1/2/23 Hour One: Victory Monday

Wolf and Wes are in the locker room breaking down the big win over the Ravens.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is in the locker Room with Wolf and Starks
on ESPN Pittsburgh against Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your
neighborhood Forward Store. The F one fifty is the official
truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Pick it in the gun,
empty's a set third and at the tent gets the snap.
He looks chased out of the pocket, steps out of

(00:24):
a tackle, throwser for Caline Tuch down Nagy Harris Ji
from ten yards out and pick it. Did a Houdini
to make that play possible, and the Steelers jump ahead
of Bolimore. Oh sweet, Marie, says Kim Hayward. The kids
growing before our eyes. He's making quality throws, leading us downfield.

(00:46):
It's really awesome to be twenty four years old and
a quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers. You gotta love the
way he's leading at offense, and he keeps growing weekend
and week out. So saith Captain Cam about the young picket.
You know, I gotta tell you something. It was the
Sundance Kid right there, Move Can I move? I'm better

(01:08):
when I move? And a movie did what the hell
do you mean? Move? Move? Exactly? So well played there,
Wesley and everybody, buddy, welcome to a great Monday morning,
and we are here in the berg celebrating a great

(01:30):
win last night down in Baltimore as the Steelers dust
the dirty birds there. My friend, what did he say? West?
What a great job that was? Vigor Is Arthur Moats
in there with you? No, he's still sleeping in like
the rest of these like the rest of these jabronies

(01:52):
besides me. Goodness, that was a great Arthur Moats imitation. Well,
thank you. Listen. You know, on mornings like this where
it was the wee hours of the morning by the
time you and I got home, we gotta we gotta
find a way to pump it up, baby, we gotta
add some electricity so we can get through it together. Indeed, absolutely,
there's no doubt about it. And again, how about this,

(02:14):
I mean, you gotta hand it to the Steelers. You
gotta give it to Matt Canada, you know, the defensive coaches,
My goodness, to so many people. You think about the
six to alignment, that the configuration they went out with
heavy personnel to match the Ravens heavy personnel. You think
about you know, all the all the plays from Nazi

(02:35):
Harris just running like like crazy, you know, that offensive line.
It reminded me of the Tarzan movie where Tarzan leads
the water buffalo rampaging through the town and just tearing
it up, you know. I mean, there was just so
many great things and another magic Minca moment that he
seals the game with that interception. My goodness, I don't know.

(02:58):
I was so excited this game was. It was palpitating
last night. You had to be in the stadium, m
and Ty Bank Stadium. They turn off the lights and
you got enter the Sandman with Metallica and there their
own version of you know, it's like they're off offshoot
of Renegade, you know what I mean, Great Value Renegade. Yeah. Yeah,
it's just like I don't know, I there's so much

(03:21):
happening here. I'm like, I got I'm bubbling over with
all those kind of thoughts running through mcgourd. Now, you're right,
because there's a lot to dissect there. And obviously the
story at the top of the list. The headline is,
you know, Kenny Pickett leads offense on last minute, uh
touchdown drive for the Steelers to win a game. Um,
that is the headline as it should be. That's the moment,

(03:43):
that's the winning time drive. But you're right, I mean
in the fifty what fifty seven minutes before that, I
mean there's a lot to sink your teeth in two
as well. Um, for the second straight week, I thought
the Steelers defense was hercule lean, yes, while the offense
figured it out. I mean, you know, uh, there was
some argument about this last night. I was I was
reading on social media and where some people were saying,

(04:07):
you know, let's not act like it was, you know,
like like the offense wasn't better than they were against
the Raiders, that the offense wasn't ass as putrid as
they were against Las Vegas was was maybe the argument.
But still wolf right. You know, against the Raiders on
Christmas Eve, until that last drive, you had six points.
The Ravens last night, until that last drive you had

(04:28):
nine points. So so we can talk about how it
looked visually and some of the different things, but the
bottom line is the defense had to hold that damn
you know, not let the water break while the offense
was finding the way to get over the top there.
So I mean, Kenny Pickett, Naji Harris, the offensive line,
Pat Friar muth deserve a ton of credit defensive side

(04:50):
of the football what they were able to do, um,
to hold that team in it and then ultimately, you
know again make another play to to steal it at
the end with it with another another mink cherry to
the whip cream on top of a victory like we've
seen a few times this year. Uh. And as you
mentioned to the coaching staff, from top to bottom, a
lot of people with their hand and this one a
lot of people who who deserve credit here on this

(05:13):
victory Monday, no doubt about it. I mean, think about this.
Kenny Pickett is the first quarterback in NFL history to
throw a game winning t D in then uh game
winning t D pass in the final minute of the
fourth quarter back to back games. I mean, yeah, that's unbelievable.
It doesn't that doesn't happen very often, if you know,

(05:33):
maybe every very rarely, at least you know, in this
in this modern era. Um, and there is you know,
that's that's the balance of I don't think any of
us are acting like the offense as a finished product
or you know, anything like that. But at the same time,
those are those kind of those hallmark moments those UM
milestone moments is maybe the better way to put it. Where.

