September 23, 2025 • 26 mins
Tom and Matt preview the Steelers upcoming matchup against the Minnesota Vikings in Ireland.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
We got some work to do.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
This is the Advanced Scout with Tom Opperman and Matt Williamson.
Steelers improved to two and one thanks to a twenty
one to fourteen victory in Foxboro, Massachusetts against the Patriots. Matt,
it wasn't the prettiest Steelers win I've ever seen in
my life. I'm sure you feel the exact same way.
(00:22):
But it's nice to go on this seven plus hour
flight across the Atlantic to Ireland with that win in
that two and one record as opposed to the inverse.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
And yes, they have a lot to work on. And
I'll be honest though, I mean I'm not sure what
teams don't. Yeah, I mean, it's just the nature of
the fl you know. I mean we could be very
you know, staring at the Steelers through such a tight
lens that with such little action in the preseason. As
(00:56):
much as coaches and coordinators and players change teams, the
inability to practice like crazy a training camp, it's really
tough for these teams to get to full speed early
in the season. Now that's on excuse. I mean, they
got to run the ball better, They're got to do
a lot of different things better. But I can come
(01:16):
up with pretty big, blaring concerns or areas that need
improved all across the league.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yeah, you know, it's so much now when this September
football happens, that you just need to get the wins,
just stack them anyway possible, you know. I hear so
many people say it's not now when you need to
be rounding into playoff form. It's after Thanksgiving when you
need to be rounding into playoff form. So as long
as you stack the wins now and you have a
chance to be rounding into the playoff form heading into
(01:45):
the playoffs, you're doing your job. And the Steelers are
two for three as far as doing their job in
that aspect so far. Matt, I think it would be
a little dumb for us not to start a podcast
called the Advanced Scout in the obvious spot of you're
flying to another country to play this football game. There's
some obstacles that you have to face there. I mentioned
the flight seven plus hours, the time zone difference, you're
(02:07):
going to be five hours ahead. I mean, you're playing
a game where your bodyclock just four days ago. It's
thinking it's nine to thirty in the morning. So that's
a really weird thing that they have to overcome. And
it's also just going to be a circus. I mean,
you're going over I'm sure you're excited, but it's going
to be a super Bowl esque kind of atmosphere in
the run up to this game.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Yeah, and I don't know how that favors things. I
hope we're not using it as an excuse of boy
they you know on Monday that that's why they lost,
or I mean any of those type of things. I'm
sure even field conditions are a little bit different. Is
this is not built for football. I mean everything about
it is going to be different. I think the bodyclock
(02:49):
thing is gigantic, and I would guess it favors Tomlin
just because of experience. But I really have no clue.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
You just got to harken back to those JV football days, right, Matt,
those Saturday morning JV football games. Tap into that a
little bit, you'll hind.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
But it's about what Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
A very good point. I got a couple of stats
before we get into the series history and the Vikings
preview offensive and defensively that jumped out to me. Uh,
the Steelers have started with a two to one record
with a different starting quarterback in three straight seasons. That
puts them in rare air, Matt, that's just the third
team in the last seventy years to start two and
(03:37):
one are better in three consecutive seasons with a new quarterback.
You know, we've talked you and I, you and everybody,
Me and everybody. There's a lot of problems with communication
in the secondary because there's just a lot of new
players in the secondary. The continuity is not there. Yeah, well,
imagine that at the quarterback position that you know is tripled, quadrupled.
As far as how difficult that can be to overcome
(03:59):
as a team, Steelers have been doing it for three
straight years though.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Yeah, oh yeah. And now two and one isn't the
greatest start you've ever heard, but it's two or one
or better. It is that rare right right right, exactly
exactly right, good point, it's enough said, probably right there.
And the fact that you can start reasonably strong on
the score in the standings with all this different change,
(04:25):
it's pretty rare in NFL history.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Now, the Vikings are Carson Wentz's sixth team in six seasons,
and he's made at least one start for each of
those six teams. He's truly the definition of the journey man.
He's like the new Ryan Fitzpatrick. But there's obviously an
attractiveness to Carson Wentz to some pretty high pedigree coaches.
(04:50):
McVeigh had him in for the Rams, Reid had him
in for the Chiefs, the backup Mahomes, and now O'Connell,
who's the reigning coach of the year, calls him off
the couch and says, Sam, how's cutting it. I need
you to come in and you want a quarterback or
backup quarterback your childhood favorite team. And he obliged. So
there's something to Carson Wentz.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
There is. I mean, we've seen so many in recent
memory former high picks. Now most of them are younger
than Wentz is at this point of his career. You know,
Daniel Jones is leading the Colts to a three to
zero record after you know, some of these guys started
their career poor, you know, bad Daniel Jones, Baker Mayfield,
(05:33):
Sam Darnold, and then they go sit a year in
New Orleans or Minnesota or Baker's case with the Rams.
With McVeigh, you know, like they go to these these powerhouse,
really good offensive minded teams, regroup, take the pressure off
in a really good environment. For Wentz in Minnesota, without
(05:54):
a whole lot of pressure, you know, like, Okay, whatever,
I do, great, but I'm in a good environment with
a really good offensive mind and a lot of those
guys have been pretty successful. So Wentz wasn't asked to
do hardly anything last week. I mean, frankly, I think
Minnesota could have snapped the ball and Wentz could have
threw it into the turf and they still win that
(06:15):
game based off their defensive scores and all that stuff
against Cincinnati. So this will hopefully be much more of
a test for him. He was pretty nondescript in his
first Viking start, but that's exactly what they wanted, you know.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
And then I got one good one bad stat here
as far as the Steelers are concerned, start with the good.
The Steelers have twenty seven points off turnovers and they
have allowed zero zero points so far off of turnovers.
