Drive10.27.26Hr2: Around the NFL Week Seven

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Good evening, Steelers Nation. How we doing? Well, that's good. Us too. Hour number dwa on the Steelers Audio Network. Yesterday, we were in the Dublin airport, and our buddies Chris Halleck and Mike DeFabo were on our flight as well.

Okay.

And they were laughing at me because we're speeding through the airport. Long story short, we went Paris to Dublin to Pittsburgh home yesterday.

Paris to Dublin to Pittsburgh. Okay.

Our flight from Paris to Dublin was delayed. So we kind of had to cook it through the Dublin airport because we didn't have as much time as we thought we're going to have. So big shout out to Halleck and to DeFabo. We're like all cooking it. We finally make it to our gate. They're sitting at the little restaurant bar there at the gate getting ready to close their tab and board the plane. Like they were boarding the plane by the time we all got there. It was a little chaotic, but we all survived just fine.

And big shout out to DeFabo and Halleck because I come cooking it up to the gate. And they're closing their tabs and they look at me and they're like, as you can imagine.

You probably would have loved to stop by.

They've got a few empty Guinness pints there between the two of them. And they're like, Wes, we're closing our tab. You want a pint of Guinness? And I went, oui! And they both looked at me and they were like, dude, we're in Dublin. You don't have to speak French anymore. I was like, I don't know, just give me a couple days.

You're going to be speaking French for months.

Just give me a couple days, all right? But it is hour number two here on The Drive. And we have to go around what was a pretty wild week.

It was.

Week seven? Yeah, week seven in the National Football League on Sunday. I'm sure for you, Matt.

We can kind of speed round these probably at this point.

Yeah, totally. And you, you know, had a long day yourself on Sunday because you got.

All your pregame stuff.

And then a bunch of games to watch. Quadruple header, as you mention it. But let's run through the gambit here just quickly. Matt, we kind of referenced this, but the Falcons hand the 49ers their first loss. Sorry, we were talking about the Buccaneers. Pardon me. We weren't talking about the Falcons. But the Falcons at home hand the 49ers their first loss. The Falcons all of a sudden now are 3-4. The division's kind of interesting. Hanging right around.

500 and right in the thick of it in that division.

Yeah.

I mean, the Saints are really the only one that doesn't look like a contender in that division. I give Penix a lot of credit. He did the get it out quick type, and that's not his style of play at all. I didn't know that he had that in him. But I thought this was more about the Niners. They were quite injured going into that game. McCaffrey missed, like, the entire second quarter with a thigh injury. They turned the ball over. I think they lost the turnover battle by four or five. I mean, you're not going to win in Atlanta minus four or five without Evans and, you know, Bosa and all these dudes. But one loss, you're 6-1, and now you're going to Dubai, and everybody gets healthy. Niners are sitting pretty.

No doubt.

And great win for Atlanta.

Matt, we mentioned the Titans have shown a little signs of life. They got their first win last week.

They're getting a little better.

And then they played the Browns right down to the wire. 27-24, though. Yeah, Cleveland comes away with a victory. Casey, man, I hate to say this, but I think the Browns, they might be on to a, I don't know if Boston or Concepcion's ever going to be one of them as good as Jamar Chase is, but they might have some Chase and Higgins stuff going on there with those two rookie wide receivers.

Yeah, you throw in Fannin and Judkins, both had big games too from the draft class before that. And I mean, they got skill guys for years, it looks like, you know, injuries aside. Concepcion was dynamite in this one. what's crazy. And we'll, we'll bring this up. I mean, I mentioned that the Browns were walking a fine line. They are, they're four and oh, now in games decided by three points or less, including the Steelers, including this one. It's a hard, that's a hard life to live.

One over the Ravens. I think wasn't that one of them?

Almost certain. I mean, it's four, there are five wins or whatever, or all, I think we're three point games. Um, but this is great. I don't have the numbers, but Watson, he's been okay. I mean, he's a good runner. We'll talk about Watson. Um, But his numbers are by far the best in the league with two minutes left in either the half or the game.

Yeah. Did you tweet that? Or I saw somebody tweet that. Maybe.

I've been tweeting a lot lately. Your guitar techs are keeping you well strung. And I don't know if that's sustainable. Is he the most clutch quarterback on the planet all of a sudden? It's a tough way to live. But this is a typical Browns game. When they lose, they get beat pretty bad. When they win, they sneak one out, you know?

Yeah.

Maybe it's just their year. Hopefully that script flips on them on Sunday. Same score as we saw in Paris, 16-10. We saw that in Minnesota as well. The Vikings, the 6-0 undefeated Vikings still. Probably a little tighter than they wanted, but they get it done at home against the Colts.

The defense is the best in the league right there with Seattle. It's awesome. We were talking about the Vikings today on a different show. Hidden yardage stuff. They're number one in turnover ratio. They've only missed one kick. They're doing the little things. They're the least penalized team in the league. Are they the best team in the league?

Maybe not. But they have a great defense, and they're not hurting themselves and winning in the margins. They take it pretty far. Absolutely.

