Week 2 vs Patriots

Missi Matthews, Bill Hillgrove, Craig Wolfley, and Max Starks break down the Steelers loss to the Patriots this past Sunday.

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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. We didn't make enough plays. Um,
I hadn't combed through it from an individual perspective or
from a, you know, groups within the group perspective. I

(00:21):
just acknowledged that New England made some significant plays and
in a game like that that's gonna come down to
a couple of a couple of plays and we didn't
make enough of them. Everybody. Welcome to the point after
Missy Matthews, with Bill Hillgrove, Craig Wolfley and Max starks
joining us for our week to addition talking about the
steelers loss to the Patriots Seventeen fourteen at Akershur Stadium,

(00:44):
the steelers home opener. Our first segment is brought to
you by Brian Patton and associates. It's all about the benefits.
All right, billy, I'll start with you after yesterday's game.
How are you feeling? As the sky falling, or are
you going to be patient, as coach Toman said today
in his press conference? Well, I look at it from

(01:04):
two sides. The one side said that the New England
Patriots were two and a half point favorites. I didn't
understand that, but I guess now I do. Um, but
we still had chances to win that game, and that's
the disappointing thing. Um, a, not enough deep balls in
in my estimation. Uh, and also not enough balls in

(01:25):
the middle of the field. But you know, we'll discuss
that a little bit later. But also, uh, you know,
you still have a chance to stop them at the
end of the game and uh, they sort of imposed
their will and that was disturbing. Yeah, if you really
in my mind, it's come down to uh first half. Uh,
you know, they literally steelers, you know, exploded. You know

(01:47):
I mean with having the guy go down the sidelines.
They're making that great grab, Nelson Aghil are going up
high point in that thing and you know, and then
they imploded when the gunners bounced went off his face mask.
So you it's unfortunate and those two things kind of
like bookended for me. But it's summarized in the sixty
three when they took over and they ran nine place

(02:08):
for sixty five yards and then finished up with you know,
the kicking the growing with three straight needal downs. That's
a rough one to take. Well, and even after gunner's
muffed punt, Cam Sutton dropping that interception. That also could
have maybe turned things around. Max As, you have a chance,
at twenty four hours passed, to digest everything. Where's your

(02:30):
head at with this team? He's still in Disneyland. Disney, no,
it's not. I I am at home. I am I
am fully engaged here, happy to be on the show. Guys,
we got so excited when we heard you were going
to be on tonight. I mean mentally it's after watching
the film again, it's just it's frustrating, Um, you know,

(02:53):
to see where we missed some golden opportunities, and especially
in the run game. I know we get on the
offensive line so much and we give them a hard time,
but you know, I watched that film and it's just
like holes are missed or a guy falls off a
block here. That really sabotages everything you're trying to do
and whatever you know the progression is. And then we

(03:16):
get into the situation where we're passing outside the numbers,
we're passing to the sidelines and we're not really helping
our defense. Our defense trying to do what they can,
but they also need that shot in the arm too,
and that's offensive production that leads to points, and so
it's just it was frustrating to see that time and
time again in the game and I'm still waiting for
this fast start that we were promised and that we
got teased with in the preseason for that to actually

(03:39):
come to fruition, because right now we're over two on
the season. Yeah, Max, only two touchdowns, one in each game. Um,
you mentioned the run game, the offensive line maybe taking
a lot of the heat when maybe not necessarily ill
do there in that area. How do you fix that?
What is what do you think is the missing thing
here right now to get that ground game going? I
think I think you have to have that C two

(04:00):
J moment running backs to offensive line and and have
a very frank discussion and watch film together. I think
that's the other thing that was missing was that. I
don't think these guys watch film together and that that
gives you a different insight. It was something that we
did back on our run for super bowl forty three,
like every Thursday night we had we had the running

(04:21):
backs over and we went through protections, we went through
run game assignments and we talked through what they're seeing
and then how we're seeing it, so that we had
a better understanding. I mean that because that's what it
is when you're talking about the run game, it is
literally it's want to and knowing. Those are the two
things you need. And if and if you're a running back,

(04:42):
you know what your offensive line is seeing and thinking,
it allows you to react even more accordingly. And then,
and then, as an offensive linement, if I know, hey,
you know, if I turn this just a little bit
more to the inside or I kind of wall this
a little bit more and make it cleaner for him,
he's gonna see it and he's gonna take it and
keep it front side, as opposed to cutting back or
jumping to the outside to try and outrun everybody. I

