November 18, 2024 • 34 mins
No one is blameless in the current state of high school football in West Virginia (0:00). If the Steelers Special Teams unit were a stock ("SST"), you'd want to buy buy buy today. Alan Saunders of Steelers Now joins the program (16:28).
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Ladies and gentlemen, grab your coffee and donuts, because it's
time for the Morning Spiel, brought to you by Royal Water.
The Athenians and topics discussed on the show do not
reflect that of WVRC Media or our advertisers. Now we
head straight to the one O three to three WKMZ
newsroom with your host Alex Whiderspiel.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Welcome in everybody. This is the Morning's Deal presented by
Royal Water Treatment. I one of three to three WKMZ.
Great to have you with us.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
It is Monday.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Another strange occurrence went down. You know, a week ago
we were talking about injunctions and now a week later,
here we are and we had no football, no high
school football. It is It is strange, it is bizarre,
(00:52):
it is odd. We talked about it a fair bit
on the Friday Free for All, and not a ton
has changed since that show, other than the ending of
the possibility of playing games, which was always seemed rather
ludicrous to me, but those were called off. If you
want to listen more in depth and hear some of
the experts talk about it, I certainly recommend going on
the show. I spent a lot of time over the
(01:14):
weekend reflecting on the high school football situation, because it.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Just feels like a state of limbo.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
You know, I really want to start prepping for a game,
and yet there's no game to prep for right now,
and there's no guarantee at this point that we're even
going to get a game set for this weekend, which
is crazy to me. The idea of postponing two weeks
is completely bonkers to me. It's ludicrous. And I was
thinking about, you know, how we really.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
How do I put this?
Speaker 2 (01:46):
I was thinking about, you know, listen, radio is not
exactly the domain of the young, right, and this is
of course the morning spiel presented by Royal Water Treatment.
I remind you every day, every second, every chance I get,
our show is typically more the province. It's going to
be the province of adults, right. I mean, I'm thirty five.
(02:08):
I can't imagine there are going to be a lot
of nineteen year olds who are going to be spending
a lot of time listening to me.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
But hey, maybe I'm wrong about that.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Here's the deal, here's what I'm getting at nineteen year olds,
fifteen year olds, whoever. What I'm saying is, though, is
what a bad example. This is all set a what
a fiasco this has been because I was thinking about
this as gone back, all right, And I've said this
before and I'll say it again. I'm a defender of
the fore classification system. I believe that West Virginia's geography
(02:36):
has made it to the point where you can justify
for classifications with how small the school or how small
the state's school population, like literal building population, even though
it's only in the low hundreds, low triple digits, you
can justify it because there is a competitive balance issue.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
And that's fine. I buy that.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
I'm on board with that, okay, But everything that's happened
after that.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Has helped build this mess.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
And I will say this, A lot of folks have
gone out of their way, or a couple of folks
have gone out of their way to make sure that
people are aware that the WVSSAC does not deserve to
shoulder the blame for this, and I actually I agree
with that about ninety eight percent of the way the WVSSAC. Honestly,
the majority of this is not on them. This wasn't
decisions that they made coming back to bite them. Save
(03:38):
for one. I don't know that the WVSSAC effectively messaged.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
The need.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
And maybe I'm wrong about this, Maybe there's an internal
memo that went out to coaches. I don't know to
athletic directors. But Chris Johnson and I were talking about
this on Friday, on the Friday Free for All. How
we didn't know know about the statutory language in their
own guide book. Greg Carey goes into great detail on
this on the show. But the statutory language in their
(04:08):
own guide book that basically indicates that whatever classification a
team is in, that is that's the point structure you
have to follow. That is in the rule book. I
didn't know that until late last week. I'm not saying
that I'm an expert.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
But I do cover a lot of high school football.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
And if if I didn't know that until late I
wonder if the late late the Layman's fan knew that.
I wonder if your average coach knew that, especially under
the unprecedented circumstances we were in, where the classification happens
and then a reclassification occurs ten days before the season
(04:57):
starts as a result of complaints among us things. With
regards to all this, so I will say this. If
you're thinking the WVSSAC is blameless, you're probably right for
the most part. Where I take issue with it is
I do think they needed to more effectively message what
it is that they were following and why they were
(05:18):
following it, because I think that might have saved us
from a couple things. Because here's what I'm saying, this
is a complete failure. The students are the ones being impacted.
The student athletes are the ones being impacted, and it's
not through any fault of their own. But let's actually
play this out in the timeline order. Wv the WVSSAC,
the governing body, everybody agrees.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
You get reasonable support.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
I don't remember what the exact numbers were, but you
got enough support to pass the fore classification system. The
four classification system is implemented, a different entity decides to
implement against what the recommendations were of a sixteen team
class four class or Class quadruple A system in an
(06:03):
attempt to try and balance the classifications out needlessly, which
just created a competitive imbalance in Class quadruple A. So
we traded off a class single a competitive balance for
a Class quadruple A competitive balance. Okay, So that's mistake one.
(06:24):
Mistake two is the formula. As we now know, they
got it wrong on the economic impact and the economic score,
all that stuff that went into the formula. We now
know that that was wrong. The actual form formula used
was incorrect. The timing of the Board of Reviews decision
(06:46):
to reclassify ten days before the season, knowing that they
were probably making the best long term decision, the best
long term decision on this issue, but maybe not the
best short term decision because it creates the ticking time bomb.
(07:07):
The wvs SAC is the next one for not effectively
messaging what guide guidelines they were following to begin with,
at least not to me from my perspective. I'd love
to hear differently. I'd love for someone to tell me again.
You can email the show the Morningspiel at email dot
com that they've heard differently on this, because from my perspective,
(07:28):
the wvs SAC made one critical mistake, and it's not
messaging what it is they were following and why they
were following it, which is that it was clearly written
language in the rules that said how the points were
supposed to be distributed, which is how we got the
initial playoff ratings that came out you know, that Saturday,
(07:50):
and then got changed by Sunday or I should say
changed by Monday, and then ultimately competing injunctions rendered the
whole thing mood anyway. And then the final mistake is
on those who have filed injunctions. While I feel that
there's some justification, certainly for Huntington, they are a school
(08:13):
that I think has been kind of wronged, and there
are some others as well, but if you look by
and large, it kind of feels like we're picking at
scabs here.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Kind of feels like we're.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Picking at something that could not have truly been fixed.