The Dolphins, they get their first win of the season.

And the Colts are a disaster, by the way.

Disaster. And it's going to be a long rest of the season for them. Yeah. Dolphins get their first win of the season, finally, against a division foe, the Jets there at MetLife 28-25.

Both these teams have a lot of really fun young players. I mean, the receivers.

How about Omar Cooper Jr., man?

He's really turned into something. This was Willis' best game, and if he keeps it up, I think it could easily convince them, draft a receiver or defensive player and not go quarterback. That could be more of an around-campus conversation. Bad loss for the Jets, though.

Yes, it is.

And I think his seat is on fire. I mean, I don't know.

Aaron Glenn? Yeah.

I think it was really warm when the season started. He has, like, no wins against the division in his career. You're not seeing any kind of coaching advantages on either side of the ball for the Jets.

Matt, the one that we did reference in the first hour that I misplaced a moment ago, the Bucs go to Carolina, go to Charlotte, and put up 43 points on the Panthers to win 43-13. Yeah. Bucky Irving, 106 yards and two touchdowns. That should make you feel really good about this Steelers defense.

It absolutely should. So I think people remember we were really concerned about Steelers-Bucs. You know, long week. I told people over and over, this team's better than their record. They've had some quarterback stuff. Bulls is playing a really– they're probably a top five defense. But to your point to open the show about winning at the line of scrimmage, Bucs-Panthers was utter domination by the Bucs big people.

Both sides.

Both sides of the ball. I mean, it was Werfs killing people and huge holes and Vita Vea being an unblockable force and their edge guys. The same group of Steelers played the week before. They dominated the trenches.

The Ravens, Matt, jump out to a 13-0 lead at the half against the Bengals at home.

Yes.

And then Cincinnati scores 35 unanswered second-half points to Wallop Baltimore, 35-13. So the Steelers are 5-2, the Browns are 5-2, the Bengals are 4-2, and the Ravens are 4-3.

This is definitely one we need to spend the most time on.

Yes.

The rest of the games people have probably digested by now. I felt like the Bengals... We're a little rusty after the bye. I think we had this rest conversation. Like 10 days is great. 14 days, sometimes you get away from the facility and you start slow. But this is to me in Burrow and the Higgins in particular, but their offense and their passing game was spectacular in the second half. It was like, oh man, if this is how they play, they're not going to lose again. I mean, like it was that good. But we have to have a Ravens conversation. So this has gone on for a long time. them blowing substantial leads halftime and later. I mean, Lamar, Huntley, Harbaugh, Minter, there's not one even common denominator at this point. And

this is going to kind of blow your mind, is they have the best point differential in the league in the first half.

Wow.

The worst in the second half. I mean, like this team every week is a tale of two halves.

That's unbelievable.

They're too good to have the worst second half. Yeah, I mean.

Right.

The first part I can kind of live with.

That would be a lot of teams like the Dolphins and the Titans. Yeah, you would think they're getting destroyed.

But they're getting destroyed in the second half. And I can't even quite, it'd be so frustrating if we were covering the Ravens right now. Because like of all the teams in the league, including the Steelers, who do you think would be the best at sealing a victory? Old school, hand it to Jerome. Those coward teams, no one ever came back on them. How are you coming back on Lamar and Henry for years and years and years? Just hand it to those guys and run it down their throat.

They can't get that done. Now they have injuries. I've said this before and I've always been wrong. Henry looks a step slow. Andrews is not the player he once was. Obviously they need Lamar, of course. That's the low-hanging fruit here, but Now that Vega's out, I mean like, I don't know. know about the Ravens and this catastrophe losing big leads.

Nobody in the league does it like them.

I would much rather be playing the Ravens at home on Sunday than the Browns, the way that both teams are playing right now. Yeah. I mean, this would be a pretty good time to get Baltimore, and obviously we're not going to see them until uh twice and well once in in december once in january.

Who knows what lamar's up to at that point but.

Matt you look at their they're four and three the ravens now there is a certain uh member of the trio of this show myself matt and mr tv that uh spent a lot of the off season banging the drum and put some cheddar on the ravens 11 and a half under and i thought that that was.

Ludicrous We all thought they were crazy. They're the favorite in the AFC to go to the Super Bowl.

Insane. I need them to get at least six losses, right? Because 12 and 5 would be the other.

I like how it's trending.

They got three already. Yeah. At Buffalo next weekend.

Ooh.

Host the Jags on Thursday night after going to Buffalo. So at least it's at home.

Still.

But they got Buffalo on the road, then Jacksonville.

As currently constructed, they're a dog in both those games.

Correct.

Definitely the Bills game.

Then they have the Chargers at home.

Okay.

Then they have to go to Carolina. Then they have to go to Houston. Then they have to play the Bucs. They still have the Steelers twice. They still have the Browns again. They still have the Bengals again.

There's six plus losses.

Come on, baby. If the sports book wants to offer me a hefty buyout, I'm saying no.

I'm hanging up. I think you're good.

