one knock against Friar Youth throughout his career has
been the blocking, right. Yeah, He's very good at stretching
the field and receptions and chipping and getting down, but
when it comes to just a traditional block at the
tight end position, it's something they've always been trying to
work with Pat Frarmuth four And now that they need
that extra blocker, he's on the out and not the end.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
And you remember too, the one field goal Chris Bosl
has missed this year was the block against Minnesota. Yeah,
and the primary blocker on that play was Pat Friar
mu and the guy who eventually blocked that kick from Minnesota.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
The next hit. We'll stay with the offense for one
more before we start talking about defense's hits and misses.
How about running back Kenneth Game Well three rushing touchdowns
so far this season and is on the rise in
this offense, coming off the big game against Minnesota in
ninety nine yards receiving one hundred and thirty four total
all purpose yards. When you combine his receiving and rushing yards,
(20:04):
Gainwell took full advantage. We were talking about Roman Wilson
maybe having an opportunity this Sunday. If Austin can't go
with taking taking a full advantage of an opportunity, well,
Kenny Gamewell did that.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
When abbortately was the late scratch in.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Dublin, Kenny Gamewell stepped in and he showed us that
you know, he's on the rise in this offense so
far this season, and he has another opportunity this Sunday.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
I hope, I hope, even with.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Warren back, that we still see Kenny Gainwell highly involved
in this offense.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
I think we will.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
Yeah, I think if not this week, you'll have to
wait at least one more week. Simply because of how
good this Brown's defense is. You really can't understate it.
The car or overstated enough how south this Brown's defense is,
top to bottom, from the from the defensive front all
the way to the secondary. Don't get discouraged if you
(20:52):
don't see a lot of Kenny g this week, simply
because Gilian Warren is the bigger guy, and as we
were talking about for this week, he kind of need
to have that extra strength going up against Cleveland's defense
this week, so you might see more of Jalen Warren,
which isn't an indictment on on Kenny G. It's just
you know, you gotta go with your matchups and what
(21:12):
makes sense week by week. Next week, though, when you
get the Bengals, that's a bad defense overall.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Trey Hendricksindrale the only guy that's a threat there.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
You should be able to see a more balanced attack
pass and run, and when specifically you're looking at the run,
you should see a more balanced attack between Kenny G
and Jalen Warren. But like you said, that pretty much,
pretty pretty much overall, excuse me a pleasant surprise what
you've gotten out of Kenny G so far this year.
(21:42):
And so if the guy gets about fifty to sixty
yards and individually against this bounced defense, I think you
have to call that a win.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Jacob, you bring up a good point with the Steelers
next two opponents, they're almost flip flopped. When you have
Cleveland this week, their defense is their strength, their offense
not so much. When we go to Cincinnati on Thursday night,
they don't have Joe Burrow, so we know about the offense,
but the defense is not very good, right the offense,
that's what they were leaning on going into the season,
was for Burrow and that offense to put thirty five
(22:11):
forty points up a game, and if your defense gives
up thirty two to thirty four points, you're probably still
gonna win. While you take Burrow out of that equation,
and now you put in Joe Flacco, so we'll see
what he does this week with that offense. But yeah,
you're right, it's a tell of two different sides of
the coins against the Browns this Sunday, with a better
defense and a much better offense on Thursday going up
against the Bengals. A few more hits and misses as
(22:33):
we get through this segment. I'm gonna give you two
misses here. Just to wrap up the offensive side. The
Steelers rush average only three point three yards per carry
on offense trying to run the football. That ranks thirty
first in the NFL, so they're near the bottom and
that that has to get better. But we already kind
of talked about the offensive line, and you just talked
about Jalen Warren and Kenny Gainwell trying to improve those numbers.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
Let me give you another one.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
As far as a defensive standpoint opponent, third outs, third
down conversions, opponents are converting forty one point eight percent
of their third downs against the Steelers, which is the
eleventh highest rate in the NFL and their worst, the
Steelers worst as a defense since twenty sixteen. I've talked
about this each and every week. On offense, they got
to get better on third down, and on defense, they
(23:16):
got to get the heck off the football field because
teams all season long, through those four seasons have converted
some big third downs to keep drives alive against them.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
Yeah, it's something you and I have talked a lot
about all year long, is lack of success for the
Steelers offense on third down and the lack of success
on defense stopping opponents on third down.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
You got to get better at both.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
That's a huge indication of who can win a football games,
who's winning that battle on third downs. Slowly but steadily,
you've seen them both improve offensively and defensively, but still
you want to see those numbers get even more better,
just because they're not nearly sustainable right now. Yeah, it's
(23:58):
it's it's it's vastly important to a team success. Winning
a football game is winning that battle on third down.
