HR 1 - Facing Herbert, Run It Down Their Throats

Tom and Chris break down the Steelers and Chargers matchup this Sunday, and hand out Big Ballers predictions for the game.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
If you're a quarterback in the NFL that needs to
get his yards up, you need to get some more
yards under your belt. You want to play the Pittsburgh
Steelers defense. They're averaging just a tick under three hundred
yards allowed to opposing quarterbacks this year. It's like two
ninety nine point five is the exact number. Justin Herbert

(00:30):
doesn't need to get his yardage up, though. Chris Justin
Herbert has the second most passing yards in the NFL
this year. He also has the second most passing touchdowns
in the NFL this year. So rt ROW, that looks
like it might be a bit of a tricky matchup
for the Steelers. But the fly in the Chargers ointment

(00:52):
is what's going on with their tackles, what's going on
with their offensive line overall? I don't know if Herbert's
gonna have much time to push the ball downfield in
this game and keeps stacking on his already impressive statistical
output for this year. He's Chris Adamski. I'm Tom Afferman.
It's the Steelers Blitz Friday Edition, getting you ready for

(01:12):
Steelers and Chargers huge game.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
This really is going to have.

Speaker 1 (01:17):
So many implications as far as how the Steelers handle
holding off the Ravens for the AFC North, moving forward
and positioning themselves favorably for a nice little failsafe, right,
a nice little plan B in the wild card hunt.
So massive tilt against the Chargers on the West Coast
Sunday night football vibes are going to be way up.

(01:39):
And Herbert scares me.

Speaker 2 (01:41):
He does.

Speaker 1 (01:42):
He is an elite quarterback. He has not had elite
moments in the postseason yet. I still believe that those
are coming though. You cannot deny the talent, and you
cannot deny.

Speaker 3 (01:53):
The Chargers logo that makes you think it won't come.
That's the That's the only reason, which is not logical
at all. That's why I think he he hasn't already
won a Super Bowl. True, he probably would have two
Super Bowls by now if he was on a different team.
But he has to overcome that Charger lightning bolt. So
he has to fail like a Charger before he can
finally exercise those demons for them.

Speaker 1 (02:13):
But he is a marvelous quarterback and he is torching
people through the air. He's torching people on the ground
as well. This year, Chris he is the leading rusher
as far as quarterbacks are concerned, and he is the
second leading rusher as far as healthy la Chargers are concerned,
by five yards behind Kimani Vidal Amrio Hampton is.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
Their leading rusher.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
Still, how good of a year was he having before
he went down a couple of weeks ago, If he's
still the team's leading rusher, but Herbert's only like.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
Nine yards behind him.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
So we're talking about a guy who is the second
leading passer in the NFL this year as far as
yard is just concerned, and as far as touchdowns are concerned,
I'm talking about a guy who's the leading rusher as
far as quarterbacks are concerned. He's basically the leading rusher
on his team. I mean, this is an MVP caliber player.
And you talk about how last week, okay, you identify

(03:03):
Jonathan Taylor got to stop him, that is the main
goal for this team. Well, the only guy that you
see in that light with the Chargers has to be
Justin Herbert. Unfortunately, he plays a quarterback that has a
little more say than running back and how a game
plays out.

Speaker 3 (03:19):
Yeah, last three games for the Steelers defense averaging a
little more than three hundred and thirty three yards per game passing.
Last three games for Justin Herbert little more than three
d and thirty three yards per game passing. Steevers have
allowed seven passing touchdowns over that span. The Chargers have
eight passing touchdowns over that span. Yeah, Herbert is a problem.
As Mike Tomlin always, he always seems to emphasize the

(03:41):
mobility aspect and he's he's going to with two yards
will pass his career high in rushing. So whether it's
not it's planned or schemat scheme, schematic, schematic.

Speaker 2 (03:52):
Is a non a verb.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
Schematically, guys, I'm going for that this season, or whether
he's just obviously we know last season early or he
wasn't healthy, as Mike Dolman again referenced with his ankle
injury and that the Steelers had a very compromise Justin
Herbert in that twenty.

Speaker 2 (04:06):
To ten VIC couldn't finish the game.

Speaker 3 (04:07):
Yeah, he got knocked out of that game and wasn't
practicing all week leading up to it. So it wasn't
the real Justin Herbert. And you forget Herbert had that
that would have been his second season when they had
that wild shootout. The last time the Steelers played in
LA in November twenty twenty one, and Herbert was running
around like a gazelle out there, like he's that those
tall quarterbacks and they run, they just look a little different.

(04:28):
And the Steelers had no answer for that. That the
way that look at the offense. He scored forty one
points the Chargers did that week, and yeah, it's one
of those you know this is this is now two
weeks in a row the Steelers will face the top
two passing quarterbacks in the NFL.

Speaker 1 (04:45):
Leg Yeah, so because he got those yardages out playing
the Steelers, Chris, how you do it?

Speaker 2 (04:51):
Get those yards up? Boy?

Speaker 3 (04:52):
I bet you Joe Flacco in terms of yards per
game is up there is probably one of the leading
because the a the Bengals have to because.

Speaker 1 (04:59):
It's been three straight weeks of three hundred plus yard
passing quarterbacks. Flacco love Jones, and now he got a
guy in Herbert who basically rolls out of bed and
throws for three hundred yards.

Speaker 3 (05:08):
Yeah, and it's crazy because as Jim Harbaugh Greg Roman,
I mean, these guys like to run the ball would
be I think what they wanted to do or how
they wanted to design an offense. But you can't deny
when you have a quarterback like Herbert in terms of
his deep ball, in terms of that, I mean, he's
he is one of the if he was at on

(05:28):
a different it's not even like the Chargers of that bad.
The Chargers always just cracked me up. And to go
big picture on this and the Eli Manning thing twenty
one years ago when he was in the draft and
his dad he was like, no, we're not playing for
the Chargers. We're gonna get our someplace else in New York.
The way that played out was like and that was
kind of like a you know, whatever move, Like yeah,

(05:49):
I don't want to think about it.

Speaker 2 (05:50):
But the fact that.

Speaker 3 (05:52):
Philip Rivers was probably a better quarterback than Eli Manning,
had better numbers, had a better career on hole in
the regular but yet the Giants and Eli won two
Super Bowls with the Giants and the Chargers never.

Speaker 2 (06:02):
Made a Super Bowl.

Speaker 3 (06:04):
Is just it was He's proved exactly right, Like I
don't know, like like how the Chargers there's never They're
usually good, all right, but they never it's like yesterday
the ahuh uh huh, we're talking about the Chargers, like well,
they're the Chargers.

Speaker 2 (06:15):
I mean, come on, really, the Super Bowl, Come on.

