Latest / The Steelers Report / HR 2: Ben Baby Joins the Show, Top 5 NFL Offenses & Defenses: Week 3

Transcript

HR 2: Ben Baby Joins the Show, Top 5 NFL Offenses & Defenses: Week 3 · The Steelers Report

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: This is the Steelers Report with Brian Batko and Ed
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Troup on Steelers Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Audio Network.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: Great stuff from.
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: Ben Baby, Bengals beat reporter for ESPN, joining the show today.
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: We always like to do that, Brian, each and every
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: week at least one or two reporters from the other
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: side and see what.
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: They're thinking about the upcoming matchup.
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: And Ben had some great insight on the Cincinnati Bengals
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: coming here to Accuture Stadium this Sunday.
• 0:41
  Speaker 4: And an added bonus that Ben's been doing it for
• 0:43
  Speaker 4: a while, and he's an intra-division player. beat writer so
• 0:47
  Speaker 4: he knows the Steelers Bengals storylines inside and out it's
• 0:51
  Speaker 4: great to have on you know like a Daniel Flick
• 0:54
  Speaker 4: in week one he's talking about the Falcons that's a
• 0:56
  Speaker 4: team we don't see all that often but there's not
• 0:59
  Speaker 4: as much shared history and familiarity there right Ben Baby
• 1:02
  Speaker 4: has all of the storylines uh close to the to
• 1:06
  Speaker 4: the heart there when it comes to Steelers Bengals and
• 1:09
  Speaker 4: yes he did uh did jog my memory about no
• 1:13
  Speaker 4: love lost between Jamar Chase and Jalen Ramsey and I
• 1:16
  Speaker 4: don't really understand that phrase. No love lost. I always
• 1:20
  Speaker 4: feel like it should be the opposite. If you don't
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: like someone, there's a lot of love lost, but I
• 1:25
  Speaker 4: guess that's just one of those weird, weird, uh, quirky
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: things about the English language.
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: I thought one of the most interesting parts of that
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: interview was right at the tell end when we asked
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: him about Zach Taylor being on the hot seat in Cincinnati.
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: And not only did he acknowledge it, he said, Zach
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: Taylor has acknowledged it.
• 1:41
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 1:41
  Speaker 4: And I don't think that's anything that that's like no
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: hot take. I think we've, new going into this season
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: that it was, it was now or never. And it
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: would have been, it would have been real bizarre if
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: he was the fourth AFC North head coach to, to
• 1:56
  Speaker 4: change jobs this off season. I don't know if that's
• 1:59
  Speaker 4: had anything to do with why the Bengals kept him around,
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: but at least so far, you know, they got off
• 2:04
  Speaker 4: to the start that you would expect as the only
• 2:06
  Speaker 4: team with the continuity at the top, obviously Steelers, Ravens
• 2:11
  Speaker 4: and Browns. all one-on-one and all going through growing pains
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: of some description so far with their new sideline bosses.
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: I think when Joe Burrow gives you a nice endorsement,
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: as he did this past offseason, that goes a long way, too,
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: within that organization when your franchise quarterback still likes the
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: head coach.
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: It's just one of those things, though, where that's a
• 2:33
  Speaker 4: bit of a double-edged sword, too. When your franchise quarterback
• 2:36
  Speaker 4: comes out and says, like, you know, as... we were
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: talking about with Ben basically like this team has the
• 2:41
  Speaker 4: goods to do it. Like we need to, we need
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: to stop all the talking and actually go out there
• 2:46
  Speaker 4: and do it that when you set that bar, I mean, yeah, it's,
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: it's great to hear I'm sure for that fan base,
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: but the unspoken part of that is if you don't
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: do it, well, someone's going to have to pay the
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: Piper on that.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: I agree.
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: And we shall see how that plays out for the
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: Cincinnati Bengals. Will Zach Taylor survive this season? I would
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: think Brian, they got to win the division, make the
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: playoffs and, That probably will be enough to keep them around,
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: I would think. If they miss the playoffs, no doubt
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: they're probably moving on. Maybe if they barely sneak into
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: the playoffs, that could also be a little questionable and
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: they exit with a first-round loss.
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: But right now, I'm with you.
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: I mean, Cincinnati has been nothing short than great through
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: these first two weeks.
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: Too early to say to me on how that's going
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: to go. But, hey, I mean, we always talk about
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: the Steelers and how fantastic it's been, the stability they've
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: had it. head coach. And now this is a much
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: different discussion because the Steelers have six of them things,
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: six of those Lombardi trophies in the case, right? Bengals have, well, none,
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: but they are also an organization or a franchise that, uh,
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: for their lack of rings, uh, they kept Marvin Lewis
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: around for a really long time. And now obviously they
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: haven't been too quick to, uh, make Zach Taylor exit
• 4:04
  Speaker 4: stage left. So they're not there. They're a far cry from,
• 4:08
  Speaker 4: Noel Coward Tomlin territory, but relative to the rest of
• 4:13
  Speaker 4: an inpatient league, they haven't had all that many head
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: coaches themselves in the last couple of decades.
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: Brian, let's get into our power rankings.
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: Top five offenses currently in the NFL as we approach
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: week three and also our top five defenses in and
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: across the NFL. I will let you do the coin flip,
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: my friend. Do you want to start with offense or defense?
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: Let's start with the offense because, well, I think we
• 4:39
  Speaker 4: did that last week, and I just don't like change.
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: Hey, listen, we want to keep it consistent through the
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: first two weeks of the regular season. That's for sure. So, okay,
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: we'll start with offense. Let's go with number five. On
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: my end, and I'm going to have a couple surprises
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: for you. This is going to be fun, especially when
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: we get to our defense. My number one defense, you
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: may fall off your chair.
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: And it's not the Steelers, so I'll just go ahead
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: and give that full disclosure right now. We'll have to
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: wait and see if they made my top five on defense.
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: But my number one team, you.
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: May just hit the off button and walk out of
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: the room. I don't know. We shall see.
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: Offensively, though, number five for me, the Carolina Panthers. That
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: might be a surprise, too. They're 1-1 on the season.
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: They have accumulated 409 total yards defensively. through the first
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: two games of the season, they have 96.5 rushing yards
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: per game as an average to compliment the passing attack.
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: And they put up 71 points for an average of
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: 35.5 points per game so far.
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: I think that's pretty good.
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I considered them, but I'm, I'm not quite there
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: on Bryce young. Uh, I know Dave Canales is their
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: head coach. I mean, he's a pretty well-regarded offensive mind. That's,
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: that's a big reason why he got that job in
• 5:50
  Speaker 4: the first place, but they've done it against, uh, Well,
• 5:53
  Speaker 4: I don't know what to make of the Bears' defense.
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: I don't think we're going to have them in our
• 5:57
  Speaker 4: top fives, respectively, but they got gashed by the Panthers
• 6:01
  Speaker 4: in a shootout, and then they lose 9-3 to the Vikings,
• 6:04
  Speaker 4: but that was with Carson Wentz. So I lean to
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: the side of the Bears' defense, probably not that great,
• 6:10
  Speaker 4: and I think we know the Falcons' defense, not that
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: great either, and the Panthers went off against them. My
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: number five, I'm going to go with the Detroit Lions
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: on this one. One and one, but they've racked up
• 6:22
  Speaker 4: a lot of points against the Saints and the Buffalo Bills.
• 6:24
  Speaker 4: So I think those are two probably better defenses. And,
• 6:28
  Speaker 4: I mean, if you watched that game last night, last week,
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: Thursday night football, Amon Ross St. Brown is still kind
• 6:35
  Speaker 4: of unstoppable. There was some garbage time in there, don't
• 6:37
  Speaker 4: get me wrong, but Jameer Gibbs, I'll take my chances
• 6:41
  Speaker 4: with those two guys, and they haven't even gotten Jamison
• 6:43
  Speaker 4: Williams going yet as their speedster. So I'll check the
• 6:46
  Speaker 4: Lions in at number five on offense.
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: Yep, not too bad.
