Will it be an Aaron Rodgers revenge game or a MetLife meltdown?

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 hose.
Joe Kuzma and Brian E. Rose.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Hello everyone, and welcome to another edition of the steel
City Underground podcast. My name is Joe Kuzma. Welcome you back,
my good colleague, buddy and friend of one, mister Brian.
He roach, Brian, what's going on?

Speaker 3 (00:33):
It's uh, you know, it's a beautiful day. It's a
beautiful week It's beautiful still still still, you know, riding
the ride in the crest of the Ohio State defeat
of Texas, looking forward to another beautiful weekend of with
two victories that I will be enjoying.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
I'll tell you what, man, it's it's a wild start
college football.

Speaker 4 (00:57):
What a week man. I mean.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
You had some games like like my alma mater, Youngstown State,
usually start like on a Thursday. Smaller colleges, you get
some of those Thursday games they leak out into the weekend.
You had Sunday games, you had Monday night game with
Bill Belichick, with UNC and TCU. There was a lot
of high profile stuff going on with college football. Now
that was like the appetizer though, Like, now you get

(01:21):
the pro football mixed in with this, and you've got
a Thursday night game, a Friday night game, it's in Brazil,
and you're a normal slate. You got Sunday, you got Monday,
all kinds of good stuff for all intents and purposes.
For what we're going to be speaking about. It's finally
football is back. Steelers and Jets Sunday, one o'clock on
the road in New Jersey. They're not the New Jersey Jets.

(01:42):
There's somehow the New York Jets. Yeah, East Rutherford, New Jersey,
and might be an invasion of Steelers fans there because
they're saying something like forty eight percent of the tickets
and it doesn't help that Labor Day weekend they just
did a no fee sale and I was like looking
at it and I was like, oh goodness, Like there
was a lot of tickets that were still available for

(02:03):
this game. I mean, Jets fans are just they're speaking
with they're wallet right now and they're they're not spending
the money. And I mean that's it's almost unheard of.
We didn't get to do our show about traveling and stuff.
But how frequently can you go and just pick up
tickets straight off a ticket master, not resale, direct from
the team, and have your pick to the litter anywhere
you pretty much want in the stadium. I mean, it's

(02:23):
just it doesn't happen that way pretty much anywhere, especially
when the Steelers are the main attraction coming in as
the away team.

Speaker 3 (02:31):
That's true. I considered going myself, but then decided I
didn't want to.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
You know what, I'm just considering going myself too, But
you know, bigger, bigger things, bigger plans on the horizon.
They're kind of ticketing and toll on that. So when
you're when you got a little bit of the luck
of the Irish on your side, it would just get
I'm just gonna have to be like New York can wait.
They'll have another chance. They'll play the Giants or something
instead in instead of the Jets. But it was very

(02:59):
it was very saladvading though. This would have been a
less expensive trip ticket and everything else than even Atlanta
was last year. Atlanta was pretty easy to get into,
but still they have fans, you know what I mean.
I don't know what this is going to look like
from the Jets side, of things like do they care,
Like I don't even think they care enough to show
up and boo like be mad at Aaron Rodgers. Who

(03:19):
knows if they're even mad at Aaron Rodgers for what
went down there and what could be a revenge game.

Speaker 4 (03:25):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (03:26):
There always seems to be this random Jets fan every
play place I work, right, It's not like there's a
slew of Jets fans. Like when I worked up in
New York, there was like one Jets fan guy that
worked near there. I worked down you know, now near
closer to Philly, and where I work, one Jets guy
is like a Jets fan, and like.

Speaker 4 (03:45):
They may not even watch the game. I don't even know.
They may be like, well, i'll.

Speaker 3 (03:49):
Find out what happened after, you know, hope they win,
but you know, you know, we'll see, Like I don't know,
I don't I don't know how to Neither one of
them would be and I would consider a rapid or
even moderately interested fan.

Speaker 2 (04:08):
Yeah, I mean the only thing, the only thing I
could think of even remotely connected to me is going
down and being in Geneva College and being down on
that field there and seeing Joe Namath's name up on
the you know, the name plate there Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania.
So that, I mean, that is always kind of cool.
And Joe, Joe's still kicking, man. I mean, we've lost
a lot of legends and that guy's thought like hocking

(04:30):
hearing AIDS or whatever, and you know, insurance and and whatnot.
So that's kind of it's kind of fun. But they
I mean, it's been a sad state of it. You
don't even hear anything out of him anymore. He used
to at least criticize the team some like Terry Bradshaw
still comes around and is like, you know, oh, this,
that and the other thing about the Steelers organization. You
don't even hear it from Joe Namath as much. At

(04:50):
least you would think you would. If he did say something,
the New York media would be like all over it
and amplify it some. It's just like this apathy, I
think toward the team and the Steelers. You know, historically,
the Steelers have kind of owned this series as just
kind of an introduction to this. This is the twenty
ninth overall twenty seventh in the regular season meeting between

(05:13):
these two teams. The Steelers have a fourteen game advantage
overall twenty one to seven, a twelve game lead in
the regular season series nineteen to seven. Let's see, Steelers
have captured both of their playoff meetings. The Steelers have
a point seventy five overall win percentage against the Jets
that's tied for the third highest against any NFL opponent

(05:35):
franchise history a minimum of ten head to head games.
And that's kind of I think the rest of these
are kind of just like, yeah, who cares, right, But
I mean the one that we're really cared about is,
you know, the title of the show and talking about
whether or not this is a revenge game. And I
think Jerry Dulek was out here promoting the fact that

(05:59):
this is the first time had two quarterbacks who had
started for the opposing team facing each other in the
first game of a regular season. That sounds confusing, a
little hard to say it roll off the tongue, But
Justin Fields having started for the Steelers Week one last year,
and then Aaron Rodgers having started for the New York
Jets last year, and now they flip positions are going

(06:22):
to face each other. I don't know how much of
a revenge game. This really is for Justin Fields.

