Week 18 at Ravens

Mike Prisuta and Matt Williamson are previewing the Steelers and Ravens this coming Sunday. The duo is joined by Merril Hoge as always.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Steelers Preview Show presented by Uni Bets
on w dB Pittsburgh. Here your hosts, Mike Pursuit and
Matt Williamson. Good evening, and welcome to another edition of
Steelers Preview right here on your Steelers Sladeship one or
two point five d V E N S n R.
Mike PURSUITA and Matt Williamson coming at you tonight until

(00:22):
eight o'clock as we have done throughout the season on
Thursday nights. And Matt, perhaps it's the final Steelers Preview.
Some stuff gotta happen, Yeah, for us to be sitting
in these chairs next week talking about a playoff game.
First of all, it's been a blast every Thursday getting
together and had a good time doing it. I hope
we get a chance to do it again. But I
can't feel all that optimistic about it. I mean, trusting

(00:44):
the Jags of the one out is uh not good business. Yeah,
And even if that happens, the Steelers have to beat
the Ravens, and then the Chargers and Raiders have to
not tie, which I don't know. If you get the sun,
if you get the Sunday night, and uh, the things
have fallen in a manner that both the Chargers and
Raiders would benefit from a tie. I'm not above a

(01:06):
good conspiracy theory, but uh, first things first, we're gonna
start you off tonight with the top story of the evening,
and that is the Jaguars Colts game. And there's no
better guy to break that down for us than a
guy that I've known in the business for a long time.
He's a sports reporter slash anchor for news for Jacksonville.

(01:26):
His name is Cole Pepper and Cole, first off, welcome
to the show. I want to thank you for spending
some time with us tonight. Please tell Steeler Nation how
Jacksonville is gonna win this game and take as much
time as you need. Yeah. So here's how it works. Uh.
They have a crack team of mechanics who will disassemble

(01:48):
the bus for the Colts at their airport. At the airport,
they won't be able to get to the stadium forfeit.
Jackson winn celebrates everywhere around the country. Now, it's it's
a long obviously when you talk about a team like
the Jaguars, Uh, you know we used to talk about it,
you know how early some teams would be getting the

(02:09):
golf clubs in the trunk just to be ready. And um,
I think there's a lot of guys on this team
who are ready to do something other than football right now,
because it has been the craziest season that I have
ever covered. And I've been covering this league since Marty
Schottenheimer was, you know, coaching in Kansas City. Now his
son is the passing game coordinator here in Jacksonville. So, uh,

(02:32):
you know, I've had a generation's worth of of covering
the NFL, and I've never seen a crazier season with
more dysfunction than what we had in the brief blip
of the Urban Meyer. Can you're here in Jacksonville? Cool?
I think with people around here are hanging their hats on.
Are not the uh the great play of the Jags?
But it's been what since two thousand fourteen, since the

(02:54):
cults of one in Jacksonville? Is there anything to that?
Is you have any logic for why that might me? Well,
there were some years there where the Jaguars were pretty good,
um you know here and there there also some years
where the cults were really bad. You don't get the
number one taking Andrews luck by being fantastic. But um,
you know, I don't. I don't really really know what

(03:15):
the mojo has been here for the Jaguars last year.
Is the only game they won was the season opener
at home against the Colts. Then they lost fifteen straight. Um,
So I don't. I'm not really sure how that all
went down. But I can tell you this, if you
just look at who's being put out on the field
right now and how they're being put in a position

(03:36):
to win or lose. There's better structure, there's better talent. Uh,
there's certainly more motivation everything else. For the Colts. You know,
I'm sure Steeler fans are sitting there saying, give us
something to hang our hat on. Um. And Uh, the
one thing that maybe you can hang your hat on
is that perhaps the most mature player on this team

(03:57):
for the Jaguars in terms of the way he approaches things,
he is saying that he still wants to go out
and prove something in this last game of the season.
And that's Trevor Lawrence. He may only be twenty two,
but he is. The way he has handled himself this
year through a very difficult season has been pretty remarkable
and So if there's any chance that maybe Trevor Lawrence
can do something to kind of vault toward next year

(04:18):
after a season that's been certainly less than what anybody
anticipated from the number one overall pick, maybe that's the
one thing that can give Steeler fans and maybe Jadwards
Stands some hope. Well, I think that gives him a
lot of hope. I mean, him being the Greek god
of quarterbacks, if he's putting his mind to it, clearly
he's gonna stop throwing interceptions and start throwing touchdowns. Right. So,
you know, when it's funny, when we started this season,

(04:41):
I said, you know, on air and to anybody who
would bother to listen, and someone who didn't want to, Hey,
I don't really care about how many interceptions Trevor Lawrence
throws rookie quarterbacks through interceptions. I mean, that's just what happens.
What what I wanted to see was I wanted to
see the touchdown passes and I want to see the
progress through the season. The coaching debacle basically derailed any

(05:02):
opportunity to have real progress through the season from you know,
a quarter of the way through the year on. So
Trevor didn't have much of a chance to do that.
The receivers have been terrible. They dropped three dozen passes
already this year from Trevor Lawrence. Uh. It bothers me.
Most about Trevor's year is that he hasn't thrown the
touchdown passes. He went where he had thrown over a

