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Transcript

Hour 2: Power Rankings · In the Locker Room presented by Neighborhood Ford Store (Pittsburgh Steelers)

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio. Brought to you
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: That's right the power hour comes at you here hour
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: number two inside the locker room and i mean will
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: it you tell me is rob dodging is rob dodging
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: the underdog pics of the week he didn't even want
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: to mention.
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: It 40 minutes ago so right here he's.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: Got jerky i got a snack you know what it
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: is right Oh, it's beef jerky, even though you have
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: a blurred screen right now, Rob.
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: I can tell.
• 0:56
  Speaker 4: I don't know.
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: My wife put that on. I got a new computer
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: because I dropped my computer and smashed it. So right here,
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: this bag claims to have 10 servings of beef jerky, right?
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: We know that best case scenario, it's got three, right?
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: Best case scenario, which means let's just say I'm eating
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: one third of this bag. I'm getting 75% of the
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: sodium I need today, just in case you guys were wondering.
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: The other 25% of that salt is going to be
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: rubbed in my wounds right now as we go over.
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: Thank you. You like that segue, Max? Thank you very much.
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: That was a great segue. As we go over our
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: upset predictions, Gino, Anna Marino filling in for Justin Miller today. Okay, Gino,
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: let's have a recap of our upset selection. We were
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: all 0-1 in week one. You want to run down
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: the list for us, Gino?
• 1:52
  Speaker 5: Yeah, so this is all new to me, so just
• 1:55
  Speaker 5: bear with me here.
• 1:56
  Speaker 6: Actually, I should put my headphones on first so I
• 1:59
  Speaker 6: can hear you guys.
• 1:59
  Speaker 5: So give me one second here. Give me one second.
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: Okay, plugging in. So just to recap.
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: Max, what are you drinking, Max? Can I ask? I'm sorry, Rob.
• 2:08
  Speaker 6: Oh, yeah.
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: As we sit here at Zoom, Max is throwing his
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: neck back, guzzling something out of his pink bag. fluorescent
• 2:17
  Speaker 4: cup while the kinger himself, the kinger with the stinger,
• 2:20
  Speaker 4: slaps down beef jerky. And I have yet to eat
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: anything or drink anything this morning, so I'm in envy
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: for both of you because Rob couldn't look more comfortable,
• 2:29
  Speaker 4: and Max continues to look thirstier as he continues to guzzle.
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: So I don't think there's any more left. Anything that
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: was in that cup no longer exists, Max.
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: Now, did you eat, Willie? Oh, it is empty. You
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: going intermittent fasting, Willie, or are you just having a
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: chance to eat?
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: No, I seriously haven't had a chance to eat. I'm
• 2:47
  Speaker 4: coming out of the studio. I was rushing over here.
• 2:50
  Speaker 4: My Uber driver, first of all, Gina, I know we've
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: got to get to the pot rinks, but I just
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: have to talk.
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: No, you're good.
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: You're good. Willie's gripe, one-minute gripe. If you're an Uber driver, right,
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: your job is to know the lay of the land, right?
• 3:04
  Speaker 4: And even if you don't, modern technology provides not only ways,
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: but multiple apps that can get you from A to B'd.
• 3:13
  Speaker 4: The fact that you choose to settle ways, ignore the ways,
• 3:18
  Speaker 4: and then get back on the way to argue with
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: the ways while you have a passenger is absolutely– it's like–
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: I don't know how to explain the mental Olympics that
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: I just saw this guy witness. He set the destination
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: to go where we had to go to. The time
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: was correct along with the address. He said, no, that's
• 3:39
  Speaker 4: not correct. chose halfway through when he realized he was
• 3:42
  Speaker 4: going the wrong way to go back into the ways
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: to tell himself, well, I should have did this better.
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: It's not a time for you to be arguing with
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: the ways, my guy. If anything, listen, trust the ways.
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: Trust the ways. And while he's doing all this, I'm
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: sitting back there with Justin. I'm having a conversation with Justin.
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: And Justin and me are talking about France and Saints
• 4:02
  Speaker 4: and all this other stuff. And my guy was like, yeah,
• 4:04
  Speaker 4: if I would have done it a lot better, I
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: would have went this route. Well, why you didn't go
• 4:08
  Speaker 4: that route? Because we trusted you the first time. And
• 4:12
  Speaker 4: so I'm in the back of this dude, Alexis, sitting
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: in the back seat, trying to hurry up to the show.
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: All the while, this dude's having this guy. I'm trying
• 4:23
  Speaker 4: hard not.
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: To just let it rip.
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: I appreciate the effort you're trying, Will.
• 4:30
  Speaker 4: I'm so frustrated with this man. What is wrong with you?
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: You have a passenger. If you want to get lost,
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: get lost in your own time. We are in a
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: world where things are literally spoon-fed to us for us
• 4:45
  Speaker 4: to succeed at any moment, at any time of the day.
• 4:49
  Speaker 4: Trust the ways, people. There's a satellite in space. Trust
• 4:54
  Speaker 4: the satellite in space that can lead you to your destination. Okay,
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: I had to get that off. Back to you.
• 5:01
  Speaker 5: I don't know how I followed that up.
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: That was great. We can skip it. Mask the deflector
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: over there.
• 5:12
  Speaker 6: Yeah, looking at this record here, it's not looking too
• 5:14
  Speaker 6: good for Rob or Max or Justin. Willie, though, had
• 5:19
  Speaker 6: a nice week. He picked Houston over Jacksonville, minus two
• 5:23
  Speaker 6: and a half.
• 5:24
  Speaker 5: One and one record. Nice job, Willie. There you go.
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: Okay, hang on a second. Just to recap, just to recap,
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: a week after Justin talked me out of my pick,
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: Willie took my upset pick. What's my record? 0-2?
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: 0-2. Okay.
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: I'm filing a formal complaint to the host of this show,
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: and then that host will review that complaint.
• 5:50
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: Luckily, I'm the host of the show.
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: That's fortunate for me.
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: Okay. So I'm 0-2. Willie's 1-1. Congratulations, Willie.
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: Good job.
• 6:03
  Speaker 5: They'll put you in a better mood after the Uber incident.
• 6:05
  Speaker 5: That should be good.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: True.
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: That's true.
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: I guess.
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: You deserved it.
• 6:10
  Speaker 4: You deserved it.
• 6:10
  Speaker 5: Max, 0-2. Green Bay, minus 1.5 over Dallas.
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Really thought that was going to be there.
• 6:20
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I did too.
