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

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio. Brought to you
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: Little funk. Low air horn.
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: That's what you get in the power hour on a
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: Friday as we are joined by, of course, the one,
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: the only, the mistress of ceremonies. It's our fearless and
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: still dry at the moment. Sideline reporter Missy Matthews joining
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: us here inside the locker room.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: How are we doing today, Missy?
• 0:55
  Speaker 4: I'm great. It's a beautiful day in Pittsburgh. It's going
• 0:57
  Speaker 4: to be a beautiful day tomorrow. Lots happening on the
• 1:01
  Speaker 4: North Shore. Steelers fashion show tonight. Hit game tomorrow. And
• 1:05
  Speaker 4: then it sounds like by 1 o'clock on Sunday, it
• 1:07
  Speaker 4: will be wet and rainy and damp. So I'm going
• 1:11
  Speaker 4: to enjoy the sunshine while I can.
• 1:13
  Speaker 5: That is looking at the glasses half full. I think
• 1:18
  Speaker 5: that's outstanding. Because it does sound like it's going to
• 1:22
  Speaker 5: be rainy. Chances of rain.
• 1:25
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 1:26
  Speaker 5: Right?
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: High chances of rain.
• 1:30
  Speaker 5: Not just chances, Rob.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: High chances of rain.
• 1:33
  Speaker 5: Missy, you're around over at the facility a lot. Do
• 1:36
  Speaker 5: you have any kind of vibe? Just this very general
• 1:39
  Speaker 5: question before we get into more specifics. Any sort of
• 1:41
  Speaker 5: vibe about this 2-2 Steelers team coming off that loss
• 1:45
  Speaker 5: Thursday and facing an important game Sunday against the Colts?
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: I feel like it kind of took everybody like Monday
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: to like get past Thursday night, even though it was
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: more time than you get typically after a game to
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: get back to work. And I think, you know, that
• 2:04
  Speaker 4: that's appropriate, but it does feel like people are just
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: focused or ready to go, you know, a little mini
• 2:10
  Speaker 4: buy per se. But it's hard when you end on
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: a loss like that and then have to wait even
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: longer to kind of get that bad taste out of
• 2:17
  Speaker 4: your mouth. But it's definitely like, all right, Coaches self-scouted,
• 2:22
  Speaker 4: players had a chance to, you know, think about the
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: first four games. Let's get back to work. And, you know,
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: this is a good time to start a winning streak.
• 2:32
  Speaker 6: And I would agree.
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: I mean, you know, when you have that extra time,
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: it's it just you have all weekend to stew on it.
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: And then you watch the rest of the league on
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: Sunday and you're just thinking, man, what could have happened
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: if if we were three in one, where would we be?
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: in all of this circus, and we'd be at the top.
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: They'd be talking about us like the Giants and the Vikings.
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: You know, it's a lot more time. So, yeah, I
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: feel like those mini-byes are great when you win. They
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: are terrible when you lose because you have way more
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: time to perseverate on what shoulda, coulda, woulda have been. And,
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: you know, as we kind of get ready for this game,
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: I mean, you know, What are some of the truths
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: that we know right now, Missy?
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: Well, I think one of them is we are a
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: home team.
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: We do not travel well because we are 2-0 at
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: home and we are 0-2 away.
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: And there's worse things to be.
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: But, you know, as you look at this kind of
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: Colts matchup and kind of where we were last year,
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: the last time we met this team, I feel like
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: we're kind of in a similar situation.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: But this Colts team is also looking to exact some revenge.
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I think you have to start with
• 3:50
  Speaker 4: Daniel Jones and the fact that he's playing completely different
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: than he was heading into that game. You know, the
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: Colts were the it team, the hot team coming into
• 3:59
  Speaker 4: that matchup last year. And the Steelers did what they wanted,
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: what they want to do this Sunday against the Colts again,
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: which was stop the run. They didn't let Jonathan Taylor
• 4:08
  Speaker 4: take over the game. And that is, you know, issue
• 4:13
  Speaker 4: number one for the defense and that kind of goes
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: along with what mike mccarthy said in terms of the
• 4:18
  Speaker 4: missed tackles have to be cleaned up especially after cleveland
• 4:23
  Speaker 4: um you don't have derrick carmen he's on ir and
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: then on the flip side for the offense uh it
• 4:28
  Speaker 4: is maybe you need the home cooking of getting back
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: and doing better in terms of third down conversions and
• 4:34
  Speaker 4: it it's just I think, you know, the one that's
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: fixed with you is that it's third and manageable that
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: they're not able to convert. And Mike McCarthy said it's execution.
• 4:44
  Speaker 4: There's a number of things. So I just kind of
• 4:46
  Speaker 4: feel like, as he said, like it's, you know, we
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: have to clean up our house first, red up. Like
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: they have to fix their own problems before they can
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: be worrying about the other team. Not saying you're not
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: game planning, but you have to fix those mistakes and
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: fix them quickly.
• 5:02
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 5:04
  Speaker 7: Missy, can we talk about the injury to Michael Pittman
• 5:07
  Speaker 7: and his foot? How disappointed are the Steelers about that,
• 5:11
  Speaker 7: and should we expect Jeremy Bernard to get more snaps
• 5:15
  Speaker 7: and hopefully have more impact for the offense?
• 5:19
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, it really stinks that Michael Pittman is
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: not going to get to play against his former team,
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: who was like, yeah, we'll trade you. But yeah, it
• 5:28
  Speaker 4: just feels like it is the same foot injury. Mike
• 5:30
  Speaker 4: McCarthy confirmed that on Thursday that he's been dealing with,
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: and I think You know, when the locker room was
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: open earlier in the week and media members were in
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: there and he's rolling around on a scooter with one
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: leg up, he kind of had a bad feeling. So
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: it must just be to the point where it's not
• 5:46
  Speaker 4: sustainable to play on it. And he has to rest
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: in order to get better. I mean, they said there's
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: a possibility they might, you know, go for the IR path,
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: depending on how many games they can project heat. might
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: miss because if it's going to be more, you, you
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: want that roster spot. If it's only three, you think, okay,
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: that gets us like to the bye week and after.
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: So I do think, you know, in terms of Jeremy Bernard,
• 6:11
  Speaker 4: we have seen just so many good things from him.
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: Everyone speaks positively about him.
• 6:18
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: He's made, you know, his first game action, the, there
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: were some rookie mistakes, but I think there's also been positives.
• 6:25
  Speaker 4: And I just can tell you guys, I've sit down
• 6:28
  Speaker 4: with almost every draft pick, like the day after they
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: get drafted and come to Pittsburgh, his mom and dad
• 6:33
  Speaker 4: were with him. They were the nicest people. He was
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: so respectful and he was so mature. Like, I'm not
• 6:40
  Speaker 4: saying that, you know, guys are immature and like childish.
• 6:44
  Speaker 4: Like he was just his college teammates called him. Because
• 6:49
  Speaker 4: he was kind of that, you know, he acts older
• 6:52
  Speaker 4: than he really is. He's very wise. and he's not
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: afraid to talk to Aaron Rogers. And I think, you know,
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: probably for a rookie, that can be a little, a little,
• 7:02
  Speaker 4: maybe not as easy as say a veteran. And it
• 7:06
  Speaker 4: just feels like he picks his brain. He said the
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: amount of football knowledge that he has gained from Aaron,
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: just asking questions. He feels like has skyrocketed and kind
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: of knows, Hey, next man up mentality. So I do
• 7:19
  Speaker 4: think we're going to see him a lot more too.
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: And I'm, I'm kind of excited to see, you know,
• 7:24
  Speaker 4: he was, a high pick for them. Uh, they need
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: a wide receiver. Number two, it hasn't really worked out
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: with Michael Pittman just due to those injuries. So we'll
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: have to see how that goes.