That is the number one points off turnover margin in
the league. And Pittsburgh has the best points off turnover
margin in the league over the last five years. So
you want to talk about consistent, crazy, right, for half
(06:52):
a decade, they've led in such an important category there,
So that's the good. But here's the real bad, Matt,
And this is the stat that I saw in we
go side eye a little bit. Pittsburgh's opponents have racked
up four hundred and seventeen more yards than the Steelers
so far this year. Tennessee, who has allowed opponents four
hundred and fifty four more yards than Tennessee has gained,
(07:13):
is the only team with the worst yardage differential and
just for reference, Minnesota sits at minus ten. That's a
really glaring, ugly stat that the Steelers, hopefully by week fifteen,
have fixed and they're more towards the middle of the
league there.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Yeah, and there's three teams that are just way below
everybody else in yardage differential, and the Steelers are one
of them, but they're two and one, you know, I mean,
Cincinnati happens to be one of them. They're kind of
a weird team. They just face the Vikings and you
mentioned Tennessee who's just flat out bad. But that points
(07:48):
off of turnover statistic is crazy because it's not just
a fluky thing this year, Like you know, people talk
about Tomlins black magic, and how do they pull all
these wins out of their hat despite not winning the
yardage battle. It's because turnovers are more important than yardage.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Before we dive into the Vikings, here's the series history
between these two teams. The Steelers defeated Minnesota in the
first ever meeting in nineteen sixty two, but the Vikings
won the next three matchups. Of the first thirteen times
these teams met between nineteen sixty two and nineteen ninety five,
Minnesota won to eight, but the biggest game, of course,
went in Pittsburgh's favor in the ninth Super Bowl in
NFL history. The Steelers have won four of the last
(08:31):
six matchups, but Minnesota won the most recent game thirty
six to twenty eight in twenty twenty one. It's been
a while since we've seen the Vikings. That brings the
overall taly to ten wins for Minnesota and nine wins
for the Steelers. It is rather surprising that in nearly
sixty NFL seasons that Pittsburgh and the Vikings would have
only met seventeen times during the regular season. The home
(08:51):
team has won the last four meetings in this series.
It's a very rare matchup, very surprising to hear. Minnesota
kind of has the edge significant in the regular season.
But Matt, the only thing that people think about is
that super Bowl win in super Bowl nine.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Yeah, and again it's not a real storied history of
regular season matchups, but I mean super Bowl nine was
the start of it all exactly.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Let's start with the Minnesota defense. That's the side of
the ball that I fear the most of this game.
I think Kevin O'Connell and the Vikings offense is really good.
I'm not sleeping on them, especially with Carson Wentz in there.
It might actually be a little bit of an upgrade.
We'll get to that when we get to the offense, though.
This defense is so for real. Seattle was a really
(09:37):
great defense that we saw a couple of weeks ago. Minnesota,
I think is in that class as well. I'm curious
if you agree, But when we were talking about Seattle,
you said during that podcast, you know there was like
five defense you could just throw up there and say
they could probably be the best defense in the LEGUEO
wouldn't be surprised. Would Minnesota qualifi as that too?
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Yes? Because however, I know we'll talk about this a
little bit more when we get into like the individual matchup,
So we wrap the show up with so much of
what they do is just insanely unorthodox. I mean, like
people remember you do like when Troy Paulamalo would come
to the line of scrimmage and at the snap of
(10:18):
the ball he would fly back into like a cover
two third level of the defense. They do that kind
of stuff just regularly. Y. I mean, they just play differently.
It's so aggressive. Sometimes they blitz like crazy. They're a
real heavy zone team, but you never know where they're dropping,
so you know, I mean, I don't know that they
(10:39):
have wonderful individual players, you know. I mean they have
good players, don't get me wrong, but they're well coached
and well, they're extremely well coached, and they're just extremely
unorthodox and they're smart players that can do a ton
of different things. And that's why I was gonna talk
about the indigo matchup. I mean, Rogers might be able
(10:59):
to handle that better than a rookie quarterback or the
backup for the Bengals last week.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
You know, Yes, I was just gonna say, you might
have the kryptonite for that though. If you're the Steelers
because he has superpowers that can match what the Vikings
are going to throw at him, and he's gonna be
able to swim in those waters where they just ate
Jake Browning alive last week, Matt, I mean, this Vikings
defense forced turnover after turnover, they scored two touchdowns. It
(11:26):
was a really impressive showing from a team that I think.
I think that Son of the Ball also felt like,
you know, our starting quarterbacks out, we need to really
put the onus on us. And boy did they ever.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Absolutely, and I'm sure they're still going to have that approach.
They it was basically over before it got started.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Really, and you're like, wow, that's right. Is that a
typo from CBS? What's going on there? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (11:55):
I mean they didn't run the ball at all against Minnesota.
They took that defense is totally took the game over.
And this is such an interesting and different type unit.
You fear that every week you play the Bikings.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
You know, Pittsburgh's two hundred and forty seven yards per
game is only better than since the and Tennessee and
Minnesota allows two hundred and seventy one point three yards
per game, that is sixth best in the NFL. The
Steelers turn a set of downs into a new set
of downs or a touchdown sixty nine percent of their drives.
Only eight offenses are worse. The Vikings allow a new
(12:29):
set of downs to be achieved or a touchdown to
be achieved at a sixty four percent clip. Only Green
Bay is a better defense. So we saw, you know,
the middle of that game Matt against the Patriots. You know,
first two possessions you score touchdowns, and then you don't
score again until the touchdown on your last possession of
the game. Is the Steelers offense they couldn't convert on
(12:51):
third down, They couldn't move the chains. And now you're
facing a team that's elite at that through three games
so far.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Yeah, and one thing I want to throw into just
so what you were saying before or both these defenses
caused five turnovers last week, you know, so going back
to turnover differential and you know the stuff we were
talking about before. I meant to say that earlier. I
mean five turnover ten turnovers total by these defenses. And yeah,
(13:18):
I mean the statue you said there are very telling
to me of where the Steelers are at right now.
