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Commanders Recap, Ravens Preview · Steelers Country Weekly

0:00
Speaker 1: Today on Steelers Country Weekly, we break down the steelers
0:03
Speaker 1: big win in the Nation's Capital against the Commanders, look
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Speaker 1: ahead to the huge matchup against the division rival Baltimore
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Speaker 1: Ravens this upcoming Sunday, and then we're gonna hand out
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Speaker 1: our mid season awards for the Steelers here in the
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Speaker 1: twenty twenty four season. I'm Nick Detulio and is always
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Speaker 1: am joined by the world famous accountants Eric Vanmonchutin, Eric,
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Speaker 1: how are you tonight.
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Speaker 2: To shiannopy Man, just hanging out, chilling and join another win.
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Speaker 2: I was actually in jubilation talking to some coworkers about
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Speaker 2: football and that fan. My coworker was a Bengals fan.
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Speaker 2: He was a little downtrodden. I could say, I've felt
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Speaker 2: quite the opposite.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, And if you're a Bengals fan, their stats against
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Speaker 1: the Ravens this year are mind boggling. It's like nine
0:59
Speaker 1: touchdown passes for Joe Burrow, like eight hundred passing yards.
1:03
Speaker 1: Jamar Chase has gotten like, you know, five hundred receiving
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Speaker 1: yards and like five touchdowns in two games and they're
1:10
Speaker 1: both losses. So the Bengals definitely kind of fell off
1:15
Speaker 1: the wheel there. The Ravens of course got the win,
1:18
Speaker 1: but for us as fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers, we
1:21
Speaker 1: had a much different a different outcome off. So it
1:25
Speaker 1: was kind of a similar game in that it was
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Speaker 1: a close nail bier, but in our case, the Steelers
1:30
Speaker 1: walked away with the victory. Now, correct me if I'm wrong.
1:34
Speaker 1: I think last week we were split. I believe I
1:37
Speaker 1: had the Steelers winning and you had them losing.
1:39
Speaker 3: Am I right?
1:39
Speaker 1: Or did I get that flip fopped? And Okay, I
1:46
Speaker 1: was gonna say, if you blocked it from your memory,
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Speaker 1: that's fine too, I understand.
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Speaker 3: It.
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Speaker 1: It went back and forth this game, right like, there
1:54
Speaker 1: was different times where I was like, Okay, we're gonna
1:57
Speaker 1: we're we've got this. Now we're gonna put it away.
2:01
Speaker 1: And then the Commanders came back and took a ten
2:03
Speaker 1: point lead, and then obviously it ended up being a
2:07
Speaker 1: one point margin of difference here. So it was definitely
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Speaker 1: a good game. The Commanders are probably one of the
2:13
Speaker 1: best teams the Steelers have played this year, albeit a
2:16
Speaker 1: surprisingly good team because this was not where the Commanders
2:19
Speaker 1: expected to be this season with a rookie quarterback, new
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Speaker 1: head coach, new ownership. All that good stuff. So let's
2:28
Speaker 1: just break the game down here. Final score ends up
2:31
Speaker 1: being twenty eight to twenty seven. The Steelers strike first,
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Speaker 1: but with some back and forth, the Commanders ended up
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Speaker 1: taking a ten note or a ten point lead after halftime.
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Speaker 1: Just some wonky stuff going on. But the good news
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Speaker 1: for the Steelers is in years past, losing the turnover margin,
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Speaker 1: losing or going down by ten points, giving up over
2:59
Speaker 1: twenty points was a death sentence for them. But not
3:02
Speaker 1: this year. They're able to come back. They're able to fight.
3:05
Speaker 1: So Eric, I'll ask you, looking back at this game
3:08
Speaker 1: as a whole, what are some of your big takeaways?
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Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean new season, new edition.
3:16
Speaker 2: Preston Smith said, what I love about this team is
3:20
Speaker 2: they keep fighting, they keep playing, They keep positive mentality.
3:25
Speaker 2: They you know, something goes wrong, they don't look so
3:31
Speaker 2: and and then let it. You know, big themselves a
3:34
Speaker 2: bigger hole. So you know, look, they they took a
3:39
Speaker 2: gutsy call and I think it was either first quarter
3:44
Speaker 2: with the big part kind of turned it over to
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Speaker 2: the Commanders and they tied up the game and it
3:54
Speaker 2: could have gone a different direction.
3:57
Speaker 4: But you know, this whole game was a dog fight.
4:00
Speaker 2: They you know, they it was a back and forth game.
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Speaker 2: I don't think it was more than a touchdown difference
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Speaker 2: throughout the whole entire game. And even the Steelers, they
4:15
Speaker 2: they had some like ugliness and the second half too.
4:21
Speaker 2: I mean it was hunt after one yard interception and
4:26
Speaker 2: then a fumble.
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Speaker 4: On the goal line basically the one yard line.
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Speaker 2: So lots of diversity, and yet the intangibles kind of
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Speaker 2: like weigh out there and the Steelers won because of that.
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Speaker 2: And I think a lot of that is leadership, and
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Speaker 2: you know, some of that really can't be taught.
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Speaker 1: So I'll ask you too, do you think it's safe
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Speaker 1: to assume that that fake punt from their own fifteen
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Speaker 1: was was a checkdown and it wasn't something that was
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Speaker 1: pre planned?
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Speaker 2: Think in so, I actually believe it is part of
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Speaker 2: how well of a coach Danny Smith is.
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Speaker 4: I think it was just poorly executed.
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Speaker 2: I think the team felt empowered to actually do it,
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Speaker 2: even deep in their own territory.
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Speaker 4: They had the matchup. I mean that thing should have been.
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Speaker 3: A there matchup.
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Speaker 1: The guy wasn't game right, the guy wasn't on him,
5:24
Speaker 1: there was no matchup.
