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HR1: Around the League · In the Locker Room presented by Neighborhood Ford Store (Pittsburgh Steelers)

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio. Brought to you
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: Well, hello, everybody, and thank you very much for being
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: with us on this podcast. Friday as we're getting ready
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: for the Steelers against the Patriots. Max Stark's off today.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: We've got Willie Colon. We have Missy Matthews coming in. Willie,
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: any different feeling in that first road game as the
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: team's getting ready to take the road and play for
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: the first time away from Akershire?
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: Well, you just have to focus on attention to detail.
• 0:57
  Speaker 4: When you're going into a hostile environment like Falkborough and
• 1:02
  Speaker 4: you continue to understand that you're a work in progress
• 1:06
  Speaker 4: and when you're a work in progress, you know, you
• 1:08
  Speaker 4: really want, you really want to understand that it's going
• 1:11
  Speaker 4: to be hostile.
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: It's going to be loud. And so you may have
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: to go silent count.
• 1:15
  Speaker 4: Would it be new for some, some of the young
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: guys that are just playing in the NFL and what
• 1:18
  Speaker 4: that feels like and what that looks like, especially if,
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: you know, I know it's not out that Troy Fatano
• 1:24
  Speaker 4: is not playing or whatever, but I am not saying
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: he is or isn't playing, but if he's not playing,
• 1:30
  Speaker 4: you know, a guy for like a max amateur, The
• 1:32
  Speaker 4: question is, can he handle what it feels like being
• 1:37
  Speaker 4: on the road in a hostile environment? Because they may
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: have to go silent count. And if that is the option,
• 1:42
  Speaker 4: what does that look like for the Steelers offense?
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: Well, I know one team that is going to be
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: rooting hard for the Pittsburgh Steelers is the Buffalo Bills.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: They would love to see the New England Patriots go 0-2. Willie, again,
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: we talked about this. We go through the power rankings
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: and The Bills are up there, obviously. Not sure they
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: wouldn't be number one if it wasn't for the preconceived
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: notion of the rankings. Once you're in the rankings, it
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: seems like it's hard to move up or down, and
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: those are preconceived notions because nothing's actually happened yet. But
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: the Bills, that's two pretty impressive wins. Now, we don't
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: know how good the Lions are going to be, and
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: I know they're banged up a little bit. I still
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: think they're certainly a playoff contender, but I thought the
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: Bills looked really, really impressive, especially in the first half
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: last night.
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: Listen, what Josh Allen, what he's doing and what he
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: has done over the last two weeks, I mean, he's
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: just on a heater, man. I think when you talk
• 2:46
  Speaker 4: about a quarterback of his caliber continue to deliver on
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: back-to-back weeks, you talk about scoring four touchdowns against Texas,
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: an elite defense. Now you're talking about scoring five touchdowns
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: at home against a defense that Sure, they have their issues,
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: but it's still a fairly decent one. I think when
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: you talk about also not having DJ Moore in that game,
• 3:07
  Speaker 4: what that looked like for that offense, having Dalton Kincaid
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: being able to step up.
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: And what's interesting about Josh Allen last night.
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: I think he carried the ball 14 times, which for
• 3:21
  Speaker 4: a quarterback of his caliber and his stature, you don't
• 3:24
  Speaker 4: necessarily want to see.
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: But he's playing with a level of freedom, and he's
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: seen the game at a level that you just have
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: to honestly just get out of his way.
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: Because the Buffalo Bills solely lies on the shoulders of
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: Josh Allen. And what you're seeing is a guy who
• 3:42
  Speaker 4: can throw whenever and however low it feels, but could
• 3:46
  Speaker 4: also put so much pressure on the defense with his
• 3:48
  Speaker 4: legs and his scrambling ability. He's instant offense. And if
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: you're Joe Brady, old O.C., former OC, now head coach, man,
• 3:59
  Speaker 4: these last two weeks, they've been able to scheme and
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: execute at a level that makes the Buffalo Bills extremely
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: scary to start the season. So credit to Josh Allen.
• 4:08
  Speaker 4: Credit everything that he's done thus far. It's amazing.
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: Honestly, if he's not rushing, if he's not throwing it,
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: he's scoring it. It's a success.
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: So, it sounds like we're having some technical difficulties here
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: with Willie, but I think we caught most of that, Willie.
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: And I totally agree. When I think about the coaches
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: who have moved on, right? I mean, you're talking about three,
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: to me, and maybe I'm missing one, but just off
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: the top of my head, three outstanding coaches with outstanding pedigree.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: Mike Tomlin steps down as a Seedless Head Coach. Jim Harbaugh,
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: John Harbaugh steps aside, I beg your pardon, from The Ravens, well, actually,
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: he was let go by the Ravens. And then McDermott
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: let go by the Bills. So the question, I think,
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: for the Bills and for the Steelers and for the
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: Ravens is, what does a new coach do? What does
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: new blood look like? And I think when we go
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: back to power rankings, this is one of the reasons
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: that pundits and fans get all excited about the new coaches, right? Hey,
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: look what the Ravens did in week one. Look what
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: Joe Brady did in week one. And there may be
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: something to that, right? There may be something to that,
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: that newness. But both the Ravens and the Bills have looked– well,
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: the Ravens have only played one game. The Bills have
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: played two games. Have looked awesome offensively. Absolutely awesome.
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think that's.
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: The– you know, it's always hard coming out week one
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: and establishing your identity and having a positive output. When
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: you're the Baltimore Ravens, obviously having a new head coach
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: in Jesse Minterer, get a new OC in Declan Doyle,
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: an offensive line who honestly lost their starting center right
• 6:01
  Speaker 4: before the start of the season. And you talk about
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: all these things you want to see out of Lamar Jackson,
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: especially on a new head coach. Man, there's a lot
• 6:10
  Speaker 4: of pressure that gets put on the offense to produce.
• 6:14
  Speaker 4: And when you see Lamar Jackson, you see Declan DeRee,
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: now Mark Andrews, and Zay Flowers, now that he has
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: a new deal, looks like they're all in line with
• 6:23
  Speaker 4: each other, man, it makes the race scary. Now the
• 6:27
  Speaker 4: defense is starting to complement the offense. And you're seeing
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: that early in the season. And I think there's added
• 6:33
  Speaker 4: motivation for both teams, being the Baltimore and Buffalo Bills,
• 6:37
  Speaker 4: because one of the narratives that continues to linger and
• 6:40
  Speaker 4: hang over the head of those organizations is, you know,
• 6:44
  Speaker 4: how fast is the window closing? And if the window
• 6:46
  Speaker 4: is closed, looking at two former MVPs and Josh and
• 6:50
  Speaker 4: Lamar Jackson who understand They won't be judged by what
• 6:54
  Speaker 4: they do in the regular season. They're going to be
• 6:57
  Speaker 4: judged on how they perform in the playoffs and if
• 6:59
  Speaker 4: they can win a Super Bowl. And they have done
• 7:02
  Speaker 4: so thus far. So as much as we, you know, Google,
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: not Google, as much as we kind of, you know,
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: we kind of celebrate Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson for
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: what they're able to do. They're always going to be
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: that thing. Can they win a Super Bowl? And if
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: they don't do so, especially since they're both getting long
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: in the tooth. I think, you know, Josh Allen's 29,
• 7:24
  Speaker 4: Lamar Jackson's 29.
