Vintage Aaron Rodgers grounds Jets in Steelers debut

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.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Rose.

Speaker 3 (00:20):
Hello everyone, and welcome to another edition of the steel
City Underground podcast. My name is Joe Kuzma, joined here
by my good colleague Buddy and Paula and Minister Brian E. Roach. Brian,
what's going on, my friend?

Speaker 2 (00:34):
It's a It's a beautiful victory Monday. I mean, how
much more can can you ask? The Ravens blow a
big lead and the Steelers ech one out.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
You know, we're gonna and we got some I'm gonna
start right out the gate and just say it. There's
gonna be some bitching and complaining. Maybe not so much
from us directly, but I'm listening to a lot of
bitching and complaining.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
You know, now twelve I got plenty plenty of that
to do, so some.

Speaker 3 (01:02):
There's some and people are gonna bitch you complain about
the Steelers defense, which we'll get to. But Baltimore, yikes,
what was it seventeen eighteen games? Now that John Harbaugh
has had double digit leads in the fourth quarter and blown,
and people talk about coaches, they talk about firing Tomlin,
they talk about I even was texting you during the game,
Terrell Austin. But I did say one thing during the game.

(01:23):
I said, patience, my friend, patients, And You're like, well,
I don't see it. I don't see it. You're ever
my optimism, your realism. And I was just like, hey,
I know what's going to happen with this game. They're
going to run out of game script. They're going to
put it in the hands of Aaron Rodgers. They're going
to put it in the hands of Justin Fields. And
I have a lot more confidence than Aaron Rodgers to
do something with his veteran experience over what we've seen

(01:47):
with Justin Fields. But I just I have to get
my digs on the Ravens though, too, you know what
I mean. We had like a mix of both things
in Week one in the NFL. We had some sloppy games,
and boy, the after slate was was a sloppy mess
of football that you had it some in the early
ones too, like the New York Giants and the whole

(02:08):
Russell Wilson thing that's going on there. He led the
team in rushing and he's getting roasted today for throwing
out those same corny you know, I left it all
on the field, and it's like he scored six points.
Aaron Rodgers did a little borre than that with the Steelers.
I think our expectations were a little flip. But this
game had it thirty eight and a half over under
and we were messing around before. You know, on the

(02:31):
pregame show, I couldn't do any math. I couldn't figure
that out. I'd said, that's sixteen points for each each
teams or whatever. No it wasn't. But thirty four to
thirty two final. I think the most important thing to
take away from all of this before we really dig
deep in, like you said, it's a victory Monday. My
twelve year old daughter I had to explain to her

(02:52):
what a victory Monday meant and she said, oh, that's
a good thing. So like you know, last night, she's like,
we did we get the party tomorrow? Beig today, So
that's that's actually kind of funny. But she's not wrong.
So we are happy. And if it had been flipped
and it was thirty four to thirty two Jets over
the Steelers, oh, man, we would be a miserable budge
right now. Well, a lot of things to complain about.

(03:14):
So winning solves a lot of problems. But these are
the ones you have to collect early on. Ask the
Cincinnati Bengals what that was like last season.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
Absolutely, Look, this is one of those examples that Tomlin
or any coach would say, Hey, I'd rather get out
of the stadium with an ugly win than with a loss.
They've got plenty of tape, they got plenty of things
to go over, they got plenty of stuff. It's a
coach's it's a specific kind of dream that I can't
mention because it's a family affair here, but it's a

(03:45):
coach's bleep dream, and because they have nothing but tape
of things to coach on. Right They've got tape of
tons of coachable moments that they can then attack over
the next week and try and correct.

Speaker 3 (04:03):
But yeah, you know, you walk away from it.

Speaker 2 (04:08):
I will say this, you know, I was often quoted
as saying last year, at the end of a victory,
I would be like, I didn't feel like we won
this game. I feel dirty for having to win this game.
It doesn't even feel good. I at least feel good
that we won this game, right, I don't feel bad
about winning this game.

Speaker 3 (04:29):
Yeah, I mean that's the way I feel good about it.
I know there are some people that were throwing some dirt.
They're talking about individual players, they're talking about, Oh here
we go, Steelers are gonna go to the super Bowl.

Speaker 2 (04:41):
No, and and all this other step off that bandwagon
real quick.

Speaker 3 (04:45):
I ready to go there yet. Yeah, and I'm not
gonna say that just yet. Okay, let's start with Aaron Rodgers.
Of course, he's the man of the hour. Just did
something that the no Steelers quarterback has done since twenty twenty.
Got to go all the way back middle the season.
Then I think novemberish of twenty twenty with Ben Roethlisberger,

(05:05):
and that's throw four touchdown passes in a game. And
I know there was like, you know, a little little
shovel pass Jean new Smith and but man, let me
tell you, Rogers got the ball. It's the fourth quarter,
and I just I wasn't like wincing in my seat.
I wasn't like, you know, my butthole puckering about whether
or not the Steelers were gonna be able to put

(05:26):
points on the board. He comes out there and scored down.
Mind you, the heart palpitations and all this mess. I
didn't need this in week one just yet. It's like
this team ever just make it easy? Why would you
ever expect it to be otherwise? Though? But I mean Rogers,
you know, he cool as a cat man, just comes
out there. Chris Boswell, we'll talk about this in a

(05:47):
little bit later too, ice in his veins. But I'm like,
you know what, I think these guys got this. Like
last year it was like if a team crossed twenty
points or like, that's it, it's over. They're not going
to be able to do this. The defense has failed,
and well, the defense failed. We weren't expecting the offense
to look anything like what it kind of did now.
Running game wise, maybe not as good, but let's stick

(06:10):
with Rogers. Room mate, maybe well not maybe because I
don't know, I'm not sure where the efforts are there,
but it was as yeah, well let's let's stick with
the quarterback though, because this is the big one. Everybody
was wondering does Aaron Rodgers still have it? Does this
old band pull out some magic? And I know that
everything was as clean as you would like it to

