September 8, 2025 • 40 mins
Tom Opferman and Chris Adamski recap the Steelers win over the Jets in the season opener, the contributions from the new guys, and hand out money makers for top performances in the game
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Well, that went just about as we all expected it
to go, exactly as we drew it up.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
That typical rock fight Steelers.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Drag their opponent into the mud and just suffocate them
to death.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
It played out pretty much standard. To me, that was insane.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Bro Tom Opferman, Chris Danski here on the Steelers Blitz Chris,
we thought that these Steelers this year were gonna look
like a strong running game, some nice weapons in the
passing game, in an elite defense to help carry the
forty one year old quarterback to a somewhat successful final
(00:42):
season in the NFL. If indeed it is his final season,
maybe that is how it will play out in the
macro when it's all done. But after one week it
was the complete inverse. Everybody else was kind of below average,
and it was the forty one year old four time
MVP that put the team on his back and said,
I am ain't lose into the Jets.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
We have time to go back to the podcast at
the iHeart app and like Slice in us saying when
we were talking about playing the under play the over,
it would be like this weird cut and be a
different voice and like yes, I am Chris and I'm
saying this on Friday afternoon to say play the over,
because there will be lots of points in this game, like.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
When you have a bad lip ub and a TV
copy for a movie when they swear no Chris. Unfortunately,
as you enter into this podcast in radio for a
you have to wear your mistakes. Yes, here's the thing,
though no one knew that was coming. Like you would
sound stupid if before the game you were like, they're
gonna win thirty four to thirty two, and Fields and
Rogers are both gonna play like elite quarterbacks in this game.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Won't see many punts until the second happens.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Yeah, barely gonna punt. It's gonna be a shootout before
the Ravens and Bills. It'll be the highest scoring game
that you've seen of the week. Like, no one would
have been able to say that and have any foot
to stand on. You'd have to be like, call me crazy,
but I have this weird feeling.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
So I mean the number moved down right, The betting
number is the lowest over under four lower tire slate,
and it kept going. I went down to have a
point or two from where it was to start too,
so it wasn't like the everybody agreed that it was
gonna be really low scoring.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Well before we get into Aaron Rodgers. And that's where
we're going to start this show off with, because where
else do you go? Got some donuts in the studio, Chris,
it's a victory Monday. It's a victory donut Monday. We
all missed Craig woefully dearly, and it really is still
so weird to not have him around when the season's
getting underway. He would have loved that Jalen Ramsey hit
(02:28):
last night or yesterday after that.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
But he used to have this thing on in the
locker room where they would have donuts on Victory Monday.
So I think it's only a fitting tribute. We go
if we take a nice little bite into some donuts,
A little cheers here, a couple of vanilla sprinkles.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Oh yeah, that's good one. That's good radio. Talking with
your mouthful into the microphone. We love you well, we're
thinking of you.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
What a win for him, what a win for Steelers
Nation yesterday? And Chris, for real, I didn't think we'd
that out of Aaron Rodgers. Maybe all year long. I
thought we'd see some moments where he would be able
to turn back the clock, maybe have a two touchdown
three touchdown performance, flirt with three hundred yards passing, and
we'd be like, wow, you know what, there were shades
(03:14):
of vintage Rogers there. I didn't think we'd see a
full sixty minutes. This is like at the height of
my power, is what I used to look like in
Green Bay. Enjoy a nice treat, Pittsburgh. But that's what
you got, dude. It wasn't just the statistical output, the
four touchdowns over two hundred and forty yards, seventy three
percent completion percentage, dude. The poise was something that we
(03:35):
have not seen out of that position since old number
seven was under center.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
I mean, seventeen points in the fourth quarter, coming from
a coming from down nine at the enter the fourth quarter,
and like a lot of the players said, you just
kind of you had a good idea and it was
barely to be fair of the final drive. They just
got enough to get the balls. Although hell, the way
that that kick that could have been good from seventy
maybe so maybe it wasn't bare.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Seventy five maybe no, but still it was insane. I
heard it didn't even look. Mike Floria said on Football
Night in America, bos Will just like put his head
down like once he said, once he saw it was straight,
you like almost Steph curried it like turned to the bench.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
It was like serial killer. I like that serial killer
is what Mike Paul once said about him. And they
can come up with a quote from time to time,
can ted a phrase happens everyone, but I've liked it.
They both talked about how Boswell just walks out there now,
and I know that is at that scenario, of course
in the game of the line, but even that the
fifty six yard early in the game, ball Ball walked
out that there was no like waiting to see do
you need me or not? Nope, I'm kicking it. Don't worry,
(04:31):
I got it. Don't worry any And that first fifty
the fifty six yard gets scored of just like swippt
under the rug like fifty six big deal.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
That game could have gotten off the rails so badly
for the Steelers at so many different points. I mean,
first of all, I know they held him to a
field goal, so it was a win technically on the
opening drive, but they just ripped right through you in
the right like immediately. There was not a moment in
the game where the run defense was good, Like from
start to finish, it was struggling. Even towards the very end.
(04:59):
They were just fortunate to the Jets had to pass
because there was no time left and they couldn't matriculate
into field goal range via breesal in justin fields. So like,
you got a bad taste in your mouth right away,
even though you held him to a field goal, you
were kind of like, uh, oh, if your offense comes
out and does that usual three and out thing that
they've done for so long, so long, all of a sudden,
(05:22):
you could start slipping down that slope and you could
be like, oh boy, and then we'd see the Jets
maybe come right back down and it's ten to nothing
all of a sudden, and the first place starts with
a sack and you're thinking, great, they're behind the sticks.
This is literally the death This is what happens.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
This is the death sentence.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
They get in a second and fourteen and they can't
get back to the sticks, they can't convert a first down.
We're gonna punt, And then he just calmly and coolly
whips him right down the field. Not only did he
get sack, he had to deal with a bad DK
drop really early on. But what does he do the
next play, He goes right back to DK and he
gets a big hitter. I mean, the dude just allowed
(05:58):
the team to kind of stay in a good headspace,
kind of save the game from getting out of hand
early on. And then the other point where he really
saved things, Chris was when the Jets went up twenty
six to seventeen, took that nine point lead, and it
was towards the end of the third quarter started the
fourth quarter. If the Steelers didn't respond with a touchdown there,
(06:21):
that was probably gonna be it, or I was going
to get real nervous that they weren't going to be
able to come back. And that was a big time
drive right down the field into the end zone, finding
Jayleen Warren and making it a ballgame again, giving the
Steelers momentum. And then we had the obvious kickoff turnover
and the quick strike too right there.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
The way, that's if you go by confidence level, if
you do not necessarily the wins odds that those graphs
that always they show up. Now if you didn't my
personal right after that, the first drive by the Jets
and maybe the first two. When his third long right away,
I'm like the confidence levels laid down. I'm like to
see there's like almost like ready for that. This is fine, Jiff.
You know if they've went three and out right away
after watching the Jets, and to be fair, they they didn't.
(07:02):
They didn't give them a touchdown there, but you still
didn't fit. And then in that third quarter two it
was also both the offense and the defense were struggling
and you got to all of a sudden, a nine
point game going. It was a nine point game wing
the fourth technically, and if there's one more, if the
one more drive the Jets get a stop, at that point,
you're just kind of you're running out of what is
the runway gets short? Is that there's another tone, You're
run out of time there, and you're just like, this
(07:23):
isn't gonna happen. And so it was pretty much, I
mean that drive was almost effectively or do or die
type of drive because you don't know you're gonna get
the turnover, of course, and get two quick touchdowns, but
you know, you figure even if you do get a
stop there, you're gonna get the ball back and you're
kind of running running short there, so yeah, to get
those and but after that turn there then yeah, after that,
then you all of a sudden felt like, I don't
(07:45):
say the offense can't be stopped. The resolve is a
confidence you could almost palpable, you know, watching it, seeing
it being there, that that the offense all of a
sudden had an ability where it was it was, you
know there always the running game wasn't what they wanted,
you know, was an ideal.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
And we'll get to the negatives, but it was that
running game offensively and defensively that is really the bold
face negative.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Yeah, yeah, and that, Yeah, we'll get to the negative.
But there was we wanna talk about Rodgers. Man, I'm giddy.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
I really am trying to be professional over here, but
I mean, dude, that was some of the Here's the thing,
I growing up loved Rogers when he was in his
prime on the Packers. I told you this, like I
have crushers on quarterbacks, he was one of them, man Like.
The way that he played was masterful to watch, and
(08:35):
you got that in a Steelers uniform yesterday. I'm not
saying that continues all year long. I'm not saying week
to week you're gonna get Packers, Rogers. I think there
is gonna be some struggles. There's gonna be some games
where the defenses are better. Just defense ain't bad, but
there's gonna be better defenses. But for at least one game,
you got to see that again, that vintage performance, and
(08:56):
it was really remarkable to see it up close in
your team's uniform for a full sixty minutes. And my god,
it had to feel good for him, right. Oh, you
saw him after the game, I'm sure talking a little
junk to the fans with Tomlin Ann Hayward on his hips.
And we heard in the postgame press conference him saying
things like, yeah, like beating the Jets Like it was
(09:18):
like he.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Couldn't help himself. It had to be said. All the
New York reporters were trying to bait him into saying
it wanted to say, and he started app play it's
week one. He started that, and he was like, ah,
you got me, okay, Yeah, I really like beating anybody
on the Jets. Did you see the New York Posts
back cover two? It was like, so now you play
well with a picture of him.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
The funny thing is, though Chris he threw four touchdown
passes in his last game as a Jet in Week eighteen,
I was surprised to see that he's not he has
a four touchdown pass streak going right now. He's back
to back games. He did come on strong last year
for the Jets too, Like that is something that we
have talked about all preseason, all training camp when we
were trying to get a read on what Rogers is
going to bring.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
To the table.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Like, look at the second half of the Jets season,
like he was a good quarterback and his numbers weren't
bad for the season overall team was just you know,
dug itself a hole and then it was it was
done for I think a lot of guys probably checked
out there and you fired your head coach, which was
a knee jerk reaction. But he played well and again
a four touchdown performance in the last game of the season.
