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Hello, everybody, thanks for being with us. Following this year's twenty to ten victory over the La Chargers. Our first reaction is brought to you by First National Bank. Let's get started, member FDIC. Before we plunge into any specifics, let's get a first reaction. Craig Wolfley, let's start with you your thoughts on what you saw on Sunday with this year's twenty to ten victory that moved them to three and zero in the season.
Oh, I love it.
You know.
It's just one of those afternoons where you got a bludgeoning on both sides, you know what I mean. You got it a great rushing attempt, a team with rushing attempts, and you got a team with great rushing yardage.
And he got all this coming together.
And I was laughing in the before the game, we were talking about going this game could be over in about thirty five minutes.
Yeah, you know, and the first quarter was over so fast.
But you know, you look at this and I thought it was just a great show of determination by the Steelers. Stay after it, stay after it, keep cracking the rock and vctually the rock got split in the second half and they took over a momentum and never relinquished it. It was just a great team effort from top to bottom.
You know, Matt.
Before the game, Mike Tomwin used a boxing analogy and he said it was an opportunity for him to educate his young players on Hagler Hearns. The great fight between those two guys, Marvin Hagler and Tommy Hearns.
That was over.
And I think this second round unbelievably action pack but swinging punches, and you know, it made me think of and I use this analogy with Wolf earlier, the boxer who goes to the body early and softens up his opponent. No, you're not scoring any points by doing that. The officials, the people sitting ringside that are scoring about they are not, you know, duly impressed with that. They're more impressed with
the headshot. But man, you get into those later rounds and all of a sudden, those body blows mean something that you know, the the opposing fighter drops his hands to protect his mid drift and now you can go for the knockout.
That's what it felt like the Steelers did to me.
They weakened the Chargers by going after him, going after him, going after him in some ways, and then late in the game they're able to finish them off.
Yeah, well said, And I think both head coaches had the same approach. You know, we're gonna come in banging away. If we have to punt, that's okay, three and out. But we're gonna be physical. We're gonna use a lot of heavy personnel, a lot of extra tight ends on the field, sometimes extra offensive. I'm in big power backs and you know, efficient quarterback play. You know, Baldon hit the ground from either one of these quarterbacks very often. In the first first half either there was a lot
of very high completion rate. But then the second half rolls around, and to be fair, you know, some of the Chargers star players are dropping like flies. You lose Alts later, Bosa, Herbert, it's gonna hurt you. But I also think some of that's due to the Steelers being the more physical team in any way. You cut it when you when you produce two hundred and fifty four yards in the second half, and I think they produced negative five in the second half.
Yeah, I mean that sort of sums it up right.
Let me do the math of that pretty good.
And by the way, when you say you know two guys wanting the same approach, well, Hagler Hearns wanted the same approach to it.
I'd rather have been.
Hagler right right by the time that fight was over. And so yeah, it was. I thought this was a good test, good physical tests. And I think it's pretty clear that you know, and again, this is something I taught about at the beginning of the broadcast. You know, you have a hardball coach team with Greg Roman as the offensive coordinator. Sounds like the you know, the Ravens from several years ago, except it's a different hardball same Roman, same style. They want to play the same way Wolf
and so every week presents a different challenge. This as a team that wanted to go toe to toe with you, they were a little different challenge in what Denver was and what Atlanta was, and they tried to go toe to toe with the Steelers and they got knocked out.
You know.
The interesting thing, it's a lot of people credit this to Mike Tyson, but really the quote goes to George Formasa. Everybody's got a plan until I get hit with the right hand, you know. And that's basically what happened. George Foreman materialized in the form of Steelers offense and defense and just put the right hand right in the mouth of the La Chargers. And they did a great job.
When you think about defensively speaking, five sacks, seven quarterback hits, a strip sack, sevendfls, you know, tackles for loss, my goodness, and as Matt talked about earlier, you're talking about a minus five for an offense that was just running on high octane, coming into a creature. You got to take your hat off and give it to him, as Hines Ward would say, and give them, you know, a little
salute there. They tried hard, but they they got mangulated, and I got to tell you, I think it was just a great team effort again from the Steelers, from everybody putting their hand in the pile and the proverbial you know, uh, get that effort going and be part of it, because they went after it and they did it.
