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Tampa Bay (and Dublin Bay) awaits! · The Irish Steelers Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: As an official airline partner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Aer
0:03
Speaker 1: Lingus is flying Steelers Nation even closer to the action.
0:06
Speaker 1: The Irish airline Aer Lingus has launched a brand new
0:09
Speaker 1: non-stop route between Dublin and Pittsburgh. So whether you're heading
0:13
Speaker 1: to Steel City for game day or crossing the Atlantic
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Speaker 1: for that Irish adventure you've always dreamed about, flying there
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Speaker 1: has never been easier. Book now at aerlingus.com. Here we
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Speaker 1: go Steelers!
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Speaker 2: Hey folks welcome into the irish series podcast presented by
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Speaker 2: air lingus as we get set for week six of
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Speaker 2: the nfl season and we're going to look back at
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Speaker 2: week five in a very very good way after this
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Speaker 2: three years get a 34 that's right folks 34 points
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Speaker 2: the 22 win against the indianapolis call to that crusher
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Speaker 2: stadium michael mcquade here i'm losing my voice it's been
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Speaker 2: that that sort of weekend Here with Mark McGrath. And Mark,
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Speaker 2: I tell you what, on a day where I got
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Speaker 2: to see another Pennsylvania team in London, I sat in
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Speaker 2: a taxi and I watched the Steelers romp home in Accresure.
1:07
Speaker 2: I know you were watching it from the sunny hills
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Speaker 2: of Belfast. How are you doing?
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Speaker 3: What's the crack?
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Speaker 4: Say again, sorry?
1:14
Speaker 2: How are you doing? What's the crack?
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Speaker 4: How am I doing? No, I'm doing very well. And
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Speaker 4: it was a very enjoyable game to watch. Yeah. You know,
1:23
Speaker 4: it was fun. It was that sort of football I
1:25
Speaker 4: wanted to see. Unfortunately, a couple of injuries got us
1:27
Speaker 4: into those big sets that I wanted, but didn't they perform?
1:31
Speaker 4: Big time. Big time.
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Speaker 2: And look, obviously, just sort of starting off here, before
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Speaker 2: we do get to that point, folks, if you're on
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Speaker 2: the island of Ireland, anywhere, wherever you're in, Belfast, Banbridge, Cork, Balbriggan, Galway, Limerick, wherever,
1:48
Speaker 2: get to Kennedy's this Sunday. There is a Falchus Steelers
1:51
Speaker 2: watch party with Matt Spieth, former Steelers player, and a lot,
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Speaker 2: lot more going on this Sunday evening. Come, I'm hosting it.
2:02
Speaker 2: Come and check us out. Say hello. Can't wait to
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Speaker 2: meet so many people on Sunday. Get down to Kent.
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Speaker 4: Guinness Challenge, Michael, yes?
2:09
Speaker 2: Well, I'm working, but if the Steelers win, certainly, my friend, certainly.
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Speaker 4: There we go. Love to hear it.
2:16
Speaker 2: I'll tell you what, Mark, for your sake, Another 6pm
2:19
Speaker 2: game this week, baby, but let's get into the actual
2:22
Speaker 2: talk of this game first off. Probably, and I'm sure
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Speaker 2: you'd agree with me here, the cleanest performance of the
2:29
Speaker 2: Coach McCarthy, Aaron Rodgers here so far, Pittsburgh, and the
2:32
Speaker 2: Steelers really control the game. After what you can only
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Speaker 2: really describe, Mark, as an early exchange of field goals
2:39
Speaker 2: and scores, a real lean in the run game, protected
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Speaker 2: the quarterbacks, the things that we talked about going into
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Speaker 2: this game. And they really pulled away in the second half.
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Speaker 2: A good performance and one to really look on and
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Speaker 2: just try and improve on.
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Speaker 4: I mean, it's again coming off the bounce back the
2:56
Speaker 4: same as the last time. The things we talked about
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Speaker 4: wanting to see kind of happened in this game. And
3:02
Speaker 4: it's fun to watch, especially when we wanted to see
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Speaker 4: the big sets in. Now, obviously, the injuries to the
3:09
Speaker 4: wide receiver core affected that. But, you know, Barnard, what
3:14
Speaker 4: a game he had coming in as a young guy
3:16
Speaker 4: on the offense. And then we got to see a
3:18
Speaker 4: lot more Washington and Firemouth sets in there. And, you know,
3:23
Speaker 4: Warren had another amazing game. There's an argument to be made.
3:27
Speaker 4: Is he the most important piece in this Pittsburgh offense?
3:30
Speaker 4: But I'm not answering that. I'll let you fill that one.
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Speaker 2: Well, I think probably the biggest thing that I wanted
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Speaker 2: to talk about, I sort of mentioned it there a
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Speaker 2: second ago, And you've said it a number of times
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Speaker 2: on the podcast just during the season so far. We are,
3:44
Speaker 2: first off, we're remote this week. We will meet in
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Speaker 2: person next week before I jet off to Paris, which
3:50
Speaker 2: we'll talk about in a wee second. Probably one of
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Speaker 2: the biggest talking points for me, Mark, on that offense
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Speaker 2: has to be the performance of a guy in Jalen Warren.
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Speaker 2: 15 carries for 101 yards and a touchdown. But obviously
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Speaker 2: that big 50-yard burst in that game showing really what
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Speaker 2: we can do here. And then if you add on
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Speaker 2: six receptions, 387 yards in that 80-yard screen. 188 total yards.
