November 26, 2024 • 22 mins
Michael and Jimmy regroup after a tough loss for the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday Night Football in Week 12. With another trip to an AFC North team on the cards this week in Cincinnati, the lads preview the game and make selections. We also hear from Coach Tomlin, who looks ahead to the game this weekend. You can watch the Steelers - Bengals game on NFL Game Pass on DAZN, or listen to the game on OTB Sports Radio this weekend. You can follow Steelers Ireland on X, Instagram or TikTok. Make sure to use the hashtag #SteelersIreland! Go Steelers!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Hey, welcome in through the Irish Titters podcast. We're coming
into week thirteen of the NFL season. This is the
podcast for Pittsburgh Suiters fans across the end of Ireland.
Michael Quid delighted to be joined by Jimmy English. Shout
out to Dabug who's not here this week. We're gonna
get his thoughts ahead of the Bengals game in audio
formats towards the end, but for now, Michael Johnn here
(00:27):
with Jimmy. Jimmy, good to see him and he look nice,
warm and cozy down there. And Draha busy week Thanksgiving
howing up to everyone listening. Happy Thanksgiving as well. How
are you the money good?
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Yeah, I'm good, Nick him good. Thanks.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
We we are getting towards the business end of the season.
The tough fixtures are coming hard and fast now in
the NFL. The weather is certainly reflecting that. So I'm
looking forward to getting nice and cozy now in a
couple of evenings in a row with the firearm watching
the NFL.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
A couple of midweek games this week as well, which
is great.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
We have the thanks Giving game on Thursday, Black Friday
game as well, so some interesting matchups there. Look, not
the best week for the Steelers by any means, with
plenty of opportunity is coming down the line now to
make up for that. And we're still number one in
the AFC North, which which is the main thing.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
So I'm sure we'll get stuck into that. But yeah,
love and loving football at the minute. Plenty plenty going on,
which is always great.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Yeah, look, it's it's it's one of those weeks. I
sort of thought it was them before we hit the
record button. It's one of those weeks where there's that
much football and I thought we packaged up a podcast
and do it all in one pop this week, especially
when we had that break from Thursday and at football.
And it's funny because so many people across the island
of Ireland last week, Jimmy and and beyond experienced maybe
a cold chill, But then you know, we've seen the
(01:45):
picture of kirkhurb Street last week in the first quarter,
second second quarter, first quarter, fourth quarter, where the snow
just kept coming and coming and coming, and when it
came it was just it was just nuts. And I
think for a neutral fan it was iconic, but for
staters has obviously when you come into the game with
such high expectation, especially coming on the season eating too.
(02:06):
We spoke about it last week on you know, going
in the first Net football, a significant opportunity to get
that win potentially and then have that time off over
the weekend and get back into it ahead of the
Bengals this week, which we will talk about in Louis. Second,
I guess for me, look, you can't sugar coat a loss.
Don't get me wrong. I thought it was very much
(02:28):
the Browns. They knew it was ANFC Norph team, and
I feel like they were really up for it in
one sense of the word. But also when the snow came, Jimmy,
I was seeing the blominus. I'm not gonna lie like
it looks so difficult to play in for a start,
Like I don't know how Russell Wilson went twenty one
or twenty eight, And I feel like on a personal aspect,
(02:50):
we could have relied on the run game a little
bit more in the snow, especially towards that third and
fourth quarter stratch. But look, it's just one of those
games and you have to chalk it down as a loss.
And I think the biggest thing now that we will
talk about going forward in a few moments. Is is
just making sure that you know, we stop the bleed
here now, whether that's the speaker next week, because some big,
big games coming up over the next few weeks, especially
(03:11):
against ANFC North teams and the Brown's coming up quite
shortly a game as well, chance to get a bit
of revenge. But obviously any loss is disappointing, but we
had a few days to sort of recoup on it.
What was your faults as you were sitting on the
Thursday night cold watching the game on the snow.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
Yeah, I mean, obviously it's disappointing, and I think we
kind of knew Mick going into this game how much
of a trap game it was going to be.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
And the Browns.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Actually had the complete opposite of our records, sitting at
two and eight, whereas we were eight and two, opposite
ends of the division. So that was frustrating that we
didn't fulfill our potential by any means on Thursday nights
last Friday morning.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
So if there were a couple of bright spots, don't
get me wrong, it wasn't all doom and gloom.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Jayl and Warren got his first rushing touchdown of the season,
which is always great to see, you know, a well
deserve considering the work that he's been putting in a
bit of being overall, there was so much to clean up,
you know, the defense. I don't think that after Jamis Winton,
as much as I would have liked them to have
TG Watts seems have completely vanished the past couple of weeks.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
If don't know what's going on with the pass rush.
Thank god for.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Nick Herby because all I'll say, because he actually managed
to get some pressure on Jameis Winston and had one
of three turnovers or sorry, one of three takeaways. With
regards to the weather, it's always fun seeing the first
snow game of the year. I think I think it
adds to the kind of atmosphere of the game. I
don't think you can really blame conditions that much. They
didn't really seem to affect the Browns. Who are you know,
(04:35):
passing all over the field. Jerry Judy had had a
field day against US, so you know, these are professional
football players. They're used to playing in all sorts of conditions.
