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All Or Nothing: Ravens Wild Card Preview · The Irish Steelers Podcast

0:04
Speaker 1: Everybody, Welcome into the Irish Theaters Podcast. We have made
0:07
Speaker 1: it to the NFL playoffs. It is that time of
0:09
Speaker 1: the year, the regular season over and we are just
0:12
Speaker 1: a few weeks away from the super Bowl in New Orleans, Louisiana.
0:16
Speaker 1: Let's hope our Pittsburgh Steelers are there. This is the
0:19
Speaker 1: podcast for Pittsburgh Seeterspans across the Island of Ireland. Michael
0:23
Speaker 1: mcquid delighted to be joined back again after a little
0:27
Speaker 1: absence last week. Jimmy English on the podcast Dialog is
0:30
Speaker 1: currently in the check of Republic. Hopefully he's writing the
0:33
Speaker 1: checks for Baltimore this weekend. Jimmy Goodnes seem alimals crack.
0:37
Speaker 2: Nick, it's good to be back after the Christmas break, fitting, refreshed, feeding, rejuvenated.
0:42
Speaker 2: Twenty twenty five. I don't know where the time is gone.
0:45
Speaker 2: I read somewhere recently that the old get the faster
0:48
Speaker 2: time goes, and that is definitely the case for me.
0:51
Speaker 2: Twenty twenty four Over in a blur. Twenty twenty four
0:54
Speaker 2: NFL regular season over in a blur as well. I
0:56
Speaker 2: cannot believe we're at the postseason already, but excited to
0:59
Speaker 2: see what's in store for our Steelers this weekend, Super
1:02
Speaker 2: Wildcard weekend against the against the Baltimore Ravens, a massive,
1:06
Speaker 2: massive opportunity to write I suppose what's been going wrong
1:10
Speaker 2: for us the past a couple of weeks and yeah,
1:13
Speaker 2: hopefully we make a deep playoff run. But no, it's
1:16
Speaker 2: a great, great exciting time to be to be a
1:19
Speaker 2: Pittsburgh Seeder. As part of the minute, I think.
1:20
Speaker 1: A lot of people and I'm sure people listening to
1:22
Speaker 1: this will definitely relate to this. Whether you're in Europe
1:26
Speaker 1: or if you're listening in the US, you're very very welcome.
1:30
Speaker 1: It does just seem to fly in those those eight
1:32
Speaker 1: team weeks. We have a different situation where we have
1:35
Speaker 1: the chance and it's great like obviously go to like London, Germany,
1:37
Speaker 1: we've both been over for again in Pittsburgh this season
1:40
Speaker 1: as well. I actually sat watching the game, which we'll
1:44
Speaker 1: talk about in the week second on Saturday night, thinking
1:47
Speaker 1: in the South CUD. I can't remember the last minute,
1:49
Speaker 1: sat down and watched the game, which is not a
1:50
Speaker 1: bad situation to be in. But it really really does
1:53
Speaker 1: go very very fast, and we have obviously it's a
1:57
Speaker 1: massive year ahead of us now in twenty twenty five,
1:59
Speaker 1: and it's crazy because as quick as this is going
2:01
Speaker 1: to go, the offseason is going to fly in very
2:03
Speaker 1: very quickly as well.
2:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm not looking forward to the prospect of facing
2:08
Speaker 2: months and months without football. It's been so nice having
2:10
Speaker 2: my weekends filled with college football in the NFL, and
2:14
Speaker 2: it's going to be very strange now at the at
2:17
Speaker 2: the end of January, start of February, when football is
2:19
Speaker 2: no more, I don't know what I'm going to do
2:21
Speaker 2: with myself. To be honest with you, my entire personality
2:24
Speaker 2: over the past few months has been football orientated. But
2:28
Speaker 2: hopefully we can squeeze as much joy out of it
2:30
Speaker 2: before it finishes. And like you said, I mean fingers
2:34
Speaker 2: crossed that our Steelers are in New Orleans down there
2:37
Speaker 2: in a few weeks time for the Super Bowl. It
2:39
Speaker 2: will be fantastic to have another another Super Bowl ring
2:42
Speaker 2: number seven there. So yeah, look, lots to look forward
2:45
Speaker 2: to still, So let's just make the most of it
2:47
Speaker 2: for what we can.
2:48
Speaker 1: Let's jump into let's all starting the negative note, but
2:51
Speaker 1: I guess we can't avoid the fact that it's funny. Jimmy,
2:55
Speaker 1: You're own beating with Pittsburgh at home in Pittsburgh, and
2:58
Speaker 1: I'm not so that you go, you're you're you're one
3:01
Speaker 1: up in me already here. But look, I said it
3:04
Speaker 1: the Davog before the final but or just before the
3:07
Speaker 1: just before the last podcast, I said to you, now,
3:10
Speaker 1: when you're losing games in the bounds, it's it's not great.
