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Texans-Steelers Wild Card Recap: The End for Aaron Rodgers and Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh? · NFL explained.

0:00
Speaker 1: And Rogers tap of his gut, takes the snap, Rodgers
0:04
Speaker 1: pocket collapses.
0:05
Speaker 2: Rodgers, who's gonna go down?
0:07
Speaker 3: And the ball is out?
0:08
Speaker 4: Who's got it?
0:09
Speaker 3: Rakarts picks it up? Who's on the move?
0:11
Speaker 4: Darty twenty five, twenty fifteen Test five touchdown Sheldon Raggins
0:17
Speaker 4: Rocket Roll, the big guy touchdown.
0:22
Speaker 2: The ball came out and Sheldon his second touchdown of
0:27
Speaker 2: the year.
0:28
Speaker 4: And what a huge one in the postseason way.
0:33
Speaker 3: Rock and roll. That's Mark vandermir on k I L T.
0:40
Speaker 3: And how fitting was it that a large man on
0:45
Speaker 3: this epic Houston Texans defense scored the most important touchdown
0:51
Speaker 3: on a night where the Texans defense absolutely dominated the
0:56
Speaker 3: Pittsburgh Steelers. Texans move on to the divisional round in Foxborough.
1:01
Speaker 3: They win thirty to six. That touchdown came with just
1:05
Speaker 3: over ten minutes left in the game. It's only ten
1:07
Speaker 3: to six at that point, and yet it was only
1:11
Speaker 3: one of two defensive touchdowns on the night. Just a
1:15
Speaker 3: signature performance by maybe the signature group in the entire
1:18
Speaker 3: NFL this season. Jordan rodrieg is with me. She's been
1:22
Speaker 3: tracking this Texans team ever since she picked them to
1:25
Speaker 3: make the Super Bowl, and that pick is looking good today.
1:28
Speaker 3: You talked to my friend, and by friend I mean guy.
1:32
Speaker 3: I love watching play football Jalen Petrie in the locker room.
1:35
Speaker 3: What was the quote that he gave you in the
1:37
Speaker 3: locker room after that Chargers game.
1:40
Speaker 5: God is the greatest, but the Texans defense is probably second.
1:45
Speaker 3: I mean amazing. We might have after tonight, we might
1:48
Speaker 3: have to move the Texans up a spot in the rankings.
1:52
Speaker 3: I love the rankings. I know you love defense. I
1:55
Speaker 3: know you love this defense. Just kind of big picture
1:58
Speaker 3: first takeaways after watching them on a night where yeah,
2:01
Speaker 3: they did not allow the Steelers to score, obviously, they
2:04
Speaker 3: did not even allow the Steelers to get two hundred yards.
2:07
Speaker 5: Men lie, women lie, numbers lie. The Texans defense never lies.
2:14
Speaker 5: It never lets you down, Greg, It just keeps on rolling.
2:18
Speaker 5: It comes at you. It is magical, it is vicious,
2:21
Speaker 5: it is physical. It is the one of the smartest
2:24
Speaker 5: defenses yet the simplest looks that you could possibly get.
2:28
Speaker 5: And they are relentless, and they tormented Aaron Rodgers for
2:33
Speaker 5: nearly the entirety of this game. Outside of the Steelers'
2:37
Speaker 5: scripted opening drive, this was absolutely one of the most
2:41
Speaker 5: dominant performances you're gonna see, but you could flip on
2:45
Speaker 5: the tape all season and this is the Texans defense.
2:48
Speaker 5: This is the heart and soul and ethos of this
2:50
Speaker 5: defense led by Demico Ryans and Matt Burke. What a
2:53
Speaker 5: masterpiece for their first road playoff win in franchise history.
2:59
Speaker 3: Yet, you know the craziest stat of this game I
3:01
Speaker 3: got for you, which is I think the Steelers had
3:05
Speaker 3: five first downs in their first eight plays, which is
3:09
Speaker 3: outrageous to think about. They only got a handful the
3:12
Speaker 3: entire rest of the day. And after those first two
3:15
Speaker 3: drives which were like thirty forty five yard drives which stalled,
3:18
Speaker 3: it was only you know, they only had three points
3:21
Speaker 3: out of it, and I was thinking, that's trouble. And
3:23
Speaker 3: they basically didn't do anything the rest of the day.
3:26
Speaker 3: Big picture, like before we get into the nitty gritty
3:29
Speaker 3: of everything that happens, I think what you said about
3:31
Speaker 3: how simple it is is really cool. Tory Yikman talked
3:34
Speaker 3: about it a lot tonight. We know it to be true.
3:37
Speaker 3: I love that in this world of all the disguised
3:40
Speaker 3: looks and different formations and matching personnels and everything like that,
3:45
Speaker 3: the Texans are maybe the simplest defense in the league,
3:50
Speaker 3: and that lets them play with an aggression that made
3:53
Speaker 3: me fearful for Aaron Rodgers's life. It looked like elder
3:56
Speaker 3: abuse at one point.
3:58
Speaker 6: I mean, it was crazy.
3:59
Speaker 3: Greg.
4:00
Speaker 5: We talk all the time about how fun it is
4:02
Speaker 5: to like notice some of the chess match that goes
4:04
Speaker 5: on through the course of this game. At the beginning
4:07
Speaker 5: of this game, ESPN had the field mics turned up
4:09
Speaker 5: really loudly, and so the center you can hear the
4:11
Speaker 5: center and the quarterback communicate. This was a real hit
4:14
Speaker 5: when Phil Rivers did this in his game first game
4:17
Speaker 5: back for the Colts, and it was you could hear
4:21
Speaker 5: Aaron Rodgers pointing out like azizel Shayer and some of
4:24
Speaker 5: the communication. Azizel Shaier told the sideline reporters that list
4:28
Speaker 5: assaulters specifically that they could hear that Aaron could hear
4:32
Speaker 5: what they were saying and was king on some of
4:34
Speaker 5: their communications, and so they just moved to hand signals
4:37
Speaker 5: and you could hear the mics flip off after they
4:39
Speaker 5: said that. Because but it doesn't matter. That's the entire point.
4:44
Speaker 5: Like Aaron Rodgers knew what this Texans defense was.
4:47
Speaker 6: Going to do. The entire game, even.
4:50
Speaker 5: When they switched to hand signals, and it did not
4:54
Speaker 5: matter because their dudes are better than your dudes, and
4:58
Speaker 5: their dudes are better than your dudes at every single
5:01
Speaker 5: position on this defense.
