October 7, 2025 • 26 mins
Matt Williamson and Tom Opferman take an in depth look at the Steelers upcoming opponent the Cleveland Browns
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We got some work to do. This is the advanced
scout with Tom Opperman and Matt Williamson.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
The Steelers exit thereby with a three to one record
and sole possession of first place in the AFC North
by more than just a game against the rest of
the team's Matt it was a perfect bye week for
the Steelers because every single AFC North team lost, including
the one. The Steelers are welcoming to Akerscher Stadium this Sunday,
the Cleveland Browns.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Yeah, you gotta love that. I mean, the I don't
know if you saw this, but the state of the
division is a total disaster right now. I mean, so
every team has a lose or has a negative point differential.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
The only division that's like that, yep.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
And the Steelers are only at minus two, but it
is the worst it's been in the history of the division.
And if you add it all up, they're at a
combined minus one differential, And since the AFC North was
founded in the early two thousands, that's the worst it's
(01:06):
ever been. And they're only winning thirty six percent of
their games as a division, which is the worst the
division has ever been. I mean, it's the worst state
of the AFC North in history, and.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
It's the other three teams that are really doing the
heavy lifting in the categories that you just named, Matt,
Because sure, yeah, sure, the Steelers aren't positive yet on
point differential. Hopefully that changes soon, but their only minus two.
They're not really dragging it down to that depth exactly,
and they have three of the wins that the AFC
North has between the four teams. So the Steelers I
really couldn't have scripted a better start. I guess if
(01:42):
you were four and oh would technically be. But they're
in the driver's seat, Matt, And I know last year
they had a lead on the division, but I think
this year the lead is even more something that's realistic
and something they can follow through with and be the
division champion.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
I mean, they have to be the leaders in the clubhouse.
Despite what Vegas is saying, I don't get that. I
guess I don't get that either. I kind of got
it a week ago. I don't get it now. Especially
with the Ravens. It's getting moped right, I mean as
bad as you can look in any single game. And
I understand that they're injured, but I mean, I know
(02:17):
the Bengals traded for Flacco like a couple of minutes ago.
I don't think that saves their season. The Ravens are
in such a hole as it is, and they have
to play the Rams next week without Lamar and conceivably
without some others. Then they get their bye and then
they might turn things around. But I just think that
the hole they dug could be too deep. And Wes
(02:40):
and I were talking about this on the drive. I
don't think this is crazy to say. I think the
Browns are the second best team in the division right
this minute.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
I completely agree.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
And that's an expert segue by you, Matt Williamson into
our team A lot of discussion today, which is the
Cleveland Browns. I'm with you and Wes on that. I
think that right now, as we sit here on October seventh,
they are the second best team in the division. They're feisty,
the defense is a truly I don't know if I
want to call it elite because they have given up
(03:12):
a lot of points, but it's trending in that direction,
and they're elite in a lot of categories. I mean,
the Ravens and the Bengals look really hopeless, and that
plays into what we're saying right now, of course, but
the Browns aren't a team that you can just roll over.
If you allow them to be in the game, they'll oblige.
They'll give you a good football game.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
They might have the best defense in the league. And
I know everyone hates when I say this. I think
they have the best defensive player in the league. They
have a legit running back slash maybe run game. And
I'll be honest, Tom, I don't know if you and
I have had this conversation, but I killed the Browns
(03:52):
for their draft class. Not because I disliked the players
they took after trading away from Travis Hunter, but the
fact that they took zero offensive lineman I thought was criminal,
to be very honest, and almost all their offensive line
is set to be free agents. I would have taken
Membo with that first pick. But all that being said,
I'm not saying I was wrong about that. But almost
(04:13):
everyone they drafted looks really good and they're leading the
league in rookie snaps right now. And I hesitate to
say this, but Brown fans should at least see a
light at the end of the tunnel.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
I agree with you both in your analysis on draft night,
because I was sitting there with you when that happened.
They need lineman. What the heck are they doing? But
the players that they picked are contributing, and they're contributing well.
And even Dylan Gabriel didn't look awful in his debut
in London. We'll get to him in a second.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Series.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
History between these two teams we always like to tee
it off with this. They have met one hundred and
forty six times dating back to nineteen fifty and of
those one hundred and forty six matchups, only three have
been in the postseason. That the Dealers are two and
one in the playoffs against the Browns, the series is
eighty two to sixty four and one in Pittsburgh's favor.
Cleveland started off with an eight game winning streak and
won twelve of the first thirteen meetings between these teams
(05:08):
and only had two losses out of the first eighteen
times they ever faced each other. But starting in December
of nineteen sixty two, things turned to the Steelers favor.
Brown's won just four games between December nineteen sixty two
and October nineteen eighty three, and for even more extreme
starting in January, of nineteen ninety four. Pittsburgh has won
forty four of the next fifty four games, with a
(05:28):
tie thrown in during that time. Mike Tomlin is twenty
seven eight and one against the Cleveland Browns since he
took over in two thousand and seven. Boy, and the
Steelers have outscored Cleveland by two hundred and eighty two
points in these head to head matchups. This is the
AFC's oldest rivalry between the Steelers and the Browns, and
it's always been lopsided, right Like, going way back, it's
(05:51):
loopsided towards the Browns, then it became lopsided to the Steelers.
