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Thursday Night Focus · The Irish Steelers Podcast

0:04
Speaker 1: Head, folks, Welcome into the Irish Sitters Podcast, the podcast
0:07
Speaker 1: for Pittsburgh Sedars fans across the island of Ireland. Michael mcquick,
0:11
Speaker 1: Jimmy English, Dave McKee. As we were starting to go
0:14
Speaker 1: in the week fourteen of the NFL season, getting getting
0:17
Speaker 1: into the final a few weeks in the regular season,
0:20
Speaker 1: with the seat as still in the hunt, albeit coming off,
0:24
Speaker 1: I guess it can really be described as a disappointing
0:27
Speaker 1: defeat to the Arsenal Cardinals in week thirteen, twenty four
0:30
Speaker 1: to ten. And you join us during this week for
0:34
Speaker 1: a quick one, a quick Thursday night game against the Patriots.
0:37
Speaker 1: But before we talk about any of that, Jilly, first off,
0:41
Speaker 1: as we say, or it's had to how you doing.
0:44
Speaker 1: You're good.
0:45
Speaker 2: Tom mcgraheen took me hollogs too faint. Yeah, you caught
0:48
Speaker 2: me off guard there with the gwell given. Luckily I
0:50
Speaker 2: still have coople of fuck out after my primary going education.
0:54
Speaker 2: I'm good, Nick, Like you said, disappoint disappointing results, disappointing
0:59
Speaker 2: outcome again the Cardinals on Sunday. I was sitting there
1:02
Speaker 2: with my head in my hands for a large part
1:04
Speaker 2: of that game. But you know, we soldier on a
1:07
Speaker 2: short week. We have a struggling Patriots team coming into
1:10
Speaker 2: town into Acroshure Stadium, so hopefully we can bounce back
1:15
Speaker 2: with what's left of our team at this stage and
1:18
Speaker 2: hopefully hopefully get get back on track towards towards the playoffs.
1:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, man, injuries galore and just obviously losing much. We'll
1:26
Speaker 1: talk about in a couple of a couple of minutes.
1:28
Speaker 1: First off, Dave, good to see him.
1:31
Speaker 3: One.
1:31
Speaker 1: I was we were saying off Camray, you look a
1:33
Speaker 1: bit like Mitchell Trabiscy, So this is a big week
1:36
Speaker 1: for you.
1:36
Speaker 3: One.
1:37
Speaker 4: It's a big week for me and it's a big,
1:39
Speaker 4: big week for Mitchell as well. I'm surprised I'm getting
1:42
Speaker 4: the callback to do the podcast after that astrocious bone
1:45
Speaker 4: prediction I did last week. It's not it's not working
1:48
Speaker 4: out too good. I mean, my bold production for Kena
1:51
Speaker 4: to win the MVP was shot at after one week
1:53
Speaker 4: and now this pole production shot it as well. So
1:57
Speaker 4: it's good obviously to be back home. But at the
1:58
Speaker 4: same time, obviously it wasn't enjoyable watching someday. But as
2:01
Speaker 4: Jimmy said, hopefully we can come back over a Wennick,
2:03
Speaker 4: and I'm hopefully confident we are able to do that
2:06
Speaker 4: and hopefully my local like Mitchell Terbeski, can can get
2:09
Speaker 4: us there.
2:10
Speaker 1: Thursday night football. We'll talk about the few minutes. Obviously,
2:12
Speaker 1: we've got to jump on this game from last week,
2:14
Speaker 1: you know, going into the game seven and four in
2:16
Speaker 1: the season, a lot of like, let's be clear here,
2:19
Speaker 1: I'm the forever prudent optimist looking three weeks ahead, thinging
2:25
Speaker 1: nine to four, and I guess just just first off, Jimmy, look,
2:28
Speaker 1: I mean, there's no point in shine away from it.
2:30
Speaker 1: It was a disappointed performance. There is no way the
2:33
Speaker 1: Weegnt sit here and say no Sailors fan can be
2:36
Speaker 1: happy with the result of performance because everybody obviously strives
2:41
Speaker 1: for excellence. The standard is a standard, of course, YadA YadA, YadA,
2:44
Speaker 1: but it's it's true because you expect this team to
2:47
Speaker 1: go out and beat on Arzona Cardinals team that going
2:50
Speaker 1: into this week was what's two and ten in the season.
2:54
Speaker 1: Then I improved the three and ten, the Stailors fall
2:56
Speaker 1: the seven and five. Many different things during the game
2:59
Speaker 1: just couldn't get it going. Obviously, that weather delay did
3:02
Speaker 1: not help at all. I hope, hope that any Irish fans,
3:05
Speaker 1: especially that we're were in Pittsburgh for that game, were
3:08
Speaker 1: safe in the stadium and took cover and obviously a
3:11
Speaker 1: long game as well. But even with the stop this Jimmy,
3:14
Speaker 1: even with the all and off starts, obviously Kelly going off,
3:17
Speaker 1: we hope he's okay. I know it's TVC in terms
3:20
Speaker 1: of his future availability for thout the rest of the
3:22
Speaker 1: season as we record, but it just wasn't our day, No.
