Rodgers seeks redemption in Steelers payback bid against Bengals

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 hoes.
Joe Kuzma and Brian E. Rose.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Hello everyone, and welcome to another edition of the Steel
City Underground podcast. My name is Joe Kuzma, rejoined by
my good colleague Buddy and Paula One, Mister Brian E. Roach.
Brian Man, we missed you. It's only been a week,
but trust me, nobody missed me complaining about how crappy
they are. I'd be surprised the people. You are a

(00:42):
man of the people. I was, you know what, I'm
screwing around on my desk before we get started, and
it's like I have like all of these like little trinkets,
these little they're almost like stress balls. I got one,
it's like a golf one. My daughter got me best
Dad bypar My Beyonce's son got me a positive potato.

(01:03):
And then she also got me this like little this
football one and he's always set on my desk. But
it was funny because this one, the golf ball one,
had just rolled right off of the side there, just
kind of like you did there and there I go
I remember there sometimes like which way do I go?

(01:23):
He's got to like kil Roy. Sometimes I did the
bobblehead without you, but I could have done like the
positive football the positive they were like positivity knitted whatever.
But it says you are a great catch. So these
are I don't know we're gonna find out. I don't
know if there's a good segue for that. Will there
be a great catch Sunday? We got to set the

(01:44):
stage for this game. I know we don't have many
positive things to say. I was a little more less.
Let me start this off before I set the stage
here where we have the three and six Cincinnati Bengals
coming to the five and four or Pittsburgh Steelers, and
I it isn't the way that Matt Williamson said it

(02:05):
on Steelers Nation Radio, but it got me thinking. Okay,
Steelers against the Colts, who which side of the ball
won that game for the Steelers? The offense or the defense?
The defense? Okay? Last weekend against the Chargers in La,

(02:25):
which side of the football lost that game for the
Steelers the offense, the offense or the defense? Okay? So
against the Cincinnati Bengals Round one in Cincinnati, who was
that fault for that game? The defense and the offense.
I'd say the defense, Well, i'd say the defense, the offense,

(02:46):
the defense, Yeah, what like thirty one points? So it
just got me going with the whole uh. And then
the Bengals I think are the first team in NFL
history to lose back to score thirty eight points or
at least thirty eight points on offense, to lose back
to back games. But it got me thinking about how
it consists that the season has been and who needs
to show up this Sunday in order for the Steelers

(03:10):
to have a shot. Last time the defense couldn't cover anything,
and there's a little bit of a shake up there
this time around. But then last week the offense, I
thought the defense at least did they did enough, at
least even through three quarters that had been my argument.
They held the Chargers to the second fewest points, etc.
They got off the field, they forced punts. There was

(03:30):
only twenty five yards in their first quarter by the
Chargers offense. But the Steelers offense just did not play
complimentary football. And there was an interesting stat I think
also Williamson throws out these stats. I think on like Friday,
they pull up all these numbers, right, and I mean
the Steelers pass rush is you know, they've been blitzing
the most, like out of the league, their top five.

(03:52):
Their pass rush actually gets there. I think the time
the quarterbacks have to throw is like the fewest in
the league. They're getting there, but they necessarily aren't getting
like you know, if this was pro football focus, it'd
be like, yeah, they have like this pass rush win
whatever thing when they give Garrett the defensive Player of
the year instead of what who actually had sex? And

(04:13):
the actual sex have been missing plus the secondary you know,
their efficiency hasn't been as high and it's like, wow,
how does that end up working out? So what adjustments
can they make the other players that they need to
make adjustments with. But he had said something that really
really hit home for me, and it was, you know,
last week was fifth plus fifteen minutes time of possession

(04:36):
in favor of the Chargers. You can't be doing that,
because he said, the defense will be playing upwards if
this trend continues in the way it has been three
full football games. I think he said. I was like,
what is that possible in a seventeen game schedule. I'm
like that will wear you out. That'll wear you fin,
That'll make no matter how much you spend on a
defense worthless when you can't play complimentary football. You know,

(05:02):
the defense was not the problem against San Diego. You
and I talked about that, and that's just the fact
the defense did the best they could to hold up.

Speaker 3 (05:12):
Over the stretch of the game.

Speaker 2 (05:15):
The offense just literally did nothing to help them. Too
many three and outs, too many turnovers, too many problems, inconsistent.
It goes back to what I've been saying all season.
They play, and this is the good side of this.
I'll get to in a second. They play the best
when they get turnovers. Why because the defense gets off

(05:35):
the field quickly, you have sudden change, and the offense
is in a position where they can't screw it up
too badly. This offense cannot survive negative plays. If they
get a failure on first down, they're in trouble. If
they have a penalty on first down, they're in double trouble.
They need to stay on schedule and consistently stay on schedule,

(05:57):
and they have not proven they can do that consistently.
When they have a short field, they have the better
chance of at least getting three out of it when
they have a long field to go.

Speaker 3 (06:06):
They're in trouble. They're just in trouble.

