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HR 2: Top 10 Moments from Patriots 20, Steelers 3 · The Steelers Report

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: This is the Steelers Report with Brian Vacco and Ed
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Truth on Steelers Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Audio Network.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Great stuff from Jim Wexel. We appreciate him jumping on, Brian,
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: as always. Providing some good insight in and around the
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: black and gold as... We joked with them. We're going
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: to put a bow or something on that Patriots-Steelers game.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: These next two segments to start our three.
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: What do you want to put on there, Ed?
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: I don't know. We've got to figure something. Maybe some
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: Tylenol or aspirin for the headache that happened after the game.
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: A good old boot. Just stomp it out.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: We've got to do something. Maybe burn that film after
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: you've watched it a few times. Move on.
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: Bury it in the backyard.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: Do something. Either way, these next two segments is our
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: version of putting the finishing touches on Patriots 20, Steelers
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: 3 in Week 2. It's our top moments, top plays.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: And again, you heard Jim joke with us, too. Not
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: sure if you can find 10, but we found 10.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: They're not all Steelers. We like when we do this
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: activity each week, Double B, and we can provide you
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: 10 highlights. of the Pittsburgh Steelers. But unfortunately, this past week,
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: when your offense only puts up three points, there's not
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: a lot of big offensive plays on the black and
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: gold side. There were a few there from New England
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: that we're going to provide to you, but it's hard
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: to reach for some of those Steeler offensive highlights.
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: And just to be clear, none of these are Cam
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: Johnston punts?
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: Well, we could have did that, too. That's a good point.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: You know, he's averaging 48.5 yards per punt through two
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: games in the season. He had eight of them to
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: choose from this past week in New England.
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: Hey, I mean, yeah, you want to avoid a shank
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: at an inopportune time, and he had eight chances to
• 1:56
  Speaker 4: shank one or at least mishit one, and at least
• 1:59
  Speaker 4: if you're going to be punting that much, it's a
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: good thing you've got somebody consistent who's getting the job
• 2:04
  Speaker 4: done back there. Let's just hope we see a lot
• 2:06
  Speaker 4: less of good old Cam Johnston.
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: Let's see less of Chris Boswell, too.
• 2:10
  Speaker 4: How about punch in some touchdowns and don't rely off
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: of three points from No.
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: 9's toe. Well, look, there was a time in and
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: around the black and gold on special teams where punting
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: was not good. Corliss Waitman was a mixed bag. You
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: can even look back to the Harvin days. But now
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: with Cam Johnson, and they thought that when they acquired
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: Cam Johnson a couple games ago, or a couple games,
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: my goodness, a couple years ago, Brian, before he got hurt,
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: they thought this is what they were going to get
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: in him as a punter. And at least through two games,
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: you know, you average close to 50 yards per punt.
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: That's good stuff.
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely.
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: I'm going to try to look up on the fly
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: here where he is ranking at the moment in the NFL.
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: Let's see.
• 2:51
  Speaker 4: Passing leaders, receiving, rushing. Who cares about that? We want
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: punting leaders.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: If we want special teams numbers.
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: We want punting leaders. Net punting average. Well, that's net.
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: So gross punting average. How far is he booting the ball?
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: I think he's about middle of the pack.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: I thought he'd be a little bit better than that.
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: Unfortunately, he's leading the pack in Number of punts with 12.
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: And thus he's also leading in yardage. And yeah, he's
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: got five inside the 20. So that is tied for second.
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: But of course, that goes hand in hand or foot
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: in foot with punting the ball a lot.
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: Those are two categories that you don't want to be
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: talking about each week here on the show is the
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: number of punts and total yardage of punts. And I'm
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: sure our listeners are laughing at us right now, Brian, saying,
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: I can't believe they're talking about punting. It must have
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: been that bad of a game.
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: We get into the minutia.
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: We get into the nitty-gritty on SNR.
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: That's right. Not just offense and defense. We've got to
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: touch special teams.
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: You can get that anyway.
• 3:50
  Speaker 5: Exactly.
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: And when we touch special teams, we're not just talking
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: about the returns and Chris Boz. Well, we're going to
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: give you the punting perspective. And if Cam Johnston's out
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: there listening or someone that knows him, I'm sure they're happy.
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: And as we mentioned, well.
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: He'd probably just as soon be anonymous. But as we
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: mentioned with our guy Wex, Robert Spears Jennings does lead
• 4:07
  Speaker 4: the entire NFL in special teams tackles as a rookie.
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: How about that, too?
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: I mean, they bring it again.
• 4:12
  Speaker 5: More puns.
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: You get more opportunities for it. I get that. It'll
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: level out.
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: You know, if he's doing that by the end of
• 4:18
  Speaker 4: the season, let's hope that that means it's not because
• 4:20
  Speaker 4: the Steelers were punting a lot and it'll be more impressive.
• 4:23
  Speaker 4: But there's still 10 guys who can make those tackles.
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: So that's good that he's getting down there.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: Late round draft pick. that I don't want to say
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: it was a long shot to make this team, but
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: he had to earn it, and he certainly earned it.
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: He was always in my roster projection, Robert Spears, Jennings.
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: All right?
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: I always had your back.
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: He backed it up on the football field too, Brian.
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: He had a good training camp.
• 4:45
  Speaker 6: You know what?
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: I take that back.
• 4:46
  Speaker 4: Because if you're punting a lot, you're not really kicking
• 4:48
  Speaker 4: off a lot because that would mean you're not scoring.
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: So it does sort of even out and level out.
• 4:54
  Speaker 4: He's got seven special teams tackles so far through just
• 4:57
  Speaker 4: two games.
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: And you mentioned this on the show yesterday. You got
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: the game ball in week one, right? Was that him?
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: Was it with Spears Jennings? Did he get the game
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: ball or was that Ray Sean Jenkins? Didn't one of
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: those guys get the game ball?
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: Uh-oh. I don't remember that one. Uh-oh.
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: Brian Backo's giving me a puzzled look. I must be wrong.
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: We'll look it up during the break. I thought maybe
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: it was Spears-Jennings. I thought it was one of those guys.
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: Did a Damski say that?
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: Maybe it was a Damski. Maybe I'm getting my Steeler-Ryders
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: mixed up. We'll just blame a Damski about that. No, Chris,
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: I can't do that.
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: Four solo tackles, three assisted already for Robert Spears-Jennings.
• 5:26
  Speaker 5: It's good.
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's good special teams production.
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: And maybe we'll see him at safety at some point
• 5:31
  Speaker 4: because you've got two more weeks to tread water until
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: Deshaun Elliott is... eligible to come off of injured reserve
• 5:39
  Speaker 4: and ray sean jenkins you know he was didn't really
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: look like he was in the right place on one
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: of those deep throws too was it romeo dobbs it
• 5:46
  Speaker 4: was yeah he got beat there and you know we
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: know that the steelers they lived in that world last
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: year of veteran journeyman safeties you know getting up there
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: in age juan thornhill and chuck clark now i think
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: jenkins was really good in preseason so i'm not ready
• 6:01
  Speaker 4: to uh throw the baby out with the bath water
• 6:04
  Speaker 4: on that one but Yeah, I mean, Robert Spears Jennings, obviously.
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: You see what he's doing on special teams. He's got
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: the speed. He's got the instincts.
• 6:11
  Speaker 4: And a lot of those skills are transferable from punt
• 6:14
  Speaker 4: and kick coverage to play in that last line of defense.