3:27
Speaker 1: I think.
3:28
Speaker 2: I think everything went wrong in that game that could
3:31
Speaker 2: have possibly went wrong went wrong, and I think in
3:34
Speaker 2: many ways it was a classic trap game and I
3:37
Speaker 2: had a bad feeling about it beforehand. The Steeters historically
3:40
Speaker 2: have a bad habit of playing down to lesser teams,
3:44
Speaker 2: playing down to struggling teams levels. The initial drive was promising,
3:50
Speaker 2: you know, there was a couple of big connections downfield
3:52
Speaker 2: from Kenny to to to Pickens. Obviously bet Dry has
3:56
Speaker 2: stalled out and we've had to set up for the
3:57
Speaker 2: field goal. But aside from that, I don't think there
4:00
Speaker 2: was any bright spark in that game or any kind
4:02
Speaker 2: of redeeming passage of play bar maybe Deonta Johnson's touchdown
4:07
Speaker 2: in you know, in what effectively was garbage time when
4:10
Speaker 2: the game was beyond saving. So and then to add
4:13
Speaker 2: you know, insult to injury as well, we lost our
4:16
Speaker 2: starting quarterback. It's still unsure whether he's going to be
4:19
Speaker 2: able to come back and finish out the season or
4:21
Speaker 2: at this stage whether they should even try and get
4:23
Speaker 2: him back to finish the season. And obviously are you know,
4:26
Speaker 2: are already depleted inside linebacker corps was even further hampered
4:30
Speaker 2: by the loss of the Landon Roberts and then mink
4:33
Speaker 2: If fitz Patrick broke his hand and on a pass defense,
4:36
Speaker 2: so all of our key players or what was left
4:38
Speaker 2: of them ended up injured. So I think this overall,
4:41
Speaker 2: it was it was a bad day for the Steelers.
4:45
Speaker 2: It was hard to watch, and it was especially hard
4:49
Speaker 2: to watch because it was such a poor team coming
4:51
Speaker 2: into that game that we you know, like I said,
4:52
Speaker 2: we played down unil we played down to their level.
4:54
Speaker 2: We never really elevated above that. So, yeah, like I'm disappointment,
4:59
Speaker 2: and hopefully we can do something against the Patriots in
5:01
Speaker 2: the short week.
5:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, short, we're coming up with a game on furstall
5:05
Speaker 1: of the football can wait to help for that one
5:08
Speaker 1: I'm setting up. I like it's funny because I will
5:11
Speaker 1: talk about this on the stretch. But I've had this
5:13
Speaker 1: conversation with a few people both on screen with you
5:16
Speaker 1: boys now and generally I can't wait here we go,
5:19
Speaker 1: bring it on and looking back again no day of look,
5:22
Speaker 1: Jimmy said it there it was. It was disappointed kicking
5:24
Speaker 1: the teeth and to lose Kenny and I he's had that.
5:29
Speaker 1: I think he's had like surgery to accelerate his recovery.
5:32
Speaker 1: Whatever it happened to pit. He was out for four
5:34
Speaker 1: weeks before we look ahead. Just sort of your faults
5:38
Speaker 1: on the game because it just seemed to be one
5:40
Speaker 1: of those deays we're not unders right, and he sort
5:43
Speaker 1: of knew it from the start. It was tight around
5:45
Speaker 1: the start and then once it got away, gone away,
5:47
Speaker 1: and look, props to the Cardinals for gaming the advantage
5:50
Speaker 1: of that game and getting the win. But obviously we're
5:53
Speaker 1: obviously disappointment, just as.
5:56
Speaker 4: You said, like obviously overall just really disappointing. Let's just
6:00
Speaker 4: say how it is struggle to get any sort of
6:02
Speaker 4: rhythm going with the water delays. Of course you know
6:05
Speaker 4: it doesn't help, but it's not an excuse, you know,
6:08
Speaker 4: Mason Cole, you know, not the single any individuals out,
6:11
Speaker 4: but completely off kilter all day. I think it was
6:14
Speaker 4: three bots knops counted, all on third down. One of
6:17
Speaker 4: them was the player where Kenny get injured. You know,
6:19
Speaker 4: high snap forces Kenny to make a decision under pressure
6:22
Speaker 4: of the goal line where the rooms limited anyway, so
6:26
Speaker 4: it's caused is massively there. But at the same time,
6:28
Speaker 4: you can't just sort of blame one person. You know,
6:30
Speaker 4: the entire team in general just came off flat, you
6:33
Speaker 4: know when we had mitchin and I get it, you know,
6:35
Speaker 4: it's extremely hard to get any rhythm going when you're
6:37
Speaker 4: you're getting taken into the locker room every ten minutes
6:40
Speaker 4: because of delays. But at the end of the day,
6:42
Speaker 4: the Cardinals were able to adopt and we simply worked.
6:45
Speaker 4: I mean, Teller Murray one hundred and forty five yards
6:48
Speaker 4: one touchdown didn't have to be special, just had to
6:50
Speaker 4: be serviceable, and he was. And Trey McBride obviously was
6:54
Speaker 4: a handful. But at the same time that the ax
6:56
Speaker 4: stealer James Connor was probably the standout former proved obsolute
7:00
Speaker 4: hauntfa all day. I just wish you had have probably
7:03
Speaker 4: saved it for another week. So yeah, no, obviously overall
7:06
Speaker 4: very disappointing, but at the same time, the season's not over.
