October 24, 2023 • 22 mins
Matt Williamson and Tom Opferman break down the Jacksonville Jaguars who pay a visit to Acrisure Stadium this Sunday
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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 Mac Williamson.
The four and two Steelers, coming off a win in
Los Angeles, now stare down the barrel of a three
game homestand starting with what I think that's the toughest
opponent on paper in that stretch, the five and two Jaguars.
Jags have yet to lose a road game this year.
(00:22):
They played twice in London, though, and they're currently on
a four game winning streak after their thirty one to
twenty four win over the Saints last Thursday night, a
game that was laid on October nineteenth. So they get
the mini by venue.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
That's very and what's strange about their schedule, and I
don't know if it's as good, bad, or ugly for
the Steelers. They get that Mini by Steelers and then
a real buy. So there's like twenty five days or whatever.
They only play one game, I mean, and that help
the Steelers, it hurt Steelers. I have no idea, but
I mean, I think that's an interesting little quirk.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Between October twentieth and November eleventh, they play one same
one game and this is it. And then they actually
take on the Niners on November twelfth, stretch. If you're
going to pick a team in the NFL to have
to play after all that time off, yeah it's the
San Francisco forty nine Ers.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
But the Jags are playing well. I don't think they're
getting them at a good time.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Jackson a point differential of plus twenty seven. Steelers sit
at minus twenty four, and I've played one fewer game
than Jacksonville. Before we get into the serious history and
the offense and the defense, Matt, something that you've been
pumping in the early days of the week here as
we record this on Tuesday, is turnover differential for the Steelers.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Great, and they're plus six in the traditional sense of
turnover different If you dig a little bit deeper, they're
actually double yes six.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
So I actually wrote this article for DK Sports this
week two about the fine line the margins. I mean,
there's a couple of little things, like Steelers have been
good with penalty differential, you know, like they get about
fifteen yards in bonus yardage through penalty so far this year.
Just so happens, Jacksonville's really good at that, Just so happens.
Jacksonville's really good with turnover differential as well. They're really
(01:52):
really good.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Actually.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
But where you were going with this, I think is
interesting is I do this, and I learned this from
smart football people than me. But a missed field goal
or a missed fourth down opportunity is really the same
as a turnover. I mean, people might be like, no,
not exactly, Williamson. Well, listen, hear me out. If Pickett
(02:15):
throws the ball forty yards downfield, it's picked off and
that dude is tackled. Why is that worse than if
they go forward on fourth down and he stopped at
the line of scrimmage and you hand the ball to
him at midfield or whatever, or even worse, you miss
a long field goal or short one. But a long
one is even more prevalent because in the middle of
(02:35):
the field and you're seven yards back behind the line
of scrimmage. I mean, if Pickett is sacked seven yards
behind the line of scrimmage on third down and the
ball pops out and a defensive lineman falls on it,
that's a turnover. But if he on third down instead
throws an incompletion and then they kick the field goal,
and it's it's off, you know, not between the uprights.
What's the difference isn't any right, there's no difference at all.
(02:59):
So the Steelers have been very they're plus six and
turnover differential normal turnover differential, but they're plus three and
fourth down conversions this year. They've made three more fourth
down conversions in their components. Yes, they've also made three
more field goals than their opponent. Well oswell's perfect. The opponents,
as we saw against the Rams, have missed three field goals.
(03:22):
Well that's huge. I mean it's the same as a turnover.
So in that way of looking at it, they're plus twelve,
you know, which, frankly is one of the hidden reasons
why they've a winning record right now, is what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
It's probably at the top of my list of reasons
exactly record right now, because it's really hard to find
reasons why they're four and two. But that is something
that kind of hits you right in the face. Yes,
if they're plus twelve in turnover differential including the miss
amazing is unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
That's amazing. And in this article I wrote exactly that,
and then I followed it by every other major category
the opponents have been better than the Steelers yardage points,
you know, yards for game, our yards for play, et cetera,
et cetera, et cetera. But they're still four and two.
Well that's why last note on that there is some
(04:12):
luck because it's not like the Steelers are better than
thirty one other teams at making the opponent missfield goals.
They haven't.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
They haven't blocked a field goal this year. There are
a lot of heavy lift in last week, and yes.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
They're good at making them. There's a skill to that. Ooswell, yes,
but the fact that three have been missed against you,
which isn't an insane number, it's just your differentials good.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
But there is skill involved in getting off the field
on fourth down or converting a fourth no doubt, and
keeping the football.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
But nine out of ten times you have nothing to
do with whether the opponent made a field goal or not.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
You know, it's all on them. Yeah yeah, but hey,
you'll take self inflicted wounds.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
That's why they're at Yeah, you got you gotta take
be on top of that stuff.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Serious history between these two teams. Jacksonville and the Carolina
Panthers both entered the NFL in the nineteen ninety three season,
including two playoff games, the Jags have taken on Pittsburgh
twenty seven times, and Jacksonville has won fourteen of those
contests overall, as well as both of the postseason games,
each of which took place in Pittsburgh. Steelers do have
a two game winning streak, with the last matchup favoring
(05:10):
Pittsburgh twenty seven to three on the road in twenty twenty.
The Jags had a four game winning streak between two
thousand and five and their two thousand and eight playoff win.
There's also a stretch between ninety eight and two thousand
and one in which Jacksonville was five and one against
the Steelers. There's not many teams in the NFL, Matt,
that can boast that kind of track record against the
Pittsburgh Steelers, and lo and behold, one of them came
(05:30):
to the league in nineteen ninety three, the year before
I was even born.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Yeah, I was to say, you probably don't even remember
when these two teams were in the division together. I mean,
they were a very good rivalry. Brunel Kaughlin, Fred Taylor.
