Latest / Steelers Country Weekly / Dolphins Recap, Lions Preview

Transcript

Dolphins Recap, Lions Preview · Steelers Country Weekly

0:00
Speaker 1: Today on Steelers Country Weekly, we recap the Steelers big
0:04
Speaker 1: Monday night win against the Miami Dolphins. We're gonna look
0:09
Speaker 1: ahead to the matchup in Detroit coming up this Sunday
0:12
Speaker 1: afternoon against the Lions, and then we're gonna talk about
0:15
Speaker 1: some of our favorite teams or players that went on
0:18
Speaker 1: a hot streak at the right time. I'm Nick de Tulio,
0:21
Speaker 1: and as always I'm joined by the world famous accountant
0:23
Speaker 1: Eric van Minshaw. And Eric, how's it going tonight? Oh?
0:27
Speaker 2: Pretty good? Coming off a road trip.
0:31
Speaker 1: That was fun.
0:34
Speaker 3: I enjoyed some good company, some good food, some good
0:38
Speaker 3: tag after eating good food.
0:43
Speaker 2: So yeah, in good spirits.
0:47
Speaker 1: Yeah. So Eric actually came down to Atlanta to hang
0:51
Speaker 1: out and watch our Bearcats attempt to play basketball against Georgia.
0:59
Speaker 1: But yeah, you know it's funny. My kids who haven't
1:02
Speaker 1: seen him since they were baby, Well, no, they saw
1:05
Speaker 1: it Molly's party earlier this year, but other than that,
1:09
Speaker 1: they really haven't seen Eric since they were babies. They
1:12
Speaker 1: warmed up to him very quickly, and I think the
1:15
Speaker 1: reason they kept demanding that you play tag and catch
1:18
Speaker 1: and run around was because the only other person who
1:21
Speaker 1: visits in the same capacity like you did, where they
1:24
Speaker 1: come down for a weekend, go to a sporting event
1:26
Speaker 1: or whatever, is our unpaid student intern. Actually so because
1:31
Speaker 1: he's the unpaid student, in turn, they can demand that
1:34
Speaker 1: kind of labor out of him, So I should I
1:37
Speaker 1: should have been clear with them that Eric was the talent,
1:40
Speaker 1: not the unpaid student intern. But anyway, No, it was
1:43
Speaker 1: a good weekend. Came down Friday night, we had the
1:47
Speaker 1: smoker going, went to the game on Saturday, which was
1:51
Speaker 1: still a good experience, getting to go downtown, check out
1:54
Speaker 1: a few new places that I hadn't been to, and
1:56
Speaker 1: then getting to go to the arena itself, met some
2:00
Speaker 1: fellow Bearcat fans along the way, our new best friends
2:03
Speaker 1: whose names we didn't get, and yeah, hung out and
2:08
Speaker 1: then you got to go home on Sunday. And you
2:10
Speaker 1: didn't even miss the Steelers game because, as luck would
2:13
Speaker 1: have it, the Steelers played on Monday night. So other
2:16
Speaker 1: than the Bearcat game itself, everything worked out pretty perfectly
2:20
Speaker 1: this past weekend.
2:21
Speaker 2: Man, it's a pretty nice weekend.
2:23
Speaker 3: Ye.
2:24
Speaker 1: Well, I don't want to dwell on the Bearcats, although
2:28
Speaker 1: they're doing pretty good right now. Granted they're playing Alabama State,
2:33
Speaker 1: but let's talk yeah, I was gonna say. He came
2:36
Speaker 1: back to the team, so I hope that everything's going
2:39
Speaker 1: well for him. But let's talk about the Steelers because
2:43
Speaker 1: they played the Dolphins, and I don't know if you
2:45
Speaker 1: caught it, I'll peel back the curtain here. I almost
2:48
Speaker 1: forgot what team they just beat on Monday night. I
2:51
Speaker 1: was a little slow. I know, I was a little delayed.
2:54
Speaker 1: I'm like the Dolphins that suit.
2:57
Speaker 3: Now.
2:59
Speaker 1: This was an interesting game because one thing we didn't
3:02
Speaker 1: talk about in our preview last week because we usually
3:06
Speaker 1: record on Tuesdays and this happened on Wednesday and Thursday
3:10
Speaker 1: was TJ Watt did not get to play because he
3:16
Speaker 1: had his lung punctured during a team a procedure at
3:20
Speaker 1: the team facility. Dry needling, I guess, is the term.
3:24
Speaker 1: It kind of reminded me of acupuncture, although it's not
3:27
Speaker 1: quite the same. Basically, just in my unexpert opinion, it's
3:31
Speaker 1: kind of like you poke someone with needles until their
3:33
Speaker 1: pain goes away. Doesn't make sense to me, but I'm
3:36
Speaker 1: sure there's plenty of smarter people than me who can
3:38
Speaker 1: vouch for it. Granted, when they're not poking the needle
3:43
Speaker 1: through your lung so.
3:47
Speaker 2: Painless.
3:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, you know, if you stop breathing, you're not
3:51
Speaker 1: going to be in pain for too long. Dark jokes. Aside,
3:56
Speaker 1: he obviously did not get to play. That was a
3:58
Speaker 1: little concerning because even though we talked about the Steelers
4:01
Speaker 1: record at home on Monday nights and the Dolphins playing
4:05
Speaker 1: in cold weather, if we were going to look at trends,
4:09
Speaker 1: one trend that is not good for the Steelers is
4:11
Speaker 1: their record in games that TJ. Watt Play does not play.