I don't think the snow can be an excuse at
all by any means. I just think it was a
sloppy performance and like you say, things need to be
tightened up coming into this game against the Bengals, because
(04:56):
the Bengals will sense a little bit of weakness I
think on the back of this loss, and we'll be
out to capitalize on that. But no, I mean overall
need to need to pull our socks up now and
continue to get back to the way we have him playing.
I mean, we've seen some fantastic performances from Russell, Wills
and cow over the past couple of weeks, so I
think we just need to find our way again and
(05:17):
pick things back up and.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Keep forging on for the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Yeah, it was some of those things. I mean, I
wouldn't of course, I wouldn't say for me that the
snow was primarily the blim at all. It's just it's
just I find that I definitely thought our energy went
down a bit, and yeah, the Browns looked one hundred percent,
So it was interesting to see towards the end, especially
in those last couple of drives. But in the third
and fourth quarter, you know, certainly Russell has taking a
(05:42):
lot more sacks. I find that that that the protection
probably needs to tighten them a little bit going forward
over the next few weeks, so it will be interesting
to see how that happens. He he dropped back a
considerable amount of times, but you're seeing that there was
a lot of there was a lot of pressure on
them there on Thursday night. And even at that, as
much as the brand's pressure, I thought that I remained
(06:06):
quite optimistic even until the last few players of the game,
that this team would turn it around. So just look,
it just wasn't the beame and we do have to
chalk it off. I just to stay on the game.
A week second, I watched the pregame on Amazon Prime
with Taylor Rooks interviewing coach Toman, and I'm not sure
we've seen it, Jimmy, but and if anyone hasn't seen it,
watch it back. Just that's the guy you want to
(06:29):
charge your football team. And I'm just gonna leave it
with that, right That man could walk me into a
fire and I'd be happy enough. I'll just later that like, no,
just just a really big good interview. Her interviews on
Prime every Thursday night are actually something to say for
a bit, it's something to sayp for about twenty Towell
Irish time, very very enjoyable. And also Jimmy and I
don't know, because we haven't talked abou him too much,
(06:49):
I feel like we need to get him on the
podcast in the off season. Danny Smith, the special teams coordinator,
like his his energy even and s though, is absolutely hilarious.
I'm not saying he gives me like Jeff Ryan Buld vibes,
but I wish I had, like if I have his
energy at his sage or when I'm his aage, if
I have his energy, I'd be a very very happy man.
(07:10):
It seems a great crackler.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Yeah, I mean I was reading an article there on
NFL dot com before we came on, make a bit
about in the spirit of Thanksgiving, some one thing each
that each team can be thankful.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
For, and for the Steelers it was Mike Tommon.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
And with that man at the helm, I feel like,
you know, even even on the back of what might
might seem like a bit of a disastrous loss, he
might be two phased by it. I mean, we've seen
this before, We've lost to the Browns and we have
bounced back. I just think now he needs to rally
the troops. Get that message of consistency across. Maybe have
a word with a couple of players who were whose
(07:44):
attitude wasn't the best after I'm not going to name names.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
I think anyone listening will know who I'm referring to.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
But you have things like that are not frustrating that
all around one hundred percent. I mean, particularly on our
reference that that deep shot to George Pickens and in
the fourth quarter from Justin Fields it was a fifty
to fifty ball. Whether he was interfere with the wather,
he slipped in the snow, it's difficult to say, but
it's it's small marriagins like that that cost us the
game the fork down. Sorry, the two point conversion attempt
(08:13):
earlier on didn't quite work out either. So look, it
is a lot to be fixed. And I feel like
we've been saying this in the podcast week in week out.
There are Look, there are positives there, but these there's
things there that are that are costing us wins. And
when it comes down to the crunch time and the playoffs,
they're gonna be they're gonna be things that might end
up scuvering us all together. So now is the time,
(08:36):
especially in this rough stretch of the season, the hardest,
the back end of the season. We've been saying it
all year, this is where it's going to count. We're
getting into December football now, we're playing for keeps. So
it's time for the coaching staff, Mike Tomlin, terror Laws
and to step up and get that message across and
get things fixed before they get worse.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
I think, yeah, it's one of those things at the minute.
The it's about learnings, mistakes and it's going to be
interesting to see exactly how that team comes back, especially
over these next last five to six weeks, and it
starts with a really really important matchup this week against
the Cincinnati Bengals. It's TBC in terms of the television
(09:17):
situation this week at the moment at the time of recording,
but we will be sure to update you on social media.
And there certainly a lot of big games over the
next few weeks which will be on TV for Steers
fans in Ireland and the UK as well, which gives
people a lot of opportunities to watch the Staders in
action as well, which would be great to see. And
just before we talk about this Bengals game, very quickly,
(09:38):
let's hear from coach Tomlin, who was speaking to the
press earlier on Tuesday ahead of this game on Sunday
as the Staders who were eating free looking to face
the four and seven since Natti.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
Bangers, obviously, you can't talk to these guys without talking
Joe Burrow. If you look at the take Man's he's
MVP caliber in terms of what he's doing for them.
I started first with the two Baltimore games because of
the intimacy of divisional play. Man. I don't know how
many touchdowns he threw in those two football games. I
(10:09):
know Chase himself had five. It's just kind of reflective
of what he and they are capable of. We got
to do a really good job. We better carry enough
defense schematically, but within that, we better perform at a
high enough level, because it's not just schematics that beats them.
