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HR 2: McCarthy Speaks, Chris Carter Joins the Steelers Report · The Steelers Report

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: This is the Steelers Report with Brian Batko and Ed
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Troup on Steelers Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Audio Network.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: We continue to navigate through the week ahead as we
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: get prepared for the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cincinnati Bengals
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: this upcoming Sunday at Accashore Stadium in just a few
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: days from now. We'll have kickoff for the first AFC
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: North matchup of the year for both the Steelers and
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: the Bengals. And as we've been doing here all week
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: on the Steelers Report, we've been talking to a few
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: different folks in and around the Black and Gold as
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: well as the Cincinnati Bengals. And now we go back
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: to the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Black and Gold. We
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: welcome in Chris Carter from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Steelers Reporter,
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: who also covers Pitt. He's also the host of Locked
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: on Steelers Podcast. Chris, always good to have you on
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: the program.
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: How are you? I'm great.
• 0:57
  Speaker 4: Ed, how you doing?
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: Doing awesome, my man. Hey, let's first start with this, Chris.
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: Disappointing loss against the Patriots, but we're, of course, putting
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: that behind us at this point, right? We're nearing the weekend.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: So the Steelers will now prepare, as I said, for
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: their first AFC North matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals. A
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: Bengals team that is 2-0 and has looked very impressive
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: through the first two weeks of the season.
• 1:17
  Speaker 5: Yeah, that Bengals team looks tough. I had them as
• 1:19
  Speaker 5: my preseason AFC North champions. I thought that they would
• 1:22
  Speaker 5: be really formidable this year. I really like the addition
• 1:26
  Speaker 5: of Dexter Lawrence up front. And you're seeing it just
• 1:29
  Speaker 5: with their dominance in the middle of the line of
• 1:31
  Speaker 5: scrimmage for their defense right now. They are not even
• 1:35
  Speaker 5: loading the box and they're stuffing the run. And that
• 1:39
  Speaker 5: should be alarming to the Steelers because that means that
• 1:42
  Speaker 5: the rushing offense that hasn't really had a.
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: a good, good week. I mean, let's face it.
• 1:46
  Speaker 5: The whole offense hasn't had a good start to the season,
• 1:49
  Speaker 5: but especially the rushing offense too.
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: It's going to, it could get really rough if they don't.
• 1:55
  Speaker 5: Get, if they don't handle their business up front, he
• 1:57
  Speaker 5: could be really disruptive.
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: Zach Frazier's really got it in for him this, this week.
• 2:03
  Speaker 5: Uh, as far as the tests, and this is going
• 2:06
  Speaker 5: to be an interesting test for them as a whole,
• 2:08
  Speaker 5: because they're gonna have to find ways to beat this team.
• 2:11
  Speaker 4: I still think this is.
• 2:12
  Speaker 5: Going to be about, they need to, the one thing
• 2:14
  Speaker 5: they haven't done is work in the unit that they
• 2:17
  Speaker 5: paid a lot of money, uh, you know, with, uh,
• 2:20
  Speaker 5: veteran contracts and that's the tight end.
• 2:21
  Speaker 4: It ends. The Steelers aren't using them as much as
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: I think they should.
• 2:24
  Speaker 5: Aaron Rodgers even kind of admitted to it a little
• 2:27
  Speaker 5: bit on Wednesday when I asked him about it. He
• 2:29
  Speaker 5: said we need to get Pat Fryman with more topic
• 2:31
  Speaker 5: or more targets. And it's funny because just last week
• 2:34
  Speaker 5: he said no one cares about targets. And this week
• 2:36
  Speaker 5: he says that. But to me, they've got to find
• 2:39
  Speaker 5: a way to counter this defense. gets shredded for 50
• 2:45
  Speaker 5: points a week, they are going to bring it, and
• 2:47
  Speaker 5: the Steelers have to be ready.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, Chris. That was one thing last week against the
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: Patriots that the Steelers struggled with. That was the defensive
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: front up with New England. At the same time with that,
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: we know about the struggles that the offensive line had
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: in that game, and they've struggled now through two games
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: to be able to run the ball and, especially this
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: past week against New England, protect Aaron Rodgers. But you
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: are on the south side. We have one day into
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: practice for this week. Day two will be later today. And, well,
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: you've seen some changes on that offensive line at practice.
• 3:18
  Speaker 5: Yeah, it looks like Brock Hoffman and Maxi Honachor are
• 3:21
  Speaker 5: getting some work in on that right side of the
• 3:23
  Speaker 5: offensive line. I'm intrigued to see if that's going to
• 3:26
  Speaker 5: hold out or if that's just going to be them just.
• 3:29
  Speaker 4: Trying some things.
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  Speaker 5: But, I mean, hey, when you play as poorly as
• 3:33
  Speaker 5: you did this past weekend and really both weekends– it
• 3:37
  Speaker 5: makes sense that they're going to try to switch some
• 3:39
  Speaker 5: things up.
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  Speaker 4: Brock Hoffman, of course, played for Mike McCarthy with the Cowboys.
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: He played center. He played left guard. He played right guard.
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  Speaker 5: So he's kind of that guy that they brought in
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  Speaker 5: in case there was an emergency and they needed to
• 3:50
  Speaker 5: fill someone in.
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  Speaker 4: Maxi Honitor is the first-round pick. You know, Dylan Cook.
• 3:54
  Speaker 5: I mean, one thing if Dylan Cook was playing like
• 3:56
  Speaker 5: he did, you know, two out of the four games
• 3:58
  Speaker 5: that he played well last year when he came in
• 4:02
  Speaker 5: to fill in for Broderick Jones– at the end of
• 4:04
  Speaker 5: the season. It'd be one thing if he was playing
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  Speaker 5: like that.
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  Speaker 4: But he hasn't. And to me, you know, that's.
• 4:09
  Speaker 5: That's even more reason to say, Hey, if Maxi Honitore
• 4:11
  Speaker 5: is ready to go, let's give him a shot. Cause
• 4:15
  Speaker 5: the other thing about Maxi Honitore and being a rookie,
• 4:17
  Speaker 5: if he messes up, Aaron Rogers can see it coming
• 4:19
  Speaker 5: because that's his front side.
• 4:21
  Speaker 4: If you got a guy.
• 4:21
  Speaker 5: Messing up on his blind side, that's when you get
• 4:23
  Speaker 5: big hits. Like what happened to Aaron Rogers that led
• 4:26
  Speaker 5: to that fourth and 43. So yeah, I don't know
• 4:29
  Speaker 5: if it'll hold, but they're at least taking a look
• 4:31
  Speaker 5: at it. I do think it's interesting, though, because, you know,
• 4:33
  Speaker 5: just Monday, Mike McCarthy was saying, OK, you know, there
• 4:37
  Speaker 5: needs to be more continuity up front. And, you know,
• 4:40
  Speaker 5: with the chemistry and then time for them to get
• 4:43
  Speaker 5: to work together.
• 4:44
  Speaker 4: And, you know, now.
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  Speaker 5: Potentially you're changing two of the five starters. So it'll
• 4:48
  Speaker 5: be interesting to see, you know, if that holds throughout
• 4:51
  Speaker 5: the rest of the week. And if we do see
• 4:53
  Speaker 5: new starters on the offensive line Sunday.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: Chris, you bring up an interesting point because we've talked
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: about the offensive line pretty much every day this week
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: because it was the big subject coming out from last week,
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: of course, with the struggles that they have. On one hand,
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: you look at it as, look, it's only two games in.
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: What we saw at training camp this past summer, and
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: even in the preseason for that matter, is that five
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: did pretty well. There were some expectations that if you
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: would put Maxie on a chore, Or maybe you change
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: out the guard position with Spencer Anderson. It might happen
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: at some point this season, but not until later on
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: and not after two games. So maybe make some adjustments,
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: especially with the communication and give it another look this week.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: But then on the other hand, it's like, hey, we're
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: two games in. We can't have the same struggles that
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: we had this past week in New England, especially against
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: that defensive front that you were describing and how good
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: Cincinnati is. So maybe you do make that change leading
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: up to this game on Sunday.
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: The thing is that, you know, they have things to
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: figure out.
