Drive10.19.26Hr1: Victory Monday

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0:41 Good afternoon, Steeler Nation, and welcome to The Drive on the Steelers Audio Network on this Victory Monday as the Steelers go down to Tampa. And it took a long time. It took an extra quarter there, Matt.

0:53 Yeah, it did.

0:53 It took some overtime, but 26-19. The Steelers get it done. First back-to-back wins of the season, first road win of the season.

1:04 Yeah, and it started slow.

1:07 Yes, it did.

1:07 I mean, it felt like those first... The first half, maybe even the first three quarters. I'm not trying to start with a negative, but it was like, there's like so many mistakes that the Steelers were making. Some of them unprovoked. I mean, guys like Jeremy Bernard, who I'm going to rave about for the next two hours.

1:24 Fourth down play.

1:24 Fourth down, Deontay Johnson's in and runs backwards and doesn't get it. You know, like kind of a comedy of errors there. And I'm kind of going, I hate terms like they were flat. They were rusty. They were unprepared. You don't know. That's fan stuff. But it's like, man, it's just not their day. They are not executing anything, and there's plays to be had here. I also thought, especially on second watch, which I didn't study the All-22 yet, but just second viewing while I was doing other stuff, Todd Bowles had good plans for these guys, and I think it took a while to crack that code. The offense was befuddled by one of the best defensive minds in the league, and they were ultra conservative in the

2:04 passing game, but they threw the ball a ton. I want to talk about that separately. People are looking down on that. I think there's mixed ways to view it, but boy, fourth quarter overtime was dominant football by the Steelers, utterly dominant football.

2:18 And a.

2:20 Conversation I want to get into is the defense is that in real time, you, you were there, but I'm watching it on my lazy boy. And I'll be honest. Uh, A lot of my best buds are on a text chain, of course.

2:37 I know how that works.

2:38 You know how that works.

2:39 I look down at my phone after 15 minutes in the booth, and I have 47 text messages, and it's all fire. It's either, Super Bowl, best team ever, or it's fire, everybody.

2:47 And they can be three minutes difference in terms of, right.

2:50 Matt, if I had a dollar for every time my boys say to me, this is the worst Steelers performance I've seen in years.

2:56 Oh, it happens every game.

2:57 You and I could go to the steakhouse and have lunch.

3:00 I wanted to bring that up because I'm sure a lot of listeners feel the same way during the course of the game because they're super passionate.

3:05 Hand up.

3:05 I do it on Saturdays for my Mountaineers.

3:07 I'm sure.

3:07 And we go three and out on the first drive and I'm like, fire everybody. Blow the campus up. Nuke the program. Yeah.

3:14 And I pay some attention to the text thread, but I'm working and I'm not getting involved with let's fire the world or this is the worst thing I ever saw. And frankly, some of them are very knowledgeable.

3:24 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

3:26 If they were taking my career path, they might have been better at it than me.

3:29 Don't let him tell you that grown men don't get emotional about football.

3:32 But I was kind of with them during a stretch. I just want to make sure I get this out because I wanted to relate to how fans might have been feeling. Watching the Steelers' defense was a little frustrating. It was like, man, they can't get off the field. Just feel it watching it in real time. They can't get off the field. Third and longs are letting backup quarterbacks convert and not doing a ton. And then halftime rolls around. I always pull up the halftime stats. I'm like, Steelers are winning time of possession. It's almost equal, but they're winning time of possession. Didn't feel that way. It felt like, boy, Steelers' defense is on the field and a lot of easy completions. And then the regulation ends.

4:11 It's like, Steelers are really winning time of possession. Then you get to the end of the game. I mean, they blow them out because of fifth quarter. And then I let it set in. I'm watching the 4 o'clock games, as I always do. And then I have a podcast I do before the night show. And I just kind of pulled up the final stats, and I'm like, how about this? They allowed 3.1 yards per play for the game. 3.1.

4:35 Daniels threw the ball 43 times for 164 yards. Irving, really good running back, ran it 19 times.

4:45 46 yards.

4:46 For 46 yards.

4:47 After you just had Jonathan Taylor 15 times for 45 yards.

4:51 That's great defense. Matt, I didn't feel it in the moment all the time.

4:54 Yeah.

4:55 I thought you went, I understand. We've been screaming for six years, highest paid defense in the NFL and all this. And, Dude, zoom out.

5:06 Zoom out.

5:06 They've given up two touchdowns in the last 120 minutes of football. This is not the 2008 Steelers defense. It's not the 2000 Ravens. It's not the 85 Bears. You're never going to see that in the NFL again.

5:18 The league doesn't want those teams.

5:19 You're never going to see that in football again. It's never going to be Alabama and LSU playing a 9-3 game with Les Miles and Nick Saban.

5:27 Those days are dead right you're not you're not.

5:30 Gonna see basketball teams taking 50 layups anymore they're shooting threes i'm not saying you have to love it but that's the reality right i was losing my mind with that too i'm not saying i'm gonna say this a lot this week since we're going to france okay that it was a mona lisa by the steelers defense but i'm like guys what are we talking about here yeah for two straight weeks they've taken the running back out of the game Which.

5:52 Was obviously priority number one in both games. They checked that huge box.

5:56 I said they gave up two touchdowns in the last 120 minutes of football. Who am I to shortchange them? 130 minutes of football.

6:02 That's winning football. Five sacks.

6:05 I'm not saying all this to say the defense is perfect, the defense is the best in the league, that there's not stuff that they can't clean up. But come on, man. Let's have a little bit of realism here.

