November 6, 2023 • 45 mins
Rob, Matt, and Wolf break down the Steelers key win against the Titans and the standouts on each side of the ball.
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
This is the Point After, presented by Parks Casino. Is
today your Lucky Day pet Parks by Brian Patton and Associates.
It's all about the benefits and by the Studers 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 for being with us today. Time for
this look back segment brought to you by Brian Patton
(00:31):
and Associates. It's all about the benefits and we're all
trying to search our memory banks to go back to Thursday.
Erase the days full of football yesterday. Four games worth
the football yesterday, beginning at nine thirty and ending at
about eleven thirty at night, nine thirty in the morning.
This students won twenty to sixteen guys to refresh your
memory last Thursday against the Tennessee Titans to improve to
(00:52):
five and three. Of the Titans kind of knocked back
a little bit. I mean, you're trying to distance yourself
from you know, the contenders and the non contender. You know,
you lose that game. You're four and four, they're four
and four. So a nice win for the Steelers all
told twenty to sixteen. Wolf, Let's begin with you sort
of just general takeaways from that victory over the Tennessee Titans.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Well, I think there's a number of things. Number One,
they won.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
You know, the thing about it is and what I
really enjoy is the fact that they came out and
they won the game. It was another close game, but
it was one that could have been a loss easily,
and yet they were able to come on and do
the things that they needed to do. You had some
people stand out the defensive line. I can't tell you
what I think Cam Hayward and the rest of that crew.
(01:35):
First of all, Captain Cam is a multiplier of the
men around him, not seeing sim the likes of a
guy like Joe Green yep, because the level of the
other players is elevated when he's on the field. And
I just loved the simplicity of one time he's sitting
there in a three technique and they come at a
double team and he I don't see this very often.
(01:57):
He Olay is the tackle trying to block down around
and makes it hit the guard wiff. They both he
made both of them wif. I've just you don't see
that very often. It's good to see that he's back.
He's doing a job. But that defensive line and I
think everybody else did a great job opening drive, you know, uh,
you know, scoring points.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Wow, isn't that great?
Speaker 1 (02:18):
You know, I mean, how about winning the toss and
electing to take the ball. Yeah, oh yeah, it's all
good stuff.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
So I was excited. Hey, you gotta win at any
point in the season. The most important thing is get
a W Matt without question, and you know, stick with Hayward.
He didn't have to play ninety percent of the snaps,
you know, they could. They got other guys in there.
Benton's involved.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
I was a little worried when Adams got hurt so
early too, because I really like how he's.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Been playing greed.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
But what's great about it is, like Wolfe said, you
get to win, you get Hayward back, and now you
have this nice long week for him to kind of
get back the things people heal. Guy like Friarmuth can
come off. I r at this point. Unfortunately Holk them
got hurt, but they've got McFarlane back today too. They
didn't let Hopkins kill him, especially in the second half.
Didn't let Henry kill him. I mean, they did a
(03:05):
reasonably good job on him. And maybe most importantly is
this rookie class really showed up strong. I mean, Jones
got to me was a surprise start at right tackle.
Porter looks like, to use a cliche, a shutdown type
corner that they haven't had in a long time. And
we were talking d line, but Benton's gonna be a
really good player.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Oh yeah, this guy's got a club Like you can't
believe this. He's if it's a Louisville Sluggers as big
as they go up the rack.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
I just kept they're thinking, like, boy, him and Cam
next to each other with Watton high Smith on the outside,
like that is a foursome man.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Yeah it is. It's now going back to Cam and
Charlie Batcher made a really good observation too. He not
only makes you better and is a multiplayer well, no
question about it, but he also and Charlie pointed this out,
he is so good at identifying screens, like if you
screen his way, you're in trouble. And they tried that
and it was a key play where Cam made a
(04:01):
tackle behind the line of scrimmage. He's he's this savvy
veteran who still has you know, something left in the tank.
He's at that sort of interesting point in your career.
I mean eventually, right, everybody gets older, everybody loses their productivity.
But he can still be productive and still bring that
high intelligence and football IQ level to the field.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
No question about it.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
You know who else helps Larry Ogan Joby, Yes, my goodness,
he's the sure a monster down there in the trenches
doing some good work. All these guys that we've been
you know, highlighting, they all did a really good job
on I think one of the most destructive running backs
in the business, if not the most, because when that
dude gets rolling, he is a scary thing to see.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Yeah, Casey made that ankle tackle that maybe we're thinking
about this game differently, so he comes up with a
key play. But when you look at the defense, obviously
the loss of Holcombe, you know, that's really unfortunate Matt,
because I thought he had really emerged as this Steelers
you know, most consistent and best all around a linebacker.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
Without question, and was a little worried without Meca in
this game even brought him up yet and maybe he's back,
who knows, I mean, that's on the horizon. At least
your two best communicators, from what I understand, were hold
him on the second level, Maca in the back end.
And I'm just thinking if they blow a coverage or
a line wrong or something along those things, you know,
they just don't get the play call incorrectly or something
(05:22):
like that. I think they'll be okay with Roberts and Alexander.
But I was really fond of the trio, you know,
and I agree that the top snapcount guy of the three.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Yeah, and we talked about that. Well, if we've praised
their middle linebacker play, I mean after week one, it's
been an issue clearly since the Shazier injury, it just
hasn't been the same. They haven't been able to find
the right combination of guys. Let's face it, they haven't
invested well, other than yeah, they haven't invested a ton
in that either salary cap wise, you know, in free
agency or draft wise picking somebody high. Obviously Bush didn't
(05:53):
work out for him, but of the mix and match
kind of things they've been doing the last couple of years,
this clear seemed like the best combination. Oh after week one,
you're looking at San Francisco like, oh my gosh, is
this gonna be the same thing. Well, since then it's
gone from okay, well that wasn't very good too. Well
they didn't kill him, to hang on a second. Now
(06:14):
they've been pretty good to Wow, this is really an
asset with this trio and now they're gonna have to
find a way to get by without Cohle.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
Yeah, the pair and the spare has now become a pair, right,
I mean that's the way it is. Yea. So now
you look along and say, well, down the road, we're
going to see a little more Mark Robinson, because this
would be an opportune, a very opportune time for him
to step forward and start to show that he's capable
of Marshall and some snaps out there. That's a great call,
no question about it. I also was, you know, and
(06:42):
here's the thing about it. Minca's Minca. There's no replacing Now,
you've obviously got to have somebody there.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
But I when.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
A guy like that steps out, it's opportune for a
guy to step in. And I gotta tell you, Ken
O'Neil did a fine job on the back end, and
when he got in around the box, he did some
really good work. I was very impressed by Kean O'Neil
and some of the things he was doing.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Well.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
You never remember having this conversation with Jamie Dixon, the
pit basketball coach. He had an injury to a player
and you know, the player is going to be out
for a while, and said, you know, is this possible,
this could make you better? And the paraphrase. He was like, well,
if we thought it would make us better that way, right,
you know that's what he would do. And I was like, oh,
yeahs you know, because a sportscaster, it just becomes ro
(07:29):
Well they'll be a better for it down the line. Well, well,
they really be better for it. But this is opportunity
now for these guys like it or not. They it's
thrust upon CAZy and Neil and some of these other guys.
And we saw in the absence of you know, Benton
getting more snaps with with Cam. Hey we gotten and
all of a sudden you think, hey, is this defense
(07:49):
you cant Minka back? And again, look, I point this
out a lot. You're paying top players top money. When
you're out, you can't help but have a drop off.
No question, there's a reason that you've elected to pay
these guys this amount of money because they're great players.
And then when you're paying them that amount of money,
there's not as much money to go around to everybody else.
(08:12):
That's to say nothing. I mean, it's not, you know,
denigrating the quality of your backups. It's just what your
different approach to your to your roster. So you get
Minca back in, you get Hayward back in, well, Hayward
obviously first, but you're hoping that, you know, as Wolf
alluded to, maybe this depth, maybe this cohesion gets just
a little bit better when you get Minca back and
guys maybe now have have some comfort level with being
(08:32):
out there in this defense.
Speaker 4 (08:34):
Yeah, and again some of the younger guys, including Leo
and Benton are played some more. Now maybe it's Mark
Robinson's turn to get ten or fifteen snaps a game,
and because other injuries are going to happen too, by
the way, I mean, it's just the way it works.
And Wolf mentioned Neil too. He has a history of
being a nickel linebacker too. I mean, if Minca is back,
(08:54):
that's a great point. You want to play too high
with him and KZ and he does great work near
the line of scrimmage. And sometimes a difference between in
the box strong safety and a linebacker is very different,
very much the same either way. But he has some
experience doing that in his career. And I'm really excited
about Porter, as we kind of mentioned too, and that.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Yeah, I want to gloss over that we'll get back.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Yeah, and allows.
Speaker 4 (09:14):
Peterson to do more of the stuff he brought him
in to do. And you know, even Rush played.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Right exact, Yeah, a lot, quite a bit. Actually, yeah,
we're gonna do you have something else to add?
Speaker 3 (09:22):
I was just gonna say the difference between a you know,
strong safety and a hybrid linebackers usually a couple outings
at Golden Corral.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
About twenty pounds. Yeah, yeah, but no, but it is.
But that's a great point that you can stretch him
to be kind of kind of a reserve at both
positions or guy who plays for you at both positions
at versatility position flexibility, Yeah, little position flexibility is a
good thing to have. But Matt's already made some comments
about about Joey Porter, and man, he really has looked apart.
(09:52):
I mean, we saw Hopkins get a ton of targets,
only four receptions and a lot of that not all
of it, but a lot of that was Joey Porter
following him around the field.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
You know, it's amazing.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
There was a report last week he said Joey Porter
asked Mike t to let him guard Andre Hopkins. I'm
thinking that's crazy, man, But you know he says something
about the young man, and again knowing his dad, now
it makes sense. You know, you think you stop, Yeah, no, exactly,
(10:21):
he was no waalfire. It was you know, Joey sr.
Is gonna you know, he took the position when he
took the field, you know, and so you see what
Joey Porter Junior does, and he had some unbelievable numbers,
and you know in the fact that he was following
around Hopkins and really it came down to five targets,
one catch seventeen yards when he was on the Americans.
(10:46):
I mean, that was the report I got. I didn't
sit down and go over point point like you do, Matt.
You know, the point is he was there. He did
a great job, locked in with this guy. And I
love the fact that he had enough what do you
want to say, confidence in himself to go and ask
I can do this.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
That was cool.
Speaker 4 (11:05):
So I think a lot of our listeners are probably
already excited about Porter. But assuming all that story is
true about going to coach Tomlin and all that, which
I think it is, I mean, but the fact is
he said yes. You know, like, how often do players
go to coaches, Hey, I want to throw touchdown passes.
I want to know no, no, you know right right,
(11:26):
We'll do the coaching and it's let alone a rookie.
