Steelers embarrassed in primetime loss to Packers

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

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Hello everyone, and welcome to another edition of the steel
City Underground podcast.

Speaker 3 (00:24):
My name's Joe Kuzma. His name's mister Brian E.

Speaker 4 (00:27):
Roach.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
As you could probably tell, I'm not gonna ask Brian
how he is. Brian's probably not gonna ask how I am.
I'm trying to be better than Brian. But I also
had some driving to do, whereas Brian didn't, where I
got to cool off a little bit. Brian is still
in the cooling down period. Brian, there's usually a reason
why they tell you to sleep on it for twenty
four hours before responding.

Speaker 3 (00:49):
But here we are.

Speaker 4 (00:56):
That's it, that's all.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
I got a big sigh. Where do I begin? And
I know we have some we were talking offline. We've
been talking back and forth since the game, during the game,
after the game. Some things you're going to say that
we may disagree on, and I think it's more semantics.
I think we agree. I want to preface this is

(01:17):
almost like the disclaimer. This is like the thing where
you're watching a two minute long it's the new drug
or pharmaceutical thing that comes out, and they're like, this
may cause you know, this is probably going to cause
people to comment and say, look, I think most of
the people that are going to jump into comments are
probably going to be correct this time. I'm not going
to argue with you, and I'm not even argue with Brian.

(01:38):
Brian was talking about all these things with defense. I'm like,
none of what I'm saying is excusing the other crap
that we saw on the field Sunday night. It was
a tale of two halves in my opinion, but still
even that first half left some things to be desired.

Speaker 3 (01:54):
So where do.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
We start at. I think we said in our Keys
to the Game, I'll let Josh Jacobs run all over you.
I guess that's one positive thing you could take from
this game. Until you see that Jordan loved the other
guy all over Yeah, well the other guy did, the
other guy did, the other guy did.

Speaker 4 (02:12):
The other guy ran all over him.

Speaker 2 (02:13):
Later, and you know what, the Steelers ran well when
they ran the ball. Also, to be completely honest, this
was the second best rushing defense I've only got. There's
a lot of negative to say, so just to get
through it, Oh, to begin to begin, is I have
two players, maybe three, because I mean maybe special teams

(02:35):
could be excused, exonerated entirely. Chris Boswell as a goat.
He's just kicking balls from fifty four, fifty six whatever,
if it's out on the paint. He doesn't care if
he's kicking from the logo. But I feel like there's
two players who didn't quit in this game, and then
everybody else we're going to get to a turning point.
I called it momentum. You called an excuse. It's still
a turning point in this game. Two guys didn't quit.

(03:00):
I cannot blame this game on Aaron Rodgers, and I'm
gonna say that Jalen Ramsey also didn't quit. I feel
like there were a lot of other guys with hands
on hips in the fourth quarter, and there was just
like this, there's this dark cloud over Pittsburgh where shit
hits the fan. And as much as Mike Tomlin wants
to talk about, you know, facing adversity, adversity, this that

(03:24):
or the other thing, our iron sharpening art, whatever, this
team this season, when they face adversity has been unable
to address the adversity. So, yes, they are adverse adversity, Yeah,
no verse to adversity, they are adverse to Well, yeah,

(03:46):
what you said, I'm not gonna repeat you. I'm trying
not to get I'm trying not to get too deep
into this, but I mean Jalen War Okay, Jalen Warn
one positive four point eight yards per carry. That was
nice to see Kenneth gainway he has a turnover in
this game. He was a nice change of pace until
he wasn't. That was one of the just the dagger

(04:07):
where you're just like, okay, maybe they could generate something
get back in this the way that they jumped right
back in and got a lead in Cincinnati. But just
like back with Cincinnati, there were certain patterns that this defense.
I don't know what goes on with the zones, and
like they just watch guys run around and catch the
ball and then I would say they go tackle them.

(04:28):
And that's where I heard somebody talk about this on
x SEM. I think it was Ryan Leaf with Solomon
Wilcotts this morning, and that's where I disagreed. It was
like it's hand fighting, it's tag, it's flag football. They're
gearing up for the Olympics that's going to have the
new flag football. If these guys are capable of even
making that team, you know, it's it's bad. The yards

(04:50):
after to catch an absolute killer, and I guess maybe
we start this off. I know we went through a
lot some statistics, you know, craft tight end catches seven
of nine targets, one hundred and forty three yards and
two touchdowns. Did not like the one on Elliott. There's
a whole, the whole turning point. I'll get into that after.

(05:10):
You have maybe one bright spot with Ruman Wilson. He
gets like a garbage time touchdown. He got the real
nice big the Roger scrambles, he releases, gets downfield, adjusts,
makes a beautiful catch, And there's not like a lot
to really even be positive about. I'm actually more worried
about this team now, not only given the performance, but

(05:31):
now you've got Deshaun Elliott hurt. Don't you don't know
if that season threatening and he was already injured to
begin with, and we thought, well, Elliott comes back, you
could fix this. We don't know if he'll be back.
We don't know if there's any way to fix this inn,
the offensive line had to change. The offense had to
change some of their gears too, with Isaac Samlo getting hurt,
Spencer Anderson the extra guy who catches a pass, which

(05:55):
was crazy. It's like he turns them. I do think
Rogers knew it. I think when he went to pump
fake and he was like, oh oh, he looks at
his empty hand, like I'll let go of the ball.
But now you have him in there, and it's like
you just can't throw somebody else out to do what
this guy's doing in the playbook two, so you just
had I felt like there was a lot of a

(06:15):
lot of things that need cleaned up the last two games. Obviously, Brian,
you know, get into all the yards and points and
defense is giving up. I'm just going to point out
some of the penalties and pre snap stuff like an
illegal shift in illegal formation, false starts are going to
be part of the game here or there, but it
just feels like they really shot themselves in the foot

(06:36):
the last two games, and the officiating crews that have
been part of the last three have seemed to be
some flag happy crews that are inconsistent nick picky. They
might not call the same thing on the same side
of the field. They may not call as the same
as the guys did the week before, and you just
can't do that. They got away with it against Cleveland

(06:57):
because they were able to take care of everything.

