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Falcons Recap, Broncos Preview · Steelers Country Weekly

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Today, I'm Steelers Country Weekly. We break down these Steelers
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Week one win in my backyard at Mercedes Benz Stadium
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: in Atlanta. We'll look ahead to the matchup in Denver
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: against the Broncos, and we'll talk about some of our
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: favorite memories from attending these games in person, I'm Nick
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Detulo and as always I'm joined by the world famous
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: accountant Eric Vaminshell. And Eric, how are you tonight?
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: I'm doing pretty good. I'm up in the Midwest, and
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: you know, it feels nice and nippy in the.
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: Middle, you know, in the nighttime, so failing the football
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: weather is kicked in. Still feels nice. But you know,
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: this one's especially a great football time of the year
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: when we.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: Start off one to know.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and on top of starting off one to oh,
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: I don't want to get a little too far ahead
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: of ourselves here, put the cart before the horse. But
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: every other team in the division lost on Sunday too,
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: just kind of the cherry on top end of the
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: season now right, call it it's over.
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: Now.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: But obviously the Ravens lost in the opening night game
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: on Thursday night last week to the Chiefs in a
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: great game. Actually they almost tied it at the Buzzer too,
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: and so I think they'll be okay long term. The
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: Bengals kind of did something that we expect the Steelers
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: to do in like Week twelve or something, which is
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: lose to a team they have no business losing to.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: They lost to the Patriots and the Browns. I think
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: we both probably would have picked the Browns to lose
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: that game. But they got their butts kicked against the Cowboys.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: So that was the shocking part, not so much that
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: they lost. But you know, look, and when you have
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: one of the top three toughest schedules in the league,
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: you'll take any when you can get. However you get them.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: And like you said, the Steelers walked away with a
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: win in Week one and that gets us going on
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: right path.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: That's right. It wasn't pretty, but you know, we'll get.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: It, but we'll take Yeah, let's just get right into it.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: Then Steelers come to Atlanta to play Week one against
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: the Falcons. We did talk about this quite a bit
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: last week, and I did. I was thinking about this
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: while I was at the game. I did a tend
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: in person, and you could kind of see how the
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: game was developing throughout. You know really throughout the entirety
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: of it. We mentioned last week that this was a
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: very difficult game to predict just on because of what's
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: happened to this offseason with both teams. The Falcons have
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: a lot of upheaval. The Steelers have a lot of upheoval.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: On the Falcons side, they've got a new quarterback, a
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: new head coach, and they've made some moves on the
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: defensive side of the ball, like get in Matthew Judon.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: The Steelers, on the other hand, offloaded all of their
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: quarterbacks and they brought in the Falcons former head coach
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: Arthur's missed the offensive coordinator. And you and I were
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: sitting here saying, well, we know Russ is supposed to
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: be is going to be the starter. It's been announced,
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: so no big deal, right, but we just don't know
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: anything about how to predict this game. There's nothing is
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: the same as last year. And I kind of was
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: thinking that I talked to my buddy about this while
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: we were there. It just struck me as so odd
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: that despite all the unknowns, this game ended up being
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: just exactly like something we would have expected to have
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: seen last year when they started off What was it
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: seven and two where they they were getting out gained
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: and losing the time of possession every game and they
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: were still somehow winning because they just didn't turn the
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: ball over. And that's exactly what happened here.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: It takes you back to the Duck Codges days.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: I was not we don't even have to go back
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: that far. It was taking me back to the Kenny
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: Pickett golden era. But no, So that was my thought anyway,
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: that despite all this thought we put into it, and
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: how we tried to find these different angles and how
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: there's all these different pieces, this was just the same
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: old Steelers and they got it out a win. So
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: looking back yesterday or the final score eighteen to ten,
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: and I alluded to it as well, Justin Fields ended
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: up being the starter as opposed to Russell Wilson. I
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: guess he's got some sort of lingering calf issue. So
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: Field's got the start. They've already said that Field is
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: going to start next week in Denver, which is we'll
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: talk about that when we get to it, but just
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: to kind of set the stage, but coming back to Atlanta,
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: what are some of your takeaways from this game this
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: past Sunday.