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Speaker 2: Two long touchdowns. And Mark, it's one thing saying that
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Speaker 2: and writing down the stats and calling it out. He
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Speaker 2: outplayed Jonathan Taylor. And he looks every bit the feature
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Speaker 2: back in this team. A career-high type day in the
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Speaker 2: receiving game as well. When we're trying to... And let's
4:34
Speaker 2: not be shy about this. There have been weeks where
4:39
Speaker 2: it hasn't been fluid. And it has taken time. It
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Speaker 2: came alive on Sunday.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, it was fantastic. And I think you can stop
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Speaker 4: talking about, is he an emerging talent at running back?
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Speaker 4: This is the third week of consistent production where you
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Speaker 4: feed him and good things seem to happen. I mean, again,
5:00
Speaker 4: you look at a big Metcalf, two blocks. One of
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Speaker 4: the guys he blocked went into a third guide at
5:05
Speaker 4: the spring Met. So, what I did love, and I've
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Speaker 4: got a wee note there, Mason McCormick, what a game
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Speaker 4: he had. He was fired up.
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Speaker 2: The man that was drafted in County Kerry as well has.
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Speaker 4: A big game. Yeah. There's so many fantastic things that
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Speaker 4: we can talk about, that people that have done well. Obviously,
5:29
Speaker 4: I'm hoping injuries and stuff kind of heal and come back,
5:33
Speaker 4: but what a fantastic problem to have that when you
5:36
Speaker 4: go down your depth chart and the young guys have
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Speaker 4: to play and they perform and the production still happens
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Speaker 4: and it's like we can do it with these guys
5:44
Speaker 4: so now we just have more tools to come back
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Speaker 4: into play when guys come back from injuries and a
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Speaker 4: fantastic problem that and a headache for the coaching staff
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Speaker 4: I'm sure.
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Speaker 2: Certainly and you know one of the big aspects that
5:55
Speaker 2: we talked about Mark coming into this game and coming
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Speaker 2: into this you know real battle is the fact that
6:02
Speaker 2: the Colts in We know how good they are. We
6:04
Speaker 2: know that they've got a guy called Jonathan Taylor. This
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Speaker 2: defense held the Colts to 22 points and really limited
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Speaker 2: Taylor relative to his recent form. He had a big
6:15
Speaker 2: day in London, of course, the week before. They forced
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Speaker 2: a turnover and downs late in this game and didn't
6:20
Speaker 2: let the game get away when Indianapolis hung around. Secondary
6:23
Speaker 2: didn't have full health. Obviously, Dean was out. Ramsey was limited.
6:27
Speaker 2: But they didn't get torched by Daniel Jones. It goes
6:30
Speaker 2: back to what I said again. We should start calling
6:32
Speaker 2: this the Irish Steelers Complimentary Football Podcast because it was
6:36
Speaker 2: complimentary football. It worked and the defense done enough and
6:39
Speaker 2: special teams as well, including Chris Boswell, done enough as well.
6:42
Speaker 4: I get it. And last week we said about the
6:45
Speaker 4: key point to take away was take away Taylor. If
6:48
Speaker 4: the defense was going to do one thing, who was
6:50
Speaker 4: going to put it on Jones to beat us? Now,
6:53
Speaker 4: that said, I think the idea behind that was stop Taylor,
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Speaker 4: make him throw, and there'd be turnovers. There wasn't any turnovers.
7:01
Speaker 4: There was just really good defensive back play. So that's
7:06
Speaker 4: the other flip of it. In my head, you stop Taylor,
7:09
Speaker 4: put it all on Jones, and you're going to win
7:12
Speaker 4: this turnover battle, those turning points that we talk about
7:14
Speaker 4: in these games. The defense did what we needed them
7:17
Speaker 4: to do in stopping the run. And Big Harmon's not there.
7:22
Speaker 4: He's out injured, and we still stopped the run. I
7:25
Speaker 4: don't know how many yards JT got. or Taylor got,
7:29
Speaker 4: was it 45 yards on scrimmage? Maybe if you have
7:31
Speaker 4: the stat there.
7:34
Speaker 2: He didn't have a great day. I think that was
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Speaker 2: one of the big talking points, the fact that they
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Speaker 2: only scored 22. This is the thing, the Colts were
7:41
Speaker 2: in a situation a couple of weeks ago, Mark, where
7:44
Speaker 2: they got the points on the board and they got
7:45
Speaker 2: through a Chiefs team where it was real offense against
7:49
Speaker 2: offense and Kenneth Walker got through them. This was a
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Speaker 2: day where they couldn't get it done with JT. And
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Speaker 2: I'll be very honest with you, It was definitely a
7:56
Speaker 2: thing that I was worried about going into this game.
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Speaker 4: And they stopped him.
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Speaker 2: If you can stop the team's biggest X-factor, that's going
8:02
Speaker 2: to give you confidence going into the next few weeks
8:04
Speaker 2: for sure.
8:05
Speaker 4: But they're definitely going to next week where you'd argue,
8:08
Speaker 4: depending on what's happening with Baker, but Bucky Irvin is
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Speaker 4: going to be the big person to stop in that
8:14
Speaker 4: offense and break and tackle right and center. So what
8:18
Speaker 4: a good statement to make with your defense going into that.
8:22
Speaker 4: similar style thing in the offense to try and hopefully
8:24
Speaker 4: put pressure on a rookie qb.
