Latest / In the Locker Room presented by Neighborhood Ford Store (Pittsburgh Steelers) / Hour 2: More Browns Previewing

Transcript

Hour 2: More Browns Previewing · In the Locker Room presented by Neighborhood Ford Store (Pittsburgh Steelers)

0:03
Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
0:07
Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio, brought to you
0:10
Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
0:13
Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
0:18
Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store, the F-150 is the
0:22
Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
0:26
Speaker 2: And that sound can only mean one thing.
0:29
Speaker 3: The cool breeze that, first of all, takes that slight
0:32
Speaker 3: draw of Jerry Dulac's back to the flag, nestling it
0:35
Speaker 3: within three feet for a short birdie putt for our
0:38
Speaker 3: man Jerry Dulac, who was brought to you by Frank B.
0:42
Speaker 3: Fuhrer Wholesale, who joins us now on just a beautiful
0:46
Speaker 3: day here in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Would be a good day
0:49
Speaker 3: for golf, Jer, but we got this football thing going on.
0:54
Speaker 4: Yeah, Rob, sadly, that is true, and it's days like
0:57
Speaker 4: this where I think, yeah, I might prefer being out
1:00
Speaker 4: on the golf course, but, oh, well, things to do,
1:03
Speaker 4: and that's the way it goes.
1:04
Speaker 3: What did Mike McCarthy have to say? Anything of note
1:08
Speaker 3: prior to practice today?
1:10
Speaker 5: No, not really.
1:12
Speaker 4: You know, he has a lot of, and I'm not
1:14
Speaker 4: being critical, it's just a lot of the coach speak
1:16
Speaker 4: going on, gives you a lot of an answer, but
1:20
Speaker 4: nothing ever terribly revealing, but he did say, that he
1:24
Speaker 4: didn't think any of the IR guys have injuries that
1:30
Speaker 4: are going to keep them on there for extended periods
1:33
Speaker 4: of time, which is good news, which, of course, also
1:38
Speaker 4: goes to the people who want them to trade for
1:42
Speaker 4: a wide receiver before the deadline, which is November 10th. Um, look,
1:47
Speaker 4: they're going to get three of those five guys back.
1:51
Speaker 4: When I say five guys, three of their top five
1:53
Speaker 4: receivers who are out, um, they will be back. Um,
1:58
Speaker 4: and the other thing too is, um, they got a
2:02
Speaker 4: lot of money invested at wide receiver. You really think
2:04
Speaker 4: they're going to go out and pick up a top
2:06
Speaker 4: flight guy. And I will remind everybody. And I dare
2:09
Speaker 4: them name me the last time they made a move
2:12
Speaker 4: like that later in the season. where they brought in
2:15
Speaker 4: a top-notch guy, even if there was an injury. And
2:18
Speaker 4: that's the only way they would make any kind of
2:20
Speaker 4: move is if there was a significant injury that would
2:23
Speaker 4: knock a guy out for the season. That's not their style.
2:26
Speaker 4: It's not their MO. And they just don't do it,
2:30
Speaker 4: and I don't see it happening.
2:31
Speaker 3: Just to follow up on that, Jerry, before the guys
2:33
Speaker 3: jump in, Roman Wilson would be eligible to come back,
2:37
Speaker 3: I believe, against the Bengals. Ben Skoranek could be this week.
2:43
Speaker 3: If I'm not mistaken, it could be back. And I
2:47
Speaker 3: think another week or two for Pittman. So the word
2:50
Speaker 3: seems to be that maybe all these guys back soon.
2:55
Speaker 3: And like you said, that obviates the need to go
2:56
Speaker 3: out and get somebody else. But is that time frame
2:58
Speaker 3: about right for those guys?
3:00
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's about right. Without saying for sure, that was it.
3:03
Speaker 4: But basically speaking, Derek Harmon's the same way.
3:06
Speaker 6: After the bye.
3:07
Speaker 2: Perfect.
3:08
Speaker 4: You know, so, yeah, they're going to get those guys back.
3:12
Speaker 4: I think the only concern is, and I, and I'm saying,
3:17
Speaker 4: I'm not saying that they feel this right now, but
3:20
Speaker 4: you know, Michael Pittman has had, you know, a couple
3:23
Speaker 4: injuries that have kept him out going back to training camp.
3:27
Speaker 4: And you just don't want that to see, you know,
3:29
Speaker 4: have some lingering or even new injuries occurring because so
3:34
Speaker 4: far he's been kind of star crossed with that.
3:36
Speaker 6: And you hope that's not the case.
3:38
Speaker 3: Right.
3:40
Speaker 7: Yeah, and, Jer, so thank you for dousing the water
3:44
Speaker 7: on the people that were thinking, oh, Joshua Downs.
3:47
Speaker 8: Like, we don't need another Colts receiver.
3:49
Speaker 7: We don't need another Colts receiver. As we look at
3:54
Speaker 7: kind of this Browns matchup, right, and where, you know,
3:58
Speaker 7: there's been a lot of testy barking from the guys
4:05
Speaker 7: over there in Cleveland just west of us. uh just
4:08
Speaker 7: looking at this game and thinking that you know they've.
4:11
Speaker 8: Kind of arrived and you know kind of what.
4:14
Speaker 7: Are the thoughts a lot has that cannon fodder gotten
4:16
Speaker 7: to the Steelers locker room yet as far as about
4:19
Speaker 7: what maybe some of the comments of Jared Verse and
4:21
Speaker 7: some other people uh getting ready for this matchup in
4:25
Speaker 7: advance of Sunday.
4:27
Speaker 4: Yeah I think uh I think uh Max that um
4:31
Speaker 4: The Steeler players are almost bemused by that kind of talk.
4:36
Speaker 4: You know, here they are at 5-2. You know, I
4:40
Speaker 4: went back and looked. This is only the fourth time
4:44
Speaker 4: since 1994 where this game, this far into the season,
4:50
Speaker 4: is either for, like, first place or a playoff spot.
4:54
Speaker 4: So it's not something that happens very frequently, obviously, for
4:57
Speaker 4: the Browns. They haven't won here on a regular season,
5:00
Speaker 4: as you know, in 22 years. They haven't swept the
5:03
Speaker 4: Steelers since 1988. So the numbers and history are certainly
5:08
Speaker 4: aren't on their side. So all of a sudden, when
5:11
Speaker 4: you get guys crowing, you know, I think the Steeler
5:14
Speaker 4: players just kind of, you know, quietly roll their eyes
5:17
Speaker 4: and snicker a little bit. So, you know, that's probably
5:21
Speaker 4: that's the bravado of a team that feels, you know,
5:25
Speaker 4: we've arrived here. And we've seen that before with past
5:29
Speaker 4: Bengals teams only to get, you know, only to get
5:33
Speaker 4: beaten and defeated and eliminated by the Steelers.
5:36
Speaker 6: So, but I will.
5:38
Speaker 4: Say this, all five of the Browns wins have come
5:41
Speaker 4: with comeback drives in the fourth quarter. So you have
5:45
Speaker 4: to give them their due. That shows resolve and resiliency.
5:49
Speaker 4: Their defense without Myles Garrett. And with Jim Schwartz gone,
5:53
Speaker 4: you know, the acclaimed defensive guru is actually better now
5:56
Speaker 4: without those two than it was last year. So they're
6:00
Speaker 4: obviously doing some things right, and that includes Deshaun Watson.
6:04
Speaker 4: And so they are playing well. But, you know, we'll see.
6:08
Speaker 4: We'll see Sunday. I don't expect to have happen what
6:13
Speaker 4: we saw in Cleveland four weeks ago.
