Fire Tomlin chants intensify as Bills ground and pound Steelers

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Underground, The steel City Underground, the black
and gold standard for Pittsburgh Steelers coverage. Now here's your hoes.
Joe Kuzma and Brian E. Rose.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Hello everyone, and welcome to another edition of the steel
City Underground podcast. My name is Joe Kuzma. I'm joined
here with my good colleague in pala one, mister Briany Roach. Brian,
i'd ask you how you're feeling, how you're doing everything else.
I'm just doing that on a very personal level, with
no attachment to the Pittsburgh Steelers implied.

Speaker 3 (00:39):
So how are you well?

Speaker 4 (00:42):
On the plus side, the four year slide ended and
we got off the schneid with Ryan Day and go
Bucks there. So there you go.

Speaker 3 (00:53):
That's I'm looking at the only positive outtake from this weekend.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
Yeah, here you are on that one. If you want
to talk about bad defensive performances, real quick. For those
of the two percenters, those they hang around to the
end of the show, catch a little extra content. My
alma mater blew a thirty six point lead in the
second half and ended up losing. Also broke like a
seventeen game home playoff streak, so it could always always

(01:23):
be worse Steelers, and they actually I don't know if
it could be worse. I was kind of wondering where
we really go with this show, if we've hit if
they've hit rock bottom. That was asked by Mike Persuda
and Charlie Batch on the post game radio show. There
are many callers who called in. There were some things
that were just we're just talking about you know, some

(01:44):
people are still gonna call us maybe.

Speaker 4 (01:48):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
I don't know there's anything optimistic here. But there's a
certain way to handle the criticism of this team, coaching, staff,
players and stuff. And I'm not going to do it
by nit calling names and poking fun and saying F
this and F that. But there definitely is I don't
know how to say it. Yesterday was a day where

(02:09):
the fire Tomlin chance in the stadium and the booing
of Renegade it felt warranted sometimes where I say, hey,
people are booing Aaron Rodgers, or they're booing Mason Rudolph
or whatever. And Mason Rudolph got a little bit of
an applause when he came on and to novel talk
about him. After that, he wrecked that. I've got more

(02:32):
to say about him, I'll have to come back to it.
But there was a reason this team. This team gives
you glimmers of hope, and it just seems like it
just seems like you have a lot of highly paid
players who seem to be doing a whole lot of nothing.
This was a Bills team that was very susceptible. They
had two.

Speaker 4 (02:51):
Backup tackles and somehow that and and swirling wins where
Josh Allen couldn't really throw the ball. It was difficult
in some situations. It wasn't quite the Cleveland game where
it was coming off the lake, but it was bad enough.
We saw missed extra point, which I surmised had to
do with that. But two backup tackles and the Bills

(03:12):
somehow run for the most yards that any team ever
has in the history of the stadium, whether it was
called Hinzfield or Akrosher. It's unaccepted fifty years, fifty years,
and with three rivers, it's the most any team has
ever run in fifty years. And that was Oja Simpson
and the Buffalo Bills too. Yeah, exactly, so that I mean,

(03:34):
if that tells you how long ago things were.

Speaker 2 (03:37):
I tried to jot down this statistic. It was from
Matt Williamson. I'm not sure if it was updated as
of yesterday, but it was the one I couldn't remember.
I was sitting in the seats. I sent this to
the guy that sits next to me because I finally
heard it, heard it again and it was The Steelers
are one of four teams to lead in every single

(03:57):
game this season. The other teams are combined twenty five
and eight. Now that was either heading in or after yesterday.
The Steelers not so much, obviously dropping the six and six,
and it's feeling uncomfortable trying to say, well, I don't
know where to go. I don't know what to say
after this. I don't know how they fix it after this.

(04:18):
I don't know, Like this loss isn't so bad. They
still got two games against the Ravens. I have absolutely
zero optimism that they're gonna handle their business against Baltimore.
They could have handled this game. I thought maybe they
could go on like a two or three game win streak,
really control their destiny, maybe even have a say. They're
not gonna have a say in the wild card and
the way that the Steelers and the Ravens are playing,

(04:39):
and I'm going to say this for the whole AFC North,
Every single coach in the AFC North is their seat
is hot right now.

Speaker 4 (04:45):
Everyone.

Speaker 2 (04:46):
Zach Taylor has got to win in Cincinnati, and they're
back in the picture. Now that they beat the Ravens
and that the Steelers lost, You're gonna let this team
that has Joe Burrow kind of slide right back in
and they're gonna have some tie breakers with some head
to heads potentially with either Baltimore or Pittsburgh. Now Baltimore,
John Harbaugh. Obviously their own issues. People have always talked

(05:07):
about Lamar being this MVP player, and the Ravens just aren't,
you know, beating everyone's ass, and they have their own issues.
And this might be another ugly game next Sunday when
we get to that one. And of course the Cleveland Browns,
what do they do. They've got all these picks. You've
got Andrew Berry, who made all these moves, supposed to
be this guru of GM, made probably possible, quite possibly
the worst trade in NFL history for Deshaun Watson and

(05:29):
handicapped at this team's salary cap and Kevin Stefanski's still there,
but for how long and how many quarterbacks are you
going to go through before they say let's wipe the
slate clean. And now we're looking at the same thing
in Pittsburgh starting to think, as Mike Tomlin gotten stale
and I want to start the show really with this.
I'm not ready to Everybody's like fire Mike Tomlin today,
Monday morning, Tuesday whatever. I'm mart Ronnie the second me personally,

(05:53):
after witnessing that watching from the press box, I'm calling
Mike Tomlin into my office this morning, Monday morning, and
I'm gonna say, Terrell, Austin needs to go, and if
he doesn't, you're gone right now. And now you've got
five games to fix this or you're gonna you're gonna
have a similar fate. That's the way I feel, because
if it's Austin with his defense, he's got to go.

(06:15):
And I know the Steelers, they really aren't a team
that like, let's go of coordinators mid season.

Speaker 4 (06:22):
They stick with guys. It's been so piss poor. This
is Matt Canada poor. But on the defense, you've got
all of these you know, you've got a Jay Leno
collection of hot rods in the garage. I don't know
that it's necessarily talent. I know some people said they
look old and they look slow in whatever in this game,

(06:43):
and I'm just looking at it as well. They may
look a little worn out because the Bills just had
ten days of rest. The Ravens are about to have
ten days of rest. Also, it's just like the scheduling.
The scheduling isn't helping. But what was the time of
Pozzi in fifty nine, eighteen oh one for the Steelers

(07:06):
forty one, fifty nine for the Buffalo Bills. Yeah, just
round forty two to eighteen forty Yeah, forty two, dude,
not the map. Twenty six first downs sixteen by running
the ball. Bills were eight to fifteen on third down
one of perfect, two to two on fourth down. There
were two to four in the reds on So the
defense they got a couple of stops where they could,
but mostly the stops again, Brian, like you said, unless

(07:28):
it's a turnover, they weren't stopping much of anything. Yeah. Look,
I'll I'll start my rant by blowing sunshine up everybody's skirt.
Right now, as it stands, the division is still completely
up for grabs.

Speaker 3 (07:44):
The Steelers have.

