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Eagles Recap, Ravens Preview · Steelers Country Weekly

0:00
Speaker 1: Today on Steelers Country Weekly, we talk about the Steelers
0:03
Speaker 1: crushing loss in Philadelphia, look ahead to their redemption matchup
0:08
Speaker 1: this upcoming Saturday against the Ravens in Baltimore, and talk
0:12
Speaker 1: about which football team we would create based off of
0:15
Speaker 1: a work of fiction. I'm Nick Detulio and as always,
0:18
Speaker 1: en joined by the world famous accountants Eric Vamon Shuttin. Eric,
0:21
Speaker 1: how's it going tonight?
0:23
Speaker 2: Oh, I'm doing that right? Uh?
0:27
Speaker 3: We texted each other at least our Alma Mater picked
0:30
Speaker 3: up with w because, yes, the Steelers seem to put
0:34
Speaker 3: a damper on the end of.
0:35
Speaker 2: Our weekend, but UH did host a watch party for
0:40
Speaker 2: Alma Mater.
0:41
Speaker 3: They won for the first time in that Crosstown shootout
0:45
Speaker 3: in six years. So not all bad sports weekend, but
0:50
Speaker 3: for the topic at hand, UH definitely was not enjoyable
0:55
Speaker 3: on Sunday.
0:57
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I was thinking about that over the weekend.
1:01
Speaker 1: If I had to pick one team to win, which
1:04
Speaker 1: one would it have been? And honestly, I think I
1:07
Speaker 1: probably would have picked the Bearcats to beat Xavier for
1:12
Speaker 1: a lot of the reasons that you and I were
1:13
Speaker 1: talking about over text that I'm sure we'll talk about
1:15
Speaker 1: later on today. As we record, but if you're going
1:19
Speaker 1: to lose a game, this was probably the one to
1:21
Speaker 1: do it. But I think, as we'll discuss, the way
1:24
Speaker 1: they went about losing this game was certainly less than ideal.
1:29
Speaker 1: But no, you're absolutely right. It was great to see
1:31
Speaker 1: the Bearcats get a win. They almost blew it, but
1:34
Speaker 1: they righted the ship, and especially after the bad publicity
1:39
Speaker 1: they had last week that we discussed with their trademark
1:42
Speaker 1: and their logo and the use of the name Bearcats.
1:46
Speaker 1: The Musketeers seemingly won in the court of public opinion,
1:50
Speaker 1: but the Bearcats got the win just on the court,
1:53
Speaker 1: so good for them. But yeah, we're here to talk
1:56
Speaker 1: about the Pittsburgh Steelers and not the not the greatest
2:01
Speaker 1: performance from them that we've seen. The final score ended
2:04
Speaker 1: up being twenty seven to thirteen.
2:07
Speaker 2: And.
2:09
Speaker 1: You know, we talked about it a little bit before
2:11
Speaker 1: hit record. The score might not be very indicative of
2:15
Speaker 1: just how bad the game went for the Steelers, and
2:19
Speaker 1: I think a lot of that's because the Eagles had
2:22
Speaker 1: the ball for the last like ten and a half
2:23
Speaker 1: minutes of the game, when they probably could have scored
2:25
Speaker 1: if they wanted to. But this was a rough one.
2:29
Speaker 1: And it started from the beginning when you had players
2:32
Speaker 1: like George Pickens and Shaun Elliott sitting out. You had
2:35
Speaker 1: Dante Jackson and TJ Watt get hurt in the game,
2:39
Speaker 1: which particularly when TJ Watt goes down. I remember texting
2:44
Speaker 1: you while I was optimistic about the loss right before
2:47
Speaker 1: TJ got hurt, and I was like, mother, that's my fault.
2:50
Speaker 1: I jinxed it. I talked about how it was fine,
2:52
Speaker 1: and then he but you know, that's more or less
2:57
Speaker 1: the straw that breaks the camel's back in that situation.
3:01
Speaker 1: Let's go through it though. I mean the Steelers opened
3:03
Speaker 1: the game in the first quarter. The Eagles offense was
3:09
Speaker 1: moving the ball, but the Steelers defense was able to
3:11
Speaker 1: step up. TJ. Watt forced a turnover, another forced fumble
3:15
Speaker 1: that they recovered, and then on the ensuing offensive possession,
3:21
Speaker 1: the Steelers had to punt, which stunk because they were
3:24
Speaker 1: already in pretty good field position, and then the Eagles
3:27
Speaker 1: fumbled the punt, so the Steelers got the ball probably
3:32
Speaker 1: like on the ten yard line or right there. And
3:35
Speaker 1: then the first I guess, shoot yourself in the foot moment,
3:39
Speaker 1: if you want to call it that. From this game
3:41
Speaker 1: occurred when Darnell Washington continued to block an Eagles defender
3:47
Speaker 1: like into the back of the end zone and into
3:49
Speaker 1: the wall on what would have been like a six
3:51
Speaker 1: yard pickup or so from Nagy and given them the
3:53
Speaker 1: Steelers a second and goal from the four. It was
3:58
Speaker 1: kind of confusing because I thought that they were going
4:00
Speaker 1: to do offsetting penalties and I think everyone even on
4:02
Speaker 1: the broadcast thought that, But no, they didn't. They they
4:05
Speaker 1: cited the Steelers twice on that, which I'm fine with
4:12
Speaker 1: them citing Darnell or you know, flagging Darnell Washington, because
4:15
Speaker 1: that was just a stupid thing to do, really, But
4:18
Speaker 1: it's not like the Eagles were innocent in that either.
