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HR 1: Steelers Hits & Misses: Week 5 · The Steelers Report

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: This is the Steelers Report with Brian Batko and Ed
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Truth on Steelers Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Audio Network.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: Jerome Bettis carried the ball 23 times for 153 yards, including.
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: A 48-yard run.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: The Pittsburgh Steelers won 16 to seven over the Cincinnati Bengals.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: And that is the way then Heinz field. Now Accushaw
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: stadium started back on October 7th, 2001, 25 years ago today,
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: the Steelers officially opened up their new stadium and double B.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: That was quite the memory. And here all these years later,
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: we still look back at that. It was, uh, Important
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: for a number of reasons. September 11th had just happened
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: the previous month, which delayed the opening of Heinz slash
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: Accusore Stadium. But it was a big win for the
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: Pittsburgh Steelers that day against the divisional rival in the
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: Cincinnati Bengals.
• 1:13
  Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely.
• 1:14
  Speaker 5: And we've got a ton of coverage up on the site, Steelers.com,
• 1:19
  Speaker 5: for marking the 25-year anniversary of that first regular season
• 1:25
  Speaker 5: Steelers game there were preseason games there were even I
• 1:28
  Speaker 5: think three hit football regular season games obviously college football
• 1:34
  Speaker 5: didn't play preseason games back then and they still don't
• 1:37
  Speaker 5: now but that I mean you talk about a high
• 1:40
  Speaker 5: stakes NFL game that was the first one at Heinz
• 1:44
  Speaker 5: slash now known as Accresure Stadium that place where so
• 1:48
  Speaker 5: many of us have fond, warm, and fuzzy memories. And
• 1:52
  Speaker 5: it was a very Steelers-ish win. I mean, it was
• 1:54
  Speaker 5: a very fitting way for the Steelers to win that day.
• 1:57
  Speaker 5: Teresa Varley wrote about that. Jim Wexel wrote about that.
• 2:00
  Speaker 5: I wrote more about my reflections of just all the
• 2:03
  Speaker 5: games that I attended there over the years. But yeah,
• 2:06
  Speaker 5: the bus going off and Chris Brown kicked the first
• 2:10
  Speaker 5: points at that stadium. Hines Ward caught the first pass
• 2:14
  Speaker 5: in a meaningful game, significant game at that stadium. It's
• 2:19
  Speaker 5: a pretty cool anniversary and still going strong a quarter
• 2:23
  Speaker 5: century later.
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: We are going to dive into some of our favorite
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: memories during the last 25 years at Hinds-Accashore Stadium at
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: the 3 o'clock hour towards the tail end of the show,
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: Double B, in and around 340.
• 2:36
  Speaker 6: But you mentioned it.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: Reflecting on 25 years at home is up on Steelers.com
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: right now. That is your article, a special article for
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: you because you reflect on when you were a kid,
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: you used to go to the games with your grandmother.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: Really a nice, you know, the heart chords are tongue,
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: my friend, there on that one. That's a really cool
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: story for you and your family, as well as you
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: mentioned Teresa Varley's article also up on Steelers.com. a home
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: opener unlike any other. And, of course, our good friend
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: Jim Wexel talks about Three River Stadium float into a
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: new hope going into the new stadium as well. So
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: make sure you log on to Steelers.com to check that out.
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: But do you want to preview anything for us coming
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: up at the tail end of the show for a
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: personal memory for you?
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, there's good and bad wrapped into that, right?
• 3:22
  Speaker 5: And that's the case for any NFL team, any season
• 3:26
  Speaker 5: for the most part, even a Super Bowl winning season.
• 3:28
  Speaker 5: You've got your ebbs and your flows, your highs and
• 3:30
  Speaker 5: your lows.
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: Can't win them all. Some years, you.
• 3:34
  Speaker 5: Know, you struggle through it. Other times, every dog has
• 3:39
  Speaker 5: his day. And I just think, at least for me,
• 3:42
  Speaker 5: people around my age, I guess maybe a little less
• 3:46
  Speaker 5: so for you generationally, Ed, but I'm 35.
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: And I think.
• 3:49
  Speaker 5: A lot of people who were, what, 10, 11, 12
• 3:53
  Speaker 5: when the stadium opened, you navigated life.
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: Um with Steelers Sundays.
• 3:59
  Speaker 5: As the backdrop eight or nine times hopefully 10 sometimes
• 4:03
  Speaker 5: it was 10 or 11 in the fall and I
• 4:06
  Speaker 5: you know wrote in there in my piece about how
• 4:08
  Speaker 5: it went from my parents are driving me down to
• 4:11
  Speaker 5: the games and you know by the time I get
• 4:14
  Speaker 5: to high school certainly college I'm driving myself down to
• 4:17
  Speaker 5: the game so so much happens in your life but
• 4:20
  Speaker 5: you know the Steelers remain a constant. And from 2001 on,
• 4:24
  Speaker 5: playing their home games at Accresure Stadium was also a
• 4:28
  Speaker 5: constant and still is.
• 4:30
  Speaker 6: That's for sure.
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: And it will be again this upcoming Sunday when the
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: Pittsburgh Steelers at 2-2 on the season host the Indianapolis Colts,
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: who are also 2-2.
• 4:39
  Speaker 6: On the year.
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: Both teams getting to those 2-2 marks a bit differently.
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: The Colts starting out 0-2 on the season, but back-to-back wins.
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: For what it's worth, Double B, maybe not against the
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: greatest opponents.
• 4:50
  Speaker 6: So far this season.
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: And for the Steelers, we know their path. It's been
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: a roller coaster of a ride through four weeks. A win, loss,
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: a win, and then another loss. They responded after the Patriots'
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: loss against the Cincinnati Bengals in a key AFC North
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: division matchup when they came back. Hopefully they'll be able
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: to respond this week as well.
• 5:11
  Speaker 5: I'm glad you bring up that game because it takes
• 5:14
  Speaker 5: me back to something that We talked about at length
• 5:17
  Speaker 5: yesterday on the show, and I got a little hot
• 5:20
  Speaker 5: under the collar, obviously, which is not the norm for me.
• 5:23
  Speaker 5: You've known me since January now, so almost a calendar year.
• 5:28
  Speaker 4: Not much gets to me.
• 5:30
  Speaker 5: My buddies in high school used to refer to me
• 5:33
  Speaker 5: as being a very chill guy. Before that was a meme,
• 5:36
  Speaker 5: so with the little dog or bear or whatever that
• 5:38
  Speaker 5: thing is. But yeah, I mean, I'm pretty level-headed most
• 5:42
  Speaker 5: of the time, but I did get uh you know
• 5:44
  Speaker 5: riled up to some extent and i don't want to
• 5:46
  Speaker 5: belabor the point of the mike mccarthy we need to
• 5:50
  Speaker 5: clean up our own house uh comment yesterday yeah monday
• 5:54
  Speaker 5: that was yeah but i do want to mention literally
• 5:59
  Speaker 5: after the patriots game the monday after they lost in
• 6:02
  Speaker 5: foxborough to fall to one and one their first loss
• 6:06
  Speaker 5: under mike mccarthy so that would have been september was
• 6:10
  Speaker 5: it 21st, I think, right?
• 6:12
  Speaker 4: Yeah, September 21st.
• 6:14
  Speaker 5: His very first answer in that he included, Ed, the
• 6:18
  Speaker 5: things I would make focal points if I was listing
• 6:20
  Speaker 5: them was, number one, we just got to clean up
• 6:21
  Speaker 5: our own house a little bit. You know, the mental
• 6:23
  Speaker 5: challenge of it wasn't as clean this week as our
• 6:25
  Speaker 5: starting point last week. And so we're definitely going to
• 6:27
  Speaker 5: focus on that this week. This was not some sort
• 6:30
  Speaker 5: of circle the wagons you know get everybody all fired
• 6:35
  Speaker 5: up because major changes are coming comment so I can't
• 6:38
  Speaker 5: believe that some people are still taking that run with
• 6:40
  Speaker 5: running with it but hopefully we can now be done.
