September 27, 2022 • 41 mins
Missi Matthews Craig Wolfley and Max Starks break down the Steelers loss to the Browns on Thursday night football last week.
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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. There's a snap, there goes
Nagi off left side. Boxes it for the cold lot
touchdown Pittsburgh. Mark her down on the plane play Martin.
(00:23):
Our referee is going to talk it over and he's
gonna say that the Browns were offside, So the five
yard touchdown for Nagy is gonna stand. First season's number
twenty one lining up on the ufles all Bill has
been to claude revolt of the players a touchdown everybody.
Welcome to the Point After. I Missy Matthews with Craig
(00:44):
Wolflee and Max Starks, Bill hill Grove. If you're listening,
we hope you feel better soon. Our first segment tonight
is brought to you by Brian Patton and associates. It's
all about the benefits and Max wolf and I were
talking before we jumped onto air. Here we're feeling a
little bit more positive, definitely not the feeling we had
on Friday. How are you feeling as you had a
(01:05):
chance to look back at that game. Well, I'm definitely
feeling better than Miles Garrett Um had a little had
a little fender bender solo. Hope he's okay, But um no,
I'm I'm I'm feeling I'm feeling better in some areas
and then of course just frustrated in other areas. If
that's if that, if that's a good kind of in
(01:27):
between feeling. I mean, I saw some progress, I've seen
some great play by certain players. Um. Where the frustration
lies is still not the efficiency UM as a team.
And that that's what that's one of the things that's
still kind of getting. And you know, it's like it's
like it's like looking at the four corners of the
of of a jigsaw puzzle. You got the pieces, you're
(01:49):
just not sure is the sky over here? Is it
over there? And you're trying to just put the right
pieces in place. You know. The thing about it, Max
and we were talking about is more too, is you know,
in the aftermath of of a tough loss to a
division rival, it always just stinks, you know what i mean,
And you wallow around for a little while, but then
you gotta turn the page. You gotta kind of come
(02:10):
out of that that feeling that you have and you
start looking at things a little more realistically, and really
what we're looking at is an offense that went out
and put more points on the board, more first downs,
had you know, the time with possession was very even
very close at halftime. Um, a lot of good things
out rushed the Browns in the first half, and then
(02:31):
they started the third and then that's when the wheel
started to fall off, and it was just really, in
my mind, it's about sustaining what you did in that
first half. You were you were doing some really good things,
some positive things. The offensive line was playing. Dan Moore
is doing doing uh you know monoemno battle with Miles
Garrett and doing a good job. You know. The offensive
(02:52):
line was at times, you know, the pin and poll
stuff coming in the pin on one side, come down
crack with the wham or the tackle or the type
then whoever the lamber was, and and Naji was starting
to get some downhill running and getting a little violent
and you know what, I like that, I really liked it.
And we saw Jalen Warren contribute, and then there were
other factors that that came in. But then for whatever reason,
(03:15):
when you hit three three and outs that you really
kind of pull that that deck of cards at one
card or if you're playing Jenga, that one thing that
collapses things. And that four series drives where the Browns
went to what twelve, nine, fourteen, and eleven plays that
really killed you? Yeah, six minutes plus, Sorry, hurt, I
(03:38):
was just saying, Yeah, those drives of six minutes plus
back to back really really really hurt. At momentum last week, guys,
we talked about, you know, what is the Steeler's identity
as an offense. It was something we heard Mason Cole said,
we don't have one. We have to find one. I
don't want to say what they did in the first
half is their identity. But what if do you feel
like that is at least a blueprint? As you said,
(03:58):
Naji had you know, seventy tw yards rushing in the
first two games at Cleveland, he had forty six at halftime,
you know, fifteen for fifty six and a touchdown overall.
So what do you take away from what works so
well and maybe what got away from them in the
second half. Well, I think what worked so well in
the first half was their ability to be able to
get some wins on first and second down and make
(04:20):
manageable third downs. I thought Mitch through the ball increasingly
well throughout the game. And one of the things I
think that he's doing, and I'm what I'm liking I see, is,
you know, as he's pushing the ball down the field,
sometimes I think he's overprotective with the ball a little
bit early on because he doesn't want to make mistakes.
He's gonna be, you know, have ball security, but when
(04:41):
he needs to, man he made some great throws in
the second half. I mean, the couple to Fryer move
were just beautiful, just beautiful. They had some other throws
there that were spot on. You know, Deante has got
to come up with a catch, uh. You know, Chase
clayfol you gotta help out get that catch, you know. Uh.
And we saw d catch with George Pickens. But you know,
(05:04):
you gotta come back and contribute more than just a
highlight reel catch. Um. And you know, I know you're
asking a lot there because the young man is is
done so very much. But the fact is, there's just
as Mike Tomlin talks about, there's a lot of meat
on the bone here offensively. And if you watch it
over and over like I did today, I got a
little bleary. I'd even found myself falling asleep in my
(05:25):
double wide fat guy lazy boy chairs. I'm watching it,
um you know, uh as I watch it that that
gloom kind of lifted and I started going, you know what,
these guys got some good things going for him. Now
they've got to capitalize on it and move forward with it. Well.
And it's more it's more about, like you said, moments
(05:47):
and its not coming together as a team, right. It's
saying I have five pieces to the puzzle, but I
don't know what the picture is. And it's like we
got part of it kind of put together other but
you want the whole picture to come together. And it
keeps getting closer and closer every week. We keep putting
more pieces together, but we just we want the entire
(06:08):
picture that's on the cover of the box to be
finished right out the gates. And when you have a
new team, when you have new pieces and new players,
it takes a little bit of time. And I feel
like we're ahead of a lot of other teams, but
it's still not quite there yet. And so that's that's
where the patience has to come in. And like you said,
let's get a full month of games, four games under
(06:30):
our belt before we start making the big accusations. But
we can start seeing what we think the picture is. Well,
I think part of the picture and what I hope
that Well, here's the thing. When people start talking about
an identity, I to me, your identity is whatever is
called in the huddle. And we talked about that before,
because you've got to be equipped to be able to
(06:51):
do whatever it is that the coaches need you to do.
And I think that's what your identity is. You don't
don't worry about the big picture. That's the the privy
of the coaches. Your job. You know what you gotta
do and you know what you have to accomplish, and
when you fall short, then you've got to make sure
that your skill level whatever you gotta do to get
back on track to be a contributor at your position
(07:14):
to get the job done overall. One of eleven, uh
in the offense, one of eleven the defense or whatever
the special team. Um, that's what you gotta do, and
that's the assessment, self assessment you gotta make and then
come back and get the job done at a higher level. Max,
Do you feel like the offensive line is the least
of the problems that need fixed. I don't think it's
(07:36):
the least, um, you know, but I think it's one
of those things that's that's getting better and getting repaired
their self, repairing themselves. Um. But it's still something that
you have to consistently work at. And I think it's
not more so solely the offensive line. It's the relationship
of the line to the run game and the pass
(07:58):
game as it as it retains. Whereas the running back
has to trust the offensive line, the offensive line has
to trust that wherever they open that whole running back
is going to go through that hole, and running back
has to trust that where they think the whole should be,
it's going to be there. I think that's a that's
something that has to be repaired that directly reflects with
the offensive line. Then in the pass game, they're getting
(08:20):
better at their assignments, they're getting better at their one
on one blocking schemes still need to be a little
bit cleaner. You still have to pass off some twists
because there's still those times where a guy just blows
up the middle and you have to be better with
communicating with each other and making sure that everybody is
on their proper sync levels. Um, I think the offensive
(08:43):
scheme still needs work because you know, just as much
as Wolf just said, you don't want the identities. Whatever
play is called, Well, sometimes you want to know what
the tendencies are. You want to be able to say, Okay,
this is their bread and butter they hang their hat on.
It doesn't matter if the other person knows it or not.
We could run this play in all conditions, against any
(09:04):
front and have success. And that's that. That is what
a lot of people, you know, from us for the
broadcasting side, from the fans side, we look at it
and say, that's your d n A, that's your identity,
but it's honestly, it's your tendency. It's like, these are
your tendency type of things and are they good tendencies
or bad tendencies? But I don't know what those tendencies are.
(09:29):
And that's what I'm waiting to see a little bit
more of what can we hang our hats on outside
of a jet suite? You know. I think that's where
seeing the consistency and moments where it looks great not
so good guy blows by in the back of the
back side on a cutoff play and makes the play
from behind when a hole opens up in the middle.
(09:49):
Those are the little things that have to continually get
cleaned up, and they have to continually work on. There's
no question about it, brother, I I agree with you exactly.
The point is what I'm saying is when I watch
the film that Okay, what I saw was more movement
at the point of attack on the double teams, and
they stayed on the double teams longer than I've seen,
which I think is great because I'm always of the
(10:10):
mindset where if you take the guy with his hand
in the dirt and you throw him in the lap
of the second level linebacker, all right, there you go.