Matt, Yeah, I mean, there's not a lot of in depth analysis needed for this one. You know, good just got these guys. Their intentions were very similar. It looked like a very even fight going into the half. Maybe even the Chargers, I know they lead on the scoreboard, were the potentially better team in the first half, but it was a feeling out process. And Johnston's touchdown was
a coverage bust. I mean, that wasn't to me poor play necessarily, it was a miscommunication by the second are porter pretty much shut him down for ninety percent of this game. Dobbins, who was their big time playmaker, did very very little, and Steelers won in the trenches. And while I thought Herbert was highly efficient, he still wasn't enough in his condition to elevate the team.
So, Man, I'm gonna come back to you because I've heard you say some things in your podcast.
It reminds me of what we're saying, both of you guys.
Reminds me of my and I have to be very careful here, because if you're quoting Blazing Saddles, you have to be very careful. But my favorite line in that movie is when they're sitting around at a bar and I think the guy who plays Higgins in Magnum p I says something like, hey, and as you know, as we speak to think Louis Pastewers over there in France. And somebody goes, never mind that stuff. Here comes Mango. And I feel like, you know, okay, here comes life
at you. I feel like this is the Steelers defense.
Matt.
You can have a plan, and you could talk about all kinds of flowery stuff, but you know Mongo's coming. There's up in the run. They're stopping the pass or getting after the passer. Through three games, you know, and this is a good defense, A good defense from a year ago that added really good players and are getting
maturations from guys. I mean, you think about, you know, adding Queen, adding to Shaun Elliott, adding Dante Jackson, getting Trice back after you got hurt all last year, having her big in year two, improving Leal a young player, improving louder Milk a young player, improving Peyton Wilson in the draft. I mean, it is a very good defense. It's added a lot of very good pieces to supplement that defense or enhance that defense.
Yeah, and unlike Mango being a pond in the game of life, I mean, the defense has Queens and Rooks and Horsey guys and all kinds of guys that can do a lot of things for you on the chess board. And what even if it doesn't show up in the box score, is obviously the straw that starts. And clearly Harbaugh game planned around not letting him wreck the game, even though his right tackle Alt is very promising, and when he left him alone, you'd beat up on Alt.
And Hayward was phenomenal, and all the role players are really really stepped up. I thought this was Queen's best game. I thought it was Bishop's best game. There's another chess reference.
I didn't even do that.
Well, I'm playing checkers, Matt Wadela.
I actually brought Queen and Bishop up because I thought they were the two that I was most worried about.
Through two games, and they happen to be chess pieces.
Wolf Is defense is emerging as I mean, it's already was, you know, in that group that you would have to discuss as the better groups in the league. I don't think it's far fetched to think that this team, this defense. You know, you got to stay healthy, some things have to go right for you, obviously, and it's going to be tested as we get further into the season. I mean, you got Dallas, and you have Filhladelphia, and you have
Kansas City, you have all the AFC North opponents. But it is looking like a good unit, that very good unit that has stepped up even beyond that this season.
Well, there's no question about it.
I really thought from the start, the first thing I got excited about was watching Kennu Benton go after Bradley Boseman. You know, I mean I thought that was right away a statement made that said, hey, you know, this is not going to be a you know, an all day afternoon for you to be able to do as you want. I mean, when you can turn a nine point nine
yards per carry rusher like JK. Dobbins, you know, a first down a carry guy unbelievably so on turn him into two point nine, that just says you've done something. Really run well in the front end of the defense, and they have, indeed, and they've gotten better. Yes, And I think you know, I'm a little worried about Alex Highsmith.
You know, you wonder.
I hope he's going to be okay because that threesome of those three musketeers coming after it. Those three guys, they are just pro and their ability to harass a quarterback and make him uncomfortable. And if you saw what Captain Cam did to Zion Johnson of the left guard,
I gotta tell you something. When you see a fourteen year guy take a young, strong buck like Zion Johnson and walk them back into the lap of the quarterback, drive him right into him with power in that one hand stab, I mean, my goodness, that is just unbelievable. So I thought the defense just continued to pile great play upon great play, and even sometimes when they were getting gashed a little bit they'd come back and do something,
and then of course the offense. So overall this is just to me, it was just such a great show of what they're made of to be able to stand up and under the pressure that San Diego was going to put them under. And I thought the guys again just showed themselves to be true pros.
And Rob Herbig's so remarkable because I think every time he's put a Steeler helmet on, preseason, rookie year, whatever, he makes a play. I mean, like you can't help but notice him. Whether he's out there four snaps or twenty snaps or whatever, he greatly influences the game every time he's out there.
