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Browns Recap, Bengals Preview · Steelers Country Weekly

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Today on Steelers Country Weekly, we break down the steelers
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: big win at home over the Cleveland Browns, look ahead
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: to the Thursday night matchup in Cincinnati against Joe Flacco
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: and the Cincinnati Bengals, and then we'll talk about our
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: personal favorite memories from Paul Brown Stadium. I'm Nick de
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  Speaker 1: Tulio and is always I'm joined by the world famous
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: accountant Eric Vanman showten.
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  Speaker 2: Eric.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: How are you tonight?
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  Speaker 3: Oh? Doing pretty good?
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: Just chilling, hanging out playings in nc DOUBLEA two thousand
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: and six and talking football after our.
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: Team has won this past weekend.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: So in weather, but I'm it's like Hive seventy two.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, life is good.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: So a couple of things I need to unpack there.
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  Speaker 3: Uh.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: First thing is you're playing NCUBA oh six, So I
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: trust you fired up the old trusty Xbox.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, and everyone thinks so that you know it
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: might be one of those old Xbox, Xbox one, Xbox
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: thirty sixty and no.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Xbox, just Xbox, the same console. You've had this since
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: you got it the whole time.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean when I was younger there, I didn't
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: get the Ring of Red at one point, and I
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: had to trade this one in for the newer model,
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: and like you know, probably two thousand and seven time frame.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: But oh yeah, I still got some old games, some
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: games that we used to play, like SSX, Tricky and
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: NHL two thousand and five. Yep, I know you mentioned
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: Nicety Warriors. Got some of that. Yeah, I mean played
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: NFL Blitz beat up on my little nephew.
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  Speaker 3: Once by a time.
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  Speaker 1: So yeah, you know, I now that you mention it,
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  Speaker 1: I do have a working PlayStation two still, so I
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: scratched that itch every once in a while. And then
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: I actually got a Nintendo sixty four for Christmas last year.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: I just haven't had the chance to actually get any
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  Speaker 1: games for it, so it's like a decoration right now.
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  Speaker 1: But someday we'll get it fired up. But yeah, I'm
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  Speaker 1: with you. And then the weather. It was eighty one
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: degrees down here today, so I'm waiting for fall to
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: kick in. I know there's second summer that everyone has
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: here down in Atlanta, but I would like it to
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: be fall please. I know I live in the South,
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: but I would I prefer the fall in the colder weather.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: So yeah, anyway, enough about us and our video games
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: and our weather discussions. Let's talk about the Pittsburgh Steelers, though,
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: because this game on Sunday was probably the best performance
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: we've seen from the Steelers all year. You could probably
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: make a case for the Vikings game as well, although
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: the Steelers actually finished this game the way they should,
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: which was the big difference here. So final score ended
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: up being twenty three to nine. Big story was that
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: this was Dylan Gabriel's second start. It was the Steelers
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: coming home from Dublin. The Browns were actually coming home
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  Speaker 1: from London as well, so the Steelers were coming off
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  Speaker 1: of a bye, which gave him a little bit of
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  Speaker 1: an edge and against Dylan Gabriel. Really, the Steelers were
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: in control for the entire game. It wasn't necessarily a blowout.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, the final score was twenty three to nine,
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  Speaker 1: so two touchdowns. I wouldn't classify that as a butt whoopon,
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  Speaker 1: But it was just one where the final score or
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  Speaker 1: the outcome was never really in doubt, so to speak.
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  Speaker 1: The Steelers were in control. They sacked Dylan Gabriel six times,
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  Speaker 1: they got pressure on him forty one percent of the
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  Speaker 1: time he dropped back, and it was just the ed Rushers.
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  Speaker 1: It was Jalen Ramsey getting two sacks on a day,
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  Speaker 1: and then you'd go to the other side of the
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  Speaker 1: ball and you had zero sacks given up on the Browns.
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  Speaker 1: There was actually one play where Rogers scrambled and I
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  Speaker 1: have no idea how the defensive end didn't catch him.
