The Point After - Winning in Seattle

Rob, Matt, and Wolf recap the Steelers' seemingly improbable victory in Seattle, winning in the city for the first time in 40 years.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
This is the Point After presented by Parks Casino. Is
today You're Lucky Day bet Parks by Brian Patton and Associates.
It's all about the benefits and by this year there's
pro shop get it direct from the team at shop
dot Steelers dot com. Alongside Craig Wofley and Matt Williamson.
I'm Rob king, thanks for being with us. It is
time for our taking a look back segment. This look

(00:30):
back segment is brought to you by Brian and Patton
and Associates. It's all about the benefits. We're looking back
to this year's thirty to twenty three victory over Seattle,
and we're gonna look back even thurd of the beginning
of show.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
Go.

Speaker 3 (00:42):
Come on, Yeah.

Speaker 4 (00:45):
I'm getting that eighty nine feeling, buddy, just saying, you know,
after a rocky start, okay, very very poor performances up
and down the board, you know that the season comes
down to the week number thirteen. We're sitting there at
six and seven, and I'm sitting there thinking because remember
back then it was a six only sixteen not seventeen games.

Speaker 3 (01:06):
Sure, I'm sure never thought i'd have to.

Speaker 4 (01:08):
Say that, but anyhow, you know, we reeled off three
straight wins one two, three, and all of a sudden,
we find ourselves able to go into the wild card
weekend against Houston, who beat us twice during the regular season,
and we beat them in overtime in Houston. Then went
to Denver and came within one point of beating the Broncos.

(01:28):
They scored to take the lead with two twenty two
left in the game, and that game would have put
us into the AFC Championship game.

Speaker 3 (01:35):
We had on the last drive, we had a drop pass.

Speaker 4 (01:37):
It would have put us in field goal range for
Gary Anderson to boot the winner. And it didn't come
to fruition. But you know what you start to feel.
You never know how things take off. And it took
off in the form of a guy named Merril Hodge
who rushed didn't have one one hundred yard game during
the entire season, but in the fourteenth week he rushed
for forty three yards, sixty three yards, and then ninety

(02:00):
yards in the seasons finale, and then in Houston he
went for one hundred yards and one hundred and twenty
in Denver, and we're just gaining momentum and.

Speaker 1 (02:08):
You just never know, Baby, So that's that's that Merril
Hodge was the guy. I think everybody in Steelers Nation
Matt is pointing to Mason Rudolph as the guy. I mean,
he comes in and you get three hundred and ninety
seven yards of total offense against the Bengals. We know
how hard four hundred yards has been to come by,
been hard to come.

Speaker 3 (02:27):
By for the Steelers.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
I think I got that right there to you. Four
hundred and sixty eight yards this past week. Four hundred
and sixty eight yards of offense under Mason Rudolph.

Speaker 5 (02:36):
So not to burst any bubbles, but I'm not super
impressed with the Bengals and Seahawk defenses. I don't think
that's the eighty five Bears. That doesn't matter. I mean,
this guy has come in and played lights out. He's
running the plays like you're supposed to. He's doing his job,
you know, to kind of quote Belichick, I mean, he's
dirting the ball when it's not there. He's living to
fight another day. He looks like a professional quarterback that understands,

(02:59):
you know, to win in this league. And he's playing
very very well, and they're.

Speaker 2 (03:03):
Running the football wolf, you know. I mean, that's acuity
of it. I mean, everything this whole season has started or.

Speaker 4 (03:08):
Ended with their ability to run the football. And they're
running the ball. Well, man, I got to tell you something.
You dial up that very first play. You got a
double team with Isaac Sewelmalo and you got Danny Moore together.
They double team Leonard Williams and they rolled him out
like an iron board on his back. I mean, just
double team the daylights out of him. Not you got
plus four or five something like that. But it set

(03:28):
a tone, and that tone was great.

Speaker 1 (03:31):
Okay, And I want to talk about the offensive line,
but let's continue to talk about the running backs. I
was watching Good Morning Football this morning.

Speaker 3 (03:36):
Who wants running back?

Speaker 1 (03:38):
You know the angry Run of the Week, which I
think Nagi's won like five times this year, and so
they were going back and forth. So they had a
fifth place person then the fourth best run they had
Jalen Warren third best run, Najie Harris second best run,
Jalen Warren best run. Because they were just laying guys
out with stiff arms, and you know, Jalen Warren had
that that one run towards the middle the field. We

(04:00):
started left, cutback, right, broke six tackles. I mean, these guys, uh,
they do. They run angry, they really do.

Speaker 5 (04:08):
And with all respect to the blocking, which was very
good and that includes Alan Robinson and Mouth and Washington
and all those peripheral guys, I thought this one was
more about the backs and especially nause. I mean, Nausey
has really made it personal. It looks like you. I mean,
he just refuses to go down dragon dudes, fighting them
with his upper body, you know, not wearing down at all.

Speaker 2 (04:31):
And not take anything away from Warren, he was tremendous too.

Speaker 5 (04:34):
I thought it was the nause show and this one
I just thought he was the best player out there.

Speaker 1 (04:37):
And both guys go over a thousand yards from scrimmage,
something that's rare when you see two backfield mates be
able to do that.

Speaker 4 (04:43):
Wolf, there's no question. I mean, both these gentlemen have gentlemen.
I like to use that term.

Speaker 1 (04:48):
Just they throw it out there, gentle about that about
either one of these dudes.

Speaker 4 (04:52):
I mean, you talk about the stiff arms. What didn't
Jalen have the fourteen yard stiff arm? He had somebody
locked out and they're running from fourteen yards. He's locked
out on the dude. And then I mean Naji's like
a one man urban assault vehicle. You know what I mean,
You give him the ball capaw, he's just blasting away.
I love to watch that sort of you know, ballistic

(05:13):
action on the inside because it just sets a tone
for so many things that you can do. When you
start to physically dominate in between the trenches. It's the
most fun you can have as a player. You know,
I don't care about receiver scoring touchdowns and that when
you're in there slugging it out and you're winning, there's
nothing like it.