Speaker 1 (06:18):
They are one of those teams that has that they're
very Vikings ish. Yeah, yeah, I think we talked about
that when those two teams locked horns a couple of
weeks ago. We were like, these two teams are like
the same teams. It's the AFC and the NFC version
of just like, you're not bad, You're actually kind of
a good franchise. Got a lot of history, got some
great players you can look back at, got some good
players currently too.

Speaker 2 (06:37):
But we never take you seriously.

Speaker 1 (06:39):
You'll miss a field goal when you can't miss a
field goal, or you'll turn the ball over, or you'll
go for a tie in a game against the Raiders
at the end of the year or whatever happened there,
try to go for the win and the Raiders won,
or and the Raiders that they're like, we were going
for the tie. I can't believe you guys were willing
to You're gonna Charger. Anytime your team's nickname becomes a verb,
you're in big trouble. Yeah, you don't want to be

(07:01):
a brown You don't want to go browns it out there.
You don't want to viks it up. You don't want
to charge it up out there. So they definitely have
that kind of stigma going for them that he has
to overcome, no doubt, but he's doing a really a
wonderful job as far as statistically speaking of overcoming it.
I mean, you want to talk about taking the baton
from Philip Rivers. And I know it wasn't exactly like
a one for one pass off, but like, what a

(07:24):
great transition for Chargers fans to have franchise quarterback to
franchise quarterback. They got the most important part figured out,
and then I think they got the second most important
part figured out too, Chris. When it comes to these tackles,
I don't know if there's a more impressive tandem than
Slater and Alt. Alt might be the best tackle in
football right now, Slater not far behind. Slater goes down

(07:46):
at the beginning of the season, Okay, we can make
do with Alt. When Alt has been down this year,
they're one and two. When he's healthy, they're five and one,
and they look like a completely different football team. Well,
there's no more roller coaster. Will he be up, will
he be down?

Speaker 2 (08:01):
For his season? All is down now for the rest
of the year.

Speaker 1 (08:03):
So no Slater and now no Alt, and I really
am kind of looking at that Joe Alt effect as
the X factor for the Steelers getting the win and
kind of limiting justin Herbert. I think the Chargers are
gonna respond with a lot of six seven man protections.
I think that's very obvious. I wonder if Trevor Penning
is gonna play, I wonder what else are they gonna do, really,

(08:27):
but that's tricky for them to have a guy that
just got there this week go out there and play
on the offensive line and he's not been very shall
we say good for the Saints to start his career.
So they're gonna go a lot of six They're gonna
go a lot of seven man protection.

Speaker 2 (08:41):
They're gonna help in that aspect. They're gonna try to
run the ball.

Speaker 1 (08:44):
Obviously, we'll get to that in a second, but I
also think they're gonna try to quick.

Speaker 2 (08:47):
Game the Steelers.

Speaker 1 (08:48):
Chris, I think you're gonna try to see Herbert, which
isn't necessarily his game. You know, he's push the ball
down the field guy make plays, but he might try to,
you know, get a little surgical in this game, slants,
get the ball out quick, avoid that pass rush. You've
got actually a very nice plethora of weapons in the
passing game. If you're the Chargers, get it in their hands,
try to break some tackles, you know, kind of paper

(09:10):
cut the Steelers down the field.

Speaker 2 (09:12):
It is good.

Speaker 3 (09:12):
The Chargers make an active six of their top eleven
cap hits, which is kind of crazy to say six
because that's kind of where they're at right now in
terms of their in terms of injuries and things. But
six our offensive linemen this season, and two of them
now to arguably their two best and probably almost surely
their two best, are injured. So that's really you see

(09:33):
what they although obviously you get up trustin Herberts is
the face of the franchise, like any quarterback would be.
Derwin James to face the defense. Khalil Mack. I know
he's not at his prime still necessarily he's thirty four now,
which is even more than I thought he was.

Speaker 2 (09:46):
But he has a high cap hit.

Speaker 3 (09:47):
But you see how much did they And it goes
back to Harbaugh and that they would invest and they
hit You're right, they figured it out, they had it,
They had the right answer. They had the two tackles,
and it's kind of crazy to think that not only
won for the season before the season even starts, which
is terribly bad luck. And then you lose the other
one almost like twice. You know, he always out for
the season before the halfway point of the season. So

(10:10):
that shows how much they A that made that part
of their team building and B how much that could
potentially hurt them, that that much resource is not only
losing both your time. Any team losing both their starting
tackles is the problem no matter what, but especially whenever
those two tackles were so in terms of draft capital,
in terms of salary cap space or things like that.
So that is A and then not only that, then

(10:32):
you lose your top two running backs as well. Again,
a team that wants to make sure despite everything we
said about Herbert and all, it's all true. You know
that the look at the Jim Harper has won a
national title. I know it's college, yah, but they how
much they ran the ball in college to win that
national title, how much they want to do that. And
now so now you're down your two best offensive line,
your two best running backs all of a sudden, But

(10:54):
they're still kind of chugging along here and there still
are obviously a playoff team or playoff caliber team. They're
in the playoff race with if the playoffs started today
and it's still you wonder how much because Herbert's been
sacked a lot. Anyway, you would think that this is
a matchup the Steelers obviously, whether it's Pennings it seems
like or you're gonna exploit some quote match. So you're

(11:17):
facing tackles who weren't even on the team as of
a few weeks ago.

Speaker 1 (11:19):
Let's not sugarcoat it. They have to dominate in the
pass rush in this game. I don't care if there
is quick game happening. Press up with your corners, make
it so it's impossible for them to just you know,
here's a quick slant. Here's the ball getting out of
my hand in one and a half second. You have
to dominate in the pass rush. I don't care about
six seven m protections. They have a massive mismatch here,

(11:41):
and this is going to be a mismatch for almost
every team moving forward when they face the Chargers. But
you're a team who's built on getting that pressure. You're
a team whose identity is that you're coming off of
a fantastic game in that aspect, you had an AFC
Defensive Player of the Week and Alex Highsmith and his output.
You had TJ. Watt, you know, change the entire movie
momentum of that game with his strip, sack and recovery

(12:04):
of Daniel Jones. You need to dominate in that aspect here.
It's honestly inexcusable if you don't. And I'm sure that
the team and the staff is looking at that in
this exact same way. You have an absolute weapon that
you have to worry about at the most important position
at sports than justin Herbert. But we should have minimal
resistance making his life a living hell for sixty minutes.

