The Point After Week 3

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:11):
Hello, and welcome to the Point After, presented by your
neighborhood Ford's Door.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
And by this year there's pro shop get it direct
from the team at shop dot Steelers dot com alongside
Matt Williamson and Mike Pursuda, I'm rob king coming to you.
Following this year, there's twenty one to fourteen victory over
the New England Patriots. So let's begin with some initial
thoughts on the victory. Mike, Let's begin with you.

Speaker 3 (00:33):
You know, I do the postgame show and I spent
two and a half hours taking calls, and a lot
of them, between a third and a half of them
were people who were upset distraught. This is the same
as last year. They're not going anywhere. Why are they
doing this kind of stuff.

Speaker 4 (00:51):
I don't know, just.

Speaker 3 (00:52):
From thirty thousand feet, not speaking as a broadcaster or
a guy who covers the team, but somebody who actually
likes watching football. When I see a hard fought, hard
hitting game that's tied in the fourth quarter and one
team drives to get what could be the decisive score
and then stops the other team on fourth down in
the final minutes, I think, well, that's a pretty good game.

(01:14):
I'm entertained, but I guess I'm in the minority, at
least the minority among people who call to talk about
such things.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
All Right, I'll follow up with that in a moment,
but Matt your thoughts.

Speaker 4 (01:24):
Yeah, I kind of like Mike's perspective on it, because
I'll be honest, I recorded a podcast right after and
it was fifty percent negative, you know. I mean, it's like,
I don't know how sustainable this is. I don't know
if the Patriots are any good. But then I go
back to a conversation we have with Labs on the
drive this week, and I was just asking him. I'm like,
I always look at Labs as like the football historian.
I'm like, do you think the first month of the

(01:46):
season across the league has drastically changed over the years.
You know, we don't have preseason reps like we used to.
We don't have these long training camps. And He's like, yeah,
I absolutely do. And frankly, in that first month, those
first three weeks, I don't care one bit about style points.
If you win, great, If you win a road game, great,

(02:09):
you were in a road conference game, great, great, great.
You know that's the end of the story, so stuff will
work on.

Speaker 2 (02:15):
Yeah, I agree with both of you guys, and I
agree wholeheartedly with both you guys. Mike, you can understand though,
where the fans are coming from. The fans are seeing
some of the same things that happened at the end
of last year and believe it is a carryover to
this year. Inability to stop the run in week one,
inability to stop the run in week two. You know,

(02:39):
the offense not looking great as it didn't look great
at the end of last year. So you can understand
why fans would make that connection from the end of
last year to the beginning of this year.

Speaker 3 (02:50):
Can you not I understand? I rejected, It's not last year.
This just stand right.

Speaker 5 (02:56):
There have been massive change.

Speaker 3 (02:58):
I know the Ravens rushed for two hundred ninety nine
yards and the Jets rushed through one hundred and eighty
something one hundred ninety something in the first game. I
get that they were similar. They're not the same thing.
The other thing about what we've seen take place this
year with a whole new team with a whole bunch
of new guys on it, including some guys that are
hurt and not playing. The run defense was actually very good. Yesterday.

(03:23):
The Patriots running backs did very little twenty two for
seventy four. Drake May was deleting rusher. Now that they
didn't do a good job of containing him. But if
you're going to assault the pocket and wind up with
five sacks and force a couple of turnovers, I guess
that's a wash. If he gets some rushing yards and
convert some third downs on you the other here's another
reason why this is not last year.

Speaker 5 (03:44):
Let me think about this. Oh yeah, Aaron Rodgers. Okay, Now,
I know he didn't have a great game, and I
know he.

Speaker 3 (03:50):
Didn't get a lot of fantasy points for people, and
I know if you just look at the stats and
decide what happened, you're not going to be impressed with
Aaron Rodgers. That play at the end of the game
came here. I'm sitting here with Charlie Batch in the studio.
We're watching the game, getting ready to do the post game.
By the way, that's two responses for me and two
plugs for the postgame show. And we're just getting warmed
up here. But it looks to me like it's covered two.

Speaker 2 (04:14):
I'm sorry, third and six.

Speaker 3 (04:19):
Are they gonna have to kick a field goal and
leave New England and leave the Patriots time.

Speaker 5 (04:23):
Are they gonna score a touchdown? Really put the pressure
on him. Third and six.

Speaker 3 (04:27):
It looked like cover two to me, and Charlie says
uh uh and lo and behold. At the snap of
the ball, the safety on the near hash comes flying
down to the line the game because he's thinking they're
gonna run across her and he wants to stop the
first down. So they have to kick a field goal
and Roger sees he has one on one with Calvin
Austin and he attacks it and they score a touchdown.

(04:49):
It was beautiful football. And hey, when Russell Wilson was
playing well last year, he didn't sniff stuff out like that.
Russell Wilson was a guy who got by on what's
left of his athleticism. I'm not trying to bash Russ here,
but he.

Speaker 4 (05:04):
Was never different.

Speaker 5 (05:05):
He was never a surgeon.

Speaker 3 (05:06):
And an expert dissector of coverages. He got by on
his skills. And Aaron Rodgers can see this stuff.

Speaker 5 (05:15):
Man.

Speaker 3 (05:15):
They go for one on ones, they don't get a
lot of them. When they get them, he's throwing it.
And if you don't think Aaron Rodgers has elevated the
quarterback play. I can't even draw a comparison. It's not
last year. It's not the year they won eleven and
zero and then fell apart during COVID. It's twenty twenty five.

(05:36):
They started at a point where they're probably not comfortable with.
They're lurching it in the right direction. And oh, by
the way, they've won two or three while they're doing that.

Speaker 4 (05:45):
Matt thousand percent. And I think it's real easy to
watch this game and be like, the Steelers won because
they won the turnover battle in such decisive fashion and
they made such timely big plays on defense. Sure, a
time to do it, absolutely, But even take what Mike's
saying further, which I wholeheartedly believe, if you look at

(06:05):
the offensive performance, snap after snap after snap, there are
so few bad plays. And to me, that just screams
Rogers at the line of scrimmage. I mean bad plays
the other thing too. Yeah, I can't get this out
of my mind. The play last week in which, rolling
to his right out of the pocket, he fell.

