November 27, 2025 • 30 mins
Michael and Jimmy jump on to chat about last weekend's disappointing loss to the Bears in Soldier Field, before looking ahead to what is a key matchup against Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills at Acrisure Stadium this weekend.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome into the Irish Steelers podcast. But in BERLINGUS we
are looking ahead two week thirteen of the NFL season.
It's hard to believe that we're thirteen weeks in and
really hard to believe that it's almost ten weeks since
the Steelers played in Dublin. Delighted to be joined with
Jimmy English and Jimmy good to have you on again.
How are you doing to you find the season is
just flying in at this point. It's crazy, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
It's crazy that you say week thirteen, Mmichael, we are
now officially over two thirds of the way through the
season and it's actually it's so strange being back in
Ireland watching football on TV because, same as yourself, we've
been all over the We've been all over Mainland, neuor
covering the NFL since since that game in Dublin. I'm
just back. I would like yourself from Madrid. We have Berlin,
(00:49):
we had London, so it's it was a nice change
of scenery watching the Steelers against the Bears from the
comfort of my couch there on Sunday evening and looking
forward to it as the evening's raw in and you know,
the nice yet a little bit chittier. It's nice having
the fire on and the TV and the big screen
at the game on the big screen. So yeah, I
mean week thirteen, it's absolutely crazy. Christmas is only around
(01:11):
the corner and hopefully come January the Steers will be
in the playoffs. That remains to be seen at this page.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Yeah, it's it's a really interesting time for Steelers fans,
Jimmy and like it's something that we'll probably get into
on this podcast and obviously hear from from coach Tomlin
and to hear from some players as well, and there
has been a change in the AFC North, there's been
different things. Just before we start off, just let people
know if they are listening to this very quickly this
week if you're like regardless of where you are on
(01:40):
the island of Ireland, so if you're in Northern Arden
this week and if you don't have Sky Sports, the
Steelers Bills game is on five Action on Sunday at
nine thirty in Northern Ireland on Sky Sports NFL as
well on Sunday evening, so loads of different options. Obviously
the UCB Sports app as well. If you're in the
car and you want to listen to it very quickly.
On that you mentioned Madrid. It was a good weekend,
bueno as we would say.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
But I think.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
I I think we're both in agreement Jimmy that you know,
great to get the Steelers getting the victory that evening
as well when we were heading home, but really really
good to see. It's quite obvious to me that that
Ireland stot out and Ireland was the best, and I
think that weekend with the Steelers was the best of all.
That the largest audience internationally for NFL Network watched the
Steelers Vikings game, which is great for any Irish fan.
(02:27):
Whe you're a Steeers fan now, isn't it. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
I mean I said on this podcast before Michael, I
think Dublin set the standard for NFL games internationally this season,
and kind of I think Dublin almost spoiled the rest
of the games that I went to because it was
just and obviously it was a special moment for me
and a special weekend as a Steelers fan, but it
was just so so well done in Dublin. It genuinely
did feel like a real life, proper NFL game had
(02:52):
transplanted itself onto the North Side of Dublin City and
it was great to see, you know, the different locations. Well,
I mean Madrid. Madrid was fantastic, the way it was
all said up the Bernabelt was incredible. It was electric
having that roof closed. There was so much amazing atmosphere
there as well. So you know, it really bodes well
for the growth of the NFL internationally. I'm this sided
(03:13):
of the Atlantic and I think, you know, I mean,
the Saints have teas the potential game in Paris as
soon as next season, which would be great, another major
European city and another passionate fan base there in France.
But I think we are going to see more and
more and more NFL international games in the future, and
hopefully our steeiers will be back on Irish shore sooner
(03:34):
than later.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Hopefully you've said the exact pr correct sentence there, Jimmy,
That's exactly what I want as well. I know everyone
listening to the podcast, hopefully at some point in the
future we see that again. And I know, not just yourself,
but you know, obviously Irish Americans listening. We've maybe a
lot of people in North America listening hobby Thanksgiving. I
believe this is going to go out on Thanksgiving mornings.
So Hobby, Thanksgiving to yourself and everyone listening as well. Jimmy,
(03:57):
it's one of the best times of the year for
NFL fans. It's mad because when I actually looked at this, right,
you know, I love the Thanksgiving Thursday, right, but the
Steelers have not play on Thanksgivings to twenty sixteen. It
would be nice at some point, whether it's next year,
the year after, if we got that maybe one off again,
maybe they do it every decade or something, but it
would be cool to see. I know there's a lot
of a lot of great tradition there, but I think
(04:19):
year on year and you're seeing it as well, there
is a lot of growth. We're seeing a lot of
the games on TV on the Thursday evening. A lot
of I guess part time fans are realizing, oh god,
there's actually games during the week here.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Yeah, you'll be cool to that. Happy Thanksgiving indeed, Happy
Thanksgiving to our to all our listeners on this side
of the pond or over in the States. So it
really is a fantastic time of year. Michael. I think
it kind of marks the It marks a nice kind
of point between the kind of early part of the
season and when we get down to the business end
of the season. You often hear coaches and players talk about,
(04:50):
you know, the season doesn't really start until November, December.
December football is so important because that's when the seaton
comes down to the business end of the season, wins
and losses really start to cat especially in divisional play.
So it really is a crucial period of the year
to get to kind of make a push for the postseason.
And I think, you know the obviously, we have a
(05:10):
triple header on Thanksgiving starting you know, three three really
really great games to look forward and it's a great
way for, as you say, the kind of casual part
time fan to watch more football than they'd ever have
access to. I mean, the first game is six o'clock
Irish time, dinner time. It's perfect. You sit down, you
have your if you if you're partaking in the in
the the traditional Thanksgiving dinner a bit like Irish Christmas dinner.
(05:33):
You have your turkey or gravy or whatever you have,
You have your your couple of drinks as well, and
then you have an entire night of football ahead of you,
and then bonus football on Friday with Black Friday Football
as well, which is a recent enough addition, so I
mean it, we're just going to be absolutely spoiled for
choice with games. The last time the Steelers played, as
you say, on Thanksgiving was twenty sixteen. It was against
the Colts. We bet, we bet the Colts twenty eight
(05:56):
to seven. Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown had a hat
trick of touchdowns the Killer Bees. We also had a
touchdown from the other Killer Bee, Leveon Bells, So that
just kind of shows you how long ago it was
since they played it.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Really.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
I mean, anytime the Steelers are playing in a kind
of prime time spot, it's it's fantastic. So we might
we might get them back into the rotation in a
couple of years hopefully. Like I always said, the more
Steeters football that we get to watch, the better. But
I am really looking forward. My entire evening is blocked
out tomorrow for for football and on Black Friday on
(06:30):
a Friday evening, So it's it's going to be fantastic.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Yeah, as a football fan like yourself, to have the
equivalent of first and Night football, the crew doing a
game on Friday is really really cool as well. And yeah,
hopefully it's some of those names are wrangling up there.