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Speaker 3: He just dropped the ball.
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Speaker 2: I mean he catches that ball. You know who knows
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Speaker 2: who's catching him. So look, I I know a lot
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Speaker 2: of people are gonna say that was a horrible call,
5:39
Speaker 2: how can you do that?
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Speaker 4: I'd love it, honestly.
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Speaker 2: I like it's statistically you're asking a grown man to
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Speaker 2: throw the ball like fifteen yards and you know there,
5:54
Speaker 2: it's not just any grown man.
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Speaker 4: It's an NFL athlete.
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Speaker 2: You're not asking him to throw a fifty yard it's
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Speaker 2: a throw it in the general area and get it complete.
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Speaker 2: I think that it was poorly executed. Yeah, from a
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Speaker 2: axes and hoes and teaching the guys what to do
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Speaker 2: and making that that call on the field, Oh man.
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Speaker 4: That is That's what I love like.
6:21
Speaker 2: I love like that felt like prime time Bilichick type
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Speaker 2: of like coaching right there.
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Speaker 4: I think if if.
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Speaker 2: They executed it, oh my god, like would have been
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Speaker 2: sports centered, you know, top ten and all that.
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Speaker 3: So yeah, not.
6:45
Speaker 4: I loved it. It.
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Speaker 2: Obviously, venis in the butt because the Commanders really didn't
6:50
Speaker 2: do I.
6:51
Speaker 4: Didn't feel like they did much.
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Speaker 2: I mean, they had two hundred and forty two yards
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Speaker 2: on the game and score twenty seven points.
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Speaker 4: A lot of that was because we kind of shout
7:01
Speaker 4: ourselves in the foot.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, the two turnovers and then the you know, turnovers.
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Speaker 4: On down, so you can't do that.
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Speaker 2: But ultimately they came out with the victory just because
7:13
Speaker 2: overall we were still the better team.
7:16
Speaker 3: Yeah, and with the fake punt too.
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Speaker 1: We mentioned it before we started recording, and I don't
7:20
Speaker 1: want to jump around too much, but I think it's
7:22
Speaker 1: a good segue.
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Speaker 3: Uh.
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Speaker 1: They were super aggressive, obviously, going for it on their
7:29
Speaker 1: own fifteen or sixteen, and at the end of the
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Speaker 1: game the Steelers had fourth and one and they were
7:34
Speaker 1: trying to kill the clock and they trotted the offense
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Speaker 1: out there too. I'd say, we're all ninety nine percent
7:43
Speaker 1: sure they were going to just try to draw them
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Speaker 1: off sides, right, They weren't actually going to run a play.
7:49
Speaker 1: But because they're doing stuff like that earlier in the game,
7:54
Speaker 1: I can't blame the defensive lineman for jumping off sides
7:58
Speaker 1: trying to get antsy. But because heck, these guys are crazy,
8:03
Speaker 1: they just might actually go for it on fourth and
8:05
Speaker 1: one if they already went for it on fourth and
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Speaker 1: whatever from their own fifteen, right, So maybe that does
8:13
Speaker 1: work to their advantage in other ways. Obviously, I would
8:16
Speaker 1: have preferred them to convert that. Don't get me wrong,
8:18
Speaker 1: but when you show other teams you're willing to do
8:21
Speaker 1: stuff like that, it gets in their heads a little
8:23
Speaker 1: bit and they have to prepare for that possibility. So
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Speaker 1: I think that was something to consider. And I will
8:31
Speaker 1: give Mike tom On a shout out because regardless of
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Speaker 1: how that play came about, he totally owned it in
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Speaker 1: the end. At the press game postgame conference, he didn't
8:40
Speaker 1: throw Pierre under the bus for dropping the ball or
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Speaker 1: for the team for even checking down. He said, I
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Speaker 1: own it. It's on me and I do it again.
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Speaker 1: It sounds like him and you are on the exact
8:52
Speaker 1: same wavelength there.
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Speaker 2: Well, you know, I feel like Tom hasn't been gutsy
9:00
Speaker 2: on the show before.
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Speaker 4: I feel like Tom has not been gutsy.
9:05
Speaker 2: I remember when there was a trend in the league
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Speaker 2: where where people start going forward on two point conversion, right,
9:12
Speaker 2: and Tomlin was on the front end of that, And
9:15
Speaker 2: that was back when we had the talent and the
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Speaker 2: trust and the players to execute and go do it.
9:21
Speaker 2: I feel like Tomlin has started doing that again. I
9:27
Speaker 2: feel like there's been a lot more of like he's
9:30
Speaker 2: not worried about his noodle arm quarterback and him, I
9:34
Speaker 2: feel like, you know, okay, well we turn this over, well,
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Speaker 2: Ken's not going to be able to recover from that.
9:43
Speaker 4: He's going to be downtrod and be ruined for the
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Speaker 4: rest of the game.
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Speaker 2: Or you know, oh man, all of a sudden, our
9:49
Speaker 2: defense we have their secondary. So that's going to be
9:53
Speaker 2: a Swiss cheese type of effort, and now I gotta
9:56
Speaker 2: worry about that the rest of the game. I feel
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Speaker 2: like he fully trusts that both sides of the three
10:04
Speaker 2: phase of the game can actually go out there and
10:09
Speaker 2: like execute on what he's trying to do. And I mean,
10:15
Speaker 2: it didn't work out in this particular instance, we'd escate.
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Speaker 3: With a win, but it could have those type of
10:21
Speaker 3: things I think.
10:21
Speaker 2: Are going to be really beneficial if we want to
10:24
Speaker 2: make a push in January, and especially a push on
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Speaker 2: this tough sled of a schedule gap coming up here,
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Speaker 2: and I think it will work on our benefit.
