Week 14 vs. Ravens

Missi Matthews, Craig Wolfley and Max Starks break down the Steelers loss to the Ravens on Sunday at Acrisure Stadium

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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. There's a give and take,
there's definitely there's definitely a happy media im you need
to find. I think when you have a great kicker
like bas and it's a low scoring game, um, you

(00:22):
just gotta be smarter with the football and then a
field goal keeps us in the game or helps us
win it. So, uh, you just gotta feel that. And
obviously I want I want those throws back, but um,
that's you want to stay aggressive at the same time
we're moving the ball. Part of that was helping um
with with the aggressive mindset. But I got gotta I

(00:43):
gotta take care of the football. Botom line. That was
Steeler's backup quarterback Mitchell Trabisky talking about going in for
the injured Kenny Pickett and Steelers versus Ravens, Part one
of the two thousand and twenty season. The Steelers following
sixteen to fourteen, now sitting at five and eight, Welcome
to the Point After, miss Matthews with Craig Wolflee and

(01:04):
our first segment tonight is brought to you by Brian
Patton and associates. It's all about the benefits and wolf
um three interceptions, a blocked field goal and giving up
two d and fifteen yards on the ground. No matter
who you are, who's playing, that is a recipe for disaster,
first of all. And they said here's Missy and I said, oh,

(01:24):
her voice got really deep. Of course that was Mr
Drosky ducking, but yeah, exactly, so there was you know,
there's so many things that went wrong, went awry, and
it's a shame because this team was eminently poised to win.
I mean it was there the games in front of
you. You You got the opportunity. There's a lot going in
the right direction. You've got a lot offensively going the

(01:46):
running games, going to defense was up to six or
seven and run defense. There's just a lot of things
that we're right there to be had and unfortunately did
not manifest itself. And I know, personally, I know, you
know when you when you lose a game, is what
I did. Okay. I go back to Seattle my my
second year, and the great Franco Harris took a screen

(02:08):
pass ninety yards in the fourth quarter, and it would
have been the winning score. And yours truly took a
bean bag in the head, you know, way back ninety
yards back and watching Franco score. Well, I know it's
coming back because I just got called for holding and
by the way, it was Keith Butler then duming the
diver as I called him. But you know what, um,

(02:28):
do you understand when you make a bad play like
that and it costs your team, it kills you, man,
it really does. And I can understand what Mitch is feeling.
You listened to his voice. He did so many good
things and then you got those three nails in the
coffin that just it was. It was a killer. But
despite the three interceptions, they still had a chance. They
did They needed, obviously, for some other things to go

(02:50):
correctly and not wrong. The block field goal from Klais
Campbell that really I felt like could have been a
momentum builder, and obviously those three points would have made
a huge difference. But for the Steelers defense, you could
just see it in their faces and in their eyes
as they just sat slumped in their chairs in the
locker room. Um after the game. Because you knew when

(03:10):
Tyler Huntley was at quarterback they were going to run
the ball, and then you knew when they brought in
their third string quarterback they were going to run the ball.
But it was just like a broken record and you
couldn't get it to go the right way. Indeed, and
their run menu was not big. There was basically two
to three plays that they were running, and they started
running that counter trap back and forth, even to the

(03:31):
point where the last three plays before the kneel down, uh,
you know, at the two minute warning, then you know
they had to get one first down. It was the
counter trap. They ran it left and it ran it
twice to the right, and unfortunately the Steelers didn't have
an answer for it and they weren't able to shut
it down. Max Starks is joining us on the point
after as always as well, Uh, who knows what Max

(03:55):
is doing right now, but he's here, and uh, it
is a not victory Monday, Mac, and we were hoping
that we would be celebrating three in a row, but
instead the Steelers snapped their two game winning streak and
also their four games streak against the Ravens that now
goes back to uh we'll see what happens in a
few weeks. Yeah, no, I mean now missing we we

(04:17):
we start back over again. We start trying to stack
the blocks and trying to show that we are a
consistent team, because we've one thing we've done consistently is
being consistent um when it comes to just being being
a total team effort playing on offense and defense. We
have spurts, right, we have we have spells, we have moments,

