Drive9.21.26Hr1: Patriots Recap

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0:35 Good afternoon, Steeler Nation. It's The Drive on the Steelers Audio Network. Wes Shuler, Matt Williamson with you here for the next two hours on this Monday. As yesterday, a tough pill to swallow, Matt. I don't think there's any doubt about that as the Steelers fall 20-3 to the New England Patriots. In a game where pretty much everything that could go wrong went wrong, I... I do think there's a lot to like about what the defense has done through 120 minutes, Matt. But I think yesterday, the conversation really starts with the struggles of the Pittsburgh Steelers offense.

1:08 How was the clam chowder?

1:10 It was delightful. I think I told you guys over and under five cups of clam chowder, and I had exactly five. The Starks have 12 cups. I think he had, he was, Max was, was having his clam chowder out of the coffee cups, like the, like the plastic.

1:27 Oh, okay.

1:28 Yeah. No.

1:28 Yeah.

1:28 Like the foam coffee cups because they were bigger and he could fit more in there and less trips. That was, uh, that was my one really good takeaway from, from yesterday.

1:38 Yeah.

1:38 I was deflecting there a little bit.

1:39 The clam chowder was delicious.

1:40 I'm sure. Um, yeah, it was a rough day. There's just no way around it. Um, I'm you're right. The defense, I thought we'll start with some optimism. I thought there was a lot of good things on defense. I think there is a lot of good things as very sustainable week to week on defense.

1:56 They've given up 13 points two weeks in a row.

1:59 Yeah. Right.

2:00 That's winning football.

2:01 If your defense gives up 13 points every week, you're going to have a great chance to.

2:04 Win a lot of football games.

2:05 Yeah. They've got as many touchdowns as the offense.

2:08 Right.

2:08 The defense is over under is six or just your plus minus is six, you know, and you never get the plus. Um, Now, my really only complaint with those guys was there was like six explosives. I mean, which, not great, but overall, I thought the defense played winning football. I think what Patrick Graham's doing to get the most out of a talented group is showing up snap after snap for the most part, and now game after game.

2:35 The offense is really at a rough spot right now. I don't 100% know why. I don't know what's fixable and what isn't. I don't know what of it is lack of continuity, maybe lack of playing together in the preseason. But without sugarcoating it, as we stand here after two games, with Monday night still to play, it's basically the worst offense in the league so far. I mean, do I think that's going to keep up and they're going to be a bottom three offense in the league?

3:10 No.

3:10 No. I mean, I think the ship sailed that there probably won't be a top 10 offense in the league. There's some incredible ones out there. But it has to get better. And I think almost everyone involved has to look themselves in the mirror in this one. And I get it. Collectively, it was not a very good offensive line day. But I've spent a lot of today watching each offensive lineman individually. And sorry, Spencer Anderson, you were really the problem here.

3:37 I mean, he was.

3:41 Really had a really tough, really, really tough day. And he had a tougher assignment than the others. Cause those D tackles are really good. As we warned everybody about on Thursday and Friday, but it's not. And everyone knows I want to haunt a chore in there. That has nothing to do with cook as much as I just want to haunt a chore in there.

3:57 That is, we know that Matt has his own personal agenda for Mad Max.

4:01 I think Tom was calling me mad, a haunted chore or Max Williams. He was like, you guys are becoming one of the same in the pregame show. But, um, I, Would changing the right side of the offensive line be something to explore? Absolutely. But lumping those two together after a lot of further review today on that particular game isn't fair. You know, and O-line's one of those positions like defensive back where it's a weak link position that if one guy's really an anchor at the time.

4:29 Five fingers on a fist.

4:30 Yeah.

4:31 And I also thought of Wolfe and Tunch a bunch, too, watching those guys. They still don't just grunt and know what the guy next to them is going to do. And, you know, we talked about this going into Atlanta.

4:40 There was a lot of looking around at each other and what's going on here and where are we going.

4:44 And little things. I mean, they don't seem like little things, but if you're an offensive line coach, they're huge things. If you and I are double team in a defensive end, how long do I stay on my block till I go to the next level? And I trust that you have it. You can't be like, hey, you got this? You know, like you're in the middle of a play.

4:59 You know, there's just a lot of inexperience and movement on that line. But they're not the only ones to blame. I mean, collectively, the wide receivers aren't doing enough. The quarterback's not doing enough. I can't blame the tight ends or running backs, per se. Jalen Warren's getting a lot of yardage on his own on blocks. Right now, or in that game, the running game was getting first contact exactly at the line of scrimmage. 0.0 yards downfield.

5:29 A tough way to make a living.

5:30 And they still averaged 3.9 yards per carry. That was all after first contact. So there are some things that are eclipsing their circumstances, but the circumstances need to get better collectively. Coaches, players, and I think they'd all tell you that. I haven't heard the press conference yet, but I'm sure they're not thrilled with how it went either.

5:51 No, and absolutely not. And I think that's a good opening statement from you where you kind of began there. About the chowder? Here's what we're going to do for the next hour and 50 minutes is we're going to talk about the clam chowder, the five different cups of clam chowder that I had starting Saturday night where I had one out with our buddy Brian Bacco and then the four that I had at the stadium on Sunday. Although, real quick, apparently the press box proper got lobster rolls.

6:21 We didn't get that in the radio booth.

