Latest / The Steelers Report / HR 1: Steelers at Browns: TNF Week 4 Preview

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HR 1: Steelers at Browns: TNF Week 4 Preview · The Steelers Report

• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Empty set for Rodgers. Gets a snap.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: Back to pass.
• 0:14
  Speaker 3: Looking. Floating left and deep. Has a man down there.
• 0:17
  Speaker 3: It's Roman Wilson. Makes a drive along the left sideline.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: And he's in for a Pittsburgh Steelers touchdown. 38 yards
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: from Rodgers to Wilson.
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: And the Steelers.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Snap that touchdownless drought right away.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: This is the Steelers Report with Brian Batko and Ed
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: Troop on Steelers Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: Audio Network.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: Good afternoon, Pittsburgh. It's game day.
• 0:45
  Speaker 4: And since January 1994, the Steelers are 45-9-1 against the
• 0:52
  Speaker 4: Cleveland Browns. But the Browns have won four straight at
• 0:56
  Speaker 4: home against the Steelers. Pittsburgh still dominates the series against Cleveland,
• 1:04
  Speaker 4: 83-65-1 in 148 meetings. But the Browns have won four
• 1:07
  Speaker 4: straight against the Black and Gold in Cleveland and are
• 1:10
  Speaker 4: 6-1 in their last seven home meetings with the Steelers.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: And the Steelers are.
• 1:18
  Speaker 4: 0-4 in Cleveland on Thursday nights and 0-9 in divisional
• 1:22
  Speaker 4: Thursday night games overall.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Other than that, Brian Bacco, we're all set.
• 1:28
  Speaker 5: Yeah, it adds to the magnitude of these games because
• 1:33
  Speaker 5: I've always put it as historically in the big picture,
• 1:40
  Speaker 5: these teams are kind of on opposite ends of the spectrum,
• 1:42
  Speaker 5: these two franchises. They couldn't really be more different that way.
• 1:47
  Speaker 5: But in the actual matchups themselves, the head-to-head meetings, it's
• 1:51
  Speaker 5: been a lot more balanced. It's been a lot more
• 1:53
  Speaker 5: even for better or worse. Obviously for worse, for Steelers' sake,
• 1:57
  Speaker 5: we We want to win them all against everybody. But yeah,
• 2:01
  Speaker 5: I mean, Steelers-Browns, it's the cliched throw the record books
• 2:04
  Speaker 5: out the window when these two teams meet. The game
• 2:08
  Speaker 5: is not played on paper because we've seen over the
• 2:10
  Speaker 5: years massive on-paper advantages, whether it's the record or the
• 2:15
  Speaker 5: depth chart or who's healthy, who's at quarterback, and it
• 2:18
  Speaker 5: doesn't always come to fruition. But let's hope the Steelers
• 2:22
  Speaker 5: and where they are right now in their overall team-building
• 2:27
  Speaker 5: process comes to fruition tonight against a young Browns team.
• 2:32
  Speaker 5: That's I think in the grand scheme of things, probably
• 2:34
  Speaker 5: still ascending more than it's arrived, but a lot of
• 2:38
  Speaker 5: these guys for the Steelers that they've arrived and it's
• 2:40
  Speaker 5: time to go kick some tail up in Cleveland.
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: We are counting down to our countdown to kickoff show
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: at four o'clock today with Tom Offerman and Matt Williamson,
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: followed by the six o'clock pregame show with Mike Pursuit,
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: Jerry Dulac and Bob Labriola, 815 kickoff with Rob King
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: and Max Starks and Missy Matthews. So we are about
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: two hours away now from Tom and Matt getting things
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: started with countdown to kickoff. But before we dive into
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: the nuts and bolts of this Thursday night matchup between
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: the Steelers and the Browns, the big news that occurred
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: overnight Wednesday into early morning Thursday here earlier this morning
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: was Joey Porter Jr. No longer a Pittsburgh Steel or
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: reportedly traded to the Dallas Cowboys in exchange for a
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: 2027 contract. six-round draft pick and a 2028 second-round draft pick.
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: Double B, this would end all the drama that's been
• 3:32
  Speaker 4: involved with Joey Porter Jr. since the start of really
• 3:35
  Speaker 4: minicamp and OTAs back in the spring through the summer
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: and training camp in La Trobe and even the first
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: few weeks of the regular season.
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I wish Joey well.
• 3:44
  Speaker 5: I mean, honestly, growing up, probably my very favorite player
• 3:49
  Speaker 5: was Joey Porter Sr.
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: It was awesome to see Joey Porter Jr.
• 3:54
  Speaker 5: suit up as a Steeler for a few seasons, and
• 3:56
  Speaker 5: I always personally find interactions with him in the locker
• 4:00
  Speaker 5: room and at practice and in La Trobe and whatnot.
• 4:04
  Speaker 5: Shared Game of Thrones fandom with Joey Porter Jr. He
• 4:08
  Speaker 5: used to give the King in the North introduction on
• 4:12
  Speaker 5: Sunday Night Football. He's going to have to go be
• 4:14
  Speaker 5: the King in the South now, apparently. It is, I mean,
• 4:17
  Speaker 5: when you look at, and we're not going.
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: To let this hijack the whole show today.
• 4:20
  Speaker 5: I mean, we haven't, you know, the avid listeners know
• 4:23
  Speaker 5: we weren't diving into every little, you know, morsel of
• 4:26
  Speaker 5: speculation and drama or whatever you want to call it
• 4:30
  Speaker 5: over the last several weeks, we're going to dive into
• 4:33
  Speaker 5: Steelers Browns, but yeah, we'll just address it at the top.
• 4:35
  Speaker 5: I mean, it is, you know, him, Broderick Jones and
• 4:40
  Speaker 5: George Pickens, it looks like they're now all going to
• 4:43
  Speaker 5: be on the Dallas Cowboys.
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: It's fascinating.
• 4:46
  Speaker 5: I don't really know if it's good or if it's bad,
• 4:48
  Speaker 5: I guess we'll see. But, and then I had, of course,
• 4:51
  Speaker 5: people saying, you know, what's up with the return? I mean, Hey,
• 4:54
  Speaker 5: it's an asset, if nothing else, a second round pick.
• 4:56
  Speaker 5: I know it's not a second round pick in this
• 4:58
  Speaker 5: upcoming year, but that can always get flipped in packages
• 5:01
  Speaker 5: for other picks. So I understand that from the team's
• 5:05
  Speaker 5: perspective and they obviously were ready to flip the page to, uh,
• 5:10
  Speaker 5: the guys that they have here. And we're gonna spend
• 5:12
  Speaker 5: a lot more time today talking about the guys who
• 5:13
  Speaker 5: are in the room in terms of Asante Samuel Jr.,
• 5:17
  Speaker 5: Jamel Dean, Dalen Everett, um, We'll see if Jalen Ramsey
• 5:22
  Speaker 5: plays tonight. He's listed as questionable. It seems like he will.
• 5:25
  Speaker 5: I think they'll probably need him to. But, yeah, it's
• 5:30
  Speaker 5: another trade this season for the Steelers. Broderick Jones, Caleb Johnson,
• 5:34
  Speaker 5: and Joey Porter Jr. all off to new places.
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: Brian, there's a lot of hot takes out there today.
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: Just simply log on to social media. You'll see some good,
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: probably a lot more bad takes from either side, the
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: Joey Porter Jr.
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: Side or the Pittsburgh Steelers side.
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: Here's where I am with it, and now I've had
• 5:53
  Speaker 4: some time to digest the information since early, early this morning.
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: And I mean early. 5.30 a.m. got up, and there
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: it was. It was sitting there from overnight. I just
• 6:01
  Speaker 4: think it's sad. I think it's a sad ending to
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: both sides for Joey Porter Jr. and the Steelers because
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: he's a local kid, right? North Allegheny, Penn State guy,
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: Joey Porter. He's a legacy in and around the black
• 6:12
  Speaker 4: and gold. So you put that all into the mix,
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: but it's a business decision at the end of the day.
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: It was a business decision for the Steelers that, you know,
• 6:20
  Speaker 4: they tried to negotiate this deal going into training camp
• 6:23
  Speaker 4: in the summer, wanted to get something done before the
• 6:24
  Speaker 4: start of the season, but they have that long policy
• 6:27
  Speaker 4: in place. that they don't like to negotiate in season.
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: On the Joey Porter Jr. side, he thought he was
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: valued at a certain number. Steelers obviously couldn't get to
• 6:35
  Speaker 4: that number, so here we were. We were at a standoff,
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: and it eventually leads to the trade to Dallas. At
• 6:40
  Speaker 4: this point, as you said, I'm with you. Joey Porter Jr.,
• 6:43
  Speaker 4: local kid, absolutely. Joey Porter Sr.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: 's son.