6:15 Right.

6:16 Highest paid defense in the league can't let up a first down. That's almost what I feel like the standard is.

6:21 I would say giving up two touchdowns in 130 minutes of football is something that the highest paid defense in the league should do.

6:27 Under 100 yards combined to those two backs. I mean, that's the goal walking in there, especially considering who the quarterbacks were. Are they the best two offenses in the league?

6:36 No.

6:37 No. Of course not.

6:38 But the two running backs were running like crazy until they ran into that defense.

6:41 Yeah.

6:42 I mean, the defense is playing winning football.

6:43 Without Derek Harmon and Deshaun Elliott, who might be two of their best guys against the run.

6:47 That's their specialties. Yeah, right, right, right. No, it's a great point. You know, so I just wanted to make sure I got that off my chest. I think a lot of people watch that game as I did in real time.

6:56 Oh, it was a roller coaster.

6:57 Yeah, it was a roller coaster. It was frustrating. Oh, come on, make a play. Get on the field, you know. But then you look back and like, that's winning football.

7:03 Sometimes you got to zoom out. And again, I will put my hand up. It's very easy for me to say that on Sundays because it's my job. It's my livelihood. It's my career. This is now what.

7:13 You're in a stadium full of a lot of emotion.

7:14 This is now my ninth with the Steelers, three with the Eagles before that. So it's my 12th NFL year in a row.

7:20 So you're getting paid to do NFL stuff.

7:22 Yeah. Yeah.

7:23 So that changes your perspective a little bit. You can't be in the booth screaming and yelling and acting emotional like I do on Saturdays. But I get it because I do the same thing on Saturday.

7:32 You don't have a Jack Hamm jersey on and a terrible towel.

7:34 You know, my my BAC is not above point zero zero, which always affects your emotions and your and your thought process and all that a little bit. But I think sometimes, man, you've got to pause with that stuff, especially I understand what everybody wants the defense to be with the names and the money and the investment and all that. A lot of it is not realistic anymore. Can they be better? Absolutely.

7:59 They're not going to be, though, what you think your dad's grand, your Dick LeBeau defense was. That's just not going to exist in the NFL anymore. You might see it once or twice a year, but that's going to be it. It's just not the reality.

8:14 Or terrible weather games or something will be like that. But, I mean, just flat-out normal football, no.

8:18 No, and this to me, Matt, the turning point, and I wrote this down in my notes, that if the Steelers come back and win this game, we're going to be talking about this, and the Steelers did come back and win the game. And here's what happened. Late in the third quarter, over nine-minute drive for Tampa Bay. 17 plays, 70 yards. They converted a couple third downs. Sure. At that point, it's a 13-3 Bucs lead.

8:45 And they're taking control.

8:46 And they are paper-cutting you to death over 17 plays, an over nine-minute drive down the field. It's like they're going to score here.

8:53 They're landing body blow after body blow.

8:55 This is going to be game. The Steelers defense gets off the field on a third down and forces a field goal. They get off the field in the red zone. They force a field goal, 17 play drive for the Bucs, but it's still 16 to three. And I put in my notes, Tampa Bay had a chance to kill, kill the Steelers there. They haven't killed them just yet. 13 to 16 to three, but you're still alive. And then what happens on.

9:19 A similar note at halftime, you know, like, Bucs should be winning this more than they should.

9:22 They might regret it.

9:23 Right before half, Daniels had Emeka Abuka wide open and overthrew him. And so that cost them four points as well. They had to settle for a field goal when Abuka would have strolled into the end zone with a little.

9:33 Bit more touch.

9:33 Because they were outplaying the Steelers early. There's no doubt about it.

9:36 No doubt. No doubt. So that is huge. Right after Boz misses, they go down the field. They should score. That's pitch and catch. He misses a book on third down. They have to settle for a field goal. That's a massive moment. But so is your defense after a 17-play, nine-minute drive. Still only gives up three. You're down 13 late in the third quarter. You're still alive. Ensuing drive.

9:57 Third and 16.

9:58 Bang.

10:00 DK Metcalf over the middle yeah on that yeah Elijah can't see next play roughing the passer you get into the red zone for the first time in the entire game in the One possession game, six-point game, just like that.

10:14 And I bet the whole stadium changed.

10:16 The whole stadium changed.

10:17 Because that's when you start seeing the towels on TV and like, oh, there's more people here than I thought. I didn't know that from my lazy boy in the first quarter.

10:23 And then Everett intercepts Jalen Daniels and then it was like, this game is ours.

10:26 Now it's our stadium. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. that to me at that point did you think seal was gonna win yes yeah yeah yes yeah.

10:33 And uh and maybe i might have to play it here when we uh come back with our buddy rob king because that was an it was an incredible setup and call by rob king on i told him when we i don't do this very often matt you know i mean you know you're the best i tell it to you once or twice a year but i don't like to you know pump people's tires we got on the plane i told kinger i was like dude your call on the Dalen Everett interception. I was like, that was, that was absolutely fantastic. We'll have to play it coming back here, but that, and I, again, this is not for me to tell people that they should have been sitting on their hands for the first 45 minutes of the game. But in the course of an NFL game, you,

11:09 you gotta have those moments. You're going to have those moments and you could feel it flip. The defense was not perfect, but they did enough to at least still allow the offense to find themselves.

11:19 Yeah.

11:19 Yeah.

