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Falcons Recap, Patriots Preview · Steelers Country Weekly

0:00
Speaker 1: Today on Steelers Country Weekly, we break down the Steelers'
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Speaker 1: big opening day win against the Atlanta Falcons, look ahead
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Speaker 1: to the matchup in New England against the Patriots, and
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Speaker 1: talk about wide receiver performances throughout the league as they
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Speaker 1: relate to the Pittsburgh Steelers. I'm Nick DiTullio, and as always,
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Speaker 1: I'm joined by the world-famous accountant Eric Vamenschoten. Eric, how's
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Speaker 1: it going tonight?
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Speaker 2: I'm not too shabby. Uh.
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Speaker 3: This is going to be the last Steelers Country Weekly
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Speaker 3: as me, as a father of two, will be a father.
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Speaker 2: Of three.
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Speaker 3: Before the season starts, or the game happens on Sunday.
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Speaker 2: So, yeah, I might actually get to bring them home
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Speaker 2: and watch it. So that'll be fun.
0:46
Speaker 1: See, stupid me, when you were talking about having an
0:51
Speaker 1: early day on Wednesday, did not... did not put two
0:55
Speaker 1: and two together that that could possibly be what you're
0:57
Speaker 1: talking about. I'm like, Oh, they must just have a
0:59
Speaker 1: lot going on right now. But now we're, well, you
1:02
Speaker 1: do have a lot going on, but not quite what
1:04
Speaker 1: I was thinking about. So yeah.
1:06
Speaker 2: Induction very early on Thursday.
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Speaker 1: So there you go. Well, good luck. I hope everything
1:13
Speaker 1: goes well. I'm sure it will. And then like you said,
1:16
Speaker 1: if you're, um, if you're really lucky, you might get to, um,
1:19
Speaker 1: to bring them home for a game on Sunday afternoon
1:22
Speaker 1: and talk about a first day at home with the family, right?
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Speaker 2: That's right.
1:27
Speaker 1: Well, let's talk about what happened yesterday because it was
1:33
Speaker 1: an interesting game. And I think we're both glad we
1:38
Speaker 1: got the win, though we probably both have some concerns
1:43
Speaker 1: as well. So week one, we know it's week one.
1:47
Speaker 1: We know there's going to be some hiccups. The Steelers
1:50
Speaker 1: do get the win, 20-13. It did not always look
1:54
Speaker 1: the cleanest. The Steelers did have an offensive touchdown. They
1:58
Speaker 1: did have a defensive touchdown. And then they had Chris
2:03
Speaker 1: Boswell helping them out a little bit. I think they
2:06
Speaker 1: also had Boswell trying a 60-yard field goal that he
2:10
Speaker 1: missed at one point. Just a lot going on. On
2:15
Speaker 1: the Falcons' side, when you and I spoke last week,
2:19
Speaker 1: Tua Tagliabue had been named the starting quarterback. In between
2:25
Speaker 1: then and now, Sunday, he was placed on the injured
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Speaker 1: or designated with an injury again. So Cooper Rush was
2:34
Speaker 1: made the starter.
2:36
Speaker 2: Why was he injured?
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Speaker 1: I don't even remember anymore. Just add it to the list, right? Well,
2:46
Speaker 1: and the interesting thing, too, is Cooper Rush was the starter.
2:50
Speaker 1: And even he was having back spasms on Saturday. And
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Speaker 1: I was just thinking, at a certain point, I was like,
2:56
Speaker 1: who are they going to throw out there? But Cooper
2:59
Speaker 1: Rush played, and he did not... He played about as
3:06
Speaker 1: you would expect he would have. There was some good,
3:08
Speaker 1: some bad. Between you and me, I don't know that
3:13
Speaker 1: I would have even... He had 22 attempts... I would
3:17
Speaker 1: have stopped at 15 and just handed the ball off
3:19
Speaker 1: to Bijan every time, to be perfectly honest with you.
3:22
Speaker 3: No, I mean, he's bounced around, and I would say
3:30
Speaker 3: he's a serviceable backup.
3:33
Speaker 2: Now, he's a third-string quarterback for the Falcons, but I know.
3:36
Speaker 3: He had some time with the Cowboys and had some spot.
3:41
Speaker 2: Starts, and he was fine. But, yeah, well.
3:45
Speaker 3: I know Vigon didn't run all that well, but he
3:48
Speaker 3: was magic in the receiving game as well. I'm sure
3:55
Speaker 3: that the fantasy owners were extremely happy with his performance,
4:00
Speaker 3: but I think you would have just grinded it out
4:04
Speaker 3: with him, especially how ugly this game was.
4:06
Speaker 1: Well, you mentioned you didn't have the best day. He
4:09
Speaker 1: still had 83 yards on 21 carries. That's what, four
4:13
Speaker 1: yards a carry?
4:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.
4:16
Speaker 3: I mean, Boyard's carry is pretty pedestrian in this league, but,
4:19
Speaker 3: you know, he's... When you factor in his per touch with, like, receiving, yeah,
4:25
Speaker 3: I mean, that jumps even more.
4:27
Speaker 2: So, he's a dangerous guy with the ball in his hand.
4:31
Speaker 1: Well, and we haven't even talked about, you know, you've
4:33
Speaker 1: got Kyle Pitts, who, I mean, I don't know that
4:38
Speaker 1: they maybe targeted him once, which is odd, because historically
4:41
Speaker 1: the Steelers are just terrible against... Tight ends like that.
4:47
Speaker 2: The defense, Bobby. The defense. Turn and relief.
4:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, turn and relief. And then you have Drake London
4:56
Speaker 1: as well, who was largely quiet too. Then on the
5:02
Speaker 1: other side too, you had the Falcons missing two field
5:05
Speaker 1: goals as well. So if they make even just one
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Speaker 1: of those, it's almost an entirely different game. with how
5:14
Speaker 1: it plays out leading up to that T.J. Watt pick six,
5:18
Speaker 1: which was quite an interesting pick six.
5:21
Speaker 3: And the fact that he fell over, still got.
5:29
Speaker 2: Up.
5:31
Speaker 3: So I actually, in Mission, I had to listen to
5:35
Speaker 3: the game. I couldn't watch it because my.
5:38
Speaker 2: Three-year-old controls our TV and because we were outside.
5:43
Speaker 3: So I had to listen to it. It was actually
5:45
Speaker 3: a pretty cool setup. I have a Bluetooth speaker outside.
5:48
Speaker 3: I was on the patio, downloaded the iHeartRadio app, and then.
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Speaker 2: Played it and was listening to that play in particular.
6:00
Speaker 3: And I'm engaging in conversation with my wife, mother-in-law, and children,
6:09
Speaker 3: and I'm trying to contain my excitement.
6:12
Speaker 2: As I'm listening to this game, this play unfold, and
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Speaker 2: they're not listening as intently as me.