Speaker 2 (06:09):
And you know, so the defense, Remember I said after
I guess after the Colts game, I was I wasn't
going to celebrate until they showed me some consistency. That's
actually two games in a row where the defense played well.
You know, am I ready to sign on to everything
as fixed? No? Why because neither one of those teams

(06:30):
was Jamar Chase and t Higgins. Right, No, yeah, that's
very true. And we know the Steelers, so well, let's
set some more of the stage, some of the house
keeping business, some of the stuff that somebody called me
boring for last week. You know what, bro, I don't care.
But I definitely wasn't boring in the post game, I
can tell you that much. Bright, I was a little fire.

(06:51):
Oh I got the old I tearing up for no
particular reason. I know what the particular reason is. Let's
just go to the map the steel The Steelers are
in blue. There's only three games in the early CBS
windows tread Tampa Bay and Buffalo Bills. The Bucks and Bills,
so two teams that are a little better here. Nobody

(07:13):
wants to see the stinky defenses. I don't know the
Bills lost to the Dolphins, I mean, I know, man
and then the Chargers Chargers Jaguars is the other area
soon except for the part of Oregon, which makes no
sense to me. I get the southern California part, But

(07:34):
why the hell does anybody in Oregon give a crap
about Jacksonville or Sandy or Los Angeles, San Diego. You
know what we should at least let folks know, you know,
Fort Wayne, Indiana, down the Louisville, Kentucky, Lexington. You got
all the southern all of Ohio, most of Pennsylvania except
for a little carve out up there, I think in
the Allegheny National Forest area gets the Buffalo Bills game.

(07:57):
Everyone else getting the Steelers on down to DC, Baltimore,
parts of Norfolk, Virginia, and you know, most of northern
Virginia there and then all of West Virginia. So one
o'clock game CBS. A little bit different crew this time
than usual for the one hundred and thirteenth overall meeting

(08:19):
between these two teams. Steelers twenty eight game lead in
the regular season. Mike Tomlin twenty six and eleven versus
the Bengals, Zach Taylor six and seven against the Steelers
in his seventh season as the head coach in Cincinnati.
One o'clock kickoff at Acrasure Stadium, which is going to
have a banging game Saturday, Notre Dame and Pitt So

(08:41):
College game days there already set up at Pitt So
we're hoping the surface for the field is going to
be okay on this one, Brian, I mean it's going
to get well used. But Kevin Harlan on the call
for CBS with Trent Green, Melanie Collins on the sidelines
of course. Steelers audio network Rob King Max starts missing
Matthews satellite feed for the Steelers one twenty one on

(09:02):
Sirius two thirty two on XM eight twenty six. On
the interwebs, Bill Vinovich as your referee. Steelers are actually
favored by almost a touchdown. They are minus five and
a half points with it over under a forty eight
and a half. I think did somebody not watch the
last game. I mean, I'm surprised the over under is

(09:24):
like fifty five or something. That would be a real
sucker bet. But you see where Vegas and the sports
books are going with this one. Well, there moves notes,
do I have. Let's see somehouse keeping on the injury
report to get a flip back up to the Steelers.
You know what, I'm going to refresh this real quick
too and make sure we get Yes, we have the
full status now I knew. I knew we did before

(09:46):
I set up. We don't have a game status for Scotti.
Miller finally participated in full all across the board. DK
Metcalf shows up limited on Friday. It just says not
available are resting veteran. Basically, Darius Slay rolled out for concussion.
So the asshole that was sitting there on social media

(10:07):
who has a pretty good following and said that he's
soft and always gets hurt and was making fun of
Darius Slay these knee jerk reactions and hot takes or
you know what, dude, like, let's see you have to
deal with concussion protocol, right, pretty serious thing and then
be making fun of So yeah, I will call that.
I won't call them out by name, but if you
saw it, you know who it is. Corey Trace he

(10:31):
was in this twenty one day window or we had
twenty one days. We got to be pretty damn close
to it. He might not be back at all this season.
They activated him, and looks like he's either gotten hurt
again or just can't be much of a participant. Jabrill
Peppers is back fully participated all of this week. Cole
Hulkom rolled out, still dealing with illness complications apparently, and

(10:54):
also losing Alex Heighsmith, a pretty big and notable one
here who had a monster game last week with a
pair of sacks. He was playing very well. He's out
with a pectoral injury. Questionable with his pectoral injury and
as a did not participate was Isaac Sayamalu. They desperately
need him back back to full participation. Was Roger Jones,

(11:16):
also a good sight, And then you had three resting
veterans throughout the week, which John new Smith, TJ. Watt,
Cam Hayward. Bengals have a whole load of injuries that
they're dealing with too, Maybe not as they're major enough.
I guess you'll say. Joe Burrow was the big name,
but they're looking for him to participate by Thanksgiving when
they have to play the Ravens on a Thursday night.