6:17
Speaker 6: I think it's safe to say, Jared, that one thing
6:19
Speaker 6: that the Steelers were able to do last week defensively
6:22
Speaker 6: was be able to play fast. I was telling the
6:27
Speaker 6: guys that the keys to this game was not just
6:31
Speaker 6: being able to schematically show up and be efficient, but
6:34
Speaker 6: also be the more physical outfit, right? Because I think
6:38
Speaker 6: if you watch what happened the last showdown, Brown-Steelers, I
6:42
Speaker 6: thought the Browns defensive line with their movement and their
6:45
Speaker 6: style of play, which is more physical, and we struggle
6:48
Speaker 6: with their movement. When you look at their defensive line,
6:51
Speaker 6: I know you mentioned who they are currently, but you
6:56
Speaker 6: know they're going to be honing in on stopping Jalen Warren.
6:59
Speaker 6: What other things can the Steelers do to combat what
7:02
Speaker 6: the Browns are going to try to do, and how
7:03
Speaker 6: can their Steeler offense open up a little bit more?
7:07
Speaker 4: Well, Willie, first off, what you said about playing with speed,
7:11
Speaker 4: I couldn't agree with you more. You know, watching the game,
7:15
Speaker 4: and even surprisingly to me, Sunday night when I was
7:19
Speaker 4: back in the hotel room, French TV had the replay
7:23
Speaker 4: of the game. And I was– it just jumped out
7:28
Speaker 4: at me both times, the speed with which the Steelers
7:32
Speaker 4: played on defense. They played with playoff speed, and in
7:37
Speaker 4: particular the two inside linebackers. They were flying all over
7:41
Speaker 4: the field, Patrick Queen– and Peyton Wilson. And, and so
7:45
Speaker 4: their aggressiveness and energy on defense has stood out to me.
7:49
Speaker 4: I think it's, it might seem like a small thing,
7:52
Speaker 4: but they've closed out each of the past two games
7:55
Speaker 4: with a sack Jalen Ramsey against Tampa. And then of course,
7:59
Speaker 4: Patrick queen, you know, in, in, in France and those teams,
8:04
Speaker 4: both teams never got the ball back again. So those were,
8:07
Speaker 4: you know, I don't think those moments are to be
8:10
Speaker 4: dismissed and it goes, it speaks to their aggressive mindset,
8:14
Speaker 4: which I don't think was, you know, especially evident in
8:18
Speaker 4: the previous three to four games.
8:20
Speaker 5: And, and, and that is, that.
8:22
Speaker 4: Has jumped out to me as to your other point.
8:26
Speaker 4: You know, we saw, you know, we saw Tampa try
8:29
Speaker 4: to take away and do a decent job on Jalen Warren.
8:33
Speaker 4: And I'm sure the saints wanted to do the same,
8:35
Speaker 4: but I think the key there is, was that little
8:38
Speaker 4: extra dose now of Rico Dotto. You know, we saw
8:41
Speaker 4: the one-two punch that Mike McCarthy has talked about all year.
8:45
Speaker 4: It's why they brought in Rico Dotto. And, man, it
8:48
Speaker 4: couldn't have worked any better than it did, you know,
8:52
Speaker 4: in Paris. So I think, you know, we saw a
8:56
Speaker 4: lot of those swing.
8:57
Speaker 6: Passes, check downs.
8:58
Speaker 4: But it gave the Steelers, it gave Aaron Rodgers another
9:01
Speaker 4: weapon to utilize in And so if they're going to
9:04
Speaker 4: focus on Jalen Warren, which, you know, all these teams
9:07
Speaker 4: are now, at least it gives them another alternative.
9:11
Speaker 6: With Rico Donald.
9:13
Speaker 4: And I don't think you'll see them deviate a whole
9:17
Speaker 4: lot because they don't have the wide receiver options that
9:21
Speaker 4: they would, you know, that they would prefer if they
9:23
Speaker 4: had Roman Wilson speed. And of course, Michael Pittman Jr.
9:27
Speaker 3: Well, it's a good, you bring up a lot of
9:29
Speaker 3: good points there. And, you know, Utilizing Spencer Anderson. One
9:32
Speaker 3: of the things Mike McCarthy said at his introductory press conference, Jerry,
9:37
Speaker 3: he said, hey, look, I got a good roster and
9:39
Speaker 3: I'm going to tailor what I do to my roster.
9:42
Speaker 3: Of course, a lot of people are going to look
9:44
Speaker 3: back at what he did and say, well, he played
9:46
Speaker 3: 11 personnel at such and such a percentage and all
9:48
Speaker 3: this other stuff. I think he's shown, and Patrick Graham,
9:53
Speaker 3: some adaptability here.
9:56
Speaker 2: The ability to.
9:56
Speaker 3: Change, the ability to structure what you're going to do
9:59
Speaker 3: and try to do with the personnel that you have
10:02
Speaker 3: and right now you don't have as you just mentioned
10:06
Speaker 3: at the top of this thing uh three of your
10:08
Speaker 3: top wide receivers but you do have a guy like
10:11
Speaker 3: Spencer Anderson that you can bring into a game and
10:14
Speaker 3: utilize and and he's been able to do that a
10:16
Speaker 3: little more Tight end usage. I like the adaptability of
10:21
Speaker 3: what the coaching staff has done with the roster that
10:23
Speaker 3: they have.
10:24
Speaker 4: You know, Rob, Max and I seem to kind of
10:27
Speaker 4: joke every week pregame that the tackle eligible has disappeared,
10:33
Speaker 4: you know, from the Steeler offense. It's not in Mike
10:35
Speaker 4: McCarthy's coaching lexicon. Good Lord, what are we going to
10:39
Speaker 4: see next? A jet sweep with... you know, with, uh, uh,
10:43
Speaker 4: Kalen Weedon or some Caden Weedon. Um, but yeah, and
10:47
Speaker 4: I was, I was glad to see that because that,
10:49
Speaker 4: that goes, uh, you know, back to wanting to emphasize
10:53
Speaker 4: the run. And so one of the other little things to, uh,
10:56
Speaker 4: you know, to Willie's question was the balance 30 to 30,
11:02
Speaker 4: 30 runs, 30 passes instead of this, uh, you know,
11:04
Speaker 4: lopsided 49 to 20 or whatever the numbers were. So
11:08
Speaker 4: I think that was a big key to the problem though,
11:12
Speaker 4: is there has been their inability, uh, you know, slash
11:16
Speaker 4: inconsistency to convert some of these drives that are going on.
11:20
Speaker 4: They had 250 yards at halftime and they only had
11:23
Speaker 4: 13 points. Chris Boswell's kicked nine field goals in the
11:27
Speaker 4: last three games. He hasn't done that in a three-game
11:30
Speaker 4: stretch in two or three years. So they're going to
11:34
Speaker 4: have to do better with converting. And this is with
11:39
Speaker 4: converting third downs the last two weeks at a successful rate.
11:43
Speaker 4: And so there's just little things that are going wrong,
11:46
Speaker 4: and it's not like Aaron Rodgers is giving the ball
11:48
Speaker 4: to the other team two or three times a game.
11:51
Speaker 4: So it's a bunch of little things. I know they
11:53
Speaker 4: like the two catchwords, that I think are the most
11:58
Speaker 4: lame in football is on offense. It's lack of execution
12:02
Speaker 4: and on defense, it's lack of communication, which I think
12:05
Speaker 4: those are the two most overrated terms.
12:07
Speaker 6: In the national football league.
12:10
Speaker 4: So, but whatever, whatever it is, you're just, you know,
12:13
Speaker 4: the defense, I mean, excuse me, do you see flashes
12:16
Speaker 4: from that offense where they go up and down a
12:17
Speaker 4: field with a nice mix and you go, wow, they
12:20
Speaker 4: look pretty darn good. And then it just disappears. And so, um,
12:23
Speaker 4: I think that's, you know, when you're looking for ways that,
12:28
Speaker 4: you know, how they're going to win, you know, what
12:30
Speaker 4: they might need to do, that Browns defense is much improved.
12:34
Speaker 4: I think the offense is going to have to be
12:35
Speaker 4: a little more consistent.
12:38
Speaker 7: Yeah, and Jerry, and I think, you know, that first–
12:41
Speaker 7: remember the first drive of that Cleveland game and how
12:46
Speaker 7: dominating it was?