They were a very good expansion team and it's why
they changed the expansion rules. Was Carolina and Jacksonville kind
of had it too good to be honest with you.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
I mean they were conference championship games and Super Bowls
before you even knew it.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Yeah. Yeah, their form of team building worked out quite
well for them.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Well, the Jacks come into acroture at one o'clock on Sunday.
Let's take a look at the jack offense to start
things out. It averages five point one yards per play.
It's fourteenth in yards per game at three hundred and
thirty sixth ninth in points per game, so they do
a fair bit of scoring twenty four points per game.
The Jags have ten giveaways, but seven of them are fumbles.
Only the Texans have thrown fewer interceptions in the Jacksonville
(06:17):
but only the Vikings have lost more fumbles. And you
mentioned before the show, you know, at the beginning, Trevor
Lawrence was kind of hurt a little bit with receivers
dropping passes, the drop passes, the funbables. I think this
applies to both the Jags and the Vikings. That many
fumbles early on in a season. There's a little bit
of flukiness to that. Both teams will correct that.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Yes, that's another thing. But I just talked about field
goal luck. There's a fumble luck factor too, Like history shows.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Well, sorbout how unlucky are the Jags and the Vikings
that their own player didn't just jump on one of
those footballs either, because that's what I happened too. I
can just fall right in your lap.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Yes, that's what fumble luck really is is once somebody
fumbles the football, who recovers, it's usually fifty to fifty.
And if you go scrum yeah, and if you go
through the course of the year and you recover one
out of fifteen, chances are the next year you'll get
closer to five hundred. You know. Balances out.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Only seven offenses pass the football at a lower percentage
of their snaps than Jacksonville, so they are a run
heavy team. Jacksonville is scoring the sixth most points on
average in the second half of games this year. So
just like the Steelers turning on in the second half,
the Jags offense as well turns things on. So it
could be fireworks show between the Steelers and the Jags
come the fourth quarter, maybe like a twenty eight point
between the two to fourth.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Maybe maybe this kind of hold on, stick around, and
what's the whole thing? You know?
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Jags offense converts a set of downs into a new
set of down seventy percent of the time. It's about
league average. Steelers defense is eleventh best in this metric
on getting off the field, and the Jags average depth
of target is six point eight nine yards downfield is
the fifth lowest in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Want to get it out quick?
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Yeah, And Trevor Lawrence EPA per play is nineteenth amongst quarterbacks.
That's not very that's surprise me.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
And frankly, it doesn't pass a sniff test. I mean,
I think he's played much better than that, but the
red zone stuff hasn't been awesome. And frankly, I think
he's a top ten quarterback already.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
I do too. He's eleventh in yards, he has eight touchdowns,
he only has three interceptions this season. He completes sixty
seven point four percent of his passes so far. On
the here he has two hundred rushing yards as well. Man,
I think that's a real game where he can scramble
and he can hurt you with his legs. I remember
when Clemson play Ohio State in the playoff and Lawrence
goes out for a run of Scramble is a design
(08:31):
run and he's just out running safeties from Ohio State.
And that's that first moment where I'm sitting at the
bar and I'm kind of like there's something more than
just the golden arm with this kid. And it's run
State the safe He's going to be in the NFL
next year, and he's just doing the Tyreek Hill Peace
sign up the sidelines. It was very impressive to see
back then, and it's translated to the NFL.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
You're a hundredercent right. I mean he's six six, and
you know he's The guys like him that body type
usually aren't as twitchy as him because he can kind
of like pick it too. I mean an underrated aspect
of both those guys is when they decide to run,
it's now, you know, I mean they can really.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Go and that no accelerations. He already one hundred yep.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
And then he starts opening those strides and it's like, wow,
he's fast. You know, he can get to the corner.
And remember was it last year that Herbert just kept
every time they played man coverage would take ten yards
of slide. Thank you? Yeah. I mean you've got to
be careful with that with Lawrence too, because he's a
better runner than Herbert.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Interesting point, and you don't really ever think to spy
a guy like that. I mean, yeah, he will hear
chase their arm if you do something to that, if
you overextend yourself to stopping his rushing aspect. But the
eight touchdowns is a little bit surprising so far for
him because you said the sniff test, he passes it
with colors. I mean Tomlin even send in his press
conference today. I mean he's the number one overall.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Pick like and he all out, yeah, he is at the.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Top of the prospect board, like you said, any single
year and he's living up to So what's the touchdown thing?
Is that?
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Luck?
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Is that something you expect to explode soon or they're
just getting on the ground. They don't need them to
throw touchdowns.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
This is a young quarterback thing, and we've obviously seen
it with Pickett, especially his rookie year, but it's been
a big Lawrence thing too. It's taken him a little
while to adjust to the speed in the red zone.
I mean his okay, to excuse him, his rookie year
was a total wash with that coaching situation, so really
he was a rookie almost.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
It's honestly a miracle that didn't ruin the game exactly.
SIPPs should be counting their blessings that Peterson King fixed
that real fast.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
But you'll notice even still he's not excelling in the
red zone and it's just a young quarterback thing. They've
also had a lot of drops and he's a good
supporting cast, but they've let him down more than you
would think this year.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Too, and I think that's kind of fluky. When I
think about the receivers that they have. It's pretty top
heavy though as far as that receiving room is concerned.
You got three big threats Kirk and Ridley yes as
the wide receivers, and then Evan Ingram as a tight end.
Then you'll get some of etn out of the backsit
as well. Cus four hundred and seventy four yards receiving,
that's the most on the team. Ridley's three hundred and
(11:04):
sixty eight, Ingram has three hundred and forty six, and
then eight ten has won ninety six and then their
next guy's like ninety Yeah, Like those are the only
guys you really have to worry about those three and
then a little bit of etn out of the backfield.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Zay Jones has been hurt. He would be the fifth,
but he's a distant fifth in my opinion.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
He's healthy. You think you see that much of a
difference and not really a distribution, No.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Not really. Ingram's a really good player. He was former
first round pick that's kind of been reborn with the
Jags are giving him good money. What's interesting though, is
I think most people, and I'm not saying it's not true,
look at Ridley as their number one, and he was
awesome in Week one, but he's only had one good
game since, I mean two Week six.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
He averages forty four point five yards per game, has
nineteen catches in six games.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Yeah, and he had a one hundred yard game in
that stretch too, So it's a lot of like thirty
yard games, twenty yard games. So he's been kind of disappointing.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
But Christian Kirk, and this is a going back to
last year because I remember the narrative last year when
he signed. I can't believe the JAG's overpaid for Christian Kirk.