Speaker 3 (12:26):
And this is just simple, and you could look more
into pressure and things like that. But the one thing
you would like to see it from the Steelers is
there's been are there eight games? Four games they've had
five or six five or more sacks the video five
or six, and the other four they've had two or
fewer two two to one and zero. And you would
like to see some work in it because you feel
like we've gone into some games and left some games
and said, oh wow, like they this is what the

(12:47):
Steeler like you tak got identity, and they execute it perfectly.
And it's not a coincidence, of course that the two
five sack games came during games whenever they got one
five turnovers too, because I mean there's the direct result
of a lot of that pass rushing between the tip
pass between the two strip sacks, I mean three of
them were direct results of the of the the pressure're
putting on the quarterback in this pass game against the Colts.

(13:10):
And then there's evil as the indirect effect too. We're
just pressuring the quarterback rushing into things, uh like like
the Patriots game to tip and that was again directly
result of the of the pass rush where it got
tipped and it was intercepted.

Speaker 2 (13:21):
In the end. Things like that.

Speaker 3 (13:23):
So it's not just the necessarily the sacks, but it's
the havoc that you can cause with that.

Speaker 2 (13:28):
And that's what the.

Speaker 3 (13:28):
Steelers, and we talked this week already about the Steelers
are a splash play defense. That's what they are. And
whenever you have the two best tackle yeah, I mean
we could. I don't want to break it down and
say who their best, they potentially are the best tackle
tandem in the NFL in terms of the two whenever
they're healthy, and you go from that down grade all
the way to guys that you're, you know, rejects from

(13:51):
the New Orleans friggin Saints, who are one of the
worst teams in football, and you're getting a guy who
was a former first round pick. And I remember the
draft and in some ways the Steelers were kind of
tied to Penning in some ways that that year, or
at least they were sniffing around you if you felt like,
but well, he's been tough.

Speaker 2 (14:07):
Yeah, yeah, maybe change the scenery helps him out.

Speaker 1 (14:10):
But there's no future in LA because these two are
getting healthy and they are locked down there as far
as like ten plus years.

Speaker 2 (14:16):
Are concerned with your tackles. So you back up now,
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (14:19):
And to show up, I mean, you try to rehab
your image here, help the Chargers out and hit the market.

Speaker 2 (14:24):
Then maybe you get you know, nice starting jobs. I mean,
it's a totally different position.

Speaker 1 (14:28):
Obviously, shouldn't worry you like you see, so they traded
for a former first round pick. Yes, true, that's a fact.
He has not played like that though in his time
in New Orleans.

Speaker 3 (14:36):
Yeah, he couldn't find a position, he couldn't hold out
a starting job. I mean, it's it's a reason why
he's available at the time he was and with the Saints,
and the Saints didn't pick up his fifth year option,
and he's going to be a free agent.

Speaker 2 (14:46):
Yeah, maybe you're right.

Speaker 3 (14:47):
But I mean to expect that six days after he
shows up, five days after he shows up, is I
mean cleole a dug or aside safety and everything in
terms of you can't expect a guy to come in
and necessarily be locked down at.

Speaker 2 (15:01):
His position like that.

Speaker 3 (15:02):
So, yes, the Steelers, that is the number one matchup
you would think and hope they can exploit Herbert.

Speaker 2 (15:09):
Herbert gets sacked.

Speaker 3 (15:10):
You know, he's as good athletic as he is, and
the plays he could make in his arm and everything.
He's been sacked a lot this year.

Speaker 1 (15:16):
The third most sacked quarterback in the NFL.

Speaker 3 (15:18):
Yes, so that's that's something that you know, you think
all the way around you should be able to.

Speaker 1 (15:24):
I think a little bit of that has to do
with him willing to stay in the pocket and get
hit though, you know what I mean, Like Herbert, he
plays himself into maybe some more sacks because he's young
and in his prime and he can bounce back.

Speaker 2 (15:36):
Fine, he doesn't have to.

Speaker 1 (15:38):
You're still the third most sacked quarterback and get after
him exactly.

Speaker 3 (15:42):
I mean it's that that's probably the key to the
Steeler I mean, you have obviously you have weapons of
wide receiver and tight end. Now with a rookie tight
end who can make plays that that are problems that.

Speaker 2 (15:53):
You got to deal with, that's for sure.

Speaker 3 (15:55):
Especially which as much as we've Wade Flowers at the
Steelers secondary for last week and deservedly so, it's still
that's one week you start stacking better performances together after
the previous two weeks and everything, and so you still
got things you got to worry about. But if you
can get pressure on them, and it's a tail as
always time, but it was it's been proven with the
Steelers the last few weeks and they've been pretty upfront

(16:17):
about it and stopped the run and everything becomes a
lot easier if the past rush becomes easier, and they've
been they were very good atopping the run last week.

Speaker 1 (16:23):
And way to go, Partner, to just take it to
that point here, because you can't ignore that we spent
the entire opening segment now on Justin Herbert. Rightfully, so
he is the main man when it comes to the
LA Chargers, but you cannot ignore that running game, and
you cannot ignore stifling Kimani Vidal. You can't ignore stifling
Justin Herbert with what he brings to the table in

(16:44):
the running game, because that, as we've said all week,
was really the main factor in how your defense looked
against the Colts. Everything stemmed off of what you were
able to do against Jonathan Taylor. Getting pressure on Herbert,
making sure that you tip a pass, making sure you
force turnovers, making sure that you knock them around a

(17:04):
little bit. That all stems from stopping the run. The
best way the Chargers can go about protecting their quarterback
now that both their tackles are done for the year
is handing the ball off to Vidal twenty times. Is
handing the ball off to Amaro Hampton when he gets back.
He won't be in this game. But I'm just saying
down the road like that's what they would prefer to do.
And you don't have to convince Jim Harbaugh that, I mean,

(17:26):
he loves running the football. They actually have an explosive
run rate of six point nine percent. That's third best
in the NFL. So despite Herbert himself kind of being
the identity for this team in this offense, they run
the ball very effectively, even with all the injuries they've
been dealing with to the running back position and the

(17:47):
offensive line position. Cut the head off of that snake,
and then I think everything else, just like it did
against the Colts, will stem off of that.

Speaker 3 (17:55):
Yeah, And that's one thing. And the explosive play rate,
that's something notable about the tr though.

Speaker 2 (18:00):
Wasn't a where I.

Speaker 3 (18:01):
Knew the Steelers third best in the league. Okay, and
the Steelers the past, there was none of those. Jonathan
Taylor were the best running back in the league. None
of those last explosives. There was none by Josh Jacobs
the week before. Manuel Wilson did have two, and now
there was and we remember Chase Brown run over the.

Speaker 2 (18:14):
Place to nothing.

Speaker 1 (18:15):
But I think he almost is an explosive ten or fifteen.
It depends on It depends on who. If it's a ten,
he almost averages an explosive, that's right, Yeah, I think
it's fifteen. I mean, if you go by ten, Joe
Flack ahead an explosive run.

Speaker 2 (18:29):
Again, I think it's fifty.