• 6:22
  Speaker 6: Justin had New Orleans by 1.5 over the Giants, so
• 6:26
  Speaker 6: he's also 0-2.
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: So, Willie with the first and only win. Wait, what
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: was my pick? I thought I had the Giants.
• 6:34
  Speaker 5: It says here, Rob, Chicago, Atlanta.
• 6:39
  Speaker 4: Oh.
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I got stuck with the leftovers.
• 6:43
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: And you could have picked that Giants game.
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: That was my next pick. And then Justin Hoffman took it.
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: That was your fourth pick. That looked really, really good
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: right up until the point where the Saints ripped off
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: 34 straight points. Up until then, you know, the first
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: 35 seconds of the game, it looked great. Okay, are
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: we ready for this week's power rankings? You guys ready
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: to get underway here? We're here. I don't know if
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: I'm ready, but we're here. I just had it and
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: lost it. This is a good opportunity for you to stall, Max.
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: Where the heck did it go? Yeah, I can't believe that.
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: You know, when I look at, you know, all this
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: going on.
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: You know, here's my question. And I wonder what your thoughts.
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: Are, Willie.
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: Jameis Winston and then now the J.J. McCarthy experience here.
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: The experience. I love that the national media now talks
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: about Jameis Winston as the experience because it is truly
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: an experience. I mean, go back to the Commanders game
• 7:52
  Speaker 4: where I think he completed like 50-something percent of his passes,
• 7:56
  Speaker 4: and then in the fourth quarter he completed like over
• 7:58
  Speaker 4: 70 percent of his passes, and he willed. the Giants
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: to victory, even though it ended in a tie. It
• 8:04
  Speaker 4: was a victory in hindsight.
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: It was a victory for them, yeah.
• 8:07
  Speaker 4: Right. And so then you go to this past weekend
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: against the Saints, and he's all over the place to
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: the point they pretty much had to tag in J.J. McCarthy,
• 8:16
  Speaker 4: who by the way came in the game and threw
• 8:17
  Speaker 4: a pick. But he started to pivot. Yeah, he got
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: himself together. And now, you know, John Hallbaugh is at
• 8:26
  Speaker 4: the position now Do I roll with Winston, give him
• 8:30
  Speaker 4: another shot, or I go with J.J.? J.J. McCarthy gives
• 8:32
  Speaker 4: him a more athletic chance. If things break down, you
• 8:34
  Speaker 4: know the kid has the ability to use his legs.
• 8:37
  Speaker 4: But he's also injury prone, so you have to be
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: careful with that. The biggest issue for the New York
• 8:41
  Speaker 4: Giants moving forward is, was the Cam Scadaboo situation a benching,
• 8:47
  Speaker 4: or do you believe John Harbaugh that they weren't able
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: to get him out there because of situational football? And
• 8:53
  Speaker 4: I'm telling you right now, that was a public benching.
• 8:57
  Speaker 4: that was a young man right now that was being
• 9:00
  Speaker 4: taught a lesson. When the ball's in your hand, young man,
• 9:03
  Speaker 4: you have the world in your hand. So you've got
• 9:07
  Speaker 4: to be extremely careful and be a lot more smarter.
• 9:10
  Speaker 4: Tiki Barber said something on local radio in New York
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: that I just wasn't aware of. This is technically Cam
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: Scadable's rookie year because last year he had missed so
• 9:22
  Speaker 4: many games. And now you roll into this year, he
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: hasn't played a lot of football. It just seems like
• 9:28
  Speaker 4: it because he's so, you know, the bravado, we see
• 9:31
  Speaker 4: him everywhere and all this other stuff going on. So
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: we feel like he's kind of, we're married to him
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: right now. With that, he's still a young man growing
• 9:39
  Speaker 4: up in real time and learning what it means to
• 9:42
  Speaker 4: be a running back in this league and how to
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: be a smart running back in this league and be
• 9:46
  Speaker 4: a running back who understands when to turn it on
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: and when to just lean forward and get the positive yards,
• 9:53
  Speaker 4: and protect the football at all costs. You love what
• 9:56
  Speaker 4: the kid brings to the table because he is fearless.
• 9:59
  Speaker 4: He is one of those guys. in the locker room
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: that seems like he'll chew glass and dance on nails,
• 10:06
  Speaker 4: if you will. So he's learning in real time what
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: it means to be a professional. I think he admitted
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: it to himself. The benching was... a level of, I guess,
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: accountability that he realized he had to take on but
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: also learn from. So the Giants are a little bit
• 10:23
  Speaker 4: of a conundrum. They still lead the division, but they
• 10:26
  Speaker 4: now have a quarterback crisis and a running back crisis,
• 10:29
  Speaker 4: and hopefully John Hall ball can figure it out.
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: And by the way, Najee Harris was released by the
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: Giants today. Wow, look at that. Yeah, so they're doing some–
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: and you know what? It's an interesting position. I feel
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: like Sean Payton was this way in Denver. You know,
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: a guy who comes in, John Harbaugh comes in with
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: carte blanche. I mean, he's a Super Bowl winning coach.
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: It's his way or the highway. He gets a chance
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: to build the culture the way he wants to build it.
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: He's not a first-year coach who's married to a general manager.
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: He's not somebody who's taking over a program that's used
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: to winning and has to do it a certain way. No,
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: he's coming in there, you know, he's pulling things out
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: by the roots. You know what I mean? He's getting
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: down to the, He's getting down to the nitty-gritty, and
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: he's doing it his way. And it's going to be
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: interesting to see how it works out. I mean, look
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: what Sean Payton has done in Denver. I mean, first
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: thing he did, in my opinion, should have handled the
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: Russell Wilson thing a lot better. There was no reason
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: to publicly embarrass Russell, I didn't think. But it's his way, man.
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: That's it. And I think in New York, it is
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: Harbaugh's way. So, are you guys ready for the power rankings?
• 11:37
  Speaker 4: Yes, we are.
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: Numero uno. No surprise. San Francisco 49ers. Still undefeated. Still undefeated.
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: Makes sense.
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: Number two, also no surprise, the Kansas City Chiefs. Who
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: was on them early? That was you, Willie, wasn't it?
• 11:54
  Speaker 4: Oh, yeah, me and Max. The first couple weeks. I
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: think me and Max were both on it. But Max
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: was talking about the way his production and how he
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: stepped it up a gear this year and how much
• 12:05
  Speaker 4: he's pretty much saved that. I mean, he's saved that
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: Chiefs offense because, Talk about some of the injuries they
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: suffered on the receiver room. They don't worry about it
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: right now because they can line up in heavy and
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: just tote the rock.