5:03
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it's almost hard to pick out one, like
5:05
Speaker 3: Daniel Hunter had Foulatanu in all sorts of problems tonight
5:10
Speaker 3: and in Fletan who had had a good season, you know,
5:13
Speaker 3: Will Anderson, on the other hat, gets a couple of
5:17
Speaker 3: sacks going up against like a backup tackle. That's an
5:19
Speaker 3: unfair matchup. But I think the players that stand out
5:22
Speaker 3: to me more for this team is our guy Petrie
5:25
Speaker 3: that you talk about Petrie and Lasseter and the tone
5:30
Speaker 3: that they set early in this game. And I think
5:33
Speaker 3: what you said about like Rogers can figure out what
5:38
Speaker 3: you're doing, and so they go to the Hansuckings, and
5:40
Speaker 3: so maybe this is the worst matchup possible for a
5:42
Speaker 3: Steelers team, where like that's their one advantage is he
5:45
Speaker 3: can figure things out. But there there's nothing, uh to
5:48
Speaker 3: figure out. Jordan's laughing because we have a comment in
5:50
Speaker 3: the chat that says, I'm never as smug as when
5:53
Speaker 3: a team he dislikes loses in the playoffs. I apologize.
5:56
Speaker 3: I have loved the Texans all year, and to be fair,
6:00
Speaker 3: my son, for some reason, he doesn't really love me,
6:03
Speaker 3: so he chose the Texans as his favorite team. But
6:06
Speaker 3: I love him. And we had cupcakes tonight that said
6:08
Speaker 3: go Texan, so they needed to come through. Or also,
6:11
Speaker 3: it was going to be a bad night in the
6:12
Speaker 3: Rosenthal House tonight, so I am happy that they were.
6:14
Speaker 5: So it does the rankings did change Greg. It goes
6:17
Speaker 5: the Texans defense is the greatest, and then there's Greg.
6:21
Speaker 3: Sure and they did it too on a night where CJ.
6:25
Speaker 3: Stroud fritzed out for a good portion in this game.
6:28
Speaker 3: And I think that is kind of like the last
6:30
Speaker 3: level of a dominant defense is that you can completely
6:35
Speaker 3: pick up. We can get into CJ's night a little
6:39
Speaker 3: more in depth in a second. I do want to
6:41
Speaker 3: stay on the Texans defense, but I do think that
6:43
Speaker 3: is kind of the final form me and you have
6:45
Speaker 3: talked about to this Texan defense. There's been a couple
6:47
Speaker 3: fourth quarters earlier in the season where they gave up
6:50
Speaker 3: game winning drives and I was thinking, like, if they
6:52
Speaker 3: want to be all time defense, and that's kind of
6:54
Speaker 3: what they're gonna have to do. I think to make
6:55
Speaker 3: the Super Bowl, to win the Super Bowl, they have
6:58
Speaker 3: to do things like they did tonight, which is pick
7:00
Speaker 3: up the other side of the ball on a night
7:02
Speaker 3: where because of CJ's turnovers, almost any defense would have
7:06
Speaker 3: given up the lead and maybe give up the game.
7:09
Speaker 5: You know, I was thinking about I tried to like
7:11
Speaker 5: reverse game theory this and think about, like, what is
7:14
Speaker 5: the way that you could try to beat the Texans defense.
7:17
Speaker 5: If you're another team and you're the Patriots, for example,
7:19
Speaker 5: and you're looking down the line, how do you possibly
7:22
Speaker 5: beat these guys? And really, one of the few ways
7:25
Speaker 5: to do it, if one of maybe the only ways
7:27
Speaker 5: to do it, is those intermediate and deep crossers that
7:31
Speaker 5: we saw maybe two of them have success. Because the
7:35
Speaker 5: Texans don't often carry their corners with a single receiver.
7:39
Speaker 5: They pass things off really well. If you pass things
7:42
Speaker 5: off in the middle of the field, you're going to
7:43
Speaker 5: need some safety help, and they're missing their one of
7:46
Speaker 5: their best safeties to injury, and Jalen Reed left the
7:49
Speaker 5: game as well. He started this game, left the game
7:51
Speaker 5: to injury, and right after that you saw DK Metcalf
7:55
Speaker 5: have success on one of those those intermediate crossers. Well,
7:59
Speaker 5: you also have to count on the fact that the
8:01
Speaker 5: quarterback can get to enough of a step and his
8:03
Speaker 5: dropback to get to that deep cross or intermediate crosser,
8:07
Speaker 5: and at a certain point they showed it's just not possible.
8:10
Speaker 5: So it's like there is very little margin of error,
8:14
Speaker 5: if any against this team and especially Jalen Peatrie coming
8:19
Speaker 5: down the corners, coming down as well and tackling this
8:22
Speaker 5: Pittsburgh team. They've been yack merchants all year. They've been
8:26
Speaker 5: yards after the catch merchants. That's where they've had success
8:29
Speaker 5: running backs in the passing game as well, and they
8:33
Speaker 5: couldn't get anything after that first script like I said,
8:35
Speaker 5: the scripted drive that got them a couple of first
8:37
Speaker 5: downs because of how well this Texans team tackles, because
8:41
Speaker 5: of repeated back to back tackles for loss run and
8:44
Speaker 5: pass into the flats that they can just smother and
8:47
Speaker 5: snuff out, so you're behind the sticks before you even
8:50
Speaker 5: get your drive started. And that is exactly why they're
8:54
Speaker 5: so fearsome and why they were such a great foil
8:57
Speaker 5: to everything that that's Pittsburgh likes offense likes to do,
9:01
Speaker 5: inclusive to Aaron getting the ball out fast, which he
9:04
Speaker 5: know he loves to do.
9:05
Speaker 3: The crazy thing is like he has played so much
9:07
Speaker 3: of this season to avoid taking big hits, letting go
9:11
Speaker 3: of the ball, throwing the ball near the line of scrimmage.
9:13
Speaker 3: I was wondering if he'd be a little more willing
9:15
Speaker 3: tonight to stand in there and take a hit the
9:17
Speaker 3: very first I believe, third and long in the game,
9:21
Speaker 3: I thought, nope, he got rid of it very quickly
9:24
Speaker 3: to avoid a hit. And it really felt like once
9:26
Speaker 3: there was pressure and you moved him off the spot,
9:28
Speaker 3: that the play was essentially over. If you're watching us,
9:32
Speaker 3: we love that you're with us live on YouTube, keep
9:34
Speaker 3: the comments coming, and if you're watching later on YouTube,
9:37
Speaker 3: you can see actually the sack that Rogers took in
9:40
Speaker 3: the red zone late in the second quarter at this
9:43
Speaker 3: point that the Steelers are trying to go in for
9:47
Speaker 3: a touchdown after another one of those CJ. Stroud turnovers.
