Latest / Steelers Country Weekly / Vikings Recap
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Today on Steelers Country Weekly, we talk about the Steelers
- 0:04Speaker 1: big win in Ireland against the Vikings, and then we're
- 0:07Speaker 1: gonna talk about what Eric and I would love to
- 0:10Speaker 1: do on our own bye weeks in honor of the
- 0:13Speaker 1: Steelers having the week off in first place in their division.
- 0:17Speaker 1: I'm Nick de Tulio and is always I'm joined by
- 0:19Speaker 1: the world famous account Eric van Benschowten. Eric, how's it
- 0:23Speaker 1: going tonight?
- 0:24Speaker 2: I'm doing pretty good in light of our win. I
- 0:27Speaker 2: think you should do your best Irish brogue.
- 0:31Speaker 1: My best Irish brogue. Yea, what is a brogue?
- 0:36Speaker 3: It's it's an accent. Oh, that's easy.
- 0:41Speaker 1: Top of them, Marning tuia Quar back in Old Atlanta
- 0:45Speaker 1: talking about the Steelers coming back from Dublin. Now the
- 0:49Speaker 1: I'm back from Epcot drinking around the world. That was perfect,
- 0:55Speaker 1: thank you, thank you. Oh my goodness, no offense to
- 0:58Speaker 1: all our listeners over in the Emerald Isles, Oh my goodness.
- 1:04Speaker 2: They might be very happy with that. They might be
- 1:07Speaker 2: tipping their green pats to.
- 1:10Speaker 1: You, so this might be little too well. Never mind,
- 1:15Speaker 1: my wife knows someone who has a very traditional Irish name,
- 1:19Speaker 1: even though they're not Irish at all. So anytime she
- 1:22Speaker 1: mentions that she spoke with this person, I throw that
- 1:25Speaker 1: accent out there and say, oh, hell is he doing?
- 1:28Speaker 1: And she's like, you know, damn well, he's not actually Irish,
- 1:31Speaker 1: and I'm like, no, I've heard his name. He's deaf.
- 1:34Speaker 1: And so now I have a fair amount of practice
- 1:38Speaker 1: using that that brogue as you called it, even if
- 1:43Speaker 1: it's just to annoy my wife.
- 1:44Speaker 3: But that's what we do, right, That's what you gotta do.
- 1:47Speaker 1: Yeah, so when the Steelers play their next international game,
- 1:50Speaker 1: we'll bust out the accent of that country too and
- 1:53Speaker 1: totally not offend anyone across the seas. But no, I
- 1:58Speaker 1: didn't get to talk to you last week to preview
- 2:01Speaker 1: this game. I was in Disney World. So it sounds
- 2:04Speaker 1: like you and the unpaid student intern posted your own
- 2:07Speaker 1: get together here, so awesome for that. I'm glad that
- 2:10Speaker 1: the intern is finally pulling his weight here. Let me
- 2:14Speaker 1: ask you before we dive into the actual breakdown of
- 2:17Speaker 1: the game. What were did you both predict the Steelers
- 2:23Speaker 1: We're gonna win? And well, let's just start with that.
- 2:26Speaker 1: Did you both predict the Steelers We're gonna.
- 2:28Speaker 2: Win I'm pretty sure I predicted that we were gonna
- 2:31Speaker 2: lose by a field goal.
- 2:33Speaker 1: Okay, they tried.
- 2:35Speaker 3: And I believe Joe. I believe Joe predicted a win.
- 2:39Speaker 2: Okay, I believe he had a slugfest going on, so
- 2:45Speaker 2: a low scoring affair.
- 2:46Speaker 3: So you know, tip to him.
- 2:50Speaker 2: For correctly predicting it. I guess you know he's earning his.
- 2:57Speaker 1: Keep, there you go. I was watching the Steelers and
- 3:03Speaker 1: the Patriots game in Florida. We went to a restaurant
- 3:10Speaker 1: and they turned the game on and I watched. It
- 3:13Speaker 1: was maybe a little more than the first quarter, so
- 3:15Speaker 1: not much was really happening. And then when we left,
- 3:19Speaker 1: I went back to the hotel and I kind of
- 3:21Speaker 1: had to watch Red Zone on my phone, so I
- 3:25Speaker 1: only got bits and pieces and from what I recall,
- 3:29Speaker 1: and I think I texted you about this. I said,
- 3:31Speaker 1: I didn't get to watch it, but did I read
- 3:33Speaker 1: correctly that we forced five turnovers on defense and still
- 3:37Speaker 1: almost lost the game. And you're like, yeah, pretty much
- 3:42Speaker 1: so going into this game. And conversely too, I will
- 3:47Speaker 1: say the other game that they had on in the
- 3:50Speaker 1: bar next to the Steelers and the Patriots was the
- 3:54Speaker 1: Vikings and the Bengals, and the Vikings put up what
- 3:59Speaker 1: like forty three points even with their backup quarterback during
- 4:02Speaker 1: that game. So I gotta be honest, if I was
- 4:07Speaker 1: on the podcast with you last week, we would have
- 4:13Speaker 1: probably been both doom and gloom, thinking we were gonna lose.
- 4:15Speaker 1: I was thinking, there's no way that the Steelers, who
- 4:19Speaker 1: struggled this much against the Patriots, when the Patriots, excuse me,
- 4:24Speaker 1: did everything they could do to give the Steelers a win,
- 4:29Speaker 1: and the Steelers kept shooting themselves in the foot combined
- 4:32Speaker 1: with the Vikings, and I know they were playing the Bengals,
- 4:35Speaker 1: but forty three points is a lot, regardless of the
- 4:38Speaker 1: defense are going against and regardless of the other team's
- 4:41Speaker 1: quarterback situation. There's only so many minutes in a game,
- 4:45Speaker 1: so putting up forty three points is impressive to a
- 4:47Speaker 1: certain degree no matter what. Yeah, I would have been
- 4:51Speaker 1: very pessimistic. I would have been like, there's no, it's
- 4:54Speaker 1: not happening. So I'm glad that the unpaid student in turn,
- 4:59Speaker 1: at least brought some positivity to our production.
