Week 13 @ Falcons

Mike Prisuta and Bob Labriola debate Steelers topics following the win over Indy, on the podcast with the motto, I'm right, he's wrong!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
This is Agree to Disagree with Mike Presuda and Bob Labriola.
Hello to all of our sleep deprived Steelers fans, and
thanks for being a part of another should be award
winning episode of Agree to Disagree, the podcast with the
motto I'm right, he's wrong, and I'm tired. First things first,

(00:26):
we are doing this mid morning on Tuesday, and neither
Mike nor I have been to sleep yet, which is
not necessarily a complaint, but more of an explanation for why,
I mean, why we might end up rambling a little
bit more than usual. But as they say and Agree
to Disagree podcasting, your most valuable ability is your availability

(00:48):
or something like that. Okay, and that, by the way,
can I just add I just flew in from Indianapolis
and boy or my arms? What? Okay? Let's be yea
or we'll be here all week or as long as
we can stay awake. UM. I want to start with

(01:11):
this and get a gauge of where you were mentally
as you were covering a game last night, And I'll
start with myself. Um, as I was watching a second
disastrous third quarter unfolded as many games, with the Steelers
going into it with a decent lead and then falling
apart in all three phases. I was left with a

(01:35):
strong sense that if the team didn't find a way
to right themselves, dig deep, and find a way to win,
that the team might not win another game this season.
You know, in the inimitable words of Bubby Brister, fixing
to come unglued, I mean another second half collapse, I
thought as I'm watching this now eighty nine yard kickoff returns,

(01:58):
And I mean it was just one thing after another,
I thought, by a guy who had never done that before.
By the way, well, I mean Alice Flowers. I mean
what it wasn't uh Billy White shuse Johnson back there,
you know, towards Devin Hester, Right, it was not the

(02:20):
lack of respect that he showed by bringing that out
eight yards deep from the end zone, to me was frightening. Um.
And the ease with which that kickoff return unfolded, I mean,
uh it was. It was frightening. I mean it brought
me back to when um, you know, the Steelers took

(02:43):
a seven and four seven and four team to Detroit
for a Thanksgiving Day game. Uh, and they were so
discombobulated by Phil Luckett and the coin toss in overtime
that they not only lost that game against the Lions,
but they didn't win another game the rest of the

(03:04):
year and just kind of, you know, fell apart. They
did become unglued. I mean, did you get a sense
of any of that happening as it was happening, you know, Labs,
I didn't think that far ahead because I was so
stunned at the way the game turned. I can tell
you that during I get to this the NFL and

(03:24):
there's eben flow and everybody's good, and everybody's on scholarship
and blah blah blah. I didn't have a ton of
respect for what Matt Ryan can do at this stage
of his career behind that offensive line going into the game,
and you know, I think what they completed their first
pass in the second quarter something like that. I mean,

(03:45):
it was going at sixteen to three. I thought it
was done. And I even told one of our colleagues,
who shall remain nameless because I don't want to promote
his work on another station, but I said, go ahead
and start right. This baby's in the bag. You know,
you've seen what you need to see. And it's just
flipped up with that kickoff return and then the offense

(04:06):
goes through and out and then it's another touchdown. At all,
I was still trying to wrap my head around all
of that. I hadn't gotten to ramifications, but I was, uh,
you know, shocked might be a little bit strong of
a word, but I was dumbfounded. How's that? Uh, all
of a sudden, All of a sudden, they were trailing

(04:27):
a game that they were dominating, statistically, dominating, territorially dominating,
just the way the game was being played, and then
all of a sudden, they weren't They welcome to the NFL. Yeah,
And I'm with you in terms of the respect factor.
I didn't bring a lot of it in for the
Colts in general. Um, you know, just just the just

(04:50):
the way that you know, they fired a coach and
hired some guy off the ESPN set, And I mean
it just seemed like such a I don't know, uh,
maybe a circus kind of atmosphere. Um, but um, you know,
the only clowns in the circus in the third quarter,

(05:11):
we're wearing we're wearing black helmets. So he's not quickly
it changed. I think there were more Steeler fans there
than Colts fans. But at the end of the first half,
the Colts fans were booing after they had that field
goal blocked, and it was it was a pretty good boom.
And between the third and fourth quarter they're all singing
John Cougar, I mean, they were back on the bandwagon,