Speaker 1 (05:30):
Oh and it's fun to watch too. And in both
the running game and the passing game. I have to
go back and look again at Broderick Jones. But I
thought in this game, and you know, Mike Tomlin talked
about in ports of running the ball keeping the crowd
out of it because it's a loud crowd. It's difficult place.
When it's third nine, third and ten. You lose the
advantage of the snap count because the lineman's got to

(05:51):
look in and see when the ball is being snapped
just the same way as the defensive lineman does that
he's across from. So that was all good and they
did do that, and they didn't get themselves into a
lot of bad third down situations. But I thought Brodrick Jones,
boy mafez, he's a good.

Speaker 2 (06:07):
Player, rying second gear guy.

Speaker 1 (06:09):
Yeah, I don't remember him doing a thing, I mean
nothing in this game. Brodrick Jones, I thought dominated him.

Speaker 5 (06:17):
I thought so as well. I thought it was a
very good O line game. I thought Ciamalu and especially
Jones stood out in a positive way. And I was
a little worried about Jones the last couple of weeks.
I'm like, maybe the rookie wall is starting to hit him,
you know, slowing down a little. He came hard in
this game and played really, really well. One thing you
did throw out there, I just want to mention, and
I'm sure Wolf can speak this better than I do,

(06:38):
but as loud and as tough a places at the play,
you gotta give see a Nation some credit for showing up.
I mean, I thought that was really the lowest attention exactly.

Speaker 3 (06:46):
I couldn't believe.

Speaker 4 (06:47):
First of all, I couldn't believe with the stadium maybe
a fourth a fifth field, how loud it was. Yeah,
you know, because they got the two clamshell halbs that
you know, keep the sound in. But Steel's showed up,
just did a terrific job of just you know, it
really showed the difference between the meat eaton Pittsburgh right
versus the Vagan Northwest. And they couldn't have the stamina right,

(07:11):
but the Steelers they did.

Speaker 3 (07:12):
Baby, they did.

Speaker 4 (07:13):
All the Steelers fans, so kudos to them. They stayed loud,
proud and strong during the entire game. And I got
to tell you, Broderick Jones had one of the hits
of the year when he pulled from right tackle. He
showed Julian Love no love. He pounded him into the turf,
and I got to tell you it's the first he
not only did he slam him after the hit, he
goreed him. Well, I mean it was like watching somebody

(07:37):
with running with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain, you know,
in the Bowl won you know it was it was
that league of a hit.

Speaker 1 (07:44):
Yeah, maybe they should have a little uh graphic violence thing,
you know, rate that thing this, Yeah, but uh no,
and over all your thoughts on the offensive line you
started to talk about it, Wolf, but just an impressive show.
And I thought in the run game and in the
past game. And look, there are certain factors when you're
running them all, well, it makes it a little bit easier,

(08:05):
I'm sure, to pass protect. You know, you can start
to dictate to them instead of getting into third and
eight and third and nine where they can tee off
and where we always see the Steelers defense be it
its most dominant self and Steelers, you know, defenses that
try to replicate what the Steelers do with the good
pass rush always better when it's certain long usually better
when you're at home with the crowd cheering and taking

(08:26):
out that snap count advantage that the offense has. But
generally speaking, even with those other things, those other factors,
it just seemed like the offensive line played a terrific game.

Speaker 3 (08:38):
They did.

Speaker 4 (08:38):
As a matter of fact, it reminded me of about
forty years ago in the very same place with a
different venue, because I was playing in that eighty three
game with tunch Yilkin and Blake Wingle and Mike Webster
and Ted Peterson, you know, Cliff Stout, Franco Harris, when
Franco went over one hundred yards, I believe it was
forty years ago, but that was in the very place

(09:00):
that's where the Kingdome was. They knocked down the Kingdome
and then they recycled seventy percent of the concrete to
build loom and Fields. I didn't even know you could
recycle character, you know. So there's hope from my head anyhow.
But you know the fact is, I mean, it was
unbelievable to watch this ground and pound assault that you
just love when guys are coming off and moving bodies

(09:21):
and you just see these guys coming off the ball
time and again and just really playing to the wall
with great effort.

Speaker 3 (09:28):
It was. It was wonderful to watch.

Speaker 1 (09:30):
Now, I will say this not the one quibble I
had with the offensive line, and it seemed to get
better as the game progressed. Matt was the snapping of
Mason Cole. I mean, Mason Rudolph had to do a
pretty good job and making sure none of those turned
into turnovers.

Speaker 5 (09:44):
Yeah, and that's been a theme too much this year,
to be honest with you. As much shotgun as you
see in the league, now, snapping is utmost important and
it could throw off the whole timing of the play.
And that's something rudolphs playing really well, was playing within
timing and structure, and if your timing gets screwed up
before you can get chance to get the ball in
your hands, that's a problem.

Speaker 1 (10:01):
He's just keeping Mason on his So you pointed it
out last week, and I believe I heard you on
the broadcast pointing it out again. Friar Moose blocking. We
always think of him as a receiving first tight end,
but I know you've been.

Speaker 4 (10:16):
He's been blocking his butt off, you know. And the
thing that I love about is this, you know, simply,
but if you don't get no targets, it's probably because
you're getting double teams. If you're getting double team, somebody
else isn't getting double team. So what do you do, Well,
you run your routes one hundred percent full effort, and
you make sure that you're blocking. And that's what he's
doing when he's not engaged, and you know, in otherwise
means he's doing what he needs to do to get

(10:36):
the job done for that tight end position. And I
got to tell you him and Darnell together are doing
a nice job, really good job. And some of the
intricate nuances of that offensive line play. I saw Isaac
sull Moalel first of all, I met his family or
some of his family members out there. Very nice people,
great people out in the hotel. But anyhow, when he
pulled down a power around the center, okay, leading up

(10:58):
into the b gap on the front side, and Darnel
Washington was picking up a crashing end man on the
line from the tight end position. He came to the
I mean Isaac literally as he pulled was almost had
a face full of this defensive guy. He had enough
f agility this big old three hundred pounder him. He
got around him and got up north south and was

(11:18):
able to block. And it was huge because if you
knew how hard it is to go on a poll
all of a sudden have somebody in your face of
an opposite jersey and have enough agility to get around
him and then lead up. Man, that's a tough, tough deal.
And I salute him. That was just one of his
you know, his crash plus you know plays that he
had out there. It was really a nice job by

(11:40):
this offensive line of picking up the run through guys
and some of the extracurricular guys.

