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OPPOSITION TERRITORY: Eagles vs. Steelers, Week 15 Pregame Preview · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

0:00
Speaker 1: What's going on, everybody. It's Jeff.
0:02
Speaker 2: I wanted to let you know that we recorded this
0:04
Speaker 2: podcast episode on Tuesday, December tenth, twenty twenty four. By
0:07
Speaker 2: the time you hear this, some things may have changed
0:09
Speaker 2: here or there, but we hope you enjoy the show.
0:28
Speaker 2: Welcome to Opposition Territory here at the Philadelphia Sports Table
0:31
Speaker 2: podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show
0:34
Speaker 2: in the world, eleven and a half year strong. We
0:37
Speaker 2: got a great discussion coming your way this week as
0:39
Speaker 2: we preview the Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers game that's
0:44
Speaker 2: going to be happening this Sunday down at the Link
0:47
Speaker 2: in Philadelphia. Two teams that have been playing pretty good football.
0:53
Speaker 2: We've got the eleven and two Philadelphia Eagles the ten
0:56
Speaker 2: and three Pittsburgh Steelers. The Pittsburgh Steelers have not won
1:01
Speaker 2: in Philadelphia since nineteen sixty five. Can they break that streak?
1:06
Speaker 2: I'm not sure about that. It depends on how this
1:08
Speaker 2: Eagles offense plays, especially after what we saw last week
1:12
Speaker 2: against the Carolina Panthers. There's a lot of questions We're
1:15
Speaker 2: going to get into what to expect from the Pittsburgh
1:17
Speaker 2: Steelers on this Opposition Territory Pod before this week's game.
1:21
Speaker 1: Let's get right to it.
1:22
Speaker 2: Joining us this week from the Steel Curtain Network. They
1:26
Speaker 2: are doing great work over there. You can find them
1:28
Speaker 2: on the Twitter slash x at STLR super fan Dad.
1:32
Speaker 2: We have got the one and only Dave Schofield. Dave Buddy,
1:35
Speaker 2: how you doing man.
1:36
Speaker 3: Hey, it's nice to be back. I enjoyed coming on
1:38
Speaker 3: to preview the season earlier. Yeah, it seems forever ago now,
1:42
Speaker 3: it really does. Don't get these matchups very often. I mean,
1:46
Speaker 3: we were lucky we had that in between matchup two
1:49
Speaker 3: years ago, so that's kind of nice. But Steelers Eagles
1:53
Speaker 3: seems like that's something that should happen more than ever
1:54
Speaker 3: for you.
1:55
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
1:55
Speaker 2: Look, it's a rich history with both teams and the
1:59
Speaker 2: way that both teams have just been representing various parts
2:03
Speaker 2: of Pennsylvania for so many years. I mean, I love
2:06
Speaker 2: these matchups, I really do. And look the Steelers they
2:09
Speaker 2: are entering, I think what is the and a lot
2:12
Speaker 2: of folks think it is as well. Their most challenging
2:14
Speaker 2: stretch of the season. Here, Dave, They're gonna be playing
2:17
Speaker 2: three games within an eleven day stretch against three of
2:20
Speaker 2: the NFL's top teams. Here, they're gonna be in Philly,
2:23
Speaker 2: where they haven't won since nineteen sixty five. I mentioned
2:26
Speaker 2: that in the intro, So I really want to kind
2:29
Speaker 2: of start off the discussion with regard to the Steelers
2:31
Speaker 2: offensive side of the ball, because it appears that this
2:35
Speaker 2: offense maybe without George Pickens since he's been dealing with
2:38
Speaker 2: a hamstring injury missed this past week. How big of
2:42
Speaker 2: a concern is it possibly not having George Pickens on
2:45
Speaker 2: the field this coming Sunday in Philly, it's a concern.
2:49
Speaker 3: I mean, he is the most dynamic playmaker that the
2:54
Speaker 3: Steelers have on offense. So you take him out of
2:57
Speaker 3: the mix, it's not like you're going to be a
2:59
Speaker 3: strong team. But it doesn't mean that you can't try
3:03
Speaker 3: to find a silver lining somewhere. And for Steelers fans,
3:06
Speaker 3: it's actually not as much about this matchup against the
3:09
Speaker 3: Eagles as it is can the other wide receivers and
3:14
Speaker 3: just or even tight ends or even running backs everything
3:18
Speaker 3: throughout the offense. Can they come together and still perform
3:22
Speaker 3: well without George Pickens, then that's just going to make
3:24
Speaker 3: them even stronger with George Pickens. I think this is
3:28
Speaker 3: also could give a little bit more boost of maybe
3:31
Speaker 3: expedite the process of getting him more involved with Mike Williams.
3:36
Speaker 3: So there could be positives regardless of the outcome of
3:39
Speaker 3: the game for Steelers fans by not having Pickens. It's
3:42
Speaker 3: one of those things of hey, if we can get
3:44
Speaker 3: through the stretch without somebody, when they come back, you're
3:47
Speaker 3: just stronger.
3:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, And I mean I do wonder where where
3:51
Speaker 2: the receptions are going to go. I mean, George Pickens,
3:54
Speaker 2: you know, as a decent amount of receptions per week,
3:58
Speaker 2: you know, up until the injury. I mean, is it
4:01
Speaker 2: do you think they're going to go to other receipts?
4:03
Speaker 2: I mean Pat Fryermouth, do you think he is going
4:05
Speaker 2: to be getting some more receptions because as we know
4:07
Speaker 2: with Pat and I'm a I'm a Penn State guy,
4:09
Speaker 2: he did it at Penn State, going up to the
4:10
Speaker 2: catch point, bringing those balls down. It's one of his specialties.
4:14
Speaker 1: What do you think in.
4:15
Speaker 2: Terms of like where the passes are actually going to
4:17
Speaker 2: go this week?
4:17
Speaker 3: From russ Well to me, the answer is kind of
4:22
Speaker 3: you can look back to this past week against the
4:24
Speaker 3: Browns and try to get that answer, and that answer
4:27
Speaker 3: is everywhere.
4:29
Speaker 1: Every okay to be more involved, right, I mean he.
4:33
Speaker 3: Had three catches for forty eight yards last week in
4:35
Speaker 3: a touchdown, but it was on three targets.
4:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, he.
4:39
Speaker 3: Had three targets. Nobody was targeted more than five times.
4:42
Speaker 3: Jalen Warren, you know, the the other running back, five targets. Yeah,
4:48
Speaker 3: that was the most it was spread around. It was
4:50
Speaker 3: it was four to this guy, four to that guy.
4:53
Speaker 3: I mean, my goodness, poor Scotty Miller was in street
4:56
Speaker 3: clothes in the locker room only to find out that hey,
5:00
Speaker 3: you're going to be active today, right right, you better
5:03
Speaker 3: get going. And then he comes out and gets four targets,
5:05
Speaker 3: three catches thirty eight yards, beautiful toe tapping catch on
5:09
Speaker 3: the sideline which kind of look like what George Minkins
5:12
Speaker 3: would have done. Yeah, so it's going to have to
5:14
Speaker 3: come from everywhere, which to me, that's one of those
5:18
Speaker 3: things that I say, I don't know that it helps
5:20
Speaker 3: the Steelers at all against the Philadelphia Eagles, but down
5:23
Speaker 3: the road, if you can get more balance and everything
5:26
Speaker 3: from your wide receivers, well or not just wide receivers,
5:29
Speaker 3: all your pass catchers, then that's going to be a
5:32
Speaker 3: better thing. I think it's going to be really tough
5:34
Speaker 3: for him this week in Philly, but that doesn't mean
5:38
Speaker 3: that you still can't take something good from it going ahead.
5:42
Speaker 3: So I don't look for any one person to all
5:44
Speaker 3: of a sudden be like, oh wow, they got seven
5:45
Speaker 3: or eight targets. If they do, it's going to be
5:47
Speaker 3: completely match up related and not necessarily based on who
5:51
Speaker 3: their best receiving option is.
5:53
Speaker 2: Well, Dave, you mentioned a word and it's a great
5:56
Speaker 2: segue into this next topic, and that word is balance,
5:59
Speaker 2: Because there's a reason why the Steelers are number three
6:03
Speaker 2: in the AFC at this point. I mean, they've been
6:05
Speaker 2: very successful offensively. Russell Wilson is playing at a very
6:10
Speaker 2: high level. But I wonder, you know, what have you
6:12
Speaker 2: been seeing, Like what has the balance been from the
6:16
Speaker 2: rushing attack and the passing game? What does it really
6:18
Speaker 2: look like for the Steelers during this latter part of
6:21
Speaker 2: the season. Things are working, of course for them, but
6:23
Speaker 2: from a balance perspective, rushing the ball, passing the ball,
6:27
Speaker 2: what have you been seeing?
6:29
Speaker 3: Well, bottom line is balance, as described by the wonderful
6:33
Speaker 3: head coach Mike Tomlin. I can say that as a
6:35
Speaker 3: Steelers fan because there's a number of Steelers fans that
6:37
Speaker 3: don't still don't think that, even after everything that's going on.
6:41
Speaker 1: But that's just crazy, Yes it is.
6:44
Speaker 3: That's just crazy talk. But as coach Tomlin has said before,
6:48
Speaker 3: balance isn't always doing the same number of things throughout
6:52
Speaker 3: the game. Yeah, it's your ability to call on both
6:56
Speaker 3: things at any time throughout the game. You can have
6:58
Speaker 3: a balanced attack. It's still seventy percent passing thirty percent
7:02
Speaker 3: running if you're able to do them both successfully whenever
7:06
Speaker 3: you need to call on them or switch the numbers.
