Latest / The Steelers Report / HR 1: Steelers Through Four Games, AFC North Update
Transcript
- 0:08Speaker 1: That'll do it.
- 0:09Speaker 2: Sean Watson gets a snap, gets to kneel down. That's
- 0:12Speaker 2: the end of the game with the final score. The
- 0:15Speaker 2: Browns 27, the Steelers 24.
- 0:17Speaker 3: This is the Steelers Report with Brian Batko and Ed
- 0:21Speaker 3: Troop on Steelers Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers
- 0:25Speaker 3: Audio Network.
- 0:27Speaker 1: The Pittsburgh Steelers are 2-2 after four games, but who
- 0:32Speaker 1: are they? The offense looked good against Atlanta, not so
- 0:35Speaker 1: much against New England.
- 0:36Speaker 2: They exploded against the Bengals, and.
- 0:38Speaker 1: Then they had some inconsistencies, that's for sure. last Thursday
- 0:42Speaker 1: night in Cleveland. The defense did very well at the
- 0:45Speaker 1: early part of the season, but they struggled last Thursday night,
- 0:49Speaker 1: and now some major injuries could be some setbacks for
- 0:53Speaker 1: that unit.
- 0:54Speaker 2: We'll get into that and a lot more. Double B,
- 0:57Speaker 2: how are you? Welcome back. Thursday night seems like ages ago.
- 1:00Speaker 3: It does, Ed.
- 1:01Speaker 4: We've got to turn the page. I'm doing well. How
- 1:04Speaker 4: are you?
- 1:05Speaker 2: I'm doing awesome, my friend.
- 1:06Speaker 1: We got the Colts around the corner as we go
- 1:08Speaker 1: throughout the week. We will talk about the Indianapolis Colts
- 1:11Speaker 1: who are coming off a big win overseas yesterday.
- 1:15Speaker 2: I don't know if it's big, though. We'll dive into it.
- 1:17Speaker 1: If you watched any of that game or looked at
- 1:19Speaker 1: the numbers, they beat a commander's team that was limping overseas.
- 1:23Speaker 5: Yeah, that was I mean, it was it was a
- 1:26Speaker 5: treat to have morning football, though, on a Sunday and
- 1:28Speaker 5: absolutely reminded me that we'll be doing that same thing
- 1:32Speaker 5: less than three weeks from now in Paris, where Yeah, well, actually,
- 1:36Speaker 5: I mean, I'll be there, so it'll be afternoon in France.
- 1:39Speaker 5: But for all of you back here, domestically, it'll be
- 1:44Speaker 5: early in the morning. It'll be 9.30 when the Steelers
- 1:47Speaker 5: kick off against the New Orleans Saints.
- 1:48Speaker 1: You're going to have to start thinking about what you
- 1:50Speaker 1: want to do while you're over there. I mean, I'm
- 1:52Speaker 1: guessing it's more like a business trip, right?
- 1:53Speaker 5: Yeah, there'll be a lot of work stuff going on.
- 1:56Speaker 5: I've been to Paris, so that's nice. I've done a
- 1:59Speaker 5: lot of the touristy things, so I'm kind of playing
- 2:02Speaker 5: with house money that way. But yeah, it'll be fun.
- 2:06Speaker 5: We've got to take it one game at a time, though.
- 2:07Speaker 5: Steelers got to bring the Colts in here on Sunday.
- 2:10Speaker 5: Daniel Jones, they've had a lot of success against him.
- 2:13Speaker 5: Revenge game, if you will, for Michael Pittman Jr., although
- 2:15Speaker 5: I don't think he really left Indy on bad terms
- 2:18Speaker 5: or anything. But there's always that motivation to play well
- 2:22Speaker 5: against a team that moved on from you via trade.
- 2:26Speaker 5: And yeah, it was another entertaining weekend, honestly, in the NFL.
- 2:31Speaker 5: Think back to some of these Results that were head scratchers.
- 2:35Speaker 5: You could say the Steelers losing to the Browns was
- 2:37Speaker 5: one of them. But how about the Patriots going into Buffalo?
- 2:39Speaker 4: That's a bit of a surprise. Their first loss.
- 2:42Speaker 5: The Jaguars going into Cincy, sending the Bengals to 2-2.
- 2:47Speaker 5: Even the Cowboys, I think, going and sending the Texans
- 2:50Speaker 5: to 0-4 was a bit surprising to me. A lot
- 2:54Speaker 5: of road teams won this week. The Rams won in Philly.
- 2:58Speaker 5: If you think the sky is falling in Pittsburgh, go
- 3:00Speaker 5: spend any amount of time around an Eagles fan. That's
- 3:03Speaker 5: kind of what they do out there, but Bucs still
- 3:06Speaker 5: searching for their first win. They fell to 0-4 after
- 3:09Speaker 5: losing to the Packers, and the Chiefs and the Raiders
- 3:12Speaker 5: in the Battle of the Unbeatens, Chiefs come out on top. Oh,
- 3:15Speaker 5: and the Chargers are 0-4, so I'd say this much
- 3:18Speaker 5: from an AFC perspective, Ed. You look at the standings
- 3:20Speaker 5: right now, and it's early, not even a quarter of
- 3:23Speaker 5: the season gone, but some of the teams that we
- 3:26Speaker 5: thought were going to be forces to be reckoned with,
- 3:29Speaker 5: they're basically out of the picture already. I mean, you
- 3:31Speaker 5: never say never, but The Texans and the Chargers, Ofer.
- 3:34Speaker 1: Through the first four games.
- 3:35Speaker 5: And they've not looked good through four games either. No,
- 3:37Speaker 5: it's going to be very, very difficult for them to
- 3:38Speaker 5: battle back.
- 3:39Speaker 2: I'm with you there.
- 3:40Speaker 1: Double B and I are getting you all set for
- 3:42Speaker 1: the Mike McCarthy press conference coming up here today at
- 3:45Speaker 1: 3 o'clock with Wes Euler and Jerry Dulac live from
- 3:48Speaker 1: the south side. But before that, we're diving into the Steelers'
- 3:52Speaker 1: really first four games of the season, two and two,
- 3:55Speaker 1: mixed bag, as we said, a roller coaster of a ride, Brian,
- 3:59Speaker 1: up and down. There's been some good. There's been some bad.
- 4:01Speaker 1: There's been a bit of ugly. One part of that
- 4:04Speaker 1: ugly is this defense right now because there's two players potentially,
- 4:08Speaker 1: and we'll find out today coming up here at 3
- 4:10Speaker 1: o'clock when Mike McCarthy addresses, I'm sure, Derek Harmon and
- 4:13Speaker 1: Jamel Dean. but two important pieces of this defense that
- 4:17Speaker 1: potentially again, we'll find out today could be sidelined for
- 4:20Speaker 1: the next couple of games.
- 4:22Speaker 5: I think the past defense has absolutely been a concern
- 4:24Speaker 5: to this point in the season, not solely because of
- 4:28Speaker 5: Joey Porter jr. And how things went off the rails there,
- 4:31Speaker 5: but also I personally, that the players that I envisioned
- 4:35Speaker 5: stepping into his place would be, you know, be playing
- 4:41Speaker 5: a little bit better right now and giving you a
- 4:42Speaker 5: little bit more peace of mind. And, I think with
- 4:44Speaker 5: somebody like Dean, hey, it's injury related.
- 4:46Speaker 4: What are you going to do?
- 4:47Speaker 5: But you knew when you signed him, he had some
- 4:49Speaker 5: injury concerns. With Daylon Everett, I think he's going to
- 4:52Speaker 5: get better over time. And then Asante Samuel Jr., I
- 4:54Speaker 5: think he's at a little bit of a crossroads. Do
- 4:56Speaker 5: you bounce back from a couple of, I would say,
- 5:00Speaker 5: performances that were below the line? Or is it going
- 5:04Speaker 5: to be a situation where, hey, maybe you need to
- 5:06Speaker 5: go out there and see what Brandon Echols can do
- 5:09Speaker 5: at corner? Or, you know, I don't think that Jalen
- 5:11Speaker 5: Ramsey would bump back out there but if Deshaun Elliott
- 5:14Speaker 5: comes back and I think he's coming back soon then
- 5:18Speaker 5: you know you will have a trickle-down effect there from
- 5:20Speaker 5: the safety spot but yeah I mean it's injuries are
- 5:24Speaker 5: they're gonna happen that's why you need to rely on
- 5:27Speaker 5: your depth and we'll see where the Steelers go on
- 5:30Speaker 5: that front but yeah it was it was concerning to
- 5:33Speaker 5: see that play out the way that it did against
- 5:35Speaker 5: a Browns team that we know has some pieces but
- 5:37Speaker 5: I didn't think they were quite matured enough to to
- 5:40Speaker 5: do what they did against the Steelers throughout a lot
- 5:42Speaker 5: of that game and certainly at the end, Ed.
- 5:44Speaker 1: I'm also anxious to hear what Coach McCarthy has to
- 5:46Speaker 1: say about Deshaun Elliott that you just mentioned starting the
- 5:49Speaker 1: season on the IR. If you can get Elliott back
- 5:52Speaker 1: alongside Jaquan Brisker, that now makes this whole situation in
- 5:55Speaker 1: the secondary, if indeed Jamel Dean is out, more. You
- 5:59Speaker 1: can move some of these puzzle pieces together, Double B.
