Week 11 vs Bengals

Missi Matthews, Bill Hillgrove, and Craig Wolfley break down the Steelers loss to the Bengals Sunday afternoon.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Point After on w d v E Pittsburgh,
brought to you by Parks Casino. The entire Steelers radio
broadcast team is here to break down the last game.
Here's your host, Missy Matthews. I think the balance between
the run and pass right, I mean that that's what
was great first against the Saints, and I think that was,
you know, what was really good for us in that

(00:20):
first half. Um, having that balance and not relying on one.
I think both really works well together. Um, and I
don't think we had both working together well in the
second half. And um, you know that's you know, our job,
you know, receivers and quarterback. We have to be consistent
in the run game needs to be consistent in order
for all offense too to work the way it needs
to be in the way it should. Is that that
looks like in the first half, so we know what
it looks like, and um, you know, we just gotta

(00:42):
execute at a higher level in the second half. Steelers
quarterback Kenny pick It. Following the Steelers thirties seven to
thirty loss to the Cincinnati Bengals at Aquisher Stadium, Pittsburgh
now sits at three and seven and Missy Matthews with
Bill hill Grove and Craig Wolfley and guys Kenny Pickt.
They're talking about what worked in the first staff, Billy,
everybody felt pretty good heading into head into halftime. Uh,

(01:05):
you know, being able to throw the ball, run the ball. Well,
five of seven on third downs and you take a
lead in you think good things are coming. But the
second half just a completely different story. Well, the offense
fell asleep. Were there four straight third downs that they missed?
And then I'm sure there was some self doubt as
part of that. UM and the defense came up with

(01:26):
two big interceptions. What we get a total of six points.
I think there's a lot of blame to throw in
just about every direction. UM, and you know the killer
it was, we get the ball at the Cincinnati for seven.
Uh they turned it over. No, it was a punt.
So we got it, you know, in good, good position,
and we got a first down, but then the holding call,

(01:49):
we're backed up, and then Anderson was disruptive and we
punt and they picked the ball up at their seven
yard line and drive it three yards with a pass
of over twenty passive over thirty and a fifteen yard
or to boot, so you know, that's where the game's wung.
But you know, it probably should have been better to

(02:11):
that point, especially in the third quarter when you you
fell asleep. The third quarter, in my mind, that's where
it really started to go askew. You know the problem.
Part of the problem is, you know, you you come
off a cold field, you go into a warm locker room,
and it takes a little bit too warm up and
rev up the engines there obviously or something. But you know,
you go out there and I love the idea of

(02:33):
the you know, the the double score. You know, you defer,
you win the toss, you defer, you hold the ball
hopefully last, and you kick. You kick a field goal
as they did three seconds ago, right kicks at that
field goal. Beautiful. Now you come out, but what happens
You go three three and ounce in a row with
what would have been uh well, and also a fourth
three and out only for the fact that the t

(02:54):
J made an unbelievable play and got you, you know,
around the fifteen yard line and you were able to
kick a field wall. That's the only reason, you know,
it wasn't another four straight three and outs. So it's
unfortunate you've got to make more that that played deserved
seven points, maybe even ten points. I don't know how
you worked that, you know, but that was such a

(03:15):
brilliant play by t J. Just incredible play. Uh, And
it's just a shame they were not able to capitalize
on all that juice that was flowing from the upper stands.
And our first segment tonight is brought to you by
Brian Penn and associates. It's all about the benefits, Billy,
that that drive that you were talking about um in
the third quarter there, Coach Tomlin said, you know that

(03:36):
to find not only the second half, but ultimately the
outcome of the game. Not only was there the holding
call on Pat Friarmouth, but also a legal man down
field on J. C. Hassenhower. I mean it was just
it was battle around with the naked eye. I called
it a run because Kenny turned and not you was
gone and then he I guess panicked a little bit

(03:58):
and said, well, I'm gonna throw this and by that
time Hasson hours down the field because he thinks it's
a run point. So you know, and by the way,
can I say this, J C. Hassenaur did a fine
job in relief, Mason Cole. I gotta take the kid
can play, JC can play. I just want to throw
that in all right, Let but let me and we
talked about this before we're down in the year, but
we might as well throw it out right now. You

(04:20):
got a rookie quarterback, You've got a second year running back,
you got a second year starting tight end. You got
an offensive line that's pretty new. I know they are
growing pains, and I know they're painful, but I think
that's what we're looking at. Yeah, but I think we've
been saying that all season that they were going to
be growing pains. But I think there were some steps

