Why The Steelers Offense Looked Stuck Against New England Ep. 140

Welcome back to Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger. I am Ben Roethlisberger, you're in the basement. Hey, Spence. Hey. What up, Spence? Hey, what's up? Well, I'll tell you what, do you know how you start a show like this on a day after this week? Oh, there you go. I noticed, I couldn't help but notice the glass that it's in, too. Are you? Oh, yes, that is a Super Bowl 43 glass. Yeah. Speaking of that, shout out, Santonio. Thank you so much for joining us in the basement last week. What a great episode, great stories. Remember that Super Bowl, the first time we have sat down together to talk about that. Seemed like the fans really enjoyed it. Yeah, man. That's why we do this. We do this for you guys. There is a moment, I walked into our favorite deli, actually, the other day. Well, that'd be a brilliant shot. That's right. And I was talking to the awesome people over there, and they were like, hey, man, how's the show going? I was like, do you got to watch the last episode? And we're talking about the Santonio episode. And I was like, there's a moment, I was telling them this, there's a moment where you guys are talking, where I had to remind myself that you guys were the ones that did that play. I was like, because we're talking about it, I've seen it again a million times. And obviously, my relationship with you, it's like, oh, yeah, I have to remind myself that outside of our friendship, you're a legend at your job. Thank you. And so Santonio, we're sitting there talking about it. I'm like, wait a second, you threw that ball. Yeah. And I'm like, oh, wait a second, you really got to caught that ball. And so there are moments you can't see because I was off camera, but there were moments I'm like, oh, dang, y'all the ones. Y'all the ones that did that. Yeah. No, that's really funny. I had a lot of people text me after the episode just saying, like, man, that was really cool. I really enjoyed that. And there was a catch, it's funny because there's actually a catch this week, this last week in football, I think Jamar Chase had one on the front pylon, it looked pretty cool. Ben was like, that's the greatest catch up, maybe the greatest catch in NFL history. And I'm like, really? It was pretty good. And then the way he did it, he turned it, it ended up being a lot like tones. Yeah. Where it's like, tones were in and everything. But I'm like, no, and I actually heard him say it, and she goes, I don't think so. I think there's one better. A little better, a couple more better than that. But anyway. Stakes were higher, I think, in yours. Yeah. Thank you, Tone, appreciate you being here. What a great show. Yes, that Super Bowl 43 beer is what I'm drinking now. Also, the unique thing is usually we film this on Tuesdays for a Tuesday night release. It is Monday night right now. It is. Because there's a lot going on in our worlds. And we couldn't film tomorrow because I'm involved with our good friend. His golf tournament is this weekend. Actually is today, Monday and tomorrow, Tuesday playing in the morning. You were there today actually helping film for some stuff for his first podcast. That's right. That they do. Chuck Nettles is a dear friend of ours and a friend of the show. He's the one that you guys, the family that watched it almost always calls me when we're filming. Yeah. Well, keep your phone closed. Yeah, you never know. He knows we're filming. You never know. Inadvertently calls us, but Chuck is awesome. It's the 10 Memorial, the Timothy E. Nettles Memorial Golf Tournament at St. Clair. Chuck is one of the most thoughtful, generous, kindest people we know. And that foundation really does a lot of great things. So we're there playing in that. So we couldn't film tomorrow, so that's what we're doing today. I got to play with some awesome people. Benjamin's golf coach, Kevin Shields, was in my group today. It's actually, it's individuals, sort of, and then two man on as well. But so Kevin Shields was in the group. He was partnered up with our good friend, a friend of the show, our soccer expert, Jeff Dyer. I got to see him today. Did you see him? Yeah. They were partners in a group against myself and our good friend of the show, Michael Ticket Dowling, from Crystal Energy. Backstreet Boys. Yeah. Yeah, Backstreet Boys, the Chicken Wing, the Rock the Baby, all the chipping. When he chips, you close your eyes because if you have to watch it, you will be like blinded forever. It's so, there were so many times today that his divot on, I'm talking like a 30 to 20 yard chip that the divot went further than the ball. One time I, well, this is no joke. This is a true story today. One time he went to hit a ball and the club didn't make contact with the ball. The sod of grass moved the ball like five yards. And so we're like, we're not really sure if that counts as a stroke, but anyway, we had a great time. I think I actually won. I think I took my one. Yeah, well, I got there because I was doing, like you said, I was doing Chuck's Podcast, which is awesome. It's called 4 of the 1. You should check it out if you're into leadership, golf, pro golfers, business people. It's awesome. And him and Ashley do a phenomenal job. You should check it out. It's called 4 of the 1. That being said, I walk in, I see Jeff and Ticket and Jeff comes up and goes, hey, did you know that you do a podcast with professional golfer? I was like, I'm not doing another podcast. I had too many. And I was like, what are you talking about? I said, your boy, he's out there crushing it. I'm like, oh, what a shoot. You played well today. I mean, young man, what are we talking about? No, the difference is they can't chip. And I made some putts. I made some putts. That's all that matters. There are professional golfers that are playing in this event. Yeah. That did not shoot what you shot. Again, I got lucky. Should we just not tell people what you shot? Just so they're just wondering. Why don't you do this? Guess what you think Ben shot. So the two things that we said are true about his score. The people who golfed with him all time were shocked and surprised that that was the first thing they told me. I don't know if I should tower take that. It feels rude. Maybe not shocked, but they felt that to be the first thing they told me. And there are professional golfers that didn't shoot what you shot. And not PGA professionals, just professionals that made... Some court fairies, guys. Yeah, okay. Anyway. So you tell us what you think. It was in St. Clair, it was raining, it was not that great. Anyway, Spence, let's get into the show and let's do it like we're supposed to with a beer. Hey, well, this beer's... Because I'm drinking beer. I actually had a glass of wine before this, as this feels like one of those kind of weeks. Hey, man. After this game, we're gonna dive into right after this beer. Hey, listen, you're going to bed right after this, let's be honest. You are walking... Because of what Evan makes. He makes it made, might put us to bed real nice tonight. All right, well, I thought that this beer was fitting because it's from Illusion Brewing Company, which we've done on the show. I think we enjoy their stuff. It's called Oh Bother. Oh, Eeyore. That's exactly who we have here. Yeah, that's