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: With it double b is on the south side as
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: we speak as he gets set for Pittsburgh Steelers practice
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: here today on Wednesday the Steelers will begin their prep
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: for the Colts have already begun their prep they've had
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: they'll have 10 days by the time we get to
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: Sunday to prepare for For the Indianapolis Colts, we will
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: have our Hits and Misses segment up next at 3.20
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: and 3.40 today at 3 o'clock. Double B and I
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: will go over our power rankings for the top five
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: offenses in the league after four weeks, as well as
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: our top five defenses after four weeks coming up at
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: 3.20 and again at 3.40 today. A special segment, the
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: 25th anniversary of AccuShore Stadium. formerly known as Heinz Field.
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: It's tough that we have to do that double B.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: We have to say formerly Heinz Field or Heinz Field
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: slash AccuShore Stadium. Listen, whether it's Heinz or AccuShore, currently AccuShore,
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: and you're wearing the hat. The listening audience can't see it,
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: but we have it on the video side from the
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: south side. You got the 2001 inaugural season for the
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 7:40
  Speaker 6: Cool hat.
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: I was there. That goes to show this.
• 7:43
  Speaker 5: This wasn't bought at some vintage store over in the
• 7:47
  Speaker 5: south side or in Aetna. No, this was straight out
• 7:51
  Speaker 5: of the parents' closet one day when I was there
• 7:54
  Speaker 5: to pick up my kids.
• 7:55
  Speaker 4: So I was there.
• 7:56
  Speaker 5: I'm sure I've got plenty of other knickknacks and all
• 7:59
  Speaker 5: sorts of stuff that's still there in my childhood room.
• 8:03
  Speaker 5: People might be like, well, why wouldn't your parents clean
• 8:05
  Speaker 5: that out? You're a grown man with two kids. I'm
• 8:07
  Speaker 5: an only child, folks. You know, that's a different kind
• 8:10
  Speaker 5: of life. So there's still sort of a shrine, a
• 8:13
  Speaker 5: museum there. to me for better or worse it's it's
• 8:16
  Speaker 5: livable when guests come they can they can still host
• 8:19
  Speaker 5: people but i've got a lot of my old uh
• 8:22
  Speaker 5: steelers nfl sports souvenirs still there and i was glad
• 8:27
  Speaker 5: this one was still there i pilfered it out of
• 8:28
  Speaker 5: a bag it might be a little little dusty and
• 8:31
  Speaker 5: lint ridden but uh yeah there it is inaugural season
• 8:35
  Speaker 5: 2001 now.
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: It looks good double b and listen be lucky that
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: you're the only child because i'm one of five i
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: got four sisters and trust me there's no archives of
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: of Eddie Troop out there back in the Mon Valley.
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: Those have all been put to the curb, so good
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: that you still have your archive. Cool hat and a
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: cool moment for the Pittsburgh Steelers, again, today marking 25
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: years since the first regular season game. at then Heinz Field,
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: now AccuShore Stadium. Let's get into some offense and defense's
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: fixes for the week. It's Fix It, Get It Right
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: Wednesday here on the show. We'll give you one offense
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: and one defense. Part that Mike McCarthy and his staff,
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: I'm sure, is looking to try to improve going into
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: this Week 5 game against the Indianapolis Colts.
• 9:13
  Speaker 6: On offense, Double B, we'll start with this. Protecting Aaron Rodgers.
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: He's been sacked 13 times in four games so far
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: this season. That's an average of three per game so
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: far this season. the Steelers have to start protecting Aaron
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: Rodgers better.
• 9:28
  Speaker 4: They do.
• 9:29
  Speaker 5: And I think Aaron Rodgers needs to protect Aaron Rodgers
• 9:31
  Speaker 5: better a little bit in some of those instances. And,
• 9:34
  Speaker 5: you know, I give him credit for kind of be
• 9:36
  Speaker 5: willing to stand in there and take the bone crushing hit,
• 9:39
  Speaker 5: especially what we saw at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough week two,
• 9:43
  Speaker 5: that looked like almost literally a bone crushing hit that
• 9:46
  Speaker 5: he took on that one sack. But He's still got
• 9:50
  Speaker 5: the toughness to stand in there at 42, and we
• 9:52
  Speaker 5: saw him try to run somebody over and actually successfully
• 9:56
  Speaker 5: run somebody over on that two-point conversion at the end
• 9:59
  Speaker 5: of the brown.
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: Game but yeah I mean that's no way to live
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: you you've.
• 10:03
  Speaker 5: Got guys to dump it off to you you've got
• 10:06
  Speaker 5: guys that you think can win contested catch situations so
• 10:10
  Speaker 5: yeah I'd certainly like to see him you know get
• 10:13
  Speaker 5: get the ball out a little bit faster a little
• 10:14
  Speaker 5: bit quicker take some pressure off this young offensive line.
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: And I know it's not that young anymore.
• 10:20
  Speaker 5: But it's only been two weeks with the new right side.
• 10:22
  Speaker 5: It's only been two NFL starts for Maxi Honachor. I
• 10:26
  Speaker 5: specifically remember in this matchup last year, there's a lot
• 10:29
  Speaker 5: of carryover from the Colts defenders. Troy Faltano was fantastic
• 10:33
  Speaker 5: against Indianapolis, and he'll have to do that again this week,
• 10:36
  Speaker 5: albeit from the opposite side.
• 10:38
  Speaker 4: Of the line.
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: Aaron Rodgers was sacked 29 times in 2025. So when
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: you look at that number, 13 times through the first
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: four games, just to compare what happened a year ago
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: to Aaron Rodgers. And you're right, Troy Fontano, real good
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: game in 2025. And so far this year for him
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: on that left side, switching from right to left, so far,
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: so good. Not the greatest game for him or the
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: others against the Cleveland Browns. Certainly against Cincinnati, their best
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: game of the season so far. For this week, for
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: that offensive line, Double B, I want to see what
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: we saw against the Cincinnati Bengals, not just protecting Aaron Rodgers,
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: but also getting after it and leading to a successful
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: running game.
• 11:19
  Speaker 5: Yeah, that's a big part of it. And I've actually
• 11:21
  Speaker 5: been pretty impressed with Maxi Honachor on, on that front.
• 11:23
  Speaker 5: Cause that was one of the big questions that I
• 11:25
  Speaker 5: had about him coming out of the college ranks. I
• 11:27
  Speaker 5: think you have that about a lot of offensive linemen
• 11:29
  Speaker 5: now coming out of the college ranks because it's, it's
• 11:31
  Speaker 5: such a passing forward league for a lot.
• 11:34
  Speaker 4: Of these teams.
• 11:35
  Speaker 5: And there's so much RPO game and that's kind of
• 11:37
  Speaker 5: the way to win at that level. A lot of
• 11:39
  Speaker 5: the time, unless you're, well, you know, Ohio State, you
• 11:41
  Speaker 5: usually have the horses to do basically anything. Same goes
• 11:44
  Speaker 5: for Georgia and Alabama. But, I mean, a lot of
• 11:47
  Speaker 5: these teams that are, you know, they're very pass happy.
• 11:51
  Speaker 5: And it helps with the pass protection element for young
• 11:55
  Speaker 5: offensive linemen going from college to the pros. And a
• 11:58
  Speaker 5: lot of times the first rounders absolutely have the physical
• 12:00
  Speaker 5: traits to be able to do both. But I thought
• 12:03
  Speaker 5: Ahonich will maybe be a little further ahead in the
• 12:06
  Speaker 5: protection than the run blocking. So far, I feel like
• 12:09
  Speaker 5: it's kind of, 50-50 in a good way and in
• 12:12
  Speaker 5: a balanced and healthy way for him. It always starts, too,
• 12:16
  Speaker 5: with Zach Frazier as the fulcrum up front. Would love
• 12:18
  Speaker 5: to see him, Mason McCormick, Brock Hoffman getting nasty, pushing
• 12:21
  Speaker 5: guys around.
