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The 2008 Steelers (Part 1) · Pittsburgh Sports Memories

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_04: Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Pittsburgh Sports Memories podcast.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_04: On this episode, we're going to be talking about another championship, one in Pittsburgh.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_04: And as usual, joining me on my trip down memory lane is my co-host, Tim Hannon.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_04: And so on this episode, we'll be discussing the Super Bowl 43, the regular season in the playoffs.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_04: And then in the sequel, we'll just go over the Super Bowl.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_04: We're gonna discuss the two thousand eight season season and the Steelers really had to like you know really go through this season, navigate through it.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_04: It was really one of the most grueling schedules in the history of the NFL.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_04: And they had they had a lot of injuries they overcame.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_04: And um, you know, this veteran team, they turned in one of the most uh resilient performances in team injury history, and for that uh perseverance, they are rewarded with the championship.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_04: So um just a little background on what was going on at the uh good old 2008 there.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_04: Uh after Super Bowl 40, uh Bill Cower, the longtime coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, I think at that time he might have been one of the longest tenured coaches in the league, probably.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_04: Um, they had finished the next season with a severe Super Bowl hangover, and they had an eight and eight record, and uh Cower, of course, retired.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_04: So the Steelers were looking for a new head coach, and so they interviewed a little-known assistant from the Minnesota's Vikings named Mike Tomlin.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_04: And I think he was the defensive coordinator, and they were like nobody had ever heard of him.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_04: You know, he'd been around the league for a little bit, but not a terrible amount of time.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_04: So, and everybody said, Okay, they're just this is just uh, you know, a Rooney Roll interview, you know, nobody expected much, but lo and behold, Mike Tomlin gets hired.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_04: So in Tomlin's first year, um, which would have been the year before this, they make the playoffs, but they lose to the first round in to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and the Steelers, they they they're still a veteran team, they've had success, but and they're just a couple seasons removed from winning a Super Bowl.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_04: So they're they're pretty set that way going.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_04: So, what else that goes on that offseason?
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_04: Um, they draft Richard Mendenhall and uh Dennis Dixon, if you remember, he played quarterback in Oregon, also was like a baseball center fielder, and of course the immortal key piece to our championship teams, Lima Swede.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, um other offseason stuff that had happened.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_04: Um uh the Penguins had made the cup final, but they had lost the Detroit in six games of a score to by three to two at the Mellon Arena.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_04: And uh a fun fact was Mike Tomlin was actually watching the game outside with 3,000 fans on the Jumbotron.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_04: So much yeah, he's a man of the people, I guess.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_04: I don't I don't know if he could do that now, but back then I guess he was anonymous enough he could.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_04: So um in May, ESP and the magazine had done a survey, and they had, I guess, of 80,000 fans, and it was the ultimate fan satisfaction ranking, and the Steelers ranked as the 25th best major sports franchise out of 122 teams.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_04: So that was the four major sports MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, sorry, lacrosse, and WNBA, who probably didn't exist at that point.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_04: So uh they only finished one position behind the crosstown Pittsburgh Penguins, and they were sixth among all NFL teams.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_04: So um pretty cool, pretty cool little thing.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_04: Um, another weird thing that happened that doesn't happen a lot with the Steelers, and this is a good thing.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_04: Um, there was some ownership drama, Tim.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_04: Can you believe it?
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_04: So the Rooneys had to divest themselves from the racetracks that some of the family had owned since the uh days the Chief.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_04: See, the Chief, like, and we'd done this in the Chief episode.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_04: He was always more into horse, he was a better horse, what was saying horse handicapper, I guess is that the word I'm looking for.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_04: And he knew he owned horse tracks, and so some of his children own horse tracks.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_04: And um for some reason the NFL decided that that would be a conflict of interest for the ownership to own gambling interests and own an NFL team at the same time.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_04: So uh on a on July 11th, it was confirmed that uh a guy named Stanley Drunken Miller had been in discussion with the five Rooney brothers.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_04: Um, this guy had been known to paint his face black and gold for the Steeler games.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_04: Um, he's sort of a hedge fund guy, he has ties to George Soros, make fun of make whatever you will of that.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_04: Um, I honestly think this was a play by the uh the Jerry Jones and the Daniel Daniel Snyders and the Robert Crafts of the world to weaken the Roonies to try and like weaken their ownership of the team because there's always kind of been factions of owners in the NFL, and like it was always them, the Roonies were always with them, and the guy used to own the Panthers.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_04: And I I I've noticed that that like you know then they remember the guy from the Panthers got like thrown out of the Carolina for like some lame there wasn't some lame like reason or something.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_02: I thought it was like a sexual harassment thing, maybe was it?
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_02: But don't quote me on that.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I don't know.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_04: It seemed like a pretty weak reasoning.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_04: So I I think it really becomes more hypocritical because since then now the NFL has a sponsorship with DraftKings and FanDuel and Caesars.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_04: So okay, so why did the Rooneys have had to divest themselves again?
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_04: Please tell me why.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_04: You know, I don't know.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_04: I guess 2008 gambling wasn't legal like it is now.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, that's that's really been a culture shift over the last 10 years or so, probably more recently than that, that all of a sudden now, you know, that it was always like unspoken.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_02: Remember like Al Michaels used to always like do these, like drop these little gambling, you know, hands during the game, and people would be like, oh my gosh, Michael's talking about gambling again.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_02: Uh it it it but you're right, the NFL just finally embraced it.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_02: It it did help that it's like now legal in a bunch of states.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_02: I think that was the other problem.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_02: It was like, oh, well, we don't uh we don't know anything about any illegal gambling.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_02: Uh-huh.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_02: We wouldn't want people to bet on our games, even though that's skyrockets the interest in our product.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_02: So it was it was very hypocritical, and and now it's like at least now they can everybody can just be honest about it.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and I don't see how owning a racetrack is going to cause uh any conflict of interest with owning a football team.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and why wasn't it a problem for the you know 80 years before that?
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_02: Uh because you know, like you said, our Art Rooney owned, I mean, that was his gig for decades.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_02: So why was it all of a sudden a problem in 2008?
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_02: Who knows?
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_04: Well, because Robert Kraft needed more power.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_04: Uh tell me it isn't.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_04: I I I can't tell me any different that he doesn't have way too much pool in that league.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, I can't argue with that because I can't I don't have another good reason why that was a big deal.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_04: So Well, he kind of got his too when you know, if you're gonna start to throw around stuff about Jerry Richardson down in Carolina, look who got caught in the massage.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_04: I I mean, yeah, I was and I'm one of the people to defend like he isn't married.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_04: If he wants to go down there and do that, I mean, yeah, it's not probably a right thing to do, but it is illegal.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_04: Who cares?