Speaker 1 (06:29):
Down and flung a ball.

Speaker 2 (06:31):
You know, you know, had to get his body into it,
so he fell down going right and hit Pat Fryarmouth
right in the brad basket. You could not make a
better throw from five yards away than he made from
sixty yards away on the run dropping it into Now
Pat didn't hang on to it. But I I just
I had to go back and watch the game and say, wait,
did I think that I see what I think I saw?

(06:53):
And it was it was sixty yards in the air.
There are some quarterbacks that would have trouble throwing it
sixty yards in the air period without having to move
to their right and throw it falling down, fall right
in stride.

Speaker 1 (07:08):
Matt.

Speaker 2 (07:09):
I don't even know. I don't know how many players
in the NFL, any quarterbacks could make that throw with
a realistic expectation of hitting him in stride. The answer
I mean, I was thinking, okay, Mahomes and the answer
might be zero. It might be nobody now could do it.

(07:29):
But did it and right on right. That's it wasn't
like he was It wasn't like he was waiting for it,
and it hit him right in stride.

Speaker 4 (07:39):
See, that's the thing to me, is the controlling of
the football on such a difficult throw, not just I'm
just gonna heave it and until somebody runs under it,
that's right, and just chuck as far as I possibly can. Now,
I do think there's others that can make that throw,
but there's also who would release it, you know what
I mean? Right, maybe sitting in the backyard might hit

(08:00):
that throw two out of ten times or two out
of five times or in practice or training camp. But
in the game with it online, who's gonna let it fly?
I don't know, you know, it's a short list.

Speaker 1 (08:10):
Robert still there.

Speaker 3 (08:12):
If Friarmuth catches that pass, that plays on every highlight
on every channel all week, and the national narrative is
Aaron Rodgers can still really play, He's still good. It
was very similar. I think it was the Denver game
last year. Justin Fields made made a play like that
and he hit pickings, but there was a holding penance,

(08:35):
so it came back.

Speaker 1 (08:37):
That ball.

Speaker 2 (08:37):
That throw went about like ten feet off the ground,
like fifty five yards in the air.

Speaker 3 (08:43):
But everybody, everybody put that on social media. It's oh,
look Justin Fields can throw. He's not just a runner.
Look at this great throw and it didn't count. Now,
the Friar thing didn't get finished, But yeah, Rogers can play.
He's not gonna win the m v P, and his
stats are particularly while they continue to sort through the
running game. I don't understand people that can't recognize they

(09:04):
had real protection issues the first two weeks. So they're
not gonna run five step drops and seven step drops
and have them stand back there and get crushed. Bruce
arians isn't the offensive coordinator anymore, right, They're trying to
protect him, so they got to play a little chuck
and duck. Get it out quick, don't have negative plays.
Let the line figure it out and try to get

(09:24):
to second and six or second and five and attack
it that way. Rogers is going to get out of
this offense what the group is capable of producing.

Speaker 4 (09:36):
Right, and that is going to go up.

Speaker 3 (09:38):
I think as the people around him come up to
his level. But I think he's playing fantastic.

Speaker 4 (09:44):
If I give hit, I'm not picking on Rush like
you did do like you give those guys the same ingredients.
The stew that Rogers creates is way better than the
Stu Wilson. It just is a great.

Speaker 5 (09:54):
Way to put it.

Speaker 2 (09:55):
And first time since twenty twenty two and Aaron Rodgers
was not sacked in a game which says a little
something about the game plan, a little something about Rogers,
and a little something about the offensive line I hope
taking a step forward, and a little.

Speaker 3 (10:07):
Something, a little something about the SEC fumble that was
negated by a pedalty on the second series. I think
when they saw that, they thought, okay, let's let that
happen when it counts.

Speaker 4 (10:18):
But even going into this game, he's really had no
running game. And we talking about his ingredients. Yeah, if
the running game's a steak, steak's no good, you know,
to start to stew with. The protection has been questionable,
and I think it took a great step in the
right direction yesterday. And I don't know the potatoes, Yeah,
and then the spices on top are the guys getting open.

(10:38):
I don't think he's had a great group of spices
to work with either. I mean they're not. There's not
free guys running for all, you know, all over the field.

Speaker 2 (10:45):
Okay, So that's that is if we're gonna now shift.
And there's still some positives that I want to get to.
But I do want to shift to a couple issues
that are troubling me and Matt, you just mentioned one
of them. It feels like Drake may go's back. Oh
a little easy eight yard throw. Now it's second and two.
You know there's a lot of that going on against

(11:05):
the Steelers. And then I see Rogers go back. You know,
Rogers has diagnosed the defense and he's going to get
it to the open guy. But I see him going back,
looking left, looking center, looking right. I'm like, there must
not be And I'm again.

Speaker 4 (11:18):
I don't see a ton of first red boom hit it.

Speaker 2 (11:20):
No, I am, And I've tried to explain this to people.
I am watching the game differently than I would as
a fan. I don't have as wild as wide a
field a vision because I can't afford to sneak a
look downfield and then find out that, oh, wait a minute,
Rogers got sacked or something, and you have to follow

(11:42):
the ball more than I've ever done in my football
viewing days. But it seems to me that the other
team has easy pitching catches open and the Steelers don't.
That's a problem both ways on defense, when we'll get
to the defense a little bit later on, but also
on offense. And I don't know whether that's the personnel.
I don't know whether it's a pattern. I don't even
know whether it's happening. That just is what it feels

(12:04):
like to me calling the game.

Speaker 4 (12:05):
Compared to most offenses, I would say they do not
have open receivers. It's in the lower half of the
league for sure. Okay, you know, And I think you're
right about the defense, and I think they're examining these
things defensively. We spend more time with the defense later,
but a lot of off coverage allows for that. I
think the linebackers in the middle of the field, in particular,

(12:27):
the middle of the field defense has been problematic. It's
been more injuries on that side of the ball.

Speaker 5 (12:32):
How much such, Elliott, do you think.

Speaker 4 (12:34):
Some for sure?

Speaker 5 (12:35):
Not being right?

Speaker 4 (12:36):
Right right?

Speaker 2 (12:36):
I think I think it's a lot of things. We'll
get to the defense of the injuries. There are a
lot of things that I want to explore with the defense.
But go ahead, man, I'm sorry.