4:15
Speaker 1: I think it was like one in twelve or something
4:18
Speaker 1: going into the game, or one in thirteen something something ridiculous.
4:22
Speaker 1: It's very obvious that they perform much better when he's
4:25
Speaker 1: on the field than when he's not, so I wanted
4:28
Speaker 1: to at least mention that since we didn't even address
4:32
Speaker 1: that in the previews, since it wasn't a thing. But
4:37
Speaker 1: it really seemed like the Steelers, I guess at the
4:43
Speaker 1: halfway through the second quarter they really got their butts
4:47
Speaker 1: in gear. And while it was I think I texted
4:51
Speaker 1: you at a certain point that it was a really
4:53
Speaker 1: sloppy game. It was very ugly by both teams early on,
4:56
Speaker 1: not much going. The Dolphins were never able to kick
5:01
Speaker 1: it into gear, and the Steelers did flip a switch.
5:04
Speaker 1: They scored touchdowns, not field goals, touchdowns on four straight drives,
5:10
Speaker 1: which is what gave them all their points for this game.
5:13
Speaker 1: And when they were on, they were on. And the defense,
5:17
Speaker 1: again without TJ. Watt, looked pretty good for most of
5:20
Speaker 1: the game. I would say, I should say offense was
5:22
Speaker 1: a little sloppy, but yeah, I mean this was I
5:27
Speaker 1: would say the most complete performance by the Steelers that
5:30
Speaker 1: we've seen this year. Very good, very dominant. That they
5:34
Speaker 1: got in the pocket, they sacked to it, they forced,
5:37
Speaker 1: they forced a turnover, and again we saw the offense
5:42
Speaker 1: doing things we haven't seen, scoring touchdowns consistently going forward
5:46
Speaker 1: on fourth down plays on their own side of the ball.
5:50
Speaker 1: Just phenomenal. And my fun stat that I think you're
5:54
Speaker 1: probably aware of was this is the first game in
5:56
Speaker 1: NFL history where there were multiple rushing touchdowns by tight ends,
6:01
Speaker 1: which if you had put that to us before the season,
6:05
Speaker 1: I would have said, that's probably gonna happen at some
6:07
Speaker 1: point with the Steelers acquiring all those tight ends. So overall,
6:13
Speaker 1: even if I couldn't remember who they beat, I was
6:16
Speaker 1: very happy with the Steelers' performance in this game, and
6:19
Speaker 1: like we'll talk about, you know, throughout the show and
6:22
Speaker 1: later on, you really have to hope that with the
6:27
Speaker 1: team by and large getting healthier and staying healthy, and
6:30
Speaker 1: with some other teams not looking so hot right now,
6:36
Speaker 1: the hope, of course, is that they're getting hot at
6:38
Speaker 1: the right time, they're trending in the right direction. So
6:41
Speaker 1: before we go too far down that rabbit hole, let's
6:44
Speaker 1: just stick with this game in itself, and I will
6:48
Speaker 1: defer to you here Eric, as you reflect on the
6:52
Speaker 1: game from Monday night, what are some of the biggest
6:54
Speaker 1: things that you took away.
6:57
Speaker 2: I mean, anytime that you can resolve in a.
7:01
Speaker 3: Opposing team benching their quarterback for the rest of the
7:04
Speaker 3: year because of how we played against your team, it
7:09
Speaker 3: shows that you were a catalysts for something. You know,
7:12
Speaker 3: it wasn't that we broke him, but we were the
7:16
Speaker 3: one that kind of put the nail in the coffin,
7:20
Speaker 3: so to say. So two of them had a horrible game,
7:24
Speaker 3: very sluggish.
7:26
Speaker 2: He lofted the ball to Sante Samuel and.
7:29
Speaker 3: That really kind of kicks started the game for us,
7:35
Speaker 3: to which then you know, we were really slow. As
7:39
Speaker 3: you mentioned on offense, it took us. I think we
7:44
Speaker 3: didn't get a first down for the first six drives
7:47
Speaker 3: or first six times we went fourtom third down.
7:52
Speaker 2: We did go for two or fourth two of those
7:55
Speaker 2: occasions to extend the drives, but really it.
8:00
Speaker 3: Wasn't until they kicked it out of I think it
8:05
Speaker 3: was too short of a kick. So we got the
8:07
Speaker 3: ball at the forty and that kind of led to
8:11
Speaker 3: that offensive momentum.
8:13
Speaker 2: So you know, for me, it was I would have
8:19
Speaker 2: loved to see a.
8:20
Speaker 3: Little bit more of an explosive plan, but I could
8:23
Speaker 3: tell the writing on the wall was we're gonna play
8:26
Speaker 3: time and possession ball.
8:29
Speaker 2: It's cold weather, so.
8:33
Speaker 3: We're just also gonna neutralize their running game and just
8:38
Speaker 3: do enough so that Tua does not affect us. And
8:42
Speaker 3: you know, I had to tip my cap to this defense.
