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Colts Recap, Buccaneers Preview · Steelers Country Weekly

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Today on Steelers Country Weekly, we break down the Steelers'
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: big win at home against the Colts, look ahead to
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: the matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and then talk
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: about some of our favorite under-the-radar stars in honor of
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Jalen Warren's performance this past week. I'm Nick DiTullio, and
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: as always, I'm joined by the world-famous accountant Eric Vamenschoten. Eric,
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: how's it going tonight?
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: You know, not bad, not good. Pretty average, but, you know,
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: I'm a happy guy. So, I guess I'd be above
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: average for most people.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: There you go. And if nothing else, at least you
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: have a Steelers win to fall back on from this
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: past weekend. You could have been just average with a loss.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: That would have dragged you down, right?
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah. But, you know, I mean.
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: I got to watch my stream. It was funny.
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: I had my in-laws over, and they were coming over
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: to see her son. And so I'm on the stream,
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: and you really can't control what is the pop-ups on
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: your stream. And I won't describe exactly.
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: What was on the stream. the pop-up, but it was
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: something inappropriate. I was just trying to say.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: Sir, are you.
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: I was trying to tell them, like, don't worry about...
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: I'm not looking at what this pop-up is. I just
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: need to watch Steelers.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: I think we... So... I think we need to get
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: you an ad blocker so you don't have to worry
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: about those pop-ups.
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: I don't even know how you do that, but, you know... Oh,
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: my God.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: It's 2026 and you're watching those streams without an ad blocker?
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: Oh my goodness. But you're right. It gives you a
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: funny story to tell too. Pay no attention to the
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: woman doing whatever she's doing. Just focus on the football.
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: I don't know if mine was an Asian source one,
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: but there was cartoons involved.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: And now it's going to mess with... Because it's tracking
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: your cookies, it's going to mess with your algorithms, now
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: it's all going to pop up everywhere you go. My goodness,
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: you're screwed. But you got a good story, so that's
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: worth something, right?
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: Very good, I like it.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: Well, let's talk about this game in Pittsburgh against the Colts.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: Steelers were coming off of that tough loss to the Browns,
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: returning home to play the Colts, and you and I
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: both predicted a win. although I don't think it was
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: one that we felt super confident about. But good news
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: is the Steelers did what they needed to do. And
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: we can go through the game here. The big story
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: of the day is Jalen Warren's performance. The man had
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: about 187 all-purpose yards. He had the first touchdown of
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: the game for the Steelers, which was an 80-yard dump
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: pass that he managed to turn into a touchdown. which
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: is great for him. Cause we remember a few weeks ago,
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: he had a few big runs and a big catch
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: that got called back. He actually got to score this time,
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: which was great. Um, and then he had a 50
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: yard touchdown run too. And I have to admit, I
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: was not happy when that happened as I was playing
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: against Joe and Warren and fantasy. And it seems that
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: I am on a path toward the cheese Coney challenge
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: again this year for coming in last, but that's another
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: topic for another day.
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: Um, That's what you'll pay for if you want to
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: see the Steelers win.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: It'd be nice if the win was like a Super
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: Bowl win, not a week five win against the Colts.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: Hey, you have a guarantee from the Russian. It's going
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: to happen.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: Within five years, we will have a Super Bowl trophy.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: But no, it was the game ended up being a
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: 34 to 22 score and That was a little misleading
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: because I wanted to point out that on the Colts'
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: first two drives, God bless their kicker. We thought that
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: the Steelers had been setting Boswell up for failure this
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: year with some of the kicks they've trotted him out
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: there to do. The Colts put their kicker out there
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: to kick like a 58 and a 56-yard field goal
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: on their first two drives, and he nailed both of
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: them into the open end of the stadium. So good
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: for him. The point that I'm making is final score
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: ended up being 34 to 22. If everything else played
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: out the same, it could just as easily have been
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: 34 to 16. And we might be having a totally
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: different conversation here, but under normal circumstances, the defense held
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: up very well. He just drilled these two kicks and
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: But it was good to see Jalen Warren making those
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: big plays and Aaron Rodgers knowing what to do and
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: assisting in making those plays or orchestrating those plays if
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: you'd prefer. He actually went 22 of 31 with three
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: touchdowns on the day. We had Fryermuth stepping up as well,
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: making some big catches. Just a great offensive performance that
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: we are starting to see stack up here too, but
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: I would say the biggest thing was the defense kept
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: the Colts out of the end zone. Yes, they did
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: score some touchdowns, but when the Colts are having to kick...
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry, they scored a touchdown. When they're kicking all
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: those field goals and not converting, and your offense is
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: still holding up their end of the deal, this was
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: probably one of the better complete games we've seen so
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: far from the team. So, we can keep talking about it, but...
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: I was actually going to segue into you now. We
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: can talk about some more of the finer details, too,
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: but I was going to ask you, generally speaking, what
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: are some of your takeaways from this game?
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, look, I had in-laws over, so I
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: was playing a little bit of Host, a little bit
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: of Where's Our Child.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: So, you know, I was walking around with a tablet,
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: place it down, But what I would say is that
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: I never really felt glued to the tablet because I
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: felt like for most of the game, we controlled the
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: pace of the game. Whenever I was watching, I felt
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: like when we needed to make a play, we did it.
