Rodgers struggles as Steelers fall flat in LA

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

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Joe Kuzma, Hello everyone, and welcome to another edition of
the steel City Underground podcast. My name is Joe Kuzma.
Apparently I am flying solo today with a scheduling conflict
with my good colleague Buddy and paula one Minister Brian
e Roach and Brian was not too thrilled about the

(00:37):
result of Sunday nights Steelers loss twenty five to ten
to the Los Angeles Chargers. But then again, looks like
a lot of Ian's aren't very thrilled with it. I
don't like losing either, but goodness, folks, some people absolutely
lose their freaking minds. And let me tell you some
of the opinions, some of the things that I see.

(00:59):
I see these things when the Steelers win also, and
unfortunately I wish Brian were here. Brian maybe even more
negative on this football team than what I am. But
you know what, that's part of what makes this job difficult.
I'm not trying to just be here and be some
blowhard that just dwells on the negative. You see those

(01:19):
guys on the radio. I can't even listen to local
Pittsburgh Sports radio anymore, and some of the local media
because of just some of the garbage that's out there,
and there's others that pop up, and even in competition
here with our own show, that it's just so easy
for them to run down this team. I often wonder,

(01:41):
why do you even bother doing this? Now? It's difficult.
I had some jag off in the comments on the
last show, and he probably thinks this gets under my
skin and fish still listening to it. Great, Thank you
for listening, thank you for subscribing, thank you for commenting, liking,
and all that other noise that helps with the engagement
for this show, because quite frankly, I do wish sometimes

(02:02):
we were seen or heard by more, because there are
more that need to see and hear what I have
to say. Following this twenty five to ten loss. Now
I'm gonna have a little more base in my voice
today because there are certain things that are just annoying me,
and there's certain things that are just pissing me off.
It's just people that don't know ball right, and when

(02:22):
you're trying to find some silver lining, and you're trying
to figure out the Steelers just you know, they beat
on the Colts, they had all these turnovers, et cetera,
et cetera. What can they do against the Chargers? And
apparently I'm just boring because I tell people where to
tune in because they're clueless. They're on Facebook at nine
o'clock at night, still can't find the game on NBC.
That's sometimes the people who need to hear this message.

(02:45):
And I'm not trying to make fun of anyone, don't
get me wrong, but it's just it's irritating. And sometimes
this is a thankless job to which I have some folks,
even some friends in my friends list on Facebook. They
come in, they drop in my dms, they send me texts.
I'm watching the Steelers not be able to generate anything
on offense, and it pisses me off. And then if
these people had just come out from under a rock,

(03:06):
they're kind of worse than having Cleveland Browns fans in
my family who like dwell on when the Steelers aren't
doing well. And this is a Steelers team on paper
that we believe should be doing a lot better than
what their five and four record indicates. As they're starting
to slip, and we see the Baltimore Ravens rip off
stay relevant even without Lamar Jackson and win three games,

(03:28):
and the Bengals trying to stay in that conversation and
Joe Burrow and this is the next opponent upcoming and
coming off of bye week, and Burrow is entering that
twenty one day window. Whether it'll be available on Sunday
or not. I will not know that, but we'll do that.
We'll look at that in the pre game. Brian my
good friend, Like I said, good friend. I mean maybe
Brian went to Ireland together, our share to room and

(03:50):
everything like that. So I'm not I don't have anything
negative to say or bad to say about Brian, but
sometimes you know we're gonna butt heads, and I wish
he was here because the thing we're going to heads
on is whether or not the Steelers will win more
than six games this year. They've already got five. He
thinks there might only be one other victory left on
the calendar. I think the next two are wit a bull.

(04:10):
But what has to change versus what transpired in LA
I think some folks are looking at the wrong things.
You've got some of your blowhards out here bitching and
complaining about Mike Tomlin. Oh, yes, I've got I told you,
I've got a little sass today. Because the fans themselves,
it's like they have to win every single game. I

(04:33):
call this like the fantasy football and the John Madden
football video game culture that you know, I'm a part of.
I grew up in it. I had a Nintendo and
a Super Nintendo, and later, you know, my friends had
a Sega Genesis. So I experienced all of this from
the ground floor up. And everybody wants video game numbers.
Nobody wants to be associated with losers. I'm sure that's

(04:56):
why the Steelers have a lot of the fair weather
fan base that they do have. You know, you win
and have a dynasty of four Super Bowls in the
nineteen seventies. You haven't had a losing season since two
thousand and three. During this offseason, Brian made a comment,
a good, solid comment, that the Steelers at some point
need the stink. They need to suck. They need to

(05:16):
be complete garbage in order for them to just have
better draft position, because for a few years there you
ended up with better draft position. And I know they
moved and made a trade to get Troy Polamalu. But
he was one of those pieces along with big Ben Roethlisberger.
Yet again more positioning on the draft board than Heath Miller.
But I have people that are everywhere to fire Mike Tomlin.

