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Patriots Recap, Bengals Preview · Steelers Country Weekly

0:00
Speaker 1: Today on Steelers Country Weekly, we break down the Steelers'
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Speaker 1: disappointing loss in New England to the Patriots, look ahead
0:08
Speaker 1: to the matchup back home in Pittsburgh against the Bengals,
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Speaker 1: and then we're going to talk about some drama in
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Speaker 1: high school athletics that's hitting our hometown. I'm Nick DiTullio,
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Speaker 1: and as always, I'm joined by the world-famous accountant Eric Vamenschoten. Eric,
0:22
Speaker 1: how's it going tonight?
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Speaker 2: Oh, not too shabby. I'm a little... I'm a little sleep,
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Speaker 2: not deprived, sleep hindered is what you would call it.
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Speaker 3: Our son is getting better each and every day, but,
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Speaker 3: you know, eight days old, still getting used to things. So, but,
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Speaker 3: you know, my middle child, she saw football in a
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Speaker 3: book and said football.
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Speaker 2: So I'm teaching them right.
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Speaker 1: Yes, you are, and unfortunately, they don't have a lot
1:02
Speaker 1: to cheer for right now. No, this was an interesting
1:07
Speaker 1: football weekend. I mean, not even counting for the fact
1:12
Speaker 1: that you just had a son on Thursday going into
1:15
Speaker 1: this weekend. That just adds a whole nother level. Looking
1:21
Speaker 1: at it strictly from a football perspective, our alma mater,
1:25
Speaker 1: the University of Cincinnati... was getting their butts kicked by Miami, Miami, Ohio,
1:33
Speaker 1: and then came back.
1:34
Speaker 2: They would be forgiven if it were Miami, Florida. Yeah. Right.
1:40
Speaker 1: I think I texted you this. I'm taking credit for
1:43
Speaker 1: the Bearcats win because I went to church at halftime
1:45
Speaker 1: and they turned it around.
1:49
Speaker 2: No.
1:51
Speaker 1: I was praying for something. I, Not sure that it
1:56
Speaker 1: was that the Bearcats were going to win. It was
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Speaker 1: more so that a certain coach might not be coming back.
2:00
Speaker 1: But something happened. So anyway, I'll take credit for the win.
2:05
Speaker 1: But I have to admit, if I had known that
2:09
Speaker 1: I had that kind of power, by divine intervention, I
2:13
Speaker 1: probably would have gone to church on Sunday to help
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Speaker 1: the Steelers out. Oh my goodness. And then without getting too.
2:21
Speaker 2: I know, I know.
2:23
Speaker 1: I know, right? Um, it, and then without getting too
2:27
Speaker 1: far down the rabbit hole, um, you'll appreciate this too.
2:30
Speaker 1: I had, you know how in fantasy football and ESPN,
2:33
Speaker 1: it shows you what percentage probability you have to win. Um,
2:39
Speaker 1: I had a 99% chance to win going into Monday
2:41
Speaker 1: night and my opponent, um, my old next door neighbor
2:46
Speaker 1: only had one player left to play. And that player
2:50
Speaker 1: was Devante, Devante Adams. Uh, And who has helped me
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Speaker 1: many times in those kind of situations. But I was
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Speaker 1: on the receiving end of it this time. So after
3:03
Speaker 1: the Bearcats won, which was not a great win. Like,
3:07
Speaker 1: I'm glad they won as opposed to losing. But it
3:10
Speaker 1: was a stupid game. It was just a really bad
3:13
Speaker 1: sports weekend all the way around. And it was just
3:15
Speaker 1: really downhill after that Bearcats game. And I think the
3:18
Speaker 1: Steelers game was possibly... Outside of the Browns playoff game
3:26
Speaker 1: where we lost in the COVID year, this might have
3:30
Speaker 1: been the most maddening game for me as a fan
3:33
Speaker 1: to watch. Look, we've had a lot of those. Maybe
3:36
Speaker 1: I just need my memory refreshed.
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Speaker 2: That's good to say. There are some other ones. But yeah,
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Speaker 2: it was definitely maddening.
3:43
Speaker 1: Well, this one sucked because a lot of times we
3:47
Speaker 1: joke like, oh, thank God we've got Boswell. They couldn't
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Speaker 1: even get in position for Boswell to kick the field
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Speaker 1: goal at this game. They got one field goal, and
3:55
Speaker 1: then I think he missed another really long one that
3:57
Speaker 1: they shouldn't have even set him up for. Anyway, let's
4:01
Speaker 1: just talk about the Steelers. Let's just go through the
4:04
Speaker 1: game here. Steelers go into New England. They had the
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Speaker 1: win against Atlanta. They go to New England. Patriots were,
4:15
Speaker 1: of course, coming off that opening night loss. They had
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Speaker 1: a about a week and a half to rest and prepare.
4:22
Speaker 1: And really, I think the key in this game was,
4:27
Speaker 1: I don't know if you want to call it the key,
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Speaker 1: but the Steelers offense just could not do anything. They
4:35
Speaker 1: couldn't get movement. You had receivers dropping the ball. You
4:38
Speaker 1: had the line getting blown up right away. They talked
4:43
Speaker 1: about it. on the game, the announcers, actually it was
4:48
Speaker 1: Jim Nance and J.J. Watt, they said that in week one,
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Speaker 1: every time Jalen Warren touched the ball, he got hit
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Speaker 1: at or behind the line of scrimmage, which is almost
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Speaker 1: impossible to do, but doggone it, they found a way,
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Speaker 1: and things just got worse against the Patriots. I thought
5:04
Speaker 1: the defense played all right, all things considering. They were
5:07
Speaker 1: on the field for It felt like the entirety of
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Speaker 1: the game. The offense did nothing to help them with
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Speaker 1: field position or points otherwise. They did have a turnover.
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Speaker 1: They did have some highlights. And actually, they only gave
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Speaker 1: up 13 of the points because one of the touchdowns
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Speaker 1: was a scoop and score off of Rodgers getting decked.
5:29
Speaker 1: And then, of course, there was the now infamous play
5:33
Speaker 1: where Rodgers got hit really hard on the blind side
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Speaker 1: fumbled the ball and then through a comedy of errors
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Speaker 1: uh the ball went back 36 yards so they had
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Speaker 1: like a fourth and was it fourth and 43 uh
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Speaker 1: just which just kind of encapsulated the whole game i
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Speaker 1: think because just it's one of those things where words
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Speaker 1: aren't enough you just need a picture's worth a thousand
6:01
Speaker 1: words i guess i should say and just that That video,
6:05
Speaker 1: just put that on, and that tells you everything you
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Speaker 1: need to know about this game.
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Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, it is. It was ugly.
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Speaker 3: What's spoiling this is, I mean, okay, tell, you know,
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Speaker 3: these advanced metrics, do what you want with them. But for,
6:28
Speaker 3: you know, if you do a rule of thumb, they're
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Speaker 3: in the ballpark, right? And what's really frustrating is.
6:37
Speaker 2: TJ Watt is.
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Speaker 3: Possibly the defense player of the year through two weeks.
6:46
Speaker 2: And Herbig looks great after signing that extension. Hayward's still
6:54
Speaker 2: drinking from the fountain of youth. Highsmith also looks phenomenal.
7:01
Speaker 3: And like you said, the defense only gave up 13
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Speaker 3: points and the Atlanta game. I, I forget like how many,
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Speaker 3: I think it was 13 in that game too.