(10:18):
It got him to five hundred as a career mark.
Now he's like only one behind Brett Farv. It was funny,
like Rob King on the broadcast when we were at
break was like, you know, I was I put this
in my notes for like a game in the future
for him to potentially tie and pass Brett Farv but like.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Giddy up, this is happening right now.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
So there were at least a little bit of signs
in his jets tenure that yeah, he could still sling
it like this, but you didn't know until you saw it.
And boy did we ever see it. And he didn't
waste any time showing it to us.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
We would not to take a shot at your boy
or from your alma mater or not your alma mater. Sorry,
you think about this. Aaron Rodgers has more touchdown passes
in this past two times and can he pick it?
Never had a full seat and his career high seven
right and you have seven and six's two years with
the Steeler. You know, no what, yeah, go there, But
people don't like it, and people know I went to
Bed's dad. I'm getting bad at me, like I take
(11:10):
shots of Pick and I'm just like his stat's his
thats speak for the stats stats.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
I'm gonna choose to use the angle on that as
painting it into Roger's positive like as it goes to
the picket slight, so you're safe.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
But I mean, this is one of the and it's
not hyperbole, greatest arms in NFL history, right, I mean
it's in terms of its release, in terms of it,
you know, just the things he's done if you watch, yes,
kind of watch kind of the the the release, I
guess is the best way to put it.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
It's really unique to one of the more unique ones. Yeah,
it's like a flick of the wrist almost, Yeah, And
I think that's kind of what this is.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Maybe maybe you just think I'm crazy, But the way
Veskin shoots a puck like it's almost like, oh my, Like,
look at the way that puck flies off it. It's
almost like you see that when Rogers throws it kind
of just for some reason, it's different. It's just different
coming off there. And I guess maybe Marino had that earlier,
you know, going back a couple of days there, I'm
positive pick no, but you know what I mean, I
brought ca there we go. So but it's still there. Now. Hey,
(12:05):
it's human anatomy or human whatever physiology that everybody ages differently, right,
I mean there's everybody We've been told and it's true that.
I mean, other than Tom Brady, there's like no NFL
quarterbacks that have had good seasons after the age of
forty one in NFL history, So it's like, is he
gonna be the outlier? Well, Brady was the outlier as
it was. You know, I don't think you saw a
(12:25):
precipitous drop from that. You're right, I don't know if
we're gonna get MVP aro On Rodgers for eighteen weeks
seventeen games from that, So you know whether that would
beats was in fifteen or whatever, pick a year over,
decade ago or whatever it might be when he won
an MVP Award, But you saw it there and obviously
the mental parts there. And as much as I think
(12:46):
people talk in the spring about Aaron Rodgers and the
fit and there was like angst about oh he didn't
you know when you're gonna show up, but everybody embraced him.
He embraced his teammates. I think there's definitely a you know,
the chemistry is there and the camaraderie and whatever that is,
whatever that's worth, and it's or something I think in
the fourth quarter of a game, it's a position game.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
They followed him in that game. I mean they had
a one hundred percent buy in. They believed in their quarterback.
I saw you in the background of this clip, so
I'm sure you heard this, but Cam Hayward was almost like,
you know, he couldn't help a crack a smile when
someone asked him about what do you think about you know,
your quarterbacks play, and he was like, oh, we got
someone that can can sling that thing around man like.
(13:22):
And he didn't say this out loud, but his facial
expression said everything.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
I haven't had that in a long time. Yeah, yeah,
I mean, that's what I mean. He was, what is
it now? He was the sixth starting quarterback of our
twenty four game span for the Steelers, the fifth opening
day starter in a row, and an opening day starter
was different. So there's been as we have, we've discussed
many times and when we need to go through it
again kind of what it is. And obviously this is
(13:47):
not a long term so lead He's not gonna be
a quarterback for a decade here. He's not gonna be
an eighteen year quarterback. We all know that. But for
this period of time and with the veteran roster that
the Steelers have, and we'll get to some of these
other positives too, and some of the other veterans who
made plays, the new acquisitions. It's a fit that that
can work. And they hey, you know you talk about
I mean, look, I mean they got it somehow slave
(14:09):
Baltimore if they're gonna get where they're gonna go, and
Baltimore's defense sort of didn't bathe itself in Glibery last night.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
I can't wait to talk about that game in the
second hour when we go around the NFL.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
What a day to be a Steeler fan. Yesterday?
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Huh, Chris, you had the Ravens blow a fifteen point
fourth quarter lead. You had a quarterback throw for four
touchdown passes. I didn't do this research.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
I'll do it. We have a long week ahead of us.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
I that had I know for a fact it hasn't
happened since Ben. No one's thrown for four touchdown passes
since Ben Roethlisberger's been on the team. Rust's high watermark
was three, correct against the Bank.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
It was that Chargers the Wild Chargers game. Ben had four.
It was one.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
So look, get this, almost four years Look at my coat.
He already has the old information kicking around as noodle.
But yeah, like you saw four touchdown passes for the
first time since your Hall of Famer was there. And
you want to shootout, which you only did one time
in like the past at eight years, that Bengals game
last year.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
And this defense is.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
A little better than that Bengals defense, by the way,
so I put a little bit more weight into winning
this kind of a shootout. The Browns held the Bengals
to seven yards in the second half yesterday and lost
the game. That's the first team to do that in
twenty five years. They also missed an extra point to
tie and missed the field goal to win.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Browns by Browns. We gotta get that juju clip from
a few years back. I mean, you couldn't have scripted
it any better. If you're a Steelers fan. It just sucks.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
The Bengals, I guess, had to win, but Chris even
they looked bad in winning, like it was an embarrassing
win for them. Steelers are the team that covered themselves
in the most glory out of the AFC North this
week by far.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Yeah, and like yeah, and it's not that it's I
get it, Like Baltimore losing at Buffalo isn't the end
of the world for them at all, of course, but
to blow the league like that, and we kind of
be I don't say exposed, but that if anything else,
there was a point in that game, the third quarter
it was like, oh boy, these Ravens look like a
juggernaut as you were talking about, and I thought it
would be a bad sign for the Steelers longer term
(16:08):
for this season, but then seeing what happened late in
that game, it almost sort of like heartens you for
the Steelers chances this year because you know they they're
the defending Ravens are defending division champs. You talked to,
but even number one in your trying to make the
sound effect with power rankings or no, it can no, no,
we won't go back to the number one there. So
you're right, it's uh, now you go back there not
(16:31):
number one anymore. By the way, SPO, I'm glad you've
adjusted you're willing to to. I guess the Chiefs aren't
number two for me anymore either. They shouldn't be. Yeah,
there you go. But it's that the Steelers have had
these and now the Jets aren't the quality of opponent
of that. What the twenty twenty two bangles of twenty
twenty one bills, one of the Steelers were getting had
those really impressive road wins in Week one that really
(16:53):
kind of springboarded there. You know, they're really part of
their season there, and we'll see what this does. I
don't know if the Jets are that team, but the Jets,
you know, justin fields. Now, maybe I'm starting to turn
a little bit on him because I was like, he's
never gonna be and he was better with the Steelers
last year than I thought, and he was certainly better
yesterday than we thought anybody I think anybody thought generally speaking.
But he still lost the game, I guess so. But yeah,
(17:15):
there's a lot of reason here to look at it now. Again,
we'll get to the negatives at some point here, but offensively,
and you would think that the things that weren't ideal
yesterday get better too. That there's reason to believe that.
Got a lot to get to. But before we do,
we have to debut Victory Woo. Who's Chris?
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Every time the Steelers went on Monday's Steelers Blitz, Chris
and I are going to give our best Woo who,
led by color commentator Max Starks, who wants Jalen Ramsey
obliterated Garrett Wilson yesterday delivered this beauty on the broadcast.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Woo. So it's joined in on just a chorus of wo.
Who's for a big win in week one? We would
even give it like a Mario who I like that too?
That one was weird. That's all right. It's week one.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
It's our first victory. Hopefully it's our first on like twelve.
That'd be nice, right, nice twelve victory.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Woo whoo.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Mondays, I guess there'd be some victory Friday, the dam
jumping around. Let's talk DK Metcalf when we come back,
because you haven't seen a receiver like that in a
long time.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Either for the Steelers.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
It's Kris Adamski, it's Tom Offerman, it's the Steelers Blitz
on the Steelers Audio Network. It's Tom Offerman and Kris
Adamski on the Steelers Blitz on the Steelers Audio Network.
(18:49):
We said in the first segment, Chris, that hadn't seen
a quarterback look like that since Ben Roethlisberger was here.
Dare I say, haven't seen a receiver look like Dk
Metcalf since.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
Abs been here. It wasn't like in.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
You know, one hundred and fifty dominant performance, but he
was very impressive, more impressive than what I've seen from
the likes of the Deonte's and the Pickens and the
Claypools and even the Jujus.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Well, you talked about that first drive that the yac right,
just just the ability to make a play that didn't
require I mean you talked about Rogers and having that
arm or whatever, but to get a play. The Steelers
certainly have a an receiver that did that where he
you know, takes not quite a bubble screen but gets
the ball and not many air yards but puts his
foot in the ground as they say, boom and acceleration
(19:35):
and just he's hard to tackle. Yeah, I mean, he's
an elite, elite receiver. And like I said, there's been
so many, you know, big name guys that the Steelers
acquired that that you kind of almost forget about, you know.
I mean, if Steelers had enough Aaron Rodgers and maybe
Jaylen Rams whatever it is, DK Metcalff would have been
their marquee, any team's marquee offseason acquisition terms of name value,
(19:57):
in terms of resume, in terms of just sort of
the freakish nature sure, and the special things he can
do and you saw. You're right. It wasn't just like
you know, twelve catch, one hundred and eighty eight yards,
two touchdown anything like that. But he made enough plays
at times. Of course, the one was just ridiculous that
that off the John Newman bounce and hit three things
and he lented it. But that put in the field
goal right.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Element of luck, of course, but also, man, you gotta
have crazy hand eye coordination. You have to be that
high to have that kind of luck fall into your lap.