(06:31):
have been, but he came out four touchdowns to and
under a minute fourth quarter drive to set up a
game winning field goal. Though that all has to account
for something, right, And in his presser, I mean he
threw touchdowns. He had passes the seven different guys, and
then he also had four different players who caught a

(06:53):
touchdown pass, including Ben Scronic. Wasn't that awesome? I was
so happy for him. Yeah. And one of the things
that came out of this too was I think it
was like the post game show and Mike Persuda and
Charlie Batch were talking and he said, you know, one
of the things that Rogers was emphasizing, and we saw
this last year with a certain guy initials well, I

(07:15):
don't want to say GP and he don't really run
the route when the play's not coming to you, and
you have some lazy ass players like him and Deontay Johnson.
You can see Johnson's flamed out of the league already.
There isn't a team once put up with the stink
that's on him. And when you get into that kind
of groove, everybody's got to be all hands on deck.
And this is ben'scronick. He probably wasn't supposed to that play.

(07:37):
If you're playing Madden, there's no way that plays you're
playing Madden. I was playing the trial weekend. They gave
you a free weekend and maddenie for Skeronic. I'm trying
to figure out what button on this controller do I hit?
Do I press the stick in to pass to him?
And he's like R one or something like that. He's
not even one of the face buttons on the controller

(07:59):
if you're looking for you know, it's hilarious.

Speaker 2 (08:02):
I mean, Aaron Rodgers in his postgame had the best
take on it. He's like, I just look out there
and Ben's what I'm thinking, Holy Moses, Ben Scrime is
gonna score the first TV.

Speaker 3 (08:13):
I can't even believe it. Even he can't believe it.

Speaker 2 (08:16):
There's like they said, there's no way that place going
to Ben's gronic. But again, that's you know, you get
you hit it nail on the head. So you know,
I don't always give you your props when you're right,
but this time you're one hundred percent right. You know,
this is the difference between selfish, self centered, miserable people.
And I'm sorry, that's just the way I view it.

(08:38):
Like Deontay and Pickens talents, talent coming out of the wazoo,
but it ain't worth the drama that goes along with them.
Those guys, let's say they weren't the target. They're never
gonna They're gonna give up. We've seen them do it.
They're gonna give up on the route that's not coming
to me. I don't need to run. This is the
kind of mindset that is.

Speaker 3 (08:59):
Still football and should be Steelers football. I'm with you, man,
and at different levels, and I think it's going to
come together. That's why we're actually excited about it, because
not only the W. It's because of that that they
got this W two and I think it's eventually it's
good at GEL and there's some other things to talk about.
But Aaron Rodgers asked about you know, bet Scronick kept

(09:21):
the touchdown ball. He goes, I've got plenty of those,
he could have that one, which is great.

Speaker 2 (09:26):
He also said up, I don't want to give him
too much praise because I don't need his head to
get any bigger than it already is.

Speaker 3 (09:32):
Well. Some other quotes from Aaron Rodgers as well. He
was asked about, of course, playing against Aaron Glenn and
some of the things within the Jets organization. And you know,
his comment was, there were probably people in the organization

(09:53):
it didn't think I could play anymore, so it was
nice to remind those people I still can. And then,
of course the other comment from that was also he said,
I was happy to beat everybody associated with the Jets.
And it's funny because he's warming up with a guy
that's with the organed other organization, that's a friend of his,
and he've been around long enough as Aaron Rodgers has,

(10:16):
and you're gonna you're gonna network with a lot of people.
You know, football in a lot of ways is community,
it's family. We know these coaches are nomads and whatnot.
So oh yeah, yeah, I know you're looking around for something.
You're looking for a sarcasm sign. I was, but I
can't find it. I don't know where it is when
you find it. When you find it, I'll kick back

(10:37):
over to you because I know he's got something coming.
I don't. I just wanted to sign, which is okay.
But if you remember, in our pre game, I was
talking about how they dragged him all the way out
to New York to have this meeting with Aaron Glenn
that lasted two minutes and they basically told him he
was going to be released, so he stuck it. Stuck
it to him. Twenty two of thirty passing, he had

(10:58):
one hundred and thirty six point seven QB rating two
hundred and forty four yards, which we said, you know,
wasn't like the big needle Mover, wasn't like he threw
four hundred yards. This isn't Although Joe Burrow didn't have
a Joe Burrow game against Cleveland Browns either, so we
shouldn't talk about that too.

Speaker 2 (11:12):
Won my fantasy game against Joe Burrow with Aaron Rodgers
and you again, I had I had, I had our
running back starting and not the one who actually played,
the one that was running kickoffs back. I tried to
warn you my friend now Jalen Warren in my flex
but I also I don't actually care.

Speaker 3 (11:31):
I told you I don't play these things to win.
I play to be a redew I'm defending champion, man.
I just outscored everyone. We'll see what the Monday night
games like. But it also helps they have Josh Allen
and James Cook too on that Sunday night game, so
they just had to pick somebody as another running back.
So I do have Derrick Henry. That wasn't so bad.
But imagine that man who would have thought that fubble

(11:53):
and that's just that's just wild. Let's get to some
more of the offense here before we run too far muck.
The Aaron Rodgers stuff was great. I think good for
him too. You know, you get to absolutely talk about
this before you actually move on.

Speaker 2 (12:07):
Let me make a one point about this, okay, because
I've had people coming, Oh, are you ready to eat
your words? Are you happy Aaron Rodgers is here now?
The answer is still know I. Like I've said all along,
I'm okay. I will root for this team to win
every game. But I'm okay if they had an OH
to sixteen season or an OH in seventeen season, why because.

Speaker 3 (12:25):
Of next year. I'm okay with it.

Speaker 2 (12:27):
I was wetted to it, and I'm sticking to my
guns on this in the sense that I don't really
care what happens this season. If we win, fantastic, I'll
be excited. If we don't, I don't care. Do I
like Aaron Rodgers? No?