6:19
Speaker 3: So when I watched the replay, it was even more
6:22
Speaker 3: pandemonium than I even heard.
6:27
Speaker 1: Well, and that's what I was starting to say, was
6:29
Speaker 1: it was kind of an indictment on the slow reaction
6:33
Speaker 1: of the Falcon's offense, really, because you're right, he did,
6:37
Speaker 1: he intercepted it at the line and fell over, and
6:40
Speaker 1: then took a second and got up and started running
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Speaker 1: and no one tackled him. And if you watch the replay,
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Speaker 1: I don't know if you caught this, but Bijan was
6:51
Speaker 1: in there making the tackle and his leg got snapped
6:54
Speaker 1: and we almost lost him for the year. It was bad.
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Speaker 1: He is not the guy that should be in there
7:01
Speaker 1: making the tackle like that, or attempting to make the tackle,
7:04
Speaker 1: I should say. But yeah, I will say I'm glad
7:09
Speaker 1: that the defense stepped up. We didn't have Joey Porter Jr.,
7:13
Speaker 1: and I don't know if we're going to see him
7:15
Speaker 1: again or not. He has a quote-unquote injury, so in
7:21
Speaker 1: the midst of a contract negotiation, for what it's worth.
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Speaker 1: So we'll see what happens with him, but I thought
7:27
Speaker 1: the defense played pretty well. They had two interceptions. Brisker,
7:32
Speaker 1: his first game as a Steeler, had one right off
7:35
Speaker 1: the bat, so that was good. It would have been
7:37
Speaker 1: nice if they could have put that in for a touchdown,
7:39
Speaker 1: but the they settled for a field goal. I mean, look,
7:47
Speaker 1: I was a little disappointed that playing a third string
7:50
Speaker 1: quarterback and with, for lack of a better term, the
7:57
Speaker 1: continuity that we have and opening at home, I felt
8:03
Speaker 1: like we should have been able to put this game
8:05
Speaker 1: away more than we could. Well, I don't know that
8:07
Speaker 1: we ever really put it away, so to speak. But
8:09
Speaker 1: you know what I mean? We should have been able
8:10
Speaker 1: to capitalize more.
8:11
Speaker 3: You're really kind of like, you know, like we quote-unquote
8:16
Speaker 3: iced it and kneeled.
8:17
Speaker 2: On it, but it wasn't really like in hand.
8:22
Speaker 1: No, it was never in hand. And like I said,
8:24
Speaker 1: if the Falcons could make field goals, it would be
8:27
Speaker 1: a much different game too. So, look, I'm happy we
8:30
Speaker 1: got the win, but the Ravens went to Baltimore. The
8:34
Speaker 1: Ravens went to Baltimore. The Ravens went to Indianapolis and
8:38
Speaker 1: put the beat down on the Colts. The Bengals seem
8:41
Speaker 1: to take care of business pretty easily against the Buccaneers.
8:46
Speaker 1: And the Browns, or the Browns, we don't really need
8:49
Speaker 1: to worry about them. So all I'm saying is... And on.
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Speaker 3: The note of the Bengals, too, all their acquisitions, I
9:00
Speaker 3: think I said it last week, but I'm very bullish
9:05
Speaker 3: on them. And I think that it's really interesting. All
9:11
Speaker 3: their acquisitions seem to make plays. I don't know, screw
9:16
Speaker 3: his name up. Weef, whatever. I think he had, I guess, Bumble,
9:26
Speaker 3: Horse Bumble, Cassius Howe. Their running back, or linebacker, he
9:32
Speaker 3: had a sack. I think Brian Cook... created a turnover
9:37
Speaker 3: as well so yeah I mean like like your point
9:41
Speaker 3: where there is uh we have some stiff competition in
9:46
Speaker 3: this in this division mind you except for the.
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Speaker 1: Browns right you know we can keep it in Pittsburgh
9:57
Speaker 1: for now for the sake of for the sake of
9:59
Speaker 1: this game. But yes, that was concerning to me. And
10:02
Speaker 1: you hope that they iron these kinks out. You hope
10:05
Speaker 1: that Joey Porter is going to come back and the
10:07
Speaker 1: defense is going to be totally lights out or just
10:09
Speaker 1: continue to improve. Um, but you know, the rest of
10:16
Speaker 1: the league is playing too, and you have to be
10:18
Speaker 1: aware of that. So, um, Going down the line here,
10:22
Speaker 1: I didn't really see any stats for the Steelers jump
10:26
Speaker 1: out at me. I mean, Rodgers was 24-40 with one
10:30
Speaker 1: touchdown to Friar Muth, so good to see him back
10:33
Speaker 1: in there. Warren and the running game, I mean, 46
10:40
Speaker 1: yards for Jalen Warren on 10 carries. Michael Pittman was present.
10:45
Speaker 1: He had three receptions for 58 yards. It was interesting
10:51
Speaker 1: to see Roman Wilson get some more action because I
10:56
Speaker 1: honestly don't even remember hearing his name called at any
10:58
Speaker 1: point in the previous two seasons during a regular season game.
11:04
Speaker 1: He had an opportunity to catch a fairly difficult pass
11:09
Speaker 1: in the end zone. I don't know if you saw
11:11
Speaker 1: this replay. It was one of those where You don't
11:15
Speaker 1: blame the guy for not catching it, but at the
11:17
Speaker 1: same time, you're like, bro, you're fighting for your life
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Speaker 1: on this roster. You have to catch everything that comes
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Speaker 1: your way.
11:22
Speaker 2: Yeah.
11:24
Speaker 1: Kind of thing.
11:24
Speaker 3: And I mean, is it the... I don't agree with
11:28
Speaker 3: the adage. Did it hit his hands?
11:31
Speaker 1: Uh, it hit his chest.
11:34
Speaker 2: It, uh... Hit his chest?
11:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, he was like, he had to jump up and
11:38
Speaker 1: turn around, and he, like, fell down on his back
11:41
Speaker 1: with a defender on him.
11:43
Speaker 2: Okay.
11:44
Speaker 1: So, you see what I mean? Like, yeah, he probably
11:47
Speaker 1: should have. Yeah, it was a difficult catch, but, you know.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, I didn't see the replay, obviously. Hurdick is just, yeah,
11:59
Speaker 3: that's tough.
12:00
Speaker 2: Yeah.
12:00
Speaker 3: Like, those people, okay, one, we played football. Like, when people, like,
12:08
Speaker 3: hit your hands, should have caught that. Those are the
12:14
Speaker 3: people that never played football. You know how hard it
12:17
Speaker 3: is to contort your body the way that these guys
12:20
Speaker 3: do and the things that they're capable of? Not every
12:24
Speaker 3: ball that touches your hands is capable of being brought in.