12:48
Speaker 8: I agree.
12:49
Speaker 7: But then, like– But then it just– everything just died
12:53
Speaker 7: after that. So, I agree with you. Being able to
12:57
Speaker 7: chew up yardage, chew up time. I mean, that was
12:59
Speaker 7: a long drive. We're like, oh, man, if this is
13:01
Speaker 7: what it's going to be, this is going to be
13:03
Speaker 7: a super quick Thursday night game, right?
13:05
Speaker 8: And then, of course, the rest of the game happened.
13:09
Speaker 4: Yeah, and the pick on the second series there, too,
13:13
Speaker 4: the deflected pass.
13:14
Speaker 8: Yeah.
13:15
Speaker 6: You know, the Steelers, you know, all.
13:17
Speaker 4: Of a sudden they get the ball again. It looks
13:18
Speaker 4: like they're going to move and go right down the field,
13:21
Speaker 4: and then that interception happens, and, man, you could just feel,
13:24
Speaker 4: I know it was early, but you could just feel
13:26
Speaker 4: the entire momentum shift at that point. I'm sorry, I
13:29
Speaker 4: didn't mean to interrupt your thought, Max.
13:31
Speaker 7: Yeah, no, no, no, and I think that's kind of
13:33
Speaker 7: where I'm going is that it takes that one thing
13:36
Speaker 7: that kind of throws them off. But I feel like
13:39
Speaker 7: this team has learned from that, that moment, right? Because
13:43
Speaker 7: I think since that game, right, we've gone on now
13:46
Speaker 7: a three-game win streak since losing to the Browns. And
13:49
Speaker 7: I feel like they found different ways to win where
13:52
Speaker 7: they feel like a more complete team than a team
13:54
Speaker 7: that was just hinging on. Every single play had to
13:58
Speaker 7: be good, and their play selection had to be perfect.
14:02
Speaker 8: Now.
14:03
Speaker 7: you see them kind of spreading it around and trying
14:05
Speaker 7: to just, Hey, whatever works is going to work. And
14:08
Speaker 7: I think putting Spencer Anderson in there kind of reminds Aaron,
14:12
Speaker 7: don't check out of the past.
14:13
Speaker 8: Don't check out of the run, like keep the pass
14:16
Speaker 8: or keep the run on. Don't check the pass. Cause
14:18
Speaker 8: you have one less receiver than you thought you had.
14:21
Speaker 5: Right.
14:22
Speaker 4: I agree with you, Max, a hundred percent. And, and
14:25
Speaker 4: one of the things too, and, and maybe this is
14:28
Speaker 4: part of it. I don't know, you know, um, And
14:31
Speaker 4: I noticed this because I don't get this opportunity to
14:34
Speaker 4: watch their replays on TV or the games on TV.
14:37
Speaker 4: And so what I noticed watching that game back in
14:39
Speaker 4: the hotel room, you know, with a lot of the
14:41
Speaker 4: cameras focused on Aaron Rodgers, is I cannot believe how
14:46
Speaker 4: calm that guy is in every situation. There isn't any
14:50
Speaker 4: sign of panic or worry or concern or anything. I mean,
14:55
Speaker 4: he is in complete control out there. And I think
14:59
Speaker 4: that's a big factor. And, you know, we see him, what,
15:01
Speaker 4: four or five times a game complete a pass to
15:04
Speaker 4: the ground. You know, he just throws it away or
15:06
Speaker 4: throws it out of bounds because he knows, OK, this
15:08
Speaker 4: play isn't going to work or it's not working. Let's
15:11
Speaker 4: just let's don't make a stupid play. Don't make a
15:13
Speaker 4: dumb mistake and just toss it in the ground and
15:16
Speaker 4: go play again. And so but I think that all
15:19
Speaker 4: comes with having the confidence that, you know, you're not
15:23
Speaker 4: going to panic. You know what you're doing either is
15:25
Speaker 4: working or can work. But it's those consistencies or lack
15:29
Speaker 4: of consistencies that seem to plague them. And again, it's
15:34
Speaker 4: not because of a lack of, I mean, a lot
15:36
Speaker 4: of turnovers. Sometimes penalties, sometimes the sacks. That's the one downside.
15:41
Speaker 4: Aaron Rodgers has been under a lot of pressure for
15:44
Speaker 4: the most part. He's been sacked a number of times.
15:47
Speaker 4: But all in all, I agree with you, Max. I
15:50
Speaker 4: think they feel they're playing more with I don't want
15:53
Speaker 4: to say a sense of purpose because that sounds too cliche.
15:56
Speaker 4: I should write out of the coach's playbook. But they're
15:59
Speaker 4: playing with the confidence that, okay, look, if this doesn't work,
16:04
Speaker 4: that's okay.
16:05
Speaker 6: Hold on.
16:05
Speaker 4: We'll make this work when we have to. That's also,
16:08
Speaker 4: you know, that's a quality of a great quarterback. And,
16:11
Speaker 4: of course, Aaron Rodgers is that.
16:14
Speaker 6: We're at the halfway point, Jer. How would you grade
16:17
Speaker 6: Mike McCarthy thus far if he's put a grade on him?
16:21
Speaker 4: Well, I think the winning last two games on the
16:23
Speaker 4: road really helps, you know, really they can win here.
16:28
Speaker 4: That'll be four in a row. That's six and two at,
16:31
Speaker 4: at the buy at the halfway point, basically, you know,
16:34
Speaker 4: I thought this team was an 11 win team. And
16:37
Speaker 4: so if there's six and two right now, double that,
16:39
Speaker 4: that's 12 and four. I know there's 17 games.
16:41
Speaker 6: I'm not bad at math, but.
16:44
Speaker 4: But that would, that's still, that gets them at 12 wins.
16:47
Speaker 4: And yeah, That's one more than I thought they would be.
16:51
Speaker 4: Right now, okay. I think probably one of the disappointments
16:56
Speaker 4: to people is that, again, to go back to the offense,
16:59
Speaker 4: they haven't been scoring a lot of points. After seven
17:02
Speaker 4: games last year, they scored 22 more points than this
17:06
Speaker 4: team has this year. And so I think that would
17:08
Speaker 4: surprise a lot of people because they expected a little
17:11
Speaker 4: bit more from the offense. You know, Mike McCarthy early
17:14
Speaker 4: on talked about that, bringing explosion back to the offense.
17:18
Speaker 4: And we have seen explosive plays, surprisingly, most of them
17:21
Speaker 4: by Jalen Warren, but we have seen the explosion in
17:24
Speaker 4: the offense. We just haven't seen a consistency and we
17:27
Speaker 4: haven't seen a lot of points, but they're five and two.
17:31
Speaker 4: They're tied for the top of the division. If they win,
17:34
Speaker 4: they'll be there by themselves. and that's a pretty good
17:36
Speaker 4: way to enter the buy at the halfway point.
17:38
Speaker 3: Okay, I'm told we've got to go, but just quickly, Jerry,
17:41
Speaker 3: if you can answer this quickly. You know, it's been
17:45
Speaker 3: a bit mystifying to me to hear criticism of Peyton Wilson.
17:49
Speaker 3: There's been some of Peyton Wilson and Patrick Queen. I
17:52
Speaker 3: thought Peyton Wilson had a solid season last year. I
17:54
Speaker 3: think he's having an excellent season. I think he's leveled
17:57
Speaker 3: up this year. What is the organization's perception of those guys?
18:02
Speaker 3: Is it different than some of the fan base or
18:04
Speaker 3: some of the, Some of the critics on X or
18:06
Speaker 3: whatever on social media.
18:09
Speaker 4: With that question, Rob, and it's even more so these
18:13
Speaker 4: people who want to criticize Patrick Queen. It's just astonishing
18:19
Speaker 4: to me when you watch him play. You watch him
18:21
Speaker 4: play the other day. They gave him a game ball
18:24
Speaker 4: for which game was that? I don't know if it
18:27
Speaker 4: was the Indy game or not. I mean, the guys
18:29
Speaker 4: all over the field. No, but he got a game ball.
