Latest / Steelers Country Weekly / Browns Recap

Transcript

Browns Recap · Steelers Country Weekly

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Today on Steelers Country Weekly, we recap the Steelers' big
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: win over the Browns this past weekend, and in light
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: of it being bye week and the midway point of
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: the season, we're going to hand out our mid-season awards.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: I'm Nick DiTullio, and as always, I'm joined by the
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: world-famous accountant Eric Vamenschoten. Eric, how's it going tonight?
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Not shabby, not shabby. Just, uh, hanging out.
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: It's Election Tuesday, so, uh, Did you do your patriotic duty?
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: I did. I didn't have to go wait in line today.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: So yes, I did. Did you?
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: I did early voting.
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: So, yeah.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: Alright.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: Let's break down everyone you voted for. Ohio's We're both
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: in some battleground states right now. If you're like me,
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: which I you're probably getting a bunch of spam texts constantly.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: So I'm just glad they're going to be over now.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah. And mail.
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: Like I don't know if it just, it feels like
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: an aggressive, a lot more mail this year, but I
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: felt like there's so much mail.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: I was like in this day and age. Yeah.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: That's that's the part that irritates me. We want to,
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: We want to talk about the environment and saving the
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: trees and everything. Well, can we stop with the paper
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: mail all the time from the politicians? That'd be a
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: good place to start.
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah, because I go straight to the recycle bin every
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: single time.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, same. We always get the mail when we pick up,
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: when our kids get off the school bus. And so
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: that's what I do while I wait for the bus
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: to show up. I'll get the mail. And like you said,
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: now it's mostly paper. junk mail from politics. So I
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: just walk it straight to the recycle bin and go
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: back to waiting for the bus. Yeah. So, yeah.
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: Well, we might be having a lot of, uh, politics
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: on the mind tonight, but the good news for us
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: is we also have the opportunity to talk about a
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: big Steelers win in what was arguably their most complete
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: game of the year so far. So, Looking back at
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: this game, the final score ended up being 27-6. And
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: I remember in the start of the game, I was
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: a little concerned because there was one point where the
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: Steelers had gone to the red zone three times and
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: they got only one touchdown out of that. They had
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: to kick two field goals. And I think on the
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: two field goals they got inside the 10, one of
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: which was at the two-yard line, and they could not
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: punch it in. So I was a little worried because
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: it felt to me like they were letting the Browns
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: hang around a little bit, but they really kicked it
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: into gear. I would say I don't think it's too
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: over the top to say that the touchdown right before
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: halftime was the kill shot based on what was at
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: stake and what they ended up doing, but let's take
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: it back to the beginning. The Steelers had, uh, they
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: forced two fumbles on the first two drives from the Browns. Uh,
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: there was a, I think kind of a, a ticky
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: tacky roughing the passer call, um, that even the rules expert,
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: Gene Steratore said, I don't think I would have called that,
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: but I understand when we protect the quarterback. Again, we're
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: talking about politics. It was a very political answer. He
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: didn't just come out. He didn't want to come out
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: and say, yeah, I would not have made that call.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: He basically said everything he could without being that forthright.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: But really, I said it at the top, this was
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: the most complete game that the Steelers have had so far.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: They had those turnovers. They got to Deshaun Watson eight
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: times and sacked him eight times. They had Over 200
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: rushing yards. They had three rushing touchdowns. Jalen Warren, on
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: his birthday, had 143 yards. 143 rushing yards. And again,
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: final score was a 21-point victory. The Browns did not
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: score a touchdown. The Steelers basically imposed their will. And
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: to reiterate, this could have been a much uglier game, too, had.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: Had they converted those red zone possessions that we discussed earlier.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: We can talk about whatever we want to as we
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: keep looking at this game, but Eric, I'll turn it
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: over to you here for a bit. When you look
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: back on Sunday's performance, what are some of the things
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: that stand out to you?
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: Well, I'll be honest.
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: I had a family obligation to go out And, you know,
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: I don't get to choose where we're going to go,
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: but the place we were going to go was not.
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: A sports bar, but had a lot of TVs.
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: And, like, they even had lights and smoke machine when
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: the Bengals scored. With that being said, there was about
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: 15 TVs in my eyeline, and zero.
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: Of them had anything other than the Bengals game on. So, I....
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: Was really let down that they wouldn't have like one TV. Um,
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: you know, I, every once in a while I would
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: try to sneak away, you know, like.
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: Go watch the game, go watch the recap or look
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: at my phone. But unfortunately I was not able to
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: watch much of it. Um, but at the same.