I think they're not saying that their season is on the brink or anything like that. They're in some trouble currently, and the schedule these next couple weeks is not easy.

I can't imagine how disheartening it is to lose those big leads as often as they have, though.

It's one thing to lose a game, right? When you feel like you're in the driver's seat, that's a gut punch.

When those win probabilities come up, it's like 90% win rate that they have. Close them out.

Matt, a team who really got punched in the gut on Sunday, the Houston Texans. Just a game they couldn't afford to lose.

Yeah, this might be the nail.

At home, and for the Giants, they had had two really rough back-to-back weeks, and it felt like they were teetering on the brink a little bit, maybe like the Raiders did. You had a really hot start to the season, but is that who you are?

McCarthy's doing good things.

Yeah.

The Giants go down deep in the heart of Texas, and they beat the Texans 27-21 in overtime.

I just think this is such a great example, and I'm going to, you know, this is a Tomlin thing, too. Harbaugh's a really good coach. You know what I mean? Like, you're... a successful coach for two decades with an organization like a Tomlin or Harbaugh, you know, a thing or two.

Hey, other team that plays at MetLife stadium.

Yeah.

That wears green. Mike call that has three first round draft picks.

Yeah. You want to get, you want to get back to where the giants are like that? Yeah, exactly. I mean, it's a goofy little thing, but remember their first round pick banks. He was a corner. He's in a third year in a league. Look like a total bust. Harbaugh gets there. He's like, Shutting down No. 1 receivers. You did a number on Nico in this game. You know, like really limited him. Houston's got problems, though. I mean, their tackling is poor. They may be just in too big a hole at this point. I mean, 2-5.

2-5, yeah.

That might be a wrap.

They've got some rough games ahead, too.

Yeah.

Did not see that one coming for Houston. Real quick on this front. J.J. McCarthy. Want to see more of it?

Yeah, I mean, it's been six quarters, but he looks a thousand times better than he has at any point in his NFL career.

Yeah, what might he look like Thanksgiving?

I've kind of had this tinfoil hat thing that Harbaugh takes this job with Dart in mind going, I've got this quarterback plan to bring these guys along. Oh, he got hurt. I still want to use this plan. Let's go trade for a guy.

It's not a bad plan.

Yeah.

Matt, the Broncos.

And he just feeds neighbors and likely... 111.

Yards for neighbors. Cam Scadaboo bounced back in a big way after being benched.

That's the thing is they just ran all over him.

Cam Scadaboo, he was in full Johnny Knoxville mode.

Yeah, yeah.

Crash, bash, and smash out there. The Broncos go to Arizona, Matt. They win comfortably. I think it was maybe finally the first glimpse of like, that looks like the Broncos team we expected to see this season.

A little better from Nix.

30-16.

Like, I've been hard on Nix, but let's not forget that he had a very serious injury... Late is the season, but he possibly can. I mean, he probably had some ramifications. He's not my favorite quarterback, but he's getting better.

He uses his legs like that, though, man.

He's dangerous. And much like the Harbaugh conversation, Peyton knows how to win this league. Defense is really shaping up. So Denver's legit.

The Lions win a close one. This was a game that we spent some time talking about. A big one there in the NFC North. It was a fun one in Detroit. The Lions win 20-17 over the Packers. Detroit now 4-2, Green Bay 4-3.

A lot lower scoring than I thought. I thought this would be shootout galore.

Like take the over. Yeah.

I still think Green Bay's in it. You know, like Josh Jacobs coming back didn't really help their run game, but you could tell that he was much better than the backs they've been trotting out, and he helped in the passing game a fair amount. Their defense was problematic, though. I mean, Goff didn't have a lot of pressure on him, and he's that type of quarterback where if you don't get to him, throw him to those guys, it's going to be a problem.

Matt, we talked about how it was probably still a little too early to say that it was a must win for the L.A. Rams, but it certainly felt like a can't lose there in Las Vegas, and they get it done. In fact, they were rolling. The Raiders scored some garbage time.

Stuff in the fourth quarter to make it a.

Little more respectable of a final score. But Rams 35, Raiders 21. Rams look finally like the team that we thought we were going to see this season. The Raiders have now dropped four in a row after winning their first three.

Yeah, I don't think the Rams are out of the woods, but this is a nice step in the right direction of a team you should beat. Everyone expect them to. The Raiders are kind of who we thought they were. Cousins has played well, but it's Mendoza time soon.

I think so.

I just don't know how you deny that.

One of my boys in our league was a, in our fantasy football league was trying to shop Kirk cousins and was like, he's got the most touchdown passes in this.

And we're like, yeah, dude, bar him for two weeks.

I ain't giving you, I ain't giving you anything quality for that. He's going to be, he's going to be replaced soon, no matter how good he's playing mad. And what was probably the game of the week, at least from a, you know, heading into it, hype standpoint, the defending super bowl champion, Seattle Seahawks at home against what was the five and O Kansas city chiefs.

Two of the teams that have backed around two.