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: By the way, my number of 409 total yards per
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: game is an average for the Carolina Panthers as they've
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: put up a total on the season so far of 800.
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: And where did I go? I just lost my place there, Brian.
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: Where did we go? There, 818 so far on the season. Okay,
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: speaking of averages per game, my number four, Baltimore Ravens,
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: they have also averaged 409 total yards per game. 818.
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: Now they slowed down a bit in week two after
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: that hot start in Indianapolis in week one, but they're
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: one-on-one on the year. They are fourth in total volume
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: for number of yards. They are balancing their offense with
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: a strong 155 yards rushing per game, and they've averaged
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: 29 points per game so far on the season. Ravens,
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: my number four.
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: I don't have the Ravens on my list. I have
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: them dropping out when Lamar Jackson threw the game-ending interception
• 7:38
  Speaker 4: against I said, nope, you just lost your spot in
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: the Batco Offensive Power Rankings this week on the Steelers report. Sorry, Ravens.
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: My number four, they're new to my list this week
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: because I bounced them out after a hideous week one,
• 7:52
  Speaker 4: but the Los Angeles Rams, they're right back in there
• 7:56
  Speaker 4: for me after the way they played against the Giants
• 7:58
  Speaker 4: on Monday Night Football. Giants defense might not be anything
• 8:01
  Speaker 4: to write home about too much, but they did a
• 8:04
  Speaker 4: good job against the Cowboys week one, so I'll give
• 8:06
  Speaker 4: the Rams credit for the uh, bounce back and Sean
• 8:11
  Speaker 4: McVay took some heat and also put some heat on himself,
• 8:15
  Speaker 4: blamed himself, took the accountability for maybe a bad travel
• 8:18
  Speaker 4: plan leading to them sleepwalking in that Australia game. Uh,
• 8:21
  Speaker 4: what they did Monday night football to Ed was without
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: Puka Nakua. He was inactive for that game with an injury.
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: So if they get him back fully healthy, uh, that,
• 8:30
  Speaker 4: that offense should be humming even more Devante Adams turned
• 8:33
  Speaker 4: back the clock, um, on a week that is former
• 8:37
  Speaker 4: Packers head coach and quarterback, you know, Probably wish they
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: would have had them in New England. But that trio of,
• 8:44
  Speaker 4: you know, part of some really elite offenses in Green Bay,
• 8:48
  Speaker 4: all still going strong in the NFL. So give me
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: the Rams at four.
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: Rams are my number three team, Double B, so they
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: entered my top five this week as well, and I'm
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: with you. I thought the Monday night game, they looked
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: really good on offense, pretty much what we expected to
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: see the first week that we didn't see from this L.A.
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: Rams offensive unit. 771 total yards through the first two games,
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: 385 yards per game. They also have now up to
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: 486 yards passing and 205 on the ground. That's an
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: average of 142 per game. So, yes, they are heating up.
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: And again, you know, it was silly. You want to
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: talk about overreactions, by the way, we'll do our terrible
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: takes tomorrow. That'll be fun coming off of a Steeler loss.
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: Hot takes across the NFL last week could have been, well,
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: the Rams aren't going to be what we thought they'd
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: be here in 2026.
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: The Rams will be just fine.
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: And again, they're number three on my top five offenses
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: going into week three.
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that was probably a blip on the radar that week.
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: One loss to the 49ers who might be a pretty
• 9:46
  Speaker 4: good defense too, but we'll get to that to finish
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: the show. My number three is the Kansas City Chiefs.
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: Back-to-back 30-point, 30 nuggets, 30 burgers to start the season.
• 9:57
  Speaker 4: Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelsey, if they keep playing like that. this,
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: there's gonna be a lot of 30 pieces up there
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: for the Chiefs. Just when you thought maybe that their
• 10:05
  Speaker 4: their run was over, their rumors of their demise were
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: greatly exaggerated, I think. So, yeah, I'll go with the
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: Chiefs as my three.
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: Time for our top two for our top five power
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: rankings of offense here going into week three. And number
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: two for me is the Buffalo Bills. So I have
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: the Bills checking in at number two. They have powered
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: their way to 427.5 total yards per game on an average.
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: excellent there they picked up 144.5 rushing yards per game
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: on the way to josh allen who has been dominant
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: from the quarterback spot and listen they've uh led all
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: nfl teams so far averaging 38.5 points per game that
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: buffalo offense is scary and off to a scary start
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: for the first two weeks.
• 10:54
  Speaker 4: Yes it is and i'm gonna get to them but
• 10:57
  Speaker 4: not just yet my number two and this is maybe
• 11:00
  Speaker 4: I'm just being fatalistic going into this game Sunday at
• 11:03
  Speaker 4: Akershire stadium. Cause if you just look purely at the
• 11:05
  Speaker 4: numbers and you look at some of the offensive line
• 11:09
  Speaker 4: struggles through two games, I might be crazy for keeping
• 11:14
  Speaker 4: this team really in my elite tier. I might've even
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: moved them up from last week. I'm not sure, but
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: I'm going to go Cincinnati Bengals. Number two, I'm still
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: giving them a lot of credence based on the personnel
• 11:24
  Speaker 4: and what I thought of this group coming into the
• 11:26
  Speaker 4: season and Joe Burrow threw for barely 200 yards last week,
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: but that was against the Houston Texans in a really
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: good edge rushing group. I think their right tackle, Orlando
• 11:37
  Speaker 4: Brown Jr., has had some struggles so far to this
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: point in the season. So they're going to need him
• 11:42
  Speaker 4: to play better if I'm going to, or excuse me,
• 11:44
  Speaker 4: I think he's their left tackle, Orlando Brown Jr., right
• 11:47
  Speaker 4: tackle Amarius Mims from Georgia. But yeah, I've got the
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: Bengals still holding strong here at number two, but maybe
• 11:54
  Speaker 4: the Steelers will expose them even a little bit more.
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: Sunday and if that's the case I might drop them
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: out but I'll go Cincy number two for now and
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: I'm not totally confident in it but I'll still take
• 12:08
  Speaker 4: my chances with Burrow Chase Higgins.
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: You're not wrong I wrestled with the Cincinnati Bengals for
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: this top five Brian in fact if we were going
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: to have a team or two on the outside looking
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: into the top five for me at least it would
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: be the Bengals they were right on the doorstep.
• 12:21
  Speaker 4: And I'm guessing the team that I had just outside
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: looking in is probably the team you have number one.
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: No, I had to look down here and pause for
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: a second. Oh, this will be interesting because I have
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: the Chiefs at number one on my list. So you're
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: the Chiefs at number three on your list. So Chiefs
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: are number one.
• 12:40
  Speaker 4: OK, well, I thought you I thought you might go
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: 49ers number one, but instead they missed the cut for
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: both of us, even though they've racked up a heck
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: of a lot of points through the first two weeks
• 12:49
  Speaker 4: against the Rams and the Dolphins and Brock Purdy looks fantastic.
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: I kept them out mainly because they keep getting injured.
• 12:56
  Speaker 4: They can't. they can't stop the injury bug from creeping in,
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: which I feel like is going to, it's going to
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: hurt them eventually. And also, you know, they did it
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: against the dolphins in week two. I don't know how
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: much stock to put into that. Yeah.
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: Shout out to the Niners for sure.
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: I wrestled with them yesterday, just like I did with
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: the Bengals, but listen, Taylor Swift announced that she has
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: a new single coming out on Friday.
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: So the world's going crazy.
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: And with that, Travis Kelsey's off to his best start
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: in a long time, which potentially could be his final
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: NFL season. Patrick Mahomes looks like a, nfl mvp again
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: that chiefs offense is humming at a big way and
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: oh by the way they got kenneth walker the defending
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: super bowl mvp who's over 100 yards in both games
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: to start the season is.
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: That guy ever going to be under held under 100
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: yards again because this three game run on the biggest
• 13:44
  Speaker 4: stage and then in your first two games with your
• 13:46
  Speaker 4: new team seahawks haven't made many mistakes But not bringing
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: that guy back is not looking too hot at the moment.