- 6:01Speaker 1: And I'm with you on Daylon Everett, by the way.
- 6:03Speaker 1: But whether you're talking Maxi Onachor on the offensive line
- 6:06Speaker 1: or or Daylon Everett in this secondary. They're rookies, and
- 6:09Speaker 1: there's going to be a learning curve in their first season.
- 6:11Speaker 1: Good news is they're getting valuable NFL first-team experience, but
- 6:15Speaker 1: you're going to have to deal with some of those
- 6:16Speaker 1: learning curves.
- 6:17Speaker 2: We saw one with Everett.
- 6:18Speaker 1: He was in one-on-one coverage last Thursday night, thought he
- 6:21Speaker 1: had safety help.
- 6:22Speaker 2: There was miscommunication.
- 6:23Speaker 1: Next thing you know, Denzel Boston picks up, what, 40, 50,
- 6:26Speaker 1: 60-some yards because of that mishap. But overall, I think
- 6:29Speaker 1: Everett will eventually get there. They hope he will, especially
- 6:32Speaker 1: with Joey Porter Jr. now moving on to the Dallas Cowboys. But, yeah,
- 6:35Speaker 1: Santi Samuel Jr., you know, Danico Slaughter also got elevated,
- 6:39Speaker 1: though I don't think he played last Thursday night, did he?
- 6:42Speaker 5: No, they haven't used him on defense yet. I mean,
- 6:45Speaker 5: obviously he's one of those guys who's knocking on the
- 6:47Speaker 5: door for depth. Right now he's just playing special teams.
- 6:51Speaker 5: Pretty much the same for Echols, actually, to this point
- 6:54Speaker 5: in the season. But if you remember, he was dinged
- 6:56Speaker 5: up during camp, and then he was in concussion protocol
- 7:00Speaker 5: just before– this past game so I mean I think
- 7:03Speaker 5: they'll look into some of these options eventually if it
- 7:06Speaker 5: comes to that but for right now I mean Daylon
- 7:09Speaker 5: Everett yeah he's learning on the job and looks like
- 7:11Speaker 5: he's going to continue to do so it is nice
- 7:14Speaker 5: a little bit to have the band-aid fully ripped off
- 7:17Speaker 5: with the Joey Porter Jr. situation move on yeah it's
- 7:20Speaker 5: just I agree it's unfortunate that it played out the
- 7:22Speaker 5: way that it did but now it's firmly in the
- 7:24Speaker 5: rear view and there's no hypotheticals if when this player returns.
- 7:29Speaker 4: You know what you've got now in-house.
- 7:31Speaker 5: Doesn't mean, that doesn't preclude that Omar Khan could go
- 7:34Speaker 5: out and search for a potential trade. That's just part
- 7:37Speaker 5: of doing business this time of year. And the deadline
- 7:40Speaker 5: usually spurs action on those things. But yeah, there's still
- 7:46Speaker 5: options in-house. And I don't want to call this a
- 7:50Speaker 5: get-right game, but With Michael Pittman Jr. gone, the player
- 7:54Speaker 5: who was supposed to step in for him and be
- 7:56Speaker 5: the number one for the Colts was Alec Pierce. He's
- 7:58Speaker 5: on injured reserve. The Colts receivers yesterday in London were
- 8:03Speaker 5: Ashton Doolin and Laquan Shredwell. Josh Downs has always been
- 8:08Speaker 5: a piece of the puzzle for them, but it's not T.
- 8:10Speaker 5: Higgins and Jamar Chase that you're going to be defending
- 8:12Speaker 5: out there Sunday.
- 8:13Speaker 2: Oh, this is a get-right game. I'll go ahead and
- 8:15Speaker 2: say it.
- 8:15Speaker 1: I'll say it for you, Double P, because, you know,
- 8:18Speaker 1: you look at their next four games, and again, we
- 8:20Speaker 1: don't want to look ahead ever, but I take the
- 8:22Speaker 1: NFL schedule, and I think a lot of coaches do
- 8:24Speaker 1: as well, by fourths, right? And you got that extra game,
- 8:26Speaker 1: number 17, I know. The next four, you've got the
- 8:30Speaker 1: Colts at home, at Tampa, at New Orleans, and then
- 8:32Speaker 1: the Browns rematch. Then you have the bye week, and
- 8:34Speaker 1: then you have November 15th in Cincinnati. So between now, Monday,
- 8:38Speaker 1: October 5th, and November 15th in Cincinnati, you have a
- 8:42Speaker 1: month and, what, 10 days. And you could go two
- 8:45Speaker 1: different directions in these next four games. I think, and
- 8:47Speaker 1: you and I talked about it on Friday here on
- 8:49Speaker 1: the show, you've got to go 3-1 in these next
- 8:50Speaker 1: four games. And you've got to win the games that
- 8:52Speaker 1: you need to win. And an Indianapolis Colts team coming
- 8:56Speaker 1: in here Sunday is a game that you need to win.
- 8:58Speaker 2: I don't want to say you should win.
- 8:59Speaker 1: Nothing, as we've learned through the first four weeks of
- 9:02Speaker 1: the NFL schedule, nothing is for certain in this league.
- 9:05Speaker 1: But you have an opportunity in front of you on
- 9:06Speaker 1: your home turf where you've played two wins. You've won
- 9:09Speaker 1: two at home. You've lost two on the road. So
- 9:11Speaker 1: you've got to beat the Colts on Sunday. It is
- 9:13Speaker 1: a get-right game. But they're going to have to juggle
- 9:16Speaker 1: some injuries. And it is Derek Harmon on that defensive line.
- 9:19Speaker 1: And you face Jonathan Taylor. Very good running attack in
- 9:21Speaker 1: the Colts. Maybe, most likely, without Harmon.
- 9:24Speaker 5: We'll hear from Mike McCarthy at the top of the hour,
- 9:26Speaker 5: of course. But it goes without saying, you're going to
- 9:28Speaker 5: need to bring up another defensive lineman. Maybe two on
- 9:31Speaker 5: Sunday against the Colts, assuming Derek Harmon is out. So
- 9:35Speaker 5: I would think first in line would probably be Gabriel Rubio.
- 9:38Speaker 5: He's just more of the body type that Harmon is.
- 9:40Speaker 2: Rookie from Notre Dame.
- 9:41Speaker 4: And we'll see.
- 9:42Speaker 5: Yeah, sixth round pick. And he had a really nice camp. Obviously,
- 9:45Speaker 5: he made the 53 when a lot of people were
- 9:48Speaker 5: counting him out and frankly asking who on draft night
- 9:51Speaker 5: when they took him, or draft day, I should say,
- 9:53Speaker 5: day three of the draft.
- 9:55Speaker 4: Kevin Jobity Jr.
- 9:56Speaker 5: though, is is waiting in the wings too and showed
- 9:58Speaker 5: a lot of that pass rushing juice in the preseason
- 10:00Speaker 5: which is how he made the team as well neither
- 10:03Speaker 5: one of them have been active yet to this point
- 10:06Speaker 5: but we knew all it would take is for one
- 10:08Speaker 5: of these d linemen to go down and you're going
- 10:11Speaker 5: to need to look into one or both to play
- 10:13Speaker 5: some snaps probably and get a helmet on Sunday. Like
- 10:16Speaker 5: I said, I think Rubio, you know, he's the bigger body.
- 10:19Speaker 5: We know what Harmon does against the run. We know
- 10:21Speaker 5: that Jonathan Taylor is the engine that drives that Colts offense.
- 10:25Speaker 4: So I would think that Rubio would, would be the
- 10:27Speaker 4: one to, to suit up.
- 10:28Speaker 5: But I mean, depending on who else is going to
- 10:30Speaker 5: miss this game, I mean, you might even need, you
- 10:32Speaker 5: might even have both of them in helmet. And obviously
- 10:35Speaker 5: there's always the option for practice squad elevations as well.
- 10:39Speaker 1: I think you bring up a good point about both
- 10:41Speaker 1: of them potentially being elevated, right? Derek Harmon, if he's out,
- 10:45Speaker 1: Keanu Benton, I would think, would slide back over there.
- 10:49Speaker 1: You have Waya Black now at the defensive tackle spot,
- 10:52Speaker 1: so they put Keanu Benton out. He was rotating in with...
- 10:54Speaker 1: Derek Harmon, Cam Hayward. And again, they don't go three
- 10:58Speaker 1: down linemen all the time either, Brian.
- 10:59Speaker 4: Very rarely.
- 11:00Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 11:00Speaker 1: So, so, you know, you don't necessarily have to have
- 11:03Speaker 1: this type of conversation, but Sebastian Joseph day has been
- 11:05Speaker 1: a nice, you know, piece that's come into this game.
- 11:07Speaker 1: I mean, he was part of that big play against
- 11:08Speaker 1: the Bengals a couple of weeks ago, uh, last week
- 11:11Speaker 1: when we were sitting here talking about Derek Harmon, making
- 11:13Speaker 1: that big play.
