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HR 1: Steelers Hits & Misses: Week 3 · The Steelers Report

0:08
Speaker 1: This is the Steelers Report with Brian Backhoe and Ed
0:12
Speaker 1: Truth on Steelers Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers
0:15
Speaker 1: Audio Network.
0:19
Speaker 2: As the NFL turns, another week in the rearview mirror.
0:24
Speaker 2: And now up ahead are the Cincinnati Bengals.
0:28
Speaker 3: 2-0 on the season, an offense that has looked great
0:32
Speaker 3: for two weeks, and a defense in Cincinnati that has
0:36
Speaker 3: not been around like this in a long, long time.
0:40
Speaker 3: When I say around Brian Bacco, I mean they are around.
0:44
Speaker 3: They have arrived at least through two weeks of the season,
0:48
Speaker 3: but it's only two weeks into the season. There's a
0:50
Speaker 3: lot that can change, and that's the good news for
0:52
Speaker 3: the Pittsburgh Steelers as Bengals Steelers get set this upcoming Sunday.
0:58
Speaker 4: Yeah, Ed, great to see you today. Hope everybody out
1:01
Speaker 4: there is doing well.
1:02
Speaker 5: We're going to have one of my– I would actually
1:04
Speaker 5: venture to say probably even my best pal who covers
1:06
Speaker 5: the Cincinnati Bengals, Ben Baby, from ESPN's NFL Nation. He's
1:11
Speaker 5: going to join the show later today. So eager to
1:13
Speaker 5: chat with him about everything we're hearing, seeing about the
1:18
Speaker 5: 2-0 Bengals because one of the things that keeps coming
1:22
Speaker 5: across my desk is that Dexter Lawrence– like the box
1:28
Speaker 5: score does not jump out at you, but their big
1:30
Speaker 5: acquisition this off season from the G men, um, he's
1:34
Speaker 5: been just really good and he's eating up blockers. He's
1:39
Speaker 5: taken up double teams. He's allowing the Bengals to not
1:43
Speaker 5: stack the box and still do a good job against
1:47
Speaker 5: the run. So they are going to have to deal
1:49
Speaker 5: with big, uh, sexy Dexy as they call them. And
1:53
Speaker 5: Dexter Lawrence and I go way back at, uh, Not personally,
1:57
Speaker 5: but from a covering Dexter Lawrence standpoint, the first time
2:01
Speaker 5: I really remember absorbing how good he is and was,
2:08
Speaker 5: was when Pitt faced Clemson in the national champion, or
2:12
Speaker 5: national championship, not 1976, in the ACC championship in, what
2:18
Speaker 5: year would that have been?
2:20
Speaker 4: I guess 2018.
2:20
Speaker 1: Yeah.
2:21
Speaker 5: When I was on the Pitt beat for the Post-Gazette.
2:23
Speaker 5: Pitt made it there with Kenny Pickett, a young Kenny Pickett.
2:26
Speaker 5: faced that Clemson team with Trevor Lawrence, Travis A-chain, is.
2:31
Speaker 4: That what we're calling the formerly Travis ETN? Yeah, sure.
2:34
Speaker 5: And then the defense, I mean, Pat Narduzzi, I think
2:37
Speaker 5: it was, called them dancing bears up front, and that
2:39
Speaker 5: was Dexter Lawrence, Christian Wilkins, Cleland Farrell, who went fourth
2:44
Speaker 5: overall to the Raiders, and Dexter Lawrence just keeps getting better,
2:48
Speaker 5: and he's 28 now, soon to be 29, but Big
2:52
Speaker 5: 97 on the other side is going to be a
2:55
Speaker 5: problem at all times when the ball is on the
2:57
Speaker 5: field Sunday.
2:59
Speaker 2: No doubt about that, Double B.
3:00
Speaker 3: Whenever you look at this upcoming Sunday, Steelers, Bengals, they're
3:03
Speaker 3: going to have to deal with that defensive front. A
3:05
Speaker 3: defensive front for Cincinnati, as you put it, not just
3:09
Speaker 3: Dexter Lawrence, but even outside of him, they've played very
3:12
Speaker 3: well through the first two games of the season. Eight sacks,
3:15
Speaker 3: one of the top leaders in that category as a
3:18
Speaker 3: team in the National Football League through the first quarter.
3:21
Speaker 3: a few weeks of the season. And again, only two
3:23
Speaker 3: weeks in. So, you know, take with this with a
3:25
Speaker 3: grain of salt, if you will, for what they've done.
3:28
Speaker 3: But Cedric Johnson has two sacks on the season. He's
3:30
Speaker 3: a defensive end. Jonathan Allen, a defensive tackle. He has
3:34
Speaker 3: two tackles, or excuse me, two sacks on the season.
3:37
Speaker 3: Actually does have two tackles on the season, but I
3:39
Speaker 3: was referring to the sack category there. Shamar Stewart, I mean,
3:42
Speaker 3: he's another guy, Brian. You add him into the mix
3:45
Speaker 3: with Lawrence. I mean, this is a really, really good
3:47
Speaker 3: defensive line.
3:49
Speaker 5: And it's... You know, we weren't saying that as recently
3:53
Speaker 5: as a year ago, even when, ironically, they had Trey Hendrickson,
3:57
Speaker 5: who was leading the NFL in sacks, putting up, you know,
4:02
Speaker 5: 17 a year like it was nothing. But there wasn't
4:04
Speaker 5: a whole lot else going on up front for the Bengals.
4:07
Speaker 5: So without crowning them two games in, it does seem
4:10
Speaker 5: like their vision to have basically gone from a one-man
4:15
Speaker 5: show to a more whole is greater than the sum
4:17
Speaker 5: of its parts D-line.
4:19
Speaker 4: Might pay off for them. Now, Stewart had a.
4:21
Speaker 5: Real up and down rocky rookie year out of Texas
4:25
Speaker 5: A & M, and he was a guy who the
4:26
Speaker 5: Steelers had in for a pre-draft visit. So maybe he
4:29
Speaker 5: was just destined for the AFC North. He's that prototypical
4:34
Speaker 5: NFL body, but needed to get more production out of it.
4:38
Speaker 5: We'll see if that comes for Shamar Stewart. The other
4:41
Speaker 5: guy too, and you know, Cedric Johnson's probably the one
4:44
Speaker 5: that's like the most obscure name of that bunch. He's
4:48
Speaker 5: a second or third year edge rusher out of Mississippi.
4:53
Speaker 5: But Cassius Howell, the rookie out of Texas A & M,
4:55
Speaker 5: second rounder this year, he's another one who they're raving
4:59
Speaker 5: about him in Cincinnati. They're even kind of raving about
5:02
Speaker 5: him nationally around the league, the people who get down
5:05
Speaker 5: to the.
5:05
Speaker 4: Minutia of some of these teams.
5:07
Speaker 5: And he was dinged by some people coming out of
5:11
Speaker 5: A & M for lack of length, doesn't have the
5:15
Speaker 5: the length and the arms that you typically want to
5:18
Speaker 5: see in an NFL edge rusher. But he was really
5:20
Speaker 5: productive in college at Bowling Green. He stayed productive in
5:23
Speaker 5: the SEC. And his speed, quickness, pass rush moves, that's
5:28
Speaker 5: going to be a real challenge for Troy Tanu and
5:31
Speaker 5: Dylan Cook on Sunday because he lines up on both
5:33
Speaker 5: sides for the Bengals.
5:35
Speaker 3: Oh, and by the way, they have DJ Turner at
5:37
Speaker 3: the corner position, too, who's really ramped up last season
5:41
Speaker 3: and the first two weeks of this year. So it
5:43
Speaker 3: does not get any easier, potentially, for DK Metcalf though.
5:46
Speaker 3: You could make the case also, Brian, that he, you know,
5:48
Speaker 3: of course with Christian Gonzalez last week faced one of
5:51
Speaker 3: the best corners he'll face all season long, but I
5:53
Speaker 3: don't think the gap falls too dramatically from last week
5:57
Speaker 3: to this week when you have DJ Turner, most likely
5:59
Speaker 3: guarding you this upcoming week.
6:02
Speaker 2: Yeah.
6:02
Speaker 5: I think DJ Turner's kind of underrated around the league,
6:05
Speaker 5: but Christian Gonzalez properly rated based on what we saw Sunday.