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  Speaker 5: You know, you don't draft a guy in the first
• 5:48
  Speaker 5: round to just hold him back unless, you know, he's really,
• 5:50
  Speaker 5: really raw and you need to develop him. Or you
• 5:53
  Speaker 5: have a really good answer at his position, you know,
• 5:55
  Speaker 5: campaign to the Steelers. They have a really good defensive front,
• 5:57
  Speaker 5: so there's no need– to just shove him into starting
• 6:00
  Speaker 5: action over guys like Aaron Smith, Brett Kiesel, Casey Hampton.
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: But, you know.
• 6:05
  Speaker 5: They don't have that kind of an offensive line in
• 6:08
  Speaker 5: front of Maxi Hunter, so that makes sense. But I'll
• 6:12
  Speaker 5: also say that, like, part of what I said all
• 6:15
  Speaker 5: throughout training camp is I did not see this offensive
• 6:18
  Speaker 5: line really.
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: Get physical enough.
• 6:21
  Speaker 5: Like, we never– saw the run game committed to as
• 6:25
  Speaker 5: part of the preparation. I remember after the Jets preseason
• 6:30
  Speaker 5: game and I was talking, I asked Mike McCarthy about
• 6:33
  Speaker 5: needing to see the starting group more and call more
• 6:36
  Speaker 5: run plays to see what they look like. I think
• 6:39
  Speaker 5: he took my question as, why didn't you try to
• 6:42
  Speaker 5: win the preseason game?
• 6:44
  Speaker 4: And he said, well, I'm not trying to win the
• 6:45
  Speaker 4: preseason game.
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  Speaker 5: I'm trying to look at these young quarterbacks and My
• 6:48
  Speaker 5: point wasn't looking at the young, it wasn't, you know,
• 6:50
  Speaker 5: trying to win a preseason game. It's you need to
• 6:53
  Speaker 5: see this offensive line actually work together more because, you know,
• 6:56
  Speaker 5: all throughout camp, there was no tackling. The competition was
• 6:59
  Speaker 5: much less than it had been years under Mike Tomlin.
• 7:02
  Speaker 5: As far as like how many competitive periods they had
• 7:04
  Speaker 5: where they can go full out against each other. And
• 7:07
  Speaker 5: that didn't really ramp up until the end of training camps.
• 7:10
  Speaker 5: And that to me is going to be the biggest
• 7:12
  Speaker 5: question is like, Hey, you know what? It might help
• 7:13
  Speaker 5: them be fresh. It might help them be healthy going
• 7:16
  Speaker 5: to the, year, but this is a group that needs chemistry.
• 7:20
  Speaker 5: They need to be able to feel each other out.
• 7:24
  Speaker 5: And it takes time to build that stuff. You know,
• 7:25
  Speaker 5: even great ones like Marquis Pouncey and David DeCastro, you know,
• 7:29
  Speaker 5: I always remind people, I think it was David DeCastro's
• 7:31
  Speaker 5: second year in the first game of the season. He
• 7:34
  Speaker 5: tried to cut block. a defensive tackle and he accidentally
• 7:38
  Speaker 5: took out Marquis Pouncey's knee. And that's just, you know, sometimes,
• 7:41
  Speaker 5: you know, when you're, when you're working together, you know,
• 7:43
  Speaker 5: you've got to develop chemistry and be able to feel
• 7:45
  Speaker 5: where each other are going to go and know how
• 7:46
  Speaker 5: they're going to respond, you know, versus this front versus
• 7:49
  Speaker 5: that front versus this blitz versus that blitz.
• 7:51
  Speaker 4: And, you know, that.
• 7:53
  Speaker 5: Takes time to build that kind of trust. And I
• 7:55
  Speaker 5: don't think the Steelers have that right now with this line.
• 7:58
  Speaker 5: I think it's been, you know, too fresh. But that's
• 7:59
  Speaker 5: why I thought during training camp, you could have used
• 8:02
  Speaker 5: a bit more of this stuff, not just in pass protection,
• 8:04
  Speaker 5: but in the run game.
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: And so.
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  Speaker 5: I just, I think, I mean, it's good to try
• 8:09
  Speaker 5: to get, if you think Maxi Honitore is going to
• 8:11
  Speaker 5: be better, put him in. But I don't think this
• 8:13
  Speaker 5: is an overnight, like slap him in and everything gets better.
• 8:16
  Speaker 5: I think this is a thing where they are kind
• 8:19
  Speaker 5: of behind the sticks, if you will, on trying to
• 8:22
  Speaker 5: develop this offensive line this year and have it ready
• 8:25
  Speaker 5: to be physical this year.
• 8:27
  Speaker 4: And I think.
• 8:32
  Speaker 5: If they don't get it together. But, again, this is
• 8:35
  Speaker 5: a young offensive line. They have time to develop. If
• 8:38
  Speaker 5: this new unit goes out here with two new starters,
• 8:41
  Speaker 5: they'll get a heck of a test against the Bengals
• 8:42
  Speaker 5: to show where they're starting at.
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: I agree.
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: We're talking with Chris Carter from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Steelers reporter,
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: also covers the Pitt Panthers. You can also hear Chris
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: as he hosts the Locked on Steelers podcast. Chris, let's
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: talk about the Pittsburgh Steelers' defense two years Games in
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: and they're virtually in the top 10 in about every category,
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: even the top five and a few. Very good start
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: for Patrick Graham and this defensive team against even against
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: the Patriots last week. Yeah, they give up 20, but
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: seven of those 20 came via the offense, coughing it
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: up with the, you know, the touchdown that was scored
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: by the Patriots defense. So two games, 13 points, both
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: games given up. That should usually be enough to win
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: a game. Your thoughts on Patrick Graham and the Steelers'
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: defense so far this season?
• 9:26
  Speaker 5: I thought it was interesting when I asked Patrick Graham
• 9:28
  Speaker 5: about his run defense.
• 9:29
  Speaker 4: He said it wasn't good enough.
• 9:30
  Speaker 5: He said he kind of called it out on Monday
• 9:33
  Speaker 5: when we got to talk to him, which they did.
• 9:35
  Speaker 4: Give up the 39-yard touchdown.
• 9:38
  Speaker 5: Overall, they really haven't shut the run game down through
• 9:41
  Speaker 5: two games. Though Dijon Robinson didn't go off and crush them,
• 9:45
  Speaker 5: he still did get his yards. And both Ramondre Stevenson
• 9:49
  Speaker 5: and Travion Henderson had solid averages on the day. They
• 9:54
  Speaker 5: haven't been a stout run defense yet. Now, I think
• 9:56
  Speaker 5: their pass rush has done a great job to disrupt
• 9:59
  Speaker 5: and counteract. problems up front against their first two opponents.
• 10:03
  Speaker 5: I think they also had a favorable quarterback to go
• 10:06
  Speaker 5: up against week one. I also think Drake May is
• 10:08
  Speaker 5: a little bit more turnover prone than.
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: People realize, and I thought that that would be a
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: good matchup for them.
• 10:15
  Speaker 5: But this is going to be an interesting matchup against
• 10:17
  Speaker 5: Joe Burrow because I think he has maybe the best
• 10:20
  Speaker 5: offensive line he's had since he's been at the Bengals,
• 10:23
  Speaker 5: and that could help him be a little bit more stable.
• 10:26
  Speaker 5: I was talking to Cam Hayward Wednesday at the facility,
• 10:30
  Speaker 5: and I asked him.
• 10:33
  Speaker 4: Patrick Graham called out the run defense. What needs to
• 10:36
  Speaker 4: be done?
• 10:36
  Speaker 5: Different and he said kick butt uh he didn't say
• 10:39
  Speaker 5: but uh but he said kick butt uh he said
• 10:43
  Speaker 5: stay on blocks and be violent and he kept it
• 10:45
  Speaker 5: at that and that to me tells me it's not
• 10:47
  Speaker 5: about you know schemes or guys you need to know
• 10:51
  Speaker 5: where they they see a punch they see the fight
• 10:53
  Speaker 5: they need to go out there and be violent on
• 10:55
  Speaker 5: guys and win at the point of attack this steelers
• 10:58
  Speaker 5: team you know one thing you like McCarthy said in
• 11:00
  Speaker 5: one of the earlier press conferences before the draft was
• 11:03
  Speaker 5: that when he looks at this roster, he looks at.