8:27
Speaker 2: I think one of the biggest points as well is
8:29
Speaker 2: here you know obviously we we have to look at
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Speaker 2: this because it's it's obviously going to be an issue
8:36
Speaker 2: down the stretch in terms of you obviously can only
8:38
Speaker 2: control what you're doing on the field but when you're
8:40
Speaker 2: in a situation there um you know you know how
8:45
Speaker 2: important it is to win games you know how important
8:48
Speaker 2: it is to play well in games the Browns lose
8:52
Speaker 2: against the Jets, the Ravens get a big, big, big
8:56
Speaker 2: win against the Falcons on Sunday Night Football, and that
9:00
Speaker 2: AFC North starts to turn a wee bit after a very,
9:02
Speaker 2: very disappointing Thursday Night Football, and the Steelers, the Steelers recovered, yes,
9:08
Speaker 2: the Bengals won against the Dolphins, but all you can
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Speaker 2: do is win, and you have at least one result
9:14
Speaker 2: going your way there in that division at an early stage.
9:16
Speaker 2: I guess for me, we are going to hear from
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Speaker 2: Coach McCarthy in a wee second ahead of coming into
9:20
Speaker 2: Week 6, but Home record is now 3-0. The road
9:24
Speaker 2: record remains 0-2, and that's obviously something to work on.
9:26
Speaker 2: Two big, big road games coming up. We can't get
9:28
Speaker 2: a bigger road game than the one in Paris coming
9:31
Speaker 2: up after this week. But, you know, Ravens leading a 4-1,
9:35
Speaker 2: Steelers sitting there at 3-2, along with the Browns and
9:38
Speaker 2: the Bengals. It's tight, it's in the mix, and the
9:41
Speaker 2: positivity train has left the station, my friend.
9:44
Speaker 4: Well, here, competition, competitive football, that's what you want to be.
9:48
Speaker 4: You know, you're that steel sharpens steel. As they say,
9:54
Speaker 4: you want to be playing the best. You've got to
9:55
Speaker 4: beat the best to be the best. What I really
9:59
Speaker 4: loved about the game was I wanted to see that
10:01
Speaker 4: proper bully football back, that big physical type of football
10:05
Speaker 4: that we wanted to see on the offense, on the defense.
10:09
Speaker 4: Ramsey had that massive hit in Tyler Warren. I know
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Speaker 4: he was limited, but he seemed to be everywhere in
10:14
Speaker 4: that first half, in and around the ball. Really been
10:18
Speaker 4: a good general to those young guys that were coming in. And,
10:21
Speaker 4: you know, tip of the cap to Everett. Coming in,
10:24
Speaker 4: that was his first start, I think. And then Asante
10:26
Speaker 4: Sandwich Jr., four pass breakups, massive one in that third down.
10:30
Speaker 4: Massive release swing. And that's another turning point. And, you know,
10:33
Speaker 4: they kept going after him. Young guy, and he kept performing.
10:36
Speaker 4: So he's obviously taken advantage of people being injured and
10:39
Speaker 4: putting his hand up for another headache. You know, Patrick
10:43
Speaker 4: Graham came down from the booth yesterday. onto the sideline.
10:46
Speaker 4: I think probably because he had that young secondary and
10:49
Speaker 4: he wanted to be there to manage those emotions and
10:51
Speaker 4: maybe be a little bit closer to things. That's a,
10:54
Speaker 4: I think a really smart play to maybe react to
10:58
Speaker 4: how things have been going. Knowing you have that young
11:01
Speaker 4: secondary right there and being right there beside them. I
11:04
Speaker 4: think that was a really good call from him to
11:07
Speaker 4: maybe mix things up a little bit. I'd say that
11:10
Speaker 4: made a big difference to those young guys that need
11:13
Speaker 4: that sort of constant reassurance and, sort of feedback, live
11:17
Speaker 4: feedback a bit faster than a radio down from the booth.
11:21
Speaker 2: Just to add, I was obviously at Tottenham on Sunday
11:24
Speaker 2: and I watched the game afterwards myself. Yes, I think
11:29
Speaker 2: a lot of people would have seen Cali Green on
11:30
Speaker 2: the TV but I met a lot of Steelers fans
11:34
Speaker 2: during the weekend in London and it was really cool
11:36
Speaker 2: to meet people and talk to people wherever they were
11:38
Speaker 2: from the UK, Mark, from Europe. Also a lot of
11:41
Speaker 2: Irish Steelers fans over in London at the game in
11:43
Speaker 2: Tottenham and I've seen a lot of black and I've
11:46
Speaker 2: seen a lot of black and gold in the stadium
11:48
Speaker 2: on Sunday. And from Ben Roethlisberger jerseys to a guy
11:51
Speaker 2: who was wearing an Ireland 25 jersey, I've seen a lot.
11:56
Speaker 2: So it was really, really cool. And props to so
11:58
Speaker 2: many Steelers fans that made the journey over, even if
12:00
Speaker 2: their team wasn't playing in London. Hopefully that'll happen at
12:02
Speaker 2: some stage of playing in Paris after this week. Mark,
12:05
Speaker 2: before we maybe get into talking about this game against
12:08
Speaker 2: the Bucks, which is coming up this week, let's hear
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Speaker 2: from Coach McCaffrey first on his thoughts ahead of this game.
12:14
Speaker 2: You're listening to the Irish Seeders Podcast presented by Air Lingus.
12:18
Speaker 3: You talked about the initial vision of the offense having
12:20
Speaker 3: the one-two punch of both Rico and Jalen. With what
12:24
Speaker 3: Jalen's doing right now, being third in the NFL and
12:27
Speaker 3: yards from scrimmage, how do you ride that line of, hey,
12:31
Speaker 3: I want to keep Jalen fresh, but I also want
12:33
Speaker 3: to get Rico in there?
12:36
Speaker 4: I don't really understand.