(05:02):
think that's really what they need. They need that extra
time together, because you need time to develop that, and
Wolf can talk about this more than I can. You know,
when you have a bunch of linemen who've been together
for years, it's a little bit something that you know
what each other's thinking. It's that ESP that you passed
between each other and they don't have that, and so
you if they don't have it, you need to develop
that with the running back at the same time, because

(05:24):
he's gonna be here. He's a captain. I think for
Nazi and Janalen Warren, they're gonna want to know because
they want run production. They want to see their stats
fly off the page as well. You know, one of
the interesting things that you just brought up, Max, and
I totally agree, but I'm gonna want to expand a
little bit more. You talk about the ESPN, that you
gotta have. Jokingly, Um esp between the guys, right, but
think about it. Back in the day when I played

(05:45):
are you, everything was was scripted. Man Blocking schemes. Alright,
double team here, that guy there. You communicate all that stuff,
but you've got to really be of the same mindset
to run these zone schemes, to know what your guy
next to you is doing and what the other guy
on the other side is doing. Do you know what
I'm saying? Because it's it's complicated. It's not as easy

(06:06):
as you know. They make it sound easy. Oh, you
take one step, your bucket step be come off on
a track and you stay on the track. Well, the
track can vary. If there's nobody you know within five yards,
eight yards of you, you know you gotta find somebody.
You can't get a Bolushi on every every snap. You
know what I mean? No, absolutely well, you also can't

(06:27):
get tossed out the club too. Well, yeah, I mean
that's the other one we got to talk about. You know,
if you're gonna go on that angle, you're gonna man block.
Don't get tossed out the club either. But you know,
when you look at like a couple of times, you
know guys are doing their responsibility, walling, working and and
the running backs are gonna draw that second level defender right.
He's gonna Bring that linebacker to you by the way

(06:47):
that he sets and trust in his patience. And when
you're impatient and you just want to run to the outside,
it's like, well, Dude, how am I supposed to help
you out? Help me out, help me, help you. That's
what I need. I need you to help me so
that I can help you be great. Great. You've got
to have that ability to bring that that defender to

(07:09):
the offensive lineman. I mean you've got to set them up.
That's one of the things we were talking about this morning. Max,
one thing I loved about Love Bell, like you did,
his patients and being able to make guys commit to
those run gaps and then be able to do something
off of that, and it just set the line up. Billy,
does it feel like? Sorry, go ahead, Max, no, I

(07:30):
was just gonna say that, and that's where I think
the additional film study together would make a difference for
them moving forward, if they so choose. Billy, does it
feel like, because it might feel like this guy is
falling in week two heading into week three, I should
say it's a short week, but that maybe some people
are trying to do a little bit too much because

(07:50):
it's not jelling as fast as everybody wants. You know,
I think that's correct and I really, you know, wanted
to summarize what Max and we'll just discussed. It comes
down to trust. You know, you have to trust each
other and unless you have that chemistry, it's not going
to happen. And you know, let's face it, an offensive

(08:11):
line is not individuals, it's a unit and they win
as a unit, they lose as a unit, uh, and
they block as a unit. And I don't think I
see that and I think you know you can see
a little frustration with Naji and and also Warren. He's
tough to read because you know he's he just seems
to be the energizer, buddy. But uh, it's it's it's

(08:34):
it's a it's a team thing. It's everybody together, and
we don't see that yet. No, is. Is it too early?
I'm not. I'm not a sky as falling person. I
always look at the Cup as half full and it
is only game two, but there are red flags all
over the place. Half Full, hand half empty. Just drink
it and move on, you know, whatever it is, just

(08:55):
go right ahead and simply. I'm with you, billy, and
I hope that folks aren't getting like two wired up
and two down about it, because here's the thing about it.
You know, you're you're sitting here and we're tied for
the League and the absolutely north. Okay, everybody's which sitting.
They have a good day it did not have a
good day. Alright. Yes, you know, and things can change
in a short period of time, as uh, our great

(09:19):
buddy ton Jilkin once said. You know, the landscape in
the NFL changes monthly and weekly. You know, you just
don't know, all right, well, let's talk a little bit
more about the steelers offense, and to do so let's
listen to quarterback Mitch Trabiskie from post game on Sunday.
You have to you have to stick to the plan.
You can't have Um. Every everybody's got an idea of

(09:41):
what the offense should or could be, but it's we
gotta come together as a collective unit and just everyone's
gotta keep buying in. There's gonna be a good players,
there's gonna be bad plays, but we're a young offense
Um and we're still growing in this thing together. So
the best thing you can do at this time is
just continue to buy into the plan, whatever it is,
do your job to the best of your ability u
and then when you go back and look at the film,