6:09
Speaker 5: I don't want to say it's going to be like
6:11
Speaker 5: taking the, uh, the little donut weight off your bat
6:14
Speaker 5: in the on-deck circle and going up there. But yeah,
6:17
Speaker 5: DJ Turner is not as physically imposing, I don't think,
6:20
Speaker 5: as Christian Gonzalez. Nonetheless, though, he will be another difficult matchup,
6:24
Speaker 5: I think, for DK Metcalf. DJ versus DK. They've had
6:27
Speaker 5: their moments in the past. We'll talk to Ben Baby
6:30
Speaker 5: about that later in the show. But we've got to
6:32
Speaker 5: talk a little bit more Steelers before we fully dive
6:34
Speaker 5: into the Bengals.
6:36
Speaker 3: Ben Baby, who is the Bengals beat reporter for ESPN,
6:40
Speaker 3: will join us at three o'clock today here on the show.
6:42
Speaker 3: We'll have our hits and misses at 220 and 240 today,
6:45
Speaker 3: always one of our favorite segments of the week, Brian.
6:48
Speaker 3: And then coming up also in the three o'clock hour
6:50
Speaker 3: in and around 340 and 340, we'll do our top
6:53
Speaker 3: five offenses and top five defenses in across the NFL.
6:57
Speaker 3: Our power rankings for offense and defense, that's also been
6:59
Speaker 3: a Fun segment for us that we started up last week.
7:02
Speaker 2: But it's Fix It Wednesday.
7:04
Speaker 3: Remember Fix It Felix from Wreck-It Ralph, one of my
7:07
Speaker 3: favorite movies I watched with my kids growing up.
7:09
Speaker 2: Still one of my favorite movies, Brian. I'd still watch
7:11
Speaker 2: it today if I had the opportunity to do it.
7:13
Speaker 3: Fix It Felix, well, we're going to call it Fix
7:14
Speaker 3: It Wednesday for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
7:17
Speaker 2: And first and foremost, it's the offensive line.
7:21
Speaker 5: Well, I do love Wreck-It Ralph. Totally with you there.
7:23
Speaker 5: And Ralph Breaks the Internet, if you've never seen the sequel.
7:25
Speaker 2: That's a good one, too.
7:26
Speaker 4: I have. Both good animated comedies.
7:29
Speaker 5: Kids and I, with the Steelers being off on Tuesday,
7:32
Speaker 5: we went to the movies last night, actually, Ed, and
7:34
Speaker 5: we saw Coyote vs. Acme, which has a special place
7:39
Speaker 5: in Steelers lore. That is the movie that Kevin Jobity Jr.
7:43
Speaker 5: was watching when he found out he made the team
7:46
Speaker 5: on cut down day. I remember talking to him about
7:48
Speaker 5: that a few days later, and he didn't get to
7:51
Speaker 5: finish the movie because, well, he got that news and
7:54
Speaker 5: ran out of the theater and called his friends and
7:56
Speaker 5: family and let them know he was in the NFL.
7:58
Speaker 5: So life-changing day and moment for him. Just another Tuesday
8:02
Speaker 5: for the Batcos, but we really enjoyed Coyote vs.
8:05
Speaker 4: Acme.
8:06
Speaker 5: My six-and-a-half-year-old son said it's the best movie he's ever seen, which,
8:09
Speaker 5: love that energy from him. I think he's got some
8:11
Speaker 5: recency bias, but yeah, it was a fun one, and
8:15
Speaker 5: my four-year-old daughter even Lasting through an entire movie is
8:19
Speaker 5: tough for her, but she even made it to the end,
8:22
Speaker 5: and that was a nice way to spend it off Tuesday.
8:25
Speaker 3: Well, a couple thoughts on that before we dive back
8:27
Speaker 3: into our Fix It Felix, Fix It Wednesday segment here.
8:31
Speaker 2: Awesome.
8:32
Speaker 3: My 12-year-old, who is still into the movies, you know,
8:35
Speaker 3: my other son is a sophomore in high school playing
8:37
Speaker 3: football and whatnot.
8:37
Speaker 2: He doesn't want anything to do with me at this point.
8:39
Speaker 2: You get that. That's a teenager thing. He still loves me.
8:41
Speaker 2: I still love him.
8:42
Speaker 3: But with my 12-year-old, he's still into going to the movies.
8:44
Speaker 3: So on Thursday, we're going at night to go see
8:48
Speaker 3: the Avengers Endgame that they're bringing back out. And they
8:50
Speaker 3: added 10 minutes, a bonus 10 minutes at the end.
8:53
Speaker 3: So we're going to sit there for three hours. of
8:55
Speaker 3: a great movie, and that'll be cool to see it
8:57
Speaker 3: in a theater, but all the way to the end
8:59
Speaker 3: just to see the final 10 minutes. But I do
9:01
Speaker 3: like how you brought it back to Steeler Nation on
9:03
Speaker 3: that last one. And we could even do this for
9:05
Speaker 3: Endgame and the Avengers because we know Cam Hayward is
9:08
Speaker 3: a big Avengers guy, and he is connected with Mr.
9:11
Speaker 3: Iron Man several times with the glove and everything else.
9:16
Speaker 5: Cam's just a big movie guy in general, big movie
9:18
Speaker 5: guy and big superhero guy. And yeah, I don't really
9:24
Speaker 5: want to take my kids to the movies too often,
9:26
Speaker 5: although we are getting to that point in the calendar, unfortunately,
9:30
Speaker 5: where rain, cold, soon we'll have snow. I don't know
9:35
Speaker 5: if my first grade, I mean, he's not into superheroes
9:38
Speaker 5: as much as he used to be. That might come
9:39
Speaker 5: back around, but I wonder if he would want to
9:41
Speaker 5: go see Endgame in the theater. He'd have to sit
9:45
Speaker 5: through some of the exposition and dialogue that we normally
9:48
Speaker 5: skip ahead on if we're watching at home, but yeah,
9:51
Speaker 5: I bet that's going to be a good time for uh,
9:53
Speaker 5: for you and your, your second son there at, uh,
9:56
Speaker 5: what's your go-to movie theater snack.
9:58
Speaker 4: Are you going to, you're going to be a healthy snacker,
10:00
Speaker 4: aren't you?
10:01
Speaker 3: Well, back in the day in the 300 pounds days,
10:04
Speaker 3: forget about it, Brian, you'd go in and just, you know,
10:06
Speaker 3: clear out the joint. Uh, now I, you know, popcorn
10:09
Speaker 3: and man, I love me some peanut M & Ms.
10:11
Speaker 2: How about you?
10:13
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm an icy guy.
10:14
Speaker 5: I had an icy last night and you'd, uh, You'd
10:18
Speaker 5: need a big one to get you through a three-hour
10:20
Speaker 5: showing of Avengers Endgame. But, yeah, hopefully you guys enjoy
10:24
Speaker 5: that tomorrow night. And hopefully Cam Hayward goes superhero, Iron Man,
10:29
Speaker 5: something Sunday against Joe Burrow in this Bengals offense.
10:32
Speaker 3: Hey, listen, let's just forget about the Steelers talk here
10:35
Speaker 3: for today. Let's just talk movies and Steeler connection with movies.
10:38
Speaker 2: There's a bunch.
10:38
Speaker 3: We can keep on going down this. this road if
10:41
Speaker 3: you want to, but fix it Wednesday, fix it Felix.
10:43
Speaker 3: That's how we got on this off topic. Brian, the
10:47
Speaker 3: offensive line has to be the first thing that they're
10:49
Speaker 3: talking about this week. We've been talking about the last
10:51
Speaker 3: two days as well. The running game, protecting Rodgers better,
10:54
Speaker 3: and we just set this all up. I mean, the
10:55
Speaker 3: Cincinnati Bengals front is a dangerous one so far early
10:59
Speaker 3: into this season. A front that might even be better
11:02
Speaker 3: than what they just faced in New England, and that
11:03
Speaker 3: front was pretty good too.
11:05
Speaker 2: Adjustments have to be made going into this weekend.
11:08
Speaker 5: We talked a lot on Tuesday's show about the not
11:11
Speaker 5: excuses but some of the reasons that mike mccarthy gave
11:15
Speaker 5: for the o-line struggles not a lot of rhythm in
11:18
Speaker 5: the run game i'll say it again that's that's kind
11:21
Speaker 5: of chicken and the egg you know you've got to
11:23
Speaker 5: actually uh do your part do your job to get
11:25
Speaker 5: that run game going and not so your coach doesn't
11:29
Speaker 5: abandon it because well there's a fine line between abandoning
11:32
Speaker 5: something too early versus ramming your head against the wall
11:35
Speaker 5: if it's not working you don't want to and what
11:38
Speaker 5: do The definition of insanity is doing the same thing
11:40
Speaker 5: over and over and expecting different results. But we know
11:44
Speaker 5: that sometimes in the NFL or any level of football,
11:48
Speaker 5: you stick to the run, show commitment to it.
