The Point After - Week 7 vs Rams

Recap the Steelers Week 7 victory over the Rams

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:11):
This is the Point After presented by Parks Casino. Is
today your Lucky Day bet Parks by Brian Patton and Associates.
It's all about the benefits and by the students pro
shop get it direct from the team at shop dot
Steelers dot com. Alongside Craig Wolfley and Matt Williamson, I'm
Rob King. Thanks very much for being with us for

(00:31):
the Point After on WDVE and Steelers Nation Radio. It
is time for our look Back segment. It's brought to
you by Brian Patton in Associates. It's all about the
benefits and this is a fun one to look back at.
The Steelers winning by the final score of twenty four
to seventeen against the Rams to improve to four and
two on the season. Craig Wolfully, let's begin with you
and your first impressions of what you saw from that

(00:54):
victory over the La Rams.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
A victory over the labout Yeah, I mean when you
look at that and you take we were just talking
about like a statistics about the beating the Rams. Uh
they have not beaten the Rams in uh La like
and I don't know how long I've heard oh in
ten or whatever, it doesn't even matter, you just haven't
done it, well not you've done it. And the beautiful

(01:18):
thing about it was, it wasn't all pretty. Wasn't all beautiful.
You know, it might have been kind of like my
wife's first date with me. You don't look at me.
It wasn't very.

Speaker 3 (01:26):
Pretty, wasn't very beautiful. But you know, in the end,
we won. But the fact is, these come on now.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
But the point being is these guys went out there
with a purpose, They went out there determined. It went
a little bumpy at times, but when it mattered most
they put it together. They got it done in and
above through some self inflicted wounds, but they did the
job without question.

Speaker 4 (01:56):
I thought it was their I don't say best win
of the year. They're all I mean wins or wins
in this league and they're hard to come by, but
probably the best they've played, you know, top to bottom.
And it was far from perfect, of course. Thought they
had a good game plan on both sides of the
ball that centered around don't let Aaron Donald destroy the game,
don't let Cooper Cup destroy the game, and both those

(02:16):
things they accomplished and they were right in it and
in typical picket form steps up when it matters most
and fourth quarter. I don't quite understand it, but there
must be something to this clutch gene that people talk about.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
Yeah, there's a lot of meat on this bone for sure.
And you know, I think if I look at the
Steelers season, even going into this game, you're three and
two going in, and it felt like like, you know,
you want to put together this giant puzzle, right, and
what you want to do is the pretty puzzle. You
want the last pieces to fall into place in February
really right with the victory. That's the ultimate goal. And

(02:49):
we've seen little pieces of the puzzle wolf here and there.
You know, I go back to that drive that they
had against Vegas and some of the things they did.
You know, Matt called that the middle section of the
game from you know, the second and third quarters. The
Steelers really played good football in that game. We haven't
seen it all. I didn't think we saw it all yesterday,

(03:10):
but I do think we saw a really important stretch
the end of the third quarter into the fourth quarter
in which you need a drive down the field to
tie the game. Then you get it three and out.
Now we're talking about the team working together as a team,
the components coming together. You go on another drive, a long,
ten play eighty r drive and score the go ahead touchdown.

(03:31):
Then you get another stop. I think it was a
five play drive, and then you put the game away.
Maybe you got a little help from the officials. That's okay,
it doesn't matter. You put the game away in the
last drive. So the hand and glove, the components working together.
That stretch of football was I think the best stretch
of football the Steelers have played. And what we want
to see, we want to see more of those puzzle

(03:52):
pieces you know, coming together.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
Absolutely, my friend. And here's the whole thing about it.
There are points and times during a game. Doesn't happen
all the time, obviously, and teams on the rise, it
takes a little while to develop. It.

Speaker 3 (04:05):
The power of looking at each other in the huddle
when you know.

Speaker 2 (04:08):
You gotta get it done, this is it, you gotta
do it now, and it comes together.

Speaker 3 (04:14):
There is strength in that.

Speaker 2 (04:15):
You see ten other faces, and I know that the
strength of standing there next to Mike Webster and John
coleb and Terry Bradshaw and Tun Chilkin and Larry Brime.
There's something about that that it just strengthens the rest
of the group. And when you pull it together like that, man,
you are not the same and things start to click,

(04:36):
and things start to come together with some power and reinforcement,
and it happens generationally. You see that with Ben and Ellen,
Fannica and all the rest of the guys, Bussy and
hinz Ward, things like that. It builds throughout and I
love it because when you see it starting to come
together like that, it's like my favorite sitcom back in
the eighties. I don't even recall sitcom The A Team.

(04:58):
George papart that cigar at the end of the show
and say, I love it when a plan comes together.

Speaker 1 (05:07):
Mister t Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, oh yeah. You
had a group there for the eight Team that was
must watch TV back in the day. But it is.
And you know, you always have to put things in context,
and you can put things within the context of the
Steelers season, Matt, and also the rest of the NFL.
You know, you see a high powered Dolphins offense, you

(05:28):
think they're a team that can come up and challenge
the big boys, right, and you you think of the
big boys as being the Eagles and the forty nine
Ers and the Buffalo Bills in that group, maybe a
couple of other teams as well. Then you look at
what the Buffalo Bills did yesterday against New England, look
at what the Detroit Lions. Look at this team, This
team's on the rise, and they just got destroyed by

(05:52):
the Ravens. I mean just punished by the Ravens. And
so when you look at the Steelers, you know, within
the context of their season, and maybe you look back
and say, well, wait, okay, so the Houston game does
kind of stick out a little bit, but you know,
you got worked over by a San Francisco team that
might be the best in the league. The Ravens are
proving that maybe they're more of an up Rachelon team

(06:13):
than we thought Cleveland, even though they're struggles yesterday, what
they've done defensively and what they've been able to do,
you know, maybe the context of what we were seeing
in the first five games of the season is a
little bit different than it felt like while we were
watching the team at some times struggle through it but
still wind up going three and two in that five
game stretch.