11:19 Third and 16 to DK, uh, You end up going down the field and scoring. That, to me, like you said, that was winning football from the defense. It wasn't perfect. It wasn't a Mona Lisa. I realize there was a lot of frustration on both sides of the ball, particularly in the first 40 minutes. But that's life in the National Football League. It's not going to be Ohio State and Akron, right?

11:40 No, no.

11:41 You can't just roll the ball out there and hope.

11:42 It goes your way. You're not going to be cruising.

11:44 To victory in the middle of the second quarter.

11:46 No, Titans won yesterday. I mean, the Cardinals won yesterday. Nothing's easy in this league. And you're right. I like the way you finished that. It's winning defense. In today's NFL, not to mention when we kind of threw it in there, you get five sacks and there were certain times with turnovers or whatever that you put the offense in good scoring position. They didn't always have long fields. That's part of a defense's job, too. Offense didn't always come through.

12:12 But that's winning football.

12:14 Yep.

12:15 Also winning football from Chris Boswell who misses a field goal early. Yeah. But then just absolute ice in his veins back to back times with some confusion there at the two minute warning, uh, really just fantastic stuff across the board. It was not perfect for the offense when they needed to make a play. They did.

12:32 Yeah.

12:32 It was not perfect for the defense when they needed to stand up.

12:35 They did.

12:35 Yeah.

12:36 It was not perfect for the special teams when you needed Chris Boswell to.

12:39 Make the big kick.

12:40 You got Chris Boswell. Yep.

12:42 A hundred percent. And it, Like, I watched, I'm sure a lot of people did, the Packers-Dallas game last night. And you could just see, like, even on C.D. Lamb's face and Dak, like, man, I'm not buying what this coach is selling me because they're never putting me in good positions. Steelers haven't looked that way at all this year.

12:59 You know, we always use the reference of, like, wide receivers are blocking downfield. I mean, that's a great idea. A lot of guys are getting to the ball. Since the Browns game, the Steelers have tackled really, really well. You know, no one tackles well on Thursday night. But the last two weeks, they've tackled really well. And I bring that up because that stuff's buy-in. I mean, that's, you know, we're all in this together. I'm going to give extreme effort. I'll block for you, DK. You block for me, blah, blah. You know, a lot of that in the screen game in particular. They have, you know, two receivers to one side, Jeremy and DK. One of them gets the ball, the other one blocks. You know, next time it's your turn, whatever. You know, just a

13:34 lot of that buy-in.

13:36 And with that, you're 4-2, two-game winning streak, tied for first in the division once again, and in a real opportunity.

13:43 It was pesky brownies, though.

13:44 My goodness. They hit the tiebreaker. I'll take it.

13:47 You want the Ravens going down.

13:48 Yeah, absolutely.

13:50 Let's talk about all this and more with the guy who called the action yesterday down in Tampa. Rob King joins us when we return. Just getting started on this Victory Monday. Wes Shuler, Matt Williamson. It's The Drive, Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network.

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15:05 Get that hot dog costume ready. Bruh.

15:14 You're tuned to The Drive on your 24-7 home of the black and gold.

15:18 Steelers Nation Radio.

15:21 Gets the snap.

15:23 Back pressure coming.

15:24 Throws to the left.

15:25 And it is picked off by Everett.

15:27 Picked off by Dylan Everett at the 45-yard line.

15:30 That's it.

15:43 There's your renegade, oh mama, Daylon Everett.

15:47 Now, I was, you know, giving props to our guy Rob King for his, hey, he called an incredible game overall, but I thought that Daylon Everett interception was fantastic. Now, what you didn't hear.

15:57 Wasn't that great.

15:58 What you didn't hear. We can hear Rob King laughing there.

16:05 He was just pumping it up like crazy, like it was the miracle on ice or something. I'm like, it was fine.

16:12 Here's the thing. Do you believe in miracles? There was a buildup there, Matt, that didn't make the final cut in the system. And I get it, because in the system, they just need the little highlights. But before that play, the Steelers crowd there in Tampa was starting to feel it.

16:30 Starting to feel it, yeah, I bet.

16:31 And the Steelers were a little bit too. And Max Starks was like, is this our renegade moment? And Rob goes, Max, listen to the crowd. And they paused for like 10 seconds. And the crowd's just going mayhem. And then that happens. And then that's where he makes the renegade reference because Max was just calling for it. And the crowd was going absolutely insane. It is the voice of the Pittsburgh Steelers with us here in Kinger.

16:55 And by the way, in that context, Matt, it was incredible.

17:03 That one that one was a lot of fun best i've ever heard a lot of fun no i'm telling you you know don't encourage him stop it stop it you're encouraging him all right what we need to do is get the full we need to get the full like 45 second clip there not just the 11 seconds of uh but the build-up was fantastic the crowd.

17:26 Was great it was a great Great play by Everett. Another great play by Dean, too. I know Matt is a big fan of Dale and Everett, and that was a great play, man.

17:35 Great play. You know what else I love? He caught it. He knew he had it.

17:38 I don't know if anybody else was sure he had it, but he was signaling first down Steelers as he went out of bounds.

17:45 I loved that. I thought that was great.

17:47 And you know what? We did our intro to the show before having you on, Rob, and obviously we're talking about the defense and the offense and overtime and all that stuff. Didn't really mention the crowd.

17:56 That was going to be my first question. I was curious.