Speaker 1 (12:44):
Are we finished?

Speaker 5 (12:44):
No? No?

Speaker 4 (12:45):
Basically, yeah, But I don't think the Steelers pass catchers
have been great separators either. I think that's a problem
that it doesn't get brought up enough.

Speaker 2 (12:54):
Yeah, I think, Mike. The way I look at this
is that the first game of the season, we saw
Aaron Rodgers what he can do the touchdown passes, and
he's going to take care of the football, and we
know that four touchdown pass is great. Last week, the
offense completely sputtered against Seattle. This week, I thought we
saw elements right. The running game got going early, the

(13:18):
passing game got going late when you needed it too.
If the worst definition you can have of an offense
is that it has character, and by that, as you
pointed out in the morning show, we're on DV this morning,
three for three in the red zone, seven freight on
the season. Need a drive, get a drive, score a
touchdown win. If I have a really good defense, we can't.

(13:41):
If I have an offense that has character at this
time of the year, that's good enough.

Speaker 1 (13:46):
Hopelly, you're going to bild on it.

Speaker 2 (13:46):
But that's a really good trait to have for later
in the year when hopefully you're playing better and now
the competition's better, and now you need a late drive
against Baltimore, or you need a touchdown in the red
zone against Baltimore. Guess what, You've already done that, right,
You've laid that blueprint because you've you've shown the character
and winning games early in the season, yeah.

Speaker 5 (14:06):
I like it.

Speaker 3 (14:06):
I mean, it's not the be all end all, but
I believe in clutch. I know analytics people do not
h you know, particularly it relates to baseball.

Speaker 5 (14:15):
It's all the percentages.

Speaker 1 (14:16):
It's not absolutely believe it.

Speaker 3 (14:18):
This is the guy get to hit in the bottom
of the bee.

Speaker 2 (14:21):
If you don't believe in clutch, you've never stood in
a free throw line and needed to hit a free throw.

Speaker 1 (14:26):
You've never needed.

Speaker 5 (14:27):
To be.

Speaker 2 (14:29):
On a keyboard, have not, You've never and and by
the way, and it just you know, they do not
fill a stadium with seventy thousand people and have And
I love analytics, Okay, I do.

Speaker 1 (14:39):
I think there's a real value in it.

Speaker 2 (14:42):
But you don't cram seventy thousand people in a stadium
and have two kids run out with their laptops at
midfield and then after fifteen minutes, one kid raises his
hand and says, our team won.

Speaker 1 (14:52):
That's not how it works, man, Thank god. So I'm
totally with you.

Speaker 5 (14:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (14:57):
Now, Kenny Pickett had to clutch gene, but he didn't
have enough of everything else. I don't think that's a
problem with Aaron Rodgers When I see him, Uh, engineer
a game winning drive against the Jets. When I see
him engineering game winning drive against the Patriots, I think,
all right, this guy still has it and it's it's
funny that but the only thing he didn't do well
in training camp was run two minute drills. They were

(15:19):
they were very poor. So far, he's right where he
needs to be with, you know, and these weren't.

Speaker 4 (15:23):
It was the other ten, not him, or hopefully or
the guys on the other side.

Speaker 3 (15:29):
But you know, these weren't two minutes per se. But
they get the ball. I think we got seven minutes
and change left yesterday and they gave it back to
them with.

Speaker 1 (15:39):
Uh at a little over two.

Speaker 5 (15:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (15:41):
I mean, that's pretty good stuff. The Jets game, they know,
and I loved. I mentioned this to you guys after
the Jets game. I loved the way he attacked with
Austin when they were in position to kick a sixty
yard field goal.

Speaker 5 (15:52):
They didn't just take five yards.

Speaker 3 (15:53):
Yeah, yeah, and make it a little easier for bos
If we have to, we'll make that field goal.

Speaker 5 (15:58):
But we're going for the.

Speaker 3 (15:59):
Throat, right And I don't think back to the receivers
thing being open now, I thought New England blitzed a
lot yesterday, more than the Steelers had seen in weeks
one and two. The problem, for the most part has
been other teams are getting to rush with four, which
means they got everybody in coverage, so it's it's harder

(16:20):
to get open.

Speaker 4 (16:21):
Protection got better, and then there were.

Speaker 5 (16:23):
A few breakdowns.

Speaker 3 (16:24):
The third down miscommunication with Friarmuth, where you know Friarmuth
kept moving and Rogers wanted them to sit down. He
also made a bad throw. He missed friar Mouth one time,
hit the defender in the back. The interception by Splaine
was I don't know if he's throwing a worse passing
his career right, Who knows how that stuff happens. But

(16:47):
this is the guy you want in charge, and this
is the guy they haven't had in charge. And if
this is the floor, I want to see what the
ceiling looks like.

Speaker 1 (16:55):
I can't wait.

Speaker 4 (16:56):
Little things I wanted to throw it and I don't
want to brush over before we go. Break is I'm
starting to get pretty convinced that Seattle's the best defense
in the league. By the way. Wow, I mean, I
know it was the Saints, but they dismantled them and
I love that defense going into the Steeler game.

Speaker 1 (17:10):
Yes you did.

Speaker 4 (17:11):
We might look at this in week seventeen and be like, yeah,
that was a tough day, but they had seventeen tough
days against you know, against Seattle's defense. And Mike mentioned
the red zone stuff. I mean, I don't think they're
gonna be seven of eight going forward, whatever that percentage is.
But they were forty six percent last year. And Wes
and I dug into this, like, over the last five years,
they've been in the bottom ten in red zone every year.

(17:33):
This year, I don't think they're gonna be in the
bottom ten. And think about if Boswell is not a
superstar kicker, how often they had to settle for three
and even just all the point differentials, changes in points
you'd have if you could just convert league average in
the red zone, let alone be seven out of eight.

Speaker 1 (17:50):
Yeah, it is nice to have Boswell, though, I don't
have to go back to life still now. I run
out there and kicked his sixty yarder for us. Yeah,
no problem.

Speaker 4 (17:57):
If you had an average kicker, you probably three more
losses last year.