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: Both of these guys are in their prime.
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: If they aren't able to deliver, then you start to question, like,
• 7:32
  Speaker 4: all right, what do we get out of it? You know,
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: obviously exceptional quarterbacks, great quarterbacks in their prime, but obviously
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: we judge guys if they're ever hosting a ring or not.
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: Around the League is presented by your neighborhood fortune. The
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: F-150 is the official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Last
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: night's game was one of a number of games, Willie,
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: that I was particularly eager to see and particularly eager
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: to see over this weekend. So now the Bills improved 2-0. Obviously,
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: that's the first game of the week. Vikings-Bears, I'm really
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: intrigued by this because obviously the Vikings, their head coach
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: is a really good head coach. They didn't have a
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: great year a year ago. Now they look like maybe
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: they're back. Well, they thought it was going to be
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: under Kyler Murray, but then they had to go back
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: to Carson Wentz after he got injured. But that one,
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: the Vikings and Bears, really intrigues me as one of
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: the key matchups, I think, this weekend.
• 8:38
  Speaker 4: Well, especially for the Bears, you talk about putting on
• 8:41
  Speaker 4: 59 points against the Carolina Panthers. So many people are
• 8:44
  Speaker 4: looking at Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams in year three
• 8:47
  Speaker 4: and more like the fact that they continue to have
• 8:49
  Speaker 4: that much success offensively. Now defensively, they still got 37
• 8:53
  Speaker 4: points put on their head by the Carolina Panthers. And
• 8:57
  Speaker 4: the Panthers don't have a bad defense, but it just
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: shows you that as much as people were trying to
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: anticipate the regression of Caleb Williams, you can turn back
• 9:05
  Speaker 4: on a tape and you can see a lot of
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: progression from his footwork, from his timing, from the offensive line,
• 9:11
  Speaker 4: playing really well, having a run game.
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: All those things were able to pop up the tape.
• 9:16
  Speaker 4: I think if you're the Vikings right now, you lost
• 9:20
  Speaker 4: Kyler Murray early in that game. Carson Wentz was able
• 9:23
  Speaker 4: to step in and pretty much stabilize the offense, but
• 9:26
  Speaker 4: it really came down to that defense.
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: Brian Flores and what.
• 9:29
  Speaker 4: He's been able to do with that defense thus far,
• 9:31
  Speaker 4: he's been able to put on a master class on
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: how to blitz and how to make a premier quarterback
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: extremely uncomfortable. So it's going to be a historic matchup.
• 9:41
  Speaker 4: both masterminds and you talk about KFC over in Minnesota,
• 9:47
  Speaker 4: Ben Johnson in Chicago, Brian Flores is going to have
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: his handful trying to figure out how to stop Caleb
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: Williams in that attack.
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: I think it just calls from us.
• 9:57
  Speaker 4: CTV and what makes that division probably one of the
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: most interesting in football because after you witnessed what happened
• 10:05
  Speaker 4: to the Detroit Lions last night, how Matt LaFleur and
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: that pack of teams continue to kind of get in
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: their own way. Now you're looking at the Vikings and
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: the Bears saying, okay, this is going to be a
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: tight one. I do think the Packers will recover, but
• 10:21
  Speaker 4: right now, if we just say who owns, who's the
• 10:23
  Speaker 4: face of the division after week one, you would have
• 10:26
  Speaker 4: to give it to Bears.
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: Yep. I agree.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: It's a wide open division for me, by the way. Uh, yeah,
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: we'll go down every game, but I, I just want
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: to pause at the ones that interest us. So the
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: Panthers play the Falcons. Um, I don't have a huge
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: amount of interest in that. Um, it is obviously an
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: AFC South game. Um, You know, stop me, Willie, if
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: any of these games are ones that you want to
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: talk about. Eagles at the Titans. Eagles 1-0, Titans 0-1.
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: That one doesn't really get me all excited. The Steelers
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: and the Patriots. I mean, this is one that gets
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: me excited, right? This is one of five games that
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: I had circled that I thought were big games. And
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: as you look at this just nationally, obviously we're going
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: to get into the key matchups. This is our game. But,
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: you know, the Steelers were 1-5 against playoff teams a
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: year ago. The only team they beat was the Patriots.
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: They were in a lot of games, had opportunities, but
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: they beat the Patriots up there. This would be a
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: nice win for the Steelers. It would be a nice
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: statement game for the Steelers. It almost feels, I know
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: it's only week two, but it almost feels like a
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: must win for the Patriots. They don't want to start 0-2,
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: especially with what the Bills are doing right now. And
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: as we mentioned yesterday, with the questions that might crop up,
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: the questions that are going to crop up, now whether
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: those crop up in the minds of the Patriots staff
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: and players is another thing, but They're certainly going to
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: start getting questioned if they drop to 0-2.
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: Yeah, because they start to question some of the offseason acquisitions, right?
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: You talk about going to get Elijah Veritaka, you know,
• 11:54
  Speaker 4: really trying to upgrade this offensive line. You talk about
• 11:58
  Speaker 4: getting A.J. Brown, who will not be playing in this
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: game due to an ankle injury. You talk about letting
• 12:02
  Speaker 4: go of Kendrick Bourne, who was supposed to be a staple,
• 12:05
  Speaker 4: a part of that office last year. You ship him
• 12:06
  Speaker 4: off to Arizona, and, you know, he had a pretty
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: damn good day against the Chargers. Romeo Dobbs, who you
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: brought in, who didn't have a good day against the Seahawks,
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: who looked.
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: Like a shell of himself. You start to.
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: Now question if the moves were made thus far have
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: been a benefit to the Patriots. And now, listen, we
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: try not to have too overreactions. But like I said,
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: as this month starts to kind of roll along, you
• 12:35
  Speaker 4: start to want to see what your ball club looks
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: like and what can they do against worthy oppositions. And
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: the Steelers are going into this game feeling hungry, feeling
• 12:45
  Speaker 4: like they have a lot to prove. And they've had
• 12:48
  Speaker 4: success in your building. So the Patriots, they just want
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: to get back on. They don't want to even out
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: the record. They want to leave this thing one and one.
• 12:56
  Speaker 4: And they want kind of the fire that continues to
• 12:59
  Speaker 4: kind of rise around this team to kind.
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: Of get put out.
• 13:03
  Speaker 4: But if the Patriots do lose, everything that you mentioned, Rob,
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: all those fires that have now sparked get bigger and bigger.
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: And the last thing, especially if you go on to
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: the last thing, the last question you want to have
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: if you're a Patriots fan is, you know, what happened
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: to Drake May? You know, has that shoulder recovered? You know,
• 13:24
  Speaker 4: how much have this offense, his second year on the
• 13:26
  Speaker 4: Josh McDaniel, you know, where is the disconnect? Is he pressing?
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: Is he forcing? You know, who are we? Like all
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: these little questions start to kind of rear its head.
• 13:36
  Speaker 4: And if you're Drake May in this offense, you don't
• 13:39
  Speaker 4: want that because– We haven't understood that.