17:58 Before we get into the X's and O's with you, Rob, you have now been doing this for a couple years. I've said this to Matt before. it never ceases to amaze me, but it also doesn't surprise me how Steelers fans show up in a lot of these areas. I used to laugh. I know I've said this to Matt. I used to laugh when Mike Tomlin would talk about the Steelers were playing in California, the Steelers were playing in Miami and Mike Tomlin would say, we know we're walking into a hostile environment. And I'd be like, coach, it's a, it's a bowl game at best. And in reality, you're probably going to have 60, 70% of the fans, but.

18:30 It's not Cleveland on Thursday night.

18:32 I've said this to Matt a million times, Rob, that you'd be shocked how infrequently the Steelers go into a hostile environment. Yeah, Cleveland is always one. Baltimore is one. If you go to Buffalo or Philadelphia, absolutely. But more often than not, when the Steelers go on the road, especially if we head to these southern warm weather or West Coast destination cities and towns where a lot of displaced Yenzers live. have uh have relocated Rob does it still it doesn't shock me anymore I almost expect that from Steelers fans when we go to these places.

19:03 Yeah that was uh that felt like more Wes that felt like almost 50 50 I mean it was incredible when the when the fans got up and towels started going it wasn't like you saw.

19:14 A lot of towels you saw.

19:16 A lot of towels I mean you sure did and I think some some Some Tampa fans cleared out of there.

19:21 Who is, I was on with somebody earlier. I think it was the DV morning tour.

19:25 They kept replaying the Dean interception because they're like, listen to the crowd in the background.

19:30 Is that a great call by you two?

19:31 Oh, unbelievable.

19:35 Second best call ever.

19:36 It's going to go miracle on ice. Those two calls.

19:40 And then everybody else.

19:41 You know, Yeah, then Jack, Buck, and the.

19:44 Rest of the group.

19:44 All right, hold on.

19:45 All right, you jokers. Let's listen to it.

19:47 Hold on.

19:48 Here we go.

19:49 No, stop.

19:49 Right, throws in that direction.

19:50 And it's kicked off.

19:52 And it's Jamel Dean. Oh, yeah.

19:53 Oh, people freaking down the left sideline.

19:56 Inside the five.

19:58 Jamel Dean and his return to Tampa Bay. The big play the Steelers needed. Sounds like a home game.

20:04 It does. Get those Cowboys in the air.

20:08 Jamel Dean.

20:10 I mean, it sounds like a home game.

20:13 It's incredible.

20:14 It's incredible.

20:14 It sounded like a home game.

20:16 But it doesn't surprise me anymore, Kinger. We get that multiple times a year on the road now.

20:21 Yeah, that one was.

20:22 But it was. It was ramped up.

20:25 It was among the top Steelers road crowds that I've ever seen.

20:29 And they got into it. And it was really a listless game. I mean, maybe that added to it, too. Slow start, for sure.

20:36 Yeah.

20:38 Oh, 42 minutes, 42 out of 60. I just, you know, that's 70%, 70% of the game. The Steelers were being outplayed. They were down big. They just didn't look very good. And then they got that drive going at the end of the third and carried it into the fourth and wound up winning the game. Wasn't even perfect after that. But, you know, I think that anytime you do something that you haven't done in 34 years, and that's when a game that you're trailing by 13 or more going into the fourth quarter, That's that is something you can hopefully hang your hat on later. You can fix the stuff that needs to be fixed later.

21:09 You got to.

21:10 Win and you got to win that proves that you can do something like that later in the season to get behind somebody. Hey, we've already done this before. So that I think that was a big part of it. Yeah, the crowd was great. There was a lot to like about. It wasn't much to love. I didn't think going into that those waiting moments in the third quarter and onto the fourth and overtime.

21:30 But after that, there was a lot to enjoy.

21:32 You mentioned it and you got specific there, the first 42 minutes. And clearly Tampa Bay was the better team in that stretch, that first 42 minutes. But I didn't get the impression that it was because they were more well-rested or they were just pushing the Steelers around. I felt like there was just a lot of Steeler miscues and everything that could go wrong went wrong, kind of unprovoked at times. And I also want to give Todd Bowles credit. I think it took a little while to crack the Todd Bowles code when the Steelers had the ball.

22:02 Yeah, yes.

22:04 And I think, you know, when you struggle on third down, as the Steelers did, and then on fourth down, the play that Jeremy Bernard, I don't think we'll ever see him do that again, right? I mean, they always say he makes one mistake, and everyone's like, oh, it's Deontay Johnson. No, he's a one-mistake guy, then move on. That's what everybody says.

22:23 He makes a mistake once and moves on. So that one play when they went forward on fourth down. But when you don't make it on third down, Everything looks and feels listless and your defense starts to get worn down. And that's what started to happen a little bit. You know, the Tampa Bay wasn't great on offense, but they put together a great drive. You know, that's another thing that happened, Matt, in the game. Yes, Tampa Bay was outplaying the Steelers and the Steelers get the ball to begin the second half.

22:53 they go three and out and Tampa goes on this long drive and punches it in.

22:58 And it just felt like, wow, is that, is that it? I mean, is there, is there any way to come back from that?

23:03 And of course there was, but yeah, Tampa, I just think the Steelers, they just weren't doing anything, you know, they weren't at, but especially when you don't pick up third down conversions and we've seen this be an issue for this team. It just looks and feels listless when you're watching it, even if that's not, not like the guys aren't trying, but it's just, gives off that feel.

23:25 Yeah, it was a little bit of a struggle for both teams to run the football kinger. I guess that's the glass half full, glass half empty. The Steelers, for the second straight week, were able to really limit a hot running back. Of course, Jonathan Taylor last Sunday and Bucky Irving this week. But then Jalen Warren wasn't the explosive Jalen Warren that we saw against the Colts either.