It really really brings back to memories. Hopefully we get
that chance. I'd love us to even go into like
Dollars or something and play a game. It will be
really really another day, well, probably one to touch on,
(06:55):
and we have to touch on it. Steelers obviously lose
the lead in the AFC nor last week. We know
the Ravens are starting to bounce back, Jimmy, we know
quote unquote Joe Joe Burrows coming back for the Bengals
this week. There is no other way of looking at
it than saying it was a disappointing result in Soldier
Field last week. And while there are I think there's
many things we can say. Actually, if you look at
it from a neutral reviewpoint, the game was actually full
(07:18):
of action. It wasn't the most perfect performance in the
first half, but you're sitting had halftime going do you
know what? You know this could be one of those
grind wins. Get through and just get out and get
the win. But we also know how good and frankly,
I think I myself will say not just on this podcast,
but just just publicly for Bears fans as well. You know,
(07:38):
this Spars defense is definitely up there. That being said, Jimmy,
it's disappointing to lose, like there's no point in going
around that we obviously seen and at the time of
recording last week when I was chatting on the podcast,
we weren't aware it was going to happen to Aran Rodgers.
Turns out miss Rudoff comes in. The team definitely struggled
more in the second half, and you know, when you
(07:58):
don't score any points in the third, or when you're
giving the ball up, when you're letting the Bears get
back in the field again, it's not going to be
easy and you are going to shoot yourself on the fund.
What do you take away from last week if you
had someone that because it's one of those ones where
we hope that this is the last defeat for a while.
And frankly, Jimmy, like this is not being negative at all.
It has to be like that was a really important
win two weeks ago after the time we were in
(08:19):
Madrid at home and acreture they need to get back
on at night this week.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Yeah, I mean I was cautiously optimistic Michael about going
into this game that we would build a little bit
of a win street back up. Obviously, we had a
great game against the Bengals there last Sunday evening while
we were in Madrid. I was watching that came on
game pass after the excitement of the burnabout. Obviously, you know,
you lose your starting quarterback to an injury, you're always
(08:46):
going to have struggles on offense and crowds. To Mason Rudolph,
I think you did a commendable job coming in. Obviously,
he has some great experience as a starter there in Pittsburgh,
a winning record as a starter in Pittsburgh. But I
think it was it was more so the defense that
led us down a little bit. I mean, you know,
we had that really big splash play in the first
quarter whereas t J. Watt stripsacked to get Kay gives
(09:09):
in the end zone, Nick Herbert gets the fumble recovery.
I jumped out of my seat, scared the crap out
of my girlfriend, screaming the house down. But that that
was the only sack we had on that in that game.
We never got near Caleb Williams again. So that's going
to be a cruise that and that was a crucial
factor that we were We weren't able to really get
any sort of pressure on Kayley Williams apart from that,
and then through the air as well, we really struggled
(09:32):
struggle to cover some of the the the the receiving
weapons that Kayleb Williams had has has it as at
his disposal. Obviously, Coulson Loveland had a great game and
a touchdown where he went one on one with Kyle
dug or On scored on a little kind of tight
end angle route and Dj Moore had a couple of
scores as well. We didn't really contain them on the ground,
(09:53):
so I mean, defensively, it was disappointing. I mean, anytime
you put up thirty one point let you let thirty
one points we scored on you, it's always going to
be a struggle to win. And and in fairness, it
came down to the to the very last kind of
play of the game. The Steelers, you know that they
held that they forced two three and outs, and the
Bears they're late in the fourth quarter, we get the
(10:13):
ball back. Unfortunately we had no timeouts, so we were
driving down the field and then you're almost within the
range of Chris Boswell. But windy's a windy kind of
day in Soldier Field, you're never really going to attempt
that sort of long field goal, so you can understand
what they went for there and fourth down to try
and get the try and get the first down and
(10:33):
give give that, get the ball out of bounds as
well to bring the kicking ball in. So look, yeah,
it is disappointing, especially disappointing that the way that it
ended on that broken up Mason Rudolph pass when we
were driving down to try and force overtime. So with
the Bills coming into into Pittsburgh now and Sunday a
half nine Irish time, it's two teams, you know, squaring
(10:56):
off have who have struggled, two teams that badly need
a win. So it is to be very interesting to
see what happens.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Yeah, let's look ahead of that in a wee second,
Jimmy and sort of go into that there. I guess
the one thing I will say is it's one thing
looking at the numbers when you have just on the
ground one hundred and one hundred and sixty odd rushing yards,
But when Galen's getting eighteen carries, there needs to be
a little bit more production there. I do agree. I
think missing Rudolph done a really commendable job under center,
especially in the timing of it. I think it was
(11:24):
coach Tomlin talking to CBS about an r before confirming
Aron Rodgers was not going to start, and just need
to say a bit more production really on just on
that wide out. I mean the highest the highest yardage
was Calvin Austin under forty yards, so a bit more
needed and just going to that next level, but still
being able to put twenty eight points up the defense.
I think we know that the defense is going to
be really rolling from that and just trying to trying
(11:47):
to do better. And I think, look, we will talk
about in the second they need to do better. They're
going up against the phenom here in the Buffalo Bills. Well,
on this Thanksgiving weekend, we're not just going to look
ahead of the game. We're going to hear from two
very very important people on this podcast, and hear from
head coach Mike Tumlin, and now we're going to hear
from Steeters quarterback Aran Rodgers, who spoke to media earlier
on Weapons Day.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
As I mentioned, after the game, certainly a tough game
and close game, and oftentimes when it's good on good Man,
it comes down to a handful of potential plays. But
how do you identify those plays as the singular significant ones? Really,
from a leader's perspective, you don't. You put a bunch
of irons in the fire. You understand that any of
(12:28):
those plays in any of those areas can be the
significant difference. And I thought there were some specific areas
in all three phases of the game that contributed us
to not winning the game on special teams. As I
mentioned after the game, I got to give a lot
of credit to their kicker in the kickoff game. He
delivered some challenging dirty balls in the kickoff game, balls
(12:51):
that land just barely inside the landing zone and bounce
around that are difficult to feel in advance. That's the
new time and the new dynamic kickoff, and so soon
as that ball hits the ground, people can start covering.
I thought it, you know, certainly challenged us from a
field positioning standpoint. I think his first three were really
really successful in that space. And I thought in the
(13:14):
latter part of the game, Man, we needed better timely punting,
particularly in the waning moments of the game. I think
our last punt was thirty three yards and certainly been
pleased with Corlis's body of work over the greater portion
of the season, but we needed a little bit more
last Sunday, and so I'm excited about him bouncing back
(13:35):
from that. As we lead in on this week's opportunity
on offense, we talked about a couple of specific things.
They were number two in the league and third downs,
and so we talked about we had to be in
very manageable third downs. I thought we were successful in
doing so. From an injury standpoint, Man, we got a
couple of things to talk about. Roderick Jones has a
(13:55):
neck injury. He'll be classified as out this week. I'll
have more information for you the next time we get together,
but certainly he'll be classified as out this week. Same
thing goes for Derek Harmon. He sustained the knee injury
in play, was able to finish the game, but he'll
be characterized as out this week. Optimistic about a couple returns.
(14:17):
Aaron obviously man worked his tail off to get to
us last week, but as I mentioned over the course
of the weekend, it was the prudent and appropriate decision.