That the cure in this case would be worse than
the disease. A little bit of a gripe with the
ratings formula and where folks landed is one thing, but
(08:47):
the remedy for that is disastrous right now what it's
going to wind up potentially doing if this lasts much
longer again, we'll know more today. Keep following along at
wv Metronews dot com and on this station. Well, no
more today, But these are disastrous outcomes here, disastrous outcomes
(09:09):
because you have the high school football playoffs postponed, you
have no way of knowing when they're going to start,
and now instead of potentially on Black Friday, when we'd
be in the middle of the semi finals and there
would be sixteen teams active, instead there's a possibility that
it should the playoffs wind up starting on Black Friday,
(09:29):
we could have sixty four teams. That's more than half
the high schools across the state of West Virginia actively
involved in playoff football on Black Friday. What was supposed
to be a quarter of that number historically has, of course,
in a three classification system, only been twelve teams. So
that's really the issue here is the longer this goes,
(09:53):
the worse this gets. Because you think we're going to
have a high school football championship December twentieth and twenty first,
because that's the weekend. If we don't get started this
week and we wind up starting Black Friday weekend, we're
talking Friday December twentieth and Saturday December twenty first, You're
(10:15):
going to have parents, You're going to have people who
are rescheduling Christmas plans because they want to make sure
their kid can play in the high school FOOTBA championship. Sure,
it only affects eight teams, but you want to know something,
eight teams is like a pretty significant number across the
state of West Virginia, where there are one hundred and
ten high school football teams or one hundred and nine
high school football teams, whatever the number is. Off the
(10:37):
top of my head, I never remember. It's a significant number.
It's almost ten percent of the high schools in the state,
almost a little bit under. It's a big CHUNKI your population.
Where something's going to be going on. Where are they
going to play these games? Can the city of Charleston
even handle them at that time of year we start
(11:01):
do we start talking about pushing all the way back
to January and just absolutely torpedoing winter sports, wrestling and basketball.
I don't know, but those are sort of if you
follow that timeline that I laid out for you, there's
no one entity to blame everybody, And I will say
(11:25):
this as well, the media US we can take some
responsibility as well, because I think we asked a lot
of the wrong questions at times. I was asking, for sure,
I was asking about what the remedy would be on
what seemed like an injustice. The way things were handled
with the reclassification of twenty three schools ten days before
(11:47):
the start of the regular season. But why didn't we
know in greater detail about the statutory language, the rule,
the rules that essentially said this is how it is
and this is how it's going to be. And ultimately
why I think the initial playoff ratings that came out
on that Saturday, I think that's what we're probably gonna
(12:10):
wind up sticking with. Maybe I say that I'm no
legal expert. The folks I talk to seem to agree
with that, but I say, you know, on the media
side of things, we it wasn't until that last week
of the season, when I had started asking around because
I had been pointed in the right direction that this
could happen, that folks were hearing that this could happen.
(12:35):
Why didn't we hear about it sooner? Why didn't we
think about that sooner? I don't know that that's necessarily
entirely on us, But like I said, when you have
this big of a letdown, when you have students who
are now basically being told that this is out of
(12:56):
no one's in control here, This is just like a
runaway train. No one wants to hear that. No one
wants to hear how it's nobody's fault. Students certainly don't
want to hear. I remember what it was like to
be sixteen.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
You couldn't tell me.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
There was no way that I would be convinced that
it wasn't somebody's fault. It always had to be somebody's
fault when you're that age. The nuance and complexities of
this like that they don't process then. And the truth is,
I don't care if they process or not. At the
end of the day, you have all these little, tiny
(13:33):
death by a thousand cut mistakes from a bunch of
different actors involved. The high school sports world has been
let down by the adults of the high school sports world.
Those in charge, those who coach, those in the media,
and those who govern all of us collectively together let
(14:00):
these kids down, and I am I can only hope
we got we have a remedy as soon as possible.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
I would love to hear the words.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Alex, you're traveling to Bluefield or Wayne on Friday. Someone
tell me that that's what I'd like to hear. I'd
like a little bit of certainty. And I think the
kid the kids just want to play football. You'll never
be able to convince me otherwise that any any kid
anywhere cares about at the end of the day, who
they're going to play. Most of these kids just want
to play. They just want to play football, just want
(14:32):
to play. They don't care about the politics of it,
because that's what this has turned into. I mean, this
is extremely silly at this point. I had to make
sure we started the show off with it. This is
an ongoing story. It's going to keep developing. You gotta
check our website wv metro News dot com. Greg Carey guy.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
You can follow on on on.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
X He'll have updates, regular updates for you repeatedly. All right,
let's take a break. We got a good show line
up for you to add. Even set up the show
if you're wondering who I am at this point. I
always like to do this for the new listers and
know the regular listeners. No, for the new listeners, I'm
Alex Wheetersbield, I'm glad you're with us. I do this
show every weekday at nine o'clock and we talk about
(15:14):
all sorts of things, usually in the sports world, sometimes
other stuff as well. But we're gonna be pretty heavy sports.
I think this week we're gonna be pretty heavy sports.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
For a while.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
I suspect all of that being said, Alan Saunders of
Steelers now is going to join us a little bit later, closer,
a little bit after the bottom of the hour. He's
going to join us, and we're going to talk Steelers football.
Huge win for them yesterday. I missed most of that game. No,
I'm sorry, I missed all of that game. I had
my own game. I was actually covering in Salem women's basketball,
(15:45):
so I missed most of that game. But I will
tell you Chris Boswell is on my fantasy team, so
I really enjoyed that. It didn't help the rest of
my fantasy team was garbage yesterday. But Chris Boswell, the goat,
the goat. About all that coming up with Alan Xanders.
Steelers are eight and two?
Speaker 3 (16:03):
How about that? Are they legit Super Bowl contenders? At
this point?
Speaker 2 (16:06):
We'll talk about that, and over the course this week,
we're gonna be talking about the high school football. So
I mean, there's no getting away from it. We're gonna
be talking in high school football or lack thereof, all week.
So bear with me. This is the Morning Spiel presented
by Royal Water Treatment one of the three three WKMZ.
Your news and sports headlines for radio listeners, that's exclusive
to you. Next, for podcast listeners, we're going straight to
our guest back after this.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
Now back to the Morning Spiel brought to you by
Royal Water on WKMZ.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
This is the Morning Spiel presented by Royal Water Treatment
on one of the three three WKMZ. Welcome back into
the show, everybody, and it is Monday.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
It is a victory Monday.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Not for the Mountaineers, of course, but it is a
victory Monday for the Pittsburgh Steelers and eighteen to sixteen.
You know, I'm gonna have to check. Was that score agami?
It sounds like score agami to me. Alan Sanders of
Steelers now is here with us to chat about the
Pittsburgh Steelers as we do every week at the start
of the week.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Allen, what's up man?
Speaker 4 (17:07):
It was not score gommy. Not only was it not
score gommy, it's something of a Steelers a Steelers thing.
This is the third time the Steelers have won an
eighteen sixteen game in a row, so it has only
(17:27):
happened nine times. In NFL history, and the last three
times it happened was all the Steelers in a twenty
fifteen playoff game against the Bengals, and a twenty sixteen
playoff game against the Chiefs, and now against the Baltimore
Ravens on Sunday.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
That's wild.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
I have to tell you, I love that account has
completely changed how I think about like final scores in
football now, like I constantly like I'll be like, oh,
I remember, I remember this game I watched, Remember this
Jets game I watched as a kid, And now I
think I think about that all the time because that's
the first thing that popped in my head into my head.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
I got home from covering.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
A college basketball D two college basketball game yesterday afternoon,
and I came probably it was probably eighteen I think
it was eighteen sixteen, but they had already missed the
two point conversion at that point, and that was my
literal first thought, and I failed to follow up on it.