• 6:46
  Speaker 4: Wish him the best in Dallas, but the Steelers got
• 6:48
  Speaker 4: to focus on the Cleveland Browns starting tonight. They got
• 6:51
  Speaker 4: to quickly pivot to the other side, and I'm sure
• 6:53
  Speaker 4: they will.
• 6:54
  Speaker 5: Yep, and you took the words right out of my mouth, Ed,
• 6:57
  Speaker 5: with the the stuff about the value discussion. I mean,
• 7:00
  Speaker 5: that's just always ultimately what it comes down to. It's
• 7:04
  Speaker 5: whether you re-sign a player or let them walk in
• 7:06
  Speaker 5: free agency, or if you trade a player for another player,
• 7:10
  Speaker 5: or even if you don't, you know, draft the player, it's,
• 7:14
  Speaker 5: these are objective conversations and objective evaluation or yeah, objective.
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: But also what I mean is they're subjective.
• 7:21
  Speaker 5: You know, you, a player values himself one way, A
• 7:24
  Speaker 5: team values a player a different way, and that's why
• 7:27
  Speaker 5: deals do and don't get done. Obviously, when they value
• 7:31
  Speaker 5: the player the same, that's when deals do get done.
• 7:34
  Speaker 5: But it is business, and we'll.
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: See what happens.
• 7:39
  Speaker 5: You look back at the George Pickens trade, I don't
• 7:41
  Speaker 5: think the Steelers thought he was a bad player by
• 7:43
  Speaker 5: any means. Same with Joey Porter Jr. But the value
• 7:48
  Speaker 5: component did.
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: Not add up.
• 7:49
  Speaker 5: Speaking of components, The architectural component. Did you watch any
• 7:54
  Speaker 5: of Mike Tomlin's Minecraft City? I know we talked about
• 7:57
  Speaker 5: it on the show, and he revealed it Wednesday night on,
• 8:00
  Speaker 5: I guess it was his YouTube channel. My six-year-old's not
• 8:06
  Speaker 5: actually as into Minecraft as he was maybe a year
• 8:08
  Speaker 5: or two ago, but we flicked it on for a
• 8:11
  Speaker 5: few minutes before bedtime.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: Well, it's interesting, Double B.
• 8:14
  Speaker 4: Of course, I have a 15- and 12-year-old, and they've
• 8:16
  Speaker 4: done the Minecraft stuff in the past. And all of
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: a sudden, within the last few days, I walk into
• 8:21
  Speaker 4: the room, and what are they doing? They're playing on Minecraft.
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: And I think it was in anticipation for that. Imagine
• 8:27
  Speaker 4: Mike Tomlin, and there was a meme out there, I
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: think I saw it either last night or this morning,
• 8:31
  Speaker 4: about this whole Joey Porter Jr.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: Situation.
• 8:34
  Speaker 4: And then there was a shot of Tomlin playing Minecraft
• 8:36
  Speaker 4: and said, boy, what a difference.
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: A year makes.
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I hear that.
• 8:42
  Speaker 5: I don't really have much of a concept of it because...
• 8:45
  Speaker 5: My first grader doesn't have a gaming system yet. We're
• 8:47
  Speaker 5: still trying to hold off on that for as long
• 8:49
  Speaker 5: as possible. But, you know, I've seen him watch other
• 8:52
  Speaker 5: people do it on YouTube. And I think he's more
• 8:54
  Speaker 5: into like when they aren't there are so parts of
• 8:57
  Speaker 5: the game where you're like fighting zombies and stuff. I
• 8:59
  Speaker 5: think he he likes it more from that perspective than anything.
• 9:02
  Speaker 5: But even without knowing how long these things take, I
• 9:05
  Speaker 5: was pretty impressed by the the level of detail and
• 9:09
  Speaker 5: obviously some expertise that that went into Mike Tomlin's away
• 9:13
  Speaker 5: from football habits.
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: Listen, that is serious stuff, and he spent 12 years
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: in the making to do it. Now everyone out there
• 9:20
  Speaker 4: listening is like, man, I want to hear what Double
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: B and Troop had to say about Joey Porter Jr.
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: They're talking about Minecraft, but that is the breaking news
• 9:26
  Speaker 4: that we start off here today.
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: Joey Porter Jr.
• 9:28
  Speaker 4: Reportedly heading to the Dallas Cowboys in exchange for two
• 9:31
  Speaker 4: draft picks.
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: But Brian, let's start talking about this game here tonight.
• 9:35
  Speaker 4: And again, we are in a countdown to kickoff mode.
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: The pregame show is starting here at 4 o'clock today.
• 9:39
  Speaker 4: We're leading into that with Tom Offerman and Matt Williamson.
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: The Browns and Steelers, a showdown for first place in
• 9:46
  Speaker 4: the AFC North, both teams 2-1. And as we know,
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: Thursday night football, and I read you the stats to
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: start the show right at the top, the Steelers are
• 9:54
  Speaker 4: oh and four in cleveland on thursday nights and oh
• 9:56
  Speaker 4: and nine in divisional thursday night road games overall but
• 10:01
  Speaker 4: mike mccarthy has the most wins in nfl history as
• 10:05
  Speaker 4: a head coach on thursdays thursdays notice first time this
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: week i finally hit the ball to the outfield i
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: got a single on that first base i did not
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: do a ground out Thursdays not Thursday nights 17 total
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: wins on Thursdays for Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers if
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: he wins tonight he'll become and he'll tie Tom Brady
• 10:23
  Speaker 4: for the most wins on a Thursday in NFL history
• 10:26
  Speaker 4: for a quarterback so I like those vibes I don't
• 10:28
  Speaker 4: like the first vibes I gave you but I definitely
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: like that second part.
• 10:32
  Speaker 5: Yeah and I mentioned on the show how by and
• 10:34
  Speaker 5: large most statistics like that are going to be favorable
• 10:38
  Speaker 5: to head coaches and quarterbacks who've had as much sustained
• 10:41
  Speaker 5: success as Mike Tomlin, Mike McCarthy, Ben.
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: Roethlisberger, Aaron Rodgers.
• 10:46
  Speaker 5: But in fairness, Mike Tomlin's record on Thursdays was not
• 10:50
  Speaker 5: very good. Now, we also acknowledge that, by and large,
• 10:55
  Speaker 5: those games were Thursday nights, short turnarounds, many of them
• 10:58
  Speaker 5: on the road, whereas Mike McCarthy with Green Bay and
• 11:01
  Speaker 5: Dallas had the benefit of playing some of those Thanksgiving games,
• 11:06
  Speaker 5: I guess sometimes at home, right? And then other times,
• 11:09
  Speaker 5: they'd try to give you some extra runway there before
• 11:12
  Speaker 5: or after to play on consecutive Thursdays but yeah I
• 11:16
  Speaker 5: mean this is always a challenge and it's the only
• 11:17
  Speaker 5: one on the Steelers schedule this year Ed players always
• 11:21
  Speaker 5: and coaches always talk about how you just try to
• 11:23
  Speaker 5: get to Thursday play your best you and the difficult
• 11:27
  Speaker 5: thing about it too is like especially in a divisional
• 11:29
  Speaker 5: game you know that you're going to need to bring
• 11:31
  Speaker 5: a certain level of physicality to to win this game
• 11:34
  Speaker 5: but it's it's hard to really practice any physicality. You're
• 11:38
  Speaker 5: trying to take care of your body when you only
• 11:39
  Speaker 5: have three days rest. So you need to be studied
• 11:43
  Speaker 5: up on the details and the execution more than ever
• 11:46
  Speaker 5: so that you can marry that physicality with the focus
• 11:50
  Speaker 5: required to go out there and win. But at least
• 11:53
  Speaker 5: once it's over, you get that long break, that long
• 11:56
  Speaker 5: layoff afterward, and it's a mini bye week on the
• 11:58
  Speaker 5: back end.
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: Steelers and Browns at 8-15 tonight. The Cleveland Browns, well,
• 12:04
  Speaker 4: they're off to that 2-1 start, but They're a bit
• 12:06
  Speaker 4: on a roll, Brian, and I need to ask you,
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: do you think they got some momentum? Because look at this,
• 12:11
  Speaker 4: Todd Munkin, and we've talked a lot about Coach this week,
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: the new head coach for the Cleveland Browns. He has
• 12:17
  Speaker 4: them at 2-1, but overall Cleveland has won four of
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: its last five games after going 6-26 in their previous
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: 32 games. So they finished the 2020-25 season with momentum.
