Rodgers ready to set the tone in Steelers home opener

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
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 hose.
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, joined here
with my good buddy colleague Apala one, mister Brian E Roach. Brian,
what's going on, my friend?

Speaker 3 (00:33):
You know, I'm just hanging out, looking forward to talking
to you, looking forward to getting in the car Sunday
morning and ski daddling to Pittsburgh and going to the
home opener.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Yeah, yeah, man, I'm pretty geeked up for this one.
I always getting nervous though, you know, why not because
of the game you have a little less to worry about.
But what I'm making this commute, and you know, it's
not like if I leave something at home, I could
just go back and easily get it with the tailgating,
setting up the whole party and everything like that. So
cross my fingers. I've already been going through the checklists

(01:04):
and everything making sure, you know, like Santa, I'm checking
making my list, I'm checking it twice, and we're gonna
find out I got you.

Speaker 3 (01:13):
Who's not a nice difference. I don't do the tailgate thing.
I just go park in a parking lot and walk
to the stadium. So I I yeah, if I have
to get your butt over, I have to worry about.
Is if I forget, you know, my wallet, then I'm
in deep trouble.

Speaker 2 (01:28):
No, if you forget your phone now, because you can't
Like before, if you had paper tickets, you were kind
of screwed. But we could.

Speaker 4 (01:33):
Forget their phone. How is that even possible?

Speaker 2 (01:35):
Isn't it?

Speaker 3 (01:36):
Isn't it like literally connected to us? Don't we actually
feel like we're not complete?

Speaker 2 (01:41):
Got the Apple watch? Like it's constantly Yeah, if you
leave the.

Speaker 3 (01:46):
House without your phone, aren't you, Like the minute you
walk out the door, you just have a sense of incompleteness,
like something is off, something is missing. What could it be?
And of course it's your phone, because you can't can't
live without your phone.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
You can't pretty much can't do anything without it. So
that's what we're talking about with a little bit of
the overseas trouble. But I'll table that for later because
it's like, my phone's got to work. Well, I'm there,
I need that to at least work, and we've yeah,
we've got a game. We've got a home opener coming up.
Pittsburgh Steelers Seattle Seahawks Sunday, Actressure Afrosure Stadium. I still

(02:23):
can't get used to saying that, even though I don't
technically say Hines Field anymore. I just kind of want
to say, like something generic, like the Steelers Stadium or
Pittsburgh Stadium or something like three rivers worked really well.

Speaker 4 (02:34):
My daughter just says Hines. She refuses to say after sure.

Speaker 3 (02:38):
She just says, the Steelers are playing at Hines this week, right,
And I go no, and she goes, yes, they are,
And I'm like, yeah, I guess.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
Well, let me set the stage here for this game.
Steelers come in, want to oh record against the Seahawks
or oher to one. The Steelers winning, of course, thirty
four thirty two shootout over the Jets, Aaron Rodgers having
four touchdown passes. The Seahawks drop their opener at home,
hosting to their own division rival, the San Francisco forty

(03:10):
nine Ers, And that was a seventeen to three struggle
bus for both of those teams, where you had the
forty nine ers. Look, forty nine ers were dropping like flies.
And I'll tell you what. I was just thinking about
this as I'm prepping for this show, and I'm like,
I'll talk about Cooper Cup and you know, he's a
new Seahawks here, but I'm like, he would have been

(03:32):
better off staying in the division and going to San
Francisco for as often as you know he's injured and
not available and maybe the help that the Seahawks need.
So Sam Darnold, of course, signing coming over from winning
fourteen games with the Vikings last year, he's the new
quarterback in Seattle. He only had one hundred and fifty
yards passing sixteen of twenty three, so this is still

(03:55):
an extension of the preseason. Both teams are trying to
find themselves. But of course Aaron Rodgers in company, I
think they I think they impressed a little more than
we thought they would on the offensive side of the ball,
keeping in stride. Making his debut in Week one, Aaron
Rodgers a couple of notes here, recorded his twenty eighth

(04:15):
game with at least four touchdown passes and no interceptions.
That ties him with Tom Brady for the most in
National Football League history. He also has five hundred and
seven career regular season touchdown passes, and against Seattle he
could surpass Brett farre who has five hundred and eight

(04:36):
passes for the fourth most regular season touchdown passes all time.
And Rodgers also can pass Philip Rivers, who currently has
sixty three four and forty yards. Rogers is probably gonna
need about three hundred yards in this game roughly, and
just maybe just shy of that. I'm not doing the math.
I'm not putting up the graphic for that right now.
Good math.

Speaker 4 (04:56):
We know from last time that you're not necessarily a mathematician.

Speaker 2 (05:00):
Sixty three thousand, one ninety six versus Rivers, who has
sixty three thousand and four to forty, so four forty
one ninety six. It can do the use eight times
smart devices, but that sixth most for the regular season
passing yards in NFL history. Now the series, this is
the twenty second overall twenty one in the regular season
meeting between the Seahawks and the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers

(05:23):
have a one game overall lead in this series. Regular season,
they're tied, so that tiebreaker is that super Bowl going
all the way back yep, super Bowl forty so uh
twelfth regular season meeting between the teams in Pittsburgh, and
the Steelers have a five game advantage in regular season
matchups played in Pittsburgh. They're eight and three at home.