Yeah, I mean, I think his productivity per snap level has got to be through the roof. And you know, again we talk about that in terms of what would that mean if you were taking every snap, would you wear down? What would happen over seventeen games? Would that slow you down? Or would your level of productivity increase or stay the same. We don't know that because he hasn't had that opportunity, But I think when you look at a guy like Herbig, when you look at a
guy like Peyton Wilson. When you look at the depth they have it to d line and you hope that Dante Jackson and Corey Trice are okay as well, because I think the biggest question for me you have you know, you have CAZy as your third safety, you know, behind Elliott and Fitzpatrick. So you've upgraded your starters.
In my opinion.
You know, if you're gonna have one question about depth, that might be in the secondary. But Trice seems to have calmed some of those fears as far as having a third corner. Hopefully Cam Sutton you know, will come back from his suspension and add a little more depth at that cornerback position maybe safety. But no team, no team looks at their roster and says, we have, you know, incredible depth at every position on the roster. Oh yeah, we got another dozen guys on our practice squad we
can call up who are also future All pros. I mean, you can only have so much depth. And I think this to this depth ball, it looks like it's getting tested on both sides with injuries, is pretty admirable as we sit here in Week.
Three, and a huge key to playing great defense is playing less defense. You know, they the offense is at least getting first downs, maintaining the football, allowing them to get a breather. I think that is absolutely huge for this unit.
I mean, for example, TJ.
Watt, anyone who's watched Steelers has regularly seen him take himself out of games, you know, get two plays off, go back in and stay as fresh as possible. I mean, and that's wonderful. I think he's playing like eighty eight percent of the snaps because he's not wearing down because they're out there for three plays and he goes to the sideline and watches the offense get a few first downs and run the football.
Well, the beautiful thing about it is, I mean you think about the ten possessions that LA had, Five of them were three and ounce. Yeah, you know, I mean, it speaks right exactly what you're saying, Matt.
Yeah. I mean they had hard tanking first downs in the second half.
Yeah.
I think that these are all great points. And I also think that, you know, that's that's for winning football.
And we could talk about the formula for winning football in a minute, but just statistically speaking, I mean, again, when I go back through my memory banks and think about you know, those Steelers teams of the mid two thousands and early to you know, two thousands and wearing teams down and getting that lead and Renegade is pumping and there's six minutes left and you have a thirteen point lead, and Joey Porter and James Harrison and those great head drudgers, they know what you have to do
and they you know, they are able then to get after the passer. Well, think about how often that's happened in TJ.
Watt's career. Not often enough, you know.
One hundred percent. It's something Dale I've talked about on the Drive for years, is late in games, when the whole planet knows you're rushing the pass or the Steelers have not been in that situation very often, and they still produce a monstrous pass rush especially.
Why and you know what else, Let's you got to give credit to that offense because in the second half, per Arthur Smith, the damn broke you know, I mean they were banging on that rock and banging on that rock and they split that rock and that was sheer force of will and determination and guys all you know, with the same mindset going after it.
And kudos to him. That was a heck of a job.
And I thought when you lit up, they got Kelvin Austin went that fifty five. You're like going, yeah, that's what we want to see right there. I know, as a hog, as a fat guy, you're like going take it all the way, baby, Don't make me run fifty some yards only to have to put my hand in the dirt and and have to do some goal line short yardage stuff.
You know, well, good stuff.
Plenty of key players and moments to dive into. The Steelers win twenty to ten to improve to three to zero on the season. You're listening to the Point After on the Steelers Audio Network.
Back to the Point After on DVD.
Fields Back to pass throws over the middle of the field. It's Calvin Austin. He has a step bousted, heading straight up the middle of the field. It's time to ten to the five touchdown Calvin.
Austin fifty five yards from Fields to Austin. To play of the game is brought to you by S and T Bank, proudly serving our community since nineteen oh two. S and T Bank dot com S and T Bank member fdi C. You're listening to the point After on the Steelers Audio Network alongside Craig Wolfley and Matt Williamson.
I'm Rob King.
We thank you for being with us as we are discussing the finer points, the point after points of this year's twenty to ten victory over the LA Chargers that has improved this Steelers to three and zero on the season. So great start guys for the Steelers. And you know a lot of questions about what happens after George Pickens, probably some concerns among fans when Van Jefferson took an eye injury and was out for most of this game.