(10:02):
you see what works, you see what doesn't. You do
more of the stuff that works and then maybe you
drop some of the other stuff, and I think that's
how you grow as an offense. But when everybody is
saying call this play, call that play, it makes it
tough just for everybody to do their jobs. I think
everybody just needs to worry about their job and we'll
just keep growing and going in the right direction together
and that's that's my take on it. So, Max, what's

(10:24):
your take on what Mitch Trobinsky said there? Yeah, everybody
does need to do their job, but I think you
have to you have to know what the other guys doing,
that they think their job is, because you see different
parts and you're like, well, he's going this way, he's
going this. Well, well, who's got that guy? So I
do agree that you do need to get consistent and

(10:47):
work on carrying out the assignments, but everybody should know
what the assignment is when you're asking them to run
the assignment. And that's where I don't know if it's there,
because I still don't know if guys truly know who
their buddies are, offensively and defensively. Um, because one of
the things when when you're you're talking to uh, two

(11:08):
defensive coaches and you know they talk about how the
relationship of where your health side, um defenses and force
flow to your support guys. So if you're a linebacker,
you're scraping off the edge, do you have inside safety
support or do you have outside safety support? That determines
which way you can go to funnel or make a

(11:30):
play on the ball and I think that is important
to know just as well as an offensive Lineman, knowing
if the center is kicking your way at guard or
if you're if you're a tackle, guard is coming to
you so you can set a little bit further to
the outside. All of those things work in harmony with
each other and I don't see that harmony consistently. I
see the moments and guys will make up splash play,

(11:52):
but then when it comes to basic offensive and defensive
schematics and you see the consistency of breakdowns, that's where
I question if it's on a play by play basis
that they know that their assignments. Well, if I think
it's fair to say the defense has that chemistry, that bond,
they have been together longer. You know, I was in
the probe at the pro bowl in Las Vegas this offseason, Manka,

(12:13):
Cam t j. They carved out time when they could be,
you know, hanging out with family and friends, enjoying the
scenes there in the sin city and they wanted to
just sit down together come up with goals, review things
from the past season, talk about moving forward and I think,
you know, it's not fair to say the offense should
have that same chemistry right away because of the new pieces,

(12:34):
but can you fast track it so they can know
the things that Max was talking about? Well, again, what
Max talked about was the communal bonding that it has
to occur. I know that they do something, Max. I'm
not sure if they do it with the backs. Are Not,
but I heard chucks was up this past week. Alright,
so he was. He was having to to put the

(12:55):
food bill or something alternate. Yeah, is that what it is? Oh, no,
I'm asking. I know what you always be at Markue's
Party's house. It was kind of passed down him and
then I don't know what happened. You know, probably during
covid things weren't allowed to happen like that, I should say. Well,
we used to get together on Friday after practice and
we would, you know, order from the local Pizza Rha

(13:15):
and the D backs would try to come in and
steal some of our food. We had. We had a
little running battles with the d backs a little bit,
but we we held our ground, obviously, but you know,
we stayed together and you you watch practice film. You
Watch more of the game film, but Um, it does.
You're very right about that bonding experience, because when you
sit there and you're there for an hour or two,

(13:36):
you know and you start talking about well, on this
play versus this defense and maybe you just had a
little gray area. Somebody answers the question and you guys
roll on to the next play and that's just kind
of like cementing the process of getting ready for Game
Day as you build towards that week. And it's it's
really it's a it's a beautiful time for the hogs

(13:56):
to be together. I mean, you know, it's it's good stuff.
When you got a bunch of fat guys in one
room with a lot of food, breaking bread watching football. Man,
it doesn't get better than that. Billy. I know we
talked a lot about some missed opportunities, maybe in terms
of the steelers defense that last six minutes and thirty
three seconds of the game, but the steeler's offense had

(14:16):
two possessions towards the end of the game where they
weren't even able to get a single first down. Um.
In terms of their mentality, their identity, Mason Cole said
today part of the problem, he thinks, is they don't
have an identity. What should their identity be? That's a
good question. But to your point, uh, that first possession
at ten forty nine, they gained four yards. The second

(14:39):
possession at eight Oh three, another chance, they gained eight yards. Um,
that won't get it done. And if you look at,
you know, the runs. Naji's longest run was eight yards.
Orange longest run with six yards. You know it's it's just,
it's it's Um. I wouldn't even call it a work
in progress us, but you know they it has to