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: We wanted to see it two games in a row
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: from the Bengals to the Browns game. We didn't see
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: it so much against the Browns, so let's see if
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: that offensive line can bounce back this week against the
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: Indianapolis Colts. I will say this, the Colts front, not
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: too bad, but not as good as what they faced
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: against the Browns or the Bengals, so maybe a good
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: opportunity there for them this upcoming week?
• 12:42
  Speaker 5: They did a good job against the Commanders in London.
• 12:46
  Speaker 5: You know, 100 yards on the ground. for Washington, but
• 12:49
  Speaker 5: 35 of those, Ed, came on a Marcus Mariota. Not
• 12:52
  Speaker 5: sure if it was a design run or a scramble,
• 12:54
  Speaker 5: but if you just look at the running backs, Austin
• 12:56
  Speaker 5: Eckler was Washington's leading rusher, fresh off the couch with
• 13:01
  Speaker 5: four for 29, Ja'Cory Kroski-Merritt, nine for 15, and then
• 13:06
  Speaker 5: Craig Reynolds, two for four, and even Penn State's Katron Allen,
• 13:10
  Speaker 5: three for one. So they held the commanders to four
• 13:12
  Speaker 5: and a half per carry. But again, that was with
• 13:15
  Speaker 5: a 35 yard rush by a mobile QB and Marcus Mariota.
• 13:19
  Speaker 5: And actually the guy who came in for him, Callie McManus,
• 13:22
  Speaker 5: he rode up 16 yards, too. So they they pretty
• 13:25
  Speaker 5: much smashed the run against the commanders at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
• 13:30
  Speaker 6: Fresh off the couch. I like it, my friend.
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: Let's get to one quick defensive fix-it-get-it-right Wednesday item.
• 13:37
  Speaker 6: It's missed tackling, right?
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: The Steelers had 14 missed tackles last Thursday night against
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: the Cleveland Browns. Patrick Graham, we played it back yesterday
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: here on the show, Double B, addressed the missed tackling.
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: They know that they need to improve that and clean
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: that up going into this game against the Colts this Sunday.
• 13:53
  Speaker 4: Yeah, no doubt about it, Ed. It reared its ugly
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: head against the.
• 14:00
  Speaker 5: And now, I mean, I think you have an even
• 14:02
  Speaker 5: tougher test as far as Jonathan Taylor, who still one
• 14:06
  Speaker 5: of the best backs in the league. I don't think
• 14:08
  Speaker 5: he's had like one huge game just yet for the
• 14:11
  Speaker 5: Colts this year, but certainly he's consistently piling up yards.
• 14:16
  Speaker 5: He's getting between the he's doing it between the tackles.
• 14:18
  Speaker 5: We know that he's got breakaway speed if he gets
• 14:22
  Speaker 5: a seam. And, you know, the Steelers, I recall, did
• 14:26
  Speaker 5: he did a pretty good job on him last year.
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: In that win.
• 14:30
  Speaker 5: But yeah, so far this year, this is like fun
• 14:32
  Speaker 5: with stats. Now, Jonathan Taylor has not rushed for a
• 14:35
  Speaker 5: hundred yards in a game yet this season. Well, in
• 14:38
  Speaker 5: four weeks, he's got 98, 92, 68 and 95 with
• 14:41
  Speaker 5: six touchdowns. And he's also gotten it done a couple
• 14:45
  Speaker 5: of times through the area as a 23 yard and
• 14:47
  Speaker 5: a 40 yard receiving game. That is absolutely going to
• 14:51
  Speaker 5: stress the tackling. And if you go by pro football references, uh,
• 14:55
  Speaker 5: metrics right now, Ed. They track missed tackles, and we've
• 14:59
  Speaker 5: said before, it's kind of a subjective thing, but Peyton
• 15:02
  Speaker 5: Wilson's got five, Jaquan Brisker's got five, Asante Samuel Jr.
• 15:06
  Speaker 5: has five, Nick Herbig has four, Patrick Queen and Rashawn
• 15:09
  Speaker 5: Jenkins with three apiece. You'd like to see a lower
• 15:14
  Speaker 5: percentage for those guys across the board.
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: We are certainly going to get into more Colts stats
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: as we move throughout the rest of this week, including
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: the struggles of Daniel Jones so far this season, but
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: to your point, Double B, Jonathan Taylor, still being Jonathan Taylor.
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: Whenever we come back, lots of hits and misses to
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: get to this week. One of our favorite segments of
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: the week. We'll dive into that. And then again, coming
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: up in the three o'clock hour, Double B and myself
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: will go through our top five offenses and top five
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: defenses so far this season. And the 25th anniversary of
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: Heinz and AccuShore Stadium going on today. 25 years ago today,
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: the first regular season game, Steelers beat the Bengals.
• 15:50
  Speaker 6: He's Double B. I'm E.T.
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: It is the Steelers Report right here on Steelers Nation Radio,
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: part of the Steelers Audio Network.
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: This is the Steelers Report with Brian Bacco and Ed
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: Troup on Steelers Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: Audio Network.
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: I talked about it on the show yesterday. Last night,
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: went to Chalk Talk at Robinson Township. Market District, Jerry Dulac,
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: Jack Sawyer with my son Brendan.
• 16:23
  Speaker 6: Great show, great time.
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: Double B, Jack Sawyer was talking about how him and
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: Jerry were talking about how great those Ohio State football
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: teams were while he was there and the offensive part
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: of it with the wide receivers, the runs that they
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: went on with Will Howard at quarterback. And I had
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: to laugh because you and I were talking about that yesterday.
• 16:44
  Speaker 4: I mean, it's not even just that.
• 16:45
  Speaker 5: We didn't even scratch the surface on the defense, which
• 16:48
  Speaker 5: was led by Sawyer, but had first-round picks everywhere, up
• 16:52
  Speaker 5: and down it, a lot of whom were already thriving,
• 16:54
  Speaker 5: whether it's Arvel Reese or Sonny Stiles, Caleb Downs. You
• 16:59
  Speaker 5: had the big fellas up front, like Tyleek Williams was
• 17:02
  Speaker 5: in there. My guy went to Houston, Caden McDonald.
• 17:06
  Speaker 4: I mean, it's just.
• 17:07
  Speaker 5: It was an embarrassment of riches in Columbus that year.
• 17:11
  Speaker 5: And it is obviously carried over and it doesn't seem
• 17:14
  Speaker 5: like there's any end in sight. And it was a great,
• 17:18
  Speaker 5: great week for Jack Sawyer to be part of that
• 17:20
  Speaker 5: show coming off of his past deflection, which leads to
• 17:24
  Speaker 5: an interception. I wish there was a better stat for
• 17:26
  Speaker 5: that in the NFL. Cam Hayward would maybe lead the
• 17:29
  Speaker 5: NFL in that category.
• 17:31
  Speaker 4: If it were one.
• 17:32
  Speaker 5: Over the last few years, but good to see another
• 17:34
  Speaker 5: fellow Buckeye get in on the act.
• 17:37
  Speaker 4: Did he get asked.
• 17:38
  Speaker 5: About by Jerry or talk about the confusion of whether
• 17:42
  Speaker 5: he let Mike McCarthy know that he tipped the ball?
• 17:45
  Speaker 5: Because Mike McCarthy made a comment after the game saying, hey, Jack,
• 17:47
  Speaker 5: you need to be more verbal with us. Like, hey,
• 17:51
  Speaker 5: go tell them to review that. I got a finger
• 17:52
  Speaker 5: on it. I'm the one who was there and felt it.
• 17:55
  Speaker 5: Whereas Patrick Graham said on Monday, he thought Jack was
• 17:58
  Speaker 5: pretty animated and adamant that he did.