You better have enough schematics. You better perform it or
(10:30):
executed at a relatively high level. You better do a
good job of providing pre snap looks. You better blit some,
you better play covert some. You better do a lot
of things. And I think that is reflective of a
quarterback in his position. I say the same thing when
we play guys like Matt Stafford and so forth, Guys
that are anticipatory passers, guys that at complete command of
(10:53):
their system of offense, Guys that know where all their
eligibles are. And oftentimes that's illustrated by his ability need
to throw no look checkdowns and things of that nature.
He just knows where all his people are. When you're
playing quarterbacks like that, man, you better carry enough defense.
You might be able to, you know, trick them or
stay ahead of them for twenty or thirty minutes, but
(11:15):
you better have enough defense. It's a sixty minute game.
I think that's reflected in watching them play. I think
oftentimes you see teams are capable of slowing him or
slowing them down at the early portions of the game.
But in the fourth quarter, he and they are coming
on like gangbusters. And so you know, I've been around
long enough to have an appreciation for that. I know
(11:36):
how and why that happens. You better carry enough defense.
They get comfortable as the game goes on with what
it is that you're doing, what it is they need
to do to be successful, and they adjust, They adapt,
both the individuals and the collective, and so for those reasons. Man,
we're obviously preparing with an edge man. He's got some
(11:58):
top notch eligible to throw the ball to, starting with
number one Chase. He's probably tops in the league in
every wide receiver statistical category. He's got top notch talent.
They do an awesome job of moving him around within
their system of offense. They got some continuity there, obviously
between he and Joe who've been in that system for
(12:19):
a number of years now, and I think it's reflected
in the many things that they asked him to do.
You turn on twenty four twenty twenty four tape, There's
more pre snap movement from him, There's more positional variation
from him, making him a more difficult guy to minimize. Obviously,
t Higgins is a matchup issue. He's big, he's strong,
(12:41):
he's got really good run. After he got the speed
on us last year and had a big play and
kind of you know, got them back in that football game.
But again, when you talk about t you're talking about
a guy who is combative, man who is who doesn't
die easy. Particularly after the catch. We got to tack.
We got to tackle, We got a rap. They got
(13:02):
some new new additions to their group gase. Heck he
at tight end, Man's a vertical threat. Uh. He's often
a mashup issue, too big for defensive backs, too athletic
for linebackers, and so we're being thoughtful about how we're
formulating a plan uh to minimize him. He's got some
talented new young receivers that are emerging because Tyler Boyd
(13:24):
obviously is no longer there. Burton is one to mention
who's had a hat in recent weeks and appears to
be a downfield guy for him. I was at his
pro day in Tuscaloosa last year. Man, he's really talented.
He's got a well rounded game. He's got some awesome
receiver skills. And then they got to turn over in
the backfield with Brown. Obviously we used to facing facing
(13:46):
mixing over the years from them, but Brown is not
new to them. He's a second year player. He's got
a well rounded skill set for the running back position.
He's good in interior runs, he's good on perimeter runs.
He's got good burst, pick and vision. He's an asset
to him in the passing game, particularly in the screen game.
Screens have been a challenge for us against them in
(14:09):
recent years. I think I looked at the screen real
this morning. I think they've run twenty three screens of
some description against us in the last six games. To
put some perspective on how big that component of play is.
Great to hear from.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Coach Tomon, the head of this game on some day,
I think a lot of us as Jimmy, as I said,
we're looking forward here, trying to see this team go
nine and four through thirteen weeks as we get into
the autumn weeks. All this twenty twenty four NFL season,
every week is so crucial in the AFC North and
of course the Staders hoping to hie on to that
lead in the division as we move forward this week,
(14:47):
Jimmy looking very quickly at the Bengals. Joe Burrow has
not played a bad season, and actually I feel for
him because there's been a lot of things that this
Bengals team could improve on, especially the they haven't had
a lot of luck with injuries. There's been players that
haven't went their way, but there's been games and I
guess the last one the game that they've had there
(15:10):
they're coming off a bye week, that game against the
Chargers could have really went either way. T Higgins on
one hundred and fifty yards receiving on that night, a
bit more needed in that run game. But certainly we
are looking at the Bengals team here, and I don't
think this is me being dramatic by saying this. They
are playing for their lives. I look at that AFC
(15:30):
playoff bracket right now, and yes, I see Denver at
the bottom of that wild card hunt. But I still
think to myself, a team like Cincinnati, a team like
Miami as well, can go on a run over the
next few weeks, and Cincinnati and Joe Burrow will be
looking at the Steelers team regardless of that, just regardless
of the results, they'll be looking at that Steelers team
(15:51):
thinking we have a chance against this team. And certainly,
you know, you look at Cincinnati and you can see
a situation where they can put up thirty on us team.
Doesn't matter if it's the Chiefs or the Steelers, whoever
it's it's definitely one to look out this week. It's
going to be a difficult game, regardless of the record.
