Drive10.19.26Hr2: Around the NFL - Week Six

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Steelers Nation Radio.

Good evening, Steeler Nation. How we doing? Well, that's good. Us too. It is hour number two of the drive here on this Victory Monday. And that means it's time to not run the gambit, to run the gamut of week six games across the NFL. And boy, it was a busy weekend with some head scratchers, with some surprising results.

Yeah.

Some injuries, a whole lot of stuff to get into.

Fire GM today. Yeah, exactly right. Crazy Jalen Hurts stuff out there, too. Jalen Hurts.

I hope all the best for him. Yeah, just a lot going on here in the last 24 hours or so. And Matt, across the pond, if you hear the Bee Gees playing from Houston, that's because they're staying alive. That's a bad joke. But the Texans kick a field goal, beat the Jags. Don't shake your head at me, TV. You like that one. That was a reach. The Texans, ha, ha, ha, ha.

34-31 at the death against the Jags.

I wanted to watch this game closer, but I was sitting in this room with Tom Offman, and it was on the big TV, and I'm kind of watching, but we're doing the pregame.

But it works out well.

I'm off the air basically at halftime, have it on my phone, and then I get to watch the whole second half. I was super impressed with both teams and both quarterbacks. That looked like playoff football to me. Harrison didn't play a ton. I think he ran like nine or ten routes. but everything just falls into place with him better. You know, Jalen Knowles out there making plays.

Nico's the dude. The offense is totally on Stroud right now. You know, the defense is dealing with a good team, but still making plays for Houston. Houston's not dead yet. I firmly believe that. I think if they were to lost that game mathematically, Jacksonville just owns that division then. Cause I mean, Indy and Tennessee are disaster all of a sudden. Well, Indy all of a sudden, um, One side note. I was thinking about this on the way here.

You know how we play that game if you can pick one guy off the opposing team, et cetera, et cetera? If I were to pick one player in the league right now for the Steelers, he wouldn't be my first pick, but Travis Hunter would be really close. Non-quarterback. Non-quarterback.

Non-quarterback.

Travis Hunter would be really close.

Dude.

You talk about solving both Steeler needs at once.

He's unbelievable.

He's going to be so good.

Yes, he is.

He's already become one of the best corners in the league. It looks like he hung out with Deion a little bit. You know, like, just the way he plays and stuff reminds me. I'm like, oh, he hung out with Deion a lot. Yep. And then he gets in there and just flirts with the receiver, and he's phenomenal. I mean, like, he was my favorite player in that draft. And so last year I had to kind of, like, put it neutral on my Hunter love. But, whoa.

As if the Jags needed another wide receiver threat there.

Which means they'll probably trade Brian Thomas. They don't even use him.

They barely did, yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Hey, I guess it's a good problem to have. It's a champagne problem if you're Jacksonville.

Yeah, but that was a battle, and both quarterbacks were really good.

That was a great one, and it was fun because we, myself and Dan Quinlan, we got to the stadium at like 9 o'clock. You get your coffee brewed. You get started with the setup, and then it's like, bang, here's a game to lead us right up to kickoff. So I do always enjoy that.

It doesn't get any better next week, but I've got to say, quadruple headers take a little bit out of me. Over the course of the day.

Yeah.

Well, Matt, I mean, I'll be at that early game next week. So that's going to be a real, real interesting weekend ahead, certainly. But in Atlanta, the Bears bounce back from that just absolute drubbing that they took at Lambeau Field last week. Caleb Williams returns. He looks sharp, Matt.

Really, really good.

30 of 36, over 300 yards passing.

A couple of those were like throwaways, too. I mean, like basically any time he wanted to complete the ball, he did.

By that pro football focus metric, he was probably close to 100%. Bears win 31-23 down in the ATL.

Yeah, it kind of looked like the Bears offense you thought they could be with getting Burden and Loveland and all those guys involved. Now, Atlanta came back and made this thing a lot more interesting than it probably should have been. But there was a couple other things. I mean, they got Trapeo back, their left tackle, which had a ripple effect, got Loveland out more on routes. And then Kyler Gordon's kind of their Jalen Ramsey slot dude. He was like Jalen Ramsey in this game. He made a ton of plays too, sacks, et cetera. So the Bears are in a pretty good spot right now.

That they are four and two. Yeah. Caleb Williams back.

And every team in both Norths have a winning record.

Ooh, the Kings in the North.

Yes.

Speaking of which. The Browns, Matt, at halftime, Baltimore had a 10-0 lead. No Lamar in this one.

I thought he was going to play.

I think everybody did. Important to note, but Baltimore up 10-0 at halftime. The Browns score 13 unanswered in the second half. The win, both those teams are now 4-2, just like the Steelers. And also, Matt, important to note, the Browns, 3-0, undefeated at home.

And they got the tiebreaker over the Ravens and Steelers right now from head to head.

Yes, they do. Cincinnati was on its bye week, by the way, so you won't hear us talk about the Bengals here as they're coming off their bye week. But the Browns, man, I tell you what, I'm not saying they're for real in the sense of they're a playoff contender or anything like that. I'm pumping the brakes there.