• 13:56
  Speaker 4: So I don't have the Seahawks in my top five,
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: that's for sure, offensively. But my number one, I mentioned
• 14:03
  Speaker 4: it earlier, I'm going to keep the Bills there. Josh
• 14:05
  Speaker 4: Allen and company looking like a... somewhere between buzzsaw and juggernaut.
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: Maybe I'm, I think they're better than a buzzsaw. I
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: don't know if I want to call them a juggernaut
• 14:13
  Speaker 4: yet two games in, but the way they shredded the
• 14:16
  Speaker 4: lions on Thursday night football for 41 points was mighty impressive.
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: Now they go back home to face the just reeling. Oh,
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: and two LA chargers who have given up 26 points
• 14:30
  Speaker 4: in back-to-back weeks to the Cardinals and Raiders, Jacoby Bursette,
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: And Kirk Cousins, did you know, Ed, not only are
• 14:37
  Speaker 4: the Chargers 0-2, they've lost their first two games, 26-14?
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: Same score, both games.
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, that's weird. Hopefully Jim Harbaugh can try to
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: beat the Bills 26-14 if he has to see that
• 14:52
  Speaker 4: score three weeks in a row.
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah, he'd be happy with that, that's for sure. As
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: long as he's on the winning side and not the
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: losing side again.
• 14:58
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: Oh, my goodness. If L.A. starts out 0-3, look out.
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: So just to recap our top five offenses going into
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: week three, Double B has the Lions, Rams, Kansas City,
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: Bengals at two, Bills at one. I have the Carolina
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: Panthers at five, Ravens at four, Rams at three, Bills
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: at two, and Chiefs at one.
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: So it looks like you have the Bengals and the Lions.
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: I have the Panthers and Ravens.
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: Other than that, we have the other three locked in
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: somewhere in our top five, Double B.
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: And there was nobody else I really even considered. You know,
• 15:29
  Speaker 4: I guess if you really wanted to give the Seahawks
• 15:32
  Speaker 4: a free pass for not having Sam Darnold, you could
• 15:35
  Speaker 4: do that. But, you know, even then, I think the
• 15:37
  Speaker 4: personnel and the production really comes together for the teams
• 15:40
  Speaker 4: that we mentioned, the seven collective teams that we mentioned.
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: Or is it seven or nine?
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: I think we're at seven, right, because we mentioned the Niners.
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: And who was the other team we mentioned?
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: You had the Bengals. I thought maybe we were at six.
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: No, because if you had two, well, now we're getting
• 15:55
  Speaker 4: into math. If you had two teams that I didn't
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: have and I had two teams that you didn't have,
• 15:59
  Speaker 4: that's seven. But we also mentioned the Niners. That would
• 16:02
  Speaker 4: bring it to kind of our top eight.
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: Whew.
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: Thank goodness for that.
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: Shaler and University of Pittsburgh math that bailed us out
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: because you cannot rely on the Bell Vernon or Point
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: Park math.
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: That's for sure. No, I'm just kidding. I love my.
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: I love my Mon Valley and my Point Park. All right,
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: when Double B and I come back, the top five
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: power rankings for defense in the NFL going into week three.
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: We'll dive into that and more as we wrap up
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: the show here for today. You got ET and BB
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: on the Steelers Report on Steelers Nation Radio, part of
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: the Steelers Audio Network.
• 16:43
  Speaker 5: This is the Steelers Report with Brian Batko and Ed
• 16:47
  Speaker 5: Troup on Steelers Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers
• 16:51
  Speaker 5: Audio Network.
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: Wrapping up hour number two before we give things away
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: to our good friends Wes Euler and Matt Williamson on
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: SNR Drive coming up here at 4 o'clock today.
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: On the show tomorrow, we'll have our 10 terrible takes.
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: We'll also start to dive in more to the Cincinnati Bengals.
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: We'll go over some stat leaders in and across the NFL.
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: As we navigate the end of two weeks of the
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: NFL season and we start week number three, Brian Bacco,
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: I gave you some Taylor Swift info.
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: You didn't go after it. You bypassed it. Your wife
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: and daughter will be disappointed when they hear this.
• 17:29
  Speaker 4: Reminds me that I did want to address that because
• 17:32
  Speaker 4: I didn't. Well, first of all, thank you. I did
• 17:34
  Speaker 4: not know she has a new song coming out Friday.
• 17:36
  Speaker 4: That is news to me. but I mean her most
• 17:39
  Speaker 4: recently released song the one from Toy Story 5 that
• 17:44
  Speaker 4: is still the number one song right now for my
• 17:47
  Speaker 4: daughter it's the cutest thing in the world she sings
• 17:50
  Speaker 4: it all the time constantly driving around butchers half the
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: words but it really is precious so hopefully we can
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: get her on this new song well hopefully it's kid
• 17:59
  Speaker 4: friendly I mean you never know anymore with Taylor Swift
• 18:02
  Speaker 4: these days as she gets into her what mid 30s
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: I suppose now and she's She's married and all that.
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: But sometimes it's more just fast pop or whatever. And
• 18:14
  Speaker 4: it's maybe not as preschool friendly. But yes, thank you
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: for that. That nugget, Ed. And, you know, the other
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: thing that we have going on right now is Immaculate Grid.
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: I was playing this before the show today. And I
• 18:31
  Speaker 4: don't know if you've ever played that game, but you
• 18:32
  Speaker 4: can get three teams across the top, three down the side.
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: I think we talked about it during camp on one
• 18:36
  Speaker 4: of our shows with Chris Adamski when we were filibustering.
• 18:40
  Speaker 4: I'm trying to do all former Steelers here, and I've
• 18:43
  Speaker 4: got some really good ones thus far on today's grid.
• 18:46
  Speaker 4: For recorded and interception in the Bengals, I've got Mike Hilton.
• 18:50
  Speaker 4: For recorded and interception for the Ravens, I've got Anthony Averett,
• 18:54
  Speaker 4: who never actually played in a regular season game for
• 18:57
  Speaker 4: the Steelers, but was on the training camp preseason roster
• 19:00
  Speaker 4: one year. For Dolphins Ravens, I've got Mike Wallace. For
• 19:03
  Speaker 4: Dolphins Jets, I've got Le'Veon Bell. And for Jets Saints,
• 19:06
  Speaker 4: I've got Arthur Millett. So I've still got empty squares
• 19:09
  Speaker 4: at Jets Bengals, Dolphins Bengals, Dolphins Saints, and then, yeah,
• 19:16
  Speaker 4: recorded and interception for the Saints. So if you think
• 19:18
  Speaker 4: of any former Steelers players, who fit that criteria and
• 19:21
  Speaker 4: you're listening to this, send me a tweet, email something.
• 19:25
  Speaker 4: I promise I won't look it up in the meantime.
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: There are some deep cuts of some names you just
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: mentioned on there. I have not played that game yet,
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: but you're right. I remember us talking about that up
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: in Latrobe this past summer. I got to jump on that.
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: And I actually missed one. I'm not going to get
• 19:40
  Speaker 4: an immaculate perfect grid either way because I put Mike
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: Hilton for Bengals Dolphins and I guess apparently he never
• 19:47
  Speaker 4: suited up in a regular season game for the Dolphins.
• 19:49
  Speaker 4: I know he was on there roster at one point,
• 19:51
  Speaker 4: but to satisfy the requirements of immaculate grid on sportsreference.com,
• 19:57
  Speaker 4: you need to appear in a regular season or postseason
• 19:59
  Speaker 4: game for that team. So I'm not going to get
• 20:02
  Speaker 4: a perfect one today, but again, if you're If you
• 20:05
  Speaker 4: can think of any former Steelers who played for the
• 20:07
  Speaker 4: Jets and Bengals, Dolphins and Bengals, Dolphins and Saints, or
• 20:11
  Speaker 4: picked off a pass for the Saints, let me know.
• 20:13
  Speaker 4: There might be some obvious ones that are slipping my mind.
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: Mika Fitzpatrick, does he fall into any of that?
