Steelers can end their losing streak while spoiling Bengals playoff hopes

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Underground, The steel City Underground, the black
and gold standard for Pittsburgh Steelers coverage. Now here's your hoes.
Joe Kuzma, Hello everyone, and welcome to another edition of
the steel City Underground podcast.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
My name is Joe Kuzma, and a happy New Year
to Allvian's out there. We are looking forward to the
final week. Hard to believe already. We wait for this
all year long, and we're already in the final week
of the twenty twenty four Dash twenty twenty five NFL
regular season, Week eighteen, the Pittsburgh Steelers closing out the
season at home with visiting Cincinnati Bengals, an eight and

(00:44):
eight Cincinnati Bengals team visiting the ten and six Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Cincinnati Bengals, so many storylines to this game. Obviously,
HBO hard knocks they're getting their money's worth. The league
scheduling this game for everyone, notion on ABC and ESPN
locally WTAE and Pittsburgh eight o'clock kickoff with Joe Buck

(01:08):
and Troy Aikman on the call. And this is a
must win for the Cincinnati Bengals. But I would argue
it's a must win for the Pittsburgh Steelers as well.
As we know, they're on a three game skid, looking
to snap that streak, gain some momentum, and not go
into the postseason wherever they may land with a four

(01:29):
game losing streak. That's definitely not something that we want
to see. So the Steelers are going to have to
right this ship, and they're gonna have to do it
against a division opponent who does need some help, the Bengals.
It's not so easy as win and they're in. But
that's probably why these games kind of went a little awkwardly.
I think on Saturday, the Steelers will know part of

(01:50):
their destiny before they even kick off at eight o'clock Eastern,
because the Baltimore Ravens and the Cleveland Browns they're going
to be facing off at eight o'clock or I'm sorry,
at four o'clock in the early window of the doubleheader
for ABC slash ESPN, So they'll host the Cleveland Browns,

(02:12):
who aren't really trying to put up a fight and
are inch and closer to having the top pick in
the NFL Draft, and I think they're just kind of
in tank bode But stranger things have happened. Should the
Baltimore Ravens end up winning the game, they win the
AFC North, they will host a they will host the
home playoff game, but it depends on who they actually

(02:37):
who they actually face here, because if the Steelers were
to lose against the Cincinnati Bengals, and try not to
make this confusing, right, So if we go into eight
o'clock and the Ravens beat the Browns, there's two outcomes
to this. You've got the Steelers winning the game in
traveling to Houston to face the Texans, or they lose
the game and the Chargers defeat the Vegas Raiders, then

(03:01):
it's gonna be the Steelers in a rematch going to
Baltimore for the wild Card round. Whereas, if the Steelers
and Ravens both win, or if the Steelers and the
Chargers both lose also unlikely Chargers losing to the Raiders,
then the Steelers visit the Houston Texans. So once again,
Ravens beat the Browns, the Steelers can either go to

(03:23):
Houston or go to Baltimore. If the Steelers lose to
the Bengals on Saturday, you have a Ravens win, Steelers loss.
Chargers win, it's gonna be the Steelers going to the Ravens.
If it's pretty much anything else with the Ravens win,
it's gonna be the Steelers at the Houston Texans as
the five seed. What should the Cleveland Browns do the unthinkable?

(03:44):
The Ravens just try and sit some players and don't
I don't see that Harbaugh is gonna be out there.
John Harbaugh is gonna be coaching this team up to
host a home playoff game. So but if the unthinkable
does happen in the Cleveland brown come out and they
say we're gonna play spoiler and they end up defeating

(04:06):
the Baltimore Ravens, then the Steelers have a chance to
win the AFC North and host the LA Chargers. An
unlikely situation and unlikely scenario, but we've seen stranger things happen,
especially with the college football playoff. Wow, if there was
ever like a case for we needed these games on
New Year's Day, except instead of all of these wacky

(04:28):
bowl games that have been going on for a while,
this was the case.

Speaker 1 (04:32):
Man.