They paid way too much money for that guy. He
might be outperforming that contract.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Yeah, it's definitely.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Maybe it's a deal.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Yeah, people don't realize how expensive receivers are for one thing,
but he's a very solid number two receiver. Top thick
Ye plays out of the slot too, good player.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
We agree though, that Ridley and Kirk are are threats
for sure in the passing game, and Steelers haven't done
well with threats in the passing game. After Pooka Nakua
caught eight passes for one hundred and fifty four yards,
the combination of Brandon a Amari Cooper, Davante Adams, Nico Collins,
z A Flowers, and now Nakua have combined to catch
forty eight passes for seven hundred and eighty six yards
(12:39):
against the Steelers this year, a wide receiver facing the
Steeers has caught at least five passes for at least
seventy three yards in all six games. They did limit
Cooper Cup last week, so credit to where credits due.
Two catches for twenty nine yards could have been like
four catches for sixty yards. Yeah, Cup cut a hold
onto the ball. That was the worst output in a
game Cup started and finished since twenty twenty. So right,
(13:00):
you can pat yourself on the back all you want
about Cup, But I'm looking over there at pooking a
coup is one hundred.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
And fifty four yards and all the other games.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
What the hell happened there? Yeah? I mean, if you're
a daily DK player DraftKings, pick a receiver going up
against the Steelers, you'll get.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
One of them. Yeah, one of them will probably do
really well. Last week was kind of odd to me
in that whole equation because I really think after watching
the tape, the whole goal was don't let Cooper Copper
Aaron Donald beat you, and they accomplished that and it worked,
so good, good coach. They won the game. But it's
yet another week in a row where one receiver blows up,
(13:33):
and that's too much of a trend.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
In the running game, we mentioned that the Jags love
to run the football, Ravens and Giants have a higher
quarterback scramble rate, but that's it. Trevor Lawrence has run
on eight point two percent of his design passes. Other
than Lawrence's improvisation, it's all at n Yeah, yeah, the
other guys, he's a work register. They took Tank Bigsby
(13:57):
in the third round this year. They don't even need
to use them at all.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Shocks me.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Five hundred and four rushing yards through seven games for Etn.
That's four hundred and fifty nine more yards than any
other Jacksonville running back.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
He's a whole show and he's playing a great.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Seventy two total rushing yards from backs other than ATN
Steeler fans, there's obviously the dynamic between Harris and Etn
as to where they were drafted draft class and one
pick right after Harris and I know et missed his
rookie season due to injury, but in the past two
seasons he's looked a lot better.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Than yes, and he's really hit his stride. I mean,
it's by far the best he's played and it's been a while.
But yards after contact for the Steeler defense isn't good
and against running backs because of the McCaffrey run, the
forward run, but this guy's faster than them. I mean,
McCaffrey can fly, I mean, but I mean he's a
potential home run guy for sure.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Timplee package is a back too. He can so smaller,
but yeah, so won't really overwhelm you physically. He's more
of an agile kind of guy.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Yeah, cast with a speed. I'm a little shocked he's
getting the workload he is at his size and his style.
But he's developed quite a bit as a pass receiver.
You've mentioned, you know, his production there, and he's on
the field a lot, and he's doing the goal line work.
He's in every down.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Dude stays in the block at all? Or is he
mostly out to catch passes?
Speaker 1 (15:17):
A little both? I mean because anger he's been capable
of both.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
I mean, yeah, the Jags allowed two point three sacks
per game. Lawrence wasn't sacked last week. How's that offensive line? Look?
Rams offensive line did a decent job against the Steelers
pass rush. Really good second half adjustments from the Steelers
defensively to still make some plays.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
T J.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Watts interception most notably against that neutralization of their pass rush.
What about Jacksonville here, you think they'll have trouble or
you think this could be a Watt Heismith the wreck
the entire I.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Would think those two do really really well. Their O
line's pretty young. I would call it exactly league average.
You know, I don't see a glaring weakness. I don't
see a superstar player there. I think it's an average
O line here. With that part is, as you said,
they run the ball a lot. They've played with a
lot of leads. They've had success running the ball. But
(16:06):
Lawrence's time to throw is unusually quick this year. I mean,
he's getting the ball out basically faster than any qualified
quarterback out there. So he's hard to sack.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Maybe they don't trust that line that much.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
There's some of that. There's definitely some of that.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Lawrence is capable of three step drop three seconds in
the pocket and let's bomb this ball down the.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Sure so, but Kirk and Ingram and atn are quick
hitting type guys.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Turning the page to the Jags defense. That's a defense
that allows five point four yards per play. It's eighteenth
in points per game allowed two with twenty eight point
nine excuse me, two hundred and seventy three yards per
game through the air. They only allow eighty yards on
the ground though per game, which is fourth best in
the league. And they have sixteen total takeaways. So they
stop the run and they take the ball away from you.
(16:53):
That's kind of the bread and butter for the Jacksonville defense.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Yeah, and I think The best way to look at
this d is remember, you know, like when they were
constructing this team, with this coaching staff in front office,
you have Derreck Henry and Jonathan Taylor in your division,
you know, I mean, like there's not two bigger, more
physical type guys. So the Jags front seven is massive,
(17:15):
you know, like Walker the first overall pick is huge
for an edge player. You know, their defensive tackles are
three twenty. Their linebackers are all giant. So their front
seven is a massive group of human beings their backs
or the secondary. Campbell's a good player, the corner, and
other than that, it's just okay. The safeties are fine.