You gotta have high skill sets, and he does. Now,
it wasn't you know this like eight catch one hundred
and ninety yard just like total ab performance at the
height of his powers. Since we made that kind of comparison,
(20:36):
But dare I say four catches for eighty three yards
when Sauce Gardner is the primary opposition against you is
a very very good day for a wide receiver.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
One.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
I mean, if you're talking about a top three corner
in this league, someone that is every year going to
be on the short list for first team All Pro,
and you put eighty three yards on him, I mean
that's more than enough, I think.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
And I two of them, well, three the catch that
was deflected three times or whatever it was, and two
other ones I know for sure. I can't think of
the fourth one off the top of my head, but
they were both. Again, you saw the elite skill set
where just sort of the speed and the power of
the acceleration he was able to make something and add
extra yards. That all due respect the other Steelers receivers
and even you know, whatever their previous you know, Pickens
(21:20):
had his own whatever skill set that was that is
special or unique, but it wasn't these type of things
you saw at a DK. That's the kind of stuff
we saw at Saint Vincent and again kind of jumped
off the page. It was like jumped off you know,
you caught it, your cut your eye and you knew
it was like, wow, this is something I did. Aneism
the Steelers haven't had in a while.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
He had that first drop coming across the field too,
and oh boy, I wanted to see him catch it
because Sauce was kind.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Of behind him and would have had an angle.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
But I think we were about to see get off me,
little boy, like right there and then I didn't have
to wait what but a play later and we saw
that and we saw him juke a guy out and
then he ain't going out of bounce, Chris, I mean,
he powered his way up the sideline and he punished
some people in that Jets secondary on that play. You
said this last week during the show. You know, the
(22:06):
wide receiver room still has the hole, or maybe it doesn't.
We'll get to that in a second. That it did
last year, but it is upgraded because the number one
receiver is a legitimate number one, where we did not
have that from George Pickens last year. We had the
idea of him being a number one, but he never
had that play out with production.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Now you have that number one receiver in that room.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
So even though you're still kind of cloudy on your
wide receiver too, at least at the top you have
a legit number one. And that played itself out yesterday too.
And it's satisfying to see, and I guess these kind
of go hand in hand, but it's satisfying to see
the Rogers thing pay off with him being something so
different and so sorely needed, and then DK being something
(22:49):
so different and so sorely needed as well, both in
that passing game.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
And it seems like, I mean, I think these are unequivocal,
not ambiguous, non debatable, that DK's an upgrade over Pickens
and JHN new Smith's and upgrade ave Michael Prue or
what you know as a nereo. So that's a weapon.
And however you want to parse it, and I know
some people kind of almost market well the third tight
end camp, your second tight end camp bere wide receiver too. Well,
I mean, you got eligibles. I do believe in that.
What Mike Tomlin says that you know, he's he's harped
(23:15):
on that. And I think people need to get out
of the mindset of like I talked about the starters.
I mean, there's rotations, now, there's different packages. So you
have your five eligibles in any play. I mean how
many times as we discussed earlier, I mean last week
and we saw it. We'll get to this more, I'm
sure later about Kenneth Gainwell playing running running routes from
you know, the slot and in the passing game, how
much he played that. That's a you have five eligibles
(23:37):
for every play, right. The point being that is if
you have five quality eligibles and they're able to do things,
I mean John new Smith can do things wide receivers
can do. You're okay, there's just ways you can piece
this together and be good. But I said, you've and
you've certainly upgrade. I think Colvin Austin. Colvin Austin was
I meant to go back and kind of think about it.
I know he got long catch against Vegas a couple
of years ago, but in terms of a full complete game,
(23:59):
in terms of the brit the depth of what you're saying,
it just felt like maybe his career game. I do too.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
I agree, and I said on the dB pregame show
with Matt Williamson one of my key matchups to highlight
was whoever was opposite of Brandon Stevens, whether that was
gonna be Roman Wilson, Calvin Austin, whoever. Like if Sauce
is going to have DK, and he did for the
majority of the game, you have to have somebody take
advantage of Stevens, who I don't think is very good,
(24:26):
and the Steelers attack Stevens a ton in that game.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
I mean, I think Rogers was in lockstep with me.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
There better way to put that might be I was
in lockstep with Aaron Rodgers there that he was somebody
I kept texting him text He probably saw him, you
know what I mean, he just didn't get a chance
to say I got it. But I think he knew
that that was the weak point too, and he could
attack there and Calvin Austin took big time advantage of that.
You're right, it was his career game. It wasn't just
(24:53):
like that Raiders game. Oh he found his way behind
the defender up the scene and he's wide open. Now,
he did have that for his touchdown, but he also
had an impressive combat catch on a back shoulder throw
that set the Steelers up at the goal line, and
he drew a pass interference Chris and really should have
drawn to pass interference.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
That game should not have.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Been as dramatic of an ending as it was, because
that was that interference was more egregious on that third
down than the one that they actually flagged the Jets for.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
I mean, they hauled him, he was beat, he was beat,
and he just hauled him down to the ground. You
could see the arm extended. And that was one.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Of those plays where I think Jets defender was like,
I did that on purpose. Yeah, I can't believe that
they did not call that, but it was again, it
was a ball that Rogers back shoulder, that's where it
was tracking, and Calvin had the position on it. If
that defender didn't PI him, he was going to probably
catch it anyway.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
Maybe Rogers found his little back shoulder will be like
he had with you know, Adams for so many years.
Austin's not gonna be Adams. But you know what I
mean as far as that particular play is concerned.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Yeah, And like I said, it wasn't. The way I
see Austin is you think you can hit a you know,
you take a shot with them or two a game.
You give him, You give him the ball a couple
of times whatever it can be a end around or shovel,
but whatever it is, and see if he can make
a play because he's so fast. But I just saw
a complete receiver in terms of the routes and the
things he did and and and the way he was
targeted and so yeah, what do you get? He got
(26:12):
six targets and that would have been that's essentially seven
targets with that PI. Yeah, So that that shows how
much Rogers saw him and was going to him. And
he's clearly obviously I mean, I don't think anybody. I
don't know if it was a debate or not. What
he was going to be that the second most used
wide receiver, and he certainly by far was that in
terms the wide receiver corpse. So I think that was
encouraging too that you know, we know, I just like
(26:35):
I talked about earlier, it's only one game. I get it,
so I don't even want to take too long. So
I guess you could. It's one game. But I think Austin.
Austin's a better Austin. He the ERA was pointing out,
he's still young enough in his career. Is only his
third season on the field, and he had you know,
it's his fourth season in real time, but he was
injured his whole rookie year.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Yeah, I agree, it's definitely trending in the right direction
with him. But I do sense that there is a
little bit of an acceleration on the gas pedal to
wide receiver two. It's done, don't have to worry about
it anymore. Let's ease off the pedal on that a
little bit. I think that that was a step in
the right direction. I think that you got wide receiver
two production from another wide receiver in this game, but
(27:12):
you got to see it consistently on display, and chrisy
still can't be a number one. And that's always been
my biggest fear, as you know, is if DK goes down,
Austin's just not going to be the guy that can
be enough of a force to influence how a defense
schemes its coverage up. It's gonna be an easy day
for an opposing secondary if their current wide receiver room
Trot's out there without DK metcalf And so that's still
(27:34):
a problem. Even though Austin had a great like with DK,
maybe he is a number two, but number twos need
to elevate every once in a while, and I'm just
not sure about that.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Yeah, it's still definitely a concern if he has to
be the primary wide receiver, but within the Steelers wide
receiver corps in terms of the snapcount, in terms of
the targets and everything else. I mean, I think other
than DK and Austin at the Scronica had the one
obviously a big catch, a very big catch of scoring catch.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
It was so funny to hear Rogers after be Like,
as I was throwing that, I started laughing to myself
that Scronic was going to catch the first touchdown of
the season.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
It's funny because we saw him job in the field,
like there he is, because you know, it's pretty in
the same ding Rogers and and I don't know, I
don't know if we don't have the personal relationship with
the Rogers out like he does, I don't want to
pay it that way, but yeah, he was so I was.
I was isolated. I'm like, oh my god, he is open.
He cut across the field and like, there he was.
That's what Rogers apparently said too. He hit the play action,
it was like, oh my god, Ben's wide open. He's like,
(28:27):
now I'm gonna deal with him. He's going to be
in a big hit about this. Is that.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
It's just funny to me that the quarterback's headspace was
like this is hilarious, Like my first touchdown as the
Steeler is going to go to Ben, Like he would
have ever thought of that.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
That that was like the old album what was it?
The final catch if you count the playoffs or the
final completion of Ben Roethlisberger's career, was to Zack Gentry
in the first completion of Kenny Pickett's career now was
Zack Gentry. Yes, I had fun with him on that
one too, that was kind of funny. I like this
one better. Yeah, yeah, yeah, this one I might have
a little more staying power ear least remember will power.
(28:58):
At least I don't think remember that both those games
were losses. There's that last Ben game, the first picket game. Recall.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
I said on the pregame shoot show too that the
trio of tight ends would have over nine and a
half catches. Well, the duo of tight ends that had
catches had eight, So I fell short there, but I
got Darnell didn't have any So there was my one
and a half that I needed on my two to
go over the top.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
But I l hangs on me more because I called
him my my Uh I need a sound effect for that.
Oh yes, right, yeah, he was my guy and he
didn't get big ball yeah yeah. And he was not
a very player no, So so you can't beat yourself
up over because if he would have been even a
fraction of what I said he was going to be,
(29:41):
then then you would have you would have hit your number.
So yeah, you're right, it's your fault.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
But Friar Muth had some big catches, had a couple
of nice first downs, and was a nice safety blanket
for Aaron Rodgers and John new Smith. He only had
fifteen yards on his five catches. Yeah, but it's clear
what they want to do with him, right. They get
the ball on his hands quick, a lot of tight
end screens to johnnu Smith, get him in the open field,
let him use his freakish size and athleticism. And that's
(30:07):
what he did on his touchdown. He just tossed a
little shovel pass to him and you have the whole
field to run, just try to find one opening to
just plunge right into the end zone.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
And he did it.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
So I think that the yardage wasn't there, but he
still got six targets and five catches. Expect that screen
game to start getting more honed in John who was
gonna rumble those for like twenty thirty yards?