3:14
Speaker 1: I guess you know. For me, first off, it's now
3:17
Speaker 1: four games on the bounce that we have lost. I
3:20
Speaker 1: said that the Dovevog as well, Jimmy, I think we
3:22
Speaker 1: always sort of knew when we done that preview podcasts
3:25
Speaker 1: actually in Belfast earlier in the year with Calvin Austin
3:28
Speaker 1: as well there and Connor Howard, we knew that there
3:31
Speaker 1: was going to be a moment where when we had
3:34
Speaker 1: those stretch of games early late December, that you know,
3:37
Speaker 1: there could be slip ups. I really genuinely fought at
3:40
Speaker 1: the time that, yeah, there could be a couple of
3:42
Speaker 1: losses there, but I thought we might have crawled out
3:45
Speaker 1: a couple of performances. And I don't get me wrong,
3:48
Speaker 1: I know and I'm obviously talking about the Bengals game
3:51
Speaker 1: of the weekend, folks, where the Staders lost nineteen to seventeen.
3:55
Speaker 1: I know the Bengals were playing for their lives and
3:57
Speaker 1: their seasons actually over nine. Of course, they're obviously gonna
4:00
Speaker 1: be playing like it's like their lives depending on so
4:02
Speaker 1: many big players in that team actually may not play
4:05
Speaker 1: together again, so it meant so much to them. But
4:08
Speaker 1: also as well, I really feel like the defense really
4:12
Speaker 1: does job on Saturday Night, and we will talk about
4:16
Speaker 1: this going into the Ravens and just down the stratch here,
4:18
Speaker 1: but this defense, I feel is primed to give a
4:23
Speaker 1: good playoff run if we can get past this weekend,
4:26
Speaker 1: which we'll talk about in a bit. Certainly, Like for me,
4:30
Speaker 1: I think we have to see improvements on the offense. Look,
4:33
Speaker 1: George Pickens out of this appointant game. We really are
4:36
Speaker 1: relying a lot on fire move, which, look, it's not
4:38
Speaker 1: a bad thing, but there's only so many times you
4:40
Speaker 1: can rely on him. As well, we need to see
4:42
Speaker 1: more from the running game there as well and picking
4:44
Speaker 1: holes here. But one thing that Troy Yekman talked about
4:47
Speaker 1: in Saturday Night and I thought it was really interesting,
4:49
Speaker 1: Jimmy was Russell Wilson, not just with his time in Pittsburgh,
4:53
Speaker 1: but his time in his career he seems to struggle
4:56
Speaker 1: a little bit on short yardage passing situations, where he's
4:59
Speaker 1: seen to be more I guess he's more complete when
5:04
Speaker 1: it comes to midror long passing ranges. It just didn't
5:09
Speaker 1: seem like the fluidity was there at certain points and
5:11
Speaker 1: Saturday night against the Bengals when we had that seventy
5:15
Speaker 1: at nine yards to make plays, and really, I think
5:18
Speaker 1: it would be fair to say this, I really feel
5:20
Speaker 1: like this was one that we flew away because a
5:22
Speaker 1: win would have given us a game against the Texans
5:25
Speaker 1: and we're not in a situation where we are on
5:27
Speaker 1: the road to the Ravens. And look, every playoff game
5:30
Speaker 1: is is not easy, like it's a final for every team.
5:34
Speaker 1: We're seeing a fourteen win team in the NFC go
5:37
Speaker 1: out on the road to the Rams next week. Nobody
5:40
Speaker 1: has it easy in the playoffs, apart from the teams
5:42
Speaker 1: that have a bye week this week. But certainly it's
5:46
Speaker 1: it's disappointing, but at the same time, we have to
5:48
Speaker 1: move on and we certainly have to find a way
5:51
Speaker 1: this week. We can't go back in time and change it.
5:54
Speaker 1: I'm conscious it's been a couple of weeks since we've
5:56
Speaker 1: had you in the podcast what sort of things would
5:58
Speaker 1: you like to see improved on Jimmy, but also these
6:00
Speaker 1: sort of positive that you've seen as well over the
6:02
Speaker 1: last couple of weeks.
6:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, just you mentioned our season preview there, Michael, back
6:06
Speaker 2: in Belfast in the summer where we had the pleasure
6:10
Speaker 2: of meeting Calvin Austin and Connor Hayward. That seems like
6:12
Speaker 2: so long ago now, such a beautiful summer's day or
6:15
Speaker 2: spring day up there with the Belfast Trojans previewing the
6:19
Speaker 2: the possibilities were boundless ahead of the season, and looking
6:21
Speaker 2: at that that post bye week stretch that we had,
6:25
Speaker 2: We had the Ravens, we had the Christmas Day game
6:30
Speaker 2: against Kansas City, we had Baltimore Philadelphia before, and I
6:33
Speaker 2: mean that was always going to be a tough, tough stretch.
6:36
Speaker 2: And you look at it now that the Chiefs of
6:39
Speaker 2: the or the number one seed in the AFC and
6:41
Speaker 2: the Eagles of the number two seed in the NFC,
6:43
Speaker 2: And I think those games could have gone anyway anyway,
6:47
Speaker 2: really if we had have had a better performance. But look,
6:51
Speaker 2: that's in the that's in the past. Now. The Bengals
6:53
Speaker 2: game was definitely winnable. That was a really really back
6:56
Speaker 2: and forth game. Obviously, you know, not having your startide
7:00
Speaker 2: receiver playing to the best of his ability certainly limited
7:03
Speaker 2: limited us to what we could do on offense. And
7:06
Speaker 2: massive shout out the path for Army for stepping up
7:08
Speaker 2: and becoming Russell Wilson's target there. Mike Williams had a
7:10
Speaker 2: great catch twenty five yard gainer on the sideline for
7:13
Speaker 2: a toe tap, a couple of mice rushes as well.