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Speaker 2: Yep.
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Speaker 3: And when you consider how bad our offense has been
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Speaker 3: playing in both weeks, like if we had a competent offense,
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Speaker 3: you know, how many of those points would also come
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Speaker 3: off the board from just field position and the defense
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Speaker 3: is on the field all the time because we're not
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Speaker 3: running the.
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Speaker 2: Ball, et cetera. I mean, when he added it all up,
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Speaker 2: I mean, Rodgers, I sent you something.
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Speaker 3: Rodgers said, we're not going to point fingers, but we're
7:47
Speaker 3: going to point.
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Speaker 2: Fingers at the coaches.
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Speaker 1: Pretty much, yeah.
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Speaker 3: I mean, the fingers directly on the offense. I don't
7:56
Speaker 3: know if you put it on McCarthy. I don't know
7:58
Speaker 3: if you put it on Rodgers. I have my feelings, but.
8:05
Speaker 2: There is something... Or you could say the offensive line.
8:08
Speaker 3: Like you said, the Jalen Warren getting hit at or
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Speaker 3: behind the.
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Speaker 2: Line on every single run. You would have thought... I
8:22
Speaker 2: think we were both lukewarm on McCarthy being hired, but I.
8:29
Speaker 3: What wasn't on my bingo card was, like, our offense
8:33
Speaker 3: going to be worse in 26.
8:34
Speaker 2: Than it was in 25. Right. And, you know, it's
8:39
Speaker 2: only two weeks, right? It's the eighth of the season.
8:44
Speaker 3: You know, it's a blip. It could all work out.
8:48
Speaker 3: But right now, it's hard to kind of see what's
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Speaker 3: the direction of this team. Are we going to become
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Speaker 3: a— a ground and pound team? Are we going to
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Speaker 3: be a team that airs it out? Or are we
9:01
Speaker 3: going to dominate the line of scrimmage? Right now, nothing
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Speaker 3: is working. So it's really hard to kind of put
9:08
Speaker 3: your finger on, okay, well, where are the adjustments going
9:12
Speaker 3: to be made when you have to adjust every facet
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Speaker 3: of the offense?
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Speaker 2: And that was clearly on display on Sunday. Yeah.
9:23
Speaker 1: And it was, it was like nothing. worked at all.
9:29
Speaker 1: I'll give Jeremy Bernard a shout out because he had
9:32
Speaker 1: quite a few big plays. I think he ended up
9:34
Speaker 1: having a drop there at the end.
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Speaker 3: He did have a drop that bobbled and then became
9:40
Speaker 3: an interception.
9:41
Speaker 2: He did have one hell of a drive, but then
9:45
Speaker 2: he did make a rookie mistake.
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Speaker 1: Sorry to interrupt. No, you're good. I mentioned drops. DK
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Speaker 1: had what, at least one more, if not two or three. Um,
10:00
Speaker 1: And that's especially egregious when you consider the contract that
10:03
Speaker 1: the Steelers gave him.
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Speaker 2: I think one was on a third down, too. I think,
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Speaker 2: if I'm remembering correctly.
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Speaker 3: It was I don't know if it was exactly a
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Speaker 3: slant route, but like a short shimmy route right at
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Speaker 3: the markers, throws it, and just, he boots it, you know?
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Speaker 3: It's just, dude, it's not, you know, it's not back
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Speaker 3: shoulder contested catch. Like, this is remedial stuff that you
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Speaker 3: do in a high school playbook, you know?
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Speaker 1: It's just especially disappointing for when the guy with the
10:41
Speaker 1: big contract is the one who's doing that. Especially after
10:46
Speaker 1: he was suspended for, stupid stuff last season and the
10:49
Speaker 1: Steelers still paid him for those games too and they
10:52
Speaker 1: could have avoided that portion of his contract. And even
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Speaker 1: on that play we mentioned where it ended up, it
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Speaker 1: was third and seven and it ended up becoming fourth
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Speaker 1: and 43. The way the play happened was they go
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Speaker 1: up to the line and Rodgers started calling stuff out
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Speaker 1: on the defense and I assume he was trying to
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Speaker 1: either audible or change protection assignments. And it looks like
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Speaker 1: he might have confused the line, which is why he
11:32
Speaker 1: got blown up. Now, I don't know if that's more
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Speaker 1: on him or the line. I've got to be honest, though.
11:39
Speaker 1: I'm more inclined to give Aaron Rodgers a pass on
11:42
Speaker 1: that than the line, because... The line hasn't done anything
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Speaker 1: to show me that they've got it this year.
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Speaker 3: I would tend to agree with you on that, but
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Speaker 3: there's a difference between confusing Troy at left tackle versus
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Speaker 3: confusing a whole entire offensive line. There was at least
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Speaker 3: three guys that turned their head Like, multiple times being like,
12:15
Speaker 3: what the heck is he saying?
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Speaker 1: You know, like... Maybe he's getting so old he's just...
12:22
Speaker 1: He's just getting so old he's just yelling out gibberish
12:24
Speaker 1: out there. Oh my goodness. I mean, and that's a
12:29
Speaker 1: fair point, but regardless, no matter who's at fault, they
12:32
Speaker 1: weren't on the same page and quite literally got blown
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Speaker 1: up on the play. So yeah, I Look, it's all maddening. Especially...
12:47
Speaker 1: And look, I don't want to blow things up after
12:51
Speaker 1: only two games. But it is frustrating when you mentioned
12:57
Speaker 1: you and I were lukewarm. I think that's being polite
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Speaker 1: about the Mike McCarthy hire. But the only saving grace
13:04
Speaker 1: was this is an offensive guy who has had success, right?
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Speaker 2: And....
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Speaker 1: Like you said, it feels like we've taken a massive
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Speaker 1: step backwards, which is just... It's mind-boggling, honestly. Now, maybe
13:21
Speaker 1: it's going to get better. Maybe they just have to
13:23
Speaker 1: work out some kinks. I don't know. I will say
13:27
Speaker 1: it was interesting, though, to see... I don't know if
13:30
Speaker 1: you saw this. The Dallas Cowboys coaching staff made a
13:35
Speaker 1: comment about Broderick Jones. Basically... that they have to teach
13:40
Speaker 1: him how to do things the right way now. So
13:45
Speaker 1: it would just, it's just amazing to me that we,
13:49
Speaker 1: our offensive line is the biggest point of emphasis right now.
13:54
Speaker 1: We had a first rounder who admittedly did not live
13:58
Speaker 1: up to what we had expected. And I think we've
14:00
Speaker 1: talked about, is it coaching or is it him or
14:03
Speaker 1: is it a combination of both? And you've got the
14:05
Speaker 1: Dallas Cowboys of all teams going like, what the hell
14:08
Speaker 1: is going on here with this guy? Um, tying it
14:12
Speaker 1: back to the Patriots, nothing's going right. I think the
14:16
Speaker 1: offensive line was the biggest issue. Um, and trust me,
14:19
Speaker 1: there was other issues on offense that we talked about. Um,
14:24
Speaker 1: but if you can't protect your quarterback, especially one who's
14:28
Speaker 1: not mobile anymore to the degree they used to be, it's,
14:34
Speaker 1: it's just not going to go well.
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Speaker 3: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: I wouldn't even say to a degree that he used
14:39
Speaker 2: to be.
