Drive10.8.26Hr1: Matt's Stats

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Good afternoon, Steeler Nation. It's The Drive on the Steelers Audio Network. Wes Shuler and Matt Williamson with you here for the next two hours on this Thursday. Matt, as it is the day that we fully turn the page and look ahead and start to discuss the Indianapolis Colts and what looms as a big one Sunday at Accresure Stadium.

Yeah, I had an interesting conversation with Rob King today, and we were talking about just perspective and the league as a whole, and both these teams are 2-2, and where they were at last year when they met, and all these good things. And I think a lot of our listeners, and I'm very guilty of this, look at this game like, this is a game you should win.

You're at home. You're the better team.

Rest advantages.

Rest advantage. I mean, like, okay, get off the loss. Get the loss out of your mouth. Get a good thing going. And Rob had a good point. He's like, that's exactly what the Colts are saying. You know what I mean? Like, this is I think the Steelers are a noticeably better team, to be honest, but they're probably on the same tier. It's not like, whoa, this has been, you know, this is one of these.

It's not the Bills and the Dolphins.

Right, exactly, exactly. But I thought it was an interesting perspective. It's like they're probably, news people are probably, radio people are probably saying, got to go win this one, and then you get something, you know, keep the winning streak going, you know?

Yeah, exactly right. I've said this, I think, the last two weeks, but it's always amazing to me how quickly in this league the games start to feel very important.

Very weighty, yeah.

And this one on Sunday certainly feels weighty. We are going to dig into Matt's stats here in the first hour, as we always do on Thursdays, to kind of start to set the scene. But before we do that, Matt, some important news of the day here to get us started in Steeler land. You want the good news? You want the bad news? Where do you want to begin?

Surprise me.

Let's start with the bad, because then we can end on a happier note. Mike McCarthy said before practice today, Michael Pittman Jr. 's foot injury that has popped up once again on the injury report is, quote, in the multiple week category. They're in the process of evaluating his roster spot, but it sounds like he is obviously not going to play on Sunday against the Colts and maybe even potentially beyond. You hear that when the coach says multiple week category of an injury.

There were multiple reports that he was on one of those scooters, you know, and so this news doesn't surprise me. I'm sure a lot of people saw those tweets and, you know, the beat reporters were on it. He hasn't been particularly useful as a receiver, but he has been a very good blocker. And that is, you know, something about this team. I think that they need, bigger picture story, 10 days here, mini buy, you know, like I think, I hope that they're doing a lot of self scouting as much as they're scouting for the opponent because you have extra time. And I'm hoping that the identity of the offense becomes run a lot higher percentage than they did with a lot of big people on the field.

They have a unique advantage in terms of putting beef on the field without putting extra offensive linemen and, and, having 10 guys block, you know, for the ball carrier. Well, not Rodgers, but nine guys block that are big and are bigger than the people they're blocking. And Pittman was useful for that.

Yes, he was. And that's not what I think we all had in store for him when he was acquired. I also think you're correct in mentioning that. He hasn't been just an empty jersey out there by any means.

No, no. I mean, even if it's not useful for your fantasy team or, you know, leaving something to be desired from separation.

You want him to be more involved in that offense in the past game. And obviously now he's going to be on the shelf for what sounds like, you know, again, the injury being categorized as multiple week by head coach Mike McCarthy earlier today before the Steelers practiced.

So I'm not sure if this is true or not, but it sure feels true. I don't know that he's had a truly 100 percent healthy day as a Steeler. Sure feels that way.

Sure feels that way. Maybe the very start of training camp.

I can't remember enough. I wasn't as aware of it as I am now.

But I do remember both of us being like, man, we haven't seen much of DK and Pittman throughout training camp.

Camp he missed i mean he was actually was injured for camp for.

And some of that we were kind of thinking maybe these guys just have you know little bangs and bruises and we know he wants to keep them healthy yeah you want to get roman wilson and jeremy bernard as much work as possible and i'm sure there was some truth to that too but maybe now with the benefit of hindsight there was some real lingering injury stuff there clearly.

And i mentioned he's not really getting open Maybe because he's been injured, too. You know what I mean? You've got to make an excuse for it, too.

It really hurts your explosion and your ability to separate if you've got something lingering with a foot, no doubt. So not great news for Michael Pittman Jr. The other kind of unfortunate news, Jamel Dean not practicing again today after missing yesterday's practice as well. I would say that does not bode well. And I think we all knew that there was at least a decent chance he wasn't going to play on Sunday, but I would say... now that it would even be, you know, very doubtful that he suits up on Sunday.

I've assumed he's not going to play. I mean, the teams tell you things without telling you things. And I know that Porter left the roster, but you added two guys off practice squads at that position. That highly implied to me that you can read the tea leaves.

Yeah.