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they did talk about that last night. Among other things,
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: that will be great play. And for Jack Sawyer to
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: set that whole scenario up and good for Mike McCarthy
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: and his coaching staff to be on top of it,
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: to ask for the review, it gets overturned.
• 18:15
  Speaker 6: The Steelers. hold up with that interception, a key part
• 18:18
  Speaker 6: of that game.
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: Um, but yeah, definitely for the listening audience out there,
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: go check out chalk talk each and every Tuesday night
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: with Jerry Dulac and Jack Sawyer.
• 18:26
  Speaker 6: They do a great job at the market district.
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: They have free food, nice spread of food, uh, some
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: autographs from Jack Sawyer as well. You can get a
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: photo signed, uh, Go ahead and check that out from
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: 7 to 8 each Tuesday night. You can hear the
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: audio version on WDVE 102.5 right here on Steelers Nation
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: Radio and the Steelers Audio Network. Double B, let's talk
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: about our hits and misses of the week. We will
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: start with a hit. We talked about this yesterday. Running
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: back Jalen Warren on the season. The last two games
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: at least. Let's just go with the last two games
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: because the first couple games, the running game really wasn't there,
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: but he's really come on strong as of late. 34
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: carries for 220 yards, six receptions for 82 yards. That's
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: a total of 302 total offensive yards. The last two games,
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: Jay and Warren has been hot.
• 19:18
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I've got nothing else really even to add on
• 19:20
  Speaker 5: Warren at this point. He's, um, one of the, just,
• 19:25
  Speaker 5: he's having one of the best seasons so far of
• 19:27
  Speaker 5: any NFL running back through four games, Ed. And he doesn't,
• 19:31
  Speaker 5: I don't think if you ask the average NFL fan
• 19:33
  Speaker 5: walking around on the street, Hey, uh, name me your
• 19:36
  Speaker 5: top 10 NFL running backs. Jalen Warren probably wouldn't come
• 19:39
  Speaker 5: to mind for them. You know, he's, he's about my size.
• 19:44
  Speaker 5: He was undrafted. Uh, he was, uh, kind of a
• 19:47
  Speaker 5: number two for the beginning part of his career. And,
• 19:50
  Speaker 5: all of these guys who get the big money like
• 19:52
  Speaker 5: Jameer Gibbs and Bajon Robinson and who else? Travis Etienne,
• 19:57
  Speaker 5: James Cook, Jonathan Taylor, so on and so forth. Even
• 20:00
  Speaker 5: Kenneth Walker and Brees Hall. They were all high first
• 20:04
  Speaker 5: or second round picks. So it's great to see Warren
• 20:08
  Speaker 5: putting on for the the underdog and the Steelers signed
• 20:11
  Speaker 5: him to that extension right before the first game of
• 20:15
  Speaker 5: the regular season.
• 20:15
  Speaker 4: I think it was two years ago now.
• 20:18
  Speaker 5: And that is already aging very, very well as a
• 20:21
  Speaker 5: value because he's not even close to the top 10,
• 20:25
  Speaker 5: 15 in terms of running back salaries when you pull
• 20:28
  Speaker 5: it up on the old over the cap dot com.
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: Now, you say the same size as you, Brian. You're
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: talking about height, but are you talking about the muscle, too?
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: You got the muscle mass that Jalen sports?
• 20:40
  Speaker 5: Definitely height only. I shouldn't have said size because, yes,
• 20:44
  Speaker 5: Jalen Warren would run me over like it was nothing,
• 20:48
  Speaker 5: like I was a bug on the windshield. But I
• 20:50
  Speaker 5: don't feel as bad about that because he's pretty much
• 20:53
  Speaker 5: running over fellow NFL players every week, too. It's just
• 20:57
  Speaker 5: incredible how first set of hands that gets near him
• 21:01
  Speaker 5: is always coming up with a missed tackle. I'll have
• 21:04
  Speaker 5: to look up the metrics on Warren with missed tackles force.
• 21:07
  Speaker 5: They have that on pro football reference, too.
• 21:09
  Speaker 4: I'll get back to you, Ed.
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: Well, I was just going to say, not only is
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: he bouncing off of you, he's bouncing off the majority
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: of NFL defenders so far this season.
• 21:16
  Speaker 6: That's what makes him so special.
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: I compare him to the Darnell Washington of running backs
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: in the NFL. He has that similar demeanor to him
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: where you just simply can't.
• 21:25
  Speaker 6: Tackle him on the first try.
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: We are going through our hits and misses after four
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: weeks of the regular season for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Double
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: B joining us via video and audio today from the
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: south side. He's there on campus for the Pittsburgh Steelers
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: practice here today on Wednesday to get set for the
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: Indianapolis Colts this Sunday. Our first miss of the day
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: involves quarterback Aaron Rodgers. He had seven interceptions in 2025,
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: but already four here in 2026 in the first four games. Now,
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: I do know the one was the Hail Mary at
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: the tail end of the Browns game. Maybe that one
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: shouldn't really count, but it does on the stat sheet.
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: And facts are facts, Brian. He did such a good
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: job of protecting the football with only seven interceptions in 2025,
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: but four, four so far here in 2025. Something we
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: should be alarmed of or just something to keep an
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: eye on as we move forward?
• 22:16
  Speaker 4: No, I actually, I don't think it's alarming. I'm not as.
• 22:21
  Speaker 5: Down on the interception totals as, as some. I think
• 22:27
  Speaker 5: you just look at the best quarterbacks in NFL history. They're,
• 22:31
  Speaker 5: they're going to have some times where they throw some
• 22:32
  Speaker 5: picks and I'm always somebody who subscribes the idea of like,
• 22:37
  Speaker 5: if you want an aggressive mentality attacking downfield, you are
• 22:40
  Speaker 5: going to just naturally inherently going to have to put
• 22:42
  Speaker 5: the ball in harm's way sometimes. And, I think Rodgers
• 22:45
  Speaker 5: will cut down on that, but in a way I
• 22:47
  Speaker 5: hope he doesn't because I want to see this offense
• 22:49
  Speaker 5: opened up.
• 22:51
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean, you're exactly right.
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: You've got to be able to take some shots downfield,
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: and sometimes with that comes interceptions. As long as it
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: doesn't cost you games, I think that's the most important
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: part of this, right? Don't throw interceptions in situations that's
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: going to cost you the game. And throughout Aaron Rodgers'
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: Hall of Fame career, that's one thing he's done very,
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: very well, protecting the football and not turning over it
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: to the extent where it costs him the game. Well,
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: our next hit has been a miss the last few weeks,
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: but he's turned it around.
• 23:20
  Speaker 6: Improved DK. That's right.
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: DK Metcalf, the last two games, double B, eight catches,
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: 146 yards and a touchdown on 14 targets and not
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: too many drops against the Cleveland Browns or the Cincinnati Bengals.
• 23:34
  Speaker 6: DK seems to be warming up.
• 23:37
  Speaker 5: Yeah, maybe that's just going to be a case of
• 23:39
  Speaker 5: him getting off to a slow start in 2026 for
• 23:42
  Speaker 5: whatever reason. You know, didn't play in the preseason. I'm
• 23:45
  Speaker 5: not saying that's an excuse because a lot of guys don't.
• 23:47
  Speaker 5: But I liked what I saw down the stretch, the
• 23:51
  Speaker 5: tail end in Cleveland.
• 23:54
  Speaker 4: And I think it could be any number of things.
• 23:56
  Speaker 5: You know, Brown's wanting to play that aggressive man coverage.
• 24:00
  Speaker 4: He took advantage of that.
• 24:02
  Speaker 5: Rodgers in a little bit of desperation mode going to
• 24:05
  Speaker 5: him that way. Roman Wilson had hurt them, so they
• 24:08
  Speaker 5: had to account for another receiver. And that's what it's
• 24:10
  Speaker 5: supposed to look like with DK, no doubt.
