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HR2: AFC North Preview · In the Locker Room presented by Neighborhood Ford Store (Pittsburgh Steelers)

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio. Brought to you
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: Four-man rush.
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: Joe fires.
• 0:28
  Speaker 4: Great catch. Jamar Chase.
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: The ball whizzed by Johnson's ear hole, and Chase caught
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: it for a first down.
• 0:38
  Speaker 4: The mellifluous tones of our guest, the fine, outstanding play-by-play
• 0:44
  Speaker 4: man of the Cincinnati Bengals, Dan Hoard, joining us in
• 0:47
  Speaker 4: the locker room with Max Starks. I'm Rob King. Dan,
• 0:50
  Speaker 4: thanks very much for being with us.
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: Rob and Max, it is Steelers week here in Cincinnati, Ohio.
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: That means we are fired up and hoping the Bengals
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: can go to your fine city and come home with
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: a win. It doesn't happen all that often.
• 1:05
  Speaker 4: Well, that makes exactly one-third of us on these airwaves
• 1:08
  Speaker 4: who are hoping for that, Dan. The other two-thirds being
• 1:11
  Speaker 4: Max and me. Dan, I want to start with the defense.
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: In the past, that might have been if we were
• 1:20
  Speaker 4: having a 20-minute conversation the last 15 seconds as we
• 1:24
  Speaker 4: were turning to walk away, hey, what about the defense?
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: But that's not the case this year. The defense has
• 1:30
  Speaker 4: been very good for the Bengals. I have to ask you,
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: is it as simple as the glue of Dexter Lawrence?
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: And I don't want to short Jonathan Allen, but Dexter
• 1:42
  Speaker 4: Lawrence is such a great player, and Jonathan Allen sort
• 1:45
  Speaker 4: of gluing together the middle of that defense and allowing
• 1:47
  Speaker 4: the rest of it to get better. Is it that simple?
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: Not quite that simple, but it certainly does begin with
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: Dexter Lawrence. A fit and motivated Dexter Lawrence might be
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: a top 10 player in the league regardless of position.
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: He has been that dominant in the first couple of weeks.
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: It's almost amusing to watch him abuse interior offensive linemen,
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: and I say plural because one's not going to get
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: it done. He is such a force of nature, again,
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: when he is fit and motivated, and he is both.
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: After the trade to Cincinnati, I think he is determined
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: to prove that the Bengals did the right thing by
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: giving up the 10th overall pick in the draft. And
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: after maybe getting a little heavy toward the end of
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: his tenure with the Giants, that is not the case
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: right now. He is a rock solid 350 pounds. So
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: he has been a pleasure to watch so far.
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, Dan. Watching the film, he is definitely a bowling
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: ball going down the lane. Uh, and, and God forbid
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: the offense are the pens. Uh, so he has been
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: a welcome change and, and, you know, and I think
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: it's been a while, right? I mean, you think back
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: to a time when you had, you know, the DJ
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: readers of the world, you had the Gino act, like
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: you had this kind of just dominant interior player. in there.
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: But I think also, you know, as you look at
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: just the combination of not only Dexter Lawrence, but also
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: the combination of what Jonathan Allen's been able to bring
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: and how that has been a duo up the middle
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: of your defense. It's got to talk about, you know,
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: as you look at this defensive line and their prowess,
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: I think the interior has been the biggest upgrade I've seen.
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: It's really the entire defensive line. Those two guys that
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: you have both mentioned have played great. Jonathan Allen's had
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: a sack in each of the first two games. Dexter Lawrence,
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: as we've described, has been killing people. But it's really
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: the group up and down. Boye Mafe was their most
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: highest-priced free agent that they signed in the offseason. He
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: led the team in pressures last week. Miles Murphy keeps
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: getting better, a former first-round draft pick who had a
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: slow start to his NFL career. I mean, they had
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: a guy last week that I'm guessing much of our
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: fan base couldn't have identified by his uniform number. Cedric Johnson,
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: he had two sacks. in the game last week. So
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: they wanted to fix the pass rush. Our GM, he
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: doesn't have that title, but he has all of the responsibilities.
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: Duke Tobin said in a news conference right after last season,
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: pass rush is king. We have to improve the pass rush.
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: That was really the number one priority in the offseason,
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: and they seem to have accomplished it because they're tied
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: for the NFL lead in sacks. They're in the top
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: ten in pressures, even though they are blitzing less than
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: any other team in the NFL.
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: That number, by the way, it's Dan Hoard's job, who's
• 4:41
  Speaker 4: our guest and mine, to know that that number is
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: 52 for Cedric Johnson, by the way, the uniform number.
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: I was able to identify him, yes.
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: And Cash is out, number 55. I believe a second-round
• 4:54
  Speaker 4: pick this year, right? He's been good. They can bring
• 4:57
  Speaker 4: these guys in waves, and it does. I mean, we
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: have seen that. Dan in Pittsburgh ad infinitum, year after
• 5:06
  Speaker 4: year after year. You get pressure on the quarterback, and
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: it makes everything better. And the fact that they can
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: bring these guys in waves, that's what the Steelers are
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: doing now with Highsmith and Watt, of course, and Herbig.
• 5:23
  Speaker 4: You're able to come at them with fresh bodies. They've
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: got a lot of bodies that they can bring at you.
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: And again, with those guys in the middle, no quarterback,
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: nobody likes pressure up the middle I think most quarterbacks
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: would tell you give it to me around the edge
• 5:37
  Speaker 4: where I can at least step up and try to
• 5:39
  Speaker 4: make a play in the middle is so disruptive so
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: the whole force just looks completely different and you're talking
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: about a pass rush that looks great without Trey Hendrickson
• 5:50
  Speaker 4: which is kind of amazing but they've been able to
• 5:53
  Speaker 4: to to come together as a team and get that
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: sort of pass.
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: Rush and it's the complete opposite approach With Trey, it
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: was one guy counting on Trey Hendrickson to close out games.
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: They had both in the fourth quarter. Trey was the closer.
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: I used to refer to him as Big Play Trey
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: because when the game was on the line, that's when
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: he came up with sacks more often than not. You
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: certainly saw it in some games against the Steelers. That's
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: not the case now. I don't know if they're going
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: to wind up with anybody that has 10 or more sacks,
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: but it's not out of the question they might have
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: three or four. I mean, that's the way it's looked
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: so far this year. Waves is a good description. They
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: are coming at teams and waves. And the other thing
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: that helps is that they have had double digit leads
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: in the fourth quarter.
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: Of both games.
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: So as you know, if the other team is down
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: by two scores in the fourth and has to pass,
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: you just unleash the beasts. And that's been a very
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: effective formula so far.