Speaker 3 (12:41):
Am I warming up to him? Maybe once again diva quarterbacks.
But that's my quarterback.

Speaker 2 (12:50):
So yes, once again I will root for him, and
I did root for him during the game, and I will,
but I'm not I'm still not backtracking and ohing. Yes,
this was the greatest idea since sliced bread, and I'm
thrilled and they knew everything in advance. Let me talk
about you, let me let me actually come up to it.
I have more points about this. See you told me

(13:12):
there wasn't gonna be an bitch and complaining. Well, here
comes my bitching and complaining. Let me caveat this by
first stating the obvious. Luck is a part of the
damn game, right, It goes both ways. You have to
be lucky to win sometimes and sometimes it's better to
be lucky than good. He had two interceptions that should

(13:32):
have been caught. Let's be let's be very clear about that.
There were two balls he threw that absolutely should have
been picked. And those things happen. They don't win this game,
but he got lucky.

Speaker 3 (13:42):
They weren't. Is he the same guy that he has
been in past years?

Speaker 2 (13:47):
No, and and you are gonna get games with that
flip That script coming down some as we as we
move along in the season where he's gonna try one
of those Rick flipp or wrist flicks that go out
quick release that he's hoping goes to the guy and
it ain't gonna get there, and it's going to go
to the wrong guy. But you take the good with

(14:10):
the bad. I will take it because I'm not as
invested in this season as I should be.

Speaker 3 (14:15):
I will take it because it was for you know,
four touchdown game.

Speaker 2 (14:19):
But like I said, you've got you've got obvious visual
evidence that there's a chance that that script flips at
some point during the season.

Speaker 3 (14:30):
No way, not that DK Metcalf touchdown, which I had
a couple of angles or not touchdown. I'm sorry that
reception that touched four different players that isn't even one
of the ones I'm counting. That's a possible interception. Yeah,
but you know what, there were some calls in this game.
Alex high Smith got like absolutely mugged and I got
to move to the offense because you should have probably

(14:51):
had Kelvin Austin maybe pass interference near the end of
the game too. What about that, man, I mean, I'm
gonna come back to the running game. Calvin Austin. A
lot of people talking about that next man up, that
second wide receiver besides DK and Rogers was incredibly comfortable

(15:12):
throwing him the ball, called his number multiple times, including
one of the touchdowns in the game too. And that's
the same play they ran a scornic by the way,
he acknowledged they ran that play twice. So teams are
going to need to get that on on film and
do their homework. It's kind of like, Hey, if there's
anybody on the field that you should be watching or
paying attention to, should be this guy. And that happened

(15:34):
into college ranks this weekend too. Brian my Youngstown State Penguins.
The quarterback broke the conference record, not just the school
record running the football. He had like two hundred and
thirty one yards before halftime, and it was like, is
there anybody gonna spy the quarterback? Put a guy on him,
you know what I mean? And that happens in different spots,

(15:55):
you see it throughout the pros and stuff like that.
But Calvin Austin I thought was a bright spot. Metcalf,
you know, we could have all wanted a little more.
We we're greedy, we want more Austin had four for
seventy and a touchdown. Metcalf didn't have a TD. He
was targeted seven times, caught four of those for eighty
three yards, a thirty one yard long and at thirty
long to Austin that those are all very positive plays

(16:18):
that I'm happy about. I thought the passing game, I mean,
Rogers was he was getting rid of the ball fairly
quick when he could. Let's get the Jets some credit
to defensively their front, very good, defensive front, very very good,
their secondary sauce Gardner got his hand in there more
than once. But Rogers, it's it's a relief seeing him

(16:40):
get rid of the ball fast enough when he can,
because like the quick flip the fire me youth for example,
or even when he caught the caught twelve players on
the field and tried to fling one to john Ney Smith,
I was like, WHOA, what the hell just happened? And
then TV caught up with, ah, we got that. That's
the kind of thing you get.

Speaker 2 (16:57):
Yeah, I mean, I'll let you finish the positive because
I've got I've got negatives on the offensive side too.
Oh of course, we've got offensive line. But I was
gonna say all got one. Number seventy seven is who
looked like pure garbage. I was having his lunch money taking.
I had somebody like immediately come to me, who's his backup?
You don't want to see him either, I don't think

(17:20):
unless they moved Spencer Elson over Calvin Anderson who did
not play, or Andres Pete, I don't think we want
to see play either.

Speaker 3 (17:28):
So I think Jones will get there. I think it's
a very good point to bring him up right now.
Not only the front he was playing against, Rogers moved
up into pocket on one, so everybody's like, ah, three sacks, okay,
two for sure, two for sure, and he was getting dominated.
I'm gonna make a whole bunch of excuses for him.
It was not a good, clean game. And the game
turned around when Brian, when number eighty started getting some

(17:51):
pt and getting reps in that late in that third quarter,
they started putting him out. There is a little bit
of help, a little bit of help, and once they
got that help, the Steelers able to start moving the
ball a little bit. But otherwise a really stinky run game.
Eleven carries for Jalen Warren for thirty seven yards three
point four average, Kenneth Gainwell seven for nineteen a two
point seven. Caleb Johnson got the one carry, like I said,

(18:15):
minus two yards, didn't get anywhere of a combined effort
two point six average with fifty three yards total on
the ground. So it's a good thing you had Aaron
Rodgers available to sling the ball around, because if you
didn't and you had that run game last season. You
think Russell Wilson or Justin Fields comes out of this,
even if it's Justin Fields versus Justin Fields and the

(18:35):
hypothetical video game world know we're talking about that. I
don't think either of them could carry the team on
their back throwing the ball around with this kind of performance.
And we saw that against the Colts last year with
Fields actually, so I'm gonna say, no, it wouldn't have happened.
I agree. I don't think it would have happened either,
I will. I am. I believe that Justin.

