October 13, 2022 • 42 mins
Mike Prisuta and Matt Williamson break down the Steelers and Bucs Matchup. The duo is joined by Merril Hoge as always.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Steelers Preview Show on w d V Pittsburgh,
presented by UNI Bet. The only thing better than a
Steelers win is the Steelers win that pays double down
on your team. With UNI Bet, proud partner of the
Pittsburgh Steelers. Here are your hosts, Mike Pursuita, Matt Williamson,
and Meryl Hodge. Good evening and welcome to another edition
of Steelers Preview. Mike Pursuita along with Matt Williamson, we
(00:25):
will be joined tonight by the third member of our team,
Meryl Hodge, and we will be doing our best to
assess the wreckage of Bill's thirty eight Steelers three and
get you ready for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Tom
Brady invading Actresser Stadium on Sunday. Matt, you've worked with
me for a while now, you know I'm a pretty
big pop culture guy, and I was expecting a tough
(00:49):
going buffalo. I think we we set a tone for
that last Thursday, but I was not expecting thirty eight
to three and uh in the immediate aftermath of that,
while Mike Tomlin was thing, we got smashed three times
in the first three responses to questions, and while Arthur
Millette was flipping out in the locker room a little bit,
I kept getting a visual in my head. Uh, you're
(01:12):
familiar with the movie stripes, very specifically the opening where
Bill Murray loses his job, gets his car repossessed, and
then his girlfriend walks out. And after all that happens
in the space of about five minutes, he kind of
looks around and says, and then depression said exactly, this
is pretty depressing. It's pretty depressing. You know, I can't
(01:33):
paint with any other type of brush. Well, the brush
I was painting with last week at this time was
folks hanging there. This stretch is gonna be difficult, tough love,
We're gonna learn stuff, You're gonna hit the bye and
then after that it's going to be a different team.
I still sort of believe that. Um. I certainly believe
(01:53):
in the quarterback, in the new receiver, and there's some
some things to build off of. But I didn't expect
to get smashed like that. I mean, that was it
could have been much worse too. Yeah, I'm I'm with
you on the you know, the second half of the season,
half half the post by part of the season can
be much different to schedule softens up a little bit.
(02:13):
Although this just in Atlanta is no joke. No, no,
you just penciled watching Atlanta play Tampa last Sunday with
the critical when they're down twenty one nothing they run uh.
And then also complicating matters uh, the injury report practice
uh Uh. Camp Sutton did not practice. A Kello Weatherspoon
(02:37):
did not practice. Levi Wallace limited practice, Making Fitzpatrick did
not practice. There's basically your secondary, that's four fifths of
your nickel package. And here comes Tom Brady for the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Uh. There sheet last longer than one page.
Starting safety Mike Edwards elbow limited today. Wide receiver Risk
(03:00):
Godwin hip slash, knee slash rest did not participate. Defensive
lineman a chem Hicks foot didn't participate. He's missed three
straight games. Wide receiver Julio Jones. I don't know if
they're gonna factor him in or not. I don't know
what he has left, but it's a Recognizabuni did not participate.
He's missed. Uh. He's only played in two games and
(03:20):
he's just the Atlantic game. Cornerback Sean Murphy bunting quad.
He's one of their subpackage guys. He didn't participate today
and left tackle Donovan Smith elbow limited. But boy, watching
Brady against Atlanta quick before we do, I mean that
that injury reports. I'm sure a lot of those names
(03:40):
aren't household names to people, but those are a lot
of snaps for Tampa Bay on the jury report right now.
Basically starters there there, dudes. But the problem is Tom
Brady's healthy and get well. I wasn't sure what I
was gonna see when I watched that tape, and I'll
say this, He's not perfect. He early in the game
(04:02):
he threw a pick that they dropped the Falcons. He
had a couple other near picks. If you can get
him to throw off his back foot, if you can
collapse the pocket on him, he's mortal and he'll make
some bad throws and some inaccurate throws. But boy, when
he gets in a rhythm as he did in that
second quarter, it's just zip, zip, zip, and it's going
all over the place. Uh. He will be more than
happy to take the check down rather than take a hit.
(04:24):
Leonard for Nett, he's been in the lake six years
now he had a career high ten catches on eleven
targets and eighty three receiving yards, which are big yards. Uh.
Brady will go to Mike Evans when he feels like it,
whether he's covered or not. If it's one on one,
he's taking the shot. If it's Uh, if it's one
on two and he still feels like a deep shot
is in order, he'll take it the rest of the time.
(04:45):
Just distribute where it should go, and it's on time
and it's accurate, and they get yards after the catch
and uh, when they're humming, they're really smooth man. Absolutely.
And the first three weeks of the season were problematic
for their offense. A ton of receiver injuries, totally reshuffled
offensive line and my hunches. Tom just went to the
coaching staff and says, I'll take care of the offense.
(05:07):
And he throws it fifty two times the last game,
fifty two times the time before creates wins that way.
His mind is is computer sound. I mean, it's a
computer back there, and it's flawless, and it's as sharp
as it's ever been. Maybe his feet and arm fail
him a little more now than they did, but He's
still delivers of football. As you said on time in
(05:30):
the exact design of the play, extremely accurate. And you know,
people remember Ben last year and we harped on these
numbers of fastest time out of your hands, and Brady
is the fastest time I have his hands this year.
He was second fastest last year. But it's not because
he's throwing one yard or is either you know, it's
going down the field. What to expect is brought to
(05:53):
you by Brian Patton and associates. It's all about the benefits.
I expect Tom Brady to be really good because the
Steelers have struggled to mount any kind of pass rush
without t. J. Watt. And if Brady's got time and
he can sit back there in the pocket on his
spot and dictate, he's going to I mean, what do
you think he's doing right now? I think he's looking
at the corners he might be playing against and say,
(06:15):
I'll throw it him. I'll throw it him, I'll throw
it him. I'll give you some more pop culture. If
you seen Once Once upon a Time in Hollywood many
times GROLs. I like it better every time I watch it.
I think it's Tarantino's best film, The Dicaprios, when they're
watching the FBI and he's got the beer and he
points at the TV. I think, Brady, I can throw
on that guy. I can throw on that guy. I
(06:35):
can throw on that guy. There's Waldo, there's Waldo. That
guy's got a target on his chest. I don't know
what else to say that then, Man, this is a
daunting challenge to to keep these guys in check because
the secondari's depleted. You know, if these guys are gonna
play or to what, to what degree of full capacity?
If they do play, uh, they're gonna be diminished. And
(06:55):
and Tom Brady we talked about this a lot during
our draftwork stuff on Steelers dot Com and SNR and
wherever we happen to show up. But you gotta be
a running quarterback now, in a mobile quarterback, unless you
have so much experience, I could just anticipate everything and
beat him to the punch. And Tom Brady can beat
(07:15):
you to the punch, right. I mean, if your minds
a supercomputer, you don't have to have the other things.
Because very smart coaches design plays at work and when
you run them properly and taken even to the next level.
You're you're gonna carve up just about any defense, and
I'm sure he's also looking at the Steeler defense going
I could maybe pat the ball in the pocket a
little longer. I don't have to have the fastest time
(07:36):
to throw and really hit Evans downfield or whomever. Um
Brady's career is obviously amazing, but he's had a ton
of success you mentioned for net targeting backs out of
the backfield. He always has a pass catching back and
then they drafted this for shod White for that or
a Gronkowski like tight end. I don't think he's gonna
shy away from the Steelers linebackers and coverage. I mean,
I have no doubt about that. And your point earlier,
(07:59):
he's very be too, you know, death by a thousand
paper cut you. I mean, he doesn't some of these
young guys, the Allen's, the Mahomes, they get a little
worked up and just won't dump it, dump it, dump it.
Brady doesn't care how he beaches as long as he does.
I'm checking my notes here and I wrote down an
unspectacular passing yards Right as you watched the game, you
(08:23):
didn't feel like he's lightening it up. What to throw
that was, but but he lit it up. And you know,
they weren't ninety yards the game, Davis. You know, at
the end of the day, the numbers are there. And uh.
One of the things that the Buccaneers were able to
get going against the Falcons, which they had not previously,
you mentioned they had a lot of offensive complications. First
three weeks were a little rough early in the season.
(08:44):
They had five ten play plus drives in their first
four games. The Buccaneers had five of those against the Falcons.
They really got they got the grind game go now.
They also when they were up to twenty one nothing,
I don't know if they took their foot off the
gas or uh just couldn't keep up the pace because
they were playing at a really efficient level for a
long time. They had three straight three and outs when
(09:06):
they were up twenty one nothing, and that allowed the
Falcons to get back into the game. They run it
and run in and run it in Atlanta's it's kind
of hard to play against too. And you think that
they're bad, but I mean, I know we're not here
to talk Falcons, but yeah, we're good. We'll run with
see if that's one of the problem. I mean, that's
one of the only problems with this Bucks team. They're
running game is really poor, and they've basically abandoned it
the last two weeks, like it would have been useful
(09:27):
being up twenty one, nothing to hand it, stick it
in four nets, belly over and over. They don't get
any hardage really on the ground, and I don't see
many holes or many tactics from the Steelers perspective, But
I would beg them to run it. I mean, I
would stay in two high shells, maybe have lighter personnel
out there. And if the on Monday, you look at
the score, you know, the box score and the Steelers
(09:48):
run defense is terrible. For NET ran for one forty, Yeah,
but they might only score seventeen points that way, you
know what I mean. Make them do things that they
don't love to do. Yeah. For net got off to
a great start the seria of the yards against the
Cowboys in the opener. The next three games only nine
seven uh combined yards. When when Tampa lost to Cincinnati
(10:09):
six carries for three yuards on the ground Kansas City
and that's when Brady just said, I'm not paying it
off anymore complete non existent Russia game. Then for Nette
had fifty six on the ground against Atlanta, but again
eighty three more through the air, including a touchdown reception
the other back for Shod White. He's really a receiver, yeah,
(10:29):
but an energetic guy that that that gives him some
juice and he's a different he's a compliment to for Nett.