• 11:06
  Speaker 4: The size that it has and the strength that it has.
• 11:09
  Speaker 5: And he wants, he said, I want those guys to
• 11:10
  Speaker 5: be the first guys off the bus because those are
• 11:12
  Speaker 5: going to be the guys that are going to be
• 11:14
  Speaker 5: physical and win us a lot. And, you know, in
• 11:17
  Speaker 5: that game, there were moments where I thought Derek Harmon
• 11:19
  Speaker 5: was really sharp moments where Keanu Benton was really sharp,
• 11:22
  Speaker 5: but they need to be that consistently. And if they
• 11:24
  Speaker 5: can be that consistently consistently, it will really help the
• 11:27
  Speaker 5: Steelers consistently win the line of scrimmage.
• 11:29
  Speaker 4: Be able to push teams back, and be able to
• 11:31
  Speaker 4: stop the run more.
• 11:32
  Speaker 5: And if you stop the run more, you force more
• 11:34
  Speaker 5: third and longs, you're in more predictable passing situations. And
• 11:37
  Speaker 5: then your pass defense and your blitzes packages, they can
• 11:40
  Speaker 5: wheel and deal a little bit more as far as
• 11:42
  Speaker 5: the different looks you want to give to confuse quarterbacks.
• 11:45
  Speaker 5: But when you're facing third and short, you can't disguise
• 11:48
  Speaker 5: as much because you've got to stay on your P's
• 11:49
  Speaker 5: and Q's about limiting the short stuff. And then when
• 11:52
  Speaker 5: you're doing that, it opens up a lot more for
• 11:54
  Speaker 5: the offense. So for me, that boils all the way
• 11:57
  Speaker 5: back down to Cam Hayward's point.
• 11:59
  Speaker 4: They've got to be more violent. They need those big
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: guys that they've invested in.
• 12:02
  Speaker 5: Keanu Benton, who they picked for the second round pick
• 12:04
  Speaker 5: and then paid a good contract this past year. Derek Armisen,
• 12:07
  Speaker 5: they got a first round pick in last year. And
• 12:11
  Speaker 5: Sebastian Joseph Day, who they brought in this year.
• 12:14
  Speaker 4: Y.A.
• 12:14
  Speaker 5: Black in his second year. They need all those guys,
• 12:16
  Speaker 5: along with Kim Hayward, to punish people up front. And
• 12:19
  Speaker 5: if they can do that, it changes the They haven't
• 12:30
  Speaker 5: been the best teams that throw the balls from the
• 12:32
  Speaker 5: quarterback to the wide receiver.
• 12:34
  Speaker 4: This team you're facing now, that's their bread and butter.
• 12:37
  Speaker 5: Jamel Dean and Asante Samuel Jr. will see if Joey
• 12:42
  Speaker 5: Porter Jr. returns this week, but that to me is
• 12:45
  Speaker 5: going to be the thing that gets tested this week.
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: Stop Chase Brown.
• 12:54
  Speaker 5: It allows you to get that passing offense to a
• 12:57
  Speaker 5: few more predictable situations, which can lead to some huge
• 13:02
  Speaker 5: turnovers like they've gotten when they've beaten Joe Brown.
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: Chris, the Steelers are facing a much better offense than
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: they did the first two weeks of the season with
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: the Atlanta Falcons and the New England Patriots. Big test
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: this weekend at Acresure Stadium. Chris, just a couple more
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: minutes left with you. Let's end with this. This is
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: an interesting stretch for the Steelers starting this Sunday because
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: they turn around just four days later. Next Thursday night,
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: they travel to Cleveland, a place in which, hey, look,
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: doesn't matter how bad or good the Browns or Steelers
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: have been over the years. For some reason, playing Thursday
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: nights in Cleveland has not been kind to the black
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: and gold. So, you know, you could come out of
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: this stretch three and one. That's best case scenario, right?
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: You could come out of this stretch 2-2 if you
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: split with the Bengals and Browns. But here's the thing.
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: If you lose Sunday and you turn around and lose
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: next Thursday, you are now 1-3 on the season to start.
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: you have two losses within the division.
• 13:56
  Speaker 5: Yeah, it would be a nightmare scenario to start the
• 14:01
  Speaker 5: season one and three because, to me, the need for
• 14:04
  Speaker 5: the Steelers was to start strong this year, to start hot,
• 14:07
  Speaker 5: because I thought this Patriots matchup was one that they
• 14:10
  Speaker 5: could actually pull off like they pulled off last year.
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: In fact, I mean, the defense held them in check.
• 14:15
  Speaker 5: If the offense just does a minimal job there, they probably.
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: Have a good shot to win that game in the end.
• 14:23
  Speaker 5: But, you know, so now you face this Bengals team that,
• 14:27
  Speaker 5: you know, looks pretty good. But you face a Browns
• 14:29
  Speaker 5: team that, you know, though they won against the Buccaneers
• 14:32
  Speaker 5: on Sunday, I'm still not confident.
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: But to your point, you know, I did this research earlier.
• 14:37
  Speaker 5: And according to the pro football reference, when I did
• 14:40
  Speaker 5: the search, the Steelers have never won in Cleveland on
• 14:44
  Speaker 5: a Thursday night.
• 14:46
  Speaker 4: And it's just, it's a house of horrors.
• 14:48
  Speaker 5: But one thing I also pointed out, Divisional teams on
• 14:52
  Speaker 5: the road against their divisional opponent on Thursday night, their
• 14:56
  Speaker 5: win percentage is ridiculously low across the league.
• 14:59
  Speaker 4: That's always been established.
• 15:03
  Speaker 5: Sometimes they get mad about which opponents they draw, but
• 15:05
  Speaker 5: they don't understand that that's part of the system for
• 15:08
  Speaker 5: the NFL. So that's not a real gripe about the schedule.
• 15:11
  Speaker 5: I think a real gripe is that the Steelers don't
• 15:13
  Speaker 5: get many of those home Thursday night divisional games in reverse.
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: I can't think of the last time.
• 15:20
  Speaker 5: The last time I can think of when the Browns
• 15:22
  Speaker 5: had to come to Pittsburgh for a Thursday night game
• 15:25
  Speaker 5: might have been that 20, 11 game against antonio.
• 15:27
  Speaker 4: Brown i might be skipping one um but.
• 15:29
  Speaker 5: They that has not been something they've gotten a lot
• 15:32
  Speaker 5: of over the years and heck you also have last
• 15:35
  Speaker 5: year um you know i think that that's that's always
• 15:37
  Speaker 5: a tough stretch short weeks against teams that know you
• 15:40
  Speaker 5: and uh teams that uh you know when you're playing
• 15:43
  Speaker 5: in their house uh on a short week it's a
• 15:45
  Speaker 5: rough turnaround So, um, yeah, so I think that that's,
• 15:49
  Speaker 5: that's certainly a tough test. And I mean, this year,
• 15:51
  Speaker 5: like later this year, they're going to play the Eagles
• 15:53
  Speaker 5: on the road. They have not won in Philly since
• 15:55
  Speaker 5: like the sixties at places. It's the house of horse
• 15:58
  Speaker 5: for the franchise, regardless of who's coaching them.
• 16:00
  Speaker 4: Right. Um, they got, they got the Texans and they
• 16:03
  Speaker 4: got a lot of tough tests. So they need to
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: get these wins early while they can.
• 16:07
  Speaker 5: If they turn and flip things around Sunday, it, and says, oh, man,
• 16:23
  Speaker 5: this season's going to be really bad, and then all
• 16:25
  Speaker 5: of a sudden they punch somebody in the mouth. I'm like,
• 16:27
  Speaker 5: wait a second. This Steelers team's pretty tough. They've got
• 16:29
  Speaker 5: to show how tough they are.
• 16:30
  Speaker 4: Be resilient.
• 16:31
  Speaker 5: Get off the mat and take down a good Bengals team,
• 16:34
  Speaker 5: and I think it'll kind of reset things for everyone.
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: Chris, great stuff as always. We certainly appreciate you. Enjoy
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: your week at a football between the Pitt Panthers and
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 16:43
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I'll be living out of Akershire Stadium this weekend,
• 16:45
  Speaker 5: so I asked Mr.