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: Met expectation.
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: So you know, I did not expect the offense to.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: Do all that much. I expected them to run the
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: bottle a lot.
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: I didn't necessarily know if that would be effective.
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: But you know, when you got a healthy T. J.
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: Whyt and you have minca Hei Smith, Cameron Hayward, you
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: know I thought that they played extremely well.
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: Maybe the question mark was how would the secondary do?
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: And you know, would we be able to run the
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: ball effectively? I think the secondary did extremely well and
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: from a did we run effectively?
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: No, but we still won. Chris Boswell, you know, I
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: am shot.
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: If you saw him six or six with a long
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: and fifty seven, the.
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: Man was on fire.
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: So you know, I think something that kind of like
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: struck out to me, like kind of just looking back
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: at the game was the Steelers had a huge free
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: free agent signing in the season off season with Patrick Queen.
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: Where was he? Yeah? Two tackles in the whole entire game.
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: You know, there was good talk about how Peyton Wilson
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: looked good as a rookie. But man, you know, you'd
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: think that you invest in a middle linebacker like that,
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: he'd be blowing up the statue.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: But maybe I'm.
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: Gonna turn it over to the guy that was there
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: and see if he provided any intangibles.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: Well, I don't know that I'll be able to provide
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: as many intangibles as you'd like. I will say I
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: did enjoy going to the stadium. It's a very nice stadium.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: The concession stands are not an exaggeration, you're They're very cheap,
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: and I got free soda refills, so I can't complain
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: about that. Now. The other thing correct, correct.
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: It was.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: I went Coke zero. It's in Atlanta. Yeah, I'm watching
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: watching my weight man. I've been on a year long
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: fitness journey anyway, and we'll talk about the fitness podcast later.
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: But the.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: I don't know, if you've all seen the clips of
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: the stadium, they've got that Halo scoreboard in the middle.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: So it was just I will say it was not
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: the most conducive if you want to like check the
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: scores of other games, or if you want to see
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: replays of what's happening at the game. So, uh, we
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: were a little lost at some points because of that,
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: So I will I will say that, but uh, you know,
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: I'll also give a shout out to Boswell. He was
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: six for six. The most disappointing part of that stat though,
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: is if he had missed just one field goal, we
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: would have gotten free pizza from the stadium. So he
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: did not miss field goals, so the Atlanta fans really
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: just had in the wound in that one. I'll also
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: give Boswell a shout out for having to come in
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: and punt after Cam Johnston got his leg destroyed on
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: one of the punts. I think it was in the
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: fourth quarter. And the thing I'll say is that was
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: a monumental punt too, because it was still a one
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: possession game at that point. They were deep in their
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: own territory when that happened. And the funny thing was,
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: there was a couple instances where the refs really just
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: left me scratch in my head. And maybe it wasn't
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: the refs, maybe it was in the communication to like
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: the stadium and like the clock operator and stuff. But
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: on the play where Cam Johnston got hit, everyone assumed
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: it was a roughing the kicker call, but it ended
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: up being a holding. They just waited like what felt
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: like five minutes to actually make the call. And then
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: it was kind of annoying too, because before the next
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: play they made a correction. Oh it was actually number
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: forty two that had the holding, and I'm like, well,
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: thank f and Lord, we got that number right, because
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: that's what we're concerned with right now, is the guy
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: who got the hold. There was another one too, I
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: think it was in the second quarter, and I don't
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: know if you were able to watch the whole game
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: or not. If you were, maybe you can tell me
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: what it was like on the broadcast. But there was
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: a drive in the Falcons territory. The Steelers had the ball.
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: I think it was third down. I thought they got
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: the first down, but they marked them short. The marker
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: on the field said fourth down. The clock or the
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: scoreboard said fourth down and one or whatever, and the
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: Steelers hurried up to the line and they ran the
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: dive plane were stopped short, and literally everyone in the
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: stadiums that was a Falcons fan started cheering because they
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: thought it was a turnover on downs, and then the
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: ref came onto the PA system and said, correction, the
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: Steelers actually converted on the previous play, so that was
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: a first down. And I'm like, what with I have?