So I appreciate that you also had the wealth of
(18:32):
knowledge right there ready to tap into.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
I had remembered the playoff game against the Chiefs, and
that was, by the way, also all of those Chris
Boswell six field goal games, tying his own Steelers record,
and also the second time this year that the Steelers
have won a game without scoring a touchdown. This Boswell
becomes the second first kicker in Steeler's history. You have
(18:57):
two six field goal games in one season, the Steelers
are two and oh when they don't score a touchdown.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
How A love that one.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
That's I would love to see at some point when
we get to season's end, if that stays that way,
if the Steelers remain unbeaten without scoring a touchdown, I
would love to see a historical comparison again to other
teams that have done that, because, off the top of
my head, that is I don't even I mean, you
would immediately go back right to the you know, the
(19:26):
two thousand Ravens or any of those Bears defenses or
the immediate first thought.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
But man, I don't know. That's that's pretty wild.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Two and oh without scoring a touchdown and getting Boswell
to kick all those field goals, that's probably where the
best place to start has been. Again, we talked about
this a few weeks ago, how good the special teams
has been in relation to like scheming and designing kick blocking,
But the fact that it's not it's it's literally it's
universal across the entire special teams. Every single week it
(19:56):
feels like a different facet of special teams is stepping up,
and it's very rare that they're having a week where
they're having they're causing problems, right, Like, that's what's been
so wild about this that they're not causing problems when
they're not, you know, putting up huge eye popping stats.
And then every you know, three four weeks, you'll get
one of these big eye popping moments where it's like, oh,
(20:16):
they blocked an extra point in a field goal. Oh,
they kicked six field goals, and they've done that twice
this season. It's been really, it's been really an impressive
season for the special teams unit, and it's not any
one specific facet of it.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
Well, before we get into still special teams that will
blow your mind, the two thousand Baltimore Ravens, probably the
last team most noted for are you know a you
absolute you know, dominant defense did win a game without
scoring a touchdown twelve nothing, and they also won the
game that year eighteen to six. So it's but the
(20:54):
stiller special teams even like last week they had the
negative when they had the the fake punt that didn't
go their way, but then they get a fumble on
a punt return later that game. Corlis Weightman under the
radar pickup after Cameron Johnson was injured in the season opener,
has been lights out. He had a seventy one yard
punt against Baltimore. So that they're doing the routine things
(21:16):
at a very high level, and then they're adding the
crazy amount of splash that they've gotten on top of it.
I mean, I don't know if a special teams coach
has ever won Assistant Coach of the Year, but I
gotta think Danny Smith is at least putting his hat
in the ring right now.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
I mean he has a direct, kind of a direct
impact on how many Steeler wins at this point.
Speaker 4 (21:41):
Oh, I mean five or six? I think almost all
of them.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
They've yeah, I mean they've won.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Six six games by one possession, games that are five
games by one possession, and those are pretty much all
games where the special teams played like a pivotal role.
And here's the thing, they played a pretty big role
in the blowouts as well, Right, Like you beat the Jets,
and maybe you didn't need the New York or didn't
need the Special teams to be as good as it was.
But you know they're blocking field goals and all other
(22:11):
sorts of stuff in that game. So yeah, I would
be also curious about that. At what the history there
of special teams coaches is. Like a guy that pops
into my head would be like a Mike Westoff who
just actually just had to to step down from all.
I think tennessee a very length. I didn't even know
he was still coaching. He's in his seventies now due
to health issues though, and I know, I mean, he's
(22:33):
long considered one of the better special teams coaches in
the NFL, and I can't even think of a time
where he was even in consideration.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
I'm gonna have to look that up.
Speaker 4 (22:41):
Yeah, I remember, like when John Fossil was the special
teams coach of the Rams. I think he got some attention,
but I'm not sure that he ever won an award.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
Well, I gotta think I see it's funny, I don't
ever think about this award.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
Do they do they release like a list of.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
Nominees, Like is that how it works or that we'll
get at like a Yeah, I think five.
Speaker 4 (23:01):
He usually puts out like whoever, because you know, the
top three kind of go to the awards day not
knowing who's gonna win, right, So I think there is somewhere,
you know, some some second and third place finishers.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
I'd have to dig through those.
Speaker 4 (23:15):
No special teams coaches ever wanted. Of course, that AP
Award has only been around since twenty fourteen, so I
think there may have been like a UPI version before that.
Going back, I'd have to do some research.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Oh, by the way, quick note, I did want to
I did want to note that since Mike west Hop
just got a shout out, I just recently learned didn't
know that he was a Bethel Park native.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
Oh I did not know that either.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
Yeah, absolutely no idea.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
He has a long, lengthy career in the NFL and
college football, and never once did he wind up ever
coaching back in the Pittsburgh area at all. So just
kind of a funny. I guess the closest he ever
got was he was the offensive line coach at Dayton
in nineteen seventy six. But yeah, I've always been a
big Mike west Hof fan and just having seen him
(24:01):
unexpectedly retire.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
I hope he's doing and hope he's doing well.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Anyway, back to back to the Steelers though, because they
are they're eight and two.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
They just got to win over their arch rival.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
And obviously we were waxing over here poetic about the
how good the special teams unit has been. But let's
switch gears to the defense now, because I mean, you
mentioned it last week, and you know correctly pointed out
that the Steelers have kind of had Lamar Jackson's number,
and here he is having maybe the best season of
his career, having an MVP caliber season. He's getting seemingly
(24:31):
everybody involved, it doesn't matter who. He's got all these weapons,
and the Steelers really did do a pretty effective job
limiting him sixteen of thirty three throwing yesterday and they
got the win.
Speaker 4 (24:45):
Yeah, I mean, they've kind of followed the same game plan.
I don't think it was anything crazy unique. You know,
the Steelers have a really good defense. They have good
players at all levels of their defense, and what that
allows them to do is they can pay extra ten
to Lamar Jackson and not and still be able to
cover up everywhere else. And I think that's really the
(25:08):
key for them. The other thing to me, that's so
impressive about the way this defense is playing. And by
the way, you can't win two games without scoring a
touchdown without playing awfully good defense at the same time,
no matter how many field goals you kick. But I
think the most impressive part of this defense is, yes,
it has stars. Obviously TJ Watt is a star I
make if it's Patrick Cam Hayward, and not to say
(25:30):
that they're playing poorly, but it's not like these games
are being won because those guys are just rising up
and taking them over. TJ had one sack. It was
kind of a coverage sack where he pushed Lamar Jackson,
not a bounds to make if it's Patrick doesn't have
a turnover this year. Cam Hayward playing some really strong
run defense and did have a couple of sacks against
(25:51):
Washington last week. But the Stills win this game without
any of their defensive stars, like just snatching it up
and winning it. They just laid really good, fundamental eleven
man defense from top to bottom. I think that makes
it even more impressive in some ways.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
So coming up, you know, I don't want to call
this it's it's not an easy stretch because it's all
division games, but it is certainly the easiest stretch when
you compare and we talked about this a little bit
last week, but when you compare the second half of
this of these next you know, seven games, it's there's
a three game stretch where they're on the road at
Philly and at Baltimore and Kansas City and short weeks
(26:33):
on all of those games. That's obviously going to be
really tough. And they've got short weeks coming up, including
this week as well. But it is worth noting while
they are on the road, it looks like the wheels
might be falling off in Cleveland, and while the wheels
aren't quite falling off in Cincy, they are what they record,
their record says they are at four and seven. Let's
talk a little bit about this one coming up, though,
(26:54):
because Cleveland is is rather fascinating, because there were times
this year where it looked like they might kind of
figure their stuff out, and now it looks like a
team that despite some of again, they've played some good
games this year against some good teams. I think notably,
I think, you know, you look at what they the
way they limited Philadelphia. This is still a team that
in theory defensively is very good. But stylistically you have
(27:17):
to kind of think this is a at worst case
scenario for the Steelers. It's a strength on strength, with
the Steelers having the stronger strength in terms of the
way the two playing styles between these two teams. I
know it's just short weeks. Short weeks are wonky, but
give me your quick thoughts on Steelers Browns coming into
this week with the Browns reeling after a blowout loss to.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
A not very good New Orleans team.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
Yeah, the Browns are not very good, and I'm not
sure they're capable of playing very good. I do think
they're capable of dragging you down to their level, you know.