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: All right, Brian, let's jump into it, courtesy of our
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: good friends Rob King and Max Starks. Of course, Missy Matthews,
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: also part of the broadcast team. You can hear each
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: and every Steeler game right here on SNR, providing the
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: plays from this past week. We'll start with number 10,
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: scoreless game, first quarter, until Travion Henderson breaks it for
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: a 29-yard touchdown run. Excuse me, 39-yard touchdown run.
• 6:43
  Speaker 5: May gets a snap. Will give to Henderson on the delay.
• 6:45
  Speaker 5: Shoots right up the middle. Explodes and gets through the Steeler.
• 6:49
  Speaker 7: Secondary and waltzes into the end zone. A 39-yard touchdown
• 6:54
  Speaker 7: gallop for Travion Henderson has put the Patriots on the
• 6:58
  Speaker 7: board first.
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: Untouched right up the middle. Pretty easy touchdown run once
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: he got through the initial seven.
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: With his dark sense of humor, Mike Pursuta kept saying
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: on the Point After show with Rob King and me
• 7:11
  Speaker 4: last night, The only reason it was only 39 yards
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: is because there wasn't 50 or 60 more yards in
• 7:17
  Speaker 4: front of Travion Henderson.
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: He would have kept on going.
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: He would have been Forrest Gump running into the tunnel.
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: Just going and going and going. Number nine, our first
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: Steelers highlight of the day comes from Nick Herbig. Big
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: tackle for loss early in this game, Brian. He had
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: a good game on Sunday. Again, a bit quiet week one,
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: but this past week broke out a few times. We're
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: going to hear from Nick Herbig a little bit later
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: on in the show as well. But first, here's Nick
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: Herbig's tackle for loss early in the game.
• 7:46
  Speaker 5: May gets a.
• 7:47
  Speaker 7: Snap, throws out to the left. Oh, and diagnosed beautifully
• 7:51
  Speaker 7: by Nick Herbig. And he makes the stop on Chisholm
• 7:54
  Speaker 7: and flings him down.
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: For a loss. Got in the backfield, made the play
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: very quick. We're used to seeing that from Nick Herbig.
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: And that was a good time, too, early in the
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: game when the Patriots were starting to build some momentum.
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: That was the only touch of the game, I think,
• 8:07
  Speaker 4: for Efton Chisholm of the Patriots. And Well, he didn't
• 8:12
  Speaker 4: have a fun time on that one.
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: No, he did not. And listen, that is what the
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: Steelers defense tried to do multiple times. But again, they
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: got there a couple times with those tackle for losses.
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: And Nick Herbig led that charge a few times as well,
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: especially in the first half. Patriots get a field goal
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: later on in the third quarter. By the way, this
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: is not in order. So we jump around throughout the game.
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: So if you're sitting there thinking, well, it was a
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: 7-0 a second ago. We're going to jump around a bit.
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: But this gave the Patriots a 10-point third quarter lead
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: on this 45-yard field goal.
• 8:43
  Speaker 5: Here's the snap. Here's the kick.
• 8:45
  Speaker 7: That kick is up, and that kick is good. And
• 8:48
  Speaker 7: the Patriots have extended the lead. It's now a two-score game.
• 8:52
  Speaker 7: It is 13-3 with 43 seconds remaining here in the
• 8:57
  Speaker 7: third quarter.
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: Yep, extended the lead, made it a two-possession game at
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: that point. That was an important field goal because, again,
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: it was just a seven-point lead, and now they make
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: it 10 in the third.
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: At the time, though, I looked at that as, hey,
• 9:10
  Speaker 4: good job by the Steelers' defense to bend but not
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: break and not let that one just completely put the
• 9:17
  Speaker 4: game out of reach or put the game away. But yeah, nonetheless,
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: it helped the Patriots to get three points on the
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: board there.
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: At number seven, Brian, we have this Alex Highsmith, which
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: ended up being his third sack of the season.
• 9:33
  Speaker 7: The snap, back to pass, looking forward. four-man rush coming.
• 9:36
  Speaker 7: May steps up and is touched down by Highsmith. Give
• 9:40
  Speaker 7: him credit for his third sack of the season.
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: Steelers edge rushers off to a good start this season
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: through two games that's for sure.
• 9:47
  Speaker 4: Steelers tied for second in the NFL with seven sacks.
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: The two teams leading the way surprising the Las Vegas
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: Raiders and the Cincinnati Bengals with eight sacks apiece. The
• 9:59
  Speaker 4: Steelers sit with the more of the usual suspects, Texans, Bills, Jets,
• 10:04
  Speaker 4: excuse me, Texans and Bills.
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: Jets and Patriots are tied for third. Well, tied for sixth,
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: I guess.
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: The Steelers have gotten home many of times, Brian, with
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: the edge rushers through the first two games, as we said,
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: leading with TJ Watt. We just heard from Alex Highsmith.
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: But here's the other thing, too. The inside linebacker play,
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: and we talked about this yesterday with Patrick Queen and
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: also with Peyton Wilson, had big impacts with two turnovers
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: on Sunday. This is the first of those two. It
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: was a big interception by Patrick Queen.
• 10:36
  Speaker 5: May play action pass. Back looking, throws, lofts, left, and
• 10:40
  Speaker 5: it's picked off.
• 10:41
  Speaker 7: Intercepted by Patrick Queen at the 10-yard line.
• 10:44
  Speaker 5: Gets to his feet. Wrestled down at the 12. A
• 10:47
  Speaker 5: huge turnover.
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: Big interception by Patrick Queen but I will say this
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: it was a good play he was back in coverage
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: not the best thrown football by Drake May.
• 10:58
  Speaker 4: No he didn't quite see Queen creeping in there and
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: you know if if that game goes differently Patriots fans
• 11:06
  Speaker 4: are their panic meters probably going up even more on
• 11:09
  Speaker 4: their third year quarterback because that was another turnover deep
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: into opponent territory after his Week one ended with that
• 11:18
  Speaker 4: pick in the end zone against the Seahawks. So credit
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: Patrick Queen for reading that perfectly and diagnosing the play
• 11:27
  Speaker 4: and obviously doing the hard part at the end, which
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: you think it should be the easy part, but sometimes
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: it's the hard part to actually make that catch.
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: We had some questions coming into the season about this
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: inside linebacker room with Queen and Wilson and how they
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: would perform. this season and at least through two games
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: and again it's an early sample size Brian we only
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: have two games to talk about but they've been pretty
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: strong through this first part of the season and they
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: will need to continue to be that strong to really
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: manage that inside of the middle of the football field
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: because that's where the Steelers defensively have gotten gashed a
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: few times over the years with the lack of coverage
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: downfield and that was a good play by Queen that
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: showed what he can do when he falls back into coverage.
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: For sure and you know the the coverage of these
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: linebackers Queen and Peyton Wilson I think will be a huge,
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: huge storyline to monitor throughout this season for the Steelers,
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: try to take away the middle of the field and
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: some of these top-notch tight ends that they are going
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: to see.
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: And they'll see another good one on Sunday, upcoming with
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: the Cincinnati Bengals. He's off to a good start, too.
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: Mike Kosicki?
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 12:28
  Speaker 5: Yes, he is.
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: And, you know, not to get too far ahead of ourselves,
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: but Harold Fannin for the Browns was one of the
• 12:34
  Speaker 4: best rookies, regardless of position, in 2025. And I'm sure
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: they'd love to utilize him even more in 2026.