They can hang, though.

But the Browns are not a division doormat, I think it's.

Safe to say. I don't think they're picking the top five or they'll just tank and get Archer or whoever, you know.

Um, and their defense is still really good. He said, defense.

Hasn't lost much. They play a ton of man, which is rare in today's NFL, which makes it hard to play against. They're aggressive.

Um, Carson Schlesinger is really leveled up here in his.

Big time player, uh, Boston and conceptual linebacker in the NFL. I think behind the pieces around the quarterback look better and better all the time. They play hard. Um, I thought Huntley had some backup moments, you know, like we, you mentioned the bears, uh, Lost in Green Bay. It's nice when you win one or so with your backup, but it's hard to win two or three in a row.

It just is. They're backups for reasons. These defense coordinators are smart. I think that worked against Jalen Daniels yesterday. Like, you got two games of film to kind of find weaknesses, and you're going to find weaknesses. It's not like, where are the weaknesses in Andrew Luck? He doesn't really have any.

Sure.

And that's what differs between being the first pick in the draft and being these backups. But I also, Seeler fans, I want you to recognize, well, two things. Ravens fans are losing their mind. We lost another big lead. I mean, this has been a trend now for five years or something like that. It sure has.

I'd say a 10-point halftime lead. I mean, on the road. That's a nice place. It's not, you know, how did we lose this game?

But I kind of want to mention the on the road thing. You saw it firsthand. If you're the Ravens or Steelers going into Cleveland, beware.

Dude, I'm telling you.

Because they hate you and it's their Super Bowl.

And they're actually half decent.

And they're decent, right. So I heard this today. Everyone's like, boys, every time Steelers go to Cleveland, they stink. Fire Tomlin. Everybody's dumb. Lamar's been a Raven for nine years now. He didn't play yesterday. He hasn't played in every one of them. But the Ravens are four and five in Cleveland since Lamar was drafted. And they're dynamite teams.

I'm telling you. And a lot of those Browns teams were really bad.

And he won MVP two of them.

I mean like, and the Browns picked in the top two.

Right.

Right. I mean, think about the last nine years of how the Ravens and Browns franchises have operated.

I told you, I, the Steelers walk into way less hostile environments than people realize.

Yeah. I, I didn't realize, I know Kinger was.

Blown away by Tampa Bay and he's obviously been covering sports a lot longer than I have, but I've been traveling for the games more years than he has. That's, We see that in Vegas. We see that in California. We see that in Miami. We're going to see it in Jacksonville in December. It's just.

Probably see it in Paris. I mean, like, even in different countries.

The Steelers, I could list for you on one hand, maybe I would need an extra finger or two to the true hostile environments that they walk into.

Yeah.

Baltimore, Cleveland, Philly, Buffalo.

I'd say some NFC teams.

Kansas City.

Yeah.

Maybe Seattle. Seattle, Lambeau. I mean, like.

Six or seven environments that are truly.

Hostile san francisco i'm stretching you.

Know other than that it's like a bowl game atmosphere at worst it's like a 50 50 crowd 60 40 crowd it's it's Um, yesterday was certainly a little bit more than that, but that just doesn't surprise me anymore, man. Like I said, in fact, in fact, I expect it, Matt, I will never know what it was like to be the Beatles in the sixties, but I will know what it's like to travel with the Pittsburgh Steelers to Florida and to the West coast.

It's different than most teams.

Do we hop off the bus at the hotel and there's a hundred Steelers fans.

Yeah.

Okay.

Well, you know, And it's nuts. We get we leave the but we get on the buses at the stadium to leave the game to go to the airport. And the streets are lined with people waving the terrible towels, seeing the buses off like it's pretty awesome. I feel like Paul McCartney sometimes, Matt, off the schneid and on the board. The Tennessee Titans finally get their first win in Indianapolis against the Colts, 26 to 20. And Chris Ballard, the GM of the Colts, relieved of his duties earlier today.

Yeah. And Tennessee gets a win, but you lose to Tennessee is damning. Especially at home. At home. Special teams was really bad for them. Cam Ward only threw for like 100. yards or something and still beat you.

They scored 20 points in the fourth quarter to win that game.

Like Simmons was great. Tate was really good. At least the Titans are taking some steps forward. But I have to think that, you know, what good does it do to fire your GM right now? I think owner says start selling pieces off. Yeah, I'm going to put someone in charge.

And you can maybe get a jump on finding your next candidate.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I think the head coach is a dead man walking now, too. And DeForest Buckner comes out all ticked off. It's like this every year around here. I'm sick of it, you know?

Yeah.

It's a bad look, man.

It really is. It really is. And, I mean, tough to argue. Like, a lot of the big swings that they've taken, Richardson fourth overall, Sauce Gardner two first-round picks.

The Sauce Gardner train is– crippling just looks yeah really because the jets are going to get that next pick they're looking at the colts like you just lost the titans that's a seventh pick in the draft you just.

Had and i you know i think am i wrong matt it was it when ballard was hired was that was was that right around the time that andrew luck retired right before i.