8:44
Speaker 3: They played phenomenal, not just with Tua, but you know,
8:51
Speaker 3: I felt like they limited the explosive plays. And even
8:55
Speaker 3: though this was a thirteen point game, I turned it
8:59
Speaker 3: off maybe ten minutes to go in the fourth because
9:04
Speaker 3: it was within hand. So anytime that you can do that,
9:09
Speaker 3: but it's from me feeling good about your team, I
9:13
Speaker 3: think is indicative of the performance.
9:16
Speaker 1: I think you let our massive audience down by turning
9:19
Speaker 1: off those last ten minutes of the game. Now, how
9:22
Speaker 1: are you supposed to know how the game ended?
9:24
Speaker 2: Now?
9:25
Speaker 1: No, no, you're you're right. There were some garbage time points,
9:29
Speaker 1: but but yeah, you excuse me, you're right, the game
9:33
Speaker 1: was in hand at that point. And again this all
9:39
Speaker 1: it needs to be repeated that the defensive performance happened
9:42
Speaker 1: without TJ. Watt too, so very impressed by them. Going
9:48
Speaker 1: back to the offense, Aaron Rodgers twenty three of twenty
9:51
Speaker 1: seven for with two touchdowns two hundred and twenty four yards.
9:56
Speaker 1: It's interesting looking at the stat lines to his stats
10:00
Speaker 1: actually very similar to Rogers twenty two of twenty eight
10:06
Speaker 1: with two touchdowns at one interception that you mentioned for
10:09
Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty three yards. But despite the similar
10:12
Speaker 1: stat lines, those two could not have had different nights.
10:18
Speaker 1: I know two his criticism, or one of the critiques
10:21
Speaker 1: of him, is that he holds onto the ball too long,
10:23
Speaker 1: and I think that was quite evident on some of
10:26
Speaker 1: the sacks they had against him. I was kind of
10:30
Speaker 1: thinking to myself, why does he still have that? Surely
10:35
Speaker 1: he can throw it away like he knows they're like
10:38
Speaker 1: right behind him. This play has been going on for
10:41
Speaker 1: twelve seconds now, but just it did not It didn't happen.
10:47
Speaker 1: So and I guess I need to start walking back
10:51
Speaker 1: my criticism of Gainwell too, because as much as I
10:55
Speaker 1: love Jalen Warren and I was a big advocate for
10:58
Speaker 1: Jalen Warren, Gainwell has been playing very well as the
11:00
Speaker 1: season has gone on. So I know that Warren was
11:05
Speaker 1: listed as questionable. I don't know what this situation with
11:08
Speaker 1: him was, but because he he didn't Warren did end
11:14
Speaker 1: up playing, but obviously Gainwell took the lion's share of
11:17
Speaker 1: the work. And yeah, we got to see some Marquez
11:22
Speaker 1: Valdez scantling. We saw him, We saw Adam Thielen in
11:25
Speaker 1: the field. He actually had a I wouldn't call it
11:29
Speaker 1: a block, but he had a pretty good pick if
11:31
Speaker 1: you want to call it that, for one of Gainwell's runs.
11:35
Speaker 1: So it is nice to see players stepping up. I
11:41
Speaker 1: don't think any one player had a massive outlier of
11:44
Speaker 1: a game. It was a It was a very very
11:46
Speaker 1: much a team effort this week. And you didn't even
11:51
Speaker 1: need Chris Boswell to kick multiple field goals. He just
11:54
Speaker 1: had to go in and do his extra points. So
11:59
Speaker 1: I'm just I'm very pleased with this team and the performance.
12:02
Speaker 1: This was not quite what I expected, and I frankly
12:08
Speaker 1: was so pessimistic a few weeks ago. I didn't think
12:11
Speaker 1: we'd see anything remotely close to this kind of performance again.
12:14
Speaker 1: I thought that things were just going to fizzle out
12:17
Speaker 1: and we were going to be miserable and we were
12:20
Speaker 1: going to blow it. And I guess if I'm still
12:23
Speaker 1: being pessimistic, that is still a possibility. But it just
12:29
Speaker 1: with a win against the Ravens and this win, it
12:33
Speaker 1: does feel like everyone's heads are finally in the right spot.
12:38
Speaker 1: Everything's kind of coming together. Like I don't even want
12:41
Speaker 1: to say that out loud, because I feel like as
12:43
Speaker 1: soon as I do, it's just going to go to
12:46
Speaker 1: shit again. But I'll just I'll live with it. I
12:50
Speaker 1: think it's nice to see people start. The team's starting
12:53
Speaker 1: to gel and like we talked about, if you can
12:56
Speaker 1: get hot at the right time, that really makes all
12:59
Speaker 1: the difference.
13:00
Speaker 2: So yeah, and I.
13:02
Speaker 3: Mean, it's it's crazy how a roller coaster of the
13:05
Speaker 3: season is.
13:06
Speaker 2: I actually just saw something that.
13:11
Speaker 3: Not saying the rest of the games do not matter,
13:13
Speaker 3: but if we beat the Ravens, We're in the playoffs
13:20
Speaker 3: like three games and all you gotta do is have
13:24
Speaker 3: one must win game.
13:26
Speaker 2: Now, it's just that game. If we there's some other.
13:30
Speaker 4: Math to it if that does not happen, but it
13:36
Speaker 4: I think it's We've talked about, and the fans of
13:41
Speaker 4: Pittsburgh have talked about firing Tomlin.
