December 19, 2022 • 38 mins
Missi Matthews, Craig Wolfley, Max Starks, and Bill Hillgrove are together recapping the Steelers win over the Panthers in Carolina Sunday afternoon.
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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. Drobisky under center, hands it up,
Naji stiff Arm gets to the five. Stiff Arms is
way into the end zone for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Touchdown
(00:23):
from seven yards out, Nagy Harris his sixth of the year,
and the Steelers forge ahead on their first possession. No
stiff Arming here tonight on the Point After. But I'm
Missy Matthews with Bill hill Grove and Craig Wolf. We
we are here to talk about the Steelers win over
the Panthers in our first segment. Tonight is brought to
you by Brian Patton and associates. It's all about the benefits.
(00:47):
It is a to sixteen win. The Steelers now moved
to six and eight, and that was the Steelers first
touchdown on their opening drive. And Wolf, you have a
little stat to go along with that. Oh yeah, uh yeah,
wait a minute, which one when the Steelers score first?
Thank you? You know you made those every now and
(01:07):
then a little prodding I did take a nap this afternoon.
It's it's begoggled me a little bit. But the fact
of the matter is it's still holding true. When the
Steelers score first, they are uh, six and old. And
when they lose, when they I'm sorry, yeah, they're all
and eight when they don't score first. Okay, we got
it right there, Billy. It was a good day. It
(01:28):
was a good day in Charlotte. It wasn't as warm
as we would have hoped, but it was warmer than Pittsburgh. Yes,
and right now I am speaking to you from sunny Syracuse,
New York. Wells the Syracuse sweatshirt on tonight for you.
Oh my, I'll tell you what I know. It's how
(01:49):
far is Syracuse from Orchard Park? A couple of hours? Yeah,
about two and a half hours, Billy, two and a half. Well,
you know that's a long way to go on a
snowy night to get a palmer pie. It's a bit far. Yes,
I'm gonna I'm gonna hold up. I think you know,
I think what I saw. First of all, Larry Ogan
job back home. He said a tone with the first
(02:11):
play on that toss, and then uh, you know that
tip pass on the third down and all of a
sudden the Steelers had the ball, keep it seven minutes,
get it back after they tied the game, and you
keep it almost and I think there is where they
won the game in the trenches, no doubt about it.
(02:32):
They beat him up both ways. Max Starks is joining
us as well tonight here on the point after and uh, Max,
I'm sure you could go along with what Billy saying,
especially coming um from an O line perspective, and what
that group was able to accomplish yesterday now it was
it was definitely a complete control of the trenches. Offensively, defensively,
(02:56):
both lines really led the way for the rest of
their units. Um defensive line kept linebackers clean to make plays,
and safeties coming up and playing. You know, Terrell Edmonds
also played big doing some box linebacker stuff from the
safety position out of nickel Um. And also you know
the big bodies Trent Scott right, six men off the
(03:18):
bench coming in and providing some of the jumbo package
or the promanti package um aspect of it. And it
was it was fun to see, you know, the group
just line up in a big personnel and not try
and fool you too many times now, even though we
did have that one jet swep w short yardage. Um,
but come up and run the ball. Say listen, we're
(03:40):
lining up here big, and we're even gonna motion it
in more over a couple of times from the tackle position,
and we're gonna run and we're gonna try and hit
you in the mouth. And I thought that was kind
of a mentality type of statement that they started early
and then it just kept progressing throughout the game. Billy.
The thing I really liked about what Max is saying
enough physicality is that was a big sticking point last
(04:02):
week from the loss of the Ravens. We talked about
just how physical the Ravens were, especially their defense, and
the Steelers not being able to match it. Sure, it
helps when you score first and you play with the
lead and you get things going, but that does set
a tone on both sides of the ball and something
that I think also helps with their competence. And I
think that's how you beat the Ravens. Get a lead
(04:23):
on them because they're not built to come back. And
that's exactly what the Browns were able to do. It's
something we weren't able to do. But um, you know,
I agree with Bob Labriola his column today about the
fact that, Okay, this hasn't been the best season, but
what we saw in Carolina last or yes, maybe a
(04:43):
glimpse of the future, especially the short term future. All Right,
it doesn't look bright, it doesn't look like a playoff situation.
But if you keep winning, you never know. We'll have
to get technical here with the O line. What were
some of the things that they were doing and why
were they so successful. Well, one of the things that
you do when you get a hat on a hat
(05:03):
and a body on a body, then you start getting
two bodies on one hat, and then you get four
hands on one hat, and then they just yes, my
math skills are now like just overwhelming me. Um. But
you know, it's all about moving people, and it really
that's what it was. They moved guys from A to B.
Sometimes they went to D. You know, they're not even
(05:25):
checking in at sea. I really enjoyed watching them because
you didn't see too many guys making penetration like it
was earlier in the year. You saw guys being able
to move guys backwards at a level where you get
the linebackers bumping into the big guys up front of them,
And when you do that, everything gets simple. You know,
if you just keep from having guys penetrate on that
(05:47):
offensive line and you keep your feet moving and stay
engaged with him, you're gonna get some good movement. And
that's what they did do. They just kept at it,
and they were steady and all throughout all four quarters
able to battle and keep guys, you know, moving backwards
or at least battling like crazy to hold their spot.
And that's where it's at. Max. What did you see
(06:09):
from Nagy Harris and Jalen Warren to kind of play
off the old line and then what they were able
to do on the ground. Trust. Trust was what I
saw out of Nagy and out of Jalen. Trust in
that if they run their track more often than not,
good things are gonna happen. Right, Bodies are gonna be
on bodies, and there's no free hitters. They're not getting
(06:30):
first contact in the backfield. They had a trust in
the offensive line that they were going to get to
the line of scrimmager better every time they touched the football.
So when you have that trust, it permeates and you
could see the confidence of running. I mean kept off
by that by that touchdown run, right, I mean, you
know he was looking. He was so mad he didn't
(06:52):
have enough contact that he was going and trying to
search it out, you know, like run to the pylon
for the touch down. He looks inside, Oh there's a guy.
I'm gonna run towards him and try to step arm
him in the ground. You know, I want to guard
I want to have a gardening lesson in the middle
of this game. You know, how to how to plant
a bush, you know, I mean it was it was
(07:13):
one of those things that you could see that and
that's infectious, and that's an offensive line brings that out
of guys, right, It's that it's it's that mentality like
you know, you know, not for lack of better words,
you know, when a shorter guy comes in the club,
he has five big buddies behind him, are all bigger
than him. Yeah, he's gonna talk a little bit more
reckless than the guy and the guy that's there by himself.
(07:35):
And I think that's kind of what it is. And
and I say that ingest, but I mean, but that's
how you have to kind of be. You have to
have that personality. If your offensive line gives you that personality,
take kid run with it, and Nazi and Jalen both
did that. I like the trust factor you were talking about.
That's something that I think we also saw between Deonte
Johnson and Mitch Trabinsky. Both guys sort of talked about
(07:57):
it post game and just how locked in they were
this week preparing Um, and Mitch even said, quite frankly,
you know, on third downs, we knew if we got
what we wanted, we were going to go to Deontay
and Billy. I think for somebody who has still yet
to score a touchdown, I was joking on the sideline
with Max and Alec from the Steelers video staff that
how poetic on that ridiculous twenty one play drive if
(08:19):
it would have ended in an eighteen touchdown for Deontae Um.
But it just felt like yesterday was that game. Ten targets,
ten catches, almost over a hundred yards, and a lot
of those were key third down situations. And what I
noticed on a couple of the outs when I watched
a replace today and a couple of the screens, the
devastating blocking. I mean it was physical, even out on
(08:41):
the flank boy, that's a feather in the camp when
you can do the blocking inside in the tackle box
and then knock people over out on the flank. And
I think that's what we did yesterday. And uh, you know,
the Steelers just hit him in the mouth and they
didn't know what hit him because earlier, I'm early in
the game, Wolf and I talked about it. It looked like,
(09:02):
uh anything, but the preview of the game, it looked
like the two teams put on each other's uniforms because
they were supposed to be the physical run game. They
were supposed to be able to stop the run, and uh,
the Steelers took that away from them. You know. It
just shows you what you can do with a thick
face and a black heart, you know, immune to criticism,
(09:23):
asked no quarter, give no quarter. That's what they did yesterday. Well,
and it was one thing. I mean, James Daniel out
on that Jalen Warren screen literally blocked a guy twice.