Speaker 2 (30:29):
Yeah, you can kind of like roll your eyes into
fifteen yards. But I just looked it up here. I
mean the one was the touchdown. Of course, three of
them were third downs that got first downs and so
which Again, so those are all wins. I don't care
how many yards they're one yard, two, yards, three yards
fifty Those are all winning plays that you got first
downs or touchdown. And then the other one was the
one we thought, the acrobatic one that got the Steelers
in the field goal range essentially, so every catch was
(30:51):
consequential in a big even though it was small yardage,
they were all big play.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
Do you have any how many first downs the pat
picked up two on his three catches because I think
it was too off the top of my head because
the point I'm trying to make with this with with
uh Friarmuth and Johnny Smith, and you brought up how
many first down Smith got? Like, Yeah, the yardage wasn't
there for them, but they were weighty catches. They were
significant catches. Did you find Friarmuth how many he had? Yeah,
(31:17):
two of his three guys were two of three or
first downs.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
I'm a genius. I knew that off the top of
my head.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
Great for me, But so that means that, yes, they
only combined for roughly, you know, a little under forty
five yards together, but it was an impactful day from
both of your two top pass catching tight ends. And
it's an early sign that when Aaron Rodgers needs to
get a first down. He trusts those two guys to
be his go tos.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Yeah, certainly you saw that. And yeah, in critical situations,
he kind of spread the ball in critical situations. Come
to think of it too, I think he feels with
all the guys who did play and friar myth was
that you know, he didn't make you have a touchdown.
You know we saw you know John Wyho had that
at least in terms of the stat sheet or what
you remember. But yeah, Friarmuth made some clutch and that's
what he you know, you wonder now, especially with John
(32:02):
new on the team, you know, if frid News might
never be in a thousand yard or you know, seventy
catch guy or whatever it is in terms of being
one of the elite tight and statistically, but he's going
to be. I mean, you know, I bet you look
at his snaps. He played half the snaps. I bet
you he was not there a lot more in the
in the third and six, you know, and that's when
if again, if he's making the plays on third, if
he gets a seven yard catch and third and six,
(32:23):
or he makes three catches a game and they're you're
six or seven, eight, ten yards, But they're all on third,
third and medium or whatever it is, or even a
third and long at one point or it gets you whatever,
then then that that's what you need, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
So the other thing that I thought that was great
in the passing game, and we talked about DK and
him having eighty three yards in the yact was impressive,
but he had the seven targets. He was the most
targeted receiver. You saw that Rogers wasn't weary of Sauce
Gardner and that potential. You know, I'm gonna stay away
from him. I think that that wasn't you know, I'm gonna,
(32:58):
you know, throw at Suce, the old teammate, see how
he can handle it. I don't think that was the motivation.
I think the motivation was my guy's DK. You guys
saw that all through training camp, preseason, he honed in
on DK and all the drills, he always was trying
to go to DK, DK, DKDK, And I think he
was saying, you know what, I know, this is a
crazy tough matchup, maybe one of the tougher ones he's
gonna face one on one this year.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
But my plan is to use DK. I'm gonna use him.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
I'm not gonna let them dictate what I want to
do until they really dictate that. I have to respect him,
and they never did in that game. When he dropped
the pass early on the very next play was a
throat to DK at CAF like he knows he needs
to get him going. He was even talking in his
postgame about how you know, they roomed together and they
shared a shower together, and he had this like thing
(33:45):
where he went up to him and said, Hey, on
Mondays or Tuesdays, I want you to like give me
like a nice little synopsis of stuff like which about
the week ahead and things like that, what you want
to do, stuff like that? And then Roger's like and
then I kind of forgot. I told him that like
all good delegators do, like hen'y go do this for me,
and then like, oh you did that great Wow. And
then he said like on two he was like, on
Tuesday this week, I get a text for DK and
(34:06):
it's like a novel in my phone and I'm like, oh, yeah,
I told him to do that. But it's like, man,
I think DK recognizes and he played with Russ for
a little bit, but this is a rare quarterback that
he gets to have a nice little brush of fate
with with in his career. And you just got a
new contract, You just found yourself in a new city
(34:26):
on a new team. You want to come out and
have a nice thousand yard season, like you want to
back that up and walk the walk and endear yourself
to the new fan base.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
Yeah, he was with what they gave again a second
round pick, and what they're paying him. The Steelers saw
him as that that difference maker. That's the other thing.
Organization gave up a ton for you. You got to deliver. Yes,
they brought him in to be that guy, however you
want to say it, that alpha, that number one receiver,
And yes they had obviously Antonio Brown was here for
a decade or whatever, and he was that for a
period of time there. But even just like his body,
(34:55):
like that number four makes him look even bigger. I
feel like the single digit number on a man. That's
when he's a wide receiver. It's just it just looked
like I mean, I know, I mean they called it
literally called Colevin Johnson to make a trump, but he
looks like that too. You know what, That's what you've
kind of forget her. I forgot even if the steers
like wired. I remember DK. Do you remember when viral
Uh that been twenty sixteen or so when he's an
(35:16):
Old Miss and he had the foot of himself is
like a bodybuilder. It was like he was a wide receiver,
but like that's a wide receiver. Yes.
Speaker 1 (35:22):
There is also the great moment at Old Miss when
he pretended that he was a dog taking a pee
against Mississippi Mississippi State and the Egg Bowl. I love
that was fantastic. I love college football too, Chris, It's great. Uh.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
Yeah. DK Metcalf is one of a kind. He really is.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
Like he might not be one of the greatest receivers ever,
but you have not seen a more unique kind of
build for a wide receiver.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
Yeah. He has both the and there was you could
have Pickens has a skill set. Again, it was unique
and potentially if he ever gets everything right in his
head and whatever, he could be. But DK has that
unicorn type talent and body type and he is now
he has the product. He's the resume up. Okay, we
know he can do it.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
So fast to Chris, so fast when he was up
the sideline so and you know what I remembered yesterday
when I watched that one run where he was taking
it up the sideline. Oh yeah, that you remember that
Buddha Baker play when Buddha Baker for the Cardinals scoop
the fumble was running back.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
And DK looked insane.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
He looked like there was there was like literally like
jets flying behind him, like he he had insane speed
hauling him down. And I was reminded of that seeing
some of the plays he had after the catch yesterday.
It's everything. It's the size, it's the speed. He's got
good hands. I know he had some drops yesterday, but
that's whatever. But here's the difference, Chris. In years past,
receivers have had drops and then not made up for it.
(36:42):
He immediately made up for his drops big time.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
You take if that happened, dropped the un drop a game,
especially it happened in the first quarter and then right
in the first drive. If you throw me afterwards, if
that drop came, you know, on fourth and three in
the final, you know he does on one drop, We'll
get one up a game. If it's early on and
you make big plays afterward, you know you can live
with that. And you're right, I don't again the form
not to keep we talk about him too much. I
(37:07):
feel like, but the former number one wide receiver last year,
number one, he might just be sulking the rest of
the game and on the sidelines throwing things or whatever
and taking a penalty or whatever it might be. And
and obviously, like you said, the very next play, it
was a tone for almost immediately. So yeah, and that's
the thing, like in whatever, some of them aren't necessarily
in the heat of their prime. Although DK is I
(37:28):
think guys like I mean Jalen Ramsey, DK Metcalf and
Aaron Rodgers are three again like what freaks or what
are the athletic or the scouting community like the like
the dudes or whatever, like they are guys there. Each
of those three can do things that no other, no
other quarterback has in the arm and we talked about
no other receivers that size and that speed, the DK
(37:49):
has no other like the Mike Tomlin used the word
avatar to describe the tall corners. I think, like Jyalen
rams like an avatar his body in general, like the
things he can do with the size he is and
the fluid he has and everything. So these are these
are playmakers that I think the Steelers especially haven't had.
But we're talking about d Ky. I know, but certainly
and even his boy, I mean, hey, Ab was productive
(38:11):
when he was again, his head space was right in
terms of he was the best receiver in football there
for a few years. But DK certainly is even as
a dynamicism that even Ab didn't have in his prime.
Speaker 1 (38:22):
You brought up Jalen Ramsey. I thank you for doing that.
We're going to talk about the other newcomer. It was
really the trio of newcomers that really had a great
debut as Steelers in that game with Ramsey on defense,
DK and Rogers.
Speaker 2 (38:36):
I mean, a lot of newcomers are gonna play. I
like the trioth you had a nice lie. Is it
now a quartet? I don't know, a quad? I don't know.
Speaker 1 (38:48):
We'll talk Jalen Ramsey and we got money makers. We're
going to hand out some game checks when we come back.
Chris Adamski, Tom Opferman, It's the Steelers Blitz on the
Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 2 (39:09):
It was a rough day for the defense. It's fair
to say that we'll start the second hour.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
Really diving into what went wrong with the defense and
some of the negatives on the offensive side of the ball,
aka running the football. But the one bright spot on
the defense was the play of Jalen Ramsey. And you
had said on our episodes last week, how hyped you were,
Chris for Jalen Ramsey because you've never seen a player
like that at a training camp setting in all your
(39:35):
years covering the Steelers. It was like, Wow, this guy
is just different and I'm glad the masses got to
see that play out on Sunday against the Jets. Now,
he was kind of quiet throughout different moments of the game,
but that's kind of what you.
Speaker 2 (39:50):
Want out of a stud corner sometimes, right like.
Speaker 1 (39:52):
You see on the field, like you kind of want
him to disappear because that usually means he's disappearing someone else, Right,
So I think that that was a big thing.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
We'll just skip to the end because that was the
big part.