- 11:14Speaker 2: So Joseph day has played well, but yeah, I'm with you.
- 11:16Speaker 1: I think Rubio and Joe, but he both potentially come
- 11:19Speaker 1: into play here, uh, while Derek Harmon is out.
- 11:22Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 11:22Speaker 5: And that's going to be, um, You know, it's unfortunate
- 11:25Speaker 5: because it looked like Harmon was really rounding into form.
- 11:28Speaker 5: You know, we heard about him from Patrick Graham last
- 11:31Speaker 5: week when when the coordinators chatted with us. We're going
- 11:34Speaker 5: to hear from them again later today. I'm sure we'll
- 11:36Speaker 5: play some of that sound tomorrow. But Harmon was he
- 11:40Speaker 5: was messing plays up against the Bengals and the Patriots.
- 11:43Speaker 5: He was wrecking games, obviously, like he did at the
- 11:46Speaker 5: end of that one, you know, sacking Joe Burrow and
- 11:49Speaker 5: and getting that one under his belt and contributing to
- 11:51Speaker 5: that win the way that he did. So the injury
- 11:53Speaker 5: comes at an inopportune time for him, clearly. But when
- 11:57Speaker 5: you get down to it, we thought there was going
- 12:00Speaker 5: to be depth on this D-line. So let's not act
- 12:03Speaker 5: like we didn't say that going into the season. And
- 12:06Speaker 5: maybe that means Sebastian Joseph Day, a little bit more
- 12:08Speaker 5: on his plate.
- 12:09Speaker 3: Y.A.
- 12:10Speaker 5: Black, I know he's more of a run stuffer, but
- 12:12Speaker 5: this is a week for that. Both those guys were
- 12:15Speaker 5: out there on that 28-yard touchdown run by Jaleel.
- 12:18Speaker 4: McLaughlin in Cleveland. So watch that film.
- 12:22Speaker 5: Correct what needs to be corrected and i'm not saying
- 12:24Speaker 5: it was all on them by any means there were
- 12:26Speaker 5: missed tackles that there were missed opportunities at every level
- 12:30Speaker 5: of the defense sure was play yeah but it starts
- 12:33Speaker 5: up front you know any any time that a guy
- 12:36Speaker 5: gets a seam like that defensive lineman probably could have
- 12:39Speaker 5: done a little bit more and who knows what patrick
- 12:41Speaker 5: graham will see and want to correct just as far
- 12:43Speaker 5: as like you said the structure of the defense with
- 12:45Speaker 5: the uh whether you're playing three four or whatever you
- 12:48Speaker 5: want to call the three outside linebacker package We've thought
- 12:51Speaker 5: of him as an adaptable and flexible D.C. from the beginning.
- 12:54Speaker 5: You're 2-2 now. You've given up 27 points in back-to-back weeks.
- 12:58Speaker 5: Now it's time to adapt.
- 13:00Speaker 1: Mistackling crushed this team last Thursday night. And the middle
- 13:03Speaker 1: linebackers with Patrick Queen and Peyton Wilson had a lot
- 13:06Speaker 1: to do with that when you look back at a
- 13:08Speaker 1: lot of those mistackles happening in the middle. But again,
- 13:11Speaker 1: they have 10 days now leading up to this Sunday
- 13:13Speaker 1: from last Thursday to get this right, Double B. And
- 13:16Speaker 1: I said it last week on the show. That's some
- 13:19Speaker 1: areas that they can correct through practice this week. And
- 13:22Speaker 1: tackling is a big, big part of this. So regardless
- 13:25Speaker 1: of who's out, whether it's Harmon, you know, we're talking
- 13:27Speaker 1: Jamel Dean, by the way, Jalen Ramsey playing with a
- 13:29Speaker 1: broken wrist right now. So he's also banged up, but
- 13:32Speaker 1: he played through that Thursday night. Hopefully he'll be able
- 13:34Speaker 1: to continue to do that this upcoming week against the
- 13:37Speaker 1: Colts too.
- 13:37Speaker 2: But again, throw all that to the side.
- 13:40Speaker 1: You have to tackle better against the Colts and going forward,
- 13:44Speaker 1: you got to get that piece of this defense, right?
- 13:46Speaker 4: You do.
- 13:47Speaker 5: And, Hopefully they'll get Deshaun Elliott back. We'll also see
- 13:49Speaker 5: what Mike McCarthy has to say about that, if anything,
- 13:52Speaker 5: but he's eligible.
- 13:53Speaker 4: Now to return. It's time. It'd be a great time
- 13:58Speaker 4: to get him back on the back end.
- 14:00Speaker 1: Jaquan Brisker and Deshaun Elliott at both safety spots. Now
- 14:04Speaker 1: you have some options with Jalen Ramsey. He's been playing
- 14:07Speaker 1: a lot of nickel corner, but if Jamel Dean is
- 14:09Speaker 1: indeed out, maybe you pair him with Asante Samuel Jr.
- 14:12Speaker 2: Back at the corner spot. Everett, the rookie spot, Brandon Echols.
- 14:15Speaker 1: That's one good thing, and you mentioned the defensive lineman too,
- 14:18Speaker 1: Double B, that they have some good options, some good quality,
- 14:22Speaker 1: solid options in the secondary and the defensive line. Last year,
- 14:25Speaker 1: when Derek Harmon started the season on the IR... They
- 14:28Speaker 1: struggled to stop the run when he was back in
- 14:30Speaker 1: the lineup later in the season. They got better against
- 14:33Speaker 1: the run. This year, with Harmon being out, I'm anxious
- 14:35Speaker 1: to see if some of these depth pieces that we
- 14:37Speaker 1: just talked about, Rubio, Jobity, Sebastian Joseph Day getting an
- 14:41Speaker 1: increased workload. We know what Keanu Benton can do if
- 14:44Speaker 1: they can wave that storm a bit better this time around.
- 14:47Speaker 5: Sebastian Joseph Day has some flexibility to his game. I
- 14:50Speaker 5: think he can kind of slot into whatever role you
- 14:53Speaker 5: need him to play on the defensive line.
- 14:55Speaker 4: And that could come in handy as soon as Sunday.
- 14:57Speaker 2: That's the Steelers' defense. How about the offense? What do
- 14:59Speaker 2: they need to correct?
- 15:00Speaker 1: We'll take a look at that whenever we come back.
- 15:02Speaker 1: We're getting you ready for the Mike McCarthy press conference,
- 15:05Speaker 1: 3 o'clock today, with Wes Shuler and Jerry Dulac live
- 15:08Speaker 1: from the south side.
- 15:10Speaker 2: He's back, though. I'm Troop.
- 15:11Speaker 1: It's the Steelers' report here on Steelers Nation Radio, part
- 15:14Speaker 1: of the Steelers Audio Network.
- 15:23Speaker 3: This is the Steelers Report with Brian Batko and Ed
- 15:27Speaker 3: Troup on Steelers Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers
- 15:31Speaker 3: Audio Network.
- 15:34Speaker 1: You know, we were talking about the Pitt Panthers on
- 15:36Speaker 1: the show last week, Double B.
- 15:38Speaker 2: Your Pitt Panthers, I'm a Pitt Panther fan too, as
- 15:40Speaker 2: we know, but you actually went to Pitt.
- 15:42Speaker 1: Huge win at Virginia Tech Friday night, an exciting one
- 15:47Speaker 1: as well.
- 15:48Speaker 4: Yes, it was. I really wanted that one.
- 15:50Speaker 5: I mean, going into it, because both teams were undefeated
- 15:53Speaker 5: and it's on the road and james franklin factor but
- 15:57Speaker 5: just the way that that game played out too with
- 15:59Speaker 5: a horrible start and it came back and then it
- 16:02Speaker 5: was nip and tuck down the stretch i i did
- 16:05Speaker 5: want that game bad and i'm glad they won it
- 16:07Speaker 5: albeit with some controversy on the missed field goal and
- 16:11Speaker 5: with some you know a pyrrhic victory in the sense
- 16:13Speaker 5: that starting quarterback mason heinschel went down with the knee.
- 16:16Speaker 2: That's the season That's tough.
- 16:18Speaker 1: That's a tough one because he's been very, very good
- 16:20Speaker 1: last year and the start of this year.
- 16:22Speaker 2: What did you think about the field goal? Good or
- 16:25Speaker 2: not good?
- 16:25Speaker 5: I mean, I know that Virginia Tech kicker is a
- 16:27Speaker 5: good kicker. He was kicking at home. He's probably drilled
- 16:29Speaker 5: countless kicks there. They put it on the right hash
- 16:32Speaker 5: for him.
- 16:33Speaker 4: It wasn't far. Very manageable, makeable distance.
- 16:37Speaker 5: I thought it looked good as it was going through,
- 16:38Speaker 5: and I just breathed a sigh of relief when they
- 16:41Speaker 5: said no good. And, you know, now the fallout from it. And, hey,
- 16:44Speaker 5: there's plenty of angles that can make you see whatever
- 16:46Speaker 5: you want to see. I guess, to be honest, the
- 16:48Speaker 5: biggest takeaway I have is at any level of football,
- 16:51Speaker 5: let's just have a better maybe mechanism for determining whether
- 16:54Speaker 5: it was good or not. I don't know if that's
- 16:56Speaker 5: like a chip or a laser across the top or
- 16:59Speaker 5: an extra ref station behind, but that was about as
- 17:03Speaker 5: close a shave as it gets, and I'm glad it
- 17:05Speaker 5: fell Pitt's way.