• 7:35
  Speaker 5: Yeah. And I agree with you totally about Jeremy. Um, uh,
• 7:39
  Speaker 5: we got him, uh, you know, you get him, you
• 7:40
  Speaker 5: get him for the long interview over at the complex.
• 7:42
  Speaker 5: We got him right after the draft. He happened to
• 7:44
  Speaker 5: be there. Uh, and so we're doing all the draft
• 7:47
  Speaker 5: stuff and he popped on the air with us. And, uh, um,
• 7:50
  Speaker 5: you know, that following day, I think probably prior to
• 7:52
  Speaker 5: your interview, Missy and, I agree. Very, very mature young man.
• 7:56
  Speaker 5: And I do think that is hopefully an injury that
• 8:03
  Speaker 5: if Pittman can't go for a while, you do have
• 8:05
  Speaker 5: a second round pick in Jeremy Bernard. Roman Wilson has
• 8:10
  Speaker 5: shown tremendous growth, I think, this season. So there's a possibility,
• 8:15
  Speaker 5: even though that's been a big, big problem in the
• 8:17
  Speaker 5: past for the Steelers, when a receiver gets hurt, especially
• 8:20
  Speaker 5: a top guy, or is unavailable like DK was a
• 8:23
  Speaker 5: year ago, I think my bigger concerns, and Derek Harmon,
• 8:27
  Speaker 5: his run defense has been great. You have some bodies
• 8:30
  Speaker 5: you can throw at it. My hope is that Jamel
• 8:32
  Speaker 5: Dean finds some way to be able to go because
• 8:35
  Speaker 5: when you think about your five starting spots and including
• 8:40
  Speaker 5: Ramsey as your nickel guy, going into camp, the only
• 8:45
  Speaker 5: guys you have that you plugged in as starters are
• 8:48
  Speaker 5: Ramsey and Brisker. I mean, obviously Joey Porter Jr. was
• 8:50
  Speaker 5: one guy, but you traded him. You know, Deshaun Elliott
• 8:54
  Speaker 5: in that return window, I would be surprised if he's
• 8:58
  Speaker 5: ready to go Sunday. It'd be great. And now Jamel Dean.
• 9:01
  Speaker 5: So suddenly what looked like a very deep area on
• 9:03
  Speaker 5: the team, I think because of attrition, is something that
• 9:08
  Speaker 5: I think we're going to be concerned about going into Sunday.
• 9:12
  Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely. You know, I can't remember who was talking
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: about it on DDE yesterday, but they were like, remember
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: when the Steelers secondary was completely banged up and they
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: won that game at home? I'm like, yeah, it was
• 9:23
  Speaker 4: against Tom Brady when he was with Tampa and nobody
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: gave them a shot to do that. And that was
• 9:31
  Speaker 4: one game. And then you got some guys back. I
• 9:34
  Speaker 4: do think, you know, getting to Sean Elliott back whenever
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: he's ready and designated to return the fact that he's
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: at audit practice and doing things is great. That's a
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: guy that you could really use as well. And a
• 9:46
  Speaker 4: veteran presence, somebody who really understands the game, but I'm
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: with you. I do think Jamal Dean is a tough dude.
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: He really was like trying to do everything in his
• 9:58
  Speaker 4: power not to come out of that game and Cleveland
• 10:01
  Speaker 4: and trying to convince every doctor and trainer. And you
• 10:05
  Speaker 4: could tell that it wasn't what he wanted, but. he
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: did come back out in a boot. So it's kind
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: of like, you know, sometimes you have to protect them
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: from themselves.
• 10:13
  Speaker 6: Right.
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: But I do maybe, you know, the extra time between
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: games could help him because that would be clutch if
• 10:21
  Speaker 4: he could be out there.
• 10:22
  Speaker 6: For sure. Yeah.
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: And, Missy, I think that's one of the biggest things. Now,
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: what are we hearing as far as, like, as far.
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: As participation for, like, Sean Murphy bunting? Some of the
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: guys that we signed this week off of practice squads,
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: And kind of like you said, with no Jamel Dean,
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: potentially Deshaun Elliott. You know, are these guys going to
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: be expected to suit up and jump right in the
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: pile if Jamel can't because Jamel can't go?
• 10:50
  Speaker 4: I mean, there's a chance. Absolutely. I do think that
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: it's going to be a matter of like, hey, what
• 10:58
  Speaker 4: can he do now? I read a quote from Sean
• 11:03
  Speaker 4: Murphy Bunting how he got to the city, was super excited,
• 11:07
  Speaker 4: and then realized nobody told him where the practice facility was.
• 11:10
  Speaker 4: So he had to text Jamal Dean and be like, hey,
• 11:15
  Speaker 4: where am I going? And he realized he was at
• 11:18
  Speaker 4: the hotel right down at the end of South Water Street.
• 11:20
  Speaker 4: So he could literally walk there. But, you know, it's
• 11:23
  Speaker 4: like you get all excited, you jump on the plane,
• 11:25
  Speaker 4: and all of a sudden you're like, ew. By the way, Missy.
• 11:30
  Speaker 5: For those that didn't grow up in Pittsburgh, I remember
• 11:33
  Speaker 5: the first few times I was trying to get to
• 11:35
  Speaker 5: the south side, instead of being on 2nd Avenue, I
• 11:38
  Speaker 5: wound up on 376. And I'm like looking down. I'm like,
• 11:40
  Speaker 5: I know I need to be on that road, but
• 11:42
  Speaker 5: I don't know how to get there. It's not the
• 11:44
  Speaker 5: easiest city to get around either. No, no.
• 11:48
  Speaker 4: I mean, luckily for him, he wasn't somewhere crazy. But,
• 11:52
  Speaker 4: you know.
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: Like the North Shore at the Allegheny Center.
• 11:56
  Speaker 6: Yeah. Oh, yeah.
• 11:58
  Speaker 5: Yeah. When I first met Max, by the way, many,
• 12:01
  Speaker 5: many years ago. Anyway, Missy, go ahead. You had a point.
• 12:05
  Speaker 5: I'm sorry. We're sorry.
• 12:06
  Speaker 6: Sorry.
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: Oh, gosh, no, you're totally fine. My point is, like,
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: Mike McCarthy was literally like, we don't know. Like, we
• 12:14
  Speaker 4: don't know how much they're going to have to play.
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: And I don't think it's like, are they ready? It's
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: going to be, if Jamal Dean can't go, they're going
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: to have to, right? So I think it's just trying
• 12:23
  Speaker 4: to get them both up to speed as much as possible.
• 12:25
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 12:26
  Speaker 4: I think today, obviously I think the game status will
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: tell us a lot. I feel like if Jamal Dean
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: is questionable, that gives me hope.
• 12:34
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 12:34
  Speaker 4: Um, but either way, they're going to have to be
• 12:37
  Speaker 4: ready because what if, you know, he feels the injury
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: even more? Uh, I don't know. So I think it'll
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: unfortunately be a wait and see type of thing.
• 12:48
  Speaker 7: Missy, uh, Patrick Queen has taken a lot of heat
• 12:50
  Speaker 7: this week for his play against the, uh, during the
• 12:53
  Speaker 7: Browns game.
• 12:54
  Speaker 6: And, um, and the linebacker core as a whole.
• 12:58
  Speaker 7: Has he addressed some of those things that have this
• 13:00
  Speaker 7: team addressed, how they need to pick up their play?
