Pittsburgh looks to stack wins against struggling Browns

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 and I
am still a little naisily but not quite so much,
joined here by my not so Naisley but Elmo's singing
friend of one, mister Brian e. Roach. Brian uh Like,

(00:40):
what's going on?

Speaker 3 (00:41):
La la la la Elmo's world?

Speaker 2 (00:44):
Oh my god, it's too I haven't had enough coffee
to be able to deal with this just yet. And
it's that's the way I feel about That's the way
I feel about the Cleveland Browns. I don't know what
the hell they're doing over there in Cleveland World, but
we've got a game.

Speaker 3 (00:59):
Find they're not singing La la la la no that much.

Speaker 2 (01:02):
No, they're not. Well, who knows, they might be maybe
the guys who just left from there who will cover
in a moment, but they might be. But the rest
of the teams of them, Cleveland World, Cleveland Cleveland almost
sound like I almost got the Patrick Starfish. Then to

(01:23):
almost do it nasily, like there you go, there you go,
spongebub by the way, I don't know if you knew this,
and if you didn't, it may it may ruin or
spoil your life forever. Remember the TV show Coach back
in the day with what was it Craig T. Nelson, Well,
the guy who played dum oh now I can't think
of his name, but you know him, Yeah, the big

(01:45):
dumb guy. Yeah, well, I didn't want to call it.
He's the voice of Patrick Starfish, so I think I
knew you could line that up. It's kind of like
it's kind of like it's kind of like Uncle Phil
from Fresh Princes doing the voice of the Shredder, which
will also mess with people from my age bracket from
the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Speaker 3 (02:04):
Why why does it mess with? Who cares?

Speaker 2 (02:06):
I don't know, because, like you, I don't know, because
it does. Because now, if I want, it's not even
just watching Ninja Turtles and being like, oh that's Uncle Phil.
It's watching Fresh Prince and you know young Will Smith
there and it's like, oh, well, Master Shredder's all over him.

Speaker 3 (02:20):
So I think you have difficulty separating.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
Game watching Hey, you know, it feels like forever we
had I don't want to say odd. It was awesome,
but it wasn't your run of the mill football Sunday
in Ireland. And then we had a week off of
which I was tortured to watch. Actually, I quite enjoyed
the three games that were back to back to back

(02:46):
to back out of the AFC North and the fallout
from that. We've got a one in four Cleveland Brown's
team that is coming over from facing this is like,
I wonder if this happens very often. The Steelers last
opponent was the Vikings. The Browns last opponent was the Vikings.
Like it. Maybe it does because of bye weeks, but
that's and they both played overseas. But the Browns, oh,

(03:10):
and they're just crying about it, the Cleveland fans. Let
me tell you, this is unfair. The Browns just played
in London and they just played in the UK. Why
don't they gotta go now? They gotta go play another
road game of play in Pittsburgh. Hey, you will know
where's the tiniest violin at Brian About last year? What
was that the three games eleven days against the Eagles
and the Chiefs, and the raven You will not get

(03:31):
any sympathy, empathy, whatever you want from us when it
comes to schedule making.

Speaker 4 (03:37):
Oh yeah, this all I'm gonna say, Shut up and
just keep your march towards the number one pick.

Speaker 2 (03:42):
Yeah, they'll screw that up too, so and rightfully so
they're getting to it. Let's go through some serious history
before I get to that number one pick deal, Because
Sunday's game is the one hundred and forty eighth overall
one hundred and forty fifth regular season meeting between the
Steelers and the Browns, and the Steelers own an eighteen

(04:02):
game advantage in this series eighty two sixty four and
one tie overall seventeen of those games and the regular
season seventy sixth meeting in Pittsburgh, the Steelers have a
thirty one game advantage when playing the game in Pittsburgh,

(04:22):
so overwhelming. Let me ask you.

Speaker 4 (04:24):
Good question though, Yeah, you said seventeen games in the
regular season. Did you mean seventeen games in.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
The seventeen game lead in the regular season, Saguar, Yeah, sorry,
thank you, Sorry if that didn't come off properly, but
just it was confusing me.

Speaker 3 (04:38):
You know, it's easy to do.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
Yeah, well, that happens. The nine to five eight win
percentage against the Browns at Akroscher Stadium is the third
best in NFL history for a team versus a single
opponent at a single stadium with a minimum of ten
games played. Steelers last defeated the Browns of December eighth,

(05:00):
twenty twenty four. Of course, we know the Browns won
the game prior to that in the snow, Russell Wilson,
all that fun stuff back then, and who have the
mighty have fallen? Russell Wilson. I don't know if you
caught Thursday night game, but Jackson Dart left for like
a short minute and he hands off and you see
day Ball on the sideline. I don't think I've ever

(05:20):
seen people. I don't know that they're allowed to go
in the medical tent, the blue tent, but there are
people rifling in and out, and day Ball's like, get
on the hell out of here. Like You're like, it'll good,
liperate them, and they it's like a third and distance
like six seven, eight yards right, And so Wilson to
allow Wilson to throw a pass. I don't know where
the fluttering duck went to, but the New York fans

(05:42):
were rabidly booing him. It only took two plays for
them to go from somewhat happy and they're up by
ten points on the defending Super Bowl champions to incessantly
ready to burn the stadium down.