(05:25):
hundred and fifty passes without a touchdown pass, and then
he threw one late in the game last week on
a screen pass to Daria zun baal A, who, of course,
is who you want to target when you want to touchdown.
Um so uh this You know, this has been a
an underwhelming year on the field for Trevor Lawrence. But
I think, uh, just judging his tools, I wouldn't give

(05:48):
up on them for the future. I just don't expect
that much. On Sunday, Cool, I hear you're saying. I
think we kind of share the same opinion on Lawrence though.
That boy, I'll take a chance on him going forward
any day the week, and I still think that he
has a chance to be spectacular. Yeah, man, I mean
you tell me, in terms of when you scout a quarterback,

(06:09):
you can it's very easy to judge the arm strength
of the athleticism and you know, the measurables, but the
things you want to see out of a young quarterback,
I think our leadership, ability, ability to handle himself in
a crisis. Uh, you know, some pocket awareness is nice,
and being able to read the defense. And while he's
thrown some interceptions this year, several of them have been

(06:31):
off the hands of receivers. He's made a couple of
decision whis forced the ball into into some spots, as
workies tend to do. But you know, we've seen bad
rookie quarterbacks here before. Blaine Gabbert comes right to mind. Uh,
this is not a guy who has that kind of
lack of composure or lack of confidence or lack of
awareness of what's happening both on and off the field.

(06:52):
Is there a chance that Jaguars can convince themselves they're
playing the Steelers in a playoff game and they have
no chance to win, only if they only if they
convinced them that it's in Pittsburgh. But that might be
their best. There are very few guys, by the way,
remaining from that Dealers in the regular season, right right, Yeah,

(07:14):
It's it's amazing what happens in the course of four years.
Miles Jack is one of them, by the way, you know,
who's playing a fair amount. And there are a couple
of guys on the offensive line, but it's it's few
and far between right now. So, UM, there may not
be any terrible towels in the stands here, but there
will be some clown noses I think. So, who knows,
maybe that'll throw them off a little bit. Tell our

(07:35):
fans what the clown noses are all about. I bet
that not everyone here knows. It's kind of interesting to me. Yeah.
So so this was this is something who started on
social media? Um after the report what a week and
a half ago about UM, I think it was Ian
Rappaport's report that that Shod Khan was planning on bringing

(07:56):
Trent Bulky back as the general manager. Some Jaguars fans
are fans by and large in their you know, in
their thirties, Uh, active on social media. Uh. The Jaguars
Twitter guys started changing their Twitter avatars to a picture
of a clown with a curly mustache. UM shot con

(08:19):
and it kind of got, you know, caught fire after that. Um.
And obviously there are a lot of decisions that con
has made from a football standpoint, that deserve to be
ridiculed because it's been a horrific decade of football here
in Jacksonville for that season. Uh, and so now it's
got to the point where you have and it's tough
to say what the number is going to be. I

(08:41):
don't think it's going to be dozens. It will certainly
be hundreds and maybe thousands of fans who are planning
to go to what what is, by the way, fan
Appreciation Day at t I A Bankfield Sunday, wearing some
manner of clown outfit, you know, clown paint on the face,
or the rainbow wig and the red nose, the floppy feed,

(09:03):
whatever it is, to show that they think it's a
you know, a clowning kind of direction to try to
bring back a general manager who's been part of the
last two years. One as the GM and one is
the assistant GM um and a guy who, uh, you know,
the fans have decided to listen, they want to clean, sweep,
and they should, by the way, I think that's what

(09:24):
they should do. Condo has not often been a guy
who has swept the covered clean. He's he's tried to
make piecemeal changes after you know, saying good buy the
quarter to two coaches, and it hasn't often worked. So Um,
the only time he really swept the cover clean as
far as the coach is concerned is when he brought
in Urban Meyer. But he kept Trent Bulky around after

(09:46):
last season. So, Uh, the Jaguars twitter is blowing up,
and uh they're calling it a clown out and they're
spelling a k h l O w N in reference
to shot CON's last n k H A N. We're
speaking with Cole Pepper, sports reporter slash anchor for news
for Jacksonville down in Florida, and Cole, I want to

(10:08):
go back to mid November. Uh, the Jaguars have achieved
the first half of their annual season sweep with the Colts.
They lost in Indianapolis seventeen. But at least on the statue,
I'm looking at a competitive game. Jacksonville better on third down,
Jacksonville more total met yards, Jacksonville more rushing yards. Uh,

(10:31):
what do you recall from that game? And does anything
from that game carry over to this one? Well, First,
because time passes slowly in a pandemic, and very slowly
when you have a you know, a collapse of a
football team going on in front of your eyes. It
feels like forever ago that that game. But um, early on, uh,

(10:55):
Jonathan Taylor was able to run rough shot over the Jaguars.
There was also a block punt. Colts got a big early.
Jaguars made some defensive adjustments were able to stop. But
I think the Colts got a little conservative in terms
of what they're doing defensively. Offensively, for some reason, they
decided to start throwing the football despite the fact that
they were running the ball all over the Jaguars. I
think it was bad coaching, quite honestly, that kept that

(11:15):
game closer than it should have been. Although give credit
after the first two drives two and a half drives
or so, Joe Colin, the defensive coordinator of the Jaguars,
made some adjustments. Guys started staying in their in their
gaps and making their plays and and so it made
it a more competitive game. Um, it was one of
those games where you start out and you think, and you,
guys maybe haven't experienced the volume of these kind of