7:10
Speaker 4: We now have to come back against the pay tristem
7:12
Speaker 4: with half to now, when that game doesn't matter who's
7:14
Speaker 4: in a quarterback. We're seeing how bad they were last week,
7:17
Speaker 4: you know, not a single red zone snap, you know,
7:19
Speaker 4: against the charger of defense. You know, we may be
7:21
Speaker 4: very good on paper, but they give up yards left
7:23
Speaker 4: right in the center. So if they can hold onto Thatt,
7:26
Speaker 4: then so should weigh And absolutely no excuses.
7:28
Speaker 3: So I'm just hoping.
7:30
Speaker 4: Obviously I'll be staying up for the game and on
7:31
Speaker 4: Thursday night expecting a low score one, but then obviously
7:35
Speaker 4: no excuses and coming out with winning in that game
7:37
Speaker 4: despite the injuries. Obviously not ideal, but you know, we
7:40
Speaker 4: should be coming out with the one.
7:42
Speaker 1: Just a little second, just before we do it, and
7:45
Speaker 1: just before we hear from coach Tomlin, Jimmy the have
7:48
Speaker 1: menst there. Like the seasons all over, this is the
7:51
Speaker 1: seven when football team with you know, a few weeks
7:53
Speaker 1: left on the season, a serious opportunity, and I this
7:56
Speaker 1: week I'm also going into a game next Saturday night
7:59
Speaker 1: to try and re right the wrongs of this week.
8:01
Speaker 1: Teams lose. We've seen teams, even the Chiefs, for example,
8:05
Speaker 1: losing in Green Bay on Sunday light not getting there.
8:07
Speaker 1: It just depends, Jimmy. This season is not over. This
8:11
Speaker 1: team has won a lot of games this year and
8:13
Speaker 1: obviously comes into a crucial period over the next few weeks.
8:16
Speaker 3: Yeah.
8:16
Speaker 2: Absolutely, there's there's still a lot of football left and
8:19
Speaker 2: we have to we have you know, I'll always the
8:21
Speaker 2: eternal optimist make and I always try and see the
8:23
Speaker 2: bright side from things. You know, maybe I was a
8:27
Speaker 2: bit hardshirted. There were some bright spots. I mean, Kenny's
8:30
Speaker 2: now connecting deep at his receivers, something that he really
8:32
Speaker 2: kind of struggled to do early on in the season.
8:35
Speaker 2: One thing that I kind of questioned after seeing James
8:38
Speaker 2: Connor go up and over the O line for a
8:40
Speaker 2: score late in the game, is how come NANGI didn't
8:43
Speaker 2: do something similar on that that Fort and Gold, the
8:47
Speaker 2: short yarded situation. That's something that was kind of I mean,
8:50
Speaker 2: there are similar running backs in their approach to the game.
8:53
Speaker 2: But yeah, like you're you're dead right. There is a
8:55
Speaker 2: lot of football left. We still have, like you say,
8:58
Speaker 2: we're still in the hunt, and we have an opportunity
9:00
Speaker 2: now to bance back against the Patriots. Who are they really?
9:04
Speaker 2: They probably are the worst team in the league bar
9:06
Speaker 2: the Cardinals. So you'd be hopeful that we can. We
9:09
Speaker 2: can rally the troops, get behind Mitch Trubisky, and yeah,
9:14
Speaker 2: hopefully gorehat and put a good performance on on Thursday night.
9:18
Speaker 1: Thursday Night football clumb against the Pittriots. Pitches really really
9:22
Speaker 1: struggling the season, and this is a key opportunity for
9:24
Speaker 1: the Sitters to get ahead and get the it full
9:27
Speaker 1: of the season that they desperately and we all desperately
9:29
Speaker 1: wanted the gap. Before we talk with the game, let's
9:32
Speaker 1: hear from coach Tomlin had this game against the Patriots
9:34
Speaker 1: on good afternoon.
9:37
Speaker 5: As always, I'll start with a quick review of our
9:40
Speaker 5: last performance, and unfortunately this morning the tape didn't look
9:44
Speaker 5: much different than it did in stadium yesterday. Man, there
9:48
Speaker 5: were some areas where we failed miserably, quite honestly, and
9:52
Speaker 5: it produced the outcome. On the offensive side, some pre
9:56
Speaker 5: snap penalties and procedural things really kind of hurt our efforts.