And they've got a lot of work to do.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Now, you mentioned doesn't really have maybe a superstar on
this defensive side of the ball, But there are certainly
some names that people recognize in some serious players. And
let's start with the one that had the biggest game
last week. Isaiah Rodgers scored two defensive touchdowns, one off
an interception and the other on a scoop and score,
and he also forced another fumble, so his impact was
(13:50):
big time for the Vikings. Harrison Smith is the name
everybody knows. He's on the back nine, probably approaching whole
number eighteen when it comes to his career, but he's
still offensive.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
And then you got guys up front, our old buddy,
Javon Hargrave, Jonathan Allen Grenard, and Van Ginkel for outside linebackers.
I like this unit a lot, all up and down
the roster.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
I do. There's not a lot of weaknesses. The linebackers
aren't household names. Maybe you can attack there, and I'd
like to see more from the Steelers tight ends in
general in the past game.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Amen, But yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
But but Ivan Pace is a good player that people
just don't know. They what's interesting to me about the
Vikings is on both sides of the ball. They went
and got all new starting interior linemen. They got a
new guard center guard on offense, and they got two
new defensive tackles on defense. All their big interior people
(14:49):
are new and hard Grave got banged up last week.
I haven't seen what his status is and I don't
know how.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Yeah, so we just don't know on that. But he's
still highly disruptive, as is Allen Grenard is a really
good edge rusher. Ben Dinkle is just like Ben Ginkle
is just like able to do everything. I mean, he's perfect,
perfect flores Chess piece.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Yeah, you know, like I get your kind of hesitation
there when you were trying to label him, because you're like,
what is he? He's got a great name. Yeah, first
of all, it's fun to say, I like seeing Andrew
Van Ginkle, but he's he is all over the place.
Last year, you know, halfway through the season he had
a really strong defensive Player of the Year case. He
had like two pick six's last season, and he had
two sacks last week in their games. So he's a force.
(15:39):
He's a very underrated player as far as that outside
linebacker position.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
One hundred percent and he drops in the coupboage, he
plays the run. They move him all over. I mean,
just a typical flores do everything queen on the chessboard
type of guy.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Let's turn things over to these Steelers or excuse me,
the Vikings offensive side of the all. I mean, it's
an offense that has just an embarrassment of riches when
it comes to weaponry. Maat. It's just about getting the
quarterback right, although it kind of seems like with this
head coach it doesn't seem to matter who the quarterback is.
He just gets the most out of them.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Yeah, I think it's one of the absolute best environments
for i' McCarthy, early first round pick type of player.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
You like your favorite nest.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
It's my favorite nest of the young quarterbacks for sure,
and it's as good as nests as you ever can see.
I mean, Jefferson's already an all time great receiver. Addison returns,
I'm sure you're familiar with his pitwork as well as
Viking work. Hawkinson's role is starting to grow. The O
line is potentially really good. They rebuilt the weakness up
the middle, tackles are strong, great play caller, great developer.
(16:50):
Aaron Jones is out in terms of O'Connell, but Mason's
a real handful in the run game. I mean, it's
not much a receiver. So again, this is a really
good situation. If Weds can turn his career around, it's
probably here.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
And you know, it might be just a little bit
too late for him to turn his career around, but
maybe this could be just one, you know, final thing
for him, a finale for him here in Minnesota and
North Like I mentioned, if they opened the puck as
North Dakota State. Guy was a Viking fan growing up,
so I'm sure this is a dream for him. He
played well against the Bengals. He didn't have to do much.
The defense just pretty much carried him to a victory.
(17:28):
But things are going to be easy for him. O'Connell
is the best that just giving quarterbacks lay up after
layup after layup, and he has so many weapons as
we illustrated to do that with. You know, I don't
want to write off JJ McCarthy just yet, but he
looked it looked really rough. He played one out of
(17:50):
eight quarter as well, and it was a really good quarter.
It won Offensive Player of the Week in the NFC,
just that one quarter in Week one against the Bears,
but things just weren't professional enough for a team that
is ready to win, play football games and get to
the playoffs. Wentz is going to give him that professionalism.
I don't want to call it an upgrade, but I'm
(18:10):
tempted to do that.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
I think I would rather play against McCarthy right now.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
He too, especially in this crazy environment, you know what
I mean?
Speaker 1 (18:19):
And international exactly exactly, And I wonder, I mean, this
isn't Steeler related. They just meet to Bengals. They have
three straight AFC North game. They just meet to Bengals.
They gonna play the Steelers in Ireland and then they
got a short road trip they play the Browns in England.
Right if they win those three, might they not rush
McCarthy back. You know, this is a team that won
(18:40):
fifteen games.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
I think last year they brought kind of that notion
up to O'Connell. I saw and he just like kicked
it right down the road. He's like, I don't have
to answer that right now, So why don't we approach
that when we get to it. Hey, Okay, I think
it's on the table. If Carson as well. And you
know what, Matt, this locker room in Minnesota knows they
can win a lot of football games. So if Wentz
(19:02):
is playing better than McCarthy is in allowing them to
win those football games, it'd be tough sell, you know
what I mean?
Speaker 1 (19:08):
Yeah, And look kind of you make you mention just
a lot of the procedural stuff getting in nowt of
the huddle and the right calls and all that were
a lot for McCarthy right now, you know, So you
can't operate that way.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Justin Jefferson averages ninety five point four receiving yards per
game over his career. Not only is that the most
of all time, but it is four point eight yards
more than Pukin Nakua, who is second all time, and
they are the only two above eighty seven point two
yards per game from Jamar Chase. You mentioned Jordan Addison
is set to return from his three game suspension. He's
(19:42):
a blittant, a cough winner when he was at Pitt.