(11:37):
games that I have. So let me explain it. Where
you go up here we go again. This one's over
done by the middle of the first quarter, we know
where this is going. And then suddenly late in the
third quarter, you go, you know what this this this
game is almost close. Jaguars score and all of a
sudden like are they gonna are they gonna do this?
Are they gonna win this game? Jaguars had a couple
of those games this year, just couldn't close the door
on either one of them. But uh, that was that

(11:58):
was the game that looked out of hand by the
time the first quarter was over, and then somehow, slowly
but surely, the Jags got back into it. Yeah. The
other game I wanted to ask you about was Buffalo
because a lot of people, uh see that as the
upset of the season, and certainly a bigger upset than
a Jaguars went on Sunday would be. Uh, Jackson was

(12:19):
playing some pretty good defense around that time, was it not,
And it certainly did against Josh Allen in a very
good Buffalo offense. That was Josh Knack and Josh Allen
over and over, yes, and intercepting Josh Allen and forcing
a fumble from Josh Allen and recovering a Josh Allen
bumble um that was Yeah, that was the storyline of
that game. Nine six. Um. Certainly the Jaguars best performance

(12:41):
defensively this year by a long shot. Um. They were
they were in a stretch of games where they were,
you know, allowing points a game, certainly respectable. Um. The
offense wasn't holding up their end of the bargain. So
they weren't we winning many of those games. But that
was their best performance by far. Um. They were also

(13:01):
at closer to the full strength at that point. Um.
They've been hit recently by COVID quite a bit. They've
had a lot of guys who have been out and back. Um. Uh.
Some guys missed time and missed a game or miss
practice and played in the game. So they they've had
a little bit of a hodgepodge right now in terms
of the h what's going on on defense. The other
thing that's happened is is at that point of the season,

(13:23):
Josh Allen the Jaguars, Josh Allen was starting to assert
himself in terms of the pass rush. He has really
disappeared over the last two or three weeks, maybe maybe month.
Uh So the pass rush has been basically non existent.
Kilvan Chason, the former first round pick has uh not
looked like he knows where the ball is on the
field most of the time. That looks like a blown
first round pick for this team as well. Uh. Their

(13:45):
most consistent pass rusher has been Dwan Smoot, and he's
one of those guys who if you had a very
good defense and he was your fourth pass rusher, you'd
feel great about it. But right now he's kind of
one or one A in terms of the pass rush
with this team. So they're not getting after the quarterback
very well at all, and they tend to fall behind
in games and don't see a lot of passing plays either.
So it's then it comes down to stop in the run. Cool.

(14:07):
You mentioned, you know, just a bit ago about you've
seen a lot of these games where right off the
bat you're like, oh, here we go again. Well, it
sure seemed like that last week against the Patriots. Were
there any signs of life? Uh? No, you know that
they're about five games this year where you can go, well,

(14:28):
that's the worst game of the season. I'm not sure
the Patriots game quite gets to that point. Um, you know,
maybe a little bit is you know, from an emotional standpoint,
the fact that mac Jones dismantled the Jaguars and Max
from here in Jacksonville. Um, you know you have that
little kind of emotional side to it, but uh no,
there wasn't much of a sign of life at all

(14:48):
last week. Um, the Patriots did whatever they wanted to. Listen,
You've got Daryl Bevil as the interim head coach, and
Joe Colan is a defensive coordinator. I think Joe is
a good coach. First time he's been a defensive coordinator.
Bevil trying to handle things as as the interim head coach,
and so Brian Schottenheimer is basically calling the plays right now.
You've got a bunch of guys in roles that they

(15:09):
weren't in last year at the end of the year
for this team. None of more. With this team. Colin
had never been a defensive coordinator before, and when the
season started, devil as the offensive coordinator and Schottenheimer was
the passing game coordinator. Basically glorified quarterbacks coach. So, um,
when you go up against Bill Belichick and company, you know,
Josh McDaniels, forget about it. I mean they were they

(15:32):
were outcoached, outplayed, outperformed at every turn last week, and
as you might expect, last thing I got for you
since you brought up Darryl Bevil. If it's close, if
it's uh one score game late and the Jaguars get
to the one yard line, they're gonna run it, right,
throw it, throw it, throw it. Bev is not gonna

(15:52):
be calling the plays in that situation. I mean, you
can't overrule the guy alreadything like that, right, I mean
it's right. Well, the previous head coach apparently couldn't if
it went wrong. So that's all we know here in Jacksonville. Well, hey, Cole,
it was great catching up. Missed those days on the
Jaguars Radio network and that wide array of talented writers

(16:13):
and broadcasters you had uh working with you. Uh. I
enjoy uh Mike Doronco's work in the athletic and UH
glad you could spend a few times a few minutes
with us tonight. Uh enjoy the game? I think, well
I will because I know it's you know, the end
is nine. So that's what I'm looking forward to on Sunday, guys.