You picked that guy up, unless of course he's running
through right. But if you stay on that double team
and just maybe a heartbeat longer, and then you come
off on the second level guy and that back hits
(10:30):
it and splits it in between the two, there's I mean,
that's what Chubb does. Cleveland does a good job of that.
And I think if the longer and that you can't
overstay on the double team and you can't leave early,
and it's finding that sweet spot and being able to
move because there was a couple of double teams. They
just blew the defensive tackle the three techniques off the
(10:52):
line of scrimmage and buried him. But unfortunately also happened
on on you know, like on a play action pass. Well, whooped?
He do? You know what I mean? So the fact
is I understand what you're saying about tendency. Tendencies result
from good plays, right, and if you're good plays are
like Cleveland ran that that power with Joe Betonio. Okay,
(11:13):
it's like Allen Fannaker running the power back in your
day when Willie Parker smoked it, you know, in the
Super Bowl and so forth on that play. That's a tendency,
that's the ability to do that. Yeah. Absolutely, And I
think that's what we're just waiting to see because I
don't think if we know if we're an inside zone team,
if we're a gaps team, or if we're an outside
(11:36):
toss team. Uh, those are the things we're waiting to
see because there's most where we see it. It looks awesome,
like you said, and you want to have that hat hanger,
like like Cleveland does there's a play that we can
call no matter what they do. We got it and
we can run it and we can run the clock out.
But we haven't gotten that yet. And that's also a
part of the offensive line coming together because that that
(11:59):
once they are geled together, then you kind of know
what you really have in your unit. Like what do
these guys do? Are they ground and pound? Are they
zone guys that like to get on their on their
high horse and run on an angle and allow the
running back to pick and choose his holes. Or is
it one cutback type of team or are we a
wham team? Right? We used the counter motion with the
tight end and we pull and that's what we free
up and we're looking to hit between the tackles. So
(12:21):
it's something that's gonna be fun to watch. Like I said,
we took progress. And that's why I say the offensive
line is not the least of our words, but it's
also not the biggest problem offensively. You know what I remember.
I remember having a conversation with Jeff Harding's the center
back in your day, right, and you guys were cruising
along and when you made that run to the Super
Bowl and everything I remember talking to him. I think
it was it might have been well we were in
(12:44):
Detroit or not, I can't remember which it was. But
he said, the playbook has been cut down, and we
started to make sure that we could run those plays
with the playbook cut down against any defense. And that's
when you simplified it and gave it the kiss method.
Things started to move for them, and one of them
was that power And he talked about that play. You
(13:06):
could run that against any any play, I mean any
defense with bought with you know, Jerome Bettison there or
Willie and it was gonna work against anyone because you
guys could block it against anybody. Yeah. So, no, our
menu was we had weak side zone, which was our
bass play. We had our strong side zone, tight end,
(13:26):
strong ride play. We had double uh and then we
had two draws and we had the single back counter.
You couldn't run the one right, we couldn't. We could
only run at one, so one and a half draws.
We had one and a half draws. We could only
run h forty two, we could not run at three,
(13:47):
and then we ran sprint draw. That was it. That's
pretty funny. Yes, Alan, I love you, but you still
can't run well if as you were watching the film,
what does Dan Moore do so well against Miles Garrett?
Where it feels like these last few games he has
(14:07):
not been this wrecking force that sometimes other teams are
dealing with, uh when one of the things that they
you know, they helped a little bit with the back,
a little tight end, but Dan just stood his ground,
you know, and and and sometimes it wasn't pretty. Oftentimes
past protection is not looking pretty out there. It's getting
the job done regardless. Sometimes you've got to do a
(14:27):
little bit of sleight of hand, maybe a little abeas
muggus or grab us. Every now and then things things
will happening. We got to be careful our terminology and
we've got to be careful with it. Yes, clutching um
and that's you know, that's what what Dan did. I
(14:47):
thought Dan did a good job of just fighting him,
just fighting him. He technically wasn't all that sound all
the time, but man, he had a lot of fight
in him, and I that I enjoyed. I'll take the
fight over a guy that's you know, just always technically
sound and kind of got a fish handshake, you know
what I mean? Are you guys writing a book with
all your terminology so we can follow along throughout the season.
(15:11):
Don't don't worry. Don't worry that there will be definitions
released at a later date. It's just not everybody just
has a nod and just just act like you know
what we're talking about. As long as I get a
signed copy, that's all, you know. We really need to
talk about here, all right, We have much more to
talk about here on the Point After, we will touch
on film study, also what Cam Heyward said today and
(15:35):
a little fun fact stat about the New York Jets.
Will talk about all of that when we return. You're
listening to w d V. Back to the Point After,
brought to you by Parks Casino on d V. Nick
was one of the best backs in the league when
it comes to breaking tackles, and you gotta bring it
when you tackle him. Um. We didn't do that enough tonight. Um,
(15:55):
And so we know we gotta be better in that area. UM.
But we can't just be talking about it. It's gotta
be action. Um. And we got a long weekend ahead
of us to u to review the film and get
back to We have a long week on Monday to
get back to it um, but we know tout of
this this stace in our mouth. Alex high Smith following
the loss in Cleveland on Thursday night, Nick Chubb, who
(16:18):
we mentioned in Kareem Hunt, combined for a hundred and
sixty yards a hundred and thirteen by Nick Chubb. This
is the point after Missy Matthews with Craig Wolfley and
Max Starks, and we are taking you through the loss
as we get prepared for another game on Sunday, this
time at Akersher Stadium. The New York Jets are coming
to town. The segment right now is brought to you
by the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank and Don's Appliance.
(16:40):
For every field goal we kick this season, Dawn's Appliance
will donate one thousand dollars to the Greater Pittsburgh Community
Food Bank. That's five thousand meals each time. Thank you,
Don's Appliance. You can also donate to by texting goals
to five zero one five five and wolf. That was
Alex high Smith, as we said, who has been receiving
(17:02):
a little bit more attention now that there has been
two games without t J. Watt, hopefully just two more
to go. As we know, he was warming up in
Cleveland a little bit, which was a good site, but
officially out for the next to the Jets and Buffalo.
But what did you see from Alex Smith in game
two without number ninety? Oh? You know, here's the thing
about eight tackles one half sacks. He had two tackles
(17:23):
for lost two quarterback hits. You know, I saw a
young man that is uh, definitely on the upswing. This
young man has a lot of go get him about him.
He's strong, he's powerful, he's quick, um, he's got a
fierce intentionality, and he arrives in bad humor and and
does the things that you would expect from an edge setter.
(17:43):
He comes down on the back of the line of scrimmage,
squeezes uh to the hole, and sometimes when he's able
to crash, he comes down and just wipes the mat
with whoever is trying to hit on the opposite side
away from him. So I got a lot of good
things to say about Alex. Alex has got, you know
again as he's growing into this job. But you know,
it's so much better when you have the reigning defensive
(18:05):
player of the year on the other side. You learned
so much more, and there's so much that that other
dude provides for you defensively speaking, so I think he's
he's doing well. But again t J Watt is t
J Watt, and I think more so it's Alex is
(18:25):
finally understanding where his role fits. Because when you play
the weak side rush and so to speak, I mean,
because it's the it's the defensive right, but our offensive left,
and I'm always looking everything from the left side and
see there it is, there is uh. You know, we
(18:46):
are cope. That's why we get along so well. And
I think for Alex that that's an adjustment because at
Charlotte he played both sides, you know, in college, and
so sometimes not only just coming into a three or
four defensive understanding how that role is, but sometimes playing
one side of the ball. You know. I thought it
was more effective this game for Alex because he was
(19:07):
switching sides, he was playing both sides. It was more
of what his natural tendency was and what he's grown
up playing. Whereas when t J is healthy, he's he's
on the left. He's on the left. That's it. You
don't come to the right. That's that's t J. Zone
and so now but now with the opportunities, he's able
to now get flexibility, which I think opens up the
defense even more when you can have a guy like
(19:29):
him learning that. But it's still an adjustment back because
he's been so inundated with just doing it from one side.
You now have to learn how to do it from
the opposite side again, So he's flipping back and forth
with hin the game. And I thought that was something
that was a nice step forward. I thought, when you
talking about growing and evolving the defense, I know, yes,
it's not it's not a good point right now because
you don't have t J. And we know what our
(19:50):
record is without t J in the game. But it
does make us. I think it's making us a stronger
defense because now you're having guys flex their responsibilities to
where we you do have all hands on deck. That's
something that's gonna help this team. That's gonna help them
later in the year, because let's face it, the season
is not one in September. You know we we could
him in Hall in September. It's one in November and December.