I mean, everybody needs to move up.

And so both of those guys, pretty significant absences, obviously they were two of Probably your biggest off-season acquisitions. The draft picks always kind of in their own category.

Counting on them is real solid. When you got them, they were all going to be No.

2s.

You were going to be Porter's sidekick.

You signed Dean early on in the free agency process. You acquired Pittman via trade early on in that process as well, too, and gave him an extension.

And Dean's playing well. He sure has been. That's been a success.

He sure has been. So hopefully for those guys, it's sooner rather than later. We see them back out there. We'll wait for maybe some more clarity on Jamel Dean and the length of what they expect him to miss or the injury to linger there. But certainly not great news for two key parts of the one in the wide receiver core, one in the defensive backs. Some good news, though, Matt, is that today Deshaun Elliott's 21-day window opened.

Yeah. So someone tweeted me this in March. Might have been our buddy Michael Odesso. I'm not going to dig through all my tweets, but I thought the same thing, that if Pittman's... I don't think Dean has any chance to be an injured reserve candidate.

I think, in fact, don't quote me on this, but I think they said that. I wanted to say that, too.

I thought we kind of knew that, but I didn't know who told us that.

Don't hold me to the fire on that, but I feel like that was said maybe on his Monday press conference or something like that.

Where Pittman, week to week... Maybe that opens a spot for Elliott even this week. Pittman goes to short-term IR, and Elliott's dressing on Sunday. I don't know if that's insane.

Well, I will say this. I don't know. I feel like if Elliott was really dialed in to return this weekend, that he would have been out there Wednesday.

Yeah, probably.

They would have activated the window on Wednesday, on the first day of kind of the new week of practice. Also, via our buddy Mike DeFabo, he said– that he is hearing that the Steelers are targeting the week seven game in Paris for a return for Deshaun Elliott.

So that would mean not only.

Not this weekend, but then the following weekend in Tampa as well. But if you kind of consider his 21 day window, that Paris game would be the final.

I mean, they must think that's worst case scenario or you wouldn't activate it. I think so.

I think so. You're right. That's a good call because if you don't, if you don't, bump him onto the active roster in those 21 days, then he's out the rest of the season.

Yeah.

Yeah. And I don't think his injury is that bad.

No, at least we certainly hope it's not. So Matt, that's kind of a lot of the moving in the shaking. I know Jalen Ramsey did not practice at all yesterday. I'm waiting to see the, you know, kind of official report here. I think he was in a limited capacity today, but again, that's just, I think, I.

Mean, it was a broken bone. You know, it didn't heal since last week.

Correct.

You know, so why put him out there and practice? So probably my hunch when I saw that too, I was like, he'll probably just put the armor on it, the cast on it or whatever he played with and do it again, you know, unless he injured it further, but why put, get them in harm's way, smack it off a helmet or something and practice. I, uh, I, I think that's, you know, makes a lot of sense.

Yeah.

And we saw Jalen on the short week, be able to deal with that wrist injury. I'm not saying he's going to be 100% healthy out there, but I would think that they've got a plan to get him ready for game day, certainly, because they're going to need him in that secondary with all the absences.

Yeah, even just from a communication standpoint and a continuity and leadership and all that. I mean, O-line in secondary always worries me when you have a lot of moving pieces, more so than other positions, just because they have to work as a unit to get the job done. And if communication's off or if they haven't played together– you know, two guys looking at each other with their palms.

In the air, you know, like that's the last thing you need on Sunday.

Yeah. You can't be given gift touchdowns because you know, someone's just not up to speed yet or whatever.

Exactly.

Right.

So Matt, that's kind of our, uh, kind of our news of the day in, uh, in, in Steeler land. Um, one other kind of headline that caught my eye and it's funny, you and I speculated about this a little bit to start the year when we kind of go around the league and talk about some other teams. It sounds like Sean Payton is expanding his role in a more collaborative play calling approach. Interesting way to frame that.

It's a veteran, veteran phrasing of it, you know, to not say, Hey, I'm putting the new guy on the bench and I'm taking it back. And that probably isn't going to be the case, but my hunch is he's going to be calling plays. The offense is not going to play him.

It is. When you're not only an old dog, but you're an old dog who's had a ton of success in this league and has a ring on your finger and all that, it's hard to learn new tricks in terms of giving up some of those responsibilities that you're so used to having.

And I think D'Amico Ryan's did the same thing with Houston, saying, I'm going to take over the defense. I'm going to take the defense back over here. They both look at it like these units have to be better.

Last one, Matt, sounds like good news in the nation's capital where Jaden Daniels will be a full go this week and will have no limitations on Sunday versus the Giants.

They have a bunch of other injuries, though, the skill guys. They do. Like Diggs and McLaurin and Chig. But they really need him back in a big way, obviously. I mean, they were on a third string undrafted free agent guy.