Don't know if he had to deal with the retirement but if you if if stealer fans think they've gone through a lot of quarterbacks since ben Look at what the Colts have gone through. I mean, it's rivers off the couch and Wentz. And I mean, it's insane.

So he was, so Ballard was the GM before Andrew Luck retired.

So that's a tough. So him and Luck were together.

Yes.

That's a tough, that's a tough.

That's the toughest thing I've ever had to see a GM deal with. You know, like I really felt for.

But it's also been seven years now.

Like I really felt for Kevin Colbert when two had unexpectedly retired and Shazier had his accident. Those are things you can't plan ahead for. But it's your starting quarterback. At the time, I thought Mahomes was the only quarterback better on the league.

He was 29 years old. I mean, he'd still be playing right now.

And he hung it up like in training camp. In August.

Right around the last preseason or the next to last preseason game.

So that's as big a blow as a GM I've ever seen get. Yeah. But that was a long time ago. That was seven years ago. That was a long time ago.

Matt, in New England, the Patriots hold on. They survive a second-half surge from the Jets. New England wins 26-19. The Patriots are starting to feel it a little bit. But the Jets, another one of those. They might finish last. No, the Dolphins will.

They will. But the Jets are like the good-bad team.

They might be the best bad team.

Yeah, yeah.

They're going to play everybody tough. They're going to lose a.

Lot of games, but a lot of one-score games, I think.

Yeah.

You know, like Gonzalez came back and gave Wilson a bunch of problems. Um, AJ Brown looked very sluggish and had a bunch of drops and they couldn't figure out a running back, but it's kind of like last year, Drake may was like the best player on the field and back to being a stud and carried the team and new England's pretty good. I, unfortunately I think their demise was too early reported. I'm still not sure they're a contender, but I think they're probably a playoff team.

I would agree. In New York, Matt, a wild one as the Saints. They score 24 points in the second half. They beat the Giants at MetLife. 34-27. We saw J.J. McCarthy play a.

Pretty decent amount. He actually outplayed Winston.

I think so. And Skadaboo didn't get a single carry. And then John Harbaugh tried to say he wasn't benched in the postgame and was like, it was just part of the game plan.

None of their running backs are any good.

Really?

Like, Najee had said something after, like, I need more carries to feel it. I'm like, you're not good enough to get the more carries.

That's the problem. Those guys had rushing attempts for the giants and none of them were cam scataboo, but you're telling me he didn't get benched. John Harbaugh. I really like you, man. You're cool to me and Matt and to Matt and Dale. When we're out at the owner's meetings, we've had some laughs in the hallway. I think you're a nice guy, but.

You don't have a running back.

Come on.

Yeah.

Come on.

It wasn't because Jim Brown was running for 200 yards. The scataboo didn't touch the ball. There was nothing to be had there. I think Winston got benched. I think McCarthy's probably going to be the starter and he actually did some good things, but it was a really weird saints games. And the more I dig into the saints, the upcoming opponent, the weirder stuff happens to them. Like they have shock has these crazy second half splits where he's way better than the first. And there was a stretch here. The giants got up early. The Saints scored 34 unanswered points.

Yes, at one point.

And then almost lost.

And then the Giants scored 17 unanswered to get back into striking distance.

Saints just do wild stuff. I mean, they're another team. They don't have any running backs either. They're just going through guys left and right and they can't run the ball at all. They might be getting Jordan Tyson back. I think he made the trip. Okay.

Yeah, they are over there already in France. Matt, a team that is just a bleeding, a slow and painful death, the Philadelphia Eagles. They drop another one this time at home, 25 to 14. I wonder when the last time maybe TV, the wheels are off here too. I wonder the last time the Eagles lost at home by double digits. I bet you it's been a while.

Yeah.

It was probably before the Doug Peterson era, or maybe at the start of the Doug Peterson era.

I'm pretty bought in on Carolina.

I was going to say, man, Bryce young feels like he's turned a corner.

Yeah.

Um, McMillan's a really good player. But Chuba and Coker are legit dudes. I mean, they're real assets, especially Coker. Young is like Shroud. He's going to get a big contract. The Eagles have nothing, though.

Nothing.

I mean, they really don't. You know, like. Watching the Lumpkin kid, the guard he's fun to root for, but then he's trying to block like Derrick Brown.

Yes, good luck.

6'5, 330. It's like, okay, this is a cute story, but they're in trouble.

And I understand. I mean, their running back situation is dire.

That's a disaster.

Having Tanner McKee throw the ball 45 times is not a recipe for success.

I think Philly ran for like 40 yards. When's the last time that happened?

Long time.

Yeah.

Long time. And all the best to Jalen Hurts. Scary situation. Hope he's okay.

Much bigger than football. I know you've been traveling, but there was some weird stuff I didn't realize until I did a podcast today about some of the investigations going on. I'm not disparaging the Eagles, but it basically came out that they thought he had blood clots not only in his calf, but his lungs.

His lungs?

And they thought it was too dangerous for him to go to sleep?

Yes, he stayed up for 36 hours straight before that London game.