We'll start this week with great optimism, although we certainly
will limit him at the early portions of the week
provide opportunities. Man really excited about this AFC matchup and
(14:38):
at Akashure Stadium. You know, it starts upfront for them.
They've they've always been a four down group and they've
always allocated a lot of resources there. It seems every
year they're acquiring some really established rusher to round out
their depth in that space. It's been you know, Leonard
Floyd over the years, has been von Miller. This year
(14:58):
obviously is Bosa, and they certainly already have enough talent
in that space. But I think it just speaks to
their commitment to fortifying their talent and depth up front.
They play behind their rush those guys havoc they do.
They're challenging in the C and D gap area in
the run game because oftentimes those guys are a lot
(15:19):
bigger than the tight ends and so forth that they're
generally playing that space. That's one of the reasons why
we deploy some of the schematics that we deploy out
in that C and D gap area with Darnelle Washington
and Spencer Anderson for example, because guys like Russo are
just you know, oftentimes too big and long to block
(15:39):
it in the running game for quote unquote normal tight ends.
And so, man, we got a lot to be excited about.
We got a lot obviously from a challenge perspective. It's
a big ball weekend. We show our respect to that
with how we prepare. We're doing so right now as
a staff and looking forward to continuing that with the
players tomorrow as we lean in on prep.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
Do you anticipate a big difference between how you would
have been able to go last week versus this week?
Speaker 5 (16:08):
Well, I wasn't able to go last week, so I'm
hoping for a different outcome this week.
Speaker 4 (16:12):
What's the biggest different difference there that would make you
able to go this week versus last week?
Speaker 5 (16:20):
Time, time, time for healing.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
At what point were you did you know you weren't
be able to go and were you optimistic?
Speaker 5 (16:28):
Kind of heading at the subject, I'm not going to
get into that. Yeah, I mean I was trying to
see where I was at Thursday and Friday, and that's
all I'm gonna say about that. So about this week
as far relating to last week, Yeah, well, I've had
more days for the callous to form and more healing,
(16:53):
especially you know, Monday and Tuesday. Just when we am today,
I did a little bit more tomorrow. I'll do a
little bit more and see why I'm at come Friday.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
Is that you're understanding you have to have a doctor's
clearance to play on Sundays.
Speaker 5 (17:06):
No, I've never had that understanding.
Speaker 4 (17:08):
What changes for you or does it change in terms
of the prorections.
Speaker 5 (17:14):
I prepared to start last week, just like I'll prepare
to start this week.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
How come everybody deal with the race or cast or
whoever it is that you're wearing, or there are certain
limitations you have with that device.
Speaker 5 (17:26):
With the cast you mean, Uh, there's limitations for sure,
but that's for safety.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
Last week you talked about wanting to be able to
teach snaps under center. Where are you kind of in
that process. Do you feel more ready to do that
this week?
Speaker 5 (17:40):
Not today? Not today, We'll see about later in the weeks.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Pretty frustration all that you didn't get to go in
that game.
Speaker 5 (17:50):
Yeah, for sure, I'm always wanting to play, and there's
been very few times that an injury has been significant
enough to keep me off the field, So that was
definitely disappointing. But you also being in Chicago, that's what
it is.
Speaker 4 (18:06):
You played with Roderick Hall season. You obviously can't go
on Sunday. What's your comfort level with Calvin or Andrews.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Which starting there.
Speaker 5 (18:14):
Yeah, a lot of a lot of comfort with those guys.
I mean, obviously, Broads has played really well for us,
uh Ap has played a lot of football for us.
You know, a lot of confidence in cal coming in.
Uh He's been a great swing for us and he
practice with us all the time during the week, So
we have a lot of confidence about those guys.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
Good year from the guys and Jimmy, if it's coach Thomlan,
if it's the players, it's you know, it's quite clear
that the accountability is there and that these guys want
to obviously improve and to try and work the seven
and five in the season. Like this is now the
final sort of period I guess in the season where
different teams are going to come up. But I spoke
at the start of the podcast about the Ravens coming back.
(19:00):
They're really starting to impress their grinding that results. We
know Joe Burrows, it could be a bit late for
the Bengals. But at the same time, Steelers aren't that
far off the Bengals in terms of the record. They
drop a few more games, So it's very, very important
to get these wins up. You know, we have a
lot of optimism at the time of recording that we
expect to see Aaron Rodgers under center on Sunday in accrossurer.
As you've mentioned the games at home. You know that
(19:21):
being said, we've seen on different occasions this year this
Bill's defense can do a very very good job of
stopping a quarterback getting the rhythm going. And if we
look at even that game, I mean, I think of
that game against was two weeks ago, the Bills played
the Chiefs at home in Upstate New York and really
found a way to shoot down Mahomes. And if Mahomes
(19:42):
is finding the difficult you know that Rogers and the
offense is going to find a difficult man in terms
of getting points on the board.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Yeah, I think it's absolutely essential that if Aaron Rodgers
is physically able to go, that he plays in this
game because I think the deep pass is what it
was a big component of what was lacking last week
against against the against the Bears. I mean, we saw
Mason Rudolph. He did it. He was comfortable with the
(20:08):
short intermediate kind of passing. He had reasonable success there,
but when he took his deep shots, I think he
only connected on one to five or one of six
of his deep shots and that was to Defensekronic over
the middle for for a nice catch, So, you know,
and having the the ability in Aaron Rodgers, you know,
his ability to the deep pass and getting some big
(20:29):
chunk plays down the field stretches the field. But then
it also gives you an extra element to your to
your offense because while the run game did it, you know,
did A, did A, got some good games on the ground,
good gains on the ground, and kend of game. Will
had a fantastic game as well, and he's really come
into his own, as you know, a key contributor on
the offense to the Steelers. Having that deep passing game
(20:50):
you know, available to you and working well, it kind
of keeps it keeps the defense off balance a little
bit as well. So and then defensively, I mean, we
all saw what the Texans did to the Bills last
Thursday night, sacking sacking Josh Allen at eight times getting
out really really crucial win twenty three to nineteen and
(21:11):
potentially even putting themselves into playoff contention. So if the
Steelers can replicate that sort of defensive performance, and we
all know how how important Josh Allen is to this offense.
The entire offense runs through him, and he is capable
and has shown many many times how he can put
the offense on his back and will the game, you know,
(21:32):
make his make opponents defense ben to who's ben to
his will, and single handedly win games. So it's going
to be absolutely crucial that the defense does a much
better job as shutting him down, shutting down the run,
taking away his running lanes, and then when he does
get loose and get passes off, stick to much higher coverage.
I'm just trying to try and contain the offense as
(21:54):
much as we can.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
You mentioned Josh Allen there. We know how good he is,
We know that he probably for the rest of his
time in the league, will be an MVP candidate every season.
He can change games, he can turn games on his head,
and frankly, the thing that's really impressed me this year
is his rushing and his ability to score and also
get the ball down the field on those third and
long situations or situations where you think he can get
a first down. That is going to be a key
(22:17):
to really find the way to stop him. You've been
there this year, You've been there last year, You've been
there many times. Do you factor the crowd and Atrosher
into this, because as disappointing as some of the last
few weeks have been in in terms of close losses, Jimmy,
this home crowd is really going to have to get
in the back of the Buffalosian big time.