18:33
Speaker 4: He got a game ball a couple, three weeks ago.
18:35
Speaker 4: And so this last game, 10 tackles all over the field,
18:38
Speaker 4: closes the game out with a sack. These people who
18:40
Speaker 4: want to criticize Patrick Queen, I just don't get it.
18:43
Speaker 4: And so the Steelers obviously don't share that sentiment. Yeah,
18:48
Speaker 4: he didn't play well in the game following the game
18:51
Speaker 4: ball game, and I'm losing track of which one it was.
18:53
Speaker 4: But if that's the case, okay, he had a bad game.
18:58
Speaker 4: Maybe that was the Thursday. Maybe that was the game.
19:00
Speaker 2: I think it was the Thursday game where he struggled
19:01
Speaker 2: with tackles. Yep.
19:03
Speaker 6: Yes. Yes.
19:04
Speaker 4: But he has obviously one bad game and he's come
19:06
Speaker 4: back with some very good ones. That combo the other
19:09
Speaker 4: day of those two is as good as inside linebacker
19:12
Speaker 4: play as you're going to see. It's as good as
19:14
Speaker 4: I've seen from those two combined, uh, maybe since they've
19:18
Speaker 4: been here. But, uh, I, I just think, I think, um,
19:22
Speaker 4: you know, Peyton Wilson, I, um, I'm hesitant to say,
19:25
Speaker 4: I think he's a star in the making. He's very good.
19:27
Speaker 4: This is a big guy who can run, who is
19:30
Speaker 4: extremely athletic and, uh, I think his best days are
19:34
Speaker 4: even ahead of him.
19:35
Speaker 2: Jerry Dulac brought to you by Frank B.
19:37
Speaker 3: Fuhrer Wholesale. Thank you for breezing into the locker room.
19:41
Speaker 3: Always a pleasure to have you on, Jerry.
19:44
Speaker 5: All right, boys.
19:44
Speaker 4: Always good chatting with you. And, of course, I'll see
19:47
Speaker 4: you at the ball yard on Sunday.
19:48
Speaker 2: You got it.
19:49
Speaker 8: Stick around.
19:50
Speaker 2: Much more analysis to come.
19:51
Speaker 3: Also, we are going to be joined by Andrew Siciliano,
19:54
Speaker 3: the play-by-play man of the Cleveland Browns. We continue in
19:56
Speaker 3: the locker room here on the Steelers Audio Network.
20:04
Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
20:08
Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio. Brought to you
20:11
Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
20:15
Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
20:19
Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
20:23
Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
20:34
Speaker 7: Power two-thirds hour is now officially underway. We thank the
20:44
Speaker 7: great Jerry Dulac, and we also give Jerry his own due, especially.
20:48
Speaker 8: When he comes on top of the hour.
20:50
Speaker 7: But it is still the power hour, hour number two
20:53
Speaker 7: here inside the locker room.
20:55
Speaker 4: And.
20:57
Speaker 7: I guess we got, what, Andrew Siciliano still up later.
21:01
Speaker 8: For last second, right?
21:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, about 12 minutes, 10, 12 minutes max.
21:05
Speaker 8: Yeah.
21:06
Speaker 7: So this is a little shorter segment here as we
21:11
Speaker 7: prepare for the opposition, the ops, so to speak, to
21:14
Speaker 7: come on.
21:14
Speaker 3: Oh, yeah, we want to give him his due and
21:16
Speaker 3: get the Browns perspective from him.
21:20
Speaker 2: You know, I think as we talk to Jerry– We
21:23
Speaker 2: kicked around a little bit. It's out there. It's always
21:26
Speaker 2: kind of a fun topic. It is trading season.
21:28
Speaker 3: We've seen some big trades already happening with the Colts
21:31
Speaker 3: and Titans in particular, peeling off some of their veteran players.
21:34
Speaker 3: But I've got to say, Max, really encouraged to hear
21:38
Speaker 3: about the possibility that Roman Wilson reports yesterday he was
21:42
Speaker 3: playing catch without his bandage on, the dislocated finger, and
21:48
Speaker 3: that Ben Skoranek was out there That's two-thirds of your
21:52
Speaker 3: receiving core that's been missing. Big parts of your game.
21:55
Speaker 3: Roman Wilson, I think, at this stage of the game,
21:57
Speaker 3: might be your best man-beater. And that's been an issue.
22:01
Speaker 3: Good to have those guys on the horizon, and maybe
22:04
Speaker 3: the most encouraging bit of news that we heard from Jerry.
22:08
Speaker 7: No, it was good to hear, and that also, like
22:11
Speaker 7: I said, it cools down the waters of everybody bubbling
22:16
Speaker 7: about going out and getting another receiver.
22:18
Speaker 8: Right. Going out and trying to make a splash trade. No, no.
22:22
Speaker 7: I mean, Jerry put it best. We have a lot
22:24
Speaker 7: of money tied up in the wide receiver position. We
22:26
Speaker 7: don't need to go get additional guys and tie up
22:30
Speaker 7: even more money in that position group. And like you said,
22:34
Speaker 7: getting a Roman Wilson back, allowing for that slot to
22:36
Speaker 7: kind of be a little more devastating because you need
22:40
Speaker 7: guys who can separate. That's really the biggest thing, finding
22:43
Speaker 7: guys who can separate from the opposition because we know
22:47
Speaker 7: this Browns team is going to play a lot of man.
22:49
Speaker 7: So you need some man beaters out there. And that's
22:53
Speaker 7: where I think, you know, it's very promising to hear.
22:56
Speaker 7: Now we'll see as the participation continues to ramp up,
23:01
Speaker 7: not only for today but also for tomorrow, to see, okay,
23:05
Speaker 7: can we get guys, because normally by Friday you know who's.
23:08
Speaker 8: Going to be available and who's not going to be
23:10
Speaker 8: available coming to the game on Sunday.
23:12
Speaker 3: You know, Willie, the expression necessity is the mother of invention.
23:18
Speaker 3: You know, the fact that the Steelers have now used
23:22
Speaker 3: tight ends more than perhaps Mike McCarthy used in the past,
23:27
Speaker 3: the fact that this jumbo, I'm just talking about the
23:29
Speaker 3: offense here, this jumbo package, which is not something that's
23:33
Speaker 3: normally been associated with him, has been put to use.
23:36
Speaker 3: I mean, these are things, when you're finding out these
23:38
Speaker 3: are successful, whether they play a larger role or whether
23:42
Speaker 3: you can bring them back on a game plan basis
23:45
Speaker 3: depending upon the opponent, Do you.
23:47
Speaker 2: Want these guys to be hurt?
23:49
Speaker 8: No.
23:49
Speaker 2: You'd like to be able.
23:50
Speaker 3: To integrate these elements at your own pace if you
23:54
Speaker 3: even want to. But the fact that you've had to
23:57
Speaker 3: and had success with it, I think it's a really
24:01
Speaker 3: good thing for the Steelers.
24:03
Speaker 6: Yeah. Listen, I think the goal for the Steelers moving forward,
24:08
Speaker 6: especially with the uses of our tight ends, and you
24:10
Speaker 6: talk about the jumbo packages, we have to just be,
24:13
Speaker 6: at this standpoint... at this juncture in the season, we
24:16
Speaker 6: just have to, and Jerry kind of alluded to it,
24:19
Speaker 6: we have to just be more explosive consistently with what
24:22
Speaker 6: we have right now. We know what Jalen Warren can do.
24:25
Speaker 6: We know DK is our over-the-top deep threat. Vermont Washington, Fairmuth, Tunyon,
24:32
Speaker 6: like those guys, man, should eat in between the 20s.