12:31
Speaker 3: I do have a lot, as a defense back, I
12:33
Speaker 3: have a lot of respect for the wide receivers because
12:34
Speaker 3: it's extremely hard.
12:36
Speaker 2: To do what they have to do. I think defense
12:40
Speaker 2: back is harder.
12:41
Speaker 3: Because you've got to do it backwards. We don't know
12:44
Speaker 3: the play. We don't have the answer key right there.
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Speaker 4: I do think that it's a tough spot. Maybe it's
13:00
Speaker 4: a good learning experience.
13:01
Speaker 2: He'll now getting more experience on the field, get more comfortable.
13:07
Speaker 1: It was also one of those plays where they could
13:10
Speaker 1: have called pass interference, but as an objective, what I
13:16
Speaker 1: hope is objective fan, I was like, okay, I can
13:19
Speaker 1: see why they wouldn't call that. It was one of those.
13:21
Speaker 1: You could see it either way.
13:22
Speaker 2: Right.
13:23
Speaker 1: Um, the defender clearly wrapped his arm around him before the, uh,
13:27
Speaker 1: ball got there, but he didn't pull him down or
13:30
Speaker 1: really make any significant movements on it. Um, with that too,
13:36
Speaker 1: I wanted to mention DK Metcalf had a pretty quiet
13:39
Speaker 1: game as well. Let me pull up his stats here,
13:41
Speaker 1: but he did. Yeah, something like that. And he had, um,
13:51
Speaker 1: there was a similar play too, where he had, it
13:53
Speaker 1: was much clearer pass interference, but the way that the
13:57
Speaker 1: defender was positioned in relation to the ref, the ref
14:00
Speaker 1: didn't see it or didn't call it. Um, But at
14:04
Speaker 1: the same time, it was just kind of disappointing to
14:08
Speaker 1: not see him get involved more, get open more. Which,
14:13
Speaker 1: the whole point of having Michael Pittman there, in addition
14:18
Speaker 1: to just being another weapon, you'd think would loosen or
14:22
Speaker 1: free him up a little more. But maybe it'll happen
14:24
Speaker 1: more in the next game against the Patriots, who knows.
14:27
Speaker 1: But it was just a little disappointing. I.
14:33
Speaker 3: The acquisition of him was always puzzling. Not just like
14:39
Speaker 3: an indictment on him, right? Some teams love to air
14:43
Speaker 3: it out. If DK Metcalf was on prime Patrick Mahomes teams,
14:50
Speaker 3: he could possibly go over 2,000 yards in the season.
14:55
Speaker 3: I don't doubt that he can have like a Tyreek
14:59
Speaker 3: Hill-esque game But his thing is, he's got speed. He's
15:05
Speaker 3: got physicality. He's not a polished route runner. And when
15:10
Speaker 3: your quarterback throws it for 40 times in a game
15:15
Speaker 3: and he yields 170 yards, you know, that's not the
15:19
Speaker 3: recipe for success.
15:21
Speaker 2: So, and, you know, it's one of those things.
15:23
Speaker 3: It matters of, like, are we going to finally play
15:29
Speaker 3: to DK's strength, which is.
15:32
Speaker 2: Let's go long. Let's play dynamically.
15:36
Speaker 3: Or are we going to, you know, dink and dunk?
15:40
Speaker 3: If that was the case, then we should have gotten
15:43
Speaker 3: a possession wide receiver. I mean, a guy like Amon Ra, St.
15:48
Speaker 2: Brown would have been the guy that comes to my mind.
15:51
Speaker 3: He's one of the best possession wide receivers in the league.
15:56
Speaker 3: maybe not the most explosive guy in the world, but
16:00
Speaker 3: you want a guy that's going to have like 150
16:02
Speaker 3: catches in a season.
16:03
Speaker 2: That's your guy. And I just don't, it's not seeming
16:10
Speaker 2: to mesh. I also hate it.
16:11
Speaker 3: The imbalance of the offense. Um, why are we throwing
16:16
Speaker 3: it twice as much as we are running the ball,
16:19
Speaker 3: especially when our defense was cooking should be a time
16:22
Speaker 3: of possession game. Um, I think the offense, especially getting
16:30
Speaker 3: a coach who has– that's his forte. That's what we
16:33
Speaker 3: brought him in for, the quarterback whisperer, the guy that's
16:37
Speaker 3: going to unleash this offense.
16:39
Speaker 2: I think it's only one game.
16:42
Speaker 3: I'm not going to rip him too hard, but honestly,
16:47
Speaker 3: super uninspiring. A 42-year-old quarterback that you're used to playing with,
16:54
Speaker 3: You do have some talent at some skill positions, and
16:58
Speaker 3: I think you played a very inefficient offensive scheme on Sunday.
17:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, like we said, week one, so you know there's
17:10
Speaker 1: going to be hiccups, but I think we were both
17:13
Speaker 1: kind of hoping to see a little bit more than
17:16
Speaker 1: we got on Sunday.
17:19
Speaker 2: I mean, Lawrence run for 4.6 yards per carry offensively,
17:23
Speaker 2: only 10 touches.
17:24
Speaker 3: I mean, we, I know we got Rico Duato to
17:29
Speaker 3: split some of those carries.
17:31
Speaker 2: So it wasn't like just falling on Jalen Warren.
17:34
Speaker 3: I don't think Jalen Warren is a guy that's going
17:37
Speaker 3: to get 20 carries a game, but you bump that
17:41
Speaker 3: up to 15 or something like that. Jalen Warren has
17:45
Speaker 3: the ability to, you know, create.
17:50
Speaker 2: Those 15, 20 yard plays.
17:52
Speaker 3: I just think that it was, if there's anything I'd
17:56
Speaker 3: like to see in the future, it's just getting him
17:59
Speaker 3: a little bit more involved.
18:00
Speaker 2: I think that it was smart for them to extend him.
18:03
Speaker 3: I think you're seeing the running back market explode, getting
18:07
Speaker 3: him at $ 6 million a year to essentially be your
18:13
Speaker 3: 1A back. Like, let's play him like that. 10 yards
18:16
Speaker 3: of carry isn't doing that.
18:18
Speaker 1: Well, maybe they were going to give him more until
18:20
Speaker 1: he fumbled it.
18:23
Speaker 2: No, and I get that, right?
18:25
Speaker 3: I do get the doghouse thing, but I don't think
18:32
Speaker 3: that he typically has issues.
18:34
Speaker 2: And, you know, like, we'll talk about the.
18:37
Speaker 3: Patriots game and we'll talk about Ramadre Stevenson, his doghouse
18:42
Speaker 3: experience slash redemption story last year.
18:46
Speaker 2: But, you know, I think you got to give him...
18:53
Speaker 2: a little bit more leash in that. He's not a rookie.
18:55
Speaker 2: He's not... It.