Speaker 4 (05:56):
So fine, what's happened to the Eagles? Yeah, everybody was
talking about them. It's like, yeah, they were like, uh oh,
they're unstoppable, They're gonna win the Super Bowl again.

Speaker 3 (06:07):
And then they lose to in a row.

Speaker 2 (06:09):
Wow. Yeah, I actually picked them to lose the previous
game the Seahawks. Yeah, No, it wasn't. No, Tampa won
last second against Seahawks.

Speaker 4 (06:24):
Yeah, Tampa beat the Seahawks. Yeah, who beat the Eagles
last week?

Speaker 2 (06:28):
I gotta go back and look. Now it's not off
the top of my brain. I have it in front
of me. Hold on once one second. No, No, the
Chiefs lost of the Jaguars on Monday Night. It was
that was embarrassing to the Denver Broncos, which I should
have known. My good friend I actually had that game
on the same time as I was actually watching that

(06:49):
more than the Ravens because the Texans were just schlacking.
The Ravens second.

Speaker 4 (06:54):
Wait a second, hold on, let's see, where is my brother?

Speaker 2 (07:03):
For people who aren't aware, Brian's one of his brothers.

Speaker 3 (07:07):
Anyways, brother, what the hell's going on with your Philadelphia teams?
They're all losers?

Speaker 2 (07:14):
Yeah, well, I mean Phillies at least being into postseason.
Something went major League Baseball. We take that way too
much for granted, being Steelers fans and making the playoffs
with you see what happens with some of these teams.
We're talking about this with the Ravens, even with the
Browns are supposed to you know, the stability and coaching
in this front office and everything. I'm curious to see
what happens at the end of the season, if they

(07:34):
still they stick with the same people, and if Haslam
doesn't get impatient and then just with the number one
pick wipe the slate clean and go and go crazy,
or if this is like kind of the plan if
you remember, this guy had Kyle Shanahan in the building
and was texting him what to run on the sideline
years ago as offensive coordinators. So but anyways, where was

(07:58):
I at the Steelers Mike Tomlin twenty seven to eight
one overall against the Cleveland Browns lifetime Kevin Stefanski, who
I was just mentioning. He's forty one and forty eight
and six seasons as the head coach of the Cleveland Browns.
He has four and six against the Steelers. Of course,
we are back to your regularly scheduled programming, Brian, don't

(08:19):
ask me what the other colors mean, Steelers in the red.
I don't even care who the other teams are right now,
I think, well.

Speaker 4 (08:26):
Look, there's only three colors. This is the most uncolored
map that we've had.

Speaker 2 (08:30):
Yeah, what's blue? Blue is not the Steelers. The Steelers
are red, right you told me that. Yeah, I know that.
We don't care what blue is. You know, I don't
have this. It's not a legend that's baked into the thing.
I just but I looked it up. Anyways, I just
wanted to be an ass to you. The green is
the New England Patriots and New Orleans Saints, in case
you wanted to.

Speaker 4 (08:50):
Well, that makes sense. That is a perfectly sensible map
for New England.

Speaker 3 (08:54):
And New Orleans to be.

Speaker 2 (08:56):
The other one is not going to make sense to you, because,
like you go all the way out to Missouri or
Missouri all the way through the four corners, almost most
of the Midwest, except for like North Dakota and Texas,
which gets the Steelers. But these folks will get the
LA Chargers in Miami, Dolphins in the Blue. So well

(09:16):
what they did.

Speaker 4 (09:18):
Other than the giant patch of Steelers fans in northern California.

Speaker 2 (09:24):
Yeah, which is not where Terry Fletcher lives, by the way,
She's in southern cal So, but she's got the Sunday tickets,
so she said.

Speaker 4 (09:32):
But it doesn't like I am curious as to why
the entire middle of the country is our Chargers and
Dolphins fan.

Speaker 2 (09:42):
I'm gonna assume it has to do with the AFC West.
That's my educated guests. So if you're a Chiefs fan,
it was kind of like, you know, I got to
see Casey. Yeah, say with Denver, you get to see
your division opponent. They think that has something to do
with the TV rights, But it's one o'clock CBS, So
if you're in the Red you're good. People in southern

(10:03):
Florida won't be happy because the Dolphins are at the
same time one o'clock Sunday CBS and Paramounts plus I believe, yes,
the CBS early window, Ian Eagle, JJ Watt once again,
Evan Washburn. It seems to be the crew that they've
been rolling with for a few in this a conflict

(10:25):
of interest.