7:09
Speaker 3: Bottom line is is the Steelers have done better when
7:13
Speaker 3: they're in situations where you don't know if they're going
7:17
Speaker 3: to run or pass. And I don't think they've put
7:19
Speaker 3: themselves in situations over the past several seasons that have
7:23
Speaker 3: done that, whether it be game situations or under previous coordinators,
7:28
Speaker 3: obvious personnel packages and formations that the other team knows
7:33
Speaker 3: if you're going to pass or run, and honestly, having
7:38
Speaker 3: a NFL caliber quarterback that both the coaching staff feels
7:42
Speaker 3: comfortable with and they feel comfortable themselves to be able
7:45
Speaker 3: to switch out of things at the line of scrimmage
7:48
Speaker 3: to get the right call against the right defense. The
7:50
Speaker 3: Steelers haven't had that for years. They haven't had it
7:52
Speaker 3: since Ben Roethlisberg. They really haven't. So the ability to
7:56
Speaker 3: actually attack the other team's weaknesses is really what I
8:00
Speaker 3: would call the balance of the Steelers, whether it be
8:03
Speaker 3: running the ball or passing the ball, or as they
8:07
Speaker 3: did primarily against the Cincinnati Bengals when they put up
8:10
Speaker 3: five hundred and twenty yards of offense, getting the running
8:13
Speaker 3: backs involved in the short passing game and the dump
8:15
Speaker 3: off in the I mean, my goodness, they had more
8:17
Speaker 3: YAK yards in that game than any team has had
8:19
Speaker 3: all season, right, right, Well, I don't know about last week.
8:22
Speaker 3: I didn't pay enough attention to the other games last
8:24
Speaker 3: week to know if they if if that got beaten
8:26
Speaker 3: or not. But those kind of things where you can
8:29
Speaker 3: almost call on anything at any time is really nice
8:34
Speaker 3: from an offensive to standpoint. And you know who hates
8:36
Speaker 3: it people that do fantasy football.
8:38
Speaker 1: Absolutely yes, So you have no idea.
8:41
Speaker 3: You can't bank on anyone for the Steelers, but Curry
8:44
Speaker 3: don't call on whoever they need to or whichever style
8:47
Speaker 3: they need to at any.
8:48
Speaker 2: Time, right, Which is going to be so interesting against
8:50
Speaker 2: the Philadelphia Eagles, team and a defense that's giving up
8:53
Speaker 2: just a little over fifteen points per game. This Eagles
8:56
Speaker 2: defense still very prolific. They held the Panther then I
8:59
Speaker 2: know it's the pan, but still held the Panthers to
9:02
Speaker 2: sixteen points. So the defense has remained consistent for the Eagles.
9:06
Speaker 2: And you know, we kind of talked a little bit
9:07
Speaker 2: before the you know, before we hit the record button.
9:10
Speaker 2: You know, this Eagles team on a nine game win
9:12
Speaker 2: streak gets tough to do that in the NFL. And
9:15
Speaker 2: you know, part of me feels like Eagles are due
9:17
Speaker 2: for a loss. What does that mean for the Eagles defense?
9:20
Speaker 2: What does it mean for the Steelers offense? But you know,
9:23
Speaker 2: I think as we what we look to the Steelers
9:25
Speaker 2: defense here, I mean they've they've been playing on all
9:29
Speaker 2: cylinders as of late as well. So I mean over
9:32
Speaker 2: the past six weeks, the Steelers team is five and one,
9:36
Speaker 2: and the defense has been a great compliment to the
9:39
Speaker 2: offense from everything that I have seen from the eye test.
9:42
Speaker 1: So, Dave, I'm wondering, how has.
9:43
Speaker 2: The secondary itself in a passing league? How has the
9:46
Speaker 2: secondary looked as they're going to be going up against
9:49
Speaker 2: some pretty good receivers in aj Brown and DeVante Smith,
9:52
Speaker 2: what are your thoughts here?
9:53
Speaker 3: Okay, Well, it comes strictly to the Steelers secondary. That's
9:57
Speaker 3: a really good question because it it really does very
10:01
Speaker 3: week to week now. A lot of Steelers fans are
10:04
Speaker 3: very upset. Where's micka Fitzpatrick bins he's disappeared. He had
10:07
Speaker 3: no takeaways last year when he was injured, and none
10:09
Speaker 3: so far this year. Well, when teams are avoiding him
10:12
Speaker 3: and they all exactly if you look at it, I mean,
10:15
Speaker 3: if the Eagles are like, oh oh, it's just Micky Fitzpatrick.
10:17
Speaker 3: If they think they're going to go out there and
10:18
Speaker 3: do that, that's when he's going to then end up
10:21
Speaker 3: getting a takeaway.
10:22
Speaker 2: Right, So we're dealing with the same thing. By the way,
10:24
Speaker 2: Dave with one Quinnon Mitchell. You know, people are like,
10:27
Speaker 2: when's he gonna get his first interception here? When's that
10:30
Speaker 2: gonna happen. It's like they're staying away from him. Teams
10:32
Speaker 2: are staying away from same with Miga Fitzpatrick.
10:34
Speaker 3: Yeah, and so therefore he's getting that that criticism. But
10:39
Speaker 3: really he's running this defense. Yeah, I mean he's in
10:42
Speaker 3: the coaches room and everything with figuring out all these things.