9:51
Speaker 3: And this sack, to me, was kind of typical of
9:54
Speaker 3: the night because you know, Anderson caves in the pocket
9:58
Speaker 3: and Rogers wants to step up, but there is nowhere
10:02
Speaker 3: to step up because Hunter is pushing the pocket on
10:04
Speaker 3: the right side. There's interior pressure and Rogers doesn't even
10:07
Speaker 3: really like get hit. He just sort of trips on
10:11
Speaker 3: the feet that are in front of him. And look,
10:14
Speaker 3: if you're a big time Aaron Rodgers fan like this,
10:17
Speaker 3: if it was his last game, I kind of think
10:19
Speaker 3: it won't be. His last game was a sad way
10:21
Speaker 3: to go out. Let's actually listen to the pick six
10:24
Speaker 3: in the fourth quarter that finished off the score.
10:27
Speaker 1: Short side left friar mouth will be the target here.
10:31
Speaker 2: On fourth and five.
10:32
Speaker 1: Rogers looks it over. Here's the snap, Rogers in the pocket,
10:35
Speaker 1: Rogers leaning at downfield.
10:37
Speaker 2: They're picked off, helped up Betsy pull Off to his
10:40
Speaker 2: left forty thirty five thirty pull Off, twenty pull off,
10:43
Speaker 2: I'll pack it with the sideline, maintains his palace head
10:46
Speaker 2: runs poor pay dirt. Pull Off took a hit, kept
10:51
Speaker 2: going penny scars two defensive touchdowns to the game.
11:00
Speaker 3: I want that to be like his last moment. But
11:04
Speaker 3: if ever there was a game that was going to
11:06
Speaker 3: kind of make you question whether you were going to
11:08
Speaker 3: come back, because it started to sound that Aaron Rodgers
11:11
Speaker 3: would be coming back, and in my mind, he talked
11:13
Speaker 3: to his teammates by all reports about that and just
11:16
Speaker 3: the way he's talk publicly, sounded like his mind was
11:18
Speaker 3: maybe changing, like this would be that game because they
11:20
Speaker 3: really got after him and hit him hard.
11:23
Speaker 6: Yeah.
11:23
Speaker 5: By the way, you catch Jalen Petrie running all the
11:25
Speaker 5: way down to lead block from Kaylen Bullock. I believe
11:28
Speaker 5: the season started out with a Kaln Bullock pick six
11:31
Speaker 5: as well. So nice little bookend for the Texans here.
11:35
Speaker 6: Yeah.
11:36
Speaker 5: You know, Aaron Rodgers is one of the greatest we've
11:38
Speaker 5: ever seen play the position, that anyone's ever seen play
11:42
Speaker 5: the position, So something about it. You know, players never
11:46
Speaker 5: like to leave on a sour note. Often it's unavoidable,
11:50
Speaker 5: such as injury. He's not injured, so I would not
11:53
Speaker 5: be surprised if he comes back. I don't see another
11:57
Speaker 5: pairing with this Pittsburgh Steelers off and with or without
12:02
Speaker 5: Mike Tomlin. I know we'll get into sort of the
12:04
Speaker 5: stakes in the future and all of that, but I
12:06
Speaker 5: know they.
12:07
Speaker 6: Get along really well personally.
12:08
Speaker 5: I just don't see him sticking with this type of
12:12
Speaker 5: offense the way that it was. You just it was
12:14
Speaker 5: lacking in some ways. He was really needing to get
12:18
Speaker 5: the receivers on the same page. They shuffled the receiver's
12:20
Speaker 5: room a Ton he ended up loving thrown to the
12:22
Speaker 5: running backs the most. So it's just I don't know.
12:25
Speaker 5: We'll see how it goes Baron Rodgers, but you I mean,
12:28
Speaker 5: it's it's tough to go out that way exactly to
12:31
Speaker 5: your point, Greg, So I just can't see it happening
12:33
Speaker 5: for that reason.
12:34
Speaker 3: Well, it's interesting. Well we're talking about it now, let's
12:37
Speaker 3: talk about it, because yeah, on this night, he was
12:39
Speaker 3: getting upset with the receivers a couple of times, but
12:41
Speaker 3: he was upset with himself, like he missed an open
12:43
Speaker 3: third down dk metcalf I thought his drop which I
12:46
Speaker 3: think he alluded to in the second drive of the game,
12:50
Speaker 3: second or third drive of the game, where he springs
12:52
Speaker 3: open and it just clangs off his hand against a
12:55
Speaker 3: defense like this when they do make a mistake. That
12:57
Speaker 3: was where you texted me. You know, Stingley lost on
13:00
Speaker 3: that one, and he is prone to gambling a little bit,
13:03
Speaker 3: so occasionally you can beat him, and there's just so
13:06
Speaker 3: few chances like that that you have to make make
13:09
Speaker 3: it happen. So Rogers, you know, misses a thrower or
13:11
Speaker 3: two here. Tomlin has been reported to be considering going
13:16
Speaker 3: to television to me it is really hard to imagine
13:20
Speaker 3: Aaron Rodgers back if Mike Tomlin is not back, Like,
13:25
Speaker 3: why would the Steelers want to keep that going? Cut feeling?
13:30
Speaker 3: What the heck? Jordan, we have no information. Do you
13:33
Speaker 3: think Mike Tomlin is going to be back with the
13:35
Speaker 3: Pittsburgh Steelers because this is what They're six straight playoff loss.
13:40
Speaker 3: It is now more than more than eight seasons since
13:43
Speaker 3: they won a playoff game. I was there at that
13:45
Speaker 3: AFC Championship game which started this losing streak for Tomlin
13:49
Speaker 3: in the playoffs. They're now the first team in NFL
13:52
Speaker 3: history to lose five straight playoff games by double digits,
13:55
Speaker 3: for whatever that's worth. And it's just the same thing
13:58
Speaker 3: over and over. And they get that win over the
14:02
Speaker 3: Ravens last week with a little bit of luck, certainly,
14:05
Speaker 3: but it almost makes it feel worse here because it
14:07
Speaker 3: just feels like it's groundhog Day. And maybe Mike Tomlin,
14:11
Speaker 3: not the Steelers, but maybe Mike Tomlin has had enough.
14:15
Speaker 5: I think there's something to the maybe he's had enough point,
14:20
Speaker 5: because it has taken since Ben Roethlisberger for Mike Tomlin
14:24
Speaker 5: to have a quarterback like Aaron Rodgers. Even this version
14:27
Speaker 5: much older version of Aaron Rodgers to even get into
14:31
Speaker 5: his building. And this was after an incredibly fruitless sweepstakes
14:37
Speaker 5: where you know, the Steelers were in at one point
14:39
Speaker 5: and trying to convince Matthew Stafford like lurking sort of
14:42
Speaker 5: quietly in the background. They were trying to if I'm
14:46
Speaker 5: remembering right, they were in on justin Field.
14:48
Speaker 6: You know who else were they in on this?
14:50
Speaker 3: They wanted justin Field to come reports, but they weren't
14:53
Speaker 3: willing to go as far financially as the.