- 17:06Speaker 1: I think you hit the nail on the head there
- 17:07Speaker 1: when you said about the technology part. Today's college, pro,
- 17:12Speaker 1: wherever you want to land it, When we can take
- 17:14Speaker 1: an instant replay and determine a centimeter, whether it's a
- 17:18Speaker 1: first down or not, you can't determine the field goal.
- 17:20Speaker 2: But good news for Pitt. They get the win, and
- 17:22Speaker 2: they're now ranked number 25.
- 17:24Speaker 4: I just look at it as, yes, they are.
- 17:27Speaker 5: They listened to Pat Narduzzi's rant after the game on
- 17:31Speaker 5: the field. But, no, I mean, I just look at
- 17:33Speaker 5: it as if that would have happened to Chris Boswell
- 17:35Speaker 5: or any Pitt kickers over the years, we probably would
- 17:38Speaker 5: have felt like, hey, you can't kick the ball I mean,
- 17:42Speaker 5: did he kick it too high? That's like there shouldn't
- 17:44Speaker 5: be a penalty for kicking a ball too high on
- 17:46Speaker 5: a field goal or an extra point. But, hey, on
- 17:49Speaker 5: the flip side, the pro pit side, if the VT
- 17:51Speaker 5: kicker just pipes it through the middle, then this isn't
- 17:54Speaker 5: even a conversation.
- 17:55Speaker 4: No debate.
- 17:56Speaker 2: No debate. And you know what? They should be ranked 25th.
- 17:58Speaker 2: They are undefeated on the season.
- 18:00Speaker 5: But now Bill Belichick and UNC come to town on
- 18:03Speaker 5: Saturday for a noon kickoff. And I hate to say it,
- 18:07Speaker 5: but he's won a lot of games in that stadium
- 18:09Speaker 5: as a head coach.
- 18:10Speaker 2: I wasn't even thinking about that, but you're exactly right.
- 18:13Speaker 4: And they turn the radios off in unison.
- 18:17Speaker 2: That's right.
- 18:17Speaker 1: Anytime you bring up Bill Belichick winning games in Pittsburgh,
- 18:20Speaker 1: whether it's now with the North Carolina Tar Heels, this
- 18:22Speaker 1: will be his first game, though, here as the Tar
- 18:23Speaker 1: Heels head coach, right?
- 18:25Speaker 2: He hasn't come here yet. They went there.
- 18:27Speaker 5: It would have had to have been last year, and
- 18:28Speaker 5: I honestly don't recall where that game was.
- 18:31Speaker 2: Pittsburgh Steelers, 2-2 on the season.
- 18:34Speaker 5: I think Steelers fans should go and heckle them. Even
- 18:36Speaker 5: if you don't have a Pitt allegiance, just get a ticket,
- 18:38Speaker 5: sit in the lower bowl. Yell at Bill Belichick for
- 18:41Speaker 5: all those old wounds.
- 18:43Speaker 2: Hey, don't threaten them with a good time. That's for sure.
- 18:46Speaker 2: Steelers 2-2, Colts 2-2.
- 18:48Speaker 1: Week 5 ahead of us this upcoming Sunday at Accushore Stadium.
- 18:52Speaker 1: We were talking about the Steelers' defensive struggles. More importantly,
- 18:55Speaker 1: the health part of that before we went to break.
- 18:58Speaker 1: On the offensive side of things, Double B, I was
- 19:00Speaker 1: thinking about it on the drive-in this morning. You know,
- 19:03Speaker 1: you look at the Atlanta game, mixed bag offensively, New England,
- 19:06Speaker 1: not very good.
- 19:07Speaker 2: Bengals game. Great. Really?
- 19:08Speaker 1: You know, they clicked the running game. Rogers had a
- 19:10Speaker 1: good game and really against Cleveland. It started out well
- 19:12Speaker 1: with the early touchdown. If you take the second and
- 19:14Speaker 1: third quarter away and just look at the fourth quarter
- 19:17Speaker 1: in which they came back, offense ramping up. If you
- 19:20Speaker 1: look at that Bengals game and the end of the
- 19:23Speaker 1: Browns game. And look, if they go on to win
- 19:25Speaker 1: that game, let's say they go to overtime, Boz hits
- 19:28Speaker 1: the game winner, right? And now this is a three-in-one conversation,
- 19:32Speaker 1: and you're looking at back-to-back weeks in which Jalen Warren
- 19:35Speaker 1: performed very well on the ground, and Aaron Rodgers, he
- 19:38Speaker 1: almost threw for 300 yards against the Browns. 299, and
- 19:40Speaker 1: he has 799 for the first four games.
- 19:43Speaker 5: Yeah, there was some good there, especially the way they
- 19:45Speaker 5: got it working down the stretch. And as far as
- 19:48Speaker 5: like what meat is still on the bone, I mean,
- 19:50Speaker 5: I think that one of the surprises for me to
- 19:53Speaker 5: this point in the season that is the lack of
- 19:56Speaker 5: Jeremy Bernard's involvement in the offense. And I think he
- 19:59Speaker 5: can get more involved. I mean, we saw him kind
- 20:02Speaker 5: of poke his head up against the Patriots recently. there
- 20:04Speaker 5: wasn't much working on offense that day in Foxborough, but
- 20:07Speaker 5: I thought that Bernard was just scratching the surface of,
- 20:10Speaker 5: of what he did do.
- 20:11Speaker 4: And I know it's tough.
- 20:12Speaker 5: For a rookie, especially a rookie playing with Aaron Rogers,
- 20:15Speaker 5: especially a rookie playing with Aaron Rogers, who has DK Metcalf,
- 20:19Speaker 5: Michael Pittman, Jr. And Roman Wilson ahead of him on
- 20:21Speaker 5: the depth chart. And Oh, by the way, Pat Fryer,
- 20:24Speaker 5: Muth and Darnell Washington are the tight end combination for
- 20:27Speaker 5: this offense too. And Oh, by the way, no one's
- 20:30Speaker 5: ever sad to see Jalen Warren get a little leak
- 20:32Speaker 5: out swing pass and, make guys miss. But I think
- 20:37Speaker 5: Bernard still can help. I think he can be that
- 20:41Speaker 5: possession guy over the middle. I think as he grows
- 20:44Speaker 5: into his role, that's another potential weapon that you've got
- 20:49Speaker 5: on this offense. And through the first four games, haven't
- 20:52Speaker 5: seen a lot from him, but I think you can
- 20:54Speaker 5: see more. And I'll be curious if this offense can
- 20:57Speaker 5: integrate him more coming off of this little mini bye
- 21:00Speaker 5: week now out of the Browns game.
- 21:03Speaker 1: They have definitely shown signs, has Jeremy Bernard and also
- 21:07Speaker 1: Roman Wilson. Look, he was the leading receiver after the
- 21:09Speaker 1: first three games for that team. I don't know if
- 21:11Speaker 1: it's a good thing or bad thing, but that bar
- 21:14Speaker 1: for Roman Wilson wasn't set really high going into this season.
- 21:17Speaker 1: Double B, and I know he had the missed— reception
- 21:22Speaker 1: went off his fingertips against the bangles it was an
- 21:24Speaker 1: interception week one against atlanta he had an opportunity in
- 21:26Speaker 1: the end zone to catch that long pass didn't come
- 21:28Speaker 1: down with a long time ago boy doesn't it um
- 21:31Speaker 1: but you know he has also shown some positive signs
- 21:34Speaker 1: that he could be that dude that they need him
- 21:36Speaker 1: to be as that number three or number four wide
- 21:38Speaker 1: receiver dk meccaf heated up at the end of the
- 21:40Speaker 1: game aaron rogers has been spreading the football around eight
- 21:44Speaker 1: different receivers including tight ends caught a pass against the
- 21:48Speaker 1: browns and nine the previous week against the.
- 21:50Speaker 5: Bangles He's going to throw to the open guy. He's
- 21:52Speaker 5: been saying that from the beginning. That's that's his M.O.
- 21:56Speaker 5: as a quarterback. And certainly I think toward the end
- 21:58Speaker 5: of that game in Cleveland, you know, the what's the phrase,
- 22:02Speaker 5: the squeaky? Well, DK Metcalf wasn't squeaking, you know, verbally,
- 22:06Speaker 5: but we all know that he needed some more looks
- 22:08Speaker 5: his way. And the squeaky wheel got the grease and
- 22:10Speaker 5: it worked out to the tune of five catches for
- 22:13Speaker 5: 115 yards. And that's one of those games where if
- 22:16Speaker 5: they had more time, feels like DK Metcalf could have
- 22:19Speaker 5: taken over.
- 22:20Speaker 4: Just kind of ran out of time in the fourth quarter.