(04:42):
but we haven't really shown the propensity to have longevity
consistency over time. And there was a prime opportunity. There
was many times where we could have won this game yesterday,
taking taking the game out of the Ravens hands and
making it our own, and for one reason or another,
things just didn't come to fruition. And I think that

(05:03):
was one of the toughest parts. Was just kind of like, Okay,
this is a moment. This is a moment the guys
wait for. This is a big moment. We're gonna not
have it this one. Okay, alright, come on, guys, let's
get back on. Let's get another shot. And that just
seemed kind of to be the comedy of errors that
was yesterday. And you know, I know, it's frustrating. We've

(05:26):
all been there, Wolf Wolf told told his Keith Butler
story I heard before. Yeah, this morning, I told, now,
who is he exactly? No, but but I think, but
I think that's kind of We all have those moments.
We've all had those throughout our careers. If you don't,

(05:46):
you know, as Wolf, I love this phrase that you
didn't play long enough. You have those moments, And I
think I think that's the truth about it. And we
could talk about guys not making plays, guys not being
in the right position, but that that's what this game is.
You know, the game is the opponents who are trying
to put you out of that position. They don't want

(06:07):
you in that position, and they get paid a lot
of money to make sure you don't get in that position.
And it comes down to whose will was going to
be stronger, and just yesterday it was Ravens. Ravens had
the stronger will than we did. The Tide was going
the right way for the Ravens. Have felt like a
majority of the game, especially after Kenny got knocked out
and he wasn't able to come back in after coming

(06:28):
in for one more drive, but just the physicality Max
I don't know how you felt being down on the sideline.
It just felt like the Ravens, especially their defense, they
just had that nasty demeanor, that attitude um where they
were coming in here and they knew that they were
owing four recently against the Steelers, and similar to how
the Steelers did it to the Bengals Week one, they

(06:48):
came in with that chip on their shoulder and wanted
to prove themselves. No, you're asolutely right. And if you
if you need any inspiration to figure out who was
leading that charge, look no further than the pair of
linebackers in the middle, Patrick Queen. They kind of carried
the swagger of the team. Rokuan was the one that

(07:08):
knocked Kenny out the game. Patrick Queen was meeting Nagi
Harris in the hole, slipping off of tackles, you know,
meeting the running backs in the backfield on pass protection
as he was blitzing up the middle. I mean, all
of these things, that was the identity. They wanted to
come and be the the hunters in this game. They

(07:32):
didn't want to be the hunted. They were tired of
being the hunted. And for us, as the Steelers, we
knew they were gonna come in, and we were trying
to do our own, but there Will just just just
came in defensively and and they just weren't gonna be denied.
And then when you have guys like Jason Pierre Paul
who is a double digit VET, Calais Campbell, same story.

(07:54):
And then you add some of the other guys oh
way in company. Um, you know, they had a good
mixed guys Marcus Peters outside on the edge, like you
have a good mixture of VET to young guys. And
they knew how to play the game. They were ready
to play. Um, whatever we were gonna we're gonna toss Adam.
The run was not established by us, so therefore we

(08:16):
couldn't really be bullies. It's tough to be a bully
when you're asking your offensive linement to go back where
thirty times. It's just it's a tough situation to do.
And they were going forward because they knew they had
a backup quarterback and then the backup to the backup
quarterback playing in this game, so they knew they had
to establish the run. There was no other option. And

(08:36):
I think for us, we thought, hey, we got another
starter here. We could still do some things, but this
is an old fashioned rivalry. It's one you gotta go
punch a guy in the mouth and to make him
submit because he's not gonna just give it to you.
When J. K. Dobbins Wolf coming off of I R
a hundred and twenty yards on the ground, just that
to play drive that resulted in a touchdown where forty

(08:58):
four yard run. It just see like things really we're
going their way in the Steelers defense? Was it execution schematically?
What wasn't working? Where we just kept seeing this happen
and happened and happen again. You rarely see out schematic
in the NFL and in basic plays like that. That
was just straight ahead football. That was Patrick Ricard going
up one way on one linebacker and then it was