(20:13):
And the more quality reps and the more chances guys
are getting right now at this particular point, it's gonna
pay its dividends at the end of the year, and
those gotta have its situations. Right now, we're not We're
not the guy to have it. We're in then we
we we really would like it's uh, you know, because
like you said, you get you get to division games
within the first month of the season, and you want
(20:34):
to get that leg up, you know, because you don't
want to catch guys in stride. But hey, we dropped one. Okay,
that that happens all the time. But how's it gonna
be when when we get down to those races and
if everything starts to look alike in the division records, right,
you know, you're three and three, four and two, and
now it's tidebreaker time. Well now those those non those
(20:55):
non division conference games are gonna matter a little bit later.
So how you do against the Jets this upcoming week?
He is he is annoying me right now. He has
his sweet toy on my leg and I'm trying my
best to like shoot him. Yes he has he has.
I know I've been going for like five days. I know,
(21:16):
I know he's upset and he has been all of
Mike gril this whole time, and I thought I hid
the toy too. Apparently I didn't do it good enough.
Yet you didn't. Yeah, it was terrible. That's tremendous. I
love it. I know, I know. Lets you know that
this is a working household, right it is, you know what,
(21:38):
I thought, A guy that put in some good snaps
and I hope they continue. This was Malik Read. You know,
Malick Read does some good stuff, good solid stuff. Again,
I don't think he's of the same caliber as t J. Watton,
who is um. I think that he's, you know, a
guy that is more along lines where Alex is, but Alex,
I think, you know, still is ahead of him. But
(22:00):
he's a guy, Malik Reid who does a good job
plane both the run and the past, even though he's
not that huge of a guy. And yet I saw
him get some good pressure at times. He's working away
on Jack Conklin and haven't at it and held his
own in the ground game, you know, for the most part.
And then yeah, I know, things fell apart and it's unfortunate,
(22:22):
but you know what, you still have some a modicum
of success in that first half. You look at and say, okay,
we have to extrapolate from that. Now pull that forward
and now we've got to be able to do this
over the course of sixty minutes rather than just over thirty. Well,
and I think the other thing is is that Malik
read it being in and not being as big, there's
(22:42):
also opportunities for him to do a little bit more
creatively in and a lot of the blitzing game, because
there was a couple of times in that game if
you remember Wolf, where he was lined up outside a
little bit of a shift and the next thing you know,
he's in the middle of the defense, almost like a
three linebacker. Look, they didn't do that, they did, yeah,
so so which is something you would you did they
(23:03):
did with Alex as well. Um. So I like the
fact that they're getting creative, you know, just like when
we when they unveiled the Foe downlook in New England,
um looking at what can we do, what can we change?
And now they're building upon that, and now they're doing
it from the from the snap as opposed to having
a pre pre snap shift to it. And I think
(23:23):
that's something that that's coming along. And you're right, I
like what he's doing. We saw Jamir Jones get some
burned also on Thursday night, um, and seeing him start
to fit his way in as as he gets more
comfortable with the defense and what the assignments are. So
it's just it's just one of those things where you
see it coming together. It's just not coming together as
fast as we would like it, but it is coming
(23:45):
um together and which is nice to see. And that's
why I'm not as alarmed, um because when you look
at it, we're getting things done and we're getting cleaner
on things. It's just can you go to sixty minutes
versus thirty minutes? And can it? Can you show now
that you've shown me a half, can you show me
three quarters? And when you show me three quarters, can
you show me a full game? And I think they're
(24:06):
working towards that. So there is progress, even though it
doesn't look good on the wins and losses right now.
But like I said, it's not one in September, it's
one at the end of the year. That's when those
that's when those are really going to count. Controlling the
line of scrimmage. After the GameMaker Fitzpatrick will have said,
you know, we knew what they wanted to do. They
wanted to run the ball, and they did what they
(24:27):
wanted to. What did you see in terms of, you know,
some lapses in the defense of not being able to
contain those guys to give the offense a chance to
maybe go down and make some plays, even though you
know chicken and egg, which one came first, but the
offense had their woes as well. They did. But I
look at this defensively and I think I can summarize
(24:47):
it in two plays. That was in the first quarter.
Was interesting. They ran that power with Joe Batonio coming
around the corner and Arthur Millette kind of ducked under Batonio.
Are Uh Kelly Wherspoon came up and he if on
Chubb right in the whole whift on hi minute he went,
I don't know yards on that run. The very next
play they run a similar play. I think it was
(25:08):
an outside zone though I don't think they pulled Batonio,
but they run it and you got, uh, Kelly Witherspoon
comes off the edge and goes and takes down Chubb
like you know he had it was personal, which it was.
You're in the hole, you gotta make the hit. And
when you saw Kelly. Kelly kind of left his feet,
didn't bring his whole body, and Nick Chubb beat him
on that first run. The very next play he comes
(25:31):
down and just saws Nick Chubb in half and brings
him down. And you've got to bring that same sort
of perspective and effort uh as you did on the
second rep to the first rep. And you can't allow
those whiffs in the hole or those things. And that's
what broke down in the second half. And I think
this defense is capable. You watch him. If you do
(25:51):
it once, you can do it twice. And if you
do it twice, you can do it four times. If
you do it for a quarter, you can do it
for a half. And do it for a half, you
can do it for a hole. But you have to
be of the mindset and be able to have the
temerity the strength of whatever your personage and and and
stay in the game and get the job done and
play at that high level. And I think right now,
when you have an offense that that kind of disappeared
(26:13):
for three three and outs, you know, Max, to me,
that's kind of like you're leaving your defense vulnerable when
it's already vulnerable because they're without t J. Watt, so
they can't really afford those uh three and outs where
the defense suddenly is has got to rescue the offense,
when in fact, you saw how it worked out in
the first half. The defense was playing and it seemed
(26:34):
to be as as the offense went, the defense did. Also,
you know where normally it's the defense with t J.
Watt kind of leading away. Right now, they're gonna play
pretty much at the same level as what the the
offense is capable of doing. Yeah, and I think and
like you said, well it was it was a stretch
off the same formation. Um they ran. They ran stretch
(26:55):
after they after they ran a counter motion with the lead. Um.
So yeah, you you the margin for t J cleans
up a lot of those bug a boo moments, right,
you know a lot of those you know, like you said,
like if a kello whips in the hole, but it
gets the back to side step and then TJ is
usually closing from the back side. I mean, those are
(27:17):
those ones where you don't miss him. But now you
realize I need to be steadier. I can't whiff in
the hole. I have to make a sure tackle hold
the guy uboard at least until reinforcements come right, tie
the guy up, don't allow him to sidestep me, in
stride and keep on going. And that's where they have
to get a little bit cleaner. And that means when
you come and you and you're and you're coming downhill
(27:39):
to fill a gap, come to base sooner, right, because
when you come with your feet together, that's where you
get the teeter totter. You gotta jump and and and
have a hope in a prayer that I hope I
grab a shoelace because this dude has just sidestepped me.
You need to be a little bit more of a
balance so that you can shuffle into it. And they're
working on that. I think that's the other thing. But
you're right, the margin air as a lot is a
(28:01):
lot slipper when you don't have number ninety out there
on the field. Miles Jack had ten tackles in the
first game thirteen and the second twelve and on Thursday night,
I almost said last night in Cleveland, um first player
since James Ferry to have three consecutive games with ten
plus tackles. Well, what are you seeing from him? In
specifically on Thursday, Bang bang. I mean, this guy he
(28:21):
is not afraid to pull the trigger on shooting a gap,
you know, and he's he's very very He kind of
reminds me of a teammate of Max's, Larry Foot, who
was very instinctive, a guy that you know, sometimes every
now and then he you know, he'd fire off the
gun and and and kind of whiff on something. But
that was for the most part, he was right on
(28:43):
in his decision making and his Samurai sixth cents that
he had out there. And I think Miles Jack is
really upgraded the inside linebacker position. I look at this
and I think, Okay, this is the guy we're looking for.
This is the guy that comes in. He plays hard,
he's he's a ball hunter, he's a guy that gets
off blocks. And one of the results I think of
(29:05):
him playing, I think he's raised the level of Devon Bush.
I think Devin Bush. I watch him. He's doing a
better job of getting off blocks, of firing through some
of the gaps, and becoming the player that he was
pre knee injury. And I think right now that the
Miles Jack is a leader in that linebacker room, in
the inside there, and and he is raising the level
of the play, and I think both uh Devon Bush
(29:28):
and Robert Spillane are benefiting from it well, and they're
more so. And like I said, it's a tempo, right,
It's a tempo is a standard. Miles Jack has has
simply reset what the standard is of of linebacker play.
And the advantage that I love about Miles is he
played the He played running back in college. So this
guy has a certain vision and a certain thought process
(29:53):
that not a lot of lot true linebackers that never
played other positions have. He can he can feel, and
he can anticipate. And I think that's also why you
got a guy making double digit tackles um like Myles
Jack is is because you have that sixth sense of
what running back is. You speak running back because you're
a linebacker that played that position, and you understand what
(30:16):
the assignment is. You understand what the flow is supposed
to look like, and so therefore you know what he's
thinking if he wants to put his foot in the
ground and cut backside, and that's what he's like downhill,
thump thump, you know, and he's hitting you in the hole.