Speaker 2 (04:32):
I'll tell you what. Every one of those games fantastic
and you know, thoughts and prayers of course to everything
else that happened, you know, in New Orleans and otherwise
just yesterday too, and maybe we'll get to this Order
Dame game that had to be postponed, so obviously on
my mind. I hope all of Ian's had a safe
and happy holiday season. Otherwise, still a little festive here

(04:55):
through the end of the week as I still finish
up celebrating. I feel like I'm in that four Christmas
movie where I'm moving around everywhere and not not that
would be a better gift and to get a home
playoff game, but the Steelers kind of squandered that already.
It's the reason why the Bengals enter Akracher Stadium at
a one and a half point favorite STEELERSUS or I

(05:15):
should say Bengals minus one and a half. Steelers getting
the points in this game of forty eight over under,
which is far more than their first matchup, but I
think some of the bookies lost some money on the
last one. This is when the Steelers defense started to
concede a lot of yardage a lot of points, and
they've done so in you know, for the last five games.

(05:37):
They've got to correct this get some momentum. But again,
when you're playing three games in eleven days, and it's
against some of the best teams that the National Football
League has to offer. The Philadelphia Eagles close to the
top of the NFC, I'd say the other third team,
just because we know it's gonna come down to it's
crazy as it is with the Vikings and the Lions.

(05:58):
They're gonna play the Sunday night game for all the
marbles there in the NFC North, and there's going to
be a fourteen win team. They're both fourteen and two.
Somebody's gonna lose this game, have fourteen wins and be
a wild card and have to travel on the road
for the playoffs. So you know, we talk about the
Steelers being the top wild card. See, you know, more
than likely because of the loss, the couple losses that

(06:21):
they had. If they could have beat the Chiefs, it
probably it would have happened. If they could have beat
the Ravens, definitely would have happened that they won the
AFC North and got a home playoff game. But they're
not the only ones in this kind of boat when
you look around the league. But that three games in
eleven days didn't do a lot for their health. There's guys.
They couldn't get on the field two of those games
without Deshaun Elliott. Trying to think who else was missing

(06:43):
on this Guys in the secondary, like Dante Jackson was
hurt and Joey Porter got lost in that game. The
good news is is when we take a look at
the Pittsburgh Steelers injury report, now we don't have one
for the Cincinnati Bengals for whatever reason, it's not reported
on their on either of the team's websites. I don't
know if they're practicing or what. But the Steelers on
a mini buy are getting a lot of people back

(07:05):
in there, some other players that are having their practice
activation window opened so they may be available for postseason play.
I was actually hopeful, and I was quite surprised by
this list that some of these players may be available
for Saturday's game. You talk about making adjustments, look back
to me here for a second, talking about making adjustments,

(07:27):
Mike Tomlin, necessary adjustments. I look at this list, I
look at the healthy players and who are maybe somewhat
healthy players or players trying to return, and maybe this
is the Steelers might get a chance to actually reload.
They've had a little bit of extra arrest. The Bengals
didn't have as big of a break here, got to

(07:47):
go Saturday to Saturday. The Steelers go Wednesday to Saturday.
You know, they didn't give them the Sunday deal. And
the same thing with the Ravens obviously. So they had
the teams that were wearing the Christmas patches and doing
the you know, the Saturday before and then the Wednesday
Christmas Day games. It's all hard knocks and influence, and
so they could get them all all together. It was
all kind of pre planned. Like again, usually they don't

(08:09):
have games go off earlier in other games for competitive
balance reasons, because then people were going to say, well,
the Steelers are the five seed, so what do they
have to play for? Actually, they could sit players, rest players.
I don't think that's Mike Tomlins style. I don't think
that's a Steelers style. I don't think they want to
lose another game. Personally, I don't know if they go
back into Baltimore. I'd much rather go back there after

(08:30):
winning a wild card game. If that would be the situation,
I'd have to look at the brackets and then of
course we see who wins and loses. To see that
but the Steelers is a five seed I think would
go to Baltimore. If Baltimore wins their wild card game,
Baltimore is going to be the lowest of the other
division winners because the Steelers would have beaten the Texans.
And then it gets interesting. I think the Steelers are
you know, Russell Wilson fumble away from competing in that game.