Speaker 4 (06:29):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (06:29):
Is there real revenge? Like Mike Tomlin was asked and
finished his presser about, you know, it's kind of like
a two way street. He chose to go there, you know,
and that's.

Speaker 4 (06:39):
The end of it.

Speaker 3 (06:40):
So what are the over under odds that they do.
CBS does some kind of like a freaky Friday flip
switch where they're like last year and then they spin
them all around and then this year. I bet should
they do something dumb like that?

Speaker 4 (06:57):
I don't know. Is it a Justin Field's revenge? Is
there a revenge?

Speaker 3 (07:00):
The only revenge is you paid me too much or
you didn't want to pay me as much.

Speaker 4 (07:04):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (07:05):
I mean, they made him an offer. We know they
made him an offer. He chose to go someplace else.
I don't think that's revenge. There is certainly potentially some
animosity with Aaron Rodgers and the Jets because of the
way they handled his departure. He may, regardless of what
he says, he may have some animosity towards that organization
and hope to inflict some form of revenge upon them.

Speaker 4 (07:30):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (07:32):
Yeah, I think it's an Aaron Rodgers revenge game for sure,
and maybe not so much revenge against. It's Aaron Glenn.
It's his first year there, new head coach, different staff,
not so much revenge against like Aaron Glenn, but maybe
you know, what is it? Whatdy Johnson the owner that
the hierarchy of that organization and just kind of look,

(07:55):
I still can do this this and that. It was
just kind of a weird way that he was like,
go Aaron Rodgers. They brought him in and he met
with them and they were like, do you still want
to play football or something. It was like a very
brief meeting in which they wasted his time coming all
the way out there. That probably doesn't sit very well
with him, and he's just thinking about, you know, the
familiarity between these between the two teams, this is I

(08:20):
don't think it's going to be a good thing for
Justin Fields versus it being a good thing for Aaron Rodgers.
I think there is more of an impact there with Rogers.
I think Rogers knows the talent that's on that roster,
and I think he knows whatever weaknesses there may be
to attack and we're going to see Arthur Smith's schemes.

(08:40):
We're gonna see what that's going to look like. We
got a new extension for Jalen Warren. So I think
Jalen Warren. I think this is important because a lot
of people are in Fantasy World here too. I did
my draft like a week ago, not particularly thrilled with
my team this year, but I got a D plus
in my draft grade last year ended up winning the
whole thing. So but Jalen Warren, he's part of my

(09:03):
stable of guys, and everybody's like, oh, Caleb Johnson, Oh,
Caleb Johnson. I saw Flash tweeting this stuff out earlier too.
Caleb Johnson. I don't think is going to be somebody
who sees a lot of action early. I think he's
going to be eased in. I think he also feels
like one of these backs that needs a little more
volume to keep going. Perhaps, but I don't know that
they're going to risk a whole lot. If he has

(09:23):
like five carries, that might be it. They just didn't
give them. They didn't give this money for Jalen Warren
to not play in the game, and we're talking about
a split that's probably at least sixty for Jalen Warren,
if not seventy, and then the leftovers for Kenneth Gamewell
and then Caleb Johnson.

Speaker 3 (09:42):
Probably you know I drafted I'm playing a fantasy football
game this year because they wrote me into it at
work and.

Speaker 4 (09:52):
I did my normal. I just want to be your
Rooney thing.

Speaker 2 (09:55):
You can't do that. There's not enough players. There's not
enough I do.

Speaker 3 (10:02):
I did have to hold my nose a little bit
and draft Aaron Rodgers, but that's beside the point. He's
a Steeler now, so I'll deal with it.

Speaker 2 (10:09):
Yeah, I didn't do I didn't do Aaron Rodgers. I
have more Steelers than I probably like a little more
share because I took DK to Boswell and the defense
and now they really carried me up. But yeah, just
getting back to Johnson, I mean, had he had a
lot of time in the preseason and you know, the
different reports throughout camp and stuff like that, I just

(10:30):
don't expect him to come out and carry the ball
fifteen to twenty times over Jalen Warren after especially with
this contract that just dropped. So j Jalen Warren is
the guy. Kenneth Gainwell is the experienced guy. We've seen
this before. I don't want to put Caleb Johnson in
Benny Snell territory. I'm going to put him in like
James Connor territory. Remember how badly we wanted to see
James Connor and we never got to see him. Bell

(10:51):
never came off the field, and Connor was you know,
RB two. I think Johnson's probably firmly like a two
B or a three on this up chart at as
it stands right now. You might see him a little
later in the season, but I think firmly unless there's
something knock on wood, injuries or otherwise, it's gonna be
a Jalen Warren game, and then you're gonna have Aaron

(11:13):
Rodgers working off of that, maybe with some play action,
with some quick passes. I'm gonna say the one thing
that's going to look different. And nobody thinks that these
teams are going to light up the scoreboard when we
get later into you know, the predictions over unders and
stuff like that. But Aaron Rodgers, I think if he
puts up maybe the same amount of he's gonna put

(11:34):
up better stats than justin fields Dad in Pittsburgh last year.

Speaker 3 (11:36):
Absolutely, yeah, I would be stunned. If he didn't, he'll
be on par with Russell Wilson's stats. Maybe maybe nudge
that just a little bit. But he's not gonna go
out there and be Joe Burrow or Josh Allen or
somebody like that.

Speaker 4 (11:49):
Him.

Speaker 3 (11:50):
He will definitely do better than Russell Wilson. End of
the season. He probably won't do as well as Russell
Wilson against the Bengals during that one.

Speaker 2 (12:01):
Game that was wild, What a cold game. I was
just thinking about that. I was there. You make a
good point with that, But what I wanted to go
with that toward the end of the season, do you
know what started to happen? And this happened with fields too.
By the way, these were the guys we were tired
about all last year. They hold the ball forever, they
sit there, they wait, They're like waiting like to cross

(12:22):
the street, and then the light never goes off.