Speaker 1 (11:46):
So we wanted to talk about Mason Rudolph, but let's
put him on a hole for just one moment to
talk about George Pickens.

Speaker 5 (11:51):
I mean, throw one thing out there first. You don't know, yeah, no,
I don't. Big people and blocking. I mean one of
the changes that happened last year after the Laypool trade,
they went to a lot more twelve personnel, bigger people
on the field. It was gentry in this case. Well
after the coordinator change, they've been using a lot more
twelve and thirteen. You know, you're seeing three tight ends
on the field. You're seeing twelve personnel with two tight

(12:14):
ends on the field. And a subtle change which is
something kind of as my radar is. The second week
in a row, Alan Robinson's played more snaps and Deontay Johnson,
you know, like wow, Yeah, And so when they're in twelve,
Alan Robinson's out there more than Johnson as the second receiver.
But really he's almost like a small tight end. I
mean he didn't touch up all the entire game, but

(12:35):
he can block, and I think that people haven't quite
adapted to that yet.

Speaker 1 (12:39):
Yeah, And he's to have a guy like that, a
veteran guy who's had some big seasons in the NFL.
To be a willing blocker has got to be good
for just a general leadership by example sort of thing.

Speaker 4 (12:53):
Wolf, There's no question about it. I mean, Alan Robinson's
really putting his hand in the pilot. He'll be one
of those guys that go dig out when it was
Nickel owners. Yeah, you know, he'll go to that second level.
Some guys find it a little hard to navigate their
way in there and get with the big bruisers there,
you know, on the inside the you know, inside the trenches.
But he'll go after it, and he'll he'll put his
hand in the pile and get those hamhocks churn along

(13:15):
with other guys and get after it, you know. And
I don't know why the the targets maybe for him drop,
but maybe because they're using him so much as far
as a blocker, he's really getting a night. He's doing
a good job in the role he's been ascribed to.

Speaker 1 (13:27):
Well, we do have to point out, Matt that you
cannot continue to have those type of tendencies. Eventually the
teams are gonna pick Like, you can't bring in Calvin
Austin every every time you want to run a jet sweep, right,
he can't mean teams are going to pick up on
that stuff. And teams will probably adapt to that. And
that's always one of the chess matches that goes on
between coordinators around the NFL, of.

Speaker 5 (13:48):
Course, of course, and you don't want to get too
strong in your tendencies. And that's only a couple of games,
you know. I mean, it's two in a row where
Robinson's outsnap John r Yeah, and I bet that doesn't
happen this week. I mean, Deonta is the better receiver,
it's not. I don't think it's a slight on him.
It's just Robinson. They're almost counting him like the third
tight end at times.

Speaker 1 (14:07):
Right, and then when you're running the ball that well,
keep it up, keep it up exactly all right. So
we will get to George Pickens, we will get to
Mason Rudolph. We will get to one or two minor
quibbles I had with this Twolers who win thirty to
twenty three. That's when we continue on the Point After
on Steelers Nation Radio and one oh two point five DVE.

(14:34):
This is the Point After presented by Parks Casino. Is
today You're 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. Okay, so we talked about the offensive line,
We've talked about the running backs. We haven't gotten to
Mason Rudolf. I'm still gonna hold off on him because

(14:56):
I think maybe the happiest guy that Mason Rudolf has
been inserted in the lineup might be. And again I'm
extrapolating here, but George Pickens, you know, one hundred and
ninety five yard receiving, then he goes well over one
hundred again in this game, and he has just looked fabulous.

Speaker 3 (15:12):
George Pickens. Oh, there's no question about it.

Speaker 4 (15:14):
And we saw him down down on the field blocking
when Jalen Warren scored. You know, I love yah, Yeah ironically, yeah, yeah,
you know, I mean, whatever it was. But you know
the fact is this young man is starting to unleash
that potential, that talent on more consistent basis. Happy to
see it evolve and come about how it all fleshes out.

Speaker 3 (15:34):
We're going to see.

Speaker 4 (15:35):
But the extraordinary talent that he possesses is coming to
fruition week after week now. And the thing that I
love about it is. You know they got whatever the
conversations were. Number one, they're making a difference behind closed doors.
And number two, we're not hearing a single thing about it.
Glad to see that that's the way it should be done.

(15:57):
Locker room elders, coaches, what have you. But George just
getting the job done. That's what you need from him.
It's all about winning. It's paid performance. That's what you
do at this level. And to see this young man
start to accelerate his his ability to bring the big
catch like that one, you know when Mason stood in
there and took it in the grill and unloaded the
ball just at the last second with enough arc to

(16:19):
give it. You know, we're pickins cleared coverage. My goodness.
I mean that's that's awesome. Quarterback and wide receiving.

Speaker 5 (16:27):
Yeah, trusting one another to exactly Oh yeah, well we'll
get to that.

Speaker 3 (16:32):
I love that.

Speaker 1 (16:33):
I love that part of the game. I will say,
or that play in the game. I will say this too,
about about Pickens where he's putting up the number. So, uh,
Steelers Depot had this statistic. I don't know whether they
got it from somewhere else. It was airge and I'm
going to credit them because that's where I saw it.
Fifty five straight games as too, as had gone without
scoring thirty plus points and winning. So, you know, you

(16:55):
sometimes see if you're a fantasy football guy, it's almost
good if you have received is that your team falls
way behind because they're gonna get cheap, easy receptions and
pile up some yards because the team's playing prevent Well,
this is back to back weeks in which these numbers,
Pickens numbers and the offensive numbers are being put up
against teams fighting for their playoff lives and in moments

(17:16):
that matter, and that makes it even doubly important to
me that Pickens got his fifth one hundred yard receiving game.

Speaker 3 (17:22):
Of the season.

Speaker 2 (17:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (17:23):
And what's interesting too, Dale and I talk about this
on the drive a lot, Like everyone knows about that
long streak where they didn't get four hundred yards.

Speaker 2 (17:30):
We late a winning record during that time.

Speaker 5 (17:32):
You know, yardage and garbage time and stuff like that
for fantasy doesn't always translate to wins, you know. I
mean a lot of that is empty calories at the
end of games against prevents and things like.

Speaker 2 (17:42):
This, But this is early.