(05:44):
The last time these two teams met at at home,
the Steelers won in twenty twenty one, twenty three to twenty.
Back in New Year's Eve twenty twenty three, they won
in Seattle thirty to twenty three. Those teams look nothing
like they did in either of those two seasons, twenty
twenty one or twenty twenty three. Neither of those teams.
I mean, you go back, it was like Pete Carroll

(06:04):
before and then you know Gino Smith and Russell Wilson
was there, and it's just completely different. Right. Mike Tomlin,
head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, now one hundred and
eighty four wins in his nineteenth season, one eighty four,
one oh seven and two ties. He's four and two
against the Seahawks. Mike McDonald off of the Harbaugh coaching tree,
having worked with both of them. Right, he was with

(06:26):
John and Harbaugh as a defensive coordinator, and then he
was up well, he was at Michigan. They plucked him
from Michigan when the other Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't
want to say Jim Harbaugh. That was the dirty word
to me. But you're right, they're both equally equally dirty.
If you're new to this program, folks, where Buckey's here,
we don't talk about the university up north. So no, Yeah,

(06:46):
but Mike McDonald has never faced he's in his second year,
he's never faced the Steelers. Obviously it doesn't lined up.
He's he was ten and eight last year. Their team
just missed the playoffs despite winning ten games. They overhauled
a whole lot of stuff. So let's get into some
of the you know what, I have some fun stuff.
Let's do this first, Brian, because yeah, there's a little

(07:09):
more doing. This is we are going to it's your
favorite segment Maps.

Speaker 4 (07:17):
I'm so happy.

Speaker 2 (07:20):
Maps with Brian as he disappears. So we've got Sunday
one o'clock. This is on Fox. It's a Fox game.
So there's some goofy stuff going on at the beginning
of the season because you had you know, Brown's Bengals
were on Fox last week, Steelers were on CBS. Now
you've got yeah, we could still hear you opening the
can there, Jesus, I was trying to be quiet. This

(07:40):
is Those things are like protein jet fueled. Oh that
looks good. I might actually try that. What's does that
have a flavor to it? This is just vanilla, just vanilla.
I've got a sidebar here real quick, and foundament at Walmart.
I forget who makes it, but they have the cereal
flavored proteins. It's like literally drinking the milk at the
bottom of like the Austin Flakes bowl. Pretty pretty, actually

(08:02):
pretty decent stuff, considering the proteins usually nasty and it's
like drinking sawdust. But I digress. Let's bring up the map,
Brian for this one o'clock game on Fox Mac for
Sure Stadium. This is Adam Ammon, Mark Sanchez and Christina
pink is the field reporter. So that's not gonna beat

(08:24):
the best. It's the Steelers. Adam Adams. He's got like
two first names, Adam Ammon Amen Amen.

Speaker 3 (08:30):
Sounds like Wolverine's clause man, Adam Adam Antium.

Speaker 2 (08:34):
That's Adam Antium. I thought you were talking about wolf
Logan himself. No, it's Adam Emmon out I wonder what
his middle name is. But all the green and the green,
so there's not as many people if you're watching this
and you're not up in the Pacific Northwest or immediately
like you know, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and part of West
Virginia there and a little bit. I think that goes

(08:56):
into like Roanoke, Virginia. That's it. Yeah, good thing you
are going, my friend. It gets out the Harrisburg. But
then you know Philadelphia and all that being foxed? What's
the red? Don't no, I don't have fun. This is
from five oh six sports.

Speaker 4 (09:11):
Why don't you have Why aren't you prepared?

Speaker 2 (09:13):
You need to give me the colors. I need to understand,
because I'm not because we only care about the Steelers game. Right,
you get the New York Giants and the Dallas Cowboys
if you're in the red, all right, and then Chicago
and Detroit in the in the blue Detroit and the
yellow is San Francisco.

Speaker 4 (09:29):
Wait wait wait, Chicago and Detroit is in the blue.

Speaker 2 (09:33):
Yes, go back?

Speaker 3 (09:35):
Yeah, what the hell is the Everglades need to do?
Chicago and Detroit?

Speaker 2 (09:41):
I don't understand how they carve out certain areas like that,
But if I removed the southern Florida I have like
a second home, or just outright go for nicer weather.
I always look there and I'm looking at the map.
I'm looking at like Arizona and stuff. You know, for
my later years, I'd be absolutely screwed and forget about it.
I don't want to be anywhere near tech Is where
they show these about them cowboys? Right? How about them?

Speaker 4 (10:04):
But a cowboys?

Speaker 2 (10:09):
If you're listening, if you want to follow the radio feeds,
folks of the Pittsburgh Steelers, of course on their Steelers
Audio Network will have that posted over the weekend at
steel City Underground dot com with all of the local affiliates.
You can get it on the app. You can get
it on SiriusXM the local call with Rob King dooing
the play by play, Max starks on analysis. Missing Matthews
on the sidelines nationally though more than likely. If you

(10:32):
don't get the local feed, you can catch Steve Levy
and Style pala Antonio on ESPN Radio. The Steelers feeds
on Sirius one oh six XM two thirty two, eight
twenty six. If you're tuning in on the internet, your
referee for this game. Scott Novak, who I don't have
anything otherwise to say. Steelers are favored by three points
with an over under of forty, and we still have

(10:55):
a little bit more business before we maybe get down
to talking about individual matchups and stuff like this, because
I want to cover this before we do, because it'll
come up anyways. Derek Carmon out again. It looks like
I know there was some other some others that popped
up on the injury report later after the game and

(11:16):
what not. Malik Harrison was one of them. That's more
than likely not going to play. Yeah, well, actually, what
was the other transaction with that? There were two tracks,
Skyler Thompson, Yeah, Skyler Thompson to IR and Logan Woodside
to the practice squad as a potential QB three emergency quarterback.
But they are optimistic Joey Porter will be available to

(11:37):
play and as well as Nick Herbik. Herbick was limited,
but Porter was a d n P. Kelvin Anderson illness
did not practice. TJ. Watt was a arresting veteran, did
not practice. Cam Heyward as a arresting vet, was limited.
Derek Carmon, of course has mentioned, also did not participate,
and the other name that we will mention later because

(12:00):
there was another transaction that corresponded with all this stuff
that that transpired to Sean Elliott appears to avoided Peppers. Yeah,
major major disaster here. Elliott may only miss end up
missing maybe two games. They're hopeful he could be back
for the Vikings in Ireland, so yeah, that would be
very good. I was actually, you know, obviously recipient of

(12:24):
a knee injury in the past. Myself. I was quite
surprised by this because as soon as I saw that,
I was like, oh gee, you know, I like WinCE
when I see this stuff. I don't like seeing anybody
get hurt, it don't matter which side of the field,
but Elliott. Maybe Elliott was one of the reasons. I
don't know. I'm not gonna pin at all on Elliott

(12:45):
not being there, but a major communicator. He was one
of the reasons they moved off of make a Fitzpatrick
and they gave him a contract during the off season.
So in terms of communication and what was going on
there on the defense, I think some of it was
they weren't playing. Some of it was they weren't prepared
for who they were playing against et cetera, et cetera.

