At least.
He's the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson on your twenty four to seven Home of the Black and Gold in Steelers Nation Radio.
And welcome to the Drive. I am Dale Lolly, he is the Matt Williamson. And well, we got a lot to get to today, Matt, because yeah, I thought we were going to do a show on Friday, and we were told, nay, nay, we're not doing a show on This is the end of the road.
This was it three dctions.
And mix and all kinds of stuff, injuries.
And labs and dfs and et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
Everything squash it all in.
So here's what we know right now on Wednesday, because we don't do a show.
It's Wednesday.
Yeah, And as Alex high Smith said earlier in the week, he said, I won't know for sure whether I'm playing until I see what I can do in practice on Thursday and Friday. So how it works, right, he did not practice today. Okay, so we all Corey Trice a full participant and the Steelers did activate and opened the window for Montrevius Adams.
That's exciting, that's great news. I'm excited about him and Trice in particular.
Yeah, so some other guys held up, but it was resting stuff. Yeah yeah, Sam Malo, Hayward Ogunjobi.
So you don't even have a haunch on Highsmith.
I mean I knew he was optimistic last time we saw him, but he feels good.
What more can we say about it? I don't know, you know it's.
And coincidentally, we don't know who the Bengals left tackle is going to be either. No, there's a big difference between Orlando Brown and Cody Ford.
A little bit, yeah, a little bit, not a big different. They're both big human beings.
Yeah, but one's a stumpy guard type not very good at.
The other one's a stumpy tackle.
Gigantic human being.
Right.
But that's that's where we're at at this point. We do know that, I mean, the Bengals are banged up in their secondary in a in a big way.
Yeah.
They count on some young guys with talent.
That aren't going to be available, and do we know that for sure? Dax Hill is the one.
And he's not even he's on I R oh okay, so yeah, he's not playing in both I picks recently. Yeah, and then the the who am I thinking of here?
DJ?
Turner was the other one.
Yeah, that's a Hills on IR. Yeah, Turner's the other one. Yeah, Turner just went to IR. Oh they're both on IR. Yeah, oh okay, I did not.
Know that Turner broke his collar bone in the game against the Chargers.
Both young guys they've been counting on. Yeah, I haven't quite lived up to it, but they're top picks.
All we know is that these other guys, and these are estimations from ESPN.
They're coming off a bye too.
Yeah, the mainland O Brown is questionable. Sheldon Rankin's questionable.
He's a starter though in a weak unit.
And yeah, yeah, so you know that's what they're looking at.
But yeah, Brown hasn't played in three three games, but they are coming off of bye, so it's been a month.
He's missed.
The guys that they want to be playing at cornerbacker Turner and Hilly turn corner, right, they don't have either one of them. So it's Cam Taylor Britt.
He's really falling off.
Is not good.
No, a year ago I thought he had promise and showing.
Some some size.
Yeah, safety term you know, AFC North type corner. He's been getting burned a lot. Hilton's still fine, but he's never been a great cover.
But he's a specific Yeah, he's a specific kind of nickel corner. And if you're asking him then to cover because these other guys can't cover, that's not what you want Michel to do.
And their safety play is average. I mean that's kind, but it's average. They're not great players, even though you've invested in them. All their defensive investments draft and otherwise are not working out lately.
Yeah, a couple of years.
And that's what happens, you know. Yeah, you're in your window, but just being in the window doesn't make it. You still have to hit on your draft picks.
That's the thing.
They just have missed on a ton of defensive draft picks lately, or they haven't yet panned out, you know. I mean some of them are still young. And then the guys that they did invest in, the Hiltons of the world when they were building this defense, are now starting to hit back nine. Yeah, I mean, as you know, is going to happen, and you haven't found the replacements.
And it's really you know, they spent a lot of money on their offensive line a couple of years ago really didn't fix it.
No, I mean that was a huge off season priority two years ago, even before Brown, before the tackles.
They got tired of seeing Joe Burrow get killed kill.
They went out and got Kappa and you know those type of dudes that are a four out of ten starter, you know what I mean. But they were better than the two out of tens that Burrow was getting destroyed with early on. And now they've aged a little bit too, Like I still think they need off season oh line help, you know, like, yeah, go get a center guard and round two. Mean they drafted Mems this year. Yeah, well yeah, I'm talking about more in the interior.
But even even during the draft we talked when we talked about Mems, just like, you can't expect him to come in and play right.
Away, and they didn't because they had two.
I mean, he was the third guy on opening day, which was a good plan except for Jones has always heard anyways, I mean the shot, the fact that Mims got thrust into action shouldn't shock anybody.
No, not at all. And he's played okay, you know, but.