And they said yes. And the reason I'm really bringing
that up is, as much as any team in the league,
they're a left right cornerback team. They're not a follow
you around guy. But if they think this dude's that special,
and they know way better than all of us that
we're willing to change what we do in the secondary
to get Porter on Hopkins no matter what, especially third
(11:48):
down the red zone, I think that speaks volume for
what they think he could be because they.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Could ask this a lot.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
I'm like Dion and Revis, I mean, that followed Jerry
Rice or whoever for the whole time like that. That's great,
but it's phasing out in the league because the other
ten have to adjust to you, you know, like if
you go in motion, you follow them. The other ten
have to change their responsibilities. It'd be a pretty special
corner to do, you know, shadow stuff.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Yeah, and I love it though. I mean because when
you think about the elements that can help make a
great football team, and they always evolve, right. You know,
when you had going back to two thousand and one,
he had Kendre Bell at the middle linebacker position with
James Ferrier, Well, you're going to blitz more up the
middle of the field, right. Kendra Bell's had nine sacks
that year. It was the defensive rookie of the year.
(12:34):
When you don't have him, you're going to adjust a
little bit. I mean, there's constant little adjustment.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
About Kendro Bell. Kendro Bell had one one rule. Only
the ball came at him, run straight to destroyed. If
the ball goes away from him, to follow it down
and destroy it.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
He was a terrific player. But you know, so obviously
I've been doing some research on other things here, so
these these examples are coming up. But you look at
the seventies Steelers, right, so clear at the beginning of
the decade, run run, you know, you're a running team.
And then towards the end of the decade, when you
win that last Super Bowl, You're relying more on your
passing game. You're always in a state of evolution as
a team, right, You're always in a state of evolution.
(13:12):
I don't remember the last time to Steel has really
had that one guy where you said, you go follow
him around, you shut him down. It's really kind of
a nice right.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Here and there.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Yeah, right, yeah, you didn't ask him to do it
a lot. I don't, I don't recall. But you bring
that and you get a healthy cam, you get Minkes
the Eraser on the back end, you get those two
you know, outside linebackers. Hei Smith dominated in this game,
as I as I. We talked about that on another program.
I fully expected him to. He was just a dominating force.
(13:45):
But you get all those that's one more element to
bring to this defense, one more wrinkle that can make
things very, very difficult for opposing offenses.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
Alex Highsmith has been bringing more pressure than a shook
up soda can. I mean, he really has done a
great job. And what he did last Sunday was just
I'm sorry, Thursday was just out of sight, you know.
And then you've got TJ who was absorbing so much
of the offensive coordinator's attention and the offensive line coach.
I mean, at one point it looked like he was
(14:16):
triple teamed. You know, you get you get the wall
going his way, you get back going his way, you
get a tight end over there, you get a slot
receiver in a tight formation, just you know, spread it
spread a little bit out there, a little.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
My goodness, man deals with.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
A lot yep, still much to talk about, a lot
of great things, and hopefully you know we're gonna look
back and think, hey, this is a building block victory
for a team with an arrow pointed upward. You guys
on board me with that good Oh yeah, that's what
we're going to talk about when we continue on the
Point After. It'steurs Nation Radio and one O two point
(14:52):
five DV. This is the Point After, presented by Parks Casino.
Is today your Lucky Day bet Parks by Brian Patton Associates.
It's all about the benefits and by the Steelers Pro
(15:15):
Shop get it direct from the team at shop dot
Steelers dot com. Coming to you. Following the Steelers twenty
to sixteen victory over the Titans and improved them to
five and three. Alongside Craig Wolfley and Matt Williamson. I'm
rob king, Matt. We talked about this briefly. You win
the opening toss, you elect to receive, you get into
immediately get into a third and six, and you're thinking,
(15:37):
oh no, not again. The only team that has not
scored a point on the opening drive. Will they convert
that eleven place seventy eight yard drive. I love the
fact that they took the ball first. I love the
fact that they attacked. You know, we also talked about
this earlier in the week. I thought against this Titans
team and I thought that the listen maybe was the
(15:59):
same game plan they head against the Jaguars and it
just didn't work out. I love the idea of against
some of these teams, throwing the ball to set up
the run, as opposed to the traditional run the ball.
Then you get into play action and then you can
start passing the ball. And on that opening drive, eleven plays,
three runs, eight passes. You know, Kenny Picktt missed a
couple of throws, but they were able to overcome them
(16:20):
and march down the field. One of four long drives.
They did not have the short field much in this game.
One of four long drives in this one winds up
in a touchdown. Loved the way they started this game.
Speaker 4 (16:30):
Yeah, and it's a pretty solid defense too, especially upfront.
I mean, the Titans are great against the run. They
force you to throw and you can throw on their secondary,
but you know, Jeffrey Simmons is a handful and that
line's an issue obviously. Yeah, their first down success rate
was really really good too. I mean they were too
(16:51):
often on a first down they get the second and eight,
second and nine. And this game was much much better
than any thus far. And as I'm sure Wolf's just
chomping the bit to talk about, they ran the ball well,
you know, and that was the backbone. It was like
the second half of last year. I saw a lot
more polling linemen that Jones.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Dude can move some people to. I mean, like I
loved all they ran the ball.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Well, let's let's start with that before because because there's
a there's a lot of meat on the bone as
far as running the game, I wanted to ask you
about Broderick Jones. First of all, you know, you put
one guy in there, you're going again. I mean, Jeffrey
Simmons is a is a terrific player. They have three
very good pass rushers, very capable guys, maybe not elite guys,
but guys that can get to the you know, Autry
(17:36):
Key and uh, who am I forgetting the third? Yeah?
Landry right, Landry right, thank you. Those three guys can
really get to the passer. The pickt wasn't sacked, I'm
not mistaken. And the running game was terrific. And I
know you inserted one guy in there. I don't want
to give him all the the praise because he wasn't
(17:57):
blocking Simmons. And they did a great job on Simmons
on the inside. He's just a monster offensive line play
though in general terrific. And man, I thought Roderick Jones
looked really good. Wolf your thoughts.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
He did very well. Look, this guy is going to
be great someday. Okay, he's got some work to do,
He's got some things he's got to clean up. But
I was really impressed with the way he handled it.
Saw him pregame, had that that I'm pretty nervous look
on his face, you know, And and the young man
just acquitted himself very well, and I was really happy
(18:33):
for him. I know how those first starts and second
starts and you know, everything go. You can you can
have those unmitigated disasters such as I suffered my first
year of starting. Yeah, you know it was amazing, Ill
look back go only by an act of God was
able to go to year number two and starting it
seemed like with the calamities. But you know, he did
(18:55):
everything well. He's an athlete, he moves well, he's using
his hands better. And what I liked was he had
a natural good kickstep out and was able to take
that inside out position on whoever was out outside of him,
which is important because one of the hardest things to
do is to switch your GPS locator from the left
(19:16):
side to the right side and play with the same
sort of inside out positioning that you need when you're
facing some really good, high level pass rushers.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Yeah. How big of it? How big of a Is
it a big thing or a little thing?
Speaker 2 (19:29):
I think it's a big thing.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
It's gonna be a big thing when you're younger.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
Wait a minute, Alanica says, it was nothing. Okay, I'm
just That's what I'm telling you. Because we had this
conversation because afterwards, when he was playing left guard, they
moved him not the right tackle, you know, every third
down to face, you know, a hot rusher back in
when all the right tackles were hurt. Okay, And so
I was laughing with him about it after the game,
and I was saying how I had to do the
(19:52):
same thing, and he goes, I think the tackles are stealing.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
It's harder on.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
The inside the pass protect and I'm like, going, well,
I guess if you're a budding hull of fame, it
wasn't quite so easy.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
So Rob I was.
Speaker 4 (20:05):
Shocked, though, Like being there watching every training camp practice,
more played some right tackle right So I assumed, if
if Jones is going in, he's only really played the
left dan, you can flop. But they didn't. This is
a total tinfoil hat thing. But maybe it was you
got some bad habits at left tackle. Just don't think anymore.
Just go out there and mash the dude ahead of you.
(20:25):
Do something different. I don't know, I mean, but it
worked out extremely well. I was a little suspect with
how they were going to align them, but man, I
thought it was really blown away. Not to be too
vulgar here, but the way I've been described moving left
tackle to right tackle is like using the other hand
to wipe yourself.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
I've heard that you can get a little messy. Yeah,
let's not even go there, shall we.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
Yeah, what I will say is you don't like to
move two guys to accomplish one position change, right, you know,
so if you can do that one and let's face it,
this kid is an athlete, he's a budding of he
has to play. Yeah, he's gonna be one of these
budding stars in the making if he just keeps working
and going about his business.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
But he should be able to handle that switch.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Yeah, hopefully we're going first and hopefully we're going to
be looking at this draft class as you mentioned, and say, wow,
that was a turning point for the Steelers when they
got all that talent. You know, Benton's looked terrific on
the defensive line, and you mentioned Porter looking like a
butting shutdown corner and Broderick Jones again when you talk about,
you know, from where the Steelers have had to draft,
(21:32):
and look, they've had some wonderful tackles. They've had some
very good, solid offensive tackles. It's very far right, the
superstar perennial Pro Bowl guys going to top ten, which
is why the Steelers have always been able to get
you know, and have done a great job draft and
guards centers, those guys that go traditionally a little bit
(21:52):
later on in the draft to be able to get
a guy like this. This might be again, you need
the pass rushers, you need to quarterback, obviously, you need
you'd love to have a shutdown corner. You'd love to
have a number one receiver. You'd love to have a
running back. Well, you'd also love to have a stud
offensive tackle hopefully too. This would be nice if this
guy wound up Roderick Jones being one of those guys.
Speaker 4 (22:14):
Yeah, I mean during the Kevin Colbert era, which was
twenty years. I think you would take their average draft
position that they earned, not where they picked like we
trade up for Bush. I mean where they earned was
well over twenty is between twenty four and twenty fifth.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
Overall, it's crazy, crazy, and they still won.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
They still want to right.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
It really is amazing.
Speaker 4 (22:32):
You can get the castro, you can get pouncy, but
you can't get Roderick Jones twenty four.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
You just can't get the tackles. They just are gone.
Speaker 4 (22:39):
You had no chance you'd have to try.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
And usually the corners are gone too, because we talked
about that position as well, That's why. And usually the
receivers are gone, right, there's certain and usually the quarterbacks you're.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Going on Day two.
Speaker 4 (22:49):
Receivers, you know, they kind of cut corner at corner
a little bit during the Lebo era and focus on
the front seven. They don't have the shutdown porter types,
you know, because they're gone. You know, you got to
think about what you're delt. I mean, right, same thing's
true for the Patriots, so they're not drafting Jonathan Ogden, right.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
But there's also you have to I mean you have
to credit. I mean you get JJ Watt ORJ Baker,
pardon TJ Watt as late as they got him. I mean,
you redo that draft wards he going, where's Cam Hey?