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: I think one of the biggest questions was would the
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: Chiefs go all in on that? I think Troy Aikman
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: said it in their opening game. Can Andy Reid sort
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: of help himself from wanting to throw the ball and
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: do all the other things? And look, man, I think
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: what this is screaming from the rooftops is, at this
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: stage of the season, is Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: want to win. They don't care what it looks like.
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: They don't care what it looks like. And that makes
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: them a dangerous team.
• 12:50
  Speaker 4: Yeah. Buffalo Bills number three. Do you want to comment
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: on it? No, no, no. I don't know if you
• 12:56
  Speaker 4: want to comment on it.
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: No, if you guys– hey, listen. As always, if you
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: have something to say, hop in. But Bills three at
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: five and one. The Vikings, man, they're finally getting some believers.
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: They're number four, five, and O. Still undefeated. Still undefeated.
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: So I have not watched them play except for in
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: getting ready for this last game against Tampa Bay, Willie.
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: And that's a good offensive line for Tampa Bay. It's
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: a good offensive line. The Vikings just utterly overwhelmed that
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: offensive line. That defense is good, man, for the Vikings.
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: I don't know if it's purple people eaters, man, but
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: they are a good defense.
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: Well, it starts with Brian Flores, and I think it
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: also ends with the players now immersing themselves into that system.
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: Once they brought along Harrison Smith and they started dialing
• 13:53
  Speaker 4: up guys and they allowed guys to not only be
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: effective blitzing, but also understand schematically where they need to
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: be on the field so they don't get exposed. And
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: I think you just see a complete buy-in, really. I
• 14:05
  Speaker 4: think Brian Flores has a group of men who just realize, like, hey, man,
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: we're willing to go to the ocean and back to
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: land as long as you're doing what we can do,
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: and that's getting after the quarterback, tackling at an official level,
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: and imposing our will on our opponent. We could talk
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: about Brian Flores and Nazium. I know there's a lot
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: of people who are a fan of him, and there's
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: some folks who aren't a fan of him. With that said, man,
• 14:33
  Speaker 4: the biggest issue, not the biggest issue, the biggest concern
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: for the rest of that division is now Kyler Murray's
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: starting to get his legs. And now the defense is
• 14:41
  Speaker 4: starting to roll, has been rolling, but you would have
• 14:44
  Speaker 4: thought the first two games of the season, well, this
• 14:46
  Speaker 4: team may lose, but they didn't, right? Because they actually
• 14:51
  Speaker 4: squeaked out some wins, and then they started rolling. So
• 14:55
  Speaker 4: now you're thinking about these Viking teams as a legit
• 14:58
  Speaker 4: contender because Kyler Murray found his legs back. They're able
• 15:03
  Speaker 4: to play score points. Their running game is getting better.
• 15:08
  Speaker 4: I think I forgot who they are. Mason's coming back
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: for them, if you will. He's coming off injury. He'll
• 15:12
  Speaker 4: be back for them soon. Defensively, they feel like they
• 15:16
  Speaker 4: can knuckle up against anybody in the league. So now
• 15:20
  Speaker 4: you're talking about a Vikings team who walked into this
• 15:23
  Speaker 4: season with quarterback controversy. You talk about a team right
• 15:27
  Speaker 4: now where, even though they have an extremely skilled group
• 15:31
  Speaker 4: between Hockinson and Addison and obviously Jedder, Justin Jefferson. But
• 15:37
  Speaker 4: now you're talking about collectively, along with the 49ers, this
• 15:43
  Speaker 4: is the team that the Niners have to worry about
• 15:45
  Speaker 4: come playoff time because of the way they look. Like
• 15:47
  Speaker 4: I just said earlier in the cast, the Niners are
• 15:50
  Speaker 4: the most complete football team right now. But look over
• 15:54
  Speaker 4: at Minnesota. Minnesota's not that far off. They look legit.
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: They look like they can play in all three phases
• 15:59
  Speaker 4: and they can play at a high level. So week six,
• 16:02
  Speaker 4: still a lot of ball left. But as much as
• 16:04
  Speaker 4: the Niners feel like, man, we can roll anybody and
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: we can do it injured or healthy, Minnesota feels the
• 16:10
  Speaker 4: same way. Because all those guys that were injured are
• 16:14
  Speaker 4: starting to get healthy. And by the way, they're taking names.
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: They're not scared of the Bears. They're not scared of
• 16:20
  Speaker 4: the Lions. They damn sure ain't scared of the Packers.
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: But overall, they feel like they can do whatever they
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: want to do on the field because they have the
• 16:27
  Speaker 4: guys to get it done with.
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: I also think, Max, that Kevin O'Connell, you know, everyone
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: was praising him as one of the best young coaches
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: in the NFL. Had a bit of a hiccup last year,
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: but he's right back at it too, man. I mean,
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: and again, you talk about not caring who gets the
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: credit and just wanting to win. Everyone's touting Brian Flores.
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: My guess is that's okay with Kevin O'Connell because he's unbeaten.
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: You know what I mean? So listen, and Brian Flores
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: is worthy of the praise, too, by the way. So
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: it's not like it's going to a place that it
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: doesn't belong. But I think maybe he's, you know, his
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: star may have dimmed a little bit last year, but
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: it is shining bright right now as the Vikings are unbeaten.
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and like you said, I mean, Willie said it, man.
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: I mean, when you play a defense and you don't
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: care about who lines up on the opposite side of
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: the ball, I mean, you can go line up Superman.
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: I mean, they don't have any fear. about what they
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: can do.
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: And Rob, you'll see this because, you know, in my
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: film watching already, I watched the Viking Saints game. And
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: that defense was causing havoc for that offensive line for
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: the New Orleans Saints.
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: And I'm like, man, I mean, they were doing overload blitzes, Willie.
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: And they were lining up three big guys on one
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: side and then putting two linebackers on the opposite side
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: and was still hitting home, even though you had full-slide
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: single-man coverage.
• 17:53
  Speaker 4: It was crazy.
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: But, you know, the Vikings, well-deserving of their title right now.
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: And like you said, Kevin O'Connell doesn't matter because Kevin
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: O'Connell gets the late pat on the back because he
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: hired Brian Flores.
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: That's true. That's exactly right. Great management decision.
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: That's right.
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: Hey, his managerial duties are getting A-plus grade.
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: All right. Hey, stick around. We have a bunch of
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: four and two teams to get to. Are the Steelers
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: one of them in this next little group of teams?
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: We'll let you know when we continue in the locker
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: room here on the Steelers Audio Network.