Speaker 2 (18:55):
Fields played well yesterday more so than you do, if
you've gone back and forth about certain things. Do I
think he's perfect?

Speaker 1 (19:04):
No?

Speaker 3 (19:04):
Absolutely. Do I think I would have rather had him
as my quarterback yesterday?

Speaker 2 (19:08):
No? But I think he played better in this scheme
and led the team better in this scheme than we
saw him play last year. So there may be hope
for him in New York. I don't again, I still
I said it last year. I still don't think the
guy is a franchise level quarterback. But this, you know,

(19:31):
I think Jets fans should come away thinking, well, he
didn't suck, which is is true because I don't.

Speaker 3 (19:38):
Think he did. Yeah, they may have more to be
positive about because, let's face it, their team was so
low down the totem pole here that you know, I
thought it was funny that was There's one image of fields,
It's like he's almost just looking at the camera. TJ said,
I've had enough and just sliced his way in there.

(20:00):
But that one run. He's still good at faking. There's
still things he's good at. That's why he's still starting
in the NFL. But but are you gonna see much
different what happens when they get film on him and
by the fourth game he starts turning into the way
he was in Week four last year with Steelers. I'm
gonna need some defensive effort from those Jets. They might
they may end up being like two and two or
three and three through the BC. I'm gonna I'm gonna

(20:23):
flip the script on you and go I'm not ready.

Speaker 2 (20:25):
I'm there's so much about what we saw yesterday that
I'm just not ready to make judgment on yet. Like
are the Jets? Is the Jets offense really that good?
Or is the Steelers defense really that bad? I think
the answer to both is probably no, But I don't
know it yet and I want to be able to
say that. But man, it was it was so bad

(20:47):
at times, it was it was really really bad. Oh, yeah,
you know it's in the season times.

Speaker 3 (20:53):
Yeah, they saw they were bullied. They were completely bullied.
Aaron Glenn's blueprints coming from the straight Lions team, Campbell
running the football. And then, of course, if you're gonna
look at what the Steelers were like at the end
of the season, and by no means was justin fields
a Lamar Jackson out there. In fact, it's a good

(21:14):
point to start bringing up defense here and switch gears
from the offense. Unless you had some more about the line.
It was pretty much Roderick Jones.

Speaker 2 (21:20):
No, no, the line it was Broderick Jones was not good.
The line did not get pushed the way that you'd
want them to. The run game was stagnant because of it.
I'm not I'm just not impressed with the way the
offensive line is playing and geling. Yet I hope they
get better, That's all I'm gonna say.

Speaker 3 (21:37):
Okay, so that gives us an opening that just goes
straight to defense here since we're talking about fields already,
and again not trying to rain on his parade, but
he's not Lamar Jackson either. You saw what Lamar Jackson
was capable of doing against Buffalo and it was just
like Wow. He just makes it look like child's play.
The guy can't be tackled in fields. Probably at the
end of the game. If you want to go all
the way down to the nastiest guy that's going to

(21:59):
bring some Steelers out of it, dude with him for
the season. Jalen Ramsey. You need a guy like that,
that is a guy that wasn't hired for his disposition.
So to borrow a phrase from uh Greg Lloyd, yes, yes,
or James Harrison or any of the other greats. I
think Ramsey, even though he's a corner, Wow did he

(22:20):
did he lay it? Hit? But I mean there's people
that were debating whether or not fields could I texted
the same thing. I'm like, why did he just run?
I mean, any other time you would have seen him
run for it. And then he tries to throw, so
they're trying to change some things there. I think he slides.
I think I think he can get there if he
tries to dive. I know there were people closing in
on him. But then again, if you hit him and

(22:41):
then one of the referees gets an angle on deams
that it's dirty, you're gonna get a flag thrown there.
There's all kinds of things that could happen. Instead, he
flips the ball off the Wilson, who for a split
second might have been opened, and Ramsey said, not in
my house.

Speaker 2 (22:55):
Is yeah, this is way I look at that play.
I think he made the right choice. I don't think
he should have run. I think there's too many ifs,
just the same way you can take the positive ifs.

Speaker 3 (23:06):
Too many the.

Speaker 2 (23:07):
Chance he gets hurt. There's a chance he doesn't make
it and the game's over. You know, he had a
guy open, he hit his receiver, the ball was where
it needed to be. He you know, you gotta you
got to assume even with that kind of hit, you
expect your receiver to hold on to that ball.

Speaker 3 (23:27):
He didn't.

Speaker 2 (23:27):
So I'm not going to blame Justin Fields for that decision.
I am going to give Jayalen Ramsey a hell of
a lot of credit for blowing Garrett Wilson the hell
up because that's what he did and that's what he
should do. Good, super clean, nice powerful hit, knock the ball, Ajar.
That's what you expect out of out of out of him.

(23:49):
But I don't think there's you know, second guessing what
Field's to try to do. They're trying to make him
be aware, keep his eyes downfield, and he did the
right things. I'm betting the coaches on the Jets are going,
that's what we want you to do. It didn't work
out this time, but that's okay. Yeah, you had a
few of them that did work out. But wow, Ramsey
show up at the right time, Alex high Smith and t. J.

(24:11):
Watt started to show up at the right time. I
know the defense was future throughout a whole great deal
of that, the run defense specifically.

Speaker 3 (24:24):
Yeah, I mean there were there were there were.

Speaker 2 (24:27):
Problems in the passing game, but I'm willing to you know,
I'm willing to go. We lost to Sean Elliott. JP
was out for a little while, you know, I can
I can live with that. And guys are going to
get lost in coverage at times, right exactly, that's gonna happen.
But the run defense.

Speaker 3 (24:45):
Look, here's this is what we now are all hanging
our hat on. When is Derek Harmon getting back because
oh my god, was it bad? Yeah? It was really
bad and I'm not sure did you get And those
guys up front gotta help these linebackers. I know there's
a little bit of shade for Peyton Wilson now. Cole
Holcom didn't play a single snap in the inside linebacker corps.