- 5:02Speaker 3: Here.
- 5:03Speaker 2: There is an air of optimism, and his voice an
- 5:07Speaker 2: air of optimism.
- 5:10Speaker 1: Well, let's get into it and talk about this game
- 5:13Speaker 1: in Dublin. This, of course was a huge deal for
- 5:16Speaker 1: the Steelers, with the Rooney family being Irish and Dan Rooney,
- 5:20Speaker 1: former owner, actually serving as ambassador in Ireland from two
- 5:24Speaker 1: thousand and nine to twenty twelve, so the Steelers do
- 5:27Speaker 1: have a significant following over there. Unfortunately for the Steelers,
- 5:32Speaker 1: they did not get the travel as early as they
- 5:34Speaker 1: would have liked to. Was actually reading an article with
- 5:37Speaker 1: Cam Hayward where he was talking about how the last
- 5:40Speaker 1: time the Steelers played in Europe, ironically also against the Vikings,
- 5:44Speaker 1: they got in on Thursday or Friday and just could
- 5:47Speaker 1: knock get over the jet lag before the game. So
- 5:50Speaker 1: it sounds like they wanted to try to go earlier
- 5:53Speaker 1: this year to avoid that, and then the NFL said no, no, no,
- 5:55Speaker 1: we want you and the Vikings to go at the
- 5:57Speaker 1: same time, just so there's no competitive vantage or whatnot,
- 6:02Speaker 1: which makes sense to me until you realize that the
- 6:04Speaker 1: Vikings are literally just staying over there for their next
- 6:06Speaker 1: week game in London, but at least for the sake
- 6:10Speaker 1: of playing against the Steelers in this first game, I
- 6:12Speaker 1: totally get it.
- 6:15Speaker 3: That.
- 6:15Speaker 1: Being said, this game it ended up being only a
- 6:20Speaker 1: three point win for the Steelers. It should not have
- 6:23Speaker 1: been that close at all. We'll get into it as
- 6:26Speaker 1: we go, you know, piece by piece in the game.
- 6:29Speaker 1: But this is a game that the Steelers should have
- 6:32Speaker 1: put away much sooner than they did. But frankly, they
- 6:37Speaker 1: just due to some taking their foot off the gas
- 6:40Speaker 1: and some questionable coaching decisions, it ended up being much
- 6:44Speaker 1: closer than it needed to be. Nevertheless, the Steelers do
- 6:47Speaker 1: walk away with the win. Definitely saw some big highlights,
- 6:52Speaker 1: saw some people step up that we hadn't seen step
- 6:54Speaker 1: up yet and really made There was two really big
- 6:58Speaker 1: plays for the Steelers that I want to talk about
- 7:00Speaker 1: that we'll get to as well. But I will ask you,
- 7:04Speaker 1: mister world famous account, when you look back at this
- 7:07Speaker 1: Dublin game, what were some of your big keys?
- 7:11Speaker 3: Uh?
- 7:12Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean again, the defense for the second straight week. Uh,
- 7:17Speaker 2: they looked They looked very dominant. You know, they were
- 7:23Speaker 2: forcing turnovers, the sacks that we've been accustomed to a
- 7:28Speaker 2: Steelers defense doing. Where I think it was sorely missing
- 7:32Speaker 2: the first two game, two games of the year, it
- 7:36Speaker 2: was definitely there in full force. And and big shout
- 7:39Speaker 2: out to Nick Krbig.
- 7:40Speaker 3: I thought he had a really great game.
- 7:45Speaker 2: And then you know, I this game could have even
- 7:50Speaker 2: been even more you know, take out some of the
- 7:53Speaker 2: the mental uh issues of this game that I thought
- 7:57Speaker 2: that like, you know, you'll go over and that we
- 8:00Speaker 2: had overcome. But you know, there was the fumble recovery
- 8:04Speaker 2: that magically the running back had his foot out of
- 8:07Speaker 2: bounds as he touched the football before Jalen Ramsey picked
- 8:10Speaker 2: it up and put in for the touchdown, got overturned,
- 8:14Speaker 2: and I think the field goal the Bankings ended up
- 8:17Speaker 2: kicking the field goal, so that's a ten point swing.
- 8:22Speaker 3: Then there was.
- 8:25Speaker 2: There was another turnover I think that the Steelers got
- 8:29Speaker 2: and that got overturned two. So you know, this could
- 8:37Speaker 2: have been absolute she lacking by the Steelers defense.
- 8:42Speaker 3: Even though they did give up a lot of yards.
- 8:44Speaker 3: I mean, and I think that.
- 8:46Speaker 2: That's something that we've grown accustomed to, the bend knock break.
- 8:53Speaker 3: You know, it's it's more.
- 8:54Speaker 2: About how many points you give or the opportunities that
- 8:58Speaker 2: you give to the offense than it is more about
- 9:01Speaker 2: how many yards you give. You know, you don't get
- 9:04Speaker 2: awarded points pert yard, so.
- 9:08Speaker 3: You know, I think and the Vikings out gained us.
- 9:12Speaker 2: But another thing that I thought was pretty interesting and
- 9:15Speaker 2: I brought up with the unpaid Stone intern was that
- 9:19Speaker 2: we had yet to have eclipsed three hundred yards. Well
- 9:23Speaker 2: we did it by a whole thirteen yards in this game.
- 9:27Speaker 2: But nonetheless, the offense looked good.
- 9:31Speaker 3: I mean, the.
- 9:32Speaker 2: Running game was there. Gain Will pretty much dominated all
- 9:37Speaker 2: the carries and either he hit one hundred yards or
- 9:42Speaker 2: was pretty darn close to it.
- 9:45Speaker 3: Yeah, and you know, I think that that was probably
- 9:50Speaker 3: the main thing there.
- 9:52Speaker 4: I saw.
- 9:53Speaker 2: The main reason why that might have been was because
- 9:56Speaker 2: Darnel Washington out snapped all the tight ends basically.