(15:02):
be addressed. Well there you've got to be discomfortable with
the results. I mean, come on, you know this is
a professional offensive line with a bunch of guys that
are our veterans. Um can get the job done. You
brought in some people and it's a process. We talked
about this at the beginning. Max laid it out back
in training camp. said it's gonna be four weeks where
you know what you got and for the guys in there,

(15:24):
you know your identity is simply in winning games. You
know I means whatever the coaches call. You know, coaches
coach players play. When when the players step across that
white line and head on on the field, man there
that that's on them. You know what I mean. And
the fact of the matter is you move forward and
you keep trying to and I know Mitch really kind

(15:47):
of summarized it and it sounds very simple, but you
take away the things that aren't working and you work
on the things that are. And so there's a few
things that they can work on, there's a few things
that they gotta take away and they're doing so. In
a short week. Can we're gonna talk much more about
the lost to New England. Also looking forward to Thursday
night in Cleveland. This is the point after on W

(16:07):
D V. we'll be right back back to the point after,
brought to you by Parks Casino on dv E. I
think at the early portions of a year, may you
established some rolls and and what happens in stadium is
more important and maybe what your intentions are. Intentions, you know,
are just that Um. The reality of how we perform,
how we divide the Labor up and how we distribute

(16:29):
the ball and who makes the plays is what's important
in stadium. Welcome back to the point after. Ms Matthews,
Bill Hillgrove, Craig Wolfley and Max starks joining you to
talk about the steelers week two loss to the Patriots.
That was head coach Mike Tomlin following the game. It
was actually a question about George pickens and billy will
get to you in a second. Our segment today is
brought to you by the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank

(16:52):
and Donna Dawn's appliance. For every field goal we kicked
the season, dawn's appliance will donate one thousand dollars to
the Greater Pittsburgh community would bank. That is five thousand
meals each time. Thank you to dawn's appliance. You can
also donate to by texting goals to five, zero, one, five,
five and billy. I think steeler's nation would agree with you.

(17:13):
They want to see more of number fourteen. Well, he
was targeted yesterday three times and, Um, I kind of
think that he should be targeted at least eight times
a game. That's just a rough estimate on my part,
because you know his ability to stretch the field. I
mean he only caught the one pass for twenty three
yards and that was the biggest play for the Pittsburgh

(17:36):
steelers in the game, outside of the eighteen yard run
on the jets week by gunner. But you know, I
I look at and I hate to put it on gunner,
but if there was one play that turned that game
the wrong way, that had to be it. And if
you look at a stat I just happened to notice it,
average drive start, New England thirty six Pittsburgh, a huge

(18:01):
and an average of eleven yards for one team over
the other. And that was because of that muffunt. Well,
we talked about it. The field position was going to
be a big thing because you know, Belichick doesn't leave
anything out there. I mean he just he does very
well in the battle of positions, the position battle. And
by the way, Pressley Harbin was outstanding. I mean he
just creamed that thing. That's of course, that's Bill Hillgrove,

(18:24):
the pro I didn't silence my phone and I could
have said it was Max. Oh, that's right, I could.
I could have everything on the phone, but I'm on
the phone, so it doesn't so interrupted. We're still finding

(18:46):
our identity here on the point after Ye, sorry, Wolf,
go ahead, I forgot what I was saying because you
know what you know I was. I feel much shame
now because I outed billy on that one. was like going,
Oh Gad zooks, I should have just kept my big
yeapper shut for a minute, but certainly, certainly, here's the

(19:06):
thing about it. You know, field position really comes into
play when you have a Belichickian type team, right. I mean,
he's gonna take advantage of every opportunity when you have
field position that occurs like that. That's something that's gonna
Weigh in his favor. And the fact is they ran
the ball when they needed to run the ball and
they passed the ball when they had to pass the ball. Um.
You know, the thing about it is people are learning

(19:28):
the roles, they are carving out their niche right now
and it's gonna be interesting because we still have no
t j watt and we are now, Oh, five and
one without T J, and the Patriots are now nine
and Oh when the turnover battle goes their way. You
know I mean that that that stat came in and
played a lot into it. You know, if you remember eight,

(19:49):
no before yesterday, uh, you know, when they win the
turnover battle, one and one, when they tie in one
and eight, when they lose. Well, Belichick, you know, field position, turnovers,
all those things tied to other to create opportunities for
a win. Well, since you called out billy, I'll call
it you for bringing up that stat at the beginning
of the game and Jamesing it it was me. Go ahead, billy,