He's getting a lot more. He's getting more and more
playing time, earning Brady's trusted. They're still looking for the
third option in the passing game. Uh, they've got Mike Evans. Uh,
they've got Chris Godwin and with no Rob Gronkowski, um,
the one tight end Christian break miss last Sunday with
(10:52):
a concussion. He seems to be trending toward playing against
the Steelers. But uh, they'll move it around and who's
ever opened again still in the circumstances will get the ball. Uh.
Brady's not afraid to try guys who haven't done a
lot necessarily prior to that. If if the play dictates
that they should get it, they should get they get it. Yeah.
(11:13):
Scotty Miller four catches all season in the first four games,
four against the Falcons. I mean, I think they'd love
Gauge or Julio to be that third guy. They don't
have the Gronk. They don't have the A B that
he's had there, like the bonus prize, you know, the
one that the cherry on top type of dude. You
mentioned Bret. He's fine. He's just a guy though. I mean,
(11:33):
he's not a special player. The rookie ott and played
a ton this past week and did some good things. Yeah,
it's a rookie tight end, um, but I do think
and the other the other note I wanted to make
two is Godwin is a a wonderful player. He's a
big power slot and he's a physical guy. He'll block.
But he's coming off a really serious knee injury last year.
(11:54):
He's on the injury list for three different things. Rest,
knee and something something and U hip. Okay, And if
you notice the second half of that Falcons game, he
was hardly on the field, you know. So they might
be looking for a to let alone three. You mentioned
their line, they'll probably find their lines different. They lost
their center Ryan Jensen on the second day of training camp.
(12:15):
Horrific injury. Uh. They lost Ali Marpett, who retired early
and he was a small school guy. That was such
a good story. And then Alex Cappa went to the
Bengals in free agency. So left center right is Luke Ettick,
a rookie, and Robert Hainsey, Pittsburgh guy, second of your
(12:35):
guy at a notre name is the center, and then
Shack Mason, Brady's old buddy from New England. I was
shocked they were able to trade for Shack Mason as
cheap as they were. But I think that's a vulnerable
area and that may be uh an area that Steelers
can attect defensively. This is uh a little quick on
the in the interior line, I forget. I said this
(12:55):
today on a Steelers Live video that Cam Hayward needs
be the best player on the field and dominate that
inside as an interior pass rusher. I know Brady doesn't
have any noticeable holes, but in the interior pass rush
has been his least favorite thing for the last couple
of decades. You know. Defensively, it looks the part we
(13:18):
mentioned Hicks hasn't been playing, but everybody else has been
good to go. But a hundred and eighty nine rushing
yards allowed against the Chiefs, who aren't exactly the Falcon
in Kansas City now, but that was the most rushing
yards in the four years Todd Bowles has been in
Tampa three as the defensive coordinator and this year is
the head coach. And then Atlanta stuck it to him
(13:40):
as well. Not part of that was persistence and volume,
but the Falcons thirty one carries for a hundred and
fifty one yards on the ground, and Matt other than
Marcus Mariota, the three running backs who ran the ball
entered that game with a combined forty one career NFL carries,
so they had nobody established right and they ran in anyway. Yeah,
(14:02):
I meant on a week when you would have figured
Tampa's number one priority would have been clean up the
problems against the run, and I was fortunate enough Todd
Bowls their head coach. Defensive minded guy was one of
our secondary coaches the year I was with the Browns
and he was back then it was up and coming,
bright new coach, and I've always paid more attention. I
had great respect for him. His run defenses though as
(14:24):
decordinator head coach anywhere, are always like number one in
the league. You know, so I'm not saying they're vulnerable.
I think it's too not so great matchups, but that's
something they stress a great deal and Vitave as the
whole key to it. They used to have Sue, now
they have the dude that's been hurt from the Bears.
We just keeam Hicks. They're massive human beings. So they're
(14:46):
a little bit short next to via Vea, right, and
is not your old school nose teps look like Hampton
or will for Worker, you know, right, I mean he
looks like him, but he's not a one down player.
He's like, yeah, he's not. He brushes the passer. He
plays about sixty something percent of the snaps. I mean
he's an athletic sixty pounds or whatever. He is. It's
(15:07):
massive and can run. You don't ever take him out.
Real problem in the middle. Uh So, I guess the
conclusions we've come to here in the opening segment. You
can get to Brady if you can pressure Brady. You
can you can if you get there before, and you
can maybe run the ball on tamp except two things
(15:28):
that Steelers have not done. Pressure of the quarterback and
run the football. Yeah, I mean historically you can't run
on Tampa the last two weeks, people have by no
means am I implying the Steelers can or will in
their current state. The Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank reminds
you to sack hunger, get food, volunteer or donate at
(15:50):
Pittsburgh Food Bank dot org. We are just getting started
here on the preview. When we come back, we'll be
joined by Merril Hodge. I want to talk about that
aforementioned Steelers inability to run the ball and what is
up with nausey Harris, Because, boy, if you ever needed
a game at where you give it to your factor
back and just say, hey, we're gonna control the clock,
control the tempo, you're gonna tote it about thirty times
(16:12):
for a buck ninety, this would be the game. But
I don't know that a reasonable explanation. We'll see what
Meryl thinks about that. We're gonna be here until eight
o'clock tonight, So keep it here with Matt Williamson on
Mike Pursuit of you're listening to Steelers preview right here
on your Steelers flagship one or two point five d
V and S n R. Back to the Steelers preview
(16:34):
show presented by Univet on dv E. Welcome back to
the Preview. Mike Pursuita and Matt Williamson with you till
eight o'clock tonight right here on the Flagship and on
s n R, getting you ready for the Steelers and
the Buccaneers Sunday at Actresshire Stadium. Agains Chat is the
Steelers predictive and trivia game. Answer questions, make picks and
win prizes. Play on your own against Steeler Nation or
(16:56):
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group and compete against family and friends. You can play
ins Chat exclusively in the Steeler's official mobile app. Matt.
The question of the Week this week Kenny pick at
passing yards over under two eight three and a half
pretty large number. I'm gonna go under. I'm expecting a
(17:19):
good day from him, but I think that's a pretty
large number. I'm gonna go over because it's gonna play
out like the Buffalo game. They're gonna be behind, and
they're gonna be throwing it every down in the second half.
And he likes to find George Pickensteep so he's going
north to that. This week's prize is a signed Kenny
Pickett Football Time Now to welcome the third member of
our crew to the show, Meryl Hodge, joining us. Meryll,
(17:40):
how's it going tonight, Oh boys, man, Cassie over under
U number two eight three and a half. What do
you think happen there that makes it really sticky? That
so it doesn't tie? Well, listen, listen, at the end
of the day, do you want your rookie quarter acting
(18:00):
at fifty five times and you're running at seventeen? That's
that's not a recipe for success, to be honest with you.
Anticipating success, Um, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna go
over and more though I think he he will be
every every game he's plays, He's just gonna get more
(18:21):
comfortable and more seasoned and seasons. But I think he
be comes a little more explosive, but honestly as a
as a passer. Um, So I'll go over. So Meryl,
with with this state of the running running situation, what
kind of run pass ratio would you like? You know,
I mean it's kind of staying there too. I can
(18:42):
say I can say this that I you know, here
here's my ultimate belief and some of the best way
to throw the football. UM every quarterback card Honestly, if
I mean, if I thought use Bill Belichick. UM, when
Tom through Tom Brady's entire career, if they ever ran
(19:02):
into a rut you know, or got in trouble, you know,
lost one or two, Um, they reset themselves with two things.
They came out in two tight ends. They ran the
football and then they threw hard run action off of that.
And when I say run action, see you know, most
people just say play action, and there's there's actually there's
play action, and that is when the quarterback running back,
(19:26):
and you can throw a wide receiver in there. They
may do something in the backfield, you know, a ball
faking hand and off faking stuff with off the lines
like pass blocking. That's play action. Run action is when
the offitive line comes off the ball, they look like
they're running at your quarterback sells it, your runner sells it,
and then he pulls the ball and he throws from that.
(19:46):
And then there's the RPO where we have a run
pass options. So it's like this these three actions. Run
action is I really believe the very best way to
paralyze the box and get explosive to inner neediot place
in the passing game, and it's a much easier way,
clearly more defined for your quarterback. Um, you don't have
(20:07):
to be successful on the football to do that. I
think that is a that is an absolute complete misunderstanding.
But it does help if you can run the football. Um,
it helps even be more effective in that process. So
you know, when you look at a run ratio, I mean, um,
I'd love it to be at best, but more run
(20:33):
forty five pass initially. That means if I can do that, though,
you gotta realize I'm controlling the game. If I can
create that ratio, I'm controlling the game. When you say
passes and seventeen runs, did you tell me that number
right away? I'm gonna go, well, something that something wasn't
going right. Something Plasson is going right, and they weren't
control of that game. So, UM, I just you know,
(20:56):
I watched all of you don't just watched the Steeler offense.