(04:40):
forward following the bye week because of the Saints game,
and then it was one of those games again you
felt like it multiple times, like in Miami where you
could have won the game. Um. And I think that's
the frustrating part where you know, it looks like when
you walk in the locker room, like everyone just wants
to bang their head against the wall because if it
probably are too right, Like if one thing goes their way,

(05:03):
you know, does that turn the momentum? Um? You know,
you could play the quota short of what a game
all day. But you know, there was definitely the momentum
going into halftime what they were able to do to
you know, contain Joe Burrow and not let their offense
get flying. But the second half, especially for the Steelers defense,
you had all of your guys out there for the

(05:24):
first time since Week one, and they were just not
able to stop. They didn't have Jamar Chase, they didn't
have Joe Mixon um, but they let it back up
running back and also a wide receiver who was just
elevated from the practice squad, you know, trying to take
him to town. Well, the guy that really nailed it though,
was te Higgins. Te Higgins was a pain in the butt,
you know. I mean the guys terrific wide receiver six

(05:45):
four in a quarter. You know, he's a tight end,
dish type of dimensions there. Uh and fleet to foot
can high point that I watched all week long. I
kept telling Max, we were talking about it back and forth.
I'm going that back shoulder throw looks like like unstoppable basically,
you know, the Tee Higgins. The other thing that really
bothered me was Joe Mixon on those swing passes to

(06:07):
the flat that ended up being Somagi p Ryan took
over and he scored three touchdowns. Well, uh one was
a screen you know, it was a screen pass and
it was by the way, I gotta say this because
I get a little aggrievated j C. Hassnar. They called
him for being downfield. You know, he was about maybe
at most two yards down the field. When when that happened,

(06:27):
you go to some A G. P Ryan's screen pass,
Cordell Wolson, all six ft six, three twenty pounds of
a big chooch runs out there. He's almost five yards
down field and they don't call him. When some A G.
P Ryan catches the ball, he's clearly way past the
line of scrimmage. I'm sitting there going, how do you

(06:48):
see j C? Who's at not? You know, he's not
that big a guy as compared to a six six
guy wearing a State Puff marshmallow outfit like you know
the Bengals were wearing, you know, the State Puff Marshmallow
Man from Ghostbusters. That's what it looks like. That's gonna
Max and I decide that's what those unis look like.
With the advent of the r p O, which is
now you know, sweeping through pro football as well as

(07:11):
it has through the college game. UM. I'm sure that's
been a point of emphasis for the officials this year
to be careful about people downfield. I don't know that
that impacts the game that much. Well, I mean, if
a guy's five or four or it can depends if
he gets somebody. Yeah, okay, but you know, I just

(07:32):
think it's called unevenly and I think that happens a
lot when the leg office is we've got to emphasize this,
and it takes the officials time to adjust. We'll watch
out because if we get it, like the past, interferences
will be flags everywhere they emphasize they're getting down the field,
they'll find somebody. I think also, you know, especially for
the Steelers offense, Billy, as you said, growing pains, I

(07:53):
don't think that we can you know, beat around the
bush with calling it that, but not turning the ball
over for the second game in a row and to
not have you know, a positive outcome where you could
build off of what they were able to do against
the Saints. What do you think really trip them up? Wolf,
especially in the second half. I'm sorry, Oh, the offense. Um,
I just think that. You know, you when you look
back at you're not getting the winds on the first

(08:15):
and second downs like you were doing in the first half.
You had some good rushing attack early on. You had Kenny.
You know, Kenny had to again throwing the ball a
little bit more than my liking right now, I think,
but it was four times. There's two sacks. I think.
I can't remember. He threw the ball a lot, you know,
and I got the numbers right in front of me,

(08:36):
but I don't. Oh yeah, there's my glasses right there
head exactly exactly. So but you know, you've got the
fact that Kenny, Yeah, Kenny through forty two and he
was sacked twice, so it's forty four. Um. But the
sacks weren't bad yards. They are sacks, and they are sacks.
And what I'm saying is there's forty four dropbacks. That's

(08:58):
a lot. That's a lot, you know, and for a
young guy, that's just I don't know. I would like
to see if they can somehow Well. There's there's a
couple of things. Number one is screens. For the life
of me, we've got to be able to run screens.
You know. They had the one to friar Muth that
got blown up. And we've seen in the first game,
the first since the game, they had six twelve run

(09:19):
a screen, a delayed screen, and he was great at it.
Ran up, bumbling, stumbling, rumbling up the sidelines, did a
great job thirty some yards. I believe it was um.
But we've got we've got to get some running back screens.
I just screen passes are a big part of the game,
or should be a big part of your offense. Lost
in the morass of the loss is the fact that