Speaker 4 (10:25):
I don't think JJ can be announcing Steelers games like
he's He's been all like going to do something, Yeah,
TJ is going to do something in one of these games,
and JJ is gonna be like, yeah, remember, well he
already said something I think in like maybe it was
the opener, maybe it was the game against the Patriots
where he said I think it was the Patriots.

Speaker 2 (10:45):
The Patriots game was CBS for sure, CBS coverage, and
he goes, he goes, I wonder where you learned that from,
because DJ was pretty one anyways, steal by the way,
for our satellite radio listeners, Serious one sixty two XM
two thirty two eight twenty six on the interwebs, and
we've got the Steelers five and a half point favorites

(11:08):
last check, with an over under of thirty eight points.
So we're expecting a low scoring not fair, yes, thirty
eight points. So Steelers are favored by nearly a touchdown
but yet not touchdown with a pat but nearly a
touchdown but yeah, it's thirty eight point.

Speaker 3 (11:24):
I'm like, I'm sitting here, going this could be a
ten to six game.

Speaker 2 (11:28):
It could be ugly. It could be ugly, and we
will get to that butt. It'll be even uglier because
one of your favorites will be officiating this one. Ron Torbert,
Oh yeah, this one, I know, man. And it feels
like it feels like you get that luck of the
draw when you're got like a four to one team
and a one to four team. It's like, how much
can this guy screw it up? It's still a divisional game.

(11:48):
Just drives me batty, right, So usually I do the
injuryport second, but I think that's pretty paramount to looking
at Well, let's look tail two teams here between the Steelers.
We kind of already covered a little bit of this,
but let's talk a little bit. The Steelers are rested
after a bye week. I've said four and one. I'm

(12:10):
already counting my chickens before they hatch three and one.
Don't do that, do that? And yeah, now, twenty four
to twenty one win over the Vikings. Aaron Rodgers of
course with DK metcalf Aaron Rodgers just running real efficient.
DK Metcalf with his first one hundred yard plus receiving game.
And then the Browns, you know, they kind of had

(12:31):
it in London maybe until they didn't. And they're rolling
with rookie quarterback out of Oregon, third round pick Dylan Gabriel,
a southpawl left handed guy. First start over there. He
got to now come to Pittsburgh after facing the Vikings defense,
and you know, we'll.

Speaker 3 (12:51):
Talk about TJ on his blind side.

Speaker 2 (12:54):
Oh technically, yeah, unless they move TJ around, And yes,
TJ would be on his blind side they had moving
him around. And then Herbig's been getting on the field.
Sometimes we've seen all three of them. Maybe we'll see
a little bit more. But okay, let me find some
injury updates. I might actually have to bring this one
up on the screen because there's just so many, So
for folks listening tuning in on the audio version, bear

(13:18):
with me as I try my best to. There's a
number of them right on this. So here we go.
On the Steelers. We have two full days of practice
that are in with Jalen Ramsey having not participated and
ditto for Kelvin Austen respectively. A hamstring for Ramsey the
shoulder for Austin. Ben Scronik returned to full participant after

(13:42):
an illness limited him on Wednesday. Darius slay, TJ Watt,
Cam Hayward, and DK metcalf all some variety of resting veterans.
Jalen Warren's been a full participant all week, Alex Higsmith
went from limited to full participant, and Joey Porter Junior
also a full participant for the full week. Steelers and

(14:04):
Mike Tomlin are counting on. Excuse me, I wanted to
meet the Mike. I'm still a little froggy here. But
Mike Tomlin said we should expect all three of those
gents to be on the field. Now. What gets interesting
is is the Browns have a pretty lengthy list of
injuries and changes as well, Lord, and some of these

(14:26):
are rested. So Joe Potonio guard starting guard, rest, Shelby
Harris defensive tackle day of rest, but then limited Malachi
maybe that was uh so it said it actually has
not injury related related and then me, okay, Malik Collins

(14:47):
defensive tackle up front, Jack Conklin rest. Jack Conklin's somebody
who was like kind of borderline not to play last
week so I could imagine they're trying to get him
a little extra rest. Demante CAZy, we remember him him.
Illness has hit him and he was non participant on Thursday.
They've got They've got a whole lot of others here.

(15:08):
Malachai Corley, a wide receiver that they picked up not
long ago, I think formerly of the Jets. Limited all week.
Let's see who else we've got here. Full participation for
Grant Delpit. Starting safety. Miles Garrett's been limited with an ankle.
Probably take a horse tranquilizer for him not to play.
I would imagine. Yeah. Mike Hall, rookie, right, Mike Call

(15:30):
was he Ohio State? I believe me, Yeah, he was
a later round pick. Limited offensive tackle Katie Leviston, who's
been getting some playtime, has also been limited for these
first two days of practice. David n Joku a full participant,
Ethan Possik from limited to full participant. He is the

(15:52):
starting center. Raheem Sanders, a reserve running back, return to
practice on Thursday, and Denzel Award's been dealing with a hip,
but he also returned to full participation. That's why I
had to put it on the screen. I couldn't even
talk my way through all of it, and I'm hoping
I caught everybody that was on there. But uh yeah,
the Cleveland Browns, they're they're feeling a little bit of

(16:13):
the injury bug right now.