I think that is something that some bad teams are
better at than others, and I think the Browns are
that team. They do have some like they have enough
good players that if you try to sleep walk through them,
(28:01):
they will hurt you. They will like set Miles Garrett
loose on your your offense or you know, Jerry Judy
and you know Nick Chubb or more than capable of
taking a part of defense if you let them. And
so I think the Steelers will be careful and and
I am expecting a really ugly game. To be honest,
(28:23):
I think the Browns will want it to be ugly
because that's probably their only chance to win. And I
think the Steelers coming off a short week against Baltimore.
After Baltimore, they've they've historically struggled the week after they
play the Ravens. You know, I think that's a recipe
for a pretty ugly football game. I can already hear,
(28:43):
like the the the complaints about Thursday night football. When
we have the Steelers who have played, you know, a
couple of really good games in a row. I think
they're gonna just come out and and try to do
the least to get a win in Cleveland and might
be pretty ugly.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
They ran I think seventy plays this week in the
win over Baltimore. It feels like, I mean, is this
the type of game where it's going to be another
like ball control type of game for the offense where
maybe they're not gonna I guess, let me phrase it
this way. They didn't have their fastball against Baltimore, and
that's that's kind of a given. Should we be expecting
(29:21):
them not to have their fastball offensively against Cleveland as well,
for all the reasons that you just listed.
Speaker 4 (29:27):
Yeah, I think so, although I will say the Browns
are nowhere near, you know, the run defense that the
Ravens have. I think the Ravens have had the best
run defense in the league this year. The Browns are
not in that category. They're one of the worst. And
so I think the Steelers will run the ball against Cleveland,
and I think it will be a low, like, you know,
(29:49):
snap the ball at five all game kind of game.
You know, like just run it four yards five yards,
four yards five yards, you know, Harris Warren, and try
to do the least they have to do to get
out of there with a win. That's kind of what
I'm seeing for the Steels. You can definitely run on
the Browns. And Miles Garrett is their best player, and
(30:13):
he's not to say he's not good against the run,
but he's certainly more able to take over a game
the more you throw it. And so I think that'll
be the Steelers mindset in this one.
Speaker 3 (30:23):
We have Alan Saunders here from Steelers.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
Now, Alan, before I let you go, obviously at this
point that the Steelers look pretty likely to make the playoffs.
I mean, it would take a real serious collapse for
that not to occur. And now, obviously they've got the
inside track at the division and I think probably the
inside track at the number two seed. What are some
big things or one big thing that they could potentially accomplish? Actually,
(30:48):
I guess they'd have the inside track at the number
three seed, though we'll see how the Buffalo Kansas City
race also goes. But what are some of the big
things that you would say over the next seven games
are they other than staying healthy? What do they need
to accomplish as they get ready to gear up for
what I think a lot of fans are hoping it's
going to be a deep run.
Speaker 4 (31:08):
Well, I think over the next couple of games, I
think what they really need to do is stay more
than a game ahead of Baltimore, because you know, you
have that stretch Philly Kansas City, Philly, Baltimore Kansas City,
two of them on the road all you know, the
two straight short weeks, and you can afford to lose
to Philly because it's an NFC game, But you can't
afford to lose to Baltimore if you're only up one
(31:30):
then right like you know you and so I think
the key is stay a game ahead of Baltimore. If
they stay ahead a game ahead of Baltimore, I think
they're in good shape to survive the storm that's coming.
I really think that's the goal here. Uh, this is
an easier stretch, although I don't think the Bengals are
an easy matchup for them, but Brown's Bengals Browns is
as easy as it's going to get for the Steelers
(31:51):
in the second half year. I don't expect them to
win all of them. I think the big, the big
job for them is to just stay ahead and give
them cells that keep the buffer that they've built so
that when they go into that real tough stretch week
spit is that fifteen sixteen seventeen, that they don't get
(32:11):
into a situation where they're standing at those three games
having to win them all.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
Very good, Alan, Tell the folks where they can find
your work.
Speaker 4 (32:17):
At Asaunders Underscore, PGH on x, Instagram, TikTok and Blue Sky, PGH,
Steelers Now, sides account, Steelers now dot Com is where
all the written work is and you can find my
podcast Stillers Afternoon Drive and Stills Morning rush on the
Steelers Now YouTube page or anywhere you find podcasts.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
Very good Alan Sunders of Steelers. Now, we'll take a
break wrap the show after this. This is the Morning
Spiel presented by Royal Water Treatment. I want to three
to three WKMZ.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
Never miss an episode. Recorded versions of the Morning Spiel
are online at wkmznews dot com.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
This is the Morning Spiel presented by Royal Water Treatment.
I want to three three WKMZ and folks, we gotta go,
but I wanted to say thanks. Thanks for being a
part of our broadcast today. Thanks for being a part
of our show today. You can catch the show every
weekday on WKMZ at nine oh six live right here
on one of three three WKMZ, or at wkmznews dot com. Now,
(33:14):
if you can't catch the show live, you can do
what a lot of I know a lot of folks
do now is listening podcast form. We try to cater
the show so that it kind of fits very very
well into both formats. You can find the podcast at
its home base. That's the Spreaker app. That's Speaker with
an extra R in there, the Spreaker app. That's right,
you didn't mishear me the Spreaker app or at your
(33:36):
preferred podcasting platform. Should be on Spotify or any of
the other locations. We also archive episodes and they are
uploaded at wkmznews dot com, so you can check those
out there. Email the show The Morningspiel at gmail dot
com you ever want to share thoughts and opinions on anything,
particularly with the high school football situation. I would love
to hear what you have to say about it. I
got to rant this morning, I've got to talk about
(33:57):
it a lot lately. If you want to share a thought,
feel free to let me know at the Morning Spiel
at gmail dot com. I'd love to hear from you
guys on this high school football situation. That said, you
can also find the show and find me on all
sorts of different social media accounts. You can find the
show on x and Facebook, and you can find me
on Blue Sky. I am going to eventually make a
show account for Blue Sky. I haven't done that.
Speaker 3 (34:17):
Yet, but we'll get to doing that here shortly.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
That said, gotta go, Thanks again for being here today, everybody.