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: So let me ask you. Were you watching the game
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: on TV? And if so, is that what was broadcast
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: on the on the on TV, I was not.
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: I was actually out of I meant Cincinnati, and I
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: was out with the Bengals getting their butts fed. But
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: I was definitely paying attention on broadcast.
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: TV.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: Gotcha. Yeah, So that was maybe the refs just had
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: the first week jitters too, because everyone in the stadium
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: was confused.
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: That was.
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: I am squarely convinced that. Well, I don't know what
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: I'm convinced of, but I'm what I am sure of
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: is that the Steelers knew it was fourth or thought
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: it was fourth down. Otherwise they wouldn't have just run
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: that hurry up half back dive to Nagy. They would
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: have run whatever play they would normally think to run
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: in that situation. So it was just kind of odd.
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: Good do you think it was like a running a
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: play in order to.
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: Not go to the review?
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: Like maybe they indicated it first down? Tomlin saw the
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: confusion and then they ran in a just a hey,
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: just to run a quick play.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: And it might have been, but whoever they signaled it
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: to it, it didn't make its way to anyone else
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: in the stadium other than Mike Tomlin. If that was
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: the case. So that that was the confusing part to
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: me was because it looked to me like it was
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: a fourth down. I'm like, why are they hurrying up?
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: I thought he got the first down. Why would you
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: not give it some time to let them review. So
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: I was kind of on the opposite side of you,
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: But hearing you explain it like that, I suppose that
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: is possible. You know, the the things, some of the
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: things that I saw or that I noticed, were, you know, TJ.
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: Watt.
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: Of course, having a constant presence in the backfield. You
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: had a couple called back where he wasn't happy that
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: he got flagged for off sides. He was very convinced
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: that he found some sort of golden nugget, as he
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: called it in film study that tipped him off to
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: the snap count. I think he might have just been
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: a hair two leaguer, but they did. They did take
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: a few things off of his statue because of that
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: in penalties, but overall, he had a very good game.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: They spent a lot a good deal of time trying
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: to run away from him, and eventually they had to
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: start going back the other way towards him, and it
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: didn't work out. For them. We did see a couple
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: of interceptions from the new guys on the team too,
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: which was good to see. You mentioned Patrick Queen not
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: showing up, but we did see a Deshaun Elliott pick
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: and a Dante Jackson pick too, So I take Jackson.
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: Was the one that had a return.
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: Right, correct, So I get what you're saying about Patrick Queen.
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: But we did get to see some other guys step
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: up that are new editions as well, which was great
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: to see. And uh, you know what.
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: You know, Jackson was probably the most scrutinized just because.
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: Of the player that was attached to that trade.
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: So yes, and what did that and what did that guy?
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: I'll tell you that what happened in Carolina is they're
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: not too worried about.
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: You and I were on the exact same page. That's
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: what I was starting to say. What happened to the
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: guys team that he was that on that player that
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: was attached to that trade that you mentioned. There you go, So, no,
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: it was good. It's really tough to be unhappy about
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: anything with the defense when really after that first drive
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: where they event I mean they only gave up a
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: field goal and then one broken play which led to
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: the Kyle Pitts touchdown. I'm not sure what happened there.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: I mean, no excuse for one of the best tight
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: ends in the league to literally be standing alone in
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: the so jumping up and down, waving to his quarterback
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: to throwing the ball. But it worked out, so they're
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: good there. You know, I'm happy. I think the big
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: thing that we really didn't talk about too much is
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: the quarterback we got. You know, I don't know what
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: time the Steelers knew for sure, but it was publicly
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: announced maybe a couple hours before the game that Russ
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: was not going to be starting and that Fields would.
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: And I do want to say that I think it's
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: a little unfair to Russ for people to be making
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: fun of him for dressing. First of all, he was
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: the emergency third string quarterback, so that's why he was dressed.