(13:05):
And we're going to kind of get into some of
those things with our key matchups for this game. So
where should we start there? Maybe we'll jump right over
to Steelers defense and Seahawks running offense. Running game, Yeah, offense,
but probably running game because McDonald is still in that
same Like I said, he's one of these Hardblaugh he's

(13:28):
a Hardbaugh disciple. They want to run the ball more,
and that's what they did or tried to do anyways
against San Francisco. Hard to compare. It can't be like, well,
San Francisco doesn't do as best I can because he
had only twenty six attempts. They didn't get a lot
of offense here, twenty three pass attempts, twenty six running attempts.
They only ran for eighty four yards three point two

(13:49):
average overall. The main guys here, Zach Charbonnay twelve for
forty seven and three point nine. That's healthy. It's almost
a four. It's about where you want it. Kenneth Walker
ten for two only a two point zero average. Yikes,
seven and eight yard long. So he had a couple
scampers by Darnald and a few other guys that got
some carries, including Jalen Milroe quarterback. So some interesting stuff

(14:12):
going on with Seattle. But I would expect them to
be very run centric, seeing as that's what they were
doing against San Francisco. Darnald. Although he completed sixty nine
point six percent of his passes that's sixteen to twenty
three for one hundred and fifty yards, he wasn't really
pushing the ball anywhere. So this is going to be
can the Steelers clean up defensively? And is this a

(14:33):
get right game against Sharpon day Walker and that Seattle
Seahawks offense.

Speaker 3 (14:39):
Here's what I think this is not. From all all appearances,
this does not look like a team that can run
the ball very well right now.

Speaker 4 (14:47):
Right.

Speaker 3 (14:48):
They may improve, they may get better, but you would
expect the Steelers to perform better against this group. Probably
have not as good an offensive line as the Jets have.
I don't look at those running backs and think they're
better than the Jets running backs, and I think in
they're you know, just at face value, this should be

(15:08):
a better end result. They should do a better job.
But what this is really going to do is tell
us how good or bad will not necessarily good, but really,
do tell us how bad the Steelers run defense may
or may not be. If they get gashed again this week,
they're bad and we just have to accept that and

(15:29):
figure out how we move on and get better and
hope that, you know, when Derek Carmon gets back that
helps and improves. I don't expect them to get gashed
this week. I'm just saying, I am holding I'm holding
my breath a little bit because I just don't know
if they're that bad yet or not.

Speaker 2 (15:47):
Yeah, Seattle did like a herd reboot on their team
after not making the play. You know, they got rid
of Gino Smith, they moved on Derek metcalf. This could
be a Derek mccalf revenge game against the former team.
I mean they were able to move off them pretty
much and also Tyler Lockett and completely reboot that because

(16:10):
of Jackson Smith and Jigba who will be talking about
here momentarily. But you're kind of right here. I agree.
You know you've got two first round picks or former
first round picks on the left side of their line,
with Gray Zabel this year's first rounder, and then Charles
Cross back from twenty twenty two college former college free

(16:30):
agent last year. Jalen Sundel is the center. Anthony Bradford
and Abraham Lucas are on the right side of the line.
They're kind of middle round picks, so they got kind
of they kind of mix of talent. It's kind of
the same things that the Steelers got going. You know,
You've got like a first round pick that doesn't like
maybe live up to the building. You got another one
that's still you know, kind of in their first real

(16:51):
playing time. The same things kind of going on with Seattle.
So I expect it to be a little messy, but
that should favor the Steelers front. You would think Keano
Benton hopefully you know, plays up because can you really
can you really hold out I mean Derek Harmon, I've
got some thoughts about Derek Harmon, right and when he
does come And I was listening to a different opinions

(17:12):
Steelers Nation Radio, ESPN Radio, Pittsburgh, this and that, and
I think it was Chris Adamski. It's a he said it,
and I was like, he's absolutely right that you're like
holding out home that this rookie could come in and
fix this entire thing. However, It does remind me of
about twelve ish years ago, twenty twelve, twenty thirteen Steelers.
I remember they brought back Brett Keesle, he wasn't there

(17:34):
in training camp, and I remember a young Cam Hayward
was a first round pick who wasn't playing over like
a Ziggy Hood who was also a first round pick,
and a couple other guys in a defensive line. When
Cam came in there and you had a little bit
of veteran help, boom, it just started clicking. So never
say never. But man, it's a tall order.

Speaker 4 (17:51):
Right, absolutely.

Speaker 3 (17:53):
I mean, you don't want to put all your hopes
on on Derek Harmon, but you do.

Speaker 4 (17:57):
You can realistically hope get helps, right, and.

Speaker 3 (18:03):
That's that's all. That's the best you can hope for,
is that it's gonna help. If they gel and you know,
all of a sudden they're way better than we anticipate,
that'd be great.

Speaker 4 (18:12):
I'd be extremely happy.