Over all foreign seven.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Yeah, absolutely, I mean four and seven make but still
very much in the playoff picture contention. As you say,
you can never really count out Joe Burrow regardless of
the team's record. He's just such a phenomenal talent, and
I think they have the potential to surprise a lot
of people coming into into into this December football and
coming down to the postseason.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
When you look at there the weapons he has at
his disposal.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
I mean, we've been facing top tier threats all season
long and we have largely managed to contain them. You
have the likes for Jamaar, Chase t Higgins, Chase Brown,
who's having a fantastic season, and they're running back one spot.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
It's going to be a difficult matchup because you know, you.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
Mentioned that they're the Bengals playing for the lives that
the Steelers aren't as comfortable as they have been up
to date.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
I think we're only ahead of the Ravens now by
half a.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
Game with the AFC North race, so this is a
must win game for both teams. And look, you're just
harken back to the Dealers have to play perfect from
here on now to maintain their position and to have
any chance of making a deep postseason run, and that
starts this weekend against the Bengals. They're gonna have to
get after Joe Burrow, shut down his weapons and just
clean up a lot of mistakes that we had against
(17:20):
the Browns. But it's you know, it's no gimme either.
It just depends on which Bengals team shows up, which
version of Joe Burrow shows up, and it's going to
be a fascinating matchup to watch.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Yeah, we're talking about a bit of pressure earlier on
and how Russell Wilson is that with pressure in that
snow game against Cleveland. Joe Burrow has had a lot
of issues with quarterback protection in Week eleven before the
bye week, the charges of three sacks and fourteen hits
on Burrow but one of the bigger ones. And for
people that you know obviously know how good the Bengals
(17:53):
were a couple of years ago in a Super Bowl
run in LA. At that time, Evan McPherson was money,
really really reliable player in the league, and over the
last few weeks he's really really struggled. And in the
fourth quarter of that game against the Chargers, he missed
not one but two go ahead field world attamps, which
probably could have put the Bengals on five wins instead
(18:14):
of sitting them four. Certainly it's it's must win. Territory
away from home, regardless of the record is a significant flat.
This is a very very difficult game, and I go
into this with cautious optimism that these lads of ours
can go in and learn from the mistakes. The weather's
gonna play a big factor, but also I really feel
(18:34):
like the general attitude, not just of the players in Cincinnati,
but the whole of that crowd in Cincinnati. It's going
to be so so important. The first quarter in this.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Game is huge.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
If we can get out and get a quick score
in this game and go seven or ten up in
this game, I think it's crucial.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
I think it's going to.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Be a very very difficult game. You sort of mentioned
there with TJ Wat. I want to see a little
bit more from him this week. I think the Seriers
win the seventeen ten. I think it's one of those
got c AFC North games. If you can give me
a win and we can go to nine and fleet
sitting coming in the week fourteen, I'll be a very
very happy man and high optimistic. Do you feel about this,
especially when we know how lethal Joe Burrow can be
(19:13):
if tried to improve that run game in recent weeks,
and they've got a wide receiver quarter at all, the
stay is one of the best in the league. It
does feel like eventually the Bengals are going to get
it right. I just hope it's next week, and I
hope for the general school with the rest of the
season that maybe they've left the week two lit nutsense.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Just HARKing back to your point about protection, Michael, it
seems like Russell Wilson from a large majority of that
game against Cleveland did not have enough time to make
his reads downfield and get a pass off. So that
is definitely that needs to be cleaned up, needs to
be worked on. You can have to give your quarterback time.
Like Russell Wilson is known for his deep balls. He
has beautiful touch on as the quote unquote moon balls
(19:50):
that he loves throwing deep to his receivers. So to
give him enough time to on cork more of those,
you have to improve the protection. That's a mass I
think I'm gonna play a massive part, especially when you
have the likes of Trey Hendrickson, who was one of
the most underrated pass rushers in the league as far
as I'm concerned like he's going to pose a massive
(20:10):
threat I think on Sunday afternoon, Sunday evening. In terms
of predictions, look, I mean I really thought we would
beat the Browns. I mean, after beating the Ravens, I
really really thought we wouldn't struggle against the Browns as
much as we did. I am cautiously optimistic, purely for
the fact that I don't think I've ever picked against
the Steeers in this podcast, and I'm not about to
start now. Given the way this season is going, I
(20:33):
still have a bit of faith left. It is going
to be very tight. I think I think Joe Burr
is going to have a big, big game. I think
he's gonna throw all over us. But I do think
we'll be able to hold out. We'll be able to
land some punches ourselves. I'm gonna go Steelers winning this
one in.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
A very very tight one, seventeen to fourteen.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
It's going to come down to, I think, to a
fourth quarter field goal from Boswell.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Hopefully there'll be no snow.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
You never know what what it'll be like there, whether
there's no actually whether the whether actually affects the player's
performance or whatever. You know that they can say what
they want, but I think it will be interesting to
see how much that that does impact on it. It's
going to be close. I mean, I think every game
from here on now is going to be very close.
Unless this Theaters can kind of they have shown flashes
of the form that they that the potential that is there,
(21:21):
they need to tap into that more permanently now and
actually start coming on week on week if we're going
to have any chance of, like I said, of getting
past the first round of the playoffs, I agree, it's.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
Going to be an interesting few weeks now. And obviously
we got to go one Cup Final at a time,
one super Bowl at the time. This week per se
and a mat of four cents, big wait for the Staters, folks.