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio. Brought to you
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 18:53
  Speaker 3: And welcome back as we're going through our weekly power rankings.
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: This is courtesy of the Athletic. I might have to
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: dredge up the other ones that were just so unkind
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: to the Steelers.
• 19:03
  Speaker 4: I mean, bad.
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: But just to recap quickly where we are, Niners 1,
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: Chiefs 2, 5-1 Bills slide between the unbeaten teams at 3,
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: then it's Minnesota unbeaten at 4, and then 5, here's
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: a bunch of 4-2 teams, 5, the Patriots, 6, the Broncos, 7,
• 19:25
  Speaker 3: the Jaguars, 8, The Bears, who, by the way, are
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: taking on the Patriots on Thursday Night Football. Nine, the
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: 3-2 Lions. So, any thoughts here, guys?
• 19:41
  Speaker 7: I mean, the Bears came back and had had a
• 19:47
  Speaker 7: good game obviously with caleb williams but once again before
• 19:50
  Speaker 7: caleb williams got back i don't know if this is
• 19:52
  Speaker 7: still a top 10 team in the nfl they've had
• 19:58
  Speaker 7: top 10 moments but i don't know if they're necessarily
• 20:01
  Speaker 7: a top 10 team um you know jackson obviously takes
• 20:06
  Speaker 7: a ding over in europe uh losing losing to the
• 20:08
  Speaker 7: texans but Texas actually looked like the Texas for the
• 20:11
  Speaker 7: first time this season. So, you know, you have to
• 20:13
  Speaker 7: take that with a grain of salt. I think Jacksonville
• 20:15
  Speaker 7: Jaguars are still a good team.
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: So I'm not too crazy about moving them around. I
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: think they're still in a solid place. They were underrated
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: a week ago. And now they're kind of after the loss,
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: I think, kind of right where they should be. Still,
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: I think the front runner in the AFC South. I
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: don't think anybody else comes close, even though the Titans
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: got a victory. You know, the Colts are in shambles
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: right now. And the Texans are just trying to figure
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: themselves out. And, yes, they do have a head-to-head victory
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: in Europe. But the Texans still have to show me
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: a lot more. Once is an accident, twice is a habit.
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: So I need to see them a little bit more.
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: But they're still the frontrunner in that division for me.
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: As we get, by the way, to this weekend's big matchups,
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: which maybe we'll touch on tomorrow, the number– two-ranked Chiefs
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: are at the number 10 rank. We haven't got there yet.
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: Number 10 rank, Seattle. And the Bears, who are eighth,
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: are taking on the fifth-ranked Patriots. That's in Chicago, and
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: that game's on Thursday night. Two awesome games to look
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: forward to this weekend. Lots of fun. And also, hey,
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: Lions and Packers, Sunday at 425. That's a fun game, too.
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: We haven't got to the Packers yet, but they They
• 21:35
  Speaker 3: are starting to clip along a little bit. Seattle's 10.
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: The Baltimore Ravens, 11 after their loss to the Browns, 13-10.
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: They are taking on the Bengals. That's a fun game,
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: a really fun game. And the Bengals are ranked 12th.
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: So Baltimore, 11. Bengals, 12. I think the Seahawks are 3-3.
• 22:02
  Speaker 3: I think we all think they're a good team. But, man,
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: they could be 3-4. They're taking on the Chiefs.
• 22:06
  Speaker 4: They're struggling. They've got to get it together. That is interesting.
• 22:11
  Speaker 3: And Ravens and Bengals. Come on, that's a fun game, huh? Yeah.
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: First versus third in the division, right? Or no, second. No, no,
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: wait a second. Bengals, I think, are ranked fourth. Yeah,
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: third and fourth. That's right, because the Steelers are number two, baby. Yep, yep. Yeah,
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: I mean, it's going to be a fun one. I
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: look at both those teams.
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: Obviously, a lot of expectations are weighing on them, and
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: I think that also leads to where they're at.
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: But once again, they're four and two teams.
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: One of them is going to end that four and three,
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: and the other one is going to be five and two.
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: And this is what the AFC North football is all about,
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: and teams being right there all within striking.
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: Distance of each other. That's the tale of a good,
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: well-rounded division. Can I tell you a quick story, guys?
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: That has nothing to do with football. I've got to
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: tell you a quick story. Because Max said one of
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: them is going to be 5-2, and the other ones,
• 23:08
  Speaker 3: the Bengals are 3-2 right now. They're already coming off
• 23:10
  Speaker 3: their bye. So I'm working in Syracuse, New York, and
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: baseball comes back after the lockout, so they're having the
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: Hall of Fame game. The Expos were playing, I think,
• 23:19
  Speaker 3: the Tigers or something. Well, it's an hour and a
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: half trip from Cooperstown to Syracuse. So I've got to do–
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: the story but I don't know who's won the game
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: yet right so I do two stand-ups you know the
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: stand-ups you're out in front of the camera I said
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: hey the the expo is won today but what's really
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: important is baseball is back here in Cooperstown Hall of
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: Fame blah blah blah then I do the next one
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: hey Tigers won today but what's really important here so
• 23:44
  Speaker 3: I got all my bases covered right so I go
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: back up to Syracuse we're editing the piece the last
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: thing I got to do to drop this stand-up in
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: is call the Hall of Fame so I call up
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: the Hall of Fame I said hey who won the
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: game they said it was a tie I was like, what?
• 24:00
  Speaker 8: What do you mean it's a tie? How could it
• 24:03
  Speaker 8: possibly be a tie? And, of course, I didn't have
• 24:06
  Speaker 8: a stand-up for a tie, right? So I was thinking
• 24:09
  Speaker 8: about that. We were doing the game, Max, right? You're like, well,
• 24:13
  Speaker 8: the Steelers haven't won on the road, and Tampa hasn't
• 24:16
  Speaker 8: won at the home. One of those is going.
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: To end today. Well, is it?
• 24:19
  Speaker 8: Could be a tie. And we almost had a tie.
• 24:23
  Speaker 8: We almost had a tie. All right, anyway, so Green
• 24:26
  Speaker 8: Bay 13.
• 24:27
  Speaker 4: I have a question for you, Rob. I apologize. Yeah.
• 24:30
  Speaker 4: Was Aaron Rodgers giving his flowers for passing Peyton Manning
• 24:33
  Speaker 4: on an all-time passing list? Was that knowledge? Was it
• 24:37
  Speaker 4: passing touchdowns? Justin, was he talking?
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: Wasn't that last week? I thought it happened Sunday.