10:46
Speaker 3: He's he's really something else, although you're not really noticing
10:51
Speaker 3: him a lot on the field when you're just watching
10:54
Speaker 3: the regular game. But so he's someone who really he
10:58
Speaker 3: brings a lot. He effect things, but he doesn't really
11:01
Speaker 3: stand out. Joey Porter Jr. You know, here's another Penn
11:05
Speaker 3: State guy for you. He said this, Joey Porter Jr.
11:10
Speaker 3: His game is it's changed so much since when he
11:14
Speaker 3: first came into the league. And the biggest thing is
11:17
Speaker 3: is that dude could not tackle or helping the run
11:19
Speaker 3: game at all.
11:19
Speaker 1: Right right in Pittsburgh.
11:21
Speaker 3: Is he's one of their best tacklers and great and
11:24
Speaker 3: run support. Now he really stepped up to the challenge there. Now,
11:28
Speaker 3: the problem that Steelers fans are having is what about
11:31
Speaker 3: all these penalties. We saw six flags thrown on him,
11:34
Speaker 3: and I'm not talking about the amusement part. He had six,
11:37
Speaker 3: they weren't all accepted. Only four were accepted penalties. Two
11:40
Speaker 3: were on the same play against the Bengals. Now, coach
11:45
Speaker 3: Tomlin answered that by saying, hey, he was doing what
11:49
Speaker 3: we asked of him. His analogy was when you play shack,
11:52
Speaker 3: you use all your fouls. Yeah, and that's how he
11:55
Speaker 3: was comparing t Higgins. And that's what's going to be
11:58
Speaker 3: really interesting with what the Steelers do in the secondary
12:01
Speaker 3: because even though Joey Porter Junior is their number one corner,
12:05
Speaker 3: they they won't always necessarily match him up on the
12:09
Speaker 3: number one receiver of the other team. They look for
12:12
Speaker 3: the best matchup. For example, Joey Porter Junior was more
12:16
Speaker 3: against T. Higgins than he was Jamar Chase just because
12:20
Speaker 3: you could you could put him in Higgins out there together,
12:23
Speaker 3: and then Chase, you could, you could offer some help
12:26
Speaker 3: to that. So it'll be really interesting with between Brown
12:30
Speaker 3: and Smith exactly how the Steelers are going to handle that.
12:34
Speaker 3: I mean, Dante Jackson, he gets dinged up about every game.
12:37
Speaker 3: Found out this week that he was actually sick in
12:40
Speaker 3: the last game, as well as why he left and
12:42
Speaker 3: didn't come back. He's been a great addition. When that,
12:45
Speaker 3: you know, Dante Jackson for Deontay Johnson trade, people were like,
12:48
Speaker 3: what are they thinking? And I think the Steelers probably
12:51
Speaker 3: could have got him without having to trade, but that
12:53
Speaker 3: was one of those you know, addition through subtraction and
12:56
Speaker 3: then let's bring in a guy and he's being a
12:58
Speaker 3: number two guy, He's thrived as being the number two guy.
13:02
Speaker 3: Then you have versatility in Cam Sutton, who's now back
13:06
Speaker 3: into the mix after his suspension, and that he can
13:08
Speaker 3: play safety, corner, inside, outside, you never know where. He's
13:11
Speaker 3: going to be the weak spot for the Steelers for
13:14
Speaker 3: a while in the secondary had been Beanie Bishop, the
13:16
Speaker 3: undrafted rookie out of West Virginia, and then when teams
13:19
Speaker 3: tried to pick on him, he's getting game winning interceptions.
13:23
Speaker 3: So it's kind of one of those things that it's
13:26
Speaker 3: not I don't I wouldn't call the Steelers secondary infallible,
13:30
Speaker 3: but they've been managing to get the job done week
13:33
Speaker 3: after week, and sometimes even when people look at it like, oh,
13:36
Speaker 3: they gave up all these yards to the Bengals, well,
13:40
Speaker 3: they still gave up less yards of what the Bengals
13:42
Speaker 3: usually get. So it's not always about shutting down. It's
13:47
Speaker 3: about slowing down exactly.
13:48
Speaker 1: So Ben, but don't break, Ben but don't break well.
13:51
Speaker 3: And honestly, a lot of the yards with the Steelers,
13:55
Speaker 3: it drives me nuts that and they started this even
13:58
Speaker 3: in the third quarter against the Browns, that they have
14:02
Speaker 3: a tendency to say, all right, we're protecting a lead,
14:05
Speaker 3: let's drop back into this soft zone and they just
14:08
Speaker 3: constantly give up yards underneath, you know yards, you know
14:11
Speaker 3: the ten to fifteen the soft spots in the zones,
14:15
Speaker 3: and there was times that there was they're spacing in
14:19
Speaker 3: the zone would be off and everything. So that's something
14:21
Speaker 3: that they have to work on. But I don't see
14:23
Speaker 3: that being a situation against the Eagles where they're going
14:27
Speaker 3: to be trying to protect the lead late in the
14:29
Speaker 3: game and giving up a bunch of yards. So I'm
14:31
Speaker 3: hoping that doesn't come into play. We'll see, Yeah, I mean,
14:34
Speaker 3: it'd be great if it came into play for the Steelers,
14:36
Speaker 3: but I'm not anticipating that to being one.
14:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, we'll definitely have to see. It's going to
14:40
Speaker 2: be interesting for sure to see, you know, how these
14:42
Speaker 2: matchups turn out. And we're certainly going to be talking
14:44
Speaker 2: about some matchups here in just a bit with our
14:47
Speaker 2: good friend Dave Schofield here again from the Steel Curtain Network.
14:51
Speaker 2: Check out everything they're doing over there steel Curtain Network
14:54
Speaker 2: dot com. And you know, as we're continuing to talk
14:58
Speaker 2: about the defense here, Dave, the Eagles have one of
15:01
Speaker 2: the best offensive lines in the NFL, and the Steelers
15:04
Speaker 2: have a pretty nice pass rush as well. I can't
15:07
Speaker 2: wait to see this battle of the trenches. Well, it's
15:10
Speaker 2: going to look like how it's going to play out
15:12
Speaker 2: on Sunday. How do you see the Battle of the
15:14
Speaker 2: trenches going this Sunday in Philadelphia?
15:17
Speaker 3: Well, this is an interesting one because, as teams know,
15:22
Speaker 3: they've kind of found a way and you started to
15:25
Speaker 3: see it last year and it was kind of ridiculous
15:27
Speaker 3: with TJ. Watt. How do you slow down TJ Watt?
15:31
Speaker 3: And I said it during the offseason. You have to
15:33
Speaker 3: make him run the gauntlet. If you try to put
15:35
Speaker 3: two guys on him at the same time, he's going
15:38
Speaker 3: to defeat that just as fast as he will want.
15:40
Speaker 3: That's just the way he is. You've got to make
15:43
Speaker 3: him go through one, then another, and oftentimes then another.
15:47
Speaker 3: There's been plenty of times where he's gotten chipped by
15:50
Speaker 3: a tight end, chipped by a running back, and then
15:53
Speaker 3: the tackle or sometimes the running back and tackle, or
15:56
Speaker 3: in opposite of orders that the running back weights till
15:58
Speaker 3: he beats the tackle right to get through three different people,
16:02
Speaker 3: just not all at the same time. He's a game
16:05
Speaker 3: plan changer, and even though he doesn't have these huge
16:09
Speaker 3: sack numbers this year. If you take that for granted,
16:12
Speaker 3: he's going to get some huge numbers.
16:14
Speaker 1: He's disruptive.
16:15
Speaker 3: He is so disruptive, and he's and now he's not alone.
16:18
Speaker 3: Last week was the first week since Week three that
16:22
Speaker 3: the Steelers had TJ. Watt, Alex high Smith, and Nick Herbig,
16:27
Speaker 3: And it was the first week all season that they
16:29
Speaker 3: had where they also had Preston Smith, who they added
16:31
Speaker 3: from the Packers at the trade deadline, which was a
16:34
Speaker 3: nice little under the radar pickup for the Steelers, and
16:38
Speaker 3: that's really formative. They're often playing three outside linebackers at
16:43
Speaker 3: a time now and but honestly, to me, the MVP
16:48
Speaker 3: of the Pittsburgh Steelers, so for this year, people might
16:49
Speaker 3: argue Russell Willson, I get it. So if you want
16:51
Speaker 3: to just say on defense, it's Cam Hayward. Cam Hayward
16:55
Speaker 3: has come back with a vengeance. I've always been a
16:58
Speaker 3: big Cam Hayward fan, and he's the only jersey I
17:01
Speaker 3: have of an active player on the Steelers right now.
17:04
Speaker 3: And he's just he's just that. I mean Walter Payton
17:08
Speaker 3: Mann the year last year, he's just a phenomenal person.
17:13
Speaker 3: But he was playing through injury, so bad the second
17:15
Speaker 3: half of last year, and he was. He made a
17:18
Speaker 3: huge difference in the in the team numbers for the
17:20
Speaker 3: Steelers when he was playing when he wasn't although we
17:23
Speaker 3: didn't have the individual numbers this year. Now he's got
17:26
Speaker 3: da as well. He's some people were like, oh, don't
17:28
Speaker 3: re sign him, he's so old. No, he hasn't slowed
17:31
Speaker 3: down at all. He's he's making a case for the
17:35
Speaker 3: Hall of Fame and he's having a great season. So
17:38
Speaker 3: if you worry about Cam and TJ Alex high Smith,
17:42
Speaker 3: I mean, uh, Kenry Benton pulls in an interception last week.
17:45
Speaker 3: He's a guy, a young guy. I want to see
17:47
Speaker 3: it going. The Steelers have a lot of guys up front.
17:49
Speaker 1: Yes they do, Yes, they do. But if you look at.