• 20:20
  Speaker 4: No, I mean, he played for the Dolphins and the Jets,
• 20:22
  Speaker 4: and he's certainly recorded interceptions, but never played for the
• 20:25
  Speaker 4: Bengals or the Saints.
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: Okay, so we can't move on with Minka, our good
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: buddy Minka.
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: Okay, let's jump into our top five defenses for the
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: week going into week three. We just did our top
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: five offenses with Brian picking the Bills and me picking
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: the Chiefs so far this season. For defense, number five, Brian,
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: you hinted towards it when we talked about defense earlier.
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: Will the Pittsburgh Steelers make my top five? They indeed do,
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: but they're at number five, so I have them at
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: number five on my list. Again, we went over this
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: during the hits and misses during our first hour today,
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: but Steelers defense currently ranked number eight for yards per
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: game with two 82 third and passing with one 54
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: per game. They are 24th against the rush. And that's
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: why I have them down at five and not higher.
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: If they get better in that category. And listen, as
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: we've talked about, you know, no damage done through the
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: first two weeks of the season against, you know, you know,
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: at least one very good running back and Robinson the
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: first week, but the other two in, in, New England,
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: not bad either. Steelers contained those guys, too. So, so far,
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: so good. We'll see what they do against Chase Brown
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: and the Bengals this weekend.
• 21:28
  Speaker 4: I actually have the Steelers at five on my list
• 21:30
  Speaker 4: as well, and I moved them in after snubbing them
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: a week ago. But I liked what I saw against
• 21:37
  Speaker 4: the Patriots, by and large, for the most part. You're right.
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: There were some issues that you don't want to see,
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: but got to compartmentalize to some extent and factor in
• 21:47
  Speaker 4: the opponent, Drake Mays. And also just it was a
• 21:52
  Speaker 4: group that kept getting thrown out there. You know, they
• 21:55
  Speaker 4: didn't get a ton of time to rest with how
• 21:57
  Speaker 4: ineffective the Steelers offense was. So, yeah, I've got them
• 22:01
  Speaker 4: at number five and I think they can keep getting
• 22:03
  Speaker 4: better as well. Really like what I'm seeing from Patrick
• 22:06
  Speaker 4: Graham and the way he's utilizing his personnel.
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: No doubt.
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: And it helps when your edge rushers are off to
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: the fantastic start that they have so far this season
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: with T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith, Nick Harbig. and even Jack
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: Sawyer getting in on the fun so far. Number four
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: on my list are the team the Steelers just faced,
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: the New England Patriots.
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: One and one on the year.
• 22:27
  Speaker 3: They've given up 260 yards per game on average, 94
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: yards per game running the football, so they've done a
• 22:34
  Speaker 3: good job there. And they're number one in scoring defense
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: by limiting opponents to just eight points per game. I
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: liked what I saw with that New England defense this
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: past week. Of course, they produced the touchdown as well.
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: getting one back there towards the end of that football,
• 22:47
  Speaker 3: or not towards the end of that football game, but
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: during the game that really flipped the game to their
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: favor to start the fourth quarter and put the game away.
• 22:55
  Speaker 4: I have the Patriots fourth on my list. I found
• 22:57
  Speaker 4: it difficult to sort of split hairs and distinguish between
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: those two defenses that we watched live on Sunday at
• 23:05
  Speaker 4: Gillette Stadium. It was a close shave between the two
• 23:08
  Speaker 4: for me, pun intended. But yeah, I mean, I think
• 23:12
  Speaker 4: the Patriots, We knew that the secondary was good going
• 23:15
  Speaker 4: into that game, led by Christian Gonzalez and Kevin Byard,
• 23:18
  Speaker 4: I think has been a nice acquisition at safety for them.
• 23:21
  Speaker 4: But I was really impressed by some of those guys
• 23:23
  Speaker 4: on the front. I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't
• 23:27
  Speaker 4: call back to one of the shows last week. If
• 23:30
  Speaker 4: you really wanted to make me feel bad, you could
• 23:31
  Speaker 4: probably go find it, splice it, clip it. I said,
• 23:34
  Speaker 4: there's some no-names guys on this Patriots defensive front. And
• 23:38
  Speaker 4: I said, maybe we'll know their names afterwards. Well, I do.
• 23:41
  Speaker 4: Elijah Ponder, Corey Durden. Gabe Ackes now he I did
• 23:46
  Speaker 4: give some credit going into the game and there was
• 23:48
  Speaker 4: a kind of a cool moment with him and Rogers
• 23:49
  Speaker 4: after that game and I saw that on social media
• 23:52
  Speaker 4: where he was praising the rookie out of Illinois but
• 23:54
  Speaker 4: yeah I was impressed by what I saw from the
• 23:56
  Speaker 4: Patriots got to uh got to tip your cap tip
• 23:59
  Speaker 4: your your tri-point uh hat as they had in the
• 24:03
  Speaker 4: Revolutionary War and keep it pushing.
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: Hey, there's a lot to take away from there.
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: First, the Gillette reference to the clean shave.
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: Nicely done, my friend.
• 24:12
  Speaker 3: Coming from a guy that doesn't shave his face to
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: a guy that shaves his head every day.
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: But that's all right. We'll take that one.
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: And a good Revolutionary War reference there at the end, too.
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: See that shaler and pit? We talked about the math earlier.
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: Now we're on the history side of things. Very nicely done.
• 24:27
  Speaker 4: I didn't use the right term, though. It's called a tricorn,
• 24:30
  Speaker 4: that hat that they wore back in the 18th century Europe.
• 24:35
  Speaker 4: I called it a tri-point hat it's a it's a
• 24:38
  Speaker 4: tricorn so if you learn nothing today from the Steelers
• 24:41
  Speaker 4: report maybe you learned that.
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: Look at that you get a history lesson as well
• 24:45
  Speaker 3: all right let's go into our top three defenses so
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: far this week Brian I'm going to go out on
• 24:49
  Speaker 3: a limb I'm going to say two out of these
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: three you'll probably definitely have I'd be surprised if you
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: didn't but my number one again you might fall off
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: your chair but if you have the same number one
• 24:59
  Speaker 3: or even if you have this defense in your top
• 25:01
  Speaker 3: three then maybe it won't be so much of a
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: surprise But I'll start with number three. This isn't my shock.
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: I have the Kansas City Chiefs, 2-0 on the season.
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: We talked about their offense. They were number one on
• 25:09
  Speaker 3: my list for offense. They're number three for defense. 252
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: total yards per game on an average through the first
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: two games. They've held their opponents to just 90 yards
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: rushing through the first two games and an average of
• 25:21
  Speaker 3: 20 points per game.
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: So that's a little bit higher. But the other categories,
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: they've done pretty well.
• 25:27
  Speaker 4: I mean, they just gave up 30 to the Colts,
• 25:29
  Speaker 4: and I'm not real high on the Colts and Daniel Jones.
• 25:31
  Speaker 4: So this is where our list is. veer off, uh,
• 25:34
  Speaker 4: into different directions. I will not have the chiefs making
• 25:37
  Speaker 4: an appearance anymore in my top five. I've got the
• 25:40
  Speaker 4: Seattle Seahawks at number three. They're only the reigning super
• 25:43
  Speaker 4: bowl champs, and they've only shut down by and large,
• 25:47
  Speaker 4: the Patriots and the Cardinals in back-to-back weeks. So I
• 25:50
  Speaker 4: am not about to drop those guys, uh, down too far. I,
• 25:54
  Speaker 4: I think, uh, Mike McDonald and company still have it cooking.
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: Good call on the chiefs in this past week. Uh,
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: giving up those points. Maybe I need to do a
• 26:02
  Speaker 3: correction here. I wasn't even, I was just looking at
• 26:04
  Speaker 3: the stats last night. I was, I was looking at
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: the stats coming in double B. So maybe I need
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: to look at game by game performances and not just
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: the total picture after two weeks, because you weren't wrong
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: about Kansas city there.
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: Maybe I should do an edit. I don't know. We'll see.
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: Maybe after the show, I'll go back and edit it
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: before next week.