4:21
Speaker 1: But again, I'm not going to blame the refs when
4:23
Speaker 1: certainly if Darnell had, you know, put his hands down,
4:26
Speaker 1: it would have been fine. But that brief sequence, which
4:31
Speaker 1: turned into the Steelers having to settle for a field
4:33
Speaker 1: goal despite getting the ball right next to the goal line,
4:36
Speaker 1: was a pretty good summary of, you know, the game
4:39
Speaker 1: as a whole for the Steelers and their approach to
4:41
Speaker 1: it and how they executed this past Sunday. So I'll
4:47
Speaker 1: pause for there. At that moment for right now, Eric,
4:52
Speaker 1: and I'll just ask you before we go any further
4:56
Speaker 1: or before we get any more minute details from the
4:59
Speaker 1: game itself, what was some of the broad takeaways from
5:01
Speaker 1: you as you reflect back on this game.
5:04
Speaker 3: Uh, we just lost in every facet of the game,
5:08
Speaker 3: and it was extremely frustrating watch.
5:13
Speaker 2: You know, I don't think that.
5:16
Speaker 3: I don't think that it was necessarily one thing I
5:19
Speaker 3: could pinpoint. You know, we talked about the passing offense
5:28
Speaker 3: of the Eagles struggling. They hit their first eleven or
5:32
Speaker 3: twelve passes in a row just.
5:36
Speaker 2: Killed us.
5:37
Speaker 3: I think that some of that was, you know, you
5:40
Speaker 3: got to create the Eagles for playing well. But I
5:43
Speaker 3: think a little bit of that was just you know,
5:46
Speaker 3: I didn't think that we were really contesting the ball
5:49
Speaker 3: like we should have been. You know, I think in
5:52
Speaker 3: the second quarter we had just a little bit getting
5:55
Speaker 3: after Jalen Hurts and kind of slowed it down. But
6:00
Speaker 3: when they couldn't passed the ball and hit every single
6:02
Speaker 3: pass that they dropped back, there were the running backs
6:06
Speaker 3: were able to run through holes the sides of that
6:08
Speaker 3: of Varge would be able to get through.
6:12
Speaker 2: There were multiple occasions.
6:14
Speaker 3: I can think of at least two, but you know,
6:16
Speaker 3: you could probably find five different instances where there was
6:20
Speaker 3: at least a three person wide hole that the running
6:25
Speaker 3: back can go through, which I just think is unacceptable.
6:29
Speaker 3: I just think that that's an indication of we're not
6:33
Speaker 3: winning in the trenches. And rarely will you win a
6:36
Speaker 3: football game against one of the best teams in the
6:38
Speaker 3: league if you don't win in the trenches. So, you know,
6:42
Speaker 3: and I think trench at work is a lot of
6:44
Speaker 3: like especially when we do have talent on both sides
6:49
Speaker 3: of the ball in that arena, that we we are capable,
6:55
Speaker 3: if not, we should win those games.
6:57
Speaker 2: So, you know, to me, that was what.
7:01
Speaker 3: I so discouraged about. You know, I think Russell started
7:07
Speaker 3: off slow, He's done that before and heat it up.
7:11
Speaker 3: I think that there was a missing of George Pickens evolved,
7:15
Speaker 3: but I think that's a little overblown to be honest.
7:19
Speaker 2: You know, George Pickens is good.
7:22
Speaker 3: I don't want to say that he's justin Jefferson Jamar
7:26
Speaker 3: Chase good. So yeah, to me, it just was again
7:32
Speaker 3: that is just I don't want to take anything away
7:37
Speaker 3: from the Eagles. They have won, like ten Street, they're
7:42
Speaker 3: viewed as not the best team the one of the
7:45
Speaker 3: best teams in the league right now. This team is
7:49
Speaker 3: probably seeming like a team that went to the Super
7:52
Speaker 3: Bowl two years ago in terms of that skill level. However,
7:59
Speaker 3: we've talked on this podcast before if we want to
8:02
Speaker 3: be a team and not a pretender and go and
8:05
Speaker 3: be satisfied by going to the playoffs, which we did
8:08
Speaker 3: clinch a playoff berth, but that's not what.
8:13
Speaker 2: We're here to do. And this is not when I
8:15
Speaker 2: thought that this team was made of. And to be.
8:18
Speaker 3: Honest, I'm a little concerned that what we put together
8:25
Speaker 3: when we had a chance to make a statement against
8:28
Speaker 3: the Eagles for you know, in state rivalry, being able
8:32
Speaker 3: to control our own destiny.
8:35
Speaker 2: Destiny whatever narrative you want to draw out there.
8:39
Speaker 3: We could have done that on Sunday, and we got
8:42
Speaker 3: our freaking butts handed to us.
8:45
Speaker 2: No it's AND's butts about it. Just completely.
8:50
Speaker 3: Blown off the blocks and every fast of the game.
8:53
Speaker 3: So I'll tell you what I was pissed off. Probably
8:58
Speaker 3: didn't watch any of the fourth quarter because I was
9:00
Speaker 3: just trying to find ways to avoid the TV after
9:03
Speaker 3: watching three quarters of garbage.