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Speaker 1: So yeah, a couple other things I wanted to talk
10:39
Speaker 1: about too. With this game in particular, you mentioned the turnovers.
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Speaker 1: There was an interception by Russell Wilson. I think that
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Speaker 1: was in the third quarter, and I obviously I would
10:51
Speaker 1: like him to not throw interceptions. But that's that's probably
10:55
Speaker 1: the most acceptable time to throw an interception. I'll say,
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Speaker 1: when it's third and long and if you don't get it,
11:00
Speaker 1: you're gonna punt anyway.
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Speaker 3: So that wasn't the possibly. I don't understand.
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Speaker 1: I don't know the John Madden reference, but my logic
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Speaker 1: just is, you throw a deep interception, it's the same
11:12
Speaker 1: as a pun anyway.
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Speaker 2: So that he said it all the time because he
11:17
Speaker 2: would always come to Brett Farb's defense, well.
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Speaker 4: And he saying, well, it's as good as a punt.
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Speaker 3: There you go.
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Speaker 1: I will gladly own that John maddenism. But the logic
11:30
Speaker 1: in this, in this situation stands. And then with the
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Speaker 1: jail and war and fumble, you and I were both
11:38
Speaker 1: talking about it as it happened. He was running for
11:40
Speaker 1: the goal line, it would have been a first down
11:44
Speaker 1: and then the commanders just stripped it out of him.
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Speaker 1: We both thought it could have been called forward progress
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Speaker 1: and blown dead. But that's just one of those subjective
11:54
Speaker 1: calls that you're kind of at the mercy of the
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Speaker 1: refs for. And trust me, there are times where I'm like,
11:58
Speaker 1: why haven't you guys blown the whistle yet, and then
12:00
Speaker 1: there's there's other times where I'm like, wow, they blew
12:03
Speaker 1: that way too quickly, so kind of a damned if
12:05
Speaker 1: you do, damned if you don't. This time it burned us.
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Speaker 1: But with that, and I guess the interception as well,
12:11
Speaker 1: I'll just say the best way to avoid turnovers is
12:15
Speaker 1: to just make sure you protect the ball and don't
12:17
Speaker 1: put yourself in that situation to begin with. So I'm
12:21
Speaker 1: not sure what Jalen Warren could have done differently to
12:24
Speaker 1: protect the ball in that situation, but if there's anything
12:30
Speaker 1: he could have done, and he doesn't fumble very often,
12:32
Speaker 1: so maybe this is just an outlier. But yeah, if
12:36
Speaker 1: you can avoid those situations altogether, that's obviously the ideal
12:39
Speaker 1: situation to do that. But I did just want to
12:41
Speaker 1: make mention that it wasn't like the Steelers were just
12:45
Speaker 1: handing the ball over to the Commanders in their turnovers.
12:48
Speaker 1: There was I would say, there's extenuating circumstances if you.
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Speaker 3: Want to call it that.
12:57
Speaker 1: There you go the eternal pessimist again.
13:02
Speaker 2: No, I yeah, I think gans Territory said it best
13:08
Speaker 2: obviously on the broadcast. He said, look, the Steelers got
13:12
Speaker 2: some strong backs you want to give them the benefit
13:15
Speaker 2: of the doubt.
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Speaker 4: I think that they should have blown it dead.
13:18
Speaker 3: That's fair.
13:20
Speaker 2: I especially at the goal line, I agree, that's where
13:26
Speaker 2: you tend to see it the most.
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Speaker 4: I would say he was stacked up quite a bit.
13:30
Speaker 2: I mean, yeah, there was like four or five guys
13:34
Speaker 2: on him. But you know, at the end of the day,
13:39
Speaker 2: you know you're still you got hold on that ball.
13:41
Speaker 2: I don't necessarily blame Jalen Warren, but you know, again,
13:47
Speaker 2: it's a teaching moment, like we're like, the team's gonna
13:50
Speaker 2: have to learn from some of these things. We've got
13:53
Speaker 2: it free from it this time. But you know, we
13:56
Speaker 2: play a better team, we're not going to quite have them.
14:01
Speaker 4: So we'll see what happened.
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Speaker 2: But overall, I was happy with the game, and I
14:08
Speaker 2: think I said I was wrong about the prediction, but
14:12
Speaker 2: I did say it was going to be closer to
14:14
Speaker 2: a foot race to thirty. Yeah, they didn't quite get
14:17
Speaker 2: the thirty, but you know, a lot more.
14:19
Speaker 4: Of a shootout than probably we were anticipating.
14:22
Speaker 1: And I did want to talk about the ending of
14:24
Speaker 1: the game too before we wrap up our overall discussion here,
14:29
Speaker 1: So I don't recall if it was the last drive
14:34
Speaker 1: that the Commanders had, or the second to last drive,
14:36
Speaker 1: but we mentioned it before we recorded as well. Wanted
14:39
Speaker 1: to shout out Preston Smith for having a big play
14:41
Speaker 1: in the backfield. I think it was on the screen
14:45
Speaker 1: pass that it looked like it was supposed to be
14:47
Speaker 1: a gadget play, but because Preston Smith was able to
14:50
Speaker 1: get in there and break it up and get the
14:51
Speaker 1: sack or the tackle for a loss, it blew up.