11:50
Speaker 4: Maybe it'll pay off. That was one of them.
11:52
Speaker 5: Another one was Mike McCarthy talking about, hey, we were
11:54
Speaker 5: working different combinations for much of training camp in the
11:58
Speaker 5: preseason because then, you know, the flip side would have been, oh, well,
12:02
Speaker 5: why didn't the Steelers even give Maxi Honachor or Brock
12:04
Speaker 5: Hoffman a chance to compete for a starting spot? that
12:08
Speaker 5: so you're kind of damned if you do damned if
12:10
Speaker 5: you don't there they did get some opportunities limited the
12:13
Speaker 5: reps and you know all five guys together a little
12:16
Speaker 5: bit but that's you know he's kind of stripping away
12:19
Speaker 5: Jenga pieces.
12:20
Speaker 4: Now from the tower where if it collapses again.
12:22
Speaker 5: I don't know if this analogy is going to hold
12:25
Speaker 5: up but I think you get my point soon there's
12:27
Speaker 5: going to be no more Jenga blocks to take away
12:29
Speaker 5: and it's going to be hey we're going to have
12:31
Speaker 5: to just rebuild the tower maybe with some different pieces
12:35
Speaker 5: so yeah I mean this is a huge week of
12:36
Speaker 5: course for I mean, we know that left side is cemented.
12:40
Speaker 4: Troy Fogtanu, Mason McCormick.
12:42
Speaker 5: And we know Zach Frazier's not going anywhere, even if
12:44
Speaker 5: Sunday wasn't his finest hour against New England. But this
12:47
Speaker 5: is a big week for Spencer Anderson and Dylan Cook
12:50
Speaker 5: on that right side because your hold on your job
12:53
Speaker 5: is only as strong as the options that the team
12:56
Speaker 5: has behind you. And this will be another week of
12:59
Speaker 5: continuity in practice. And it'll be another week of, hey,
13:04
Speaker 5: we had a chance to fix this, clean this up.
13:07
Speaker 5: since Sunday and basically you better go do it.
13:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely.
13:12
Speaker 3: A hundred percent. I mean, we figured it out here
13:15
Speaker 3: on the Steelers report this week. So on the South side,
13:17
Speaker 3: you'll be down there today with practice starting up for
13:20
Speaker 3: the week. So we'll recap that tomorrow on the show,
13:23
Speaker 3: double B on the South side, the rest of the
13:25
Speaker 3: week for Pittsburgh Steelers practice here on the show. But yes,
13:29
Speaker 3: offensive line has to be the focus this week going in.
13:32
Speaker 3: And I think they will play better. this upcoming Sunday.
13:34
Speaker 2: They have to.
13:35
Speaker 3: I mean, if they don't, as we said, they're going
13:36
Speaker 3: to make some changes, maybe even in game. Maybe you'll
13:39
Speaker 3: see Maxi on a chore by the end of that
13:40
Speaker 3: game on Sunday.
13:41
Speaker 2: We shall see one defensive fix for you.
13:44
Speaker 3: There's not many defense played pretty well through the first
13:46
Speaker 3: two weeks, but Brian, I was looking at the stat
13:48
Speaker 3: sheet last night. And one thing that stood out and
13:50
Speaker 3: didn't really talk about it much this week is they
13:52
Speaker 3: still gave up 327 total yards on the day, including
13:55
Speaker 3: 136 on the ground. So not a hundred yard rusher,
13:59
Speaker 3: but still over the century mark in that category.
14:03
Speaker 5: Right. And that's what a lot of the players and
14:04
Speaker 5: even D.C. Patrick Graham lamented in the days or hours
14:09
Speaker 5: and days after that defeat. Now, when you get a
14:12
Speaker 5: big turnover at where Patrick Queen picked that off at
14:16
Speaker 5: the three, I think the Steelers three. Yeah, that's going
14:19
Speaker 5: to the yardage total is going to be up, but
14:21
Speaker 5: there's no points.
14:22
Speaker 4: Going on the board there because you bent, but you
14:25
Speaker 4: didn't break.
14:26
Speaker 5: Still, though, the explosive plays were dogging the Steelers that
14:30
Speaker 5: afternoon and mostly in the passing game but you had
14:33
Speaker 5: the a couple big runs too including obviously the only
14:36
Speaker 5: offensive touchdown that the Patriots scored right 39 yarder by
14:41
Speaker 5: Travion Henderson they're going to want to clean that up
14:44
Speaker 5: and that's why we're discussing it on clean it up
14:46
Speaker 5: Wednesday got to make some plays on the ball too
14:49
Speaker 5: when it's in the air you know there was that
14:51
Speaker 5: catch by the Patriots rookie tight end Eli Raritan two
14:55
Speaker 5: rookies named Eli in that game but only one of
14:58
Speaker 5: them made a big impact. And that was one where
15:00
Speaker 5: I think they even called PI on the Steelers on
15:03
Speaker 5: that one, but he still found a way to come
15:05
Speaker 5: down with it against Peyton Wilson. So yeah, I mean, you,
15:09
Speaker 5: you gotta, you gotta make sure that that doesn't happen
15:12
Speaker 5: because that's going to be a recipe for disaster. You
15:14
Speaker 5: can't always expect or lean on or bank on getting turnovers, especially,
15:20
Speaker 5: you know, in your own red zone and finding a
15:22
Speaker 5: way to flip the field.
15:24
Speaker 3: You know, it's funny, Double B is last night getting
15:27
Speaker 3: my prep ready for the show for today, and I
15:29
Speaker 3: couldn't remember if we called it Fix It Wednesday or
15:31
Speaker 3: Clean It Up Wednesday. You just referenced Clean It Up Wednesday.
15:34
Speaker 3: I think it was Clean It Up Wednesday last week,
15:36
Speaker 3: but I don't know. I like Fix It Felix.
15:37
Speaker 2: Maybe we'll just combine the two and come up with
15:39
Speaker 2: one name going forward for the rest of the season.
15:42
Speaker 5: Let's just change the name every week. Next week we'll
15:46
Speaker 5: put a patch on Wednesday, and then we'll have Flex
15:48
Speaker 5: Seal Wednesday sponsored by Flex Seal, and we'll just keep
15:53
Speaker 5: rotating through it.
15:54
Speaker 3: Just don't duct tape it Wednesday because we know it
15:56
Speaker 3: won't hold much longer than a week or two. When
15:59
Speaker 3: Double B and I come back, it is time for
16:01
Speaker 3: Hits and Misses of the Week for the Pittsburgh Steelers
16:04
Speaker 3: as they head into Week 3. It's Troop and Backo
16:07
Speaker 3: on the Steelers Report on Steelers Nation Radio, part of
16:10
Speaker 3: the Steelers Audio Network.
16:16
Speaker 2: May play action pass, back looking, throws, lofts, left, and
16:20
Speaker 2: it's picked off!
16:21
Speaker 3: Intercepted by Patrick Queen at the 10-yard line, gets to
16:25
Speaker 3: his feet, wrestled down at the 12, a huge turnover!
16:28
Speaker 1: This is the Steelers Report with Brian Batko and Ed
16:34
Speaker 1: Troop on Steelers Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers
16:38
Speaker 1: Audio Network.
16:40
Speaker 2: Ask and you shall receive.
16:42
Speaker 3: Brian Bacco was just referencing the Patrick Queen interception before
16:46
Speaker 3: the break.
16:47
Speaker 2: So we cue that up for you.
16:48
Speaker 3: It was a big play early in that game. The
16:51
Speaker 3: Patriots were driving. They had the early momentum. And then
16:55
Speaker 3: the Pittsburgh Steelers, who had forced five turnovers last year
16:58
Speaker 3: in Foxborough that resulted in a win, forced two on Sunday,
17:02
Speaker 3: and that was an early one. And Double B was
17:05
Speaker 3: important because, again, the Patriots were starting to put a
17:07
Speaker 3: drive together.
17:08
Speaker 2: They were building early momentum. And that interception took that.
17:11
Speaker 3: Momentum away, but unfortunately the Steelers cannot keep that momentum
17:15
Speaker 3: on their next offensive drive.
17:18
Speaker 4: Yeah, not much to show for it there, Ed.
17:20
Speaker 5: You know, it's still encouraging, though, that the takeaways have
17:25
Speaker 5: continued from last season to this season because we didn't see.
17:29
Speaker 4: It in the preseason. You know, you bring in a
17:32
Speaker 4: new coaching.