Jalen Naylor, I think is an underrated piece that they
can use in the offense as well. And now I
like that they have Adam Thielen in her total depth
role with Addison coming back, and I know O'Connell's going
to be creative and splash him every now and again
into things. Hawkinson can't be ignored. I mean, Matt, there's
(20:03):
just so much that they can hit you with. In
the passing game.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Yeah, Hawkinson started very slow and then really came on strong.
And last week's numbers you might as well just throw
the whole fourth quarter out because all the stugger's sitting.
But I mean, I mean they came on. He came
on really strong. Jeff Person, as I said, is truly
an all time great. I mean, he is a spectacular player,
(20:27):
and Addison's dangerous. DeLand is a three. I mean, it's
a good group, and.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
They protect for their quarterback up front. Their offensive line,
you're talking about the nest. I mean, Christian Dearsaw is
a great left tackle. The right tackle, Brian O'Neill, another pitman,
can't go wrong there, so you know he's protecting the quarterback.
Their interior is fine. Center's banged up Ryan Kelly, so
that there's a little bit of an issue that they're
dealing with there. But first round pick in the left guard,
(20:54):
so they invested in that line with a nice fresh
pick there on the interior. I mean, it's just it's
really strong, and I know they've given up a decent
amount of sacks through three games, but I think that's
more of the rookie quarterback being a bit of a
chicken with his head cut off and not really know
one where to go with the football and being on
time as opposed to that O line.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
A thousand percent. And the other thing. It's not a
great time to be playing the Bikes, by the way,
is the Darrisaw came back last week and frankly, he's
probably a top five left tackle. They just gave him
big money. He's a great player and this sounds brutal,
but school I think was his name, sko l E
from what I remember was the backup left tackle.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
It's a fitting name for him, Viking, I know.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
But I can't believe he's in the league. I mean,
he's really bad. I mean, so going from as bad
a left tackle play as he can to top five
left tackle play is again, not the best time to
be playing the Bikes.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
No, it is not. Pittsburgh did't have five sacks in
Week three two by TJ W What now his twenty
six career games with two or more sacks, and Minnesota
has a lot of sack on fourteen point five percent
of dropbacks this year. So that's the unit the TJ
and company will be going up against, trying to get
sacks against Carson Wentz, trying to force turnovers against Carson Wentz.
(22:15):
Jordan Mason ran for one hundred and sixteen of minnesota
Is one hundred and sixty nine rushing yards last week
and he averaged seven point three yards per carry. Didn't
even play in the fourth quarter, Matt because they were
just pounding the Bengals by so much. Aaron Jones is
definitely a tough blow with what he can do in
the passing game, him landing on ir and the Steelers
(22:36):
get a break there missing him. But Jordan Mason is
a very capable back, and you know, as far as that,
you know, early down, down to down type of back,
I think Jordan Mason is who I would prefer handling
the rock to more than Jones at this point in
Jones's career.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Yeah, and they run a lot of outside zone with
a really active offensive line. That's a run play that
is in the Steelers fits. You know, not only this year,
but over the years, and you know everyone's going to
run away from what I mean. That has certainly become
a massive trend against the Steelers too.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
Well, let's get some matchups in before we get out
of here. And Matt, you're not jumping on the plane tonight. No,
that's tomorrow Wednesday, right, You're flying.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
Over to tomorrow, right right, Laura.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Justin Jefferson, let's do that for the Vikings on the
offensive side of the ball versus the Steelers secondary. I
don't know how they're going to deploy their coverage. We
don't know yet if Joey Porter Junior is going to
be available or not, if Ramsey's just going to take Jefferson.
Who knows. It's a tough challenge for even someone like Ramsey.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
It's an awful challenge for anybody. I mean, he's probably
the hardest receiver to cover in the league. I don't
have any insights on how they will scheme it up,
but it would sure be nice to have Porter, especially
because Addison and Thiel and armists any jokes either, you know,
And it would be nice to have Elliott against Hawkinson
and Jefferson will likely get his no matter what I mean,
(24:03):
He's that special. He hasn't run as many routes as
he usually has, they even having had to throw the
ball a ton, and I think that might change them,
especially a Porter and Elliott are out.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
You know, we're gonna go a little unconventional here with
the Steelers offensive side of the ball matchup. We're gonna
go Aaron Rodgers versus Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores. We
talked about how exotic this Vikings defense is and and unconventional.
They're going to throw looks at you that change constantly
before the snap happens. But Rogers might be the kryptonite
(24:39):
to that because it's really hard to throw something at
him that he hasn't seen.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
Yeah, and I bet they actually do throw something at
him he hasn't seen. That doesn't mean he won't know
how to deal with it. Now. It's also great that
your quarterback knows where to go with the football on
the fly and all the stuff that they'll do right
before the snap or at the snap or unorthodox was
a word to use, or you know whatever. We've used
(25:03):
a lot of different words for this defense. And I
worry that not that Rogers is going to get confused
by Flores. But the other ten might you know, they
might have some Rogers chewing people out. Hey, you're supposed
to adjust to this. Blah blah blah blah blah. They're
just an awful defense to prepare for.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Steelers and Vikings in Ireland. Nine to thirty am Here
in Pittsburgh. Matt and I are on the air at
five thirty in the morning for the local coverage starting.
That's going to be a lot of fun for us
to have to go through. Well for me, you're gonna
be in Ireland time, so you're gonna be fine. Split
some g stars while you're out there, right, Matt.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
I heard about that. I just learned about that the
other time.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Oh, I'm so glad you know about it. I'm sure
you're all in on that now. He didn't take much convincing,
did it.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
No, No, I'm in. I'm ready to rock all.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
Right, Steelers not Ireland, like I said, against the Vikings
nine thirty kickoff. That'll do it for us. Formatt Williams
and I am Tom Aferman. This has been another edition
of the Advanced Scout Podcast.