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: No, it absolutely has. And I think when I kind
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: of look at this team, Dan, I mean, you know,
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: That was really the biggest, because we knew what they
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: were offensively, right? And we knew a year ago, you know,
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: the most 40-point game scored to result in a loss
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: in NFL history. We knew who they were, but are
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: you surprised that it came together so fast? Because often
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: we see a lot of free agents come in. I mean, heck,
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: all you have to do is look to the eastern
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: side of your state, right? Cleveland always trying to win
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: the free agent, you know, championship. every offseason, and it
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: never materialized. Are you surprised how fast this group has
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: kind of gelled and come together and been as dominant
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: as they have this early?
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: Yes. Not shocked, but slightly surprised. I think we all
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: knew it was going to be better based on the
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: players they added. But to see the dominant they displayed
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: in the first couple, that's definitely a surprise. Both of
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: these teams are 0-2, so they're not as thought. But
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: I think by the end of the year, Tampa Bay
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: and Houston are both going to be in the mix
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: for playoff spots. I think Houston will make the playoffs.
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: I'm positive about Tampa Bay. But in any case, I mean,
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: they have kicked tail. Houston scored 31 in week one
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: against Buffalo and didn't score a touchdown at home against
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: the Bengals last week. Now, they didn't miss Bill Collins,
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: which was a big subtraction. from their passing game but
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: still no touchdowns at home against the Bengals I think
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: the Bengals not only have a decent defense I think
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: they might have a really good one.
• 8:38
  Speaker 4: Well I think one other guy that helps that and
• 8:41
  Speaker 4: I think rightly so we've been talking about that front
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: four or five six however you wanted to you know
• 8:47
  Speaker 4: deploy the pass rushers that sort of thing you got
• 8:49
  Speaker 4: young linebackers in the middle we're very active both drafted
• 8:53
  Speaker 4: a year ago but I think one other guy who's
• 8:57
  Speaker 4: really an emerging star on the defense, is D.J. Turner.
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: I don't know if they move him around and cover
• 9:03
  Speaker 4: the top guy or whether they leave him on that
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: defensive right side of the field. But he is developing,
• 9:11
  Speaker 4: it feels to me, Dan, into a top, you know,
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: because there's so many good ones, but a top maybe
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: 10 or 12 corner, maybe a little bit better. I
• 9:20
  Speaker 4: don't know. What are your thoughts on D.J. Turner? Regardless,
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: if he's top 10 or 12, That's a very, very
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: good cornerback.
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: I think he is top 10. He was a Pro
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: Bowl alternate last year. If you look at the PFF
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: grades and some of these other metric analysis websites of
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: cornerback play, he was better than that. He does follow
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: the other team's best wide receiver. I think that's one
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: of the things that adds to the case. for him
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: being a top 10 corner, as great as Derek Stingley is.
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: The Bengals just saw him last week. He stays on
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: one side.
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: D.J.
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: Turner, by choice, pursues the best results. on the other
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: team's roster. So he'll be defending D.K. this week, I'm sure.
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: And the other thing about D.J. Turner is he wants
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: to defend Jamar Chase every day at practice and did
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: during training camp. I mean, every snap, it's D.J. Turner
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: versus Jamar Chase. So if you can hold your own
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: against that guy, in July and August, then chances are
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: you're going to be able to do okay when the
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: games begin in September.
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: No, you're absolutely right. And, you know, I do want
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: to shift gears. I do want to go to the
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: offensive side of the ball because obviously.
• 10:34
  Speaker 4: Twelve minutes on the defense.
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: We're shorting the offense. I know.
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: I know. It's such a sad day, isn't it, Dan,
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: that we had so much to talk about defensively that
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: we couldn't even get to the offense.
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: I'm reminded of the first Ghostbusters movie. It's dogs and
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: cats living together. The planets have... And we now start
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: with the Bengals' defense before eventually spending a few minutes
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: talking about the offense.
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Oh, my goodness. Well, I mean, a healthy Joe
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: Burrow changes all the fortunes, right? I mean, that's just
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: what it is. I mean, you look at the last
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: couple of years, it's been the injury to Joe Burrow
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: that has kind of sidelined it. And what's been the...
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: counter-punch or counter-argument. Who can come in and just play
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: meaningful football? We saw it a year ago. Joe Flacco.
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: You guys made an inter-division trade in-season, which is almost
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: unfathomable for anybody to do, but I guess Cleveland, with
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: their stockpile of quarterbacks a year ago, had the ability
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: to deal their guys away, and they dealt two of
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: their quarterbacks away in the conference, but more specifically, in
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: a desperate moment, dealing Joe Flacco to you guys what
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: does it mean to have that QB back there, number nine,
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: directing traffic, and what does that mean for the team around?
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: Because he seems to be the unequivocal leader for this team.
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: Is that the case?
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: It is the case. Let's face it, if Joe Burrow
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: misses nine games like he did last year or seven
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: games like he did two years before that, all this
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: positive talk about the Bengals goes down the tubes. They're
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: not going to be a contender anymore. if he misses
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: more than half of the season or close to it.
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: But with Joe Flacco, if he were to miss two
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: or three games, you'd feel fine. You'd think that Flacco
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: can probably win half of the games while Joe is out.
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: So they're fortunate to have a top five quarterback. Anytime
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: Joe is on the field, you think that there's a
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: pretty good chance that they're going to put points on
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: the board and be in the hunt to win the game.
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: So he is healthy right now. By his own description,
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: he played incredibly average last week. The Texans' defense had
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: a lot to do with that. But if you look
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: at Joe historically, he tends to start seasons kind of
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: slowly until he gets up to speed and then look out.
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: He plays better than anybody. So we'll see how quickly
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: that happens this year.
• 13:03
  Speaker 4: So no Andre Yosefash, according to reports. Looks like Dante Myers,
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: former CFL star, is going to probably take his place
• 13:12
  Speaker 4: in the passing game. But you still have Higgins. You
• 13:15
  Speaker 4: still have Chase. You still have some tight ends. By
• 13:18
  Speaker 4: the way, I want you to talk about those big weapons,
• 13:22
  Speaker 4: but I know in talking to you a couple years
• 13:24
  Speaker 4: ago that the team really missed Eric Aul when he
• 13:27
  Speaker 4: was hurt at the tight end position. I know he's
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: back in the fold. Just a lot of weapons. Obviously,
• 13:34
  Speaker 4: Chase Brown, I think, is a terrific player. A lot
• 13:37
  Speaker 4: of weapons at Joe Burrow's disposal, for sure.
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: Absolutely. And their number three receiver is really Mike Gasicki.