(08:54):
It's a pretty big swing. I know the score doesn't indicate,
but they also didn't have everybody that they needed on
the field at that point. I think you get some
hungry guys like Deshaun Elliott out there, and you look
at some of the other players you could throw out here.
I mean, he gets used in packages and it's kind
of a gimmick, but justin fields being a full participant,
that's exciting. If they need to get a small spark
of the offense. No, that doesn't mean benching Russell Wilson,

(09:16):
who got some days of rest here right, so on
Tuesday with the kind of abnormal schedule here Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,
Russell Wilson, arresting veteran. You've got Roman Wilson, the rookie
with the four to two speed, very Kelvin Austin like
been a more physical kind of build and body. We
have not gotten to see hardly anything he's dressed for

(09:37):
like a game maybe two earlier in the year. Maybe
this is some reinforcements that can help the Pittsburgh Steelers
wide receiver group. And Benscronick is becoming a fan favorite already.
I like him already. He had the hip injury limited
and then full on Wednesday. So's special teams demon been
making some plays. Makes you wonder like how some these

(10:00):
guys slipped through the cracks or just the systems that
they end up in that precludes to this kind of play, right,
and then you've got Joey Porter Junior who is a
full participant with the knee. Man, I'll tell you what
that was scary as a scary thought. If you ever
have to go back and have nightmares of what it
was like to not have a lockdown corner in Pittsburgh,

(10:21):
go back to before Joe Hayden, go back to the
Valentino Antoine Blake days, right, and Bryce McCain and oh Man,
just that whole stretch. Just guys are forgetting Cortes Allen.
They tried like a whole cycle of guys in and out,
in and out and just didn't work out. So Jalen
Warren with his ribs was a full participant. And then

(10:43):
we start getting into where it gets interesting. Brian and
I and Brian was going to join me today, but
unfortunately he's not here. I gotta take a swick of coffee.
Unfortunately with no backup vocals. Luckily my vocals are working
pretty decent today. But here we go. We've got Cole Holcombe,

(11:04):
who we talked about could he pop up at the
end of the season and being limited two days, does
it really tell me after the knee injury that he
had that he's gonna be full go. But if there
ever was a game where people were talking about I
think the Steelers, I mean, they're gonna want to win
this game. Then they can go to Houston. They're gonna
play a good weather, they're in a dome. I think

(11:25):
that's probably the preferred opponent that they would have. I'm
not really worried about the Chargers. A rematch game and
the Chargers being a little hot, but they still have
a lot of cracks in their armor. The Chargers do
right not to say that the Steelers don't they got
their own problems we're gonna talk about obviously with over
this three game win streak, the offense has been an issue,
but defense has two and if you can have another season,

(11:48):
this guy was the green dot. This guy was a
team captain last season. Cole Holcomb, you had him into
this mix. He was deprized free agent. He was the
Patrick Queen for twenty three among the inside linebackers. And
you put him next to Patrick Queen. Well, they can
maybe afford to in this game. This might be one
you could test them a little bit. This isn't a

(12:10):
must win. This isn't like the Steelers lose and they're
out of the playoffs. It's just jocking for who they play.
And I don't know that they're afraid to play the
Ravens again. I would just prefer that they would go
into Baltimore. Perhaps. Let's say they beat the Bengals on Saturday.
Then they go and they play the Houston Texans in
Houston and beat them.

Speaker 1 (12:28):
There.

Speaker 2 (12:29):
You've now got two games from momentum. Maybe you've got
a defense that's back to allowing about sixteen eighteen points
per game under twenty with an offense that's doing better
than that. That's confidence, that's momentum. And you go into
Baltimore and think, man, this was a fluke. We didn't
have all of our guys the last time. I know

(12:49):
it's a tall tale, but Baltimore isn't unbeatable. The Steelers
have done it once already this year. It's tough place
to go and play. I would just rather do it
because I mean, like, you look at the alternative, right
they lose the Cincinnati Saturday and then go into M
and T Banks Stadium on a four game losing streak.
It's just it's a whole different mentality, right, Just think

(13:10):
about it from the human aspect. You've got to psych
yourself up to can we do this? And if that
game starts out where you have a turnover or a
three and out and then the defense gives up like
a seventy yard drive and like the first or second series,
you're like, here we go again. And it's just not
the same mental aspect of if you punch two teams