- 10:01Speaker 3: Three to one.
- 10:02Speaker 2: Yeah, so you know that.
- 10:05Speaker 3: Was part of the game plan.
- 10:06Speaker 2: Put a sixth lineman out there and just play physical football.
- 10:12Speaker 3: That seemed to have worked.
- 10:14Speaker 2: And you know, even I'd be reverst to say that
- 10:17Speaker 2: it was all running game. Hit Dake dk metcalf for
- 10:22Speaker 2: that touchdown. It was great to finally see that explosiveness.
- 10:27Speaker 2: I think that we saw a little bit in the
- 10:29Speaker 2: week one, but you know, able to kind of like
- 10:33Speaker 2: you had a couple one or two more catches that
- 10:36Speaker 2: I thought really kind of showed why we.
- 10:39Speaker 3: Went out and got him. But you know, fourth quarter
- 10:46Speaker 3: that was very frustrating.
- 10:48Speaker 2: And you know, I think I'm gonna allow you to
- 10:51Speaker 2: kind of take over there, but I'm.
- 10:52Speaker 3: Gonna leave it as that very frustrating.
- 10:55Speaker 1: Yeah, just a few things I want to touch on.
- 10:57Speaker 3: First.
- 10:57Speaker 1: You mentioned Gainwell's big day. That was the biggest surprise
- 11:02Speaker 1: to me because I felt like they've been forcing the
- 11:06Speaker 1: ball to him in previous weeks and he just hasn't
- 11:08Speaker 1: been up to snuff. And my thought is, why are
- 11:12Speaker 1: we not feeding Jalen Warren more? And we drafted Caleb Johnson,
- 11:17Speaker 1: and we talked about this a couple weeks ago against
- 11:19Speaker 1: the Vikings. We drafted Caleb Johnson to more or less
- 11:24Speaker 1: be a replacement for Najie Harris because they're similar builds,
- 11:29Speaker 1: similar styles. Why are we not giving him the ball? More?
- 11:33Speaker 1: We spent a third round pick on him, and we've
- 11:36Speaker 1: got him back there returning kicks, which he's not qualified
- 11:39Speaker 1: to be doing either. So while I still question the
- 11:45Speaker 1: draft strategy behind getting Caleb Johnson if you're not going
- 11:48Speaker 1: to use him, it was good to see Gainwell have
- 11:52Speaker 1: a big day too. He had a couple tds and
- 11:54Speaker 1: again he was a yard shy of eclipsing the century mark,
- 11:59Speaker 1: so that was good to see Uh yeah, the DK
- 12:02Speaker 1: Metcalf play. That particular play was huge and also funny
- 12:06Speaker 1: to point out that Aaron Rodgers was sniffing the smelling
- 12:10Speaker 1: salts immediately before ripping that pass.
- 12:14Speaker 3: I don't like. Is that a new phenomenon. I don't
- 12:18Speaker 3: remember it being a thing, But I.
- 12:21Speaker 1: Don't remember it being a thing either. I actually thought
- 12:23Speaker 1: that they got banned this year because I remember George
- 12:25Speaker 1: Kittle was complaining about it, and then I keep hearing
- 12:27Speaker 1: people ripping smelling the salt, so I'm wondering if it's
- 12:30Speaker 1: supposed to take effect next year, and maybe they turned
- 12:34Speaker 1: returned or overturned it. But yeah, I'm with you. I
- 12:37Speaker 1: always knew it was a thing, but I don't recall
- 12:39Speaker 1: ever seeing a guy taking a hit of a sniffing
- 12:42Speaker 1: salt right on the field, right before a play, like
- 12:46Speaker 1: after breaking the huddle.
- 12:47Speaker 2: So yeah, more of less like you know, player gets
- 12:54Speaker 2: knocked out and they give them sniffing salts.
- 12:56Speaker 1: Yeah, come too.
- 12:57Speaker 2: I mean that's more of what I I remember it
- 13:00Speaker 2: to be. But you know, whatever works performance enhancing salts.
- 13:05Speaker 1: There you go. The other thing you mentioned was Darnel
- 13:09Speaker 1: Washington getting the bulk of the snaps. I think John
- 13:11Speaker 1: Owsmith was coming back from an injury. I don't know
- 13:14Speaker 1: if he was ruled out or if they were just
- 13:16Speaker 1: playing it safe with him. But the other interesting thing
- 13:19Speaker 1: is we're seeing Pat Fryermuth get less and less time
- 13:22Speaker 1: on the field, and we've talked about some drop passes
- 13:25Speaker 1: he's had. I'm pretty sure he was on the field
- 13:28Speaker 1: goal team and was responsible for missing the block that
- 13:34Speaker 1: resulted in the blocked field what the Steelers hads. That
- 13:37Speaker 1: was another three points that the Steelers could have had
- 13:39Speaker 1: that they didn't, So just kind of interesting since everyone's
- 13:46Speaker 1: always thought very highly of him, he was I think
- 13:49Speaker 1: behind he might have been behind Pitts Kyle Pitts if
- 13:54Speaker 1: they were in the same draft class, but I remember
- 13:56Speaker 1: it was generally accepted that he was the second best
- 13:59Speaker 1: tight end in that draft class. He had a great
- 14:02Speaker 1: rookie year with Ben, and then it just seems like
- 14:04Speaker 1: every year since he hasn't really taken that next step
- 14:07Speaker 1: that everyone kind of thought he would do. And maybe
- 14:11Speaker 1: that's part of the reason why they still went out
- 14:13Speaker 1: and drafted Darnell Washington and they brought in John new
- 14:15Speaker 1: Smith this year. But anyway, I just want to mention
- 14:18Speaker 1: that to add some further color to what you were
- 14:22Speaker 1: saying about Darnell Washington. It sounds like that's one of
- 14:26Speaker 1: the things that's going to open up the offense. More
- 14:28Speaker 1: surprisingly is keeping him and john new Smith more involved
- 14:31Speaker 1: in keeping Friarmuth less involved. Not sure if I'm reading
- 14:35Speaker 1: too much into it, but it yeah, I mean, putting
- 14:38Speaker 1: him in only what four snaps on offense when you
- 14:42Speaker 1: have one of your three tight ends injured kind of
- 14:44Speaker 1: seems to tell that story. I think.