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_04: As long as as long as they're consenting adults, I really don't care what you do.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I think with that there there was some dispute over whether they were consenting adults because there could have been a trafficking situation and all that.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_04: But I thought that was more Deshaun Watson, I'm not Robert Kraft.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_02: But well, yeah, I mean, regardless, it you to your point, you know, uh the Rooneys were different.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_02: Dan Rooney was definitely like the last of the a dying breed at that point, and and the the folks he mentioned are definitely the people who were striving for and who kind of have the power now.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_04: Although Snyder might be on his way out, you know, but that's because he's just an idiot.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_02: But he but to your point, he has a lot of power because he should have been out years ago and they're all afraid of him.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, there's rumors he has like all kinds of like you know, dirt on everybody.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_04: So I don't know.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_04: Maybe you saw like you know Art Rooney III going into, you know, I don't know, uh a Cleveland Browns bar or something.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_04: Wearing he was wearing a Cleveland Brown jersey, he was wearing a Jim Brown jersey.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_04: Oh no, it's a scandal.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_04: But that's about it's probably about the most scandalous thing that guy's ever done.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_02: You know, he's like let's hope so.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_02: Let's hope so.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_02: I used to think the same thing about people like Bill Cosby and you know Lance Armstrong.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_04: So isn't that a shame?
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_04: That's another case of like Bill Cosby did all this great stuff through his whole career.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_04: Like, was this you know, and then like something at the end there, he just totally screwed, he ruined everything else he ever did.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_04: That you might think, well, he was right on this, but it's like, yeah, he raped people.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_04: Well, there you go.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_04: You can't, you know, you totally screwed your reputation and everything you've ever said about it.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_04: So I guess there's a lesson there somewhere, right?
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, don't do bad, horrible things.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_04: That's the lesson.
• 9:49
  unknown: Yeah.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_04: At any point in your life, yeah.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_04: So um moving on, uh, so you know, they did fix that and they got their ownership settled.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_04: And so from what happened was some of the family had to sell to the other parts of the family, and they ended up they've ended up like uh Jimmy Haslum was an investor, and um, I think the guy David Tepper from Carolina.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_04: So that it's been actually a good thing for the NFL.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_04: He and you know, it's kind of smart what Rooney, I will say this.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_04: Maybe he's making allies that way.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_04: Maybe him and Haslum and Tipper are now Tepper or whatever his name, uh that he has a couple people in his corner when he has to fight you know, the crafts and Jones and Snyders of the world.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_04: So anyway, um, other key people that were brought on that season, some uh some guy named Dick Lebeau.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_04: I made a part of him.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_04: This is like his what second stint with the Steelers?
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_04: So he played Dick LeBeau played for Woody Hayes on the Ohio State National Championship team in 57.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_04: He was also an NFL defensive back, he was opposite of Dick Night Train Lane, who we mentioned just in another episode with the Detroit Lions.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_04: Um, he was defensive coach with the Bengals.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_04: He he uh basically kind of developed the defensive uh the what do we call it, the zone blitz.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_04: But he got fired after the 1989 season um because of some guy named Joe Montana kind of like scorched his defense in the Super Bowl.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_04: So um, you know, uh Dick LeBeau uh had it on the origin of the zone blitz.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_04: It was a thought process kind of born out of necessity.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_04: It was basically an outcropping of the run and shoot offense that was becoming pretty pretty prevalent in the league back then.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_04: We were in the same division as Houston, and they were tremendous at it with Warren Moon.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_04: Then the West Coast offense was spreading about the league, and those were all quick rhythm, get the ball out of your hands, cut up the defense type of games.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_04: We were just looking for ways to pressure the pressure the uh quarterback without exposing their defensive backs.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_04: So there you go.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_04: That's how Dick Lebeau came up with it.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_04: And um in 1992, um the uh Dom Capers was the defensive coach.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_04: Um he coached until 97, then left back.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_04: Uh so uh the one smart move in 2007 was uh Mike Tallman kept Dick Lebeau because they didn't Mike Tallman was always more of a 4-3, Dick Lebeau's a 3-4, but Tomman was smart enough not to you know mess with success.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_04: So another guy on this coaching staff you may have heard of, uh Bruce Arians.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_04: Uh Bruce uh played uh quarterback of Virginia Tech.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_04: He actually coached under Bear Bryant in Bear Bryant's last game.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_04: Um, if you don't know who Bear Bryant is, I'm sorry, he's like one of the most legendary football coaches of all time.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_04: Uh he was in Forrest Gump.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_04: I mean yeah, I don't know who he is, but he sure is fast.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_04: Um anyway, uh he he coached in Cleveland, he came to the Steelers as a quarterback coach in 2003.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_04: I think he actually Arians was on the infamous uh the the game where they came back, where the Steelers came back and won the game.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_02: He was, yeah.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_02: And he disagreed apparently with the way that they're putting the brakes on everything, yep.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_04: Uh he was more of a gambling guy, more deep pass.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_04: His big saying was no risk it, no biscuit.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_04: You can't live scared.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_04: So uh he definitely liked to go deep a lot, but umfortunately that would get your quarterback hurt a lot.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_04: So um, and then another guy named uh Ben Rothelsberger.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_04: Uh he had a great rookie year and then won a Super Bowl the next year.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_04: Second year had a great play uh playoffs, um, not such a great Super Bowl that year.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_04: Third year, definitely Super Bowl hangover, 18 touchdowns and 23 interceptions.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_04: So I think that's the most interceptions in the season he's ever had.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_02: That was the year that he had the motorcycle accident.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and then that was in like preseason, and then right before the season, he had like an emergency appendectomy.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_02: It was like he never really recovered from all of that stuff, and it was a Super Bowl hangover.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_02: It was just a bad season.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that's probably his worst season as a pro, quite honestly.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_04: Um, his fourth year, which is he had a great season that no one pays attention to, uh, he has 32 touchdowns and only 11 interceptions.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_04: He that's probably one of his best years, and nobody ever says anything about that.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_04: And mainly because some guy named Tom Brady throws 50 touchdowns.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_04: Um so I I mean quite honestly, that year before really probably was um you know, his his best year.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_04: Um he had some problems with his off-field behavior.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_04: Um, he was involved in a motorcycle accident, like we said.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_04: Um when he shattered the windshield of a car with his head.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_04: Uh the eyewitnesses said Rothesburg tried to get up, but it was bleeding.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_04: Reports from the news, from the scene, the news media indicated the incident accident was serious, but not life or career threatening.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_04: Um he was hospitalized for I think a day or two.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_04: Um but he did end up getting uh the Pittsburgh police cited him for failure to wear a helmet and failure to operate his uh motorcycle properly, like some some he didn't have a right motorcycle license or something.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_04: And then there was like some signs of his bad behavior.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_04: There were it was kind of like starting to show up.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_04: He really didn't notice it, but it was maybe starting.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_04: He was known to be rude to the local media, and then he would skip out on paying for meals.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_04: So uh just some kind of like maybe some minor red flags, like I don't know, you know, maybe somebody's getting a little bit of a big head here.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_04: But um actually they Lamar Woodley, they had drafted in 2007, he was from Michigan, and he played outside linebacker, and he was really good.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_04: He gave the Steeler a solid defensive bookend to help James Harrison not get double teamed.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_04: Um, it kind of like ended up being like a um Kevin Green uh Greg Lloyd situation.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_04: It was it was really good for that defense.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_04: Um also Brett Keisel uh ends up coming to Veard 2002.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_04: He was a seventh-round pick out of BYU.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_04: He was a specialty pass rusher, but he he developed into a very good defensive lineman.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_04: Then there's the man, the myth, the legend, who doesn't really get talked about a lot.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_04: And uh Aaron Smith, defensive end.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_04: There's gonna be a game I talk about this season.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_04: I remember, I remember this guy was unreal.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_04: He was a fourth-round pick from Northern Colorado, and in 2008, he made a full recovery from the injury, and he returned to starting that year.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_04: He recorded 44 tackles, five and a half sacks.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_04: And that this Colts game, I mean, it's unbelievable.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_04: He literally like tears up the Colts.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_04: Um, of course, Mike Tomlin, he was born in Hampton, Virginia.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_04: And it's kind of a weird like sociological study.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_04: Like he he's actually from the same area as Plexigo Berskelvic.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_04: So how do those two guys turn out the way they did?