Speaker 3 (16:15):
Well, I's gonna say that's that's a big long list
and nothing.

Speaker 2 (16:20):
I mean, most of those guys are going to play
that we're talking about, like kat Levinston has been playing
as a starting left tackle, but they also just made
a trade for Cam Robinson, which is let's talk about trades.

Speaker 3 (16:35):
Yes, we miss out on Wacko Flacoh.

Speaker 2 (16:37):
Yeah, Brooke Pryor was asking Hill next week, Brook next
week and then we get him, well until Thursday. Brooke
Pryor from ESPN Steels Beat reporter, she was asking in
Tomlin's Tuesday presser if Mike Tomlin still had the same
feeling of oh, we don't want flack Go to come
in this game the same way he had blurted that
out about the Indianapolis Colts last year in Week four,

(16:58):
which you know, and Tomlin says, now, though two different
styles of quarterbacks with Anthony Richardson, who's clearly you could
see the level of play of Richardson with even Daniel
Jones going in there, and I don't know what that says.
I don't know what it says for the Giants because
then they put Jackson Dart and camp Scataboo in there
and they're off to the races too. But that's a
whole other story. Two trades that impact this game, maybe

(17:21):
maybe some maybe not. Flacco is already benched. You don't
have any threat of seeing him in Cleveland. He has
been shipped off to the Cincinnati Bengals, who are desperate
for something, and with three days of practice, boy are
they They got to go to Green Bay face a
Packers team who just came off of bye, and then
get ready for the Steelers rate after with Thursday night,
Flacco is going to have about total of five practices.

(17:41):
If he's lucky to try and get on page with
that offense, that's something we will talk about. Well A,
you're gonna have to do a combo show probably on
Monday to preview the other one unless we keep it short.
Greg Newsome corner starting corner for the Cleveland Browns, gone
traded for another corner whose name now escapes me. I

(18:02):
did have it off the top of my head. I'm
gonna have to find it now on the transaction wire.
But I'm not exactly positive that their new acquisition is
gonna Tyson Cambell. That's who it was. Tyson Cambill traded
for Great newsom Now News someone was. You know, we'll
give new some respect. He's been He's probably gonna get paid.

(18:22):
He'll get a second contract somewhere by someone. Tyson Camill
had already done that and hasn't been so hot. He's
been getting beat a lot in Jacksonville. It's just kind
of a head scratcher. I don't know if he's going
to be any kind of factor in this game or
if they're just gonna if they're gonna pull up somebody else.
There might be someone that might be eligible to come

(18:43):
off of injured reserve as well. They were talking about
Emerson even filling in that slot. Possibly I was here
in that somewhere, which I don't know. I don't know
that that makes a whole ton of sense, But we'll
see if he's if he's available, and maybe that's the
reason why they pull that. Otherwise this could be I mean,
it's probably gonna be ward following around DK, we'll talk

(19:03):
about our big matchups, but for a defense that's been
one of the best in the league as far as
limiting opponents right the Cleveland Browns have been They're twenty
first in points allowed. They gave up some to the Vikings. Finally,
they hadn't been giving up or been very leaky in
the points department. But defensively against the pass, there are

(19:27):
only fourth in the league so far with an average
of one hundred and seventy two game first overall against
the run with seventy five. Although I felt like the
Vikings were getting some chunks there, but then again, so
were the Browns on the Vikings defense.

Speaker 4 (19:41):
So this will be an interesting game for us in
the sense of the run game.

Speaker 3 (19:46):
I think we can come out of this with twenty yards.

Speaker 2 (19:50):
There you go, there's the key. Well, there's a key
matchup for you, Brian. You got the front four which
includes Miles Garrett, Clues, Mason Graham rookie the Cleveland Browns.
They're getting production out of the rookies, and particularly on defense,
you're gonna have to be able to throw the ball
in efficiently and possibly the amount of pressure. It's not
like they're getting home the quarterbacks a lot, but we

(20:11):
still don't know the Steelers offensive line or are they
gonna have any rust coming out of the by So
Aaron Rodgers is gonna have to deliver the ball quickly
efficiently in short yardage situations like he's been saying. You know,
it's not been opened down the field because they've been
playing like a cover two. Can they try and pick
apart who's the other wide receiver? And it's going to
pick apart whatever matchup. If it is Emberson coming back,
if it is Cambell the new guy coming over from

(20:32):
the Jaguars, some type of safeties or nickels that are
on maybe one of these tight ends, fire me with
John whus Smith finally gets involved. That's that's what's gonna
It's gonna take a village here because it's two teams
that are very familiar with each other. Could be a
defensive battle for this one. We say that, so of.