• 16:47
  Speaker 4: Rooney for one of the suites. I'll see if he
• 16:49
  Speaker 4: hooks me up.
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: Oh, man, they should certainly do that. Hey, thanks a lot, Chris.
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: All right, he is Chris Carter from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: Steelers reporter, and also covers Pitt. And he also is
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: the host of Locked on Steelers podcast, so make sure
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: you check that out. We'll be back. It's Backo and
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: Troop right here on the Steelers Report on Steelers Nation Radio,
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: part of the Steelers Audio Network.
• 17:20
  Speaker 4: This is the.
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: Steelers Report with Brian Batko and Ed Troup on Steelers
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers Audio Network.
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: Great stuff from Chris Carter from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette joining
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: us to help preview the Steelers and Bengals for this
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: upcoming Sunday at 1 o'clock. Brian, this week we've talked
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: to not only Chris, but we also talked to.
• 17:47
  Speaker 6: Our good friend.
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: Ben baby, the Bengals beat reporter from ESPN. Also Jim Wexel,
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: your colleague at Steelers.com. Good week of guests. And we'll
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: continue to do that each and every week here on
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: the Steelers report. As we get you set for Steelers
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: football each and every week.
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: No doubt.
• 18:10
  Speaker 7: Lex and Chris Carter. They're here all the time. And
• 18:14
  Speaker 7: Ben babies been doing it for a while. On the
• 18:17
  Speaker 7: Bengals beat, I should have Ben Baby pick me up
• 18:19
  Speaker 7: some Skyline Chili.
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: Bring it up. Baby from Cincinnati. Not sure how.
• 18:25
  Speaker 7: That would hold in the five or six hour car ride.
• 18:29
  Speaker 7: I don't know if he's a drive to Pittsburgh guy
• 18:32
  Speaker 7: or a fly to Pittsburgh guy. I'm not sure where
• 18:36
  Speaker 7: he is on that, but we'll talk more about Skyline
• 18:39
  Speaker 7: Chili later in the season when the Steelers play in
• 18:42
  Speaker 7: Cincinnati and the delicacies there are a bit more relevant
• 18:45
  Speaker 7: to the game.
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: Oh, man, I love me some Skyline Chili for sure.
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: How about you, Double B? Are you a fan?
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: I am. I am. I am not a picky eater.
• 18:56
  Speaker 7: I can appreciate most things, whether that's food, music, movies.
• 19:05
  Speaker 7: I'm generally a thumbs-up kind of guy. I'm not a hater,
• 19:09
  Speaker 7: and I can usually find something to appreciate in most everything.
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: And you have to be one of these guys, when
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: you go on the road with the team, you're not
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: going to, and no offense to the Olive Garden or
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: Applebee's or any of the chain restaurants across the United States,
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: but when you go on the road, you have to
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: go check out some of the local stuff, right?
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: Yeah, of course.
• 19:31
  Speaker 7: You know, places are known for things for a reason,
• 19:34
  Speaker 7: and that's what's special to the region. Just like anyone
• 19:37
  Speaker 7: from Cincinnati coming up for this game, or I know
• 19:40
  Speaker 7: our listeners are nationwide and worldwide here on Steelers Nation Radio.
• 19:45
  Speaker 7: So maybe you're coming in for your first Steelers game
• 19:47
  Speaker 7: this Sunday and you've never been to one and you've
• 19:50
  Speaker 7: to make the pilgrimage. Whether you're a longtime fan or
• 19:53
  Speaker 7: a recently adopted Steelers fan, we'll take you either way.
• 19:57
  Speaker 7: Go try some Primanti's. The worst you can do is
• 20:01
  Speaker 7: not like it, but I enjoy it even as someone
• 20:04
  Speaker 7: who was born and raised here.
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: Sometimes I'm not sure if that makes me more prone
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: to liking it or less.
• 20:09
  Speaker 7: Sometimes I feel like people sort of resist, uh, things
• 20:14
  Speaker 7: that they've known and, uh, have been pushed toward them
• 20:18
  Speaker 7: their entire life.
• 20:19
  Speaker 3: But I like, I like pretty many sandwiches. I I'm
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: okay on pierogies.
• 20:23
  Speaker 7: It's not my favorite, but as far as, you know,
• 20:26
  Speaker 7: main Pittsburgh foodstuffs go, uh, those two.
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: And then of course, chip tam and I love chip tam.
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: Chip chop tam, right? I mean, that's a Pittsburgh original.
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: You got to get that, uh, You know, barbecue sauce
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: on there, too. I mean, that takes it to the
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: next level whenever you go through that. And listen, Permanente Brothers,
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: my go-to, and I think we've talked about this before, too,
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: pastrami and cheese. I'm a big pastrami and cheese type guy.
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: I'm going to put you on the spot. You've traveled
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: with the team for a lot of years being a
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: beat writer. So you've been to a bunch of different
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: NFL cities. When you've been on the road, what has
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: been one of your favorite cities as far as eating
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: goes and food? Because I know you, especially like Saturday
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: nights before a Sunday, you go out, you test, and
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: you and the other local media like to go out
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: and eat the night before. So give us like one
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: of your favorites just off the top of your head,
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: maybe something memorable over the years. And you know what?
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: You could go and throw Pitt in there too because
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: I know you traveled with Pitt back in the day
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: as well.
• 21:25
  Speaker 7: Well, from a college perspective, down in Duke, in Durham,
• 21:28
  Speaker 7: North Carolina, Q-Shack barbecue was life-changing.
• 21:33
  Speaker 3: But as far as the NFL goes, if I would
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: have gotten to explore Boston a little bit more last
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: weekend instead.
• 21:39
  Speaker 7: Of just watching college football, that might have been up
• 21:42
  Speaker 7: there because I would have probably gotten myself a warm
• 21:44
  Speaker 7: lobster roll.
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: But the clam chowder that I had was very good nonetheless.
• 21:47
  Speaker 7: I mean, honestly, it's only a few hours away, but
• 21:50
  Speaker 7: I love Buffalo's primary– food badges of honor. Wings, obviously,
• 21:56
  Speaker 7: buffalo wings. But then I really like beef on weck
• 21:58
  Speaker 7: as well. That sandwich is what Buffalo is known for.
• 22:02
  Speaker 3: L.A. is always good food.
• 22:03
  Speaker 7: I mean, last year there, my friend Kyle, who lives
• 22:07
  Speaker 7: out there, I've mentioned him on the show before, took
• 22:09
  Speaker 7: me up to Koreatown.
• 22:11
  Speaker 3: And I mean, we just had a fantastic spread. I
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: was eating stuff. I didn't even know what it was, Ed,
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: but I didn't care. It was good.
• 22:18
  Speaker 7: So those are some that stick out to me right
• 22:21
  Speaker 7: off the bat but then i mean anytime we go
• 22:23
  Speaker 7: to texas too like houston a couple years ago gotta
• 22:26
  Speaker 7: get some barbecue down there man.
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: You're making me hungry listen as i was saying on
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: tomorrow's show leading up to the hall of honor inductee
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: ceremony friday night at accusure stadium and of course halftime
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: on sunday as well i mean our good friend the
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: late great Craig Wolfley involved in that class, and he
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: always liked to talk about food. And I had him
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: on my podcast a couple years ago now, and we
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: talked about wings because he's a native of Buffalo. So
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: I'm going to try to get some of that audio,
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: and we can play that back tomorrow, Brian, and listen
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: to what Wolf had to say. I know one thing
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: him and I were big on, and that was having
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: blue cheese with your wings.
• 23:03
  Speaker 6: Not a ranch guy.
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: I'm not a ranch guy either. When it comes to wings,
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: it's got to be blue cheese and celery and no
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: carrots either. I mean, I'll do carrots, but I prefer celery,
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: blue cheese, not ranch or carrots.
• 23:15
  Speaker 7: I'm not a big dipper, honestly. Part of this is
• 23:19
  Speaker 7: I'm a flats over drums all day, every day. I've
• 23:22
  Speaker 7: even asked for all flats before. I always feel kind
• 23:25
  Speaker 7: of like a jerk doing that when I'm out there.