(16:34):
Thanks lot, Cole, catch up down the road. That was
Cole Pepper, the sports anchor with anchor and a sports
anchor and reporter with News for in Jacksonville. Matt, he
didn't sound overly optimistic. Then an upset is about to
a car. I think he's pretty excited for it to
be over. And boy, what do you can you imagine
covering that team this year? Well, if that's the prevailing sentiment, Uh,

(16:55):
Steelers playoff holks are in trouble. Uh. They gotta worry
about their own big bus. This maybe an occasional one
I on the scoreboard, but they better have full focus
and attention on the Baltimore Ravens because that rivalry has
produced the kind of games that usually go down to
the wire and the records usually don't matter, and it
often doesn't matter who's playing. Uh, So it should be

(17:16):
more of the same and Mt Bank Stadium on Sunday,
Steelers still have some work to do before we uh
put a bow on the one season. When we come back,
we will welcome the third member of our crew, Merril Hodges,
has been with us all season. He'll be with us
again tonight and we'll start breaking down Steelers Ravens for
you with Matt Williamson on Mike Pursuit. And you're listening
to Steelers Preview right here on your Steelers Slagship one

(17:38):
or two point five d v E and s n R.
Back to the Steelers Preview Show presented by Univet on
d v E. Welcome back to the preview. Mike Pursuit
and Matt Williamson with you here tonight on the Flagship
and s n R until eight o'clock as we get
you ready for the regular season finale the Steelers at
the Ravens on Sunday time. Now to welcome Meryl Hodge

(18:02):
to the program. Meryl has joined us each and every
week this year and it's always been a highlight of
the show and Meryl. Before we get into breaking the
game down, I gotta tell you it was an emotional
night Monday night at Hines Field. The star of the show,
just based on the circumstances was Ben Roethlisberger. I gotta
give number two star to the guy who rushed for

(18:24):
a hundred and eighty eight yards for Pittsburgh, but clearly
the number three star of the evening, the guy who
got things started with the terrible towel twirl, looking resplendent
in that number seven jersey and pumping up the crowd
and really set the tone. Good job. Well, listen, I
think it's just unfair to not acknowledge that that tow

(18:46):
twirling is the skill. I'm undefeated, nobody's We've never lost
when I when I twirl the cow, and I'm sure
that that coaching staff would appreciate that part of game
plan that week if I'm gonna twirl it towel. Now
that being said, something, I gotta tell you that jersey.
That jersey actually we got from a fan about two
minutes before UM were on it as you too story. Okay,

(19:10):
here's so okay. Do you guys know Jim Rooney? Yeah, okay,
so Jim, Jim and I have been on more trips
together and they're all train wrecks. If I ever war Jim,
it's train wrecks. But he always had great ideas. So
they gave me my jersey and he's like, why don't
you have number seven years? You know, I'm like, oh
my gosh, that's a great idea. So they tried to
get first, going back to the the store and grab one.

(19:32):
They were out, obviously, I think I won't the guy
that sung the national anthem for crying out loud. What
couldn't they get you one, Well, we're doing this, and
we're doing this at the last second. You know, this
wasn't thought out. You know, we thought out way before
the guy who's saying the national anthems, who did an
incredible job, by the way, Um, so we're trying to
get the stussed. So when we looked up in the stands,

(19:52):
I see, I see and I like the guys about
my size, and I was like, yeah, that's perfect. Then
I see Jim crawl up in the stands and goes
to a guy that's three times my shide and I'm like, no,
I'm like anybody. But that guy was kind enough to
let me have the shirt and put it on before
we went out. I literally threw it over my said
just about two seconds on there, so that we had

(20:14):
number seven on there versus my jersey. Which what's the
perfect thing to do? Actually, Merrill Mike mentioned Nazi you
know briefly, there is there something to build on there?
Is it a flukey thing? Is there's the line, you know,
cutting down on the mistakes? I mean, is there a
little bit optimism? They're with the run game for you? Okay?
This they played together as good as I've seen any

(20:39):
offensive line all year played together from this perspective. Okay,
I don't know if you noticed, but the Bronco, I
mean Brons the Browns were run blinds and a lot
and I understand why they do that, because the students
have struggled with that, you know, so they take linebackers
and run them through that slammed at the last second,
you know, and they've missed a lot of those. When

(21:01):
when teams do that and they blow they get runs
blown up. They don't account for people. There was an
there was a probably a dozen runs the nag he
had and they were anywhere from you know, a four
yard run to an eight yard run, a qu mine
explosively run in the NFL's ten yards, you know, So
you get eight that's a big run in the NFL
eight yards ten yards, and you obviously have some bigger

(21:24):
runs than that. But to watch them, and now this
includes the tight end too from you was also dialed in,
you know, and that we always forget about. Well, we
blame the offensive blind for everything, and then if we're
giving credit, we have to extend it to the tight ends.
But those guys adjusted so well at the snap by
blocking the guy that wasn't their responsibility, but the guy

(21:45):
who was most dangerous by rule, and that's what they did.
Such a good job of that they have not done.
So sure, man, if you can play like that, I'll
tell you what you do to teams. You you put
four weeks of that on tape or people won't do
it to you anymore. Because one thing that does happen
if you do run blitz and you do do that,
you can get exposed because you get people out of

(22:07):
their gaps. What's happened? You know, they stopped doing it later. So, um,
they did such a good job they were they're actually
as dialing in as I've seen. It was about a
good work with five six guys in the trenches as
I've seen anywhere across the league this year. And you know, then, Nagi,
you don't he compliments that you know you can get

(22:29):
all that done. But that eight yard grown I'm talking about,
well they got him five. He got another three by
running over people, growing through people. So I've always believed
that he's I mean, he's McKennon Alabama. He's just a
gifted runner. His size, his footwork is instincts, his patients.
You know you could do that on a weekly basis.