(25:06):
I was actually shaking my fist at the TV as
to why Malik Harrison was out there. I saw him
out there with goal line. In fact, the one big
run that Breas Hall broke was during a substitution. They've
brought him out there. He's wearing fifty and doesn't look
anything like Ryan Shazier did. I'm sorry. I wasn't a
big fan of that of that signing to begin with,

(25:26):
and I'm not sure that he's He's probably gonna be
on borrow time if they continue to break some plays
like that. Isaiah louder Milk he got d too, So yeah,
Isaiah louder Milk played a little bit too much in
this game too. Of my opinion, thirty one snaps forty
eight percent of the game. Let me see Whyite Black.
I thought Why Black actually did pretty decent. You know,

(25:47):
he wasn't out there at first either, but he definitely
was eating some bodies and making some people, pushing some
people back. It's the first game. I'm not expecting him
to take over the world, so to speak, right, But
you know, Laddermilk, he's out there because he's the more
veteran guy. I mean, you gotta get Black out there,

(26:08):
you gotta get Harman out there. Betton has got to
be a little more asserted. He played. He played more
than Hayward did. Heyward played forty three of the sixty
four defensive plays. Benton played forty seven of those. Joey
Porter only played sixty nine percent of the game. Usually
we'd say nice, it wasn't so nice, But Brandon Eckles

(26:29):
was also getting a little bit of revenge game on
his own. Two in reserve, Jack Sawyer was out there
for fifteen reps as well as a rookie in place
of Nick Kirbik. So there are there are areas for improvement.
And of course we mentioned to Sean Elliott and I
haven't seen anything yet on whether or not Elliott's how

(26:50):
serious Elliott's injury is, So I'm hoping it's not too
much because this is one area of the team where
they did not you know, they were looking no, not
not deep at all. You're lucky you've got Chuck Clark
out there. If you don't have Chuck Clark, they're they're
really cooked. So still still no updates yet on on Elliott.

(27:14):
And then of course Sebastian Castro from Iowa UDFA undrafted,
is like the only other guy in reserve there, so
there there was a lot of concern. There's a lot
of concern you play against maybe a different quarterback or
different teams. Now they're lucky they got like the Seahawks,
They've got the Patriots. Boy, they did not look yesterday.
No Seahawks were all over the place and they played

(27:35):
at home and gets a Niners team. They lost George Kittle,
they had already had some receivers that were already you know,
on the shelf, like Ayuk and I think Jennings and
stuff like that. So that was very slopped. There's another
sloppy game, just like LA and Houston was a sloppy
game too. You know, you've got a lot of this.
I'll also say to Missen of the preseason Miss ten,
to the miss miss tackles, it looks like these guys

(27:58):
are so close to making the play and weren't, and
then there was nobody else that were there, and then
sometimes they were just blown right right off, getting their
brakes blown off of them. So Hall one hundred and
seven yards and then the Jets in total one to
eighty two Fields had forty eight of that, including two touchdowns.
Running that one no One and her brother TJ should
have been the containing there and just totally sold out

(28:20):
for you know, the halfback dive right down the middle.
So oh man. This is the thing that drives me
crazy though, is like seeing all the national pundits first
thing and this isn't I'm beyond justin Fields. I actually
wished the Steelers defense and played better and secured more
of this, because you'll have more of the fans saying Oh, well,
they should have signed, they should have kept this guy,
and this is the only game they'll have in their memory.

(28:41):
Kind of like Zach Mettenberg many years ago at the
Tennessee Titans was like the only good game he had
he could play. He had twenty two pass attempts and
I can't think of one maybe just the one with
the blown coverage that was at thirty three yard long.
Did any of the other passes go ten yards? There
was a lot of stuff that got flipped out, you know,
Brice Hall for the touchdown that you're talking about the touchdown,

(29:03):
the touchdown being the big play you know, and guess.

Speaker 2 (29:08):
But accept that limitation with him, right and and and
it's about growth, you know, the same thing. It's I mean,
he's been in the league long enough, but you know
he comes from a system, uh you know at Ohio
State when you know, as a running quarterback that was
a little different.

Speaker 3 (29:25):
It's more the urban era than it is the Ryan
Day era. So you know there's a history there. Those
kind of quarterbacks never really did that well.

Speaker 2 (29:35):
So the fact that he's hung around as a potential
starter for what five years now, you know he's got talent,
he's got ability. You know, I advocated for keeping him,
but only because I was ready to have a bad year.

Speaker 3 (29:54):
Sorry to disappoint you there, Yeah, Brian, But you know,
Justin Field's played with Garrett Wilson, and everybody's so shocked
that they had chemistry. And it's like, come on, man,
they were together for like two years in college. This
is like Burrow and Chase just picking up where they
left off. And you know what, Fields is familiar with
the Steelers and their defensive schemes and system and tendencies.

(30:17):
And he had some things that he could have, you know,
an ace up his sleeve. So you may not have
the same thing when Sam Darnold comes to town for
the home opener UH with Seattle on next week, I.

Speaker 2 (30:27):
Certainly not going to have the same mobility. And and
you'll we'll see the Jets, the Jets who I think
have the bills next week. Like I'm interested. What I
want to see is what do these two teams look
like next week? Right, I'll be in Pittsburgh to see
what they look like. And I want to talk about
two percenters. Hang around and we'll talk. But I'm gonna

(30:48):
be in Pittsburgh for that. But and I know you
will be, but I want to see what did the
Jets do against the Bills. We know the Bills look
like a pretty good team, but hell, their defense came
up forty points. I mean, yeah, it was to the
rate to the l and the Ravens likewise to the Bills.