18:58
Speaker 3: Was the guy that we... Caleb Johnson. He wasn't making
19:03
Speaker 3: that bonehead play in the ends and stuff like that.
19:09
Speaker 3: Mistakes do happen. If you doghouse every time a player
19:14
Speaker 3: had a turnover, the quarterback.
19:16
Speaker 2: Would never see the field. Right.
19:19
Speaker 3: Because they always are making mistakes. So I think that's
19:23
Speaker 3: double standard to do it so harsh to a running back.
19:27
Speaker 1: Alright, is there anything else you want to touch on
19:30
Speaker 1: with the Falcons game before we move on to New England?
19:37
Speaker 2: I do think that there's going to be.
19:39
Speaker 3: More games where both teams don't yield 300 yards like this.
19:45
Speaker 3: I think this type of recipe is going to be
19:48
Speaker 3: the norm, so get used to.
19:50
Speaker 1: It well and that's a good segue into new england
19:54
Speaker 1: too because we've talked about this before but you remember
19:57
Speaker 1: last year it was a very ugly game as well
20:00
Speaker 1: i think the patriots turned the ball over five or
20:03
Speaker 1: six times and the steelers still only barely won um
20:08
Speaker 1: And based on New England's performance last week, as well
20:10
Speaker 1: as the Steelers' performance yesterday, I've got a feeling that
20:14
Speaker 1: we might have another game like that coming up here
20:18
Speaker 1: next week. Steelers, as we just mentioned, are going to
20:23
Speaker 1: travel to New England for a 1 o'clock showdown against
20:28
Speaker 1: the Patriots. The Patriots are coming off of a Week
20:32
Speaker 1: 1 loss. They actually opened up the season last Wednesday
20:37
Speaker 1: in Seattle. And they did not look great against the Seahawks.
20:42
Speaker 1: The Seahawks, the defending champs, of course, beat the Patriots
20:47
Speaker 1: at home to kick off the year. And it was
20:52
Speaker 1: just a weird game. The Patriots didn't look clean. Drake
20:55
Speaker 1: May didn't look great. You had A.J. Brown yelling at
20:59
Speaker 1: the Patriots' offensive line. Their new wide receiver, A.J. Brown
21:03
Speaker 1: from Philadelphia, of course. So just kind of interesting. Uh,
21:08
Speaker 1: and then we, the Patriots of course had some off
21:12
Speaker 1: season drama, if you will. And now the Steelers are
21:15
Speaker 1: on the town. So Eric, I'll turn it over to
21:18
Speaker 1: you first, but looking ahead to this matchup, what are
21:21
Speaker 1: some of the keys you see for the Steelers, uh,
21:24
Speaker 1: to get a win here?
21:27
Speaker 2: Yeah.
21:27
Speaker 3: I mean, don't expect TJ Watts score a defense touchdown
21:31
Speaker 3: every week.
21:32
Speaker 2: Uh, this is, I was very surprised this, I was
21:35
Speaker 2: his first touchdown.
21:37
Speaker 3: Um, as a pro, for as many plays as he's made,
21:44
Speaker 3: I would have thought that he would have had some,
21:48
Speaker 3: have that somewhere in the last 10 years. But, look,
21:54
Speaker 3: I mean, speak frankly, the offense has got to get
21:59
Speaker 3: off their keister.
22:00
Speaker 2: I mean, this is, You.
22:03
Speaker 3: Know, Cam Hayward can say what he wants. Our run
22:06
Speaker 3: defense didn't look great. We gave up 120 yards on
22:11
Speaker 3: the rush defense. I think giving up four yards per
22:15
Speaker 3: carry to arguably the most talented running back in the
22:19
Speaker 3: league is very respectable.
22:26
Speaker 2: You knew that they were going to run.
22:28
Speaker 3: And you knew you were going to give up yards there.
22:30
Speaker 3: I mean, they could definitely clean it up on missed tackles.
22:34
Speaker 3: You texted me that. So I don't think any of
22:38
Speaker 3: the concern is really on the defensive side of the ball,
22:41
Speaker 3: especially the way that T.J. Watt seemed to assert himself
22:45
Speaker 3: in Week 1. I also don't think that Joe Porter
22:51
Speaker 3: matters yet.
22:53
Speaker 2: I know that Drake.
22:54
Speaker 3: May had MVP hype, I still don't necessarily fear him.
23:03
Speaker 3: I think turnovers can still be a major factor for him.
23:09
Speaker 3: So I would still expect one or two from him
23:12
Speaker 3: on Sunday. Yeah, so I think that it really comes
23:16
Speaker 3: down to, look, the offense has got to show a
23:20
Speaker 3: lot more balance. Like, you know, a two-to-one ratio on
23:27
Speaker 3: touchdowns pass run.
23:30
Speaker 2: When your quarterbacks, not a top five quarterback in the
23:34
Speaker 2: league is a recipe for a disaster on offense. Uh,
23:39
Speaker 2: at this stage of the career, I don't even know
23:41
Speaker 2: if I would say Rogers is a tap top half
23:45
Speaker 2: quarterback in this league.
23:47
Speaker 3: So why are we throwing with them when we were
23:50
Speaker 3: pretty much in, in the lead or not playing from behind?
23:56
Speaker 2: Um, it's possible we could be playing from behind.
23:59
Speaker 3: And if we are, and we're still throwing the ball,
24:01
Speaker 3: I'm not having a lot of faith that we're going
24:03
Speaker 3: to win. So punch him in the mouth on the run,
24:07
Speaker 3: punch him in the mouth on the defensive side of
24:09
Speaker 3: the ball and take care of business. I don't think
24:12
Speaker 3: it's very, uh, very difficult. So, um, but we'll, we'll see.
24:21
Speaker 1: So yeah, punch him in the mouth is a good
24:24
Speaker 1: metaphor here. And, going back to the Falcons game, like
24:28
Speaker 1: I said, I think it was the opening drive for
24:32
Speaker 1: the Falcons, or maybe the second drive, when Risker had
24:35
Speaker 1: his interception pretty deep in Falcons territory, and they still
24:41
Speaker 1: couldn't capitalize on it and get a touchdown. They settled
24:43
Speaker 1: for a field goal. As much as I would love
24:48
Speaker 1: for the Steelers to win all their games by having
24:51
Speaker 1: Boswell kick 15 field goals and And TJ Watt having
24:56
Speaker 1: 12 pick six as a game. Um, I don't think
25:01
Speaker 1: that's entirely realistic. Um, so no punch them in the mouth.
25:06
Speaker 1: You get an interception or a turnover like that. You
25:09
Speaker 1: got to capitalize on it, put them away as quickly
25:12
Speaker 1: as you can and let your defense do the rest.
25:14
Speaker 1: I'm going to be optimistic that the defense is going
25:17
Speaker 1: to write the ship in a lot of ways this year.