Teams that have been really good here recently. two teams that have won a lot of Super Bowls here recently. And of course the Kenneth Walker heading back to his old team factor, Seahawks smacked them around 20 to three out there in Seattle.

It looked like the best defense in the league. It looked like last year's defense and it's never really wavered from that, but it's rare that you get my homes looking like I got no answers or that frustrated. Usually he's cool as can be and nobody's getting open. You know, they, they took away the run game in a big, big way and they ran the ball quite well. I mean, I'm not real worried about the Chiefs. I've always kind of thought their passing game is going to be an anchor just because there's nobody getting open at any level.

But they should be a team that explores a wide receiver trade for sure.

They sure should. We'll do some trade deadline stuff probably this week and next week.

Yeah, I think when you get to Halloween-ish is when you start thinking guys on the move and Nelson. Started that maybe.

But yeah, the Chiefs say you're still five and one. You're still in a great spot. Seahawks get back above 500 and really needed that one. I think it was I was laughing, guys, because of the time change. This game started. At two thirty a.m. French time.

Sounds about right, yeah.

And I had to be up at like 7 to go get on the bus to the stadium. So I was obviously not watching any of this.

Yes.

But I woke up to a lot of texts from you two in our group chat. Nick Him and Worry's a doll. Nick Him and Worry, man, this guy's a stud. I was like, well, sounds like things went the Seahawks way. You guys will laugh at this. Or wait, sorry, that would have been when we were flying home, not when we were.

Going to the game.

But you get what I'm saying.

Still was 2.30 in the morning.

You guys will laugh at this. When I woke up Sunday morning. our bus left at seven 30. So my alarm was set for like six 45. Cause I wanted to take a quick shower and grab a little breakfast before we left for the stadium. Six 45. I wake up in my hotel in France. I check my phone and the fourth quarter of the Houston, Utah game was still going on. It's it's Sunday. It's 6 45 AM in France. And there's still a college football game on a minute left in the fourth quarter in Utah. Cause it was like a 10 30, you know, start out there. Um, and with the time change and everything, but I was loud.

I was so twisted around it. I'm like, I'm getting ready to go to the Steelers. I'm getting ready to go to the Steelers game right now. I'm getting on a bus to go to the Steelers game. And there's a top, and there's a top 20 college football game still going on back home right now.

I forget exactly how I went, but it was something along the lines of Thursday night in Dublin, uh, I wake up and it's like two in the morning. I've been sleeping for five hours or something. I'm like, I'm up. What's going on? I'm like, it's almost kickoff back home.

It's almost kickoff for Thursday night football.

That's great. I'm so happy I'm up. I was thinking about setting an alarm. I'm like, I might just have to miss this Thursday night game. Give myself as much sleep as possible. When I hop up, I'm like, oh, I'm going to watch a game.

All right. So stay in with that. I'm going to do this all week.

Good.

Story time again for you here real quick. quickly so saturday saturday in paris was the day where there was supposed to be more demonstrations more protests whatever you want to call them riots right whatever word fits your political agenda.

I guess so i should be more on pilot so.

Basically what they had told us was again just you're in Times Square. Don't go to Queens, whatever the equivalent would be. You're in downtown Pittsburgh. Don't go down to wherever. And they had told us that in the mid-afternoon that a lot of the stores and shops would probably close down just out of abundance of precaution.

Right.

Because you never know. Yeah. It's supposed to be over in this area, but everyone's being safe and taking the extra precautions and all that. So that's why Saturday morning, Kinger and I got up, got breakfast and went to the Eiffel Tower and did touristy stuff and went to lunch and all that. And we were back at our hotel by like three or four o'clock on Saturday. Like we went out in the morning, explored all all morning and afternoon, then got back to the hotel. In one, just to be safe, and we knew some things were going to be closed down.

Yeah. Probably not a bad day to be in.

Maybe take a nap. Exactly right. In two, we were all like, college football starts at six. Because we're six hours ahead. And big shout out to our Irish buddy, Mick McQuaid, who has been on the show before. I'm sure most Steelers fans are familiar with. Covers the NFL in Ireland and has been doing Steelers content stuff for a few years now. He was able to get us all set up with an account where we could log in and watch college football. So that was a lot of fun. So we were back on Saturday night, had some dinner by the hotel, watched some college football. Matt, I was telling you about that beer, 1664, that really good French beer. Dude, before the WVU game started, I got a six pack of that beer and a huge

thing of water for eight euros. i'm like i'm like dude this is awesome.

You said the wine's like super cheap because it's everywhere right.

You go somewhere and that the house bottle of wine is like 12 euro and you're sipping on it and you're like this is delicious phenomenal you're the best wine i've ever had i might be coming a little bit of an espresso boy too you know fellas i bet i can be convinced the espresso out there was great and rob was the one who told me this the first day he was like think about it. He's like, you don't want to be drinking a bunch of coffee in the morning and then going out and exploring. He's like, you're going to have to find places to use the bathroom.

He's like, you just shoot a little espresso and then you're less liquid. You don't have all those liquids in your system.