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: So that's the first five plays from this past Sunday.
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: What are the top five? We will get into that
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: and more whenever we come back. It's hour number two
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: of the Steelers report coming up at 345. It'll be
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: our renegade review. Brian and I will go in and
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: around week two across the National Football League, which wrapped
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: up last night with the L.A. Rams and the return
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: of Aaron Donald that we can jump into that. Rams
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: look good last night. in their big win against the
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: New York Giants and several key injuries, including Jackson Dart,
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: who went down last night for the Giants. There were
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: more across the NFL. We'll get into that and more
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: at the bottom of the hour.
• 13:20
  Speaker 5: He's back. Oh, I'm troop.
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: It's the Steelers report right here on Steelers nation radio,
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: part of the Steelers audio network.
• 13:32
  Speaker 6: This is the Steelers Report with Brian Batko and Ed
• 13:36
  Speaker 6: Troup on Steelers Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers
• 13:39
  Speaker 6: Audio Network.
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: We were talking right before the break, Double B, about
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: wrapping up week two, and we will do that here
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: at the tail end of the show today. But lots
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: of injuries in and around the National Football League, and
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: I'm going to knock on wood when I say this.
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: The Steelers have avoided that for the most part through
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: the first two weeks of the season, but not so
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: much across the NFL.
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: Now there's a silver lining from Sunday.
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: There you go.
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: Pretty much got out of the stadium unscathed, we hope
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: and we think.
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: Now, granted, in the Mike McCarthy era, you can't always
• 14:13
  Speaker 4: take that for granted because with Mike Tomlin, he'd always
• 14:16
  Speaker 4: at least get up at the podium on what, yeah,
• 14:19
  Speaker 4: it was Tuesdays, Tomlin Tuesdays.
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: Actually, he'd always get to the podium after the.
• 14:22
  Speaker 4: Game and give you the little laundry list of this
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: guy had an ankle, this guy had a knee. Mike
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: McCarthy doesn't really operate that way. It seems like he
• 14:30
  Speaker 4: might want a little bit more time to talk with
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: the medical team but you know he was asked about
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: michael pitman jr yesterday and said that he'll be in
• 14:37
  Speaker 4: the wednesday evaluation group but he mentioned a conversation with
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: team head trainer uh gabe and panza and progress seems
• 14:44
  Speaker 4: to be made for pitman's foot um but yeah i
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: mean my point is that there could be stuff that
• 14:51
  Speaker 4: happened in the previous week's game that we maybe don't
• 14:52
  Speaker 4: know about until the wednesday first wednesday injury report came
• 14:56
  Speaker 4: out like i think we're all a little surprised when
• 14:58
  Speaker 4: pitman and troy fought not so much fought tanu because
• 15:01
  Speaker 4: he left the game for a snap against the Falcons.
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: But we're all a little surprised, I think, when Pittman
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: was on there.
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: And they could sure use Michael Pittman. I mean, he
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: had a nice impact in the first game with three catches,
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: 58 yards, I think. Last week, not being in that mix,
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: of course, put the attention back on DK Metcalf somewhere
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: that was, we knew Christian Gonzalez was going to be
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: on it regardless. But again, you can devote a lot
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: more time with your safeties or even a linebacker trying
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: to pick up DK Metcalf when he's trying to make
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: a play downfield whenever you don't have a true number
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: two wide receiver opposite side. And Michael Pittman is the
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: reason why they brought him in here. He did that
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: in the first game, and they can certainly use a
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: nice boost if they can get him back this week
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: against the Bengals.
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and he talked to some reporters yesterday in the
• 15:46
  Speaker 4: locker room. Sounded like he is feeling pretty good, but
• 15:52
  Speaker 4: that was only Monday.
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: Today is only Tuesday.
• 15:54
  Speaker 4: We'll have a much better feel for it probably Wednesday
• 15:58
  Speaker 4: and then certainly Friday.
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: By the end of the week.
• 16:01
  Speaker 4: Granted, he got downgraded on Saturday, I guess Saturday afternoon,
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: as the team was en route to New England. And yeah,
• 16:09
  Speaker 4: that'd be nice to have your full complement of pass catchers,
• 16:12
  Speaker 4: especially for an offense that is trying to bounce back,
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: to say the least.
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: And it gave an opportunity for Roman Wilson and Jeremy
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: Bernard to step up into that second and third wide
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: receiver role. Now, again, the entire passing offense did not
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: have a good day on Sunday, so it's hard to
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: pick at least those two out of that lineup, Brian,
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: and say, hey, look, they did great, or they did this,
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: or they did that. But, you know, mixed bag for
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: both of them. But, you know, there was a nice sequence,
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: and you mentioned it yesterday here on the report, when
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: Jeremy Bernard, what had three, I don't know if it
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: was consecutive, but at least on the same drive, three catches,
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: and was starting to heat up. And you can see
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: the chemistry with the rookie from Alabama starting to build
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: better each and every series, at least on Sunday, with
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: Aaron Rodgers.
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I'd say so.
• 16:56
  Speaker 4: I get the sense that he's going to be one
• 16:58
  Speaker 4: of these dependable receivers that is just going to move
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: the chains for you, and maybe there will be a
• 17:05
  Speaker 4: lot of 6 for 48 stat lines or 5 for 60,
• 17:11
  Speaker 4: but you need that in your offense, especially when you've
• 17:16
  Speaker 4: kind of got your bases covered, I think, with DK
• 17:18
  Speaker 4: Metcalf and Roman Wilson bringing speed to the equation, so
• 17:21
  Speaker 4: I like the well-roundedness, if that's a word, of Jeremy Bernard,
• 17:25
  Speaker 4: but we've all liked that really since we saw him
• 17:27
  Speaker 4: come out of Alabama and go to the Steelers in
• 17:29
  Speaker 4: the second round of the draft. It's just nice to
• 17:31
  Speaker 4: see it materialize on the field in a regular season game.
• 17:34
  Speaker 4: That of course is what we all wait for and
• 17:37
  Speaker 4: what ultimately moves the meter.
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: Seven different offensive players against the Atlanta Falcons caught one
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: pass or more in week one and week two, it
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: was eighth. So that actually ticked up as bad as
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: the passing game was. Well, look, and you know, still
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: 187 yards passing for Aaron Rogers on Sunday. Um, They
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: had eight different playmakers between running backs with Warren and Dowdle,
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: with Washington, Skoranek, Metcalf, Fryermuth, Bernard, and Wilson, as we
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: both just talked about, that caught at least one pass
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: or more. That's a good job of the Steelers spreading
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: the football around in this offense. There was a time, Brian,
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: where you'd only see one or two different offensive players,
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: maybe more like three or four, I guess I should say,
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: that were catching passes. This is now two games to
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: start the season where they've had seven or more.
• 18:21
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and I think that you'd certainly love to see
• 18:25
  Speaker 4: more of those targets connect with DK Metcalf, but I
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: also think it's a, it's not the worst thing and
• 18:30
  Speaker 4: it's kind of a healthy thing for any offense and
• 18:32
  Speaker 4: any passing game to not feel like we've got to
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: force feed the ball to one guy because he's our
• 18:37
  Speaker 4: only playmaker. I think that can really get you in
• 18:40
  Speaker 4: trouble too. I think we saw that in some years
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: past with George Pickens where he was so far ahead
• 18:46
  Speaker 4: of everybody else in terms of productivity, or at least
• 18:49
  Speaker 4: in terms of the target share and, Or at least
• 18:52
  Speaker 4: you felt going into a game where it's like he's
• 18:53
  Speaker 4: the only difference maker, really, in the pass game consistently. So,
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: you know, the more steps forward that Bernard can take
• 19:00
  Speaker 4: and hopefully we see more from Roman Wilson as well.