He came around on the front side, pushed him, then
get a circle about around him, and then Superman pushed
him out of bounds like the second time We're out.
I mean, it was so so when you talk about
(09:45):
the Billy it was. It was absolutely devastating blocking on
the outside edges when you're seeing the lineman get out
lead block receivers. I mean, Miles Boycott had a couple
of really big blocks on the Steven sim sling on
the on the jet suite had a great seal block
to get to get pop Steve Sims to the sideline.
So everybody was locked and bought in on the process
(10:07):
of creating that pressure offensively on the ground, and they
knew they needed all eleven guys involved for it to
be successful. And it was in terms of just what
this can do for a team. Well, if I know
when they had their winning streak, it was two games,
but they stacked them. We talked about what can you
(10:28):
carry over? It didn't work out, but what is something
tangible that they can carry over from this performance a
bit of a short week, just one day as they
get ready to face the Raiders on Saturday, looking back
to what they know they can't they are capable of doing.
I mean, when you out Carolina, Carolina at the thing
that they were doing to others, you know, that's that's amazing.
You know, when you can take their game and they
(10:50):
went as matc. Max was calling the primanties package, you
know with slaw and fries and everything else. They may
have the meats, but we got the permanties package, right Max.
So it's we got the accessories that we have the accessories,
and they did such a good job of doing it.
And you know when Trent Scott came in, you got
the six twelve, you got the Fryar move, you got
(11:12):
Connor Heyward, you got Miles Boykin came in and did
some good things. You know, even George Pickens. George Pickens
got in some good licks. I'm blocked to. The fact
of the matter was everybody was playing at a much
more physical level. They were extending themselves in ways that well,
sometimes you're getting a run and you're just not you
don't see yourself doing the things that you used to
(11:33):
do to be to make sure that you are spot
on for the game. And maybe they, you know, kind
of refired a few of those things. All I know
is they entered that game with more um, you know,
RPMs in there, nogging you do that. Not everybody goes
into the game with the same amount of RPMs weekend
week out. We'll have people that are up and down,
and they kind of get a little on emotional side.
(11:54):
But the fact is, you got to make sure that
you are like spot on in your mental physical preparation
as you prepare for you have to encounter. And a
lot of that has to do with just you know,
the mental work in the you know, making sure you're
on all your film study. In his post game remarks,
t J said, there was a lot of energy in
(12:14):
the Steelers practices this week, especially Friday's package. And a
little birdie tells me that that Friday practice was more
than energy. There was some chippiness on the field and
we'll happened on Sunday, and I think that's a good thing.
And I believe they also put on pads earlier in
the week last week as well, so that you know,
(12:35):
that'll do it for anybody. That's the old Chuck Nol
Methody Billy. Another game. Another catch that George Pickens makes
that you know brings excitement to the game. Um, not
as many targets yesterday, but what did you see from
the rookie? Well, that catch it mystified me. I'm not
(12:56):
gonna try to compare it to maybe another player. Uh,
but he mossified that defensive back, uh to be able
to you know, and he was probably you know, at
his top speed when he hit that sideline and he
had to reach up with both hands above his helmet
and snare that ball. And uh, I just thought it
(13:18):
was an incredible catch. And I think he's, you know,
he's very capable of making more like that. And I
know people want to know why don't they target Himore,
But uh, you know, I like what I saw yesterday.
I you know, the people. I even heard somebody after
the game. So where where was Friarmouth? Well, I think,
you know, Pat's kind of he's banged up a little bit,
and I think Connor Heyward got some of his snaps. Well.
(13:41):
I think I think also George has earned an opportunity
um to get a couple more because, like you said,
he's he's gone out there and he's made some of
those splashy plays downfield where you needed a vertical threat
or a vertical big play to kind of get everybody ignited.
He's kind of been that guy throughout the season. Now,
I know he's not a consistent thing because you know,
(14:02):
he's still gonna have to be a little bit better
with going across the middle, you know it's safe. He
did have a little bit of case of the alligator
arms yesterday on one of the third downs. We're kind
of short hoped because he saw he felt that safety
closing in on him, and um, you know, those are
things he's gonna have to work through. I mean, he's
a rookie, but you know, you don't want to lose
the essence of him. He is your deep threat. Once
you kind of low, you get guys to back to
(14:24):
to kind of bunch up in in in the in
the middle of the field and get closer to the
line of scrimmage and you see that single higher and
no high safeties. That's when he's That's when he that's
when he says his best. So you must stay two
dimensional to keep him involved. I think because of that's
why he got the five targets. Was because we were
so involved with the run game and we were so
balanced that they couldn't they couldn't play zone consistently, and
(14:46):
so they were good when they played zone, but because
of because their vulnerability up front in their front seven,
they couldn't sustain that. So they had to keep dropping
the eighth guy in the box and then leaving the
safety up top. Jeremy Chin had a career day actually
running around the field trying to hit people because the
offensive line was doing their job and blocking up the
D line and the linebackers. All right, we have much
(15:08):
more to talk about from the Steelers to sixteen win
over the Panthers and Charlotte. You're listening to the point after.
We'll be right back here on d D Back to
the Point After, brought to you by Parks Casino on
d v E. I just thought he managed it well. Um.
I thought he kept the ball off the ground and
(15:29):
played clean, had a high completion percentage, and but it's
easier to do those things when you're when you're playing
behind an effective run game. Can't say enough about how
big dudes up front and how they controlled it. That
was Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin responding to a question
after the Steelers sixteen win about quarterback Mitch Trabinsky filling
in for Kenny Pickett, who is in the concussion protocol.
(15:51):
Mitch Trobinsky was seventeen of twenty two d seventy nine yards,
no touchdowns, and was twelve of sixteen on third downs.
Are segment now is brought to you by the Greater
Pittsburgh Community Food Bank and Dawn's Appliance. For every field
goal we kicked this season, Dawn's Appliance will donate one
thousand dollars to the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. That's
five thousand meals each time. Thank you to Don's Appliance.
(16:15):
You can help and donate too by texting goals to
five zero one five five ms Matthews, Bill hill Grove,
Craig Wilfley, and Max Starks And Um, Billy will start
with you in terms of what Mitch was able to do.
What did you see from him in terms of bouncing
back from the Ravens game to yesterday, And to quote
coach Tomlin, he managed the situation well, um, and I
(16:39):
understand that in practice all week long, he worked very
hard at you know, doing the right thing in the
right instance. Uh. He concentrated on it because he knew
he was going to start, which is far different than
you know, being asked to come off the bench and
go in for somebody who's been knocked out of the game.
I'm gonna bring a smile the Max and too wils face.
(17:03):
I think one of the stats that's kind of been
overlooked in all this one sack. Absolutely, But let me
say this, Billy, attribute to the guys up front, but
it's also a tribute to Mitch, who you know, stayed
out of those situations where you get sacked. Let me
just say this, you really disappointed me because I thought
you were going to talk some Christmas cookies here. I
(17:25):
come on, come on, buddy. That would have put a
real smile on me and Max's face. But the second
biggest smile is because you know, the only sacks we
want to hear about this Christmas season is the ones
with gifts and food in it. So the fact that
we're not hearing about it on the field, that's always
(17:46):
a good sign. You're right, Bill, That was that was
That was a sign of a great run game. It
was effective. The play action did what it was supposed
to do. Guys weren't ping in on Mitch the entire time.
They were looking for handoff first and then having to
readjust from MS, which gave guys a little bit extra
time in situations, and then of course took something off
(18:08):
of the pass rush on third downs because they were
too busy getting hit on first and second down from
the run game. So it was, it was. It was
a good overall game for the offensive line, both in
the air and on the ground. It kept the blitzers
and you know, the guys like chen Thompson Woods, it
kept them from banging their ears back and running hard.
(18:29):
That was a John Major saying from back in the day.
They couldn't because they had to worry about the run,
no doubt about it. You know the thing about it, Billy,
is when you make them have to go through the
run keys to their pass keys, it just slows everything down.
And you're both right, you know. I mean, it's the
physicality and the nature of how you went about it
(18:49):
with a little ground and pound and sometimes and you know,
you noticed the chippiness factor got up there a little bit, right.