17:33
Speaker 5: Staff and you worry, I think, about some culture loss
17:36
Speaker 5: between the two. But also, I'll let you in on
17:39
Speaker 5: a little secret. every NFL team and coaching staff is
17:42
Speaker 5: stressing takeaways. Like there's, there's zero defensive coaches anywhere. They're like,
17:46
Speaker 5: you know what guys, I'm not worried about turnovers.
17:49
Speaker 4: All right.
17:49
Speaker 5: You guys just line up, play good style football, shut
17:52
Speaker 5: them down and we'll make them punt. Like, no, every
17:54
Speaker 5: team wants that and has their own little gimmicks to,
17:58
Speaker 5: to try to make that happen. We know the Steelers
18:00
Speaker 5: previously had a takeaway shirts that they would get for
18:03
Speaker 5: a guy who gets one. You know, I've, I've heard
18:06
Speaker 5: of teams who have like a, uh, They have like
18:08
Speaker 5: a football dummy or statue with like a ball in
18:11
Speaker 5: their hands as you walk into the cafeteria so guys
18:13
Speaker 5: can punch at it and try to knock it out.
18:15
Speaker 5: So there are many ways that coaches try to drill that.
18:18
Speaker 5: But drilling it is one thing. Actually going out and
18:21
Speaker 5: doing it is another. And the 2026 Steelers are doing
18:24
Speaker 5: it much like the 2025 Steelers did thus far.
18:26
Speaker 4: Which is nice.
18:27
Speaker 3: Another movie reference for you just to go along with that,
18:30
Speaker 3: Double B. One of my favorite movies growing up was
18:33
Speaker 3: The Program. And if you remember that, I think we've
18:36
Speaker 3: talked about The Program a few times.
18:38
Speaker 2: Never seen it?
18:39
Speaker 4: No.
18:40
Speaker 2: Oh, my goodness, dude. You've got to go back.
18:43
Speaker 3: It's loosely based on Florida State's football program in the 90s,
18:46
Speaker 3: and I say loosely because it's some eastern state university
18:50
Speaker 3: of Florida.
18:51
Speaker 5: And I know we talked about it with Vince Williams
18:53
Speaker 5: when he was on the show, so you guys could
18:55
Speaker 5: bond over that. But me, I was just in no
18:59
Speaker 5: man's land.
18:59
Speaker 4: Because I'm not hip to the program.
19:01
Speaker 5: But I'll have to see if I can find it
19:02
Speaker 5: on one of the 83 different streaming services. Hopefully it's
19:06
Speaker 5: on one of the 76 that I have.
19:08
Speaker 2: It's a tremendous movie. This may be the age gap.
19:10
Speaker 3: We're about 10 years in between us, so this was
19:12
Speaker 3: more of that early to mid-90s movie. But anyhow, my
19:16
Speaker 3: whole reference back to what you just said about protecting
19:17
Speaker 3: the football gimmicks for a football team is in that movie.
19:21
Speaker 3: One of the rookie running backs, freshman running back, I
19:24
Speaker 3: should say, that's with the team fumbles in practice early on.
19:27
Speaker 3: The head coach comes over, takes the football, and says, look,
19:31
Speaker 3: you carry this around every single day. If anyone else
19:34
Speaker 3: brings this football back, other than you, you'll be dead meat.
19:37
Speaker 3: So then he's sitting in class, professor's up there talking,
19:41
Speaker 3: kid comes up from behind, punches it out, and the
19:43
Speaker 3: whole entire classroom goes crazy because they're all trying to
19:45
Speaker 3: recover a fumble.
19:46
Speaker 2: That's what made me think of it.
19:48
Speaker 5: Tomorrow is the, and I'm just seeing this now on Google,
19:52
Speaker 5: it is the, I got to do math, 33-year anniversary
19:56
Speaker 5: of the day that the program was released, September.
20:01
Speaker 4: 24th, 1993. So how about that timing, Ed? It only
20:03
Speaker 4: would have been better if we were a day later
20:05
Speaker 4: in discussing this.
20:06
Speaker 2: Well, here's another reference for you.
20:08
Speaker 3: Omar Epps, who's an actor, played that running back, that
20:11
Speaker 3: freshman running back. I was just telling you, and a
20:13
Speaker 3: lot of people have said, and I agree with them,
20:15
Speaker 3: that Mike Tomlin looks a lot like Omar Epps.
20:18
Speaker 2: What do you think?
20:20
Speaker 4: There's no denying that.
20:21
Speaker 5: I would have to go back and see if a
20:22
Speaker 5: young Omar Epps also looked like Mike Tomlin.
20:25
Speaker 4: But yes, Omar Epps of modern day house, all of that.
20:29
Speaker 5: It's it's one of the most widely recognized regarded and
20:33
Speaker 5: i think approved doppelgangers out there.
20:37
Speaker 3: Well brian let's get into our hits and misses we'll
20:39
Speaker 3: see if omar epps makes our hits and misses for
20:41
Speaker 3: this week no i'm just kidding we won't continue to
20:42
Speaker 3: go down that path but yeah definitely go check out
20:44
Speaker 3: the program my friend highly recommend it you have to
20:47
Speaker 3: watch it don't watch it with your kids though there's
20:49
Speaker 3: uh there's some some crazy scenes in that movie yeah
20:52
Speaker 3: i'm sure.
20:53
Speaker 5: Um i'd I'd love to show my kids these sports
20:57
Speaker 5: movies when they get older and can appreciate it, but
20:59
Speaker 5: for right now, I think there'd be a little too
21:01
Speaker 5: many questions about what's going on. Before we get into
21:04
Speaker 5: the hits and misses, we had a reader question here
21:06
Speaker 5: from one of my favorite followers from through the years,
21:09
Speaker 5: BigEdBar71 messaged me on Twitter. Well, it's really more of
21:12
Speaker 5: a statement, but we can address it and address Ed's
21:16
Speaker 5: concerns here as a card-carrying member of stealer nation he
21:19
Speaker 5: said i always thought that moving mccormick and troy f
21:21
Speaker 5: from the right side to the left side was a
21:23
Speaker 5: lot of moving parts i think it may be time
21:26
Speaker 5: for imax to start at right tackle nothing against dylan
21:28
Speaker 5: cook but and then maybe at right guard they could
21:30
Speaker 5: put in brock hoffman and i can't believe i'm going
21:32
Speaker 5: to say this now i really wish they didn't trade
21:35
Speaker 5: broderick jones we've talked about the first few parts of
21:38
Speaker 5: that but that's an interesting thought that hadn't really come
21:41
Speaker 5: across my mind was Would it have helped to have
21:45
Speaker 5: Broderick Jones right now? Would we be talking about potentially
21:48
Speaker 5: inserting him in there? I get what you're saying, Ed.
21:52
Speaker 4: Barr, not Ed Troop. A lot of Ed's going on
21:54
Speaker 4: right now.
21:55
Speaker 5: But no, I'm not second-guessing that at this point because
21:59
Speaker 5: how soon we forget Jones was struggling in preseason and
22:04
Speaker 5: just didn't really seem to be taking to whatever the
22:07
Speaker 5: new coaching was or his body taking to the recovery
22:12
Speaker 5: from the neck injury.
22:13
Speaker 4: But I hear you.
22:14
Speaker 5: When the pieces that you have in place are struggling
22:17
Speaker 5: a little bit, you're naturally going to wonder, what about
22:20
Speaker 5: that guy that we sent away for not a ton,
22:24
Speaker 5: but at least you got something back for him.
22:26
Speaker 4: What are your thoughts on that one, Ed?
22:28
Speaker 3: Well, first of all, great name. There's not a lot
22:30
Speaker 3: of Eds out there anymore. It's one of those names
22:32
Speaker 3: that's not as popular, even though, hey, you're talking to
22:35
Speaker 3: one right here. So Ed, shout out to you. Thank
22:38
Speaker 3: you for talking messaging double B. I was ready to
22:41
Speaker 3: say something like, you know, where am I at with
22:43
Speaker 3: the Twitter world? I was ready to say, you know,
22:46
Speaker 3: AOL instant message or something. But I think Broderick Jones,
22:51
Speaker 3: I agree with everything you just said, but I actually
22:53
Speaker 3: thought about this the other day, Brian, to go along
22:55
Speaker 3: with what Ed said.
22:56
Speaker 2: I was thinking to myself, wonder if Jones was still here.