Speaker 3 (18:30):
Yeah, I mean the stat always see big gains and
the Steelers tracked after them and their opponents.

Speaker 2 (18:36):
Ten plus is the one I cite a lot.

Speaker 3 (18:38):
But yeah, I would say I don't think eleven are
In my humble opinion, the eleven yard run is explosive play,
or you know, even maybe a twenty yard pass.

Speaker 2 (18:47):
Twenty five sounds a little better, but sometimes it's year
twenty as well. Well.

Speaker 1 (18:50):
Steelers offense better get some explosion in their running game.
We'll talk about the way to attack that Chargers defense next.
Steelers Blitz on Steeers Nation Radio with Tom I'm Out
for Men and Christadamski, all part of the Steelers Audio Network.
It looked as though the Steelers rushing game on offense

(19:14):
was really starting to turn a corner, was really starting
to build to something good and something that could become
the identity of that offense, like we always kind of
thought the.

Speaker 2 (19:23):
Plan was going to be.

Speaker 1 (19:25):
And then the Colts game happens, and you average under
two yards per carry as a team, and your lead
back Jalen Warren, who got sixteen carries, averaged under two
yards per carry. So it really kind of deflated my
tires a bit. When it comes to this Steelers running game, well,
we need to pump that airback in patch job, whatever

(19:46):
you need to do, take it into the dealer, get
it fixed, because we need these tires at thirty four
psi against this Chargers defense. The Chargers defense can rush
the passer. The Chargers defense is good against the pass
in their secondary, but they're good. They are not that
good against the run. That is their obvious weakness. You
need to be able to run the football against this team.

(20:07):
That should be on the offensive side of the ball
in those meetings this week. It's got to be the
focus we should be as our defense was embarrassed for
what happened against the Packers, for what happened against the Bengals.
I know we won the game and that helps, you know,
put a little deodorant on us, guys, but in this room,
we should be embarrassed for only averaging one point nine
whatever it was yards per carry against the Colts. That's

(20:29):
got to be a lot better. That should be the
focus this week is let's run the ball down this
team's throat. Like don't you want that, Chris, Like, don't
you just want a game finally where it's like we
ran the ball from start to finish just down their throats.
They couldn't stop it. We got the lead because of it,
and then we salted it away because of it too.

Speaker 3 (20:48):
And it's not as if the offense was explosive with
the passing game in the last game that made you
think like, oh, they're.

Speaker 1 (20:55):
Doing nothing until you just started throwing it at the
darn out Yeah.

Speaker 3 (20:57):
Like it's strategically like why would you go away from
what work? And why would you change something up? So
I think there's definitely a need. I think that we've
seen progress the offensive line where it's it's there. I
don't think it's you're hoping for something or banging your
head against the wall it's not going to work, or
they try it doesn't work. You're right in terms of
the matchup. I feel like that's a good matchup there

(21:18):
in terms of this game plan against a particular opponent.
I think that overall, the offensive unit, the offensive line
embarrassed as parts to Trump, but they know they're like,
you know, we need to make this a point of emphasis.
We need to put something better out there on tape.
We know this wasn't this wasn't good enough last week.
I think that there's a galvanizing aspect to it that

(21:39):
this week you might see something does a response, I
guess in terms of what we saw last week from
the Steelers rush offense. So I think you add it
all up, there is a lot of evidence and a
lot of reason to compel the Steelers to to do
that this week, and I think, right, I think it
can work.

Speaker 1 (21:56):
So we talked in the last segment about explosive front
right charge third best in the league.

Speaker 2 (22:02):
Do you know who the worst team is in the league?
Its closive run rate? Oh? I don't.

Speaker 1 (22:06):
You can guess, can't You wouldn't it be weird if
it was like the Baltimore if I wrote it on
that one.

Speaker 2 (22:15):
Oh, no, it's the Commanders. No, it's the Steelers.

Speaker 1 (22:17):
The two point seven percent explosive run rate, and the
Steelers as a team are averaging only three point eight
yards per rush that is ahead of only the forty
nine Ers at three point five and Seattle's three point seven.
And that there is a surprising one there in Seattle
being down there, you think they'd be able to run
the ball better. But I'm not gonna be critical of Seattle.
They look like a damn good football team right now
with what's going on with them. But three point eight

(22:38):
is too low for the Steelers. Feel like they've been
stuck under that four point zero as a team for
a couple of years now, and you just can't, you know,
burst through that ceiling. You gotta be around four point
one four point two. I know that doesn't seem like
a drastic jump, Chris, but you know it is. Three
point eight to four point two.

Speaker 3 (22:53):
Is huge, and I in just the math of it,
you get a couple explosive plays.

Speaker 2 (22:58):
It's all it takes to get to the point.

Speaker 3 (23:00):
Yeah, one extra you know, twenty two yard running game
or something that that's all you need. And that bumps
it up, and you're right, and you start to look
at it, and again you go by definition because I
have always the list of ten plus yards, like all
the Steelers have. But if you go to fifteen, all
of a sudden, there's a lot of these thirteen to
eleven stand which is fine. There are two fifteen yard
rush and that's fifteen barely qualifies against in Dublin by

(23:21):
Kenneth Gainwell. And then you look at the rest of
the season, and Jalen Warren is your top back, and
you had a thirty seven yard carry against the Bengals,
but the Bengals can't play defense, and at another twenty
four yard carry against the Bengals outside of that, a
fourteen yard carry against the Packers or so sorry, seventeen
yard gary against the Packers, and that's it for Jalen
Warren all season. In terms of what explosive runs, you're
define it by fifteen yards and that is and that's

(23:43):
all it takes to get that average up. And it
all it takes is to get yourself a free because
even a good running team, you're not expecting to get
an explosive right, you don't game plan so this is
going to gain us eighteen yards that we're doing about
how you draw it up and how well it works,
unless it's let's get the Seahawks in the Super Bowl
twenty years ago, because everybody saw that ahead of time,

(24:05):
I guess, because.

Speaker 2 (24:06):
The way they were.

Speaker 3 (24:07):
But if you're able to just you pop one or
two of those a game, that's it's like a bonus.
It's like a free and you're right, everything comes up
all of a sudden you're grossery yards for the for
the game goes up, the average art for the game
goes up. You get you put yourself if you get
a thirty yard run, depending where, I mean, you're putting
yourself in scoring position no matter where, unless you're at
you know, your own ten or something. When it starts
it it's almost an automatically put yourself in a position

(24:29):
to get points depending where you're on the field, to
get additional points if you're you know, at a field
goal or whatever it is at that So, I don't
know what necessarily I guess if you really want to
break it down, I mean, as much as we've been
impressed by warning, it doesn't have the breakaway?

Speaker 2 (24:42):
Is that part of it?