(17:37):
Cisc goes all right, but they're built over Yeah they do.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
I mean that's clearly the blueprint to attack. Yes, yes, yes, yes,
but you gotta be careful there because they'll pick you off.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
So that's when they're saying, get.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
To pass happy. They're going to take the football away
from you.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
And I don't think their pass rush is great. I
mean thirteen this year, Allen's having a really good year.
He was a fifth pick. It's a Walker's disruptive, but
he's not a refined pass rusher.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
The Jack Sack Derek Carr. Just once, going all the
way back to last Thursday when they played the Saints,
Trayvon Walker has two and a half sacks to Josh
Allen seven. Then no one else has more. No one
else is more than Travion Walker. He's second on the team.
What's Walker? What's his deal to you right now? First
overall pick twenty twenty two. Yeah, still not really realizing
(18:25):
that full potential yet.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
No, but he's disruptive, he's very powerful, he's very gifted.
That was not a particularly strong year. Most years he
would not be the first overall pick, to be honest,
he'd be the eighth pick in the draft something like that.
And maybe they should have taken Hutchinson. Who knows how
much in each of that Hutchinson's the better player right now,
Walker's still a force against the run, though, I mean again,
(18:50):
think of Henry and Taylor and the physicality of their
front he epitomizes that.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
What about the third guy in that class from that position,
Thibodeau in New York. You think Walker's kind of similar
to him, and he's about.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Forty pounds heavier though, Like they'll bump Walker inside over guard.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
And things like that, you know, a little more versatility.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Yes, Thibodeau is more of a true speedball off the
edge guy.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Steelers have scored zero points on their opening drives of
games this year. I don't know if you at home
have been able to surmise that on your own. But however,
in the past two weeks, Pittsburg has scored a total
of thirteen points in quarters one through three, twenty eight
points in the fourth quarter. Only four teams are producing
less first half points per game than the Steelers, and
only the Ravens are allowing fewer first half points per
(19:29):
game than Jacksonville.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
That's a key here, right, Ain't that great? No, if
there's a goose egg on the score.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Pittsburgh Steelers in this one, better keep it close. And
you know we say every week, you know you want
to see him get off to that fast start. This
might be one of the worst match Well, it's actually
the second worst matchup you can have.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
Yeah, yeah, it sure doesn't play out that way. If
they can, great, but history doesn't show that that's likely.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
I look at this, you know, I'm on our lads
right now, and I look at the defense. First round
picks and free agent signings, So I mean they've really
they've spent gone out to spend money to fill in
the gaps, like seeing that from the Jags. So an
organization that doesn't always act like good organizations do. They
got a young quarterback on a cheap deal. Let's throw
some cash around and make the defense as good as
we possibly can.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Absolutely, and kind of true on offense too, Ingram wasn't
cheap and Kirk and you know they've some offensive lineen
are getting paid.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
But Lawrence is probably next.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Now that's done, I mean they have cap issues. Now
they're up against it, and now they're gonna have to
pay Lawrence soon, so they're done being shoppered.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
You mentioned the struggles in the secondary. Is there any
guy out there that stands out to you? Williams Herndon
Campbell's Campbells are really so we don't know what.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
We're going to say. I'm not sure if he's playing.
Cisco's fun because he flies around the field, but he's
a little bit of a hair and.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Fire, but you can take advantage of it in the secondary.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
Let's take a look at some key matchups here before
we wrap things up, the first one being the Jags
running back Travis Etn versus Steelers and linebackers as having
a great year. There's so many players that are deserving
of offensive player that your recognition. He ain't gonna get it, unfortunately,
but you know, certainly, if you were to give an
award for most impactful running back specifically, he's Bowls going
(21:07):
to be a first team, second team All Pro running back.
He's got a chance. I know McCaffrey's probably running away
with that first team one, but he's definitely right in
the mix for an All Pro season.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
He's having an easily top five running back season, easily,
and no question about it.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
Those linebackers are better than they have been in there
a few years. Holk them, I know, got dinged up.
I was able to return though, so that's always pretty
good sign that he's going to be able to play.
And you know, I'm not trying to make cool hulkm
out to be Brian or Lacker Matt, but I think
it's played really well this year.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
I like the linebackers in general. They're not a liability.
They're much better than they were a year ago. There's
some uh you know, three man rotation. Hulk them leading
the way. And it's not just on the linebackers, of course.
I mean at M is going to be an eleven
man job.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
And this final matchup, I'm pretty sure you just put
this in here so you can hear me say. This
guy's name Steelers running backs first Jaguars linebacker for side
A Lucan. Is that right that I butchered?
Speaker 1 (21:56):
I think it's a Lulua, but I.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Definitely that sounds way better. And what I said, if
I was I'd want it to be a Lula Khan.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
I think that's it.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
No disrespect to him for the name, Butchering good player though.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Really good player. They went and got him in free
agency too.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Someone that the Steelers need to keep on their radar.
I know the Jags are really good against the run,
the fourth best team in the NFL against the run.
Others have no choice but to try to run the Paul.
It's an offense. They can't just spread it out eleven
personnel and have Kenny throw fifty times. Not gonna work.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
But he's the leader of the defense, A big physical
dude as well, runs well. He went to Yale. He's
super smart. Yeah, he's making good money now and living
up to it. I usually don't cite tackles, but he's
got a million of them, and I think he led
the field. Yeah. I think he led the league in
tackles last year too, or was right near there.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
The Steelers try to get to five and two as
the five and two Jaguars come to Akerscher Stadium. That
game is at one o'clock on Sunday. All of our
coverage starts at nine am right here on d VE
for Matt Williamson on tom Opframan. Thanks always for listening.