• 23:27
  Speaker 7: I can only do that at certain places, places that
• 23:29
  Speaker 7: pride themselves on their wings. I feel like that should
• 23:31
  Speaker 7: be a minor request for them. But yeah, I mean,
• 23:35
  Speaker 7: if I am dipping, I'm good with ranch or blue cheese.
• 23:38
  Speaker 7: I'm usually fine with either one. Some places I like
• 23:42
  Speaker 7: the blue cheese. It can be real chunky. That's not
• 23:45
  Speaker 7: for me, but Some places have really good blue cheese,
• 23:47
  Speaker 7: and then I'm always up for dipping the veggies in
• 23:50
  Speaker 7: there after because I'm not a nutritionist or a dietician, Ed,
• 23:53
  Speaker 7: but I'm pretty sure the way that Food works. Every
• 23:57
  Speaker 7: vegetable that you eat, it actually counteracts every bad thing
• 24:01
  Speaker 7: that you ate before that. So it's like you eat
• 24:03
  Speaker 7: 40 fries, but then you eat 40 pieces of lettuce
• 24:07
  Speaker 7: or carrots or celery in some order. It's just a
• 24:10
  Speaker 7: net zero. It all cancels out. Again, I'm not scientifically inclined,
• 24:15
  Speaker 7: but I'm pretty sure that's.
• 24:16
  Speaker 3: How it works.
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: You know, Double B. I love you, man, and I
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: agree with everything you usually say, but I think I'm
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: a walking example that that may not be the ratio
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: for everyone because I've eaten a lot of vegetables in
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: my mind thinking I'm going to have this huge steak
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: and I'm going to have this cake afterwards, but I
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: had a big salad, so I'm going to be just fine.
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: I love that mentality, but I'm not sure that it
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: works for everyone.
• 24:41
  Speaker 7: Well, I mean, hey, yeah, as long as you get
• 24:44
  Speaker 7: that salad in there, that's going to counteract.
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: That's going to. you know, push back against all the
• 24:49
  Speaker 3: bad stuff.
• 24:49
  Speaker 7: Even if you have a bunch of ranch and French
• 24:52
  Speaker 7: fries and, uh.
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: All sorts of other stuff on the salad. Again, don't
• 24:56
  Speaker 3: quote me on this.
• 24:57
  Speaker 7: Don't take it to your doctor or anything, but that's
• 25:00
  Speaker 7: just the, the Brian Batco school of, uh, nutrition.
• 25:03
  Speaker 6: Hey man, listen, I love it.
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: I just wish it, uh, was, was the case, at
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: least for myself, maybe some others.
• 25:09
  Speaker 6: It is all right.
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: Enough talking about food, enough talking about nutrition. Let's get
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: to Mike McCarthy. He spoke with Brian Bacco and as well,
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: as the rest of the Pittsburgh media ahead of today's practice.
• 25:19
  Speaker 8: I'd like to rave about him because he's been on
• 25:22
  Speaker 8: the mark since day one, all the way through the
• 25:25
  Speaker 8: spring training camp. He's put together two nice outings, and
• 25:29
  Speaker 8: he's got a big challenge this week. What did you
• 25:32
  Speaker 8: see from Joey yesterday? Any update there? Joey's scheduled to
• 25:36
  Speaker 8: do some more today, so we'll see how that goes.
• 25:39
  Speaker 8: But I thought he had quality work yesterday, hit the
• 25:41
  Speaker 8: target on what was planned for him.
• 25:44
  Speaker 9: Whose decision was it for him to be limited yesterday?
• 25:46
  Speaker 8: I'm sorry?
• 25:47
  Speaker 9: Whose decision was it for him to be limited yesterday?
• 25:49
  Speaker 8: We have a plan for every one of our players.
• 25:52
  Speaker 8: So he did the work that was planned on.
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: Mike, is your decision?
• 25:56
  Speaker 8: We're not going to play this game anymore, but every
• 25:58
  Speaker 8: little question, you can just see Bert for the injury report.
• 26:02
  Speaker 7: Mike, thinking about making personal changes over your life?
• 26:07
  Speaker 8: Well, I think the biggest thing is, you know, not
• 26:10
  Speaker 8: to be a broken record, we're going to see us
• 26:12
  Speaker 8: work combinations, you know, today. So we did some yesterday,
• 26:17
  Speaker 8: and we'll work the full week here. But, you know,
• 26:20
  Speaker 8: it's important to get the game plan put in the
• 26:23
  Speaker 8: right way and so forth. But, yes, we'll definitely keep
• 26:25
  Speaker 8: working different combinations.
• 26:27
  Speaker 9: Mike, the Bengals have been very successful, you know, stopping
• 26:30
  Speaker 9: the run without loading the box. How does an offense
• 26:34
  Speaker 9: counteract a team that doesn't try to bring extra guys
• 26:37
  Speaker 9: but still good.
• 26:38
  Speaker 3: At stopping the run?
• 26:40
  Speaker 8: Well, I think like anything, I mean, you go through
• 26:43
  Speaker 8: the different situations and you've got four-man line looks, five-man
• 26:45
  Speaker 8: line looks. They have a six-man line look, particularly in
• 26:48
  Speaker 8: the red zone. You'll see us working on that again today,
• 26:52
  Speaker 8: a 6-1 look. So, yeah, so schematically they do show
• 26:57
  Speaker 8: those schemes. They have the ability to get in and
• 26:59
  Speaker 8: out of them. But you do. You play the numbers.
• 27:02
  Speaker 8: You look at the numbers of how they played the
• 27:04
  Speaker 8: first two games. To your point, I think they've been
• 27:07
  Speaker 8: very productive there. But we've got to be ready for anything,
• 27:10
  Speaker 8: so that'll be our approach.
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: Having known Aaron for so long, how much does that
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: help whenever you guys are talking about plays throughout the
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: week and what to use and what.
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: Not to use compared to maybe a quarterback.
• 27:19
  Speaker 4: That you haven't known for as long?
• 27:21
  Speaker 8: I think clearly the conversations are longer in some areas
• 27:26
  Speaker 8: and obviously shorter in most. And I mean longer just
• 27:30
  Speaker 8: because it's been a minute since we've worked together. He's
• 27:34
  Speaker 8: had experiences in other schemes, other concepts, and You know,
• 27:38
  Speaker 8: and it's important for us to continue to, you know,
• 27:41
  Speaker 8: not only just the specific concept but the variations of
• 27:44
  Speaker 8: the concept. And at the end of the day, we
• 27:46
  Speaker 8: want to make sure it fits our perimeter players. And
• 27:49
  Speaker 8: I'm talking particularly in the passing game. But at the
• 27:50
  Speaker 8: end of the day, it's about, you know, playing to
• 27:53
  Speaker 8: his reps and to his experiences. And because that's, you know,
• 27:56
  Speaker 8: frankly something I've always done as far as how you
• 27:59
  Speaker 8: build the offensive system. But, yeah, it's, you know. we
• 28:05
  Speaker 8: do it each and every week. Today's our day. We'll
• 28:07
  Speaker 8: sit up there tonight and go through the whole call
• 28:10
  Speaker 8: sheet and establish the first 15. It's something that's a
• 28:13
  Speaker 8: process I've done since 2000. Mike, what have you seen
• 28:14
  Speaker 8: from your depth at.
• 28:15
  Speaker 6: Corner, whether it's Slaughter or Everett?
• 28:21
  Speaker 8: Doing a good job, but probably more importantly than special teams.
• 28:24
  Speaker 8: I think it's imperative that some of our guys take
• 28:29
  Speaker 8: a step there. I think Everett's one of them, so Actually,
• 28:32
  Speaker 8: he had a nice day here yesterday in some of
• 28:34
  Speaker 8: the competitive drills. Just continue to grow. Be ready to play. Obviously,
• 28:38
  Speaker 8: it's a huge challenge this week for our perimeter because
• 28:41
  Speaker 8: of the receiver group. Just got to make sure everybody's
• 28:44
  Speaker 8: ready to go.
• 28:44
  Speaker 3: Patrick Graham has asked some different things.
• 28:47
  Speaker 4: At this defense and brought some new ideas.
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: What do you just appreciate about the.
• 28:50
  Speaker 9: Way guys are buying in and just some of the changes.
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: The way they're adapting?