Speaker 2 (23:14):
We're going?
Speaker 1 (23:14):
Yeah. So great to see that. And you know, when
I looked at the running game, one of the things
that I did want to point out was the Steelers
have not been able to say this to a five
and three football team. They haven't been able to play
enough complimentary football. It's hard for me to say, well,
how good can this defense be? When they're out on
(23:35):
the field all the time. This is something we talked
about last week all the time. Well, they're out in
the field all the time. In the first half, they
gave up ten points. Now in the second half, they
ran about ten times for sixty four yards in the
first half. Second half they ran for over one hundred
yards on the ground. They continued to run at a
good clip as far as yards per carry. They gave
the defensive break and lo and behold, the defense only
(23:57):
gave up three points in the second half. I thought
the second half of this game was the best complimentary
football as far as the Student's offense being able to
give the defensive breather and for us to be able
to get a glimpse. This is why I talk about
this game maybe being a foundational game or Okay, did
you beat a world beating team in the Titans. No,
(24:19):
but did you lace the framework the foundation for what
you need to do to be successful. I thought in
the second half, that's the closest they've come all season long.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
Well, the one thing you know for sure is that
you've got the When you've got the ball, they can't score.
That's right, GA mean pretty much less unless you know
something totally Castra some.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
People, you know, have looked at this to his offense
and said, let's give them the ball backs. We have a
chance to score. But but, but but the offense has
was much better in this game.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
There's no question about it. And think about it again,
Kenny didn't hit the dirt. And let me say this
too about Ken. Anybody think that you know what, just
was it seventy two or ninety six hours before he
ruled out of a football game?
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
You know, anybody want to give him some props like stam,
I'm going no, I'm gonna start and I'm gonna play.
Did anybody think that maybe those ribs are a little
bit more tenderized than he's letting on, because, you know what,
he's not seeking comfort. He's not sitting out there lamenting
the fact. Yeah, well I didn't do this and I
should have done that. No, the kid's a football player.
He plays ball.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
You know.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
He comes out and he said immediately I'm ready to
go for the Thursday night game. I thought, you know what,
that in and of itself is a rallying point. If
I'm an offensive lineman and that happens, you know, I'm
going to be all over whatever I gotta do to
make sure that he doesn't get hit. Bradshaw's last game
December fifteenth, nineteen eighty three, when he blew out his elbow,
(25:40):
the mantra of the whole week long was don't let
Bradshaw get hit.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
I probably had the worst follow in the history of
the NFL.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
When I tackled the guy, jumped and everything else, but
I wasn't gonna let him hit Bradshaw, you know. And
that's the point, you know, you get a guy like
that and you realize that not only does he come
out and kind of inspire you, and he raises the
level the other people around him.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
I'm sorry, that's how I feel.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
I look at it that way, and I think about
myself in that huddle with a guy like Terry Bradshaw.
You know you should respect that.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
I don't think anybody, whether you are in the Kenny
Pickett camp or not in the Kenny Pickett camp. And
of course just open up your phone and go to X.
I guess it's called now yeah, whatever, and uh, and
see the myriad of opinions on this. But I don't
if you're a Kenny Pickett detractor, you cannot There's two
(26:30):
things to me, you cannot find fault with one. His toughness.
He's you know, he showed it again. But he hangs
in the pocket and takes hits and delivers the football.
He's a tough kid, foresure. And his fourth quarter play
is just it's unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Resources Yeah, I mean it is.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
It's unbelievable what he's been able to accomplish in the
fourth quarter and and did again in this game.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (26:56):
And character leadership. I'm gonna go back just a quick
thing here because you mentioned complimentary football and we're referencing
time of possession. So going into the by last year,
I mean that was about this time, that was Week nine,
that was you know, Halloween ish. They were basically last
in the league in time of possession and they end
up finishing like fourth or fifth best. You know how
(27:16):
hard that is to do, right, you know, pick up
thirty seconds this game, twenty seconds this game, I mean
to move all the way up to being one of
the best in the league. And if they could get
anywhere close to that level in terms of just possessing
the football and sustaining some longer drives even with their
field goals, I mean, it's just giving the d a
rest I think is just so valuable. And we actually
(27:37):
we talked about how good this pass rush it is
and how good Watt is in particular of course in
Watt's career and really in the last couple of years,
how many times in the fourth quarter have the Steelers
have the lead, The towels are flying, it's loud, and
everyone knows that you're just teeing off, not very off
it right, with a lead.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Right now, that's a great point. That's a great point, right, yeah,
I mean, there's it is one possession game after one
possession game, after one possession game, and I still believe that,
you know, there's there's two things that would take this
defense and put it over the top. One is to
see it out on the field less frequently, right, the
(28:17):
old adage is what you know, the the less you're
out there, the better you play sort of the defense, right,
And the other is to get a lead, you know,
and again, you know, it's it's hard not to go
back to that formula of the two thousands, right. You know,
Jerome bettis now after you're just you know, dominating in
the second half running the football. He pushes one over
(28:39):
right to make it thirteen to three in the fourth quarter.
Oh hell, you know, Joey Porter and James Herrit's are like,
thank you, right, because now they could just bring it.
You know, there's no no question right at that just
would I think that's a great point, Matt. If you
could one control of the clock and rest that defense
(29:00):
and two get some you know, double digit leads, more
than one score leads, that would be nice.
Speaker 3 (29:06):
Think about this is and that's starting to sound a
little bit like circa two thousand and four five six,
the guy named Big Ben, you know, started off throwing
for a buck fifty two hundred and you got a
running back that's killing it in the second half, you
got a defense that's pinning its years back. Oh you
know that kind of it kind of reminded me of
Thursday Night's game.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
Yeah, that formula. That formula was the best. You know that.
Look again, you used the first half. You ran the football,
but you established it. You could run the football. You
threw the football. You established it you could throw the football.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Right.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
You made Tennessee play you wantest and then you just
jammed it down their throat.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Right.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
You held them to three points in the second half.
That's a really good formula for winning football, especially with
the way that the team is constructed currently. You're not
going to say, this isn't Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes. You're
not going to say, just go ahead and throw it
forty times. That's just not the way. They're not going
to do that right now.
Speaker 4 (30:04):
They're not going to do that, not as the initial
game plan. I mean, as you mentioned, sometimes the fourth
quarter goes berserk compared to the first. Reefrunders the terms
of Kenny, which is a great feather in his cap too,
But you're one hundred percent right. I mean, that's tried
and true football. And one thing I'll throw on top
of it is if you look at Kenny's passing chart
from that game, a lot of it's to the flats
(30:27):
and wolf reference.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
I mean, he had ribs.
Speaker 4 (30:30):
I mean, I don't think they wanted him getting hit,
and you know he's not going to hold the ball
three seconds and seven step drops and things like that.
But all that short passing also helps time and possession.
You know, they're quick, easy throws, long extended handoff to
some degree. You know the backs are catching balls, you know,
so you can do it a lot of ways.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Yep. Well, the Steelers did it in a bunch of ways.
They win by the final score of twenty to sixteen.
More in this game, a little quick peek ahead to
the game coming up on Sunday against the Packers as
well when we continue on the Point After on Steelers
Nation Radio and one O two point five DVE. This
(31:13):
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. Thanks for being with us. If you're just
joining us, we have Matt Williamson, we have Craig Wolfley.
I'm Rob King. We are going over the Steelers twenty
(31:34):
to sixteen victory against the Titans on Thursday night, that
improve the Steelers to five and three, put them in
playoff position, and continue to get them rolling, keep them rolling.
And again I'm going to make the comment that I
think this is the game that maybe they're going to
springboard from and you know, the getting healthier again. You'd
(31:56):
like to get Minka Fitzpatrick in there. You'd like to
get friar Mouth back in there. But you know, before
we completely talk about this and look at some bigger
picture stuff, completely leave this game behind. I thought, again, Matt,
you talked about this time of possession a year ago.
The Steelers. The drives did not come cheaply. This wasn't
a game in which, you know, the ball was turned
(32:16):
over and they got the ball to thirty five yard line,
ten play seventy eight yard drive, eleven play ninety two
yard drive, ten play sixty five yard drive, fifteen play
seventy yard drive, those latter two winding up in field goals.
But the ability to possess the ball, move the ball,
particularly as the game went on, go on those long
(32:36):
drives that are supposed to be unsustainable. Only the Chiefs
and the Steelers can do that, right.
Speaker 4 (32:42):
Yeah, they were the top two and ten play drives
are more last year the Steelers and Chiefs.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
That's not bad company to be. Yeah, And as much
as we would like to see more things open up,
I think that that's probably the formula that they're going
to have to go with.
Speaker 4 (33:00):
Yeah, However, I'm not to dispute that at all. That
was kind of a backhanded compliment. Last year all the
leer strives, sure, you know, I mean because they were
also the least explosive offense in the league. Yes, they're
not the least explosive offense in the league anymore. I
mean we're seeing chunk runs from nausey from Warren. Pickens
has absolutely proven that he can get downfield and make
big plays. He's been slow lately, but he's kind of
(33:22):
doing the watt dirty work taking all the attention from
everybody else. Austin's a big play guy. I can't wait
to get Friarmuth back, to be honest, I.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
Mean I think this.
Speaker 4 (33:31):
I think this offense site wrote an article this week
this offense is kind of lacking a third weapon. I mean,
if friar Mouth can come back and not replace Alan Robinson.
But like when they traded Claypool last year, they went
from an extremely heavy and heavy eleven team, you know,
with three receivers, to much much more twelve, and Friarmuth
(33:53):
acted a lot as the slot. I mean, call him
a tight end, call him you know, Kelsey's a receiver.
He's really you called the tight end. But if you
ask him to do more of that than the inline
blocking because we talked rookies, but Washington really played well
in this game too. You know, his name didn't come up,
but to me, he's the bigger, better version of Zach
Gentry that can bring more athleticism. Maybe you go to
(34:14):
more twelve with friar Mouth, take some things off Robinson's play.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
Well, it's hard to go to all your personnel packages.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
If you play three snap.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
When you keep going three and out right. And that's
I mean, it's obviously simple. But we can talk about
all you want wolf about well you want to see this.
Both running backs, by the way, I thought they were
utilized great. I thought they played great. And we're talking
about off air about you know, Kenny missed some throws early.