But they thought it was safe enough to play the Jags, but not sleep? That doesn't settle well.

Seems asinine to me.

That doesn't sound real safe.

Seems bass-ackwards to me, Matt Williamson.

Yeah, you're too unhealthy to go to sleep, but you're fine to play the Jags?

I think sometimes we do the reckless speculation stuff with this too much, but We might not have heard the last of this story in some NFLPA involvement.

It might cost them a first-round pick or a fine or something. I mean, it doesn't sound good.

But at the end of the day, I just hope Jalen Hurts is healthy and fine and moving forward.

I also wonder— It's a scary situation. I'm here to talk football. I hope he's great, you know, health-wise. But, like, will he be a starter next year somewhere? I mean, like, I assume he's not going to play again this year. I would be shocked if he did. And if they go draft somebody— Who trades for him and says, I'm just going to make you my starter? You know, like if the Colts won.

What if the Eagles go 2-11? No, wouldn't be that many games left.

I mean, they could end up with like the sixth pick in the draft.

They have 11 games left. So what if they go 2-9 in the remaining game and they pick six?

That's how they're playing.

I mean.

They'll probably draft a quarterback.

I mean, Roseman's not going to care one bit. Of course he will.

He drafted Jalen Hurts right after Carson Wentz was playing at an MVP level.

So on draft day, is Hurts going to be available?

No.

Don't, just don't. I'm not talking about here.

He's not for me. No, just don't.

But I don't know how a team says yes on that. You know, like, okay, you've been cleared, but I didn't get to watch any of your tapes.

Is he available for pennies on the dollar, or do the Eagles still want, you know?

Yeah, that's just a weird dynamic that's yet to come. I hope it gets to that point with its health.

December of 2023, the last time the Eagles lost at home by double digits. It was to the San Francisco 49ers there from the desk of intrepid video producer.

Mr.

TV, Matt, the Rams brother. I tell you what two and four, who saw this coming for the greatest football team ever? Sam assembled the Rams drop another one at home. They're just one in three at home two and four overall, the Cardinals. It looked like the Rams had won it with a last minute touchdown.

Yeah.

And then kind of what we were talking about in terms of how in the NFL now, This minute left is an eternity.

It's an eternity, especially these kickers.

The Cardinals able to get into field goal position and bang one home at the death, 18-16. The Cardinals get their first win since week one.

So the Cardinals head coach is very familiar with how the Rams do business, and I think that definitely influenced things. And, you know, I take pro football focus grades, kind of with a grain of salt. But I was in the lobby just scrolling Twitter, and they put something out that, The Rams are the only team in pro football focus's rankings that are top five in offense and defense. Now, I don't think they're a top five offense or defense right now, but they're not bad on either side of the ball. They're last in every special teams metric you've ever seen, which really matters. But still, they play the Cardinals.

Bursette throws the ball like 40 times, zero sacks. Zero. I mean, I know Miles Garrett isn't out there, but that doesn't, you know. You lost to the Cardinals twice. on field goals, you know, they didn't even score a touchdown and there was no love. Harrison just got traded. It's concerning.

It's very concerning.

There's things that just aren't firing, including Stafford.

And I thought too, honestly, that was the first game where we started to see Aaron Donald doing some Aaron Donald things. He had been very quiet, understand yeah.

Yeah he's not gonna be the best player on the planet right away.

But that's just again i've said this.

Adams got hurt late in the game too he did he pulled.

Up on a non-contact thing which is never a good right his age right matt i i said this um i've said this once or twice i think this season about the steelers and maybe some other games It's not even Halloween yet. None of these games are must-win at this point. But, like, we said this about the Texans.

The Rams could be that team that gets hot in the last two months and wins the whole thing.

But that was almost a can't-lose for the Rams, and they found a way to lose it.

Yeah. Like, I can't believe they're going to win that division now. You know, things like that are probably off the table.

No chance.

Right.

Like, no chance.

Unless the Niners nosedive.

Right. And Seattle's better than them, too. And it was a divisional loss. It hurts your tiebreakers.

Correct. Correct. Matt, the Chiefs doing what they have done under Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes to a historic level, and that is comfortably winning after their bye week. Yeah, they do. 22-6 at home against the Chargers.

Chargers are so horrible right now.

Back in August, when we were doing our preseason predictions and division winners and all that stuff, what would the odds have been that at this point the Chiefs would be 5-0 and the Chargers would be 0-6?

I know.

I mean.

There's a lot of Kenneth Walker. It was a very easy, by NFL standards, game that the Chiefs had here. It's on red zone. I wasn't studying the game, but it felt like Herbert gets hit every play.

Every play.

Yeah, and he's kind of broken at the moment. Quick favor, because I heard somebody say this on one podcast I was half listening to. Can you pull up a Chargers schedule just for a minute?

Sure can. Got it right here.

Because I think it could be a long time until they get a win.

They go to L.A. They go to L.A. They stay home. And play the Rams. They're the away team.

Side note. The Cardinals have more wins in L.A. than the Rams and Chargers combined this year. They beat them both in L.A.

Oh, yeah.

That's right.