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: They have a top quarterback.
• 13:44
  Speaker 4: He's capable of doing anything and everything on the football field.
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: He's a leader on and off out of the locker room.
• 13:49
  Speaker 4: And you just don't want to question who he is
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: at this point in his career, especially with all the
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: headlines that kind of looms around the team.
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: All right, we're going to continue our look around the
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: NFL with a look at the key matchups coming up
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: this weekend. We're also going to dive into some of
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: the injuries as the report came out yesterday and some
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: key players from each team cropping up on that list.
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: Missy Matthews is going to join us later on. Of course,
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: we're going to get into the key matchups between the
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: Steelers and the Patriots all when we continue in the
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: locker room here on the Steelers Audio Network.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio, brought to you
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: in part by a Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: And thanks for being back with us in the locker
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: room as we continue to go around the NFL presented
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: by your neighborhood Ford. So the F-150 is the official
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Just looking at the key
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: matchups as we see them. And, you know, we may
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: see them a little bit differently, but we're going to
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: go through them all. So we both agreed that the Lions,
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: by the way, no Max Starks today. Willie and myself
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: will be joined by Missy Matthews coming up in a bit. Lions,
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: Bills was intriguing. Bills looked really good. Panthers, Falcons, meh. Vikings, Bears,
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: we talked about. I think that's a big one. Eagles, Titans, meh. Steelers, Patriots,
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: of course, we're going to dive much more into that. Willie,
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: no offense, but I'm not super intrigued by Packers-Jets. Listen,
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: I'm a little interested in every game, especially this time
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: of year, but what do you think about the Packers-Jets?
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: Give us a quick lowdown on that.
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: Well, I think for Jets, it's about their campaign, right?
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: They want to seem competent and and a team that's
• 15:46
  Speaker 4: serious about changing the narrative. And the only way to
• 15:49
  Speaker 4: change the narrative about the New York Jets is about
• 15:52
  Speaker 4: winning football games. And so last week they were able
• 15:55
  Speaker 4: to beat the Tennessee Titans and continue to change the
• 16:00
  Speaker 4: narrative not only about winning, but show the rest of
• 16:03
  Speaker 4: the NFL that they're not the slow Jets. And I
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: think this is a great opportunity beating a contender, a
• 16:09
  Speaker 4: potential Super Bowl contender in the Green Bay Packers. who,
• 16:13
  Speaker 4: by the way, blew a 12-point lead to the Minnesota
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: Vikings last week.
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: Jordan Love had a stellar game.
• 16:19
  Speaker 4: He tried to shoulder the team, but the defense for
• 16:21
  Speaker 4: the Packers just couldn't hold up, and Carson and the
• 16:24
  Speaker 4: company was able to do the damn thing. Going into
• 16:27
  Speaker 4: that game for the Packers, man, they wanted to make sense.
• 16:29
  Speaker 4: They wanted to make sense from the standpoint that they
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: can survive the month of September without Michael Parsons. They
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: understand they don't have Josh Jacoby, but they have been
• 16:39
  Speaker 4: in love, and they have enough pieces, especially on the outsides.
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: With Golden and Tucker Craft, that they can ride.
• 16:47
  Speaker 4: And stump this downtime without blowing it early. So they
• 16:53
  Speaker 4: don't want to play comeback football. They want to stand
• 16:56
  Speaker 4: par with the rest of the division. And if they
• 16:58
  Speaker 4: beat the Jets, people are going to give them credit.
• 17:00
  Speaker 4: Not give them credit, but they're going to balance out
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: their record. But if for the Jets, they beat the Packers,
• 17:06
  Speaker 4: a lot of people start saying, okay, we may have
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: something here.
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: Right. So we'll see what happens.
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: I mean, like I just said before to Willie, every
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: game interests me to some degree. Because you're right. I
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: don't think the Jets are going to win, but they're
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: at home. And if they win this game, and regardless
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: of what even happened to the Steelers and the Patriots,
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: you're the Jets. You're tied for first place. You're 2-0.
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: And you've got a different belief about your football team.
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: We mentioned this a little bit yesterday, Willie. But I
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: think when a team starts to believe they become a
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: much more dangerous team. And if the Jets win this game,
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: they're going to start to believe that they're a good team.
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: On the other hand, the Packers are going to wonder
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: what in the world they've got going on.
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: Well, for the Packers, defensively, Jonathan Gannon is the new
• 17:59
  Speaker 4: defensive coordinator for the Packers. And when Jeff Halfley left
• 18:02
  Speaker 4: to go to Miami to coach the Dolphins, there was
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: a big concern about Jonathan Gannon coming in and changing
• 18:08
  Speaker 4: the scheme. They have gone to a 3-4 scheme. You know,
• 18:11
  Speaker 4: they have lost, they've lost Rashawn Gary. They've lost some pieces.
• 18:15
  Speaker 4: And so now you're talking about some of the pieces
• 18:17
  Speaker 4: they do have right now. It's not enough right now
• 18:20
  Speaker 4: because they struggle against the run. The secondary has been,
• 18:23
  Speaker 4: you know, up now. And schematically, they seem like they're
• 18:26
  Speaker 4: still trying to adjust. We're playing a 3-4. On top
• 18:29
  Speaker 4: of that, offensively, as I just mentioned, not having, you know,
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: Josh Jacobs, excuse me, and his ability to run the
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: ball to stabilize the offense, like, When you're up 12
• 18:40
  Speaker 4: points and you're that, and you want to be able
• 18:43
  Speaker 4: to run the ball so you can kind of cool
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: off the pass rush of a position, you weren't able
• 18:47
  Speaker 4: to do that. So I love Jordan Love really trying
• 18:50
  Speaker 4: to force him to make apparent throws to kind of
• 18:53
  Speaker 4: keep them ahead, stay in that game, and just kind
• 18:56
  Speaker 4: of unravel. So if you're the Packers right now, there's
• 18:59
  Speaker 4: definitely holes on your team. You're just hoping it doesn't
• 19:03
  Speaker 4: put you in a big enough hole where you can't
• 19:05
  Speaker 4: get out of.
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: I mean, I'm sure you're thinking, hang on until Micah
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: Parsons comes back. Jacobs is going to be a while,
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: if I'm not mistaken. But hang in there, and if
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: you can just kind of be 4-4 when Jacobs comes back,
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: if you can be 2-2 when Micah Parsons comes back,
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: those guys are the kind of shot in the arm
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: where you're like, okay, we're all right, we survived. It's
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: so funny. I really believe the psychology of the game
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: is important for the players, and it's important for an organization. So,
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: you know, if you're the Packers, everybody's healthy, and you
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: start 2-2, you're thinking, oh, boy, wow. You're the Packers,
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: you start 2-2, now you get Micah Parson. back, you're
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: feeling like, okay, we survived something. You know what I mean, Willie?