He's actually played well. But I would say the last two or three weeks he might be hitting a little bit of a wall too, you know, and people were starting to figure him out a little bit more.
Now there's more. You didn't even have really have tape on him from college, no, right, I mean he had eight career starts.
I don't know how many preseason snaps he played or whatever, but he was very much worse. He didn't play many because I think carlynni yeah, if at all.
So now you're starting to get an idea of Okay, what what this guy can and can't do? And him facing TJ.
I wonder how much football is he actually played since high school?
Not mine?
I mean really not that many snaps at all for being as big in talent as he is.
I just wonder how they view this. Do they view this as like, oh, he's you know, he's been really good, We're going to leave him on the alan with TJ. Watt.
See.
I think if Orlando Brown isn't there, you might not have a whole lot of choice no matter who this other Steeler ed rusher is. I mean, like you'd love high Smith to be there and not Orlando Brown, of course, but if you told me you could take Orlando Brown on the equation even up for high Smith. That's fine with me. I mean, her Big and Smith are going to cause a lot of problems for Ford.
Ford's bad.
The other thing about this, Matt, is Zach Moss going on ir for them. A few weeks ago, they were playing him on third downs, Yes over Chase Brown. Yes, because Zach Moss was the better guy in protection.
Yeah, he's tough, sturdy, bet around the block order, you know, no question. So they traded for Khalil Herbert, right, who I've always liked. But he's more of a runner than he is pick up the meat doesn't do that either.
No.
Now this is a kind of a fantasy note, but the last three weeks, Chase Brown is the only running back to touch the ball. I mean, since Moss got hurt, no other player in the backfield has touched the football. He's playing like eighty five percent of the snaps. Now they're coming off a bye, they might realize that that's unsustainable and Herbert needs to be involved. Now you've been around since the trade deadline, but Brown's been good. But he's still pretty young for that much responsibility and not.
The biggest guy either. No, but he's thick. I mean, I bet he's two ten something like that. I mean, I'm just talking about as being a protector.
I mean he's not long.
Yeah, yeah, right, So you know, with that in mind, if I'm the Steelers and the Steelers haven't blitzed.
A lot, no, and no one's witzing the Bengals, but maybe, just maybe. And it's interesting, Landam Robert's not on the injury report today.
Oh good, Okay, that was what I kind of forgot about.
Might I send him up the middle a few times to test mister Brown?
I think you have to a few times.
I was thinking about that though, from the other side of the equation, and it's so weird we have to talk about this like it's a Friday show and it's a Wednesday show, but such as life adapt and overcome. But I think I would play a lot of Cover two and not blitz, and not play single high and not play man and just keep the wounds to a minimum. And I've been thinking about this a lot. I mean, not embarrassed isn't the right word, but unhappy with the defensive I bet that defensive line is stewing for ten days with how they played against the Browns because they know they're better than that. And I if I was Tomlin, I would be picking that wound over and over, like we're only sending four fellas. Can you handle it? You guys are up for it this week, you know, I bet they are.
Yeah.
Burrow is a tough guy to sack, though, he is, but I'm not so much worried about sacking him. I want to. I want him to feel it every time he drops back to past.
Yeah.
I want him to get hit, yeah yeah, And that's going to have an effect over the course of a game. You know, if he's you're hitting him and hitting him and hitting him. He's a tough guy. Yeah, he'll stand in the pocket, he'll take the hits, but at some points you want it. You just gotta say. I want him to start feeling the pressure and knowing he's gonna get hit again and again and again, because nobody likes to be the nail.
He also has three or four injuries that nobody talks about, but he's had all year, and I mean, unlike I mean most quarterbacks do. The big thing with me with the cover two thing was though, Okay, maybe they're gonna run against lighter boxes on me and I'm gonna give a five yards a carry, okay, But I think it's more like the Pickings treatment, where those two guys on the outside are really frightening, and more than ever, they're better after the catch than they've ever been. I mean, I don't want to bring the house one mistackle and they're they're doing a dance at the end zone, you know.
And that's something that the Steelers have traditionally done against the Bengals, even if you look back to when it was you know, Chad Johnson and Hushman Zo.
I've always a good receiver, or even before.
That, Pickings and and you know that some of the other guys that they had there, the Bengals would always come out early and run the ball well, because the Steelers are like, okay, we're just not gonna let you get over the top on ye Yeah, and they would run the ball well, and then they would get behind in the second half by a touchdown just a little and they would just quit running the football.
Yeah.
They have a long history of doing that, no matter who the coach has been, you know, I mean, whether it's Gio Bernard or Rudy Johnson or whoever's Carden and ball.
So you look up at the end of the first quarter in the Bengals have fifty yards rushing and then they'd finish with seventy.
I think it's part of the DNA of the team too.