Speaker 5 (17:43):
They're explosives they're moving the chains, you know, consistently turning
first down, you know, a third down for you know,
sets of downs into first downs.

Speaker 2 (17:51):
Quickly and real quick.

Speaker 5 (17:52):
I mean maybe you guys have heard, but this coach Tomlin,
he's never had a losing season.

Speaker 2 (17:58):
Yeah, I'm not sure if you guys are aware of that.
I read a losing season.

Speaker 5 (18:01):
But two weeks ago everybody was, oh, you got a
bench pickens, you got to send a message. Well, I
think coach Tomlin is a pretty good feel for his
guys and how to handle those situations. And ever since then,
this guy's lit it up and you've been thrown them
with football a time. Can we just defer to the
coach and let them deal with the players, you know
what I mean?

Speaker 1 (18:17):
Yeah, I think that when you talk about the greatest
coaches in NFL history, certainly around here, the name of
Chuck Knowle is going to come up. Vince Lombardi, I mean,
he's got his name in the trophy. Of course, his
name's going to come up. But during the telecast, and
woll if I mentioned this to you this morning when
we were doing the locker Room with Max Starks, the

(18:38):
broadcast flashed up these numbers most winning seasons in a
row for a coach, Tom Landry twenty one. Okay, well,
Tom Landry belongs there with Vince Lombardi and Chuck Nole
Belichick Bill Belichick nineteen. Right, well, look at his resume.
It's pretty good too. Now Mike Tomlin is at seventeen,
breaking a tie he'd had with George Allis at sixteen.

(19:02):
I mean, when you just think about those names, I mean,
you know it's I'll repeat what I said to you,
it's not nothing. Look, I understand people want you to
win the super Bowl every year. They want you to
get into the playoffs and win games.

Speaker 3 (19:14):
We all want that.

Speaker 1 (19:16):
But it's not nothing to have this kind of stretch
that Mike Tomlin is at.

Speaker 4 (19:20):
There's no question about it. And you're exactly correct. Look,
the standard is the standard. You know, it's winning the
super Bowl. But that's what you want to adhere to.
That's the goal, that's the whole thing. But it becomes
in sub like sub steps. It's all about the next win.
That's what it's about. And that's why I think the
Steelers are so successful. You know, you can't it's hard

(19:42):
to turn things around and zoom to the Super Bowl
an a couple in a year or two. It's easier
today because the salary cap stuff and all that other
you know, the free agency out there. But on the
other hand, you know, the fact is to be able
to get there, you first got to have a good culture.
And the base for the Steelers has been terrific for

(20:03):
so many years and Mike has really done a great
job of cultivating that. And you've got a lot of
guys that you know, it depends on the year, obviously,
but any year could be a possible spring to that
Super Bowl. And you know, that's why I see it.

Speaker 5 (20:18):
And along those lines, you know, what coach Tom has
done is not a dynasty. But the league is set
up not to have dynasties anymore. I mean, you pick last,
and you don't have any cap room, and you gotta
pay your quarterback. And kind of like what Wolf was saying,
with all respect to coach Landry and coach hallis nobody
was plucking Reggie White and Roger Staubach off their team,
you know what I mean, Like, once you had your dudes,

(20:39):
you were pretty set. Like I always like to say,
like if you were nineteen seventy seven and you're the
first round pick of the Steelers, you may not even
see the field, you know, Like now, every team's first
round pick plays a time. Like I said, it's harder
to maintain it now than in before the nineties.

Speaker 1 (20:53):
Yes, I agree with that, and I think that in
order to you know, to really be on that list
in the fashion he wants to be on it.

Speaker 3 (21:03):
Mike Tomlin.

Speaker 1 (21:04):
Now again I'm speaking for him, but when you talk
about Hallis and Belichick and Landry, and we throw in
Lombardi and Noel, he's gonna want to win another super
Bowl or two. But still the so you know, there's
a caveat and and you know, look, the Steelers state
of goal is we want to win the super Bowl
every year. I want to compete for a super Bowl.

Speaker 3 (21:22):
I get that.

Speaker 1 (21:23):
And it's been a while since they've even wont a
playoff game. So it's been a while since they've been
a serious playoff contender. I'm just saying there's something there
that's not that's not you know, some people want to
say maybe it's it's it's unbelievable. Some people want to
say it's empty. I lean more towards the unbelievable side.

Speaker 3 (21:42):
Than the empty side.

Speaker 1 (21:43):
I mean, it's just it's an amazing run of success.

Speaker 3 (21:46):
For a team.

Speaker 5 (21:47):
Consistency and knowing your team and so many great coaches,
you know, John Madden, even Vince Lombardi. I won't say
it got stale, but they lasted about ten years, you
know what I mean, and then it was that's time
to move on mutual parting of ways.

Speaker 2 (22:02):
May even see that in New England this year.

Speaker 5 (22:04):
I mean, what I think is a great coach of
all time, Well, his message has never gotten stale, and
I think a lot of.

Speaker 2 (22:08):
It comes down to communication and knowing his players.

Speaker 1 (22:12):
Okay, so uh, let's get back to the game and
the Jimmy's and Joe's you got yeah, that's right, yep.
So uh Pickens marvelous game again. And by the way,
and the matchup presented by Unibut, which we do across
the team social media platforms.

Speaker 3 (22:26):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (22:27):
The over under was receiving yards for George Pickens coming
off one hundred and ninety five yards.

Speaker 3 (22:31):
With seventy five.

Speaker 1 (22:32):
And you know, I think I overthought it because I
was like, well, his own defense, yeah, probably gonna be
a Deontay kind of game. So I went under. You
went You went over, didn't you? You?

Speaker 5 (22:44):
And Dale went under. I went over, and to be honest,
I got to go third. I just want to be different.
I didn't know anything special.

Speaker 3 (22:51):
Some mathematical algorithm.

Speaker 2 (22:54):
He's pretty good, and these two went under.

Speaker 3 (22:56):
I'm gonna go over.

Speaker 1 (22:56):
Yeah it was, Uh, it was pretty good. And listen,
you know the elephant in the room right now is
Mason Rudolph. We can't not talk about him and what
he's done. And frankly, it's been terrific.