14:55
Speaker 5: Jets were, correct, Like they they really were thinking about
14:59
Speaker 5: their different avenue at quarterback. And I think it's good
15:02
Speaker 5: for them in a way that they landed with Rogers
15:04
Speaker 5: because him and Tomlin do seem to have a very
15:07
Speaker 5: good working relationship for personal relationship as well, And this
15:11
Speaker 5: was as good as it was going to get for
15:13
Speaker 5: this version of the Steelers, right And so that's where
15:16
Speaker 5: I think maybe it is time for a break, reset, recalibrate,
15:20
Speaker 5: look at where the rest of the league is at
15:21
Speaker 5: right now now. I also believe that if he decided
15:24
Speaker 5: that he was going to step away, he'd have teams
15:27
Speaker 5: blowing up his phone immediately, like this would now start
15:30
Speaker 5: to be a competitive situation between someone who wants to
15:33
Speaker 5: hire him and potentially a TV situation at one of
15:38
Speaker 5: these broadcasters. You know, there's a vacant CBS spot now
15:40
Speaker 5: because Matt Ryan's no longer in the chair.
15:42
Speaker 6: So I feel like this, which is.
15:44
Speaker 3: A why I feel like every network would literally just
15:47
Speaker 3: like be in a room. I'm not going to say
15:49
Speaker 3: who they might, you know, kick off, but some of
15:51
Speaker 3: those guys have been out a while, or they'll just
15:52
Speaker 3: make a new spot. The money is just flowing. Have
15:55
Speaker 3: you seen the ratings lately? Give all the money to
15:57
Speaker 3: Mike Tomlin. I feel like if you wanted to like
16:00
Speaker 3: he would do that, and if you wanted to take
16:02
Speaker 3: a year off, kind of like Sean Payton, who quote
16:05
Speaker 3: unquote retired from the Saints if you remember back in
16:07
Speaker 3: the in the day, and then a year later, you
16:10
Speaker 3: know he was back looking for a job, So that
16:12
Speaker 3: could be an option. I almost feel bad talking about
16:14
Speaker 3: such negative things on a beautiful night for the Texans
16:18
Speaker 3: moving to the Final eight, and what a fascinating matchup
16:20
Speaker 3: it is against the Patriots. Drake may having just faced
16:25
Speaker 3: you know, maybe his toughest defensive challenge of the season
16:28
Speaker 3: and now has to go up a level and the
16:31
Speaker 3: two best tackling teams. I would argue in the NFL
16:34
Speaker 3: the Patriots are not a great defense, but they do
16:36
Speaker 3: not give up any extra yards. They are really sound
16:39
Speaker 3: tacklers and just two physical teams. I'm really excited for it.
16:43
Speaker 3: But I want to give you the floor here at Jeordan.
16:45
Speaker 3: So you said, you know you lead the way tonight,
16:47
Speaker 3: you know, you decide what we're going to do. Just
16:50
Speaker 3: anything that we haven't mentioned about the Texans defense so
16:54
Speaker 3: far that you want to get in there, whether it's
16:56
Speaker 3: a shout out to a player or something that they
16:59
Speaker 3: do schematic before we get to the fact that this
17:02
Speaker 3: game was way closer than it needed to be, despite
17:05
Speaker 3: the Texans putting up four hundred yards, Like this thing
17:08
Speaker 3: was on a knife edge till about ten minutes left
17:10
Speaker 3: of this game.
17:11
Speaker 6: Yes, and you're so correct.
17:12
Speaker 5: I'm glad we're going to get to that part of
17:14
Speaker 5: it too, and especially the offense, which still has its issues.
17:16
Speaker 5: But this interior of this defensive line, as good as
17:21
Speaker 5: the exterior is, the interior often gets slept on, in
17:23
Speaker 5: my opinion, Tommy TOGII and Sheldon Rankins. Obviously, both of
17:27
Speaker 5: those guys have a touchdown in back to back weeks,
17:29
Speaker 5: which I love that for them, big Man thick six,
17:33
Speaker 5: you know, happening, and this is a defensive front that
17:37
Speaker 5: plays in such a an egoless way. They you know,
17:43
Speaker 5: Demiko Ryans, I think there was some fun being poked
17:46
Speaker 5: at him because of his acronym swarm and what a
17:49
Speaker 5: swarm and what does that mean or whatever?
17:51
Speaker 6: Probably not on this show, but you know.
17:53
Speaker 3: Like maybe I mean, don't babe aggressive, I like aggressive aggressive,
17:58
Speaker 3: just say so fun with this. We were having it
18:01
Speaker 3: in a fun way.
18:02
Speaker 5: I just you know, I truly actually I actually could
18:04
Speaker 5: not remember if it was you that was that was
18:06
Speaker 5: poking fun at it, but so I guess I should
18:09
Speaker 5: have just assumed. But the greatest thing about this is
18:12
Speaker 5: how as one they rush, they rush in layers. They
18:17
Speaker 5: see each other's space that they create. They are very
18:21
Speaker 5: egoists about the numbers, they're very ego lists about opportunity.
18:25
Speaker 5: You don't see a lot of freestyling out there. You
18:27
Speaker 5: see a lot of discipline. They play so professionally with
18:30
Speaker 5: each other that is so incredible to me. And you
18:33
Speaker 5: see it in these little moments like Nick Schuk and
18:36
Speaker 5: I did a show a couple of weeks several weeks
18:38
Speaker 5: ago or it was another Texans game, and we were
18:42
Speaker 5: talking about how when Daniel Hunter and Will Anderson were
18:45
Speaker 5: tackling the quarterbacks sometimes the physics of their body were
18:48
Speaker 5: twisting them around where they could have gotten flagged for
18:51
Speaker 5: a roughness penalty or even a hip drop because.
18:54
Speaker 6: Of the way the physics were carrying their bodies.
18:56
Speaker 5: And if they didn't let go of the quarterback's legs
18:58
Speaker 5: at that moment, they would have gotten flagged. And so
19:01
Speaker 5: they knew they had the quarterback contained, so they let go.
19:04
Speaker 5: This is similar, you know, trying not to step on
19:07
Speaker 5: Aaron Rodgers when all that mess is happening, is being
19:11
Speaker 5: tackled by his own offensive lineman, right, and he's being
19:13
Speaker 5: sacked by his own offensive linemen. Staying underneath sort of
19:18
Speaker 5: that pile to make sure that you have a hand
19:21
Speaker 5: on the quarterback when he's on the ground, like Will
19:24
Speaker 5: Anderson did. It just is like really professional football in
19:27
Speaker 5: every single phase. I love their linebackers. I don't think
19:31
Speaker 5: I just think they're just clean everywhere. They're so good, Greg,
19:34
Speaker 5: it's just incredible to watch.