Speaker 2 (18:13):
I'd be extremely happy too. I also heard from like
a damn Ski or somebody that the most of this
offense for Seattle was all Jackson Smith and Jigba. We
just talked about being Ohio State guys. Somebody that we
are damn familiar with Yeah, I know, but he's like,
the ball is only going in one direction, and I
mean they took a tight end in the second round

(18:34):
Cooper Cup he had three targets, he caught two of
those for fifteen yards, and Jigba had one hundred and
twenty four yards receiving of the one fifty passing from
Sam Darnold, he had nine catches, nine of the sixteen
over half of the passes. They all went there. So
I was kind of thinking in my head, I'm like,
now they're talking about whether you play Cup on the outside,

(18:55):
which he did, and Jigba's better in the slot, but
Cup's really a slot guy. Whatever, do you just stick
Jalen Ramsey on them and let him trail them and
follow them all over the field, because I mean they
could Ramsey could play anywhere. The only way I say
maybe not is they might need Ramsey to kind of
slide back and play a little bit of safety. But
maybe he follows them for a good three quarters of
the game and just roams around the field and we

(19:17):
lock him down and then hey, force you to run
the ball, force you to pass, and I just think
that the pressure is going to be on Sam Donald.
I think the Niners got to him. Let me see
how many quarterback kits. Let's say there was two quarterback
kids just one sack. It felt like there was more
to that. But they did force two fumbles in this
game also, so uh, let's see here, Briance, Yeah, go ahead.

Speaker 3 (19:39):
This should definitely, I was gonna say for the outside linebackers,
for those guys, this should be a much a game
where they can get to.

Speaker 4 (19:47):
The guy, right They can there there, you know we were.

Speaker 2 (19:49):
Talking about there right there.

Speaker 3 (19:53):
But essentially, you know, this is a more static guy,
all right, Donald is not He's not justin fields. He's
not going to run around the same way justin fields could.
He probably doesn't have the same level of his capability
that justin fields does. So you've got more of a
target for them to actually try and rush at. They
should have better success against Sam Darnold and getting to him.

Speaker 2 (20:16):
I would think so as well. Taking a look, you know,
there's some guys in the secondary are banged up for Seattle,
and I'm just trying to think about you know, Rogers
was slinging the ball around and you have some of
the starters like Witherspoon, Julian Love. They're banged up in
on the injury report, either is limited or DMPs heading

(20:37):
into this game. So can Aaron Rodgers spread the wealth
around again and have something similar? Maybe he can. But
you know what the Steelers need to do. They need
to run the football, and they need to try and
run the football. There is Leonard Williams, there is de
Marcus Lawrence, Joan Reed. They've got some dudes on Seattle
that are on that defensive front. But man, if you're

(20:58):
going to protect him and you don't want Roderick Jones
to pass protect, you need to run the football, like
we need to get Jalen Warren going here. Is Kenneth
Gainwell get is as many carries as well, So I
think it'll be interesting. Well see, I was going to
finish that off by saying Seattle and actually held Christian

(21:19):
McCaffrey twenty two carries and sixty nine yards a three
point one average last week.

Speaker 4 (21:23):
So that's a nice number.

Speaker 2 (21:25):
It's a nice number only because it's sixty nine. It's
not a nice number. Hey. You know what the odd
thing is if Warren ends up running for sixty nine
this week, I think he doubles up from the previous
game against the Jets. That's ugly.

Speaker 3 (21:38):
I will tell you this, I agree with what you're saying.
They need to run the ball. My confidence that they
will be able to run the ball is extremely low.

Speaker 4 (21:48):
I think that they.

Speaker 3 (21:50):
Are going to try for sure, but it is going
to come down to whether or not Aaron Rodgers can
do something close to what he did last week as
to whether this offense is gonna move.

Speaker 2 (22:04):
I just don't.

Speaker 3 (22:05):
I don't believe that they can run the ball right now,
and I need they need to figure that out. They
do need to figure that out.

Speaker 2 (22:12):
Let's move to our X factors then, because I think
but it hit that twice. I thought we were in
the two box and talking like Scott Hansen from Red Zone.
Now the two box, the four box, we're gonna go
to the four box. We don't have a four box.
We don't have a four box, and we don't even
have a three box. Because Zach never comes on you
know what. I just spoke with him. I know people
were dropping into comments and he's he's close. He's he's

(22:35):
been really busy with real life, with work and stuff
like that. So he's got some got some big boy responsibilities.
And you know he's he's itching, he's itching. You know,
I was talking to him, Sure he is. You know,
I have a topic on here that uh, you know,
actually I think I want to I'm going to reverse it,
just because I was talking to him about this and
it seems like the right place to bring up. I said,

(22:57):
fever dream that is this Pittsburgh Steelers off season. It's
like all of the players that we've always we've thought
about it, and we're like, yeah, it's like fantasy football.
You can't possibly get Jalen Ramsey, you can't possibly get
John new Smith, you can't possibly have Aaron Rodgers and
DK Metcalf and and now, like another player that just

(23:19):
was dropped by the New England Patriots as a surprise, really,
Jabriel Peppers signed to the Steelers. And I have reason
to believe that they were already kind of looking. And
I know they had signed Chuck Clark and he made
the team. And Clark is coming off of like, you know,
he had an injury, but he had a major there's
familiarity because he played with the Ravens that but he

(23:39):
had had an injury that kind of was a setback.
And nobody was really you know, hammering his phone lines,
and who knows with Peppers too, But we know that
the Steelers did their homework on Peppers back in twenty seventeen.
That was the TJ Draft, right where where they went Brown's.
Brown's had like three first round draft picks, if I'm

(23:59):
not mistaken, and back then I think Jabrell Peppers being
one of them. And I want to say, who else
was part of that? That was also h David and Joku?
And I'm going to look this up because it's bugging me.
I want to say there was like some crazy quarterback
pick or something. No, it might have been somebody on

(24:21):
the line. Let's find out, because it's like everybody passed
on what you talk about. The Steelers had a very
late Oh that was the Miles Garrett. They had the
first overall pick. Yes, they took Peppers twenty fifth and
then jump back in and took in Joku and everybody thought, oh, yeah,
they should took Everybody thought that the Joku was going
to be a Steeler. Everybody thought Peppers was going to

(24:41):
be a Steeler. They were linked to looking at these athletes,
not everybody. I never thought Peppers was going to be
a stealer really, even even back then, even back then,
because the very back the very next year was the
Terrell Edmonds pick, and that was something where I was
giving that thought. And you may hear this from other
things on the radio two cause what I was doing
my morning walk, I was listening to SNR right, and

(25:03):
I was like, so, SOB, they're on the same mind
mine like train of thought as I am, which Bill Peppers,
except I think Peppers is better than Terrell Edmunds was.
But they were like, you know, if Edmunds was a
later pick, or if Peppers was like a second or
third round pick, everybody'd be like, oh, that's a really
great player. But because he was a first round pick,
they were first round picks. There's like this higher standard

(25:24):
that they're supposed to aspire to be. And he's only
twenty nine years old. But this guy, he's violent, he is,
he's the hit stick on Madden. He is. I think
he's going to be more than just somebody that's there
for depth and just somebody. I think he's going to
hang around and I think he's going to get some
some playing time because I mean, the secondary's looking legendary

(25:46):
right now, especially if everyone's healthy. So even when Elliott
comes back.