22:58
Speaker 3: Would he be a potential fit just for a game
23:00
Speaker 3: or two to give a different look to see what
23:02
Speaker 3: he could do? Now, listen, we tried this song and
23:04
Speaker 3: dance many a times. over the last few years with
23:06
Speaker 3: not a lot of success. I think where Broderick Jones
23:09
Speaker 3: could potentially come back to bite you, having gotten rid
23:12
Speaker 3: of him, is if an injury occurs with Fontano or
23:15
Speaker 3: Dylan Cook or Maxi Onachor, right? Because now your death
23:18
Speaker 3: piece at that tackle position is.
23:20
Speaker 2: Not as great.
23:20
Speaker 3: Yes, Broderick Jones might not be as strong as one
23:23
Speaker 3: of those other guys that you have.
23:24
Speaker 2: However, he could be better than what you're bringing in
23:26
Speaker 2: off the street.
23:29
Speaker 5: Now, you also would have had to figure someone would
23:31
Speaker 5: have to be off of this O-line had you kept
23:33
Speaker 5: Broderick Jones. And I don't know who that would be
23:36
Speaker 5: at this point. I don't think you would have wanted
23:38
Speaker 5: to lose someone else from the roster. We don't need
23:41
Speaker 5: to go back and relitigate the whole four quarterbacks thing,
23:44
Speaker 5: although obviously you could have moved on from one of
23:47
Speaker 5: them if you wanted to keep 10-0 linemen. I suppose
23:50
Speaker 5: you could have IR'd Max Ahanachor for the first four
23:54
Speaker 5: weeks of the season, but it probably has always spoken
23:58
Speaker 5: to how they think of a haunted chore and his
24:00
Speaker 5: relative readiness that they parted with Broderick Jones right before
24:04
Speaker 5: cut down day. And even Jack Driscoll, who's on injured
24:08
Speaker 5: reserve designated to return right now. I know he, he
24:11
Speaker 5: didn't always light the world on fire in the preseason,
24:13
Speaker 5: but he has a been there, done that veteran in
24:15
Speaker 5: the NFL. And I think he did give the front
24:17
Speaker 5: office and coaching staff some comfort when they moved on
24:21
Speaker 5: from Jones too. He will be eligible to return again.
24:24
Speaker 5: after those first four weeks, should there be an injury. Otherwise,
24:28
Speaker 5: you obviously just keep them there. But no, I'm not
24:32
Speaker 5: so down on the O-line that I'm going to suggest
24:36
Speaker 5: that the Steelers moved on from Broderick Jones too quickly.
24:39
Speaker 5: The other guy that they sent away right before cut-down day,
24:43
Speaker 5: Caleb Johnson, we didn't mention this when we went around
24:46
Speaker 5: the league Tuesday at Eight carries for 32 yards for
24:50
Speaker 5: the Packers. He led Green Bay in carries as they're
24:53
Speaker 5: trying to replace Josh Jacobs and had a long run
24:56
Speaker 5: of 12 yards. Obviously, he only averaged four yards per carry,
24:59
Speaker 5: but he's off kick return and might be a number
25:03
Speaker 5: one running back in the NFL right now. I guess
25:05
Speaker 5: we can watch him tomorrow night, Thursday night football against
25:07
Speaker 5: the Falcons.
25:09
Speaker 3: Well, I'm going to reference the great Matt Williamson, our
25:11
Speaker 3: good buddy over there at the drive.
25:13
Speaker 2: I saw him on Twitter, speaking of Twitter.
25:15
Speaker 3: Over the weekend after that game, somebody had commented what
25:18
Speaker 3: you just said. He goes, yeah, eight carries, 32 yards.
25:22
Speaker 3: You know, basically saying, yeah, 32 yards. But it's better
25:25
Speaker 3: than what he's done in the past, right? It's better
25:26
Speaker 3: than what he did here in Pittsburgh.
25:27
Speaker 5: I hate to say it, but it's better than what
25:30
Speaker 5: the Steelers running backs have done thus far through two games. But, no,
25:33
Speaker 5: I mean, that's another one where, now, hey, if he
25:37
Speaker 5: goes out and runs for 160 tomorrow night, then there
25:40
Speaker 5: will be all sorts of second-guessing in hindsight 2020. going
25:45
Speaker 5: on with Caleb Johnson but now I'm just bringing that
25:47
Speaker 5: up as kind of a keeping tabs on those two
25:49
Speaker 5: guys I don't think that Broderick Jones has played at
25:52
Speaker 5: all yet for the Cowboys their offensive line I think
25:55
Speaker 5: has been intact the first two games but obviously he's
25:59
Speaker 5: there waiting in the wings in Dallas and we'll see
26:03
Speaker 5: if he ends up getting a chance to show what
26:06
Speaker 5: he can do with his fresh.
26:07
Speaker 3: Start Brian we should do a an ongoing mailbag I
26:10
Speaker 3: know you used to do the mailbag mailbag at your
26:13
Speaker 3: previous job there.
26:15
Speaker 2: Maybe you should bring one back here for our show.
26:17
Speaker 2: What do you think?
26:19
Speaker 4: Yeah, that could be something to visit down the road.
26:22
Speaker 4: We'll see where it goes.
26:24
Speaker 3: You know, some of our best work here is live
26:26
Speaker 3: on the air when we come up with names for
26:28
Speaker 3: segments and ideas. Brian and I communicate off the scene
26:31
Speaker 3: all the time, behind the scenes, I should say, off
26:33
Speaker 3: the show.
26:34
Speaker 2: But yeah, let's just do a live read on here.
26:36
Speaker 2: Let's do a mailbag.
26:37
Speaker 3: Send your questions to Double B and we'll read them
26:40
Speaker 3: here on the air and also give you some good insight. Okay,
26:44
Speaker 3: let's finally move on to our hits and misses. Let's
26:46
Speaker 3: start it. We promised it. I know everyone's been waiting patiently.
26:49
Speaker 3: They can't wait for us to get into the hits
26:50
Speaker 3: and misses of the week, especially the misses when you
26:52
Speaker 3: come off of a loss. So let's start with a
26:55
Speaker 3: miss because we're coming off of a loss, and it's
26:57
Speaker 3: running back Jalen Warren, 21 carries for 89 yards through
27:01
Speaker 3: two games. Rico Dottle, 15 carries for 37 yards through
27:05
Speaker 3: two games. So they've combined for 36 yards, Brian. 126
27:09
Speaker 3: yards in two games. That's an average of 3.5 yards
27:12
Speaker 3: per carry. You just mentioned Caleb Johnson's numbers in one game,
27:16
Speaker 3: and you're right. If you look at that, at least
27:18
Speaker 3: from Rico Dottal's standpoint, much better.
27:21
Speaker 5: Yeah, they've got to get something going. Maybe that will
27:25
Speaker 5: click this week with everything Mike McCarthy said about cutting
27:29
Speaker 5: down on the volume of plays and really trying to
27:31
Speaker 5: accentuate what he thinks they do well. Now, if you
27:35
Speaker 5: want to be a Debbie Downer, this is where you'd
27:37
Speaker 5: pipe up into the radio and say, Brian, they're not
27:39
Speaker 5: doing anything well, but I mean, I hear you, but
27:41
Speaker 5: clearly you're going to have your bread and butter stuff. You're,
27:44
Speaker 5: you're going to rep it in practice. You're, you're going
27:47
Speaker 5: to probably go back and look at what has worked
27:49
Speaker 5: either in Mike McCarthy's offense elsewhere, or potentially more to
27:53
Speaker 5: the point what the Steelers offensive line was able to
27:55
Speaker 5: do well last year.
27:57
Speaker 4: Now, remember to, to go back to his, you know, point.
28:00
Speaker 5: Monday about how not a ton of reps as a
28:04
Speaker 5: five man unit up front. I know they did, work
28:07
Speaker 5: together a lot in Latrobe, but Spencer Anderson, you know,
28:10
Speaker 5: he's replacing Isaac say Amalo at right guard and say
28:14
Speaker 5: Amalo was not a picture of clean health all the time,
28:19
Speaker 5: but Spencer Anderson didn't get a ton of reps last year,
28:22
Speaker 5: other than as the sixth offensive lineman. So that's potentially
28:26
Speaker 5: going to take some time to work for him if
28:28
Speaker 5: it ever is going to. And yeah, these guys, they
28:32
Speaker 5: know that that was not good film that they put
28:35
Speaker 5: out that in Foxborough, they, they, want to get the
28:37
Speaker 5: run game going more than anybody.
28:40
Speaker 4: I guess we've been quote unquote hard.
28:42
Speaker 5: On, on the old line, but Troy Fata is really
28:46
Speaker 5: hard on himself and holds himself to a high standard.