Speaker 3 (23:07):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (23:08):
You know again, just like that, you know the narratives.
You know, I don't want to I don't want to
throw any shade on this, but if he goes out
and doesn't have a great game against Baltimore, people are
goulda say, oh see, he was a third strin Quay.
You know this, This narrative shifts almost from pass to pass.
I made this point with Wolf and Max this morning
that these games, you know, in addition to being important

(23:28):
to the Steelers, these games are so important for.

Speaker 3 (23:31):
Mason Rudolph, so important.

Speaker 1 (23:33):
When you think about a first round quarterback, a guy
who's taken in the first round showing some flashes, there's
always going to be fans, front office personnel, teammates to say,
that's why we took them number one. There is oh,
you'll have a bad game or two, but we've seen
those flashes and we're gonna let him continue to grow.

Speaker 5 (23:54):
And then the next team takes a chance on him
where you know, like they get a million chances in
sleep right.

Speaker 1 (23:58):
Or you know, and so we just the guy we
talked about Geno Smith earlier. You know, he got buried
on that depth chart and you know, he had his
opportunity with the Jets. He gets maybe another opportunity, then
he doesn't get a chance again for a while, right,
And I think that's where Mason Rudolph is right, he's
had an early opportunity, then he has had no chance
at all. So not only are these games important for

(24:20):
the Steelers and there's that pressure going on, these games
are important for his career. I mean there's a reason
that he is the number three backup for the you know,
for the Steelers, a third street quarterback, because of the
perception around the league of what he's capable of doing.
If there was a higher perception of him, some team
would have swung a trade for him when their quarterback
got injured, some team would have gone out in free

(24:42):
agency and signed him to be their starter, to their backup.
So he is proving a lot of people wrong. But
there's always going to be the narrative to me, Matt,
that he's got to prove it every week. And I
brought up again with Wolf earlier today, the example of
brock Perty, Right. I mean we just said from Perty
he's a game manager and blah blah blah, and he's
running that off. Then at some point you're like, well,

(25:04):
wait a minute. You know, I don't care if he
was the last guy taking in the draft. This guy's
really really good. Yeah, Mason Rudolph, he hasn't had that
stretch of time to say that, and any bad performance
is going to bring out the critics. Ah see, that's
why he wasn't playing the pressure on him to succeed.
This is his career, this is his opportunity. I'm sure

(25:24):
he was thinking a couple of weeks ago, I may
never get another opportunity to show what I can do.

Speaker 5 (25:29):
Yeah, I agree with everything you said. And just to
add some things to that, there was a long stretch
where he was unemployed in free agency, right, and you
know last year, there were sixty nine starting quarterbacks in
this league. This year we're getting in that neighborhood. You
would think somebody that's qualified would have got scooped up earlier.
And you can go back and listen to Dale and
I in the drive. We often said, I'm like, I

(25:49):
can't believe Rudolph hasn't been picked up. I mean, you're
signing Nick Mullins and guys like, you know, all these
different dudes. Why is he still out there? Well, Steelers
finally just said, hey, you want to come home in
a good deal, and now his contracts can be up
after the year here too, son, you know, and you
mentioned party perty is one get bad game against the Ravens.

Speaker 3 (26:10):
Uh see, I told you.

Speaker 5 (26:11):
People have bad games. That's where the world works. And
kind of a funny example I've been using too is
if there were social media, we all would have been
all over Kurt Warner. You know, he got thrown in
his first year with the Rams and the Greatest show
on Turf. He's just a fluke. He was stalking shelves
with the week before that. He's throwing to Bruce and
Holt and Fulk and all those guys, and then eventually

(26:34):
you just have to say, no, he's pretty good. People
said that about Joe Montana. It's just just Bill Walsh's system.

Speaker 3 (26:39):
You know, another third round pick.

Speaker 2 (26:41):
Those two Hall of famers all of a sudden.

Speaker 5 (26:43):
And I'm not saying Rudolph would be Montana or warning
understand horse, but it's kind of like Geno.

Speaker 2 (26:47):
Give him a chance.

Speaker 3 (26:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (26:48):
And you know, there's so much evaluation that goes on
with players in every level, in every sport. I mean,
you can bring up examples of you know, a Mike
Piazza who was drafted. They didn't even there aren't even
enough rounds anymore. He was drafted in like the sixty
third round or something. Baseball. I'm just saying different. You

(27:09):
can go around to any sport is all I'm saying,
and you're gonna find a guy who was drafted late
in the NHL or baseball or whatever. All these evaluators
all over the place. They don't always get it right and.

Speaker 5 (27:23):
And they definitely have a much tougher path than Zach Wilson.

Speaker 1 (27:26):
And that's I guess that's the point, is the two
of those things together that you know, this is Mason
Rudolph's opportunity to prove he is that, you know, long
shot guy that just hasn't been given the opportunity that's
ready to shine, and good for him if he can
do it. I mean, he's done it through two games.

Speaker 4 (27:43):
He's also proven that he's a man of his word.
I mean, this is the guy that says, yeah, I
take you know, reps, mental reps.

Speaker 3 (27:49):
I'm in there.

Speaker 4 (27:49):
I prepare like I'm starting each and every week. I've
heard that an awful lot from a lot of guys.

Speaker 2 (27:54):
Over the years.

Speaker 4 (27:56):
Easier to say that than to do it, you know,
as saying goes, you know, many have the will to win,
but fewer still have the will to prepare to win.

Speaker 3 (28:05):
Well.

Speaker 4 (28:05):
When you watch Mason, all the nuances of professional quarterbacking
are a parent when he goes out there, everything from
moving safeties with his eyes to shoulder fakes things like that,
to having the ability when he dumps a ball dirting
the ball. I think you called him met at the
feet of a Jalen Warren when Jaren Reid comes off
on a blocked on a screen and having the wisdom

(28:27):
to do that, you know, to then being able to
hold onto the ball in the face of a rush
where he's getting taking one right in the grill and
lofting it up just enough so Pickens can find his
way past the coverage and be able to lay out
and get that ball. I mean, that's an extraordinary range
of quarterbacking nuances involved there, and that also includes being

(28:48):
able to run the huddle, get in and out and
not you know, suffer problems with a lot of motion, penalties,
too much time, you know, that sort of thing. He's
obviously been doing all that he said he's been doing,
and it's apparent because he is really, in my mind,
just doing a great job of being a professional quarterback.