13:45
Speaker 3: We've talked about how much of a team this is
13:48
Speaker 3: a letdown. And while I still agree that, like maybe
13:55
Speaker 3: you know, I wasn't looking for another nine and eight
13:57
Speaker 3: season with the first round playoff exit all very possible,
14:06
Speaker 3: this week easily is the way that we could. This
14:11
Speaker 3: could make or break the team. And I think that
14:14
Speaker 3: the way that it's going, it's definitely some momentum to
14:19
Speaker 3: build off for these last three weeks.
14:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, and we can we can wax poetic about it
14:25
Speaker 1: once we get to that point in the year. I
14:27
Speaker 1: think that, as I was alluding to, and you mentioned
14:31
Speaker 1: as well, this could all come crashing down. Excuse me,
14:36
Speaker 1: but if if there was a year in this last
14:42
Speaker 1: ten year stretch where the Steelers were going to get
14:45
Speaker 1: a win in the playoffs, it feels like this would
14:48
Speaker 1: be the year, right, And I'm not saying that so
14:52
Speaker 1: much about the Steelers themselves. I just mean that more
14:58
Speaker 1: about the rest of the league. If you look at
15:00
Speaker 1: what's going on in the AFC in particular, you've got
15:06
Speaker 1: the Ravens, who, even if even though they're still competing
15:11
Speaker 1: for the division, they're in a tough spot right now.
15:13
Speaker 1: They're not the same team that we've seen the last five, six,
15:16
Speaker 1: seven years. The Chiefs are already eliminated from the playoffs.
15:24
Speaker 1: The Patriots and the Broncos are the top two seeds.
15:28
Speaker 1: But you can kind of question, you know, who have
15:31
Speaker 1: they played? Are things going to change in the playoffs
15:34
Speaker 1: for their young quarterback, both of their young quarterbacks, I
15:38
Speaker 1: should say, Josh Allen and the Bills. I mean, they
15:43
Speaker 1: spanked us the other couple weeks ago, but overall they've
15:47
Speaker 1: they've looked like they've kind of come down to earth too.
15:49
Speaker 1: At the same time, though, the Bills fans have probably
15:52
Speaker 1: got to be saying the same thing I'm saying. It's
15:54
Speaker 1: like it has to be this year, right, And I
15:58
Speaker 1: just say all that to say that I think the
16:01
Speaker 1: pressure will be there, but I would like I think
16:04
Speaker 1: that they can rise to the occasion. And again, you
16:07
Speaker 1: and I are not so naive to say that we're
16:11
Speaker 1: gone to the super Bowl or anything. But I think
16:14
Speaker 1: that taking that next step here would be would be natural.
16:19
Speaker 1: I think I think it's definitely possible.
16:21
Speaker 3: So yeah, and I think what Rogers is Ben Roethlisberger
16:28
Speaker 3: circa nineteen. Look, he is smart quarterback.
16:38
Speaker 4: You know what you're gonna get from him.
16:41
Speaker 2: It's not gonna be anything flashy. But as long as
16:45
Speaker 2: we can rely on the stat line that Aaron Rodgers.
16:51
Speaker 3: Had vishing with the bomb, protected it and got enough
16:56
Speaker 3: to move us down the field, paired with this defense
17:00
Speaker 3: that looked like I think if we.
17:02
Speaker 2: Had to go back to this game a little bit,
17:05
Speaker 2: is the defense that impressed me the most, because.
17:09
Speaker 3: Well the game of fifteen points, two of those were
17:13
Speaker 3: garbage time touchdowns.
17:16
Speaker 2: And you know, I think this was easily their most
17:21
Speaker 2: dominating performance without their best player. So let's see what
17:27
Speaker 2: can happen.
17:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, all right, whether you have it. The Steelers
17:34
Speaker 1: take down the Dolphins twenty eight point fifteen. They improved
17:38
Speaker 1: to eight and six on the season, maintaining that lead
17:44
Speaker 1: against the Ravens. Next game is going to be a
17:49
Speaker 1: travel or a road trip, rather traveling to Detroit playing
17:54
Speaker 1: the Lions, who are also eight and six, and the
17:57
Speaker 1: Lions are a team that could also into my description
18:01
Speaker 1: of the AFC playoff field with the way that they've
18:07
Speaker 1: peaked these last couple of years and then this year
18:10
Speaker 1: it seems like they've kind of come back down to earth.
18:12
Speaker 1: Losing their offensive coordinator Ben Johnson to Chicago probably didn't help,
18:17
Speaker 1: but this is a team that's what two years removed
18:20
Speaker 1: from a conference championship appearance where that they could have
18:23
Speaker 1: very easily won with most of the same core intact,
18:29
Speaker 1: there's still a tough team. They've got Dan Campbell as
18:32
Speaker 1: the coach, and they're the home team here, So gonna
18:35
Speaker 1: be interesting to see what happens with the Steelers in
18:38
Speaker 1: this game. Are they going to continue trending upward like
18:41
Speaker 1: we've talked about, or at least maintained that same level
18:45
Speaker 1: that we've seen these past two weeks, or are we
18:48
Speaker 1: going to come back down to earth a little bit.
18:50
Speaker 1: So I'll pass it over to you Eric, looking ahead
18:53
Speaker 1: to this game in Detroit against the Lions, what are
18:56
Speaker 1: some of your keys for a Steelers victory?
19:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, if we're gonna win this game, it
19:02
Speaker 2: has to be the defense.