Speaker 3 (24:43):
I mean that was always the criticism of Naji Harris.
Oddly enough, coincidentally enough, I charge your now. I mean,
though he's out for the season, that whatever you thought
in the positive, that true that Harris brought. That there
was no second level. He was his explosive plays where
I mean he was lacking. Yeah, the whole season without
a twenty yard carry at all, which is kind of remarkable.
Over seventeen your game featured back did not have even

(25:05):
one twenty yard carry. Throughout the course of a season,
you almost like stumble into that.

Speaker 1 (25:10):
I got the fifteen yards, tripping on following in, I'm
gonna get five more yards.

Speaker 3 (25:13):
Just get that many touches at one point. So is
that what's happening here is the reason why you get
to the second level?

Speaker 2 (25:19):
Would not not break up. I don't know if there's
a you.

Speaker 3 (25:21):
Know, an analytical reason why this is happening or not,
but yeah, this all would take and maybe the Chargers
are a team that you could pop.

Speaker 1 (25:30):
A couple well, even though you are the least explosive
team as far as running the ball is concerned in
the league. I don't look at Jalen Warren and go,
it's not an explosive player. Like with Najie Harris, we
had some of those moments sometimes. Agie was more like
that guy that just tried to wear you out with
body blows all game long. Yeah, three at a time,
four yards at a time sometimes that You're just gonna
hate tackling me, and I'm just gonna slowly grind this

(25:51):
game out.

Speaker 2 (25:51):
And then Jalen Warren would come in and he would
kind of.

Speaker 1 (25:53):
Provide that like paw to the Steelers offense, like he
was mister explosion with that old role for him, adrenaline guy. Yeah,
micro burst, And now that he's in an expanded role,
I still see that explosion. I mean when he gets
the ball out of the backfield, which by the way, that
hasn't been very much of a thing lately, is dumping
him the ball in the passing game. They need to
do that a lot more because he was awesome at
the beginning.

Speaker 3 (26:13):
To talk about suposed to play. It's the third biggest
player of the season, regardless of the Seahawks. Yeah, yes,
was the screen pass the Jalen Warren which he broke it,
but it's kind of ironic he couldn't do it.

Speaker 2 (26:21):
Early in the year. That's like the only thing he
was doing well.

Speaker 1 (26:23):
Like that's how Jalen Warren was establishing himself as a
play primary playmaker in the offense. And then that's kind
of dried up as he's gotten more on his plate
and done more successfully as a runner of the football.
So I want to I want to see that. I
want to see him tap into that kind of explosiveness.
But anyway, I haven't you know, looked at Jalen Warren
this year and been like hmm, I'm not.

Speaker 2 (26:43):
Seeing that same like burst from him. I'm not seeing
that explosiveness from him.

Speaker 1 (26:47):
So it's weird, like, yeah, they don't get explosion, but
you don't look at their lead back and go, well,
that's why they don't get explosion.

Speaker 2 (26:53):
He doesn't.

Speaker 1 (26:54):
He lacks that. No, that's kind of what he does.
He's that little just like wow, bang poppy right in
the face.

Speaker 3 (26:59):
Which is why maybe if you have a good run,
you know, if he does get eighteen to twenty two
carry whatever it is this game, and you're able to
to scheme it well and you're able to have a
good execution game in terms of getting those five or
six yards carries, then again you think one of these
times he breaks a tackle's he is one of the
best in the league at at miss tackles or forcing mistackles,

(27:21):
whether it be broken and there's in some sites and
people can define it differently, and it's true that there's
a there's a mistake avoided tackle and then there's a
broken tackle. He can do both of them, actually probably
more so the broken in some ways, but he is
one of the best at that. So if you get
him to the second level, and he always to do things.
Beat one linebacker all of a sudden and you know,

(27:41):
turns that six yard carry into a to a twenty
two yard carry.

Speaker 2 (27:44):
Whatever. It is something like that. That that or.

Speaker 3 (27:47):
Even more so maybe if if you get past that
the second level there, So that's something that that has
been cut to be right, I feel like it's just
it's just waiting for that moment you could you can
pump one. I don't see it as being necessarily that
it's part of the Steelers identity. They're never gonna have
a long run all season, right, I don't necessarily feel that.
I guet he's not a four to three guy or
whatever running back like some teams have or some running

(28:08):
backs are. He's not the super fast guy. But he
also it's in there, as proven by that screen. Pass
three took sixty five yards.

Speaker 1 (28:16):
Yeah, in fact, let's do it now. Let's have it
happen against the Chargers because they allow four point nine
yards per carry. That's better than only five defenses. They
also allow an eight point zero percent explosive run rate,
which is better than only three defenses. So I said
at the beginning of the show, if you're a quarterback
that needs to get his yards up. Introducing the Steelers defense,

(28:37):
because they're a pretty good matchup in that regard. Well,
if you're an offense that is struggling. As far as
explosive run rate is concerned, enter the La Chargers baby,
because they allow fifteen plus yards. They're giving them out
like candy. So that's a favorable matchup for the Steelers here.
They need to get going in more of that explosive
category running the football. They need to get going again,

(29:00):
get back on track. As far as just running the
football period is concerned. They're giving up five yards per
carry eight percent of the time. It's explosive. It's a
good matchup to run the football against.

Speaker 2 (29:09):
You eight percent of the time.

Speaker 3 (29:10):
So if he gets he gets about twenty four carries,
that's too explosive plays right there you go?

Speaker 2 (29:14):
So as well, is that perfect? How you gotta do? So,
Jaylen Morton, that's all you gotta do.

Speaker 3 (29:20):
Yeah, that's what Although you know Gainwell is also you
almost feel like, now Gainwell, I don't know what his
forty time is or whatever, but you do feel like
he got Gainwell in the open field, he can he
can burst one too.

Speaker 1 (29:33):
I mean that's kind of been his m Yeah, Gainwell
has played thirty seven percent of the Steelers snaps this year.
Warren in the last five games, though, has a seventy
three percent backfield chair. So they've kind of been transitioning
more towards Warren being the guy ever since he came
back from injury. Yeah, because most of Gainwell's stuff is
on third downs. Sixty nine percent of his snaps are

(29:54):
on third downs.

Speaker 2 (29:55):
Okay, that makes that makes sense. He's really a third
down back. Yeah, but Warren's a better third down back. Yeah,
Like anything you bring.

Speaker 1 (30:02):
Third down backs, what do you think of pass protection
out of the backfield help as far as the receiver
is concerned. Warren is better in both of those than
Gainwell is. Gainell's good at it, but Warren's better.

Speaker 2 (30:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (30:11):
And like Gamebell was considered one of the best third
un backs, I mean, he was part of the offense,
was two of the last three Super Bowl Yeah, back
for them, but it's wild.