- 22:22Speaker 4: How about this, Ed? We haven't gone down this.
- 22:26Speaker 5: Imaginary theater or whatever, but just think if that game
- 22:30Speaker 5: goes to overtime. I think I like the Steelers' chances
- 22:32Speaker 5: with what they started doing offensively.
- 22:35Speaker 4: Now, don't get me wrong. The defense, well.
- 22:39Speaker 5: I guess if you do the whole butterfly effect thing
- 22:42Speaker 5: here and live in an alternate reality, the defense would
- 22:44Speaker 5: have gotten a stop on that last drive, and therefore
- 22:47Speaker 5: we probably would have felt better about the defense going
- 22:49Speaker 5: into overtime.
- 22:50Speaker 4: So yeah, I guess my point holds up.
- 22:52Speaker 5: Had they managed to get to the extra frame, regardless
- 22:55Speaker 5: of who started with the ball, sure seemed like Aaron
- 22:58Speaker 5: Rodgers and company were putting things together. Obviously, we would
- 23:01Speaker 5: have liked to see one more catch for DK Metcalf
- 23:04Speaker 5: on that last final snap with 10 seconds left. We
- 23:08Speaker 5: mentioned it last week, and I was going back and
- 23:10Speaker 5: forth with a listener on Twitter that they were right.
- 23:12Speaker 5: I mean, I think there was a timeout left for
- 23:14Speaker 5: the Steelers, and they had a chance to just get
- 23:17Speaker 5: one down there, and maybe Chris Boswell's lining up for
- 23:19Speaker 5: a 50- or even 60-something-yard field goal, but we'll never know,
- 23:24Speaker 5: and we'll see if Mike McCarthy or Brian Angelico addresses
- 23:28Speaker 5: that later today.
- 23:29Speaker 1: It's funny you mentioned the field goal there at the
- 23:31Speaker 1: end with that timeout. I actually was thinking about that
- 23:33Speaker 1: over the weekend, watching back a bit of that game.
- 23:36Speaker 2: A bit.
- 23:36Speaker 1: I didn't watch a lot of that game back. I
- 23:37Speaker 1: didn't want to watch a lot of that back. But
- 23:39Speaker 1: the fourth quarter was good. I mean, they scored two
- 23:41Speaker 1: touchdowns on their final three drives. I don't count the
- 23:43Speaker 1: interception at the end that Rodgers threw as anything. But
- 23:47Speaker 1: they got the ball moving there late. There was a
- 23:49Speaker 1: lot more positives and negatives. It was just that second
- 23:52Speaker 1: and third quarter that buried them offensively and defensively Thursday night.
- 23:56Speaker 1: But Jalen Warren in his last two games, Brian– Has
- 24:00Speaker 1: been fabulous. 17 carries, 127 yards against the Bengals. 17 carries,
- 24:05Speaker 1: 93 yards against the Browns on Thursday night. That's 34
- 24:08Speaker 1: total carries, 220 yards on the ground in two games. Receiving-wise,
- 24:13Speaker 1: three catches for 49 yards against the Bengals, three for 33.
- 24:17Speaker 1: Against the Browns, that's another six receptions for 82 yards
- 24:22Speaker 1: in the air. That's 302 total offensive yards in two games.
- 24:27Speaker 2: That's not good. That's not great. That's fabulous from Jalen Warren.
- 24:30Speaker 5: It's elite right now across the NFL, and it's actually
- 24:33Speaker 5: number one in the category of yards per touch for
- 24:36Speaker 5: players who have more than 15 touches. So take out
- 24:39Speaker 5: your third string running backs who maybe have gotten two carries.
- 24:45Speaker 5: The guy for the Browns, McLaughlin, had I think he
- 24:48Speaker 5: has two touches this year. Obviously, one of them went
- 24:49Speaker 5: for a 28-year touchdown. We don't need to go through
- 24:51Speaker 5: that again.
- 24:51Speaker 2: I roll my eyes when you say that because it's incredible.
- 24:53Speaker 5: But my point is, you know, Jalen Warren's got 68
- 24:55Speaker 5: touches on the season. He's averaging 6.6 yards every time
- 24:58Speaker 5: he has the ball in his hands.
- 25:00Speaker 4: Second is Kenneth Walker.
- 25:01Speaker 5: III for the Chiefs, 99 touches with 6.3. Well, actually,
- 25:06Speaker 5: so guys who have 20 or more touches on the season,
- 25:09Speaker 5: Warren's still first and Walker's second. Then you get to
- 25:12Speaker 5: Kyron Williams from the Rams, who's kind of a similar player.
- 25:16Speaker 5: And this is running backs only, not receivers. You know,
- 25:18Speaker 5: yards per reception are always going to boost those numbers
- 25:21Speaker 5: up for those guys. But running backs right now, Jalen Warren,
- 25:25Speaker 5: he's alone at the top in that stat category. And
- 25:29Speaker 5: we've always known that he was a great kind of
- 25:32Speaker 5: curveball or change-up to the Najee Harris fastball, if you will.
- 25:37Speaker 5: Jalen Warren is the fastball now. I mean, he is
- 25:40Speaker 5: the one who is running between the tackles, who's doing
- 25:42Speaker 5: it out of the backfield. He's been a workhorse recently.
- 25:45Speaker 5: featured back you hope he can keep it up but
- 25:48Speaker 5: you know throw the stature out the window throw the
- 25:51Speaker 5: draft status out the window I mean he's just been
- 25:54Speaker 5: so dynamic through four games obviously you need to see
- 25:56Speaker 5: it over the course of a season to vault him
- 25:59Speaker 5: into the territory of some of the guys that I
- 26:01Speaker 5: just mentioned you know let alone you know Bijan Robinson
- 26:04Speaker 5: who's there at just shy of six yards per touch
- 26:08Speaker 5: or a James Cook or something you know Jameer Gibbs
- 26:11Speaker 5: or somebody like that but Jalen Warren is just the
- 26:14Speaker 5: numbers don't lie with him. And also, I mean, I'm
- 26:17Speaker 5: sure you could probably say this about a lot of
- 26:18Speaker 5: these dudes if you comb through the box score, but
- 26:21Speaker 5: 87 yarder wiped off the board a couple of weeks
- 26:24Speaker 5: ago against the Bengals that that average would be way
- 26:28Speaker 5: higher at.
- 26:28Speaker 2: That's right.
- 26:29Speaker 1: I forgot about that big run that got called back
- 26:31Speaker 1: on the hold against the Bengals.
- 26:33Speaker 2: Warren has been great. And you look at the offensive line.
- 26:35Speaker 1: It was two games ago going into that Bengals game
- 26:37Speaker 1: that they made the switch to Brock Hoffman, Maxi on
- 26:40Speaker 1: a chore on that right side. Now look, Brian and
- 26:42Speaker 1: I are not trying to sell you anything here. You know,
- 26:45Speaker 1: they had a great first game out of the gate
- 26:48Speaker 1: against the Bengals. They struggled against the Browns at times,
- 26:50Speaker 1: and as did Troy Fontano on that left side.
- 26:53Speaker 2: They got to play better going forward.
- 26:55Speaker 1: I thought when you look at the rushing numbers that
- 26:57Speaker 1: I just gave you on Jalen Warren, the 17 for 127,
- 27:01Speaker 1: was really set up a lot by what the offensive
- 27:03Speaker 1: line did against the Bengals. That's 17 for 93 against
- 27:06Speaker 1: the Browns. I thought Ward had to earn those 93
- 27:09Speaker 1: yards in a big, big way. He was bouncing off tacklers.
- 27:11Speaker 1: He was met at the line of scrimmage several times.
- 27:14Speaker 1: The offensive line, I don't want to say they took
- 27:15Speaker 1: a step back, but they didn't take that next step
- 27:17Speaker 1: forward against the Browns after that good performance against the Bengals.
- 27:21Speaker 5: I think there's still a role, too, for Rico Dowdle
- 27:23Speaker 5: when he gets healthy, but I think it's probably more
- 27:26Speaker 5: of a true– number two running back role rather than
- 27:30Speaker 5: the co-starters thing that we sort of pictured coming into
- 27:35Speaker 5: the year and it's it's not that Dowdle's had any
- 27:38Speaker 5: room to run either in those first two games we
- 27:40Speaker 5: haven't seen him run behind the new look Steelers offensive
- 27:43Speaker 5: line or at least the right side of it with
- 27:45Speaker 5: Brock Hoffman and Maxi Honachor so maybe there will be
- 27:48Speaker 5: a little bit more daylight for Dowdle when he's ready
- 27:51Speaker 5: but it's just very difficult to take Jalen Warren off
- 27:55Speaker 5: the field right now and you know I'm all for
- 27:58Speaker 5: keeping him healthy all for keeping him fresh you want
- 28:02Speaker 5: those fresh legs out there but he is he's more
- 28:04Speaker 5: than just the hot hand he is he's he's up
- 28:07Speaker 5: there with anybody he's doing Christian McCaffrey like things Saquon
- 28:12Speaker 5: Barkley like things at the moment and when Dowdle returns
- 28:15Speaker 5: I think it's hey there's a there's a spot for
- 28:18Speaker 5: you but maybe not quite you know we we've got
- 28:21Speaker 5: to also just believe what Warren's showing us on the
- 28:23Speaker 5: field there.