There's never really a back and forth between these two.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
No, and it's a long time ago. It was like
Jim Brown leading the Cleveland squad as a dominant team
against the Steelers. It's been as much of a dominant
series in Super Bowl history as you can remember. And
I love to bring it up the first time these
teams meet every year that it really wasn't that long
(06:19):
ago that Ben Roethlisberger had the most wins in the
Cleveland's home stadium. You know that's insane to me.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
Yeah, the man who holds that record.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Now is the quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers too,
so they still don't have a homegrown Cleveland Brown having
the most wins in their stadium.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
But no, Yeah, and along those lines, how about this,
I mean, by starting Dylan Gabriel last week, that's their
tenth different starting quarterback since Baker Mayfield left. I mean,
we're not even talking about the Tim Couch jerseys with
a million names on the back. We're just talking about
since Baker left too. Oh, by the way, is playing
(07:01):
like an MVP right now.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Boy, It's really easy to take these guys like a
joke because they are the Browns. As Juju said, the
Browns is the Browns. But we can't this week. I mean,
you really cannot go into a game against these Browns
and thinking that this is just going to be a laugher.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
We'll get to the defense they are.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
We'll get to the defense, the most dangerous side of
the ball in just a second. But one thing you
noted on your stat sheet, Matt, that I think could
be critical in this game.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
The Browns will commit a lot of penalties.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
They were penalized ten times in Week five, and the
Steelers obviously didn't play last week, but they have been
penalties nineteen total times this year. That's less than any
team in the league. And the Steelers were less than
any team in the league in Week four too, when
everybody was still playing. The Browns have been penalized thirty
seven times in five games. Maybe that's some of the
(07:46):
youth coming or bubbling up to the surface, Matt, the
undisciplined nature there. But that's a big advantage for the Steelers.
Very disciplined team in Pittsburgh, very undisciplined team in Cleveland.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Yeah, and I know people are very myoptic and sometimes
just watching the steel Boy, this team's undisciplined, blah blah blah.
They were near the best of the league in penalties
last year too, So I mean, this has been going
on for quite a while, and you wonder, how do
you win all these one score games? And man, they
get out gained, but the Steelers somehow sneak out Tomlin
voodoo magic victories. Well, you win the turnover battle, you
(08:19):
win penalties, you win these hidden yardage situations, and frankly,
there's no one better in the league in terms of
hidden yardage than the Steelers.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Now you said the Cleveland defense might just be the
best defense in the NFL. There are certainly stats that
you can point to that prove that, and one of
them is the fact that they allow just four point
four yards per play, and that's the best in the league.
And yeah, their points per game allowed is kind of
up towards the middle of the league, actually getting closer
towards the twenties because they got blasted by Baltimore. They
(08:50):
got blasted by the Lions, But other than that, they've
kind of kept things pretty close in their games, and
that to me is telling Matt. You look at the
points per game and they have those outliers there, but
the fact that even with those outliers, they're first in
the league at allowing just four point four yards per play,
This is very impressive on that side of the ball.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Very impressive. And their run defense is basically far and
away the best in the league. And we know they
can get after the quarterback with Garrett and they've got
playmakers on the back at seven of the defense as well.
And I think this can't go understated, is they don't
get any help from the offense. I mean, and they
(09:29):
haven't for some time. I mean, one of my favorite
stats is the one I sent to you today, the EPA
stat with Jim Schwartz is a defensive coordinator. So he's
been the defensive coordinator now for the entirety of the
twenty twenty three season, twenty four and now several games
into twenty five, and since he's been hired, they are
(09:51):
the best defense in EPA in the entire league, and
the worst offense. That's rough, dude.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
I would love to sit down with him and Miles
Garrett and have a couple of beers and just be like,
come on, off the record, how does that really feel?
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (10:07):
I mean, you guys are carrying this.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Right, I mean, you guys are carrying this team and
doing it quite well, but it's not paying off because
the offense is just so abysmal. We're talking about the
Browns defense though, and this is another thing that you
sent me, Matt that I think it's eye popping. I
think you circle it fifteen times. When it comes to
a key for the Steelers in this game, you had
like a bunch of key advantages that the Browns defense
(10:32):
have in areas like quarterback scrambles, rushes that are outside
the tackle, rushing the ball when the quarterbacks under center,
and they're like number one in every single one, but
they're number twenty nine in the league defensively against quick
passing games. And I'm just thinking that I had ding ding,
ding ding ding when you sent that to me, Like
Buzzer's going up. That's Rogers's bread and butter right now.
(10:55):
Rogers had an average time to throw to two point
one seconds against Minnesota, and he has had a sub
two point five second average time to throw in three
of the four games this season. He doesn't have much
time to throw and he's throwing quickly because of that.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Yeah, and you wrote me back immediately when I sent
you that thing. I clipped up saying, wow. I mean,
it's a terrible defense to play against for nine out
of ten teams, and I don't think the Steelers are
gonna have an easy go of it at all. But
if you could pick a weakness for them to be
really bad at, that might be my choice, you know
what I mean. And one other thing I want to
(11:30):
throw out there that I just found honestly like ten
minutes ago and even have time to send it to you,
is we know that the Steelers red zone offense has
been so much better with Rogers right as good as
the Browns defense are there last in red zone defense.
So if you could pick like two things to be
bad at red zone defense and quick passing game defense,
(11:53):
is not what I would pick to play the Steeler.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
It really almost is shaping up Matt that the Steelers
are a bad matchup for this Cleveland Browns defense. Like,
that's the way you got to look at it. They
do things extremely well that the Browns defense has shown
deficiencies in through their first five games.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Yeah, and now I mentioned earlier that the Browns run
defense is flat out as good as any in the league.
Will the Steelers still try to pound the rock? I mean, yeah,
last week? Yeah, they just had success. Or do you
go big and just have those guys block Garrett in
pass protection? You know, and just say, Rogers, we're not
(12:34):
going to even try to run against these guys that much.
Of course they're going to run the ball here and there,
but well, let's not build off the run success we
had in Dublin. And I know that's what no one
wants to hear. But Rogers, why don't you just quick
game them to death? I don't know, come curious I
don't know what that answer is.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Now, a lot of names and faces on this defensive
side of the ball. Steelers fans are very familiar with,
especially the headliners. You know, the Denzel Awards, the Miles Garretts.
Two rookies that are playing starting reps for this defense.
Mason Graham, who was a top five pick or yeah,
top five, top sick whatever, top ten pick. He's a
great pick this year, can't remember exactly where he went.