- 14:46Speaker 2: Well, and then you know, I think it's interesting too,
- 14:49Speaker 2: because you know, when we went out and got Johnny Smith,
- 14:53Speaker 2: I think Moro lest the thought was like, what are
- 14:56Speaker 2: we going to do with all these tight ends? How
- 14:59Speaker 2: are we going to get on the play? Are we
- 15:01Speaker 2: even gonna keep either Darnel Washington or Hayward?
- 15:08Speaker 3: So but it seems like they have a way of
- 15:11Speaker 3: utilizing them.
- 15:12Speaker 1: So yeah, So and if it sounds like it's putting
- 15:19Speaker 1: firemouth on the bench, surprisingly, So all right, let's talk
- 15:23Speaker 1: about the fourth quarter. This was one of the most
- 15:28Speaker 1: maddening displays of game management that I've seen in a while,
- 15:31Speaker 1: and we've seen some bad ones. So the Steelers are
- 15:36Speaker 1: up by ten and they have it's fourth and goal
- 15:42Speaker 1: from about the three or the four yard line, I'd
- 15:44Speaker 1: say yeah, and they have to decide do you want
- 15:49Speaker 1: to kick a field goal? Do you want to go
- 15:51Speaker 1: for it? And we were texting about this, and I
- 15:55Speaker 1: will admit I might be biased because I did have
- 15:58Speaker 1: Chris Boswell on my fantasy team. But I was sitting
- 16:02Speaker 1: there thinking, just take the points. It's not like you're
- 16:06Speaker 1: at the one yard line. You're back a few, and
- 16:09Speaker 1: you will You'll force the Vikings to have to score
- 16:14Speaker 1: two touchdowns just to beat you. Yeah, yes, you're only
- 16:20Speaker 1: up thirteen instead of fourteen, but you're playing with fire.
- 16:26Speaker 1: And it looked the cameras weren't the best here, but
- 16:30Speaker 1: it looked like initially the kicking team went out and
- 16:35Speaker 1: I don't know if that was Tomlin's decision or we've
- 16:38Speaker 1: heard Tomlin joke that Boz just runs out on his
- 16:40Speaker 1: own when he wants to kick, but Aaron Rodgers kind
- 16:46Speaker 1: of called him off. I think they called a timeout too,
- 16:48Speaker 1: and then they came out and they came back to
- 16:50Speaker 1: go for it, which I wasn't happy with to begin with.
- 16:54Speaker 1: I understand what the analytics say, and I understand that
- 16:56Speaker 1: you need to have confidence in your offense, but I
- 16:59Speaker 1: just one of the points. Yeah, So not only do
- 17:03Speaker 1: they decide to go for it, they do a run
- 17:07Speaker 1: play to the left side of the ball and they
- 17:10Speaker 1: maybe get a yard, so they don't even pass it.
- 17:13Speaker 1: They don't pin the other team down at the one
- 17:16Speaker 1: yard line. It was just a really bad play call. Like,
- 17:18Speaker 1: if you're gonna go for it, let's do something other.
- 17:20Speaker 3: Than that, right, Yeah, I agree.
- 17:23Speaker 2: So, I mean it's interesting because so players love talking
- 17:31Speaker 2: about how they should play on grass. Odell Beckham was like,
- 17:35Speaker 2: just he is the most recent person to say, you know,
- 17:39Speaker 2: if player safety is the biggest thing, weren't these guys
- 17:42Speaker 2: playing on grass? Yeah, in Ireland they're playing on grass
- 17:47Speaker 2: and these guys are slipping around everywhere.
- 17:49Speaker 3: So what you know, the reason why it comes into
- 17:52Speaker 3: play is.
- 17:53Speaker 2: So ten versus thirteen, it's still like a you know,
- 17:58Speaker 2: two possession game.
- 18:00Speaker 3: But it's very likely that a kicker can.
- 18:03Speaker 2: Missus putting and miss an extra point, and so a
- 18:09Speaker 2: field goal in that instance still really matters because you're
- 18:14Speaker 2: forcing them to not going to execute on scoring touchdowns
- 18:19Speaker 2: but getting those pats.
- 18:21Speaker 3: Yeah, and so take the points and then there is
- 18:25Speaker 3: enough game.
- 18:26Speaker 2: Time where if we got the ball again and we
- 18:29Speaker 2: had favorable field position, we'd be able to could go
- 18:31Speaker 2: another field goal.
- 18:33Speaker 1: Yeah, and.
- 18:35Speaker 2: You know, then we're forcing two point conversions. So it
- 18:40Speaker 2: really made no sense to me. I mean, I understand
- 18:43Speaker 2: you can put this game away if you score a touchdown,
- 18:47Speaker 2: but you can also win the game by just playing
- 18:51Speaker 2: it somewhat safe. I mean, you gotta lob it up
- 18:54Speaker 2: every once in a while. Yeah, I think the play
- 18:58Speaker 2: call is very maddening. I mean, if you're gonna go
- 19:00Speaker 2: for it, but and Aaron Rodgers called for it, give
- 19:04Speaker 2: the man.
- 19:04Speaker 3: The ball in his hands.
- 19:06Speaker 2: But you watch their replacements, right, yeah, right, Winners want
- 19:10Speaker 2: the ball in their hands when the game's on the line.
- 19:13Speaker 1: That's right, Shane.
- 19:16Speaker 3: Aaron Rodgers is a winner, give him the ball.
- 19:19Speaker 1: That's a good point, though, because you're one hundred percent right.
- 19:22Speaker 1: It was very obvious that Aaron Rodgers was calling for
- 19:26Speaker 1: it to go for it. I'd be shocked if Aaron
- 19:29Speaker 1: Rodgers' first choice was the play that ended up happening.