Yes, yes, no doubt. So there's kind of some of your moving and shaking of what's going on in Steeler land and in the NFL today. Obviously, there is a Thursday night football game tonight. yeah an intriguing one not as intriguing as it looked before the season and and would have been if baker mayfield was still healthy but the cowboys host the bucks this evening uh we'll give some some quick thoughts on.

That one in our number two barn burner but we all right.

Yeah absolutely hey i'm just happy i'm just happy to have something on the tv man i'll tell you what yeah uh there there does get a point in the season matt where some of these thursday night matchups i'm like and that'll be background noise. I'll throw it on, but you know, I've watched a hundred college and NFL games at this point. It's, you know, it's November, December, and it's two teams that aren't going to be in the post season. I'll have it on in the background and I'm not really paying attention.

I can't do that, but I can understand. Sometimes part of you be like, ah, maybe I should have game of Thrones on here in the game.

I really want to watch that new TV show that I missed. And, uh, This matchup ain't doing it for me. I'd be very intrigued to watch a certain cornerback for the Dallas Cowboys tonight.

I bet he's back to being a full-time dude. I think he played 25 snaps in his first debut. I would think he's a full-time player.

I would think that's much closer to the 50 range here this evening in Dallas as the Cowboys host the Bucs. We'll give some final thoughts on that one before we get out of here in hour number two. We will, of course, hit plenty of your tweets in our number two as well. Make sure you're getting those in. You can also participate with the show in the YouTube comments if you want to get your questions, comments, concerns, and reactions in there. We'll talk to Brian Backo in our number two. But when we return, it is Matt Stats Thursday here on The Drive as we will start our early scouting of the Indianapolis Colts. All that and more as we roll along. Just getting started here on this Thursday.

Euler and Williamson. It's The Drive, 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.

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And after what went down in.

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

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

Steelers Nation Radio.

It is a Thursday that means a couple things around these parts. Namely, this is the day we really start turning the page and focusing on the Steelers' upcoming game, which, of course, you all know by now is this Sunday at home, 1 o'clock, against the Indianapolis Colts. And the best way to start our early scout and start getting into it is, of course, with Matt's stats from intrepid host Matt Williamson, who stays up late and procures all the information, watches all the games, breaks down all the numbers.

Usually tonight or tomorrow I start the next teams.

Yeah, you're crazy.

I know. Well, and some things, like, yeah, some of it's just, like, legwork, like, series history, things like that.

Sure.

You just want to get that out of the way. Sure. You know?

Because I was, like, when you've told me that before, I'd be like, man, that would kind of cross my signals for Sunday, because if I'm already thinking.

It kind of does. I don't want to get too involved on purpose. Yes. But, like, I definitely will keep an eye on the Bucs game heavily and start pulling stuff from their last game Sunday night.

But that's, like, I've told you, I know I've shared this story before, but every time we get on a plane to fly home.

Mm-hmm.

Rob King has already printed off just the depth chart of the next team.

Yeah.

And he's like highlighting names and he's like, you could see him like quizzing himself and like, who's the second string, you know, defensive back and things like that.

And I'm always figuring out pronunciations.

And yeah, I'm always like King or can, can't you just, can you breathe for like 12 hours?

I would be the same way with that.

But he's always like, I got to put, you know, he's like, I got to put the last team depth chart out of my mind and start. So I get it. I get it. I think at least that timeline, but yeah, I would, I've told you before, I struggle with all the college football stuff that I do in the NFL stuff. And like, which one of those was Saturday? Which one of those was Sunday? I got to talk about both on Monday.

Who blocked the pond too. Who was a bad tackling team?

Was that crippling holding call? Was that in Cleveland or was that in Morgantown or where did that happen? It is. It's, it's, I tell you what though, Matt, it's a, it's a good problem to have.

Oh, it's great.

It's a champagne problem. Certainly. So a couple of things, I mean, more than a couple of things that I want to get into here with you. But I think this one, to start, kind of piggybacks off of some of the wide receiver stuff that we were just talking about in the opening segment. Steelers wide receivers have faced press man coverage close to just under 23% of the time for their collective routes this season. That's the highest rate in the NFL and more than double the league average of just a little over 9%.

And it keeps going up, up, up, up, up. The Browns are a big man coverage team. to begin with. Sure. And actually, the Colts want to be a man coverage team. That was the root to the Sauce Gardner trade.

So how much of that is just because that's what you have at wide receiver? How much of that could change if we start seeing DK Metcalf do what he did in the fourth quarter in Cleveland?

Okay.

Let's start there, and then there's one other angle of this, but let's start there.

First off, I. Mentioned, or what did Coach McCarthy say Monday? Something about getting your house in order or whatever it was.

Yes, we got to clean our own house.