Speaker 3 (25:50):
You know, I think, wait, I'm going to stop. You
don't say stuff like that. Ah, you know why you
don't stay stuff like that. They don't stay stuff like
that because then what's going to happen is is stupid.
Sam Darnold will light them up for four hundred and
fifty yards because they you said, they're legendary.

Speaker 4 (26:04):
Don't do it.

Speaker 2 (26:05):
Don't do it, Joe. I'm not Tony Romo over here.
Chris collins Worth, you know, doing the throwing the kabash
and Jinx and everybody. But yeah, I mean I've been
just talking about from like a we remember everybody was like, oh,
the Steelers have all these first round picks, even when
you go back with like Joe Hayden, and when they
signed Joe Hayden. It's kind of what it reminds me
of here. It's like, just like, load up. You've got

(26:27):
somebody that's experienced, that's played about one hundred games in
the league. He could possibly even get back into a
returner role. He used to do some of that. I
think he's gonna have to be on some special teams.
Even though we're talking about Tomlin doesn't really do that
with their defensive backs, but I'm sure maybe part of
the conversation that they're having, but we got you know
this is this is important because Deshaun Elliot's definitely gonna
be out for a few weeks and there's nobody else there.

(26:49):
It's either that or it's either you have Chuck Clark
and one Thornhill, who are still new to this team.
Clark has been here, not even as long he joined
during training camp, like a few days in. They saw
something probably with Sebastian Castro, who's the very next option
on the practice squad that they could call up, and
they're just like hmmm. And then also Miles Killerbrew, who

(27:09):
we know is a special teams guy. You don't really
want him out there, So I'm excited. I'm not looking
for Peppers to be a guy that plays one hundred
percent of the snaps, but I am looking at him
at being some type of contributor on this team. And
I mean, when you're talking about contributor, just look at
Ben Skronik contributes not a major superstar, but what had
a touchdown out of the blue fumble recovery. Kenny G.

(27:33):
Kenny gainwell forced the fumble. So this is just it's
been an unbelievable year when it comes to the Steelers
and just going after certain players and getting like pretty
much anyone that they may have scouted or had their
eye on in the past. They just keep loading up.

Speaker 4 (27:49):
I will tell you that I am.

Speaker 3 (27:52):
I am less optimistic about this than you are. And
the reason is because I don't know why he was cut.
I don't know why he that released. I don't know
if it was contract, I don't know if it was
money savings. I don't know if as they had younger
guys in the position because it's the Patriots and I
don't care, right but you know, when you're cut from
a team like the Patriots right now, it immediately opens

(28:16):
up questions for me about okay, And while I'm hopeful
Jabrill Peppers still has some juice left in the in
the old Orange to be squosen squosing?

Speaker 4 (28:26):
Is that a word squosen out?

Speaker 2 (28:28):
I have to consult the Scrabble Dictionary on that one.
My friend, English English, we need a new we need
a new graphic English with Brian.

Speaker 3 (28:38):
Not the Queens, not the Queen's English just made up crap.

Speaker 4 (28:43):
But I don't know. I don't have expectations. I guess
that's that's where I'm at.

Speaker 3 (28:48):
I have hopes, but zero expectations, uh for what he
will provide.

Speaker 2 (28:55):
To see. I mean, I'm not trying to say he shouldn't.
You would think you wouldn't be out there and available
to sign. But at the same time, I don't know.
There were some weird things like Justin Simmons was out
there and just you know there there were a lot
of the safety positions been odd for years, where there's
players and there's talent that just sit there and they

(29:17):
may not even have a job week one, or they
may be laid additions in training camp and it may
be you know, proven players. And I've always thought that,
you know, the safeties, safeties could hedge on being a
little bit older in the league, and they had it.

Speaker 3 (29:31):
That's why corners, older cornerbacks transition to safety. They can
definitely be a little older. It's not the age, right,
It's not like there isn't any one quantifiable thing that
I can go I'm not confident in Jabrill Peppers.

Speaker 4 (29:43):
It's just I'm I'm I guess.

Speaker 3 (29:46):
Keeping realistic expectations that I don't have expectations.

Speaker 4 (29:50):
I hope he's I hope he's a contributor.

Speaker 2 (29:52):
I'm trying to figure out if there was anything with money.
But I was going to say the bigger it doesn't appear.
I mean, they save some money, but it wasn't like
a huge contract.

Speaker 4 (30:01):
They're still slept with the coach's wife.

Speaker 2 (30:03):
I don't know that that was what I was gonna say.
Is is like, yeah, they've got a whole They've got
a new staff there. Right, what's his name from last
year was canned after a year, Uh take it over
for Belichick. So they have a whole new, whole, new
crew there, and he might just not fit into the
mold of what they're trying to do.

Speaker 3 (30:21):
He called, you know, called Rabel some kind of a name,
and he said, get him out of here.

Speaker 4 (30:26):
I'm done.

