Can the Steelers rebound against the Browns on Monday night?

Episode Transcript
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(00:01):
Welcome to the Underground, The steelCity Underground, the black and gold standard
for Pittsburgh Steelers coverage. Now here'syour host, Joe Kuzma. Hello everyone,
and welcome to another edition of thesteel City Underground podcast. My name
is Joe Kuzma on Flying Solo.Here to give you a little bit of

(00:24):
update, a preview, a lookahead at Monday Night football's matchup Week two
of the NFL twenty twenty three regularseason, as the Pittsburgh Steelers host the
Cleveland Browns, and for how everythinghas gone over the last week to the
start of Week one in the NFLseason. It's very difficult to be optimistic

(00:46):
if you are a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, whereas a lot of the Cleveland Browns
fans of already kind of acting likethey won their Super Bowl defeating the Cincinnati
Bengals at home last week in agame where the Cleveland Browns kind of they
contained the newly highest paid quarterback inthe National Football League. That would be
Joe Burrow, who landed a recorddeal but only completed forty five point two

(01:10):
percent of his passes for eighty twoyards, no turnovers, and no touchdowns.
As Joe would only have a fiftytwo point two quarterback rating, and
believe it or not, the AFCNorth or give me if I'm still Daisily
as well, get this show toyou a little later in the week,
not only because of but in afootball still try to recover for being sick.
And of course doesn't help that Brianis out hiking in Oregon or something

(01:34):
like that. So bear with me, folks. This is as far as
it gets sometimes on this show,especially when I'm flying solo. So AFC
North hard to believe. Kennie Pickettthrowing the two turnovers, the one touchdown,
passed a lot of three and ounceon. The Steelers offense actually had
maybe the best day of the AFCNorth quarterbacks, as Deshaun Watson fifty five

(01:57):
point two percent of his passes completedonly one hundred and fifty four yards,
it was enough to get the jobdone, however, doing a lot of
it with his legs. He didthrow for a touchdown also through an interception,
but he also ran in a touchdownas well, carrying the ball five
times for forty five yards. Wherethe Brown's offense was ground based as you

(02:19):
usually expect him to be. WithNick Chubb in the backfield, carrying four
or five point nine average eighteen carriesfor one hundred and six yards. They're
also supported with Jerome Ford, whowasn't exactly as good fifteen carries thirty six
yards for a two point four average. So all depends. The Steelers will
have to bottle up and contain DeshaunWatson, and that might be a little

(02:40):
bit easier with the Steelers starting offensivetackle Jack Conklin out perhaps for the season,
I believe is what I saw,He's going to be replaced by Ohio
State rookie giant manned One Jones,and it's going to be an interesting matchup

(03:00):
because you've got t J. Wattlicking his chops to take on a guy
that during the draft process we werereally considering whether or not his heart or
his mind was into playing football dependingon who's looking at that is the way
you get that opinion, and we'regoing to get the actual answer. I

(03:21):
guess Bunday Night, but a firststart for the rookie, I guess,
the former defensive player of the Yearand also another on the other end,
you're not gonna be able to justdouble team t J. Watt as Alex
Highsmith coming around too. Of course, we know t J. Watt just
tied the Steelers franchise sack record withJames Harrison and will become the all time

(03:44):
team leader in sacks with one onMonday, so we shall see how this
matchup plays out. Of course,it becomes a little bit easier for the
Cleveland Browns that they do not haveto contend with excuse me again, with
yam Hayward growing surgery placed on anduredreserve out for at least half of the

(04:04):
season. About eight weeks is theprognosis for the veteran defensive end for the
Pittsburgh Steelers, and the Steelers goingto have to use a number of players
in order to overcome that shortcoming thatcould come from to Marvin Leoo might be
the next man up, Isaiah Loudermilkthat might not stress the greatest fear to

(04:30):
that Cleveland Brown's offensive line, whichis typically a good one. I kind
of surmise we might see more ofKeano Benton. Got us saw a lot
of him on Sunday, the rookieout of Wisconsin second round pick largely forgotten,
still a top fifty pick in theNational Football League he's kind of a
beast of a player. The questionis whether or not he plays as an
end or if he plays as aare on the nose. We saw a

(04:55):
little bit of everything, and ofcourse the players. The Steelers play in
a hybrid not their traditional three fourwith the nose tackle usually with just a
two defensive ends and the two edgerushers. You're outside linebackers Watton high Smith,
and then it would be Hayward andOgajoby and of course Larry Ogajoby once
again on the injury report as we'regetting used to seeing almost every single time,

