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Ravens Recap, Chiefs Preview · Steelers Country Weekly

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Today on Steelers Country Weekly, we break down the Steelers
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: heartbreaking loss thirty four to seventeen in Baltimore, look ahead
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: to the Christmas Day Netflix matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs,
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: and then we'll talk about some fond Christmas football memories
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  Speaker 1: that live with us. I'm Nick Detulio and as always
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  Speaker 1: joined by the world famous accountant to Eric Vamin Showden, Eric,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: how are you today?
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  Speaker 2: I'm doing pretty good. Today mark the first day that
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: I'm off for the rest of.
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  Speaker 3: The calendar year.
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: So nice, nice, nice start to the breaking cell.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I have the last three full weeks off, so
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: I was off last week. I've got this week off
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  Speaker 1: in them the next week as well, and you know
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  Speaker 1: I've started. I'm at that point where you start to
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  Speaker 1: lose track of what day. It is kind of like
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: when we were kids and you're on summer vacation and
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: they all kind of blend together.
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  Speaker 3: So it is kind of nice.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: But I'm back in town, so we got to spend
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: some quality time together yesterday at the Dell High Skyline
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: Chili while I was enduring my fantasy football punishment. So
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: good to be in town, good to see friends, even
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  Speaker 1: if it is under odd extenuating circumstances, but I'm glad
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  Speaker 1: you made the drive from across town to come and
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  Speaker 1: hang out for a bit.
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  Speaker 2: Oh well, of course, still high our old stopping grounds.
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  Speaker 3: It was.
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  Speaker 2: It was fun, and yeah, it's good to catch up.
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  Speaker 2: Then yeah, my plate was a little bit lighter.
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  Speaker 4: Than yours, but still got as I left there, you go,
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  Speaker 4: all right, Well, it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows on Saturday.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: While I was in Skyline punishing myself. The goal, well,
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: to be honest, was I had to stay at Skyland
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: for twelve hours, and for every cheese cony I ate,
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  Speaker 1: I got an hour shaved off. I walked in at
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  Speaker 1: ten thirty, and I knew that I had to leave
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  Speaker 1: in time for the Steelers game, which kicked off at
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  Speaker 1: four thirty. So I did get out of there. I
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  Speaker 1: eight conies left after four hours. The goal is to
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: get home so I could watch the Steelers beat the Ravens,
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: and half of that was accomplished. So I'll just say,
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  Speaker 1: before we get into the weeds.
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  Speaker 3: Here, I did my part.
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  Speaker 1: The Pittsburgh Steelers really did not. And while you and
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: I both said on the game or on the game
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: preview last week that we thought that the Steelers were
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: going to lose this game. I think part of the
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: reason that I found this game frustrating was because even
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: though the score was a seventeen point difference, it does
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: feel like this was yet another game that the Steelers.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: Had they just tweaked a few things, done a few
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: things differently, they very well could.
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  Speaker 3: Have walked away the winners. Here.
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  Speaker 1: It almost was a repeat of the game against the
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: Eagles again where you kind of just shoot yourselves in
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  Speaker 1: the foot. But let's just talk about that game in Baltimore.
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  Speaker 1: The game opens up with the Ravens game a touchdown.
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  Speaker 1: They end the quarter seven to nothing. Lamar Jackson has
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  Speaker 1: this chip on his shoulder. There's been talk all week
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  Speaker 1: that he hasn't beaten the Steelers, that the Steelers are
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  Speaker 1: gonna write.
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  Speaker 3: The ship here.
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: But ultimately, I think what ended up happening was the
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: Steelers' injuries just caught up with them and Lamar Jackson
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: kind of similar to what we saw last week, where
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  Speaker 1: the Eagles had a known weakness, but they addressed their
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: problems and they overcame them. Lamar Jackson slayed the Giants,
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: so to speak, and prove that he can play against
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: teams like the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Ravens were also pretty
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: good about not abandoning the run, which is something they
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: did against the Steelers the last time they played. Derek
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  Speaker 1: Henry ended with twenty four carries for one hundred and
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  Speaker 1: sixty two yards, and the backbreaker for the Steelers were
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  Speaker 1: two turnovers from Russell Wilson.
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  Speaker 3: You had a.