(13:32):
in the mouth and you go into the divisional playoffs
and it's going to be another AFC North clash and
you get a rematch and you said, we beat these
guys once and the last one was a fluke, and
you come out and you do good things and you
force it three and out. It's a whole different script.
You could just think about it, like even as a fan,
you know how this weighs in. I see what some
of you's out there comment on on our YouTube channel

(13:52):
and out on Twitter and Facebook and social media. It
gets to it wears on you too. We're hungry for
a playoff win. It's been a while. I know people
say Tomlin's had this, all these talented teams. It's one
of the healthier streaks I can remember the Steelers having
in a long time. But when you're playing the amount
of the volume of games, because the physical opponents that

(14:13):
they've had in that eleven Day Street, you're just like
in all all the divisional games, at the end, you're
just like, oh no, here we go again. Right Anyways,
Cole Holcomb, man, I'll tell you if they could get
him back on the roster and get his feet wet.
I mean, this is a game again that it's only

(14:33):
going to cost him who their opponent is, So this
might be one to get him up to speed. Now loganly,
I don't know. I just I was very surprised to
see him on there too, and it's again one of
these activation win things, window things. I don't know that
he'll actually get out there and play this season, but
you never know. Isaac Sambalu still on this injury report.

(14:55):
I'm kind of laughing full participatet. He had a day
of rest. Dante Jackson shows up. Though he's the newest one,
he's been dealing with some back problems throughout now. Dante
has been a scapegoat here or there. We've heard a
lot of the Steelers players defenders talking about guy's got
to do their job, everybody's got to do their job.
And Brian and I were discussing as to whether or

(15:17):
not that meant one individual in its entirety, or maybe
one individual but different individuals depending on the play and
the communication breakdowns. And who that might be was that
Cam Sutton because he just came in and they'd been
asking a lot of them and moving them around a
lot more than Beanie Bishop was and maybe the change

(15:38):
just wasn't good. I know Cam Sutton's a fine player,
but we got to discuss he was there in camp
and then missed eight games, and there's just some continuity.
I wonder about that with Cole Holcome too, but they're
already doing somewhat of a rotation. Maybe we see more
of Peyton Wilson, I think we do against Joe Burrow
and this Bengals offense. Holy cow, man, the Bengals. I'm

(15:59):
not gonna lie. I'm an AFC North bratt when I
draft my fantasy teams. I've got Joe Burrow, I've got
t Higgins, I even have Derrick Henry Like. These are
the guys that I know intimately from covering the Pittsburgh
Steelers and observing the AFC North under a magnifying glass. Now,

(16:19):
every now and then I'll say something that it might
be a mistake. No, no, no, I don't. I'm never wrong.
But they're just tearing it up. And the Jamar Chase
is out here doing Jerry Rice and Randy Moss type stuff,
and Joe Burrow's doing Dan Marino type stuff. Forty two
touchdowns this year to eight interceptions. He has been sacked

(16:41):
forty four times. Hey, when you get that when you've
already had sixteen games in a season. He's had two
game winning drives and a fourth quarter comeback, so it
hasn't been as good as it can be, but they're
in it. It's the defense. It's usually the problem here
for the Bengals, and they've been playing a little bit better.
They've also had some opponents that they've been able to

(17:02):
get right with. Since they've lost to the Steelers, they've
won four in a row. Now they're almost out of this.
The first playoff, first five hundred plus team that they
defeated last week last Saturday, it was the Denver Broncos
thirty to twenty four and an overtime thriller. And that's
why I got all forty plus fantasy points for my
championship out of Burrow and t Higgins. You know, I'm

(17:24):
bragging about that, but I'm also sitting there, like man.
Broncos is a quality defense, quality defensive coordinator, quality players,
Patricks retain all the way down the line. But they
they've had close calls. They beat the Cowboys by seven.
Tennessee Titans put up twenty seven points on that defense.
The Browns, they didn't do much of anything. You've got

(17:46):
a combo of Jamis Winston, Dorian Thompson, Robinson. The team
just feels like they've given up whereas the Bengals are
trying not to give up. Losing to the Steelers should
have been it. They should be out of the postseason.
They need some extra help. What they need to have
happen is they need a win against the Pittsburgh Steelers, obviously,

(18:07):
and then they need losses by both Denver and Miami
to clinch a playoff spot for the third time in
the past four seasons. I mean, Joe Burrow probably playing
MVP type football if he were on any other team,
and actually may even be in consideration if they squeak
in at nine to eight score I mean forty six