Speaker 4 (06:30):
Yeah, I'm glad you brought up the rest of the league.
I mean, certainly, the win over the Ravens anyway you
can get it doesn't matter, looks better now than it
did then, even you know, I mean the Ravens were
really really humming against a good Lions team that bag
Kansas City on Opening night. And oh, by the way,
the Chiefs might be all right too. We didn't mention it,
but yeah, they're starting to figure some things out as well.
But some of these established coaches, reed Tomlin, figure things

(06:51):
out as the season goes along. You know, you mentioned
the Bills. Bills lose Overseas and then they are on
a national TV game against the lowly Giants and barely
le get past them, and then they lose to a
Patriot team that looks like they were left for dead.
You know, if we were doing a Bill show right now,
the last three weeks wouldn't be a whole lot of
fun to talk about. You know, Cincinnati's climbing away from
this Borough situation. Who knows, Brown's have some issues of

(07:14):
their own. I mean, so there's a lot of teams
and flux and where I'm going with this I think
you were too, is this is not It's going to
be a rocky road, you know, I mean, no matter
who wins the Super Bowl title, when it's all said
and done, there's gold be three or four games throughout
the year like that wasn't us looks so great? Yeah,
it took a while to figure it out.

Speaker 1 (07:29):
It is with every team and up.

Speaker 3 (07:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (07:31):
Look, the other thing I want to follow up on,
and you mentioned coaching. I think the coaching deserves a
lot of credit for second half adjustments. So again you
talk about different context within the game itself, great second
half adjustments. Steelers are a different team coming out in
the second half. Also coming out of the buy. What
Mike Tomlin has done historically coming out of the bye,
that's good. Coaching seven consecutive victories, the record after the

(07:54):
buy every year is good. And then I'm going to
take one step further back. And as much as some
times it doesn't feel like it, because you can remember
the fact that this two has been blown out a
few times over the last couple of years. Yeah, when
they've played elite type teams, it hasn't been pretty, and
so you want to see the upward trajectory. But if
I just take a step away from that moment and

(08:16):
look at the wins and losses, since the bye last year. Matt,
this is a team that's gone eleven and four in
the last fifteen games. And if you walked around here,
you know, between between the pieces of sky that are
falling after, I mean, you would never think that this
was a team that had won eleven of its last
fifteen games.

Speaker 4 (08:37):
One hundred percent. And is it pretty? No, it's of
course it's not pretty, and it isn't in this league
very often you don't score forty five. It's not like
the Ravens beating the Lions. That rarely happens to any team,
and it's not gonna happen to this team for a while,
especially with a young quarterback, if it ever gets to
that point. That being said, I mean, the record speaks
for itself, and finding ways to win and not turning

(08:59):
the ball and winning in the margins and when the
Ravens drop passes, take advantage of it. When TJ. Watt
picks the ball off, go score. You know. I mean,
there's an art too to causing the opponent to have
some errors as well gifts.

Speaker 1 (09:13):
I guess the other thing too, Wolf, you said you're
looking around the huddle, and you're looking around at the
guys and I mean, I don't know what to say
about this team offensively, right. I mean we've seen there's
been certain times where you think of yourself, Okay, we're
a running football team. We're throwing football team. I mean,
you know, you look back at even the Steelers four
championship teams in the seventies, right, the first two teams

(09:34):
absolutely were running teams. Then you know, the rules change
a little bit and Bradshaw matures, and now you become
a running passing team. And by the time you got
to that fourth Super Bowl, you were really students. Were
a passing team by the time they got to that,
So you transition into things. I guess for now, if
I was going to look at a bright side of
this offense, I would say, it's an offense. It's got character. Right,

(09:55):
Like if you get into a one score game in
the fourth quarter, maybe I am looking.

Speaker 3 (09:59):
Around at hot shot man, right.

Speaker 1 (10:01):
You know, first of all, you're looking at me and saying,
what are you doing here? Get off the field.

Speaker 3 (10:05):
But if you're looking.

Speaker 1 (10:06):
Around the rest of the huddle, right, are you saying,
hey man, we we okay, we're here, We're comfortable. This
is this is us, this is our time.

Speaker 2 (10:12):
This is one of the things that's to me developing
and and this is just from my moments of being
able to look at guys like Terry Bradshaw in the
huddle and you think there's sometimes the blonde bomber like
you're thinking.

Speaker 3 (10:24):
Man, this dude is way out of whack here, just
not getting.

Speaker 2 (10:26):
It done, you know, and then all of a sudden
he scrambles and starts pulling things together, and you see
the magic of what this guy can do. Because people
believe in what twelve can do. And you saw that
with Ben Roethlisberger, you know, and you see it maybe
starting with Kenny where the power of what this kid
is capable of they don't quit.

Speaker 3 (10:47):
You know, you got that fourth quarter. He was a
little all over the.

Speaker 2 (10:50):
Place in the first half, and then things started to
tighten up. Before you know, he was seven for seven
I think twice, so you know, give me grace on that,
but but you know he was there, he was on it,
and he was pulling it together when it mattered most.
You start doing this a few more times, and all
of a sudden, guys are like, we're never out of it.
You know, we might be out of time sometimes, but

(11:12):
We're never out of it. We're just we might have
set ourselves too far back, but we're always in it
because we got this kid that can lead the way back.
And that's one of the things that starts.

Speaker 4 (11:22):
There has to be something to be said for fourth
quarter comebacks. You know clutch, I mean there is a
clutch gene branch on those guys, and Ben he sure
looks like he has it because when he's struggling and
you need it most, he seems to come through. And
it's not just a three game sample size all of a.

Speaker 3 (11:41):
Sudden it is.

Speaker 1 (11:42):
It is impressive. And some of the guys that I
thought stuck out I listened to Matt Williamson as a
podcast scouts eye, I would suggest you check it out,
and you did a really nice comparison statistically of Cup
and Nakua. So you go into this game, Cup, unquestionably,
if there's what half a dozen six ' eight whatever,

(12:02):
it is number one type true number one type receivers.
You know, the Jeffersons, the Chases, the aj Browns, Tyreek,
all those Cups. One of those guys, he's one of
those guys. And Niku is one of the great stories
of the year. I mean they flashed up this. He
never had more than forty eight catches at BYU. He
had more than that in his first five games in
the NFL, which is incredible. But but you look at

(12:25):
that duo and you think, oh, okay, so they're going
to have an edge there. Well, then you look at
the stats. They the same amount of catches, almost the
exactly amount of yards. I think that the I think
the Steelers might have had a couple more yards, but
roughly basically basically the same stat line. And so you
got receivers, receivers, you got Adolph the Cap to the
Steelers receivers, Deontay Johnson coming back, and maybe look, we

(12:49):
mentioned it, but maybe we didn't make enough of his
absence and how important he was to the Steelers and
is to the Steelers offense.