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Speaker 3: I mean, he's not Roethlisberger at the end of his career,
14:45
Speaker 3: but he's not that far off. Like, I mean, he just...
14:51
Speaker 3: I remember in the Houston game, his inability to move
14:55
Speaker 3: was fully on display.
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Speaker 2: That was, like, end of the season, and now I'm
15:00
Speaker 2: starting to see glimpses of it. And it's just... If
15:06
Speaker 2: anyone in Steelers Nation is not concerned about it, they
15:11
Speaker 2: should be.
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Speaker 1: Yeah. So, I don't know. We both said a loss.
15:19
Speaker 1: I don't think either of us said it was going
15:20
Speaker 1: to be 20-3. Like I opened with, when we can't
15:26
Speaker 1: even get Chris Boswell in position to attempt a reasonable
15:31
Speaker 1: field goal, that's a big problem. Yeah.
15:36
Speaker 3: Look, Boswell and he was even pretty close on his
15:40
Speaker 3: first 57 yarder but like the fact that your kicker
15:46
Speaker 3: is not supposed to be kicking 57 yarders every single.
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Speaker 2: Week as a primary weapon I mean normally it's because
15:54
Speaker 2: your offense.
15:55
Speaker 3: Is moving the ball you got it right before half
15:58
Speaker 3: time you get it down to the 40 yard line
16:03
Speaker 3: and you'd say hey you know let them get the
16:07
Speaker 3: leg you know but that's not supposed to be your
16:10
Speaker 3: only points of the day like that's right I think
16:15
Speaker 3: so that mean that our only red zone appearance was
16:19
Speaker 3: the blown up 36 yard.
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Speaker 1: Sack if that even got into the red zone but
16:29
Speaker 1: that would have been the closest.
16:30
Speaker 3: Yeah so it wasn't even that like You know, like,
16:39
Speaker 3: speaking of the Patriots, right? They're week one. Drake May
16:43
Speaker 3: had a bad game. And he actually threw a couple
16:47
Speaker 3: of picks in the red zone. So it's like, yeah,
16:50
Speaker 3: it's not great, but it's more encouraging that you're moving
16:53
Speaker 3: the ball.
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Speaker 2: You're not going to have that many turnovers in the
16:56
Speaker 2: red zone. Week in, week out.
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Speaker 3: But, you know, we talked about this a lot with
17:03
Speaker 3: Tomlin teams as of late. Like, If you can't get
17:07
Speaker 3: to 300 yards total, you're not going to win many
17:11
Speaker 3: football games.
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Speaker 1: Right. Well, it's not going to get any easier for
17:17
Speaker 1: the Steelers, too, because they are now having to play
17:21
Speaker 1: host to the 2-0 Bengals. The Bengals, of course, have
17:28
Speaker 1: the high-powered offense with Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase, Tee Higgins.
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Speaker 1: And their defense has actually stepped it up a notch
17:36
Speaker 1: this year. Last year they were historically bad. This year,
17:41
Speaker 1: they kind of remind me of a lot of those
17:43
Speaker 1: old Peyton Manning teams where the Colts had the number
17:45
Speaker 1: one offense and the worst defense. Just, you know, be
17:48
Speaker 1: average and you guys will be fine. But they're stepping
17:51
Speaker 1: it up here. The Steelers definitely have their work cut
17:56
Speaker 1: out for them, I'll say. But I do think there
17:58
Speaker 1: is a window there. The Bengals' defense did still give
18:01
Speaker 1: up 353 passing yards to C.J. Stroud. Granted, he had
18:06
Speaker 1: to throw the ball 55 times to get that. But
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Speaker 1: I think there is a window there. That being said,
18:13
Speaker 1: I just think that the Bengals are a much more
18:15
Speaker 1: formidable opponent than the Patriots here. Looking ahead to this
18:21
Speaker 1: game on Sunday afternoon, Eric, what are some of your
18:24
Speaker 1: big takeaways?
18:28
Speaker 2: Heck, I... I don't know.
18:31
Speaker 3: I mean, to me, I just don't see a way
18:34
Speaker 3: that this team is going to win it. Look, we
18:39
Speaker 3: won the game against the Falcons because we.
18:41
Speaker 2: Played a third-string quarterback with one of the better running
18:48
Speaker 2: backs in.
18:48
Speaker 3: The league, and we kind of eked that one out.
18:56
Speaker 3: We played a better, but not great offense in the Patriots.
19:02
Speaker 3: And now we're going to go against one of the
19:04
Speaker 3: best offenses in the league.
19:08
Speaker 2: With a better defense. I would probably say the Patriots
19:13
Speaker 2: are going to be the best defense that we've played
19:16
Speaker 2: of the three teams.
19:19
Speaker 3: So it's under, you know, with the three points, I
19:23
Speaker 3: wasn't expecting them to get 27 points, but you know,
19:28
Speaker 3: More than that, I mean, I just don't see a
19:30
Speaker 3: marketable improvement, though, in that category. And, you know, as
19:36
Speaker 3: I alluded to earlier, there's just nothing to go off
19:39
Speaker 3: of right now. There's not, I can't say like, oh,
19:42
Speaker 3: you know, run the ball, establish the ground game, win
19:47
Speaker 3: in the trench, all the.
19:49
Speaker 2: BS kind of stuff.
19:50
Speaker 3: No, like right now, the only way I see this
19:54
Speaker 3: winning is if somehow we have one or two defensive touchdowns.
20:00
Speaker 3: And that's just, I don't see that happening.
20:06
Speaker 2: That's very hard.
20:07
Speaker 3: I feel like that's a Babe Ruth thing when people
20:09
Speaker 3: like call like a defensive touchdown, it's like, you know,
20:15
Speaker 3: so I'm going to be really good defensively, but it's
20:17
Speaker 3: like really hard to be like, ah, TJ is going
20:19
Speaker 3: to intercept this ball and, and go in for a touchdown.
20:22
Speaker 2: Like, yeah, it's pretty difficult.
20:25
Speaker 3: So I, I wish I could provide a little bit
20:29
Speaker 3: more enthusiasm. I wish I could provide a little bit
20:33
Speaker 3: more insight about what we were going to do to improve, um,
20:39
Speaker 3: If I was the coaching staff, well, there's two things.
20:47
Speaker 3: I wasn't wanting Rodgers really to come back.
20:52
Speaker 2: I think if he plays bad again, we pull the
20:57
Speaker 2: plug on him.
20:58
Speaker 3: There's no reason we need a 42-year-old.
21:02
Speaker 2: Quarterback if we're 1-2 and.
21:06
Speaker 3: Staring down a barrel we might as well get an
21:08
Speaker 3: audition from our youngins uh and then you know you
21:15
Speaker 3: got to do something about the offensive line and i
21:18
Speaker 3: think that running the ball is easier to get some
21:22
Speaker 3: continuity on the offensive line than passing it there's so
21:25
Speaker 3: many complications when it comes to uh protections and and
21:30
Speaker 3: reading the defense i think with running it's just.
21:35
Speaker 2: Go block that guy.
21:36
Speaker 3: Um, so I would, I would explore going back towards
21:43
Speaker 3: more of a 50, 50 play call. And we've been
21:46
Speaker 3: more about 70, 30 or 65, 35.
21:49
Speaker 2: Um, so more, more balanced, just, just for the sake
21:56
Speaker 2: of the line.
22:00
Speaker 3: Yeah.