We'll be back tomorrow morning, same time, same place, and
we'll see you then.
Ladies and gentlemen, grab your coffee and donuts, because it's
time for the Morning Spiel, brought to you by Royal Water.
The Athenians and topics discussed on the show do not
reflect that of WVRC Media or our advertisers. Now we
head straight to the one O three to three WKMZ
newsroom with your host Alex Whiderspiel.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Welcome in everybody. This is the Morning's Deal presented by
Royal Water Treatment. I one of three to three WKMZ.
Great to have you with us.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
It is Monday.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Another strange occurrence went down. You know, a week ago
we were talking about injunctions and now a week later,
here we are and we had no football, no high
school football. It is It is strange, it is bizarre,
(00:52):
it is odd. We talked about it a fair bit
on the Friday Free for All, and not a ton
has changed since that show, other than the ending of
the possibility of playing games, which was always seemed rather
ludicrous to me, but those were called off. If you
want to listen more in depth and hear some of
the experts talk about it, I certainly recommend going on
the show. I spent a lot of time over the
(01:14):
weekend reflecting on the high school football situation, because it.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Just feels like a state of limbo.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
You know, I really want to start prepping for a game,
and yet there's no game to prep for right now,
and there's no guarantee at this point that we're even
going to get a game set for this weekend, which
is crazy to me. The idea of postponing two weeks
is completely bonkers to me. It's ludicrous. And I was
thinking about, you know, how we really.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
How do I put this?
Speaker 2 (01:46):
I was thinking about, you know, listen, radio is not
exactly the domain of the young, right, and this is
of course the morning spiel presented by Royal Water Treatment.
I remind you every day, every second, every chance I get,
our show is typically more the province. It's going to
be the province of adults, right. I mean, I'm thirty five.
(02:08):
I can't imagine there are going to be a lot
of nineteen year olds who are going to be spending
a lot of time listening to me.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
But hey, maybe I'm wrong about that.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Here's the deal, here's what I'm getting at nineteen year olds,
fifteen year olds, whoever. What I'm saying is, though, is
what a bad example. This is all set a what
a fiasco this has been because I was thinking about
this as gone back, all right, And I've said this
before and I'll say it again. I'm a defender of
the fore classification system. I believe that West Virginia's geography
(02:36):
has made it to the point where you can justify
for classifications with how small the school or how small
the state's school population, like literal building population, even though
it's only in the low hundreds, low triple digits, you
can justify it because there is a competitive balance issue.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
And that's fine. I buy that.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
I'm on board with that, okay, But everything that's happened
after that.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Has helped build this mess.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
And I will say this, A lot of folks have
gone out of their way, or a couple of folks
have gone out of their way to make sure that
people are aware that the WVSSAC does not deserve to
shoulder the blame for this, and I actually I agree
with that about ninety eight percent of the way the WVSSAC. Honestly,
the majority of this is not on them. This wasn't
decisions that they made coming back to bite them. Save
(03:38):
for one. I don't know that the WVSSAC effectively messaged.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
The need.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
And maybe I'm wrong about this, Maybe there's an internal
memo that went out to coaches. I don't know to
athletic directors. But Chris Johnson and I were talking about
this on Friday, on the Friday Free for All. How
we didn't know know about the statutory language in their
own guide book. Greg Carey goes into great detail on
this on the show. But the statutory language in their
(04:08):
own guide book that basically indicates that whatever classification a
team is in, that is that's the point structure you
have to follow. That is in the rule book. I
didn't know that until late last week. I'm not saying
that I'm an expert.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
But I do cover a lot of high school football.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
And if if I didn't know that until late I
wonder if the late late the Layman's fan knew that.
I wonder if your average coach knew that, especially under
the unprecedented circumstances we were in, where the classification happens
and then a reclassification occurs ten days before the season
(04:57):
starts as a result of complaints among us things. With
regards to all this, so I will say this. If
you're thinking the WVSSAC is blameless, you're probably right for
the most part. Where I take issue with it is
I do think they needed to more effectively message what
it is that they were following and why they were
(05:18):
following it, because I think that might have saved us
from a couple things. Because here's what I'm saying, this
is a complete failure. The students are the ones being impacted.
The student athletes are the ones being impacted, and it's
not through any fault of their own. But let's actually
play this out in the timeline order. Wv the WVSSAC,
the governing body, everybody agrees.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
You get reasonable support.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
I don't remember what the exact numbers were, but you
got enough support to pass the fore classification system. The
four classification system is implemented, a different entity decides to
implement against what the recommendations were of a sixteen team
class four class or Class quadruple A system in an
(06:03):
attempt to try and balance the classifications out needlessly, which
just created a competitive imbalance in Class quadruple A. So
we traded off a class single a competitive balance for
a Class quadruple A competitive balance. Okay, So that's mistake one.
(06:24):
Mistake two is the formula. As we now know, they
got it wrong on the economic impact and the economic score,
all that stuff that went into the formula. We now
know that that was wrong. The actual form formula used
was incorrect. The timing of the Board of Reviews decision
(06:46):
to reclassify ten days before the season, knowing that they
were probably making the best long term decision, the best
long term decision on this issue, but maybe not the
best short term decision because it creates the ticking time bomb.
(07:07):
The wvs SAC is the next one for not effectively
messaging what guide guidelines they were following to begin with,
at least not to me from my perspective. I'd love
to hear differently. I'd love for someone to tell me again.
You can email the show the Morningspiel at email dot
com that they've heard differently on this, because from my perspective,
(07:28):
the wvs SAC made one critical mistake, and it's not
messaging what it is they were following and why they
were following it, which is that it was clearly written
language in the rules that said how the points were
supposed to be distributed, which is how we got the
initial playoff ratings that came out you know, that Saturday,
(07:50):
and then got changed by Sunday or I should say
changed by Monday, and then ultimately competing injunctions rendered the
whole thing mood anyway. And then the final mistake is
on those who have filed injunctions. While I feel that
there's some justification, certainly for Huntington, they are a school
(08:13):
that I think has been kind of wronged, and there
are some others as well, but if you look by
and large, it kind of feels like we're picking at
scabs here.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Kind of feels like we're.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Picking at something that could not have truly been fixed.
That the cure in this case would be worse than
the disease. A little bit of a gripe with the
ratings formula and where folks landed is one thing, but
(08:47):
the remedy for that is disastrous right now what it's
going to wind up potentially doing if this lasts much
longer again, we'll know more today. Keep following along at
wv Metronews dot com and on this station. Well, no
more today, But these are disastrous outcomes here, disastrous outcomes
(09:09):
because you have the high school football playoffs postponed, you
have no way of knowing when they're going to start,
and now instead of potentially on Black Friday, when we'd
be in the middle of the semi finals and there
would be sixteen teams active, instead there's a possibility that
it should the playoffs wind up starting on Black Friday,
(09:29):
we could have sixty four teams. That's more than half
the high schools across the state of West Virginia actively
involved in playoff football on Black Friday. What was supposed
to be a quarter of that number historically has, of course,
in a three classification system, only been twelve teams. So
that's really the issue here is the longer this goes,
(09:53):
the worse this gets. Because you think we're going to
have a high school football championship December twentieth and twenty first,
because that's the weekend. If we don't get started this
week and we wind up starting Black Friday weekend, we're
talking Friday December twentieth and Saturday December twenty first, You're
(10:15):
going to have parents, You're going to have people who
are rescheduling Christmas plans because they want to make sure
their kid can play in the high school FOOTBA championship. Sure,
it only affects eight teams, but you want to know something,
eight teams is like a pretty significant number across the
state of West Virginia, where there are one hundred and
ten high school football teams or one hundred and nine
high school football teams, whatever the number is. Off the
(10:37):
top of my head, I never remember. It's a significant number.