(05:39):
Does this seem even have five wins? If Mike Tomlin
isn't the coach as a coach that's not named Mike
Tomlin able to shift Jalen Ramsey to the safety position.
Pully and Kyle Dugger off the I don't want to
say off the street. He was with the team, but
he wasn't with the Steelers. And have these guys look
competent on defense against the cole and yes company against

(06:01):
the Chargers too, because I know people look at this score.
I see twenty five points from the Chargers, and I
see a Steelers offense that was averaging twenty five points
per game, and I think, to myself, this defense did enough.
Only fifteen points actually twelve at halftime, fifteen through the
third quarter scored by Los Angeles should be enough to
get the job done with Aaron Rodgers in company and

(06:25):
maybe the end company wasn't enough. But the main name
in that statement Aaron Rodgers certainly a problem that I'm
gonna circle back to because the defense I thought actually did.
I don't want to say tremendous, but I don't know
what the f you're supposed to do when the other
team has the ball for over fifteen minutes longer than you,

(06:47):
and it's not because the offense is playing complimentary football.
The defense themselves I have, like the funny graphic. I'm
not here for jokes today. I'm not here to entertain.
So if I have a boring show, whatever, comment again
about it. I don't care. I'm not here to just
listen to myself. I'm not here to just draw attention

(07:10):
to myself. Like some others that are on Twitter, they
go around with their phone and they take like a
they take a selfie video while they're walking around, and
they talk about all these different things. I don't know
that they know ball either, because they're pointing all the
fingers in the wrong places. This defense got to Justin Herbert.
I don't know they hit them nine times. They had

(07:32):
eleven I believe eleven, maybe a full dozen tackles for
loss in this game. Does that sound like the defense
that had just been Swiss cheese and been giving up
just oodles of yards and first downs. And mind you,
the Chargers are gonna get thirs. They're seven and three,

(07:53):
they're three and zero in their division. We knew they
were a competent opponent. We know about both Harbough brothers
as coach. And some people say, well, you're just getting
complacent with losing. I get complacent with some losses in
some of the expectations. What I didn't expect was for
the Steelers minus of garbage time touchdown to Roman Wilson,

(08:16):
which he put the Jets on finally and looked, he
looked bit of the part. But none of the players
in that Chargers secondary at that point were, like I did,
don't want any of the smoke. They don't want to
get hurt. They don't want to make an errant tackle
and rip up their knee or ligament or ankle, or
land awkwardly and separate a shoulder, any of that stuff
end up inking cutship protocol, any of these things. They

(08:38):
let them just squeak in. So I'm going to disregard that.
I'm just going to say three points because win. Did
that actually happen? Roman Wilson with oh, three minutes remaining
in the game, they finally get ten. Steelers have ten
points after a pat so you're only three points up
until the final three minutes of the game off of
a fifty nine yard at being field goal. That's all

(09:02):
you could muster. And a big problem of that was, well,
I guess I've got to play better. Well, yes, And people,
all of a sudden they are talking about Aaron Rodgers
is being looking like a forty one year old and
no point up till now or any of you saying that.
In fact, all freaking preseason, all off season, all free agency,

(09:22):
ever since the Steelers lost in the playoffs, and then
Aaron Rodgers started to become linked to being a Steeler,
all I heard was is that give this guy a try.
He can't be any worse than anybody else. It looked
a lot like Mitch Trubisky, and a lot like Canny
Pickett and those guys over the last few years, and
even a get be armed older Ben Roethlisberger. But to

(09:46):
any time right now, Rogers is like a top ten
quarterback in most of the metrics in the National Football
League up to this point. I know Herbert and I think,
oh geez, maybe one other. Maybe it was Dak I'm
trying to think somebody else. Maybe I think there were
only two quarterbacks heading into this weekend that had more
touchdown passes than Aaron Rodgers. To this point, nobody was

(10:07):
saying he is a forty one year old, forty two
year old, forty five year old, fifty year old quarterback.
Everybody thought that he found the fountain of youth until yesterday.
Players are allowed to have bad games, Okay, it just
sucks when you have a collective that has a terrible
game against the Green Bay Packers, for example, the defense,

(10:29):
and now they're branded this. Now Eric Rodgers gonna be
branded this because it's a primetime game once again. When
they had the Packers primetime Sunday night football. Okay, now
you go to Sunday Night football in La more eyeballs
are on it, more fairweather fans, more people who don't
know ball. If you're listening or watching here, I think
you know ball. I think you like to hear some

(10:50):
of the things that I say. Whether you're a great
at me one hundred percent or not, that doesn't even matter.
We can agree to disagree on certain things. Me and
Brian were arguing you know, we're pissed off about this
game yesterday and I just literally flat out I told him,
I'm like, bro, I don't want to get in an
argument with you and be fighting with you. I'm mad
about this game. I'm mad about this result. I'm mad
about the effort in a lot of the phases of