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: Time, the thing that I, I kind of drew from
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: it and I loved it was just the nastiness.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: Um, in the intensity of it, right?
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: Like, Vers was talking to, you know, Smack, and he
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: didn't even play that well in the first game, but
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: he said that he had dirty hits and stuff.
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: Well, you know, they might have been dirty, honestly, but.
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: I love what Mason McCormick did.
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: There was another one where I think Brock Hoffman.
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: Cut a guy, When he was jumping up the swatted ball,
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: he just kind of ran through his legs with a
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: hard hit.
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: So I love it. To me, that's Smash Mouth. And I.
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: Think what I was most impressed with, and I didn't
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: think I would see this from McCarthy. I thought I
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: would have seen this more from Tomlin. But more of
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: the old Steelers ethos.
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: Run the ball. Play nasty defense. And especially, above all,
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: get to the quarterback.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it was good to see that. Tomlin, or I'm sorry, Tomlin.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: McCarthy's been great about challenging, too. And that was something
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: that I would say was something that Tomlin struggled with
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: as well. Which is why I accidentally called him Tomlin.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: So the challenge, one of those fumbles was at the
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: beginning of the game that I mentioned, was called an
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: incomplete pass. I forget what it was called on the field,
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: but there was not even a thought from the refs
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: that it was a fumble. And he challenged, got the call,
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: and then he was ready to challenge the second one,
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: but it was that quick replay assist from New York
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: overturned it before he could. So he was on the
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: spot with that. And then I referenced the... touchdown before
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: halftime so I don't know if this was one that
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: you got to see on the in the back end
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: or not but excuse me um the Steelers were you
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: know like the one yard line with five seconds left
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: they had no timeouts they elect to go for the
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: touchdown and it's they don't even decide to do like
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: a a quick out route on the off chance that Um,
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: maybe you'll have a second left if you don't get it.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: They did a Fryermuth tush push and they converted, uh,
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: which is what made the game a, um, a 20
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: to six, uh, deficit for, for the Browns. And as
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: I said, I think that was the kill shot because
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: I mean, the Browns never scored another point. And frankly,
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: it didn't look very close. Um, So I was going
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: to give them credit. That's one of those plays where
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: if they convert it like they did, everyone's praising it,
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: and if they miss it, no one's going to say boo.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: To them, right?
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: They're going to crucify them for doing that and not
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: taking the points.
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: Yep.
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: So the other thing I will say too is on
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: those field goals that they took, I understand that analytics
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: is a big part of the game, and, you know,
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: if it's fourth and less than two, you want to
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: go for it, and I think that's just the kind
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: of the general trend now, is to be more aggressive
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: and not take the field goal, but I was actually
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: completely fine with taking those points, because your opponent was
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: playing like garbage anyway, so why not take the easy
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: points and just build a little bit deeper of a
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: hole for them to have to try to dig out of.
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: So I understood the logic. I would have liked a
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: touchdown too, trust me. But look, I can't say it enough.
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: This was... probably the best game they've played. They redeemed
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: themselves from their loss in Cleveland, which, I mean, they've
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: only got two losses, so obviously it's one of their
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: worst performances so far. But, again, that was a game
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: that they could have and probably should have won back
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: in Cleveland. They set the record straight here. They take
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: sole possession of first place in the division, and I
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: know that we're still pretty early on in the year,
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: but I feel like in previous years, we probably would
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: have won at least or lost at least one or
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: two of the last, you know, four games that we
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: played and we'd be in a totally different spot than
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: we are right now.
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I agree.
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: And, you know, I think that if there's one thing
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: to kind of say about going into the buy, it's
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: that I feel like the stock report on us has
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: never been higher this season. It's been a hard to
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: watch 6-2 team, but at the same time, they're still
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: getting the job done. There's a lot of teams that
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: are playing probably better. Style points look better than us,
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: but maybe they're sitting at 4-4. I'd rather win ugly
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: and be 6-2.
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: Well, and I think they're getting a little bit better
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: as time goes on, too. That's the other thing. At
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: the start of the year, yeah, we absolutely were very rocky.
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: We beat the Falcons in Week 1, which, again, I
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: still maintain that if the Falcons had just handed the
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: ball off every single down, they probably would have won
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: that game. Then we lose to the Patriots... We come
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: back against the Bengals and get a win. Then we
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: come go to Cleveland and have that loss that we've
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: talked about. And then ever since then, I feel like
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: they've been building a little bit. So that's good. Two
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: things I wanted to mention too, which I know is
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: one of which is going to really grind your gears.
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: There were two big drops by Steelers receivers in the game.