• 26:21
  Speaker 4: I did that last week. And I almost, uh, I
• 26:25
  Speaker 4: I'm not proud even, uh, throwing this out there, but
• 26:28
  Speaker 4: you guys know I have integrity, and when I'm wrong,
• 26:30
  Speaker 4: I say I'm wrong. I nearly put the Texans in
• 26:33
  Speaker 4: my top five offenses last week. In fact, I had
• 26:35
  Speaker 4: them fifth before I remembered that the Chiefs played the
• 26:38
  Speaker 4: night before, or two nights before, and absolutely dominated against
• 26:42
  Speaker 4: that Broncos defense, but boy, the Texans were miserable in
• 26:46
  Speaker 4: week two at home against the Bengals, putting up six points,
• 26:49
  Speaker 4: so I won't make that mistake again.
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you avoided it. Well, we'll see.
• 26:53
  Speaker 3: You're definitely going to have a different team than me,
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: I think, here going forward. So maybe I'll make an
• 26:59
  Speaker 3: edit with my Chiefs.
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: We'll see.
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: Maybe you can convince me with your next couple picks.
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: So you have the Steelers, Patriots, Seahawks for 5, 4,
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: and 3. I have the Steelers, Patriots, and Chiefs. So
• 27:09
  Speaker 3: let's get to our top two. Number two for me
• 27:11
  Speaker 3: is your number three team, the Seattle Seahawks. great start
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: for the defending Super Bowl champs from a defensive standpoint,
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: 214 total yards per game on average, 89.5 rushing, and
• 27:22
  Speaker 3: only 8.5 points per game as well for the first
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: two games. That should definitely get you into your top three.
• 27:30
  Speaker 3: For me, number two. For you, number three.
• 27:33
  Speaker 4: Number two for me, same division, NFC West, the San
• 27:35
  Speaker 4: Francisco 49ers. I forget where exactly I had them last week,
• 27:38
  Speaker 4: but I'm pretty sure I had them in my top five,
• 27:41
  Speaker 4: and I'm not so much putting them at two for
• 27:44
  Speaker 4: holding the dolphins to 13 points. That, that is, is
• 27:48
  Speaker 4: what it is. And now they did sack Malik Willis
• 27:50
  Speaker 4: four times and he's a pretty mobile quarterback. But it's
• 27:54
  Speaker 4: more so that what they did week one against the
• 27:57
  Speaker 4: Rams aged extremely well, considering what the Rams did in
• 28:00
  Speaker 4: week two against the giants. I have 49ers defense might
• 28:03
  Speaker 4: be a force to be reckoned with again.
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: I did not have the 49ers in my top five,
• 28:08
  Speaker 3: but maybe that's our, maybe that's the team.
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: I slide the chiefs out and put.
• 28:11
  Speaker 3: The 49ers in Brian for, I'd, I'd forgotten about the 49ers.
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: Didn't forget about the Chiefs.
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: Forgot about what the Chiefs did this past Monday night
• 28:20
  Speaker 3: with giving up that many points.
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: Okay, let's get to our number one. This is the
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: one where you may just turn off and walk out.
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure. Or maybe you have them. You might
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: have them.
• 28:28
  Speaker 3: I have the New York Jets at number one on
• 28:31
  Speaker 3: my list. They have the top spot. Oh, Brian walked off.
• 28:34
  Speaker 3: You can't see it because you're listening, but he's gone.
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: That's it. I didn't make him walk off.
• 28:38
  Speaker 3: Mike Tomlin like when they asked Tomlin the question and
• 28:41
  Speaker 3: he just got up and left after that press conference
• 28:43
  Speaker 3: a few years ago he has left they take the
• 28:45
  Speaker 3: top spot by allowing a league best 197 total yards
• 28:51
  Speaker 3: per game they also have smothered the run game with
• 28:53
  Speaker 3: 65.5 rushing yards per game and they have allowed just
• 28:58
  Speaker 3: 15 points per game for their first two Brian Becker
• 29:01
  Speaker 3: you walked off now you're back but can you deny
• 29:03
  Speaker 3: me of the Jets at number one Yes.
• 29:06
  Speaker 4: Yes, I can. Also, I'm kind of curious, how far
• 29:08
  Speaker 4: did you think I went? Like how far how long
• 29:10
  Speaker 4: do you think I was going to be gone for
• 29:12
  Speaker 4: it again?
• 29:13
  Speaker 3: Those listening on SNR can't see what I'm seeing because
• 29:16
  Speaker 3: we have Brian from the south side with practice going
• 29:20
  Speaker 3: on here today.
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 29:21
  Speaker 3: I thought maybe you went down the street. I wasn't
• 29:22
  Speaker 3: sure where you went, but you were off camera for
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: a while.
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: I got nervous. I'm thinking I might have to do
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: the final three minutes of this on my own.
• 29:29
  Speaker 4: That's that's what I was going to say. I mean,
• 29:30
  Speaker 4: did you were you prepared to just finish the segment
• 29:32
  Speaker 4: and I could have texted you my number one team?
• 29:34
  Speaker 4: I should have done that. That would have been a
• 29:36
  Speaker 4: good bit, but I would have felt bad literally leaving
• 29:38
  Speaker 4: you uh leaving you hanging on that but no I
• 29:41
  Speaker 4: mean the Jets have faced the the Titans which like
• 29:45
  Speaker 4: I think the Titans will be frisky but maybe not
• 29:47
  Speaker 4: yet and then week two you know the Packers okay
• 29:51
  Speaker 4: but the Jets were at home and I think you're
• 29:54
  Speaker 4: looking at it more yards allowed I'm looking at more
• 29:56
  Speaker 4: points allowed to this point in the season and No,
• 30:00
  Speaker 4: I'm not. I'm not believing in the Jets defense just yet.
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: That's OK. That's what makes this activity good. We should have.
• 30:06
  Speaker 3: In fact, it makes for better radio, makes for better
• 30:09
  Speaker 3: Steelers report show whenever you and I don't agree.
• 30:13
  Speaker 4: All right. My number one, I was kind of surprised
• 30:17
  Speaker 4: you didn't have this team in your top five at
• 30:18
  Speaker 4: all at the Minnesota Vikings through two weeks. Let's see.
• 30:23
  Speaker 4: Thirty nine. Twenty two win over the Packers. So they allowed.
• 30:27
  Speaker 4: two more points to green Bay than your gang green
• 30:30
  Speaker 4: jets did. And then in week two, this is the
• 30:33
  Speaker 4: real story. I mean, nine to three against the bears.
• 30:36
  Speaker 4: I don't think Caleb Williams didn't leave that game with
• 30:38
  Speaker 4: the hamstring until the third quarter, I think. And I
• 30:41
  Speaker 4: know the conditions weren't ideal. So maybe the weather played
• 30:45
  Speaker 4: into it a little bit, but I think it's a
• 30:46
  Speaker 4: lot more about Brian Flores and you know, that defensive
• 30:50
  Speaker 4: aggressive blitzing scheme and some of the personnel that they
• 30:53
  Speaker 4: have there in Minnesota than it is about any adverse
• 30:57
  Speaker 4: conditions that were affecting the team that scored the most
• 31:00
  Speaker 4: points in the NFL in week one, 59 for the Bears.
• 31:04
  Speaker 4: The Vikings made them look like, I don't even know,
• 31:08
  Speaker 4: a high school JV team with a 9-3 win. So
• 31:10
  Speaker 4: I think Minnesota is on fire right now defensively.
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: That's a good call.
• 31:15
  Speaker 3: Absolutely good call on the Vikings there. Again, I'm just
• 31:18
  Speaker 3: going to go back and redo my whole list. You've
• 31:20
  Speaker 3: convinced me otherwise.
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm going to stick with
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: my Jets. J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets.
• 31:24
  Speaker 3: Last week on the show, you made fun of me
• 31:26
  Speaker 3: with Fireman Ed leading that chant. Well, listen, Fireman Ed
• 31:29
  Speaker 3: back for week number two. Listen, I'm not a Jets fan.