6:24 Get out.

6:25 So, you know, I got some beef with the people there at Gillette Stadium, but that's a different story for a different day.

6:29 That's a legitimate beef.

6:31 That's... It's lobster, but I, uh, Matt, I think when your statement about how everyone's got to look themselves in the mirror is spot on, particularly, particularly on that offensive side of the football, I think it's very easy and it's where you start with the offensive line because that, I mean, that's, that's your engine. That's your transmission. You're not going to travel very far down the road. If your engine or your transmission is leaking fluid and not working together and having issues, it doesn't matter. how good the driver is. It doesn't matter if you've got four luxury tires on that car. If your engine and your transmission can't get you moving, you're going to have a failure to launch. And so that is a lot of it. But, man,

7:12 it's not just like, well, you know, Aaron's playing really well when he has time. You got to get him more time. Man, the wide receivers are making plays. You just got to get him more time.

7:21 It'd be nice if it was only the transmission.

7:23 It'd be nice if it was one thing, but your tires are a little bald. You know, your steering wheel needs more power fluid or whatever other car analogies I can make here.

7:35 Uh, at times Rogers isn't making up for when the line doesn't play well.

7:39 Right.

7:39 And I don't think any of us expect none of them are right. Age 42. Um, but man, the wide receivers are not necessarily covering themselves in glory, particularly your number one guy, your guy who's making the big money. I mean, heck you could have really used Michael Pittman jr. That goes without saying.

7:55 And hopefully, hopefully they've been a great game for him, especially with their number two corner being out.

7:58 Hopefully he is back on, on Sunday and you can get some reinforcements in that regard. but you need more from DK Metcalf.

8:06 You do.

8:06 And you just, you got to get your tight ends more involved there. There was a little Pat Fryer Muth in week one. And then we barely saw him yesterday. There hasn't been nearly enough for a guy that you paid.

8:16 What?

8:16 $ 40 million gave him a nice contract, made him a top 10 paid tight end in the NFL this off season. in Darnell Washington. It, there hasn't been enough onus on getting that guy, the ball in space. You talk about this with people like Tyler Warren, with people like fan and of the Browns.

8:34 Yeah.

8:34 Yeah.

8:34 Yeah.

8:35 They manufacture touches and opportunities for those guys.

8:39 We're not seeing any of that for Darnell Washington. It's mad. It's only 120 minutes, but it's also 120 minutes. And there's just been some alarming trends so far on offense.

8:51 Yeah. And back to the tight end thing. And it wasn't something I gave a lot of thought, but I think that's well said by you too, because two things that should be leading to more tight end receiving production. They're both on the field a lot more than maybe we even suspected. I mean, some Matt stats I've been digging up. I mean, anytime, every snap that there's been two or more tight ends on the field, Friar Moose been out there. Washington has played plenty of snaps. Early downs with one tight end is usually Washington. But both of them are out there quite a bit in terms of just snap counts and their running routes. And, oh, by the way, the Steelers are throwing at a very, very high number two. So it's not like, well, they're

9:35 just not a very pass-happy team. Well, maybe they shouldn't be, but they're throwing the ball an awful lot through two games. Maybe they should throw those guys a little more.

9:47 Yes.

9:48 Because, again, the receivers aren't bathing themselves in glory or whatever you're saying. You're right.

9:52 And that's, if you would have said that through the first two games, the Steelers have thrown the ball 80 times. Because 79 for Aaron Rodgers. one for Mason Rudolph. I think that we would have thought, okay, 80 pass attempts. I bet you 20. Some of those went to the tight ends.

10:09 Yeah.

10:10 That seems fair.

10:11 Some are going to go to the running backs. Obviously that's what your wide receivers are there for. But I think if I would have told you, Matt, the Wednesday before the Falcons game, that after two weeks, there's going to be 80 pass attempts in this offense. What do you think the number of receptions or targets for the tight ends is going to be?

10:27 Yeah.

10:28 I bet you we would have thought it's significantly higher than it has been.

10:32 Do you happen to know the targets?

10:34 I can find them for you real quick. So in this past, in yesterday's game, it was five targets for Muth and two for Washington.

10:43 Yeah.

10:43 So that's seven for those guys there.

10:46 I know it's splitting hairs, but I'd like that to be a dozen.

10:49 I would like that to be a dozen. And then week one, it was five targets again for Friar Muth, two for Washington. So it's been the same. So 10 for Muth, four for Darnell.

10:59 And they're out there a lot and you're throwing a lot.

11:01 And you've thrown the ball 80 times.

11:03 Yeah.

11:03 And I'm convinced they're both good at their job.

11:05 10 for Muth seems okay. I'd like that to be 13 or 14 or 15.

11:09 It's definitely higher per game than it was last year. He was like at three last year.

11:15 It's not too, too low.

11:16 No.

11:17 But four for Darnell Washington through 120 minutes of football when you just paid him.

11:22 I think you're doing the defensive favor by doing that.

11:24 He's that kind of guy that defensive coordinators just don't want to see on the field. And he's been on the field. Manufacture it for him. Find ways to get him the football. And.