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: One was from Darnell Washington, who I don't want to
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: say I give him the pass because you got to
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: catch the balls when they hit your hands. But he
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: did have several big plays throughout the day. So that
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: does make up for it to a sense. But DK,
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: I don't know if you saw this play. Wide open
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: down the middle.
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: For a huge game.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: Would have put him in well within field goal range. Again,
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: another big opportunity to To really blow the doors down
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: on the game. Just dropped it.
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: I mean.
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: So... Those are the kind of things that we've been
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: dealing with... I'd say for most of the year. We'll
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: see if... If there's any sort of improvement, but... If
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: I had to say there was something I wasn't happy with.
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: It was.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: Those two drops in particular.
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: Oh, and it's... You know, I.
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: I don't even harp on the DK thing just because
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: I feel like it was a couple weeks ago.
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: I was very much wanting to.
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: Turn the page on DK a bit.
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: Obviously, I think we'll still need him, but.
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: I've seen rumors about us actually trying to go for
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: a wide receiver one at the trade deadline. That just
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: speaks volumes to we went out traded draft capital, gave
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: DK top five wide receiver money, and we're still out
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: there shopping for the thing that we need him to be. And,
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: you know, it's even hard to say he's a wide
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: receiver too right now with how we conduct our offense.
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: So, truly a letdown. But, hey, what are you going
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: to do?
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't want to put too much– I don't
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: want to put it out there that I'm reporting on
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: any of this or that it's a fact. But yes,
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: I've seen the same stuff that you have about Steelers
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: going after receivers. The name I saw was Garrett Wilson.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: So that would be interesting because of the Aaron Rodgers connection.
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: But to kind of come back full circle what we
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: talked about with the team getting better and better, that's
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: with DK being our wide receiver one, despite how he's performing, right?
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: And are other guys, Roman Wilson and Pittman, going down
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: this year? Which is why Jeremy Bernard has been thrust
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: into the wide receiver two spot. So I just think
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: that's one, partially why we're still shopping for a wide
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: receiver to really round out our room, because... after Bernard,
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: I'm a little lost on who we're throwing out there.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: Skoranek is probably number three at this point. Um, but
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: I just wanted to mention that to give credit to
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: the offense as a whole too, because we're, you know,
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: next man up philosophy that we're familiar with there. They're
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: living up to it so far.
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: Yep. All right.
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: Was there anything else you wanted to mention on our, um,
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: recap of this game against cleveland.
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: Uh no i'm good all right so we're not going.
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: To dive into the analysis of the next game yet
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: because we do have a buy but the steelers will
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: play the bangles we were very close to having a
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: perfect day in the division the steelers won obviously the
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: browns lost the ravens lost and the bangles almost lost
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: to the titans that was crazy um yeah I was
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: so mad. I was watching the end of that game
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: when Cam Ward took that sack from Dexter Lawrence. Literally
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: the one thing you can't do. But regardless, I thought
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: this was interesting and I complained about it when the
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: Steelers had a similar issue. And I'll say it in
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: defense of the Bengals now of all teams. The Bengals
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: are playing the Falcons in Madrid. Then they have to
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: fly back to play in Pittsburgh against the Steelers who
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: will be coming off of a bye. It could very
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: well mean nothing. The Bengals could still come in and
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: beat the Steelers. I wish they would figure something out
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: to make these international games more equitable, whether it's Aaron
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: Rodgers' suggestion about they play them all in one week,
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: or they figure it out so that it coincides with
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: both teams by weeks or something like that. Um, just,
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: I don't know, just something I was looking at the
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: schedule and thought, and that doesn't seem very fair, but,
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: oh well, it's the NFL, right?
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: And it'll be interesting to see what Falcons team shows up,
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: because they just lost to a team that did not
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: complete a single pass. So, definitely an odd year.
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I saw that, like, Was that played
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: in a monsoon or something? What happened?
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, very, very bad weather. I don't know if it
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: was hurricane or monsoon grade or something like that, but
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: I believe there were some delays. Very heavy rain, very
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: strong winds. I think they attempted a handful of passes,
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: but yeah, the Buccaneers are the first team since, I
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: think they said 1974, to win a game without completing
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: a pass.
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: So.
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: Crazy. Yeah.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: All right. Well, as I said at the top of
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: the show, this is the midway point of the year,
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: or close to the midway point with there being 17 games.
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: Steelers are going on a bye. They're in first place.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: We thought it might be a good time to talk
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: about our midseason awards. So I've got three awards that
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: we can discuss. I'm thinking Offensive Player of the Year,
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: Defensive Player of the Year, and Rookie of the Year.