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: On the roster, the two deep, it looks like Andre
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: Yosibashu does start. He's a very good player. But when
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: it comes to the passing game, the third person that
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: Joe Burrow is looking for is Mike Gasicki. He had
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: five catches in week one. When other teams try to double-double,
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: Jamar Chase and Tee Higgins Mike Kosicki's got lots of
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: room to operate in the middle of the field, and
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: he's a really good receiving tight end. He's not a
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: great blocker, but he's excellent in the passing game. Derek Hall,
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: whom you mentioned, is a tremendous blocker, the best one
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: that they have. So he's really boosted the running game
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: with his return. He looks healthy after really having kind
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: of a crazy injury situation that went back to his
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: college days. He had to have– basically a knee surgery
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: removed that went badly from his college days, wait for
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: that to heal and then have his knee repaired all
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: over again. So he missed a season and a half
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: while all of this was going on, but he's healthy
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: now and he plays violently. So it's great to have
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: him back in the running game.
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: Well, you know, another guy that, or I should say
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: another unit that I love focusing on is offensive line. Surprise,
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: surprise there, Dan. Um, You know, I want to talk
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: about the offensive line. But, you know, as you kind
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: of look at these guys, I mean, they've now gotten
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: some time underneath themselves. Like Amarius Mims, you know, got
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: a year under, you know, two years under his belt.
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: And he's really starting to come into his own. You know,
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: you look at OB Jr. over there. You know, he
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: has settled in. Just how is this offensive line done?
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: Because obviously in the years past, that's been the issue, right?
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: You know, Joe Burrow's taken a lot of sacks, a
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: lot of hits. and this offensive line has not been
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: able to keep him safe most of the time. But,
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: you know, time together, time under tension, so to speak,
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: has now started to really show that they're getting in
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: their bag and they're understanding Joe and how to protect
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: him better. How have you seen the growth of this
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: offensive line from last year to this year?
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: Well, this is the best line that he's had, and
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: they do have continuity. They've got all five starters back.
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: Basically what happened was with seven games left in the
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: regular season, year. They made a change in the starting lineup.
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: Dalton Reisner became their starter at right guard. And from
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: then on, for the rest of the season, they really
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: played well. He was a free agent at the end
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: of the year. They were able to extend him. So
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: they've got the continuity of having all five guys back.
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: Amarius Mims is playing phenomenally so far this year. He's
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: given up one pressure on 72 dropbacks. Orlando Brown Jr.
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: would be the guy that our fan base is concerned about.
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: He had a tough time last week. Now he's not
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: alone against the Texans with Will Anderson and Daniil Hunter.
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: They make a lot of guys look bad and Orlando
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: did play well in week one. It's a, it's a
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: good mix. You know, they've got youth at right tackle
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: and left guard. They've got great veteran leadership in the
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: middle with Ted Karras. Orlando Brown Jr. in the past
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: has been a four-time pro bowler. So I think it's
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: a good group. Is it top five? Probably not, but
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: it's certainly not bottom five anymore. probably middle of the
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: pack or maybe a little bit better.
• 16:59
  Speaker 4: Dan Hoard has been our guest, the outstanding play-by-play man
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: for the Bengals. Dan, we will treat you well while
• 17:05
  Speaker 4: hoping the Steelers treat the Bengals poorly on Sunday.
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: Understood. I'll feel the same way when you guys roll
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: into the natty later this year.
• 17:15
  Speaker 4: Thank you, Dan. I appreciate it, my friend.
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: Thanks, Dan.
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: You got it. Thanks for having me on.
• 17:20
  Speaker 4: You got it. Dan Hoard. Play-by-play man for the Cincinnati
• 17:24
  Speaker 4: Bengals giving you the lowdown, the scoop on this Bengals squad.
• 17:28
  Speaker 4: Plenty to chew on there as we continue in the
• 17:32
  Speaker 4: locker room here on the Steelers Audio Network.
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio. Brought to you
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: All right, Optimus is coming through the locker room, and
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: he even acquiesced to Dan Hoard for this. Listen, to
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: the victors goes the spoils, so it is now the
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: power two-thirds hour that we're operating with. Final two segments
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: here in the show, and Optimus was so nice to
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: stop by, Rob, and Signal, we've got it now going
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: into overdrive, and I can't wait to talk about this.
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: You know, you think about where this team, where the
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: Cincinnati Bengals were a couple years ago, and it's not
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: that team from a couple years ago, right? I mean,
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: you know, we talked about slow starts and everything else,
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: so let's start there, I guess, for our AFC North preview.
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: Our AFC North, yeah.
• 18:56
  Speaker 4: Well, so, what are there? Eight or nine 2-0 teams
• 19:00
  Speaker 4: in the NFL. I'm going to get that count for you.
• 19:02
  Speaker 4: I think it's eight, but It's amazing, really, that the
• 19:05
  Speaker 4: league is that balanced. But you came up with this
• 19:08
  Speaker 4: interesting statistic of the last time every team in the
• 19:12
  Speaker 4: league started 2-0. So right now, this year, you have
• 19:18
  Speaker 4: the Buffalo Bills are 2-0. The Kansas City Chiefs are 2-0.
• 19:21
  Speaker 4: The Bengals are 2-0. The Seahawks are 2-0. The 49ers
• 19:25
  Speaker 4: are 2-0. The Vikings are 2-0. The Raiders are 2-0.
• 19:28
  Speaker 4: The Eagles. Eight teams. That's it. Eight teams are 2-0. And, Max,
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: are you ready to take that stroll down memory lane
• 19:36
  Speaker 4: to tell us the last time each team started 2-0?
• 19:40
  Speaker 4: Just kind of dash through it quickly because it's the
• 19:42
  Speaker 4: last team.
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: A little bit of yesteryear.
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: That's interesting. Yeah.
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: It is.
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: So those are the teams that have started 2-0. and
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: they've kind of erased their history of the last time.
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: So we got those eight out of the way. Let's
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: go back to last year, Rob. Last year, the teams
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: that started 2-0, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who are struggling right now,
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: they're 0-2. The L.A. Rams, who are 1-1 right now,
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: last started 2-0. Indianapolis Colts. Remember that Daniel Jones-led crew
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: that was blowing through the league? Yeah.
• 20:16
  Speaker 4: Yeah, they're one of my– there's a bunch of games
• 20:20
  Speaker 4: I'm intrigued by. That's one of them. It's not going
• 20:21
  Speaker 4: to be my game of the week, but that's certainly
• 20:23
  Speaker 4: one of them. Two 0-2 teams.
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 20:26
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: Green Bay and the issues that they have now. They
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: were on a cusp. The Arizona Cardinals, surprisingly, right? How
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: about that? You know. Starting 2-0 a year ago, and
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: they started 1-0 last week as they took down the
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: Chargers in home, and we found out that the Chargers
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: are struggling right now, and the Chargers were also 2-0
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: a year ago. Now we go two years ago.