Speaker 3 (29:06):
Matt.

Speaker 1 (29:06):
I think it's you and I talking in the preseason.
I believe that you're the one who told me that
the quarterbacking has changed. That it's pretty much with all
the mobile quarterbacks now first read, second read, there is
no third read. Right Well, Mason Rudolph is not a
first read second run I'm gonna run and he's been
able to go through his progressions very rapidly, which speaks

(29:28):
to what Wolfe is talking about. Look, you know you
want to make a pre snap raad and you're hoping
your pre snap read is accurate, right, and you're going
to go to this target, but the other team's trying
to fool you.

Speaker 2 (29:40):
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (29:40):
So the ability to try to come off that onto
the next one, onto the third one, which we've seen
him be able to do, is a testament not only
to the offensive line, which we talked about, but to
his preparation.

Speaker 2 (29:50):
I think, oh, I think one hundred percent.

Speaker 5 (29:52):
I think he's very sharp, and his anticipation and timing,
I would add to that are clearly.

Speaker 2 (29:57):
The best we've seen of the Steelers quarterbacks this year.

Speaker 5 (30:00):
I mean in terms of I'm gonna throw this ball
before he comes out of his break, or you know,
I know that this safety's rolling here, so I'm gonna
go to the void, and things like that like that.
But the other thing I wanted to mention about him
that I've noticed ever since he came to the league
is when when he was at Oklahoma State and as
a rookie, I thought he was a very robotic athlete.
And you mentioned he's never gonna be third read Michael

(30:22):
Vick taking him run. I mean, that's not ever who
he is. But some of the best pocket movers in
history are like Brady Manning, Marino. They don't win any races,
but within the confines of that boxing ring, they have
those subtle little movements while keeping their eyes downfield that
just make them hard to sack and buy that extra
half second that O Lineman sure appreciate.

Speaker 3 (30:43):
Yes, I love that. Love that about the man.

Speaker 4 (30:46):
Little little half steps here or there, don't drift into
the rush.

Speaker 1 (30:52):
Okay, we've got all positive. I still got a couple
of quipples. We're gonna get to that. We're gonna look
forward to the Ravens a little bit when we continue
on the point After on Seewer's Nation and one oh
two point five Dve. This is the Point After, presented
by Parks Casino. Is today your Lucky Day bet Parks

(31:14):
by Brian Patton and Associates. It's all about the benefits
and by this dealer's pro shop get it direct from
the team at shop dot Steelers dot com. Alongside Craig
Wolfley and Matt Williamson. I'm rob king. I had a quibble.
Should we get to the quibble first again, then we'll get.

Speaker 3 (31:31):
Happy to do you.

Speaker 1 (31:31):
By the way, guys, thank you, yeah, good good deal.
So I thought in this game that you know you're
out your top three safeties, you're out your top three
inside linebackers. They don't have the greatest offensive line Seattle.
They've got very gifted skill guys Kenneth Walker, who Matt

(31:52):
and I were.

Speaker 3 (31:52):
Talking for there.

Speaker 1 (31:53):
I don't know why he didn't have twenty five carries.
Maybe it was because every time Len Smith went back
he had receivers that were pretty open too, so maybe
that was part of it. But I really thought this
was a game in which the front let's call him
five right, three down linemen and your two outside linebackers
needed to and would dominate, and I didn't feel like

(32:17):
that happened. My quibble is that I wanted those guys
to just make life miserable and Gino Smith, now credit
Gino Smith, they made life tough on him at times.
He threw a lot of good passes with guys in
his face, But they didn't dominate this game in the
run or pass game the way I thought that they would,
and that I thought the team needed in order to

(32:38):
help out the guys.

Speaker 3 (32:39):
In the back end.

Speaker 4 (32:40):
I can't tell you how many times I thought a
sack was coming. I mean, you just watch both those
twin Masters of Disasters, that'd be DJ and Alex high
Smith so close, so close, and yet Gino was able
to just maneuver enough to stay out of harm's way
and get the job done. But the nice thing too
was we had some excellent rep by Marcus Golden and

(33:01):
by Nick Krbig played the play the game, you know
what I mean. And to watch Nick come off a
double team, you can tell he's been watching his studying
at the foot of the master on the other side
because of the fact the way he handled not just
cross the tackle, but came off the back too who
jumped in there. And he was able to maneuver around
on the double team virtually and get that sack and

(33:23):
we cover the ball. I mean, it was the trifectas.
So yeah, I would like to see a little bit more.
I will tell you this. There was a couple instances
where Keanu Benton lit up Evan Brown the center and
Montrevi's Adams had a couple of great rushes to push
Gino Smith to one side of the pocket or the other.
But again it was like a fly by thing. Guys

(33:44):
were going by and not able to bring him to
the ground.

Speaker 3 (33:47):
I mean, TJ.

Speaker 4 (33:47):
Watt had a perfect shot at him and the one
play and whiffed on him. Gino just you know, moved
on one side.

Speaker 5 (33:54):
So I think both of you are dead on and
you're both kind of coming from different angles. But he
told me the final score of the game, and we
talked about this preview. In the game, like I thought
the Steels had a big advantage on the football, and
they had a big advantage in the defensive trenches, you know,
like I would have thought, boy, they had five sacks,
Watt had a strip sack, you know.

Speaker 3 (34:12):
Stuff we've seen galore.

Speaker 5 (34:15):
But I do think Gino deserves Sometimes you had to
pat the other opponent on the back a little bit too.
I thought his subtle pocket movement like we're talking about
with Rudolph was really good. He handled pressure really really well.
I think it is noteworthy they only snapped the ball
forty seven times very much.

Speaker 3 (34:30):
It didn't have time.

Speaker 5 (34:31):
Possession was unbelievable, and I think they ran like twenty
five more plays in Seattle, so they just weren't out
there all that much. So you're not going to get
ten sacks if they only snapped the ball forty seven times.
But I did expect more some of the advanced stats
and all that I sometimes take with a grain of salt.
But Adams, Benton and Nogan Jobie all had very high

(34:53):
pressure rates. You know, they were beating the guys in
front of them. Didn't turn into sacks, but they did
hurry gino.

Speaker 1 (34:59):
Yeah, they didn't stop the run too much, but they
didn't run it that much.

Speaker 3 (35:05):
I was glad.