Speaker 4 (20:50):
Course it'll be like forty four to forty five, But like,
I don't believe that for a second, I really do.
I think you take the under on this game. If
you're gonna bet, I don't see. I just don't see
a lot of points. I don't see the Steelers scoring
a lot of points. I don't steal the Browns scoring
a lot of points. Could be a fourteen to ten game,
could be a ten to six game. I don't think

(21:10):
anybody breaks twenty.

Speaker 2 (21:13):
Yeah, they added a bunch of corners also the Cleveland
Browns on the transaction wire, aside from Tyson cambell A,
Mere Speed was placed on the practice squad injured, and
then they added Dom Jones to the active roster from
the practice squad. This was just two days ago. And
then Dee Williams is who was signed to replace Speed.

(21:34):
This was after trading for Flacco and Tyson Campbell. So
they've got a lot of new parts in the secondary.
Whether or not the Steelers could take advantage of that
will be a whole other story. Considering the Brown's depth
chart again, another rookie, You've got Carson Schweizeger out of UCLA.
Another familiar face in the linebacker corp Devin Bush. So

(21:58):
we'll see how I mean. You got guys that are
banged up. Miles Garrett and Elite Collins are both and
Shelby Harris, who's a reserve guy there but long long
time veteran of the of the NFL. We're gonna see
how that ends up, uh impacting this game because you've
got guys that are banged up who made this trip,
had to adjust to do all the things we had

(22:19):
to do. The Steeler's got an extra week to do it,
so you're also playing at home. We're gonna see if
these things have any bearing an effector on his game.
Jalen Warrens should be back on offense, but defensively, as
we mentioned Joey Porter and Alex Heitzman. That'll be huge
because it looks like Jalen Ramsey probably I don't know
that Jalen Ramsey's gonna be right. Yeah, yeah, it doesn't

(22:43):
feel that way, and that's that's a big blow. But
at least if you have quarterback you've got you still
got Jabrill Peppers, you still got Chuck Clark, you still
got one Thornhill, You've got some safety help. Maybe play
a little more traditionally because they're gonna have to do that.
I don't expect Dylan Gabriel to light up the scoreboard necessarily.
He's got Bond, he's got Judy, he's got Djoku, he's

(23:05):
got Haryld Finn and yet another rookie tight end scored
his first touchdown last week against the Vikings. So they've
got some guys that can spread around the ball around two.
But this team is built to run the football, and
it's been the Quinn Shawn Judkins show as of late,
a guy that we're very familiar with, particularly even with
the Ohio State shirt that Brian's got on there. So

(23:28):
I was going to pull up I was going to
pull up Judkins. He's already he's the team leader with
seventy two carries for three hundred and forty seven yards
two touchdowns. He's also caught a few passes out of
the backfield. He's buying far the bellcal for this team.
I think he's touched the ball like forty plus times
in the last two games. Joe Flacco, of course, is
still the leading passer for this team, which is kind

(23:50):
of funny. And Jerry Judy just fifteen catches for one
hundred and ninety seven yards through five games. So it
just goes to show you how how much of a
lack of a passing off there was there with Flacco
under center. And I don't know how much they trust
Gabriel to just start slinging the ball around as well.
It might just be a case of there's a lot
of newness on both sides of the It's still tough

(24:12):
for me to say because I don't know what the
secondary makeup is going to be. I don't know if
anybody's going to be ruled out on Cleveland side as
far as their front seven. But there could be some
newness on that side of the ball, and that may
dictate just everything and dictate the whole pace here. Yeah,
could be.

Speaker 4 (24:28):
Like I said, this is a game that makes me
nervous simply because it's our perceived weaknesses play into their
perceived strengths, right, And you know, you look at it
and you feel like we're going to be one dimensional
in this game. We're not gonna be able to run
the ball. We're going against the number one run defense
in the league. We're not gonna be able to run

(24:50):
the ball. So you know, we're gonna have to throw
the ball all the time. If we have to throw
the ball all the time, or they're going to have
enough to you know, what are they going to do
to add protection so that you know, Rogers has some
more time to throw the ball. Are the receivers going
to be open, you know, like you just this is
a game that makes me nervous. So that's that's all

(25:12):
I can tell you.

Speaker 2 (25:13):
Well, let's go to the X factors. This is what
you said when we were in Dublin. Feed DK the ball.
I think that's got to be one of the big
things here. And we saw what happened. It wasn't like
necessarily like we said, somebody said a quick slant or
a short pass or whatever. This was pretty much they

(25:33):
got to get this involved, this kind of involvement, stretch
these linebackers out. I just I feel confident enough with
somebody like you've got a rookie like Schweisinger, you've got
Devin Bush, if you could keep Miles Garrett out of
this by using Spencer Anderson or utilizing Darnell Washington. I

(25:54):
do think that the tackle play has improved with the Steelers,
but I'm trying to think, like who if they faced
it's been a major pass rushing force the whole. I mean,
the Jets have some guys, right, Jets have some guys.
Jets have some guys. I mean the Patriots just have,
like right now, a bunch of just you don't knows.