19:44
Speaker 3: They just don't have a weak spot. And you thought
19:46
Speaker 3: maybe Reid gets hurt, and like is the other seaf
19:48
Speaker 3: They're going to get picked on, toe toe. I think
19:50
Speaker 3: had a really good game. Like yeah, in coverage like
19:53
Speaker 3: that is where you would think you would be able
19:55
Speaker 3: to get some of these linebackers. But Aaron Rodgers's eyes
19:59
Speaker 3: very often going to the place where the linebackers were
20:03
Speaker 3: and he had to hold the ball like an extra
20:05
Speaker 3: half a beat. And I thought they all were just swarming.
20:08
Speaker 3: To use that word in terms of their tackling, it was.
20:12
Speaker 3: It was just a magnificent performance. I mentioned those five
20:16
Speaker 3: first downs in the first eight plays. They only had
20:18
Speaker 3: six more the rest of the day. The Steelers had
20:21
Speaker 3: a twenty one percent success rate, which is just absolutely
20:24
Speaker 3: brutal throwing the ball. And then here's here's my favorite
20:27
Speaker 3: just stat I'm pulling. This is from next Gen. They
20:31
Speaker 3: had a forty five percent pressure rate, which is sky high.
20:35
Speaker 3: You know how many times they blitzed tonight, zero times
20:39
Speaker 3: zero crazy, but three is three is nuts. And so
20:44
Speaker 3: they just they just don't have to send any extra rushers.
20:49
Speaker 3: And yeah, Anderson and Hunter are going to be keeping
20:54
Speaker 3: Mike Braboll up at night, and Will Campbell and Morgan
20:56
Speaker 3: Moses because I think that's the biggest weakness of the Patriots,
21:00
Speaker 3: and they can get after Drake maybe had fifteen pressures
21:05
Speaker 3: combined tonight. Let's talk about the offense, and I guess
21:09
Speaker 3: we got to start kind of with the bad. What
21:12
Speaker 3: was happening with CJ? Here to give you just like
21:16
Speaker 3: a quick overview. I need to double check this, but
21:20
Speaker 3: he ended up with five turnovers on I mean five
21:22
Speaker 3: fumbles on the night right because he reminiscent to that
21:27
Speaker 3: you know, crazy Jalen Hurts Herbert game and play that
21:33
Speaker 3: happened in the game I went to on Monday Night
21:34
Speaker 3: football where there's like, you know, a multiple turnovers on
21:38
Speaker 3: one play. Twice tonight, c J. Stroud had two fumbles
21:42
Speaker 3: on one play, so he had four total fumbles, I
21:45
Speaker 3: mean on two combined plays. And in each one of
21:48
Speaker 3: those plays he wasn't paying attention and fumbled the shotgun
21:52
Speaker 3: snap and then eventually fumbled because he held the ball
21:55
Speaker 3: too long on that play and lost both of those films,
21:57
Speaker 3: and then had another one later on and then also
22:01
Speaker 3: had a red zone interception. It was really a crazy
22:07
Speaker 3: combination of him getting so in his head on a
22:11
Speaker 3: night when if you just took those plays away. It
22:15
Speaker 3: was a great offensive performance by the Texans and a
22:18
Speaker 3: good one by c J. Stroud. If you took those
22:21
Speaker 3: plays away.
22:22
Speaker 6: Yes, big caveats are that's a big if.
22:25
Speaker 3: I just mean the other fifty plays, which are a
22:27
Speaker 3: lot of plays.
22:28
Speaker 5: Totally, I thought it was one of the more balanced
22:31
Speaker 5: games that I've seen from this Texans offense, in huge
22:34
Speaker 5: part because the run game was great. Now, it's been
22:37
Speaker 5: a work in progress all season and they've chipped away
22:40
Speaker 5: at it. And really want to give credit to Nick Keyley,
22:43
Speaker 5: the offensive coordinator here, who has been through his fair
22:45
Speaker 5: share of battles here on the season, but didn't run
22:49
Speaker 5: away from it, kept going even when the turnovers would happen,
22:53
Speaker 5: kept trying to find ways to balance and settle this
22:56
Speaker 5: offense down. Woody Marks goes over one hundred yards and
22:59
Speaker 5: has a touch down at the end of the game,
23:01
Speaker 5: and it's like they just kept chipping at it. They
23:04
Speaker 5: were at or over nearly a fifty percent success rate
23:07
Speaker 5: between Woody Marks, who had the line's share of Carrie's
23:09
Speaker 5: left the game at one point, came back in, and
23:12
Speaker 5: Nick Chubb as well, who had three consecutive really solid
23:15
Speaker 5: runs in the first half that started getting this run
23:19
Speaker 5: game going, settled the offensive line down. When they got
23:22
Speaker 5: into the third quarter, they really started moving the offensive line,
23:25
Speaker 5: They really started controlling the line of scrimmage more so
23:29
Speaker 5: especially half over half. This third quarter was when they
23:33
Speaker 5: really started, you know, settling and digging into that trench work.
23:37
Speaker 5: And I thought it was It was great because you
23:38
Speaker 5: had a combination of Nick Chubb with a lot of
23:41
Speaker 5: that middle zone or gap running, and then you would
23:43
Speaker 5: get Woody Marx who can also do that, but then
23:46
Speaker 5: would hit you with like some explosive speed around the
23:48
Speaker 5: edge too, and the Steelers were just not quite sure
23:51
Speaker 5: whether they were going to be stretched physically or stretched wide.
23:55
Speaker 5: And that was just really like special to me because
23:58
Speaker 5: that's kind of balance with in the run game that
24:01
Speaker 5: you also need to have in order to really challenge
24:03
Speaker 5: these defenses in the postseason. And this was the best,
24:07
Speaker 5: to me, the best game that Nick Kayley has called.
24:10
Speaker 5: Because there was chaos, Greg, you mentioned it, c J. Stroud,
24:14
Speaker 5: I mean, dude, take take the sack, take the four
24:18
Speaker 5: yard scramble, don't try to force the play. He just
24:21
Speaker 5: was so in his head Greg through this game, and
24:24
Speaker 5: there was clear issues with the center Jake Andrews too,
24:26
Speaker 5: and issues in the shotgun, but they just kept steady
24:31
Speaker 5: and they got a monster performance out of their defense.
24:33
Speaker 5: And that's like, I hope that's not the formula because
24:36
Speaker 5: we know CJ.
24:36
Speaker 6: Stroud can be better.
24:37
Speaker 3: Than this, and maybe maybe I was. I remembered it
24:41
Speaker 3: incorrectly that he had was credited for two fumbles on
24:45
Speaker 3: two separate plays, because he also, of course had the
24:48
Speaker 3: fumble on what I thought was Kayley's. I mean, it's
24:51
Speaker 3: hard to say it's his worst call the night, but
24:53
Speaker 3: they didn't execute it perfectly. The flea flicker.