22:01
Speaker 1: Um, the quarterback is a topic we could have every
22:05
Speaker 1: week when about what to do, where, um, I don't,
22:10
Speaker 1: I'm kind of with you. I don't think there's any
22:14
Speaker 1: like one or two things that we could just tweak
22:16
Speaker 1: and we'd have a good game plan. Cause the offense
22:18
Speaker 1: is so bad right now. Um, they need to be
22:21
Speaker 1: better at everything. Um, so that game that came to mind, um,
22:28
Speaker 1: as I was thinking while you were talking was, I
22:30
Speaker 1: think it was the Mitchell Trubisky year, uh, where we opened,
22:34
Speaker 1: we opened the year in Cincinnati and, um, the Steelers
22:39
Speaker 1: did end up winning in overtime, but I think we
22:45
Speaker 1: had Joe Burrow and the, I think we had forced
22:49
Speaker 1: five turnovers or something ridiculous like that. And the Bengals'
22:54
Speaker 1: long snapper got hurt, so there was a couple missed
22:57
Speaker 1: field goals or blocked field goals on both sides, but
23:01
Speaker 1: especially on theirs.
23:05
Speaker 2: I remember that game.
23:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, so not saying I'm wishing any injuries on anyone here,
23:10
Speaker 1: but I just think for the Steelers to get a win,
23:13
Speaker 1: it's going to have to be some sort of cluster
23:15
Speaker 1: like that game was, where we're having to force multiple turnovers.
23:21
Speaker 1: A defensive touchdown or two would be nice, because Lord
23:23
Speaker 1: knows the offense might not get one. And just go
23:29
Speaker 1: from there. I mean, literally the only saving grace I
23:33
Speaker 1: have that I can think of right now is that
23:36
Speaker 1: the Bengals' defense is better, but it's not great. And
23:40
Speaker 1: by better, I mean better compared to last year.
23:42
Speaker 2: So....
23:46
Speaker 1: If the line starts protecting and if Rogers stops getting
23:51
Speaker 1: sacked and can get the throw off. And if his
23:54
Speaker 1: receivers start catching all the balls that are reasonable to catch,
23:59
Speaker 1: then yeah, they could probably win. I just don't think
24:02
Speaker 1: all that's going to happen. Um, so, and the Bengals
24:08
Speaker 1: defensive line has been much more improved this year too.
24:10
Speaker 1: So going up against our struggling offensive line, it could
24:14
Speaker 1: get ugly.
24:15
Speaker 3: Um, Yeah, did you see how Dexter Lawrence, like, last week,
24:21
Speaker 3: he just was blowing things up.
24:23
Speaker 1: Yes.
24:25
Speaker 3: They got a lot of flack for sending a top-ten
24:28
Speaker 3: pick for a veteran that they had to pay top
24:32
Speaker 3: of the money, market money for him.
24:35
Speaker 2: But, you know, they.
24:38
Speaker 3: Have the team pieces that that was an aggressive move.
24:42
Speaker 2: That I thought was pretty admirable.
24:45
Speaker 1: And, you know.
24:47
Speaker 3: kudos for them from recognizing where their weakness was and
24:53
Speaker 3: not just making minor improvements. They were very, you know,
24:58
Speaker 3: meticulous about how they had to make it happen.
25:01
Speaker 2: And, and they've really shown improvement. That's why beginning of
25:05
Speaker 2: the season, I, when we were doing.
25:06
Speaker 3: Our preview, I, I thought bangles were the team to
25:10
Speaker 3: beat in our division. Um, and I think they've through
25:13
Speaker 3: two weeks, they've shown it, especially beating, uh, a really.
25:17
Speaker 2: Good Texans team. Um, you know, so, you.
25:23
Speaker 3: Know, we'll, we'll see what happens, but you know, I, I,
25:28
Speaker 3: if we thought last week was ugly, I, I could
25:31
Speaker 3: see this one just turning off that halfway through the third.
25:35
Speaker 2: Quarter, man.
25:37
Speaker 1: I mean, that's what I did. Not through the third.
25:39
Speaker 1: I think it was the fourth when I turned this
25:41
Speaker 1: last week off. Um, but no, I, I don't blame you.
25:46
Speaker 1: My logic is I'm not going to waste my time
25:48
Speaker 1: if they don't care. The Dexter Lawrence thing is interesting
25:53
Speaker 1: too because we've criticized the Bengals quite a bit over
25:58
Speaker 1: the years, and I'd say fairly. But to their credit
26:03
Speaker 1: in this case, you're exactly right. They had a glaring
26:05
Speaker 1: weakness and the logic was, we've got this top 10 pick,
26:11
Speaker 1: we can use it, or we can get trade it
26:14
Speaker 1: and get a known commodity again that's kind of not
26:18
Speaker 1: kind of it's exactly what the steelers did with the
26:20
Speaker 1: minga fitzpatrick trade several years ago too.
26:23
Speaker 2: Um yeah it worked out well for.
26:25
Speaker 1: Us you know yeah it did um so you have
26:28
Speaker 1: to at least give them credit for like you said
26:31
Speaker 1: here's the weakness if nothing else we're at least gonna
26:34
Speaker 1: try to attack that head-on right and try to fix
26:37
Speaker 1: that um so they, they did absolutely. It's at least again,
26:43
Speaker 1: it's a small sample size. We're two games in, but
26:45
Speaker 1: it looks like they, they made the right decision there. Um,
26:50
Speaker 1: so that's what I would look for. I mean, we've
26:54
Speaker 1: talked about a lot of things going wrong with the
26:56
Speaker 1: Steelers offense, but frankly, if you don't have a line,
26:59
Speaker 1: the rest of it doesn't matter anyway. So that's, that's
27:03
Speaker 1: where the game's going to be made. So, I don't.
27:06
Speaker 3: Know tying it a little bit back to what you
27:09
Speaker 3: said about Broderick Jones. I mean, this, this was like
27:11
Speaker 3: the confusing point of like, why, why are we, okay.
27:16
Speaker 2: Why are we trading? Are we trying to win this year?
27:21
Speaker 2: Are we trying to rebuild?
27:23
Speaker 3: Because if you, if you're trading out parts, like you
27:27
Speaker 3: did for Broderick Jones and accumulating draft capital, That makes sense,
27:33
Speaker 3: but as we saw when Troy went down during the
27:36
Speaker 3: Falcons game and all of a sudden we had to
27:38
Speaker 3: change three different guys.
27:42
Speaker 2: Just for that one play he was out. We had
27:44
Speaker 2: to trade three.
27:46
Speaker 3: Different positions out to shuffle that line because we don't
27:49
Speaker 3: have depth behind them to just plug and play one guy.
27:54
Speaker 3: I mean, this is the perplexing thing about what our
27:57
Speaker 3: front office and coaching staff are doing.
28:00
Speaker 2: Like, why... you know, if it were one of those
28:05
Speaker 2: things like, oh.
28:06
Speaker 3: Some guy's struggling, let's throw Broderick back out there, that
28:11
Speaker 3: would have been an option. But now we don't even
28:13
Speaker 3: have that ability to.
28:16
Speaker 2: And.
28:17
Speaker 3: But I still don't think that we're built for a
28:20
Speaker 3: 27 season either.
28:21
Speaker 2: So, again, this is.
28:24
Speaker 3: I have been, like, bemoaning this part for a long, like,
28:29
Speaker 3: maybe five years now.