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: They've started this season 2-1. Maybe things are changing in Cleveland.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: I don't know. We'll find out tonight.
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: We will. We will.
• 12:36
  Speaker 5: And they've got some injury issues on their side as well,
• 12:39
  Speaker 5: mainly starting center Elton Jenkins will not be out there.
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: And Ashley Bastok mentioned.
• 12:44
  Speaker 5: With us yesterday from Cleveland.com that Luke Whipler, I think
• 12:47
  Speaker 5: a third-year guy from Ohio State, is going to step
• 12:51
  Speaker 5: in there. Tyson Campbell, though, their outside cornerback opposite Denzel
• 12:56
  Speaker 5: Ward is good to go.
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: He's back.
• 12:58
  Speaker 5: He did not play week three in their win against
• 13:01
  Speaker 5: the Carolina Panthers. But he had a knee injury and
• 13:04
  Speaker 5: doesn't mean he's a hundred percent just because he's cleared
• 13:06
  Speaker 5: to play and doesn't have any game status. So yeah,
• 13:09
  Speaker 5: certainly navigating your injuries and your depth, uh, often comes
• 13:14
  Speaker 5: into play on Thursday night football. You know, last year we,
• 13:18
  Speaker 5: we know that the Steelers and the Bengals, uh, got
• 13:21
  Speaker 5: in a shootout on Thursday night in Cincy, but I
• 13:25
  Speaker 5: feel like, you know, these games tend to be maybe
• 13:27
  Speaker 5: a little bit sloppier.
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: A little bit more low scoring.
• 13:30
  Speaker 5: Uh, although you can't, uh, You can't always rely on
• 13:34
  Speaker 5: that logic because if it's the defense who's sloppy, then
• 13:36
  Speaker 5: the offense is going to have.
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: A field day.
• 13:39
  Speaker 5: It looks like the weather is going to be just
• 13:41
  Speaker 5: fine tonight up in Cleveland, which is sort of unusual.
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: You never take anything for granted there.
• 13:46
  Speaker 5: But it looks like it's going to be actually in
• 13:48
  Speaker 5: the mid to high 70s, maybe even.
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: 80 when they kick that.
• 13:52
  Speaker 5: Well, no, not by eight, but might be 80 when
• 13:54
  Speaker 5: I arrive up there.
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: So that's unusual for Cleveland on October 1st. Wake up,
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: wake up. It's the first of the month. You bone
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: thugs and harmony guy.
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: Of course.
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: I mean, the Crossroads is like my all-time favorite song
• 14:07
  Speaker 4: of the 90s growing up.
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: My Uncle Charles, y'all.
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: Nice. Yeah, there you go. Wake up.
• 14:13
  Speaker 5: It's the first of the month. It's a football Thursday.
• 14:16
  Speaker 5: It's October 1st. Calendars flipped. Pittsburgh and Cleveland.
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: I had a shirt.
• 14:22
  Speaker 5: Well, no, my grandpa had a shirt growing up that
• 14:24
  Speaker 5: got passed down to me that had the road sign
• 14:28
  Speaker 5: on it.
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: It said the only sign of life in Cleveland, and
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: it was, you know, Pittsburgh, 100-some.
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: I'll trump you with that, my friend. I have this
• 14:37
  Speaker 4: shirt of a guy sitting there going to the bathroom.
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: I'm sorry, you know what shirt I'm talking about. I
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: won't get into that one, of course, right?
• 14:44
  Speaker 5: I knew what you were going to say there, Ed,
• 14:45
  Speaker 5: because I think every family in Western PA, somebody in
• 14:49
  Speaker 5: their family probably had that one or some version of it.
• 14:52
  Speaker 4: Oh boy, we've come from Joey Porter Jr. to that
• 14:55
  Speaker 4: by the end of this first segment. Whenever we come back,
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: we're going to dive into some of the player matchups
• 14:59
  Speaker 4: tonight between the Steelers and the Browns. We are counting
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: down to Countdown to Kickoff with Tom Offerman and Matt
• 15:05
  Speaker 4: Williamson starting at 4 o'clock today leading up to Steelers-Browns
• 15:09
  Speaker 4: at 8.15. It's Troop and Backo here on the Steelers
• 15:12
  Speaker 4: Report on Steelers Nation Radio, part of the Steelers Audio Network.
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: This is the Steelers Report with Brian Batko and Ed
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: Troop on Steelers Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: Audio Network.
• 15:30
  Speaker 4: Just about 90 minutes now until we turn things over
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: to Tom Offerman and Matt Williamson for Countdown to Kickoff
• 15:36
  Speaker 4: to get you set for Steelers-Browns Thursday night.
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: And Double B.
• 15:43
  Speaker 4: Of course, as you know, I drive my 12-year-old to
• 15:45
  Speaker 4: school every morning, and today's hot topic is it always, well,
• 15:48
  Speaker 4: it's always, this time of the year, it's always about football.
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: And we were talking about Joey Porter Jr., again, reportedly
• 15:54
  Speaker 4: being traded to the Dallas Cowboys. And my son now
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: has lost another jersey. So he had a Joey Porter Jr.
• 16:00
  Speaker 5: Jersey.
• 16:01
  Speaker 4: He had a George Pickens jersey. He had a Russell
• 16:03
  Speaker 4: Wilson jersey. He had a Justin Fields jersey. He did
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: not have a Broderick Jones jersey. But now he's down
• 16:10
  Speaker 4: to one, TJ Watt. So we had a discussion on
• 16:13
  Speaker 4: what jersey is next for the young fella.
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: I said Jeremy Bernard.
• 16:19
  Speaker 5: I think that's a good choice, but he hasn't really
• 16:21
  Speaker 5: done much to this point, so it's a bit of
• 16:24
  Speaker 5: a leap of faith. It's funny you say that, Ed, because–
• 16:27
  Speaker 5: my first grader and I were having the same conversation,
• 16:30
  Speaker 5: sort of. I told him, you know, your first jersey
• 16:32
  Speaker 5: that your grandma bought you was this guy named Chase Claypool.
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: And he was like, oh, was he good?
• 16:38
  Speaker 5: I was like, well, he was really good as a rookie.
• 16:39
  Speaker 5: And then, you know, kind of fell off a bit.
• 16:43
  Speaker 5: And I said, actually, this will blow your mind, Dawson.
• 16:47
  Speaker 5: He got traded to the Bears for a draft pick
• 16:49
  Speaker 5: that became Joey Porter Jr.
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: So, and then I told him he had a Najee Harris.
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: He's like, oh, I liked Najee Harris. I was like, yeah,
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: it everybody did, but you know, he, he went off
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: to it. He's like, they traded.
• 16:59
  Speaker 5: I said, no, they just, he signed with another team.
• 17:01
  Speaker 5: This happens in football. Um, now he's got a, he
• 17:04
  Speaker 5: wore a DK Metcalf to school today. It was their
• 17:07
  Speaker 5: spirit day. It was black and gold dress down day.
• 17:09
  Speaker 5: My kids go to a private school, so it's usually uniforms,
• 17:12
  Speaker 5: but Steelers on a plane on a weekday, they, they
• 17:16
  Speaker 5: get the benevolent black and gold dress down day free
• 17:19
  Speaker 5: of charge. Um, principal was wearing a Terry Bradshaw Jersey. And, uh, yeah, I,
• 17:25
  Speaker 5: I told, uh, I told him, you know, you'll probably
• 17:28
  Speaker 5: see a lot of TJ Watts. You'll probably see a
• 17:30
  Speaker 5: lot of Pat Friermuth's, maybe some, uh.
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: Some old school one. He was like, Oh, what about
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: number seven?
• 17:35
  Speaker 5: I said, yeah, you'll probably see some Ben Roethlisberger's brought
• 17:38
  Speaker 5: out of the closet. I said, if you see any 24s,
• 17:40
  Speaker 5: just go give them a hug, tell them it's going
• 17:42
  Speaker 5: to be okay. Uh, but to answer your question, Ed,
• 17:45
  Speaker 5: I think, uh, Nick Herbig. How about Nick Herbig up there?
• 17:48
  Speaker 5: You know, he's just, you know, he's, he's been, he's
• 17:50
  Speaker 5: done it.
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: He's accomplished things.
• 17:53
  Speaker 5: And now he's signed a longer term deal as well,
• 17:56
  Speaker 5: which helps.