Speaker 1 (40:04):
Obviously, the big hit is what everybody is focusing on,
and rightfully so, because that was a game ceiling play
and a hell of a one like That's you walk
off with a big hit like that, that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
But how about the play just before it? Chris, in
the past
Well, that went just about as we all expected it
to go, exactly as we drew it up.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
That typical rock fight Steelers.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Drag their opponent into the mud and just suffocate them
to death.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
It played out pretty much standard. To me, that was insane.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Bro Tom Opferman, Chris Danski here on the Steelers Blitz Chris,
we thought that these Steelers this year were gonna look
like a strong running game, some nice weapons in the
passing game, in an elite defense to help carry the
forty one year old quarterback to a somewhat successful final
(00:42):
season in the NFL. If indeed it is his final season,
maybe that is how it will play out in the
macro when it's all done. But after one week it
was the complete inverse. Everybody else was kind of below average,
and it was the forty one year old four time
MVP that put the team on his back and said,
I am ain't lose into the Jets.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
We have time to go back to the podcast at
the iHeart app and like Slice in us saying when
we were talking about playing the under play the over,
it would be like this weird cut and be a
different voice and like yes, I am Chris and I'm
saying this on Friday afternoon to say play the over,
because there will be lots of points in this game, like.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
When you have a bad lip ub and a TV
copy for a movie when they swear no Chris. Unfortunately,
as you enter into this podcast in radio for a
you have to wear your mistakes. Yes, here's the thing,
though no one knew that was coming. Like you would
sound stupid if before the game you were like, they're
gonna win thirty four to thirty two, and Fields and
Rogers are both gonna play like elite quarterbacks in this game.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Won't see many punts until the second happens.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Yeah, barely gonna punt. It's gonna be a shootout before
the Ravens and Bills. It'll be the highest scoring game
that you've seen of the week. Like, no one would
have been able to say that and have any foot
to stand on. You'd have to be like, call me crazy,
but I have this weird feeling.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
So I mean the number moved down right, The betting
number is the lowest over under four lower tire slate,
and it kept going. I went down to have a
point or two from where it was to start too,
so it wasn't like the everybody agreed that it was
gonna be really low scoring.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Well before we get into Aaron Rodgers. And that's where
we're going to start this show off with, because where
else do you go? Got some donuts in the studio, Chris,
it's a victory Monday. It's a victory donut Monday. We
all missed Craig woefully dearly, and it really is still
so weird to not have him around when the season's
getting underway. He would have loved that Jalen Ramsey hit
(02:28):
last night or yesterday after that.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
But he used to have this thing on in the
locker room where they would have donuts on Victory Monday.
So I think it's only a fitting tribute. We go
if we take a nice little bite into some donuts,
A little cheers here, a couple of vanilla sprinkles.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Oh yeah, that's good one. That's good radio. Talking with
your mouthful into the microphone. We love you well, we're
thinking of you.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
What a win for him, what a win for Steelers
Nation yesterday? And Chris, for real, I didn't think we'd
that out of Aaron Rodgers. Maybe all year long. I
thought we'd see some moments where he would be able
to turn back the clock, maybe have a two touchdown
three touchdown performance, flirt with three hundred yards passing, and
we'd be like, wow, you know what, there were shades
(03:14):
of vintage Rogers there. I didn't think we'd see a
full sixty minutes. This is like at the height of
my power, is what I used to look like in
Green Bay. Enjoy a nice treat, Pittsburgh. But that's what
you got, dude. It wasn't just the statistical output, the
four touchdowns over two hundred and forty yards, seventy three
percent completion percentage, dude. The poise was something that we
(03:35):
have not seen out of that position since old number
seven was under center.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
I mean, seventeen points in the fourth quarter, coming from
a coming from down nine at the enter the fourth quarter,
and like a lot of the players said, you just
kind of you had a good idea and it was
barely to be fair of the final drive. They just
got enough to get the balls. Although hell, the way
that that kick that could have been good from seventy
maybe so maybe it wasn't bare.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Seventy five maybe no, but still it was insane. I
heard it didn't even look. Mike Floria said on Football
Night in America, bos Will just like put his head
down like once he said, once he saw it was straight,
you like almost Steph curried it like turned to the bench.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
It was like serial killer. I like that serial killer
is what Mike Paul once said about him. And they
can come up with a quote from time to time,
can ted a phrase happens everyone, but I've liked it.
They both talked about how Boswell just walks out there now,
and I know that is at that scenario, of course
in the game of the line, but even that the
fifty six yard early in the game, ball Ball walked
out that there was no like waiting to see do
you need me or not? Nope, I'm kicking it. Don't worry,
(04:31):
I got it. Don't worry any And that first fifty
the fifty six yard gets scored of just like swippt
under the rug like fifty six big deal.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
That game could have gotten off the rails so badly
for the Steelers at so many different points. I mean,
first of all, I know they held him to a
field goal, so it was a win technically on the
opening drive, but they just ripped right through you in
the right like immediately. There was not a moment in
the game where the run defense was good, Like from
start to finish, it was struggling. Even towards the very end.
(04:59):
They were just fortunate to the Jets had to pass
because there was no time left and they couldn't matriculate
into field goal range via breesal in justin fields. So like,
you got a bad taste in your mouth right away,
even though you held him to a field goal, you
were kind of like, uh, oh, if your offense comes
out and does that usual three and out thing that
they've done for so long, so long, all of a sudden,
(05:22):
you could start slipping down that slope and you could
be like, oh boy, and then we'd see the Jets
maybe come right back down and it's ten to nothing
all of a sudden, and the first place starts with
a sack and you're thinking, great, they're behind the sticks.
This is literally the death This is what happens.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
This is the death sentence.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
They get in a second and fourteen and they can't
get back to the sticks, they can't convert a first down.
We're gonna punt, And then he just calmly and coolly
whips him right down the field. Not only did he
get sack, he had to deal with a bad DK
drop really early on. But what does he do the
next play, He goes right back to DK and he
gets a big hitter. I mean, the dude just allowed
(05:58):
the team to kind of stay in a good headspace,
kind of save the game from getting out of hand
early on. And then the other point where he really
saved things, Chris was when the Jets went up twenty
six to seventeen, took that nine point lead, and it
was towards the end of the third quarter started the
fourth quarter. If the Steelers didn't respond with a touchdown there,
(06:21):
that was probably gonna be it, or I was going
to get real nervous that they weren't going to be
able to come back. And that was a big time
drive right down the field into the end zone, finding
Jayleen Warren and making it a ballgame again, giving the
Steelers momentum. And then we had the obvious kickoff turnover
and the quick strike too right there.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
The way, that's if you go by confidence level, if
you do not necessarily the wins odds that those graphs
that always they show up. Now if you didn't my
personal right after that, the first drive by the Jets
and maybe the first two. When his third long right away,
I'm like the confidence levels laid down. I'm like to
see there's like almost like ready for that. This is fine, Jiff.
You know if they've went three and out right away
after watching the Jets, and to be fair, they they didn't.
(07:02):
They didn't give them a touchdown there, but you still
didn't fit. And then in that third quarter two it
was also both the offense and the defense were struggling
and you got to all of a sudden, a nine
point game going. It was a nine point game wing
the fourth technically, and if there's one more, if the
one more drive the Jets get a stop, at that point,
you're just kind of you're running out of what is
the runway gets short? Is that there's another tone, You're
run out of time there, and you're just like, this
(07:23):
isn't gonna happen. And so it was pretty much, I
mean that drive was almost effectively or do or die
type of drive because you don't know you're gonna get
the turnover, of course, and get two quick touchdowns, but
you know, you figure even if you do get a
stop there, you're gonna get the ball back and you're
kind of running running short there, so yeah, to get
those and but after that turn there then yeah, after that,
then you all of a sudden felt like, I don't
(07:45):
say the offense can't be stopped. The resolve is a
confidence you could almost palpable, you know, watching it, seeing
it being there, that that the offense all of a
sudden had an ability where it was it was, you
know there always the running game wasn't what they wanted,
you know, was an ideal.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
And we'll get to the negatives, but it was that
running game offensively and defensively that is really the bold
face negative.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Yeah, yeah, and that, Yeah, we'll get to the negative.
But there was we wanna talk about Rodgers. Man, I'm giddy.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
I really am trying to be professional over here, but
I mean, dude, that was some of the Here's the thing,
I growing up loved Rogers when he was in his
prime on the Packers. I told you this, like I
have crushers on quarterbacks, he was one of them, man Like.
The way that he played was masterful to watch, and
(08:35):
you got that in a Steelers uniform yesterday. I'm not
saying that continues all year long. I'm not saying week
to week you're gonna get Packers, Rogers. I think there
is gonna be some struggles. There's gonna be some games
where the defenses are better. Just defense ain't bad, but
there's gonna be better defenses. But for at least one game,
you got to see that again, that vintage performance, and
(08:56):
it was really remarkable to see it up close in
your team's uniform for a full sixty minutes. And my god,
it had to feel good for him, right. Oh, you
saw him after the game, I'm sure talking a little
junk to the fans with Tomlin Ann Hayward on his hips.
And we heard in the postgame press conference him saying
things like, yeah, like beating the Jets Like it was
(09:18):
like he.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Couldn't help himself. It had to be said. All the
New York reporters were trying to bait him into saying
it wanted to say, and he started app play it's
week one. He started that, and he was like, ah,
you got me, okay, Yeah, I really like beating anybody
on the Jets. Did you see the New York Posts
back cover two? It was like, so now you play
well with a picture of him.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
The funny thing is, though Chris he threw four touchdown
passes in his last game as a Jet in Week eighteen,
I was surprised to see that he's not he has
a four touchdown pass streak going right now. He's back
to back games. He did come on strong last year
for the Jets too, Like that is something that we
have talked about all preseason, all training camp when we
were trying to get a read on what Rogers is
going to bring.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
To the table.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Like, look at the second half of the Jets season,
like he was a good quarterback and his numbers weren't
bad for the season overall team was just you know,
dug itself a hole and then it was it was
done for I think a lot of guys probably checked
out there and you fired your head coach, which was
a knee jerk reaction. But he played well and again
a four touchdown performance in the last game of the season.