They just don't They're not the Ravens and Steelers that will just say, I'll just keep doing the same thing if you let me. You know, if you're gonna give it six yards a carry, I'll hand it off all day long.
You know, they get impatient with that.
When you have all those toys.
It's part of it.
Being the offensive play callers, the head coach, and I'm so creative.
Got to throw the ball? I got how can we not throw the ball to Jamar Chase? How can we not throw the ball to t Higgins?
You're looking at my cheesecake menu, you know. Play sheeting like, I haven't called any of these.
These are so good.
Just wait Tillai and Leisha spent all week these plays. I got to use them. The Tomlins and hardballs in the world. Throw that stuff away. We're run the ball, We're running power.
Yeah, and so uh, I just I look at this game, and to me, I think the Steelers are going to move.
The football consisted to everybody does it.
They've they've moved even when they haven't scored necessarily, right, they've gotten.
The red zone.
All they've gotten in the red zone, a lot they've gotten. They've moved the football consistently. Especially with Russell Wilson at quarterback. You know there've been a play here or a play there that maybe pushed them back into some bad situations. So you've got to avoid those. Yeah, that would be the sacks. But you're not against this team. Are they going to sack the quarterback? Hendrickson is fearsome.
I mean he's not Garrett Watt level, but he isn't far off. I mean, his production is right there with those guys. I mean, like his tape isn't as good as those dudes, but auctions really as good as anyone. And it's mind boggling how he is the only show in town with their pass rush. I mean, there's some obscene numbers about percentage of sacks coming from one player. Even since he got the Cincinnati let alone this year, no one else has more than two sacks on the team and he's the sack leader, so it's real easy for you and I to sit here on a Wednesday and say, well, just don't let that guy beat you. Well, don't you think the team before this team before that did that.
You know, he's got eleven and a half sacks from Leeds the league. He had four sacks against the Raiders. He had a two sack game against Cleveland when Cleveland was offensive tackle and it was Deshaun Watson at quarterback. And he also had a two sack game against the Giants.
After they lost the post Thomas.
So eight of his sacks.
Actually that was against Thomas. I think I remember watching get hurt in the game. He played through it and they totally let them on an eye. Yeah, and that was a big featured matchup. But if you're never kind.
Of a draw.
He hurt the foot in the game and played.
Three through it and through it and then the second half belonged to Herods. Yeah, I remember that.
I'm sorry he had three. He has three three two sack games. Okay, So of his feasting on the bad teams. Of his eleven sacks eleven and a half sacks, ten have come in over four games. Everybody else has kind of neutralized him. Yeah, if you double him. He had a he had a half a sack against the Chargers. He had one sack against Washington. He had two sacks against Kansas City and you in Week two. Two sacks against the Giants, two sacks against Cleveland, four against the Raiders. So it's not been a situation where he's he's when he's been good, he's been really good.
Yeah, but he's taken advantage of some bad matchups. So I have mixed feelings on that. Because he's also leading the league in quarterback knockdowns. He has twenty four of them. I don't know where there is that, Yeah, I mean, I don't know if if they're to a game all in one game, well, I can tell you that I didn't know where he had seven quarterback hits against the Raiders in the game that he had four claws there. Because when you said that before, I'm sitting here thinking, come on, Raiders, I mean, can't you help. I mean, that is malpractice. After two sacks or three sacks. If you're gonna leave Colton Miller, who's their best, that's your fault.
What are you doing?
Right?
He had five knockdowns against in the game against Cleveland, So he also had two sacks in that game, so.
That's his sacking a knockdown too.
That's twelve of his knockdowns have come in those two game games. He had three in the game against the Giants, so now we're up to fifteen of the knockdowns. He also had three against Kansas City, so that's eighteen of those knockdowns have come in those games when he has had a bunch of good games.
Yeah, and that makes sense because that sack counts as both.
So you can negate this guy if you designate, Hey, we're not gonna let this guy beat us. And what's interesting is they will move him, but much less than Garrett or some of the other top pass He's always on the left. He's gonna go against Dan Moore. So I think I would have Washington on Dan Moore's side almost every snap.
At the very least. I've got the running back over there, whether it be Jayla Mooren or Najie Harris, and there there's always gonna be someone yeah there. And those two are really good pass protect they.
Are they are, And would if I said Henderson got a sack, I would I think would all say I'll take one, yeah, two, I don't think.
I think i'd go fishal.
Yeah. Two, I don't want to see could because they beat the Browns, they beat the Giants when in that game, they beat the Raiders when he had four sacks.
Side notes, they beat all the really bad teams.
Yes, they didn't beat Kansas City when he had two sacks.
No, because is good.