• 31:32
  Speaker 3: I bleed black and gold. That's why I'm here on
• 31:33
  Speaker 3: Steelers Nation Radio. However, Fireman Ed, he's cool.
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: I like him.
• 31:39
  Speaker 4: Did you see the Vikings dude, Isaiah Rogers, who's kind
• 31:41
  Speaker 4: of known for good celebrate? No, he, no, that's the
• 31:43
  Speaker 4: other guy who's known for good celebrations, but he did,
• 31:46
  Speaker 4: he got a takeaway or something and he did the
• 31:48
  Speaker 4: hot diggity dog dance from, uh, I guess Mickey mouse
• 31:51
  Speaker 4: clubhouse would be the, the show there. My kids were
• 31:54
  Speaker 4: never huge on that, but as a dad, I'm, I'm
• 31:56
  Speaker 4: familiar with hot diggity dog. And that was, uh, that
• 31:58
  Speaker 4: was pretty funny. Go, go search it up. If you
• 32:00
  Speaker 4: haven't seen it.
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: Mine were when they were kids.
• 32:02
  Speaker 3: So I absolutely remember that though. I've never done that dance.
• 32:05
  Speaker 3: So That's going to do it for our show for today.
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: I'm true. Peace back.
• 32:09
  Speaker 3: Oh, thanks for listening to the Steelers report up next.
• 32:12
  Speaker 3: It's Wes Shuler and Matt Williamson on SNRs. The drive
• 32:15
  Speaker 3: here on Steelers nation radio, part of the Steelers audio network.
• 32:27
  Speaker 5: This is the Steelers Report with Brian Batko and Ed
• 32:31
  Speaker 5: Troup on Steelers Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers
• 32:35
  Speaker 5: Audio Network.
• 32:38
  Speaker 3: Last season, the Steelers and the Bengals split the regular
• 32:42
  Speaker 3: season 1-1. Of course, the first game coming in October,
• 32:46
  Speaker 3: that Thursday night in Cincinnati, Bengals 33, Steelers 31.
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: Joe Flacco, 342 yards passing. Jamar Chase.
• 32:52
  Speaker 3: 16 catches, 161 yards, and a touchdown. McPherson, the game-winning
• 33:02
  Speaker 3: field goal, a 36-yarder with just seven seconds left. The
• 33:06
  Speaker 3: Steelers did get their revenge, as we know, at AccuShore
• 33:08
  Speaker 3: Stadium in November of last year, 34-12. Joe Burrow did
• 33:13
  Speaker 3: not play in either of those two games last year.
• 33:16
  Speaker 3: It was Joe Flacco. Burrow is back the Bengals are
• 33:20
  Speaker 3: back two wins in two weeks 33 to 27 against
• 33:23
  Speaker 3: Tampa Bay at home and then 20 to 6 in
• 33:27
  Speaker 3: Houston last week Joe Burrow pretty good in both of
• 33:30
  Speaker 3: those games he hit two touchdown passes to Jamar Chase
• 33:34
  Speaker 3: last week in Houston and he is four and three
• 33:38
  Speaker 3: in seven games versus the Pittsburgh Steelers he has thrown
• 33:41
  Speaker 3: for over 1,800 yards 15 touchdowns and 10 interceptions Well,
• 33:47
  Speaker 3: we welcome into the broadcast Ben Baby, who is the Bengals'
• 33:51
  Speaker 3: beat reporter for ESPN.
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: Ben, what's going on?
• 33:54
  Speaker 6: Thank you all for having me.
• 33:55
  Speaker 7: Excited to get into AFC North play. I think we
• 33:57
  Speaker 7: know what we want to expect when these two teams meet,
• 34:00
  Speaker 7: but it'll be interesting because it'll be a wide-open division
• 34:02
  Speaker 7: this year.
• 34:03
  Speaker 4: Hey, what's up, Ben? Thanks for coming on, man. It's
• 34:05
  Speaker 4: good to see you, and I'm sure I'll see you
• 34:06
  Speaker 4: in the press box come Sunday. Early impressions of this team.
• 34:11
  Speaker 4: I mean, I guess there are two games, the only
• 34:13
  Speaker 4: unbeaten atop the division. Does it feel like everything... that
• 34:17
  Speaker 4: was sort of mentioned, highlighted, hyped this preseason, has kind
• 34:23
  Speaker 4: of come together and clicked offensively and defensively for Zach
• 34:26
  Speaker 4: Taylor's club?
• 34:27
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I think the Bengals could not ask for a
• 34:29
  Speaker 6: better start.
• 34:30
  Speaker 7: I think most realistic people had them going 1-1, but
• 34:34
  Speaker 7: probably 0-2 through the first two games of the year,
• 34:37
  Speaker 7: knowing how the team typically starts slow. Joe Burrow gets
• 34:40
  Speaker 7: the reps he needs, and they find their footing. Houston
• 34:44
  Speaker 7: was going to be a tough matchup always with their
• 34:46
  Speaker 7: edge rushers, but they went out and they played exceptionally well,
• 34:50
  Speaker 7: especially in certain situations.
• 34:51
  Speaker 6: In all offseason, we heard that they want this.
• 34:54
  Speaker 7: Defense, specifically the defensive line, kind of be to be
• 34:57
  Speaker 7: the anchor for this team this year and to really
• 34:59
  Speaker 7: carry them on that side of the ball. And that
• 35:01
  Speaker 7: has been especially true. Dexter Lawrence has been as advertised,
• 35:05
  Speaker 7: if not probably even better, which is crazy given kind
• 35:07
  Speaker 7: of his reputation before he came to Cincinnati, but he
• 35:10
  Speaker 7: has come in really changed that whole defense of the
• 35:13
  Speaker 7: other additions have fit in really well. And this is
• 35:16
  Speaker 7: a really formidable unit and a unit that I think that,
• 35:19
  Speaker 7: you know, this team does seem to have the ceiling
• 35:21
  Speaker 7: that they thought inside the building several months ago.
• 35:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Ben, you just talked about Cincinnati Bengals defense for
• 35:26
  Speaker 3: the first two games against Tampa Bay. Cincinnati wins that
• 35:29
  Speaker 3: game 33-27, in which the Bengals defense produced five sacks
• 35:33
  Speaker 3: on the year. Ben, it doesn't take Vince Lombardi to
• 35:36
  Speaker 3: figure out this, that the last few seasons, The big
• 35:39
  Speaker 3: hang-up on the Bengals taking that next step.
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: Defense has been the hiccup.
• 35:42
  Speaker 3: Maybe, just maybe here in 2026, it sounds like they
• 35:44
  Speaker 3: might have it figured out.
• 35:45
  Speaker 7: Yeah, I think that the earlier turns are definitely that
• 35:48
  Speaker 7: way against Tampa Bay. They forced four turnovers against Houston.
• 35:52
  Speaker 7: They did a really good job in situational football. Did
• 35:54
  Speaker 7: not allow any touchdowns inside the red zone. Had four
• 35:57
  Speaker 7: fourth-down stops against Houston. And granted, the Texans were without
• 36:01
  Speaker 7: Nico Collins, which is considerable. But when you look at
• 36:05
  Speaker 7: the pressure they brought, according to ESPN, The Bengals had
• 36:08
  Speaker 7: 27 pressures against Houston, which is the most that we've
• 36:12
  Speaker 7: ever tracked since we started tracking pressures in 2009.
• 36:16
  Speaker 6: Second most by any team in a game.
• 36:18
  Speaker 7: I believe actually the Steelers are the leaders in that
• 36:21
  Speaker 7: category for single game pressures. And the thing that's unique
• 36:25
  Speaker 7: is that defensive coordinator Al Golden didn't need to blitz
• 36:28
  Speaker 7: doing that as well. The blitz rate was only around 16%.
• 36:31
  Speaker 7: while the pressure rate was around 43%, if I'm not mistaken.
• 36:34
  Speaker 7: So this is a defense that was able to get
• 36:36
  Speaker 7: a lot of pressure with four, and if they can
• 36:39
  Speaker 7: continue to do that, that'll be huge. The big thing
• 36:41
  Speaker 7: for Cincinnati is their past defense has been a little shaky.