11:35 I'm just thinking about the opponents. Falcons and Patriots aren't exactly known for great coverage linebackers. Patriots' safeties are okay, not great. Atlanta's safeties are quite good. But a lot of it, to me, comes back to everyone's bashing DK Metcalf, and I understand that, and I'm not defending him because you need more out of your No. 1 receiver, no matter what you're paying him, no matter how your team's constructed, whoever your No. 1 receiver is. has to be more productive than he's been for some time now. But I'm not sure I stressed this enough last week, and some of it's some undemanded morning quarterbacking by me, including Sertain.

12:17 I don't know that I'd pick a corner that I'd rather DK not go against. In terms of Gonzalez.

12:22 Yeah.

12:23 Sure, but that gets back to what you just said of if that was a one-off for DK, okay, fine.

12:29 Right, right.

12:30 Jamar Chase didn't do anything in week one. that happens one out of 30 games. You know, right, right, right.

12:34 Exactly right.

12:35 More on him later, by the way.

12:36 Jamar Chase is not going to have 90 yards and a touchdown for 17 straight weeks. It's just, it's not. He's going to have some weeks where he has a buck 30. Oh yeah.

12:44 Yeah.

12:45 He's going to have some weeks where he only has 20 some yards, even for the best in the world, that's going to happen. But there hasn't been the other side of that equation for DK. There hasn't been the other side of that equation for really any of the Steelers playmakers on offense. It's been more so of the leaving a lot to be desired. And maybe it's a, maybe it's more unfair in this year to pull back the previous games from the year before.

13:10 Yeah, it's almost apples to apples, but it almost is apples to oranges, too.

13:14 So much change in an organization that hasn't really navigated these waters for a long time.

13:20 But they're both Rodgers-led offenses, and there is some overlap.

13:24 There is also some overlap, and it's the same quarterback, and you are the No. 1 wide receiver, and you are the tight ends. It's got to be better than this. I think you're right. I think it's safe... it's safe to say, Hey, maybe this is never going to be a top 10 offense in the NFL. You look around the league and some of the other loaded offense.

13:46 And that's the thing is there's some dynamite offense, but it.

13:49 Can't be the 29th. It can't be the, it can't be the 27th, especially if your defense is going, if this is going to be your defense for 15 more games, you can, you can win a lot of football with the 17th best offense in the NFL.

14:02 Yeah.

14:02 But you, you can't with the, with the 27th.

14:05 No, no, it can't be. And right now it's number 32. I mean, yeah. I mean, it, this isn't breaking news or anything, but again, you start putting together Matt stats and something I do on Monday, but it really is a Tuesday project. But one of the first things I do, if you notice when, when the Steelers have the ball, when Atlanta has a ball, whatever, the first line is always yards per play.

14:25 Yep.

14:26 And I looked at it. I knew the Steelers would be at the bottom of the league offensively and yards per play, but not only they 32nd, but they're a half yard behind the Falcons who are 31st.

14:38 Not great.

14:39 I mean, that's, Terrible company. We just saw that team. And the Steelers' defense has something to do with the Falcons being as low as they are.

14:45 Sure.

14:45 Of course.

14:46 But a half yard worse than anybody else in the league?

14:50 That's the other thing for me, too, Matt. If you had played the first two weeks of the season, if you had played the Houston Texans and the Seattle Seahawks, you could say, hey, a lot of change, a lot of struggles. You just played two of the best defenses in the league.

15:03 That kind of reminds me of the Texans' D. Do we think the Texans' D is bad? No, but they've given up like 70 points so far. They played the Bills and the Bengals.

15:11 But they also played maybe the two best offenses in the NFL.

15:13 Right, right, right, right.

15:14 You can't give the Steelers that benefit of the doubt when it's a bad Falcons defense and an okay Patriots.

15:20 Yeah, they played pretty well. But yes, again, they have a lot of work to do. And frankly, I can't believe I'm saying this. The team they're about to play might be the hardest defense to play against of the three.

15:33 Might be.

15:34 It's definitely not Atlanta.

15:35 Might be.

15:35 Yeah.

15:35 I mean, since he's We'll talk about them a lot coming up in the week, but they've gotten a lot better on defense already.

15:41 We certainly will talk plenty about the Bengals as the week rolls along, but we've got to do some more diagnosing of yesterday's 20-3 loss in New England. And when we return, the voice of the Steelers, Rob King, will join us as we'll continue breaking down this whole thing. Steelers falling to 1-1. We'll talk with the King in the castle when we return. Euler and Williamson just getting started here on this Monday. It's The Drive, Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network.

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17:33 A little bit of a commiseration Monday here on the drive as the Steelers, a tough one to swallow yesterday, 20 to 13 there in Foxborough against the Patriots. Joining us now to discuss is the man who is on the call for the Steelers every Sunday and Monday and Thursday and Black Friday and whenever else we play NFL games.

17:52 Now it is, of course, The king in the castle, Rob King. Kinger, thank you for taking the time to join us here. And obviously a lot to get into. And Matt and I kind of in our opening segment, I think, set the scene of a lot of the woes that ail the Steelers currently. But it feels like you got to start with the offense. It feels like you got to start up front. You know, still plenty of conversation about the quarterback and the running backs and the wide receivers today. But when you can't get those five up front on the same page, when you're struggling consistently like they have been, you're going to have a failure to launch in a lot of other facets.

18:25 Yeah, there's some interesting next-gen stats out there. I think in the first game, it was negative 1.3 yards per contact for the running backs. So they're getting the ball and they're being hit on average in the backfield, the yard and a half in the backfield. That does not bode well.