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_04: And Michael Tom Mike Tomlin turns out the way he did.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_04: If you can figure that one out, you probably have like a million-dollar government grant waiting for you.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_04: No, honestly, think about it.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, it's same race, same socioeconomic, same school system.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, I don't know.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, all I can say is I know Tomlin had a two-parent family, but does two-parent really make that much of a difference?
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_04: Anywho, that's the end of our psychology for this.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_04: That's enough, you know, if they turn into our sociology uh podcast for this.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_02: You can do your dissertation on that.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_04: But I mean, it's an interesting case study, it really is.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_04: Um, he actually went to William and Mary uh Ivy League School, um, and he was hired as a defensive coach in Tampa Bay by Tony Dungey.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_04: And he actually was on the Super Bowl winning team with uh John Gruden, as Gruden was, once again, smart enough to keep him on staff.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_04: Um uh he then hooked up with Brad Childress as a defensive coach in Minnesota, and he was only there for one year when the Steelers hired him.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_04: He uh he was uh he was hired at 34, which continued the uh streak of Steelers seemed to hire coaches in their 30s.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_04: And uh I think that first year he was really a tough disciplinarian, but I think he had to be to get that team's attention.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_04: I think he had a veteran team that he needed to show I'm the boss of the man in charge, and that's kind of what he did.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_04: Um, I just I think he ran down his team a little bit, and that's why it might have been the big reason they lost to Jacksonville in the playoffs because they were pretty beat up and worn out.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_04: But um, I wish he would have brought that guy back out when Antonio Brown and Le'Veon Bell came to town.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_04: That guy would have been pretty helpful.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_02: I I yeah, I wonder if being 34 years old, to your point about like he felt like he had to do that, you know, just being so young.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_02: There were probably players that were I think I have that in the notes.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_04: I think when he coached for Minnesota, there was a guy that was one year older than there were two players that were older him, older than him when he coached in Minnesota.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_02: So so I could I could see definitely having to sort of establish a uh you know presence of an authority.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_02: Plus, you're also replacing a legend in Bill Cower.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_02: So that couldn't have been easy.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_02: Uh it'd be fun to go back and do an episode on that first season because I think like you said about Ben having a great year.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_02: I I I don't think people remember remember much about that year.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_02: That was a pretty good season uh that just kind of went south at the end.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_04: But yeah, everybody got hurt.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and then yeah, I don't know.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_04: He's just like I said, Ben had I remember when Ben had that.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_04: I think 32 is one of the most that at the time was the most touchdown passes by a Steelers quarterback in Steelers history at that point.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_04: So um I said uh toughest schedule in 30 years.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_04: Now, I I hate when people say, oh, the strength of schedule before the season.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_04: I think you determine your strength of schedule at the end of the season, not before the season.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_04: Because you're always basing it off of last year, and things change so much from year to year.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_04: And plus, I guess it depends too on when you play somebody, because like if you play a team and their starting quarterbacks hurt, that's a lot different than if they're starting quarterbacks healthy and playing.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_04: So there are kind of like weird caveats to that little you know, strength of schedule thing.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_02: You're right.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_02: It's very misleading because teams, the NFL, especially, like the the team the team that was supposed to be really good this year isn't the team that was supposed to be bad is is really good.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_02: You just never know until you get into the season.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_02: And then it's not even just injuries, it's also some team wasn't very good in week three, but by week twelve, they're you know one of the best teams in the league.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so there's that kind of stuff too.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_04: Or a team that was really good in week three or five got a bunch of injuries and now it's that same team.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_04: So um something else that happens in that season is Tom Brady gets hurt in the season opener and tears his ACL.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's right.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it leads to this rule change we're not allowed to hit quarterbacks in the knees, as long as your name isn't Michael Vick or Ben Rothelsberger.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you leads to a rule change where you're not allowed to hit Tom Brady, is really what it leads to.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_04: Maybe they should just written it that way.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_04: So um uh I mentioned the injuries.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_04: Uh Ed Bouchette on November 6, 2008, wrote an article.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_04: Ben Rothelsberger make his 10th straight start of the season at quarterback.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_04: Um, the ninth time he already had a separated shoulder by this point.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_04: Um the Steelers, uh, the starters for the Steelers have missed 31 games from their 22 starters, and that does not include their punter, who would bring it to 40, nor their long snapper.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_04: So uh there was a lot of injuries.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_04: Um for Tom when he says.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_04: Injuries are marked are as much a part of the game as blocking and tackling.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_04: We don't make any excuses in that regard.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_04: The people who play for us are the Steelers, and the standard of expectation does not and will not change, Tim.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_04: The standard is the standard.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_02: Was this the origin of the standard is the standard?
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_04: Pretty close, yeah.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_04: 2008.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_04: The standard is the standard.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_04: There it is.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_04: So um there you have it, just in case you were wondering.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_04: But there was a lot of people.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_04: Willie Parker was injured, Ryan Clark was injured, Mar Woodley even was injured.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_04: Key games.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_04: I'm not going to go through every game that we played that year.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_04: Why should we?
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_04: Some of the games they lost.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_04: They lost to Tennessee 31 to 14.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_04: Do you remember?
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_04: There's one thing that really happens in this that's really memorable.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the terrible towel thing.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_04: That's it.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_04: Lendell White, who I love the USC, was a great short journey, decides that like they're weeding by a lot in the fourth quarter, decides it's a great idea to stomp onto Terrible Tow.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_04: I think you should do that at your own risk.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_04: as you know, if Cincinnati had learned nothing two or three seasons before, they didn't share it with Lundell White.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_04: So e Even though they win, and I think Tennessee ends up being the number one seed that year.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_02: So they were, but you might talk about later what happens to them.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_02: It doesn't turn out well for them.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_04: No, no, it's all because Lendell White stomped on the towel for sure.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_04: That that's what happened.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_04: That's it.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_04: That's it.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_04: Yep.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_04: Um they lose to the Giants 21 to 14.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_04: And uh this is another one like I hate to use injuries as an excuse, but geez, injuries were really a big reason they lost this game.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_04: Ben didn't have the greatest game, and uh the long snapper got hurt.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_04: Do you remember that?