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: I need to give credit where credit is due. I
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: was extremely harsh on Aaron Rodgers. And, you know, maybe
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: he just needs a that negative criticism because he played great.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: I wouldn't even say well. I think that was probably
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: the best game I've seen Aaron Rodgers play in a
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: Steelers uniform.
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: At one point during the.
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: First half, he was 14 of 17 for 152 yards.
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: To me, that's really efficient.
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: I mean....
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: Look, if you're throwing eight or nine yards in attempts,
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: you're hitting over 80% of your passes, what more could
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: you ask for from a quarterback?
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: So I think that that's a great sign.
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: I know that Jalen Warren accounted for a lot of that.
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: But, you know, I don't think that you can take.
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: Those splash plays away because.
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: You know, that is him knowing his playmakers, his comfortability.
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: The one thing I'll say about DK, because I've also
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: been harsh about him, he almost ran over Jalen Warren
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: on one of his runs. I'm pretty sure it was
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: the run. He was, like, running faster than him. Do
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: you remember what I'm talking about?
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: I think so.
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: It was on the right side of the field. It was, like, around, like,
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: the 10 or 15-yard line. He caught up to him.
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: Just shows you how fast he is. And then, yeah, he, like,
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: had to slow down and, like, kind of, like, move
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: or juke out.
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: Of, like, his way. Because he didn't really know where
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: he was at. So, but look, I.
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: You've been saying for a while, and I'm a big
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: fan of him too, but.
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: Jalen Warren, I mean, just you got to get him involved.
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: And this game was another way.
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: Of just kind of proving that point because he's extremely valuable.
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: To this offense.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: If there's a guy that I can say is going
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: to create that, like, Big time play. We brought in
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: DK to be that guy, but it is Jalen. Jalen,
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: I know people have mentioned him being a workhorse. I
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: just don't think he has the body to be. He's
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: not Derrick Henry. Maybe he might not be able to
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: get 20 carries.
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: Per game or 300 on the year. And that's fine.
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: We don't need him to be, but I think how
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: they utilized him in this game. how they ran the offense,
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: and how they were able to get him involved. And
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: something I saw that, like, for improvement, and I agreed with,
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: was on the new Heights podcast, Travis Kelsey said, who
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: loves himself some tight ends, was, why don't they give
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: Darnell Washington the ball at least one time per drive?
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: I agree with that. I felt like when he was involved,
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: he looked really good. And when it came from the
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: defensive side of things, I can't say really good or bad.
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: It was okay. it was fine.
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: Look, we, we know where the weakness is on the defense. Uh,
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: it's on the back end, whether it's health, whether it's depth, um,
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: whatever you want to call it.
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: I mean, that's just, it is going to be the
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: heel this year.
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: Um, lucky you trade away your quarterback one. That's just
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: going to happen. Um, So I just think that when
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: you give up 22 points to a, I would call
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: them a good offensive team. And you kept them tough,
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: as you mentioned, out of the end zone for only
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: except for one drive. I would call that a success too.
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: So yeah, it is great. I wish we could see
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: a little bit We're not going to see six turnovers
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: like we did against the Colts last year. So I
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: do not want to hold them to an unrealistic expectation.
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: But I do think that going forward, if we want
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: to tap our potential.
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: It really is going to have to be.
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: Okay, we have Jalen Warren being the playmaker on offense.
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: we saw wins when TJ Watt was at his best.
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: When those two players are, are clicking, that's when, uh, that,
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: that's when.
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: This team has the potential to be a true playoff contender. Yeah.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: I'm glad you mentioned TJ Watt as well. Um, the
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: defense only got, only had one sack, um, on Sunday
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: so that's what the second game now where we possibly
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: even the third where we really haven't seen the pressure
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: I know it is the third I'm right where we
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: really haven't seen the pressure make that much of a
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: difference against the Bengals the only sack was the strip
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: sack at the very end of the game I don't
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: believe they had any sacks against the Browns or if
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: they did it was minimal and only one yesterday so
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: It will be good to see if those two sides
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: can click at the same time. Then we'll really have
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: something to work with there. But again, it is tough
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: to get mad when the defense did routinely hold them
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: to field goals. And again, two of those are 55
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: plus yards.
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: Speaking of defense, are you paying attention to the Vikings
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: right now?
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: A little bit. Do tell.
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: So like.
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: I, I saw a stat, you know, people always run
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: in stats. So over their last 10 games, dating back
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: to last, last year, they are on a pace that
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: would rival that Superbowl winning bears defense with the fridge Perry.
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: Um, On pace for what?
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: I don't know if this was his.
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: Last game or in general. They blitzed like 80% of
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: the time. And the reason why I link this back
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: is because Brian Flores, the defense coordinator there, was under
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: Tomlin's crew as a linebacker coach after he flamed out
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: with Dolphin.
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: So it's just interesting. Like, we... Could he have stayed
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: with the crew? I don't think he would have been
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: a great head coach, by the way. But, you know,
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: if they would have kept the raw D coordinator, I.
• 14:50
  Speaker 4: Am happy for him.
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: It seems like for a team that was a J.J.
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: McCarthy versus Kyler Murray party, they trade away a quarterback
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: and they have.
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: The least amount of.