Speaker 3 (07:00):
Else Cleveland and it's Cleveland, and it's Cleveland. But you
can't you can't.

Speaker 2 (07:05):
You can't have that happen because there will be times
where you've got to play better than what happens with
the flag or the whistle on the field, and they
were not up to that level on Sunday night.

Speaker 4 (07:20):
I let me just start with this. They're bad. They're
just bad. I'm gonna say. I'll give you my positives.

Speaker 5 (07:30):
I thought the offense did enough to win the game, right.
I felt like the offense scored enough points to win
the game. They were not perfect, they weren't one hundred
percent pretty, but they were able to move the ball. Yes,
they need to convert. They need to score seven instead
of three. You can't win games with with Boz kicking

(07:53):
five field goals or four field goals. You need to
get into the end zone more often than they did.
Had they the game probably goes the other direction. But
the real problem here is Unlike past years where we
were blaming everything on the offense, this year we're blaming
everything on the defense. And this is, if not the
most expensive defense, the second most expensive defense in the league.

(08:15):
They pay more money for these guys than they do
for anything else. And one of the things I said
to you is value for dollars. They're absolutely the worst
piece of trash out there. You're not getting any value
for the money you're spending right now. And it's all levels, right,
it is all levels of the defense that is failing.

Speaker 4 (08:36):
You know.

Speaker 5 (08:37):
I've said this in the past and I'll say it again.
This defense works best when they get the ball turned over.
Why because it covers up for mistakes. They make a
lot of mistakes, and if they can turn the ball over,
it makes.

Speaker 3 (08:51):
Up for that.

Speaker 5 (08:52):
When they don't get turnovers, they get smoked. And that's
just the way it's been this year. And it's been
more blatantly obvious this year then even in years past.
Communication issues, bad tackling, you know, bad assignments, not playing
the ball well, just a complete breakdown from the defensive side.

(09:15):
And I've said this to you, I said it all morning.
I will keep repeating it. They are a terrible defense
right now. If they're not the worst defense in the
league right now, there is nobody afraid to play this
team right now. Collinsworth called them bullies. They are not bullies.

Speaker 3 (09:31):
They're not and you watched they may want to be
you watched it. I was there. I didn't get to
hear that, but I chuckled when you told me that.
I said, really, they're.

Speaker 4 (09:40):
Not bullying anybody.

Speaker 5 (09:42):
And you know, I, well, I'll get into this more
later after after we've talked through this, but this is
this is.

Speaker 4 (09:52):
Yeah, I said, I was going to be concerned.

Speaker 5 (09:54):
I said before the before the game, they could win
the game if the defense cleans things up. But if
they don't clean the defense up, I'm not sure who
they can beat other than Cleveland.

Speaker 2 (10:03):
Well, you would ask me who do you think they
beat anybody? And I said Browns, maybe the Bears. After
what we saw what Chicago did in Baltimore.

Speaker 5 (10:11):
Maybe I'm not confident they beat the Dolphins anymore.

Speaker 3 (10:15):
The Dolphins, and that just.

Speaker 4 (10:17):
Goes the Dolphins just lit up Atlanta.

Speaker 2 (10:19):
Well, I was gonna say that we're talking about what
could be fixed, what can you fix, what could be
done in a week and we've we've sat here other
times with just dumbfounded looks on our faces, which isn't
too uncommon, to be honest, but uh, and we're like,
what can this team do to to change their misfortunes?

(10:40):
And then all of a sudden they go out the
following week and somehow they do it and you have
absolutely zero explanation as to why, and it just kind
of happens. It kind of it falls into place. I
think there's going to be some changes. I think Tomlin
sounds he sounds perturbed. I wish there'd be some changes.
I don't know what you could do if you changed

(11:01):
with coaches, for example, what are you get to do?
Is Tarrell Austin really the guy? Call him plays? Is
he just a scapegoat? Is this Tomlin's product? Is that
both their fingerprints on it? I know Tarrell Austin's defenses
have been horrible in years past, and it's kind of
hard to believe that if Mike Tomlin was said architect
of all of this, and let's say, even going back,
maybe Dick Globow he didn't have as much say, But

(11:23):
there's Dick Glibow, there's Keith Butler. Those defenses were so
much better. They had their periods where they weren't good.
Tarrell Austin's never had a period where any of his
defenses have been any good, and he's brought that same
stench and poison and it has now infected what is
the highest paid defense in the NFL. Or like you said,
it's what of you've got a guy. I know you
talk about people talking about where where's TJ.

Speaker 4 (11:45):
Watt?

Speaker 2 (11:45):
What's going on with TJ Watt? There's only so much
a coccount on with one guy. I maybe unfairly said
that he quit. He was still playing, he was still
punching after the ball, but there's only so much he
could do when Jordan Love could get rid of the
ball and two seconds and the secondary doesn't do their job.
Guys in the middle of the field like Patrick Queen,

(12:06):
Cole Holcom, Peyton Wilson, they you know, every level has
its issues. If the secondary could kind of cover a
little bit, we saw they they got home and Love
throws up a prayer and the secondary it's, you know,
the center fielders like, dude, where's the ball? And it's
like one of those things where it falls and everybody
runs the bases and that's exactly what app and on
more than one occasion. I do think there's some things

(12:30):
that can be fixed. I don't know if I want
to go into that now or if I want to
wait for our Colts preview, because the Colts preview could
be pretty short. But I don't think you could take
I don't think you can take TJ off the field,
but I think can't.