Speaker 1 (30:20):
Warren is one of the best third down backs too.

Speaker 2 (30:21):
And if he's not a starter, which he is, right.

Speaker 3 (30:23):
Yeah, it's always been a curious fit in that sense
because that's.

Speaker 1 (30:27):
Why they always it's why we've always been like you
need Caleb Johnson, like he is more of the counter
punch to what Jalen Warren and kevinth Gainwell can bring
to the table. Johnson missed a couple of games, didn't
get a single offensive snap. He did get five offensive
snaps last week, first snaps that he got since Week six.
He didn't have an explosive play, but he did catch

(30:48):
the ball out of the backfield that you know you
saw some bursts on. He took it nine yards. I
don't know if that's a sign of things to come,
that maybe he's going to start to get worked back
into the rotation a little bit. I don't know, but
that kind of like you know, Warren to gain Weell thing,
you're kind of just going to a lesser version of
the same back. I think we've kind of always been
pointing that out this season.

Speaker 2 (31:09):
But whether it's.

Speaker 1 (31:10):
Warren, whether it's gain Well, whether it's Caleb Johnson running
the football down this team's throat is what should be
your main motivation, your main game plan against the Chargers defense.

Speaker 3 (31:23):
It would be nice to see that establishes in the
tool belt right as a method depending on your matchup,
who you're playing, the rest of the season to be
a complete team, to be a complete offense as you
as you try to get yourself up to that level
where you're the AHA for a super Bowl contender, to
make the playoffs and you know, have your shot against
the AFC's best. That you'd like to have that ability, right,

(31:45):
It would just something you don't want to be, you know,
one dimensional. You don't want to have an offense it
doesn't have the ability against matchups depending who you're playing,
the game, situation, game flow, that you can go to
these type of things like that. So it would be
nice to see that a game like that for that
reason alone, to think like, Okay, the Steelers offense, you know,
now we're cooking, but we can do all kinds of
things here no matter who we're playing. We feel like

(32:07):
every single game we're gonna score in the at least
in the twenties and give yourself a chance to win
every time.

Speaker 1 (32:12):
Now, I'm not saying that Aaron Rodgers, you have to
you know, shy away from him and he needs to
be you know, protected in this game, and it's just
no chance that he could do anything to help win
the game. But the Chargers pass defense is stiff. They
gave up just one hundred and eighteen yards through the
air last week. Now they were playing the Titans, so
let's take.

Speaker 2 (32:30):
That with a little bit of a grain of salt.

Speaker 1 (32:32):
But that's still impressive. And they've been kind of doing that.
Not to that degree, but they've been doing that all
year long. As far as the pass defense is concerned.
They also average two point nine sacks per game, which
is tied for ninth best in the league. Odafe Oway
had two sacks last week. He has four sacks since
being traded to Los Angeles before Week six. That is
the fifth most in the league during that time span.

(32:54):
And by the way, what a brother helping brother trade
that was? I mean seriously, like and we kick around
that a little bit, maybe like I'm not telling you
how to do your job, but like maybe a couple
of phone calls to be made on that one and
be like, hey, what's the deal there? I mean, like
Chargers really need help in the pass rush. I'll just
call up John. He'll send me o Way, who has
the fifth most sacks since getting here in the NFL.

(33:15):
It's a little weird, it rubs me a little wrong,
but always great and you got to deal with him,
and you still got Khalil Mack on that defense that
you got to deal with. He's not the same, but
he's still good.

Speaker 3 (33:25):
So so the NFL have like a fantasy league where
the other owner other gms have to approve a trade or.

Speaker 2 (33:30):
Of like something object to it, like you know, because
that is like.

Speaker 3 (33:32):
Literal that is literal fantasy league. They are like brothers
usually in Fantasy League. A lot our times they're like, oh,
look at that.

Speaker 1 (33:39):
Oh you gave him Tyreek Hill right before the season.
That's very nice.

Speaker 2 (33:42):
Yeah, yeah, there's something a little fishy there.

Speaker 1 (33:44):
Yeah, you know what, I'm all into investigating a hardbot too.
I mean, like if you want to open one of
those up just for arbitrary sake.

Speaker 2 (33:51):
They've never had any of those in the past. No,
there's no experience with that.

Speaker 1 (33:55):
But even if you just want to make him jump
through a couple of hoops for no reason, I mean,
I'm I'm good with that.

Speaker 2 (33:59):
Speak of that.

Speaker 3 (33:59):
By the way, the Ravens, which I saw a little tangent,
they had no players in the injury report, which I
think I've ever seen in season before.

Speaker 2 (34:06):
Maybe I'm wrong. They literally and they've already been like
yeah for what they yeah for it.

Speaker 3 (34:14):
It's a it almost seemed like they were almost like
I don't know, passive aggressive mocking or something like.

Speaker 2 (34:19):
Like do it again again?

Speaker 3 (34:21):
Yeah, yeah, something like that, because it's like some you mean,
nobody was even not even limited but whatever.

Speaker 1 (34:27):
I mean, Forgot's sake, Howard's still showing up on the Steelers.

Speaker 2 (34:30):
Like nobody was no one. One guy was a little
you know, dealing with like.

Speaker 1 (34:34):
You know, how the Steelers do it. They put everybody
on there because they're like, I don't want fines. You
know what, you really mess around with injury reports too.
They could look at draft picks like I'm serious, Like
it's a very serious thing, so you don't want.

Speaker 2 (34:46):
To mess with that.

Speaker 3 (34:47):
The Steelers are real, Like on Saturday, you get those updates.
I don't think a lot of teams.

Speaker 1 (34:50):
Do that right where it's like this is what we're at, the.

Speaker 2 (34:52):
Definition you're questionable.

Speaker 3 (34:54):
You could still go all the way to till eleven
thirty am or game time, right, yeah, and they they'll
always updated Saturday, don out upgraded in or he's still is.

Speaker 2 (35:02):
I don't think the question that, but I.

Speaker 3 (35:03):
Think they're over right, they're overly aware and overly uh
you know the.

Speaker 2 (35:08):
Raven The Ravens are making a mockery of the NFL.

Speaker 1 (35:10):
Get him, get them, get them and get the other
hard bought too for this trade for Oway because he
is sacking the hell out of the quarterback and that's
a problem in this game. But the Steelers offensive line
has held its own against great pass rushers, great tandems,
better than Oway and Mac for sure.

Speaker 3 (35:28):
Oh yeah, yeah, that's what it seems like a week
after a week And that's part of If you ask
Mike to say that's life in the NFL, will be
his answer. And that's two to a point. But I mean,
you come off carting Michael Parsons what two times and
three weeks.

Speaker 2 (35:40):
Put those guys in your back pocket. Yeah, and all
of a sudden.