So I love that about Miles Jack and He's been
a great addition to this squad, and I think it
adds to the leadership depth of not only Cam and
(30:37):
of t J and of Minka. You have that second
level leader as well. You want to have it at
all three layers, and now you do with a Miles Jack.
All right, we are going to take another quick break
here on the Point After. When we return, I promise
we'll get to my fun fact. Wilf already knows that. Max,
it will be quite a treat for you. You're listening
to d D don't go anywhere back to the Point After,
(31:00):
brought to you by Parks Casino on dv E. It
was just inconsistent, not hitting those players that we needed. Um,
we hit some of the first half. That's why we
scored fourteen points. Three points in the second half. Isn't
going to do it for us? Everybody and Miss Matthews
with Craig Wiffley and Max Starks. You're listening to the
Point After here on DV that with Steelers quarterback Mitch
(31:22):
Robisky following the loss on Thursday in Cleveland. Our third
and final segment is brought to you by clear View
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(31:44):
org slash Touchdown, Max. I want to start with you
on this one first. A lot of film studies taking place.
In terms of team meetings. The team was supposed to
be off on Friday. They were all in the facility
again looking over some film today. You've you've been in
some of coach Tomlins meetings a time or to give
(32:06):
us what that is like? So well, you don't want
that was a long pause. That was a long, awkward pause.
There's a couple of political uh, I guess correctness words
and phrases. I have to ada version yes exactly. Um,
(32:28):
you know this is this is a correction style of day. Um.
When you come in on Friday, you're gonna watch that
entire film as an offense and a defense. Um. After
coach has given you his breaking news report, which would
be the highlights and the low lights, and either you
(32:49):
decide that you either need additional cushion in your chair
or or you need a broomstick to prop you up
because he's ripped your spine out. So it's either one
of those us. Um. And then after that did you
get into just a whole unit viewing of the game,
and each of the coaches are off obviously every play
(33:09):
giving their insight, and then you break off into individual
meetings with your position coaches and then from there you
get your grades on what they how they graded it,
and then from there you're gonna go over the m
as and so it's a correction style of day. And
then I'm not sure if they go on the field afterwards.
I know they made us go on go on the
(33:30):
field um back in the day and walk through what
we messed up. Um. That's about how it goes. Coach
Toman will talk once. He will talk loudly. Uh well,
I wouldn't say loudly. He will talk um there passionately
and sternly, passionately and sternly about his expectation and about
(33:53):
what we did right and what we did wrong and
what we need to improve upon in the next ten
days before we go back out in the it again.
And he he always likes to re re reiterate the
concept of iron sharp as iron, but a double blade
does not cut, so you need to get sharp good point.
(34:15):
You know, I can summarize what that that's like when
I remember I was with the great, great late Mike Webster,
were sitting there after and waiting for Chuck to come
in and start the meeting. And Chuck came in and
gave a few church comments, and then it was about
breaking down into your own meeting rooms. Remember web just going,
(34:36):
let's get to the rat killing. And that's essentially what
it was. Coach No. One of the things about Coach No,
it's a little different than Mike. Mike believes in turning
the page. Coach No didn't turn the page for a
while today in the locker room, mark it up with
Red Red. He'd hang on to that for a while,
he'd remind you, yes, yeah, today Captain cam Hey word
(35:00):
of course. Speaking to the media, he said, you know,
the weekend was nice. We got a quick reset. We
have work to do, got a couple of extra hours
of work of re excuse me. Hopefully it benefits us, Max,
he added, and you know it's not like we were
drinking my ties. I was telling Wolf that before the
show started. Is it easier or harder having this layover
of getting back to work. They can't practice until Wednesday. Um.
(35:22):
Following a loss like that, Um No, I mean it's
time to reset yourself because I mean what once you
go up to training camp and you come back from
training camp kind of your household, depending on how many
people you have at your house. Um, it's kind of
like two ships passing in the dark. You know for
a lot of things, like you're there, you've thrown your
(35:43):
stuff from camp back in the house. You know, you
gotta order, So it gives you a chance to kind
of cleanse yourself and refocus yourself. It's almost like a
mini by week um, to where you can kind of
take what happened in the past after you finished with
the corrections on Friday, and you could just take a
week in and just kind of take a breath, because
(36:03):
now you're gonna have to go all the way through
week nine to your next opportunity. So it's entronches. So
it allows you two silo portions of the season, um,
which is nice having a game earlier. We used to
only get that game after Thanksgiving because we were you know,
it was a rule back then when I played and saying, well, Wolf,
you didn't. You didn't touch Thursday nights for football until
(36:25):
after Thanksgiving. Like the Thanksgiving night was like the line
of demarcation when you might have had that opportunity if
you played on if you played on Thanksgiving night and
then the rest of the season, Thursday was available because
college was over. Um. College is their games at Thanksgiving weekends.
So now that Thursday is available, they used to be
the old big East Thursday night games, UM, where I'd
(36:45):
see like pitt West, Virginia and Miami and all of
them on there. So now that that's changed, it gives
teams that kind of a pseudo bye week UM built
in because you get that extended time off. UM. And
so I think guys got got a chance to read, focus,
got the resenter, and you know, you got to take
that intimate deep dive. You also got to catch up
on on the honeydew list. If you had a spouse
(37:09):
sit there. It's like I told you to fix that
light bulb. I cannot fix the light Okay, I got
the light bulbost no no no, no yard work no
no no no no. Unless you're Charlie Bats. He loves
a snowblower. He loves a good snow chuck. Yeah, good
for check. But now now you never catch a lineman
doing that. Um so, so that that's what I think
(37:30):
it is. It's time where you get to recenter and
reflect and now you know you have until Wednesday before
you can hit the field. It gives you that breathing
will also gives you a chance to get extra treatment
if you need it, because guys are getting more reps
than they normally would because of an absence of a
player or two. So maybe those guys who weren't used
to the workload, now there's a chance for you to
kind of what what he likes to call Gerett gimont
(37:52):
Um likes to call dloading, get to d load a
little bit and you know, and work and work on
some things personally. That's that excellent and that's really true.
That that especially part about the rehab because you have
that opportunity to deload and and decrease the amount of
like weights, sets, training, whatever, so that your body gets
(38:12):
a little spring back. You know, you get a little
spring back over a good seventy two hours rest and
your body will feel so much better, especially if you
get a little bit of a massage thing going on.
You get you know, uh, you got the jacuzzi and
everything else. You do that and do that every day
or you get or a couple of days out of
the weekend, and you'll feel right as rain coming back,
(38:35):
especially since they had a short week, so you dealt
with the loss of the Patriots, how to quickly get
ready travel to Cleveland play in that game. But also, um,
I saw a not so great staff that the defense
is averaging eight plays per game. That's not good, but
they probably did want some rest this weekend. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely,
(38:56):
And listen and that's now one of the things when
you talk about offense, that's where those three and ouns matter.
That's where the time of possession matters for your squad.
I mean, and that I feel like that number got
also skewed because you know that that that Patriots game
was just so excited. Yeah, it was just so lopsided
(39:17):
at the end when it was kind of close, and
then those plays and then New England was just barely
getting across the you know, the first down marker, so
they were milking that time to the full extent. It's
like we stopped you, but we also got the extra foot.
We needed to make sure that you knew that we
get a new set of downs. And so for the offense,
that's where they need to talk. I mean, we talked
(39:38):
about it after the New England game, right Wolf Mitch
decided to slide instead of dive. Um. Those little things matter. Um,
you know, because if you could take two, three, four
reps off the defense per quarter by just extending drives
and not throwing them out there as soon as they
get off the field in the three and out, that
(39:59):
helps him. Or if you're taking time, you're not going
hurry yet, like also what our offense did right Andy,
you're getting off the field other quickly from a score,
quickly from a punt um. Those don't help your defense either.
So it's picking and choosing those moments, but also understanding
what's your defense needs. Hey, we need extra blow. You
guys gotta hold the ball. I'll never forget. I mean,
(40:21):
I remember one time Casey Hampton came, ut do we say, hey, listen, listen,
we're gonna do our job, but but but we need
to rest. We need to rest a little bit, Like
all right, we got you there, you go, all right?
Well up next for the Steelers the New York Jets
coming to Akersher Stadium. The Steelers are favorites for the
first time this season, and my fun fact will end
on this note. The Jets have played one and eighty
(40:43):
minutes of football. They've held a lead for only twenty
two seconds of that. Thanks to Max Starks and Craig
Willflee and producer Tom for joining me. Don't forget the
Steelers Pro Shop. Gear up with your leatest sideline apparel,
hats and jerseys of your favorite players, custom items and
exclusives direct from the team Akershure Stadium, Grove City Premium
(41:03):
Outlets or Tanger Outlets, or shop online at shop dot
Steelers dot com. See you next week.