• 19:04
  Speaker 4: And oh, by the way, let's not forget about the
• 19:06
  Speaker 4: big tight ends, Pat Fryermuth and Darnell Washington, their contributions
• 19:10
  Speaker 4: sporadic to this point. But clearly, at least for Fryermuth,
• 19:14
  Speaker 4: more heavily involved consistently in the game plan than he
• 19:17
  Speaker 4: was a year ago.
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: Definitely a lot more, and we know he had a
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: big game against the Bengals on that Thursday night game
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: last year. That was pretty much his only game that
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: they targeted him, and he had a breakout game, if
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: you will, for the 2025 season from youth. Then he
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: kind of disappeared after that, but as we've said on
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: the show many times, none of his doing. That was
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: more of a play-calling position from Arthur Smith and the
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: offensive staff last season. Darnell Washington got a lot of
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: looks last year, but through two games, a bit quiet
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: when it comes to at least receiving the football.
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: The stiff arm wasn't quiet, obviously.
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: No.
• 19:50
  Speaker 4: The Falcons but you'd like to see more of that
• 19:52
  Speaker 4: no doubt and I think Washington when he got his
• 19:56
  Speaker 4: contract extension back in June I think it was everybody
• 20:01
  Speaker 4: was anticipating that yeah we know he's there for the
• 20:04
  Speaker 4: blocking and that's always going to be a big part
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: of his game. But yeah, I mean, you, you know,
• 20:11
  Speaker 4: that you've got a big body there who's got pretty
• 20:15
  Speaker 4: soft hands. And when he gets the ball in those
• 20:18
  Speaker 4: soft hands, he's anything but soft in the open field
• 20:21
  Speaker 4: and he can run people over. Not only is it
• 20:23
  Speaker 4: fun to watch and it makes the highlight shows and
• 20:25
  Speaker 4: it goes viral on social media, it often moves the
• 20:28
  Speaker 4: chains for the Steelers. And this team needs to move
• 20:30
  Speaker 4: the chains a little bit more than they did a
• 20:32
  Speaker 4: week ago or a lot more.
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: Keep moving them, that's for sure. Pick up those first downs.
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: All right, let's get back to our top 10 moments
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: from this past week in Patriots 20, Steelers 3. We
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: did 10 through 6 before the break, so we'll pick
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: it up here at number 5, which was, you know,
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: you had the big interception by Patrick Queen that we
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: played before the break. Well, this was the other big
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: defensive turnover that the Steelers forced against the Patriots, and
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: it happened in the first quarter. Once again, Nick Herbig
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: being part of the fun.
• 21:01
  Speaker 7: Play action pass. Rolling out to his right. Wants Stevenson
• 21:04
  Speaker 7: back in the left flat.
• 21:05
  Speaker 5: Throws it there. It's complete.
• 21:06
  Speaker 7: Shakes out of one tackle. Shakes out of another. And
• 21:09
  Speaker 7: is finally tracked down by Herbig. But the ball appears
• 21:11
  Speaker 7: to be loose. The Steelers think they have it. Stevenson
• 21:14
  Speaker 7: is a guy with fumbling issues. And the Steelers have recovered.
• 21:19
  Speaker 7: Herbig knocked it loose. And Peyton Wilson has recovered.
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: Wilson with the big fumble recovery. Brian, that was key
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: in the first quarter early because the Steelers offensively opened
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: up with a three and out. New England gets the
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: ball back. They move the ball rather quickly past midfield.
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: Hunter Henry had a big catch on that opening drive.
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: And then Nick Herbig. Forces the fumble on Stevenson. Wilson recovers.
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: Stevenson fumbled last year against the Steelers. Steelers had, what,
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: five turnovers last year up at Foxborough. They had two
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: on Sunday. Yeah, five takeaways.
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: Yeah, right.
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: They didn't turn the ball over five times. They took
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: the ball away five times. They had two on Sunday.
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: That was the first. And, of course, we had the
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: big interception later on by Queen.
• 22:00
  Speaker 4: And it looked like they were going that way again
• 22:03
  Speaker 4: after that strip of Ramondre Stevenson or that punch out
• 22:06
  Speaker 4: by Nick Herbig.
• 22:07
  Speaker 3: Patrick Graham talked about that play, too.
• 22:09
  Speaker 4: And said it was just so impressive to him because
• 22:12
  Speaker 4: all week they drilled and talked about if Stevenson gets
• 22:18
  Speaker 4: the ball in his hands, make sure you try to
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: get that out. And pretty much the first opportunity, he
• 22:30
  Speaker 4: gets it out. And that's just commitment to what they
• 22:35
  Speaker 4: discussed as a defense leading up to this week. And
• 22:37
  Speaker 4: I think for any coach, Any coach loves to see
• 22:40
  Speaker 4: a forced fumble, but you know when it's something that
• 22:44
  Speaker 4: you tried to drill into your team and then they
• 22:46
  Speaker 4: go out and do it, that is music to a
• 22:48
  Speaker 4: coach's ears.
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: Chris Boswell, Brian, had two field goal attempts in the
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: first half, and the first was towards the end of
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: the first quarter with the Patriots leading 7-0, an opportunity
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: to get the Steelers on the board. It was a
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: long field goal. The weather was not great. I'm not
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: blaming the weather, but it was a long field goal
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: that Hey, if you make it, and Boz makes a
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: lot of them, you're on the board. It's a 7-3
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: game towards the end of the first quarter, but if
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: you miss it, well, now you're giving the Patriots good
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: field position towards midfield, and unfortunately for the black and gold,
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: that is what happened.
• 23:19
  Speaker 7: Boz will try a 57-yard field goal. Snap, hold, kick
• 23:23
  Speaker 7: is on the way. That kick is up, and that
• 23:26
  Speaker 7: kick is no good. Missed it to the left, and
• 23:31
  Speaker 7: the Steelers will give the Patriots excellent field position.
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: The 57-yard field goal missed by Boz at that point
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: gave the Patriots good field position. Again, if he makes that, Brian,
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: it's a 7-3 game, but he missed it, and the
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: Patriots held that 7-0 lead.
• 23:47
  Speaker 4: 57 is 57, and I don't know if Chris Boswell
• 23:53
  Speaker 4: felt like, hey, I mishit that one or what happened. But, yeah,
• 23:58
  Speaker 4: we talked to Jim Wexel. He's not concerned with Boswell,
• 24:01
  Speaker 4: and I'm probably not at that point either yet. I
• 24:05
  Speaker 4: haven't really noticed yet around the league this year if
• 24:07
  Speaker 4: guys are still regularly striping those long 50s or even 60s,
• 24:12
  Speaker 4: but we know that it's sort of become routine in
• 24:15
  Speaker 4: the NFL, and I know former Steelers special teams coordinator
• 24:18
  Speaker 4: Danny Smith always used to say he hates the term
• 24:21
  Speaker 4: chip shot.
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: Nothing's a chip shot.