19:03
Speaker 5: This Lion's team, they're they're probably their record is not
19:10
Speaker 5: as stellar as you would think it is, but a
19:12
Speaker 5: lot of it's because their secondary has been I wouldn't
19:16
Speaker 5: even say nicked, just.
19:18
Speaker 2: Shlamored with injuries.
19:22
Speaker 3: I think at one point I was watching a game
19:24
Speaker 3: and they said all five of their secondary starters were out.
19:31
Speaker 2: So look, I if you had to.
19:34
Speaker 3: Look at this and say, do I feel like the
19:37
Speaker 3: Steelers could win a foot race or do I think
19:40
Speaker 3: that the Steelers could win a defensive slugout? That's what
19:43
Speaker 3: I think you have to play for. I think it's
19:46
Speaker 3: the slugout, so similar to the to the Dolphins strategy,
19:53
Speaker 3: which we have to think about this though realistically we're
19:58
Speaker 3: playing a better run duo, one of the best run
20:02
Speaker 3: duos in the league, one of the better.
20:05
Speaker 2: Ones in recent memories. And Jared Goff I.
20:10
Speaker 3: Think is a quarterback that really doesn't get as much
20:14
Speaker 3: credit as he deserves. I think he is a very
20:18
Speaker 3: effective quarterback. People always use the thing like he plays
20:23
Speaker 3: well with the you know, pocket clean well, a lot
20:27
Speaker 3: of quarterbacks do.
20:28
Speaker 1: But he plays bad when he's got great protection.
20:34
Speaker 4: So but I do think like.
20:37
Speaker 3: He is a guy that can, you know, especially with time, uh,
20:43
Speaker 3: carve it up.
20:44
Speaker 2: So the key to me is just.
20:48
Speaker 3: You know what, if I had to attack one of
20:52
Speaker 3: their strings, I would say, we got to figure out the.
20:56
Speaker 2: Run defense consistently. So we did that, but.
21:01
Speaker 3: Against nothing against the Dolphins running backs. But the backup
21:10
Speaker 3: running back for the Detroit Lions is better than the
21:13
Speaker 3: starting running back for the Dolphins.
21:14
Speaker 2: So you have to change. You have to attack that
21:18
Speaker 2: two headed dog.
21:20
Speaker 3: And now with some infusion of veterans into that secondary,
21:27
Speaker 3: Sante Samuel just had a play, uh interception we talked about,
21:31
Speaker 3: Dugger had one.
21:34
Speaker 2: It is like around Thanksgiving week.
21:40
Speaker 3: So I think that those guys can make plays by
21:47
Speaker 3: limiting the run offense and making golf throw it.
21:51
Speaker 2: So it offensively, you just can't turn the ball over.
21:57
Speaker 3: I think we're just have to play efficient, but not
22:03
Speaker 3: tipping my cap too much on the score.
22:05
Speaker 2: But if we're gonna win, it's gonna be low, low scoring.
22:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I don't know how feasible that is. Again,
22:13
Speaker 1: looking at the Lions and knowing what we know about
22:16
Speaker 1: their running game and our running defense outside of these
22:19
Speaker 1: past two weeks. Yeah, I'm with you, and I think
22:24
Speaker 1: having TJ. Watt back would be a huge boon to
22:26
Speaker 1: the defense. I don't think there's been any word one
22:29
Speaker 1: way or the other on what's going to happen there,
22:32
Speaker 1: But that's something to keep an eye out for. And again,
22:36
Speaker 1: not to bash the guy when he's down, but I
22:40
Speaker 1: think Jared Goff is also a better quarterback than Tua.
22:43
Speaker 1: You mentioned the running backs, particularly the David Montgomery being
22:48
Speaker 1: better than David A. Chain. Yeah, it's the quarterback too.
22:54
Speaker 1: So the Lions are a much better team than the Dolphins.
22:58
Speaker 1: Let's just be honest about that with ourselves. Look, I
23:05
Speaker 1: think Dan Campbell is the kind of coach that he
23:11
Speaker 1: can get the most out of his players when they
23:17
Speaker 1: may not have the best record. I know you mentioned
23:19
Speaker 1: it's not as not as good as it may look,
23:22
Speaker 1: but he's a guy who gets everyone fired up and
23:26
Speaker 1: he plays his cards right, knowing how to get the
23:29
Speaker 1: emotions going for his team. So I think he knows
23:33
Speaker 1: as well as anyone that they need to win as well.
23:36
Speaker 1: They're going for I mean they're not technically eliminated I
23:40
Speaker 1: guess from their division race, but they know realistically that
23:43
Speaker 1: they're going for the wild card and they need every
23:45
Speaker 1: win they can get. It's not gonna NFC.
23:49
Speaker 2: Is extremely competitive. I think that right now they're looking in.
23:54
Speaker 1: I mean, they could be, but they probably don't have
23:56
Speaker 1: much room for error, is what I'm saying either. So
23:59
Speaker 1: yeah again, and they also have their last two games
24:03
Speaker 1: are divisional games too, So like we talked about the
24:07
Speaker 1: Steelers earlier this year, you got to get the wins
24:09
Speaker 1: in the games that you think you can win. And
24:11
Speaker 1: I think that the Lions probably look at this game as, yeah,
24:15
Speaker 1: this is one that we think we should win. You know,
24:22
Speaker 1: not too much to really say other than you're right.