(11:38):
He's already been ruled out for this game. He was
just limited. They're just getting his feet wet and toe injury.
I guess is a good yuck guck there. Jermaine Burton
illness back to full participation. Joe Flacco has been in
and out. He was really questionable for last week and
ended up playing. He's having some shoulder issues. He was

(11:59):
limited Thursday. That's it. He didn't practice Wednesday or Friday.
Maybe they're just resting the older guy. It's gonna be
one to keep an eye on because if they end
up having Jake Browning play, it's the whole reason they
win out flat then we win. Yeah, then it should
be like a landside. It's a different game. Knock on
wood for the Steelers. There, right, let's jump back. I'm

(12:22):
saying way too often. But Trey Hendrick Sandy was already
speculated to be ruled out earlier in the week. Hip
slash Pelvis BJ Hills unspecified with unspecified game status. But
I know what they said about that. The Hilps don't lie,
the Hips don't lie, don't lie. Pelvis and Elvis Pelvis.
I was I can't sing Shakira songs. I don't.

Speaker 3 (12:45):
I don't know how.

Speaker 2 (12:46):
Let's not have you do with Shakira impressions. While I
was sitting over here doing uh my mirant cope YoY,
the wu a coming from Brian, so uh, I don't
want to bring the map back. I wanted to bring
that back BJ though resting veteran. It was an unspecified
I don't know why they put unspecified on here. That's
the Bengals film this out. Lucas Patrick gard limited, uh,

(13:09):
Sam Jay Perrine, who had a pretty pretty big impact.
Is it changed the pace? Would change? Chase Brown in
the last game, he's out with an ankle, Shamar Stewart
one of the edge rushers out, rookie out with an ankle.
They they've got what's Stewart, Miles Murphy they had in
the last game. I believe they don't. Yeah, the Bengals

(13:32):
are kind of thin there. I mean they're thin on
defense period. They who they traded Ogan Wilson over to
the Dallas Cowboys, one of their middle linebackers, and Marco Wilson,
who was dealing with the hamstring full participant all week,
But basically like who they got left on defense, Brian,
That's that's what we're going to be ended up talking
about in the last meeting, though it was the Steelers defense.

(13:53):
We're wondering where they were. Joe Flacco three hundred and
forty two yards, three touchdowns, thirty one on a forty
seven really made really made them look silly. Completed sixty
six percent of his pass as a one to eight
point six rating. Aaron Rodgers was fountain of youth too.
He completed nearly as many passes a sixty seven point
six two forty nine. Had the two interceptions, one ripped

(14:17):
away by DJ Turner that was in DK Metcalf's hands,
other one that was in the middle of the field
when they were wearing those all white jerseys. Ben Roethlisberger
on his show was saying, hey, is that kind of
like camouflage salute the service game would speculate maybe, so
it was like that Arctic camo that have got up
here with a terrible towel. So we'll see. But Rogers
threw four touchdowns in that game. Pat Fryarmuth, who's been

(14:39):
a killer, as have most tight ends been toward the
Bengals five catches, one hundred and eleven yards and two touchdowns,
including the sixty eight yard strike, but Jamar Chase also
on the other hand, he was targeted twenty three times
of the forty seven attempts, but Joe Flacco. Thirty three
of those went to Chase and or t Higgins, who

(14:59):
had ten. Both of these guys, Higgins was four yards
shy of one hundred yards. He had a touchdown. Chase
had a touchdown but caught sixteen for one sixty one.
They both caught a pass on the game winning drive
in the last game. That's going to be the big
the big story as we go forward. But what's at stake.
This is a big one, Brian. They got to have this.

(15:19):
This is within the division. This one will put separation
and probably put Cincinnati push them further back, especially if
Joe Burrow's going to be returning in a few weeks here.
If they lose this and Burrow comes back, it opens
the door for Cincinnati to make a return. So they
got to have this game.

Speaker 3 (15:36):
Well, if they lose this, then the Ravens will be
in first place. That's also weekend, so you know.

Speaker 2 (15:42):
They absolutely as early as it is, this is a
this is a must win game. They're going to have
a lot of must win games coming up if they
want to maintain this. They're leading the division. But this
is absolutely critical. This is where this is where the
season turns. It either goes in a direction we hope
it goes, or it goes south. They lose this game

(16:04):
and you can write the rest of this year off
in my opinion, because they're not gonna They're not going
to stay ahead of the Ravens.

Speaker 3 (16:09):
They're best. They're going to hope for as a wild card,
and I don't think they're even going to get that.

Speaker 2 (16:13):
Yeah, you know what's kind of funny, though, You've got
exactly with the wild cards and everything. You've got Buffalo
that's trailing now, the nine to two New England Patriots.
First team to win nine games this season, a team
that the Steelers beat. The two of their losses, one
of them's the Steelers, but Colts are eight and two,
one of their losses Pittsburgh Steelers. Steelers are somehow capable.
I just you don't know which team you're getting from

(16:36):
week to week. The consistency has definitely been a problem,
but both sides of the ball show up. That's you know,
it's kind of important what they're talking about. Some different
changes defensively, right, I'm going to tell you, but look
back at those two games that we won that nobody
thought we were going to win. The Patriots, well, nobody
knew the Patriots were going to win, you know, reel
off seven or eight wins in a row after we