(10:18):
It got him to five hundred as a career mark.
Now he's like only one behind Brett Farv. It was funny,
like Rob King on the broadcast when we were at
break was like, you know, I was I put this
in my notes for like a game in the future
for him to potentially tie and pass Brett Farv but like.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Giddy up, this is happening right now.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
So there were at least a little bit of signs
in his jets tenure that yeah, he could still sling
it like this, but you didn't know until you saw it.
And boy did we ever see it. And he didn't
waste any time showing it to us.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
We would not to take a shot at your boy
or from your alma mater or not your alma mater. Sorry,
you think about this. Aaron Rodgers has more touchdown passes
in this past two times and can he pick it?
Never had a full seat and his career high seven
right and you have seven and six's two years with
the Steeler. You know, no what, yeah, go there, But
people don't like it, and people know I went to
Bed's dad. I'm getting bad at me, like I take
(11:10):
shots of Pick and I'm just like his stat's his
thats speak for the stats stats.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
I'm gonna choose to use the angle on that as
painting it into Roger's positive like as it goes to
the picket slight, so you're safe.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
But I mean, this is one of the and it's
not hyperbole, greatest arms in NFL history, right, I mean
it's in terms of its release, in terms of it,
you know, just the things he's done if you watch, yes,
kind of watch kind of the the the release, I
guess is the best way to put it.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
It's really unique to one of the more unique ones. Yeah,
it's like a flick of the wrist almost, Yeah, And
I think that's kind of what this is.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Maybe maybe you just think I'm crazy, But the way
Veskin shoots a puck like it's almost like, oh my, Like,
look at the way that puck flies off it. It's
almost like you see that when Rogers throws it kind
of just for some reason, it's different. It's just different
coming off there. And I guess maybe Marino had that earlier,
you know, going back a couple of days there, I'm
positive pick no, but you know what I mean, I
brought ca there we go. So but it's still there. Now. Hey,
(12:05):
it's human anatomy or human whatever physiology that everybody ages differently, right,
I mean there's everybody We've been told and it's true that.
I mean, other than Tom Brady, there's like no NFL
quarterbacks that have had good seasons after the age of
forty one in NFL history, So it's like, is he
gonna be the outlier? Well, Brady was the outlier as
it was. You know, I don't think you saw a
(12:25):
precipitous drop from that. You're right, I don't know if
we're gonna get MVP aro On Rodgers for eighteen weeks
seventeen games from that, So you know whether that would
beats was in fifteen or whatever, pick a year over,
decade ago or whatever it might be when he won
an MVP Award, But you saw it there and obviously
the mental parts there. And as much as I think
(12:46):
people talk in the spring about Aaron Rodgers and the
fit and there was like angst about oh he didn't
you know when you're gonna show up, but everybody embraced him.
He embraced his teammates. I think there's definitely a you know,
the chemistry is there and the camaraderie and whatever that is,
whatever that's worth, and it's or something I think in
the fourth quarter of a game, it's a position game.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
They followed him in that game. I mean they had
a one hundred percent buy in. They believed in their quarterback.
I saw you in the background of this clip, so
I'm sure you heard this, but Cam Hayward was almost like,
you know, he couldn't help a crack a smile when
someone asked him about what do you think about you know,
your quarterbacks play, and he was like, oh, we got
someone that can can sling that thing around man like.
(13:22):
And he didn't say this out loud, but his facial
expression said everything.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
I haven't had that in a long time. Yeah, yeah,
I mean, that's what I mean. He was, what is
it now? He was the sixth starting quarterback of our
twenty four game span for the Steelers, the fifth opening
day starter in a row, and an opening day starter
was different. So there's been as we have, we've discussed
many times and when we need to go through it
again kind of what it is. And obviously this is
(13:47):
not a long term so lead He's not gonna be
a quarterback for a decade here. He's not gonna be
an eighteen year quarterback. We all know that. But for
this period of time and with the veteran roster that
the Steelers have, and we'll get to some of these
other positives too, and some of the other veterans who
made plays, the new acquisitions. It's a fit that that
can work. And they hey, you know you talk about
I mean, look, I mean they got it somehow slave
(14:09):
Baltimore if they're gonna get where they're gonna go, and
Baltimore's defense sort of didn't bathe itself in Glibery last night.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
I can't wait to talk about that game in the
second hour when we go around the NFL.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
What a day to be a Steeler fan. Yesterday?
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Huh, Chris, you had the Ravens blow a fifteen point
fourth quarter lead. You had a quarterback throw for four
touchdown passes. I didn't do this research.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
I'll do it. We have a long week ahead of us.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
I that had I know for a fact it hasn't
happened since Ben. No one's thrown for four touchdown passes
since Ben Roethlisberger's been on the team. Rust's high watermark
was three, correct against the Bank.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
It was that Chargers the Wild Chargers game. Ben had four.
It was one.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
So look, get this, almost four years Look at my coat.
He already has the old information kicking around as noodle.
But yeah, like you saw four touchdown passes for the
first time since your Hall of Famer was there. And
you want to shootout, which you only did one time
in like the past at eight years, that Bengals game
last year.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
And this defense is.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
A little better than that Bengals defense, by the way,
so I put a little bit more weight into winning
this kind of a shootout. The Browns held the Bengals
to seven yards in the second half yesterday and lost
the game. That's the first team to do that in
twenty five years. They also missed an extra point to
tie and missed the field goal to win.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Browns by Browns. We gotta get that juju clip from
a few years back. I mean, you couldn't have scripted
it any better. If you're a Steelers fan. It just sucks.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
The Bengals, I guess, had to win, but Chris even
they looked bad in winning, like it was an embarrassing
win for them. Steelers are the team that covered themselves
in the most glory out of the AFC North this
week by far.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Yeah, and like yeah, and it's not that it's I
get it, Like Baltimore losing at Buffalo isn't the end
of the world for them at all, of course, but
to blow the league like that, and we kind of
be I don't say exposed, but that if anything else,
there was a point in that game, the third quarter
it was like, oh boy, these Ravens look like a
juggernaut as you were talking about, and I thought it
would be a bad sign for the Steelers longer term
(16:08):
for this season, but then seeing what happened late in
that game, it almost sort of like heartens you for
the Steelers chances this year because you know they they're
the defending Ravens are defending division champs. You talked to,
but even number one in your trying to make the
sound effect with power rankings or no, it can no, no,
we won't go back to the number one there. So
you're right, it's uh, now you go back there not
(16:31):
number one anymore. By the way, SPO, I'm glad you've
adjusted you're willing to to. I guess the Chiefs aren't
number two for me anymore either. They shouldn't be. Yeah,
there you go. But it's that the Steelers have had
these and now the Jets aren't the quality of opponent
of that. What the twenty twenty two bangles of twenty
twenty one bills, one of the Steelers were getting had
those really impressive road wins in Week one that really
(16:53):
kind of springboarded there. You know, they're really part of
their season there, and we'll see what this does. I
don't know if the Jets are that team, but the Jets,
you know, justin fields. Now, maybe I'm starting to turn
a little bit on him because I was like, he's
never gonna be and he was better with the Steelers
last year than I thought, and he was certainly better
yesterday than we thought anybody I think anybody thought generally speaking.
But he still lost the game, I guess so. But yeah,
(17:15):
there's a lot of reason here to look at it now. Again,
we'll get to the negatives at some point here, but offensively,
and you would think that the things that weren't ideal
yesterday get better too. That there's reason to believe that.
Got a lot to get to. But before we do,
we have to debut Victory Woo. Who's Chris?
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Every time the Steelers went on Monday's Steelers Blitz, Chris
and I are going to give our best Woo who,
led by color commentator Max Starks, who wants Jalen Ramsey
obliterated Garrett Wilson yesterday delivered this beauty on the broadcast.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Woo. So it's joined in on just a chorus of wo.
Who's for a big win in week one? We would
even give it like a Mario who I like that too?
That one was weird. That's all right. It's week one.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
It's our first victory. Hopefully it's our first on like twelve.
That'd be nice, right, nice twelve victory.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Woo whoo.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Mondays, I guess there'd be some victory Friday, the dam
jumping around. Let's talk DK Metcalf when we come back,
because you haven't seen a receiver like that in a
long time.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Either for the Steelers.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
It's Kris Adamski, it's Tom Offerman, it's the Steelers Blitz
on the Steelers Audio Network. It's Tom Offerman and Kris
Adamski on the Steelers Blitz on the Steelers Audio Network.
(18:49):
We said in the first segment, Chris, that hadn't seen
a quarterback look like that since Ben Roethlisberger was here.
Dare I say, haven't seen a receiver look like Dk
Metcalf since.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
Abs been here. It wasn't like in.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
You know, one hundred and fifty dominant performance, but he
was very impressive, more impressive than what I've seen from
the likes of the Deonte's and the Pickens and the
Claypools and even the Jujus.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Well, you talked about that first drive that the yac right,
just just the ability to make a play that didn't
require I mean you talked about Rogers and having that
arm or whatever, but to get a play. The Steelers
certainly have a an receiver that did that where he
you know, takes not quite a bubble screen but gets
the ball and not many air yards but puts his
foot in the ground as they say, boom and acceleration
(19:35):
and just he's hard to tackle. Yeah, I mean, he's
an elite, elite receiver. And like I said, there's been
so many, you know, big name guys that the Steelers
acquired that that you kind of almost forget about, you know.
I mean, if Steelers had enough Aaron Rodgers and maybe
Jaylen Rams whatever it is, DK Metcalff would have been
their marquee, any team's marquee offseason acquisition terms of name value,
(19:57):
in terms of resume, in terms of just sort of
the freakish nature sure, and the special things he can
do and you saw. You're right. It wasn't just like
you know, twelve catch, one hundred and eighty eight yards,
two touchdown anything like that. But he made enough plays
at times. Of course, the one was just ridiculous that
that off the John Newman bounce and hit three things
and he lented it. But that put in the field
goal right.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Element of luck, of course, but also, man, you gotta
have crazy hand eye coordination. You have to be that
high to have that kind of luck fall into your lap.