Speaker 4 (07:46):
As much of an opportunity as anybody else to take
this division. They can beat the Ravens and and get
through the rest of this schedule. Their schedule is not
as daunting as some of the up Now, let me
completely destroy all that sunshine and tell you they have
zero shot as at the With the way they're playing

(08:08):
right now, no one should absolutely even think that they
have a prayer of winning the division, beating the Ravens
even once potentially losing you know, other games, clearly in Detroit,
some other places as well. There's the chance that they
lose to Miami. There's a chance they lose to the
Browns with the way they're playing. You know. So I

(08:31):
you know, you and I had talked yesterday and I
had told you I am I'm ready to blow the
whole damn thing up. But I agree with what you
just said to me. Terrelle Austin needs to be fired.
This is the defense has been historically bad this season.
It's not who's not right. Yeah, the first step is

(08:52):
you get rid of the defensive coordinator. Even if it's
partly Tomlin's fault, it's got to still way heavily on
the defensive coordinator. You get rid of the after that performance,
a fifty year record of running where you pride yourself
on being a defense that's tough. They got bullied and
they've been getting bullied all year. I get that they

(09:14):
weren't one hundred percent healthy. I get all that, but
it doesn't matter. This has been a consistent trend and
it's time to say, mister Austin, time to go and
figure it out. And I agree with your second statement
as well. Tomlin has the rest of the season to
figure this out. The only thing I think that can

(09:35):
save his ass, in my view, is winning the division
and not winning it by squeaking into the division and
backing into it and having other teams lose so that
we end up winning. Right, It's you have to go
out and show a totally different mental attitude and personality

(09:55):
to this team for the rest of the season. For
the last set of games, You've go have to prove
that that you've got this fixed. And if they can,
if he can do that, I think he can save
his job. But if they continue the way they're going
right now, yeah, it's time for a reset.

Speaker 2 (10:15):
And I'm not sure I mean I'm talking resetting the
coaching staff right or like not necessarily the entire roster.
I'm not talking about Omar Khn like I just was
with Andrew Berry in the Cleveland Brown. So I think
Omar Khn has done wonders to make some of the
moves that he's made. And then also in that same context,

(10:37):
he's collected some draft picks. He's been very savvy with
the financials and numbers. I don't think they've been really
saddled with any contracts they can't get out of. Even
with the trades, like for Kyle Duggar, he didn't take
on like a lot of that money. He knows in
at least that context. I imagine when he's on the
phone with these other fellow gms, he's a negotiator and

(10:57):
he knows how to crunch the numbers, and that's that's invaluable.
That's part of the business. You need a guy that
could do that. You need a guy that could also
do the talent end of this too. And people are
going to say, well, some of these picked some of
this and that, and I don't necessarily trust that got
Kyle Duggar. I think Jalen Ramsey was a good trade.
Quarterback is obviously the most important position on the field.

(11:20):
But what the hell is this guy supposed to do?
You look around? That's the thing that drives me crazy,
and I went nuts. I think I told you like
I was ready to scream with somebody about all the
Will Howard stuff. It's like now all of a sudden,
everybody's will hard Will Howard will hired. The guy hasn't
been helped. Even Charlie Batchett said it when we said
it on the previous show. I don't want to be
a broken record. You're still you and Baltimore have the
same six and six record. Baltimore has the common games

(11:43):
right now, but they're both two and one in the
AFC North. It's still a division that's up for grabs.
You don't throw a rookie sixth round quarterback where five
or six others in a week quarterback draft class we're
taking ahead of you and just throw him out there
and he barely gets any reps in practice? What is
good reps in practice?

Speaker 4 (12:00):
Because he's running scout team, he's emulating Maybe not this week,
he might not be emulating Lamar Jackson. Maybe he was
emulating Josh Allen this past week in practice so you
don't do that, but it goes the way the quarterback goes.
And earlier in the season they're picking up some games
because Aaron Rodgers looked like we were starting to talk about, Hey,
this guy's find upon you. Now all of a sudden
he's got a busted hand. We don't know how long

(12:20):
he's maybe had that busted hand, for it three fractures
enters it in game. And I think that's the bigger
part here is with the coaching and the decision making.
How stubborn was Tomlin? And it seems very easy.

Speaker 2 (12:31):
Oh yeah, you absolutely start Aaron Rodgers because you see
what happened when you put Mason Rudolph in. Let me
peek into what happens. They get the ball to start
the second half, Aaron Rodgers gets stripsacked, hurts his hand,
that ball is taken in for a defensive touchdown by
the Bills. How much time does now Aaron Rodgers is
getting tended to on the field and comes off the sideline.

(12:52):
How much time does Mason Rudolph get to warm up cold?
It felt like twenty five degrees yesterday too, so you've
got that too, actually warming up getting ready after coming
in from the locker room. You know it wasn't a
good decision, Brian I and he overthrows thet.

Speaker 4 (13:10):
I don't give a shit. I don't give a shit.
You know, excuse, No, it's an absolute excuse. You're being
paid to be the backup of the quarterback of this team.

Speaker 3 (13:17):
It's bullshit.

Speaker 4 (13:18):
Yeah, you think you're gonna be you think you're gonna
be ready at any time. No. And that's the problem
I had with some of the people are there, and
it mixed me hot because even for Mason Rudolph, who's
been a pretty decent backup quarterback, I've been a defender
of him. That was not good.

Speaker 2 (13:30):
But put anybody in that damn situation, they're not gonna
be ready. It's literally the kickoff and you're thrown out
onto the field. Now, I will say something that's a
little different with this. His offense couldn't get fricking going
because they ran shotgun the entire time. Because Tomlin was
too stubborn to play Aaron Rodgers with a busted hand.
He lived in his damn fears. Maybe Mason doesn't do
as bad, Maybe he doesn't throw those type picks. Who

(13:51):
knows they're trying to take some shots down the field.
They don't even build with Rogers in there. They don't
even build these drives. It was like a run, here's
a dicky pass, here's something. It's third and seven.

Speaker 4 (14:00):
Let's take a deep shot like just stupid, like or
even if it's like third and three or something, pick
up the first down and get some chunks and keep
your offense on the field and play some time in possession.
The clock management just piss poor. But the shotgun thing,
and this was said by Max Starks too, but I
noticed it, like we're talking about it in the stand
If we're talking about it in the stands, Buffalo certainly

(14:22):
knows this. Yeah, what does that do to your running game?
When you're in a shotgun? You got a running back
to your left or your right, and that's all that
there is. And we don't even know that he can
hand off going at the other side with his left hand.
And he at the beginning of the game he's doing
pitches because he's not healthy, can't do it, and he's
probably who knows, he's on like a bunch of popped
up on pills or something, you know what I mean.

(14:44):
So even throwing Mason out there. I don't really care
because I don't think Rogers does anything differently. It was
so it wasn't even like one dimensional. It was like
half dimensional for that offense. This is what I'm gonna say.
I told you before the game started, I'd rather have
Mason play this game. Yeah, and that's coming from someone
who doesn't really think that much of Mason Rudolph. Right.

Speaker 3 (15:04):
I've said for.

Speaker 4 (15:05):
Years he's a backup quarterback and that's all he's ever
gonna be. That's all his talent level will allow him
to be. I believe that was proved out by going
somewhere else and sucking and getting benched and coming on
a second. Dude, I'm gonna argue with you there, that's
the worst team in football by far, and Steelers are
off Tennessee two years running and worst team running. He

(15:26):
came in because Will Levis sucked, and I mean, I
just tell you how bad Will Levis was. Now Sam
Mason Rudolph got benched or whatever. I don't know what
owners they fired that head coach. These head coaches day
ball in the New Jersey or You've got to.

Speaker 3 (15:38):
Go right back at you.

Speaker 4 (15:39):
Same thing.

Speaker 3 (15:40):
He couldn't beat Will Levis out.