(11:10):
this football game. I'm not actually mad at you. But
you've got people that talk about Man, there's people call
into these postgame shows, omar khn can't build a roster,
can't do this and that. What what the hell are
you talking about? You were excited that this guy got
rid of Chase Claypool for a what ended up being
the thirty second overall pick in the NFL draft, and

(11:30):
then went and got Joey Porter junior. That is what everybody.
They loved, fleecing the Bears for that draft pick. They
loved staying pat and getting Joey Porter junior. Until you
don't and some of the things, you're just talking out
of your ass, and it is a response to so
many of these fans that are out there. I'm sorry,

(11:52):
but I'm not going to sugarcoat it anymore. I kind
of get tired of it. It's just you wanted Aaron
Rodgers every now and then. Maybe this is what you get.
Maybe it does have to do with age, but man,
I feel like the ball is getting there with velocity,
with speed. Maybe he can't escape the pocket like he

(12:14):
used to, but man, he was hearing footsteps all night
last night. He was moving into He didn't see where
Troy Flautanu. He washed maca way just enough and Rogers
moved right into him for a safety three to two
baseball scorer. There were people equating this to the Pirates.

(12:34):
Don't ever freaking do that with my Steelers. By the way,
two different organists, two completely different organizations, But just goes
to show you the entitlement mentality of some fans that
truly haven't suffered the same way the Pittsburgh Pirates fans
have since the nineties, since getting rid of like goat players,
those killer bees, a whole different set. You knew that

(12:57):
this game was going a little south. Speaking of enough
their killer be. When Chris Boswell misses a field goal
that's shorter than the one he made, fifteen yards shorter
than the one roughly, whatever told you I'm not doing
math today. He misses it usually when there's a Boswell miss,
You're like, we're in for a long day in the office.
And it sucks because you've seen the Steelers offense be

(13:20):
competent enough, and you've got everyone from Collinsworth to your
anybody who's on Twitter, they're talking about this team didn't
go get a wide receiver two they tried Omar Kahn tried.
Omar Kahn is the reason you got Aaron Rodgers, DK Metcalf,
Jalen Ramsey. He is the reason that the Steelers aren't

(13:45):
you know that they're at least competitive. This team could
have just laid down until they found their next quarterback.
I mean, I'm sure people are pissed in Buffalo too.
They lost to the Dolphins. What's going on there now?
All of a sudden people were pissed in Baltimore when
they had one win, one in five. Maybe they write
the ship. Maybe the Steelers don't write the ship. But
I've seen enough here. This defense. The reason this isn't

(14:09):
like this two of eight on first down by the
Chargers in the first half. That's not the Steelings. Steelers
were like Oho for nine or something even worse on offense.
But it should have been good enough. If they could
have went four, five for nine, maybe punched in a touchdown,
they could have put this team away early. Instead, Aaron
Rodgers overthrows a wide open DK Metcalf. He also has

(14:33):
to pass later in the game, should be on fourth down,
and he just forces it. It's gonna go to Dk,
but put it somewhere where. This dude, he's like seven
feet tall, he's like two hundred and kept saying Collins
worths of saying Darnell Washington's three hundred pounds. I'm exaggerating,
of course on some of this. Let me exaggerate on
some of this. Aaron Rodgers just he was not sharp,

(14:56):
but that doesn't mean he's not your guy. I saw
some folks out there, they're like, when does Will Howard
get his chance? Hell? Are you talking about Will Howard
for who's not even completely off of ir in the
same twenty one day window, now that Burrow's just starting
the head didn't play in the preseason in your leap
Froggy Mason Rudolph, you're already writing him off, which I

(15:17):
can understand people do it, saying that guy's been in
the league for a while and he didn't da da
da da dah whatever. But Aaron Rodgers won back game,
and all of a sudden, everybodys sour on. Now, all
of a sudden, the entire season's done, even though it's
Week ten and there's eight more weeks of football to go,
and the Steelers have half of those games at home
and most of those games within the division. Things got

(15:37):
to be cleaned up and get consistent. You could point
at coaching with that, But I was going to say,
I don't know what I got here. I don't know
is just male. But Mike Tomlin's walking around with something
folded up like this. Now I mentioned that. I think
that's part of the fix with the defense. Very quiet, quietly,
he's taken more charge. I thought the defense put a
lot of pressure on Justin Herbert. I thought it the

(16:00):
defense held for field goals and forced punts as necessary,
where they weren't really doing that consistently throughout the year
at this point and giving up thirty plus points at
the very end. Yeah, Lad mccaukey gets this ball that's
placed by Herbert. Everybody's like, what a beautiful ball, What

(16:22):
a dangerous pass that was nearly hit by Eckles with
one hand nearly knocked out with his other hand, and
mccaukey bobbled it once, if not twice, and then Eckles
doesn't have his balance and that's the only guy available
to make the tackle winning scampers off the fifty. It's luck,
and luck sometimes isn't in your favor, and sometimes it's

(16:44):
really against you. It's like some of the things I
can't even get into officiating because it was it had
nothing to do with this game. I was shocked to
see some holding calls finally, finally, finally, some holding calls
made in this game. But I saw a pick. I
think it was Keenan Allen that caught this one pass,