Speaker 1 (35:05):
I was glad they didn't use him. Yeah, there's something
about that offense. And I'm not going to pretend to
be an expert under the Seattle Seahawks where it just
seemed like the whole was less than the sum of
its parts, like they should have. But again, we only
have forty seven plays and he scored twenty three points.
I guess that's a pretty good Yeah, that's a pretty
good ratio. And Nick Herbig is a guy. Yeah, those guys, right,

(35:27):
Maybe he has like three somewhere between like three and
four games worth of snaps, like over the over the
sixteen games, and he's got three sacks and a bunch
of pressures and you know, turnovers created. He has been
in limited time Wolf. He has been tremendous for the Steelers.

Speaker 3 (35:45):
He really has.

Speaker 4 (35:46):
And I look at him going Okay, where are we
going to find a room for this?

Speaker 1 (35:51):
Exactly of him out there more.

Speaker 4 (35:53):
Because you definitely want to you want to see he's
kind of like the Connor Hayward of the defense. You know,
where you think Connor, there's Connor has a lot of ability.
I think that can be brought out a little bit
more offensively. But the fact is, like Nick, he's got
that same sort of thing. And where do you fit
him in amongst all the other monster players that are
available on both sides of the ball, And right now

(36:13):
it's a good thing to figure out. I don't know
if it's like I know my buddy Jim Wexel has
talked about, can they look at him on the inside,
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (36:22):
I mean, right now, this.

Speaker 4 (36:23):
Guy's got a great natural pass rush. I mean he's
just natural at it. He falls into positions that are
really really good, almost naturally, without even working at When
you trap a hand, then you drop your hips and
you duck under and do some things. He just seems
to do it naturally. And I would imagine that a
lot of it has to do with you know, you

(36:44):
got a couple of pretty good teachers in front of you,
as well as another guy Marcus Golden, who's a double
digit sack guy capable.

Speaker 1 (36:52):
Are there was your talk. I think there was some
talk when he got drafted if maybe he's eventually going
to move inside.

Speaker 5 (36:58):
Yeah, because of his size, he's you know in the
scouting world, he's got short arms, he doesn't have the
ideal bulk for the line of scrimmage, so he's got
the football intelligence to make the change. People thought maybe
he was a Timmins Chad Brown.

Speaker 2 (37:10):
You know, we've seen some.

Speaker 5 (37:11):
Of those guys have success here. I think that's long
gone because he's really good at what he does and
rushing the passer's key. But a couple of things, you know,
like when they had the pre Watt and signed Ingram,
they flirted with three outside linebackers on the field here
and there, you know, because they were all three high
quality dudes. And I do think you have to throw
this in there with her big too, Like, first of all,

(37:31):
it's a good problem to have. We've seen this like
JNS Harrison getting stuck behind guys and Gilden and Border
and years and years. But he also leads a team
in special team snaps, so his jersey does get dirty
every day.

Speaker 1 (37:42):
Right, that's a good point. You know, we talked about
the past to Pickens and I kind of wanted to
lump that in now to circle back, and we talked
about Mike tom little bit. Now I want to bring
those two together. You know, people can be critical of
the coaching. It's easy to be critical, right, Sure, you
should have done this, you should have challenged that, you
should have gone for it on fourth down. If anything,

(38:02):
I thought Mike Tomlin might have gotten too aggressive going
forward on that first the first fourth down, I'm like, oh,
I mind, might punt this one. I thought he And
I'm not saying that because they didn't convert, but I
thought the coaching was aggressive, and I thought it was
really good. And all the fourth downs, Mike Tomlin I
went fourth and fourth down a couple of times.

Speaker 2 (38:22):
Three times and got two of them.

Speaker 1 (38:24):
And the past to Pickens coming out of the two
minute warning showed confidence in both Rudolph and Pickens and
the offense to deliver. And he had a great quote
his scared money don't make money, which is great. I've
never heard that before, but it was pretty marvelous. I

(38:45):
thought that was I think you have to We saw
two great coaches Pete Carroll and Mike Tomlin have awesome resumes,
and I just thought Mike Tomlin and his coaching staff,
I think that they deserve it to offer the cap
one other thing to do the coaching. Couple games ago,
Mike Tomlin said we're going to clean up these mistakes.
Last week. I think they had two penalties for fifteen

(39:05):
yards this week two tip penalties for ten yards. That
you know goes into a coaching and attention to details.
So I just wanted to doff the cap to Mike
Tomlin who extended that streaking this one.

Speaker 4 (39:15):
And I love the quote by Mason Rudolph. Yeah, I
was got a little nervous when I heard the call.
The whole game's on the line, right and you gotta
I was sitting on the booth corne okay, or now
we're gonna we're gonna run and run and here we go,
whatever we gotta do, you know, and then boom that
throw to George Pickens.

Speaker 3 (39:33):
I was just like going, great, googly mooglie.

Speaker 4 (39:36):
I mean, that was that was unbelievable, and they pulled
it off beautifully, and that shows you what coaching is
all about, you know, and having the confidence in your
people to get the job done. And you look at it.
You got to backup quarterback making the throw, the critical
throw of the game to a young man who's just
learning what he's capable of doing, George Dickens. And I'll

(39:57):
tell you that's a beautiful thing to watch.

Speaker 2 (40:00):
Treating this backup quarterback like he's a starting quarterback and
to me.

Speaker 1 (40:03):
Like he's a veteran established he's a veteran quarterback.

Speaker 5 (40:06):
You know, we've always said the word trust, confidence, you know.
I mean, I think more so than at any point
in the what fourteen games before this, And I'm not
cutting on the other guys, but I don't know what
they throw that ball under two minutes or whatever with
the other quarterbacks. I mean, that's a lot of trust
in a veteran quarterback to not screw it up.

Speaker 2 (40:24):
And he didn't.

Speaker 3 (40:24):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (40:25):
And you know this time of year and Wolf, I
want to parken back to what you talked about with
your eighty nine Steelers. Look, they have not beaten the
eighty six Bears here, you know, eighty five Bears.

Speaker 2 (40:36):
Eighty five eighty five eighty six either yeah right.

Speaker 3 (40:39):
Yeah, neither, but they had.

Speaker 2 (40:43):
He still had Richard Dent and they were all right, yeah.