How nice is it? How nice was it, Max, when
you got under the skin of the guy you're playing against,
so that he'd be spending all this time wanting to
put a whack on you, and he's not. He's not
even sniffing the quarterback. He's not even really worrying about
the running back because he's so enraged by what you've
(19:11):
done or haven't done. But one of the things that
you guys are doing it, you know in the interim
it sorry sorry, oh no, arms up, don't choke my
water bottle. Can I ask you a question, what proof
is that? Uh? Polar? Actually it was icy, um, but
(19:40):
but no, I mean I mean that that that that's
exactly what it is. And you saw that chippiness, you know,
especially between Mason Cole and and um, Derek Brown. I
mean that was that was extracurricular and then after school
and plus detention all combined. He was so enamored. He
didn't even know who the quarterback was. I think at
(20:01):
one point, I mean, he knew who Nagy Harris was
because obviously the history between Auburn and Alabama, but I
don't think he knew who Mitch was. Um in the
midst of it. But you know, Kevin Dotson, James Daniels,
Mason Cole, that trio in the middle did a really
good job of just beating up on the defensive line,
especially their de tackles, because that was one of the
(20:21):
things that they had done well and those previous three
victories that compressed the pocket from the inside out the
bush which forced things to Brian Burns and company and
allowed those outside guys to kind of feast on sacks.
So not having that allowing Mitch that opportunity to step up.
Even when there was some pressure off the edge on bullrushes,
it didn't bother him at all. It didn't phase him,
(20:41):
kept his eyes down field. He didn't have to run
for his life. He was able to stand and deliver
those passes to Deonte and company on those third downs
on the way to twelve or six Team Billy. Let's
go back to the start of the third quarter of
the Steelers get the ball and they have struggled in
the previous games of getting things going actually in the
second half, but twenty one plays yards eleven minutes and
(21:05):
forty three seconds, it was getting so close that it
was like, are they going to score this touchdown in
the third quarter? Is this drive going to keep going? Um?
What did you make of what they were able to
do their despite some adversity with the penalties. Well to
Mike Tomlins point, Uh, they converted a third and one,
they converted it, and early in the drive they converted
(21:27):
a third and ten with that twelve yard out to
DJ You know, you know, converting third downs is what
it's all about in the long run. And you saw
what the numbers were. They were very diverse. And I'll
tell you what. Understand that ground game defense of their's
(21:49):
was their worst since two thousand twelve? Did I Did
I see that correctly? I couldn't tell you right off
the top of my very flat head here, but you
know that that drive again just set the tone. And
you know it's too bad that those two sacks were
wasted by that you know, uh penalty. I won't, I
(22:10):
won't address anything more about it, but it was not
It just didn't belong, you know. And I understand cam
U addressed Marcus Allen down pretty well on the sideline
as well he should, because you know, those guys are
out working hard trying to get after Sam Donald, and
they did twice in a row, and then all of
(22:30):
a sudden you get a first down and here I
am on the air saying, wall wait a minute, they
needed twenty seven, we're only giving him fifteen. And I
forgot about the automatic part of that. On Sportsmanlife, you'll
have done on big jobs like that, my friend. You
know the point is, and I will say this, you know, Marcus,
he knows, you know, he knows he messed up, and
(22:51):
the same thing for deonte Um and you know, the
powers that be they'll take care of it. But I
was just sitting talking to Missy earlier ago. You know
how it is Max on the field, You know it is,
it's you get the emotions and everything else running hot,
and then you know, you know you should walk away
from something that's incurring, and everything in you is telling
(23:11):
you to walk away, and suddenly you find yourself punching
the guy, you know, and it's like, oh, but it's
almost like you couldn't help yourself. You know, it's just
a matter you've got to make sure that you stay
in control and that you are always over and above.
You know that that emotional reaction, But I've had that before. Hello,
are you there was that Max? I heard? I don't know.
(23:37):
We're getting confused here, Max. Hello, Welcome to the point.
After all right, we're gonna we're gonna hang tight with
Max and just a little bit, um, let me make
this point before we take the break. Yeah, no, we're good.
We save a few minutes for pointing at the scoreboard.
And that's exactly in that situation. What you do you know,
(23:59):
and you're right, Billy. I'll tell you this. I have
thought that same thing right before I punched somebody, and
then I paid the price for it after. I'm sorry.
You know, it's one of those things that you just
runs through your head and then all of a sudden,
it's like something takes over your body and then you
do the very thing that you know you shouldn't do. Uh.
And I think that happens off the field, too, Billy.
(24:23):
Going back to the one played touchdown drive, I think
this is where you were going. It was the second
longest in the NFL since two thousand and one, and
the only one that was longer than that. Get this
was in two thousand and seven when New Orleans had
a four played drive. It was actually against Carolina, but
that one resulted in a blocked field goal, so not
(24:47):
the success the Steelers had. And Wolf and I were
talking about this earlier on a different show, but I
think we feel a lot different about that drive if
it did not result in a touchdown, No, no doubt
about it. And that's why you had to be very happy,
because you know, Mitch got his chance to go over
the top and getting a second rushing touchdown, and uh,
(25:10):
you know, at fourteen point late, at that point in
the game, it took a lot of starts out of them,
and the penalty kind of fired him up. But it's
that's water over the dam. I think at that point
the Carolina Panthers knew that they were in for a
long afternoon, no doubt. And like you said, there the
Marcus Allen penalty, things started to snowball, but they were
(25:32):
able to keep their composure, keep things within reach, and
eventually get it to the point where at the end
of the game it was not like previous games wolf
where the Steelers were able to control the ball as
much as they needed to to not let the other
team have enough time to even do anything that would
remotely bring them back in. There's no question about it.
I mean the beauty and that that was a spirit
(25:52):
snatching drive that they came out in the third quarter
and being able to take the very thing, you know,
fifteen runs. Think about that, fifteen runs and and you
only at six passes and well six or seven I
think Mitch was in that last one. But anyhaw regardless,
it's the very thing that Carolina wanted to do to you,
and you're doing that to them. And it just was
(26:14):
such a great way to to extend that whole quarter
and come out and really stamped the physicality factor, uh offensively,
and your defense is relaxed in the entire time. I mean,
sitting back there, they're chilling, they're rooting for you. You know.
I used to remember when you know, Gary does say, yeah,
I'll have a gatorade waiting on you go go do something,
you know, yeah, you know, yeah, belly up to the
(26:37):
gatorade table there. But you know, that's exactly how complimentary
football comes around and why it's such a great team game.
And the thing about these guys that I really loved
was everybody showed after the last couple of games where
you know, you you got scorched by the run a
little bit, all these guys showed that their ability to
stay in there. No one taps out, no one quits,
(26:58):
no one gets you know, really depressed and and and
down and stuff like that. They keep fighting and you
keep fighting, and that's what it's about because winning and
Steelers football is all about winning. There you haven't there
you are? Uh you remember what's that, Billy? You remember
(27:20):
a longer drive? Oh yeah? Yeah? And Houston, Now it
wasn't as long as the play drive of the New
Orleans Saints, but it was the twenty three play drive,
and it did go almost thirteen minutes. And I do
remember as we fell to the ground yet one more
time on the twenty second play before we scored, rising
to my feet with the Houston oiler guy that I
(27:41):
was playing against. We're both exhausted, and we're both, you know,
just standing barely standing. And I remember he turned to
me and he said, look, either you guys gotta score,
you gotta fumble, but we gotta get off the field.
And definitely all of the offensive line in the Steelers
locker room yesterday said how it was exhausting, but they
were glad how it happened. Even Mitch said after the game,
(28:04):
you know, I was tired. I can only imagine what
the guys up front we're feeling. Sorry. None of them
could remember ever being parted any level of football a
drive that was that long. I can only tell you this.
You know, the thing about it was in Houston Astronome
they had all that smoke, because I've talked about with
they used to let a lot smoking in there. The
only thing I smelled in Carolina was Barbecue and Christy Greens.
(28:27):
They converted five third downs, three of them were to
one and one to go. And you know that that
went on first down is so important and that's what
the run game does. All Right, We're gonna take one
more quick break here on the point after when we returned,
let's talk about the Steelers defense and two homecomings for
(28:48):
that side of the ball yesterday in Carolina. Will be
right back. You're listening to w d V. Welcome back
to the Point after, everybody. Our third and final segment
is brought to you by clear View Federal Credit Union.