Yeah, exactly.

Which I tell you what, as a parent of two young kids, I think that every time I walk in the front door.

One of my first thoughts from both sides of the ball for the Steelers on this extended week is how can we, frankly, just be better in the man coverage world? I mean that from a coverage standpoint, they're heavy, heavy, heavy, heavy. It's kind of a fun paradox. I mean, the Steelers are like the heaviest zone defense in the league, and they face the least zone defense on offense. We get the defense at some point. I think their numbers against man aren't great. Their separation against man are well below where you want. Metcalf definitely made some nice strides. Roman Wilson has done some good things often out of the slot and more of a vertical capacity. Pittman is really, really struggled. And I don't know that that's addition by subtraction,

him not playing, but you are going to face a ton of man because that's what the Colts want to do.

Yes.

And at this point, every team's going to up their man percentage against the Steelers, unless you can prove otherwise. Bernard is kind of an incomplete grade on that, but I think he has potential against man, but that's the, Side note, when I learned how, you know, like my first day of ever working for the Browns, they kind of initiate you. Sure. Like that first week, I would just go.

Onboarding, they call that, right?

Yeah, yeah. Like I'd just go to like every position room and listen, what does this team want for our off-the-ball linebackers?

What's our philosophy? How do we want them to play?

Right, right.

And then you can take that into your scouting process.

Exactly.

Hey, I really like this guy from Ole Miss, but he's not for our defense.

I mean, like back then it'd be like, well, I don't want Casey Hampton. I want Warren Sapp. You know what I mean? Like they're both defensive tackles. Right, right. But anyway, one of the things that stuck with me the second I heard it from both our defensive backs coach and our wide receiver coach was when you watch college kids, watch every, every snap of press man coverage you can find. And then every snap of man coverage you can find, As you know, it's played much less in the college world. It's hard to find.

It's very hard to find in college.

And that's where I'm going, Bernard. is like almost every rookie. It, this is new to them. You know, they don't deal with sauce, gardener, precedent. You know, it just doesn't happen. Yeah. You might've practiced at Bama, but I mean, most games you're not going to get it. So he's still an incomplete, but, The fact, I mean, at this point, this is true for all teams. Strengths and weaknesses are starting to become obvious with all the teams.

Your four games in, your trends are real.

We know what Rook's book is at this point. You know what I mean? And the book on the Steelers is play as much man coverage as possible because they haven't proven to beat it. Elevating the problem is your quarterback doesn't run. Sure.

I mean, yeah, I mean, all those guys turn their back to your quarterback.

Bang.

Here's an easy eight yards.

Right.

I mean, if your quarterback was a runner. Well, OK, maybe we won't do that on third and four or, you know, or at least have to spy them or something like that. But spies don't always work either. So, yeah, get used to it. I mean, I assume in the long week they had to come up with a lot more concepts or personnel usage or whatever, because you're going to get flooded with man coverage. So how do you go about– I mean, there's man beaters. There's rubs. No doubt.

No doubt. Like the Roman Wilson touchdown was out of a bunch. Yes. It's a lot harder to press out of bunches. Sure. Things like that.

You've got to have two or three defensive backs that are all clean with their communication. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And their lanes and their footwork.

And all that stuff. You've got one. I've got two. I've got three. Right.

But there's– It's like the three-card money. It's like the dancing hats on the jumbotron. Like you've got to follow which one moves quick. Oh, and I lost it there.

Yeah.

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

So I would imagine you'll see more of those kind of concepts just to help your receivers a little more. Not that they don't have man beaters in the book already, of course.

Matt, I also wonder too how much of this, because again, we're four games in now. It's not just one or two games. There's real trends. There's real data points. We know the Steelers are throwing the ball at a high rate.

Mm-hmm.

Too high for my liking. Third highest.

Aaron Rodgers on pace to throw the most pass attempts he's ever had in a season. Didn't you tell me that last week?

I think it's close.

Or close?

Yeah, I mean, it's in that neighborhood.

How much could leaning more on Jalen Warren and what we know has been a successful run game and things like going under center that we've discussed where they've had a lot of success, but they've second best success rate in the league, but only 20th most usage.

Yeah.

How much would that help with forcing teams into more zone concepts?

I don't know that it'll help you to get more zones, but it'll help you control the game and move the football, in my opinion. I think that's what you do best at this point, especially as your O-line develops.

Help you play action games.

Helps you play action game a ton, which is beneficial versus man or zone, but particularly man, you know, if I take a step up. But yeah, I mean, I would expect, I assume they expect they're going to get crushed with man coverage. I mean, way over league average.

Yes. And again, it's one of those things, it's, They're going to call it until you can beat it.

Absolutely. Prove to me that I shouldn't call this.