Speaker 5 (22:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Absolutely, I mean and we saw that they We saw
the effect of the crowd had when the when the
Coats came to town a few weeks ago, Michael and
I think there was there was one point during the
game was their third and long and the crowd nowise
actually forced the Coast to take a time out. Dane
Jones had to go to the sideline because he couldn't
hear to play Collins helmet. So we all know how
loud Akrosher can get, how much that the fan it's
(23:00):
gonna can affect the flow of the game and the
the the opposing offenses. I think it's going to be
crucial that they did the team no matter even if
the team aren't playing, you know, aren't playing to their
best ability. And there are kind of periods of lulls
that that the the energy has to be high, the
crowd have to be bought in, those unsers need to
be angry, those towels need to be twirling, and we
(23:21):
have to give our team every advantage that we that
we can, because it doesn't really matter that the Bills
have lost a couple of questionable games this year. Obviously
they lost to the Dolphins earlier this season as well.
It's so you can never count out Josh Allen and
its ability to to to to get past tough tests.
Is a tough tests and like the said, to put
(23:42):
this offense on his back and will the team to win.
So it's going to be very interesting to see what
happens in Acroeshur Stadium the Sunday.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
It is. We were talking about it on just before
we hit the button here to record this podcast this
week in regards to what we think is going to
go easily, do a little game pick at the end,
and I don't believe we're in agreement, which is interesting
in a funny mat because we can give different points
of view here. I look at Jimmy some of these games,
like yes, Steels los against the Packers, they still put
(24:11):
twenty five on the board. Yes, the Steelers beat the Colts.
They put twenty seven on the board against the team. Frankly,
and the Colts didn't have a great day, And I
do believe the crowd had a factor of playing that game.
We know they could take up thirty four points up
against the Bengals team which has struggled this year in
certain games, especially when you have having go Joe Burrow
there and there's a lot of flucks on both sides
of the ball. There a lot of things going on.
(24:31):
I think, first off, I think the Steelers win this
game if Aaron Rodgers is playing. But what I would
say is if that is the case, you're looking at
like almost going into Rowhead, you need to put up
thirty thirty five points on the board. You need to
find a way on both the run game and getting
the ball down the guys like Pat Farron with getting
the ball guys at Calvin Austin, DK. You need to
find a way to start this game strong of up
to fourteen to seventeen points in the first half and
(24:53):
pull away from that there because we know one thing
what's going to happen is that Bills are going to
come in. As you've mentioned there correctly. With the Texans,
they are going to be reeling from that prime time defeat.
They've had a few more days off as well. I
just hope that the time off, the conservative approach with
Aaron Rodgers pays off. And I mean, it's not good
for the Hearts, but I will take a thirty five
(25:15):
to thirty two win. Probably know my look in overtime
Jimmy for the Steelers, but definitely it's hard to believe
after this game. Five regular seasons games left, and especially
when you look at that last game of the year,
the Ravens coming up twice, the Lions as well. This
it's easy to say as the must win game. This
is a must win game, so give me a win.
(25:36):
I feel like you're less confident, and that's fine as well.
It's been a hard few weeks.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Every game with this point, Michael, is a must win game.
If we want to get to the playoffs and actually
win a game. We can't have the standard anymore being
you know, skidding in the last spot into the playoffs
and going one and down in the World Card Round.
I'm over those days. I think the entirety of Steeter
Nation is over those days. And somewhat, you know, the
mediocre to give this team when it comes to playoffs
(26:03):
in recent years. The Steelers have only exceeded thirty points
twice this season so far, in against the Jets and
the opening week and against the Bengals last weekend in
pay Court Stadium. That has to change this weekend. Aaron
Rodgers needs to come out absolutely swinging. His play has
kind of dropped off in previous weeks to a certain extent.
He needs he needs to get DK. DK needs to
(26:25):
find a way to get cast those double teams and
stretch the field. I want to see Roman Wilson more involved.
He's had some flashes this year as a potential wide
receiver two moving forward to kind of true number two
wide receiver. And you know, it's just, honestly, I said
it before we hit the button here as well, I
am not overly confident about this game, just because the
(26:47):
way things have kind of, you know, we have. We
had a great start of the season. Things were up
and down with a fantastic win against the Colts there
a few weeks ago, so then we thought off against
the Charges a week later on our offense when he
scored ten. So look, I'm not overly confident. I do
think this is gonna be a loss. I think this
is the first time that I've ever predicted a loss
in this podcast. That breaks my heart to do it,
(27:09):
but I just I just do not see the offensive
defense performing at a high enough level. Because the Bills
are gonna come absolutely charging into this game. They're very
conscious of what the Patriots are doing in the AFC East.
They want to get into the again. We both want
to get into the playoffs. I do think we will
exceed I do think we will exceed thirty points. But
(27:30):
I do think it's gonna be Steelers scoring thirty two
points and the Bills scoring thirty five points. And I
think we're gonna lose in absolutely agonizing fashion on a
last myth, because there seems to be a lot of
that going around this season, dramatic finishes, dramatic wins, more so,
I think than previous seasons, and I do think the Steelers, unfortunately,
(27:50):
will be on the receiving end of such a loss
this weekend, as much as it kills him to say it,
but I have to be a bit realistic for a
change as well.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
You know, obviously borring and tie all of us is right,
so we will take it. And we've got we've got
the exact same.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
I really hope you're right.
Speaker 6 (28:09):
Well, you know, if you're watching this game, we finish
it at half past twelve and on on Monday morning
NEPs and coming down to a last second field, and look,
if we win, and I should I shout the house
then and I get I get in trouble, so be
it would it would be worth it.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
But it's it's just gonna be. It's gonna be so
so close.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
And like if if it is a situation where and
look hopefully it's not a loss, but if if if
it was a loss, you know, you look at that
last five games, that that that last stretch of five
games where in some situations, it's like I'm looking at
that game against Detroit, for example, in Detroit, they are
going to have to go and upset teams or not
upset teams, but they're gonna have to go in somewhere
(28:49):
where usually you would expect the home team to have
a way upper hand and do it. They're gonna have
to do it anyway, but it certainly makes it a
lot a lot harder if you don't win this game.
Just for fans before we go, it'll be interesting to seeing. Again,
this is just my own opinion, it's not the team's opinion.
We will wait to see what happens when you get
closer to the end of the season. The NFL itself
my flex games out. I'm looking to that the Monday
night football game. We know the Dolphins are struggling. It'll
(29:10):
be interesting and see if that remains. You hope you
hope that's well. You would hope it doesn't get flexed
because it gives a team more time. But if it
is flexed a bit more time to prepare for that
Lion's game time will tell. Jimmy, I'm sure we'll get
a chance to chat before that. But I hope everybody
enjoys the game. This weekend game is in SkySports NFL
off the Ball on the app as well if you're
around Ireland, and if you're in Northern Ireland, the game
(29:31):
is for free. It's free on freeview. The Bills against
the Staders this weekend, so no excuses this weekend, especially
if you're up there Rooney Territory in nearing Jimmy. Appreciate
your time, sir, and I will chat to you soon.