For every turnover 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
(29:09):
clear View helping people to enjoy a better life. Visit
clear View f CU dot org slash touchdown and speaking
of creating turnovers, a homecoming of sorts for Alex high
Smith and Larry Ogan job a bit there. You just
heard Billy's call of Highsmith's sack, one sack, a tackle
for loss, and a forced fumble on the day. And Billy,
(29:30):
I think he said there was about fifty to sixty
people that he had to get tickets for yesterday. Yeah,
he looked like a happy camper when I saw him
on the way to the buses after the game. Uh,
it was it was huge, and it was kind of neat,
you know, the hotel we stayed on their campus and
we could see the stadium where both he and Larry
(29:51):
Ogan Job played. So it's kind of kind of neat.
You know. It's funny because I was I was telling
this talking it over with Max this morning, but I
was walked into the back area, you know, in the
where the players area is, you know, in the hotel,
and I just saw him sitting there and he was
just kind of like kind of a little like contemplative,
you know, And I said, what you're thinking? And it
was just funny because you know, here he is in
(30:14):
the very place he wanted to be when he was
here as a collegiate guy. He wanted to be a
pro football player. God gave him that ability. He used it.
He got here and he was kind of reflecting on
it was really cool and he just smiled. He said,
I'm grateful, man, just grateful to be here. And I thought,
what a great attitude and went out and he played
the game. He got a sack, he got a force fumble,
(30:34):
he got a great tackle for loss when he came
on the back side of that counter trap and ran
down the back from behind um, you know, and then
throwing a handful of tackles too. So the young man,
I'll tell you what I personally, I think he should
be in the Pro Bowl. I don't. I think he's
having a Pro Bowl year. Well, let me throw some
numbers behind the support what you're saying, because I agree
as well. Eleven sacks, as Billy said in the call,
(30:56):
that's tied for fourth in the NFL. That was his
fifth forced fum Bowl. That's first in the NFL. That's
pretty good stuff. And you know, looking at the defense
and what they were able to do yesterday, I think
health had something to do with it. You know, you
finally get t J. Watt and and Alex both healthy
(31:18):
and and and the you know havoc they can wreak
and I think, you know, the interior guys did a
good job. Leal did a good job. I'll tell you
who had a pretty good game was Devin Bush. Yes
he did. Yeah, I agree that Devin played big. When
you thought Miles Jack is gonna be out of this game, right,
He's ruled doubtful on Friday. Um, you're going into this
(31:41):
game and you're like, okay, Robert smlen is gonna be
in and then we're gonna address Mark Robinson for the
first time this year. So you're like, okay, well, who's
gonna pick up a side as Miles Jack was that
leader of that trio, and Devin Bush simply said, I'm next,
put my hand up in there. I'll take you cose,
give me the green dot. Let me go out there
and let me be a difference maker. And you saw Devon.
(32:03):
You saw glimpses of what we saw his re year.
You saw glimpses of of before that knee injury, him
forcing hit hit it, blowing up paps right, running backs
fullback into that area and just blowing guys up. You know,
Kate May's it's still beyond me. While he kept running
like a wide outside zone with a pound offensive live
(32:26):
and that's beyond me. But you know what, thank you,
thank you Carol for doing that. Glad you didn't run
I used to lead up to again. But because of that,
that played into Demn's strength where Devon could scrape off
Fitch right, he could come off the head in between
that that offensive fullback. I think that's the best way
to call him ahead and the tight end trying to
(32:46):
block and you blew up the place, and then bleeding
and leading in the hole in the eight gas and
then also in coverage dropping back into that little short
hook zone because we knew that was one of the
things that Sam Donald liked to attempt to do was
to keep throwing the tight ends. And let's face it,
those Titans can't catch um. So he provided that blanket
of security and played like the guy we expected to
(33:07):
be like the first round we drafted him to be.
I think too, especially you know Coach talked about in
post game. We got Biggs on Biggs, knowing that this
was a team that like the run the ball, that
the whole Army's package, you know, Permantes is better. UM.
But we also saw you know, Marvin Leel who was
on i R not too long ago, he's been he
was involved a lot yesterday, and even Isaiah louder Milk,
(33:28):
and it was just you know, that nasty attitude that
probably started with Cam Heyward and Larry ogunjob in the
middle and it just it worked for them yesterday, It
permeates it, it goes throughout the entire trench group of
guys that are down there doing battle. And when you
have a guy like Cam leading away, Captain Cam's just
you know, one of those guys that you you see
(33:50):
what he the intensity he brings, you want to match it,
you want to be part of it. And I thought,
you know, just we talked about Mark Robinson, Mark Robinson
at a moment. I remember the one they ran, and
it's he came downhill and he created his own clean
up on Aisle five, pile up. I mean, he went,
he went down and pow, he hit the mass of
legs that were coming and he created a pile up there.
(34:11):
And that's exactly what you want. And you got to
Marvin Leel, who I really enjoyed calling wreck it Ralph,
because the guy is capable, like he doesn't know exactly
what's going on all the time, but he'll just find
a warm body and hit it, you know what I mean.
Let me just like somebody I do like that. That's
that's a basic ingredient and tenant of being the defensive
lineman and the pig who who thrashes about the most
(34:37):
usually gets the most slap in the trough. I mean, Max,
you're bringing your a game tonight, Yes, yes, you know
what I like. Well, I was just gonna make another point.
And we've talked about the players on the field, but Jack,
you're leading tackler, can't go. Spillane takes his place and
(34:59):
he's the leading tackle. I think it speaks to the
system that Tarrell Austin employed and the players paid attempt.
I was going to give a shout out to t J. Watt,
appearing in his eighty four game yesterday of his career,
third fastest player to reach seventy five sacks. He actually
(35:19):
got up to seventy six as the game went on,
but only Reggie White and his brother J. J. Watt
did it faster than him. And man if t J
was not hurt this season, he would have he would
have definitely beat his brother. And you know how brothers are.
I'm sure that would have been a text, Hey I
beat you, no doubt about it. But let me just
say this. I said it. The Max is born because
the great Reggie White did in six games. No one's
(35:41):
catching that. Well, let me just put this out there too.
In six head to head encounters touch Chilkin, Reggie White
sacks on touch Zippo never gave up a sack to
the great And I have all the respect in the
world for Reggie. He was just an awesome player. But
I just have to throw that out auto about our
brother there. You know, we like that. That's a good
fun fact. Was it is? It is? Yeah, No, absolutely,
(36:06):
and and I mean and when you think about the effect,
you know, even though t J was playing through the
ribs and we all, you know, we all remember talking
about that Atlanta game right when he when when he went,
when he when he sold out and looking for the
tackle and drug the dude down and fell right on
his rib cage when he came to sidelines, doubled over.
(36:27):
Like the amount of massive pain that he's playing through, Um,
to even get to this point to be number three
on the list, I mean it, it feels like he's
tied with his brother because of the amount of pain
he's played through to get to that point and to
get to this milestone. Uh, He's overcome a lot of
injuries and a lot of adversity to make that. So
I mean, extra kudos to t J for that for
(36:48):
that accomplishment. Well, and just for everybody listening and for
you guys, I don't I told Wolf during the commercial break.
T J is featured right now and Steelers dot com.
The team announced just a bit ago that they're wearing
throwback jersey's for Christmas Eve against the Oakland Raiders. They'll
have a fiftieth anniversary patch for the celebration of the
Immaculate Reception and also the block letters and numbers, so
(37:12):
it's really trending on social media because fans love those.
This will be the third time the Steelers have won
that particular throwback jersey. They did it in two thousand
eighteen and two thousand and nineteen and two and oh
in them yetta love it. And I think it's a
great thing to do, coming up here at Christmas Eve,
to do that, you know, with with the you know,
(37:34):
with the Immaculate Reception. You know, it was funny because
what I learned from Franco when I saw him the
other day came up. I think I told us before,
But the funniest thing that I never knew about the
Immaculate Reception was that when he and if the is
the play actually happened at home in New Jersey. His
mom had eva of a Maria playing on the on
(37:57):
the stereo. I mean, it's unbelievable. Yet I am Maria
playing as the Immaculate Reception is going down in Pittsburgh. Now,
that's all I would say this. Will they feature the
baggy shoulders extra extra long like to the elbow, you know,
the old school? Or is it still going to be
(38:17):
tremmed with letters? You'rena have to wait and see. All right, Well,
you can get some of the Immaculate Reception collection at
the Steelers Pro Shop, or you can get up with
your 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 the official Steelers Pro shops
(38:39):
located Aftershire Stadium, Grove City, Premium, Mountlets, Tanger Outlets, or
shop online at shop dot Steelers dot com. All right, guys,
thanks so much for joining me. That is the point
after here on d D. Thanks to our producer Tom
for getting us through the night. We'll see you guys
next Monday.