Yeah, the four wins against really bad teams, right, I mean their win loss stuff is really goofy with some of some of their The outlier stuff with this football team this year is unbelievable. I mean, Burrows had remarkable games in Law over and over and over. They've scored tons of points in losses over and over and over. The record against the four teams they beat is junk, you know.
I mean it's it's a.
Little ten and thirty four. Yeah, teams that they have beaten are combined ten and thirty four.
But you watch them and think they're scary. They're a dangerous scary.
They're a dangerous team, but they find ways to lose.
They repeatedly.
The kicker has been bad, that's another problem, but it's not penalties or hitting yarded stuff. And they're okay with turnovers, you know, it's an odd season for them.
Yeah, to say the least, the ball bounces the wrong way. I mean, they have fumbled fourteen times this year, haven't.
I mean, I know they're a lot, they're plus minus isn't bad. But and just in turn, they haven't lost them all. But they fumbled, they put the ball in the ground fourteen times. It's usually not great. No, that's a lot. What else are gonna say about that? I mean, they're they're one in six and one score games. I mean, it should be better than that. Yeah, you know, and the one win was against the Browns. Yeah, twenty one fourteen again with Deshaun Watson the.
Quarterback by Browns.
Right, So not exactly teams they beat, but like the best team they played, the Eagles they lost by twenty Yeah, and that.
Was a game they got crushed.
Yeah, they're not. This is not the team that walked into Kansas City in lost twenty six twenty five in Week two, right, right, right.
I don't know what to think about this team, more less so than most opponents, you know, and part of it's because I've had two less days to digest them too.
But love their offense, love their love, the love the weapons. Yeah, don't love the defense at all. No love the quarterback. I don't love the intangibles. I don't love the coaching.
I don't love the coaching. I don't love the special teams. I think there's a lot of frustration just watching their games from Afar on Sunday, on red Zone or whatever. Burrow is always not happy at the end. And he has stats galore and chases on board with them. And I mean, the leader of the organization's borough. Yeah, you know, and this seems really frustrated.
Yeah, I would have. And I can't say I blame him one bit.
Now let's get to a break. He is the Matt Williamson. I am Dale Lolly. You're listening to the Drive. You're on the Steelers Audio Network.
Matt.
Now, I'll be back with Bob Labriola right after this.
He's the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson on your twenty four to seven Home of the Black and Gold Steelers Nation Radio.
And we are back. I am Dale Lolly. He is the Matt Williamson. And we're joined on the Justin Miller Hotline by the Dean of Doom, the Lord of Living in his fears, Bob Labriola, And Bob, I don't know if anybody's living in their fears as much as you are, probably right now, after watching the Steelers go up to Cleveland and lose last week, and now they had to go on the road again to Cincinnati this week.
I Lodale. I mean, certainly my box is filled with a.
Lot of people not taking an optimistic view of this. A lot of the people in the inbox.
No, And you know what I'm finding is that I think that there's an overreaction. Yeah, the Steelers did not play well against the Browns. I mean, we could even, you know, go so far as to say that in a lot of areas they stunk. But I don't know that it's a trend. It seems to me that that's that's that's the leap that everyone's taking. You know, Uh, it's a trend. You know the Steelers now.
They can't score, they can't fourth down, they can't make anything on fourth down.
They can't run the ball anymore, they run the ball too much on first down. Whatever you want to say that they didn't do well against the Browns, and there are a lot of things, but now that's that shows what happened in the Browns game shows that everything is falling apart, in deteriorating in all these different categories. And you know, I don't know, As I said, I thought it was a bad game for sure, but to say that, you know, one of the things I'm hearing is the Steelers are running the ball too much on first down. Well, they didn't run the ball well at all against the Browns, but you know, say against the Jets when they ran for one hundred and forty plus yards and a couple of touchdowns and average over four point one yards of carry.
And scored four touchdowns on six trips in the red zone.
Well, right, but just about the running, Yeah, talking about the running game. They ran the ball twenty times on first down in thirty six attempts against the Jets. So running the ball on first down is not a problem. Blocking people when you run the ball on first down is a problem. And you know that to me is you know what has to get fixed, you know, the basics, that's actually stuff.
That's actually what concerns me most about the offense. And the questions I keep getting are red zone. They're so terrible in the red zone. I'm like it's such a small sample size, chill out. We don't need to put fields in the game as soon as they cross the twenty. But I do think more consistency in the running game, and many are to blame is the thing that needs fix most that I think is achievable.