9:05
Speaker 1: So yeah, this game reminded me a little bit of
9:09
Speaker 1: the first matchup with the Browns, because we already mentioned
9:16
Speaker 1: it a little bit, it just seemed like, no matter
9:18
Speaker 1: what they had going for them, positive, they always just
9:21
Speaker 1: shot themselves in the foot. There was a Zach Frasier
9:25
Speaker 1: tripping penalty, which again I probably wouldn't have thrown the
9:29
Speaker 1: flag on that, but the fact that you even put
9:31
Speaker 1: yourself in that position is just kind of awkward. You
9:34
Speaker 1: know what I mean? You don't do that. Yeah. I
9:39
Speaker 1: think the biggest thing that bugs me, and I was
9:42
Speaker 1: texting you about this repeatedly, was stop pitching the ball.
9:46
Speaker 1: I don't know why we do that seventeen times a
9:48
Speaker 1: game when Naji just is not that explosive when he's
9:52
Speaker 1: got to stop to catch the ball behind the line.
9:55
Speaker 1: And then, of course what I'm referring to is the
9:57
Speaker 1: Steelers were driving. They had a chance to tie the
9:59
Speaker 1: game again, very much like this first Browns matchup, where
10:03
Speaker 1: all they did was just make poor decision after poor decision.
10:06
Speaker 1: Yet somehow they were still in it in the second
10:08
Speaker 1: half and Nagy just doesn't catch the pitch.
10:15
Speaker 2: That's gonna be a nausey a little bit. Though.
10:17
Speaker 1: I was I was gonna put it all on him
10:20
Speaker 1: not not the play call obviously, but the fumble itself.
10:24
Speaker 3: They did point out that, like they called audible at
10:27
Speaker 3: the line, But you know, you're a is a fourth
10:32
Speaker 3: year pro. Yes, I mean you're a fourth year pro.
10:38
Speaker 3: You're you're supposed to be listening to those audibles. I mean,
10:41
Speaker 3: I just can't.
10:43
Speaker 1: It looked like he knew what was coming though, too.
10:45
Speaker 1: It didn't look like it caught him by surprise. It
10:47
Speaker 1: looked like he just dropped it.
10:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, And it just it's just annoying because.
10:53
Speaker 3: Like I agree with you, I'm not huge fan of
10:56
Speaker 3: the pitch. Honestly, the pitches remind me of Less Miles
11:01
Speaker 3: type of offense, which was never very explosive at LSU.
11:05
Speaker 2: No, so why do we emulate it? But and we
11:09
Speaker 2: had a stat that we run the ball second most in.
11:12
Speaker 3: The league, but we are twenty ninth most effective or efficient.
11:18
Speaker 2: Running game in the league. It's just I'm also I'm annoying.
11:26
Speaker 2: I'm vetting my frustrations because I.
11:28
Speaker 3: Think that everyone makes a big deal about we should
11:31
Speaker 3: have locked an nausey.
11:32
Speaker 2: This is another example of why I don't think that.
11:34
Speaker 3: We should have Like I just I don't think he's
11:37
Speaker 3: super clutch I don't think he's super good, and then
11:40
Speaker 3: it just highlights these moments where it happens, and I just,
11:44
Speaker 3: I don't know.
11:45
Speaker 2: I'm mad. I was extremely mad on Sunday.
11:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, it seems like fans are pretty divided on Naugy,
11:52
Speaker 1: whether it's him or whether it's the line. And I've
11:55
Speaker 1: got to be.
11:55
Speaker 4: Honest with you, I'm one of those guys that Austin
12:00
Speaker 4: Ekeler would probably not like because I would prioritize the
12:05
Speaker 4: offensive line every time.
12:08
Speaker 1: If I had to choose between the two. I think
12:09
Speaker 1: that I don't want to say anyone, but I think
12:13
Speaker 1: it's easier to find anyone who could run behind a
12:18
Speaker 1: great line that it is to find a stud running
12:20
Speaker 1: back that could be a stud regardless of whose blocking
12:23
Speaker 1: for him. If that makes sense, Oh.
12:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely. I mean there's very special players.
12:31
Speaker 3: I remember Prime lt Prime, Adrian Peterson, Barry Sanders. I mean,
12:39
Speaker 3: there's guys that are like transcended running backs that you
12:43
Speaker 3: definitely can see.
12:44
Speaker 2: But I mean, go.
12:47
Speaker 3: Look at the tape, look at anyone that has spent
12:49
Speaker 3: a first round around a running back in the last
12:52
Speaker 3: ten to fifteen years. Does it work out for them?
12:57
Speaker 2: Even last week?
12:58
Speaker 3: This Saquon Barkley, talented guy, his team that drafted him
13:03
Speaker 3: second overall decided that they wanted to.
13:05
Speaker 1: Pass unless.
13:11
Speaker 2: No.
13:11
Speaker 1: And I think we talked about it when that happened too,
13:13
Speaker 1: when they drafted him, like we knew that running back
13:16
Speaker 1: was certainly a need. But it's kind of similar to
13:20
Speaker 1: when they picked Kenny Pickett. You just kind of you
13:24
Speaker 1: didn't have to get him at that point in the draft.
13:26
Speaker 1: You probably could have gotten him in the second round
13:29
Speaker 1: or the third round. And even when they drafted Le'Veon Bell,
13:32
Speaker 1: they got him in the second round and he might
13:33
Speaker 1: have been available in the third round too. The last
13:38
Speaker 1: first round running back offhand that I think worked out,
13:42
Speaker 1: if you want to call it, that was probably Zeke.