(09:40):
we ran them all really well for the second week
in a row. Yeah, Nagy Carey twenty attempts ninety yards,
averaged four point five and it was again you you
look at some of the runs. Man, he talked about
finishing off a run when he ran that outside zone
to the left and then went high hurdle over a
guy at the end zone. Was it just he baits

(10:00):
or somebody. That's unbelievable, you know, I mean that that
ground was. Max said it was as hard as concrete,
you know, and he says, you know, you you you
high you high jumped. He was what good four or
five feet up in the air, you know, was was
Nagy and he landed pretty hard there and it uh,
you know, that'll jar your teeth a little bit, which
I can't afford to lose a tooth again. Your smile

(10:23):
is getting better, Yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll see. You can't
wait till the end of the year when you get
the old dental implant right up right there. And by
the way, you stumped me yesterday on Pembroke State's nickname.
I did because Brad Allen, the referee, is from Pembroke.
It's University of Carolina at Pembroke. It's the Braves. I
had to go look it up, so you know what

(10:43):
it's whenever you can stump Billy and you did it
on his birthday. Yeah yeah, Mr Grinch, there's no such
thing as a free skate. And looking at um the
receiving corps, you know we saw more or if Pat
Friar Muth and George Pickens as we did last week
without Chase Clay Polson's he was traded to the Bears.

(11:07):
Deonte Johnson, that's the one. You know. He hasn't had
a touchdown yet. He hasn't caught a touchdown yet, hasn't
had a hundred yard receiving game. Where do you see
the disconnect? Is it between him and Kenny? Is it
game planning? Is it just what other teams are doing
to take him out? I think there was a lot
of double team yesterday, wasn't there? There was? There was some. Um,

(11:28):
Kenny missed a few, you know what I mean? Um,
I'm not sure, Deon. It's difficult to say because the
targets are starting to go to Friar Muth. He's getting
down the middle and you got Pickings the outside, Yes,
and they're running more go routes with with Pickens, and
it's hard to overlook the talent that kids got. You

(11:50):
saw that thirty three yard and one safety high. Let
it fly boomed down there. It's a perfect throat, absolutely perfect,
and a perfect catch. Pickens doesn't reach for ball until
the last second. He makes this great catch down low,
and it was just unbelievable that twenty four yard or
Kenny stand in the pocket and you got I believe
it was Hubbard or somebody coming off the edge, either
him or Hendrickson, and Kenny's gonna take it right in

(12:12):
the choppers, He's gonna take it right in the grill.
But he waited, waited until picking's cleared to the outside
flag through the ball touchdown, and he took the hit,
you know. I mean that's that's just great quarterback and
you just you hang in there and you know you're
gonna get clocked, but you know that, Okay, I gotta
do this so I can deliver the ball at the
right time. And he did it. Uh, the disconnect with Deontay,

(12:34):
I'm not really understanding. Um, there was a couple like
that one in the third quarter. You got the crossing routes.
You got Firemouth over the I'm sorry underneath, you got
Deonte over the top or either one. I can't remember
which was, but they're running the crossing route and it
ends up being thrown in the dirt, you know, remember,
And it's just I don't know, there's it's not clicking.

(12:55):
Do you think because of the turnovers um that Kenny
had in the first half once he took over prior
to the bye week and you know, the commitment to
not turn the ball over that maybe that's why you're
seeing him throw it away a little bit more. Oh,
there's no question. And I think he's got appropriate throwing
away times, you know, I mean you run with the
ball and you see, oh, I'm gonna be short of
the line of scrimt. I just tossed that out of us.

(13:15):
That's a heads up play. But he did it at
one point and it seemed to hurt because he probably
could have cut the third and long down to force.
But can I say this, This is all part of
the education of a young quarterback, you know, and this
is what you learned, and this is what we're going through.
You make those observations in the aftermath, because right at
the moment it might seem like the good idea was to,

(13:37):
you know, drop the ball, But that's how you learn.
Nobody gets to be good without facing adversity. No one
gets to the top without having a lot of uh
trying time, shall we say, Because it's got to test you,
and it's got to sift out the things that are
unnecessary until you come to the necessary. And that's the
process Kenny's going through. And there's a lot of things
that he thought he knew when he was in mit

(13:59):
pit that he now knows that now, And don't worry
about a lot of things he thought he knew when
he was in training camp, and now he's growing through
those things and it's a process. But I do believe
this kid is going to be really good someday, no doubt.
Maybe looking a little bit on the bright side, but
this was the first time the Steelers scored thirty points
since they did so against the l A. Chargers actually