24:26
Speaker 1: If the Steelers' defense can stop the run here, and
24:30
Speaker 1: if we get some level of play from the offense
24:33
Speaker 1: similar to what we saw against the Dolphins, I think
24:35
Speaker 1: we had a chance. I just we can't miss a
24:40
Speaker 1: quarter and a half against a team like the Lions.
24:43
Speaker 1: I think, like our offense did against the Dolphins, I
24:48
Speaker 1: feel like you have to play a whole game. I
24:50
Speaker 1: don't think they're going to make as many mistakes as
24:52
Speaker 1: the Dolphins did. Either. We probably won't see as many
24:56
Speaker 1: sacks because again I think Jared Goll we'll probably get
25:00
Speaker 1: rid of the ball quicker than to a will in
25:02
Speaker 1: those situations. I am going to be a little more
25:07
Speaker 1: pessimistic here. I just I just think the Lions are
25:10
Speaker 1: a better team. They're playing at home, and it just
25:13
Speaker 1: it would surprise me to see the Steelers pick up
25:16
Speaker 1: a third win in a row. We don't know what TJ.
25:20
Speaker 1: Watt's status is, and even if he comes back, is
25:23
Speaker 1: he going to be one hundred percent? And I just
25:27
Speaker 1: don't trust the Steelers to maintain that consistency. So I
25:33
Speaker 1: think the game plan is very simple. We've mentioned it,
25:37
Speaker 1: You mentioned it, I mentioned it, and it's realistically, it's
25:39
Speaker 1: the same thing every week, right, stop the run game,
25:43
Speaker 1: control the ball on offense, and I just think the
25:46
Speaker 1: Lions are too disruptive to do that. So I think
25:51
Speaker 1: the Lions are going to win. And I don't know
25:58
Speaker 1: that this one's going to be close. I think I
26:00
Speaker 1: think next week you and I are going to be
26:03
Speaker 1: the two angry old man again. Let's say this one
26:07
Speaker 1: is twenty seven to ten Lions.
26:11
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I'm not sure if I think it's gonna
26:16
Speaker 3: be blownout like you do, But I do think that
26:22
Speaker 3: this one's gonna be a tricky one for us to win.
26:25
Speaker 3: We're already a seven point dog. Two teams with the
26:29
Speaker 3: exact same.
26:30
Speaker 2: Record with a home record or home three point advantage
26:35
Speaker 2: means that we'd be a four.
26:36
Speaker 3: Point dog on on neutral site. I think that's fair,
26:44
Speaker 3: mostly because I think that the Lions offense.
26:47
Speaker 2: Has the ability to just.
26:50
Speaker 3: Run laps around us if we don't play our best
26:53
Speaker 3: game defensively. So as much as I'd love to see
26:57
Speaker 3: the defensive performance come back, again, we haven't seen the consistency.
27:02
Speaker 3: We've seen games like the Patriots. We've seen games like
27:06
Speaker 3: the Chargers then just to be followed up by a die.
27:10
Speaker 2: So not saying it's a full die, but not holding
27:15
Speaker 2: my breath that will continue the momentum. So I'm gonna
27:18
Speaker 2: go with thirty four to twenty three.
27:24
Speaker 1: As I'm looking at the Steelers' schedule, I feel like
27:28
Speaker 1: it's all just and you mentioned it before, I think
27:31
Speaker 1: it's all just leading to that last game against the Ravens,
27:34
Speaker 1: you know, winning in for both teams, winning in, losing out. Yeah.
27:43
Speaker 1: I'm not one of those the NFL with scripted guys,
27:45
Speaker 1: but I mean they put those division games at the
27:49
Speaker 1: end for a reason. There's a reason they didn't put
27:51
Speaker 1: Steelers in Browns in Week eighteen, they put Steelers in Ravens.
27:57
Speaker 1: We know that the the Steelers or probably. Well, we're
28:01
Speaker 1: both saying the Steelers are going to drop this to
28:03
Speaker 1: the Lions. We'll both probably pick them to beat the
28:06
Speaker 1: Browns and then sure enough it'll be a ironically a
28:10
Speaker 1: division championship or sitting at home come week eighteen, what
28:15
Speaker 1: happens there. So it just feels like the stars are
28:17
Speaker 1: lining up for that, and I hope we're wrong. I
28:20
Speaker 1: hope that we win these next two Gays to two
28:24
Speaker 1: games and we can just rest our starters in week
28:26
Speaker 1: eighteen and not even watch the game. But who knows.
28:29
Speaker 2: That's opinion. I don't like resting starters.
28:35
Speaker 1: I would love for us to cross that bridge when
28:39
Speaker 1: we get to it. If we get to it, then
28:42
Speaker 1: we can have that can be our fun topic that week.
28:46
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness. All right, Well there you have it.
28:50
Speaker 1: Eric and I both have the Steelers dropping a game
28:52
Speaker 1: to the Lions. Hopefully we're wrong. If we are wrong,
28:56
Speaker 1: I'm sure we'll both be back on the bandwagon full
28:58
Speaker 1: speed ahead.
29:00
Speaker 2: But Tomlin is God.
29:03
Speaker 1: We never once doubted him for a second here at
29:05
Speaker 1: Steelers Country Weekly. If you see otherwise it was doctored
29:09
Speaker 1: media or.