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: But I will say that, no matter what happens from
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: here on out, we remember what happened last year when
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: a healthy quarterback got hurt and was supposed to come
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: back and through a temper tantrum. So again, no matter
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: what happens, I am glad that Russ showed up seemed
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: to stay positive, was engaged and was ready to go
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: if if duty called, I if duty called, yes again,
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: just after what we've saw last year and and honestly
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: toward the end of Ben's tenure two with like the
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: Mason Rudolph pick and things like that, it's just it's
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: nice to have a situation like that fold out, unfold
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: without any added drama, you know, Yeah, definitely. So I'll
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: give Justin Field's credit. He did based on the short
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: notice he got. I think he did alright. He did.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: He had a couple of big, big throws to George Pickens.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: One got called back for offensive PI, which it was
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: one of those where it's like, Okay, I can kind
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: of see that, but if that's what you're gonna call,
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: you got to call that on every single pass that's
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: ever thrown into a contested zone. And then he had
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: a couple of good runs that converted first downs and situations.
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: So I, given the circumstances, I was happy with Justin Fields.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: I hope that we continue to see him improve if
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: he's going to be the guy moving forward. But at
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: the end of the day, like we alluded to, all
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: this came together and what resulted was in eighteen to
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: ten Steelers wins, so there's certainly things that we can
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: improve on. It's definitely a week one. It was not perfect,
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: but at this stage in the game, I will take
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: the win gladly.
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, if you had agree, what would you say on
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: that performance?
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: B B. I would give the offense a C and
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: the or. Yeah, the offense I would give a C,
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: just namely for not converting any touchdowns and for a
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: really odd decision to go for it on fourth down
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: at the end there when they had the opportunity to
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: go up eight with mister automatic himself and not converting.
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: So I'll give them a SEE and I would give
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: the defense in A. I don't balance it out to
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: a B.
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I mean it just seems like a really
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: good team win. I mean Bosmo played extremely well. Offense
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: to their credit, did not turn the ball over once
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: and the defense got three so you know, and he
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: had of seventeen on third down. I mean, I want
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: to see trends.
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: But if we can convert on darn near.
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: Our third downs, Yeah, this this team and this offense
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: could get dangerous. It's just waiting for those big plays
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: to happen. Jalen Warren he was the big play machine
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: last year. He didn't really touch the ball much because
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: I think he's still a little injured, so definitely room
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: for improvement.
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: So I think A be as fair, but.
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: You know, i'd probably give a plus to defense, be
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: minus to to the offense.
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: All Right, you convinced me, I'll bump them up to
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: a C plus.
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: No turnovers. That's that's Mike right there.
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: Well, and that's kind of what I was referencing when
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: I talked about it was similar to last year's wins
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: and all those really gutsy wins they got last year.
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: They just didn't turn the ball over and the and
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: the defense stepped up when they needed to. Yesterday or Monday,
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: the defense was a lot more solid, and again the
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: offense just didn't turn the ball over. Had some drives
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: again no touchdowns, but they they did what they needed
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: to do to get the win. And that's all you
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: can ask again, especially given the circumstances. If you're justin Fields,
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: no less Yep, all right, Well that'll do it for Atlanta.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: Moving on to Denver, this was supposed to be the
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: Russell Wilson revenge game. Again justin Fields has already been
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: named the starter. It seems so uh looking ahead to
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: this game, Steelers get to win, the Broncos lost in
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: Week one. Broncos are starting bow Knicks at quarterback. He
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: is obviously a rookie. He's got loads of experience in college.
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: He's seems like he's been there forever at Auburn and
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: then Oregon and play forever And yeah, correct, you're absolutely right.
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: And there's still some guys that are there. I think,
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: isn't Cam Rising at Utah and his ninth year and
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: maybe that's the Miami. That's the Miami or something like that. Yeah, well, regardless,
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: Sean Payton and the Broncos parted ways with Russell Wilson
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: and then ended up drafting bow Knicks. So he's their starter.
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: That's who they're going to roll with here, and it's
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: it's gonna be something. You know. We talked a little
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: bit about Sean Payton, I think in this offseason and
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: what we think about him, and was Drew Brees really
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: the one carrying the torch for all those years in
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: New Orleans And maybe there's some truth to that. I
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: think the jury is still out on that. But looking
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: ahead to this game in Denver Sunday, four, twenty five
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: Eastern Standard time. Eric, what are some of your keys
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: for the Steelers.