(14:20):
one year ago. Today they scored thirty seven there. I
know that last touchdown, we could, you know, call it
unquote unquote garbage time, But Billy, I think you know,
the positive of how many points they were able to
put up in the first half sometimes that wasn't even
the total for a whole game prior to this. That
was encouraging. And I think, you know, they just have
to learn that it is a sixty minute game and

(14:41):
you know, you have to finish and uh, you know,
I think it's part of the steps that they have
to take. All Right, We're gonna take a break here
on the point after when we return, we'll talk about
t J. Watt and the Steelers defense, their performance yesterday.
Don't go anywhere you're listening to w d v E
to the point after brought to you by Parks Casino

(15:03):
on d v E. I mean, we got a game
next week. It's this business is crazy. You have to
you have to learn from each experience, whether it's good
or whether it's bad, and you have to move forward.
And we're not where we want to be clearly right now.
But sitting here and sulking about it isn't going to
do anything. So we have to be real with what

(15:25):
we put on tape. We can't take everything personally. We
have to digest the film and we have to practice
hard and then come out next week with a better performance.
A very serious but well thought I'll comment from t J.
Watt following the Steelers loss to the Bengals yesterday at
Aquisher Stadium. Our second second segment tonight, on the Point After,

(15:48):
is brought to you by the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food
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each time. Thank you to Dawn's Appliance, and you can
also donate too by texting goals to five zero one
five five And well, if I know you went back

(16:10):
a few times and probably watched that t j Watt interception.
Uh you know, Joe Burrowed said, uh, post game, you know,
I understand what happened. There's nothing I can do. Literally,
I mean, he took a shove from Layle Collins the
right tackle and he's falling away and that ball actually,
if you watch it slow motion, it it like ricochets

(16:32):
from one hand to another. I mean it was like
bub and he caught it. And I don't know how
reflexively you do something like that. You know. The best
I can come up with was one time we were
touch and I were whitewater rafting and we ended up
this up on the Cheat River and this land into
this hydrocula, this this, and he flew out of the

(16:52):
raft and just as he's going out, he grabs the chord,
you know, as out of the theft. Saved him from probably,
you know, a really bad injury, you know, but that's
the same reflective thing boom. You know, it was right there,
and I remember Luch's face. It was really funny because
I had to pull him in. But regardless, you know,

(17:12):
TJ just made a great interception, and that it's such
a reactive play. You couldn't you could not choreograph that thing.
He Uh, I think it was Levi Wallace was saying,
you know, the first practice I came to, I watched
him do something like that. In practice. He's just always
practicing getting his hands up, just disrupting things. And obviously

(17:33):
he's very very good at carrying it over onto the
football field. You know. I think he really adheres to
what Chuck Noll always used to talk about, because Chuck
would come to the locker room said Who's who's gonna
make the big play? He was, you know, and he'd
point guys out, you know, Mel Blunt, Jack Cam, I mean,
you know, and he always talked about you have to
see it in your mind, and you've got I'll bet you.
T J does a lot of that, you know, And

(17:54):
I think, ye absolutely, you know. I mean you got
to get in the theater your mind. I was so
good at it, man, I could get popcorn and Palmer pies. Yes,
there you go, and that was fully full. And when
I went to the movies in my head. Uh Billy,
a fellow defensive captain of t j's camp, Heyward, said,

(18:15):
mind boggling was what came to his mind talking about
a running back three times catching a pass, scoring a touchdown.
What do you think the defense lost after they were
so stingy and so dominant against the Saints just a
week ago. I don't I don't know. It's hard to
put your finger on it. And you know, let me
resort to statistical evidence. Okay, we like that. Good job

(18:37):
on third downs, but on that yard drive, the Bengals
never got the third down. Yeah, you get my point. Yeah, yeah,
And and so if you're not good at third downs,
why bothering? Yeah? Yeah? Ninety two yard drive, ninety three
yard drive. And you know, Alex high Smith was talking

(18:58):
a lot about that also in the locker room. Excuse me,
and just how mesmerizing but demoralizing that is when you
just for that long of a period of time cannot
get off the field. It's it's crushing because you know,
the defensive mindset is always get off the field. Offensive
mindset is can possessed the ball? You know, and there too,

(19:19):
you've got absolutely different ends of the spectrum type mindset.
And that's what I love the thing about offensively. What
we lacked a little bit from last week was time
of possession. And you think about it, last week we
had almost forty minutes, but only twenty points because you
want to go a point per minute of possession. This week,
you know, we were at twenty eight and some change.