- 19:33Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 19:33Speaker 1: Maybe it was, I don't know, but it just seems
- 19:36Speaker 1: so odd to me that that's the play that they
- 19:38Speaker 1: decided to go with. Unless unless they actually were just
- 19:42Speaker 1: trying to pin as close to the one as possible,
- 19:44Speaker 1: not knowing they were going to get him, which is
- 19:46Speaker 1: still stupid.
- 19:47Speaker 3: But it even like a.
- 19:50Speaker 2: Shovel quick shovel pass, you know, like motion shovel.
- 19:55Speaker 3: Like that would have been a better play call than
- 19:57Speaker 3: just running it like there was no I it's just stupid.
- 20:05Speaker 3: I mean, like if we're a great.
- 20:08Speaker 2: Running team, maybe, but pulling into this game, we had
- 20:13Speaker 2: one game where we averaged over three yards of carrot right.
- 20:17Speaker 1: So.
- 20:20Speaker 2: I know we were having success for running it, but
- 20:22Speaker 2: it wasn't so consistent, it wasn't so gashing where we're
- 20:27Speaker 2: getting everything we wanted.
- 20:29Speaker 3: So yeah, I don't know.
- 20:33Speaker 1: And we're talking about these guys Dkay and Washington in particular.
- 20:40Speaker 1: Those are big guys. You can throw the ball up
- 20:41Speaker 1: to them, they'll get it, and even if you don't
- 20:43Speaker 1: throw it to them in the end zone, there's a
- 20:45Speaker 1: good chance they'll knock someone over to get in, right.
- 20:49Speaker 1: But I digress. So of course that means the Steelers
- 20:54Speaker 1: turn the ball over and all of our worst nightmares
- 20:58Speaker 1: begin to play out. One of the plays I did
- 21:02Speaker 1: want to mention was I want to say it was
- 21:05Speaker 1: like an eighty yard. It ended up being an eighty
- 21:07Speaker 1: yard pass on a busted coverage to Jordan Addison and
- 21:13Speaker 1: Peyton Wilson ran him down. He went over twenty two
- 21:17Speaker 1: miles an hour on this run. It was the fastest
- 21:19Speaker 1: clock time by a linebacker in like several years. He
- 21:23Speaker 1: actually managed to chase this wide receiver down and tackle
- 21:27Speaker 1: him inside the five yard line. And the reason that
- 21:32Speaker 1: was big is because that forced the Vikings to end
- 21:35Speaker 1: up burning over a minute more of game time before
- 21:38Speaker 1: they did get in the end zone. So I did
- 21:41Speaker 1: want to mention that give Peyton Wilson his flowers there,
- 21:45Speaker 1: because that was an ultimate hustle play, and not only that,
- 21:51Speaker 1: it legitimately could have saved the game for the Steelers
- 21:55Speaker 1: with how the rest of the game ended playing out too,
- 22:00Speaker 1: So I just wanted to mention that I was I
- 22:03Speaker 1: was very impressed with that. For someone who's gotten criticized
- 22:06Speaker 1: this year to make that play in the game's biggest
- 22:10Speaker 1: moment was definitely very impressive.
- 22:12Speaker 2: Yeah, especially because I think the week prior, Cole Holcomb
- 22:17Speaker 2: came back and he played a really good game. So
- 22:21Speaker 2: this is a guy playing for his job, and I
- 22:25Speaker 2: think that Tomlin loves effort guys, right, he loves guys
- 22:29Speaker 2: that like, what was it Lander.
- 22:35Speaker 3: Roberts that he was a guy that probably wasn't the most.
- 22:41Speaker 2: Athletic guy on the team, but god, Tom would loved
- 22:45Speaker 2: that guy and would play him constantly, focused him.
- 22:49Speaker 3: On the defense, and you know, this is the.
- 22:51Speaker 2: Type of thing that could put you right back in
- 22:54Speaker 2: the conversation of being a starter.
- 22:56Speaker 3: So no, it was that was pretty nifty. But yeah, he's.
- 23:04Speaker 2: The only bright spot I can think of from the
- 23:07Speaker 2: fourth quarter.
- 23:09Speaker 1: Well, yeah, so let's continue this fourth quarter of misery then,
- 23:15Speaker 1: So the Steelers give up the touchdown eventually that brings
- 23:19Speaker 1: it to a twenty four to twenty one score, which,
- 23:21Speaker 1: as we called out, it could have been twenty seven
- 23:24Speaker 1: to twenty one, which, again, while not putting you out
- 23:28Speaker 1: of reach, is much gives me much more confidence than
- 23:31Speaker 1: a three point lead. But anyway, the excuse me. The
- 23:39Speaker 1: Vikings do an on side kick, it gets recovered by
- 23:43Speaker 1: the Steelers, the two minute warning comes to pass, and everything,
- 23:47Speaker 1: and then the Steelers end up getting to the Minnesota
- 23:52Speaker 1: forty yard line with it looks like a minute and
- 23:57Speaker 1: eight left exactly, and once again, you have a fourth
- 24:03Speaker 1: down decision. Do you punt it. Do you try to
- 24:08Speaker 1: trot out Boswell for a long one or do you
- 24:12Speaker 1: go for it? And this I'm just shaking my head
- 24:20Speaker 1: thinking about it. Tomlin decides that they're gonna punt it,
- 24:25Speaker 1: but first they take the delay of game to run
- 24:28Speaker 1: off literally as much clock as they possibly can. And
- 24:31Speaker 1: I assume they take the delay of game to give
- 24:35Speaker 1: their punter an extra five yards to work with so
- 24:37Speaker 1: that they could pin so he just has a little
- 24:39Speaker 1: more of a window to pin the Vikings down in.