The Chargers should just relocate to L.A. too. Everybody's doing it. At the.

At.

But it's an away game in L.A. against the Rams.

They're definitely a dog.

Texans at home.

Dog.

At Baltimore.

Huge dog.

Then they host the Jets.

I think Jets and Miami.

Are on this.

They might be like a one and a half point dog.

Jets are better than them right now. Like they would be hiring my power range tomorrow.

Then the Patriots dogs.

Yeah.

At Tampa Bay.

Winnable.

At Las Vegas.

They're a dog, but.

At San Francisco.

Good Lord.

They still have to play the Chiefs. They still have to play the Broncos.

Yeah.

It's over.

I think Miami's on the schedule. They might get two wins.

Jeremiah Smith. Welcome to the LHR.

Yeah, there you go. i mean right like yeah i mean it adds up to me.

Speaking of uh some of those teams we just mentioned a really fun one we were all watching this on the plane flying home after overtime last night the raiders man they took the bill they gave the bills everything they could handle.

I think that's who the raiders are now 17 point fourth quarter but buffalo holds on 33 to 30 josh allen with one of the highlights of the season and yeah touchdown passes that he flicked like it was backyard football while he was getting tackled.

Unbelievable.

I thought Cousins played really well. They got Cook going in a big way for Buffalo. Allen's a force of nature. Keon Coleman's kind of coming on. I mean, it's kind of a quiet name. So there's a guy like Trey Tucker. You wouldn't think much of him, but Bowers is the driving force. Raiders aren't bad. We said the Jets are the best bad team. I think the Raiders are the worst good team.

Okay.

Which is a tier above, but they're right next to each other. You know what I mean?

Or maybe they're the worst middle team.

Middle team.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I don't know if they're a good team, but yeah.

That game was a lot of fun to watch, though, man. Both quarterbacks were making plays.

Yeah, yeah. I just don't know when we'll see Mendoza, but that's a good problem to have.

Sure is. I mean, they have a later bye week, too, so that could still be in the cards.

I think it's real late, like 12 or 13. I think like 12 or 13, yeah.

And then, Matt, certainly last– last but not certainly least last night's game I joked when we got onto the plane I was telling everybody like you know all the people that sit around me Brian Bacco and Rob King and Missy Matthews and I was like, you guys ready to get home tonight and we can watch some Big 12 Sunday night football? Because I thought that was going to be a 45-42-5.

I loved the over in that game.

I was joking. I was like, you guys ready for Big 12 football on Sunday night here? Not necessarily the case. Packers 23, Cowboys 13.

Packers kind of did their side of Big 12 football. I mean, they chuck it down the field.

Jordan Love is so much fun to watch. I know you and I have been saying that over the last couple of weeks, but I still don't think people have realized how much fun he is to.

Watch right now. I love that they have no running game. It's hilarious. Just throw it. deep.

Now they might start again next week because it sounds like Josh Jacobs is going to be back.

And their O-line's okay for now. They picked up like four names you'd know that are old and beaten up. That might not last, but at least they're blocking somebody and letting them chuck it downfield. Golden and Watson are a handful. Packers D is actually a lot better than I thought it would be at this point. And Parsons seems like he's reasonably close. So I thought the Packers were in real bad shape and they've treaded water and actually are More than treading water at this point. They're moving through the water.

That's a fun division, man.

The least fun division is the Cowboys, though.

It's the NFC South this year.

It's an utter disaster, and I expect Washington to get hammered tonight.

I've told you this.

I think Dallas is the next team to get fired.

My brother-in-law lives in Tampa. So my wife, Morgan, she's the oldest of four. She has a younger sister and two younger brothers. Her youngest of her siblings lives in Tampa. He is from New Jersey. he is a big, uh, giants, Yankees, New York.

New York sports.

And, and he is like Saturday night. He's like, we got to win this. Like, there's no excuse not to win this division. And then the giants.

Yeah.

And I'm texting him last night and he's like, what are we doing?

Except they're not good either.

They're not good either. The Cowboys are really struggling.

I mean, they might be my next first head coach fired. Yeah. Just the way Jerry's acting. And he brought in a consultant last week and, Believe it or not, this isn't hard to believe, Porter's played really well for them.

Yeah, he has.

And their defense was the worst in the league by far. But last night, the defense isn't why they lost.

I mean, it was okay. Yeah, you give up 23 on the road to the Cowboys.

That's a game you can win. Yeah, right. I mean, it was okay. From going to the worst defense in the league, it was probably their best performance.

And they only gave up six points in the second half, two field goals in the second half.

It's fundamental coaching stuff on offense, too. They can't pick up simple blitzes. That looks frustrated. Guys like CD lamb look like they have that look on their face that athletes get when they're saying I'm doing all I can, but my coach, my.

Coach doesn't have any answers.

Doesn't have my answers. And Pickens is going to like start a fire in the lobby or, or do something like it could just be a very combustible situation there, you know, fire in the lobby.