Speaker 3 (31:05):
So yeah, it'll be interesting. That's what I was talking too.
I think like the blueprint that worked against the Steelers
is a carryover from last year when you're talking about
primarily a Detroit Lions style def or offense, and I
know they were missing the one guard and you thought
that would have made a bigger difference than mayde like
no difference for the most case, and then getting the fields,

(31:26):
Oh you only sacked him once and was like, well,
you know what, he for the most part, I was
just waiting for him to hold onto the ball for
too long, which he started to do a little more
in the fourth quarter. I said that the difference it
was to get to him and he was just elusive enough.
They missed him to get away. They missed him. They
missed him. So let's we got to talk about special
teams because there's so much special teams play that we

(31:48):
can't overlook, this is the deciding factor in this game.
You got both sides of it too. Yeah, you get
good and bad Kenny G. Yeah, well, the game starts
with them giving up gobs of yards on these kick returns.
I hit the balls coming coming out to like the
thirty five or whatever, now on a on a touchback.
It changed so much with this over the years. I remember,
I'm old enough to remember when they started on the twenty.

(32:10):
But now everything is like, you know, against the offense,
and they want these high scoring games, which they got.
I mean, you kind of took the over in this
one or the Sunday night game and still been good. Right,
But BET's Gronick diving on the grenade and you know
mcdonlin just talking about him being a football player. Foremost,
Kenny G's the one who knocked out Kenneth Gainwell still
impresses me. I can't stand that nickname. I don't like

(32:31):
it either. It's not good. I can't stand that nickname.

Speaker 2 (32:33):
It does not bring good connotations to people who lived
through the eighties nineties.

Speaker 3 (32:38):
When you say Kenny G. It's just I'm sorry, it
makes me ill. No, you know what, bro, his name's
gain Well it's like the perfect football name. Aaron I
used to right here, brought that up when he was
first you know, coming out of the draft. You had
had his whole all names team for the NFL Draft
and that was one of the guys, Kenneth Gainwell. But
he's grown on me. I think he's a good all

(33:00):
around player and I felt that he was going to
get more reps than Caleb john Caleb Johnson's going to
take some time to integrate into Let me just say
they almost put the ball on the floor. How many
times he lost one? Two? Yeah? How many?

Speaker 2 (33:12):
How many of you think that Caleb Johnson is going
to run one back for a TD on special team?

Speaker 3 (33:18):
Anyone, anyone, anyone. I'm sure it's going to happen. Yeah. Well,
I'm glad you found the sign for the sarcasm because
they got major problems with the whole kick return. I
think when Johnson gets maybe more offensive reps, you're going
to see game well, maybe start to be more of
the returner back there, maybe someone else, maybe maybe this
Dante Kent comes off of I R and they do

(33:40):
something with him too.

Speaker 2 (33:41):
So that was he just looked plotting and slow. He
did not look like he had burst at there. Man,
he won't actually be shocked if Kent is a returner.
But maybe that was a pick for Danny Smith with
one of those late round picks for a special teams
contributor because Tomlin does not like to use defensive backs
in those roles. He also doesn't typically he doesn't put

(34:04):
like any starters or anybody. For years he hated having
Antonio Brown there in that same spot. But yeah, the
rule change with the kicker balls brian a pretty big thing.
Now that they could break them in and bring them
there on their own. We're going to see these guys
hitting these from major distance in all around the league. Right,

(34:24):
So Chris Boswell going for sixty, I had no doubts,
no doubts whatsoever.

Speaker 3 (34:33):
I know someone I told you it was good from seventy.
I mean we had that dude that kicked it little
or whatever that was in the preseason. In the preseason, yeah,
with the Jaguars, and I had forgotten about this, this change,
this rule change, until I saw Pat McAfee talking about it.
And it is a pretty big deal. When you could

(34:53):
they weren't allowed to they got the balls like before,
like maybe a couple hours before game time, and the
equipment managers would then start to work their magic whatever
it is. They bring out sandpaper or brellopad, you know, inflate, deflate,
start working the laces, you know, massage, squeezing it and
deflate them, inflate them whatever they were doing the hocus pocus.

(35:14):
And now that they get to actually work with these
things throughout the week, they get to bring them. You
can bring out the trusty old well, this is the
old whatever, the old rag or whatever. This is eighty
five yard kickball. Yeah, this is my seventy yard kickball. Well,
it's like pulling the golf clubs out of the bag,
you know, it's like, hey, I got the driver, I
got my sand wedge, you got you got like the

(35:36):
ones that you need. And it's pretty cool to see Boswell.
I mean everybody's looking there and it's like, well, this
is going to be his career long and I'm like, okay,
he's on turf, he's in the stadium where there's you know,
it seems like the weather has died down. There's not
a lot going and he just hit a fifty six yarder.
Earlier in the day. I had absolutely zero doubts he
was gonna do that. And I also from a standpoint

(35:58):
of what were the Steelers trying to do on those
last few plays, maybe go through the game book and
go play by play. They were gonna get at least
enough for Boswell to be able to kick from there.
He's got ice in his veins. And Tomlin is as
bold as he used to be with Ben Roethlisberger back
in the day. Well, I've got Ben Well, he's got Boss,
so he's gonna throw Boss out there. He only needs
three points to win. Boom, he's gonna hit it. So

(36:20):
special teams there, Boswell, you can't say much anything different Weightman,
I'm thing negative to say about Boz. Weightman could have
had a little bit better of a punt at the
one point when they really needed that. You got the
big play by gain Well and Scronic. Some of the
covered stuff not as good as he not as good

(36:40):
as you want. And then of course the penalty two
that would have been a shank of an extra point
could have been a big difference maker in this one also,
so could have been could have been, wasn't, thankfully, But overall,
for a week one game was here. There's certain things.

(37:02):
I mean, penalty wise, you didn't see any holding. I
don't think the Steelers got tagged with any pass interference
calls that I could think of. I don't recall any
any Did they even get a defensive hold?