Speaker 2 (18:01):
Yeah right, Yeah, Steelers do win by this final score
of twenty one to fourteen much to get to, including
some things that I think are a red flag. Well
here what the guys have to say about that. The
Point After is presented by your neighborhood Fords Store and
by the Steerers Pro Shop. Get it direct from the
team at shop dot Steelers dot com. Back with more
than the Steelers Audio Network.

Speaker 6 (18:19):
Right after this, back to the Point After on DV
snap Loft.

Speaker 1 (18:26):
And Zone caught DK Metcalp.

Speaker 2 (18:30):
Along the right sideline touchdown Pittsburgh Steelers and that was
a record breaker, as we welcome back to the Point After,
presented by your neighborhood Ford Stour and by the Steelers
Pro Shop. Get it direct from the team at shop
dot Steelers dot com or I guess not a record breaker,
but number five oh nine moves in pass Brett far
for fourth all time and in touchdown passes. And at

(18:52):
that point of the game. Early on in this game,
I thought the Steelers might blow the Patriots out. I
thought we might have a thirty eight to say Evan
Laugher h put the Patriots in their place. Continue to
roll on. That didn't happen, and you know we're gonna
examine the defense. But one final thing I want to
say about the offense, And I do think we saw

(19:12):
some things that were positives and hopefully things you can
build on.

Speaker 1 (19:18):
Three and out.

Speaker 2 (19:20):
And then three in an interception, and then three and
out and then three and out and then three and
out a minute, no pass interference, first down, three and out,
not good man, And and you.

Speaker 3 (19:33):
From the from the second touchdown to the drive that
started the last touchdown, they got one first down and
it was my penalty.

Speaker 1 (19:40):
Yeah, that is crazy.

Speaker 3 (19:43):
And the one the second touchdown was right at the
start of the second quarter, right, and the last touchdown
wasn't ntil late the fourth quarter.

Speaker 4 (19:49):
Yeah, so that's bad.

Speaker 2 (19:50):
Yeah, and it was you know, look, the Steelers defense
needed to come up with heroics. And before we get
to the Steelers defense, this is the second week in
a row, Matt, Mike that this is this has happened
right Seattle. You're you're and and and Matt just talked
about how good of a defense they are. You have
drives at stall and look, and again when you talk

(20:12):
about trying to make that that bridge from last year
to this year, I go back to the game against
Philadelphia in which you started with five consecutive three and outs, right,
So when you pitch it to Naji Harris and you're
going in to try to tie tie the game late
in the third quarter, and you're trying to keep your
defense off the field and you're trying to get that
momentum back and he fumbles the ball. I'm sure there

(20:33):
are guys that are not putting your helmets on. They're
dragging them out onto the field. Uh and and you
know getting help putting them on. They're exhausted. You can't
have that. And you know, the defense, a defense least
is usually the one that defends best. They have been
womped in time of possession now in three consecutive games.

Speaker 1 (20:51):
It was sizable yesterday, six minutes technical. Uh, well they were.
They were semi womped in game one on Wompton. Game two.

Speaker 2 (21:02):
What was the I think it was grantland Rice who
described Notre Dame season when they had Paul Horning and
he won the Heisman. Is they overwhelmed two opponents, underwhelmed
eight and whelmed none. That was their record two and
eight that year. But let's grantlon Rice. Yeah, so I
think it was grantland Rice. Anyway, they you can't have that.

(21:23):
You can't have it, and you can't put the defense
in that kind of position again and again and again.

Speaker 3 (21:28):
And I think, you know, get this running game going,
and I think that solves a lot of your problems.
I think that's that helps solve your time with possession problem.
That helps you in the red zone. It helps your
protection problems because the defense isn't just flying up, you know,
make them think they might have to work to stop
the run. And maybe the pass rush isn't so ferocious.

Speaker 2 (21:48):
There was a time yesterday where they had ten guys
within two yards of Yeah, I mean, then one guy back,
so they're daring him.

Speaker 1 (21:54):
They're daring him to throw. I think there.

Speaker 3 (21:57):
But I did like the running game early and they
converted two third downs on the ground.

Speaker 5 (22:02):
On that game winning drive.

Speaker 3 (22:04):
Warren ran one into a heavy box and still made it.
He had a five yard gain on a first down
from the thirty three, which keeps you ahead of the
chains and keeps the drive moving. I think it's in
there right. I like the players up front. I like
the starting five. Warren is really making a believer out
of me. Oh, I think he's you know, I came
into this season. I don't know if this guy's a

(22:25):
number one back. I'm starting to think maybe he is.
I came into this season thinking I don't know if
Calvin Austin's the number two receiver.

Speaker 5 (22:31):
I think maybe he is.

Speaker 3 (22:32):
He keeps scoring touchdowns or they keep going to him
in number two receiver type of situations. I came into
the season thinking the line's going to be fine. I'd
like to see that sooner rather than later.

Speaker 2 (22:44):
If I can interject quickly, hear in a couple of things.
First of all, and I do want to get your
thoughts Max or Matt on Jalen Warren. I think that
the Steelers. You know, last year, I think the Steelers
were clearly looking for another receiver. There was a lot
of smoke, which meant I think there's a lot of fire.
I think that again, you talk about the bridge from

(23:05):
last year to this year. I think people are saying
they're looking for People talk about that, and I don't.
I don't think about that. I don't think they're looking
for that. I don't now if it came. If it came,
if it came to it and they could get a
great receiver, they might look at it. It's not really
that kind of an offense and I thought Johnny Smith
might be that number two receiver. I still think that
they're going to utilize them more Calvin Austin. You got

(23:27):
Roman Wilson, So I don't know as they're really looking
for that quote unquote number two receivers much. I definitely
think they were a year ago. But your thoughts on
on Jalen Warren, because I know that you know, last
year and the last couple of years you've evaluated him,
You've had some some strong opinions on Jalen.