(13:12):
And then Carshon Swezinger a second round pick for them, linebacker,
inside linebacker. Those two pick in the second round, those
two guys look very impressive. I mean, Mason Graham was
kind of a can't miss to me on draft night
and he has proven that. But Swezinger has been really
good for a second round pick.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Yeah, and I hope this isn't a similar to Ryan
Shazier situation for the Browns. But uh, Jeremiah Owusa, Cormoa
Joe Okay was a really exciting fly around the field
off the ball linebacker for them, who his career is
a little bit in jeopardy unfortunately. And I hope that
(13:50):
he comes back next year and compare with Sweestinger because
I don't want anybody to get hurt, but they they
were really forced to find a new leader on the
second level, and I think they did. I mean, he
looks really, really good, but.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Their leader overall is still, of course, number ninety five,
Miles Garrett, coming off a big contract extension this offseason.
He's got three and a half sacks this year. The
Browns last week had three sacks, two by Elie Collins,
one of Miles Garrett's uning mates on that defensive line.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Garrett is the game plo.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
The game plan going into this game is still Miles
Garrett and Matt You can't stop him. It's that total.
What can we do to slow him down? How do
we contain him as best as possible because there is
no solution for him, There is no way to eliminate
him completely from a game. He is in my mind.
You said it's blasphemous for you to say it. I'll
say it too. I'll jump in those blasphemous waters with you.
(14:42):
He's the best defensive player in football right now in
my mind.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Yes, and I think Nick Benito can challenge him in
terms of defensive player of the year. After five weeks
of the game, I think Micah Parsons is also right there,
and I'm not saying Lot stinks or anything like that.
It's not a Garrett versus Watt thing.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
No, Wat's actually had a very good year.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
I think he's phenomenal. Yeah, I mean he does a lot,
But as great as Garrett has been, and I'll get
this out of the way, I think Watts had a
better career. So you guys can egg my house. I'm
sure you will, and that's fine.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
He's the season fit.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
But yeah, bight as well, you know. But I think
as great as Garrett has been over his career, he's
actually leveled up in twenty twenty five, which nuts.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
I don't think he's nuts.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
It's weird to think that he's entering his prime or
like almost another prime, and it.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Makes you think might be getting better.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Yeah, And then it makes you think if you're a
Browns fan, Matt, like we just talked about how good
the rookies have been and how they actually look like
there's a light at the end of the tunnel, like
they could be ready to compete as a playoff team again.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
When he's still at a very high level of play.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Yeah, I mean, that's not crazy. You're right. I hadn't
thought of that. But if they could string two really
good drafts together and they have two first picks next year,
I assume they'll pick early in each round. When it's
all said and done, maybe Dylan Gabriel or Sanders now
the Flacco's out of the way, turns into their quarterback,
but more likely that comes from next year's draft. They
(16:14):
could get back the relevancy unless they screw it up,
as they always do, at some point, you know, sooner
than late, while Garrett's still a star real quickly, I
wanted to make sure. I want to say this before
I even talked about Garrett. It's it's real easy to
look at their defensive front and say it's Miles Garrett
and the Pips, and it is. I mean, he's way
(16:35):
better than everybody else, don't get me wrong, and they
all greatly greatly benefit from all the unbelievable attention he gets.
But they're pretty good in their own right too. They
win a lot of one versus one matchups. You mentioned Collins, Graham,
the other defensive ends, and they have some depth there. Yeah,
I mean they have seven or eight guys that aren't
(16:55):
household names that are all playing really, really well, and
they're well coached and they get after you, and their
D line is a problem, no doubt.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Switching over to the offensive side of the ball, Dylan
Gabriel had his first start for the Browns last week.
It was an offense that is thirty first in points
per game fourteen point six, and I'm not surprised they
made the switch to Gabriel. Matt Joe Flacco was just
turning the ball over way too much. And that's like
the one thing you were going to Joe Flacco for
at the beginning of the season was just to protect
(17:27):
the ball and to kind of have that, you know,
game manager aspect to the offense, and he just was
not doing that. That's why I think it's kind of
funny the Bengals go out and get him. Like the
problem with Browning was throwing too many interceptions. Flaco has
been doing that all year for Cleveland. Like, I don't
know if he's just gonna all of a sudden stop
now that he's in Sinci.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
But I digress.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
The switch was I think maybe made a little earlier
than they assumed, because I think they were just looking
at practice of being like Gabriel's going to protect the
ball more than Flacco is, So what's the point.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Yeah, and I've cited this a bunch in the last hour.
I'm rooting for Joe Flacco. I helped recruit him to pit,
you know, way back when. So now he's officially resided
in all four facilities in the AFC North. You know,
he's made the tour. I don't think he'll ever go
to the left side of the facility, you know, here
(18:16):
in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
Yeah, I don't, I hit.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
I don't think. But the last three years, I mean
this year with the Browns, the year before that with Indy,
and then even when he came off the couch with
the Browns, he's treated like he's Jameis Winston. I mean,
he's just slinging it all over the place. And we'll
talk more about him since the week, But you're right,
and you weren't getting the big plays anymore though either,
Like Gabriel threw two touchdowns last week, that's as much
(18:41):
show had through four weeks. You know, I know it's
only two, but still you're not getting any big plays
mixed with the farbyan nature, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Now, this isn't his game, Matt. But one thing that
worries me a little bit with Gabriel is his mobility. Again,
he's not really doesn't lean on that very much. He
likes to get things done in the pocket if he can,
but he'll be able to hurt you ten fifteen yards
down the field. And that's something that's given the Steelers
trouble facing justin fields and facing Drake May this year.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Yeah, and I look at Gabriel a lot like Tua
you know where, but more mobile, to your point, smaller,
gets it out really quick, super efficient. Really favored their
two tight ends a ton in this one game, but
that's a Stefanski thing. He schemes up in Najoku and
(19:34):
now fanning really really well. And the Browns are one
of the only teams in the league that have played
twelve personnel more than the Steelers. Their receivers, especially with
Tillman out, aren't very good. So we've seen tight ends
Hunter Henry, I mean, not even great players abuse the
middle of the field against the Steelers. I'm sure that's
what they're going to try to do with Gabriel. Get
(19:55):
it out quick. Their protection is not great, especially at
the left tackle spot, which is really bad, and we're
going to get to these tight ends and attack the
middle of the field because we've seen teams do that
reasonably well against Steelers.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
To your point there, in Djoku and Fannin combined for
a thirty nine point four percent target share from Gabriel
last week, and going into that game they had combined
for just a twenty six point eight percent target share,
So a drastic increase there. But Matt, that means that
the receivers for Cleveland were only targeted ten times total
in Week five by Dylan Gabriel and Isaiah Bond did
get six of those ten targets. I mean, Jerry Judy
(20:30):
is clearly the best receiver that they have. I think
teams might be salivating over him come the trade deadline,
to be honest with you, if the Browns are going
down the.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
Track that they're going down.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
But Bond was the one that got most of the
targets last week as far as receivers are concerned, I
don't know if that's a trend. I don't know if
there's something about Bond that he has a bond with
no pun intended. But if anybody's gonna you know, before
I did. Yes, if anybody was gonna force feed, you know,
a receiver, I would think it would be Judy, and
that wasn't the case in his first game.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
I would have to study it more, but I assume
most teams are putting their best guy on Judy. Yeah,
and frankly, I think Judy's been a little overrated. I
think you'll look at last year probably is the best
year of his career. He was a pro bowler, not
an All Pro, but he was a pro bowler last year.