• 20:55
  Speaker 4: So now, just to recap here, over the last two years,
• 20:58
  Speaker 4: 14 different teams have gone 2-0. 2-0. We're looking at
• 21:04
  Speaker 4: the longest drought between the last time The last time
• 21:06
  Speaker 4: a team started 2-0. Longest drought. There's 14 teams out
• 21:09
  Speaker 4: of the way. Keep going.
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: Now we get to 24. And that was the last
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: time the New Orleans Saints were 2-0, which, you know,
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: that Saints team, I mean, you look at them and
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: they were a sneeze away from erasing that and being
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: in that top eight category of this year. They could
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: have been the ninth team. That's a new look team.
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: That Paris game looks... insanely difficult now. The Houston Texans
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: last time was 2024 that they were 2-0 and the
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: Bengals just beat them convincingly last week. So the other
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: team in this 24 category, hey, surprise, surprise, Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: It has not been that long. It has not been
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: that long for us since we last started 2-0. So
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: now we're to The tally now 17 teams.
• 22:02
  Speaker 4: That's right.
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: In the last three years. And all of them have
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: been different, by the way. There hasn't been like a
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: concurrent team there.
• 22:09
  Speaker 4: But there have been a couple. So the Bengals started
• 22:12
  Speaker 4: 2-0 in the last two years. But we're just looking
• 22:14
  Speaker 4: at droughts here. So 17 teams have gone no worse
• 22:19
  Speaker 4: in the last three years starting 2-0.
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: Correct. Correct.
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: Okay. All right.
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: Now we go to 2023. This is where this list is.
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: This is a funny list just to think about. How
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: long it's been. The Washington Commanders went 2-0. The Miami Dolphins,
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: who knows when they'll get back to 2-0, was 20-23.
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: And that was a Tua Tonga-Vailoa-led team who's no longer there.
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: The Dallas Cowboys. They're supposed to win the Super Bowl
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: every year, Rob. You listen to their fan base. They
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: haven't gone 2-0 since 20-23. The Baltimore Ravens. Everybody has
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: them as a pick every single year. They're going to
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: do it. They're going to be the team. The last
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: time they did it was in 2023 where they actually
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: started 2-0. And then the Atlanta Falcons. Ooh, they're 0-2.
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know when the next time they're
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: going to get to 2-0. But, yeah, so since 2023,
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: that's the last time the Atlanta Falcons. So we've gotten
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: through most of this league so far.
• 23:24
  Speaker 4: By the way, Dallas 2-0, that was Mike McCarthy. At
• 23:27
  Speaker 4: the Reigns. And a 12-5 team.
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: There we go.
• 23:31
  Speaker 4: So how many that year now? Four?
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: So we had four that year. So now we're at 21.
• 23:36
  Speaker 3: Yep.
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: Yes. We're legal drinking age now for teams in the league. 2022,
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: there's only one team there. The New York Giants. Last
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: time they were 2-0. And listen, if Jackson Dart doesn't
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: go down, maybe they arranged it too. Maybe. Yeah, maybe
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: they would have. I mean, the Rams are a good team,
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: so that would have been a good challenge. That would
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: have been a good feather in their cap, but that's
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: no easy out. That's it for 2022. Now we get
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: to 2021, and we have the Carolina Panthers and the
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: Denver Broncos.
• 24:12
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: So their drought is 21. That's two more, so now
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: we're at 24 teams. That's three in the last two years.
• 24:19
  Speaker 4: Wouldn't have thought the Broncos would be. Okay.
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: Yep.
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: And now we get to COVID year, 2020. 2020. The
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: Bears and the Titans were both 2-0 at that time. Okay.
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: That one, I mean, you know, you think of what
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: Caleb Williams and how he's trying to change things around,
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: and we'll obviously see with his injury how long he's sidelined.
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: But it's been six years. That's a long drought. So
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: you're like, okay, well, no, we still haven't mentioned a
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: significant team. And now that comes 2019. So pre-COVID. This
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: is also Tom Brady was the starter at this squad.
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: New England Patriots have not gone 2-0 since 2019. They
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: have not done it in the 20s at all. That's
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: one that's interesting. So now we're at, what, 27 teams?
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: Or is it 28?
• 25:20
  Speaker 4: I'm going to take your word for it. Keep going back.
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: Okay, sounds good. We're just going to go. We're going
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: to say it's 28.
• 25:26
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: Now we get to 2018. Jacksonville Jaguars had some good
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: teams in the last number of years but have not
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: gone 2-0, Rob, since 2018. And I'm trying to remember
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: if that was the Blake Bortles year or not. I
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: think that was pre-Trevor Lawrence. That might have been Blake
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: Bortles at the quarterback position. All right, then we go
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: back even further. 2017.
• 25:52
  Speaker 4: This one shocks me. This shocks me.
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: Detroit Lions.
• 25:56
  Speaker 4: That shocks me. They've been so good the last few years.
• 25:59
  Speaker 4: You'd have thought they'd started 2-0 in there somewhere.
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but they ran into a buzzsaw. Was that two
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: years ago when they had that great record, but they
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: just couldn't beat the Vikings? When Sam Darnold was at
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: the quarterback. That was probably, they had a good shot
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: at that. But yes, this is 2017. That is a
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: long drought for 2-0. And then we skipped 2016. And
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: we go to 2015 and surprise, surprise. I wish Willie
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: was on here for this one. The New York Jets,
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: because Willie was a starting guard for the Jets.
• 26:36
  Speaker 4: Love it.
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: The last time they went 2-0.
• 26:39
  Speaker 3: Wow.
• 26:39
  Speaker 4: That's amazing.
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: So just to let you know, and Willie's been retired
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: almost as long as I have.
• 26:44
  Speaker 4: So let me ask you, Matt, is that all the
• 26:46
  Speaker 4: teams in the NFL? Is that all 32 teams?
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: We're at 31 right now, Rob.
• 26:51
  Speaker 4: Oh, we're at 31. Okay, interesting.
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: Because we're at 28, and we just named three in
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: a four-year.
• 26:57
  Speaker 4: Span from 2018 to 2015. Okay, so that's back to 2015.
• 27:00
  Speaker 4: So there's one more team.
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: Who have we not said?
• 27:03
  Speaker 4: Is that team in 2014? No.
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: 13? Nope.
• 27:04
  Speaker 4: 12? 11?
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: 10?
• 27:04
  Speaker 4: It's not even in the 10s. 9?
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: It's not even in the 10s. It's not even in
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: the 21st century. How about that? What?
• 27:16
  Speaker 4: How about 1999? Party like it's 1999. No prints there.