18:44 Rob, by the way, though, that got better. They got hit exactly at the line of scrimmage yesterday. So it was at 0.0. That's progress.

18:52 I don't know. What would be considered good in that category, Matt? I don't know.

18:58 Anything over a yard, I think, is a nice runway. I think Saquon, that year that he went insane, his was like 6. It was nuts. Yeah, I mean.

19:12 I mean, I'm, you know, again, I'm not a mathematician, but I know negative is not good in that category. Zero is not good in that category either. You know, and, and, and look different things you're running into Atlanta did a lot of run blitzing. You know, the Patriots did more blitzing and passing downs. The Falcons didn't seem to do a lot of blitzing and, and passing downs, but you know, it didn't hold up in, in either regard. And again, You know, I'm not enough of a– I mean, looking at it live, it didn't feel like there were a lot of open guys. It didn't feel like, oh, they're bringing six. Let me just pop this pass out over here.

19:51 Mike McCarthy's talked about it in the postgame. He welcomes blitzes. He thinks it's an opportunity for offenses. You want to come? Okay, I got a great quarterback, a veteran who's going to read things and he's going to get rid of the ball. It didn't happen for whatever reason. I just think the whole thing's out of sync. I do believe it starts up front. and they've got to find a way to, um, you know, create better holes. And again, uh, you know, are the, are they, are teams bringing more numbers in the Steelers can block? I don't know. Um, I don't think so. I think they showed some, a lot of stuff and backed out of a lot of stuff in passing downs. They did bring a lot of pressure. I do think it comes back to, they've got to, they've

20:32 got to find a way if they aren't going to run the ball, um, early in the game, they've got to be able to protect Aaron Rogers enough to throw the ball so that you back the defense off. So you can then run the ball. I don't care which comes first, running the ball or throwing the ball. The problem is that neither has happened really through two games.

20:49 Yeah. And Rob, we've been working together now for a while and West, I think kind of knows how my strange mind works for these, these weeks that I'll be honest. I'm not, the best analyst on Monday, you know, Monday, I'm trying to scramble and gather information and, you know, but, but usually by Tuesday or Wednesday.

21:07 I started also not the best analyst.

21:09 Yeah.

21:09 Then I get worse, but then I started to kind of gather some ideas of, well, maybe you could try this or maybe this approach makes more sense. And frankly, it's kind of worked for my career, but now I look at this team and I think I would love to say, let's break this down to the studs. in a very Chuck Knoll manner, find two or three running plays that you're bread and butter and start there and eat some clock. But I'm not sure where that is.

21:40 You know, I mean, I don't love that they're passing the football at the, the, the percentage they are. I don't think that's a winning formula for how they're built long-term, but if they showed me more in the run game, I think you could kind of counter it by saying, well, let's start there at least. And I just don't know what that answer is, partially because it's just a Monday and it's fresh to me.

22:00 Yeah, and it just hasn't looked good. I think that's the other problem. I mean, in Atlanta, out of the Falcons game, I think you could say, well, if they hit some of those plays down the field, Roman Wilson makes a tough catch in the end zone, maybe some interference there. DK makes a tough catch in the end zone, maybe some interference there. Maybe they get the interference call on the pass up the sideline. They're close to hitting some big plays.

22:27 Yeah.

22:28 And so and I loved when I heard Mike McCarthy in the postgame press conference yesterday say, I don't want to dink and dunk the ball down the field.

22:35 I loved hearing that, too. I hope that's not the answer.

22:38 I'm not interested in that style of football because we've become a little accustomed to that sort of offensive approach. I love the idea of pressing the ball down the field. It just didn't happen in this game at all. I mean, in the Falcons, you come out and say, well, you know, it just it didn't work, but it was there in this game. It just nothing worked. Now, I'll also say this.

22:57 You're going against an elite team. You're going against an elite team that's smarting from a difficult week one loss. And I said this a couple of times, like I watched that game three times and I couldn't believe in any of the three that they were going to lose it. You know, like the Patriots, I thought I think the Patriots should have beat the Seahawks. I'm sure they felt that way. Home opener can't start on to, you know, brutal schedule to begin. So there's a lot of things, a lot of factors pointing in the Patriots favor. And, you know, the Steelers. one of the things Mike McCarthy did say, Matt was exactly what you're saying. I got to simplify this thing, find what works and then, and then start it from there. Now, whether that means personnel

23:36 changes or whether that just means, uh, schematic changes, um, or again, just simplifying, um, I don't know, you can change scheme, but you might change, you know, kind of what you're, you know, what, like you said, what works and what doesn't work.

23:51 So, I think take some chapters out of the book, so to speak, you know?

23:55 Yeah. Yeah. And you know what, Matt, I just, I have a hard time believing that this offense isn't going to get a lot better than it is now.

24:02 Yeah.

24:02 And you know, I just look, you know, talking earlier with Willie on, on in the locker room and Willie said, I think the mistakes are correctable. You know, it wasn't like, wow, the Steelers made mistakes and the mistakes can be corrected. It's not like, I'm suddenly looking at this after this loss and saying, well, we've got a 3-14 football team on our hand. You know what I mean? I think better days are coming. It just hasn't looked good through two games. And I think if it hadn't been the first game, it might have been easier to say, ooh, that was just a bit of a stinker. But coming off the first game when you weren't able to run the football as well, you're hoping this isn't a trend.