23:46 Matt and I were kind of laughing at the open because Matt was like, I don't want to get negative right away. But what he did on that fourth down in the first half drove me crazy and Jeremy Bernard. But that rookie moment aside, where he could have just fallen down and picked up a first down, tried to make a play, ended up losing yardage and losing the turnover on downs. I think you have to be very happy. Hey, we're going to talk a lot about Daylon Everett, a rookie.

24:09 We're going to talk a lot about Jeremy Bernard, a rookie, and those guys and kind of the direct impact they had in the result yesterday.

24:16 Yeah, I think there's, again, there's, to me, a lot to like about what happened. And it's not all the pieces haven't come together, which I think is also good. To be 4-2 and think, have the Steelers really played a complete game? I mean, have we seen offense, defense, and special teams just play heck of a game. Not that that happens all that often because the other guys are playing too, right? And they're going to be good at something that's difficult for you to be good against.

24:42 But not only the draft.

24:44 Class, but just, you know, you think about the offseason, if you want to just take a step further back, right? I know Michael Pittman's hurt. He was a big pickup, but Jamel Dean was a big pickup in the offseason. And He comes up with a great game, and that interception, he had a bunch of pass breakups in the game as well. And then the Steelers made the decision in the offseason to extend contracts to Darnell Washington, touchdown Keanu Benton, I thought had his best game of the season, was a very disruptive force. And Nick Herbig, they let him rush the pass, and he came up with two sacks.

25:14 So I think when you look at the draft, the offseason signings, and the guys you extended, Um, you know, if I'm in the Steelers front office, I'm like, that was a pretty good day.

25:23 You know, that's an interesting angle. As you're mentioning, I'm also like, Enrico came back, he was new and that was nice to have him. I've been a little down on Brisker, but that probably was his best game as a Steeler as well. I mean, a lot of guys that weren't on the team last year helped with that win quite a bit.

25:41 Yeah.

25:42 And I, and I think that's, um, that's a positive sign. Obviously, you know, you, when you make these decisions and some of them are financial, um, Extending contracts and signing, like you said, Rico Dattle.

25:52 Thank you for mentioning him. He looks sharp, I thought.

25:54 Yeah, yeah.

25:55 And Dean and these other guys. And then, you know, investing in first round picks. I mean, that tells you, you know, you don't need to be you don't need to always go into, you know, EPA and other things just to see what a team feels like.

26:10 What are what are we trying to do?

26:12 Follow who they drafted and who they signed and who they've re-signed and invested money in. That's where they'll tell you they think they're going and the kind of team they want to put together. This is a team that, you know, they want to put together a strong team in the trenches. And, you know, we've seen that because of the investment in the draft and first and second round picks and third round picks and the offensive and defensive lines. I mean, those are real investments. And, you know, again, it's not going to be linear investment. You know, next week, a couple of rookies might make a mistake. And one of the guys you signed may not.

26:45 Have a good game.

26:46 But, you know, it's not like those line drafts where it's just you start in the bottom left hand corner and a 45 degree angle up to the top right hand corner.

26:54 And that's the way it's going to be.

26:56 As long as you are making it there, as long as you are going from that bottom left to the top right, it's going to be a jaggedy climb. And there's going to be some times where you hit a ravine. Um, you just have to keep climbing up and hopefully that's something that the Steelers will do with, with the, you know, the players that we're talking about here.

27:14 Well, I think, uh, speaking of, of that, uh, Kinger man, it was really nice to see a couple of guys that had maybe been a little quiet on defense, make a ton of noise yesterday. I think Nick Herbig, certainly one of those, my goodness, we were all gushing about how good Tristan Wirfs is this week. And he is perhaps the best left tackle in all of football. Herbig beats him cleanly to get his first sack of the year adds another one. later on. And then this is probably malpractice on my part, because I'm supposed to be hosting this show, but we're about 35 minutes into it.

27:42 And I don't think I've even said the name Jalen Ramsey.

27:45 Boy, it was everywhere.

27:46 He was, he was everywhere yesterday.

27:48 He was, you know, so, you know, if I had a, an offensive game ball goes to Jeremy, although I thought DK Metcalf also had an excellent game. Of course, Aaron Rogers, you know, had that deflected interception, but he led the team back in the fourth quarter. Uh, but if I had an overall game ball, it goes to Jalen Ramsey.

28:05 I mean, I don't know how much better you can play guys.

28:08 I just don't.

28:09 I mean, four, he had 10 tackles, four tackles for losses, two sacks.

28:15 Let's talk about making an impact. I mean, he, he was, um, he was incredible.

28:21 And as far as her big, um, So, Wes, this friend of mine, Matt Williamson, he sometimes looks up these crazy stats. And, you know, one of them is how often a guy's rushing the passer. Like Nick Herbig, he doesn't have a lot of sacks, but he's not rushing the passer a whole lot. Well, they unleashed him here and he got two sacks. And, you know, that was– he's made an impact. You know, that's one of those things where the sort of– I guess you, I don't know what the term is in football, the sort of sabermetrics community in football looks at these things.

28:54 And I was talking about EPA and I think all these tools are really good.

28:58 And we just call them nerves, whatever it is.

29:02 I love it.

29:03 And I do think it's a part of it. And by the way, I think, you know, the Steelers think it's a part of it too.

29:07 They're looking at all those things.

29:08 I think more than ever, by the way.

29:10 Yeah.

29:10 Yeah.

29:11 I mean, it's a good, it's a good tool to be able to use.