(17:05):
and I don't know who threw it. I don't know
if it was Arondi Katston the tight end, but he
just ran right into somebody. Everybody's like echos had such
a rough night. And then I'm trying to think what
the other one was. Maybe it was actually called, but
I remember they brought in Terry McCauley was the NBC
former referee and analyst, and he's talking about whether or
not they have his feet set and Chris collins Worth
is talking about near and dear a sport to my

(17:28):
heart growing up being the tall galut that I am.
Basketball and a charge and I've never thought I'd been
thinking about a basketball a block and charge situation and
feet being set in football. And it's like, I know
it could be split second, because you're dealing with scientifically
designed athletes at this point, they're already the one percent

(17:51):
of your athletes playing the sport. But then some of
them are just genetically mutated through years of experience and
sports sites and everything else. And it's like, did he
hit them or not? Does it smell like it's cheating
or not? And those things just drive me crazy and
they lead to my ire even more. But you got
to overcome those and for the most part, the defense did.

(18:12):
They gave up three hundred and fourteen yards. There were
sixty nine plays run by the Chargers. That's not actually
a whole lot in the context of a football game.
Sixty five ish you give or take four or five
plays in either direction. That's about the average, right, But
thirty seven and thirty seven minutes in thirty five seconds
of time of possession versus the Steelers having twenty two

(18:36):
twenty five And you tell me was the defense the problem.
And I'll tell you the secondary getting banged up and
having James Pierre and Joey Porter coming off the field
and stuff like Darius Slay. That's a mess. That's a
mess for the Steelers. But it wasn't as big of
a mess as it could have been. The communication issues
weren't necessarily there. They were able to, Like I said,

(18:57):
they got the Herbert multiple time. Several sacks in this game,
five total. You know, I don't know what else that
they could do. Possession wise. They forced the Chargers to
punt four out of the first five times that they
had the football. They had several three and outs and

(19:19):
several shorter plays. The first one three plays one yard,
they're off the field. Bam. I love it because I
hate getting the ball first to start the game. I
told you I'm a disciple of the whole completely different
coaching philosophy. I am deferring all the time. But they
didn't win the toss, so that did not matter. And
then you have seven plays eighteen yards, three plays six yards,

(19:43):
then thirteen plays fifty one yards down in the Pittsburgh's
fourteen yard line. They settle for a field goal. And
this is after the Steelers miss their field goal and
they get the Chargers get pretty prime real estate. Starting
at their thirty five they got the ball, of course,
off of that off the whole safety. That was the

(20:04):
Steelers' third possession. The Steelers start with a punt, a
field goal, then a safety, then a missed field goal, punt,
an interception. You in a half punt twice. The Steelers
possessions are just awful. I mean, going back to the
Chargers before half, four plays twenty yards seven for thirty eight.
That was the touchdown following one of Aaron Rodgers interceptions.

(20:26):
That was bad. That was bad. That sets up the
defense in a bad spot, and I think the defense
was only off the field. That was a fifty one
second possession for the Steelers offense. On that interception, it
was two plays four yards. Third first half, Aaron Rodgers
first half three plays eleven yards, four plays five yards,

(20:48):
three plays minus six that's the safety. That's the end
of the first quarter. Nine play sixty one yards, and
a missed field goal three plays two yards, two plays
four yards eight yards, halftime, four plays nineteen yards, three
plays two yards, and then at the end you got

(21:09):
eight plays forty five yards turnover on downs with the
aforementioned let's just throw it on the guy to the
guy that's double covered and not put up a ball
that the tall guy can get to. Of course, there's
another pass that skips off of Calvin Austin's hands, and
at that point you're just like, well, this has been
long over. I could have went to bed in the
third quarter because nothing has changed. DK Metcalf has been

(21:31):
irrelevant and marked irrelevant, and maybe teams are going to
see this on film. I don't know that the Bengals.
Maybe the Bears might have some guys to be able,
some personnel to similarly limit him. I don't expect Aaron
Rodgers to overthrow everyone. Overthrow Metcalf wide open, overthrow John

(21:53):
new Smith wide open on her throw. I don't know.
Some of the plays looked like he rolled out to
his left. I don't know if it was at our
I don't know if I don't know if the wrong
play was called. I don't know where Aaron's head was at.
I don't know if something happened to him personally. I
don't know if something happened to him physically. I just
I don't know what to say, and I know he's

(22:13):
not going to want to come off the field, so
then people are like, oh, replace him with Will Howard,
the guy who's not even dressed. Ridiculous, Right, Steelers end
with another drive. That Kevin Austin interception deal was only
two plays, five seconds and a Steelers defense somewhere in
the middle of this. They still hold the Chargers to
punting after an interception. Then there's a Muugh punt to