Speaker 4 (12:42):
What are you gonna do? Put Jack Sawyer in?

Speaker 2 (12:44):
No, but I think you could put Nick Herbig in
more than you have the last two games. Someone capable
of creating some splash. I think you reevaluate Queen Wilson
Holcomb snap shares. They've already started to kind of shy
away from Darius Slay for Brandon Eckles. We don't know
what Deshaun Elliott's prognosis looks like. But they had to

(13:06):
go to Jabrill Peppers, and I'll tell you what, Jabrell
Peppers has a little bit of fire under his ass.
I think too, because he's a guy that's, you know,
it was almost out of the league. I see him
out there, I see him communicating, I see him telling
people where to go, and I'm like, that's the guy
you need on that in this locker room, on the field,
on this team, I don't know that I see Chuck
Clark do that stuff as much or a one thorn

(13:29):
And I'm not sure if one thorn hill you start
the season with those guys it doesn't work, then you
have Clark who's just inactive for one game entirely. So
I don't know how you do that with the secondary.
Some people are saying instead of a wide receiver, Speaking
of which Mark kiz Veldez scantling that someone was reporting
this that he was going to visit with the Steelers today.

Speaker 3 (13:48):
And where does he fit into all this?

Speaker 2 (13:50):
I think you know that one pass to Kelvin Austin
from Aaron Rodgers was a laser beam. You end up
getting the pass interference.

Speaker 3 (13:56):
Call on it.

Speaker 2 (13:57):
But those passes and we're Am and Wilson, those guys
are asked. Wilson and Austin are so you know that's
what you got to be up against when you're the
Steelers defense, and it just seemed very flat footed. You've
talked about age. I don't know the age always dictates everything,
because I wouldn't say TJ. Watt's too old in his position?
Is Cam Hayward getting there. Cam Hayward, we said age

(14:19):
like a fine wine until it turned sour, and then
you know, that's just what happens with anybody. It's nothing
it gets Cam or anything. I'm not saying it. Cam
is playing poorly, but Darius Slay is giving me Patrick
Peterson vibes from a few years ago. Jalen Ramsey, you
were saying whether he could be a cover corner.

Speaker 3 (14:38):
I mean, I think.

Speaker 2 (14:39):
Jalen Ramsey's a hell of a football player. I think
he's a great fit for the team. But I think
there's certain things that you are just asking too much
of this guy. He cannot do it all. You cannot
ask TJ to do it all. I am ready for
I guess I'll get into it. I'm ready for maybe
Keanu Benton to see some of his playing time limited
a little more. I'm ready to see Derek Carmen and

(15:00):
Ya blackout there a bit more. Let's go in that direction.
Let's see if Eckles can play a little better than Slay,
try and find the right safety combo. If that's Pepper's
kind of playing more as Pepper's more of a run
stuff in type of guy, so be it whatever it be.
I was looking for Holcombe some more too.

Speaker 3 (15:17):
If you know.

Speaker 2 (15:18):
Queen's got the contract, HeiG Smith's got the contract over Herbig.
There is a bit of that that comes into this.
We talked about this year's ago with the quarterbacks. Why
are you going to play Mason Rudolph over Mitchell Trubisky
when Kenny Pickett gets knocked out with a concussion because
Drewbisky has the higher dollar contract. And now you've got
to make those coaching justifications to the guy who signs

(15:41):
the checks, and those same justifications need to be made
to a general manager and a team owner at these
levels too. But I think now that you've seen the
result now that it's almost kind of like I need
to show you because telling you you're just not learning
that way. You need to see it for yourself. And
then you go, oh, maybe we should see Nick Kirbig

(16:02):
a little more. Maybe we should see so and so
a little more. I don't know if that fixes anything.
It is templetely once again spitballing on short week.

Speaker 3 (16:12):
What can you do to make any kind of changes?

Speaker 2 (16:15):
I think I did I send this to you, I said,
I feel like they're an undersized four to three defense
at the way they play. Sometimes you did, and it's
just I don't know that that necessarily works, But it
depends on the guys that you have out there. I
see Black and Harmon get out there one time, and
all of a sudden, it's like, holy cow, the pockets
getting moved. You know what I mean, There's there's a collapse.
Two guys have to grab one. It's not just everybody

(16:38):
can focus our attention and make sure TJ. Watt is
a non factor.

Speaker 4 (16:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (16:43):
Look, because I've talked to you about TJ two and
I have. I have been critical of TJ. I did
some comparison of his first seven games last year versus
his first seven.

Speaker 4 (16:53):
Games this year.

Speaker 5 (16:55):
It's not that dramatically different. Four sacks last, four and
a half sacks last year for this year. Tackles are
very close. Tackles for loss are very close. He's got
an interception this year that he didn't have for seven
games last year. The problem is his presence doesn't seem
to be getting felt the same way.

Speaker 4 (17:12):
Right.

Speaker 5 (17:13):
You just don't notice him. And what I felt like
happened last year is even when he wasn't getting home,
you noticed him on the field and right now, he
is an afterthought. And I'm not saying I don't know.
I have no idea. I've read reports that TJ has
been dealing with lagging, nagging injuries ever since training camp,

(17:33):
abdominal injuries, lower body injuries.

Speaker 4 (17:35):
That he's playing through pain.

Speaker 3 (17:37):
I don't know if that's true or not.