(22:49):
You know, he could leave the league in rushing or
without a question. It's interesting you bring up the tight ends.
We had a chance to talk to J. C. Hassenauer,
who started as center in place of Kendre Green, and
hass no Hour said the difference with the former offensive
line coach Adrian Clem having left for Oregon. Uh, the
the assistant who has now been elevated to head offensive

(23:12):
line coach, Chris Morrigan. They included the tight ends and
the running backs in the offensive line meetings, and Hassenauer
seemed to think that that had everybody more on the
same page in terms of the running game. Uh, talk
to me a little bit if you can, about about
the impact and offensive line coach has besides telling them,
you know which blocking sled they're gonna hit. Well, you know,

(23:37):
he sounds like a good one. You know, even though
he was the assistant. I forgot about that, you know,
I did forget about that. You know, I listen. Good coaching,
you know it does matter. You know, you got guys
that know how to how to teach in the trenches,
you know, and how to how to develop guys. Um
and I think you said that. I was like, oh my, yeah,
thats a It's a really smart thing to do because

(23:59):
you know, usually you're in three different meetings, you know,
are you being told the same thing? You know, so
to bring them all together with a group that hasn't
been altogether or on the same page, I mean, it
stayed off. I was saying that you could see the
difference out there. It was a big difference. So you know,
hopefully they'll keep doing that, hope that they can they
can transition that into another big game this Sunday. Sticking

(24:24):
with the tight ends Marrow, I mean, what are your
thoughts on where Friar Muth is in his career? And
I thought I wrote Gentry off years ago and I'm
super impressed with him. Is that I thought he had
Yeah you got you what what years Gentry? This is
third right? Yeah, well, well I would tell you this.

(24:45):
There wasn't you know when for our Muth went out
a couple of times, you know, you didn't see a letdown,
you know. Um. One thing I like about Gentry when
he came out or excuse me for our muse is
I thought he had a huge upside to be a
good route runner, and you saw his skills during the year. Um,
they'll block people. You know, he'll get in there. And

(25:08):
you know that run I was telling you about. I
mean he was responsible for the stack backer. So the
stack backer runs through, so he goes to the next
stack backer. Well, Hussin Howard comes off because that's really
his guy and eventually gets and then uh farm who
looks back to the right and end up blocking the safety.
I mean that's how that's how you. I mean, that's
that's good football. You know that's a steam pief player.

(25:29):
So you know, I've been pressed with him all the year.
Both of those guys I think they got they got
a good tandem there. They don't just block, but they
catch the ball really well to see and get the
ball in their hands, which is always a plus. Meryl.
Kendrick Green didn't play last week because he had a
calf injury. He hadn't practiced. He went on the COVID
nineteen list today, so I don't know if we're gonna

(25:51):
see him. Uh Dan Moore Jr. Everybody around the Steelers
is giving him a lot of credit for playing through
what apparently was a pretty bad ankle injury, but he
hasn't practiced yet this week either. Both of those guys
played a lot of snaps on the line that was
you know, in in the US there were bulls eyes

(26:12):
on their back in terms of all the criticism that
they took. But do you suspect that next year Dan
Moore's the left tackle and Kendrick Green is the center? Well,
I would think so. Listen, what you see your most
improvement in your second year, And that's almost true across
the board. When you don't see that improvement, and that's
when I've always believed, Listen, you gotta think about cutting bait.

(26:35):
You know, don't let your ego drive you and go,
we're going to develop them, so you know, create excuses
if you don't see it in your second year. Mom
telling you on aside from quarterbacks, quarterbacks, they you know,
that's I've always believed it's a three year dealing. But
everybody else in your second year doesn't mean they're gonna
be there. They're gonna be the Tom and an All

(26:57):
Pro player or playing their best. You're just gonna see
that improvement that you need to see and you know
that this is the guy, this this guy will be
able to play for us, no matter what the position.
But if you don't see that improvement in that second year, um,
I just seed so many I think the Patriots are
the best at that. As soon as they sent this
ain't gonna work by yeah, by you know, and just

(27:19):
so many times to hang on to guys, and you know,
it becomes listen, everybody's got a ego. You know, you
don't want to make a mistake, you know, and you know,
and you justify some things, and you got coaches going.
I could coach this, and I can coach that, and
the next thing you get bought into another year or
two and and and you hurt your team. But I
would expect these guys to be a lot better next year.

(27:41):
I mean a lot better. Might just mentioned that, you know,
green and more or fighting injuries might not be available. Well,
Deante Johnson is on the COVID list too. I mean,
what kind of driffle effect does that have the passing
game against the raiding Yeah, well I eat your ease,
your dynamic dynamic player, Um now as you have a

(28:01):
chance to come off it or is here? Uh yeah's
so many variables. Mike Tomlins said they're taking everything day
to day and they're gonna play with who they have
and you know that's all they can really do. Well.
The only thing that you you've got going for you
is that you're not playing an explosive, dynamic offense. On

(28:22):
the other side, that is the one thing you know,
you know, um, that you've got going for you. Um,
but listen, you've got other guys that can you know,
this are the opportunities for other players the step up.
I still think that you know, listen, Claypool has really
never had there, really had anything close to what he
had last year, you know, I mean he's not on

(28:44):
the COVID list, is he. Yeah? So you know, you
got you You've got players that you can you get
You've got your tight end group. You know, Naga has
been big, so you still got ways that you can
be effective in the passing game. Um, you know, but
that don't hurt you. Then that's that explosive guy. You know,
you lose a little bit of that in your offense
and and that's what you're in the NFL. That is

(29:07):
a real requirement. You need to have explosive plays in
your when you play, uh to to win because that's
gotta be a part of your offense. You've gotta find
explosive plays um rather on the ground or in the air.
Don't you think he's the best guy against man coverage too?
That they oh yeah, I remember when he came came out.