• 19:55
  Speaker 4: Well, because part of it is, too, you understand what
• 19:58
  Speaker 4: Micah Parsons does for your team. From a morale standpoint,
• 20:01
  Speaker 4: from a business standpoint, you now have a guy who
• 20:05
  Speaker 4: can close out games. You understand what makes– the Chris
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: Jones of the world, what makes the Michael Parsons of
• 20:10
  Speaker 4: the world, what makes those, you know, the Aiden Hutcherson's
• 20:13
  Speaker 4: or the TJ Watts of the world. When it's five
• 20:15
  Speaker 4: minutes left in a game, those guys pop off the
• 20:18
  Speaker 4: tape because they have the ability to close out games
• 20:20
  Speaker 4: and make a key play like TJ Watt last week, right?
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: Yep.
• 20:23
  Speaker 4: When a defense was kind of really anchoring the team,
• 20:27
  Speaker 4: what does he do? He pops up, gets interception, takes
• 20:29
  Speaker 4: it to the house, game over. Those type of guys
• 20:32
  Speaker 4: have that ability. That's why they paid the big bucks.
• 20:34
  Speaker 4: So if you're, If you're the Packers and you get
• 20:37
  Speaker 4: a guy like Parsons back, you're now looking at a
• 20:44
  Speaker 4: team that's saying, hey, we can get back to what
• 20:47
  Speaker 4: we left off, where we left off last year. You
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: got to understand, Michael Parsons got hurt week 15 of
• 20:52
  Speaker 4: last year, and they took a nosedive. But that was
• 20:55
  Speaker 4: a team that was scaring a lot of people because
• 20:56
  Speaker 4: of the way they were playing on defense and what
• 20:58
  Speaker 4: they were doing on offense. And we all know, historically–
• 21:03
  Speaker 4: Jordan Love, during the month of December, going into the playoffs,
• 21:06
  Speaker 4: he heats up. So they felt like they had legit
• 21:08
  Speaker 4: momentum on their side, and they were trending in the
• 21:12
  Speaker 4: right direction. They lose Michael Parsons, and everything kind of crumbles.
• 21:16
  Speaker 4: So you get Michael Parsons back early in the season,
• 21:20
  Speaker 4: early October, you're feeling like, man, we're in this thing.
• 21:22
  Speaker 4: Now we can get back to doing what we set
• 21:24
  Speaker 4: to do last season, and let's go win the division
• 21:26
  Speaker 4: and potentially the Super Bowl.
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: So if it wasn't for the fact that the Browns
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: were in the same division as the Steelers. I wouldn't
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: care much at all about the Browns, Buccaneers. Can we
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: slide by that? Do you have any strong feelings about that?
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: And the Saints-Ravens I think is a little more interesting
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: to me because, you know, I mean, and look, the
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: Steelers play the Buccaneers. They play the Saints later on.
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: But the Saints, if the Saints can give the Ravens,
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: even if they give them a game, I think a
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: lot of us are going to be like, uh-oh. Saints
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: are going to be a tough opponent for the Steelers
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: coming up a little bit. Neither one of those games
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: interest me a ton. I don't think nationally everyone's going
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: to be looking at those games unless, again, as we
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: said before, if somehow the Browns pull off an upset
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: or if the Saints defeat the Ravens, now all of
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: a sudden those games in retrospect seem really interesting.
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: Well, I think for the Browns, they have to continue
• 22:26
  Speaker 4: to defend why Deshaun Watson is the starting quarterback for
• 22:30
  Speaker 4: your team. And they have to continue to try to
• 22:33
  Speaker 4: deflate the narrative that they have, you know, they have,
• 22:36
  Speaker 4: they have, there's trouble in that water because when, and
• 22:39
  Speaker 4: by the way, if you put up, Deshaun Watson didn't
• 22:42
  Speaker 4: play God awful against the Jaguars. What happened was he
• 22:46
  Speaker 4: was sacked five times and he has yet to separate
• 22:50
  Speaker 4: himself from Shador Sanders. The problem with that is should
• 22:54
  Speaker 4: Deshaun Watson validate he's injured and you do suspect him
• 22:58
  Speaker 4: to be a lot more polished and a lot more,
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: I guess, you expect him to be an upgrade from
• 23:04
  Speaker 4: what they currently have on their roster from a quarterback position,
• 23:07
  Speaker 4: from a quarterback standpoint. I think, you know, defensively, they're
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: going to be fine. I think offensively for the Browns,
• 23:16
  Speaker 4: it comes down to what Deshaun Walsh can and can't do.
• 23:19
  Speaker 4: And Cleveland, how do they kind of continue to try
• 23:21
  Speaker 4: to stay in games and kind of pull late ones
• 23:25
  Speaker 4: out of their hat?
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: As far as the Saints, man, I love the Saints.
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: I do. They were a throw away from beating the
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: Detroit Lions.
• 23:35
  Speaker 4: And so the Saints are that sneaky, dark horse that
• 23:40
  Speaker 4: if they continue to play and get better, they're going
• 23:42
  Speaker 4: to roll up on a lot of people.
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: You know, that five sack surprised me. You know, the
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: Browns went out. You know, they used a first-round pick
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: on Spencer Faneu at left tackle. And I know he's
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: a rookie. They went and they, you know, they got–
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: Jenkins to play center. They, you know, they got Zion Johnson.
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: Whether you think that was an overpay, a lot of
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: people seem to think that. You went out and got
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: Titus Howard. Like, I thought this, and again, we talk
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: about it with the Steelers. I got to give them
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: a little grace to gel. I didn't see five sacks coming.
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: It was one of the reasons I thought that, you know,
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: to me, I think the Browns have had two very
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: good drafts in a row. Casey Concepcion and Denzel Boston
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: were both guys that, you know, I thought the Steelers...
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: I thought they would look good in black and gold.
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: Spencer Faneuil is a guy that I thought would have
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: looked good in black and gold. Whether he's more of
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: a guard than a tackle, I think remains to be seen.
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: But I think he's a pretty good football player. I think,
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: you know, again, the quarterback position is a huge question
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: mark for them. But I thought, hey, two good drafts.
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: They targeted the offensive line to shore it up. You know,
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: I'm not saying they're going to go, you know, 11-6.
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: But I thought they could be kind of one of
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: those tough teams to play every week. Hey, you make
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: a mistake or two, the Browns can beat you. They
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: certainly did not look that way against the Jaguars.
• 25:00
  Speaker 4: Yeah, but the ones over the last few years have
• 25:03
  Speaker 4: been able to construct a young, hungry roster, a roster
• 25:07
  Speaker 4: that they feel that's projected over the next two or
• 25:09
  Speaker 4: three years can really turn into something special. The quarterback
• 25:13
  Speaker 4: situation is what it is. We already talked about that.
• 25:16
  Speaker 4: I think the goal for Todd Munkin is to usher
• 25:18
  Speaker 4: this Browns organization into a new era where they're competent
• 25:23
  Speaker 4: and competitive. especially in a division where everybody's giving the
• 25:27
  Speaker 4: Bengals a lot of credit because of Joe Burrow and
• 25:28
  Speaker 4: what he can do and Lamar Jackson in Baltimore and
• 25:30
  Speaker 4: what they can do as a whole. The Steelers, a
• 25:33
  Speaker 4: lot of people are feeling however they want to feel
• 25:35
  Speaker 4: about a 42-year-old quarterback and a defense that's elite in
• 25:38
  Speaker 4: the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 25:39
  Speaker 3: But the Browns feel like if they.