You gotta have high skill sets, and he does. Now,
it wasn't you know this like eight catch one hundred
and ninety yard just like total ab performance at the
height of his powers. Since we made that kind of comparison,
(20:36):
But dare I say four catches for eighty three yards
when Sauce Gardner is the primary opposition against you is
a very very good day for a wide receiver.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
One.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
I mean, if you're talking about a top three corner
in this league, someone that is every year going to
be on the short list for first team All Pro,
and you put eighty three yards on him, I mean
that's more than enough, I think.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
And I two of them, well, three the catch that
was deflected three times or whatever it was, and two
other ones I know for sure. I can't think of
the fourth one off the top of my head, but
they were both. Again, you saw the elite skill set
where just sort of the speed and the power of
the acceleration he was able to make something and add
extra yards. That all due respect the other Steelers receivers
and even you know, whatever their previous you know, Pickens
(21:20):
had his own whatever skill set that was that is
special or unique, but it wasn't these type of things
you saw at a DK. That's the kind of stuff
we saw at Saint Vincent and again kind of jumped
off the page. It was like jumped off you know,
you caught it, your cut your eye and you knew
it was like, wow, this is something I did. Aneism
the Steelers haven't had in a while.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
He had that first drop coming across the field too,
and oh boy, I wanted to see him catch it
because Sauce was kind.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Of behind him and would have had an angle.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
But I think we were about to see get off me,
little boy, like right there and then I didn't have
to wait what but a play later and we saw
that and we saw him juke a guy out and
then he ain't going out of bounce, Chris, I mean,
he powered his way up the sideline and he punished
some people in that Jets secondary on that play. You
said this last week during the show. You know, the
(22:06):
wide receiver room still has the hole, or maybe it doesn't.
We'll get to that in a second. That it did
last year, but it is upgraded because the number one
receiver is a legitimate number one, where we did not
have that from George Pickens last year. We had the
idea of him being a number one, but he never
had that play out with production.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Now you have that number one receiver in that room.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
So even though you're still kind of cloudy on your
wide receiver too, at least at the top you have
a legit number one. And that played itself out yesterday too.
And it's satisfying to see, and I guess these kind
of go hand in hand, but it's satisfying to see
the Rogers thing pay off with him being something so
different and so sorely needed, and then DK being something
(22:49):
so different and so sorely needed as well, both in
that passing game.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
And it seems like, I mean, I think these are unequivocal,
not ambiguous, non debatable, that DK's an upgrade over Pickens
and JHN new Smith's and upgrade ave Michael Prue or
what you know as a nereo. So that's a weapon.
And however you want to parse it, and I know
some people kind of almost market well the third tight
end camp, your second tight end camp bere wide receiver too. Well,
I mean, you got eligibles. I do believe in that.
What Mike Tomlin says that you know, he's he's harped
(23:15):
on that. And I think people need to get out
of the mindset of like I talked about the starters.
I mean, there's rotations, now, there's different packages. So you
have your five eligibles in any play. I mean how
many times as we discussed earlier, I mean last week
and we saw it. We'll get to this more, I'm
sure later about Kenneth Gainwell playing running running routes from
you know, the slot and in the passing game, how
much he played that. That's a you have five eligibles
(23:37):
for every play, right. The point being that is if
you have five quality eligibles and they're able to do things,
I mean John new Smith can do things wide receivers
can do. You're okay, there's just ways you can piece
this together and be good. But I said, you've and
you've certainly upgrade. I think Colvin Austin. Colvin Austin was
I meant to go back and kind of think about it.
I know he got long catch against Vegas a couple
of years ago, but in terms of a full complete game,
(23:59):
in terms of the brit the depth of what you're saying,
it just felt like maybe his career game. I do too.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
I agree, and I said on the dB pregame show
with Matt Williamson one of my key matchups to highlight
was whoever was opposite of Brandon Stevens, whether that was
gonna be Roman Wilson, Calvin Austin, whoever. Like if Sauce
is going to have DK, and he did for the
majority of the game, you have to have somebody take
advantage of Stevens, who I don't think is very good,
(24:26):
and the Steelers attack Stevens a ton in that game.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
I mean, I think Rogers was in lockstep with me.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
There better way to put that might be I was
in lockstep with Aaron Rodgers there that he was somebody
I kept texting him text He probably saw him, you
know what I mean, he just didn't get a chance
to say I got it. But I think he knew
that that was the weak point too, and he could
attack there and Calvin Austin took big time advantage of that.
You're right, it was his career game. It wasn't just
(24:53):
like that Raiders game. Oh he found his way behind
the defender up the scene and he's wide open. Now,
he did have that for his touchdown, but he also
had an impressive combat catch on a back shoulder throw
that set the Steelers up at the goal line, and
he drew a pass interference Chris and really should have
drawn to pass interference.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
That game should not have.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Been as dramatic of an ending as it was, because
that was that interference was more egregious on that third
down than the one that they actually flagged the Jets for.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
I mean, they hauled him, he was beat, he was beat,
and he just hauled him down to the ground. You
could see the arm extended. And that was one.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Of those plays where I think Jets defender was like,
I did that on purpose. Yeah, I can't believe that
they did not call that, but it was again, it
was a ball that Rogers back shoulder, that's where it
was tracking, and Calvin had the position on it. If
that defender didn't PI him, he was going to probably
catch it anyway.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
Maybe Rogers found his little back shoulder will be like
he had with you know, Adams for so many years.
Austin's not gonna be Adams. But you know what I
mean as far as that particular play is concerned.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Yeah, And like I said, it wasn't. The way I
see Austin is you think you can hit a you know,
you take a shot with them or two a game.
You give him, You give him the ball a couple
of times whatever it can be a end around or shovel,
but whatever it is, and see if he can make
a play because he's so fast. But I just saw
a complete receiver in terms of the routes and the
things he did and and and the way he was
targeted and so yeah, what do you get? He got
(26:12):
six targets and that would have been that's essentially seven
targets with that PI. Yeah, So that that shows how
much Rogers saw him and was going to him. And
he's clearly obviously I mean, I don't think anybody. I
don't know if it was a debate or not. What
he was going to be that the second most used
wide receiver, and he certainly by far was that in
terms the wide receiver corpse. So I think that was
encouraging too that you know, we know, I just like
(26:35):
I talked about earlier, it's only one game. I get it,
so I don't even want to take too long. So
I guess you could. It's one game. But I think Austin.
Austin's a better Austin. He the ERA was pointing out,
he's still young enough in his career. Is only his
third season on the field, and he had you know,
it's his fourth season in real time, but he was
injured his whole rookie year.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Yeah, I agree, it's definitely trending in the right direction
with him. But I do sense that there is a
little bit of an acceleration on the gas pedal to
wide receiver two. It's done, don't have to worry about
it anymore. Let's ease off the pedal on that a
little bit. I think that that was a step in
the right direction. I think that you got wide receiver
two production from another wide receiver in this game, but
(27:12):
you got to see it consistently on display, and chrisy
still can't be a number one. And that's always been
my biggest fear, as you know, is if DK goes down,
Austin's just not going to be the guy that can
be enough of a force to influence how a defense
schemes its coverage up. It's gonna be an easy day
for an opposing secondary if their current wide receiver room
Trot's out there without DK metcalf And so that's still
(27:34):
a problem. Even though Austin had a great like with DK,
maybe he is a number two, but number twos need
to elevate every once in a while, and I'm just
not sure about that.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Yeah, it's still definitely a concern if he has to
be the primary wide receiver, but within the Steelers wide
receiver corps in terms of the snapcount, in terms of
the targets and everything else. I mean, I think other
than DK and Austin at the Scronica had the one
obviously a big catch, a very big catch of scoring catch.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
It was so funny to hear Rogers after be Like,
as I was throwing that, I started laughing to myself
that Scronic was going to catch the first touchdown of
the season.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
It's funny because we saw him job in the field,
like there he is, because you know, it's pretty in
the same ding Rogers and and I don't know, I
don't know if we don't have the personal relationship with
the Rogers out like he does, I don't want to
pay it that way, but yeah, he was so I was.
I was isolated. I'm like, oh my god, he is open.
He cut across the field and like, there he was.
That's what Rogers apparently said too. He hit the play action,
it was like, oh my god, Ben's wide open. He's like,
(28:27):
now I'm gonna deal with him. He's going to be
in a big hit about this. Is that.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
It's just funny to me that the quarterback's headspace was
like this is hilarious, Like my first touchdown as the
Steeler is going to go to Ben, Like he would
have ever thought of that.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
That that was like the old album what was it?
The final catch if you count the playoffs or the
final completion of Ben Roethlisberger's career, was to Zack Gentry
in the first completion of Kenny Pickett's career now was
Zack Gentry. Yes, I had fun with him on that
one too, that was kind of funny. I like this
one better. Yeah, yeah, yeah, this one I might have
a little more staying power ear least remember will power.
(28:58):
At least I don't think remember that both those games
were losses. There's that last Ben game, the first picket game. Recall.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
I said on the pregame shoot show too that the
trio of tight ends would have over nine and a
half catches. Well, the duo of tight ends that had
catches had eight, So I fell short there, but I
got Darnell didn't have any So there was my one
and a half that I needed on my two to
go over the top.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
But I l hangs on me more because I called
him my my Uh I need a sound effect for that.
Oh yes, right, yeah, he was my guy and he
didn't get big ball yeah yeah. And he was not
a very player no, So so you can't beat yourself
up over because if he would have been even a
fraction of what I said he was going to be,
(29:41):
then then you would have you would have hit your number.
So yeah, you're right, it's your fault.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
But Friar Muth had some big catches, had a couple
of nice first downs, and was a nice safety blanket
for Aaron Rodgers and John new Smith. He only had
fifteen yards on his five catches. Yeah, but it's clear
what they want to do with him, right. They get
the ball on his hands quick, a lot of tight
end screens to johnnu Smith, get him in the open field,
let him use his freakish size and athleticism. And that's
(30:07):
what he did on his touchdown. He just tossed a
little shovel pass to him and you have the whole
field to run, just try to find one opening to
just plunge right into the end zone.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
And he did it.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
So I think that the yardage wasn't there, but he
still got six targets and five catches. Expect that screen
game to start getting more honed in John who was
gonna rumble those for like twenty thirty yards?