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  Speaker 1: It wasn't Miles Garrett, but Aaron Rodgers turned on what
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  Speaker 1: he's got left in the wheels there there was another player. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: well there was another play where he scrambled and did
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  Speaker 1: like a quick little shovel pass that Warren dove and caught. Really,
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  Speaker 1: this was the as I said, the most complete game
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  Speaker 1: we've seen. The Steelers just get a little bit better
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  Speaker 1: each and every week, mainly starting from week two on.
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  Speaker 1: And they looked good. We had some deep ball passes.
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  Speaker 1: DK Metcalf had another big game, Darnell Washington continued to
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  Speaker 1: establish himself. So I'm feeling pretty good about the performance
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  Speaker 1: this past The worst part of the game, I'd say
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  Speaker 1: was the playing surface. But that's something we've talked about
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  Speaker 1: several times before. So Eric, when you look back to
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: this past Sunday, what are some things that you take away.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, look, Dylan Gabriel through two hundred and
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  Speaker 2: twenty one yards but on fifty two attempts. And you know,
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  Speaker 2: the Browns are known for a running team, and they
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  Speaker 2: never really got going, only seventeen rushing attempts on the day,
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  Speaker 2: So they're playing ketchup.
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  Speaker 3: The whole entire time.
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  Speaker 2: And the Steelers played their very efficient game plan, which
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  Speaker 2: was look, the days of Aaron Rodgers throwing three hundred
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  Speaker 2: yards probably are you know, behind us if it's gonna
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  Speaker 2: occasionally happen. But he threw two hundred and thirty five
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  Speaker 2: yards two touchdowns, kept the cat sent clean on turnover category.
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  Speaker 2: And yeah, I mean the again sixth sacs. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: that's gonna happen when you have a quarterback drop back
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  Speaker 2: that much.
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  Speaker 3: But the strengths of the team are resonating, you know.
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  Speaker 2: I guess that's how I would say we have glaring
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  Speaker 2: weakness weaknesses. I think it's apparent we still have like
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  Speaker 2: no wide receiver number two. That's why Darnell Washington is
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: getting the reps that he is and getting those rep receptions.
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  Speaker 3: Are running game.
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  Speaker 2: Warren ran Okay, everyone else I felt like was pedestrian.
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  Speaker 2: But you know, when you win by two touchdowns, I
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  Speaker 2: don't care who you play in this league, you'll take
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  Speaker 2: that win. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: The offensively, I was shocked when the game opened up
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  Speaker 1: with a pass from the Steelers on first down and
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  Speaker 1: then it ended up going to Darnell Washington and that
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  Speaker 1: big guy ran for what thirty six yards on the
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  Speaker 1: opening play. He did fumble the ball too, but it
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: went out of bound. Said no harm, no foul, but
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  Speaker 1: that to me.
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  Speaker 3: Bumbling.
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  Speaker 1: Well, that set the tone for me for sure. First
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  Speaker 1: play of the game, you draw that up and Darnell
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  Speaker 1: Washington comes out and then I don't want to say
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  Speaker 1: this was his coming out party because he's taken bigger
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: and bigger roles each week, but he was very clearly
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: the tight end one this past week, very present. He
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: had a few good catches, definitely out there and Aaron
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: Rodgers again, I talked about his scrambles, which I didn't
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  Speaker 1: think I'd ever be talking about this year, but he
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  Speaker 1: had two really good touchdown passes in two completely different scenarios.