• 24:46
  Speaker 4: Oh, he did it?
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: No, he passed it because as the game went on,
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: the third touchdown was the one that passed him.
• 24:54
  Speaker 4: That passed.
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: And then this week was Chris Boswell passing Gary Anderson
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: for most field goals by a Steeler in history.
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: Packers are 13 at the Lions, as we already mentioned.
• 25:07
  Speaker 3: The Cleveland Browns 14. They're at the Titans. Excellent opportunity
• 25:12
  Speaker 3: for them to improve to 5-2. They did it without
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: Quinshawn Judgers, too. Beating the Ravens. What's that?
• 25:20
  Speaker 4: If the Titans beat the Browns... I will officially be
• 25:26
  Speaker 4: done with the season because nothing makes sense. Nothing will
• 25:30
  Speaker 4: make sense. Nothing. I would be floored. And the Titans
• 25:35
  Speaker 4: are more than capable of beating the Browns. I mean,
• 25:37
  Speaker 4: the Browns are a good team. I'm not trying to
• 25:39
  Speaker 4: sleep on the Browns. I think we have to come
• 25:41
  Speaker 4: to admit to ourselves as loyalists to the Steelers, not
• 25:45
  Speaker 4: only have played, but represent the organization. Don't care how
• 25:48
  Speaker 4: you feel about the Browns. The Browns have a rock.
• 25:50
  Speaker 4: With that said, if the Titans do beat the Browns,
• 25:54
  Speaker 4: I will officially– it's impossible to talk about football because
• 25:58
  Speaker 4: nothing makes sense. And it could happen because of the
• 26:03
  Speaker 4: injuries that the Browns have suffered.
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: Are the Carolina Panthers any good?
• 26:09
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: They're 3-2, and they're taking on the Buccaneers. They're at home.
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: Good opportunity for them to improve to 4-2. Are they
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: a good team, Willie?
• 26:22
  Speaker 4: Yeah. They've been– not only good, but you're watching the
• 26:27
  Speaker 4: emergence of Bryce Young become a franchise quarterback. They're going
• 26:31
  Speaker 4: to re-sign him. There's a level of trust. There's a
• 26:34
  Speaker 4: level of grit. And there's, you know this for a fact, Rob,
• 26:38
  Speaker 4: because you cover baseball and I know you're well endowed
• 26:41
  Speaker 4: in a lot of sports. There's something to be said
• 26:44
  Speaker 4: when you trust a guy on and off the field, right?
• 26:47
  Speaker 4: Especially when he's your quarterback. And so when you look
• 26:51
  Speaker 4: at Bryce Young right now, They finally have a quarterback,
• 26:54
  Speaker 4: and there's no slight to Cam Newton. He was an
• 26:58
  Speaker 4: iconic figure for the organization, and he's an iconic figure
• 27:00
  Speaker 4: in football. They have a young man right now who
• 27:04
  Speaker 4: can help that locker room grow up in real time,
• 27:06
  Speaker 4: and they can grow up together, and that's because of
• 27:08
  Speaker 4: what Dan Morgan and Dave Canales is putting together over
• 27:11
  Speaker 4: there in Carolina. I talked about it last year. Their
• 27:14
  Speaker 4: ability to almost beat the Rams in a playoff game
• 27:17
  Speaker 4: last year was significant. And it wasn't not only significant,
• 27:20
  Speaker 4: they did it with Bryce Young, a guy who they
• 27:22
  Speaker 4: bitched multiple times. And so now you're looking at a
• 27:27
  Speaker 4: young quarterback who's not only emerging into being a franchise
• 27:31
  Speaker 4: quarterback and he's going to be rewarded as such, but
• 27:33
  Speaker 4: he now has a defense that can back him up.
• 27:36
  Speaker 4: And they continue to acquire pieces like they did this
• 27:39
  Speaker 4: free agency by getting Devin Lloyd, that linebacker, and they
• 27:42
  Speaker 4: have a defense line led by Derrick Brown and a
• 27:45
  Speaker 4: secondary that has J.C. Horn, where collectively in a year
• 27:47
  Speaker 4: or two, we can start talking about this defense as
• 27:50
  Speaker 4: being one of the most elite defenses in football, because
• 27:52
  Speaker 4: not only have they have played together, but they've been
• 27:56
  Speaker 4: playing underneath the same system together for quite a bit.
• 27:59
  Speaker 4: So the Panthers are slowly, it goes back to that
• 28:02
  Speaker 4: little thing. They like to pound. They have been pounding
• 28:04
  Speaker 4: the rock for some time and they're doing it with
• 28:07
  Speaker 4: a quarterback that a lot of people have given up on,
• 28:10
  Speaker 4: but they have never given up on him and he
• 28:12
  Speaker 4: hasn't given up on himself. So, With some of the
• 28:15
  Speaker 4: additions that they've acquired, we know McMillan, we know about
• 28:18
  Speaker 4: the run game. They have literally three good running backs
• 28:22
  Speaker 4: in Carolina. With a young, scrappy offensive line, yeah, as
• 28:28
  Speaker 4: much as we love B. John Robinson and what he's
• 28:30
  Speaker 4: able to do, you just can't trust Michael Pennis to
• 28:32
  Speaker 4: stay healthy. The Panthers look like the favorite to win
• 28:35
  Speaker 4: in a game out of that division. So they are
• 28:37
  Speaker 4: a good team. They're a team that you can't just
• 28:40
  Speaker 4: walk up on anymore. You got to have a 12-hour
• 28:42
  Speaker 4: fight with that team.
• 28:45
  Speaker 3: So this brings up an interesting question to me, Max,
• 28:47
  Speaker 3: because after their rookie year, like you got those two
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: quarterbacks going at the top of the draft, right, and
• 28:54
  Speaker 3: you're Carolina, and you choose Bryce Young, and then C.J.
• 28:58
  Speaker 3: Stroud goes next, and after that rookie year, everyone's like, man,
• 29:04
  Speaker 3: Carolina blew it. By the way, I still don't know
• 29:07
  Speaker 3: how D'Amico Ryans wasn't coach of the year that year. Anyway, man,
• 29:12
  Speaker 3: the Carolina blew it. uh cj stroud is way better
• 29:16
  Speaker 3: you have the once in a lifetime opportunity once in
• 29:18
  Speaker 3: the generation opportunity to get that quarterback you chose the
• 29:22
  Speaker 3: wrong one okay now we fast forward what is it
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: now three years later who would you take bryce young
• 29:29
  Speaker 3: or cj stroud if you had to pick one right
• 29:31
  Speaker 3: now for the next 10 years who are you taking
• 29:34
  Speaker 3: because three years ago that wasn't even you couldn't even
• 29:37
  Speaker 3: get that sentence out and the answer would be be C.J.