Speaker 4 (15:44):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (15:44):
He was going to though, because you have okay, so
you have the same thing. This goes with the Tomlin.
This goes with the Tomlin stubbornness, right. And they don't
have a lot of money invested in Aaron Rodgers, but
he's the veteran quarterback, he's won Super Bowl. He'said the
same shit with Russell Wilson and Justin Fields, and he's
playing around with whatever. And I don't know that he
really liked Russell Wilson orf Russell Wilson was really hurt.

(16:05):
Did the same thing with Trubisky. He's playing Trubisky because
they gave Trubisky. It's not even that much money. But
you've got to justify this to the people that are paying,
that are writing your checks, right, And it's like, how
can you sit now? If Aaron Rodgers is legitimately hurt,
then you have a reason to do that. It's the
same thing if we're going to talk about Mason and Tennessee,
if you take a draft pick, that's the reason Kenny
Pickett's playing over him.

Speaker 4 (16:25):
We spent on number one overall, a first round pick,
not a number one overall, spent a first round pick
on him.

Speaker 2 (16:30):
So you got to get this guy in the field,
and you got to and what if he just stinks,
then you got to.

Speaker 4 (16:34):
Now you're in really hot water. Man, you made all
the worst Rudy's got Patience said, has happened? Maybe Kenny
states he's stunk. They played him Trubisky stunk. Look I
as I said, I'll start this off from the beginning,
Aaron should not have played this game.

Speaker 3 (16:54):
It should have been Mason.

Speaker 4 (16:55):
That being said, I don't think a damn thing changes
with Mason Rudolph in there. They don't throw the damn
ball across the middle. They don't. I mean, we both
got until the end. We're like whipped in our pants.
When he finally threw a ball across the middle. What
is this waste land that they just cut the ball in?
He just ran through it and I thought it was
a lava. The floor's lava. But I will also go

(17:15):
back and say the receivers don't get open, they don't
get separation, they quit on routes. There's just innumerable problems
with this team and this offense. It is not dynamic,
it is not creative, It isn't scaring anybody. And when
they can't run. They're done well, they haven't been able

(17:36):
to run, But I mean, how are you going to
be able to You can't keep We sound like broken
records over here, Brian.

Speaker 2 (17:42):
I know we both agree on this. Even though we're
shouting back and forth, we're just really we're frustrated as
all hell. This might be the most frustrated I've been
in a while. And it's like, you're out of shotgun?
So how creative are you going to get?

Speaker 4 (17:53):
And the buffalo knows that this guy is hurt and
you have a left tackle, you have a backup left
tackle in so like now we think Rogerick Jones might
be done for the season too, which doesn't I thought
he was actually doing decent. I think the line provides
some time sometimes. But Rogers was holding onto the ball forever.
There were some spots where I'm like, why doesn't Rogers
just pull the trigger on this pass. It's like almost

(18:14):
like he's living in his own fears too. We see
this with inexperienced young quarterbacks that don't take those shots
over the middle. And once you take that out of
the equation too, it's like what else do you have
to defend? It becomes child's play. It becomes so easy
to defend this.

Speaker 2 (18:30):
I like, I don't know how much of the problem
Arthur Smith is because there was somebody who jumped in
the comments.

Speaker 4 (18:34):
I don't know if I thought about this. On the
last show, they were saying, Oh, he's worse than Mat Cannada.
I'm like, that's no, that's not it. He's talk about that.
He's not worse as Randy Fickner was. Randy Fickner, they
didn't run the ball at all. They would just throw
screen passes all the time. Now the screen passes. We
saw the Bills do it. Josh Allen was doing it,
and they's dump up. They were trying to stretch the
field and keep TJ. Watt Nick Herbig and Alex Highsmith

(18:55):
and the edge rushers off of Josh Allen. And I
mean that's the way the game plan should go. Every
team does this. There's certain ebbs and flows to these
games that are going to be consistent because it's just
the way the game is played. However, you're absolutely right,
and I don't know that it changes with Mason. I
don't know if Mason turns the ball over more or less.
I don't know that they're able to run them. He

(19:15):
could get under center at least maybe, So it's like everybody,
so when you make this call, and it's like, well,
if Aaron Rodgers wants to play, sometimes it's too bad.
What's what's for the betterment of the team. You might
want to play, but you can't. You can't do half
of the things that are planned for you, dude. So
and then he comes out on the press conference and
he's like starts mentioning names like John news Smith for example,

(19:37):
and I was telling him to do this and cut
instead of this out and whatever, and it's just like
and he seems like frustrating. He's yelling, and it's like
he's yelling at other people, is yelling at himself or
we're going to see this diva come out where he
thinks he's better than what he is. And it's like,
you're a shell of what you already were and now
you're an andreid shell of what you were. And we
had some decent promise with you, and this was a

(19:57):
beatable team. This team they're missing up guys like at
Oliver and they're missing people throughout the defense and two
tackles and I know Cook's good I know Allen's good.
I know they're like the top rushing offense, but it's
like the one thing to stop is Derek Harmon that
big of a loss. I thought, why Black played a
good game, But then schematically, you look at these giant
holes that are wide open. You see guys like you know,

(20:20):
TJ make these barely tackles or missed, just Patrick Queen
standing there, and then you lose him and he's got
the green dot, and now you don't have the quarterback
on your defense, and the communicator before that was supposed
to be Deshaun Elliott. So how much of this is
bad luck versus just bad planning, bad coaching, bad decision making.
That's where I put at least Terrell Austin on notes.

(20:43):
I'll tell you what the Browns did this year's ago,
Brian I was thinking about this, Freddie Kitchens. This is
what they had Baker Mayfield and they were doing bad.
They had Freddie Kitchens and they had Todd Hayley as
their offensive cornator.

Speaker 2 (20:52):
They got rid of both of them. They didn't even
they didn't even screw around. Now the Browns were they
had a losing record. They might have had like two
wins or something like that. You can't with them in
the same category as the Steelers at six and six
and still.

Speaker 4 (21:02):
In the mix. That's where I say Austin got to
go figure it out. When the Baltimore Ravens struggled last year,
you know, Zach Orr's calling plays or whatever, and they
brought in Dan P's as a consultant. They've had Wink
Martingale come in. Can these guys consult and help? Tomlin
get on the phone? How many guys do you know?
You've been doing this for twenty years. Get somebody in

(21:23):
there and that can freaking help and help yesterday like
and somebody's gonna say, well, he's stubborn and he doesn't
want to do this, he doesn't want to be showed up.
That's bullshit because he's had guys that are former head
coaches like Haley or Mike Munchak or Brian Flores on
his staff. If he had that big of an ego,
he wouldn't even hire those guys. The problem is, I
think you just have like a whole staff. Everybody's just
completely lost. And it's sad because you've got guys like

(21:46):
Cam Hayward, You've got guys like TJ. Watt. You've got
even Aaron Rodgers. You've got guys that have you know,
they should know better. They've been around, they're veterans, their leaders,
and somehow it's just it still all goes the pot.
I don't know how they fix it. I don't know
if they can fix it. Tomas was talking about the
fire Tomlin chants that were happening at Hinesfield. I said, yeah, warranted,
the Boo Bird's coming out warranted. Unlike the Eagles. You know,

(22:08):
the Eagles fans got mad after like one series. They're
defending Super Bowl champions. It's like, well, you talk about spoiled,
but the Steelers, the fans are their patients. Is warn't thin,
even with the most patient of folks like you or
I And I don't know. If you change head coaches
next year, usually coach coincides with quarterback, right, Yeah, I

(22:31):
mean that looks like the writings on the wall. You
got a draft in Pittsburgh. You've got a whole new reset,
a whole new start. I don't know, like Tomlin's a
really good head coach.

Speaker 2 (22:39):
People are gonna say, well, what are you waiting without
Ben Roethlis? What would Belichick do without Brady? You know
what I mean?