It's almost ten percent of the high schools in the state,
almost a little bit under. It's a big CHUNKI your population.
Where something's going to be going on. Where are they
going to play these games? Can the city of Charleston
even handle them at that time of year we start
(11:01):
do we start talking about pushing all the way back
to January and just absolutely torpedoing winter sports, wrestling and basketball.
I don't know, but those are sort of if you
follow that timeline that I laid out for you, there's
no one entity to blame everybody, And I will say
(11:25):
this as well, the media US we can take some
responsibility as well, because I think we asked a lot
of the wrong questions at times. I was asking, for sure,
I was asking about what the remedy would be on
what seemed like an injustice. The way things were handled
with the reclassification of twenty three schools ten days before
(11:47):
the start of the regular season. But why didn't we
know in greater detail about the statutory language, the rule,
the rules that essentially said this is how it is
and this is how it's going to be. And ultimately
why I think the initial playoff ratings that came out
on that Saturday, I think that's what we're probably gonna
(12:10):
wind up sticking with. Maybe I say that I'm no
legal expert. The folks I talk to seem to agree
with that, but I say, you know, on the media
side of things, we it wasn't until that last week
of the season, when I had started asking around because
I had been pointed in the right direction that this
could happen, that folks were hearing that this could happen.
(12:35):
Why didn't we hear about it sooner? Why didn't we
think about that sooner? I don't know that that's necessarily
entirely on us, But like I said, when you have
this big of a letdown, when you have students who
are now basically being told that this is out of
(12:56):
no one's in control here, This is just like a
runaway train. No one wants to hear that. No one
wants to hear how it's nobody's fault. Students certainly don't
want to hear. I remember what it was like to
be sixteen.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
You couldn't tell me.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
There was no way that I would be convinced that
it wasn't somebody's fault. It always had to be somebody's
fault when you're that age. The nuance and complexities of
this like that they don't process then. And the truth is,
I don't care if they process or not. At the
end of the day, you have all these little, tiny
(13:33):
death by a thousand cut mistakes from a bunch of
different actors involved. The high school sports world has been
let down by the adults of the high school sports world.
Those in charge, those who coach, those in the media,
and those who govern all of us collectively together let
(14:00):
these kids down, and I am I can only hope
we got we have a remedy as soon as possible.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
I would love to hear the words.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Alex, you're traveling to Bluefield or Wayne on Friday. Someone
tell me that that's what I'd like to hear. I'd
like a little bit of certainty. And I think the
kid the kids just want to play football. You'll never
be able to convince me otherwise that any any kid
anywhere cares about at the end of the day, who
they're going to play. Most of these kids just want
to play. They just want to play football, just want
(14:32):
to play. They don't care about the politics of it,
because that's what this has turned into. I mean, this
is extremely silly at this point. I had to make
sure we started the show off with it. This is
an ongoing story. It's going to keep developing. You gotta
check our website wv metro News dot com. Greg Carey guy.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
You can follow on on on.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
X He'll have updates, regular updates for you repeatedly. All right,
let's take a break. We got a good show line
up for you to add. Even set up the show
if you're wondering who I am at this point. I
always like to do this for the new listers and
know the regular listeners. No, for the new listeners, I'm
Alex Wheetersbield, I'm glad you're with us. I do this
show every weekday at nine o'clock and we talk about
(15:14):
all sorts of things, usually in the sports world, sometimes
other stuff as well. But we're gonna be pretty heavy sports.
I think this week we're gonna be pretty heavy sports.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
For a while.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
I suspect all of that being said, Alan Saunders of
Steelers now is going to join us a little bit later, closer,
a little bit after the bottom of the hour. He's
going to join us, and we're going to talk Steelers football.
Huge win for them yesterday. I missed most of that game. No,
I'm sorry, I missed all of that game. I had
my own game. I was actually covering in Salem women's basketball,
(15:45):
so I missed most of that game. But I will
tell you Chris Boswell is on my fantasy team, so
I really enjoyed that. It didn't help the rest of
my fantasy team was garbage yesterday. But Chris Boswell, the goat,
the goat. About all that coming up with Alan Xanders.
Steelers are eight and two?
Speaker 3 (16:03):
How about that? Are they legit Super Bowl contenders? At
this point?
Speaker 2 (16:06):
We'll talk about that, and over the course this week,
we're gonna be talking about the high school football. So
I mean, there's no getting away from it. We're gonna
be talking in high school football or lack thereof, all week.
So bear with me. This is the Morning Spiel presented
by Royal Water Treatment one of the three three WKMZ.
Your news and sports headlines for radio listeners, that's exclusive
to you. Next, for podcast listeners, we're going straight to
our guest back after this.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
Now back to the Morning Spiel brought to you by
Royal Water on WKMZ.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
This is the Morning Spiel presented by Royal Water Treatment
on one of the three three WKMZ. Welcome back into
the show, everybody, and it is Monday.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
It is a victory Monday.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Not for the Mountaineers, of course, but it is a
victory Monday for the Pittsburgh Steelers and eighteen to sixteen.
You know, I'm gonna have to check. Was that score agami?
It sounds like score agami to me. Alan Sanders of
Steelers now is here with us to chat about the
Pittsburgh Steelers as we do every week at the start
of the week.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Allen, what's up man?
Speaker 4 (17:07):
It was not score gommy. Not only was it not
score gommy, it's something of a Steelers a Steelers thing.
This is the third time the Steelers have won an
eighteen sixteen game in a row, so it has only
(17:27):
happened nine times. In NFL history, and the last three
times it happened was all the Steelers in a twenty
fifteen playoff game against the Bengals, and a twenty sixteen
playoff game against the Chiefs, and now against the Baltimore
Ravens on Sunday.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
That's wild.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
I have to tell you, I love that account has
completely changed how I think about like final scores in
football now, like I constantly like I'll be like, oh,
I remember, I remember this game I watched, Remember this
Jets game I watched as a kid, And now I
think I think about that all the time because that's
the first thing that popped in my head into my head.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
I got home from covering.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
A college basketball D two college basketball game yesterday afternoon,
and I came probably it was probably eighteen I think
it was eighteen sixteen, but they had already missed the
two point conversion at that point, and that was my
literal first thought, and I failed to follow up on it.