(19:42):
We got thirty points out of it. You know, so
you're you're, you're, you're doing some good stuff there. But remember,
the best defense is a good offense, and keeping Joe
Burrow on the sidelines is his key. Stir on the
bench is the best way you can you can defend him.
And so that's one of the things I thought we lacked,
especially in the second half when we went those three
three and outs and one four and out, but it

(20:04):
was a field goal off that great T J interception.
That's what I'm talking about. Being able to control the
pace coming out in that second half and doing that,
you're you're giving momentum and juice to the opposition, and
that puts your defense out there and makes them vulnerable,
especially when you've got somebody who's as much a ball
control guy as Joe Burrow. Yeah, and Burrow was four

(20:28):
five yards. There were the two sacks, four touchdowns, two interceptions,
and Billy he really does have that Joe coolness about him.
You didn't have Jamaar Chase you knew that going in,
but then you lose Joe Mixon early, and he was
still able to get other people involved, even Tyler Boyd
in the second half. But he's still he still kept
the offense going. And it bothersome thing is to look

(20:50):
at a guy like Trent Irwin who had just come
up from the practice squad right end up what fourteen
yards per reception. Uh, it shouldn't happen, but did, And
we watched it and it was frustrated. Although I will
give the fans credit. They were there and they were
you know, even though they had gone up by eleven
points in the fourth quarter after that ninety three yard drive. Um,

(21:14):
you know, they were still into it. But you know,
the fans can only do so much and you can
only transferred so much of that energy from the stands
onto the field. And I don't know, I thought our
defense got a little tired there. Well, that's what happens
when you go three and ounce. You know, you put
your defense at risk. And one of the things that
we did, and in the first game, the defense was

(21:37):
at risk all day. What they ran ninety two plays
in the very first you know, they got big plays
out of t j and the rest of the guys
seven sacks, five turnovers or whatever it was. Yeah, four
interceptions in a fumble. Um, we were we weren't getting
at Now we got two interceptions, which you know, Joe
promised he wasn't gonna throw four, and he was right,

(21:57):
you know, and Max All he said, Max that, Okay,
I won't be greedy. I'll settle for two. Well we
should have probably asked for four. If you go to
the race track Joe Burrow, don't ask him for tips
because he bets chalk. I'm not gonna throw four interceptions.
Come on, Joe, go out on a limb a little
bit exactly. So, but what we weren't able to do

(22:17):
was to get the consistent pressure that we had in
the first game with four guys. So now you start
bringing the fifth guy and the sixth guy, well that
means you got one less or two less guys in
the back end, So that puts you at more vulnerability.
Then you end up having to go man coverage. And
then all of a sudden, now you're still not getting
home with the five guys at times, and a guy

(22:39):
like Burrow is gonna stand back there and pick you apart.
Isn't he the third quickest quarterback? Yes, you're you're exactly
two point five and some change, you know, But I
mean he is the third quickest and getting that ball out, um,
you know, very Roethlisburger Like. What did you see from
the Bengals offensive line. I know they've been a hot

(22:59):
top in Cincinnati of you know, they invested, they wanted
them to do well. They've kind of been up and down,
but especially their tackles going against t J. Watt and
Alex Highsmith yesterday. Well, the surprising thing to me was
that in the first game that they were as bad
as they were, And a lot of that had to
do with the fact that only Cordell Wolson, the rookie,
got any pregame snap or preseason snaps. The rest of

(23:21):
the guys didn't. So the first game out, they got
this marauding bunch of Steelers coming from Pittsburgh and they
just ran rough shot over him. I would have hate
to gun, and I've had one experience where I went
into a preseason game having not had a lick of
hitting just because of a situation when I pulled a
hammy or something like that. But anyhow ended up going

(23:41):
to the game and playing, and you know, it's it's
a very weird feeling. You know, you're not used to
your pad, you're not used to the thumps and the
bumps and everything else, and all of a sudden, here
you go. And you just hope that, you know, the
muscle memory takes over and kicks in and you're able
to do the things that you're supposed to do. But
these guys, they have gotten some what better. Look, they
gave up thirteen sacks in the first two weeks thirty two. Overall,

(24:04):
they're averaging still about two point seven sacks a game.
They're giving up, so it's not like they're they're a
great line, but they're they're getting better. And I think
we had such high expectations because of the results of
the first game. At least I did, you know, I thought,
we can, you know, kill these guys, and then they
did get a little better. BILLI. In terms of the

