Week 15 @ Panthers

Mike Prisuta and Bob Labriola debate a few Steelers topics on the podcast with the motto, I’m right and he’s wrong!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Agree to Disagree with Mike President and Bob Labriola.
Hello everyone, and welcome to another should be award winning
edition of Agree to Disagree, the podcast, the show with
the motto I'm right, he's wrong, he's Bob La, I'm
Mike Pursuito. We do this each and every week during

(00:20):
the football season, but this week a very special edition
of what should be an award winning podcast because we
have a very significant question to deal with, to answer,
to ponder, to try and figure out in the wake
of what we saw last Sunday. And it is a
two word question, and the two words labs are now

(00:41):
what I'll tell you what I you know, I gotta
be honest. I I just kind of felt that going
into that Ravens game. You know, you look at this series,
the history of it, and you know there aren't a
lot of long winning streaks one way or the other.

(01:01):
And you know, four Steelers win wins in a row.
I just thought that, you know, regardless of the venue um,
you know in this series defies that to venue um
that you know, the Ravens we're going to be especially
you know, geeked up for this particular game. And I
wouldn't have been surprised, you know, if you had asked

(01:22):
me before. I wouldn't have been surprised if someone had
said to me, well, you know, the Ravens are gonna win.
But I was surprised at how it happened. Um, you know,
you know what. It reminded me of a little bit.
And I mean, you're old enough, you've been around this
long enough to know this too. But it reminded me
of the two thousand and six home and home series

(01:46):
where the Steelers were just overmatched physically. Ben Roethlisberger took
such a pounding in those two games. I remember, um,
and you know it wasn't necessarily a physical pounding on
the quarterback, but the Ravens dominated the game physically. Yeah,
they did it again. And uh, I gotta say I

(02:08):
get the series and all the dynamics attached to it.
But when I looked at who was going to be
playing and who wasn't, I thought, boy, they're not gonna
lose to Tyler Huntley. And then when Huntley went out
of the game, I thought, well, they're absolutely not gonna
lose to the guy I never heard of and don't
know really who he is until I go to Pro

(02:29):
Football Reference dot com and even that didn't help me
because he hadn't played yet, so I had to google
it and do all that stuff. But uh, I should
have known better labs because I was at the Ryan
Mallett game. Well let me tell you this too, and
we we talked about this little bit a little bit
in last week's should Be Award Winning podcast. At least

(02:50):
I thought that the Steelers would have been better off
had Lamar Jackson played. And I think that he didn't play.
Save the Raven from themselves because you know that famous
saying the other team has offensive coordinators too, and Greg
Roman was trying his best to slap you this up

(03:11):
that game up with jet sweeps and you know that
kind of stuff. Instead of just turning around and handing
the ball to J. K. Dobbins, let your offensive line
and your tight ends and your fullback dominate the point
of attack and just keep matriculating the ball down the field,
eat clock and take advantage of you know, the best

(03:33):
field goal kicker in the NFL. If Lamar Jackson had played,
I guarantee you they would not have run the ball
forty two times and only past its seventeen Greg Roman.
He's an offensive coordinator. They go to offensive coordinator skill,
a school where I think that there's some sort of
brainwashing or something where you know, you can't just do

(03:54):
what's working, because hey, you spend all those times in
darkened rooms having meetings, you better make some but see
that you're working hard and um, you know. So anyway,
that's my own twisted logic that Lamar Jackson not playing
saved the Ravens from themselves and maybe cost the Steelers
a game they absolutely I think needed to win. Yeah,

(04:15):
I agree with you on that, but they're still gonna
play the rest of the schedule, including this coming Sunday
at Carolina. So we've got a little bit to unpack
before the Steelers get there. Let's get it going, Labs.
Statement number one, The Ravens last offensive series was the
most disappointing series and what has become a disappointing season. Um,

(04:41):
it was disappointing, but you know, you know me, I
live in my fears, so I didn't really anticipate in
ending any other way than it did. I mean, except again,
the only hope that I had. So I'm gonna disagree
with the statement, Um, because I was way disappointed. You know,
before we even got there to that last series. Um,

(05:04):
I you know, the only really hope that I had
again was that the Ravens would try and do something
stupid and turn the ball over, because I didn't have
any belief that the Steelers were gonna be able to
stop their run and that they would just run out
the clock. Yeah, silly me, I did. I'm gonna agree. Uh.