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, I give Patrick Queen credit because he
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: doesn't beat around the bush, per se, when it comes
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: to anything, even in training camp. You know, people were like, oh,
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: what do you want to improve on? He's like, I played,
• 13:17
  Speaker 4: that was not a good season last year. Like, he
• 13:19
  Speaker 4: took accountability. And I feel like that is just the
• 13:22
  Speaker 4: type of guy that he is. Um, but yeah, when
• 13:26
  Speaker 4: you talk about, you know, double digit, close to 20
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: missed tackles, not all him, but just across the board
• 13:32
  Speaker 4: in one game, that's a lot. Um, and as the
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: quarterback of the defense, you know, it's important that he
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: is on his a game, but I do think that, um,
• 13:42
  Speaker 4: you know, maybe they're kind of on a different, on
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: a better page in terms of the defensive coaching staff,
• 13:49
  Speaker 4: the defensive players. Obviously we saw a lot of emotions.
• 13:53
  Speaker 4: But hopefully the extra time gave them that chance. And I,
• 13:58
  Speaker 4: you know, I love PQ. I think he's a great guy.
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: I think he's one of those guys that is not
• 14:03
  Speaker 4: going to do that again. It's going to, you know,
• 14:06
  Speaker 4: be a better performance this Sunday. And hopefully that kind of,
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: you know, brings the rest of the defense along as well.
• 14:15
  Speaker 5: Missy, I truly, truly hope you stay dry.
• 14:21
  Speaker 6: On Sunday.
• 14:22
  Speaker 4: Rob, we're not at Sunday yet, you know. We're going
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: to enjoy the sunshine. And I am usually a pessimist.
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: But here I am, like, enjoy it while you got it.
• 14:32
  Speaker 5: So I will also say this, Miss. One of the
• 14:35
  Speaker 5: forecasts that I saw had the rain tapering off only
• 14:40
  Speaker 5: a 20% chance at 1 o'clock. So I think you
• 14:46
  Speaker 5: stay in the tunnel for as long as possible. then
• 14:49
  Speaker 5: sprint out to the cheers and adulation of the crowd
• 14:51
  Speaker 5: at Akershire Stadium and get ready to join us for
• 14:54
  Speaker 5: the broadcast.
• 14:54
  Speaker 4: What do you think? I love that. I always try
• 14:59
  Speaker 4: to stay as either warm or dry as humanly possible,
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: but sometimes you just got to suck it up and
• 15:04
  Speaker 4: deal with it. And luckily it's a home game, so
• 15:07
  Speaker 4: I can bring a hundred bags with, you know, different clothes, jackets, hats, whatever.
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: So I will be prepared.
• 15:13
  Speaker 5: I know you will, Missy. We count on that. Missy Matthews.
• 15:17
  Speaker 5: Thank you very much for joining us in the locker room.
• 15:19
  Speaker 5: We look forward to seeing you on Sunday. Enjoy the bright,
• 15:22
  Speaker 5: beautiful sunshine of the next 48 hours-ish.
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: I appreciate it. Thank you, guys.
• 15:28
  Speaker 5: Thanks, Missy. All right, stick around. We have key matchups
• 15:32
  Speaker 5: to get to. Our big-time matchup, the keys to the
• 15:34
  Speaker 5: game on offense and defense. We are going to dig
• 15:37
  Speaker 5: into the nitty-gritty of the Steelers and the Colts when
• 15:39
  Speaker 5: we continue in the locker room here on the Steelers
• 15:42
  Speaker 5: Audio Network.
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio, brought to you
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store, the F-150 is the
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 16:12
  Speaker 5: And thanks very much for being back with us here
• 16:14
  Speaker 5: inside the locker room as we are going to dive into...
• 16:18
  Speaker 5: The key matchup of the game brought to you by
• 16:22
  Speaker 5: your neighborhood Ford store, the F-150s, the official truck of
• 16:25
  Speaker 5: the Pittsburgh Steelers, as we take a look at not
• 16:28
  Speaker 5: our big-time matchup, not the one-on-one matchup we're looking for,
• 16:32
  Speaker 5: but just sort of our keys to the game. And,
• 16:35
  Speaker 5: you know, Willie, you kind of mentioned this earlier. I
• 16:37
  Speaker 5: think you're absolutely spot on as far as the Steelers'
• 16:42
  Speaker 5: offensive line It is just such a key. They've got
• 16:46
  Speaker 5: to be able to keep Aaron Rodgers upright. They have
• 16:49
  Speaker 5: to be able to open up holes for Jalen Warren
• 16:51
  Speaker 5: in the Steelers' running game. And that Colts' defensive line,
• 16:55
  Speaker 5: I think as I look at them, that's the strength
• 16:57
  Speaker 5: of their defense led by DeForest Buckner.
• 17:02
  Speaker 6: Yeah, you're right, Robert.
• 17:03
  Speaker 7: I also think right now it comes down to having
• 17:06
  Speaker 7: this team respond early and not kind of feel their
• 17:10
  Speaker 7: way through this game.
• 17:10
  Speaker 6: I know there's reason to be cautious.
• 17:12
  Speaker 7: Because of positive weather conditions, but I think it comes
• 17:15
  Speaker 7: down to tempo. I want to see this team start
• 17:18
  Speaker 7: off just like they did against the Browns, long drives, consistent,
• 17:23
  Speaker 7: accomplished in first downs, but also just pick up the tempo.
• 17:26
  Speaker 6: I think the Steelers just have to start getting the
• 17:28
  Speaker 6: mindset where.
• 17:29
  Speaker 7: They dictate how they want to play the game, and
• 17:31
  Speaker 7: I think it starts with the run with Jalen Warren,
• 17:33
  Speaker 7: and we talked about also utilizing our tight ends. You
• 17:36
  Speaker 7: got Mount Washington. It seems like there's a big rapport
• 17:40
  Speaker 7: with him and darnell and rogers in mount washington um
• 17:44
  Speaker 7: fair move we'd love to see have another have an
• 17:46
  Speaker 7: impact uh and i also think right now you know
• 17:49
  Speaker 7: when you talk about metcalf you know he played well
• 17:52
  Speaker 7: down the stretch of that game he made some big-time
• 17:54
  Speaker 7: catches how can we get him more.
• 17:55
  Speaker 6: Involved early um.
• 17:58
  Speaker 7: So there's a lot of things you we would want
• 17:59
  Speaker 7: to see but this is a call defense like i
• 18:01
  Speaker 7: stated earlier They're still trying to figure themselves out. And
• 18:06
  Speaker 7: right now at the cornerback position, they're weak. And you
• 18:09
  Speaker 7: just want to see our team, our receivers, excuse me,
• 18:12
  Speaker 7: win those man-to-man matchups. I think we have more than
• 18:15
  Speaker 7: enough skill and talented players to do so. But we've
• 18:18
  Speaker 7: got to execute on Sunday.
• 18:20
  Speaker 5: You know, when you look at those defensive backs, too, Max,
• 18:23
  Speaker 5: we're starting here obviously with the Steelers' offense against the Colts' defense.
• 18:28
  Speaker 5: You know, yeah, you don't have Pittman there, and I'm
• 18:30
  Speaker 5: sure he would love to be playing against the Colts.
• 18:32
  Speaker 5: You know, he would love to be going against his
• 18:35
  Speaker 5: former team. And you brought him in here to pair
• 18:37
  Speaker 5: with DK Metcalf and, again, allow you to find either
• 18:41
  Speaker 5: a matchup with your big guys on the outside or,
• 18:44
  Speaker 5: you know, maybe you move into the slot of that
• 18:46
  Speaker 5: third or fourth receiver, maybe to tight ends. Eventually, they're
• 18:49
  Speaker 5: going to run out of guys that can cover you.