the way it looks like folks. That's how Steel Nation feels today. I felt like it's a honey blonde ale, and I thought it was fitting to kick this show off because typically we save the offense, you being an former offensive player, we highlight that. I think we're going to start with the offense. We are. Here's this beer, 5.25 percent alcohol by volume. I'm surprised this week feels like one of those weeks that you would be giving me all these awful coffee, like just pours, just the worst. I mean, the most awful is the beers. That's what it feels like. Let's just finish this week with an exclamation point. No, I wouldn't do that to you because you're not going to kick a man when he's down. The performance that we saw this past Sunday, I thought let's try to lift your spirits. One more time. Try to lift your spirits there. You know what I mean? One more time. That's pretty good. You have to do some voice acting. You should do it. I got a face for voice overs. Okay, let's get into this. This is a really good one. Offense. Offense, offense, offense. Offense. Where to start with the offense, bud? One place to start. We're going to start with a few. I would like to start with a few stats. Let's go to the facts. Because I think this, because you can't argue, you can't argue stats. But there's going to be a lot of, a lot of this show is going to be our opinions. The opinions of two men sitting down at a bar. One played a little bit of football. One played a little bit of Madden. And played Madden and did things. Yeah. But we give our opinions on this show. These are not opinions. These are called stats. This is what happened, okay? The first thing, which is almost like shocking to say, okay, is the first number is 3.5, okay, Spence? 3.5, if someone was like, you know, that's what you averaged per run, you'd be like, okay, a little, you know, that's okay. We can handle that. That's what you want to do. Because if you get 3.5, you're going to get a first down and you're going to be just fine. That's not our average per rush, Spence. That is our average per play. Not great. That includes every pass play, every run play. We averaged 3.5 yards per play. Not good. Third down, hmm, 2 of 12. Hmm, not good. Sacked four times, hmm, which we will get in the old line next. Red zone, only there once, 0 for 1. Bummer. Time of possession, which is interesting. 32 minutes for us, 27 for them. A lot of times that tells you, you know, that your scoring point, you're possessing the ball, you're doing a lot of things. Nope. Sometimes, nope. Sometimes it just tells you we had the ball. Sometimes it just means we had the ball and the clock was running when we had the ball. So that being said, Spence, I just want to throw those stats out first because that is some mind blowing offensive stats. And to me, I've always said, the quarterback is the most important position in all of sports. I might be biased. I might have, but it's super important. I'm not going to get into the quarterback play, because that's not necessary for us to get into right now. What's necessary to get into is what helps the quarterback play, the offensive play, the most important group on the football field, which we've talked about how many times on this show with our guests that we've had, whatever it is, the O-line play. O-line play this week was not good. I'm not a word smith. There's a lot of words that could be used for the O-line play that I think a lot of fans are throwing out there right now. They found them, yeah, for sure. I think Evan's probably going to have a few. Yeah. Four sacks, 91 yards rushing, more stats for you, more facts. Four sacks, and I don't know how many hurries, how many pressures, all that. Four sacks, 91 yards rushing. What are we doing? That's the only group also, by the way, that played in the preseason. Yeah. Doesn't look like it. Yeah. That's not great. I think one of my biggest problems with that is that was an issue last year. I think it was probably the glaring issue last year, and it feels as if there was a lot of things that we were doing in the off season to hopefully fill the holes in the team. We're talking about the secondary, all that kind of stuff. It seems like that would be the first thing that we focus on. I mean, you're talking about Four Sacks. I have to bring up the one where I just started praying. The way that Aaron got hit. You think he's feeling that today? Well, you tell me. I'm feeling it. You tell me because I watched that. I was like, hey, man, he's too old to bend that way. You can't go that way. Your back don't go that way. Listen, he got hit so hard from the blind side that if you actually watch, I was trying to tell Benjamin, I was replaying it, he actually got lucky that another defender came from the front side. Because when he got hit, if there was nothing there, he's going straight to the ground and it's the whip lash and you're going all the way to the ground and then the guy's probably landing on you. So is that worse than what it looked like? What is it, the Dudley Brothers? The old WWE? They throw you over, they hit you. Is that a worse feeling when you're getting hit from the back? Because it looked like he almost went on top. Yeah, it wasn't. It would have been worse if he would have just got hit and then drove right into the ground. That feels worse? Yes. I thought I got something in my mouth. Oh, it must be that honey from the old baller. No bother. There was another defender, I think it might have been Spillane, was right in front of that, kind of like... Soften the blow there. Soften the blow is like, yeah, soften the blows. But it's kind of like it kept him from the extra. Yeah. Now you're still hitting another man that's strong and this and the other, but man, that was something else. I'll tell you what, when that happened, I'm like, and the balls and listen, I had as much as it pain me, I did kind of get a chuckle because I love the old slippery football, like the old like football followings. Yeah, like everyone's bobbling. Like it is kind of, I mean, it makes you mad, but you do kind of like have to chuckle on a little bit. But it's like, what are we doing? I mean, we went from, if we recover the first fumble, we still are in field goal range. It's all of a sudden, like, holy cow, they might scoop and score. Yeah. Luckily, we recover, we're able to punt. But like they, I mean, if they recover that. Yeah. I mean, them boys is playing soccer there for a minute. When you watch a hit like that, do you go like, does it take you back to a moment in your career? Like, will you see Aaron, this is just a flashback to like. I have to believe that, and Aaron, if you want to call in, you can call right now. I have to believe that that's one of his top 10. Aaron's not a guy that gets hit a lot. Some quarterbacks have a knack. He played for, he's played for a long time, right? Some quarterbacks have a knack of just avoiding the real big one, the big hit for whatever reason. I always felt like I was, Ryan, my agent, always said that, which we had to get him on the show too. I always said I had a knack for that. Even if it's the subtlest little movement might create a roll instead of the hard hit. A boxer. Yeah, just a little something. Get out of the way. Some quarterbacks, it's like, did they not see him come in? They just took it