Speaker 4 (12:55):
Yeah, I think he's instrumental to the passing game. I mean,
he's an elite route runner that's opened all the time,
more than people realize. I mean, you're watching all twenty two.
You have a new understanding for what he is in
terms of just getting open versus man and zone. And
there's a ripple effect obviously too. It's much harder to
dedicate extra coverage to Pickens, who I was mentioning this

(13:17):
the other day, like if there's a Football Life or
thirty for thirty about George Pickens when he's going into
Hall of Fame fifteen years from now or whatever, when
they go ask him, oh, you know, I could see
him being like, yeah, you know, my second year, my
buddy Deontay was out and I had to step up,
and I thought it was going to be tough sailing,
but man, it was really good for me to be
the one. And then you bring your cohort back and

(13:39):
it goes kind of like high Smith without what last year,
not to the same degree, but when you're focus of
all the past protection schemes, the coverages and you still excel,
it's got to be a huge confidence boost. And you
just excel, you know, step up as a player.

Speaker 1 (13:53):
And when you're not a passing team, well, you know,
you think of and the Rams are a great running team,
but you think of Staff and his what he's done,
and he's won a Super Bowl and the number of
yards he's amassed over the years and the weapons he has,
and you look and you think, hey, are two match
there too. I mean, if you told me that going
into the game, I'd be like, I'll take that.

Speaker 3 (14:11):
Oh you'll take that. That's a win for sure. Oh
there's no question about it. You know.

Speaker 2 (14:15):
And you watch the way that George Pickens operated yesterday
and Deontay Johnson. If you want to see masterful route
running that one catch and run when what it was
this big run down to the end zone towards the
end zone there you know, he ran away, he ran
an out route, then back in and split up the seam.
And I'm telling you what he turned whoever that corner

(14:35):
was inside and out. I mean, you want to talk
about window dressing that guy, This was window dressing. That
guy was so lost trying to keep up with Deontay
and that was just route running, that's all it was.

Speaker 3 (14:46):
Caught the ball, then boom, he was gone.

Speaker 2 (14:48):
That was what we're all talking about when we say
masterful route running, because that is going to be one
of the keys. You got George being circus George at times,
and you got Deontay a being that after burner catch
guy running all the things that he did. I'm just
really impressedable what they put together yesterday and.

Speaker 4 (15:08):
Rob real quick on Deontay after studying the snap counts
and things. Today. He didn't play his normal workload either.
They sort of eased them into things. He was playing
like sixty to seventy percent of the snap something along
those lines. Maybe slightly more than that, but a lot
of times when they were in twelve with two tight ends,
it was Robinson out there. And it's not because they're
down on Deontay. I think he's just getting back into

(15:30):
football straight. That's right, Yeah, Ham, he's tend to be
you know, yeah, right, right, right, when he's playing ninety
five percent of snaps. Next week he's gonna make even
more than him.

Speaker 1 (15:37):
Yeah, five for seventy nine to fifteen point eight yards
of reception for him, five for one oh seven twenty
one point four per reception for pickings. A look back
segment brought to you by Brian Patton and Associates. It's
all about the benefits. Back with More with Craig Wolfy
and Matt Williamson on the Point After on one of
two five DVE and Steelers Nation Radio. Welcome Back to

(16:08):
the Point After, presented by Parks Casino. Is today your
Lucky Day bet Parks By Brian Patton and Associates. It's
all about the benefits and by the Steelers Pro Shop.
Get it direct from the team at shop dot Steelers
dot com coming to you following this, see there's twenty
four to seventeen victory over the Rams that has improved
their record to four and two. Alongside Craig Wolfley and

(16:29):
Matt Williams and I'm Rob King. We thank you for
being with us and let's continue to look back at
some of the stars from this game. Well, if I
do want to ask you this question, your thoughts on
the running game and second they were it seems like
at times we're getting more push from the offensive line
and when we see it feels like and again I

(16:49):
would have to defer to you certainly on this that
there's been a little more drive blocking, a little less
of the zone. But I don't know if I'm seeing
something that isn't there. But what is your thought on
on an offensive line getting into a rhythm and trying
to mix up different kinds of run blocking, whether it's
zone blocking where you're kind of moving down the line,

(17:10):
or straight ahead blocking, double team blocking, trap blocking, you know,
maybe starting on a double team but then one guy
goes out to get the linebacker, all these different blocking
combinations they have, and maybe trying to figure out do
you try to figure out what's best for a play
or do you try to figure out what's best for
your personnel along that offensive line.

Speaker 2 (17:30):
It's both all the above, BC and D. You know
you're looking at your opponent. I mean, certainly one of
the things you want to do. Yeah, let's trap uh
Aaron Donald. You know his explosivity you can use against
him by letting him come across. That's what trap blocking
was all about when it first was instituted way back,
I don't know, in the seventies, sixties, somewhere in there,
but it's about, you know, letting a guy come through, thinking, oh, yeah,

(17:52):
you're through.

Speaker 3 (17:53):
Then you t bone them paw.

Speaker 2 (17:55):
You know.

Speaker 3 (17:55):
It's one of great family fun I can tell you. Yes.

Speaker 2 (17:58):
The point is you use a variety of these all
based on what you're seeing. Defensively speaking, Now, the trapping
game takes a while to learn, and that's why a
lot of it went out when you got all this
movement after, you know, with the you know, free agency
and so forth. So it's a little bit harder to
put institute like a real strict trapping regime in the

(18:21):
whole thing. It's more been instituted by the outside zone
inside zone because you can plug and play players there.
You know, everyone across the league does some form of
outside zone inside zone and then you know a power power,
a belly that whatever you want to call it, coming around.
They're all doing virtually that same thing, but it's how
you you call it, how you you schematic and draw

(18:42):
it up. Most guys, you know, the double teams, the
power blocking schemes. Yesterday they were just ripping the heart
out of some of the on some of the plays,
they were ripping the very heart out of the offense
or defensive line of the rams. And one of the
things that we talked about earlier, I think it was
you and I when you know and naj he had
that that one run where you know, bobbed and we
went to the outside and I think it was Jaylen Warning.