Bond's kind of interesting though. I don't know if people
know his backstory, but a year ago before he was drafted,
(21:25):
he's a rookie. He was like on all these lists,
he's gonna be a first round pick. He's gonna run
a four to two at Texas. Transferred from Bama, big time,
five star type dude, doesn't get drafted, doesn't run a
four to two, but he's still fast. Doesn't get drafted
because he had at a lot of off the field stuff.
I mean, if you're that talent and don't get drafted,
there's a lot of off the field stuff. So the
(21:47):
Browns go out and sign him as an undrafted free agent,
just a couple of weeks ago, not like right before
camp or right after the draft, gave him a bunch
of guaranteed money, which Judkins Watson, they're not afraid to
take some risks in that regard. But maybe they're just
trying to see what they got. And again, they just
(22:08):
keep playing all these rookies a ton of snaps. I
understand that side of it. You know, we're young, we're
not winning any today. We need to play all the
rookies we can and let's see if this guy can
be a keeper.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
Yeah, Judkins certainly looks like a keeper.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
I mean Judkins does.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
Yeah, twenty three of the browns twenty nine running back
carries last week. He finished with one hundred and ten
yards seventy nine percent of the Browns running back rushes,
is the lowest since his Week two debut. But Judkins
has only appeared in three games, and he has one
hundred and ninety nine more rushing yards than any other
Browns player. He's almost averaging about five yards per carry.
I mean, he's obviously just going to get more and
more playing time. They've found their number one back, and yeah,
(22:45):
he's very impressive, but not surprising because out of Ohio State.
He was supposed to be a very impressive player.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Yeah, and he was an early pick, and even before
he transferred to Ohio State, he was kind of considered
right there with genty as you know that the top
players in that class at that position split with Henderson
obviously had some off the field stuff that kept him
off the field the first couple of weeks the season,
But just in terms of on the field, whoa I mean,
(23:12):
he is a handful Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
All right, before we get to our key matchups, Matt
or two that you highlighted, let's talk about this left
tackle that you kind of foreshadowed is going to be
a problem for the Cleveland Browns. Kat Leviston is his name,
and he should be the victim, right and with high
Smith returning to practice, you should probably have a fresh
pass rusher over Leviston every single time, even if some
(23:37):
of those times is wat moving over to that side.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Yes, I mean the rest of their line is we
know the names conkling, the right tackles declining. The interior
is still good, but it's not like the Nick Chubb
days where it was like the best in the league.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
I mean, Matt and Joel Bentonio has been in the
league for almost twelve years. I mean, geez, yeah and.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Tell her and yeah, like that was. It's been a
great guard pairing, but it's not great anymore. It's still
a strength though, and I would just expect a lot
of judkins run up the middle behind those guards and centers.
But left tackle baby, I mean, they've had some injuries.
They traded for Cam Robinson just out of desperation a
week or so ago. It got him off Jacksonville.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
Don't think he'll play or you think it will still
be Leviston this week.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
I don't know. Last week they kind of rotated, okay,
which is never a good sign. I mean, they brought
him in when they were both were healthy. I don't
know what the logic was of when you bring this
guy in when you don't, that basically means you have none.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
You know, right, all right, So key matchups that you
highlighted Matt Brown's quarterback Dylan Gabriel versus the Steelers' safeties.
Gabriel of course, made his first start last week, and
he targeted the tight ends, as we talked about on
this podcast. So safety's got to do the work, and
in the inside linebackers too, and coverage there.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Yeah, and it's really a Terrell Austin thing too, you know,
rattle the rook.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
And Steelers offensive tackles versus Brown's defensive end.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
Miles Garrett.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
Let's just throw the entire line there as far as
that matchup is concerned, by any means necessary, the Darnell Washington,
Spencer Anderson's anything you need to do to slow this
guy down.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Yeah, and I don't know what they will, but that
doesn't mean that that's enough for them to beat you.
I mean, the one thing I did throw out a
couple of minutes ago is yes, I love the jumbo
package with Anderson and Washington, right, but I might use
it for protection reasons now as opposed to running reasons.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
And yeah, just might have to this week to survive
against Miles Garrett and the Cleveland Browns. Kickoff is at
one o'clock on Sunday between these two old AFC rivals,
renewing their rivalry for the first time in the twenty
twenty five season. Matt and I will be on at
nine am on DVE, getting the pregame started four hours
in advance of kickoff. Can't wait to do that format.