I watched the entire league, and so you see the
things that are truly effective. I'll tell you this. Miami,
well Miami had gone before two left. Is their overall
run design, their misdirection and how they had run with
the football and then throw off of it. I'm telling
(21:16):
you it was is one of the most difficultive Yes,
as a defender, you know, you know, I read in
the league you're called football. For a couple of years
with Mike Sherman, you had a lot of a lot
of NFL coaches on that most staffs, I mean experienced guys,
you know. Years. Kirk Shotheim was my defensive coordinates and
we would argue almost every day about run at hard
(21:38):
run action. He would be, um, I gonna listen. All
I gotta do is paralyze you for a second, and um,
I got you, I got voids, or I can get
expensive play on you. I go and I was hard.
We've ever seen it not work well when executed properly.
It's just so hard on the defenders we got in there.
You can't do that right. We're not gonna get fooled
by that. So my first pride that come out and
(22:01):
sell hard run action. Pool linebackers have a dig right
in behind them, you know, and I run a vertical
on the other side. I frount a tumb route combination too,
which is another thing I don't have to send all
five guys out. You know, I could really make this
match protect and get my quarterback, UM comfortable. We can
get explosive plays that way. You know, I just think
it's gotta it could be a big it's it's a
big part of your offense, a chunk of it. Well,
(22:22):
you can be really successful. Um, you get explosive plays.
Yet you help your quarterback, you help your offense. You know,
you're helping offersive line that may be struggling. Speaking of
speaking of offensive lines and design, is what the Steelers
are trying to do a good scheme blocking wise, because
particularly in this Buffalo game, nobody was getting to the
(22:44):
inside linebackers and they were pretty much doing what they
wanted to do. And I think that's the biggest reason
why they couldn't run the ball. Uh, You've got two
more good ones coming up this Sunday in Devon White
and Um I'm blanking on Lavonte Avid. Thank you. The
you know, great defensive line in Tampa that keeps those
(23:05):
guys clean. It's what the Steelers are trying to do
to get to those guys plausible or reasonable, and they're
just not executing it or is the scheme bad. Well, listen,
there's a there's a few things there. Let's let's just
start with I think i'm watching this. I'm watching the
play right now. The inside zone with na it's two doubles.
You've got two double teams, two stag backers. Okay, the
(23:27):
double team where he's targeting Nag is on the right side.
They get the guy doubled, but they don't come off
on the linebacker. Okay, so they they actually destroy the
defensive tackle even though he's holding his own linebacker is
free untouched. The backside guys, they get split by the
defensive tackle and now him and the linebacker make the
(23:48):
tackle for um A no game. So yeah, there's no
I mean, everybody does gast type of bronze. If you
can't successfully on this one player, you know everybody, no,
nobody wins all of them. But this is a bigger
problem that they've had in this game than I had
seen them all year. They really struggle with their consistency
(24:11):
of getting the double team and then who's the right guy.
You know that, you know, five guys have to work
as one, and you know that sounds and I don't
think people can appreciate how complicated that is. You have
to all see it the same way. You have to
have a real feel, you know, if you're doubling with somebody,
you have to you guys have to. We have to
work together so that somebody, once we get movement, takes
(24:33):
this tackle and the other guy gets the linebacker. And
now that at all predicated on where that linebacker goes.
But we got to work together so we don't like
the backside both of them leave for the linebacker and
get they let up because the tackle go So you've
got to get those things done right first, because if
you can't run those things, and everybody runs those if
(24:54):
you can't execute that properly and consistently and win more
of those, and you're gonna struggle. Now, they had some
r pos in this game that were they're very interesting
to me because what how they lined us. So an
r PO is a run pass option. Quarterback is reading
in this particulation defense. Even but what the Bills at
(25:16):
times they would play man coverage and the routes they
were running were hitches. Well, hitches. Then a hitch is
never gonna beat man cover. You're just going up, You're
just going to the guy and cover on yourself what
they did, so you're sure they're not gonna throw it,
which was kind of bizarre because I'm like, well you
should have a man concept after off of that, you know,
(25:37):
I mean, I'm I just canna tell you if you're
gonna run around, we got got a option on it.
I leave the huddle. I don't know what you're gonna
be manners, don't budg you. I know this. If it's
the man, I'm gonna on a different route than if
its own. And they never had anything different. It was
always a hitch was it was tripped side, and all
three ran hitches too. By the way, I mean, you
could do all kinds of you could outside of the vertical.
(25:57):
Inside guy could take the middle to the hash and
then the ins how could do an option route if
it's a man, you know, if you give your quarterback
some option, because what they did because they brought the
eighth defender that you couldn't account for to the weak
side and he's in the backfield unattested when you handed
the ball off. So you know, they did a few times.
At one time the back linebackers stayed out, but was
(26:18):
interesting the linebacker stayed out the first time they got
like a five yard run. Well, the next time they did,
he just moved back into the box then crashed and
he was in the backfield and nobody used to account
for him. Now we always say this as a runner, Listen,
there's somebody you're gonna have to account for, But usually
it's the safety. Once we get past the line, a
momentum going, you start not not on. Yeah, so you
(26:42):
know it's kind of complicated either. There's a lot of things.
There's not just one. You know, are they doing their job?
I mean, you gotta start fundamentally sounded fronts. After what
system you run, you can't get double games, and you
can't work together, and you can't get the second level
guys blocking. You can't do that consistently. Don't care what
system we run. Okay, that's gonna be a problem. And
they consistently had that problem. And then from the scheme
(27:04):
aspect of it, you know, I was just kind of
looking at those r p os and they just didn't
make especially go to the passing if I chose to
pick it, says they Listen, my read is I'm gonna
throw it, Well, what who's gonna throw it to? All
of them are covered. All of them is the six
yard hitch. And they ran right to the defender and
turned around. Well, you're not gonna make that throw. You
(27:29):
gotta hand the ball off and you're handing it to
the weak side where you don't have a h You
don't have anybody to account for that eighth defender and
the bill started to drop him in the box and
make the tackle. They kept him out of the box
at one time and bounced it out um. And then
let me just add one more thing. I seldom saw
nag I do this last year. He's doing it more
(27:50):
now than before. And I don't blame him. It's it's
almost like a yeah, I don't know. It's like a
survival think because I've been there. You start to try
to create things because you don't trust you know. There's
a couple of runs where he jumped out of the
hole and she stayed there because he doesn't trust it.
And and actually those times they were doing a pretty
(28:11):
good job getting movement. If you just stay with it,
we'd much had a much better chance of having success
in the bounce it outside. You know, now you have
no help. And he did a couple of times last year,
but very few. Like I thought he might do it more.
I'm start to see him do a little more, and
I kind of don't blame him. You know, if coach,
you have to, you have to reining back in to listen.
I know it's tough, but we gotta keep We gotta
(28:33):
stay to the point of attack. You can't start creating
things because then you create you you destroyed the structure
on the plane. And when we do it right, you're
sitting there doing your own thing. And then now we
now we haven't done our job. So all of those
things exist. It's not just one. If it was that easy,
just go back. You have you know what you're you're
right guards. It's not playing well, and you got you
(28:54):
got pitt your right yards. You have pixel offense, not
like that. That's not the problem. All those things we
just talked about are part of the issue. Mary, Where
are you now on the non offensive linemen blocking in
the run game? I thought that was a huge problem
last year. Tight ends receivers better good enough for you
at on that? Well, okay, now you know that here's
(29:17):
no problem because I didn't you know, I didn't address that.
You know, um, based on some of the alignments to say,
when you have the tight end flexed, so again you
got got like bond Miller. They're gonna run a suite
play the Bond Miller. Now he's got your left tackle.
The tight end is Gentry. I believe it was. You're
talking about the first play, the first running play of
the game. Second snap they pulled, They pulled Dan Moore,
(29:40):
they pulled, Uh what the fullback and Gentry got beat
inside and the whole thing blew up right away. Right Okay,
So based on a linement, I mean, how's Genter gonna
get how's he gonna blocking something? It ain't gonna work,
just did by you, by your alignment and your split.
A guy like bond Mill, how supposed if he is
(30:01):
up field, it's it's kissing death and you've got no
shot at that. You know. Now you gotta do a
couple of things, you know. I don't know how they
teach these, I know, I just all use my experience.
Like we would say, shoot, if that's the bond Miller's side,
don't get your foot so wide cut it down, you know,
don't because he's gonna shoot the gap. You know, he's
(30:22):
gonna get up field as soon as you get to
the field's gonna knock to cackle off. And then we
got a problem. Yeah, that's all I was asking, is
what they're trying to do plausible or not? Because I
saw that play right away and I thought, boy, that's
a tough, tough assignment for Gentry. But then I thought, hey,
you're in the NFL, kid, it's a big boy leg
you know. Listen, but you can't be you know, listen,
(30:42):
you gotta be realistic. That guy's explosive off the field,
I mean off the screens. He's one of the most
exposive players in history of the game. You know, Let's
not give him a gap so he can just shoot
it and destroy everything. You know, Let's make it, let's
block it different. Then let's you know, move your split down.
Don't don't get him such a big split so that
you can cut him off, you know. And I'm not
(31:05):
so sure. See this is where I get the coach
has all the power, no control. I don't know that
that was told. And then maybe Genter gets too wide.
There's a lot of things that will we don't know
about that scenario. So from me scenario, you just you
gotta put yourself in a position to win, and when
you give a split like that, you have you have
no shot out with the guy like von Miller Marrel.