Speaker 5 (17:38):
I don't know if that's speculation. Right, TJ's not calling
me up and telling me, hey, you know, my ankle
really hurts him. It's been really a problem.

Speaker 2 (17:47):
I don't know.

Speaker 5 (17:49):
To you, yeah, you know, but you know it is
clear that he is not the player he was, right,
or at least, he's not performing in that in that light,
so you know, you're right.

Speaker 4 (18:03):
You can't take him off the field, but you know
he is.

Speaker 5 (18:07):
He simply isn't producing, not the same way guys like
Miles Garrettar who had five sacks yesterday.

Speaker 2 (18:13):
Because we're some of those weren't impressive by any means.
It doesn't matter whether they're impressive. He's there when PFF
tells you that this guy is a defensive Player of
the Year, because I'm talking about real stats, well, I'm
not talking about theF I know they're talking about quality,
but I did roll my eyes. I saw a lot
of that Browns game, and then he went and sat
at the end of the bench and pouted like you know,

(18:36):
his graveyard.

Speaker 5 (18:38):
So here's the thing, Like, you know, he got five sacks.
I'm not saying that PFF grades matter because they don't.
But if legitimately he got five sacks, Michael Parsons had
three last week, He's got he had, he got in
this week.

Speaker 4 (18:51):
But even when he didn't get in.

Speaker 5 (18:53):
He was he was a factor. There's no question that
Michaeh Parsons impacted that game yesterday, and there's no question
that teach A Watt did not. I know Mike is younger, Okay.

Speaker 4 (19:04):
I get that.

Speaker 2 (19:04):
Well, that's a problem. They get creative with them too.
They move him around. He was supposed to be an
inside linebacker originally. I feel like they move him around.
I feel like he'll come into a stride. He's still
knew with that team. I feel like TJ is almost
like the same thing. I mean, even to the fact
of where you used to see we used to talk
about TJ doesn't have this particular statistical anomaly because he

(19:27):
drops in the coverage. Does it feel like he drops
in the coverage. I mean, it doesn't I feel like
I just feel like something to complete speak of that.

Speaker 5 (19:36):
Collinsworth noted Micah Parsons drops into coverage on a tight end.
He's saying this right, and the play he's showing he
didn't cover the tight end at all.

Speaker 2 (19:48):
It was it was a complete nonsensical statement or a
pro football focus too.

Speaker 4 (19:52):
It was the most ridiculous thing I ever saw. He's like, oh,
look watch Michael Carson's Michael Parsons. Even when he's not
getting the quarterback, he's going to drop cover.

Speaker 5 (20:00):
This tight end because he recognized it. Now the tight
end runs away from him, he goes after Aaron Rodgers.
It's like there's no coverage there. It was the dumbest
thing ever. Anyway, I don't want to go off on
a rant about Chris Collinsworth because he was the least
offensive thing about that game yesterday.

Speaker 2 (20:14):
You know what, though, I'll say this much tail two halves,
and it did feel like at times like you were saying,
it's like you're holding on by a thread. But Steelers
kick the ball first three and out, got it three
and out to start fantastic. They get on the field
seven plays fifty two yards. The penalty slows them a

(20:35):
little bit. Settle for a field goal. Okay, green Bay
comes back, scores rather easily. I might say, six plays
sixty seven yards. You're like, okay, Steelers punt, green Bay
drives seven plays forty three yards, missed the field goal. Okay,
back that word momentum. Now you've got And I will

(20:56):
say this much, Brian, there are a lot of Packers
fans traveled. There was crowd noise too, for sure. Oh yeah,
there was definitely. That's the most that I've heard personally
since forty nine Ers. That might be one of the
top ones. I can't even say the Buffalo fans, even
though they're there, I don't know if it was as
loud going back to you know, the last few years,

(21:16):
especially like that one game they flexed with Duck Hodges.
But forty nine Ers fans were there vocal and Dallas
Cowboys many many years ago when Zeke was still running
around and everything like that, when they couldn't stop him
back then either. So but the Steelers get they have
two drives that and with you know, they get down
of Great Bay thirty eight, thirty two, twenty nine. Then

(21:40):
if you know, two field goals and then they punch
in a touchdown, whereas the second quarter for the Packers
were two missfield goals, two punts. Now that final two
minute kind of drill or less than a minute, they
got it with like thirty four seconds left. That was
far too freaking easy. And I was just like, well,
well they're playing. I'm just like, what the heck I've

(22:01):
told you this even, I'm like, a.

Speaker 4 (22:02):
Here's the thing.

Speaker 5 (22:04):
The Steelers defense did not stop the Packers at all.
The Packers stopped the Packers. They dropped the ball. They
didn't complete the catch. It wasn't there was no effort
there of oh what a great pass breakup by them.

Speaker 4 (22:20):
It wasn't.

Speaker 5 (22:20):
Nobody was ever calling that out. It's like, oh, yeah
he dropped that ball. Oh it's a drop. Oh it
didn't work because he dropped the ball. Well, eventually they
started catching them, and guess what it was. Now all
of a sudden, you can't stop them at all, because
now they're catching the ball. If your great scheme on
defense is the other team will drop the ball, you're
in deep shit. Yeah, And you know what, That's why

(22:42):
I say it's tail two has because what did the
Steelers end up doing in the second half the same thing,
dropping passes, not connecting a bunch of three and outs.
You had the one drive for a field goal, you
get behind the eight ball, and then you end up
with the fubble. Good time to address it now, though,
The turning point in that game, I feel was the

(23:02):
off side they just poorly missed. I've got something corny
as hell to tell you about Sean Hockley and his
crew too.

