Latest / Steelers Country Weekly / Browns Recap, Steelers Preview

Transcript

Browns Recap, Steelers Preview · Steelers Country Weekly

0:00
Speaker 1: Today on Steelers Country Weekly. We are back from our
0:04
Speaker 1: holiday hiatus. We have a lot to talk about. We
0:07
Speaker 1: need to recap what happened in Detroit, the big win there,
0:11
Speaker 1: what happened with DK Metcalf. Then we need to go
0:14
Speaker 1: over to Cleveland and talk about what went wrong there
0:17
Speaker 1: in the thirteen to six loss. All of this culminating
0:20
Speaker 1: in what we actually talked about a few weeks ago,
0:23
Speaker 1: a Division championship Sunday night in Pittsburgh against the Ravens.
0:30
Speaker 1: We're gonna talk about it all. I'm Nick Detulo and
0:32
Speaker 1: as always, am joined by the world famous accountant Eric
0:35
Speaker 1: van Benschowden. Eric has it going tonight.
0:38
Speaker 2: I'm not too bad, just hanging out, a little tired
0:43
Speaker 2: from the holidays, but that's okay, still enjoying them.
0:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, we are ready for the holidays to be over.
0:51
Speaker 1: In my house. It was a crazy, weird, rough holiday season.
0:58
Speaker 1: I was actually up in Cincinnati. We didn't get to
1:00
Speaker 1: meet up though. I actually had to take one of
1:03
Speaker 1: my daughters to the hospital while I was in Cincinnati. Figured, yeah,
1:07
Speaker 1: I thought we were going to have another pneumonia outbreak.
1:10
Speaker 1: Turns out it was a flu. And then the other
1:13
Speaker 1: daughter got the flu as well, and I think my
1:16
Speaker 1: son got it first, but it didn't hit him quite
1:18
Speaker 1: as bad. So sickness just everywhere and not fun when
1:23
Speaker 1: you're traveling, as you know too. Oh no, So sickness aside, though.
1:30
Speaker 1: Good to see people, good to travel, good to let
1:32
Speaker 1: the kids run with their cousins and all that. So
1:36
Speaker 1: glad that we had the holidays. But at the same time,
1:39
Speaker 1: I'm happy to be home now.
1:40
Speaker 3: Yeah, I get it.
1:42
Speaker 1: So funny enough. I remember this past weekend. I said
1:50
Speaker 1: to my family, Hey, family, I'm going to leave at
1:54
Speaker 1: five am because I want us to get home to
1:58
Speaker 1: watch the Steelers and the Browns. And to their credit,
2:03
Speaker 1: we actually got out the door at five point thirty.
2:05
Speaker 1: I was really hoping that the Packers would take care
2:08
Speaker 1: of the Ravens for us. Of course, that did not happen.
2:10
Speaker 1: It got close there at the end, and then the
2:12
Speaker 1: Ravens pulled away. But yeah, I got home in time
2:16
Speaker 1: to watch most of the Browns Steelers game, and I
2:22
Speaker 1: kind of wish I had just slept in on Sunday,
2:24
Speaker 1: but we'll get to that. We did take last week off,
2:27
Speaker 1: with again it being the holidays, me being on the
2:30
Speaker 1: road and Frankly, the game house doesn't pay us to
2:33
Speaker 1: do this podcast. Once they do, we'll start working. Once
2:36
Speaker 1: they do, we'll start working on the holidays. But until then,
2:40
Speaker 1: family first. So we have to talk about the game
2:44
Speaker 1: in Detroit, which was These past two weeks have kind
2:48
Speaker 1: of been a good example or I don't I can't
2:52
Speaker 1: even think of the word because I'm so mad from
2:54
Speaker 1: this Cleveland game two days ago. It's if you were
2:59
Speaker 1: to conde hence the Steelers entire season into two weeks,
3:02
Speaker 1: you could like these two weeks would be the perfect
3:05
Speaker 1: amalgamation of that. Oh yeah, some a very impressive win,
3:10
Speaker 1: taking care of business, doing what you need to do,
3:12
Speaker 1: and then just shit in the bed from the better.
3:20
Speaker 1: So let's talk about the Detroit game. It was a
3:24
Speaker 1: game on the road in Detroit. You had some really
3:30
Speaker 1: awesome plays from the team, some Darnell Washington plays. Gainwell
3:34
Speaker 1: had some awesome plays, particularly that touchdown catch on the
3:39
Speaker 1: last drive before halftime. With Rogers basically drawing up the
3:42
Speaker 1: play in the dirt, you have defensive pass interference called,
3:46
Speaker 1: but Gainwell makes this crazy circus catch where the ball
3:51
Speaker 1: like lands on his forearm and never touches the ground.
3:53
Speaker 1: He gets up in scores, no one touches him, fantastic,
3:57
Speaker 1: and then of course it ends with the Steelers having
4:00
Speaker 1: a big goal line stand and some confusion on the
4:03
Speaker 1: last play where they stopped the Lions receiver short but
4:08
Speaker 1: he managed to lateral it to Jared Goff, of all people,
4:11
Speaker 1: who gets into the end zone, but it was offensive
4:13
Speaker 1: pass interference. So the game ends, the Steelers get to win,
4:17
Speaker 1: and in one of their finer games of the season.
4:22
Speaker 1: I would say Detroit has taken some steps back this year,
4:26
Speaker 1: but that was still a very impressive win from a
4:29
Speaker 1: team that at the time was still competing for a
4:32
Speaker 1: possible division championship, very unlikely and certainly a playoff spot too.