(24:26):
Steelers run defense, Michael Birch from the Steelers PR department
had tweeted just a little bit ago, Pittsburgh allowed combined
rushing yards two point three per carrying the last two games.
That's the fewest and consecutive games since two thousand and
ten um where they actually did it against sinc and Baltimore.
But it does feel like that was an issue earlier

(24:47):
in the season and it's something they have cleaned up.
It's just stuff on the back end unfortunately. I think
you know you're not going to face Joe Burrow this week. Yeah,
and I think if you can continue that stingy ground
uh defense, I think you can. You know, you better
make a quarterback beat you. Yeah, you know they got
the Taylor kid out there in Indy, I know, and

(25:09):
they got some This is gonna be a great matchup
because you're gonna see some offensive line play and defensive
line play that it's something's got to give because it's
it's it's kind of a battle. Quentin Nelson is a
guard for the Colts, and I'm telling you the last
time Cam faced him, he used him his backside as
a weapon. He drove, He drove all three forty pounds

(25:32):
of Quentin Nelson into Jacoby Brissette, who probably hurt his
knee and had to sit out if you remember that.
What a word about Cam. He made a couple of
really big plays yesterday. They were timely. You know, when
you need that big play. The Captain's there and ready
to serve who you are, budd in the weighty situations
or the way downs. That's a new coach hell in

(25:54):
buzzword this year, it is. But you know there's truth
to it, you know what I mean, the fact that
Mike can capture in a word what you know. So
many I could spend like words trying to capture what
he says in a word. You know, but do you
understand what he means? It's very it's self explainator, and
you're like got it. And as you said, Billy, it
always seems like it's the time for Cam to step

(26:16):
up to the occasion and do what needs to be done.
He had a sack, you know, at an an appropriate time.
I remember he split a double team. Another time he
just drilled uh Joe Burrow during it while he's passing
the ball. I mean, the guy is a great player.
And as I've often said, in the highest compliment you
could ever pay him, I think in my mind is
that he's the closest thing will ever see the Joe Green. Wow. Yeah,

(26:38):
I mean that's he. I ain't saying it. He ain't
Joe Green, and he would he'd get mad at me
if I said that anyhow, both Joe and him. You
don't want the two of them matters. I don't need
that at all, you know, I will say in terms
of Cam and t J Billy, it's just, you know,
those are guys that are so invested in this team.

(26:59):
And I'm not saying everybody else isn't, but they're the leaders.
No matter what position you play, you look up to
them as guys in the locker room that you want
to emulate. And it just feels like this is maybe
they've had a reset a few too many times this season.
But let them kind of, you know, do what they
need to do as captains and get this group to

(27:19):
to regroup again. Um, because there's still games left and
of course, as we said, there's growing pains and you
don't want to be shooting for the moon at this
point because you're three and seven, so you have to
be realistic. But if there's anybody that can help, maybe
the mindset and the preparation and putting in the good work.
It's a Monday night game in Indy, you have extra time.

(27:41):
I just feel like those two guys could really lead
the way. Yes, and We've seen so many examples of
their leadership, uh, both vocally and also you know, by
their play um. And I remember the example of leadership
that I loved was when that issue occurred in the
locker room after the disappointing lost to Buffalo, and Arthur

(28:01):
Marlett started to say a few things and then all
of a sudden, Minka looked at him, because everybody's gathered
around Manka and let's right next door, and you know
the reporters are hearing this, and Manka looked at him
and said, take it easy. That's what At that point,
you saw Cam get up and come over and have
a little uh turkey talk, and that's leadership. I was

(28:22):
in that scrum and when Cam stood up, his locker
was a right across from where Maka and Arthur Mallett was,
and when he stood up, I even was like I
stood up straighter, and you know, you were just like,
all right, I'm gonna be all my best behavior right
in the Yeah. Just he has on presence and that effect,
and you know it's just Joe Green used to have
the same thing. And I've told the story before pulling

(28:45):
my pads off in the post game Monday Night four
lose on Monday Night Football with the Gift and Howard
coach Sell and everybody, and Joe Green hated the Raiders.
He hated losing, and he hated losing stupidly to the
Raiders most of them. And I remember him throwing his helmet,
slamming and yelling and everybody froze. But the problem was

(29:06):
I had my shoulder pads over my head and I
couldn't see. It was like looking out the hole, you know,
and I'm caught. And Touch was not helping me because
he was staring at Joe as best I could tell,
because I was bent over looking out the top. So
when when guys like Joe and Camp talk, people listen,
where was it Chicago where he got three points for