Welcome to the Point After on w d v E Pittsburgh,
brought to you by Parks Casino. The entire Steelers radio
broadcast team is here to break down the last game.
Here's your host, Missy Matthews. There's a snap, there goes
Nagi off left side. Boxes it for the cold lot
touchdown Pittsburgh. Mark her down on the plane play Martin.
(00:23):
Our referee is going to talk it over and he's
gonna say that the Browns were offside, So the five
yard touchdown for Nagy is gonna stand. First season's number
twenty one lining up on the ufles all Bill has
been to claude revolt of the players a touchdown everybody.
Welcome to the Point After. I Missy Matthews with Craig
(00:44):
Wolflee and Max Starks, Bill hill Grove. If you're listening,
we hope you feel better soon. Our first segment tonight
is brought to you by Brian Patton and associates. It's
all about the benefits and Max wolf and I were
talking before we jumped onto air. Here we're feeling a
little bit more positive, definitely not the feeling we had
on Friday. How are you feeling as you had a
(01:05):
chance to look back at that game. Well, I'm definitely
feeling better than Miles Garrett Um had a little had
a little fender bender solo. Hope he's okay, But um no,
I'm I'm I'm feeling I'm feeling better in some areas
and then of course just frustrated in other areas. If
that's if that, if that's a good kind of in
(01:27):
between feeling. I mean, I saw some progress, I've seen
some great play by certain players. Um. Where the frustration
lies is still not the efficiency UM as a team.
And that that's what that's one of the things that's
still kind of getting. And you know, it's like it's
like it's like looking at the four corners of the
of of a jigsaw puzzle. You got the pieces, you're
(01:49):
just not sure is the sky over here? Is it
over there? And you're trying to just put the right
pieces in place. You know. The thing about it, Max
and we were talking about is more too, is you know,
in the aftermath of of a tough loss to a
division rival, it always just stinks, you know what i mean,
And you wallow around for a little while, but then
you gotta turn the page. You gotta kind of come
(02:10):
out of that that feeling that you have and you
start looking at things a little more realistically, and really
what we're looking at is an offense that went out
and put more points on the board, more first downs,
had you know, the time with possession was very even
very close at halftime. Um, a lot of good things
out rushed the Browns in the first half, and then
(02:31):
they started the third and then that's when the wheel
started to fall off, and it was just really, in
my mind, it's about sustaining what you did in that
first half. You were you were doing some really good things,
some positive things. The offensive line was playing. Dan Moore
is doing doing uh you know monoemno battle with Miles
Garrett and doing a good job. You know. The offensive
(02:52):
line was at times, you know, the pin and poll
stuff coming in the pin on one side, come down
crack with the wham or the tackle or the type
then whoever the lamber was, and and Naji was starting
to get some downhill running and getting a little violent
and you know what, I like that, I really liked it.
And we saw Jalen Warren contribute, and then there were
other factors that that came in. But then for whatever reason,
(03:15):
when you hit three three and outs that you really
kind of pull that that deck of cards at one
card or if you're playing Jenga, that one thing that
collapses things. And that four series drives where the Browns
went to what twelve, nine, fourteen, and eleven plays that
really killed you? Yeah, six minutes plus, Sorry, hurt, I
(03:38):
was just saying, Yeah, those drives of six minutes plus
back to back really really really hurt. At momentum last week, guys,
we talked about, you know, what is the Steeler's identity
as an offense. It was something we heard Mason Cole said,
we don't have one. We have to find one. I
don't want to say what they did in the first
half is their identity. But what if do you feel
like that is at least a blueprint? As you said,
(03:58):
Naji had you know, seventy tw yards rushing in the
first two games at Cleveland, he had forty six at halftime,
you know, fifteen for fifty six and a touchdown overall.
So what do you take away from what works so
well and maybe what got away from them in the
second half. Well, I think what worked so well in
the first half was their ability to be able to
get some wins on first and second down and make
(04:20):
manageable third downs. I thought Mitch through the ball increasingly
well throughout the game. And one of the things I
think that he's doing, and I'm what I'm liking I see, is,
you know, as he's pushing the ball down the field,
sometimes I think he's overprotective with the ball a little
bit early on because he doesn't want to make mistakes.
He's gonna be, you know, have ball security, but when
(04:41):
he needs to, man he made some great throws in
the second half. I mean, the couple to Fryer move
were just beautiful, just beautiful. They had some other throws
there that were spot on. You know, Deante has got
to come up with a catch, uh. You know, Chase
clayfol you gotta help out get that catch, you know. Uh.
And we saw d catch with George Pickens. But you know,
(05:04):
you gotta come back and contribute more than just a
highlight reel catch. Um. And you know, I know you're
asking a lot there because the young man is is
done so very much. But the fact is, there's just
as Mike Tomlin talks about, there's a lot of meat
on the bone here offensively. And if you watch it
over and over like I did today, I got a
little bleary. I'd even found myself falling asleep in my
(05:25):
double wide fat guy lazy boy chairs. I'm watching it,
um you know, uh as I watch it that that
gloom kind of lifted and I started going, you know what,
these guys got some good things going for him. Now
they've got to capitalize on it and move forward with it. Well.
And it's more it's more about, like you said, moments
(05:47):
and its not coming together as a team, right. It's
saying I have five pieces to the puzzle, but I
don't know what the picture is. And it's like we
got part of it kind of put together other but
you want the whole picture to come together. And it
keeps getting closer and closer every week. We keep putting
more pieces together, but we just we want the entire
(06:08):
picture that's on the cover of the box to be
finished right out the gates. And when you have a
new team, when you have new pieces and new players,
it takes a little bit of time. And I feel
like we're ahead of a lot of other teams, but
it's still not quite there yet. And so that's that's
where the patience has to come in. And like you said,
let's get a full month of games, four games under
(06:30):
our belt before we start making the big accusations. But
we can start seeing what we think the picture is. Well,
I think part of the picture and what I hope
that Well, here's the thing. When people start talking about
an identity, I to me, your identity is whatever is
called in the huddle. And we talked about that before,
because you've got to be equipped to be able to
(06:51):
do whatever it is that the coaches need you to do.
And I think that's what your identity is. You don't
don't worry about the big picture. That's the the privy
of the coaches. Your job. You know what you gotta
do and you know what you have to accomplish, and
when you fall short, then you've got to make sure
that your skill level whatever you gotta do to get
back on track to be a contributor at your position
(07:14):
to get the job done overall. One of eleven, uh
in the offense, one of eleven the defense or whatever
the special team. Um, that's what you gotta do, and
that's the assessment, self assessment you gotta make and then
come back and get the job done at a higher level. Max,
Do you feel like the offensive line is the least
of the problems that need fixed. I don't think it's
(07:36):
the least, um, you know, but I think it's one
of those things that's that's getting better and getting repaired
their self, repairing themselves. Um. But it's still something that
you have to consistently work at. And I think it's
not more so solely the offensive line. It's the relationship
of the line to the run game and the pass
(07:58):
game as it as it retains. Whereas the running back
has to trust the offensive line, the offensive line has
to trust that wherever they open that whole running back
is going to go through that hole, and running back
has to trust that where they think the whole should be,
it's going to be there. I think that's a that's
something that has to be repaired that directly reflects with
the offensive line. Then in the pass game, they're getting
(08:20):
better at their assignments, they're getting better at their one
on one blocking schemes still need to be a little
bit cleaner. You still have to pass off some twists
because there's still those times where a guy just blows
up the middle and you have to be better with
communicating with each other and making sure that everybody is
on their proper sync levels. Um, I think the offensive
(08:43):
scheme still needs work because you know, just as much
as Wolf just said, you don't want the identities. Whatever
play is called, Well, sometimes you want to know what
the tendencies are. You want to be able to say, Okay,
this is their bread and butter they hang their hat on.
It doesn't matter if the other person knows it or not.
We could run this play in all conditions, against any
(09:04):
front and have success. And that's that. That is what
a lot of people, you know, from us for the
broadcasting side, from the fans side, we look at it
and say, that's your d n A, that's your identity,
but it's honestly, it's your tendency. It's like, these are
your tendency type of things and are they good tendencies
or bad tendencies? But I don't know what those tendencies are.
(09:29):
And that's what I'm waiting to see a little bit
more of what can we hang our hats on outside
of a jet suite? You know. I think that's where
seeing the consistency and moments where it looks great not
so good guy blows by in the back of the
back side on a cutoff play and makes the play
from behind when a hole opens up in the middle.
(09:49):
Those are the little things that have to continually get
cleaned up, and they have to continually work on. There's
no question about it, brother, I I agree with you exactly.
The point is what I'm saying is when I watch
the film that Okay, what I saw was more movement
at the point of attack on the double teams, and
they stayed on the double teams longer than I've seen,
which I think is great because I'm always of the
(10:10):
mindset where if you take the guy with his hand
in the dirt and you throw him in the lap
of the second level linebacker, all right, there you go.