(05:36):
Jack and Nyne coming back like you think they can.
It's crazy, crazy, but you know, a little, uh, a
little something going on with the Pittsburgh team that uh,
it was able to get its feedback on the ground
and and and take the game back. Okay, let's let's

(05:56):
get on with it here. First statement, third and from
the Steelers twenty six yard line will prove to be
a defining moment in Kenny Pickett's career. I'm gonna disagree, Labs,
and I get where you're going with this, because that
was another big boy throw. We've seen him make a
few of those big league play NFL play. A lot

(06:18):
of things had to go right, and boy, they were
kind of right on the edge there h third nine
after a couple of three and ounce they really needed
to get something going offensively to avoid falling further behind,
let alone to get the lead back. But this hit
me after the game talking with Mason Cole, the center,
and he said that pick It called the third and

(06:40):
two read option to Benny Snell. There had been two
injuries on the play before, which was a past that
Deante Johnson should have caught in the end zone and
did not, so there's a break in the action injury
time out. One injury for the Steelers, one for the Colts,
and uh, as Cole explained it, UH, pick It went
over and told Mike tom and he to run that play.

(07:01):
And boy, you know, Mike Thomlins been doing this a
long time. He's had a lot of success at this,
and a quarterback who has been doing it for about
ten minutes relatively speaking, went over there at the critical
juncture of the game and said, let's run this. Uh.
In case anybody was worried about Kenny Pickett's confidence while

(07:21):
this offense tries to find itself individually and collectively, I
would say, don't be because he's pretty confident and I
think in a way to me, the way he has
handled himself has really been more defining than his game.
His game has been in and out, it's been up
and down. I don't think it's been as bad as
his statistics suggest because the pass rating is affected by

(07:45):
some of those circumstantial interceptions he suffered early in his tenure.
But uh, he has showed up, you know, going back
to the spring, not worried about the depth chart, not
worried about when he was going to get his ants,
seemingly supremely confident that it would come around eventually and
he would be ready for it when it did. And

(08:06):
uh boy, he just uh he When I when I
heard about that in the in the aftermath, it really
made an impression on me. So I will disagree. I'll
say his defining moment is going to be he told
Mike Tomlin, what the run as a rookie? Okay, well,
I'm gonna I'm gonna agree with the statement and disagree

(08:28):
with you because I share your opinion of Kenny Pickett's
attitude his I think the word T. J. Watt used
was moxie. Um. You know, he has a lot of
those things and has had them from the beginning. But
at some point, at some point, you have to be

(08:49):
able to physically do what it is that NFL quarterbacks
have to do, have to be able to do to
be starting caliber NFL quarterbacks who can be an asset
to their team. And I'm not saying that I have
not seen Kenny Pickett ever do that before, but it

(09:12):
had has been you know in fits and starts. A
little piece here, a little piece there. Uh, you know
you use the term, you know, a big boy throw. Uh. Yes,
that was an NFL caliber quarterback play, not just the throw,
but I like how he um. He moved in the

(09:34):
pocket a little bit. He didn't panic and run because
I don't think, you know, looking at it from above,
I don't think he could have run for the first time.
So if you panic and run, you end up punting,
I think is how that would have ended up. So
he bought some time. He created a window for himself

(09:56):
to find the receiver, and he drilled the ball in
there right where it needed to be, on time and
accurately and to he really you know, he shifted his
shoulders and and and set himself on for success on
that play. It was impressive. Yes, he he showed me,
you know, And I'm not gonna I don't want to overstate,

(10:18):
you know, his physical skill set and compare him to
Ben Roethlisberger, because he's not there. I don't think he's
ever gonna be there. And that's okay. You know, uh,
Ben has Ben and and and I just I think
that there's not sufficient appreciation for his physical skill set
uh in Steelers Nation to a large degree. So um,

(10:42):
But Kenny Pickett, Um, you know, he made he made
have Ben Roethlisberger caliber fourth quarter play. You know that
we saw for seventeen seasons um from that guy. And uh,
you know, I I just really think that that his
team needed to see that, that this team needed to

(11:03):
have that. And yeah, to me, it's you know, the
thing that I thought of right away after it happened was,
you know, Ben making that play and that Saturday practice
in two thousand and four at St. Vincent College went
on a dead run to his right, he just you know,
torqued his body and he fired that laser back across