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: You got to be smart about it. Double B, you
• 17:59
  Speaker 4: got to get a player that's going to be here
• 18:00
  Speaker 4: for a while. If you're going to invest, cause those
• 18:02
  Speaker 4: jerseys aren't cheap. I mean, if you get a Nike one,
• 18:04
  Speaker 4: I'm not saying the real, real stuff, but even now,
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: you know, back in the day, you got the knockoff
• 18:08
  Speaker 4: one for like 30 bucks. And then if you wanted
• 18:10
  Speaker 4: to go $ 200 deep, you got the game day one. Well,
• 18:12
  Speaker 4: now it seems like they just do one Jersey and
• 18:15
  Speaker 4: it's a hundred bucks.
• 18:17
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, you can go down to Strip District,
• 18:19
  Speaker 5: but of course here we recommend go to the Steelers
• 18:21
  Speaker 5: Pro Shop and get everything direct from the team.
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: You know, you get what you're paying for there.
• 18:25
  Speaker 5: But no, I mean, I actually was, I was telling
• 18:28
  Speaker 5: my little guy, I said, that's why sometimes it's not
• 18:30
  Speaker 5: the worst thing to go get what they call a throwback, buddy.
• 18:33
  Speaker 5: It's somebody who doesn't play anymore, and you know he's
• 18:35
  Speaker 5: never going to leave the Steelers at that point. And
• 18:38
  Speaker 5: this franchise, unique in some ways in its legacy of
• 18:41
  Speaker 5: so many one-helmet guys, whether it's Terry Bradshaw, John Stallworth,
• 18:47
  Speaker 5: Lynn Swan, Troy.
• 18:49
  Speaker 3: Polamalu, Heath Miller, Ben Roethlisberger, the list goes on and on.
• 18:53
  Speaker 5: They only played in the black and gold. So that's
• 18:55
  Speaker 5: the only Jersey you could ever have of that guy,
• 18:58
  Speaker 5: which is, which is pretty cool.
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 19:00
  Speaker 4: Nowadays, you know, everybody wants to go for the most
• 19:04
  Speaker 4: popular player, the hot take.
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: We always talk about hot takes with a hot take
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: on jerseys too.
• 19:09
  Speaker 4: But my first Jersey, Brian, I want to ask you,
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: and then we'll get back into Brown Steelers for tonight.
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: I promise you, we've got some matchups to talk about here.
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: Right now.
• 19:16
  Speaker 4: But first jersey I ever got, I'll never forget it.
• 19:19
  Speaker 4: I was probably 14, maybe 19. Well, no, I was
• 19:22
  Speaker 4: younger than that because it was Barry Foster. Foster was
• 19:24
  Speaker 4: my first jersey.
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: So maybe 93.
• 19:25
  Speaker 4: I was like 13 years old. Barry Foster. And then
• 19:28
  Speaker 4: a couple years later, I got a Rod Woodson jersey.
• 19:30
  Speaker 4: And man, to this day, I still wish I had
• 19:33
  Speaker 4: my Barry Foster or Rod Woodson jersey. Foster was the
• 19:36
  Speaker 4: black home jersey, 29. And my Woodson was an away jersey.
• 19:40
  Speaker 4: It was white, 26. I don't have them now, but
• 19:42
  Speaker 4: I sure wish I did Cause I would definitely be
• 19:44
  Speaker 4: rocking them.
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 19:47
  Speaker 5: And you know, the other thing that's kind of different
• 19:49
  Speaker 5: about the Steelers from a lot of teams is the,
• 19:51
  Speaker 5: the quote unquote throwbacks aren't really any different. I mean,
• 19:54
  Speaker 5: there are minor differences sometimes, but you know, they, they aren't,
• 19:58
  Speaker 5: we talked yesterday on the show about how the Browns
• 20:00
  Speaker 5: are going to rock the quote unquote alpha dogs jerseys
• 20:03
  Speaker 5: tonight sponsored by dude wipes. But you know, they've got their,
• 20:07
  Speaker 5: their light Brown as well. And, They've had a lot
• 20:09
  Speaker 5: of different ones over the years, different alternates, and I
• 20:13
  Speaker 5: like alternate jerseys, but there's also something to be said
• 20:15
  Speaker 5: for the traditionalist that's in the Steelers.
• 20:19
  Speaker 3: You know what?
• 20:20
  Speaker 5: That reminds me. Do we know if they're wearing the
• 20:23
  Speaker 5: throwbacks from last year again this season, or did those
• 20:26
  Speaker 5: get kind of quietly put away?
• 20:29
  Speaker 4: I don't think there's been any indication on anything. I
• 20:31
  Speaker 4: feel like anymore you don't get word about that until
• 20:34
  Speaker 4: the week of, and they unveil it on the social
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: media stuff, right?
• 20:38
  Speaker 5: Yeah, sometimes that gets the people going when you do
• 20:40
  Speaker 5: like a jersey reveal on Monday of a game week
• 20:43
  Speaker 5: or something like that. So I'm not going to say
• 20:45
  Speaker 5: it's not happening, but yeah, unless it slipped through the
• 20:48
  Speaker 5: cracks on me, I don't think I've seen any promotions
• 20:51
  Speaker 5: of that for 2026 when we know it was a
• 20:54
  Speaker 5: big deal for 2025 to rock those against Green Bay.
• 20:57
  Speaker 4: I absolutely love that you throw in that the Browns
• 21:01
  Speaker 4: jerseys are sponsored by Dude Wipes.
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: Is that true or are you making that up?
• 21:06
  Speaker 5: Uh, that seems like something I would say facetiously uncle Tommy,
• 21:09
  Speaker 5: if you're listening, that was your word of the day facetiously,
• 21:12
  Speaker 5: but no, that would, that was a hundred percent true.
• 21:15
  Speaker 5: I saw it on Cleveland browns.com or whatever. So that's
• 21:18
  Speaker 5: an official, uh, an official sponsorship.
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: And again, Steelers nation can take that sponsorship and go
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: a lot of different ways with it when it comes
• 21:26
  Speaker 4: to the Cleveland Browns and those all Brown jerseys. for
• 21:29
  Speaker 4: tonight brian one last thing and then we'll get back
• 21:31
  Speaker 4: into these players i had i was teeing it up
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: for you you didn't take the bait my friends i'll
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: just ask you directly what was your first steeler jersey
• 21:37
  Speaker 4: you ever.
• 21:37
  Speaker 5: Got oh um my first that's a good question maybe
• 21:43
  Speaker 5: plexico burris might have been up there i've told the
• 21:47
  Speaker 5: story on the show before about how i was a
• 21:48
  Speaker 5: big plex guy my my pap god rest his soul
• 21:52
  Speaker 5: wanted chad pennington on that same draft but of course
• 21:56
  Speaker 5: me being a young whippersnapper.
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: I wanted the cool, tall, wide receiver. But no, that
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: might have been it.
• 22:07
  Speaker 5: And then, like I said at the top, honestly, Joey
• 22:10
  Speaker 5: Porter Sr. was my favorite player growing up. I really
• 22:14
  Speaker 5: gravitated toward the passion, the kick, the eye black, the snarl,
• 22:21
  Speaker 5: all of that stuff. And he was hitting right as
• 22:24
  Speaker 5: I was kind of coming of age as a football fan.
• 22:27
  Speaker 3: So it's probably one of those two, Ed.
• 22:28
  Speaker 4: Great choices, that's for sure. I can't go wrong with
• 22:31
  Speaker 4: Plex or Joey Porter Sr. All right, let's get into
• 22:34
  Speaker 4: Steelers-Browns tonight. Again, the Thursday night matchup. Brian, when you
• 22:37
  Speaker 4: look at the receivers so far for the Cleveland Browns,
• 22:40
  Speaker 4: they're young, right?
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: You look at Denzel Boston.
• 22:43
  Speaker 4: He's had 15 targets so far this season, nine receptions,
• 22:46
  Speaker 4: 195 yards, two touchdowns. Harold Fannin Jr., their big tight end.
• 22:50
  Speaker 4: He's in his second year now. 18 targets, 14 catches,
• 22:54
  Speaker 4: 126 yards, two touchdowns, both of those coming last week,
• 22:57
  Speaker 4: by the way, at home against the Carolina Panthers. KC Concepcion,
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: their other rookie receiver, 12 catches for 80 yards, no
• 23:05
  Speaker 4: touchdowns yet, but it's a young receiving core.
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: And Jerry Judy's still hanging around there, too.
• 23:10
  Speaker 4: He's another nice veteran option for whoever's at quarterback, and
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: it'll be, of course, Deshaun Watson here tonight. We'll talk
• 23:16
  Speaker 4: more about Watson in a second, but first, your thoughts
• 23:19
  Speaker 4: on these young receivers.