(05:55):
You know, for the second straight week, while the offense
had its struggles, what they did it was they took
care of the football. They continue to give themselves opportunities.
They ran the ball well to give their defense some
blows on the sideline while their defense was doing its
part as well too. That's part of this. You know,
they played that complementary football and then at the very
end they just needed one more opportunity and Kenny Pickett

(06:17):
and company were able to get that thing over the
line and and and kick that door in when they
needed to most. That is that's the marked improvement. Again,
those are the milestones. I don't think, you know, none
of us are going to you and I are gonna
sit here for two hours and talk about how this is,
you know, now the best offense in the National Football
League or anything like that. But these this is the
progress that you've been wanting to see a lot of times.

(06:40):
A lot of times it was it was ugly early
on in the season. Certainly, we don't need to sugarcoat that.
But since the bye week, UM, there has been marked improvement.
And that's that's what you want to see. That's the
sign of players improving. That's a sign of good coaching,
coaching doing its job. Um, and that is also why
you're now eight and eight and in the hunt and

(07:00):
giving yourself, you know, with a little help from the
Seahawks and the Patriots. Baby still alive here head in
a week eighteen. Well think about it. I mean, we
saw so much action. It was just dynamite. And one
of the things I loved. How about you know the
Steelers were last in fifteen yard plus explosive place in
the league, just didn't have many. How about the fourth
quarter that one drive you got Nigie Harris rips fifteen

(07:23):
yards right, and so then George Pickens says, oh, you
think that's pretty cool. Here hold my beer and watch this.
He comes up with another fifteen yard right there with
that tremendous reception, and Steven sim said, oh, you guys
think you're you guys think you're hot stuff. Here's here's
a twenty eight yard reception to put us in business, baby,
and he goes up over the middle and he does

(07:46):
his own version of that. I mean, it was absolutely terrific. Look,
I understand you want to see more continuity and more points.
But you know what, this kid goes out there and
he leads them again and a last minute drive to
win the game. And the whole point is win the game. Correct,
It's not about looking good, it's not about statistics. It's

(08:09):
about winning the game. That's all that matters. And in
the face of a lot of reasons not to write,
I mean, that's the That's the other thing that I felt,
even you know, even you and I will if I
think we're on the optimistic side of things, you know,
compared to whatever you wanna call it. That's just that's
just the way we are. You know, every day is

(08:29):
the best day ever. That's why I think you and
I go so well because we just walk in here
every morning on three hours asleep with a stupid grin
on our face. I got a full ninety minutes, you know,
the we kind of you and I I think are
amongst the most optimistic the Steelers media, Steelers fans, alumni,

(08:51):
for you fan, for both of us, you know, a
blend of a little bit of everything there. I think
we're on the more optimistic side. But jeez, you know,
if you would a you know, gun to our head
before that last drive against Las Vegas, before that last
drive last night, and if you would have asked me
in the booth, which, by the way, shout out to Baltimore,
very nice booth in a very nice location there in
that stadium, if I got it, I mean there was

(09:13):
so much room in that booth, Wolf and I could
have played one on one pickup basketball if we just
had a little hoop to hang over the door. Um.
But I don't think if you would have pulled all
of us in the booth when the you know, when
the Steelers took the field at the twenty yard like great,
you know what, speaking of credit to Steven Simms. Great
decision by him to let that punt bounce and it
goes just a yard in the you get it? You
get it at the twenty right, instead of backed up

(09:34):
inside of your own tent. I mean, if you would
have pulled any of us and said, all right, what
happens here, I don't think many of us would have
been too confident in a in an a D play
or eight yard touchdown drive to win the game. But
that's exactly two weeks in a row. What they were
able to go out there and do is in the
face of look what looked like, Man, this team has
nothing going for it. They were able to get that

(09:56):
moving in the right direction when it mattered most. That
to me is a Again, it's progress, it's milestones, it's
things to build on. And I love your point there
about the you know how we talked so much this
year about how the Steelers offenses last at explosive plays
this season in the National Football League. Wolf look at
the look at the biggest plays, look at the longest

(10:18):
gains for the Steelers running backs and wide receivers. Last night,
Nag Harris had a fifteen yard run, Jalen Warren had
a thirty one yard run. Pat Friar moved twenty yard reception,
Deante Johnson twenty one yard reception, Steven Sims twenty eight
yard reception, George Pickens fifteen yard reception. Jalen Warren and
Naji both had uh ten yard receptions as well too.