Speaker 4 (12:25):
You know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (12:26):
Aaron Rodgers ain't gonna have that problem, I don't think
so you agree, Yeah, So even if he's throwing the
ball and then the stands, I don't know he's gonna
get hit a lot, sacked a lot, or anything like that.
I think I think that much will compliment with the Steelers,
So that Rogers factor, I think will be pretty definite.
Now I wonder what the rest of the factor will

(12:47):
be DK Metcalf, Jonas Smith. Maybe we'll put them into
some of our predictions and stuff later with some of
the matchups. Let's let's talk about justin fields though a
little bit, because this is somebody that a lot of
fans want to be for twenty twenty five, and I
was kind of middling on it. Everybody just thought, oh,
former first round pick, this is a player that sky's

(13:09):
the limit. He hasn't been developed, he hasn't been coached properly. This,
that and the other thing. I don't know that the
Jets have the support system to support him in the
same way that Mike Tomlin, Arthur Smith Steelers defense did.
And then he's gonna face the Steelers defense that is revamped,
and that's without we didn't get an the injury report yet,
but Elijah Vera Tucker out for the season now left tackle. Yikes,

(13:35):
that's just it doesn't bode well for this front four.
You're gonna have Cam Habert, who's supposed to be playing right.
Everybody says it Terrell Austin was just out there kind
of alluding to it. Mike Tomlin blew it off, brushed
it off, said, Nope, there's nothing going on there. And
then you're gonna have Canu Benton, Derek Harmon of Chorus
ruled out. And then you've got Alex Heismith green light

(13:58):
lights on for him. Mike Tomlin said, like might even
be on for Nick Krbick. You got TJ. Watt everybody else.
You got Patrick Queen, you got Peyton Wilson, You've got
Cole Holcom backing them up. I don't know where Justin
Fields is gonna go with the ball because he takes
forever and he tries to run, there's not gonna be
anywhere to run. Jalen Ramsey's gonna come up there and
clock him. If anything. You still got Joey Porter, you

(14:18):
still got Darius Slay, you got jan thorn Hill. Chuck
Clark could have a revenge game here too, because he
played with the Jets. There's a lot of, like you know,
similarities between these teams are people that have been between
both organizations, and of course Deshaun Elliott. I'm just looking
for I'm looking for like a stifling, like almost kind
of like they're gonna set the bar because it's gonna

(14:39):
be sloppy extension of preseason September football. We're gonna set
some lofty expectations by what the Steelers do. I think
it gets the Jets in this game, unfortunately. I think
they're gonna look I think they're gonna look that good,
and we're gonna have to be like, Okay, let's pull
back a little bit. When they play somebody else, or
they have somebody else that they face that's the starting
quarterback or different offense, it's going to look a little different.

(15:02):
But I mean, I'm not particularly afraid of Garrett Wilson
or Breise Hall or any of the weapons that the
Jets have, And a lot of people are looking at
this to be a low scoring affair, and I think
the Steelers are just their defense is going to be
the main factor in the outcome of this game.

Speaker 3 (15:21):
You know, as we start early in the season, I
much prefer to take a very cautious approach to my
expectations for the simple fact of what you said preseason carryover.
A lot of starters didn't play, a lot of starters
didn't play at all. Not even a single snap in

(15:41):
the preseason. I reserve judgment on just how dominant I
think this team is going to look right off the bat.
I am cautiously hoping for a victory in a game
that I think could just be fugly.

Speaker 2 (15:59):
Yeah, be fuckly. Sorry, Elija Vera Tucker Pensilvana's right guard,
and I left tackle reading my charts wrong. Another familiar
name that was on. I guess they should just jump
into the injury report real quick. While I got the idea,
but I think the ugly part of it's going to
be justin fields. That's what I think. I think that
I think that constant, even with some miscommunication, you might

(16:20):
get that game script that starts the game and the
Jets find a rhythm somewhere in the first three series
where they're able to run like a handful of plays.
It might lead to a score, whether that's touchdown, field goal, whatever,
and then I think it's done. I think they get
I think it dries up for them. I don't think
there's gonna be any kind of I don't think there's
gonna be any kind of positive adjustments that will end
up being made there.

Speaker 4 (16:42):
I'm just gonna I'm like I said, I'm in wait
and see mode. I don't.

Speaker 3 (16:46):
I don't feel like I learned anything in preseason, and
that makes me cautious about what I'm going to expect.
So it's like, I feel like this is the first
preseason game kind of as far as the starters go,
and I need to see what they what they look like.

Speaker 2 (17:02):
I had. I've seen Ramsey and Sleigh in camp and
just seeing them, seeing one Thornhill want to knock someone's
block off, I mean you thought. I just hope he
doesn't get ejected like Casey did some full of stuff.
I think Thornhill could be in that same territory. So
we'll see another interesting one. Okay, so injury report, let

(17:23):
me jump into this real quick. We mentioned very Tucker
already out for the season. That's a blow to them
in their offensive line. We've got Sauce Gardner limited in practice.

Speaker 4 (17:34):
Whether it's by the way, he's not limited because of
a fibula.

Speaker 3 (17:37):
He's limited because he went on hot ones and he's
got fire shooting out of his butt.

Speaker 4 (17:42):
That's why he's limited, if you.

Speaker 2 (17:44):
If you say so. A d MP two is chikuara
kor four. We remember he's a reserve tackle now with
the New York Jets, and Torod Taylor back got QB.
So something happens with Justin Fields. I'm not sure who
they got. Let me see if they get somebody further
down their depth chart here, not on their official one,
but they may have someone. I don't even know that
they have somebody on.

Speaker 4 (18:03):
The practice squad emergency quarterback.