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: During such a streak since the 1930s. They're on a
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: historic pace offensively of DERP versus how well their defense
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: is doing. They're truly only winning games because of defense.
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: I'm only pointing that out because Look, we have weeks
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: that we are an offensive team. We have weeks that
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: we are a defensive team. The talent on this defense
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: is immense. Once we start putting that all together, I mean,
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: I think the sky's the limit. But unfortunately, I'm still
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: skeptical of the team.
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: But I think it's there.
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: You know, I don't know what Minnesota's secondary looks like,
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: but it does remind me of some Steelers teams from
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: about 10 or so years ago when our secondary was
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: not that great as we were rebuilding and trying to
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: replace the Ryan Shazier loss. And I remember thinking to myself, well, hell,
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: just blitz every play. If we're going to get burned anyway,
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: we might as well bring the pressure, right?
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: Those were years where we had 50 plus sacks or
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: something like that. It wasn't uncommon for this team to
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: generate three plus.
• 16:50
  Speaker 4: Sacks a game. I do think there's a recipe for success.
• 16:59
  Speaker 4: I would be curious.
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: I'm not sure about the stats.
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: I haven't looked at it thoroughly. Maybe I should prepare
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: for this endeavor better than that.
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: But I wonder, what is our blitz rate? I mean,
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: with three absolute.
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: Stud guys that can run off the edge, and we're
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: not even talking about Cameron Hayward, We're not talking about
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: a guy that got a huge extension in Benton. We're
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: not talking about a first-round premium pick in Harmon. We're
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: not talking about one of the fastest linebackers in the
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: league in Peyton Wilson.
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: What is our sack rate? What is our pressure rate?
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: What are we doing to create and be a little
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: bit more disruptive?
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: So, yeah, if there was some food for thought, that's
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: where I would leave it.
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: Well, sounds like you've got some homework to do before
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: we get together again next week.
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah.
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: And if Steelers comes here weekly, if you want to
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: engage with us, you're more welcome to send us their stats.
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: Because our intern is not doing his homework for us.
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: He's been dropping the ball lately and quite a lot.
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: So I don't know.
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: We might have to replace him. But anyway, we kind
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: of veered off topic from the Colts there, which is fine. Again,
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: I think you and I are in agreement. Most complete game.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: I was looking at the stats as well while we
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: were talking and you were heaping praise on Aaron Rodgers
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: and I just wanted to read off the past distribution
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: just so we could all appreciate together what was done.
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: So Jalen Warren, six receptions, 87 yards, the one touchdown.
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: Jeremy Bernard, six receptions for 80 yards. Pat Friermuth, five receptions,
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: 44 yards, two touchdowns. Darnell Washington, two receptions for 12
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: yards and DK had three receptions for 12 yards. Um,
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: so as I'm reading through that again, surprising that DK
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: was at the bottom of the list there. Um, but well,
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: okay it shouldn't be surprising but it does still strike
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: me from time to time um and to your point
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: or Travis Kelsey's point I guess about Darnell Washington touching
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: the ball at least once a drive I like the
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: idea I just don't think it was necessary this week
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: um yeah when you've got Fryermuth grabbing two touchdowns, it's good. Um,
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: but I, I do recall one of those receptions was another, um,
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: classic Darnell Washington play where they just could not bring
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: the man down. They eventually called it for forward progress,
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: but he literally had like three Colts hanging onto him
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: and he could not, they could not bring him down. So, uh,
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: I'm with you. I would, If nothing else, the entertainment
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: value would be fantastic to see him getting the ball, what, nine,
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: ten times a game? Yeah.
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: And, I mean, I know he's not the best route runner.
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: He's not the best hand.
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: Who cares?
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: But, yeah, I mean, look, Jerome Bess wasn't the fastest
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: running back in the league, but there sure as heck
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: weren't a lot of people that could bring down that
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: human being.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, like I said, who cares? Just give
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: it to them and beat up some people on defense.
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: Why not?
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: Anything else you want to talk about with regards to
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: the game against the Colts?
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: There you go. Steelers win 34-22. They move on to
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: play the Buccaneers in Tampa Bay. Buccaneers are having Pretty
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: disappointing season, I would say. They came in with Baker
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: Mayfield looking for a contract extension, didn't quite get what
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: he was looking for, and then he got hurt in week,
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: I think it was week one, if not week one,
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: it was week two. He's out for now, and they
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: are sitting at one and four. So this is definitely
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: a tale of two teams here. I would say under
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: normal circumstances, you'd look at this on paper and you'd say, hey,
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: the Steelers had a great game. They figured out some
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: of their issues. They're firing on all cylinders now. There's
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: no way they can lose this game, right?
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: Well, that's what you're thinking.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: I feel like we had that discussion two weeks or
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: three weeks ago after they beat the Bengals, and then
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: we walked into Cleveland and got smacked around a while there.
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: So looking at this game, Eric, knowing that it's not
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: going to be a cakewalk, Because it never is for us.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: What are some of the keys for the Steelers to
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: get a win here?
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: I mean, it always.
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: Comes down to the you can't underestimate the opponent, right?
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: We underestimate the Browns.
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: And the first half they showed up and kind of
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: laid it to us, right?
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: Like, I think the better team showed up in the
• 23:08
  Speaker 3: second half. You played three halves, and we would have
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: won that game, but that's not how you do it
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: at football. So, look, I just think that any given Sunday, right, like, I.