25:20
Speaker 1: At least I really hope they do. Um, So you're right,
25:24
Speaker 1: the offense has got to play better. You've spent all
25:27
Speaker 1: these years investing on the offensive line, even though you
25:30
Speaker 1: just traded away one of your first-round offensive line picks.
25:35
Speaker 1: You went out and got what everyone believes is a
25:39
Speaker 1: true No. 2 wide receiver in Pittman.
25:43
Speaker 3: Also, real quick, did we get any news on Troy?
25:50
Speaker 2: Because he got injured, right?
25:53
Speaker 1: If he did, I haven't seen any news on that.
25:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm a little concerned about that, right?
26:00
Speaker 3: Because he's arguably our most talented lineman, maybe Zach Frazier.
26:11
Speaker 2: And tackle is already so thin.
26:13
Speaker 3: I mean, if he's got any kind of lingering injury,
26:17
Speaker 3: that's a huge concern for our team.
26:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, it says he's fine.
26:23
Speaker 2: Cool.
26:23
Speaker 1: No worries. Breaking news.
26:25
Speaker 3: I heard it.
26:27
Speaker 2: Again, I heard it on the radio.
26:28
Speaker 1: I was just like, oh, my God.
26:32
Speaker 2: They're like, we're gathering around Troy.
26:34
Speaker 3: I'm like, oh, we're– they're like, we've got to shift
26:37
Speaker 3: our offensive line around.
26:39
Speaker 2: We have this guy flipping to this side, this guy
26:42
Speaker 2: flipping position. I'm like, oh, man.
26:44
Speaker 3: Playing musical chairs with our offense.
26:47
Speaker 1: You had to listen on the radio because your kids
26:52
Speaker 1: were dominating the TV. mine was making me play tea
26:55
Speaker 1: party while the game was on. So I was distracted
26:59
Speaker 1: by having some delicious tea.
27:01
Speaker 2: Um, what kind of tea do you drink?
27:04
Speaker 1: I don't really drink any tea, just whatever, whatever I.
27:07
Speaker 3: Get in this tea party, you know, you Earl gray.
27:12
Speaker 2: No, it was just green tea.
27:15
Speaker 1: It was just tea. And I was told to drink it.
27:20
Speaker 1: I don't get the details. Um, But no, so yeah,
27:26
Speaker 1: where was I even going with this point before I
27:28
Speaker 1: went down the tea party path? The offense, yeah.
27:33
Speaker 2: Hey, we're going to do a tea party up in Massachusetts.
27:37
Speaker 2: That's where we're going to do it.
27:38
Speaker 1: There you go, there you go. I was talking about
27:42
Speaker 1: how we've invested so much in the offense. We've got
27:44
Speaker 1: to start seeing it pay dividends, right? Even Rogers is
27:48
Speaker 1: an investment because... while you mentioned he's probably not in
27:52
Speaker 1: the top half of quarterbacks, and I would agree with that,
27:56
Speaker 1: he's probably, I'd still say, one of the more intelligent quarterbacks,
27:59
Speaker 1: just being from really a different era, and he knows
28:02
Speaker 1: how to read defenses, and the guy is just smart, right?
28:07
Speaker 1: So my hope would be that even though he's not
28:09
Speaker 1: this super mobile guy, able to break all these tackles
28:13
Speaker 1: that he once was, you would think that he could
28:16
Speaker 1: come up to the line, and we've seen glimpses of
28:18
Speaker 1: this over the past year or so, where he can
28:20
Speaker 1: just read the defense, know what's what, can point out
28:23
Speaker 1: where to go, can change the play if he needs
28:25
Speaker 1: to and make something happen. I was just saying, you've
28:31
Speaker 1: invested all this time and energy into the offense with
28:33
Speaker 1: the weapons they have. We need to start seeing that
28:36
Speaker 1: payoff here. Where do you want to see.
28:40
Speaker 2: It the most? Do you want to see it in
28:43
Speaker 2: the run game, pass game?
28:46
Speaker 3: Is there a player that you want them to start
28:49
Speaker 3: utilizing more?
28:50
Speaker 2: Where do you think this sparks?
28:54
Speaker 1: Honestly, I want to see it come out of DK
28:56
Speaker 1: Metcalf more for what he's getting paid, right? And we'll
29:01
Speaker 1: talk about this in a little bit, but they acquired
29:03
Speaker 1: him and shipped off George Pickens, who Lord knows he's
29:07
Speaker 1: got his own set of drama. But he was always
29:12
Speaker 1: our big play guy when we needed a big play, right?
29:16
Speaker 1: Then he would also go into the crowd and fight fans,
29:20
Speaker 1: but he would make the plays.
29:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, they used to spawn it.
29:26
Speaker 1: That's true, they did. So I would like to see
29:30
Speaker 1: DK being a little more involved. I know they tried
29:34
Speaker 1: to get him the ball a few times, and he
29:36
Speaker 1: had the four catches that you mentioned, but.
29:39
Speaker 1: I just think if you're going to be the wide
29:41
Speaker 1: receiver one, you got to be the wide receiver one, right?
29:45
Speaker 1: And I'm sure Rogers would just love to throw the
29:47
Speaker 1: deep ball to him all day and he can still
29:50
Speaker 1: do that. Plus, if you get the deep ball going,
29:53
Speaker 1: that's going to let you establish the run more and
29:56
Speaker 1: go from there.
29:57
Speaker 3: So, yeah. To be honest, DK does not have the
30:07
Speaker 3: most polished route tree. Aaron Rodgers, while he has a
30:12
Speaker 3: magnificent arm, probably doesn't have the ability to sling it
30:15
Speaker 3: 80 yards down the field like he used to. But
30:21
Speaker 3: what DK can do, and we saw this, I think
30:24
Speaker 3: it was in the Ireland game last year, was did
30:29
Speaker 3: a slant route. Yep.
30:32
Speaker 2: You find space.
30:34
Speaker 3: You give the guy ability to find some yards after
30:37
Speaker 3: catch and let the magic work.
30:39
Speaker 2: I mean, just work on timing routes.
30:42
Speaker 3: I mean, it doesn't have to be like, it doesn't
30:46
Speaker 3: even have to be just go routes. Just find like something,
30:52
Speaker 3: the bread and butter. I remember one time, It pissed
30:57
Speaker 3: me off to no end. Tom Brady and the Patriots
31:03
Speaker 3: did not, they ran the ball like five times in
31:06
Speaker 3: a game because they did a five-yard hitch route and
31:11
Speaker 3: hit like Amendola and Edelman like 20 times each in
31:16
Speaker 3: the game.
31:18
Speaker 2: And they just couldn't, and the other.
31:20
Speaker 3: Team, as much as you like scheme it up, as
31:23
Speaker 3: much as you want to time it, If you're perfectly
31:29
Speaker 3: executing on it, it's really, really hard to beat it.