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. Drobisky under center, hands it up,
Naji stiff Arm gets to the five. Stiff Arms is
way into the end zone for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Touchdown
(00:23):
from seven yards out, Nagy Harris his sixth of the year,
and the Steelers forge ahead on their first possession. No
stiff Arming here tonight on the Point After. But I'm
Missy Matthews with Bill hill Grove and Craig Wolf. We
we are here to talk about the Steelers win over
the Panthers in our first segment. Tonight is brought to
you by Brian Patton and associates. It's all about the benefits.
(00:47):
It is a to sixteen win. The Steelers now moved
to six and eight, and that was the Steelers first
touchdown on their opening drive. And Wolf, you have a
little stat to go along with that. Oh yeah, uh yeah,
wait a minute, which one when the Steelers score first?
Thank you? You know you made those every now and
(01:07):
then a little prodding I did take a nap this afternoon.
It's it's begoggled me a little bit. But the fact
of the matter is it's still holding true. When the
Steelers score first, they are uh, six and old. And
when they lose, when they I'm sorry, yeah, they're all
and eight when they don't score first. Okay, we got
it right there, Billy. It was a good day. It
(01:28):
was a good day in Charlotte. It wasn't as warm
as we would have hoped, but it was warmer than Pittsburgh. Yes,
and right now I am speaking to you from sunny Syracuse,
New York. Wells the Syracuse sweatshirt on tonight for you.
Oh my, I'll tell you what I know. It's how
(01:49):
far is Syracuse from Orchard Park? A couple of hours? Yeah,
about two and a half hours, Billy, two and a half. Well,
you know that's a long way to go on a
snowy night to get a palmer pie. It's a bit far. Yes,
I'm gonna I'm gonna hold up. I think you know,
I think what I saw. First of all, Larry Ogan
job back home. He said a tone with the first
(02:11):
play on that toss, and then uh, you know that
tip pass on the third down and all of a
sudden the Steelers had the ball, keep it seven minutes,
get it back after they tied the game, and you
keep it almost and I think there is where they
won the game in the trenches, no doubt about it.
(02:32):
They beat him up both ways. Max Starks is joining
us as well tonight here on the point after and uh, Max,
I'm sure you could go along with what Billy saying,
especially coming um from an O line perspective, and what
that group was able to accomplish yesterday now it was
it was definitely a complete control of the trenches. Offensively, defensively,
(02:56):
both lines really led the way for the rest of
their units. Um defensive line kept linebackers clean to make plays,
and safeties coming up and playing. You know, Terrell Edmonds
also played big doing some box linebacker stuff from the
safety position out of nickel Um. And also you know
the big bodies Trent Scott right, six men off the
(03:18):
bench coming in and providing some of the jumbo package
or the promanti package um aspect of it. And it
was it was fun to see, you know, the group
just line up in a big personnel and not try
and fool you too many times now, even though we
did have that one jet swep w short yardage. Um,
but come up and run the ball. Say listen, we're
(03:40):
lining up here big, and we're even gonna motion it
in more over a couple of times from the tackle position,
and we're gonna run and we're gonna try and hit
you in the mouth. And I thought that was kind
of a mentality type of statement that they started early
and then it just kept progressing throughout the game. Billy.
The thing I really liked about what Max is saying
enough physicality is that was a big sticking point last
(04:02):
week from the loss of the Ravens. We talked about
just how physical the Ravens were, especially their defense, and
the Steelers not being able to match it. Sure, it
helps when you score first and you play with the
lead and you get things going, but that does set
a tone on both sides of the ball and something
that I think also helps with their competence. And I
think that's how you beat the Ravens. Get a lead
(04:23):
on them because they're not built to come back. And
that's exactly what the Browns were able to do. It's
something we weren't able to do. But um, you know,
I agree with Bob Labriola his column today about the
fact that, Okay, this hasn't been the best season, but
what we saw in Carolina last or yes, maybe a
(04:43):
glimpse of the future, especially the short term future. All Right,
it doesn't look bright, it doesn't look like a playoff situation.
But if you keep winning, you never know. We'll have
to get technical here with the O line. What were
some of the things that they were doing and why
were they so successful. Well, one of the things that
you do when you get a hat on a hat
(05:03):
and a body on a body, then you start getting
two bodies on one hat, and then you get four
hands on one hat, and then they just yes, my
math skills are now like just overwhelming me. Um. But
you know, it's all about moving people, and it really
that's what it was. They moved guys from A to B.
Sometimes they went to D. You know, they're not even
(05:25):
checking in at sea. I really enjoyed watching them because
you didn't see too many guys making penetration like it
was earlier in the year. You saw guys being able
to move guys backwards at a level where you get
the linebackers bumping into the big guys up front of them,
And when you do that, everything gets simple. You know,
if you just keep from having guys penetrate on that
(05:47):
offensive line and you keep your feet moving and stay
engaged with him, you're gonna get some good movement. And
that's what they did do. They just kept at it,
and they were steady and all throughout all four quarters
able to battle and keep guys, you know, moving backwards
or at least battling like crazy to hold their spot.
And that's where it's at. Max. What did you see
(06:09):
from Nagy Harris and Jalen Warren to kind of play
off the old line and then what they were able
to do on the ground. Trust. Trust was what I
saw out of Nagy and out of Jalen. Trust in
that if they run their track more often than not,
good things are gonna happen. Right, Bodies are gonna be
on bodies, and there's no free hitters. They're not getting
(06:30):
first contact in the backfield. They had a trust in
the offensive line that they were going to get to
the line of scrimmager better every time they touched the football.
So when you have that trust, it permeates and you
could see the confidence of running. I mean kept off
by that by that touchdown run, right, I mean, you
know he was looking. He was so mad he didn't
(06:52):
have enough contact that he was going and trying to
search it out, you know, like run to the pylon
for the touch down. He looks inside, Oh there's a guy.
I'm gonna run towards him and try to step arm
him in the ground. You know, I want to guard
I want to have a gardening lesson in the middle
of this game. You know, how to how to plant
a bush, you know, I mean it was it was
(07:13):
one of those things that you could see that and
that's infectious, and that's an offensive line brings that out
of guys, right, It's that it's it's that mentality like
you know, you know, not for lack of better words,
you know, when a shorter guy comes in the club,
he has five big buddies behind him, are all bigger
than him. Yeah, he's gonna talk a little bit more
reckless than the guy and the guy that's there by himself.
(07:35):
And I think that's kind of what it is. And
and I say that ingest, but I mean, but that's
how you have to kind of be. You have to
have that personality. If your offensive line gives you that personality,
take kid run with it, and Nazi and Jalen both
did that. I like the trust factor you were talking about.
That's something that I think we also saw between Deonte
Johnson and Mitch Trabinsky. Both guys sort of talked about
(07:57):
it post game and just how locked in they were
this week preparing Um, and Mitch even said, quite frankly,
you know, on third downs, we knew if we got
what we wanted, we were going to go to Deontay
and Billy. I think for somebody who has still yet
to score a touchdown, I was joking on the sideline
with Max and Alec from the Steelers video staff that
how poetic on that ridiculous twenty one play drive if
(08:19):
it would have ended in an eighteen touchdown for Deontae Um.
But it just felt like yesterday was that game. Ten targets,
ten catches, almost over a hundred yards, and a lot
of those were key third down situations. And what I
noticed on a couple of the outs when I watched
a replace today and a couple of the screens, the
devastating blocking. I mean it was physical, even out on
(08:41):
the flank boy, that's a feather in the camp when
you can do the blocking inside in the tackle box
and then knock people over out on the flank. And
I think that's what we did yesterday. And uh, you know,
the Steelers just hit him in the mouth and they
didn't know what hit him because earlier, I'm early in
the game, Wolf and I talked about it. It looked like,
(09:02):
uh anything, but the preview of the game, it looked
like the two teams put on each other's uniforms because
they were supposed to be the physical run game. They
were supposed to be able to stop the run, and uh,
the Steelers took that away from them. You know. It
just shows you what you can do with a thick
face and a black heart, you know, immune to criticism,
(09:23):
asked no quarter, give no quarter. That's what they did yesterday. Well,
and it was one thing. I mean, James Daniel out
on that Jalen Warren screen literally blocked a guy twice.
He came around on the front side, pushed him, then
get a circle about around him, and then Superman pushed
him out of bounds like the second time We're out.