• 29:40
  Speaker 4: Stroud.
• 29:41
  Speaker 3: I don't know anymore.
• 29:42
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 29:45
  Speaker 3: I'm still on C.J.
• 29:46
  Speaker 4: Stroud. That's a hell of a question. Isn't it interesting though?
• 29:48
  Speaker 4: I'm still on C.J.
• 29:49
  Speaker 3: Stroud. That's a hell of a question. But to Willie's point–
• 29:52
  Speaker 3: But it's not as far.
• 29:53
  Speaker 4: Right? It's changed. Yeah. Yeah.
• 29:55
  Speaker 3: I mean, things aren't linear. Like I said yesterday, everybody
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: wants it to go from the bottom left-hand corner of
• 30:00
  Speaker 3: the graph to the top right-hand corner and get that
• 30:03
  Speaker 3: ruler out and connect the dots, and it's a straight line.
• 30:06
  Speaker 3: It's not always a straight line. Heck, the Steelers fans
• 30:09
  Speaker 3: should know that with Terry Bradshaw getting benched for Terry
• 30:12
  Speaker 3: Hanratty and then Joe Gilliam and all these things, and
• 30:17
  Speaker 3: finally Terry Bradshaw winds up being the guy. I just
• 30:20
  Speaker 3: think it's interesting. Like the stories aren't written– in a day.
• 30:26
  Speaker 3: Sometimes they are, but usually they're not. Sometimes it takes
• 30:30
  Speaker 3: some time for a guy, and I think that's, three
• 30:32
  Speaker 3: years ago it was a slam dunk. Willie, now I
• 30:34
  Speaker 3: think it's a question worth pondering.
• 30:37
  Speaker 4: Rob, you got my head spinning. As much as I
• 30:40
  Speaker 4: love Bryce Young, I've watched CJ Shroud over the last
• 30:42
  Speaker 4: two weeks, and it looks like he's playing, he's on
• 30:44
  Speaker 4: a revenge tour. His game has gotten better week after week.
• 30:48
  Speaker 4: And again, he threw a bonehead pick to Travis Hunter
• 30:51
  Speaker 4: last week, and that kind of almost cost him the game,
• 30:53
  Speaker 4: but he was able to get back in that game
• 30:55
  Speaker 4: And he had a quick dump off to Woody Marks.
• 30:57
  Speaker 4: Woody Marks goes up the sideline for 19 yards. Field
• 31:00
  Speaker 4: goal out the game, out the park. He was able to,
• 31:04
  Speaker 4: excuse me, hit a field goal and Texas win. I
• 31:08
  Speaker 4: still feel like Bryce Young right now, the way he's playing,
• 31:12
  Speaker 4: the way his ups and downs, the way he continues
• 31:15
  Speaker 4: to emerge. And I think his level of confidence pops
• 31:18
  Speaker 4: off the tape for me. Not that I dislike CJ Stroud. Yes.
• 31:22
  Speaker 4: I have been hard on him. I can't say– I
• 31:23
  Speaker 4: think the way he performed in the playoffs, he should
• 31:25
  Speaker 4: have been benched, especially in that past game. But I've
• 31:30
  Speaker 4: been keeping a close eye on Bryce Young, and I
• 31:32
  Speaker 4: just feel like, man, the kid has something. And it's
• 31:36
  Speaker 4: good to see somebody grow up and turn into an
• 31:37
  Speaker 4: adult in real time. And we're watching that. And we're
• 31:41
  Speaker 4: watching that in him as the Carolina Panthers quarterback.
• 31:46
  Speaker 3: I'll also say this too, and there's a reason– There
• 31:50
  Speaker 3: are prejudices on certain styles of players, heights of players,
• 31:56
  Speaker 3: sizes of players, arm length of players, all these things.
• 31:59
  Speaker 3: You know, we just saw a guy, Bucky Irving, right?
• 32:04
  Speaker 3: Not big, not fast, really good, right? Name me another
• 32:11
  Speaker 3: back who's not fast and not big and who's really good.
• 32:16
  Speaker 3: If there's another one, the list is really short. Bryce
• 32:20
  Speaker 3: Young's 5'10. You know? Most quarterbacks are 6'5. Most quarterbacks
• 32:25
  Speaker 3: look like C.J. Stroud and not like Bryce Young. And,
• 32:29
  Speaker 3: you know, if you're drafting a player, it's hard to
• 32:32
  Speaker 3: buck those trends, man. I mean, you know, look, I'm
• 32:35
  Speaker 3: on Ross St.
• 32:36
  Speaker 4: Brown. Right?
• 32:37
  Speaker 3: There's another guy. How many guys fit that profile that
• 32:41
  Speaker 3: are as good as him? One.
• 32:43
  Speaker 4: Him.
• 32:44
  Speaker 3: Bucky Irving. Yeah.
• 32:45
  Speaker 4: One.
• 32:45
  Speaker 7: Him.
• 32:46
  Speaker 3: Maybe Bryce Young won him, but I... If I had
• 32:50
  Speaker 3: to pick one now, I think I'm still leaning towards
• 32:53
  Speaker 3: the bigger guy. I think I'm still leaning towards C.J.
• 32:55
  Speaker 4: Stroud.
• 32:56
  Speaker 3: All right, we have to get to the ranking. Still
• 32:59
  Speaker 3: haven't got to the Steelers. 15 teams down. We'll get
• 33:03
  Speaker 3: to them, though, when we continue in the locker room
• 33:05
  Speaker 3: here on the Steelers Audio Network.
• 33:07
  Speaker 8: We'll be right back.
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio. Brought to you
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: All right, we are inside the final segment here of
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: the show.
• 33:42
  Speaker 3: And of course... We are going with the King's decree
• 33:46
  Speaker 3: as we finish off this power ranking day.
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: And Rob, I will turn it over to you so
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: that we can get through our top 32.
• 33:53
  Speaker 3: No worry.
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: You get to hear a lot of trumpets when you go,
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: I don't know, go find some castle reenactment over there
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: in Paris while we're there.
• 34:00
  Speaker 4: I don't know.