4:40
Speaker 1: The big thing though, that happened in this game, actually
4:43
Speaker 1: happened off the field, with DK Metcalf confronting a fan
4:48
Speaker 1: in the stands and taking a swipe at him. And
4:52
Speaker 1: it sounds like the guy has been kind of harassing
4:56
Speaker 1: DK every time he's come to Detroit, which is kind
4:59
Speaker 1: of odd because he never played for the Lions or
5:02
Speaker 1: even in the Lions Division. He played in the same conference,
5:05
Speaker 1: but whatever, and of course it's on video. DK kind
5:11
Speaker 1: of took a swipe at him. If you want to
5:13
Speaker 1: call it a punch, that's fine. I didn't really think
5:15
Speaker 1: it was a full on punch. But the result of
5:19
Speaker 1: that was one DK is being sued and two he
5:24
Speaker 1: is suspended for two games. There's a lot of nuance
5:29
Speaker 1: to that, and I don't know that I really want
5:32
Speaker 1: to go into the legal side of it on this show,
5:34
Speaker 1: because neither of us are really qualified. But looking at
5:39
Speaker 1: it from just the Steelers a Steelers perspective, it was
5:43
Speaker 1: interesting because the Steelers could avoided all of the guaranteed
5:47
Speaker 1: money in his contract, which I didn't think they were
5:50
Speaker 1: going to do. If you avoid all the money in
5:53
Speaker 1: his contract, and what incentive does he have to even
5:55
Speaker 1: show up next year? Right? But most importantly, he suspended
6:01
Speaker 1: for the last two games of the regular season, including
6:04
Speaker 1: this game against the Browns that we just saw and
6:07
Speaker 1: this next game which is against the Ravens for the championship.
6:11
Speaker 1: And that is huge because he is the number one
6:17
Speaker 1: wide receiver and while we've seen players like Adam Feelin
6:22
Speaker 1: and Valdez Scantling step up, they're not. They are very
6:30
Speaker 1: clearly in a support role. Right, They're not going to
6:34
Speaker 1: be going out They're having one hundred yard games, two
6:36
Speaker 1: touchdown catches, things like that, so it really hurts especially
6:44
Speaker 1: and again, I know we've got a lot to talk
6:46
Speaker 1: about it. I kind of want to go game by game,
6:47
Speaker 1: but in this game against Cleveland, Darnell Washington broke his
6:51
Speaker 1: arm and is out for the year. So the number
6:55
Speaker 1: two target for Aaron Rodgers is out for the year
6:58
Speaker 1: now too, So let's just focus on DK for right now.
7:04
Speaker 1: Though this is a big deal. Swinging at a fan
7:08
Speaker 1: is never all right, regardless of the circumstances, and for
7:13
Speaker 1: some reason, it always seems to happen in Detroit, whether
7:16
Speaker 1: it's malice at the Palace or this. But yeah, not
7:22
Speaker 1: to put you on the spot too much, but let's
7:24
Speaker 1: just let's get your thoughts a little bit on what
7:27
Speaker 1: happened in Detroit with DK.
7:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I think if he lodged a complaint
7:34
Speaker 2: against the fan last year, yes.
7:37
Speaker 3: And the NFL to turn their noses up on it.
7:40
Speaker 2: It's a horrible look for the NFL because well, obviously
7:45
Speaker 2: fans are what's low the lining of their pockets filled.
7:51
Speaker 2: You need the players and you need to have there's
7:53
Speaker 2: a you know, know that they're supported. And I don't
7:57
Speaker 2: think that just because you pay admission into a football
8:00
Speaker 2: game gives you the right to do or say whatever
8:05
Speaker 2: you want.
8:09
Speaker 3: Now, if all he called him was his full.
8:14
Speaker 2: Given name, I don't think that that was I wouldn't
8:19
Speaker 2: call that harassment. But if he said something, you know,
8:25
Speaker 2: they said something about his mother, could have been a
8:29
Speaker 2: possible inappropriate word or freeze. You know, I can understand
8:36
Speaker 2: why it could listen a response. I think the one
8:41
Speaker 2: thing that kind of surprised me was like DK went
8:45
Speaker 2: out of his way, Like it wasn't like a lot
8:48
Speaker 2: of people were trying to like compare it to the
8:51
Speaker 2: Lamar Jackson taking a you know, pushing a fan. Well,
8:57
Speaker 2: that fan like literally swiped at Lamar jacks So I
9:03
Speaker 2: think that those two comparisons are completely.
9:08
Speaker 3: Different.
9:10
Speaker 2: DK actually went over and initiated the contact, right, So do.
9:19
Speaker 3: I understand why you got suspend it.
9:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, But I also think that it could be a
9:26
Speaker 2: a black guy in terms of the NFLPA because they
9:32
Speaker 2: might not think that if this happens again, that the
9:37
Speaker 2: NFL is going to take their players' safety and consideration.
9:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's important that it seems like there's a
9:46
Speaker 1: pattern here. And again we'll let the lawyers figure that out. Yeah,
9:53
Speaker 1: I think the NFLPA will probably have something to say
9:56
Speaker 1: before this is all said and done. Getting back to
10:01
Speaker 1: the game itself in Detroit, it was interesting because the Steelers,
10:08
Speaker 1: frankly after that play going into halftime, really had all
10:13
Speaker 1: the momentum. They kept within ten to twelve points ahead
10:17
Speaker 1: of the Lions, and then kind of a theme that
10:22
Speaker 1: we've talked about a few times this year is they
10:25
Speaker 1: were just unable to put it away. It was again,
10:29
Speaker 1: they're up by double digits, but they the Lions would score,
10:32
Speaker 1: and then the Steelers would score again. So it would
10:36
Speaker 1: have been nice for the defense to make a stand
10:38
Speaker 1: at that point really put the game out of reach.