24:55
Speaker 5: What is happening with these flea flickers?
24:57
Speaker 3: What's happening? I love playing on be on the bad grass.
25:01
Speaker 3: This is the worst field maybe in the league. Green
25:03
Speaker 3: Bay certainly up there, and woody marks just like slightly
25:07
Speaker 3: slipped I think on the flee flick are very similar
25:10
Speaker 3: to that Carolina game in Week eighteen, and he still
25:13
Speaker 3: got the ball back to c J. Stroud, but the
25:16
Speaker 3: timing was just messed up just a little bit, and
25:19
Speaker 3: then c J. Stroud gets his arm hit. Now it
25:22
Speaker 3: appeared there was a wide open receiver down the field,
25:25
Speaker 3: so if they had time to do it, he would
25:27
Speaker 3: have gotten it deep, but instead Jack Sawyer comes up
25:30
Speaker 3: with the first of a few really big plays in
25:34
Speaker 3: this game. But I'm glad you brought up, you know,
25:36
Speaker 3: the running game and how great it was. And look,
25:38
Speaker 3: they ended up putting up what one hundred and sixty
25:42
Speaker 3: four yards on the ground. And the crazy thing is tonight,
25:44
Speaker 3: they didn't have a ton of drives. There's only nine
25:46
Speaker 3: drives in this game. If it wasn't for the turnovers,
25:48
Speaker 3: they actually played pretty good, complimentary football, and they do
25:51
Speaker 3: deserve some credit, I think, because you see the final
25:53
Speaker 3: score and you're like, this is this is a joke.
25:56
Speaker 3: In the fourth quarter, they go on a pretty long
25:58
Speaker 3: field goal drive to actually, you know, get it up
26:00
Speaker 3: to ten six at the very least, and then they
26:05
Speaker 3: do capitalize with a touchdown drive after the Texans you know,
26:10
Speaker 3: get their fun and get the turnover on Rogers and
26:13
Speaker 3: it was just a waterfall. So like, there's no rule
26:16
Speaker 3: that says they were gonna have to go and score
26:17
Speaker 3: a touchdown there in the fourth quarter to completely put
26:20
Speaker 3: the game away on offense, and they did it, and
26:22
Speaker 3: so they deserve credit for that. And they also deserve
26:24
Speaker 3: credit for that second quarter drive which was fourteen plays
26:28
Speaker 3: ninety two yards. They start with the ball on the
26:32
Speaker 3: eight yard line and they go mostly running, but some
26:36
Speaker 3: nice throws by c J. Stroud. Let's actually listen to
26:40
Speaker 3: how that drive was capped off. The first touchdown of
26:43
Speaker 3: the game and three.
26:45
Speaker 1: That's a sixth Stroud takes the snap, takes the Tossbahinda
26:49
Speaker 1: throws right side Chris Drake Kirk.
26:50
Speaker 3: To the end zone.
26:52
Speaker 4: Touchdown, show stand six yard touchdown pass from CJ. Strout
26:57
Speaker 4: our christ Jane Kirk and the Texans go in.
27:02
Speaker 3: Stroud did have some nice throws, like his first first
27:05
Speaker 3: down of the game was a dime down the field
27:08
Speaker 3: to Christian Kirk. There also was a forty six yard
27:12
Speaker 3: reception late in the third quarter to Christian Kirk which
27:19
Speaker 3: came on third and fifteen. This is with about forty
27:23
Speaker 3: seconds left in the fourth quarter, right after c J.
27:26
Speaker 3: Stroud had had his fifth fumble on a ball that
27:28
Speaker 3: he was very lucky to get back. He wasn't looking
27:31
Speaker 3: before the ball was snapped, and it's third and fifteen.
27:34
Speaker 3: You think you're thinking they really might blow this game.
27:37
Speaker 3: It's seven to six, and he gets protected really well,
27:40
Speaker 3: and I think the offensive line actually had a sneaky
27:42
Speaker 3: good game in front of c J. Stroud, even pass
27:44
Speaker 3: protecting and he hits a dime down the field to
27:47
Speaker 3: Christian Kirk. So there were moments. So I do want
27:50
Speaker 3: to pat him on the back. But there's something weird
27:52
Speaker 3: about Stroud when he gets in his head, like he
27:55
Speaker 3: kind of stays there.
27:56
Speaker 5: Sometimes he's kind of like a he wears his heart
27:59
Speaker 5: on his sleeve as a quarterback, where you can tell
28:01
Speaker 5: exactly when he's overthinking things, and it's I think it's
28:04
Speaker 5: a I think it's a product of being young. I
28:06
Speaker 5: think it's a product of all the hits he took
28:08
Speaker 5: last year and all the chaos at offensive line. I
28:10
Speaker 5: think some of it's a product of changing systems and
28:14
Speaker 5: still trying to figure out what his rhythm is. Nico
28:16
Speaker 5: Collins was in and out of the game. Hope he's okay.
28:18
Speaker 5: He left on a cart to the locker room in
28:20
Speaker 5: the concussion protocol, but it and so trying to figure out,
28:24
Speaker 5: you know, different guys, different timing and those types of things.
28:27
Speaker 5: Christian Kirk really stepped up for CJ. Stroud, gave him
28:31
Speaker 5: wide open targets. There were a couple of times where
28:33
Speaker 5: I worried about some of the other receivers because CJ
28:37
Speaker 5: was throwing them into some danger too, because and this
28:40
Speaker 5: is not this The thing is, we know what his
28:43
Speaker 5: potential is and we know what his ability is, and
28:46
Speaker 5: you saw it in a lot of the past plays
28:49
Speaker 5: and a lot of the the decision making this game.
28:53
Speaker 5: I love that Christian Kirk touchdown because it was a
28:55
Speaker 5: fake toss to one direction and then he throws a
28:57
Speaker 5: touchdown to the other direction, calm and steady as can be.
29:01
Speaker 5: A lot of misdirection cadence timing has to happen on
29:04
Speaker 5: that type of play, selling the fake flowing in one direction,
29:07
Speaker 5: hitting the.
29:08
Speaker 6: Other side like you see it right, it's there.
29:10
Speaker 5: And then you know he throws a high sort of
29:12
Speaker 5: hospital eball to Jaden Higgins, and Jaden Higgins somehow hangs
29:17
Speaker 5: on and he overthrows a couple too, and and you know,
29:20
Speaker 5: it just is one of those things where they're gonna
29:23
Speaker 5: need more consistency out of CJ.
29:25
Speaker 6: Strout.