Sure, and you know, to use since tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I think one of the Steelers' problems with their offense is, you know, instead of worrying about making sure that turkeys make right, we're too worried about the cranberry sauce. And you use some lemon zest in the mashed potatoes, give them a little bit extra flavor, and you know, all of that size stuff, the extra toys that you know, as you mentioned the justin fields package. Are we getting Pat Fryermouth involved enough? You know what about Mike Williams, He's not seeing enough targets? Well, you know, worry about the basic scoring points, running the ball, converting third downs, those kind of things. How it happens, who's involved, who's on the field or the tight ends involved enough? Are we fooling anybody by throwing a pass the cordero Patterson on the two point conversion play, you know, again, I give too much, too much of that side stuff to me. Right now, this team needs to its offensive line, needs to open some holes for the running game and protect the quarterback that we decided was going to be the starter the Jets game one October twentieth back then, if he's going to be the starter, well that's blocked for him. Then give him time to do what he needs to do in the pocket to find the receivers to you know, all of the things that you know Russell Wilson does well, pre snap reads, anticipation, throwing, knowing where to go with the ball based on what he sees from the defense of the line of scrimmage, all that kind of stuff. That's what's important. All that other you know, playing with the toys and sideline stuff, and I don't know, put it away for a while.
Yeah, just go win the game. And that's really I mean, they hadn't done any of the fields mixing him in there until they played the Ravens. And so we've now seen two games of it. And has it worked at times? Yeah? Has it not worked at times? Yeah? But you know, your offense before that in the previous three games with Russell Wilson at quarterback look pretty good.
Yeah, And you know, here's the thing about the Justin Field's package. In my mind, maybe you guys can you can either correct me or you know whatever, But you put them in the game and the few running plays, everybody now knows what those are, and I think it just makes it that much more difficult to run those in those critical situations, possession downs, et cetera, and have them work. So in order for the package to work, you'll have to continue to expand his menu of plays because if there is no threat in the defense's mind that he's going to drop back and survey the field and look for a receipt either you know, and throw a pass, then it's easy to defend. And in order for that package to work where he Justin Fields is able to do that, you have to rep that in practice. He's got to get timing down with these receivers on these routes in these plays. And if you're doing that, then you're taking practice time away from the guy you decided it was going to be the starting quarterback. And it just doesn't make any sense to me that, you know, we're worried about the Cranberry sauce. You know, nobody cares about the cranberry sauce if the turkey's lousy, you know, I mean it's I don't know.
No, I hear you.
I mean long week to get back to basics, blocking, tackling, Chuck Noll stuff. I mean, on both sides of the ball. To me, seem imperative. And I might bet that's the Tomlin message, you know, over the this ten days.
I hope. So yeah, you know, and you know all of the other stuff, you know, the frills and on defense too, you know, uh, stop the run, you know, and if if it's gonna be a four man pressure, well then let's get some four man pressure. Then. Uh, you've got to be able to do whatever your menu is. I think, because we're eleven games into this now, Steelers are eight and three since their twelfth game Week thirteen. Based on the buy. And I'm not saying you have to have an identity and you're married to that or whatever, but you know, one of my complaints about Matt Canada was that you know, what's what? What is your core package? What can you count on which you know when they say it's third night in the fourth quarter and you're trying to protect a nineteen eighteen lee. Okay, what's your best third name play? Do we know what that is? I don't know that we do.
And it's okay if the defense knows, but that that's what you do, well, you know, I mean, Lombards Knowle's trap whatever, you know, whatever your bread and butter is right.
And if it's a pass, protect the quarterback, give him an opportunity to see the field, you know, and wherever the the defense is weak or you know, soft, or whoever's open. You know, I'm not saying you've got to throw the fire mouth, you gotta throw the pickens, you gotta, you gotta, you got and now you've got to do any of that. You've got to get the yard that you need for the first time. And these are the kinds of things that I think that have kind of been lost a little bit for the you know, looking for the frills and trying to be tricky maybe and again offense defense, whatever we're talking about here, I'm not pinning it on any one side of the ball or whatever. And you know, get back to being what you were doing against the Jets and the Giants. And because this Bengals. Excuse me, this Bengals team. I think they're going to score. They certainly have the firepower to do so. And their defense is awful. Yeah.
Yeah, We've talked a little bit about that. I've talked a lot about that. Here's the thing, Bob coming out of that game, and the Steelers offensively weren't great in that game against the Browns. He weren't great defensively against the Browns. One thing they did do, though, Russell Wilson on third and fourth downs in that game was twelve of thirteen for two hundred and three passing yards in a touchdown. You'll take that all day long. And a lot of those were third and longs because they weren't running the ball consistently well. He showed it. He showed me a little some thing, Derek, because I'm looking at this only it's third and ten. They're probably gonna be punting here and lo and behold, he hits a big play. And then he did it again, and he did it again. I'm like, he said, it's pretty good on third downs in this game.