• 25:41
  Speaker 4: Continue to add high-quality draft picks, real good talent. I mean,
• 25:48
  Speaker 4: they have three draft picks coming into this year's draft.
• 25:51
  Speaker 4: they feel probably in a year or two, man, they're
• 25:53
  Speaker 4: going to be knocking on the door, not only a
• 25:55
  Speaker 4: playoff run, but potentially put them in a category where
• 25:58
  Speaker 4: we look at them as a contender if they continue
• 26:01
  Speaker 4: to build in this regard.
• 26:02
  Speaker 3: So they can go into this.
• 26:04
  Speaker 4: Year's draft and find their quarterback again, so to speak.
• 26:08
  Speaker 4: And if they finally feel like they have their guy,
• 26:10
  Speaker 4: continue to get more pieces on defense and try to
• 26:13
  Speaker 4: mask the loss of Myles Garrett, the Browns feel like
• 26:17
  Speaker 4: they are used to having a place at the table
• 26:19
  Speaker 4: when we get into the playoffs.
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: Yep, I think that is a couple years away. I
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: thought they might close the gap. They sure they still might.
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: It's only one game. So, again, we're looking at the ones.
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: We're going to run through all the games here. But,
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: you know, the gold stars for me were the Lions-Bills,
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: the Vikings-Bears, Steelers-Patriots. I'll give Saints-Ravens a little silver star
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: because I'm a little interested in how that one might
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: come out. My fourth silver star matchup game of the week–
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: or gold star matchup game of the week is this
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: Bengals-Texans game because– Bengals look good in Week 1. They're 1-0.
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: This is a little similar to me with the Steelers
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: and the Patriots in that if you're the Texans, if
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: you're the Patriots, you consider yourself contenders. You sure don't
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: want to start the season 0-2. I think right now, nationally,
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: the Bengals are perceived as a little sexier than the Steelers.
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: That's national perception. But this is a big game, and
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: it's a big test for the Bengals because this Texans D,
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: you've got to figure out that they're going to be
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: better than they were against the Bills. And the Bills,
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: you know, two straight weeks now, that might say more
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: about the Bills' offense than the Texans' defense, what happened
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: in week one.
• 27:33
  Speaker 3: It's definitely the Bills' offense. I mean, they're just playing
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: at a really high level.
• 27:36
  Speaker 4: But I think the Texas defense, what we're kind of
• 27:39
  Speaker 4: puzzled at, there was the expectation. What they did last
• 27:42
  Speaker 4: year in the playoffs and the fashion in which they
• 27:44
  Speaker 4: played and the talent they have on that side of
• 27:46
  Speaker 4: the ball, you would expect, even with, the level of
• 27:50
  Speaker 4: the elite play out of the Josh Allen and the
• 27:52
  Speaker 4: Buffalo Bills offense, you just expect the dogfight. What we
• 27:55
  Speaker 4: saw was the team pretty much get outclassed and out-schemed.
• 27:58
  Speaker 4: And so now if you're the Houston Texans, think how
• 28:01
  Speaker 4: they started that game against the Buffalo Bills.
• 28:03
  Speaker 3: They started with a turnover, and they ended with a turnover. Right.
• 28:08
  Speaker 4: And so you talk about the instability at that position. Sure,
• 28:12
  Speaker 4: Sid Stroup, he didn't play awful. But when you're on
• 28:16
  Speaker 4: the field against another elite quarterback, One thing you don't
• 28:19
  Speaker 4: want to do is throw away games. And if you're
• 28:22
  Speaker 4: a quarterback looking for a new deal and you turn
• 28:24
  Speaker 4: on that tape, it's hard for an organization to say, hey,
• 28:29
  Speaker 4: we got to get you locked up right away.
• 28:30
  Speaker 3: You know what I mean?
• 28:31
  Speaker 4: He didn't do anything towards the end of that game
• 28:33
  Speaker 4: to make you feel like he's worthy of an extension. Defensively,
• 28:37
  Speaker 4: there's a lot of guys on the books. They'll figure
• 28:39
  Speaker 4: it out. They'll be fine. But the Houston Texans still
• 28:42
  Speaker 4: have a quarterback problem because they now have a running back,
• 28:44
  Speaker 4: David Montgomery. They have a better office line. They have
• 28:47
  Speaker 4: guys who are actually healthy, and Nico Collins and company,
• 28:50
  Speaker 4: what's his name, Dalton Schultz, the tight end, he played
• 28:54
  Speaker 4: well in that game as well.
• 28:56
  Speaker 3: It really comes to C.J.
• 28:56
  Speaker 4: Stroud taking care of the football and being a lot more,
• 29:01
  Speaker 4: I guess, being a lot more of a better game
• 29:03
  Speaker 4: manager in that game so that the Houston Texans can.
• 29:06
  Speaker 3: Get tight wins.
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: The fifth game that I'm really interested in is the
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: Jaguars and the Broncos. Again, the Broncos in a very
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: similar situation as some of the Patriots that we just
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: talked about, the Texans, in which you're a team that's
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: expected to be really good, and you're facing another really
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: good opponent in week two, and you're already 0-1. Now,
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: the Denver Broncos are home, but I think this is
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: a big test for them. Look, a lot of people
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: anointing them as maybe certainly one of the teams to
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: beat in the AFC. Why not? They made it to
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: the AFC championship game a year ago and gave the
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: Patriots all they wanted without their starting quarterback, without Bo Nix.
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: This is one, Willie, that's really got me interested is Jaguars-Broncos.
• 29:53
  Speaker 4: I think I'm more looking on the narrative of what
• 29:58
  Speaker 4: happens to the Jaguars after this game if they beat
• 30:01
  Speaker 4: the Broncos? Because we got to understand, when the Jaguars
• 30:04
  Speaker 4: beat the Kansas City Chiefs last year and what that
• 30:08
  Speaker 4: did for that team and how much momentum and how
• 30:10
  Speaker 4: much confidence that team garnered from beating the Chiefs, and
• 30:16
  Speaker 4: you talk about Trevor Lawrence year two under Liam Cohen
• 30:20
  Speaker 4: and how much confidence and how much he's upgraded himself,
• 30:23
  Speaker 4: his play style, his playability at that position, it's scary
• 30:27
  Speaker 4: because They feel they have a unit, an offensive unit
• 30:31
  Speaker 4: that can compete with anybody. They feel like they have
• 30:33
  Speaker 4: the defense that can get in a phone booth and
• 30:35
  Speaker 4: bang against anybody.
• 30:36
  Speaker 3: This isn't the Jaguars. You kind of say.
• 30:39
  Speaker 4: Okay, they're good, but they feel like they want to
• 30:41
  Speaker 4: raise the butt and put themselves in a contenders category.
• 30:45
  Speaker 4: As far as the Broncos, I think you're right. It
• 30:48
  Speaker 4: comes down to figuring out who they want to be.
• 30:51
  Speaker 4: We talked about it yesterday. That loss against the Chiefs, yes,
• 30:55
  Speaker 4: the Chiefs are a good team.