29:25
Speaker 5: They don't need him to be a superhero anymore at
29:28
Speaker 5: this point or or ever, because he has this defense
29:31
Speaker 5: that's going to be the hero of this team and
29:34
Speaker 5: he's got a great even keel Special Teams unit just
29:37
Speaker 5: needs some consistency, and that's why I love that the
29:39
Speaker 5: run game was there. If this run game wasn't there, Greg,
29:42
Speaker 5: they don't recover like this.
29:44
Speaker 3: Yeah, I totally agree. And I was watching this game
29:48
Speaker 3: with with, you know, my family and in Amica. My
29:51
Speaker 3: wife is just like, what why is every pass so hard?
29:56
Speaker 3: And it's a great point because the first half of
29:59
Speaker 3: this game, ever, recompletion was contested and for the most
30:02
Speaker 3: part CJ was on point and some were broken up
30:05
Speaker 3: and some were and so I don't know if the
30:06
Speaker 3: receivers just weren't open or he's just trying to fit
30:09
Speaker 3: it into tight windows, but they were like very difficult throws.
30:12
Speaker 3: I actually think the Steelers defense overall, you know, played
30:15
Speaker 3: a pretty good game. Their their offense just sold them out.
30:19
Speaker 3: Maybe not good. You give four hundred yards to the
30:21
Speaker 3: Texans and nine drives. That's not good. And you also
30:24
Speaker 3: allow Christian Kirk, who's been quiet all year, to be
30:27
Speaker 3: the guy who makes me say that it is time
30:29
Speaker 3: for delivering results presented by Uber Eats. When football makes
30:34
Speaker 3: you hungry, order Uber eats, and yes, Christian Kirk goes
30:38
Speaker 3: eight catches, one hundred and forty four yards and a touchdown,
30:43
Speaker 3: a couple of times gets them out of bad field position,
30:46
Speaker 3: a couple of times sets up a big score. And
30:51
Speaker 3: these playoff games are funny because Christian Kirk has not
30:54
Speaker 3: been a productive, you know, trade chip for what they
30:58
Speaker 3: expected it for a good chunk of this season. He's hurt,
31:02
Speaker 3: and then the rookies end up kind of passing him
31:05
Speaker 3: in terms of importance on the team. He plays thirteen
31:08
Speaker 3: games and he somehow only ends up with two hundred
31:10
Speaker 3: and thirty nine yards, like he almost matched that tonight.
31:14
Speaker 3: But I'll tell you what, Like that front office is
31:18
Speaker 3: so happy they made that move. Now, it's like the
31:20
Speaker 3: Brandon Cooks move in Buffalo, Like it's all worth it
31:23
Speaker 3: if they come up in a big spot like this.
31:25
Speaker 3: And he's obviously a really talented, experienced receiver, and he
31:29
Speaker 3: gave them something tonight that they absolutely needed. And if
31:33
Speaker 3: Nico Collins is out next week he went into the
31:35
Speaker 3: concussion protocol tonight, then Christian Kirk's importance is even going
31:39
Speaker 3: to be bigger next week.
31:40
Speaker 5: A little Bertie told me that Christian Kirk was set
31:45
Speaker 5: to be a huge factor tonight in part because of
31:48
Speaker 5: the way with a healthy Nico Collins, and part of
31:51
Speaker 5: because of the way that they thought the Steelers were
31:54
Speaker 5: going to defend them, which I think is a fair
31:56
Speaker 5: fair assumption to make. Unfortunately, Nico Collins, who had a
31:59
Speaker 5: couple of great catches himself, including a really tough one
32:02
Speaker 5: over the middle for a big conversion. You know, that's
32:05
Speaker 5: as he just took so much contact to his head
32:09
Speaker 5: and hopefully he's gonna be okay. And we'll hear more
32:12
Speaker 5: about that obviously in the in the coming in the
32:15
Speaker 5: coming days.
32:16
Speaker 3: Yeah, and they are on a short week, which I
32:19
Speaker 3: think is unfair for these teams that that have to
32:21
Speaker 3: do it. The Monday night game is sort of inherently unfair.
32:25
Speaker 3: Teams have won coming out of it, teams of loss
32:27
Speaker 3: coming out of it hasn't been you know, decisive or anything.
32:29
Speaker 3: The Rams won the Super Bowl coming out of it
32:31
Speaker 3: as as you know. But yeah, shout out to Christian
32:34
Speaker 3: Kirk getting it done. And it's a free agency year
32:37
Speaker 3: for him, so reminds everyone how good he can be.
32:39
Speaker 3: That was delivering results presented by Uber Eats. When football
32:42
Speaker 3: makes you hungry, get game day deals on Uber eats,
32:45
Speaker 3: the official on demand delivery partner of the NFL. Order.
32:49
Speaker 3: Now I am frustrated by the Nico concussion because I
32:58
Speaker 3: just thought it seemed kind of obvious on TV when
33:00
Speaker 3: he took a hit on that very I think it
33:02
Speaker 3: was the first target he had of the game that
33:04
Speaker 3: he was shaken up and he just goes over to
33:06
Speaker 3: the sideline and I didn't see them examine him for
33:10
Speaker 3: a potential concussion, but he got up very slowly after
33:14
Speaker 3: that first play. And I do feel like it's becoming
33:16
Speaker 3: a little bit of a trend lately that they are
33:20
Speaker 3: not taking care of the players as much as they
33:22
Speaker 3: were let's say, five to ten years ago. There's just
33:24
Speaker 3: not as much attention on it. And you can have
33:27
Speaker 3: a rudimentary understanding of science and concussions and everything that
33:33
Speaker 3: when you suffer maybe a more minor one before suffering
33:40
Speaker 3: a bigger one, like in the same game, it makes
33:43
Speaker 3: it worse. And he did, you know, as Troyman pointed out,
33:46
Speaker 3: like he was walking the wrong way after the second one.
33:48
Speaker 3: You just you just hate to see that, and you
33:50
Speaker 3: just hope that like they did everything that they were
33:53
Speaker 3: supposed to do before that, because I was a little
33:55
Speaker 3: surprised how quickly he returned to that game. If you remember,
33:58
Speaker 3: I think he sat out basically like five or six
34:01
Speaker 3: plays on the first drive and then came in for
34:03
Speaker 3: the final third down. I was like, Wow, that was
34:05
Speaker 3: quick for him to come back in there. So you
34:08
Speaker 3: just hope he's gonna be okay, and he's really important
34:10
Speaker 3: that It almost goes without saying for this team.
34:12
Speaker 5: I'll just say, too, Greg, to your point, which is
34:15
Speaker 5: a great one, that it's not for lack of technological
34:19
Speaker 5: tools to help the spot or see what they should
34:21
Speaker 5: be pointing out. They had every tool available to them
34:25
Speaker 5: up in the booth to literally spot, to spot these
34:28
Speaker 5: things and to raise the alarm.
34:30
Speaker 6: So that's that's what I'll say on that.