Thank you very much for coming up
Welcome into the Irish Steelers podcast. But in BERLINGUS we
are looking ahead two week thirteen of the NFL season.
It's hard to believe that we're thirteen weeks in and
really hard to believe that it's almost ten weeks since
the Steelers played in Dublin. Delighted to be joined with
Jimmy English and Jimmy good to have you on again.
How are you doing to you find the season is
just flying in at this point. It's crazy, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
It's crazy that you say week thirteen, Mmichael, we are
now officially over two thirds of the way through the
season and it's actually it's so strange being back in
Ireland watching football on TV because, same as yourself, we've
been all over the We've been all over Mainland, neuor
covering the NFL since since that game in Dublin. I'm
just back. I would like yourself from Madrid. We have Berlin,
(00:49):
we had London, so it's it was a nice change
of scenery watching the Steelers against the Bears from the
comfort of my couch there on Sunday evening and looking
forward to it as the evening's raw in and you know,
the nice yet a little bit chittier. It's nice having
the fire on and the TV and the big screen
at the game on the big screen. So yeah, I
mean week thirteen, it's absolutely crazy. Christmas is only around
(01:11):
the corner and hopefully come January the Steers will be
in the playoffs. That remains to be seen at this page.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Yeah, it's it's a really interesting time for Steelers fans,
Jimmy and like it's something that we'll probably get into
on this podcast and obviously hear from from coach Tomlin
and to hear from some players as well, and there
has been a change in the AFC North, there's been
different things. Just before we start off, just let people
know if they are listening to this very quickly this
week if you're like regardless of where you are on
(01:40):
the island of Ireland, so if you're in Northern Arden
this week and if you don't have Sky Sports, the
Steelers Bills game is on five Action on Sunday at
nine thirty in Northern Ireland on Sky Sports NFL as
well on Sunday evening, so loads of different options. Obviously
the UCB Sports app as well. If you're in the
car and you want to listen to it very quickly.
On that you mentioned Madrid. It was a good weekend,
bueno as we would say.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
But I think.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
I I think we're both in agreement Jimmy that you know,
great to get the Steelers getting the victory that evening
as well when we were heading home, but really really
good to see. It's quite obvious to me that that
Ireland stot out and Ireland was the best, and I
think that weekend with the Steelers was the best of all.
That the largest audience internationally for NFL Network watched the
Steelers Vikings game, which is great for any Irish fan.
(02:27):
Whe you're a Steeers fan now, isn't it. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
I mean I said on this podcast before Michael, I
think Dublin set the standard for NFL games internationally this season,
and kind of I think Dublin almost spoiled the rest
of the games that I went to because it was
just and obviously it was a special moment for me
and a special weekend as a Steelers fan, but it
was just so so well done in Dublin. It genuinely
did feel like a real life, proper NFL game had
(02:52):
transplanted itself onto the North Side of Dublin City and
it was great to see, you know, the different locations. Well,
I mean Madrid. Madrid was fantastic, the way it was
all said up the Bernabelt was incredible. It was electric
having that roof closed. There was so much amazing atmosphere
there as well. So you know, it really bodes well
for the growth of the NFL internationally. I'm this sided
(03:13):
of the Atlantic and I think, you know, I mean,
the Saints have teas the potential game in Paris as
soon as next season, which would be great, another major
European city and another passionate fan base there in France.
But I think we are going to see more and
more and more NFL international games in the future, and
hopefully our steeiers will be back on Irish shore sooner
(03:34):
than later.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Hopefully you've said the exact pr correct sentence there, Jimmy,
That's exactly what I want as well. I know everyone
listening to the podcast, hopefully at some point in the
future we see that again. And I know, not just yourself,
but you know, obviously Irish Americans listening. We've maybe a
lot of people in North America listening hobby Thanksgiving. I
believe this is going to go out on Thanksgiving mornings.
So Hobby, Thanksgiving to yourself and everyone listening as well. Jimmy,
(03:57):
it's one of the best times of the year for
NFL fans. It's mad because when I actually looked at this, right,
you know, I love the Thanksgiving Thursday, right, but the
Steelers have not play on Thanksgivings to twenty sixteen. It
would be nice at some point, whether it's next year,
the year after, if we got that maybe one off again,
maybe they do it every decade or something, but it
would be cool to see. I know there's a lot
of a lot of great tradition there, but I think
(04:19):
year on year and you're seeing it as well, there
is a lot of growth. We're seeing a lot of
the games on TV on the Thursday evening. A lot
of I guess part time fans are realizing, oh god,
there's actually games during the week here.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Yeah, you'll be cool to that. Happy Thanksgiving indeed, Happy
Thanksgiving to our to all our listeners on this side
of the pond or over in the States. So it
really is a fantastic time of year. Michael. I think
it kind of marks the It marks a nice kind
of point between the kind of early part of the
season and when we get down to the business end
of the season. You often hear coaches and players talk about,
(04:50):
you know, the season doesn't really start until November, December.
December football is so important because that's when the seaton
comes down to the business end of the season, wins
and losses really start to cat especially in divisional play.
So it really is a crucial period of the year
to get to kind of make a push for the postseason.
And I think, you know the obviously, we have a
(05:10):
triple header on Thanksgiving starting you know, three three really
really great games to look forward and it's a great
way for, as you say, the kind of casual part
time fan to watch more football than they'd ever have
access to. I mean, the first game is six o'clock
Irish time, dinner time. It's perfect. You sit down, you
have your if you if you're partaking in the in
the the traditional Thanksgiving dinner a bit like Irish Christmas dinner.
(05:33):
You have your turkey or gravy or whatever you have,
You have your your couple of drinks as well, and
then you have an entire night of football ahead of you,
and then bonus football on Friday with Black Friday Football
as well, which is a recent enough addition, so I
mean it, we're just going to be absolutely spoiled for
choice with games. The last time the Steelers played, as
you say, on Thanksgiving was twenty sixteen. It was against
the Colts. We bet, we bet the Colts twenty eight
(05:56):
to seven. Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown had a hat
trick of touchdowns the Killer Bees. We also had a
touchdown from the other Killer Bee, Leveon Bells, So that
just kind of shows you how long ago it was
since they played it.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Really.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
I mean, anytime the Steelers are playing in a kind
of prime time spot, it's it's fantastic. So we might
we might get them back into the rotation in a
couple of years hopefully. Like I always said, the more
Steeters football that we get to watch, the better. But
I am really looking forward. My entire evening is blocked
out tomorrow for for football and on Black Friday on
(06:30):
a Friday evening, So it's it's going to be fantastic.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Yeah, as a football fan like yourself, to have the
equivalent of first and Night football, the crew doing a
game on Friday is really really cool as well. And yeah,
hopefully it's some of those names are wrangling up there.