And it's good to see them considering where they started
the year those first two weeks offensively and defensively against
on and against third down, Considering how much of an
improving they made the last two weeks, but still not
(24:18):
nearly enough. You want to see those numbers continue to
trend in the right direction.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Let me give you two hits here on our seven
shots of hits and misses. The Steelers linebacker corp has
really stepped it up the last couple of weeks inside
and outside. First with inside linebacker Patrick Queen leading the
team in tackles with thirty five and is looking like
a pro bowler already so far this season for the
Steelers on the inside and TJ.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
Watt on the outside.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
We talked about DK three straight games with touchdowns while
on the flip side on defense, TJ. Watt leads the
team in sacks with three and he has back to
back games with sacks.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
Yeah, I mean, Pacqueen, I don't think we could compliment
enough just the jump from year one to year two
in Pittsburgh that he's made so far.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
And then TJ. Watt just playing like the TJ. Watt
that we know.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
In the last two weeks, he's forcing sacks, right, He's
got back to back games with sacks. That's something that
you saw out of him in his peak when he
was winning the Defensive Player of the Year. And then
he's also forcing turnovers with via fumbles, fumble recoveries or interceptions.
So good to see him return to form after a
slow start this year.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
Our final two misses and then we'll give you our
final two hits so far this season for the Steelers
going into this Cleveland Browns Pittsburgh Steelers match up this Sunday,
the defense has allowed ninety eight points this season so far,
ranking them twentieth in the league. They're not elite yet
they got to get there and they got some work
to do. And part of that is our final miss
and that's misstackles. The Steelers defense has recorded eight more
(25:49):
mistackles than they have during the same span last season
through the first four games. Small sample size, but it's
a little bit concerning and raises some concerns about their
tackling efficiency. They were so good last year at makeing
open field tackles. This year, at least through the first
four games against small sample size, but so far they
have had some misstackles and that could be one of
(26:10):
the reason why the third nine conversions are up, and
it could be another reason why they've given up ninety
eight points in four games.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
Right.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
Misstackles is something that we've talked about as an issue
for this team over the past couple of years, and
it's concerning that they're not getting any better with it
this year. One thing, though, that's in the positive is
the return to Shawn Elliott, their most sound tackler since
joining the team at the beginning of last season.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
I think, as we talked.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
Out earlier this week, he is a good man to
have as a veteran leader in that locker room for
the secondary. I know there are other guys like Ramsey
and Darius Slay, but I really like Deshaun Elliott's impact
and what he can do is from a leadership standpoint.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
Hopefully his ability to make those.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
Sound tackle can kind of wear off or ruboff on
the other guys, because I know overall the secondary is
where you're seeing a lot of those mistackles come from.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Our final two hits on the seven shots. Is Pittsburgh
has this plus seven turnover differential, what ranks them among
the top in the league at number two. So they've
done a very good job of producing turnovers and not
turning the football over on offense. And finally, the Steelers
three of their next four games at home. We were
talking to Ray about that in the last segment, with
just one away game here in the next four weeks
(27:30):
and that's at Cincinnati on Thursday Night football. So opportunity,
I don't know if you can hear that is knocking
that have a really good control of your own fate
at this point in the season, and you should. It's
still relatively early, but they really have a chance to
stretch that lead in the AFC North. And again I
can't stress that enough. Three of the next four at home.
You got to take advantage of this point your schedule
(27:51):
because it is going to get harder as you go
into November and December.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Yeah, definitely, it's going to get I mean, every team
gets better.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
You know. It's funny how we talk about, Oh, there
are signs of improvement for the Steeler as well. Other
teams are getting better as well, so you have to
look out for that. But just good to see that
this team is actually turning in the right direction when
it comes to that. And again, they had such a
slow start to the year, So just because they're turning
in the right direction doesn't mean they are one hundred
percent fixed. There are one hundred percent in the green.
(28:21):
They need to continue on that trajectory because right now
it's okay, but it could be a lot better.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
On tomorrow's standard, Jacob and I will preview and scout
the Cleveland Browns and get you ready for this upcoming
Sunday Steelers Browns at one o'clock at Akrshore Stadium. This
is the Steelers standard with Ed Trup and Jacob Wrect
on Steelers Nation Radio, part of the Steelers Audio Network.
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