12:37
Speaker 5: Maybe with the term one-two punch, maybe our definitions are different,
12:41
Speaker 5: but Jalen's our future player right now. I mean, let's, let's,
12:44
Speaker 5: I mean, let's make sure we all recognize that he's hot. He's,
12:49
Speaker 5: he's playing great football for us. So it's important for
12:51
Speaker 5: us to, as an offense, you know, coaches and players
12:55
Speaker 5: alike to, to continue to put him in position to, to,
12:59
Speaker 5: to make plays. So that, that, that won't change. But,
13:03
Speaker 5: you know, Rico is, he's, you know, he's been injured, but,
13:06
Speaker 5: you know, he looks to, he looked good, you know,
13:08
Speaker 5: Friday and Saturday. So he's definitely close to getting back there. And,
13:13
Speaker 5: So hopefully we can get the ball more on offense.
13:15
Speaker 5: You know, we had the ball really 54 official plays.
13:17
Speaker 5: So we'd like to get up in the high 60s
13:19
Speaker 5: and 70s and create more opportunities for all of.
13:22
Speaker 4: Our perimeter players. Mike, why bring a Landon Brett back?
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Speaker 5: Oh, I enjoyed him in training camp. You know, I
13:31
Speaker 5: thought he did a nice job, but I think timing
13:32
Speaker 5: was a little bit to do with his, you know,
13:34
Speaker 5: his opportunity. And, you know, once again, we're trying to
13:38
Speaker 5: get better. All these, you know, all these opportunities that
13:42
Speaker 5: we're creating for players that are here or, you know,
13:45
Speaker 5: or those changes that you make are, we're trying to
13:49
Speaker 5: improve the team. So, I mean, he's a veteran, has
13:52
Speaker 5: done great things, you know, throughout his career, but, you know,
13:56
Speaker 5: this man just wants to win. So, can't have enough
13:59
Speaker 5: people like that.
14:00
Speaker 6: Mike, going back to what you just said there about,
14:02
Speaker 6: you know, obviously it's dictated by how often you have
14:04
Speaker 6: the ball, what you can give to Jalen or any
14:07
Speaker 6: running back, but is there a threshold? Is there a
14:10
Speaker 6: number that's, too high for a back to get the
14:13
Speaker 6: ball in a game?
14:15
Speaker 5: I think, like, you know, once again, I mean, I'm
14:18
Speaker 5: not going to, you know, pick good numbers, you know,
14:21
Speaker 5: and these are great questions. But, yeah, I mean, it
14:26
Speaker 5: depends on the game, too. I mean, who you're playing,
14:28
Speaker 5: what's going on in the game. I do think, you know,
14:31
Speaker 5: you definitely think over the course of a season and
14:34
Speaker 5: so forth. But at the end of the day, we
14:35
Speaker 5: want to win the game. So let's just start there.
14:38
Speaker 5: And whatever it takes... to win the game, you know, that,
14:42
Speaker 5: that will be our approach this week. So, you know,
14:45
Speaker 5: now there's a, there's a medical report that goes on and,
14:48
Speaker 5: you know, today is, there's a lot of information that's
14:50
Speaker 5: still floating around. I don't have an exact, you know,
14:54
Speaker 5: I don't have everybody on the board exactly where I
14:56
Speaker 5: think they're going to be by the end of the week. So,
14:58
Speaker 5: I mean, that's, that's the normal process of projecting your
15:01
Speaker 5: 53 into your 48 and who's going to play and
15:03
Speaker 5: so forth. But, you know, I think Jalen clearly today
15:06
Speaker 5: looks better today than he did the last two Mondays.
15:09
Speaker 5: So that's very encouraging for me. So, You look at
15:12
Speaker 5: all the information involved, but as far as how much
15:15
Speaker 5: he's going to touch the ball, he needs to touch
15:17
Speaker 5: the ball enough for him to be productive and for
15:19
Speaker 5: us to win the game.
15:21
Speaker 7: You talked about Braden Smith, but what do you think
15:23
Speaker 7: about your receiver depth as a whole? When you have
15:25
Speaker 7: three guys out, like you will in this upcoming week,
15:27
Speaker 7: how does it change your game preparation?
15:31
Speaker 5: I don't know how much it will change the game
15:33
Speaker 5: preparation when I dive into the specifics of how we're
15:35
Speaker 5: going to play. Frankly, I've had probably more conversation today,
15:40
Speaker 5: how we're going to practice, you know, cause you know,
15:42
Speaker 5: it's a full seven day practice slate. It's important for
15:46
Speaker 5: the defensive guys to get the looks that they need
15:49
Speaker 5: to see on Wednesday, Thursday, and then in a, you know,
15:52
Speaker 5: in a lighter fashion on Friday and Saturday. So that's, that's,
15:55
Speaker 5: that's where really the numbers, you know, as far as
15:57
Speaker 5: that group are probably the biggest effect immediately. But as
16:01
Speaker 5: far as game planning and how we're going to utilize
16:04
Speaker 5: our players, you know, we, we feel very confident on,
16:07
Speaker 5: you know, our perimeter group and how we'll, how we'll
16:09
Speaker 5: utilize them for the game Sunday in Tampa.
16:12
Speaker 7: Michael, over the years, how have you seen Aaron and
16:16
Speaker 7: how he works to build trust and bring some of
16:19
Speaker 7: those younger receivers up to speed, especially in a week
16:21
Speaker 7: like this where he may be working with some guys
16:23
Speaker 7: that he didn't anticipate working with as much as he
16:25
Speaker 7: will be?