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: Was watching the Jaguars-Eagles game in London.
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: Did you watch this?
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: I did not.
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: Do you know what happened? No. All right. Okay, so
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: what happened was that the Eagles go down, score.
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: They have like 12 seconds on the clock, right? And
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: so they're all like celebrating. We're going to go home
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: with a win.
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: Well, under the kickoff rules.
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: They are favorable to the kick return team so that
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: if you can get a good return, there's potential that
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: you can set up for a field goal. Well, that's
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: exactly what happened. They kick it to him and he
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: returns it down to.
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: The 40-yard line.
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: And he gets tackled with one or two seconds left
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: and then they kick a field goal. It's just crazy
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: because stuff like that happens. We've seen this In college,
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: we've seen this in pro where the matter of seconds
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: matter at the end of these games, and I can
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: just see this being one of those games. Unfortunately, I
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: would love us to plaster this team, but I just
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: don't see this being a game where we utilize.
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: It to impose our will. I view this more as
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: like it's going to be up and down, it's going
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: to be ugly, and it's going to.
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: There's no science behind where the feeling I have other
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: than gut. I would love for us to continue our
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: ways offensively. I would love for us to fine-tune our
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: defense path. I definitely see this as more of that
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: we're overlooking this team.
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: They're not very good.
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: I'm actually not sure who we have next on the schedule,
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: but my guess would be.
• 25:38
  Speaker 3: It's a bigger game. And then, in.
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: Doing so, we're going to look past this one, and
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: it could sneak up on us.
• 25:48
  Speaker 3: And it could come down to a flip of a coin,
• 25:52
  Speaker 3: if you will. Like I saw in the Eagles and
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: Jags game.
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: So.
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: The game after this is... is against the saints in Paris.
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: So not necessarily a better team, but certainly different circumstances.
• 26:14
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: So there is that. Um, and I, I actually don't
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: know what the Steelers travel plans are. Um, it is
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: kind of interesting though. They're going to play a game
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: in Florida and, you assume they're going to fly back
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: to Pittsburgh, and then how soon are they going to
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: go over to Paris and prep, because they'll have to
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: deal with the time zone difference and all that stuff
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: that every team playing an international game deals with.
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: And to understand, because international games are a lot more
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: usual now, they don't fly their.
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: And practice at all right they're just flying in for
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: the game.
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: Um i believe it depends um on the circumstances i
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: know for the game in australia to start the year
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: um they were very i think the nfl let them
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: do whatever they wanted to do possibly because it was
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: the first game um so that's why you had It
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: was the Rams and the 49ers. The 49ers got there
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: the entire week early, and the Rams flew in maybe
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: a day or two before. I was going to say,
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: you can see which side had the better idea. If
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: I recall correctly, last year for the game in Ireland,
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: I think the Steelers wanted to go earlier. But they
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: they did tell them, no, we're trying to keep things consistent.
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: You have to follow the same schedule as the Vikings
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: or something like that. So I don't know. I mean,
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: I guess you could get there early if you wanted to,
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: as long as the other team was. It's very weird.
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: And then you have to remember, too, was it the
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: it might have been the Vikings or maybe it was
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: the Browns. There was a team last year that had
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: two back to back games overseas.
• 28:27
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I do remember that.
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: I think it was the Vikings.
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I feel like it was the game after ours. So,
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: I guess that was a long-winded way to say, I
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: don't know what the details are. But the greater point, though,
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: which you are correct in, is it is quite possible
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: that a team could be looking ahead, overlooking the game
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: in front of them because they're playing a one on
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: four team without their starting quarterback. They've got a game
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: that just logistically takes a lot more out of you
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: coming up that you have to be prepared for going
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: to a city that I don't know how often they
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: play in Paris. If this is the first time they've
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: played in a while there, or if, if this is
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: a city that started having games more recently, I just,
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: I know we have not played there. So that's why
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: my memory is not, not all there. Um, Keeping it
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: in Tampa, though, honestly, like I said, on paper, this
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: is a game the Steelers should win. They've got excuse
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: me they've got some bad losses on the resume sure
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: but you would think they've got it figured out I
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: just haven't seen enough consistency we haven't seen good games
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: back to back yet so I'm going to it's one
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: of those things I just I won't believe it until
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: I see it so The game is giving me more
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: heartburn than it realistically should, but we've been here so
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: many times before. Once already this year, too. That's just
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: all it is. I will say, if the Steelers keep
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: doing what they've been doing, there's no reason they should
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: lose this game. I think they're the better team on paper.
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: I think they're the better coached team, which says a lot.
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: And the bucks do not have their starting quarterback. Um,
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: but again, the Falcons didn't have their starting quarterback in
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: week one. They had a really bad quarterback starting, and
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: that was still a very close game that the Falcons
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: could have easily won if just one or two things
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: went differently.
• 30:56
  Speaker 3: Um, Who is the quarterback for the Bucs? I'm not
• 31:01
  Speaker 3: even sure.
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: FFI now.
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: I was watching the the commanders and there was.
• 31:14
  Speaker 3: Another I forget who they were playing but.
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: It was like some 7th round rookie and I couldn't
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: say his name.
• 31:25
  Speaker 3: It was like.