(31:27):
How would you defend Tom Brady? Matt says, go dimeond
Darrenim to run the ball and at least make amused
clock and shorten the game. I say, blitz him all
the time and try to get him a throw it
sideways to avoid the sack as opposed to being picked apart,
passed by pass. How how would you approach this if
we give you the defensive playbook? Yeah, well I'll tell
(31:50):
you this. If you can get them into a past
happy game, you try to have about a chance. And
they tried trying to think of who they lost to. Uh,
I think it was the Packers. The Packers beat them, Yes,
the Kansas City beat him forty one or something. Yeah, yeah,
so literally the pack one because a little more in
the wheelhouse of um, they they're they're out of you know,
(32:15):
they're out of they're out of out of scent. Like
I was like, wow, I mean you can tell that
Tom was out a scent too, you know, because he's
got he has new players. You know you could tell
that that, you know, um, their rhythm and consistency is
not there. He's still not there. Yeah, they're passing the
game is not really a dangerous You should never say
(32:37):
Tom Brady's not dangerous. He's always dangerous. But they just
lacked the consistency I had seen in the past with them.
And what they did next week they went right back
to the running game, you know, which helped them win
stabilize things. If you can get them where they're not
going to run the ball, you know that that's actually
your better chance to win, to beat them right now
(32:58):
because they are not insane. Um do with the guys
that they have there, Um, it's not like they have
I don't think i've seen them more out of scene
since he's got there, other than maybe the first two
weeks when he was there, and what the New Orleans game,
the first one they had on the road, um so,
and so all of this is can they help you?
(33:20):
You know, like they helped the Green Bay factors. I
don't even know why he chose some sixty times or
whatever they do it because the game was like a
one score game, the entire game, and you're checking it
all over the place. You know, they didn't even try
to run the football with any um any conviction. You
know this interesting the next week they did they changed that.
(33:42):
So and here's that's not gonna happen that they're gonna
if you watch defense right now, you're not gonna sit
there and go regardless of the big places that happened
last week, you're not gonna sit there and say, we're
not gonna try to run the ball on You're gonna
go into Pittsburgh say yeah, let's try to throw five times.
You're like, like, I'd like to run a tickty five
times and see how we can control the game from that.
(34:05):
From that perspective. Um, but they're not. If they're not
the offense they were, their defense makes they have. You
got some problems with the defense. You know their front
seven is staff aggressive and violent. You know they do
see they do some good things. Um, some good things
are from you know they their defense. And you know
(34:27):
you got to now one thing. You know some people
try to run the perimeter on them. And let's see
this rand to the perimeter a little bit against the Bills.
They must have felt that they could do that against
them for whatever reason. Um, I wouldn't try that against Tampa.
That wouldn't be my my focus. Yeah, I'm with you.
Go at them great stuff. Well, hopefully you have a
(34:51):
better frame of reference than thirty eight to three when
we get together next week and uh talk about the
Steelers and the Miami Dolph. Alright, boys, my listen, go Steelers.
Can't lose faith that you gotta keep working at and
getting better. They will. They got they got some good
They got some break spots in the thing that may
not seem like. There were some break spots on both
sides of the ball that you know that that are
(35:13):
good signs for this team. So let's hope that they
can put a few more things together for this week.
Thanks Merril, We'll talk to you next week. Merril Hodge
in his weekly segment, Hey, gear up with the latest
sideline of parel hats or jerseys of your favorite players,
authentic memorabilia, custom items and exclusives you can only find
directly from the team at one of the official Steelers
(35:34):
pro shops located at Accuser Stadium, Grove City, Premium Mountlets,
or Tanger Outlets, or visit us online at shop dot
Steelers dot com. One more segment to go tonight, so
keep it here as we get you ready for the
Steelers and the Buccaneers with Matt Williamson on Mike Pursuit
of This is Steelers Preview right here on your Steelers
flagship one or two point five d V and s
(35:54):
n R. Back to the Steelers Preview show presented by
Univet on DV. Steelers Preview is indeed presented to you
by Uni Bet. The only thing better than a Steelers
win is a Steelers Winn's page. Double down on your
Team with Uni Bet, proud partner of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Welcome back to the preview, Mike pursued It and Matt
(36:14):
Williamson with you until eight o'clock tonight. And if you
call at the end of our last segment, you heard
Merl Hodge say he actually saw some bright spots. We
spent so much time talking about the not so bright spots.
We didn't get around of those. But Matt one of
the things he might have been thinking about, and I
think one of the things a lot of people cross
Steeler Nation are thinking about. They are starting to get
(36:36):
the ball more consistently to George Pickens, and he's starting
to look like that guy. Uh This according to NFL
research Piket targeting Pickens ten for twelve hundred fifty four yards,
no interceptions and a passer rating of a hundred eighteen
point eight. Yeah, you'll take it. Keep that pace up,
You'll be just fine. I think Pickens is a star
(36:58):
in the making. Um. I like the aunt A Johnson
an awful lot, but I think Pickens is going to
be better. And that in itself with an up and
coming Friar muth and Claypool or whatever. I mean, if
he's your fourth option, so be it, or Austin or whomever.
I think that's a really formidable trio of receivers Friar
Muth on up, you know. And if they can get
(37:18):
Harris going, I have more doubts about that. I worry
about him. This is gonna sound terrible, but this is
how I talk about Benny Snell. I love Benny Snell's
ability to handle a huge workload where a defense down.
But I'm sorry, Benny, I can't give you that many
touches because you're not good enough. I think Harris is
(37:40):
the much much better version of that, and right now
I don't know that I can give him enough touches
to make them to let him do the things that
he does best. I also think when they drafted him,
they saw I love bell like receiver, and I don't
see them doing that at all. That's what I'm critical
the coaching staff. Detach them they I mean, you've been
at practice. They were in aids to him at the
goal line. He has a huge catching radius. I mean
(38:03):
they used to run receiver routes with Belle. They're not
using him into his capacity in the passing game. See
that part. I don't mind so much because you know,
last year he had a zillion touches and took such
a pounding and one of the objectives this year was
to find a compliment fact that could limit his snaps
(38:24):
and his touches, and Jayla Warrent seems to be that guy. Now.
I think people are getting a little too excited. Uh.
He got some garbage yards against Buffalo, a couple of
a couple of long runs that inflated his totals. I'm
happy with him being the compliment, but I think they
got to get Nagy Harris going. This guy impressed me
so much last year. He worked so hard just to
get back to the line of scripts. He was so
(38:45):
dedicated to the cause, and they've been cultivating him to
be a leader and uh, you know, to make him
a captain this year, and everything seemed would be full
speed ahead going into this season. I agree with Meryl.
I think the biggest problem is he's he looks to
me like the equivalent of a quarterback that's a little
gun shy because he's gotten popped too much. And how
do you get a guy past that that's tough? I mean,
(39:07):
I think he has a mental makeup to get past it.
The leadership, the toughness, all the intangibles, none of that
worried me at all about Harris Um. I think. I
hate to say this, I think there's a reason he
didn't run a forty coming out of Obama. I don't
think he's particularly fast or explosive on his best day.
Is there still a foot thing? He added some weight
for those only like four pounds. I mean, I'm reaching
(39:28):
a little bit on that one. But I saw a
great burst last year. But we saw him make people miss,
and we saw him run people over, and we saw
him do elite running back things. I don't think he's
an elite running back right now? Yeah, right now? No,
I have not seen them yet this year. But I'm
not ready to give up on him. But I don't
(39:49):
have the answer to get him going other than I
hate to keep throwing it back to the offensive line.
I think that's uh low hanging fruit sometimes when they're struggling.
But I'll also agree with Meryl that was their worst game.
We had talked with Craig Willfully. I think it was
the pregame show before the Jets game and how they
were figuring out the double team and the rushing totals
had been gradually increasing, and they were they were figuring
(40:11):
out when to get off the double team and go
get the next guy. Early on they were they were
bailing too soon or too early, too too late. Now
now they're bailing too late. It looks like those backers
are just I mean, if you let Lavonte, David and
Devil White do whatever they want right, you could have
a long day. I mean, maryl gave a great example
of two double teams and they're supposed to both go
(40:33):
to the second level duo. Well, they blocked one guy
with four on not playing, you know what I mean,
one guy split the double team, the other two got
the other guy got blocked and you know, you use
four big blockers on one guy basically, and and it
happened a lot. And uh, you know what might this
look like, particularly with Pickett and his ability to play
action boot if you like all that, If you can
(40:54):
never get the running game, that that it's a uh.
I guess the search continues. Um. Does Meryl likes to
talk about never underestimate and up a professional? Excuse me,
who's been embarrassed? You couldn't be more embarrassed than the
Steelers were at Buffalo. Uh? Are you expecting a bounce back?
(41:15):
Or is this just another game where they don't match
up well and they're they're just not in these guys
class yet. I don't think they're in their class. Um.
I wish I had a better feel for the Steelers injuries.
I might avoiding your conversations. The conversation completely defensive access.
If if none of the top three corners go, I
think they have no chance against this quarterback. If they're
(41:37):
close to full health, I expect a competitive game and
a loss. And more important than anything, and we haven't
talked about enough. I think pick It's gonna be good
and was good against Buffalo, and we'll look good against
a very difficult defense to play against. It blitz is
like crazy in Tampa. That's gonna do it for this
week's edition of the Steelers Wrap Up, and I'm I'm
(42:00):
gonna remind every one more time your point about. Hey,
there's a lot of football to be played after the bye.
That's that's gonna matter as well. But I think they're
still in the middle of a tough slog here. Uh.