Yeah, and you know when that's going too, I mean, I'm gonna go back. I'm beating this package drum. Why are you taking them out? Yeah? Why? I mean just because why I don't I don't understand. So, you know, backs, as Noel always said, back to basics. Ask woolfully what that means, right, I think he's still got some bruises on his body.
From getting that anymore.
But but you know, I, you know, I would just like to see some of that kind of you know, and and things that work, keep doing them. We don't need a big menu on offense, you know, I get you know, Mike Cammel was talking about you have to have a lot of defense when you're going against Burrow and Jamar Chase and t Higgins because if you do anything too much, they're going to figure it out. Well, hopefully your offense then is capable of doing the same thing to the other team.
Bobby, you mentioned the four man rush a little bit ago, and I firmly believe the Steelers still have the best defensive front in the league, the best defensive line in the league, and they influence the game in ways that sacks don't necessarily reflect. Especially TJ. I mean, of course, all the attention he draws, but how about some more sacks. I mean that that's your best component of your team.
Yeah, I mean, well and more sacks, you know, and the Minca thing. You know, I understand that Minka is doing what he has asked to do, and I also understand that a lot of playing good defense is what you convinced the offense not even to try. Okay, I am very much understanding of that and on board with that, you know. But Mike Tomlins says all the time that you know, what what separates you know, good from great for defensive backs or takeaways, and what separates good from great for you know, front seven people are sacks you've got to make. There has to be some big plays made, and you know you're getting the Steelers are getting some good stuff in the back end from you know, Deshaun Elliott and Donte Jackson. In terms of takeaways, Beatie Bishop, you know, has contributed some, but you need more, and you need them all the time. You need them every week from somebody, you know, Peyton Wilson whatever, uh, Patrick Queen whatever, uh wherever they but these are the things that they need. And you know, I don't know some a lot of times I just don't think it's comes from scheme or play calls or you know a lot of that stuff. I just do believe that it's you know that scouts cliche. It's not the ex'es and those, it's the Jimmy's and the Joe's. Yeah it is. And when it comes to when it comes to running the ball, Russ Grim always said, you know, running the football effectively is moving a defender from point A to point B against his will, nothing tricky about it. And I just I did. I was really disappointed in how the offensive line was unable to do that to a Cleveland defense that was not highly ranked against the run, did not have a lot of good games, good production stopping opponents running game. I get that they were maybe a lot better than they had played, but.
I don't know well to that point, Bob, I thought that the Steelers early in the game were moving the football and didn't didn't turn those into points, and it kind of gave the Browns life. You know, when you've got a team like that and you've got a chance to put the the you know, the foot on their neck or however you want to say, go for the kill, whatever it may be, you got to you gotta put them out of their misery. You don't want to give them a reason to want to say, hey, we can win this game.
Yes, absolutely, you're absolutely right. Yeah, you cannot give them hope. Uh. And that happened, and then, you know, the the snowballs to speak, started running down the hill.
Later they started lying stands, you know, because.
But you know, again, I it was a bad game. I get it. All the criticism that they get they deserve in my opinion, for a bad game. But uh, you know, I'm not drawing any conclusions from you know, I'm just not And there were some factors to me that you know, playing on the road on a Thursday short week after a Ravens game, that's I'm not going to say it's unfair because that, you know, I think that's taking it too far. But I do think that that's something that should be considered.
Yeah, it's certainly not insignificant.
The Thursday night game against the Browns could happen here once in a while too.
Oh well, you know a lot of dude, and uh, you know again, Uh, the officiating to me is is it's it's awful every week in different ways. The you know, the Beanie Bishop call I didn't get that the one Jerry Judy third down conversion where he grabbed Joey Porter's face masks and pushed off in order to catch the pass, and that wasn't called. Uh. The holding on Cam Hayward on Jameis Winston's fourth down touchdown run, that was ridiculous.
Herbert on that one as well, that was uh.
And then and then the hail Mary, I mean seriously, Newsom just grabbed him and wrote him out of.
Bounds the whole way down the field, the.
Whole way down the field. Speaking of that, Casey's penalty on the punt thing, he was grabbed and pulled out of bounds into the bench and they called a penalty on him, you know, for that blocking the guy out of bound. Yeah, yeah, blocked anybody.
Which would have been a massive I mean, they would have had the football inside their own twenty at that point, so right as the Steelers that would have had the football midfield again, I should say, because it was a fifty or seventeen yard punt. Instead they moved back inside their own twenty.