34:32
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it's crazy. I'm checking the stats while we're
34:36
Speaker 3: talking in terms of Kirk because I was like two
34:38
Speaker 3: hundred and thirty nine yards. That's even less than I expected.
34:41
Speaker 3: He was not wide receiver two for this team as
34:44
Speaker 3: everyone expected Jordan he was. That was Jayden Higgins in
34:47
Speaker 3: the end. He was not wide receiver three for this
34:50
Speaker 3: team in the end, that was Xavier Hutchinson. And if
34:53
Speaker 3: we're just going off yards, he was not wide receiver
34:56
Speaker 3: four for this team. That was Jalen Noel. He was
34:59
Speaker 3: wide receiver five on the season, and he steps up
35:04
Speaker 3: on a big night and yeah, helps helps c J.
35:07
Speaker 3: Stroud out. It's why you know, it's a it's a
35:11
Speaker 3: team game, and we talk about quarterback wins and everything.
35:14
Speaker 3: The rest of his team picked up c J. Stroud
35:17
Speaker 3: and you know he's a much more accurate quarterback than
35:21
Speaker 3: than he was tonight. I think he'll play better next week.
35:23
Speaker 3: But you want to know who my comp is for him,
35:25
Speaker 3: just in a little way right now in terms of
35:27
Speaker 3: in terms of the streakiness that he has within games,
35:31
Speaker 3: the emotions on his sleeve you mentioned, really hammered it
35:34
Speaker 3: home for me.
35:36
Speaker 6: I mean c J.
35:37
Speaker 3: Stroud, c J. Stroud's comp that I'm that popped in
35:39
Speaker 3: my mind right now in terms of how he's playing
35:41
Speaker 3: something maybe not style. One of my least favorite quarterbacks,
35:44
Speaker 3: as you know, in terms of frustrating to watch Baker
35:47
Speaker 3: Mayfield because because it's just like he doesn't never.
35:50
Speaker 6: Miss an opportunity. Greg never missed an opportunity.
35:54
Speaker 3: It's like it's just that he because of the emotions,
35:58
Speaker 3: you could almost see it, like you said, drive to drive,
36:02
Speaker 3: like quarter to quarter he can just get so hot.
36:05
Speaker 3: And that they obviously are different in different sorts of ways.
36:08
Speaker 3: I think you know CJ can be a great pocket
36:10
Speaker 3: quarterback at his best. We'll wrap up with Tomlin because
36:13
Speaker 3: we do have some quote shout out to Chris Bobona,
36:15
Speaker 3: who's been doing great on these live shows all season long.
36:18
Speaker 3: We have one more next or this Saturday night. After
36:22
Speaker 3: the divisional round, Mike Tomlin was asked about, you know,
36:25
Speaker 3: the status of him with the team. He said, it's
36:28
Speaker 3: not time for talk. We agreed we'll meet tomorrow and
36:30
Speaker 3: go from there. When you're in this single elimination tournament,
36:33
Speaker 3: there's not a whole lot to talk about. You win
36:35
Speaker 3: or go home. And then when asked for a message
36:37
Speaker 3: to the fans, he just said, when you don't get
36:39
Speaker 3: it done, words are cheap. There's too much talking in
36:42
Speaker 3: our business.
36:43
Speaker 6: Fair just another manic Monday.
36:49
Speaker 3: I want you to promise we can you know, count
36:53
Speaker 3: on you singing at the end of all these shows.
36:56
Speaker 3: What a night for the Houston Texans thirty to six.
37:00
Speaker 6: You know, I keep smiling. I shouldn't be smiling this
37:03
Speaker 6: big what No. I love this team so much.
37:07
Speaker 3: The Steelers fans are going to take take offense. But
37:10
Speaker 3: for everyone who it's like I want, you know, the
37:13
Speaker 3: Texans are kind of what you would want the Steelers
37:16
Speaker 3: to be. Right like this, they are the closest thing
37:21
Speaker 3: we have right now to the steel curtain. If you
37:23
Speaker 3: want some nineties set seventies, maybe even nineteen eighties ass
37:27
Speaker 3: looking football like this, is it right here? It's crazy.
37:32
Speaker 3: I love it.
37:34
Speaker 6: It's true. It's true.
37:35
Speaker 5: And I you know, if this is what Mike Tomlin
37:38
Speaker 5: steps away after it, it is there's you know, we've
37:41
Speaker 5: had some crazy poetry in football.
37:43
Speaker 6: It's John Harbaugh who uh parts.
37:46
Speaker 5: Ways quote unquote with the with the Ravens after a
37:50
Speaker 5: game that is going to most be remembered for some
37:53
Speaker 5: special teams errors, including a miss field goal as the
37:57
Speaker 5: special teams expert, who is one of the few special
38:00
Speaker 5: teams coach has ever hired to be a head coach.
38:03
Speaker 5: And then Mike Tomlin, the defensive mastermind, getting beat in
38:06
Speaker 5: his own house by the best one of the best
38:08
Speaker 5: defenses we've seen in modern football. That's playing like a
38:11
Speaker 5: total throwback run and hit somebody defense. It is there's
38:17
Speaker 5: there's poetry in there, I think.
38:19
Speaker 3: And it's true. The Steelers are, if not the most
38:21
Speaker 3: expensive defense in the league, they're like second or third.
38:25
Speaker 3: And when this losing streak in the playoffs started a
38:29
Speaker 3: lot of the criticism with Tomlin and this happens in
38:31
Speaker 3: the regular season. Two from his fans are like, well,
38:34
Speaker 3: they're just so static and they're just the same defense
38:37
Speaker 3: year after year. And I think Demiko Ryans is showing
38:41
Speaker 3: like you know you can. You can be all about
38:44
Speaker 3: fundamentals and hitting and playing fast and old school, but
38:49
Speaker 3: you just got to have the right players in the
38:51
Speaker 3: right coaching and the right system. And they they are
38:53
Speaker 3: the new. So we will We will be tracking obviously
38:56
Speaker 3: everything with Mike Tomlin and the Steelers throughout the week.
39:00
Speaker 3: We'll be talking about this Texans and Patriots game. We
39:04
Speaker 3: might get Seth Payne on the show, I think for
39:06
Speaker 3: the preview show. Yes, who's a big Houston Texans follower,
39:11
Speaker 3: So I can't wait for that. Let's hit the music here,
39:13
Speaker 3: Chris Babona. I told Walker my son earlier today, not
39:19
Speaker 3: many teams make the playoffs every year, Like, how many
39:21
Speaker 3: teams have made the playoffs three straight years like the Texans.
39:23
Speaker 3: You can't take this for granted. How many teams have
39:26
Speaker 3: won a playoff game now three straight years? You can't
39:30
Speaker 3: take them for granted. We find out Next week Drake
39:32
Speaker 3: May versus c J Strowd. Can the Texans win too