You know Kenny was, you know, nursing sore ribs. That's
not an easy task. You think about Pickens, right, So
(34:46):
you know Pickens dragged a second foot and I'm sure
once he has a moment to reflect on that, he's
going to say, should have got the second foot in,
should have scored a touchdown. But on the opening drive
he might not have been the opening drive And I'm
trying to remember which drive it was where Kenny I
actually was one of the three and outs because they
had two three and outs in the first half, then
won late in the game. Kenny under through Austin a
(35:07):
little bit, but he had Pickens wide open crossing the
field relatively easy throw as he stepped up. You know,
he puts that on Pickens that might go for twenty
five thirty yards. You might be looking at, you know,
four receptions sixty eight yards and a touchdown for Pickens
as opposed to the numbers he did wind up having.
And so you know, people talked about how he was
(35:28):
upset and he you know, deleted stuff on his Instagram
or whatever, you know, But I can't I can't say
that that. You know that I'm that I'm afraid they're
going to lose Pickens at this.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
Stage of the game. No, I don't think so. Look, hey,
you know, everybody's in the big boy league. You know,
you got to be a big boy.
Speaker 3 (35:45):
Up there and and handle your business and do so
constructively in as part of a team.
Speaker 2 (35:50):
I'm sure that it.
Speaker 3 (35:51):
You know, sometimes you get a little hot headed and
he might spout off something or somebody makes more of
it on the outside than what was on the inside.
I mean, Zukes Back in the day, we had people
that would call Myron Cope show because you're They're sitting
in a restaurant, overheard one of the players talking to
his wife while having dinner, and all of a sudden
that became like, you know, this issue that that Cope was,
(36:12):
you know, talking about on the air.
Speaker 1 (36:14):
You know.
Speaker 3 (36:14):
So I don't worry about that. I think that they
can handle well enough the things that are within the
four walls of the locker room themselves, and you have
leadership that's capable of helping to focus that that intent,
you know, in whatever way is desirable for them. So
I'm not too worried about it.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
Now. It reminds me of my uncle Richie was building
his cabin in upstate, New York. You know, great guy,
and he you know, he hired me out to help him.
But I but I know about construction. You could fit
in a thimble, I mean so yeah, I mean I
could hammer and nail. You know, three out of four
would go in straight, right, not too bad, So I
would I would be asking him questions and and uh,
you know, he had hearing age, and finally when he
(36:53):
just got exasperated and turned his hearing age down so
he couldn't, you know, So hey, Uncle Richard, I just
even just turned out his hearing age and Mark, well,
that's what a quarterback has to do, right. So you
know this receivers yelling that guy wants the ball more,
how come it? You just have to tune that out.
You have to, you know, have the old Uncle Richie
turned down the volume thing and just ignore whatever anybody
else is saying, because you've got your own job to.
Speaker 4 (37:15):
Worry about, without question. And I think it's safe to
say that Pickens is somewhat volatile and is absolutely extremely competitive,
you know. I mean that was the that was not
the knock, but that was how he's considered a Georgia too.
I mean, he likes the block, he wants the ball.
I think coach Tomlins had some history with wide receiver.
Speaker 1 (37:35):
Yes, not too worried about that, and I do. I
think Matt brings up a great point about Friar Mooth.
So we talk about, you know, the piece is starting
to drop into place around this team. Broderick Jones. Is
he going to get back out there and start again
this week? Is he going to help maybe solidify that
offensive line coming off their best performance of the year,
(37:57):
you have Porter, you know, can he can he chain
a little bit what you can do defensively. And then
for me, the injured guys and and look, you know,
we're terrible to see Hulkom get hurt. You know, Montrevius
Adams hurts the ankle, and you know we talked about
that from a personnel standpoint, From a personal standpolay, it's
terrible to see and we're sorry to see that. But
guys have to step up. Guys are coming back that
(38:17):
are going to be healthy. I think McFarlane can help
the team in the way that in a certain manner,
I thought he looked really good on He was like
one of the few guys in San Francisco that I
circled and said, hey, this guy played a really good game.
He had lots of practice, of course, you know, getting
kickoff returns unfortunately in that game against San Francisco. But
the two big guys to me that are out there
(38:38):
Menca clearly, but friar Mouth and what he can do
to help this offense, and if they can integrate him
to the offense. And you know, look, you gotta get
more snaps, You got to get more first downs. But
you've seen a little bit of Connor. Heyward, here you're
seeing a little bit more of Washington. Well, friar Moot's
a pretty big piece, larger than just a complimentary role.
(38:59):
I think you begin to think, well, wait a minute,
maybe there is more to this offense. Maybe it will
go back to the evolution that we were expecting, you know,
coming out of camp kay Laynegg against the forty nine ers, Right,
Deontay Johnson gets hurt and then fire Mouth gets hurt,
and now you're missing, uh, you're just kind of missing
(39:19):
components yet, right, so you're missing all these things on offense. Well,
now you're starting to get some of these back, and
I'm wondering, now, could this be an offense that can
play like we saw in the second half yesterday or
Thursday night against the Titans? Can they Can they be
that kind of offense? But they can also maybe have
some of those explosive plays and maybe be more of
a handful for teams to deal with. When you get
(39:41):
a friar Mooth back.
Speaker 3 (39:42):
There's no question, especially if you're not punting fifty percent
of the time, right, all Right, when you're able to
go on all these double digit drives, that's where Pat
Fryarmoof's targets is going to go up. You know, those
the ability to be able to target him more than
once or twice or three times a game. That's he's
capable of being targeted a good five to seven times
(40:03):
a game and being able to deliver a lot in
those five to seven times. And certainly you can't do
that if you're doing the three and outs all the time,
right So one of the things you want to do
is re establish that rhythm and timing that gives you
double digit drives and control the ball, do all that
you know you need to do. But I just think
he'll be a great addition because again, nobody on the
(40:24):
Steelers team that I can think of right now can
work the inside numbers as well as Pat does. I mean,
get on a safety. He is very quarterback friendly.
Speaker 1 (40:33):
And it is simple but simple to say, and we
said it a couple of times here, but still, Matt,
you get those first downs and now you begin to
maybe unlock some of these personnel groupings, some of these
things that are going to make it more difficult for
a team. Do I think this team's going to come
out and be a thirty point a game team. No,
but do I think they can score in the mid twenties, consistently,
(40:54):
control the ball, keep the defense off the field. I
do think there's upside in the offense to do that,
and with this defense, if they did that, I think
that would be good enough. Now you still have to
do it, but it'd be good enough for this team
to be, you know, perceived differently around the league, because,
let's face it, when they start talking about super Bowl
contenders right now, you're not seeing the Steelers name there,
(41:17):
and that's what they want to be. They want to
be a super Bowl contender.
Speaker 4 (41:21):
Yes, and I think all those things are possible. But
right now you're still averaging like sixteen late points again, right,
I mean, you got to get a whole touchdown per game.
More so, there's still lots of work to do. I
don't think anyone's implying differently. I mean, no, it's far
from fixed. But you can still see the picture, you know,
you can write the story.
Speaker 1 (41:39):
Yeah, I think I guess that's my point, Matt. For
the first time this year, so you know, again we've
looked at this team and said, okay, well, that was
a great drive that they had against the Raiders, and
you know that was a great way to finish the
game against the Rams. Well, where's the complete picture?
Speaker 2 (41:55):
Now?
Speaker 1 (41:55):
Was this a complete picture game? No, because you only
scored twenty points? But did you have four long drives?
Were you able to do some things that all of
a sudden you're like, well wait a minute, now, that
looks a little bit more. This game, to me looked
more like what the Steelers want to do and need
to do to win on a consistent basis than probably
any other game I've seen this year, including you know,
(42:18):
quality wins over the Ravens and Bault and Cleveland. I
thought this was the game that I'm I'm gonna look
back at and say, this is what they need to do,
and they need to get better at it because the
competition's gonna.
Speaker 2 (42:28):
Be better undred agree.
Speaker 4 (42:29):
I mean, this is the blueprint, and now improve upon it,
you know, I mean pretty it up from there. Last
little nugget too about some of the personnel stuff. I'm
a big Connor Hayward fan, but I think less could
be more with him too. I Mean, I think he's
destined to be a twenty to twenty five snap a
game guy, not fifty five, you know. I mean, you
bring him in a specialty product, and you know he's
(42:51):
running down on kickoffs and special teams and right up
wolf Sally. I thought this was the best guard game
of the year. That tandems turn to be pretty good.
Indeed were very good. On the Isaac's the touchdown run
by Nagi Harris at the beginning, Isaac Small pulled around
on what we used to call a thirty four lead
c That was I mean, that was in the playbook
(43:12):
back in the eighties when I was playing, And I
got to tell you, James Daniels crushed tier Tart to
the inside like I mean, he crushed him like a
bad Habit knocked him down down to the inside. And
then you got Isaac coming around the corner. And all
Naji had to do was follow the hair because the
hair is flowing out the back. You know, follow that hair,
and then Naji took the rest of it, got him
down about the four yard line, and Naji ran through
(43:34):
like three Titans to crash into the end zone, beautifully blocked.
Speaker 2 (43:37):
Everybody blocked well.
Speaker 3 (43:38):
Darnell Washington and man on the line right tackle Brodert
Jones came off, got two hands on Tierra Tark got
up into Jack Gibbons, the inside linebacker, took him out
of the play. And on the other side, you know,
you got yourself, Isaac come around the corner. Mason Cole
had a great block on the nose tackle, you know,
and then you've got your left tackle getting the job
(43:59):
done more just walled his man off, just like you're
supposed to do, and boom, you got a nice ten
yard touchdown run. That's the way it should be. That's
the way winning is done. To quote Rocky Yeah, and
it's about taking one eleventh.
Speaker 2 (44:13):
You do your one eleventh. That's all it is. Everybody
do your one eleventh.
Speaker 1 (44:16):
And when you see that, and when you see the
possibility of getting a friar mouth back, maybe Austin, you know,
this is basically his rookie year, getting more and more
integrated as a guy that could be more explosive. Still
has to happen, but not not hard to be a
little more optimistic, I think following his victory and just quickly, guys, look,
(44:37):
there's no such thing as a must win game until
if you lose it, you're out right, But this game
feels really important coming up Sunday against Green Bay, like
almost a game at home that you need to win
as a schedule is gonna get much tougher.
Speaker 4 (44:48):
Yeah, and I've dug into Green Bay as you might
have imagined, and it should be a very winnable game
to me. I mean, I think the Steelers are the
better team and nice.
Speaker 1 (44:57):
Long rest, so saying yeah, it's a big one though.
Speaker 3 (45:00):
Oh, you gotta say the Backs against the Walls, they
got the chip on their shoulder, Robert Conrad, I dare
you knock it off? You gotta make them go for
it like that because that's where they operate best.
Speaker 1 (45:11):
For the most complete selection of Steelers merchandise, from officials,
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directly from the team for Craig Wolfley, Matt Williams, and
(45:33):
I'm Rob King. Thanks for joining us for the point
after on Steelers Nation Radio on one O two point
five Dve
This is the Point After, presented by Parks Casino. Is
today your Lucky Day pet Parks by Brian Patton and Associates.