(26:14):
You know, you don't know the guy, you don't know.
The names Seahawks are a little bit in that category
as well, but it's not like there's been a Miles Garrett,
a Micah Parson's, a Mason Crosby, a Trey Hendrickson somebody
like that lined up on the other side of the
field to challenge Roderick Jones or Troy Fattanu that that said, what,
Garrett's got four sex for the season, And of course

(26:36):
I would love to see the second win. Whatever rate
the PFF he always uses and all that other stuff,
because I've been watching these games and I know that,
you know, you get some cheap ones, so that you
know TJ does sometimes too, So it's like, I don't
want to just draw it there, but you still have
to respect him as a player. He usually isn't going
to give up on plays. Jim Schwartz's defense is known

(26:58):
to be opportunist. Aaron Rodgers has been playing pretty well
at the keep away game, and the Steelers credit the
offense and offensive line in the game plans. They've kept
Rogers fairly upright. I know we were cringing that first
play out the gate when they were over in Ireland
and he got sacked immediately, and it was because there
was definitely some type of communication or they weren't on

(27:21):
the right time zone yet or whatever. With Mason McCormick
came over through. There could have been Zach Fraser, could
have been Troy Futon. It could have been somebody's assignment
that was missed. So Jalen Warren good to have him
back pass pro But we saw what Kenneth Gamewell can do.
I don't I don't expect or anticipate that the Steelers will.

(27:43):
We haven't had one hundred yard rusher yet this season.
I don't think that this thing they're going to have
one tomorrow. It's not tomorrow, no, but someday. Yeah. However,
the Vikings were able to pile up one hundred and
forty yards on the ground, and that's what the Hodgepodge
of got eyes that were basically Jordan Mason. And when
I saw that and they just started to punch the

(28:05):
Browns in the mouth, I should I should. I'll retract this.
I'm sorry. A hundred Browns had one hundred and forty yards,
they had ninety seven, and then the Lions had one
O nine. So they've been getting closer to cracking that shell.
Because the Bengals and the Ravens combined for under one
hundred rushing yards in the first two weeks a season,

(28:26):
which is kind of hard to believe. But then again,
the Ravens. I don't even think Lamar threw for very
much in that game. The Ravens were just all over them.
I was forty one to seventeen. So people have been
knocking at the door and trying to see on the
flip side, can the Steelers contain Quinn Shawn Judkins and
not make him look like Emmitt Smith or Barry Sanders
running all over the field.

Speaker 4 (28:47):
So it's a good test for where we're at, right
I mean, this is look, we've got Derek Harmen's playing now,
so it's a good test to see the what the
run game looks like. I mean, for many years, you know,
Cleveland's been a run first kind of gay or a
team Nick Chubb, and now they've got Quinchean Jenkins. We

(29:09):
just have to wait and see what what are our
defensive line and what our plan is, how they're going
to scheme against it. I don't know, right it felt
like they got better against Minnesota. It felt like they
made improvements in the run game against Minnesota, but they
still had a couple of breakaways. So I think it

(29:30):
boils down still to communication. You still have some moving
pieces in there. Harmon's a rookie. You know, You've got
newer guys. Keanu Betton's playing better or appeared to play
better in the last game. Let's see how that continues
to progress. I'm I'm cautiously optimistic that they can not
look like a fishing net with seven thousand holes in

(29:54):
it and can contain the run a little bit.

Speaker 3 (29:57):
That's my hope.

Speaker 4 (29:58):
If look, if they like Quinshon j Un kids run
all over them, they're going to lose the game, pure
and simple.

Speaker 2 (30:04):
Yeah, they cannot let him dictate the pace. They're going
to have to bottle them up. They're gonna have to
four some three and outs. I was going to look at,
you know, just by comparison's sake, what the Browns kind
of did against the Vikings as far as possession, and
they had some scoring drives. They had one that was

(30:25):
seven plays for forty seven yards in a touchdown. They're
only possession of the third quarter. They ate about half
of the quarter eight minutes plus with thirteen plays for
seventy four yards at as ed everything else, with the
exception of a field goal drive that was actually fourteen
plays fifty eight yards to in the half. It was
a hurry up offense. Smites or however you say his name,

(30:47):
the rookie kicker, another good new guy on this Browns rots.
So I had a ton of picks there. You think
the Steelers are stockpiling picks, that's all they're doing right
now for next season two and maybe in an effort
to move up. But they had a field goal on
that drive before the end of the half. But they
punted eight times, four in each half. So if the

(31:09):
Steelers can make those same same type of effort on defense,
that would be nice. Likewise, you look at what the
Browns did defensively against the Vikings. They were able to
force two fumbles and then there was also the missed
field goal that hit the trip wire over in London. So, yeah, Brian,

(31:30):
where's the bubble head at? We've got to make some
predictions there is all right, what have we got?