(18:28):
and forty one yards. Still is gonna be lucky to
limit him to under five thousand for the season. He
has six hundred and six pass attempts. I think that
might be a season record. This is like the Ben
Roethlisberger era of just throwing his arm off with Randy Fickner,
and now some of that too. Is also Burrow not

(18:48):
being able to complete full seasons oh six h six
ties his previous Now he's in the Pro Bowl as
is Lamar Jackson's four Steelers make it a slew of
Philadelphia Eagles, including three offensive lineman make it. A bunch
of Chiefs are in there, so you know these are
the type of teams the Steelers have been playing against. Steelers.
I should mention Pro Bowl all starters TJ. Watt, Aam Heyward,

(19:13):
Chris Boswell, Mika Fitzpatrick, no particular order. It's just how
I remembered it off the top of my head. But
Burrow is just he's been off ire. He's completing almost
seventy percent of his passes. It's actually sixty nine point eight,
which is nice. He could be had. He could be
gotten too. It's going to be the biggest deal when

(19:33):
you get to the game on Saturday. Steelers gonna have
to bring pressure. They showed less of a reliance to
blitz throughout the year. They were bringing some more of that.
They were tried to with Patrick Mahomes. The team was
just gassed, but they were able to get to Burrow
four times that game in Cincinnati, a thirty eight to
twenty or I'm sorry, forty four thirty eight briller. Burrow

(19:55):
was twenty eight of thirty eight seventy three point six
percent of his passes for three h nine three touchdowns.
The one interception the Pittsburgh Steelers got a limit Jamar Chase.
Good to have Joey porterback. They gotta limit t Higgins,
You gotta walk out, watch out for Mike guy Seki.
He's Brown the running back. Though we don't have an

(20:17):
injury report, he got hurt in last Saturday's game and
did not look good. It almost looked like something that
was like, this guy's gonna miss this week, if not
the rest of the season, which I know is just
this week, but even into postseason. They traded for Khalil
Herbert as a backup from Chicago. He has some ball
security issues here or there. It could still hit the
hole pretty quick, get hit the edge. We're gonna try

(20:39):
and keep these edge rushers off of Burrow, which isn't
it isn't always easy to do when you're talking about TJ. Watt,
Alex Heismith, and Nick Herbig. I think if you have
the full complement of the Pittsburgh Steelers defense, I'm just
gonna watch where Herbert or if it's Brown, where they go.
I really felt like the Bengals was the first team
that started doing this. Talked about this on the last show,

(21:00):
Ryan where rolling out the running back going almost going
empty and sending them all the way down to you know,
the sidelines, the far edge to try and take Queen
out of the picture, out of the middle of the field,
and then you might have some man maybe some loose
zone type concepts from the Steelers trying to guard like

(21:21):
Jamar Chase, because you're not gonna do this with James
Pierre or Corey Trice. You're not gonna press on the
line of scrimmage. You might with Joey, and Joey's gonna
get handsy, and Joey got a bunch of flags in
that last game. And both of these guys, Higgins and
Chase are a handful. They are more, actually more than
a handful, to be completely honest, this is maybe maybe

(21:43):
the best I'm trying to think of another duo. I mean,
the Vikings have Jefferson and Addison that are you know,
pretty great too, but they're up there. If they're not
top five or top three Jamar Chase and T Higgins
as far as top wide receiver rooms in the National Football League.
Chase has sixteen of those forty two touchdowns that Joe
Burrow's thrown. T Higgins has ten of them. Guy Sicki

(22:06):
is kind of a guy that's not the red zone target.
You get josevash who operates a little more out of
the slot as like a Tyler Boyd. He has thirty
four catches, almost five hundred yards on the season. He
has a thirteen point seven average yards per reception, which
those are bigger plays. Chase has thirteen point eight, so

(22:27):
they spread the ball around. Higgins doesn't have a thousand
yards yet, but he does have ten touchdowns on the season.
Chase Brown has been used in the past game in
the past, he has fifty four receptions, three hundred and
sixty yards, four touchdowns. Those are pretty respectable numbers. I
know some of that was a little split. They had
had Zach Moss that they had signed to replace Joe
Mixon for this season, but Moss once again hurt talented player. Unfortunately,