(05:25):
You know, Tucker got his last field goal to make
it sixteen and seven, and there wasn't a whole lot
of time left, but I was aware that Baltimore had
blown four leads of two scores this season, and then
the Steelers execute a very quick drive. They scored before
the two minute warning, so they still had some time

(05:45):
left on the clock and two time outs. Uh, they
were in position to get the ball back with about
a minute fifty minute, fifty five seconds left in the game,
plenty of time to go down and kick another field
goal and steal it. At the end. All they had
to do, and I was aware they had given up
about two on the ground to that point. All they
had to do was buck up against a team they

(06:08):
knew was going to run the ball with its third
string quarterback, and they gave up six yards on first
down and six yards on third down. And uh, they
gave them up the way they gave them up all day,
by being physically shoved off the ball at the point
of attack. And you know, I understood going in that

(06:30):
the trend had been Steelers give up yards on the
ground two teams that are actually really good at running
the ball, and they slammed the door on teams that
aren't good at running the ball. And since they had
played more of the ladder, they had a top ten
ranking and run defense after being last in it last year.
But what a profound disappointment that series was, and that

(06:50):
made for a profoundly disappointing game, and defensively it has
been a profoundly disappointing season. Uh, those three plays are
what I'm gonna remember in February. Well, you know, I
do think that, Um. One of the things that I've
kind of come to accept in my own head anyway
about this is um, you know, I just I just

(07:13):
think the Steelers defense is is beaten up and gassed.
I just do. I mean, you know, you you see
the practice reports every week, you know, Larry Oogan job
hasn't been able to practice except for a Friday, I
think in a month at least. And Friday practices are

(07:33):
not you know, no practices during the regular season in
the NFL are intense, but Friday is probably the least intense,
you know, of the three major practices during a week
in which game is Sunday. So that's Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.
And you know, it's always some sort of leg thing.
You know. I just think that he is he's not

(07:54):
what he was. Um, you know earlier in the season.
You know, Cam Hayward, Um, you know he's double team constantly.
I just discovered he's not real good at nose tackle,
right right. Um? And uh, you know, and as watching
watching the game through the binoculars, I mean there were

(08:15):
everybody was getting blocked. I mean, it's not like you
could have said, we'll put this guy in because there
wasn't a player. Really the two hardest hits labs. That
might be a statement as long as we've been doing this,
that might, but you just thought it might be the thing.
I agree with you more than anything you have ever said,
other than I'll buy which I'm still kind of waiting

(08:37):
on that. But everybody was being blocked salute, and the
two hardest hits delivered by the Steelers defense were by
your free safety, your free safe and neither one on
a pass. So you know, let's let's you know, that's
not a good sign. It's just not and so um, yeah,

(09:02):
I didn't see any you know, let's take this guy
out and put this guy in because it you know,
maybe I'm just the defeatist. I've given up. But it
didn't against the Ravens, that line, that um running game, right,
it didn't matter. It didn't matter. You know. They tried

(09:23):
everything they tried. I mean, they had single high all day,
they had Fitzpatrick and Edmonds up in the box. They
tried the three safety thing, they tried the three inside
linebackers thing, they tried the three outside linebackers thing. They
just kept giving up yards. Yeah, um, you know, and
I'm a little bit hurt that. The only thing you've

(09:44):
ever really agreed with me on is I'll buy because
you know, the other team does have offensive coordinators too.
They're right, Well I was. I was kind of taking
a little cheap shot there. I'm just I'm just I'm
just a little disappointed that I didn't think of it
first on the uh topic number two uh less, you'll

(10:09):
probably agree with this. I still don't understand why George
Pickens isn't getting the ball more. Uh, you know, every
time every game that is played, I understand it less.
I mean you know, uh, he was officially targeted three times,
made three catches uh for seventy eight yards, a twenty

(10:29):
five yard or forty to some yard or forty two yarder,
and a fourteen yard play. Plus he drew a pass
interference penalty in the end zone, which doesn't count as
a target. So you threw the ball at George Pickens
four times and your average in twenty six yards a
catch on the ones that actually got to him, and