• 28:54
  Speaker 8: I think Patrick and his staff have done an outstanding
• 28:56
  Speaker 8: job of really captivating each player's individual skill set. And
• 29:03
  Speaker 8: what I mean by that, incorporating in the scheme, it's
• 29:05
  Speaker 8: one thing to say you're going to do this and
• 29:08
  Speaker 8: do that, but then now when they see it integrated
• 29:11
  Speaker 8: into the defensive calls, particularly in the adjustments, particularly the
• 29:15
  Speaker 8: in-game adjustments, and, you know, to give the ownership that
• 29:19
  Speaker 8: you have to have, whether it's a pass rush plan,
• 29:22
  Speaker 8: you know, whether it's a check and balance how you
• 29:24
  Speaker 8: handle bunches and so forth. So, you know, it's a
• 29:26
  Speaker 8: veteran defense. Guys have played a lot of football, but
• 29:30
  Speaker 8: At the end of the day, they're all great ideas,
• 29:32
  Speaker 8: but I think from Patrick all the way through, and
• 29:34
  Speaker 8: it was a major emphasis for us on defense, the
• 29:38
  Speaker 8: communication has been really good. so far, and we need
• 29:41
  Speaker 8: to continue to build off that.
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: Head coach Mike McCarthy ahead of day number two this
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: week of Pittsburgh Steelers practice on. The South Side, our
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: own Brian Backo, of course, there. And whenever we come back,
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: we will get into.
• 29:53
  Speaker 6: Some NFL terrible takes.
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: You got ET and BB here on the Steelers Report
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: on Steelers Nation Radio, part of the Steelers Audio Network.
• 30:10
  Speaker 4: This is the.
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: Steelers Report with Brian Backo and Ed Troup on Steelers
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers Audio Network.
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: My goodness, last segment we were talking about all this
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: different types of foods in and across the NFL cities
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: that Brian Bacco has gone to over the years. I'm hungry,
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: Double B. I don't know if I want wings, permannies,
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: one of those sandwiches from Buffalo that you were talking about.
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: I mean, lots of good options. One thing I will
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: tell you, I'm not a seafood guy, so the New
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: England clam chowder or whatever else you were talking about
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: from last weekend will do nothing for me.
• 30:48
  Speaker 7: So I guess same goes for Baltimore's main stuff. Obviously,
• 30:52
  Speaker 7: crab cakes are big down there. And I like crab cakes,
• 30:55
  Speaker 7: but they're not in my top, which is why I
• 30:58
  Speaker 7: didn't put Baltimore in there when you asked me.
• 31:00
  Speaker 3: But I guess that's not for you either.
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: It's... is not. I'm just, I'm not a seafood guy, man.
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: I've never been a seafood guy. Now listen, during Lent
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: time in the spring, I do like a good fried
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: fish sandwich. So that's about as far as I'll go.
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: But again, on that fried fish sandwich, you got to
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: have a good bun. You got to have some cheese
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: on it and you got to have a lot of
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: hot sauce. So at that point, I don't, I'm not
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: sure there's even any fish left.
• 31:27
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm good with fried fish sandwiches too. I'm pretty
• 31:31
  Speaker 3: much good with all seafood.
• 31:32
  Speaker 7: I don't think there's any I don't really eat, but Yeah,
• 31:36
  Speaker 7: I mean, I'd say the main ones for me are Lobster.
• 31:38
  Speaker 7: I've developed a taste for the finer things in life,
• 31:41
  Speaker 7: but taking it back to football for a second, I
• 31:44
  Speaker 7: mentioned earlier Andre Yoshivas for the Bengals. I didn't realize,
• 31:48
  Speaker 7: so he's actually going to go on IR. They are
• 31:49
  Speaker 7: not going to have him this weekend in Pittsburgh. He
• 31:53
  Speaker 7: has a torn ligament in his thumb. I guess head
• 31:56
  Speaker 7: coach Zach Taylor mentioned that yesterday with the Cincy Media,
• 31:59
  Speaker 7: and it totally slipped past me, so I I don't
• 32:02
  Speaker 7: want to misinform people, or I don't want you to
• 32:04
  Speaker 7: be uninformed after listening to the show. So had to
• 32:07
  Speaker 7: circle back to Yoshivas. He's going to be unavailable. They've
• 32:10
  Speaker 7: got some other receivers, though, waiting in the wings. You know,
• 32:13
  Speaker 7: Colby Young is a big 6'4, 218-pound rookie out of Georgia.
• 32:18
  Speaker 7: And then familiar face alert, Keyshawn Williams, undrafted free agent
• 32:21
  Speaker 7: pickup of the Steelers last year, served as their punt
• 32:25
  Speaker 7: returner for a little bit at one point last season.
• 32:30
  Speaker 7: He went to Cincy last season, signed off the Steelers
• 32:33
  Speaker 7: practice squad, I think, or claimed maybe.
• 32:36
  Speaker 3: If they had to cut him off the 53-man roster.
• 32:37
  Speaker 7: I can't remember the exact machinations, but 5'9, 189 pounds
• 32:42
  Speaker 7: out of Indiana.
• 32:44
  Speaker 3: Maybe he will be more involved in the offense. I
• 32:46
  Speaker 3: don't know what their plan is, or they'll just run
• 32:48
  Speaker 3: more tight ends.
• 32:49
  Speaker 7: Again, that's something that we can get way more into
• 32:51
  Speaker 7: on Friday's show, but didn't want people to think that
• 32:54
  Speaker 7: there was a chance Yosha Voss was going to be
• 32:56
  Speaker 7: out there. And apparently for Jonathan Allen, it was just
• 32:59
  Speaker 7: a maintenance day thing. They listed him with an injury,
• 33:03
  Speaker 7: but he is going to be good to go. So
• 33:06
  Speaker 7: really the only injury there, I guess, to watch for
• 33:08
  Speaker 7: with the Bengals, barring anything unforeseen, would be the big
• 33:11
  Speaker 7: D tackle, B.J.
• 33:13
  Speaker 3: Hill. But again, like I said, he wasn't out there
• 33:15
  Speaker 3: last week.
• 33:16
  Speaker 7: They had him for 42 snaps or something like that
• 33:20
  Speaker 7: in week one.
• 33:22
  Speaker 3: But yeah, Jonathan Allen's good to go. It sounds like
• 33:24
  Speaker 3: Andre Yoshibase is not.
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: Brian, to close out the show, I'm going to give
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: you a choice. We could either go over five more
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: terrible takes from an NFL standpoint. Okay, I got five
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: of them here for you. I can throw those at
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: you to see what you think. Or we can go
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: over some statistical leaders in and across the NFL.
• 33:42
  Speaker 6: I will give you the choice, my friend.
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: Again, we were 7-3 on the Steeler terrible takes, so
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: we can see what we can do the best out
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: of five, or I can give you some statistical stuff.
• 33:51
  Speaker 6: What would you like?
• 33:53
  Speaker 7: Let's go with the terrible takes because I've got one
• 33:56
  Speaker 7: unprompted coming off here because it came out before you
• 34:00
  Speaker 7: even gathered your thoughts for today's show, Ed. I'm seeing
• 34:03
  Speaker 7: this from Adam Schefter Thursday afternoon.
• 34:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah, today's Thursday.
• 34:09
  Speaker 7: The NFL fined 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk $ 14, 926 for engaging
• 34:15
  Speaker 7: in an offensive demonstration Sunday versus Miami. Quote, your imitation
• 34:19
  Speaker 7: of chugging a beer constituted an offensive demonstration. and could
• 34:24
  Speaker 7: reasonably be construed as being in poor taste, the NFL
• 34:27
  Speaker 7: wrote in its fine letter to Kyle Juszczyk. Whew, man,
• 34:32
  Speaker 7: I mean, I get it. Kids are watching, and we
• 34:36
  Speaker 7: don't want to promote not drinking responsibly, but I don't
• 34:40
  Speaker 7: think I've ever seen this one in the NFL. That
• 34:44
  Speaker 7: is interesting.
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: That's a new one for me too, Double B. Well,
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: you know, sometimes they call it, what was that, the old...
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: The NFL, the not-for-fun league or not-fun league or something
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: back in the day.
• 34:56
  Speaker 6: But, you know, I get it.