- 28:24Speaker 1: Were some people in this room that just a month
- 28:27Speaker 1: ago were saying that Rico Dowdle should have more carries
- 28:30Speaker 1: than Jalen Warren this season.
- 28:31Speaker 4: And, hey, you can't, like, the guy got hurt. That's
- 28:33Speaker 4: not Brian Batko, by the way. The guy got hurt.
- 28:35Speaker 4: It happens.
- 28:36Speaker 5: I mean, there's nothing you can really control there. I mean,
- 28:38Speaker 5: he got injured, but sometimes when you get injured, the
- 28:42Speaker 5: other guy shines, and that's just the reality of what
- 28:46Speaker 5: it is. And, hey, maybe Dowdle will come back and
- 28:48Speaker 5: rip off some 100-yard games. That wouldn't shock me. But
- 28:51Speaker 5: Warren's just been– he just cannot be denied right now.
- 28:54Speaker 1: And look, I will raise my hand when I'm wrong
- 28:56Speaker 1: and admit it, and I'm happy to admit it whenever
- 28:58Speaker 1: you have 302 total yards in two games for Jalen Warren.
- 29:03Speaker 2: You bring up a good point, Brian.
- 29:04Speaker 1: It has gone from that potential 50-50 split to now
- 29:07Speaker 1: Rico Dowdle is more your second running back, and Jalen
- 29:10Speaker 1: Warren is clearly RB1. He was clearly RB1 to start
- 29:13Speaker 1: the season, but now he has to get the majority
- 29:16Speaker 1: of the carries as we go forward. We're gearing up
- 29:18Speaker 1: for the 3 o'clock press conference from the south side
- 29:21Speaker 1: with Mike McCarthy. We will have that here live on
- 29:24Speaker 1: Steelers Nation Radio for you with Wes Euler and Jerry Dulac.
- 29:28Speaker 2: But before we get there, we are recapping a little bit,
- 29:31Speaker 2: not too much.
- 29:32Speaker 1: We did that last week on Friday from the Steelers-Browns
- 29:35Speaker 1: Week 4 game. But more importantly, we're starting to look
- 29:37Speaker 1: ahead to the Week 5 matchup against the Indianapolis Colts
- 29:41Speaker 1: this upcoming Sunday at Accushore Stadium.
- 29:43Speaker 2: The Colts are 2-2. The Steelers are 2-2.
- 29:46Speaker 1: What does the rest of the AFC North look like
- 29:49Speaker 1: after the first four weeks of the season?
- 29:52Speaker 2: Double B and I will jump into that and more.
- 29:54Speaker 2: It is the Steelers report. I'm E.T. He's B.B.
- 29:57Speaker 1: Right here on Steelers Nation Radio, part of the Steelers
- 30:00Speaker 1: Audio Network.
- 30:10Speaker 3: This is the Steelers Report with Brian Batko and Ed
- 30:14Speaker 3: Truth on Steelers Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers
- 30:18Speaker 3: Audio Network.
- 30:21Speaker 1: Double B, our fans are waiting for us to address
- 30:25Speaker 1: whether we closed our polls this past weekend.
- 30:28Speaker 4: I did not.
- 30:29Speaker 3: Uh-oh.
- 30:29Speaker 4: You did, though, right, Ed? I almost went swimming yesterday.
- 30:32Speaker 4: It was so warm out in that sun.
- 30:34Speaker 1: I was going to say your strategy might be paying
- 30:36Speaker 1: off because this whole week looks beautiful across southwestern Pennsylvania,
- 30:40Speaker 1: like 70 and sunny, no rain at all. I did
- 30:43Speaker 1: close mine last Friday in the rain, may I add.
- 30:46Speaker 1: So I went for it. It was pouring rain. The
- 30:49Speaker 1: pool was closed for the season. It's always sad.
- 30:51Speaker 5: 70 is not necessarily swimming weather, but once you get
- 30:55Speaker 5: to October and the leaves start falling off the trees,
- 30:58Speaker 5: 70 feels like 80 around these parts. It was warm
- 31:02Speaker 5: out yesterday. I mean, it was beautiful, don't get me wrong,
- 31:05Speaker 5: but it was warm in the sun. I think there
- 31:07Speaker 5: was a lot of people probably left their house in
- 31:09Speaker 5: the sweatshirt or hoodie, and by the time they were
- 31:13Speaker 5: at their destination, they were shedding clothes left and right.
- 31:17Speaker 1: The sun should be shiny all week long on the
- 31:19Speaker 1: south side as well, not just because Double B will
- 31:22Speaker 1: be there, but because the Steelers will turn the page,
- 31:25Speaker 1: put the Browns game from last Thursday behind them, and
- 31:28Speaker 1: start looking ahead to the Indianapolis Colts who come to
- 31:31Speaker 1: AccuShore Stadium. But before we can talk about that, we
- 31:33Speaker 1: will talk to head coach Mike McCarthy, Will the Pittsburgh Media,
- 31:37Speaker 1: coming up here at 3 o'clock today. We will have
- 31:39Speaker 1: live coverage for you right here on SNR with Wes
- 31:42Speaker 1: Euler and Jerry Dulac in just about 15 minutes. But Brian,
- 31:46Speaker 1: before we... Hand things off to Wes and Jerry on
- 31:49Speaker 1: the south side. Let's talk about the AFC North so
- 31:51Speaker 1: far through the first four weeks of the regular season. And, well,
- 31:56Speaker 1: ahead of the pack are the Cleveland Browns, who are 3-1,
- 32:00Speaker 1: tied now with the Baltimore Ravens, who are 3-1. The
- 32:02Speaker 1: Steelers and Bengals both check in at 2-2. But the Browns, Ravens, Steelers,
- 32:08Speaker 1: and Bengals' path through four games to get to these
- 32:11Speaker 1: spots has been very different for all four.
- 32:13Speaker 5: It has, and I don't think it's how anybody thought
- 32:16Speaker 5: this division would look after four games. I mean, I
- 32:20Speaker 5: remember saying preseason, Ed, I thought that the Ravens, that
- 32:23Speaker 5: they would probably either finish first or third in this division.
- 32:27Speaker 5: I thought they would either really click with the new
- 32:30Speaker 5: head coach, the new coordinators, and then the returning pieces,
- 32:34Speaker 5: or that there could be some real growing pains for them.
- 32:37Speaker 5: And obviously, week two for them was that, losing at
- 32:42Speaker 5: home to the Saints in at the last second and
- 32:44Speaker 5: given up 15 points in the fourth quarter while scoring
- 32:48Speaker 5: none of them. But otherwise, they look like a team
- 32:51Speaker 5: that is very much going to be in the mix.
- 32:53Speaker 5: They whooped up on the Colts in the season opener.
- 32:56Speaker 5: Hopefully that bodes well for the Steelers this week. And then,
- 33:00Speaker 5: of course, they win that crazy game in Rio. And
- 33:04Speaker 5: then this week, I mean, just kind of ho-hum 24-18
- 33:06Speaker 5: against the Titans. That's one that the Steelers will get
- 33:10Speaker 5: that opponent later in the season.
- 33:12Speaker 4: And maybe the Titans will be a better team by then,
- 33:15Speaker 4: or maybe they won't be.
- 33:16Speaker 5: Maybe they'll just be the last place finisher in the
- 33:18Speaker 5: AFC South again. And then the Browns are the surprise, obviously,
- 33:22Speaker 5: of the division to this point. I don't think anybody,
- 33:25Speaker 5: even the most optimistic Browns fan, had them 3-1 as
- 33:28Speaker 5: we flip the calendar into October.
- 33:31Speaker 4: And here they are.
- 33:32Speaker 5: And now they've got an opportunity coming up this week
- 33:36Speaker 5: to go to the Jets and beat a 1-3 team
- 33:39Speaker 5: on the road at MetLife Stadium. The Bengals, I don't
- 33:42Speaker 5: know what to make of. They're going to Miami this
- 33:45Speaker 5: week against the Dolphins, who are 0-4. But Jamar Chase
- 33:48Speaker 5: left that game with a head injury of some description.
- 33:52Speaker 5: And I think you always are concerned that that player
- 33:54Speaker 5: is not going to be out there the following week.
- 33:56Speaker 1: Injuries definitely affecting the Ravens, Steelers, and Bengals.
- 34:01Speaker 5: I didn't mention Lamar's banged up. I've seen day-to-day and week-to-week.
- 34:05Speaker 5: I don't know what the latest is.
- 34:07Speaker 1: From what I read late last night, Double B was
- 34:10Speaker 1: Lamar with a high ankle sprain, but not as severe
- 34:14Speaker 1: as first thought. So if that's the case, you might
- 34:17Speaker 1: be just looking day-to-day or a week, but probably nothing
- 34:20Speaker 1: crazy there, at least for Ravens fans' hopes. For Stewart
- 34:23Speaker 1: fan hopes, hey, be out as long as you want, Lamar.
- 34:26Speaker 1: And now Jamar Chase goes down yesterday.