24:36
Speaker 6: You know Aaron Rodgers doesn't struggle to throw the ball
24:39
Speaker 6: in the middle of the field. But we have to
24:41
Speaker 6: do a better job not allowing our Titans to be
24:44
Speaker 6: red zone threats, man. When you got Mount Washington right
24:47
Speaker 6: now and you understand what he can do once he's
24:49
Speaker 6: stretching the seams and how much Fairmo can be that
24:53
Speaker 6: guy in the intermediate routes, you know, it's about leverage, mismatches,
24:59
Speaker 6: and we got to exploit those. And so I'm interested
25:02
Speaker 6: to see how does this offense continue to grow because
25:06
Speaker 6: if we can get this offense to produce things, you know,
25:10
Speaker 6: 24 to 26, 20 points in the game. And now
25:12
Speaker 6: we're a different team. So we just have to continue to, one,
25:16
Speaker 6: execute in the red zone, two, be more explosive in
25:18
Speaker 6: between the 20s, and not rely on Boswell so much,
25:21
Speaker 6: and continue to build on our identity with Jalen Warren.
25:24
Speaker 6: Now that Rico Dotto seems to be healthy. But I'm
25:30
Speaker 6: going to say this, and I'm going to say this again.
25:33
Speaker 6: This game is all about our offensive line. And I
25:36
Speaker 6: don't mean to be redundant. I don't mean to keep
25:37
Speaker 6: pounding them. the drum with this, they have to play
25:40
Speaker 6: big in this game. If our office line comes to
25:42
Speaker 6: play and owns the line of scrimmage and really puts
25:46
Speaker 6: up a legit fight, because think about it. There's reports
25:49
Speaker 6: right now that the Browns, Max, I don't know if
25:51
Speaker 6: you heard this or not, the Browns have been playing
25:53
Speaker 6: renegade in practice as a buildup to this game. So
26:00
Speaker 6: this is a legit, like they're going into this week
26:03
Speaker 6: understanding that this game is going to be played in
26:06
Speaker 6: the trenches. They want to dominate the trenches, considering that
26:09
Speaker 6: they already have data and tape on how they handled
26:11
Speaker 6: the Steelers in the trenches last time they played the Steelers.
26:14
Speaker 6: So when you have Jared Verse coming out and said
26:16
Speaker 6: what he's already said, when you have the Browns defensive
26:21
Speaker 6: line feeling like they can own this young offensive line
26:24
Speaker 6: and the Steelers, collectively this five has to show up, man,
26:29
Speaker 6: from an emotional standpoint, from a physical standpoint. And from
26:32
Speaker 6: a flat-out, like, man, we've never been bullied. It's not
26:35
Speaker 6: in the stiller DNA. We're the bullies. And so I can't–
26:40
Speaker 6: you know, we can talk about all the answer things, man,
26:43
Speaker 6: but it's the stiller line that has to play one
26:46
Speaker 6: of their biggest games of the season collectively. When they were–
26:51
Speaker 6: we saw that they– well, we know they have it
26:53
Speaker 6: in them, right? We saw how they responded against the Bengals.
26:55
Speaker 6: So we know they can play some big-time football. But
26:57
Speaker 6: this is a game where the Browns feel like they–
27:01
Speaker 6: they've had your lunch, right? Now it's time to go
27:03
Speaker 6: get your lunch money back. And that right there, I
27:07
Speaker 6: was just like, yeah, this is going to be one
27:08
Speaker 6: of them gritty AFC North, you know, tell the family
27:12
Speaker 6: to stay home, right, because this won't be a kid-friendly game.
27:16
Speaker 6: So I hope the Steelers bring that type of energy.
27:21
Speaker 3: You know, Max, this playing the Renegade, so you want
27:27
Speaker 3: to say, is that just good preparation? Is it a
27:30
Speaker 3: sign that maybe the Steelers are in their heads, or
27:33
Speaker 3: is it just good preparation and here we go?
27:37
Speaker 8: Listen, guys.
27:38
Speaker 2: Max is wrapping up his watch.
27:42
Speaker 8: Willie, Willie, it's time. It's time. The pre-reps coming out, okay?
27:47
Speaker 8: All right. You got me.
27:48
Speaker 2: You got me.
27:50
Speaker 8: All right.
27:50
Speaker 2: I'm ready to kick it.
27:52
Speaker 6: I would be like Tom Cole and King Buck there.
27:54
Speaker 6: I would be like Tom Cole. I would be like
27:58
Speaker 6: just the glass bearing up the glass.
28:01
Speaker 7: Yeah, I'm like, listen, just cue up in the air tonight, right?
28:05
Speaker 7: Let's just put us in a dark room and let's
28:07
Speaker 7: just get to the night before the game. Like that's
28:09
Speaker 7: what this is in that moment. And, yeah, I'm happy
28:16
Speaker 7: that the Browns feel this way because this is their
28:17
Speaker 7: Super Bowl. This is their penultimate moment. They're trying to
28:22
Speaker 7: exercise demons, and Jerry talked about it. The last sweep
28:25
Speaker 7: was 1988. The last time they won here, 2003. So
28:31
Speaker 7: for them, this is the biggest monkey to get off
28:34
Speaker 7: their back, and the Steelers are playing with house money.
28:36
Speaker 8: All the Steelers have to do is go out there
28:38
Speaker 8: and play.
28:39
Speaker 7: Their backsides will be super tight, whereas the Steelers will
28:45
Speaker 7: play loose, And I think that's where it gets because
28:48
Speaker 7: they're making this more than just the next game. They're
28:51
Speaker 7: making it the game. And that's, and that, and that's
28:55
Speaker 7: when that's your ass, Mr. Postman, as they say back
28:57
Speaker 7: in the day, because that's what you have to be
29:00
Speaker 7: able to do. You have to be able to treat
29:02
Speaker 7: this as a game and a silo. It's just a game,
29:05
Speaker 7: but the Browns are taking this very seriously. And yes,
29:09
Speaker 7: they have every right. Like you said, they got it
29:11
Speaker 7: on tape, but to make it even more, man, that
29:15
Speaker 7: makes me excited. And like you said, I wish I
29:17
Speaker 7: could be on this offensive line. I wish I could
29:21
Speaker 7: run out that tunnel one more time for this game because,
29:26
Speaker 7: like I said before, buttholes and elbows.
29:28
Speaker 8: That's all we need. This is a grit game. This
29:31
Speaker 8: is old school. We are going to.
29:33
Speaker 7: The woodshed, and we're going to figure out who's who's
29:37
Speaker 7: coming back out the other side right.
29:42
Speaker 3: Yeah it is right i mean i don't.
29:46
Speaker 6: Know can i ask a question rob before you guys
29:49
Speaker 6: get going so for two guys i know max has
29:53
Speaker 6: obviously played and you know that that doesn't need to
29:55
Speaker 6: be said but for an announcer like you when anytime
29:58
Speaker 6: there's a You've been covering the Steelers for quite some time.
30:00
Speaker 6: You're the voice of the Steelers. You're nationally known. People
30:04
Speaker 6: love the great Rob King when he's on the call.
30:07
Speaker 6: How do you get juiced up for a game like this?
30:09
Speaker 6: Do you get juiced up? Is there a point where, like,
30:12
Speaker 6: I know before the games I would hyperventilate and have
30:14
Speaker 6: to calm myself down and, you know, have to talk
30:16
Speaker 6: to Jesus and say, all right, Lord, don't let me
30:17
Speaker 6: do nothing to embarrass myself or my family while I'm
30:19
Speaker 6: out here. I'll be out there and play some football.
30:22
Speaker 6: How does a guy like you who's seen some big-time games,
30:25
Speaker 6: some big-time matchups, There's always a lot on the plate
30:28
Speaker 6: for the consumer or the viewer to digest. How do
30:32
Speaker 6: you get yourself ready for a game like this? Do
30:34
Speaker 6: you have to calm yourself down so you can do
30:37
Speaker 6: the job yourself? Everybody always asks the ball player, but
30:40
Speaker 6: nobody ever asks the guy on the call who has
30:42
Speaker 6: to really sit there through four quarters and live through
30:45
Speaker 6: the pivotal matchups.