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: No prints there on that one.
• 27:22
  Speaker 4: Keep taking us back.
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: Cash money did not take over for the 99 and
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: 2000 either at the same time.
• 27:30
  Speaker 4: Keep taking us back.
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: The last illustrious team. 98, 97, 95? Nope. 94.
• 27:32
  Speaker 4: The last time this team.
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: Had a 2-0 start. I was 11 years old, Rob.
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: And I'm 44 now.
• 27:48
  Speaker 4: I'm not going to tell you how old I was
• 27:50
  Speaker 4: because it won't seem that long to people. It has
• 27:51
  Speaker 4: been 33 years.
• 27:52
  Speaker 3: Incredible.
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: 33. And just to paint the year, their head coach
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: was amazing. Bill Belichick is a first-time head coach. That's
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: how long ago it was. Bill Belichick was a first-time
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: head coach. His defensive coordinator was Nick Saban. And we
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: talked about Hall of Fame-level coaches in their respective professions.
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: Bill Belichick will be in the Hall of Fame. Let's
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: just go ahead and get that out there. It was
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: a little bit of bias there last year why he
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: didn't go in. And Nick Saban, arguably, you know, the
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: greatest head coach is Paul Bear Bryant at Alabama, right?
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: He has a statue outside of the stadium, by the way.
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: They don't put statues up for mediocrity. But this is
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: the last time they were great. It was the Cleveland Browns.
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: So Todd Munkin, you can be upset about what Mike
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: Tomlin said, but this right here lets you know how terrible, mediocre,
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: below average, if it's brown, flush it mentality that we have.
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: Quarterback graveyards be darned. It was 1993, and you had
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: two Hall of Fame coaches on the staff to get
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: you to 2-0. And you still haven't done anything significant.
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: It is stunning. And that is our 32nd team that
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: is in search after three and a third decades. They
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: still haven't found the magic sauce to go 2-0.
• 29:32
  Speaker 4: Unbelievable.
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: And what's their record right.
• 29:34
  Speaker 3: Now, Rob?
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: That's incredible. Inverse?
• 29:36
  Speaker 4: They are 1-1.
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: Okay, they're 1-1.
• 29:39
  Speaker 4: And the last one was... And the last one was
• 29:41
  Speaker 4: the New York Jets, right? So all 31 teams have
• 29:45
  Speaker 4: started 2-0 in the last 11 years.
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: Well, in the 21st century. Let's just even make it.
• 29:51
  Speaker 4: Even more insane. You have to triple that number. You
• 29:53
  Speaker 4: have to go to 33 before you can get to.
• 29:59
  Speaker 4: The Browns, that's an unbelievably bad stretch. It's why when
• 30:05
  Speaker 4: I was in Cleveland calling baseball games, they had the
• 30:07
  Speaker 4: crew up there, a bunch of crew guys, and I
• 30:09
  Speaker 4: was like, hey, what do you guys think about the
• 30:11
  Speaker 4: Browns this year? And they were like, meh, meh, meh.
• 30:15
  Speaker 4: Not a lot of optimism in the city of Cleveland,
• 30:17
  Speaker 4: although I will go on record, I said it before
• 30:20
  Speaker 4: the beginning of the year, I'm more bullish on them
• 30:22
  Speaker 4: than I think most people are. I think that if
• 30:25
  Speaker 4: they get anything, I mean anything out of the quarterback position,
• 30:30
  Speaker 4: They're going to be a pain in the neck to beat.
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: They are.
• 30:33
  Speaker 4: They're 1-1. Okay, so speaking of which, let's get to
• 30:36
  Speaker 4: our AFC North preview. Obviously, we're previewing our game all week.
• 30:41
  Speaker 4: The Bengals and the Steelers, that's the biggest game in
• 30:44
  Speaker 4: the AFC North. Panthers and the Browns, both teams 1-1.
• 30:48
  Speaker 4: This game in Cleveland, I think a lot of people view, Max,
• 30:52
  Speaker 4: the Panthers as a team on the rise. If the
• 30:55
  Speaker 4: Browns can win this game, there's going to be some
• 30:58
  Speaker 4: eyebrows going up around the NFL.
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: Wait a minute.
• 31:00
  Speaker 4: They beat, I mean, not that it's not like they
• 31:03
  Speaker 4: just are knocking off the Rams or any team like that.
• 31:06
  Speaker 4: I get that. I understand it, but it, it shows
• 31:09
  Speaker 4: that maybe you're better than a lot of people thought
• 31:12
  Speaker 4: you were going to be. If you can beat the Panthers,
• 31:14
  Speaker 4: even though you do have them at home, Max.
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, it would, it would go a long way. And,
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: You know, I mean, you know, for Sean Watson and
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: all the criticism that he's been taking at the beginning
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: of this season and how he's kind of handled the media,
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: you know, I don't know if it would be full vindication,
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: but it would be a slight omission of the ire
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: that he has received, right? If he can navigate a
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: victory against a young kind of oncoming team in the Panthers,
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: Bryce Youngstown figured it out. Ted McMillan was the offensive
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: rookie of the year last year. You know, it would
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: go a long way to saying, okay, this team is competent.
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: Not good, but competent. Because I could say the last
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: couple of years they haven't been that. So it would
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: go a long way. And like I said, they have
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: some nice young weapons. You know, you think of what
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: Quenshawn Jenkins is doing in the backfield. You think about
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: Harold Fannin Jr. And the remade offensive line. And then
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: a Miles Garrett-less defense. that has new stars on it.
• 32:20
  Speaker 4: Two rookie first-round wide receivers, right?
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: Yep. And Denzel Boston looks like a man-child, by the way.
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: That was a guy that I really liked in the draft.
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: He's playing more like the aforementioned David Boston, like what
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: you thought David Boston was going to be. That's what
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: Denzel Boston is looking like. Just bowling over guys, a
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: physical context guy.
• 32:45
  Speaker 4: Concepcion was one of those guys that– I got excited
• 32:49
  Speaker 4: about at the, at the draft in Indianapolis. Like I
• 32:52
  Speaker 4: mentioned earlier, I got excited about Max Ahanachor. I got
• 32:55
  Speaker 4: excited about Casey Concepcion. I was hoping the Steelers would
• 32:58
  Speaker 4: find a way to get them both, but Concepcion went, um,
• 33:03
  Speaker 4: in the first round as well. So there was no,
• 33:04
  Speaker 4: there was no getting him. Uh, the other AFC North
• 33:08
  Speaker 4: matchup is one of the games that I think is
• 33:10
  Speaker 4: a clear candidate for game of the week. It's not
• 33:13
  Speaker 4: my game of the week, but, um, Only because I
• 33:16
  Speaker 4: want to pick something else because we're going to be
• 33:18
  Speaker 4: talking about this one. But it's the Ravens and the
• 33:20
  Speaker 4: Cowboys in Dallas. By the way, the Panthers are two
• 33:24
  Speaker 4: and a half point favorites on the road in Cleveland.