(10:40):
That's I think some of that chunk that we've been
looking for. And again you got it in the run game,
you got it in the past game. Um. That's again
that's to me, that's tangible progress. You know, it's unbelievable
because I'm telling you what. We had more chunk plays,
and we had ch chunk chucolate chip uh in in
the Atlanta. Down in the Lanta, we had the Chuck
Jim cookies. Those things were so chunk ified. Now he

(11:02):
had some chocolate chip cookies on the bus on the
way to the play. I'm sorry they didn't match Atlanta.
Atlanta was just outrageous, quick, quick, quick side point. I mean,
Atlanta has been the best, the best press box meal
of the season. Right Well, you know, I gotta tell
you got the crab cakes last night. That's the chunk
plays equaled the chunk chocolate chip cookies from Atlanta. It

(11:23):
was that that amazing. No, again, that's that's a great
point by you, because that was something I didn't even
really think about until you mentioned it. And I'm looking
at the box score here right now. Nag Harris fifteen
yard run, ten yard reception, Jalen moore in thirty one
yard run, ten yard reception, Friar Deonte twenty one, Stephen Sims,
George Pickens fifteen. I mean those again, that's that's what

(11:46):
you've been looking for. You and I are were not
gonna sit here and you know, and we'll have more
of these conversations when we get to the offseason and
we do bigger picture. But like you mentioned, this is
not This is not you and I saying it's a
work in progress. The often is going out there and
consistently scoring twenty points every week. But but these are
the building blocks that you need, the last minute drives

(12:08):
to be able to get wins over the line, the
massive improvement from the run game in the offensive line
since the bye week, and now some chunk plays through
the air and on the ground as well too. This
is how we all wanted to see it start to
come together, and it's a big part of the reason
why you're six and two post bye week here. You know,
these last two weeks and I try to explain this

(12:29):
in my thinking sometimes it gets a little discombobulated there.
But these this is exactly how you build a quarterback
presenting challenges. This is very much like you know. I
used to I had a boxing gym, used to train
athletes and fighters, right, and one of the things you
do with a new boxer, especially when they turned pro,
is you gotta get them opponents that challenge him incrementally

(12:53):
that the incremental challenges come you don't throw a guy in,
you know, in his first ten fights, you don't throw
him in against the top ten content. He's not gonna learn,
he's gonna get blitz. I'm not I'm not starting UFC
and going out there to fight Connor McGregor the next
week ago. But what you have to do is match
him up and create challenges that are within his realm

(13:14):
of rising to that challenge. And you don't have a
choice in it in football. But Kenny is exceeding those challenges.
He's overcoming and and and he's being presented with the complications.
What that was his tenth game? What tenth start, eleventh game,
something like that, or eleventh and twelve. I can't remember

(13:36):
the numbers. You know my math load load double digits.
We'll just go with that. There you go, so let's
just round it off show it's something like that. So
you know, and he's he's meeting that challenge. He is,
he's rising to that challenge. You're not doing the greatest
job before your ten of twenty one. You got a

(13:57):
hundred and four yards and you come down to that
last drive and by golly, what's he do? He's the
sun Dance kid. He moves. He's better when he moves.
You know, he had Let's see if I got the stature,
where was it that was? He was like six or
seven on the move. You know. That's that. How about
the mahomes And throw, Nagi Harris, that was terrific. That's

(14:17):
funny you say that. That's the same thing I was.
I was thinking and texting with some of my friends
last night. Was that was that was a Mahomesian uh
type shimmy shake and and and throw. I mean that
was that was an a plus plus plus plus throw that.
I mean, that's big time. He outran JPP. I mean,
you got a little pressure going up the field, poor
Danny Moore. You're doing a good job of alling him off,

(14:39):
but he gets some pressure from the other side. So
he's got a bubble over the top of Danny Moore
to the outside and there's JP, p U, Jason Pierre,
Paul just uh, you know, I always think of a
candy bar when I hear that pure Paul. Yeah, I
mean just it's you know, yeah, that's it, you know, uh,
you know, was it. I'm enjoying all that stuff. Yeah,
I just but anyhow, he bubbles over the top and

(15:02):
then he's got the wherewith I'll think about it on
that earlier on that drive he had thrown to earlier
that night, he had thrown to Friar Muth in the
same way, rolling to his left, recently releasing with that
side armed like throw and he goes twenty yards. Now
this time he comes over and he leads Nagy up
the sideline. Nagy, who gets out and did a great
job of getting circular and in depth and getting one

(15:24):
on one with ro Kuan Smith. Then he shakes and
bakes and goes up the sidelines right there. I don't
know what Steven Simms was doing over the top. That
was too close with the two of them. But that's
the scramble drill. You know, you got one guy, actually
one one. The way it was, I think they're supposed
to do with. You should have gotten parallel that being
Nagy with Kenny and and and Simms would be over

(15:47):
the top. That give you two levels. But you had
Nagy going up the sideline there and he got behind
ro Kuan Smith. And what a catch, what a throw,
what a finish? My goodness was that something certainly was
And it's you know, it's it's it's another step. It's
I love that you know that that the boxing, the
boxing gym, you know example that that you give there. Um,

(16:09):
it's like it's like raising a kid, right, well, if
you know you've raised, you've raised plenty of kids. I
gotta I gotta almost fifteen month old now, uh you know,
I don't expect her to, uh, you know, to stand
up and start jogging when she's seven months old. Right,
you gotta you gotta crawl before you can walk. You
gotta walk before you can run. It's it's it's that progress.