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: It wasn't Karloftis, but it felt like some Eastern European-style name.
• 31:35
  Speaker 3: That, like, would never... I would need a speech professional
• 31:42
  Speaker 3: to help me pronounce that name.
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: Oh, my goodness. Well, look, I'm just going to get
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: into it. I, uh.
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: I'm going to give the Steelers a loss. I want
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: to give them a win.
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: I just.
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: I'm going to.
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: I'm going to be the voice of reason here tonight.
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: It'll be a close one. I'm going to say 24-21.
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: But I just have a feeling this is going to
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: play out kind of similar to the Browns game. I
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: really hope I'm wrong. I would love to eat crow.
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: But like I said, I just... I can't... I'm not
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: confident enough to give us the win, uh, just because
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: we've been so up and down.
• 32:34
  Speaker 3: Yeah. That looks great. Um, cool. Losing to the Bucs.
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: Uh, I have been pessimistic, but I just, losing to
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: the Bucs is, is tough. Um, If they had Baker, yeah, maybe. But, like,
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: especially since they're our second-aree suspect. But, you know, I
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: think because of that, the Bucs are going to try
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: to run the ball.
• 33:08
  Speaker 3: I don't think this is a team that's going to
• 33:11
  Speaker 3: be trying to air it out on us. So, if
• 33:15
  Speaker 3: you had to go to it, I'd just go, we're
• 33:18
  Speaker 3: going to have a better quarterback. We're going to have
• 33:21
  Speaker 3: a smarter quarterback to go with it. So, yeah, for.
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: That reason, then I'll just go with the Steelers. And
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: I don't think it's going to be pretty. I do
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: think the offense will step back as they have every
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: other game in this whole entire season.
• 33:43
  Speaker 3: So let's go with a 17-16 game. Steelers.
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: Now, see, you sat there and you're like, oh, a
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: loss to the Bucs when I said they were going
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: to lose. And then you come back with a 17-16 win. Like,
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: that's some major difference.
• 34:03
  Speaker 3: I told you that. I told you it was going
• 34:06
  Speaker 3: to be an ugly, like, last possession type of thing.
• 34:11
  Speaker 3: I told you one score.
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 34:13
  Speaker 3: All right. I prefaced.
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: Just pointing it out that.
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: In English class, right, they always tell you lead with
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: your point, right?
• 34:30
  Speaker 3: I led with the point.
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: I thought we were going to win by one score,
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: and I sure did.
• 34:35
  Speaker 3: One point versus one touchdown. Lead with your point.
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: Okay, well, I don't recall hearing lead with your point
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: at any time during my English career, but I will.
• 34:48
  Speaker 3: Are you a persuasive writer?
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: I have been before, yes. I've been told my writing
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: is quite persuasive. Anyway, I think we'll end it there
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: before we go through the entire curriculum for English 101 here.
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: But there you have it. Eric and I are not
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: on the same page this week. He's got the Steelers winning.
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: I've got the Steelers in the loss column. I do
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: hope Eric is right and that we are sitting at
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: 4-2 as we come back next week before the Steelers
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: head off to Paris. So, there you go. We talked
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: about Jalen Warren's performance, and again, crazy performance. Two touchdowns,
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: a receiving touchdown of 80 yards, a rushing touchdown at
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: 50 yards. That hasn't been done in 40 years since
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: Herschel Walker did it. So very impressive. Jalen Warren is
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: one of those guys. He's been with the Steelers. I
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: think this is maybe his fifth year. We have always
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: been particularly fond of him. He's kind of been outside
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: of the spotlight though, because more often than not, there's
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: someone splitting the load with him, typically Najee Harris. before
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: last year. Um, last year you had gain. Well, this
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: year you've got Rico Dowdle. So he hasn't been the
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: featured every down back consistently. Um, he's also a shorter guy.
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: I think he's like five, eight. So that's my height. Um,
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: just doesn't, he doesn't literally stand head and shoulders above
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: other people like someone like Derrick Henry. Um, but nevertheless,
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: this year in particular, uh, really due to the Rico
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: Dowdle injuries, he has stepped up over the last three,
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: four games and really shined. Um, so it's nice to
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: see him finally getting recognition outside of, you know, the
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: local media and Steelers fans seeing the national media cover him.
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: So we thought it might be a good idea for
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: a fun topic to discuss some of our favorite as
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: Eric calls them under the radar stars. So guys that
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: have star power, uh, where they just haven't been recognized
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: for any reason, or maybe they weren't as fully appreciated
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: as they should have been in their day. Maybe they
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: were overshadowed by other players on the same team, or
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: they were just in an era where they were maybe
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: the second best at their position and they got overshadowed
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: by a GOAT-level player. Whatever it may be, we're pretty
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: flexible on Steelers Country Weekly, if you haven't figured that
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: out by now. So Eric, this was your idea. Thank
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: you for that. I'll turn it over to you. Let's
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: talk through one of your favorite under-the-radar stars.
• 37:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think.
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: For me it's Brian Westbrook. No one's going to call
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: for him to be a Hall of Famer.
• 37:59
  Speaker 3: I'm not one of them. I'm just saying that for me,
• 38:04
  Speaker 3: when I think.
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: Of a guy that had an impact to the game,
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: I think that the receptions out of the backfield.