Speaker 2 (18:06):
It's an unofficial depth chart. I'm gonna look at their
roster real quick. Now I'm only seeing Taylor and Fields,
so unless there's some other transaction, let's see. So they're
on the official roster. Oh, Brady Brady Cook out of
Missouri rookie as on their practice squad and could be
elevated maybe as an emergency quarterback emergency quarterback quarterback. We'll

(18:28):
see what Taylor ends up doing. But that's kind of
not a great situation for them, particularly you're down an
offensive lineman and the communication on the interior all all
of a sudden starts to collapse. Yikes, he's you know,
who knows what happens there. I'm not advocating to hurt
Justin Fields, but that you're one step away from their
season already being over. Essentially taking for I don't know

(18:50):
that are people still taking for arch Manning after that game?

Speaker 4 (18:54):
Not after that game, they're not, you know.

Speaker 3 (18:56):
As I said, as I said to my brother, the
real question is is arch Manning just not that good
or is that defense actually better than they were last year?
And I don't know the answer to that. Right again,
it's still early in the season. These guys are not
I mean, they're not who they're going to be at
the end of the year. We'll see how they trend out.

(19:17):
I mean, I'm glad we got to win, but I'd
like to see a little more offense than that.

Speaker 2 (19:21):
Yeah, well, you know what, first time quarterback, playing so
many new players, and not to talk about just Ohio State,
but it was kind of a joke of well, Ohio
State did this, and you've got Matt Patricia's a new
DC there, and it's like, well that made arch Manning.
And it's the first game. They're sloppy too, right, and
you're playing it's one versus three, So arch Manning can
come out next week and just light it up. And

(19:43):
now all of a sudden, like there's people there completely
they've jumped off the bandwagon. It's like after one game.
Come on, folks, I'm like, one game isn't going to
define a career. But at the same time as he
had a career yet, you know, he's just kind of
living off the namesake. On the Steeler side injuries, Derek
Carmon rolled out already by Mike tom Andy says he's
the only player that's actually out. Nick Herbig is questionable,

(20:07):
Alex high Smith, Calvin Austin the third are looking to
be ready to go. In fact, they're not even on
the injury report. Only Herbig and Hartmon were. So that
was as a ticket. That was as of the Wednesday
injury report. I don't know that we're gonna have an
update before we close out this show, so keep an
eye out on our socials and everywhere else as we
update you on that. But it's nice to be mostly

(20:30):
healthy coming into this. How are you going to get
to watch this game? We usually do this in a
segment real quick on this show too, So let me pull.

Speaker 3 (20:38):
I've been dying to see this map. I got to
see the map. I need the colors on the map
that it makes sense to me. It is red. Everybody
want this is the game. They set this up Week
one for CBS one o'clock kickoff.

Speaker 2 (20:50):
You've got Iron Eagle with JJ Watt this year because
Charles Davis went over to college football, now I believe, so, Yeah,
I think Charles Davis is now college guy named Avid Wasashburn.
So they've replaced Charles Davis with JJ.

Speaker 3 (21:03):
Want and your staff ask questions, go go back to Okay,
so questions about that?

Speaker 4 (21:07):
Yeah, you're gonna ask me.

Speaker 2 (21:08):
And I don't have it ready yet. I don't know
who the other colors are because I didn't. I can't
to know who.

Speaker 3 (21:12):
Green is why because I need to know why Green
is up in the one quarter, and I need to
know who Blue is. I'm assuming Blue is Indianapolis, yes,
and maybe Jacksonville or Miami.

Speaker 2 (21:23):
Uh, you're correct, Miami Dolphins at Indianapolis Cults in the blue.

Speaker 4 (21:28):
Okay, that makes sense.

Speaker 2 (21:29):
Raiders buy that. Raiders and Patriots. Oh, Charles Davis was
actually on the Colts and Dolphins game. I thought he
was doing more college football. Maybe that's to do with
this travel. So and.

Speaker 4 (21:41):
Eagle farted near him, and that was It's like.

Speaker 2 (21:44):
I actually enjoyed them. I had them a lot last year.
I really enjoyed Charles Davis more than anybody like Charles Davis.

Speaker 4 (21:50):
As I said, I like, I don't know if I
like Iron Eagle, but I like Charles Davis. That's why
I blamed.

Speaker 3 (21:54):
It on Iron Egles and then ARIZONI Green was the Pats.

Speaker 4 (21:59):
Green was the.

Speaker 2 (22:00):
Yeah, Raiders and Patriots are in the Green, and then
the car in the Why gold?

Speaker 3 (22:06):
Why up in northern Seattle or northern Washington and Idaho
Spokane don't I don't know. I can't figure that who
they needed? Is it like, well, we got to play something?
Do you think they just put the Steelers game on.
I honestly believe there's better chance that there's more fans
wanting to watch that there than there are that stupid Patriots.

Speaker 2 (22:27):
Well, if we happen to have any a Steelers nation
tuning in from the Spokane, Washington area or the northern
little tip of Idaho there into Montana pingus and just say,
what the hell it's your station managers, that it's somebody
up there as a Raiders or Patriots fan, and more
unlikely are probably more recently a Patriots fan than anything

(22:51):
those are. Let's put it that way. That's not a
marquee matchup. In fact, the reason this one is is
because it's Rogers against his old team in a New
York market. That's the reason why it wouldn't be right. Yeah,
no one would care about this one. In fact, the
whole slate is pretty blood when you're talking about Dolphins, Colts,
and then Cardinals and Saints as well. So that just
uh yeah, the not the best pick of the litter here.