10:01
Speaker 5: We had two poor snaps. One was a turnover, another
10:05
Speaker 5: one was on a possession down early on that cost
10:08
Speaker 5: us a possession. And oftentimes I say routine things routinely,
10:13
Speaker 5: it doesn't lessen the importance of routine things is if anything,
10:18
Speaker 5: it's the exact opposite. Man. There needs to be extreme
10:20
Speaker 5: urgency around the routine things so that they are routine,
10:25
Speaker 5: and they weren't in that instance, and they cost us,
10:28
Speaker 5: and it cost us in a big way. We had
10:30
Speaker 5: three pre snap penalties that hurt our efforts and that's
10:35
Speaker 5: just unacceptable, particularly at this juncture. And so we're going
10:39
Speaker 5: to turn the stones over in terms of the people
10:40
Speaker 5: and the things that we're asking them to do to
10:43
Speaker 5: make sure that gets to zero and zero quickly. Penalties
10:46
Speaker 5: and things are a component of the game, particularly in play,
10:50
Speaker 5: but pre snap things are things that you have complete
10:53
Speaker 5: control over pre snap, post play or examples of things
10:58
Speaker 5: that we expect to be at zero. I thought it
11:02
Speaker 5: was significant, obviously when we didn't win the fourth and
11:06
Speaker 5: one in the red area. Oftentimes that is our posture,
11:11
Speaker 5: particularly in the first half of football games. We need
11:15
Speaker 5: to get seven, no question, don't second guess that there.
11:21
Speaker 5: But the combination of that failure in the subsequent drive
11:24
Speaker 5: by them really made it, really made it a challenge
11:29
Speaker 5: for us. Oftentimes we are aggressive in those moments because
11:34
Speaker 5: we realize the field positioning component of play in the
11:37
Speaker 5: defense's ability to oftentimes back up our offense in those
11:41
Speaker 5: moments and put us right back into short field. But
11:45
Speaker 5: that didn't didn't occur. Let's talk about why that didn't occur.
11:50
Speaker 5: We gave up I think three or four possession downs
11:54
Speaker 5: in that sequence, oftentimes kind of in the interior portions
11:59
Speaker 5: of the field. We had the land and Robbers go
12:01
Speaker 5: down in the first half of that game. We had
12:05
Speaker 5: some adjustments planned to cover at the half. Obviously that
12:11
Speaker 5: sequence occurred prior to the half and we weren't as
12:14
Speaker 5: in sync from an adjustment standpoint as we would like.
12:17
Speaker 5: Kenny has a high ankle sprain. He had it surgically
12:20
Speaker 5: repaired this morning in an effort to accelerate the healing process.
12:25
Speaker 5: Don't have a lot of information on the status of
12:28
Speaker 5: that yet, just rest assured that he is out this week.
12:34
Speaker 5: Isaac can be described as questionable. He's got a shoulder
12:38
Speaker 5: he landing what is growing could definitively be described as questionable.
12:44
Speaker 5: James Pierre worked all last week with a shoulder. Was
12:47
Speaker 5: able to go in game, but feeling the effects of that.
12:51
Speaker 5: He could be described as questionable from an availability standpoint
12:56
Speaker 5: as well. Got very little concerned about out Mond adams availability.
13:03
Speaker 5: It was questionable a week ago. I don't think it's
13:07
Speaker 5: questionable moving forward. And so we'll we'll we'll have mand
13:11
Speaker 5: on Thursday night in our defensive front. Now on to
13:15
Speaker 5: New England. Been watching a lot of their tape. I'll
13:18
Speaker 5: start first with the defensive side of the ball man.
13:21
Speaker 5: They're they're doing an awesome job keeping scores down. When
13:26
Speaker 5: you look at them, I think you just look first
13:28
Speaker 5: and foremost at this safety tandem, uh Dugger and Peppers.
13:32
Speaker 5: They do a lot. They do a lot schematically. Both
13:37
Speaker 5: guys are capable of playing in deep defense and do.
13:40
Speaker 5: Both guys are capable of playing at the linebacker level
13:42
Speaker 5: and functioning on the second level of defense, and are
13:45
Speaker 5: very capable tacklers, good at shedding blocks, big blockers, offensive linemen.
13:51
Speaker 5: Did not foreign to playing in the trenches. Both guys
13:55
Speaker 5: are really capable blitzers. They get opportunities to do that
13:59
Speaker 5: in all phases phases of the game, first, second, and
14:02
Speaker 5: third down. They getting their sub package ball and they
14:06
Speaker 5: bring in excuse me, Mills and others, and boy, that
14:10
Speaker 5: really allows Peppers and Dugger to get down and and
14:15
Speaker 5: do things on and around the line of scrimmage and
14:17
Speaker 5: really highlight that versatility. If we're talking about moving the
14:22
Speaker 5: ball and moving the ball with fluidity against these guys, Man,
14:25
Speaker 5: we better locate those two understand uh, the structure in
14:29
Speaker 5: which they play in in in the various packages, and
14:33
Speaker 5: how they move those guys around to highlight their skill
14:37
Speaker 5: set up front. They got a veteran group guy wise,
14:42
Speaker 5: Baryl Moore, diving man. They've been together there for a
14:45
Speaker 5: number of years, and I think that's a component of
14:48
Speaker 5: why they've been able to really keep scores down.
14:50
Speaker 1: Man.
14:50
Speaker 5: They they're very stout against the run. They're where they're
14:54
Speaker 5: supposed to be. They're very good technically in terms of
14:57
Speaker 5: hand usage and gap control and gap elimination. They give
15:02
Speaker 5: up very few explosion plays via the run.