(16:57):
beat them. But or but you know, the key to
both those games turnovers. Without turnovers, they probably lose both
those games. Well, that's very true. And then the offense
turns the ball over too, so you end up in
the minus department. And that's where you know, the defense
definitely is predicated on if you've got a game where
neither team is turning over the ball. We hadn't seen

(17:17):
them getting off the field on some third downs even somewhere.
You know, you get a penalty, the other team gets
a penalty, they get set back at third and sixteen,
and somehow they get seventeen yards. The heads a little
better that way, at least I thought so. Against the Chargers.
I think the Chargers have enough weapons there. But they're
talking about, like a lot of people are speculating a

(17:38):
lot of the blitzing. I think they're gonna like stop
with sending any and I think they send the most.
It was something like almost ten percent more to anybody else. Particularly,
they're sending six plus on some of these blitzes and
not getting there. And they're not getting there, but they're
also trying to play man. I don't think Darius Slay
was doing very well in man. Brandon Eckles last week

(17:59):
on Lucky. I think I think he played. I think
he played fine, but that one catch by McConkey, it
was just like everything lined up in just the Chargers favor.

Speaker 3 (18:07):
It wasn't like great coverage.

Speaker 2 (18:09):
Yeah, he's a great coverage throughout great but one of
the the two legs pins. You got a lot of newness.
You've got Jalen Ramsey move into safety. You've got Kyle
Duggar who came in and immediately starting. And it doesn't
seem like there's any of the big shots that are
really going down the field. It's been mostly middle of
the field type stuff. You're gonna have to look for
Noah Fant tight end, You're gonna have to look for

(18:29):
those quick slants, those quick outs Jamar Chase. But I
think they're gonna be playing a little more zone now.
The question is how many healthy bodies do they have
because slays out Trice has it come back? James Pierre,
who's been playing decent, but it's gonna be Joey Porter, right,
you got Ramsey now moved to safety, You've got Echoles
does a Sunday Samuel Junior now end up on the
I mean, he hasn't played football and like it's a

(18:51):
good question. He hasn't played football in a year, So
how much can you expect of him first game? And
he's never really been a man demand guy from all indications.
Definitely a ballhawk, definitely a willing tackler. And Mike Persuda
was talking about how he said he feels better than ever.
He said he used to have like this shoulder pain.
He's the whatever nagging inks or whatever. And once he

(19:12):
had this final surgery, have a freak accident of practice
that occurred last year with the Chargers, and he was
going to be a prized free agent and he just
wasn't ready. He wasn't cleared. The Steelers cleared him. The
Steelers doctor apparently is the one who did this surgery.
He went to like six different teams before he settled
on Pittsburgh. How quickly could he settle in? I mean,
when you talk about communication issues with the defense. He

(19:34):
got Ramsey playing in a new spot. He's been here,
but this is his first year still as a Steeler,
and the Steelers defense. Duggar's been here for two weeks.
You have samuelil just showing up. I think Eccles will
probably play on the outside, and maybe you have Samuel
sprinkle in or maybe Pierre play special team, playauel slot.
Maybe he dresses at least and then maybe they sprinkle

(19:56):
him in for a few plays. He's got to get
in football shape, as we say, because these guys on
the secondary they play, they play one hundred percent of
the game. And now you're playing against two of the
best receivers that you know, the best maybe the best
receiver tandem in the in the football in the National
Football League. I shouldn't even say maybe I think they are.
I don't think there's anything question about that. I can't
think of anybody else any question. I don't think there's

(20:17):
anybody else who stacks quite up against that. So how
much do you see as Samuel and you know, the
things that we're working for the Steelers. Stopping to run
was like playing like Malie Harrison now has come back
from my art. That's not a guy you went out
out on the field in pass coverage. No, So it's
funny you mentioned it is it seems like they're the

(20:37):
defense's Achilles heel is third and long.

Speaker 3 (20:42):
My buddy Don Roberts, he tells me this all the time.

Speaker 2 (20:45):
He'll text me during the game sometimes, you know, when
we're texting, he's like, oh god, third and long, we're
definitely going to get a first down. And it does
seem that's the problem, right, third and long, and we
always seem to give up a long play. Third and
medium seems to be the right. Then you and I
were joking one time about this. We figured out it's
third and sixteen. That's the minimum, right, Yeah, it's third
and sixteen and above they're probably okay, it'll end up

(21:08):
being fourth and one.

Speaker 3 (21:10):
Yeah, but if it's third and fifteen, they're going to
give up a first down.