Thanks thanks to Merril Hodges for joining us as he
always does. Thanks to Shirtless Tom behind the glass filling
in for you Jake this week in keeping us on
(42:21):
the air. Matt, thanks for doing this again. We'll we'll
do her again next week before the Steelers and the
Miami Dolphins. Until then, thank you for finding us, however
and wherever you found us until next week. For Matt
Williamson on Mike PURSUITA. This has been Steelers preview right
here on you steal the flagship one or two point
(42:43):
five d V and S n R. Good night, everybody,
This is the Steelers Preview Show on w d V Pittsburgh,
presented by UNI Bet. The only thing better than a
Steelers win is the Steelers win that pays double down
on your team. With UNI Bet, proud partner of the
Pittsburgh Steelers. Here are your hosts, Mike Pursuita, Matt Williamson,
and Meryl Hodge. Good evening and welcome to another edition
of Steelers Preview. Mike Pursuita along with Matt Williamson, we
(00:25):
will be joined tonight by the third member of our team,
Meryl Hodge, and we will be doing our best to
assess the wreckage of Bill's thirty eight Steelers three and
get you ready for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Tom
Brady invading Actresser Stadium on Sunday. Matt, you've worked with
me for a while now, you know I'm a pretty
big pop culture guy, and I was expecting a tough
(00:49):
going buffalo. I think we we set a tone for
that last Thursday, but I was not expecting thirty eight
to three and uh in the immediate aftermath of that,
while Mike Tomlin was thing, we got smashed three times
in the first three responses to questions, and while Arthur
Millette was flipping out in the locker room a little bit,
I kept getting a visual in my head. Uh, you're
(01:12):
familiar with the movie stripes, very specifically the opening where
Bill Murray loses his job, gets his car repossessed, and
then his girlfriend walks out. And after all that happens
in the space of about five minutes, he kind of
looks around and says, and then depression said exactly, this
is pretty depressing. It's pretty depressing. You know, I can't
(01:33):
paint with any other type of brush. Well, the brush
I was painting with last week at this time was
folks hanging there. This stretch is gonna be difficult, tough love,
We're gonna learn stuff, You're gonna hit the bye and
then after that it's going to be a different team.
I still sort of believe that. Um. I certainly believe
(01:53):
in the quarterback, in the new receiver, and there's some
some things to build off of. But I didn't expect
to get smashed like that. I mean, that was it
could have been much worse too. Yeah, I'm I'm with
you on the you know, the second half of the season,
half half the post by part of the season can
be much different to schedule softens up a little bit.
(02:13):
Although this just in Atlanta is no joke. No, no,
you just penciled watching Atlanta play Tampa last Sunday with
the critical when they're down twenty one nothing they run uh.
And then also complicating matters uh, the injury report practice
uh Uh. Camp Sutton did not practice. A Kello Weatherspoon
(02:37):
did not practice. Levi Wallace limited practice, Making Fitzpatrick did
not practice. There's basically your secondary, that's four fifths of
your nickel package. And here comes Tom Brady for the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Uh. There sheet last longer than one page.
Starting safety Mike Edwards elbow limited today. Wide receiver Risk
(03:00):
Godwin hip slash, knee slash rest did not participate. Defensive
lineman a chem Hicks foot didn't participate. He's missed three
straight games. Wide receiver Julio Jones. I don't know if
they're gonna factor him in or not. I don't know
what he has left, but it's a Recognizabuni did not participate.
He's missed. Uh. He's only played in two games and
(03:20):
he's just the Atlantic game. Cornerback Sean Murphy bunting quad.
He's one of their subpackage guys. He didn't participate today
and left tackle Donovan Smith elbow limited. But boy, watching
Brady against Atlanta quick before we do, I mean that
that injury reports. I'm sure a lot of those names
(03:40):
aren't household names to people, but those are a lot
of snaps for Tampa Bay on the jury report right now.
Basically starters there there, dudes. But the problem is Tom
Brady's healthy and get well. I wasn't sure what I
was gonna see when I watched that tape, and I'll
say this, He's not perfect. He early in the game
(04:02):
he threw a pick that they dropped the Falcons. He
had a couple other near picks. If you can get
him to throw off his back foot, if you can
collapse the pocket on him, he's mortal and he'll make
some bad throws and some inaccurate throws. But boy, when
he gets in a rhythm as he did in that
second quarter, it's just zip, zip, zip, and it's going
all over the place. Uh. He will be more than
happy to take the check down rather than take a hit.
(04:24):
Leonard for Nett, he's been in the lake six years
now he had a career high ten catches on eleven
targets and eighty three receiving yards, which are big yards. Uh.
Brady will go to Mike Evans when he feels like it,
whether he's covered or not. If it's one on one,
he's taking the shot. If it's Uh, if it's one
on two and he still feels like a deep shot
is in order, he'll take it the rest of the time.
(04:45):
Just distribute where it should go, and it's on time
and it's accurate, and they get yards after the catch
and uh, when they're humming, they're really smooth man. Absolutely.
And the first three weeks of the season were problematic
for their offense. A ton of receiver injuries, totally reshuffled
offensive line and my hunches. Tom just went to the
coaching staff and says, I'll take care of the offense.
(05:07):
And he throws it fifty two times the last game,
fifty two times the time before creates wins that way.
His mind is is computer sound. I mean, it's a
computer back there, and it's flawless, and it's as sharp
as it's ever been. Maybe his feet and arm fail
him a little more now than they did, but He's
still delivers of football. As you said on time in
(05:30):
the exact design of the play, extremely accurate. And you know,
people remember Ben last year and we harped on these
numbers of fastest time out of your hands, and Brady
is the fastest time I have his hands this year.
He was second fastest last year. But it's not because
he's throwing one yard or is either you know, it's
going down the field. What to expect is brought to
(05:53):
you by Brian Patton and associates. It's all about the benefits.
I expect Tom Brady to be really good because the
Steelers have struggled to mount any kind of pass rush
without t. J. Watt. And if Brady's got time and
he can sit back there in the pocket on his
spot and dictate, he's going to I mean, what do
you think he's doing right now? I think he's looking
at the corners he might be playing against and say,
(06:15):
I'll throw it him. I'll throw it him, I'll throw
it him. I'll give you some more pop culture. If
you seen Once Once upon a Time in Hollywood many
times GROLs. I like it better every time I watch it.
I think it's Tarantino's best film, The Dicaprios, when they're
watching the FBI and he's got the beer and he
points at the TV. I think, Brady, I can throw
on that guy. I can throw on that guy. I
(06:35):
can throw on that guy. There's Waldo, there's Waldo. That
guy's got a target on his chest. I don't know
what else to say that then, Man, this is a
daunting challenge to to keep these guys in check because
the secondari's depleted. You know, if these guys are gonna
play or to what, to what degree of full capacity?
If they do play, uh, they're gonna be diminished. And
(06:55):
and Tom Brady we talked about this a lot during
our draftwork stuff on Steelers dot Com and SNR and
wherever we happen to show up. But you gotta be
a running quarterback now, in a mobile quarterback, unless you
have so much experience, I could just anticipate everything and
beat him to the punch. And Tom Brady can beat
(07:15):
you to the punch, right. I mean, if your minds
a supercomputer, you don't have to have the other things.
Because very smart coaches design plays at work and when
you run them properly and taken even to the next level.
You're you're gonna carve up just about any defense, and
I'm sure he's also looking at the Steeler defense going
I could maybe pat the ball in the pocket a
little longer. I don't have to have the fastest time
(07:36):
to throw and really hit Evans downfield or whomever. Um
Brady's career is obviously amazing, but he's had a ton
of success you mentioned for net targeting backs out of
the backfield. He always has a pass catching back and
then they drafted this for shod White for that or
a Gronkowski like tight end. I don't think he's gonna
shy away from the Steelers linebackers and coverage. I mean,
I have no doubt about that. And your point earlier,
(07:59):
he's very be too, you know, death by a thousand
paper cut you. I mean, he doesn't some of these
young guys, the Allen's, the Mahomes, they get a little
worked up and just won't dump it, dump it, dump it.
Brady doesn't care how he beaches as long as he does.
I'm checking my notes here and I wrote down an
unspectacular passing yards Right as you watched the game, you
(08:23):
didn't feel like he's lightening it up. What to throw
that was, but but he lit it up. And you know,
they weren't ninety yards the game, Davis. You know, at
the end of the day, the numbers are there. And uh.
One of the things that the Buccaneers were able to
get going against the Falcons, which they had not previously,
you mentioned they had a lot of offensive complications. First
three weeks were a little rough early in the season.
(08:44):
They had five ten play plus drives in their first
four games. The Buccaneers had five of those against the Falcons.
They really got they got the grind game go now.
They also when they were up to twenty one nothing,
I don't know if they took their foot off the
gas or uh just couldn't keep up the pace because
they were playing at a really efficient level for a
long time. They had three straight three and outs when
(09:06):
they were up twenty one nothing, and that allowed the
Falcons to get back into the game. They run it
and run in and run it in Atlanta's it's kind
of hard to play against too. And you think that
they're bad, but I mean, I know we're not here
to talk Falcons, but yeah, we're good. We'll run with
see if that's one of the problem. I mean, that's
one of the only problems with this Bucks team. They're
running game is really poor, and they've basically abandoned it
the last two weeks, like it would have been useful
(09:27):
being up twenty one, nothing to hand it, stick it
in four nets, belly over and over. They don't get
any hardage really on the ground, and I don't see
many holes or many tactics from the Steelers perspective, But
I would beg them to run it. I mean, I
would stay in two high shells, maybe have lighter personnel
out there. And if the on Monday, you look at
the score, you know, the box score and the Steelers
(09:48):
run defense is terrible. For NET ran for one forty, Yeah,
but they might only score seventeen points that way, you
know what I mean. Make them do things that they
don't love to do. Yeah. For net got off to
a great start the seria of the yards against the
Cowboys in the opener. The next three games only nine
seven uh combined yards. When when Tampa lost to Cincinnati
(10:09):
six carries for three yuards on the ground Kansas City
and that's when Brady just said, I'm not paying it
off anymore complete non existent Russia game. Then for Nette
had fifty six on the ground against Atlanta, but again
eighty three more through the air, including a touchdown reception
the other back for Shod White. He's really a receiver, yeah,
(10:29):
but an energetic guy that that that gives him some
juice and he's a different he's a compliment to for Nett.