• 33:28
  Speaker 4: The Ravens are three and a half point favorites at Dallas. So,
• 33:33
  Speaker 4: Dak Prescott lighting it up last week, but evidently a
• 33:36
  Speaker 4: lot of people feel like the Ravens are the team
• 33:39
  Speaker 4: to believe in in this game. I think it is
• 33:41
  Speaker 4: one of the games of the week. I think it
• 33:43
  Speaker 4: is going to be interesting. I know that the The
• 33:46
  Speaker 4: Ravens feel like they can win a shootout with anybody.
• 33:48
  Speaker 4: And obviously, if it's low scoring, they've got Derrick Henry.
• 33:52
  Speaker 4: But again, big game for the Ravens because after week one,
• 33:56
  Speaker 4: everybody was, you know, in love with the Ravens and
• 33:59
  Speaker 4: how good they were going to be. And, you know,
• 34:01
  Speaker 4: talk about fickle and early season football. You know, all
• 34:05
  Speaker 4: of a sudden now, everyone's like, well, wait a minute now.
• 34:08
  Speaker 4: You know, how good are they? And if they're one
• 34:10
  Speaker 4: and two, that's going to be the question. I think
• 34:12
  Speaker 4: they're still believers because they're favored. But they lose this game.
• 34:16
  Speaker 4: You're going to go from penthouse to outhouse expectation-wise in
• 34:20
  Speaker 4: two weeks.
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely.
• 34:25
  Speaker 4: That's the state of it. That's the way it goes.
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, but that's the league, right? That's right.
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: We want to crown somebody so we can knock the
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: crown off of your head.
• 34:33
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 34:33
  Speaker 2: Like, that's the way that our society is.
• 34:35
  Speaker 4: It's true.
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: That's true. You know, you put somebody on a pedestal,
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: then you want to sweep the pedestal from underneath them
• 34:40
  Speaker 2: and watch how they tumble. Right? To see, do they
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: land on their head, do they land on their hip,
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: or do they land on their feet? You just want
• 34:47
  Speaker 2: to see that, and there's no like, hey, we're just
• 34:50
  Speaker 2: championing this for champion's sake. The Indiana college football feel-good
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: story throughout the year, the little team that could, that
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: does not exist in the NFL.
• 35:02
  Speaker 4: Nope.
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: We want to crown somebody, and then we want to
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: shame them right afterwards, like it's Game of Thrones. So
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: you listed that game. The game that I'm interested in,
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: this Raiders.
• 35:13
  Speaker 4: No, no, this is our AFC New York preview.
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: Oh, yeah.
• 35:16
  Speaker 3: Oh, sorry.
• 35:17
  Speaker 4: It's just our AFC North preview.
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: I thought we were doing our intriguing games.
• 35:20
  Speaker 4: Nope, nope. We're saving that for next segment.
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: I jumped the gun.
• 35:22
  Speaker 4: We're saving that for next segment. But, you know, look,
• 35:26
  Speaker 4: I have to say I think I like the two
• 35:31
  Speaker 4: favorites in both those games. As much as I'm tooting
• 35:35
  Speaker 4: the horn of me thinking the Browns are going to
• 35:36
  Speaker 4: be better than people think, that doesn't mean I think
• 35:39
  Speaker 4: they're going to be a playoff team. It just means
• 35:41
  Speaker 4: I think they've started to put some pieces together. Their
• 35:44
  Speaker 4: offensive line's improved. I like a lot of the elements
• 35:47
  Speaker 4: they have in the team. I think in a year
• 35:49
  Speaker 4: or two, especially if they address the quarterback situation, they
• 35:53
  Speaker 4: could be a team to be feared. Right now, I
• 35:55
  Speaker 4: think if I had to go one way, I'd go Carolina.
• 35:58
  Speaker 4: And I think even though they're on the road, I
• 36:01
  Speaker 4: think I'd have to go Ravens. But just, first of all,
• 36:04
  Speaker 4: because they're the Ravens. But secondly, just because it would be,
• 36:08
  Speaker 4: the questions would start flying. It would be so much
• 36:13
  Speaker 4: fun to see the Cowboys win that game for a
• 36:14
  Speaker 4: couple of reasons.
• 36:16
  Speaker 2: Oh, and I mean, and talk about two teams that
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: I could think the less.
• 36:19
  Speaker 4: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. It's like, who do I.
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: Want to lose less? It's not about who I want
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: to win. It's who do I want to lose less?
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: And I'm sorry, but the Cowgirls is one of those
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: that I just, I can't, I can never get behind them.
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: And yes, I know we have also been a trading
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: partner with them for the last, couple of years with
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: George Pickens and Broderick Jones now down there. But yeah,
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: this Cowboy Squad, man, if they go down another one,
• 36:49
  Speaker 2: as much as I don't want to see Stephen A.
• 36:50
  Speaker 2: Smith put on a cowboy hat and taunt the cowboy
• 36:55
  Speaker 2: fan base, I'm here for it. I'm like, listen, you
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: love a good troll and nobody better to troll than
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: the Cowboys because of their inflated expectations they have of
• 37:03
  Speaker 2: themselves every year. Yeah.
• 37:05
  Speaker 4: I think for most Stewart fans, If they're talking around
• 37:09
  Speaker 4: a water cooler on Monday, well, the Ravens won, but
• 37:12
  Speaker 4: at least they beat the Cowboys. There'll be a silver
• 37:16
  Speaker 4: lining in there somewhere regardless of who wins that game.
• 37:19
  Speaker 4: All right, stick around. We are going to look at
• 37:20
  Speaker 4: our games of the week and a little more attention
• 37:23
  Speaker 4: once again turned to this matchup between the Steelers and
• 37:25
  Speaker 4: the Bengals when we continue in the locker room here
• 37:28
  Speaker 4: on the Steelers Audio Network.
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio. Brought to you
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: All right, we're here on the final segment today. And,
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: of course... What would not surprise anybody when it comes
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: to the final segment? It would be the fact that
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: we have to have a grand royal entrance to talk
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: about our most intriguing game of the week. Now, we
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: did power rankings, and Rob had like literally every team
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: in the NFL was intriguing yesterday.
• 38:23
  Speaker 4: I took a stand.