Speaker 1 (19:04):
I thought, I always Warning got the hold all right.

Speaker 2 (19:06):
So you know, if you look at the end zone
of that Dad zooks, you got to just follow James
Daniels right up to the second level or chooks the
corp for I can't the first.

Speaker 1 (19:14):
Time it was the second short he had a first
down if he just hitched the design right.

Speaker 3 (19:17):
Away, maybe capa and lay it in there.

Speaker 2 (19:20):
And he did that later, you know, and the next
attempt it was like but it was that one time
he kind of in my mind, he kind of I
think he pre you know, thought it out and said,
you know, I'm going to bounce this to the outside
and that that's dangerous.

Speaker 3 (19:33):
You got to just take what you see, take what
you can get.

Speaker 1 (19:36):
Hayward, I believe name. I think this morning with Max,
I said, I said.

Speaker 4 (19:44):
It was.

Speaker 3 (19:46):
He's wrong all by myself.

Speaker 1 (19:47):
So let me and let me Matt, if you let
me indulge for one more question with Wolf. So, if
you're an offensive lineman, does some offensive lineman like going
back to your yourself, were there certain things you were
better at? Or do you have to be pretty good
at all? I mean, can you you know, are are
there linemen that are saying off, thank goodness it's a
drive block, or thank goodness it's a zone block, or
thank goodness, I get to trapier. Maybe there's I mean,

(20:09):
you're gonna be asked to do all of them. Are
are you significantly better at one or two? Is a group?
Can you be significantly better at one.

Speaker 2 (20:15):
Well, let's take the the the seventies eighties Steeler offensive lines.
We're all short, you know, we're all six two six '
one things like that. Chuck never wanted a six to
six guy. They did draft some guys and it didn't
work out. Why because they weren't good knee benders in
a trapping game. This is the extreme because if we were,
we started trapping coming off the bus, you know, Wes,

(20:38):
but boom, you know, you're just going at it. And
the whole thing about it is you you had short,
shorter guys that were quicker and stronger. We had a
bunch of weightlifters too, and you got after it and
you could really use the trapping game to your advantage.

Speaker 3 (20:52):
Seattle didn't.

Speaker 2 (20:53):
They couldn't do it, but they had a lot of
six six six seven guys that they could stretch guys
on an outside zone. Denver was another one. Had some long,
lean guys could make guys turn and run, and that
kind of changed things going forward. It was no longer
about rolling the line of scrimmage back on the other
side of the ball. It became about making those b flows,

(21:13):
those cheese whoppers on the other side on the defense,
you know, turn and run and get their shoulders turned,
and all of a sudden, now you got the cutback
in anywhere of half a dozen places.

Speaker 3 (21:22):
Okay, so it evolved.

Speaker 1 (21:24):
Now I'm gonna take a half Oh I'm sorry.

Speaker 3 (21:27):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (21:27):
Kevin Dotson is a great example, really good man blocker,
really good has struggles more.

Speaker 3 (21:32):
In the zone. Okay, and that's what you saw yesterday.

Speaker 1 (21:35):
So now I'm going to take a half step back
and go from a player to a scout right and
doing some scouting and scouting college guys for an organization.
Are you looking for? And now we'll get back to
the game. I promise this fascinated me watching this.

Speaker 3 (21:48):
Go ahead, This is.

Speaker 2 (21:49):
Great because the players, we all think we're great. Right,
then you get the scouts on going. Well, so are
you looking for? Are you just saying, hey, we're going
to draft a really good player and we're just going
to play to his strengths or do you need to
know a system that your offensive maybe maybe your offensive
coordinator wants to use a lot of zone blocking and

(22:10):
you're looking for a certain short player so free agency.

Speaker 4 (22:13):
Too, yeah, oh, without question. I mean the great ones
don't matter. They transit again, Dermanti Dustin doesn't make difference, right.
But Dotson's a great example, and the Broncos are a
great example Wolf, because last year the Steelers were much
heavier zone team, and Dotson's a better man guy, you know,
And this year I still think they're kind of finding
your way back to go back a couple of minutes.

(22:34):
You know, that's they've been more fifty to fifty trying
to figure out what this line does better. But you definitely,
you know, our listeners are sitting there watching the draft
and there's two guards on the board in round two. Well,
you might have an equal grade on both, but one
of them certainly fits your scheme better. So you take
that guy. And I'm glad Wolf mentioned the Broncos because
they're the best example I can come up with in history,

(22:55):
to be honest with you, the Shanahan Bronco offensive line
whereby that standard, very small, very athletic, very movement driven,
and they ran tons and tons of zone. They're dancing
bears out on the perimeter for Terrell Davis and those guys.
But think about it, they play in the Denver altitude,

(23:15):
so that defensive line is worn out, right, You know.
So they played to their environment and build it around
the city they were in and then just kept getting
all the athletes they could.

Speaker 1 (23:26):
Yeah, I think that part of the game is so
fascinating and if you do something, if you're a groundbreaker,
you can also find value. So when the Steelers were
one of the only three four teams in the draft,
there wasn't a lot of competition for a Casey Hampton,
so you can get him nineteen today, Casey Hampton goes
in the top ten coming out of Texas.

Speaker 4 (23:46):
Gilden and Porter go in the first round exactly exactly.

Speaker 1 (23:49):
But you found those tweener types that fit your system. Okay,
so back to the game, and I wanted to talk
a little bit about the defense, and thanks for your
insight guys on both that. I just think that's fascinating
stuff as we'd see a team evolve and begain. The
reason I was thinking about it, Matt was we were
talking about the rams and what they do and if
it makes it difficult on a defensive tackle about it

(24:11):
seemed like they really love that stretch play in which
they're going to do the zone blocking. They bring the
guy in motion right across the formation. The receiver, he
kicks out at somebody, you do the zone blocking. It's
one cut and you go. And so just as you're
thinking as a defensive lineman, boy, I better start moving latterly, Bam,
they come right at you with the double teams, the
dual blocking up front and run it straight down your throat.
And so you're constantly having to adjust as a defender.