28:30
Speaker 2: Like....
28:32
Speaker 3: Are we going to rebuild or are we going for
28:34
Speaker 3: a Super Bowl? And if you're not doing either of them,
28:38
Speaker 3: then you're losing in this league. And right now.
28:41
Speaker 2: I think we're losing.
28:43
Speaker 1: Not to get too existential on us, but I think
28:48
Speaker 1: they've been trying to kind of rebuild without blowing everything
28:53
Speaker 1: up and taking those linemen one at a time so
28:56
Speaker 1: that they've got everything in place to, at some point, presumably...
29:01
Speaker 1: get the quarterback of the future. The problem is not
29:06
Speaker 1: all of the draft picks have panned out. Again, using
29:10
Speaker 1: Broderick Jones, whether it's his fault or someone else's or what,
29:14
Speaker 1: he's not here anymore. And he was a first round
29:16
Speaker 1: draft pick less than four years ago. And I think
29:20
Speaker 1: we talked about that stat a few weeks ago that
29:22
Speaker 1: we've only got one first round draft pick on the
29:25
Speaker 1: roster from like TJ Watt to like three years ago. Um,
29:32
Speaker 1: they just, we don't get them to stick around. So
29:35
Speaker 1: I won't bemoan that point. But yeah. I'm not sure
29:40
Speaker 1: what's worse. The fact that they didn't blow it up
29:45
Speaker 1: to rebuild. Or they tried to be more conservative. And
29:47
Speaker 1: it still didn't work. But we'll cross that bridge when
29:51
Speaker 1: we get to it. Getting back to the Bengals though.
29:54
Speaker 1: It sounds like you and me are in the same
29:55
Speaker 1: boat here. And I think most everyone is too. Barring
29:59
Speaker 1: some miracle, the Bengals should win this game, and it
30:03
Speaker 1: probably shouldn't be very close either. Last week, the Bengals
30:09
Speaker 1: won 20-6 against the Texans. Steelers lost 20-3 to the Patriots.
30:20
Speaker 1: Because the Bengals' defense is a step back from the Patriots,
30:24
Speaker 1: I'm going to give the Steelers a whopping six points.
30:27
Speaker 1: two field goals. And I'm going to give the Bengals
30:32
Speaker 1: 27 points. 27-6 in favor of the Bengals.
30:38
Speaker 2: Margin of victory, we're pretty close. In my mind, I
30:41
Speaker 2: had 34-10. Okay. So... Yeah, I mean... It is just... Like... I.
30:57
Speaker 2: This is... I think this is what we're going to see.
31:02
Speaker 2: I mean, it's unfortunate, but this is.
31:04
Speaker 3: We're.
31:06
Speaker 2: Going to play the Falcons every week, so.
31:09
Speaker 1: And I think I mentioned it, too. The Falcons probably
31:12
Speaker 1: would have won that game if they just handed the
31:13
Speaker 1: ball off to Bijan every play.
31:17
Speaker 2: Yeah.
31:18
Speaker 1: I mean, it couldn't have gone any worse for them, right?
31:20
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, yeah, the.
31:24
Speaker 3: the guy had like almost like 200 all purpose yards
31:28
Speaker 3: or whatever.
31:28
Speaker 2: Um, so yeah, I, I don't, I would have been
31:36
Speaker 2: a bold, but great coaching strategy.
31:38
Speaker 1: So, okay. Or like, you know, 90, 10 or 80, 20%,
31:42
Speaker 1: something like that.
31:43
Speaker 2: All right.
31:45
Speaker 1: Um, so there you go. Eric and I are both
31:48
Speaker 1: negative Nancy's as well as everyone else. I think, um,
31:52
Speaker 1: So I guess the lesson is go to church on
31:54
Speaker 1: Sunday if you want the Steelers to win. You actually
32:00
Speaker 1: brought up this topic. I wouldn't really call it a
32:01
Speaker 1: fun topic, but I'm going to let you kind of
32:04
Speaker 1: describe the situation here because it's impacting actually your high school,
32:10
Speaker 1: since you were the one who brought the idea up
32:12
Speaker 1: and have full context surrounding it. There's a player in
32:17
Speaker 1: Cincinnati for elder high school that has been deemed ineligible
32:20
Speaker 1: for I believe, by the Ohio High School Athletic Association
32:24
Speaker 1: or whatever it's called. So why don't you walk us
32:27
Speaker 1: through the situation, what's going on, and we can talk
32:29
Speaker 1: about it.
32:31
Speaker 2: Yeah.
32:31
Speaker 3: So, you know, and I think it's just fitting, like,
32:35
Speaker 3: especially we're seeing everything with college and the effect of
32:39
Speaker 3: the pros and back to the college level. There is
32:43
Speaker 3: an instance now with My alma mater, Elder High School.
32:48
Speaker 3: Me and Nick both went to private high schools in Cincinnati.
32:52
Speaker 2: That's where it.
32:54
Speaker 3: Sounds pompous to say, but that's the best football in Cincinnati.
33:00
Speaker 3: It's not uncommon for public school kids to.
33:06
Speaker 2: Transfer to one of those schools.
33:08
Speaker 3: Sometimes they do it earlier in their high school career
33:11
Speaker 3: or right after grade school and then enroll with these places,
33:18
Speaker 3: but Elder, actually, my alma mater, they had this public
33:25
Speaker 3: school kid that came from King's High School. He's a
33:28
Speaker 3: wide receiver, Ball State commit, and he enrolled at Elder.
33:34
Speaker 3: And my understanding is he's been there. He's a student
33:38
Speaker 3: since day one. He's a senior now. But I guess
33:44
Speaker 3: there's a rule in the Ohio High School Sports Association
33:50
Speaker 3: bylaws that says, basically, if you transfer, then you can
33:54
Speaker 3: only play 50% of your team's season. Which, it feels
33:59
Speaker 3: like a weird thing. Like, I feel like it's either
34:03
Speaker 3: an all or nothing. I also don't know if it's, like, continuous. Like,
34:07
Speaker 3: if it was 50% when you just stacked them against the.
34:12
Speaker 2: Best games.
34:13
Speaker 3: But without digressing a little bit, I think the point
34:17
Speaker 3: I was trying to make, there's two things, you know,
34:22
Speaker 3: I do understand the, like, you don't want to shift
34:27
Speaker 3: so much, um, political or like some disadvantage. I mean,
34:31
Speaker 3: cause public schools are governed by districts.
34:35
Speaker 2: Like you have to live in that district or private.
34:39
Speaker 3: You can, this kid lives like 45 minutes away from
34:43
Speaker 3: the high school.
34:45
Speaker 2: Um, But at the same time, we're dealing with.
34:50
Speaker 3: Like, a 17- or 18-year-old kid who, you know, he's
34:53
Speaker 3: a Ball State commit, and he had four touchdowns his
34:57
Speaker 3: first week against a safety who's, I think, I forget
35:01
Speaker 3: where he's going, but I think he's going to.
35:03
Speaker 2: A Big Ten school.
35:06
Speaker 3: He has the ability to, like, if he turns in
35:09
Speaker 3: a really good ticket, he could get a better scholarship
35:13
Speaker 3: somewhere else.
35:14
Speaker 1: Yeah.
35:15
Speaker 2: To me, it just feels a little unfair to the kids.
35:19
Speaker 2: I mean, when we're.