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: You don't want your product out there putting out those
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: types of messages. But in the great scheme of things,
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: I've seen a lot worse than that. I'm sure you
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: have too.
• 35:06
  Speaker 7: I think I've seen players even do that before. But, hey,
• 35:08
  Speaker 7: maybe they want to crack down on it. I didn't
• 35:12
  Speaker 7: see the play when it happened. I wasn't really watching
• 35:15
  Speaker 7: Dolphins Niners at all. But, yeah, I wonder if Juszczyk
• 35:20
  Speaker 7: will appeal that. that's, that's one of those man bites
• 35:24
  Speaker 7: dog stories coming out of the NFL player find for
• 35:29
  Speaker 7: imitating a beer chug in celebration.
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: Speaking of celebrations, are you one of these dudes that
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: enjoys when they run down, you know, there's a turnover
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: and the whole defense goes down into the end zone
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: and celebrates. I, I like it if the game's close,
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: but I've seen this a couple of times now, even
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: in the college rate, well, the college ranks are usually
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: on the sidelines because they can get penalized.
• 35:49
  Speaker 6: I believe so for the celebrations.
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: But, In the NFL, what I don't like is when
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: the score is like three or four touchdowns and you're
• 35:56
  Speaker 2: down and you're still celebrating. I mean, I get that
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: you are happy about getting a turnover, but look up
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: at the scoreboard sometimes.
• 36:04
  Speaker 3: I don't mind it. I mean, it's just another way
• 36:07
  Speaker 3: for players to celebrate.
• 36:09
  Speaker 7: I feel like it would make more sense if you
• 36:11
  Speaker 7: did it when you scored a defensive touchdown and not
• 36:13
  Speaker 7: just kind of a routine pick or fumble recovery. But
• 36:18
  Speaker 7: I'm not really a curmudgeon person. old man yelling at
• 36:21
  Speaker 7: cloud celebrate however you want. It's maybe it gets a
• 36:26
  Speaker 7: little bit over the top at times, but generally I'm.
• 36:29
  Speaker 3: Cool with it. And you're right.
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 36:30
  Speaker 7: Colleges, you always see them come to the sideline and
• 36:32
  Speaker 7: you've seen, you know, Miami had the turnover chain. They've
• 36:35
  Speaker 7: had that for dang near a decade. Now pit used,
• 36:39
  Speaker 7: I think a basketball hoop where you get the dunk.
• 36:42
  Speaker 7: If you get a takeaway and a turnover and then there's, there's.
• 36:45
  Speaker 3: All sorts of stuff like that. All sorts of those
• 36:48
  Speaker 3: gimmicks and the college football world.
• 36:50
  Speaker 7: That would probably rub people the wrong way if you
• 36:53
  Speaker 7: started seeing NFL teams do that.
• 36:55
  Speaker 2: Oh, wait a minute. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. You mentioned
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: old man complaining type thing. That wasn't a shot at me.
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: I know I'm older than you, but come on, man.
• 37:03
  Speaker 2: I'm bald, but not old. Let's go.
• 37:05
  Speaker 7: No, I didn't think you were being overly crotchety about
• 37:09
  Speaker 7: the celebrations. I just meant in general, I'm kind of
• 37:13
  Speaker 7: a live and let live type of person. And that
• 37:16
  Speaker 7: extends to how players want to celebrate. Now, you don't
• 37:20
  Speaker 7: want to be here to borrow a J Cole line.
• 37:23
  Speaker 7: You don't want to be celebrating your first downs like touchdowns,
• 37:26
  Speaker 7: but I get it. You play the game with emotion.
• 37:29
  Speaker 7: There's obviously always a line that you can walk. And
• 37:31
  Speaker 7: actually just in this past week's game, Jalen Ramsey was
• 37:36
  Speaker 7: flagged and warned for taunting. And if he would have
• 37:39
  Speaker 7: gotten a second, one of those, he could have been ejected.
• 37:42
  Speaker 7: So you do need to tow the line with officials.
• 37:45
  Speaker 7: And we know that the NFL is trying to quote unquote,
• 37:48
  Speaker 7: clean up the game in that way. But, This use
• 37:51
  Speaker 7: check one is, I think the league's going to get
• 37:54
  Speaker 7: a lot of heat.
• 37:55
  Speaker 3: For this one.
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: I agree with you, Double B, for sure. Okay, well,
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: you picked it, so let's do some NFL terrible takes.
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: The Kansas City Chiefs are 2-0 and are the best
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: team in the NFL for two weeks.
• 38:08
  Speaker 6: Terrible take or not?
• 38:11
  Speaker 3: No, I don't think it's terrible.
• 38:12
  Speaker 7: I don't know that I'd put them number one, and
• 38:14
  Speaker 7: they did have to squeak past the Colts in overtime
• 38:17
  Speaker 7: at home with zero seconds on the clock. But I
• 38:20
  Speaker 7: think you can make the case just because if Patrick
• 38:23
  Speaker 7: Mahomes is back trick Mahomes, then that's that's the dude
• 38:29
  Speaker 7: we've seen go on Super Bowl runs and pretty much
• 38:33
  Speaker 7: be the modern day Tom Brady. And if that's going
• 38:37
  Speaker 7: to be what he's up to this season and Travis
• 38:40
  Speaker 7: Kelsey is turning back the clock and Kenneth Walker is
• 38:44
  Speaker 7: Barry Sanders reincarnate mixed with Jim Brown and Adrian Peterson
• 38:47
  Speaker 7: all at the same time.
• 38:49
  Speaker 3: Then they're going to be a real, real problem offensively.
• 38:52
  Speaker 7: And if they get anything defensively, I don't think that's
• 38:55
  Speaker 7: a terrible take at all.
• 38:57
  Speaker 3: Three rings. I mean, three rings with basically this current regime.
• 39:02
  Speaker 7: And you've kind of got to give them the benefit
• 39:04
  Speaker 7: of the doubt that maybe last year was a blip
• 39:06
  Speaker 7: on the radar.
• 39:08
  Speaker 6: I agree with you as well, Brian.
• 39:10
  Speaker 2: And, you know, so far through two weeks of the season,
• 39:13
  Speaker 2: especially that offense with Patrick Mahomes and Kenneth Walker, even
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: Travis Kelsey, Looks like a young man again.
• 39:19
  Speaker 6: They are out to a great start, that's for sure.
• 39:22
  Speaker 2: And who knows, could be talking Chiefs here at the
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: end of the season once again with just one year
• 39:27
  Speaker 2: removed after missing the playoffs.
• 39:30
  Speaker 6: Back in 2025.
• 39:31
  Speaker 2: Speaking of teams that missed the playoffs in 2025, the
• 39:35
  Speaker 2: New Orleans Saints are 1-1, and they will win the
• 39:38
  Speaker 2: NFC South and make a serious playoff run in the
• 39:41
  Speaker 2: NFC later this year.
• 39:44
  Speaker 3: Not a terrible take, Adam.
• 39:45
  Speaker 7: I'm glad you bring this up because, you know, we
• 39:47
  Speaker 7: did all our divisional winners before the season so that
• 39:50
  Speaker 7: we could get it all out on Front Street, find
• 39:53
  Speaker 7: out at the end of the day, open our time capsule,
• 39:55
  Speaker 7: were we right.
• 39:55
  Speaker 3: Or were we wrong or were we way off? You
• 39:58
  Speaker 3: were big on the Saints.
• 39:59
  Speaker 5: I was.
• 40:00
  Speaker 7: I was willing to entertain the notion of the Saints,
• 40:03
  Speaker 7: but ultimately went with the Tampa Bay Bucs. They're 0-2,
• 40:07
  Speaker 7: and you've got to like what you've seen from New Orleans.
• 40:09
  Speaker 7: I mean, even that first game against Detroit, they lost
• 40:12
  Speaker 7: it in controversial– A lot of people thought they should
• 40:15
  Speaker 7: have had a defensive.
• 40:16
  Speaker 3: Touchdown, right, that did not end up holding.
• 40:19
  Speaker 7: And I give Kellen Moore credit for having the cojones
• 40:23
  Speaker 7: to go for two at the end of that game.