(23:13):
But one o'clock game MetLife Stadium, East Brother Third, New Jersey.
We got synthetic turf. You got maybe eighty two thousand
fans are going to be in attend It's about forty
eight percent of those were reported by somewhere. Ticketmaster's stub hub.
Whoever was doing it said that the Steelers fans are
buying them all up CBS Paramount plus NFL plus if

(23:34):
you're on a mobile phone or watch it delayed after
the game has already finished. Airing Steelers Audio Network one
O two five w DVE out of Pittsburgh in nine
seventy WBGG also out of Pittsburgh with Rob King, Max
Starks now on the color Rest in Peace Craig Wolfy,
so Stark's taken over that role again and then Missy

(23:56):
Matthews is your field reporter. There's also ESPN Radio is
going to cover this nationwide with Steve Levy, Sal Palantonio
and Courtney Cronin. If you're on the satellite radio, the
Steelers are on one oh six for serious XM is
three eighty three on the internet eight twenty six. Your
referee is Bill Vinovich, and we've got a line of

(24:18):
the Steelers minus three with an over under thirty eight
and a half. Keep that in mind, Brian, when we
make our predictions in a little bit, so, okay, are
x factors of the game, the matchups that we want
to be looking at, And we'll say, if Sauce Gardner
is healthy and playing, but it's probably gonna be him
in DK Metcalf, maybe Garrett Wilson on the other side

(24:42):
with Darius Slayer, Joey Porter. There question, Ramsey's got to
be playing in the middle.

Speaker 1 (24:48):
Now.

Speaker 2 (24:48):
They got a tight end there, I got they got
a rookie tit end Mason Taylor. That could be kind
of interesting to keep your eye on. But against Ramsey,
we're gonna see, I don't know, like where the Jets Ryan.
They got Josh Reynolds and got Alan Lazard. I mean
Garrett Wilson, like, is there really a matchup problem when

(25:10):
you're looking anywhere. Garrett Wilson's good, we know that, but
he's had his flaws too, and we're gonna see if
Justin Wilson, Justin Fields can deliver Wilson the ball because
he had a problem doing that with George Pickens. I'd
say Wilson is maybe an edge above Pickens, but I
don't know that he's like on a He's definitely not
a Jamar Chase or somebody like that. He's not elite
tier Justin Jefferson. He may not even be a DK

(25:32):
Metcalf type of player. Whereas, like I said earlier, John
new Smith, I take a look at you got. You
got a load of dudes on the Jets defense. I
will give them some credit their secondary Sauce Gardner, they
got Brandon Stevens, Andre Cisco and Tony Adams might have
their hands full. Michael Carter might have his hands full
as a nickelback. The rest of that secondary, it's gonna

(25:53):
be all that front seven, will McDonald, quinn, Williams Harrison,
William Phillips, Jermaine Johnson. You got Jamien Sherwood with Quincy
Williams and Marcella McQuary ball as your linebackers. Those are
the guys they're gonna have to make do because you're
gonna have fire Muth and Smith I think, going all
over the place, and you're gonna be playing bigs probably

(26:14):
so uh, you're gonna have Warren maybe pounding the ball
and then all of a sudden it's gonna be one
of these little flip passes to a tight end, or
you got one of these little tiny guys Kelvin Austin
or Roman Wilson that squirts out running a four to
two or a four three forty. The Steeler's got some
exciting options here. And I just, I just I don't
like this matchup for the Jets. I don't try and

(26:35):
who am I kidding? I'm gonna sound biased, but I do.
I feel very optimistic about this game, maybe like we
can come back to me next week week two, after
I see this and then put that up against the Seahawks.
I might have a little bit different of opinion based
on some of those matchups and based on what Seattle
does in their Week one game, but this one, it
says there's a lot of unknowns, new coaching staff and

(26:55):
things like that. I think Aaron gled will have the
defense playing pretty well, but I don't know so that
the talent necessarily matches what the Steelers have at a
lot of their skill positions. I think the Jets have
a solid defense, and so it's really I don't necessarily.

Speaker 4 (27:12):
Think it's a bad matchup.

Speaker 3 (27:14):
What I think is this is a good first game
for a revamped Steelers offense because it's not a crap defense.
You're playing against some quality opponents, maybe not at the
elite tier on all levels, but they should be maybe
a top half of the of the league, potentially even
a top ten defense. And if so, this is a

(27:36):
good a good sounding board for where this offense is.
I wanted to mention this when we were talking about
running backs Jalen Warre. I agree Jalen Warren's going to
get the bulk of the carries, especially initially, but I
have a very very strong feeling that what is going
to happen with this group of running backs is whoever's
hot is going to get the rock and if they

(27:57):
if they start running with Jalen Warren and Aayalen Warren
is getting nada, they're gonna switch and try somebody else.
And whether that's gain Well next or Johnston next, I
don't know. But I don't think that anybody on in
this group has the repertoire or excuse me, the resume

(28:18):
to dictate they're the guy. And that includes Jalen Warren,
who I like a lot. So you know, I think
there's gonna be some feeling out to try and figure
out what this running back group is going to look
like and and where they're going to move the carriers,
because I do agree I think they are going to.

Speaker 4 (28:35):
Want to run the ball. The question is are they
going to be able to?

Speaker 3 (28:40):
And that is the one thing I will take away
from preseason is the answer to that seemed to be
not so much.

Speaker 4 (28:47):
So we'll see.

Speaker 2 (28:48):
Yeah, And you know, it's tough to say in the
in that environment too, what you're really looking at, and
you know, always always Braylan Allen is the other running back.
He carried the ball ninety two times for three hundred
and thirty four yards two touchdowns last season of three
point six average, so just under four Breese Hall out

(29:08):
of four point two, but was very shy of a
thousand yards himself in this offense sixteen games, two hundred
nine carries, only eight hundred and seventy six yards, had
five touchdowns. He did catch fifty seven passes for four
hundred and eighty three yards. I guarantee you justin fields
will be looking at him and Mason Taylor a lot

(29:30):
as the pressure comes. He tries to make those reads.
He doesn't have the first read, he's going to take
off and run or he's going to dump off the ball.
So it's going to be important for those, you know,
whether whoever has that assignment, I'm not gonna say it's
probably not Ramsey unless if he doesn't get cleared out
by a tight end or a third wide receiver out there,
I think then maybe, you know, he might spy running back.