So but they didn't do enough to overcome some of that early stuff. It's snowballed again. I keep using that analogy and how could you not based on what that looked like towards the end. But as I said, it was an awful performance. They lost. They deserved to lose. Now, you know, let's move on, get back to doing things instead of worrying about you know again some of the sidelight side show things that I think a team that has won five in a row might allow itself to be seduced by. Okay, that's over. Now, let's go back to what it was when this new kind of I don't even know what to call it, new new presentation of the offense. When you when when the decision was made to go with Russell Wilson to try and pursue greatness. Let's go back to the things that worked then that he can do well, and let's worry about doing those on a more consistent basis at a high level than adding to it, because I just don't think more in terms of menu is necessarily better, especially on offense.
Focus on the Turkey labs. Forgive me if I don't remember this crystal clear, because I think it was a sharky's conversation we had. But from what I recall, you had the unclear conversations.
Earlier.
But I recall you having the greatest of respect for mister Burrow.
You're a big fan, big fan.
Yeah yeah, I uh. Personally, I think that he's the best quarterback in the ANFC wars. He's the guy. You know again, Lamar Jackson is electric highlights, you know, all that kind of stuff. But Joe Burrow, uh, to me, plays the position closer to the way you need to play it to be a championship team in the NFL. And the other thing I credit Joe Burrow with that, you know, Lamar Jackson did not do. He didn't have to do because the Ravens were not in the situation as a franchise that the Bengals we're in a situation where but when Burrow joined it, you know, Joe Burrow is I don't even know if this is right. I'm not up to my nursery rhymes. But Joe Burrow to me is the pied piper. He makes all of them believe and follow him. And for the Bengals in the his their history, to me, that's significant.
Uh So he's a franchise heater.
You know, yes, yes he is. Well, you know they haven't really won anything yet, but let me say this. They are much more dangerous with him than in my opinion, they ever were even.
With and those guys.
Yeah, Ken Anderson even so, he's an assassin, Yes, yeah, Joe Burrow is. I mean, you know, he's he's ridiculously accurate. He's a tough guy. I yeah, I would say I would point to him if you would say to me, Okay, you're going to start a team and you can pick any of the quarterbacks in the AFC North, who do you want? That's who I want. I want him. So yeah, that's why I'm saying that the Bengals will score. Joe Burrow is going to have success. In my opinion, that's something that is going to happen. And I don't know that it's.
A statement that the Steelers defense is lacking if he does have success, I just think he's that good and he has enough weapons.
Around him to make those weapons. You know, Jamar Chase is Jamar Chase because of Joe Burrow. I don't think Jamar Chase is Jamar Chase. With Kenny Picktt as an example, well, you know, I'm not ripping Picktt. I'm not.
I understand what you're saying.
There's a large difference between Kenny and Joe.
Yes, but what I'm saying is in that instance, in the Jamar Chase, or let me say this, in the using a receiver as an example, Burrow makes them if they're good, he makes them great. Other quarterbacks, you know, may just you know, take advantage of what he has in a receiver as opposed to magnifying his abilities with the way he plays quarterback, if that makes any sense. So that's why the Steelers offense has to perform on Sunday. They have to score. I don't know that they win the game without at least thirty points. I think that the Bengals offense is that good.
Our guest has been Bob Labriola, editor of steel Digest and Steelers dot Com and the Dean of doom and lord of living in his fears. Bob will let you go. We'll talk to you next week. But have a happy Thanksgiving.
Yeah, I got the turkey in the oven.
What about the accouter monts? Have you spent a lot of time on those?
None at all at all? You know? And seriously, when I sit my fat button down and start eating Thanksgiving dinner, if you look up my plate, there's a whole lot more turkey on it than granberry sauce or mashed potatoes or you know any of the other accoutramont.
Well enjoy. We'll talk to you next week, Bob. That's how Bob Labriola, Editor of Steelers dies. He's Matt Williamson. I am Dale LOLLI you're listening to the Drive here on the Steelers Audio Network. We'll be back with more right after this.
He's the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson on your twenty four to seven Home of the Black Gold Steelers Nation.
Radio, and we are back. I'm Dale Lolly. He is the Matt Williamson, and I have that Bengals injury report for Wednesday. Logan Wilson with a knee did not practice.
Okay.
I didn't think there was anything big issues with them, but okay.
Sheldon Rankins with an illness did not practice.
Okay, so that doesn't sound Chances already plays.
Yeah, a bunch of guys limited, Amarius Mims with an ankle, Charlie Jones with a groin, Orlando Brown limited with a fibula injury, and Joe Batchie a linebacker is limited with a hip and then not practicing because they were arresting veterans or T Higgins and BJ Hill.
Okay, so Orlando Brown is really the only one. I'm kind of well Wilson, and Wilson is new to me, kind of a big deal. Yeah yeah, I mean he's the green doc guy for them. He's above average starting linebacker.
Yeah.
Mean, he's a good player, you know. Yeah, so it would be too big one. Yeah, that's where they're at. And of course we won't. We don't have a show the rest of the week. So that's kind of where we're at. You guys are on your own report.