right in the chin. Like it's like that guy just got destroyed. I feel an air gets a ball out of his hands a lot. You know, he doesn't just take some quarterbacks a hold to get hit a lot. So I guess in me saying all this is like, I feel like that's got to be one of Aaron's biggest hits. He's taken. Maybe not the biggest, maybe top 10 because it looked brutal. And so I instantly when I, when I saw that, like, you know, tell a quick story like my bed. You know, I think we've told on here before my biggest hit. People always, you know, I go places, I speak to people, whatever it is. They'll be like, hey, you know, hard, like favorite place to play, hardest place to play, best definitively ever played against hardest hit. Like those are like very common questions. And I always tell people the hardest hit that I took, I took a lot of big hits and people like, oh, when you get your nose broke. I'm like, no, I mean that, that stinks. But it's not like, like you, you're talking about the hits where you're like, am I alive? Like those are hard hits, not like, wow, my arm hurts, my chest hurts, I can't breathe. Like those, I got hit, I think it was my rookie year in Baltimore. Surprise, surprise. And I probably should talk about what was on the show, because he's, Willie Parker was in the game. And I remember dropping back to pass, and Willie was supposed to pick up Bart Scott, who was coming off the right side for my front side. And so I was like, okay, Willie's picking them up. And I remember looking left and next thing you know, everything went to slow motion. Like I got hit and it was just like this, like, oh my, like what is going, this just instant, like euphoric feel of, but it gets you first of a good thing, right? I mean, not euphoric in a good sense, like in a, in a, like a bad euphoric, I guess. Like, like a not real, like this isn't real. Yeah. And I remember, so very surreal. And I remember like, like seeing my feet and they went like ground level, first level, there's the top of the stadium, there's the sky and I land on the ground. And I remember laying there and Bart was like a, he was a hard hitter. He was, he had a combination. He wasn't like huge, but he was fast and big. So that combination, like you get some big boys, they'll hit you and land on you that knocked the wind out. You're like, oh, that stinks, you know? And you get little guys that just fly and hit you. And you're like, oh, what was that little, little fella? But you get a combination of like that linebacker that just, and I remember laying there thinking, I don't know if I'm alive or not. It was the most painful thing. And I'm just laying there like, like, okay, like, yeah, am I breathing? Like I thought like that was my, like my soul was leading the body. And so that's what it reminded me of. That was, that's my, it was, that was the, that was the most brutal. So in a moment, I have so many questions. And in a moment like that is, are you aware that you're playing football? Are you like, no, you're, you're, you're aware you're even alive. You're just, are you just literally just running through your extremities and like, yeah, that happens a lot when you get hit there. There's a lot of times that you would lay there for a second. Like, okay, I can wiggle my toes away. My fingers are, I can, okay, legs. Yep. Okay. I'm good. Or, okay. Yep. I'm breathing. Okay. That's good. Yep. Okay. That's good. Yeah. You absolutely. And you got to go quick. You got to get up. And you can't just lay there. Because then they're like, if you can get up before the defender and they think they, as my kids say, boom, stick to you, and you hop up before them, it's like devastating to them. That's the, yeah. I mean, you got to believe that's what Aaron was doing because when he got back up, he popped up. He had to be hurt. Great. But. Had to be hurt. So next question about that hit is like, do you feel that on contact or when you hit the ground? Both, yes. Yes. All of it. Usually the initial hit is like a, oh, and then it's, oh. Okay. All right. You know, all that. And then what's your bounce back time for that specific hit? Because obviously you're trying to make it feel like. Some of them, there's nothing you can do. When Bart got me, I didn't know I was living. Like it was like, you know, like bring the gurney out. Like I'm done. When you go back and you took the next snap. I don't know if it was the next snap, but I didn't miss much. Yeah, we're going to hand this one off. I don't care where you go or who takes it from me. Anybody else. Just figure this thing out. Well, so talking about those hits, man, like, unfortunately, there were quite a few that Aaron took. And it felt like as we're talking about everything, I mean, there's pressures and it felt like we were being bombarded. And then they decided to blitz. Yeah, it felt like man. And it seems like New England might have cracked the code on that, man. Is that you think that's something that you'll see other teams start to implement? No, man, that's a good that's a good point. You know, it did it did feel like they were bringing again, not having the numbers in terms of how many blitzes and the analytics of it. But it felt like they were bringing they were blitzing. And even when they're not blitz, it's like we're going to bring five shows. So it's like one on one on one. It's just like, hey, if we bring five, we anticipate one of our five is going to be one of your five. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? Sometimes, you know, when you think of blitzing a lot, you think of bringing one more than they can block. Right. So if you have five linemen and say a running back, that's six. OK, bringing seven, that's one more you can block. Bringing six, you know, one more. But it felt like the Patriots were like, you know, we're going to we're showing it. We're going to bring it. We're showing it will bail. Like and it just felt like they were confusing the line. And I don't I know this. I'll tell you something that was Erin's not confused. Erin, he's seen it all. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. It's not about Erin right now. It's about the group up front. Like they need to get something figured out because where I'm concerned is that other teams are gonna be like, oh, OK, like this is what it is. Now you run the risk of blitzing and Erin getting the ball out and getting burned, right? Like that is always going to be the risk. And that's what you have to understand is that you get a veteran guy like Erin. If you can, if he can get the on the, you know, get his receivers and get the ball out of his hand. I know Coach McCarthy, we'll talk about later, doesn't want to like, I heard him make a comment like, I don't want to be a dink and dunk, or I don't want to throw a short or something like that. But at some point, if your guys can't hold up, you better get the ball out of your hand. Erin's like, hey, listen, this ball has got to come out yesterday. Yeah. And so I fear that other teams are going to be like, you know what, we're going to take this chance. Like we're going to take the chance that you can't hold on to the ball, that you can't protect it, that you can't go down the field. And so we're going to see this week. We're going to see this week. And when we get to our Cincinnati preview at the end