29:15 Um you know it's interesting i was you know talking to mike mccarthy uh in the pre-game interview about you know the decision the week before to go for it on fourth down a couple times really gutsy decisions i thought i mean he could have kicked the field goal and gone up by five um in the fourth quarter instead he goes for it they wind up scoring a touchdown that helps put the game away uh but you know you see who's a staley out uh out with the chargers it felt like every time they needed to go for something he just he just ignored the surroundings and looked down at a chart now i'm sure there was more into it than that but you know what i'm saying like yeah you you do that but you also have the feel of the game you know and

29:50 mike mccarthy goes with the feel of the game but he's got all that information at his disposal all this information is at the steelers disposal i'm sure they're well aware of how well Nick Herbig has been playing when you talk about the sabermetric slash nerd community pointing that out. And then we saw him cut loose and be able to do what he did. So, yeah, I thought both those guys, you know, Everett and Dean with the interceptions, Benton, Wyatt Black had a sack.

30:17 I mean, there was a lot.

30:19 To like mostly, I thought, on the defensive side as far as, like, there were a lot of guys who I thought starred in this game for the Steelers.

30:27 So.

30:28 Throughout the course of this small, young season, I've been asked a lot, you know, Steelers tackling so bad. What's the problem with it? And I'm like, you have to watch the rest of the league. First of all, tackling's not great as we speak, especially Thursday nights on the road. I mean, everybody's missing tackles left and right. But I really wanted to give credit to, especially if you're going to play a lot of zone, how important tackling is.

30:51 Tackle the catch. Get a lot of people there to the ball carrier or the receiver to I thought the last two weeks across the board, the tackling has been pretty darn good for the Steelers.

31:02 Yeah, that's a really good point, Matt. And I agree with you and it's, um, you know, it.

31:08 Is something that you have to have, especially if you're going to play off the ball, like the Steelers have done a lot, right?

31:14 Like you're going to, you're going to concede.

31:16 It feels like, and again, I don't, I'm not sitting in the meetings.

31:20 Yeah. Yeah. That's what it feels like. They're, they're playing on defense. Okay.

31:23 So, um, You know, and that's not foreign to what the Steelers have done in the past. You know, bring Blitzburg and then, you know what, lay off a little bit. And if we don't get there, you know, run up and make the tackle. So it's it is it sounds elemental, but it's very important. I'm glad you pointed it out.

31:39 I think it I think it has been important. I think they have a lot of guys with speed and a lot of guys who can who can get to the ball. And then, you know, once you get there, you got to bring them down.

31:52 Like, you know, Peyton Wilson.

31:53 Peyton Wilson stood out to me again. Yeah, yeah.

31:55 Yeah, I mean, I just think, and look, you know, somebody asked me about, well, you know, hey, on that Dean scramble in the fourth, you know, it would have been nice to see him stop being short.

32:08 Daniels.

32:08 Daniels, okay, yeah.

32:09 I meant Daniels.

32:11 Daniels is 6'2, and he's running with a full head of steam.

32:14 Yeah, he's a legit ball carrier.

32:15 I don't know too many guys who are going to take him. This isn't like you're meeting a back in the hole who has taken one step. You know, this is a this is a 220 pound man running with.

32:25 The football at full speed.

32:27 You know, look, that was the least of my concerns. And I knew that was going to come up when it happened live, by the way. I knew somebody was going to ask me about it because they want you know, they want the guy who's going to make you in the hole and lift you up by the back leg and, you know, thump you into the turf and, you know, get up with a, you know, clot of dirt in your face mask and all that stuff. It's just that's just that's not the way things go. There's very little of that anymore in general. But in the open field, you want guys who can run. And I'm glad you brought up Peyton Wilson because when I wrote down the stars of the game, I had to amend that. I'm like, oh, yeah, Peyton Wilson. He was all over the field, led the

33:00 team in tackles again. It's just he didn't make the other guys. There were so many guys making splash plays. But, yeah, I agree with you, Matt. I think the tackling has been much improved. And if they get Deshaun Elliott back, and I hope they will, he's going to help because he's a very good tackler.

33:14 Good point.

33:15 Voice of the Steelers, Rob King. creating miracle-like calls every single Sunday on the Pittsburgh Steelers audio network. Kinger, I know these Mondays are always busy for you. You do DVE, you do your own show, you join us. We're flying internationally here in like 48 hours. Thanks for taking the time as always, dude.

33:36 Oh man, always great talking to you guys. Thanks for having me on.

33:38 The King has exited the castle. There he goes. Rob King, voice of your Steelers. And, of course, the host of In the Locker Room here on this network every single day at noon with our guys Max Starks and Willie Colon. Still plenty of ground to cover from this one. Matt and I will continue to react when we return on the other side. You'll learn Williamson. It's The Drive, Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network.

34:08 And now a word from our sponsor, Bud Light. There's nothing better than the clean, crisp.

34:15 There's nothing better than the clean, crisp....

34:19 Uh, what if we just got out of here and grabbed some Bud Lights? But man, we're on air for four more hours.

34:23 I'll figure it out. Sounds good to me.

34:27 Anything for the clean, crisp taste of Bud Light.

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34:36 Louis, Missouri.

34:37 I used to have cable internet, but I'm a 100% kind of fan, so I switched to Verizon Fios. It's 100% fiber internet that's super reliable. So I streamed 100% of the NFL draft live with ultra low lag. And after what went down in the first round, still getting video calls from my best friend, rubbing it in that he called all the picks.