• 18:52
  Speaker 5: With Charverius Ward and, of course, Sauce Gardner, who they
• 18:55
  Speaker 5: gave up a couple of first-round picks to acquire, The
• 18:57
  Speaker 5: Chiefs thought they had two lockdown corners, and yet you
• 19:01
  Speaker 5: look up and they're one of the worst pass defenses
• 19:03
  Speaker 5: in the league.
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah, no, I think, you know, for the Colts and
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: for what they're seeing in Ward and Gardner, but I
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: think it really comes down to, you know, how is
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: Cam Bynum playing, like at the safety position, and A.J. Halsey,
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: who's a rookie coming in, and he was one of
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: their third-round picks, um, You know, the corners can only
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: do so much, but your safeties are really your deep
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: field generals. They're right behind, you know, the middle linebacker
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: because that controls the middle of the field where everybody
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: wants to go and where all of the quote-unquote traffic comes,
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: and they're not good traffic signalers. And that's where I
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: think it makes it tough, you know, because when you're
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: talking about a team that has to be better, it's
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: not just those two outside guys. You know, those two
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: outside guys can only do so much, but it really
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: comes down to how all four of those guys on
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: the back half work.
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: And then, of course, you can throw in a nickel
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: in Justin Wally, but really.
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: And Willie knows this from Russ Grimm, like how we
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: count the shell. And so you look for the four
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: deep guys, and you work your way there, and then
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: everybody else is the box. So you're looking at two corners,
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: two safeties. That determines your shell, how they're rolled and
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: how they are. Then now the next level is the
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: other seven guys out of the 11, and that's what
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: makes up either your D-line, your linebackers, if it's a nickel,
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: if it's a third linebacker, or some teams– Maybe you
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: want to go with some type of pseudo-Eagle look, and
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: you want five guys on the line of scrimmage. However
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: that's going to manifest itself, but it starts with the shell.
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: And that shell's cracked because they don't have great communication
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: on that back end, and that's why they've kind of
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: been struggling as a unit. And you spent a lot
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: of resources to bring Sauce Gardner here, and he's not
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: living up to the billing. And I'm sure the Jets
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: are really appreciative of the fact that they were able
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: to unload Sauce for the price they did, especially when
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: you look at kind of where that production's been.
• 21:06
  Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, when I look at the team, I mean, like,
• 21:08
  Speaker 5: they can come at you defensively up front in waves.
• 21:13
  Speaker 5: And if they can find a way to harass you, like,
• 21:16
  Speaker 5: they made– they harassed C.J. Stroud in that Texans game.
• 21:21
  Speaker 5: They got after him. And they held Houston to 17 points. And, again,
• 21:26
  Speaker 5: that was with Daniel Jones turning the ball over. And,
• 21:29
  Speaker 5: of course, they got the big field goal by Schrader.
• 21:31
  Speaker 5: By the way, Schrader's a weapon for them. I mean,
• 21:33
  Speaker 5: he's got a strong leg. Hit one from 61 in
• 21:36
  Speaker 5: the preseason. You know, 53-yard game winner against the Texans.
• 21:41
  Speaker 5: Hit a 58-yarder in that game as well. I mean,
• 21:43
  Speaker 5: he's a weapon for that Texans team. So I don't
• 21:45
  Speaker 5: want to discount him completely. And they've got pretty good
• 21:48
  Speaker 5: guys in the return game as well. So those are
• 21:50
  Speaker 5: little factors that could wind up being important in this game. But,
• 21:54
  Speaker 5: you know, when you look at this Colts defense, Willie,
• 21:58
  Speaker 5: they're not stopping to pass. I just mentioned that they're
• 22:01
  Speaker 5: fourth worst. They're sixth worst against a run. Now, they're
• 22:05
  Speaker 5: not giving up a ton of points. I mean, relatively,
• 22:08
  Speaker 5: if you're giving up the third most yards in the league,
• 22:10
  Speaker 5: which the Colts are, you would think you're giving up
• 22:12
  Speaker 5: a lot more points than they are. 26 points per game,
• 22:14
  Speaker 5: that's 11th in the league. 11th worst in the league,
• 22:17
  Speaker 5: by the way. Not great, obviously, 21st in the league.
• 22:21
  Speaker 5: Not as bad as it could be, but when they're
• 22:23
  Speaker 5: not stopping to pass and they're not stopping to run,
• 22:27
  Speaker 5: because sometimes you'll see, we know how statistics can be skewed, right?
• 22:30
  Speaker 5: Sometimes a team's giving up a lot of passing yards
• 22:33
  Speaker 5: because they're way out in front And they're playing prevent defense,
• 22:36
  Speaker 5: and they don't care if you score and march the
• 22:38
  Speaker 5: ball 70 yards at the end of the game. That's
• 22:40
  Speaker 5: not the case with this Colts defense. Right now they're
• 22:43
  Speaker 5: just not very good, right? And, you know, they're not
• 22:46
  Speaker 5: living up to, I think, what they thought they were
• 22:49
  Speaker 5: going to be able to do defensively.
• 22:51
  Speaker 6: I mean, you're right. I mean, like you mentioned, they're
• 22:53
  Speaker 6: giving up 26 points a game.
• 22:54
  Speaker 7: They're allowing over 300 yards per game, which I think
• 22:57
  Speaker 7: ranks 31st in it.
• 22:58
  Speaker 6: Almost 400. 392. 392.3.
• 22:58
  Speaker 5: Wow.
• 23:03
  Speaker 7: Yeah, but one thing they do, they hold up on
• 23:05
  Speaker 7: third down, and that's one place where the Steelers struggle.
• 23:10
  Speaker 6: We don't have a high third down conversion.
• 23:12
  Speaker 7: Rate, and actually the Colts are pretty solid on third down,
• 23:14
  Speaker 7: so defensively that is. So that's going to be the
• 23:17
  Speaker 7: key for this team, meaning the Steelers, to really lock
• 23:22
  Speaker 7: in on third down so we can extend long drives.
• 23:25
  Speaker 6: I expect our defense to stand up. I really do.
• 23:28
  Speaker 6: But offensively, man, we have to get to the.
• 23:30
  Speaker 7: Point where, being an explosive outfit is something that mirrors
• 23:36
  Speaker 7: our identity.
• 23:37
  Speaker 6: And this is a good game to do so.
• 23:39
  Speaker 7: But third down is going to be a pivotal point
• 23:41
  Speaker 7: in the game, how much we can convert.
• 23:44
  Speaker 6: On an efficient level.
• 23:45
  Speaker 7: And, you know, the Colts understand that they don't have
• 23:47
  Speaker 7: a lot from a pass-through standpoint.
• 23:50
  Speaker 6: They want to blitz you. They want to try to
• 23:52
  Speaker 6: get you off the field as quick as possible.
• 23:55
  Speaker 5: You know, Willie, Max, I beg your pardon. I think
• 23:58
  Speaker 5: a lot of people think of, you know, rainy and wet.
• 24:03
  Speaker 5: And again, you know, the forecast I saw, and this
• 24:06
  Speaker 5: will all change, I'm sure, had it clearing up right
• 24:09
  Speaker 5: around game time. The field could still be wet. I
• 24:12
  Speaker 5: think when the field is wet, you know, a lot
• 24:14
  Speaker 5: of people think, well, you're going to run the ball,
• 24:15
  Speaker 5: get off the offensive line, you know, plow straight ahead.
• 24:19
  Speaker 5: But I always felt like as long as you can
• 24:22
  Speaker 5: keep the ball dry, and they constantly change footballs, as
• 24:26
  Speaker 5: long as you can keep the ball dry and it's
• 24:28
  Speaker 5: not pouring out, So, you know, in other words, it's
• 24:31
  Speaker 5: not still raining, but the field's wet. I think that's
• 24:34
  Speaker 5: a good time to throw the ball. I think it's
• 24:36
  Speaker 5: really hard to defend, especially man-to-man, when the field is wet.