7:16
Speaker 2: But overall, like you said, it's defense. The offense has
7:19
Speaker 2: been letting us down recently. And I, like you say,
7:23
Speaker 2: I hate to pick holes, but as the time was
7:25
Speaker 2: winding down towards the end of the fourth quarter, Russell
7:27
Speaker 2: Wilson chose to run instead of throwing it, which ran
7:31
Speaker 2: time off the clocks and that's not ideal. And look
7:36
Speaker 2: and then on the flip side, obviously, our defense has
7:38
Speaker 2: struggled a little bit recently with with injuries. Joey Porter
7:42
Speaker 2: Junior was out injured, Dante Jackson had an injury. They're
7:45
Speaker 2: all back now and healthy, which is great for a
7:47
Speaker 2: deep postseason run hopefully, But I think our defense is
7:50
Speaker 2: always has really has really stepped up and has done
7:53
Speaker 2: its part, even against the Bengals there on Saturday night
7:57
Speaker 2: being the bshop had a fantastic but I think it
7:59
Speaker 2: was a turn or fourth interception of the year off
8:02
Speaker 2: of Patrick Queen forced force fumble. So you know, things
8:06
Speaker 2: like that are there's definitely positives. You know, one thing
8:10
Speaker 2: that coach Tomin has picked up on recently is not
8:13
Speaker 2: is a not capitalizing on loose balls. You know, where
8:16
Speaker 2: the defense will force a fumble or a pass break
8:19
Speaker 2: up and that there is a live ball. We're not
8:20
Speaker 2: getting on those balls, so we're not capitalizing on these
8:23
Speaker 2: potential takeaways. And then when we do get our hands
8:26
Speaker 2: in the ball on takeaways, we're not capitalizing with points.
8:29
Speaker 2: I think these are all the small margins that are
8:31
Speaker 2: going to win games for you. I mean, we only
8:33
Speaker 2: lost to the Bengals by two points, and you know
8:36
Speaker 2: all those kind of things where we're kind of critical,
8:39
Speaker 2: little critical mistakes that kind of snowballed into into bigger issues.
8:43
Speaker 2: So I think in terms of improvements and what needs
8:46
Speaker 2: to be cleaned up if possible ahead of the game
8:48
Speaker 2: this weekend is our offense just needs to be just
8:51
Speaker 2: needs to do better, needs to be more on points,
8:53
Speaker 2: needs to George Pickens needs to actually contest balls. He
8:56
Speaker 2: needs to try and catch. I mean, he is our
8:58
Speaker 2: star player for a reason. He just needs to start
9:00
Speaker 2: acting like it. I'd like to see some bigger runs
9:03
Speaker 2: and you know, Nagie Harrison, Jayden Warren, but I'd love
9:06
Speaker 2: to see him get going more and defensively. TJ. Watt
9:13
Speaker 2: needs to get loose. He needs needs to get loose
9:15
Speaker 2: and needs to start causing havoc in the backfield. Nick
9:17
Speaker 2: Herbery had a nice sack there against the Bengals last weekend.
9:21
Speaker 2: Need to see more out of our guys and just capitalize,
9:24
Speaker 2: you know, when when the ball is loosing the ground,
9:26
Speaker 2: just be the first person on it, jump on it,
9:29
Speaker 2: and overall the entire team's performance just needs to be elevated.
9:34
Speaker 2: I think that's in fact, I know it's a lot
9:36
Speaker 2: to ask, but that that's the only thing but I
9:38
Speaker 2: can really think of that. It's going to get us
9:40
Speaker 2: across the line and get us a wildcard run against Baltimore.
9:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I think like a lot of what
9:46
Speaker 1: you're saying there is very very fair. At the end
9:47
Speaker 1: of the day, it's always difficult to try and pick up,
9:50
Speaker 1: especially when you have a few losses. I don't get
9:52
Speaker 1: me wrong, some of those teams that we have played,
9:54
Speaker 1: like the Eagles the way that they've played the Chiefs
9:57
Speaker 1: as well. I actually thought that it was going to
10:02
Speaker 1: be a lot more of a struggle on Saturday Night.
10:04
Speaker 1: And I know we didn't win the game, but certainly
10:06
Speaker 1: there was a lot of opportunities there. And I didn't
10:08
Speaker 1: think the opportunities were going to be there because I
10:10
Speaker 1: thought Cincinnati, We're going to come out all guns blazing,
10:12
Speaker 1: which they did, but I thought they'd even be up
10:14
Speaker 1: to a different level. I like what you said there, Abu.
10:17
Speaker 1: The one game, it definitely needs to improve. But you know,
10:20
Speaker 1: for all the negativity that we're seeing around, whether it's
10:24
Speaker 1: fans or the internet in regards to the performance from
10:27
Speaker 1: guys like Pickings, where you expect them to make certain catches,
10:30
Speaker 1: and that's that's what you expected what I receiver to do.
10:32
Speaker 1: We're always going to see players that can struggle in
10:34
Speaker 1: different games. But what a great opportunity for him to
10:38
Speaker 1: go into Baltimore and try and right the wrongs there.