He's getting a lot more. He's getting more and more
playing time, earning Brady's trusted. They're still looking for the
third option in the passing game. Uh, they've got Mike Evans. Uh,
they've got Chris Godwin and with no Rob Gronkowski, um,
the one tight end Christian break miss last Sunday with
(10:52):
a concussion. He seems to be trending toward playing against
the Steelers. But uh, they'll move it around and who's
ever opened again still in the circumstances will get the ball. Uh.
Brady's not afraid to try guys who haven't done a
lot necessarily prior to that. If if the play dictates
that they should get it, they should get they get it. Yeah.
(11:13):
Scotty Miller four catches all season in the first four games,
four against the Falcons. I mean, I think they'd love
Gauge or Julio to be that third guy. They don't
have the Gronk. They don't have the A B that
he's had there, like the bonus prize, you know, the
one that the cherry on top type of dude. You
mentioned Bret. He's fine. He's just a guy though. I mean,
(11:33):
he's not a special player. The rookie ott and played
a ton this past week and did some good things. Yeah,
it's a rookie tight end, um, but I do think
and the other the other note I wanted to make
two is Godwin is a a wonderful player. He's a
big power slot and he's a physical guy. He'll block.
But he's coming off a really serious knee injury last year.
(11:54):
He's on the injury list for three different things. Rest,
knee and something something and U hip. Okay, And if
you notice the second half of that Falcons game, he
was hardly on the field, you know. So they might
be looking for a to let alone three. You mentioned
their line, they'll probably find their lines different. They lost
their center Ryan Jensen on the second day of training camp.
(12:15):
Horrific injury. Uh. They lost Ali Marpett, who retired early
and he was a small school guy. That was such
a good story. And then Alex Cappa went to the
Bengals in free agency. So left center right is Luke Ettick,
a rookie, and Robert Hainsey, Pittsburgh guy, second of your
(12:35):
guy at a notre name is the center, and then
Shack Mason, Brady's old buddy from New England. I was
shocked they were able to trade for Shack Mason as
cheap as they were. But I think that's a vulnerable
area and that may be uh an area that Steelers
can attect defensively. This is uh a little quick on
the in the interior line, I forget. I said this
(12:55):
today on a Steelers Live video that Cam Hayward needs
be the best player on the field and dominate that
inside as an interior pass rusher. I know Brady doesn't
have any noticeable holes, but in the interior pass rush
has been his least favorite thing for the last couple
of decades. You know. Defensively, it looks the part we
(13:18):
mentioned Hicks hasn't been playing, but everybody else has been
good to go. But a hundred and eighty nine rushing
yards allowed against the Chiefs, who aren't exactly the Falcon
in Kansas City now, but that was the most rushing
yards in the four years Todd Bowles has been in
Tampa three as the defensive coordinator and this year is
the head coach. And then Atlanta stuck it to him
(13:40):
as well. Not part of that was persistence and volume,
but the Falcons thirty one carries for a hundred and
fifty one yards on the ground, and Matt other than
Marcus Mariota, the three running backs who ran the ball
entered that game with a combined forty one career NFL carries,
so they had nobody established right and they ran in anyway. Yeah,
(14:02):
I meant on a week when you would have figured
Tampa's number one priority would have been clean up the
problems against the run, and I was fortunate enough Todd
Bowls their head coach. Defensive minded guy was one of
our secondary coaches the year I was with the Browns
and he was back then it was up and coming,
bright new coach, and I've always paid more attention. I
had great respect for him. His run defenses though as
(14:24):
decordinator head coach anywhere, are always like number one in
the league. You know, so I'm not saying they're vulnerable.
I think it's too not so great matchups, but that's
something they stress a great deal and Vitave as the
whole key to it. They used to have Sue, now
they have the dude that's been hurt from the Bears.
We just keeam Hicks. They're massive human beings. So they're
(14:46):
a little bit short next to via Vea, right, and
is not your old school nose teps look like Hampton
or will for Worker, you know, right, I mean he
looks like him, but he's not a one down player.
He's like, yeah, he's not. He brushes the passer. He
plays about sixty something percent of the snaps. I mean
he's an athletic sixty pounds or whatever. He is. It's
(15:07):
massive and can run. You don't ever take him out.
Real problem in the middle. Uh So, I guess the
conclusions we've come to here in the opening segment. You
can get to Brady if you can pressure Brady. You
can you can if you get there before, and you
can maybe run the ball on tamp except two things
(15:28):
that Steelers have not done. Pressure of the quarterback and
run the football. Yeah, I mean historically you can't run
on Tampa the last two weeks, people have by no
means am I implying the Steelers can or will in
their current state. The Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank reminds
you to sack hunger, get food, volunteer or donate at
(15:50):
Pittsburgh Food Bank dot org. We are just getting started
here on the preview. When we come back, we'll be
joined by Merril Hodge. I want to talk about that
aforementioned Steelers inability to run the ball and what is
up with nausey Harris, Because, boy, if you ever needed
a game at where you give it to your factor
back and just say, hey, we're gonna control the clock,
control the tempo, you're gonna tote it about thirty times
(16:12):
for a buck ninety, this would be the game. But
I don't know that a reasonable explanation. We'll see what
Meryl thinks about that. We're gonna be here until eight
o'clock tonight, So keep it here with Matt Williamson on
Mike Pursuit of you're listening to Steelers preview right here
on your Steelers flagship one or two point five d
V and S n R. Back to the Steelers preview
(16:34):
show presented by Univet on dv E. Welcome back to
the Preview. Mike Pursuita and Matt Williamson with you till
eight o'clock tonight right here on the Flagship and on
s n R, getting you ready for the Steelers and
the Buccaneers Sunday at Actresshire Stadium. Agains Chat is the
Steelers predictive and trivia game. Answer questions, make picks and
win prizes. Play on your own against Steeler Nation or
(16:56):
in our new public group, or play against Steeler Nation
in our new public group, or create your own private
group and compete against family and friends. You can play
ins Chat exclusively in the Steeler's official mobile app. Matt.
The question of the Week this week Kenny pick at
passing yards over under two eight three and a half
pretty large number. I'm gonna go under. I'm expecting a
(17:19):
good day from him, but I think that's a pretty
large number. I'm gonna go over because it's gonna play
out like the Buffalo game. They're gonna be behind, and
they're gonna be throwing it every down in the second half.
And he likes to find George Pickensteep so he's going
north to that. This week's prize is a signed Kenny
Pickett Football Time Now to welcome the third member of
our crew to the show, Meryl Hodge, joining us. Meryll,
(17:40):
how's it going tonight, Oh boys, man, Cassie over under
U number two eight three and a half. What do
you think happen there that makes it really sticky? That
so it doesn't tie? Well, listen, listen, at the end
of the day, do you want your rookie quarter acting
(18:00):
at fifty five times and you're running at seventeen? That's
that's not a recipe for success, to be honest with you.
Anticipating success, Um, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna go
over and more though I think he he will be
every every game he's plays, He's just gonna get more
(18:21):
comfortable and more seasoned and seasons. But I think he
be comes a little more explosive, but honestly as a
as a passer. Um, So I'll go over. So Meryl,
with with this state of the running running situation, what
kind of run pass ratio would you like? You know,
I mean it's kind of staying there too. I can
(18:42):
say I can say this that I you know, here
here's my ultimate belief and some of the best way
to throw the football. UM every quarterback card Honestly, if
I mean, if I thought use Bill Belichick. UM, when
Tom through Tom Brady's entire career, if they ever ran
(19:02):
into a rut you know, or got in trouble, you know,
lost one or two, Um, they reset themselves with two things.
They came out in two tight ends. They ran the
football and then they threw hard run action off of that.
And when I say run action, see you know, most
people just say play action, and there's there's actually there's
play action, and that is when the quarterback running back,
(19:26):
and you can throw a wide receiver in there. They
may do something in the backfield, you know, a ball
faking hand and off faking stuff with off the lines
like pass blocking. That's play action. Run action is when
the offitive line comes off the ball, they look like
they're running at your quarterback sells it, your runner sells it,
and then he pulls the ball and he throws from that.
(19:46):
And then there's the RPO where we have a run
pass options. So it's like this these three actions. Run
action is I really believe the very best way to
paralyze the box and get explosive to inner neediot place
in the passing game, and it's a much easier way,
clearly more defined for your quarterback. Um, you don't have
(20:07):
to be successful on the football to do that. I
think that is a that is an absolute complete misunderstanding.
But it does help if you can run the football. Um,
it helps even be more effective in that process. So
you know, when you look at a run ratio, I mean, um,
I'd love it to be at best, but more run
(20:33):
forty five pass initially. That means if I can do that, though,
you gotta realize I'm controlling the game. If I can
create that ratio, I'm controlling the game. When you say
passes and seventeen runs, did you tell me that number
right away? I'm gonna go, well, something that something wasn't
going right. Something Plasson is going right, and they weren't
control of that game. So, UM, I just you know,
(20:56):
I watched all of you don't just watched the Steeler offense.