• 34:01
  Speaker 3: You'll get that same feeling. You know, one of the
• 34:04
  Speaker 3: things we love about Willie is his passion, right? Willie
• 34:08
  Speaker 3: Cologne's got the passion, right? We know that, um, Sometimes
• 34:11
  Speaker 3: he has to look down at his toes to make
• 34:13
  Speaker 3: sure he's not hopping over that line. But last week,
• 34:17
  Speaker 3: so San Francisco number one, Kansas City number two, as
• 34:19
  Speaker 3: we're recapping the power rankings. Last week I said, you know,
• 34:23
  Speaker 3: that loaded box, you don't necessarily want to run against that.
• 34:26
  Speaker 3: And Willie said, I disagree. I think that's the exact quote, Willie.
• 34:32
  Speaker 3: I disagree. So I came across this stat. It's on
• 34:36
  Speaker 3: The Athletic. Kenneth Walker gained... On six carries, 53 yards,
• 34:44
  Speaker 3: and two touchdowns against stack boxes. That's for you, Willie.
• 34:51
  Speaker 4: All dog. That man is all dog. He's been playing
• 34:56
  Speaker 4: like one since he stepped into Kansas City. That's why
• 34:59
  Speaker 4: they call him K-9. And when you talk about when
• 35:05
  Speaker 4: you're playing at the level he's playing at, like he's
• 35:07
  Speaker 4: in serious contention of not only being offensive player of
• 35:09
  Speaker 4: the year, But he may be the MVP of this year.
• 35:13
  Speaker 4: And it's because I think the office line and him
• 35:16
  Speaker 4: now are in alignment. There's a pace and a volume
• 35:19
  Speaker 4: in which they know he can operate within. And he's
• 35:21
  Speaker 4: become the stabilizer for the Kansas City Chiefs offense. He
• 35:24
  Speaker 4: has saved the Kansas City Chiefs. Let's just be honest
• 35:26
  Speaker 4: about that. We have Patrick Mahomes coming off a knee injury.
• 35:30
  Speaker 4: And one of his skill sets was being able to
• 35:32
  Speaker 4: run the ball and scramble, do all those things that
• 35:35
  Speaker 4: he loved to do. They didn't know if he was
• 35:37
  Speaker 4: capable of doing that this year. Well, he doesn't have
• 35:39
  Speaker 4: to worry about doing that this year because he has
• 35:41
  Speaker 4: a running back that can do that for him on
• 35:43
  Speaker 4: top of keeping the offense on time and on schedule.
• 35:47
  Speaker 4: K-9 and his office line, along with these tight ends, man,
• 35:51
  Speaker 4: they understand their assignment. If we block it up and
• 35:55
  Speaker 4: allow K-9 to get to the line of scrimmage, we
• 35:57
  Speaker 4: know what he can do at the second level. We
• 35:59
  Speaker 4: know he has home run speed. And he's a back
• 36:01
  Speaker 4: that doesn't avoid contact. Actually, he has very good contact balance. So...
• 36:07
  Speaker 4: If you're looking for a running back who came into
• 36:11
  Speaker 4: this league, excuse me, came into this season with one question,
• 36:14
  Speaker 4: can he catch the ball, right? They question his hands.
• 36:17
  Speaker 4: They don't have that question anymore. He is the most
• 36:20
  Speaker 4: complete back in the NFL right now, and there's no
• 36:22
  Speaker 4: one even close. So as you stated, I was optimistic
• 36:27
  Speaker 4: because I've watched what he did for the last five weeks.
• 36:31
  Speaker 4: He has showed up, showed out, and carried this offense
• 36:33
  Speaker 4: where Patrick Mahomes, not only could be Patrick Mahomes, but
• 36:36
  Speaker 4: he doesn't have to– put so much pressure on that
• 36:38
  Speaker 4: knee that's still recovering. The first two weeks of the season,
• 36:42
  Speaker 4: I thought Patrick Mahomes looked kind of gimpy. And now
• 36:45
  Speaker 4: you don't see the gimp no more. Now you start
• 36:47
  Speaker 4: to see his confidence start to rise. You start to
• 36:50
  Speaker 4: see the offense line play better. You start to see
• 36:52
  Speaker 4: K-9 say, listen, man, when all else fails, in between
• 36:55
  Speaker 4: the 20s, this is where we live. And I'm going
• 36:57
  Speaker 4: to eat up the yardage. And I thought you alluded
• 37:00
  Speaker 4: to it earlier. Andy Reid is, as much as he
• 37:05
  Speaker 4: wants to put his foot on the gas, He's also
• 37:07
  Speaker 4: worried about the preservation of his team, and he's able
• 37:09
  Speaker 4: to preserve his team for the playoffs because of what
• 37:12
  Speaker 4: they're able to do on the ground. He doesn't have
• 37:14
  Speaker 4: to put so much stress on different factors of that offense.
• 37:16
  Speaker 4: So I think it's a story people love to hate
• 37:21
  Speaker 4: because it's the Chiefs, but you've got to appreciate it
• 37:23
  Speaker 4: because you're watching really good football.
• 37:25
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so when I brought that up, Max, last week,
• 37:27
  Speaker 3: you know those little tests you take where they say agree–
• 37:32
  Speaker 3: No opinion.
• 37:33
  Speaker 4: Disagree.
• 37:34
  Speaker 3: Strongly disagree.
• 37:36
  Speaker 8: We needed another box below that for Willie last week.
• 37:39
  Speaker 8: Bull-oni for that last box. That's what he would have
• 37:42
  Speaker 8: filled in there.
• 37:43
  Speaker 3: So anyway, 49ers, Chiefs, to recap, Bills at three, Vikings
• 37:48
  Speaker 3: at four, Patriots at five, Broncos at six, Jaguars seven,
• 37:54
  Speaker 3: Bears eight, Lions nine. This is, by the way, the
• 37:57
  Speaker 3: athletic power ranking. Seattle ten, Ravens eleven, Bengals twelve, Green Bay, 13.
• 38:03
  Speaker 3: The Browns, 14. The Carolina Panthers, 15. Gino Anamorino, hit it.
• 38:13
  Speaker 3: Number 16 in the power rankings this week. Your Pittsburgh
• 38:17
  Speaker 3: Steelers up zero spots from a week ago. I was
• 38:21
  Speaker 3: about to say exact same spot as last week. Exact
• 38:24
  Speaker 3: same spot.
• 38:26
  Speaker 4: 16-16. That was it.
• 38:28
  Speaker 3: That's our glass ceiling.
• 38:29
  Speaker 4: No movement. I mean, it was expected. We played three
• 38:33
  Speaker 4: quarters of bad football. Yeah. And Aaron Rodgers and Jeremy
• 38:38
  Speaker 4: Bernard and D.K. Metcalf said, okay, let's turn it up.