10:40
Speaker 1: And that that's the way that I see it. I mean,
10:41
Speaker 1: this is a situation from a Steers team that will
10:44
Speaker 1: failed to score more than seventeen points in their final
10:47
Speaker 1: four games, and this is it. Now we're all oh
10:50
Speaker 1: and oh again, we need to find a way to
10:52
Speaker 1: win this. Before we hear from coach Tomlin. I think
10:56
Speaker 1: this was asked on Sports Center right off of the
10:58
Speaker 1: game on Saturday night. But you know, look me and
11:01
Speaker 1: you don't have done an experience of being in an
11:02
Speaker 1: NFL locker room. How do you think the recep over
11:05
Speaker 1: the next few days is generally like it mentally is
11:08
Speaker 1: almost as difficult physically Jimmy, as well as trying to
11:11
Speaker 1: regroup and resep. But the reality is it doesn't matter
11:14
Speaker 1: if you had fifteen sixteen wins. We go in Saturday
11:17
Speaker 1: and it's it's winner gone, you know.
11:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, And that's the nature of playoff football. Make obviously
11:22
Speaker 2: it's winner go home. And I would really hate to
11:23
Speaker 2: see the Steelers go out be one and done it
11:26
Speaker 2: again in the playoffs. And look, last year it was
11:29
Speaker 2: the Bills. I mean, fair enough, that's the Bills. But
11:32
Speaker 2: this year it's just as hard with the Ravens. I
11:35
Speaker 2: think the Steelers need to play for themselves, if that
11:38
Speaker 2: makes sense. I think they need to block out all
11:39
Speaker 2: the noise, block out the media, blockout fans, if that's possible,
11:43
Speaker 2: and just play for themselves, play for pride, play for
11:45
Speaker 2: the city of Pittsburgh, play for the Black and Gold,
11:49
Speaker 2: and just go out and play play football. Don't overthink.
11:53
Speaker 2: I try and do your best. I mean, obviously, individual
11:56
Speaker 2: players efforts needs to be improved. We all know who
11:59
Speaker 2: are to talking about here. I'm not gonna name it.
12:01
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna name names again. And just the little
12:04
Speaker 2: things that I mentioned there, making you know, jumping on
12:06
Speaker 2: loose balls, scoring points off turnovers, Russell Wilson connecting with
12:11
Speaker 2: his receivers, you know, the offensive line, making holes for
12:15
Speaker 2: our running backs, and just a general improved team performance
12:20
Speaker 2: and play play for each other. But this has been
12:23
Speaker 2: a great team. It's been a great season so up
12:25
Speaker 2: until a certain point, given the amount of uncertainty I
12:29
Speaker 2: think that we had at the start of the season
12:30
Speaker 2: how things were gonna go. You know, Russell Wilson came in,
12:33
Speaker 2: Justin Fields came in. There was no real kind of
12:35
Speaker 2: certainty a quarterback. There's a lot of change going on,
12:39
Speaker 2: and so I think as a team can just block
12:42
Speaker 2: out all that, like you said, we're oh and oh,
12:45
Speaker 2: and just go out and play play football as simple
12:48
Speaker 2: as that.
12:48
Speaker 1: We're gonna have a little look at the three evens
12:50
Speaker 1: game in a week second, but before we do that,
12:52
Speaker 1: let's hear from coach Thomlin ahead of this game in
12:54
Speaker 1: the wild card run this weekend.
12:57
Speaker 3: I think several weeks ago, Andrews broke a franchise for
13:00
Speaker 3: receiving touchdowns, and that's also reflective of that relationship. On
13:05
Speaker 3: the perimeters, Zay Flowers is a matchup issue. He's good
13:08
Speaker 3: with the ball in his hands. He's good in terms
13:10
Speaker 3: of run after, he's quick to speed. He's got really
13:13
Speaker 3: good top end speed. Bateman has emerged in a big
13:17
Speaker 3: way this year while staying healthy. He's provided a lot
13:20
Speaker 3: of splash form. He's bend down the grass. Guy has
13:23
Speaker 3: made some significant plays, particularly and weighty moments, some two
13:26
Speaker 3: minute moments, particularly of late in terms of making some
13:30
Speaker 3: splash one on one plays for Lamar in Company. But again,
13:34
Speaker 3: if you're talking about these guys, it's about minimizing their
13:38
Speaker 3: run game and the uniqueness of their run game. They
13:41
Speaker 3: got a downhill runner who's a challenge himself alone, but
13:47
Speaker 3: you couple that with his own red component of what
13:49
Speaker 3: they do in the in the special Talents of Lamar.
13:52
Speaker 3: That is a full time job. We got to be
13:54
Speaker 3: prudent about how we distribute our schematics. Certainly, when you
13:59
Speaker 3: play a group like this, it's about shedding blocks and
14:02
Speaker 3: making tackles. There's no substitute for that. Oftentimes, when you
14:05
Speaker 3: face quarterback design runs, it becomes a mathematic game of
14:09
Speaker 3: eleven on eleven and so someone has to whoop blocks
14:12
Speaker 3: and make tackles. That's just the reality of it. And
14:15
Speaker 3: so we'll focus our energies on some fundamental things this
14:18
Speaker 3: week in preparation for that, while at the same time
14:21
Speaker 3: working hard to find a schematic advantage in some of
14:24
Speaker 3: those scenarios as well. They got big time continuity and
14:28
Speaker 3: special teams they have for a long time. They got
14:32
Speaker 3: a motive operation there. I would imagine the special teams
14:35
Speaker 3: component is gonna be big in a game like this.