But you sit the same jolt.

That's a really good point. That's a really good point. But yeah, big thanks to, uh, to Mick McQuaid for helping us get all the college football on Saturday. And, uh, and we made the most of it, despite the time change and all that as well. Matt, last one, last night, Cowboys lay it on the Eagles, 38-21. It was a close game at halftime, actually, but then Dallas pulled away.

Yeah.

I didn't expect the Eagles' defense to look like that. I knew the offense would be struggling.

Yeah, that was actually what I said earlier today, too.

They might have punted on the season a little bit.

I think they could become big-time sellers, maybe not to the Colts' level, and I don't think they'll sink nearly as far as the Colts. I mean, they're not going to trade– my lotto or Devante Smith or Jen Carter, you know, there's, they don't, you know, Mitchell, those type of dudes, but I think their season's a disaster. And I understand on the offensive side of the ball, but really all year, your defense should be better. I mean, I thought that should be a top three, top five type of defense. And man, the story of that game was just Dallas, just running down their throat. I mean, just, just, and they basically came in saying, all we're gonna try to do is run, get it back to run the ball.

And they, Couldn't do anything about it.

They sure did. They sure did. Could be a long couple months.

It could be a start of something good for Dallas, too. I'm open to that. Guys like Quinn and Williams and Downs and Porter were out there playing well on defense. Can they get that defense out of the garbage can?

If they can get that defense out of the garbage can, they are— They could win that division and see where we're at in December, January. Yeah, this back half of the year. Matt, I want to get back to, I guess we could call some final thoughts from the Steelers and the Saints when we return on the other side.

We talked about one side of the trenches.

Yeah, I said we didn't talk a ton of offense.

We talked about one side of the trenches traveling for the Steelers. Let's talk about that offensive line playing some bully ball against the Saints on Sunday. Namely, some center, I'm forgetting his name, but I don't know. He might have gone to college right down the road, and he might be playing like the best in the world at his position currently. position currently. I'm just gushing so romantic I can't even say words. Let's talk about the Steelers' offense a little bit and some final thoughts from the Stade de France when we return on the other side.

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Rolling along here on the drive as we are trying to find our bearings and hopefully doing a good job for all of you out there between the balance of football talk, Paris talk and anything and everything in between. And Matt, we didn't have time to do this conversation in the first hour when we talked about the Steelers, you know, defense traveling. But you can certainly say the other or you could say the same about the other side of the football for the Steelers. That Steelers offensive line was outstanding. And my goodness, Matt, I am obviously, I'll be the first person to put my hand up and say that I am a Homer honk about Zach Frazier.

Oh, you don't hide it particularly well, yeah.

I watched him for four years in Morgantown. I've watched him for three years now for the Steelers, seven years in total for my two favorite football teams. You also, though, you've been doing radio with me for nine years now.

Yeah, yeah.

At combines and training camps and really intently over the last year and a half. I've never, as much as I'm a homer, I was never like, oh, you got to watch this guy from WVU. You got to watch that guy from WVU, except for Zach Frazier. I mean, I've been tweeting about how this guy was the answer to the Steelers' problems at center since he was his senior year at WVU in 2023. Um, in fact, and it all works out in the long run, there was a weird part of me. I don't want to say that I thought that it was a benefit to the Steelers because peel back the curtain too. If people don't remember this, Zach and his very last game of his career at WVU broke his leg.

Yeah.

Yeah. At, at Baylor in Waco and crawled off the field to avoid the 10 second runoff and WVU scored to win the game and an iconic moment.

It couldn't have helped his draft stock.

He broke his leg three months before the combine.

Yeah, yeah.

That might have worked out for the Steelers. You might not have gotten him at 51 if he was completely healthy and was able to do everything. But regardless, all is well that ends well. And a lot of people on that offensive line deserve credit and deserve their flowers.

Oh, they do.

And we're going to give them to them here. But Matt... I think my guy might be the best center in the world right now, especially when you consider the level of competition he's been doing it against these last couple of weeks. Yeah, it hasn't been no name. It's been it's been sexy, Dexy and Vita Vea and DeForest Buckner and all these really good interior defensive linemen. He was, as a center, it's really hard to do. He was standing out on Sunday. Just how violently he was moving bodies and picking up two guys in sequences and reading stunts perfectly and clearing out space in the run game in short yardage situations. So many times it's third and one, it's third and three, and the Steelers are running right

up Frazier's backside for the first down. My boy is cooking. I was telling you guys before we went on the show today, I actually, in all the chaos after the game. We're trying to get our equipment down to the Steelers equipment managers because they're flying right back to Pittsburgh and taking it for us. I'm in the hallway pushing our huge radio rack and I see Zach and we kind of like, you know, like see each other and smile.

And he gives me a fist bump. And I was like, Zach, I think that might have been the best game you've played in the NFL, dude. And he smiled and was like, thanks, man. Thanks. But it was it was a man. It was a dominating performance from that Steelers offensive line. But I think you got to start with the man in the middle.