Speaker 2 (21:13):
You know where that came from, I think, And it's
weird did you say that? But it was like the
John three sixteen. You know, we go to WWE and
the Austin three sixteen. The three sixteen, that number was
just stuck in my head. But if it's the thing
among the kids. Now, Brian is the six seven. I
don't know if you've heard this. Wait yeah, yeah, yeah,
I kiss somebody off in the comments. Definitely, Yeah, I

(21:35):
thought that is. I don't know, it's just it's not
as cool as like when we're the six nine. But
that's a whole other story. Nice. Nice, But yeah, third
and six or seven not probably a home run. It's
probably an automatic first down each time. I will give
up the six and then the seven comes on fourth down. Yeah,
you got a lot of teams that are a lot

(21:55):
more aggressive. I think this is something like the culture
just they play aggressive. But the Steelers are playing against
the Bengals team with three wins, they're gonna be aggressive.
You know, maybe not fake punt aggressive, but they're gonna
be aggressive enough because what the hell do they have
to lose. Same thing when they're playing against Cleveland Browns.
A lot of these teams on the schedule early were
teams that are probably desperate and they've got nothing to

(22:19):
lose by just going for it. Screw the analytics, throw
it out the window, and the Steelers defense heads up,
you know we got third down. Yeah, we're gonna go
Oh no, it's poured down now and we give up
two yards and that's it. Nobody could stop all these
tush pushes and pushing from behind and everything else that's
going on. So the league is very offensive focused, which
is where the Steelers. Yeah, the Steelers need to be.

(22:39):
And Rogers realized even in that win with the Colts.
You hear what he had to say, they need more
from that side of the ball. He definitely laid an
egg last week. So this is his little redemption thing.
Who they got, Like, who's out there? Gino Stone, DJ Turner,
There's really no one that's out there to rush to pass.
If the Steelers could keep Rogers upright, he needs to

(23:01):
make some big plays and give him a little bit
of time. Maybe he could find DK Metcalf, Maybe he
can find one of these small, shifty, fast receivers. I
know he was talking earlier this week about getting Friarmuth
out on the field a little more, a little more involved.
That's the guy we thought should be wide receiver too.
This is the guy that, usually, besides Chris Boswell, is
the kryptonite to the Cincinnati Bengals team and a must

(23:22):
win situation like this, Rogers has to play above board.
He has to play like the player we you know
that we expect week in and week out, even at
his accelerated age one hundred percent. This is gonna be
This is gonna be a game that turns on how
Aaron Rodgers plays right as well as the defense. I

(23:44):
am moderately moderately optimistic that the defense has figured a
little bit of something out right. Losing Alex high Smith
of the game, you know, Darius Slay being down for
the game. They do have a lot of pieces that
are going to go in and out that is problematic, right,
But I think Nick Herbeg is a capable backup to Alex.

Speaker 3 (24:04):
We've seen that.

Speaker 2 (24:05):
I think that you know, they'll they'll have their chances
to do things and make some splash. And it does
feel like they've gotten a little better at getting some
of those three and outs getting off the field instead
of not over the last two games we've sort of
seen that. Again, as I said, that's not against t
Higgins and Jamar Chase, you know, so this is a

(24:26):
big test in my view. The game will swing on
those two things. Can the defense continue to play at
the level they have over the last two games, and
can the offense, specifically, Aaron Rodgers not stink up the
joint the way he did during the Chargers game. Steelers
four and five against the spread this year. Bengals are
three and six. They're exact record, they're real record against

(24:49):
the spread. They're one and three on the road. The
Bengals are thirteenth in points scored, dead last points allowed
thirty three plus average per game. The Steelers are dropped
a little. They're in the middle of the pack for
the league, sixteenth overall with about a little over twenty
three and a half points per game, yielding twenty four
point four. That's twentieth. Should be a scoring fest. The

(25:12):
Steelers are plus six in the takeaway category, the Bengals
are minus five. As far as you're passing in rushing offenses,
the Bengals are thirteenth. They're still dead last in rushing
offense thirty second with seventy eight per game. The Steelers
are right behind that that with only eighty five per game,

(25:33):
thirtieth overall, they're passing game only one hundred and ninety five,
actually worse than the Bengals, of course, with Joe Slid,
Joe Flaco, Joe Cool slinging it around. The Steelers pass
defense is dead last in the league right now by
just the slimmer margin than the Bengals, who are thirtieth.
It's a nine yard difference on average. The Bengals are

(25:54):
also worse against the run as well. They're thirtieth and
thirty second overall, where the Steelers are fourteenth against the run.
Don't let Chase Brown run around on you get Jalen
Warren going, and please get like thirty five to thirty
six minutes time of possession, protect the football, get the
run game going, win the time of possession. I think
that's as long as you're not minus in the takeaway category.

(26:15):
They can walk away with this one. That's my keys
to victory here. Okay, we'll go. What is he going
to say? I had to do this. I'd used TJ
last week. Okay, bobblehead, bobblehead, what are they going to
win or are they going to lose? He says they win?

(26:38):
He says, he says, they they're victorious. Look, I'm gonna
go along with you. To me, the keys are I
don't really know what TJ's that's a big head, bobblehead
that has a big head bobblehead. That's a that's a
Foco exclusive. Yeah, if they if they turn the ball over,

(26:59):
they'll lose this game. I mean, that's just it's that simple.
I think if they turn the ball over, they're going
to have a hard time winning the game. As long
as they are at least even in turnovers. If they
win the turnover battle, I feel really confident that they're
going to win the game. But they can't do the
stuff that they did the last game. They would have
won the last game if they don't have two turnovers.
So you know, that's that's a big, big thing that

(27:21):
they're going to have to handle. They can't turn the
ball over. I agree with you. Get the run game going, uh,
get time of possession, keep the Bengals offense off the field.