So I appreciate that you also had the wealth of
(18:32):
knowledge right there ready to tap into.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
I had remembered the playoff game against the Chiefs, and
that was, by the way, also all of those Chris
Boswell six field goal games, tying his own Steelers record,
and also the second time this year that the Steelers
have won a game without scoring a touchdown. This Boswell
becomes the second first kicker in Steeler's history. You have
(18:57):
two six field goal games in one season, the Steelers
are two and oh when they don't score a touchdown.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
How A love that one.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
That's I would love to see at some point when
we get to season's end, if that stays that way,
if the Steelers remain unbeaten without scoring a touchdown, I
would love to see a historical comparison again to other
teams that have done that, because, off the top of
my head, that is I don't even I mean, you
would immediately go back right to the you know, the
(19:26):
two thousand Ravens or any of those Bears defenses or
the immediate first thought.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
But man, I don't know. That's that's pretty wild.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Two and oh without scoring a touchdown and getting Boswell
to kick all those field goals, that's probably where the
best place to start has been. Again, we talked about
this a few weeks ago, how good the special teams
has been in relation to like scheming and designing kick blocking,
But the fact that it's not it's it's literally it's
universal across the entire special teams. Every single week it
(19:56):
feels like a different facet of special teams is stepping up,
and it's very rare that they're having a week where
they're having they're causing problems, right, Like, that's what's been
so wild about this that they're not causing problems when
they're not, you know, putting up huge eye popping stats.
And then every you know, three four weeks, you'll get
one of these big eye popping moments where it's like, oh,
(20:16):
they blocked an extra point in a field goal. Oh,
they kicked six field goals, and they've done that twice
this season. It's been really, it's been really an impressive
season for the special teams unit, and it's not any
one specific facet of it.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
Well, before we get into still special teams that will
blow your mind, the two thousand Baltimore Ravens, probably the
last team most noted for are you know a you
absolute you know, dominant defense did win a game without
scoring a touchdown twelve nothing, and they also won the
game that year eighteen to six. So it's but the
(20:54):
stiller special teams even like last week they had the
negative when they had the the fake punt that didn't
go their way, but then they get a fumble on
a punt return later that game. Corlis Weightman under the
radar pickup after Cameron Johnson was injured in the season opener,
has been lights out. He had a seventy one yard
punt against Baltimore. So that they're doing the routine things
(21:16):
at a very high level, and then they're adding the
crazy amount of splash that they've gotten on top of it.
I mean, I don't know if a special teams coach
has ever won Assistant Coach of the Year, but I
gotta think Danny Smith is at least putting his hat
in the ring right now.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
I mean he has a direct, kind of a direct
impact on how many Steeler wins at this point.
Speaker 4 (21:41):
Oh, I mean five or six? I think almost all
of them.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
They've yeah, I mean they've won.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Six six games by one possession, games that are five
games by one possession, and those are pretty much all
games where the special teams played like a pivotal role.
And here's the thing, they played a pretty big role
in the blowouts as well, Right, Like you beat the Jets,
and maybe you didn't need the New York or didn't
need the Special teams to be as good as it was.
But you know they're blocking field goals and all other
(22:11):
sorts of stuff in that game. So yeah, I would
be also curious about that. At what the history there
of special teams coaches is. Like a guy that pops
into my head would be like a Mike Westoff who
just actually just had to to step down from all.
I think tennessee a very length. I didn't even know
he was still coaching. He's in his seventies now due
to health issues though, and I know, I mean, he's
(22:33):
long considered one of the better special teams coaches in
the NFL, and I can't even think of a time
where he was even in consideration.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
I'm gonna have to look that up.
Speaker 4 (22:41):
Yeah, I remember, like when John Fossil was the special
teams coach of the Rams. I think he got some attention,
but I'm not sure that he ever won an award.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
Well, I gotta think I see it's funny, I don't
ever think about this award.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
Do they do they release like a list of.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
Nominees, Like is that how it works or that we'll
get at like a Yeah, I think five.
Speaker 4 (23:01):
He usually puts out like whoever, because you know, the
top three kind of go to the awards day not
knowing who's gonna win, right, So I think there is somewhere,
you know, some some second and third place finishers.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
I'd have to dig through those.
Speaker 4 (23:15):
No special teams coaches ever wanted. Of course, that AP
Award has only been around since twenty fourteen, so I
think there may have been like a UPI version before that.
Going back, I'd have to do some research.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Oh, by the way, quick note, I did want to
I did want to note that since Mike west Hop
just got a shout out, I just recently learned didn't
know that he was a Bethel Park native.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
Oh I did not know that either.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
Yeah, absolutely no idea.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
He has a long, lengthy career in the NFL and
college football, and never once did he wind up ever
coaching back in the Pittsburgh area at all. So just
kind of a funny. I guess the closest he ever
got was he was the offensive line coach at Dayton
in nineteen seventy six. But yeah, I've always been a
big Mike west Hof fan and just having seen him
(24:01):
unexpectedly retire.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
I hope he's doing and hope he's doing well.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Anyway, back to back to the Steelers though, because they
are they're eight and two.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
They just got to win over their arch rival.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
And obviously we were waxing over here poetic about the
how good the special teams unit has been. But let's
switch gears to the defense now, because I mean, you
mentioned it last week, and you know correctly pointed out
that the Steelers have kind of had Lamar Jackson's number,
and here he is having maybe the best season of
his career, having an MVP caliber season. He's getting seemingly
(24:31):
everybody involved, it doesn't matter who. He's got all these weapons,
and the Steelers really did do a pretty effective job
limiting him sixteen of thirty three throwing yesterday and they
got the win.
Speaker 4 (24:45):
Yeah, I mean, they've kind of followed the same game plan.
I don't think it was anything crazy unique. You know,
the Steelers have a really good defense. They have good
players at all levels of their defense, and what that
allows them to do is they can pay extra ten
to Lamar Jackson and not and still be able to
cover up everywhere else. And I think that's really the
(25:08):
key for them. The other thing to me, that's so
impressive about the way this defense is playing. And by
the way, you can't win two games without scoring a
touchdown without playing awfully good defense at the same time,
no matter how many field goals you kick. But I
think the most impressive part of this defense is, yes,
it has stars. Obviously TJ Watt is a star I
make if it's Patrick Cam Hayward, and not to say
(25:30):
that they're playing poorly, but it's not like these games
are being won because those guys are just rising up
and taking them over. TJ had one sack. It was
kind of a coverage sack where he pushed Lamar Jackson,
not a bounds to make if it's Patrick doesn't have
a turnover this year. Cam Hayward playing some really strong
run defense and did have a couple of sacks against
(25:51):
Washington last week. But the Stills win this game without
any of their defensive stars, like just snatching it up
and winning it. They just laid really good, fundamental eleven
man defense from top to bottom. I think that makes
it even more impressive in some ways.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
So coming up, you know, I don't want to call
this it's it's not an easy stretch because it's all
division games, but it is certainly the easiest stretch when
you compare and we talked about this a little bit
last week, but when you compare the second half of
this of these next you know, seven games, it's there's
a three game stretch where they're on the road at
Philly and at Baltimore and Kansas City and short weeks
(26:33):
on all of those games. That's obviously going to be
really tough. And they've got short weeks coming up, including
this week as well. But it is worth noting while
they are on the road, it looks like the wheels
might be falling off in Cleveland, and while the wheels
aren't quite falling off in Cincy, they are what they record,
their record says they are at four and seven. Let's
talk a little bit about this one coming up, though,
(26:54):
because Cleveland is is rather fascinating, because there were times
this year where it looked like they might kind of
figure their stuff out, and now it looks like a
team that despite some of again, they've played some good
games this year against some good teams. I think notably,
I think, you know, you look at what they the
way they limited Philadelphia. This is still a team that
in theory defensively is very good. But stylistically you have
(27:17):
to kind of think this is a at worst case
scenario for the Steelers. It's a strength on strength, with
the Steelers having the stronger strength in terms of the
way the two playing styles between these two teams. I
know it's just short weeks. Short weeks are wonky, but
give me your quick thoughts on Steelers Browns coming into
this week with the Browns reeling after a blowout loss to.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
A not very good New Orleans team.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
Yeah, the Browns are not very good, and I'm not
sure they're capable of playing very good. I do think
they're capable of dragging you down to their level, you know.