17:54
Speaker 3: When they take when they take on a top notch
17:56
Speaker 3: offensive line, they struggled a bit when they they the Colts,
18:00
Speaker 3: who had a very good offensive line at the time
18:02
Speaker 3: that they're playing them. So, but that's a whole different
18:07
Speaker 3: scenario with what went end of that game. This one,
18:10
Speaker 3: I don't see it playing out the same way. So
18:12
Speaker 3: that's a really good matchup because a really great offensive
18:16
Speaker 3: line is what could get the job done. Against this defense.
18:20
Speaker 3: I don't know that anybody else has that outside of
18:22
Speaker 3: the Philadelphia Eagles across the NFL.
18:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm not sure if anybody does. And it's going
18:27
Speaker 2: to be interesting again seeing these matchups, and I love
18:30
Speaker 2: on our opposition territory shows when we really get into
18:33
Speaker 2: what these matchups may look like in terms of the
18:36
Speaker 2: concerns you know that you may actually have. So let's
18:39
Speaker 2: dive into that. Dave, I'm wondering, what is your biggest
18:42
Speaker 2: concern with any of the Steelers offensive matchups against this
18:46
Speaker 2: Eagles defense? What's that biggest concern for you?
18:50
Speaker 3: Okay, Well, to me, it's it doesn't matter what week
18:52
Speaker 3: it is. I know the Philadelphia Eagles have a phenomenal defense,
18:57
Speaker 3: but to me, when the Steelers this week are facing
18:59
Speaker 3: the dameless Gray Faces, as Mike Tomlin would say, it's
19:03
Speaker 3: about the it's about protecting the quarterback with the pass rush,
19:09
Speaker 3: regardless of the defense. So therefore, when you when you're
19:13
Speaker 3: looking at a defense that's, oh, let's see what number
19:17
Speaker 3: one in yards against number tied for second in points
19:20
Speaker 3: given up, You're talking about a really strong defense there,
19:26
Speaker 3: that's still got to be your number one concern because
19:28
Speaker 3: if Russell Wilson can't go through his progressions if he's
19:33
Speaker 3: having to run for his life.
19:36
Speaker 1: I mean, you have to.
19:39
Speaker 3: This is kind of you're not going to tell the coaches,
19:42
Speaker 3: are you. The biggest thing with Russell Wilson and I
19:45
Speaker 3: think but no, I think the story's been writting on
19:47
Speaker 3: him is you've got to allow him to do the
19:51
Speaker 3: certain little things that has to happen throughout a play
19:54
Speaker 3: to make up for the fact that that dude is short. Yes,
19:58
Speaker 3: I mean, it's just it's that's what it is. If
20:00
Speaker 3: he if he has to be taken off of his mark,
20:04
Speaker 3: he has to go completely out of the pocket in
20:07
Speaker 3: order to then be able to see the field in
20:10
Speaker 3: the way that he needs to because he's you can create,
20:14
Speaker 3: you know, kind of viewing lanes in the way that
20:16
Speaker 3: you block it. If the Steelers aren't able to do that,
20:18
Speaker 3: and they have a young offensive line, I mean, they're
20:21
Speaker 3: down two starters from the beginning of the season. One
20:25
Speaker 3: was their first round draft pick and the other was
20:27
Speaker 3: James Daniels who was having a great year until he
20:29
Speaker 3: got hurt. But the next guys have come in and
20:31
Speaker 3: they're starting two rookies and a second year player. From
20:36
Speaker 3: center out to right tackle, and they've just got to
20:39
Speaker 3: get the job done. And they've been doing a better
20:42
Speaker 3: job since the Steelers bye week. So that's what you
20:47
Speaker 3: that's what the hope would be that you would get
20:49
Speaker 3: these get your offensive line doing a better job. But
20:52
Speaker 3: now they got to face the Eagles. Now they did
20:54
Speaker 3: have to face the face the Ravens and everything as well.
20:57
Speaker 3: But who they're they're well, especially they're right defense is quality,
21:03
Speaker 3: so it's not like they haven't been tested at all.
21:05
Speaker 3: And even the Cleveland Browns, even though they're having a
21:08
Speaker 3: rough season, it's not that they're that their defense is
21:11
Speaker 3: that shabby for them either, but it still hasn't been
21:16
Speaker 3: what they've they haven't seen anything yet like they're going
21:18
Speaker 3: to see with the Eagles.
21:19
Speaker 1: Yeah.
21:19
Speaker 2: Well, on the flip side of the coin there, I'm
21:22
Speaker 2: wondering what your biggest concern is going to be with
21:24
Speaker 2: any of the Steelers' defensive matchups against the Eagles offense.
21:29
Speaker 2: Usually on our opposition territory pods here, Dave usually Saquon
21:32
Speaker 2: Barkley comes into the Equationeer.
21:35
Speaker 1: But yeah, so, I mean, what's your biggest.
21:37
Speaker 2: Concern with regard to the Steelers defensive matchups against this
21:40
Speaker 2: Eagles offense.