35:20
Speaker 3: Talking about college players, you know, they're now adults, but
35:27
Speaker 3: these are people that live with their parents. They don't
35:32
Speaker 3: have a say on where they live. They don't have
35:34
Speaker 3: a say, really, even what high school they can go to.
35:37
Speaker 2: Right.
35:37
Speaker 3: Because there's no guarantee that he can even pay the tuition, so...
35:42
Speaker 3: I just think that it's an interesting concept, and I'm
35:46
Speaker 3: just kind of curious about what your thoughts are on
35:48
Speaker 3: the situation.
35:50
Speaker 1: I'm interested to know how long this rule has been
35:52
Speaker 1: in the books, because it's been a long time since
35:56
Speaker 1: we were in high school. But I seem to recall
36:00
Speaker 1: when I was a freshman at my high school, we
36:06
Speaker 1: had a guy— Same exact thing. Transfer from another school,
36:11
Speaker 1: another one of our rivals, ironically, just for senior year.
36:16
Speaker 1: And again, the optics... I don't remember the guy's name,
36:19
Speaker 1: but he was our quarterback, actually. He was.
36:26
Speaker 1: He was our quarterback, and the optics were, like, he
36:29
Speaker 1: transferred because he could start for our school.
36:33
Speaker 3: And.
36:36
Speaker 1: Maybe that really was as shallow as it was, or
36:38
Speaker 1: maybe there was a better reason. I mean, I mean, I, again,
36:43
Speaker 1: I'm very biased. Obviously it's my own school. I'd like
36:45
Speaker 1: to think that my school was better than the other
36:47
Speaker 1: school he came from, but you just, it's not often
36:50
Speaker 1: you see transfers like that. It does happen, like you said,
36:52
Speaker 1: but it's not as common, like with the transfer portal
36:55
Speaker 1: in the NCAA. But anyway, he played the entire regular season.
37:01
Speaker 1: I think he actually got benched going into the playoffs for,
37:06
Speaker 1: just for on the field of performance, not for any,
37:09
Speaker 1: you know, legality stuff. Um, so I, I, again, I
37:14
Speaker 1: say all that to say that I'm just kind of
37:16
Speaker 1: curious when this book that, or when this ruling or
37:21
Speaker 1: law or whatever statute went on the books, because if
37:26
Speaker 1: my memory serves me correctly, I, you know, I've, I've
37:29
Speaker 1: seen it happen before where the people do get to play. Um,
37:35
Speaker 1: I guess the part that confuses me is I'm inclined
37:41
Speaker 1: to agree with you. I do want to give people
37:43
Speaker 1: the benefit of the doubt. I don't want to assume
37:46
Speaker 1: that people are just transferring for playing time and jeopardizing
37:51
Speaker 1: their kids' high school education and continuity and their livelihood
37:55
Speaker 1: because of that. So for the sake of this discussion,
37:59
Speaker 1: I'll take them at their word on that. I guess
38:03
Speaker 1: where I'm coming from is how did we even get
38:05
Speaker 1: to this point where it's a surprise? If this rule
38:08
Speaker 1: is on the books and that's what the governing body
38:13
Speaker 1: ruled on, why is anyone shocked or why didn't anyone
38:18
Speaker 1: figure it out sooner, I guess? Has that come to
38:20
Speaker 1: light at all?
38:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's still unwinding. I mean, I don't know.
38:26
Speaker 3: Here's where I would be curious about. Did he get
38:33
Speaker 3: a letter this week? Or did he get a letter
38:37
Speaker 3: in June when he enrolled, right? Like, I think there's
38:42
Speaker 3: a big difference about the state saying, hey, you know,
38:48
Speaker 3: just so you know, you can only play half the season.
38:51
Speaker 2: Okay, that's fair, right?
38:53
Speaker 3: Yeah.
38:54
Speaker 2: If he gets a.
38:54
Speaker 3: Letter, like, in the middle of the season, didn't know this, like, rule, like, okay.
39:02
Speaker 2: I was a third string safety man.
39:06
Speaker 3: My parents were lining up schools for me.
39:09
Speaker 2: But, you know, at the same time, right, like parents
39:13
Speaker 2: have a lot going on.
39:14
Speaker 3: They're not going to be able to read the governing
39:18
Speaker 3: bylaws of it.
39:19
Speaker 2: And to be honest, I don't even think that high schools.
39:25
Speaker 3: Necessarily have to like there's no compliance officer.
39:28
Speaker 2: Sure. high schools, right? Like, these aren't corporations. So, I
39:36
Speaker 2: think it's like, again, I just find it unfair.
39:39
Speaker 3: This kid, I know it's my high school, so of
39:43
Speaker 3: course I'm like, and we're undefeated, right?
39:46
Speaker 2: Like, He's a good reason for it. It's just like....
39:51
Speaker 3: But I do think, like, put yourself in a 17-year-old
39:56
Speaker 3: position and.
39:57
Speaker 2: Say, this kid, he wants to.
40:00
Speaker 3: Go out there on senior night, play his heart out,
40:05
Speaker 3: you know, walk out with his friends, like his parents,
40:09
Speaker 3: play with his friends, and he now has.
40:13
Speaker 2: Been ruled ineligible.
40:16
Speaker 3: Because this is something that the NCAA should enforce, not
40:20
Speaker 3: high school athletics.
40:22
Speaker 2: It just feels so.
40:25
Speaker 3: Unnecessarily strict, just by my register of it.
40:31
Speaker 1: I haven't spent a lot of time dwelling on it,
40:34
Speaker 1: because I think the story just came out today or yesterday, really.
40:39
Speaker 1: But my initial reaction is, as long as he's the
40:44
Speaker 1: right age.
40:46
Speaker 1: I probably... Yeah, stuff like that, which is very common, too.
40:56
Speaker 1: I mean, if you're the right age, and I know
40:59
Speaker 1: there's no weight class or weight limits in high school,
41:03
Speaker 1: but you remember in grade school we had weight limits
41:05
Speaker 1: where if you were above a certain weight, you either
41:08
Speaker 1: had to play up at the next level or you
41:09
Speaker 1: couldn't play at all. And I remember my 8th grade year,
41:12
Speaker 1: we played a kid... They tried to tell one of
41:14
Speaker 1: our guys he was over the weight limit when he
41:16
Speaker 1: was like right on it. And then they had a
41:18
Speaker 1: guy rolled out who was like twice as big as him.
41:20
Speaker 1: And I'm like, you have got to be kidding me anyway.
41:25
Speaker 1: I don't really care where he goes to school. It's
41:27
Speaker 1: high school. Like I know that's a big deal in Cincinnati,
41:31
Speaker 1: but it's high school football. Come on people. Again, this
41:36
Speaker 1: is my initial reaction. If he's not, you know, a,
41:41
Speaker 1: you know, a 22-year-old who's pretending to be an 18-year-old,
41:44
Speaker 1: or a 17-year-old, and he's legally enrolled at the school, and...
41:50
Speaker 1: then fine, like, who effing cares?
41:55
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, if it were, like, um.
42:01
Speaker 2: Okay, so, like, and.
42:04
Speaker 3: I'm not saying that this doesn't happen, but, like, you know.
42:10
Speaker 2: There's a lot of money at the schools that we
42:14
Speaker 2: went to school at, right?
42:16
Speaker 3: There's a lot of donors that potentially could recruit kids.