(24:34):
And as I look at this game for the Steelers,
I thought that they adjusted better in the second half
of that Minca started coming up, pressing things more that
Minca had a phenomenal game, but they were able to
after the Rams had some success running the ball, find
a way to combat.

Speaker 3 (24:49):
That a little bit.

Speaker 4 (24:50):
Yeah, a lot of levels here. I think deep down
they were kind of happy when the Rams ran the ball,
not because their backs or replacement guys, but they have
someone thrown a cup. I think they looked at it like,
if cup gets ten for one point eighty, we're gonna
lose this game. Otherwise we're gonna hang around. If they're
going to hand it off to us, fine, So studying
it today, the Steelers played a lot of light boxes,

(25:12):
you know, in terms of who's blocking and who didn't
and I found this really interesting and I kind of
highlighted it before the game. So when the Steelers' opponents
this year play eleven personnel, one back, one tight end,
three receivers, which no one in the league does more
than the Rams, the Steelers were always a dime team.
In this game, they were a nickel team, you know.

(25:33):
They I don't know the numbers exactly, but we saw
a lot a lot of snaps with two linebackers on
the field, not just one. But they played off a
little bit. They played with lighter box, but with a
linebacker instead of an extra safety, so they kind of
played defense really well, you know, while leaning all coverages
a cup interesting.

Speaker 1 (25:52):
Great, yeah, and they did do a good job and
they did make some nice adjustments defensively in the second half.
Begins obviously well with the with the pick by Watt,
but I mean there were a number of defenders I
had start. I thought Alex high Smith, he continues without
putting up a lot of sacks to make his presence
felt weake in and week out. Watt comes up with

(26:13):
the interception. Nick Herbig gets his first sack. I thought
Montrevius Adams, particularly in the first half, made his presence
felt Minca leads the team in tackles.

Speaker 3 (26:22):
No, No, that would be Philip.

Speaker 1 (26:24):
Yeah, what what's.

Speaker 3 (26:27):
Philippe? I'm going, what's up with that?

Speaker 4 (26:30):
You know?

Speaker 2 (26:30):
So when I saw him last night, we got off
the plane, we're walking, he's we're going to our cars.
That go, hey, Philip. He starts laughing because we're talking
about Fitzpatrick.

Speaker 1 (26:42):
Got a nice ring to it.

Speaker 4 (26:43):
Sure he's.

Speaker 3 (26:46):
Man and he did monster monster. He is a monster.

Speaker 1 (26:50):
Yeah, he had he had a great game. And you
know what has been you know, sort of let's say
he's been hogging all the big plays on defense, right,
but but eventually you know, MinC is going to make
some too, Like they're still there. But he just I
thought he was just tremendous. Was all over the place.

Speaker 2 (27:06):
They were really trying to take TJ out of the game.
I mean, for sure, they were moving TJ from side
to side. They were creating where you've I literally saw
at one point in time, you've got a wide receiver,
a tight end and a tackle. I mean all taking
shots at TJ and Alex to at sometime. But they
would flip flop the guys and so forth, just to

(27:29):
try to see if you can get a one on
one matchup because the Rams didn't want a one on
one matchup with either one of the guys.

Speaker 4 (27:35):
You know, along those lines, I mentioned the personnel stuff
before they did they brought a second tight end on
the field a lot more than they usually did, which
is a massive compliment to Watt, and it is you know,
they change what they do. I mean, most teams don't
do that, especially McVeagh. But also that interception, if that
was an undersize two and twenty pound off the ball linebacker,
you'd be like, wow, that was a whale of a play.

(27:57):
That's the best pass rusher in the league doing that.
To me, I mean, that's really something.

Speaker 1 (28:01):
You know, And and I went back to so the
first time I remember TJ. Watt doing this, I think
it was maybe a second year in the league. I
was filling it for Bill doing some play by play
and against the Giants, he dropped He just dropped back
a couple of yards off the line of scrimmage. Read
the quarterback's eyes leaped up and intercepted it. And when

(28:22):
you think about a defensive you know, a player like
that doing it, you know, he got got all the
different you know, tape jobs under head. I mean, this
is not a you're not you don't have the receiver's
gloves you're wearing out there, and to do that and
on a ball fired and you're leaping up and grabbing
a ball that's being fired from fifteen feet away. It's amazing.

Speaker 4 (28:44):
But I have to stop you real quick because you
said the Giants this is crazy. In their first seven
years in the league, only Watt and a guy named
Lawrence Taylor in through seven years have seven sacks and
or seventy sacks and seven interceptions. And he missed like
half a year. I mean, he's in Lawrence taylor neighborhood
with this.

Speaker 1 (29:01):
Yeah, who's the best?

Speaker 3 (29:01):
Who's the best.

Speaker 1 (29:03):
That's that's the best.

Speaker 3 (29:05):
I ever saw Lawrence Tale.

Speaker 1 (29:07):
I grew up in in uh in various parts in
New York, so I saw Lawrence Taylor play almost every
game of his career.

Speaker 3 (29:13):
But t J.

Speaker 1 (29:14):
Watt, you know again, at the beginning, I just.

Speaker 3 (29:17):
Says I learned, I've learned.

Speaker 2 (29:18):
My first lookout against Lawrence Taylor, I played Georgia Martin
defensiven and something went by me and I went.

Speaker 3 (29:27):
It was it was fifty six going by me.

Speaker 1 (29:29):
Yeah, Well, I remember at the beginning of his career,
two teams did something did things that nobody would ever
do because nobody had ever seen that. They tried to
block him with a running back and that was just
forget nobody's blocking TJ. Watt with a running back. That's
simply not gonna have running back. And that's like the
plus one you have at the wedding and flight right.

Speaker 3 (29:47):
But one thing I will tell you was Michael Hoyt.

Speaker 2 (29:49):
I think if I got that right now, he's like
six four and they listed him at three ten.

Speaker 4 (29:53):
He didn't look three.

Speaker 2 (29:55):
Yeah, we saw Jayleen Warren have to tangle with him
and that was raheem Moore is doing some good work
to be able to try to get a mismatch there.
But I'll say this, Jayleen Warren gives no ground to
anybody when it comes to taking on a guy.