We got some work to do.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
This is the Advanced Scout with Tom Opperman and Matt Williamson.
Steelers improved to two and one thanks to a twenty
one to fourteen victory in Foxboro, Massachusetts against the Patriots. Matt,
it wasn't the prettiest Steelers win I've ever seen in
my life. I'm sure you feel the exact same way.
(00:22):
But it's nice to go on this seven plus hour
flight across the Atlantic to Ireland with that win in
that two and one record as opposed to the inverse.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
And yes, they have a lot to work on. And
I'll be honest though, I mean I'm not sure what
teams don't. Yeah, I mean, it's just the nature of
the fl you know. I mean we could be very
you know, staring at the Steelers through such a tight
lens that with such little action in the preseason. As
(00:56):
much as coaches and coordinators and players change teams, the
inability to practice like crazy a training camp, it's really
tough for these teams to get to full speed early
in the season. Now that's on excuse. I mean, they
got to run the ball better, They're got to do
a lot of different things better. But I can come
(01:16):
up with pretty big, blaring concerns or areas that need
improved all across the league.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yeah, you know, it's so much now when this September
football happens, that you just need to get the wins,
just stack them anyway possible, you know. I hear so
many people say it's not now when you need to
be rounding into playoff form. It's after Thanksgiving when you
need to be rounding into playoff form. So as long
as you stack the wins now and you have a
chance to be rounding into the playoff form heading into
(01:45):
the playoffs, you're doing your job. And the Steelers are
two for three as far as doing their job in
that aspect so far. Matt, I think it would be
a little dumb for us not to start a podcast
called the Advanced Scout in the obvious spot of you're
flying to another country to play this football game. There's
some obstacles that you have to face there. I mentioned
the flight seven plus hours, the time zone difference, you're
(02:07):
going to be five hours ahead. I mean, you're playing
a game where your bodyclock just four days ago. It's
thinking it's nine to thirty in the morning. So that's
a really weird thing that they have to overcome. And
it's also just going to be a circus. I mean,
you're going over I'm sure you're excited, but it's going
to be a super Bowl esque kind of atmosphere in
the run up to this game.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Yeah, and I don't know how that favors things. I
hope we're not using it as an excuse of boy
they you know on Monday that that's why they lost,
or I mean any of those type of things. I'm
sure even field conditions are a little bit different. Is
this is not built for football. I mean everything about
it is going to be different. I think the bodyclock
(02:49):
thing is gigantic, and I would guess it favors Tomlin
just because of experience. But I really have no clue.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
You just got to harken back to those JV football days, right, Matt,
those Saturday morning JV football games. Tap into that a
little bit, you'll hind.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
But it's about what Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
A very good point. I got a couple of stats
before we get into the series history and the Vikings
preview offensive and defensively that jumped out to me. Uh,
the Steelers have started with a two to one record
with a different starting quarterback in three straight seasons. That
puts them in rare air, Matt, that's just the third
team in the last seventy years to start two and
(03:37):
one are better in three consecutive seasons with a new quarterback.
You know, we've talked you and I, you and everybody,
Me and everybody. There's a lot of problems with communication
in the secondary because there's just a lot of new
players in the secondary. The continuity is not there. Yeah, well,
imagine that at the quarterback position that you know is tripled, quadrupled.
As far as how difficult that can be to overcome
(03:59):
as a team, Steelers have been doing it for three
straight years though.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Yeah, oh yeah. And now two and one isn't the
greatest start you've ever heard, but it's two or one
or better. It is that rare right right right, exactly
exactly right, good point, it's enough said, probably right there.
And the fact that you can start reasonably strong on
the score in the standings with all this different change,
(04:25):
it's pretty rare in NFL history.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Now, the Vikings are Carson Wentz's sixth team in six seasons,
and he's made at least one start for each of
those six teams. He's truly the definition of the journey man.
He's like the new Ryan Fitzpatrick. But there's obviously an
attractiveness to Carson Wentz to some pretty high pedigree coaches.
(04:50):
McVeigh had him in for the Rams, Reid had him
in for the Chiefs, the backup Mahomes, and now O'Connell,
who's the reigning coach of the year, calls him off
the couch and says, Sam, how's cutting it. I need
you to come in and you want a quarterback or
backup quarterback your childhood favorite team. And he obliged. So
there's something to Carson Wentz.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
There is. I mean, we've seen so many in recent
memory former high picks. Now most of them are younger
than Wentz is at this point of his career. You know,
Daniel Jones is leading the Colts to a three to
zero record after you know, some of these guys started
their career poor, you know, bad Daniel Jones, Baker Mayfield,
(05:33):
Sam Darnold, and then they go sit a year in
New Orleans or Minnesota or Baker's case with the Rams.
With McVeigh, you know, like they go to these these powerhouse,
really good offensive minded teams, regroup, take the pressure off
in a really good environment. For Wentz in Minnesota, without
(05:54):
a whole lot of pressure, you know, like, Okay, whatever,
I do, great, but I'm in a good environment with
a really good offensive mind and a lot of those
guys have been pretty successful. So Wentz wasn't asked to
do hardly anything last week. I mean, frankly, I think
Minnesota could have snapped the ball and Wentz could have
threw it into the turf and they still win that
(06:15):
game based off their defensive scores and all that stuff
against Cincinnati. So this will hopefully be much more of
a test for him. He was pretty nondescript in his
first Viking start, but that's exactly what they wanted, you know.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
And then I got one good one bad stat here
as far as the Steelers are concerned, start with the good.
The Steelers have twenty seven points off turnovers and they
have allowed zero zero points so far off of turnovers.