29:13
Speaker 3: Our first ever what was it, I think one of
29:16
Speaker 3: our first ever seasons we had the Bike's Tomlin Special.
29:20
Speaker 1: So classic, we'll have him come back and we'll eat Crow.
29:25
Speaker 1: I would absolutely eat Crow for Mike Tomlin if he
29:29
Speaker 1: if he takes care of business. And on that note,
29:33
Speaker 1: one thing we alluded to that we want to take
29:35
Speaker 1: some time to talk about during our fun topics section
29:38
Speaker 1: today is there's that cliche that it's not the best
29:43
Speaker 1: team who wins, it's the team that gets hot at
29:45
Speaker 1: the right time that wins. And I think that even
29:49
Speaker 1: with a lot of the other teams being down this year,
29:53
Speaker 1: any objective fan would look at the list of thirty
29:58
Speaker 1: two NFL teams, I'm not sure there's anyone that would
30:02
Speaker 1: realistically pick the Steelers as the best team. Right. So
30:06
Speaker 1: the hope here is that we have these two wins
30:10
Speaker 1: that we talked about. We hope that as we're into December,
30:14
Speaker 1: they start trending in the right direction and they get
30:16
Speaker 1: hot at the right time. Unlikely, as it is, in theory,
30:20
Speaker 1: the Steelers could be that team that picks up steam
30:23
Speaker 1: at the right moment. So I thought it might be
30:25
Speaker 1: kind of interesting to talk about other players or other teams,
30:29
Speaker 1: whether it's football or not, that went on these tears
30:33
Speaker 1: or went on a hot streak at the right time
30:36
Speaker 1: to win a championship, and just for the sake of fun,
30:39
Speaker 1: we don't even have to talk about winning a championship.
30:41
Speaker 1: It could just be players or teams that went on
30:44
Speaker 1: really hot streaks and if they won the championship, it's
30:46
Speaker 1: a bonus. So I feel like there's a lot that
30:49
Speaker 1: we could talk about here when we're opening up to
30:51
Speaker 1: all sports. There's Cinderella runs in the NCAA tournament. There's
30:56
Speaker 1: I mentioned Lynn's sanity talking about an individual player going
30:59
Speaker 1: on a tear. So I'm really interested to see what
31:02
Speaker 1: things that we that come to our mind here. So Eric,
31:05
Speaker 1: I'll defer to you first. What is a team or
31:09
Speaker 1: player hot streak that just jumps out in your mind
31:11
Speaker 1: when we talk about this topic.
31:13
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean in the NFL, I think in current memory,
31:18
Speaker 3: it's gotta be Joe Flacco.
31:21
Speaker 2: Joe went on that four game run during.
31:25
Speaker 3: Their Super Bowl eleven touchdowns, zero picks.
31:30
Speaker 2: You know, the everyone knows the is he elite.
31:35
Speaker 1: He was for that point in time.
31:38
Speaker 3: Yeah, and so I think that, like for me, it's
31:42
Speaker 3: him five. You're remiss without saying I believe that the
31:46
Speaker 3: Steelers were the first ever wild card team to ever
31:50
Speaker 3: win a Super Bowl.
31:52
Speaker 1: I don't believe they were the first wild card, but
31:54
Speaker 1: they were the first six seed to win it all.
31:57
Speaker 2: Okay, first six seed.
31:59
Speaker 3: So you know, we're probably going to be a seventh seed,
32:03
Speaker 3: and I believe the seventh seed has already done it.
32:06
Speaker 2: But you know, I.
32:08
Speaker 3: Thought, I remember that that run. Obviously at that time
32:13
Speaker 3: we weren't the best team. That's why we were a
32:15
Speaker 3: six seed to going into the playoffs. But and that
32:19
Speaker 3: was at a time that did not have a seventh seed.
32:22
Speaker 3: So last team in and you know, obviously made some noise.
32:28
Speaker 3: So you know, those are the ones that come to mind.