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, DK putting together two good games now. As I said,
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: eight catches, 146 yards, a touchdown, 14 targets against the
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: Bengals and the Browns within that AFC North. We'll see
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: if he can keep that up for a third straight
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: game against the Indianapolis Colts this upcoming Sunday. Our second
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: miss of the day involves the Pittsburgh Steelers special teams,
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: and we did hear from Danny Crossman on Monday.
• 24:34
  Speaker 6: We didn't play back here on the show, Double B.
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: We ran out of time yesterday, but he actually talked
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: about getting better on kickoffs, and the Steelers need to.
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: They are currently ranked 30th, 30, in the NFL in
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: kickoff returns. They have 17 returns for 390 yards. That's
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: an average of 22.9 yards per return. They got to
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: get better with these kickoffs. Caden Weijan, who they drafted
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: fourth from Iowa. That was his specialty at Iowa. Look,
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: there's only been one special teams touchdown in the entire
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: NFL in four weeks.
• 25:04
  Speaker 6: Just one. The Minnesota Vikings returned a punt. That's been it.
• 25:07
  Speaker 6: So I'm not looking at this from the standpoint of
• 25:09
  Speaker 6: we need touchdowns on returns. That'd be great. We welcome
• 25:12
  Speaker 6: that with Caden Weijan.
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: But just better return yardage. Get the ball past the 35,
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: closer to the 40.
• 25:18
  Speaker 6: And then you're in business.
• 25:21
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 25:21
  Speaker 5: And that's what you thought you were getting when you
• 25:23
  Speaker 5: use a fourth round pick on a pretty much a
• 25:25
  Speaker 5: return specialist. And I remember saying that day that I was,
• 25:29
  Speaker 5: I was good with it because, you know, it's somebody
• 25:31
  Speaker 5: who is going to contribute in the third phase of
• 25:33
  Speaker 5: the game. And, help you win games, not just kind
• 25:37
  Speaker 5: of take a red shirt year and sit on the
• 25:38
  Speaker 5: bench as a lot of backups do when they get
• 25:41
  Speaker 5: picked in the third, fourth, fifth round, sometimes even first
• 25:45
  Speaker 5: or second round.
• 25:45
  Speaker 4: So you want to see the ROI.
• 25:47
  Speaker 5: Mike McCarthy talks about ROI a lot, return on investment
• 25:51
  Speaker 5: in a football sense. You want to see that come
• 25:54
  Speaker 5: around eventually. And that's a good point by you, Ed.
• 25:57
  Speaker 5: I mean, no one's expecting you to house kicks every
• 26:00
  Speaker 5: other game like you were doing in college. But it's
• 26:03
  Speaker 5: all about helping out with the field position and finding
• 26:06
  Speaker 5: a way to, frankly, to win on the margins and
• 26:09
  Speaker 5: help your offense out. So I don't know if it's,
• 26:12
  Speaker 5: you know, a scheme thing necessarily. I mean, certainly you
• 26:16
  Speaker 5: can always block it up better, maybe some more yards
• 26:19
  Speaker 5: after contact. If you could look a little bit more
• 26:22
  Speaker 5: like Jalen Warren out there, that'd be good. Speaking of which,
• 26:24
  Speaker 5: I did go and look. Now, this is why you
• 26:26
  Speaker 5: have to always kind of take it with a grain
• 26:28
  Speaker 5: of salt. Pro football references Jalen Warren with just four
• 26:31
  Speaker 5: broken tackles this year. I don't know exactly how they
• 26:34
  Speaker 5: define that. If that's like literally a guy has you
• 26:36
  Speaker 5: wrapped up and you go through him. Maybe there does
• 26:39
  Speaker 5: have to be contact, but he certainly seems like he's
• 26:41
  Speaker 5: forced more missed tackles. Then that if we're splitting hairs,
• 26:46
  Speaker 5: probably a better illustration of what he's been doing is
• 26:49
  Speaker 5: yards after contact per attempt on rushes alone, not receptions necessarily.
• 26:55
  Speaker 5: He is second in the NFL for qualifying leaders behind
• 26:59
  Speaker 5: only Kenneth Walker, the third. And that lines up because
• 27:02
  Speaker 5: I don't think Kenneth Walker, the third has been tackled
• 27:04
  Speaker 5: since before the Superbowl. So he's doing crazy things right now,
• 27:08
  Speaker 5: leading the league and rushing with 537 yards and and
• 27:11
  Speaker 5: yet he's got 3.2 after contact per rush. Jalen Warren
• 27:14
  Speaker 5: right there behind him at three even.
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you got to take in those missed tackle numbers
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: that they put out each week for what it is.
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure how they get there, the different categories,
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: how they use them, because they had the Steelers at
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: 17 right after the game of missed tackles last week.
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: When I pulled that number for our first segment today
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: on The fix it, get it right Wednesday. They now
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: had it at 14 after further review. So somewhere along
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: the way, they determined that three tackles were not missed.
• 27:43
  Speaker 6: So who knows?
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: But at least it gives you a little bit of
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: an idea when you're looking at these numbers, Double B.
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: Let's get to one more hit and one more miss
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: before we get to the break.
• 27:50
  Speaker 6: Next up for the hit.
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: And I feel like, again, we talked about DK being
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: on the misses every week until this week being on
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: the hit side of things. I'm going to say the
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: same thing about TJ Watt. He has been a hit
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: every week so far this season. He continues to be
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: on a tear. In four games now, 13 tackles, four
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: and a half sacks, six and a half tackle for losses,
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: two pass deflections, and interception, fumble, forced fumble, fumble recovery,
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: and a touchdown.
• 28:16
  Speaker 5: T.J.
• 28:16
  Speaker 6: Watt, still the highlight of this defense so far.
• 28:20
  Speaker 5: Yeah, Nick Herbig was asked about him a lot yesterday
• 28:23
  Speaker 5: while we were here doing the show, and he's just like, hey,
• 28:26
  Speaker 5: he's just different. He's doing different stuff. Because someone– I
• 28:28
  Speaker 5: think someone said, have you ever seen that move that
• 28:31
  Speaker 5: we talked about yesterday where he's mid-pass rush, but then
• 28:35
  Speaker 5: he just spins back, has eyes in the back of
• 28:37
  Speaker 5: his head, and pokes the ball away from– I think
• 28:39
  Speaker 5: it was Judkins for a PBU. And Nick Herbig, he
• 28:43
  Speaker 5: didn't say this, but he did the old, like, let
• 28:44
  Speaker 5: me answer your question with another question. Have you ever
• 28:47
  Speaker 5: seen a guy run full speed at the quarterback and
• 28:50
  Speaker 5: pick off a pass? Because, yeah, I mean, don't even–
• 28:52
  Speaker 5: don't even try to make sense of what TJ does
• 28:55
  Speaker 5: on a week-to-week basis. And that's a good way of
• 28:58
  Speaker 5: putting it by young Mr.
• 28:59
  Speaker 4: Herbig.
• 29:00
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I like that. That's for sure.
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: And TJ Watt is backing that up with his numbers
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: so far and against a couple crazy plays against the
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: Cleveland Browns.
• 29:08
  Speaker 6: We talked about the batted down pass.
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: It was one of our top moments of the week,
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: including the sack when they were trying to show a
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: fake run to the inside to the left. TJ showed
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: them and Deshaun Watson that he was biting on it
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: before turning around and ultimately getting the sack Yeah.
• 29:25
  Speaker 5: And Herbig didn't even, I don't think he got asked
• 29:27
  Speaker 5: about that play or referenced that play specifically, but you
• 29:29
  Speaker 5: can put that in the same bucket just to tie
• 29:32
  Speaker 5: up the loose ends and put a bow on the
• 29:33
  Speaker 5: Jalen Warren discussion with advanced stats. If you go to
• 29:38
  Speaker 5: pro football reference receiving advanced stats, well, they give him
• 29:41
  Speaker 5: credit for two more broken tackles on that standpoint. So
• 29:44
  Speaker 5: that would be six overall when he touches the ball
• 29:48
  Speaker 5: in four games. Again, subjective, but yards after catch overall.