30:47
Speaker 3: Well, it's such a great question. I'm not sure I can–
30:50
Speaker 3: I think I would need an entire show, Willie. I
30:51
Speaker 3: don't know if I can answer this in one minute.
30:54
Speaker 8: All right.
30:55
Speaker 2: Now the subject's about me. No, you know, listen, I
31:01
Speaker 2: think you can feel it.
31:03
Speaker 3: Thank you guys for laughing because other people like the
31:07
Speaker 3: last thing I ever want to see. I've been joking
31:09
Speaker 3: about this lately. You know, we get these manuscripts from
31:11
Speaker 3: coaches like here's what the coach said.
31:13
Speaker 2: The transcripts.
31:14
Speaker 6: Right.
31:14
Speaker 2: Like you had a transcript of what Rob King said.
31:17
Speaker 2: Like people.
31:18
Speaker 3: Right.
31:18
Speaker 5: What?
31:19
Speaker 3: What's this guy talking about? So thank you for laughing.
31:22
Speaker 3: Cause I don't really mean that. Um, but I do
31:25
Speaker 3: think that you feel the excitement. I think that the
31:29
Speaker 3: city feels the excitement, the city, you know, every game
31:31
Speaker 3: is special, right. And, and it's a privilege to do
31:34
Speaker 3: what I do for a living. And, and I don't,
31:36
Speaker 3: I don't make any bones about that. It's a great
31:39
Speaker 3: way to go. And yet we'll get swept up. I
31:42
Speaker 3: think most people get swept up in the excitement, just
31:44
Speaker 3: like everybody else. And just like you guys have to,
31:47
Speaker 3: you know, um, You have to maintain your proper form
31:51
Speaker 3: and know what the play is and do what you're
31:53
Speaker 3: supposed to do and all these other things. I have
31:55
Speaker 3: to do that once the game starts. But I will
31:57
Speaker 3: get excited, and you'll probably hear it in my voice
31:59
Speaker 3: this week. You'll probably hear the excitement because I'm excited.
32:03
Speaker 2: I am. You guys got me jazzed up. Not that
32:07
Speaker 2: I wouldn't have.
32:08
Speaker 3: Willie, I'm looking for the extra cup of coffee Tuesday
32:12
Speaker 3: morning after a long weekend of travel, and the first
32:14
Speaker 3: thing you're like, I don't want to talk about this weekend.
32:16
Speaker 2: I want to talk about the Browns. So we're all
32:18
Speaker 2: feeling it, and we'll feel it too.
32:20
Speaker 3: And we're going to be feeling it a little more
32:22
Speaker 3: when we talk to Andrew Siciliano. I know it's a
32:25
Speaker 3: big game in Cleveland as well. He's the fine play-by-play
32:27
Speaker 3: man for the Browns. He's going to join us when
32:29
Speaker 3: we continue in the locker room here on the Steelers
32:31
Speaker 3: Audio Network.
32:38
Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
32:42
Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio. Brought to you
32:45
Speaker 1: in part by a Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
32:49
Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
32:53
Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
32:57
Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
33:00
Speaker 5: First and goal.
33:02
Speaker 9: Design quarterback run to the left. Watson at the five.
33:04
Speaker 9: Stiff arm touchdown. The Browns take the lead. 434 to go.
33:12
Speaker 9: Deshaun Watson with a nine-yard touchdown run.
33:21
Speaker 2: Max Starks, you got us here.
33:22
Speaker 3: My friend.
33:24
Speaker 8: I absolutely do. That's right. Steelers fans, you do not
33:27
Speaker 8: have to change the dials.
33:28
Speaker 7: This is not a Browns broadcast, but we do have
33:31
Speaker 7: a Browns broadcaster on here and also my good friend
33:35
Speaker 7: from NFL Network, Andrew Siciliano joins us here inside the
33:40
Speaker 7: locker room.
33:42
Speaker 8: And we do have a segment.
33:44
Speaker 2: Let's give him a proper welcome, Max.
33:46
Speaker 8: We have to give him a proper welcome. Let's give
33:49
Speaker 8: him a proper welcome. Here we go.
33:51
Speaker 7: Here's what we do in our final segment. Gino, hit
33:54
Speaker 7: me one time. I need to hear it.
34:01
Speaker 8: There we go. That's right. The King's Decree is our
34:04
Speaker 8: final segment.
34:05
Speaker 7: But now it's now an honored guest has joined the
34:10
Speaker 7: ranks here inside the locker room. So we give you
34:12
Speaker 7: the royal trumpets as we enter into this interview.
34:17
Speaker 5: Gentlemen, I'm touched.
34:18
Speaker 2: I'm flattered.
34:18
Speaker 5: I move not only for the welcome, but to merely
34:21
Speaker 5: be in your presence.
34:24
Speaker 2: Oh, boy.
34:25
Speaker 8: Okay.
34:26
Speaker 2: Andrew, good to talk to you, my friend. Thanks very
34:28
Speaker 2: much for being with us.
34:31
Speaker 8: You know, we....
34:33
Speaker 3: I love the Max introduction of our buddy Andrew Siciliano
34:37
Speaker 3: in Cleveland. And Andrew, you know, one of the things
34:38
Speaker 3: that struck me as I thought about this game, and,
34:43
Speaker 3: you know, we talk sometimes in terms of players being
34:48
Speaker 3: traded and teams rebuilding and.
34:51
Speaker 2: What is the culture of a team. And, you know,
34:54
Speaker 2: we here in Pittsburgh are.
34:55
Speaker 3: Constantly praising the culture of the Pittsburgh Steelers and how
34:59
Speaker 3: difficult that is to change. You know, people say, oh,
35:02
Speaker 3: tear it down and, you know, be bad for a
35:04
Speaker 3: few years. Well, how does that affect the culture? You know,
35:07
Speaker 3: I'm thinking about this Cleveland Browns team and all of
35:11
Speaker 3: the young guys that you have on the team. The
35:14
Speaker 3: Browns have had two fabulous draft classes. You bring in
35:17
Speaker 3: a new head coach in Todd Munkin. You go out
35:19
Speaker 3: and you bring in other new veterans, guys like Zion
35:24
Speaker 3: Johnson and Elton Jenkins along the defensive line, Jared Burse,
35:27
Speaker 3: that don't know anything about. They've never been a part
35:30
Speaker 3: of the Cedars-Browns rivalry. It strikes me that this could
35:35
Speaker 3: be an important game for the Browns. If they win this,
35:37
Speaker 3: they haven't swept the season series since, oh, God, it's
35:40
Speaker 3: been almost 40 years. They haven't won in Pittsburgh since 2003.
35:45
Speaker 3: These guys, this could wind up, you know, yes, it's
35:48
Speaker 3: a big game still, but this could wind up being,
35:51
Speaker 3: I don't want to say defining, maybe that's too strong,
35:53
Speaker 3: but am I overselling the importance in that regard of
35:56
Speaker 3: this Brown-Steelers matchup from the Browns' perspective?
36:00
Speaker 5: No, Rob, you're not. I think all that's significant. I
36:03
Speaker 5: think it's more significant to the fans, certainly, because of
36:07
Speaker 5: the youth and, I would say, the blissful ignorance of
36:10
Speaker 5: a lot of this team. As for the culture thing, look,
36:15
Speaker 5: the last two years in winning, what is it, eight
36:18
Speaker 5: games the last two years? Or five games, I've kind
36:22
Speaker 5: of tried to block it all out. But I do
36:25
Speaker 5: remind people, and this is not, it's going to sound offensive,
36:29
Speaker 5: but I promise you it isn't. This team has made
36:31
Speaker 5: the playoffs twice this decade. This team has won a
36:34
Speaker 5: playoff game in 2020. Obviously, you guys remember that one.
36:38
Speaker 5: And I'd like to remind people that that was the
36:41
Speaker 5: most significant game in the last 20 years between these
36:45
Speaker 5: two franchises, regardless of how many times the Browns have
36:48
Speaker 5: lost in the regular season in Pittsburgh, at Heinz, or Akershire,
36:52
Speaker 5: whatever you want to call it. All of that is important.