31:34
Speaker 3: And they showed that. And I'm not saying I'm expecting
31:39
Speaker 3: Rodgers and DK Metcalf to be prime Brady right now.
31:43
Speaker 3: I'm just saying there is an ability to scheme. There's
31:48
Speaker 3: a way to do it to where you say 42-year-old
31:52
Speaker 3: over-the-hill quarterback with a guy that's got like the most
31:59
Speaker 3: gifted skill set from a athletics standpoint but runs like
32:07
Speaker 3: a high school tree route you know there's ways to
32:14
Speaker 3: fix this so you know you hope that the offensive
32:18
Speaker 3: mastermind that we hired should be able to.
32:20
Speaker 1: Unlock that well fingers crossed right yeah so Okay, it
32:28
Speaker 1: sounds like both of us are kind of in the
32:31
Speaker 1: same camp where we know the Patriots played pretty poorly,
32:34
Speaker 1: and maybe they aren't quite the Super Bowl contending team
32:42
Speaker 1: that they were last year. I know last year, other
32:46
Speaker 1: than losing to the Steelers, they did get a lot
32:48
Speaker 1: of criticism for their strength of schedule or lack thereof.
32:52
Speaker 1: It sounds like, though, we're more confident that the Patriots
32:55
Speaker 1: are going to right the ship than we are the
32:57
Speaker 1: Steelers are going to right their own ship. Is that fair? Yeah. Okay.
33:02
Speaker 1: So let me ask you this. What's your official score
33:05
Speaker 1: and prediction for the game?
33:06
Speaker 3: I think Patriots win 24 to 17. Okay.
33:24
Speaker 1: 24-17. I am also going to give the Patriots a
33:28
Speaker 1: win here. We're far removed from the days of Tom
33:32
Speaker 1: Brady carving us up. But I do think the Patriots
33:37
Speaker 1: are going to get the win here. You said 24-17.
33:39
Speaker 1: That was actually what I was going to say. So
33:42
Speaker 1: you know what? I'm going to say no, I'm going
33:46
Speaker 1: to do the exact same thing. We are going to
33:48
Speaker 1: be a united front here. 24-17 Patriots over the Steelers.
33:51
Speaker 2: So You don't always have to disagree, Nick.
33:56
Speaker 1: No, this is not like other programs out there.
34:01
Speaker 3: Right.
34:02
Speaker 1: Well, we were talking a little bit before we started recording.
34:07
Speaker 1: We usually do a fun topic at the end of
34:08
Speaker 1: the show, and I mentioned DK Metcalf, I mentioned George Pickens,
34:14
Speaker 1: and you'll appreciate this. I was playing my older brother
34:16
Speaker 1: in fantasy football, and I had a six-point lead on him.
34:23
Speaker 1: going into sunday night game all of our players played
34:28
Speaker 1: except george pickens who he had and uh it was
34:32
Speaker 1: one of those where i i was i stayed up
34:34
Speaker 1: till halftime and then i was like i'm too tired
34:37
Speaker 1: i can't do this um i'm gonna go to bed
34:40
Speaker 1: and i woke up and checked my phone and saw
34:42
Speaker 1: that i actually won the game and uh pickens only
34:45
Speaker 1: had 2.8 points um And he had two drops that
34:51
Speaker 1: I saw, and they were drops. They weren't contested passes
34:54
Speaker 1: or anything like that. So part of me chuckled a
34:57
Speaker 1: little bit because it's George Pickens and because it was
35:00
Speaker 1: my older brother that I put the beat down on.
35:04
Speaker 1: But then I got to thinking, you know, you had
35:07
Speaker 1: this performance from Pickens. We had DK having the four
35:12
Speaker 1: for 40. On my own fantasy football team, Jamar Chase,
35:16
Speaker 1: despite the Bengals... seemingly fairly solid win. He only had, like, 1.2
35:22
Speaker 1: fantasy points.
35:24
Speaker 2: How many? 1.2.
35:25
Speaker 1: No way!
35:28
Speaker 2: Yep. Wait, is it PPR? Nope. Oh, like, none at all? No.
35:35
Speaker 3: So he had, like, 12 yards, you see?
35:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, pretty much. So... I mean, that's still, like.
35:43
Speaker 2: That's, you know, very uncharacteristic.
35:49
Speaker 3: I think you'll turn out that skid, but wow, that's
35:55
Speaker 3: really surprising.
35:57
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah. Disappointing because he was my first pick as well.
36:02
Speaker 1: I had the number three pick, so the top two
36:04
Speaker 1: running backs were off the board. But anyway, it just
36:08
Speaker 1: kind of got me thinking maybe it's a week one thing.
36:11
Speaker 1: Maybe you hear that it's harder for offenses to really
36:15
Speaker 1: get in sync before the defenses just because I think
36:18
Speaker 1: there's probably a lot more nuance to playing defense, but
36:24
Speaker 1: so it just got me thinking like, what would be
36:27
Speaker 1: the kind of receiver performance we're looking for in a
36:33
Speaker 1: wide receiver? We've got DK, we've got Pittman, we've got
36:36
Speaker 1: guys like Roman Wilson and Jeremy Bernard. Are we going
36:41
Speaker 1: to see wide receiver performances like we were used to
36:44
Speaker 1: seeing 10 years ago with a guy named Antonio Brown
36:50
Speaker 1: or our receivers kind of going the way now where
36:54
Speaker 1: if you don't have one of the top five or six,
36:57
Speaker 1: you're not going to see those kinds of performances on
36:59
Speaker 1: a consistent basis.
37:03
Speaker 2: Now, I think there's a lot of guys, uh, like, okay.
37:08
Speaker 3: So like Michael Wilson from the Cardinals just got like a,
37:15
Speaker 3: you know, $ 25 million a year deal, I.
37:20
Speaker 2: Saw something that, like, P.J.
37:22
Speaker 3: Washington from the Jaguars was in the same camp.
37:26
Speaker 2: And these are guys that got.
37:27
Speaker 3: Like, 1,000 yards receiving last year.
37:35
Speaker 2: And, you know, these were just, like, surprising because I'm
37:38
Speaker 2: not going to lie. I'm... I'm not as totally as
37:43
Speaker 2: invested in football anymore as I always was. Priorities have changed.
37:50
Speaker 3: But I would always kind of skew myself towards the, like, yeah,
37:55
Speaker 3: I kind of know what I'm talking about.
38:00
Speaker 2: I knew what Michael Wilson was. I had no idea
38:02
Speaker 2: who P.J. Washington was. I'm not going to lie.
38:06
Speaker 3: Nico Collins, I know he's decent, but He gets Big
38:12
Speaker 3: Bunny and stuff like.
38:14
Speaker 2: That and he produces alright.
38:16
Speaker 3: I think there's a lot of guys that can produce.