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: This is the matchup. This is the matchup. game obviously
• 38:30
  Speaker 2: our game is going to hold number one near and
• 38:32
  Speaker 2: dear to our hearts but around the league around the
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: world of football what is an intriguing matchup game for
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: us and yes we talked about the games in our
• 38:45
  Speaker 2: division obviously intrigue us because they're in our division and
• 38:48
  Speaker 2: matters for records and standings and future play play play
• 38:52
  Speaker 2: capabilities but Let's step outside of the division, Rob. Let's
• 38:57
  Speaker 2: expand our universe here and see what game intrigues you
• 39:02
  Speaker 2: the most.
• 39:05
  Speaker 4: Okay, so I'm going to give you some runner-ups before
• 39:08
  Speaker 4: I get to my big game. It's kind of cheating
• 39:11
  Speaker 4: a little bit. I kind of did that yesterday.
• 39:13
  Speaker 2: But I took a stand yesterday.
• 39:14
  Speaker 4: You know what, man? The people out there, the fans
• 39:16
  Speaker 4: are listening to both shows. They know I took a stand.
• 39:19
  Speaker 4: They know I took a stand.
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 39:21
  Speaker 4: I'd like to, I think, did everybody know?
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: Because if you don't take a stand, you'll fall for anything, right?
• 39:25
  Speaker 4: So, Texans-Colts gets a distant honorable mention. 2-0 and 2-T.
• 39:32
  Speaker 4: I got to tell you, I think that's– those teams
• 39:36
  Speaker 4: don't expect to be 0-2. So, that intrigues me. But
• 39:38
  Speaker 4: because they're 0-2 teams– One of them won't be by
• 39:40
  Speaker 4: the end of the year.
• 39:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 39:41
  Speaker 4: Well, unless they're both 0-2 and 1. Always the possibility.
• 39:46
  Speaker 4: But I can't– that can't be my pick because– They're
• 39:49
  Speaker 4: a pair of 0-2 teams. Then there's the Sunday night game,
• 39:54
  Speaker 4: the Rams and the Broncos. That's an intriguing game to me.
• 39:58
  Speaker 4: That's a really, really intriguing game to me. But it
• 40:02
  Speaker 4: is not my intriguing game of the week, which got
• 40:07
  Speaker 4: some eyebrow, some eye rolls from my partners in the
• 40:12
  Speaker 4: locker room. That's the Patriots-Jaguars. That's my game of the week.
• 40:16
  Speaker 4: That's the game That interests me the most. The Steelers
• 40:21
  Speaker 4: are playing the Jaguars this year. They just played the Patriots.
• 40:24
  Speaker 4: They're division champions. I was getting poo-pooed on this matchup yesterday.
• 40:30
  Speaker 4: They're defending division champions. The Jaguars and the Patriots. One
• 40:33
  Speaker 4: of them is the defending AFC champion. I think that
• 40:37
  Speaker 4: both teams are one and one. I think that is
• 40:39
  Speaker 4: my most intriguing matchup. I don't think anybody expected that.
• 40:44
  Speaker 4: one of those teams to begin the season one and two,
• 40:47
  Speaker 4: and one of those teams will begin the season one
• 40:50
  Speaker 4: and two, unless of course they begin the season one, one,
• 40:52
  Speaker 4: and one. We have to throw that out there, but
• 40:54
  Speaker 4: that's my intriguing matchup of the week.
• 40:56
  Speaker 2: Max, you. Oh, good. I mean, you only got six teams, Rob.
• 40:59
  Speaker 2: You only picked six teams.
• 41:02
  Speaker 4: But I chose my one. You're right. You're right. You're right.
• 41:05
  Speaker 4: By pointing them out. I'm equivocating in a way. I
• 41:09
  Speaker 4: get it. You're right. You're right. You're right. I'm not
• 41:11
  Speaker 4: going to argue with you. You're right.
• 41:13
  Speaker 2: Um, So, you know, in the spirit of Rob King intriguing,
• 41:19
  Speaker 2: I'm just going to go with, I have some other
• 41:22
  Speaker 2: teams that are also intriguing ish games that aren't the
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: most of intriguing.
• 41:28
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 41:28
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 41:29
  Speaker 4: What do you got? What do you got?
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: Giant. I mean, Jetson, Jetson Lions is one that intrigues me. Both,
• 41:36
  Speaker 2: both are one in one surprise, surprise, right? You would
• 41:38
  Speaker 2: thought one of those teams would have been knowing too,
• 41:41
  Speaker 2: but Just to see because there has been high expectations
• 41:44
  Speaker 2: for this Lions squad for the last couple of years. Okay.
• 41:47
  Speaker 2: And then there's been a sudden uptick in interest, a
• 41:51
  Speaker 2: renewed interest in the Jets because of the fact that
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: Geno Smith is playing at a competent level and shows
• 41:59
  Speaker 2: that this Jets team can do some things if they
• 42:02
  Speaker 2: just have competent quarterback play. The problem is they haven't
• 42:05
  Speaker 2: found competent quarterback play. So I look at that and
• 42:08
  Speaker 2: I say that's an intriguing-ish game and there's teams that
• 42:11
  Speaker 2: are trying to make a name for themselves. One's trying
• 42:14
  Speaker 2: to reestablish themselves, and one's just trying to establish themselves
• 42:17
  Speaker 2: in the Jets, right? Yeah. As a team that can
• 42:19
  Speaker 2: be good.
• 42:20
  Speaker 4: Okay, so I'm going to throw this in there, Max,
• 42:23
  Speaker 4: and it's why I love, one of the reasons I
• 42:25
  Speaker 4: love the NFL so much is that from year to year,
• 42:29
  Speaker 4: you just don't know. Like in college football, you know, right?
• 42:33
  Speaker 4: In the NFL, you just don't know. I mean, we've
• 42:35
  Speaker 4: seen four and 12 teams go win the Super Bowl.
• 42:38
  Speaker 4: Five and 11 teams go out the next year and
• 42:39
  Speaker 4: win the Super Bowl. You know, the Jets, I think they,
• 42:42
  Speaker 4: you know, and everybody was all over Aaron Glenn, and
• 42:45
  Speaker 4: maybe they're going to be right. But it just felt
• 42:48
  Speaker 4: like he was trying to win with a squad that
• 42:50
  Speaker 4: wasn't his squad. And this is more like his type
• 42:53
  Speaker 4: of team. He's put together a team that he wants
• 42:57
  Speaker 4: to go out and compete with. And I think they're
• 42:59
  Speaker 4: going to be, I think they're going to play hard,
• 43:01
  Speaker 4: and I think they're going to be a pain in
• 43:03
  Speaker 4: the neck. And they have elevated themselves with good quarterback play.