• 24:41
  Speaker 5: I don't know how you feel about that, Max. I'm
• 24:44
  Speaker 5: sure as an offensive lineman, you probably love to run
• 24:45
  Speaker 5: the ball, you know, when it's wet out there.
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: When it's wet, you know, just like we talk about, oh,
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: we want to take advantage of the passing game. The
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: reason why you do that is because the defender's feet
• 25:01
  Speaker 3: aren't great when they're going backwards.
• 25:03
  Speaker 6: Exactly.
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: And you're one move away from them slipping.
• 25:06
  Speaker 5: That's right.
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah. The problem is your offensive line also has to
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: go backwards.
• 25:12
  Speaker 6: That's true.
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: That is true. And it is not great footing for us.
• 25:17
  Speaker 6: Right.
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: So it's like it's the double-edged sword. I want to
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: take advantage of these.
• 25:21
  Speaker 5: It's like, but.
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: Also, my offensive line has to go backwards. That's why
• 25:24
  Speaker 3: we like going forward, right? Because you can dig your
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: toe in and push forward. If you slide, you're still
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: straining forward. If you catch one going backwards, it's like
• 25:34
  Speaker 3: watching a cartoon character hit a banana peel. And you've
• 25:38
  Speaker 3: got a guy pushing you, trying to get to your chest,
• 25:41
  Speaker 3: and you start falling backwards. So there's good and bad.
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: There's risk and reward when you go to passing the football,
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: whereas you know that if you're running the football– it's
• 25:50
  Speaker 3: a lot easier to go downhill and you can be
• 25:52
  Speaker 3: at a position of strength.
• 25:54
  Speaker 5: Is there anything, Max and Willie, both you guys, I
• 25:57
  Speaker 5: want you to think about this. You know, the weather
• 25:59
  Speaker 5: conditions aren't going to be great, right? We don't think.
• 26:02
  Speaker 5: And even if it could be raining in the game,
• 26:04
  Speaker 5: it's going to be wet. It's going to be sloppy, potentially,
• 26:07
  Speaker 5: out in the field. You know, they'll do a good
• 26:10
  Speaker 5: job of trying to cover it up and keep it
• 26:13
  Speaker 5: as pristine as they can. I get that. But if
• 26:15
  Speaker 5: weather does become an issue, is that– Does that favor
• 26:22
  Speaker 5: a style of team? Hey, we're a running team. We're
• 26:25
  Speaker 5: a defense team. We're a passing team. Or does it
• 26:28
  Speaker 5: at all test the character of a team? Are there
• 26:33
  Speaker 5: people that just don't want to play in wet, sloppy,
• 26:36
  Speaker 5: or cold weather? I mean, we hear all the time
• 26:38
  Speaker 5: about teams that– southern teams that don't do well when
• 26:42
  Speaker 5: it's below 40 degrees.
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: Is there anything to that or is it all about.
• 26:46
  Speaker 5: Style of play? Yeah.
• 26:49
  Speaker 6: I think it's to each his own, honestly.
• 26:52
  Speaker 7: I think one of the reasons why I always appreciated
• 26:55
  Speaker 7: playing in the rain because it slows down the game, right,
• 26:57
  Speaker 7: and it forces you to kind of face me. You know,
• 26:59
  Speaker 7: you can't, as we all talked about, your footing is limited.
• 27:02
  Speaker 7: So now it's more of a fumble fight, and now
• 27:05
  Speaker 7: it's more of a battle of grit and attrition. I
• 27:07
  Speaker 7: think when you go into this game, knowing that the
• 27:09
  Speaker 7: weather is going to be sloppy and a little bit muddy, man,
• 27:11
  Speaker 7: as much as you love the dogfight that's head, you
• 27:13
  Speaker 7: really get nervous about your running backs because you're They
• 27:16
  Speaker 7: tend to cough it up when they get tackled.
• 27:18
  Speaker 6: We talked about the peanut punch being a wave right now.
• 27:21
  Speaker 7: So you worry about your running backs really just kind of, hey,
• 27:27
  Speaker 7: hold on to the ball. And from an offensive line standpoint,
• 27:29
  Speaker 7: we now have to be more– we have to pay
• 27:31
  Speaker 7: more attention to detail in covering the ball. So if
• 27:34
  Speaker 7: Jalen Warren gets– if he breaks loose for a 10-yard run,
• 27:37
  Speaker 7: now we have to get our hefty butts up and
• 27:40
  Speaker 7: track the ball because that thing may pop out. And
• 27:43
  Speaker 7: we know this is going to probably be a methodical–
• 27:46
  Speaker 7: grind it out type of game, man, where, you know,
• 27:48
  Speaker 7: every possession counts, especially the ability to put points on
• 27:53
  Speaker 7: the board. So to each his own, really, I think
• 27:57
  Speaker 7: I always loved it once again, because it slowed the
• 27:59
  Speaker 7: game down and made it kind of made for a
• 28:02
  Speaker 7: bear fight, but all on top of that, it may,
• 28:04
  Speaker 7: it may guys really, even if you like football, not
• 28:08
  Speaker 7: because when you lose and when you lose it in
• 28:10
  Speaker 7: the rain, you see guys tap early.
• 28:11
  Speaker 5: That's what I'm wondering about. Yeah, that's right. That's exactly right. So, Look,
• 28:15
  Speaker 5: I think we all agree that that trench warfare, of course,
• 28:19
  Speaker 5: it's always important, but really, really important for the Steelers'
• 28:23
  Speaker 5: offensive line. You know, Mike McCarthy's talked about cleaning your
• 28:27
  Speaker 5: own house, getting that part of the game going. And then,
• 28:30
  Speaker 5: of course, third down conversions are going to be a
• 28:34
  Speaker 5: big-time key to this game as well and might be
• 28:36
  Speaker 5: one of our big-time matches. We'll see a little bit
• 28:38
  Speaker 5: later on. But I want to talk now about when
• 28:42
  Speaker 5: the Steelers are on defense and, You know, do the
• 28:45
  Speaker 5: matchup show with Missy and Matt Williamson on Thursdays. And
• 28:48
  Speaker 5: my key, Willie, for this game was, and now that
• 28:51
  Speaker 5: I know the weather's going to be bad, it's obviously changed.
• 28:54
  Speaker 5: It was supposed to be, earlier in the week, it
• 28:55
  Speaker 5: was supposed to be fine on Sunday. But I think that,
• 28:59
  Speaker 5: you know, mine was the edge guys, not because I
• 29:02
  Speaker 5: don't respect the Colts' tackles. I do. I respect their
• 29:05
  Speaker 5: offensive line in general. But Daniel Jones, he's had fumbling issues.
• 29:11
  Speaker 5: He's got the second most turnovers in the league. He's
• 29:13
  Speaker 5: thrown four interceptions. He's fumbled and given up the ball
• 29:16
  Speaker 5: three times. He has four fumbles total. I just think
• 29:19
  Speaker 5: that in a game like this, if you can get
• 29:22
  Speaker 5: after him, and the best way, I understand the peanut
• 29:24
  Speaker 5: punch and the other things, the best way to turn
• 29:27
  Speaker 5: the ball over to me always is get after the quarterback.
• 29:30
  Speaker 5: Hit him when he's throwing it. Get him before he
• 29:33
  Speaker 5: unleashes it. Get him when he's trying to tuck it
• 29:35
  Speaker 5: away because the pass rush is getting after him. So
• 29:38
  Speaker 5: my matchup was the edge guys, but really it's everybody
• 29:42
  Speaker 5: making Daniel Jones uncomfortable and trying to separate him from
• 29:46
  Speaker 5: the ball. That was my key to this game for
• 29:49
  Speaker 5: the Steelers on defense.