Speaker 4 (31:38):
What have we got? Are they gonna win? Are they
gonna lose? He says, No, I don't know what that means.
The question are they going to lose? They're gonna lose,
He says no, he says, the Browns win the game.

Speaker 2 (31:51):
Oh, that's just throw that thing in a trash, pop
the head rate off of it. We're done with the bubblehead.
It's good. I think it'll be a tight game. But
I do think at some point all security comes into play,
and yeah, Dylan Gabriel or maybe even Judkins maybe a

(32:14):
lesser extent. I think the Steelers are going to force
some turnovers. I don't think the Steelers are going to
turn it over as frequently. I think Rogers plays it
close to the vest I think even if you have
Warren or game Well running for two and a half
three yards Carrie, there's I think Arthur Smith's still going
to try and force, you know, that wrong shaped pagan

(32:38):
into the wrong shaped toll, just to try and set
something up downfield, maybe some play action or otherwise. I mean,
we saw the Browns play this pretty close to the Packers.
Packers shot themselves in the foot because they turned the
ball over. Steelers just simply don't do that. And I
just don't see. I just don't see Gabriel. Get I
don't see Gabriel doing much more than we've seen in

(33:00):
the past from other quarterbacks, not only from the Browns
but even from the Steelers side. But we've seen how
those games play out as well. You know, I don't
like Cleveland. You know, it's a home game, so I'm
going with the home team. Screw the Bobblehead.

Speaker 4 (33:13):
I think Rogers to Bobblehead and I will be disagreeing
on this one. Oh okay, So I mean, even though
this game worries me, I still think the Steelers can
pull this out provided two things happen.

Speaker 2 (33:25):
Right.

Speaker 4 (33:26):
They don't let quinch On Junkins run all over them,
and they don't turn the ball over. In other words,
they just have to play their game. If if the
turnovers are even like zero zero, if nobody turns the
ball over, I Steelers have a hard time winning this game.

Speaker 2 (33:40):
Yeah, there's Steelers time of possession maybe.

Speaker 4 (33:43):
Yeah, Steelers win games when they get turnovers.

Speaker 2 (33:46):
Right.

Speaker 4 (33:46):
Their defense is predicated on being a turnover machine.

Speaker 3 (33:49):
We've talked about it in the past.

Speaker 4 (33:51):
If if they get on the field and they're stuck
on the field for extended periods of time, eventually it'll
start to wear them down. If we can get I
get some turnovers, if we can get some short fields,
I think the Steelers can pull this game out. I
don't think it's going to be easy. Just blatantly stated,
I don't think it's going to be easy. This is

(34:12):
not a pushover team, and nobody should be viewing it
that way, regardless of what their record is.

Speaker 2 (34:18):
More I hate looking ahead, But would you feel you're
more concerned with playing the Browns at home right now
or playing the Bengals on the road on Thursday?

Speaker 3 (34:28):
Browns at home.

Speaker 2 (34:29):
Yeah, it's not even hard. I know it feels that way.
It feels that way. It feels that way even though
the Browns, you know, the lesser record. I just I
have the same kind of feeling. They're like a team
that always always plays tough within the division no matter
who they face. The game plan pretty well against their

(34:49):
division opponents. It's like the w and O versus the Devil.
You don't and it's hard to just compare them against
like whatever with the Vikings. Whatever the Vikings did. But
I will throw out that. But Carson Wentz was twenty
five to thirty four for seventy three and a half
percent two hundred thirty six yards of a touchdown. He
was sacked three times in that game that was in London.
So if Carson Weentz could do that, I think Aaron

(35:11):
Rodgers can also do some damage. By the way, Dylan
Gabriel on his debut was nineteen to thirty three. That
was fifty seven point six percent completion percentage, one hundred
ninety yards, two touchdowns. He was sacked twice. So my
bold prediction for the game Shader Sanders plays ooh who

(35:31):
maybe I'm wondering just maybe if and when that happens,
I think that the Browns could keep Dylan Gabriel upright.
But being a smaller guy, he takes like the wrong
tumble and all of a sudden, you're one step now
you think Schador is going to play. Stefanski hasn't committed
as to whether or not he's even the backup. You've
got a guy on the practice squall with Bailey Zappi

(35:52):
that might just be elevated and right into the backup
role over.

Speaker 4 (35:56):
Just assuming that since he's been the third emergency quarterback,
he's to become the backup if Bailey's appy jumps up
well then my prediction is off the off the board.

Speaker 2 (36:05):
But yeah, I'm just saying, yeah, so that that's going
to be interesting. They went from having, you know, you
have Watson who's still floating around and I don't know,
he's trying to make a comeback still. I don't know
if they allow him. I don't know what's going on
with that this contractor fans should just go go go
sit on the couch and watch TV. And that's what
he's been doing, I think.