15:06
Speaker 1: That was coach Tomlin give it his falts ahead of
15:09
Speaker 1: a Quick Week Boys, Quick Week Thursday night football, the
15:12
Speaker 1: Steelers playing the Patriots in Look. Every game now is key.
15:17
Speaker 1: Every game is important when you've got a primetime game.
15:20
Speaker 1: Jimmy and when it's in Pittsburgh at home against the
15:23
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh against the new England Patriots team. Sorry, that's two
15:27
Speaker 1: and ten in the season. I've seen them in the
15:29
Speaker 1: flash myself. They are not pretty to watch this year
15:32
Speaker 1: at all. This seems not like a huge chance, a
15:35
Speaker 1: huge moment for this team to rewrite the wrongs the
15:38
Speaker 1: last week and get the East win of the season.
15:41
Speaker 1: You don't want to go out and say any team
15:43
Speaker 1: is the must win game.
15:44
Speaker 3: Is the game?
15:45
Speaker 1: This is a must win game. And it's not even
15:47
Speaker 1: because of the situation that the Steelers are in the
15:49
Speaker 1: opposition they're playing. What a perfect time to face them? Yeah.
15:54
Speaker 3: Absolutely.
15:55
Speaker 2: I mean the Patriots are really struggling on all fronts
15:58
Speaker 2: this season, particularly quarterback, and they keep flip flopping between
16:02
Speaker 2: Bailey Zappi and MATC Jones. So I think we have
16:05
Speaker 2: to take advantage of those struggles on offense and even
16:08
Speaker 2: with a relatively depleted defense that we have left. I
16:13
Speaker 2: just look, I think it's such an opportunity to go
16:14
Speaker 2: out and prove everyone wrong. I mean, like you said,
16:18
Speaker 2: coach tomlin Took, he was saying, he said there today
16:20
Speaker 2: that the tape does the tape doesn't look any better
16:23
Speaker 2: today than a day after the game.
16:26
Speaker 3: Sluggly.
16:26
Speaker 2: We need to put that one behind us. I mean,
16:28
Speaker 2: there have been several performances this year that we have
16:30
Speaker 2: to put behind us and prepare mentally for the for
16:33
Speaker 2: the you know, the next game up. But like it's
16:36
Speaker 2: it definitely is a must win situation, particularly when you
16:38
Speaker 2: look at the rest of the games, even after the Patriots,
16:42
Speaker 2: you know, we have the Coats who have who had
16:44
Speaker 2: a really good game against the Titans. We have the
16:46
Speaker 2: Seahawks who are who are doing pretty well in the
16:48
Speaker 2: NFC West as well, and then we have the Ravens
16:51
Speaker 2: and the Bengals, so they're not They're not going to
16:53
Speaker 2: be easy, easy matchups. And despite the Patriots struggling to
16:57
Speaker 2: score any points against the Chargers last Weekain I don't
16:59
Speaker 2: think we should we should take any game for granted
17:01
Speaker 2: now at this stage, and if we do want to
17:03
Speaker 2: get into the postseason this year, which I'm sure we
17:05
Speaker 2: all do, it is a must win situation and just
17:09
Speaker 2: have to put our best, our best put for our
17:11
Speaker 2: best foot forward and go out and do what we
17:14
Speaker 2: can what we have.
17:16
Speaker 1: The have second or third week with hot back Canada,
17:19
Speaker 1: as he was seeing and Jimmy mantionin there previously in
17:22
Speaker 1: regards to how Kenny is showing progress in terms of
17:26
Speaker 1: his deep balls, and there they look more active in
17:29
Speaker 1: the offense. We're not going to have Kenny pick up
17:31
Speaker 1: on the field Thursday nights. Too short a week for
17:33
Speaker 1: recovery in that sense. However, to see potentially Mitchell Trubisky
17:38
Speaker 1: coming as a backup, he has experienced in the league
17:41
Speaker 1: playing as a backup in Buffalo with Josh Allen, but
17:43
Speaker 1: more so he's been the starter. He's playing in primetime games.
17:47
Speaker 1: If you can get the connection on both the run
17:49
Speaker 1: game in the past game quickly. This is a game
17:51
Speaker 1: where I've seen the Patriots in person struggle. They really
17:55
Speaker 1: struggle against step balls, deep passes. I think there's such
18:00
Speaker 1: an opportunity here man, almost to god.
18:03
Speaker 3: Your spot on Michael like Mitchell Trubisky.
18:06
Speaker 4: Yeah, of course, you mentioned they're about a time that
18:08
Speaker 4: you know, we backed up Josh Allen for a couple
18:10
Speaker 4: of years. Both we've gotten this guy's led to Chicago
18:13
Speaker 4: Burrs and they've managed a lot lead the end of
18:15
Speaker 4: the playoffs. So he's got you know, he's got a
18:17
Speaker 4: lot of a building. You know, he's not he's not,
18:20
Speaker 4: you know, inexperience. He's got the experience there and have
18:23
Speaker 4: absolutely every belief that he can come in and come
18:25
Speaker 4: in and no matter how many weeks it's for, just
18:28
Speaker 4: hold the fort down and pick up a lot of wins,
18:30
Speaker 4: and like we've got a shot to make things better
18:33
Speaker 4: and put ourselves back in the loop. We've we've got
18:35
Speaker 4: Mitch coming in. You know, he'll be more prepared to play.