Speaker 3 (27:32):
As much as you can, and you should be you
should be able to come away with a victory.

Speaker 2 (27:38):
Yeah, even if it's just some field goals. I would imagine,
just get some first get some first downs, move some chains.
They were going for some chunk plays against La They
were there, but the execution he just missed them. Yeah,
flat out missed on all how many times? Well, I
know you weren't a camp I don't say I want
to keep saying it, but you know, everybody's been say

(28:00):
it's the worst game he's had of his career, and
his career, He's had some bad games with the Jets,
but that was his worst game in a Steelers unfore
for sure, it would have been his worst game of
his career had they not got the garbage time touchdown.
And so I'm throwing that out and it's his worst
game of his career. Yeah, I mean he got a
little bit there. You know, I keep thinking that they
only scored three. I completely disregard it was like nineteen. Yeah,

(28:23):
that was pretty bad. It was bad, but he did
have I think he had like a thirteen with the
Jets last year or something. He had won, and there
was a few during his time in Green Bay that
weren't necessarily not everybody had the greatest of games. But
I was talking with my cousin about this. He was like,
you know what, even Ben Rob, I mean, every time
Roethlisberger had a bad game. From about like twenty fifteen

(28:43):
or twenty sixteen, they were starting to talk. Fans were
starting to talk about, you know, shoveling the dirt over
I'm six feet under and who are you going to
draft to replace him? All the way until he actually retired,
which was always ridiculous. I'm not ready to write off
Rogers just yet. You know, he went in the last
week seventeen sixteen, seventeen touchdowns.

Speaker 3 (29:05):
Do that?

Speaker 2 (29:05):
I guess it works the same way as the six seven,
but he was up there. He's still top five with eighteen.
Now his yards aren't as much, and that's cooled off
a little bit. You gotta get dk Metcalf going. It's
the reason you brought him in. And Jalen Warren I think.
I think Jalen Warren is just one guy that is
every time he seems to touch the ball over the
last few years, he's been the spark for this offense.

(29:28):
Got to get him going. I mean, why else do
you have a sixth offensive lineman out there? Why else
do you have three tight ends out there? Let's run
the freaking ball. I mean, even Kenneth came up. What
did Warren have last week? Like fourteen touches? It's not enough.
I know you don't watch You're not the Stepbrothers guy,
but it's like there's a scene in Step Brothers where

(29:48):
he only leaves them twenty dollars and he's like, what
if I want wings? It's not enough, It's not fourteen
carries is not enough. You know, got to get this
guy twenty to twenty five in volume and get him moving.
I know you give two or three to Caleb Johnson.
I'm not worried about getting Caleb Johnson going anymore. Get
Jalen Warren going first. Dan, you could spell them with

(30:09):
Caleb Johnson.

Speaker 4 (30:11):
I'm very close to considering Caleb Johnson a non entity.
I'm just not impressed with what I've seen, With what
I've seen thus far, I'm just not impressed. Either he's
going to have to drop weight and get quicker or
do something because I just don't I don't see it.
But I again, I agree they need to get Jalen
Warren running. They need to get him going. I'm going

(30:32):
to tell you, until another receiver, whether it's Friarmouth, whether
it's you know, Roman Wilson, whether it's Calvin Austin, until
somebody else steps up and puts a little bit of
the fear of danger into a defense, DK's going to
have trouble.

Speaker 2 (30:50):
Right, We've said it. You know, people have been concerned
about it, and it's just true. If DK is the
only thing you have to worry about, you can take
DK away.

Speaker 3 (31:00):
It's just that simple.

Speaker 2 (31:01):
So they have to they have to have somebody else
step up and try and do it. That's why you
almost never see him single covered because they don't. They
don't have to. Yep, totally with you little two percenter
stuff here before we sign off for this pregame show.
One of the more ridiculous things I've seen all week.

(31:23):
And I addressed this in one of our reels slash
shorts you know, TikTok whatever videos that I did, And no,
actually I didn't, not for this one, but I was
thinking about it and I think I posted, actually I
posted something else trading Mike Tomlin and it's like, well
you get for Peyton? I think it was a first

(31:45):
and a second round pick that the Broncos gave up
along with swapping the I think it was the third
with the second swap, and then they got a first
round pick, so they got a first in a second
for a third and Peyton. Basically something like that is
what the Bronco or what the I'm sorry, what the
Saints got from the Denver Broncos right, But what did
that materialize for the Saints? You know what I mean,

(32:06):
Like you're talking about a total rebuild and you're talking
about a coach. I know, people just get they get
tired of seeing this is a team of five wins.
We see some inconsistency, we see some stuff that's not
working out. They're not one hundred percent healthy, their habit
moving parts or hapen things that have changed throughout week
to week. But they definitely they beat the Patriots, they

(32:27):
beat the Colts. I know, like you said, well nobody
knew what the Patriots were going to be by that point. Well,
it still doesn't change the matter of the fact that
they beat that team. It's week three. It wasn't like
Week one, some big surprise full extension of the preseason.
They went into their house and they beat that team.
They beat a Colts team that nobody was giving them
any chance to beat. The players have to execute two.