(09:21):
Ben Powers coming off on double team on the nose
tackle with Linda Bomb the center and they just split
Devin Bush and uh Miles Jack along with Cam Heyward
was on the nose said it was his fault after
the game. Well, I know he's captain. Yeah, he's captain Cam,
and even he is is human, you know, so you
will have those moments. But he split, They just split

(09:43):
it and it was just straight ahead and that's execution.
There was nothing fancy there. I mean there was nothing
that you could say, oh, you know, the shiny stuff
this and that didn't happen. All that happened was, you know,
they won that one, and they won it. Good that played.
I mean yeah, it just came down to guys, guys
executing us a little bit better, you know. And we

(10:05):
talked about this wolf all the time. Right, you have
to stay in your gaps, play hero ball. Trust that
every guy is going to do their job, because when
you jump out of a gap, that's what happens. Right.
A good team is going to find that find that
nosey player and exploit that. And that's what not only J. K. Dobbins,
but Gus Edwards, they were all looking for those cutback lanes.

(10:30):
They were waiting for somebody to say, you know what,
I don't want to be in this big gap. I'm
gonna try and jump into this front side a gap
because they've been pushing it front side, try and get
a better angle, and then running back stops on the dime,
boom cuts it back. You got wide open seven yards.
And that was just kind of the back and forth
with the entire team was that you were struggling to

(10:51):
do that because when we did block up the gaps right,
minimal pains or you have a guy come make a
play at a big third down moment and then it's
fourth and short and now it's just more bodies, more
more tonnage, and smaller spaces in the other Essentially, I like,
not more pounds, more tonnage because it's either Card in

(11:16):
the a gap or Andrews pushing down or Huntley in
the game. I'm like, that's a that's a that's a
lot of that's a lot of terror away. You know,
it's being thrown around. Well just looking you know at
the game book, Mika Fitzpatrick eleven tackles, Terrell Edmunds nine
when they are you're leading tacklers. That goes back to
last year where Minka lad the Steelers and tackles. That's

(11:38):
never what you want to see happen, especially when you
know there may be your last line of defense. And
how many plays did you see Minca, you know, sprinting
as fast as possible to try to get a guy.
He to me, he looked really dialed in. I mean,
especially when he whacked was a Tyler that he put
put down. Yeah, when he gave him a dirt nap

(11:58):
on that one. It was like that that's something, I mean,
making what came up and just hit him so hard. Look,
when your safeties are the leading tacklers, like Missy was saying,
I mean, you you've got major problems. You're getting through
the first level, the second level, and now all of
a sudden you're up to the third level. Um, that's
a problem. And the problem was it continued throughout the

(12:19):
day and it's unfortunate the Steelers have gone so far
to come from thirty two in rushing defense last year
all the way up to six and now the last
from the second half of the Atlanta game where they
Atlanta pulled out the stops and rushed for a hundred
eight to this. Now you kind of feel like, wow,
did we just like regress into last year. It's it's disappointing. Well,

(12:41):
it's it's it's it's almost it's I mean, it's essentially
three yards in the last six quarter. That's what comes
with the math. Yeah, that we've got an answer for, right,
because now it's on film. You have these last four
opportunities to show people that you're not who you were

(13:02):
Since this game, You've got four opportunities. You got another Baltimore,
you've got Cleveland, Las Vegas, and Carolina. What are you
going to do to get back on the right side
of that rush? Defense? Improve everybody right, absolutely, And one
of the things we gotta remember, Max, was the fact
that the time of possession was always has been such

(13:23):
a big factor for our defense. If our offense can
hang out of the ball, they can't do anything with it.
And that was just another example of things that you
know what I mean, It wasn't that it was way
out of balance, but you know, the Steelers have been
capable at times, They're capable of going forty minutes making
the other defense just sit on the bench all that time.
And just again we're not being able to roll the chains,

(13:45):
not being able to you know, convert all the third
downs and in the red zone, the touchdown stuff. Um,
it's just it's a shame because again, this this offense
has been gaining steam throughout the last four or five weeks.
I think for the steel there's defense, especially in that
fourth quarter. Um John Harball called it one of the
greatest drives in the Steelers Ravens rivalry, which Wolf and