(22:52):
that guy can't just stay healthy. Unfortunately, so maybe fortunately
for the Steelers who entered their two first consecutive season
without a losing record. I know everybody's gonna talk about that.
That's why this win is imperative. I think they could
do the same things. I think that they could do
the same things they did when they were in Cincinnati.
If you remember there were just these little hitch routes

(23:13):
with Jalen Warren, Najee Harris. You just put him like him.
It looked like they were in pass pro. And then
they would just winz right over one of the A
gaps next to Zach Frasier, come right out the middle,
turn right around, and boom, there's nobody there. A linebackers
for Cincinnati. I've been watching their games casually, somewhat obviously.
It was a little more tuned in and inclined to

(23:34):
watch and see that overtime game with the Broncos. They're
covering that a little bit better. The Broncos though still
bow Nick, still rookie quarterback, they didn't quite have the
the same like and I'm trying to think Gavonte Williams
wasn't the big impact in it game, but the guy
guy's like Julia McLoughlin, I don't remember him having any
impact if he was even there. They had the other
guy that's a rookie too, and they just didn't seem

(23:56):
to utilize their backs enough in the pass game. Even
with a rookie quarterback, you would think it's just a
little dump off. I'm taking that cheese every time I
can if I'm the Steelers. I also thought that that
would actually work. It should have worked against Kansas City
Chiefs for sure, if not also the Baltimore Ravens. I
thought that that was right for the picking against the Eagles.
Bond another Pro bowler inside linebacker, that guy make another

(24:20):
guy making the Pro Bowl. Just talented guys, talented teams.
The Steelers have played against it, even though they've had losses.
I believe it's one of those things like where they
limped into the sixth seed and you're like, just look
at how strong this schedule is. Just look at the
teams that they played back then and what that does
the iron sharpening, iron type aspect of the National Football League.

(24:42):
I do believe that that makes the Steelers a better
team then maybe some teams are giving credit for. But
you can't have the self defeating mistakes. They have not
been forcing turnovers of their opponents. That's going to be
a big critical factor here. As Borrow gets rid of
the ball wisely safely, you're gonna have to sack this

(25:04):
guy and you're gonna have to cover enough. It's gonna
be a bend, but don't break. But you gotta cover
just enough to make sure they don't move the chains,
and you gotta cover enough not just the big plays,
but to make him hold the ball a little bit longer,
to make him a little more uncomfortable, to make him
make other decisions with the football. Maybe easier said than done,

(25:26):
but I think a whole hell of a lot of
that falls on more than the Steelers defense. I think
it falls on the Steelers offense that has been missing
in action for the last three games. You take a
look at what the Steelers have or haven't done. I
mean they add forty four points against the Bengals and

(25:47):
then since then twenty seven against the Browns, and then
on the three game losing streak thirteen, seventeen and ten.
That stinks. And they've turned the ball over five times
over the course of those games. I mean, they had
games earlier in the year where the offense did and
turned the ball over at all. They did force two
turnovers against Philadelphia. They actually were in the plus one

(26:10):
on in that game, but in the minus department against
the Ravens, and the Chiefs can't have it. Have to
protect the football. That goes for everybody from Russell Wilson
everybody's got to do their job right. But George Pickett
should be back one hundred percent. Don't know if he
was one hundred percent against Kansas City. I don't know
if Roman Wilson does anything. Mike Tomlin is just even
if that dude was healthy for the entire season. Uh,

(26:35):
Mike Tomlin's just a different guy when it comes to
rookie wide receivers, but he might not be seeing what
he needs to see. With Mike Williams. You get Ben Scarnick,
been sneaky. He's a bigger target. He's like six '
to three lanky guy. I kind of like it. I mean,
when you're talking about a third or a fourth wide
receiver on the field. This might open up some stuff
for Calvin Austin too. They've been trying to hit Calvin Austin.