32:33
Speaker 1: The two thousand and five Steelers is probably my favorite
32:36
Speaker 1: story when it comes to sports, especially the Steelers. Just
32:43
Speaker 1: to expand on it a little further, they had started
32:46
Speaker 1: the year seven and two, dropped three in a row,
32:50
Speaker 1: went to seven and five, and then had to win
32:54
Speaker 1: their last four regular season games just to get the
32:56
Speaker 1: sixth seed at eleven and five. And here we are
33:01
Speaker 1: this year talking about a year where I mean, they
33:05
Speaker 1: could get to eleven wins, but if they were still
33:07
Speaker 1: on the sixteen game schedule, obviously they couldn't do that
33:12
Speaker 1: they would only have two games left. So just crazy
33:17
Speaker 1: how some years you have to get eleven wins just
33:19
Speaker 1: to crack in the last spot of the playoffs. In
33:21
Speaker 1: other years that get you like a one or a
33:23
Speaker 1: two seed, depending on the rest of the league. But anyway,
33:27
Speaker 1: as the sixth seed, they had to win three road
33:30
Speaker 1: games against the Bengals, who had Carson Palmer for at
33:34
Speaker 1: least a play, the Peyton Manning Colts, and then they
33:37
Speaker 1: had to go to Denver and beat the Broncos before
33:40
Speaker 1: going up against the number one seed out of the
33:43
Speaker 1: NFC and the best offense, the Seattle Seahawks with Hasselback
33:47
Speaker 1: and Shawn Alexander and that team. So you're absolutely right,
33:52
Speaker 1: as Steelers fans would be remiss if we didn't mention
33:55
Speaker 1: that that's kind of the definition. Outside of that, I
34:01
Speaker 1: love talking about the two thousand and four Red Sox
34:04
Speaker 1: coming down or coming back from three games down in
34:07
Speaker 1: the ALCS against the Yankees, where you've got Ortiz hitting
34:12
Speaker 1: a walk off and Joe Buck saying we'll see you
34:15
Speaker 1: later tonight since the game was after midnight. You've got
34:18
Speaker 1: the Kurt Shilling Bloody Sock. Just a great team that
34:22
Speaker 1: ended up going on to win the World Series against
34:25
Speaker 1: the Cardinals and breaking the curse of the Bambino. And
34:30
Speaker 1: one thing I thought was interesting this week was Joel
34:34
Speaker 1: Klatt talking about the college football playoff and I don't
34:38
Speaker 1: know if you saw this or not, but he quite
34:41
Speaker 1: literally said that March Madness is like the worst tournament
34:45
Speaker 1: and it's terrible. And he said in college football, we
34:49
Speaker 1: don't want Cinderellas, we want the best team. And I
34:51
Speaker 1: wholeheartedly disagree with that for a lot of reasons. I
34:56
Speaker 1: think March Madness is perfect as it is that people
35:00
Speaker 1: get an opportunity and I love that we get to
35:02
Speaker 1: see Cinderella's and not even Cinderella's, but just teams that
35:06
Speaker 1: aren't one of the top four that get to have
35:08
Speaker 1: an opportunity to make a run. I Saint Peter's is
35:14
Speaker 1: the most recent Cinderella that I like to talk about,
35:18
Speaker 1: number one because they beat Kentucky on the way to
35:21
Speaker 1: the Sweet sixteen. But it's just cool to see schools
35:26
Speaker 1: that quite literally embodied David versus Goliath go on those
35:31
Speaker 1: tears and make those historic runs and bring all the
35:35
Speaker 1: publicity to the schools. It's fantastic. Saint Peter's is one
35:40
Speaker 1: that comes to mind. I still talk about Florida Gulf
35:43
Speaker 1: Coast every once in a while, Dunk City going to
35:46
Speaker 1: the Sweet sixteen, and then a little before our time
35:52
Speaker 1: was since we mentioned our bear Cats dropping the ball,
35:56
Speaker 1: the bear Cats going to a final four out of
35:58
Speaker 1: nowhere in nineteen ninety too. I wish that I could
36:03
Speaker 1: experience something like that as a fan. We had one
36:06
Speaker 1: opportunity that we won't talk about because I know it
36:09
Speaker 1: still makes you really mad. But but those are the
36:15
Speaker 1: kind of things that I love. I love seeing the
36:16
Speaker 1: Cinderella stories when they get to go on tears. But
36:22
Speaker 1: I think since we're talking about March madness, one streak
36:25
Speaker 1: I think is interesting, if you want to call it
36:27
Speaker 1: a streak, is there was a pretty solid two years
36:31
Speaker 1: where Yukon was the best team and there was no
36:35
Speaker 1: doubt about it. These not this past year, but the
36:38
Speaker 1: two previous years where they went back to back, and
36:42
Speaker 1: I should have pulled it up, but it kind of
36:45
Speaker 1: just popped into my mind. I'm pretty sure they won
36:48
Speaker 1: every game in the tournament that first year by double digits,
36:51
Speaker 1: which is just crazy, Which is just crazy. I mean,
36:55
Speaker 1: you talk about a tear, they just dominated the best
36:58
Speaker 1: of the best competition, So definitely definitely one that I
37:05
Speaker 1: think was worth mentioning when we're talking about this, even
37:08
Speaker 1: though it was quite an extended tear.
37:13
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, they always got hot.
37:17
Speaker 3: They always had a really good point guard that would
37:21
Speaker 3: propel them.
37:25
Speaker 2: And we know that too well as Bearcats fans. We've
37:28
Speaker 2: played them many a times.
37:30
Speaker 3: And in our contentt so, but yeah, maybe for maybe
37:37
Speaker 3: for the.
37:38
Speaker 1: Steelers, it's our time, I hope. So that's all we
37:43
Speaker 1: have right now, is hope. So oh my goodness. All right,
37:48
Speaker 1: was there anything else you wanted to talk about before
37:50
Speaker 1: we signed off for the night.
37:52
Speaker 2: I think that should do it.
37:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that was a fun one to talk about.
37:56
Speaker 1: Maybe we can revisit that one after the year if
37:58
Speaker 1: things play the way we want them too. So hopefully
38:02
Speaker 1: Eric and I are wrong about this week, but we'll
38:04
Speaker 1: be watching the game intently, and yeah, I think it's
38:09
Speaker 1: going to be a fun time. And if we don't
38:13
Speaker 1: get to talk to you all again next week with
38:15
Speaker 1: the holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy holidays, we'll be back real soon.
38:20
Speaker 1: It's been good talking with you for the world famous accountants.
38:23
Speaker 1: Eric Vanmmonshowden I am Nick de Tulio, and this has
38:26
Speaker 1: been another episode of the GameHouse dot COM's Steelers Country
38:30
Speaker 1: weekly