13:46
Speaker 1: But even that only had a shelf life of what
13:48
Speaker 1: four years where he was effective would you say if that?
13:53
Speaker 3: And then he signed the second contract and that was
13:56
Speaker 3: an albatross exactly.
13:59
Speaker 1: Ultimately he ended up back in d US but he
14:01
Speaker 1: is not the same guy. So yeah, again, like you said,
14:06
Speaker 1: I don't want to go down the tangent too. Getting
14:08
Speaker 1: back to Philadelphia here, The big, the big thing from
14:12
Speaker 1: this game is the same thing I told you before. TJ.
14:16
Speaker 1: Watt went down. I think that if you look at
14:19
Speaker 1: this game in itself, yes it sucks. Yes, it seems
14:23
Speaker 1: obvious that we should have had a better, better execution
14:28
Speaker 1: and we didn't. And not only do we not execute well,
14:31
Speaker 1: we seemingly sabotaged ourselves in the process. That being said,
14:38
Speaker 1: if you are going to be optimistic about it, I
14:40
Speaker 1: think you have to keep in mind that those are
14:44
Speaker 1: things that we still can control on our own. We
14:46
Speaker 1: can not be dummies and get useless penalties. We can
14:51
Speaker 1: make better decisions and change the outcome of the game. Now,
14:59
Speaker 1: taj Wat going down, if that's a serious injury, certainly
15:03
Speaker 1: changes things. He's I haven't heard anything specific about it
15:08
Speaker 1: other than it's not that serious, So I don't know
15:10
Speaker 1: how long that means is going to be out, or
15:12
Speaker 1: if he's gonna play, or if he's going to be
15:14
Speaker 1: banged up, or you know, playing at eighty percent or
15:16
Speaker 1: something on Saturday against the Ravens. That's the other downside
15:19
Speaker 1: is they have a short week this week. The injuries
15:23
Speaker 1: are the big thing because TJ. Watt is probably the
15:29
Speaker 1: one person they cannot afford to have hurt right now,
15:33
Speaker 1: and that's that's counting Russell Wilson as well, because we
15:36
Speaker 1: at least know that it might not be as pretty.
15:38
Speaker 1: But justin Fields can win with this team too. We've
15:40
Speaker 1: saw it firsthand four times. TJ. Watt going down is
15:46
Speaker 1: taking the best player on the team by far and
15:50
Speaker 1: removing him from the equation. It just is not good.
15:56
Speaker 1: So anyway, what I'll say to is, I don't know
16:00
Speaker 1: that I would call it a bad decision per se,
16:03
Speaker 1: But when Tomlin decided to punt the ball in the
16:07
Speaker 1: fourth quarter with ten and a half minutes left, I
16:11
Speaker 1: probably would have gone for it. In that situation, he
16:13
Speaker 1: was probably thinking, my defense will stop them and will
16:15
Speaker 1: flip the field. But I have to give credit to
16:19
Speaker 1: Philadelphia for that last drive of the game where they
16:22
Speaker 1: ate the entire clock. But it wasn't just doing me.
16:26
Speaker 1: Everyone was saying that, you know, the Eagles are all
16:29
Speaker 1: about the run. They can't pass anymore. They're winning these
16:32
Speaker 1: games in sloppy ways. We saw the drama off the
16:36
Speaker 1: field to regarding AJ Brown, where people were saying they're
16:40
Speaker 1: not close. You know, there's not a relationship there. The
16:44
Speaker 1: writing was on the wall for the Eagles to lose
16:48
Speaker 1: this game and frankly get blown out. If I say
16:52
Speaker 1: so myself, just with all the narratives and the way
16:56
Speaker 1: that they were projecting and the way that we were
16:58
Speaker 1: on an upward trajectory. But to give them credit, unlike
17:04
Speaker 1: other teams, they saw what their problems were, they addressed them,
17:10
Speaker 1: they fixed them, and they came out and took care
17:12
Speaker 1: of business. And if you're an Eagles fan, that is
17:15
Speaker 1: one exactly what you want to see, particularly at this
17:19
Speaker 1: time of year. And if you're a fan of any
17:22
Speaker 1: other teams, particularly ours, and you see your team seemingly regress,
17:27
Speaker 1: that's a problem.
17:29
Speaker 2: Yeah.
17:29
Speaker 1: So anything else you want to mention about this game
17:33
Speaker 1: in Philadelphia, I'm mad. I was gonna say any other
17:38
Speaker 1: tangents you want to go on before we move on here?
17:41
Speaker 2: No, just I'm mad.
17:44
Speaker 1: All right, Well, let's get to the game in Baltimore.
17:48
Speaker 1: This is going to be a Saturday game, so again
17:51
Speaker 1: short week. Traditionally, this is when the NFL starts playing
17:55
Speaker 1: their games more spread out throughout the week. And we
17:58
Speaker 1: all knew that this was going to be the toughestre
18:00
Speaker 1: for the Steelers, playing the Eagles and then the Ravens
18:04
Speaker 1: and then they've got the Chiefs all in like a
18:06
Speaker 1: ten day span. So they lost the first game in
18:09
Speaker 1: the stretch to the Eagles. Now they have to go
18:12
Speaker 1: to Baltimore, and if they can win, which is gonna
18:17
Speaker 1: be tough to do, they will win the division because
18:20
Speaker 1: of they'll have a two game lead on the Ravens
18:23
Speaker 1: having swept them with two games left, and the better
18:25
Speaker 1: division record, so that would lock that up for them.