24:43 Yeah, I don't think they have bad coaches and players that are uncorrectable. And you kind of touched on it, and you said it better than I did, I'm glad that, because I haven't got a chance to hear it either, that the fact that McCarthy said words like simplify it and things like that and get back to basics, I'm glad that he's taking that approach. And he certainly has a better idea of how to handle that approach than I do.

25:06 Yeah, he wanted to take, he wanted to deflect the criticism of his team. And, you know, I still, looking back at it, so usually I watch the game back on Monday or Tuesday. I haven't watched it back yet. Watching it live, I mean, you know, it was a strange experience. way to win time of possession. It's weird that the Steelers won time of possession in that game.

25:26 Let it at halftime, you know, and when you think about, you know, you could isolate a play here or there. Now, again, I'm sure the Patriots can isolate some plays. Well, if Hunter Henry hadn't fumbled early, you know, maybe we win this game going away. But I mean, I think, you know, DK Metcalf has had two weeks that I'm sure he'd love to have back. And I'm sure that He's got better days ahead of him. You know, said, you know, maybe he's I don't know if he said it or somebody asked whether he was pressing a little bit. I don't know. Maybe he is. He's human. But he's their number one guy. He's going to continue to get the ball.

26:01 But he has a drop. You have that bizarre fumble play that takes you out of field goal range. I mean, little things happen here and there, but usually that's what happens. You know, little things happen. And they wind up looming large when you're playing good opponents. I mean, you go back to the Seahawks and the Patriots. The Patriots are outplaying them. And they hit a fourth and one. And not only did they hit a fourth and one, it goes for a touchdown. And all of a sudden, the entire complexity of the game changes in a game in which New England was getting the better of them. So there were a few plays here or there that got left out. But The root problem still, that could have made it more competitive, let's put it that way, made

26:43 us maybe feel a little bit better. The root cause is still the offense needs to be better. The defense has been good enough. The offense needs to find a way to be better.

26:53 Kinger, how about some more targets, some more touches for Darnell Washington? Matt and I were kind of going through the numbers on this in our open. The Steelers have thrown the ball 80 times through two games, 79 of those Aaron Rodgers and the one Mason Rudolph pass. only four targets for Darnell Washington, a guy you invested in this off season, made him a top 10 paid tight end in the league. And a guy that we all know is just a matchup nightmare. One of those type of players that defensive coordinators hate preparing for. Could that maybe be part of just simplifying things is getting the ball to the big man and letting them work.

27:26 Yeah, it's possible. I mean, I think everything and anything is out there, Wes. And like you said, you know, now I don't see him ripping downfield for 30 yarder. Sure.

27:36 Right.

27:37 And running a long seam route. And, you know, Mike McCarthy says he wants to, you know, he doesn't want to dink and dunk it. But, you know, maybe look, I also think in a game like this against Cincinnati, you know, just simply moving the chains is a really good thing. Winning time of possession. You know, we've been kicking around. this morning and this afternoon, different, hey, how do you slow down Joe Burrows? Well, keep him off the field would be a really good way to start.

28:03 So I think this is a game where, you know, looking forward where, and again, looking forward to the future, but in this game in particular, getting, you know, getting Darnell involved for a little short, hopefully easy passes might be a good way to go. Now, I don't know how much he was kept into block with all the blitzing that the Patriots did. Maybe that hindered him from going out. And those are the plays that have to be called, and those are the plays that have to be defended a certain way. You know, Aaron Rodgers had a really good answer last week. Somebody was asking him about targets. And, you know, he got a little, you know, hey, I don't, you know, bleep that, whatever, on targets. But

28:41 the point is that he said, look, I throw the ball to the open guy, you know? So that player has to be out of the route. He has to be in a place where Aaron Rodgers can diagnose the play long enough, which he didn't have a lot of time against the Patriots. And then that guy's got to be open. So break. Those are the ways that a guy gets the ball. I mean, it's you know, it's whether you have to call his number and then he has to be open. So, yes, I understand what you're saying.

29:10 You know, look, I think Darnell Washington is a playmaker in his own right. I think Jalen Warren coming out of the backfield. You can throw him short passes. We've seen him make big plays. They need guys to start making some plays. They need they need to take the pressure valve off a little bit. And whether that is schematics by simplifying things or as you're suggesting, finding some other guys to kind of that you can throw it short and they can run it long or at least longer might be another way to to solve it as well.

29:40 You mentioned jaylen warren and i feel like i have this conversation every year he's been in the league i think he's been one of the absolute brightest spots of the offense yet again and rarely is spoken in that light i mean yards after contact receiving ability pass protection and He's a better player than I think maybe even our listeners, let alone a national audience, realizes.

30:05 Yeah, Matt, I'm ready to pick up my book and join you, my Jalen Warren book and join you in the chorus and sing right next to you. I feel the same way about him. I think he's a terrific player. I love, you know, I think that there, because he plays so hard, And he's not a huge guy. I think they worry about.

30:30 Yeah, I'm pretty sure they do.

30:32 Just the workload. I think that's the concern, the workload. But he doesn't.

30:39 Have a history of breaking down. I just think that that's a fear.