We'll be back again next week with another edition of
the Advanced Scout
We got some work to do.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
This is the Advanced Scout with Tom Opperman and Mac Williamson.
The four and two Steelers, coming off a win in
Los Angeles, now stare down the barrel of a three
game homestand starting with what I think that's the toughest
opponent on paper in that stretch, the five and two Jaguars.
Jags have yet to lose a road game this year.
(00:22):
They played twice in London, though, and they're currently on
a four game winning streak after their thirty one to
twenty four win over the Saints last Thursday night, a
game that was laid on October nineteenth. So they get
the mini by venue.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
That's very and what's strange about their schedule, and I
don't know if it's as good, bad, or ugly for
the Steelers. They get that Mini by Steelers and then
a real buy. So there's like twenty five days or whatever.
They only play one game, I mean, and that help
the Steelers, it hurt Steelers. I have no idea, but
I mean, I think that's an interesting little quirk.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Between October twentieth and November eleventh, they play one same
one game and this is it. And then they actually
take on the Niners on November twelfth, stretch. If you're
going to pick a team in the NFL to have
to play after all that time off, yeah it's the
San Francisco forty nine Ers.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
But the Jags are playing well. I don't think they're
getting them at a good time.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Jackson a point differential of plus twenty seven. Steelers sit
at minus twenty four, and I've played one fewer game
than Jacksonville. Before we get into the serious history and
the offense and the defense, Matt, something that you've been
pumping in the early days of the week here as
we record this on Tuesday, is turnover differential for the Steelers.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Great, and they're plus six in the traditional sense of
turnover different If you dig a little bit deeper, they're
actually double yes six.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
So I actually wrote this article for DK Sports this
week two about the fine line the margins. I mean,
there's a couple of little things, like Steelers have been
good with penalty differential, you know, like they get about
fifteen yards in bonus yardage through penalty so far this year.
Just so happens, Jacksonville's really good at that, Just so happens.
Jacksonville's really good with turnover differential as well. They're really
(01:52):
really good.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Actually.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
But where you were going with this, I think is
interesting is I do this, and I learned this from
smart football people than me. But a missed field goal
or a missed fourth down opportunity is really the same
as a turnover. I mean, people might be like, no,
not exactly, Williamson. Well, listen, hear me out. If Pickett
(02:15):
throws the ball forty yards downfield, it's picked off and
that dude is tackled. Why is that worse than if
they go forward on fourth down and he stopped at
the line of scrimmage and you hand the ball to
him at midfield or whatever, or even worse, you miss
a long field goal or short one. But a long
one is even more prevalent because in the middle of
(02:35):
the field and you're seven yards back behind the line
of scrimmage. I mean, if Pickett is sacked seven yards
behind the line of scrimmage on third down and the
ball pops out and a defensive lineman falls on it,
that's a turnover. But if he on third down instead
throws an incompletion and then they kick the field goal,
and it's it's off, you know, not between the uprights.
What's the difference isn't any right, there's no difference at all.
(02:59):
So the Steelers have been very they're plus six and
turnover differential normal turnover differential, but they're plus three and
fourth down conversions this year. They've made three more fourth
down conversions in their components. Yes, they've also made three
more field goals than their opponent. Well oswell's perfect. The opponents,
as we saw against the Rams, have missed three field goals.
(03:22):
Well that's huge. I mean it's the same as a turnover.
So in that way of looking at it, they're plus twelve,
you know, which, frankly is one of the hidden reasons
why they've a winning record right now, is what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
It's probably at the top of my list of reasons
exactly record right now, because it's really hard to find
reasons why they're four and two. But that is something
that kind of hits you right in the face. Yes,
if they're plus twelve in turnover differential including the miss
amazing is unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
That's amazing. And in this article I wrote exactly that,
and then I followed it by every other major category
the opponents have been better than the Steelers yardage points,
you know, yards for game, our yards for play, et cetera,
et cetera, et cetera. But they're still four and two.
Well that's why last note on that there is some
(04:12):
luck because it's not like the Steelers are better than
thirty one other teams at making the opponent missfield goals.
They haven't.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
They haven't blocked a field goal this year. There are
a lot of heavy lift in last week, and yes.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
They're good at making them. There's a skill to that. Ooswell, yes,
but the fact that three have been missed against you,
which isn't an insane number, it's just your differentials good.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
But there is skill involved in getting off the field
on fourth down or converting a fourth no doubt, and
keeping the football.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
But nine out of ten times you have nothing to
do with whether the opponent made a field goal or not.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
You know, it's all on them. Yeah yeah, but hey,
you'll take self inflicted wounds.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
That's why they're at Yeah, you got you gotta take
be on top of that stuff.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Serious history between these two teams. Jacksonville and the Carolina
Panthers both entered the NFL in the nineteen ninety three season,
including two playoff games, the Jags have taken on Pittsburgh
twenty seven times, and Jacksonville has won fourteen of those
contests overall, as well as both of the postseason games,
each of which took place in Pittsburgh. Steelers do have
a two game winning streak, with the last matchup favoring
(05:10):
Pittsburgh twenty seven to three on the road in twenty twenty.
The Jags had a four game winning streak between two
thousand and five and their two thousand and eight playoff win.
There's also a stretch between ninety eight and two thousand
and one in which Jacksonville was five and one against
the Steelers. There's not many teams in the NFL, Matt,
that can boast that kind of track record against the
Pittsburgh Steelers, and lo and behold, one of them came
(05:30):
to the league in nineteen ninety three, the year before
I was even born.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Yeah, I was to say, you probably don't even remember
when these two teams were in the division together. I mean,
they were a very good rivalry. Brunel Kaughlin, Fred Taylor.
They were a very good expansion team and it's why
they changed the expansion rules. Was Carolina and Jacksonville kind
of had it too good to be honest with you.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
I mean they were conference championship games and Super Bowls
before you even knew it.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Yeah. Yeah, their form of team building worked out quite
well for them.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Well, the Jacks come into acroture at one o'clock on Sunday.