I watched the entire league, and so you see the
things that are truly effective. I'll tell you this. Miami,
well Miami had gone before two left. Is their overall
run design, their misdirection and how they had run with
the football and then throw off of it. I'm telling
(21:16):
you it was is one of the most difficultive Yes,
as a defender, you know, you know, I read in
the league you're called football. For a couple of years
with Mike Sherman, you had a lot of a lot
of NFL coaches on that most staffs, I mean experienced guys,
you know. Years. Kirk Shotheim was my defensive coordinates and
we would argue almost every day about run at hard
(21:38):
run action. He would be, um, I gonna listen. All
I gotta do is paralyze you for a second, and um,
I got you, I got voids, or I can get
expensive play on you. I go and I was hard.
We've ever seen it not work well when executed properly.
It's just so hard on the defenders we got in there.
You can't do that right. We're not gonna get fooled
by that. So my first pride that come out and
(22:01):
sell hard run action. Pool linebackers have a dig right
in behind them, you know, and I run a vertical
on the other side. I frount a tumb route combination too,
which is another thing I don't have to send all
five guys out. You know, I could really make this
match protect and get my quarterback, UM comfortable. We can
get explosive plays that way. You know, I just think
it's gotta it could be a big it's it's a
big part of your offense, a chunk of it. Well,
(22:22):
you can be really successful. Um, you get explosive plays.
Yet you help your quarterback, you help your offense. You know,
you're helping offersive line that may be struggling. Speaking of
speaking of offensive lines and design, is what the Steelers
are trying to do a good scheme blocking wise, because
particularly in this Buffalo game, nobody was getting to the
(22:44):
inside linebackers and they were pretty much doing what they
wanted to do. And I think that's the biggest reason
why they couldn't run the ball. Uh, You've got two
more good ones coming up this Sunday in Devon White
and Um I'm blanking on Lavonte Avid. Thank you. The
you know, great defensive line in Tampa that keeps those
(23:05):
guys clean. It's what the Steelers are trying to do
to get to those guys plausible or reasonable, and they're
just not executing it or is the scheme bad. Well, listen,
there's a there's a few things there. Let's let's just
start with I think i'm watching this. I'm watching the
play right now. The inside zone with na it's two doubles.
You've got two double teams, two stag backers. Okay, the
(23:27):
double team where he's targeting Nag is on the right side.
They get the guy doubled, but they don't come off
on the linebacker. Okay, so they they actually destroy the
defensive tackle even though he's holding his own linebacker is
free untouched. The backside guys, they get split by the
defensive tackle and now him and the linebacker make the
(23:48):
tackle for um A no game. So yeah, there's no
I mean, everybody does gast type of bronze. If you
can't successfully on this one player, you know everybody, no,
nobody wins all of them. But this is a bigger
problem that they've had in this game than I had
seen them all year. They really struggle with their consistency
(24:11):
of getting the double team and then who's the right guy.
You know that, you know, five guys have to work
as one, and you know that sounds and I don't
think people can appreciate how complicated that is. You have
to all see it the same way. You have to
have a real feel, you know, if you're doubling with somebody,
you have to you guys have to. We have to
work together so that somebody, once we get movement, takes
(24:33):
this tackle and the other guy gets the linebacker. And
now that at all predicated on where that linebacker goes.
But we got to work together so we don't like
the backside both of them leave for the linebacker and
get they let up because the tackle go So you've
got to get those things done right first, because if
you can't run those things, and everybody runs those if
(24:54):
you can't execute that properly and consistently and win more
of those, and you're gonna struggle. Now, they had some
r pos in this game that were they're very interesting
to me because what how they lined us. So an
r PO is a run pass option. Quarterback is reading
in this particulation defense. Even but what the Bills at
(25:16):
times they would play man coverage and the routes they
were running were hitches. Well, hitches. Then a hitch is
never gonna beat man cover. You're just going up, You're
just going to the guy and cover on yourself what
they did, so you're sure they're not gonna throw it,
which was kind of bizarre because I'm like, well you
should have a man concept after off of that, you know,
(25:37):
I mean, I'm I just canna tell you if you're
gonna run around, we got got a option on it.
I leave the huddle. I don't know what you're gonna
be manners, don't budg you. I know this. If it's
the man, I'm gonna on a different route than if
its own. And they never had anything different. It was
always a hitch was it was tripped side, and all
three ran hitches too. By the way, I mean, you
could do all kinds of you could outside of the vertical.
(25:57):
Inside guy could take the middle to the hash and
then the ins how could do an option route if
it's a man, you know, if you give your quarterback
some option, because what they did because they brought the
eighth defender that you couldn't account for to the weak
side and he's in the backfield unattested when you handed
the ball off. So you know, they did a few times.
At one time the back linebackers stayed out, but was
(26:18):
interesting the linebacker stayed out the first time they got
like a five yard run. Well, the next time they did,
he just moved back into the box then crashed and
he was in the backfield and nobody used to account
for him. Now we always say this as a runner, Listen,
there's somebody you're gonna have to account for, But usually
it's the safety. Once we get past the line, a
momentum going, you start not not on. Yeah, so you
(26:42):
know it's kind of complicated either. There's a lot of things.
There's not just one. You know, are they doing their job?
I mean, you gotta start fundamentally sounded fronts. After what
system you run, you can't get double games, and you
can't work together, and you can't get the second level
guys blocking. You can't do that consistently. Don't care what
system we run. Okay, that's gonna be a problem. And
they consistently had that problem. And then from the scheme
(27:04):
aspect of it, you know, I was just kind of
looking at those r p os and they just didn't
make especially go to the passing if I chose to
pick it, says they Listen, my read is I'm gonna
throw it, Well, what who's gonna throw it to? All
of them are covered. All of them is the six
yard hitch. And they ran right to the defender and
turned around. Well, you're not gonna make that throw. You
(27:29):
gotta hand the ball off and you're handing it to
the weak side where you don't have a h You
don't have anybody to account for that eighth defender and
the bill started to drop him in the box and
make the tackle. They kept him out of the box
at one time and bounced it out um. And then
let me just add one more thing. I seldom saw
nag I do this last year. He's doing it more
(27:50):
now than before. And I don't blame him. It's it's
almost like a yeah, I don't know. It's like a
survival think because I've been there. You start to try
to create things because you don't trust you know. There's
a couple of runs where he jumped out of the
hole and she stayed there because he doesn't trust it.
And and actually those times they were doing a pretty
(28:11):
good job getting movement. If you just stay with it,
we'd much had a much better chance of having success
in the bounce it outside. You know, now you have
no help. And he did a couple of times last year,
but very few. Like I thought he might do it more.
I'm start to see him do a little more, and
I kind of don't blame him. You know, if coach,
you have to, you have to reining back in to listen.
I know it's tough, but we gotta keep We gotta
(28:33):
stay to the point of attack. You can't start creating
things because then you create you you destroyed the structure
on the plane. And when we do it right, you're
sitting there doing your own thing. And then now we
now we haven't done our job. So all of those
things exist. It's not just one. If it was that easy,
just go back. You have you know what you're you're
right guards. It's not playing well, and you got you
(28:54):
got pitt your right yards. You have pixel offense, not
like that. That's not the problem. All those things we
just talked about are part of the issue. Mary, Where
are you now on the non offensive linemen blocking in
the run game? I thought that was a huge problem
last year. Tight ends receivers better good enough for you
at on that? Well, okay, now you know that here's
(29:17):
no problem because I didn't you know, I didn't address that.
You know, um, based on some of the alignments to say,
when you have the tight end flexed, so again you
got got like bond Miller. They're gonna run a suite
play the Bond Miller. Now he's got your left tackle.
The tight end is Gentry. I believe it was. You're
talking about the first play, the first running play of
the game. Second snap they pulled, They pulled Dan Moore,
(29:40):
they pulled, Uh what the fullback and Gentry got beat
inside and the whole thing blew up right away. Right Okay,
So based on a linement, I mean, how's Genter gonna
get how's he gonna blocking something? It ain't gonna work,
just did by you, by your alignment and your split.
A guy like bond Mill, how supposed if he is
(30:01):
up field, it's it's kissing death and you've got no
shot at that. You know. Now you gotta do a
couple of things, you know. I don't know how they
teach these, I know, I just all use my experience.
Like we would say, shoot, if that's the bond Miller's side,
don't get your foot so wide cut it down, you know,
don't because he's gonna shoot the gap. You know, he's
(30:22):
gonna get up field as soon as you get to
the field's gonna knock to cackle off. And then we
got a problem. Yeah, that's all I was asking, is
what they're trying to do plausible or not? Because I
saw that play right away and I thought, boy, that's
a tough, tough assignment for Gentry. But then I thought, hey,
you're in the NFL, kid, it's a big boy leg
you know. Listen, but you can't be you know, listen,
(30:42):
you gotta be realistic. That guy's explosive off the field,
I mean off the screens. He's one of the most
exposive players in history of the game. You know, Let's
not give him a gap so he can just shoot
it and destroy everything. You know, Let's make it, let's
block it different. Then let's you know, move your split down.
Don't don't get him such a big split so that
you can cut him off, you know. And I'm not
(31:05):
so sure. See this is where I get the coach
has all the power, no control. I don't know that
that was told. And then maybe Genter gets too wide.
There's a lot of things that will we don't know
about that scenario. So from me scenario, you just you
gotta put yourself in a position to win, and when
you give a split like that, you have you have
no shot out with the guy like von Miller Marrel.