(20:12):
and it was. It was spot on, as was your
prediction last week about the preseason mattering when it came
to the Bengals, and they still haven't dug themselves out
of the hole. But I don't worry about them. I
worry about the black right and we got to get
this thing hit it in the right direction. Max, we
haven't talked a lot about the steelers defense. They gave

(20:34):
up seventeen points, which normally you would say that might
not end in their not end well in their favor, um,
but in terms of what they're doing, I don't think
you can expect them to pull out a performance like
they did in Cincinnati Week one every time. But where
do you think things fell short for them, other than
that last drive where obviously things did not go well

(20:55):
for six minutes and thirty three seconds? Well, I think
it was just that they ran out of gas, like
like the new Orland Patriots. Officers line pushed them around
and just created the holes, and you also saw the
just the ferocity that Romandre Stevenson and Damian Harris were
running the football like they were running like they were

(21:16):
angry and they also were running determined and I had
to say, you know, it was something I was watching
him like. The intensity just looked different and they made
it happen. Are you telling me? You know, I don't
think that offensive line for New England was better than
the line we have for the steelers, but they looked
like it. They were, they were used and they're just

(21:37):
running simple inside zone and and some track plates and
they were getting what almost six. We did it earlier
wolf of six yards to carry. I'm like, and just
closed things out. And I know we could get upset
about the Matthew Jude on, whether it was a passing
or finish or wasn't a passing affearance on the last
play of possession for the steelers in the fourth quarter.

(22:00):
At the same time you have to be able to
overcome those. You shouldn't be so dependent upon those. Right.
Other things could have led up to that to where
you'd even have to depend on that one play. It's
accumulation of things that happened, you know, and so you know,
I just it was it was frustrating to watch, but
I can appreciate it right as a long man, that
that's how you want to close out a game. You
want to be able to take the ball and the

(22:21):
other team never get it back, and that's exactly what
they did. They pounded the ball. There's nothing sexy about it,
nothing cute about it. They just simply ran between the
tackles and the guys picked a band and just ran off.
And for our defense, they were tired and you're already
shorthanded and you're doing something different schematically and they just
weren't getting off the blocks like they were in the

(22:43):
first half of the game. There's no question about it,
Max and one of the things that was interesting to
me was I started charting because I was watching the
film again, over over again, and, you know, to see
all the different people that lined it were lining up.
You know whether it was de Marvin Lee l playing,
T J spot standing up, you know whether it was
uh they had Tyson, they had nine in there, you know,

(23:08):
I mean fifty six, and then they switched it around
and and you know Alex would be on the other side.
I mean they really used a lot of guys. They
were searching, they were looking for what they could do
to turn that thing around and it just and it
did not result in evidentually did not result in any
great results for them, but that they're trying, they're actively

(23:30):
trying to put some pieces in place that they think
can stop the run. And you all the I was
gonna say. The answer is Wolf just clone camp. Haywork
just clone about a couple of he was already injured.
I'm coming up with something right now. The moment we
got a clone camp. We can't clone. So yeah, you

(23:52):
want a clone camp because when we started the game
can't play the defensive end to t j side in
that four down look. But then they had to move
them back to the inside and they're like well, they're
trying to run the backside to the left. They're just
running away from Kim. You just need two cans and
solve the problem right there. After the game yesterday, coach
Tomlin was asked to evaluate the team's pass rush without

(24:15):
number ninety. Take a listen. All right, not to turn

(24:37):
the page too quickly, even though the steelers have to.
Thursday night coach Henlon called they're running back scream hunting
nick chubb, one A and one b today, billy, I
know you started looking ahead to the Browns, what does
the steelers defense do to stop that two headed monster? Gosh,
that's a good question. Um, what do you do? Uh,
Jacoby Brissette played pretty well, but you know, it is

(25:00):
the number one running attack, I believe, in the League,
or at least Nick Chubb is the number one guy
and their first in the conference. In rushing the football. Um,
you have to commit to stay in the gaps and
you have to commit to defeating the guy across from
you and, uh, you know. But again, I'm sure the
defense would like the offense to get some points on

(25:21):
the board because there's a big difference of playing ahead
and playing behind. Well, there's no doubt, and one of
the first things that you notice if you watch the tape,
I mean New England, they're very good at engaging. They're
not gonna walk you back off the line. They come
off the ball with a high posture. They they body
lock up on each other. You know, it's kind of
like sumo wrestlers positioning themselves and you know, but they're