Speaker 4 (36:25):
But he's got two hundred million dollars, just go to
hundred thirty million or whatever. He's thirty years old now too.
It's just everything's starting to slide and I just I
don't know.

Speaker 2 (36:36):
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (36:37):
Hundred and thirty million dollars when I was thirty years
old at never work another day in my life.

Speaker 2 (36:41):
Well, it's probably what he was thinking as soon as
he's signed in Cleveland. So yeah, and he has turned
out that way and he's barely worked another day in
his life. Yeah, he hasn't played very many games at all.

Speaker 3 (36:52):
I don't like.

Speaker 2 (36:53):
We may be talking about him when you get the
rematch later on down the road in Cleveland. We don't know.
But at the beginning of this season, they traded for
Kenny Pickett, they got him from the Eagles, and he
was penciled in to probably be compete to be the starter.
Then they signed Joe Flacco, They draft Sanders, they draft well,
they drafted Gabriel and then drafted Sanders. And that wasn't

(37:15):
the whole stable either. They still had Stoop Huntley. That
was formulae of the Ravens. And I'm missing somebody else.
They had six guys, they had six different guys. Oh
they had uh, well, they've got dtr They had traded
him away too, and then some somehow they had to

(37:35):
bring in Bailey Zappy And I don't know what else
did the team's playing on. I don't know if they're
very serious about winning, if they're serious about developing those players,
if they're trying to play some draft lottery like you think,
or maybe they're like, hey, if we give these guys
a little bit of playing time save if Gabriel's got
oh he doesn't, Oh shucks, we lost a few games.
Let's saff Sanders has it. Oh shucks. Uh, well, we're

(37:56):
in prime position. We got the Jaguars pick. We could
uh maybe get some other quarterback. But excuse me, on
the flip side of that, maybe one of those guys
pans out and then it's just they could build around them.
And I don't really know. I can tell you that
Joe Flacco wasn't gonna be the future there. I can
tell you Bailey Zappi will not be the future there.

(38:16):
So they're gonna have to roll with what they got there.
And it's not unlike the Steelers in some cases where
I guess Garrett's really the last man standing and he
got Denzel Ward, maybe a handful of others. There's not
as much carryover, but not much different from the Steelers
trying to like put a lot of their chips in
the pile to get a chip for you know, TJ. Watt,

(38:37):
for Cam Hayward and some of the guys that have
been playing for a while on the Steelers side. So
we shall see how this one plays out. Sunday, one
o'clock CBS. Once again, that'll do it for us. Don't
forget the like comment and subscribe Brian, any other closing
thoughts for this Sunday? No, okay, maybe we could do

(38:58):
a little Almo dance on a victory money day. Hopefully
it is the game that makes you nervous. It is
probably the fan base I talked the most smack with.
Of course, I've got all kinds of friends and family
that are Browns fans. There'll be people that'll start texting
me if the Browns go up like fourteen nothing in
the first quarter. I will get texts from people that
I have not talked to, that especially not talked to

(39:20):
or have not had a football conversation with. I don't
know which one's worse. If I don't talk to somebody
for eight months, but then if I talk to somebody
daily and they refuse to talk football with me, and
then all of a sudden start talking trash, That's what happens.
That's why I have a disdain for the Cleveland Browns.

Speaker 4 (39:36):
The uh yeah, I'll get texts from my sister in
law if, in fact, the Browns go up fourteen nothing,
and it'll just be, hey, how do those Browns look today?

Speaker 2 (39:44):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (39:45):
Wait, who are they playing?

Speaker 2 (39:46):
I forgot yeah, no counter chickens before they hatch. I
had somebody that did that like a year or two ago.
And I'm in stadium in game, and it's like, this
is like the second quarter, and I'm just like mm hm,
just wait, just wait, it's boiling, it's not simmer over.
And then the Steelers come back and win, and you're like,
got the whole Simpsons Nelson thing going ah, like to

(40:07):
all the plethora, and I'm talking about it's not just
one person. I get like six, eight, ten people to
just start blowing up my phone and it just it's annoying.
So we shall see.

Speaker 3 (40:20):
Well I don't.

Speaker 4 (40:20):
I don't have that many friends to begin with, so well,
probably better than you don't in some cases. So but
you still have to deal with Eagles fans over that way,
so I do. Yeah, they're annoying enough. Now that says enough.

Speaker 2 (40:35):
We're folks. Once again, don't forget to like, comment, subscribe.
Thank you for joining us as per usual for this
pre game podcast. Join us again early next week when
we look back and see what happened and see how
right we were, because we usually are right anyways. That'll
do it for us today. My name's Joe, his name's Brian.

(40:55):
Until next time, we encourage everyone out there to be safe,
be good, and we'll catch you later.

Speaker 1 (41:01):
We would like to thank you for listening and remind
our listeners to follow us on social media and our
website www. Dot steel City Underground dot com

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