• 24:23
  Speaker 4: Because you need the operation to be smooth and clean,
• 24:25
  Speaker 4: and it minimizes the diligence of those players when you
• 24:29
  Speaker 4: just chalk it up as a freebie or a gimme,
• 24:32
  Speaker 4: but We know how good modern-day kickers are, and that's
• 24:35
  Speaker 4: why you're still kind of surprised when you see Chris
• 24:37
  Speaker 4: Boswell miss from anywhere, even if it is 57.
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: He had the distance, had the leg, just was wide
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: of the mark, and again, they give up good field position,
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: but the Steelers' defense answered the call. They kept the
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: game close. They hold the Patriots three points on that
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: next drive in the second quarter. The Steelers finally get
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: on the board down 10-0 right before halftime. Boz redeems
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: himself with this 56-yard field goal.
• 25:00
  Speaker 5: Johnson gets a snap, puts it down. Here's the boot
• 25:02
  Speaker 5: from Bozwell. That kick is up, and that kick is good.
• 25:06
  Speaker 7: The Wizard of Boz on the final play here of
• 25:10
  Speaker 7: the first half puts the Steelers on the board.
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: Do you like the Wizard of Boz nickname?
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's good with it.
• 25:17
  Speaker 6: Right?
• 25:17
  Speaker 5: Yeah, for sure.
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: It's a good one.
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: I wonder if he likes it. I don't know if
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: he's ever been asked that.
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: That sounds like a question for you at a future
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: Q & A.
• 25:24
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you leave the kickers to themselves a lot of
• 25:27
  Speaker 4: the time.
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: Don't talk to them.
• 25:29
  Speaker 4: It's like a closer in baseball.
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: Don't interfere.
• 25:31
  Speaker 3: Don't bother him. Just let him go do his job.
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: Makes sense. I get it. Well, he makes his job
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: quite a bit. Hey, look, that made it a touchdown
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: game before halftime. Brian, that was a big field goal
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: by Boz. And again, redeemed himself after missing the 56-yarder.
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: Hits the 57 before halftime. Steelers, a little bit of
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: momentum going into the halftime locker room.
• 25:50
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, they were going to take anything they
• 25:52
  Speaker 4: could get at that point, and it obviously didn't pick
• 25:56
  Speaker 4: up in the second half, but it was just good
• 25:58
  Speaker 4: to see one go through the uprights for Chris Boswell
• 26:02
  Speaker 4: because I think, is it now, you go back to
• 26:04
  Speaker 4: the Ravens, the wild card game, four in a row,
• 26:09
  Speaker 4: four consecutive games that he's missed a kick?
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: Do I have that right?
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: That sounds about right.
• 26:14
  Speaker 4: I better double check before I put any additional He
• 26:17
  Speaker 4: misses on Chris Boswell's plate.
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: Missed one against Baltimore in the finale, right?
• 26:21
  Speaker 6: Yes.
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: That was extra point, right?
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: Extra point. Texans still, you know, still kick. Texans game.
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: Was there a miss in the Texans wildcard game?
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: I think there was.
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: I'm going to pull it up just to be sure.
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: We know he missed one against the Falcons and then,
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: of course, this last week. So that's your missing link.
• 26:36
  Speaker 4: He's missed one in each of the first two games today.
• 26:40
  Speaker 4: Or excuse me, this year.
• 26:41
  Speaker 3: No, no.
• 26:42
  Speaker 4: No misses against the Texans. I guess I was just thinking.
• 26:46
  Speaker 4: That Ravens one was just sticking in my craw, but no,
• 26:48
  Speaker 4: he was a perfect two for two against Houston. And
• 26:53
  Speaker 4: as we know, Ed, they only put up six points,
• 26:56
  Speaker 4: so there were no extra point opportunities. And he put
• 26:59
  Speaker 4: in two of the 30-yard variety, I think, in that game. Yeah,
• 27:06
  Speaker 4: he had a 32 and a 35-yarder both in the
• 27:09
  Speaker 4: first half in the wildcard game.
• 27:11
  Speaker 3: So apologies to Chris Boswell. It's three out of the
• 27:13
  Speaker 3: last four games.
• 27:14
  Speaker 5: There you go.
• 27:15
  Speaker 4: And I won't even say the three consecutive regular season
• 27:18
  Speaker 4: games because you know I hate that.
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: I was going to say, Brian Bacco counts playoff games.
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: They count towards stats in the Double B playbook. And
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: I agree with you.
• 27:26
  Speaker 4: For kickers, maybe even I should include preseason because it's
• 27:29
  Speaker 4: not like your competition.
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: Level really changes. Same type of kick, right?
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: There's no pressure in the preseason, I don't think.
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: Maybe not.
• 27:38
  Speaker 4: Well, if you're kicking for your job, maybe. But Chris
• 27:40
  Speaker 4: Boswell certainly was not doing that.
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: Two more plays to get to. Here's number two, and
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: once again, it's T.J.
• 27:45
  Speaker 7: Watt.
• 27:46
  Speaker 5: May gets a snap.
• 27:47
  Speaker 7: Back to pass. Has time. Dancing into pocket. Now moves
• 27:50
  Speaker 7: out to the right, and he's taken down. Sacked by T.J.
• 27:53
  Speaker 6: Watt.
• 27:54
  Speaker 5: Back inside the 10-yard line.
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: I say T.J. Watt, Brian, again, because it's two weeks
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: in a row that he's made our top ten moments.
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: Last week being the number one moment.
• 28:04
  Speaker 5: Of course.
• 28:05
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and his torrid start to this season is really–
• 28:10
  Speaker 4: It's one of the bright spots, obviously. And the defense
• 28:13
  Speaker 4: in general is, I think, still giving people confidence and optimism.
• 28:18
  Speaker 4: But TJ, the biggest reason among that.
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: Our top moment? Well, it's not a top moment for
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: the black and gold. It's a top moment for the Patriots.
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: It put the game away in the fourth quarter.
• 28:27
  Speaker 5: Patriots will bring four as Rodgers gets a snap back.
• 28:30
  Speaker 5: Tries to slither up. Lost the football. It's behind him.
• 28:32
  Speaker 7: It's picked up by Elijah Ponder. Ponder shakes off the
• 28:35
  Speaker 7: tackle and goes in for the Patriots score.
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: Ponder from 19 yards out. There were still 1337 left
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: in the game, Brian, but the game was pretty much
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: over at that point.
• 28:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I've got nothing else to add on that 20.
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: 20 to three.
• 28:51
  Speaker 3: I really don't.
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: 20 to three. And, you know, again, you had a
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: whole fourth quarter.
• 28:55
  Speaker 3: It was a nice play by Barmore. I'll give him that.
• 28:58
  Speaker 5: There you go.
• 28:58
  Speaker 4: My cap picture. Perfect punch out. We give Nick Herbig
• 29:01
  Speaker 4: the credit. We give credit when he does those and
• 29:04
  Speaker 4: got to got to remember the.
• 29:05
  Speaker 3: Other guys get paid to.
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: That's exactly it. That puts it away. That was our
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: top moment from this past week, and that officially puts
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: away the Patriots-Steelers. Thank goodness. Now we'll start concentrating on
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: the Bengals in Week 3.
• 29:17
  Speaker 3: He's back, though.
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: I'm Troop. It is the Steelers Report right here on
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: Steelers Nation Radio, part of the Steelers Audio Network. This
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: is the.
• 29:36
  Speaker 6: Steelers Report with Brian Batko and Ed Troup on Steelers.
• 29:40
  Speaker 6: Steelers Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers Audio Network.