- 34:28Speaker 2: And T.
- 34:28Speaker 1: Higgins, who had a huge game, over 150 yards receiving
- 34:32Speaker 1: yesterday for the Bengals. He goes out at the end
- 34:34Speaker 1: of that game, too. So it's not just Jamar who
- 34:37Speaker 1: went out with a concussion, but also T. Higgins who
- 34:40Speaker 1: shook up. for the Bengals, who are now 2-2 on
- 34:43Speaker 1: the season, two straight losses. The Ravens have now won
- 34:46Speaker 1: two straight after starting 1-1, and the Browns, as we
- 34:49Speaker 1: just talked about, three-game win streak, 3-1.
- 34:52Speaker 2: Atop the division.
- 34:54Speaker 1: The Ravens have the best offense through four games in
- 34:57Speaker 1: the AFC North, 116 total points scored. The Bengals and
- 35:01Speaker 1: Steelers both have the best defenses. The Steelers have given
- 35:04Speaker 1: up 87 through four weeks. The Bengals have given up
- 35:06Speaker 1: 85 through four weeks. The Bengals' defense was.
- 35:11Speaker 5: coming out hot this season, but then the Steelers made
- 35:14Speaker 5: them look a little bit more like they had in
- 35:15Speaker 5: previous years. The Jaguars, 22 points is nothing crazy, but
- 35:22Speaker 5: that game was in Cincinnati. Obviously, Bengals fans wish they
- 35:26Speaker 5: would have scored 16 points.
- 35:28Speaker 4: I don't know.
- 35:29Speaker 5: The Bengals offense in that game, maybe the Jaguars are
- 35:34Speaker 5: better than we were giving them credit for coming into
- 35:36Speaker 5: the season. They made some head-scratching draft picks. They let
- 35:40Speaker 5: travis what do we call etn a chain walk in
- 35:44Speaker 5: the offseason as a free agent but they're just kind
- 35:48Speaker 5: of quietly rolling along head coach liam cohen may have
- 35:51Speaker 5: found something there with their overall philosophy i saw that
- 35:55Speaker 5: he had a quote i don't know if it was
- 35:56Speaker 5: last week or after the game but like basically said
- 35:59Speaker 5: they don't care about value in their draft picks because
- 36:02Speaker 5: people were crushing them for oh you way overdrafted this
- 36:05Speaker 5: guy you reached on this guy so we don't care
- 36:07Speaker 5: about that neither does the gm We just want guys
- 36:10Speaker 5: who fit the way we play and are going to
- 36:11Speaker 5: help us win.
- 36:12Speaker 4: So far, they're 3-1.
- 36:15Speaker 5: And the AFC South doesn't exactly look competitive, let alone scary.
- 36:21Speaker 4: So the Jaguars, I mean, it's early.
- 36:24Speaker 5: I don't want to crown anybody, but if they keep
- 36:27Speaker 5: playing like this and the rest of their division keeps
- 36:30Speaker 5: playing the way it is, they're going to cruise to
- 36:32Speaker 5: another AFC South title.
- 36:34Speaker 2: Both the Texans and Titans are 0-4, but I will
- 36:36Speaker 2: say this. And they're going to.
- 36:37Speaker 5: Have home games at a stadium that is being renovated,
- 36:40Speaker 5: I think. They're not even going to be playing at
- 36:42Speaker 5: the Everbank Field next year. They're playing in Orlando. It
- 36:47Speaker 5: could be one of those wonky seasons for the diehard
- 36:50Speaker 5: Jags fans.
- 36:50Speaker 1: The Titans and Texans are both 0-4 on the season.
- 36:54Speaker 1: I will say this. Houston has looked worse getting to 0-4.
- 36:57Speaker 1: I thought the Titans have actually played some competitive football.
- 37:00Speaker 4: Close again.
- 37:01Speaker 5: I mean, they lose by a touchdown and they got
- 37:03Speaker 5: into that game late i think they were down 24
- 37:06Speaker 5: 10 uh for a lot of it but you know
- 37:09Speaker 5: they they score late in the fourth quarter and at
- 37:10Speaker 5: least gave themselves a chance with a two-point conversion to
- 37:13Speaker 5: recover an onside kick and did you see that tyler
- 37:16Speaker 5: loop made a 64 yarder in that game at the
- 37:19Speaker 5: end so maybe that guy who probably felt like the
- 37:23Speaker 5: smallest man in the world as he slinked off the accuracy.
- 37:28Speaker 4: He's doing all right now.
- 37:29Speaker 2: Yeah, that's for sure. The Jaguars-Bengals game.
- 37:31Speaker 4: Turn him into the Joker.
- 37:33Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. He has 22-17. Jaguars defeat the Bengals.
- 37:36Speaker 4: He also missed a kick yesterday, too, though.
- 37:38Speaker 2: Okay.
- 37:39Speaker 5: So it wasn't entirely too perfect. We're not going to
- 37:42Speaker 5: say he's the next Adam.
- 37:44Speaker 2: The demons aren't gone quite yet. Okay.
- 37:46Speaker 1: Penalties yesterday were a big topic of discussion in that
- 37:50Speaker 1: Jaguars-Bengals game.
- 37:51Speaker 2: Listen to this.
- 37:51Speaker 1: That will be 13 penalties for 125 Yards for the Jaguars,
- 37:56Speaker 1: 11 for 108 against the Bengals. That is a total
- 37:59Speaker 1: of 24 penalties. It's not week one. Week one, sometimes
- 38:02Speaker 1: you see a lot of penalties. Even week two, it
- 38:04Speaker 1: creeps up. But by week four, week five now, that
- 38:08Speaker 1: should be on the other direction. That's a lot of
- 38:10Speaker 1: penalties in that football game.
- 38:11Speaker 5: We've heard from Mike McCarthy a lot about, hey, September football,
- 38:15Speaker 5: sometimes the sloppiness comes out and it's almost an extension
- 38:18Speaker 5: of training camp in the preseason. I won't hold it
- 38:21Speaker 5: against him that their last game was October 1st. But
- 38:25Speaker 5: it was still week four, and now's the time in
- 38:27Speaker 5: the calendar where, yeah, you feel like four games under
- 38:29Speaker 5: your belt. Time to start becoming what you want to become. Although,
- 38:33Speaker 5: I mean, you go back to the old sports and
- 38:35Speaker 5: especially football cliches. You want to be peaking at the
- 38:38Speaker 5: right time, and you'd rather be peaking in December and
- 38:42Speaker 5: January than October. But it goes without saying, if you
- 38:46Speaker 5: let October or even September, for that matter, get away
- 38:48Speaker 5: from you, You're going to be behind the eight ball,
- 38:51Speaker 5: and even if you do play better down the stretch, yeah,
- 38:54Speaker 5: those early season losses are going to come back to
- 38:57Speaker 5: haunt you and bite you. Is there anything else interesting
- 39:01Speaker 5: around the league yesterday? I mean, did you watch Sunday
- 39:03Speaker 5: Night Football, Panthers-Lions? That was an entertaining game.
- 39:05Speaker 1: That was a bit of an eyebrows-raiser, right? I mean,
- 39:08Speaker 1: I didn't think the Panthers at home against the Lions,
- 39:10Speaker 1: who are now 2-2. You talk about the Steelers having
- 39:12Speaker 1: a lot of questions at 2-2. How about the Detroit
- 39:14Speaker 1: Lions now 2-2?
- 39:15Speaker 4: I had a couple thoughts during that game.
- 39:18Speaker 3: One.
- 39:18Speaker 4: I guess this Panthers offense is for real.
- 39:20Speaker 5: At what point do we just believe these guys, too?
- 39:23Speaker 5: I mean, they came out there and, yeah, they gave
- 39:25Speaker 5: up 59 to the to the bears in week one,
- 39:27Speaker 5: but oh, by the way, they scored 37 of their.
- 39:31Speaker 4: Own and they've got a dynamic offense.
- 39:34Speaker 5: They put up 34 on the Falcons the following week,
- 39:37Speaker 5: only 18 in Cleveland, but we just saw that that
- 39:40Speaker 5: defense can pin its ears back and get after you.
- 39:43Speaker 5: And then they go and get 32 at home against
- 39:45Speaker 5: the lions on looked like a pretty electric atmosphere. Nobody
- 39:47Speaker 5: really associates that with, Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte,
- 39:51Speaker 5: but Bryce Young and Tedaroa McMillan, they're giving the fans
- 39:55Speaker 5: some reason to believe, I think, early in the season.
- 39:57Speaker 5: And the other thought I had in that game, which
- 39:59Speaker 5: is tangentially related to that, the Lions should have given
- 40:03Speaker 5: the Steelers whatever it would have taken for Joey Porter Jr.
- 40:06Speaker 5: I mean, that man coverage on the perimeter, it is
- 40:10Speaker 5: not good. I mean, Tedaroa McMillan, I think it was
- 40:13Speaker 5: DJ Reed that he just, he absolutely burned him. down
- 40:16Speaker 5: the sideline for one of his two or three touchdowns,
- 40:19Speaker 5: two touchdowns in the end. But that 32 yarder, I mean,
- 40:23Speaker 5: would have helped to have a good man cover corner
- 40:26Speaker 5: out there.