Speaker 4 (22:44):
Like, come on, I mean that's what did what did
Peyton do without Drew Brees?

Speaker 3 (22:50):
You know, it's it's the same. We maybe shouldn't go
there right now, Oh.

Speaker 4 (22:54):
No, we should. That team.

Speaker 2 (22:56):
How many of their games are decided by three or
four points or less. They've been on the win, they
were on the right win, they were on the right
side of that. But boy, they're winning by the skin
of their teeth. They could very easily be in the
same spot like the Chiefs or somebody else. We've seen
those type of tea. Yeah, we've seen those type of
teams do it. But then you see you see the inverse,
you know, like you see teams that make like changes

(23:17):
and they improve the team. And it took a while.
The Lions had some patients with Dan Campbell.

Speaker 4 (23:21):
And there's things like that where I'm just like, why
I understand guys like that. They gamble, man, they're aggressive,
they're into all this analytics.

Speaker 2 (23:28):
And then they got Tomlin and it's like, ah, we're
gonna punt the ball, and it's like, I would give
them the ball back. You see the Bills running on
third and seven or third and goal and there's six
seven yards out and they run a play that might
only get three yards. That's all the better the Steelers offense.
Does the Bills do that so they could go on
fourth and two and punch it in And that's just something.

(23:50):
There's things like that, those minor details that are just
totally absent from this team on both sides of the ball.
I don't disagree with anything you said.

Speaker 4 (24:01):
It is I can't state it clearly loudly enough to me.
If we get past this week and Terrell Austin is
still working, there at as a failure of ownership as
well as a failure of leadership on Mike Thomas Park,
he absolutely has to go.

Speaker 3 (24:16):
It just has to. There's no viable reason.

Speaker 4 (24:21):
Here is a perfect example of why I'm saying that
the Bills ran the same goddamn play over and over,
yeah and over, and to make matters worse at the
end of the game, they indicated that they knew they
were going to do it.

Speaker 3 (24:41):
It wasn't a surprise. We were aware he bounced outside. Well,
then why didn't you freaking scheme for that?

Speaker 4 (24:49):
Like the after interviews are so much more frustrating when
you hear, yes, we were not surprised by that. Well
you sure as hell looks surprise. Yeah, because you.

Speaker 3 (25:02):
Couldn't stop it no matter what you did.

Speaker 4 (25:05):
It took them till the fourth quarter to stop that
play a little, but it.

Speaker 3 (25:11):
Was still getting five yards, you know it.

Speaker 4 (25:15):
It was such It was the worst I've seen this
team look, even worse than the San Diego game, right
where the defense played halfway decent and the offense looked
like complete trash. Yeah, you should get one or the
other that seems to be on the same page.

Speaker 2 (25:33):
And it just wasn't even last week, you know what
I mean? Like what I was trying to say too,
is is like you're throwing Mason out there. It doesn't
matter throw you throw Will Howard out there. I don't
expect I expect worse results because well, subs commerce shit
in his pants.

Speaker 4 (25:45):
He's a rookie. Like, you know, the reason put Will
Howard out there, and I said this last week, the
only reason to put Will Howard out there is the
season's over and you want to see what you got.

Speaker 2 (25:53):
Yeah, that says you might be drafted somebody next year
because you got oodles and picks and.

Speaker 4 (25:58):
There's nothing there's no better, there's no other reason to
do it right. He's not a savior. You can't expect
that he's going to come in and do better. He
couldn't beat out Mason Rudolph in in camp. I mean,
I know he was hurt.

Speaker 2 (26:09):
Well, yeah, he wasn't going to because he goes on
IR and then they had the Logan Woodside in there
as an extra, and people don't realize that, and they
want they want this guy brought in that Storre's he's inactive,
he can't play. He's an emergency third quarterback. So really
what you're saying is is that you want two players
on the team to get hurt to put this guy in.
And it's like, that's that's that's ugly, that's evil, that's dark.

(26:32):
Like I don't like that. Now, I understand you want
to get him prepped, a change of pace, shot in
the arm.

Speaker 4 (26:36):
I don't know. It's weird because even with Mason against
the Bears, like the offense, the offense sputtered, it had struggles.
They couldn't do it at the end. It wasn't like
the Ben Roethlisberger comeback. Fine, Okay, that's an indictment of
you got a backup quarterback in there, You've got all
these other moving parts, right, But they still were able
to run some sustained drives, score some touchdowns, and and

(26:59):
do some things on offense.

Speaker 2 (27:01):
And it was just the defense that had that collapse.
The inverse of that, you say in La not San Diego,
La Chargers like Aaron Rodgers. Those balls were hit, skipping
all over the field. There was nothing getting connected, and
then all of a sudden they were connecting. They found
Darnell Washington a few times. Like you say, blow it up.

(27:21):
I'm not looking to get rid of everybody. I've got
some ideas on it. I don't want to go into
it just right yet, because there's good There may be
a very long offseason to discuss these various things. This game, though,
allowing what they did on third down, fourth down, three
hundred and seventy two nit yard, seventy four offensive plays,
forty two minutes time of possession, twenty six first downs,

(27:44):
you also had someone sportsmen like penalties. You had one
with Cam Hayward that Cam was very not happy about.
Cam was talking about Josh Allen, but yeah, they weren't
happy he was talking about and need him or something
like that. Under the pile. TJ actually took the podium.
So whatever reason, maybe he came off. Maybe it was

(28:06):
just let's preserve this guy and not get him hurt.
And that drives me crazy too at the end of
the games where I see some guys playing and I'm
just like, really should they We talked about some of
the things with the Bills too that we're like, oh,
keon Coleman. They've been looking for wide receivers, they don't
have like any other receivers. They don't have their top
tight end Dalton Kin Kate, and then all of a sudden,
Coleman's the one who scores the touchdown on a fourth
down gets lost in the back because James Pierre ends

(28:28):
up exiting the field, and you have a Sante Samuel
playing for like the first time and well over a
year that he's played in a real game, and there's
enough setbacks that are there. Again, like with the Roodolph thing,
I'm not trying to necessarily make excuses, but if you
put it into his shoes and he overthrows Washington, I
don't think he ever saw the guy that was behind Darnell,
so he tried to put it up for the biggest guy,

(28:50):
but it was still double coverage without that, if all
could have went somewhere else. I don't know if that's
the primary guy he's locking on or whatever. Bad decision,
but the defense doesn't do any thing. You see, the
defense gets a turnover and the Steelers offense score.

Speaker 4 (29:03):
Zero points off of it. The Bills get the ball
and they score points off the turnover. That is the
story of this game, and it's been the story of
if this defense. Look, we've seen We've seen worse offenses
than this. Yeah, we've seen some worse offenses with Kenny,
with Mitch Trubisky, with justin Fields and let's remember they.

Speaker 3 (29:22):
Did only they scored was off a turnover, and that's
been it too.

Speaker 2 (29:27):
Unless they're just gifted the ball and with a with
a generous field position, they're not really marching there. So
is Arthur Smith the problem too, I've seen I still
think he's better than some, but he's average at pest
right now. And maybe that's just the personnel that they
have and the guy and the guys can't execute the
plays for one reason.

Speaker 4 (29:45):
Or the other. Again, there's just so many things to
point the finger out. Man, I just don't get I'm
going to talk about that the play that he called
John new Smith out for, it was actually very clear
that that was a miscommunication that air And wanted him
to go one way and he went the other way.

Speaker 3 (30:02):
They actually talked about it heavily on the.

Speaker 4 (30:04):
Broadcast, where Tony Romo was saying, right there, Aaron's giving
him a signal to cut that in and he cut
it out right.