of the show, we're going to have to really think about like, is this something that's teams are going to start doing? Like let's find a way to heat them up. Let's find a way to, you might as well do it until Aaron and the offense, until they beat you. And if they beat you once, keep doing it. Like make them beat you twice with it. Yeah. And the hard part is, man, it's like these guys just have to get better because I don't know where the level up on the old line is going to come from because we're not, we have, we draft, we draft them, we're not seeing them. Where is he? Where is IMAX? I was going to ask you that. So my question is this. Why is he not playing? Is there something that none of, like, is there something going on in practice or the meeting rooms? Right? So if you draft a guy in the first round, there's a reason you draft in the first round. You don't draft an offensive lineman in the first round, saying, you know what, he's going to be great next year. He's going to be great in two years. Like, not lineman. You don't do that. You do that or you send him to Dallas three years later. What you do, so that tells, so that makes me ask the question, is he not, does he not know the offense? Because that's the reason not to play someone if they don't know what they're doing. Okay. Is he just look like really bad in practice? Is he not blocking anybody or people beating him left and right? Because I don't know why he's not in there either. He can't be worse than what's in there right now. I don't ever like to bash players. We don't like to do that on the show. That's not, I'm not trying to say. I'm saying as a collective whole, that group up front, and I know enough linemen there. You know me, you know the guys who got on the show, you know my brothers, they're the dearest and nearest to my heart, my office linemen, I will always stick up and stand up for the old linemen. And so by me saying this as a quarterback, I'm saying this out of love. Like they need, and no one, I promise you, no one's taking more pride in more hurt, like it's more hurt than them. Sure. But they got to get something figured out. And at some point, talent is only like, you only have so much talent at certain spots. This dude has talent or else he wouldn't have been drafted early. Like at some point, get him in there because it can't. Let's try it. You might as well take your lumps, figure out what position you want to be at and just say, listen, just be physical because we know he's a big physical dude. Right. Like just say, hey, listen, just go see that guy across you, don't let him hit the quarterback or in the run game, move that guy out of the way because that's what, in order to solve a lot of this is it's going to come down the run game, and that's O-line driven. We can't run the ball right now. Now I don't know how much we're trying and with Rico being like, he had a little toe, Warren like we talked about that when we were worried about our running backs in our week one or our pre-season final. We need to run the ball, take some pressure off Aaron like, but we can't run, put this dude in the game, unless again, unless there's something going on we don't know about. Yeah. But you've got to get him out there because right now it's mind-blowing to me. I mean, him and then what, Jennings Dunker, right? I mean, we haven't seen him. Yeah. He looked like he's got a little bit more to go like in the preseason. Sure. But again, at some point, like we had guys get driven off the ball. What do you think is going to happen this week when Dexter Lawrence is out there? Brother. Hello. Not, hey, not stoked about that. I don't understand, man, because that was another thing you brought up, the running game. That was another thing I was going to ask you about, because we did touch on, we felt like the keeping of four quarterbacks maybe made our running back room a little thin. Yeah. Rico goes, I mean, we got two phenomenal running backs. I mean, Jaylen Warren's bad run is still a good run. We got to get in the ball more. We got to run the ball more. But if, I mean- That's coming from a quarterback. If we're not, outside stuff, I mean, if you're not creating the lanes, it doesn't matter. Do something, do something, anything. Yeah, what if that's the- It's a great office of mine, do something. What if that's the pregame hype up speech? Hey, y'all, you got to do something today. Do something. Do something. Yeah, that is, I do not know, I do not, I wish I had answers, man, because I think there's just a lot of frustration to where, like, I mean, I'm not even trying, I'm not even asking y'all to do something that I think is beyond our talent. No, no. I think it's in you. I just would love to see it. Speaking of that, I think another thing on the offense that I would aid in that is, man, I feel like we got to talk about DK's drops. I mean, this, DK fans over here. For sure. All right, I'll lay these cards on the table. I understand Pittsburgh as a whole, it might be sharing frustration. I have not lost faith in DK despite the shortcomings here. Neither is Aaron, which is important. I'm just, let me ask you, quarterback, what is it? Because it's not like we went out and found a guy that we're hoping should show some promise. This man has a resume, big body receiver, it's clear what he's capable of. Why are we not seeing him? Is it confidence? Is it, what's going on in a number one receiver? That's mine. Yeah, I mean, I don't think it's a lack of confidence. I think receivers are some of those confident people in the world. Like it's just what they do. I don't like I think people will say something like, you know, he should, you know, does he need to catch more passes? Like before practice, catch 100 balls after practice, catch 100 balls. Like, no, it's not about that. Like reps. It's not about reps. I promise you, it's not about reps. Because if he got, if you said, hey, DK, I need you to catch 100 balls before practice, 100 balls after practice, he's going to catch 98 to 99 of those 100 each time. Like it just, it is what it is. Like he's got hands. He can catch. He's a receiver. He wouldn't be here if he couldn't. It's not about that. Right now, I think he's just, he's probably in his own head a little bit. You know, I think he's probably like at some point too, and I don't know DK well enough to speak for him, but I know I can speak on what I've done in the past. What I've seen other guys do in my many years of playing is sometimes when you start to struggle, the issues you start pressing too much, right? You start trying too hard. You start saying, I got to get out of this funk. I got to get out of this little slump. And so then it's like, I got to do the extra. I got to do more. And it's like, no, just be you. And I'm hoping I think he's a pro. Aaron's probably like, hey, listen, dude, relax. Relax, right? Aaron's, I just hope that he did a relax one of those years on like losing. Relax, relax, relax, relax. I think we're going to go dark. We're going to catch balls in the dark. Whoa. That seems impossible. Dude, the fact you need to see that. No, but in all seriousness, I think it's just like, hey, I would say, if I was talking to DK, if he was watching, hey, hey, DK, let me ask you a question. How many balls have you caught in your