Speaker 4 (23:45):
Warren and again up until this point of his career,
it's been a somewhat small sample size, but not really.
I mean it was three years and I was lobbying
in the off season. Give this guy extra. I mean,
extend him now, Extend him now. You didn't get him
in a he gets on the open market, he's gonna
be expensive. He's your best guy. And I didn't know
what Caleb Johnson was going to do or not do

(24:05):
at that point either. But I mean, his efficiency numbers
are are through the roof through his career. They're McCaffrey
like now, I'm not saying he's McCaffrey and it's easier
on third and eight to take a draw than on
first and ten on a loaded box when you're nausey,
Harris to get pounded two yards behind the line of scrimmage.
I get all that, but boy, they have bought in
on Moren. I mean, his workload was as much as

(24:27):
any running back in the league yesterday. I mean, he's
not coming off the field hardly at all, being used
in all situations each game. What they're being asked of
him is growing and growing and growing and growing. And
I do think I mean it's probably a conversation for
Merrill on Thursday night. I think he's got to stick
with the run game. That would be on Steeler's preview
here on little plug there from Ireland. I think this

(24:50):
is what we're doing. But whatever, But I think it's
just going to be a patience thing. I don't know
if the running game will overcome around, you know, like
the other problems, I had more faith that they would
come around. I don't know that the Steeler running game
will ever be a plus. But I think the only
way to do it is just keep sticking with.

Speaker 5 (25:07):
It, keep pounding it. One of the things about the
receiver Singer.

Speaker 1 (25:10):
And I want to get back to the running game.
But go ahead, they're.

Speaker 3 (25:14):
Playing Metcalf and Austin almost all the time. Scronic barely
gets in at wide receiver. Wilson barely gets in at
wide receiver. What they did last year they had a
bunch of different combinations when they were in twos, They
had a bunch of different combinations when they were in threes.

Speaker 5 (25:29):
And when I think.

Speaker 3 (25:30):
Keeping Austin and Metcalf out there does if you dare
to give them one on one, that's when they're going
to exploit it. I really know Keviny catches. These guys
are having the yards, but they're both getting in the end.

Speaker 5 (25:40):
Zone and anything that's the object of the exerce.

Speaker 4 (25:44):
But they speed, yeah right, yeah, the common thing with
those two is speed, speed, speed.

Speaker 2 (25:49):
So Caleb Johnson is a guy that I think eventually
is going to play a bigger role. I think by definition,
when you take a guy in the first round, that
guy's expect to make an immediate impact. You're asking genty,
you're gonna be the guy you're o Marion Hampton, even
though Mary and Hampton they had not until he got
hurt yesterday.

Speaker 1 (26:08):
Even with you know, even those guys, those guys struggle right.

Speaker 2 (26:13):
So you know, the part and parcel of all this
stuff we're talking about to me is that there is
some growth.

Speaker 1 (26:20):
I think.

Speaker 2 (26:21):
I'm I'm guilty of thinking, Hey, look at all the
pieces they added. Look how much better they're going to be.
To me, on paper, they're a demonstrably better team than
they were a year ago when they went ten and seven.
I'm shocked by all the people around the country picking
them to finish eight and nine or nine and eight.
I think they're a better team. I think they're gonna
win ten or eleven games. I thought that from the

(26:41):
get go. However, just looking at Will Campbell made me
realize yesterday that a step back and some patience in
letting them be what they are now and realizing they're
not what they're hopefully going to be in week eight
or week nine was driven home because when you draft
a guy fourth overall, like Will Campbell, you are expecting

(27:03):
that guy to be a pro bowler. You don't pick
a guy fourth overall if you don't think he's gonna
be a pro bowler. And Nick Herbig ate his yesterday
ate his lunch. Right, So now let's go back and
look at the Steelers. Troy Foutan who basically, okay, he
played three quarters of a game last year in Denver.
He's basically a rookie right tackle. Not taking fourth overall

(27:25):
taken in the first round, so there's some pedigree not
taken fourth overall. Roderick Jones is making his first starts
at left tackle. I asked Max Starks, I said, you know,
how long is it going to take for these guys
to get that comfort level? And he said five or
six weeks? He thought so once he said that, and
then when I watched Bill Campbell kind of hammered that

(27:45):
that thought home. Maybe we just need to give this
offensive line a little bit more time, because when I
see the pedigree in the offensive line, I want to think, Okay,
they're gonna be They're gonna be fine, should be a plus.
And then I think at darnhell Washington block. I think
of John Nui Smith out in the slot. Now you
want to roll up coverage on John Newy Smith, and well,

(28:07):
he's going to block you into oblivion. If you're two
hundred pounds, he's going to destroy you. DK Metcalf, you
want to be the corner of the DK's blocking the
I think all these signs point toward and Jalen Warren
and maybe Caleb Johnson later, and I like Kenneth Gamewell,
point to this team being a much better running team
as the season progresses, and I'm probably guilty of putting

(28:28):
too many expectations on him too early. I think it's
going to get better. I do think the running game
will improve, and I think it will improve dramatically as
the season goes out.

Speaker 5 (28:37):
I think it has that potential.

Speaker 3 (28:39):
The line is starting to make me a little nervous,
and I respect Max a great deal in the time
factorurnal maybe I'm just impatient with it, but I thought
it would start further along than it has. And the
thing that is my biggest shock development of this entire
preseason plus three weeks process, I really thought Caleb Johnson

(28:59):
was gonna come in here and if he wasn't starting
week one, he was starting week three.

Speaker 5 (29:03):
Like.

Speaker 1 (29:04):
I didn't think that at all. I thought they gave
warning the contract extend.

Speaker 5 (29:08):
They gave him third down back money.

Speaker 3 (29:10):
I mean, I just I watched so much of Caleb
Johnson over the years at Iowhen I thought it was
the perfect system for him, and I still got a
lot of faith in him as a player. But you know,
some guys have to bottom out before they uh rise up.
I mean I remember Troy Paul Waller telling me years
ago his rookie year, he thought he was the m
v P for the other team, right because he's terrible.

Speaker 1 (29:33):
He did not have a good people forget that.

Speaker 5 (29:35):
And they kept him. He was terrible.

Speaker 3 (29:39):
Yeah, he ends up in the Hall of Fame. Now,
Caleb needs a little time out. I mean, he just
he was tentative from the get go at Saint Vincent.
I thought he was tentative on the kickoff returns he
actually caught and ran with and then you know, letting
that thing go into the end zone like he did.
He just he needs a breather, man, he needs a
standing eight count. But he's gotta he's got to come
back and be the player they want to be. I

(30:00):
still think they're going to need him, oh him at
some point. And I mean, you are Jayalen Moore and
we're all giving him his flowers and he's earned them,
but he's still he hasn't gotten any.