It's all about the benefits and by the Studers 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 for being with us today. Time for
this look back segment brought to you by Brian Patton
(00:31):
and Associates. It's all about the benefits and we're all
trying to search our memory banks to go back to Thursday.
Erase the days full of football yesterday. Four games worth
the football yesterday, beginning at nine thirty and ending at
about eleven thirty at night, nine thirty in the morning.
This students won twenty to sixteen guys to refresh your
memory last Thursday against the Tennessee Titans to improve to
(00:52):
five and three. Of the Titans kind of knocked back
a little bit. I mean, you're trying to distance yourself
from you know, the contenders and the non contender. You know,
you lose that game. You're four and four, they're four
and four. So a nice win for the Steelers all
told twenty to sixteen. Wolf, Let's begin with you sort
of just general takeaways from that victory over the Tennessee Titans.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Well, I think there's a number of things. Number One,
they won.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
You know, the thing about it is and what I
really enjoy is the fact that they came out and
they won the game. It was another close game, but
it was one that could have been a loss easily,
and yet they were able to come on and do
the things that they needed to do. You had some
people stand out the defensive line. I can't tell you
what I think Cam Hayward and the rest of that crew.
(01:35):
First of all, Captain Cam is a multiplier of the
men around him, not seeing sim the likes of a
guy like Joe Green yep, because the level of the
other players is elevated when he's on the field. And
I just loved the simplicity of one time he's sitting
there in a three technique and they come at a
double team and he I don't see this very often.
(01:57):
He Olay is the tackle trying to block down around
and makes it hit the guard wiff. They both he
made both of them wif. I've just you don't see
that very often. It's good to see that he's back.
He's doing a job. But that defensive line and I
think everybody else did a great job opening drive, you know, uh,
you know, scoring points.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Wow, isn't that great?
Speaker 1 (02:18):
You know, I mean, how about winning the toss and
electing to take the ball. Yeah, oh yeah, it's all
good stuff.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
So I was excited. Hey, you gotta win at any
point in the season. The most important thing is get
a W Matt without question, and you know, stick with Hayward.
He didn't have to play ninety percent of the snaps,
you know, they could. They got other guys in there.
Benton's involved.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
I was a little worried when Adams got hurt so
early too, because I really like how he's.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Been playing greed.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
But what's great about it is, like Wolfe said, you
get to win, you get Hayward back, and now you
have this nice long week for him to kind of
get back the things people heal. Guy like Friarmuth can
come off. I r at this point. Unfortunately Holk them
got hurt, but they've got McFarlane back today too. They
didn't let Hopkins kill him, especially in the second half.
Didn't let Henry kill him. I mean, they did a
(03:05):
reasonably good job on him. And maybe most importantly is
this rookie class really showed up strong. I mean, Jones
got to me was a surprise start at right tackle.
Porter looks like, to use a cliche, a shutdown type
corner that they haven't had in a long time. And
we were talking d line, but Benton's gonna be a
really good player.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Oh yeah, this guy's got a club Like you can't
believe this. He's if it's a Louisville Sluggers as big
as they go up the rack.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
I just kept they're thinking, like, boy, him and Cam
next to each other with Watton high Smith on the outside,
like that is a foursome man.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Yeah it is. It's now going back to Cam and
Charlie Batcher made a really good observation too. He not
only makes you better and is a multiplayer well, no
question about it, but he also and Charlie pointed this out,
he is so good at identifying screens, like if you
screen his way, you're in trouble. And they tried that
and it was a key play where Cam made a
(04:01):
tackle behind the line of scrimmage. He's he's this savvy
veteran who still has you know, something left in the tank.
He's at that sort of interesting point in your career.
I mean eventually, right, everybody gets older, everybody loses their productivity.
But he can still be productive and still bring that
high intelligence and football IQ level to the field.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
No question about it.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
You know who else helps Larry Ogan Joby, Yes, my goodness,
he's the sure a monster down there in the trenches
doing some good work. All these guys that we've been
you know, highlighting, they all did a really good job
on I think one of the most destructive running backs
in the business, if not the most, because when that
dude gets rolling, he is a scary thing to see.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Yeah, Casey made that ankle tackle that maybe we're thinking
about this game differently, so he comes up with a
key play. But when you look at the defense, obviously
the loss of Holcombe, you know, that's really unfortunate Matt,
because I thought he had really emerged as this Steelers
you know, most consistent and best all around a linebacker.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
Without question, and was a little worried without Meca in
this game even brought him up yet and maybe he's back,
who knows, I mean, that's on the horizon. At least
your two best communicators, from what I understand, were hold
him on the second level, Maca in the back end.
And I'm just thinking if they blow a coverage or
a line wrong or something along those things, you know,
they just don't get the play call incorrectly or something
(05:22):
like that. I think they'll be okay with Roberts and Alexander.
But I was really fond of the trio, you know,
and I agree that the top snapcount guy of the three.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Yeah, and we talked about that. Well, if we've praised
their middle linebacker play, I mean after week one, it's
been an issue clearly since the Shazier injury, it just
hasn't been the same. They haven't been able to find
the right combination of guys. Let's face it, they haven't
invested well, other than yeah, they haven't invested a ton
in that either salary cap wise, you know, in free
agency or draft wise picking somebody high. Obviously Bush didn't
(05:53):
work out for him, but of the mix and match
kind of things they've been doing the last couple of years,
this clear seemed like the best combination. Oh after week one,
you're looking at San Francisco like, oh my gosh, is
this gonna be the same thing. Well, since then it's
gone from okay, well that wasn't very good too. Well
they didn't kill him, to hang on a second. Now
(06:14):
they've been pretty good to Wow, this is really an
asset with this trio and now they're gonna have to
find a way to get by without Cohle.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
Yeah, the pair and the spare has now become a pair, right,
I mean that's the way it is. Yea. So now
you look along and say, well, down the road, we're
going to see a little more Mark Robinson, because this
would be an opportune, a very opportune time for him
to step forward and start to show that he's capable
of Marshall and some snaps out there. That's a great call,
no question about it. I also was, you know, and
(06:42):
here's the thing about it. Minca's Minca. There's no replacing Now,
you've obviously got to have somebody there.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
But I when.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
A guy like that steps out, it's opportune for a
guy to step in. And I gotta tell you, Ken
O'Neil did a fine job on the back end, and
when he got in around the box, he did some
really good work. I was very impressed by Kean O'Neil
and some of the things he was doing.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Well.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
You never remember having this conversation with Jamie Dixon, the
pit basketball coach. He had an injury to a player
and you know, the player is going to be out
for a while, and said, you know, is this possible,
this could make you better? And the paraphrase. He was like, well,
if we thought it would make us better that way, right,
you know that's what he would do. And I was like, oh,
yeahs you know, because a sportscaster, it just becomes ro
(07:29):
Well they'll be a better for it down the line. Well, well,
they really be better for it. But this is opportunity
now for these guys like it or not. They it's
thrust upon CAZy and Neil and some of these other guys.
And we saw in the absence of you know, Benton
getting more snaps with with Cam. Hey we gotten and
all of a sudden you think, hey, is this defense
(07:49):
you cant Minka back? And again, look, I point this
out a lot. You're paying top players top money. When
you're out, you can't help but have a drop off.
No question, there's a reason that you've elected to pay
these guys this amount of money because they're great players.
And then when you're paying them that amount of money,
there's not as much money to go around to everybody else.
(08:12):
That's to say nothing. I mean, it's not, you know,
denigrating the quality of your backups. It's just what your
different approach to your to your roster. So you get
Minca back in, you get Hayward back in, well, Hayward
obviously first, but you're hoping that, you know, as Wolf
alluded to, maybe this depth, maybe this cohesion gets just
a little bit better when you get Minca back and
guys maybe now have have some comfort level with being
(08:32):
out there in this defense.
Speaker 4 (08:34):
Yeah, and again some of the younger guys, including Leo
and Benton are played some more. Now maybe it's Mark
Robinson's turn to get ten or fifteen snaps a game,
and because other injuries are going to happen too, by
the way, I mean, it's just the way it works.
And Wolf mentioned Neil too. He has a history of
being a nickel linebacker too. I mean, if Minca is back,
(08:54):
that's a great point. You want to play too high
with him and KZ and he does great work near
the line of scrimmage. And sometimes a difference between in
the box strong safety and a linebacker is very different,
very much the same either way. But he has some
experience doing that in his career. And I'm really excited
about Porter, as we kind of mentioned too, and that.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Yeah, I want to gloss over that we'll get back.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Yeah, and allows.
Speaker 4 (09:14):
Peterson to do more of the stuff he brought him
in to do. And you know, even Rush played.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Right exact, Yeah, a lot, quite a bit. Actually, yeah,
we're gonna do you have something else to add?
Speaker 3 (09:22):
I was just gonna say the difference between a you know,
strong safety and a hybrid linebackers usually a couple outings
at Golden Corral.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
About twenty pounds. Yeah, yeah, but no, but it is.
But that's a great point that you can stretch him
to be kind of kind of a reserve at both
positions or guy who plays for you at both positions
at versatility position flexibility, Yeah, little position flexibility is a
good thing to have. But Matt's already made some comments
about about Joey Porter, and man, he really has looked apart.
(09:52):
I mean, we saw Hopkins get a ton of targets,
only four receptions and a lot of that not all
of it, but a lot of that was Joey Porter
following him around the field.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
You know, it's amazing.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
There was a report last week he said Joey Porter
asked Mike t to let him guard Andre Hopkins. I'm
thinking that's crazy, man, But you know he says something
about the young man, and again knowing his dad, now
it makes sense. You know, you think you stop, Yeah, no, exactly,
(10:21):
he was no waalfire. It was you know, Joey sr.
Is gonna you know, he took the position when he
took the field, you know, and so you see what
Joey Porter Junior does, and he had some unbelievable numbers,
and you know in the fact that he was following
around Hopkins and really it came down to five targets,
one catch seventeen yards when he was on the Americans.
(10:46):
I mean, that was the report I got. I didn't
sit down and go over point point like you do, Matt.
You know, the point is he was there. He did
a great job, locked in with this guy. And I
love the fact that he had enough what do you
want to say, confidence in himself to go and ask
I can do this.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
That was cool.
Speaker 4 (11:05):
So I think a lot of our listeners are probably
already excited about Porter. But assuming all that story is
true about going to coach Tomlin and all that, which
I think it is, I mean, but the fact is
he said yes. You know, like, how often do players
go to coaches, Hey, I want to throw touchdown passes.
I want to know no, no, you know right right,
(11:26):
We'll do the coaching and it's let alone a rookie.