• 40:26
  Speaker 7: They didn't get it, so they end up losing. But
• 40:28
  Speaker 7: they've been more than feisty. They've been more than frisky.
• 40:33
  Speaker 7: It looks like they've got some real pieces coming together
• 40:36
  Speaker 7: due to the Saints. And, you know, Brandon Staley as
• 40:39
  Speaker 7: their defensive coordinator, It did not work out well for
• 40:42
  Speaker 7: him as the Chargers head coach. They had some really,
• 40:45
  Speaker 7: really low, embarrassing moments. And I think he probably lost
• 40:49
  Speaker 7: that locker room and that team based on a lot
• 40:52
  Speaker 7: of what I've heard and read and seen.
• 40:55
  Speaker 3: But I think he's a good defensive coordinator.
• 40:57
  Speaker 7: To me, he's kind of like the Mike McDaniel of
• 41:00
  Speaker 7: that side of the ball. And I think that was
• 41:02
  Speaker 7: a good hire by the Saints and Kellen Moore. And
• 41:06
  Speaker 7: I think that in year two for him with that team,
• 41:09
  Speaker 7: they could they could be NFC South champs.
• 41:14
  Speaker 3: It's not a terrible take at all.
• 41:15
  Speaker 2: And in just about a month, the Steelers will take
• 41:18
  Speaker 2: on the New Orleans Saints at the end of October,
• 41:20
  Speaker 2: October 25th in Paris. And before the start of the season, Brian,
• 41:25
  Speaker 2: a lot would have looked at this schedule for the
• 41:28
  Speaker 2: Steelers and looked at that Saints game and put a
• 41:31
  Speaker 2: W down there thinking that this was going to be
• 41:33
  Speaker 2: a good game for the Steelers. You and I both
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: did that, by the way. I'm looking at our predictions
• 41:36
  Speaker 2: before the start of the season. But now, All of
• 41:38
  Speaker 2: a sudden, that Saints-Steelers game becomes maybe a bit more
• 41:42
  Speaker 2: difficult for the black and gold. And when I say
• 41:44
  Speaker 2: black and gold, they're both black and gold, different versions
• 41:46
  Speaker 2: of gold. But I'm talking about our black and gold,
• 41:48
  Speaker 2: the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 41:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I am intrigued by the Saints. I think they've
• 41:53
  Speaker 3: gone from one of the least.
• 41:55
  Speaker 7: Intriguing teams in the NFL to one that has some
• 41:57
  Speaker 7: real juice to them at this.
• 42:00
  Speaker 3: Point under Kellen Moore.
• 42:01
  Speaker 7: Yeah, Brandon Staley trying to, I guess, build back up
• 42:04
  Speaker 7: his resume after the way things ended. In L.A., three years, well,
• 42:08
  Speaker 7: didn't even make it to the end of year three
• 42:10
  Speaker 7: as the Chargers head coach. Then he had kind of
• 42:12
  Speaker 7: the Kyle Shanahan rejuvenation project, was assistant head coach in
• 42:17
  Speaker 7: charge of the defense for a season in 2024, and
• 42:20
  Speaker 7: now Saints defensive coordinator. Maybe he will put himself back
• 42:24
  Speaker 7: in the mix. I think he's got some local ties,
• 42:27
  Speaker 7: does Brandon Staley.
• 42:28
  Speaker 3: I know he.
• 42:31
  Speaker 7: Coached at John Carroll, I think with Tom Arth, the Steelers,
• 42:35
  Speaker 7: quarterback's coach, but I think he has some local ties
• 42:37
  Speaker 7: even more than that. I've heard he's a good guy. So, yeah,
• 42:41
  Speaker 7: I don't think that's a gimme by any stretch on
• 42:43
  Speaker 7: the Steelers' schedule. I didn't think it was before, and
• 42:45
  Speaker 7: I definitely don't know.
• 42:46
  Speaker 6: I'm with you as well.
• 42:47
  Speaker 2: Okay, let's get to another terrible take while we just
• 42:50
  Speaker 2: have a couple more minutes here left in the show
• 42:51
  Speaker 2: for today. Josh Allen would be the NFL MVP if
• 42:56
  Speaker 2: the season ended today.
• 42:57
  Speaker 6: Terrible take or not?
• 43:00
  Speaker 3: Not at all. Probably get my vote. I mean, he's been.
• 43:05
  Speaker 7: Really, really good with his legs, with his arm. Bills
• 43:08
  Speaker 7: are 2-0 and racking up points like crazy. I guess
• 43:12
  Speaker 7: you could probably put Patrick Mahomes on the list, too. Honestly,
• 43:16
  Speaker 7: probably put Kenneth Walker on the list. I mean, what
• 43:18
  Speaker 7: he's doing, I know we didn't end up getting into
• 43:21
  Speaker 7: statistical leaders. We can circle back to that tomorrow if
• 43:24
  Speaker 7: we have some downtime, Ed, but 290 yards through two games.
• 43:30
  Speaker 7: Next closest is Derrick Henry with 212, so he's 78
• 43:35
  Speaker 7: yards ahead of the next closest guy, and he's averaging
• 43:38
  Speaker 7: 6.2 per tote. Derrick Henry is at 5.3.
• 43:44
  Speaker 3: Kenneth Walker's been dominant, too.
• 43:46
  Speaker 7: But, yeah, I'd say Josh Allen would be at the
• 43:50
  Speaker 7: top of my list, and Patrick Mahomes would not be
• 43:53
  Speaker 7: far behind.
• 43:55
  Speaker 2: Last one for today, the 0-2 L.A. Chargers, who did
• 44:00
  Speaker 2: make the playoffs last year in 2025, will miss the
• 44:02
  Speaker 2: playoffs this season.
• 44:06
  Speaker 3: It's looking like it. It really is.
• 44:07
  Speaker 7: I mean, I'd have to comb through the rest of
• 44:11
  Speaker 7: their schedule game by game, I suppose. But I don't
• 44:14
  Speaker 7: think that's a terrible take considering what it says about
• 44:17
  Speaker 7: your team that you.
• 44:18
  Speaker 3: Lost to the Raiders and the Cardinals. Now, hey, don't
• 44:20
  Speaker 3: get me wrong.
• 44:20
  Speaker 7: Maybe the Raiders and Cardinals will prove to be better
• 44:24
  Speaker 7: coached and better, more competitive outfits than we anticipated. But
• 44:30
  Speaker 7: I think when you looked at the Chargers slate and
• 44:34
  Speaker 7: why you thought they'd Could be a playoff team. You
• 44:37
  Speaker 7: were certainly banking on wins against those two to start 2-0.
• 44:41
  Speaker 7: And that's a really, really difficult division that they're in.
• 44:45
  Speaker 7: They already botched one chance against the expected doormat, cellar
• 44:50
  Speaker 7: dweller of the AFC West.
• 44:53
  Speaker 3: Chiefs are better even than expected.
• 44:55
  Speaker 7: And I don't think the Broncos are going away despite
• 44:58
  Speaker 7: a miserable week one performance. I don't, yeah, it's not
• 45:02
  Speaker 7: looking good for the Chargers to be in the postseason.
• 45:04
  Speaker 7: And as someone who had them there, I'm going to
• 45:06
  Speaker 7: be ready to eat some crow on that.
• 45:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's one thing to start out 0-2 on your season, Brian,
• 45:11
  Speaker 2: and still make the playoffs.
• 45:12
  Speaker 6: It's another to.
• 45:13
  Speaker 2: Start out the way they have, 0-2 against two opponents that, well,
• 45:17
  Speaker 2: quite frankly, they should have beat.
• 45:19
  Speaker 6: That's going to do it for the show for today.
• 45:21
  Speaker 2: Coming up tomorrow on Friday, Brian and I will have
• 45:23
  Speaker 2: a complete preview of Steelers-Bengals for this upcoming Sunday. We
• 45:27
  Speaker 2: appreciate you listening today each and every day. I'm Ed
• 45:30
  Speaker 2: Troop alongside Brian Bacco. Thanks for listening to the Steelers Report.
• 45:33
  Speaker 2: Up next, it's Wes Shuler and Matt Williamson on SNR's
• 45:37
  Speaker 2: The Drive right here on Steelers Nation Radio, part of
• 45:40
  Speaker 2: the Steelers Audio Network.