42:23
Speaker 3: I'm not saying that happened in this instance, but what
42:26
Speaker 3: I could see more fitting of a punishment is, like,
42:30
Speaker 3: if someone were bribed.
42:34
Speaker 2: Enticed to come to a school for financial reasons. Okay, I...
42:39
Speaker 2: I can understand that.
42:41
Speaker 1: Then prove it.
42:43
Speaker 2: Just because he transferred, like, there's no, there's no muddied
42:47
Speaker 2: water about this. This is just paperwork, you know?
42:54
Speaker 1: It seems silly to me. I, I just have such
42:58
Speaker 1: a low tolerance for a lot of this stuff that
43:00
Speaker 1: goes on at the high school, and I don't know
43:03
Speaker 1: if low tolerance is even the right phrase. Like, I just,
43:05
Speaker 1: I don't know why people care so much. Like, I'm
43:09
Speaker 1: definitely proud of where I went to high school. They
43:11
Speaker 1: had an alumni event down here in Atlanta a few
43:14
Speaker 1: years ago that I went to, and I was happy
43:16
Speaker 1: to go to. Yeah, there was the football coach and
43:20
Speaker 1: one of our advancement officers or whatever, basically fundraising guys.
43:26
Speaker 1: They rented out a restaurant, had a cocktail hour for us,
43:29
Speaker 1: and allowed us to get to meet other alumni. Of course,
43:33
Speaker 1: they were asking us to make donations to a project
43:37
Speaker 1: that they were unveiling. um but i'm saying all that
43:42
Speaker 1: to say like i'm i understand that where you come
43:46
Speaker 1: from is important i'm proud of where i come from
43:48
Speaker 1: but i like see grown-ass men in their like 50s
43:55
Speaker 1: 60s 70s and older caring what a school in price
44:00
Speaker 1: hill or in finneytown does every friday night they have
44:04
Speaker 1: no connection to other than that's where they happened to
44:07
Speaker 1: go to school decades before. Like, why are we so
44:12
Speaker 1: invested in this? Just let the kid play football and
44:16
Speaker 1: you 90 year old geriatric Jerry, go do something else with,
44:21
Speaker 1: with the last 10 seconds of life you have left
44:24
Speaker 1: other than worrying about what your high school football team does.
44:29
Speaker 1: It just, anyway, you've set me off now. So thank
44:32
Speaker 1: you for that. No, no, I, I told you I
44:37
Speaker 1: didn't care, and now I'm going off about how much
44:39
Speaker 1: I don't care.
44:39
Speaker 2: Yeah.
44:42
Speaker 1: No, that's what I... Look, assuming... I'm going to take
44:45
Speaker 1: him at his word and assume that everyone had the
44:47
Speaker 1: best of intentions here. Sure, he probably wanted to transfer
44:52
Speaker 1: to this school because it's more prestigious than the one
44:55
Speaker 1: he came from. It's higher profile. We all do that
44:59
Speaker 1: anyway when we're looking for new jobs or when you're
45:02
Speaker 1: going to declare for your college or when you choose
45:04
Speaker 1: where you want to go to high school initially. just
45:08
Speaker 1: let him play. Assuming everything is true that we're talking
45:13
Speaker 1: about here, just let him play. Who cares?
45:18
Speaker 2: I don't know if it's, like, state....
45:21
Speaker 3: I don't know if it's just, like, different state rules
45:24
Speaker 3: or whatever, but, like, it happens all the time, right? Like,
45:28
Speaker 3: you hear these guys that, like, will go to, like,
45:31
Speaker 3: IMG Academy. Or, like, they'll go to these, like, basically dedicated.
45:39
Speaker 2: Superstar high schools and play. Actually, UC, our alma mater.
45:46
Speaker 3: In college, just got a commitment from someone who transferred
45:53
Speaker 3: from a public school in Cincinnati to, I don't know,
45:59
Speaker 3: he went to some academy in Indiana, and then he
46:03
Speaker 3: had his announcement at the Cincinnati school and I don't
46:11
Speaker 3: think he had any ineligibility issues and like I don't
46:16
Speaker 3: know if it's because he went over state lines or
46:18
Speaker 3: whatever but like it's just weird to me right.
46:22
Speaker 1: Like why is this where they're putting their foot down well.
46:27
Speaker 3: It's just like it's confusing right like I feel like
46:29
Speaker 3: you hear it it's not uncommon to hear like four
46:36
Speaker 3: or five star recruits just transferring out their senior or
46:41
Speaker 3: junior year to go up their competition before they go
46:46
Speaker 3: to Florida, go to Ohio State, go to USC.
46:50
Speaker 2: I don't know. It's just weird to....
46:58
Speaker 3: I'm no law expert, but at the same.
47:00
Speaker 2: Time, we're talking about.
47:04
Speaker 3: And I feel like you could talk about this too,
47:08
Speaker 3: the head football coach at Elder.
47:11
Speaker 2: Is, he's a teacher.
47:14
Speaker 3: Like, we're not talking about, like, these are full-time head
47:18
Speaker 3: coaches that are making, like, millions of dollars.
47:22
Speaker 2: I'm sure, like, they're getting compensated.
47:25
Speaker 3: Well in addition to their services as a coach, but, like,
47:31
Speaker 3: you know, these guys have a full-time job in addition.
47:35
Speaker 2: To their, like, coaching. So it's, like, it feels, like, again,
47:41
Speaker 2: unfair to, like, ask somebody to, like.
47:45
Speaker 3: Govern themselves so much to know all these bylaws and
47:49
Speaker 3: stuff like that.
47:50
Speaker 2: Right. I don't know.
47:54
Speaker 1: I'm with you. It seems odd, but I did read that, um.
48:00
Speaker 1: And again, it's just like the tagline was that he's
48:03
Speaker 1: going to have to pursue legal action to overturn it.
48:06
Speaker 1: And I just don't know. I don't know how feasible
48:09
Speaker 1: that is for him personally.
48:12
Speaker 2: You know, the weird development, I saw this. I don't
48:17
Speaker 2: know if it followed through, but.
48:19
Speaker 3: I saw he was cleared to play today or he
48:21
Speaker 3: will play today. I was like, is it because they
48:27
Speaker 3: did file a lawsuit?
48:28
Speaker 2: And then they can't. keep them from playing and then
48:33
Speaker 2: what does that happen if like.
48:36
Speaker 3: So me and Nick's alma mater are playing tonight like
48:40
Speaker 3: what happens if they win any plays and now they're
48:43
Speaker 3: a little bit ineligible like do they vacate.
48:46
Speaker 2: That win like I don't even know what even steps
48:50
Speaker 2: for this you know like.
48:53
Speaker 3: Uh nothing so it's also confusing to me.
48:59
Speaker 1: My dad um told me that um My high school
49:03
Speaker 1: did go to the state championship last year and they lost.
49:07
Speaker 1: And I guess supposedly they found out that at least
49:11
Speaker 1: one of the players on the other team was technically ineligible.
49:14
Speaker 1: I don't know what that means. I don't know if
49:17
Speaker 1: it was an age thing or if it was something
49:19
Speaker 1: kind of like this. I don't know. Again, I don't
49:22
Speaker 1: care enough to follow up on, but nothing happened. It's
49:27
Speaker 1: not like they vacated the title or anything and gave
49:29
Speaker 1: it to us.
49:30
Speaker 3: Yeah.