• 23:21
  Speaker 5: Yeah, they're dangerous for sure. And I know Jerry Judy
• 23:27
  Speaker 5: was kind of on the outs with the Browns, and
• 23:31
  Speaker 5: it seemed like he kind of lost his touch a
• 23:34
  Speaker 5: little bit, had some drop issues. But yeah, he's still
• 23:38
  Speaker 5: kicking around. And looking at him as a veteran number three,
• 23:43
  Speaker 5: that's a much better role allocation for Jerry Judy. And
• 23:49
  Speaker 5: as I look at the snap counts here, that is
• 23:51
  Speaker 5: exactly what he is. Although Fannin is, he's pretty much
• 23:55
  Speaker 5: like another wide receiver. He's in the mold of a,
• 23:58
  Speaker 5: he is of a modern day tight end. You know,
• 24:00
  Speaker 5: I think he's listed at six, four to 40. I
• 24:02
  Speaker 5: don't know if he was actually that big coming out
• 24:05
  Speaker 5: in the combine that.
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: Year, but a very productive receiver at Bowling Green.
• 24:09
  Speaker 5: People wondered if it would transfer to the NFL and yeah,
• 24:13
  Speaker 5: he was just a shade over six, three when he
• 24:16
  Speaker 5: measured in an Indy, but, super productive in college. And,
• 24:19
  Speaker 5: you know, he was productive last year against the Steelers,
• 24:22
  Speaker 5: I think in one of those games, at least, but yeah,
• 24:25
  Speaker 5: they've got some weapons there for Deshaun Watson to throw
• 24:28
  Speaker 5: the ball to Boston.
• 24:29
  Speaker 3: You know, I was pretty.
• 24:31
  Speaker 5: High on him going back to the beginning or middle
• 24:34
  Speaker 5: of last season. He looked like he was going to
• 24:37
  Speaker 5: be a dude in one of the first rounders in
• 24:40
  Speaker 5: that pretty deep wide receiver draft class.
• 24:42
  Speaker 3: Concepcion came along later.
• 24:44
  Speaker 5: I actually talked to a, current Steelers about both those
• 24:47
  Speaker 5: guys last year because I was doing a series for
• 24:50
  Speaker 5: the PG at the time on highlighting potential first rounders
• 24:54
  Speaker 5: with the draft being in Pittsburgh and that category fit
• 24:58
  Speaker 5: both of them. And Troy Fautano told me about Denzel
• 25:01
  Speaker 5: Boston as a young guy at Washington waiting behind Roma Dunze,
• 25:04
  Speaker 5: Jalen McMillan, Jalen Polk. That was a loaded receiving core. Actually,
• 25:08
  Speaker 5: Jeremy Bernard was in there at one point. I'll have
• 25:10
  Speaker 5: to go look and see if those two played together
• 25:13
  Speaker 5: as backup receivers. And then Concepcion because of the transfer
• 25:17
  Speaker 5: portal era, he ended up at Texas A & M,
• 25:20
  Speaker 5: but his freshman year, he played at NC State with
• 25:23
  Speaker 5: Peyton Wilson. Peyton Wilson was the veteran senior leader on
• 25:26
  Speaker 5: the defensive side of the ball for the Wolfpack, and
• 25:28
  Speaker 5: Concepcion was the hotshot freshman catching passes and tearing up
• 25:33
  Speaker 5: the ACC in his first year there, and then he
• 25:35
  Speaker 5: went and got a big old bag to go to
• 25:37
  Speaker 5: A & M, as so many players do these days,
• 25:40
  Speaker 5: but yeah, I like them both coming out and I
• 25:43
  Speaker 5: thought that was an interesting idea by the Browns to
• 25:45
  Speaker 5: double down, get two very different styles of wide receiver
• 25:49
  Speaker 5: and kind of let them both grow together in their
• 25:52
  Speaker 5: NFL journeys.
• 25:54
  Speaker 4: Rushing-wise for the Cleveland Browns, they have had their struggles
• 25:58
  Speaker 4: much like the Steelers did in the first two games.
• 26:00
  Speaker 4: Of course, the Steelers got right last week in their
• 26:02
  Speaker 4: home win against the Bengals when it comes to running
• 26:04
  Speaker 4: the football with Jalen Warren.
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: But Quinshawn Junkins, his rookie.
• 26:08
  Speaker 4: Season last year, his rookie season last year, Brian, for Junkins,
• 26:13
  Speaker 4: was very good. This year so far, 42 carries, 124 yards,
• 26:17
  Speaker 4: and an average of just three yards per carry. Deshaun Watson,
• 26:20
  Speaker 4: when he has ran with the football, 24 totes for
• 26:23
  Speaker 4: 105 yards. He's averaging 4.4 yards every time that he
• 26:27
  Speaker 4: takes off with the football. So a mixed bag for
• 26:29
  Speaker 4: Cleveland so far, rushing the football. But we know that
• 26:32
  Speaker 4: Quinshawn Junkins is a.
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: Very good running back.
• 26:35
  Speaker 4: We saw that last year in his rookie campaign, and
• 26:37
  Speaker 4: he could certainly do that again here tonight against the Steelers.
• 26:41
  Speaker 5: I thought he looked tremendous last year. I remember watching
• 26:43
  Speaker 5: one game on the road in the hotel. I forget
• 26:47
  Speaker 5: where the Steelers were that weekend that I had the
• 26:49
  Speaker 5: game on. They must have been playing an afternoon or
• 26:51
  Speaker 5: night game. But I think it was Shador's first start,
• 26:54
  Speaker 5: wherever that was or whoever that was against. And Judkins
• 26:58
  Speaker 5: was just ripping off run after run. I'm like, this
• 27:01
  Speaker 5: guy's going to be a problem in the division for
• 27:04
  Speaker 5: years to come. Hasn't been as productive so far this year,
• 27:07
  Speaker 5: but he's coming off of a broken fibula and a
• 27:09
  Speaker 5: fractured ankle. I think it was. So, I mean, that's
• 27:13
  Speaker 5: a major injury that knocked him out at the end
• 27:16
  Speaker 5: of his rookie season. But yeah, I mean, he had
• 27:19
  Speaker 5: been really impressive up until then, had 110-yard game. Maybe
• 27:23
  Speaker 5: that's the one that I'm talking about. Although that was
• 27:26
  Speaker 5: early in the season. I don't think Shadur started until
• 27:29
  Speaker 5: a little bit later. Dylan Gabriel, if you remember, also
• 27:32
  Speaker 5: started some games last year for the Browns. And that
• 27:35
  Speaker 5: seems like a name that is long ago now. But yeah,
• 27:39
  Speaker 5: I mean, Judkins, another one of these, first of all,
• 27:42
  Speaker 5: another one of these Ohio State guys who came out,
• 27:45
  Speaker 5: you know, he and Travion Henderson were a heck of
• 27:48
  Speaker 5: a one-two punch.
• 27:48
  Speaker 3: Steelers saw what he could do.
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: That's right.
• 27:50
  Speaker 5: Week two up in Foxborough, but they certainly helped Will
• 27:55
  Speaker 5: Howard too in Columbus. But yeah, Judkins, another one of
• 27:59
  Speaker 5: these young nucleus players for the Browns on both sides
• 28:02
  Speaker 5: of the ball.
• 28:04
  Speaker 4: Coming up today at 3 o'clock, we're going to get
• 28:06
  Speaker 4: to our five keys on offense for the Steelers versus
• 28:09
  Speaker 4: Browns tonight. Then 320, our five keys on defense for
• 28:12
  Speaker 4: the Black and Gold. And we'll wrap up today's show
• 28:14
  Speaker 4: at 340 with some NFL stat leaders after three weeks
• 28:18
  Speaker 4: heading into week four, which kicks off tonight. We'll get
• 28:20
  Speaker 4: Double B's thoughts and guesses on who's leading the league
• 28:24
  Speaker 4: and which statistical categories. But for now, we are counting
• 28:27
  Speaker 4: down to Countdown to Kickoff with Tom Offerman. and Matt
• 28:31
  Speaker 4: Williamson coming up at 4 o'clock, followed by the pregame
• 28:34
  Speaker 4: show with Mike Persuta, Jerry Dulac, and Bob Labriola. Rob, Max,
• 28:39
  Speaker 4: and Missy have all the coverage for you tonight starting
• 28:42
  Speaker 4: at 8.15. But first things first, when we come back,
• 28:44
  Speaker 4: those were the offensive players. How about the defense for
• 28:47
  Speaker 4: the Cleveland Browns? We'll dive into that and more.
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: He's back, though. I'm Troop.