And they said yes. And the reason I'm really bringing
that up is, as much as any team in the league,
they're a left right cornerback team. They're not a follow
you around guy. But if they think this dude's that special,
and they know way better than all of us that
we're willing to change what we do in the secondary
to get Porter on Hopkins no matter what, especially third
(11:48):
down the red zone, I think that speaks volume for
what they think he could be because they.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Could ask this a lot.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
I'm like Dion and Revis, I mean, that followed Jerry
Rice or whoever for the whole time like that. That's great,
but it's phasing out in the league because the other
ten have to adjust to you, you know, like if
you go in motion, you follow them. The other ten
have to change their responsibilities. It'd be a pretty special
corner to do, you know, shadow stuff.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Yeah, and I love it though. I mean because when
you think about the elements that can help make a
great football team, and they always evolve, right. You know,
when you had going back to two thousand and one,
he had Kendre Bell at the middle linebacker position with
James Ferrier, Well, you're going to blitz more up the
middle of the field, right. Kendra Bell's had nine sacks
that year. It was the defensive rookie of the year.
(12:34):
When you don't have him, you're going to adjust a
little bit. I mean, there's constant little adjustment.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
About Kendro Bell. Kendro Bell had one one rule. Only
the ball came at him, run straight to destroyed. If
the ball goes away from him, to follow it down
and destroy it.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
He was a terrific player. But you know, so obviously
I've been doing some research on other things here, so
these these examples are coming up. But you look at
the seventies Steelers, right, so clear at the beginning of
the decade, run run, you know, you're a running team.
And then towards the end of the decade, when you
win that last Super Bowl, You're relying more on your
passing game. You're always in a state of evolution as
a team, right, You're always in a state of evolution.
(13:12):
I don't remember the last time to Steel has really
had that one guy where you said, you go follow
him around, you shut him down. It's really kind of
a nice right.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Here and there.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Yeah, right, yeah, you didn't ask him to do it
a lot. I don't, I don't recall. But you bring
that and you get a healthy cam, you get Minkes
the Eraser on the back end, you get those two
you know, outside linebackers. Hei Smith dominated in this game,
as I as I. We talked about that on another program.
I fully expected him to. He was just a dominating force.
(13:45):
But you get all those that's one more element to
bring to this defense, one more wrinkle that can make
things very, very difficult for opposing offenses.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
Alex Highsmith has been bringing more pressure than a shook
up soda can. I mean, he really has done a
great job. And what he did last Sunday was just
I'm sorry, Thursday was just out of sight, you know.
And then you've got TJ who was absorbing so much
of the offensive coordinator's attention and the offensive line coach.
I mean, at one point it looked like he was
(14:16):
triple teamed. You know, you get you get the wall
going his way, you get back going his way, you
get a tight end over there, you get a slot
receiver in a tight formation, just you know, spread it
spread a little bit out there, a little.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
My goodness, man deals with.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
A lot yep, still much to talk about, a lot
of great things, and hopefully you know we're gonna look
back and think, hey, this is a building block victory
for a team with an arrow pointed upward. You guys
on board me with that good Oh yeah, that's what
we're going to talk about when we continue on the
Point After. It'steurs Nation Radio and one O two point
(14:52):
five DV. This is the Point After, presented by Parks Casino.
Is today your Lucky Day bet Parks by Brian Patton Associates.
It's all about the benefits and by the Steelers Pro
(15:15):
Shop get it direct from the team at shop dot
Steelers dot com. Coming to you. Following the Steelers twenty
to sixteen victory over the Titans and improved them to
five and three. Alongside Craig Wolfley and Matt Williamson. I'm
rob king, Matt. We talked about this briefly. You win
the opening toss, you elect to receive, you get into
immediately get into a third and six, and you're thinking,
(15:37):
oh no, not again. The only team that has not
scored a point on the opening drive. Will they convert
that eleven place seventy eight yard drive. I love the
fact that they took the ball first. I love the
fact that they attacked. You know, we also talked about
this earlier in the week. I thought against this Titans
team and I thought that the listen maybe was the
(15:59):
same game plan they head against the Jaguars and it
just didn't work out. I love the idea of against
some of these teams, throwing the ball to set up
the run, as opposed to the traditional run the ball.
Then you get into play action and then you can
start passing the ball. And on that opening drive, eleven plays,
three runs, eight passes. You know, Kenny Picktt missed a
couple of throws, but they were able to overcome them
(16:20):
and march down the field. One of four long drives.
They did not have the short field much in this game.
One of four long drives in this one winds up
in a touchdown. Loved the way they started this game.
Speaker 4 (16:30):
Yeah, and it's a pretty solid defense too, especially upfront.
I mean, the Titans are great against the run. They
force you to throw and you can throw on their secondary,
but you know, Jeffrey Simmons is a handful and that
line's an issue obviously. Yeah, their first down success rate
was really really good too. I mean they were too
(16:51):
often on a first down they get the second and eight,
second and nine. And this game was much much better
than any thus far. And as I'm sure Wolf's just
chomping the bit to talk about, they ran the ball well,
you know, and that was the backbone. It was like
the second half of last year. I saw a lot
more polling linemen that Jones.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Dude can move some people to. I mean, like I
loved all they ran the ball.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Well, let's let's start with that before because because there's
a there's a lot of meat on the bone as
far as running the game, I wanted to ask you
about Broderick Jones. First of all, you know, you put
one guy in there, you're going again. I mean, Jeffrey
Simmons is a is a terrific player. They have three
very good pass rushers, very capable guys, maybe not elite guys,
but guys that can get to the you know, Autry
(17:36):
Key and uh, who am I forgetting the third? Yeah?
Landry right, Landry right, thank you. Those three guys can
really get to the passer. The pickt wasn't sacked, I'm
not mistaken. And the running game was terrific. And I
know you inserted one guy in there. I don't want
to give him all the the praise because he wasn't
(17:57):
blocking Simmons. And they did a great job on Simmons
on the inside. He's just a monster offensive line play
though in general terrific. And man, I thought Roderick Jones
looked really good. Wolf your thoughts.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
He did very well. Look, this guy is going to
be great someday. Okay, he's got some work to do,
He's got some things he's got to clean up. But
I was really impressed with the way he handled it.
Saw him pregame, had that that I'm pretty nervous look
on his face, you know, And and the young man
just acquitted himself very well, and I was really happy
(18:33):
for him. I know how those first starts and second
starts and you know, everything go. You can you can
have those unmitigated disasters such as I suffered my first
year of starting. Yeah, you know it was amazing, Ill
look back go only by an act of God was
able to go to year number two and starting it
seemed like with the calamities. But you know, he did
(18:55):
everything well. He's an athlete, he moves well, he's using
his hands better. And what I liked was he had
a natural good kickstep out and was able to take
that inside out position on whoever was out outside of him,
which is important because one of the hardest things to
do is to switch your GPS locator from the left
(19:16):
side to the right side and play with the same
sort of inside out positioning that you need when you're
facing some really good, high level pass rushers.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Yeah. How big of it? How big of a Is
it a big thing or a little thing?
Speaker 2 (19:29):
I think it's a big thing.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
It's gonna be a big thing when you're younger.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
Wait a minute, Alanica says, it was nothing. Okay, I'm
just That's what I'm telling you. Because we had this
conversation because afterwards, when he was playing left guard, they
moved him not the right tackle, you know, every third
down to face, you know, a hot rusher back in
when all the right tackles were hurt. Okay, And so
I was laughing with him about it after the game,
and I was saying how I had to do the
(19:52):
same thing, and he goes, I think the tackles are stealing.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
It's harder on.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
The inside the pass protect and I'm like, going, well,
I guess if you're a budding hull of fame, it
wasn't quite so easy.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
So Rob I was.
Speaker 4 (20:05):
Shocked, though, Like being there watching every training camp practice,
more played some right tackle right So I assumed, if
if Jones is going in, he's only really played the
left dan, you can flop. But they didn't. This is
a total tinfoil hat thing. But maybe it was you
got some bad habits at left tackle. Just don't think anymore.
Just go out there and mash the dude ahead of you.
(20:25):
Do something different. I don't know, I mean, but it
worked out extremely well. I was a little suspect with
how they were going to align them, but man, I
thought it was really blown away. Not to be too
vulgar here, but the way I've been described moving left
tackle to right tackle is like using the other hand
to wipe yourself.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
I've heard that you can get a little messy. Yeah,
let's not even go there, shall we.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
Yeah, what I will say is you don't like to
move two guys to accomplish one position change, right, you know,
so if you can do that one and let's face it,
this kid is an athlete, he's a budding of he
has to play. Yeah, he's gonna be one of these
budding stars in the making if he just keeps working
and going about his business.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
But he should be able to handle that switch.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Yeah, hopefully we're going first and hopefully we're going to
be looking at this draft class as you mentioned, and say, wow,
that was a turning point for the Steelers when they
got all that talent. You know, Benton's looked terrific on
the defensive line, and you mentioned Porter looking like a
butting shutdown corner and Broderick Jones again when you talk about,
you know, from where the Steelers have had to draft,
(21:32):
and look, they've had some wonderful tackles. They've had some
very good, solid offensive tackles. It's very far right, the
superstar perennial Pro Bowl guys going to top ten, which
is why the Steelers have always been able to get
you know, and have done a great job draft and
guards centers, those guys that go traditionally a little bit
(21:52):
later on in the draft to be able to get
a guy like this. This might be again, you need
the pass rushers, you need to quarterback, obviously, you need
you'd love to have a shutdown corner. You'd love to
have a number one receiver. You'd love to have a
running back. Well, you'd also love to have a stud
offensive tackle hopefully too. This would be nice if this
guy wound up Roderick Jones being one of those guys.
Speaker 4 (22:14):
Yeah, I mean during the Kevin Colbert era, which was
twenty years. I think you would take their average draft
position that they earned, not where they picked like we
trade up for Bush. I mean where they earned was
well over twenty is between twenty four and twenty fifth.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
Overall, it's crazy, crazy, and they still won.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
They still want to right.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
It really is amazing.
Speaker 4 (22:32):
You can get the castro, you can get pouncy, but
you can't get Roderick Jones twenty four.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
You just can't get the tackles. They just are gone.
Speaker 4 (22:39):
You had no chance you'd have to try.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
And usually the corners are gone too, because we talked
about that position as well, That's why. And usually the
receivers are gone, right, there's certain and usually the quarterbacks you're.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Going on Day two.
Speaker 4 (22:49):
Receivers, you know, they kind of cut corner at corner
a little bit during the Lebo era and focus on
the front seven. They don't have the shutdown porter types,
you know, because they're gone. You know, you got to
think about what you're delt. I mean, right, same thing's
true for the Patriots, so they're not drafting Jonathan Ogden, right.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
But there's also you have to I mean you have
to credit. I mean you get JJ Watt ORJ Baker,
pardon TJ Watt as late as they got him. I mean,
you redo that draft wards he going, where's Cam Hey?
Speaker 2 (23:14):
We're going?