(32:48):
So I'm not blaming Mike Tomlin for a loss last week.
And the people who think that they trade Mike Tomlin
and it somehow becomes a better football team and you rebuild.
You can be rebuilding for twenty years like the Browns
have been doing the Raiders have been doing, like the
Giants have been doing, the Miami Dolphins have been doing.
I just draft picks to me, don't especially when people

(33:09):
are also criticizing Omar Kahn and now they're talking about, oh, well,
look at what he did. He traded for DK Metcalf.
He might have used a pick to do that. Well,
that's what you use when you trade Tomlin and you
get draft capital. You using that capital the rebuilding. He
might trade for another player. Maybe it doesn't work out.
Maybe maybe they draft someone. And we've seen players not
work out. We've seen players we just talked about Kleb

(33:30):
Johnson being one of those. I know he was a
third rounder. It's really weird for me to see the
logic of some fans what they trade the Tomlin type deal.
Think about the draft as some lottery where you're absolutely
going to hit the power ball, you're gonna hit the moneyball,
and you know you become the instant millionaire. A lot
of times you end up with a useless piece of

(33:52):
paper when it comes to draft picks, and that is
nothing than not. Yeah, more often than not. Well, Mike
Tomlin coach forever. I mean, he was pretty young when
he started, people tend to think they he'll never ever
ever lose his job. There may be a time when
he steps away and we don't know who would be
the replacement and how they may fare. Maybe maybe it's

(34:12):
a spark and it's something where they just take off right,
and then it could be the other way where you're like, man,
I really wish I remember those glory days where there
was like twenty straight seasons where the Steelers didn't lose.
They were at leased in the playoffs, And if you're
in the playoffs, you're at least in the conversation, and
you could go from that to being like a team
that you know constantly drafting in the top five. Chicago

(34:35):
Bears are another team that are like that as well
over the years. Look at the Lions, it took them forever.
Look at the Bills, it took them forever. So I'm
not ready to put my stock into a fire or
get rid of Tomlin, especially when you're sitting here. If
you put this game away and you're at six and
four and you create a little separation, there are some

(34:56):
winnable games, and depending on how they win this game,
it might give a little more faith It might encourage
you a little more as to how the rest of
the season ends up playing out. I want to just
second this. You know, the draft is a crap shoot.
It's it is the lottery at best. You know, as

(35:16):
as we've said, as we say every year when the
draft rolls around, you're more likely to miss than you
are to hit. It's just the way it works. You know,
number one picks, top ten picks, they fail left and right.
There is no guarantee on any of them. The idea
of trading Mike Tomlins so that you can immediately get better.

(35:38):
You know, you just don't know who's going to take over,
who's the next coach. Are you going to be able
to get somebody to come in? You know, you just
it's not going to happen. I mean, you know, it's
it's nice speculation sometimes when you when you feel like, okay,
that's the shake up we need. Let's let's change the coases.
I do think there needs to be changes in the

(35:59):
coaching ranks. I think Terrell Austin needs to be gone.
We've said that for almost two years now. I'm not
sure the offensive line coach is doing the job that
he needs to do because I'm not impressed overall with
the way the offensive line is gelling in play.

Speaker 3 (36:15):
Yet I'm not impressed. So I mean, I do think
there needs to be shakeups in in the coaching ranks.

Speaker 2 (36:22):
But the idea that they're going to get rid of
Mike Tomlin, Mike Tomlin will walk away when Mike Tomlin
wants to walk away, and you know, unless unless it
is very obvious that he has lost the team, right,
And someone said that on one of the reels comments.
They say he lost this team, and I'm like, he
hasn't lost his No, there's no there's no evidence, No,

(36:45):
there there's been a bunch You got to be real
careful because for some reason lately I've noticed this on Facebook.
There are just a bunch of bullshit posts that are
going up that are one hundred lies. There are one
hundred percent fake breaking news. Yeah, and it's and you know,
they give you that bullshit where you got a picture
that looks legitimate with a little quote and the quote

(37:06):
isn't even legitimate, and they don't.

Speaker 3 (37:08):
Give you a link until you go into the comments
and then it's some bogus thing.

Speaker 2 (37:14):
You gotta be careful, don't trust anything don't trust anything
that you read on the Internet until you have validated
it and backed it up. Because almost all of this
and I why all of a sudden it seems more
prevalent than it ever was is probably because AI makes
it a lot easier to create some nonsense and stories.
But it's just it's just bad and well trying to

(37:37):
make there's no.

Speaker 3 (37:37):
Evidence at all. They're trying to the team.