I think that is something that some bad teams are
better at than others, and I think the Browns are
that team. They do have some like they have enough
good players that if you try to sleep walk through them,
(28:01):
they will hurt you. They will like set Miles Garrett
loose on your your offense or you know, Jerry Judy
and you know Nick Chubb or more than capable of
taking a part of defense if you let them. And
so I think the Steelers will be careful and and
I am expecting a really ugly game. To be honest,
(28:23):
I think the Browns will want it to be ugly
because that's probably their only chance to win. And I
think the Steelers coming off a short week against Baltimore.
After Baltimore, they've they've historically struggled the week after they
play the Ravens. You know, I think that's a recipe
for a pretty ugly football game. I can already hear,
(28:43):
like the the the complaints about Thursday night football. When
we have the Steelers who have played, you know, a
couple of really good games in a row. I think
they're gonna just come out and and try to do
the least to get a win in Cleveland and might
be pretty ugly.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
They ran I think seventy plays this week in the
win over Baltimore. It feels like, I mean, is this
the type of game where it's going to be another
like ball control type of game for the offense where
maybe they're not gonna I guess, let me phrase it
this way. They didn't have their fastball against Baltimore, and
that's that's kind of a given. Should we be expecting
(29:21):
them not to have their fastball offensively against Cleveland as well,
for all the reasons that you just listed.
Speaker 4 (29:27):
Yeah, I think so, although I will say the Browns
are nowhere near, you know, the run defense that the
Ravens have. I think the Ravens have had the best
run defense in the league this year. The Browns are
not in that category. They're one of the worst. And
so I think the Steelers will run the ball against Cleveland,
and I think it will be a low, like, you know,
(29:49):
snap the ball at five all game kind of game.
You know, like just run it four yards five yards,
four yards five yards, you know, Harris Warren, and try
to do the least they have to do to get
out of there with a win. That's kind of what
I'm seeing for the Steels. You can definitely run on
the Browns. And Miles Garrett is their best player, and
(30:13):
he's not to say he's not good against the run,
but he's certainly more able to take over a game
the more you throw it. And so I think that'll
be the Steelers mindset in this one.
Speaker 3 (30:23):
We have Alan Saunders here from Steelers.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
Now, Alan, before I let you go, obviously at this
point that the Steelers look pretty likely to make the playoffs.
I mean, it would take a real serious collapse for
that not to occur. And now, obviously they've got the
inside track at the division and I think probably the
inside track at the number two seed. What are some
big things or one big thing that they could potentially accomplish? Actually,
(30:48):
I guess they'd have the inside track at the number
three seed, though we'll see how the Buffalo Kansas City
race also goes. But what are some of the big
things that you would say over the next seven games
are they other than staying healthy? What do they need
to accomplish as they get ready to gear up for
what I think a lot of fans are hoping it's
going to be a deep run.
Speaker 4 (31:08):
Well, I think over the next couple of games, I
think what they really need to do is stay more
than a game ahead of Baltimore, because you know, you
have that stretch Philly Kansas City, Philly, Baltimore Kansas City,
two of them on the road all you know, the
two straight short weeks, and you can afford to lose
to Philly because it's an NFC game, But you can't
afford to lose to Baltimore if you're only up one
(31:30):
then right like you know you and so I think
the key is stay a game ahead of Baltimore. If
they stay ahead a game ahead of Baltimore, I think
they're in good shape to survive the storm that's coming.
I really think that's the goal here. Uh, this is
an easier stretch, although I don't think the Bengals are
an easy matchup for them, but Brown's Bengals Browns is
as easy as it's going to get for the Steelers
(31:51):
in the second half year. I don't expect them to
win all of them. I think the big, the big
job for them is to just stay ahead and give
them cells that keep the buffer that they've built so
that when they go into that real tough stretch week
spit is that fifteen sixteen seventeen, that they don't get
(32:11):
into a situation where they're standing at those three games
having to win them all.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
Very good, Alan, Tell the folks where they can find
your work.
Speaker 4 (32:17):
At Asaunders Underscore, PGH on x, Instagram, TikTok and Blue Sky, PGH,
Steelers Now, sides account, Steelers now dot Com is where
all the written work is and you can find my
podcast Stillers Afternoon Drive and Stills Morning rush on the
Steelers Now YouTube page or anywhere you find podcasts.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
Very good Alan Sunders of Steelers. Now, we'll take a
break wrap the show after this. This is the Morning
Spiel presented by Royal Water Treatment. I want to three
to three WKMZ.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
Never miss an episode. Recorded versions of the Morning Spiel
are online at wkmznews dot com.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
This is the Morning Spiel presented by Royal Water Treatment.
I want to three three WKMZ and folks, we gotta go,
but I wanted to say thanks. Thanks for being a
part of our broadcast today. Thanks for being a part
of our show today. You can catch the show every
weekday on WKMZ at nine oh six live right here
on one of three three WKMZ, or at wkmznews dot com. Now,
(33:14):
if you can't catch the show live, you can do
what a lot of I know a lot of folks
do now is listening podcast form. We try to cater
the show so that it kind of fits very very
well into both formats. You can find the podcast at
its home base. That's the Spreaker app. That's Speaker with
an extra R in there, the Spreaker app. That's right,
you didn't mishear me the Spreaker app or at your
(33:36):
preferred podcasting platform. Should be on Spotify or any of
the other locations. We also archive episodes and they are
uploaded at wkmznews dot com, so you can check those
out there. Email the show The Morningspiel at gmail dot
com you ever want to share thoughts and opinions on anything,
particularly with the high school football situation. I would love
to hear what you have to say about it. I
got to rant this morning, I've got to talk about
(33:57):
it a lot lately. If you want to share a thought,
feel free to let me know at the Morning Spiel
at gmail dot com. I'd love to hear from you
guys on this high school football situation. That said, you
can also find the show and find me on all
sorts of different social media accounts. You can find the
show on x and Facebook, and you can find me
on Blue Sky. I am going to eventually make a
show account for Blue Sky. I haven't done that.
Speaker 3 (34:17):
Yet, but we'll get to doing that here shortly.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
That said, gotta go, Thanks again for being here today, everybody.
We'll be back tomorrow morning, same time, same place, and
we'll see you then.
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