I mean, it was so so when you talk about
(09:45):
the Billy it was. It was absolutely devastating blocking on
the outside edges when you're seeing the lineman get out
lead block receivers. I mean, Miles Boycott had a couple
of really big blocks on the Steven sim sling on
the on the jet suite had a great seal block
to get to get pop Steve Sims to the sideline.
So everybody was locked and bought in on the process
(10:07):
of creating that pressure offensively on the ground, and they
knew they needed all eleven guys involved for it to
be successful. And it was in terms of just what
this can do for a team. Well, if I know
when they had their winning streak, it was two games,
but they stacked them. We talked about what can you
(10:28):
carry over? It didn't work out, but what is something
tangible that they can carry over from this performance a
bit of a short week, just one day as they
get ready to face the Raiders on Saturday, looking back
to what they know they can't they are capable of doing.
I mean, when you out Carolina, Carolina at the thing
that they were doing to others, you know, that's that's amazing.
You know, when you can take their game and they
(10:50):
went as matc. Max was calling the primanties package, you
know with slaw and fries and everything else. They may
have the meats, but we got the permanties package, right Max.
So it's we got the accessories that we have the accessories,
and they did such a good job of doing it.
And you know when Trent Scott came in, you got
the six twelve, you got the Fryar move, you got
(11:12):
Connor Heyward, you got Miles Boykin came in and did
some good things. You know, even George Pickens. George Pickens
got in some good licks. I'm blocked to. The fact
of the matter was everybody was playing at a much
more physical level. They were extending themselves in ways that well,
sometimes you're getting a run and you're just not you
don't see yourself doing the things that you used to
(11:33):
do to be to make sure that you are spot
on for the game. And maybe they, you know, kind
of refired a few of those things. All I know
is they entered that game with more um, you know,
RPMs in there, nogging you do that. Not everybody goes
into the game with the same amount of RPMs weekend
week out. We'll have people that are up and down,
and they kind of get a little on emotional side.
(11:54):
But the fact is, you got to make sure that
you are like spot on in your mental physical preparation
as you prepare for you have to encounter. And a
lot of that has to do with just you know,
the mental work in the you know, making sure you're
on all your film study. In his post game remarks,
t J said, there was a lot of energy in
(12:14):
the Steelers practices this week, especially Friday's package. And a
little birdie tells me that that Friday practice was more
than energy. There was some chippiness on the field and
we'll happened on Sunday, and I think that's a good thing.
And I believe they also put on pads earlier in
the week last week as well, so that you know,
(12:35):
that'll do it for anybody. That's the old Chuck Nol
Methody Billy. Another game. Another catch that George Pickens makes
that you know brings excitement to the game. Um, not
as many targets yesterday, but what did you see from
the rookie? Well, that catch it mystified me. I'm not
(12:56):
gonna try to compare it to maybe another player. Uh,
but he mossified that defensive back, uh to be able
to you know, and he was probably you know, at
his top speed when he hit that sideline and he
had to reach up with both hands above his helmet
and snare that ball. And uh, I just thought it
(13:18):
was an incredible catch. And I think he's, you know,
he's very capable of making more like that. And I
know people want to know why don't they target Himore,
But uh, you know, I like what I saw yesterday.
I you know, the people. I even heard somebody after
the game. So where where was Friarmouth? Well, I think,
you know, Pat's kind of he's banged up a little bit,
and I think Connor Heyward got some of his snaps. Well.
(13:41):
I think I think also George has earned an opportunity
um to get a couple more because, like you said,
he's he's gone out there and he's made some of
those splashy plays downfield where you needed a vertical threat
or a vertical big play to kind of get everybody ignited.
He's kind of been that guy throughout the season. Now,
I know he's not a consistent thing because you know,
(14:02):
he's still gonna have to be a little bit better
with going across the middle, you know it's safe. He
did have a little bit of case of the alligator
arms yesterday on one of the third downs. We're kind
of short hoped because he saw he felt that safety
closing in on him, and um, you know, those are
things he's gonna have to work through. I mean, he's
a rookie, but you know, you don't want to lose
the essence of him. He is your deep threat. Once
you kind of low, you get guys to back to
(14:24):
to kind of bunch up in in in the in
the middle of the field and get closer to the
line of scrimmage and you see that single higher and
no high safeties. That's when he's That's when he that's
when he says his best. So you must stay two
dimensional to keep him involved. I think because of that's
why he got the five targets. Was because we were
so involved with the run game and we were so
balanced that they couldn't they couldn't play zone consistently, and
(14:46):
so they were good when they played zone, but because
of because their vulnerability up front in their front seven,
they couldn't sustain that. So they had to keep dropping
the eighth guy in the box and then leaving the
safety up top. Jeremy Chin had a career day actually
running around the field trying to hit people because the
offensive line was doing their job and blocking up the
D line and the linebackers. All right, we have much
(15:08):
more to talk about from the Steelers to sixteen win
over the Panthers and Charlotte. You're listening to the point after.
We'll be right back here on d D Back to
the Point After, brought to you by Parks Casino on
d v E. I just thought he managed it well. Um.
I thought he kept the ball off the ground and
(15:29):
played clean, had a high completion percentage, and but it's
easier to do those things when you're when you're playing
behind an effective run game. Can't say enough about how
big dudes up front and how they controlled it. That
was Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin responding to a question
after the Steelers sixteen win about quarterback Mitch Trabinsky filling
in for Kenny Pickett, who is in the concussion protocol.
(15:51):
Mitch Trobinsky was seventeen of twenty two d seventy nine yards,
no touchdowns, and was twelve of sixteen on third downs.
Are segment now is brought to you by the Greater
Pittsburgh Community Food Bank and Dawn's Appliance. For every field
goal we kicked this season, Dawn's Appliance will donate one
thousand dollars to the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. That's
five thousand meals each time. Thank you to Don's Appliance.
(16:15):
You can help and donate too by texting goals to
five zero one five five ms Matthews, Bill hill Grove,
Craig Wilfley, and Max Starks And Um, Billy will start
with you in terms of what Mitch was able to do.
What did you see from him in terms of bouncing
back from the Ravens game to yesterday, And to quote
coach Tomlin, he managed the situation well, um, and I
(16:39):
understand that in practice all week long, he worked very
hard at you know, doing the right thing in the
right instance. Uh. He concentrated on it because he knew
he was going to start, which is far different than
you know, being asked to come off the bench and
go in for somebody who's been knocked out of the game.
I'm gonna bring a smile the Max and too wils face.
(17:03):
I think one of the stats that's kind of been
overlooked in all this one sack. Absolutely, But let me
say this, Billy, attribute to the guys up front, but
it's also a tribute to Mitch, who you know, stayed
out of those situations where you get sacked. Let me
just say this, you really disappointed me because I thought
you were going to talk some Christmas cookies here. I
(17:25):
come on, come on, buddy. That would have put a
real smile on me and Max's face. But the second
biggest smile is because you know, the only sacks we
want to hear about this Christmas season is the ones
with gifts and food in it. So the fact that
we're not hearing about it on the field, that's always
(17:46):
a good sign. You're right, Bill, That was that was
That was a sign of a great run game. It
was effective. The play action did what it was supposed
to do. Guys weren't ping in on Mitch the entire time.
They were looking for handoff first and then having to
readjust from MS, which gave guys a little bit extra
time in situations, and then of course took something off
(18:08):
of the pass rush on third downs because they were
too busy getting hit on first and second down from
the run game. So it was, it was. It was
a good overall game for the offensive line, both in
the air and on the ground. It kept the blitzers
and you know, the guys like chen Thompson Woods, it
kept them from banging their ears back and running hard.
(18:29):
That was a John Major saying from back in the day.
They couldn't because they had to worry about the run,
no doubt about it. You know the thing about it, Billy,
is when you make them have to go through the
run keys to their pass keys, it just slows everything down.
And you're both right, you know. I mean, it's the
physicality and the nature of how you went about it
(18:49):
with a little ground and pound and sometimes and you know,
you noticed the chippiness factor got up there a little bit, right.