But Calvin Austin, Scotty Miller, wolf these are guys who stepped forward in the passing game for the Steelers and helped out justin fields. We'll get the plenty of fields in a moment. But I thought both those receivers really had their moments for the Steelers.
Oh they did.
Indeed, you know, there's been so much handwringing about wide receiver number two and so forth and how it's going to be, and you know, both guys stepped up and did a nice job. And how do you not love Scotty Miller when the guy comes up and makes the most of a couple of catches. And this is also the guy that stepped in and became a holder, you know, and saved helped save the day. And then you know, he also did a little bit of gunner work back
a couple of games ago. So the fact that you've got somebody that can be literally a human Swiss Army knife and useful in a number of roles, he did a great job. And then Calvin Austin, look at speed Kilts. Everybody knows that you've got some speed man. You gotta let it go, and he let it go, and it was great to see what a great boon that is for the passing game because that type of guy, that type of action that can rip the top off of coverage and give everybody else room to maneuver underneath on
the windows there. And George Pickens needs it, and I think the Steelers offense needs it. I think it was there at the time it was needed.
Matt, Yeah.
And Pickens to me almost reminds me of what where His impact on the game isn't showing up in the box score time and time again, but his tape is so good and the opponents fear him so much that it opens up a lot of room for other receivers. And I agree with everything Wolfe said. Austin's a more accomplished receiver maybe than Cedar. Fans know, especially you know, coming out of school. He's not just a gadgety type guy. He can line up outside the numbers against press coverage
and run real routes. And I love that Miller is a total jack of all trades. Hey, coach, what do you need me to do? Sign me up. I'll do whatever you need. And that take it a step further.
I thought Friarmouth this was his best usage. It was the highest percentage of routes run he has all year, and his big and physicals as offense is you can get away with a Miller or Austin who might not be a hammer blocker, and you still got Roman Wilson Luman in the sidelines, you know, and wonder what happens with him, you know.
Well, I'm going to get to the blocking things, but I want to mention something here, wolf that Matt brought up in his Matt's stats. I was going to pretend that I did the researcher. I couldn't remember who I got it from, but we all know it's from Matt right and the great work he does in supplying us with some of these great stats. So last week Pickens had two catches fifty seven yards and a touchdown called back to penalties, and also drew a thirty seven yard
pass interference call. So there's ninety four yards of offense in addition to the catches that he had last week that that should be in his stat line and wasn't. There was the dubious pass interference call back in Atlanta in Week one, so and then another play call back in that game due to another penalty from one of
his teammates. So Pickens, I think, to Matt's point, well, if Pickens effect on a game goes beyond his numbers and has gone beyond his numbers for three games, and teams I think are learning, they just simply cannot no matter how good a corner is, and it's hard to go against much better than what he went against in weeks one and two with Terrell and certain you just you have to account for Pickens, as Matt says, much like you have to account for what.
There's no question.
And again, as Matt pointed, out you know, his his ability to affect what's going on on the field just by lining up. I mean, that's really all you gotta do is go out there and line up, and people start going, Okay, he's out here, You're right. I mean, is the old gun or Bob Prince would you would say about all those numbers you just quoted. You know, that's the hidden vigorous that's what he brings that nobody
can really account for. But in reality, you understand that everybody realizes that this guy can make a catch, do something so unreal at any moment time. It's almost demoralizing to a lot of very fine corners who've made a number of years in this league. Look, this guy is capable of taking over a game in the right instances
and circumstances. And again with that watt quality where you can make the big play at any given time, at any given moment, in any given game, that sort of thing is something that you can't quantify in terms of just well, you know, he's three catches and forty yards averaging stuff.
You just don't know when he can break out force multiplier memories.
Exactly right, exactly right.
And the other thing, Matt when you talk about Austin and now Scotty Miller. Of course Scotty Miller is new to this Steelers, but it felt like when Matt Canada was designing his offense that he felt like Calvin Austin had to be a gadget guy that he was gonna run him on for yet jet sweeps and you know, maybe a bubble screen, and you had to put him out there enough so that it wasn't like, well, Calvin Austin's out there, he's going to get the ball.
But that you didn't really feel like you could run at him.