Speaker 3 (30:13):
But that it's those kind of issues, those kinds.

Speaker 4 (30:16):
Of detail problems that have been consistently just absolutely sabotaging
this team all year long.

Speaker 3 (30:26):
They are not in sync. They haven't been in sync.

Speaker 4 (30:29):
They are not consistent their pass pro and their run
blocking is shaky and not good. They can't open up
holes consistently. It just there's so much wrong, right, That's
why I'm like, Look, I think I like Zach Fraser.
I like Zach Fraser a lot. I think you've got
a core piece in Zach Fraser. I'm not sure you've

(30:51):
got a core piece in the rest. Right. Troy Fatanu
has done a decent job at right tackle. I've been
down on Mason McCormick all season long, yeah, and I will.

Speaker 3 (31:02):
Continue to be until I have a reason not to be.

Speaker 4 (31:06):
But I mean, Isaac has has been in and out
with injuries, so I'm going to give him something of
a pass. But he's not a core element. He's an
aged veteran, right. I feel like the offensive line is
a mess. The defensive line maybe is on the upswing,
but you lose Derek Harmon. I like y a Black.
I like Derek Harmon. I think those are two good

(31:28):
core pieces game.

Speaker 2 (31:32):
By the way, one of the few that I mean
he was at least eating a few hats and getting
in on some tackles. He ended up with nine combined
tackles in this game as a defensive tackle. At least
I was at second level because the guys ahead of
them are Ramsey and Peyton Wilson.

Speaker 4 (31:50):
Yeah, and I'm getting a little fed up with mister
Peyton Wilson. Yes, you know, I get it if you,
but you got to get you got to be able
to figure out how to disengage right and pursue, and
you know can't be. I just feel like everything we
thought was going to be a strength has not been
turning into a strength for this team this year, and

(32:11):
their flaws across all avenues of this Yes, some of
that is due to injury, yes, some of that, but
everybody has to deal with it. Everybody has to deal
with it, and they are just proving out. And really,
you know, I'll give credit to people who've been complaining
for years. The pattern is not inconsistent with what they've

(32:34):
been doing. Right. The offense has been on a steady
downward progression for several years. The defense has not been
elite for several years. And we've seen the same types
of collapses and the same type of failures, which is
why I said, look you, what's been the consistent side
on the defense? Ter All Austin, Well it's time to go,

(32:56):
say Terrell Austin's you've been preaching it about what he
does to teams and how his defenses maybe start up
here and by the time he leaves there down here, well,
that pattern certainly exists right here. It's time for them
to definitely go. And I will give you know, because
you're not going to turn over the entire coaching staff
mid season. That he's not going to happen, especially where

(33:19):
they are right now, right because they still, like I said,
they still have a chance, even if we don't actually
think they have a chance. The realistic view is they
have a chance. Once they don't, that's different. And that's
why I at the beginning of this, and you said it,
and I said it, I think at the end of
the season, if what we have seen up to this

(33:40):
point is where we are and they end up with
a losing record and it's not because it's a losing record,
it's because of how they're losing, then I think, yeah,
it's time to separate and let Mike go his merry
way and we find what's out what's next. On the
flip side of that, if he can right the ship,

(34:01):
because he look, regardless of how much you may or
may not hate him out there in the world, he
is a Hall of Fame level coach. Oh, he is
going to be in the Hall of Fame as a coach.
He is a motivator, He is a good coach. But
whether he can turn this around or not, I don't know.
But if he can, yeah, he can save his job.

(34:22):
If he can't, like I said, I think it's time
it's time to cut bait.

Speaker 2 (34:26):
And if he wants a job, he probably have one tomorrow.
Bill lots of bills fans at this game as we
suspected there would be, and when the fire Tomlin chance
got going, there were several that said, we'll take him
because they're fed up with McDermott. They don't like McDermott
as it is either so and McDermott's more a defensive

(34:47):
guy and they've seen the same offensive woes there and
that it was the same thing as finding a quarterback.
I don't want to get into. It's really an off
season topic we talk about all the time. Highest a
failure rate in any position. It's like, do you think
that somebody that was taken into sixth round, Well, Tom.

Speaker 4 (35:01):
Brady did it. I was like, you found the one
guy in the history of the entire NFL that was
drafted that late. And it's had that kind of success
because for the most part, there's guys in the first round.
We were talking the other day, well, Ben Roethlisberger got
to play rout the games first round pick. Historic draft class.
You know, we didn't mention and it's ironic that we're
talking about Buffalo. JP Lossman was also in that draft class.
He was the fourth guy first round and totally bad.

(35:23):
Name somebody else from that draft class. Nobody name anybody
that's been taken in the sixth or seventh round as
a quarterback. You've got maybe one guy undrafted, Tony Romo
in recent you know, NFL. You know, I'm not trying
to go back to where they're wearing leather helmets and
bring this this type of stuff up and even then
probably rare right and walk back to that. Yeah, Tony

(35:43):
Romo was a surprise. He was a solid quarterback. What
did he win anything? No? No, and Dallas hasn't.

Speaker 2 (35:49):
Dallas hasn't won anything since the nineties, since they last
played the Steelers in a super Bowl. And so when
you talk about mediocre and you talk about expectations, you
talk about this isn't the standard. Yeah, maybe that's the
Steelers standard in all, but where you're at right now,
I know, it seems very comfortable and safe. Make the playoffs,
don't win a playoff game, maybe win a division, maybe
get a wild card.

Speaker 4 (36:07):
Yeah, it could be worse. I mentioned Tennessee. Tennessee is
just so bad. They get rid of Vrabel and their
team just craters, and now they're in line to get another.

Speaker 2 (36:16):
First round pick. They just went and took this quarterback.
Who knows if cam Ward will ever amount to anything.
So you know, it's not I'm not down on Howard,
but the odds are that Howard probably won't amount even
as much as what Mason Rudolph has done, maybe even
in terms of playing time, maybe even in terms of success.
Could be wrong. He was a national champion quarterback, but

(36:37):
there were thirty one other teams that didn't think to
take him through the other five rounds in a league
that needs quarterbacks constantly, in a draft where no one
thought that the quarterbacks were very good. Five guys went
between who was it maybe Ward, maybe five or six
before Howard, there was Tyler Shuck. He's playing this year.
And that's where people see it. And it's like the
Saints are very helpless. That's a very bad team. The

(36:59):
Titans are very bad. The Steelers are not thought to
be a bad team. They put all these pieces around
to be able to win. And that's why Aaron Rodgers
is there. That's why you're not playing a Will Howard
right away out at the gate. Plus, you know, I'm
of the school of not playing these rookie quarterbacks right away.
Patrick Mahomes didn't play right away. He said a year
behind Alix Smith that benefited them. There's very few guys

(37:19):
I think that you could throw out there straight from
college and they don't have a break. They go through college,
if they were good, they probably played in like postseason
bowl game. They go right into the combine. Then they
go into the draft, and they go in the rookie
camp and then other mini camps, OTAs, and they just
don't stop. And like these guys hit the rookie wall,
as they say, and then you see what they have. So,
I mean, I understand what Washington did with Jayden Dingels.

(37:42):
He has been hurt this year, so you can't really
evaluate year two of him. It's tough. I mean, there's
guys all around. You see Mariota bouncing around all these
different teams. You even saw there was somebody called in.
There's been people that were talking about, you know in
the comments, Oh wow, I'd love to grow grab Baker Mayfield.