If you're listening to this podcast through this so you're
falseter your opinions on who's going to win this scheme,
you can interact with us using the hashtags Theaters areland
or find us on x or Instagram or TikTok as
(21:53):
Steeters are them myself, Jimmy and Dollog will be back
and Chato was soon ahead of this big few weeks,
big gam against the brand's coming up ballot me fourteen
for nine, Here we go. We will chot these.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
Here we Go.
Hey, welcome in through the Irish Titters podcast. We're coming
into week thirteen of the NFL season. This is the
podcast for Pittsburgh Suiters fans across the end of Ireland.
Michael Quid delighted to be joined by Jimmy English. Shout
out to Dabug who's not here this week. We're gonna
get his thoughts ahead of the Bengals game in audio
formats towards the end, but for now, Michael Johnn here
(00:27):
with Jimmy. Jimmy, good to see him and he look nice,
warm and cozy down there. And Draha busy week Thanksgiving
howing up to everyone listening. Happy Thanksgiving as well. How
are you the money good?
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Yeah, I'm good, Nick him good. Thanks.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
We we are getting towards the business end of the season.
The tough fixtures are coming hard and fast now in
the NFL. The weather is certainly reflecting that. So I'm
looking forward to getting nice and cozy now in a
couple of evenings in a row with the firearm watching
the NFL.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
A couple of midweek games this week as well, which
is great.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
We have the thanks Giving game on Thursday, Black Friday
game as well, so some interesting matchups there. Look, not
the best week for the Steelers by any means, with
plenty of opportunity is coming down the line now to
make up for that. And we're still number one in
the AFC North, which which is the main thing.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
So I'm sure we'll get stuck into that. But yeah,
love and loving football at the minute. Plenty plenty going on,
which is always great.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Yeah, look, it's it's it's one of those weeks. I
sort of thought it was them before we hit the
record button. It's one of those weeks where there's that
much football and I thought we packaged up a podcast
and do it all in one pop this week, especially
when we had that break from Thursday and at football.
And it's funny because so many people across the island
of Ireland last week, Jimmy and and beyond experienced maybe
a cold chill, But then you know, we've seen the
(01:45):
picture of kirkhurb Street last week in the first quarter,
second second quarter, first quarter, fourth quarter, where the snow
just kept coming and coming and coming, and when it
came it was just it was just nuts. And I
think for a neutral fan it was iconic, but for
staters has obviously when you come into the game with
such high expectation, especially coming on the season eating too.
(02:06):
We spoke about it last week on you know, going
in the first Net football, a significant opportunity to get
that win potentially and then have that time off over
the weekend and get back into it ahead of the
Bengals this week, which we will talk about in Louis. Second,
I guess for me, look, you can't sugar coat a loss.
Don't get me wrong. I thought it was very much
(02:28):
the Browns. They knew it was ANFC Norph team, and
I feel like they were really up for it in
one sense of the word. But also when the snow came, Jimmy,
I was seeing the blominus. I'm not gonna lie like
it looks so difficult to play in for a start,
Like I don't know how Russell Wilson went twenty one
or twenty eight, And I feel like on a personal aspect,
(02:50):
we could have relied on the run game a little
bit more in the snow, especially towards that third and
fourth quarter stratch. But look, it's just one of those
games and you have to chalk it down as a loss.
And I think the biggest thing now that we will
talk about going forward in a few moments. Is is
just making sure that you know, we stop the bleed
here now, whether that's the speaker next week, because some big,
big games coming up over the next few weeks, especially
(03:11):
against ANFC North teams and the Brown's coming up quite
shortly a game as well, chance to get a bit
of revenge. But obviously any loss is disappointing, but we
had a few days to sort of recoup on it.
What was your faults as you were sitting on the
Thursday night cold watching the game on the snow.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
Yeah, I mean, obviously it's disappointing, and I think we
kind of knew Mick going into this game how much
of a trap game it was going to be.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
And the Browns.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Actually had the complete opposite of our records, sitting at
two and eight, whereas we were eight and two, opposite
ends of the division. So that was frustrating that we
didn't fulfill our potential by any means on Thursday nights
last Friday morning.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
So if there were a couple of bright spots, don't
get me wrong, it wasn't all doom and gloom.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Jayl and Warren got his first rushing touchdown of the season,
which is always great to see, you know, a well
deserve considering the work that he's been putting in a
bit of being overall, there was so much to clean up,
you know, the defense. I don't think that after Jamis Winton,
as much as I would have liked them to have
TG Watts seems have completely vanished the past couple of weeks.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
If don't know what's going on with the pass rush.
Thank god for.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Nick Herby because all I'll say, because he actually managed
to get some pressure on Jameis Winston and had one
of three turnovers or sorry, one of three takeaways. With
regards to the weather, it's always fun seeing the first
snow game of the year. I think I think it
adds to the kind of atmosphere of the game. I
don't think you can really blame conditions that much. They
didn't really seem to affect the Browns. Who are you know,
(04:35):
passing all over the field. Jerry Judy had had a
field day against US, so you know, these are professional
football players. They're used to playing in all sorts of conditions.
I don't think the snow can be an excuse at
all by any means. I just think it was a
sloppy performance and like you say, things need to be
tightened up coming into this game against the Bengals, because
(04:56):
the Bengals will sense a little bit of weakness I
think on the back of this loss, and we'll be
out to capitalize on that. But no, I mean overall
need to need to pull our socks up now and
continue to get back to the way we have him playing.