(29:28):
throwing a helmet? He bounced the helmet up through the
goal post so frustrated, and he threw it and it
went right up between a goal post. I remember when
he kicked the ball into the stands in Philly, and
then he did that in practice one time too as
a coach. Well, he went up set and the stands
at three rivers and nobody even bothered him. Don't mess

(29:52):
with Mr Green, Yes, you know that for sure. It
was awesome. All right, We're gonna take one more break
here on the point after. Don't go any here, We'll
be right back here on DV. Back to the Point After,
brought to you by Parks Casino on DV. That one
back gets the left hand goes to the fifteen ten.
Naji Harris sleeps a man catch to the pilot and

(30:14):
that is a Pittsburgh Steelers touchdown. Nachi Harris at nineteen
yard run his second rushing touchdown of the year, and
the Steelers are a point after Away from time. Actress,
your stadium was rocking and rolling yesterday, especially in the
first half, but the Steelers falling to the Bengals thirties
seven to thirty. Welcome back to the Point After. Our

(30:35):
third and final segment is brought to you by clear
View Federal Credit Union. For every turn over the Black
and Gold create in two thousand and twenty two, clear
View Federal Credit Union will donate five hundred dollars to
the Light of Life Rescue Mission clear View helping people
to enjoy a better life. Visit clear View f CU
dot org, slash touchdown and Billy that Naji Nagy Harris hurdle.

(30:59):
There's a little too much alliteration for me. There. Um,
sometimes you do and you're like, oh, no, do you
don't do it? But that one he didn't. It needed it.
The little football I played, the coach always said the
ground is your friend if you have the ball, but
sometimes you have to defy gravity, and he sure did there. Uh.
I saw a game later in the day and I
can't remember which one. It was a tight end, did

(31:20):
it wasn't? Kelsey was another tight end? Did the You know,
he flies through the air with the greatest of ease,
But sometimes you have to do that. And I used
to the under the impression that hurtling was against the rules. Well,
interestingly enough, I remember playing Miami one time. Down in Miami,
we were in a low red zone goal line situation.

(31:42):
We're on about the one yard line and I had
to get the John offered all the linebacker. There's two
gargantuan biggins, big Shaggy's that were in inside gap an
outside gap. So I got the brilliant idea that I
could jump over the top and get offer. I didn't
end well for the kid, let me tell you, Nay,
it was much more successful than I was you didn't

(32:04):
get airspeed and elevation. No, I got none of those.
One of the things that Naji said after the game,
and I think a lot of players echoed this in
some form or fashion, is just you know, not being
able to stack the winds something we haven't seen them
do yet. It's the consistency, whether it's on a drive
in a game week to week, Um, how do you

(32:25):
how do you start to build that and get the
consistency going? Is it organic or is there something they
can do to try to help that? Practice? And that's
what it is. It is practice, and you sharpen the
sword each and every time you take the practice field.
You build the consistency habits. One of the things that
Mike Tomlin used to have on the by the practice
field there. I used to love it because it's say,

(32:46):
I had a little sign as you come from the
locker room out on the field behind there on the
south side, and it said take the field now in
that just a simple word, a few words, take the
field is really what it's all about. You don't walk
on the field, you don't, you know, just kind of
drag yourself out into the field. You take the field

(33:08):
with a mentality and a mindset and a purpose. And
it starts the moment you walk out there. You realize
you're out there for a purpose and you are now
fixated in and locked in, and you gotta be locked
and loaded. And that's the habitual practice of being ready
every time you go out there. That builds towards the weekend.
And you do that each and every day, week by week,

(33:29):
month by month, and that's how a team gets that consistency.
And I think it leads to trust, Oh absolutely, And
I think that's what you have to have. You gotta
trust first of all the game plan, and then you
gotta trust your teammates to help you execute the game. Plant.

(33:50):
If you're Matt Canada and you look at the stats
and say that, wait a minute, Deante Johnson had five targets,
four catches, twenty one yards average of five point three,
long of eight, still no touchdowns. Do you work to
force feed him? I think that you have to examine
and what the part of that is it done? In
the scouting during the bye week, you know what they do.