21:41
Speaker 3: Well, the answer is Saquon Barkley. Yeah, but it's not
21:44
Speaker 3: going to be Saquon Barkley. It's it's going to be
21:47
Speaker 3: indirectly Saquon Barkley. Because if you're wondering, Saquon Barkley has
21:51
Speaker 3: gone up against the Steelers one time in his career
21:54
Speaker 3: and when he did, he had fifteen rushing attempts for
21:57
Speaker 3: six yards.
21:57
Speaker 1: Wow, Holy cow. Okay.
22:01
Speaker 3: As coach Tomlin talked about in the matchups with the
22:04
Speaker 3: in his press conference this week, that was because you
22:07
Speaker 3: could focus on Saquon Barkley. You can't just do that.
22:10
Speaker 3: Now you've got what, let's see what what do you
22:13
Speaker 3: call it? He called Jalen Hurst. He called him an
22:15
Speaker 3: escape artist. He's talking about the you know, the other
22:19
Speaker 3: dynamic receiving options and things of that nature. You can't
22:23
Speaker 3: just ignore that like the Steelers could kind of. I mean,
22:26
Speaker 3: this was in twenty twenty, you know, first game of
22:29
Speaker 3: the season, no fans in the stands, you know, shut
22:32
Speaker 3: down Saquon Barkley and you can beat the Giants. That
22:34
Speaker 3: was that was that was the story and that's what
22:37
Speaker 3: they did.
22:39
Speaker 1: But this is not the same. This is a.
22:41
Speaker 3: Different unit that he's running with. So to me, it's
22:45
Speaker 3: as much as it is about Saquon Barkley, It's really
22:47
Speaker 3: about the offensive line. So the matchup that I'm concerned
22:51
Speaker 3: about is the offensive line getting to the second level
22:56
Speaker 3: blocking against the Steelers defense. If the Steelers can keep
23:00
Speaker 3: I think you're going to see a lot of a
23:02
Speaker 3: Landon Roberts in this game. He's generally the guy that's
23:05
Speaker 3: the run stopper. The rookie Payton Wilson is the guy
23:07
Speaker 3: that's more in for coverage. But a Landon Roberts, I mean,
23:11
Speaker 3: he's just made some phenomenal plays this year. I mean,
23:14
Speaker 3: my goodness, that the Steelers could have fell on that
23:16
Speaker 3: ball against the Cowboys that he came to and blew
23:18
Speaker 3: it up. I don't think we'd ever stopped talking about.
23:21
Speaker 3: But between land and Roberts and Patrick Queen, the key
23:26
Speaker 3: is is to not let If the offensive line gets
23:29
Speaker 3: to those guys easily, it's going to be very difficult
23:33
Speaker 3: for the Steelers to stop the run. And you're going
23:36
Speaker 3: to be talking about guys like the safeties Intoshaun Elliott,
23:39
Speaker 3: Micky Fitzpatrick making a lot of tackles in the run game.
23:43
Speaker 3: And that's a bad thing for the Pittsburgh steel You know,
23:45
Speaker 3: want your safeties making tackles on running plays. To me,
23:49
Speaker 3: that's why the biggest thing that I want to see
23:53
Speaker 3: is can the Steelers keep their inside linebackers clean and
23:57
Speaker 3: free of the offensive line and as good as that
24:00
Speaker 3: Philly offensive line is. I don't know. I think that's
24:03
Speaker 3: a big task to be asking.
24:04
Speaker 2: It's gonna it's gonna be a very big task for sure.
24:07
Speaker 2: And like you said, you don't want your safeties being
24:09
Speaker 2: at the top of the stat sheet, you know, in
24:11
Speaker 2: terms of the defensive stats sheet, you definitely don't want that.
24:14
Speaker 2: So Dave to close us out here, I also like
24:16
Speaker 2: talking to our opposition territory guests, specifically about sneaky players
24:21
Speaker 2: who they think may that we should be looking out
24:24
Speaker 2: for as Eagles fans. So we'll start off first. Who
24:27
Speaker 2: is your sneaky player for us to look at on
24:30
Speaker 2: the Steelers offense this week? Who would that player be?
24:35
Speaker 3: Anybody not named George Piketts. Okay, the problem is that
24:40
Speaker 3: they have a number of sneaky players. You just don't
24:43
Speaker 3: know which ones they're gonna get.
24:44
Speaker 2: Right.
24:45
Speaker 3: My number one answer to the one that I would
24:46
Speaker 3: like to say would be Darnell Washington. Okay, you know,
24:50
Speaker 3: huge tight end, great great blocker in the run game,
24:53
Speaker 3: huge target when they when they dump it off to
24:55
Speaker 3: him in the past game. But he didn't have a
24:58
Speaker 3: catch last week. So every time I think, ooh, this
25:00
Speaker 3: is a prime time for them, are they going to
25:02
Speaker 3: be ready for Darnell Washington, the Steelers don't even utilize
25:06
Speaker 3: and they go somewhere else. So and I mean, I
25:08
Speaker 3: would like to say someone like Mike Williams. Probably if
25:11
Speaker 3: I'm going to say someone who I know they're going
25:12
Speaker 3: to use the safest bet, I actually think would probably
25:15
Speaker 3: be Jalen Warren.