34:54 I told you they were building their own line. I win the bet.

34:57 Get 100% fiber internet with Verizon Fios, because when it comes to your team, it's 100% or nothing. Call 1-833-VERIZON to switch today.

35:04 Get that hot dog costume ready.

35:06 Bruh.

35:13 You're tuned to The Drive on your 24-7 home of the black and gold.

35:17 Steelers Nation Radio.

35:32 Two things from down the home stretch of the game that I want to discuss, Matt.

35:36 Okay.

35:37 One's not so pretty. The other is not so pretty, but completely out of the Steelers' control. Let's start there. We'll go in chronological order. The two-minute warning, the Chris Boswell field goal, and then the retake.

35:50 Yeah, yeah.

35:51 That was terrible on the referees. And if Boswell ended up missing that second one, we would have been screaming about that today.

35:58 So I don't think they went into a ton of detail on the air about it. It just seemed confusing.

36:02 They decided to re-spot the ball, like right as Boz was about to kick.

36:06 Yeah.

36:06 Which delayed and reset the game clock. And so due to that delay, like they wanted to kick that before the two-minute warning. Because if Boz misses, it's an extra timeout.

36:15 For him to get the ball back. So the Steelers on purpose were trying to.

36:18 Kick it before the two-minute warning. Because if Boz misses, it's an extra timeout. Then we can stop the clock and get our offense one last chance. It was smart by the Steelers. But the referees, they had to respot the ball. They reset the game clock. Didn't stop the or reset the play clock. Pardon me. Didn't reset the game clock. And not only did they do that, which cost Boz being able to get the kickoff. I'm there in real time.

36:44 Yeah.

36:45 I'm watching this all because I'm watching this go down, and I'm like, they're trying to get this in. The scenario is playing out in my head. I see the refs re-spot the ball, 2-0-4, 2-0-3, 2-0-2. I'm like, he's not going to get this off. They also took Matt a good two or three seconds. I would have loved to have sat there with a stopwatch. Some people will say, it was 10 seconds. You know how that is in real time. but it was at least like three's a lot it was at least two seconds from when that clock hit two minutes to when the ref blew the whistle.

37:11 At least meanwhile he's swinging his leg and.

37:13 He's swinging his leg yeah and now i know that you have to expect some human element there yeah it's like when the when the play clock hits zero sometimes the offense.

37:21 You always get like a half you get an extra half yeah.

37:23 So i i understand that these guys are trying to watch they're trying to watch the clock to play there's that they got to get the whistle and blow it i understand that it's never going to be a The whistle goes exactly where the clock.

37:33 The world stops.

37:35 I understand that there is a human element to this, but man, they kind of double-screwed the Steelers there because not only did they cost them being able to get the field goal off, they didn't blow the play dead in time, so Boz still kicked it. He still used that energy and that force and all that. Boz took care of it.

37:53 Especially if he misses a second one, we'd be, we'd be raving.

37:55 I would, I would have been very upset. And you know, I am like, I'm the head coach of the stop blaming losses on referees crowd. I think it's the biggest loser talk in the world. but that would have.

38:06 Been referees are more involved this year than they've ever been. And it's not in a good way.

38:09 Yeah.

38:10 And that would have been terrible. Good on boss for the fact that we can just kind of glance over that today and don't really, because that would have been a huge, we'd be replaying that and watching that. And how did the refs double dip here and screw the Steelers?

38:23 That's a nails professional kicker that you pay big bucks. It's going to be one of the better kickers you've ever seen in your life in a tough situation.

38:30 Yes. Yeah.

38:31 Yes.

38:32 You explained that well, because from where I sat, I didn't.

38:35 Quite get all that. And I had a great vantage point of it. I'm watching the refs, they're moving the ball, I'm watching the clock, I'm watching Boz, and I'm like, okay, they're not going to get this off, blow it dead. And then they don't blow it dead for another two or three seconds until after the clock stopped. And it's like, so not only did you not get it off, you also made Boz use the effort and energy and attempt that 60-yarder But all is well that ends well.

38:55 I'm probably like most of the fans, like, I made the second one, who cares? Yeah, right.

38:59 And move on.

39:00 I just wanted to mention that.

39:01 Yeah, I'm glad you did.

39:02 The other one, though, Matt, is I did not love the play calling like most people at the end of regulation.

39:07 Pretty much everything after the Dean interception.

39:10 After the Jamel Dean interception. Tampa still has two timeouts at that point. I understand this is the nature of play calling. If the Steelers bring in on that first and goal from the, was it the four yard line, three yard line, four it was a three or four the Steelers bring in that jumbo package they bring in Riley Nowakowski yeah all right they're gonna run it right here Tampa Bay's expecting run and they try they try to to kind of boot Aaron Rodgers and throw and it doesn't work I realize if that does work if the Tampa defense bites and they think here comes the a-gap run and Aaron Rodgers rolls out and throws to a wide open tight end or wide receiver we're all like what a play call yeah but in that situation

39:49 I There's not 30 seconds left on the clock. There's like a minute and 30 seconds.

39:54 Left on the clock.

39:55 Which is an eternity in today's NFL, especially with two timeouts in the other team's pocket.

39:58 You have to at least make them burn both of those timeouts.

40:01 Yeah.

40:02 And maybe you only end up taking an extra 20, 30 seconds off the clock, but at least Tampa has no timeouts. You go pass. You go run. Then they have to use a timeout. Then I hate... I mean, I'm just... I told you I'm the, I'm the head coach of the don't blame losses on referees crowd. I think I'm the head coach of the, I hate the fade route crowd too, unless I'm throwing to Larry or Megatron.