• 29:51
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean, that makes sense.
• 29:52
  Speaker 7: And Daniel Jones hasn't in the past fared well against
• 29:57
  Speaker 7: the Steelers. But I also think it's imperative for us to,
• 30:00
  Speaker 7: I mean, figure out how we can get T.J. Watt
• 30:04
  Speaker 7: going without– sorry, getting a little noise over here.
• 30:09
  Speaker 5: It's all right. We're with you.
• 30:10
  Speaker 6: Yeah. Overall, I lost my train of thought.
• 30:14
  Speaker 7: But I was just saying we got to figure out
• 30:15
  Speaker 7: how can we get our linebackers, our edge rushers going
• 30:17
  Speaker 7: early instead of them feeling like they have to make
• 30:19
  Speaker 7: a heroic attempt to win games for us, right? And
• 30:23
  Speaker 7: this is the offensive line and the Colts who– It's
• 30:25
  Speaker 7: a tough offensive line, but they have trouble holding up,
• 30:28
  Speaker 7: especially against the pass. So I think this is a
• 30:30
  Speaker 7: game for Nick Herbig. This is a game for TJ
• 30:32
  Speaker 7: and Alex Housen.
• 30:33
  Speaker 6: To be game wreckers.
• 30:34
  Speaker 7: Because you know once you start hitting Daniel Jones, he
• 30:36
  Speaker 7: starts seeing ghosts. And that's when he starts turning over
• 30:39
  Speaker 7: the ball.
• 30:39
  Speaker 5: Yep, that's totally where I was going with this one.
• 30:42
  Speaker 5: I think the other one that's kind of obvious is that, Max,
• 30:46
  Speaker 5: you just cannot allow Jonathan Taylor to get going. I mean,
• 30:50
  Speaker 5: especially if the weather's going to be bad. I would think–
• 30:53
  Speaker 5: that if either offense feels like they've got the running
• 30:57
  Speaker 5: game going, why would you do anything else, especially under
• 31:01
  Speaker 5: these weather conditions that we're anticipating? So if we get
• 31:04
  Speaker 5: the kind of weather we're anticipating, you cannot allow Jonathan
• 31:08
  Speaker 5: Taylor to run roughshod all over you.
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: No, you can't.
• 31:12
  Speaker 3: You cannot allow Jonathan Taylor to be in that bowl
• 31:16
  Speaker 3: where he is feeling downhill and he's feeling spry with
• 31:21
  Speaker 3: the jump cuts and that. That's why I think it's
• 31:24
  Speaker 3: really important how you control those tackles off the edges, right?
• 31:28
  Speaker 3: Jalen Travis is a guy. Now, Bernard Raymond, I think,
• 31:31
  Speaker 3: you know, is doing a fine job at left tackle.
• 31:33
  Speaker 3: But Jalen Travis is one of the guys I'm thinking, okay,
• 31:35
  Speaker 3: I got to go after this dude, right? I've got
• 31:37
  Speaker 3: to get around the edge. And if I'm TJ Watt,
• 31:39
  Speaker 3: it's short corners and being able to affect the cutback
• 31:45
  Speaker 3: lane and keep Jonathan Taylor going in the same direction,
• 31:48
  Speaker 3: funnel him as you will. And then, like you said,
• 31:51
  Speaker 3: not having Derek Harmon. Is that Sebastian Joseph Day that's
• 31:54
  Speaker 3: going to get more burn? Are you going to move
• 31:56
  Speaker 3: Keanu Benton out there to get more burn? Because I
• 32:00
  Speaker 3: think this team realizes who they are, and you have
• 32:02
  Speaker 3: to run some 12 personnel. That's what the game's going
• 32:06
  Speaker 3: to dictate. So it allows the defense to get more
• 32:09
  Speaker 3: into their base personnel. So you get more into that
• 32:11
  Speaker 3: 3-4 type of mold where you can get three D
• 32:13
  Speaker 3: linemen out there. The problem's going to be is if
• 32:16
  Speaker 3: they play sub-11, And it's a 4-2, and you have
• 32:19
  Speaker 3: a two-man rotation and trying to figure out how that's
• 32:21
  Speaker 3: going to look because then that really puts your linebackers
• 32:24
  Speaker 3: at an island because that nickel is Jalen Ramsey, and
• 32:28
  Speaker 3: Jalen plays great off the edge in that, but you
• 32:31
  Speaker 3: would like to have an additional box second-level defender in
• 32:34
  Speaker 3: this type of situation or a guy who's an extra
• 32:37
  Speaker 3: edge guy off of the edge that's a little bit
• 32:39
  Speaker 3: stouter because they are going to run counter. They are
• 32:43
  Speaker 3: going to run toss crack. They are going to run
• 32:45
  Speaker 3: a lot of the bigger man stuff duo scheme type
• 32:49
  Speaker 3: plays so you want bigger beef in there to kind
• 32:52
  Speaker 3: of combat the double teams that are going to be
• 32:55
  Speaker 3: thrown at you.
• 32:56
  Speaker 5: Yep, and no Derek Harmon in this game and he
• 32:59
  Speaker 5: has become the numbers last year were stunning when he
• 33:03
  Speaker 5: was on the field and when he wasn't when it
• 33:05
  Speaker 5: came to stopping the run. So if you're going to
• 33:07
  Speaker 5: get a heavy dose of Jonathan Taylor, some guys are
• 33:09
  Speaker 5: going to have to step up and there's no Derek
• 33:12
  Speaker 5: Harmon in this game. He's going to be out for
• 33:14
  Speaker 5: a while. So that's going to be a big factor.
• 33:16
  Speaker 5: I will say And forgive me if this is somebody's
• 33:19
  Speaker 5: big-time matchup. But Quentin Nelson against Cam Hayward, they've gone
• 33:26
  Speaker 5: at it before. Max, it's not your big-time matchup, is it?
• 33:30
  Speaker 5: It is not my big-time matchup this time.
• 33:34
  Speaker 3: I have a different interior matchup that I'm focused on, Rob.
• 33:38
  Speaker 5: I got to tell you that that's one, if you
• 33:42
  Speaker 5: are watching on TV, and of course, We expect you
• 33:46
  Speaker 5: when you're watching on TV to have the sound turned
• 33:48
  Speaker 5: down and synced up.
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and listen to us. Yeah, exactly.
• 33:51
  Speaker 6: Of course.
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: It pairs up way better with the actual game than
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: the TV.
• 33:54
  Speaker 5: Absolutely right. So you've got to pause the TV for
• 33:58
  Speaker 5: about 20 seconds. You'll figure it out. So Quentin Nelson.
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: It's 12 at some places. Depends on your connection.
• 34:04
  Speaker 5: Yeah. So Quentin is an eight-time Pro Bowler, three-time first-team All-Pro.
• 34:10
  Speaker 5: Cam Hayward is a seven-time Pro Bowler, a four-time first-time
• 34:16
  Speaker 5: First team, all pro. They went at it a couple
• 34:18
  Speaker 5: years ago. Cam got the better of them. But, I mean,
• 34:21
  Speaker 5: you're talking about two, you know, I think very likely
• 34:25
  Speaker 5: Hall of Famers going at it. And if you just
• 34:28
  Speaker 5: want to take your eye off the ball for a moment,
• 34:30
  Speaker 5: which I'm not allowed to do, but just to sneak
• 34:34
  Speaker 5: a glance a few times a game at that matchup.
• 34:38
  Speaker 5: I mean, it is two, like I said, it's two
• 34:41
  Speaker 5: great players that are going to Canton. I think, and
• 34:44
  Speaker 5: I just think it would be a wonderful matchup to
• 34:46
  Speaker 5: keep an eye on in this game. Just for fun.