• 30:57
  Speaker 3: We know that. But it's in the fashion in which
• 30:59
  Speaker 3: they lost. You know what I mean?
• 31:02
  Speaker 4: It's just how the style points matter. The brand, we
• 31:05
  Speaker 4: thought the Broncos now.
• 31:09
  Speaker 3: Show on tape.
• 31:12
  Speaker 4: And you can show you talk about picks, his inability
• 31:15
  Speaker 4: to kind of execute at times. But I'm talking about
• 31:18
  Speaker 4: from all three phases, that team got their butt kicked. Offensively, defensively,
• 31:22
  Speaker 4: and special teams. So if we're talking about the Broncos
• 31:25
  Speaker 4: being a Super Bowl contender, Maybe they were drinking their
• 31:29
  Speaker 4: own juice and they went home with a doggy bag
• 31:33
  Speaker 4: of humble biscuits. But they got to change that around
• 31:36
  Speaker 4: ASAP because it just wasn't good.
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: All right, so let's just get through the last few matchups. Raiders, Chargers. Again,
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: I'll be more interested in this game if the Chargers
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: are 0-2. It doesn't get me super excited. Cowboys, Commanders.
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: Cowboys hosting the Commanders. I can't say that gets me
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: super excited, Max, or Willie, either.
• 31:57
  Speaker 3: That could be an interesting one, Rob. Okay.
• 31:59
  Speaker 4: Cowboys, Commanders. The Commanders only lost to the Eagles by
• 32:03
  Speaker 4: two points, and they didn't play well. They didn't play good,
• 32:08
  Speaker 4: and it took Jalen Hurts and, you know, Stephon Diggs
• 32:11
  Speaker 4: to kind of lose his marbles towards the end of
• 32:13
  Speaker 4: that game for the Eagles to win that game.
• 32:16
  Speaker 3: The Commanders look at– they're going to turn on that tape.
• 32:21
  Speaker 4: And they're going to watch how the Cowboys played against
• 32:24
  Speaker 4: the Giants, and they're going to say, oh, that's how
• 32:27
  Speaker 4: we beat them? Control the clock, run the ball, don't
• 32:31
  Speaker 4: give them anything, and do every bit of grass. By
• 32:35
  Speaker 4: the way, you're also going to see George Pickens not
• 32:38
  Speaker 4: look good on that tape because he didn't block well,
• 32:41
  Speaker 4: he had multiple drop passes along with CeeDee Lamb, and
• 32:44
  Speaker 4: Dak Prescott was up and down throughout that whole game.
• 32:47
  Speaker 4: So if you're the Commanders, You're going into that game saying,
• 32:51
  Speaker 4: we just watched a team nobody gave credit to that
• 32:53
  Speaker 4: had a chance to beat the Cowboys.
• 32:55
  Speaker 3: Absolute put the Cowboys in a baby seat and rocked
• 32:57
  Speaker 3: them to sleep.
• 32:58
  Speaker 4: So the commanders feel like they're going to turn on
• 33:00
  Speaker 4: that tape and feel like, man, we got a shot.
• 33:03
  Speaker 3: We're not scared of this elite offense.
• 33:04
  Speaker 4: We're not scared of what Dak and CD and the
• 33:07
  Speaker 4: rest of the game could do because we just want
• 33:10
  Speaker 4: to show up against the Giants who pretty much beat
• 33:12
  Speaker 4: them up four quarters.
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: You know, the other thing is, too, is that every year,
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: there is a Washington Commanders, a team, and last year,
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: I'm really referencing last year, a team that makes the playoffs.
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: Maybe they had a soft schedule. Maybe some things came together.
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: You know, Jaden Daniels sort of took the league by storm.
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: I know he had some injury issues, and that's a
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: big item, you know, if you're a Washington team built
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: around that young quarterback. But then you have the letdown,
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: and this happens every single year. Some team makes the playoffs.
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: They have a letdown. Now the question becomes the year
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: after that, Which team are you? Are you the team
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: that's a playoff contender, or are you not? Okay, so
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: from that perspective, I'm interested in this Commanders and Cowboys game,
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: and I probably should have given it more.
• 34:02
  Speaker 3: Credit.
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: Willie, thank you for straightening me.
• 34:04
  Speaker 3: Out on that.
• 34:05
  Speaker 2: Willie, you're keeping everybody clean here in the locker room.
• 34:08
  Speaker 2: You're making sure everybody's held accountable.
• 34:11
  Speaker 3: Just trying to do my part, baby. Teamwork. Teamwork is dreamwork.
• 34:16
  Speaker 3: That's right.
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: We're going to finish up around the league. Missy Matthews
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: is going to join us in a little bit. Injury
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: issues for both teams heading into the Steelers-Patriots game. The
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: key matchups as well. All when we continue in the
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: locker room here on the Steelers Audio Network.
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio. Brought to you
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: And we're finishing up our look around the league presented
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: by Your neighborhood foreshore, the F-150 is the official truck
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: of the Pittsburgh Steelers. You know what, man? We started
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: talking football, and then I got more into it. This
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: is going to be like one segment, but I love it.
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: I love it.
• 35:11
  Speaker 3: It's the NFL.
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: Come on, man. Seahawks-Cardinals. I had five games starred. Now
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: I'm up to like nine games starred. Willie, the Seahawks
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: and the Cardinals was not one I had starred. Two
• 35:23
  Speaker 2: 1-0 teams, and again, I would give this a retrospective
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: star if the Cardinals somehow came out and played better
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: than I would expect them to play. I don't expect
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: them to give the Seahawks, I don't think they're going
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: to win the game. If they do, I'll be retrospectively
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: excited about the game, if you know what I mean.
• 35:44
  Speaker 4: It's hard to evaluate who the Arizona Cardinals are because
• 35:48
  Speaker 4: of what they've done historically.
• 35:50
  Speaker 3: What we have to understand, going into this.
• 35:52
  Speaker 4: Season, even last season, they've had I think about 500
• 35:55
  Speaker 4: are the hardest schedules in the NFL. People were coming
• 35:59
  Speaker 4: back saying, especially this year, like, man, the NFL must
• 36:02
  Speaker 4: really hate the Arizona Cardinals because of who they played
• 36:06
  Speaker 4: during the month of.
• 36:07
  Speaker 3: September, back-to-back years.
• 36:09
  Speaker 4: With that said, beating the Chargers and in the fashion
• 36:14
  Speaker 4: in which they beat the Chargers, people are saying, hmm,
• 36:17
  Speaker 4: the Arizona Cardinals may have something because we forget that
• 36:22
  Speaker 4: they have a McBride. We forget that they have, you know,
• 36:26
  Speaker 4: a Jacoby Bissett, a Marvin Harrison Jr. Now, a Jeremiah Love,
• 36:29
  Speaker 4: who looks to be absolutely legit. So, and defensively, they
• 36:34
  Speaker 4: still have Buda Baker and some guys that can make
• 36:36
  Speaker 4: things happen. So, collectively, as a group, you know, you
• 36:40
  Speaker 4: look at Michael Fleur, and you're saying, man, he's got
• 36:45
  Speaker 4: guys playing and ready for the fight. And so, yeah,
• 36:49
  Speaker 4: Seattle looks like a juggernaut. We've talked about their championship DNA.