10:40
Speaker 1: Didn't happen, and then the last two and a half
10:45
Speaker 1: minutes were just kind of nuts. You had Aaron Rodgers
10:49
Speaker 1: throwing the ball away instead of just taking a sack
10:53
Speaker 1: with like two minutes and nine seconds left, which let
10:56
Speaker 1: the Lions keep extra time on the clock. Then you
11:01
Speaker 1: had Boswell missing a chip shot field goal, and then
11:05
Speaker 1: I think there was like a two defensive pass interference
11:09
Speaker 1: or holding calls on the last drive which just extended
11:12
Speaker 1: it for the Lions. And then once it got to
11:15
Speaker 1: the goal line, that's where the Steelers were able to
11:17
Speaker 1: make their stand. They had the Lions actually scored twice
11:21
Speaker 1: on that final drive and had two offensive pass interference
11:24
Speaker 1: and the pass interference calls and negate. That so very weird.
11:30
Speaker 1: But again, it's good that they got the win in
11:34
Speaker 1: that situation on the road.
11:36
Speaker 3: Uh.
11:37
Speaker 1: But it was despite the despite the great feeling the
11:42
Speaker 1: win gives you, it was a little disheartening just to
11:44
Speaker 1: see them unable to put it away. And they they
11:47
Speaker 1: did almost lose that game, and they some people will
11:53
Speaker 1: tell you that that offensive pass interference call the first
11:56
Speaker 1: time shouldn't have been called, but I mean, yeah, and
12:01
Speaker 1: I'm not saying I agree or disagree with that. I'm
12:03
Speaker 1: just highlighting how close this was and how it really
12:06
Speaker 1: could have gone either way.
12:08
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, So.
12:13
Speaker 1: It's a we'll take the wins where we can get them,
12:16
Speaker 1: because nothing is ever guaranteed in this league. The Steelers
12:21
Speaker 1: did leave that game in Detroit at nine and six,
12:27
Speaker 1: and as a result of that game, the Steelers' magic
12:32
Speaker 1: number was one, meaning they either need to I'm sorry.
12:37
Speaker 1: After the Sunday night or Saturday night game, Packers played
12:41
Speaker 1: the Ravens and no, I'm sorry, I'm correct. See the
12:45
Speaker 1: Browns have me so mad and out of black. Now.
12:49
Speaker 1: The magic number was one. So if the Ravens lost
12:52
Speaker 1: this game this past weekend, or if the Steelers won,
12:56
Speaker 1: the Steelers have the division. If the Ravens win and
13:00
Speaker 1: the Steelers lose, that means it all comes down to
13:02
Speaker 1: this game on Sunday night. And I think I said
13:06
Speaker 1: that on this the last time we recorded, I said,
13:08
Speaker 1: I think it's all just it feels like it's all
13:10
Speaker 1: lining up to be decided in that Week eighteen game. Yeah,
13:15
Speaker 1: And it was once I woke up or before I
13:19
Speaker 1: went to bed and saw that the Ravens lost that
13:22
Speaker 1: or won that game against the Packers, it was like
13:26
Speaker 1: every ounce of dread in my body just hit. I
13:30
Speaker 1: was like, we are going to lose this game. There
13:33
Speaker 1: is no way we are going to win this game.
13:35
Speaker 1: This is like the most quintessential Steelers loss coming up right.
13:45
Speaker 1: And I saw a stat today that it just floored me.
13:49
Speaker 1: And you have people gaslight you and say like, oh, no,
13:53
Speaker 1: it's not that bad. Therese teams there were these circumstances.
13:56
Speaker 1: Da da da da da. No. The Steelers are oh
13:59
Speaker 1: four and one in the last five games they've played,
14:02
Speaker 1: a team that was eight games under five hundred. Yeah,
14:06
Speaker 1: that's not five hundred. Eight games under five hundred. The
14:10
Speaker 1: Browns were three and twelve. They have their own plethora
14:14
Speaker 1: of injuries. The Steelers certainly had some of their guys
14:17
Speaker 1: out too, but it was just like, man, they are
14:21
Speaker 1: three and twelve. They are the Cleveland Browns. You of
14:27
Speaker 1: all the games and all the teams and all the
14:29
Speaker 1: issues you've had this year, what it comes down to
14:33
Speaker 1: is you just have to beat the Cleveland Browns.
14:38
Speaker 4: Yeah.
14:39
Speaker 1: And they couldn't do it. No, they couldn't do it.
14:42
Speaker 1: They couldn't even score a touchdown against the Cleveland Browns.
14:46
Speaker 1: I mean, okay, so full transparency here to are devoted listeners.
14:53
Speaker 1: I missed a little bit of the game getting home
14:56
Speaker 1: from Cincinnati and then trying to get the out of
15:00
Speaker 1: the car and everything I was in and out. So
15:03
Speaker 1: I did watch the second half and it was just
15:09
Speaker 1: I mean, we can get into the weeds if you
15:11
Speaker 1: want to hear, but this was everything that you would
15:14
Speaker 1: expect out of the Steelers in this game. Look, if
15:17
Speaker 1: you look at the score, you look at who they're playing,
15:19
Speaker 1: you know it's at stake. It was just uninspired, very uninspired,
15:25
Speaker 1: and I will say that the only time they had
15:29
Speaker 1: significant movement was on the last drive of the game,
15:31
Speaker 1: where the uh, it was Rogers basically running the offense entirely,
15:38
Speaker 1: combined with the fact that the Browns were playing softer
15:42
Speaker 1: coverage to not get beat deep, so they were giving
15:44
Speaker 1: up a lot of you know, short passes. And there
15:50
Speaker 1: was three things, three plays that I wanted to mention,
15:54
Speaker 1: or two plays rather three things over two plays that
15:57
Speaker 1: I wanted to mention. Once the Steelers got you know,
16:01
Speaker 1: within the when it was first in goal, Rogers went
16:07
Speaker 1: to Valdez Scantling twice on third and fourth down, and
16:14
Speaker 1: on both instances, the quarterback and the receiver were not
16:19
Speaker 1: on the same page. I don't know if Scantling ran
16:23
Speaker 1: the wrong route or if Rogers got his own routes
16:30
Speaker 1: mixed up, but it was very clear that they just
16:34
Speaker 1: he was in the wrong the ball was in the
16:36
Speaker 1: wrong spot. It doesn't matter whose fault it was. Additionally,
16:41
Speaker 1: Gainwell was open on the last drive or the last play, so, uh,
16:48
Speaker 1: you know, just just kind of interesting. And I see
16:51
Speaker 1: a lot of people saying it felt like the Steelers
16:53
Speaker 1: were trying to prevent and Garrett from getting the record
17:00
Speaker 1: as opposed to winning the game. And I think Garrett
17:01
Speaker 1: even said that too in his press conference, And it's like,
17:05
Speaker 1: I don't think they're that shallow, but it certainly didn't
17:10
Speaker 1: feel like they were opening up. And again you had
17:14
Speaker 1: DK out, you had Darnell Washington hurt early in the
17:17
Speaker 1: game and didn't come back. That certainly impacts things. But
17:23
Speaker 1: it just, again, without getting into the x's and o's
17:29
Speaker 1: too much, it just felt very uninspired by the team.