(29:50):
It's probably going to be like Peyton Wilson, Patrick Queen May,
maybe even Cole Holcomb. I had another idea on this too.
Oh yeah. Steve Wilkes is a name that you probably
have heard of many times. He's a defensive coordinator for
the New York Jets, and he's had so many stints
around the league, usually only one year. In those capacities,

(30:11):
one year, it is not a great resume. Yeah, he
got to be a head coach one year for the
Arizona Cardinals in twenty eighteen, after being with the Carolina Panthers.
He did that. He has two stints each of Oh,
I'm sorry. He actually got to Cleveland at one point
here too, and then was a head coach in Carolina
two So he did like Carolina for a year, Arizona
for a year, Cleveland for a year, and then wasn't

(30:33):
a defensive coordinator or head coach for several years before
I think an interim basis in Carolina in twenty twenty two,
defensive coordinator with the forty nine ers twenty twenty three,
and now after not being a coordinator last season, either
ends up with the New York Jets this season, and

(30:53):
it's we'll see. They'll probably be more buttoned up. Maybe
again it's the run. Maybe, But I don't think he's
gonna have like the kind of I don't think he
has the same talent he would have had to deploy
like he did with San Francisco. No, obviously, and Tomlin
they've been around long enough. I mean, he used to

(31:15):
be in Cleveland, so they kind of know some of
the schemes they know some they've seen this, right, they've
seen some of what Steve Wilks may like to do,
so they're prepared for it. This isn't completely fresh. On
the other side though, On the offense, uh Tanner Egstrom
extra in he's like goes from a past game coordinator

(31:36):
in Detroit, like offensive quality control, he had some he
had back in twenty twenty he was in the XFL.
So within five years he now becomes an offensive coordinator
and for an NFL team. So that's a pretty lofty
ascension there for this young man. And we will see,
you know, we'll see what he Yeah, we'll see what

(31:56):
he what happens there, because you know, Aaron Glenn is
not he was brought in for defense. He's defensive minded coach,
brought in probably for discipline and brought in, let's face it,
he's off of that bellet you know, part of that
Belichick tree too at one point, so got off of
the Lions success. So we will see. Everybody's always trying

(32:18):
to copycat, you know what I mean. You got both
of the coordinators coming off of the Detroit Lions and
getting jobs this season. So yeah, we'll see what Aaron
Glenn does in his debut predictions, Brian, I've got the Steelers.
I think that thirty eight and a half over under.

(32:39):
I feel like that could be beat. I think that
could be an over. I just I think that's exceptionally low.
These offenses that bad. That's like sixteen points for each side.
I could see the Jets being held under sixteen points,
but I think the Steelers get to twenty plus, and
I don't think it's going to be six Chris bosswell
Field goals again like it wasn't Lana last year.

Speaker 4 (33:01):
Well, look, I'm going to bring something back that we
haven't done in several.

Speaker 3 (33:05):
Years, which is this guy. What what does the bobblehead say?
Because you know he has a pretty good win loss record.
I'm with you.

Speaker 4 (33:15):
I think the Steelers eke out of win.

Speaker 3 (33:16):
I don't think that the that the over is likely
to be honest with you, that's just my pessimism about
where this. Both squads are this early in the season.
And your math is terrible. By the way, put maths
with Joe up. Sixteen is thirty two. Now, yeah, so
your math is right. I'm sorry, it'd be like nineteen
point twenty five per team. I don't expect both teams

(33:39):
to break twenty and it wouldn't surprise me if neither
one of them does.

Speaker 4 (33:44):
But yeah, there you go.

Speaker 3 (33:46):
Got I say yes, the babble says yes.

Speaker 2 (33:51):
I did that too.

Speaker 4 (33:53):
Man.

Speaker 2 (33:53):
I feel like such a an idiot. And you know
what I took like calculus in college, Like I should
be bad at math. It's just I don't. I don't
use that same stuff anymore, you know what I mean.

Speaker 3 (34:06):
You know, here's the thing. I took calculus in the
seventh grade. Wow, so you know, don't ask me to
do it now. I don't remember any of it.

Speaker 2 (34:20):
I hear you on that loud and clear, my friend. Well,
I got a Steelers victory. You got a Steelers victory.

Speaker 3 (34:25):
Yes, I am the bobblehead. Both agree Steelers victory. And
but I think it's it's it's much closer and it'll
be it'll feel like a Steeler's victory has felt over
the past four seasons, where afterwards were like, yeah, we won,
but I feel like I need a shower.

Speaker 2 (34:45):
Yeah, I've got, at least on the Steelers end, some
bonus coverage at the very very tail end. Here we
have some updated and updated injury report Cam Hayward day
of rest. Nick Herbick his participation, his participation. I can't

(35:08):
talk or do math right now. His participation still limited.
So we'll see if he suits up or if they
just if they just rist him. Maybe Jack Sawyer gets
a little bit of time on the field on Sunday,
which will be interesting.

Speaker 4 (35:22):
Nick Krbik's not there. I think he's gonna so.

Speaker 2 (35:24):
Yeah, well it got to be somebody, right, gotta be somebody.
So well, I think that does it, my friend?

Speaker 3 (35:32):
Before we No, no, we've got three out games. We
have to at least give our impressions up.

Speaker 2 (35:36):
Oh you know what, we never did our AFC stuff
for this this season either, And I don't know if
I could do blow up, blow in our in our
full predictions for the.

Speaker 4 (35:45):
Yeah, all I care about is who's who are they playing?
And what do we think?

Speaker 2 (35:50):
Well, you got Browns and Bengals are against each other.

Speaker 3 (35:52):
Oh well, see that there's only two games that we
have to care about. Yeah, well, I look, I will
be honest. I would I would much prefer Browns to
come out of that with a victory, but I think
the Bengals probably destroy them.