Speaker 1 (23:14):
Yeah. So great to see that. And you know, when
I looked at the running game, one of the things
that I did want to point out was the Steelers
have not been able to say this to a five
and three football team. They haven't been able to play
enough complimentary football. It's hard for me to say, well,
how good can this defense be? When they're out on
(23:35):
the field all the time. This is something we talked
about last week all the time. Well, they're out in
the field all the time. In the first half, they
gave up ten points. Now in the second half, they
ran about ten times for sixty four yards in the
first half. Second half they ran for over one hundred
yards on the ground. They continued to run at a
good clip as far as yards per carry. They gave
the defensive break and lo and behold, the defense only
(23:57):
gave up three points in the second half. I thought
the second half of this game was the best complimentary
football as far as the Student's offense being able to
give the defensive breather and for us to be able
to get a glimpse. This is why I talk about
this game maybe being a foundational game or Okay, did
you beat a world beating team in the Titans. No,
(24:19):
but did you lace the framework the foundation for what
you need to do to be successful. I thought in
the second half, that's the closest they've come all season long.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
Well, the one thing you know for sure is that
you've got the When you've got the ball, they can't score.
That's right, GA mean pretty much less unless you know
something totally Castra some.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
People, you know, have looked at this to his offense
and said, let's give them the ball backs. We have a
chance to score. But but, but but the offense has
was much better in this game.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
There's no question about it. And think about it again,
Kenny didn't hit the dirt. And let me say this
too about Ken. Anybody think that you know what, just
was it seventy two or ninety six hours before he
ruled out of a football game?
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
You know, anybody want to give him some props like stam,
I'm going no, I'm gonna start and I'm gonna play.
Did anybody think that maybe those ribs are a little
bit more tenderized than he's letting on, because, you know what,
he's not seeking comfort. He's not sitting out there lamenting
the fact. Yeah, well I didn't do this and I
should have done that. No, the kid's a football player.
He plays ball.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
You know.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
He comes out and he said immediately I'm ready to
go for the Thursday night game. I thought, you know what,
that in and of itself is a rallying point. If
I'm an offensive lineman and that happens, you know, I'm
going to be all over whatever I gotta do to
make sure that he doesn't get hit. Bradshaw's last game
December fifteenth, nineteen eighty three, when he blew out his elbow,
(25:40):
the mantra of the whole week long was don't let
Bradshaw get hit.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
I probably had the worst follow in the history of
the NFL.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
When I tackled the guy, jumped and everything else, but
I wasn't gonna let him hit Bradshaw, you know. And
that's the point, you know, you get a guy like
that and you realize that not only does he come
out and kind of inspire you, and he raises the
level the other people around him.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
I'm sorry, that's how I feel.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
I look at it that way, and I think about
myself in that huddle with a guy like Terry Bradshaw.
You know you should respect that.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
I don't think anybody, whether you are in the Kenny
Pickett camp or not in the Kenny Pickett camp. And
of course just open up your phone and go to X.
I guess it's called now yeah, whatever, and uh, and
see the myriad of opinions on this. But I don't
if you're a Kenny Pickett detractor, you cannot There's two
(26:30):
things to me, you cannot find fault with one. His toughness.
He's you know, he showed it again. But he hangs
in the pocket and takes hits and delivers the football.
He's a tough kid, foresure. And his fourth quarter play
is just it's unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Resources Yeah, I mean it is.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
It's unbelievable what he's been able to accomplish in the
fourth quarter and and did again in this game.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (26:56):
And character leadership. I'm gonna go back just a quick
thing here because you mentioned complimentary football and we're referencing
time of possession. So going into the by last year,
I mean that was about this time, that was Week nine,
that was you know, Halloween ish. They were basically last
in the league in time of possession and they end
up finishing like fourth or fifth best. You know how
(27:16):
hard that is to do, right, you know, pick up
thirty seconds this game, twenty seconds this game, I mean
to move all the way up to being one of
the best in the league. And if they could get
anywhere close to that level in terms of just possessing
the football and sustaining some longer drives even with their
field goals, I mean, it's just giving the d a
rest I think is just so valuable. And we actually
(27:37):
we talked about how good this pass rush it is
and how good Watt is in particular of course in
Watt's career and really in the last couple of years,
how many times in the fourth quarter have the Steelers
have the lead, The towels are flying, it's loud, and
everyone knows that you're just teeing off, not very off
it right, with a lead.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Right now, that's a great point. That's a great point, right, yeah,
I mean, there's it is one possession game after one
possession game, after one possession game, and I still believe that,
you know, there's there's two things that would take this
defense and put it over the top. One is to
see it out on the field less frequently, right, the
(28:17):
old adage is what you know, the the less you're
out there, the better you play sort of the defense, right,
And the other is to get a lead, you know,
and again, you know, it's it's hard not to go
back to that formula of the two thousands, right. You know,
Jerome bettis now after you're just you know, dominating in
the second half running the football. He pushes one over
(28:39):
right to make it thirteen to three in the fourth quarter.
Oh hell, you know, Joey Porter and James Herrit's are like,
thank you, right, because now they could just bring it.
You know, there's no no question right at that just
would I think that's a great point, Matt. If you
could one control of the clock and rest that defense
(29:00):
and two get some you know, double digit leads, more
than one score leads, that would be nice.
Speaker 3 (29:06):
Think about this is and that's starting to sound a
little bit like circa two thousand and four five six,
the guy named Big Ben, you know, started off throwing
for a buck fifty two hundred and you got a
running back that's killing it in the second half, you
got a defense that's pinning its years back. Oh you
know that kind of it kind of reminded me of
Thursday Night's game.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
Yeah, that formula. That formula was the best. You know that.
Look again, you used the first half. You ran the football,
but you established it. You could run the football. You
threw the football. You established it you could throw the football.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Right.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
You made Tennessee play you wantest and then you just
jammed it down their throat.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Right.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
You held them to three points in the second half.
That's a really good formula for winning football, especially with
the way that the team is constructed currently. You're not
going to say, this isn't Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes. You're
not going to say, just go ahead and throw it
forty times. That's just not the way. They're not going
to do that right now.
Speaker 4 (30:04):
They're not going to do that, not as the initial
game plan. I mean, as you mentioned, sometimes the fourth
quarter goes berserk compared to the first. Reefrunders the terms
of Kenny, which is a great feather in his cap too,
But you're one hundred percent right. I mean, that's tried
and true football. And one thing I'll throw on top
of it is if you look at Kenny's passing chart
from that game, a lot of it's to the flats
(30:27):
and wolf reference.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
I mean, he had ribs.
Speaker 4 (30:30):
I mean, I don't think they wanted him getting hit,
and you know he's not going to hold the ball
three seconds and seven step drops and things like that.
But all that short passing also helps time and possession.
You know, they're quick, easy throws, long extended handoff to
some degree. You know the backs are catching balls, you know,
so you can do it a lot of ways.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Yep. Well, the Steelers did it in a bunch of ways.
They win by the final score of twenty to sixteen.
More in this game, a little quick peek ahead to
the game coming up on Sunday against the Packers as
well when we continue on the Point After on Steelers
Nation Radio and one O two point five DVE. This
(31:13):
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. Thanks for being with us. If you're just
joining us, we have Matt Williamson, we have Craig Wolfley.
I'm Rob King. We are going over the Steelers twenty
(31:34):
to sixteen victory against the Titans on Thursday night, that
improve the Steelers to five and three, put them in
playoff position, and continue to get them rolling, keep them rolling.
And again I'm going to make the comment that I
think this is the game that maybe they're going to
springboard from and you know, the getting healthier again. You'd
(31:56):
like to get Minka Fitzpatrick in there. You'd like to
get friar Mouth back in there. But you know, before
we completely talk about this and look at some bigger
picture stuff, completely leave this game behind. I thought, again, Matt,
you talked about this time of possession a year ago.
The Steelers. The drives did not come cheaply. This wasn't
a game in which, you know, the ball was turned
(32:16):
over and they got the ball to thirty five yard line,
ten play seventy eight yard drive, eleven play ninety two
yard drive, ten play sixty five yard drive, fifteen play
seventy yard drive, those latter two winding up in field goals.
But the ability to possess the ball, move the ball,
particularly as the game went on, go on those long
(32:36):
drives that are supposed to be unsustainable. Only the Chiefs
and the Steelers can do that, right.
Speaker 4 (32:42):
Yeah, they were the top two and ten play drives
are more last year the Steelers and Chiefs.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
That's not bad company to be. Yeah, And as much
as we would like to see more things open up,
I think that that's probably the formula that they're going
to have to go with.
Speaker 4 (33:00):
Yeah, However, I'm not to dispute that at all. That
was kind of a backhanded compliment. Last year all the
leer strives, sure, you know, I mean because they were
also the least explosive offense in the league. Yes, they're
not the least explosive offense in the league anymore. I
mean we're seeing chunk runs from nausey from Warren. Pickens
has absolutely proven that he can get downfield and make
big plays. He's been slow lately, but he's kind of
(33:22):
doing the watt dirty work taking all the attention from
everybody else. Austin's a big play guy. I can't wait
to get Friarmuth back, to be honest, I.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
Mean I think this.
Speaker 4 (33:31):
I think this offense site wrote an article this week
this offense is kind of lacking a third weapon. I mean,
if friar Mouth can come back and not replace Alan Robinson.
But like when they traded Claypool last year, they went
from an extremely heavy and heavy eleven team, you know,
with three receivers, to much much more twelve, and Friarmuth
(33:53):
acted a lot as the slot. I mean, call him
a tight end, call him you know, Kelsey's a receiver.
He's really you called the tight end. But if you
ask him to do more of that than the inline
blocking because we talked rookies, but Washington really played well
in this game too. You know, his name didn't come up,
but to me, he's the bigger, better version of Zach
Gentry that can bring more athleticism. Maybe you go to
(34:14):
more twelve with friar Mouth, take some things off Robinson's play.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
Well, it's hard to go to all your personnel packages.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
If you play three snap.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
When you keep going three and out right. And that's
I mean, it's obviously simple. But we can talk about
all you want wolf about well you want to see this.
Both running backs, by the way, I thought they were
utilized great. I thought they played great. And we're talking
about off air about you know, Kenny missed some throws early.
You know Kenny was, you know, nursing sore ribs. That's
not an easy task. You think about Pickens, right, So
(34:46):
you know Pickens dragged a second foot and I'm sure
once he has a moment to reflect on that, he's
going to say, should have got the second foot in,
should have scored a touchdown. But on the opening drive
he might not have been the opening drive And I'm
trying to remember which drive it was where Kenny I
actually was one of the three and outs because they
had two three and outs in the first half, then
won late in the game. Kenny under through Austin a
(35:07):
little bit, but he had Pickens wide open crossing the
field relatively easy throw as he stepped up. You know,
he puts that on Pickens that might go for twenty
five thirty yards. You might be looking at, you know,
four receptions sixty eight yards and a touchdown for Pickens
as opposed to the numbers he did wind up having.