• 34:51
  Speaker 6: I like that.
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: I can't say anything different.
• 34:52
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 34:53
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 34:54
  Speaker 6: No, you can say that. Can I throw mine out there?
• 34:57
  Speaker 5: Yeah. This isn't a big-time matchup. We're not there yet.
• 35:01
  Speaker 5: This is just the fun stuff.
• 35:04
  Speaker 7: Oh, listen, the fun stuff, I think it's, I want
• 35:06
  Speaker 7: to see them, Steelers, unlock Roman Wilson. This is the
• 35:09
  Speaker 7: game where he pops off the paper from a stat
• 35:12
  Speaker 7: standpoint because I think his ability to– his route ability,
• 35:17
  Speaker 7: he's talked about how he's starting to get on par
• 35:19
  Speaker 7: with Aaron Rodgers. He's starting to feel a lot more comfortable.
• 35:22
  Speaker 7: I want to see how they utilize him. You know
• 35:25
  Speaker 7: how much I feel about Jeremy Bernard.
• 35:27
  Speaker 5: Yep.
• 35:28
  Speaker 6: I think he could have another impact in this game.
• 35:31
  Speaker 7: I expect this receiving core, as much as we want
• 35:33
  Speaker 7: the Steelers to be dominant on the ground, which I expect,
• 35:36
  Speaker 7: But I expect this receiving court to put on a
• 35:38
  Speaker 7: master class.
• 35:40
  Speaker 6: And the Colts second there were just to fall by
• 35:41
  Speaker 6: the wayside. They just won't be able to hang on.
• 35:44
  Speaker 7: So I would love to see Roman Wilson and Jeremy
• 35:45
  Speaker 7: Bernard really pull up and show up pretty much.
• 35:49
  Speaker 5: Yeah, and I mean, they normally, the Colts normally have
• 35:52
  Speaker 5: kept Sauce Gardner on the offensive left. So maybe that's
• 35:58
  Speaker 5: DK Metcalf and Sauce a lot. And then Charverius Ward
• 36:01
  Speaker 5: on the right, that would be Ward. And I would
• 36:03
  Speaker 5: assume Jeremy Bernard is the outside guy. And, again, Mike
• 36:07
  Speaker 5: McCarthy wants him to play all different positions. But Wally,
• 36:10
  Speaker 5: Justin Wally and Roman Wilson in the slot, I agree
• 36:13
  Speaker 5: with you, Willie. That might be a fun matchup for
• 36:15
  Speaker 5: the Steelers. That's another one to sort of keep an
• 36:18
  Speaker 5: eye on. I mean, that's a great thing. Like, you know, look,
• 36:21
  Speaker 5: the ball will find Sauce Gardner and D.K. Metcalf, right?
• 36:25
  Speaker 5: Eventually those two are going to be hooked up and
• 36:27
  Speaker 5: the ball is going to find them. It's fun to
• 36:28
  Speaker 5: look at some of these other matchups where, hey, is
• 36:31
  Speaker 5: this guy getting open? You know, because D.K. is going
• 36:34
  Speaker 5: to get volume. And Roman Wilson probably won't get the
• 36:36
  Speaker 5: same amount of volume. But he's going to get volume.
• 36:38
  Speaker 5: So we're going to see some of those big-time matchups
• 36:40
  Speaker 5: on the outside. But I like that. You got a
• 36:42
  Speaker 5: bonus matchup for us, Max? Or do you want to
• 36:44
  Speaker 5: wait until the next segment? I'm going to wait until
• 36:47
  Speaker 5: the next segment. I have two primetime matchups. Wow. Kind
• 36:53
  Speaker 5: of like I have four games of the week, Willie.
• 36:55
  Speaker 5: He's got two primetime.
• 36:56
  Speaker 6: Okay.
• 36:57
  Speaker 5: All right.
• 36:57
  Speaker 3: First of all, first of all, it's literally half. And
• 37:00
  Speaker 3: when you say pick the game of the week, you
• 37:02
  Speaker 3: can't pick four games. We're just talking about primetime matchups.
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: Here, so I don't want to hear that.
• 37:07
  Speaker 5: Big-time matchups. We're calling them big-time matchups because we've got
• 37:11
  Speaker 5: two big guys in the locker room. So we're going
• 37:13
  Speaker 5: to get to our big-time matchups of the game, some
• 37:15
  Speaker 5: predictions as well when we continue here in the locker room.
• 37:18
  Speaker 5: On the studio, there's Audio Network.
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio, brought to you
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: All right, back inside the locker room here. And, of course,
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: it is the decree by the tribunal. That's right.
• 38:05
  Speaker 3: We are going to give you our big-time matchups. We've
• 38:08
  Speaker 3: talked about upsets of the week. Rob's told us about
• 38:12
  Speaker 3: all 15 games of the week that he likes.
• 38:14
  Speaker 5: Oh, don't try to deflect. He's deflecting. Willie, he's deflecting.
• 38:19
  Speaker 5: He's deflecting.
• 38:20
  Speaker 3: But, yes, no, we– Now, we are here for the
• 38:23
  Speaker 3: keys of the game as well, and this is the
• 38:25
  Speaker 3: final time before we talk to you again on game
• 38:28
  Speaker 3: day broadcast.
• 38:29
  Speaker 5: Can't wait. Can't wait. Can't wait. Can't wait. Willie Colon,
• 38:33
  Speaker 5: lead us off your big-time matchup for the game on
• 38:37
  Speaker 5: Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts. Well, I stated it earlier.
• 38:41
  Speaker 7: It's our offensive line versus their defensive line, bottom line.
• 38:46
  Speaker 7: I know it's kind of low-hanging fruit. but we watched
• 38:49
  Speaker 7: our offensive line really struggle with movement. We talked about
• 38:52
  Speaker 7: how much the Colts are going to blitz. You know,
• 38:56
  Speaker 7: I even think this is a good game for Max Ahanachua, right?
• 39:01
  Speaker 7: I know he took some lumps in the media about
• 39:02
  Speaker 7: the way he played, but I think people kind of
• 39:04
  Speaker 7: gave him some grace because he's a rookie. And, you know,
• 39:07
  Speaker 7: people were kind of hard on the Steelers' offensive line
• 39:10
  Speaker 7: collectively of, you know, allowing Aaron Rodgers to get sacked
• 39:13
  Speaker 7: five times and and get knocked down the way he
• 39:16
  Speaker 7: was getting knocked down against the Browns. But it was
• 39:19
  Speaker 7: a good opportunity for them to come home, have a
• 39:21
  Speaker 7: hard-fought battle against the Colts, and really start putting themselves together.
• 39:26
  Speaker 7: You know, me and Max has talked a lot about
• 39:27
  Speaker 7: what it means to go through those type of games
• 39:30
  Speaker 7: as far as taking a taking a loss hunkering down
• 39:33
  Speaker 7: learning from your mistakes and being and being eager and
• 39:36
  Speaker 7: up for the fight that's ahead and so I'm really
• 39:39
  Speaker 7: interested to see how this offensive line responds because if
• 39:41
  Speaker 7: they can you know it comes down to us our
• 39:43
  Speaker 7: ability to run the ball But also the Colts are
• 39:46
  Speaker 7: thinking the opposite. They feel like they can stop the
• 39:48
  Speaker 7: ball and force Aaron Rodgers to throw the ball 40,
• 39:51
  Speaker 7: 50 times a game, which he's been accustomed to doing lately.
• 39:54
  Speaker 6: And they feel like they have the edge. So it's
• 39:57
  Speaker 6: going to be interesting. It's very interesting what happens. But
• 39:59
  Speaker 6: I'm looking to see this offensive line step up in
• 40:01
  Speaker 6: a major way.