I mean, we've seen some fantastic performances from Russell, Wills
and cow over the past couple of weeks, so I
think we just need to find our way again and
(05:17):
pick things back up and.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Keep forging on for the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Yeah, it was some of those things. I mean, I
wouldn't of course, I wouldn't say for me that the
snow was primarily the blim at all. It's just it's
just I find that I definitely thought our energy went
down a bit, and yeah, the Browns looked one hundred percent,
So it was interesting to see towards the end, especially
in those last couple of drives. But in the third
and fourth quarter, you know, certainly Russell has taking a
(05:42):
lot more sacks. I find that that that the protection
probably needs to tighten them a little bit going forward
over the next few weeks, so it will be interesting
to see how that happens. He he dropped back a
considerable amount of times, but you're seeing that there was
a lot of there was a lot of pressure on
them there on Thursday night. And even at that, as
much as the brand's pressure, I thought that I remained
(06:06):
quite optimistic even until the last few players of the game,
that this team would turn it around. So just look,
it just wasn't the beame and we do have to
chalk it off. I just to stay on the game.
A week second, I watched the pregame on Amazon Prime
with Taylor Rooks interviewing coach Toman, and I'm not sure
we've seen it, Jimmy, but and if anyone hasn't seen it,
watch it back. Just that's the guy you want to
(06:29):
charge your football team. And I'm just gonna leave it
with that, right That man could walk me into a
fire and I'd be happy enough. I'll just later that like, no,
just just a really big good interview. Her interviews on
Prime every Thursday night are actually something to say for
a bit, it's something to sayp for about twenty Towell
Irish time, very very enjoyable. And also Jimmy and I
don't know, because we haven't talked abou him too much,
(06:49):
I feel like we need to get him on the
podcast in the off season. Danny Smith, the special teams coordinator,
like his his energy even and s though, is absolutely hilarious.
I'm not saying he gives me like Jeff Ryan Buld vibes,
but I wish I had, like if I have his
energy at his sage or when I'm his aage, if
I have his energy, I'd be a very very happy man.
(07:10):
It seems a great crackler.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Yeah, I mean I was reading an article there on
NFL dot com before we came on, make a bit
about in the spirit of Thanksgiving, some one thing each
that each team can be thankful.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
For, and for the Steelers it was Mike Tommon.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
And with that man at the helm, I feel like,
you know, even even on the back of what might
might seem like a bit of a disastrous loss, he
might be two phased by it. I mean, we've seen
this before, We've lost to the Browns and we have
bounced back. I just think now he needs to rally
the troops. Get that message of consistency across. Maybe have
a word with a couple of players who were whose
(07:44):
attitude wasn't the best after I'm not going to name names.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
I think anyone listening will know who I'm referring to.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
But you have things like that are not frustrating that
all around one hundred percent. I mean, particularly on our
reference that that deep shot to George Pickens and in
the fourth quarter from Justin Fields it was a fifty
to fifty ball. Whether he was interfere with the wather,
he slipped in the snow, it's difficult to say, but
it's it's small marriagins like that that cost us the
game the fork down. Sorry, the two point conversion attempt
(08:13):
earlier on didn't quite work out either. So look, it
is a lot to be fixed. And I feel like
we've been saying this in the podcast week in week out.
There are Look, there are positives there, but these there's
things there that are that are costing us wins. And
when it comes down to the crunch time and the playoffs,
they're gonna be they're gonna be things that might end
up scuvering us all together. So now is the time,
(08:36):
especially in this rough stretch of the season, the hardest,
the back end of the season. We've been saying it
all year, this is where it's going to count. We're
getting into December football now, we're playing for keeps. So
it's time for the coaching staff, Mike Tomlin, terror Laws
and to step up and get that message across and
get things fixed before they get worse.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
I think, yeah, it's one of those things at the minute.
The it's about learnings, mistakes and it's going to be
interesting to see exactly how that team comes back, especially
over these next last five to six weeks, and it
starts with a really really important matchup this week against
the Cincinnati Bengals. It's TBC in terms of the television
(09:17):
situation this week at the moment at the time of recording,
but we will be sure to update you on social media.
And there certainly a lot of big games over the
next few weeks which will be on TV for Steers
fans in Ireland and the UK as well, which gives
people a lot of opportunities to watch the Staders in
action as well, which would be great to see. And
just before we talk about this Bengals game, very quickly,
(09:38):
let's hear from coach Tomlin, who was speaking to the
press earlier on Tuesday ahead of this game on Sunday
as the Staders who were eating free looking to face
the four and seven since Natti.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
Bangers, obviously, you can't talk to these guys without talking
Joe Burrow. If you look at the take Man's he's
MVP caliber in terms of what he's doing for them.
I started first with the two Baltimore games because of
the intimacy of divisional play. Man. I don't know how
many touchdowns he threw in those two football games. I
(10:09):
know Chase himself had five. It's just kind of reflective
of what he and they are capable of. We got
to do a really good job. We better carry enough
defense schematically, but within that, we better perform at a
high enough level, because it's not just schematics that beats them.