(29:27):
You know what makes him so good? This is what
makes all here's the here's the best thing. The skill
set you would want as a wide receiver. If you
have a chance to be good, can you separate? Do
you have dynamic feat? Can you get in and out
of breaks? I don't really care about your four yard mask.
Jerry Rice confirms that you're into four six. But he

(29:49):
was so good at route running. It's so good at
getting out of breaks, in and out of breaks. And
that's what Deante Johnson does. I mean he is even
in college he was like that. I knew he had
a shot just because dynamic he did get in and
out of breaks, and the way he could run routes
and separate. I mean, you know then he have speech too,
So that just that just compounds the problems trying to

(30:09):
cover against man. Let's stay with Claypool for a second,
because it's been a real head scratching year. You know,
he was outstanding last year and even they kind of
dialed back in terms of how much they used him
later in the season because Mike Thomas said he wanted
to preserve him for the playoffs, didn't want minting that
quote unquote rookie Wall this year looks like he's forgotten

(30:30):
how to jump and come down and be able to
land on his feet. He's not catching any fifty fifty balls,
he's not blocking anybody. Uh. The improvements supposed to come
between year one and two, right, you're not supposed to
get worse. He's doing it backwards. Yeah, right, So this guy,
so you takeol and I'm way back up here. Remember

(30:53):
Dulton Hall, Yes, this reminds me of Dulton Hall. Rookie
rookie year, Rookie of the Year, right, defense a Rookie
of the Year. And he came back and he had
some you know, he wouldn't do some things that were
knucklehead moves, you know, and he had he just couldn't
control himself, you know. Then he broke his thumbs, you know,
and he never was that was his best year, you know,

(31:16):
he you know, he never lived up to what his
first year looked like. So you go to playpool, you know,
somebody's he could just tell by his body language, by
the way he played that he did. He believes he's
pretty good and he doesn't have to work at it.
And there's no greater Um are great false sense of security.

(31:37):
I think you don't have to work that. Just as
you had a good rookie year, you're gonna have a
great second year. You know, they moved him around all
over last year. They didn't They didn't do that this year. Team.
You know, UM, And so he coaches. I'll tell you
everything about a player. You know, what they do with them,
where they put him, Can they trust them? And you
couldn't trust him, So you know, he didn't have to

(31:57):
have a big year next year. And you're gonna have
to wake up and realize that. You know, if you're
gonna be great in this league, you've gotta work at
getting better every day. You gotta carve out whatever you
think your weaknesses. You gotta work and getting that better. UM,
find different ways to grow and improve. And if you
don't have that passionate commitment of every days to run

(32:19):
your way, a lot of good players out there, a
lot of guys got cut. Did you get to players
this year? Little chomping at the bit. They get a
shot and you play like you did this year, It's
easy to move on for something like that. They make
it easy for you when they play like that. So
they'll be interesting to see how he plays next year.
I don't mean to rain on what the Steelers did
Monday night. It was a wonderful atmosphere and all those

(32:41):
good things, and we got to win. But do you
agree that the uh what the Browns foot on the
field was not exactly a plus material? You know, I've
been confused with the Browns, you know, on and off
all year. I've seen with game plans where you know, like,
let's look at the Ring Bay games. She would have
total story arc Russian, I mean gas the now Baker

(33:04):
is one guy killing ten. I mean he so it
was a bunch of picks. So you know, I didn't
help anything. But then they come into Pittsburgh in their life,
I'm like, what are you doing? Yeah? You know what
I mean, that's that's your that's the strength of your team.
And you know you're you know, no, you know your
quarterback has limitations, and they're serious limitations. I'm just kept
putting them in those spat spots, so don't help. Yeah, yeah,

(33:28):
there was a bunch of things. You just watching It's like,
what are you doing? You know? Um, you know that
then obviously you could just you could tell, um the
sense of energy in that team las or you know,
Monday night versus the playoff game a year ago, just
different how things unfold. It is very interesting. But I

(33:49):
can't answer that. You know, I just but they've done
this all all year. You will. They walked into a
game and you're like, this is not even the Cleveland
brown I don't know who they are that because the football,
I mean, it just it was not a very great
affect by the Browns. I thought, yeah, well we they
well they were the way they were run blitzing. I
thought they would get out of it once they started

(34:10):
getting it. That's usually happened. We used to always talking
about teams like that, like listen, they might blow up
a few players, but once we hit a couple and
they get out of it. Well, I don't even think
they blew up any place. Maybe one and they got
gassed a bunch and he kept doing it. They kept
getting gassed, So I don't know. Very interesting talk about
the Ravens A little bit merrill because they're pretty interesting

(34:32):
as well. Eight and eight. They've lost five in a
row and six of eight. Early in the season, they
were winning games. I was wondering how the hell they
were winning them, And lately they're probably wondering how the
hell they've been losing because it's one point, two points,
three points, chances to win all over the place and
they can't finish anymore. And for the second straight day today,