• 28:52
  Speaker 4: It is the Steelers Report right here on Steelers Nation Radio,
• 28:54
  Speaker 4: part of the Steelers Audio Network.
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: This is the Steelers Report with Brian Bacco and Ed
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: Troup on Steelers Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: Audio Network.
• 29:11
  Speaker 4: The Cleveland Browns, we've been talking about it all week
• 29:15
  Speaker 4: long when it comes to Thursday night football.
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: Very good.
• 29:18
  Speaker 4: They've won seven straight Thursday night football games. That's the
• 29:21
  Speaker 4: longest streak in the NFL. No other team has more
• 29:25
  Speaker 4: than three straight. going into tonight, but maybe that streak
• 29:28
  Speaker 4: is made to be broken a bit later on this evening.
• 29:32
  Speaker 4: One thing to watch in Steelers Nation is Aaron Rodgers.
• 29:35
  Speaker 4: He is climbing the NFL's all-time win list. Rodgers is
• 29:39
  Speaker 4: now tied with... Ben Roethlisberger at 165 career wins. If
• 29:44
  Speaker 4: he wins tonight, he will take that over all by
• 29:46
  Speaker 4: himself at 166. That's the fifth most since 1950, and
• 29:51
  Speaker 4: he's only seven wins behind Drew Brees. So double B,
• 29:55
  Speaker 4: Aaron Rodgers potentially later this season can move up another
• 29:59
  Speaker 4: notch on that list.
• 30:01
  Speaker 3: He's always moving up leaderboards, it seems.
• 30:04
  Speaker 5: And I don't know if anybody asked him about that
• 30:06
  Speaker 5: this weekend, but it seems like Going back to last
• 30:09
  Speaker 5: season when he first signed with the Steelers, anytime we
• 30:11
  Speaker 5: did ask Aaron Rodgers about footnotes like that, he just means, hey,
• 30:15
  Speaker 5: he's like, it just means I'm old.
• 30:16
  Speaker 3: It just means I've been playing a long time.
• 30:18
  Speaker 5: I think Ben Roethlisberger usually sang the same song and
• 30:22
  Speaker 5: tune when he was in the twilight of his career. But,
• 30:25
  Speaker 5: you know, who's not that old still and is always
• 30:27
  Speaker 5: seemingly moving up leaderboards every week is TJ Watt. You know, he's,
• 30:33
  Speaker 5: I think, let me check this. He's a sack or
• 30:36
  Speaker 5: two away from from moving up another notch on the
• 30:39
  Speaker 5: all-time nfl mark uh he's three away from tying clyde
• 30:45
  Speaker 5: simmons for 24th overall regular season sacks and three and
• 30:50
  Speaker 5: a half he'll be alone in 24th place and then
• 30:53
  Speaker 5: next in his sights would be simeon rice and then
• 30:55
  Speaker 5: robert mathis.
• 30:58
  Speaker 4: Not surprised tj watt by the time he gets to
• 31:00
  Speaker 4: his end of his career will be hitting a lot
• 31:03
  Speaker 4: of those notches as he continues to become, well, I
• 31:06
  Speaker 4: don't know, become a Hall of Famer. I think he's
• 31:08
  Speaker 4: already a Hall of Famer, but maybe cement, continue to
• 31:11
  Speaker 4: cement his Hall of Fame status.
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: How about that?
• 31:14
  Speaker 4: We were talking about the Browns offense before the break,
• 31:17
  Speaker 4: so let's dive into the defense. But before we do that,
• 31:19
  Speaker 4: we do want to tell you, coming up next at
• 31:21
  Speaker 4: 3 o'clock, we'll have our five keys on offense, followed
• 31:23
  Speaker 4: by our five keys on defense at 320, and then
• 31:26
  Speaker 4: we'll wrap things up today at 340 with some NFL
• 31:29
  Speaker 4: stat leaders getting you all set for Steelers, Browns, We
• 31:32
  Speaker 4: are leading into the countdown to kickoff with Tom Offerman
• 31:35
  Speaker 4: and Matt Williamson here at 4 o'clock, followed by the
• 31:38
  Speaker 4: pregame show with Mike Pursuta, Jerry Dulac, and Bob Labriola.
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: Kickoff at 8.15 tonight.
• 31:43
  Speaker 4: Rob King, Max Starks, Missy Matthews will have all that
• 31:47
  Speaker 4: coverage for you. And, Brian, we're about an hour and
• 31:49
  Speaker 4: 15 minutes away now before we get to the countdown
• 31:52
  Speaker 4: to kickoff show.
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: So let's talk about the Browns' defense.
• 31:56
  Speaker 4: And Jared Verse, he's the guy that they traded away
• 31:59
  Speaker 4: Myles Garrett for. And, you know, we were talking with
• 32:03
  Speaker 4: Ashley Bastock earlier. of course, on the show yesterday from
• 32:06
  Speaker 4: Cleveland.com about the reaction to Miles Garrett no longer being
• 32:10
  Speaker 4: in Cleveland. And right now it has to be pretty
• 32:12
  Speaker 4: good because Garrett's on the IR and Jared verse so far,
• 32:15
  Speaker 4: not too bad. He's had 80 pass rushes, no sacks yet,
• 32:18
  Speaker 4: but nine quarterback pressures. I'm sure it's just a matter
• 32:21
  Speaker 4: of time before Jared verse starts doing Jared verse type things. Yeah.
• 32:26
  Speaker 5: And he's a really powerful young player and, you know,
• 32:31
  Speaker 5: I think he's going to challenge Troy Fobtanu a lot
• 32:33
  Speaker 5: on that side. But we heard from Ashley that he's
• 32:37
  Speaker 5: someone who's also willing to move around too. So will
• 32:40
  Speaker 5: they try to send him at the rookie, Max Zahanachor?
• 32:43
  Speaker 5: Will they try to even send him on the interior?
• 32:47
  Speaker 5: Although I think Mason McCormick was really stout against the
• 32:50
  Speaker 5: Bengals and not even just stout, that's almost underselling him.
• 32:53
  Speaker 5: He was bringing the fight to Cincinnati's front for much
• 32:57
  Speaker 5: of that game. and moving people from point A to
• 33:00
  Speaker 5: point B against their will. We'll see how Brock Hoffman does.
• 33:03
  Speaker 5: Did you know that Brock Hoffman actually started his career
• 33:05
  Speaker 5: with the Browns? Ed, I didn't know that, so I
• 33:08
  Speaker 5: always just thought he went from Cowboys to Steelers, but
• 33:12
  Speaker 5: initially signed as an undrafted free agent out of Virginia Tech.
• 33:16
  Speaker 3: Big week for Virginia Tech here in Pittsburgh, too.
• 33:19
  Speaker 5: But I hope Brock Hoffman's alma mater goes down in
• 33:22
  Speaker 5: flames tomorrow night at home in Blacksburg, but That's neither
• 33:26
  Speaker 5: here nor there. But no, Hoffman originally signed out of
• 33:28
  Speaker 5: there as a undrafted free agent with the Cleveland Browns
• 33:32
  Speaker 5: and then got cut by them, obviously, and then made
• 33:35
  Speaker 5: it to Dallas with Mike McCarthy.
• 33:37
  Speaker 3: And the rest is history.
• 33:39
  Speaker 5: Although we'll see what the future holds for Hoffman and
• 33:42
  Speaker 5: Ionich or on the right side.
• 33:43
  Speaker 4: Yep, I did not know that about Brock Hoffman starting
• 33:46
  Speaker 4: out his career with the Cleveland Browns. But now a
• 33:49
  Speaker 4: Pittsburgh Steeler and a big part of the solution, at
• 33:52
  Speaker 4: least from what we saw last week with Maxi Onachor
• 33:54
  Speaker 4: on that offensive line. They had a good start on
• 33:57
  Speaker 4: that right side. Hopefully that'll continue tonight here on Thursday
• 33:59
  Speaker 4: Night Football. But Mason Graham is probably the main defender
• 34:03
  Speaker 4: right now in his second year. Again, impressive rookie season
• 34:06
  Speaker 4: last year. He's now followed that up with four sacks
• 34:09
  Speaker 4: through three games. 78 pass rushes and nine quarterback pressures. Boy,
• 34:14
  Speaker 4: oh boy, Mason Graham. It does not get any easier
• 34:17
  Speaker 4: for this offensive line. They had to deal with Dexter
• 34:18
  Speaker 4: Lawrence last week, and now tonight they'll have to deal
• 34:21
  Speaker 4: with Mason Graham.