Speaker 4 (37:58):
Tampa letting go at Baker Paker Mayfield. It's like a
once in a lifetime free agent, like a Drew Brees
that hits the market and is successful. Nobody thought anything
a Baker Mayfield when he was available. The Cleveland Browns
didn't keep him. The Panthers couldn't do anything with him
or Darnald at the same time. Look what the Minnesota
Vikings did too. JJ McCarthy's in there right now because

(38:19):
they wouldn't keep Darnald.

Speaker 3 (38:20):
He's not anymore now it's somebody else.

Speaker 4 (38:23):
Yeah, I know, but that's remember threw that really bad interception.

Speaker 2 (38:27):
Carson went there too. But because McCarthy's been hurt and
when Carthy missed like all that. But look where that
team was.

Speaker 4 (38:32):
I'm saying, like fourteen wins or whatever last year, and
they don't keep this guy as a quarterback, and it
bounts around. So sometimes you do get somebody to retray.
That's about the only way you could do it is
you got to draft.

Speaker 2 (38:43):
To be patient. You're probably gonna stink because the rookie
quarterback's bad. And the longer it takes for you to
draft that quarterback, the less likely that they're going to
be good in the NFL. It's just the statistical odds
against it. Can he beat the odds. I'm not down
on him. We're big Buckeyes fans. We thought he was
pretty good up but when he played you know, that
university up North last year, he threw those interceptions, and

(39:03):
he didn't have a sharp game. And that could be
the way every single game in the pros could be,
or he could play the way he played in the
College Football Playoff.

Speaker 4 (39:10):
He's just not ready yet. If he would have had
some camp, we would have got to see. He didn't
even take a preseason step, so he doesn't even know
what it's like to play against ford string NFL guys
that are on practice squads right now.

Speaker 2 (39:21):
Only knows is what he knows from the last month
or so being activated off of IR. It's just it's
not an answer. Mason's not an obviously not an answer.
I don't disagree with you when you say he could
be a career backup. I always thought, well, but if
he had like that full shot or whatever. But you know,
if he goes out and the Bears and lights it
up and throws for two fifty and two touchdowns, even

(39:41):
if they walk away losing still by three, you know
he was close to that. But it just it wasn't
It wasn't inspiring enough, you know what I mean. He's
been around for a while, still decent as backup. Sure,
Ilevi's throw at the wrong time in a game like
this This is, you know, getting back to this game,
not just looking because we're count our chickens before they hatch.
There's still five games, Brian, and just to talk about

(40:03):
this game. To wrap it up, Josh Allen only had
to throw twenty three times. They ran the ball fifty
one times for two hundred and forty nine yards.

Speaker 4 (40:10):
Forty point couldn't stop it? Yeah, absolutely, Why why not
do that? You ate up twenty two minutes o' clock
time one hundred twenty.

Speaker 3 (40:20):
We had the ball for a quarter of the game.
They had the ball and three quarters of the game.

Speaker 4 (40:24):
No, I know. And Aaron Rodgers was bad too. We
can rag on Mason going oh and three and throwing
a pick. Rogers was throwing it in the dirt. He
was throwing a pass. People.

Speaker 2 (40:34):
It was ten ten to twenty one forty seven point
six percent for one hundred and seventeen yards before he
gets pulled. Right after the beginning a half time Jaalen
Warren ted Carriess thirty five yards three point five average.
Can game well five for twenty for four four point
oh they ran the ball eighteen times fifty eight yards.
Some of that's an indictment on You can only run
so much too. You know, when they're stacking the box,

(40:56):
you got to get these guys out of there. That's
what we've been seeing for years. It's why it looks
like it could assistant pattern. And then you just can't
count that to the Bills.

Speaker 4 (41:03):
No, not to the Bills, not even with backed up tackles, No,
because of these And then then there's a Bills defense
that was in the bottom of run defense too.

Speaker 3 (41:12):
We absolutely should have been able to run the ball.
That's what I mean.

Speaker 4 (41:15):
The run blocking for this offensive line is inconsistent at best.
When they are good, they look pretty good. But they
don't look good often or consistently. You know, that's why.
You know, that's why we can't really run the ball.
There aren't holes there, they don't bully people. I just
i'm I'm I am fed up with where this team is,

(41:37):
as much as that is coaching too, as much as that.
As Pat Meyru came from the I was never a fan.
He came from the Panthers, who were really poor when
he left there too. I don't understand. But something's real situation,
you know that it maybe it's change the scene. You know,
you don't get all of the best guys at all
the time.

Speaker 2 (41:55):
No, if you're good, you're not available. You're either on
a good squad that's winning and you're not going to eve,
or you're in contention for a promotion somewhere. So it's
that's not how that works usually, unless somebody's just kind
of penciled in as a career like Carl Dunbar, he's
penciled in is pretty much a career.

Speaker 4 (42:12):
Defensive line guy and grew. Yeah, it's probably that's where
he's comfortable, that's what he wants to do that he's
not going to move anywhere from there, just the same
as what was his name before, James James Mitchell, you
know around forever, back from the coward days, you know
what I mean. And it's just.

Speaker 2 (42:33):
I don't know, man, I don't know where you go
forward from this. I don't want to talk about some
of the injuries. I think the I think the biggest
one is, you know, Patrick Waen's out now, how much more?

Speaker 4 (42:45):
How bad can it? How much worse can it get? Though?

Speaker 2 (42:46):
Like really, like we've had enough to bitch complain about here.
It can't is it rock bottom?

Speaker 4 (42:52):
That was the question in PURSUITA and Batch mentioned that,
and I just said to myself, how could it get
any any worse than this? They only were is he
give up? They didn't get to Allen at all? Zero sacks?
You've got there. There's two things here.

Speaker 2 (43:06):
You've got You've got edge rushers who don't get to
the quarterback, and then you've got all these tight ends
that you don't throw the ball to. Like someone somewhere
said that they thought Pat fryarby play. It was like
they're playing him like he was a practice squad elevation
And I laughed out loud at that.

Speaker 4 (43:23):
I laughed out loud at that, because how can you
disagree with that? Like you know, and where does that?
You can't? Where does that? It's tall? Is it Toblin?

Speaker 2 (43:35):
Is it just outdated? Is he just lost his touch?
Is as time passed as this game? I don't know
the game ever passes these guys by. They live and
breathe and die football. But at some point, you know.

Speaker 4 (43:48):
There's league, the league evolves and then you have copycats.
And if you're not keeping up with that.

Speaker 2 (43:54):
I still I can't question this guy, Like you said,
hall of fame coach, If he still want some coach,
probably be hired somewhere like yesterday. Other guys that go
to other places and maybe they don't have the same success.
Maybe they do. Somebody mentioned Andy Reid and how Andy
Reid went to Kansas City and this is since the
Steelers last Super Bowl. Some of these guys have gone
to different places. I mentioned Peyton. I'm not ready to

(44:14):
say much. I know they're leading in the AFC.

Speaker 4 (44:16):
The Broncos are, and they have really, you know, a
really great defense, and that's what the Steelers don't have
because bo Nixt, despite being a second year quarterback, it
does some stuff that just makes you makes your head spin,
right you just yeah, I mean I watched that game
and I'm like, you know, they kind of win in

(44:37):
spite of them. And the Steelers were doing that for
a little while and now they no longer can and
they need the offense to pick up, and now the
defense is now a problem. And it took a lot
of guts too, because the Broncos brought back, you know,
like Vance Joseph as their defensive coordat, a guy that
was already there and left and got a head coaching
gig and then comes back, and you know, it takes
a lot to bring some of these different people back.

(45:00):
I'll still say I wanted to say before the season,
you know, I thought Brian Flores was the one they.