(34:53):
no Lamar Jackson again at practice. Uh, it's looking like
Tyler Huntley is gonna be the guy for the Steelers again.
Baltimore has slim playoff hopes, as do the Steelers. Uh,
who's got the edge here in Baltimore? Sunday Rush, I
really think it's it's Pittsburgh. I mean, the Steelers have

(35:13):
their advantage on both sides of the ball, you know,
the one thing that I think everybody knows he's got
to deal with. But they're not as good at it
as they have been. As their running game and you know,
their staple run. I don't know if people know this,
but it's a power Oh that's what they run the most.
They just run it in so many different ways, I mean,
and how they designed their run running game. I mean,
I love the coordinator. I think he's just he's brilliant

(35:37):
when it comes to the running game. And really he's
really impressive in the passing game because he got he's
got limited guys. I mean, they're not true passers. You know.
He is not a true passer. I'll watch him forever.
He was in Utah. I never thought actually he Well,
he's in the NFL because he's the perfect backup for
Lamar Jason because they can keep playing that style. Um.

(35:58):
He is not a very Shian thrower. Um. He's okay
accuracy um um. And he's not a real decisive guy.
And that's a dangerous you know. Now, can you scramble? Yeah,
he can scramble, but he's not a large jackson if
he gets in the open. So they you know, they've
got they're limited. They're really limited on what they do.

(36:20):
You just can't let them get big runs in the
running game and gas shoot and control the game. That's
ultimately who are comes down to him? If you ever
control that. Um, I'll take you, chimp, I'll take my chance.
I'll helply beat you. I don't see that happens, you know,
And at the end of the day, he got seven
seven always makes throw here or throw there, or player
here or player there, that makes the difference, you know,

(36:42):
and then go back to how they ran the ball.
You know, let them control the game this time, like
the Steers be the ones that control the game, and
you know, get the Ravens reeling, you know, especially when
they played last Monday night. You know, you got to
carry that over. You can't just do it one time
because you know, and then it's an accident. But if
you can do it again, which I would expect, that's

(37:04):
the mindset, and you've got to have a good chance
to control of this game, win this game. And then
let's just follow they make what is the what is
the what has to happen? Does Jackson will have to
beat the Colts? Is that what hap Yeah? And the
Chargers and Raiders can't tie, all right? I think I
think I color think the Raiders win. I'm gonna tell

(37:25):
you this. I've been in games. Uh listen, Carson Wentz
is not playing very well now. They're running game might
be just enough and they got a pretty good defense too,
that it won't matter what crazier things have happened. I
remembers eighty eight. We went in to play the Houston Oilers.
It was almost the same scenario for these teams, and
we had we had a bad year, we were not

(37:45):
playing very well, and we went in there and beat
Guitar Animal. So you know, I just you know, and
I'm telling the cold Carson Wentz is not playing very
well and he is like every week I watched him,
this guy, what did you do it? So you know,
don't I mean, because time stands a long shot, you know,
Jacksonville will win. But you know, I'm telling you there's

(38:07):
there's enough signs in there to not to be optimistic.
The dactual Bill could pull off an upset at home.
Just to stick with that game real quick. Mary, I
don't know if you've watched much of Trevor Lawrence is
a rookie or what your thoughts on him are. And
you know, with you being a former running back, I
gotta get your opinion on Jonathan Taylor too well. Johnson

(38:27):
I love him, will come out with thongs. When he
came out, I was just his feet and his size
and he's just you know, I mean speed as he's like,
I mean, I had everybody kept somebody not being to
catch the ball. And I was like, um, I rememberly
did the same too with Ladinian Thomas and I went
to the senior ball I watched you catch one ball.
I'm like, but that ain't a problem protect you can
catch um go to Trevor Lawrence, UM, I tell you there,

(38:52):
you talk about a bad, bad, bad job of coaching
and developing that kid. They flung that kid out dry.
They didn't help him one bit, and for how he
played under that environment and those circumstances, I just think, um,
I was very impressed with him, I really was. I
think that he uh, he does have a good chance

(39:14):
to be really special. But and they don't have a
lot around him. But they didn't do anything to help him,
you know, like the one thing they do with justin fields.
They you know, they try to stick to their guns
and run the ball and not not why his scope
too far? Until he's ready? She Trevor Lawers, They're like, hey,
let's let's let's go empt him a fix or five times?
What the heck are you doing? Man? But you know

(39:37):
pretty much shows that you know I'm saying, college, you know,
just completely clueless to what the Nascal Football League is
I mean, this is not My guys are better than
your guys. Everybody's every guy. Every all guys are good
and we play on a different field and we play
in the middle man. But hopefully he gets the coach

(39:58):
there and he doesn't have a bunch a turnover, because
that's what ultimately gets a kid to you know, you
start having turnover and turnover and new coordinators, you can
never find any rhythm. So hopefully this change will be
a permanent change. I'll get a good guy in there
to help develop him and and get him going with
some consistency. Meryl, appreciate it again. Great job on that

(40:18):
tu tworld. You definitely influenced and historic night in Steeler's history.
Not not the first time you've done that, and I'm
guessing it won't be the last. Thanks a lot. Hopefully,
hopefully we'll talk to you next Thursday. Absolutely, boys, I'm
a good night Meryl Hodge joining us here on the preview.
Matt and I still have a few things to get

(40:40):
to before we get out of here. We're gonna be
coming at you tonight until eight o'clock right here on
your Steelers flagship on a two point five d V
and S n R Back to the Steelers Preview Show
presented by UNI bet on d V. Welcome back to
the preview. Mike pursued in. Matt Williamson finished things off
here tonight as we get your for the Steelers at

(41:00):
the Ravens the regular season finale on Sunday. Matt, it's
been obviously not the kind of year the Steelers anticipated,
not the kind of year they're gonna want to go
through again. And they've been springing leaks all over the place,
and some of those have been pretty obvious. Uh, some
of them have not been as obvious, but they're just
as damaging. But it hasn't been a complete disaster. Um.