17:36
Speaker 1: And again the fact that everyone is sitting here a
17:40
Speaker 1: little bit Monday morning quarterback, but just go, everyone who's
17:45
Speaker 1: a fan went into this game thinking, yeah, I think
17:48
Speaker 1: we're gonna We're gonna lose. You know, it just makes
17:51
Speaker 1: too much sense for us to win this game. I
17:55
Speaker 1: think that kind of says everything you need to know
17:57
Speaker 1: about the Steelers this year and the last several years.
18:05
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean they that you said ship the bed,
18:09
Speaker 4: I would say crap the bed, same thing, right, Like
18:14
Speaker 4: I did actually see.
18:15
Speaker 1: That they.
18:18
Speaker 2: There was talk about them schematically trying to neutralize Garrett
18:24
Speaker 2: versus winning the game, which meant even inflicting penalties if
18:29
Speaker 2: they needed to, which it's true. It's just like gosh,
18:36
Speaker 2: like isn't the goal of it just to like win
18:39
Speaker 2: the game goes the playoff, Like that's they They could
18:43
Speaker 2: have even potentially rested their players on the week eighteen
18:47
Speaker 2: and if we would have won.
18:50
Speaker 3: But now, I mean.
18:53
Speaker 2: They I guess, I'm just like confused, you know why
19:00
Speaker 2: we struggled so much after having I know Detroit's defense
19:06
Speaker 2: is a lot different than Brown's defense, but we had
19:08
Speaker 2: almost five hundred yards in total offense the week prior,
19:14
Speaker 2: we had two explosive runs from Jalen Warren last week
19:20
Speaker 2: or two weeks ago, I guess, And we ran for
19:24
Speaker 2: five point five yards per game in this game. And
19:28
Speaker 2: while we were down I think ten to nothing at
19:32
Speaker 2: one point, it wasn't like it was ten to nothing
19:37
Speaker 2: in like the fourth quarter. It was ten to nothing
19:40
Speaker 2: in the first quarter. So why it just seems like
19:50
Speaker 2: we threw the ball way too much compared to how
19:53
Speaker 2: much we were running the ball, Like we had thirty
19:56
Speaker 2: nine passes.
19:57
Speaker 3: Before were rushing attempts.
20:00
Speaker 2: I like, I get it like we threw the ball
20:04
Speaker 2: out more at the end because we need it to
20:06
Speaker 2: but we had it seemed like we had multiple opportunities
20:11
Speaker 2: to win this game.
20:13
Speaker 3: We did either from just sticking to the.
20:17
Speaker 2: Run or you know, I texted you because I was
20:21
Speaker 2: watching the game cast on it too. It was so
20:24
Speaker 2: we had a fourth and three I think from like
20:27
Speaker 2: the forty six, and we punted the ball. Yeah, like
20:32
Speaker 2: a fourth and short on the fifty, and we punted
20:36
Speaker 2: the ball.
20:37
Speaker 3: But then all of a sudden, we had a fourth
20:39
Speaker 3: and ten from our own.
20:42
Speaker 2: Twenty, and we go for it. I guess I just
20:45
Speaker 2: don't understand what was going through our mind then. I mean,
20:51
Speaker 2: I understand at that time maybe they.
20:55
Speaker 3: Felt like they needed to go for it.
20:57
Speaker 2: But at the same time, you had all three timeouts
21:01
Speaker 2: in your pocket, So what changed?
21:06
Speaker 3: Do you have a thought on it?
21:08
Speaker 1: So the thought was, because I believe that was before
21:11
Speaker 1: the two minute warning as well, you have your timeouts
21:13
Speaker 1: and you have the two minute warning. The thought was,
21:17
Speaker 1: if you hold them to a field goal, you still
21:21
Speaker 1: are within one score. That was That was quite literally it.
21:25
Speaker 2: I mean, but like, why not go for it on
21:30
Speaker 2: the forty six or the fifty I gave year.
21:33
Speaker 1: I agree with you. I would have done that too.
21:35
Speaker 1: I'm just telling.
21:36
Speaker 3: You go for it on your own twenty. Why why
21:42
Speaker 3: did you do it when you were in enemy's territory before.
21:45
Speaker 1: Look, I agree with you. I'm just telling you what
21:48
Speaker 1: the logic was at that two minute spot. I would
21:52
Speaker 1: have gone forward on those situations too, and I was
21:55
Speaker 1: kind of surprised they didn't because I get that timing
22:01
Speaker 1: played a factor in the decision making, But the score
22:03
Speaker 1: was still the same at those spots, right, I mean,
22:07
Speaker 1: you go for it on fourth and three or fourth
22:09
Speaker 1: and one or whatever it was. Yeah, I mean if
22:13
Speaker 1: you still hold them to a field goal, you're in
22:14
Speaker 1: the same spot that you were in ultimately anyway. So
22:18
Speaker 1: I would have done it. Also, I feel like I
22:23
Speaker 1: already use the term Monday morning quarterback, But I don't
22:28
Speaker 1: know if you feel the same way as I do.