• 38:13
  Speaker 3: And the impact that it can have to the game, I.
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: Really do think that Brian Westbrook had a huge impact
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: on that.
• 38:21
  Speaker 3: In between the tackles, I don't know as much. I mean,
• 38:24
  Speaker 3: he was fine.
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: He was a guy that could probably eclipse 1,000 yards rushing,
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: but he was always a.
• 38:30
  Speaker 3: Guy that could get 500 yards receiving.
• 38:35
  Speaker 2: I really think that he set the tone for the
• 38:38
  Speaker 2: modern-day running back.
• 38:40
  Speaker 3: And, you know, it.
• 38:42
  Speaker 2: Would be remiss to say who his coach was for
• 38:46
  Speaker 2: most of that time. It was Andy Reid, one of
• 38:49
  Speaker 2: the visionaries offensively within the NFL.
• 38:53
  Speaker 3: He will be a Hall of Famer. But, you know,
• 38:58
  Speaker 3: I always just liked his game, too.
• 39:02
  Speaker 2: He was just a shifty guy. I think he came
• 39:05
  Speaker 2: from Villanova. In terms of unheralded players, he wasn't a
• 39:13
  Speaker 2: guy that was like Georgia, buried in.
• 39:17
  Speaker 3: The depth chart, played one year. I don't even know.
• 39:25
  Speaker 3: I know Villanova's D1.
• 39:26
  Speaker 2: Basketball school I hope are they FCS are they how
• 39:33
  Speaker 2: does that work.
• 39:33
  Speaker 3: With football can you be division two without like I
• 39:41
  Speaker 3: have no idea can you be a division two football
• 39:44
  Speaker 3: school and a division one basketball school.
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: That's a question I don't think it's Division I or
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: Division II. I think it's like FCS.
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 39:56
  Speaker 3: Well, so they're not very good. Right.
• 40:01
  Speaker 2: Philadelphia is not very known for their football prowess.
• 40:08
  Speaker 3: And then for him to go to Philly.
• 40:11
  Speaker 2: And make that impact, you know, is part of the
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: Keystone State. I'm sure Steelers fans is part of that.
• 40:21
  Speaker 2: He's a guy that I think a lot of people
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: thought Willie Parker would be. Unfortunately, with his snapping of
• 40:31
  Speaker 2: his leg, that derailed those plans. But I think when
• 40:37
  Speaker 2: you look at the act of Willie Parker's rookie year,
• 40:40
  Speaker 2: I think that you could see a lot of that
• 40:43
  Speaker 2: in his games.
• 40:45
  Speaker 3: Uh, and, and that was where my hope was, you know,
• 40:48
  Speaker 3: if that guy had a career, I.
• 40:50
  Speaker 2: Thought it would have been close to what Brian Westbrook
• 40:53
  Speaker 2: was player.
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: So I, um, as soon as you said this, I
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: had one guy come to mind and I am racking
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: my brain, trying to think of any specific memories I
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: can of him, but, um, I'll just tell you, the
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: player is D'Angelo Williams. And the reason I said him
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: was because he was a player who came to Pittsburgh.
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: First of all, I forgot that it was only two
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: years that he played for the Steelers. Second of all,
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: his last year was 2016. So, God, that makes me
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: feel old. But the reason I said D'Angelo Williams is
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: because I think for me, he flew completely under the
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: radar until he got to Pittsburgh. And I remember thinking
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: to myself, okay, that's fine. He can just be the backup.
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: I guess he was never, he wasn't, I said he
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: wasn't even good enough to be the sole starter in Carolina.
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: So whatever, I.
• 42:01
  Speaker 3: Guess, um, yeah, he was a John Stewart. Yes. Yes. Yeah.
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: So for a good chunk of his career, he was, uh,
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: splitting the load with someone like Jonathan Stewart or other people,
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: which aided in keeping him under the radar, right? Kind
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: of like we talked about with Jalen Warren. He's, until now,
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: he's always been a part of a duo. And then
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: when he got to Pittsburgh, he came in in 2015,
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: 2016 with, you know, right around the time that Le'Veon
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: Bell was having his disputes, if you want to call
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: them that. So we got to see him more than
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: we thought, and there was always injuries here and there, too,
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: to give him more playing time. And I just remember
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: always being impressed with him, always loving the way he played.
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure I went out and bought one of
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: his jerseys, too, just because I think it was pretty
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: obvious that he was going to be done after the year,
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: his second year, but Just for the sake of talking
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: about someone who played for the Steelers, I did want
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: to mention him as my under-the-radar star because even since
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: he's retired, he'll be remembered as a Carolina Panther for
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: playing his first 9 out of 11 years there. But
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: I just always liked D'Angelo Williams. I thought he was
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: a great teammate. I liked how he... I think the
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: NFL told him he couldn't wear special cleats or something
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, so he dyed his hair
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: pink um, to get around that, which I thought was cool.
• 43:43
  Speaker 3: Um, well, cause, uh, I think his mom had breast cancer.
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: I think so.