Speaker 2 (45:05):
Let get away. And I don't know now because you
look at Minnesota, but I don't know the Minnesota's problem.
When Justin Jefferson catches what two passes for four yards
or something like that, they get their own as problem.

Speaker 3 (45:18):
The quarterbacks stink.

Speaker 2 (45:19):
Yeah, so it's not Again, what I try to say
is it's not just a Steeler specific problem. But you
start now, you start to look at other teams and
you say, not a problem.

Speaker 4 (45:31):
I mean, the Rams, who everybody have decided is the
best team in the league, get whacked by the Panthers,
and they don't kind of like the Panther. I kind
of like the Panthers a little bit as a spoiler,
especially at home.

Speaker 2 (45:43):
I'm not gonna lie, but yeah, the Rams. I'm thinking
the Rams are super Bowl team.

Speaker 4 (45:46):
They got to be.

Speaker 2 (45:47):
In that conversation, they look, they're looking sink Matt Stafford
is doing is just having a hell of a year.
I wanted Matt Stafford years ago, gets traded a year earlier,
and I thought he might have been And you know,
with the crossover with Big Ben and the overlap there,
and it's like, man, I know you wouldn't have been
the future for very long, but you look at that
and that's the thing too. Oh if George Picktens is

(46:07):
on this roster, Oh if Matt Stafford's on this roster.
Oh if they drafted this guy.

Speaker 4 (46:11):
Lamar Jackson, doesn't mean it'd be the same player in
this system, in this culture, with this team, with this coaching,
or anything like that. They could they could have been
a nobody and they never rise to that superstardom or
they never have that level of success. I will say this,
It is clear they needed a wide receiver too. They
needed a secondary threat. But the problem is if you

(46:33):
thought Pat was going to be that guy or Calvin
was going to be that guy. If that's what we thought,
they certainly didn't scheme for that. They certainly didn't develop
an aus was going to accent them. Right. Yeah, you
know you got guys like John hus Smith who are
former All pros who come here after big seasons and
then look like trash. Yeah, right, at some point, it's

(46:54):
not you know, the players are going to defend the coaches.
The coaches are going to defend the players, and and
I get that, but at some there is a combination
of players have to perform, but they have to be
put in position to perform. And I don't feel like,
either offensively or defensively, we are putting our best players

(47:16):
in the position to be their best. And that is
the underlying problem, which is why I am ready to
say blow it all up. And when I'm talking about
blowing it all up, it means you go ahead and
move on from Aaron, You go ahead and move on
from both your coordinators.

Speaker 3 (47:37):
You try and come up with something new and creative.

Speaker 4 (47:39):
If you're going to insist on keeping Tomlin at the
end of the season and we haven't improved, right, and
we haven't gotten any better, and the season ends in
a really horrible way, if you insist on keeping Mike
Tomlin for consistency's sake, because he is able to draw
people here, he's a good recruiter. Whatever the reasons are
that Rooney decides that if he does, do you got

(48:01):
to just say I don't. Here's what you're not going
to get to do anymore. We're going to find the
coordinators because we have to change the way that this
is working. Yeah, I hear you.

Speaker 2 (48:11):
I was going to pull up Mike Persuda's shot here
of the stadium at the end, and it's just kind
of indicative of oh yeah, yeah. It's just like people
were sick and tired of this stuff. It's like, oh,
it's late.

Speaker 4 (48:28):
It was a pretty pretty late holiday weekend and we're
just tired of doing this. I heard people were turning
on Netflix everything else. I mean this, this has got
to be a real wake up.

Speaker 2 (48:39):
Call to Rooney on Monday morning. You have to think so,
because other times you're just like, well, we could you know, excuses,
it's a lot of that's it could be rooted in reality,
and you're like, well this last year, the way that
schedule was set up, and it was just you know,
that's that's a juggernaut.

Speaker 4 (48:58):
They struggled with it. But you know, I wonder and
I said the same thing about some of the other
coaches in the AFC North.

Speaker 2 (49:04):
You know, Baltimore fans aren't necessarily happy with Harbaugh and
things like that.

Speaker 4 (49:08):
I don't know where you go with this, Brian.

Speaker 2 (49:09):
I don't necessarily want to talk with just blowing it
up right now. I know I had geez I had
one more point. Well, I was going to make the
what that was my last point I was going to
make was you had go into halftime seven to three.
They're up seven to three, okay, And I looked at
like the first half stats, did you really believe and

(49:31):
they're going to get the ball to start the second half,
but did you really believe they were going to win
the game. At this point of the first half, they'd
already given up twelve first downs Buffalo three and nine
on third down, so they were getting off the field
just a little bit. They've Buffalo had one hundred and
seventy six yards, but the Steelers had a total of
eighty seven yards on twenty two offensive plays, thirty three

(49:51):
yards rushing, fifty four passing. And it's just like this
isn't going to be good enough. It felt like you're,
you know, you're keeping this team in and you're keeping
this team in it.

Speaker 4 (50:00):
First two they weren't even keeping the team in it.
It's not that they were keeping the team in it.
The Bills were trying to keep themselves out of it.
Right the first half. It was more about the bills
ineptitude than it was about the Steelers' successes. They still
didn't stop the run in the first half. They still
weren't playing good in the first half. The only time
they could move the ball is after a turnover. We've

(50:20):
preached repeatedly that this team relies too much on turnovers
and when you don't get them, you're going to fail.

Speaker 3 (50:27):
And they didn't even score on both of.

Speaker 4 (50:28):
Them one, you know, so, yeah, you went into halftime going,
I don't see any reason to think that we're going
to come out and win this game unless the Bills
continue to play like crap. But then the Bills didn't
play like crap. Well, and that's exactly it. The point
I was trying to make is the Steelers' offense punted
on the first three plays that they received the ball touchdown,

(50:53):
and then the end of the half they ran two
plays for some teen yards. The couldn't figure out and
they have one they saw at a time out I'd think,
or no they didn't. Maybe I'm like, what the hell
are you doing? Just take a knee and go into
going to the locker room.

Speaker 2 (51:03):
The Bills seven plays forty yards, interception seven to forty five,
punt three for six first quarter not too shabby. Sex
to twenty with the fumble. Then they gave up sixteen
for sixty five in the field goal right before the end.
That was over a seven minute drive. James Cook already
had eighty one yards four point eight average heading into
the locker room. Okay, then the disaster strikes one play,

(51:28):
very first play after the kickoff the start third quarter,
and Rogers is out, and then you bring uh trot
rtolf out there and you run four plays and turn
it over again. Combined there the Bills ran an eight
play fifty six yard drive for a touchdown that consumed
about four and a half minutes, then a fifteen play
drive for eighty three yards that consumed over eight minutes,

(51:51):
and then fourteen plays for fifty seven yards from the
ten minute mark that they played renegade and everyone boot it.
Fourteen plays fifty seven yards over nine takes it down
to know about a minute left in the freaking game
and to kick a field.

Speaker 4 (52:05):
They mentioned this on the broadcast in real time, in
real time, the Bills had one offensive drive that lasted
over thirty minutes in real time.

Speaker 2 (52:15):
It's insane. It was absolutely in saying there was something
like that in one of the games. I just watched
over the past weekend too. Maybe it was Thanksgiving or
something like that. It was just crazy the time of
possession of how lopsided it was. And that's a big
Steelers problem. So, I mean, there's problems all across the board.
Folks drop us a line in the comments frustrated, don't.