(16:31):
It's those building blocks. It's that progression. And you're right, Um,
it's it's just it's another check in that kind of
building building progress. I you know, and I know you
and I have had this conversation too. No One, I
don't think is really going to know how good Kenny
Pickett is going to be in terms of the you know,
the full body of work of his career for at

(16:52):
least another couple of years. Quarterbacks Quarterbacks always continue to
grow and develop. Um quarterbacks sometimes after you know, a
rook a year take a step back, like you know
you mentioned you mentioned Moats at the beginning of the segment.
Moats always lays this example out as to why, like
you never render a final verdict of a quarterback after
one season, it's after their rookie years. Everyone thought Josh

(17:14):
Allen was a bust and everyone thought Baker Mayfield was
the next great thing. And look at where those two
are right now, right, I mean, it's gone in a
complete opposite direction. So this is still always going to
be a bigger picture view on Kenny Pickett. I think
at least for you know, another year or so at
this point. But you want to see those milestones. You
want to see that progress. You want to see that

(17:35):
like you you know, I think nicely laid out there,
that building up of a of a quarterback, of a
franchise quarterback. And I I think particularly again since the
bye week, they are they are really progressing nicely in
that in that avenue nicely, indeed, you know. And that's
one of the things that that you look forward to
as you go through a whole season. It's that journey

(17:57):
where each and every week you're met with challenges. And
it's not just a quarterback, it's the running backs, that's
the line, it's a defensive line, you know, lineback, yes,
you know, and there's so much to unpack here. I mean,
think about this. They went with a six two configuration
to offset the heavy alignment of the of the Ravens.
And I gotta tell you something, Mark Robinson, I didn't

(18:18):
even I didn't realize what, you know, at first, he's
in I'm going, what in the world is this kid
doing in there? And you've got the Marvin Leel playing
wrecord Ralph in there, you know, just blowing some things up,
and Isaiah Louder milking some of these other guys, and
you got you got six to you got um an
eight man box and they're just slugging it out. The
trenches were a blood sport last night. I mean, I

(18:40):
was just I was in my glory watching the boys
going at it, because there was nothing like you ball
up the fist and roll off that front foot and
put your forehead in a man's chin and moving from
a to B against his will. There's just nothing better
than that. And then defensively speaking to see what they
did to be able to jam up you know, it's
it's a kind of saying you can't stop them, you

(19:01):
only you can only hope to contain them. Well, they
did that to j. K. Dobbins, and they outravened the Ravens,
is what they did the Steelers because they got themselves
on their high horses with the Russian attack, did everything
that the Ravens had done to them basically. I mean
there was almost two hundred yards there Russian between the
Naji and Jalen Warren. What a great job, man, Oh man,

(19:23):
I've just so fired up. Well, get get me some
more coffee. I got ahead. No, you don't need any
more coffee, you know, I know, I'm like my head
is spinning right at this point. It is. And you
know what, that's another That's another thing I think the
defense deserves credit for as well. To Wolf. Um, they
you know, at times last night did a great job

(19:43):
of of bending but not breaking. You know, where Mark
Andrews was able to have some success. J K. Dobbins
was able to have success. Those guys are those guys
are good players right there, Like like we we have
to remind people from time to time. You know, the
other teams allowed to play make plays to their professionals
as well too. Um. But J K. Dobbins had nearly
a hundred yards rushing. Mark Andrews had had a hundred

(20:05):
yards receiving UM. Both of those guys had chunk plays
as well to nineteen yard reception for Andrews twenty two
yard run for j. K. Dobbins. What the defense was
able to do was tighten up, stiffen up, like we
always talked about, right bend, but don't break when they
got close to the shadow of their own end zone.
And especially Mr wolf Lee, if they don't call that

(20:26):
crut personal foul on Fam Hayward, I mean we we
legitimately could be talking about a Steelers defense that that
only gave up three field goals that whole game because
they were about to hold Baltimore to a field goal
in that situation there before uh that allowed Huntley to
find Isaiah likely what it was one or two plays later,
they could have easily held Baltimore to just three goals,

(20:47):
three field goals on the night. And that is you
know that, I think too is part of what It
took a little bit of time and losing t. J.
Watt week one certainly had had a big impact as well. Um,
but this defense has had I think started to round
into the unit we expected them to be. To a
lot of people. Wolf this season. I know you're you're
not as a you know in tune on social media

(21:09):
is as I am right, But but a lot of
people this season wolf when things weren't going well for
the Steelers defense, they rushed to Twitter, they rushed to Facebook,
to social media to make their a hundred and eight
million dollar defense. Huh, hundred and eight million dollar defense. Well,
money doesn't get you paying for what you used to. Wow,

(21:29):
hundred eight million dollars doesn't go as far as it
used to. Like Losing the thirty sum million from t J.
Watt wasn't a huge part of what makes that defense
tick with the defensive player of the year. But now
they're relatively health I mean, Miles jack still banged up.
They've got some corners that are banged up, in a
Kello and William Jackson. But this defense, now these last

(21:50):
couple of weeks, has been what we expected it to be.
They have been able to make the posing offenses play
one dimensionally. They've taken away what you do best. They
have held teams to field goals in the red zone.
They forced crucial turnovers in the big moments. This is
that hundred and eight million dollar defense and the offense

(22:10):
deserves credit Kenny Pickett, Nagy Harris on down the list.
But you're not sitting eight in Nate here either without
a you know, a chance to still go for it
in the final week of the season without what this
defense has done the last few weeks as well too. Um,
it's it's been absolutely fantastic, and it's been I think,
you know again, everything that we hoped and that they
were advertised to be, you know when when this journey