It really really brings back to memories. Hopefully we get
that chance. I'd love us to even go into like
Dollars or something and play a game. It will be
really really another day, well, probably one to touch on,
(06:55):
and we have to touch on it. Steelers obviously lose
the lead in the AFC nor last week. We know
the Ravens are starting to bounce back, Jimmy, we know
quote unquote Joe Joe Burrows coming back for the Bengals
this week. There is no other way of looking at
it than saying it was a disappointing result in Soldier
Field last week. And while there are I think there's
many things we can say. Actually, if you look at
it from a neutral reviewpoint, the game was actually full
(07:18):
of action. It wasn't the most perfect performance in the
first half, but you're sitting had halftime going do you
know what? You know this could be one of those
grind wins. Get through and just get out and get
the win. But we also know how good and frankly,
I think I myself will say not just on this podcast,
but just just publicly for Bears fans as well. You know,
(07:38):
this Spars defense is definitely up there. That being said, Jimmy,
it's disappointing to lose, like there's no point in going
around that we obviously seen and at the time of
recording last week when I was chatting on the podcast,
we weren't aware it was going to happen to Aran Rodgers.
Turns out miss Rudoff comes in. The team definitely struggled
more in the second half, and you know, when you
(07:58):
don't score any points in the third, or when you're
giving the ball up, when you're letting the Bears get
back in the field again, it's not going to be
easy and you are going to shoot yourself on the fund.
What do you take away from last week if you
had someone that because it's one of those ones where
we hope that this is the last defeat for a while.
And frankly, Jimmy, like this is not being negative at all.
It has to be like that was a really important
win two weeks ago after the time we were in
(08:19):
Madrid at home and acreture they need to get back
on at night this week.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Yeah, I mean I was cautiously optimistic Michael about going
into this game that we would build a little bit
of a win street back up. Obviously, we had a
great game against the Bengals there last Sunday evening while
we were in Madrid. I was watching that came on
game pass after the excitement of the burnabout. Obviously, you know,
you lose your starting quarterback to an injury, you're always
(08:46):
going to have struggles on offense and crowds. To Mason Rudolph,
I think you did a commendable job coming in. Obviously,
he has some great experience as a starter there in Pittsburgh,
a winning record as a starter in Pittsburgh. But I
think it was it was more so the defense that
led us down a little bit. I mean, you know,
we had that really big splash play in the first
quarter whereas t J. Watt stripsacked to get Kay gives
(09:09):
in the end zone, Nick Herbert gets the fumble recovery.
I jumped out of my seat, scared the crap out
of my girlfriend, screaming the house down. But that that
was the only sack we had on that in that game.
We never got near Caleb Williams again. So that's going
to be a cruise that and that was a crucial
factor that we were We weren't able to really get
any sort of pressure on Kayley Williams apart from that,
and then through the air as well, we really struggled
(09:32):
struggle to cover some of the the the the receiving
weapons that Kayleb Williams had has has it as at
his disposal. Obviously, Coulson Loveland had a great game and
a touchdown where he went one on one with Kyle
dug or On scored on a little kind of tight
end angle route and Dj Moore had a couple of
scores as well. We didn't really contain them on the ground,
(09:53):
so I mean, defensively, it was disappointing. I mean, anytime
you put up thirty one point let you let thirty
one points we scored on you, it's always going to
be a struggle to win. And and in fairness, it
came down to the to the very last kind of
play of the game. The Steelers, you know that they
held that they forced two three and outs, and the
Bears they're late in the fourth quarter, we get the
(10:13):
ball back. Unfortunately we had no timeouts, so we were
driving down the field and then you're almost within the
range of Chris Boswell. But windy's a windy kind of
day in Soldier Field, you're never really going to attempt
that sort of long field goal, so you can understand
what they went for there and fourth down to try
and get the try and get the first down and
(10:33):
give give that, get the ball out of bounds as
well to bring the kicking ball in. So look, yeah,
it is disappointing, especially disappointing that the way that it
ended on that broken up Mason Rudolph pass when we
were driving down to try and force overtime. So with
the Bills coming into into Pittsburgh now and Sunday a
half nine Irish time, it's two teams, you know, squaring
(10:56):
off have who have struggled, two teams that badly need
a win. So it is to be very interesting to
see what happens.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Yeah, let's look ahead of that in a wee second,
Jimmy and sort of go into that there. I guess
the one thing I will say is it's one thing
looking at the numbers when you have just on the
ground one hundred and one hundred and sixty odd rushing yards,
But when Galen's getting eighteen carries, there needs to be
a little bit more production there. I do agree. I
think missing Rudolph done a really commendable job under center,
especially in the timing of it. I think it was
(11:24):
coach Tomlin talking to CBS about an r before confirming
Aron Rodgers was not going to start, and just need
to say a bit more production really on just on
that wide out. I mean the highest the highest yardage
was Calvin Austin under forty yards, so a bit more
needed and just going to that next level, but still
being able to put twenty eight points up the defense.
I think we know that the defense is going to
be really rolling from that and just trying to trying
(11:47):
to do better. And I think, look, we will talk
about in the second they need to do better. They're
going up against the phenom here in the Buffalo Bills. Well,
on this Thanksgiving weekend, we're not just going to look
ahead of the game. We're going to hear from two
very very important people on this podcast, and hear from
head coach Mike Tumlin, and now we're going to hear
from Steeters quarterback Aran Rodgers, who spoke to media earlier
on Weapons Day.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
As I mentioned, after the game, certainly a tough game
and close game, and oftentimes when it's good on good Man,
it comes down to a handful of potential plays. But
how do you identify those plays as the singular significant ones? Really,
from a leader's perspective, you don't. You put a bunch
of irons in the fire. You understand that any of
(12:28):
those plays in any of those areas can be the
significant difference. And I thought there were some specific areas
in all three phases of the game that contributed us
to not winning the game on special teams. As I
mentioned after the game, I got to give a lot
of credit to their kicker in the kickoff game. He
delivered some challenging dirty balls in the kickoff game, balls
(12:51):
that land just barely inside the landing zone and bounce
around that are difficult to feel in advance. That's the
new time and the new dynamic kickoff, and so soon
as that ball hits the ground, people can start covering.
I thought it, you know, certainly challenged us from a
field positioning standpoint. I think his first three were really
really successful in that space. And I thought in the
(13:14):
latter part of the game, Man, we needed better timely punting,
particularly in the waning moments of the game. I think
our last punt was thirty three yards and certainly been
pleased with Corlis's body of work over the greater portion
of the season, but we needed a little bit more
last Sunday, and so I'm excited about him bouncing back
(13:35):
from that. As we lead in on this week's opportunity
on offense, we talked about a couple of specific things.
They were number two in the league and third downs,
and so we talked about we had to be in
very manageable third downs. I thought we were successful in
doing so. From an injury standpoint, Man, we got a
couple of things to talk about. Roderick Jones has a
(13:55):
neck injury. He'll be classified as out this week. I'll
have more information for you the next time we get together,
but certainly he'll be classified as out this week. Same
thing goes for Derek Harmon. He sustained the knee injury
in play, was able to finish the game, but he'll
be characterized as out this week. Optimistic about a couple returns.
(14:17):
Aaron obviously man worked his tail off to get to
us last week, but as I mentioned over the course
of the weekend, it was the prudent and appropriate decision.
We'll start this week with great optimism, although we certainly
will limit him at the early portions of the week
provide opportunities. Man really excited about this AFC matchup and
(14:38):
at Akashure Stadium. You know, it starts upfront for them.