(25:44):
not blowing people off the ball. Cleveland will blow you
off the ball, yes, I mean they will take you back.
And these guys that think nothing about throwing you on
the ground and then goring you. Joe Betonio, Jack Conklin? Yeah, why,
a teller, I tell her, man, I'm telling you what
that is. That dude, he gets on tracked, he's he's
pretty darn impressive, you know. So you look at what

(26:05):
they've got there capable, and Chris Hubbard's there too. You
know he's backing up, but he wasn't active last week.
Now it wouldn't like Joe Haig was there too. J
James Is there. James isn't going to play, though. Stefanski
ruled him out today. Yes, Stefanski ruled out Jadeveon clowney
has an ankle injury, and Chase Winovich and Jesse James,

(26:27):
I don't know what his injury was. M Chase when
of ITCH, we know him locally from Thomas Jefferson and
he had a he had a pretty good time against
us when he was with the Patriots, as I recall.
That is good boy. That synapse was firing tonight. Baby.
Question for question for you, Missy, it's what last week?

(26:52):
What about yesterday? Oh, see, because somebody asked me the
question and I couldn't answer. It did look like the
same approach, but I don't know that because we didn't
have any sacks. Well, I'm sorry, I lost John Nette.
The percentage of blitz Oh, I don't know. Yeah, we
have to get that. Yeah, I'm sure that. Where do

(27:13):
you get that pro football reference? Google and twitter have everything. Billy, Max,
did you see anything on that? I did. I did
not see anything on that. I mean, obviously I saw
them blitzing blissing a lot more in the first half
because I was telling Wolf during a couple of our
time outs about Malik ree kind of wrapping back underneath

(27:33):
and them kind of firing with him and Miles Jack Um.
But I'm not sure if that was technically called a
green dog because Malik reet was playing on the line
of scrimmage and was folding in, but I thought it was.
It looked like a like a blitz stunt. So I
I mean for me I would have to guess at
least ten times in the game and there was what
sixty three plays by then, so we're talking about what

(27:56):
roughly got me start doing math here. Um, you we
don't do math on this show, Max, yeah, we we
don't do math. Yeah, you saw a couple of Devon
Busch Devon came a couple of times and they had
some rundown blitz is that they hit, you know, and
I would think you're gonna do a little bit more

(28:17):
come Thursday night too, because Nick Chubb, I. Instead of
one a and one B, I think it's one double
a and one a. You know him and Kareem Hunt.
They're pretty good. You mentioned Devin Bush so quickly I
could just mention coach Tomlin said he did not finish
on Sunday with a foot injury, but expected him to, possibly, possibly,
be able to go on Thursday. The steelers did not

(28:39):
practice today, but they had to officially release a practice
report and Devin was quote unquote, limited Um if they
did practice. So participation will be the guide as always.
No doubt about it. It's gonna be tough. I mean
you watch Chubb, he'd make some great cuts and Kareem
Hunt is, you know, just half a step behind him,
but some of the cuts that he makes. I was

(29:01):
just just in press just watching him against the jets
and just the limited reps that I saw. Again he,
you know, his ability to run with power and speed.
You know, big guys, it's almost it's it's like a
lighter version of Bussy, you know. I mean he's he's
just got that ability to see the cutback and and
then to accelerate and he's just tough to bring down.

(29:24):
All right, let's take a listen to actually, we're gonna
take a quick break here on the point after as
I can't do math either. This is why we don't
do math on the show. I Apologize, punch, I'm sorry. No,
that's okay. We're gonna take a quick break, but we
will talk much more about steelers and Brown's coming up
on Thursday night. You're listening to W D V. Back

(29:47):
to the point after brought Light Parks Casino on D v.
We didn't do what was required. We didn't make the
significant chunk. So move the ball well enough on offense
and obviously at the end we didn't get the necessary
stop on defense. And so, Um, it's painful, but but
it is Um. It's important that we zero off focusing

(30:07):
on this short week. Everybody. Welcome back to the point
after MS Matthews, Bill Hill, Grove, Craig whifflely and Max Starts.
Taking you to the top of the hour. Our last
segment is brought to you by clear view Federal Credit Union.
For every turn over the black and gold create in
two thousand and twenty two clear view Federal Credit Union
will donate five dollars to the light of life rescue

(30:28):
mission clear view, helping people to enjoy a better life.
Visit Clear View fcu Dot Org. Slash touchdown and billy,
it is a short week. So I think for you know,
the overaction, overreaction Mondays of firing coaches, switching quarterbacks, changing things.
It's just not doable. No, and I think it's what