That is the number one points off turnover margin in
the league. And Pittsburgh has the best points off turnover
margin in the league over the last five years. So
you want to talk about consistent, crazy, right, for half
(06:52):
a decade, they've led in such an important category there,
So that's the good. But here's the real bad, Matt,
And this is the stat that I saw in we
go side eye a little bit. Pittsburgh's opponents have racked
up four hundred and seventeen more yards than the Steelers
so far this year. Tennessee, who has allowed opponents four
hundred and fifty four more yards than Tennessee has gained,
(07:13):
is the only team with the worst yardage differential and
just for reference, Minnesota sits at minus ten. That's a
really glaring, ugly stat that the Steelers, hopefully by week fifteen,
have fixed and they're more towards the middle of the
league there.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Yeah, and there's three teams that are just way below
everybody else in yardage differential, and the Steelers are one
of them, but they're two and one, you know, I mean,
Cincinnati happens to be one of them. They're kind of
a weird team. They just face the Vikings and you
mentioned Tennessee who's just flat out bad. But that points
(07:48):
off of turnover statistic is crazy because it's not just
a fluky thing this year, Like you know, people talk
about Tomlins black magic, and how do they pull all
these wins out of their hat despite not winning the
yardage battle. It's because turnovers are more important than yardage.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Before we dive into the Vikings, here's the series history
between these two teams. The Steelers defeated Minnesota in the
first ever meeting in nineteen sixty two, but the Vikings
won the next three matchups. Of the first thirteen times
these teams met between nineteen sixty two and nineteen ninety five,
Minnesota won to eight, but the biggest game, of course,
went in Pittsburgh's favor in the ninth Super Bowl in
NFL history. The Steelers have won four of the last
(08:31):
six matchups, but Minnesota won the most recent game thirty
six to twenty eight in twenty twenty one. It's been
a while since we've seen the Vikings. That brings the
overall taly to ten wins for Minnesota and nine wins
for the Steelers. It is rather surprising that in nearly
sixty NFL seasons that Pittsburgh and the Vikings would have
only met seventeen times during the regular season. The home
(08:51):
team has won the last four meetings in this series.
It's a very rare matchup, very surprising to hear. Minnesota
kind of has the edge significant in the regular season.
But Matt, the only thing that people think about is
that super Bowl win in super Bowl nine.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Yeah, and again it's not a real storied history of
regular season matchups, but I mean super Bowl nine was
the start of it all exactly.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Let's start with the Minnesota defense. That's the side of
the ball that I fear the most of this game.
I think Kevin O'Connell and the Vikings offense is really good.
I'm not sleeping on them, especially with Carson Wentz in there.
It might actually be a little bit of an upgrade.
We'll get to that when we get to the offense, though.
This defense is so for real. Seattle was a really
(09:37):
great defense that we saw a couple of weeks ago. Minnesota,
I think is in that class as well. I'm curious
if you agree, But when we were talking about Seattle,
you said during that podcast, you know there was like
five defense you could just throw up there and say
they could probably be the best defense in the LEGUEO
wouldn't be surprised. Would Minnesota qualifi as that too?
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Yes? Because however, I know we'll talk about this a
little bit more when we get into like the individual matchup,
So we wrap the show up with so much of
what they do is just insanely unorthodox. I mean, like
people remember you do like when Troy Paulamalo would come
to the line of scrimmage and at the snap of
(10:18):
the ball he would fly back into like a cover
two third level of the defense. They do that kind
of stuff just regularly. Y. I mean, they just play differently.
It's so aggressive. Sometimes they blitz like crazy. They're a
real heavy zone team, but you never know where they're dropping,
so you know, I mean, I don't know that they
(10:39):
have wonderful individual players, you know. I mean they have
good players, don't get me wrong, but they're well coached
and well, they're extremely well coached, and they're just extremely
unorthodox and they're smart players that can do a ton
of different things. And that's why I was gonna talk
about the indigo matchup. I mean, Rogers might be able
(10:59):
to handle that better than a rookie quarterback or the
backup for the Bengals last week.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
You know, Yes, I was just gonna say, you might
have the kryptonite for that though. If you're the Steelers
because he has superpowers that can match what the Vikings
are going to throw at him, and he's gonna be
able to swim in those waters where they just ate
Jake Browning alive last week, Matt, I mean, this Vikings
defense forced turnover after turnover, they scored two touchdowns. It
(11:26):
was a really impressive showing from a team that I think.
I think that Son of the Ball also felt like,
you know, our starting quarterbacks out, we need to really
put the onus on us. And boy did they ever.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Absolutely, and I'm sure they're still going to have that approach.
They it was basically over before it got started.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Really, and you're like, wow, that's right. Is that a
typo from CBS? What's going on there? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (11:55):
I mean they didn't run the ball at all against Minnesota.
They took that defense is totally took the game over.
And this is such an interesting and different type unit.
You fear that every week you play the Bikings.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
You know, Pittsburgh's two hundred and forty seven yards per
game is only better than since the and Tennessee and
Minnesota allows two hundred and seventy one point three yards
per game, that is sixth best in the NFL. The
Steelers turn a set of downs into a new set
of downs or a touchdown sixty nine percent of their drives.
Only eight offenses are worse. The Vikings allow a new
(12:29):
set of downs to be achieved or a touchdown to
be achieved at a sixty four percent clip. Only Green
Bay is a better defense. So we saw, you know,
the middle of that game Matt against the Patriots. You know,
first two possessions you score touchdowns, and then you don't
score again until the touchdown on your last possession of
the game. Is the Steelers offense they couldn't convert on
(12:51):
third down, They couldn't move the chains. And now you're
facing a team that's elite at that through three games
so far.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Yeah, and one thing I want to throw into just
so what you were saying before or both these defenses
caused five turnovers last week, you know, so going back
to turnover differential and you know the stuff we were
talking about before. I meant to say that earlier. I
mean five turnover ten turnovers total by these defenses. And yeah,
(13:18):
I mean the statue you said there are very telling
to me of where the Steelers are at right now.