22:30
Speaker 1: But it kind of bugs me when it's like fourth
22:32
Speaker 1: and one and you're on a flyer out, I don't know, like, yeah,
22:36
Speaker 1: unless the guy's wide open, I don't care for jump
22:38
Speaker 1: balls in that situation. It feels like you're either hoping
22:42
Speaker 1: for a miracle catch or just banking on the refs
22:44
Speaker 1: throwing a flag. And on fourth downs and especially on
22:48
Speaker 1: like final plays of the game and stuff, they're not
22:50
Speaker 1: going to throw a flag unless it's egregious.
22:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, we've talked about the push as a fun topic
22:57
Speaker 2: in this in this season.
22:59
Speaker 3: And what it just well, it doesn't. It surprises the
23:04
Speaker 3: heck out of me.
23:05
Speaker 2: It's like I understand that, like sometimes someone just gets
23:12
Speaker 2: a good jump on you, or sometimes you're playing Aarondonald
23:16
Speaker 2: and you don't want to do go right at the
23:18
Speaker 2: middle and gap it. But if you can't rely on
23:21
Speaker 2: your offensive line to get a push to get.
23:24
Speaker 3: One yard and you have you know, it doesn't have
23:28
Speaker 3: to be.
23:28
Speaker 2: Aaron Rodgers that it can be Connored Hayward plunging forward.
23:33
Speaker 2: You know, we used to have Le've beyond Bell. Just
23:37
Speaker 2: take it a wild cat shotgun snap.
23:42
Speaker 3: If you don't have that ability to get fourth down
23:46
Speaker 3: and one, I I have no.
23:50
Speaker 2: I worry about your offense because the easiest play in football.
23:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's a little different with Rogers being out
24:02
Speaker 1: there compared to someone like Jalen Hurts obviously, but but yeah,
24:08
Speaker 1: I mean the point that I'm making is you lose
24:12
Speaker 1: Aaron when you do that. When the Steelers do the
24:15
Speaker 1: tush push and they have Rogers out there, he does that,
24:21
Speaker 1: I don't know what you Yeah, I mean it looks cool,
24:24
Speaker 1: I grant you that, but you lose a guy because
24:28
Speaker 1: he's obviously not going to do anything. He's there if
24:31
Speaker 1: they need to audible out of it, which I understand,
24:33
Speaker 1: But if you're going to commit to the tush push,
24:35
Speaker 1: he's not pushing anybody's tush. And if it goes south
24:40
Speaker 1: and it's like a fumble, you know how they'll put
24:42
Speaker 1: like a safety or a wide receiver like ten twenty
24:45
Speaker 1: yards behind on like the victory formation. Aaron Rodgers is
24:49
Speaker 1: not tackling anybody if like there's a fumble Rooskie or
24:53
Speaker 1: something there. So you're you're already down a guy. And
24:57
Speaker 1: all this goes back to your point that, yeah, if
24:59
Speaker 1: you can't in those situations, then there's something fundamentally wrong.
25:05
Speaker 3: Yeah.
25:05
Speaker 1: So and uh, I mean I speaking going back to
25:16
Speaker 1: the macro on this game. In this season, the Steelers
25:18
Speaker 1: haven't won since in Cleveland since Big Ben, which is sad.
25:25
Speaker 1: And as I mentioned earlier, their last five games playing
25:30
Speaker 1: someone eight games or lower than five hundred, they're zero
25:35
Speaker 1: four and one. It just it look. I get that
25:41
Speaker 1: this is the NFL and that anything can happen on
25:44
Speaker 1: any given Sunday, and this is a divisional game, Like
25:49
Speaker 1: if it happens once or twice. Absolutely, But if it
25:52
Speaker 1: happens repeatedly every year, then there's a problem. And I'm
25:57
Speaker 1: getting really sick and tired of trying having to swallow
25:59
Speaker 1: these in games that literally everybody knows that the Steelers
26:05
Speaker 1: are the better team and the team that should win
26:07
Speaker 1: the game. Well, is there anything else you want to
26:13
Speaker 1: say about this game in particular before we move on
26:16
Speaker 1: to what's going on with Baltimore.
26:21
Speaker 2: If we do not make the playoffs, this will be
26:24
Speaker 2: the game that puts.
26:25
Speaker 3: The pike on townlind So I hope he understands that.
26:33
Speaker 1: I don't know, man, I think it should be the game.
26:37
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's going to be the one
26:38
Speaker 1: that does that. I think if this it remains to
26:42
Speaker 1: be seen if they're going to actually move on from
26:46
Speaker 1: him by their own decision making. It still seems we
26:53
Speaker 1: still have another game to talk about, and I'm sure
26:55
Speaker 1: we'll talk about this in the offseason because I I'm
27:00
Speaker 1: back to being a pessimist again. I'm sure that even
27:04
Speaker 1: if they do manage to win on Sunday, they're not
27:08
Speaker 1: going to advance out of the first round of the playoffs.
27:10
Speaker 1: So we're just going to be back exactly where we were.
27:13
Speaker 1: The only difference that this year will have been is
27:17
Speaker 1: that the Steelers will have won their division, which is
27:22
Speaker 1: a little hollow when the rest of the division was
27:26
Speaker 1: awful this year. Yeah, so anyway, we can wax poetic later.
27:32
Speaker 1: But yeah, let's move on to the game. Really, this
27:37
Speaker 1: is the only play in game for the playoffs. There's
27:41
Speaker 1: a couple other games I think, particularly in the NFC West,
27:44
Speaker 1: that are they're playing for, like seeding positions, So it
27:48
Speaker 1: doesn't make I think you are correct about that. Do
27:54
Speaker 1: they play each other for the division championship? Let's see.
28:01
Speaker 1: I know, podcast one oh one, you're not supposed to
28:04
Speaker 1: research while you're on the show, but that's okay, you
28:13
Speaker 1: are correct.