(30:48):
the doctor ordered. The short week and it's Cleveland and
it's the dog pound, and if that can't get your attention,
nothing will. And you're not dwelling on this loss, as
tough as it was to take. Um, you know. Let's
turn the page and see what the browns can deliver. Well,
your focus immediately shifts. Now you've got to quickly take
those lessons that you learned from this past weekend and

(31:11):
move forward with them and try to implement them as
quickly as possible. You know, and that's a little bit
of a rough deal, and I'm sure they've already pre
planned and got a lot of their scouting reports done,
and you know, the whole game plan put together largely
based on what they already had and then, you know,
they put the final touches to it. But moving forward,
you know there's nothing better than getting, you know, into

(31:34):
a little little knockdown drag out with somebody that you
generally dislike, you know, to get your intention going in
the right way well, and you get to a position
where I'm back on the field sooner so I can
go avenge my loss. Right as a player's perspective, you
want to get back out there improve people wrong um

(31:54):
from from the previous game, and so it's something that
they had that lack of performance. And I know it's
a short week, but you're you're excited to go in
and once again you're going up against another division rival
and you think, if you get this game, that's what
you you move into that that first place position. So

(32:14):
even though you had that bad game and you had
a close loss to New England, everything is still in
front of you. If we can get this game, we
put ourselves in prime position to still be successful in
the season. It is a primetime game. Is Short Week.
AF C North football. We all know what that means
and what sometimes happens between these two teams, even on
Thursday nights. But you know the mentality the steelers defense

(32:36):
had going into the Cincinnati game getting swept by the
Bengals last year, just not liking their performances. The steelers
swept the browns last year and it seems everything I'm
reading and hearing from Cleveland this week it's, you know,
they want to avenge their demons from what happened last year.
Do you start to worry about that, especially when it
comes to their defense? You can't worry about them. You

(32:56):
can only do what you can. You handle what you
can control, and that's yourself and your focus in the
spotlight has to be on what you have to got,
what you got before you and what you have have
to accomplish. And there's a you know, the great deal
can be accomplished here by what they're they're doing. I mean,
you go in there, you turn this thing around and
get a win, it's gonna you know, it's gonna be

(33:17):
all systems go. It's great that you can get into
Cleveland before January. You know. I mean when you're out
there and by the lake. Yeah, I mean you're not
freezing to death on the sidelines there, um. But you know,
the fact is, this is something, this is a big game.
If they can get back on the winning track here,
that a lot of good things can happen. And it's

(33:38):
divisional play, billy, so that those winds cure a lot
more than just a normal win. They sure do. And Uh,
I remember that one Thursday night in Cleveland. This as
cold as I've ever been. Yea, and of course you
and tounch the rest his soul. Uh, you know you'd
like to have the window open and sense the crowd,
and here I am trying to keep my own played

(34:00):
by play and I can't write. I believe. I'm not complaining.
I believe Max was on the field at that time too. Yeah,
I was going to say, listen, you guys are talking
about windows. I was on the sidelines with your buddy.
I know you were Wolf, but you you were allowed
to layer. I had the SPANDEX and no sleeves. So No,

(34:22):
I would hear that. And yes, that was the coldest
game I've ever played him by far, and it was
absolutely miserable. I'll never forget Alan FANTICA. They were they
were taking a razor blade to shave it off the
ends of his fingertips because he was getting frost bite
in him. Wow. So, yeah, that was that was that
was a miserable especially for a Florida boy. That was

(34:44):
a miserable game of playing. I actually I came up
at halftime because my my radio unit froze. It actually froze.
They had to be thought or something do some stuff
to fix that. I think sometimes batteries don't don't help
you there. No, that I was not helping, but I
remember I was considerably warmer than you, Max, I remember,

(35:04):
and I was over by the heater and also, yeah,
you know, I was by the heater. Let's get it straight.
You would, you would sit on the bench when we
when we were in. Sometimes I don't even act like that.
That's true. That's true. Yeah, because we come back over there,
he's like, Oh, let me just go and just let
me get on up at it. A matter of fact,
I remember that. I can't remember who it was. It

(35:26):
was a young guy. Looked at me quizzically, like what
are you doing here, and I said listen, man, I
made my bones in this league before you were born. Don't,
don't start with me now. Man, I'm freezing as we're
talking about weather. I am looking up the weather on
Thursday in Cleveland. Hive sixty four, a low of fifty four,

(35:46):
partly cloudy, chance of rain. But that sounds like football
weather and I will gladly take it over getting sunburned
in the eighties or whatever we had yesterday. Max. Oh, yeah,
most definitely. Yeah, bring, Hey, bring all the nighttime. I
love the relief of nighttime and you know what, a
little missing never hurt anybody. Max. Going back to this