(14:07):
I were talking about before the show started in laughing.
But it was thirteen plays, fifty seven yards. They ate
up seven minutes and fifty five seconds of the clock.
It was sixteen to seven then and the Steelers got
the ball back with three nineteen, So not a ton
of time. Um, But it reminded me of the Patriots
game six thirty three where it was just like, oh
my gosh, get them off the field, give give one

(14:28):
more chance for the Steelers, like get the offense the ball,
and they just could not do it, couldn't couldn't stop
them from getting a first down. I can't win with it.
I can't win with it. I mean, hey, listen to
the victor goes with spoil. So John Harball was allowed
to say that winning coach, you know what, But there's

(14:50):
always a rematch and there's always bulletin board material. I
would be like Michael Jordan on the Last Dance right
watching that video, and I took that personally as an
offensive line a lot to draw a meme up like
that and just put it in their licks. The exactly
the great the greatest drive in the entire rivalry. I'm

(15:11):
a little piste off because I know I played the
punch of them and we've gone, we we've white. We
we clean sweep them, not just a sweep, we clean
swept them one year, three times. So I'm like, I could,
I could think of some plays and and some drives
in that game where we just dominated you guys. But
you know what, Hey, recent recncy bias, I get it,

(15:34):
and trying to get your guys a little pumped up.
You're going through a slump, you know how, you're starting
on your backup quarterback. You've got guys in this. I
get it. But yeah, that would not my crop if
I read that. You know, you know, it's interesting he
talks about playing in that rivalry with with Baltimore. I
played in the rivalry with Baltimore too, but they were
the Colts, that's how old I am. Or actually those

(15:58):
were the Cleveland Browns. Yeah, that's really all right. We're
gonna take a quick break here on the point after
when we returned the mindset the Steelers need to have
heading into their last four games, and also special teams
play on Sunday. We'll get into that in just a bit.
You're listening to w d V Back to the Point After,

(16:22):
brought to you by Parks Casino on dv E. The
yard field goal attempt from between the hashes for Chris
Boswell fresh off the i R. The kick is blocked
and it goes into the end zone for the touchback.
Baltimore got somebody in there, was it? Calais Campbell Holy
but he's he's celebrating like he did it. Everybody. Welcome

(16:45):
back to the Point After, Miss Matthews with Craig Wolfley
and Max Starks joining you to break down the Steelers
fourteen loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday at Aquisher Stadium.
Our segment now is brought to you by the Greater
Pittsburgh Community Food Bank and Dawn's Appliance. For every field
goal we kick this season, Dawn's Appliance will donate one
thousand dollars to the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. That's

(17:09):
five thousand meals each time. Thank you to Don's Appliance,
and you can also help us by donating to just
text goals to five zero one five five. And the
block field goal. We talked about it just a little
bit in the first segment, wolf but that one was okay,
Boss is back. He never misses his Max knows I

(17:29):
never watched him kick. And then all of a sudden
I heard that it was in the odds and I
knew it was not a cheering that they went through
the uprights. You know, that double thump sound is just
one of the worst things you can hear when you're
out there and you're part of the kicking team, not
the kick block team. And certainly I gotta believe you know,
poor Bos, you're just coming back, and you got Matthew
Roy has been just killing it all along, ten in

(17:50):
a row field goals and you bring Bobs back out,
and then you've got Kalaius Campbell, who you know, Let's
face it, Max, You've got experience blocking a kick, right,
We've talked about four six, eight three ten. How do
you get skinny in a gap? Did you get skinny
in a gap when you blocked? Only only when I
had to put on those bumblebee uniforms that I've gotten

(18:14):
skinny in football? But no, I mean, but but the
thing is is if you can get a push and
then it's the it's the wall, right, it's Calais Campbell
standing completely upright, with his hands in the air. Now,
you have to make sure that you're you're the ball
when you kick it from the ground clear is better

(18:37):
than eight feet before it hits the line of scrimmage.
That's essentially what the difference is. So if you can
get let's just say a foot or two ft back
behind the line of scrimmage and then you put that
big paw up, you know, Kelais can can scratch his
knees standing straight up. You know it's it's going to
be a problem. And and that's what that's what happened

(18:58):
in that moment is he just got tall, got big,
and he was able to get in the backfield enough
that when Bos went to kick that thing, it was
like a tractor beam for his hand and he just
swatted it in the air like the kim By matambo.
He said after the game that it was an audible
called by the special teams coordinator right before they went out.