Now, I'm saying this without having studied it in depth, and just flashes that I'm seeing here and there from both Miller and Austin that they don't appear to me to have been huge detriments in the running game. Like I think that so a couple things. First of all, they're not big guys, right, but they've never been big guys. They've always had to learn how to get with that
skill set. I was having a conversation with Beanie Bishop about you know, getting in the slot and using that you know, that feistiness, and he said, well, I've never been a big guy you know, I've always had to I've always had to play like this. I've always had to use this to my you know, to to use whatever speed and quickness I have because of maybe being a little bit slighter to my advantage, but also learning how to have to be feisty. And I think that
you know a lot of blocking. Look, there's gonna be times where you go to block. You know, I would not want to be a smaller receiver in block state to Shaun Elliott like he's gonna come at you. But a lot of guys don't want to be blocked. And I think a lot of guys, you know, just the willingness to block. And I think both those guys Austin and Miller are willing blockers. I think that goes a long way toward being able to help you.
Yeah, willing was the word I was, you know, concocting in my head while you were saying that, Because neither's ever going to be hind toward you know, neither's ever gonna knock out linebackers or upright Elliott like safeties. But if you're going to stick your face in the fan, I think it goes a long way with your teammates, and I think a lot of it, you know, as part of this coaching staff, starting with Tomlin and Smith of course, that if you're unwilling to do that, you're
not going to see the field. And Wolf can attest this more than me. I mean, he's blocked with a lot of people like those little guys at least giving it.
They're all I'm sure goes a long way, There's.
No question about it, because guys feed off of energy, and the guys that are giving energy are those that are producing energy. And other guys join in and Matt's right, you know, I mean, you got a younger guy. He's out there and he's sticking his face in the grill of somebody bigger or whoever. It is, a corner, what have you. But you know you're inspired by that and you want to match that energy and bring your own
to it. And again, those are part of the that you know, everybody kind of getting in on it and the magic of a total team effort that comes with playing well.
And even though I want to talk specifically about the offense in this segment, we'll get to the defense next segment. It did occur to me if I was trying wolf to explain football to somebody who'd never played it. And then you know you're thinking, okay, maybe you're an athlete and you're trying to figure out, you know, how do you best win a game?
Like I used to play a lot of pickup basketball? Would be it the why?
You know, you look at your team compared to their team, and you try to count up your assets and say, okay, well, how are we going to win this game? How are we going to beat the other guys? What are our strengths and weaknesses? As I look at a Steelers team, I think Mike tom and his staff have done a brilliant job of playing to their strengths.
What are your strengths?
Well, you can run the football pretty well, you have an offensive line, you're trying to be physical, and you've got a great defense, and let's not forget you've got a great kicker who's absolutely money.
So use those assets.
And then you know, secondarily, you want to see incremental improvements in the parts of your game that you think you know at some point in the season can also be factors that help you win games. And I say that as a as a bedrock for the conversation of Justin Fields, who I think you know, again, it's three weeks. As Mike Tomlin, he's asked about this, he said, I'd be manufacturing an answer if I said, oh, he's absolutely
developed in three weeks, because it's only three weeks. But it seems like the developmental plan for Justin Fields is moving along at a very you know, very good rate for the Steelers end for.
Justin Fields, no question about it. Look, you know, you you have your strengths. You go into the season with your strengths. But at the same time, the coaches are always working to develop secondary factors such as a third pass rusher like we did with Nick Kurbig, you know, to find an extra offensive lineman like maybe Mason McCormick coming in, doing some tight end work, you know, on the Zach Banner type of tight end you know in Jumbo, things like that. You know, you want to build those
secondary characteristics. And at the same time you're building more for your your your primary starters, and and you know, whether your a running game increases your passing game. You're always working and bettering yourself and trying to do those things in a manner that you can bring them into a game and suddenly you know, your ability to cover punts is better because maybe your punter suddenly is getting the job done at a fifty you know yards, a
kick clip, that sort of thing. So it's always about that, and it's always about the development of the team. You don't want to be playing your best football in September. You wanted that in December. You want to be playing that towards the end of the season. And so it's a long journey throughout. But you know, the best thing about it is that when you can win games and even though you're developing young people and it's not costing you victories, you're way ahead of the game when you can do that.
Matt, the development of a quarterback is always a really interesting question. Almost by definition, you're a terrible team if you get a franchise level quarterback because those guys go very high in the draft and pick very high in the draft, you have to be very very bad.
So that's generally the way it goes.
And some team, I think that's why I was a fifth rounder.
Well, some teams can have you know, look, CJ.