Speaker 2 (23:10):
It was like fourth quarter, these guys get together and
they put their hands in a pile like they're a team,
like teammates. Like I had that picture just a little
bit ago. Where was it the Steelers are? You know,
they're all uh, they're all huddled in their masks like
they're a little pre game, right, But this is like
the fourth quarter and it's like, okay, guys, we've got

(23:31):
to concentrate. We're gonna do this. We're not gonna screw
up this game. Everybody get together one, two, three referees
and it's like, huh, Like, you know, I don't mind
the team work, but at this point, this game was
this close to their being punches thrown and them completely
lose it.

Speaker 4 (23:51):
Control multiple times.

Speaker 2 (23:52):
Yeah, and it's because the frustrations of when you have
inconsistent calls. I didn't bring this up on the show before.
We're talking about this in the back rooms. DK Metcalf
shoves off. I'm not saying it's the wrong call. I'm
just saying it doesn't get called nearly consistently enough, frequently enough,

(24:14):
and when you do get it called against you after
watching Jamar Chase and t Higgins do it a dozen
times the game before, or you see Tucker Kraft and
Deshaun Elliott kind of getting it and mixing it up,
and all of a sudden, Craft can go all the
way down the field, Elliott's got to go chase him,
and then the worst of worst happens. He goes to
make the play and then ends up getting hurt and

(24:34):
might be done for the season for as far as
we know. That's the stuff that pisses me off. Highly
you miss a call one way or the other. You
were talking about one. I didn't see it.

Speaker 3 (24:43):
It was on TV.

Speaker 2 (24:43):
It's like, okay, if it balances this out, fine, whatever,
fantastic it was not as obvious Rogers picks the throw
down in the field. I think to Roman Wilson based
on can we get a big gain? I drew him
off side. This is the thing that Aaron Rodgers does.

Speaker 3 (24:59):
Fires.

Speaker 2 (24:59):
It looks for the big play. No big deal gets picked.
Flag's gotta be thrown. Everybody's looking around. It's like, I
can't tell you there's ever been a moment where I've
seen not just like a quarterback, everybody on an offensive
line looked around like Zach Frasier. Everybody They're like their
body language is telling you something is wrong. And when

(25:21):
you start to feel cheated like that, then you compound
that with Jordan Love actually gets pressured after this and
he throws up this prayer and he threw up more
than one. He's thrown up these prayers the few times
he does feel the heat. And like I said, they're
like staring in the lights. Where's the book? Which way
did he go? And you completely miss it? And it's
a big play somehow that's made by the green bay

(25:45):
receivers or craft the tight end that just it demoralizes
you and think it away. I didn't like to see
though that immediately it's like sunken solid, you know, shoulders,
hands on hips. Joey Porter, Junior man they don't really
throw at Joey a lot. I've noticed, I'm going to
say it, Joey's been pretty good in coverage.

Speaker 4 (26:06):
Right.

Speaker 2 (26:06):
They've been picking on Darius Slay when Darius Slay's been in.
But when they do throw it anywhere near Joey, Joey's saying, eh,
like patty cake or something with the tackles, And I
don't know, like maybe this is the way it's being
coached with the Steelers, but they go for that splash play.
They go to slap at the ball, rip at the ball,

(26:26):
take the dude to the ground. You let him get
like an extra six, eight, ten, whatever many breaks a tackle,
ten more yards and a first down. And what that's
frustrating to the nth degree. That's what's got to stop.
And I don't know you said the beginning of last
season when it comes to TJ. Watt, you bring that up,
and I'm like, what changed really at the beginning of

(26:48):
last year. I remember they were holding these teams to like,
you know, sixteen points a game or something like that,
until they weren't and then the offense couldn't do anything.
Offense is still not absolved here. You know, John Yu
drops like a two point conversion. You know, it seems
like some of the guys who have the contracts aren't
as hungry here. And I'm gonna call out DK Metcalf,

(27:09):
DK Metcalf, Middling, Patrick Queen. I question Ramsey hungry? What
Middling herbig? A guy that's hungry. Alex Heismith can't tell man.
I don't know if he wants to eat or not.

Speaker 3 (27:25):
I really can't. Where the hell is it? Where's his name?
Ben Cam asks for more money in the offseason? Cam,
you come and to eat or not. You come in
to feast or not.

Speaker 2 (27:35):
But you got guys like Ruman Wilson and Kelvin Austin
are willing to make place. Jalen Warren still bawling people.
Jalen Warren instead of running out of bounds with three
packers by him cut in and with to find somebody
to hint he is nuts. But that's the kind of
player that I want. I don't want the guys that
are like, there's a little bit of contact. I'm just
not gonna make that kind of play. That's got to

(27:57):
get weeded out. And I don't know, when you're dealing
with professional athletes millionaires, you know a coach of Tomlin's demeanor,
if that's going to get fixed in how fast or
soon you can fix it.

Speaker 5 (28:10):
There are so many problems on the defensive side of
the ball right now. I mean, look, let's not pretend
that that wasn't the tag on Joey Porter Junior when
he came out of Penn State, was that tackling was
an issue. He was going to avoid contact. Yes, he
can cover, he's going to be handsy, and he's not
going to want to be He's not going to want
to tackle. So that's that was a known quantity, right

(28:31):
and you just accept it hopefully because he you know,
hopefully the coverage is good enough and you don't get
so many penalties that you regret it. But I agree
with I don't think Joey's the problem right now. I
think it's easy to pick on Darius Slay when Ramsey
is forced to be a corner, I think you pick
on Ramsey. He's not making those kind of plays either.