28:50
Speaker 5: Dylan Cook, Spencer Anderson, these guys aren't, they're not delusional.
28:53
Speaker 5: Like they, they know they need to play better and
28:54
Speaker 5: they know that there are options that were required this
28:57
Speaker 5: off season to, to push them. And that, that that's
29:01
Speaker 5: just the reality of being in the NFL. So we're not,
29:05
Speaker 5: I don't think we're trying to, be overly critical there
29:08
Speaker 5: it's just it is what it is and we they
29:11
Speaker 5: they need all these guys to play together as five
29:13
Speaker 5: and get this running game jump started.
29:16
Speaker 3: Facts are facts and we know what we saw on
29:18
Speaker 3: Sunday and again against Atlanta couldn't get the running game
29:21
Speaker 3: going there either maybe that will change against a Cincinnati
29:23
Speaker 3: Bengal team that we just talked up their defense but
29:25
Speaker 3: you know Brian in years past that's one area that
29:28
Speaker 3: the Steelers have done really well against the Bengals in
29:30
Speaker 3: Cincinnati or here in Pittsburgh they've been able to run
29:32
Speaker 3: the ball at a pretty high success rate over the
29:34
Speaker 3: years against the Bengals.
29:37
Speaker 5: Yeah, and I guess a lot of teams have when
29:39
Speaker 5: you look at that week. the Bengals defense has been
29:42
Speaker 5: many years, but yeah. And that's just kind of football
29:45
Speaker 5: one-on-one too, right. Is one of the best ways to
29:47
Speaker 5: stop Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase and T Higgins and Chase
29:50
Speaker 5: Brown is don't let them have the ball and time
29:53
Speaker 5: of possession.
29:53
Speaker 4: Control the ball. I know Mike McCarthy said he doesn't
29:55
Speaker 4: want to dink and dunk.
29:56
Speaker 5: And play keep away football but it's it's all situational
30:00
Speaker 5: you when when you play against a high-powered offense certainly
30:04
Speaker 5: doesn't hurt to play a little bit of keep away
30:06
Speaker 5: now you don't want to be three yards in a
30:09
Speaker 5: cloud of dust because then you'll just be sending cam
30:11
Speaker 5: johnston out there to punt eight times again in a
30:14
Speaker 5: game but yeah this is this would be a great
30:16
Speaker 5: week for jaylen warren and rico dowdle to have some
30:19
Speaker 5: holes to run through um you know it without going
30:23
Speaker 5: back and like really homing in on the ball carrier specifically,
30:29
Speaker 5: I mean, are there times where maybe their vision's not
30:32
Speaker 5: where it needs to be? Maybe, but I just, watching
30:35
Speaker 5: from the press box, I don't think they've had much
30:37
Speaker 5: room to run.
30:39
Speaker 3: Let's get to one quick hit before we get to break,
30:41
Speaker 3: and it's the Steelers being plus one for turnover so
30:44
Speaker 3: far this season, Brian, with three interceptions and one fumble
30:47
Speaker 3: recovery on defense for four total, one interception on offense,
30:51
Speaker 3: two lost fumbles on offense for three total, This was
30:54
Speaker 3: a category last year that the Steelers throughout the season
30:56
Speaker 3: did very well. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I
30:59
Speaker 3: believe they were in the plus category throughout the entire
31:01
Speaker 3: season in 2025.
31:01
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, they were one of the best teams in
31:07
Speaker 4: the league at takeaways.
31:08
Speaker 5: And, you know, even though they fell behind a little
31:10
Speaker 5: bit against the Patriots in that department, that last one
31:13
Speaker 5: was kind of wonky. I mean, Jeremy Bernard with the
31:16
Speaker 5: bobble as the game is pretty much out of reach
31:18
Speaker 5: and just bounces right to the Patriots defenders. So yeah,
31:23
Speaker 5: I mean, I think that the, that, that is a
31:25
Speaker 5: hit for sure. And that's one that I think will
31:28
Speaker 5: be sustainable with the, the horses that the Steelers have
31:31
Speaker 5: on defense.
31:32
Speaker 3: Ben Baby, Bengals beat reporter for ESPN, coming up at
31:35
Speaker 3: 3 o'clock today and also at 320 and 340. It's
31:39
Speaker 3: our power rankings for offense and defense top five throughout
31:42
Speaker 3: the NFL. But more hits and misses whenever we come back.
31:45
Speaker 3: You are listening to the Steelers Report with Backo and
31:48
Speaker 3: Troop here on Steelers Nation Radio, part of the Steelers
31:51
Speaker 3: Audio Network.
32:03
Speaker 1: This is the Steelers Report with Brian Batko and Ed
32:07
Speaker 1: Troup on Steelers Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers
32:11
Speaker 1: Audio Network.
32:13
Speaker 3: Of course, we are in season for the Pittsburgh Steelers,
32:17
Speaker 3: so it's all Steeler talk here across SNR and the
32:22
Speaker 3: Steelers Report. But, Brian, a real quick check-in and shout-out
32:26
Speaker 3: to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
32:29
Speaker 2: They are wrapping up their 2026 season. They will not
32:32
Speaker 2: make the playoffs again.
32:33
Speaker 3: We know they've been eliminated for about a week, but
32:35
Speaker 3: they've won five straight, beat the Cardinals last night, maybe
32:41
Speaker 3: four straight.
32:41
Speaker 2: I don't know, four or five.
32:42
Speaker 3: I've been watching from a distance, and as each day
32:45
Speaker 3: goes on, that distance is getting further and further. But
32:49
Speaker 3: they're closing in on an 80-plus win season.
32:52
Speaker 2: And, hey, look, I will say this. I did not
32:56
Speaker 2: tune out.
32:56
Speaker 3: On the Pittsburgh Pirates this season until about two weeks ago,
33:00
Speaker 3: and that is the latest in a baseball season in
33:03
Speaker 3: a long, long time that I was still watching baseball,
33:06
Speaker 3: especially after the Pittsburgh Steelers began training camp and getting
33:09
Speaker 3: into their preseason and now the regular season.
33:12
Speaker 4: You're right the first time. Five consecutive wins for the Battlin'
33:16
Speaker 4: Buccos to try to hit that 500 mark.
33:20
Speaker 5: They've got two home games left tonight against the Redbirds
33:23
Speaker 5: and then tomorrow afternoon against against the Redbirds will be
33:26
Speaker 5: their home finale for 2026.
33:29
Speaker 4: And then they finished the season in Detroit. Yep.
33:33
Speaker 5: But you know, what's even crazier to me while we're
33:35
Speaker 5: on the subject of Pittsburgh sports that aren't the Steelers.
33:39
Speaker 5: I can't believe it's already preseason hockey games taking place.
33:42
Speaker 5: Like that blew my mind when someone brought that up
33:45
Speaker 5: to me on, I think Monday, it was the Penguins
33:47
Speaker 5: first preseason game against the Buffalo Sabres.
33:50
Speaker 4: I'm like, How?
33:51
Speaker 5: I mean, not only is it September and football season
33:54
Speaker 5: just started, but they like the Penguins, I think, just
33:57
Speaker 5: started training camp a week ago. So obviously they don't
33:59
Speaker 5: have many practices before they start playing games. And I'm
34:03
Speaker 5: sure it's one of those things where it's like, yeah, Brian,
34:06
Speaker 5: it always starts this early. But I think it just
34:09
Speaker 5: it seems like it starts earlier every year.
34:11
Speaker 2: No doubt.
34:12
Speaker 3: I mean, a week from tomorrow, Thursday will be October 1st.
34:15
Speaker 3: The Steelers will be in Cleveland for a Thursday night game. But,
34:19
Speaker 3: you know, you turn the calendar into October, NBA starting
34:22
Speaker 3: up here in the month of October, baseball winding down
34:25
Speaker 3: with its postseason, and then, as you just said, the
34:27
Speaker 3: Pittsburgh Penguins, the NHL, will be underway quickly. I mean,
34:31
Speaker 3: their preseason and their training camp is a rather quick one,
34:33
Speaker 3: I believe, not like the NFL.
34:37
Speaker 5: Yeah, and I'll get into it eventually, but, man, this
34:41
Speaker 5: is way, way, way, way, way too early and too
34:43
Speaker 5: soon for me to sink my teeth into hockey, that's
34:47
Speaker 5: for sure.
34:47
Speaker 2: I'm with you there.
34:48
Speaker 3: I mean, we got all this Pittsburgh Steeler talk about
34:51
Speaker 3: the offensive line to get through.