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  Speaker 1: They tried to get the deep ball a few times
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  Speaker 1: and it didn't really work just for whatever reason, whether
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: it was the ballplace or just miscommunication. But on his
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  Speaker 1: touchdown pass to DK Metcalf, DK got pasted to the
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  Speaker 1: defender and it was maybe what a thirty or forty
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  Speaker 1: yard touchdown pass. Rogers just laid it in there perfectly
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  Speaker 1: for him over his shoulder, so that was beautiful. The
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  Speaker 1: other touchdown pass, he scrambled out to the right in
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  Speaker 1: a broken play and just kind of like you do
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: when you're playing in the backyard with your buddies. He
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  Speaker 1: was pointing to Connor Hayward and telling him to run
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  Speaker 1: to the left, and Rogers threw across his body and Hayward,
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  Speaker 1: to his credit, made a really impressive diving catch to
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  Speaker 1: give the Steelers those two touchdowns. I do wish in
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  Speaker 1: the start of the game they had been able to
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: convert one of their three field goals to a touchdown,
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  Speaker 1: particularly that first drive when you get that thirty six
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  Speaker 1: yard pass to start the game, I feel like that
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  Speaker 1: would have really set the tone for the game and
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: made things a little even more dominant for them. Obviously,
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  Speaker 1: if you open the game with the touchdown, we could
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  Speaker 1: have been looking at a legitimate blowout here. But again,
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  Speaker 1: I'm not going to complain about that. Fourteen point win
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  Speaker 1: is a fourteen point win. The one thing I want
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  Speaker 1: to mention is the playing surface that we talked about too.
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  Speaker 1: We had a couple injuries on the turf, and then
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  Speaker 1: we had a missed field goal that was bad. Obviously,
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  Speaker 1: missed a field goal where Lucky Boswell didn't get hurt
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: too because his planting foot slid and you never know
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  Speaker 1: how that's going to how your leg tenses up when
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: you're in that situation. We've seen crazier injuries happen, for sure.
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  Speaker 1: So he missed the field goal. We got very lucky
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  Speaker 1: that he did not get hurt. So I know the
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  Speaker 1: field is already being replaced. They've got what between now
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: and next Sunday night to get it done. The field
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: has always been an issue there, and I think that.
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  Speaker 3: Sunday night game or we have a Sunday.
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  Speaker 1: Night game, we have a Sunday night game. Not this
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  Speaker 1: upcoming week obviously, but next week.
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  Speaker 3: Oh we are that.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. So the pictures I saw from yesterday showed that
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: the field had been completely removed because they're going to
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: put a new layer of sod down. So again, I
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: hope it's done in time. I hope it doesn't storm
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: in Pittsburgh between now and otherwise we'll get some flashbacks
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: to that Miami Dolphins Monday night mud game. But I
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: think that, honestly, part of the problem with the field
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: is there's just too many people using it And we
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: can get into the macroeconomics of multi use stadiums and
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: what stadiums do to cities and the revenue they bring in,
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: but I think if we're just focused on the Pittsburgh Steelers,
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: I think we need to get the pitt Panthers their
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: own home and stop letting the high school playoffs be
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: played at at hind. I almost called it hind Sield
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: at Akroscher Stadium, even though that's gonna sound a little
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: hypocritical when we talk about some fun things later, But anyway,
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: it did give me some flashbacks. You remember those games
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: from the multi use stadiums that I mentioned. The last
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: one was Oakland and then Miami for a while, where
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: you'd be playing, you'd be watching the football game, and
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: because it was a dual youth stadium, you'd have a
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: baseball field for over part of the football field and
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: the field quality was so bad. That's kind of what
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: it reminded me of that And like when we would
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: practice when we were younger up at the fields at
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: our Lady of victory on that not very well maintained grass.
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: So oh yeah, when Boswall slid, they caught.
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  Speaker 3: I don't think there's a better term for it.
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: That's that's a generous term. I'd say it anyway. The
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  Speaker 1: good news, though, is despite all that, the Steelers came
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: out relatively unscathed. Miles Killibrew did have a significant injury
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: according to Mike Tomlin. Hopefully we'll see him soon, but
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: the rest of the defense and the offense remained healthy,
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: so that's good. The Steelers walk away with a win,
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: a division win. They moved to four and one, their
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: sole possession of first place in the division, and as
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: a bonus, every other team in the division lost this
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: past Sunday. Obviously, they beat the Browns, the Ravens lost,
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: and the Bengals lost, so that means the Steelers are
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: going to have a short week and they are going
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: to go to Cincinnati to play Joe Flacco and the
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium. So it was kind of
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: interesting because Joe Flacco had an opportunity to beat the
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  Speaker 1: Packers twice in a year, but playing for different teams,
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  Speaker 1: and they actually came closer than I thought they would
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: I think they got it within a within a touchdown there.