18:28
Speaker 1: That would probably get them no worse than a four
18:30
Speaker 1: seed as well when all is said and done. But
18:36
Speaker 1: the most important thing is they have to win. And
18:37
Speaker 1: again we don't know who all is going to be
18:40
Speaker 1: on the field for the Steelers and quite frankly, how
18:42
Speaker 1: they're gonna respond to a loss like this that we
18:45
Speaker 1: just saw in Philadelphia. So Eric, looking ahead to Saturday's matchup,
18:49
Speaker 1: what are some of the keys for you?
18:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's gonna be hard.
18:57
Speaker 3: So obviously we've beaten this team before, but it also
19:03
Speaker 3: took I would say, the defense's best performance of the
19:08
Speaker 3: whole entire year. If we remember back in that game,
19:13
Speaker 3: I believe we held the Ravens to ten points total
19:18
Speaker 3: sixteen sixteen, and believe they turned the ball over three
19:24
Speaker 3: times at that point. I don't think that the Ravens
19:28
Speaker 3: had been held it was under like twenty five points or.
19:32
Speaker 2: Something the whole entire year. So and you know, I know.
19:38
Speaker 3: That they played an inferior Giants team just this past week.
19:42
Speaker 3: But if you look at how the Ravens have played
19:46
Speaker 3: this year, it's not that their offense has not been
19:52
Speaker 3: playing well. It's been because they have susceptibility in their defense.
19:57
Speaker 2: So really, the only path I.
20:01
Speaker 3: See foward to winning this game is similar script to
20:04
Speaker 3: the Bengals game, where surprisingly it becomes a foot race
20:10
Speaker 3: and we win.
20:11
Speaker 2: I don't see that happening. You know, I think that
20:17
Speaker 2: the key determinant there is well one.
20:21
Speaker 3: I think the stakes are a little higher. I think
20:23
Speaker 3: Ravens know what's at stake here, and I think it's
20:29
Speaker 3: a more bitter rivalry, so I think that has another
20:36
Speaker 3: intangible to it.
20:38
Speaker 2: And also I just.
20:40
Speaker 3: Look, I mean, we have a really good record against
20:44
Speaker 3: I think the last time we talked it was like
20:46
Speaker 3: we've won eight out of the last nine. For some reason,
20:50
Speaker 3: we are Lamar's Kryptodite. I just don't see it coming
20:56
Speaker 3: right now. I just don't think, like the uncertainty with
21:01
Speaker 3: t J. Watt, the lack of like cohesion on our
21:07
Speaker 3: offensive side of the ball, I just don't see this
21:12
Speaker 3: being a recipe for our success, and then is it?
21:16
Speaker 2: Is it in uh Baltimore as well?
21:17
Speaker 1: It is.
21:20
Speaker 3: Again another factor that just kind of is lining up.
21:26
Speaker 2: Do I think that like if these two teams played,
21:31
Speaker 2: we would win.
21:33
Speaker 3: Five and they'd win five probably, So when I go
21:39
Speaker 3: with that methodology, we won one at home, they're probably
21:44
Speaker 3: gonna take this one away.
21:46
Speaker 2: So unfortunately, I h.
21:50
Speaker 3: I don't really see much of a path of success
21:53
Speaker 3: here on Sunday, or I guess.
21:56
Speaker 1: Before we even before I even talk about anything on
21:58
Speaker 1: the field, I think it's important to point out to
22:00
Speaker 1: that the Steelers have been abundantly cautious this year with
22:04
Speaker 1: their injured players. I'm looking at Russell Wilson when he
22:07
Speaker 1: started the year. George Pickens was a game time decision
22:11
Speaker 1: last week and they kept him out this week as well.
22:15
Speaker 1: So now that they've already got a playoff Berth, I
22:19
Speaker 1: feel like if there's any chance that any of these
22:23
Speaker 1: guys who are listed on the IR ear in the
22:25
Speaker 1: injury report are questionable or just not one hundred percent,
22:29
Speaker 1: they're not going to play them. So again, that includes TJ. Watt,
22:34
Speaker 1: it includes George Pickens again, and it includes Dante Jackson
22:38
Speaker 1: as well. So let's just assume that again, because they
22:41
Speaker 1: already have a playoff berth, these guys are if he
22:46
Speaker 1: they're not going to play them, And I agree with
22:48
Speaker 1: that decision. Frankly. I would love to get a win
22:50
Speaker 1: and host a playoff game for a change too, but
22:54
Speaker 1: the team has to be healthy. That being said, that
22:57
Speaker 1: significantly hurts their chances this week when you're talking talking
23:00
Speaker 1: about those three guys in particular, who are major contributors
23:05
Speaker 1: to the team. So there's that the other thing. Oh,
23:08
Speaker 1: go ahead, I do agree.
23:10
Speaker 3: So I agree with you though about you know, keeping
23:17
Speaker 3: your eye on the prize, which is, Okay, we're gonna
23:20
Speaker 3: we're in the playoffs, we're clinched. But do you think
23:26
Speaker 3: that there's something to be said that, like, this is
23:29
Speaker 3: the divisional win, so we get a home playoff game,
23:36
Speaker 3: and likely if we continue on the path of controlling
23:40
Speaker 3: our own destiny, we'll play either a Denver or Chargers,
23:46
Speaker 3: rather than likely playing the Ravens again if we were
23:50
Speaker 3: to drop out, if not the Ravens, the Texans, which
23:55
Speaker 3: I would take, the Denver, I would take Bone or
24:02
Speaker 3: you know, the Chargers again. Over those two teams so.