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_04: And like James Harrison had to try and snap a ball over like Mitch.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_04: He snipp he like snapped the ball over Mitch Berger's head, who had like a torn hamstring and tried to limp back and just like had to kick it out of the end zone for a safety.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_04: So it was bad.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I I remember I remember when the line snapper got hurt because he was down and he tried like they tried to do the thing where he like limps off the field and then he just crumpled to the ground, and you're like, oh no, he's not yeah, he's definitely not coming back.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_02: And then you saw Harrison on the sideline warming up as a long snapper.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_02: You're like, why?
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_02: It's like they like why couldn't they just put in like the regular who was the center back then?
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_02: Jeff Hardings, I think.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_02: But I but apparently it's that different of a skill at this point, and yeah, that didn't turn out well.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_04: And it really wasn't anybody's fault.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_04: It's like James Harrison's a great defensive player, long snapper, not so much.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_04: And like in a key situation, they were in their own end.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_04: Uh Ben has four picks in that game, but he really only throws one meaningful interception.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_04: Eli is clutch and kind of like pulls it out at the end.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_04: It was a tough loss, but the Giants weren't a bad team that year.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_02: They were the defending Super Bowl champions, yeah.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so it it was a tough loss.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_04: It was a tough loss.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_04: Uh the Colts, 24-20.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_04: Oh my goodness.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_04: Now, this is like I remember I was at this game.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_04: I went to this game.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_04: This was like classic Ike Taylor, if you remember.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_04: Like, this is the game where Ike literally had an interception that bounced off his hands and right to Marvin Harrison, who proceeded to run 60 yards for a touchdown.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_04: Ike was not burned, he was right there and had the ball in his hands.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_04: He just tipped it right to Marvin Harrison on one of the weirder plays I've ever seen.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_04: Um Troy got burned for a touchdown by Dominic Rhodes late in that game.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_04: I remember that.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_04: And I remember too, like they had a fourth and one.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_04: I'm I I think I remember this team a lot.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_04: Like they had trouble like closing out games on offense, especially running the ball.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_04: It just seemed like when it came to crunch time and running the ball, they just couldn't do it.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_04: And uh Melody Moore got stood up the goal line of what would have been the big lead.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_04: It it was only one of the few times the Steelers have ever lost the Colts.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_04: And um it was a it was a tough game, a tough game for for the for the Steelers.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_04: And um Do you remember that game?
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_04: Do you remember that game at all, Tim?
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know why why was I there and not you?
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_04: I I think I was with your dad.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_02: I Oh you maybe you were.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_02: I I I I don't think I was there.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_04: Um I maybe I had tickets or so.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_04: I remember too, like Aaron Smith.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_04: This was the Aaron Smith game, too, that I meant to mention.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_04: Like this is the game where Aaron Smith starts tackling their running back in the backfield, then he tackles Peyton Manning in the backfield, then they start double teaming them and they couldn't stop him, then they start triple teaming them, and it's still they're having trouble.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_04: So eventually they give up and they start rolling Peyton Manning out to the other side of the field.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_02: I Aaron Smith was very underrated.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_02: And to your point about um like getting stood up at the goal line and the running game, uh you'll probably cover this, but the the offensive line that year is atrocious.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_02: It's just a really big, really, really bad offensive line.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I think that's like first in goal from the one was never a good place for the Steelers ever that year.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_02: Or anything in goal from the one.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_02: Like Bettison retired, and they just didn't have the guys up front that were that were very good.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_02: So that was a that was a big problem that year, and and that burned them in this game.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, because if they get that touchdown there, that that's game over.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_04: They literally tried to run up the middle, and Melody Moore just literally got stood up.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_04: So um they love they went to Philadelphia and they had to play a game in Philadelphia.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_04: How do you think that went for them, Tim?
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_02: Like it always does in Philadelphia.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_04: Do you realize the Steelers haven't won in Philadelphia since the 60s?
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_04: Wow.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_04: That might be since Buddy Parker was coach.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_04: Wow.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_04: It's it's been a little bit.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_04: So uh they lost 15 to 6.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_04: I think the last time I remember them beating the Eagles was the uh Donovan McNabb Tarrell Owens game.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_04: That was been 2004.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, could have been.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_04: They they do not do well against the old school NFC, like for whatever reason.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_04: And I I think I've said that before.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_04: They don't do well against like Philadelphia, the Giants, who else?
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_04: Uh the Green Bay, Washington, like Chicago.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_02: They haven't had great success against Chicago either.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's like these old MF, it's like they just remember we're like, we're the Steelers, we always lose to you.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_02: That's that's a really good point.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_02: I never thought of that, but you're right.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_02: Those teams you mentioned, you're right, they they don't tend to win those games very often.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you remember more.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_04: I remember more of the games they've won against those teams.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_04: Like the Bears game in 2004 where Bettis ran all over them, or the Bears game in '94 or '95, where they had a shootout and won.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, that's bad that I can remember offhand the number of times we've beaten the Bears.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, I think the Giants, too.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_04: I don't think we've beaten the Giants very much either.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_04: So anywho, um, let's go on to the winning games.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_04: We like wins around here, right?
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_04: Um, San Diego.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_04: Um, I remember like uh they they won that, and uh well, I don't have the final score.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_02: It was 11 to 10.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_04: It was 11.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_04: It is 11 to 10.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, that is that weird play game.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, okay.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_04: Uh so Troy Paul, they're like, is this the game where Troy has that crazy interception too?
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, where he's like, he dives and he puts his hand like between the ball and the ground.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_04: It was like a snowy day here.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_04: And like there's this crazy play, like the Steelers take a lead, and I think they needed like they had no time on the clock on like was it a I think it was an offensive play, right?
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_04: Or no, it was a kickoff.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_02: It it was it was either a kickoff or an offensive play.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_02: But but the Chargers, because there's no time left, they're trying to lack.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_04: Troy knocks it down and then picks it up and like ends up in the end zone, and they called him down or something.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_04: And so everybody was mad because once again, gambling, and ooh, we can't, you know.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_04: I guess it would have affect the Steelers would have covered if they would have left that.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_02: Wasn't that wasn't that to that point?
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know if it's been matched since, but I think at that time it was like the only time a game NFO game had ended 11 to 10 in the history of the league.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_04: Might have been a scoregami, yeah.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_04: And then uh the gamblers were all sad.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_04: But another fun personal story about that game was uh my kid was in the hospital that that game getting an overnight like testing, and it was in children's hospital, and we were going in to pick them up like at like three or four that afternoon.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_04: And that was that uh whatever maybe it was seven, whatever it was, I had to pick them up in the fourth quarter of that game as that game was ending.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_04: And I walked in and we had the game on the TV in the room, we were waiting, and they had to like do some stuff to discharge them.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_04: And it was funny because I'm sitting there, I said, We're not gonna get discharged after the game is over.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_04: And I was okay with it.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_04: I was like, nope, nope, fine.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_04: And as soon as Troy made that play and the game was over, of course, they walked right in as soon as they said, Okay, yeah, we're ready to go, you're ready to go now.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_04: So nice that's like classic Pittsburgh, yeah.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_04: Everybody was watching the game, the heck with your healthcare, yeah.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_04: Heart attack.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, hold on, I gotta watch this play.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_04: But it wasn't anything that serious.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_04: I I joke, I joke, but um uh another another fun game was uh versus Baltimore.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_04: That was here.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_04: Um that was Jeff Reed kicked a 46-yard field goal in Heinz Field to win it.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_04: Um, it was a big win.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_04: It was coming off a loss to Philadelphia the week before, and it gave him a lead in the division.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_04: Was that the infamous picture of Jeff Leed like holding up like the$5 foot long?