You picked that guy up, unless of course he's running
through right. But if you stay on that double team
and just maybe a heartbeat longer, and then you come
off on the second level guy and that back hits
(10:30):
it and splits it in between the two, there's I mean,
that's what Chubb does. Cleveland does a good job of that.
And I think if the longer and that you can't
overstay on the double team and you can't leave early,
and it's finding that sweet spot and being able to
move because there was a couple of double teams. They
just blew the defensive tackle the three techniques off the
(10:52):
line of scrimmage and buried him. But unfortunately also happened
on on you know, like on a play action pass. Well, whooped?
He do? You know what I mean? So the fact
is I understand what you're saying about tendency. Tendencies result
from good plays, right, and if you're good plays are
like Cleveland ran that that power with Joe Betonio. Okay,
(11:13):
it's like Allen Fannaker running the power back in your
day when Willie Parker smoked it, you know, in the
Super Bowl and so forth on that play. That's a tendency,
that's the ability to do that. Yeah. Absolutely, And I
think that's what we're just waiting to see because I
don't think if we know if we're an inside zone team,
if we're a gaps team, or if we're an outside
(11:36):
toss team. Uh, those are the things we're waiting to
see because there's most where we see it. It looks awesome,
like you said, and you want to have that hat hanger,
like like Cleveland does there's a play that we can
call no matter what they do. We got it and
we can run it and we can run the clock out.
But we haven't gotten that yet. And that's also a
part of the offensive line coming together because that that
(11:59):
once they are geled together, then you kind of know
what you really have in your unit. Like what do
these guys do? Are they ground and pound? Are they
zone guys that like to get on their on their
high horse and run on an angle and allow the
running back to pick and choose his holes. Or is
it one cutback type of team or are we a
wham team? Right? We used the counter motion with the
tight end and we pull and that's what we free
up and we're looking to hit between the tackles. So
(12:21):
it's something that's gonna be fun to watch. Like I said,
we took progress. And that's why I say the offensive
line is not the least of our words, but it's
also not the biggest problem offensively. You know what I remember.
I remember having a conversation with Jeff Harding's the center
back in your day, right, and you guys were cruising
along and when you made that run to the Super
Bowl and everything I remember talking to him. I think
it was it might have been well we were in
(12:44):
Detroit or not, I can't remember which it was. But
he said, the playbook has been cut down, and we
started to make sure that we could run those plays
with the playbook cut down against any defense. And that's
when you simplified it and gave it the kiss method.
Things started to move for them, and one of them
was that power And he talked about that play. You
(13:06):
could run that against any any play, I mean any
defense with bought with you know, Jerome Bettison there or
Willie and it was gonna work against anyone because you
guys could block it against anybody. Yeah. So, no, our
menu was we had weak side zone, which was our
bass play. We had our strong side zone, tight end,
(13:26):
strong ride play. We had double uh and then we
had two draws and we had the single back counter.
You couldn't run the one right, we couldn't. We could
only run at one, so one and a half draws.
We had one and a half draws. We could only
run h forty two, we could not run at three,
(13:47):
and then we ran sprint draw. That was it. That's
pretty funny. Yes, Alan, I love you, but you still
can't run well if as you were watching the film,
what does Dan Moore do so well against Miles Garrett?
Where it feels like these last few games he has
(14:07):
not been this wrecking force that sometimes other teams are
dealing with, uh when one of the things that they
you know, they helped a little bit with the back,
a little tight end, but Dan just stood his ground,
you know, and and and sometimes it wasn't pretty. Oftentimes
past protection is not looking pretty out there. It's getting
the job done regardless. Sometimes you've got to do a
(14:27):
little bit of sleight of hand, maybe a little abeas
muggus or grab us. Every now and then things things
will happening. We got to be careful our terminology and
we've got to be careful with it. Yes, clutching um
and that's you know, that's what what Dan did. I
(14:47):
thought Dan did a good job of just fighting him,
just fighting him. He technically wasn't all that sound all
the time, but man, he had a lot of fight
in him, and I that I enjoyed. I'll take the
fight over a guy that's you know, just always technically
sound and kind of got a fish handshake, you know
what I mean? Are you guys writing a book with
all your terminology so we can follow along throughout the season.
(15:11):
Don't don't worry. Don't worry that there will be definitions
released at a later date. It's just not everybody just
has a nod and just just act like you know
what we're talking about. As long as I get a
signed copy, that's all, you know. We really need to
talk about here, all right, We have much more to
talk about here on the Point After, we will touch
on film study, also what Cam Heyward said today and
(15:35):
a little fun fact stat about the New York Jets.
Will talk about all of that when we return. You're
listening to w d V. Back to the Point After,
brought to you by Parks Casino on d V. Nick
was one of the best backs in the league when
it comes to breaking tackles, and you gotta bring it
when you tackle him. Um. We didn't do that enough tonight. Um,
(15:55):
And so we know we gotta be better in that area. UM.
But we can't just be talking about it. It's gotta
be action. Um. And we got a long weekend ahead
of us to u to review the film and get
back to We have a long week on Monday to
get back to it um, but we know tout of
this this stace in our mouth. Alex high Smith following
the loss in Cleveland on Thursday night, Nick Chubb, who
(16:18):
we mentioned in Kareem Hunt, combined for a hundred and
sixty yards a hundred and thirteen by Nick Chubb. This
is the point after Missy Matthews with Craig Wolfley and
Max Starks, and we are taking you through the loss
as we get prepared for another game on Sunday, this
time at Akersher Stadium. The New York Jets are coming
to town. The segment right now is brought to you
by the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank and Don's Appliance.
(16:40):
For every field goal we kick this season, Dawn's Appliance
will donate one thousand dollars to the Greater Pittsburgh Community
Food Bank. That's five thousand meals each time. Thank you,
Don's Appliance. You can also donate to by texting goals
to five zero one five five and wolf. That was
Alex high Smith, as we said, who has been receiving
(17:02):
a little bit more attention now that there has been
two games without t J. Watt, hopefully just two more
to go. As we know, he was warming up in
Cleveland a little bit, which was a good site, but
officially out for the next to the Jets and Buffalo.
But what did you see from Alex Smith in game
two without number ninety? Oh? You know, here's the thing
about eight tackles one half sacks. He had two tackles
(17:23):
for lost two quarterback hits. You know, I saw a
young man that is uh, definitely on the upswing. This
young man has a lot of go get him about him.
He's strong, he's powerful, he's quick, um, he's got a
fierce intentionality, and he arrives in bad humor and and
does the things that you would expect from an edge setter.
(17:43):
He comes down on the back of the line of scrimmage,
squeezes uh to the hole, and sometimes when he's able
to crash, he comes down and just wipes the mat
with whoever is trying to hit on the opposite side
away from him. So I got a lot of good
things to say about Alex. Alex has got, you know
again as he's growing into this job. But you know,
it's so much better when you have the reigning defensive
(18:05):
player of the year on the other side. You learned
so much more, and there's so much that that other
dude provides for you defensively speaking, so I think he's
he's doing well. But again t J Watt is t
J Watt, and I think more so it's Alex is
(18:25):
finally understanding where his role fits. Because when you play
the weak side rush and so to speak, I mean,
because it's the it's the defensive right, but our offensive left,
and I'm always looking everything from the left side and
see there it is, there is uh. You know, we
(18:46):
are cope. That's why we get along so well. And
I think for Alex that that's an adjustment because at
Charlotte he played both sides, you know, in college, and
so sometimes not only just coming into a three or
four defensive understanding how that role is, but sometimes playing
one side of the ball. You know. I thought it
was more effective this game for Alex because he was
(19:07):
switching sides, he was playing both sides. It was more
of what his natural tendency was and what he's grown
up playing. Whereas when t J is healthy, he's he's
on the left. He's on the left. That's it. You
don't come to the right. That's that's t J. Zone
and so now but now with the opportunities, he's able
to now get flexibility, which I think opens up the
defense even more when you can have a guy like
(19:29):
him learning that. But it's still an adjustment back because
he's been so inundated with just doing it from one side.
You now have to learn how to do it from
the opposite side again, So he's flipping back and forth
with hin the game. And I thought that was something
that was a nice step forward. I thought, when you
talking about growing and evolving the defense, I know, yes,
it's not it's not a good point right now because
you don't have t J. And we know what our
(19:50):
record is without t J in the game. But it
does make us. I think it's making us a stronger
defense because now you're having guys flex their responsibilities to
where we you do have all hands on deck. That's
something that's gonna help this team. That's gonna help them
later in the year, because let's face it, the season
is not one in September. You know we we could
him in Hall in September. It's one in November and December.