(19:20):
There was something they tried against the Steelers last season
that did not work, But he said, basically did the
swim move, went into the A gap and just hoped
for the best. And obviously we know how that turned out.
But in terms of his career, in blocking field goals,
as coach Hellman said, he is a known field goal blocker.
Nine in his fifteen year career. That's that's ridiculous. That

(19:43):
is absolutely ridiculous. I remember when Calais was the young
guy on the Cardinals when we played in the Super
Bowl forty three. That's how long he's been around, right,
And and so yeah, I mean when you have, like
you said, it's it's a decisive advantage for him because
most of your defensive tackles are not that size. Like

(20:05):
he is a throwback style player. Think in the age
of the Marcus Strouds, the John Henderson's, Albert Haynes were, Like,
defensive tackles are now like Aaron Donald, right, they want
to be undersized, fast, a little bit shorter stock gear.
He is. He is an absolute ogre. He is a

(20:25):
redwood walking out their masquerading be a defensive player. Um,
you know, that's so that that's just one of the
things that this time, like you said, nine, that's a
that's a heck of a career, um in and of itself,
on top of all the other things that he's done
in his career. But um, yeah, you you you've got
to know that if that guy is over you, you've
got to fire out, fire low, and do not allow

(20:48):
him any penetration. And unfortunately that that just didn't happen. Also,
field position coach Homon talked about it last Tuesday heading
into this matchup with Baltimore that if you lose it,
they have a guy named Tucker, he will take advantage.
They will take advantage. And that brings us to, as
we said, plenty of blame to go around. But the
seventeen yard punt by Pressley Harving, it just felt like, well, again,

(21:10):
nothing was going right. It wasn't just one unit, it
was all over the place. It did indeed happen and
manifest itself in that way too, because you take a
look at Presley Harvon last week. He killed it absolutely
when the greatest punts I've ever seen in my life,
and that's including at the moment, the weighty moment that
he delivered the ball in such a fashion is to
drop a debt on the two yard line, Kid sukes Man,

(21:31):
that was sensational. But then you have the exact opposite
where it doesn't you know, he kind of what the
shanka potamus is Bill calls it. You know, I mean,
when you you have that moment when you're not able
to put the you know, the pedal to the metal
on the punt, and that's unfortunate because it really hurt
and field position and so forth, and so you have

(21:52):
you have the direct opposite of what occurred last week
this week, and it's just one of those frustrating things
that really I don't know, I don't have word for it,
because Pressley has been so much more improved this year
and then it was just an unfortunate play that went
along with a lot of other unfortunate plays on this
day Murphy's Law, Thank you, thank you tonight. Yes, yeah, listen,

(22:18):
whatever can go wrong will go wrong, and it did
for us, um things that were uncharacteristic, things that we
weren't expecting. I will say this my one bright spot though.
I'm glad TJ finally got his sat curse over with
needed that one oh Man boy talked about needing it,

(22:40):
and I'm just I'm like, Okay, this is now something
that he could at least build on when everything else
was going bad that was in the in the eye
of the hurricane, there was that one spot that was
intact that I don't know how it did not. You know,
It's like when you see the tornado aftermath and is
that one house is just standing up right and everything

(23:01):
else is on the ground. Everything else is like a
pile of lumber. You know, You're like, how did that
make it? Uh? This little piggy build his out of bricks?
I don't know, um, but but that that was the
one thing in the midst of everything that I was
happy about. But you're right, I mean, every phase had

(23:22):
a collapse, every phase had an issue that just could
not be overcome. And it was just, you know, it
was frustrating because, like you said, we've built so much
goodwill over the last three to four weeks, building this
offense and seeing the identity come come to fruition and
see the play calling and the offense playing off of

(23:45):
the defense and the special teams delivered like everybody was
was working in harmony, and then it just seemed like
everybody was tone deaf on Sunday. Nobody could find the beat,
nobody could find the key to get in rhythm with
the rest of the group. Clais Campbell also said after
the game that he was told since he joined Baltimore