- 24:43Speaker 1: But no, they punt it and this guy just boots
- 24:46Speaker 1: it like twenty yards out of the back of the
- 24:48Speaker 1: end zone. And I'm like, okay, so, not only are
- 24:50Speaker 1: we not being aggressive here when it's fourth and one,
- 24:54Speaker 1: a run play is perfectly reasonable in this situation. We're
- 24:58Speaker 1: not even gonna try to give some hang time and
- 25:01Speaker 1: pin them down. We're just booting it out the back
- 25:03Speaker 1: of the end zone. And yeah, like twenty yards or
- 25:08Speaker 1: something like that, Yeah, you're right. It was maybe I
- 25:12Speaker 1: think nineteen yards to be exact, was the difference. So
- 25:18Speaker 1: that was what left me and you and all the
- 25:21Speaker 1: Steelers fans around the world just kind of scratching our
- 25:24Speaker 1: head again. I know, that. Yeah, there you go. I
- 25:29Speaker 1: know that the popular thing right now is to say, yes,
- 25:34Speaker 1: you absolutely should go for it.
- 25:35Speaker 3: There.
- 25:37Speaker 1: I also I understand making or punting it and having
- 25:41Speaker 1: your defense or trusting your defense. Maybe not this defense,
- 25:47Speaker 1: but in theory, if you have the highest paid defense
- 25:49Speaker 1: in the league, you should be able to trust them
- 25:51Speaker 1: in these situations. Right, But if you're gonna do that,
- 25:54Speaker 1: at least try to pin the vikings down. Don't just
- 25:58Speaker 1: boot it out the back of the end zone. So again,
- 26:01Speaker 1: it's not so much the decision itself that I disagree with.
- 26:04Speaker 1: It's how they executed it that just kind of left
- 26:07Speaker 1: me confused if nothing else.
- 26:10Speaker 2: Yeah, so well, well they still you know, Carson Wentz
- 26:20Speaker 2: kind of hit his limit, his credits were gone, came over.
- 26:28Speaker 3: So yeah, he, I mean.
- 26:29Speaker 2: He he really didn't look great on that last drive, and.
- 26:36Speaker 3: You know what, what do you what do you say
- 26:38Speaker 3: about it?
- 26:38Speaker 2: I mean, he he was, he's bounced around, he's uh,
- 26:45Speaker 2: he's sixth straight ears on six different teams, so guess
- 26:51Speaker 2: finally ran out on him. But man, oh man, like
- 26:55Speaker 2: what could have been easily our best game of the year.
- 27:01Speaker 3: You know, of course we only get.
- 27:03Speaker 2: To talk about a three point victory.
- 27:07Speaker 1: Yeah, so after that that, the Vikings got a few
- 27:12Speaker 1: plays off after that, but a few penalties kind of
- 27:14Speaker 1: put them in a really rough fourth down situation ended
- 27:19Speaker 1: up being a turnover on downs. Steelers were able to
- 27:22Speaker 1: take the knee and get the win. But again, can't
- 27:25Speaker 1: highlight enough, like you said, this for the first three
- 27:29Speaker 1: and a half quarters or so was the Steelers' best
- 27:31Speaker 1: game by far, and then just the fourth quarter came,
- 27:36Speaker 1: then it looked like we were going to do everything
- 27:38Speaker 1: we could keep it close. So must have needed the
- 27:42Speaker 1: ratings for that international game. Didn't want people turning it
- 27:44Speaker 1: off and going to church or going to breakfast or something.
- 27:48Speaker 1: All right, well, there you have it. The Steelers win
- 27:50Speaker 1: twenty four to twenty one. And additionally, that puts the
- 27:54Speaker 1: Steelers in first place, sole possession of first place with
- 27:58Speaker 1: the Banks losing to the Broncos on Monday night.
- 28:03Speaker 3: So hit in the butts hand tone.
- 28:09Speaker 4: It is a very interesting thing going on in Cincinnati
- 28:15Speaker 4: right now because they've put all that money on the
- 28:17Speaker 4: offensive side of the ball, they've knowingly sacrificed on defense.
- 28:23Speaker 1: And then Joe Burrow got hurt. He's out for I
- 28:26Speaker 1: think three months. They said and frankly, if they're out
- 28:29Speaker 1: of the playoffs there, I don't see them trotting him
- 28:34Speaker 1: back out there again. But yeah, I mean they are.
- 28:40Speaker 1: I talked about the Steelers fans' worst feares with bad
- 28:43Speaker 1: game management in the fourth quarter. Here it pales in
- 28:46Speaker 1: comparison to the Bengals worst feares, which was which is
- 28:50Speaker 1: all come true. It's like we rely on Joe Burrow
- 28:53Speaker 1: and if he gets hurt, we're s outle luck.
- 28:56Speaker 2: Right.
- 28:57Speaker 1: So, and that, like I mentioned, they got slaughtered by
- 29:01Speaker 1: this same Carson Wentz that we were just talking about
- 29:04Speaker 1: in the Vikings a week ago, and then they got
- 29:07Speaker 1: manhandled by a Bonix Denver Bronco team. So they are
- 29:13Speaker 1: pun intended the very definition of a paper tiger.
- 29:17Speaker 3: Right now, say paper tiger?
- 29:21Speaker 1: I did.
- 29:22Speaker 3: That's that's an interesting I like it.
- 29:25Speaker 1: You've never heard the term paper tiger. No, man, you
- 29:29Speaker 1: and me are both teaching each other different things tonight.
- 29:32Speaker 1: I'm learning about brogs. You're learning the term paper tiger.
- 29:37Speaker 1: It's exactly what it sounds like. With the Bengals. You
- 29:39Speaker 1: get that extra pun with them being the Bengals. Just
- 29:42Speaker 1: they might look fierce, but they're not really that tough. Yeah,
- 29:47Speaker 1: so and then the Ravens. I have to give the Ravens,
- 29:50Speaker 1: I guess a little bit of credit because they're one
- 29:54Speaker 1: in three right now, but their three losses are to
- 29:58Speaker 1: the Chiefs, the Bill in the Lions. So yeah, they've
- 30:04Speaker 1: they've gone up against these tough teams and it hasn't
- 30:06Speaker 1: worked out for him. The only the big downside for
- 30:09Speaker 1: them is they may lose Lamar Jackson for about a
- 30:14Speaker 1: week or two and if they do not win those games,
- 30:20Speaker 1: I don't care who you are. One in five is
- 30:22Speaker 1: definitely tough to come back from.