(26:57):
He hasn't. He hasn't put up the numbers enough to
say he's had a breakout season. But I just feel
like he's just so on the cusp. The Steelers' offenses
in the past, previous years under Matt Canada were just
so bad that even with Kelvin Austin has done this season,
which isn't a whole lot right, thirty six receptions, five
hundred and forty eight yards and four touchdowns. He's just

(27:20):
edging right behind Firemuth when it comes to yardage and touchdowns.
Firemuth has twenty more yards but on twenty one more receptions,
but he's moving the chains on some short yard and stuff. Right,
he has fifty seven for five sixty eight and six touchdowns.
You've got guys like Jalen Warren who could catch the
ball on the backfield, but Pickets is close. He's one
hundred yards off of a thousand yard season. Oddly enough,

(27:42):
it's hard to believe he only has three touchdown catches
this year, so Austin and Firemuth actually have more. Now,
I know Picketts has missed some time and he's gonna
be a favorite target for Wilson to maybe hit the
ball down the field. In order for that to happen,
you have to have a run and you have to
have something that helps support sucking the safeties up in

(28:06):
the box and getting some favorable one on one matchups
by successfully running the football and getting behind against other
teams like the Chiefs or the Ravens. That doesn't preclude
what the Steelers' offense is built to do because you're
now trying to pass the football and get into a shootout.
And when you take a look at the Steelers offense

(28:28):
over the last few games, okay, they had too too
against the Chiefs, it's what they wanted to do, but
they just didn't get it as successfully there. They were
throwing the ball a lot more against the Ravens and
even the Eagles they get behind, they only had fifty
six rushing yards one hundred and seven pass yards. They
didn't even have the football in that game. That's why
I think, I think it'll work, but they haven't. Like

(28:50):
you haven't seen a lot of two hundred plus yard
pass games, but when you have, you've seen the points
against both New York teams. Against the Commander, this was
only one seventy two, but they had one hundred and
forty rushing the first time against the Ravens one twenty two,
the Browns one twenty, the Bengals the first time one ten,
and they were able to throw four hundred and ten
yards and just match a blow for blow. So I

(29:13):
think Najie Harris and I know Warren's been getting a
little more of the call there. Warren, he's you know,
he's got spring to a step, but there's nothing to
sneeze on when it comes to Najie Harris another thousand
yard season running the football. I know he plods sometimes
he's the hammer, but now that he's got some time
to just kind of rest, these two are the key

(29:34):
to this wintry weather that's going to be coming. I
think a low of eighteen or cast on Saturday night.
It's gonna be crisp air out there. We're finally, you know,
we're turning a corner. This type of football where you
need to be able to run it, and Arthur Smith's
offense is built for this. The Bengals defense is not
built for this. You get some successful runs, you get

(29:57):
just a couple of dump offs that could be like
some run, and they have to start cheating up a
little bit. I know Geno Stone and some of those
guys on the Bengals defense have been playing better over
the last few weeks, but I don't think. I don't
think they just match up properly with the Steelers. Offensively,
they match up with anybody. Because it's Burrow and Chase
and Higgins. Now not having Chase Brown, that may be

(30:19):
a factor. That really hurts them, and they have to
rely on just passing and pass, pass, pass, And if
the script is the Steelers get ahead and the Bengals
have to chase, chase, chase, chase, you know the Steelers lead,
that's going to benefit the Steelers. The Steelers have been
playing from behind. They've had too many slow starts. They
have to come out Saturday and they have to They
have to put some drives together. They have to get eight, nine,

(30:42):
ten plays in three four minutes, even if it's a
Chris Boswell field goal that it finishes in. It helps
keep that defense fresh because you just can't have three
and out, three and out and then a turnover as
three of your first four drives and expect the defense
to be able to hold. It's just, you know, the floodgates,
the damn it's gonna break open, and then all hell

(31:04):
is gonna break lose. It's a tall it's a tall task,
it's a tall ask. It's I can't talk, but we
know what it's like because I can't sit here and
just confidently tell you that they're gonna smoke the Cincinnati
Bengals as a team, you should be worried about it's
just that the consequences of this game isn't as dire.