(22:33):
started back in July and Latrobe. Absolutely all right, let's
take a break, you know, when we come back. I'm
gonna when we disembarked last night about what to thirty
the morning, three o'clock something like that a couple hours ago. Yeah, yeah,
maybe ten minutes ago going to the cars. But I
had a little conversation with Captain Cam before we went.
I'll tell you about it when we come back. This

(23:07):
is in the Locker Room with Wolf and Starks on
ESPN Pittsburgh against Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your neighborhood
Forward Store. The F one is the official truck of
the Pittsburgh Steelers. Record motions right to left, they handed
up and topping grinds inside the twenty down to the
fifteen yard line for about seven on the play that

(23:30):
sets up for it down and now they throw late
flags personal file, unnecessary resides defense number. We will of
course after this and to those with an automatics. So
that flag was thrown after the Ravens. We're gonna let

(23:50):
Tucker kick a short field goal. You got to score
tight at three three and the Ravens on the on
that play there they side. Okay, let's run the ball.
Get what we get on a third and sixteen right,
So Dobbins was tackling about nine yards short of the
first down, if you remember west right. So you got
a little pile in there. Now, let me tell you something.
The pile is no place for the faint of heart. Okay,

(24:14):
those pile ups. There's there's a lot of things that
go on. And I understand, you know, you got seven
seconds left and a half. You gotta keep your cool.
But I'm watching and I saw the replay, and I
think you saw it too. You got Ben Powers the guard,
all right, he and Ronnie Stanley. You're in the pile him,
but you got Ben Power has got an underhook on
cam cam. He's trying to throw cam over the pile,

(24:35):
basically roll him over, and Cam's trying to come to
balance and just hold himself up. I gotta tell you
something I told Cam, and I said I that was
absolutely that was ridiculous. That was such you know, I
don't want to use words that I'm gonna regret. I'm
not gonna But the fact of the matter, it's a

(24:56):
company holiday today. It doesn't count. Nobody's listening to everyone's off.
They can't fire you on their day off. Yeah, listen,
I've been around this business too long and are the
only ones in the building. Could have been the only
one in the building for about two weeks. But who's
here to fire you? I'm not gonna fire you, all right,
So I'll tell you it was horse feathers. Oh, I

(25:18):
tell you, I'm watching that. I'm going you can't. You
just can't believe that this guy threw a flag on
something so innocuous is that there was no punching there was,
I mean, I could there's fish hooking goes down there.
You know what fish hooking is? All right? You grab
that face mask and you give the guy a little

(25:38):
twist on the neck, you kind of yeah, you know,
you give him a little chiropractic adjustment. All right, there's
punching that goes on in there. There's all kinds of bedevilment.
Oh my heavens, yes, giving him the business and that
was not giving anybody the business. And I gotta tell
you something that was very disappointing because I'm telling you

(25:59):
some of the things that they're trying to take out
of the NFL, and you know, just the physicality of
the game. This is a physical game. The Ravens Steelers
to trains one track. You know, you got a hot
contest going on on a on a big stage night
in Baltimore. Right, Wow, dead zukes man, you're gonna call
him flag on that a flag that, like you said,

(26:21):
had that not been thrown, they just kicked the field
four difference. Yeah, I mean that's huge. And so you know,
I I just had to, you know, tell Cam and
said no, like I said, it was horse horse horse hockey. Yes,
there you go. Yeah, no, I'm with you. And I
mean you even you go back and watch the replay
like Cam does. The You know, those those defensive lineman,

(26:42):
now they're so cognizant two of the whole. You can't
put your full weight on anybody anymore, right, Like, you
can't fall on a guy anymore, You've gotta kind of
spin or roll off. Cam Heyward even tries to do that,
like he's got his arms up, he's trying to roll
off the hit, coming to balance, and he's getting you know,
he's getting pulled down by his by his uh you know,

(27:03):
like almost like you know, his jersey right in front
of his throat by the Ravens offensive lineman. Yeah, that's
that's just a bad call in a tough moment. And
what drives me crazy about that, And it's you know,
it's funny. Now we can't laugh about it because all
is well, that ends well, and it ended up not
costing the Steelers the game, while it did cost them
four points that very uh certainly could have been crucial.

(27:26):
You know, it was just a bailout in that moment,
Wolf and I, hey, I loathe when referees bail guys
out in any sport. It just drives me nuts. If
a wide receiver has no chance of making a play
on the ball and he's just looking for contact to
draw the past interference, right, Um, if it's if it's

(27:48):
third and long and you call a ticky tack defensive
holding that gives the other team an automatic first step,
you know, like in basketball when a guy chucks up
a terrible shot and he knows it's a terrible shot,
but then he gets one hand put on him and
the ref calls of foul and bails the guy. Like,
bailout calls always drive me nuts, and that's exactly what

(28:10):
that was like In that moment, Baltimore didn't deserve to
have their drive elongated, you know, and that that drives
me crazy. It really, like in any sport, I don't
care what it is. I think it happens primarily in
football and basketball, but I hate bailout calls where it
was clear there was nothing there. It was clear the