(26:04):
Williams and I am Tom Opferman. Thanks has always for
giving us a listen to the Advanced Scout
We got some work to do. This is the advanced
scout with Tom Opperman and Matt Williamson.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
The Steelers exit thereby with a three to one record
and sole possession of first place in the AFC North
by more than just a game against the rest of
the team's Matt it was a perfect bye week for
the Steelers because every single AFC North team lost, including
the one. The Steelers are welcoming to Akerscher Stadium this Sunday,
the Cleveland Browns.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Yeah, you gotta love that. I mean, the I don't
know if you saw this, but the state of the
division is a total disaster right now. I mean, so
every team has a lose or has a negative point differential.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
The only division that's like that, yep.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
And the Steelers are only at minus two, but it
is the worst it's been in the history of the division.
And if you add it all up, they're at a
combined minus one differential, And since the AFC North was
founded in the early two thousands, that's the worst it's
(01:06):
ever been. And they're only winning thirty six percent of
their games as a division, which is the worst the
division has ever been. I mean, it's the worst state
of the AFC North in history, and.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
It's the other three teams that are really doing the
heavy lifting in the categories that you just named, Matt,
Because sure, yeah, sure, the Steelers aren't positive yet on
point differential. Hopefully that changes soon, but their only minus two.
They're not really dragging it down to that depth exactly,
and they have three of the wins that the AFC
North has between the four teams. So the Steelers I
really couldn't have scripted a better start. I guess if
(01:42):
you were four and oh would technically be. But they're
in the driver's seat, Matt, And I know last year
they had a lead on the division, but I think
this year the lead is even more something that's realistic
and something they can follow through with and be the
division champion.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
I mean, they have to be the leaders in the clubhouse.
Despite what Vegas is saying, I don't get that. I
guess I don't get that either. I kind of got
it a week ago. I don't get it now. Especially
with the Ravens. It's getting moped right, I mean as
bad as you can look in any single game. And
I understand that they're injured, but I mean, I know
(02:17):
the Bengals traded for Flacco like a couple of minutes ago.
I don't think that saves their season. The Ravens are
in such a hole as it is, and they have
to play the Rams next week without Lamar and conceivably
without some others. Then they get their bye and then
they might turn things around. But I just think that
the hole they dug could be too deep. And Wes
(02:40):
and I were talking about this on the drive. I
don't think this is crazy to say. I think the
Browns are the second best team in the division right
this minute.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
I completely agree.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
And that's an expert segue by you, Matt Williamson into
our team A lot of discussion today, which is the
Cleveland Browns. I'm with you and Wes on that. I
think that right now, as we sit here on October seventh,
they are the second best team in the division. They're feisty,
the defense is a truly I don't know if I
want to call it elite because they have given up
(03:12):
a lot of points, but it's trending in that direction,
and they're elite in a lot of categories. I mean,
the Ravens and the Bengals look really hopeless, and that
plays into what we're saying right now, of course, but
the Browns aren't a team that you can just roll over.
If you allow them to be in the game, they'll oblige.
They'll give you a good football game.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
They might have the best defense in the league. And
I know everyone hates when I say this. I think
they have the best defensive player in the league. They
have a legit running back slash maybe run game. And
I'll be honest, Tom, I don't know if you and
I have had this conversation, but I killed the Browns
(03:52):
for their draft class. Not because I disliked the players
they took after trading away from Travis Hunter, but the
fact that they took zero offensive lineman I thought was criminal,
to be very honest, and almost all their offensive line
is set to be free agents. I would have taken
Membo with that first pick. But all that being said,
I'm not saying I was wrong about that. But almost
(04:13):
everyone they drafted looks really good and they're leading the
league in rookie snaps right now. And I hesitate to
say this, but Brown fans should at least see a
light at the end of the tunnel.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
I agree with you both in your analysis on draft night,
because I was sitting there with you when that happened.
They need lineman. What the heck are they doing? But
the players that they picked are contributing, and they're contributing well.
And even Dylan Gabriel didn't look awful in his debut
in London. We'll get to him in a second.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Series.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
History between these two teams we always like to tee
it off with this. They have met one hundred and
forty six times dating back to nineteen fifty and of
those one hundred and forty six matchups, only three have
been in the postseason. That the Dealers are two and
one in the playoffs against the Browns, the series is
eighty two to sixty four and one in Pittsburgh's favor.
Cleveland started off with an eight game winning streak and
won twelve of the first thirteen meetings between these teams
(05:08):
and only had two losses out of the first eighteen
times they ever faced each other. But starting in December
of nineteen sixty two, things turned to the Steelers favor.
Brown's won just four games between December nineteen sixty two
and October nineteen eighty three, and for even more extreme
starting in January, of nineteen ninety four. Pittsburgh has won
forty four of the next fifty four games, with a
(05:28):
tie thrown in during that time. Mike Tomlin is twenty
seven eight and one against the Cleveland Browns since he
took over in two thousand and seven. Boy, and the
Steelers have outscored Cleveland by two hundred and eighty two
points in these head to head matchups. This is the
AFC's oldest rivalry between the Steelers and the Browns, and
it's always been lopsided, right Like, going way back, it's
(05:51):
loopsided towards the Browns, then it became lopsided to the Steelers.