life? Thousands, tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands in your life. Probably hundreds of thousands of footballs. You know how to do it. Don't overthink it. Just play. Just do, just be you. Don't, you're trying to just, and then as a coordinator, as a coach, how can we help him? You saw what they did early in the game, throwing those screens to him, get him involved, things like that. That's not like to me in watching DK Metcalf, his game is not like, let me run a shallow cross. Let me run like a five yard in route, out route. Let me catch a screen. Like, yeah, he can do those things, but let's set that guy down the field. Yeah. Let's send him deep and let him go up. Let him high point balls. Let him run under a ball. Let him, those catches are different than some of that. Like sometimes you get like, when you're running some of those routes and there's defenders on inside and outside, and the ball gets on you quick because Aaron's got a real quick release, is sometimes your hand placement can get you. You know, when there's traffic, it's like, okay, am I here? Am I there? Like, what am I doing? Big guy, right? Like Santona talked about it last week. We sat and had conversations. And when he left here, it was awesome because upstairs he was telling the kids, he saw both my boys, and they were talking about throwing and catching everything. And he said to him, he goes, hey guys, listen, remember when a ball's above your head, it's thumbs together. When the ball's below, it's pinkies together. So low pinkies, high thumbs. San Antonio Homes is teaching your kids high thumbs. But when you're up, and Tone's not a little guy, but little guys are real good. You get those guys, those little slot guys, Wes Welker, Julie Biddleman, Switz, some of those guys that just know how to end traffic, flip their hands around, Heinz Ward, great at that stuff. Big guys, that's not natural necessarily for them. But let's get them down the field where it's just ball dropping and ball high point in the ball. You know, doing some of the things that he does. And you might not hit on all of them. I mean, we saw week one, they took some shots and there were some PIs they did. Now there was some that weren't called, but they went down the field. Now I know, well, Ben, the line can't protect. I get that too. We're working on that. But you can keep it tied in and you can get the ball out of your hands if you have to. So that's what I would like to see them do for him as well. But I think that could help build his confidence. As a quarterback, are drops ever making you lose confidence in receivers? Is it predicated on who the receiver is? Yeah. So perfect example, Jeremy Bernard, young buck. I thought he played well. Did some good things. You're starting to see some growth. I think he's got potential to really be a guy that Aaron likes. Got away with a veteran push off one time, just doing some really good things. Now, that being said, because it's funny you asked that question, he catches a screen pass off the chest that gets picked. Right. Same sort of thing. Like, okay, as a quarterback, you're like, how many times I told you on this show your favorite pass, I'm going to throw a screen and the guy goes ADRs. Statute. You know what else stinks when you throw a screen and it gets picked off. So it's just one of those things where it's like, man, the young man did some really good things. And that's like the app. I mean, if he drops it, you're like, gosh, you dropped, you should. It was the absolute worst thing. It could have happened. I mean, the guy picks it off, he starts running back, Aaron gets kneading the head on the tackle. All kinds of things happen bad. I think because of who it is and I was always a guy, I was like, I'm coming right back to you. You dropped the ball, I'm right back at you. It seems like Aaron is the same. You got to keep, because if you don't, all of a sudden it's like tank, right? It's like, guys start, man, I can't. Same thing, like he's going to keep going to DK. You think he's going to stop throwing to DK because he's dropping the ball every once in a while? So as a quarterback, if you want to keep their confidence up, you want to keep throwing the ball, you want to keep building them up. And so that's where I think Aaron is. And I think he's going to go right back to that Jeremy Bernard. Like I said, I think he's got a lot of potential. I think you're going to see more of him, Roman, not having Michael Pittman, I think that's a big deal. So the more we get some of those guys out there, I think it'll be huge. No, I agree, man. I think, especially those bigger guys, if you get this run game going, I mean, like let's not forget that we have Darnell Washington on our team. Yeah, Big Mount Washington. I mean, like, let's- And Pat, I mean, it's, you've got the weapons, but if you can't get on the ball, you're struggling. I'm saying, man, put Darnell along the line. Like, listen, your first job is going to be blocking somebody. Your next job is go catch the ball if you need to. Yeah. You know what I mean? So it's like, man, it's crazy to think that we have, I've been a big fan of Jeremy since we drafted him. Yeah. I thought it would be good. Yeah, I think that's going to be great. I'm excited to see the Roman Wilson, Aaron Rodgers connection. Yes. But those are guys that could be blitzes. The Romans, the Germys, like those little, the Friar Moose, like that's how the ball gets out of your hand. You beat a blitz. Yeah. You know, when a blitz comes, you don't want to sit back there and hold the ball all day. You want someone to win and you got to hit it early. Yeah. And so I'd love to see the offense come around. I don't know if Pittman's back this week against Cincinnati. I have to check into that. But at some point, Simon, you also have to analyze the coaching, right? Because this is supposed to be new. It's supposed to be new, but it looks real familiar. And so I watched a little bit of McCarthy afterwards, and he seems taking responsibility. Doing all the coach stuff. Doing the coaching thing. Taking all the responsibility. Yeah, he mentioned something. He said he wants to turn the volume down. I'm assuming that's breathable. Less volume. What do you think? Less volume. How will that look? Yeah, I think it's less volume in terms of how much is on everybody's plate. Sure. I think it's kind of one of those things. And I've been there. We've done that where it's like, man, we're struggling. We can't get things going. And I've gone into the coach's office and said, hey, listen, we're doing too much. We're trying too hard. Sometimes there's something to be said about less is more, right? It's like, hey, why don't we do what we know best and do it fast, do it well? I think that'll help the line, which typically the line just has a few protections. I don't know why they're struggling so bad, but maybe there's more involved. But like we would have a play sheet, right? And the coach's play sheet. And on the front of the play sheet was like all of our plays for the week, all 200 plays. The back of that play sheet was like our no huddle, our two-minute drill, the stuff that we do that never changes. We do it every week. We'd go into the week and be like, listen, let's go to that back side. Like, let's, we know this. Let's cut that front down. Let's go to this. And I