(28:31):
play was going nowhere, but the ref wants to call
something ticky tack that's going to benefit the team that
had nothing going for it. That, to me, was one
of those classic instances. There was nothing there, Baltimore was
about to kick a field goal. You bail them out,
You give them a fresh set of downs, and they
took advantage of it, which is what good teams do
in those situations, right, You give them an opportunity, they're
gonna pounce, they're gonna strike. Um. Like I said, Fortunately

(28:56):
for Cam didn't cost him, didn't cost the team. The
defense was able to go out there clamp it down
at the end. But that's just yeah, that's one of
those head scratcher moments. Man, there's there's just nothing in there.
There's no need for that. Well, the killer is I've
been in pile ups were basically right now. I'll tell you.
I won't talk about what went on due to the
fact that the statute limitations might on more misdemeanors than

(29:19):
you want to count. But you know, and so like
you said, I think perfectly you captured that. You're you're
you've got six your third and sixteen, you're running the ball.
You got a seven yard run. It's a surrender run,
is what it is. You're okay, we're gonna run the
ball here, we're gonna kick the field goal. Absolutely, and
you just bail him out. It's so annoying. That was
that was and it was critical. I mean this is

(29:40):
again you go to the game, all right, I mean,
they think about it. Here. You've got over the last
thirty games, seventeen of them have been by three points
or less. Eighteen of them, eighteen of them now by
three points or lesson you kidding me, crazy, unbelieved. That's
I mean, that's the that's the National Football League. That's
the fine margins, right, I mean the majority of games

(30:01):
in this league decided by by one score every every
you know, Sunday, Saturday, Thursday, Monday, all the days they
play games. Now, And you gotta think about this, the
Ravens hadn't allowed a hundred yard rusher all season long, right, Uh,
they hadn't allowed more than fourteen points but one time
in the last seven games. They also wolf hadn't given
up a touchdown at home in three and a half games, yes,

(30:25):
quarters without giving up a touchdown at home. And then
you've got the same thing when I said, since two
thousand and eight, you've got what thirty times now, twenty
three games have been decided by one score, seventeen by
three points or fewer. Gad zukes man, that's just how
you can consistently field two teams that go at each
other with you know, hammers each and every time they

(30:48):
get together and and and have it come that close
down the wire. It's just just tremendous. What a great
rivalry you know, but that but that it comes back
to the whole thing that you were just talking about.
That was a surrender run. That's perfectly stated, and there's
just no way that referee should have thrown that flag.

(31:09):
That was absolute, no wolf, no more, no more. Bailout.
Yeah all right, not for the airline industry, not for
these big banks, and not for the Baltimore Ravens like that.
That's very good, indeed, no doubt about it. It's yeah.

(31:29):
And you know what's funny too for the people at
home as well. You know, like there there's been a
there's been once or twice this season where you and
I disagreed on a penalty, Like remember the Chase Claypool
the non pass interference that led to the interception in Miami.
You and I disagreed on that one. We're on the
same page here, like that was that's just it's a bailout.
That's exactly what it is. And that's the one thing. Look,

(31:52):
I know, officiating is not an easy job. I think
more now. I mean, it gets more difficult and more
difficult every year. These guys get bigger, faster, stronger, I mean,
it is. It's insane how great athletes are across the
board in professional sports. Right now, I get that it's difficult.
It's a sixty minute contest that plays out over three hours.

(32:12):
They're gonna miss calls. There's there's going to be you know,
air quotes, bad calls, missed calls, however you want to
label them. But that those type of ones to me again,
the bailouts are just different, Like that's something you can
control as a referee. You've got to have a field
of the situation. It's third and fourteen. It's a surrender
run by the Ravens here. I mean, and unless Cam
Heyward is like tombstone pile driving somebody into the ground,

(32:35):
I'm not throwing a personal flag Penalty's specially in such
a physical game, right I mean, that's the thing. It's January.
It's the Steelers and Ravens Armageddon. It's you know, it's
gonna be a one score game. Just stay out of
the way and let the players decide it on the field.
Have that it. I mean, very physical nature of this

(32:55):
game is why they put it on a you know,
you flex the game. You know, you put it on
a big stage weekend night, you know, I mean you
it's it's that physicality, and you know, to me, they're
just robbing the game of the very thing that draws
the fans in. Yeah, nobody, nobody, uh, nobody tunes into

(33:15):
football games going Oh man, I can't wait to see
what the referee is gonna call tonight. Oh man, I
hope they have a couple of lengthy video reviews here.
Nothing gets me going like a three minute video review
that completely pauses the momentum of the game. But that's
the other side of this, wolf, right, is they know
we're still watching no one's, no one's, no one's turning

(33:36):
the game off because of that bad call on Campaignward
last night, And in fact, it's an additional piece of
content for all to all of us to discuss and
dissect and debate today. So maybe we fell into the trap.
Maybe this is all the grand scheme of the National
Football League. I agree, I agree, my man. Okay, you
know what, let's take a break and then when we
come back, let's talk a little Nagy Harris and that