(24:06):
that you're not a raven until you beat the Steelers.
And for him, this was his first win against the Steelers,
and he said he took that very seriously. Um, So, Max,
what does it mean in terms of this rivalry? Just
between coach Tomlin and John Harball their thirty two meetings,
twenty five of those games have been decided by one score?
That that that that's a rivalry textbook definition. Yeah, I mean,

(24:33):
and we still hold the coach Amill still holds the
advantage in this rivalry against coach Harball. Yeah, exactly so.
So I think that's where you kind of say, Okay,
it's not one that's lopsided, right, it's not like, oh
it's twenty two to ten or something like that. No,
it's a back and forth repartee. They get us a

(24:55):
couple of times, we get them a couple of times,
back forth, back and forth. But that's what makes this
rivalry so good. And you know, and here's the thing,
Tolis should should be used to losing to the Steelers
because he's done it so well over his career. Um
And I say that tongue in cheek because class is
one of my friends. He still he still lives out
in the Arizona UM. In fact, last time my song

(25:18):
was right for the season, we were both in the
Laser Tag arena together. So are you guys playing? Of
course you got to got to what do you hide behind?
I don't know. I'm sorry, I can't. I can't see that.
You just keep moving, that's the biggest thing. You keep
moving the feet, little shuffle slide, shuffle slide. Alright, alright,

(25:39):
you're not allowed to do front rolls, don't but but
but I think that that's just that's just how much
it means, right, the fact that that statement alone, Right,
you're not a Raven until you beat the Steelers, and
you're not fully a Steeler until you've been in this
rivalry game and you participate like it's just there is

(26:00):
something unique about And that's why I said yesterday this
is the greatest rivalry in the NFL because it's the
closest thing you get to college. You know, people are
always talking about while like college football over NFL football,
you know, doesn't have the pageantry, doesn't have the rivalries.
This is that, This is that one. This is that
one that when you look back on your career you

(26:24):
want to say, you know what I got them that
team more than I got the others. Like when I
tell people like listen, I would four against Georgia when
I was in college, because that means something like the
Florida Georgia rivalry is a big game in college football
and for the University of Florida, it's a huge rivalry. UM.
So you always remember those moments. This is one of
those things where you look back are you know, when

(26:45):
I look back on my career, I have a lot
of memories from this type of game. Whether it's in
Baltimore and m N T or whether or whether it's
in Pittsburgh, you remember these moments and a lot of
guys careers are defined by the moments that happened in
these games. It does mean a lot and that that
just goes to show you when you say, hey, you're
not a Raven until you've beaten the Steelers. I mean,

(27:07):
there was a lot of guys I'm sure that was
on that squad last year that aren't there this year,
that still hanging their headlaw that they were never really
a Raven. They were just an employee UM of a
team in Baltimore. But that that's just how important it is.
It means something. It's an identity for us. And when
you think of the a f C North, this is
the first game you think of. You don't think of

(27:28):
Cincinnati Cleveland. You don't think of even Cincinnati Pittsburgh or
Cleveland Pittsburgh. You think of Baltimore Pittsburgh. When people say
a f C North football, that's what the barometer is.
That's the measuring stick. Just like when you think of
in the NFC North, you think of what Green Bay
Packers in Minnesota Vikings like, there's this that one iconic
matchup that defines it and and this is the matchup

(27:49):
for the a f C North. And that's why the
guys that sit in a room for days upon days,
hours upon hours making the NFL schedule every year UH
always put Steelers in Ravens. It seems like both games
and the back end of the schedule they played the
raven yesterday. Had two Carolina to face the Panthers this weekend,
home against the Raiders on Christmas Eve, then to Baltimore

(28:10):
to ring in the New Year before finishing up with
the Browns. Kenny Pickett is in the concussion protocol and
Chris Warmley left the game with a knee injury. Coach
Tomlin's press conference will be happening on Tuesday at noon,
so hopefully get some updates on that as well. He
also said there were some bumps and bruises to other guys,
so maybe we'll get some more specifics on that, but

(28:31):
a lot to get to as we dissect and sit
here as the Steelers are now at five and eight
heading into their final stretch, I'm gonna ask the guys
to put on their coach Tomlin hat and get ready
for their speech for the Wednesday team meeting. We'll hear
what they have to say about that in a little
bit more when we return here on the Point After
Back to the Point After, brought to you by Parks