- 30:25Speaker 3: Yeah, And I mean not just that. I mean it's
- 30:29Speaker 3: a hamstring injury, and I feel like.
- 30:33Speaker 2: Those type of injuries get reaggravated. And I'm not saying
- 30:38Speaker 2: that in like a way of like hoping that this happens.
- 30:40Speaker 2: I will be Bixpo recovery and yeah, the best of
- 30:44Speaker 2: luck to him on that. I just I feel like
- 30:46Speaker 2: those are the type of lingering injuries, you know, bone injuries,
- 30:52Speaker 2: they heal. Ligament injuries I feel like are tougher because
- 31:00Speaker 2: you feel you feel like you kind of get over it.
- 31:04Speaker 2: Then you go back out there You're like, I feel
- 31:07Speaker 2: up to it, and then.
- 31:08Speaker 3: You reaggravate it, and you know, I don't know. I
- 31:14Speaker 3: hope he makes a full recovery on it.
- 31:17Speaker 2: You know, those type of things can linger, and you know,
- 31:21Speaker 2: hopefully they're able to.
- 31:23Speaker 3: Figure it out. But yeah, I mean behind the eight
- 31:27Speaker 3: ball a.
- 31:27Speaker 2: Little bit with like their record right now, So we'll
- 31:30Speaker 2: see what happens.
- 31:32Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure. And like you said it, those things linger,
- 31:39Speaker 1: and you can't not move on the football field, right
- 31:44Speaker 1: So if you've got a hamstring injury, there's not much
- 31:50Speaker 1: you can do other than do your stretches, Kyle sthenics
- 31:52Speaker 1: and hope that you don't trigger it again. But he
- 31:58Speaker 1: partially due to that and partially due to the score,
- 32:00Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson sat out most of the fourth quarter. I
- 32:03Speaker 1: think it was actually all the fourth quarter against the Chiefs.
- 32:07Speaker 1: So and then of course you've got the Browns, which
- 32:12Speaker 1: at this point, I know, we're happy with this game.
- 32:15Speaker 1: We just saw it. At this point, it wouldn't surprise
- 32:17Speaker 1: me if the Steelers came out and laid an egg
- 32:19Speaker 1: against the Browns when they come back from their bye.
- 32:21Speaker 1: We were at the point in the year where we're like, Okay,
- 32:24Speaker 1: we got it figured out. We start to get confident
- 32:26Speaker 1: and then we come crashing back down to earth. So
- 32:30Speaker 1: we'll save that discussion for next week though. For now,
- 32:34Speaker 1: the Steelers are on a bye, a well deserved by.
- 32:36Speaker 1: They're coming back from Dublin and they get the week
- 32:39Speaker 1: off before they host the Browns. We thought it might
- 32:43Speaker 1: be kind of a fun idea to talk. We're both
- 32:45Speaker 1: married dads in our thirties. With the Steelers being on
- 32:50Speaker 1: a bye, I've posed for a fun topic. Let's say
- 32:54Speaker 1: that you got a bye, whether it's a week or
- 32:57Speaker 1: a day, probably would be better. Wife and the kids
- 33:00Speaker 1: are out of the house. You're left to your own devices.
- 33:03Speaker 1: What's your ideal day, Eric, for what you do when
- 33:06Speaker 1: you don't have two year old toddlers dictating your schedule.
- 33:12Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 33:14Speaker 2: So I've actually had a few cases of this recently
- 33:17Speaker 2: because the weather has been really nice and Cincinnati maybe.
- 33:21Speaker 3: A little hot.
- 33:22Speaker 2: But my wife just started her job and.
- 33:28Speaker 3: So she doesn't have a lot of vacation time this year.
- 33:31Speaker 2: So I have time to burn well, you know, I've
- 33:36Speaker 2: had a couple of days where I take off and
- 33:40Speaker 2: the ideal day I went to was.
- 33:45Speaker 3: Did a little like workout in the morning.
- 33:49Speaker 2: Kind of you know, got showered, relaxed, a little bit,
- 33:54Speaker 2: and then I went frisbee golfing, and then I got
- 33:58Speaker 2: chicken wings at you know, my one of my favorite spots,
- 34:05Speaker 2: wild Mic. So you know, between that and maybe watching
- 34:10Speaker 2: an action movie, let's say die Hard or something like that,
- 34:15Speaker 2: something that when I don't have control over the remote,
- 34:22Speaker 2: that's that's what I'm doing. You know, I'm going outside.
- 34:25Speaker 2: I'm enjoying the nice weather, playing some frisbee golf, feeding
- 34:29Speaker 2: some chicken wings, and yeah, relaxing on the couch watching
- 34:34Speaker 2: an action flick.
- 34:36Speaker 1: There you go. It's always nice too, regardless of whatever
- 34:41Speaker 1: video you're watching, if you can actually hear what's going
- 34:44Speaker 1: on and don't have eight voices speaking in the house
- 34:48Speaker 1: at the same time, so you can actually pay attention
- 34:51Speaker 1: and follow along and not get lost. I'm with you.
- 34:55Speaker 1: I've had this come up a few times as well.
- 34:57Speaker 1: Occasionally my wife's schedule work out differently than mine, and
- 35:02Speaker 1: she'll take the kids up to Kentucky and Ohio while
- 35:08Speaker 1: they're on like spring break or fall break. And I'll
- 35:11Speaker 1: point out too, on a separate note, the kids down
- 35:14Speaker 1: here have so many freaking school breaks. It's ridiculous. Man.
- 35:18Speaker 1: We've got a fall break, a Christmas break, a winter break,
- 35:21Speaker 1: a spring break, and all these other things. Anyway, I'll
- 35:25Speaker 1: get off my high breaks. I know I never wanted
- 35:28Speaker 1: to be that parent, but here we are, all right.
- 35:33Speaker 1: So my day would be similar to yours in some sense.