16:26
Speaker 5: You know, it's a number of different ways, frankly. I
16:31
Speaker 5: think in the old days, you know, back in 20
16:35
Speaker 5: years ago or 15 years ago, You know, I think
16:38
Speaker 5: there's probably more things going on as far as where
16:42
Speaker 5: he was in his life. You know, now I see
16:44
Speaker 5: him do things away from the building more, you know,
16:47
Speaker 5: with the guys, you know, as far as meetings that,
16:50
Speaker 5: you know, their get togethers and what they're doing. So, yeah,
16:54
Speaker 5: he brings a tremendous amount of experience to work every
16:59
Speaker 5: single day. And, you know, and he feels it, you know,
17:04
Speaker 5: his give back meter is really is very, very high.
17:07
Speaker 5: And so he spends, he spends a lot of time
17:10
Speaker 5: with those guys, you know, always interacting and particularly in meetings,
17:13
Speaker 5: you know, we have an afternoon meeting after the, after
17:17
Speaker 5: the practice, you know, we call it a signal callers meeting,
17:19
Speaker 5: you know, something that we did in Dallas that I
17:22
Speaker 5: really liked and brought here. And it's, it's more for
17:26
Speaker 5: the players, you know, it's a, it's a meeting for
17:28
Speaker 5: the players to, to talk on the specifics of the,
17:32
Speaker 5: you know, the communication that goes on, on the field.
17:35
Speaker 5: Cause you know, at the end of the day, the
17:37
Speaker 5: players play and it's important for them to have their language,
17:41
Speaker 5: their connection, you know, their time together to work through
17:45
Speaker 5: those things and communicate in that environment. So, you know, it's,
17:49
Speaker 5: it's part of the preparation for Sundays.
17:52
Speaker 2: Those are the thoughts of coach McCarthy on the Irish
17:55
Speaker 2: Steelers podcast presented by Erlingas. And before I jump in
17:58
Speaker 2: with my esteemed co-host, Mark McGrath, to look ahead to
18:01
Speaker 2: this week six game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a
18:04
Speaker 2: huge reminder, two big ones. First off, um, The Steelers
18:07
Speaker 2: game against the Bucs is in the early window on
18:10
Speaker 2: Sunday and it's on NFL Game Pass on The Zone
18:13
Speaker 2: or the OTB radio app across the island of Ireland.
18:17
Speaker 2: If you want to listen in audio format, so the
18:19
Speaker 2: game is only on The Zone or you can watch
18:22
Speaker 2: it in full fanfare with Matt Spiff in Dublin, in
18:27
Speaker 2: Kennedy's for the Falchus Steelers welcome party, folks, which gets
18:30
Speaker 2: underway on Sunday evening. All the information is in the
18:34
Speaker 2: bio on this podcast. I'm hosting it. Come down, join us.
18:38
Speaker 2: There are still some limited tickets available and you get
18:41
Speaker 2: to watch the game in real time with Steelers fans,
18:43
Speaker 2: which is going to be very, very cool. Another year,
18:45
Speaker 2: another Steelers party. Mark, I know you've been to a
18:47
Speaker 2: number of different Steelers watch parties. You were at that
18:50
Speaker 2: really historic one in Croke Park a couple of years ago.
18:54
Speaker 2: That was... I know we've... I know me and you
18:59
Speaker 2: have both had very different experiences. You've obviously played the game.
19:02
Speaker 2: And shout out to our senior Wolfhounds who got the win,
19:04
Speaker 2: of course, last week as well. And props to our
19:06
Speaker 2: under-19s for going out and playing against Scotland as well.
19:09
Speaker 2: I know you've had a number of different experiences, Mark,
19:13
Speaker 2: playing this game and the experiences that you had might
19:15
Speaker 2: be a wee bit different to mine in some sense.
19:18
Speaker 2: That was a very emotional but a very, very humbling
19:21
Speaker 2: evening when we had that first watch party in Cork Park.
19:24
Speaker 2: It was a very, very cool evening, wasn't it?
19:26
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was amazing. The energy... Around the sport is
19:31
Speaker 4: what attracts so many people to the sport. And when
19:33
Speaker 4: you have organizations like the Steelers coming over, because they
19:38
Speaker 4: wear their heart on their sleeve, you know, you have
19:40
Speaker 4: the main guys are in the room mixing in with
19:43
Speaker 4: the crowd, talking to people, The names that you know
19:46
Speaker 4: around that organization are just.
19:47
Speaker 2: Santonio Holmes, Alan Fanica as well.
19:52
Speaker 4: On that day as well. They were talking to everyone.
19:55
Speaker 4: Anyone wanted a photo, got a photo, got a handshake,
19:57
Speaker 4: got a bit of time, a bit of attention. There's
19:59
Speaker 4: so many guys at that level you would expect to
20:02
Speaker 4: maybe be a bit more aloof and not give their
20:06
Speaker 4: time back having done what they've done. And there was
20:09
Speaker 4: none of that. It was fantastic to see. And it
20:11
Speaker 4: really charged up the room and everyone got so excited
20:14
Speaker 4: and so into it. And that's why we love the sport.
20:16
Speaker 4: It's the energy that comes with it that's unlike any
20:18
Speaker 4: other sport in the world. It was a very cool weekend.
20:24
Speaker 4: I really enjoyed it.
20:25
Speaker 2: And I actually remember meeting you that weekend and having
20:28
Speaker 2: some crack. And I know that we're going to find
20:31
Speaker 2: so many people this weekend down in Kennedy. So come out,
20:35
Speaker 2: enjoy it. And we're going to watch this game against
20:37
Speaker 2: the Bucks. But a bit of an asterisk this week, Mark,
20:41
Speaker 2: if we look into this, because we're still waiting to hear.
20:43
Speaker 4: If Baker Mayfield.