How nice is it? How nice was it, Max, when
you got under the skin of the guy you're playing against,
so that he'd be spending all this time wanting to
put a whack on you, and he's not. He's not
even sniffing the quarterback. He's not even really worrying about
the running back because he's so enraged by what you've
(19:11):
done or haven't done. But one of the things that
you guys are doing it, you know in the interim
it sorry sorry, oh no, arms up, don't choke my
water bottle. Can I ask you a question, what proof
is that? Uh? Polar? Actually it was icy, um, but
(19:40):
but no, I mean I mean that that that that's
exactly what it is. And you saw that chippiness, you know,
especially between Mason Cole and and um, Derek Brown. I
mean that was that was extracurricular and then after school
and plus detention all combined. He was so enamored. He
didn't even know who the quarterback was. I think at
(20:01):
one point, I mean, he knew who Nagy Harris was
because obviously the history between Auburn and Alabama, but I
don't think he knew who Mitch was. Um in the
midst of it. But you know, Kevin Dotson, James Daniels,
Mason Cole, that trio in the middle did a really
good job of just beating up on the defensive line,
especially their de tackles, because that was one of the
(20:21):
things that they had done well and those previous three
victories that compressed the pocket from the inside out the
bush which forced things to Brian Burns and company and
allowed those outside guys to kind of feast on sacks.
So not having that allowing Mitch that opportunity to step up.
Even when there was some pressure off the edge on bullrushes,
it didn't bother him at all. It didn't phase him,
(20:41):
kept his eyes down field. He didn't have to run
for his life. He was able to stand and deliver
those passes to Deonte and company on those third downs
on the way to twelve or six Team Billy. Let's
go back to the start of the third quarter of
the Steelers get the ball and they have struggled in
the previous games of getting things going actually in the
second half, but twenty one plays yards eleven minutes and
(21:05):
forty three seconds, it was getting so close that it
was like, are they going to score this touchdown in
the third quarter? Is this drive going to keep going? Um?
What did you make of what they were able to
do their despite some adversity with the penalties. Well to
Mike Tomlins point, Uh, they converted a third and one,
they converted it, and early in the drive they converted
(21:27):
a third and ten with that twelve yard out to
DJ You know, you know, converting third downs is what
it's all about in the long run. And you saw
what the numbers were. They were very diverse. And I'll
tell you what. Understand that ground game defense of their's
(21:49):
was their worst since two thousand twelve? Did I Did
I see that correctly? I couldn't tell you right off
the top of my very flat head here, but you
know that that drive again just set the tone. And
you know it's too bad that those two sacks were
wasted by that you know, uh penalty. I won't, I
(22:10):
won't address anything more about it, but it was not
It just didn't belong, you know. And I understand cam
U addressed Marcus Allen down pretty well on the sideline
as well he should, because you know, those guys are
out working hard trying to get after Sam Donald, and
they did twice in a row, and then all of
(22:30):
a sudden you get a first down and here I
am on the air saying, wall wait a minute, they
needed twenty seven, we're only giving him fifteen. And I
forgot about the automatic part of that. On Sportsmanlife, you'll
have done on big jobs like that, my friend. You
know the point is, and I will say this, you know, Marcus,
he knows, you know, he knows he messed up, and
(22:51):
the same thing for deonte Um and you know, the
powers that be they'll take care of it. But I
was just sitting talking to Missy earlier ago. You know
how it is Max on the field, You know it is,
it's you get the emotions and everything else running hot,
and then you know, you know you should walk away
from something that's incurring, and everything in you is telling
(23:11):
you to walk away, and suddenly you find yourself punching
the guy, you know, and it's like, oh, but it's
almost like you couldn't help yourself. You know, it's just
a matter you've got to make sure that you stay
in control and that you are always over and above.
You know that that emotional reaction, But I've had that before. Hello,
are you there was that Max? I heard? I don't know.
(23:37):
We're getting confused here, Max. Hello, Welcome to the point.
After all right, we're gonna we're gonna hang tight with
Max and just a little bit, um, let me make
this point before we take the break. Yeah, no, we're good.
We save a few minutes for pointing at the scoreboard.
And that's exactly in that situation. What you do you know,
(23:59):
and you're right, Billy. I'll tell you this. I have
thought that same thing right before I punched somebody, and
then I paid the price for it after. I'm sorry.
You know, it's one of those things that you just
runs through your head and then all of a sudden,
it's like something takes over your body and then you
do the very thing that you know you shouldn't do. Uh.
And I think that happens off the field, too, Billy.
(24:23):
Going back to the one played touchdown drive, I think
this is where you were going. It was the second
longest in the NFL since two thousand and one, and
the only one that was longer than that. Get this
was in two thousand and seven when New Orleans had
a four played drive. It was actually against Carolina, but
that one resulted in a blocked field goal, so not
(24:47):
the success the Steelers had. And Wolf and I were
talking about this earlier on a different show, but I
think we feel a lot different about that drive if
it did not result in a touchdown, No, no doubt
about it. And that's why you had to be very happy,
because you know, Mitch got his chance to go over
the top and getting a second rushing touchdown, and uh,
(25:10):
you know, at fourteen point late, at that point in
the game, it took a lot of starts out of them,
and the penalty kind of fired him up. But it's
that's water over the dam. I think at that point
the Carolina Panthers knew that they were in for a
long afternoon, no doubt. And like you said, there the
Marcus Allen penalty, things started to snowball, but they were
(25:32):
able to keep their composure, keep things within reach, and
eventually get it to the point where at the end
of the game it was not like previous games wolf
where the Steelers were able to control the ball as
much as they needed to to not let the other
team have enough time to even do anything that would
remotely bring them back in. There's no question about it.
I mean the beauty and that that was a spirit
(25:52):
snatching drive that they came out in the third quarter
and being able to take the very thing, you know,
fifteen runs. Think about that, fifteen runs and and you
only at six passes and well six or seven I
think Mitch was in that last one. But anyhaw regardless,
it's the very thing that Carolina wanted to do to you,
and you're doing that to them. And it just was
(26:14):
such a great way to to extend that whole quarter
and come out and really stamped the physicality factor, uh offensively,
and your defense is relaxed in the entire time. I mean,
sitting back there, they're chilling, they're rooting for you. You know.
I used to remember when you know, Gary does say, yeah,
I'll have a gatorade waiting on you go go do something,
you know, yeah, you know, yeah, belly up to the
(26:37):
gatorade table there. But you know, that's exactly how complimentary
football comes around and why it's such a great team game.
And the thing about these guys that I really loved
was everybody showed after the last couple of games where
you know, you you got scorched by the run a
little bit, all these guys showed that their ability to
stay in there. No one taps out, no one quits,
(26:58):
no one gets you know, really depressed and and and
down and stuff like that. They keep fighting and you
keep fighting, and that's what it's about because winning and
Steelers football is all about winning. There you haven't there
you are? Uh you remember what's that, Billy? You remember
(27:20):
a longer drive? Oh yeah? Yeah? And Houston, Now it
wasn't as long as the play drive of the New
Orleans Saints, but it was the twenty three play drive,
and it did go almost thirteen minutes. And I do
remember as we fell to the ground yet one more
time on the twenty second play before we scored, rising
to my feet with the Houston oiler guy that I
(27:41):
was playing against. We're both exhausted, and we're both, you know,
just standing barely standing. And I remember he turned to
me and he said, look, either you guys gotta score,
you gotta fumble, but we gotta get off the field.
And definitely all of the offensive line in the Steelers
locker room yesterday said how it was exhausting, but they
were glad how it happened. Even Mitch said after the game,
(28:04):
you know, I was tired. I can only imagine what
the guys up front we're feeling. Sorry. None of them
could remember ever being parted any level of football a
drive that was that long. I can only tell you this.
You know, the thing about it was in Houston Astronome
they had all that smoke, because I've talked about with
they used to let a lot smoking in there. The
only thing I smelled in Carolina was Barbecue and Christy Greens.
(28:27):
They converted five third downs, three of them were to
one and one to go. And you know that that
went on first down is so important and that's what
the run game does. All Right, We're gonna take one
more quick break here on the point after when we returned,
let's talk about the Steelers defense and two homecomings for
(28:48):
that side of the ball yesterday in Carolina. Will be
right back. You're listening to w d V. Welcome back
to the Point after, everybody. Our third and final segment
is brought to you by clear View Federal Credit Union.
For every turnover 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
(29:09):
clear View helping people to enjoy a better life. Visit
clear View f CU dot org slash touchdown and speaking
of creating turnovers, a homecoming of sorts for Alex high
Smith and Larry Ogan job a bit there. You just
heard Billy's call of Highsmith's sack, one sack, a tackle
for loss, and a forced fumble on the day. And Billy,
(29:30):
I think he said there was about fifty to sixty
people that he had to get tickets for yesterday. Yeah,
he looked like a happy camper when I saw him
on the way to the buses after the game. Uh,
it was it was huge, and it was kind of neat,
you know, the hotel we stayed on their campus and
we could see the stadium where both he and Larry
(29:51):
Ogan Job played. So it's kind of kind of neat.