25:16
Speaker 1: That's what I was thinking myself.
25:17
Speaker 3: Yea, yeah, because because he's so he's if he was
25:22
Speaker 3: your primary running back, I don't think he would be
25:24
Speaker 3: as successful because it's you know, the nausea Harris kind
25:27
Speaker 3: of pound at you. But when Jalen Warren's in there,
25:30
Speaker 3: you don't know if it's going to be pastoral.
25:33
Speaker 1: I think yeah.
25:33
Speaker 3: I mean, he's a phenomenal pass blocker. Although PFF constantly
25:38
Speaker 3: gives him bad grades. I'm like, because he doesn't stick
25:40
Speaker 3: to his blocks, but I'm like, he slows down blitzers
25:43
Speaker 3: and doesn't allow them to get there right right, that's
25:45
Speaker 3: the goal of a running back. When he's locking in
25:47
Speaker 3: that you know he's doing his job and they're like, oh,
25:49
Speaker 3: that's a terrible job. Look he didn't stick with him
25:51
Speaker 3: that that's that's ridiculous. But anyway, so you never know
25:55
Speaker 3: if he's going to be pass protecting out there in
25:59
Speaker 3: the passing game or if they're going to run the
26:01
Speaker 3: ball with him. And that's why I think he's the
26:03
Speaker 3: he's a really big weapon for them. Is that really
26:06
Speaker 3: gives you that unknown and allows you to get that balance. Yep.
26:08
Speaker 1: All right.
26:09
Speaker 2: Well, finally, who's your sneaky player for us to look
26:11
Speaker 2: out for on the Steelers defense this week?
26:15
Speaker 3: Well, I've already mentioned him because I think he's going
26:17
Speaker 3: to be a great, big key to the game. And
26:19
Speaker 3: it's a Landon Roberts. Okay, Landon Roberts. He he's the
26:22
Speaker 3: Steelers run thumper. And last year when the Steelers were
26:25
Speaker 3: getting all kinds of injuries happening to get the inside linebacker,
26:29
Speaker 3: he was the guy that was that they would take
26:31
Speaker 3: off the field if there was any chance it was
26:33
Speaker 3: going to be a pass. By the end of the season.
26:36
Speaker 3: Part of it was because he was the only one left.
26:38
Speaker 3: He was the guy that they had to have out
26:39
Speaker 3: there for the past and he did a nice job.
26:41
Speaker 3: So to me, you can leave him out there all
26:43
Speaker 3: the time. He's going to he's he's going to do
26:46
Speaker 3: a nice job. I think if the Steelers, you're not
26:49
Speaker 3: going to stop sakuon Barkley like they did when they
26:51
Speaker 3: played him four years again.
26:52
Speaker 4: Right, you could.
26:53
Speaker 3: Your hope is to slow him down. And if you're
26:56
Speaker 3: going to slow him down, then someone like in the
26:58
Speaker 3: Land and Roberts, you know, as well as Patrick Queen
27:01
Speaker 3: or is gonna be key to a lot of that.
27:03
Speaker 1: Yeah.
27:03
Speaker 2: Well, it's gonna be a great matchup in folks, I
27:06
Speaker 2: would highly recommend you head on over to steel Curtain
27:10
Speaker 2: network dot com. Dave's doing some great work over there
27:14
Speaker 2: and follow him on the Twitter slash x at st
27:17
Speaker 2: l R superfan Dad, Buddy, it was great talking to you,
27:20
Speaker 2: always a great conversation, my friend. Come back to and
27:22
Speaker 2: join us down the road.
27:23
Speaker 1: Can I give you the number of the game. This
27:26
Speaker 1: is the matchup. I'll give me the number. Give me
27:27
Speaker 1: the number.
27:28
Speaker 4: This is over the last nine games. Okay, this is
27:31
Speaker 4: the something that's got to give number. Over the last
27:33
Speaker 4: nine games, the Philadelphia Eagles are averaging point three three
27:38
Speaker 4: turnovers in a game. Yes, the Steelers are averaging two
27:41
Speaker 4: point five to six takeaways over the.
27:44
Speaker 1: Last nine game. That's a number that's not a gift.
27:47
Speaker 3: I think whoever gets it more in there, more towards
27:50
Speaker 3: their side of that number, who's gonna win this game?
27:52
Speaker 2: Oh man, what a great stat to end this discussion
27:56
Speaker 2: with man Dave. It is so great talking to you
27:59
Speaker 2: all the time. Thank you, my friend, for taking the time.
28:01
Speaker 2: And like I said before, come back join us down
28:03
Speaker 2: the road. We'll talk more football.
28:04
Speaker 1: I'd love it.
28:05
Speaker 3: I would love to be talking in February.
28:08
Speaker 2: That's going to do it for us here on Opposition
28:10
Speaker 2: Territory this week. Please share our podcast with your friends
28:14
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28:17
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28:24
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