(20:13):
And the more quality reps and the more chances guys
are getting right now at this particular point, it's gonna
pay its dividends at the end of the year, and
those gotta have its situations. Right now, we're not We're
not the guy to have it. We're in then we
we we really would like it's uh, you know, because
like you said, you get you get to division games
within the first month of the season, and you want
(20:34):
to get that leg up, you know, because you don't
want to catch guys in stride. But hey, we dropped one. Okay,
that that happens all the time. But how's it gonna
be when when we get down to those races and
if everything starts to look alike in the division records, right,
you know, you're three and three, four and two, and
now it's tidebreaker time. Well now those those non those
(20:55):
non division conference games are gonna matter a little bit later.
So how you do against the Jets this upcoming week?
He is he is annoying me right now. He has
his sweet toy on my leg and I'm trying my
best to like shoot him. Yes he has he has.
I know I've been going for like five days. I know,
(21:16):
I know he's upset and he has been all of
Mike gril this whole time, and I thought I hid
the toy too. Apparently I didn't do it good enough.
Yet you didn't. Yeah, it was terrible. That's tremendous. I
love it. I know, I know. Lets you know that
this is a working household, right it is, you know what,
(21:38):
I thought, A guy that put in some good snaps
and I hope they continue. This was Malik Read. You know,
Malick Read does some good stuff, good solid stuff. Again,
I don't think he's of the same caliber as t J. Watton,
who is um. I think that he's, you know, a
guy that is more along lines where Alex is, but Alex,
I think, you know, still is ahead of him. But
(22:00):
he's a guy, Malik Reid who does a good job
plane both the run and the past, even though he's
not that huge of a guy. And yet I saw
him get some good pressure at times. He's working away
on Jack Conklin and haven't at it and held his
own in the ground game, you know, for the most part.
And then yeah, I know, things fell apart and it's unfortunate,
(22:22):
but you know what, you still have some a modicum
of success in that first half. You look at and say, okay,
we have to extrapolate from that. Now pull that forward
and now we've got to be able to do this
over the course of sixty minutes rather than just over thirty. Well,
and I think the other thing is is that Malik
read it being in and not being as big, there's
(22:42):
also opportunities for him to do a little bit more
creatively in and a lot of the blitzing game, because
there was a couple of times in that game if
you remember Wolf, where he was lined up outside a
little bit of a shift and the next thing you know,
he's in the middle of the defense, almost like a
three linebacker. Look, they didn't do that, they did, yeah,
so so which is something you would you did they
(23:03):
did with Alex as well. Um. So I like the
fact that they're getting creative, you know, just like when
we when they unveiled the Foe downlook in New England,
um looking at what can we do, what can we change?
And now they're building upon that, and now they're doing
it from the from the snap as opposed to having
a pre pre snap shift to it. And I think
(23:23):
that's something that that's coming along. And you're right, I
like what he's doing. We saw Jamir Jones get some
burned also on Thursday night, um, and seeing him start
to fit his way in as as he gets more
comfortable with the defense and what the assignments are. So
it's just it's just one of those things where you
see it coming together. It's just not coming together as
fast as we would like it, but it is coming
(23:45):
um together and which is nice to see. And that's
why I'm not as alarmed, um because when you look
at it, we're getting things done and we're getting cleaner
on things. It's just can you go to sixty minutes
versus thirty minutes? And can it? Can you show now
that you've shown me a half, can you show me
three quarters? And when you show me three quarters, can
you show me a full game? And I think they're
(24:06):
working towards that. So there is progress, even though it
doesn't look good on the wins and losses right now.
But like I said, it's not one in September, it's
one at the end of the year. That's when those
that's when those are really going to count. Controlling the
line of scrimmage. After the GameMaker Fitzpatrick will have said,
you know, we knew what they wanted to do. They
wanted to run the ball, and they did what they
(24:27):
wanted to. What did you see in terms of, you know,
some lapses in the defense of not being able to
contain those guys to give the offense a chance to
maybe go down and make some plays, even though you
know chicken and egg, which one came first, but the
offense had their woes as well. They did. But I
look at this defensively and I think I can summarize
(24:47):
it in two plays. That was in the first quarter.
Was interesting. They ran that power with Joe Batonio coming
around the corner and Arthur Millette kind of ducked under Batonio.
Are Uh Kelly Wherspoon came up and he if on
Chubb right in the whole whift on hi minute he went,
I don't know yards on that run. The very next
play they run a similar play. I think it was
(25:08):
an outside zone though I don't think they pulled Batonio,
but they run it and you got, uh, Kelly Witherspoon
comes off the edge and goes and takes down Chubb
like you know he had it was personal, which it was.
You're in the hole, you gotta make the hit. And
when you saw Kelly. Kelly kind of left his feet,
didn't bring his whole body, and Nick Chubb beat him
on that first run. The very next play he comes
(25:31):
down and just saws Nick Chubb in half and brings
him down. And you've got to bring that same sort
of perspective and effort uh as you did on the
second rep to the first rep. And you can't allow
those whiffs in the hole or those things. And that's
what broke down in the second half. And I think
this defense is capable. You watch him. If you do
(25:51):
it once, you can do it twice. And if you
do it twice, you can do it four times. If
you do it for a quarter, you can do it
for a half. And do it for a half, you
can do it for a hole. But you have to
be of the mindset and be able to have the
temerity the strength of whatever your personage and and and
stay in the game and get the job done and
play at that high level. And I think right now,
when you have an offense that that kind of disappeared
(26:13):
for three three and outs, you know, Max, to me,
that's kind of like you're leaving your defense vulnerable when
it's already vulnerable because they're without t J. Watt, so
they can't really afford those uh three and outs where
the defense suddenly is has got to rescue the offense,
when in fact, you saw how it worked out in
the first half. The defense was playing and it seemed
(26:34):
to be as as the offense went, the defense did. Also,
you know where normally it's the defense with t J.
Watt kind of leading away. Right now, they're gonna play
pretty much at the same level as what the the
offense is capable of doing. Yeah, and I think and
like you said, well it was it was a stretch
off the same formation. Um they ran. They ran stretch
(26:55):
after they after they ran a counter motion with the lead. Um.
So yeah, you you the margin for t J cleans
up a lot of those bug a boo moments, right,
you know a lot of those you know, like you said,
like if a kello whips in the hole, but it
gets the back to side step and then TJ is
usually closing from the back side. I mean, those are
(27:17):
those ones where you don't miss him. But now you
realize I need to be steadier. I can't whiff in
the hole. I have to make a sure tackle hold
the guy uboard at least until reinforcements come right, tie
the guy up, don't allow him to sidestep me, in
stride and keep on going. And that's where they have
to get a little bit cleaner. And that means when
you come and you and you're and you're coming downhill
(27:39):
to fill a gap, come to base sooner, right, because
when you come with your feet together, that's where you
get the teeter totter. You gotta jump and and and
have a hope in a prayer that I hope I
grab a shoelace because this dude has just sidestepped me.
You need to be a little bit more of a
balance so that you can shuffle into it. And they're
working on that. I think that's the other thing. But
you're right, the margin air as a lot is a
(28:01):
lot slipper when you don't have number ninety out there
on the field. Miles Jack had ten tackles in the
first game thirteen and the second twelve and on Thursday night,
I almost said last night in Cleveland, um first player
since James Ferry to have three consecutive games with ten
plus tackles. Well, what are you seeing from him? In
specifically on Thursday, Bang bang. I mean, this guy he
(28:21):
is not afraid to pull the trigger on shooting a gap,
you know, and he's he's very very He kind of
reminds me of a teammate of Max's, Larry Foot, who
was very instinctive, a guy that you know, sometimes every
now and then he you know, he'd fire off the
gun and and and kind of whiff on something. But
that was for the most part, he was right on
(28:43):
in his decision making and his Samurai sixth cents that
he had out there. And I think Miles Jack is
really upgraded the inside linebacker position. I look at this
and I think, Okay, this is the guy we're looking for.
This is the guy that comes in. He plays hard,
he's he's a ball hunter, he's a guy that gets
off blocks. And one of the results I think of
(29:05):
him playing, I think he's raised the level of Devon Bush.
I think Devin Bush. I watch him. He's doing a
better job of getting off blocks, of firing through some
of the gaps, and becoming the player that he was
pre knee injury. And I think right now that the
Miles Jack is a leader in that linebacker room, in
the inside there, and and he is raising the level
of the play, and I think both uh Devon Bush
(29:28):
and Robert Spillane are benefiting from it well, and they're
more so. And like I said, it's a tempo, right,
It's a tempo is a standard. Miles Jack has has
simply reset what the standard is of of linebacker play.
And the advantage that I love about Miles is he
played the He played running back in college. So this
guy has a certain vision and a certain thought process
(29:53):
that not a lot of lot true linebackers that never
played other positions have. He can he can feel, and
he can anticipate. And I think that's also why you
got a guy making double digit tackles um like Myles
Jack is is because you have that sixth sense of
what running back is. You speak running back because you're
a linebacker that played that position, and you understand what
(30:16):
the assignment is. You understand what the flow is supposed
to look like, and so therefore you know what he's
thinking if he wants to put his foot in the
ground and cut backside, and that's what he's like downhill,
thump thump, you know, and he's hitting you in the hole.