You do, because he's been great since he's been here, but he's leveling up this year. Different people around him, different scheme, different offensive line coach, but probably more than anything, just growing into his paws in the league even more, hitting the prime.

Years of his career. He's got that NFL grown man strength and body now and all that stuff.

Your rookie year's not going to be your best year, and this is how the league works. I know it's blasphemous, but I did a video today with Bob Pompiani, and he's like, you know how well is is the line playing and who's standing out i'm like frazier's playing at a webby dirt like level right now i'm like you don't want.

To say those things you know all right hold on matt slow down whisper whisper that again nice and slow because when you're saying.

It and he's playing like The great Steelers setters.

And Brian Baldinger saying it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And all these national people are.

Giving him love.

That means a lot, man.

I mean, maybe Creed Humphrey's playing as well.

Sure. Maybe.

Sure. Anthony Weaver's outstanding.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, there's some really good centers in the NFL.

But he's got a case of being one of the best centers, which I think he's been since he's been here, to. A total superstar, foundational player.

If you're drafting a team to play in the Super Bowl on Sunday, you could maybe say to me, I'm still taking Creed Humphrey because he's been to three or four of those already, and he's been in that situation. But just in terms of their current form, it would be hard not to have Zach on your starting right now best team in the NFL for a game this weekend.

He's playing at that level, and he didn't play against Vita Vea this week, and it showed.

Oh, my God.

Crushing those dudes you know and i thought the interior of the steeler line but especially the left side of the steeler line was utterly dominant in the run game so i know some people a little bit of a foul tawny rant here people seem to be a little down on them um Which I understand, because at that position, when you get beat, it gets noticed.

No doubt. That's a way different world than playing center.

Yes.

The grading curve is different.

It is. Or playing linebacker and getting beat over and over by a tight end or in coverage or whatever. But I also think because in basically my lifetime, the Steelers haven't been able to get first-round tackles, the bar is a little higher for these pair. And that's fine. I mean, they're first-round offensive tackles. But people that are down on Faltano, I think, are out of their mind.

He has some technical things to work on, which I want to talk about in protection. He probably is too aggressive. I would love to have this conversation with Max Starks and be like, there's some patience to play and tackle, too. I mean, he takes the fight to the opponent, which can be great. But sometimes you swing and miss. He's kind of a home run hitter there.

Sometimes you do want to make the other guy make the first move.

Yes, or wait him out. And you'll see, too, he's real big on two-hand punching. You'll see a lot of guys now are individuals. But when you go two, it's kind of, again, like swinging for the fences. I'm really going with everything I got. And when he lands it, they go flying. But sometimes, against better pass rushers, You get a little overextended, and it's a problem. But the thing is, at that position, not as much as, like, if you're Trent Williams, that's what makes him an all-time great.

But Werff's got beat by the Steeler guys, too. I mean, he got beat by Herbig. Like, you get beat at tackle in this league. There's just so many unbelievable edge rushers in this league. You're going to have to line up against Verst this week, and he's going to get beat, too, guys. You know, like. You can beat twice a game in protection.

People lose their mind.

The best ones that we've ever seen. You can still find some highlights of when they just got beat. Yeah.

I mean, no one... Herbig's beaten worse. I mean, that's the same thing. It's the same thing. It happens a lot. More than people around here seem to realize. Chase Young... Has 17 sacks in his last 19 games.

I can't believe we've made it this far into the show and not mentioned his name.

He is a superstar, guys.

Because he was outstanding.

He was the second pick in the draft.

It took him some time, but he's finally living up to it.

He is back to being that guy.

Like our brother Dale Lawley would have said, you are allowed to get better, and my goodness has Chase Young gotten better.

We brought him up previewing the Saints, but not enough. I mean, Olave and Young are great, great players. And he's going to do that to whoever the Saints play next week and the week after. But in the run game, I thought the left side of the line, starting with Frazier all the way down the line, was mashing people, including Young. I mean, the run blocking stuff was phenomenal.

And I can't say it enough, but I say it a lot. The Metcalfs and Bernards and Washingtons and Friar Moose are all really chipping in in the blocking department, too. I mean, everybody's buying in. And there was times when this was a weak limb that I went out. The limb that I went out on was getting a little creaky.

But you heard me say in the offseason, I wouldn't trade this offensive line room for any in the league.

You held your stock, brother, while a lot of people were selling it.

Oh, I heard about it a lot. You know, like, you're out of your mind. You don't have any idea what you're talking about. I'm like, I think we're still not the tip of the iceberg, but we've not seen the whole iceberg yet of what this line will become and is massively trending towards.

Just like Novocaine, give it time.

Your time. It's coming.

It sure is, man.

And it's here already.

It is.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, I thought it was another solid, like, again, they lost some battles, but I thought Mad Max held his own.

Rookie tackles have a really, really hard time, guys.

They really do.

And he's going to have some tough moments. He just will.

And I also.

But he'll also have some wild moments.