Speaker 2 (30:29):
Yeah, you can kind of like roll your eyes into
fifteen yards. But I just looked it up here. I
mean the one was the touchdown. Of course, three of
them were third downs that got first downs and so
which Again, so those are all wins. I don't care
how many yards they're one yard, two, yards, three yards
fifty Those are all winning plays that you got first
downs or touchdown. And then the other one was the
one we thought, the acrobatic one that got the Steelers
in the field goal range essentially, so every catch was
(30:51):
consequential in a big even though it was small yardage,
they were all big play.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
Do you have any how many first downs the pat
picked up two on his three catches because I think
it was too off the top of my head because
the point I'm trying to make with this with with
uh Friarmuth and Johnny Smith, and you brought up how
many first down Smith got? Like, Yeah, the yardage wasn't
there for them, but they were weighty catches. They were
significant catches. Did you find Friarmuth how many he had? Yeah,
(31:17):
two of his three guys were two of three or
first downs.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
I'm a genius. I knew that off the top of
my head.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
Great for me, But so that means that, yes, they
only combined for roughly, you know, a little under forty
five yards together, but it was an impactful day from
both of your two top pass catching tight ends. And
it's an early sign that when Aaron Rodgers needs to
get a first down. He trusts those two guys to
be his go tos.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Yeah, certainly you saw that. And yeah, in critical situations,
he kind of spread the ball in critical situations. Come
to think of it too, I think he feels with
all the guys who did play and friar myth was
that you know, he didn't make you have a touchdown.
You know we saw you know John Wyho had that
at least in terms of the stat sheet or what
you remember. But yeah, Friarmuth made some clutch and that's
what he you know, you wonder now, especially with John
(32:02):
new on the team, you know, if frid News might
never be in a thousand yard or you know, seventy
catch guy or whatever it is in terms of being
one of the elite tight and statistically, but he's going
to be. I mean, you know, I bet you look
at his snaps. He played half the snaps. I bet
you he was not there a lot more in the
in the third and six, you know, and that's when
if again, if he's making the plays on third, if
he gets a seven yard catch and third and six,
(32:23):
or he makes three catches a game and they're you're
six or seven, eight, ten yards, But they're all on third,
third and medium or whatever it is, or even a
third and long at one point or it gets you whatever,
then then that that's what you need, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
So the other thing that I thought that was great
in the passing game, and we talked about DK and
him having eighty three yards in the yact was impressive,
but he had the seven targets. He was the most
targeted receiver. You saw that Rogers wasn't weary of Sauce
Gardner and that potential. You know, I'm gonna stay away
from him. I think that that wasn't you know, I'm gonna,
(32:58):
you know, throw at Suce, the old teammate, see how
he can handle it. I don't think that was the motivation.
I think the motivation was my guy's DK. You guys
saw that all through training camp, preseason, he honed in
on DK and all the drills, he always was trying
to go to DK, DK, DKDK, And I think he
was saying, you know what, I know, this is a
crazy tough matchup, maybe one of the tougher ones he's
gonna face one on one this year.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
But my plan is to use DK. I'm gonna use him.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
I'm not gonna let them dictate what I want to
do until they really dictate that. I have to respect him,
and they never did in that game. When he dropped
the pass early on the very next play was a
throat to DK at CAF like he knows he needs
to get him going. He was even talking in his
postgame about how you know, they roomed together and they
shared a shower together, and he had this like thing
(33:45):
where he went up to him and said, Hey, on
Mondays or Tuesdays, I want you to like give me
like a nice little synopsis of stuff like which about
the week ahead and things like that, what you want
to do, stuff like that? And then Roger's like and
then I kind of forgot. I told him that like
all good delegators do, like hen'y go do this for me,
and then like, oh you did that great Wow. And
then he said like on two he was like, on
Tuesday this week, I get a text for DK and
(34:06):
it's like a novel in my phone and I'm like, oh, yeah,
I told him to do that. But it's like, man,
I think DK recognizes and he played with Russ for
a little bit, but this is a rare quarterback that
he gets to have a nice little brush of fate
with with in his career. And you just got a
new contract, You just found yourself in a new city
(34:26):
on a new team. You want to come out and
have a nice thousand yard season, like you want to
back that up and walk the walk and endear yourself
to the new fan base.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
Yeah, he was with what they gave again a second
round pick, and what they're paying him. The Steelers saw
him as that that difference maker. That's the other thing.
Organization gave up a ton for you. You got to deliver. Yes,
they brought him in to be that guy, however you
want to say it, that alpha, that number one receiver,
And yes they had obviously Antonio Brown was here for
a decade or whatever, and he was that for a
period of time there. But even just like his body,
(34:55):
like that number four makes him look even bigger. I
feel like the single digit number on a man. That's
when he's a wide receiver. It's just it just looked
like I mean, I know, I mean they called it
literally called Colevin Johnson to make a trump, but he
looks like that too. You know what, That's what you've
kind of forget her. I forgot even if the steers
like wired. I remember DK. Do you remember when viral
Uh that been twenty sixteen or so when he's an
(35:16):
Old Miss and he had the foot of himself is
like a bodybuilder. It was like he was a wide receiver,
but like that's a wide receiver. Yes.
Speaker 1 (35:22):
There is also the great moment at Old Miss when
he pretended that he was a dog taking a pee
against Mississippi Mississippi State and the Egg Bowl. I love
that was fantastic. I love college football too, Chris, It's great. Uh.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
Yeah. DK Metcalf is one of a kind. He really is.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
Like he might not be one of the greatest receivers ever,
but you have not seen a more unique kind of
build for a wide receiver.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
Yeah. He has both the and there was you could
have Pickens has a skill set. Again, it was unique
and potentially if he ever gets everything right in his
head and whatever, he could be. But DK has that
unicorn type talent and body type and he is now
he has the product. He's the resume up. Okay, we
know he can do it.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
So fast to Chris, so fast when he was up
the sideline so and you know what I remembered yesterday
when I watched that one run where he was taking
it up the sideline. Oh yeah, that you remember that
Buddha Baker play when Buddha Baker for the Cardinals scoop
the fumble was running back.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
And DK looked insane.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
He looked like there was there was like literally like
jets flying behind him, like he he had insane speed
hauling him down. And I was reminded of that seeing
some of the plays he had after the catch yesterday.
It's everything. It's the size, it's the speed. He's got
good hands. I know he had some drops yesterday, but
that's whatever. But here's the difference, Chris. In years past,
receivers have had drops and then not made up for it.
(36:42):
He immediately made up for his drops big time.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
You take if that happened, dropped the un drop a game,
especially it happened in the first quarter and then right
in the first drive. If you throw me afterwards, if
that drop came, you know, on fourth and three in
the final, you know he does on one drop, We'll
get one up a game. If it's early on and
you make big plays afterward, you know you can live
with that. And you're right, I don't again the form
not to keep we talk about him too much. I
(37:07):
feel like, but the former number one wide receiver last year,
number one, he might just be sulking the rest of
the game and on the sidelines throwing things or whatever
and taking a penalty or whatever it might be. And
and obviously, like you said, the very next play, it
was a tone for almost immediately. So yeah, and that's
the thing, like in whatever, some of them aren't necessarily
in the heat of their prime. Although DK is I
(37:28):
think guys like I mean Jalen Ramsey, DK Metcalf and
Aaron Rodgers are three again like what freaks or what
are the athletic or the scouting community like the like
the dudes or whatever, like they are guys there. Each
of those three can do things that no other, no
other quarterback has in the arm and we talked about
no other receivers that size and that speed, the DK
(37:49):
has no other like the Mike Tomlin used the word
avatar to describe the tall corners. I think, like Jyalen
rams like an avatar his body in general, like the
things he can do with the size he is and
the fluid he has and everything. So these are these
are playmakers that I think the Steelers especially haven't had.
But we're talking about d Ky. I know, but certainly
and even his boy, I mean, hey, Ab was productive
(38:11):
when he was again, his head space was right in
terms of he was the best receiver in football there
for a few years. But DK certainly is even as
a dynamicism that even Ab didn't have in his prime.
Speaker 1 (38:22):
You brought up Jalen Ramsey. I thank you for doing that.
We're going to talk about the other newcomer. It was
really the trio of newcomers that really had a great
debut as Steelers in that game with Ramsey on defense,
DK and Rogers.
Speaker 2 (38:36):
I mean, a lot of newcomers are gonna play. I
like the trioth you had a nice lie. Is it
now a quartet? I don't know, a quad? I don't know.
Speaker 1 (38:48):
We'll talk Jalen Ramsey and we got money makers. We're
going to hand out some game checks when we come back.
Chris Adamski, Tom Opferman, It's the Steelers Blitz on the
Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 2 (39:09):
It was a rough day for the defense. It's fair
to say that we'll start the second hour.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
Really diving into what went wrong with the defense and
some of the negatives on the offensive side of the ball,
aka running the football. But the one bright spot on
the defense was the play of Jalen Ramsey. And you
had said on our episodes last week, how hyped you were,
Chris for Jalen Ramsey because you've never seen a player
like that at a training camp setting in all your
(39:35):
years covering the Steelers. It was like, Wow, this guy
is just different and I'm glad the masses got to
see that play out on Sunday against the Jets. Now,
he was kind of quiet throughout different moments of the game,
but that's kind of what you.
Speaker 2 (39:50):
Want out of a stud corner sometimes, right like.
Speaker 1 (39:52):
You see on the field, like you kind of want
him to disappear because that usually means he's disappearing someone else, Right,
So I think that that was a big thing.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
We'll just skip to the end because that was the
big part.
Speaker 1 (40:04):
Obviously, the big hit is what everybody is focusing on,
and rightfully so, because that was a game ceiling play
and a hell of a one like That's you walk
off with a big hit like that, that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
But how about the play just before it? Chris, in
the past
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