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_04: Like, oh, it was that the one that just like barely snuck in, or am I thinking of another game?
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I honestly don't remember the field goal.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_02: What I remember from that game was like you said, the the the offense that was early in the season, it was like week four, I want to say.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah, because it's right after the Philadelphia loss.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_02: Right after the Philadelphia loss, the offense was doing nothing.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_02: And then they got booed.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_02: It was a Monday night game, I want to say, and they actually got booed.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_02: The offense got booed off the field in the third quarter, and they came back and they put together this nice drive.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_02: Santonio Holmes had a touchdown.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then on the very next play, they hit Joe Flacco and he fumbles, and Woodley picked it up and ran into the end zone.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_02: Like they literally they were down by seven, I think, and then they scored two touchdowns in like the span of like 14 seconds to take the lead.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and that really was a a big turning point in the season because, like you said, that gave him a lead in the division, and that comes um that that turns out to be huge later as I'm sure you'll get into the the battle with the Ravens that year.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and it and then New England at New England, which they don't win a lot in New England, but um there was no Tom Brady, but um they actually they smoked the Patriots 33 to 10.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_04: I remember this game was played in a rainstorm, I remember that.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and they had Matt Castle, who wasn't a bad quarterback, but they just for whatever reason they could not beat Tom Brady, except for this season, for I'd go figure on that.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um Well, the Patriots the Patriots without Tom Brady that year, they they won the five years.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_04: They won 11-5.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_04: They're the only 11-5 team to not make the playoffs, I think.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_04: Um but this was one of the games that probably eliminated them from see the problem was their five losses were all to AFC teams, which really when you lose like losing to Philadelphia isn't good, but it doesn't hurt you as bad as losing to like an AFC team.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_04: Because that's like an earlier tiebreaker than that.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_04: Although overall record is still the first, you know, thing.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_04: But if you end up in a tie, AFC wins is like one of the earlier tiebreakers.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_04: So um another gag game, um how about uh versus the Dallas Cowboys.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_04: Um a Tony Romo touchdown pass in the third quarter game the lead.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_04: Um the lead was extended.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_04: Nick Folt converted his second field goal of the day.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_04: The Cowboys were up to 13-3 going into the fourth, but Jeff Reed hits a couple field goals, and um Deshea Townsend makes an intercepted pass that gives the Steelers a seven-point lead, and they held to the end of the game.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_04: Romo throws high, intercepted, Townsend.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that that was amazing.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, the game was tied with like a minute 40 left, and the Cowboys are driving for what you know could be the game-winning field goal, and and Romo throws of uh McPherson definitely got away from him, and DeShea Townsend, who was never like a star, but was always kind of a really solid player as a pick pick six.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_02: That was that was unbelievable.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_02: I just I think when that game happened, that was later in the season, I think I was like, man, we this could this could be a really special team.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and it's weird because Dallas is one of the teams that they always beat from, you know, not always, but it seems like they beat more times than they lose to.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_04: So hey uh Tim, was Renegade played before the uh interception?
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_02: It was.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_02: That was back when Renegade That was back when Renegade meant something.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_04: Back when I remember Renegade meant something.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_04: Now now they just play it and it doesn't matter, huh?
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_04: That's correct.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_04: And then uh by a familiar score, they beat Baltimore 13-9.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_04: That seems like a popular number around these parts.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_04: Uh it's a last minute pass to Holmes.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_04: Um, this is really classic Pittsburgh Baltimore.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_04: Tough defense in this game.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_04: Um, Ben leads them on a game-winning drive that ends with a Santoni Holmes catch that um, well, if you you you could tell me it's a touchdown, you could tell me it's not a touchdown.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_04: Go figure, right?
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_00: Rethelessburger.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_00: First option.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_00: Shut down.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_00: Looking for a second.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_00: A third option.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_00: Now throws it.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_00: Mans there.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_00: Is he in the end zone?
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_00: Is he in or outside?
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_00: They're gonna mark him outside.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I guarantee you, people are gonna want to look at this one.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_00: Well, inside two minutes, it can be challenged from up top.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_00: If I was the Steelers, I would not call a timeout.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_00: With the eye, I think his body was in, but the ball was outside.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's close.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_00: Here's even an angle from the blimp.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_01: Two feet are two feet.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_01: After reviewing the play, The receiver had a two feet down, and he has um with possession of the ball.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_01: We have a touchdown.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_04: It's a touchdown for touchdown.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that's that's a close call there, Tim.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know if that was a touchdown or not.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_04: It was nine to six with 30 seconds left, and Ben runs around like it's you know, five Mississippi is being counted, and your trends are chasing you.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_04: And uh it's classic, Ben.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_04: Like you said, the the uh offensive line really wasn't that great that year, so they really couldn't run the ball against anybody, never mind Baltimore.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_04: And uh yeah, it ends up being a classic, 13-9.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_04: They they they pull off the win.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_04: Was that did William Gay have a big interception at the end of that game, too?
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_02: I think he had an interception at the end, I think, just to ice it.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_02: But but big play, Willie Gay.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_02: But but that was yeah, the the that would have been interesting had they had they stuck with the original call of him being down at the one because it was nine to six, and there was, you know, what 30 seconds left.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_04: So you I think that was third down, too.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_04: That was third down.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_02: So so it would have been fourth and goal from like the inside the one-yard line.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_02: Oh gosh.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_02: And so you could have kicked the field goal, played for overtime.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_02: It was again, it was a typical Pittsburgh-Baltimore game where nobody was really scoring, or you could have gone for the win, but like we said, like fourth and goal from the one was not a good spot for the 2008 Steelers to ever be in.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_02: So it would have been interesting to see what they would have done.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_02: Fortunately, the Tomlin never had to make that decision because they did call it a touchdown.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_02: And you're right, Steve.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_02: It was wasn't a bad call.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_02: It was just like, man, that you literally could have just flipped a coin.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_04: You could call that either way, and I don't I couldn't argue.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_04: Like when like you heard that was Phil Sims and Jim Dance, and Phil Sims was like, here's the blimp shot.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_04: If you look at the blimp, it does kind of look like the ball's touching, but I don't I mean, come on, the blimp's like a hundred feet away.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, you know, how good um that was huge.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_02: That play was big.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_04: It get well, yeah, it's a foreshadowing boy.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_04: San Antonio Holmes making a big catch at the end of the game.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, uh keep that one in the back of your head, huh?