If you're an offense, you're going to call it until they can stop it. If you're a defense, you're going to call it until they can beat it. And that's, I think, going to be a big onus for the Steelers' offense on Sunday.

Yeah, right now, man coverage until proven otherwise on both sides of the ball is their enemy. It's not their strength.

The Steelers have used man-blocking run concepts about 37% of the time on their design runs this season. That's the fifth highest rate in the NFL. When they have, they've averaged 5.9 yards per carry, fifth most in the league. 2.7 yards before contact.

Yeah.

The second most.

Sign me up.

Second most in the league.

Yeah. And McCarthy's more known as a zone-running guy, but I think they're starting to, as is the case with a lot of these new staff. Paint the barn red. Right, exactly. Starting to get these guys... And that lends itself to me of really weaponizing your offensive linemen. You know, getting pullers and Max downfield and Troy downfield and those type of things.

And allowing them to attack and be proactive.

Yes, yes. Now, some things can get skewed. That one's just straight from NextGen. Warren busted off a super long run. If that was out of a man-blocking scheme... I'm not big on, well, if we could take that one out. Sure. But, you know, I mean, if it's a smaller sample size. But I would think that the 37% goes up and up and up in terms of man blocking schemes.

Listen, man, when you got to find an area where you can have success, you know, when you got to kind of know what your meat and potatoes are early on in the season, I think it's tough to deny that that is certainly an area where the Steelers are having success on offense.

Yeah.

And I hope they embrace the under center stuff too.

I do too.

They're near the low, they're low end of the league in terms of going under center, but they're great at it. Yes.

Second most successful team in the league under center.

Under center.

Behind the Chiefs.

Yeah. I'll take that company.

I think it's like over seven yards per play on average or something like that.

Now it's smaller sample size than you'd like because they don't do a ton of it, but I would like to see more and more and more.

No, I would too.

You're good at it.

You're good at it. At this point in the season, you're looking for things that you're good at.

Yeah.

And that is, I think, certainly one that four games in, the Steelers have shown that they can cut their teeth and they can gain some ground in that regard. Only the Giants are taking more time on the play clock so far this season to snap the ball than the Pittsburgh Steelers. Yeah.

This is something they just started tracking a couple years ago, so it doesn't go back years and years and years. But I think there's a couple reasons for it. Mostly good. First off, one of the numbers that are in Matt's stats is the Steelers' defense has faced one of the fewest amount of snaps in the league. Yes. So we've said this 8,000 times. Less defense is better defense. More defense is bad defense. It's just get me off the field and I'll play better for you on a per-snap basis if I'm not out here too long, especially once injuries set in, your depth gets tested, blah, blah, blah.

So that's good. When the Steelers have the ball, they're maximizing the play clock. The biggest reason is it's a Rodgers thing. He wants to come to the line of scrimmage.

See the defense.

They don't use a lot of motion. They're very low in terms of motion, actually. I want a pretty static environment. This is a Peyton Manning thing. It's an old school... smart quarterback.

Identify the Mike linebacker.

Identify the coverage. All the pre-snaps.

Play as much chicken as you can before the snap.

And also, we saw that play calls haven't come in as quickly as he would like, at least. I don't think that's a huge secret at this point, anyone that's turned on the game. So maybe he wants it in his headset even earlier. But I think that's just a Rodgers thing, is he's going to use the play clock. I agree with you. Which I'm cool with. I'm sure the defense appreciates it.

I think it does have benefits... For a lot of other aspects. But it's one of those things is, Matt, it's again on the paint your barn red kind of line of thinking. I wish the Steelers had a more mobile quarterback so they could take advantage of some of those situations, those man situations we were talking about.

They don't. You don't. These are what you got. These are the ingredients you got.

What you do have, though, is a quarterback that is very good from the neck up. One of the best we've ever seen in the NFL. Find a way to use that to your advantage.

Yeah, and that doesn't mean you can't use tempo and be quick. I think he's also really good with two-minute situations and getting guys in and out of the huddle as well. One thing people don't think about, though, when you use that much time clock, play clock, the offensive linemen don't like it. It's a long time to be in your stance for a 320-pound man. For them, getting their stance isn't like me getting in a stance with an old man rickety, you know what I mean? But it's a long time to sit there and the lactic acid builds up or whatever. You know, they don't love it. No, they do not. No, they do not. Stop the ball, guys.

Come on.

And, you know, you kind of mentioned how it helps the Steelers' defense, too. Pittsburgh's opponents, the opposition offense, are running an average of 57 plays per game. That's second fewest.

In the national football league. Now you're talking. You know, the time possession's not overwhelming, but the plays being run... are being pretty nice for the defense.

And I think it's better on the time of possession front this year than it was last year. I'd have to look into that to make sure.

They're over 30. They're at like 31. So they're above league average.