• 34:23
  Speaker 5: Yeah, can it still be a revenge game if Brock
• 34:26
  Speaker 5: Hoffman just spent a few months with the Browns in
• 34:28
  Speaker 5: training camp and spent a few months on their practice squad?
• 34:31
  Speaker 3: I don't know.
• 34:31
  Speaker 5: I'm sure NFL players look for any bit of motivation
• 34:35
  Speaker 5: in just the little bit that I've gotten to know
• 34:37
  Speaker 5: Brock Hoffman since March or April. he always embraces the
• 34:41
  Speaker 5: chip on his shoulder aspect of things. So I wouldn't
• 34:44
  Speaker 5: put that past them, but yeah, then it's going to
• 34:46
  Speaker 5: be a lot of Mason versus Mason in the trenches
• 34:49
  Speaker 5: in this one, Graham versus McCormick, Mason Graham. He's what a,
• 34:53
  Speaker 5: he's a second year guy as well, I believe. And
• 34:56
  Speaker 5: he was part of that big swap with the Browns
• 34:58
  Speaker 5: and the Jaguars where they could have stayed at number
• 35:01
  Speaker 5: two and taken Travis Hunter, who was kind of this
• 35:04
  Speaker 5: consensus best prospect by a lot of people in that
• 35:07
  Speaker 5: draft instead of They let the Jaguars sell the farm
• 35:11
  Speaker 5: for Hunter, who got his first interception just last week
• 35:14
  Speaker 5: against Drake May, now that he's moved, I think, to
• 35:17
  Speaker 5: pretty much full-time corner down there in Jacksonville.
• 35:19
  Speaker 3: But I think the Browns are pretty happy with their haul.
• 35:22
  Speaker 5: I don't know exactly how the picks sorted out for
• 35:26
  Speaker 5: who all they ended up getting for that number two
• 35:29
  Speaker 5: choice that went to Jaguars for Hunter. But Mason Graham,
• 35:32
  Speaker 5: I know, was a part of it. They moved down
• 35:33
  Speaker 5: and still got him. That was a really good d-line
• 35:37
  Speaker 5: class he was in there his running mate at michigan
• 35:39
  Speaker 5: kenneth grant was in there went to the dolphins of
• 35:42
  Speaker 5: course big harm derrick harman uh steelers are feeling good
• 35:46
  Speaker 5: about uh you know ultimately who they got uh from
• 35:49
  Speaker 5: that group so yeah harman and graham i think those
• 35:52
  Speaker 5: are two guys who are going to impact the game
• 35:54
  Speaker 5: tonight and maybe go so far as to say the
• 35:56
  Speaker 5: one who impacts the game more uh his team will
• 35:58
  Speaker 5: win this.
• 35:59
  Speaker 4: At Browns defense currently ranked 18th in the NFL with
• 36:03
  Speaker 4: 23.7 points given up per game. Again, losing 34-10 to
• 36:08
  Speaker 4: Jacksonville to start the season off will not help your
• 36:10
  Speaker 4: cause there. They gave up 19 against Tampa Bay in
• 36:13
  Speaker 4: a 23-19.
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: Week 2 win.
• 36:14
  Speaker 4: Last week gave up 18 to Carolina, winning that game 21-18.
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: Yards per game, Double B, 344.
• 36:20
  Speaker 4: That's 22nd best in the NFL, 18th best in the
• 36:23
  Speaker 4: NFL for yards per play at 5.4.
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: Passing yardage-wise, 18th.
• 36:29
  Speaker 4: Defending with 224 yards, giving up seven sacks.
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: That's 11th in the NFL.
• 36:33
  Speaker 4: But again, as we were just talking about, Mason Graham
• 36:36
  Speaker 4: has four of those seven sacks so far on the year.
• 36:40
  Speaker 4: Rush yards per game, they're 23rd in the NFL at
• 36:42
  Speaker 4: 120 average per game. Third down conversions, about 39%. That's
• 36:47
  Speaker 4: 13th best. Red zone, touchdown percentage, they are eighth best,
• 36:51
  Speaker 4: a top 10 defense in the red zone. So that's
• 36:53
  Speaker 4: something to watch tonight with the Steelers. They are giving
• 36:56
  Speaker 4: up 44% of the time. touchdowns within the red zone
• 36:59
  Speaker 4: that's pretty good 22nd in the league for turnovers with
• 37:02
  Speaker 4: just two so far this season so this defense hasn't
• 37:04
  Speaker 4: produced a lot of turnovers but they've been good in
• 37:06
  Speaker 4: the red.
• 37:07
  Speaker 5: Zone yeah they have and you know i think that
• 37:10
  Speaker 5: that's that's kind of been their identity now it's it's
• 37:13
  Speaker 5: a different coordinator it's it's gone from jim schwartz who
• 37:16
  Speaker 5: was arguably doing it as well as anybody in the
• 37:19
  Speaker 5: league albeit for uh mostly a losing team but it
• 37:22
  Speaker 5: was often not because of their defense Vic Fangio is
• 37:26
  Speaker 5: certainly up there with the Eagles when you talk about
• 37:28
  Speaker 5: the league's best DCs, but I thought their, their DNA
• 37:31
  Speaker 5: under Schwartz was, we're just going to be really difficult
• 37:34
  Speaker 5: to move the ball against. We're going to make you
• 37:36
  Speaker 5: grind it out. Obviously we're going to get pressure and
• 37:39
  Speaker 5: bring it to you. Maybe not pick off a ton
• 37:41
  Speaker 5: of passes or anything like that. But, you know, they,
• 37:45
  Speaker 5: they were kind of, kind of menacing that way with
• 37:48
  Speaker 5: what they brought up front and guys like Denzel Ward,
• 37:51
  Speaker 5: just holding it down on the back end, Grant Delp,
• 37:53
  Speaker 5: it's a, A real hard hitter. I heard Vince Williams
• 37:55
  Speaker 5: from the Blitz singing his praises yesterday. And he's been
• 38:00
  Speaker 5: kind of a rabble rouser and instigator in this Steelers-Browns rivalry.
• 38:04
  Speaker 3: Although, I'll tell you what, I mean, a quick aside, Ed.
• 38:07
  Speaker 5: A lot of the year-in and year-out combatants from some
• 38:12
  Speaker 5: of the chippiness are gone now. Delpit's still around, but
• 38:15
  Speaker 5: George Pickens was one of his favorite people to.
• 38:19
  Speaker 3: Try to pick on.
• 38:21
  Speaker 5: Greg Newsome was one who was always getting into it
• 38:24
  Speaker 5: with Pickens, and that's now two years, obviously, that Pickens
• 38:28
  Speaker 5: has been out of this rivalry. Martin Emerson was another
• 38:31
  Speaker 5: corner who things got pretty feisty and chippy. I don't
• 38:35
  Speaker 5: remember Denzel Ward being in the middle of a lot
• 38:38
  Speaker 5: of it, and DK Metcalf didn't play up here in
• 38:40
  Speaker 5: Cleveland last year, but I'm sure the Dog Pound is
• 38:43
  Speaker 5: going to let him hear it, so he'll need to
• 38:45
  Speaker 5: kind of keep his composure. On the Steelers Insider Show
• 38:49
  Speaker 5: this week, I'll plug that on Steelers.com digital platforms.
• 38:53
  Speaker 3: Mike McCarthy gave his key to the game, and it
• 38:55
  Speaker 3: was poised.
• 38:57
  Speaker 5: It was coming out there poised and handling the environment,
• 39:00
  Speaker 5: as he put it. And I thought that was brilliant
• 39:03
  Speaker 5: from McCarthy because he eventually got into the non-negotiables, which
• 39:07
  Speaker 5: I've jokingly said this before. You ask any football coach,
• 39:10
  Speaker 5: what's the key to any game? It doesn't really change
• 39:13
  Speaker 5: based on the opponent. It's win the turnover battle, stop
• 39:16
  Speaker 5: the run, run the ball. That's generally the recipe for success.
• 39:20
  Speaker 5: McCarthy got into that eventually, but he said, hey, in
• 39:23
  Speaker 5: these divisional games, especially short week, going on the road
• 39:26
  Speaker 5: to Cleveland, a team that does a team and a
• 39:28
  Speaker 5: fan base that does not like you and is kind
• 39:31
  Speaker 5: of the little brother to your big brother you know
• 39:33
  Speaker 5: there's going to be stuff getting said by the fans
• 39:36
  Speaker 5: and you know the other team is probably going to
• 39:37
  Speaker 5: try to get in your head and rile you up
• 39:39
  Speaker 5: we know Dexter Lawrence was doing a lot of that
• 39:41
  Speaker 5: last week at the line of scrimmage keep your poise
• 39:44
  Speaker 5: keep your composure I think the penalties have not been
• 39:47
  Speaker 5: a huge issue for the Steelers at least not the unsportsmanlike,
• 39:51
  Speaker 5: discipline-esque ones.