• 36:53
  Speaker 4: We know what their defense can do and how down
• 36:55
  Speaker 4: they are underneath Mike McDonald. We don't know what the
• 36:59
  Speaker 4: status is at right now of, excuse me, Sam Donald
• 37:03
  Speaker 4: and when he'll be back.
• 37:04
  Speaker 3: True.
• 37:06
  Speaker 4: You're going out there with Drew Locke on offense, right?
• 37:12
  Speaker 3: You're going out there.
• 37:13
  Speaker 4: With a defense that's sure to keep them in the game.
• 37:17
  Speaker 4: But the Cardinals feel like, man, they're playing inspired football.
• 37:21
  Speaker 4: And they're playing inspired football. reporting off what they did
• 37:24
  Speaker 4: to the Chargers, and schematically how they feel like they
• 37:28
  Speaker 4: have just as good a head coach and Mike LaFleur. So, yeah,
• 37:33
  Speaker 4: you may not leave in the game. You may not
• 37:37
  Speaker 4: care what happened in that game. But if the Arizona
• 37:40
  Speaker 4: Cardinals win that game, it shakes up everything in that vision. So, yeah,
• 37:47
  Speaker 4: considering that a lot of people are looking at the
• 37:51
  Speaker 4: Giants to beat the Rams, too.
• 37:53
  Speaker 3: Potentially. So it makes for an inch matchup that you
• 37:58
  Speaker 3: have to keep your eye on. Okay.
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: Dolphins, 49ers. 49ers are going to be huge favorites. We're
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: rolling through that. I like the shrug. We finally got
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: a shrug on the shoulders from Willie. We'll move on
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: to that one.
• 38:09
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, we know that. I mean, that's like
• 38:12
  Speaker 4: Miami playing FAMU. It's going to be like 77-67.
• 38:15
  Speaker 2: Right, yeah. Colts, Chiefs, I'm mildly interested in. Again... If
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: the Colts can bounce back, you know, they were such
• 38:23
  Speaker 2: a great story last year. They came into Pittsburgh, they lost,
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: and they suffered a whole bunch of injuries, just a
• 38:28
  Speaker 2: horrible spate of injuries, beginning with Daniel Jones. You know,
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: they picked up Sauce Gardner in a trade. It wasn't enough.
• 38:35
  Speaker 2: You know, again, were they a Cinderella story last year,
• 38:39
  Speaker 2: or are they legit? Well, I guess we'll begin to
• 38:41
  Speaker 2: find out when they take on the Chiefs. So it
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: interests me at least in that regard, Willie.
• 38:47
  Speaker 3: I'm not interested. Okay, good.
• 38:49
  Speaker 2: All right, we'll move on then.
• 38:52
  Speaker 3: Giants-Rams.
• 38:55
  Speaker 2: Are you interested in the Giants-Rams on Monday night?
• 39:00
  Speaker 3: Who's playing Monday night? The Giants and the Rams. Yeah,
• 39:04
  Speaker 3: I am.
• 39:04
  Speaker 4: I am. I'm very interested in that game because Miles
• 39:07
  Speaker 4: Garrett will not be playing in that game for the Rams.
• 39:10
  Speaker 3: Aaron Donald is anticipated to be back in that game.
• 39:13
  Speaker 4: Ham Scadaboo, the runner-up for the Giants, has already come
• 39:16
  Speaker 4: out and said, If it's a third and one and
• 39:18
  Speaker 4: I see Aaron Donald sitting in the hole, I'm coming
• 39:21
  Speaker 4: to get some like he's not stopping.
• 39:23
  Speaker 3: So there's already there's already smoke brewing in the woods.
• 39:26
  Speaker 3: I think for the Rams.
• 39:28
  Speaker 4: Right now, you know what they're capable of because we've
• 39:34
  Speaker 4: seen it.
• 39:34
  Speaker 3: We know who's playing quarterback. That's Matt Stafford.
• 39:37
  Speaker 4: We know what the theme and how during the offseason
• 39:41
  Speaker 4: penciled this team already to be representing the NFC. The
• 39:45
  Speaker 4: issue for the Rams right now, if Aaron Donald isn't
• 39:50
  Speaker 4: who we expect them to be. Miles Garrett doesn't come back.
• 39:54
  Speaker 4: Trent McDuffie, Jalen Watson, who you acquired in the offseason,
• 39:58
  Speaker 4: isn't playing up to par. You're talking about an offense
• 40:01
  Speaker 4: that didn't look like what we've seen in the past.
• 40:05
  Speaker 3: What should we be excited about? Are the Rams in trouble?
• 40:11
  Speaker 4: We talk about everybody else's window closing.
• 40:15
  Speaker 3: Are their window closing right before our eyes?
• 40:18
  Speaker 4: Because we know this is going to be Matthew Stafford's
• 40:21
  Speaker 4: last year. He said it himself. I'm one and done.
• 40:23
  Speaker 4: I'm giving you another year. If we don't win it,
• 40:26
  Speaker 4: I'm moving on. So there's concern here if you lose
• 40:30
  Speaker 4: to a team in the Giants who feel they're a
• 40:32
  Speaker 4: lot more physical. They have actually a young quarterback who's
• 40:36
  Speaker 4: mobile and who seems to be in line with the system.
• 40:38
  Speaker 4: They have a stud tied in, Isaiah Likely, who did
• 40:41
  Speaker 4: a hell of a job last week against the Cowboys. Defensively,
• 40:44
  Speaker 4: we talked about how big they are. from a stylist standpoint,
• 40:48
  Speaker 4: from an object standpoint. And they have a head coach
• 40:52
  Speaker 4: right now who's asking the locker room in New York
• 40:55
  Speaker 4: Giants to grow up.
• 40:57
  Speaker 3: And we see, and they're doing it right before our eyes.
• 41:00
  Speaker 4: He's not asking to take the fun away from football,
• 41:03
  Speaker 4: but he's asking them to be adults when it comes
• 41:05
  Speaker 4: to football and how they approach their work, how they
• 41:08
  Speaker 4: show in the building, and how they prepare and what
• 41:11
  Speaker 4: they need to put on tape so that the rest
• 41:13
  Speaker 4: of the league understands that old New York, old man
• 41:15
  Speaker 4: football is gone. and that there's a new brand and
• 41:18
  Speaker 4: a new style they want to play. And we saw it.
• 41:20
  Speaker 4: They were able to control the clock, run the ball.
• 41:22
  Speaker 4: Jackson Dahl was smart with the football. He took care
• 41:24
  Speaker 4: of himself. He didn't put himself in harm's way. Defensively,
• 41:28
  Speaker 4: they seemed to be right where they need to be
• 41:31
  Speaker 4: to come in on offense like that.
• 41:32
  Speaker 3: They just, you know, they grinded it out, ready football.
• 41:36
  Speaker 4: We don't know if the Rams can handle that style
• 41:38
  Speaker 4: of football because what we saw in the San Francisco
• 41:40
  Speaker 4: 49ers is they were able to run the ball with CMC,
• 41:44
  Speaker 4: give you hell of a images with George Kittle. and
• 41:46
  Speaker 4: pretty much out-schemed their opposition in the Rams. So if
• 41:52
  Speaker 4: you're the Rams right now, man, this giant team is
• 41:55
  Speaker 4: going to be a lot tougher than you expect.