- 35:37Speaker 1: As I wake up, I would get my workout in.
- 35:41Speaker 1: I usually like to do some insanity or some cardio
- 35:45Speaker 1: and get it out of the way in the morning,
- 35:48Speaker 1: so at the rest of the day I can do
- 35:49Speaker 1: whatever I want and it doesn't count. I'll probably end
- 35:54Speaker 1: up doing some yard work or some busy work around
- 35:56Speaker 1: the house, take the opportunity to listen to a podcast
- 35:59Speaker 1: or something like that while I'm doing the work, and
- 36:04Speaker 1: then if it is during football season, I will just
- 36:09Speaker 1: PLoP on the couch watch NFL or college football. And
- 36:15Speaker 1: this is where I'm with you. I'm getting chicken wings,
- 36:19Speaker 1: not from wild mics. I'll usually go to. If I'm
- 36:23Speaker 1: down here, it's going to be Wingstop. I think they're
- 36:25Speaker 1: the best chain for wings. Or I'll spend the time
- 36:32Speaker 1: cooking something myself that I don't normally get to eat
- 36:34Speaker 1: because I live with a couple of picky eaters. So
- 36:39Speaker 1: I think the last time I had a day like
- 36:40Speaker 1: this or a couple of days like this, I actually
- 36:43Speaker 1: experimented on my smoker and with my fryer a couple
- 36:47Speaker 1: different ways to prepare the chicken wings. So that was
- 36:50Speaker 1: kind of fun. Each night was a different method to
- 36:52Speaker 1: try to figure out what the best way would be.
- 36:57Speaker 3: Smoker.
- 36:59Speaker 1: Well, it's exact, that's exactly what I did. I was
- 37:02Speaker 1: one recipe I was brining the chicken wings ahead of
- 37:05Speaker 1: time with some ketchup Worcester and some other seasonings. And
- 37:10Speaker 1: then I also experimented with just smoking them. Another time,
- 37:15Speaker 1: I smoked them and then fried them to try to
- 37:17Speaker 1: get the smoke flavor with some crispy skin. And then
- 37:21Speaker 1: I did another method which was smoking them at a
- 37:26Speaker 1: low temperature to get them cooked, then spring them down
- 37:30Speaker 1: with duck fat, cranking up the smoker to like four
- 37:33Speaker 1: or five hundred, and then crisping them up that way.
- 37:37Speaker 1: And now the only method I haven't tried, which seems
- 37:41Speaker 1: to be the pop go way. They're called zero to
- 37:43Speaker 1: four hundred wings. It's where you you prepare your wings
- 37:47Speaker 1: however you want to. Then you put them on your
- 37:49Speaker 1: smoker and then you turn your smoker on and set
- 37:52Speaker 1: it to four hundred degrees and once it preheats to
- 37:55Speaker 1: four hundred. In theory, they should be done in crispy.
- 37:58Speaker 1: We're really getting into the weeds here with chicken wings.
- 38:00Speaker 1: But I want any opportunity we have to talk about
- 38:03Speaker 1: this and how we prepare the chicken wings.
- 38:06Speaker 3: We have to do it by all means talk about.
- 38:09Speaker 1: So there you go, Hey, when you come down to
- 38:11Speaker 1: Atlanta in December, we can figure mess around with the
- 38:15Speaker 1: smoker all we want and try all these kinds of
- 38:16Speaker 1: different ways to cook the chicken wing. So unlike you though,
- 38:21Speaker 1: going back to the bye day instead of watching an
- 38:24Speaker 1: action movie. I'm a big history buff, which I know
- 38:27Speaker 1: we've talked about several times, and I know you've developed
- 38:30Speaker 1: a passion for history too. I'm gonna watch a YouTube
- 38:34Speaker 1: video about history, whether it's a documentary or there's a
- 38:38Speaker 1: channel that I really like to watch called Vlogging through History,
- 38:42Speaker 1: which is an actual historian who does reaction videos to
- 38:46Speaker 1: other history videos and he adds a lot of context
- 38:49Speaker 1: and extra detail to them, so that's pretty neat. Or
- 38:53Speaker 1: I'll watch like actual documentaries as well. So I actually
- 38:58Speaker 1: watched an entire series on the America and Revolution a
- 39:00Speaker 1: couple of weeks ago. It was done by the History Channel,
- 39:04Speaker 1: so that was kind of neat. But again, I have
- 39:08Speaker 1: to watch that when I can actually listen and pay attention.
- 39:10Speaker 1: Otherwise I'll be watching one minute where it's Saratoga and
- 39:14Speaker 1: the next minute we're down in Charleston and I don't
- 39:16Speaker 1: know how we got there or what we're doing there
- 39:19Speaker 1: or what the strategy is, and anyway, there you go.
- 39:23Speaker 1: I'm with you, chicken wings and watching some sort of
- 39:26Speaker 1: movie or video at the end. So all right, I
- 39:31Speaker 1: think recapping our perfect days here, I think it's clear
- 39:36Speaker 1: that we've become old white dads. But that's fine with me.
- 39:42Speaker 3: That's because we are.
- 39:46Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I think we talked about everything we needed to.
- 39:51Speaker 1: But was there anything else you wanted to mention about
- 39:53Speaker 1: the Steelers or your bye day or chicken wings before
- 39:56Speaker 1: we sign off?
- 40:00Speaker 3: I don't think so cool.
- 40:02Speaker 1: I'm with you. I think we covered everything we need to.
- 40:05Speaker 1: I mentioned it before. The next game for the Steelers
- 40:08Speaker 1: will be at home against the Browns, So after this
- 40:11Speaker 1: upcoming bye week, we will be back next week to
- 40:14Speaker 1: preview that game for everyone, and I think that we'll
- 40:18Speaker 1: do it for everyone for this week. So for our
- 40:21Speaker 1: world famous accountants, Eric Vanmnschoten. I am Nick Detulio and
- 40:25Speaker 1: this has been another episode of the GameHouse dot COM's
- 40:28Speaker 1: Steelers Country Weekly