Speaker 3 (35:42):
Nothing, I mean and Matt, Yeah, Mac and Oway both
threw away. I mean, Mac is obviously isn't the same
player he was. He wont a defensive player of the Earth.
Did yes, he did way back in the Raiders. I
think they were Oaklands all the time. Yes, that's a
long he's been the league. He took games against the
San Diego he's playing games with the Oaklan Raiders against
the San Diego under We're running out of a players

(36:03):
who played for the Oakland Raiders or the San Diego Chargers,
I'm sure in terms of active that's what I was thinking.
Like somebody even brought up and they brought like, oh no,
they're Steelers. Have not the last three games in else
they said, last three games in l A. The Steelers
have had wild get finishes against the Chargers, like uh uhh,
last two because the three game a Leveon Bell game
is a walk off touchdowns. You don't see it right
often in the league, a walk off touchdown.

Speaker 2 (36:23):
And that was yes, Mike Vick, but Mike Vick's last hurrah.

Speaker 1 (36:28):
What I want to say that Keenan Allen was the
San Diego Charger.

Speaker 2 (36:32):
Right, He's been in Charger for a long time, so
I have to.

Speaker 1 (36:34):
Imagine that he overlapped somewhat there. So he's probably got
to be one of the only ones.

Speaker 2 (36:37):
Left, Yeah, especially on that roster.

Speaker 3 (36:39):
Yeah he even left and came back, but yeah, who
would Yeah, in terms of yeah, the current Chargers, there's
probably still a handful.

Speaker 1 (36:45):
Around the league. Some yeah, yeah, but he's on the
Chargers again. Even though he went to the Bears last year.

Speaker 2 (36:49):
But you're right, I mean San Diego Chargers left or
Oakland Raiders left. It's so sad.

Speaker 3 (36:54):
Yeah, yeah it is. I mean we done to a
couple of Saint Louis rams. There's only a couple Saint
Louis rams left too. I know that that's gotta be
like very minimum that got brought up. I guess it's
one of the kickers or something, because at that point,
if you're a kicker or punner or along snapper, as
we know, you can have a decade long career.

Speaker 1 (37:11):
When Chris and I come back, we're gonna hand out
our big ballers for Steelers and Chargers.

Speaker 2 (37:17):
We'll also jump on the college couch.

Speaker 1 (37:19):
That's next on Steelers Blitz on Steelers Dation Radio, part
of the Steelers Audio Network. Steelers and Chargers Sunday Night.
You know, when those lights come on for Sunday Night football,
these players, you know, turn it up a little bit more,
feel a little bit of that juice. They want to

(37:40):
ball out a little bit more on national TV. So
let's determine who's going to be the biggest of the
ball is Chris. Let's assign our big Ballas for Steelers
versus Chargers on the offensive side of the ball, I'm
gonna go with Jalen Warren play. I want them to
run the football down their throats. Have you heard me

(38:00):
say that before? I want him to run it down
their throats. It needs to be your best game running
the football this year. The matchup dictates that. And damn it,
you were making so much progress before that Colts game.
I don't want to see it completely start going backwards.
Have that be the blip, not the norm returning. So

(38:22):
gimme Jalen Warren and those hogs up front. You better
be road grading, you better be clear in the path.
But I think that they are going to and I
think they need to have a massive success on the
ground in this game.

Speaker 2 (38:34):
I like we're going with that. Be a little bit good.

Speaker 3 (38:36):
Go different path here though, anyway, And that's I probably
mentioned this before and Hates it's an obvious one. DK
metcalf two contentions for six yards. This pass game, I
think I think there will be an emphasis on you
know what, that's not gonna be a repeat. We're going
to try to take some shots. We're gonna give him
some let him do the thing. Where just you get
him the ball and he can make somebody miss, break

(38:57):
a tackle, whatever it is, and get a big explosive play.
As it is, he's still we talked about explosive players
earlier by far the Leader and the Steelers, and in terms
of explosive plays this season overall.

Speaker 2 (39:06):
So feed the big guy the ball.

Speaker 1 (39:10):
I like it, even if you're just gonna try to
manifest it, because he needs to be way more productive.
Just like how the running game was terrible against the Colts,
he as a number one receiver was terrible against the Colts.
So hoping to get a bounce back there defense big ball,
I'm gonna go with another Jalen. I'm gonna go with
Jalen and Jalen for my big ball is today Jalen

(39:30):
Ramsey playing justin Herbert. We gassed him up all show today.
He is one of the best quarterbacks in football. Well,
Jalen Ramsey might be able to transition, and I'm not
saying he'll be this this year right away, but maybe
he's going to become one of the best safeties in football.
Chris after already being one of the best corners in
football and already establishing himself probably as a Hall of
Famer at that position, but I like having that mind

(39:53):
back there against the quarterback like Justin Herbert.

Speaker 2 (39:56):
I thought the.

Speaker 1 (39:56):
Steelers were their most buttoned up against the Colts, and
a lot of that was to do with I think
Dougger and especially Ramsey playing those safety positions.

Speaker 2 (40:05):
So Dougger, I.

Speaker 1 (40:06):
Think is going to be a great player, a great
asset in this game too. But I'm looking at Ramsey
to really help with Justin Herbert and kind of be
that mind in the defensive side of the ball to
counter that mind that he has on the offensive side.

Speaker 3 (40:20):
I kind of went and chalked with both sides of
the office, both sides of the ball, and this for
this big ballers, I'm.

Speaker 2 (40:25):
Gonna go with t J.

Speaker 3 (40:26):
Watt might heard of him, I have as much. It's
crazy because we do. You kind of feel like there's
a lot still there and initially want to say it's
time for him to explode and kind of reassert himself.
But last six games he has five sacks and three
force turnovers, an interception two and two forced fumbles. I'll
take that on it, you know, no matter what. But

(40:47):
you also feel like there's something not there you feel like, yeah,
so I just think it's finally time to get you know,
the three sack game or whatever you want. You two
sacks of force, fumble a tip pass, that's whatever.

Speaker 2 (40:59):
It is. Just be a blast machine.

Speaker 3 (41:00):
Being the defensive player that the year type player that
he is, Hall of Fame type player he is for
a game is completely just because that certainly has been
We talked about Peyton Wilson. You know, Alex high Smith
won AFC, which I thought was by the way, Alex
has been winning AFC Defensive Player of the Week whenever
I thought Peyton Wilson had a better game in his
own team.

Speaker 2 (41:16):
But that's a whole other you know, whatever your nitpicking here,
but you are a point.

Speaker 3 (41:19):
I thought Peyton Wilson is gonna win it. I thought
I was ready. I likeke Peyton Wilsons gonna get nothing.
That's a major run. Everybody cares about it. But it's something,
and all of a sudden, I'm like, Steeard won it,
But it was it wasn't Peyton Wilson.