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: I mean, just looking over what Bow did in this game.
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: Here's a start line through the ball twenty six eight
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: with two interceptions. You know this, It doesn't need to
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: get complicated, guys. I mean just the defense turned it up.
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: They played a.
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: Much better offense and the Falcons and they bottled him up.
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: You know, a veteran. You know, I will say an
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: ailing veteran, but Bo.
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: Nicks was also the leading running of that team on Sunday,
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: So you know, the offense even though they scored twenty points.
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: I have no idea how you know.
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: I think it's just really gonna come down to how
• 21:16
  Speaker 3: well our defense keeps it up.
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: We still got t J. Watt so healthy, a you know,
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: Alex high Smith continuing to play at a high level.
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: And you know, we talked about how the secondary played
• 21:31
  Speaker 3: above expectation. So I really think it's that. And then
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: all I want to see from the offense is, you know,
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: Justin doesn't need to do anything crazy. I'd love for
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: them to do the same kind of allocation. We run
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: the heck out of that ball on the time of possession,
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: this last week we were.
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: About thirty five to twenty five. That's the formula. Just
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: play a little keep away.
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: The defense will do their job and get some good
• 22:02
  Speaker 3: turnovers or you know, at least stay turnover.
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: And I think we put it in the books.
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a lot of similarities, it feels like with
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: this past week. New quarterback. This one's obviously a rookie
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: in what's been a stagnant offense. And like you said,
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: I don't think there's any real need to overanalyze this.
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: Just be safe with the ball, continue to improve on offense.
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: I mean, as much as I would love to see
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: Boswell kick thirty field goals this week, i'd like a
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: touchdown or two as well, if possible, although I will
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: point out they're in Colorado, so Boswell could be kicking
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: these from sixty five yards or more.
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: And dude, did you watch did you watch the Cowboys game?
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: No?
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: So, on a different note, I'd love to see it
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: if Babwe can break it. There was a stupid, stupid delay.
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: Of game right before the end of the half and
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: and the Cowboys game while zer Line or something I
• 23:08
  Speaker 3: forget how to say his name, he was going to
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: kick a sixty six yarder.
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: Well, they snapped it even though they.
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: Called it dead, and he made it with room despair,
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: and there was there was talk of like should he
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: go for the record because I think Tucker hit a
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: sixty seven or sixty eight.
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so he would have created.
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: By a pretty good margin.
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: I mean, you know, it's called three yards more than
• 23:38
  Speaker 3: the record, and I would have loved to see it.
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: But hey, man, that recon can go to the boys
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: in that thin air.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: Let's do it there you go, you know, hey, we'll
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: take the points anyway we can get him.
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: No.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: I mean, look, I don't really know what else I
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: can bring to the table that you didn't mention already
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: that this one. Unlike last week, I don't think there's
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: much that's complicated here. If everyone does their job, do
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: what they're supposed to do, whether it's justin Fields or
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: Russell Wilson, and if they can establish the run, like
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: we said, Nogie Harris would be big. If Jal and
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: Warren can get more involved as well, that'd be great.
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: I would like to see George Pickens continue to show
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: why he should be the number one receiver. I would
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: love to see Roman Wilson in the game too, see
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: what kind of stuff he brings to the table. And yeah,
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: he sat out this past Sunday because of his injury,
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: but because he was drafted. In essence, I think to
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: be the number two receiver, it'd be nice to see
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: him get out on the field. So, you know, again,
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: not much else to say. If I'm the Steelers and
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna stick with Justin Fields, which it sounds like
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: they are, just hey, you did enough last week. Just
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: keep improving and keep getting a little bit better and
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: we'll be fun. And I guess if I had to
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: ask Justin Fields any question, it would be do you
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: feel what kind of luxury is it to have the
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: Steelers defense that you have now compared to what you
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: had on defense the last couple of years in Chicago?
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: I guess that's kind of something I've always wondered about quarterbacks,
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: more so as they're young and developing. I don't know,
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: just throwing that out there, I think it must I
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: would think it would feel good to have that extra
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: kind of security. They're like, Okay, look, I don't have
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: to force this. If he's not wide open, I can
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: just tuck it and run, or I can even just
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: take the sack. You know, there's just playfield position. We'll
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: get eight field goals and win the game anyway, all right,
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: so let me hear your prediction and score.