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  Speaker 1: Fumble where he was running to about maybe the three
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  Speaker 1: or four yard line and instead of sliding, he just
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  Speaker 1: took the hit. And I don't think that the guy
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: punched the ball out or really even made contact with
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  Speaker 1: his helmet on the ball. It was just a hard
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  Speaker 1: hit and Russ fumbled the ball. And then separately, when
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  Speaker 1: the Ravens were driving up seven ready to put the
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  Speaker 1: game away, Minka Fitzpatrick ended up with a pretty big
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  Speaker 1: interception which was great, only to be mitigated by Russell
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  Speaker 1: Wilson just throwing a really awful pick six. I didn't
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  Speaker 1: see any interviews. I don't I can't comment on what
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  Speaker 1: Russ thought he saw or what the deal was there.
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  Speaker 1: But it was just a bad interception, compounded by the
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  Speaker 1: fact that it got returned for a touchdown. Given where
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  Speaker 1: they were at the field, in the field where they
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  Speaker 1: when he threw that, that was really the difference right there.
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  Speaker 1: And couple that with a couple other coaching decisions that
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  Speaker 1: I may or may not have agreed with at the time.
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  Speaker 3: I don't know about you.
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  Speaker 1: Where again, similar to last week against the Eagles, a
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  Speaker 1: fourth down play where the Steelers punted the ball where
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  Speaker 1: I didn't think they really should have. And there was
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  Speaker 1: another play where they did punt it and I was like, oh,
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: they were they didn't punt it, and I was like, oh,
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  Speaker 1: maybe that's one you should probably get rid of. Just
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: an odd game. And again, I don't want to beat
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  Speaker 1: a dead horse here too much, but it felt kind
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  Speaker 1: of similar to what we saw last week. So, now
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  Speaker 1: that I've gone on this long winded rant here, Eric,
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  Speaker 1: what are some of your takeaways from this performance that
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: we saw this past Saturday in Baltimore.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, in general, I think that, you know,
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  Speaker 2: two weeks in a row, would just get played very
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: tough teams, which, hey, you know in January we're gonna
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: have to play tough teams too, so get used to it.
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  Speaker 2: So that's not an excuse. Injuries are piling up. Joe
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  Speaker 2: Porter went out he was in it. Now, the game,
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  Speaker 2: the whole game eventually took out of the game. So
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: you know, second there was beat up. But hey, injuries
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  Speaker 2: happens to every team. You got to learn how to
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  Speaker 2: deal with it and be ready. We weren't. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: just for the second straight week, we got outmanned, we
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  Speaker 2: got out played and executed, and we got out coached.
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  Speaker 2: You know, in emphasis again on that coaching, we've fourth quarter,
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  Speaker 2: fourth down, you know, controversial calls on whether to go
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  Speaker 2: forward or not. I don't think that we needed to
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: when we I think at that point we were down ten,
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  Speaker 2: could have pend them, and I believe there was like
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: ten or twelve minutes left. But you know, I don't
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  Speaker 2: really think we gave ourselves a good position the whole game.
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  Speaker 2: You know, whether you think about that Russell Wilson very
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: questionably fumbling it within the red zone. I mean, you're
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: a thirty five year old quarterback. You gotta be smarter
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  Speaker 2: than that. I mean, if you if you can't walk
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  Speaker 2: into the end zone, you gotta put two hands on
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  Speaker 2: that ball, especially inside.
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  Speaker 1: The five, and he was he wasn't even a one either.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: That's the other thing too. Sorry, I mean to cut
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  Speaker 1: you off.
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  Speaker 3: He was at like that. He was at the four.
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  Speaker 3: So even if he broke and.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: You know, broke that tackle, he's not gonna like fall
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  Speaker 1: into the end zone or anything.