14:54
Speaker 1: So it was good to see one of the new
14:56
Speaker 1: guys making a big play. And then, of course the
15:00
Speaker 1: second to last offensive drive for the Steelers where they
15:03
Speaker 1: got the go ahead touchdown, that was a thirty eight
15:06
Speaker 1: yard fade route to Mike Williams, brand new wide receiver
15:10
Speaker 1: from New York who Aaron Rodgers had just thrown under
15:13
Speaker 1: the bus for supposedly running the wrong route in his
15:15
Speaker 1: last game. Good to see Russ making that deep throw
15:19
Speaker 1: as he's been doing in these three games that he's
15:21
Speaker 1: been playing for the Steelers. And great for Mike Williams
15:23
Speaker 1: in his first game his first target, No less to
15:26
Speaker 1: get that big catch in there to give them the
15:29
Speaker 1: lead with twenty two seconds. Then going back to the Commanders,
15:35
Speaker 1: we had a big fourth downstand. On yet another close call,
15:40
Speaker 1: Jayden Daniels threw a cross route pass to zach Ertz
15:46
Speaker 1: who caught it with his knee down about half a
15:48
Speaker 1: yard maybe behind the marker Steelers secondary I think Miga
15:54
Speaker 1: Fitzpatrick and someone else came up and made contact and
15:58
Speaker 1: mark him down. After several minutes of discussion they determined
16:01
Speaker 1: that he was down it was a turnover.
16:04
Speaker 3: And then, of course what we alluded to.
16:07
Speaker 1: Earlier was the Steelers having a fourth and one while
16:10
Speaker 1: they were trying to run out the clock, and they
16:13
Speaker 1: bring out the offense after a timeout, probably to just
16:18
Speaker 1: see if they'll jump off sides, maybe to run a play,
16:21
Speaker 1: and they do get the Commanders to jump off side
16:25
Speaker 1: with a hard count to end the game. So lots
16:29
Speaker 1: of drama. Again, like we said, it's a one point game,
16:32
Speaker 1: but lots of highlights to lots to be happy about
16:35
Speaker 1: and things to work on as well.
16:36
Speaker 3: But you've alluded to it yourself.
16:40
Speaker 1: This is a game that I think you can be
16:42
Speaker 1: happy that you won given some of the stakes you made,
16:45
Speaker 1: but the fact that you were able to keep fighting
16:47
Speaker 1: and overcome those and still those mistakes aside, have a
16:51
Speaker 1: pretty solid game all around.
16:54
Speaker 3: This is a good win for the Steelers.
16:56
Speaker 4: Yeah, definitely.
16:59
Speaker 1: All right, Well that does it for that game. The
17:01
Speaker 1: Steelers moved to seven and two. They are in first place,
17:06
Speaker 1: but they will be hosting if I'm not mistaken, yes,
17:09
Speaker 1: hosting division rival and second place Baltimore Ravens this upcoming Sunday.
17:17
Speaker 1: Ravens are seven and three. We mentioned at the top
17:19
Speaker 1: of the show. They had a great shootout against the
17:23
Speaker 1: Bengals to get their season sweep of them. Meanwhile, this
17:26
Speaker 1: is our first division game of any opponent of season,
17:30
Speaker 1: so kind of nuts there, but just kind of a
17:37
Speaker 1: clash of the Titans, if you will. You've got Lamar Jackson,
17:40
Speaker 1: Dereck Henry Flowers, they just acquired Deontay Johnson, our old
17:45
Speaker 1: friend from the Carolina Panthers, and really since the first
17:52
Speaker 1: two games of the year, the Ravens have been pretty solid.
17:56
Speaker 1: They lost to the Chiefs in one of those games too,
17:59
Speaker 1: so it's really tough to.
18:00
Speaker 3: Pin him down on that one.
18:02
Speaker 1: This could be a slug fest, and I think it
18:05
Speaker 1: is safe to say that this is probably going to
18:08
Speaker 1: be the toughest challenge the Steelers have faced so far.
18:13
Speaker 1: So looking ahead at this game, Eric, what are some
18:16
Speaker 1: of the key points that you think the Steelers have
18:19
Speaker 1: the hit on to try to get out of here
18:20
Speaker 1: with a win.
18:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I think, look, they did a great
18:29
Speaker 2: job against a very mobile quarterback and a very good
18:35
Speaker 2: running offense, and the Commanders they held, you know, two
18:44
Speaker 2: point seven yards per Carrie, So I think that, Yeah,
18:49
Speaker 2: I think it goes pretty easily to go without saying
18:52
Speaker 2: that Lamar is just magic with ball in his hands.
18:58
Speaker 4: I don't know if he watched the Bengal Ravens.
19:01
Speaker 2: Game last week, but he had this play on the
19:07
Speaker 2: goal line and he ran like they did a stack.
19:13
Speaker 2: He ran like fifty five yards to game ten and
19:17
Speaker 2: it's like weaving in and out and got the first
19:21
Speaker 2: down to then they ultimately scored. So look, Lamar has
19:27
Speaker 2: games where he is an absolute ballard just like that.
19:31
Speaker 2: He also has games where he will throw three interceptions.
19:38
Speaker 4: And I think that, you know, the Ravens have lived
19:42
Speaker 4: and died by it, but.
19:43
Speaker 2: We've also thrived by it too, So I think it's
19:47
Speaker 2: gonna be a feast or famine game. I think, you know,
19:52
Speaker 2: you try to crowd the box, make Lamar use his
19:59
Speaker 2: new weapons. Deoncey Johnson and him beat us with his arm.
20:05
Speaker 2: I think he's more than capable of doing that. But
20:08
Speaker 2: I think that trying to do that and somehow disguising
20:13
Speaker 2: some coverages that someone drops back when they think that
20:16
Speaker 2: we're gonna crowd the box snag a pick here or there,
20:20
Speaker 2: I think that's probably how we're gonna win. Luckily, this
20:24
Speaker 2: is the best offense that the Steelers have had.
20:27
Speaker 4: In four years, so I don't think this is gonna
20:34
Speaker 4: be having to be quite.
20:35
Speaker 2: The ugly thirteen to ten games they have to go
20:41
Speaker 2: into Steelers favor.