18:38
Speaker 4: Although it's the Patriots, you know, they're arguably one of
18:41
Speaker 4: the worst teams in the NFL, just like Jimmy said
18:43
Speaker 4: in that opinion, they are probably the worst. You know,
18:45
Speaker 4: they've still got a good defense, you know, the if
18:47
Speaker 4: overall defense if you look at it, and that's probably
18:49
Speaker 4: built bables chacks, you know fort he but it's just
18:51
Speaker 4: the offensive side of the ball. They can't get anything going.
18:55
Speaker 4: As we mentioned about last week. You know, it doesn't
18:57
Speaker 4: matter if it's Mac Jones or Billy Zape. It really
19:00
Speaker 4: should and matter. Expect our defense to be able to
19:02
Speaker 4: neuturize them them quite easily. One obviously massiveness for them
19:05
Speaker 4: is Mond romondre Stevenson. You know, he's out with I
19:09
Speaker 4: think it's it's with a high ankle spraying as well,
19:11
Speaker 4: seems to be the sort of the genuine injury going
19:14
Speaker 4: around the NFL this season. So he's a massive mess
19:17
Speaker 4: for them. And I'll say, if we can capitalize on,
19:19
Speaker 4: you know, their lethargic offense and you know, very little
19:22
Speaker 4: of a run game now. So I know Romondre Stevenson
19:24
Speaker 4: he's out for a couple of games with a high
19:27
Speaker 4: ankle spraining, probably the most common injury in the NFL
19:31
Speaker 4: right now. So yet again, if we can capitalize on
19:33
Speaker 4: their offensive lethargicness, I have absolutely no doubt that we
19:36
Speaker 4: can win this. And yeah, obviously, but miss Trabisky, it's
19:40
Speaker 4: it's just another guy up and we've got to win.
19:43
Speaker 1: We've seen that.
19:43
Speaker 2: You think this is going to be, Sorry just to
19:45
Speaker 2: jump in there, and after what Dave said, I think
19:47
Speaker 2: this is going to be. I think with the way
19:49
Speaker 2: the locker room is now with the Seilers, with all
19:51
Speaker 2: these injuries and the possible mental told that it's going
19:54
Speaker 2: to take on players. I think the Steelers are going
19:56
Speaker 2: to have to lean on their captains and I think
19:59
Speaker 2: the cap are going to have to really lead. Now,
20:01
Speaker 2: you know, the veterans in the locker room, Cam Hayward,
20:04
Speaker 2: as he does, is going to have to step up.
20:06
Speaker 2: And TJ. Watt, despite getting nicked at the weekend, is
20:09
Speaker 2: going to have to step up big time. And I think,
20:11
Speaker 2: you know, I think Minka, we all know Mink. He's
20:14
Speaker 2: one of the best toughest players in the league. I
20:16
Speaker 2: personally think that the fact that we are still in
20:19
Speaker 2: the hunt for the playoffs, he will play through that
20:21
Speaker 2: broken hand. But I just think a big collective effort
20:25
Speaker 2: is going to be needed from the senior players in
20:27
Speaker 2: the locker room now to get us through the next
20:30
Speaker 2: couple of weeks with the struggles that we've been having.
20:34
Speaker 1: I look back to games for Missiles, he like he
20:37
Speaker 1: had a game against Tampa Bay in twenty eighteen whenever
20:40
Speaker 1: they were struggling at six touch times on the day,
20:43
Speaker 1: three hundred and fifty four possibly ours, And I think
20:45
Speaker 1: the myself, this is it. As you said, Jimmy, the
20:49
Speaker 1: Steelers defense is the sixth highest scoring defense in the league,
20:52
Speaker 1: and did if you see Mac Jones and you see
20:55
Speaker 1: the lot of cobbles he has. Never mind the fact
20:57
Speaker 1: you know Billy zappies there as well. Now, I would
21:01
Speaker 1: not want to be a quarterback in the new England
21:02
Speaker 1: Patriots uniform and Thursday Night's defense and it's up to
21:05
Speaker 1: us to turn it over in the ball and get
21:07
Speaker 1: it going exactly.
21:09
Speaker 3: You know.
21:09
Speaker 4: The defense is just as Jimmy said, we've were pretty
21:12
Speaker 4: banged up. I think I read somewhere like earlier on
21:14
Speaker 4: despite make his injury, he's expected to play, which is
21:18
Speaker 4: crazy to think of. You know, if you cover a
21:19
Speaker 4: broken Han on the Sunday, you're ready to play for
21:21
Speaker 4: on the Thursday. But as I say, it's it's not
21:24
Speaker 4: an easy place to play in New England right now,
21:26
Speaker 4: there's a lot of talk about Battle Chick's future below
21:29
Speaker 4: Brand isn't the same offensive coordinator. I don't really know
21:31
Speaker 4: what's happened to him. I think it's maybe just because
21:33
Speaker 4: of you know, the time off he's had. But at
21:35
Speaker 4: the same time, it's it's not an easy place to
21:37
Speaker 4: play in Pittsburgh and the last time you want to
21:39
Speaker 4: come down, the last place you want to play and
21:41
Speaker 4: is probably Pittsburgh against that defense. And I'm just hoping
21:44
Speaker 4: that they issue up as per usual. And I'm not
21:47
Speaker 4: no idea or I just think they have no chance
21:50
Speaker 4: if we even play our half half strength and our
21:53
Speaker 4: offense is sort of like playing up to the potential
21:56
Speaker 4: they have, and I just don't see how we don't
21:58
Speaker 4: win the game. So I just agree with our I
22:00
Speaker 4: think you have said there. I just I don't see
22:02
Speaker 4: how they can sort of they can turn the switch
22:04
Speaker 4: against us on a Thursday night work even on prime time.