Stroud was a great story last year, but there are you look around the league, and you think, well, you know, is Sam Darnold now finally being brought along at the right rate. Is Justin Fields being brought along at the right rate? Is Bryce Young not being brought along with the at the correct rate? What about the young quarterbacks who were rookies this year? It's a everybody's got their
own theory and developments of quarterbacks. But I think there's some evidence that suggests that, you know, a guy who's a first round talent like Justin Fields, who I think everybody nobody thought he was a reach.
Everybody agreed he.
Was a first round talent, perhaps this is the right situation for him to step into because he's got a very very good, solid team around him, and he does and he doesn't you know, he can be developed without having that pressure and again, let's face it, a not very good roster around him. Those things aren't true here in Pittsburgh.
Yeah, I always say that around draft time that it landing spot might mean more to me for these quarterbacks than the actual quarterback themselves. You know that it takes a village to raise a quarterback, and frankly, the village that Sam Darnald went to and Justin Fields and Bryce Young was on fire.
I mean like they weren't getting help.
They're they're asked to put out the fires as opposed to being nurtured by the villagers.
You know.
And so you know, Donald's a perfect example. Those are two terrible situations and learns a lot in San Francisco and doesn't have to do anything now they're one of the best teams in the league all of a sudden. Fields is another perfect example. The environment is great. Plus they're a little more mature. They get slapped around a little bit that you know, you don't have to trade three first round picks to go get them. The ego has been bruised a little bit. But back to the fields.
How he played yesterday, Like in week one, Arthur Smith did a tremendous job avoiding those two Atlanta safeties that, by the way, picked off Mahomes last night. If you'd noticed, maybe we shouldn't throw at them with a lot of the way, but go ahead right exactly with a lot of rollouts, throwing you outside the numbers. If it's not there, justin. It's your first start in a steiler uniform, tucket and run,
you know. And yesterday was different though. I mean yesterday was drop back passing game in the pocket, throwing over the middle on time accurately. Like his accuracy numbers are way.
Better than they were in Chicago.
His time to throw is way down, his mistakes are way down.
I mean, it's pretty exciting.
I think when you have the ability to be encircled by a better roster and by a consistent coaching staff that's been together for a long time, I think there are great benefits there. And it's the ability to calm down an athlete when they come here and to be encircled by all that. I think it's beneficial to just about anybody.
And I think we all know he has the ability. You know, if you don't have the ability, you can only get so much out of the player. But he has the ability, and by all accounts that I've been around, he has tremendous work ethic and is really really respected in those walls too.
Steelers win by the final score of twenty to ten. A closer look at the Steelers defense at a sneak peek ahead of the game coming up Sunday in Indianapolis. When we continue on the point after on the Steelers Audio Network.
Back to the point after on dve.
Herbert gets the ball looking left now looking back towards the middle if you'll be shipping behind, and the ball is loose and it is pounced upon by the Chargers, but it's Herbig with the strip sack for the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Sack Hunger segment is brought to you by the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. Get food, volunteer or donate
at Pittsburgh Foodbank dot org. And Herbig in short order comes into the game, Heighsmith GIMPI had to leave, and Herbig comes up Wolf with two quick sacks in this game.
You know, the interesting thing is, I think the only way I can really you know, tell you what I think about Nick Herbigg's passing ability or rush ability is.
I kind of think of Mike Hilton.
You know, Mike had this uncanny way of blitzing into the backfield. They said he was given a stealth mode or stealth cloak. I think that's what Nick Herbig had, because you know, the guy just goes out there and produces, you know, all kinds of saccarations and hurries and stuff like that. And you'll watch him play and you're like going, well, this guy's not a five hundred pound bencher, he's not a four flat forty guy, but you know what, he
is a baller. This guy just gets it done and it's a lot of fun to watch him because he frustrates bigger guys and they're swatting at him and they're trying to, you know, hold him out and this and that, and he just seems to keep producing. I've got a lot of respect for his game. He really has shown himself to be equal to the task.
And of course, five sacks in the game, Matt. You know, you get one from t. J. Watt, you get one from a Landon Roberts, you get two from Herbig, you get one from Hayward, just who, by the way, is now second all time in sacks in Steelers history. So a notable sack for him as he moves past that second place ty he had with James Harrison.
That's a pretty good company.
You know.
It's funny when when you start putting up comparisons for TJ. Watt and Cam Hayward, you were talking about all time greats, and either the Steelers uniform or just NFL uniforms, it's pretty impressive.
To see.