20:42
Speaker 4: We could still get the foot race and possibly win
20:46
Speaker 4: the game. I don't feel good.
20:48
Speaker 2: If it's like the Ravens Bengals game where there's sixty
20:52
Speaker 2: nine points total scored.
20:55
Speaker 4: But we do got some wiggle room in this game,
20:59
Speaker 4: so off.
21:02
Speaker 2: You know, I think it doesn't have to be the
21:05
Speaker 2: boring you know, and the bottle over thirty times, you know,
21:11
Speaker 2: take as much time off the clock, et cetera.
21:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, No, I think you're I think you're in the
21:19
Speaker 1: right vein there. I feel a little more comfortable with
21:24
Speaker 1: where we stand as a team than I have for
21:27
Speaker 1: a few years in these kind of matchups. That being said,
21:31
Speaker 1: I if I was a Ravens fan, I'd feel really
21:34
Speaker 1: comfortable too, And that that's the problem is I think
21:39
Speaker 1: that right now they're probably the better team if you
21:44
Speaker 1: just look at it on paper and then.
21:48
Speaker 3: I don't know.
21:49
Speaker 1: Man, just Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry in that backfield
21:53
Speaker 1: does scare me. But but you're right, crowd in the box,
21:56
Speaker 1: making Lamar beat you with his arm is going to
21:58
Speaker 1: have to be the way to go here. And that's
22:00
Speaker 1: not saying that he's a bad passer, just he's most
22:04
Speaker 1: dangerous because he has that option to take off at
22:06
Speaker 1: any given time. So I'm looking at his stats right
22:12
Speaker 1: now and they're they're kind of nuts. He's twenty four tds,
22:15
Speaker 1: two interceptions for just short of twenty seven hundred yards.
22:23
Speaker 1: I think we had a quiet performance from TJ. Watt
22:27
Speaker 1: this past game. I think he's going to need to
22:29
Speaker 1: step up. And really the defense overall is where it's
22:32
Speaker 1: going to need to It's going to need to play
22:34
Speaker 1: lights out to have a different a chance in this game.
22:39
Speaker 1: The offense. I think the offense is capable of making
22:44
Speaker 1: the big plays and I remember them talking about that
22:49
Speaker 1: the last time the Steelers and Ravens played at the
22:51
Speaker 1: end of last season where they mentioned John Harbaugh mentioned,
22:57
Speaker 1: I know how Mike likes these games. He keeps it
22:59
Speaker 1: close and then to bust it open with a big play.
23:01
Speaker 1: And that's exactly what happened in the game that Mason
23:04
Speaker 1: Rudolph led the Steelers to a victory and to get
23:07
Speaker 1: to the playoffs. So when you couple that with what
23:12
Speaker 1: the Steelers have done in offense, particularly these last three games,
23:16
Speaker 1: with all the big plays. We saw that amazing touchdown
23:20
Speaker 1: catch from George Pickens last week that we didn't even
23:23
Speaker 1: mention because amazing catches have just kind of become the
23:25
Speaker 1: standard for him. And obviously the gate the go ahead
23:30
Speaker 1: touchdown there at the end to Mike Williams.
23:33
Speaker 3: Those are the kind of things.
23:35
Speaker 1: I think that are going to give the Steelers an
23:37
Speaker 1: opportunity to open things up. I think one of the
23:40
Speaker 1: big differences between this game and last week, though, is
23:45
Speaker 1: I'm glad we got those kind of mistakes out of
23:48
Speaker 1: I hope we got them out of our system, at
23:49
Speaker 1: least with the botched fake punt, the fumble, the interception.
23:56
Speaker 1: You really can't make those kind of mistakes going against
23:59
Speaker 1: the team.
24:01
Speaker 3: That won't fly.
24:02
Speaker 1: So I think again going back to where I started,
24:07
Speaker 1: The key is going to be the defense, specifically TJ
24:10
Speaker 1: Watt Alex Heismith is going to be out, but Nick
24:12
Speaker 1: Herbig is expected to come back, so that'll be big
24:14
Speaker 1: for them. They need that pass rush on both sides.
24:17
Speaker 1: And look, I guess I can't really just harp on
24:24
Speaker 1: it enough. But same thing that you like to talk
24:29
Speaker 1: about as well, establish the run game, control the turnovers,
24:33
Speaker 1: and you can win. Do I think that's going to happen?
24:37
Speaker 3: No?
24:38
Speaker 1: I think I'm going to take a page out of
24:39
Speaker 1: your book, can be a little more pessimistic this week.
24:41
Speaker 1: I just I just don't see us beating the Ravens
24:44
Speaker 1: this time. I know they're at home, but it just
24:49
Speaker 1: something about this one just isn't sitting right with me.
24:52
Speaker 1: So and I wish I had more of an intelligent
24:57
Speaker 1: sports take than going with my gut here. But I'm
25:01
Speaker 1: gonna have to give the Ravens the win here. I
25:05
Speaker 1: think that they're gonna win this one. Let's say thirty
25:13
Speaker 1: one to seventeen, so it's gonna be two touchdowns, but
25:17
Speaker 1: I think that second touchdown is going to be kind
25:19
Speaker 1: of a garbage time touchdown.
25:23
Speaker 2: Okay, you know, I think that I'm gonna go win here. Yeah,
25:33
Speaker 2: I think that this is a series that will likely split.
25:37
Speaker 2: I think it being at home, I'm gonna go, you know,
25:43
Speaker 2: with the home team here, and.
25:49
Speaker 5: Let's see. I it's gonna be a clear day. I'm
25:59
Speaker 5: gonna go and.
26:02
Speaker 2: Steel You're thirty for the Steelers and put twenty seven
26:08
Speaker 2: on the board for the raven So I think.
26:10
Speaker 4: We're gonna we're gonna win a foot race.