30:44 Yeah, deep into the season, I think there was a, he hadn't carried the ball more than 18 times ever in a game. I'm not sure if that streak is still alive. because I'd like to see him get it 25, 26 times one week and just see what happens, you know?

30:58 Especially when the offense is struggling like it does. Like, maybe you just do that this week against the Bengals and then you'd ease back and, like, get us back on track, Jalen, you know?

31:06 Yeah, I mean, I think what we're seeing with some of the plan here is that I think it's been really effective on defense, you know?

31:17 Yes.

31:17 I think that you keep the three linebackers out there And it's interesting that we were kind of wringing our hands. How are we going to get all three outside linebackers on the field at the same time? And Patrick Graham's like, give me the dry erase board here and I'll figure it out. And they've gotten them out there. And I thought all three, once again, for the second consecutive week, played excellent ball games. And I think that you're hoping that the benefit is intra-game and inter-game, right? That within the game itself, these guys are kept fresh. That makes them better in this game. But hopefully it makes them better week to week and particularly in in december and january where hopefully you're getting into the playoffs and able

32:02 to make a run that those guys have had less wear and tear because the snaps have been distributed and by the way they're also three tremendous players yeah it hasn't worked on the offense yet because nothing's working on the offense and we're all searching for answers and i'm sure mike mccarthy is searching for answers. I am like you, you don't have to convince me that more jail and Warren is a good thing. I do think there are, there is a long game to be played here. And I, I just, and your plan going in, it's like, you know, look, when people are talking about personnel changes, well, you went through OTAs and you went through, you know, preseason and many and camps and all this other thing. And you

32:45 decided this guy's your guy. Now there's also, there's different, and I'm just saying player X, right? There's different ways to look at that. It might be really close between X and Y. You might be going with X for different reasons, a wise herd or whatever. But generally speaking, if you've, if you've evaluated a guy through all that and made a decision, Are you pulling them right away?

33:07 These are all decisions. So are you pulling that player? Are you pulling your plan back? Hey, here's our plan. Now, it hasn't worked yet, but why hasn't it worked? Is it not worked because the plan's not good, or is it not worked because something else is going wrong that's causing the plan to fail? So I think those are the things, Matt, that the dealers, I'm sure, are evaluating right now.

33:30 And it's funny because they have changed a ton from things that have been not changed very much for a very long time. And to your point, the plan is definitely working on one side of the ball and it just isn't working on the other side of the ball, you know?

33:45 Yeah, exactly.

33:46 And so, you know, how, how do you get, well, I mean, at Friermuth, I think in week one had more snaps than he had in any game last year.

33:54 Pretty sure.

33:55 Something along those lines. And, and as many catches as he had in the game all last year, he didn't have, he had five catches. I think once or twice in a game last year, he had five catches in week one. So we're already seeing some changes. What we're not seeing is the traction and, Look, this will be this will be, you know, like last week was a Sunday. Yesterday was a big game for the Patriots. This is a big game for the Steelers coming up right now. They're at home.

34:22 First AFC North opponent. They want to let everybody know, hey, we're still the defending AFC North champions. The defense has been very good is going to be tested against, you know, look, I think the world of Joe Burrow and all the weapons he's got. They've got a great offense. Their defense looks way better. um dexter lawrence i think it's had a huge effect on them it's.

34:42 Gonna be their defense looks way better kinger i'm telling you right now yeah yeah way better yeah.

34:47 Way better i mean that you know i don't like hearing that no yeah they had some good personnel like their corners i i already you know their corners were already good right um but you added dexter lawrence now he's collapsing the pocket and and all of a sudden your edge rushers are showing you something and it just everything looks that that would that Right now, the early return job, that was a great trade for the Bengals. Now, we'll see if it holds up, but right now, I think he's had a massive impact on that team. And, you know, you think one guy can have a trickle-down effect, right?

35:17 Like a T.J. Watt can help multiple players around him, right? He helps the secondary because he's getting pressure so quickly. He helps the guy next to him who's rushing because you've got to chip him, which also helps your outside linebacker or your inside linebackers in coverage.

35:32 Like Rob, not even to get ahead of ourselves in the Cincy, but through two games, Cincinnati's playing with much lighter boxes than they did all last year. Well, cause Dex is there and there's, and the run defense is unbelievable.

35:46 Yeah. I think he's having that trickle down effect on them and allowing, you know, they drafted athletes in some instances more than football players. You know, I haven't dived into them completely, but those athletes, I think are playing better. You just look at the box scores and, And they're getting production all over their roster. Anyway, I think that it's a big test for their defense, right? Because you know how good that is. And it's a big test for the offense. They know they've got to do their part.

36:10 week one, not great stuff, but stuff was close. Week two, you played an elite team and you didn't make plays when you needed to. You got to be better than five for 25 through two weeks on third down. There's some stuff to clean up and I'll be very interested to see what they look like coming out of a week of practice where it sounds like they're going to be more focused on a smaller plate here of of, of plays and that sort of thing on offense. It is a big game for the Steelers on Sunday.

36:41 Yeah, it is.

36:41 It certainly is. And you guys know, it'll, it'll go one of two ways. If the Steelers bounce back, all is good. Here we go. Superbowl Steelers. If the Bengals have their way, then all of a sudden it's, we're going to pick in the top five and fire up the mock drafts, right? It's going to be a, it's going to be a lot of black and gold eyes.