(05:15):
and the guy ends up playing nothingagainst them, but lands on the
injury report from Thursday. And ofcourse I'm gonna have to try and update
all of the ends on some ofthis too, because you've got a delayed
practice schedule where you didn't have Wednesday, Thursday, Friday practices, so right
now we're just going off of oneday of DMPs. And of course that

(05:35):
would have been not only Kim Haywardcompletely like ruled out Ogajoby there with again
limited with a foot injury, andgoing through the rest of the Steelers injuries
as well. Anthony McFarland. Onebright spot from the Pittsburgh Steelers opener with
the kick return game, he wasa did not practice with a knee Chikwarma

(05:58):
Core four Steelers starting right tack Talkabout him a little more in a minute.
He is limited in the concussion protocol. The extra day of rest may
actually see him get on the fieldon Monday Night. James Daniels, another
Pittsburgh Steelers offensive lineman playing right nextto a Core four A, is the
right guard limited with the ankle,and then Pat Friar Muth chest injury had

(06:20):
him limited as well. When wego to the Cleveland Browns rest in nin
injury related rest days for Joel Betonioand Marii Cooper and Miles Garrett defensive vent
Shelby Harris did not practice with anachilles, Maurice Hurst, sia Eca all
along that defensive line hamstring and footalso DMPs. The rest of the DMPs

(06:41):
one Thornhill who did not who didnot play last week with the Cleveland Browns
with a calf injury, a restday for Anthony Walker middle linebacker, and
then Jedrick Wills, the other offensivetackle for the Cleveland Browns, limited with
a foot injury. A little bangedup and on. Cleveland still trying to
find their way with him as well, So it's going to be interesting as
you see this dynamic Pittsburgh Steelers havenot lost a Monday night football game.

(07:04):
They are twenty executive wins in arow have go all the way back to
the nineteen ninety one Steelers haven't lostat home against Cleveland Browns since Shep was
a pup either. They actually leadthe regular season series seventy eight sixty eight
and one. If won three ofthe past four games total, and the

(07:29):
actual home record for the Pittsburgh Steelersagainst Cleveland Browns is fifty one and twenty
two all time. So looking atthe coaching matchups head to head, Mike
Tomin against Kevin Stefansky, Kevin stefanskatehis fourth year at the Cleveland Browns twenty
seven and twenty four, So I'mgonna have to see how this plays out.

(07:54):
This is another big divisional game forthe Browns, who just opened up
one against the Cincinnati Bengals, whoeverybody had the Bengals up here as Super
Bowl contenders. There was some hypebehind the Pittsburgh Steelers. Of course,
they laid an egg mostly behind theKinny Pickett and also the Pittsburgh Steelers defense
not playing not playing up to theirability as well, but kind of hard
to do when they're always on thefield and guys getting injured, but still

(08:16):
no excuses for some of what transpired. They're gonna have to put some pressure
on DeShawn Watson, who again wasnot sharp last week against the Bengals.
The Cincinnati Bengals or the Cleveland Brownsrather kind of did everything that they kind
of just needed to do to getby. You had their new field goal
kicker because kde York, former fourthround pick, was cut at the end

(08:39):
of the preseason. They picked upor traded for Dustin Hopkins, formerly of
the Los Angeles Chargers, who endedup kicking three field goals in this game.
Deshaun Watson ran for a touchdown andthen also passed for the one to
Harrison Bryant late real late in thegame in the fourth quarter I should I

(09:00):
should say five six minutes into thefourth quarter as well, So most of
it was all Cleveland Browns all thetime, twenty four to three. That's
why they have the Steelers actually givingup points there are an underdog at home
once again, but I surmise herethat the Cleveland Browns are not the San
Francisco forty nine ers. She maybe able to drum up some comparisons,

(09:24):
of course Nick Boza with somebody likeBiles Garrett. Of course, the Cleveland
Browns adding Zadarius Smith, another talentededge rusher. We'll see what the Steelers
end up doing to combat that withthe offensive light. If a core four
is a green light. A lotof us are still concerned about having Dan
Moore junior out there as the startingleft tackle. I feel that have a

(09:45):
Dan Bore junior playing at the righttackle position last week to close out that
game was probably even more disastrous.Although Broderick Jones held up more than his
own the rookie fourteenth overall pick forthe Pittsburgh Steelers, playing on the left
side would be more optable. Andperhaps this is what the coaching staff of
Mike Tomlin needs to see or whatthey're going to ease into eventually, not
more on the right side, buta core for coming back to the right