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: They had six points and then they I think they
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: scored a field goal.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, So the Steelers definitely have their work cut out
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: for them, I'll say, mostly because they're not going up
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: against Jake Browning anymore. They're going up against Joe Flacco,
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  Speaker 1: who I don't want to say he is familiar with
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: the Steelers because every year it's a different team, right,
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: but he's got more familiarity with than probably any other
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: quarterback that could have taken off off of another team
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: or off of the free agent list when they got
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: this trade. And Joe Flacco is a smart quarterback. So
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: Joe Flacco has also never had the weapons that he
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: has right now on this Bengals offense. This is kind
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: of interesting to think about. He just doesn't have anyone
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: to protect him while he's back there. So we know
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: the Bengals defense is struggling. We've talked a little bit
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: about the offense, and we know that they've got all
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: these weapons. They do not have Joe Burrow, They've got
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: Joe Flacco. It's gonna be an interesting Thursday night game,
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: I think anyway. But Eric, I'll put the ball in
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: your court here. What are some of the interesting things
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: you're looking for in this matchup come Thursday night.
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, look, I watched that Bengals Packers game,
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: and Flacco looked really bad in the first half and
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: looked decent in the second half. I mean he started
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: getting some familiarity with the wide receivers.
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: Look, you can close your eyes and.
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: Throw the ball down field to Jamar Chust time and
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: probably still get one hundred and fifty passing yards in
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: the game. Yep. But you know, I think that that
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: was impressive what he was able to do in a
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: short amount of time. They even made the joke you
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: don't have the same amount of practice practice time this week.
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: It's just he'll maybe no more names. So I think that,
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: you know, offensively, it's gonna be.
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: Well. I guess our defense we.
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: Have to get to Joe and our secondary can't be
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: the liability. Look, if you want to say, what's the
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: opposite of stacking the box, that's what we need to
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: do because Bengals are probably the worst rushing offense in
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: the league, and so let them beat us that way.
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: I think that that's where we'll get the most opportunities.
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: Is I trying to play that game and then offensively,
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: you know, I think that like, because they have playmakers
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: on the other side of the ball, I think we
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: should try to play a time of possession. I think
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: a game plan like we did against the Vikings from
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: a running perspective is probably the.
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: Best for us.
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: You know, I'm not sure on the stats, but my
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: friend at work, he grumbles all the time about they
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: can't stop anybody on the run. Honestly, they can't stop
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: anyone in the defense in general. But I feel like
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: they have a very bad run defense. So you know,
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: let's let's put Washington back out there. Let's get Spencer
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: Anderson out there. There's some you know, six lineman sets
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: and you know, keep that ball going and look, Aaron
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: just does his thing. If he has another low two
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: hundred yard passing performance with a couple of.
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: Big plays, and you know, it keeps keeps the ball.
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: Out of the other team's hand, then you know we
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: should win this game.
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: Though we are. We said this with the Brown to
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: say with the Bengals, we're.
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: The better team and the only way we're really gonna
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: lose this game, I feel like is if we play
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: to their game or we shoot ourselves on the foot.
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm with you. I would love to see the
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: run game get established and let that be the dominating
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: force here. Like you said, be dominate the time of possession,
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: control the flow of the game. I think that's important.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: I will say, though, if we do have to rely
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: on the passing game, I'm a little more confident now
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: than I have been in previous weeks after watching this
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: past performance against Cleveland because Broderick Jones, who has been
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: very much maligned his entire career so far, partially due
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: to playing on the right side of the ball instead
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: of the left side of the ball, but he had
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: his best game as a pro this past Sunday protecting
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: against Miles Garrett. Again, no sacks from the Browns this week,
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: so getting the offensive line as they continue to gel.