20:45
Speaker 2: So apologies, folks, if it has come out by the
20:47
Speaker 2: time this is going out on Wednesday, but we are
20:49
Speaker 2: still waiting to hear if Baker Mayfield is going to
20:52
Speaker 2: start for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
20:53
Speaker 4: What a difference that makes to your scheme and how
20:56
Speaker 4: you're going to plan for it. There was sort of
21:00
Speaker 4: one concerning point where I got made a bit of
21:04
Speaker 4: a liar and I was expecting our pass rush to
21:07
Speaker 4: get home. You can't have everything. The secondary played fantastic.
21:10
Speaker 4: We stopped the run, which was the main thing we
21:12
Speaker 4: needed to do. I had obviously quoted in last week's,
21:16
Speaker 4: when I was talking to you, saying I think this
21:17
Speaker 4: big angry pass rush is going to come in and
21:19
Speaker 4: Daniel Jones is going to be getting hit from everywhere.
21:21
Speaker 4: And that didn't happen. So that would be one thing
21:25
Speaker 4: for me coming into this game.
21:27
Speaker 2: I think they got to Mouibet, though. They did get
21:29
Speaker 2: to Mouibet. I mean, he was under pressure, certainly. I
21:32
Speaker 2: think it's getting to that next level.
21:34
Speaker 4: Isn't it? Yeah, and that's what it is. You want
21:37
Speaker 4: to see sacks, you want to see those turnovers or
21:40
Speaker 4: the pressure. The complementary football where the DBs hold up
21:44
Speaker 4: so well, you're hoping is going to lead to... Again,
21:48
Speaker 4: we have Highsmith, JJ Watt with one eye for a
21:52
Speaker 4: lot of that game. We're still getting close, getting home.
21:55
Speaker 4: I'd like to see a bit more from Big Herbig.
21:58
Speaker 4: um maybe hopefully in this game maybe i thought that
22:01
Speaker 4: they're not moving around so much and maybe just pin
22:03
Speaker 4: the ears back and just go after the qb from
22:05
Speaker 4: an edge rush you would maybe get a wee bit
22:07
Speaker 4: more production from 51 um again i can't complain we
22:11
Speaker 4: needed to stop the run we stopped the run we
22:14
Speaker 4: needed dbs to do what they did they broke up
22:16
Speaker 4: the passes they put in big hits we got a
22:18
Speaker 4: fantastic win yeah maybe i just want my want my
22:21
Speaker 4: cake and i want to eat it you know stop
22:23
Speaker 4: there on Don't let them pass on you and get
22:25
Speaker 4: sacks in the quarterback is maybe asking a wee bit
22:27
Speaker 4: too much. But the first two weeks, we saw so
22:29
Speaker 4: much pressure from that pass rush. It's electrifying and it
22:35
Speaker 4: lights everybody up and the energy just takes a real
22:37
Speaker 4: spike upward trend whenever it happens.
22:41
Speaker 2: On the flip side, Mark, Tampa Bay, 1-4. I think
22:45
Speaker 2: it's fair to say, my friend. that they shocked the,
22:51
Speaker 2: I guess, the Irish NFL community, the European NFL community, really,
22:55
Speaker 2: when a lot of us woke up last Friday morning
22:58
Speaker 2: after Thursday Night Football, and they defeated the Cowboys 24-16.
23:02
Speaker 2: That's a really important point coming into this game, because obviously, again,
23:06
Speaker 2: we are probably, let's be fair here, we are probably
23:10
Speaker 2: going into this on the presumption that Jalen Daniels, or
23:13
Speaker 2: Jalon Daniels, not Jalen Daniels, of course, or Jaden Daniels, sorry,
23:17
Speaker 2: is starting the game. Now, The undrafted rookie managed the
23:22
Speaker 2: game very well. Bucky Irvin, as you mentioned earlier on
23:24
Speaker 2: in this podcast, had a huge day. He had 165
23:27
Speaker 2: rushing yards and a receiving touchdown. So on the presumption
23:32
Speaker 2: that Daniels is starting under center, from that viewpoint, I
23:36
Speaker 2: would certainly prefer to have Daniels starting under center because
23:41
Speaker 2: we know how lethal that Baker Mayfield can be. But
23:44
Speaker 2: we go back to it, Mark. The road performance so far, 0-2,
23:47
Speaker 2: as we said earlier on, you know, a bad loss
23:52
Speaker 2: in New England in terms of how we played, and
23:54
Speaker 2: a real heartbreaker in Cleveland. The comfort of Accresher, that
23:58
Speaker 2: home crowd, that needs to seep through the walls in
24:01
Speaker 2: Raymond James Stadium in some way this weekend, and the
24:05
Speaker 2: performance has to match as well to get this win.
24:09
Speaker 4: Yeah, with these next four games, this block of four games,
24:12
Speaker 4: you need to be targeting and hopefully trying to get
24:14
Speaker 4: on a bit of a win streak. It can't just
24:16
Speaker 4: be a win-loss, win-loss, win-loss, like this big up-and-down changed
24:22
Speaker 4: from playing so well, as you said, at home and
24:24
Speaker 4: then not quite being able to put it together when
24:26
Speaker 4: we're away. So the hope is this week's going to
24:28
Speaker 4: start to build. Obviously, Tampa have the long week. So
24:31
Speaker 4: the advantage we had last week, we have a couple
24:33
Speaker 4: of extra days to prep. They have that this week.
24:38
Speaker 4: But that said, they have a rookie quarterback. Now, he
24:43
Speaker 4: didn't look like a rookie quarterback against the Cowboys. But
24:47
Speaker 4: a lot of that goes into the play calling. They
24:49
Speaker 4: ran the ball very well. Cowboys couldn't stop the run,
24:51
Speaker 4: which then takes a lot of pressure off the quarterback.