• 43:07
  Speaker 4: I think you can kind of say that with the Raiders,
• 43:09
  Speaker 4: a little bit different setup there. competent quarterback play what
• 43:12
  Speaker 4: can that be worth to a team uh yeah i
• 43:15
  Speaker 4: but but again you could say that with almost every
• 43:17
  Speaker 4: team but i agree with you okay so there you go.
• 43:21
  Speaker 2: That's intriguing ish so now we've we've gotten eight teams
• 43:26
  Speaker 2: covered now rob um and you know but i'm gonna
• 43:31
  Speaker 2: say my big match i want to see this raider
• 43:33
  Speaker 2: saints game that's the one i want to see really
• 43:37
  Speaker 2: I do. I do. Because seeing, you kind of previewed it,
• 43:41
  Speaker 2: competent quarterback play. You know, the Raiders won that game
• 43:44
  Speaker 2: last week with no Brock Bowers, right? And it was
• 43:47
  Speaker 2: Kirk Cousins having to put darts around the board. Now,
• 43:51
  Speaker 2: I just, I want to see who they can, if
• 43:56
  Speaker 2: they can really keep this going. Because you're sitting tied
• 44:00
  Speaker 2: in second place right now in the division in the
• 44:04
  Speaker 2: AFC West, if you're the Raiders. Right. You and the
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: undefeated Kansas City Chiefs and you're undefeated with them in
• 44:11
  Speaker 2: the same category.
• 44:13
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 44:13
  Speaker 2: I mean, that's that just hasn't happened. And so the
• 44:17
  Speaker 2: Chargers are 0-2 and looking like they'll probably be 0-3
• 44:20
  Speaker 2: after this weekend. They can't figure themselves out. They can't
• 44:22
  Speaker 2: fight their way out of a wet paper bag. And
• 44:24
  Speaker 2: we know what that Broncos Rams game means. That's going
• 44:27
  Speaker 2: to show who's for real and who is just a
• 44:30
  Speaker 2: paper champ for all intents and purposes. So I really
• 44:35
  Speaker 2: want to see it. And Tyler Shuck, they are literally
• 44:37
  Speaker 2: a two-point conversion away from being 2-0. And I think
• 44:41
  Speaker 2: that's the thing. This is not the Saints team that
• 44:44
  Speaker 2: you're used to. And they still don't even have their
• 44:46
  Speaker 2: first-round draft pick, Jordan Tyson, in there. Right? I mean,
• 44:49
  Speaker 2: you know, you're dealing with Travis A. Chan, Chris Olave,
• 44:54
  Speaker 2: and company. And that defense, you know, is still very good.
• 44:58
  Speaker 2: So I can't wait to see both of these teams
• 45:00
  Speaker 2: match up because I think this will this will either
• 45:02
  Speaker 2: pop the bubble on one team or it'll reinflate.
• 45:04
  Speaker 4: The balloon on the other. I, you know, as far
• 45:07
  Speaker 4: as what we think about them, it's so much fun.
• 45:09
  Speaker 4: Like we think back to last year, right? At what
• 45:12
  Speaker 4: point in the season did we think the Patriots were
• 45:15
  Speaker 4: for real or the bears were for real or the
• 45:19
  Speaker 4: Jaguars were for real? You know, there's, there were three
• 45:22
  Speaker 4: coaches right there. And you know, Mike McDonald obviously led
• 45:26
  Speaker 4: his team to the Superbowl. Kyle Shanahan did his usual
• 45:29
  Speaker 4: great job in, in San Francisco, but those are your
• 45:31
  Speaker 4: top five candidates for Coach of the Year last year.
• 45:34
  Speaker 4: Three of those guys led the team from nowhere. I
• 45:36
  Speaker 4: think Ben Johnson, Liam Cohen, and Mike Rabel were all deserving.
• 45:40
  Speaker 4: It was a very close vote. And why? Because they
• 45:43
  Speaker 4: took teams that nobody expected to be really good, and
• 45:47
  Speaker 4: one of them went to the Super Bowl, and the
• 45:49
  Speaker 4: other teams were division champs and weren't supposed to be.
• 45:53
  Speaker 4: So you just never know at what point in a
• 45:55
  Speaker 4: season somebody– we do know this about the NFL– it
• 45:59
  Speaker 4: is almost a surety that one or two or three
• 46:03
  Speaker 4: teams will be, we'll be talking about them the exact
• 46:06
  Speaker 4: same way. And this gives us an insight as to
• 46:09
  Speaker 4: one of those teams might be the Raiders. One of
• 46:10
  Speaker 4: those teams might be the saints, right? We might be
• 46:13
  Speaker 4: looking at worse to first, right? This team is better
• 46:16
  Speaker 4: than we thought for whatever reason, they're better than we thought.
• 46:19
  Speaker 4: And you know, those have the predictions. A lot of people,
• 46:21
  Speaker 4: I think, feel like the saints could be that team, Max, like,
• 46:25
  Speaker 4: like I think you're, you're onto something with that Saints team.
• 46:28
  Speaker 4: Like they could be a team that all of a
• 46:30
  Speaker 4: sudden we look up and like you said, we're in
• 46:32
  Speaker 4: Paris and we're like, whoa, this wasn't supposed to be
• 46:34
  Speaker 4: a tough game, but it's going to be a tough game.
• 46:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no. And I think that's something that we have
• 46:39
  Speaker 2: to be aware of. And there's always that. I mean,
• 46:41
  Speaker 2: this is a battle of fourth place teams from a
• 46:43
  Speaker 2: year ago and they're leading their teams respectively. I mean,
• 46:47
  Speaker 2: you're talking about, you know, a point, two points away
• 46:51
  Speaker 2: from being 2-0. Yep. Less than a field goal. So,
• 46:55
  Speaker 2: I like that. And the other one is 2-0. So
• 46:58
  Speaker 2: that is what I'm settling on, Rob. It only took
• 47:00
  Speaker 2: me two games to get to my intriguing game of
• 47:02
  Speaker 2: the week.
• 47:02
  Speaker 4: Three for me, in case you're keeping track at home.
• 47:05
  Speaker 4: Willie Colon was with us briefly today. He'll be back tomorrow.
• 47:08
  Speaker 4: I want to thank Jerry Dulac for coming on with us.
• 47:10
  Speaker 4: I also want to thank Dan Hoard, the play-by-play man
• 47:13
  Speaker 4: for the Cincinnati Bengals. I have some special guests lined
• 47:15
  Speaker 4: up for you tomorrow. You're not going to want to miss.
• 47:18
  Speaker 4: I will tell you all about that tomorrow in the
• 47:20
  Speaker 4: locker room for Justin Miller, for Max Starks. I'm Rob King.
• 47:23
  Speaker 4: Thanks for being with us in the locker room here
• 47:24
  Speaker 4: on the Steelers Audio Network.