And so you know, people talked about how he was
(35:28):
upset and he you know, deleted stuff on his Instagram
or whatever, you know, But I can't I can't say
that that. You know that I'm that I'm afraid they're
going to lose Pickens at this.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
Stage of the game. No, I don't think so. Look, hey,
you know, everybody's in the big boy league. You know,
you got to be a big boy.
Speaker 3 (35:45):
Up there and and handle your business and do so
constructively in as part of a team.
Speaker 2 (35:50):
I'm sure that it.
Speaker 3 (35:51):
You know, sometimes you get a little hot headed and
he might spout off something or somebody makes more of
it on the outside than what was on the inside.
I mean, Zukes Back in the day, we had people
that would call Myron Cope show because you're They're sitting
in a restaurant, overheard one of the players talking to
his wife while having dinner, and all of a sudden
that became like, you know, this issue that that Cope was,
(36:12):
you know, talking about on the air.
Speaker 1 (36:14):
You know.
Speaker 3 (36:14):
So I don't worry about that. I think that they
can handle well enough the things that are within the
four walls of the locker room themselves, and you have
leadership that's capable of helping to focus that that intent,
you know, in whatever way is desirable for them. So
I'm not too worried about it.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
Now. It reminds me of my uncle Richie was building
his cabin in upstate, New York. You know, great guy,
and he you know, he hired me out to help him.
But I but I know about construction. You could fit
in a thimble, I mean so yeah, I mean I
could hammer and nail. You know, three out of four
would go in straight, right, not too bad, So I
would I would be asking him questions and and uh,
you know, he had hearing age, and finally when he
(36:53):
just got exasperated and turned his hearing age down so
he couldn't, you know, So hey, Uncle Richard, I just
even just turned out his hearing age and Mark, well,
that's what a quarterback has to do, right. So you
know this receivers yelling that guy wants the ball more,
how come it? You just have to tune that out.
You have to, you know, have the old Uncle Richie
turned down the volume thing and just ignore whatever anybody
else is saying, because you've got your own job to.
Speaker 4 (37:15):
Worry about, without question. And I think it's safe to
say that Pickens is somewhat volatile and is absolutely extremely competitive,
you know. I mean that was the that was not
the knock, but that was how he's considered a Georgia too.
I mean, he likes the block, he wants the ball.
I think coach Tomlins had some history with wide receiver.
Speaker 1 (37:35):
Yes, not too worried about that, and I do. I
think Matt brings up a great point about Friar Mooth.
So we talk about, you know, the piece is starting
to drop into place around this team. Broderick Jones. Is
he going to get back out there and start again
this week? Is he going to help maybe solidify that
offensive line coming off their best performance of the year,
(37:57):
you have Porter, you know, can he can he chain
a little bit what you can do defensively. And then
for me, the injured guys and and look, you know,
we're terrible to see Hulkom get hurt. You know, Montrevius
Adams hurts the ankle, and you know we talked about
that from a personnel standpoint, From a personal standpolay, it's
terrible to see and we're sorry to see that. But
guys have to step up. Guys are coming back that
(38:17):
are going to be healthy. I think McFarlane can help
the team in the way that in a certain manner,
I thought he looked really good on He was like
one of the few guys in San Francisco that I
circled and said, hey, this guy played a really good game.
He had lots of practice, of course, you know, getting
kickoff returns unfortunately in that game against San Francisco. But
the two big guys to me that are out there
(38:38):
Menca clearly, but friar Mouth and what he can do
to help this offense, and if they can integrate him
to the offense. And you know, look, you gotta get
more snaps, You got to get more first downs. But
you've seen a little bit of Connor. Heyward, here you're
seeing a little bit more of Washington. Well, friar Moot's
a pretty big piece, larger than just a complimentary role.
(38:59):
I think you begin to think, well, wait a minute,
maybe there is more to this offense. Maybe it will
go back to the evolution that we were expecting, you know,
coming out of camp kay Laynegg against the forty nine ers, Right,
Deontay Johnson gets hurt and then fire Mouth gets hurt,
and now you're missing, uh, you're just kind of missing
(39:19):
components yet, right, so you're missing all these things on offense. Well,
now you're starting to get some of these back, and
I'm wondering, now, could this be an offense that can
play like we saw in the second half yesterday or
Thursday night against the Titans? Can they Can they be
that kind of offense? But they can also maybe have
some of those explosive plays and maybe be more of
a handful for teams to deal with. When you get
(39:41):
a friar Mooth back.
Speaker 3 (39:42):
There's no question, especially if you're not punting fifty percent
of the time, right, all Right, when you're able to
go on all these double digit drives, that's where Pat
Fryarmoof's targets is going to go up. You know, those
the ability to be able to target him more than
once or twice or three times a game. That's he's
capable of being targeted a good five to seven times
(40:03):
a game and being able to deliver a lot in
those five to seven times. And certainly you can't do
that if you're doing the three and outs all the time,
right So one of the things you want to do
is re establish that rhythm and timing that gives you
double digit drives and control the ball, do all that
you know you need to do. But I just think
he'll be a great addition because again, nobody on the
(40:24):
Steelers team that I can think of right now can
work the inside numbers as well as Pat does. I mean,
get on a safety. He is very quarterback friendly.
Speaker 1 (40:33):
And it is simple but simple to say, and we
said it a couple of times here, but still, Matt,
you get those first downs and now you begin to
maybe unlock some of these personnel groupings, some of these
things that are going to make it more difficult for
a team. Do I think this team's going to come
out and be a thirty point a game team. No,
but do I think they can score in the mid twenties, consistently,
(40:54):
control the ball, keep the defense off the field. I
do think there's upside in the offense to do that,
and with this defense, if they did that, I think
that would be good enough. Now you still have to
do it, but it'd be good enough for this team
to be, you know, perceived differently around the league, because,
let's face it, when they start talking about super Bowl
contenders right now, you're not seeing the Steelers name there,
(41:17):
and that's what they want to be. They want to
be a super Bowl contender.
Speaker 4 (41:21):
Yes, and I think all those things are possible. But
right now you're still averaging like sixteen late points again, right,
I mean, you got to get a whole touchdown per game.
More so, there's still lots of work to do. I
don't think anyone's implying differently. I mean, no, it's far
from fixed. But you can still see the picture, you know,
you can write the story.
Speaker 1 (41:39):
Yeah, I think I guess that's my point, Matt. For
the first time this year, so you know, again we've
looked at this team and said, okay, well, that was
a great drive that they had against the Raiders, and
you know that was a great way to finish the
game against the Rams. Well, where's the complete picture?
Speaker 2 (41:55):
Now?
Speaker 1 (41:55):
Was this a complete picture game? No, because you only
scored twenty points? But did you have four long drives?
Were you able to do some things that all of
a sudden you're like, well wait a minute, now, that
looks a little bit more. This game, to me looked
more like what the Steelers want to do and need
to do to win on a consistent basis than probably
any other game I've seen this year, including you know,
(42:18):
quality wins over the Ravens and Bault and Cleveland. I
thought this was the game that I'm I'm gonna look
back at and say, this is what they need to do,
and they need to get better at it because the
competition's gonna.
Speaker 2 (42:28):
Be better undred agree.
Speaker 4 (42:29):
I mean, this is the blueprint, and now improve upon it,
you know, I mean pretty it up from there. Last
little nugget too about some of the personnel stuff. I'm
a big Connor Hayward fan, but I think less could
be more with him too. I Mean, I think he's
destined to be a twenty to twenty five snap a
game guy, not fifty five, you know. I mean, you
bring him in a specialty product, and you know he's
(42:51):
running down on kickoffs and special teams and right up
wolf Sally. I thought this was the best guard game
of the year. That tandems turn to be pretty good.
Indeed were very good. On the Isaac's the touchdown run
by Nagi Harris at the beginning, Isaac Small pulled around
on what we used to call a thirty four lead
c That was I mean, that was in the playbook
(43:12):
back in the eighties when I was playing, And I
got to tell you, James Daniels crushed tier Tart to
the inside like I mean, he crushed him like a
bad Habit knocked him down down to the inside. And
then you got Isaac coming around the corner. And all
Naji had to do was follow the hair because the
hair is flowing out the back. You know, follow that hair,
and then Naji took the rest of it, got him
down about the four yard line, and Naji ran through
(43:34):
like three Titans to crash into the end zone, beautifully blocked.
Speaker 2 (43:37):
Everybody blocked well.
Speaker 3 (43:38):
Darnell Washington and man on the line right tackle Brodert
Jones came off, got two hands on Tierra Tark got
up into Jack Gibbons, the inside linebacker, took him out
of the play. And on the other side, you know,
you got yourself, Isaac come around the corner. Mason Cole
had a great block on the nose tackle, you know,
and then you've got your left tackle getting the job
(43:59):
done more just walled his man off, just like you're
supposed to do, and boom, you got a nice ten
yard touchdown run. That's the way it should be. That's
the way winning is done. To quote Rocky Yeah, and
it's about taking one eleventh.
Speaker 2 (44:13):
You do your one eleventh. That's all it is. Everybody
do your one eleventh.
Speaker 1 (44:16):
And when you see that, and when you see the
possibility of getting a friar mouth back, maybe Austin, you know,
this is basically his rookie year, getting more and more
integrated as a guy that could be more explosive. Still
has to happen, but not not hard to be a
little more optimistic, I think following his victory and just quickly, guys, look,
(44:37):
there's no such thing as a must win game until
if you lose it, you're out right, But this game
feels really important coming up Sunday against Green Bay, like
almost a game at home that you need to win
as a schedule is gonna get much tougher.
Speaker 4 (44:48):
Yeah, and I've dug into Green Bay as you might
have imagined, and it should be a very winnable game
to me. I mean, I think the Steelers are the
better team and nice.
Speaker 1 (44:57):
Long rest, so saying yeah, it's a big one though.
Speaker 3 (45:00):
Oh, you gotta say the Backs against the Walls, they
got the chip on their shoulder, Robert Conrad, I dare
you knock it off? You gotta make them go for
it like that because that's where they operate best.
Speaker 1 (45:11):
For the most complete selection of Steelers merchandise, from officials,
sideline gear, and authentic memorabilia to our extensive selection of
jerseys and Terrible towels, visit one of the official Steelers
Pro Shop stores located at Akroscher Stadium, Grove City Premium Outlets,
or Tang Route Lets, or visit as online at shop
dot Steelers dot com for all your Steelers merchandise needs
directly from the team for Craig Wolfley, Matt Williams, and
(45:33):
I'm Rob King. Thanks for joining us for the point
after on Steelers Nation Radio on one O two point
five Dve
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