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: Wrapping up our number two. Before we give way to
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: our good friends Wes Shuler and Matt Williamson on SNR
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: Drive coming up here at 4 o'clock today. Double B, boy,
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: I hate to end the top ten moments here, With
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: a miss basically for the Steelers, right? I mean, it
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: was a Patriots moment. As you and I always like
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: to talk about, I always like to end with a
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: hit when we're doing our hits and misses segment, which
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: we'll do tomorrow here on the show. But when you're
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: shooting basketball in the backyard, you never want to end
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: with a miss. You always want to end with a
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: make so you can feel good about what you just did.
• 30:21
  Speaker 4: I mean, I don't know how you even really would
• 30:24
  Speaker 4: have done so. I mean, Peyton Wilson got a tackle
• 30:26
  Speaker 4: for loss on the third to last play fourth to
• 30:31
  Speaker 4: last play of the game and there were some kneel
• 30:34
  Speaker 4: downs but he also had a face mask on the following.
• 30:37
  Speaker 3: Play that did give the patriots.
• 30:39
  Speaker 4: Their final first down i suppose you could have gone
• 30:42
  Speaker 4: with uh exactly you know the jay the jaylen warren
• 30:50
  Speaker 4: 26 yard catch and run but even that a couple
• 30:53
  Speaker 4: plays later was jeremy bernard's bobble leading to.
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: The pick let's hope this week for Steelers-Bengals when we
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: do this activity next week that we can end on
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: a hit. Okay, how about that? Let's put that out there.
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: It's now time for our Renegade Review where Brian and I,
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: we do the Renegade Preview on Fridays. If you're loyal
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: to our show, you know about that fun segment that
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: we do to close out the week when we get
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: you ready for The upcoming week in the NFL. Well,
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: later in the week here on Tuesday, we'd like to
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: take a quick look back before we officially put a bow.
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: We can put a bow on the NFL for week two.
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: Maybe not the Steelers' performance against the Patriots, but the
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: NFL we can.
• 31:30
  Speaker 4: But first, Ed, a couple birthdays. A couple birthday shout-outs
• 31:33
  Speaker 4: here on September 22nd. Al Villanueva. Big Al.
• 31:38
  Speaker 3: 38 today. Former Steelers pro bowler. Left tackle. Patriot. Veteran.
• 31:45
  Speaker 4: All of that good stuff. Pretty entertaining individual as well.
• 31:50
  Speaker 4: And then current Steelers special teams assistant Darian Thompson, who
• 31:53
  Speaker 4: also played in the NFL for the Cowboys. And Mike
• 31:57
  Speaker 4: McCarthy has one of his stops. And he was a
• 32:00
  Speaker 4: safety in the league. He is 33 today. So I
• 32:04
  Speaker 4: would imagine he's one of the younger members of this
• 32:06
  Speaker 4: Steelers coaching staff.
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: Look at you.
• 32:08
  Speaker 3: Happy birthday, Darian Thompson.
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: Doing the... Good work here on the report, digging up
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: those birthdays for us.
• 32:14
  Speaker 3: We got to make that a recurring thing, a regular thing.
• 32:17
  Speaker 5: I like it.
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Got to give a shout out to some of these.
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: I always like to hear.
• 32:20
  Speaker 3: I'm sure Big Al's listening right now. Oh, absolutely.
• 32:22
  Speaker 5: Yeah, absolutely.
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: And what I like about that is I like to
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: hear the ages. Like if you were to get, you
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: should have set that up for me. Like, hey, Ed,
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: how old do you think Big Al is?
• 32:31
  Speaker 4: He's a strange one because I feel like you could
• 32:33
  Speaker 4: have been like anywhere between 30 and 45, you know?
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, because he came back and started his NFL career
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: after his military service, right?
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: I mean, he was a part of his storyline.
• 32:43
  Speaker 3: He was a late bloomer.
• 32:44
  Speaker 4: And then he actually, you know, we don't like to
• 32:46
  Speaker 4: mention this, but he did finish his career. The Baltimore
• 32:51
  Speaker 4: Ravens in 2021 played one additional season. Strange to see
• 32:56
  Speaker 4: Big Al in the purple, but that's what's up there
• 32:59
  Speaker 4: on his Wikipedia page.
• 33:01
  Speaker 3: Open source and get that changed.
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: Seriously, why do you? I mean, the majority of the
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: career spent here in Pittsburgh.
• 33:06
  Speaker 3: It was his last team. Most recent photo. He did
• 33:10
  Speaker 3: not do diligence.
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: He did not end with a make. He had he
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: ended with a miss.
• 33:14
  Speaker 3: Yeah, there you go.
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: We see we tie it all back together here on
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: the show. Brian, week two. Let's start in the AFC North.
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: The Pittsburgh Steelers opponent for this upcoming upcoming Sunday. Excuse me.
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: The Cincinnati Bengals, who defeated the Houston Texans 20 to
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: six on the road in Houston. The Browns, as we
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: already mentioned before, go into Tampa Bay and win that
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: game 23-19 this past week. And, of course, the Ravens
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: upset at home against my, yeah, I'm going to claim them, right,
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: my New Orleans Saints, who I picked to go from
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: worst to first, almost won in week one in Detroit,
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: lost in overtime. They go into Baltimore, tough place to play,
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: and they come out with a 24-17 victory.
• 33:53
  Speaker 4: You know who's, let's do a Steelers MVP check-in, Kenneth Gainwell.
• 33:59
  Speaker 4: Didn't do much week one with the Bucs in a loss.
• 34:02
  Speaker 4: Didn't do much week two with the Bucs in a loss.
• 34:06
  Speaker 4: Only 23 offensive snaps and Gainwell two carries for 10
• 34:10
  Speaker 4: yards and three catches for five yards.
• 34:15
  Speaker 6: Yikes.
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: Yikes.
• 34:16
  Speaker 4: I think the Steelers offense is anemic. You know, the
• 34:20
  Speaker 4: Bucs put up 19 points, but it ain't exactly smooth
• 34:24
  Speaker 4: sailing with getting the ball into the hands of some
• 34:26
  Speaker 4: of their playmakers, particularly one of the playmakers they acquired
• 34:30
  Speaker 4: this offseason always like kenny g so i hope better
• 34:33
  Speaker 4: days are ahead for kenny g not against the steelers
• 34:36
  Speaker 4: of course in week five yeah week five but uh
• 34:40
  Speaker 4: he did have three kickoff returns for 78 yards so
• 34:44
  Speaker 4: he's still uh he's still doing the special teams deal
• 34:46
  Speaker 4: but um not not really greener pastures just yet for
• 34:50
  Speaker 4: him down in tampa surprised by that i was gonna
• 34:53
  Speaker 4: i am yeah i mean they're they're number one running
• 34:55
  Speaker 4: back i suppose is bucky irving who's a Decent player,
• 34:59
  Speaker 4: but I don't think he's head and shoulders above Kenneth Gainwell,
• 35:02
  Speaker 4: so I don't know. I don't know what's going on
• 35:04
  Speaker 4: with Gainwell and the Bucs. It's not going to be
• 35:08
  Speaker 4: long if this keeps up before Steelers fans say, we
• 35:11
  Speaker 4: should have kept Kenny Gainwell.
• 35:13
  Speaker 6: No.
• 35:13
  Speaker 3: But Jalen Warren's still pretty good with the ball in
• 35:15
  Speaker 3: his hands.
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: And Rico's just off to a slow start. But the
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: whole running game is off to a slow start.