38:24
Speaker 3: It is tough because there are guys that can make
38:32
Speaker 3: an impact. Look at Justin Jefferson. The Vikings went to
38:38
Speaker 3: Carson Wentz. He looked like a bona fide starting quarterback
38:43
Speaker 3: because Justin Jefferson had, like, 100 yards and, like, two touchdowns.
38:47
Speaker 2: You know?
38:48
Speaker 3: I mean, there's no denying that there is an upper
38:54
Speaker 3: echelon of talent, but I think that there's ways that
39:01
Speaker 3: you can get around it.
39:04
Speaker 2: I also do think that, like, I think the league
39:07
Speaker 2: is getting....
39:10
Speaker 3: More defensive mindset. I don't know if it's a matter
39:16
Speaker 3: of rule changes as much as just the amount that
39:22
Speaker 3: a quarterback makes and a wide receiver makes. If you
39:26
Speaker 3: decide to lead with investing in your defense and you
39:32
Speaker 3: land on those guys, I think that there is ways
39:37
Speaker 3: to show how you are a good team. If you
39:43
Speaker 3: look at the Broncos, I think of the Seahawks, I
39:48
Speaker 3: think of the Texans. They've really landed on their defensive picks.
39:58
Speaker 3: People thought when they went Shroud and Will Anderson in
40:04
Speaker 3: the same draft that Shroud was going to be the
40:08
Speaker 3: difference maker. I think he won Offensive Rookie of the Year.
40:14
Speaker 2: But Will Anderson is....
40:18
Speaker 3: Maybe possibly a top five player in his position and
40:23
Speaker 3: very much one of the focal points of their defense.
40:26
Speaker 2: And I think.
40:29
Speaker 3: If I were to build a team now, I don't
40:33
Speaker 3: know if I would go wide receiver as high as
40:38
Speaker 3: I would an outside pass rusher or a cornerback.
40:47
Speaker 1: That's an interesting point. We've seen the league kind of
40:50
Speaker 1: go through phases like that before. We talked about there
40:53
Speaker 1: being a market boom for the running backs earlier. And
40:56
Speaker 1: you remember, we've been doing this so long now, it
41:00
Speaker 1: all blends together. Maybe four or five years ago, maybe longer.
41:03
Speaker 1: Austin Echler, when he was with the Chargers, was having
41:10
Speaker 1: Zoom calls with other running backs about how their market wasn't,
41:13
Speaker 1: they weren't valued fairly. Do you remember that? And now,
41:19
Speaker 1: now we're talking about how wide receivers might not get
41:22
Speaker 1: the priority anymore. When at the time it was, anyone
41:25
Speaker 1: can be a running back as long as you can
41:26
Speaker 1: catch the ball. Cause you, you don't have to be
41:29
Speaker 1: the running back anymore.
41:30
Speaker 3: Right.
41:31
Speaker 1: Um, so I pulled up the list of the receiving leaders. Again,
41:35
Speaker 1: it's only one week and the, uh, Monday night game
41:38
Speaker 1: is going on right now, but Bijan, since we were
41:41
Speaker 1: talking about him, Bijan Robinson with his 90 receiving yards
41:45
Speaker 1: is the, uh, 12th receiving leader in the league at
41:49
Speaker 1: this moment. Only beaten by two yards by Justin Jefferson
41:56
Speaker 1: that you mentioned. And then the Bills had two on
42:03
Speaker 1: the list above him. They had Dalton Kincaid at five,
42:06
Speaker 1: their tight end, and DJ Moore on there. So no,
42:11
Speaker 1: maybe there is something to that. And maybe... We're just
42:16
Speaker 1: not used to seeing any of those kind of receiving
42:19
Speaker 1: performances since AJ, since AJ, since Antonio Brown left. It
42:25
Speaker 1: was just odd to me, though, that all three number
42:28
Speaker 1: one wide receivers in the orbit that I was looking
42:30
Speaker 1: at were Pickens, Metcalf and Jamar Chase. And for what
42:37
Speaker 1: it's worth, my other starting receiver, I don't even who
42:39
Speaker 1: the heck is this guy? I also had a pretty
42:44
Speaker 1: rough game, too. But it's interesting to see.
42:48
Speaker 3: I think Hyden's are honestly taking a lot of the
42:53
Speaker 3: share too.
42:57
Speaker 2: Trey McBride, I don't think.
42:59
Speaker 3: That the Cardinals quite have a bona fide wide receiver.
43:04
Speaker 2: That's why they're paying Michael Wilson the money that they are.
43:09
Speaker 1: They thought they did.
43:09
Speaker 3: Michael Wilson is also going to make more money than
43:14
Speaker 3: trey mcbride even though trey mcbride matters more to their
43:18
Speaker 3: success so like i think that if you find cheaper
43:25
Speaker 3: alternatives at tight end you can have the best tight
43:29
Speaker 3: end in the league at you know 60 of the
43:34
Speaker 3: rate of like the best wide receiver in the league
43:37
Speaker 3: so You saw that with the Chiefs, right? The Chiefs
43:42
Speaker 3: got rid of Tyreek Hill and kept Kelsey. You could
43:48
Speaker 3: argue that Kelsey has gone over the hill and is
43:55
Speaker 3: not quite as effective anymore.
43:57
Speaker 2: It's true.
43:58
Speaker 1: At the time, though.
44:00
Speaker 3: But, yeah, I mean, I still think that factored into it, right?
44:06
Speaker 2: We can pay.
44:07
Speaker 3: Kelsey, $ 20 million a year, we can pay Tyreek $ 30 million.
44:11
Speaker 3: That $ 10 million you can put towards a starting cornerback.
44:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, very true.
44:22
Speaker 1: Alright, was there anything else you thought we should talk
44:25
Speaker 1: about tonight before we sign off? I don't think so.
44:35
Speaker 1: He was thinking hard, folks.
44:38
Speaker 3: I mean, I enjoy talking to my friend, and life
44:42
Speaker 3: is about to get very challenging with three children and
44:46
Speaker 3: a newborn.
44:47
Speaker 2: Yes. I'm locked in.
44:50
Speaker 3: I'm going to be giving it my all on every
44:54
Speaker 3: single episode of this podcast.
44:58
Speaker 2: Maybe I'm not going to be always locked in, but,
45:01
Speaker 2: you know.
45:02
Speaker 1: Hey, if I can do it with three kids, you can.
45:04
Speaker 2: Yeah. All your kids are older now.
45:09
Speaker 1: Now they are. We had two out the gate, and
45:14
Speaker 1: then we had the third one after that.
45:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, Nick has persevered. And, you know, you're a trooper.
45:24
Speaker 1: Yes, my life has been a challenge and a struggle,
45:28
Speaker 1: but I am a fighter and a survivor, and I
45:30
Speaker 1: am here. Ready and willing to talk about the Pittsburgh Steelers,
45:34
Speaker 1: among other things.