36:55
Speaker 5: But I think leaning on the youth of this team
36:59
Speaker 5: and they don't know what they don't know, I think
37:02
Speaker 5: it is a really, really good thing. And they've nailed
37:05
Speaker 5: the last two draft classes. These two teams have split
37:09
Speaker 5: the season series six of the last seven years. And
37:13
Speaker 5: the year before that, you want to go back eight
37:15
Speaker 5: years ago, there was a tie involved. So they've generally
37:19
Speaker 5: played each other head up. and well the last two years.
37:25
Speaker 5: I mean the last seven years.
37:26
Speaker 1: Yes, I know the.
37:27
Speaker 5: Steelers have had more overall success. It is an important game,
37:31
Speaker 5: and it's truly important for the fans.
37:36
Speaker 7: Yeah, and Andrew, I think that's something that might surprise people,
37:40
Speaker 7: like you said, when you talk about the overall wins.
37:42
Speaker 7: But like you said, when it comes to division football,
37:46
Speaker 7: you kind of throw a lot of the common nomenclature
37:49
Speaker 7: out because of, The familiarity with the two teams and
37:54
Speaker 7: the familiar of these two teams playing already once within
37:57
Speaker 7: the last, you know, handful of weeks.
38:00
Speaker 8: Just kind of what do you see as.
38:02
Speaker 7: We get ready for round two of Steelers Browns and,
38:06
Speaker 7: you know, and kind of what each team you think
38:08
Speaker 7: kind of learned from the last meeting?
38:12
Speaker 5: It's a great question, Max. This is going to be
38:14
Speaker 5: the first head-to-head that we finish, like any divisional matchup,
38:18
Speaker 5: head-to-head in the 2026 season. There are a couple other
38:22
Speaker 5: ones this week, but they're later, either at 4 o'clock
38:26
Speaker 5: games or in primetime. So the Browns and the Steelers
38:28
Speaker 5: will be the first two teams that can say, we
38:30
Speaker 5: have finished our head-to-head divisional matchup in 2026. For you guys,
38:34
Speaker 5: I know a lot has changed. Obviously, Wilson and Pittman
38:36
Speaker 5: are down and Dowdle up, and notably Jeremy Bernard getting
38:42
Speaker 5: involved more. I think a lot has changed from your
38:45
Speaker 5: side of things more, say, than the Browns' side of things.
38:48
Speaker 5: The Browns are actually kind of getting healthy. Titus Howard
38:51
Speaker 5: is a bit of concern at right tackle, and if
38:52
Speaker 5: he can't go concussion protocol, then it's going to be
38:55
Speaker 5: DeJuan Jones. That is truly the big change. I think offensively,
39:00
Speaker 5: running the football. The Browns had their best game running
39:04
Speaker 5: the football last week, and a lot of that is
39:05
Speaker 5: just getting the offensive line in sync with five new pieces.
39:09
Speaker 5: So that is the notable change here, but obviously the
39:13
Speaker 5: Steelers have a top-ten defense and a top-ten run defense,
39:15
Speaker 5: and doing it against the Titans is one thing. Against
39:19
Speaker 5: a 4-3, doing it against you guys in Pittsburgh, against
39:24
Speaker 5: a two-gapping team is a heck of a lot different.
39:29
Speaker 6: Let's talk about this rivalry. I was talking to the guys.
39:34
Speaker 6: I'm a little perturbed that there's word on the street
39:37
Speaker 6: that the Browns have been playing renegade during practice. to
39:40
Speaker 6: kind of prepare them for this matchup.
39:42
Speaker 5: Come on, you guys know everybody does that. That's like
39:46
Speaker 5: playing crowd shit. It's like going silent count or playing music.
39:50
Speaker 5: It's not disrespectful. It's like, hey, let's get ready for it.
39:54
Speaker 5: This is what you're going to face.
39:58
Speaker 6: Let's talk about your defense, man. As of late, you
40:01
Speaker 6: guys have been playing pretty substantial. What's some of the
40:05
Speaker 6: bright spots that's popped out about your defense that the
40:07
Speaker 6: Steelers fans should prepare for?
40:10
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, you know, I'm just messing with you.
40:13
Speaker 6: I do think other teams have done it.
40:15
Speaker 5: Defense has played well, but the defense has had issues
40:18
Speaker 5: on the first drive. Much like the offense starts slowly,
40:20
Speaker 5: the defense has started slowly. It started slowly week four
40:25
Speaker 5: when the Steelers were in Cleveland. I know everyone wants
40:28
Speaker 5: to point out Aaron yelling at Mike and Mike yelling
40:30
Speaker 5: at Aaron and all that stuff on that opening drive.
40:33
Speaker 5: I remember the fact that they marched down the field
40:35
Speaker 5: eight half the first quarter and ended up in the
40:37
Speaker 5: end zone. and the Titans did that last week as well.
40:40
Speaker 5: Tennessee was the worst first-quarter offense in the NFL. They
40:43
Speaker 5: marched right down the field. So that is a big concern.
40:47
Speaker 5: Mike Ruttenberg has figured it out after the opening drive.
40:51
Speaker 5: Every single week, say, for week one against Jacksonville, where
40:54
Speaker 5: the entire tape should be burned and never seen again.
40:57
Speaker 5: But the Browns' defense and collectively the Browns as a
41:01
Speaker 5: whole have to find a better way to start games. Injury-wise,
41:07
Speaker 5: they're pretty healthy. Fingers crossed, they hope they get Mike
41:11
Speaker 5: Hall back this week. We haven't seen him since week
41:15
Speaker 5: four against you guys.
41:18
Speaker 3: I did want to review for Steelers fans because at
41:22
Speaker 3: the beginning of the season, we all talk about teams
41:25
Speaker 3: that we like and teams that we think are going
41:27
Speaker 3: to come back.
41:28
Speaker 2: I'd like to point out I was wrong about the Bears.
41:31
Speaker 2: I thought they were going to come back earlier.
41:34
Speaker 3: I've been right about the Browns and I think I
41:38
Speaker 3: thought the upside of the Browns was less than it
41:41
Speaker 3: appears to be, not because I didn't think the world
41:44
Speaker 3: of what they've been doing, especially over the last couple drafts,
41:46
Speaker 3: and I think copying a little bit of what the
41:49
Speaker 3: Bears did or at least mirroring it in some ways,
41:53
Speaker 3: whether they copied it on purpose, by rebuilding the offensive
41:56
Speaker 3: line through free agency. The one guy that I didn't
41:59
Speaker 3: expect to be this good and the one thing that
42:01
Speaker 3: I thought was going to hold the Browns back from
42:04
Speaker 3: being a contender was is the quarterback play. Can you
42:08
Speaker 3: talk about Deshaun Watson, who has just found a way
42:12
Speaker 3: to statistically be kind of just okay, but in the
42:15
Speaker 3: last two minutes of the first half and in the
42:18
Speaker 3: fourth quarter of games, he has been statistically the best
42:23
Speaker 3: quarterback in the NFL.
42:26
Speaker 5: Not only statistically the best quarterback in the NFL this
42:28
Speaker 5: year in the final couple of minutes, but historically with
42:31
Speaker 5: the five comebacks, it's exceedingly rare error. But like I
42:35
Speaker 5: said about starting slowly, they have to find ways to
42:40
Speaker 5: start faster and not wake up until the fourth quarter. Candidly, Rob,
42:44
Speaker 5: I think most Browns fans would be surprised as well.
42:47
Speaker 5: They're loving every minute of it, but this was not
42:50
Speaker 5: a scenario that most people envisioned was going to happen.
42:53
Speaker 5: You're certainly hopeful that it might happen, hopeful that in
42:56
Speaker 5: year five of this contract and this deal that you
43:01
Speaker 5: finally see that Sean Watson, you thought you might get
43:04
Speaker 5: when you made the trade with Houston, but no one
43:07
Speaker 5: is holding their breath. I have said like you have said.