And I think last year they were like 28 something, if that serves me correct.

They were 28th overall or 29th in the league. Now they're definitely above 16 since, I mean, if you're over 30 minutes a game, you're above average. Yeah. No.

So that, that is.

Oh, the other thing too. I didn't do fourth quarter, but their second half, remember how we talked about fourth quarter defense, how awful it was last year? Second half points allowed is in the top third of the league now too. It's gotten better. Not out there so much. You know what I mean?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And that I think is all something clearly, again, now four games in, that there's been a real onus on rotation on defense, keeping those guys fresh. How does our offense help with that process and that equation too?

Complimentary football.

Complimentary football, that whole ecosystem that we talk about. And while there's a lot of areas for this offense to, to improve and the defense still too, I think we like the early indicators on that front.

Certainly. I think they're very aware of their problems. I mean, and that started the day that the staff got hired, you know, like they did a lot of things to help the fourth quarter defense before they even started playing football, you know?

And that's kind of a, one of the things that you're looking for whenever you bring in a new coaching staff and wide sweeping change, like the Steelers had this off season. Matt, plenty more that I want to dig into in the stats packet. We'll do that. We'll continue this conversation when we return to close down the first hour of the program. It is The Drive. Wes Shuler, Matt Williamson, 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.

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.

Louis, Missouri.

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

And after what went down in the.

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Steelers Nation Radio.

Matt, if people are regular listeners to this program, they know that there's a lot of things that you and I highlight and discuss throughout a calendar year.

Yeah.

They know that there's a lot of things that you and I think are key indicators to winning football games in 2026 of course the turnover margin still matters greatly it did it's possible it did in 1980 it will in 2080 that's that's never going to change that's never going away.

We should probably start there though the culture lasts They're dead last in turnover differential. Minus six already in four games.

That's not good.

Pretty brutal, right.

And it's a Steelers defense that still has a penchant for taking the football away.

Oh, yeah.

They force fumbles at a great rate.

Forced the second most turnovers in the league last year, I think, right? Behind the Bears who had that crazy 31 number or whatever it was. Historical year for Chicago in the turnover differential front. I like that for this one.

Yeah.

You gotta love that one.

Take, take care of the football. Like I think the offense has done a pretty good job of that's another area where Aaron Rogers is still really good on his game and taking care of the football. And Jalen Warren, I know he had that, that incident earlier in the season, but he's got a great track record of, of, of, of holding on, holding onto the football and taking care of the football.

That to me, I think that'll be a strength of the offense because it has been for Rogers his whole life.

It has been for Rogers his whole life. It has been for Jalen Warren, his whole NFL career. expect that to continue, and maybe this is another one of those weeks for a big TJ play, a big Cam tip ball that turns into an interception. How about Herbig? Yeah, he's a little overdue for a splash. Maybe forcing a fumble or creating some splash this week. I think there's going to be plenty of opportunity to do so.

Yeah, and that would go a long way, and this sets you up. I mean, there are all numbers. Who knows how the game plays out, but it sets up that you should be able to at least win the turnover battle. I mean, the Colts have really struggled in this department. We know what they're doing all week, too. Ball security, ball security.

Absolutely. They got TJ. They got Cam.

They got Hotsmith.

They got all these guys. You got to be on your P's and Q's and not let them force takeaways and turnovers. So that's obviously a huge indicator that we all know leads to winning football games. The Steelers are minus two in turnover differential for the year, but the Colts are minus six.

They're last.

That's an extra turnover per game basically to this point. The other thing that we talk about a lot, Matt, that you can often draw direct parallels to who wins and who loses, at least on a big sample size percentage base, because there's obviously always exceptions within game to game, is explosive plays.

Yes.

And this one in your stats packet really opened up my eyes.

Oh, it sticks out like a sore thumb, yeah.

The Colts already in four games have given up 12 plays of 30-plus yards.

Yes.

They have produced only one play of 30-plus yards on offense.

Brutal.

Worst split, worst differential in the league.

Yeah.

I mean, the biggest two categories... out there.

They're at the bottom of the barrel. And both of those kind of very key categories to winning football games.

Now having, I don't know, I haven't seen their practice report, but Pierce is a big play guy that they've been without.

Sure.

Daniel Jones has only completed one pass over 20 yards, one pass. I mean, he's, we can talk about him to another point too, but he's doesn't drive the ball down the field very well right now. Taylor can hit explosives from anywhere. Of course, But their defense has had coverage bus. They've kind of, as I said, they want to be a man coverage team. I don't know what the whole team's equipped to do it though. I mean, they might just have to play more zones because they're, you know, they're getting run by and things like that.

A lot of young linebackers and a lot of really inconsistent play at linebacker leads to some things to communication problems. Their pass rush isn't wonderful. You know, like people aren't afraid to hold the ball a little bit and let longer developing stuff happen. But those two numbers are crazy. I don't know if you planned on going here, but another indicator.