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, So it's just look, you just you gotta play
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  Speaker 2: your team in the best position and and you know,
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  Speaker 2: fumbled or not. I mean, it's just you gotta be
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: smart about it. And then he compounded it later in
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  Speaker 2: the game. I mean it was like, as they is,
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  Speaker 2: Tom Brady who caught it. Tom Brady knows better than
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  Speaker 2: any other quarterback to ever play this game. He didn't
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: throw an interception that got turned into a pick six
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  Speaker 2: based off of some long deep ball trying to make
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: something thing. Something happened. I think it was a five
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  Speaker 2: to seven yard out rap. He threw the inside shoulder
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  Speaker 2: of a wide receiver as he you know, was getting
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  Speaker 2: pass rushed. Not anything crazy, but again, you gotta be
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  Speaker 2: smarter than that and either throw it into the dirt
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  Speaker 2: or throw it to the outside shoulder where neither player
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  Speaker 2: has a chance and you're giving your guy at least
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: the better chance of it and not giving yourself a
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: gimme to. I mean, Marlon Humphrey is always a killer.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, if TJ. Wats the guy that we always
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: look at on, you know, our sideline when it comes
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  Speaker 2: to Ravens. I've always looked at Marlin Humphrey because he's phenomenal,
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: and he played a wonderful game there and he made
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  Speaker 2: the play and we didn't. So again, it's just a
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  Speaker 2: second straight week. It's very discouraging that and I'm I
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: don't want excuses. I mean, you got an even campaign
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  Speaker 2: word going out there talking about the schedule, and you
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: pointed to sell when we were talking at Skyline. Every
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  Speaker 2: single team that is going to play on Christmas Day
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  Speaker 2: has the exact same schedule, So get over it. Just
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  Speaker 2: it is what it is. You know, did we want
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  Speaker 2: to play six of our division games in the last
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  Speaker 2: seven weeks of the year.
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  Speaker 1: No.
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  Speaker 2: Did we want to play three games within a span
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  Speaker 2: of ten or ten or eleven days, No, But you
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: planned for it the whole year. Why all of a
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: sudden is it culminating and becoming an excuse. So again,
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  Speaker 2: I just think that right now we're coming off as
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  Speaker 2: a team that is not built for this, and it's
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: a mentality issue and an execution issue. So I think
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: that coaching needs to take some accountability and the players
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: definitely need to take some accountability because this is just
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  Speaker 2: getting pathetic.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and the point that I was in making a
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  Speaker 1: skyline while I was in my cheese coney Coma was Yes,
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: the Steelers have those three games in eleven days, I
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  Speaker 1: think it is, but all the teams that play that
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: played this past Saturday are also playing on Christmas and
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: then also have a game the following week, so they're
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: all playing each other. So there's no it's not like
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: the Steelers are playing a fresh team every step of
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: the way. They're playing teams that have the same exact
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: situation that they have. So I'm glad you mentioned the
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: injuries too, because I think we did talk about the
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: extensively last week. Where the point that I was making
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: was and I was actually kind of surprised to see TJ.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: Watt playing given the circumstances, but I said, they've been
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: over They've been very cautious this season. I think they're
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: going to continue to be cautious with the injuries because
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: having a healthy team is more important than having the
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: home field advantage for it's gonna be probably just one
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: game if that in the playoffs. And I do still
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: stand by that. But the thing that disappoints me is
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: we've been hearing for years now the cliche that the
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: standard is the standard. So while I do acknowledge that
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: there are a lot of injuries, particularly in the secondary,
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: especially after Joey Porter went down, my thought was, Okay, well,
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: can we at least still see some promise here, some
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: glimmer of hope because every other team's got injuries too.
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: I know the Ravens have their own share of injuries.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: It maybe wasn't to the extent of the Steelers, but
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: especially as we get into the postseason, we're gonna see
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: every team is going to be good to some degree,
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: and they're all going to be overcoming injuries. You're not
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: gonna find a totally healthy team from start to finish,
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: or from top to bottom of the roster. Rather, so
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: the only thing I can really take away from this
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: game is just the hope that at some point it's
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: gonna click and you know, the people they're gonna be
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  Speaker 1: relatively healthy from a roster standpoint, and that the guys
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: who had to come in this during this stretch will
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: be better suited the next time they get that call,
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: particularly if it's in this upcoming postseason or down the
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: stretch here of these last two regular season games, as
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: the Steelers still are fighting for a division championship.
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: So.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, it is still possible that they can still win.
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: I don't know what the tiebreakers are. I don't know
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: offhand if they went out, if that guarantees them, or
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: what has to happen. But but yeah, that's all I
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: can really take away from that. And I just wanted
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: to mention it since you brought up the injuries and
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: I know we talked about it last week, which we
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: acknowledge that it made things tougher for the team, But
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: I mean, these guys are all profefred and I would
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: have liked to have seen a little more out of it.