There's never really a back and forth between these two.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
No, and it's a long time ago. It was like
Jim Brown leading the Cleveland squad as a dominant team
against the Steelers. It's been as much of a dominant
series in Super Bowl history as you can remember. And
I love to bring it up the first time these
teams meet every year that it really wasn't that long
(06:19):
ago that Ben Roethlisberger had the most wins in the
Cleveland's home stadium. You know that's insane to me.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
Yeah, the man who holds that record.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Now is the quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers too,
so they still don't have a homegrown Cleveland Brown having
the most wins in their stadium.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
But no, Yeah, and along those lines, how about this,
I mean, by starting Dylan Gabriel last week, that's their
tenth different starting quarterback since Baker Mayfield left. I mean,
we're not even talking about the Tim Couch jerseys with
a million names on the back. We're just talking about
since Baker left too. Oh, by the way, is playing
(07:01):
like an MVP right now.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Boy, It's really easy to take these guys like a
joke because they are the Browns. As Juju said, the
Browns is the Browns. But we can't this week. I mean,
you really cannot go into a game against these Browns
and thinking that this is just going to be a laugher.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
We'll get to the defense they are.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
We'll get to the defense, the most dangerous side of
the ball in just a second. But one thing you
noted on your stat sheet, Matt, that I think could
be critical in this game.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
The Browns will commit a lot of penalties.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
They were penalized ten times in Week five, and the
Steelers obviously didn't play last week, but they have been
penalties nineteen total times this year. That's less than any
team in the league. And the Steelers were less than
any team in the league in Week four too, when
everybody was still playing. The Browns have been penalized thirty
seven times in five games. Maybe that's some of the
(07:46):
youth coming or bubbling up to the surface, Matt, the
undisciplined nature there. But that's a big advantage for the Steelers.
Very disciplined team in Pittsburgh, very undisciplined team in Cleveland.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Yeah, and I know people are very myoptic and sometimes
just watching the steel Boy, this team's undisciplined, blah blah blah.
They were near the best of the league in penalties
last year too, So I mean, this has been going
on for quite a while, and you wonder, how do
you win all these one score games? And man, they
get out gained, but the Steelers somehow sneak out Tomlin
voodoo magic victories. Well, you win the turnover battle, you
(08:19):
win penalties, you win these hidden yardage situations, and frankly,
there's no one better in the league in terms of
hidden yardage than the Steelers.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Now you said the Cleveland defense might just be the
best defense in the NFL. There are certainly stats that
you can point to that prove that, and one of
them is the fact that they allow just four point
four yards per play, and that's the best in the league.
And yeah, their points per game allowed is kind of
up towards the middle of the league, actually getting closer
towards the twenties because they got blasted by Baltimore. They
(08:50):
got blasted by the Lions, But other than that, they've
kind of kept things pretty close in their games, and
that to me is telling Matt. You look at the
points per game and they have those outliers there, but
the fact that even with those outliers, they're first in
the league at allowing just four point four yards per play,
This is very impressive on that side of the ball.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Very impressive. And their run defense is basically far and
away the best in the league. And we know they
can get after the quarterback with Garrett and they've got
playmakers on the back at seven of the defense as well.
And I think this can't go understated, is they don't
get any help from the offense. I mean, and they
(09:29):
haven't for some time. I mean, one of my favorite
stats is the one I sent to you today, the EPA
stat with Jim Schwartz is a defensive coordinator. So he's
been the defensive coordinator now for the entirety of the
twenty twenty three season, twenty four and now several games
into twenty five, and since he's been hired, they are
(09:51):
the best defense in EPA in the entire league, and
the worst offense. That's rough, dude.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
I would love to sit down with him and Miles
Garrett and have a couple of beers and just be like,
come on, off the record, how does that really feel?
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (10:07):
I mean, you guys are carrying this.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Right, I mean, you guys are carrying this team and
doing it quite well, but it's not paying off because
the offense is just so abysmal. We're talking about the
Browns defense though, and this is another thing that you
sent me, Matt that I think it's eye popping. I
think you circle it fifteen times. When it comes to
a key for the Steelers in this game, you had
like a bunch of key advantages that the Browns defense
(10:32):
have in areas like quarterback scrambles, rushes that are outside
the tackle, rushing the ball when the quarterbacks under center,
and they're like number one in every single one, but
they're number twenty nine in the league defensively against quick
passing games. And I'm just thinking that I had ding ding,
ding ding ding when you sent that to me, Like
Buzzer's going up. That's Rogers's bread and butter right now.
(10:55):
Rogers had an average time to throw to two point
one seconds against Minnesota, and he has had a sub
two point five second average time to throw in three
of the four games this season. He doesn't have much
time to throw and he's throwing quickly because of that.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Yeah, and you wrote me back immediately when I sent
you that thing. I clipped up saying, wow. I mean,
it's a terrible defense to play against for nine out
of ten teams, and I don't think the Steelers are
gonna have an easy go of it at all. But
if you could pick a weakness for them to be
really bad at, that might be my choice, you know
what I mean. And one other thing I want to
(11:30):
throw out there that I just found honestly like ten
minutes ago and even have time to send it to you,
is we know that the Steelers red zone offense has
been so much better with Rogers right as good as
the Browns defense are there last in red zone defense.
So if you could pick like two things to be
bad at red zone defense and quick passing game defense,
(11:53):
is not what I would pick to play the Steeler.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
It really almost is shaping up Matt that the Steelers
are a bad matchup for this Cleveland Browns defense. Like,
that's the way you got to look at it. They
do things extremely well that the Browns defense has shown
deficiencies in through their first five games.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Yeah, and now I mentioned earlier that the Browns run
defense is flat out as good as any in the league.
Will the Steelers still try to pound the rock? I mean, yeah,
last week? Yeah, they just had success. Or do you
go big and just have those guys block Garrett in
pass protection? You know, and just say, Rogers, we're not
(12:34):
going to even try to run against these guys that much.
Of course they're going to run the ball here and there,
but well, let's not build off the run success we
had in Dublin. And I know that's what no one
wants to hear. But Rogers, why don't you just quick
game them to death? I don't know, come curious I
don't know what that answer is.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Now, a lot of names and faces on this defensive
side of the ball. Steelers fans are very familiar with,
especially the headliners. You know, the Denzel Awards, the Miles Garretts.
Two rookies that are playing starting reps for this defense.
Mason Graham, who was a top five pick or yeah,
top five, top sick whatever, top ten pick. He's a
great pick this year, can't remember exactly where he went.