(10:51):
you've got a pass interference penalty in the end zone
that led to your first touchdown directly on the other
one directly yet next play and you're telling me three
times that's that's all you got. Once in the second half,
none in the fourth quarter, right, I mean there's no

(11:11):
excuse for that. None, none, none, none. I don't understand it.
I won't believe any anything anyone says to try and
explain it or rationalize it or anything. It's just it's
just not smart football. It's just not. And I also
will not agree with anyone who tries to convince me

(11:33):
that he is not the most dynamic receiver on the team.
And you know, I don't know. I I'm baffled. I
don't understand it. And as I'll tell you this though,
as long as the Steelers continue to not target this guy,
they're not gonna win in games. Yeah, I'm a gran

(11:56):
with you. The statement, the baffled nous of the whole thing.
And I don't want to hear that Pro Football Focus
or some something of that ILK says he's not open.
I don't want to hear that he doesn't have an
extensive route tree, that he mostly just runs go routes
down the sideline, because I'm here to tell you when
he is running a go route down the sideline against

(12:18):
single coverage, I don't care if the guy's in his
hip pocket, he's open. Okay, he's bigger than the cornerbacks,
he's good at going up and getting the ball. He's
great with body control. Uh. Why they weren't feeding this
guy in the second half is beyond me. When they
threw it to him, it worked in the first half
when they threw at the Pat friarm with it got
picked off. Pretty clear what you should have been doing.

(12:42):
And I don't know who's responsible for this. I mean,
to me, the quarterback is ultimately the guy with the
ball in his hands. I don't know what kind of
advice the quarterbacks are getting. I don't know how often
Pickens is uh intended to be the primary target. But
if it's me and I'm under center or in shot
on and i have the ball in my hand, I'm
looking for fourteen. When I see single coverage, I'm throwing

(13:04):
at the fourteen case closed. Yeah, and I'm and I'm
not trying to you know, overstate this or um you know,
put the too much pressures on Pickings by making this comparison.
But maybe somebody a Pro Football Focus or one of
those other genius websites can explain to me what Randy
moss Is route tree was. When Randy Moss was a

(13:28):
rookie and in his first few years, what was his
route tree? This was his route tree, as he used
to say, the defensive backs, if I'm even I'm leaving,
I'm leaving. Goodbye, que the band start playing a fight
song and get your extra point block team ready, because
that's what you're gonna need next. Donte statement number three.

(13:50):
If Kenny Pickett cannot play, I'm sticking with Mitch Drobiski
laps Ah. Yeah, I agree. I mean I know that, um,
you know the beginser's will that they just want something
different because they want something different. And I also understand
you know that Mitch Drabinsky, uh did not have a
good game on Sunday against the Ravens and and and

(14:12):
all of that stuff, But um, you know, work in
my mind, I'm still trying to play to win, not
to see what somebody else can do. And Mason Rudolph,
based on some of the things that have been attributed
to him, uh in the locker room, in the locker
room saying to reporters media lately, he hasn't had any

(14:33):
taking any meaningful snaps this whole regular season in practice,
So you know, I don't know what you know, Mason Rudolph.
And and there's other there's a faction of the media
that wants to continue to bang the drum that Mason
Rudolph looked better than the other two guys at training camp.
And I will admit there was a time when I

(14:54):
agreed with that, but it's not training camp. You know,
there's a lot of months under the bridge since training camp,
and this guy hasn't been active, and mental reps don't
cut it. I'm sorry, this is December. I mean, I
don't think you know heat. I don't think it would

(15:14):
be fair to expect Mason Rudolph not to be rusty,
not to not to be able to see things and
process things as quickly as necessary to be a starting
quarterback in the NFL. I don't care if it is
Carolina that is next on the schedule. So um, and
Mason Rudolph is is going to be an unrestricted free agent.