They've they've always been a four down group and they've
always allocated a lot of resources there. It seems every
year they're acquiring some really established rusher to round out
their depth in that space. It's been you know, Leonard
Floyd over the years, has been von Miller. This year
(14:58):
obviously is Bosa, and they certainly already have enough talent
in that space. But I think it just speaks to
their commitment to fortifying their talent and depth up front.
They play behind their rush those guys havoc they do.
They're challenging in the C and D gap area in
the run game because oftentimes those guys are a lot
(15:19):
bigger than the tight ends and so forth that they're
generally playing that space. That's one of the reasons why
we deploy some of the schematics that we deploy out
in that C and D gap area with Darnelle Washington
and Spencer Anderson for example, because guys like Russo are
just you know, oftentimes too big and long to block
(15:39):
it in the running game for quote unquote normal tight ends.
And so, man, we got a lot to be excited about.
We got a lot obviously from a challenge perspective. It's
a big ball weekend. We show our respect to that
with how we prepare. We're doing so right now as
a staff and looking forward to continuing that with the
players tomorrow as we lean in on prep.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
Do you anticipate a big difference between how you would
have been able to go last week versus this week?
Speaker 5 (16:08):
Well, I wasn't able to go last week, so I'm
hoping for a different outcome this week.
Speaker 4 (16:12):
What's the biggest different difference there that would make you
able to go this week versus last week?
Speaker 5 (16:20):
Time, time, time for healing.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
At what point were you did you know you weren't
be able to go and were you optimistic?
Speaker 5 (16:28):
Kind of heading at the subject, I'm not going to
get into that. Yeah, I mean I was trying to
see where I was at Thursday and Friday, and that's
all I'm gonna say about that. So about this week
as far relating to last week, Yeah, well, I've had
more days for the callous to form and more healing,
(16:53):
especially you know, Monday and Tuesday. Just when we am today,
I did a little bit more tomorrow. I'll do a
little bit more and see why I'm at come Friday.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
Is that you're understanding you have to have a doctor's
clearance to play on Sundays.
Speaker 5 (17:06):
No, I've never had that understanding.
Speaker 4 (17:08):
What changes for you or does it change in terms
of the prorections.
Speaker 5 (17:14):
I prepared to start last week, just like I'll prepare
to start this week.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
How come everybody deal with the race or cast or
whoever it is that you're wearing, or there are certain
limitations you have with that device.
Speaker 5 (17:26):
With the cast you mean, Uh, there's limitations for sure,
but that's for safety.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
Last week you talked about wanting to be able to
teach snaps under center. Where are you kind of in
that process. Do you feel more ready to do that
this week?
Speaker 5 (17:40):
Not today? Not today, We'll see about later in the weeks.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Pretty frustration all that you didn't get to go in
that game.
Speaker 5 (17:50):
Yeah, for sure, I'm always wanting to play, and there's
been very few times that an injury has been significant
enough to keep me off the field, So that was
definitely disappointing. But you also being in Chicago, that's what
it is.
Speaker 4 (18:06):
You played with Roderick Hall season. You obviously can't go
on Sunday. What's your comfort level with Calvin or Andrews.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Which starting there.
Speaker 5 (18:14):
Yeah, a lot of a lot of comfort with those guys.
I mean, obviously, Broads has played really well for us,
uh Ap has played a lot of football for us.
You know, a lot of confidence in cal coming in.
Uh He's been a great swing for us and he
practice with us all the time during the week, So
we have a lot of confidence about those guys.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
Good year from the guys and Jimmy, if it's coach Thomlan,
if it's the players, it's you know, it's quite clear
that the accountability is there and that these guys want
to obviously improve and to try and work the seven
and five in the season. Like this is now the
final sort of period I guess in the season where
different teams are going to come up. But I spoke
at the start of the podcast about the Ravens coming back.
(19:00):
They're really starting to impress their grinding that results. We
know Joe Burrows, it could be a bit late for
the Bengals. But at the same time, Steelers aren't that
far off the Bengals in terms of the record. They
drop a few more games, So it's very, very important
to get these wins up. You know, we have a
lot of optimism at the time of recording that we
expect to see Aaron Rodgers under center on Sunday in accrossurer.
As you've mentioned the games at home. You know that
(19:21):
being said, we've seen on different occasions this year this
Bill's defense can do a very very good job of
stopping a quarterback getting the rhythm going. And if we
look at even that game, I mean, I think of
that game against was two weeks ago, the Bills played
the Chiefs at home in Upstate New York and really
found a way to shoot down Mahomes. And if Mahomes
(19:42):
is finding the difficult you know that Rogers and the
offense is going to find a difficult man in terms
of getting points on the board.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Yeah, I think it's absolutely essential that if Aaron Rodgers
is physically able to go, that he plays in this
game because I think the deep pass is what it
was a big component of what was lacking last week
against against the against the Bears. I mean, we saw
Mason Rudolph. He did it. He was comfortable with the
(20:08):
short intermediate kind of passing. He had reasonable success there,
but when he took his deep shots, I think he
only connected on one to five or one of six
of his deep shots and that was to Defensekronic over
the middle for for a nice catch, So, you know,
and having the the ability in Aaron Rodgers, you know,
his ability to the deep pass and getting some big
(20:29):
chunk plays down the field stretches the field. But then
it also gives you an extra element to your to
your offense because while the run game did it, you know,
did A, did A, got some good games on the ground,
good gains on the ground, and kend of game. Will
had a fantastic game as well, and he's really come
into his own, as you know, a key contributor on
the offense to the Steelers. Having that deep passing game
(20:50):
you know, available to you and working well, it kind
of keeps it keeps the defense off balance a little
bit as well. So and then defensively, I mean, we
all saw what the Texans did to the Bills last
Thursday night, sacking sacking Josh Allen at eight times getting
out really really crucial win twenty three to nineteen and
(21:11):
potentially even putting themselves into playoff contention. So if the
Steelers can replicate that sort of defensive performance, and we
all know how how important Josh Allen is to this offense.
The entire offense runs through him, and he is capable
and has shown many many times how he can put
the offense on his back and will the game, you know,
(21:32):
make his make opponents defense ben to who's ben to
his will, and single handedly win games. So it's going
to be absolutely crucial that the defense does a much
better job as shutting him down, shutting down the run,
taking away his running lanes, and then when he does
get loose and get passes off, stick to much higher coverage.
I'm just trying to try and contain the offense as
(21:54):
much as we can.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
You mentioned Josh Allen there. We know how good he is,
We know that he probably for the rest of his
time in the league, will be an MVP candidate every season.
He can change games, he can turn games on his head,
and frankly, the thing that's really impressed me this year
is his rushing and his ability to score and also
get the ball down the field on those third and
long situations or situations where you think he can get
a first down. That is going to be a key
(22:17):
to really find the way to stop him. You've been
there this year, You've been there last year, You've been
there many times. Do you factor the crowd and Atrosher
into this, because as disappointing as some of the last
few weeks have been in in terms of close losses, Jimmy,
this home crowd is really going to have to get
in the back of the Buffalosian big time.