So I love that about Miles Jack and He's been
a great addition to this squad, and I think it
adds to the leadership depth of not only Cam and
(30:37):
of t J and of Minka. You have that second
level leader as well. You want to have it at
all three layers, and now you do with a Miles Jack.
All right, we are going to take another quick break
here on the Point After. When we return, I promise
we'll get to my fun fact. Wilf already knows that. Max,
it will be quite a treat for you. You're listening
to d D don't go anywhere back to the Point After,
(31:00):
brought to you by Parks Casino on dv E. It
was just inconsistent, not hitting those players that we needed. Um,
we hit some of the first half. That's why we
scored fourteen points. Three points in the second half. Isn't
going to do it for us? Everybody and Miss Matthews
with Craig Wiffley and Max Starks. You're listening to the
Point After here on DV that with Steelers quarterback Mitch
(31:22):
Robisky following the loss on Thursday in Cleveland. Our third
and final segment is brought to you by clear View
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(31:44):
org slash Touchdown, Max. I want to start with you
on this one first. A lot of film studies taking place.
In terms of team meetings. The team was supposed to
be off on Friday. They were all in the facility
again looking over some film today. You've you've been in
some of coach Tomlins meetings a time or to give
(32:06):
us what that is like? So well, you don't want
that was a long pause. That was a long, awkward pause.
There's a couple of political uh, I guess correctness words
and phrases. I have to ada version yes exactly. Um,
(32:28):
you know this is this is a correction style of day. Um.
When you come in on Friday, you're gonna watch that
entire film as an offense and a defense. Um. After
coach has given you his breaking news report, which would
be the highlights and the low lights, and either you
(32:49):
decide that you either need additional cushion in your chair
or or you need a broomstick to prop you up
because he's ripped your spine out. So it's either one
of those us. Um. And then after that did you
get into just a whole unit viewing of the game,
and each of the coaches are off obviously every play
(33:09):
giving their insight, and then you break off into individual
meetings with your position coaches and then from there you
get your grades on what they how they graded it,
and then from there you're gonna go over the m
as and so it's a correction style of day. And
then I'm not sure if they go on the field afterwards.
I know they made us go on go on the
(33:30):
field um back in the day and walk through what
we messed up. Um. That's about how it goes. Coach
Toman will talk once. He will talk loudly. Uh well,
I wouldn't say loudly. He will talk um there passionately
and sternly, passionately and sternly about his expectation and about
(33:53):
what we did right and what we did wrong and
what we need to improve upon in the next ten
days before we go back out in the it again.
And he he always likes to re re reiterate the
concept of iron sharp as iron, but a double blade
does not cut, so you need to get sharp good point.
(34:15):
You know, I can summarize what that that's like when
I remember I was with the great, great late Mike Webster,
were sitting there after and waiting for Chuck to come
in and start the meeting. And Chuck came in and
gave a few church comments, and then it was about
breaking down into your own meeting rooms. Remember web just going,
(34:36):
let's get to the rat killing. And that's essentially what
it was. Coach No. One of the things about Coach No,
it's a little different than Mike. Mike believes in turning
the page. Coach No didn't turn the page for a
while today in the locker room, mark it up with
Red Red. He'd hang on to that for a while,
he'd remind you, yes, yeah, today Captain cam Hey word
(35:00):
of course. Speaking to the media, he said, you know,
the weekend was nice. We got a quick reset. We
have work to do, got a couple of extra hours
of work of re excuse me. Hopefully it benefits us, Max,
he added, and you know it's not like we were
drinking my ties. I was telling Wolf that before the
show started. Is it easier or harder having this layover
of getting back to work. They can't practice until Wednesday. Um.
(35:22):
Following a loss like that, Um No, I mean it's
time to reset yourself because I mean what once you
go up to training camp and you come back from
training camp kind of your household, depending on how many
people you have at your house. Um, it's kind of
like two ships passing in the dark. You know for
a lot of things, like you're there, you've thrown your
(35:43):
stuff from camp back in the house. You know, you
gotta order, So it gives you a chance to kind
of cleanse yourself and refocus yourself. It's almost like a
mini by week um, to where you can kind of
take what happened in the past after you finished with
the corrections on Friday, and you could just take a
week in and just kind of take a breath, because
(36:03):
now you're gonna have to go all the way through
week nine to your next opportunity. So it's entronches. So
it allows you two silo portions of the season, um,
which is nice having a game earlier. We used to
only get that game after Thanksgiving because we were you know,
it was a rule back then when I played and saying, well, Wolf,
you didn't. You didn't touch Thursday nights for football until
(36:25):
after Thanksgiving. Like the Thanksgiving night was like the line
of demarcation when you might have had that opportunity if
you played on if you played on Thanksgiving night and
then the rest of the season, Thursday was available because
college was over. Um. College is their games at Thanksgiving weekends.
So now that Thursday is available, they used to be
the old big East Thursday night games, UM, where I'd
(36:45):
see like pitt West, Virginia and Miami and all of
them on there. So now that that's changed, it gives
teams that kind of a pseudo bye week UM built
in because you get that extended time off. UM. And
so I think guys got got a chance to read, focus,
got the resenter, and you know, you got to take
that intimate deep dive. You also got to catch up
on on the honeydew list. If you had a spouse
(37:09):
sit there. It's like I told you to fix that
light bulb. I cannot fix the light Okay, I got
the light bulbost no no no, no yard work no
no no no no. Unless you're Charlie Bats. He loves
a snowblower. He loves a good snow chuck. Yeah, good
for check. But now now you never catch a lineman
doing that. Um so, so that that's what I think
(37:30):
it is. It's time where you get to recenter and
reflect and now you know you have until Wednesday before
you can hit the field. It gives you that breathing
will also gives you a chance to get extra treatment
if you need it, because guys are getting more reps
than they normally would because of an absence of a
player or two. So maybe those guys who weren't used
to the workload, now there's a chance for you to
kind of what what he likes to call Gerett gimont
(37:52):
Um likes to call dloading, get to d load a
little bit and you know, and work and work on
some things personally. That's that excellent and that's really true.
That that especially part about the rehab because you have
that opportunity to deload and and decrease the amount of
like weights, sets, training, whatever, so that your body gets
(38:12):
a little spring back. You know, you get a little
spring back over a good seventy two hours rest and
your body will feel so much better, especially if you
get a little bit of a massage thing going on.
You get you know, uh, you got the jacuzzi and
everything else. You do that and do that every day
or you get or a couple of days out of
the weekend, and you'll feel right as rain coming back,
(38:35):
especially since they had a short week, so you dealt
with the loss of the Patriots, how to quickly get
ready travel to Cleveland play in that game. But also, um,
I saw a not so great staff that the defense
is averaging eight plays per game. That's not good, but
they probably did want some rest this weekend. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely,
(38:56):
And listen and that's now one of the things when
you talk about offense, that's where those three and ouns matter.
That's where the time of possession matters for your squad.
I mean, and that I feel like that number got
also skewed because you know that that that Patriots game
was just so excited. Yeah, it was just so lopsided
(39:17):
at the end when it was kind of close, and
then those plays and then New England was just barely
getting across the you know, the first down marker, so
they were milking that time to the full extent. It's
like we stopped you, but we also got the extra foot.
We needed to make sure that you knew that we
get a new set of downs. And so for the offense,
that's where they need to talk. I mean, we talked
(39:38):
about it after the New England game, right Wolf Mitch
decided to slide instead of dive. Um. Those little things matter. Um,
you know, because if you could take two, three, four
reps off the defense per quarter by just extending drives
and not throwing them out there as soon as they
get off the field in the three and out, that
(39:59):
helps him. Or if you're taking time, you're not going
hurry yet, like also what our offense did right Andy,
you're getting off the field other quickly from a score,
quickly from a punt um. Those don't help your defense either.
So it's picking and choosing those moments, but also understanding
what's your defense needs. Hey, we need extra blow. You
guys gotta hold the ball. I'll never forget. I mean,
(40:21):
I remember one time Casey Hampton came, ut do we say, hey, listen, listen,
we're gonna do our job, but but but we need
to rest. We need to rest a little bit, Like
all right, we got you there, you go, all right?
Well up next for the Steelers the New York Jets
coming to Akersher Stadium. The Steelers are favorites for the
first time this season, and my fun fact will end
on this note. The Jets have played one and eighty
(40:43):
minutes of football. They've held a lead for only twenty
two seconds of that. Thanks to Max Starks and Craig
Willflee and producer Tom for joining me. Don't forget the
Steelers Pro Shop. Gear up with your leatest sideline apparel,
hats and jerseys of your favorite players, custom items and
exclusives direct from the team Akershure Stadium, Grove City Premium
(41:03):
Outlets or Tanger Outlets, or shop online at shop dot
Steelers dot com. See you next week.
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