• 43:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: Um, I just mean it was, I thought that was
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: a cool, a cool thing he thought of to work
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: around that really arbitrary rule, like that the NFL decided
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: to impose. Um, so I, I did want to mention him, uh,
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: Just the funniest one, too. I don't know if you
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: remember this story. I forget what he was criticizing. For
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: some reason, I think it might have been something that
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: Peyton Manning was doing. And Tomlin, who very rarely uses Twitter,
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: logged onto Twitter to say something like, Hey, 34, quit
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: while you're behind. Basically telling him to just shut up.
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: Speaking of Tomlin.
• 44:38
  Speaker 3: Man, I love it.
• 44:40
  Speaker 2: He's like a fresh air approach in broadcasting.
• 44:46
  Speaker 3: He just....
• 44:49
  Speaker 2: I don't know if you've been following. I actually reposted
• 44:53
  Speaker 2: on Instagram. There was a Seth Meyers interview.
• 44:57
  Speaker 3: Yes. He's like, are there any calls that you feel
• 45:02
  Speaker 3: like you've been hosed on? Yeah. You know, he's just.
• 45:07
  Speaker 2: Like, oh, yeah. And, like, you know, the first one
• 45:10
  Speaker 2: he says is Jesse James catch, which I 100% agree with.
• 45:16
  Speaker 3: But, you know, he goes.
• 45:17
  Speaker 2: On to name things, and he says, you know, like,
• 45:21
  Speaker 2: I won't name names. He calls, like, Derek Henry. He
• 45:29
  Speaker 2: will call Derek Henry by his name.
• 45:31
  Speaker 3: He's, like, Big Runners.
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: I did see that, yeah.
• 45:36
  Speaker 3: He just you know there's a reason why he.
• 45:41
  Speaker 2: Was a charming guy that lasted two decades and stuff
• 45:44
  Speaker 2: like that and you know I I just been seeing
• 45:48
  Speaker 2: his stuff and just another shout out to him you
• 45:51
  Speaker 2: know he obviously I don't think that he was able
• 45:54
  Speaker 2: to do what he did in the first decade of
• 45:56
  Speaker 2: his career as he did in the second decade but
• 45:59
  Speaker 2: man he was he was always fun to listen to
• 46:03
  Speaker 2: and you can understand why a bunch of guys could
• 46:07
  Speaker 2: rally around that guy. Yeah.
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: The interview you're talking about, I was, I saw a
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: clip of it and it was Seth Meyers asking like what,
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: like you said, what, what's one call that you got
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: hosed on that sticks with you? What basically, where were
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: you robbed the most kind of thing? Like what was
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: the worst call against you? And, uh, what I thought
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: was really interesting was he said to Seth, you're probably
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: thinking about Jesse James. And I don't know if we
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: ever actually heard what Seth's was, but Seth said, no, um,
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: that's better than the one I had. Um, but the
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: one he did pick was a call from the Superbowl
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: that he won. He's like, Oh, you won that. You
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: won that Superbowl. And he said, yeah, but he tried
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: to take it away. And it was funny hearing him
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: say like, You know, I still talk to this guy
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: about that, too.
• 47:04
  Speaker 3: Whenever I see him. Oh, yeah. Which is funny, right?
• 47:14
  Speaker 3: The Steelers have been marred by the Seahawks. Like they said,
• 47:22
  Speaker 3: we won that game with calls. But it's funny, even
• 47:26
  Speaker 3: the Super Bowl winning coaches will.
• 47:29
  Speaker 2: we'll go back and say, hey, not all the calls
• 47:31
  Speaker 2: went our way either.
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: Right, right. I don't want to put money on it
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: or anything, but there was that discussion, and there always
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: will be that discussion of, oh, he's only going to
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: do this for one year and then he'll be back
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: in it. I don't know, man. He looks like he's
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: such a happy guy doing what he's doing now. I
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: understand that to be in a position like an NFL
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: head football coach, you have to be wired and like
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: really competitive to a certain degree, no matter what.
• 48:05
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: Like the lazy guy at work who gets promoted just
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: cause they're naturally good, naturally good at their job. That
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: doesn't happen in the NFL with coaches. Um, but I, it,
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: it's just crazy seeing him like not stressed out. He's
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: got peace of mind. He's talked about it too. Like
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: he got to go to a family reunion for the
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: first time and like, almost 30 years. I think that
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: guy is really content, and if I had to pick now,
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: I would think that he doesn't go back to coaching.
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: I think he's too happy. He's going to be the
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: next media star, I think, for the NFL. I think
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: his popularity is only going to go through the roof,
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: so I think he's going to stay where he's at.
• 48:59
  Speaker 3: And I hope he does too.
• 49:01
  Speaker 2: I mean, there's jokes that he's going to jump to
• 49:06
  Speaker 2: the Cowboys because, hey, you know.
• 49:07
  Speaker 3: We love trading to the Cowboys. But, you know, I
• 49:12
  Speaker 3: think that he has nothing left to prove. I know he.
• 49:26
  Speaker 2: Had not won a lot over that last decade from
• 49:30
  Speaker 2: a postseason perspective, but there's a lot of people who
• 49:34
  Speaker 2: feel that he's going to be a halter coach. Yeah.
• 49:39
  Speaker 2: He's got the respect of the league. He's got respect
• 49:43
  Speaker 2: of the players. He's got respect on every level. Unless
• 49:49
  Speaker 2: he really has that burning desire and misses it, why
• 49:55
  Speaker 2: wouldn't he take the cushy job of just commentating on
• 50:00
  Speaker 2: Sundays versus the game plans on Tuesdays? Look, enjoy your
• 50:07
  Speaker 2: I would call it a retirement, you know, and then
• 50:10
  Speaker 2: broadcasting is a hobby.