36:59 on that, uh, on that one Sunday afternoon on the North shore, Rob King, voice of your Pittsburgh Steelers. Kind enough to join us here on this busy Monday, Rob, before we let you go, I need a simple answer from you on a scale of one to 10 rank the press box clam chowder yesterday at Gillette stadium for Matt Williamson.

37:17 Oh, Oh, um, well, I'm, I'm no connoisseur of, of clam chowder, but I would give it high marks. I mean, I'm going to give it a, I'm going to give it a 10. Like the only way you can ruin clam chowder. Oh, he can ruin it is if you don't have enough clam in there, they had plenty of clams. And if it's running.

37:36 Oh, running's bad.

37:38 Yeah. Running's bad.

37:39 Yeah.

37:39 And other than that, like it's, you know, if, if you could do that, then every clam chowder is a 10 for me.

37:45 Right.

37:46 So rumor has it, Max put a stamp of approval on it. He, he, he had a little bit.

37:51 Max is more of a, Max is more of your connoisseur. Yeah.

37:54 Right.

37:54 He's more of your connoisseur. I'm more of a, hey, it tastes good.

37:58 I don't think he shied away.

37:59 Another half a bowl.

38:00 No, you're right.

38:03 Yeah, that's right. Pouring his soup in his coffee cup just so he can get a few extra ounces. Rob King, voice of the Steelers. Make sure you are listening to him and Max and Willie every day at high noon here on the Steelers Audio Network. Kinger, great stuff. Thanks for the time. As always, partner, and we'll talk to you soon.

38:19 Thanks, guys. See you.

38:20 The king exits the castle. Good stuff there from Rob. Always thoughtful. Always has a unique perspective, you know, from calling the games and preparing for the games. And he's right. I mean, if we thought, we think, I don't think, I know the reaction from this one has been palpable, Matt.

38:38 Oh, it's been harsher than I can remember on Twitter. And I've gotten called out. How could you think this old line could ever be good in the history of the world? You're the dumbest person I've ever met. Blah, blah, blah. Like, things like that.

38:49 It's nuts.

38:50 But along those lines, you said one thing I just wanted to mention. Just in the big picture world, you said something along the lines of, if the Steelers lose, they're going to be picking the top five, burn the place down. If they win, they're going to win the Super Bowl. I urge everyone to think, just remember, at this time last year, much as they are now, the Cincinnati Bengals started the season 2-0. They ended up with the 10th pick in the draft. There's a lot going on between now and the end of the season.

39:16 The Raiders are 2-0.

39:17 Raiders are 2-0.

39:18 Super Bowl Raiders.

39:19 Again, the Texans are 0-2. They ended up going deep into the playoffs like yet again you know.

39:24 I understand it that is not that is not to say that uh yesterday was acceptable no or excusable by anybody's happy about it but it is it is um it is still very early in the season and while especially on offense it has been it hasn't been varsity i mean it's been we don't we don't need to sugarcoat that all it takes is one week to get that moving in the right direction And it's a big week for the Steelers in that regard, because, yeah, if you think the reaction was palpable last night and today, don't drop one at home to Cincinnati to move to one and two and let them be three and oh and losing a division home game that early in the calendar.

39:59 But we will have plenty more on the Bengals as the week rolls along. We need to get back into some more conversation from yesterday's game here. We also need to go around the league and look at a pretty wild week two a lot of a lot.

40:11 Different than week one a lot of crazy certainly in terms of scoring a lot of.

40:14 Crazy results a lot of lower scoring games and some real significant injuries.

40:17 There's also a lot of weather around the league everyone just forgets about that kind of stuff but that matters i'm sure it mattered in new england yesterday.

40:23 It did i mean i don't think it was not why they lost yeah yeah i don't think it was like detrimental to what either team was trying to do but it felt more like a uh game around Halloween, you know, than it did a, a, a September game there. Certainly.

40:36 And my goodness is my first drive of the year with a jacket on a little chilly.

40:40 I was glad I packed the quarter zip to, uh, to, to Boston this weekend. Cause I needed the, I needed the long sleeve quarter zip yesterday. It was a little chilly.

40:48 Yeah, Matt.

40:49 Uh, let's, let's get into all that more, uh, as we roll along here, uh, speaking of weather, my goodness, how about what happened down in Tampa?

40:56 Nuts and Browns win.

40:58 We were joking with everybody in the broadcast booth.

41:00 You know how unhappy you'd be.

41:02 That is my nightmare scenario.

41:04 I thought about you guys.

41:05 On the road.

41:06 You're at the two-minute warning. The game's almost over. And you've got to sit there for an extra two hours to wait for the weather.

41:13 Just watching it pour.

41:15 That is Wesley nightmare fuel.

41:17 And you're losing to the Browns.

41:19 Nightmare fuel.

41:20 Imagine those soaked players in the locker room with this drenched socks. Now what do we do?

41:25 Yeah.

41:26 Nightmare fuel. That's scarier to me than The Exorcist. Let's close down the first hour on the other side. Euler and Williamson, it's The Drive, Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network.

41:43 And now a word from our sponsor, Bud Light.

41:47 There's nothing better than the clean, crisp.

41:50 There's nothing better than the clean, crisp....

41:54 Uh, what if we just got out of here and grabbed some Bud Lights? But man, we're on air for four more hours.