(11:27):
uh towards the middle of the field and hits the
miror cob right in the chest um with one more time.
It was like a gunshot, I mean. And that to me,
oh god, it was spectacular. And you know that to me,
uh was and we are talking about right, we are

(11:49):
talking about practice, but it was it was really announcular.
You can't announce your presence. Okay. Statement number two every
bit as important as what Pickett did during that fourth
quarter touchdown drive was that he did a lot of
it by teaming with George Pickens. Yeah, I'll agree wholeheartedly

(12:11):
with that one, Labs and uh, the one that stands
out to me there. Uh, there were a couple you know,
catching attention getting placed, but the two point conversion where
it broke down and pick It scrambled and kept his
eyes up and you know, was trying to find a
guy as opposed to run it and picking supports the route.

(12:31):
And then there's that tight little window in the corner.
And I don't know if you heard pickets explanation of
it or not, but he talked about how the defender's
back was to him. So usually when you see that,
you can throw it where you want, and if you
throw it low in a way, that's what gives you
a guy the best chance to go down and get it.
And just it sounded so uh matter of fact away
pick it just broke it down. The decisions he's making

(12:54):
instantaneously on the fly, throwing accurately on the run, and
then Pickings making a really nice catch. Mean, these guys
are gonna be the tag team, right, that's UH, for
years and years hopefully if things work out the way
the Steelers want them to work out, and they're both
I think good enough physically and at playing football that

(13:14):
a lot of stuff can happen in that kind of circumstances.
We've seen Kenny Pickett show, I think a good feel
to this point of when to escape the pocket and
when not to. I want to see him start to
try to make more plays after extending the play. To
this point, it's been more okay, just throw it away
and lift to fight another day than not. That's not

(13:36):
a horrible thing. But well, let's go back to Ben Roethlisberger.
He did a ton of damage when he extended and
shed pass rushers and just kept the ball and then
finally found somebody breaking open. Uh. George Pickens and Kenny
Pickett can be a lethal tag team. I agree with UH,

(13:56):
you and agree with the statement as well. UH and
I all, So, what point to that two point conversion play? UH?
To me, as you know, a very special moment not
only in that game, but also I think in the
development you know, of those two individuals as individuals and
the and the development of those two as a tandem,

(14:20):
you know, in the future, because um, you know, when
I look at the Steelers wide receiver uh, their roster
wide receiver. Um, you know, I don't see a whole
lot besides Pickings. I mean I'm not uh, I'm kind
of discontented with Deonte Johnson. Chase Claypool has gone. Um

(14:40):
you know, Frarmerth is a tight end, so I don't
consider him, you know, part of the wide receiver group.
I get that he's an eligible receiver and all that.
When I'm speaking about wide receivers, I actually mean you know,
the guys who carry that uh tag as to what
position they play. And what I really liked about what
Pickett did was he waited for his guy. That's his guy.

(15:04):
It's it's it's seeming to be developing that way, which
I think is great. He waited for his guy, um,
and he got him the ball in the place where
he could make a play. And you know what, it
makes me think about a little bit. And again, you know,
I don't mean that continually bring Ben Roethlisberger up, but

(15:27):
you know he's pretty much all I know. It's it's
because it was seventeen years Um, what Ben and Antonio
Brown used to do you remember the Camp Graham years
as well as I do? Come on, yeah, yeah, right, um,
And that's why that's why I drink um. But you

(15:49):
know the fact that when when the Steeler, when Ben
needed a play, he knew who to go to, he
knew who he could trust, he knew it where to
put the ball, uh, to allow his guy to make
the play. And then his guy made the play. And
I see some of that developing with these two guys. Uh,

(16:11):
they're both rookies, and I really think that this is
a significant development. Um, you know, is this offense works
down the road to try and you know, become what
it needs to be as opposed to what it is
right now. Okay, so thinks about that? Let me a
little bit more on that. I just I think Deonte

(16:34):
Johnson is a really good player who's having a tough
year for a variety of reasons. But I still consider
him a top shelf talent and I think that's gonna
be one of the challenges the rest of this season
is to to bring the game out of him that
he has shown us previously and I think he still can.
And and the other thing with pickings. Are you trying

(16:54):
to tell me, Mr Labriola, that you can actually throw
it to the guy that you think as the opportunity
to make a play for you and not worry about
the defense and if they're trying to take him away
or not, you can just throw it to your guy
and dictate to them. Wow, this is a revelation. Well,
there are some people who are that good, and I

(17:15):
think there's a lot of them around the leg I'm wondering, uh,
why that hasn't come up more often earlier, but hey,
better late than never. Um okay. Statement number three, Oh,
let me say this about the one last thing about
Deante Johnson. I would agree with you about him being
a special talent and all that other stuff, but until

(17:37):
he quits running backwards after catching a pass and running
out of a first down, he's on my naughty list.
Statement number three. The Steelers pass rush against Indianapolis was
every bit as bad and disappointing as the kickoff coverage.