(28:54):
As a slot. I think he does a decent job,
especially in run support coverage. It just doesn't seem like
it's there. I think the safeties are a mess without
Deshaun Elliott it's a bigger mess. But there's not anybody
to pair with him. Even when he is playing, they
just look disjointed. They don't look like a solid come

(29:17):
you know, communicative, cohesive unit.

Speaker 4 (29:22):
And it's a mess. It's just a mess. Let me
say this.

Speaker 3 (29:27):
The thing is, there is no.

Speaker 4 (29:28):
Quick fix right there. I get it's trade deadline.

Speaker 5 (29:31):
But you're not going to trade for a corner someplace else.
It's suddenly gonna make the defense more cohesive.

Speaker 4 (29:36):
That's not gonna happen.

Speaker 5 (29:37):
You're not gonna trade for a linebacker or a defensive
lineman that suddenly the defense. Oh, they magically they went
and mate the lucky charms and it was magically delicious.
And now all they all know exactly where everybody's supposed
to go and what they're supposed to do.

Speaker 4 (29:51):
And it's a beautiful thing. That's not gonna happen. It's
not gonna happen.

Speaker 3 (29:56):
You know.

Speaker 5 (29:57):
And we talked about pride, and I think on the
last show, you know, you felt like these guys have
to have some pride, yeah, and want to show up,
and man, it just didn't happen. I I've been I
walked through the schedule today and I can see this
team going six and eleven.

Speaker 3 (30:17):
Now, yeah, I know, I know it's not it's not.

Speaker 2 (30:22):
I think that Mike Tomlin finds some way all the
time and then something works. But then it makes you wonder,
why didn't they do this the first time? And you know,
we were just talking communication. I had to sneeze on
the other on the things that might not get caught
in the mic. But you got a lot of new
moving parts on this team that didn't play in the
preseason and now are together. Now you got to move
him again. I think Ramsey. I think Ramsey has a

(30:44):
future playing safety for sure. Now does this mean he
could get somebody he calls? Do you call in a
Corey Trace or do you know James Pierre play some more?
Do you find Beanie Bishop off the practice squad and
have somebody play an actual slot corner position? I mean,
and this all went to crap too when Cam Sutton
came in last year and then all of a sudden,
and you know, there was kind of a scapegoat there.

(31:06):
Make it was a scapegoat there. I think some of
these things just get figured out, and I have to
call this out because I don't agree with it. Jerry Dulac.
He tweets out, there's nothing wrong. There's nothing wrong with
the Steelers offense that a good defense couldn't fix. Jerry,
offense has got to number one. If they convert for

(31:28):
touchdowns instead of field goals in the first half, this
game's out of reach.

Speaker 4 (31:33):
Okay, different dynamic.

Speaker 3 (31:34):
They agreed, how many games if they led time of
possession this year? One?

Speaker 4 (31:38):
Two? Maybe?

Speaker 3 (31:39):
How many games have they given up thirty plus points?

Speaker 4 (31:43):
Five?

Speaker 2 (31:44):
Sorry, Jerry, the offense is doing better than put this
offense on the team two years ago, where Canny Pickett
was struggling to get a first down, and I think
they cleaned. They picked up a few extra victories easily.
In fact, there was some talk I think Adam Schefter,
unless I think it was Adam Schefter. I saw a
little rumbling of it yesterday morning. Is one of those
Sunday early things that the Steelers we're interested in perhaps

(32:08):
talking to Aaron Rodgers about maybe coming back for another year.
I don't necessarily he said yes. I don't hate the
idea if he could survive the remainder of this season.
I think he has looked, he's looked, he's looked good
and until until you have same all go down and
you kind of scrap it and now you're playing behind
the eight ball. You're you're losing by two scores, and
now the Packers could go, they could pin their ears

(32:29):
back and come he was he was upright.

Speaker 4 (32:32):
You know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (32:33):
He was able to do what he needs to do.
But some of that the screens, of course, were part
of keep keep Parsons away, keep Gary away, keep Quay
Walker away. And I'll have to say that too. We're
bringing up Walker's name. Something that happened off the ball
and DK Metcalf got completely tagged for it. You got
to keep I know you're that's frustrating, and there's the

(32:54):
emotions that we were talking about, and it's nearly popping off.
But you're not doing your team any any favors by
getting the personal foul or unsportsmanlike conduct or any of
these other penalties that you're picking up at the end
of the game. It's like, come on, let's be he's
grown ass man. Act like it please. Some people were

(33:14):
trying to like it him. They're like George Pickens and
I'm like, I watched DK not that bad. DK turned
his back after that the flag was starting, turned his
back and just walked away. He didn't jaw with the officials,
he didn't continue trying to instigate anything. So I'm gonna
let that go for now. If we see repeated patterns,
come back, revisit it, we'll bring it up and then
we'll talk about it. But within the heat of the moment,

(33:36):
within a frustrating game, I totally feel it.

Speaker 3 (33:40):
Just I don't know. I'm just gonna play. This is
the Yeah, this is the thing.

Speaker 4 (33:45):
This offense is.

Speaker 5 (33:47):
They can only be successful if they stay on track, right,
if they stay on schedule. When as soon and it
was more evident last night than it's been in any
other game, when they have adverse city on offense, they
put themselves in a bad position, they get a holding call,
an offsides call, they go from you know, second and

(34:09):
medium to second and long or second and longer or
first and longer. They're in trouble, right, They're not built
for that. This is this is the side of the
ball that is built to be bullying right there. That
they want to be jumbo package and run it down
your throat and then let that predicate the throws happening

(34:29):
and play off of play action. But when they get
when they get in those situations where they're off schedule,
they don't have good answers for it.