24:55
Speaker 4: We successfully stopped the run. If we can successfully stop
24:58
Speaker 4: the run again, that puts a lot of pressure on
25:01
Speaker 4: a rookie quarterback. And as I said, if that pass
25:04
Speaker 4: rush can get going, he's going to feel that pressure.
25:08
Speaker 4: He's going to know those names. He's going to have
25:09
Speaker 4: watched a lot of these guys. Cam, Highsmith, TJ, he's
25:14
Speaker 4: going to know those names and know they're coming for him.
25:17
Speaker 4: But the big point right from the get-go is we
25:19
Speaker 4: need to stop that run. Big time. Big time.
25:23
Speaker 2: And stopping the run is one element for Bucky Irvin.
25:27
Speaker 2: You want to see on the flip side of that,
25:29
Speaker 2: our run game continue with Jalen Warren, and you know
25:31
Speaker 2: the Bucks will be looking at him and licking their lips.
25:33
Speaker 2: And they'll be looking at Aaron Rodgers and trying to
25:35
Speaker 2: intercept those passes as well. But Jalen had a step-step-step
25:39
Speaker 2: performance in Week 5. Can he replicate it to an
25:42
Speaker 2: extent in Week 6 in Tampa Bay? The weather's going
25:45
Speaker 2: to be different. Can this offense travel And that's going
25:47
Speaker 2: to be one of the keys of the game. And really,
25:49
Speaker 2: how aggressive can this defense truly be going up against
25:53
Speaker 2: Daniels or Mayfield? You know, I talked about it earlier
25:57
Speaker 2: the week on a different podcast, but when you look
25:59
Speaker 2: at certain situations, Mark, and you work in football, and
26:02
Speaker 2: granted it's not the NFL, but it's still a very
26:04
Speaker 2: important topic to talk about. I talked about Caleb Williams
26:07
Speaker 2: potentially coming back in week six. And if you're not ready,
26:12
Speaker 2: why play? Get better and play. And That's going to
26:16
Speaker 2: be a huge decision for the Bucks to make this week.
26:19
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a tough thing. Obviously, while the S is
26:25
Speaker 4: still early in the season, you don't want the season
26:29
Speaker 4: to be over. And if the guy's your guy, if
26:31
Speaker 4: him at 80% gives you 80% better chance to win,
26:35
Speaker 4: it's very hard to not. And those guys are competitors.
26:38
Speaker 4: They want to be on there. They want to be competing.
26:40
Speaker 4: They want to be playing. You're probably getting... Baker, if
26:44
Speaker 4: he's anywhere close to being ready, you're probably getting him saying,
26:47
Speaker 4: you need to play me. I need to play. We
26:48
Speaker 4: need to win. I want to play. Because they don't
26:51
Speaker 4: want to see anyone else do well. Don't get me wrong,
26:54
Speaker 4: very supportive of all their teammates. Yeah. But this is
26:57
Speaker 4: a highly competitive room, highly competitive atmosphere.
27:00
Speaker 2: Tall balls as well, Mark. Well, not that I'm saying
27:03
Speaker 2: he's a very, very respected coach in the league. I'm
27:06
Speaker 2: not sitting here saying he's under pressure. But they're 1-4.
27:09
Speaker 2: He knows he has to win this game on Sunday.
27:11
Speaker 2: It's a huge game for the Bucs as well, and
27:13
Speaker 2: that's is another reason, folks, why this game in Dublin,
27:17
Speaker 2: in this watch party, is going to be such a
27:19
Speaker 2: great evening to be a part of because it means
27:21
Speaker 2: so much for both teams. Just before I get your
27:26
Speaker 2: game pick, six o'clock, six o'clock, you know, I don't
27:31
Speaker 2: know what you're doing on Sunday, hopefully I'll see you
27:33
Speaker 2: in Dublin, but even if you're there or not, I
27:35
Speaker 2: know you'll be there, Mark, even if you're there or not,
27:37
Speaker 2: my friend, if you were hypothetically at home, feet up,
27:42
Speaker 2: watching the game, Snacks this week? What's the plan?
27:45
Speaker 4: Snacks this week? That's a very good question. I haven't
27:49
Speaker 4: thought about it.
27:50
Speaker 2: Do you know for a rugby match or a Gaelic match,
27:52
Speaker 2: you can do a packed lunch and bring it with you?
27:55
Speaker 2: You can make a packed lunch and bring it down
27:56
Speaker 2: to Dublin.
27:57
Speaker 4: Something tells me the bars in Dublin might not want
27:59
Speaker 4: me just bringing.
28:00
Speaker 2: My packed lunch.
28:02
Speaker 4: I'm joking.
28:03
Speaker 2: Hypothetically, snack choice this week?
28:06
Speaker 4: I'm thinking some boneless wings. You know, maybe some boneless wings,
28:10
Speaker 4: some wedges, something that's nice and easy, some good dipping sauce.
28:14
Speaker 3: Hold on, hold on, hold on.
28:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was going to ask that properly. What's the
28:18
Speaker 2: go-to McGrath sauce, if you had to pick one?
28:23
Speaker 4: I'm a big fan of the Frank's hot sauce. But
28:27
Speaker 4: I've got this Korean sticky barbecue sauce I like to do.
28:30
Speaker 4: And we make like a Jack Daniels sort of glaze
28:34
Speaker 4: in the kitchen and work, which is delicious. I'll need
28:37
Speaker 4: to make some of that.
28:39
Speaker 2: Please do. Please bring it to my home next week.
28:41
Speaker 2: I can't take spicy food or sauces, so that's me out.