14:38
Speaker 3: It was the last time we came together. We had
14:41
Speaker 3: a ball on the ground I think very early in
14:43
Speaker 3: the game in the punt game that we didn't recover.
14:47
Speaker 3: We had one later that we did recover and gave
14:50
Speaker 3: us an opportunity, and so we got to be on
14:53
Speaker 3: the top of our ear game there and look to
14:55
Speaker 3: find an advantage if we can in that space. Got
14:58
Speaker 3: a lot of respect for the environment going to Baltimore,
15:02
Speaker 3: particularly in playoff football, It's something to be respected.
15:05
Speaker 2: Man.
15:06
Speaker 3: I expect it to be a hostile environment. I welcome that.
15:09
Speaker 3: To be quite honest with you, it's important that we
15:12
Speaker 3: smile in the face of that. As a collective. It's
15:16
Speaker 3: just simply a tax to pay for not winning the division,
15:20
Speaker 3: and we pay that. But we're excited about the playmaking
15:24
Speaker 3: the tangible things that we decide the outcome of this game.
15:27
Speaker 3: And we realized we got a short amount of time
15:29
Speaker 3: to prepare, and we're preparing with it edge and we
15:32
Speaker 3: look forward to pitting our skills versus the Ravens on
15:35
Speaker 3: Saturday night.
15:37
Speaker 1: Ready to hear from coach Salmon on the Irish Series podcast.
15:39
Speaker 1: As we already it feels like we were talking we
15:42
Speaker 1: won five minutes ago. We're in wild card weekend and
15:46
Speaker 1: for everybody listening, you can watch this game. It's Saturday
15:49
Speaker 1: night early Sunday morning. It's on NFL Game Posts on
15:52
Speaker 1: the Zone, and it's also on Sky Sports, OTV Sports
15:55
Speaker 1: Radio on our shoutout to our friends over at Talk
15:57
Speaker 1: Sport Radio as well. They have the dB coverage in
16:00
Speaker 1: Northern Ireland, so do feel free to tune in and
16:02
Speaker 1: then as well, and a lot of places to watch
16:04
Speaker 1: or listen to. This game to me as funny because
16:07
Speaker 1: you know, as much as we've struggle over the last
16:08
Speaker 1: few weeks offensively, we have quite an interest in history
16:13
Speaker 1: against the Ravens, both in the playoffs and just generally
16:16
Speaker 1: so for people that maybe are new to an extent
16:20
Speaker 1: with this league, you know, and don't really understand the
16:23
Speaker 1: history of the Ravens and expansion teams. The Steelers and
16:27
Speaker 1: the Ravens have not played each other that much in
16:30
Speaker 1: regards to different teams. And it's funny because the Steelers
16:34
Speaker 1: are actually twenty one and twelve against the Ravens in Pittsburgh,
16:36
Speaker 1: but they're fifteen and fourteen overall Recordly against the Ravens
16:40
Speaker 1: in Baltimore, they've won four of the past five and
16:43
Speaker 1: six of it. Sorry, they've won four of the past
16:45
Speaker 1: five and six of the past eight games at M
16:48
Speaker 1: and T Bank. Obviously that doesn't matter for Saturday, but
16:50
Speaker 1: certainly there's some examples of us playing against Baltimore in
16:53
Speaker 1: recent history, going back even to javisand two, when the
16:56
Speaker 1: Ravens were in the initial years of their existence. The
17:00
Speaker 1: Stedars beat them in the divisional round that previously heins
17:03
Speaker 1: Field and chosing the nine in the AFC Championship in a
17:06
Speaker 1: memorable game. Where the Steers came out in top divisional
17:10
Speaker 1: round in twenty eleven as well where that happened as well,
17:13
Speaker 1: And we've seen examples even as far as this season
17:16
Speaker 1: where the Staders have beaten the Ravens. I guess the
17:19
Speaker 1: obvious thing, and I'm sure you'll say to me as well, Jimmy,
17:21
Speaker 1: is world up against a team that know how to
17:25
Speaker 1: play well, especially on the offense, and they've got some
17:28
Speaker 1: absolutely amazing pieces of talent on their offense. They have
17:31
Speaker 1: an MVP candidate in Lamar Jackson, a guy that many
17:35
Speaker 1: people see as the favorite for that role. But they
17:39
Speaker 1: also have an efficient running game as well. But we
17:41
Speaker 1: we have beaten them this season, we know how to
17:44
Speaker 1: beat them. We haven't beat them at home or we
17:47
Speaker 1: haven't beat them on the road. Certainly it was a
17:50
Speaker 1: far closer game in Pittsburgh. But just firstly, how much
17:54
Speaker 1: do you think we can take from that experience? Jimmy
17:57
Speaker 1: on the role against the Ravens, and we've obviously go
18:00
Speaker 1: back thirty four to seventeen loss, literally two weeks ago.
18:04
Speaker 1: It feels like a long time ago actually from now.
18:06
Speaker 1: But you know, that's a game where Russell had another reception,
18:10
Speaker 1: our defense calls Lamar to have one as well. It
18:13
Speaker 1: just feels like like we say every week, but it
18:15
Speaker 1: really does feel this week like we're gonna have to
18:17
Speaker 1: get out there and really get on them early in
18:19
Speaker 1: this game.
18:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, let's not kid our sales, Michael. Look,
18:25
Speaker 2: the victory against against Baltimore was entirely down to Chris
18:30
Speaker 2: Boswell and the amazing season that he has had. I mean,
18:32
Speaker 2: six field goals in that victory, the narrowest the victories,
18:39
Speaker 2: and as amazing as a Wizard of Bozz is. They
18:41
Speaker 2: don't think it's going to cut it in this game.
18:43
Speaker 2: He didn't cut it in the last game. We're gonna
18:45
Speaker 2: have to score actual touchdowns early and often. I could
18:49
Speaker 2: be incorrect here, I'm fairly sure that the Steers have
18:53
Speaker 2: not scored an opening drive touchdown all season long. That
18:56
Speaker 2: needs to change. This is different now, this is the playoffs.
18:58
Speaker 2: We have to go out there. Russell Wilson has to
19:00
Speaker 2: be on point. He has to find, you know, make
19:02
Speaker 2: big trunks earlier on hit friar Moute handed off to
19:05
Speaker 2: Nagi for for for big runs. Hopefully George Pickles will
19:09
Speaker 2: be able to shake off the Bengals game make some
19:11
Speaker 2: of those those circus catches that we just come to
19:14
Speaker 2: and you know, fair enough, I think we have just
19:16
Speaker 2: come to be expect it from him because he just
19:18
Speaker 2: makes those kind of catches look easy. So I think
19:21
Speaker 2: it's kind of acceptable for us to just expect that
19:23
Speaker 2: he'll that he'll do that and those kind of contested
19:26
Speaker 2: catches or even not so much contested catches, you know,
19:29
Speaker 2: fairly simple mid range passes. He should he should be
19:32
Speaker 2: hauling in with the level of talent that that that
19:34
Speaker 2: he has and we're gonna have. So that's defensively, then
19:38
Speaker 2: we're going to have to have a game of our
19:40
Speaker 2: lives on the defensive line. I mean, we have three
19:43
Speaker 2: top tier talent edge rushers and Alex heismanth t J.
19:46
Speaker 2: Watt and Nick Krbig. The interior that defensive line is
19:49
Speaker 2: phenomenal with Cam Hayward and and Keanna bent In there
19:53
Speaker 2: who had a great game against the Bengals as well,
19:55
Speaker 2: but with a nice couple of tackles. So our defensive
19:58
Speaker 2: line needs to play out of their minds. Cornerbacks need
20:01
Speaker 2: to be sharp. One thing I won't question is the
20:04
Speaker 2: fact that Corey Trice is literally just back from the injury,
20:07
Speaker 2: was covering Jamar Chase one on one on Saturday night.
20:09
Speaker 2: That just seems like absolutely lunacy to me, with no
20:12
Speaker 2: safety help on that touchdown. So that's something that I
20:15
Speaker 2: would that I would like to see. And obviously, I mean,
20:17
Speaker 2: what are you going to do? You have You have
20:18
Speaker 2: t Higgins on the other side, so it's kind of
20:21
Speaker 2: much of a mushless But Jamara Chase is one of
20:23
Speaker 2: the best wide receivers, if not the best wide receiver
20:27
Speaker 2: in the league. So that was that was a questionable
20:29
Speaker 2: decision for me. But yeah, I mean, like defensively, it's
20:33
Speaker 2: just cleaning up kind of small things. I think, get
20:36
Speaker 2: on those loose balls. Defensive backs need to be locked down.
20:40
Speaker 2: I think Save Flowers might have picked up an injury
20:43
Speaker 2: in the last outing, so he might be questionable against
20:46
Speaker 2: against Pittsburgh against US now on Saturday night. But still
20:49
Speaker 2: Mark Andrews to being a massive weapon. And then of
20:52
Speaker 2: course Derek Henry, I mean we shot him down in
20:54
Speaker 2: the first game. He got the better of us in
20:55
Speaker 2: the second game. So and look, it is going to
21:00
Speaker 2: be tough. But if we have a good start and
21:02
Speaker 2: we do play to the best of our ability, are
21:04
Speaker 2: they played to the best of their ability we have
21:07
Speaker 2: we have a fighting chance. And I know the next
21:10
Speaker 2: the next segment is We're going to pick our picket
21:12
Speaker 2: game winners. And I'm not looking forward to it because
21:15
Speaker 2: I'm torn between my head and my heart.