Speaker 2 (30:27):
Yeah, but I mean you're looking at him more Chuck Clark.
And I'm not sure which of the two is like
a lesser of two evils, but I think if you
have either one of them as like an additional this
is why. Okay, So this leads into like James Pierre
also being signed and activated up because maybe Porter has
a tight hamstring or anything like that. Plus Pierre plays
special teams. But what everybody's like, why not Beanie Bishop

(30:50):
and Beanie Uh, he's pretty much you know, he's a
slot corner and there's no slot for him to play in.
Ramsey's going to be there. Eckles can do both, so
he back up there, and if you need some other
blodies to line up on like a tight end or
anything like that, you've got Clark and Peppers now, especially
when Elliott hopefully returns to full health. Right. So that's

(31:13):
kind of where I was at with the Peppers thing.
It's like you're adding somebody else that you know what,
he may surprise now, I'm not expecting a whole lot,
but it also went and shocked me. If that Ramsey
hit we saw last week, or you've seen demonte Casey
like layout people last year, that's what Jabrill Peppers brings
to the table. And the first time that any of

(31:35):
them see that, I think they're they're going to be fans.
So that leads us to our other X factors Brian
for the game and some of our predictions. Let me
talk about there's two guys I have here as X factors,
and we talked about contributors and role players Nick Herbik,

(31:56):
who we're hoping gets to practice some because he's been limited,
but I think he brings a little at this point,
he brings a lot more to the table than Jack
Sawyer a rookie in a reserve role, So it would
be nice to see her big get back on the field.
And then one of the other ones we've seen. Maybe
I like Kelvin Austin a lot, make no mistake about it,

(32:18):
but I think we've been a little overzealous in saying
that the Steelers solved their wide receiver two issues after
just one game. Rogers certainly feels confident in him. One
thing I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt
with Austin and Roman Wilson is this, You go back
to twenty ten and the Steelers they draft Antonio Brown,

(32:41):
they draft Emmanuel Sanders, and you have a proven commodity
still under like a rookie deal with Mike Wallace at
the time. You have no idea who Antonio Brown is yet,
and maybe we don't want to know present day, but
we're just talking about is playing days in Pittsburgh, right,
And then Manny Sanders too, who had, like you know,
constantly had like a bump foot or some type of

(33:03):
foot injuries the first couple of years, and that's why
Brown got playing time because Brown, you know, he made
a Pro Bowl as just a returner that his rookie season,
if I'm not mistaken. So that twenty ten year when
they played Green Bay in the Super Bowl. So I
see Austin and Wilson in kind of like that same
category of we don't know who they are yet. I'm

(33:23):
not saying that they're going to live up to the
status of either of those players who they might not
be Hall of famers, but they were pretty darn good
football players, like world class or top of their class
or in the top five of their position more than
one year for a few year period, especially when Sanders
went over to Denver. Right, But we don't know. Maybe

(33:43):
Austin could be there, but after one game it was
kind of the same thing like you were saying earlier. Okay,
pop the brakes a little bit on this. So I'm
looking at Calvin Austin and I'm looking at Nick Herbig.
I don't know if I stole any of your two
picks here for some X factors.

Speaker 3 (33:57):
No, No, Nick Herbig is the one that I was
gonna really lean on. And the reason being, I think
it was pretty clear in the limited screen time that
Jack Sawyer actually got.

Speaker 4 (34:11):
And the limited number of STAPs he was not.

Speaker 3 (34:14):
He didn't make an impact, right and now that you
expected a fresh rookie to make an impact in his
first game, a guy who's you know, a later round pick,
but he didn't look like he did look a little
bit at times like it was a little too big
for him right now.

Speaker 4 (34:30):
I think he'll grow into it. I think he'll be better.

Speaker 3 (34:33):
But not having somebody like Nick Kerbik who's been there,
done that come in off the bench is going to
be a big deal when TJ or Alex needs to
be spelled right. And the other one that I have
is actually John hu Smith. I actually think that John
Husmith could be a major factor in this game as

(34:54):
they start to get more comfortable if they're trying to
load up on run, I think they're going to try
and work him in more to how they do things.
I mean, he got several targets last in the last game,
and I think he's gonna get a lot more. And
he brings a different dynamic to the tight end position
than anybody else that they have at that position, including

(35:16):
Pat Fryarmuth. I mean, I love Pat, but there's a
difference between the two and what they do.

Speaker 4 (35:23):
It's not exactly the same.

Speaker 3 (35:24):
So I think you get those two guys on the field,
I think, all of a sudden, it really does. If
you have Austin and you have d k and you
have Jonhu and you have.

Speaker 4 (35:35):
Pat, what the hell you do.

Speaker 2 (35:40):
I've been saying as long too, and I know some folks, I.

Speaker 3 (35:44):
Mean, it really will depend on whether Rogers has the
time to let the plays develop. But I mean, you know,
clearly they can find some quick outs and some quick
hitters and take advantage of the middle of the field,
which was one of the things I forgot to bring
up at the postgame, the fact that they actually threw
the ball over the middle of the field.

Speaker 4 (36:05):
A couple times. Wow, wouldn't that be different?

Speaker 2 (36:10):
Yeah, it would be different. I'm gonna also add the
two tackles Troy Fotanu. I think we I think, for
all intents and purposes, a pretty good game from the
other linemen, maybe overshadowed with Broderick Jones. But if Broderick
Jones didn't have all the activity on his side. Would
we have a spotlight on anyone else. I mean, I'm
not sure that they didn't gell necessarily perfectly.

Speaker 4 (36:33):
Bit I don't think there was a lot of push
in the middle of the line.

Speaker 2 (36:37):
Couldn't run the ball, and.

Speaker 4 (36:38):
That couldn't run the ball. So, yes, Broderick Jones was
ass in the last game. I mean that's what he was.

Speaker 2 (36:45):
He was ass.

Speaker 4 (36:46):
It smelled like ass, looked like ass. It was ass.

Speaker 3 (36:50):
Hopefully he's better than ass this game and we'll see
how it goes. He Yeah that whoever McDonald, that guy
just ate his lunch, uh more than once. So you know,
he looked he looked he looked like a rookie who
hasn't played left tackle.

Speaker 4 (37:08):
That's what he looked like.