(13:12):
And then Carshon Swezinger a second round pick for them, linebacker,
inside linebacker. Those two pick in the second round, those
two guys look very impressive. I mean, Mason Graham was
kind of a can't miss to me on draft night
and he has proven that. But Swezinger has been really
good for a second round pick.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Yeah, and I hope this isn't a similar to Ryan
Shazier situation for the Browns. But uh, Jeremiah Owusa, Cormoa
Joe Okay was a really exciting fly around the field
off the ball linebacker for them, who his career is
a little bit in jeopardy unfortunately. And I hope that
(13:50):
he comes back next year and compare with Sweestinger because
I don't want anybody to get hurt, but they they
were really forced to find a new leader on the
second level, and I think they did. I mean, he
looks really, really good, but.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Their leader overall is still, of course, number ninety five,
Miles Garrett, coming off a big contract extension this offseason.
He's got three and a half sacks this year. The
Browns last week had three sacks, two by Elie Collins,
one of Miles Garrett's uning mates on that defensive line.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Garrett is the game plo.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
The game plan going into this game is still Miles
Garrett and Matt You can't stop him. It's that total.
What can we do to slow him down? How do
we contain him as best as possible because there is
no solution for him, There is no way to eliminate
him completely from a game. He is in my mind.
You said it's blasphemous for you to say it. I'll
say it too. I'll jump in those blasphemous waters with you.
(14:42):
He's the best defensive player in football right now in
my mind.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Yes, and I think Nick Benito can challenge him in
terms of defensive player of the year. After five weeks
of the game, I think Micah Parsons is also right there,
and I'm not saying Lot stinks or anything like that.
It's not a Garrett versus Watt thing.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
No, Wat's actually had a very good year.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
I think he's phenomenal. Yeah, I mean he does a lot,
But as great as Garrett has been, and I'll get
this out of the way, I think Watts had a
better career. So you guys can egg my house. I'm
sure you will, and that's fine.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
He's the season fit.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
But yeah, bight as well, you know. But I think
as great as Garrett has been over his career, he's
actually leveled up in twenty twenty five, which nuts.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
I don't think he's nuts.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
It's weird to think that he's entering his prime or
like almost another prime, and it.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Makes you think might be getting better.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Yeah, And then it makes you think if you're a
Browns fan, Matt, like we just talked about how good
the rookies have been and how they actually look like
there's a light at the end of the tunnel, like
they could be ready to compete as a playoff team again.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
When he's still at a very high level of play.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Yeah, I mean, that's not crazy. You're right. I hadn't
thought of that. But if they could string two really
good drafts together and they have two first picks next year,
I assume they'll pick early in each round. When it's
all said and done, maybe Dylan Gabriel or Sanders now
the Flacco's out of the way, turns into their quarterback,
but more likely that comes from next year's draft. They
(16:14):
could get back the relevancy unless they screw it up,
as they always do, at some point, you know, sooner
than late, while Garrett's still a star real quickly, I
wanted to make sure. I want to say this before
I even talked about Garrett. It's it's real easy to
look at their defensive front and say it's Miles Garrett
and the Pips, and it is. I mean, he's way
(16:35):
better than everybody else, don't get me wrong, and they
all greatly greatly benefit from all the unbelievable attention he gets.
But they're pretty good in their own right too. They
win a lot of one versus one matchups. You mentioned Collins, Graham,
the other defensive ends, and they have some depth there. Yeah,
I mean they have seven or eight guys that aren't
(16:55):
household names that are all playing really, really well, and
they're well coached and they get after you, and their
D line is a problem, no doubt.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Switching over to the offensive side of the ball, Dylan
Gabriel had his first start for the Browns last week.
It was an offense that is thirty first in points
per game fourteen point six, and I'm not surprised they
made the switch to Gabriel. Matt Joe Flacco was just
turning the ball over way too much. And that's like
the one thing you were going to Joe Flacco for
at the beginning of the season was just to protect
(17:27):
the ball and to kind of have that, you know,
game manager aspect to the offense, and he just was
not doing that. That's why I think it's kind of
funny the Bengals go out and get him. Like the
problem with Browning was throwing too many interceptions. Flaco has
been doing that all year for Cleveland. Like, I don't
know if he's just gonna all of a sudden stop
now that he's in Sinci.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
But I digress.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
The switch was I think maybe made a little earlier
than they assumed, because I think they were just looking
at practice of being like Gabriel's going to protect the
ball more than Flacco is, So what's the point.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Yeah, and I've cited this a bunch in the last hour.
I'm rooting for Joe Flacco. I helped recruit him to pit,
you know, way back when. So now he's officially resided
in all four facilities in the AFC North. You know,
he's made the tour. I don't think he'll ever go
to the left side of the facility, you know, here
(18:16):
in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
Yeah, I don't, I hit.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
I don't think. But the last three years, I mean
this year with the Browns, the year before that with Indy,
and then even when he came off the couch with
the Browns, he's treated like he's Jameis Winston. I mean,
he's just slinging it all over the place. And we'll
talk more about him since the week, But you're right,
and you weren't getting the big plays anymore though either,
Like Gabriel threw two touchdowns last week, that's as much
(18:41):
show had through four weeks. You know, I know it's
only two, but still you're not getting any big plays
mixed with the farbyan nature, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Now, this isn't his game, Matt. But one thing that
worries me a little bit with Gabriel is his mobility. Again,
he's not really doesn't lean on that very much. He
likes to get things done in the pocket if he can,
but he'll be able to hurt you ten fifteen yards
down the field. And that's something that's given the Steelers
trouble facing justin fields and facing Drake May this year.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Yeah, and I look at Gabriel a lot like Tua
you know where, but more mobile, to your point, smaller,
gets it out really quick, super efficient. Really favored their
two tight ends a ton in this one game, but
that's a Stefanski thing. He schemes up in Najoku and
(19:34):
now fanning really really well. And the Browns are one
of the only teams in the league that have played
twelve personnel more than the Steelers. Their receivers, especially with
Tillman out, aren't very good. So we've seen tight ends
Hunter Henry, I mean, not even great players abuse the
middle of the field against the Steelers. I'm sure that's
what they're going to try to do with Gabriel. Get
(19:55):
it out quick. Their protection is not great, especially at
the left tackle spot, which is really bad, and we're
going to get to these tight ends and attack the
middle of the field because we've seen teams do that
reasonably well against Steelers.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
To your point there, in Djoku and Fannin combined for
a thirty nine point four percent target share from Gabriel
last week, and going into that game they had combined
for just a twenty six point eight percent target share,
So a drastic increase there. But Matt, that means that
the receivers for Cleveland were only targeted ten times total
in Week five by Dylan Gabriel and Isaiah Bond did
get six of those ten targets. I mean, Jerry Judy
(20:30):
is clearly the best receiver that they have. I think
teams might be salivating over him come the trade deadline,
to be honest with you, if the Browns are going
down the.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
Track that they're going down.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
But Bond was the one that got most of the
targets last week as far as receivers are concerned, I
don't know if that's a trend. I don't know if
there's something about Bond that he has a bond with
no pun intended. But if anybody's gonna you know, before
I did. Yes, if anybody was gonna force feed, you know,
a receiver, I would think it would be Judy, and
that wasn't the case in his first game.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
I would have to study it more, but I assume
most teams are putting their best guy on Judy. Yeah,
and frankly, I think Judy's been a little overrated. I
think you'll look at last year probably is the best
year of his career. He was a pro bowler, not
an All Pro, but he was a pro bowler last year.