34:52
Speaker 2: No, I'm just kidding. I feel like we've beat that
34:53
Speaker 2: drum so much this week.
34:55
Speaker 3: Let's talk about some other good things happening in and
34:57
Speaker 3: around the black and gold. We did one hit and
34:59
Speaker 3: one miss before break. Let's get into some more hits
35:01
Speaker 3: and misses of the week. How about TJ Watt, Brian?
35:04
Speaker 3: He is second in the NFL through two games. with
35:08
Speaker 3: three and a half sacks, and Alex Highsmith is third
35:11
Speaker 3: in the NFL, right behind Watt with three sacks as well.
35:14
Speaker 3: Both Highsmith and Watt, the edge rushers, Nick Herbig got
35:17
Speaker 3: in on the action last week. Jack Sawyer has done
35:20
Speaker 3: well when he's been in the game. Two games in,
35:22
Speaker 3: small sample size, but so far so good, and probably
35:25
Speaker 3: the strength of that defense so far.
35:28
Speaker 5: For sure, it's living up to expectations coming into the season,
35:32
Speaker 5: which is difficult to do because we certainly had a
35:34
Speaker 5: lot of expectations for that group, and Yeah, I mean,
35:38
Speaker 5: I was scrolling Twitter last night and Brian Baldinger tweeted out,
35:44
Speaker 5: is there a more productive player on the Steelers team
35:46
Speaker 5: than Herbig?
35:47
Speaker 4: I'm just asking.
35:48
Speaker 5: Well, I mean, yeah, actually, Baldy, there's two more productive
35:52
Speaker 5: guys right now at his position. I get his point
35:55
Speaker 5: and I'm not trying to take anything away from Herbig,
35:57
Speaker 5: who had a fantastic game Sunday at Gillette Stadium, one
36:00
Speaker 5: of the lone bright spots. But yeah, there's two other
36:03
Speaker 5: edge rushers in that room. in TJ Watt and Alex
36:07
Speaker 5: Highsmith who have been more productive than her big through
36:09
Speaker 5: two games, at least in the sack category. So yeah,
36:11
Speaker 5: I mean the fact that you're even having those kinds
36:14
Speaker 5: of discussions or conversations is a great sign for that
36:17
Speaker 5: edge rusher trio.
36:19
Speaker 2: I agree. They are off to a great start strength
36:22
Speaker 2: of the team.
36:23
Speaker 3: And so far, what second in the NFL, Alex Highsmith,
36:26
Speaker 3: third in the NFL for number of sacks, let's get
36:29
Speaker 3: to a miss and we'll go into the wide receiver room.
36:31
Speaker 2: But before we do that, that will be, you have
36:32
Speaker 2: a thought.
36:34
Speaker 5: Well, just, I feel like people will be curious if
36:36
Speaker 5: they don't know who's first. Gregory Rousseau of the Buffalo
36:39
Speaker 5: Bills has four sacks to lead the NFL. And he's
36:44
Speaker 5: been a problem on the edge for a while for
36:47
Speaker 5: the Bills. Certainly have seen him against the Steelers at
36:50
Speaker 5: times wreaking havoc. He's a tall drink of water out
36:53
Speaker 5: there rushing the passer. Edgerin Cooper, linebacker for the Packers,
36:58
Speaker 5: leads the NFL in tackles for loss with five. So
37:01
Speaker 5: TJ is only behind him, tied with Alex Highsmith and.
37:05
Speaker 4: A few others.
37:05
Speaker 5: And then leading the NFL in quarterback hits, actually not Rousseau,
37:09
Speaker 5: and it's not Highsmith or Watt, but Dallas Turner, edge
37:13
Speaker 5: rusher for the Minnesota Vikings, who I think that Brian
37:16
Speaker 5: Flores-led defense is going to be making an appearance in
37:19
Speaker 5: at least one of our power rankings for the defensive
37:22
Speaker 5: units later.
37:23
Speaker 1: In the show.
37:24
Speaker 3: Oh, a bit of a tease coming up in the
37:26
Speaker 3: 3 o'clock hour when we get into that. Fun exercise
37:29
Speaker 3: of top five defenses and top five offenses on the season.
37:33
Speaker 2: Stay tuned for that. Okay, wide receiver room.
37:36
Speaker 3: A miss so far, and I'm not just going to
37:37
Speaker 3: pick on DK. DK Metcalf, Roman Wilson, and Jeremy Bernard
37:41
Speaker 3: in two games combined, Brian.
37:43
Speaker 2: Here's their stats.
37:43
Speaker 3: 20 total catches, 156 yards, no touchdowns. That last part's
37:48
Speaker 3: probably the most important part, right? an average of 7.8
37:52
Speaker 3: yards per catch.
37:53
Speaker 2: I left Pittman out.
37:55
Speaker 3: I mean, he started the season with 58, but he
37:56
Speaker 3: missed the second game, so I just concentrated on Metcalf, Wilson,
37:59
Speaker 3: and Bernard so far. But like I said, that last
38:02
Speaker 3: spot there, that zero touchdowns, that's the one that really
38:05
Speaker 3: jumps out at me.
38:08
Speaker 5: One offensive touchdown for the entire team through two games.
38:10
Speaker 2: That's coming up.
38:11
Speaker 5: That's the one who grabbed it in week one against
38:13
Speaker 5: the Falcons, and yeah, I think there was a lot
38:16
Speaker 5: of lip service, not lip service, but a lot of
38:20
Speaker 5: talk about the upgraded receiver room and put my hand up.
38:24
Speaker 4: I was absolutely on board with that.
38:26
Speaker 5: I felt like Omar Khan did a really nice job
38:29
Speaker 5: improving that group this year, bringing in Pittman, drafting Bernard.
38:36
Speaker 5: But at some point, the anticipation needs to turn into
38:40
Speaker 5: production on the field.
38:41
Speaker 4: And it's only two games. It's a small sample size.
38:44
Speaker 5: They faced a good defense and a really good secondary
38:46
Speaker 5: in week two on the road, mind you. But yeah,
38:50
Speaker 5: you need to see that group come together and start
38:53
Speaker 5: putting it together, getting open, getting separation for Rodgers. He
38:56
Speaker 5: mentioned Bernard getting separation in that game, which is why
38:59
Speaker 5: he kept going to him. Team high, eight targets. Didn't
39:03
Speaker 5: really have that one on my bingo card for week two,
39:05
Speaker 5: especially after he played just three snaps in the opener. Yeah,
39:09
Speaker 5: I mean, that's a talented receiver group, but you got
39:12
Speaker 5: to see the talents either utilized effectively or execute when
39:16
Speaker 5: they're out there.
39:17
Speaker 3: Let's get into some more defensive love, if you will,
39:20
Speaker 3: for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
39:21
Speaker 2: Another hit defensively.
39:23
Speaker 3: They are currently ranked 8th in the NFL for total
39:26
Speaker 3: yards per game with 282 they also are ranked 3rd
39:30
Speaker 3: in passing this is a really good one they've only
39:32
Speaker 3: given up an average of 154 yards passing through the
39:36
Speaker 3: first two games and rushing wise they're 24th in the
39:38
Speaker 3: league with 128 yards per game so that might be
39:41
Speaker 3: the only little curveball what I just gave you Double
39:44
Speaker 3: B but overall defensively their rankings in the NFL are
39:47
Speaker 3: pretty strong so far.
39:50
Speaker 4: Yeah, real quick before the defense.
39:51
Speaker 5: I mean, when we talk about the receivers, before people
39:55
Speaker 5: start jumping on the Steelers for what could have been
39:58
Speaker 5: or living in an alternate universe, I just checked the
40:02
Speaker 5: Eagles statistics, Ed. Makai Lemon has four catches for nine yards.
40:06
Speaker 2: There you go.
40:07
Speaker 4: That's another one that.
40:09
Speaker 5: People will probably be tracking how he does as a rookie,
40:12
Speaker 5: given that the Steelers were one pick away from him.
40:14
Speaker 4: He also has a rush for negative five yards.
40:17
Speaker 5: So if you tally that up, That's actually five touches
40:20
Speaker 5: for four yards, much like we were talking about Kenny
40:24
Speaker 5: Gainwell yesterday. Maybe better days ahead for those two, but
40:29
Speaker 5: not setting the world on fire thus far. All right,
40:31
Speaker 5: Steelers defense as far as making sense of those statistics.
40:35
Speaker 5: I mean, definitely a hit, don't get me wrong. I'll
40:37
Speaker 5: go ahead and tease again. You might see the Steelers
40:39
Speaker 5: defense in both of our power rankings. I know you
40:43
Speaker 5: had them last week. Maybe I will join you on
40:46
Speaker 5: that front, but I think you can also chalk it
40:48
Speaker 5: up to, as far as the passing statistics, which are good,
40:52
Speaker 5: big thumbs up. They faced Cooper Rush in week one.