Speaker 2 (36:05):
It is in Cleveland. Don't care yeah, I'm probably Joe Flacco.
But you know what, the don't care the Bengals. The
Bengals defense. Okay, do the Bengals? All right, we could
do this very quite simply. Are the Bengals better this year?

Speaker 4 (36:19):
Did?

Speaker 2 (36:19):
They finished with a better record than they did last season?
And I think they have to pull that up for
you too, if you don't remember what their record was
last season.

Speaker 4 (36:31):
Question.

Speaker 3 (36:32):
I expect Joe Burrow to be as good, if not better,
this season than he was last year.

Speaker 4 (36:38):
And I don't expect their defense to be as bad.

Speaker 3 (36:42):
By no means am I saying their defense will be good,
but it won't be as bad. So if Burrow is
putting up thirty plus points in games, I don't think
they're losing them this time.

Speaker 2 (36:53):
Okay, well, all right, you you have a nine to
eight Bengals team. Last season, they scored they were sixth
fort and points four twenty seven point eight, But they
were twenty five point five, which was twenty five twenty
fifth out of thirty two teams. They're not climbing out
of the bottom of the basement. When it comes to
points against points four. It's kind of hard for them

(37:16):
to be better than what they were last year, sixth.
I mean, granted they could be top five, that might
be fifth out of that. I don't know Chase Brown
is going to nudge them that much. I don't know
about the offensive line. But you know they still have
t Higgins and Jamar Chase and Joe Burrow. I mean
that core there could be backyard football. Now. If you
take that up against the Cleveland Browns now Brown's home game,

(37:41):
the fans are going to be a little rowdy. They're
still into it. They were three and fourteen last year.
They were dead last in points four fifteen point two
and they were twenty seventh in the league. They were
worse than the Bengals and points against. Just I don't
know these point one more points per game. It's not
a real point, right, But still I don't know man

(38:02):
Brown's defense.

Speaker 3 (38:03):
Anybody score a point one point a point one point,
I don't know what that play is.

Speaker 4 (38:07):
What play gets you point one on the scoreboard, I
don't know.

Speaker 2 (38:10):
I just I don't know what Cleveland's gonna do to
slow down. And Jim Schwartz usually has this kind of
he has a year or two of success and then
all of a sudden flames out. I'm not really sure
that they've got enough guys outside of Miles Garrett to
provide that pressure. I'm not sure that their secondary is
any better or worse, any improved than it was last year.
It's still a lot of the same old, same old.

(38:31):
You got Joe Flacco, who's running the ball. You've got
some rookies, he got maybe some committee. I don't think
their offensive line is better. Uh, like everything around the
board there just doesn't doesn't really give you a whole
lot of confidence other than they're playing at home. If
they play at Cincinnati, I think they get smoked. If
they play playing in Cleveland, maybe it's a little bit
closer of a game. I don't know what the odds

(38:53):
are on theirs. Let me see real quick if I
can pull that one up. And then of course the
Browns get the Ravens next too, So that's.

Speaker 3 (39:01):
Uh nice, nice and to start for the Browns. Yeah, unfortunately,
I would love them to be too.

Speaker 4 (39:07):
And oh, to be honest with.

Speaker 2 (39:08):
You, Bengals are favored by five forty seven and a
half over under, so they think Flacco is going to
just air it out on that bad Bengals defense. It's
a complete different. That's a that's almost a ten point
swing from the Jets and Steelers game.

Speaker 3 (39:21):
Like, I almost go with that number just on the
Bengals side, based on the way they've been able to
score points in my lack of confidence in the Browns.

Speaker 4 (39:31):
But hey, you know what, I'm nod to the Bengals.
I've said. I think the Bengals end up winning that game.
I would I will be.

Speaker 3 (39:41):
Very passively hoping and rooting for the Browns to be victorious,
even though I probably will never go yay go whatever.
The name of their stupid health.

Speaker 2 (39:49):
Is Brownie, I think, yeah, yeah, that's.

Speaker 4 (39:54):
A skid mark. It would have been a better name.

Speaker 2 (39:57):
Better, still, better than trying to be the dogs or
whatever they were trying to do. So that's still better,
all right. Who the Ravens got this week? Okay, the
Ravens somewhere around here Sunday night football against the Buffalo
Bills in Buffalo, Brian, I should have known that one.
I should have known that one, because they're talking about

(40:17):
Mark Andrews dropping the ball and returning back to Buffalo.
He's cooked. I think he's mentally wrecked. That they're never
recovering from that that's going to be the pinnacle of
Lamar Jackson's postseason.

Speaker 4 (40:32):
Let's let's hope.

Speaker 3 (40:33):
So I'm going to I hope the Ravens lose. I'm
going to go with the Bills in that. That may
be more wishful thinking than it is fact, but I'm
I am now hoping for definitely there to be only
two teams in the AFC North that are victorious this weekend.

Speaker 2 (40:51):
It would be nice if the Steelers could just come
out there and you know, do their own things. So
we'll see, we'll see what Zach Gore does is the
second year, is a defensive coordinator. I was going to
get you the line on this one as well. We've
got it's a push, it's a pick them. There's no

(41:11):
favorite team in this but the over under is fifty
and a half moses two points off of the Bengals
and Browns, though, like, who do they think the Browns?
I don't know where's all the firepark. It's got to
be all from the Bengals. They must think the Bengals
are going to lay like forty points on Cleveland or something.

Speaker 3 (41:25):
But see you've got one guy giving the spread, then right,
here's a guy who's like the spreads five points and
another guy's over there going. I think the Bengals score
thirty seven and the Browns might get ten.

Speaker 4 (41:41):
Hey, they over unders forty eight.

Speaker 2 (41:43):
They're not in sync. Yeah, I just sorry.

Speaker 4 (41:48):
I think that.