Let's take a look at the jack offense to start
things out. It averages five point one yards per play.
It's fourteenth in yards per game at three hundred and
thirty sixth ninth in points per game, so they do
a fair bit of scoring twenty four points per game.
The Jags have ten giveaways, but seven of them are fumbles.
Only the Texans have thrown fewer interceptions in the Jacksonville
(06:17):
but only the Vikings have lost more fumbles. And you
mentioned before the show, you know, at the beginning, Trevor
Lawrence was kind of hurt a little bit with receivers
dropping passes, the drop passes, the funbables. I think this
applies to both the Jags and the Vikings. That many
fumbles early on in a season. There's a little bit
of flukiness to that. Both teams will correct that.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Yes, that's another thing. But I just talked about field
goal luck. There's a fumble luck factor too, Like history shows.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Well, sorbout how unlucky are the Jags and the Vikings
that their own player didn't just jump on one of
those footballs either, because that's what I happened too. I
can just fall right in your lap.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Yes, that's what fumble luck really is is once somebody
fumbles the football, who recovers, it's usually fifty to fifty.
And if you go scrum yeah, and if you go
through the course of the year and you recover one
out of fifteen, chances are the next year you'll get
closer to five hundred. You know. Balances out.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Only seven offenses pass the football at a lower percentage
of their snaps than Jacksonville, so they are a run
heavy team. Jacksonville is scoring the sixth most points on
average in the second half of games this year. So
just like the Steelers turning on in the second half,
the Jags offense as well turns things on. So it
could be fireworks show between the Steelers and the Jags
come the fourth quarter, maybe like a twenty eight point
between the two to fourth.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Maybe maybe this kind of hold on, stick around, and
what's the whole thing? You know?
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Jags offense converts a set of downs into a new
set of down seventy percent of the time. It's about
league average. Steelers defense is eleventh best in this metric
on getting off the field, and the Jags average depth
of target is six point eight nine yards downfield is
the fifth lowest in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Want to get it out quick?
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Yeah, And Trevor Lawrence EPA per play is nineteenth amongst quarterbacks.
That's not very that's surprise me.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
And frankly, it doesn't pass a sniff test. I mean,
I think he's played much better than that, but the
red zone stuff hasn't been awesome. And frankly, I think
he's a top ten quarterback already.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
I do too. He's eleventh in yards, he has eight touchdowns,
he only has three interceptions this season. He completes sixty
seven point four percent of his passes so far. On
the here he has two hundred rushing yards as well. Man,
I think that's a real game where he can scramble
and he can hurt you with his legs. I remember
when Clemson play Ohio State in the playoff and Lawrence
goes out for a run of Scramble is a design
(08:31):
run and he's just out running safeties from Ohio State.
And that's that first moment where I'm sitting at the
bar and I'm kind of like there's something more than
just the golden arm with this kid. And it's run
State the safe He's going to be in the NFL
next year, and he's just doing the Tyreek Hill Peace
sign up the sidelines. It was very impressive to see
back then, and it's translated to the NFL.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
You're a hundredercent right. I mean he's six six, and
you know he's The guys like him that body type
usually aren't as twitchy as him because he can kind
of like pick it too. I mean an underrated aspect
of both those guys is when they decide to run,
it's now, you know, I mean they can really.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Go and that no accelerations. He already one hundred yep.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
And then he starts opening those strides and it's like, wow,
he's fast. You know, he can get to the corner.
And remember was it last year that Herbert just kept
every time they played man coverage would take ten yards
of slide. Thank you? Yeah. I mean you've got to
be careful with that with Lawrence too, because he's a
better runner than Herbert.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Interesting point, and you don't really ever think to spy
a guy like that. I mean, yeah, he will hear
chase their arm if you do something to that, if
you overextend yourself to stopping his rushing aspect. But the
eight touchdowns is a little bit surprising so far for
him because you said the sniff test, he passes it
with colors. I mean Tomlin even send in his press
conference today. I mean he's the number one overall.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Pick like and he all out, yeah, he is at the.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Top of the prospect board, like you said, any single
year and he's living up to So what's the touchdown thing?
Is that?
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Luck?
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Is that something you expect to explode soon or they're
just getting on the ground. They don't need them to
throw touchdowns.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
This is a young quarterback thing, and we've obviously seen
it with Pickett, especially his rookie year, but it's been
a big Lawrence thing too. It's taken him a little
while to adjust to the speed in the red zone.
I mean his okay, to excuse him, his rookie year
was a total wash with that coaching situation, so really
he was a rookie almost.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
It's honestly a miracle that didn't ruin the game exactly.
SIPPs should be counting their blessings that Peterson King fixed
that real fast.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
But you'll notice even still he's not excelling in the
red zone and it's just a young quarterback thing. They've
also had a lot of drops and he's a good
supporting cast, but they've let him down more than you
would think this year.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Too, and I think that's kind of fluky. When I
think about the receivers that they have. It's pretty top
heavy though as far as that receiving room is concerned.
You got three big threats Kirk and Ridley yes as
the wide receivers, and then Evan Ingram as a tight end.
Then you'll get some of etn out of the backsit
as well. Cus four hundred and seventy four yards receiving,
that's the most on the team. Ridley's three hundred and
(11:04):
sixty eight, Ingram has three hundred and forty six, and
then eight ten has won ninety six and then their
next guy's like ninety Yeah, Like those are the only
guys you really have to worry about those three and
then a little bit of etn out of the backfield.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Zay Jones has been hurt. He would be the fifth,
but he's a distant fifth in my opinion.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
He's healthy. You think you see that much of a
difference and not really a distribution, No.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Not really. Ingram's a really good player. He was former
first round pick that's kind of been reborn with the
Jags are giving him good money. What's interesting though, is
I think most people, and I'm not saying it's not true,
look at Ridley as their number one, and he was
awesome in Week one, but he's only had one good
game since, I mean two Week six.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
He averages forty four point five yards per game, has
nineteen catches in six games.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Yeah, and he had a one hundred yard game in
that stretch too, So it's a lot of like thirty
yard games, twenty yard games. So he's been kind of disappointing.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
But Christian Kirk, and this is a going back to
last year because I remember the narrative last year when
he signed. I can't believe the JAG's overpaid for Christian Kirk.