Speaker 3 (30:08):
He's fearless.

Speaker 2 (30:09):
Now he might he might go down in the battle,
but you know you're in a battle all the way
to the ground.

Speaker 3 (30:14):
By the bad guy.

Speaker 1 (30:15):
I'm glad you brought that up. And it's interesting because
that happened twice in the first half. Hoy he came
off the edge I think was on the first series
of the game in which Hayward went out in a
pattern and nobody blocked him. He came unblocked, and then
later he was able to overpower Jalen Warren. I mean again,
Jalen Warren is a very willing blocker, but that's that's

(30:35):
a tough assignment for him. Then we didn't see that
happen after that, so you wonder, did Matt Canada maybe
make some adjustments there to make sure that we're not
going to go that way?

Speaker 3 (30:43):
George prepared lighting cigar. Was Matt Canada at the end
of the game. I love when a plan comes together.

Speaker 1 (30:49):
Yeah, and it did come and you know, again jumping
around a little bit, but I'm glad you brought up
Matt Canada. You know we've talked about this before. First
of all, zero points on opening drives. You would love
to see the Steelers come out, as we talked that.
You know, it's another little pizza, the puzzle to go
back to that big, ugly analogy that you'd like to
see put into place. And you know, you had to

(31:10):
be brought this to our attention. I think it was
an article in The Athletic a couple of weeks ago
talking about how enscripted plays the first fifteen plays of
a game. The Steelers at the bottom of the league
in efficiency within those fifteen scripted plays, and yet is
something still being accomplished there, And it's hard to tell
as an observer something being accomplished there that's allowing for

(31:32):
this late game success for the Steelers that Matt Canada
is able to look at those fifteen plays say Okay,
they weren't successful, which we'll obviously want to see him
be but using something from that later to be able
to make some of these calls that are being effective
in the fourth quarter without question.

Speaker 4 (31:48):
And that's a huge reason people script plays to begin
with is I'm just going to collect data at the
beginning of the game. So if I put this guy
in motion and this personnel grouping in third and long
they checked the over two, Okay, jot that down, because
when we get in that situation again, I'm gonna call
a cover two beater, you know what I mean. So
all that stuff, that's why Walsh invented that stuff or
started doing those things. It's not like I know, I'm

(32:10):
gonna get two yards here and then on second and eight,
I'm gonna call this play. It's like I want to
throw all these different things at them all. My assistant
coaches are gonna gather all the data. And because you know,
as Wolf knows, over the course of a game, a
defense has some fundamental checks, like we've never seen that
four check to cover two. Okay, well now I know that,
you know, and then then there's that's going on and

(32:31):
then pays off later in the game.

Speaker 1 (32:32):
It does remind me, though, of that scene in The
Princess Bride where you know they're they're fighting over the poison.
You know, I know that you know that you move
this around. I mean, I mean maybe if you're a coach,
are you saying, well that that worked on cover two before,
but he thinks it's gonna work on cover two, So
now I'm gonna not do that, and I'm gonna do it.

Speaker 4 (32:49):
I mean, but that's hard to coach your players say, hey,
we just have checks. You know, you go into the
game with basic rules. I mean, there's over the course
of the week, you can only install so much. Right
when Sean Payton or Andy Reid knows all your checks,
they eat him up.

Speaker 2 (33:04):
There's no question about it. And Matt is laying it
out and what you were perfectly right on with it.
All you're doing. It's like if you ever watch a
good fight. Two good fighters to come out in that
first round, they throw a jab, they throw across, and
what they're doing they're looking at the reactions of what
the other fighter's doing. If you if you jab and
he starts to slip outside the jab, well then you
start thinking, oh, come in, fake that jab and then

(33:25):
come with a hook. You're gonna catch him. Those are
It's the same principle. When you start scripting plays, you're
just all you're doing is probing the other team, collecting
the data. As Matt said, then you come back and
you just kind of all right, let me tweak it
with this, let me tweak it with that, and then
that's where the chess match starts. And that's where you
know you got Chess and Checkers.

Speaker 1 (33:44):
Nineteen seventy nine World Series. Willie Stargo gets a slider
and pops it up, comes back into the dugoutsits X
to Kent to call me and tell us, Teak, I
get that slider again. I'm got to be looking for it.
I'm hitting it out and he came up in the
fifth end down one nothing, got that slider and hit
it out there you go, and they won Game seven.
So beautiful stuff that happens in the world this week.

Speaker 3 (34:08):
That's right.

Speaker 1 (34:10):
Comes to slide right because there's a perfect example. But
I need to get him out here. That slider worked before,
so he knows that I know that a Steelers win
by the final score of twenty four to seventeen. Still
more to come when we continue on the Point After
on one O two five Dvean Steelers Nation Radio. This

(34:38):
is the Point After, presented by Parks Casino. Is today
your Lucky Day bet Parks by Brian Patton and associates.
It's all about the benefits and by the Steelers Pro
Shop get it direct from the team at shop dot
Steelers dot com. Alongside Craig Wolfley and Matt Williamson. I'm
Rob king, thank you very much for being with us.
I do want to, you know, mention a couple of things.

(34:59):
You get to a couple topics from this twenty four
to seventeen victory. We talked Wolfe a little bit earlier
about Deontay Johnson and missing him, and you're hoping that
Calvin Austen is going to come along and be a
factor and be a weapon for you. We have to
remember this is basically well this is this is his
first year, right, I mean, he got hurt last year,
he didn't play it all. So he's a rookie, late

(35:20):
round wide receiver who needs to be brought along at
a certain pace. Alan Robinson, once an outstanding receiver, has
reached that point of his career where he's probably, you know,
a possession type guy. The big catch right at the
end of the game was that his only reception I
think so, and he almost came very close to pick
it up the first down obviously set up to sneak
they get that helps him win the game. He's that

(35:42):
kind of guy. You look at that and you think, okay,
so we've already talked about this. You know, maybe that
was one position in which we couldn't afford an injury.
We didn't have maybe the depth yet, or if that
injury comes later in the season, maybe Calvin Austin's ready
to step into a larger role. But maybe it's a
combination of personnel and timing of the injury. The reason
I bring that up is because you know, there are

(36:04):
certain positions where you're gonna feel good about your depth.
No team has depth across the board, nobody, I don't
care if you're the Chiefs anybody. There are certain places
where you can't have an injury. So when I look
at the Steelers and listen, we saw last year TJ
walk go down with an injury. We know the record
when he's out. We saw high Smith's step up. But

(36:24):
one area that I feel good about depth wise and
not I'm not talking about an absence of Watt or
high Smith, but just where the depth really feels good
is outside linebacker. So you've seen Marcus Golden come in
do a really good job in relief, and we saw
Nick Herbig get his first NFL sack and that was
cool and then made another play later on in the game.