• 39:54
  Speaker 3: Need to see more of that tonight, no doubt.
• 39:56
  Speaker 4: The Browns secondary featuring, you just said Delpit, Grant Delpit,
• 40:00
  Speaker 4: the strong safety. They also have Ronnie Hickman, the other
• 40:03
  Speaker 4: free safety. Tyson Campbell is on the right side. Denzel
• 40:07
  Speaker 4: Ward still with the Browns on that left side.
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: He got a new contract. Didn't he double be in
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: the offseason?
• 40:12
  Speaker 5: He did, and I think he might line up on
• 40:15
  Speaker 5: the left side most of the time, but I think
• 40:17
  Speaker 5: he's going to probably.
• 40:18
  Speaker 3: Shadow DK Metcalf. And yeah, he got a.
• 40:22
  Speaker 5: Second new contract because he's been around for a while.
• 40:26
  Speaker 5: He's someone who, you know, he's able to go outside.
• 40:30
  Speaker 5: He's able to follow receivers inside to the slot. This
• 40:34
  Speaker 5: is going to be much like the last two weeks
• 40:36
  Speaker 5: with Christian Gonzalez and DJ Turner following around DK Metcalf.
• 40:42
  Speaker 5: It hasn't gone DK's way to this point yet, but
• 40:45
  Speaker 5: it still feels like it's only a matter of time.
• 40:48
  Speaker 5: Before that dam breaks for him, that's going to be
• 40:52
  Speaker 5: another aspect of this game to monitor, no doubt.
• 40:56
  Speaker 4: They also have Emmanuel McNeil-Warren, a safety, a rookie, as
• 41:00
  Speaker 4: a backup that might see some time. And that was
• 41:02
  Speaker 4: one guy I think the Steelers had also been interested
• 41:05
  Speaker 4: in in this previous draft.
• 41:08
  Speaker 5: Yes, he was a pre-draft visitor. Rob King was high
• 41:11
  Speaker 5: on him. We talked about that on the Point After
• 41:13
  Speaker 5: Show on Monday.
• 41:15
  Speaker 3: Rob King really liked him.
• 41:16
  Speaker 5: Coming out but uh yeah i mean for what it's
• 41:18
  Speaker 5: worth ed i just looked it up from mike clay
• 41:21
  Speaker 5: of espn.com he does this every week denzel ward not
• 41:24
  Speaker 5: 83 percent of his snaps to this point in the
• 41:25
  Speaker 5: season on the left side just 17 on the right
• 41:29
  Speaker 5: side none in the slot miles harden is the brown
• 41:32
  Speaker 5: slot guy so i think that'd be an early indicator
• 41:35
  Speaker 5: if you're the steelers you know try to move dk
• 41:37
  Speaker 5: inside does harden line up on them do you have
• 41:40
  Speaker 5: a chance for maybe a mismatch there a slot fade
• 41:43
  Speaker 5: something along those lines or does Ward go in there
• 41:45
  Speaker 5: and then, you know, all right, strap up 60 minutes, uh,
• 41:49
  Speaker 5: number four versus what numbers, what numbers Denzel Ward.
• 41:52
  Speaker 3: I really should know this.
• 41:53
  Speaker 5: I've been watching him for so long and he's, he's
• 41:56
  Speaker 5: such a, such a game changing corner for the 21, uh,
• 42:00
  Speaker 5: 21 Denzel Ward. And, uh, we'll, we'll see how that
• 42:03
  Speaker 5: game within the game plays out.
• 42:05
  Speaker 4: One other shout out to the Brown secondary, uh, his
• 42:08
  Speaker 4: second season now, Donovan McMillan, who is from Peter's township
• 42:11
  Speaker 4: and also, uh, finished up his collegiate career at Pitt,
• 42:14
  Speaker 4: started at Florida, but then transferred to Pitt. A former
• 42:17
  Speaker 4: Pitt Panther, still on the team with the Browns, second
• 42:20
  Speaker 4: year for Donovan McMillan as well.
• 42:23
  Speaker 5: And I think when we get back at next segment,
• 42:26
  Speaker 5: we talked about this earlier in the week. You want
• 42:29
  Speaker 5: to give our predictions for who are going to be
• 42:31
  Speaker 5: the weekly game captains.
• 42:33
  Speaker 3: Tonight for the Steelers in Cleveland? Hold on real quick.
• 42:35
  Speaker 3: I'll read off.
• 42:36
  Speaker 5: I'll rattle off who it's been so far so that
• 42:39
  Speaker 5: the listeners know and you know, in case you didn't
• 42:42
  Speaker 5: do your homework yet or your dog ate it again
• 42:44
  Speaker 5: or whatever. But week one was Aaron Rodgers, Cam Hayward,
• 42:47
  Speaker 5: Carson Bruner. Week two, Pat Friermuth, Alex Highsmith, Brandon Echols.
• 42:52
  Speaker 5: Week three, Zach Frazier, TJ Watt, Ben Skorodik. So now
• 42:55
  Speaker 5: it's week four. And I don't know how frequently Mike
• 42:59
  Speaker 5: McCarthy repeats these, but I look at this as a
• 43:02
  Speaker 5: team that has many, many options, not just offense, not
• 43:05
  Speaker 5: just defense, but also in the special teams.
• 43:07
  Speaker 3: Phase of the game.
• 43:09
  Speaker 4: I never had a dog. Well, no, I did have
• 43:10
  Speaker 4: a dog, but not during school time. But I would
• 43:13
  Speaker 4: always use that excuse. Do people, I wonder if kids
• 43:15
  Speaker 4: still use that excuse. My dog ate my homework, Brian Backo.
• 43:18
  Speaker 4: I'll have to ask my wife. She's a teacher.
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: I doubt that's still out there.
• 43:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah, ask your wife because she'd know a lot better
• 43:25
  Speaker 3: than me.
• 43:25
  Speaker 5: This is the first year that my kid's really been
• 43:28
  Speaker 5: getting homework consistently. And he pulled a fast one on
• 43:30
  Speaker 5: me on the way to school this morning. We were
• 43:32
  Speaker 5: like pulling in and he said, wait, dad, the homework,
• 43:35
  Speaker 5: the vocab words we did last night, we're not supposed
• 43:38
  Speaker 5: to return those till Friday. And I'm like, isn't it okay.
• 43:40
  Speaker 5: Can you just like leave him?
• 43:41
  Speaker 3: He's like, no, no, no. He's like, just listen to
• 43:43
  Speaker 3: the teacher, get my folder, take them out. I'm like,
• 43:45
  Speaker 3: I'm like, all right. I believe you.
• 43:48
  Speaker 5: I hope that's what you're supposed to do or else
• 43:50
  Speaker 5: we're going to come out of this looking dumb.
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: That's great.
• 43:52
  Speaker 4: Hey, he's keeping you on track, my friend. And that's
• 43:55
  Speaker 4: exactly what he should be doing and needs to be doing.
• 43:58
  Speaker 4: Plus everything's digital these days too. So the, the whole
• 44:01
  Speaker 4: dog ate my, maybe you could say my computer got hacked.
• 44:03
  Speaker 4: That could be the new, the new excuse.
• 44:06
  Speaker 3: Not first grade, at least not first grade Catholic school.
• 44:08
  Speaker 5: We're still old school paper stuff.
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: Trust me, it's coming eventually for you, my friend.
• 44:14
  Speaker 4: You will be online with all that stuff. Whenever we
• 44:16
  Speaker 4: come back, we'll get to our five keys on offense
• 44:19
  Speaker 4: and then our five keys on defense, followed by a
• 44:21
  Speaker 4: look in and around the NFL for stat leaders. So
• 44:24
  Speaker 4: far this season, we are now just about an hour
• 44:27
  Speaker 4: away from the start of countdown to kickoff.
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: With Tom Offerman and Matt Williamson.
• 44:32
  Speaker 4: We are leading into that, followed by the Steelers pregame
• 44:34
  Speaker 4: show with Mike Pursuta, Jerry Dulac, and Bob Labriola at 6.
• 44:38
  Speaker 4: And then 8-15 kickoff tonight with Rob, Max, and Missy.
• 44:42
  Speaker 4: Ahmed Troop alongside Brian Bacco. It is the Steelers report
• 44:45
  Speaker 4: right here on Steelers Nation Radio, part of the Steelers
• 44:48
  Speaker 4: Audio Network.