They paid way too much money for that guy. He
might be outperforming that contract.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Yeah, it's definitely.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Maybe it's a deal.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Yeah, people don't realize how expensive receivers are for one thing,
but he's a very solid number two receiver. Top thick
Ye plays out of the slot too, good player.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
We agree though, that Ridley and Kirk are are threats
for sure in the passing game, and Steelers haven't done
well with threats in the passing game. After Pooka Nakua
caught eight passes for one hundred and fifty four yards,
the combination of Brandon a Amari Cooper, Davante Adams, Nico Collins,
z A Flowers, and now Nakua have combined to catch
forty eight passes for seven hundred and eighty six yards
(12:39):
against the Steelers this year, a wide receiver facing the
Steeers has caught at least five passes for at least
seventy three yards in all six games. They did limit
Cooper Cup last week, so credit to where credits due.
Two catches for twenty nine yards could have been like
four catches for sixty yards. Yeah, Cup cut a hold
onto the ball. That was the worst output in a
game Cup started and finished since twenty twenty. So right,
(13:00):
you can pat yourself on the back all you want
about Cup, But I'm looking over there at pooking a
coup is one hundred.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
And fifty four yards and all the other games.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
What the hell happened there? Yeah? I mean, if you're
a daily DK player DraftKings, pick a receiver going up
against the Steelers, you'll get.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
One of them. Yeah, one of them will probably do
really well. Last week was kind of odd to me
in that whole equation because I really think after watching
the tape, the whole goal was don't let Cooper Copper
Aaron Donald beat you, and they accomplished that and it worked,
so good, good coach. They won the game. But it's
yet another week in a row where one receiver blows up,
(13:33):
and that's too much of a trend.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
In the running game, we mentioned that the Jags love
to run the football, Ravens and Giants have a higher
quarterback scramble rate, but that's it. Trevor Lawrence has run
on eight point two percent of his design passes. Other
than Lawrence's improvisation, it's all at n Yeah, yeah, the
other guys, he's a work register. They took Tank Bigsby
(13:57):
in the third round this year. They don't even need
to use them at all.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Shocks me.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Five hundred and four rushing yards through seven games for Etn.
That's four hundred and fifty nine more yards than any
other Jacksonville running back.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
He's a whole show and he's playing a great.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Seventy two total rushing yards from backs other than ATN
Steeler fans, there's obviously the dynamic between Harris and Etn
as to where they were drafted draft class and one
pick right after Harris and I know et missed his
rookie season due to injury, but in the past two
seasons he's looked a lot better.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Than yes, and he's really hit his stride. I mean,
it's by far the best he's played and it's been a while.
But yards after contact for the Steeler defense isn't good
and against running backs because of the McCaffrey run, the
forward run, but this guy's faster than them. I mean,
McCaffrey can fly, I mean, but I mean he's a
potential home run guy for sure.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Timplee package is a back too. He can so smaller,
but yeah, so won't really overwhelm you physically. He's more
of an agile kind of guy.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Yeah, cast with a speed. I'm a little shocked he's
getting the workload he is at his size and his style.
But he's developed quite a bit as a pass receiver.
You've mentioned, you know, his production there, and he's on
the field a lot, and he's doing the goal line work.
He's in every down.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Dude stays in the block at all? Or is he
mostly out to catch passes?
Speaker 1 (15:17):
A little both? I mean because anger he's been capable
of both.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
I mean, yeah, the Jags allowed two point three sacks
per game. Lawrence wasn't sacked last week. How's that offensive line? Look?
Rams offensive line did a decent job against the Steelers
pass rush. Really good second half adjustments from the Steelers
defensively to still make some plays.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
T J.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Watts interception most notably against that neutralization of their pass rush.
What about Jacksonville here, you think they'll have trouble or
you think this could be a Watt Heismith the wreck
the entire I.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Would think those two do really really well. Their O
line's pretty young. I would call it exactly league average.
You know, I don't see a glaring weakness. I don't
see a superstar player there. I think it's an average
O line here. With that part is, as you said,
they run the ball a lot. They've played with a
lot of leads. They've had success running the ball. But
(16:06):
Lawrence's time to throw is unusually quick this year. I mean,
he's getting the ball out basically faster than any qualified
quarterback out there. So he's hard to sack.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Maybe they don't trust that line that much.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
There's some of that. There's definitely some of that.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Lawrence is capable of three step drop three seconds in
the pocket and let's bomb this ball down the.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Sure so, but Kirk and Ingram and atn are quick
hitting type guys.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Turning the page to the Jags defense. That's a defense
that allows five point four yards per play. It's eighteenth
in points per game allowed two with twenty eight point
nine excuse me, two hundred and seventy three yards per
game through the air. They only allow eighty yards on
the ground though per game, which is fourth best in
the league. And they have sixteen total takeaways. So they
stop the run and they take the ball away from you.
(16:53):
That's kind of the bread and butter for the Jacksonville defense.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Yeah, and I think The best way to look at
this d is remember, you know, like when they were
constructing this team, with this coaching staff in front office,
you have Derreck Henry and Jonathan Taylor in your division,
you know, I mean, like there's not two bigger, more
physical type guys. So the Jags front seven is massive,
(17:15):
you know, like Walker the first overall pick is huge
for an edge player. You know, their defensive tackles are
three twenty. Their linebackers are all giant. So their front
seven is a massive group of human beings their backs
or the secondary. Campbell's a good player, the corner, and
other than that, it's just okay. The safeties are fine.