(31:25):
You're not in a must win to make it into
the postseason. They've already secured that. But it just doesn't
make you feel any better that if the Bengals come
in and beat the brakes off of you in your
own home and then you've got to go on the
road the face like the Ravens or the even the
Texans for that matter, who have not been playing the
best of football, they've got to get right. I think
they've got Tennessee and they got to play in Tennessee,

(31:48):
so they're gonna be on the road and then and
then host a home game. So that works out for
them at least and for the Texans side. But for
the Steelers, you've got to have this momentum you've got
You've got to come in this game and hopefully just
do their job. Run the football well, set up the RPO,
set up the play action, find pickens, bind Austin, move

(32:13):
the chains, pick up pick up yardage on first down
and second down. That that's been key.

Speaker 1 (32:20):
You know.

Speaker 2 (32:20):
The pass protection has been kind of lousy, and the
further the down and distance, obviously the longer that Russell
Wilson has to hold on to the football, and the
longer he has to hold on the football is the
longer that he has to hold off somebody like Trey Hendrickson,
who has fourteen sacks on the season. He's the guy.
There's really no one else. I mean, they have thirty

(32:42):
two sacks, which is kind of paltry when you think
about it. And Hendrickson, he's been a force as of late.
He's he's picked up well, he's been kind of hit
or miss. He did have four sacks against the Raiders,
which was his big as big one, but he's got like,
you know, two and a half sacks. There's the math
with Joe. I should bring it up. I don't have it.

(33:03):
I have a map. This game is national, nationally televised.
We don't need maps with Joe or maps with Brian
at this point. So anyways, folks, that's gonna do it
for me. Happy holidays to each fans out there. We're
hoping for the best here. Thank you for tuning in, listening,
watching wherever you may be. Here we go Steelers eight

(33:24):
o'clock ESPN, slash ABC, Steelers hosting the Bengals, just Keys,
limit those turnovers, run the freaking football, and then I
think you get right. You get back to some Steelers football,
You get the time of possession, you get the big plays.
That forty eight over under is looking spicy. I would

(33:45):
like to see this Steelers team. They got to put
up twenty eight thirty points on this Bengals team. I
mean they've given up so much in recent games that
I mean gave up. Okay, so they gave up twenty
four of the Broncos. Obviously, I keep throwing the Browns
out because they only had six. They gave up twenty

(34:06):
seven to the Tennessee Titans and then the Steelers. Forty
four before that, thirty four of the Charters, thirty five
of the Ravens, twenty four of the Raiders, thirty seven
of the Eagles. You want to be with the big boys,
shoe that you belong, This is the game to do it.
You could also play spoiler and knock the Bengals completely
out of this thing so you don't have to maybe
see them again. I know they'd be the bottom seed.

(34:28):
I don't think anybody wants to see Cincinnati. I know
Buffalo is going to be the two seed. I don't
think that they're salivating at the thought of hosting Joe
Burrow and the Bengals in the wild card round, not
the same way that they got Man one year ago,
and I was thinking about this. This is the shower thoughts,
This is the two percenters, the last of our listeners,
still hanging on here. Thank you for hanging around one

(34:49):
last second, this thought. The light bulb goes off. I
had this thought in the shower. You know how your
brain just kind of works sometimes in the morning a
little differently. And I was like, Man, one year ago,
I was excited about Mason Rudolph getting this Steelers team
back to the Promised Land on a win streak and
hot into the playoffs, and you thought maybe they might

(35:10):
have a chance against the Buffalo Bills. And then TJ
wat gets hurt because the Ravens, and you're playing with
Miles Jack and Michael Walker and Eric Rowe and trying
to limit Josh Allen. You lose this. See, this is
where the narrative was with the winning seasons and everybody
Tom an apologist. How can you not apologize for that
These are guys off the street playing defense against like

(35:32):
a guy that's probably gonna be the league's MVP this year,
and was in the running for it last year too,
so it looks a lot different this season. Knock on
wood that these guys are still healthy. Thank you for
letting me chime in right there at the end. That'll
do it for me. Folks. My name is Joe Kusba.
I wish all of you very well, and as I
always close out the show, well, I don't always close

(35:54):
it out this way, but I do like you to.
I would prefer that you leave a rating and review
wherever you might be we're listening or watching to the show,
and don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe. I'm stumbling
over my words. I'm out of here until next time.
We encourage everyone out there to be safe, be good,
and we'll catch you later.

Speaker 1 (36:12):
We would like to thank you for listening and remind
our listeners to follow us on social media and our
website www. Dot steel City Underground dot com.

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