• 38:42
  Speaker 4: And the defense just said, all right, let's go. The
• 38:45
  Speaker 4: Steelers didn't want to live in that kind of murky
• 38:47
  Speaker 4: water until they realized there's levels to this. And good
• 38:51
  Speaker 4: teams play four quarters of football. They don't play two
• 38:54
  Speaker 4: or one. And so the fact that this team– I'm optimistic, rather–
• 38:59
  Speaker 4: But I realize there's so much untapped potential with this
• 39:02
  Speaker 4: Steeler offense, man. And it's a good and a bad thing.
• 39:06
  Speaker 4: It's a good thing because we haven't played Baltimore yet.
• 39:09
  Speaker 4: We've only lost one game to the Browns. We've beaten
• 39:12
  Speaker 4: the Bengals. So the division's up in the air. But
• 39:16
  Speaker 4: the teams that we've faced thus far, we leave that
• 39:21
  Speaker 4: game like, man, We haven't seen this guy. We didn't
• 39:24
  Speaker 4: see this aspect. Like, there's still there's still optimism on
• 39:28
  Speaker 4: certain guys and certain aspects of the offense and defensively
• 39:31
  Speaker 4: as they continue to find their way and, and navigate
• 39:34
  Speaker 4: some of the injuries. I think the Steelers are one
• 39:37
  Speaker 4: of those teams and hopefully it happens around November where
• 39:41
  Speaker 4: they hit full stride, why everybody gets weaker and kind
• 39:44
  Speaker 4: of their, their rosters start to kind of dwindle down.
• 39:46
  Speaker 4: The Steelers kind of get stronger and, because they kind
• 39:49
  Speaker 4: of hit this. It's kind of like if I had
• 39:51
  Speaker 4: to point out a team that's doing it right now
• 39:53
  Speaker 4: is the Patriots, right? The Patriots in the first couple
• 39:56
  Speaker 4: weeks are like, oh, this don't look like the Pat O.
• 39:58
  Speaker 4: The Patriots are hot now, right? Even with A.J. Brown
• 40:00
  Speaker 4: having a poor game against the Browns, they seem to
• 40:03
  Speaker 4: have gotten their stride and they've started heating up. So
• 40:05
  Speaker 4: hopefully the Steelers right now are that team like, man,
• 40:08
  Speaker 4: get out of October, beating the Saints, obviously. But come November,
• 40:12
  Speaker 4: maybe they start kind of catching some wind in their sails.
• 40:15
  Speaker 4: They start getting stronger. And now you're saying, oh, wait,
• 40:18
  Speaker 4: watch out. This is a different Steeler Club. This isn't
• 40:20
  Speaker 4: like the first two-month Steelers. Everybody's healthy. We know what
• 40:23
  Speaker 4: everybody's capable of. We have an identity. Now it's time
• 40:26
  Speaker 4: to go hunt.
• 40:27
  Speaker 3: Patriots, by the way, a candidate for Game of the Week,
• 40:29
  Speaker 3: that game against the Bears.
• 40:30
  Speaker 4: That'll be fun.
• 40:31
  Speaker 3: We'll talk about that tomorrow. Texans, just to finish things off, 17. Raiders, 18.
• 40:38
  Speaker 3: The Los Angeles Rams have tumbled to number 19. They
• 40:42
  Speaker 3: were number one at the beginning of the season. They
• 40:45
  Speaker 3: are now number 19. The Eagles 20. The Giants 21.
• 40:50
  Speaker 3: The Cowboys 22. The Jets 23. Arizona is 24 after
• 40:55
  Speaker 3: beating the Rams. They moved up quite a bit. The
• 40:57
  Speaker 3: Falcons are 25. The Saints are 26. Of course, they're
• 41:01
  Speaker 3: up next for the Steelers. The Commanders 27. The Bucks 28.
• 41:04
  Speaker 3: Tennessee 29. The Colts 30. The Dolphins 31. And the
• 41:07
  Speaker 3: Chargers 32. And again, We can see there, Max, part
• 41:16
  Speaker 3: of the reason that the Steelers are not getting, you know,
• 41:23
  Speaker 3: more votes. I say lack of respect, whatever. It's opinion.
• 41:26
  Speaker 3: The reason that they're not getting more votes is their
• 41:30
  Speaker 3: victories are over the 30th ranked Colts, the 28th ranked
• 41:35
  Speaker 3: Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the 25th ranked Atlanta Falcons.
• 41:41
  Speaker 4: So.
• 41:42
  Speaker 3: It's not like there's a– and, of course, they have
• 41:45
  Speaker 3: the win over the Bengals. It isn't like they've been
• 41:49
  Speaker 3: beating up on the NFL's elite, but that's okay, man.
• 41:52
  Speaker 3: Keep stacking Ws. Try to get to 6-2, Max, as
• 41:55
  Speaker 3: we said before that break, huh? That's all that matters, right?
• 41:58
  Speaker 3: Get to 6-2.
• 41:59
  Speaker 2: Get out of October safely. And I think I'm looking at–
• 42:03
  Speaker 2: I would love to see this squad finally be a
• 42:07
  Speaker 2: team that going into November when you see this team
• 42:10
  Speaker 2: again realizing– The last time we lost was to the Browns,
• 42:14
  Speaker 2: and we're going to see the Browns the following week.
• 42:16
  Speaker 4: Hello, November.
• 42:17
  Speaker 2: This is what real football is. September and October is
• 42:19
  Speaker 2: a warm-up. Come back and go and split with them
• 42:23
  Speaker 2: and then continue your role.
• 42:24
  Speaker 3: I would love to see that happen. First things first,
• 42:26
  Speaker 3: you've got to beat the Saints. We're going to break
• 42:27
  Speaker 3: down some of the key matchups in that game. Coming
• 42:30
  Speaker 3: up tomorrow, we're going to look forward to our game
• 42:33
  Speaker 3: of the week, the one that we're most looking forward to,
• 42:36
  Speaker 3: other than the Steelers game coming up on Sunday. So
• 42:39
  Speaker 3: we're going to get to all that stuff. Jim Wexler
• 42:41
  Speaker 3: is going to join us tomorrow as well. For Gino Annamarino,
• 42:45
  Speaker 3: filling in for Justin Miller today. For Willie Colon, for
• 42:48
  Speaker 3: Max Starks, I'm Rob King. We thank you, as always,
• 42:50
  Speaker 3: for being with us in the locker room here on
• 42:52
  Speaker 3: the Steelers Audio Network.