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_04: That one might come in handy later.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_04: Um, the big win gives the Steelers a bye, and that's what they needed.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_04: They had to have the bye this year.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_04: Too many injuries, played too many tough games.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_04: They needed a buy.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_04: And I don't think if they don't get that bye, they probably don't make the Super Bowl.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_04: So that gives them big because they get the stay home and rest up.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_04: And back then, the first and second seeds both got a bye, and you get to rest up.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_04: So um just to review, they had a historic defense, and uh James Harrison was NFL defensive player of the year, and it literally, you know, they they set the what is it, the offensive, they led the defense um every category.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_04: Um, yards allowed, points allowed, passing yards allowed, first downs, yards per play, and yards per pass.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_04: So it was a really, really, really good defense.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_04: Like I said, I think with the with Aaron Smith and Casey Hanton up the middle, then you had Farrier and Larry Foote, and then you had you know Woodley and Harrison on the outside.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_04: And people forget Brian McFadden was a really solid corner on the other side for Mike Taylor, and you had Ryan Clark and Troy Palomalu, and if you took Larry Foote out, you could put in Deshay Townsend.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_04: That's why Townsend was in.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_04: They were in that extra, you know, defensive back.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_04: So, I mean, they really had a really good defense and solid and deep.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_04: Um, the problem was they had an inconsistent offense.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_04: There really was no consistent passing game or running game.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_04: The offensive line was weak.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_04: Um, Ben kind of regresses.
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_04: He has a he finishes with 17 touchdowns and 15 interceptions.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_04: He has 3,000 pass yards.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_04: It's not really that great of a year.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_04: Willie Parker only has 800 yards rushing, 791 and five touchdowns.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_04: Although Melote Moore has 588 and five touchdowns.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_04: So it really they really didn't have that great of a year on offense.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_04: They they kind of have an offense where they knew they do just enough to win.
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_04: That that's kind of their offense this year.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_04: They score just enough points to get the win.
• 41:40
  SPEAKER_04: Um, tough schedule, I alluded.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_04: You know, the schedule really is determined after the season, not before.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_04: Um, the Steelers finished 12-4.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_04: I think every one of the teams they played both number one seeds in both conferences.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_04: But um, yeah.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_04: Because I did the Giants, I I looked at it, I forget who ended up being the NFC.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it was the Giants.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_04: And so they played both of them and they played the Tennessee, and they played every playoff team in the AFC except for Miami.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_04: And Miami only got in because the Steelers beat New England to put them in.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_04: So and there were some teams that weren't good like Cleveland, Houston, and Cincinnati.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_04: But I I really I would argue with anybody that that was probably one of the toughest schedules that the Steelers have ever played and been successful with.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_02: So I can't I can't uh Yeah, I mean Phil Philadelphia um it ended up being in the ANFC championship game.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_02: So I mean, yeah, that that and like you said, New England wasn't a playoff team, but they won 11 games.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_02: So that was that was definitely a hard schedule.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_04: And it's I think it beat them up.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_04: It really did.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_04: But I think Toddman is where Tomlin got smart with resting some of his veterans and stuff.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_04: He kind of learned team management maybe a little better than he had the year before his first year.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_04: So on to the playoffs.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_04: They are going to play the San Diego Superchargers, um, who were in San Diego, not LA at the time.
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_04: So I can say San Diego without worrying about making a mistake, right?
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and they they won uh the San Diego had won in overtime the week before.
• 43:21
  SPEAKER_04: The Steelers, of course, had uh taken care of the bye week, shutting them out, winning, you know.
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_04: Um the Steel The Steelers uh in the story, it's kind of weird.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_04: In this game, they really run the ball really well.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_04: Like I remember that.
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_04: Like Willie Parker had 146 yards rushing, and he averaged over five yards of carry.
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_04: The Steelers won the time of possession, keeping the ball.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_04: I remember that they kept the ball for the entire third quarter, except for like one play.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_04: And I think that was an interception.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_04: Wasn't it I think it was an interception by Phillip Rivers.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_04: So uh Toddlin did some risky stuff in this game that didn't pan out.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_04: Like going for it on fourth down.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_04: But the defense bailed him out.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_04: Phillip Rivers didn't have a terrible game, three touchdowns and an interception.
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_04: Ben only throws one touchdown, but more importantly, he doesn't throw any exceptions.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_04: And um, I think the biggest play of this game is it's a punt return by Santonio Holmes.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, all these years, everyone's pronounced his last name incorrectly.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's Cyprus.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_00: like So beware, we're going with that the rest of the day as Holmes takes off.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_00: Holmes inside the 50.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_00: Gets past Cyfrus.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_00: Nanae has the angle.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_00: He gets past him hurdling and takes it in for the touchdown.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_00: Santonio Holmes breaks it.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_00: 60, the Chargers really didn't have much luck that season.
• 44:50
  SPEAKER_04: They had to play us twice in the snow in Pittsburgh.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_02: They were winning that game seven and nothing.
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_02: They had scored like a touchdown on their first drive when that punt return happened.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_02: So that was a big place.
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_02: Antonio Holmes, I clutch, man.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_02: If you want to talk about just like the greatest, just boil it down to like one season in in Pittsburgh sports history, like the greatest single season ever.
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_02: I it'd be really hard to put somebody on top of him.
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe like Mario Lemie when they won the cup that second year in '92, maybe, would probably be in running.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_02: But I mean, man, he just he just did so much that year and so many huge plays.
• 45:31
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, well, just for Willie Parker, because I like Willie.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_00: But running out the clock here, and Clark taking it toward the end zone, and he's in for a touchdown.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_04: That made it 35 to 17.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_04: I think the Chargers scored another touchdown.
• 45:51
  SPEAKER_04: But that was kind of like that.
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know.
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_04: Like, why why was the offensive line all of a sudden so good in that game?
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_04: I I don't know.
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_04: But they were.
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that was a weird weekend because it was the divisional round, and we were the last game.
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_02: We were like the Sunday four o'clock game or whatever.
• 46:09
  SPEAKER_04: And all the home teams had lost.
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_02: All the home teams had lost.
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it was it was so the the two number one seeds in both conferences were upset, and then the Cardinals beat whoever the number two seed was in the NFC.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_04: Was it Carolina?
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, it was Carolina, thank you.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so so yeah, you you had all these upsets, and then the Chargers had upset Peyton Manning the week before.
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_02: They came in here, they took a 7-0 lead, but then the Steelers really rolled after that.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_02: And like you said, the time of possession, the running game.
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_02: It was it was it was like a game.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_02: It was like a game from like a past era, right?
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_02: Like a one of those old like 90s games that they would have won with 100 and something yards rushing and controlling the clock.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_02: And that was not the norm for that team, but that's the way they played that day.
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_04: Well, they picked they picked a good good time to do it.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_02: You know what else I remember about that game, Steve, on on going back to the special team.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_02: So you you had mentioned uh when you read that thing from Ed Bouchette about all the injuries.