• 36:45
  Speaker 7: They've given up a good amount of plays through the air,
• 36:48
  Speaker 7: especially in some favorable down and distances. Teams have been
• 36:51
  Speaker 7: able to get ahead of the sticks and really be
• 36:55
  Speaker 7: in a good position on a down-to-down basis. So that
• 36:58
  Speaker 7: is something that they will need to improve on but
• 37:00
  Speaker 7: the defense does look like it can be for real
• 37:02
  Speaker 7: this season.
• 37:03
  Speaker 4: Here in Pittsburgh, you know, DK Metcalf has gone through
• 37:06
  Speaker 4: some struggles these first two weeks. Do you see DJ
• 37:08
  Speaker 4: Turner maybe shadowing him and following him? Because the Patriots
• 37:11
  Speaker 4: just did that with Christian Gonzalez to great success. But,
• 37:15
  Speaker 4: you know, Turner's a good young player. He's not quite
• 37:17
  Speaker 4: in the Gonzo territory. How do you think the Bengals
• 37:19
  Speaker 4: will try to employ him this week?
• 37:22
  Speaker 7: Yeah, I think this is going to be a matchup
• 37:23
  Speaker 7: that DJ will be looking forward to. The Bengals last
• 37:26
  Speaker 7: year started having DJ follow the other team's best receiver. And,
• 37:30
  Speaker 7: you know, in that game last year, he had one
• 37:32
  Speaker 7: of those contests. He had that ridiculous interception. We wrestled
• 37:35
  Speaker 7: the ball away from DK Metcalf. And so, you know,
• 37:37
  Speaker 7: he has been someone who everyone has thought can be
• 37:40
  Speaker 7: an ascending player. I think it's been a little hit
• 37:42
  Speaker 7: or miss. So far early in the season, I think
• 37:44
  Speaker 7: you'd have to take a look at the advance numbers
• 37:45
  Speaker 7: to see exactly where he's been at. It feels like
• 37:48
  Speaker 7: he hasn't had as many plays early in the year
• 37:51
  Speaker 7: as he did last season, but that'll definitely be the
• 37:54
  Speaker 7: matchup to watch. Can the Bengals get pressure on Aaron
• 37:56
  Speaker 7: Rodgers will be the big thing. If they can do that,
• 37:59
  Speaker 7: I think that'll definitely help that secondary out. But that
• 38:02
  Speaker 7: matchup between DK and DJ Turner will be one that
• 38:08
  Speaker 7: I think both players will relish on Sunday.
• 38:09
  Speaker 3: Ben, last year the Steelers and Bengals split 1-1. during
• 38:13
  Speaker 3: the season with Thursday night in Cincinnati last year was
• 38:17
  Speaker 3: a game in which Jamar Chase went off. Joe Burrow,
• 38:20
  Speaker 3: of course, back now here this year. I would think
• 38:22
  Speaker 3: Chase could be poised to have another big game against
• 38:25
  Speaker 3: the Steelers.
• 38:26
  Speaker 6: Yeah, especially with Joey Porter Jr. still out.
• 38:29
  Speaker 7: I think that's going to be a big loss if
• 38:30
  Speaker 7: the Steelers don't have him in this game. Jamar, for
• 38:34
  Speaker 7: him to do what he did against Houston, I think
• 38:36
  Speaker 7: the biggest thing that's most impressive is that he was
• 38:39
  Speaker 7: able to, after only getting two catches on, I believe,
• 38:42
  Speaker 7: four targets in the season opener, everybody inside the building
• 38:45
  Speaker 7: said it really didn't affect his mood at all. And
• 38:46
  Speaker 7: Jamar admitted, when I was younger, I probably would have
• 38:49
  Speaker 7: maybe taken it a little bit differently. But now, in
• 38:51
  Speaker 7: kind of the leadership role that he's in, you know
• 38:54
  Speaker 7: he wanted to make sure that that he kind of
• 38:55
  Speaker 7: stayed consistent and really you know you know was was
• 38:58
  Speaker 7: happy with the team win and he's been very vocal
• 39:01
  Speaker 7: listen whatever we've got to do to get wins he's
• 39:03
  Speaker 7: been a sick of all the losing that's happened here
• 39:05
  Speaker 7: over the last few years i think everybody in the
• 39:07
  Speaker 7: building wants to get back to where they were a
• 39:09
  Speaker 7: few years ago i think the thing for jamar will
• 39:11
  Speaker 7: be can he keep his cool this this game against
• 39:14
  Speaker 7: the steelers uh for whatever reason he tends to uh
• 39:17
  Speaker 7: it gets under his skin a little bit and he's
• 39:18
  Speaker 7: been known to have some uh some penalties here and
• 39:20
  Speaker 7: there that will cost him. The last time they met
• 39:23
  Speaker 7: last season, it did not cost him against Pittsburgh. It
• 39:25
  Speaker 7: did the following game with the unsportsmanlike conduct. And I
• 39:29
  Speaker 7: think that's the one thing that Jamar does need to
• 39:31
  Speaker 7: work on is that, you know, can he hold his
• 39:34
  Speaker 7: temper as much of a competitor as he is, as
• 39:37
  Speaker 7: much as he's got that fire, finding ways to rein
• 39:39
  Speaker 7: that in that has cost him in the past. And
• 39:41
  Speaker 7: if you're Pittsburgh, quite frankly, I think that's something that you,
• 39:43
  Speaker 7: it's been successful for you to, to get under his
• 39:45
  Speaker 7: skin a little bit. He likes to talk, he likes
• 39:47
  Speaker 7: to chirp. And if you can kind of, you know,
• 39:50
  Speaker 7: get him off his game that way, that might be
• 39:51
  Speaker 7: your best bet. Uh, because right now Jamar is unequivocally,
• 39:54
  Speaker 7: you know, the best receiver. And so when you clip
• 39:56
  Speaker 7: that part, please also clip this part as well. So
• 39:59
  Speaker 7: Bengals fans don't get mad at me. Uh, but no,
• 40:01
  Speaker 7: he's playing incredibly well. Uh, the, the catch he had
• 40:04
  Speaker 7: against Derek for the touchdown. Uh, I think probably one
• 40:07
  Speaker 7: of the best plays I've ever seen for a touchdown
• 40:11
  Speaker 7: by wide receiver. So, definitely will be a fun matchup
• 40:14
  Speaker 7: and there's always something interesting and intriguing when Jamar's on.
• 40:17
  Speaker 4: The field yeah Ben that touchdown grab was absurd it
• 40:19
  Speaker 4: was Antonio Brown asked to bring it back to a
• 40:22
  Speaker 4: Steelers comparison and yeah I mean he and Jackson Smith
• 40:25
  Speaker 4: and Jigba are pretty much 1A and 1B right now
• 40:28
  Speaker 4: I think among NFL receivers but you jogged my memory
• 40:31
  Speaker 4: I forgot this will be the first meeting since the
• 40:33
  Speaker 4: Jamar Chase Jalen Ramsey brouhaha last year be like Peter
• 40:38
  Speaker 4: Griffin and the chicken a little bit might be on
• 40:39
  Speaker 4: site when those two see each other, but this time
• 40:42
  Speaker 4: he'll have his guy, Joey B maybe keeping a watchful
• 40:46
  Speaker 4: eye on him. What is the latest on Joe Burrow?
• 40:49
  Speaker 4: Give us the bro report. We know he had a,
• 40:51
  Speaker 4: an off season of making some bold proclamations and getting
• 40:54
  Speaker 4: the citizens of Ohio and Kentucky riled up. It seems
• 40:57
  Speaker 4: like he's following through thus far and even playing through
• 41:00
  Speaker 4: some back trouble last week.
• 41:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 41:01
  Speaker 7: You know, it's interesting, you know, he's been very adamant
• 41:04
  Speaker 7: that this team can be a championship contender and And
• 41:07
  Speaker 7: through two games, you know, I think he's backing that
• 41:10
  Speaker 7: up and the team is backing that up.