(31:27):
How would you defend Tom Brady? Matt says, go dimeond
Darrenim to run the ball and at least make amused
clock and shorten the game. I say, blitz him all
the time and try to get him a throw it
sideways to avoid the sack as opposed to being picked apart,
passed by pass. How how would you approach this if
we give you the defensive playbook? Yeah, well I'll tell
(31:50):
you this. If you can get them into a past
happy game, you try to have about a chance. And
they tried trying to think of who they lost to. Uh,
I think it was the Packers. The Packers beat them, Yes,
the Kansas City beat him forty one or something. Yeah, yeah,
so literally the pack one because a little more in
the wheelhouse of um, they they're they're out of you know,
(32:15):
they're out of they're out of out of scent. Like
I was like, wow, I mean you can tell that
Tom was out a scent too, you know, because he's
got he has new players. You know you could tell
that that, you know, um, their rhythm and consistency is
not there. He's still not there. Yeah, they're passing the
game is not really a dangerous You should never say
(32:37):
Tom Brady's not dangerous. He's always dangerous. But they just
lacked the consistency I had seen in the past with them.
And what they did next week they went right back
to the running game, you know, which helped them win
stabilize things. If you can get them where they're not
going to run the ball, you know that that's actually
your better chance to win, to beat them right now
(32:58):
because they are not insane. Um do with the guys
that they have there, Um, it's not like they have
I don't think i've seen them more out of scene
since he's got there, other than maybe the first two
weeks when he was there, and what the New Orleans game,
the first one they had on the road, um so,
and so all of this is can they help you?
(33:20):
You know, like they helped the Green Bay factors. I
don't even know why he chose some sixty times or
whatever they do it because the game was like a
one score game, the entire game, and you're checking it
all over the place. You know, they didn't even try
to run the football with any um any conviction. You
know this interesting the next week they did they changed that.
(33:42):
So and here's that's not gonna happen that they're gonna
if you watch defense right now, you're not gonna sit
there and go regardless of the big places that happened
last week, you're not gonna sit there and say, we're
not gonna try to run the ball on You're gonna
go into Pittsburgh say yeah, let's try to throw five times.
You're like, like, I'd like to run a tickty five
times and see how we can control the game from that.
(34:05):
From that perspective. Um, but they're not. If they're not
the offense they were, their defense makes they have. You
got some problems with the defense. You know their front
seven is staff aggressive and violent. You know they do
see they do some good things. Um, some good things
are from you know they their defense. And you know
(34:27):
you got to now one thing. You know some people
try to run the perimeter on them. And let's see
this rand to the perimeter a little bit against the Bills.
They must have felt that they could do that against
them for whatever reason. Um, I wouldn't try that against Tampa.
That wouldn't be my my focus. Yeah, I'm with you.
Go at them great stuff. Well, hopefully you have a
(34:51):
better frame of reference than thirty eight to three when
we get together next week and uh talk about the
Steelers and the Miami Dolph. Alright, boys, my listen, go Steelers.
Can't lose faith that you gotta keep working at and
getting better. They will. They got they got some good
They got some break spots in the thing that may
not seem like. There were some break spots on both
sides of the ball that you know that that are
(35:13):
good signs for this team. So let's hope that they
can put a few more things together for this week.
Thanks Merril, We'll talk to you next week. Merril Hodge
in his weekly segment, Hey, gear up with the latest
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(35:34):
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Steelers dot com. One more segment to go tonight, so
keep it here as we get you ready for the
Steelers and the Buccaneers with Matt Williamson on Mike Pursuit
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(35:54):
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Welcome back to the preview, Mike pursued It and Matt
(36:14):
Williamson with you until eight o'clock tonight. And if you
call at the end of our last segment, you heard
Merl Hodge say he actually saw some bright spots. We
spent so much time talking about the not so bright spots.
We didn't get around of those. But Matt one of
the things he might have been thinking about, and I
think one of the things a lot of people cross
Steeler Nation are thinking about. They are starting to get
(36:36):
the ball more consistently to George Pickens, and he's starting
to look like that guy. Uh This according to NFL
research Piket targeting Pickens ten for twelve hundred fifty four yards,
no interceptions and a passer rating of a hundred eighteen
point eight. Yeah, you'll take it. Keep that pace up,
You'll be just fine. I think Pickens is a star
(36:58):
in the making. Um. I like the aunt A Johnson
an awful lot, but I think Pickens is going to
be better. And that in itself with an up and
coming Friar muth and Claypool or whatever. I mean, if
he's your fourth option, so be it, or Austin or whomever.
I think that's a really formidable trio of receivers Friar
Muth on up, you know. And if they can get
(37:18):
Harris going, I have more doubts about that. I worry
about him. This is gonna sound terrible, but this is
how I talk about Benny Snell. I love Benny Snell's
ability to handle a huge workload where a defense down.
But I'm sorry, Benny, I can't give you that many
touches because you're not good enough. I think Harris is
(37:40):
the much much better version of that, and right now
I don't know that I can give him enough touches
to make them to let him do the things that
he does best. I also think when they drafted him,
they saw I love bell like receiver, and I don't
see them doing that at all. That's what I'm critical
the coaching staff. Detach them they I mean, you've been
at practice. They were in aids to him at the
goal line. He has a huge catching radius. I mean
(38:03):
they used to run receiver routes with Belle. They're not
using him into his capacity in the passing game. See
that part. I don't mind so much because you know,
last year he had a zillion touches and took such
a pounding and one of the objectives this year was
to find a compliment fact that could limit his snaps
(38:24):
and his touches, and Jayla Warrent seems to be that guy. Now.
I think people are getting a little too excited. Uh.
He got some garbage yards against Buffalo, a couple of
a couple of long runs that inflated his totals. I'm
happy with him being the compliment, but I think they
got to get Nagy Harris going. This guy impressed me
so much last year. He worked so hard just to
get back to the line of scripts. He was so
(38:45):
dedicated to the cause, and they've been cultivating him to
be a leader and uh, you know, to make him
a captain this year, and everything seemed would be full
speed ahead going into this season. I agree with Meryl.
I think the biggest problem is he's he looks to
me like the equivalent of a quarterback that's a little
gun shy because he's gotten popped too much. And how
do you get a guy past that that's tough? I mean,
(39:07):
I think he has a mental makeup to get past it.
The leadership, the toughness, all the intangibles, none of that
worried me at all about Harris Um. I think. I
hate to say this, I think there's a reason he
didn't run a forty coming out of Obama. I don't
think he's particularly fast or explosive on his best day.
Is there still a foot thing? He added some weight
for those only like four pounds. I mean, I'm reaching
(39:28):
a little bit on that one. But I saw a
great burst last year. But we saw him make people miss,
and we saw him run people over, and we saw
him do elite running back things. I don't think he's
an elite running back right now? Yeah, right now? No,
I have not seen them yet this year. But I'm
not ready to give up on him. But I don't
(39:49):
have the answer to get him going other than I
hate to keep throwing it back to the offensive line.
I think that's uh low hanging fruit sometimes when they're struggling.
But I'll also agree with Meryl that was their worst game.
We had talked with Craig Willfully. I think it was
the pregame show before the Jets game and how they
were figuring out the double team and the rushing totals
had been gradually increasing, and they were they were figuring
(40:11):
out when to get off the double team and go
get the next guy. Early on they were they were
bailing too soon or too early, too too late. Now
now they're bailing too late. It looks like those backers
are just I mean, if you let Lavonte, David and
Devil White do whatever they want right, you could have
a long day. I mean, maryl gave a great example
of two double teams and they're supposed to both go
(40:33):
to the second level duo. Well, they blocked one guy
with four on not playing, you know what I mean,
one guy split the double team, the other two got
the other guy got blocked and you know, you use
four big blockers on one guy basically, and and it
happened a lot. And uh, you know what might this
look like, particularly with Pickett and his ability to play
action boot if you like all that, If you can
(40:54):
never get the running game, that that it's a uh.
I guess the search continues. Um. Does Meryl likes to
talk about never underestimate and up a professional? Excuse me,
who's been embarrassed? You couldn't be more embarrassed than the
Steelers were at Buffalo. Uh? Are you expecting a bounce back?
(41:15):
Or is this just another game where they don't match
up well and they're they're just not in these guys
class yet. I don't think they're in their class. Um.
I wish I had a better feel for the Steelers injuries.
I might avoiding your conversations. The conversation completely defensive access.
If if none of the top three corners go, I
think they have no chance against this quarterback. If they're
(41:37):
close to full health, I expect a competitive game and
a loss. And more important than anything, and we haven't
talked about enough. I think pick It's gonna be good
and was good against Buffalo, and we'll look good against
a very difficult defense to play against. It blitz is
like crazy in Tampa. That's gonna do it for this
week's edition of the Steelers Wrap Up, and I'm I'm
(42:00):
gonna remind every one more time your point about. Hey,
there's a lot of football to be played after the bye.
That's that's gonna matter as well. But I think they're
still in the middle of a tough slog here. Uh.
Thanks thanks to Merril Hodges for joining us as he
always does. Thanks to Shirtless Tom behind the glass filling
in for you Jake this week in keeping us on
(42:21):
the air. Matt, thanks for doing this again. We'll we'll
do her again next week before the Steelers and the
Miami Dolphins. Until then, thank you for finding us, however
and wherever you found us until next week. For Matt
Williamson on Mike PURSUITA. This has been Steelers preview right
here on you steal the flagship one or two point
(42:43):
five d V and S n R. Good night, everybody,
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