28:15
Speaker 2: Okay, my apologies, anger guns, I.
28:21
Speaker 1: Know we got mister nowad all over there. Now, okay,
28:27
Speaker 1: this is one of two games that is for the
28:30
Speaker 1: play and spot. It makes sense with it being a
28:32
Speaker 1: rivalry game like the Steelers and Ravens, that they would
28:35
Speaker 1: put it in prime time. There's also the possibility that
28:39
Speaker 1: this is Aaron Rodgers last game, so there's that as well.
28:44
Speaker 1: So yeah, this will be the NBC Sunday Night game.
28:47
Speaker 1: The I believe it's the last game of the year
28:50
Speaker 1: because I'm not I don't believe they do Monday night
28:53
Speaker 1: games for this last week, so it is the last
28:58
Speaker 1: game and the Ravens are They're kind of in a
29:07
Speaker 1: similar spot for the year overall. If you just want
29:09
Speaker 1: to look at the big picture, to the Steelers, you
29:12
Speaker 1: have some injuries, you kind of feel like you've underperformed,
29:15
Speaker 1: You've got some questionable coaching decisions. The big difference right now, though,
29:20
Speaker 1: is there's two big differences. One is that we aren't
29:26
Speaker 1: quite sure of Lamar Jackson's status. I think I would
29:31
Speaker 1: imagine he's going to play if at all possible, right
29:38
Speaker 1: And then two, the Ravens did just have a really
29:43
Speaker 1: nice win against the Packers where they utilize Derrick Henry
29:46
Speaker 1: quite a bit. He had four touchdowns, I think. And
29:49
Speaker 1: one of the main criticisms that the Ravens have had
29:53
Speaker 1: this year is blowing leads in the fourth quarter and
29:57
Speaker 1: not utilizing Derrick Henry when they have those leads. So
30:02
Speaker 1: if the Ravens have figured out, hey, we can hand
30:04
Speaker 1: this guy the ball whenever we want to, we don't
30:07
Speaker 1: have to stop just because we have a lead. That
30:11
Speaker 1: could be dangerous, especially because we know that the Steelers
30:13
Speaker 1: run defense is prone to some really bad games, and
30:18
Speaker 1: Derrick Henry is still one of the better running backs
30:21
Speaker 1: in the league. The other thing that the Steelers have
30:25
Speaker 1: to contend with, We've talked about the injury to Darnell Washington,
30:29
Speaker 1: we talked about DK metcalf suspension. We still don't know
30:34
Speaker 1: if TJ. Watt's going to come back or not. Again,
30:38
Speaker 1: another just crazy thing that happened. He punctured his lung
30:43
Speaker 1: in a routine treatment at the team facility, So not
30:49
Speaker 1: sure if we're going to see him again. Very much
30:54
Speaker 1: up in the air. And this is a game that's
30:58
Speaker 1: hard to break down when you're not really sure who's
31:02
Speaker 1: gonna play. But I will tell you the only thing
31:06
Speaker 1: that I can go with now is momentum, and the
31:10
Speaker 1: Ravens just have the momentum right now. They have they
31:16
Speaker 1: have the better running back, they have the more recent
31:20
Speaker 1: win against a better team. They beat the Packers, who
31:23
Speaker 1: they did have their backup quarterback. But Malik Willis has
31:27
Speaker 1: been playing very well. And spoiler, remember who Malik Willis is.
31:33
Speaker 1: He's the guy that got picked in the third round
31:35
Speaker 1: after the Steelers picked Kenny Pickett in the first round
31:40
Speaker 1: just to put salt in the wound for all of
31:41
Speaker 1: us there, since we're not miserable enough.
31:45
Speaker 3: You know.
31:45
Speaker 1: I'm just I'm sure it's coming through painfully to everyone
31:51
Speaker 1: that's listening. But I'm just not optimistic. I'm pretty pissed off,
31:55
Speaker 1: and I just I don't see a way that the
31:58
Speaker 1: Steelers win this game. It just makes no sense to me.
32:02
Speaker 1: With the top two passing targets out, your star defensive player.
32:09
Speaker 1: If he comes back, he's coming back for the first
32:11
Speaker 1: time in three or four weeks. With the puncture along,
32:16
Speaker 1: and you have the Ravens and Lamar Jackson, who have
32:21
Speaker 1: certainly struggled their fair share this year. But with how
32:25
Speaker 1: weak the overall field in the AFC is right now,
32:29
Speaker 1: we've talked about in Buffalo, they've got they've gotta be figuring,
32:32
Speaker 1: even though they didn't win the division. Like, if it's
32:34
Speaker 1: not gonna be this year, it's gonna be never. This
32:37
Speaker 1: is the same for the Ravens too, right, if they
32:39
Speaker 1: can just figure things out, it's the same exact situation
32:44
Speaker 1: for them with the field that they have. So im
32:51
Speaker 1: I'm gonna just say that I think this one's probably
32:54
Speaker 1: gonna get ugly. I think the Steelers are gonna go
32:56
Speaker 1: out with the whimper here. But before we get into
33:00
Speaker 1: the actual predictions, let me turn it over to you here.
33:03
Speaker 1: When you look ahead to this game that's going to
33:05
Speaker 1: be played Sunday night in primetime for the division championship,
33:10
Speaker 1: what are some of the keys for Steelers victory.
33:16
Speaker 2: Well, honestly, Tomlin is surprisingly good against the Ravens. I
33:24
Speaker 2: think he has he's quite a few games over five
33:28
Speaker 2: hundred and.
33:33
Speaker 3: Also as a reason, it's it's a lot higher too.
33:39
Speaker 2: So I do think that there are times where we
33:43
Speaker 2: think that we're not going to be able.
33:45
Speaker 3: To pull it out, and.
33:46
Speaker 2: We do anyway, even though the Ravens have been the
33:49
Speaker 2: better team, better franchise for the last you know, five
33:53
Speaker 2: six years.