(10:09):
and Brodrick Jones eventually getting out there, because if you could pare him up
with somebody like Darnell Washington, rookietight end third round pick out of Georgia
and Brodrick Jones's teammate. Those twowill create a nice wall where Smith or
Washington won't be able to just getthrough. I want to see a little
bit better off a game from IsaacSumalo as well. Because Kenny Pickett got

(10:30):
rattled last week. We say he'susually calm and cool and collected. He
had pretty much a perfect preseason.Everybody who didn't get to see or witness
what happened at the end of lastyear from the bye week one with the
Pittsburgh Steelers kind of hanging their haton well, it was just preseason football
and he was playing bums, whichalso wasn't the case when he was playing
against the Buffalo Bills and also someof the players for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

(10:52):
and two of those three preseason games. The execution, though, was all
there. The execution is what weare looking at versus, you know,
just the other team making great plays, which San Francisco certainly did, and
the Cleveland Browns or any professional footballteam. We're talking about paid talent here,
capable of what they're capable of doing. You've got two teams out there
on the field, So Kenny Pickett'sgoing to have to return to form.

(11:16):
I'm not sure. There's some speculationas to whether or not, like on
the third play of the game whenhe took the sack on third down,
as to whether or not his headtook a bounce off the turf and nobody
saw it, and perhaps he wasa little bit rattled. And we'll see
what ends up happening going forward.But you need Kenny. The plays were
certainly there. It does not necessarilyabsolve Matt Canada, but Canada is not

(11:39):
out there throwing the balls. Nordoes Matt Canada play defense or Terrell Austin
play offense. The coaches hopefully schemeup a good game plan, but the
Pittsburgh Steelers have had their range ofsuccess. It gets to Shawn Watson in
the past, and I would suspectthat they could do the same as well
here in twenty three. You'd goback to last season's game and the Pittsburgh

(12:03):
Steelers held Deshaun Watson to nineteen totwenty nine for two hundred thirty yards.
He had two touchdowns, but wasalso picked off twice. The team,
the Steelers themselves got to Watson itwas a sack fiesta. I actually have
to try and do real math here. Brian would be proud of the maths

(12:24):
with Brian, as the Steelers hadwhat six seven sacks, They got to
the quarterback at least ten times andalso accounted for six other tackles for loss.
This was a game, it hadsome stuff on the line. There
was at least pride for the ClevelandBrowns. The Pittsburgh Steelers were still in
contention for a postseason spot if thingshad fallen their way, and it did

(12:46):
eventually as they closed out the gametwenty eight to fourteen. What we're going
to have to see which would mirrormore of this game as well, that
being the one that was played inWeek eighteen in the twenty twenty two season,
is the Steelers holding or containing Imean wots It still got his six
carries for forty four yards in thatgame, but Nick Chubb was bottled up
to the tune still six point fouraverage, but twelve carries for seventy seven

(13:09):
yards. Forcing the turnovers was absolutelyhuge in the case of the Pittsburgh Steelers
and also forcing pretty much some threeand outs four play drives. The Browns
were forced to punt multiple times tostart that game. They actually trying to
remember I think they drew blood firstthat they did in that game, and

(13:30):
then it was almost all Steelers therest of the way up until the fourth
quarter where it got kind of backand forth. But that's the way we're
gonna have to see the game script. The Steelers defense is going to have
to step it up in the absenceof Cam Hayward. Cam Hayward, of
course, one of the probably oneof the elite players in the NFL,
so it's gonna be a tall orderto ask of any part time players or

(13:52):
rookies. But at the same time, I feel that this is something that
they can get done, and playingunder the right lights of prime time.
Gotta wonder if they're going to adda little bore incentive to just playing the
Cleveland Browns just getting the licking assaultout of their wounds from a bad loss
to what looks to be a SuperBowl or an early Super Bowl favorite in
the San Francisco forty nine Ers.Well, they pull out color rush jerseys

(14:16):
to combat these all white Browns jerseysbecause the Browns are coming into town thinking
with their one oh record and allof the preseason hype that they're going to
be the team to beat, andthe Steelers are going to need some more
help, some more contributions from playerssuch as Naji Harris, who in the
last game carried to ball twenty threetimes for eighty yards. Jalen Warren also