49:32
Speaker 2: That.
49:34
Speaker 3: Yeah.
49:35
Speaker 2: I mean, look, I.
49:37
Speaker 3: I have a soft spot in their heart because I played.
49:42
Speaker 2: For my alma mater. We went to state and lost. So, like,
49:50
Speaker 2: I'm not just some... Actually, I talk about this with, like,
49:53
Speaker 2: some of... I told this.
49:56
Speaker 1: To my wife.
49:57
Speaker 3: I was like, it's really annoying to, like, listen to
50:00
Speaker 3: some people talk about football when they never played football.
50:04
Speaker 2: Like.
50:07
Speaker 3: So I was the only kid on my extended side
50:11
Speaker 3: to play football. And then my cousins talk about football.
50:17
Speaker 3: And I'm not saying that they don't watch a lot
50:20
Speaker 3: of football. But they've never strapped on a helmet and
50:23
Speaker 3: got hit.
50:25
Speaker 2: Ever? It's really interesting.
50:27
Speaker 1: Yeah.
50:28
Speaker 2: Never. They never played grade school football. Wow. We played
50:33
Speaker 2: in the front yard. You know? But, like, it's different.
50:38
Speaker 1: Mm-hmm.
50:39
Speaker 3: And so it's just, like, it's funny because, like, you know,
50:47
Speaker 3: I really stink at fantasy football.
50:50
Speaker 2: Really stink. I can't do it, but you get me
50:54
Speaker 2: in a pick-em's league, and I'll dominate because I know football.
50:59
Speaker 2: I don't know how to analytically.
51:02
Speaker 3: piece together a bunch of stats with players arbitrarily like
51:07
Speaker 3: how they'll be utilized but I know which teams will
51:11
Speaker 3: win as a team um so you know it again
51:18
Speaker 3: this just kind of goes into like there's a bunch
51:22
Speaker 3: like you were saying there's a bunch of people that
51:24
Speaker 3: are going to be like all about it geriatric.
51:28
Speaker 2: Juries you know back in my day They've.
51:31
Speaker 3: Never even played. And they've never skimmed the game. And
51:36
Speaker 3: I'm bringing this back to say, I was an 18-year-old
51:42
Speaker 3: kid that that was like part of the highlight of
51:45
Speaker 3: my high school career was like, you know, I'm not
51:50
Speaker 3: a like peaked in high school guy, but that was
51:53
Speaker 3: my peak in high school, right?
51:55
Speaker 2: Like going to state. Yeah.
51:58
Speaker 3: Like, you know, now you're, you're, you're going to take
52:02
Speaker 3: away this kid's opportunity journey for that, his.
52:06
Speaker 2: Opportunity for that. So I just think that that part
52:09
Speaker 2: of it is unfair, right?
52:11
Speaker 3: You know, I just, so I'll leave it there.
52:17
Speaker 1: So I will tell you, and I think I've shared
52:19
Speaker 1: this story on the podcast before, but, uh, I vividly
52:23
Speaker 1: remember you going to the, uh, state championship game, because
52:27
Speaker 1: that was your senior year. It was my junior year.
52:31
Speaker 1: And Eric's team played a school called St. Ignatius out
52:36
Speaker 1: of Cleveland. And they are technically... They were good. They
52:42
Speaker 1: were good, and they're technically like a... They call them
52:45
Speaker 1: a sister school because they're another Jesuit all-boys high school.
52:51
Speaker 1: There's been some teachers that have taught at both locations.
52:55
Speaker 1: from my high school and that high school. And they
52:58
Speaker 1: do play every year. So there's a lot of connection there.
53:04
Speaker 1: And Eric's high school is actually, I would say, our
53:07
Speaker 1: high school's biggest rival.
53:09
Speaker 2: I was wondering if you would say us or Moeller.
53:13
Speaker 3: Because you guys probably.
53:17
Speaker 2: Recruit from the same pool a little bit more than Moeller.
53:21
Speaker 1: I probably wouldn't have even put Moeller up there. I
53:23
Speaker 1: would have put it. probably LaSalle just from being in the,
53:26
Speaker 1: you know, same road. Um, but, um, anyway, I remember
53:32
Speaker 1: junior year in Spanish class, not really sure why it
53:36
Speaker 1: was Spanish class, but Mr. Meyer was my teacher and
53:38
Speaker 1: he was asking who everyone wanted to win. And everyone
53:42
Speaker 1: in the class, every single person said, St. Ignatius, except
53:47
Speaker 1: for one. And it was me. And I was very clear, like,
53:54
Speaker 1: You know, I'm from the West side. I have a
53:57
Speaker 1: lot of friends on that team. I believe Mark was the, um,
54:01
Speaker 1: was the quarterback. So I knew Mark, obviously I was
54:05
Speaker 1: more so thinking of you. Um, but I'm like, they're
54:08
Speaker 1: my friends. I want them to have, I, you know,
54:11
Speaker 1: I want them to have it. And I got, I
54:15
Speaker 1: don't want to say reamed, but he like, he embarrassed
54:18
Speaker 1: me in a, like a teasing way. He didn't like
54:20
Speaker 1: make me cry or anything, but he, He made me
54:23
Speaker 1: go back and forth. Huh?
54:25
Speaker 2: The teacher did?
54:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, this was the teacher. Oh, my God. He was
54:31
Speaker 1: a great teacher, by the way, so I don't want
54:33
Speaker 1: anyone to think that I'm complaining about him. He was
54:35
Speaker 1: a very funny guy. He was very big on mission
54:38
Speaker 1: trips and the Jesuits and St. Ignatius and St. Xavier.
54:43
Speaker 1: So that's why he was hounding on that. But yeah,
54:46
Speaker 1: I do remember that he very distinctly made me We
54:49
Speaker 1: had to go back and forth for several times until
54:52
Speaker 1: I begrudgingly said St. Ignatius.
54:55
Speaker 3: What even is a Jesuit?
55:00
Speaker 1: It's a sect of priests or an order within the
55:03
Speaker 1: Catholic Church. Kind of like, you've got Franciscans, you've got Dominicans,
55:07
Speaker 1: and there's Jesuits.
55:10
Speaker 2: And it's funny, like, growing up, being Catholic... Being Christian.
55:18
Speaker 2: I was in religion class and took all those tests
55:21
Speaker 2: for like 12 years.
55:23
Speaker 3: And like, I still feel like I'm so uneducated about it.
55:28
Speaker 1: Well, if you start going to church on Sundays again,
55:31
Speaker 1: you will become educated and the Steelers will start winning again.
55:34
Speaker 2: So there you go. I forget what rapper said, but
55:41
Speaker 2: if you're scared, go to church.
55:44
Speaker 1: And on that note, I think we should wrap things up.
55:49
Speaker 1: Was there anything else you wanted to touch on before
55:50
Speaker 1: we signed off for the day?
55:51
Speaker 2: Let's do it. Cool.
55:54
Speaker 3: All right.
55:55
Speaker 1: Well, hopefully we are wrong. Hopefully the Steelers surprise us
55:58
Speaker 1: and they get a win. But regardless of what happens,
56:01
Speaker 1: we will be back next week to break it all down.
56:04
Speaker 1: For the world-famous accountant Eric Vamenschoten, I am Nick DiTullio,
56:08
Speaker 1: and this has been another episode of TheGameHouse.com's Steelers Country Weekly.