Speaker 5 (22:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Absolutely, I mean and we saw that they We saw
the effect of the crowd had when the when the
Coats came to town a few weeks ago, Michael and
I think there was there was one point during the
game was their third and long and the crowd nowise
actually forced the Coast to take a time out. Dane
Jones had to go to the sideline because he couldn't
hear to play Collins helmet. So we all know how
loud Akrosher can get, how much that the fan it's
(23:00):
gonna can affect the flow of the game and the
the the opposing offenses. I think it's going to be
crucial that they did the team no matter even if
the team aren't playing, you know, aren't playing to their
best ability. And there are kind of periods of lulls
that that the the energy has to be high, the
crowd have to be bought in, those unsers need to
be angry, those towels need to be twirling, and we
(23:21):
have to give our team every advantage that we that
we can, because it doesn't really matter that the Bills
have lost a couple of questionable games this year. Obviously
they lost to the Dolphins earlier this season as well.
It's so you can never count out Josh Allen and
its ability to to to to get past tough tests.
Is a tough tests and like the said, to put
(23:42):
this offense on his back and will the team to win.
So it's going to be very interesting to see what
happens in Acroeshur Stadium the Sunday.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
It is. We were talking about it on just before
we hit the button here to record this podcast this
week in regards to what we think is going to
go easily, do a little game pick at the end,
and I don't believe we're in agreement, which is interesting
in a funny mat because we can give different points
of view here. I look at Jimmy some of these games,
like yes, Steels los against the Packers, they still put
(24:11):
twenty five on the board. Yes, the Steelers beat the Colts.
They put twenty seven on the board against the team. Frankly,
and the Colts didn't have a great day, And I
do believe the crowd had a factor of playing that game.
We know they could take up thirty four points up
against the Bengals team which has struggled this year in
certain games, especially when you have having go Joe Burrow
there and there's a lot of flucks on both sides
of the ball. There a lot of things going on.
(24:31):
I think, first off, I think the Steelers win this
game if Aaron Rodgers is playing. But what I would
say is if that is the case, you're looking at
like almost going into Rowhead, you need to put up
thirty thirty five points on the board. You need to
find a way on both the run game and getting
the ball down the guys like Pat Farron with getting
the ball guys at Calvin Austin, DK. You need to
find a way to start this game strong of up
to fourteen to seventeen points in the first half and
(24:53):
pull away from that there because we know one thing
what's going to happen is that Bills are going to
come in. As you've mentioned there correctly. With the Texans,
they are going to be reeling from that prime time defeat.
They've had a few more days off as well. I
just hope that the time off, the conservative approach with
Aaron Rodgers pays off. And I mean, it's not good
for the Hearts, but I will take a thirty five
(25:15):
to thirty two win. Probably know my look in overtime
Jimmy for the Steelers, but definitely it's hard to believe
after this game. Five regular seasons games left, and especially
when you look at that last game of the year,
the Ravens coming up twice, the Lions as well. This
it's easy to say as the must win game. This
is a must win game, so give me a win.
(25:36):
I feel like you're less confident, and that's fine as well.
It's been a hard few weeks.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Every game with this point, Michael, is a must win game.
If we want to get to the playoffs and actually
win a game. We can't have the standard anymore being
you know, skidding in the last spot into the playoffs
and going one and down in the World Card Round.
I'm over those days. I think the entirety of Steeter
Nation is over those days. And somewhat, you know, the
mediocre to give this team when it comes to playoffs
(26:03):
in recent years. The Steelers have only exceeded thirty points
twice this season so far, in against the Jets and
the opening week and against the Bengals last weekend in
pay Court Stadium. That has to change this weekend. Aaron
Rodgers needs to come out absolutely swinging. His play has
kind of dropped off in previous weeks to a certain extent.
He needs he needs to get DK. DK needs to
(26:25):
find a way to get cast those double teams and
stretch the field. I want to see Roman Wilson more involved.
He's had some flashes this year as a potential wide
receiver two moving forward to kind of true number two
wide receiver. And you know, it's just, honestly, I said
it before we hit the button here as well, I
am not overly confident about this game, just because the
(26:47):
way things have kind of, you know, we have. We
had a great start of the season. Things were up
and down with a fantastic win against the Colts there
a few weeks ago, so then we thought off against
the Charges a week later on our offense when he
scored ten. So look, I'm not overly confident. I do
think this is gonna be a loss. I think this
is the first time that I've ever predicted a loss
in this podcast. That breaks my heart to do it,
(27:09):
but I just I just do not see the offensive
defense performing at a high enough level. Because the Bills
are gonna come absolutely charging into this game. They're very
conscious of what the Patriots are doing in the AFC East.
They want to get into the again. We both want
to get into the playoffs. I do think we will
exceed I do think we will exceed thirty points. But
(27:30):
I do think it's gonna be Steelers scoring thirty two
points and the Bills scoring thirty five points. And I
think we're gonna lose in absolutely agonizing fashion on a
last myth, because there seems to be a lot of
that going around this season, dramatic finishes, dramatic wins, more so,
I think than previous seasons, and I do think the Steelers, unfortunately,
(27:50):
will be on the receiving end of such a loss
this weekend, as much as it kills him to say it,
but I have to be a bit realistic for a
change as well.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
You know, obviously borring and tie all of us is right,
so we will take it. And we've got we've got
the exact same.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
I really hope you're right.
Speaker 6 (28:09):
Well, you know, if you're watching this game, we finish
it at half past twelve and on on Monday morning
NEPs and coming down to a last second field, and look,
if we win, and I should I shout the house
then and I get I get in trouble, so be
it would it would be worth it.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
But it's it's just gonna be. It's gonna be so
so close.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
And like if if it is a situation where and
look hopefully it's not a loss, but if if if
it was a loss, you know, you look at that
last five games, that that that last stretch of five
games where in some situations, it's like I'm looking at
that game against Detroit, for example, in Detroit, they are
going to have to go and upset teams or not
upset teams, but they're gonna have to go in somewhere
(28:49):
where usually you would expect the home team to have
a way upper hand and do it. They're gonna have
to do it anyway, but it certainly makes it a
lot a lot harder if you don't win this game.
Just for fans before we go, it'll be interesting to seeing. Again,
this is just my own opinion, it's not the team's opinion.
We will wait to see what happens when you get
closer to the end of the season. The NFL itself
my flex games out. I'm looking to that the Monday
night football game. We know the Dolphins are struggling. It'll
(29:10):
be interesting and see if that remains. You hope you
hope that's well. You would hope it doesn't get flexed
because it gives a team more time. But if it
is flexed a bit more time to prepare for that
Lion's game time will tell. Jimmy, I'm sure we'll get
a chance to chat before that. But I hope everybody
enjoys the game. This weekend game is in SkySports NFL
off the Ball on the app as well if you're
around Ireland, and if you're in Northern Ireland, the game
(29:31):
is for free. It's free on freeview. The Bills against
the Staders this weekend, so no excuses this weekend, especially
if you're up there Rooney Territory in nearing Jimmy. Appreciate
your time, sir, and I will chat to you soon.
Thank you very much for coming up
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