(17:37):
Cisc goes all right, but they're built over Yeah they do.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
I mean that's clearly the blueprint to attack. Yes, yes, yes, yes,
but you gotta be careful there because they'll pick you off.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
So that's when they're saying, get.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
To pass happy. They're going to take the football away
from you.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
And I don't think their pass rush is great. I
mean thirteen this year, Allen's having a really good year.
He was a fifth pick. It's a Walker's disruptive, but
he's not a refined pass rusher.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
The Jack Sack Derek Carr. Just once, going all the
way back to last Thursday when they played the Saints,
Trayvon Walker has two and a half sacks to Josh
Allen seven. Then no one else has more. No one
else is more than Travion Walker. He's second on the team.
What's Walker? What's his deal to you right now? First
overall pick twenty twenty two. Yeah, still not really realizing
(18:25):
that full potential yet.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
No, but he's disruptive, he's very powerful, he's very gifted.
That was not a particularly strong year. Most years he
would not be the first overall pick, to be honest,
he'd be the eighth pick in the draft something like that.
And maybe they should have taken Hutchinson. Who knows how
much in each of that Hutchinson's the better player right now,
Walker's still a force against the run, though, I mean again,
(18:50):
think of Henry and Taylor and the physicality of their
front he epitomizes that.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
What about the third guy in that class from that position,
Thibodeau in New York. You think Walker's kind of similar
to him, and he's about.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Forty pounds heavier though, Like they'll bump Walker inside over guard.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
And things like that, you know, a little more versatility.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Yes, Thibodeau is more of a true speedball off the
edge guy.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Steelers have scored zero points on their opening drives of
games this year. I don't know if you at home
have been able to surmise that on your own. But however,
in the past two weeks, Pittsburg has scored a total
of thirteen points in quarters one through three, twenty eight
points in the fourth quarter. Only four teams are producing
less first half points per game than the Steelers, and
only the Ravens are allowing fewer first half points per
(19:29):
game than Jacksonville.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
That's a key here, right, Ain't that great? No, if
there's a goose egg on the score.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Pittsburgh Steelers in this one, better keep it close. And
you know we say every week, you know you want
to see him get off to that fast start. This
might be one of the worst match Well, it's actually
the second worst matchup you can have.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
Yeah, yeah, it sure doesn't play out that way. If
they can, great, but history doesn't show that that's likely.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
I look at this, you know, I'm on our lads
right now, and I look at the defense. First round
picks and free agent signings, So I mean they've really
they've spent gone out to spend money to fill in
the gaps, like seeing that from the Jags. So an
organization that doesn't always act like good organizations do. They
got a young quarterback on a cheap deal. Let's throw
some cash around and make the defense as good as
we possibly can.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Absolutely, and kind of true on offense too, Ingram wasn't
cheap and Kirk and you know they've some offensive lineen
are getting paid.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
But Lawrence is probably next.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Now that's done, I mean they have cap issues. Now
they're up against it, and now they're gonna have to
pay Lawrence soon, so they're done being shoppered.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
You mentioned the struggles in the secondary. Is there any
guy out there that stands out to you? Williams Herndon
Campbell's Campbells are really so we don't know what.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
We're going to say. I'm not sure if he's playing.
Cisco's fun because he flies around the field, but he's
a little bit of a hair and.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Fire, but you can take advantage of it in the secondary.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
Let's take a look at some key matchups here before
we wrap things up, the first one being the Jags
running back Travis Etn versus Steelers and linebackers as having
a great year. There's so many players that are deserving
of offensive player that your recognition. He ain't gonna get it, unfortunately,
but you know, certainly, if you were to give an
award for most impactful running back specifically, he's Bowls going
(21:07):
to be a first team, second team All Pro running back.
He's got a chance. I know McCaffrey's probably running away
with that first team one, but he's definitely right in
the mix for an All Pro season.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
He's having an easily top five running back season, easily,
and no question about it.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
Those linebackers are better than they have been in there
a few years. Holk them, I know, got dinged up.
I was able to return though, so that's always pretty
good sign that he's going to be able to play.
And you know, I'm not trying to make cool hulkm
out to be Brian or Lacker Matt, but I think
it's played really well this year.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
I like the linebackers in general. They're not a liability.
They're much better than they were a year ago. There's
some uh you know, three man rotation. Hulk them leading
the way. And it's not just on the linebackers, of course.
I mean at M is going to be an eleven
man job.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
And this final matchup, I'm pretty sure you just put
this in here so you can hear me say. This
guy's name Steelers running backs first Jaguars linebacker for side
A Lucan. Is that right that I butchered?
Speaker 1 (21:56):
I think it's a Lulua, but I.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Definitely that sounds way better. And what I said, if
I was I'd want it to be a Lula Khan.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
I think that's it.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
No disrespect to him for the name, Butchering good player though.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Really good player. They went and got him in free
agency too.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Someone that the Steelers need to keep on their radar.
I know the Jags are really good against the run,
the fourth best team in the NFL against the run.
Others have no choice but to try to run the Paul.
It's an offense. They can't just spread it out eleven
personnel and have Kenny throw fifty times. Not gonna work.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
But he's the leader of the defense, A big physical
dude as well, runs well. He went to Yale. He's
super smart. Yeah, he's making good money now and living
up to it. I usually don't cite tackles, but he's
got a million of them, and I think he led
the field. Yeah. I think he led the league in
tackles last year too, or was right near there.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
The Steelers try to get to five and two as
the five and two Jaguars come to Akerscher Stadium. That
game is at one o'clock on Sunday. All of our
coverage starts at nine am right here on d VE
for Matt Williamson on tom Opframan. Thanks always for listening.
We'll be back again next week with another edition of
the Advanced Scout
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