33:58
Speaker 3: So there's that.
33:59
Speaker 2: I think Lamar Jackson also struggles deeply when it comes
34:04
Speaker 2: to the Steelers and in pressure. This is a playoff game,
34:07
Speaker 2: I mean playing in simple it won't count as a
34:12
Speaker 2: playoff stat but whoever wins goes to the playoffs.
34:16
Speaker 3: The other one sits on their couch. So you know,
34:21
Speaker 3: if there's a do or.
34:22
Speaker 2: Die game in the regular season, this is it. So
34:27
Speaker 2: you know, Lamar, that's not his.
34:33
Speaker 3: So far, whether it's deserved or not.
34:35
Speaker 4: That's not his.
34:38
Speaker 3: It's not his brand, it's not what he's known for.
34:41
Speaker 3: He's kind of known for.
34:44
Speaker 2: Bumbling it when he when he should be kind of
34:47
Speaker 2: taking over a superman.
34:49
Speaker 3: So I think that.
34:53
Speaker 2: The key would be, look, you, we are not gonna
34:58
Speaker 2: win if it's a run for run game. But I
35:02
Speaker 2: do think that if Lamar has one of his other
35:06
Speaker 2: you know, stumbles against us, so we're able to win
35:12
Speaker 2: that aspect of it, then let's run the ball. I mean,
35:16
Speaker 2: we're playing without Metcalf, We're playing out Darnell Washington, the
35:22
Speaker 2: defense is playing well even without TJ. Watt.
35:28
Speaker 3: I see this as a slugfest game. Let's just run
35:32
Speaker 3: the ball.
35:33
Speaker 2: And kind of milk the clock a little bit and
35:36
Speaker 2: hopefully that we'll get just enough Chris boswell Field goals
35:42
Speaker 2: to win this game. It doesn't have to be pretty.
35:45
Speaker 2: We just need to score more points than the Ravens
35:48
Speaker 2: and then we're in. So I don't see.
35:52
Speaker 3: It being pretty.
35:53
Speaker 2: I definitely am leaning towards your side, but I'd be
36:01
Speaker 2: remiss to say I wouldn't be surprised if the Steelers
36:04
Speaker 2: somehow squeak out this this win.
36:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, it would make sense for them to
36:15
Speaker 1: do that after I've gone on this tirade and basically
36:18
Speaker 1: implied that there's no hope and there's no way in
36:20
Speaker 1: hell that they're going to do that. But just looking
36:23
Speaker 1: at this year, every time the Steelers have had a
36:25
Speaker 1: chance to get a really big win that could have
36:29
Speaker 1: either like solidified the division or really put them over
36:33
Speaker 1: the top, they just haven't done it. Maybe you can
36:38
Speaker 1: say the first Ravens game was that case, but it
36:45
Speaker 1: just I don't know. Man, Nothing about this team, especially
36:51
Speaker 1: with the injuries and the suspension, gives me any confidence
36:55
Speaker 1: that they are going to go into the play that
36:57
Speaker 1: they're gonna do anything but go out with a whimpers
37:00
Speaker 1: opposed to a bang. I think that it's gonna get bad.
37:06
Speaker 1: I think they're gonna lose, and I think we're gonna
37:08
Speaker 1: see the fire Tomlin chance again, and that might be
37:14
Speaker 1: his last game in Pittsburgh. It might be Aaron Rodgers'
37:17
Speaker 1: last game in Pittsburgh and for the career. Uh, And
37:20
Speaker 1: it's just going to be ugly. So I think that
37:27
Speaker 1: I'm gonna preface this by saying I really hope I'm wrong.
37:30
Speaker 1: I will be the first person to come out here
37:32
Speaker 1: and eat crow and tell everyone how wrong I was.
37:35
Speaker 1: But I just I've got no hope for this. It. Yeah,
37:41
Speaker 1: it's not gonna happen. So I think we'll probably see
37:47
Speaker 1: both TJ. Watt and Lamar Jackson play because again, it
37:51
Speaker 1: if not now like what are you waiting for? Right? So,
37:57
Speaker 1: but I don't think either one of them is going
37:59
Speaker 1: to be great. But I think that Derrick Henry is
38:02
Speaker 1: probably going to be the big difference here. So I'm
38:05
Speaker 1: gonna give the Ravens the win. I think it'll be
38:08
Speaker 1: a ten point win, but I think it won't be
38:10
Speaker 1: quite as close as the scorp says. I'm gonna say
38:15
Speaker 1: twenty seven to seventeen. Baltimore is gonna get the win.
38:21
Speaker 2: Let's see. I hate myself for doing this, but I'm
38:27
Speaker 2: gonna go for the win. Lou, I don't. I don't
38:36
Speaker 2: think it's gonna It sounds weird to say I don't
38:40
Speaker 2: think it's gonna happen, but.
38:45
Speaker 3: I don't know. These are like one of those weird.
38:47
Speaker 2: Games where I I just think that Tomlin is a
38:52
Speaker 2: sneaky guy. He just he has a way of just
38:56
Speaker 2: doing just enough to not get fired. And if making
39:01
Speaker 2: the playoffs and beating the Ravens is gonna save his
39:05
Speaker 2: hide from getting fired. This is the game, he's like,
39:10
Speaker 2: this is how he's gonna do it. He totally should
39:13
Speaker 2: have beat the Browns, but you know, for him, all
39:21
Speaker 2: will be forgotten if he wins the Ravens and we
39:24
Speaker 2: have another rinse and repeat of first round exit getting
39:28
Speaker 2: absolutely destroyed in the first round of playoffs.
39:31
Speaker 3: So yeah, maybe I'm just doing it.
39:36
Speaker 2: Because I've seen deja vu and I think that Steelers
39:40
Speaker 2: want to make it to the playoffs and they want
39:42
Speaker 2: to absolutely get destroyed by I don't know who we
39:46
Speaker 2: play Texans, probably Chargers.