Bond's kind of interesting though. I don't know if people
know his backstory, but a year ago before he was drafted,
(21:25):
he's a rookie. He was like on all these lists,
he's gonna be a first round pick. He's gonna run
a four to two at Texas. Transferred from Bama, big time,
five star type dude, doesn't get drafted, doesn't run a
four to two, but he's still fast. Doesn't get drafted
because he had at a lot of off the field stuff.
I mean, if you're that talent and don't get drafted,
there's a lot of off the field stuff. So the
(21:47):
Browns go out and sign him as an undrafted free agent,
just a couple of weeks ago, not like right before
camp or right after the draft, gave him a bunch
of guaranteed money, which Judkins Watson, they're not afraid to
take some risks in that regard. But maybe they're just
trying to see what they got. And again, they just
(22:08):
keep playing all these rookies a ton of snaps. I
understand that side of it. You know, we're young, we're
not winning any today. We need to play all the
rookies we can and let's see if this guy can
be a keeper.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
Yeah, Judkins certainly looks like a keeper.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
I mean Judkins does.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
Yeah, twenty three of the browns twenty nine running back
carries last week. He finished with one hundred and ten
yards seventy nine percent of the Browns running back rushes,
is the lowest since his Week two debut. But Judkins
has only appeared in three games, and he has one
hundred and ninety nine more rushing yards than any other
Browns player. He's almost averaging about five yards per carry.
I mean, he's obviously just going to get more and
more playing time. They've found their number one back, and yeah,
(22:45):
he's very impressive, but not surprising because out of Ohio State.
He was supposed to be a very impressive player.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Yeah, and he was an early pick, and even before
he transferred to Ohio State, he was kind of considered
right there with genty as you know that the top
players in that class at that position split with Henderson
obviously had some off the field stuff that kept him
off the field the first couple of weeks the season,
But just in terms of on the field, whoa I mean,
(23:12):
he is a handful Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
All right, before we get to our key matchups, Matt
or two that you highlighted, let's talk about this left
tackle that you kind of foreshadowed is going to be
a problem for the Cleveland Browns. Kat Leviston is his name,
and he should be the victim, right and with high
Smith returning to practice, you should probably have a fresh
pass rusher over Leviston every single time, even if some
(23:37):
of those times is wat moving over to that side.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Yes, I mean the rest of their line is we
know the names conkling, the right tackles declining. The interior
is still good, but it's not like the Nick Chubb
days where it was like the best in the league.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
I mean, Matt and Joel Bentonio has been in the
league for almost twelve years. I mean, geez, yeah and.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Tell her and yeah, like that was. It's been a
great guard pairing, but it's not great anymore. It's still
a strength though, and I would just expect a lot
of judkins run up the middle behind those guards and centers.
But left tackle baby, I mean, they've had some injuries.
They traded for Cam Robinson just out of desperation a
week or so ago. It got him off Jacksonville.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
Don't think he'll play or you think it will still
be Leviston this week.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
I don't know. Last week they kind of rotated, okay,
which is never a good sign. I mean, they brought
him in when they were both were healthy. I don't
know what the logic was of when you bring this
guy in when you don't, that basically means you have none.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
You know, right, all right, So key matchups that you
highlighted Matt Brown's quarterback Dylan Gabriel versus the Steelers' safeties.
Gabriel of course, made his first start last week, and
he targeted the tight ends, as we talked about on
this podcast. So safety's got to do the work, and
in the inside linebackers too, and coverage there.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Yeah, and it's really a Terrell Austin thing too, you know,
rattle the rook.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
And Steelers offensive tackles versus Brown's defensive end.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
Miles Garrett.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
Let's just throw the entire line there as far as
that matchup is concerned, by any means necessary, the Darnell Washington,
Spencer Anderson's anything you need to do to slow this
guy down.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Yeah, and I don't know what they will, but that
doesn't mean that that's enough for them to beat you.
I mean, the one thing I did throw out a
couple of minutes ago is yes, I love the jumbo
package with Anderson and Washington, right, but I might use
it for protection reasons now as opposed to running reasons.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
And yeah, just might have to this week to survive
against Miles Garrett and the Cleveland Browns. Kickoff is at
one o'clock on Sunday between these two old AFC rivals,
renewing their rivalry for the first time in the twenty
twenty five season. Matt and I will be on at
nine am on DVE, getting the pregame started four hours
in advance of kickoff. Can't wait to do that format.
(26:04):
Williams and I am Tom Opferman. Thanks has always for
giving us a listen to the Advanced Scout
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!