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: I'm excited to see what they can do, and I'm
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: trusting of them a little more than I have been,
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: especially than I was at the start of the year
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: after a lot of what we saw defensively. I'm with you,
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: you said, do the opposite of stacking the box. I
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: don't think we need to run any quarter defenses or
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: anything for the whole game, but I think if the
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: Steelers can trust their line and their edge rushers to
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: just get to the quarterback without bringing any extra pressure,
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: that would be the best possible scenario for them. I
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: think Flacco is going to be trying to get the
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: ball out quickly because again we know the Bengals don't
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: have the best protection. But if the Steelers are able
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: to generate that pressure without bringing in extra people, that
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: would be ideal, and that would allow for them to
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: get the Flacco to rush him and possibly to cost
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: some turnovers. That was another thing we didn't talk about
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: is they think the Steelers had maybe like three dropped
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: interceptions this past week, so odds are it's very rare
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: for that to happen. You'd think that something would break
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: their win. They'd get at least one of those. So
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: if they have the same relative pressure that they do
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: this week that they did last week, I think we
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: can expect some turnovers. So, yeah, I'm with you. This
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: isn't one I really want to overanalyze. This is a
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: game that the Steelers should win. They know they're the
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: better team. I think the Bengals know that the Steelers
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: are the better team. I think everyone would be in agreement.
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: Looking at who's on the field right now, Yes, the
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: Steelers are the better team. The problem is you talked
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: about it last week that this would be the Browns
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: Super Bowl if they beat the Steelers. With the way
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: that the Bengals season is going, this could be their
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: super Bowl as well. Getting to be spoilers for the Steelers,
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: and we obviously know there's a lot of disdain for
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: the Steelers in Cincinnati. Two and who knows if you
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: are the Bengals. Joe Flacco's come onto a team or
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: started to a team in the middle of the season
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: and taking them to the playoffs before. Crazier things have happened,
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: right especially with the rest of your division being kind
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: of in the gutter right now.
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: So, like you know, this isn't a must win game
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: for either team, but they're quite I don't remember an
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: implication games this early as the season, just because it
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: because you mentioned all the teams lost last week.
• 21:18
  Speaker 3: The Steelers are up two and.
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: A half games on everyone in the division, and it's
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: three and a half if you consider the Ravens and Browns.
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: If we beat the Bengals, we're three and a half
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: games on every single team in the Division. Yep, brew
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: seven but through seven weeks six games for us, I
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: mean that's incredible, And I know we've had slides in
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: the season, but you know that as a pretty good,
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: comfy lead that's like banned up twenty eight scores or
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: twenty points.
• 22:00
  Speaker 3: Feels like we'd be able to kind of help maintain
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: that throughout the season if we get this one.
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I'm with you, I don't want to get
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: ahead of ourselves or you know, look too far ahead.
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: But if you're the Steelers, you have to know that
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: no lead is truly safe, particularly after how last season
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: ended for the team, right, So you you you have
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: to get these wins when you can, especially early on
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: when you know you're supposed to be the winner.
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: The Ravens aren't a bye this week, but you have
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: to figure that Lamar Jackson's gonna come back at some point.
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: And the most difficult part of the Ravens schedule is
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: already behind them. They have they played the Bills, the Lions,
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: the Chiefs, the Texans, and the Rams already. They also
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: had the Browns in there too, was their only win.
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: So so that that's why I give the Ravens a
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: little bit of grace with that one in five start,
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: because you had the Lamar Jackson injury. The games against
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: the Bills and the Lions were close. The Chiefs was
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: not so close, but that's the game that Lamar ended
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: up getting hurt in. And then I don't know what
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: to tell you about the Texans game, but the Rams
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: beat them seventeen to three. But again, if they're on
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: by they come back. Let's just assume that Lamar Jackson
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: comes back after the die. I think that's the ideal
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: situation and what they've kind of hinted at all along.
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: They get the Bears, the Dolphins, the Vikings, the Browns,
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: the Jets, the Bengals and Steelers twice each, and then
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: the Patriots and the Packers.
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: If a.
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's what I mean. It's I could if
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson comes back, I could see them running the
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: table just right. I mean, they're not playing the line.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: They're not they're not playing.
• 24:12
  Speaker 3: The line possible, correct.
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: So that's why you need to do what you can
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: to get those wins now and kind of put it
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: as far out of reach as possible for the other team.
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: So yeah, all right, let's hear it, Eric, what do
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: you think the final score will be come Thursday night.
• 24:35
  Speaker 3: It's good. Let's go.