Speaker 1 (41:28):
That's the kind of points I thought he would have
won it. But that past defense shows up in the
statue for Peyton Wilson. But it doesn't truly illustrate how incredible.

Speaker 2 (41:37):
Yeah jumped so huh that was Yeah, it was that so.

Speaker 3 (41:41):
But the point being is what what had a strip
sack that turned that game around? But he was still
probably only the fourth or fifth best defensive player and
the Steelers in that game.

Speaker 2 (41:50):
So I want t J.

Speaker 3 (41:52):
Watt to be the best player on the field. As
we know, he's kat and he's done many many times in.

Speaker 2 (41:56):
His career, a big like st. Phil the statute type
of game at t J. Watt.

Speaker 1 (42:00):
All right, that's big Ballers for Steelers. Chargers. Let's quickly
jump on the college couch Chris, Oh oh god, okay
ready three two one, oh plastic pants and no plastic pants.
You can take the pants off if you want to. Whoa, Okay,
let's move on. Penn State, Indiana. Do you think they
can do it? I kind of have a sneaky feeling

(42:22):
they're gonna give him a game. They're fourteen and a
half point underdogs. That's a little alarming. You're a winless
power for You're a winless team against the power four.
You should be like twenty eight point underdogs.

Speaker 2 (42:32):
Yeah, yeah, I would thought that line was.

Speaker 1 (42:33):
A murders teams, so that one's a little that's not
totally fishy. If it was like nine points, I'd be like,
whoa alert Signetti.

Speaker 3 (42:41):
I feel like would run up the score. I think
he likes to do that, Yes, especially in his homestay,
especially whatever what I'm sure there was noise or some
sort of contact about the job when it opened up,
and obvious he's.

Speaker 1 (42:51):
Not the extensions you guys want to.

Speaker 2 (42:54):
Yeah, there's definitely an old man of that.

Speaker 1 (42:56):
I just think you look, I'm gonna be very vulnerable here, Chris. Okay,
I think Penn State has too much talent to be
as bad as they are. And they're real bad right now.
I mean, but I mean like there has to be
a bounced back here. They're not a winless Big ten team.

Speaker 2 (43:08):
They're just not right.

Speaker 3 (43:09):
But they yeah, they're all they're playing the number one two.

Speaker 2 (43:13):
That's the thing is like you can see how each love.

Speaker 3 (43:15):
Okay, the U c l A was was the shock
to the system, and then you follow it up with
a laid an egg. You fire your coach all of
a sudden, you go on the road to Isle and
all the until they had a lead at halftime because
the number one team in the country, and the other
three games were lost as by what one one in
three points were the three defeats. So you can start
the talkers off into like they're not as bad as
a winless team, and.

Speaker 2 (43:33):
I get it.

Speaker 3 (43:33):
But the same time record, yes, the dead record is
the record bounce back against.

Speaker 2 (43:38):
Okay, if they're bouncing.

Speaker 3 (43:39):
Back against the theoretical number twenty two ranked team or
a team that's you know whatever, six or two, but
your number two team in the country.

Speaker 2 (43:46):
It's been kind of like blowing through people. They look like, buzzy,
I was gonna do it for you.

Speaker 1 (43:51):
Nice, all right, why don't you cool off? We're downe
with Penn State for now, right, relaxed now, b Yu
Texas Tech. That's the game day game of the week
noon kickoff number seven by U number eight Texas Tech.

Speaker 2 (44:02):
Vegas does not believe in by.

Speaker 3 (44:03):
Yeah, that's what that That was my We don't do
a college pick, but I other you're gonna pick BYU?

Speaker 2 (44:08):
Yeah, cover it?

Speaker 3 (44:09):
I feel I mean, I just it's Texas Tech. It's
a it's a fishy line that makes me wonder. It's
the line is so like out there that I mean,
by us literally the higher ranked team. Now I know
that doesn't mean anything per se, but they're the fact
of the higher I know they're on the road, but yeah,
come on, I mean, what's what's I mean that might
Texas might win the game.

Speaker 2 (44:26):
I probably pick them to win a game. But that's
ten and a.

Speaker 1 (44:28):
Half a lot of points for a top ten matchup
like that. And again, it's not like Texas Tech is
Texas where they're like the big brand, and it's like, oh,
you're going to get run under the big brand here.

Speaker 2 (44:37):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (44:37):
Oregon and Iowa three thirty on CBS number nine, Oregon
number twenty. Iowa. I kind of love Oregon only given
six and a half points here, they could murder Iowa, Like, my,
Iowa's not good. They can't score points. This game comes
down to is Iowa's defense gonna do the Iowa defense
thing and just kind of stump Oregon into like a
ten to three win or something.

Speaker 3 (44:56):
We talk about the Chargers be the same team throughout
their history.

Speaker 1 (45:00):
It is the same the same team, the same quarterback.
This is the same guy. But if you're a Hawkeye fan, Chris,
you love it right, Like, look at where you're at again,
You're number twenty in the country hosting Oregon in a
huge game.

Speaker 3 (45:10):
And like I always say, you should know who you are,
and Iowa knows and they're very comfortable in that. Like
they upset usually a team every year a big bram
they still finish, not they don't.

Speaker 2 (45:18):
They're never gonna make the playoff.

Speaker 1 (45:20):
Like four or five years ago they beat Penn State
and they were like the number two team in the
country after that. Like, Iowa knows what they are and
they are having a lot of fun with what they are.
Alabama LSU interim head coach for LSU. It's a rivalry game,
but Alabama should probably handle that. They're gonna start to
roll towards the national championship here and then you got

(45:41):
Notre Dame and Navy.

Speaker 2 (45:42):
You don't think Notre.

Speaker 1 (45:43):
Dame stubs their toe before the big game here next week?

Speaker 2 (45:45):
Do you?

Speaker 1 (45:45):
Looking ahead to pick? Looking ahead to pick? It's a trap,
trap game against top twenty five pit All right, let's
get off of this damn inevitability.

Speaker 3 (45:52):
But the Chiefs in Alabama just gonna win championships every
year that you're just like, this is my personal hell
that every single year is that the Chiefs I have
to say it because I want to. I want to jinx.
It's what doesn't happen is all you're doing with the
Alabama's gonna win.

Speaker 1 (46:04):
Yeah, if it's not Alabama, it'll be a high of state,
so it'll be it'll be refreshing.

Speaker 3 (46:09):
The same same yeah, same church, different view, as our
bel Westeler.

Speaker 1 (46:12):
Likes to say, all right, back to the Steelers. Next,
we're gonna talk about the Steelers being sticky.

Speaker 2 (46:16):
That's next.

Speaker 1 (46:17):
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