(14:39):
adding into this mix six carries forthirty six yards with a six point zero
yards per carry average. We're gonnahave to see George Pickens in this game.
We caught a touchdown pass last time, he had three for seventy two
yards. So offensively, the PittsburghSteelers and defensively the Pittsburgh Steelers are going
to have to clean up the messthat they left from last week. If

(15:03):
it's much of the same, thenthe Cleveland Browns may very well have their
way, because I do feel thatthe Bengals were at least talented of enough
team to compete on the road againstCleveland. Although Joe Burrow himself may have
been knocking out some of the cobwebsfrom having not played all preseason, having
already gone through the injury report,let's talk about where you can catch this

(15:24):
game and some of the coverage forit. Of course, it's a Bunday
night football game, which means you'regonna be able to see this on ESPN
and locally also should be on WTAEin the Pittsburgh area, which is ABC
TV, and of course it's equivalentor anyone who might be listening it might
be in that Northeast Ohio area andthe Cleveland broadcast area. It's Joe Buckatroy

(15:45):
Aikman who moved over to ESPN ofcourse from Fox, so you don't have
to deal with the yeah, lesserknown quantities doing this. Of course,
it's a nationally televised primetime game two, which means you're gonna be able to
catch this on radio just about itanywhere that you would like as well.
That would be the series XM feedon eighty eight, which is Westwood One
Radio with Kevin Harlan and Kurt Warner. That's also an excellent call if you

(16:07):
don't listen to it normally, dependingon which service that you have, the
Steelers feed is eighty five or twotwenty eight if you want to listen to
Bill Hillgrove, Craig Wolfley, andMax Starks with Missy Matthews also on the
field. Lisa Saulders is your fieldreporter as well with ESPN referee Ron Torbert.

(16:27):
Oh boy, they couldn't have picked, like, come on, anybody
else. So expect some of thenormal, like just delays in the game
when it comes to this officiating crew. I don't trust any of the referees
in the NFL at this point,but Ron's kind of one of the guys
that's up there. Hopefully the crewhas themselves halfway decent game. Cleveland Browns

(16:51):
are lucky to begin their season twoand ozero for the first time since nineteen
ninety three, and just a coupleof other news and notes from their team.
Receiving wise, Amari Cooper had thirtyseven yards last week, Elijah Moore
added forty three last week, andDavid and Joku is looking for his fourth
game in a row with a touchdownagainst the Pittsburgh Steelers. Miles Garrett had

(17:15):
a sack last week. He hadseventy five and a half career sacks,
bit fastest player eighty five games sincenineteen eighty two to reach seventy five sacks.
He's looking for a seventh in arow versus Division in fourth and row
overall with a sack. But ifwe actually go back to that game from
last year. Need I remind folks, Miles Garrett only got to Kenny Pickett.

(17:37):
He actually got two quarterback hits ofone of which was a registered sack
only had He did have his numberof combined tackles, but was pretty much
out there by himself with a littlehelp on the other side. So the
Steelers have always found a way tokind of game plan or contain Miles Garrett.
We'll see if they're going to beable to do the same. Don't

(18:00):
forget that they got Agbo Aronquo aswell in this rotation. He had a
sack in his debut with the ClevelandBrowns last week. Deadze Award kind of
up there in the All Pro conversationas far as cornerbacks go. He had
four tackles in the past deflection lastweek. And you have safety Grant Delpitt,
who led the team with eight tackles, had a tackle for loss and

(18:22):
a pass deflection last week as well. The on the Pittsburgh Steelers side,
Nac Harris has had some pretty goodsuccess against the Cleveland Browns over the years.
He has four hundred and seventy sevenyards from scrimmage in four combined games
against Cleveland. Hopefully he could holdon to the ball for this one and

(18:45):
we don't have that fumble at thegoal line like they did last year.
He has a rushing touchdown in eachgame. He's looking for his seventh game
in a row against AFC North opponents, of which he's had a touchdowns three
twenty three yards from scrimmage one hundredand seven per game in his three career
games on Monday Night Football, andall of those as well with a rushing

(19:07):
touchdown. George Pickins had five catcheslast week, and of course I mentioned
earlier seventy two recept or seventy tworeceiving yards and a touchdown catch in the
last meeting, and he's pretty successfuland on that same pace against the division
last four games against all all fourgames basically against the AFC North folks last

(19:29):
season. Let's see, Alan Robinsonhad a team high sixty four yards last
week. He's gonna be leaned onsome more as we don't think Gante Johnson
will be available for this game withthe hamstring injury and also stepping into his
place Kelvin Austin in his NFL debut. Remember, he's still kind of a
rookie even though he's in his secondyear, quicker than a hiccup, but
six catches in that game. Patfriar Muth had his tenth career TD catch