24:07
Speaker 2: What are your thoughts.
24:13
Speaker 1: I wouldn't I wouldn't even look at it that way.
24:16
Speaker 1: I would just look at it as we need our
24:17
Speaker 1: team as healthy as possible when we get to December,
24:20
Speaker 1: regardless of where the rest of the chips may fall.
24:23
Speaker 1: And honestly, I think that's probably what Tomlin would say too,
24:28
Speaker 1: because you have to look at it too if he
24:29
Speaker 1: sends out any one of those three guys, but especially
24:32
Speaker 1: t J. Watt and they're not one hundred percent and
24:34
Speaker 1: they reaggravate whatever their injury is and make it worse
24:38
Speaker 1: than everyone's going to be a Monday morning quarterback and say,
24:41
Speaker 1: why'd you play him? He's already in the playoffs anyway,
24:43
Speaker 1: So don't get me wrong. My strong preference would be
24:48
Speaker 1: to have a home game against the Broncos since we
24:50
Speaker 1: beat them in Denver with Justin Fields earlier in the year.
24:55
Speaker 1: But I just think that it's better to have TJ.
24:58
Speaker 1: Watt playing and potential, you know, a road playoff game
25:02
Speaker 1: vertsus having a home matchup and not having him at all,
25:06
Speaker 1: and maybe not having him for the week after that either.
25:10
Speaker 2: Yeah.
25:10
Speaker 1: So, and all I'm saying too is just for the
25:13
Speaker 1: sake of this week's matchup. If they're not in, I
25:16
Speaker 1: think it's pretty obvious that their chances of winning go
25:19
Speaker 1: dramatically down, So I just wanted to mention that. The
25:23
Speaker 1: other thing I'll say too, is the Ravens just had
25:27
Speaker 1: their buy two weeks ago, and this last week they
25:29
Speaker 1: played the Giants, So I would imagine that the Ravens
25:33
Speaker 1: they got their rest, then they got their tune up game,
25:36
Speaker 1: and now they're ready for the Steelers. They had a
25:39
Speaker 1: pretty good setup coming into this game too. Look, the
25:45
Speaker 1: last game was very close. The thing that concerned me
25:48
Speaker 1: about the last game was the Ravens defensively have not
25:53
Speaker 1: been as good as they have been in the past
25:56
Speaker 1: several years. They've taken a step back this year, and
25:59
Speaker 1: that was one of the game or the Steelers were
26:00
Speaker 1: unable to score a single touchdown. They won because the
26:04
Speaker 1: Wizard of Boz kicked another six field goals. As funny
26:09
Speaker 1: as that is, when he kicks six field goals to
26:11
Speaker 1: win a game, I'm with Tomlin. I'm getting sick of
26:14
Speaker 1: him winning Player of the week. I want some touchdowns.
26:16
Speaker 1: So the glass half full mentality as well. If the
26:19
Speaker 1: Steelers can just score two touchdowns and kind of match
26:22
Speaker 1: the performance they had last time. They should be fine,
26:25
Speaker 1: but that's just hard to do so, and after what
26:29
Speaker 1: we saw from the offense this past week, I'm not
26:32
Speaker 1: sure that they're ready to get their get back to
26:35
Speaker 1: that kind of performance we saw in Cincinnati, who has
26:38
Speaker 1: one of the worst defenses in the league. I guess
26:40
Speaker 1: is a good asterisk to put on that performance. So yeah,
26:45
Speaker 1: I'm kind of like you. I'm just not super optimistic
26:47
Speaker 1: about this week when you consider the injury report, what
26:51
Speaker 1: happened this last week in Philadelphia where the Ravens are,
26:54
Speaker 1: at the fact that it's in Baltimore, this just does
26:57
Speaker 1: not seem like a good matchup for me. The only
27:02
Speaker 1: chance I give the Steelers is if Lamar Jackson comes
27:05
Speaker 1: out and lays an egg and turns the ball over
27:07
Speaker 1: several times. But even then, we saw what happened this
27:11
Speaker 1: past week when the Eagles gave us the ball twice
27:13
Speaker 1: in the first quarter and we got a field goal
27:15
Speaker 1: out of it, So even that he would have to
27:17
Speaker 1: really lay an egg, I think for the Steelers to
27:19
Speaker 1: lose this game or for the Steelers to win this game.
27:23
Speaker 1: So yeah, I don't know, man, Maybe there should be
27:26
Speaker 1: some more x's and o's that we talk about, but
27:28
Speaker 1: I'm feeling I'm just talking about the vibes and just
27:31
Speaker 1: the situation off the field, and this just doesn't feel
27:34
Speaker 1: like a good week for the Steelers. Yeah, I'll give
27:38
Speaker 1: the Ravens a win. Let's see, this last game was
27:42
Speaker 1: twenty seven to thirteen. I'm gonna say thirty five to
27:48
Speaker 1: twenty four. Ravens get to win.
27:54
Speaker 2: Thirty five to twenty four.
27:55
Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, yeah, I think the Ravens put up thirty one,
28:06
Speaker 3: but I think we lose.
28:07
Speaker 2: We only could put up thirteen.
28:09
Speaker 3: Again, Yeah, don't feel good about our chances.