• 41:11
  Speaker 6: They played really well.
• 41:13
  Speaker 7: And I asked him, you know, is this the kind
• 41:15
  Speaker 7: of game against Houston that they needed to win to
• 41:18
  Speaker 7: kind of validate those feelings? And he said it was
• 41:20
  Speaker 7: a big win for them to be able to do
• 41:21
  Speaker 7: that on the road, a team that's made deep runs
• 41:24
  Speaker 7: in the AFC and been a real conference contender. So,
• 41:28
  Speaker 7: you know, that is true. I think what Burrow said
• 41:31
  Speaker 7: holds some weight. And I think we've learned that to
• 41:33
  Speaker 7: be true over the years. He's got a pretty good
• 41:34
  Speaker 7: gauge of on how he feels a team can be.
• 41:36
  Speaker 7: If he feels like the ceiling is not there, I
• 41:38
  Speaker 7: think he's been pretty adamant saying, listen, we know where
• 41:41
  Speaker 7: we're at in previous years when the Bengals haven't been
• 41:44
  Speaker 7: playing at the level they were earlier in his career.
• 41:46
  Speaker 7: But this is a team that is playing well. Burrow,
• 41:49
  Speaker 7: I think the longer a season goes, tends to find
• 41:51
  Speaker 7: his footing. And as for the back, it seems like
• 41:54
  Speaker 7: it really was not as bad as maybe we thought.
• 41:58
  Speaker 7: I think the fact that he didn't throw on Wednesday
• 42:00
  Speaker 7: was pretty considerate, considering he's a guy who has a
• 42:03
  Speaker 7: pretty high pain threshold, will play through a lot of stuff.
• 42:06
  Speaker 7: But him managing that throughout the course of the week,
• 42:08
  Speaker 7: taking the hits he did on Sunday, talked to him
• 42:10
  Speaker 7: after the game, he had no issues. He said he
• 42:13
  Speaker 7: kind of downplayed it, said it really wasn't all that bad.
• 42:16
  Speaker 7: But I think He is a guy who's determined to
• 42:19
  Speaker 7: maximize this season. He knows what's at stake for this
• 42:21
  Speaker 7: team and for him personally, and he wants to go
• 42:24
  Speaker 7: out there and really accomplish it, especially after missing so
• 42:26
  Speaker 7: much time the last few years with various injuries.
• 42:28
  Speaker 3: We're talking with Ben Baby, Bengals beat reporter for ESPN.
• 42:32
  Speaker 3: That's a lot of Bs in that. We've got Brian Baca.
• 42:34
  Speaker 3: We've got Ben Baby. We've got the Bengals beat reporter.
• 42:37
  Speaker 3: I'm glad I'm getting all my Bs in order here,
• 42:40
  Speaker 3: Ben Baby. A couple more minutes with you, and I
• 42:42
  Speaker 3: want to ask you about Zach Taylor. He's the only
• 42:44
  Speaker 3: coach in the AFC North that survived this past offseason.
• 42:47
  Speaker 3: Kind of surprising from the standpoint that the Ravens, Steelers,
• 42:50
  Speaker 3: and Browns, maybe not the Browns that we're surprised make
• 42:53
  Speaker 3: a coaching change, but the other two definitely. First time
• 42:55
  Speaker 3: in a long time both Baltimore and Pittsburgh have a new.
• 42:58
  Speaker 6: Head coach this season.
• 43:01
  Speaker 3: Zach Taylor, though, is there any heat on his seat
• 43:03
  Speaker 3: here in the 2026 season, Ben, going in, or is
• 43:06
  Speaker 3: everybody pretty happy so far with Coach Taylor?
• 43:09
  Speaker 6: No, I think the seat's about as hot as it gets.
• 43:11
  Speaker 7: So, you know, if they don't accomplish what they need
• 43:13
  Speaker 7: to this year, I think it's pretty clear, you know,
• 43:15
  Speaker 7: that the coaching change could be on the horizon. And
• 43:17
  Speaker 7: Zach has been pretty adamant about, you know, acknowledging that
• 43:20
  Speaker 7: as well. You know, I think he understands the stakes.
• 43:22
  Speaker 7: You know, when the team puts out a vote of
• 43:24
  Speaker 7: confidence after you miss the playoffs for three years in
• 43:26
  Speaker 7: a row, you have your worst season in several years.
• 43:30
  Speaker 7: I think everybody knows what the stakes are. And I
• 43:32
  Speaker 7: think one of the things that I give Zach a
• 43:34
  Speaker 7: lot of credit for, and I think probably his best
• 43:37
  Speaker 7: trait as a head coach is, is that he handles
• 43:39
  Speaker 7: pressure very well. In 2021, they were in a similar situation.
• 43:43
  Speaker 7: If the Bengals did not make the run they made,
• 43:46
  Speaker 7: could they have made a coaching change after that year?
• 43:48
  Speaker 7: They went out and made it to the Super Bowl.
• 43:50
  Speaker 7: In my years covering football, I've learned that I think
• 43:53
  Speaker 7: the best head coaches, what they do better than anything,
• 43:57
  Speaker 7: not only manage very well, but they're able to handle
• 44:00
  Speaker 7: that pressure and really not let them phase them on
• 44:02
  Speaker 7: a day-to-day basis. Zach has always talked a lot about
• 44:07
  Speaker 7: How much he wants it, he thrives in it, and
• 44:08
  Speaker 7: he knows that once you don't have the pressure, that
• 44:10
  Speaker 7: means something bad's happened.
• 44:14
  Speaker 6: And so he craves it, and it hasn't really affected him.
• 44:16
  Speaker 7: And he truly has been even-keeled when you talk to
• 44:19
  Speaker 7: people who deal with him on a day-to-day basis, which
• 44:21
  Speaker 7: I think that's why you're seeing the Bengals come out.
• 44:24
  Speaker 7: And despite all the conversation about them, about Burrow's happiness,
• 44:28
  Speaker 7: about the hot seat, about the lack of success, They've
• 44:30
  Speaker 7: come out and really been better than expected early in
• 44:33
  Speaker 7: the season. Now, granted, the Bengals in 2018 started the
• 44:36
  Speaker 7: year hot, did not end the year well, and they
• 44:38
  Speaker 7: made a coaching change and moved on from Marvin Lewis.
• 44:41
  Speaker 7: So we've seen it flip that way. Joe Burrow said
• 44:44
  Speaker 7: it as well. We've had seasons where we've won the
• 44:48
  Speaker 7: first two games or lost the first two games and
• 44:51
  Speaker 7: then reeled off 10 in a row. He said the
• 44:52
  Speaker 7: opposite can be true. So I think this team has
• 44:55
  Speaker 7: done a good job of staying focused on the task
• 44:58
  Speaker 7: at hand, knowing where they want to go. And I
• 44:59
  Speaker 7: think Zach Taylor– does deserve a lot of credit.
• 45:01
  Speaker 6: In that category.
• 45:02
  Speaker 4: Hey, Ben, this will be his first Steelers matchup without
• 45:05
  Speaker 4: Mike Tomlin on the other sideline. We've got Mike McCarthy
• 45:07
  Speaker 4: in here, so that'll certainly change things. I think that's
• 45:09
  Speaker 4: all I've got for you, man. Appreciate you coming on,
• 45:11
  Speaker 4: and I'll see you Sunday.
• 45:11
  Speaker 6: Sounds good. Looking forward to seeing you all.
• 45:13
  Speaker 2: All right. Hey, thanks so much, Ben. Ben Baby, Bengals
• 45:16
  Speaker 2: beat reporter for ESPN.
• 45:17
  Speaker 3: Joining us whenever Double B and I come back, we
• 45:20
  Speaker 3: will get into more previewing.
• 45:21
  Speaker 2: Of the Steelers-Bengals this upcoming Sunday.
• 45:24
  Speaker 3: It is the Steelers Report here on Steelers Nation Radio,
• 45:27
  Speaker 3: part of the Steelers Audio Network.