26:14
Speaker 3: There you go.
26:16
Speaker 1: All right, well, I'm mister pessimist this week. Eric is
26:20
Speaker 1: the optimist. I hope Eric is right. It'll be a
26:23
Speaker 1: good one. We'll see it at Sunday at one o'clock,
26:27
Speaker 1: yet another AFC North smash Mouth football game between the
26:31
Speaker 1: Steelers and the Ravens. All right, Well, because we are
26:37
Speaker 1: kind of at the midpoint of the season seventeen games,
26:40
Speaker 1: we thought it might be good to give out our
26:42
Speaker 1: mid season awards. We did it at the start of
26:44
Speaker 1: the year, our preseason awards. We'll probably do it at
26:46
Speaker 1: the end as well. So we're gonna do four awards here,
26:51
Speaker 1: Offensive Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year,
26:55
Speaker 1: Rookie of the Year, and Coach of the Year. So
27:00
Speaker 1: let's go ahead and start with the offensive player of
27:04
Speaker 1: the year, which might be the hardest one to pin down.
27:07
Speaker 1: But Eric, I'll let you take the lead on this
27:10
Speaker 1: here at the midway point of the season in twenty
27:12
Speaker 1: twenty four, who is your Pittsburgh Steelers Offensive player of
27:16
Speaker 1: the year.
27:21
Speaker 4: It's a tough one.
27:23
Speaker 3: Can go the unit.
27:26
Speaker 1: I mean, if you want to take the coward's way out, sure,
27:31
Speaker 1: I mean.
27:31
Speaker 2: I would just say I'm overall fairly impressed with the
27:34
Speaker 2: offensive line. I think that in addition to having some
27:40
Speaker 2: rookies cycle in there, we've also been kind of hit
27:45
Speaker 2: with s Midry bug and I think that a considering
27:49
Speaker 2: when you have a two quarterbacks in there, a new
27:53
Speaker 2: offensive coordinator, it's a very difficult adjustment, and I think that,
28:00
Speaker 2: uh it's I don't think there's been some offensive players
28:05
Speaker 2: that I think have excelled, but I think that as
28:08
Speaker 2: a whole, I'm just mostly impressed with the offensive line.
28:12
Speaker 1: So all right, well, I will not be giving it
28:17
Speaker 1: to an entire unit. I will I will take my
28:22
Speaker 1: medicine here. I've been looking at the stats here, and
28:28
Speaker 1: it's tough at the quarterback position because you've got two
28:31
Speaker 1: guys split in time.
28:35
Speaker 3: Rushing has been kind of.
28:38
Speaker 1: Nage's really hit astride the last couple of games, but
28:41
Speaker 1: he did struggle at first, and you don't know how
28:43
Speaker 1: much of that is because of the quarterback play. George
28:47
Speaker 1: Pickens kind of the same way. He's only he can't
28:50
Speaker 1: do too much if his quarterback can't get him the ball,
28:54
Speaker 1: so he's he's another solid choice, but he's come on late.
28:59
Speaker 3: You know, well, it does kind of suck to have.
29:04
Speaker 1: To do this, but I will go ahead and give
29:06
Speaker 1: Offensive Player of the Year to russ. I mean, he's
29:10
Speaker 1: only played in three games, so I understand the the pause.
29:17
Speaker 1: With anyone else wanting to do that, I wouldn't get
29:20
Speaker 1: any You won't get any arguments from me if you
29:22
Speaker 1: choose not to select.
29:24
Speaker 3: Him because of that.
29:24
Speaker 1: But looking at his stats in the three games he's played,
29:28
Speaker 1: he has fifty completions out of eighty five attempts, so
29:33
Speaker 1: it's a fifty eight point eight percent percentage. Would like
29:36
Speaker 1: get higher, but whatever. He's got seven hundred and thirty
29:40
Speaker 1: seven yards, which comes out to two hundred and forty
29:42
Speaker 1: five yards per game. He's also got six touchdown passes
29:47
Speaker 1: to one interception. That's as many touchdown passes as Kenny
29:50
Speaker 1: Pickette had last year, and he's averaging a rating of
29:54
Speaker 1: one oh five point nine. So those are just the stats.
29:58
Speaker 1: And when you look at what he's done to rejuvenate
30:01
Speaker 1: the offense and get things going it I think I
30:08
Speaker 1: think that despite the lack of playing time, I think
30:12
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say that's a fair pick.
30:14
Speaker 3: In my own defense.
30:16
Speaker 4: Yeah, so.
30:19
Speaker 1: All right, so there's offensive This one might be a
30:23
Speaker 1: quicker discussion, but uh, defensive player of the year, who
30:28
Speaker 1: is your pick in there?
30:30
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, the.
30:36
Speaker 4: Defense has been playing well. There's been guys that have
30:39
Speaker 4: stood up.
30:39
Speaker 2: I mean, I honestly, Cam Hayward has a case to
30:43
Speaker 2: be made too. I think he's been playing incredible as well.
30:49
Speaker 2: But I think it's TJ without doubt.
30:52
Speaker 1: So TJ is also my guy. Here's some quick stats
30:55
Speaker 1: for you, and then maybe we'll do an honorable mention
30:57
Speaker 1: just to have something else to discuss. TJ Watt has
31:03
Speaker 1: not twenty four solo tackles nine assisted for a total
31:07
Speaker 1: of thirty three. He has six and a half sacks
31:11
Speaker 1: and ten tackles for loss. He's also gone out and
31:15
Speaker 1: defended three passes, So there you go. I'm assuming these
31:17
Speaker 1: are the swats. And then he has four forced fumbles
31:22
Speaker 1: and two fumble recoveries.
31:24
Speaker 3: So yeah, TJ.