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: And look, again, without those two turnovers, this could be
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: a totally different conversation we're having. But based on what
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: we did see and the things that the Steelers could control,
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: particularly those turnovers, the decisions on whether to go forward
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: or whether to punt it on fourth down and the
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: fourth quarter, that's the part that kinda left the bad
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: taste in my mouth. That and the eighth cony. So
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: so yeah, and again I do just see a lot
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: of similarities to last week. Last week we talked about
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: and not just us, everyone was saying the raven or
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: the Eagles can't pass the ball. They have to as
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: long as the Steelers can contain Saquan there's no way
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: that Jalen Hurts is going to pass all over them.
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: And to the Eagles credit, they addressed their issues and.
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: They fix them. Same thing with the Ravens.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: You had people saying Lamar Jackson can't get over the Steelers, hump,
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: he can't beat them. We had to talk about you know,
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: the last time they played, the Ravens just abandoned the run. Well,
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: they instantly corrected those two things right off the bat
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: because there was it felt like the first five plays
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: were handoffs to Derrick Henry where he had decent runs
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: on all of them, and then Lamar passed throughout the game.
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: He did have one interception to Minka Fitzpatrick that we
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: mentioned before, but that may or may not have been
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: his fault. It looked like there was some miscommunication on
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: a play action route. So you tell me who's which
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: one was in the wrong mayor whether it was him
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: or the receiver. But I have to give them credit
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: because they're a team that we talked about as well.
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: They did start off the year zero and two. They
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: had some rough games, but they've really righted the ship
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: and seem to have their their head on head on
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: right now as they move into the playoffs and they're
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: playing stronger or at a time when we're.
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: Not playing as strong.
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: And I know it's cliche, but a lot of times
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: it's not the best team that wins. It's the team
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: that gets hottest around this time of year that wins
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: the super Bowl. And there's still time to correct this,
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: but as of this moment, the Steelers are definitely trending
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: in the wrong direction in that regard.
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree, and I don't think it's uncommon. I mean,
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: there's plenty of times where I can remember this being
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: an issue. I remember, I think it was twenty eighteen
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: or seven to two. We backslid, maybe either made into
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: the playoffs or get bounced right away. We needed to
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: win their last three games in the season to get
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: into the postseason. Last season, I mean, just covid, we
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: keep doing these things where we aren't giving ourselves any
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: kind of favors. And again we played I think two
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: of the most talented teams in the whole entire league.
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: But those aren't excuses. I mean, if we're good enough,
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: it's possible to see both of these teams in the playoffs.
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: So yeah, like you, are we a team that's just
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: gonna lie down and lose by seventeen points to teams that.
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: Potentially on paper or better or more.
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: Talented than this. I just think that that's a that's
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: a mentality issue. Just seems like they're backing down.
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and again, maybe this will be something that gets
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: corrected when starters come back, or maybe they have to
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: have this humbling experience to I guess dig deeper and
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: find what they need to get that edge. But yeah,
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: this is something that I think is concerning, and maybe
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: they'll get it right, maybe they won't, but as it stands,
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: they're stuck at ten wins and they're trying to find
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: a way to see if they can still win this division.
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: I think that they've made it clear this offseason that hey,
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: we acknowledge that just getting to the postseason is not
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: good enough. We need to win, and I do think
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: that getting a home game would be a long.
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: Step towards that.
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: I understand the health reasons as well, and I agree
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: with them. But again, it'd be nice to not have
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: to worry so much about it going into the postseason.
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: But it is what it is.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: So was there anything else you wanted to mention about
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: the Ravens game before we move on?
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: I'm talking about it.
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: Done talking about it all right? Well, then let's move
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: on to the next game. It's going to be the
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: Chiefs versus the Steelers. It's going to be in Pittsburgh
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: on Christmas Day. This is another interesting game. It also
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: reminds me of the setup going into the Eagles game.
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: The Eagles want to about ten games in a row,
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: I think before they finally lost this past weekend, but
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: they had seen some close calls, some questionable referee judgment,
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: decisions go in their favor, thing, you know, things like that.