(22:37):
which they four plays minus three yards Chargers hold for
a field goal. The defense was not the issue. If
the defense plays like this and there's building blocks for
them to work on a foundation, defense is not going
to be the problem going forward. But they do need
complementary football. They cannot be left out to dry like

(22:57):
this like they were plenty of I don't know, plenty
of pass deflections defensively the Steelers. How many did they
get their hands on? Five passes defense in this game?
I understand there were some key individual performances by the Chargers.
Four catches, one hundred and seven yards and a touchdown

(23:19):
for lad Maconkey. He's a guy that you know. Me
and Brian we're talking to each other. I'm like, we
admit to each other I remember when he got drafted
last year, We're like, first round pick, what really, Lad McConkie.
Now he just live it up to it. Give him
his flowers were, dude. The guy that hadn't been living
up to it. Quinton Johnston. Still, he was targeted ten times,
only caught half of those for forty two yards. The

(23:41):
rest of it's a mixed bag. Keenan Allen breaks whatever record.
They were definitely looking to do that for him. Gatson
gets hurt. They were targeting him frequently, had six targets,
caught three passes for thirteen yards. Herbert finishes the day
just above sixty percent. Completed twenty of thirty three one
hundred and twenty yards a touchdown, no interceptions. Of the

(24:03):
ninety and a half rating. Aaron Rodgers finishes with a
fifty point six rating, well below sixty percent. Completed fifty
one points sixty sixteen of thirty one for one sixty
one a touchdown in two picks. He was sacked three times.
Herbert was sacked five times. Kamali I can't remember how
to pronounce his name. Videll I didn't want to say

(24:26):
he's no name running back, but he's you know, a
smaller school guy, a guy that didn't have initially throughout
his career notoriety, and he's been thrown into action because
oh Marion Hampton being hurt. Who they spent a high
draft pick on out in North Carolina, liked him in
the draft process, thought he might be a Steeler. Very
Naji Harris like, who just happens to be on this

(24:48):
squad too and is out for the season. They ran
for one fifteen. Herbert had nineteen of those his long
fifteen yards. You know some of that not actual scampers
or any any scrambles or anything like that, just the
one that you know, the defense was completely wide. You're
going to have great plays by great players, So let's

(25:09):
talk about Rogers overthrowing players very inconsistent. Even the pass
that skips off the hands of Calvid Austin, you're like, oh,
they need a wide receiver to Kelvinos. I don't care.
Throw that to the Roman Wilson probably happens the same way.
Throw it the DK metcalf. While he tried to several times,
he wasn't connecting with them either. Throw it that hard
toward Pat Ferman, that ball was whizzing. I just don't

(25:33):
know that. Aaron just didn't have the feel Sunday night
for how short, how far, how hard, how soft these
passes should have been thrown. Do I expect that to
be consistent if this were a guy like Will Howard,
you want to see a Will Howard. You want to
see any rookie play that's been drafted like late in
the NFL draft, It's gonna be some scary stuff, even

(25:56):
the guys that have been You know, cam Ward's not
exactly having a field in Tennessee and maybe he never will.
We know where Aaron's floor and ceiling are, and we know,
based on his track record as a pro, he'll probably
be able to bounce back from this. They'll be able
to identify what needs to be corrected. I think importantly

(26:19):
for the Steelers is they didn't the game that this game.
They didn't leave this game with any major injuries, right.
I think that is important to put on there. I'm
hoping Isaac Samalo can return. I know they tried Andreas
Pete in at left guard for a short second. Well,
Spencer Anderson was playing the you know that additional role,

(26:43):
and Pete ends up playing let me see, not too much,
just eight snaps. It wasn't good. He had the faalse
start just to start fifty percent of the stadium. Steelers
fans didn't get to use that to their advantage whatsoever.
And you know, and he's in there for almost the
entire game. Even though Pete plays eight snaps, Anderson was

(27:05):
only not out there at the same time, maybe for
three of those. He plays forty nine of the fifty
two Steelers offensive plays, Calvin Anderson and DK Metcalf ninety
two percent of the game seventy three percent of the game.
Steelers tried to get a wide receiver. Two people say, oh, oh,
markn he making any big tray, blah blah blah. They
went after Rashid Rashid Shahed down in New Orleans. Apparently

(27:26):
there were at least two, if not three rumor leaks.
Take those for what you will. They are rumors, they
are speculation. But supposedly Shahed and the Saints they were
offered the same exact of compensation as they had gotten.
Ditto for Jacobi Meyers out with the Raiders who decided
to go to Jacksonville, which has like a loaded wide
receiver room. But maybe they just did. He didn't see

(27:47):
this as an opportunity where he'd get the ball thrown
a lot his way, which fair, fair, Okay, So, but
they've tried to make the play and supposedly the same
compensation for the Raiders not the same as they gave
they were going to give the Saints for seed. But
what the competing offer is is what I should clarify.
So to say they didn't do anything, they still went

(28:08):
out and they grabbed Marquez Veldez scantling. Wide receiver is
a hard position, probably about as hard as quarterback. It's
like the next thing. This is why it's like such
a big bust rate at these positions. First it's quarterback.
Second it's wide receiver. And it's because quarterback and wide
receiver obviously have to be on the same page. And
I think with wide receiver, just like running back, there's
a certain age where there's a drop off. There's certain positions.