Speaker 3 (37:09):
Yeah, so we'll see. I mean, the offensive line is
going to need to jail for them to run the ball.
The offensive line is going to need to jael a
little bit to give Rogers some protection. If they are
smart and they learned their lessons with Broderick last week
and they start to give him a little help on
the outside, that again provides you know, that could be
just that chip right.

Speaker 2 (37:28):
Put put the.

Speaker 3 (37:29):
Mount Washington out there, and have him chip and then
fade out.

Speaker 4 (37:33):
Put John Hub out there, put Pat.

Speaker 3 (37:34):
Out there, somebody to just help give a chip for
Broderick that gives him just enough time and then he
leaks out, and you've got something.

Speaker 4 (37:41):
I just think they'll find a way. I think they
learned from the last game.

Speaker 2 (37:45):
But we'll see, Yeah, we'll see. We'll see if DeMarcus
Lawrence or any of the other Seahawks, Leonard Williams have
got some seasoned guys on this defense. And then you
know Ernest Jones, boy and Tyrese Knight or the linebackers
for the Seahawks. So I mean it's not like necessarily

(38:07):
a front seven and may strike fear within you, but
most of these players are returning from last season where
they did win ten games.

Speaker 4 (38:14):
So Leonard Williams is a.

Speaker 3 (38:16):
Big deal in the middle there and will that absolutely
will make it harder to run the ball, as if
they needed it to.

Speaker 4 (38:22):
Be harder to run the ball. But you know, what
are you gonna do? It is what it is?

Speaker 2 (38:27):
You face who you face, right, yeah, yeah, And they're
going to have somebody every single week because and we'll
find somebody. Maybe we will find somebody to talk about
on the Patriots. Maybe we won't, but it'll definitely be
guys on a lot of the other teams, and most
of the teams, yeah, most of the teams in National
Football League save for maybe two three, four teams that
are trying to figure things out from the very bottom Giants, Titans,

(38:50):
maybe the Patriots you throw in there. Maybe you have
somebody that's rapidly descending, like the Miami Dolphins that we
don't know. They could be having a free fault right now.
It was not a good week for them. The Panthers,
they're just still constantly spinning their wheels.

Speaker 4 (39:05):
Is that the worst game on our schedule, Miami?

Speaker 2 (39:07):
You think it might be. It might be because you
know when you're initially looking at the schedule and you're
I think that's where you have some of the misconceptions too.
With last week. The Jets have been such a doormat
for so long. I like what Aaron Glenn's doing there.
I like his message and everything else. Although he's cutting
the guy that was supposedly cutting the guy. They brought
in a different kick returner after that fumble. You won't

(39:29):
have a job. You can't do that with everybody because well,
number one.

Speaker 3 (39:34):
Eventually you won't have anybody left on the team's got
a faultile locker room, and though everybody's gonna be looking
over their shoulder.

Speaker 2 (39:42):
But then you start dealing with guaranteed money and dead
cap and stuff like that. Scene just can't Yeah, aside
from trying to field a field a team. But let's
see Patriots, Patriots, Vikings, Cleveland Browns. We'll see what they
do this week. They got the Ravens, so we could
jump in or I mean, we're in our predictions right now.

(40:03):
I think Baltimore at home after the way they lost
in Buffalo, they're gonna be pissed off. And I don't
know that Cleveland's gonna no way hit them. They get
smacked by a tornado, because I mean the Bengals. The
Bengals defense made it look pretty pretty easy for the
most part against that Cleveland Browns offense, which isn't necessarily

(40:24):
a good thing.

Speaker 3 (40:27):
Let's just say this. Let's say this. This is also
the same team. Now, look, there is no Josh Allen
on the Cleveland Browns.

Speaker 4 (40:33):
I'm sorry there's not.

Speaker 3 (40:36):
But they did you know, they did also give up
forty one points last week, so they did, and again
I'll be I'm a Browns fan for the first two
weeks of the season and they blew it the first week.
We'll see I'll be a Browns fan. I'll be a
Browns fan on whatever day it is, Sunday.

Speaker 2 (40:56):
They play Sunday. So they What I was going to
say is you got Zach Korr once again is the
decordinator to bring in help. I think Dan P's came
in as a special coordinator last year. They changed some
things around. They had to move some safeties around, and
they did like a bit like a hard rate boot
that I wish sometimes the Steelers. That's the one difference
between the Ravens and Steelers that you know, when Harbaugh

(41:19):
has these kinds of things, they weren't afraid that one year.
Cam Cameron reminds me totally of Matt Canada and the
man they sent him packing right away and turn some
things around. Steelers usually sometimes it takes Tomlin about twice
as long to pull the trigger and you know, make
those kinds of Shanes if he does it in season
at all. Sometimes he won't. They won't touch it whatsoever.

(41:40):
Very very few and far in between. And I'm talking
about whatever benching someone. It's probably where we're at with
Broderick Jones, to be completely honest, he's probably going to
stick with them. This was the first round pick, this
is his first time playing left tackle. We're probably going
to see this. The bye week is early this year too.
It's it's week five after the Dublin game, the international game,
really and super annoying. So when do you when do

(42:01):
you get like a logical break in the schedule. You
get a Thursday night game at Cincinnati, and then you
get a mini buy where you're going to come back
around for Sunday night football with the Packers. So if
this continues to look ugly the offensive line and there's
not a whole lot of places to go with this,
you got the two Anderson's and you've got Pete who's
been playing guarder it hasn't actually been playing at all

(42:21):
for a couple of years. He's been a reserve guy.
And you're gonna throw men be a starter. Do you
flip him? I? I don't know man I who played
He played left tackle in college? He did, but as Jones,
Jones a better right tackle than a left tackle. Where
he played in college was on the left and you
have Fatanu who was playing for a left handed quarterback
as a blindside protector. I don't know. I don't know

(42:41):
the answer.

Speaker 3 (42:41):
I'm just said, you're right there there. I think the
clock is ticking for patients with broder Jones after that
performance because it wasn't that bad. We'll see if it
continues down that path, then will have to do something
because you.

Speaker 4 (42:58):
Can't have a turnstyle there.