Speaker 3 (36:44):
Good.

Speaker 1 (36:46):
You know, this draft class, with this depth and the
way some of these guys are coming along, He's a
guy I don't want to forget about and what he
can bring to this team depth wise, but also and
I to the future, he could be a guy that
plays a big role for this team in the coming years.

Speaker 3 (37:00):
Talking about Nick Kirbig, yes, yeah, exactly, I'm trying to try.

Speaker 4 (37:04):
So what's the question.

Speaker 2 (37:08):
Or often went in my high school classes, there was one.
So so here's the point. You know, you take a
look at Nick Kirkbig, and he's an unusual guy. He's
one of these guys. He reminds me a lot of uh,
some of the guys that you know, you see come along.
They're not great physical specimens. I mean, he's obviously strong,
he's obviously fast, but it's not like he's running a

(37:29):
four to two and it's not like he's six three three,
you know, two fifty two fifty five something like that.
But he packages it together in such a way. He
uses whatever attributes God has given him, and he uses
them very very well. He blew right by Aleric Jackson
on that snap. I mean, Jackson was trying to get
back to his kickstep and he missed time to snap

(37:51):
or something, but Herbig didn't.

Speaker 3 (37:53):
He came around that corner just roaring. And I'm telling you, I.

Speaker 2 (37:56):
Mean, if if, if, if Matthew Stafford would a deer,
then her Big was getting his first kill of the
hunting season and he had to bite the liver, you know,
I mean, because that was just a great rush by him,
and he just seems to manifest those things in a way.

Speaker 3 (38:12):
That tells you he's a football player. You know.

Speaker 2 (38:14):
Brian Hinkel, a teammate of mind, was very much like that,
very unsung, very overlooked as an outside linebacker. Thirteen year
guy played for the Steelers, and he was great, you know.
I mean the problem was he followed up Jack Cam.
You know, Jack Cam was sheer greatness and Brian Hinkel
was great in his own right and.

Speaker 3 (38:34):
He was off and all overlooked.

Speaker 1 (38:36):
Yeah, this draft class, to me is looking really really promising,
really really promising.

Speaker 4 (38:41):
And just side note on her big I'm sure our
listeners don't know this. He is the most special team
snaps in the team. So it's not like he's not
in his jersey dirtright, you know. I mean he's been
active and then he comes out for five to ten
and brings a new energy to the defense. I thought
Benton played, I think he plays phenomenal every week at
this point and saying there's nothing wrong with Larry Oh,
but when Cam Hayward side note, he's gonna come back

(39:04):
much like Dante one of these days pretty soon. It's
a nice little kickstart to a team. But I would
play Benton next to Cam a lot well.

Speaker 1 (39:11):
When you see a team like the Eagles, and they're
they're obviously an elite team. It seems like every year
that's crazy. More offensive lineman, more defensive linment. Let's keep
him coming, Let's keep him coming, Let's keep them coming.
And I don't know if Andy Whide will have that
sort of influence on the on the Steelers. But they
bring in Siamalo, they bring in the other her Big
as a backup, two former Eagles. They draft Benton in

(39:33):
the second round. Maybe they're gonna have that same sort
of philosophy. I mean, it's still a guilt that way.
It's still a big man's game. I mean, we love
the we love the guys that can go out there
and make plays. But if your big guys are better
than the other team's big guys, you've got a really
good chance.

Speaker 3 (39:46):
Of winning, no doubt.

Speaker 4 (39:46):
And use a first round pick on an offensive tackle,
by the way, and he fared well. I want to
give Dan Moore a shout out.

Speaker 3 (39:53):
I thought he.

Speaker 4 (39:53):
Played extremely well. And I was in the stream, yeah,
and I was in the Broderick Jones should stay in
the left tackle, you know, ca, but more proved me wrong.
You go add Golden who you mentioned. I mean that
guy starts for a lot of teams. I mean, he's
a professional, every down outside linebacker that's in a perfect
spot for him. Even like Armani Watts, I mean, nobody
talks about that guy. He's played two really good games

(40:15):
in a row. You mentioned Adams before. They can't get
him off the field. I mean, he's always making plays.
I mean some of these unsung guys are really contributing
as well.

Speaker 1 (40:24):
And you love having that depth. Well, if we talk
about just now the defensive line, I mean, I know,
and I know you want to say, if you want
to say some nice things about Dan Moore, but that
depth along the d line to be able to roll
guys in their fresh guys and if you start thinking
about Okay, Cam and Ogan, Jobi and Benton and Adams

(40:45):
and you start, you know, cycling things through there, that
that begins to look pretty good when you get when
you get your you know, your premier guy back and Heywark, you.

Speaker 2 (40:54):
Know, in the latter part of my career when they
started to take defensive lineman and rotate him more all
and you're sitting there as an offensive lineman. You're on
this ten fifteen play driving instead of seeing the same guy,
you're starting to see three guys different, you know, two
or three different guys. During a drive, maybe fifteen play drive,
you might see two or three guys and all of
a sudden you're like going, what's this guy's?

Speaker 3 (41:14):
But what that? You know, what's that?

Speaker 2 (41:16):
And you know, and then you're a little more exhausted
with each and every play you a fresh yeah, you know,
I mean it's it's it is that way. So when
you had that ability to put a batton in, being
able to do that, Larry ogn, Jobi and Cam Hayward,
all these guys that rolling in there, I mean it's huge.

Speaker 3 (41:34):
Think about that, Larry O.

Speaker 2 (41:35):
What did he do when he knocked that ball out
of Justice Hill's hands?