You better have enough schematics. You better perform it or
(10:30):
executed at a relatively high level. You better do a
good job of providing pre snap looks. You better blit some,
you better play covert some. You better do a lot
of things. And I think that is reflective of a
quarterback in his position. I say the same thing when
we play guys like Matt Stafford and so forth, Guys
that are anticipatory passers, guys that at complete command of
(10:53):
their system of offense, Guys that know where all their
eligibles are. And oftentimes that's illustrated by his ability need
to throw no look checkdowns and things of that nature.
He just knows where all his people are. When you're
playing quarterbacks like that, man, you better carry enough defense.
You might be able to, you know, trick them or
stay ahead of them for twenty or thirty minutes, but
(11:15):
you better have enough defense. It's a sixty minute game.
I think that's reflected in watching them play. I think
oftentimes you see teams are capable of slowing him or
slowing them down at the early portions of the game.
But in the fourth quarter, he and they are coming
on like gangbusters. And so you know, I've been around
long enough to have an appreciation for that. I know
(11:36):
how and why that happens. You better carry enough defense.
They get comfortable as the game goes on with what
it is that you're doing, what it is they need
to do to be successful, and they adjust, They adapt,
both the individuals and the collective, and so for those reasons. Man,
we're obviously preparing with an edge man. He's got some
(11:58):
top notch eligible to throw the ball to, starting with
number one Chase. He's probably tops in the league in
every wide receiver statistical category. He's got top notch talent.
They do an awesome job of moving him around within
their system of offense. They got some continuity there, obviously
between he and Joe who've been in that system for
(12:19):
a number of years now, and I think it's reflected
in the many things that they asked him to do.
You turn on twenty four twenty twenty four tape, There's
more pre snap movement from him, There's more positional variation
from him, making him a more difficult guy to minimize. Obviously,
t Higgins is a matchup issue. He's big, he's strong,
(12:41):
he's got really good run. After he got the speed
on us last year and had a big play and
kind of you know, got them back in that football game.
But again, when you talk about t you're talking about
a guy who is combative, man who is who doesn't
die easy. Particularly after the catch. We got to tack.
We got to tackle, We got a rap. They got
(13:02):
some new new additions to their group gase. Heck he
at tight end, Man's a vertical threat. Uh. He's often
a mashup issue, too big for defensive backs, too athletic
for linebackers, and so we're being thoughtful about how we're
formulating a plan uh to minimize him. He's got some
talented new young receivers that are emerging because Tyler Boyd
(13:24):
obviously is no longer there. Burton is one to mention
who's had a hat in recent weeks and appears to
be a downfield guy for him. I was at his
pro day in Tuscaloosa last year. Man, he's really talented.
He's got a well rounded game. He's got some awesome
receiver skills. And then they got to turn over in
the backfield with Brown. Obviously we used to facing facing
(13:46):
mixing over the years from them, but Brown is not
new to them. He's a second year player. He's got
a well rounded skill set for the running back position.
He's good in interior runs, he's good on perimeter runs.
He's got good burst, pick and vision. He's an asset
to him in the passing game, particularly in the screen game.
Screens have been a challenge for us against them in
(14:09):
recent years. I think I looked at the screen real
this morning. I think they've run twenty three screens of
some description against us in the last six games. To
put some perspective on how big that component of play is.
Great to hear from.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Coach Tomon, the head of this game on some day,
I think a lot of us as Jimmy, as I said,
we're looking forward here, trying to see this team go
nine and four through thirteen weeks as we get into
the autumn weeks. All this twenty twenty four NFL season,
every week is so crucial in the AFC North and
of course the Staders hoping to hie on to that
lead in the division as we move forward this week,
(14:47):
Jimmy looking very quickly at the Bengals. Joe Burrow has
not played a bad season, and actually I feel for
him because there's been a lot of things that this
Bengals team could improve on, especially the they haven't had
a lot of luck with injuries. There's been players that
haven't went their way, but there's been games and I
guess the last one the game that they've had there
(15:10):
they're coming off a bye week, that game against the
Chargers could have really went either way. T Higgins on
one hundred and fifty yards receiving on that night, a
bit more needed in that run game. But certainly we
are looking at the Bengals team here, and I don't
think this is me being dramatic by saying this. They
are playing for their lives. I look at that AFC
(15:30):
playoff bracket right now, and yes, I see Denver at
the bottom of that wild card hunt. But I still
think to myself, a team like Cincinnati, a team like
Miami as well, can go on a run over the
next few weeks, and Cincinnati and Joe Burrow will be
looking at the Steelers team regardless of that, just regardless
of the results, they'll be looking at that Steelers team
(15:51):
thinking we have a chance against this team. And certainly,
you know, you look at Cincinnati and you can see
a situation where they can put up thirty on us team.
Doesn't matter if it's the Chiefs or the Steelers, whoever
it's it's definitely one to look out this week. It's
going to be a difficult game, regardless of the record.