45:35
Speaker 3: That's what our grade school basketball coach taught us. Oh, yeah.
45:41
Speaker 1: That's what he taught us.
45:42
Speaker 3: You know, I still have that basketball shirt, right? I
45:47
Speaker 3: still have that city champion shirt.
45:50
Speaker 1: City champions?
45:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, so.
45:54
Speaker 3: Wait, I thought you were on the team. Fifth and
45:57
Speaker 3: sixth grade.
46:00
Speaker 2: No.
46:00
Speaker 3: Were you on.
46:01
Speaker 2: No. You weren't? No.
46:05
Speaker 3: Maybe that's why he drafted me to be on the team's.
46:10
Speaker 2: Leader with you.
46:12
Speaker 3: But we won City in basketball, which I want to
46:18
Speaker 3: tell the listeners this. I've never scored more than 10
46:23
Speaker 3: points in a game.
46:25
Speaker 2: So....
46:29
Speaker 3: I'm not good but I was also like I used
46:32
Speaker 3: to call myself Charles Oakley.
46:36
Speaker 2: I perfected and also.
46:38
Speaker 3: Our unpaid student intern would like this reference Greg Ostertag.
46:46
Speaker 2: I enjoyed the arm.
46:48
Speaker 3: Hook get away with it rebounding tactic.
46:55
Speaker 2: Hey, we're talking about the Patriots. If you can get
46:57
Speaker 2: away with it, you do it.
46:59
Speaker 1: Amen, right? Patriots don't cheat. What are you talking about?
47:05
Speaker 2: You gotta toe that line to find the rule, baby.
47:09
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh. I will tell you, I did not
47:16
Speaker 1: win a city tournament when I was in, you and
47:18
Speaker 1: I played together in 7th grade. when I was in
47:22
Speaker 1: seventh grade and you were eighth grade. And then when
47:24
Speaker 1: I was in eighth grade, that's when I hit my
47:27
Speaker 1: peak in basketball athleticism. And when I say the peak,
47:33
Speaker 1: I don't mean it was a high peak. It was
47:34
Speaker 1: just my personal peak. Once they started doing the A
47:40
Speaker 1: select team and then they added a B select team
47:44
Speaker 1: that I still wasn't good enough to make, that did
47:46
Speaker 1: remove a lot of the talent pool from our competition.
47:49
Speaker 1: So that's why I was able to be to be, uh, better.
47:53
Speaker 1: And we also had a player on our team who
47:58
Speaker 1: was definitely good enough to be on the A select team.
48:02
Speaker 1: He just didn't want to play on the slack on
48:04
Speaker 1: that team or the B team. So he took a
48:08
Speaker 1: lot of attention away from, uh, everyone else.
48:11
Speaker 2: So, um, Team player right there.
48:16
Speaker 1: You're right. So I'm just setting all that up to
48:18
Speaker 1: say that while I hit my peak, it was due
48:20
Speaker 1: to some extenuating circumstances. Here's what I'll share with you
48:25
Speaker 1: since I mentioned it beforehand. Are you familiar with a
48:29
Speaker 1: type of cake called millionaire's cake or million-dollar cake?
48:34
Speaker 2: Never heard of it. Okay.
48:36
Speaker 1: We had some house guests this weekend, and as one
48:39
Speaker 1: of their host gifts for us, they brought us a
48:42
Speaker 1: cake from a local Italian bakery down here. and they
48:45
Speaker 1: brought us a million-dollar cake. Unfortunately, it did not have
48:48
Speaker 1: a million dollars in it, but it's a three-layer cake,
48:54
Speaker 1: and the bottom layer is chocolate cake, the middle layer
48:58
Speaker 1: is New York cheesecake, and the top layer is chocolate mousse.
49:03
Speaker 2: Oh, wow!
49:04
Speaker 1: So that's what I had for my dessert tonight, so
49:09
Speaker 1: I'm feeling pretty good right now.
49:10
Speaker 2: Uh... Well, are you gonna feel good tomorrow?
49:16
Speaker 1: Not in the morning, but once everything passes through, we'll
49:19
Speaker 1: be fine.
49:21
Speaker 3: I think the million dollars is relating to how it
49:25
Speaker 3: tastes going down, maybe not out.
49:28
Speaker 1: Well, I'm on a pretty good workout plan right now,
49:31
Speaker 1: so we'll see how I'm doing, but yeah, I think
49:33
Speaker 1: I'll be alright. My goodness, though.
49:37
Speaker 2: Nick P. Sexy, you know, over there.
49:39
Speaker 1: Nick P. Sexy. Oh my goodness. Watching me work out,
49:47
Speaker 1: it's anything but sexy. I've got wristbands and a headband
49:52
Speaker 1: on just because I sweat. I've got workout gloves on.
49:55
Speaker 1: I've got bright orange shoes on. I'm all over the place, man.
50:01
Speaker 3: You sound like Elmer Fudd from Space Jam.
50:07
Speaker 1: My head's shaved, too, so there you go.
50:10
Speaker 2: Wait, you shaved your head?
50:12
Speaker 1: Not, like, totally bald, but it's, like, a... It's, like,
50:16
Speaker 1: one of the shortest buzzes you can get. But, yeah,
50:18
Speaker 1: so not totally bald, but from a distance, you might think.
50:22
Speaker 2: There you go.
50:27
Speaker 1: There you go.
50:28
Speaker 2: I know your Halloween costume's gonna be.
50:32
Speaker 3: Yeah.
50:33
Speaker 1: No, I will not be dressing up for Halloween. So,
50:37
Speaker 1: I've already got Who the heck? I've got Snoopy, a
50:40
Speaker 1: police officer, and Elsa that I'm going trick-or-treating with.
50:45
Speaker 3: Oh, they're already.
50:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's... We can obviously table this. We have not bought...
50:52
Speaker 2: We have not bought.
50:53
Speaker 3: We have not bought a Halloween costume because our children will... Well,
51:01
Speaker 3: our oldest will change her mind weekly about what she
51:05
Speaker 3: wants to be.
51:06
Speaker 2: So I'm surprised they even invested yet.
51:11
Speaker 1: They're pretty good about not changing their minds. They're already
51:13
Speaker 1: planning out next year's costumes at this point.
51:16
Speaker 2: What? Yep. Yep.
51:18
Speaker 1: They're weird. Goofy kids.
51:22
Speaker 2: Man, the beauty of having older kids.
51:27
Speaker 1: It's something. Let me tell ya. Alright. I think that's
51:31
Speaker 1: gonna do it for us before we go down any
51:33
Speaker 1: more rabbit holes. For the world-famous accountant Eric Vamenschoten, I
51:39
Speaker 1: am Nick DiTullio, and this has been another episode of TheGameHouse.com's
51:43
Speaker 1: Steelers Country Weekly.