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: Twenty seven to I only do an odd score for
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: the Bengals twenty two.
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: Okay, so you got it close. I'm gonna go the
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: other way here. I uh, I'm gonna give the Steelers
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: a loss here. It pains it pains me to do
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: that against the Bengals, but and I've got no reason
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: to do it other than I'm just looking at the schedule.
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: I'm looking at where we're at now. I feel like
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: we've been here before, right like, oh yeah, we've got everything,
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: we're humming, we know what we're doing, and then we
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: have the classic Tomlin trap game. We don't have Big
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: Ben on the roster anymore, who never loses in Ohio.
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: I just something about this isn't sitting right with me.
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: I know the Steelers are the better team. I know
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: they should win, and maybe Aaron Rodgers is maybe I'm
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: just not used to Aaron Rodgers getting these guys in
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: shape and ready to go. But yeah, I am going
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: to I'm going to give the Bengals the win. You
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: said twenty seven to twenty two Steelers, I'll say twenty
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: four to seventeen Bengals.
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: Hey, you just said that they played their best game.
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: I know they did, and I don't trust them to
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: maintain that into this next game. Giving all the history
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: that we have here, I don't.
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: I feel like the games that we drop are not
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: that we shouldn't have dropped, tend to be outside of
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: the division. So while I understand your methodology and not
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: just centing to your your opinion, ah, I feel like
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: a lot of times it's, you know, a bad one
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: that's like, let's say, uh, you know, we think they're
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: gonna beat the Bears and it's ahead of the Ravens game.
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: That's one that they typically drop.
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well they're playing the Packers after this, So kind
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: of personal for Aaron Rodgers, sure, but I would like
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: to think that he's above letting it impact his performance,
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: if that makes sense. Yeah, I'll be honest with you. Normally,
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: I think when we did our preseason predictions, I had
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: the Colts as the trap game. But it's not a
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: trap game anymore. The Colts are the other team in
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: first place in the AFC right now, which is just
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: crazy to me and I think crazy to everyone too.
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: No one expected them to come out guns of blazing
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: like they have. So yeah, there you go. Eric has
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: the Steelers winning the negative, Nancy, I have them losing.
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: I hope that Eric is right here. So yeah, yeah, yeah,
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: for this time we do all right. So with this
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: game being played at Paul Brown's Stair pay Course Stadium,
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry, we thought that since it's our hometown and
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: Eric now lives back in Cincinnati, it might be fun
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: to talk about some of our favorite memories from in
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: that stadium. So we don't have to do just one.
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: We can kind of talk about whatever pops into mind.
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: I'll let you start, Eric, what are some of your
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: favorite memories from inside Paul brown slash pay Course Stadium
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: in downtown Cincinnati.
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I I didn't always I don't know
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: the listeners know this.
• 28:33
  Speaker 3: I didn't always become a Steelers fan. I just never
• 28:37
  Speaker 3: was going to be a Bengals fan.
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: Yea.
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: So my first love was the Tennessee Titans. Steve ara
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: McNair is my favorite player, and so my first game
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: that I got to go see in person was Titans Bengals.
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: And it wasn't so much that like I wanted to keepsake.
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: They had the Bengals on it. It was just a
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: cool keepsake. But they had like this little paper locker
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: and you know, I had some goodies in it, and
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: Bengals helmet.
• 29:14
  Speaker 3: On mentioned the stadium and oh no, no, no.
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: It's pretty neat and it's sat in my room for
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: basically my whole childhood, so.
• 29:26
  Speaker 3: Obviously impressionable enough thing for you know, to stick around.
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: So yeah, I think that that That's probably what I
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: would say is.
• 29:41
  Speaker 3: When I think about when I think.
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: About the the stadium, because I don't you know, we've
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: had good times, We've gone to the game ourselves and
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: stuff like that, but you know, I think earing about
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: some of the stories about people being there and not
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: being so nice. We we haven't had those experiences, but
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: I think it does. Yeah, I mean, yeah, I just
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: want to like, hey, I don't want to detract as
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: much anymore by going to the game.