- 40:26Speaker 4: And, you know, one of.
- 40:27Speaker 5: The great rivalries of every NFL season, Brian Batko versus sleep,
- 40:32Speaker 5: sleep on that one. But I saw enough of that
- 40:34Speaker 5: game to say the Lions secondary is kind of in tatters.
- 40:38Speaker 1: So Sleep's still undefeated with you, I guess.
- 40:41Speaker 4: He's not undefeated, but he wins a lot on Sunday
- 40:43Speaker 4: night football. I'll give him that.
- 40:45Speaker 1: Let me tell you, my friend, you're a bit younger
- 40:46Speaker 1: than me, but as you get older, Sleep will definitely
- 40:49Speaker 1: remain undefeated.
- 40:50Speaker 5: Didn't win Saturday night. I stayed up until the end
- 40:51Speaker 5: of Pitt, Virginia Tech, and that was a long game,
- 40:54Speaker 5: as college football tends to be. But I think I
- 40:58Speaker 5: made it to the fourth quarter of Lions-Panthers.
- 41:01Speaker 2: That's pretty good on a Sunday night.
- 41:02Speaker 5: Yeah, and there was still a lot of action and
- 41:04Speaker 5: fireworks from there. The Lions tried to get back into
- 41:08Speaker 5: that one, but yeah, Panthers are going to be frisky
- 41:11Speaker 5: in the NFC South.
- 41:13Speaker 2: And the Steelers have to deal.
- 41:14Speaker 4: Yeah, the Steelers have to see that at the end
- 41:15Speaker 4: of the year.
- 41:16Speaker 1: Either December 26th or 27th towards the end of the season.
- 41:20Speaker 1: Double B, there are three undefeated teams after four weeks.
- 41:23Speaker 2: The Chiefs are 4-0. The Vikings are 4-0. And how
- 41:25Speaker 2: about that defense?
- 41:26Speaker 4: Are you going to believe in them yet?
- 41:28Speaker 2: I have to.
- 41:28Speaker 5: Defensively, Brian Forrest. I've been putting them number one since
- 41:31Speaker 5: week one, I think, or maybe since week two.
- 41:33Speaker 2: No, you have.
- 41:34Speaker 4: Credit to you.
- 41:34Speaker 2: Credit to you. The 49ers are also 4-0, so three
- 41:37Speaker 2: undefeated teams so far.
- 41:38Speaker 4: Granted, the Vikings, they took care of the Dolphins this week.
- 41:41Speaker 2: But, like we said, win's a win.
- 41:43Speaker 1: I mean, they're on the path. When you go 4-0
- 41:45Speaker 1: in your first four games, you are on the playoff path,
- 41:48Speaker 1: that's for sure. Teams that are not on the playoff path,
- 41:51Speaker 1: the 0-4 Dolphins, Chargers, Texans... Titans and Buccaneers are all 0-4.
- 41:58Speaker 1: You have to be shocked with the Chargers, Texans, and
- 42:01Speaker 1: Bucs all at 0-4.
- 42:03Speaker 5: Early look ahead, Thursday night football, Tampa Bay at the
- 42:06Speaker 5: Dallas Cowboys. So if you want to see George Pickens
- 42:10Speaker 5: and Joey Porter Jr., Broderick Jones did not play an
- 42:13Speaker 5: offensive snap yesterday, so he's kind of in a different category.
- 42:17Speaker 5: But if you want to see those guys and the
- 42:19Speaker 5: team that the Steelers will play in week six, the
- 42:23Speaker 5: Tampa Bay Bucs, then you'll get a chance to do
- 42:25Speaker 5: that Thursday night. There's going to be another well-rested team
- 42:27Speaker 5: to face the Steelers, is it not, Ed?
- 42:29Speaker 1: That's another week, another rested team. I wanted to get
- 42:32Speaker 1: your thoughts on Joey Porter Jr. 's debut with the
- 42:34Speaker 1: Dallas Cowboys. I paid more attention to Joey Porter Sr.
- 42:37Speaker 1: on social media with the Cowboys jersey on. Hey, look,
- 42:41Speaker 1: we're all pumped for our son, though. You've got to
- 42:43Speaker 1: give the guy a bye.
- 42:43Speaker 2: I mean, it's his kid.
- 42:44Speaker 4: He's playing in the NFL.
- 42:45Speaker 5: I mean, yeah, what else are you going to do except.
- 42:48Speaker 4: Cheer for the team?
- 42:48Speaker 2: He's not going to wear a Steeler jersey in Dallas.
- 42:50Speaker 4: I didn't see much. Still hard to watch, though.
- 42:52Speaker 5: I tried to watch a little bit of the beginning
- 42:54Speaker 5: of that game just out of that sheer curiosity, and
- 42:56Speaker 5: I saw the Texans completed a touchdown pass to Nico Collins.
- 43:02Speaker 4: Joey Porter Jr. was not covering him on that play.
- 43:05Speaker 5: Maybe as he gets more up to speed and plays
- 43:07Speaker 5: more snaps, his entire existence with the Cowboys will be
- 43:11Speaker 5: to go cover the other team's number one receiver.
- 43:14Speaker 4: I guess it's a little bit of a.
- 43:18Speaker 5: At the end of the day, I mean, they won
- 43:20Speaker 5: the game, so that's good for Dallas, and he's undefeated
- 43:23Speaker 5: down there. But they gave up 30 points to Houston,
- 43:26Speaker 5: and C.J. Stroud was winging the ball around. Now they
- 43:30Speaker 5: face Jalen Daniels, the undrafted rookie from Tampa Bay, who
- 43:33Speaker 5: I think threw a pretty back-breaking pick for them in
- 43:35Speaker 5: their loss to Green Bay.
- 43:38Speaker 4: But we'll see where it goes.
- 43:41Speaker 5: I think there will be a faction of Steelers fans
- 43:42Speaker 5: who say, I couldn't care less. They're not on our schedule.
- 43:45Speaker 5: He's not here anymore.
- 43:47Speaker 4: It is what it is. There are going to be others.
- 43:50Speaker 4: Of course, you're going to be curious. How does he do?
- 43:54Speaker 4: What could have been had he stayed?
- 43:56Speaker 5: That's the case any time a player leaves, whether it's
- 43:59Speaker 5: free agency, trade, whatever.
- 44:01Speaker 2: One other big takeaway.
- 44:02Speaker 1: The Cowboys come back to defeat the Texans, by the way,
- 44:04Speaker 1: 34-30 in Joey Porter Jr.
- 44:06Speaker 2: 's first game with the boys. as they like to
- 44:09Speaker 2: call them, dim boys.
- 44:10Speaker 5: C.D.
- 44:11Speaker 1: Lamb, 17 catches, Brian Bacco, 189 yards and a touchdown.
- 44:16Speaker 2: I didn't have him on my fantasy team.
- 44:17Speaker 1: I wish I did, but my son Brendan did, and
- 44:19Speaker 1: he made sure he told me first thing this morning
- 44:21Speaker 1: when he got out of bed, did you see C.D.
- 44:23Speaker 2: Lamb, Dad? Huge game.
- 44:25Speaker 5: Antonio Brown in his prime-esque stat line there for C.D.
- 44:31Speaker 2: Lamb.
- 44:32Speaker 5: That offense is going to be a problem going forward
- 44:34Speaker 5: if people stay healthy. The Cowboys are Got to be
- 44:38Speaker 5: feeling good right now that the NFC East is kind
- 44:41Speaker 5: of the walking wounded with all the QB injuries for
- 44:44Speaker 5: the G-men. Granted, Jameis Winston played better against the Cardinals
- 44:47Speaker 5: and got a win at home. And now the Eagles
- 44:49Speaker 5: are in shambles with that. You know, they've got injuries, too.
- 44:54Speaker 5: So the NFC East looks like it's kind of wide open.
- 44:56Speaker 5: The Commanders, do they need to trade for a quarterback?
- 44:58Speaker 5: I mean, Mariota went down.
- 45:00Speaker 4: Tough sledding.
- 45:01Speaker 5: Kaliak Manis came in there. Talk about undrafted rookies. I
- 45:06Speaker 5: barely heard of that guy going into the draft, and
- 45:08Speaker 5: he was– playing meaningful reps for the Commander.
- 45:10Speaker 4: So I wonder what they'll do.
- 45:11Speaker 1: Yeah, if you think the Steelers have questions after 2-2,
- 45:14Speaker 1: look around the entire NFL. It's not all sunshine, that's
- 45:17Speaker 1: for sure.
- 45:18Speaker 4: The Steelers media will have questions now.
- 45:20Speaker 2: They will, just in a few minutes, and that's where
- 45:22Speaker 2: we're headed. We're headed down to the south side.
- 45:23Speaker 1: Wes Shuler, Jerry Dulac standing by for the Mike McCarthy
- 45:26Speaker 1: press conference up next.
- 45:28Speaker 2: He's back. Oh, I'm Troop.
- 45:29Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to the Steelers Report right here
- 45:32Speaker 1: on Steelers Nation Radio, part of the Steelers Audio Network.