Speaker 4 (34:37):
They don't have enough dynamics, dynamicismmum cinimum. They're not dynamic enough.
They don't have that kind of dynamic offense.

Speaker 5 (34:48):
That they can just go, oh what you know, all
over the place, you know, And it is the more
frustrating thing to see is it just feels like this
is true every sing goal week. Everybody's open on the
other side of the ball, and we can't get away
from anybody.

Speaker 4 (35:06):
Anybody open.

Speaker 3 (35:07):
You're not lying, You're not lying.

Speaker 2 (35:09):
And I thought, you know, even some of that I
thought offensively, you know Linger from Matt Canada. You got
rid of some of those guys that had some of
the lazy play and their bones pickings, giving up on
a route, Deontay not going for combat catches. You weeded
some of that that think out of the locker room,
turn a whole new leaf. I mean, I am concerned.

(35:31):
Let's see if Spencer, you had this offensive line healthy
and all playing together, and Sam All who tried to
come back in so maybe it was preventative. We don't know,
We'll have to hear what Tomlins. Tomlin's got to say
in his press conference. But it's a blow. Then if
you can't run the like you're saying, you want to
play some bullyball. You want to bring an extra offensive
lemon in, you want to bring Darnell Washington in. And

(35:54):
now you've got to shuffle the deck because Betser Anderson's
the next guy up to play at Semlow's spot. Maybe
that's the way they were intending it. Maybe you get
a sneak preview of what next year could be. I
like Spencer Anderson. He could be one of those guys
you find in a late round or like the undrafted,
like a Ramon Foster. Maybe he's a contributor that Again,
maybe he's not. I really felt like the line had

(36:16):
been playing pretty decently. They opened holes in a certain way.
In certain ways you see Warren and game Well have
some success. So he just got to sustain some drives.
And I think it's not like how many passes did
Rogers throw. Let me see here, Rogers was thirty six
pass twenty four to thirty six to the get get behind.
He's still completing almost sixty seven percent of his passes

(36:38):
two hundred and nineteen yards two touchdowns, right, But you
want to see Jalen Warren as thirteen carries, Camfgaywell has
five for a grand total eighteen. You want some winning
Steelers football, You got to possess the ball, got to choose,
you gotta run the football. You got to choose some clock.
That's what the upcoming game, the upcoming opponent, Indianapolis Colts do.

(36:59):
They give it to Jonathan Taylor and just let him
go to town and then Daniel Jones. They could run
to play action. They could run. They've got a whole
platoon of young wide receivers and stuff. We'll be talking
about that later this week. Worried is definitely the case.
It's good to see the Steelers get I mean, you
get twenty five at some garbage points. It's good to
see that they're not struggling to put up they're only

(37:20):
putting up nine points. It's all balls well, right, but
still it's far from perfect. You've got to convert. And
if they convert early, they get the ball to start
that second half. Maybe they just run, run, run, run.
They eat up like seven or eight minutes just right
out of the gate, and you know, I don't.

Speaker 5 (37:35):
Know, absolutely could have gone a different way. If definitely
those three field goals are three touchdowns, right, all of
a sudden, it's twenty eight to ten or whatever instead
of nineteen to win. And I'm still it's still sticking
in my craw the off side throw because then the
whole thing with Craft and then Elliott getting hurt, and
that that whole doesn't it doesn't happen because they Green

(37:56):
Bay doesn't have the ball.

Speaker 2 (37:57):
They don't get the ball, you know what I mean.
That's what still is a turning point and just gets
to me really when you look at these games, how
many plays? What are the big plays that decide everything?
You're not like, oh, first and ten, Jalen Warren for
a gain of three, No, And how many of those
those are a dime a dozen? Those plays, even if
you go on the other side of the football and
it's Josh Jacobs or it's a little don't get me

(38:20):
started with quick outs or whatever.

Speaker 3 (38:21):
The outs we're just killing them, you know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (38:23):
But little pitches that catch here there, No, it's these
big plays that we're talking about where it's just a
heave and you end up connecting it. Roman Wilson got
one of those. On the Steelers side of things, those
are the plays and then when you have something like
that happen, and essentially it's turnover because now you're punting
the ball away, you.

Speaker 4 (38:43):
Know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (38:43):
So it is something that's detrimental. They got to learn
to clean some of this up. I do have to
preface this again that I'm not saying. You said this,
and I was like, yeah, I still agree. I'm pissed
off at the officiating. They're not the cause or the
reason the Steelers lost, but they gave a little nuts

(39:04):
to that snowball going downhill and then it caught everything
else down along the way. I thought the first half defense,
of course, there were some drops. There was some heavy,
heavier pressure which contributes some of those drops. A player
in Jordan Love's face. I thought they did some things better,
but they couldn't do it for a whole game. And
of course when your offense it wasn't the biggest disparity

(39:27):
and time of possession, but it was. It's almost four
minutes actually, thirty one forty eight twenty eight twelve, So
I guess, I guess it was a little more than
I thought. But Packers putting up four hundred and fifty
four yards sixty three plays seven point two average. That's
the type of stuff that's unacceptable. Twenty two first downs,

(39:49):
like I know, we went in love, completed twenty passes
in a row. Oh yeah, twenty passes in a row. Yeah,
and none of them, none of them was a content
did catch not one?

Speaker 4 (40:02):
They were easy.

Speaker 3 (40:04):
That's that's the problem. Easy.

Speaker 2 (40:07):
And then yeah, you got to And then you look
and you're watching around the AFC North and you see
Tyler Huntley come in. I know, the Ravens came off
of Biden. They're still playing at home and they've been
playing at home forever, and the Bears have to go there.