• 35:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's another one.
• 35:21
  Speaker 4: You know, we talked about injuries of maybe getting out
• 35:23
  Speaker 4: of that game unscathed. I probably shouldn't say that because
• 35:26
  Speaker 4: Rico Dowdle did leave with a toe injury. Return played
• 35:29
  Speaker 4: through it. So you give him credit for that. But
• 35:31
  Speaker 4: then he did leave again and did not return.
• 35:35
  Speaker 3: I don't know.
• 35:36
  Speaker 4: I'm sure toes can be tricky sometimes. You know, you
• 35:39
  Speaker 4: hear about turf toe and that can ruin a guy's season.
• 35:42
  Speaker 4: And it's always one of those like misnomers. It sounds
• 35:45
  Speaker 4: so lame. Oh, turf toe. You hurt your toe. But
• 35:49
  Speaker 4: that can really mess with your your footing and walking,
• 35:52
  Speaker 4: let alone running and sprinting and cutting. So we'll we'll,
• 35:55
  Speaker 4: I guess, get an update on Dowdle tomorrow. Obviously, the
• 35:58
  Speaker 4: best update would be full practice. And he's not even
• 36:01
  Speaker 4: on the practice report.
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: And he's a player that they need to get going, right?
• 36:04
  Speaker 4: Well, we talked a lot in the first and second
• 36:07
  Speaker 4: segment about what would help this offensive line if you
• 36:10
  Speaker 4: can get into more advantageous running down scenarios. And you
• 36:15
  Speaker 4: can't just be running Jalen Warren into a wall over
• 36:17
  Speaker 4: and over again. How about Rico Dowdle? Break some tackles
• 36:20
  Speaker 4: between the tackles. Get going downhill. Push that pile forward.
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: Get Dowdle in some open space. How about that downfield?
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: So your thoughts on the AFC North in week two?
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: Saints go on the road, defeat the Ravens. You just
• 36:31
  Speaker 2: talked about the Browns.
• 36:33
  Speaker 4: Sort of surprised by Saints-Ravens, but I guess we're prisoners
• 36:37
  Speaker 4: of the moment because I was sort of doubting them
• 36:39
  Speaker 4: a little bit coming into the season. I thought that
• 36:41
  Speaker 4: they would have a wide range of outcomes possible for
• 36:45
  Speaker 4: them in this new era with Jesse Minter and Declan
• 36:48
  Speaker 4: Doyle as the OC. They were missing Zay Flowers in
• 36:52
  Speaker 4: this game, if I'm not mistaken, Ed. And Rashad Bateman
• 36:55
  Speaker 4: had a good performance in his stead, but We know
• 36:59
  Speaker 4: that Flowers did a lot of damage in week one
• 37:01
  Speaker 4: against Indy. But that doesn't explain letting Tyler Shuck drive
• 37:06
  Speaker 4: 16 plays, 68 yards, scoring with a minute 28 left
• 37:10
  Speaker 4: with the game on the line. Might be an up
• 37:13
  Speaker 4: and down bumpy season for the Ravens as they try
• 37:16
  Speaker 4: to fit some new pieces in as well, as the Steelers,
• 37:19
  Speaker 4: of course, are doing.
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: Well, you talked about it at the top of the show,
• 37:22
  Speaker 2: Double B, about how quickly things can change from one
• 37:25
  Speaker 2: week to the other here in the NFL. And that's
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: one example.
• 37:27
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and Lamar Jackson was intercepted by Julian Blackman there
• 37:31
  Speaker 4: as he tried to lead a two-minute drill. Derrick Henry
• 37:36
  Speaker 4: bottled up 16 for 68 in the touchdown, didn't have
• 37:39
  Speaker 4: a run longer than eight yards right after he was
• 37:42
  Speaker 4: warm knife meat butter against the Colts. And yeah, I mean,
• 37:46
  Speaker 4: these coaches are the best in the world at what
• 37:48
  Speaker 4: they do. So they are going to try to come
• 37:50
  Speaker 4: up with game plans so that Derrick Henry doesn't just
• 37:53
  Speaker 4: run rough shot over every team that he sees.
• 37:56
  Speaker 3: They also watch the tape of, what he did against
• 37:58
  Speaker 3: the Colts.
• 37:59
  Speaker 4: And obviously the saints said, we're not going to let
• 38:01
  Speaker 4: that happen to us and credit the players too, for
• 38:03
  Speaker 4: going out there and executing. They must've been getting off
• 38:05
  Speaker 4: some blocks for the fact that King Henry even averaged
• 38:09
  Speaker 4: just 4.3 yards of carry.
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: Ravens one in one saints, one in one Browns, one
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: in one Buccaneers. Oh, and two Texans. Oh, and two.
• 38:17
  Speaker 2: And of course the Bengals two and oh, after two
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: weeks surprised by the Texans off with an oh, and
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: two start two tough opponents though, to start the season,
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: but they were both at home. They were both in Houston.
• 38:26
  Speaker 4: I think the biggest 0-2 surprise team is probably Tampa Bay.
• 38:30
  Speaker 4: I mean, they go down against Cincy and Cleveland in
• 38:35
  Speaker 4: the first two weeks. And they had Cincy at home. No,
• 38:38
  Speaker 4: they were in Cincy. So that was a tough road
• 38:41
  Speaker 4: game to start the season. But I don't think anybody
• 38:44
  Speaker 4: in Tampa expected them to be 0-2. I'm sure it's
• 38:49
  Speaker 4: not going great right now for Todd Bowles in terms
• 38:52
  Speaker 4: of job security. I wonder if there are any... former
• 38:56
  Speaker 4: NFL head coaches out there who could get back onto
• 38:59
  Speaker 4: the sideline.
• 39:00
  Speaker 5: Maybe you have a.
• 39:00
  Speaker 3: History with Tampa Bay.
• 39:02
  Speaker 2: Took the words out of my mouth.
• 39:03
  Speaker 3: I don't know. Just wondering.
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: Yep.
• 39:05
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 39:05
  Speaker 2: Has a history in Tampa Bay. We'll leave it at that.
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: Jaguars lose to the Broncos 20 to 13 in Denver.
• 39:13
  Speaker 2: Broncos actually were trailing in this game. They pulled out
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: what they pulled out in 2025, Brian, where they came
• 39:19
  Speaker 2: back in pretty much every game, right? That led them
• 39:21
  Speaker 2: to a AFC West title. They were trailing. They needed
• 39:24
  Speaker 2: two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to come back to
• 39:27
  Speaker 2: beat the Jags. Broncos now 1-1, Jags 1-1. in the
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: Raiders break out the Las Vegas Raiders two and oh,
• 39:34
  Speaker 2: they go in the LA and defeat the Chargers who
• 39:37
  Speaker 2: are oh and two after the first two weeks of
• 39:39
  Speaker 2: the season.
• 39:40
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I guess the Chargers might be the most surprising. Oh,
• 39:43
  Speaker 4: and two team considering they open against the Cardinals and
• 39:45
  Speaker 4: the Raiders. I take that back about Tampa Bay. The Chargers,
• 39:50
  Speaker 4: I probably would have bet a lot of money on
• 39:51
  Speaker 4: them starting 2-0, not 0-2.
• 39:54
  Speaker 3: And then the Raiders, there's zero debate.