22:07
Speaker 3: We're very good in prime time as well. So it's
22:10
Speaker 3: expecting alst to win and I hope we do.
22:13
Speaker 1: Jimmy just before we got our game picks on the
22:15
Speaker 1: last Davis as well, before you coming in the week fourteen.
22:19
Speaker 1: Now seven wins in the season up there in terms
22:23
Speaker 1: of the AFC conference standards, how many wins do you
22:25
Speaker 1: think the citors need to meet the postseason? For me,
22:27
Speaker 1: I think we're looking at ten eleven.
22:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'd have to agree. I think at a seventeen.
22:34
Speaker 2: I think ten or eleven even made me twelve just
22:36
Speaker 2: to kind of fend off what to fend off a
22:39
Speaker 2: potential surge from the from the Browns the end of
22:42
Speaker 2: the season. I mean, I can't believe I'm actually saying this,
22:45
Speaker 2: but Joe Flacco was reeling back the years in a
22:48
Speaker 2: Browns uniform. He was looking great against the Rams despite
22:51
Speaker 2: the loss, So maybe he's having a little bit of
22:54
Speaker 2: a career resurgence in Cleveland, the right bald age of
22:57
Speaker 2: thirty eight years old. So I think, I'm I think
23:00
Speaker 2: it harks back to what we were discussing earlier on.
23:02
Speaker 2: I don't think we can afford to drop a game
23:04
Speaker 2: at this stage and if we want to be if
23:08
Speaker 2: you want to have any hope of making the playoffs.
23:10
Speaker 2: I mean, obviously we saw that the cheese getting handled
23:12
Speaker 2: by the Packers. It's just it's too hard, too hard
23:17
Speaker 2: to say. So I think, yeah, if we can go
23:20
Speaker 2: twelve and five, eleven and six, I think that's what
23:22
Speaker 2: it's going to take for us to have a chance
23:23
Speaker 2: of making the playoffs this year.
23:26
Speaker 1: We did or do you think it could be even
23:27
Speaker 1: nine games? Ten games, depend on how the last few
23:29
Speaker 1: weeks ago.
23:30
Speaker 4: Yeah, I agree, and it's a it's a minimum out
23:33
Speaker 4: of the five games we got left, it's a minimum
23:35
Speaker 4: three and if I think four. The only thing is obviously,
23:38
Speaker 4: with Trevor Lawrence's injury, we don't know how it's going
23:40
Speaker 4: to shape up the FC South now, but obviously we've
23:42
Speaker 4: got the coats. If we win, not then we set
23:45
Speaker 4: ourselves apart. You know, there are another team that's a contangent,
23:47
Speaker 4: but I agree, I think it's it's a minimum three,
23:50
Speaker 4: but at a four, I think if with four wins
23:52
Speaker 4: four of the five, which is going to be hard
23:54
Speaker 4: to do, I think we're in. But even three could
23:56
Speaker 4: do it. But let's just hope obviously, you know, the team,
23:58
Speaker 4: just take it week by week, and if we do,
24:00
Speaker 4: then I've no doubt that that will be there in
24:02
Speaker 4: the end of season.
24:05
Speaker 1: Right game picks, I think we're all gonna be in
24:08
Speaker 1: the same page this week, looking forward to maybe watching
24:11
Speaker 1: the game Boys next Saturday night we'll see TBC and
24:13
Speaker 1: that could be a live podcast after who knows. But
24:16
Speaker 1: this week Thursday night, first off, just on that and
24:19
Speaker 1: we'll talk about that next week. Good to get. Good
24:21
Speaker 1: to get the team a bit of a break a
24:23
Speaker 1: week in a bit after the get for next Saturday
24:25
Speaker 1: night as well. So good to see that. But this
24:28
Speaker 1: Thursday night, I'm taking the Steiler defense to shut the
24:31
Speaker 1: Patriots out and win. Seventeen zep Yeah, okay, seventeen zep.
24:36
Speaker 1: I don't think the Patriots score a point and that
24:38
Speaker 1: means I've hopefully not chinks the team night. But after
24:41
Speaker 1: watching that Chargers game, which we haven't even talked about. Really,
24:44
Speaker 1: you know, they were just so poor. And I think
24:46
Speaker 1: a Stediers defense, a Stouts Steers defense, showing people on
24:50
Speaker 1: national television you know exactly what this team's about, I
24:54
Speaker 1: think gets the job done. And I think New England struggled. Jimmy,
24:58
Speaker 1: what's your fault?
25:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think obviously with the inside linebacking cores being
25:03
Speaker 2: as banged up and has stretched as it is, we're
25:07
Speaker 2: gonna have to rely on our defensive front to get
25:10
Speaker 2: in the backfield to hassle whoever starts under center for
25:13
Speaker 2: the Patriots, whoever starts a running back. So I think
25:15
Speaker 2: that's gonna be the key. I cannot, in any good
25:20
Speaker 2: conscience pick the Patriots to win this game. I just
25:23
Speaker 2: I can't do it, even after what happened last Sunday.
25:26
Speaker 2: I don't think there's any way in hell that the
25:28
Speaker 2: Patriots come close to winning this one. I think the
25:30
Speaker 2: Steelers are gonna I think the Steelers are going to
25:33
Speaker 2: be annoyed themselves after the way they played on Sunday.
25:35
Speaker 2: I think they're gonna come out and have a great game.
25:38
Speaker 2: And I'm going Steelers twenty one to three.
25:43
Speaker 1: Solitary Street Points I like it. They have run this
25:46
Speaker 1: open one.
25:48
Speaker 3: Yeah, no surprise.
25:50
Speaker 4: I'm going with the Steelers win as well, and I'm
25:53
Speaker 4: gonna give them three points as well, although yet it's
25:56
Speaker 4: just one of those where I can't see how they're
25:58
Speaker 4: going to score more than three points. Know, if they
26:00
Speaker 4: can't even put a point up against the Chargers, how
26:02
Speaker 4: are they going to do it against our defense? So
26:04
Speaker 4: I'm going for sixteen to three Steelers is a bit
26:07
Speaker 4: of a score, GAMMI. I don't know, maybe it is,
26:10
Speaker 4: probably not, but I'll go sixteen three. And as just
26:13
Speaker 4: Jimmy said, you know us in Primetown, it's an automated lock.
26:16
Speaker 3: So again, if we.
26:17
Speaker 4: Do somehow manage to give them more than done the
26:19
Speaker 4: three on every confidence that the offense will batch back
26:22
Speaker 4: and put up more. So yeah, sixteen three and as
26:25
Speaker 4: a normally said, to bring up them to the bank
26:26
Speaker 4: if you wants.
26:29
Speaker 1: And looking forward to talking to you boys, probably start
26:33
Speaker 1: up next week Monday Tuesday for our next podcast, The Books.
26:36
Speaker 1: If you do any questions, use the hashtag Steelers Ireland,
26:38
Speaker 1: connect with us on x and on Instagram. Will let
26:41
Speaker 1: us know. Jeff Ryan both from SkySports LFL is going
26:45
Speaker 1: to come on next week and chat to us. Also
26:47
Speaker 1: looking ahead of this cold game. The game is on
26:49
Speaker 1: sky Sports NFL as well and next weekends, so excited
26:52
Speaker 1: for that. There. You can watch the game this weekend
26:56
Speaker 1: or this Thursday night on sky Sports and also on
26:59
Speaker 1: NFL Game Pass the Zone and listen to it. Won't
27:02
Speaker 1: and the crew. We're gonna have to get him on
27:03
Speaker 1: again soon boys on OCB Radio in Ireland across the
27:07
Speaker 1: island of Ireland. So yeah, So any last words, boys,
27:10
Speaker 1: I'm I actually feel a lot more confident after this job.
27:14
Speaker 1: I feel like we've been the therapy for half an hour.
27:16
Speaker 1: I hope, like everybody else, the podcast feels as him,
27:19
Speaker 1: you know.
27:19
Speaker 2: I mean, Mitch Trubisky mightn't exactly be starting NFL quarterback caliber,
27:25
Speaker 2: but he does. We forget he has a relationship with
27:28
Speaker 2: these receivers. He has played in the system before he
27:30
Speaker 2: was he was our starting quarterback at one point, and
27:33
Speaker 2: we saw the connection with Deanton Johnson on the on
27:36
Speaker 2: the scoring drive late in the game, and let's just
27:40
Speaker 2: hope he can. He's had a like, he's gonna have
27:41
Speaker 2: a couple of days worth of practice to refresh that
27:44
Speaker 2: connection with them and look as much as the pains me.
27:49
Speaker 2: Let's try and get behind Mitchell Trubisky for a couple
27:51
Speaker 2: of weeks until until Kenny gets healthy again and hopefully,
27:54
Speaker 2: hopefully we can make the playoffs for Kenny and the
27:56
Speaker 2: guys to get back healthy.
27:59
Speaker 1: Yes, sir, absolutely that, I can see Dave nodding enthusily
28:02
Speaker 1: as well. Look, we were back next week. Folks. Do
28:04
Speaker 1: keep in touch of us and you check out the
28:05
Speaker 1: social channels over the weekend. But nice little early Thursday game.
28:09
Speaker 1: Hopefully the guys get a few days off after a
28:11
Speaker 1: win for Michael, for Jimmy, for Dave. This has been
28:14
Speaker 1: Irish Theaters podcast and we'll chat to you soon. Next
28:16
Speaker 1: week's long go for