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: Okay, over under his thirty six.
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: Wow, I'm going to go under. So yeah, I just
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: don't believe this game. Well, I think that a touchdown
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: is probable. I don't know if we're going to get
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: six field goals again, so you.
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: Know, even if Boswell has a meager four field goals
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: in this game.
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: We turn one into a touchdown. I think that's pretty
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: exciting stuff. So I'm gonna go with and can go
• 26:34
  Speaker 3: nineteen to thirteen.
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: Nineteen, Okay, four field.
• 26:44
  Speaker 3: Goals actual play, but the scoring leader of the NFL
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: is going to continue to be Chris Boswell.
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: All right, I am. I'd say that again, nineteen to what.
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: Thirteen?
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: Nineteen thirteen?
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: I'm also gonna give the Steelers a win, although I
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: got a bad feeling that they're just gonna humble us
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: really bad this week. And let's say you said nineteen,
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: I'll say sixteen to seven, So I'm gonna go one
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: less field goal, but I will also say that we
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: do get a touchdown, and I just who did the
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: bron Who did the Broncos play this past week?
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: Let's see the Seahawks.
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, their defense is good, but ours is better, So
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: I think that's gonna be the big thing. So there
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: you go. We both have the Steelers in the win
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: column moving to two and no fingers crossed that that
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: will that will be the case. So we thought for
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: a fun topic, since I was at the game this weekend,
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: we'd share some of our favorite stories of attending the
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: game in person. So I thought I would start us
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: off here. I'll just share what happened this Sunday. It
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: was kind of interesting. I drove to my friend Max's
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: apartment and then we rode the public train which is
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: called Marta down here, right up to the stadium and
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: that the game was fine. There was a couple of
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: rowdy people. It was most of the Steelers fans that
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: were kind of be an obnoxious, but it was only
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: like one or two Falcons fans were all good. But
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: I gotta tell you, the funniest part of the whole
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: day was when we were riding the train back to
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: his house. We just got the most obnoxious people from
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: both the Falcons and the Steelers on the public train,
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: and it was mostly in good fun, so it wasn't
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: like anyone was getting upset or anything. But it was
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: just these two guys jawing back and forth, and the
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: Steelers fan is trying to get the Atlanta people to
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: count to you know, how many Super Bowl rings do
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: you got? And then he turned back to us and
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: he's like, I know, you guys are smart. You can
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: count to six, right. The Falcons fan is like, you
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: guys couldn't even score a touchdown. You were out there
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: playing foot, you were out there playing soccer. Atlanta United
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: plays tomorrow. And then I chimed in. I was like, hey,
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: it's called football, right.
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: So.
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: I just I wanted to mention that.
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: Oh.
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: And then the funniest part was, I guess the guy
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: who was a Steelers fan was originally from Youngstown, Ohio.
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: So people were giving him a bunch of shit for
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: you know, why aren't you a Browns fan? And he
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: tried to claim that Youngstown is ten minutes from Pittsburgh,
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: which I'm ninety nine percent certain is an extreme exaggeration
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: on how close the two cities are. But hey, it
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: was like I said, we've talked a lot on the
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: show before about our trips to Indianapolis, and I've talked
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: about when I've gone to Pittsburgh with my friend Brad
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: Bengals fan. This was a good experience. It was it
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: was fun. Like I said, people were just kind of
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: drawing back and forth. The guy next one next to
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: me is like, this is more entertaining than the game itself.
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: So I just thought I would share that with everyone
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: and just let everyone know, Hey, if you've got to
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: go to a game in Atlanta, you'll have a good time.
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: It's a lot of fun. Stadium's nice, that people are friendly,
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: and if you're lucky, the Falcons won't win. So I'll
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: just turn it over to you, Eric. Do you even
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: you have any fun memories of your own about attending
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: any of these games in person?
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah? I mean.