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I have had some of the nothing too terribly bad,
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: but I can tell you the uh, the difference. The
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: experience that I've had as a Steelers fan at Paul
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: Brown Stadium is quite the opposite of the experience that
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: my friend Brad has had a as a Bengals fan
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: at Akrocher Stadium. I won't get into too many of
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: the negatives, but we class that that is true, and
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: we're humble about it too, and that's the important part. No,
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: So I'll just I'll leave it at that unless it
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: comes up organically again. But the couple things that I
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: wanted to mention, I've been to that stadium a lot.
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: I was going to ask you a question too. Did
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: you ever get the opportunity to play in that stadium?
• 31:16
  Speaker 3: To be honest, I don't remember. I know I should.
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: This guy had so many great memories he doesn't even
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: remember which NFL stadiums he may or may not have played.
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: I will say, I've always all like, why, I've never
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: been a Bengalis fan.
• 31:35
  Speaker 3: I've always been a Bearcats fan.
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: So I remember playing at Nipper Becat Stadium, Okay, And
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: I remember those times.
• 31:46
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: But and also when I grew up, we would have
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: banded football, you know. And I remember playing at the
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: pit band of football is basically your first ever class
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: of tackle football. Yeah, and so I remember that. And
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: I went to ER, I went to UC. So those
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: are the memories I have of playing football in a
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: stadium that being in awe selling the pull Brown Stadium
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: now pay Course stadium.
• 32:22
  Speaker 3: I can take it or leave it as a child.
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: Well, the reason I mentioned it, and I kind of
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: hinted at it when we started started the episode, was
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: a lot of times. I don't know if I don't
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: know if it still happens that often, but there used
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: to be at least one or two high school games there,
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: sometimes during the regular season, other times during the playoffs.
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: So I know I've seen at least one same X
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: game my high school there. I think it was while
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: I was in high school. I saw them play there.
• 32:58
  Speaker 3: But I did I did play there?
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: Okay, well, it's all coming back now.
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: Did I play there? Did I stand on the sideline?
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: Okay, well you dressed for the game?
• 33:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah?
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: So, but I have seen more. I know I've seen
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: two Elder High school games there, which was interesting because
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure that for at least a few years,
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: the most attended game was an Elder High School versus
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: Highlands High School regular season football game. Don't don't quote
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: me on that, but I'm pretty sure that that was
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: something that was heavily discussed at the time it happened.
• 33:49
  Speaker 3: I don't doubt it mean.
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: Elder games also were the first like sellout to KNIPPERD
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: Stadium too, and they broke the sound.
• 33:59
  Speaker 3: Decimal there too.
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: Was that against Saint X.
• 34:05
  Speaker 3: It might have been extra.
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't want to get too far off topic,
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: but yeah, I think i've Coincidentally, I also attended one
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: of those games that for a time had the highest
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: attendance at Nippert, which wasn't a Bearcat game, it was
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: an Elder and I think if I was there, it
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: was a Saint X game. Just kind of crazy about
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: It's kind of crazy the high school football in Cincinnati.
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: We'll just leave it at that. But so I remember
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: that was one of the first The Elder Highlands game
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: was the first one where I had ever been at
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: like the lower level of a stadium like that. So
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: I thought that was pretty neat being that close to
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: all the action. The other thing that is interesting for
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: me is I was actually at their Week one game
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: in two thousand and one where they beat the New
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: England Patriots, who would go on to win the Super
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: Bowl that year. Tom Brady didn't get hurt in that game.
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: I think that was the next week or in Week three,
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: but just kind of interesting getting to be at their
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: first home opener win and in a game that against
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: the would be dynasty Patriots, So that was kind of
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: interesting for me. I think you and I managed to
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: pound ten cheese Coney's there in one sitting to at
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: one of the Bengals Steelers games. Yeah, and I've actually
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: I've been to I think two Bengals games where the
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: Steelers have not played in my adult years, so I've seen.
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: I've seen the Bengals play the Texans there, and then
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: I think I watched a broad Goes game at some
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: point there. I was probably paying attention to the Steelers
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: score on my phone or something, but I was physically
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: in the building.