28:17
Speaker 1: And maybe there's some magic in the rivalry where it's
28:19
Speaker 1: gonna be a close game no matter what, kind of
28:22
Speaker 1: like what happened the last time. We thought it'd be
28:23
Speaker 1: a high scoring game, but it was defensive slug fest.
28:27
Speaker 1: I don't know. Maybe it's just one of those AFC
28:29
Speaker 1: North things that'll fall in our favor. But yeah, it
28:32
Speaker 1: sounds like we're both feeling pretty pessimistic about this one. Yeah,
28:37
Speaker 1: all right, Well I hope that we are both wrong,
28:40
Speaker 1: although we were both right last week, So, like I said,
28:42
Speaker 1: at least we have that going for us. But anyway,
28:47
Speaker 1: Steelers are playing the Ravens, and we were just talking
28:49
Speaker 1: about what's kind of a fun topic we could end
28:51
Speaker 1: on for this week, and Eric had a good suggestion
28:55
Speaker 1: talking about how the Ravens are based on Edgar Allen
28:59
Speaker 1: Poe work, so it's unique that it's tied to the city,
29:04
Speaker 1: but it's also a work of fiction that really just
29:07
Speaker 1: embodies the team. So his suggestion was, if we were
29:11
Speaker 1: going to create a team based off of a work
29:14
Speaker 1: of fiction, be it a book, movie, TV show, whatever,
29:18
Speaker 1: what would you pick and why? So I'm gonna let
29:20
Speaker 1: you take the lead on this since it was your idea.
29:24
Speaker 1: What is your answer, Eric, if you're creating a team,
29:26
Speaker 1: who's your mascot?
29:29
Speaker 2: Yeah? I had two come to mind.
29:31
Speaker 3: I'll say one first and then we can maybe kick
29:35
Speaker 3: kna on the other one.
29:36
Speaker 1: Okay, So.
29:41
Speaker 3: I like a good James Cameron movie here and there,
29:47
Speaker 3: and one of his first was at least his breakouts
29:53
Speaker 3: was the Terminator.
29:57
Speaker 2: I think one that's a very midating mascot.
30:02
Speaker 3: Two, I think the uniform combinations could be pretty cool
30:07
Speaker 3: when you think about it.
30:10
Speaker 2: And then how is it relevant?
30:13
Speaker 3: I mean, people are scared of technology all the time.
30:20
Speaker 2: So you think about it right now?
30:22
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, I don't know if you want
30:26
Speaker 3: to say it's a I per se, but he kind.
30:30
Speaker 2: Of emulates or embodies AI and you know, Killer Robot.
30:38
Speaker 3: So and then I bet you from like a celebrities
30:44
Speaker 3: like enjoying and making appearances it, I think Donald would
30:51
Speaker 3: would be there smoking his cigar and wearing his leather jacket.
30:58
Speaker 2: I think I think it'd be a pretty cool mascot, honestly.
31:03
Speaker 1: All right, what was the other one you had.
31:06
Speaker 2: Uh, the Joker?
31:09
Speaker 1: You said that?
31:11
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I think because like you know, if
31:13
Speaker 3: we think about the Steelers, so Joker was not in
31:18
Speaker 3: this Batman movie, but the one where Christopher Nolan had
31:23
Speaker 3: the scene at heines Field and heines Ward was the
31:26
Speaker 3: one returning the the kickoff.
31:31
Speaker 2: You know, I think Joker won.
31:34
Speaker 3: There's so many variations of what you could do with
31:37
Speaker 3: the uniforms for that. A huge Batman fan, and yeah,
31:44
Speaker 3: I just think it could be a fun could be
31:47
Speaker 3: a fun villain. You know a lot of people pick
31:50
Speaker 3: mascots to be the hero. I think being a villain
31:54
Speaker 3: could be a fun.
31:57
Speaker 2: Mascot.
31:57
Speaker 1: Theme of the the reason I said it's funny you
32:01
Speaker 1: say that is because I've been racking my brain over
32:03
Speaker 1: here for the past two minutes trying to think of one,
32:06
Speaker 1: and Batman was one of the first that came to mind,
32:09
Speaker 1: or just the Bats because if nothing else, you can
32:11
Speaker 1: call your stadium the bat Cave, which I thought would
32:15
Speaker 1: be pretty unique as well. I was trying to think too,
32:20
Speaker 1: I mean, if you tried to tie it back to
32:22
Speaker 1: the Steelers, you could do something like Iron Man would work.
32:27
Speaker 1: And then I thought it was kind of interesting that
32:30
Speaker 1: the the Ravens are not the only team to actually
32:33
Speaker 1: be based off of a work of fiction, because also
32:36
Speaker 1: within the Disney University of the Mighty Ducks as well.
32:39
Speaker 1: So yeah, so it has been done before, not just
32:44
Speaker 1: the Ravens doing that, and the Ducks are unique because
32:48
Speaker 1: the movie was around before the NHL team came about.
32:53
Speaker 1: So very interesting there. Let me see if there's another
32:58
Speaker 1: good one I can think of real quick here. It's
33:02
Speaker 1: been way too long since I've read any books. But
33:08
Speaker 1: I will say we talked about it a lot a
33:10
Speaker 1: few weeks ago when you brought up a riveting discussion
33:14
Speaker 1: about the end of the Cold War in the end
33:16
Speaker 1: of the eighties and early nineties. I'm a big presidential
33:20
Speaker 1: history buff. One of my favorite presidents and one of
33:23
Speaker 1: the more popular ones is Teddy Roosevelt. So his books
33:31
Speaker 1: I haven't read. I don't know if he has an autobiography,
33:35
Speaker 1: but I did listen to the first of a three
33:42
Speaker 1: three volume biography and I got into the second one.