Speaker 2 (41:49):
I think the Bengals had a pretty decent defensive coordinator
in lou An Arumo. I think they let him go.
I think that's a mistake, and I think that they
might be further doomed. They should have never let Jesse
Bates go right and on the flip, they shouldn't have
no and they didn't have anybody else like the Steelers
moved on for micka Fitzpatrick, but Jalen Ramsey in return.

(42:13):
I think that's a pretty even exchange. There might actually
favor the Steelers depending on how we see this in
the future. So do we think the Browns are better
and worse than last year three wins? I think they're
I in the same category. It might be a four
win team. I didn't go through it blow by blow.

(42:34):
I don't I'd have to look at the schedule.

Speaker 3 (42:37):
I'd like I lean towards can they be that bad again?

Speaker 4 (42:43):
I'd give them the benefit of the doubts.

Speaker 2 (42:45):
I don't think there. I don't think they've improved anything.
I don't think there's anything there. They're just trying to
They're trying to.

Speaker 4 (42:50):
Not going to have any games. Any games with Deshaun Watson.
They will have zero games with Deshaun Watson. That is
an improvement in and of itself.

Speaker 2 (42:58):
Yeah, but they're trying to tiptoe out of his con
track through this season. They're trying to get on the
back side of that. And then you know they have
those picks because they passed on Travis Hunter. So yeah,
for next year. So I think they're already their eyes
are are looking ahead. And if they for whatever reason
Kevin Stevanski isn't there again, what a wasted gear and
they just reboot everything again next year. I think it's

(43:19):
just disastrous for their franchise. We'll see if Zach Taylor
with the Bengals over nine wins, they didn't make the postseason.
I don't think nine wins is enough in the AFC,
especially the AFC North. So they're gonna have to get
to ten somehow and not have a slow start. And
the Baltimore Ravens are they going to be like this
unstoppable juggernaut that you know, everyone like predicts pretty much.

(43:41):
Are they going to win the AFC North again? I
know they're favored. I think I think that's fair to
say both of us favored to repeat. But you don't
have always a lot of repeat champions in this division.
It just doesn't happen. And they've got that first place schedule.
They do have some scrubby teams that to end up playing.
You know, they will see if the Bears are any better,
the Jets, the Patriots they do have. They do have

(44:02):
some favorable things on the schedule. They do have three
straight road games, which I find is pretty interesting, and
their buys in Week seven, so they don't get that
late by this time around. But can they improve upon
twelve and five of last year. I don't think they do.
I'm not sure they get to twelve this year. I
think I think everybody in the division gives.

Speaker 3 (44:22):
Twelve and five I think is very reasonable for them. Yeah,
I could get to expect them to win thirteen games.

Speaker 2 (44:28):
I don't think so. Steelers won ten. I think that's
where we're going to see the Steelers again. Maybe to
eleven we'll see, maybe eleven, Maybe we'll see I should
have done more of a prediction thing. Brian, we dropped ball.
We could have done that earlier this week, but we
were busy happy Labor Day to do.

Speaker 4 (44:41):
I hope that you.

Speaker 2 (44:42):
Had an enjoyable holiday and sometime off you know that, I.

Speaker 3 (44:47):
I mean, you know I didn't have an enjoyable Labor Day.
Why you saw it on Facebook?

Speaker 2 (44:53):
Oh my goodness, Labor day, man, Brian, Buddy Man.

Speaker 4 (44:59):
The cars. Yeah, never an enjoyable experience.

Speaker 2 (45:03):
That was your mini.

Speaker 4 (45:03):
Just so everybody knows. Yeah, just everybody knows.

Speaker 3 (45:06):
I'm at a stoplight with my dog Cooper in the
backseat of my Mini Cooper and sitting at a stoplight.

Speaker 4 (45:13):
Car comes from the left, car comes from the right.
The car coming from the right decides it wants to turn.
The car from the left decides, oh, I can get
around him.

Speaker 3 (45:22):
I don't need to stop because he's turning. This guy
goes I can beat him, and then they whack into
each other. This guy ricochets off that and hits me
and my car's undrivable.

Speaker 2 (45:32):
Yeah, annoying, annoying, but I'm glad it wasn't anything too catastrophic.

Speaker 4 (45:37):
There on your own, no idea, how annoyed I was.

Speaker 2 (45:41):
I trust me, man, I could feel it. I feel it.
I feel it coming through the camera right now. So
all right, folks, that'll do it for us. Let us
know your thoughts. Steelers and Jets, one o'clock Sunday, Week one.
Here we go, Aaron Rodgers era. A whole lot of
change in Pittsburgh. This team three years ago, Daron Aaron

(46:03):
Rodgers year. I spelled it. Rearranged the letters a little bit, right.
They drop the why, but we'll see it is a
different era though. For the Steelers, this will be their
fourth straight different starting quarterback for Week one, after starting
Mitchell Trubisky than Kenny Pickett and then Justin Fields last season.

(46:23):
So that's each of your last four years. Now it's
Aaron Rodgers turn. Let's see if he has any different results.
And I mean, man, this team, you don't recognize many
of the players if you were there, even for Kenny
Pickett's start a few years ago Week one, completely different
booking team Steelers did. They did the reboot work. This
is the first step. And you know, these are the
games that you can't take for granted. These are the

(46:45):
ones that you need to get that dubbed because we
were saying, Bengals and Ravens. It's a hotly contested division,
maybe one of the best in Pro football. It's either
this one or the other North maybe with the you know,
the Lions, the Vikings, the Bears and the and the Packers,
that one's going to be hotly contested too, So sure is.
Don't forget to like, comment and subscribe, watching or listening

(47:05):
wherever you are. Thank you for supporting Steel City Underground.
My name is Joe Kuzma. His name is mister Brian E. Roach.
Till next time. We encourage everyone out there to be safe,
be good. Here we go, stealers, and we'll catch you later.

Speaker 1 (47:21):
We would like to thank you for listening and remind
our listeners to follow us on social media and our
website www dot Steelcityunderground dot com

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