Speaker 2 (37:13):
Like there weren't. The refs were not other than a
couple of really egregious stupid calls. Well, the Jalen Ramsey won.
Where what's he gonna do? He's trying to go get
to Justin Field the worst. I'm sorry that. First of all,
he didn't even hit the guy. Yeah, lo, he went
around the guy to try and get Justin Fields. I'm sorry.

(37:34):
If that's a penalty, then you need to change the
rules because that's dumb. It wasn't a penalty.

Speaker 3 (37:38):
He's not even.

Speaker 2 (37:39):
Trying to engage the blocker. That's just nonsense. That was
one of the worst calls ever. Yeah, and you know,
you know how much I love the refs. You know,
the refs are my favorite people. You know, I think
they do a great job. Oh, I love them so much.

Speaker 3 (37:57):
Day in and day day out. This is all Brian does.
He text me and he's like, have I told you
how much I appreciate the NFL and their officiating department. Hey,
but we got that. We got some instant replay stuff
throughout all the games. This what is it, the the
instant instant replay. It's actually instant now that it's called
replay assist, but it's supposed to replay assist. It's never

(38:18):
been as instant, Like they need to just change the
word from instant replay to just replay. Maybe they have,
and I'm just an old timer myself, but yeah, at
least that's been getting some things. We didn't get to
see any virtual measurements. The one spot was horrible for
the Steelers too, A whole yard behind. Who was that?

Speaker 1 (38:38):
Uh?

Speaker 3 (38:38):
I don't remember that one? Yeah? Oh yeah, because it
was because then it went to a third down and
we just totally folded like a chair and then gave
the ball back. I'm trying to remember where that was,
where that was on the play on the field. But
maybe I'm also getting my games mixed up, But that's possible.
You know. Right now, I have zero confidence in this
team gaining one yard none. Well that that's very true.

(39:01):
Now a third and one, a.

Speaker 2 (39:02):
Fourth and one, if they go for it, I'm gonna
be like, oh crap, why are you just giving him
the ball there. I just don't have confidence that they
can gain a yard on the ground. And that's like
where do you go from here? So where do we
go from here? And got to see de Sean Elliott's
his progressury status, injury status for him, Derek Harmon his
status because I think he'll be Him and Black are

(39:24):
going to be the difference makers, but they've got to
be on the field, right Yep. Loudermilk is just an
extension of last year Heyward. Was he in football shape?

Speaker 3 (39:32):
Maybe not as much, but he's also an older dude,
so you got to kind of try and preserve him.
He needs some other guys that are out there to
be able to shoulder the load some more. We'll be
back around with the Seahawks preview, of course too. But
do we see Rogers with very many other four touchdown games?

Speaker 2 (39:52):
I will tell you I actually kind of expected. I
not that he's gonna throw four touchdowns every game. I'm
clearly he's going to do that. There's gonna be better
defenses with better secondaries. Although you know, Sauce Gardner's really good,
but there's gonna be you know, there's gonna be situations
where he's not going to do that obviously, but I
think you've got a chance here where there is much

(40:15):
more of a threat currently on the passing side of
the ball. The problem will be if they cannot fix
the run game, nobody's going to defend it and it's
all going to be pass defense, and then it's.

Speaker 3 (40:26):
Gonna dry up.

Speaker 2 (40:28):
You cannot be a one dimensional team, and they've they've
got to address that one way or the other.

Speaker 3 (40:33):
Kind of in a way. I'm wondering how people are
going to match up even if they play dime. You
got to cover this guy, Johnny Smith, You got to
cover Pat Friarmuth. We talked about Darnel. I think Darnel
Washington may even get involved too. There was a lot
of talk about, hey, the Steelers got all these great
tight ends and what was Washington hold on? Let me
find Washington's participation. He ended up playing forty six percent

(40:56):
of the game. But I swear if I go and look,
I couldn't. I didn't. I just don't hardly remember him
at all, not earlier in the game. At least I
did see what he started to come out there, and
they didn't always put him on the left with Roderick.
He did go in some motion, he did help on
the right side some or he would swing out or
kick back over. So they mixed up those looks just enough.

(41:17):
And even so Aaron Rodgers on a little bootleg play
no less too on one of those touchdown passes. So
you know, teaching old dog some new tricks. I would
like to see Cole Holcom. I think Cole Holcomb is
a could be a demon when it comes to being
on the defense. That's not to say anything about Peyton Wilson,

(41:37):
but some people were kind of dogging him. But what
are you going to do when people get second level
blocking in the defensive line doesn't do anything when.

Speaker 2 (41:43):
The defensive line is essentially a dryer sheet, you know
for the offensive line. You know, none of none of
those guys on any team can handle constantly having to
fight off you know, offensive linemann thrive. That's the whole
basis of Dick Leobo's defense is to keep the offensive

(42:06):
lineman off the linebackers and let them make plays.

Speaker 3 (42:08):
They're not going to make plays if the offensive line
is always at second level.

Speaker 1 (42:12):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (42:13):
Also, I think we're going to see a little more
from TJ. Watt Alex high Smith at home. It's going
to be disruptive West Coast team coming into town, so
I expect to see a little bit more there as well.
I'd like to see the run game kind of break free.
I don't have the highest expectations for that, however, Seahawks.