And they've got a lot of work to do.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Now, you mentioned doesn't really have maybe a superstar on
this defensive side of the ball, But there are certainly
some names that people recognize in some serious players. And
let's start with the one that had the biggest game
last week. Isaiah Rodgers scored two defensive touchdowns, one off
an interception and the other on a scoop and score,
and he also forced another fumble, so his impact was
(13:50):
big time for the Vikings. Harrison Smith is the name
everybody knows. He's on the back nine, probably approaching whole
number eighteen when it comes to his career, but he's
still offensive.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
And then you got guys up front, our old buddy,
Javon Hargrave, Jonathan Allen Grenard, and Van Ginkel for outside linebackers.
I like this unit a lot, all up and down
the roster.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
I do. There's not a lot of weaknesses. The linebackers
aren't household names. Maybe you can attack there, and I'd
like to see more from the Steelers tight ends in
general in the past game.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Amen, But yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
But but Ivan Pace is a good player that people
just don't know. They what's interesting to me about the
Vikings is on both sides of the ball. They went
and got all new starting interior linemen. They got a
new guard center guard on offense, and they got two
new defensive tackles on defense. All their big interior people
(14:49):
are new and hard Grave got banged up last week.
I haven't seen what his status is and I don't
know how.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Yeah, so we just don't know on that. But he's
still highly disruptive, as is Allen Grenard is a really
good edge rusher. Ben Dinkle is just like Ben Ginkle
is just like able to do everything. I mean, he's perfect,
perfect flores Chess piece.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Yeah, you know, like I get your kind of hesitation
there when you were trying to label him, because you're like,
what is he? He's got a great name. Yeah, first
of all, it's fun to say, I like seeing Andrew
Van Ginkle, but he's he is all over the place.
Last year, you know, halfway through the season he had
a really strong defensive Player of the Year case. He
had like two pick six's last season, and he had
two sacks last week in their games. So he's a force.
(15:39):
He's a very underrated player as far as that outside
linebacker position.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
One hundred percent and he drops in the coupboage, he
plays the run. They move him all over. I mean,
just a typical flores do everything queen on the chessboard
type of guy.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Let's turn things over to these Steelers or excuse me,
the Vikings offensive side of the all. I mean, it's
an offense that has just an embarrassment of riches when
it comes to weaponry. Maat. It's just about getting the
quarterback right, although it kind of seems like with this
head coach it doesn't seem to matter who the quarterback is.
He just gets the most out of them.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Yeah, I think it's one of the absolute best environments
for i' McCarthy, early first round pick type of player.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
You like your favorite nest.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
It's my favorite nest of the young quarterbacks for sure,
and it's as good as nests as you ever can see.
I mean, Jefferson's already an all time great receiver. Addison returns,
I'm sure you're familiar with his pitwork as well as
Viking work. Hawkinson's role is starting to grow. The O
line is potentially really good. They rebuilt the weakness up
the middle, tackles are strong, great play caller, great developer.
(16:50):
Aaron Jones is out in terms of O'Connell, but Mason's
a real handful in the run game. I mean, it's
not much a receiver. So again, this is a really
good situation. If Weds can turn his career around, it's
probably here.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
And you know, it might be just a little bit
too late for him to turn his career around, but
maybe this could be just one, you know, final thing
for him, a finale for him here in Minnesota and
North Like I mentioned, if they opened the puck as
North Dakota State. Guy was a Viking fan growing up,
so I'm sure this is a dream for him. He
played well against the Bengals. He didn't have to do much.
The defense just pretty much carried him to a victory.
(17:28):
But things are going to be easy for him. O'Connell
is the best that just giving quarterbacks lay up after
layup after layup, and he has so many weapons as
we illustrated to do that with. You know, I don't
want to write off JJ McCarthy just yet, but he
looked it looked really rough. He played one out of
(17:50):
eight quarter as well, and it was a really good quarter.
It won Offensive Player of the Week in the NFC,
just that one quarter in Week one against the Bears,
but things just weren't professional enough for a team that
is ready to win, play football games and get to
the playoffs. Wentz is going to give him that professionalism.
I don't want to call it an upgrade, but I'm
(18:10):
tempted to do that.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
I think I would rather play against McCarthy right now.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
He too, especially in this crazy environment, you know what
I mean?
Speaker 1 (18:19):
And international exactly exactly, And I wonder, I mean, this
isn't Steeler related. They just meet to Bengals. They have
three straight AFC North game. They just meet to Bengals.
They gonna play the Steelers in Ireland and then they
got a short road trip they play the Browns in England.
Right if they win those three, might they not rush
McCarthy back. You know, this is a team that won
(18:40):
fifteen games.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
I think last year they brought kind of that notion
up to O'Connell. I saw and he just like kicked
it right down the road. He's like, I don't have
to answer that right now, So why don't we approach
that when we get to it. Hey, Okay, I think
it's on the table. If Carson as well. And you
know what, Matt, this locker room in Minnesota knows they
can win a lot of football games. So if Wentz
(19:02):
is playing better than McCarthy is in allowing them to
win those football games, it'd be tough sell, you know
what I mean?
Speaker 1 (19:08):
Yeah, And look kind of you make you mention just
a lot of the procedural stuff getting in nowt of
the huddle and the right calls and all that were
a lot for McCarthy right now, you know, So you
can't operate that way.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Justin Jefferson averages ninety five point four receiving yards per
game over his career. Not only is that the most
of all time, but it is four point eight yards
more than Pukin Nakua, who is second all time, and
they are the only two above eighty seven point two
yards per game from Jamar Chase. You mentioned Jordan Addison
is set to return from his three game suspension. He's
(19:42):
a blittant, a cough winner when he was at Pitt.