33:47
Speaker 1: It ended the first one ended with him becoming president,
33:50
Speaker 1: so everything up to his in his early life.
33:54
Speaker 3: So that's like the Tarannosaurus Rex or something like that.
33:58
Speaker 1: I did not know that you were even be aware
34:01
Speaker 1: of that, but yes, it was by biographer Edmund Morris.
34:06
Speaker 1: I think the first one was the early life of
34:09
Speaker 1: Theodore Roosevelt, and then I think that the one that
34:13
Speaker 1: you mentioned, Theodore Rex.
34:15
Speaker 2: And then.
34:17
Speaker 1: I think that last one is called Colonel Roosevelt. So
34:23
Speaker 1: so with him, if I was going to do a team,
34:25
Speaker 1: it would have to be in New York or DC
34:27
Speaker 1: because were his two things. Unless North or South Dakota
34:32
Speaker 1: is going to get a professional sports team anytime soon,
34:35
Speaker 1: which I doubt, but.
34:38
Speaker 2: You made it happen.
34:40
Speaker 1: You could do the rough Riders, you could do the Colonels.
34:43
Speaker 1: One of those two, I wouldn't want to do it
34:45
Speaker 1: just the presidents, but those are the two that I
34:49
Speaker 1: would say were him. And I know we talked about
34:51
Speaker 1: a work of fiction before and this is nonfiction, but
34:54
Speaker 1: I'm just running with it anyway. If you're creating a
34:56
Speaker 1: mascot from a work of media, let's say that that's
35:01
Speaker 1: what I would do, because he was certainly a unique person,
35:03
Speaker 1: a unique president for sure. Resigning from his post as
35:09
Speaker 1: Assistant Secretary of the Navy to lead a unit in
35:13
Speaker 1: combat in the Spanish American War, I think I think
35:21
Speaker 1: that'd be a good one if you were going to
35:22
Speaker 1: pick up president to name a team after, or you know,
35:26
Speaker 1: embody your team after. He's one of the last ones
35:29
Speaker 1: that everyone seems to agree was a good president, and
35:33
Speaker 1: you wouldn't have many divides there along political lines.
35:37
Speaker 3: Yeah, did you know some big park span Did you
35:43
Speaker 3: know he created the parks.
35:47
Speaker 2: System? Yes?
35:48
Speaker 1: Yes, he was a very big conservationist. And in this
35:56
Speaker 1: I think it was a thirty hour book I listened to,
35:58
Speaker 1: he talked. They talked a lot about how he was
36:02
Speaker 1: always studying animals too, and had he was, if you
36:05
Speaker 1: want to call it accomplished. He was very good at taxidermy.
36:08
Speaker 1: So yeah, he would have specimen that he would study
36:11
Speaker 1: and he would would work on it.
36:14
Speaker 2: That's weird. I don't like it. That sounds weird.
36:19
Speaker 1: Well, what did you think I was talking about when
36:20
Speaker 1: I said he was good at taxidermy? I know, but still, okay,
36:27
Speaker 1: he had he had lots of critters in his house,
36:30
Speaker 1: let's just say that, and they may or may not
36:32
Speaker 1: have been alive. But no, the point is he was
36:36
Speaker 1: very scientific. He loved the wilderness. He loved the wildlife.
36:40
Speaker 1: So when I mentioned South Dakota, he just on a whim.
36:43
Speaker 1: After his mother and his wife passed away at the
36:46
Speaker 1: same night, he just, on a whim decided he was
36:49
Speaker 1: going to be a rancher in Dakota, in the Dakota's
36:51
Speaker 1: and clear his mind and just became a cowboy when
36:54
Speaker 1: he was in his early to mid twenties. So so, yeah,
36:59
Speaker 1: but I do know about the national parks. You're much
37:01
Speaker 1: more of an outdoor guy than I am, so but
37:03
Speaker 1: I can appreciate what Teddy Roosevelt did for sure.
37:07
Speaker 2: Yeah.
37:08
Speaker 1: I did not know that you were aware of Theodora
37:12
Speaker 1: Rex either, So that's interesting. You've surprised me in the
37:15
Speaker 1: last couple of weeks with your Cold War commentary and
37:17
Speaker 1: your Teddy Roosevelt discussions. So I love man there you go.
37:23
Speaker 3: If we if we both did not have kids and
37:26
Speaker 3: we had more time on our hands, we'd probably turn
37:30
Speaker 3: this into a second podcast about history.
37:34
Speaker 1: History Country Weekly. Oh my goodness. Yeah, but the kids
37:40
Speaker 1: take up too much time. And frankly we can still
37:43
Speaker 1: tell them all the history stuff too, they just won't listen.
37:45
Speaker 1: But what else is new?
37:48
Speaker 2: 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 week that I should do it?
37:55
Speaker 1: All right? Well, that'll do it for us. Hopefully we're
37:59
Speaker 1: in a much better removed next week. And frankly surprised
38:02
Speaker 1: at the outcome on Saturday, But who knows. Anything's possible
38:07
Speaker 1: for the world famous accountants Eric Vamminschotin. I'm Nick Detulio
38:10
Speaker 1: and this has been another episode of the GameHouse dot
38:13
Speaker 1: COM's Steelers Country Weekly.