• 29:52
  Speaker 5: Per reception, he leads the league in that category for
• 29:56
  Speaker 5: those who qualify with 13.2. Next closest is DeAndre Swift
• 30:02
  Speaker 5: from the Bears at 10.8. So he is just blowing
• 30:06
  Speaker 5: away the field in that stat. Yards after catch per reception.
• 30:10
  Speaker 4: Hasn't dropped the pass yet.
• 30:12
  Speaker 5: His average depth of target, as it tends to be
• 30:14
  Speaker 5: for running backs, is in the negatives. But he is
• 30:18
  Speaker 5: just keeping this offense afloat at times, and he's sparking.
• 30:22
  Speaker 4: This offense at times.
• 30:23
  Speaker 5: Let's just hope he can hold up over the course
• 30:25
  Speaker 5: of this whole season, and let's hope Rico Dowdle can
• 30:28
  Speaker 5: come in and help at some point and take some
• 30:31
  Speaker 5: mileage off. Mike McCarthy said this morning that Dowdle will
• 30:34
  Speaker 5: be in the rehab group to start practice.
• 30:36
  Speaker 4: We'll see what the injury report says.
• 30:38
  Speaker 5: I don't know if that means that he's probably going
• 30:39
  Speaker 5: to miss another game, but hopefully he's on his way back.
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: Hopefully they get Rico back because, listen, he's had a
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: lot of snaps, has Jalen Warren the last few weeks
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: with Rico being out of the lineup, so hopefully He
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: can get some relief there. Let's get to one more
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: miss before we get to break, Brian. And while this
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: involves the running game, because the Steelers have zero, zero
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: rushing touchdowns in the first four games this season. So
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: we gave you all that good information on running the
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: football and catching the ball out of the backfield and
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: deservingly so.
• 31:10
  Speaker 6: But it's an incredible stat. I know it's only four
• 31:12
  Speaker 6: games in.
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: But for the Steelers to have no– the team that
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: lives and dies with running the football over the course
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: and the history of the organization has no rushing touchdowns
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: this week. Let's see if that can change against the Colts.
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: Or not this week. Let me back up for a
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: minute and slow down. They have no rushing touchdowns on
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: the year. Maybe that can change this week against the Colts.
• 31:32
  Speaker 5: Bad for fantasy managers, but I personally don't care. I
• 31:36
  Speaker 5: don't care if you get in the end zone with–
• 31:38
  Speaker 5: a pass, a run. I mean, Roman Wilson's was essentially
• 31:41
  Speaker 5: a run, not a traditional run, but they'll get one eventually, obviously,
• 31:46
  Speaker 5: even if it's Pat Friermuth under center on the Pittsburgh plunge.
• 31:49
  Speaker 5: So I don't, I don't even necessarily consider that a miss,
• 31:52
  Speaker 5: but yes, they have been missing the end zone via
• 31:55
  Speaker 5: the ground, obviously.
• 31:56
  Speaker 4: And literally.
• 31:58
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: The Roman Wilson run, touchdown against the Browns.
• 32:02
  Speaker 6: Jet sweep goes down as a pass, but it was
• 32:05
  Speaker 6: pretty much a run.
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: I'm with you, too. Go ahead and put it into
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: that category. Whenever we come back, we got some more
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: hits and misses for the week. And then coming up
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: in our second hour, our power rankings of top offenses
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: and defenses as well as celebrating the 25th anniversary of
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: Hines and Accuture Stadium opening up back on October 7th, 2021.
• 32:27
  Speaker 6: He's Backo. I'm Troop.
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: It's the Steelers Report here on Steelers Nation Radio, part
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: of the Steelers Audio Network.
• 32:38
  Speaker 3: This is the Steelers Report with Brian Backo and Ed
• 32:42
  Speaker 3: Troop on Steelers Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers
• 32:46
  Speaker 3: Audio Network.
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: Wrapping up our number one here on the show with
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: some hits and misses.
• 32:53
  Speaker 6: One thing that has not been a miss.
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: here in the last week has been the weather in
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: southwestern Pennsylvania.
• 33:00
  Speaker 6: My goodness.
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: You know, the hottest topics in Pittsburgh, when you turn
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: on the news at whatever hour it is, 4 o'clock,
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: 5 o'clock, 6, 10 o'clock, weekdays, weekends, there's two double B.
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: One is what we talk about every day, the Pittsburgh Steelers,
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: no doubt. Every month, every week, every day throughout the
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: entire year. If you want ratings in Pittsburgh, you talk
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: about the Steelers.
• 33:23
  Speaker 6: The other is the weather.
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: No doubt that they always lead with the weather on
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: the local news, and this has been a good week
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: for it because the weather has been spot on. Not
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: a cloud in the sky, 70 degrees.
• 33:34
  Speaker 6: It's been beautiful.
• 33:34
  Speaker 5: But it's not supposed to be beautiful Sunday, right? I
• 33:39
  Speaker 5: think Sunday is looking like rain here and pretty much
• 33:42
  Speaker 5: everywhere up and down.
• 33:44
  Speaker 4: The old– I did see that seaboard.
• 33:46
  Speaker 5: Pittsburgh's technically part of the Eastern seaboard, but over in
• 33:50
  Speaker 5: this part of the country, I think there's a, one
• 33:53
  Speaker 5: of those tropical storms or hurricanes is going on down
• 33:55
  Speaker 5: in Florida. Hopefully everybody is, is okay there, but we'll
• 33:59
  Speaker 5: get the, uh, the remnants of that rain.
• 34:01
  Speaker 4: I don't know.
• 34:02
  Speaker 5: I'm just reading off what like the various weather apps
• 34:04
  Speaker 5: tell me, but it looks like from football purposes, which is, um,
• 34:09
  Speaker 5: what we care about the most here on this show.
• 34:12
  Speaker 5: Not that we don't care about, uh, people dealing with
• 34:15
  Speaker 5: major weather incidents. But from a football standpoint for the Steelers,
• 34:19
  Speaker 5: it looks like it could be a rain game Sunday
• 34:22
  Speaker 5: against the Colts.
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, pretty much blue skies and 70 until then. But
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: I did see that this morning as well, Brian, that
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: Sunday could be sloppy, not only here in Pittsburgh, but across,
• 34:33
  Speaker 2: as you said, most of the NFL games where they'll
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: take place because of some of the weather moving in
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: and across the We'll keep an eye on that and
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: more as we navigate throughout the week and get you
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: ready for Colts and Steelers. Some memorable matchups between Indianapolis
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: and Pittsburgh over the years. Some big playoff battles as well,
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: so we'll dive into that as well the next couple days.
• 34:55
  Speaker 2: as we wrap up the week later on to get
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: set for week number five. But right now we're in
• 34:59
  Speaker 2: some hits and misses after four weeks of the regular season.
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: And Brian, let's start with a miss on this segment.
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: And so far it's been wide receiver Michael Pittman, the
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: big acquisition, who now has a revenge game on tap
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: against his old team, the Indianapolis Colts. But in just
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: three games played so far this season, an underwhelming seven
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: catches for 89 yards on just 12 targets. Maybe this
• 35:23
  Speaker 2: is the game in which Michael Pittman Jr. will go
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: off against his former team.
• 35:29
  Speaker 4: Yeah, Michael Pittman Jr.
• 35:31
  Speaker 5: he's got farmland out there in Indianapolis and he's a
• 35:34
  Speaker 5: big horseback rider. He got out of the gate really
• 35:38
  Speaker 5: strong in week one against the Falcons, but coming around
• 35:43
  Speaker 5: the quarter pole, do we misuse quarter pole?