(28:29):
The more you got to run, I think, the shorter
your lifespan is and the more you get hit. Obviously,
when it comes to your career in the National Football League,
how long you're going to last. So you don't get
these other receivers, you got to make do with what
you have. You two have two short, small, speedy wide receivers,
but you're not playing a lot of these bigger wide

(28:49):
receiver sets. And I'm not sure how the offensive line
holds up when they don't have that extra help protection.
There might be some things that are some glaring, you know,
smack the flex seal rate on it and try and
fix the problems. That's Spencer Anderson playing as that sixth
tight end. That's Chris collins Worth getting his jolly saying
that Darnel Washington weighs three hundred pounds, which he doesn't.
I'd be insulted at that. If I lost twenty pounds

(29:11):
and I was two eighty and I think he's maybe
a little trimmer or not, I'd be insulted by that.
They're not gonna I don't think they're moving him to tackle.
Oh and Aaron Rodgers with some saying this, oh, you know,
you should use the guy that nobody can tackle these
six seven sixty eight, two hundred and eighty pounds. Throw
them the freaking ball. That's the way I feel. And
Rogers missed him is missing him too. It's two games

(29:33):
in a row that Rogers has been a little off,
but it was masked by all of those turnovers that
the Steelers defense was able to create against the Colts.
Unable to generate that, especially when you get in the
hole early. You got to know how game script is
going to play against this. And I'll give collins Worth
some credit on this. He says it on the broadcast
for those of you that were watching. He says, the

(29:54):
team that ends up getting ahead is then gonna be
able to unleash their pass rush. They're gonna be able
to be are aggressive the Chargers could. They're up two scores,
they can play a little more conservatively. You don't have
to take big risks. You don't have to let your
quarterback hold on to the ball for too long. And
Rodgers was holding it. He was seeing ghosts. He was
moving into spots that he shouldn't have been. Maybe this

(30:15):
is a tendency that people picked up on. I don't know.
Early in the season, he didn't move around a lot.
Then all of a sudden we're like, hey, he's moving
around a lot. He looks like the old Aaron Rodgers.
If I'm the Fountain youth and done. Now he's an
old man that can't do anything. This game, bad game.
For Rogers. Absolutely is at the end of the road.
We shall see, But right now, I'm not ready to
say that he goes out does this. Next two games

(30:36):
they lose against the Bengals and the Bears, and Aaron
Rodgers throws like five interceptions and he gets sacked a
dozen times. Houston, we have a problem. Pittsburgh, we have
a problem. Until then, I'm not ready to just pull
out the white flag and surrender the season and start
trying to play the lottery that all these other teams

(30:58):
are playing for, like the in the Browns or whatever.
The Steelers got their own stockpile of draft picks to
see what they're going to do with. We were just
two weeks ago or so thinking Aaron Rodgers could have
his arm twisted into returning for another year. But back
when we were starting to say that, I followed that

(31:19):
up by saying, let's see if this guy can hold
up for seventeen games. First, So before you want to
get rid of Aaron Rodgers, before you want to fire
Mike Tommin and Omar Khan and gut this thing, this
is a team with a pretty solid foundation that is
just maybe a piece or two away. Maybe it's Deshaun

(31:42):
Elliott coming back from ir Maybe they found something with
Ramsey and Dugger and they just need a little more
time to Joe. I'm telling you they need these guys
healthy on the outside. With Sleigh, with Porter, I don't
know who else they could pick up. The play corner,
I mean Pierre was playing, he had that body slam
of a hit. I actually have it here, little bit
of WWE action there. For all of theans it was entertaining.

(32:04):
There weren't that many bright spots overall. I mean the defense.
At times you were like, yeah, they're into it. You
get a sack by high Smith, Nick Herbig, like there
were some things they dropped, some passes. I heard some
people talking about that too, and it's just like that's
why the guys play corner and safety and stuff. They
would be wide receivers if they could catch. And they

(32:27):
also don't have the added benefit of knowing where the
ball is going like the wide receiver. So a lot
of times it does catch you by surprise. It's like,
wam this ball hits you and I don't know, seventy
miles per hour or whatever. Aaron Rodgers is thrown at
sometimes or Herbert or any of these world class athletes,
as I'm saying, and you're just caught off guard. Man,
you got to get lucky, and the lucky aspect wasn't there.

(32:50):
I know a lot of people want to be pissed off,
they want to fire everybody in the world. Let's just
compose ourselves, let's regroup. I thought the defense, that's two
stronger games. This was a game that if the Steelers
don't turn the ball over, the two interceptions and the
safety that I think they do better. They do better.
And Troy Fatano he had a little bit of a
rougher day in the office. He was just getting praised.