Oh, goodness gracious. That's the week six slate. We mentioned Bengals were one of the buy teams, also Lions, Dolphins, and Vikings. As I tell you what, the NFC North and the AFC North, obviously, but the NFC North shaping up to be a lot of fun here for the rest of the season with a lot of teams that can score some points to boot. There's your week six slate.

That's a big, beefy segment to get us started here in hour number two. We'll give some additional thoughts on what transpired yesterday in Tampa. We'll hit on some of your questions, comments, concerns, and reactions as we roll along here as well. Euler and Williamson, it's The Drive, Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network.

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Rolling along here on this victory Monday for your Pittsburgh Steelers. Feeling good. Two wins in a row and a big opportunity against the Saints. It's going to be a weird week, Matt. I mean, Tyler's telling us.

Oh, it's a weird week.

Tyler's telling us during the commercial break that we've got to make our predictions here.

In 24 hours. Like, this segment next tomorrow.

He's like, you guys have got to make your predictions tomorrow because Wes is leaving and we're not going to get predictions.

I'm like, who are the Steelers playing again?

We haven't even gotten the first practice, the first injury report. And our, you know, our intrepid video producer is already putting our feet to the fire. But yes, it's going to be a weird couple. of days. I don't know if they'll still have you like for those who listen to the drive, whether you're live, whether you do an audio podcast form, whether you're watching our beautiful faces on YouTube, don't go away. Cause it wouldn't surprise me if they still had you do something with like Tom Offerman or somebody else who's going to be here. Um, but I am leaving for France tomorrow. So, and I won't be back until late Monday night.

Right.

And so basically this will be the last drive with Matt and I until tomorrow is tomorrow.

Sorry.

Yeah.

For a week till next Tuesday, Tuesday to Tuesday.

And I know a lot of you will be unhappy to hear that, but I did not book my travel. So don't blame me.

Blame the NFL. They sent the Steelers to the parish.

I did not book my travel with all the big long days and the layovers and all that stuff. So don't blame Wesley.

Yeah.

The way it goes, Matt, uh, some breaking news here. Oh, something we were just discussing yesterday. Sean McVay just saying a few minutes ago they're expecting Devontae Adams to be out for six to ten weeks.

That's exactly what I didn't want to hear for him.

Ruptured hamstring.

But it looked like something like that. He's just going through the end zone untouched and really looked like a sniper got him.

You and I say this all the time when we talk health stuff because we are the furthest thing from doctors. But with his age... And with the nature of those tissue injuries, I would imagine it's a lot closer to 10 weeks than six weeks.

Yeah.

And I wonder if that's career ending or enough to say, I'm not going to come back next year or, you know, whatever.

Yeah.

That's a bummer, man.

Not to harp too much on it, but they've kind of ignored the receiver position because they have a million tight ends and they draft on the second or third round every year worth team 13 personnel. And teams are kind of caught up to that all of a sudden. Like that was more of a fad. To be determined, it still has value, but I don't think you can live in 13 personnel. No, I don't think you can.

It was a nice wrinkle that the rest of the league wasn't adapted to. You need those two receivers, not to mention Nakua. I love him. He's one of the most injury-prone receivers in the league because he's Johnny Knoxville in the way they use him. They're one more injury away from really being a problem.

Yes, they are.

One of their problems with their 13 personnel is my favorite one of their receiving tight ends is Terrence Ferguson. He's very young. He's one of my hot young tight ends. And he's on IR for four weeks, too. So, like, 13 personnel works okay. But one of your guys has to, has to, has to be a very, very good receiver.

They've got to be almost.

They could be Kincaid or, you know, like, the Steelers thought that was Johnny Smith. And that failed them. You know, like, it's great having Washington Friar Moose Smith.

If John knew that guy that he was in Miami.

But he was a disaster.

Right, right, right. One of those three has to be a vertical wide receiver route runner. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's lacking right now.

Matt, Tank Dell set to play his first game since 2024. That warms my heart. That's awesome.

He's a great guy to root for. That's awesome. But they're loaded. I mean, him aside, their receivers are really legit now. Knoll's been one of my favorite pet guys forever. And Higgins is out for the year. He's going to be back next year. I mean, Harrison's under contract, Nico.

If only they could find a way to run the ball.

Well, I don't think they're going to care anymore. I mean, Trout's playing so well, they're just chuck it.

That's true. And then Romeo Dobbs to IR. Right as the Patriots get A.J. Brown back, Dobbs is going to IR.

Before the Pittman trade, like when we were previewing free agency, I thought maybe he'd be a decent stealer target for a No. 2 solid player. He hasn't worked out at all for the Patriots. I mean, he's done very little since leaving Green Bay. So I'm glad the Steelers didn't go down that road. Not that I dislike the guy or anything, but he wasn't super cheap. I mean, any starter you buy in the free agent market, it's hard to get your return on investment on it, but they haven't come close.

Yeah, absolutely. And then I guess not as big as some of those, but still certainly worthy of a mention. Last kind of news, injury news that we have here today. Krosky Merritt, the running back of the Commanders, going on IR as well.

Oh, OK. Bill.

So, yeah.

I assume Eckler's role will grow. I guess we'll know tonight.

I guess we will know tonight.

That's right.