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: Is there.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: Any other award that you think we should hand out
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: tonight with our prestigious honors? Best podcast host, perhaps.
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: There's no contest there, Nick.
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: No, let's start with those. If anything comes up organically,
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: then we can do that.
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: There you go. I think offensive player is going to
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: be unanimous, but I will let you go first. Eric,
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: who is your Offensive Player of the Year?
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Jalen Warren. I mean, the guy has been phenomenal.
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: He's sixth in yards. I don't know where he is
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: on scrimmage yards, but I think he's up there. He's
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: on a pace that would, I would imagine it can
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: break all scrimmage yard record. I'd have to go check
• 19:53
  Speaker 3: to see, but it's not like we've had a bevy of.
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: Running backs can also catch the ball out of the backfield.
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: For him to be running at this pace and being
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: a great wide receiver, he's... he's been phenomenal this year.
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no doubt. And it, it literally could not be
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: anyone else. Um, it's Jalen Warren. He has gone above
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: and beyond. He's done everything he's been asked to do
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: and more even since he's been really the primary running back. Um,
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: I'll give a shout out to Darnell Washington, who I
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: think has really stepped up in the receiving game this year. Um,
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: He's been traditionally known for blocking and for the big
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: hits with the occasional pass, or with the occasional reception rather,
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: but he's really stepped up this year and shown a
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: lot as well. But no, Jalen Warren. It's Jalen Warren
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: all the way. It's Jalen Warren, and it's not even close.
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: So I'm happy that he's getting his flowers, not just
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: from us, but from everyone in the sports media.
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I remember when they signed that contract, right? It
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: was like a two-year, $ 12.
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: Million or somewhere there was a good deal because Najee
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: Harris was still on the team. And I felt like
• 21:18
  Speaker 3: we both felt that we were making the right call
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: going with him, the Najee, and, you know, maybe he
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: wasn't going to be the bell cow, but, you know,
• 21:31
  Speaker 3: great running back and that that price was good.
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: I mean, he's playing like.
• 21:37
  Speaker 3: A $ 16 million or a $ 12- 16 million a year player.
• 21:42
  Speaker 3: He's doing a great job. I'm not sure if this
• 21:47
  Speaker 3: is the contract year or not, but he's definitely deserved
• 21:54
  Speaker 3: to be a part of this team and a big
• 21:56
  Speaker 3: part of this team going forward.
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: Next year is the contract year, so we will have
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: to see how the offseason looks for him. If I
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: were him, I would i don't know that i'd say
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: i'd hold out but i would be strongly pushing for
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: a new contract before i play next season um he
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: just turned 28 so as a running back this is
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: this is really going to be his only major contract
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: right so yeah all right let me hear your defensive
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: player of the year so far.
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's TJ.
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: I feel like his games, the ones that he's been
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: so dominant in, he's really taken over.
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: But other games, he's kind of fallen flat.
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: Again, it's really hard to argue with the impact that
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: he's made. I think there's a couple games he's pretty
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: much single-handedly won.
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: The game for us. I can go back to the
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: very first game.
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: Of the season with the Falcons and just how much
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: he took over that game. I think he scored more
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: points than the offense because of his touchdown.
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: I think.
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: He's been great, but just I have to give a
• 23:36
  Speaker 3: shout-out as an honorable mention, but just the defense front seven,
• 23:45
  Speaker 3: I saw something that we've given up 55 yards per
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: game over the.
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: Last four games rushing. Just, that's unreal.
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: Like, it's hard to get one game to get under
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: 55 yards rushing against your opponents. We've done that on
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: average over the last four games. It's not like we're
• 24:09
  Speaker 3: playing bad running backs. As you mentioned before, Falcons even
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: tweaked their game plan against us a smidge because of Bijan.
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: I think that.
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: We knew where we were going to spend our money
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: and I'm glad that it's at least paying off.
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: It seems.
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and what's interesting is this is largely the same
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: defense we had last year. What changed? The coordinator, right?
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: So I've been more impressed with the defense too, and
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: it's a little bit harder to pick an MVP because
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: it's not like there's one clear standout, like there definitely
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: is an offense. I think I would still have to
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: go with TJ as well, I'm looking at the stat
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: line here. He's got seven and a half sacks, nine
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: and a half tackles for losses. He's got that interception
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: that you referenced against the Bengals. And then he's forced
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: one fumble and had another fumble recovery. And I'm sure
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: he's had his impact known in other aspects than just
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: the turnovers as well.
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: And I gotta give him that I'm going to give
• 25:33
  Speaker 3: him that fumble, forced fumble and recovery against the Saints.