(41:25):
I'm curious your opinion on Mike Tomlin never having had
a losing season, no matter what happened Sunday. I think
that's a pretty big deal. I think it's a really
big deal. I mean, over that stretch of seasons, and
I mean playing a year without your your Hall of
Fame quarterback. I mean just recently and still you know,
getting within a game of the playoffs. People forget, I

(41:47):
mean last year they made the playoffs, so two years
before that, if this format was around, they would have
went as the seventh seed. You know, they were just
outside looking in um, I mean they've won. I was
just looking at it because I was STI looking at Jacksonville.
I mean, over the last five years, there's only been
like six or seven teams of one more games than
the Steelers. I mean Jacksonville and the Giants are at
the bottom. There's a lot to be said for that.

(42:09):
I mean, consistent winning in this league. There's about fifteen
to twenty human beings on earth that can lead teams
to do that. It's very difficult, and it's not it's
not like they're putting up a banner for that. But
if that's your floor, you're gonna get to the high
ceiling higher than anybody else occasionally eventually. And the other

(42:29):
thing that's occurred to me as this year has wand
to a close, you know, you're pretty desperate when you're
picking guys up off the street, and yeah, you know guys,
you're getting guys that have been with multiple teams before
they get to you. But Montravius Adams, I think they
found a keeper there. I think there's a handful. Witherspoon,

(42:50):
I think they found a keeper there and got help
resigning Witherspoon, I'm resigning to. Yeah, I think their best
three or no offense, d Arth and Rellet or Milette.
I think I think it's Hayden and Uh with with
Witherspoon outside, and Sutton is the nickel and Adams certainly
should be in the mix next year, even a couple

(43:12):
of drafts. How about weight Man, you know, I mean
that he's a pointer. I know that's not super exciting,
but you get him for nothing, and yeah, he's looked
really good. The other guys, I think Derrick Tusca and
Taco Charlton, La Glue and Hoss right, I mean, if
you know, if they're your backups next year and they're
the bottom third or your roster, it's a lot better

(43:32):
than how it started this year. I mean there's something
he said for that and um, last thing for you tonight. Uh,
the emotion of that game on Monday and the Ben
Roethlisburger send off and everything you've heard all the players say,
and Mike, even Mike Tomlin atmosphere like anything I've ever seen,
and he was getting weepy. He's not a weepy guy.

(43:53):
You know, he's a straight ahead guy. Um, obviously everybody
rose to the Asian without question. Can they do that again?
Or was that the equivalent of I'm sure you're familiar
with the term goal post game in college. You win
that goal post game where you're tearing down the goal
post because you beat your rival, and then the next

(44:14):
week you stink. I think they can, I mean, maybe
not to that level. And frankly, I was not impressed
with Cleveland, as I mentioned last segment. I mean I
wasn't neither. I gotta say Baker Mayfield, if nothing else,
is a tough son of a gun. He is tough.
I will never take that away from me. He is tough,
and he's played through many injuries. Um, but it's a

(44:34):
Ravens for one more game. I think they're gonna play
very hard, and not maybe to that level of intensity,
but I think it's gonna be in the neighborhood. I
don't think that's crazy. And do you think Baltimore having
lost five in a row. I made the comment in
the press box when I found out they lost Marlon

(44:55):
Humphrey for the year, and I've said it on various
shows since then. I thought at that point, and that
was back on December five, when the Steelers survived the
Ravens twenty to nineteen. I thought at that point Baltimore
was done winning and one more game, one more game
to go till I'm proven right, right, and it's it's
a bold statement, and you were right. They've lost three
in a row, the Steelers, they've lost five in a row,

(45:16):
although they played the Rams and Packers really tough. I mean,
to be honest with you, almost one, almost one, almost one,
you know what they call almost winning losing. I mean
even earlier in the year though they weren't as good
as their record. I mean they had a lot of
bounces and things go their way. But just like we
said about Tomlin, I mean, I ever shot it. There's
not fifteen or twenty guys in the league they can win,

(45:37):
in the world that can win consistently. But the Ravens
have one too. I mean they've overcome more than the
Steelers have had overcome this year. I mean it's been
a remarkable run of injuries for them. Yeah, great organization,
A lot of respect for them, and I'm sure they'll
show up with what they have. I just like I
gotta sneaking suspicion Steelers win this one. I'm leading that
way too. I don't think. I don't think it's gonna
work out with Jacksonville, but uh we shall. That's gonna

(46:00):
do it for us. Thanks Tomorrow for joining us again
as he always does. Thanks to Shirtless Tom for keeping
us on the air, and thanks to you for finding
us however and wherever you did for Matt Williamson and Mike.
Pursuit of this has been Steelers Preview on your Steelers
flagship one or two point five d V and S
n R. Goodnight everyone,