We've spent, and understandably, because it's where the Steelers really invested their resources. We've spent a lot of time talking about the first-round tackles. We've spent a lot of time talking about Zach Frazier. Heck, we've spent a good amount of time talking about Mason McCormick. Brock Hoffman is all of a sudden looking like he's settled. He knows what he's doing. He's knocked off the rust after not having played for a couple weeks there at the start of the season. I mean, him and Zach Frazier... they were like, they were like Jordan and Pippen on the, I mean, they.

I would say the concert block. Yeah, exactly.

Everything working in concert.

That's the playing together thing.

The drummer and the bass player, you know what I mean? Hitting the notes perfectly. They were so in sync.

I know he's talking to Max, but I think he said, because Rob King references it a fair amount, that it takes about six weeks of playing together to really get a feel for your, the guy you're shoulder to shoulder with on the line, which I could buy that.

That probably matters for that group more than any in the sport.

Oh yeah, yeah. Wolf and Tunch, you know, We were kind of grunting at each other. They would be.

Yeah.

They would be eating up this line. They would be loving.

Watching the Steelers offensive line.

I think it's only getting better.

Same.

I'm not saying they're scratching the surface. They've already smashed the surface. But it's a top five-ish line now, and it could be number one.

And I got a feeling, Matt, that they're going to have some vengeance on the mind, some nasty intentions on the mind when the Browns roll into town.

And I love how nasty they are, too.

Even the personal foul penalty with McCormick, you're kind of like, come on, dude, just tone it down. Your knobs don't have to go to 11 every single second. But at the same time, you'd rather say woe than sickle.

Yeah, I don't need it on eight either.

Exactly.

You know?

And honestly, the last time the offensive line probably wasn't, you know, standing in the ring after the 12 rounds with the referee raising their hand wasn't Cleveland on that Thursday night.

Yeah, yeah.

It was probably the Browns defensive line that was getting their hand raised after that fight.

I'm sure they remember.

I got a feeling that there's going to be some, hey, last three weeks have been really good, no doubt. But you better not be feeling yourselves just yet because... Let's go take care of business against the Browns defensive line on Sunday that gave us some trouble a few weeks ago.

And we'd be remiss. I mean, they brought out a sixth offensive lineman for the first time all year.

I'm glad you mentioned that.

That, to me, told me a lot about McCarthy in that I'm an 11 personnel guy. Go get me Pittman and Bernard.

Great, great, great.

Hmm. I got this Washington and Fryermuth crew here. Maybe I should play more 12.

You know what? This guy, Spencer Anderson, he's for a sixth offensive lineman. He's pretty good.

Yeah, I remember him. I like Spencer. I wish I could get him on the field, and we're pretty light at that third receiver spot. Let's have a chat with Tom Arth and see what they did last year with the 6-0 line stuff.

I love it.

And they ran the ball a high percentage of the time when he was out there, but really successfully, too. I mean, it worked.

And that's a great calling card.

I don't think it's going away.

Exactly right. Great calling card to have.

They may still have the fullback in their back pocket, too. I mean, like, he plays two snaps a game. But, like, he might be like, well, if I need that chapter.

Right, right, right. Absolutely. Especially with the bye week coming up, too. That's a lot of fun to keep an eye on.

But these, like, receiver injuries have helped in other ways, too. You know. Bad things happen through the course of an NFL season. Most things are bad. You always say that.

Only bad things for the most part are going to happen from here.

But they've really found good things in bad times. You know, like, this Spears-Jennings guy might be a starting safety. You know, we would have started Elliott and Brisker and not known that. You know, but, like, the D-line's a little banged up. But we're still stopping the run with light boxes. You know, like. Okay.

And all of a sudden, we've got something we think maybe in those Rubio and Jabbity guys.

Here, too. Yeah, and needless to say, the Warren Dowdle combination is exactly how we drew it up, if not more.

They had to play with those ingredients in the kitchen for a few meals.

Dowdle being out for a couple weeks, it's like, okay, we know Warren's better, but let's not forget that Rico's pretty useful, too.

No doubt. Yeah. No doubt. One more segment to go. I shouldn't even call it a shorty on the other side. We'll have probably about seven or eight minutes here on the other side. Let's hit on some of the reaction on X on the YouTube comments as we close this thing down on this Tuesday. Euler and Williamson, it's The Drive.

Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network.

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Down the home stretch of The Drive here on this Victory Tuesday. And Matt, this is a football show, Steelers show, NFL show. Sometimes we get into some college football stuff, a lot of different things. This is not a music show. We're not DVE here or anything like that. But I also think we would be remiss.

We would have Chad Tyson on once a week or anything.

Exactly right. Exactly right. But I also think if we would be remiss if we did not mention before we got out of here today, again, we had to fit 10 pounds of potatoes in a six pound sack on today's show. But yesterday we lost an absolute icon of the Pittsburgh rock and roll scene.

Yeah.

And one of the most just absolutely notorious yinzers in one of us. and rock and roll legend Donny Iris, of course, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, massive Steelers fan. I thought it was so cool. You see the Steelers, you see the Pirates, you see the Penguins all posting their tributes, and it's all him in a Steelers jersey and a Penguins sweater.