(19:55):
in Week one, and he hasfive catches in two or three career games.
On Monday Night four Ball, ofcourse, t J. Watt just
a human highlight reel and just puttingup as many statistical numbers. I mean,
they don't play the same position,but they both get after the quarterbacks
of the Comparisons will always be madebetween him and Garrett, especially when they're
kind of quasi head to head inthis game, right t J. Watt

(20:18):
with three sacks, two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery, and a pass
deflection and nearly had both of thosefumbles recovered last week One Man Wrecking Crew.
It's his sixth career game with threeplus sacks. That's the most in
the NFL Sin's twenty seventeen. He'sone was one of two in the NFL,
pairing up with Montez Sweat with twoforced fumbles during Week one last week.
His eighty and a half sex andeighty eight career games surpasses his brother

(20:41):
JJ Watt ninety two games, hissecond fastest player to reach eighty sacks since
nineteen eighty two, So sorry,he had to one up yet there,
Miles Garrett. Hall of famer ReggieWhite did it in seventy one games.
Wow, jeez, I'm not evensure I knew that that. I mean,
Reggie White was something, but haeventyone games is just if they Watt's

(21:02):
been on a pace. Holy cow. T J. Watt had six sacks
in his past three games against Cleveland. He's looking for his ninth in a
row versus Division with at least ahalf sack. Has eight sacks in his
past four playing in primetime games onMonday nights, Alex Highsmith had seven tackles
and one for a loss last week, and he aims for his fourth in
a row with Cleveland with one anda half sacks so previous three games.

(21:26):
Alex Heismith coming off the other endwith at least a second and a half
in each of those games. Andthen Mickey Fitzpatrick also plays for Primetime as
well. He's looking for his thirdand a row primetime game with a pick.
Had ten tackles last week. Thatdoes just about, does it,
folks. For this episode of thesteel City Underground podcast. I hope you

(21:48):
like the format. It's a littlebit of a mix of the cheat sheet
in the kind of I don't knowhow this team game plans either, Like
what am I really going to analyzethe way how bad they looked last week?
The only thing we've been able tohang our hats on for a very
long time is that the Pittsburgh Steelersusually do not falter in any mean or
fashion to the Cleveland Browns. Welast we saw that was a COVID season

(22:11):
playoff game with no fans in thestands. I'm not willing to give that
much credit or credence. And ofcourse you go back far enough with Deshaun
Watson as well. I know everybody'slooking for him to be, you know,
to be kind of a rebound,kind of kind of bring this Cleveland
Brown's team around for being paid allthe big money that he's been paid.

(22:34):
But lest I remind you that ifyou happen to recall the Houston Texans came
in to Pittsburgh back in the twentytwenty season with the Shawn Watson and we're
up twenty one to seventeen at halftime, you had Deshaun Watson throw some a

(22:55):
pair of touchdown passes before the halfand then turned into a pumpkin before it
was all said done. He wassacked five times. He ended up with
a pick in that game as well, and his rating was a lot better,
and you would think it would bein nineteen to twenty seven because it
was all first half to Shaun Watson, so it could still be a tale

(23:18):
of two halves. Steelers cannot putthemselves in a hole early and expect the
climb out of it. I don'tbelieve that they are the team to be
able to do that, and theyhave been doing this for going back to
Ben Roethlisberger, so there is somethingfundamentally within this team. They have to
learn to get a faster start,both offensively and defensively. But the pressure

(23:40):
on Watson, the rest will flowwith it. So folks, by Dame
is Joe, thanks once again forjoining us on the steel City Underground podcast.
Pittsburgh Steelers Monday night eight fifteen kickoff. Don't forget there is a double
header, but they're like it's staggeredtimes. They almost like I think they
overlap if I saw the schedule correctly. Accuser Stadium homegame Pittsburgh Steelers hosting the

(24:03):
Cleveland Browns. Don't forget to like, comments, subscribe, Thank you for
watching or listening wherever you may be, and until next time, here we
go Steelers. We'll catch you onthe flip side early next week with our
postgame show, but until then,we encourage all of our viewers and listeners
out there to be safe, begood, and we'll catch later. We

(24:23):
would liked it. Thank you forlistening, and remind our listeners to follow
us on social media and our websitewww dot steel City Underground dot com

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