• 41:58
  Speaker 2: I think John Harbaugh is an interesting hire for them
• 42:01
  Speaker 2: because I would have to imagine, Willie, that it's a
• 42:04
  Speaker 2: team hungry in that locker room, just hungry for success,
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: and hungry to buy into something and to follow something, right?
• 42:13
  Speaker 2: I mean, Everybody knows you can feel in a locker
• 42:16
  Speaker 2: room when it's not going well, when it's just rudderless.
• 42:23
  Speaker 2: You know, there's no direction. John Harbaugh, I think, gives
• 42:25
  Speaker 2: him direction and belief. And I think it makes it
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: easier to pop out of bed in the morning and
• 42:31
  Speaker 2: go down to the facility and put in a little
• 42:33
  Speaker 2: extra work because this guy's done it. You know, he's
• 42:36
  Speaker 2: won in the NFL. And if you're the New York Giants,
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: you haven't, right?
• 42:41
  Speaker 3: Well, Rob, think about this.
• 42:42
  Speaker 4: Think about the fire he put out before the start
• 42:44
  Speaker 4: of the season. Go back to the draft when Malik
• 42:47
  Speaker 4: Nabors came out and said during the draft, why did
• 42:52
  Speaker 4: we go out and draft this guy when we need
• 42:54
  Speaker 4: this guy? John Harbaugh didn't say, listen, young man, that's
• 42:58
  Speaker 4: above your pay grade. Don't worry about that. What he
• 43:01
  Speaker 4: did do was Malik Nabors come in. Let me show
• 43:03
  Speaker 4: you what we're trying to execute here. Let me show
• 43:06
  Speaker 4: you what we're trying to do from a team standpoint.
• 43:08
  Speaker 4: which allowed Malik Nabors, one of your leaders, your young
• 43:10
  Speaker 4: leaders in your locker room, and a focal point of
• 43:13
  Speaker 4: your offense to now go back to say, hey, man,
• 43:15
  Speaker 4: I may have misspoke, but nevertheless, man, I talked to Coach,
• 43:22
  Speaker 4: and we got good things in our head. I believe
• 43:25
  Speaker 4: in his plan, and I believe in his vision. So
• 43:27
  Speaker 4: that lets the other guys in the locker room say, oh, well,
• 43:29
  Speaker 4: Malik is down with Coach. I'm down with Coach. John
• 43:33
  Speaker 4: Hallbaugh didn't go in the media and blast Malik Nabors
• 43:36
  Speaker 4: for that.
• 43:36
  Speaker 3: He didn't do that. He said, no, the young man
• 43:39
  Speaker 3: has a right.
• 43:39
  Speaker 4: This is his team. I want this to be a
• 43:41
  Speaker 4: collective effort. He pretty much hoisted the elite neighbors up. Hey,
• 43:46
  Speaker 4: we're in it together. And then on top of that,
• 43:49
  Speaker 4: when there was speculation about, you know, Cam Scadable and
• 43:52
  Speaker 4: him flipping and doing all that nonsense at Fanatic Fest,
• 43:55
  Speaker 4: you know what he did?
• 43:55
  Speaker 3: He goes, we addressed it. He knows the importance. We
• 43:59
  Speaker 3: know what's expected to him. We're up together.
• 44:03
  Speaker 4: Everything he's done thus far in the offseason leading up
• 44:06
  Speaker 4: to this game He talked about community, continuity, and accountability.
• 44:12
  Speaker 3: The league has been fizzling hard notes.
• 44:16
  Speaker 4: He did it also by bringing guys from the Baltimore
• 44:19
  Speaker 4: Ravers who he doubts he has a lot of respect for,
• 44:23
  Speaker 4: like a Patrick Richard Ricard at fullback, like Isaiah Lively,
• 44:27
  Speaker 4: on and on and on. So he not only showed
• 44:30
  Speaker 4: the young guys and the guys who were on that
• 44:32
  Speaker 4: team through the dog years that, hey, we're in it together.
• 44:35
  Speaker 4: But also he brought in guys from the Baltimore Ravens
• 44:38
  Speaker 4: who played meaningful games in January. Let those guys know
• 44:42
  Speaker 4: that it's possible and it's capable. Look at what we
• 44:45
  Speaker 4: did together in Baltimore. We can do it here in
• 44:47
  Speaker 4: New York. So he's done a great job of choosing
• 44:50
  Speaker 4: a CEO of the New York Giants where the Mariners
• 44:53
  Speaker 4: and the fans can be proud of. And they did
• 44:55
  Speaker 4: a good job of beating the Cowboys week before.
• 44:58
  Speaker 3: Yep.
• 44:59
  Speaker 2: And I think you bring up a great point there, Willie,
• 45:00
  Speaker 2: because the head coach can set the direction, right? And
• 45:04
  Speaker 2: for a young team, he can provide leadership. I think
• 45:08
  Speaker 2: we've talked about this a little bit, but the best
• 45:11
  Speaker 2: leadership comes from within the locker room. That's the place
• 45:15
  Speaker 2: where young guys look up to the veteran guys. The
• 45:18
  Speaker 2: veteran guys being able to lead, that's way better. That's
• 45:21
  Speaker 2: what a team wants. And if a head coach can
• 45:23
  Speaker 2: impart that on some younger guys and allow them to
• 45:26
  Speaker 2: be the leaders, then he's done a large part of
• 45:28
  Speaker 2: his leadership.
• 45:29
  Speaker 3: Role as well. I mean, you're 100% right, Rob.
• 45:36
  Speaker 4: The best teams I ever played on during my Steeler
• 45:38
  Speaker 4: years is where the coach just stepped away and the
• 45:41
  Speaker 4: elders spoke, and that's what it was.
• 45:43
  Speaker 3: It just, you know, if it was from Joey Porter.
• 45:47
  Speaker 4: To James Harris, to, you know, I mean, offensively, Hines,
• 45:53
  Speaker 4: to be honest with you, it was God like that
• 45:56
  Speaker 4: when they stood up and spoke. You kind of, your ear,
• 46:01
  Speaker 4: you know how much... They meant to, you know, they
• 46:04
  Speaker 4: ran the football. It was all about, you know, all
• 46:07
  Speaker 4: for one and one for all. So it goes a
• 46:09
  Speaker 4: long way when it comes from in the locker room.
• 46:12
  Speaker 2: So that is going to do it for our number
• 46:14
  Speaker 2: one and our look around the league presented by your
• 46:16
  Speaker 2: neighborhood Ford show, the F-150s, the official truck of the
• 46:18
  Speaker 2: Pittsburgh Steelers. Of course, we have a big game to
• 46:21
  Speaker 2: get ready for. That is the Steelers and the Patriots.
• 46:24
  Speaker 2: And Missy Matthews from our broadcast team is going to
• 46:27
  Speaker 2: join us next with her insight when we continue in
• 46:29
  Speaker 2: the locker room here on the Steelers Audio Network.