(52:36):
I hope you listened to the whole thing. I know
the two percenters reached this point because it's like sometimes
people will immediately jump on some of the words. It's like, WHOA,
listen to the whole thing, and that's not what I
said or where I was arriving at. Hopefully I was
clear enough. I'll tell you what I was, frustrated enough.
We came into this one with no format, no bullet points,
no nothing, because these are just some raw reactions. I'm
jumping on you a little bit, Brian with the Rudolph thing,

(52:57):
only because I don't think Tennessee really has any indictment
on that doesn't help you. It is good bad experience,
really good experience there like ames that I love us,
but not great and Callahan was trying to keep his job.
You saw Dave Ball do the same thing in New
York with Jackson Dart who I think some people are
probably like, wellhy didn't they take Jackson Dart.

Speaker 4 (53:15):
Well, we don't know if Jackson darlill be but that
was like a little bit of a life spark there
for that team.

Speaker 2 (53:19):
But Scatabow was healthy and stuff, and it looked like, hey,
this might turn some things around. But they still are
making the coaching change, and who knows what happens now
you get a new coach. That's what you don't want.
You want all that instability because a new coach comes in.
This isn't his quarterback, This isn't the guy he pegged
for whatever system they're going to run. This was day
Ball's guy, and then all of that becomes a mess.
So at least for right now. But if you want

(53:42):
to change things on the defense, can it get any worse?
Austin's got to go. I was looking, I'm like, isn't
Gerald Alexander? Gerald Alexander was one of the guys they
had like coaching like he was helping, Like I almost
wanted to call it like an internship. But it's like
the thing they do with the East West Shrine Game
or a Senior Bowl or something like that. And they
had him there, you have some other guys that can

(54:04):
maybe co coordinat or you bring somebody else in on it.
You could get maybe some old timer that's hanging around
out there, and hey, you want to come in for
five games and maybe a playoff run. And maybe they
got enough of that in them, because you know they're
in their sixties or seventies, and it's like, you just
don't know how much they got.

Speaker 4 (54:20):
But bring coach Dad back for Pete's sake, maybe he
could run it for a month, you know.

Speaker 3 (54:27):
Yeah, I mean, I don't know he can do much different, But.

Speaker 2 (54:31):
Can he get TJ want some sex? Can you get
her bigger? Heismid to the court? I mean, it's so bad.

Speaker 3 (54:38):
Here's part of the problem.

Speaker 4 (54:39):
When you can't start to stop the run, you can't
get you're not going to get pressure. Yeah, I mean
that's the problem. Yesterday's problem is there's no point in
them getting after them. They can't make them one dimensional.
They're never going to pin their ears back and they're
not going to get sex. Well, you know, the defensive touchdown,
you're doomed. The defensive touchdown. Sorry, I didn't want to
interrupt you, but I didn't want to forget this either.
That's exactly it. You gave up that defensive touchdown and

(55:01):
Rudolph turns the other thing over. It turns the ball over,
and all of a sudden you're down two scores. There
goes that's it. Once you're down those two totally helpless.
Seems like at least the Steelers where they could keep
it a one score game and forced teams to do
certain things. Again, not just the Steelers thing, but particularly
this defense and the way they're opportunistic on turnovers. They're
going to force anybody to really turn the ball over

(55:22):
much while they're just running it and you know, putting
the extra.

Speaker 2 (55:26):
Guys out there. And that's the other thing with the
offensive line. You've had to run Spencer Anderson out there
as a sixth offensive lineman. How frequently. I think that's
an indictment too on those other five guys in the
job that they do or don't.

Speaker 4 (55:37):
Do out there on the field. So I don't know.

Speaker 3 (55:40):
That's one more thing.

Speaker 4 (55:42):
So the two turnovers they got, one was legitimate, they
got that turnover. They caused that turnover, right, supposely what
they're doing. The other one, look, he hit the ball
with his knee we didn't cause that turnover. That was
a fluke. Hey, I'll take it as they come.

Speaker 3 (55:58):
Yeah, score off of so whatever, or maybe that was
the one they did.

Speaker 4 (56:02):
Score off of.

Speaker 3 (56:03):
I can't remember.

Speaker 4 (56:04):
Folks. We'll be back later this week. Give us a
little probably be in the exact same state of mind
as we are right now. No right, give us to
give us a little pat on the back to see
these are the toughest shows to do for some people.
They thrive on this, and it's like not for me.
I want to see the team do well because you know,
when you're constantly looking for that next thing, you turn

(56:25):
into the Jets, you turn into the Raiders, you turn
into the way the Titans have been Craven Brown's some
of these teams that have just been perpetually bad, and
they have like one little spiker uptick. The Bills waited
forever between Jim Kelly and Josh Allen. They had a
little bit of success here or there. You know Rex
Ryan was there and you know that they had they
had some shots. But overall it's like when you're playing

(56:47):
guys like Kyle Worton or whatever.

Speaker 2 (56:49):
This is where the Steelers are. They're in this they're
going to be in this purgatory. Go get a quarterback. Okay,
they're going to, but it's not necessarily a guarantee.

Speaker 4 (56:59):
Guarantee.

Speaker 2 (56:59):
Well, the other part of it is go get a coach.
And we said they go hand in hand. You've still
got a coach. We just don't know.

Speaker 4 (57:07):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (57:07):
I don't I don't know that it's any different. And
I think with Tomalin not winning playoff games, Tomalin doesn't
throw three four interceptions, turn the ball over all those
things that Ben was doing as the Gunslinger.

Speaker 4 (57:18):
Two at times.

Speaker 2 (57:19):
So you also have to look at some of those players.
People were tired of Ben and now they've got the
same tiredness for Tomlin. And yeah, I mean it moves on.
Father times undefeated, things will eventually change. We just don't
know when. I could maybe hope for the best for
the rest of this season. So don't forget to like,
comment and subscribe.

Speaker 4 (57:36):
And I don't know. I don't want any hate mail.
I don't want to fight with you, and I love
all of you in the Steelers Nation. It's just that
these are some rough, turbulent times. So it's the best
I could say. You had a swearing and dropping f
bomb at the beginning of the show. So what can
I say?

Speaker 3 (57:53):
Put the parental advisory on this one.

Speaker 4 (57:55):
Yeah, I'll say that's a bird thing.

Speaker 2 (57:57):
So all right, that'll do it for us folks. Got
no more two percent stuff unless I decide I don't
want to go to the Monday night game or something
for some reason, it's gonna be rough. That might be
a really rough game if the weather's bad too, and
there's not gonna be any Dolphins fans coming. They don't
come when they have a good team. They don't travel.

Speaker 3 (58:18):
So it Well, see, somebody, somebody bought my tickets. I
don't know who it was.

Speaker 2 (58:21):
Well we'll see. Yeah, you struggle to get to the
Monday night game. I will maybe struggle to get there.
I wanted to struggle going into one yesterday, but I
got to.

Speaker 4 (58:29):
Be able to be what do you want to say
sober so I could drive home. But I will say
this for the two percenters, the apple Pie, moonshine, the
new batch, chef's kiss. That was the best. That was
the most positive. You know what. I got one other
positive from the game. I know you're not the drinker.
I know you're not Brian. One other positive from this game.

(58:51):
I almost forgot, almost forgot. My heated socks work very well.
They're also so that's that's all I got. I was
gonna lead to show with that it's the only positive
thing that we had. But anyways, folks, once again, don't
forget the like, comment, subscribe, leave a rating, and review
wherever you're watching or listening from. My name is Joe,
his name is Brian E. Roach. Till next time. We

(59:12):
encourage everyone out there to be calm as best you can,
be safe, be good. That's what the good part usually is,
and we'll catch later we would liked it. Thank you
for listening, and remind our listeners to follow us on
social

Speaker 1 (59:28):
Media and our website www dot steel City Underground dot
com

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