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: They haven't seen like they're the dominant team that they
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: have been the past several years. That being said, they
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: are fourteen and one. They're still playing for that number
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: one seed. They haven't locked it up yet. The Bills
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: are still on their tail from what I can understand.
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: Maybe they'll secure the number one seed with a win here.
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: But the fact of the matter is this is still
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: the two time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: rolling into Pittsburgh for a game that certainly feels like
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: a must win for the Steelers because the Ravens are
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: going to be playing the Texans who have lost. They
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: must have lost like three starters for the year this
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: past game.
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: They're definitely banged up.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: So the Ravens you have to imagine, are going to
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: get an extra game on the Steelers here if the
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: Steelers lose. But again, this is a home Christmas Day
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: game for this Steelers. I feel like they should have
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: some momentum here and it shouldn't necessarily be all doom
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: and gloom if the Steelers can do some corrective actions
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: on what we've seen in the past couple of weeks. So, Eric,
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: as you look ahead to this matchup in only two
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: days now, what are some of the keys for you?
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: Uh? You know, I saw a very interesting stat that
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: the Chiefs are among the one of the four teams
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: that have not scored thirty points in a game. The
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: other three are probably gonna be pick it.
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: In the top five.
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: Uh, just my HiT's just mind blowing to me that
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: this is the Kansas City team. This is a quarterback
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: with all those explosive plays and just I don't know
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: where it's gone. Maybe we're the right team for them
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: to play to get that moto back. But you know,
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: it's interesting. This Chiefs team is a team that they
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: played from their teeth every single game. Nothing is ever given,
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: but they take it and honestly, you know, it's it's
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: very commendable. A lot of people say it's luck when
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: teams pull these tight games out. I think a lot
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: of it is, you know, players actually listening to their
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: coaches and executing when they need to. And that's why
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: I'm actually gonna go with the Chiefs again in this
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: one because that's something that we have not seen, and
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: not even just the last two weeks. Mentioned the last
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: two weeks, but I don't know if you saw the
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: stat that was up during the game, but our red
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: zone defense went from number one in the league through
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: the first ten weeks of the season and after that backslid.
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: So in the entering the Ravens game, we were twenty
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: six in the league since that time and before that,
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: more first just calling the defense because that was the team,
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: that's the unit we're supposed to depend on for this team,
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: and not getting it done so look, you know, when
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: efficiency matters and it's a tight game, which I think
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: this will be, I'm going to go with the Chiefs
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: because they know how to pull it through.
• 21:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that.
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: I agree with your logic, and I feel like if
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: that wasn't the case, they would have dropped more of
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: these games that they haven't.
• 21:35
  Speaker 3: But they've ended up walking away with the wins at.
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: And we've talked about it a lot already, but as
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: a Steelers fan, we're used to going through these phases
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: where we're either winning six, seven, eight games in a
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: row and we're riding high, and when we when we
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: don't win, we really fall off the wagon hard. And
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: I have a hard time trying to gauge with the
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: Steelers when they've actually hit rock bottom or not. You
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: would think that losing the game against the Eagles, having
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: gone through what Theredy did earlier this year with the
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: I mean you can say the Browns game, but more
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: so the two games against the Colts and the Cowboys,
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: two games they should not have lost under any circumstances,
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: would have gotten them mentally where they need to be.
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: But here we are talking about it still.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: Historically, our defense has struggled against excellent tight ends. It
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: seems like we did pretty well with Mark Andrews, even
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: though he's not necessarily what he wants was. And the
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: Chiefs are come into town with the most famous University
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: of Cincinnati alumnus outside of you and me, Travis Kelcey,
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: who also is not having the you know, exceptional year
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: that we're used to seeing from him. But he's still
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: Travis Kelcey, and he's still got Patrick Mahomes, a quarterback
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: who doesn't really seem to be bothered by that alleged
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: ankle injury that he supposedly suffered. I'm just just being funny.
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: They said he was weak.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: To week, and he came out and he had a
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: pretty good scramble for a touchdown. So anyway, yeah, I'm
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: with you, And I would love to sit here and
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: say the Steelers are gonna turn things around and they're
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: gonna win, but I think we know this team too
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: well that it's probably gonna They're probably gonna lose, and
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: they're probably gonna have to beat the Bengals and hope
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: that the Ravens lose in their last game against the
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: Browns to to get a division championship. Maybe we shouldn't
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: be pessimistic, but that's why they passed the big bucks.