You have to check that out. I'll of course tweet them out and things of that nature. That Hendrickson stuff that we talked about before the break, before he before.
We got to Bob, the crappy teams.
I'm just I've been sitting here while we're while we're talking to Bob, and I'm looking at this. I'm going he had no quarterback hits, no SAX against Baltimore. Okay, he had no quarterback hits, no SAX against the Eagles. Okay, he had no quarterback hits. They beat Carolina. He had didn't have anything in that game, but those the games when they played the good teams, the really good teams. Other than the Kansas City game, he's done nothing.
Yeah, really really good football players.
No.
I love the player, But I again, I think that's the difference between him and the Watts and Bosas of the world is even when you go insanely crazy to stop them, they still make big plays.
Yeah, I mean yeah, I mean it's less.
Of course they have to run a gauntlet to get there, but they still show up more.
But he's not even a big tackle guy nos vent His high for his high this season for tackles as four, which is one of the reasons why you can run the ball against him.
Yeah.
Yeah, I mean he's just not great against the run. No, he's not.
I mean he's there to get sacked and he does it really well. The Raiders thing boggles my mind. I mean, like, how do you let that keep going? Yeah, I mean it'd be different if it was de Marcus Ware and von Miller. And you have to pick your poison, and I keep picking wrong.
At some point, if I'm Gardner, minshew, I'm looking over at the sideline going really come on.
Right, Like if the result if you would have told me, boy, he had three sacks in the first half, didn't sniff the quarterback again.
But Hubbard had two in the second. Okay, at least you made an adjustment. You know, what are you doing?
Yeah?
Four sacks, seven quarterback hits in that game.
Yeah, right, right, come on, man, and there's one weapon, yeah, you know, and it's a really good one.
Yeah.
He's the only guy we saw the difference. I mean, say, Miles Garrett on Thursday night against the Steals gets three sacks in the first time, two against Dhan Moore, the other one. He's stunted and came up to you didn't have anything in the second half. I mean they went in a halftime he said, we're not going to allow that to have Whether it's something to do course, whether everyone's past, but they were throwing the ball more in the second half too.
They were they were trying to come from behind, and you know, if other people beat us, so be it, right, but we.
Can't let that guy. Right, they approached the teams have taken with TJ.
Watt.
Of course, we're not gonna let that guy beat us, you know, And I.
Assume since he will take the similar approach to Watt, I mean, it's pretty low hanging fruit to say we got to help the rookie court or right tackle.
Their problem is they can't help against Cam Hayward.
With Cordell Ross, we even talked about that enough Cam's gonna destroy He's gonna kill him. I mean, after the performance of the line had last week, led by Cam emotionally leadership, I think that d line going to.
Have a really big day.
Oh nobody gets the pride worked up more than Cam. And right, how about this little stat that that the NFL sid sent out today is.
Not horrible, but I mean no, but he has to deal with Hayward a lot.
Is that in here somewhere? I saw it somewhere, But their their run defense when Cam is on the field as opposed to when he's not on the field. I didn't see that like a two yard per carry average difference.
I've heard some people that I greatly greatly respect in the media, some of the podcasts I always listened to have thrown out there that he's been the best defensive player in the league this year.
Number One, you don't run a pretty strong.
Don't run the football against the Steelers when Cam Hayward is on the field.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and he greatly influences the passing game. He gets his hands up into flex balls, he chases things down. It's a real short list of defensive players having a better year.
Yeah, real short And he's got a real good chance. We first team All Pro defense tackle.
At thirty five.
Right.
People said he was washed up. Not on this show.
I was worried. I mean, I just haven't seen it.
You were saying he was washed up. But there were people out there so all you can't sign him doing a contract session, It's like, no, that was a no brainer.
Yeah.
Right, I'm not exactly sure what you're getting at this point, but I'll roll my ill I on that guy.
Right, this is his best year. That's remarkable.
He's I mean two years ago I said the same thing, like, this is his best year of thirty three.
This is remarkable. He gets better all the time.
It's amazing. At some point it's not going to happen, but it's not happened yet.
It's unbelievable. Yeah, and the leadership and all that stuff too. As a massive effect.
He he always says he has wolfing wolverine blood.
Yes, I know, heals super quick.
It might actually be the Wolverine. Yeah, he might be two hundred years old and still doing. What he's doing is.
Keep doing it in the Bacond quarterbacks. Yeah, it's really something. It's amazing, unbelievable year.
Yeah, let's get through a break. He is Matt Williamson. I'm Dale, Lolly. You're listening to the drive here on the Steelers Audio Network. That's going to do it for our number one, Matt, and he'll be back with our number two right after this