Speaker 3 (42:59):
I mean, Rogers got hit a bunch of times, and
you know when you got when you got old dudes
back there, you can't let them get hit a bunch
of till then the Arthur Writis is going to That's
Arthur Smith's cousin, Arthur Writis, and arthuras Yeah, he's gonna
start visiting in December and the cold weather. So yeah,
And I think you're right. Unless the Bears turn it around,
which they flopped. They looked impressive through three quarters, you

(43:22):
might be right. Dolphins might be the worst team on
the schedule this this this season. So Bengals have the
Jaguars at home, so the Jaguars are going there, the
Bengals are gonna wear orange and all this stuff. I mean,
I'm actually kind of leaning toward Jacksonville, though we I mean,
we don't know how bad Carolina is just jet or
Carolina was that unprepared the outside to go down the

(43:44):
southern Florida and play and you know where it's warm
and everything.

Speaker 2 (43:47):
But their offense look decent. And you got Liam Cohen
that was the offensive coordinator from Tampa. You've got you know,
guys like Travis Hunter and Brian Thomas Junior and etn
put up like one hundred and fifty all purpose yards
or whatever last week. May maybe maybe that ship's turning around.
They might surprise Cincinnati, but maybe I don't know, there's
can Jacksonville slowed down all those receivers like Cleveland, And

(44:09):
I don't think they got the same kind of horses
on the defense to do that exactly.

Speaker 3 (44:14):
I mean, I like, I still have a decent amount
of respect for the Browns defense, right I don't have
much respect for their offense, but I have a good
amount of respect for the Browns.

Speaker 4 (44:24):
Defense in the sense that I still think it's a.

Speaker 3 (44:26):
Good defense, a solid defense, and an AFC North type defense.
So they're tough, and you know that they know the Bengals.
You know, Jacksonville is not going to be the same thing.
And I do wonder that, right, this is a game that,
you know, if if the Bengals, I don't remember who
it was, I was watching somebody who said they thought

(44:46):
the Bengals defense actually got worse. It might have it
might have actually been Roethlisberger's podcast where I was, you know,
watching football with Old Football and with Ben and he
might have said he thinks that the Bengals defense is
worse than it as last year. And I was thinking
to myself, Wow, man, I really just don't know how
they can be worse.

Speaker 4 (45:04):
But if he's right and they are worse, you know,
that's a that's a game you should take the over on.

Speaker 2 (45:12):
Oh yeah, that's where I was gonna go with.

Speaker 4 (45:13):
This offense is way better than I think Cleveland's offense.

Speaker 2 (45:17):
I mean, I got Steelers winning at home. This one
could be the low scoring game we thought it was
going to be the last week, a little uglier, maybe
over under forty. So we might be and that's twenty
a piece. I could do that. One needs to break
down the middle when.

Speaker 4 (45:32):
We get last time sixty sixty six.

Speaker 2 (45:34):
Something like that, I know, And I was thinking it
was like sixteen a piece. They'll never score sixteen apiece
at sixteen a piece in the first quarter, so like
on each side. So we'll we'll see. Keep an eye
on the injury reports there, folks too. But Brian, you
have the Steelers at home too. I mean it's a
West Coast team coming over. Absolutely, I think to win
this game. Yeah, I expect him to win. Wait, you

(45:56):
know the bobbles one to oh, so we got.

Speaker 3 (45:58):
To you know, see, it's it gonna What are we
gonna do? He says, Boble says yes, Steelers victory. Yes,
sounds good to meet my friend, folks. Thanks for joining
us once again here on the steel City Underground podcast.
For our watchers, our viewers, i should say, our viewers
watching on YouTube and or our one Spotify feed, and

(46:20):
then all of our audio listeners, thank you for supporting
the platform. And don't forget to like comment in subscribe.
My name is Joe and his name is Brian. Here
we go Steelers one o'clock Sunday kickoff and the steel
City Pittsburgh posting Seattle. And you've got one other note,
one other note, just just because we brought it up

(46:41):
last time. The ticket's gone, so nobody gets to watch
with me.

Speaker 2 (46:44):
Yeah, maybe, but but there may be other opportunity, will
be opportunities, so absolutely stick around. Some guys are giving
away baseballs on a Steelers podcast or you know, WWE items,
And here we're offering once in a lifetime experience to
sit next to Brian e Roach as he cusses at

(47:06):
I don't.

Speaker 3 (47:07):
I don't cuss. I don't cuss at the game. I
cuss it home. I don't cuss it to text me,
I do. I text cuss. I will say all kinds
of stuff on on the on the telephone there on
the texting.

Speaker 4 (47:19):
But uh yeah, I'm very quiet. I shouldn't say I'm
very quiet. I am not unruly at the game because
I choose.

Speaker 3 (47:27):
I choose not to make myself a spectacle that others
will find annoying.

Speaker 2 (47:33):
While I'm at the others pull out their phone and
they're like.

Speaker 3 (47:36):
Don't I don't able to do that. I do that
in the privacy of my own home. That's when I
act a fool.

Speaker 2 (47:46):
I think. I think years ago I sent you a gift.
It was like the phone brick to throw at the TV.
I wonder if that thing still has any life. Three
three of them, but three bricks or yes, I have
three bricks. I have a very nice TV though, and
I won't even throw it at it. I just won't
throw You're just like you're ready to do it, but
I know.

Speaker 4 (48:04):
They're in the ground a lot.

Speaker 2 (48:06):
No, that's like the kids like even when I was
a kid, I'm like, I'm not going to throw my
Nintendo controller on the ground when I get frustrated the
game because and I break the controller and Mom's not
gonna go out and buy me another one. So I've
I've learned that lesson at a very early age. So, folks,
that little addendum for our two percenters. Once again, thank
you for watching or listening wherever you may be till
next time. My name is Joe. That man right there

(48:28):
is mister Briany Roach, and as always we encourage everyone
out there to be safe, be good, and we'll catch
you later. We would liked it.

Speaker 1 (48:36):
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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