Because, of course, tonight, Matt.

I'm trying to think what they did yesterday.

Let's do that. Let's do that now, actually, before we come back and we'll close down with some questions and comments and concerns and reactions.

I think they're going to get smashed tonight.

In San Francisco, the 5-0 top of the power rankings Niners are 7.5-point favorites against the Washcombs.

That's not enough for me. At home on a Monday night, East Coast to West Coast.

This place is going to be bumping.

Yeah. They're quite good on both sides of the ball, but especially offense. I don't think any major injury stuff is looming for the Niners, although there's always some kind of injury stuff for them.

It's true.

I could see Daniels looking good. I hope he does. But I don't think they're going to be competitive in this game.

I'm with you on that, Matt. I think it could be a long night tonight out there on the West Coast for the Washington Commanders. Let's take our last break here. When we return on the other side, questions, comments, concerns, you got them. We'll do our best to get to as many as we can before.

There's a lot of stuff I want to talk about tomorrow too. We're cramming a lot in here and that's not even saints related. I mean, it's just stuff from the game. We haven't even brought up yet.

Remember, remember Craig Wolfley used to always say, fit in 10 pounds of potatoes in an eight pound sack. This week we're fitting like 10 pounds of potatoes in a four pound sack.

Like a Ziploc. Yeah.

Close down this thing on the other side. It's the drive Steelers nation radio on the Steelers audio network.

And now a word from our sponsor, Bud Light.

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

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

Steelers Nation Radio.

Down the homestretch here of the drive on this Victory Monday. We're going to have to turn the page very quickly. It's going to be a weird week as the Steelers and Wesley go abroad here on Wednesday. Well, the Steelers will leave on Thursday. Myself and a lot of other employees leaving.

Most of the folks you know will be leaving. With you. Correct. Yeah, Rob and Missy.

It's kind of like the essential staff, right? The team and the coaches and the trainers and all that. They're leaving Thursday. But all the other jabronis.

It's a little different than the Dublin trip, too.

A little different. And some of the Steelers people are already there. Some are leaving today. Some are leaving Wednesday.

Crazy.

Team leaves on Thursday. Man, it happens real quick.

Yeah, yeah.

We're going to Paris, and then we're going to come home. It's going to be Halloween. It's going to be holiday season. I'll just tell you this right now. Spoiler alert. I'm really looking forward to that bye week, man.

I bet.

I'm starting to drag a little bit in the season grind, and I know I certainly will be when we get back from Paris. I'm looking forward to that bye weekend. That's going to come at exactly the right time.

Side note, just because I only have one drive to mention this, but Tom and I do the pre-pre-game show, which is four hours before kickoff. Well, kickoff is really early here, so we're trying to figure out when we can get that in. There's a lot of weird stuff.

You get it at 5.30 a.m. Saturday, boys.

All right. Get up and.

Get your McDonald's breakfast and get your butts in here.

I wonder how many people listen to that. I bet there's still a fair amount. We get a lot of listeners, but I wonder how many listen to that.

I remember last year ahead of the Dublin game. I don't remember who it was, but it was one of the suits here in the iHeart.

We recorded it like Saturday night from the bar in Dublin.

One of the big wigs here in the iHeart studios told me that that was actually one of them does some of the best numbers that you would imagine because there's so many people on Sunday mornings that are going to church, coming from church, taking their kids to baseball practice or soccer practice or hockey practice, football practice. So they were like, it's actually, because Sunday mornings, people are in their car driving a lot more than they are Sunday afternoons. Not at 5 a.m., though.

Maybe not at 5 a.m.

But by 8, you know, by 7, people going to church, people going to practice. So, Matt Williamson, you're always a superstar, but especially on Sunday.

Huh.

I do know a lot of people listen in general. I was just wondering from five to seven, how many people are listening?

Bring your A game. That's all I'm saying.

Always.

And some coffee, too. Ian says, fun fact, I believe that was the Steelers' largest fourth quarter comeback since Renegade was first played. during that playoff game against the Browns in 2002. We'll have to double check that.

I believe it.

But it wouldn't surprise me. 13-point fourth quarter comeback.

It was a dominant end of the game.

I'm telling you. I really think that kind of key point. You know, the NFL has that show Turning Point that they do with the sights and sounds. Yeah, yeah. I wonder if that 17 play nine minute drive for Tampa in the third quarter where they had to settle for the field goal.

And that, that if you had to pick one point, that.

Left it a two score game instead of pushing it to a three score.

Game, slammed that door and they couldn't, that's all.

The difference in the world, man. The inches that we need are all around us.

I mean, the obvious one is the Dean interception, but I think things were turning before that.

I do too. Even the Everett interception.

I mean, yeah, yeah.

Uh, it was, it was a lot, a lot happened in there. Uh, in the fourth quarter man and just uh just a beautiful day for it as well too and i really like that stadium i always like going to that stadium matt because you can look down and be like that's where santonio holmes tapped his toes in the end zone.

And but it was warm and beautiful and tropic ish all right yeah 78 degrees and sunny brother and i mean oh just fantastic i don't think this is controversial but were there problems with the field I don't know. I've heard a lot of it after the fact, and there were some Steelers, I guess, that weren't thrilled with it.