Yeah, and the Watts stuff is off the charts. I mean, I'm sure people know by now that he's sitting one half sack behind to get through one hundred for his career and the only one assuming he gets won the next what three or four games. Reggie White's the only one that got there quicker in the history of the league,
which is unbelievable in its own right. But remember Reggie White, his rookie year was with the USFL like he came in the league even older and more refined than these does not take anything away from the Minister of Defense. He's an unbelievable player. But these are the names we're talking about. We're talking about his brother, you know, JJ, we're talking about Reggie White. When you just talk about Bruce Smith, Lawrence Taylor. I mean, some of the best
pass rushers that have ever lived. That's what Watt's doing right now, folks. I mean, it's remarkable, it really is.
I mean, it's so impressive to see. And then, you know, when you think about the fact that the Chargers attempted twenty passes. Attempt at twenty passes and you had seven quarterback hurries among those twenty passes. That doesn't count the five sacks because those aren't attempts. It's matt. It's just impressive what the Steelers front can do to an opposing team.
And again, when you talk about.
Multiplier factors and effects, how that can affect your back end, and of course your back end can lock down and coverage and affect that front end as well.
Yeah, and again, team speed in the back seven is much improved.
There's a lot of.
Youth there to get I think guys like Benton are just scratching the surface. And you know, you mentioned I think it was good to start the show that how many times in TJ. Watt's career have the towsmen flying and the whole planet knows he's going to rush the passer And at this point they have backup tackles in the game and the efficiency of like a personat basis on herbig I think these things are reasonably sustainable. And I'm not trying to like cause waves, but I think
it's the best defense in the league. If I thought it was the second best defense, I'd say it's the second best defense. I think it's the best defense in the league.
I love it.
That sounds good to me, I want to flop back over to the other side of the ball, Wolf, because I wanted to ask you about two offensive linemen in particular. One was Zack Fraser and the other was the guy that we saw utilize quite a bit in a fellow rookie in Mason McCormick. So what did you see from Zach Fraser, what did you see from Mason McCormick, And how important is it for a guy like Mason McCormick to get his feet wet on the NFL stage.
Well, I've felt for the last couple of weeks that Mason was nearing his opportunity to be able to be a participant. I think he's one of those guys has come along and shown the inability and proved it by his work in the game yesterday. And yeah, obviously he's got some things he's got to work on, but you know, it's the first time getting your feet wet in a regular season game, and I thought he quitted himself pretty well.
Zach Frasier is playing at a level that is just remarkable for a young man, for any center in the league.
Right now, I've got I got to tell you something.
I'm really enjoying him because I see I look at the Morgantown maller, I say, you know, Zach Reger, you know he'd rather throw you than know you. For crying out loud. To me, he's just one of those guys that goes out there. And the only thing I will say, the only thing I saw that he can help himself. He's got to learn to cut block correctly. He doesn't do that so well. But that's about the only thing you can say, because I just I'm at a loss for just how well this guy is playing on a
consistent basis for a rookie. And the third guy we got to talk about it too is Roderick Jones because he needs a special shot out. Because that young man was facing a lot of pressure, a lot of eyes on him, you know, the defensive coordinator. They can smell blood in the water, and you know they were coming after him. And I thought the young man stood up
to it all and played his heart out. And I really, for one, having been in a position like that as a young buck and experienced a little bit like that, you know, you appreciate when you see a guy overcome some of those circumstances and odds and so forth, because it's it's not easy, folks, and that young man did a heck of a job.
And I'll go one step further with him, Matt before you step in on these offensive linemen, and that's that. I think probably the opening series was his toughest series of the game. So now you've had to hear it all week. You've been beating yourself up. I'm sure broader ca has for not doing your things you know you're capable of in Denver and then your start isn't the greatest. Now you got to overcome that. That shows a lot of mental toughness to me.
I thought it was a great first step as now the full time starting right tackle. Some of my O line thoughts overall is Fraser is remarkable. I mean, he's well advanced. You could see him making all the line calls and all the stuff before the snap. And that's not even with Ciamaloo next to him, who should be coming back pretty soon. Left guard was up and down yesterday. I thought Daniels and Fraser were the star of the show and Jones had a really good day. Khalil Mack
caused problems for everyone he faced. He's a really good player. But real quick back to McCormick too, because some little birdies told me that the plan was, we're gonna get Roderick Jones. You know, he's gonna be that sixth though lineman this year. We're gonna get back the featuring that like they did in years past. Well, then there's an injury on Friday, and he is he has to be
the starting right tackle, so they put him McCormick. And they showed a shot on the TV camera the TV where it was all the backsides of that Steeler line, like right before they got in their stance, and it was the five starters, McCormick and Washington, and I'm looking of those seven bodies like they're gonna move, They're gonna move anyone they want.