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: If the Steelers are gonna win, I think it's pretty simple.
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: You can't turn the ball over because you got to
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: keep the ball out of Patrick Mahomes' hands, and defensively,
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: you just got to get off the field when you
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: need to. You mentioned it as well. This was the
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: second week in a row where the Steelers punt the
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: ball to the opposition with lots of time left and
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: the defense just can't get off the field. And the
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: Eagles game, the Steelers never got the ball back at all,
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: and against the Ravens, the Ravens were able to kill
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: most of the clock. And while it'd be nice to
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: get a three and out, even if you let them
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: get a first down and then you stop them, that's
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: better than what we've seen these past two weeks. Like
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: you said, this is the unit we count on, and
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: it does suck when you are always relied on in
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: that regard, but you got to get off the field
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: when it counts the most. So I'll say that, and look,
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: as long as Russell Wilson's able to get rid of
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: those turnovers, I think that's most important. Because I think
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: that the onus is going to be on the offense here.
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: We know the Chiefs, while not hitting that thirty point
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: mark that you mentioned, we know that that team revolves
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: around Patrick Mahomes, right, So if the offense is able
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: to keep them off the field as much as possible,
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: I'm going to assume that the Chiefs offense is still
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: going to have success no matter how well we play.
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: It's just about minimizing it. You're not going to eliminate
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: it altogether. So all that being said, that's just what
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: I think is going to have to need to happen
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: for the Steelers to get the win here. But I'm
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: with you. I just don't think it's going to happen
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: at this point. So I'm with you. I'll give the
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: Chiefs a win. I think the Steelers are going to
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: keep it closer though than they did this past week.
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: Do I think the Chiefs are going to get their
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: thirty points. I'm gonna give the Chiefs a twenty seven
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: to twenty four win.
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: Okay, Yeah.
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: I think both offenses are struggling right now, and I
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: think that if there's one unit on this team, this
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: team being the Steelers, that will get together will be
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: the defense.
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: The mistackles have been bad.
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's leading into these points. I think they'll tighten
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: that part of without seeing it, though Russ has really
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: struggled without Pickens. Look, wide receiver room was never our
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: deepest position group. But again, you you gotta find ways.
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: You also have a tight end that you just paid
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: that five money to and I think he had seventeen
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: yards in this last game or whatnot. So find different
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: ways to get your playmakers the ball and let's score
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: some points. But not seeing that happen this game, so
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: I'm going to go and go twenty sixteen Chiefs.
• 27:14
  Speaker 3: All right, there you have it.
• 27:15
  Speaker 5: Hopefully we'll have a Christmas miracle where the Steelers will
• 27:18
  Speaker 5: get a win and we can come back next week
• 27:20
  Speaker 5: and talk about how we feel that they did what
• 27:22
  Speaker 5: they were supposed to and as long as they keep
• 27:24
  Speaker 5: doing that, we could be fine.
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: We could get a win in the playoffs. But we
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: will see. I hope we are both wrong again, but
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: we're right the last time unfortunately. So well, here we
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: sit two days away from Christmas Day, and I thought
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: it might be kind of a fun memory to talk
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: about some of our favorite moments, whether it be in
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: a Steelers game, or just anything football related from our
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: personal lives or just watching it on TV or being
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: at the games talking about Christmas football. So, Eric, do
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: you have any Christmas football memories that warm your heart
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: when you think about them, that come to your mind?
• 28:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah?
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I remember twenty sixteen Steelers played the
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: Ravens and if I'm not mistaken, Antonio had a very
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: iconic breaking ball over the end zone. It may have
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: been the game decisive touchdown. You know, it was fun
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: being in Cincinnati is a Steelers fan and being the
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: only person in the room cheering for a team at
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: a lot of different times, unless you go to Martinez,
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: it's challenging. And you know, on Christmas Day, I didn't
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: need any gruff and the team pulled out not just
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: a win, but a win against the most hated rival there,
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: So you know, for me, that was fun. I tried
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: to put my Steelers sweater over top of my nephew. Yeah,
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: he was in my arms, tripling on. My brother in
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: law was not extremely pleased with me for that gesture,
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: so you know what, I think it all worked out.