Speaker 3 (40:18):
But you saw what they do.

Speaker 2 (40:20):
They get a little healthier, they get guys like Rokwan Smith,
Marlin Humphrey back, and they win a game, and they
put up thirty points. They get thirty points, and then
you know, the Browns do the things the Browns do.

Speaker 3 (40:30):
But then the.

Speaker 2 (40:30):
Bengals lose to the windless Jets and what was I
don't understand. It was a struggle and I'm just like,
I know, the Steelers only lost by two. The Steelers
turned the ball over more and they didn't generate anything defensively.
Again that's the story. But man, you look at that
as a Steelers fan, it's like a double you know,
you get you get kicked from behind, you turn around,
what and then somebody kicks you from front and you're

(40:52):
like what? And I was the Bengals losing to the
Jets was the extra kick there with also losing to
the Packers and having lost to the Bengals the week before.

Speaker 3 (41:01):
So oh, it keeps them, It.

Speaker 5 (41:03):
Keeps them in first place another week. The fact that
the Bengals lost, they will not lose next week. I
think they play the Dolphins.

Speaker 2 (41:11):
They're the Ravens. The Ravens have the Dolphins in Miami,
so they finally go on the road two and five
versus two and six. But Miami, who thought they were
going into Atlanta and putting any kind of Atlanta They're
they're not beating the Ravens. What the Dolphins? I mean,
I would be highly surprised. You will see if Labar
Jackson's back either, if that's all sharad uh. Yeah, the

(41:31):
Falcons drop dropped the three and four and they were
playing great defense and everything too, and then they have
to play, Kirk Cousins. I know it's a little bit
of a part of it, but you got the best
team of football coming to Acorsure next week, seven and
one by record at least. I know people have said,
who if the Colts played, I'm like, yeah, but they
took care of business. And they've not only taken care

(41:51):
of business, but they have most of those have been
statements that they've made against let's say a subpart time
like that, you know, the Titans. If you want to
prove that you're a good team, do you beat the
Titans like something like twenty three to twenty one, or
do you do know you put up you lay like
forty points on them or whatever they did? Thirty eight
be fourteen, that's what you do. You hold them only

(42:14):
seven points through three quarters of football.

Speaker 3 (42:17):
That's what you do.

Speaker 2 (42:18):
You want to make that statement, That's how you make
that statement. So Steelers gonna have to do something different
with that. The Bengals gave up twenty three points to
the Jets in the fourth quarter, like.

Speaker 3 (42:29):
Like how how.

Speaker 4 (42:33):
Well? And look to be fair to the Bengals, that
two point conversion was not good.

Speaker 3 (42:38):
That was rough.

Speaker 4 (42:39):
It wasn't good.

Speaker 3 (42:40):
That was really good. Just rough.

Speaker 2 (42:42):
That was really rough, and I mean you see it
through throughout anywhere. We were texting each other through those
first games too, and I was just like, I just
had somebody who was playing the Bears defense thinking that
they were going to feast on the Ravens in fantasy.
And then I didn't play boswell. So that was a
problem for me, and I will never make that mistake
ever again.

Speaker 4 (43:01):
Sorry, Boz.

Speaker 2 (43:02):
I just I didn't like this matchup. I just thought
it was going to be maybe more shootout esque, maybe
not settle for field goals, or maybe that the Packers
defense was just going to put the clamps down. I
have too many eggs in the Steelers' basket and I
just didn't want that extra one. That was the wrong
one to do. Too many teams on Buy two, Brian,
But I know you're not the big fantasy guy, so.

Speaker 3 (43:22):
That'll do it for us.

Speaker 2 (43:23):
Hopefully we're not the matchup that everyone's looking at next
week where everybody's like, hey, play, Tyler Warren play, Jonathan
Taylor play, and Daniel Indiana Jones like.

Speaker 4 (43:33):
Guarantee that that's what people are looking at, right, Oh.

Speaker 2 (43:35):
Yeah, everybody's FanDuel lineup is going to be chalked up
with Indianapolis Colts players. So oh boy, So folks hang around,
leave us some comments, don't forget to like and subscribe.
We'll be back later this week with that preview for
the seven to one Colts coming to face in Now,
what are the Steelers four and three? At least two
of the losses in the NFC, So you know, there

(43:58):
may still be hope there that could eke out some
more conference and division wins here, but man, you don't
there's nothing you can feel confident about. We're gonna do
this preview from the whole. You know, we try and
be sunshine and rainbows, try and try and be biased,
try and be why the Steelers are going to win this.
I had somebody like, what's your prediction last night? I

(44:19):
was like, you know, when we do these before the season,
we say they're going to go seventeen, and oh, like
that's no, we're not thinking that right now. I don't
know that there's anything encouraging until we see it happen.
Until we see it happen.

Speaker 4 (44:33):
So it is, this is what exactly this is.

Speaker 5 (44:36):
We're in back in that situation where I anticipate them
losing now every single week until they prove to me
that they can stop somebody.

Speaker 2 (44:45):
Yeah, we'll see, folks. What's again that I'll do it
for us on this show. Leave us your comments. I'm
sure we agree. There's probably things I've left off of here.
We didn't get into too many more stats is ugly game.
When you have something when you're giving up what is
it like nine hundred yards in the last two games

(45:05):
and thirty plus points a piece to these tell just
it's you know, and one of those is Joe Flaco.
So till next time, we'll see if there's anything more
encouraging to say on the pregame show.

Speaker 3 (45:17):
My name is Joe, his name is Brian.

Speaker 2 (45:20):
Until next time, we encourage everyone out there to be safe,
be good, and we'll catch you later.

Speaker 1 (45:25):
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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