40:24 Yeah.

40:24 I just, I did not like that sequence. And I, I know we've, we've, you know, don't want to linger on the negatives too long when you win, but I think we have to mention that here in the first reaction.

40:33 I think we definitely do near the end zone fade balls. There are very low percentage play in the, in the league. I mean, even if, I mean, I don't even want to throw it to Larry, the Cardinal. I'll throw it to Larry, the Panther against WVU's backup guy or whatever, not Pac-Man Jones. But I mean, like that was stealing, but I mean, Larry, the Cardinal in the league, it's too easy to defend. I mean, the class has to be perfect. Doesn't need any time anyway. So my interpretation of it, when, but first of all, I think in over three plays after the Dean interception, I think they gained like half a yard. And I think they ate like nine seconds was the results. And that's Monday morning quarterbacking.

41:10 They didn't plan on doing that. But when he gets tackled at the three, especially like when the jumbo package comes out, I'm like, oh, Tampa is going to let them score here as I would have if I were them. Then I still have my two timeouts. I've got over a minute. I'm alive because if the Steelers really kneel on it twice is worse than Yes. For Tampa than what happened.

41:32 Yes.

41:33 You know, I mean, so I would have ran it three times up the gut, and they may have just said, go.

41:39 Ahead and score.

41:40 In worst-case scenario, you kick a field goal with 50 seconds left instead of a minute and a half.

41:44 Yeah, right, right, right.

41:44 If you just run into a wall over and over, and they burn both timeouts. I mean, but still, that's way better. If Darnell even catches it, if they execute that perfectly, it's still the wrong call. It's a nice result. It's not the best result. The best result is you wear it down to nothing and and win, but it's a nice result. Then the boss kicks the short field goal.

42:08 I have mixed feelings about this, but I would have never kicked it out of the end zone or never kicked the touchback. I want the clock to start. I mean, that's a huge Belichick thing, but I also know the coverage they worry about.

42:21 Right, right, right.

42:22 I mean, if they take it to the house on you, you look dumb, but nine out of 10 times you kick that one in bounds just to make the clock start. You need any clock after.

42:32 And while we're nitpicking, the last play of that drive for Tampa before the field goal was a third and 15. I don't know if you remember that.

42:39 Oh, I know.

42:39 You let them pick up 12 yards and get into good field goal range. Man, shut the door there and make them kick a 50-some yarder instead of giving up 12 yards on third and 15.

42:48 That was the first time in about 20 minutes where I'm like, oh, they might lose this.

42:52 Same.

42:53 They opened the door again that they were slamming shut but wasn't quite all the way done. So really, from the time the results were, and it is easy for us to nitpick, from the second Dean was tackled to the second Tampa snapped the ball, they used up like nine seconds, no opposing timeouts, and got three points. Like, we got to get more out of it than that.

43:18 We'd be pulling our hair out if you would have lost because of that today.

43:21 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Agreed.

43:22 And I will say, though, the other side of that, Matt, is this time of year, you know, until about, somewhere in between Halloween and Thanksgiving. I don't mind winning games like this where you still have a lot to clean up. In fact, I almost prefer it.

43:36 Sure.

43:36 I don't want to be smooth sailing the cleanest operating team in the NFL in October. That team almost never wins the Super Bowl. I want to see incremental improvements.

43:47 Like we have with the O-line. Exactly right.

43:50 And then around November, you're starting to hit your stride. And then by Christmas, you're playing your best football. And that is still on the board for this team, certainly. Um, so I, I do think there's some good there that you have plenty that you didn't like still from a win.

44:04 Oh yeah.

44:05 But just a couple of those things at the end, man, we could be singing a much different tune today if that would have played out differently.

44:09 Yeah.

44:10 I'm glad we brought it up.

44:10 Yeah.

44:11 Cause I think that's relevant.

44:13 Matt, a wild Sunday across the NFL, not just in Tampa, but a wild Sunday across the NFL. Let's, uh, let's take a little bit of a step back from this one. When we return to kickoff hour, number two, And we will discuss some of the other results across the league on a busy week six slate in the NFL yesterday.

44:32 Halfway home here on this Monday, this Victory Monday. Wes Shuler, Matt Williamson. It's The Drive, Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network.

44:51 And now a word from our sponsor, Bud Light. There's nothing better than the clean, crisp.

44:58 There's nothing better than the clean, crisp....

45:02 Uh, what if we just got out of here and grabbed some Bud Lights? But man, we're on air for four more hours.

45:07 I'll figure it out.

45:08 Sounds good to me. Anything for the clean, crisp taste of Bud Light.

45:13 Stock up now. Bud Light.

45:15 Easy to drink, easy to enjoy. Enjoy responsibly. Copyright 2026 Anheuser-Busch Bud Light Beer, St.

45:19 Louis, Missouri.

45:21 I used to have cable internet, but I'm a 100% kind of fan, so I switched to Verizon Fios. It's 100% fiber internet that's super reliable. So I streamed 100% of the NFL draft live with ultra low lag.

45:31 And after what went down in.

45:32 The first round, still getting video calls from my best friend, rubbing it in that he called all the picks.

45:38 I told you they were building their own line.

45:39 I win the bet.

45:41 Get 100% fiber internet with Verizon Fios, because when it comes to your team, it's 100% or nothing. Call 1-833-VERIZON to switch today.

45:48 Get that hot dog costume ready.

45:50 Bruh.