21:17
Speaker 1: And just before we do that, just a couple of
21:20
Speaker 1: things to mention your banging on the regards to open
21:22
Speaker 1: and drive. We have not scored an open and drive
21:25
Speaker 1: touchdown this season. So I'll tell you what. I just wait,
21:29
Speaker 1: I'll be texting early Sunday more than when we hopefully
21:32
Speaker 1: do it. And if people are if Dealers fans, remember
21:35
Speaker 1: back to the last time we play the Ravens in
21:39
Speaker 1: the postseason. There was a third and nineteen play. And
21:42
Speaker 1: it's all about these big moments. It's all about these
21:44
Speaker 1: standout moments, because yes, the Ravens have got some fantastic
21:48
Speaker 1: players on their team. We've got some good players on
21:50
Speaker 1: on on on our team as well. Excuse me, at
21:54
Speaker 1: the time we're recording, zeph Flowers is questionable. He's They're
21:59
Speaker 1: not sure if he's going to on Saturday night. But
22:01
Speaker 1: I really feel like we've seen Derek Henry in Week
22:05
Speaker 1: sixteen run over US one hundred and sixty four yards
22:09
Speaker 1: on sixty two yards on twenty four carries. That needs
22:13
Speaker 1: to stop the key to this game for me, and
22:16
Speaker 1: it might seem obvious to people, but the reality is
22:18
Speaker 1: we need to stop Derek Henry and Lamar Jackson. If
22:22
Speaker 1: we're stopping the run, then it's on the mar to
22:24
Speaker 1: throw the ball, and we know we can throw the ball,
22:26
Speaker 1: but if we're putting that much pressure on each down
22:29
Speaker 1: that the Ravens have the ball on the offense, we
22:32
Speaker 1: have to have a chance because I feel like this
22:35
Speaker 1: defense matches up very well against the Ravens offense on
22:38
Speaker 1: its day. I'm not saying that we need to wrap
22:41
Speaker 1: TJ Watton cotton all over the next few days, but
22:43
Speaker 1: certainly we need to find a way, and I know
22:46
Speaker 1: that this team has an idea of how to keep
22:48
Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson contained and more often than not, TJ really
22:52
Speaker 1: can make impact plays against the Ravens. For me, it's
22:56
Speaker 1: very much, and if we want to rule into this
22:57
Speaker 1: next segment, for me, it's very much. Jimmy about keeping
23:01
Speaker 1: this Ravens team in check. If they are if they're
23:05
Speaker 1: in front by three to seven points, let them be
23:08
Speaker 1: in front by three to seven points. But stay in
23:11
Speaker 1: the game. When you get the ball, make the right decision.
23:15
Speaker 1: Like I liked going for it in fourth and one,
23:19
Speaker 1: I liked it. Keep doing that. Have the confidence, have
23:22
Speaker 1: the ability. This is play win or go home football.
23:25
Speaker 1: If you're in with thirty to forty yards of the
23:29
Speaker 1: Ravens end zone and it's a fourth and one or
23:32
Speaker 1: fourth and in just play you go for it because
23:35
Speaker 1: you might not get the opportunity again. There will be
23:38
Speaker 1: times on Saturday night. I can tell you straight up
23:41
Speaker 1: right now, and I'm sure you'd agree. I'm sure people
23:43
Speaker 1: listening to this podcast will agree. There will be times
23:46
Speaker 1: on Saturday night that it will not go warway. We
23:49
Speaker 1: need to bounce backs, not whether that's first half or
23:52
Speaker 1: second half. There will be times where Lamar Jackson can
23:54
Speaker 1: run for fifty yards. We reset, we keep going. If
23:58
Speaker 1: we can keep them within seven to ten points. I
24:00
Speaker 1: think this is gonna be a close game. I think
24:02
Speaker 1: it comes into the field goal. Give me Chris Boswell
24:05
Speaker 1: to win it.
24:06
Speaker 2: Why not?
24:08
Speaker 1: I'll say this now Jimmy, We've won some really good
24:12
Speaker 1: games this season, and for as much as this team
24:14
Speaker 1: has struggled in the last three or four weeks of
24:16
Speaker 1: the season, this is still a team that won ten
24:18
Speaker 1: games upwards to the middle of December. The team can
24:21
Speaker 1: find itself again. I know they can. But yeah, they're
24:24
Speaker 1: gonna have to find it very quickly. And I know
24:26
Speaker 1: for national the national media, for people are the theaters, fans,
24:30
Speaker 1: people might not see that at the minute because they've
24:31
Speaker 1: lost so many games over the last few weeks. And
24:34
Speaker 1: that's fine. That's not gonna matter when the ball is
24:37
Speaker 1: on the field on Saturday night. So give me Boswell
24:40
Speaker 1: to win it. Very very briefly. Dvog's not here. I
24:43
Speaker 1: told him to text me a scoreline. He said, Stayers
24:45
Speaker 1: twenty four, Ravens twenty two. In the history of this podcast,
24:50
Speaker 1: are you gonna say that there's gonna be a loss here?
24:52
Speaker 1: Which I'm really interested to seems we'll look at your
24:54
Speaker 1: fields and they're like, oh, this.
24:56
Speaker 2: Is so hard. Look anyone who knows me and that
25:00
Speaker 2: I believe black and Goal they always have this. This
25:03
Speaker 2: just the four games, the four games slid. The way
25:06
Speaker 2: will be being on has just taken the win out
25:08
Speaker 2: of my sales a little bit. I think what makes
25:10
Speaker 2: it even more frustrating because the fact that we have
25:12
Speaker 2: like it's like you say, we have the pieces, The
25:14
Speaker 2: talent is there, it's just that hasn't been clicking recently,
25:18
Speaker 2: especially on offense. And I think given how much of
25:21
Speaker 2: a monster this Baltimore team has turned into, you have
25:24
Speaker 2: to Lamara Jackson in line for I think it might
25:27
Speaker 2: what might be his third league m v P. You
25:29
Speaker 2: have Derrick Henry, who still is you know, King Henry,
25:33
Speaker 2: and like you say, he ran overs in the in
25:35
Speaker 2: the last encounter, and I just, defensively, I'm not that concerned,
25:40
Speaker 2: to be honest with you. Defensively, I know that we're
25:43
Speaker 2: if they were that we'll be able to contain both
25:46
Speaker 2: boys on their runs. Defensively, I know we can contain
25:50
Speaker 2: their receivers, and I know we can contain Mark Andrews
25:53
Speaker 2: if we play the proper scheme and if if everyone
25:56
Speaker 2: plays to the level of their capability and the level
25:59
Speaker 2: of their talent. And it's just the offense worries me.