39:51
Speaker 3: So yeah, that's my i' goo a prediction of I
40:02
Speaker 3: nineteen to seventeen Steelers.
40:06
Speaker 1: So either way, the season's gonna end pretty pathetically. I
40:10
Speaker 1: just think it's gonna end this week. You think it's
40:12
Speaker 1: gonna end the week after.
40:14
Speaker 2: Yes, If I say that we're gonna win next week,
40:19
Speaker 2: then something happened to me body snatcher, someone stealan took
40:26
Speaker 2: me and give me amnesia.
40:29
Speaker 1: I don't think we have to worry about that, but
40:32
Speaker 1: we'll see, you know. I think that it's gonna be
40:39
Speaker 1: interesting what happens regardless of what happens how this season ends.
40:45
Speaker 1: There Before this past Sunday, I don't think anyone really
40:51
Speaker 1: thought the Steelers were gonna win the Super Bowl. But
40:54
Speaker 1: there were some of us, and I'll admit to it,
40:57
Speaker 1: that maybe had a glimmer of hope, right, And I
41:00
Speaker 1: think we mentioned it before. It's just you know, maybe
41:04
Speaker 1: maybe there's a small chance they could get hot at
41:07
Speaker 1: the right time and go on a run, right, which
41:10
Speaker 1: is kind of what it looked like they were trending
41:12
Speaker 1: towards for a little bit there and then everything right,
41:16
Speaker 1: That's what I mean. And I think when even the
41:21
Speaker 1: pessimists say, well, I told you the wheels were going
41:26
Speaker 1: to fall off, I don't think anyone expected it to
41:28
Speaker 1: happen quite this way, did they. Where you have DK
41:33
Speaker 1: swiping a fan and getting suspended, Darnell Washington breaking his arm,
41:37
Speaker 1: and TJ Watt getting a lung punctured. It it was
41:42
Speaker 1: I don't know, It's just that the Browns were going
41:47
Speaker 1: to be the one that broke the camel's back, right.
41:51
Speaker 1: So the off season is going to be interesting because
41:55
Speaker 1: they have a lot of decisions to make. And I
41:57
Speaker 1: don't really want to put the cart before the horse here,
42:00
Speaker 1: but we We've all said that everyone knew that Aaron
42:05
Speaker 1: Rodgers was not a long term plan. You'd get one year,
42:09
Speaker 1: maybe two at most, although he said it was probably
42:12
Speaker 1: gonna be one year. Who knows how he feels. Now
42:16
Speaker 1: the Steelers are going to have to decide do we
42:19
Speaker 1: go after a quarterback this year? Or has the class
42:22
Speaker 1: not really panned out the way we thought it would.
42:26
Speaker 1: And I don't know, it could be both, right, It
42:29
Speaker 1: could just be after the top one or two guys,
42:32
Speaker 1: like there's really no one there and are the Steelers
42:34
Speaker 1: gonna be willing to trade up all the way to
42:37
Speaker 1: do that or not?
42:40
Speaker 2: So I guess talking about the offseason even before the
42:45
Speaker 2: season ends.
42:47
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm just making peace with things now, and
42:51
Speaker 1: again if I'm if I'm wrong, I'm more than happy
42:54
Speaker 1: to admit it. But I guess what I'm trying to
42:58
Speaker 1: get at is because the Steelers have refused to rebuild
43:03
Speaker 1: for quite some time, they really are They're really going
43:10
Speaker 1: to be behind the eight ball, I think anyway, just
43:15
Speaker 1: with the timing of how things are looking here. But
43:17
Speaker 1: again that's just my unexpert opinion here. And we have
43:20
Speaker 1: a long off season ahead of us to talk about
43:24
Speaker 1: all this stuff, but it just it seems like this
43:27
Speaker 1: is a very important game for a lot of reasons,
43:29
Speaker 1: not just not just the obvious division implications. Just we
43:36
Speaker 1: don't know what's at the other end of this tunnel.
43:38
Speaker 1: So while while you've even got a remote flicker or
43:43
Speaker 1: an amber of a chance, ember of a chance, I
43:46
Speaker 1: should say, you got to you gotta make it happen,
43:50
Speaker 1: right yep. And again I'll point out that we've been
43:54
Speaker 1: saying this all year. You really need to win the
43:56
Speaker 1: games that you're supposed to when you have them. So
43:58
Speaker 1: like that game against the Bengal that a couple other
44:02
Speaker 1: games too. If the Steelers had literally just won one
44:06
Speaker 1: more game, we'd be talking about resk the one we
44:11
Speaker 1: just played, yes, the Bengals game, and then over the
44:17
Speaker 1: other we don't have to go through them all, but
44:19
Speaker 1: the three point loss to the Bears. If you win
44:23
Speaker 1: just one game, we'd be talking about. Our fun topic
44:27
Speaker 1: would be do you rest players or not? Like we
44:30
Speaker 1: talked about or alluded to a few weeks ago, and
44:32
Speaker 1: I told you we'll cross that bridge if we get
44:34
Speaker 1: to it, and we didn't get to it. So all right,
44:38
Speaker 1: was there anything else you wanted to talk about before
44:41
Speaker 1: we sign off for the week. Yeah, let should do
44:44
Speaker 1: it all right, Well, folks, I really hope that Eric's right.
44:47
Speaker 1: I hope we do, and I hope we turn it around.
44:50
Speaker 1: I hope TJ. Watt comes back, I hope DK can
44:52
Speaker 1: come back for the playoffs, and I hope we make
44:54
Speaker 1: a run. I'm just trying to make peace with myself
44:59
Speaker 1: here before before I let my hopes get up. So
45:03
Speaker 1: I think that'll do it for us, for the world
45:05
Speaker 1: famous accountant Eric Vanminschuttin, I'm Nick de Tulio. And this
45:08
Speaker 1: has been another episode of the game house dot COM's
45:11
Speaker 1: Steelers Country Weekly