Speaker 1 (40:46):
I've met the eighty five, Happy New Year? Did I
say that? So? I guess my point that I was
going to talk about was that these were these two
wins came again teams that were very similar in a
very similar position to you, in that you know, they're

(41:06):
not the forty nine ers, they're not the Baltimore Ravens,
but they're contenders. They're contenders who needed to win those games.
The Bengals were in the playoff picture, Seattle in the
playoff picture.

Speaker 2 (41:17):
They both at winning streaks, but right, and you.

Speaker 1 (41:20):
Beat one at home, one on the road in a
very difficult place to play. He scored thirty points in
both games. You began the last couple of weeks, you
looked like a team that could get that's playoff caliber
and can maybe do something when you get to the playoffs.
And we don't know whether they're going to get to
the playoffs. They still have to win and they still
need help. But I think that's very encouraging the way

(41:42):
they've looked against two pretty good football teams.

Speaker 4 (41:45):
There's no question in eighty nine we needed six or
seven things to happen as we played on Christmas Eve
down in Tampa, Florida, which again, as I've stayed it
many times for you know, it's set a record that
it was the first time at snowed in Tampa in
twenty five years. And we're all going to be in
the playoffs. Maybe this is going to happen now when
it snows in Tampa. But the fact of the matter is,

(42:05):
I mean, you know, you go in and we beat
a team the Oilers that had dusted us in Pittsburgh
twenty seven nothing, and the second time around we at
least put some points on the board, you know. But
the fact is we were not a very good team
early on, but that team gelled and became something special
towards the last part of the season. And you never

(42:25):
know until you go, you know things every time you
like that switch, you're not sure the exact outcome. But
as you can see with each week building now, the
possibilities are there to what this team can absolutely be
able to do.

Speaker 1 (42:40):
And again not to mistake these teams with the nineteen
thirty three Bears, losers of the sneaker ball to the Giants,
but this was it was converse back then, they said
that it was snowy, icy conditions on a halftime the Giants, No,
I wasn't playing nineteen thirty three. The Giants switched to
sneakers at halftimes. Made a big difference on the on

(43:01):
the footing in the field for those younger fans and
aren't as old as the three of us, Although Matt
pointed out he's a little different generation than you and Maywolf.
I know, yeah, I mean, like yeah, anyway, you know, again,
beating or not. I'm not saying they just went out
and beat the Ravens or or they went out and
beat the forty nine ers, but they beat teams that

(43:22):
are in similar situations as they are, and they beat
the Bengals handily. And people would say, well, second three
quarter Steelers have their third string quarterback. Yeah, they're down
three safeties, they're down three inside linebackers. And then they
go on the road and beat a Seattle team desperate
for a win.

Speaker 2 (43:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (43:38):
And really that's the league right now. I mean there's
six or seven pretty bad teams. I think there's two
great teams in the Niners and the Ravens. Of course,
then I don't know, you know, I mean there's a
lot of teams hovering around five hundred fighting for playoff
spots these last couple of weeks, and they just knocked
off two of them. I don't think the defenses they
faced are all that great, and frankly, we have did

(44:00):
discuss the Steelers back seven on defense. I'm still quite
nervous about that room under say the least, no matter what.
But I thought that was a playoff caliber performance in Seattle,
no question.

Speaker 1 (44:11):
And now they moved down to Baltimore, hopefully they're going
to get Listen, We'll take what we can get. I'll
take a bunch of reserves out there, a chance to
win on Saturday Night and put the pressure on the
Jaguars and the Bills to have to win on Sunday.

Speaker 3 (44:24):
Wolf, There's no question.

Speaker 4 (44:25):
Look, the beauty and building seventeen seasons without losing season
is the culture that pervades throughout the locker room, and
those guys in that locker room believe at any given
Sunday you got a puncher's chance, and that's all you
ask for, you know, just give me a chance to
go out and prove that I belong. And that's the
mentality in the mindset, and I love that, and you know,

(44:47):
I don't think there's a person in Pittsburgh that disagree
with that.

Speaker 1 (44:50):
Well, I think it was several years ago, right when
the Bill I think Bill cowerr. Is still coaching. They
own at to Buffalo. Buffalo needed to win to get
into the playoffs, and the Steies went up there with
their backups and how and this Dearers beat him.

Speaker 2 (45:01):
As Willie Parker's exactly what.

Speaker 1 (45:04):
I So, we're not going to chalk this one up
as a victory just yet, but the Soones at least
going into this, have put themselves in position to to
win a game and uh and hopefully get into the postseason.

Speaker 5 (45:16):
Yeah, the rest of the AFC could have done him
some more favors over the weekend, but so be it.

Speaker 2 (45:20):
Do you have no got no favorites? The Ravens one
was the only favorite I saw, Yes, right?

Speaker 3 (45:26):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (45:26):
Maybe real quick though, people, I mean, this is not
going to look like a preseason game. I mean, Baltimore
can't sit everybody. They don't have a ninety mans. You
still have to put five offensive linemen out there like
Lamar I'm sure won't play, but they're gonna still field
a pretty good team.

Speaker 1 (45:41):
Right, you know, it might be Gus Edwards at running back.
I mean, you know they're they're gonna have.

Speaker 2 (45:44):
To or they pull them the fourth quarter, Yeah, somebody.

Speaker 1 (45:46):
I mean they have like if they have three solid
looking running backs, I mean, you know one of them
is going to be out there.

Speaker 2 (45:53):
Going to play. Is Stanley gonna play?

Speaker 5 (45:54):
I mean, or they play limited roquand But you still
got to field a team. I mean, they got so
many guys on your.

Speaker 1 (46:00):
Well, here we are talking about a Steelers and the
playoff possibilities. That's a fun place to be talking about
heading to the final week of the season. For the
most complete selection of Steelers merchandise, from official sideline gear
and athnic memorabilia to our extensive selection of jerseys and
Terrible towels, visit one of the official Steelers Pro Shop
stores located at akershur Stadium, Grove City Premium Outlets, or

(46:21):
Tanger outlets, or visit us online at shop dot Steelers
dot com for all of your Steelers merchandise needs directly
from the team. For Craig Wolfley, Matt Williamson, I'm Rob King.
Thanks for listening to the point after I Steeers Nation
Radio on one O two point five DVE