SAC differential?

Yeah, I'd like to see the Steelers get better at that. I thought they'd be more positive in that regard so far.

So that's kind of the third thing that Matt always highlights as the, you know, everyone knows turnover differential. I think by now everyone's catching up to explosive play differential. SAC differential, another one of those very key indicators.

They just destroy drives.

That's the one that in this conversation doesn't go the Steelers' way.

Mm-mm.

The Steelers, where are they? I had it right. Minus three in sack differential.

I would have thought they'd been better through the first month of the season.

Especially considering, and I know that there's been exceptions to that this year, but traditionally Aaron Rodgers doesn't take many sacks.

No.

The Steelers get a lot. That hasn't necessarily been the case through four games. That's something I'd like to see.

Part of it's because they don't play man coverage well enough, so the ball's coming out so quick against the Steelers' defense.

Yep.

Neutralizes the pass rush.

So the Steelers minus three in sack differential through four games. The Colts are plus one. So not leaps and bounds.

That's more of a Steeler thing that I don't love right now.

It's more of the Steelers being in the negative column there that has to improve. That, for the Steelers, is fifth worst in the league.

Yeah.

For what is a real strength of your defense, and that's where you spend a lot of your money, that's got to improve.

It's got to improve.

And it's not just the edge rushers. You need more from Benton in that regard. You need more from guys off the interior.

It's a good point. It's a good point. we know Rogers isn't going to be the most elusive guy in terms of avoiding sacks at this point, but mentally he should be on top of where they're coming from, et cetera. Now, I also think the first two weeks of the season before they made the right side of the O line changes, whether that's a direct result or not, they had some protection mistakes, you know, like five, five men rush and you got six blitz or six protectors. And there's a free rusher, you know, like, maybe this weren't used to the McCarthy protection rules or whatever. You know what I mean?

I think that stuff's cleaned up a little bit. I also think the Colts are a great pass rushing team, but they're not bad. They're kind of like the Browns where their DNs aren't, are a little bit underrated. Buckner is still a problem up the middle. But I, I, I think the sack differential for Pittsburgh needs to become a positive negative.

Yeah.

Again, that's, A lot of what this defense is predicated on.

Yeah, yeah.

Matt, we spent some time earlier this week talking about special teams and field position and all those things. The Steelers, only seven teams are worse in starting field position differential than the Steelers this season. That one, to me, that's something that you have to improve upon. When you have an offense that needs some help, when you, as we all continue to nail into the ground, spend a fourth-round pick on a return specialist, that needs to improve. You can't be in the bottom third of the league in that regard.

My hunch is smart, nerdy people will do studies this offseason and be like, we need to move this up the list in terms of importance over the course of the game. Because it's all that hidden yardage that nobody notices. Oh, you know, the Rams are great. The best example is the Raiders. I've brought them up before. Like, they're number one.

I mean, if I start a drive 10 years, what's the Steelers? What are they at? They're minus what?

Minus 4.6 yards compared to their opponent.

So, I mean, that's half a first down every time they get the football. They're five yards closer to the goal line than you are every time you get the football.

Over the course of the game, that's a 50, 60-yard difference.

That's a lot of drives over the course of a year. That's a lot of yardage. I mean, that no one talks about. If it's five yards, how many series are there? How many drives are there in a game?

Nine, 10, 11, 12.

Yeah, say there's 20 on both teams combined.

Yeah.

Just to make it easy.

About 20.

That's 100 for yards. You know what I mean?

Yeah.

Like, if you're running back runs for 100 yards, wow, what an awesome day. If your special teams loses 100 yards of field position, no one brings it up. And in the world of these kickers, that is so important. So important.

We saw that in Cleveland, that 57-yard field goal and how important that was.

The obvious thing you think of when you start about that is special teams. And that's a large portion of it. But if you win the turnover battle, you get a lot of short fields too. So they all go hand-in-hand. But in the end, I want to start with short fields, and they're not. And their opponents are.

And Matt, this is another one to keep an eye on. And it's something we discussed.

And also, Boz's missed kicks gives the opponents really nice field position. That's why it's an awful turnover missing a kick. Yep.

It's almost... it's one of the worst types you can have at least if you're thrown an interception it's often 20 30.

Yards sometimes you know right it's like third long i'm just gonna chuck it up it's same as a punt i mean if it's a midfield kick that you miss you give them where the kick was not even the line scrimmage you give it to where the kick was kicked seven yards extra yeah it's a.

Lot Matt, one of the other things that we discussed, I wouldn't say a lot, but that we definitely discussed this offseason was how in Mike McCarthy's tenure in Dallas, his teams were on the higher end of penalization.