Speaker 2 (37:40):
Yeah, they're trying to make a buck off content, and
they're not trying to do it like you know, putting
in the sweat equity like you or I do. They
do it by by creating anything original. They do it
by just creating something sensational. And they're all like the
steel Iron Warriors Steelers page or something stupid like that,
And I just rolled my eyes. You're in some of
the same groups I'm in, and I see people share

(38:01):
this and the like, I've.

Speaker 3 (38:02):
Stopped going in any of the Facebook groups so I
just don't do it.

Speaker 2 (38:05):
And it was like, my favorite one is the one
that gets reused every week that the NFL is investigating
the officiating, which we would love to see them do.
But it was like the controversial calls in you could
copy paste the two teams that are in it, and
they reuse it as I've seen it with the Chiefs,
have seen it with the Bills, the Packers, like you know,
and they just even says that they should be investing

(38:26):
its Bulowey, It is malarkey. Is malarkey? Yes, well, Brian,
we're going to sign off here. We gave our predictions.
Bengals got one on a short week in Cincinnati, time
for the Steelers to get a little bit of payback,
time for Rogers to get some redemption for last week,
and still show that he's the guy that could do it.
The shame is a lot of people are going to
have that mindset. They're going to have that picture in

(38:47):
their head because they've seen the Steelers defense fall flat
and primetime against the Packers. They saw Rogers fall flat
in primetime last week against the Chargers. Not as many
people as you saw or seeing this game this week
at one o'clock. So let's see if they can at
least try and change their own narrative in house, and
when they get back to one of these big marquee
games that are coming up on the schedule, Buffalo Bills

(39:10):
on the horizon at act for sure after this one
in a couple of weeks, let's see, then I could
show everybody, uh, just the team that they are. And
I don't think they're gonna lay on their back. I
don't think Mike Tomlin is that lackadaisical of a coach.
I don't think he's lost any locker room. He's lost
players before, like Deontay Johnson or George Pickens that well,

(39:31):
Antonio Brown, he's just it's it's Obi Wan Kenobi the
E and McGregor version that you are truly lost Antonio Brown.
And I think that has to do with another guy
hitting him in the head and we knocking him into
another dimension. So for we won't get into a B.
There's like good a B and bad a B. And

(39:52):
I liked good AB and bad ab. I just only
want to talk about so H. That guy's got his
own issues. We'll put it that way, extradited and whatnot.
So folks don't forget to like, comment, subscribe, leave a rating,
or review. Wherever you may be watching or listening from.
We appreciate you supporting the Steel City Underground podcast. My

(40:13):
name's Joe Kuzma. My good friend here, mister Briany Roach,
thank you for returning Brian. Any parting shots, No, no,
usually not. I'll put you on the spot and it's
just an any game day superstitions that you do, because
you know, I always have to wear the home away,
throw it back, whatever the jersey they wear on the

(40:33):
field and have a terrible time. I used to, you know,
I used to post all this crap on Facebook where
I would be like, Okay, I'm gearing up. I had the.

Speaker 3 (40:42):
Shoes, I had the socks, I had wear I had
the pants, I had a jersey. You know what. I
stop wearing anything. I might wear a shirt. Oh, I
don't wear a jersey anymore on game day.

Speaker 2 (40:54):
I don't.

Speaker 3 (40:55):
I don't bother getting the shoes on. I don't don't
command because no, I don't.

Speaker 2 (41:00):
I'm not.

Speaker 3 (41:00):
I wear clothes.

Speaker 2 (41:04):
Nobody, nobody wants to see me sitting naked in the
living room watching the game.

Speaker 3 (41:08):
So but I don't. I don't go all out anymore.
And that's because it felt like when I did, they
lost every time.

Speaker 2 (41:18):
No, no, sir, I'll have the salute the service. I
may even grab the the Arctic Camo towel and bring
it along. I'm not the biggest fan of some of
the merchandise they have this year. For the A lot
of the salute the service just looks out of place,
so I'll say that much. I've never been a fan
of like the Camo fan, so I don't don't but that.
I thought this one was really cool because it was

(41:39):
so much different than everything else they usually do. They
got lazy again. The one they got this year they
just died this one. This was last year's sideline hat.
This year they just dyed them green. It's the same
exact hat and a colorized I think on the side
I like to do that. That's not very original. It's
just like the shoes they did this year. But anyways,
that's conversation for another time. Drop us your game day
superstitions in the comments. Folks, thank you two percent owners

(42:00):
who have listened to this part. If you don't remember
where a two percenter is, go to the very end
of last show where I described that until next time.
My name's Joe, his name's Brian. Has always we encourage
everyone out there too, be safe, be good, and we'll
catch you l.

Speaker 1 (42:14):
We would like to thank you for listening and remind
our listeners to follow us on social media and our
website www.

Speaker 2 (42:21):
Dot steel City Underground dot com

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

Ruthie's Table 4

The Joe Rogan Experience

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Rodgers seeks redemption in Steelers payback bid against Bengals

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}On Purpose with Jay Shetty

Ruthie's Table 4

The Joe Rogan Experience

All Episodes

Rodgers seeks redemption in Steelers payback bid against Bengals

On Purpose with Jay Shetty