• 30:39
  Speaker 3: I always I always liked Arth Thanksgiving game. But I
• 30:43
  Speaker 3: kind of want to say one it's not Steelers related,
• 30:46
  Speaker 3: but you know, it's a.
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: A fun one from my past. When I was nine
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: years old, I want to.
• 30:56
  Speaker 3: Bearcats game and Ron Dane was running back for Wisconsin.
• 31:04
  Speaker 3: I Big one Heisman, but he was.
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: A candidate up in that year.
• 31:10
  Speaker 3: He ran two hundred and thirty one yards against the Bearcats.
• 31:14
  Speaker 3: But guess what the Bearcats won. I'm pretty sure the
• 31:22
  Speaker 3: they It was about one year to go today.
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: I mean.
• 31:28
  Speaker 3: It was on this year or on this day, like
• 31:30
  Speaker 3: about nineteen ninety nine, and so I just remember that
• 31:37
  Speaker 3: being like a fun time because big underdog seeing a
• 31:41
  Speaker 3: great player.
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: That was a great time. But yeah, I loved for
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: us as any of the Colts games. Those were Those
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: were good times.
• 31:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: I enjoyed the Colt Stadium too, and traveling with you
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: is a lot of fun, especially that first year. I
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: can't remember if Thanksgiving was the first year, if it
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: was the second time we went up, but the year
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: on Thanksgiving where we met our new friends in the
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: parking lot tailgating, and I always show everyone the picture
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: that we took of our seats where you were like, whell,
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: I guess it was the press box kind of juts
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: into your view se you've only got a partial view,
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: and how you were you were laughing, but you were
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: clearly mad. You're like, I paid extra to be closer
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: to midfield and we can't even see half the game
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: other than the architectural flaw.
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: I do.
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: I do love all those games myself. I've gotten to
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: be pretty fortunate in some of the games I've seen.
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: I got to travel to a bowl game for U see,
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: which was fun. I don't know if you got to
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: go to any of the bowl games while you were
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: there too.
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: I went to the beat when Travis Tolsey the game winner, so.
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: I went to Yeah, I went to the same I
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: went to the same Bowl but the year later when
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: they austin North Carolina. So that's kind of funny that
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: we went to the same bowl game just in different years.
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: But yeah, no, I will say that it's been a
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: lot of fun. And even now that I'm a dying
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: old man of thirty two years old, when we went
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: up the we were going up the escalator to get
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: to our seats, and that was the first time I
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: could actually see the field. And when you actually see
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: or when I actually saw the Steelers there in person,
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: it's just something about it. It kind of hits you again.
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: You're kind of like a kid. I remember the very
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: first game I went to in Tennessee to see your
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: boy Steve aar McNair, but he was playing Slash and
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: the Steelers back when, back in the year that the
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: Titans went to the Super Bowl, but you're kind of
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: taken back, so it kind of hits home a little
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: bit more. And I will say the only thing that
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: I kind of regret about the failed Kenny picket experiment
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: is for some reason, he is my daughter's favorite player.
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: I don't know how, I don't know why. She must
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: have must have watched one of his four touchdown passes
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: in person, so she was very, very upset that Kenny
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: is not on the team anymore. And I will say
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: if he was on the team still, she would have
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: been there with me at that game, no matter how
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: much regret I would have had for spending the money
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: on the tickets and then her making me leave after
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: the first quarter because she got bored. Something about your
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: kids seeing or when you are a kid, whether it's
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: you yourself or you're your kid, seeing your favorite player
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: in person is a huge deal. So I will give
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: I will give Kenny Pickett credit for that that if
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: nothing else, he is my four year old daughter's favorite
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: player of all time.
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: So yeah, it's good. A right.
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: Was there anything else you wanted to touch on before
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: we sign off for the name?
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: I don't think so.
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: All right, Well, I think that'll do it for us. Again,
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: not much to talk about in this preview. It's still
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: earlier in the year. The blueprint's pretty much the same.
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: But if nothing else, we got to talk about a
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: Steelers win that we can all enjoy, especially if your
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: name is Chris Boswell so for the world famous accountants
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: Eric van Benschoten. I'm Nick Detulo and this has been
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: another episode of the GameHouse dot COM's Steelers Country Weekly