And that was just a lot of beef.
Yeah, yeah, Darnell, Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned him too, because he's a he's a very very very big man, yes, at a at the tight end position. And you know, wolf Andy Whidel, talking to the media about a week or so before the season began, said, look, if you want to be a tough, smart, physical team, you have to draft tough, smart physical players and that's what the Steelers have been doing. They have been you know, they want to establish an identity up front. I thought that
the point was great. You know, he was saying, Look, it doesn't matter about the conditions. It doesn't matter. If it's hot, doesn't matter. If it's cold doesn't matter. If it's raining doesn't matter, if the sun's out doesn't matter, if it's snowing. That brand of football, we are going to be tougher than you up front. We're going to impose our will and you upfront. That travels, that plays any time of the year, in any conditions.
Exactly so punishing, mentally tough offensive lines travel well is what the word is. It's always been that way. You know, if you can get a lead in the second half, you can just ground and pound. Well, you saw what ground and pound did in the second half. And is like I said earlier about Arthur Smith, the damn broke, and it broke because you had guys willing to keep lining up, going after it, lining up, going after it, getting up off the ground, lining up, going after it
again and again and again. And that really, that in and of itself, is such a great factor. When you see those hogs out there going, you know, lining up and doing the things they need to do, and sheriff in the pile yards down the field and all that
sort of thing. It's very inspirational. And having been a part of some very pretty good, darn good offensive lines years and years decades ago, say, you know, you have a deep appreciation when you see that kind of workload and you see somebody like Najie Harris, who I salute too,
because I'm telling you what. You watch him, especially over the last three games in the second half and when it really gets tough, the way he competes for every single yard, It's just been to me, in my mind, very inspirational to the offensive line because you want to get behind somebody like that, you want to get in front of somebody like that, you want to get beside somebody like that, because that is a guy given effort, and you want to be one of those effort guys.
And it all comes together in a way that produces wins and such as it did on Sunday.
Yeah, and I look at that offense and I haven't seen Jalen warrener as best yet. He's obviously been nursing some injury issues. You know, we know what he's done
over the last couple of years. He's been a terrific, complimentary back, and you really have Matt three guys, and again we talk about, you know, you can't always judge a player by the numbers, and you've gotten some great numbers on these guys, and deep numbers on you know, where they're hit and how many tackles they break and compared to the rest of the league and that sort of thing. But I think that Wolfe's point about attitude.
You know, none of the three guys, and I'm gonna throw Patterson in there, either, none of the three guys show the least interest in being tackled. They don't like to be tackled, you know. I mean they are kicking and fighting and gouging and doing whatever they have to do until they're actually on the ground, someone's on top of him and the whistle's blowing. They are going until then, and that's got to have a wearing effect. I would think out of defense.
Oh without question.
And Harris is the perfect example of any back in the league in my opinion, where the numbers don't reflect the value, I mean, the reliability in terms of being there every game, not fumbling capable in protection, you are running the nine man boxes. Sign me up, coach, and I'm gonna get two when I should get zero. You know, I mean, maybe he's not ripping off Barry Sanders highlight runs. But the reliability in the attitude I think is.
Very, very valuable.
And speaking of big runs, I mean, to me, the biggest problems with the offense just sort of statistically were red zone production and splash plays you know, explosives. Well that looked a heck of a lot better yesterday. I mean, they created a lot of chunk plays in both fast especially through the air, and the red zone stuff looked a lot better.
Too, Yep, for sure.
And the Steelers, I think we have about thirty five seconds left here looking forward to this game at Indianapolis, an opportunity to go four to zero. Anthony Richardson is He's a run and throw guy. He made a sixty yard throw to Alec Pierce that I'm guessing a bunch of quarterbacks in the league couldn't even dream of making and threw it right on the button to him in Week one against Houston. And we know he can throw.
Blessed a lot of attributes. So it's to be another challenge on the road for the Steelers, coming against a team that just won its first game and wants to get something rolling.
Now one hundred percent. They also have their issues. Since we they have thirty five seconds, we'll just call it a stiff challenge. But mister Richardson's a really interesting player. But completing passes is a challenge right now.
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