(28:53):
Casino on TV. Yeah, I mean, look back at the film,
there's tons of opportunities. I mean, it's always how it is.
You never make enough plays. Um, that's something that we're
gonna have to look at. But clearly we didn't do enough,
specifically from a defensive side of things, to put us
in position to help win the game. Steelers outside linebacker

(29:15):
t J. Watt. Following the Steelers loss to the Ravens
on Sunday, our third and final segment here on the
point after it's 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 dollars to the Light of
Life Rescue Mission clear View helping people to enjoy a

(29:36):
better life. Visit clear View f CU dot org slash touchdown. Alright, guys,
I gave you a warning. Instead of springing this on you,
I want you to pretend you are a coach Tomlin.
The team is meeting on Wednesday to get ready for
the last four games of the season. Will fill have
you go first? Just because you're in the room with
me and and I'm the old guy, I got it

(29:59):
all right? What is your message to this team? Knowing
that they're still games to be played and a lot
of things can happen, but you are where you are
sitting at five and eight. Fellows, You ever hear the
term dance like nobody's watching, Well, you better play like
everybody's watching, including the eye and the sky that don't lie,
because decisions will be based upon what you do these

(30:21):
last four weeks, and unemployment is a box you don't
want to check. So I would remind them continuously. Look,
decisions are gonna be made. That's the way the nature
of the beast in football. That's the way it goes, fellas.
And you have to be mindful about how your preparation
goes in these last four weeks. That routine, it's something
you established early on. Accelerate it or at least maintain

(30:43):
it because going into the end here, we need everybody
on board doing the things that they need to do
to be prepared. All right, that was good, Okay, no pressure,
Max exactly. I will not check the unemployment box. My man.
There's two kind of people in the NFL, and there's

(31:06):
those who are thrivers and those who are survivors. And
you've got to make a decision which one you want
to be, because if you're trying to play to survive,
you're not gonna make it in this league long. If
you're a person who wants to thrive in this environment,
who who enjoys solving puzzles, fighting through adversity, those are

(31:30):
the people who want to see Those are the guys
that we want to, as you say, gainfully employ the
guys who embrace the suck and find a silver lining.
In the midst of all that chaos and madness. This
is you know, the standard is the standard, and we're
not playing up to it right now. So you have
to decide do you want to be a part of

(31:51):
this Steeler standard and let this be an aberration in
a hiccup, or if you played on this being a trend,
you can go somewhere like Cleveland, right, you can go
to an pick another to insert here. Carolina Panthers as well.
They're spectacularly bad and they're still finding ways to win.

(32:11):
And if you're if you go in there expecting to
win a game, you're never gonna win. You have to
go take a victory from everybody, and especially on the road,
and the bodies are being accounted for. So are you
going to show up on the manifest as d o A,
which means dead on arrival, or you're gonna be a live,

(32:32):
warm body when we get down there to Charlotte. And
I want to see it on tape. Not don't just
tell me it, don't talk about it, be about it.
Show me how you play this game, show me that
you love this game, Show me that you want to
be here beyond this season, because we're taking stock and listen,

(32:54):
I'm I'm not in the mood for looking for fertilizer.
So that that that's that's my speech. There you go, Bravo.
You know what I think you and I mimic our
head coaches. Chuck was very short to the point. Mike
is a little bit more elongated, and we'll communicate in
a in a varied way. Bravo. You did a nice

(33:14):
job of where you come from, young man. Thank you.
We're a product of our generations. It always reminds me
of Chuck speech before we played Denver in the divisional
playoffs in eighty four, and he spent unbelievably several minutes
talking about pregame about not turning the ball over. You know,
it was a long pregame speech by Chuck. It was

(33:37):
like three minutes or something like that. And we went
out there and we fumbled the way to the ball
the first two or three series, you know. And Mike
Webster was walking off the field next to me and
he turned me goes, well, we're on Plan C. Now
what do we do because we messed everything up? Oh man, hey,
that happens. That happen, and that's why you just don't
go with plan A and Plan B. You got to