31:25
Speaker 1: Watt is definitely the defensive player of the year, maybe
31:28
Speaker 1: not just for the Steelers, but possibly for the league.
31:31
Speaker 1: And if I'm going to give an honorable shout out,
31:36
Speaker 1: there are two guys I want to give a shout
31:38
Speaker 1: out to just because I feel like they've stepped up
31:42
Speaker 1: really and it was kind of unexpected. Beanie Bishop had
31:45
Speaker 1: a very slow start. People were very angry at him,
31:48
Speaker 1: and we're trying to get him pulled, counting the days
31:50
Speaker 1: until Kim Sutton came back. But he's come up big
31:54
Speaker 1: with some plays in the past few weeks. He's got
31:56
Speaker 1: three interceptions on the year, and Dante Jackson as well.
32:00
Speaker 1: He has been great in past defense. He's also got
32:03
Speaker 1: three picks. He came over in the Deontay Johnson trade
32:07
Speaker 1: and people thought he was solid, but didn't really think
32:12
Speaker 1: that it was a lot of people didn't think it
32:14
Speaker 1: was the trade the Steelers should have made because they
32:16
Speaker 1: lost a wide receiver, which, even with Johnson still on
32:20
Speaker 1: the roster, was already a position of need. But Dante
32:23
Speaker 1: Jackson has done a lot to quiet that with his
32:26
Speaker 1: play with his key interceptions. So since it was pretty
32:31
Speaker 1: quick that TJ. Watt was the defensive player of the Year,
32:33
Speaker 1: I thought it might be worth mentioning a few other
32:36
Speaker 1: guys who are playing.
32:39
Speaker 3: Above what we expected from them.
32:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, Next on the list is our Rookie.
32:51
Speaker 4: Of the Year.
32:52
Speaker 1: So I'll let you take a stab at this one first.
32:57
Speaker 4: Yeah.
32:57
Speaker 2: I mean, I guess if I go with the unit,
33:00
Speaker 2: I can pick an individual here. I think Zach Fraser
33:06
Speaker 2: has been, in my mind, the best rookie year. I
33:10
Speaker 2: think that has been. You know, I think it's between
33:14
Speaker 2: two people, because honestly, half of the rookie class is heard.
33:20
Speaker 3: Yeah, but no, I think that.
33:25
Speaker 2: He's been playing great. I think it's very difficult to
33:29
Speaker 2: be first year or center, and like I said, multiple quarterbacks.
33:34
Speaker 6: And I think there was that one time where there
33:37
Speaker 6: was a fumble he stood up trying to own it
33:41
Speaker 6: even though maybe it wasn't even as well, but like
33:47
Speaker 6: showing himself beyond his years.
33:49
Speaker 1: He was doing audibles in like his first or second
33:52
Speaker 1: game too, and that's insane for a rookie. Zach Fraser
33:57
Speaker 1: is a good pick. I think Beanie Bishop, who I
34:01
Speaker 1: would point out as an undrafted free agent rookie would
34:05
Speaker 1: be another good one that I just mentioned. If I
34:09
Speaker 1: wasn't gonna pick Zach Frasier, because I do think he's
34:11
Speaker 1: a good choice, I would maybe go with Peyton Wilson,
34:14
Speaker 1: another draft pick out of NC State. Guy was supposedly
34:20
Speaker 1: overlooked because of an injury history, but he's come in
34:22
Speaker 1: and he's been playing a majority of the defensive snaps
34:27
Speaker 1: this year, and he's been all over the place. He's
34:29
Speaker 1: been pretty good. Not going to show up on the
34:31
Speaker 1: stat lines, like with interceptions or things like that that
34:34
Speaker 1: a person in the secondary would, but what I can
34:37
Speaker 1: tell you is he's.
34:38
Speaker 3: Got forty total.
34:40
Speaker 1: Tackles, twenty four of them solo, with one tackle for
34:44
Speaker 1: a loss. And it's just been good to see the
34:50
Speaker 1: Steelers hit with an early linebacker draft pick, because we
34:55
Speaker 1: are all too familiar with spending those high draft picks
34:57
Speaker 1: on linebackers and more or often than not them not
35:01
Speaker 1: panning out. So if nothing else, we're getting a good
35:05
Speaker 1: season so far out of Peyton Wilson.
35:08
Speaker 3: Yeah, OK, sure, all right, and.
35:13
Speaker 1: Last but not least, I'm sorry, not last, but not
35:16
Speaker 1: least second to last. We will do Coach of the Year,
35:20
Speaker 1: So it could be any coach. I said it as
35:23
Speaker 1: a joke before we recorded, since there's only one head
35:26
Speaker 1: coach obviously, but we'll open it up to all the
35:27
Speaker 1: position coaches as well here. So who is your pick
35:30
Speaker 1: for coach of the year on the Steelers staff and
35:34
Speaker 1: smith yep.
35:36
Speaker 4: Uh mentioned it earlier.
35:39
Speaker 2: I just think that there's the secondary has just been playing.
35:43
Speaker 4: Is the best unit on this team and one of
35:46
Speaker 4: the best units in all of football. Special teams.
35:51
Speaker 2: Again, enough recognition, but whenever you have shown up in
35:55
Speaker 2: the stat sheet for every single thing that you can
35:58
Speaker 2: possibly do for special teams, then whether it's turn touchdown,
36:07
Speaker 2: blocking field goals, blocking punts.
36:12
Speaker 7: Just also where we we have an injury to a
36:15
Speaker 7: punter and we have not even talked about one time
36:18
Speaker 7: about how we are a punter has been a liability.
36:22
Speaker 4: So Boswell's playing Greek too. I mean, just.
36:30
Speaker 2: Uh, well, I guess I shouldn't say unblemish. I said
36:35
Speaker 2: he coached out, they just didn't execute. I'm not gonna
36:37
Speaker 2: blame the coach. Danny sith And is chopping his bubble
36:41
Speaker 2: gum on the sidelines.
36:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, you could make the case for Mike Tomlin this year.
36:48
Speaker 1: But since we're specifically talking about the Steelers, I would
36:53
Speaker 1: also agree with Danny Smith.
36:54
Speaker 3: It starts with Chris Boswell.
36:57
Speaker 1: He's only missed one field goal and I think it
36:59
Speaker 1: was like a fifteen yarder that Frankly, I'm still mad
37:03
Speaker 1: that they even put him in that position.
37:07
Speaker 3: But he's got eighty.
37:07
Speaker 4: Nine penalty on that.
37:10
Speaker 3: I don't know if they took a.
37:11
Speaker 1: Penalty or it might have been where they they drew
37:14
Speaker 1: up a bad play on third down before that to
37:17
Speaker 1: not get any closer. But outside of that, he's twenty
37:23
Speaker 1: three of twenty four playing in a notoriously tough stadium
37:27
Speaker 1: to kick field goals in. He's got eighty nine points
37:31
Speaker 1: on the year. The special teams unit, you're right there.
37:34
Speaker 1: It seems like they're making an extraordinary play every week,
37:37
Speaker 1: whether it's a blocked field goal, blocked punt, a punt
37:40
Speaker 1: return for a touchdown, they're always stepping up. And like
37:45
Speaker 1: you said, punter goes down in week one, they signed
37:50
Speaker 1: someone else and they really haven't missed a beat.
37:52
Speaker 3: So it's been.
37:57
Speaker 1: A really good compliment to the offense and the defense
38:00
Speaker 1: to have a special teams unit that is just so
38:04
Speaker 1: on point like these guys are. So I'll give them
38:07
Speaker 1: that and now the final award Team MVP. Who is
38:15
Speaker 1: your pick for the most Valuable Player this year at
38:18
Speaker 1: the midway point?
38:20
Speaker 4: I mean, I just I don't think that it's TJ. Watt.
38:25
Speaker 2: This This team is who's in the winning percentage. If PJ.
38:30
Speaker 2: Watt is playing or not playing, it's night and day.
38:34
Speaker 2: I don't think it would be as drastic this year.
38:37
Speaker 2: But he's easily the hard and soul of the team
38:40
Speaker 2: and one of the best players.
38:41
Speaker 4: In all football.
38:42
Speaker 1: So I am I'm gonna take you to task on
38:47
Speaker 1: this a little bit. There's one player on the Steelers
38:53
Speaker 1: team that has not had a bad game, that has
38:58
Speaker 1: been consistent. He always shows up, he always does his job,
39:03
Speaker 1: and you can always rely on him and mock me
39:07
Speaker 1: if you will. But I am giving the Team MVP
39:11
Speaker 1: for twenty twenty four to the Blizzard of Boz Chris
39:15
Speaker 1: Boswell and giving the man the recognition he finally deserves.
39:19
Speaker 1: Like I said, twenty three of twenty four, at the
39:21
Speaker 1: helm of that Special Teams unit, eighty nine points for
39:25
Speaker 1: the year, single handedly defeating the Atlanta Falcons in Week
39:28
Speaker 1: one with six field goals. No, I mean, look, it's
39:34
Speaker 1: probably gonna go to TJ.
39:35
Speaker 4: Watt.
39:35
Speaker 1: But everything I mentioned is exaggerated as I was making
39:40
Speaker 1: it sounds it's entirely true. I mean, even TJ. Watt,
39:43
Speaker 1: I don't think he really did anything of note this
39:45
Speaker 1: past game. But Boswell, every single game he does exactly
39:52
Speaker 1: what you need him to do. Sometimes more so I will,
39:56
Speaker 1: I will tip my cap to him.
39:57
Speaker 2: In this instance, ironically, the only games well, I guess
40:05
Speaker 2: we've had three games decided by a field goal or
40:08
Speaker 2: less and we lost two of those. So I was just
40:16
Speaker 2: thinking about normally when you need a kicker and differences
40:20
Speaker 2: three points, how what you mean? But luckily we haven't
40:24
Speaker 2: really had to worry about it. We've been winning by
40:28
Speaker 2: more than more than a last second field goal, so
40:32
Speaker 2: it feels nice.
40:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, So there you go. I do want to mention too.
40:40
Speaker 1: We've talked about it a lot, and we'll talk about
40:42
Speaker 1: it each week as well. The Steelers are about to
40:44
Speaker 1: enter into a gauntlet of a schedule. They do have
40:48
Speaker 1: a short week because the after the Ravens game, they
40:52
Speaker 1: have a Thursday night game at Cleveland, so I will
40:56
Speaker 1: actually be at the Georgia Tech North Carolina State game
40:59
Speaker 1: at that state time, So I think I'll be watching
41:01
Speaker 1: on my phone while I'm there, but definitely going to
41:07
Speaker 1: have a short week with a quick turnaround, and then,
41:10
Speaker 1: like we've also mentioned, they play all six division games,
41:12
Speaker 1: so that is difficult. But again, if they're able to
41:15
Speaker 1: stack some of those wins there, they'll definitely be able
41:18
Speaker 1: to separate themselves from the rest of the division.
41:21
Speaker 3: So all right, was.
41:24
Speaker 1: There anything else you wanted to touch on before we
41:26
Speaker 1: sign off for the week?
41:29
Speaker 4: No, I don't think so.
41:32
Speaker 3: Sounds good to me.
41:33
Speaker 1: That'll do it for us folks. For the world famous accountants,
41:37
Speaker 1: Eric Vanmnschoten, I'm Nick Detulio and this has been another
41:40
Speaker 1: episode of the GameHouse dot Com Steelers Country Weekly