40:55
Speaker 5: His team scored three points in week two against the
40:59
Speaker 5: Carolina Panthers at home, by the way. And then as
41:03
Speaker 5: far as the rushing statistics, which aren't as great, a
41:05
Speaker 5: little bit more of a thumb medium or potentially even
41:07
Speaker 5: thumbs down miss, they faced Bajon Robinson in week one.
41:11
Speaker 5: So this is, I think, a little bit situational so far.
41:16
Speaker 5: And these things will balance out over the course of
41:18
Speaker 5: the season when you face quarterbacks better than Cooper Rush
41:22
Speaker 5: and you face ball carriers who aren't as dynamic as
41:25
Speaker 5: Bajon Robinson.
41:27
Speaker 3: Well, we talked about the Steelers' defense being a hit.
41:30
Speaker 3: On the missed side of things, Steelers' offense. Their rankings
41:33
Speaker 3: look like this, Brian. 30th in the NFL for total
41:36
Speaker 3: yards per game, 249. I don't think any of these
41:39
Speaker 3: numbers are going to surprise you. 29th in passing with
41:41
Speaker 3: 175 yards per game in rushing defense. 29th in the
41:46
Speaker 3: NFL was 74 yards per game.
41:49
Speaker 2: No shocks there.
41:51
Speaker 4: No, not at all.
41:53
Speaker 5: You know, I guess if you try to find a
41:56
Speaker 5: silver lining, Aaron Rogers is completing, I think 85.7% of
42:03
Speaker 5: his throws to the tight ends, Pat Fryer, Muth and
42:06
Speaker 5: Darnell Washington. So that's been efficient or maybe not efficient,
42:10
Speaker 5: but it's at least been effective and consistent and, Perhaps
42:14
Speaker 5: they can try to get.
42:16
Speaker 4: Those guys more involved.
42:18
Speaker 5: But, you know, we know that this we just to
42:22
Speaker 5: go back to the receivers that you're not just going
42:24
Speaker 5: to look away from them and stop targeting them because
42:27
Speaker 5: you've had some drops or an injury with Pittman. But yeah, obviously,
42:31
Speaker 5: Friar Muth and Darnell Washington can be very valuable contributors
42:35
Speaker 5: for this team. They've been good in the past against
42:38
Speaker 5: the Bengals, especially Friar Muth.
42:39
Speaker 4: We all remember that.
42:41
Speaker 5: Thursday night game last year down in Cincinnati I still
42:45
Speaker 5: happen to think that you know the inside linebackers are
42:48
Speaker 5: probably the weakest part of this Bengals defense and maybe
42:51
Speaker 5: even the safeties too so really all the way up
42:53
Speaker 5: the middle the spine of that defense is exploitable by
42:58
Speaker 5: tight ends they've faced the Bucks and the Texans so
43:03
Speaker 5: far and I'd probably take Fryermuth and Washington over the
43:07
Speaker 5: tight ends that those teams were thrown at the Bengals
43:09
Speaker 5: so I think this will be the best tight end
43:12
Speaker 5: group that Cincinnati has had to face in game plan
43:14
Speaker 5: for to this point in the season.
43:16
Speaker 2: I agree. And here's what I want to do. I
43:19
Speaker 2: want to, we only have a couple more minutes left, Brian.
43:21
Speaker 3: So we're going to go with a miss and then
43:24
Speaker 3: a hit.
43:24
Speaker 2: You got to end this activity with a hit. So
43:26
Speaker 2: let me give you another miss.
43:28
Speaker 3: Speaking on the Steelers offensive front, you mentioned it already,
43:31
Speaker 3: just one touchdown in the first two games. That was
43:33
Speaker 3: Muth week one against the Falcons and also the Steelers
43:36
Speaker 3: on third down offensively. clicking at 20% through the first
43:40
Speaker 3: two games, five of 25.
43:43
Speaker 5: Got to find ways to move the chains on third down,
43:46
Speaker 5: whether that's find your go-to guy. If you can make
43:49
Speaker 5: it third and Muth, third and Pitt when Pittman comes back,
43:53
Speaker 5: third and Germ.
43:54
Speaker 4: I don't know. I don't know what the answer is.
43:56
Speaker 5: But you got to get to some sort of a
43:59
Speaker 5: calling card play there for yourself to convert some of
44:02
Speaker 5: those third and manageables, or even if it is third
44:05
Speaker 5: and a bit longer, seven, eight, nine yards. You hope
44:07
Speaker 5: you're not in third and 10 or longer very often
44:10
Speaker 5: because that means you are really running into a brick
44:12
Speaker 5: wall or you're highly penalized.
44:15
Speaker 3: I like the third and germ, by the way. That's,
44:17
Speaker 3: of course, referring to Jeremy Bernard. OK, let's end with
44:20
Speaker 3: a hit, Brian. And by the way, Steelers defense on
44:23
Speaker 3: third down.
44:23
Speaker 2: This is also a hit. I guess you can.
44:25
Speaker 3: This isn't the one I want to end on, but
44:26
Speaker 3: you can just to go along with third downs. They've
44:28
Speaker 3: done very well defensively on third downs. Offenses through the
44:31
Speaker 3: first two games, six of 24 and 25 percent. So
44:35
Speaker 3: Steelers defense has also responded and done well when it
44:38
Speaker 3: comes to third down. Peyton Wilson leads the Steelers with
44:41
Speaker 3: 21 tackles, and he also has three tackle for losses
44:44
Speaker 3: and a fumble recovery.
44:46
Speaker 2: He's off to a great start, Brian.
44:48
Speaker 4: He is.
44:49
Speaker 5: I think it was a lot better in week one
44:51
Speaker 5: against the Falcons than it was week two against the Patriots.
44:54
Speaker 5: But I don't think it's going to be another fully
44:57
Speaker 5: up and down season for Peyton Wilson. I think he's
45:00
Speaker 5: He's going to have a lot more good days than bad,
45:03
Speaker 5: or not even bad, but a lot more good days
45:05
Speaker 5: than mediocre days, probably put it that way. And yeah,
45:09
Speaker 5: I like what you're seeing about this defense on those
45:13
Speaker 5: third down moments. And I think that also speaks to,
45:16
Speaker 5: you know, we've heaped a lot of praise on Patrick Graham.
45:18
Speaker 5: I think that speaks to him having a feel for
45:20
Speaker 5: the game, dialing up the right structure of defense, the
45:23
Speaker 5: right play calls, and putting guys in the right positions
45:26
Speaker 5: to succeed, especially on those weighty downs.
45:29
Speaker 3: Double B, I have a 50-50 hit and miss for you.
45:32
Speaker 3: This one kind of fell in the middle. We'll end
45:33
Speaker 3: with this one. It's punter Cam Johnston through two games.
45:37
Speaker 3: So here's the good. He's averaging 48.3 yards per punt, right?
45:41
Speaker 3: He has 12 punts for 579 yards. The bad part
45:44
Speaker 3: of that is he has 12 punts for 579 yards.
45:50
Speaker 4: Right. Yeah, that one's kind of, I guess, obvious.
45:53
Speaker 5: You don't want your punter To be that overworked, but
45:56
Speaker 5: at least if you got him, you can feel pretty
46:00
Speaker 5: good about where he's going to be putting the ball.
46:02
Speaker 5: And you feel pretty good about that punt coverage, too,
46:05
Speaker 5: I think came around a little bit to some extent.
46:08
Speaker 5: You know, Marcus Jones made them look silly at times
46:11
Speaker 5: in Foxborough, but he does that to a lot of
46:13
Speaker 5: punt coverage units. That's why he's one of the best
46:15
Speaker 5: in the game at it. And I think he's got
46:17
Speaker 5: an all pro or two to his name to show
46:18
Speaker 5: for it.
46:19
Speaker 3: That's going to do it for our number one here
46:22
Speaker 3: on the show. Whenever we come back, it's Ben Baby,
46:24
Speaker 3: Bengals beat reporter for ESPN. We'll join Double B and
46:27
Speaker 3: myself to talk about Bengals-Steelers week three at Accushore Stadium
46:32
Speaker 3: this upcoming Sunday.
46:33
Speaker 2: He's back. I'm Troop.
46:34
Speaker 3: It's the Steelers Report here on Steelers Nation Radio, part
46:37
Speaker 3: of the Steelers Audio Network.