41:59 I'll figure it out.

42:00 Sounds good to me. Anything for the clean, crisp taste of Bud Light.

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42:12 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.

42:23 And after what went down in.

42:23 The first round, still getting video calls from my best friend, rubbing it in that he called all the picks.

42:29 I told you they were building their own line. I win the bet.

42:32 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.

42:40 Get that hot dog costume ready.

42:41 Bruh.

42:48 You're tuned to The Drive on your 24-7 home of the black and gold.

42:52 Steelers Nation Radio.

43:06 Matt, we've got just a couple minutes here to close down the first hour.

43:10 Those were pretty beefy, huh?

43:11 Two beefier segments to open up the day, as you would imagine, when a when you have a 17-point loss on the road with a lot to be desired. I think a big thing for this Steelers offense, at least early on here in the season, where you're trying to gel, you're trying to get on the same page, you're trying to get that offensive line up to speed, you're trying to figure out what you got with all your different weapons and playmakers, and you're trying to make life easier on your 42-year-old quarterback, points off of turnovers are going to be massive for this offense.

43:42 Ooh.

43:43 Week one top of the league last year, top of.

43:45 The league last year, week one, a lot of success in that regard, right? The brisker interception, you turn into a Pat Friermuth touchdown just a few plays later. And then obviously the direct pick six from TJ.

43:55 Yeah, that counts.

43:56 Yeah.

43:56 That is that that's 14 points off of a turnover that you had last week. Whereas this week, big goose egg, you know, two real opportune moments there.

44:06 Yeah.

44:06 When they give them to you, you've got to take advantage of that.

44:08 Kind of stuff.

44:08 And they come away with zero. If you're struggling as an offense, when they give them to you, you've got to take advantage. Take the easy ones. Take the layups. Put points on the board.

44:16 Yeah, that can't be a trend much longer.

44:18 And it's been two polar opposite ends of the spectrum, week one and week two. So maybe you can find some middle ground right in the middle. But to me, man, like that has to be something that for week three against Cincinnati has to look like it did week one for the offense. If your defense is going to play like this, if they're going to take the ball away like this, you got to capitalize. You got to make the opposition pay for it.

44:39 Burrow's awesome, but they're still figuring some things out on offense a little bit too. He's taking a lot of hits and He always will put the ball in harm's way a little bit, things of that nature.

44:49 He's got some gunslinger.

44:50 Oh, that's the thing is he's just not bashful at all. So if you do get those opportunities, you have to capitalize on them. It's a small thing, and the Steelers would still be one and one if neither of these things happen. But Boswell's missing kicks too.

45:05 He is, and they're 50-some yarders. I know. But even if he's just human instead of superhuman, if he's the 10th best kicker in the league instead of top two.

45:15 Yeah.

45:15 That in the margins that matters.

45:17 But they used to call it like Mike T voodoo. How can he get this team to 10 wins or nine wins every year? Turnover margin, your kicker, your kicker doesn't miss, you know, like they would win in the margins really, really well, even when their offense was the 25th best in the league. So all those little things can't just go away.

45:37 If your offense is going to be 25th best in the league, they absolutely cannot.

45:40 While you're churning out of the 32nd to get to 25th and then get to 20th, all those things, yes.

45:45 Well said. Two turnovers, no points off of them. That cannot be the case. Hopefully you get two turnovers once again in Cincinnati. Or against Cincinnati, not against Cincinnati. But the offense has to capitalize on those opportunities, especially while they're trying to find an identity here early in the season.

46:04 Hour in the books, Matt. Another hour to go. We'll talk more about this game, obviously, in hour number two. We're also going to go around the league and talk about a wild week, too. A lot of low-scoring games. A lot of surprise scores.

46:16 Yeah.

46:16 And some pretty substantial, some pretty notable injuries across the league yesterday as well.

46:22 There's also teams, Chargers, Bucs, that are kind of in the Steelers' boat. It's getting early late. Yeah, you know, just expectations were a little different. But those teams are 0-2, not 1-1.

46:35 Yeah.

46:36 Raiders 2-0. Chargers 0-2.

46:38 Yeah.

46:38 I'm still picking the Chargers to finish with a better record.

46:41 Yeah.

46:41 Although my pick of them winning the division is blowing.

46:44 Doesn't look great.

46:44 Saints is looking pretty good.

46:46 Saints is looking pretty good. New Orleans Saints.

46:48 Are off to a hot start. Thanks for that. Getting it done in Baltimore. That makes me feel a little bit better. We'll talk about all that and more when we return to kick off our number two here on The Drive. Euler and Williamson halfway home. Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network.

47:05 And now a word from our sponsor, Bud Light. There's nothing better than the clean, crisp.

47:12 There's nothing better than the clean, crisp....

47:16 Uh, what if we just got out of here and grabbed some Bud Lights? But man, we're on air for four more hours.

47:21 I'll figure it out.

47:22 Sounds good to me. Anything for the clean, crisp taste of Bud Light.

47:27 Stock up now. Bud Light.

47:28 Easy to drink, easy to enjoy. Enjoy responsibly. Copyright 2026 Anheuser-Busch Bud Light Beer, St.

47:33 Louis, Missouri.

47:34 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.

47:51 I told you they were building their own line. I win the bet.

47:54 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.

48:02 Get that hot dog costume ready.

48:03 Bruh.