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_02: Like if you if you throw the punter in there, then it's this many games.
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, Mitch Berger sucked.
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_02: Well, the the punter that year was Daniel Sepulveda, who they had drafted.
• 47:17
  SPEAKER_02: I I can't remember if it was that year or the year before, but he had like some kind of season-ending injury.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_02: So you're right.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_02: They signed Mitch Berger, who was just awful.
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_02: And and one of the reasons that they kept the ball for so long in the third quarter was Mitch punted to San Diego and Eric Weddle, who played forever, good that dude was on the Rams last year when they won the Super Bowl.
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_02: Uh he was the kick returner.
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_02: And it like Mitch Berger was such a bad punter that like Weddle couldn't field the ball.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_02: Cause because it like he it just it didn't like go in the trajectory that a normal punt would go.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_02: And he was like confused and it like hit his helmet or something, and it it was a muff, and the Steelers recovered.
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_02: I just remember thinking like Mitch Berger's so bad that the other team can't even feel his punts.
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_02: So that's I don't know why I remember that from that game, but I do.
• 48:08
  SPEAKER_04: Uh well, that was that they kind of rolled and they kind of needed a probably a game to roll, and they dominated.
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_04: It ends up being 24-35-24, but I don't think it was even really that close.
• 48:21
  SPEAKER_04: I know CD go in their lead, but I just remember halfway through this game thinking it was over because, like I said, I think Willie Parker had like six five yards of carry, and I was like, right, if you can run the ball like that, you're you're you're gonna win.
• 48:34
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 48:34
  SPEAKER_02: That that's that's how those divisional games are supposed to go.
• 48:39
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 48:40
  SPEAKER_02: You know, because you're you have the week off, you're playing at home, sometimes the weather's a factor.
• 48:45
  SPEAKER_02: Usually those teams, you know, win fairly handily, but that year that didn't happen at all until until that last game of the weekend.
• 48:55
  SPEAKER_04: So that leads to Baltimore, who had beaten Tennessee, the number one seed, and I didn't write down the score, but it's all because Tennessee stomped on the terrible towel.
• 49:05
  SPEAKER_04: We all know that for a fact.
• 49:07
  SPEAKER_02: They also had Kerry Collins as their quarterback.
• 49:10
  SPEAKER_02: That might have something to do with it too.
• 49:12
  SPEAKER_04: Well, Baltimore had Joe Flacco, so go figure.
• 49:15
  SPEAKER_04: Um, this is one of the biggest games in this rivalry's history, and the Steelers are trying to beat Baltimore for the third time this season, which is not easy in any case.
• 49:26
  SPEAKER_04: Never mind it.
• 49:26
  SPEAKER_04: It's Baltimore.
• 49:27
  SPEAKER_04: Um, Joe Flacco is a rookie quarterback for the Ravens that year.
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_04: The Ravens defense still has Ray Lewis and Ed Reed.
• 49:34
  SPEAKER_04: Um it's just uh it's a great game.
• 49:37
  SPEAKER_04: Um so I this is just like probably one of the uh one of the best games in Steelers' history, wouldn't you say Tim?
• 49:45
  SPEAKER_04: Probably.
• 49:46
  SPEAKER_02: Well, it it just and like you said, the build-up to it.
• 49:49
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, like they that was our third time that season.
• 49:51
  SPEAKER_02: And and it wasn't like those two teams just became rivals that year.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, they had this they had this really strong history, both defenses were really good.
• 50:00
  SPEAKER_02: It was a brutal physical game.
• 50:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I would definitely put it up there as one of the best games in Seaway.
• 50:06
  SPEAKER_02: And honestly, even if you're a Ravens fan, I can't obviously they lost, so I I can't speak for Ravens fans, but man, I I thought I just thought that was like one of those games where both fan bases should have just been proud of you know how far their teams had come and how hard they fought in that game.
• 50:23
  SPEAKER_04: Well, here we go.
• 50:24
  SPEAKER_04: Uh Flacco having some early struggles here.
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_00: Picked off.
• 50:33
  SPEAKER_00: Picked off by the Shea Townsend.
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_00: The rookie makes the big mistake early, mid-first.
• 50:45
  SPEAKER_04: So Joe Flacco throws a I don't know if that I think that's a better play by Flacco than a poor pass.
• 50:51
  SPEAKER_04: A better play by Townsend than a poor pass by Flacco there.
• 50:54
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know.
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean Flacco was a rookie, but he, you know, he he had a pretty good season that year.
• 51:01
  SPEAKER_02: And uh was that also Harbaugh's first year as their coach?
• 51:04
  SPEAKER_02: I think it was.
• 51:05
  SPEAKER_02: Probably.
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_04: Um how about uh how about a how about a big play from the offense?
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_04: Oh no, here we go.
• 51:11
  SPEAKER_04: This is a fun one.
• 51:12
  SPEAKER_04: Remember when Troy Polomolo used to leap over the line to stop on the Raven line.
• 51:17
  SPEAKER_00: Unbalanced line to the left.
• 51:21
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the snake.
• 51:23
  SPEAKER_00: Flacco, second chance, second effort.
• 51:27
  SPEAKER_00: And it looks like they're gonna mark him short of it.
• 51:31
  SPEAKER_00: Polog Molo was the first to come over the top.
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_04: So this is a fourth and one, or maybe less.
• 51:37
  SPEAKER_04: And remember, Troy used to jump over, he used to try that.
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_04: Like, I remember he tried it before this game, but nobody ever noticed because it never worked.
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_04: And then it works one time, and everybody's like, oh my god, what a genius! It's like, dude, he's been trying this for like three games.
• 51:50
  SPEAKER_04: Like, I've seen him try it like a million times.
• 51:51
  SPEAKER_04: This is the first time it worked.
• 51:53
  SPEAKER_04: But hey, it was a big situation for it to work, so good for Troy.
• 51:58
  SPEAKER_04: Well, what a smart player.
• 51:59
  SPEAKER_04: I mean that he was a very smart player.
• 52:03
  SPEAKER_04: So he he's lucky he never got like somebody like just took a step back and tried to chuck a pass on him, though.
• 52:09
  SPEAKER_04: But I mean, would that have worked in that situation?
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know.
• 52:14
  SPEAKER_04: All right, how about a big play from the offense here?
• 52:18
  SPEAKER_04: Just a scrimmage.
• 52:19
  SPEAKER_00: What they feel about one another.
• 52:21
  SPEAKER_00: Third down and nine.
• 52:26
  SPEAKER_00: Bringing everybody.
• 52:28
  SPEAKER_00: stepping away from it.
• 52:29
  SPEAKER_00: Rafflesburg throws off balance, has Holmes.
• 52:33
  SPEAKER_00: Holmes cuts back middle pass.
• 52:34
  SPEAKER_00: Walker sidesteps another hit.
• 52:37
  SPEAKER_00: Miller down there leading the charges.
• 52:39
  SPEAKER_00: Washington's gonna throw a block, and Holmes has taken it in.
• 52:42
  SPEAKER_00: Touchdown, Pittsburgh.