You know. It's funny because I was I was telling
this talking it over with Max this morning, but I
was walked into the back area, you know, in the
where the players area is, you know, in the hotel,
and I just saw him sitting there and he was
just kind of like kind of a little like contemplative,
you know, And I said, what you're thinking? And it
was just funny because you know, here he is in
(30:14):
the very place he wanted to be when he was
here as a collegiate guy. He wanted to be a
pro football player. God gave him that ability. He used it.
He got here and he was kind of reflecting on
it was really cool and he just smiled. He said,
I'm grateful, man, just grateful to be here. And I thought,
what a great attitude and went out and he played
the game. He got a sack, he got a force fumble,
(30:34):
he got a great tackle for loss when he came
on the back side of that counter trap and ran
down the back from behind um, you know, and then
throwing a handful of tackles too. So the young man,
I'll tell you what I personally, I think he should
be in the Pro Bowl. I don't. I think he's
having a Pro Bowl year. Well, let me throw some
numbers behind the support what you're saying, because I agree
as well. Eleven sacks, as Billy said in the call,
(30:56):
that's tied for fourth in the NFL. That was his
fifth forced fum Bowl. That's first in the NFL. That's
pretty good stuff. And you know, looking at the defense
and what they were able to do yesterday, I think
health had something to do with it. You know, you
finally get t J. Watt and and Alex both healthy
(31:18):
and and and the you know havoc they can wreak
and I think, you know, the interior guys did a
good job. Leal did a good job. I'll tell you
who had a pretty good game was Devin Bush. Yes
he did. Yeah, I agree that Devin played big. When
you thought Miles Jack is gonna be out of this game, right,
He's ruled doubtful on Friday. Um, you're going into this
(31:41):
game and you're like, okay, Robert smlen is gonna be
in and then we're gonna address Mark Robinson for the
first time this year. So you're like, okay, well, who's
gonna pick up a side as Miles Jack was that
leader of that trio, and Devin Bush simply said, I'm next,
put my hand up in there. I'll take you cose,
give me the green dot. Let me go out there
and let me be a difference maker. And you saw Devon.
(32:03):
You saw glimpses of what we saw his re year.
You saw glimpses of of before that knee injury, him
forcing hit hit it, blowing up paps right, running backs
fullback into that area and just blowing guys up. You know,
Kate May's it's still beyond me. While he kept running
like a wide outside zone with a pound offensive live
(32:26):
and that's beyond me. But you know what, thank you,
thank you Carol for doing that. Glad you didn't run
I used to lead up to again. But because of that,
that played into Demn's strength where Devon could scrape off
Fitch right, he could come off the head in between
that that offensive fullback. I think that's the best way
to call him ahead and the tight end trying to
(32:46):
block and you blew up the place, and then bleeding
and leading in the hole in the eight gas and
then also in coverage dropping back into that little short
hook zone because we knew that was one of the
things that Sam Donald liked to attempt to do was
to keep throwing the tight ends. And let's face it,
those Titans can't catch um. So he provided that blanket
of security and played like the guy we expected to
(33:07):
be like the first round we drafted him to be.
I think too, especially you know Coach talked about in
post game. We got Biggs on Biggs, knowing that this
was a team that like the run the ball, that
the whole Army's package, you know, Permantes is better. UM.
But we also saw you know, Marvin Leel who was
on i R not too long ago, he's been he
was involved a lot yesterday, and even Isaiah louder Milk,
(33:28):
and it was just you know, that nasty attitude that
probably started with Cam Heyward and Larry ogunjob in the
middle and it just it worked for them yesterday, It
permeates it, it goes throughout the entire trench group of
guys that are down there doing battle. And when you
have a guy like Cam leading away, Captain Cam's just
you know, one of those guys that you you see
(33:50):
what he the intensity he brings, you want to match it,
you want to be part of it. And I thought,
you know, just we talked about Mark Robinson, Mark Robinson
at a moment. I remember the one they ran, and
it's he came downhill and he created his own clean
up on Aisle five, pile up. I mean, he went,
he went down and pow, he hit the mass of
legs that were coming and he created a pile up there.
(34:11):
And that's exactly what you want. And you got to
Marvin Leel, who I really enjoyed calling wreck it Ralph,
because the guy is capable, like he doesn't know exactly
what's going on all the time, but he'll just find
a warm body and hit it, you know what I mean.
Let me just like somebody I do like that. That's
that's a basic ingredient and tenant of being the defensive
lineman and the pig who who thrashes about the most
(34:37):
usually gets the most slap in the trough. I mean, Max,
you're bringing your a game tonight, Yes, yes, you know
what I like. Well, I was just gonna make another point.
And we've talked about the players on the field, but Jack,
you're leading tackler, can't go. Spillane takes his place and
(34:59):
he's the leading tackle. I think it speaks to the
system that Tarrell Austin employed and the players paid attempt.
I was going to give a shout out to t J. Watt,
appearing in his eighty four game yesterday of his career,
third fastest player to reach seventy five sacks. He actually
(35:19):
got up to seventy six as the game went on,
but only Reggie White and his brother J. J. Watt
did it faster than him. And man if t J
was not hurt this season, he would have he would
have definitely beat his brother. And you know how brothers are.
I'm sure that would have been a text, Hey I
beat you, no doubt about it. But let me just
say this. I said it. The Max is born because
the great Reggie White did in six games. No one's
(35:41):
catching that. Well, let me just put this out there too.
In six head to head encounters touch Chilkin, Reggie White
sacks on touch Zippo never gave up a sack to
the great And I have all the respect in the
world for Reggie. He was just an awesome player. But
I just have to throw that out auto about our
brother there. You know, we like that. That's a good
fun fact. Was it is? It is? Yeah, No, absolutely,
(36:06):
and and I mean and when you think about the effect,
you know, even though t J was playing through the
ribs and we all, you know, we all remember talking
about that Atlanta game right when he when when he went,
when he when he sold out and looking for the
tackle and drug the dude down and fell right on
his rib cage when he came to sidelines, doubled over.
(36:27):
Like the amount of massive pain that he's playing through, Um,
to even get to this point to be number three
on the list, I mean it, it feels like he's
tied with his brother because of the amount of pain
he's played through to get to that point and to
get to this milestone. Uh, He's overcome a lot of
injuries and a lot of adversity to make that. So
I mean, extra kudos to t J for that for
(36:48):
that accomplishment. Well, and just for everybody listening and for
you guys, I don't I told Wolf during the commercial break.
T J is featured right now and Steelers dot com.
The team announced just a bit ago that they're wearing
throwback jersey's for Christmas Eve against the Oakland Raiders. They'll
have a fiftieth anniversary patch for the celebration of the
Immaculate Reception and also the block letters and numbers, so
(37:12):
it's really trending on social media because fans love those.
This will be the third time the Steelers have won
that particular throwback jersey. They did it in two thousand
eighteen and two thousand and nineteen and two and oh
in them yetta love it. And I think it's a
great thing to do, coming up here at Christmas Eve,
to do that, you know, with with the you know,
(37:34):
with the Immaculate Reception. You know, it was funny because
what I learned from Franco when I saw him the
other day came up. I think I told us before,
But the funniest thing that I never knew about the
Immaculate Reception was that when he and if the is
the play actually happened at home in New Jersey. His
mom had eva of a Maria playing on the on
(37:57):
the stereo. I mean, it's unbelievable. Yet I am Maria
playing as the Immaculate Reception is going down in Pittsburgh. Now,
that's all I would say this. Will they feature the
baggy shoulders extra extra long like to the elbow, you know,
the old school? Or is it still going to be
(38:17):
tremmed with letters? You'rena have to wait and see. All right, Well,
you can get some of the Immaculate Reception collection at
the Steelers Pro Shop, or you can get up with
your 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 the official Steelers Pro shops
(38:39):
located Aftershire Stadium, Grove City, Premium, Mountlets, Tanger Outlets, or
shop online at shop dot Steelers dot com. All right, guys,
thanks so much for joining me. That is the point
after here on d D. Thanks to our producer Tom
for getting us through the night. We'll see you guys
next Monday.
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