• 35:48
  Speaker 4: Isn't quarter pole supposed to be the last quarter of
• 35:50
  Speaker 4: a horse race? Do you know anything about that, Ed?
• 35:54
  Speaker 6: I do not.
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: You're asking the wrong guy when it comes to horse racing,
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: but I will go with whatever you say. All right.
• 36:01
  Speaker 5: Well, we always say quarter pole, meaning like the first
• 36:04
  Speaker 5: four games of a season or whatever. So regardless, I
• 36:09
  Speaker 5: don't know if we're at the quarter pole or the
• 36:12
  Speaker 5: eighth pole. But as I work through this racehorse analogy,
• 36:17
  Speaker 5: Michael Pittman, you'd like to see him. step it up
• 36:20
  Speaker 5: with this, well, fourth lap around the track for him
• 36:23
  Speaker 5: now on Sunday. And, yes, you've got to think there's
• 36:26
  Speaker 5: going to be some extra fire against his former team.
• 36:29
  Speaker 5: He's not a real fiery guy like that. He's a
• 36:32
  Speaker 5: very personable and nice and friendly guy, but he's obviously
• 36:36
  Speaker 5: a competitor and plays the game that way.
• 36:39
  Speaker 4: He's physical.
• 36:39
  Speaker 5: And I think we've known really from the beginning that
• 36:44
  Speaker 5: he was going to upgrade the receiving core, but also
• 36:46
  Speaker 5: he was going to have a pretty specific– set of
• 36:48
  Speaker 5: responsibilities as that Z receiver on the backside. Aaron Rodgers
• 36:52
  Speaker 5: has mentioned this every time that the Pittman topic comes up,
• 36:55
  Speaker 5: that he's going to do a lot of the dirty work.
• 36:58
  Speaker 5: He's going to be doing the down blocking most of
• 37:00
  Speaker 5: the time. And then sometimes the ball will come his way.
• 37:02
  Speaker 5: Hasn't come his way a lot these last two weeks.
• 37:05
  Speaker 5: Perhaps that changes on Sunday when he's got some familiar
• 37:08
  Speaker 5: faces on the opposite side.
• 37:10
  Speaker 2: Hey, look, you did a nice job there with that
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: horse racing analogy because we are talking about.
• 37:14
  Speaker 6: The Indianapolis Colts. So there you go.
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: Might not be talking about a current Colt in Michael
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: Pittman Jr., former Indianapolis Colt, but current Pittsburgh Steeler. And
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: we'll see if he can get things going finally this
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: week against his former team. We'll stay with the wide
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: receivers for our next hit on the season, and it's
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: Roman Wilson.
• 37:33
  Speaker 6: Listen, 2025 season for Roman Wilson.
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: 12 catches, 166 yards, and two touchdowns in 13 games.
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: That was the entire season of 2025. So far in 2026,
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: in four games, he has 14 catches for 188 yards
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: and two touchdowns already. So, you know, Brian, there's been
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: ups and downs at times with Roman Wilson. A couple
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: missed passes caused one of those Aaron Rodgers four interceptions
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: that we were talking about during our last segment with
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: it going off his hands into a defender for an interception.
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: But He has had more ups than downs so far
• 38:07
  Speaker 2: this season, and those numbers I just gave you are
• 38:09
  Speaker 2: trending way better than what he did last season.
• 38:13
  Speaker 5: Yeah, and what I like about Roman's start to this year, Ed,
• 38:16
  Speaker 5: is he's diversifying his game a little bit. He's not
• 38:19
  Speaker 5: just a one-trick pony who's capable of running a go route,
• 38:23
  Speaker 5: try to take the top off a defense, and then
• 38:26
  Speaker 5: hope that the pass gets there and the wind blows.
• 38:29
  Speaker 4: It doesn't affect it too much and you don't get
• 38:30
  Speaker 4: interfered with.
• 38:31
  Speaker 5: Now, we saw that work out to the Steelers benefit
• 38:33
  Speaker 5: and we won against the Falcons, but that's not the
• 38:36
  Speaker 5: only club in his bag, so to speak. There I
• 38:39
  Speaker 5: go with another mixed metaphor of sports, but I just
• 38:43
  Speaker 5: like that you're seeing him. be used in some different
• 38:45
  Speaker 5: ways to become a more well-rounded wide receiver. If you
• 38:49
  Speaker 5: want to call it a more well-rounded number three receiver,
• 38:52
  Speaker 5: go ahead. I'm not really going to get bogged down
• 38:55
  Speaker 5: in those labels for him or Jeremy Bernard, but he's
• 39:00
  Speaker 5: been productive. These last couple games and productive and not
• 39:03
  Speaker 5: that many snaps. Honestly, that's going to probably be a
• 39:05
  Speaker 5: game plan dependent thing to some extent. But it's also
• 39:09
  Speaker 5: just good to see him make plays that are game
• 39:12
  Speaker 5: plan independent and just using that speed and that quickness
• 39:15
  Speaker 5: and maybe a little bit more focus in his routes.
• 39:17
  Speaker 4: He's talked about that. Aaron Rodgers has talked about that.
• 39:20
  Speaker 4: I don't know.
• 39:20
  Speaker 5: That he's ever going to be shaking off a ton
• 39:23
  Speaker 5: of tackles, but he's he's got some some quicks to
• 39:26
  Speaker 5: his game there's no doubt about that and you saw
• 39:29
  Speaker 5: it come in handy on that touchdown run slash catch
• 39:34
  Speaker 5: to open the game against the Browns.
• 39:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah back-to-back games Roman Wilson has reached the end zone
• 39:38
  Speaker 2: so that's good news for Roman Wilson and good news
• 39:41
  Speaker 2: for the Pittsburgh Steelers and when I pulled these numbers
• 39:44
  Speaker 2: of what he did last year for the entire season
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: through 13 games compared to the first four this year
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: So far, so good for Roman Wilson. Our next miss,
• 39:52
  Speaker 2: the Steelers offense on third down. And again, this has
• 39:55
  Speaker 2: been a miss every week so far, Brian. I'll be
• 39:57
  Speaker 2: anxious one of these weeks not to put it here,
• 39:59
  Speaker 2: maybe put it on the top on a hit. But again,
• 40:02
  Speaker 2: the Steelers have struggled on third down, 16 of 50
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: at 32% so far this season.
• 40:08
  Speaker 4: That's what's really been.
• 40:10
  Speaker 5: bothering Mike McCarthy week in and week out when he
• 40:13
  Speaker 5: meets with us in the media, whether it's after the
• 40:16
  Speaker 5: games or the following Monday or sometimes even lingering into
• 40:20
  Speaker 5: his Wednesday and Thursday press availabilities. He's frustrated by that.
• 40:25
  Speaker 5: I don't blame him. I think that's something that you'd
• 40:29
  Speaker 5: kind of love to see be a natural strength with
• 40:33
  Speaker 5: an experienced head coach and play caller, let alone an
• 40:36
  Speaker 5: experienced quarterback. savvy veteran under center in Aaron Rodgers. I think,
• 40:43
  Speaker 5: you know, converting those possession downs can be a little
• 40:45
  Speaker 5: bit difficult when you've got young players who haven't seen
• 40:49
  Speaker 5: nearly as much NFL football or NFL defensive coverages. But
• 40:53
  Speaker 5: on the flip side, it's just to me, it's just
• 40:56
  Speaker 5: reality when you have a more mobile QB, you feel
• 40:59
  Speaker 5: a little bit better about that.
• 41:01
  Speaker 4: Hey, it's third and five. I don't need to pick
• 41:03
  Speaker 4: it up through the air. I'll tuck it. I'll get
• 41:06
  Speaker 4: to that yard marker perfectly.
• 41:08
  Speaker 5: And I'll slide as soon as I get past there,
• 41:11
  Speaker 5: and we'll just move the chains.
• 41:13
  Speaker 4: It won't be pretty, but it'll get the job done.