• 40:03
  Speaker 5: And by the way, it is a Colts defense. We
• 40:07
  Speaker 5: talked about different tendencies. And I know we're talking about
• 40:11
  Speaker 5: the Steelers offensive line. The Colts defense will play a
• 40:14
  Speaker 5: lot of man. And that could be a big issue, too,
• 40:17
  Speaker 5: for these guys to get open. Some statistics and studies
• 40:22
  Speaker 5: showing the Steelers have not fared well against man. So
• 40:25
  Speaker 5: if that offensive line can't hold up, and this has
• 40:28
  Speaker 5: been an issue, coupled with receivers getting open, the offensive
• 40:33
  Speaker 5: line hasn't been able to give enough time, and then
• 40:35
  Speaker 5: the receivers aren't beating man coverage. Well, the Colts play
• 40:38
  Speaker 5: a ton of man coverage. They're one of the top
• 40:41
  Speaker 5: man coverage teams in the league. They have the fifth
• 40:43
  Speaker 5: most man coverage looks on defense. They run it 34%
• 40:47
  Speaker 5: of the time. So that's going to be Willie right on, man.
• 40:51
  Speaker 5: That is going to be a big-time item in this game. Max,
• 40:53
  Speaker 5: what is your big-time matchup of the game?
• 40:57
  Speaker 3: Well, so if Willie took, like, part of mine, does
• 41:00
  Speaker 3: that count as me not picking it?
• 41:03
  Speaker 5: Nope.
• 41:03
  Speaker 6: Go ahead.
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: Oh, darn it.
• 41:05
  Speaker 6: Okay.
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: I have one. It's our O-line, but I have specific matchup.
• 41:13
  Speaker 6: Okay.
• 41:13
  Speaker 3: Brock Hoffman versus DeBoris Buckner. OK, that's my matchup, because
• 41:18
  Speaker 3: DeForest Buckner is your leader in sacks with three and
• 41:22
  Speaker 3: he's an interior lineman. And Brock Hoffman is now going
• 41:24
  Speaker 3: on his second game, starting at the right guard position.
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: So how he fares.
• 41:31
  Speaker 3: Against, you know, DeForest Buckner is going to manage a
• 41:34
  Speaker 3: lot and how he passes off the twists and stunts
• 41:36
  Speaker 3: between either Iana Shore or Zach Frazier is going to
• 41:40
  Speaker 3: loom largely on whether we can run the football, whether
• 41:42
  Speaker 3: we can protect. You know, that twist game is one
• 41:44
  Speaker 3: of the biggest things that is going to be an
• 41:48
  Speaker 3: issue that they have to stomp out very early because
• 41:52
  Speaker 3: they put it on tape two out of their four games.
• 41:54
  Speaker 3: They haven't been able to handle that pressure along with blitz.
• 41:58
  Speaker 2: So guess what?
• 41:59
  Speaker 3: A team that loves to blitz and loves to play
• 42:00
  Speaker 3: man is going to do the same exact thing to
• 42:02
  Speaker 3: you until you prove that you can stop it. So
• 42:05
  Speaker 3: that's my one number one head to head matchup. And
• 42:09
  Speaker 3: then my secondary matchup is going to be Darnell Washington
• 42:15
  Speaker 3: against their linebackers, whoever it is, because I know they're
• 42:18
  Speaker 3: not going to put Justin Wally on him. So it's
• 42:20
  Speaker 3: going to come down to whether it's Akeem Davis Gaither,
• 42:23
  Speaker 3: who finally got the green dot for them, or is
• 42:28
  Speaker 3: it going to be a Jalen Carly's or Carly's that's
• 42:33
  Speaker 3: going to have that responsibility of having to take Darnell Washington.
• 42:36
  Speaker 2: Off the ball.
• 42:38
  Speaker 3: So I'm looking at those are my two really big
• 42:41
  Speaker 3: matchups because I think, and they're both on the offense
• 42:43
  Speaker 3: side of the ball, because how you control the flow
• 42:46
  Speaker 3: of the game is going to truly matter. And, you know,
• 42:49
  Speaker 3: I know that, you know, we have their secondaries bad,
• 42:52
  Speaker 3: but if we can control the ground game and control
• 42:54
  Speaker 3: time of possession, that also bodes in our favor to
• 42:57
  Speaker 3: give us some success, but it has to yield in points.
• 42:59
  Speaker 5: Yeah, so I'm going to go with a little bit
• 43:01
  Speaker 5: bigger picture because I think that There are a lot
• 43:05
  Speaker 5: of studies around the league that basically say the defense
• 43:08
  Speaker 5: that defends the least defends the best. So yeah, I
• 43:11
  Speaker 5: want to see Jonathan Taylor shut down. But I think
• 43:15
  Speaker 5: a big way you do that, and it's not an
• 43:18
  Speaker 5: easy matchup. Willie mentioned it earlier, the Colts have one
• 43:20
  Speaker 5: of the best third down defenses in the league. It's
• 43:23
  Speaker 5: been a bend, but don't break. They've given up the
• 43:27
  Speaker 5: third most yards in the league, but only the 11th
• 43:29
  Speaker 5: most points because they give up a lot of yards, yes,
• 43:32
  Speaker 5: but they They wind up coming through on third down.
• 43:35
  Speaker 5: They're fourth in the league at 29.2%. The Steelers, they
• 43:40
  Speaker 5: need to keep these drives alive. They're 28th on third down.
• 43:44
  Speaker 5: They're even worse on third and manageable. That's from third
• 43:49
  Speaker 5: and two to third and six. They are the worst
• 43:52
  Speaker 5: in the league in that category. That's got to change.
• 43:55
  Speaker 5: They've got to find a way. Yeah, okay, I get it.
• 43:57
  Speaker 5: The offense has averaged 27 points, 30 points and 24 points.
• 43:59
  Speaker 5: They've been good. They can be better, and they can
• 44:04
  Speaker 5: help the defense out and get them defending less and
• 44:07
  Speaker 5: keeping them fresh. So I know it's not a particular
• 44:10
  Speaker 5: guy-on-guy matchup. We haven't said it has to be. My
• 44:13
  Speaker 5: big-time matchup is Steelers offense on third down versus Colts
• 44:17
  Speaker 5: defense on third down. Prediction, Willie, Max, what do you
• 44:23
  Speaker 5: have here?
• 44:25
  Speaker 6: I'm going to go 23. We'll go 27-14 Steelers.
• 44:33
  Speaker 5: Okay. Max?
• 44:37
  Speaker 6: Wow.
• 44:41
  Speaker 2: I'm going to say 30-24 Steelers.
• 44:45
  Speaker 5: Wow. So I have the weather. I would normally pick
• 44:49
  Speaker 5: a much higher game. I have the weather being a factor.
• 44:52
  Speaker 5: I've got the Steelers winning it 20-16 in a lower
• 44:55
  Speaker 5: scoring game than you guys have because of the weather.
• 44:58
  Speaker 6: That sounds like an educated guess.
• 45:00
  Speaker 5: I hope we're all, aren't they all? I hope they're all.
• 45:06
  Speaker 3: So rational, so well-mannered and mild.
• 45:12
  Speaker 5: I like all of our predictions of a Steelers victory.
• 45:14
  Speaker 5: Let's hope that comes to fruition. Enjoy the game, everybody.
• 45:18
  Speaker 5: Our thanks to Missy Matthews, to our producer. Justin Miller,
• 45:22
  Speaker 5: and of course, on behalf of Willie Colon and Max Starks,
• 45:26
  Speaker 5: I'm Rob King. We thank you for being with us
• 45:28
  Speaker 5: in the locker room here on the Steelers Audio Network.