Jalen Naylor, I think is an underrated piece that they
can use in the offense as well. And now I
like that they have Adam Thielen in her total depth
role with Addison coming back, and I know O'Connell's going
to be creative and splash him every now and again
into things. Hawkinson can't be ignored. I mean, Matt, there's
(20:03):
just so much that they can hit you with. In
the passing game.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Yeah, Hawkinson started very slow and then really came on strong.
And last week's numbers you might as well just throw
the whole fourth quarter out because all the stugger's sitting.
But I mean, I mean they came on. He came
on really strong. Jeff Person, as I said, is truly
an all time great. I mean, he is a spectacular player,
(20:27):
and Addison's dangerous. DeLand is a three. I mean, it's
a good group, and.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
They protect for their quarterback up front. Their offensive line,
you're talking about the nest. I mean, Christian Dearsaw is
a great left tackle. The right tackle, Brian O'Neill, another pitman,
can't go wrong there, so you know he's protecting the quarterback.
Their interior is fine. Center's banged up Ryan Kelly, so
that there's a little bit of an issue that they're
dealing with there. But first round pick in the left guard,
(20:54):
so they invested in that line with a nice fresh
pick there on the interior. I mean, it's just it's
really strong, and I know they've given up a decent
amount of sacks through three games, but I think that's
more of the rookie quarterback being a bit of a
chicken with his head cut off and not really know
one where to go with the football and being on
time as opposed to that O line.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
A thousand percent. And the other thing. It's not a
great time to be playing the Bikes, by the way,
is the Darrisaw came back last week and frankly, he's
probably a top five left tackle. They just gave him
big money. He's a great player and this sounds brutal,
but school I think was his name, sko l E
from what I remember was the backup left tackle.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
It's a fitting name for him, Viking, I know.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
But I can't believe he's in the league. I mean,
he's really bad. I mean, so going from as bad
a left tackle play as he can to top five
left tackle play is again, not the best time to
be playing the Bikes.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
No, it is not. Pittsburgh did't have five sacks in
Week three two by TJ W What now his twenty
six career games with two or more sacks, and Minnesota
has a lot of sack on fourteen point five percent
of dropbacks this year. So that's the unit the TJ
and company will be going up against, trying to get
sacks against Carson Wentz, trying to force turnovers against Carson Wentz.
(22:15):
Jordan Mason ran for one hundred and sixteen of minnesota
Is one hundred and sixty nine rushing yards last week
and he averaged seven point three yards per carry. Didn't
even play in the fourth quarter, Matt because they were
just pounding the Bengals by so much. Aaron Jones is
definitely a tough blow with what he can do in
the passing game, him landing on ir and the Steelers
(22:36):
get a break there missing him. But Jordan Mason is
a very capable back, and you know, as far as that,
you know, early down, down to down type of back,
I think Jordan Mason is who I would prefer handling
the rock to more than Jones at this point in
Jones's career.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Yeah, and they run a lot of outside zone with
a really active offensive line. That's a run play that
is in the Steelers fits. You know, not only this year,
but over the years, and you know everyone's going to
run away from what I mean. That has certainly become
a massive trend against the Steelers too.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
Well, let's get some matchups in before we get out
of here. And Matt, you're not jumping on the plane tonight. No,
that's tomorrow Wednesday, right, You're flying.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
Over to tomorrow, right right, Laura.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Justin Jefferson, let's do that for the Vikings on the
offensive side of the ball versus the Steelers secondary. I
don't know how they're going to deploy their coverage. We
don't know yet if Joey Porter Junior is going to
be available or not, if Ramsey's just going to take Jefferson.
Who knows. It's a tough challenge for even someone like Ramsey.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
It's an awful challenge for anybody. I mean, he's probably
the hardest receiver to cover in the league. I don't
have any insights on how they will scheme it up,
but it would sure be nice to have Porter, especially
because Addison and Thiel and armists any jokes either, you know,
And it would be nice to have Elliott against Hawkinson
and Jefferson will likely get his no matter what I mean,
(24:03):
He's that special. He hasn't run as many routes as
he usually has, they even having had to throw the
ball a ton, and I think that might change them,
especially a Porter and Elliott are out.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
You know, we're gonna go a little unconventional here with
the Steelers offensive side of the ball matchup. We're gonna
go Aaron Rodgers versus Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores. We
talked about how exotic this Vikings defense is and and unconventional.
They're going to throw looks at you that change constantly
before the snap happens. But Rogers might be the kryptonite
(24:39):
to that because it's really hard to throw something at
him that he hasn't seen.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
Yeah, and I bet they actually do throw something at
him he hasn't seen. That doesn't mean he won't know
how to deal with it. Now. It's also great that
your quarterback knows where to go with the football on
the fly and all the stuff that they'll do right
before the snap or at the snap or unorthodox was
a word to use, or you know whatever. We've used
(25:03):
a lot of different words for this defense. And I
worry that not that Rogers is going to get confused
by Flores. But the other ten might you know, they
might have some Rogers chewing people out. Hey, you're supposed
to adjust to this. Blah blah blah blah blah. They're
just an awful defense to prepare for.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Steelers and Vikings in Ireland. Nine to thirty am Here
in Pittsburgh. Matt and I are on the air at
five thirty in the morning for the local coverage starting.
That's going to be a lot of fun for us
to have to go through. Well for me, you're gonna
be in Ireland time, so you're gonna be fine. Split
some g stars while you're out there, right, Matt.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
I heard about that. I just learned about that the
other time.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Oh, I'm so glad you know about it. I'm sure
you're all in on that now. He didn't take much convincing,
did it.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
No, No, I'm in. I'm ready to rock all.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
Right, Steelers not Ireland, like I said, against the Vikings
nine thirty kickoff. That'll do it for us. Formatt Williams
and I am Tom Aferman. This has been another edition
of the Advanced Scout Podcast.
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