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: That was BS. He should have that one.
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: There you go. So we'll give him two there with
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: an asterisk next to it because it's unofficial. And if
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: I really wanted to be snarky towards the Browns, I
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: would say that those stats that he doesn't have are
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: from plays where He's being double and triple covered, so
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: that's his impact because he's allowing everyone else on the
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: defense to have those better stats because they're focusing so
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: much on him, just like the Browns fans would do
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: with Miles Garrett for all those years. But no, I
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: agree with you. There's been games where I've kind of
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: scratched my head and been like, where is he at?
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: What's he doing? But when he has big games, his
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: presence is definitely known. and the stat line does show
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: that as well. I'm with you, but again, I've got
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: to give kudos to the defense as a whole. You
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: said the front seven. I've actually been happy with Jalen
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: Ramsey this year. He's had some very timely plays, especially
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: some sacks. He closed out the game against the Saints
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: with that sack at the end. I've been very impressed
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: with him because he's had to do a lot more
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: than I think he expected having to do just because
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: of injuries to the other team. We saw it last
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: year a little bit too, where he started playing safety. Um,
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: he kind of goes and does what needs to be done.
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: So I will, I'll give, give him credit too. And again,
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: I want to give Patrick Graham credit too, because like
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: we said, the defense is really playing at a high
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: level now. And again, very similar defense to what we
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: had last year and for a couple of years before that.
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: So kudos to them for, for, putting all the pieces together.
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: All right. Last award. We will probably be on the
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: same page yet again, but let's talk about the rookie
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: of the year. Who do you give this award to?
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 27:43
  Speaker 3: I mean, I think Jeremy, um, it hasn't been perfect,
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: but I think that he's kind of stepped up the
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: way that we thought Roman Wilson would have been. Um,
• 28:00
  Speaker 3: A guy that's able to at least take some share
• 28:03
  Speaker 3: of the targets. I think he does need to work
• 28:07
  Speaker 3: on his drops. He's had some key ones. I know
• 28:11
  Speaker 3: one in particular led to an interception. I think I'd
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: have to give it to him.
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: He was my pick as well. You and I are
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: in complete agreement. Look at all this harmony in the
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: Steelers world. Here's his stat line. We're through eight games.
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: He has 32 receptions, so that's four per game, on
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: 42 targets for 284 total yards with a touchdown. I
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: wasn't happy. I think it was the Patriots against the Patriots.
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: There was the game where he had a first down
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: and he ran behind the line. That kind of stuff
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: always irritates me, and yes, there's been some drops, but
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: I would say overall, I've been very, very pleased with
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: his performance. And then just to give you a comparison
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: against DK, DK has one more total catch at 33.
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: He has been targeted 65 times, though, compared to Bernard's
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: 42 times. So DK will only catch the ball Yeah.
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: 50% of the time we throw it to him.
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: So I'll give him a very, very slight benefit of
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: the doubt because DK seems to be the guy that
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: we throw all of our prayers to. So more often
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: than not, those are going to get dropped, but 50%
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: still seems like a very low number. And I don't
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: say that to bash the guy. I'm just comparing what
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: our wide receiver one is doing to who we're calling
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: the rookie of the year, who really, really, didn't start
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: getting meaningful reps until we were maybe three or four
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: games in just because of the, the way that the
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: injuries fell to Pittman and Roman Wilson and whatnot. So, um,
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: so yeah, I'd say, um, I know that it's just
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: an interesting story too, because he was very clearly not
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: their top receiver on the board. We know the draft
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: night drama with Malachi, uh, Malachi Lemon, who's, um, probably
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: not having the best of times in Philadelphia this year, but, uh,
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: for us to land Bernard and for the season to
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: start the way it did and how it's going now,
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: I think it's, I think he's a fine choice for
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: rookie of the year. And, uh, I can only hope
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: we continue to see him improve. So I've been very
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: happy overall with him.
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah. All right.
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: Well, That was everything we had to talk about. Again,
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: without a second game to preview, not much else we
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: can do, but is there anything else about the NFL
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: in general or college football, college basketball, anything on your
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: mind that you want to get off your chest before
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: we sign off?
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: No, I don't think so. All right.
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: I think I'm good as well. We're just going to
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: keep it on a high note. We'll be back next week,
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: hopefully talking about playing the Bengals after their loss in Madrid,
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: but we'll see how that goes. For the world-famous accountant
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: Eric Vamenschoten, I'm Nick DiTullio, and this has been another
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: episode of TheGameHouse.com's Steelers Country Weekly.