Speaker 4 (30:09):
Bigger no he's ever handled this work.

Speaker 3 (30:12):
I don't know how much of this he can take,
but he sort of looked like he took it well yesterday,
so let's see if he can do it again in Dublin, Ireland.

Speaker 4 (30:19):
It's a great step one the lastly Ice on a
throne two and Rob touched on it. Like people, people
will simplify the run game. Boy, the ball carrier is
pretty good. We like Warren. They've dedicated to him. Must
be the line's fault. Well, there's more guys blocking in
just those big five dudes too, you know, like Washington's
phenomenal to me, but I would have liked to see

(30:41):
even more snaps from him up to this point, which
I know is tough with Smith in Friarmuth. But Smith
and friar Mouth could give you a little more the receiver,
the wide receivers could give you a little more blocking.
It's it's a ten person effort to run the football.

Speaker 5 (30:55):
Well not Austin.

Speaker 4 (30:56):
Austin is gonna give you that. Yeah, you know that's
you know, that's part of it's a minor sliver of
the problem.

Speaker 1 (31:02):
Well, I do think that.

Speaker 2 (31:05):
You know, one thing I will say about Calvin really
really tough kid as we saw last year, and he
is a willing blocker. Some receivers we saw George Pickens
be an unwilling blocker, much more size, and the famous
video of him kind of scooting out of the way
well instead of blocking well for Jalen Warren took a
thumbing and then what was it the next week Jalen

(31:27):
Warren clearing things out for Pickens when he was trying
to run into the end zone, Warrant throwing a great
block for him. Calvin Austin will stick his nose in
there and look.

Speaker 5 (31:38):
Will I just don't know how many people it's gonna tear.

Speaker 2 (31:41):
Right or deter It depends upon the kind of block. Right,
if you're out there stock blocking them, it's gonna be
tough for Calvin because the defender can just kind of
put his hands on him and then move him in
the direction he wants to move him in. But if
it's a if it's a timing thing where all he's
got to do is run at you and getting your
way and stick his face, he will do that. He

(32:03):
definitely will be Yeah, I mean that's right, Yeah he is.
I love Calvin Austin's game. He's a willing dude. But
I also think that, like you know, Caleb Johnson, Roman Wilson,
I think these are guys that the Steelers really like
and that there's a brighter future for him. But you're
still trying to figure out how to get everybody involved

(32:25):
in the offense. And I just think right now, look,
part of the problem too is when you have what
do we just say fifteen you have eighteen offensive plays
from the beginning of the second quarter, eighteen beginning of
the second quarter to the end of the fourth quarter,
it's hard to get by involved, right, You're not getting
anybody involved.

Speaker 1 (32:45):
Yeah, that when that's happening.

Speaker 4 (32:47):
So I know, by the way, the opposite of the defense,
knock on wood, they've been very healthy on offense, you
right have to you don't have to call on those
guys yet. And back to Mike's point about time possession,
when you start losing time possession at snowballs because your
defense on the field more, and then all all of
a sudden, you have more defensive injuries and then are
getting deeper, and then they're getting worse, and then you're
still on the field more. And it looks like the

(33:08):
Steelers might first off, the avoided injury yesterday. It looks
like across the board, which is awesome, Harriman's coming back.
I think some guys will be playing in Dublin.

Speaker 2 (33:16):
Too, right, great, and look well again, if we have
some of these issues in week eight or nine with
a running game, then maybe you know a large red flag,
we'll raise it up right, We're not going to raise
the Jolly Rodger, going to raise the red flag up there,
and we'll let everybody know we're concerned. But I'm not
there yet, so hopefully it'll continue to improve. I want

(33:36):
to remind you a Clearview Federal Credit Union. They're always
upping their game for those in need through touchdowns for hope,
Clearview will donate five hundred dollars to the Light of
Life Rescue Mission for every black and goal touchdown scored
this season. Visit CLEARVIEWFCU dot org slash touchdown to learn more.
Point after its presented by your neighborhood Forwards Tour end
by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct from the

(33:57):
team at shop dot Steelers dot com. Back with more
and we continue here on the Steelers Audio Network.

Speaker 6 (34:04):
Back to the point after on dv E.

Speaker 1 (34:07):
Sous creeping up the show.

Speaker 7 (34:09):
Pressure Here they come, Mate throws out to the left
the pop Douglas who stepped backwards and his tackle and
it's Echos who comes up with his stop. I don't
know whether Pop Douglas would have had the first down,
but Ecles made sure he didn't.

Speaker 1 (34:25):
Still don't know. I haven't seen the replay.

Speaker 2 (34:27):
I know there was an interesting decision, like he catched
that ball, you gotta he got a lunge forward then,
you know, and he kind of tried to avoid Echos,
but Eckles, to his credit, brought him down.

Speaker 3 (34:38):
So I was looking at Dean take Johnson out there,
So what did he end up with?

Speaker 5 (34:43):
The pet.

Speaker 2 (34:45):
The point after present of by our neighborhood gard stour
excuse me, and by the Steelers Pro Shop get it
direct from the team at shop dot Steelers dot com, alongside.

Speaker 1 (34:54):
Matt Williams and Mike Pursuda. I'm rob king.

Speaker 2 (34:57):
Look, we've gotten through most of the show without really
talking a whole like of a lot about a defense
that had five sacks, that had five turnovers, five turnovers
to those in the red zone.

Speaker 1 (35:09):
A couple observations for me.

Speaker 2 (35:10):
I'll let you guys go on this harmon Welcome, Welcome
to the NFL. Sack made some really nice plays. He's
active he's active. Yeah, and I think he's going to
make a huge difference. And again that's why you pick
a guy in the first round, so he makes a
huge difference. I thought Herbig was we mentioned him briefly earlier.

(35:31):
I just thought he again, I thought he ate Will
Campbell's lunch.

Speaker 4 (35:35):
I thought every time he gets an extended stretch. I mean,
he's a phenomenal football player. I thought he was terrific. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (35:41):
But and Eccles certainly had his moments and and you know,
the big interception and the tackle there. I thought he
played a tremendous game as well. But the two guys
that stood out to me are are the leaders.

Speaker 7 (35:55):
T J.

Speaker 2 (35:55):
Watt a phenomenal game and Cam Hayward just you know,
both those guys had Pro Bowl caliber games.