Speaker 3 (41:39):
I mean that was an Elka bonger. And as I
think I.

Speaker 2 (41:42):
Said last week, probably bears repeating though, and I told
Larry O this the other day, I go, Man, So
the guy that that should be happiest about fumbling was
was Justice Hill? Because if you had hit him in
the you know, in the belly with that, you might
say disemboweled him.

Speaker 3 (41:57):
That was a real whack that he put on him.

Speaker 1 (41:59):
You know, I think about an offensive lineman. Well, if
it just it just just occurred to me. Now I
might be telling the defensive lineman, we we're a little
bit better than you were. You don't see offensive lineman
getting subbed in all the time, right, We're obviously you're replaceable.
You guys are just cycling in and out, and you
couldn't do that in an offensive line, right, I mean
there's too much unit work. No, there's too much unit

(42:19):
work with an offensive line.

Speaker 4 (42:20):
Well, that's why the broder Jones situations. Like almost any
other position, you come in the league and you're a
receiver that just runs go routes, well I can try
you out there you run go routes, or if you
can just rush the pass, run third and eight, we'll
have you do that. If you're a left tackle, it's
not gonna be like, well we're gonna run now, I'm
gonna put Broderick in, you know. I mean like you
gotta play your staff.

Speaker 1 (42:38):
Well, you wonder if there's a Zach Banner role maybe
carved out for a guy to at least get him
out there and get him some reps and get him
some time, you know.

Speaker 4 (42:46):
Get a mixed offensive line.

Speaker 1 (42:47):
Yeah, yeah, a six offensive Lineman now eligible.

Speaker 2 (42:53):
I mean, you know, and that's a way to keep
the young buck in the game and keeping his game,
you know, his his game brains on turned on and
being able to be a part of it. I love
the idea. I love jumbo offensive line groupings, you know.
I mean, it's it's great. You got an extra fat
guy in the huddle. Man, You're all like, yeah, let's
go maybe, you know. I mean it's just that group

(43:14):
that is spirit, the core thing that just drives you.

Speaker 3 (43:17):
Man. You love it.

Speaker 1 (43:18):
Well. I want to go to another defensive player because
I think some guys are very visible. I mean, what
we saw Minka, we saw good to see HERBI get
that first sack. But I'm glad you mentioned in your
podcast Alex Highsmith because I keep looking at Alex high
Smith and I'm looking at him. Through six games. He
has two sacks, and I would have bet anything he
would have had more. And yet every game it feels

(43:40):
like to me, and I know you break down the
tape differently and you look at different things, but it
feels to me like he's having a positive influence with
the steers a negative influence for the opposing offense every
game and yet you look up and he's not compiling
the same type of status as he was a year ago.

Speaker 4 (43:57):
Yeah, that doesn't bother me at all. I mean, I'm
not saying he took the world by surprise, but everyone
knows who he is now. And you know, you sign
that contract, you have the year he did last year,
You're not going to sneak up on anybody. But I'm
one hundred percent with you watching the tape every week,
no matter what the stats say, he's one of the
best players.

Speaker 3 (44:15):
On the field.

Speaker 1 (44:16):
That's what it feels like to me. But I'm not
seeing the stats.

Speaker 2 (44:19):
But the stats don't have to just be sacks. I mean,
look at what he did against Ronnie Stanley. Yeah, ten pressures.
Ten Do you know how big head is? I asked him.
I saw him later on. I go, so, did Ronnie
say anything to you, because if I know, if I
was playing you and I gave up ten pressures, I'd
have something to say to you, you know, And and he.

Speaker 3 (44:37):
Goes, I didn't say nothing. But the point is ten pressures.

Speaker 2 (44:41):
I mean whacking the quarterback however you want to call it,
getting in his face, making him throw the ball. However,
you're not getting there maybe exactly as quick as you
want to to put him down, but they also know
you're coming too. Well.

Speaker 4 (44:53):
The other thing too, him and wat now over the
last couple of years are like leading the league and
forced they've both become exceptional at getting the ball out yea,
and it needs to get credit for that.

Speaker 1 (45:05):
And I know this is called the point after, but
I can't help but take a sneak to the point before,
which is the Jacksonville Jaguars coming up and a really
big test that I think is going to be a
fun game. The Jaguars, I'm sure they feel like, hey, listen,
we got into the playoffs last year, won a game
gay Kansas City, all they wanted. We're a team on
the ride. We're a five and two as sending football team.

(45:27):
I think this is a this would be the winner
of this game is going to come out feeling really
good about themselves.

Speaker 3 (45:33):
Come on, can't we just like marinate and the good
win for like twenty four hours? Do you have to
go there?

Speaker 2 (45:39):
Now?

Speaker 3 (45:42):
Yeah? It was a great window, wasn't it. Okay?

Speaker 1 (45:44):
Phenomenal?

Speaker 3 (45:45):
All right, Okay, no doubt about it.

Speaker 2 (45:46):
But yeah, it is a team on the rise, and
it's going to be a battle, and it's going to
be interesting to see how this breaks down as we
proceed through the week and see what they do to
counteract and what the Jags can do.

Speaker 1 (45:58):
I can't wait, and I think I guess to tie
it into this game, which you know, it is the
point after you're feeling good about this Right now, you're
feeling good about some what you did in especially in
the second half. We really put the clamps on the
Rams offense, and then you got your own offense goingdred.

Speaker 4 (46:14):
I mean you're hoping the Bengals don't come off a
bye and look like a super Bowl team. You know,
Baltimore all of a sudden looks like a super Bowl team.
What's going on in Cleveland. But they're finding out a
way to win. So I hope the division isn't all
feeling the same way. But you did mention the Jags.
I mean, they got a great young quarterback. They're trending
the right direction. They have a nice long week, They
have a ten day rest before this one, and then

(46:35):
they have their bye after, so they play one game
in like almost close to a month, right, If that's
good or bad?

Speaker 3 (46:40):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (46:40):
And the good thing for the Steelers is that they've
beaten the Ravens and they've beaten the Browns, two teams
that look awfully good, and they sit now with a
four and two record after this twenty four to seventeen
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you to our extensive selection of jerseys and Terrible towels,

(47:01):
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(47:22):
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