Watching it, it seemed like there was slippage, but it didn't seem crazy.

USF played there the day before, the night before, actually. It was a night Saturday game.

Yeah.

I don't know.

Okay. It seemed like it was far from perfect.

What's funny is, and obviously Aaron Rodgers complained about it post-game. Yeah, yeah. Okay. newsflash aaron rogers is one to speak his mind and doesn't really care what you think about what he says no right um but i will say i saw a lot of people in the aftermath of that that were like that's weird players usually like the field conditions here because it's natural grass and you.

Know you don't usually hear that about the florida.

Climate so it looked like there was a game on it the day before me but it didn't look terrible.

I mean, like some of these international games, you see people sliding a lot.

I've seen much worse. I didn't think it was perfect, but I didn't think it was a disaster. But I was also up in the booth.

Yeah, I was too. But it wasn't like, holy cow, people are flying.

No, no, no, no.

Ice rink out there.

No. But, yeah, it's always fun going there. And, you know, we got Max with us, obviously. And so Max starts telling all the stories. This is where we did this. This is where we did that.

Max goes, I snuck Snoop Dogg into the locker room over here. He's like, we got Snoop into the post-game party and the Steelers security staff was not happy with us. Someone who wasn't on the list.

It's always fun going back there and getting those stories. And it was a, we went out, I was telling you, we went out Saturday night with a bunch of people to one of the sports bars there in Tampa. And the Rays are playing in the NLCS. Miami and Florida state. So it's bumping BYU, Notre Dame. Like it was, it was a, it was a very, very good road trip in that regard. I also got two high fives with a former Mountaineers, Blaine Stewart, formerly of this parish who now coaches for, for Tampa Bay. His dad was the head coach at WVU for a time. And then David Sills, the wide receiver for the Bucs who's on, I just got activated from IR, but was a really good wide receiver at WVU. I saw him in the tunnel leaving,

hit him with a David Sills. Let's go Mountaineers, baby. And he gave me a little high five.

He said, how about that win yesterday? So really Stewart was Stewart's son.

Yes.

Yep.

Uh, Bill Stewart gave Mike Tomlin his first coaching gig when Bill Stewart was the coach at VMI Virginia military Institute. And then Mike Tomlin gave Blaine Stewart, his son, Bill's son, his first coaching gig with the, with the Steelers. So pretty cool. And kind of backs up that whole football is family thing that you hear about all the time. Um, Yeah, great weekend overall for Wesley. Perfect weather, a lot of fun Saturday night.

Got the W.

Got the W in dramatic fashion. Got to say hello to a couple Mountaineers. I mean, what more could you ask for? Our buddy Michael Adesso tweets and sends us a picture of him tailgating with Jeff Reed before the game.

Oh, cool.

And says, big win Sunday. Proud to say I was there. I drove over from Miami. Got to give a shout out to Steeler Nation for representing because I felt like it was about 70% Steeler fans in that stadium.

I bet the parking lots were good, too.

The parking lots were, I'm sure. And, Michael, you're right. The first half, it was, you could see the black and the gold, but it wasn't.

Didn't hear it as much.

But, man, starting late in that third quarter, it was like a home game.

It seemed like it mattered.

It does matter.

Yeah, yeah.

And like I said, it doesn't surprise me anymore, Matt, but I still love to see it.

It's pretty awesome.

Dude, TJ Watt has talked about this many times in those, when the Steelers go to Vegas, when the Steelers go to L.A., when the Steelers go to Miami, and the Steelers crowd takes over. TJ Watt has said many times, like, you know how devastating that that is for an opposition quarterback? You're going to a silent count in your own home stadium.

Especially a rookie on a third start, you know, and your idols on the other team. I didn't realize Daniels looked up to Rodgers so much either. They talked about that a ton on the broadcast. Like, that was his favorite quarterback growing up and, you know.

Last one, Matt. We only have like 20 seconds here, but Andre says that he felt like we finally started to see some things from Caden Weege in that game. I agree. He did have that one good return that was called back.

And I say he saw a nice burst, even though that one didn't count.

He had a couple times where he picked up the extra seven yards that you want to see him do.

Like every rookie, he's probably adjusting to the league, too. I'm sure those punt coverage guys come down a lot faster than they did at Iowa.

Hey, you want to make a name for yourself, Legion? Bust one for the first time next week in Paris, baby.

That'd be nice.

But that will do it for us today. We will be back tomorrow here in this kind of odd scheduling with the international game ahead. But a big thank you to Rob King for joining us in the first hour. And a big shout out, as always, to video producer Mr. TV. For Matt Williamson, I'm Wes Shuler. Take care, everybody. We'll talk to you soon. As always, you know where to find us. It's on your 24-7 home of the black and gold. Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network.

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

There's nothing better than the clean, crisp....

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

I'll figure it out.

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

Stock up now. Bud Light.

All the picks.

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

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.

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Bruh.

Drive10.19.26Hr2: Around the NFL - Week Six

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