(34:11):
They compile all these statistics and their self scouting. They
come out and go, oh, we're showing too much of
this personnel, too much of that personnel. When we run
in this formation, we've got two sets of twins side
by side. We will always run this and they will
give you a whole breakdown of it. And so that
I'm sure that he has taken that into account. One
of the things you want to get doing, get going
with Deonte. Going to that game he had forty seven catches,

(34:33):
he was only averaging nine point two yards of catch
for four thirty five. Um, that's not what you pay
your top receiver to do, you know what I mean.
And so they've got to get him in situations where
he's catching the go ball like he did last week
against the Saints when he had the thirty six yard
or which by the way, was another great throw by Kenny.
Kenny's making some great throws that a lot of people

(34:55):
don't seem to take into account. That he's getting better
at throwing the all down the field. And you know,
against the Saints he was four or five for fifty
four yards, not not a whole lot, but between the numbers,
you know, he's making progress. And I keep looking at
making progress. I know some people say, well, I hear
from a lot of them. Some some of my good friends.

(35:16):
You know that, you know you're being too pollyannish, but
you know what, this is the way it is. That's
how you get better. You get better through better performances
and facing adversity, coming out of that adversity and getting
better yet again. That's what it takes to get to
the top. You were talking about, not to backtrack, but
just practice and the mentality. And a lot of players

(35:36):
have said that, you know, especially following the bye week,
they've changed some things in terms of how they do
things after they've re examined. But the one thing that
I always love, and somebody actually wrote a story on
it this week and it made me think of it
on Fridays. I remember it's starting back with Will Gay
and those guys, but the defensive guys always wear a
collared shirt under their jerseys. Um and now apparently it

(35:57):
is like everybody's doing it, even to Marve and Leo
said he was doing it when he wasn't even practicing,
because it was just something that whether it was Cam
or t J said, go find the equipment. Guys, get
yourself a nice, you know, polo college shirt if you
put under your jersey. And that's that's to say, it's
our last work day. We're putting in all of our effort.
We're getting ready for game day. That's exactly it. You know,

(36:19):
three rivers. We used to have Iron Mike. He was
an old guy that worked in a steel mill and
he'd bring fish sandwiches every Friday, which you know, the
fat guys were like, you know, but you know it
was part of the routine, you know, and you get
you know, we are we are a beasts of burden
at ball players. I mean you get into a routine.
Routine is everything. You have your four day out, three

(36:42):
day out, two day out, one day out routine where
you prepare for what you gotta go through on the weekend.
And part of that is just the acknowledgement, Okay, this
is the final work day. Understand how important this Friday is.
This Friday is going to be a big day because
we'recovering blah blah blah blah blah blah blah, all these
specific things. Is you better have it down. I remember

(37:02):
on a Friday, it's Super Bowl forty in Detroit, walking
and we're watching film tounch and watching film. Keith Butler
was there the defensive coordinator and he's flipping out. He's going,
I can't believe it. I would go, Botsy, what's the
matter were it's you know, forty eight hours from kickoff,
you know, in the super Bowl, and he goes, I
can't believe it. I'm just forty eight hours out. And

(37:22):
and Potsy missed three checks today, you know. And I mean,
but that's big, you know, And you've got to have
that down. And Potsy didn't miss many checks at all
in his career. He's he was a great player. But
but but the Buttsy was was flipping out about it,
you know, and and rightly, so you've got to have
it nailed down. Friday's a big day because you want

(37:43):
to be buttoned up and that all the eyes crossed
the t's. I hadn't seen Potsy for a long time.
And a couple of years ago we played the Chargers
in that weird soccer field, Yes, and it was like
a home and before that game, in the night before,
we were actually the afternoon before, we'd gone out early. Uh,

(38:05):
we're watching the pit U c F game. We're Pitt
used that yuh Pitt special to beat them. You remember that?
Remember that? Now it was Kenny Pickett who caught the touchdown.
So anyhow, POSSI was sitting next to me watching this
on television and I enjoyed. He was a delightful guy

(38:26):
and a heck of the player. Yeah, he was a
great player. Uh, quick story before we have to rap here.
Pas Joey Porter and Clark Hagan's where there. Yesterday they
came down on the sidelines. They took part in the
who ride we ride that the linebackers do. Yeah, they
know a thing or two about that they do. I
love both those guys. All right, we want to tell
you about the Steelers Pro Shop, where you can gear

(38:48):
up with the latest sideline apparel, hats or jerseys of
your favorite players, authentic memorabilia, custom items, and exclusives you
can only find directly from the team at one of
the official Steelers Pro shops located at Acquisher State Um,
Pro City, Premium Outlets, Tanger Outlets, or visit us online
at shop dot Steelers dot com. Guys, it's been fun.
Hopefully we have a victory Tuesday to talk about. Next week,

(39:10):
the Steelers are heading to India to face the Colts
Monday Night Football for Bill Hillgrove and Craig Wiffley and
Ms Matthews. Thanks for joining us and listening to the
point after