(33:57):
have CD exactly element O. You know what options there
at all times, so it's understandable. Very good. All right, Well,
I liked both of your speeches, so thank you guys
for that. I don't think coach Homon will need any help,
but if he does, I'm going to point him in
both of your directions. Maybe you guys could tag team

(34:18):
and and do it together. That would be interesting. One
one team meeting you two. That would be the last.
Oh and I'm imagine the same picture in my head. Max, Oh,
my goodness, Max, you already touched on one positive. We're

(34:41):
going to talk about some positives because that's kind of
the kind of show we want to run here on
the point after you mentioned t J Watt getting that
sack something that we have been waiting for, that he
has probably been chomping at the bit and waiting for longer. UM.
I also want to talk about George Pickens because he
was able to show some stuff. He was able to
rebound from the Atlanta game where he was clearly visibly

(35:03):
disappointed and upset, and well if I thought he played
with the right demeanor yesterday. UM. I do wish though
he was targeted more than three times exactly so. And
you when you listen to Mit Drobiskuy talking, he talked
about the fact that I came into the game wanting
to get George Pickens going, and by golly, he did,
you know, and George Pickens, you know, Max was one

(35:24):
of the great points he brought out this morning. Max
in the locker room was talking about the late hands
of George Pickens, how he's late to open his hands
up so that doesn't tip off the defensive back. And
you watch him do that, you know, that's pretty heavy
for such a young buck as he is, and you
want to see more because you realize all that athleticism
from laying out one handed to you know, being late

(35:45):
with the hands, doing all the things that he's capable
of doing, even watching win and put a couple of
blocks in there, you know, and being able to do that.
He's got so much to offer And the fact that
Chase Claypool was gone now, I think it really opens
the door and you look at what he's capable of doing.
I see some great things coming along in the future

(36:07):
for him if he keeps that same workman like attitude
and keeps going about his business the way he's been going,
because he certainly has got some huge upside that would
be to you, Max. Yeah, yeah, are you eating while
we're doing the show again? I am not eating. I'm

(36:29):
watching my dog walk around Christmas Sea ugly Christmas sweaters. Yeah, yeah, exactly.
He he's got a starf on too, so he's probably
not very happy. Yeah. Um, you know, I think the
biggest thing is is that, um, you know, it's it's

(36:51):
about earning those stripes, right, It's it's still a process.
And I'm sure Kenny probably had in the game plan
to go to George a little bit more, but when
you get a backup in the game, you know, it's different.
He's gonna go to his comfort level. And we saw
that in the choices that Mitch made and he was

(37:11):
very efficient with it. But I think at the same time,
you know, for George, it's just staying at him. It
is showing that consistency because right because we see it
up and down, we know he has the big play capability,
but does he have that every down capability? Does he
have that every down security within himself? And I think
that's where he has to just come out there and

(37:33):
show himself on a day in, day out basis. I
mean practice habits matter because they manifest themselves in the
game and you get rewarded for what you're doing on
a daily basis. So I think it's something that he's
coming along, and yes, we want we want to see
six to seven targets a game from him, but you
also have to realize the coordinator also has to put

(37:54):
him in position to be the first and second option
on a lot of those plays, and if he's the
deeper threat on the field, those guys are usually second
to third options in an offense, whereas you have more
of the quick hitters and you don't see George pick
Is really going across the middle. Um. So I think
it's just something that just has to continue to progress.

(38:14):
But it is something. His film is out there and
the Steelers he's going to factor into their plans for
whatever side and how they about the office. He's going
to be a big, big piece of it. But for
this year, it's just kind of just by your time.
You're still a rookie. You haven't commanded the respect yet,

(38:35):
all right. We want to remind everybody about the Steelers
Pro Shop, where you can get up with the latest
sideline apparel, hats and jerseys of your favorite players, authentic memorabilia,
custom items, and exclusives you can find only directly from
the team at one of the Steelers official Pro Shop
stores located at Aquasher Stadium, Grove City Premium Outlets, or
Tanger Outlets, or visit us online at shop dot Steelers

(38:56):
dot dot com. That is going to do it for
the point after tonight for Craig Wolflee and Max Starks
and our producer Tom. Thanks so much for joining us.
We'll see everybody back here next Monday night.