(33:57):
rushing attack that was pretty much resembled what a charging
rhino going through the wicker department at IKEA. I mean,
it was just unbelievable. You put that tape on you
see Raven night Bodies going backwards. Love it. We'll be
back with more after this. This is in the locker

(34:34):
room with Wolf and Starks on ESPN Pittsburgh against Steelers
Nation Radio, presented by your neighborhood Forward Store. The F
one is the official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Here's
Nagi coming through breaks to the outside, up over the
twenty high steps to the to the twenty nine yard line.
Another big gainer for Naji Harrison And you know when

(34:58):
Nazi starts high stepping it, it's big gainer. That was
a nice job he ripped it off there off the
left side. But I gotta tell you something else. We
went back. I watched a little bit of the tape
this morning and as much as I could throw. That's
how That's how I know you're a real sick. Oh well,
oh I know there's you know. The worst game watcher
ever was Ton Chilkin. Alright, kid, you not that dude.

(35:21):
He would come into the studio and I go, oh,
it's a vizin day, brother. You obviously been watching too
much game film. Again. He's looking at me with those
red eyes. I'm like going, wow, you need some sleep
and visine, you know, get off the game tape and
too much blue light there in the eyeballs. You know
how I missed you, brother. And by the way, I

(35:43):
gotta say again, Kurt Stubbs from down in Ohio there
where I got some family on Harrisville and so forth St.
Clair's Ville. And this this dude gave me a pair
of trading cards Tonchilken I've never seen before. It was
so awesome. I am so grateful, so thankful. My buddy
Dennis Kinsey, you know we got He's the dad of Danessa,

(36:06):
who is my son, Kyle's wife, so our kids together.
You know, we're great buddies, the Kinsey's and the wolf
He's and you know, I just loved them folks. And
he got me the cards that he came to me.
And now and I'm telling you, okay, just so no
matter what Dennis says, I wasn't crying. Okay, I did
have I did have a little attack of the allergy,
but everybody, all right, I was pollinated, Okay, But it

(36:30):
was amazing, and I'm so thankful to Kurt Stubbs. What
a great job. Yeah, that was very touching. That's very cool.
You have to make sure I gotta see this, Y
gotta let me because I think it was was it
our producer Dan Quinlan, I think last night and the
booth said this maybe, but he's right. It's it's always
for you know, for those of us who are a
little bit younger and um, you know, we we knew

(36:51):
tounch post, you know, playing play again exactly exactly healthy.
Help be touch my brother. Hey, you know I I
got him to the Pro Bowl. I taught him how
to need it. He needed he needed your assistance and
then the beef up. He had to learn how what
it was like to go. But you got to make

(37:13):
sure your favorite restaurant is one that comes with self
serving trades. But it is it's always funny, you know too,
because it's it's probably a lot like you know, kids
who grow up now and meet Alan Fantica, right, you
know what I mean? And then they and then they
see a picture of Alan Fannica from two thousand and
five and they go, oh, my goodness, that dude's neck
is as big as Rhode Island. What the heck? What's

(37:35):
he doing? That's how it is, you know, That's how
it is for me. And touch, because you're right, you
know my relationship with him, he was a pencil neck.
He had lost all that all that weight. But man,
you go back and you look at pictures of him
and his playing days and it's it's funny. He looks
like a completely different guy. So you'll have to let
me see those that that is I always laugh because
he had the biggest face in his helmet. You know,

(37:56):
it used to look like it was. Do you ever
see like like if your wife is into making bread
and how the the red door will rise up out
of the pan. That's what his face looked like in
a helmet. You know. I was like, touch, get a
bigger face mask or something. You know, you're starting to
ooze through your face mask, like he was having reaction

(38:16):
to a be sting or something. In the funniest Oh,
he did that one time. He picked me up a
training camp. Right, we're gonna go up to St. Vincent.
This is our playing days. He picks me up and
as he comes up, he comes up to ring the
bell and all of a sudden he gets stung by
a bee. I opened the door and he's like swatting
the air. He's running around and it stung him right

(38:40):
over the eye and his eye closed, and it's like,
if it isn't bad enough, you're going to training camp,
if it if it's not bad enough, that you've gotta
go there and face two of days with pads and
conditioning exactly, and no air, no air conditioning, no phones,
no nothing. It's just very stark back in the day,

(39:01):
and you gotta get stung by a bee, so you can't.
You're like a one eyed Willie driving like, oh man,
that's great. Remember you were you were you were thanking
your your friend for the for the training card exactly.
So agatt the Kurt Stubbs, I thank you for your generosity.