Over all foreign seven.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Yeah, absolutely, I mean four and seven make but still
very much in the playoff picture contention. As you say,
you can never really count out Joe Burrow regardless of
the team's record. He's just such a phenomenal talent, and
I think they have the potential to surprise a lot
of people coming into into into this December football and
coming down to the postseason.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
When you look at there the weapons he has at
his disposal.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
I mean, we've been facing top tier threats all season
long and we have largely managed to contain them. You
have the likes for Jamaar, Chase t Higgins, Chase Brown,
who's having a fantastic season, and they're running back one spot.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
It's going to be a difficult matchup because you know, you.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
Mentioned that they're the Bengals playing for the lives that
the Steelers aren't as comfortable as they have been up
to date.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
I think we're only ahead of the Ravens now by
half a.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
Game with the AFC North race, so this is a
must win game for both teams. And look, you're just
harken back to the Dealers have to play perfect from
here on now to maintain their position and to have
any chance of making a deep postseason run, and that
starts this weekend against the Bengals. They're gonna have to
get after Joe Burrow, shut down his weapons and just
clean up a lot of mistakes that we had against
(17:20):
the Browns. But it's you know, it's no gimme either.
It just depends on which Bengals team shows up, which
version of Joe Burrow shows up, and it's going to
be a fascinating matchup to watch.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Yeah, we're talking about a bit of pressure earlier on
and how Russell Wilson is that with pressure in that
snow game against Cleveland. Joe Burrow has had a lot
of issues with quarterback protection in Week eleven before the
bye week, the charges of three sacks and fourteen hits
on Burrow but one of the bigger ones. And for
people that you know obviously know how good the Bengals
(17:53):
were a couple of years ago in a Super Bowl
run in LA. At that time, Evan McPherson was money,
really really reliable player in the league, and over the
last few weeks he's really really struggled. And in the
fourth quarter of that game against the Chargers, he missed
not one but two go ahead field world attamps, which
probably could have put the Bengals on five wins instead
(18:14):
of sitting them four. Certainly it's it's must win. Territory
away from home, regardless of the record is a significant flat.
This is a very very difficult game, and I go
into this with cautious optimism that these lads of ours
can go in and learn from the mistakes. The weather's
gonna play a big factor, but also I really feel
(18:34):
like the general attitude, not just of the players in Cincinnati,
but the whole of that crowd in Cincinnati. It's going
to be so so important. The first quarter in this.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Game is huge.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
If we can get out and get a quick score
in this game and go seven or ten up in
this game, I think it's crucial.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
I think it's going to.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Be a very very difficult game. You sort of mentioned
there with TJ Wat. I want to see a little
bit more from him this week. I think the Seriers
win the seventeen ten. I think it's one of those
got c AFC North games. If you can give me
a win and we can go to nine and fleet
sitting coming in the week fourteen, I'll be a very
very happy man and high optimistic. Do you feel about this,
especially when we know how lethal Joe Burrow can be
(19:13):
if tried to improve that run game in recent weeks,
and they've got a wide receiver quarter at all, the
stay is one of the best in the league. It
does feel like eventually the Bengals are going to get
it right. I just hope it's next week, and I
hope for the general school with the rest of the
season that maybe they've left the week two lit nutsense.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Just HARKing back to your point about protection, Michael, it
seems like Russell Wilson from a large majority of that
game against Cleveland did not have enough time to make
his reads downfield and get a pass off. So that
is definitely that needs to be cleaned up, needs to
be worked on. You can have to give your quarterback time.
Like Russell Wilson is known for his deep balls. He
has beautiful touch on as the quote unquote moon balls
(19:50):
that he loves throwing deep to his receivers. So to
give him enough time to on cork more of those,
you have to improve the protection. That's a mass I
think I'm gonna play a massive part, especially when you
have the likes of Trey Hendrickson, who was one of
the most underrated pass rushers in the league as far
as I'm concerned like he's going to pose a massive
(20:10):
threat I think on Sunday afternoon, Sunday evening. In terms
of predictions, look, I mean I really thought we would
beat the Browns. I mean, after beating the Ravens, I
really really thought we wouldn't struggle against the Browns as
much as we did. I am cautiously optimistic, purely for
the fact that I don't think I've ever picked against
the Steeers in this podcast, and I'm not about to
start now. Given the way this season is going, I
(20:33):
still have a bit of faith left. It is going
to be very tight. I think I think Joe Burr
is going to have a big, big game. I think
he's gonna throw all over us. But I do think
we'll be able to hold out. We'll be able to
land some punches ourselves. I'm gonna go Steelers winning this
one in.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
A very very tight one, seventeen to fourteen.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
It's going to come down to, I think, to a
fourth quarter field goal from Boswell.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Hopefully there'll be no snow.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
You never know what what it'll be like there, whether
there's no actually whether the whether actually affects the player's
performance or whatever. You know that they can say what
they want, but I think it will be interesting to
see how much that that does impact on it. It's
going to be close. I mean, I think every game
from here on now is going to be very close.
Unless this Theaters can kind of they have shown flashes
of the form that they that the potential that is there,
(21:21):
they need to tap into that more permanently now and
actually start coming on week on week if we're going
to have any chance of, like I said, of getting
past the first round of the playoffs, I agree, it's.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
Going to be an interesting few weeks now. And obviously
we got to go one Cup Final at a time,
one super Bowl at the time. This week per se
and a mat of four cents, big wait for the Staters, folks.
If you're listening to this podcast through this so you're
falseter your opinions on who's going to win this scheme,
you can interact with us using the hashtags Theaters areland
or find us on x or Instagram or TikTok as
(21:53):
Steeters are them myself, Jimmy and Dollog will be back
and Chato was soon ahead of this big few weeks,
big gam against the brand's coming up ballot me fourteen
for nine, Here we go. We will chot these.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
Here we Go.
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