• 52:51
  SPEAKER_04: What is the dance song they're playing?
• 52:54
  SPEAKER_02: That's the Mortal Kombat.
• 52:55
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it is it.
• 52:56
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, Mortal Kombat.
• 52:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 52:59
  SPEAKER_04: Well, it's nice to see Jim Leonard, the current coach of Wisconsin football, and Ed Reed get burned there.
• 53:05
  SPEAKER_04: So that was fun.
• 53:06
  SPEAKER_04: That was a classic Ben play.
• 53:08
  SPEAKER_04: He's running around, gets hit as he throws off his back foot.
• 53:11
  SPEAKER_04: He does everything wrong, but because he's Ben, it's all right.
• 53:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and then and then Holmes just you know makes a great play to not only get open, but then you know run 40 yards across the field.
• 53:22
  SPEAKER_02: That's one of those ones, like we're playing the audio, but if if go find it on YouTube because it's just an amazing play.
• 53:28
  SPEAKER_02: And that that you really couldn't beat that Ravens defense for 60-yard touchdown passes unless you had something like that.
• 53:39
  SPEAKER_04: So what do we want?
• 53:40
  SPEAKER_04: Do we want to want to want the big play, the probably the biggest one of the bigger plays in Steeler history, Tim?
• 53:46
  SPEAKER_04: Is that what we're going with?
• 53:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and and set it up, Steve.
• 53:49
  SPEAKER_02: What was the what was the score?
• 53:50
  SPEAKER_02: What was the situation?
• 53:52
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, so we are 16 to 14.
• 53:55
  SPEAKER_04: Baltimore scored a couple touchdowns to get back in it.
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_04: Uh okay, so Warren Woodley gets a sack on second down, and it's third and 13.
• 54:03
  SPEAKER_04: So that's what it is.
• 54:05
  SPEAKER_04: It's third and 13.
• 54:06
  SPEAKER_04: The Ravens are driving.
• 54:07
  SPEAKER_04: They've played renegade before this drive, right, Tim?
• 54:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 54:12
  SPEAKER_04: So the defense is going crazy, the crowd's going crazy, and you know, we need to make a big play because all they have to do is get in the field goal range.
• 54:21
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, they're at their own 30, and this is Heinz Field in like February, so you know, this isn't a gimme, right?
• 54:28
  SPEAKER_04: Were they going into the open end?
• 54:30
  SPEAKER_02: I think they're going into the right, but but like you said, I mean, the the all they need to do is get in field goal range.
• 54:35
  SPEAKER_02: There's only four minutes left.
• 54:36
  SPEAKER_02: So this is this is if this is like you said, this is this historic defense.
• 54:42
  SPEAKER_02: So if they're if they're really this legendary defense, this would be the time to make a play.
• 54:49
  SPEAKER_00: Third and 13.
• 54:50
  SPEAKER_00: Gotta make it to the 42 for the first.
• 55:03
  SPEAKER_00: Palomaru going right.
• 55:05
  SPEAKER_00: The field is open.
• 55:07
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Smith shields Flacco Palomahu takes it home.
• 55:11
  SPEAKER_00: Super Bowl 43.
• 55:13
  SPEAKER_00: Bitchboard might be bound for that.
• 55:15
  SPEAKER_00: Next to number 43.
• 55:19
  SPEAKER_02: That was a that was actually a really great call there by Jim Nance.
• 55:22
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it was, wasn't it?
• 55:24
  SPEAKER_04: And uh they're gonna all right.
• 55:26
  SPEAKER_04: Um yeah, it's uh it's probably one of the biggest plays.
• 55:29
  SPEAKER_04: And I tell you what's a great call, and I didn't notice this until actually your dad said this.
• 55:33
  SPEAKER_04: I didn't notice this in when I was watching the game.
• 55:35
  SPEAKER_04: Dick Lebeau put Woodley and James Harris are James Harrison and Lamar Woodley on the same side on that play.
• 55:43
  SPEAKER_04: So you couldn't double team them both.
• 55:46
  SPEAKER_04: And that that made like if you watch the replay, like James Harrison gets like big time pressure because he's able to get by the inside tackle or guard on that.
• 55:55
  SPEAKER_04: And that that's really what creates the interception on that play.
• 55:59
  SPEAKER_02: So interesting.
• 56:01
  SPEAKER_02: I never knew that either.
• 56:02
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah, I didn't know until he said that.
• 56:04
  SPEAKER_04: When you watch the replay, you can see that 56 and 92 are on that same side.
• 56:09
  SPEAKER_04: And it's like, oh, that's really tough tough to stop, you know.
• 56:13
  SPEAKER_04: So um, yeah, it was it's probably one of the biggest plays in team history.
• 56:18
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, it kind of goes down the list a little bit because there's a couple other plays within this season that might be bigger.
• 56:25
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 56:26
  SPEAKER_04: Um it's a great call by Dick Lebeau, and the Steelers are on the way to the seventh Super Bowl appearance overall, and they're second in three years.
• 56:34
  SPEAKER_04: Of course, the offense did just barely enough to win.
• 56:39
  SPEAKER_04: Um, one other weird thing, it doesn't I think uh what's his name?
• 56:42
  SPEAKER_04: Willis McGaehee gets like concussed in this game late in it, doesn't he?
• 56:46
  SPEAKER_04: And that was that was like a scandal because they played like down on the corner by credence, and everybody was all upset about that.
• 56:53
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, go go go listen to our um Forgotten Stories episode.
• 56:58
  SPEAKER_02: We we got into the ridiculousness of of all of that.
• 57:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um but man, I that was such a great night.
• 57:05
  SPEAKER_02: I when Troy made that intercept, I was at that game, I was fortunate enough to be there, and I had been there for all those AFC championship game losses at the River Stadium, and then even the the Tom Brady one at Heinz Field.
• 57:18
  SPEAKER_02: And uh for when Troy made that interception, I mean people were just hugging each other, hugging strangers, jumping on each other.
• 57:27
  SPEAKER_02: I've I've never up to that point, and then since that point, I've never experienced anything like that at a sporting event where people were just had that much like pure joy, it was really cool.
• 57:42
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's one of the biggest plays.
• 57:44
  SPEAKER_04: Um the Ravens were at their own 14 to start, and that was 650, and then that play happened with four minutes left, third and thirteen.
• 57:53
  SPEAKER_04: Um great game between two great rivals.
• 57:57
  SPEAKER_04: Um, it puts us into the Super Bowl, and um, if you want to find out what happened in the Super Bowl, um tune into our next podcast where we discuss uh some more and it's an very interesting Super Bowl matchup, a lot of weird connections between the stewards and partners.
• 58:13
  SPEAKER_04: So it'll be fun to dive into those stories more in our next podcast.
• 58:16
  SPEAKER_04: Um please like us on whatever podcast service you're using.
• 58:19
  SPEAKER_04: Uh word of mouth is really helpful.
• 58:21
  SPEAKER_04: And uh thank you for tuning in, and uh, we'll see you with uh part two forty three coming up.