(17:58):
Absolutely agree. I'm I'm stunned, you know that. I'm trying
to think of how I want to say this. I
feared for Matt Ryan's physical well being going into that game.
I thought he was gonna take a pounding, and they
didn't get the pressure I thought they would against the
Colts offensive line that his lacked continuity. And I think

(18:22):
they had six different starting five's going into last night's game.
And uh, I thought the edge guys would be more
impactful early. And uh I think he wrote this on
Steelers dot Com or tweeted at the the amount of
times they ran past him. It was like Bud Dupree
flashbacks before Bud got good, you know, like just giving

(18:45):
him a lay. It just kept happening. And then a
couple other times and Clinton was a Sutton Mr sack
one time he just ran right past him when he
when he came in clean. One of the defensive bacts,
I think it was Camp Sutton. But yeah, I thought
they were going to have sacks. I thought they would
create at least one turnover off of a sack, and

(19:08):
I thought they might even score defensively off of a sack.
And none of that happened. Yeah, I mean, they didn't
physically punish him at all. And you know the fact that,
and I understand, you know, the player's safety things and
what you can and can't do the quarterbacks, I understand
all that, But the guy's a statue. He's old, he's rickety,

(19:29):
he's a statue. I mean how they were missing him
running past him, allowing him to step up and find lanes?
I mean, what was going on with that? I just
I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Um, you know,

(19:50):
I don't know if there was a lot of holding
going on or you know. Now I'm I'm kind of
going down the path and making excuses, you know, for
the Steelers pass rush. But you know, except for a
couple of um instances from Alex Highsmith, where was t J.
Watt yesterday? I mean again, I'm not I understand how

(20:13):
good he is, and you know, all of that stuff,
But um, you know, I thought Malik Reid was flashing
more and certainly more in the right direction and towards
getting to the quarterbacks, and t J. Watt was he
was running, he was behind him, you know the whole game.
I mean, you do that against Lamar Jackson and he

(20:33):
will have three hundred yards rushing. Well, the guy they're
gonna play this coming Sunday is gonna hurt you if
you do that too. Marcus Mariota, Uh, it was almost
you know, I could just you know, surmise take a
take a stab in the dark and think you know,
they were so convinced they were going to get to
him and he was immobile that they just got too
excited and went too hard and lost all cohesion in

(20:56):
the rush and all you know, fundamental base to it. Uh. Yeah,
they gotta clean that up because if they don't handle
Mariota better than they handled this guy, Uh, he's not
gonna you know, start weezing after twelve yards and not
pick up a first down that he should have in
the fourth quarter because he just went down. They can
get hurt badly by Marcus Mariota's legs, so that that

(21:19):
might be job one defensively to figure out what went
wrong there and to get that squared away. Well, you
know what they say, all's well, that ends well, the
Steelers did find a way to win that game. Uh
there four and seven. Now, I don't have a fatalistic view,
Uh you know, of the final six or seven games

(21:43):
left looking at the schedule, a couple of tough games
against Baltimore, but you know, the Steelers have won four
in a row from the Ravens, so you know that
would be the team lost in Jacksonville yesterday. That would
also be the Baltimore team that I don't know how
many double digit fourth quarter leads they've blown this year either.

(22:10):
So um yeah, So, like you said, welcome to the NFL.
There isn't anything that really surprises me anymore. And what
does surprise me, though, is that you and I are
still awake after last night. Um, especially after listening to
each other here. Okay, that's gonna do it for everybody listening.

(22:33):
Wake up, come on with your day. We're done, Go
back to bed, Mikey. This this should be award winning
edition of Agree to Disagree, the podcast with the motto
I'm right, he's wrong, and I'm tired and I'm tireder
than you. Thanks for finding us. We'll talk to you

(22:56):
again next week, same bad time, same back cham