• 36:07
  Speaker 3: So I also went to a game with an ex girlfriend.
• 36:13
  Speaker 2: And she might have a little too many pops and
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: chair a little little French French or wamburger and French
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: cries going on after the game, and uh yeah, I
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: wasn't there to console her to say, oh, it's okay,
• 36:31
  Speaker 2: your team's.
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: All right, rubbing it in the face.
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: I think in high school I went to a prom
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: that was at like one of the conference centers within
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: the stadium too, So.
• 36:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah, they have like event. Yeah, going back to Newburg.
• 36:52
  Speaker 2: Obviously, I love my Bearcats, we love her Bearcats. But yeah,
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: I've heard events in their press box.
• 37:00
  Speaker 3: I'd love that. That'd be awesome.
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, why not, right, I do that? And
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: Nipper's one of the few stadiums that you is always open,
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: so you can actually go onto the field too. It's
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: nice when you have to get the class and you
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: can just cut through and if you just want to
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: go down and play on the field too, if you've
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: got some free time.
• 37:21
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we did bring it up.
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: I did go to Paul Brown's concourse area for like,
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: it wasn't.
• 37:28
  Speaker 3: A dance, it was a or like fraternity they had.
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: They had like a big alumni event there.
• 37:43
  Speaker 3: I went with some fancy pants alumni people and.
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but it seemed kind of, I don't know, it
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: seemed boring, right, do you remember that?
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: From from what I remember, the view of the city
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: was pretty nice because it was just a big glass.
• 38:08
  Speaker 3: Window.
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: But you're to your point, you wouldn't know that you
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: were in a stadium if you had, you know, been
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: blindfolded and let in right, you couldn't see any of
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: the stadium. It wasn't like you were high up on
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: the upper deck or anything. You were ground level and
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: in front of a big window that could have been anywhere. Really.
• 38:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, like if you ever seen those, there's like minor
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: league stadiums that go abandon and then people take them
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: over and then they'll make them into like apartments or
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: something like that. Yeah, I feel like that would be
• 38:44
  Speaker 2: something like that. Obviously, not you can make an apartment,
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: but like do something where it seems like you're making
• 38:53
  Speaker 2: it like you're part of the field, you're part of
• 38:56
  Speaker 2: the stadium, you're you.
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: Know, the Reds actually do that really well. We had
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: a dance there and it was on the club level
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: so you could even so you could see inside the
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: field anyway. But they had the light the stadium lights
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: on and you could actually go down and like sit
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: on some of the club seats if you wanted to
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: step away from the dance floor or just get outside
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: and like actually sit in the seats look out at
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: the field. They had the jumbo tron like something that
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: said something about Saint X or whatnot. So something like
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: that I agree with you could be could be done
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: well on a Paul Brown or a Nipper venue.
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: But you swift feet, I bet you weren't getting away
• 39:43
  Speaker 2: from that dance floor.
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: Uh for that dance I probably was that was not
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: one of the better ones. For reasons we will not
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: dive into on Steelers Country Weekly, all right, No, we
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: will not be telling all right. We've talked about a
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: lot more than I ever wanted to about high school
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: dances of all things here, but really about our favorite
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: stadium memories from Paul Brown Stadium. I know we've seen
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: a lot of Bearcat games there too, because they played
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: there for a year and they played some games there.
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: We've seen lots of Bengals and Steelers games, high school
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: games some of us may or may not have played
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: on it. If it's coming, if the memory comes back
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: to us.
• 40:27
  Speaker 3: And when.
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: Then we talked about the Browns game and the Bengals preview. Again, Sorry,
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: I'm a negative Nancy. We've got Eric here to keep
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: us positive and all warm and bubbly. But was there
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: anything else you wanted to talk about before we signed
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: off for the evening?
• 40:42
  Speaker 3: You never know what we're going to talk about. Come
• 40:44
  Speaker 3: back next week.
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: A man, That's that's how that's how we hook you.
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: You never know, all right. Well, for the world famous
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: accountant Eric Vanmin showten I'm Nick de Tulio and this
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: has been another episode of the game GameHouse dot COM's
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: Steelers Country Weekly