Yeah, in a bad way. In a bad way. It would take a lot, right. The Colts are crazy, too. There's some extremes with the Colts.

This is another one of these hidden yardage. So you like where you're at in the explosive play differential and turnovers and that. sack not as much special teams not as much and then this matt the colts have um only had 16 accepted penalties against them that's the fewest in the nfl.

Remember penalty numbers in general or it's through the roof right now across the league.

The steelers have had 25 penalties accepted against them that's the fifth.

Most yeah and again that's that's what.

A 27 team difference.

I wonder how many yards difference that is i mean that's something i probably should have just had there how many How many penalty yards have the Colts been assessed as opposed to the Steelers? It's probably hundreds difference. If you're fifth compared to 32nd.

I would think so.

Yeah, you know.

I would think so. In terms of yards per play differential, the Steelers come in at 25th. Not great. Not great. But the good news is the Colts are dead last, 32nd.

Some of these amaze me that they're 2-2. I mean, they are. They produce on a per play basis. They produce the fewest yards in the league and they give up the most. That's like the most basic metric. Like if you've noticed in Matt stats, when Pittsburgh has the ball, the first thing I put up is yards per play. Let's just start there.

The Steelers have averaged 5.6 yards per play, while Indianapolis allowed 5.2 last week.

Yeah, I always do what they did most recently and what they're at for the year.

Colts give up 6.2.

They give up 6.2.

Second worst in the league behind the Dallas Cowboys.

And when they have the ball, their offense produces like the fewest. So they're a distant. I think I put it in there when I talked about yards per play differential. Not only do they last, but there's only one team that's– all the teams– down to 30 and then there's like 31 i think it's the cardinals that are distant 31 the colts and the culture even worse than.

Them yeah colts in arizona are like in their own category bad yeah yeah.

They all get the f grade everyone else is at least a you know a d or a c but i mean they're a distant last those two.

Matt last thing i have to harp on well at least in this segment because we might hit on some more of this in our number two i'm sure i'll have a couple more things um to kind of set the scene for tomorrow when we obviously dive into matchups and a full preview and all that stuff. But we talked a little bit about play action. We talked a little bit about motion usage earlier. Steelers, 28th in the league in play action usage, about 20.5% of the time.

32nd in the league in their usage.

Last in the use of play action.

So 28th.

I don't think Rodgers dislikes it either.

28th in play action, last in pre-snap motion.

Okay. Somewhere in there, though, is I think it's the same bullet point.

But what's next is when the Steelers do use play action, they're producing 9.3 yards per attempt. That's fifth highest in the NFL.

When they're under center.

When they're under center and use play action.

Under center play action. I mean, like that's old school 1980s football. Football is cyclical, man.

It's coming back.

Yeah, it still works. And they're great at it. It goes back to being great at being under center. And part of the reason they're great at being under center is because they do play action really well from under center. Let's do that.

Let's do that.

Yes.

Matt, that's the first hour of the show in the books. We will have more from the stats packet as we roll along. I always like the series history that you do in this, too. It's not great for the Colts in this one.

Oh, no, it really is not.

The Steelers lead this series 28-8.

And there's some bad streaks through history and all kinds of bad stuff.

It's unbelievable. And since the... No, no, the Steel Curtain era, the Steelers are 26-5.

Yeah, they were good like when Unitas was out. It's been a while.

In the 21st century, the Colts have won just three games against Pittsburgh. They won zero in the 90s against the Steelers.

Zero.

One in the 80s.

Right.

Steelers weren't even that great in the 80s.

They were not, as Craig Wolfley and Ton Chokin would have told you. Yeah. The Steelers currently have a five-game win streak against the Colts in Pittsburgh, which obviously included last year's 27-0. to 20 victory that game where the Steelers forced five turnovers and, and really had that high flying Colts offense.

I think that started their like nine game losing streak for the Colts. It did. Yeah, it did.

And so, and they, the Colts were a offense that was humming at a historic level.

Oh, we did this a year ago. Matt Stats was one I'll never forget. I mean, first in this, first in this, first in this, but first by a wide margin in this.

And this year they're coming in a little differently.

Oh yeah.

It was all their offense was like unbelievably.

Yes.

All before they picked up a bunch of key injuries, and Daniel Jones.

Obviously being a big part of that.

But the Steelers did a great job against that unit last year, and hopefully we'll see that again this year. Hour in the books, another hour to go. When we return to kickoff hour number two, our buddy Brian Bacco will join us as we'll continue previewing Sunday's clash with the Colts. Plenty more to get to as we roll along.

Wes Euler, Matt Williamson, it's The Drive, Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network.

I'll figure it out.

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

Stock up now. Bud Light.

Louis, Missouri.

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

And after what went down in.

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

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.

Get that hot dog costume ready.

Bruh.

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