Speaker 4 (36:03):
I thought the two of them, in her Big were
quite possibly the best players on the field. I thought
they were phenomenal, which is I guess not surprising. But
who good you know, Yeah, yeah, for sure after the
way they I mean, Cam's a ridiculously great player, leader,
all those things. But after week one, I was like, uh, oh,

(36:23):
you know, but he hadn't done anything since the Ravens game,
you know, so it was kind of a sigh relief.
Okay Watt and Cam or Watt and Cam again cool.
I wanted to talk about the big plays real quick though,
So yes, they caused five fumbles or five turnovers, and frankly,
there is a great skill to that and this defense
is at the top of the list in doing so.

(36:46):
I mean, nobody forces fumbles like the Steelers, and few
in history do it as well as t J Watt.
No one bats down passes or deflex pass at the
line of scrimmage like the Steelers, and few do it
in history other than JJ Watt as well as Cam Hayward.
Like these are trends, these aren't just fluky things that
happen causing fumbles, deflecting passes that often turn into turnovers,

(37:07):
getting pressure on quarterbacks. That being said, Rogers threw two
definitely one that easily could have got picked off. That's
user error by the opponent. There were also five fumbles
in this game. Steelers fell on all five. That's fortuitous

(37:27):
anti Ravens.

Speaker 2 (37:28):
That was remember that was a Ravens regular season game
last year. They fell on every single loose ball.

Speaker 5 (37:33):
Ye Smith. One that rolled out of bounds was really lucky.

Speaker 1 (37:37):
Yeah, it is.

Speaker 4 (37:37):
It is times when the balls bouncing around, it's not
a lot of skill, it's just who happens to fall on.

Speaker 2 (37:42):
It's a tough way to make a living. I mean,
you could easily you could make a very convincing argument.
You could make You could make an argument to steel
there should be three and oh. You could probably make
a more convincing argument that they should be ohing three
than three and oh. I mean, and they're two and
one obviously right now. It's a tough way to make
a living doing it that way. Now, Yes, ramondre Stevenson

(38:03):
and Drake may have huge fumble issues.

Speaker 1 (38:06):
No running back is fumble.

Speaker 2 (38:07):
More than Rmandre Stevenson or or Drake may at the
quarterback position. So they were able to victimize those guys
and what they do poorly. It does remind me that
even though Mike Tomlin this is incredible, one oh six
sixty five and two in one score games, generally that's
a fifty to fifty type of thing.

Speaker 1 (38:26):
Since we've seen the same.

Speaker 5 (38:27):
Believe that.

Speaker 4 (38:28):
But some people are way better than it's.

Speaker 2 (38:30):
He certainly is, but but can we please have a
twenty one to six win somewhere in here, you know,
thirty one to tens and some kind of blowout win.

Speaker 1 (38:41):
H I mean, they they find.

Speaker 2 (38:42):
Ways to do this, but boy, I think it's a
it's a tough recipe. But listen again for me, and
I want to hear your thoughts on defense. I just
want to say this. You're two and one, man, Yeah.

Speaker 4 (38:53):
Two and one?

Speaker 1 (38:54):
How about the Texans? Oh and three? Who saw that coming?

Speaker 5 (38:57):
Sure?

Speaker 1 (38:58):
Oh and three for the Texans anyway, Mike, please?

Speaker 3 (39:01):
Yeah. I mean I think the defense has been making strides,
and I thought it was really bad against the Jets
until it had to get those last two stops. And
then the Seattle game, everybody was beating them up over
that nineteen yard run, you know, third and goal from
the nineteen that had never happened before in NFL history,
a third or fourth down and goal to.

Speaker 5 (39:22):
Go from the nineteen being run into the end zone.

Speaker 3 (39:26):
Of course, Kenneth Walker never tried to do it before,
so I guess there's that, But it.

Speaker 1 (39:29):
Would have been nice if you got touched by somebody, Mike.

Speaker 3 (39:32):
Everybody beat up the defense and at.

Speaker 1 (39:34):
That play was that was that deserves deserve terrible angles And.

Speaker 5 (39:38):
Everything was played wrong.

Speaker 3 (39:40):
But you know, the defense set up eleven points in
that game. The offense kind of got a pass for
doing nothing all game. The defense, okay, I think that.

Speaker 1 (39:51):
Was the number one problem. The defense out there too much.

Speaker 3 (39:54):
That came out of that game. All I heard the
defense is terrible. Defense is terrible.

Speaker 5 (39:57):
Just like last year. People are going over the bridge.
They set up eleven points.

Speaker 3 (40:01):
Now the deep ball to Smith Dejigba forty three yards
that helped set up that ridiculous nineteen yard run. That
was good on good right, their guy against Jalen Ramsey.
Their guy won. That's gonna happen. Great play yesterday. I
thought my defense was outstanding. I don't care how many
yards you give up. I don't I don't play fantasy.

(40:23):
They did not let them run the ball into the
end zone the opponent for the first time after get
after giving up four rushing touchdowns in two games, which
is a joke.

Speaker 5 (40:35):
They tightened that up.

Speaker 3 (40:37):
Remember that drive that went about three days and covered
two and a half miles that the Patriots didn't score on.
They went for it on fourth and one from their
fifteen and ran the ball. By the time they got
the first and goal from the two, they tried three
straight passes, and then on fourth and one, with the
game hanging in the balance, they tried another pass. They

(40:59):
convinced New England to try to run the ball anymore.

Speaker 4 (41:01):
I don't know if that was a good way look
at it.

Speaker 5 (41:03):
I'm sure the fumble.

Speaker 3 (41:03):
Issues had something to do with that, but the Steelers
caused those fumbles. It wasn't like Rogers throwing the ball
to Bob Splaine trying to make me look like a
chart because I said, Swlaine can't cover anybody.

Speaker 5 (41:14):
He can't.

Speaker 4 (41:14):
He was standing there.

Speaker 1 (41:16):
There's nobody around him.

Speaker 5 (41:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (41:17):
Yeah, for either team.

Speaker 3 (41:19):
I mean that's that was old day's defense, where you know,
Casey Hampton and the Boys, opponents would try six or
seven runs, say that not today, right, and just give
up on it. I mean they they were really good
against the running backs. The defense is coming together, it
is the offense has got to start picking it up
from a possess the ball standpoint and be more consistent

(41:41):
in game standpoint.