(36:09):
matchup with the Browns, what matchup within the game is
standing out to you right now? Oh, I mean it's
gonna be Dan More Miles Garrett. I think that's that's
the Primo matchup that we're gonna look at, because a
lot can be determined, especially if we're gonna continue to
pass the football. And we know what this Brown's defense

(36:29):
was built to do. They were built to pass defense
and pass rush. So playing into what I think their
strength is going to be is going to be the
biggest question. Um, can you, can you overcome that? Can
you figure out a way, um to negate that? And
can Danny and can Danny Moore mentally be ready for

(36:50):
actual he was a year ago? Um, you know he
had a lot more victories in their losses in that matchup,
but that that's the one that I'm looking at first
and foremost, and then I'm gonna be really interested to see,
you know, on the other side is how at the
edge positions, how grant delpitt is going to fit up

(37:12):
against Pat Friar move and company and Jack Gentry in
the middle, because I believe we've talked about it enough.
We've talked in the fruition. I have to believe they're
gonna go start attacking the middle of the field more.
I have to believe you're gonna put some in a
position to where you could start doing it, because you
just haven't done it and it's been one of those things.
It's still a mystery. So guess what, you can still

(37:34):
uncover some truths about this team and throw towards the
middle and hopefully Matt Canada, you know, has it dialed
up and you are getting some deep crossing rounds by
George Pickens, because I think that's also another thing. That's that,
that that, that's that we had just haven't seen outside
of what billy said about getting the eight targets a game,
but just running him across the field on a deep
crosser and seeing what the safety is doing and you

(37:55):
can pull somebody underneath and catch it in the transition.
So that there there's there's some opportunities there. But the
main matchup I want to see is gonna be miles
versus versus Dan and how and how that battle plays out,
because I think that would determine a lot of on
Thursday night, especially when it comes to the run game,
that Dan can hook the edge on him and not
allow Miles Garrett to set the edge on him. Can

(38:17):
we say chip, oh there's a chips, potato salads. As
soon as you said that Bell I'm like, listen, throw
it all at the throw the entire picnic at him. Uh.
You know, I think you have you have to have chips,
you have to have body presents, but at the same
time you also have more grow up and you realize

(38:38):
you can't just be left hand heavy for everything. He's
gonna have to take some things on the back side
and make sure he minimizes what Garrett does in a
one on one situation. But I'm all for those chips
because I think that sets the tone early, especially if
you can get some running backs giving given a little rib,
rib tender rising. That would be great on their way out,
you know. The other another matchup. I'm looking forward to

(39:01):
his another miles and it's miles jack versus Chubb and hunt.
I mean because, let me tell you something, he's got.
One of the things I love about miles jack is
he gets downhill and he took a couple of shots
that I know we missed the back this past week uh,
when he when he when he he kind of did
Larry Foot, you know, he got it. Larry used to
go with his gut all the time and heat fire

(39:22):
and and goes and most of the time he was
right on, but sometimes he missed fire. But Miles Jack
had what thirteen tackles this past weekend? Um, this guy
is really starting to come along and make a bunch
of plays on the inside and with the trapping game,
the way they got the inside trap and some of
the the the you know, the running game they run there,

(39:42):
the tight end whams and stuff like that. This is
this is a big game from Miles Jack. He can
do a lot of good things and and make a
lot of tackles with you know, with the Chub and
with the hunt. Talking about another mile's quickly. We only
have a few seconds here, but miles boy king yesterday
to special teams tackle somebody who stood out, and we
know from the Cincinnati game they're losing their long snapper

(40:05):
to yesterday with the muffunt special teams, candacidy game, billy
they are, and you have to win all three phases
if you're gonna be victorious in this leg. How many
times have we said that? You you know special teams?
What did? John Majors used to call it the hidden yardage.
And Uh, that's where you can win and lose games,
and we saw one yesterday. Hidden Vigorish, hidden vigor. All right. Well,

(40:27):
don't forget about the steelers pro shop. You can gear
up with the latest sideline apparel, hats or jerseys of
your favorite players, authentic memorabilia, custom items and exclusives you
can find only directly from the team at one of
the official steelers pro shops located at akershuer stadium, Grove
City premium outlets or tanger outlets, or visit online at
shop dot steelers dot com for Bill Hill, Grove, Craig

(40:50):
Wolfley and Max Stark's and Missy Matthews. Thanks for joining
us on the point after we'll see you next week