• 41:15
  Speaker 5: They don't necessarily have that with their quarterback, but at
• 41:19
  Speaker 5: some point, Ed, I think it's going to be like
• 41:20
  Speaker 5: it's his last rodeo.
• 41:22
  Speaker 4: Let it all hang out.
• 41:22
  Speaker 5: If you're Aaron Rodgers, move around a little bit more,
• 41:25
  Speaker 5: and you don't need any tread left on the tires
• 41:28
  Speaker 5: after this season.
• 41:30
  Speaker 2: Our next hit for the Pittsburgh Steelers through these first
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: four games is is what they've done with their secondary.
• 41:36
  Speaker 2: Four interceptions in four games. Watt, Spears, Jennings, Queen, and Brisker.
• 41:40
  Speaker 2: They had 15 total in 2025 and also four forced
• 41:44
  Speaker 2: fumbles so far this season. They had 12 forced fumbles
• 41:48
  Speaker 2: last season as well. This team so far defensively taking
• 41:52
  Speaker 2: advantage of some turnovers and so far on track to
• 41:55
  Speaker 2: do better than what they did last year, which, by
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: the way, wasn't too bad in 2025. I just gave
• 41:59
  Speaker 2: you the numbers, Double B. Not awful, and they're already
• 42:01
  Speaker 2: off to a hot start there.
• 42:04
  Speaker 5: Yeah, and that's with a group, at least at safety, that's,
• 42:08
  Speaker 5: to me, probably known a little bit more for hard
• 42:11
  Speaker 5: hits and being physical and bringing that demeanor to run
• 42:15
  Speaker 5: support or at least making receivers think twice when they
• 42:18
  Speaker 5: go across the middle. Robert Spears Jennings, really like what
• 42:21
  Speaker 5: I'm seeing from him early this season. Seems like he
• 42:24
  Speaker 5: was an absolute steal in the seventh round. We don't
• 42:28
  Speaker 5: even need to worry about or ask why the Steelers
• 42:31
  Speaker 5: waited till the seventh round to pick them. Just be
• 42:33
  Speaker 5: happy that they did. And he's here and he's in
• 42:35
  Speaker 5: the equation and he's in the fold. At some point
• 42:38
  Speaker 5: you'll get to Sean Elliott back. Mike McCarthy didn't have
• 42:40
  Speaker 5: much of an update on him Wednesday prior to practice.
• 42:44
  Speaker 5: You know, the next like real definitive update that we'll
• 42:47
  Speaker 5: get on Elliott is that news that the team is
• 42:49
  Speaker 5: opening his 21 day practice window to return from IR.
• 42:53
  Speaker 5: I don't know when that's going to be. It could be,
• 42:56
  Speaker 5: you know, a minute from me saying this, or it
• 42:59
  Speaker 5: could be next week, but I think he is moving
• 43:03
  Speaker 5: in the right direction, and that's somebody else who can
• 43:05
  Speaker 5: make plays on the ball, too, when it comes his way.
• 43:08
  Speaker 2: One more miss, one more hit, so we always want
• 43:09
  Speaker 2: to end with a hit. We've got to make that
• 43:11
  Speaker 2: basket before we head into the Haas. So let's go
• 43:13
  Speaker 2: to a miss. The Steelers' defense is banged up. Derek
• 43:16
  Speaker 2: Harmon out for at least four weeks on the IR.
• 43:19
  Speaker 2: Jamel Dean... Might miss some time, too. Jalen Ramsey playing
• 43:23
  Speaker 2: with a broken wrist. We'll find out more as we
• 43:25
  Speaker 2: navigate the rest of the week here with the injury report.
• 43:28
  Speaker 2: We'll get our first official injury report later today here
• 43:31
  Speaker 2: on Wednesday, Double B. But the Steelers are going to
• 43:34
  Speaker 2: have to ride this wave the next couple weeks with
• 43:37
  Speaker 2: some key injuries on defense. The good news is I
• 43:39
  Speaker 2: think they've got some depth to prepare for it and
• 43:42
  Speaker 2: deal with it.
• 43:42
  Speaker 5: Well, we're going to find that out. The old next
• 43:45
  Speaker 5: man up at every game. not quite every level, but
• 43:49
  Speaker 5: on the front end and the back end for sure.
• 43:50
  Speaker 5: And as I talked through this just in real time,
• 43:54
  Speaker 5: it kind of dawns on me that going to need
• 43:56
  Speaker 5: even more right now from the middle level of that defense,
• 43:59
  Speaker 5: specifically the inside linebackers, because Patrick queen and Peyton Wilson
• 44:03
  Speaker 5: are healthy. They are out there and, You know, we
• 44:07
  Speaker 5: can even lump Nick Herbig in with those guys more
• 44:09
  Speaker 5: than we used to now in Patrick Graham's system. And
• 44:13
  Speaker 5: Alex Highsmith and TJ Water always kind of like half D-line,
• 44:17
  Speaker 5: half linebacker with that edge position.
• 44:20
  Speaker 4: But yeah, everybody's going to need to pull their weight
• 44:22
  Speaker 4: a little bit more.
• 44:23
  Speaker 5: And I think that there's, there's really something to be
• 44:25
  Speaker 5: said for the role allocation now up front on the
• 44:28
  Speaker 5: D line. Derek Harmon's a first rounder. So you invest
• 44:30
  Speaker 5: in him to do a little of everything, but Sebastian
• 44:33
  Speaker 5: Joseph day, maybe he can be more of a specialist
• 44:36
  Speaker 5: getting after the passer on the interior and why a
• 44:38
  Speaker 5: black can really sink his teeth into helping stop the run.
• 44:42
  Speaker 5: Although you don't want to telegraph what you're doing defensively
• 44:45
  Speaker 5: by your personnel usage, obviously.
• 44:48
  Speaker 2: Brian, we have about a minute before the break, so
• 44:50
  Speaker 2: let's sneak in one more hit here. The Steelers' defense
• 44:53
  Speaker 2: staying with the secondary, only giving up an average of
• 44:56
  Speaker 2: 209 yards per game passing and five touchdowns given up
• 45:01
  Speaker 2: in four games in the air. Listen, they haven't faced
• 45:05
  Speaker 2: the Joe Montana or Tom Brady of quarterbacks through the
• 45:08
  Speaker 2: first four weeks, that's for sure.
• 45:10
  Speaker 6: But facts are facts.
• 45:11
  Speaker 2: They've done a really good job of shutting down whoever's
• 45:14
  Speaker 2: been a quarterback on the opposite side of the field.
• 45:16
  Speaker 5: And if they can iron out some of these communication
• 45:18
  Speaker 5: issues that they've been having in the secondary too, which
• 45:20
  Speaker 5: is some chunk plays, some big gains, then that stat
• 45:24
  Speaker 5: should look even better, Ed. And I'm sure that's the
• 45:27
  Speaker 5: goal going forward for Patrick Graham, Joe Witt Jr.
• 45:30
  Speaker 4: Jason Simmons and company.
• 45:32
  Speaker 6: That's going to do it for our hits and misses
• 45:34
  Speaker 6: for this week.
• 45:35
  Speaker 2: Up next here at 3 o'clock, we're going to get
• 45:37
  Speaker 2: into our top five offenses power rankings so far four
• 45:41
  Speaker 2: weeks into the season, and then we'll also check our
• 45:44
  Speaker 2: top five defenses so far this year. And at the
• 45:47
  Speaker 2: tail end of the show, the 25th anniversary of the
• 45:50
  Speaker 2: opening of Heinz Field and AccuShare Stadium for the first
• 45:53
  Speaker 2: regular season game, which was 25 years ago today.
• 45:56
  Speaker 6: I'm Troop. He's back.
• 45:57
  Speaker 2: Oh, it's the Steelers report right here on Steelers Nation Radio,
• 46:00
  Speaker 2: part of the Steelers Audio Network.