• 50:12
  Speaker 3: Enjoy it, you know.
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: Play some more Minecraft.
• 50:15
  Speaker 3: I hate, yeah, I know we talked about it last week.
• 50:20
  Speaker 3: I hate that people were hating on him about it.
• 50:25
  Speaker 3: I agree. Let the man enjoy his hobby. Yep.
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: All right. was there anything else you think we need
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: to touch on before we step away for the week?
• 50:42
  Speaker 3: I don't think so.
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: I think the big thing in football news was, uh,
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: Mike Ditka passed away and, um, he, uh, obviously not
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: a stealer, but from Pittsburgh went to pit revolutionized the
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: tight end position, um, became known as iron Mike and, uh,
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: since we were talking about Mike Tomlin, it was interesting too,
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: to me, um, after he was done with the bears,
• 51:15
  Speaker 1: Ditka went to new Orleans and then retired after three seasons.
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: He could have had another several opportunities if he wanted to,
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: but he did the same thing that we're kind of
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: projecting on Mike Tomlin here to just, you know, he,
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: he decided to retire and, spend his time being a
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: football analyst, talking about football, enjoying the life. And I remember, uh,
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: I just saw Jim Nance telling a story that, um,
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: he had, um, they would do the NFL. He was
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: on CBS and would do the NFL today. And he
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: said it was like 20 weeks, 21, if they had
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: the Superbowl. And, uh, he was always peeling off a
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: hundred dollar bills. Like if he bought a beer at
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: the bar, he gave the guy a hundred dollars, told
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: him to keep the change. bellhop $ 100 and he finally
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: asked him like isn't that expensive and he just said
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: hey I'm here to have a fun time we're here
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: 20 weeks a year I budget $ 5, 000 per trip so
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: that's what I'm doing so not saying Mike Tomlin is
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: going to be peeling off $ 100 bills to everyone he
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: sees but it's the same mentality right it's just hey
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: I get to hang out in New York, talk about football.
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: I'm going to enjoy myself and enjoy life.
• 52:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah. All right.
• 52:40
  Speaker 2: Well, I saw also that if Terry Bradshaw was a trillionaire,
• 52:44
  Speaker 2: he would give half of it to those in need.
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: Well, mighty generous of him, I guess.
• 52:55
  Speaker 3: If I had hypothetical options, And I was the richest
• 53:00
  Speaker 3: person in the world against half of it.
• 53:05
  Speaker 2: Isn't this funny? Speaking about another commentator at Steelers Connection.
• 53:17
  Speaker 3: He's retiring, right? No. I thought he was retiring.
• 53:24
  Speaker 1: I don't believe he is.
• 53:28
  Speaker 2: Why is that?
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: I don't want to put it out there because I
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: don't know.
• 53:33
  Speaker 2: I just, I thought I had heard it and I
• 53:37
  Speaker 2: was like, well, it seems about right.
• 53:41
  Speaker 1: But there have been people calling for him to retire
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: because they think he's not up to the job anymore.
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: I did see one article and the reason I wasn't
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: going to mention it was because I can't remember if
• 53:53
  Speaker 1: it was actually from a, reputable source or not, but
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: it said quite the opposite of that. It was that
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: he's never going to retire. As we're talking, though, it
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: does dawn on me that the Steelers have former personnel
• 54:13
  Speaker 1: on each of the three major networks for their NFL coverage.
• 54:18
  Speaker 3: So, Cowher, Bradshaw, and Talner?
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm trying to think. If there's anyone at ESPN
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: that I'm just not thinking of. Not with Ryan Clark
• 54:29
  Speaker 1: gone now. Max Starks is a color commentator, but not
• 54:35
  Speaker 1: a studio analyst or anything. But we got all the networks,
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: so we're good. We're taking over.
• 54:41
  Speaker 3: Wow. I'm not surprised.
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: No, but you mentioned Cowher too. It's another guy. Same
• 54:49
  Speaker 1: exact scenario that Tomlin's in, right? Retires young. People think
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: he's going to do TV for a year or two,
• 54:54
  Speaker 1: and then it just never happened, because he was happy
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: with life. So....
• 55:02
  Speaker 3: Nope.
• 55:03
  Speaker 1: Alright, now I think we really have covered everything. We're
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: going to wrap up for tonight. We'll be back next week,
• 55:09
  Speaker 1: where I will hopefully be eating crow about the Steelers
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: beating the Buccaneers. But, until then, that'll do it for us.
• 55:18
  Speaker 2: How do you want to eat that crow? Do you
• 55:22
  Speaker 2: want to smoke it? Do you want to grill it?
• 55:24
  Speaker 2: Do you want to bake it?
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: We will smoke the crow.
• 55:29
  Speaker 3: We'll smoke it. Okay. We'll ask next week how it tastes. Yes.
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: Now I just have to find some crow to smoke.
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: But that's another podcast for another day. All right. For
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: the world-famous accountant Eric Van Munchen, I am Nick DiTullio.
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: This has been another episode of TheGameHouse.com's Steelers Country Weekly.