(39:24):
That was really a truly an amazing gift. Absolutely, So
we go back to this offense and with the what
Naji did, and I gotta tell you something that he
was inspired. He was fierce, He had intentionality, he had intensity,
he had all those factors that you know you see

(39:44):
in great running backs. And what he delivered last night
was exactly what the Steelers needed. Because if you're going
to go into a fist fight with the Ravens, you
better be packing some good right hand. And he was
the right hand, you know, everybody's got a plan until
they get hit with the right hand. So saith George Foreman, Well,
that was Nagy last night. He was the right hand

(40:06):
that absolutely discombobulated the Ravens. Yes, I know, Calais Campbell
wasn't there. And Calais Campbell, you know that. I can
understand that you got a point, all right, but it
doesn't matter in the sense of you you can only
block who lines up over you. And that's a great
job by the Steelers offensive line. I always give respect

(40:26):
to Calais Campbell because I have a great deal of
respect for his game and the man that he is,
knowing a little bit of his history there. And the
fact is, um, this is a Steelers team that played
inspired an offensive line that would not be denied. And
I'm telling you, when you saw the push on the inside,
what they did, oh great googly moog? Was that something

(40:49):
great called by you? I think particularly the interior. I mean,
James Daniels Wolfe has quietly been so stinking good over
the last couple of months. Um, Kevin Dotson, you know,
he's he's had a little inconsistency. Certainly, he's still trying
to figure it out and cut his teeth fully in
this league. But I thought, man, when when he is

(41:11):
when he is on like he was for for most
of last night, when the offensive line, the offensive line
is a different unit when he's locked in, it really
like he he feels like the X factor to me,
you know what I mean? The other four, it feels
like you pretty much know what you're gonna get. And
like I said, I think, especially James Daniels chokes, the

(41:31):
right side of that offensive line has been good over
the last couple of months. And when you get when
you get Kevin Dotson and Dan Moore Junior as well too,
when they're performing like they're capable of, that's that's when
you see like you did last night, you know you're
able to run the ball effectively a hundred and ninety
eight yards rushing on the ground. And yes, Kenny Pickett

(41:52):
did get sacked twice, but I didn't think either of
those were terrible by the offensive one one of them,
one of them. One of them he tripped and I
don't know, no, I'm sorry, he tripped over a teammate.
He tripped over Yeah, he tripped over a teammate, And
I think there was some confusion on his part there too,
like it looked like Kenny might have had time to
get up and throw that thing away. We all know
in college football, when when you're down, you're down, right,

(42:15):
even if you're down by no contact, if you just
trip over your feet, in college football, you're down. So
maybe there was still some of that. You know, Kenny
is still a rookie, goes down there and is kind
of thinking, okay, the plays over Wait a second, who knows,
But you're right, I mean, I don't put either of
those sacks on the offensive line. You run for almost
two hundred yards on the ground. I mean, they they

(42:35):
they deserve their uh, their credit from last night's game.
And really again, you know they've been instrumental in this
uh this six and two posts by week record exactly.
So Weston, you know what, discretion is the better part
of valor, and maybe discretion said stay down, Kenny, don't
try to jump up and then throw. Yeah, that's a
great point, you know. Yeah, you just don't know what

(42:56):
could have happened. As it turned out, it you know,
wasn't overall, what didn't affect the whole game, but the
fact of the matters. If you had jumped up and
then started running around and throwing the ball trying to
you know, in a panic mode. That could have been critical.
So however it was, it could be your point, could
be you know him somewhere in between. But the fact
of the matter is again it was another learning thing.

(43:17):
But here what I loved with that with the offensive
line was there surging at the end. I mean, they
stayed on it till the whistle man. And I gotta
tell you and Kevin Dotson, and yes, sometimes he's a
little bit inconsistent, but I gotta tell he's been consistently
powerful as we this season is unfolded and watching him

(43:39):
at times, it's like he just moves bodies. I mean
a pure he's a bodyguard. Yeah yeah, yeah, Well he's
not just a bodyguard. He's a body mover, right, I mean,
that's that's that's what he that's what he looks like
out there. Well, if you know, he looks like he's
picking up me after you know, maybe one or two

(44:00):
any sodas at the bar on a Friday night and
just grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and
get him out of here. Well that's the problem with you.
West Virginia guys, Now, hold on, if there's one if
there's one thing we can do, all right, it's belly up.
It's belly up to the water hole and put on
a show. All right. But no, you're you're right. I mean,

(44:21):
he man, he he just he has a he has
a different body type of different skill set than than
a lot of people do. I mean, he is just
he's a boulder out there. And you're right. When he
gets playing with confidence and momentum. Um, he moves some people, man,
and he and he was doing that a lot of
crucial points last night. Absolutely, alright, brother, let's take a

(44:43):
break real, real quick. Wolf. Yes, Joey tweets us and
says that the referees told, you know, as our relation,
our our conversation in the last segment about Cam Heyward
and the flag, that the referees told Cam they threw
the flag for contact with an official, not because of
his actions with the Baltimore Ravens. So interesting. I'll have

(45:04):
to go back again. You know, Wolf and I were there.
Everything's happened in real time in the booth, right, um,
and I did not watch any film. I chose the
three hours of sleep over the field. But I'll have
to have thanks for pointing that out, Joey. I'll have
to I'll have to go back and go back, and
because I didn't get that far, you know, we get
you know, we get two or three replays in the
booth and then we're moving on to the next thing um.

(45:25):
But yeah, good call there by, Joey. We'll have to
look into that, and we will look into it, and
we will do that. Well, we're not gonna look at
it after we come back later in the week. All right,
dead zukes, let's go. We gotta take a break. We'll
be back after this, folks. SNR