think that's what Coach McCarthy's talking about. He made another comment at some point, like he felt something on Wednesday or Thursday or Friday, like a... Early in the week, something. He was like, it felt like he didn't like the practice. He had a bad feel. I forget how he said it. I was kind of like, okay. And then Aaron, of course, Aaron came right back with, he didn't feel that. Now you could feel things differently as a player and a coach. So that's not anything crazy. But yeah, I think it's just going to be one of those things where like, hey, listen, let's, you know, cause that, cause he, you know, McCarthy's one of those guys has a lot of plays. I've been on with coaches that have a lot of plays. I've had a little place. If you have all those plays, you have to rep those plays in practice. Yeah. Some plays you're only getting one rep on. Some plays you're getting two, three, four reps. You only get so many plays a week in practice. So it's like, listen, let's, let's take some of these. Let's get those ones out here. Let's rep these ones. Let's rep these ones a few more times. Let's get rid of some of the kind of uniqueness. And so I would imagine, none of us will ever know either, by the way. None of us will know how much they're cutting the volume down. Sure. But I think that's what he means by like, let's just make it less confusing for all these guys. Because he can give Aaron everything. Yeah. But the other guys you got to worry about. Is there anything that you saw on Sunday that makes you think that, like, what would you say if you had to guess that we did well enough to say this is what we're focusing on? Nothing. That was my fear. It's like, cut the volume down to what? To what? But again, I don't know that we'll know that answer. I don't, you know, it would be one of those things like if all of a sudden they come out this week and they play really well in offense, and they put up points, they put up yards, they convert, they send the other, then the coach and the players will have to be like, you know, this week in practice, we really just shrunk it down and focused more on things we, that's the only way we'll know. Yeah. And we won't know what that looks like. It's not like they're going to be like, oh, well, you're going to see less formations. Like even if they do less, like we won't know that. Yeah, but that's true, man. Like how much of it is like, hey man, we just didn't execute on what we had. It's not that we had too much. It was, and I'm not, obviously if your coach is saying that, I would imagine there are other position coaches that are saying like, hey man, we're just, these guys, it's not looking how we want it to look, but at what point in time are you sitting there and you're like, man, we're just not executing. And so now we're limited. But why are we not executing? I mean, only they know because they watch the film. We don't know. But if it's like, hey man, we can't execute this for whatever reason, and say it's not something that's like, hey, we're just inundated with too much or whatever, and now we've limited what we're doing, but now we have a limited thing that we can execute. I'm not saying that's going to be the case. I'm hoping it's not. I'm optimistic in it, but at what point is that limit going to hurt us? I can't even watch this game and be like, okay, let's build on this. Nothing looked good to me. Like I'm just being honest. We didn't run the ball well enough. I mean, there was some Jaylen Warren run. Okay, I would say this. Let's build on Jaylen Warren running the ball more, because he can do it. But again, if the line's not opening the holes, if they're not protecting for Aaron to throw the ball, like, what are we building on? I don't know. Defense! Yeah, well, that's what we're gonna do. Let's get to the defense. Let's get to the defense. But before we do, this break is brought to you by Illusion Brewing Company again. Not really, they, I don't, did they send this in? Somebody sent this in? I don't know. They didn't bring it to, this is a brand. Yeah. Somebody paid for this, I think. But this one, oh dude, this is American Blonde Ale. Olmsted Ale. Oh, so that's Aaron. Meryl just sent me a video clip of the game, like him breaking down the film. We can't play that on this show. We can't play that because who knows what he's talking about. Meryl, I promise you, Meryl, I will look at that as soon as this is over. If we've got to go back and edit, we will. Yeah. Yes. Again, another easy drinker. It's 5%. What is this one? It's called American Blonde Ale. Oh, a little blondie. This is what we're working with here. If you guys want to try it at home, you're looking for that. Blonde beauty like my wife. There you go. A little shout out to Ash. When do you get on the show, Ash? Oh, yeah. When is she getting on the show? You promised that to the footballing family. Oh, boy, do we promise. Oh, that's good. You, I don't know if you promised it. You promised to look into it. That's really good, right? It's really good. I will definitely. Look at that guy on the front. Who is that guy? Olmsted? That's Olmsted, dude. Who's Olmsted? That's that guy. Oh, okay. Hey, Omi. Yeah. The Omi. The Omi. The Omi. My guy. Yeah. No, it's more about trying to figure out if Ashley is going to come on a live stream or this show. And she's trying to figure out which one could be edited faster. And she did ask which one would be seen by less people. So we can. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry, guys. Listen, fam, I am trying. There's no answer to the second one. I think the live stream would be hilarious. Brother, you know I can't edit it. She's not that she's like she's not she won't do nothing crazy, but it's it's she's a passionate person. She's a passionate person. And she loves her Steelers and she vocalizes it authentically. She does. She does. All right. That was very good. Thank you, the Omi Stedale. Let's get into the defense, Ben. All right. Yeah. Luckily, TJ showed up. I thought the edge rushers, all the outside linebacker showed up. And I was nervous early because I texted you. Yeah, because our friend, Alex, I know I jumped off sides. I don't know if I agree with that call. It was a flinching. It was a little bit a little bit. But I think he more than made up for it for sure. And you said that he's going to he's got to he's going to bounce back. Yeah. And he bounced back, which is what we expect. He's a great he's a great football player. He played phenomenal. TJ Watt was doing TJ Watt like type things, disrupting the game, putting his hat in the ring for defensive player of the year candidate. Herbick punching the ball out, creating a fumble early. I thought the defense played really well. I know everyone's talking about the offense because it felt so abysmal. That's a word abysmal. Wordsmith, look at you. I don't know what it means, but. Yeah, Olmstead, once in a while, and you got abysmal. I think, I don't know why I have this feeling, though, and people are not going to like this. They held them to 13 points. That is always a win. You have to expect anytime a defense holds a team to 13 points that you're going to win the game. That's just that's a winner. You know what I'm saying? It's supposed to be. But that being said, like it never, other than like, you know, there's a, you