26:03
Speaker 2: And if we start playing from behind, I mean, we
26:05
Speaker 2: never let it. We never led against again Cincinnati. I
26:09
Speaker 2: don't think we I don't think we ever let in
26:11
Speaker 2: any of the pass for defeats, to be honest with you,
26:14
Speaker 2: And if you'sh you're when you're playing from behind, you
26:16
Speaker 2: you don't have the momentum. It gets harder, the teams
26:20
Speaker 2: go up and it gets harder, and I just think
26:22
Speaker 2: it's it's gonna be a struggle. So if we're gonna
26:25
Speaker 2: have a chance, offense has to come out absolutely swinging,
26:28
Speaker 2: and Russell Wilson has to connect on on on those passes.
26:32
Speaker 2: We have to get into the ends on early on. God,
26:35
Speaker 2: I've been kicking the Steeers all season. I'm not gonna
26:37
Speaker 2: change now. I'm gonna be optimistic. I'm gonna say the
26:40
Speaker 2: Steelers are We're gonna somehow pull off a win. I
26:43
Speaker 2: don't know how we're gonna do it. It's gonna be
26:45
Speaker 2: Steelers twenty four Baltimore twenty one, and I see a
26:51
Speaker 2: Steelers victory in the in the box score. So there
26:55
Speaker 2: you go. I'm going against my I'm going against my
26:57
Speaker 2: gut and I'm gonna pick the Steels because I've been
27:00
Speaker 2: doing it all season long and I'm not going to
27:02
Speaker 2: change now.
27:02
Speaker 1: Been the key number you've mentioned, there's twenty four. I
27:05
Speaker 1: think you know, and I'm sure coach Hamill will tell
27:07
Speaker 1: a team that as well. Obviously, you want to go
27:09
Speaker 1: out and score as many points as you can. I
27:11
Speaker 1: think the minimum here is twenty four to twenty seven's
27:13
Speaker 1: on the chance, and I'd be saying the same thing
27:15
Speaker 1: against Cancers that he was saying. I think that has
27:17
Speaker 1: to be the minimum. You can't.
27:19
Speaker 2: You can't.
27:20
Speaker 1: We cannot go out there on Saturday night and put
27:22
Speaker 1: up your team nine. It's not going to happen. It
27:24
Speaker 1: needs to be twenty four, twenty seven, thirty points. And
27:27
Speaker 1: if we can do that, we're definitely in with some
27:30
Speaker 1: way of the chance when it comes to the fourth quarter,
27:33
Speaker 1: and I think history will reveal itself and hopefully we're
27:36
Speaker 1: laughing on someday more than on a podcast.
27:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, look at look at the Bengals game, Mike.
27:40
Speaker 2: I mean, we had the ball last, We had the
27:42
Speaker 2: opportunity to score last, and it just it didn't work
27:45
Speaker 2: out because of that decision to run instead of trying
27:48
Speaker 2: to even an incompletion there would have would have been
27:51
Speaker 2: more beneficial than Russell Wilson trying to gain the first down.
27:54
Speaker 2: Like I've been saying, all season in Bozz. We trust
27:57
Speaker 2: the Wizard of Bozz. His right leg should be a
28:00
Speaker 2: national treasurer in this in the state of Pennsylvania or
28:02
Speaker 2: the city of Pittsburgh at least, so I think, and look,
28:07
Speaker 2: there's no lie. He has been our best player all season.
28:09
Speaker 2: I'm one of the best players in the NFL and
28:11
Speaker 2: we are truly blessed to have him because I'd hate
28:13
Speaker 2: to think what our season would have been like if
28:15
Speaker 2: we didn't have Chris Boswell as a kicker. So look,
28:20
Speaker 2: we'll see what happens, and in the wee hours of
28:22
Speaker 2: Sunday morning here in Ireland.
28:24
Speaker 1: We will indeed. Folks, hope you enjoyed this game this weekend.
28:27
Speaker 1: It's on an NFL Game Pass on the Zone, also
28:29
Speaker 1: on sky Sports NFL among OTB Sports Video as well.
28:32
Speaker 1: If you do want to listen to it Big game,
28:34
Speaker 1: it's winner go Home. This could be the last game
28:36
Speaker 1: of the season. We don't think it will be. Hopefully
28:38
Speaker 1: it's not. No matter what. We'll be back at some
28:40
Speaker 1: point over the next few days to recap in the
28:42
Speaker 1: game as well. You can follow all the social media
28:44
Speaker 1: stuff over at social You can follow all the social
28:48
Speaker 1: media stuff over at Steers Ireland on x, on Instagram
28:51
Speaker 1: and on TikTok and we want chatty soon.
28:52
Speaker 2: Here we go.