(42:33):
Let me see forty nine ers A have Christian McCaffrey,
Brian Robinson. I mean, their average was only a three
point three overall, but they ran it thirty six times
for one hundred and nineteen yards, So the Steelers not
as committed. They only ran the ball twenty times but
only had to throw at thirty also, so that all
worked in their favor. So we're going to need to
see time of possession error in their favor. Maybe a

(42:56):
little bit more sustained some drives, but very clearly the
biggest thing that you know, aside from saying, well, Washington
got out there, and I like Jalen Ramsey, what about
we used to always say offense, Why aren't you giving
the Steelers defensive breather, giving them a break, giving them
an opportunity to go out there and make plays. That

(43:18):
wasn't the case. They had more than enough opportunity to
sit there, get some water, get some rest. Aaron Rodgers
was running the show out there. Clearly that's not the
rest of move for them. They need to be on
the field constantly. I mean the the three and outs,
just talking about possession wise, the Steelers had they had
two to three and outs. No three three and outs,

(43:40):
I'm sorry. There was one in the second quarter they
like gained two yards and they punted. There was another one,
the one to start the second half or in the
third quarter when they received the ball. They were also
penalized there. So the negative plays do have to get
cleaned up, some of the penalties, some of the stuff
where you're gaining absolutely zero. The fourth court was a

(44:00):
little bit better, but you still had your doubts too,
because they went they had minus fourteen yards their three
plays right in the middle of the fourth quarter and
you're like, ooh, what's gonna happen here? After those two touchdowns.
That was the series where I said, this is how
they're supposed to respond. You're right. I was like, that's
how the defense is supposed to respond. They respond and

(44:23):
forced Good for that. Yeah, good for them.

Speaker 2 (44:26):
I mean, look, I will I am I am optimistic
that the defense is not actually as bad as they
were yesterday.

Speaker 3 (44:36):
They will improve, they will be better.

Speaker 2 (44:40):
I have some level of concern that if you know
that we may not have the depth or the strength
of the defensive line that we may have hoped we had,
and I this stems back.

Speaker 3 (44:56):
From last year.

Speaker 2 (44:57):
I also am concerned that teams are scheming for our
linebackers well enough that they're not getting the pressure.

Speaker 3 (45:05):
We need them to get.

Speaker 2 (45:07):
You know, TJ's going against a rookie tackle, I expect
more than what we got. Yeah, justin Fields was early
in the game getting the ball out quick, which mitigates
the rush ability. They got closer to him as he
held it, which just means, you know, we'll see I
expect him to get better. As the bottom line, I

(45:27):
expect the defense to get better. If the offense just
stays exactly where they were, that that bodes well, right.

Speaker 3 (45:39):
Yeah, So, I mean it makes you feel better against
like Kansas City or even Buffalo Baltimore. I mean, we
match up pretty good with Baltimore to but man, fix
the run game.

Speaker 2 (45:49):
But I don't know, the Baltimore games are going to
be a hot mess if they don't fix the run defense.

Speaker 3 (45:53):
Derrick Henry looks like a teenager playing against like Pee
Week kids, you know what I mean, like a high
school kid, full grown up man. And he's not slowing
down anytime soon. So but for now, this early part
of the season, that looks like so they'll be able
to work on these things we think hopefully get back
to full health. Brian, you said you had some stuff

(46:14):
for the two percenters.

Speaker 2 (46:16):
I do, so I think I'm going to several games
this year. I'm not going to all of them. I
put some tickets up for sale, and I know that
you and I talked that there may be a guy
that if I don't have right now, I'm going by myself,
is the bottom line of this conversation. Right now, I
am going to the Seahawks game alone. So when we

(46:37):
get to the preview portion of the Seahawks game, if
I haven't found somebody to go with, we.

Speaker 3 (46:45):
Will, we will.

Speaker 2 (46:46):
We will put it out there for the listeners to
see if somebody wants to spend time with the old
man at the game.

Speaker 3 (46:53):
So well, there you go, folks, So drop in the comments.
Brian will be keeping an eye on that. Yeah, I
may have a gentleman who actually listens to this show.
And he knows who he is because he was texting
me yesterday. He actually he lives up by the you know,
those miserable people up on Lake Erie, so he gets
to hear a whole lot of that. And he said,

(47:15):
what what a difference. And Jeff, you know what, You're
absolutely right, What a difference having a good kicker? What
a difference that makes, right, Because that was the difference
in the Browns game a whole point the game. Did
they miss a field goal? Yeah, they've got that rookie kicker.
So after getting rid of Dustin Hopkins, who couldn't make anything,

(47:35):
I really wanted them to win.

Speaker 2 (47:37):
That game because I'd much rather have the Bengals with
a loss than the Browns with a win.

Speaker 3 (47:40):
Who cares. I don't expect the Browns to be good.

Speaker 2 (47:43):
If they managed to beat the Bengals and give them
a loss early in the season, hey, that would have
been awesome.

Speaker 3 (47:49):
So you screwt it up? Damn it? What do you
expect from Cleveland? They finished today with their final possessions,
they scored to they actually know what about this? The
Steelers score on the opening drive, right, that was something
else We're not used to seeing Brown score. They do.
They get the ball to start the second half and score,
and then this is the way their possession goes. Interception,

(48:11):
turnover on downs, punt, missed field goal, interception, end of game.
That's that's rough Man and everybody was talking about the Bengals.
You have to watch out for Cleveland's defense still, because
the Bengals punted four five times in the second half
and had one field goal which was off of one
of the turn of the field position based on the turnovers.

(48:31):
They got it on the thirty four Cleveland's thirty four,
so be interesting.

Speaker 2 (48:35):
I mean McDonald, the guy that was playing against Broderick
on the Jets made him look bad.

Speaker 3 (48:42):
I am not I am not.

Speaker 2 (48:46):
Eager to see Broderick Jones go against Miles Garrett right now.
I'm just not eager to see that right now. We'll
see what ends up happening in the near.

Speaker 3 (48:54):
Fi try we get there, hopefully, but right now, no, no, no,
not at all. I agree with to you, my friend.
We're in line, we are in sync. We are looking
forward to more Steelers football. We will have a pregame
show for you folks out there later this week. But
until then. My name's Joe and his name's Brian. Don't
forget the like, comment, subscribe, leave a rating review wherever

(49:16):
you're watching or listening from you are watching or listening
to the Steel City Underground podcasts until next time. We
encourage all of our fans out there too, be safe,
be good, and we'll catch you later.

Speaker 1 (49:29):
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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