And a Pirates jersey singing the national anthem.

All yinsed out.

I saw one post, I guess his last performance, he's sitting there in a Darnell Washington jersey.

So his last performance, actually, there's a new concert venue right over by the Penguins Arena, PPG Paints Arena there downtown, called the Wiley. New concert venue that just opened up a month or two ago. And he was part of the, it was him and Billy Gardell kind of did a music comedy show to open it up. So two Pittsburgh guys, two Pittsburgh legends.

Perfect guys to open it up, yeah.

In hindsight, it's obviously, man, that's a hell of a way for Donnie to have his last show. That's pretty cool. Opening up a new concert venue in Pittsburgh.

For others after him.

Our buddy Randy Bauman was saying that they should put a Donnie Iris statue at the Wiley.

Like Lemieux in front of the, yeah, okay, wow.

Since that was, he played the first concert there. It was his last concert ever.

Matt, there's been- I mean, I don't know the rock scene well, but he's as big as anyone really in Pittsburgh history, I would think.

Him and Bret Michaels, absolutely.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Our friend of the show, Bret Michaels.

He owes us a song, doesn't he?

He does owe us a song. He certainly does. He said it, not us. I don't want anybody to take this the wrong way. So I'm going to say this as respectfully as I can. There are so many iconic Pittsburghers, but that they haven't necessarily called Pittsburgh home their entire life. Michael Keaton's fricking Batman and one of the greatest actors of all time. He reps Pittsburgh on his sleeve, on his heart, but he's lived in Southern California for decades.

Of course he's an actor. Jeff Goldblum, a lot of, a lot of these.

Famous people, uh, even, you know, more recent musicians like Wiz Khalifa and Mac Miller, they repped Pittsburgh, but they lived in different places. Donnie Iris, man, you, everyone has a Donnie Iris story because you'd see him in bars and clubs and cigar lounges around all the time. I've told you this before. I think I've shared this on the show. My dad loves smoking cigars. My dad's a cigar guy. So usually during the winter at some point in January or February when football season would be over, there's nothing to do because it's cold and dark and freezing outside all the time. My dad and I would go to a cigar bar. To just hang out and watch a Penns game or watch a college basketball game or whatever. You'd see Donny Iris and all the cigar bars,

you know, around the city and in the North Hills. He lived up in Warrendale, saw him there a few times at Jurgles, which is a music venue that has a cigar bar upstairs. He was in there a lot. Always had time for everybody. Pictures, talk your ear off. The last of a dying breed passed away at 83 years yesterday. And so just all the best to his friends and family. And a big shout out to the Pittsburgh legend and icon, Donny Iris.

I'm glad you brought it up. That's awesome. I mean, anything old school Pittsburgh important to the city, I think we should definitely bring up.

Completely agree. And so there's a cool little 30 second tribute here that you mentioned, Chad Tyson. We speak a lot of yinzer here on this show, Matt.

Oh, yeah.

We obviously have a ton of listeners that don't live here in western Pennsylvania. Steeler Nation is not only countrywide, but it's worldwide, as we've seen in Dublin and Paris. And we'll continue to see wherever the Steelers go. Chad Tyson hosts afternoons on DVE, the rock station here in Pittsburgh, the Steelers flagship. Chad Tyson is the afternoon host, and he put together just a, it's like a quick little 30-second tribute here for Donny Iris, and it's outstanding. Donny Iris!

I know some people from Pittsburgh. Can't cool themselves!

And they really know.

How to rock and roll. Remembering our dear friend Donnie Iris, gone at 83. I love you guys.

I love you guys.

On 102.5 DVE.

Very cool.

Yeah, it is.

Crank some Love is Like a Rock. Crank some Aaliyah on your way home. Also, TV was telling us he's part of the band of Wild Cherry when they had Play That Funky Music, which is play that funky music, white boy.

Yeah, I didn't know any of that.

Everybody knows that still gets played at every wedding. You were at a wedding on Saturday, Matt, for your niece. They probably played.

That at some point on the dance floor.

Probably were.

R.I.P. to Donny Iris. We had to get out. We couldn't let this show go today without mentioning just an absolute icon of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and one of the biggest Steelers and Pirates and Penguins fans that you could ever meet.

No, that's awesome. I don't have anything to add. I think you nailed it. I'm glad you brought it up. That's good stuff.

That is our show for today. Tomorrow, we'll do some power rankings. We'll do some around campus, and we will start turning the page. Because you know what Donny Iris would have wanted? He would have wanted the Steelers to go beat the hell out of the Cleveland Browns on the North Shore on Sunday. And we'll start talking about that and much more tomorrow. But that will do it for us today. Big thanks, as always, to video producer, intrepid video producer, Tyler V., Mr. TV. For Matt Williamson, I'm Wes Euler. Take care, everybody, and we will 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.

Drive10.27.26Hr2: Around the NFL Week Seven

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