(33:12):
He hadn't given up a sack or taken a penalty
all season, and then like in the first quarter, he
had both, Like the safety that was right at him.
I think Aaron Rodgers give him a chance to rebound.
I was actually thinking, I was like, should you kind
of pull him? But he you know, these guys are competitive.

(33:32):
He didn't want to sit and he still got to
work with Rumman Wilson a work in progress. I think
that was something that they were. He went to him
more than once, right in the garbage time or whatever.
And I think this is let's get this guy up
the speed. We got to make somebody else a star.
And that was something that was totally absent on the
Steelers side of the ball minus one guy, and the

(33:54):
one guy that I felt mixed. Things happen. As much
as he touches the football and as much as sometimes
he doesn't. You know, he gets a yard or two
here or there, Jalen Warren, and my goodness, the hurdle
that he had. Feed this guy, get this guy the football.
I think you're taking a little bit at deeper shots.

(34:15):
I mean, the fact that he had fourteen carries is
almost criminal, and he's non existent in the passing game
for the most part. He did get two catches, maybe
ones like a pitch that counts as a pass technically,
like the Keenan Allen record breaking catch that he had,
and two for twenty one. Get him a little more involved.
I think when the Steelers offense was doing really great

(34:38):
is when lev Bell was the wide receiver two and
nobody was really like, oh, who else is there besides
Antonio Brown. I know at one point you had Martabis
Bryant when you did have him suspended for four games,
suspended for six games injured. The guy was on and
off the field all the time, as like Sammy Coates
was a reliable option in that high octane Killer Bees offense.
And you've got Pat Fryarmuth, You've got Smith, You've got

(35:00):
Darnel w Washington, You've got some guys like that. I
think you got to lean a little bit more, maybe
get some of the smaller guys involved in this past game,
but definitely Jalen Warren. When he touches the ball, he
makes some things happen. Even though he loses some yards
here or there, he still ended up with a five
yards per carry average last night, fourteen for seventy. I

(35:21):
don't believe he's had one hundred yard game at all
this season. I know they tried to get Caleb Johnson
going because you invested some draft capital in him. I'm
not against that. He had a five yard long, but
then his other two runs were for not a zilch,
squat zip zero losing yards. Maybe you're just gonna have
to wait another year. Maybe he just never becomes anybody.
Maybe he's like Benny Snell was that happens. You got

(35:45):
to get lucky with some of the draft picks. People
that don't want to give omar Con the credit, Nick Herbig,
Darnell Washington, these are the other guys that are beginning
to be like your third and fourth round picks that
pan out. And we may even see that with the
Jack Sawyer and if we don't know, just patients, because
it's like everybody's throwing everything at the wall and trying

(36:06):
to see what sticks. I don't know that you need
to do that is I don't think it's a panic
mode just yet. But if the Steelers fall below five
hundred over the next two games, and you watch the
Bengals get Joe Burrow back, and you watch the Baltimore Ravens,
and if they start to climb back in this picture
and pass the Steelers in the standings, it's gonna be

(36:27):
a tough sledding. It's gonna be an uphill battle. There's
a lot of teams in this AFC that are in
these wild card pictures. Like I said, Buffalo, they're not looking,
they're behind. Are they behind a game and a half?
I believe a full game and a half. Now there's
six and three to the Patriots. Yeah, because of a bye,
so Bills have played nine games. Patriots have played ten

(36:48):
and the Patriots are two and zero in their division.
Buffalo's two and two. And you know, this is some
of the things where people panic because you know why,
because you're looking down the road already. There's some teams
like the Jets, the Browns, There's teams like that that
are already looking the next year. They traded away some
of their players. They're getting capital. The Giants fire Brian

(37:09):
day Ball because you know what happens when you lose
your quarterback in Jackson Dart playing pretty decent, but he
gets he's out concussion protocol.

Speaker 1 (37:17):
And then.

Speaker 2 (37:19):
Russell Wilson was just holding on to the ball forever
and they stunk and they couldn't do anything. And then
all of a sudden, let's get rid of the head coach.
And then what you gotta do. You gotta bring in
another head coach. You gotta hope that Jackson Dart is
his guy, especially if you get rid of the general manager.
That is a mess in a cycle of problems at
the Steelers, they just simply it's not that they avoid it.
They're smarter than that. And I believe with them getting

(37:41):
Aaron Rodgers, the idea was they have a good enough defense.
They could spend a little bit more money there and
this team would be good enough to compete with anybody.
And I think that they still could be good enough
to compete with anyone win healthy, but they've got to
get both sides of the ball to show up at
the same time on the same day, and so far
we haven't seen that. Derek Carmon looks like a great

(38:04):
draft pick. He was playing a lot. Where were my
final snap counts for Derek Harmon, I'll see if I
can find it. I felt like he was out there
a lot fifty five percent of the game. It's pretty good.
Peyton Wilson is really starting to come around the speed
linebackers versus that you know, you had a land of
Roberts the year before or whatever. Now it's Malie Harrison.
He's the thumping guy. He's maybe more of a believer,
but man, I really hate the kind of mindset that