know, the big pick by Patrick Queen, who I love that play, the punch out fumble, you know, the turnovers, but it like, I don't know, it just still felt like it could have been so much worse. Yeah, like it felt like the Patriots just kind of like, you know, didn't do their thing. I'm like, hey, I'm nervous because yeah, 13 points, they did what they're supposed to do, but that seems without their star wide receiver. If you don't get the turnover, gosh, it just felt like they're running the ball. It felt like they could do a lot of things they wanted to do. Yeah. And I just, I'm trying not to, I guess, get too, too excited. I mean, I want the defense, I want to be excited about the defense, but I'm just nervous that it's not, I don't know, I think the 13 points is deceiving. I'm scared, I'm nervous that it's a deceiving number. That's all I'm saying. Yeah, I know, I agree with that, man. And I think at some point too, you get a team like we're running into next week, which we'll touch on, who's got weapons for... We're going to finally see. We're going to see what this defense is made of, because we're about to find, we're about to run into an offense that is... I don't know what the running back situation is like. What's our secondary hold? Who are we putting on Jamarche? We asked this early, who are we putting on Jamarche? We're going to see. We're going to see if this defense is going to be a, if we're going to be in a lot of zone, if we're going to be in man. Which is an interesting thing I wanted to talk to you about. Week one, strictly zone defense. Yes. Not one play where you man defense. Is that something you all do? I never heard of. When I saw that, I saw that same thing you saw. Yeah. I was blown away by that. I've never heard of that before. I couldn't even imagine. What would make one do that? Because I would imagine you're- I don't know. You saw something, you don't, you won against a team that you don't think can beat you. They have a great run. Think about the Falcons. They have a great running back. But they have a quarterback. Maybe they have a quarterback that you're not worried about in Cooper Rush beating you. I don't know. I know. Yeah, they have weapons, but it's like they weren't scared of it, I guess. I don't know. This week went to some more man. And early on, the man was scaring me because guys were running open. Yeah. And I'm like, oh boy, this is going to be a long day. Hey, go back to that zone. Coaches, go back to that zone. So I was definitely nervous about what they were going to do. Typically, you want to be a team that mixes it up. Blitzes some, doesn't blitz some, zone man, zone in man combined, combo defenses, things like that. So we'll see what they go to this week. But man, when you got some weapons out there, you're going to have your DBs getting called on a lot. And sometimes to protect them, you got to go into the zone. And I think something that's going to be a little bit interesting to see is, what does it look like if all of a sudden big plays are happening, like kind of on top of big plays, on top of big plays, on top of big plays? Like, how do we slow it down? And I know one way is our rushers. We get our outside guys in there. We get TJ, Alex, Hervick, those guys in there. They can cause disruption. But if a team can start, like, just run the ball on us, and then they throw in it too, whoo. Yeah. I will say one thing that I loved seeing, and it seems to be pretty effective, is TJ, Alex switching sides. They talked about- Mixed matching. Yeah. They talked about them moving those guys, that whole unit around for a while to see it happening. I think TJ's first- Sat can't wait to see it. Yeah. I just want to make sure, too, that when we get into Sensi, like I said, I don't know a lot about the running game. But something I did notice in this game is that there were a couple of times that Wilson and Queen couldn't get off the blocks in the run game, and it makes me a little nervous, especially when we start running into teams that are- Who do they have over there? Going to be running the ball a lot. Let's see what they have. I'm just looking up folks real quick just to see Cincinnati's running game. They have Chase Brown went for 20 carries, 80 yards. He's good. He hit a season last year. Yeah. We'll see. Obviously, we know about their passing game and Joe. If we can get after Joe early, I think that would be good. Just try to think. You know what I did love? My one more note that I had here that I thought was really what I love to see is the blitzing by Ramsey. I love when we're blitzing early. I love when Ramsey's blitzing. I know that like we talked about with Aaron on our offense, is blitzing can be good, but it also puts more pressure on your back end. Well, that can be nerve wracking for you as a defense too. When you're blitzing guys, you're getting thin on the back end. So you find the right time, but I think we get Ramsey downhill blitzing more. I love that play. So I'm hoping that we can see more of that going to this week too. I mean, we're going to see more of everything, I think. We're going to see it all. Yeah, it does. I mean, it does feel familiar in that it's a division rival, right? But it's a whole, I mean, McCarthy ain't played him with the Steelers yet. Does that matter? It's going to be different. I think, oh man, we just got a little Jackson Dart went down with an injury. His quarterbacks are going down left and right. What are we doing? Yeah, it's bad. This is a bad week for quarterbacks. No, no, bro. How's it feel? You're in golf. Yeah, that's how that works. Yeah, it's going to be interesting because there was some, we're going to get into the Cincinnati preview here as we get into the family dinner. But like Cleveland winning on the road in Tampa, like beating Baker, like that one, Baker won that game so bad. Like we got two in a row in AFC North. Now Baltimore went down at home. There were some unique games this week, so I think there's some life, but. Well, that's the danger with Cleveland, bro, is that like all the quarterback jokes and you know, the Deshaun stuff is like, you forget that like, hey man, all that tape in Houston that he had like. Oh, he can do it. He can throw and run now. Yeah, you know, let's not. Let's not forget. We know. We know. Yeah, there's some stuff can happen there. Well, I thought the same way with the Colts, man. I was watching the Colts. Yeah. Oh, I know. How about that? I'm like, how about that? I thought that was going to. Hey, Ed, what's up, my brother? Evan, boy. Oh, I guess we're not eating much. I mean, look at the. What are we doing? Would you look at that? What are we doing? We're eating our feelings today. We're eating our feelings. I was drinking my feelings. Yeah, that's well. Evan, that's your mic. Hey, look at this. Let's just. Oh, he's got notes. Oh, boy. Let's talk. Can we? Can we just say first and foremost? Thank you, Evan. Thank you, Giant Eagle. Thank you, everybody over there for helping supply this amazing food that Evan can masterfully make with his bare hands for the family dinner. Thank you, Giant Eagle. Thank you, Bill. Thank you, everybody. Evan. Yes. Before we get into the game. All right. Tell us what we're eating. All right. There's a jalapeno popper potato skin in the front there. Yes, there is. And then behind