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: He's still a Bengals fan. For my brother in law,
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: but you know, the funny Frank unfortunately did not work
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: out for Steelers Nation.
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that, in terms of games I've watched, that was well.
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: I actually didn't get to watch that. I remember that
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: particular game. I watched the first half at my family's house,
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: and then we were in the car on the way
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: to my wife's or my in laws for Christmas, and
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: I don't think I had the ability to stream the video,
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: so I was trying to like go onto the Steelers
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: app and listen to like the Steelers broadcast, and I
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: remember listening to the moment that Antonio Brown broke the
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: plane going nuts in the car, and then watching the
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: replay afterwards and just seeing how really good that exceptional
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: that play was. Eric Weddell was face holding his face
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: mask for starters and that didn't get called, but they
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: were holding Antonio inside the one yard line. He hadn't
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: broken the plane, and he actually had to reposition the
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: ball with two or three Ravens on him and reached
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: the ball across the goal line with about nine seconds
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: to go to get that touchdown. And it was kind
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: of a similar situation than to what the the Ravens
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: have been going through with the Steelers lately because again
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: we heard all those oh the Steelers have won the
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: last eight of nine or whatever the figure was, Lamar
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: Jackson can't beat them. And during that stretch, as the
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: Steelers had been rebuilding if you want to call it that,
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: or reloading after a lot of those guys from the
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: Super Bulls had finally retired, the Steelers had a stretch
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: like that with the Ravens too, where they couldn't beat them.
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: And that's what put the Steelers over the Ravens hump
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: got them the division that year.
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: It was.
• 31:11
  Speaker 3: It was a big deal and I almost went to
• 31:13
  Speaker 3: that game. I tried so.
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: Hard to convince my at the time girlfriend now wife,
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: and she just would not budge on her stance. So
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: it also didn't help that I told her she was
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: being a scrooge McDuck and ruin and Christmas for everyone.
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: But that's neither here nor there, I guess, so thinking
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: about other Christmas football games, I do remember one time
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: around Christmas, you and I went up to play tackle
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: football just at Dell High Park. I think was some
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: like only two of your friends. There was only four
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: of us. I can't remember who they were, but I
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: remember that was a lot of fun, and I remember
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: one of one of your buddies gave me a really
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: big hit on the chin, like, not metaphorically speaking, they
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: literally decked me on the chin, and I thought that
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: I must have broken something. It was the worst pain
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: i'd felt up to that time, and being in the
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: cold didn't help too, but I suppose I survived and
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: did okay. But those are the kind of games I
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: remember when when we'd be growing up, when you'd go
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: out and play, playing in the snow was always fun.
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: Didn't really happen too much when we played real football,
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: just because of the season ending in early November, and
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: I didn't play as long in high school as you did,
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: so I don't know if you had any notoriously snowy
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: games when you were still playing at Elder but no,
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: so it was mostly just pick up games where you
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: got to see the snow and the holiday stuff. So, yeah,
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: you took my game, which was unfortunate because that was
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: mostly what I wanted to talk about. But I would
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: say that, yes, that is a good Christmas memory for
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: the Steelers, and we'll hopefully have some more good Christmas
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: memories this week and in the future as Well, the
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: Steelers are obviously one of the most popular teams, so
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: there's a reason why they usually have the primetime games.
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: Why more often than not they play on one of
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: the holidays. Some years, you remember, they'll play on all
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: three Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. So the opportunities are there,
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: and I think this would be a great place to
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: get some good Christmas memories here beating the two time
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: defending champs to put yourself on the right path towards
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: winning your division and making a run in the playoffs.
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, all right, was there anything else you wanted
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: to talk about before we signed off for the week?
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: That's do at Christmas Star our listeners.
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, Merry Christmas everyone, Thanks for tuning in this week
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: and every week, and we will be back next week,
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: hopefully talking about a big Steelers win. For the world
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: famous accountants Eric Vamin Schotten. I'm Nick Detulio and this
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: has been another episode of the GameHouse dot COM's Steelers
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: Country Weekly.