• 39:56
  Speaker 4: They are the most surprising 2-0 team. I haven't paid
• 39:59
  Speaker 4: super close attention. I'm not even really sure how they're
• 40:02
  Speaker 4: getting it done. But shout out to Cody White with
• 40:05
  Speaker 4: a couple touchdown catches.
• 40:07
  Speaker 2: Former Steeler.
• 40:08
  Speaker 4: Former Steeler and son of Steelers. Let me get this
• 40:11
  Speaker 4: title correct. His dad, Sheldon White. Still in the Steelers'
• 40:15
  Speaker 4: front office under Omar Khan and Andy Weidel. He is
• 40:19
  Speaker 4: a senior personnel executive for the Steelers. So there was
• 40:24
  Speaker 4: one sliver of, I guess, good news for him after
• 40:29
  Speaker 4: what was not a good day for the franchise that
• 40:32
  Speaker 4: he scouts for. But at least he got to see
• 40:34
  Speaker 4: his son get a couple touchdowns and probably took a
• 40:36
  Speaker 4: little bit of the sting off of Steelers' Patriots for
• 40:39
  Speaker 4: Sheldon White.
• 40:39
  Speaker 3: Family over everything, Ed.
• 40:41
  Speaker 2: Steelers could maybe use him. Right now, with Michael Pittman down,
• 40:45
  Speaker 2: you can make that argument.
• 40:45
  Speaker 4: He was a solid workman-like player, special teams, obviously could
• 40:51
  Speaker 4: do some things as a receiver when called upon. Actually
• 40:54
  Speaker 4: caught his first touchdown last year with the Seahawks, did
• 40:57
  Speaker 4: Cody White, and I would assume that familiarity is why
• 41:00
  Speaker 4: he's now with the Raiders, where Clint Kubiak is the
• 41:03
  Speaker 4: head coach after being Seattle's O.C.
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: Chiefs over the colts on sunday night football 33 to
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: 30 the chiefs are 2 and 0 the colts are
• 41:10
  Speaker 2: 0 and 2 the colts gave the chiefs a lot
• 41:12
  Speaker 2: more than i thought they were going to on sunday
• 41:14
  Speaker 2: night brian.
• 41:15
  Speaker 4: They did they did but chiefs offense are we at
• 41:19
  Speaker 4: are we at juggernaut status yet are we going to
• 41:20
  Speaker 4: go juggernaut.
• 41:21
  Speaker 3: The chiefs and the bills we'll do our.
• 41:23
  Speaker 4: Power rankings of offense and defense yep later this week
• 41:26
  Speaker 4: which is a fun little exercise that i'm i'm now already.
• 41:29
  Speaker 3: Looking forward to each week but That's tomorrow. Oh, tomorrow, yeah.
• 41:33
  Speaker 3: So Chiefs and Bills.
• 41:34
  Speaker 2: Hits and misses tomorrow and power rankings tomorrow.
• 41:36
  Speaker 3: Awesome. I'll be ready. We'll see which one I have
• 41:39
  Speaker 3: atop my rankings.
• 41:41
  Speaker 2: Might have to be the Chiefs. Patrick Mahomes, huge game.
• 41:44
  Speaker 2: Kenneth Walker, huge game. And Travis Kelsey.
• 41:46
  Speaker 3: Travis Kelsey, yeah. Don't bury him yet.
• 41:49
  Speaker 2: Tay Swift, point to our ring.
• 41:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we all saw that photo.
• 41:52
  Speaker 2: Pointing to our ring.
• 41:53
  Speaker 3: Good for them, those crazy kids. They're still in the
• 41:56
  Speaker 3: honeymoon phase.
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: That's what I was about to say. Last night on
• 42:00
  Speaker 2: Monday Night Football, the Rams in the return of Aaron Donald.
• 42:03
  Speaker 2: Take care of business against the New York Giants, 28-6.
• 42:06
  Speaker 2: Jackson Dart goes down with an injury. He was among
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: several NFL quarterbacks over the weekend to go down.
• 42:12
  Speaker 3: Keeps happening to Jackson Dart. It's a bummer.
• 42:14
  Speaker 4: I mean, I know he plays the game somewhat recklessly,
• 42:18
  Speaker 4: as does his backfield mate Cam Scadaboo, but I don't
• 42:20
  Speaker 4: think that's really what happened last night. It was just
• 42:23
  Speaker 4: a funky thing for Dart and Jameis Winston. struggled when
• 42:27
  Speaker 4: he came in I think he got banged up too
• 42:28
  Speaker 4: but they didn't have an emergency third quarterback on the
• 42:30
  Speaker 4: roster if I'm not mistaken I thought maybe Troy Aikman
• 42:33
  Speaker 4: might come down from the booth and and try to
• 42:36
  Speaker 4: throw a couple out routes I don't know about you
• 42:38
  Speaker 4: too but Aaron Donald I felt like that story went
• 42:42
  Speaker 4: from over covered to undercover very quickly because he didn't
• 42:45
  Speaker 4: play in Australia and then I my first thought when
• 42:49
  Speaker 4: I turned the game on last night was like wait
• 42:51
  Speaker 4: is Donald playing I feel like I didn't really it
• 42:53
  Speaker 4: didn't cross my my desk, if you will, to check
• 42:57
  Speaker 4: in on that.
• 42:58
  Speaker 3: And then first play, he was in the backfield. I'm like, oh, yeah,
• 43:00
  Speaker 3: he's out there. He's playing.
• 43:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he made that big play early on.
• 43:03
  Speaker 3: Najee Harris got some run for the Giants.
• 43:06
  Speaker 5: I did.
• 43:06
  Speaker 2: I thought of you when I saw that.
• 43:07
  Speaker 4: Unfortunately for him, he got stonewalled in the backfield when
• 43:10
  Speaker 4: they gave him some close-to-goal line carries.
• 43:12
  Speaker 2: And you're a big number guy like I am. He's
• 43:14
  Speaker 2: wearing a weird number. Isn't he wearing like 14 or
• 43:17
  Speaker 2: 12 or something? Like a really odd number. Look that
• 43:20
  Speaker 2: up for me, Double B. Confirm that it's not 22.
• 43:22
  Speaker 4: I'm sure that Cam Scadaboo... fantasy managers were not happy
• 43:26
  Speaker 4: to see.
• 43:26
  Speaker 3: No, it's 23.
• 43:27
  Speaker 4: He's out there in 23. It's not 22 anymore, but
• 43:30
  Speaker 4: only one number off.
• 43:33
  Speaker 2: Try like 12. That's the type of show it's been
• 43:35
  Speaker 2: here for me so far today. That is a look
• 43:38
  Speaker 2: at our quick Renegade review in and around the AFC
• 43:42
  Speaker 2: and a little bit of NFC there at the end
• 43:45
  Speaker 2: as well. And again, we will do our Renegade preview
• 43:47
  Speaker 2: at the tell end of the week as well as
• 43:49
  Speaker 2: give you our pick for Steelers-Bengals, but that's not until Friday.
• 43:53
  Speaker 2: Coming up on the show tomorrow, we already teased it.
• 43:55
  Speaker 2: Just to remind you, we will have our hits and
• 43:57
  Speaker 2: misses as well as our power rankings, top five offenses
• 44:00
  Speaker 2: in the NFL and our top five defenses as well.
• 44:04
  Speaker 2: Wes Euler, Matt Williamson, up next on SNR's The Drive,
• 44:08
  Speaker 2: right here on Steelers Nation Radio, part of the Steelers
• 44:11
  Speaker 2: Audio Network.