Speaker 2 (41:42):
I agree, totally agree. I think that's a good assessment,
and I do think that there was improvement, incremental improvement
on offense and big improvement on defense going to this
after this New England game. I also think Matt really
for the first time since he'd been healthy. So the
Jets game was not really you know, you go out

(42:02):
and you get these corners. You know there there are
a lot of teams like to have a couple of
wide receivers and now you have three guys that can
cover them. You know, it's a corner league more than
it's a safety think we would love that making here too.
But you know, if you're gonna pick somebody, you want
those corners. That's why these guys make the huge money.
And you're gonna you're gonna have your your guys up front.
You're gonna be better stopping to run. And you go
into Week one and it's a Jets team that wants

(42:25):
to run the football. They don't care about their wide
receivers and Harmon's not in there. Not a great matchup right,
Weeks two and three, not really that kind of prototypical offense.
This week going into Minnesota in Dublin at Croke Park,
to me, this is the kind of defense. This is
the kind of team that you've built a defense to

(42:47):
try to stop. They're gonna try to run the football. Well,
you got Harmon in there, and you got the guys
back in there, hopefully Jr. And Deshaun Elliott, right, yeah,
but right, he's not a mobile guy.

Speaker 5 (42:57):
Aaron Jones.

Speaker 1 (42:58):
Oh yeah, they don't have Aaron Jones, although Jordan Mason's pretty.

Speaker 4 (43:01):
Good too, carrier and yeah, until.

Speaker 2 (43:05):
Yeah, So I think that this would be if Joey
Porter Jr. I hope he's out there. And to Shaun Elliott,
this is a good test. This to me is the
kind of offense you're built to stop. And I would
like to see him.

Speaker 4 (43:16):
As Justin Jefferson, right, some of the best receivers ever.

Speaker 2 (43:19):
Right, you got Justin Jefferson, you got Jalen Ramsey. Right,
they don't have Jordan Adison. I understand that whoever it
is back this game. Jordan Addison is Okay, So he's
back in. I thought it was a four three games
to spend. Okay, wasn't it originally six?

Speaker 4 (43:33):
I think they bumped it.

Speaker 5 (43:34):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (43:36):
Okay, so he's back.

Speaker 4 (43:36):
He's making the right.

Speaker 2 (43:38):
So now this is the kind of team that you
have three because you know, here's the problem when you
go against the Jets, right, you want to maybe you
want to play man on third and eight. You don't
want to turn your back to Justin Fields. You don't
want to do it playing man Jared Goff, you might
have to glance over your shoulder a little bit if
you're not too worried about him. I don't think getting
out of the pop.

Speaker 4 (43:58):
At Darnold uh Golf. You know the game too.

Speaker 5 (44:01):
I mean.

Speaker 1 (44:03):
This week Carson Wentz.

Speaker 4 (44:06):
Yeah, sorry, he's not gonna sting you.

Speaker 2 (44:08):
Yeah, Wentz is not gonna He's not gonna run for
knock on, but he's not gonna run for sixty yards.
I said, less of a run than you guys. We're
on radio, so you guys didn't see. There's the look
of confusion on their face as I said Golf instead
of Wentz. But this is what this is the type
of team. I think this is a great test for
this defense. Especially if you're healthy. You should play man.

(44:30):
You should stop the run. This is what you should do.
And of course they're on scholarship too. They're awfully good.
But you want to be awfully good too, So I
can't wait. I think it's gonna be a great matchup.

Speaker 4 (44:39):
Yeah, the Vikings are super interesting. They're one of the
best offensive minds. They totally rebuilt their interior line, guard,
center guard, all three new starters from last year. Their
best offensive lineman's Darisaw who's a thousand times better than
what we were. What Will Campbell is at this point,
he's finally back and they just destroyed the Bengals yesterday,

(45:01):
mostly based on Minnesota's defense. It's been quarterback that's really
hurt Minnesota, and now they get Adison back. I don't
know what to think of Wentz because nothing was asked
of the offense yesterday because they're scoring left and right
on defense.

Speaker 3 (45:13):
Right, it's gonna be I'm really curious to see how
Wentz does because I think he's thirty two, which means
in three years he's going to be Steelers eligible.

Speaker 4 (45:23):
He has started for a new team in six straight years.
That's like impossible to do. Yeah, kind of a rich man,
poor man.

Speaker 3 (45:30):
How do you rep your head around that nobody wants them,
but everybody keeps giving.

Speaker 4 (45:33):
Him more, right, right, some of them are like a
week eighteen garbage time, but still he's started for six
straight teams.

Speaker 2 (45:39):
But he's also you know, listen, and I'm eager to
go back and look at that tape. You know, McCarthy,
even with that coaching staff and with some of the talent,
he was weighing not quite ready, right, he.

Speaker 1 (45:53):
And a half one quarter?

Speaker 2 (45:55):
Right, they're one quarter away from being owen like we
And here's the thing that people to understand. Like I
just said earlier, the Steelers are probably closer to zero
and three than they are to three and oh, but
they're neither.

Speaker 1 (46:06):
They're two and one. Right.

Speaker 2 (46:08):
You look at that that Bears. The Bears really outplayed
the Vikings by it. They could have won that game easily,
walking away from that game, running away from the game
of the score. Instead, the Vikings played basically one good
quarter and beat them.

Speaker 1 (46:22):
That's the way it goes.

Speaker 5 (46:24):
It goes Cleveland Cincinnati Week one.

Speaker 1 (46:27):
Right, they could be reversed, that's exactly right.

Speaker 2 (46:29):
Browns could be two and one, And that's exactly I
can't wait going to Croke Park in Dublin looking forward
to that one. The Steelers are gonna head there as
a two and one team taking on the two and
one Minnesota Vikings and Carson Wentz at quarterback for Mike Persuda,
Matt Williams and I'm rob king the point after it

(46:51):
is presented by your neighborhood Ford store and the Steelers
Pro Shop. Get it direct from the team at shop
dot Steelers dot com Justin Miller at the controls. We
all thank you for listening and we would see you
next time here on the Steelers Audio Network.