28:45
Speaker 2: I think, look, obviously we want to win for this
28:48
Speaker 2: Dublin watch party. I think the Steelers will win this game.
28:51
Speaker 2: I think they'll win it 2014, the tight one. I
28:53
Speaker 2: think the run game emulates. I think the offense might
28:57
Speaker 2: find it a wee bit jitty, a wee bit hard,
28:58
Speaker 2: but we haven't even talked about Pat Friar. I think
29:01
Speaker 2: he has a key, key role to play in this game,
29:03
Speaker 2: whether that's blocking or whether that's scoring. And I think
29:05
Speaker 2: the Steelers get the win 2014. Give us your thoughts
29:10
Speaker 2: on your pick, Mark.
29:12
Speaker 4: I have 27-17 down in the Steelers' favor. Obviously, I
29:15
Speaker 4: touched on the fact that we were doing a lot
29:16
Speaker 4: of two big sets. You know, we've said week in,
29:19
Speaker 4: week out, we thought Fryermuth was going to become the
29:21
Speaker 4: number two receiver. Blocking, as well as all his receptions,
29:26
Speaker 4: his blocking has improved so much over the last, in
29:29
Speaker 4: the offseason, the last couple of years, that he is
29:31
Speaker 4: now a genuine threat in both areas. Bernard obviously did
29:37
Speaker 4: a fantastic job coming in and having to play a
29:39
Speaker 4: lot of snaps. so you got some confidence as him
29:41
Speaker 4: with 6 receptions and 80 yards which is fantastic they
29:46
Speaker 4: took Metcalf out of the game and what he did
29:50
Speaker 4: was he stayed out of the game but in the
29:53
Speaker 4: most positive way where he still blocked his ass off
29:55
Speaker 4: made some really big grabs when he had to in
29:58
Speaker 4: that situation but he took their best guys, took all
30:02
Speaker 4: the attention away from him, which opened up some space
30:04
Speaker 4: for our big guys in the middle of the field
30:06
Speaker 4: that have got to be an absolute nightmare to match
30:08
Speaker 4: up with. That's the football I want. I want to
30:11
Speaker 4: see us running a lot more. You're going to get
30:13
Speaker 4: more performances out of McCormick, who just loves to run
30:16
Speaker 4: that ball. Warren's playing so well, but not to take
30:20
Speaker 4: anything away from Rodgers. What's that, three games, three touchdowns
30:24
Speaker 4: a game? He's playing good. You know what?
30:26
Speaker 1: Yeah.
30:27
Speaker 4: We're saying all these other names, but the guy is
30:30
Speaker 4: still performing at a very, very high level. But when
30:33
Speaker 4: the run game is running, it takes a wee bit
30:35
Speaker 4: of pressure off him. He made a couple of guys miss,
30:38
Speaker 4: used his feet, and then got himself some more time,
30:41
Speaker 4: some more space, and made some lovely passes.
30:43
Speaker 2: There's still some tread in those tires, boy. Still some
30:46
Speaker 2: tread in those tires. Pass next week.
30:51
Speaker 4: You excited? Very. Very, very, very. I think it's going
30:54
Speaker 4: to be one week at a time, but those international
30:57
Speaker 4: games definitely hit special.
30:59
Speaker 2: I'm really excited. I got the email that came through
31:01
Speaker 2: there yesterday about the credential approval. I can't wait, Mark. Look,
31:06
Speaker 2: we have to get through this week first, and we've
31:08
Speaker 2: got a very, very exciting weekend with a watch party
31:10
Speaker 2: in Dublin. But to see the Steelers playing 90 minutes
31:14
Speaker 2: from home on a flight is going to be very,
31:16
Speaker 2: very special next week. So I know a lot of
31:18
Speaker 2: people are going over for that. I know a lot
31:19
Speaker 2: of people are excited for that, and that's something that
31:21
Speaker 2: we'll come back into next week and talk about. we'll
31:24
Speaker 2: do it in person next week. You better start learning
31:26
Speaker 2: your French. I don't know what your GCSE or for
31:29
Speaker 2: some people listening to this, you're leaving a certain French
31:31
Speaker 2: is like, but get onto it. Mez and me, Mez
31:34
Speaker 2: and me. I don't GCSE French up North, so we
31:37
Speaker 2: can definitely talk about it. Just a huge reminder to everybody.
31:39
Speaker 2: Obviously the game is on NFL game pass on the
31:42
Speaker 2: zone in the early window, 6 p.m. on Sunday night
31:45
Speaker 2: against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It's on the OTB sports
31:47
Speaker 2: app as well. If you want to listen audio wise
31:48
Speaker 2: across the island of Ireland, get that app now on
31:52
Speaker 2: your phone. And of course, the big one, the watch
31:54
Speaker 2: party from Kennedy's in Dublin, Steeders Station, Sunday evening. Myself hosting,
32:01
Speaker 2: Matt Spieth, former Steeders player as well, joining us along
32:05
Speaker 2: with a lot, lot more going on. Folks, tickets in
32:08
Speaker 2: the bio. We cannot wait to see you there. It's
32:10
Speaker 2: a celebration of Steeders culture across the island of Ireland
32:13
Speaker 2: and a real nod to a thing that a lot
32:14
Speaker 2: of teams are not doing here, which is actually getting
32:16
Speaker 2: boots on the ground and having an event. So come
32:18
Speaker 2: down and support it if you can. Mark, I can
32:20
Speaker 2: only hope and expect that we're talking about a big
32:22
Speaker 2: dub in person next week ahead of Paris. From myself,
32:26
Speaker 2: from you, thanks so much for your time, man, and
32:27
Speaker 2: everyone have a fantastic weekend, and hopefully see you in Dublin.
32:41
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