43:11
Speaker 5: I think we all said it during the summer. Hey,
43:14
Speaker 5: they've got a lot of fun weapons on this team now.
43:17
Speaker 5: It's like the analogy I used was it's a basketball
43:20
Speaker 5: team that's got a bunch of guys that can score,
43:22
Speaker 5: but you need a distributor. You need a point guard.
43:24
Speaker 5: You need someone to get those scores, the basketball. You
43:27
Speaker 5: have Concepcion, and you have Fannin, and you have Boston,
43:30
Speaker 5: and you have Quinshot, and you have Samson. You have
43:32
Speaker 5: all these weapons, but someone's got to get them the ball,
43:34
Speaker 5: and they didn't have that. Well, now they seemingly do.
43:38
Speaker 5: And I think he's getting a little more comfortable each week.
43:42
Speaker 5: Give Todd Munkin credit as well as a play caller
43:45
Speaker 5: and give him credit for getting some of Deshaun's confidence
43:48
Speaker 5: back because I don't think he had it. I mean,
43:52
Speaker 5: even he would admit that it kind of waned and
43:56
Speaker 5: confidence is a hell of a drug. And you see
43:59
Speaker 5: that building every week.
44:02
Speaker 8: Yeah, Andrew, I think the confidence is building.
44:05
Speaker 7: I think even for the team, right, you know, you
44:07
Speaker 7: look at the five victories plus 16. So that means
44:11
Speaker 7: you're getting about a three-point victory in these very tight
44:15
Speaker 7: ballgames that come down to the end of it. And
44:18
Speaker 7: I think, you know, how do you feel that this
44:21
Speaker 7: team's responding to that? Is it like, okay, yeah, even
44:23
Speaker 7: if we're down, it doesn't matter because we know we
44:27
Speaker 7: can always come back. Do you feel like that's kind of,
44:29
Speaker 7: been the confidence builder by having so many close victories
44:33
Speaker 7: so far this season?
44:35
Speaker 5: It's a huge part of it, Max, but it's also
44:37
Speaker 5: a dangerous way to live. I think we all know that. Yeah,
44:41
Speaker 5: we all know that. No one's denying that. We came
44:44
Speaker 5: into the Tennessee game last week going, all right, this
44:48
Speaker 5: is the one. We got to prove you're the better
44:49
Speaker 5: team and just come out here and do it. And
44:52
Speaker 5: it didn't happen. They're down 14 to nothing six minutes
44:54
Speaker 5: into the game. And if Tony Pollard played the Browns
44:57
Speaker 5: every week, He'd be in Canton. I mean, last year
45:00
Speaker 5: the Titans came into Cleveland in December. In December, they
45:04
Speaker 5: were a one-win team, and Tony Pollard ran for a
45:06
Speaker 5: buck 61 against a Jim Schwartz defense that had all
45:11
Speaker 5: the swagger in the world. And Miles going for the
45:13
Speaker 5: sack record. And, you know, they were still playing lights
45:16
Speaker 5: out at that point of the season, and Tony Pollard
45:19
Speaker 5: gashed them. So you thought last week you would see
45:23
Speaker 5: the full team effort for 60 minutes. You didn't. they
45:27
Speaker 5: hope to find that game. Surprisingly, the offense, other than
45:30
Speaker 5: last week, had its best first half performance against the Steelers. So,
45:36
Speaker 5: you know, we'll see what happens this week. I just
45:39
Speaker 5: love that this game is fun. It means something. I
45:41
Speaker 5: don't know if the Steelers fans feel that way and
45:43
Speaker 5: you guys feel that way, but I think it's fun.
45:47
Speaker 5: I think it's fun to have this game mean something.
45:49
Speaker 5: Whatever happens, happens. But, like, it's, It's week eight, and
45:55
Speaker 5: it's meaningful football, and it's a division game. Like, let's go.
46:02
Speaker 6: Two-parter here. We had the great Jerry Dulac on, and
46:05
Speaker 6: I asked him the same question, but more on the
46:07
Speaker 6: Steeler side. But this is a two-parter. One, how do
46:10
Speaker 6: you feel– well, let me just clean it up. Todd Munkin,
46:15
Speaker 6: do you think he's done a just job thus far
46:17
Speaker 6: for the Cleveland Browns? Two, also, do you want Deshaun
46:20
Speaker 6: Watson back– as Brown's quarterback next year.
46:24
Speaker 5: Yeah, so the second one is the only question anyone's
46:27
Speaker 5: been asking. Is it sustainable? And, geez, what happens if
46:32
Speaker 5: he keeps playing well? It's a good problem to have.
46:35
Speaker 5: It's the same thing. Like Joe Shane. Joe Shane this
46:37
Speaker 5: week for the Giants was asked, because they're buying the
46:40
Speaker 5: GMs on the podium, hey, guys, what happens if J.J.
46:42
Speaker 5: McCarthy keeps playing well and you get Jackson Dark coming back?
46:46
Speaker 5: I know that's a very different problem, but it's a
46:48
Speaker 5: quarterback question. We're like, well, it's a good problem to have,
46:51
Speaker 5: isn't it? It means you're winning and your fans are
46:53
Speaker 5: happy and your young players are learning how to win
46:56
Speaker 5: and you're marching towards the playoffs. You'll deal with it
46:58
Speaker 5: when you deal with it. As for Todd Munkin... he's
47:00
Speaker 5: in the running for coach of the year. Um, he
47:03
Speaker 5: is Blake Whiteheart. The tight end said it really well.
47:05
Speaker 5: A couple of weeks ago, he's demanding, but not demeaning.
47:08
Speaker 5: I think we all have one of those. I don't
47:11
Speaker 5: want to say crazy uncles because he's not crazy, but
47:13
Speaker 5: one of those fun uncles who's going to coach you
47:16
Speaker 5: hard and hug you hard and hold you accountable, but
47:20
Speaker 5: love you and have fun with you. And that's kind of.
47:23
Speaker 2: Who he is.
47:24
Speaker 5: He's 60 years old. He's unapologetic. Um, he's not going
47:29
Speaker 5: to look, he got a shot at 60 and he's
47:31
Speaker 5: going to do it his way. And so far his
47:33
Speaker 5: way has, has, has really paid off. And there is a,
47:39
Speaker 5: there's joy with the fan base. Sorry, guys, we've got
47:41
Speaker 5: a siren going by. I said, I said last week,
47:48
Speaker 5: I think after the game, I said on the air, like,
47:52
Speaker 5: don't ask anymore if it's sustainable, just enjoy it. Like,
47:55
Speaker 5: you know, be where your feet are living the moment
47:57
Speaker 5: and the moments, The moments are fun right now, and
48:00
Speaker 5: Todd Munkin deserves a lion's share of that credit.
48:04
Speaker 3: Well, I think that's a great way to end it.
48:06
Speaker 3: We start it with a nice trumpet salute.
48:08
Speaker 2: We end it with a siren. We're all getting ready
48:11
Speaker 2: for Sunday, man. We can't wait.
48:14
Speaker 3: Andrew, thanks so much for being on with us and
48:16
Speaker 3: taking your time. Really appreciate it, and we look forward
48:18
Speaker 3: to seeing you on Sunday at Accresure.
48:21
Speaker 6: Absolutely.
48:22
Speaker 5: Max and Willie and Rob, it's been fun. Let's do
48:25
Speaker 5: it again. And here's to meaningful division football because I
48:31
Speaker 5: think everyone loves it.
48:32
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think we're going to get a lot of
48:34
Speaker 3: absolutely these two teams in the coming years. Andrew Ciliano
48:37
Speaker 3: has been our guest. I want to thank Jerry Dulac
48:39
Speaker 3: as well. For our producer, Gino Annamarino. Missy Matthews is
48:43
Speaker 3: going to be out with us tomorrow, by the way.
48:44
Speaker 3: For Willie Colon, Max Starks, I'm Rob King. We thank
48:47
Speaker 3: you for being with us in the locker room here
48:49
Speaker 3: on the Steelers Audio Network.