(15:36):
He's gone, He's leaving. You know, I can't imagine a
realistic scenario where you're even looking at the future for this.
It just makes no sense to me to make a change.
I think that you know, you coach Mitch up a
little bit, UH try and convince him or get him
out of that throwing the ball over the middle late

(15:56):
in the play, uh tendency. He a show and last Sunday.
But I still think he gives this team. If Pickett
cannot play, Drabinsky gives the steel is the best chance
to win Sunday against the Panthers. Yeah, I'm gonna agree,
and I want to preface my remarks by saying I
don't know what they're gonna do. I'm surprised that this
has become a topic because I think it makes no

(16:18):
sense to play Mason Rudolph. Now, I thought Rudolph when
he came out of training camp, I'm not one of
those he had the best camp guys, because there were
a lot of layers and nuances to camp and how
they were preparing the quarterbacks and how they were staging
their version of a competition. That's in the eye of the
the beholder. I could have made an argument for either
one of the other two guys as well. Um, I

(16:41):
thought Mason Rudolf was playing better coming out of camp
than he ever had previously in terms of quick decision
making and accuracy and things of that nature. But as
you pointed out, I was back in August, right, I mean,
it's mid December and Trabinsky, believe it or not, I
thought he played well. He just made three really bad mistakes,

(17:03):
and one fewer they might have won the game anyway.
I would have really liked to have seen the defense
get a stop and see what Drabinsky could do with
that last drive and see if he could have pulled
off a game winning field goal March. But I don't
know why, what what purpose it would serve to play
Mason Rudolph, unless you just want to punish Drabinsky for

(17:24):
throwing three interceptions and say, well, we just can't have that,
so we're going to the next guy. I think that's
blowing in the wind there, swinging in the breeze or
whatever Mike Tomlin said he wasn't gonna do at the
outside of the season with the quarterback position. I'm disappointed
in Robinsky. He talked repeatedly after the game. And by
the way, you couldn't have been more accountable than Mitch

(17:45):
Drobinsky was after that game. He every question he was asked,
he kept saying, I gotta be better, I gotta be
better with my eyes, I gotta look him off, I
gotta be more on time. He owned up to everything.
I'm surprised that guy have his experience was as bad
as he was at those things that he referenced repeatedly

(18:06):
in that environment, but maybe he was a little rusty too.
Um the offense didn't move, Uh, they had a chance
to score and uh give them. We'll give the people
a bonus question here to lapsed and some feeling, uh
you know, in the giving Christmas spirit. There were games
early in the year where they didn't score a lot
of points and it looked like they were never going

(18:27):
to score points. Last Sunday, I thought they were moving
the ball well, and every time they got it, I
thought they were gonna score. They just didn't score enough.
Agree or disagree? Oh right, yeah, and um I agree, Uh,
the the offense moved the ball past the test, right, yeah, yeah,

(18:48):
you know, but you know, what do you call it
when you almost win losing? They didn't. They didn't pass
the pick past. That's the problem. And you know I
would say that, Um, I would attribute you know, the
the interceptions or some of the things that Trabinsky admitted
in his mind. We're leading to the interceptions as being

(19:10):
the subject of not getting a lot of playing time,
excuse me, a lot of playing time. And you know,
I just don't see why anyone thinks that putting Mason
Rudolph in now is going to lead to a different
outcome than that you're gonna you're gonna put a quarterback
in the same situation and he's likely, you know, to

(19:31):
be hampered by the same issues. And you know, I
just think you you stayed the course a little bit,
and you know, maybe um travisky is better. Uh. This
week in Charlotte, North Carolina, I would whisper in his ear.
Maybe not whisper, you know, get one of those um
um you know things that megaphones and put it in

(19:52):
his ear and yell, throw it to pick and yeah,
I would be with you. If you get tired of
yelling at I'll take over. Well, if my throat gets sore,
I'll give you a call. That's gonna do it for us.
I want to thank everybody for finding us. However, and
wherever you found us, we're gonna be doing it again
next week as we begin getting you ready for. Oh

(20:16):
that's the big one against the rates right in the uh,
the Immaculate Reception celebration and all the festivities that are
gonna go on and everything that we're still looking forward to.
But we would have been looking to looking forward to
a whole lot more if they weren't five and eight.
But it is what it is, As a wise man
once said four Bob Labriola on Mike. Pursuit of this

(20:37):
has been agree to disagree the podcast, the program with
the motto I'm right, he's wrong, and throw it to Pickens.
Please yes see you next more than three times. See
you next week