(38:26):
you have to have. They really need a guy that
could play, that could really do it all, and it's
just the way that some of this is set up
with sub packages, and the Steelers are They're far from
being the only team immune to this. Guys get tired
guys get hurt, white black playing a little bit more.
I think you got some different players, some different You
got a little bit of a different mix. I like

(38:48):
to see what the defense is doing. What if you
gave the defense the let's flip this on its head
and gave the Steelers offense thirty five minutes of possession
and the Steelers defense only had to contend with the
other team be in twenty five minutes because they don't
get the ball back. It has nothing to do whether
the defense could get on or off the field. It

(39:09):
is important. I thought the Steelers did pretty good with
that defensively last night. But excuse me, imagine you give
this defense a two score lead and you give them
time of possession. They didn't get the time of possison
against the Colts, but you gave them a lead and
you saw what they were kickable doing. Let's see if
they could do that. If it's Joe Flacco coming to

(39:31):
Pittsburgh this time, I think they can do this, and
I think they'll be a little bit better organized defensively.
They won't be on this short week, but they do
get a Bengals team that's going to be a little
fresh coming off of bye. We'll see what that looks
like later this week. Folks, don't forget the like comment
and subscribe. Hopefully you liked it. I toned my sass

(39:51):
down a little bit. I'm very close to just swearing.
Like you know, I'm the son of a truck driver.
I say it all the time. My dad wore many hats.
Truck Triver is just one of them. Sailor was not one,
but swore like one two. I inherited that. I try
not to do that. I try to keep it clean.
But I'm losing my cool a little bit. I'm starting

(40:12):
to get a little irritated. I get irritated with team
just as much as you do. I get irritated with
other fans, whether they're Steelers fans or somebody else. I
get irritated with media. I get irritated with all of it.
And I just had to get a little bit off
my chest. So let me know how you feel, whether
you think you have any hope that the Steelers turn
this around. And I mean now this season. I ain't

(40:33):
look into twenty twenty six just yet. This ain't over
by any means. Is this over. They got a bunch
of division games, but some folks are already thinking, well,
if they make the playoffs, what are they gonna do?
Can they compete and even win a playoff game? Got
to see some improvement and sometimes you see these teams
that are really good at the beginning of the season,
and the Steelers have not been really good at the

(40:53):
beginning of the season by any means have they been,
so there could be a ceiling there. Maybe they could
reach that at the bars set a little low too.
Maybe it's never realized, Maybe they never realized those gains,
but maybe, maybe, just maybe we'll see. Maybe it's the
end verse of last season where they went took that
nose dive at the end, or are we on the

(41:15):
same trajectory. We'd love to hear from those vidans that
are out there, like seeing the comments insult me, I
don't care insult Brian. Instead, he'll be back. I promise
he'll be back and speak his mind coming up for
our pregame show when we pre game next week's game
at aftersure since he bongals, I was introducing my for

(41:39):
my two percenters out there, I always say two percenters,
But if you're kind of new to this and you're
now a new two percenter you're hearing this. There was
a guy listened to a few years ago. This is
where this came from, and it was it was about
podcasting and recording. And if you have people that listen
this long into the program, only about two percent listen
through to the very end. And those are my two percenters.
So if you're out there, acknowledge yourself, leave it in

(42:01):
the comments. I'll give you a thumbs up and give
you the little heart thing whatever else that's out there.
But my daughter, she's too young. She just turned twelve
years old. She does know. The inventor of the the
innovator of the terrible towel a one Myron Cope. And
I was thinking about this because my mom, who was
very much even though Youngstown, Ohio born and raised, steel town,

(42:22):
rust belt town, just like Pittsburgh, and you've got a
lot of the same ethnicities throughout and going into western
Pennsylvania and on down the whole way, and my mom
drops a yoi YOI. I just couldn't help but think
of iron Cope. So I was playing some myron Cope
isms for my daughter, and one of them, particularly since

(42:46):
she has to deal with some friends that are Cincinnati
Bongals fans the Bongoles, and she just thought that was
fantastic and I can just never unhear it. They will
forever be the Bongles to me. YOI dapple, YOI, I
probably can't even do it justice, I know, but myron
Cope one are the great ones two percenters. Hope you
loved that. I don't know. I'm not gonna do any

(43:06):
more impressions. Maybe I'll do more impressions. I don't know.
I get a little nervous about it, but YOI dob
all YOI try and do those type of things. Maybe
it's close, maybe it's not. You can let me know
till then. Don't forget the like comments and subscribe, leave
a rating or review wherever you're watching or listening from.
We appreciate all of you. In's My name is Joeku's
before the Steel City Underground podcast until next time. Encourage

(43:27):
everyone out there to be safe, be good, and we'll
catch it it we would liked it. Thank you for listening,
and remind our listeners to follow us on social

Speaker 1 (43:37):
Media and our website www dot steel City Underground dot
com

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