that is a. Yep. Pepper Jack mac and cheese with some Cajun shrimp and then a. This is. Buffalo chicken sub. How are you going to eat that? How are you going to go? How are you going to go to town? I go right now on camera live. Brother. Smush it down. I've done more embarrassing things on this show than that. On this show. Is this have any spice on it or not really? A little bit, yeah. I'll get my red pepper flakes that I make for you. Oh yeah. All right, Evan. I want to show the people. Yeah, please. Just a little something for the. Oh, it's okay. No, it's okay. Y'all don't know what's going on here, folks. Yeah, that's. You need some experience. Look at that. I don't know. What kind of pasta is that? Look at that. Let's call it Rattatouille. Rattatouille? Not Rattatouille. All right, Evan. So we talked a little bit about the stats. We talked about the offense, talked about the defense, talked about McCarthy, talked about a lot of things. Hey, how are you doing, though, first? How are you? I'm doing good. You're okay? Yeah. Doing good? All right. How would you like to, what would you like to talk about? It's a family show. Okay. Yeah. I got some stats on that. Thanks, Johnny. Go again. But there are probably things you've already spoke on. No, we want you to. What are the fans thinking of that? There's just some things I need to get off my chest. Please do. Please do it here. Please. 3.8 yards per play. Oh. 3.5. Interesting. We got to check out. Maybe it is. Maybe it is. Did you make it up? No. Would you just be optimistic with that point? One touchdown in two games, right? Yeah. That's a good one. Yeah. 75 rushing yards per game. Yeah. Don't worry about that. 175 passing yards. Just look over that. This one is the one that puts a stake right through my heart. Five for 25 on third downs. Yeah. Is that any good or not? No. What's wrong with that? What do you mean? That is. We got five of them. 16 points in two games. We got five. That's a whole. It's a basketball team. And there's no unison on the offensive line. I don't know if it's because of the players or because of the scheme or because of both. But they're going to do less volume. That's right. Yeah. Same team, different mic. Oh. I went there. Good for you. I did. Wow. That's it. It is. I mean. We did swap the mics. Yeah. Different mic, same team. Mic, swap the mics, turning the volume down. Is there something here, guys? Add more volume. Add more. What did you... What's... Okay. What's the problem? Fix it, Evan. What isn't the problem as of right now? I mean, defense is... Defense looks good. I think they're all right. Defense isn't the problem. Yeah. Oh, that, that. Defense is not the problem. I mean, I'm sure that there is problems, but it's better than the offense. So if we have to make one good thing, then that's it. Dropped balls. You know, I think Jalen Warren should be the number one running back as opposed to Rico Dowdell. He's hurt, I know. Even Travis Homer, is that his name right? Yeah, he did. He showed some good signs there. Jeremy Bernard, I thought he was a bright spot. You know, the one play, the one we talked about that. But yeah, rookie mistakes. Everyone gets one. Yeah. I mean, we can afford some mistakes to him. The other wide receivers. No mistakes. No, I didn't. I'm not saying that. I'm just, you know, well, if you're a receiver coach, how are you fixing the drops? I almost said something bad. I'm not going to say. I don't know. Jugs machine. Just keep catching them. I don't know. I said, I don't know. Yeah. I don't know what else you can do. If you put DK on any receiver, jugs machine just to get reps. And with a jugs machine, they're going to catch almost all those balls. Yeah. But you know, live ammo, it's a little different. So how would you fix it? Um, I would glue. No, I mean, what kind of gloves do the Patriots use? Can you can you just like I didn't want to stick them? Uh, I don't know. Just more live action drills are the fans. What's the pulse right now? I can only speak early for myself. Yeah, it's only it's only the second game, but it's Aaron would say, relax. Yeah, I wouldn't relax. I wouldn't relax. I mean, do not relax. It's it's been the same theme for a couple of years and you know, but they just got there. Yeah, new. Yeah, I don't know. I'm at a loss. It's it's not very good. It doesn't feel good. It doesn't make you feel good. But it's early. We know that early. Yeah, but at the same time, if they don't jump on this move and train, then what are we doing? We can go back. Why is IMAX not in? I don't know. Who knows? He should be instead of Dylan Cook, right? I mean, again, is it is it the guys on the line or is it a scheme that they're trying to anything to run? I think it's it's a lot to do with scheme because too much. There's guys playing out of position. You know, there's no reason for Jalen Warren to be getting contacted in the backfield. We mean, like I'm just saying, like especially Jalen Warren. I didn't like when it happened to me. And Rodgers, like he does look a bit quicker this year. I don't know. He's got a little pep in his step, but he can only the stamina is still, you know, well, he's still 40. Yeah, and as a 41-year-old man, I can tell you, you know, I can't. How would your body felt today if you took that hit in the back? I don't know if I would have survived. Yeah. Yeah. He got walloped. The man. That's the perfect turn. I was like, here we go. That's it. Sitting on the couch now. Now he's done. Now who's the next man up? Then we get four quarterbacks. Yeah. And Mason, he even got to play for a little bit. Yeah. Got a little Snapski in there. Wow. That was reassuring to me. It seems like it wasn't though, the way you said that. No, it's not. Well, it's good that we have four quarterbacks. I mean, you could honestly have Aller or Howard in there and probably get the same results as Aaron Rodgers. So, again, like... I don't care what you say. They'll think you hate Mason. Yeah. No, no, it's just me. No, that's just me. So I've heard. It's rubbing off on me. Before... All right. So that's it. Let's do what we're supposed to do. Let's move on. Okay. You ready to move on or you don't move on? I'm ready for next week. Put that behind us. It's gone. Okay. Let's do a quick, a quick Cincy preview. Oh, boy. And it's back. There it is. And we're back. I... Sure lived. Okay. Go ahead. What's your... So let's look at this. We, by the way, we both had losses. So we won that game. I have a loss versus the Bengals. You have them winning. Yeah. And I distinctly remember you. You still think we're going to win this week? Um, it's too early to tell, but I'm leaning yes. Wait. Yes. To win. Yes. Forever optimistic. Yeah. Their defense is a lot better than it was. I know. I know it is. The good thing is the Bengals don't have a lot of weapons on offense. Yeah. And Joe Burrow was... We'll be fine, guys. So you're counting on Joe, like, turning into like... Like, just kind of falling apart. No. Leaves in the foam. I can be a realist. I'm scared. I'm nervous. I'm not very confident. But that black and gold heart that's beating in my chest always leaves a crack for a chance. All right. I'll be out there. Yes. It's happening. There's a chance. I'm going to say that I think Dexter Lawrence is going to be in our backfield. I forgot about Dexie Dexie. Dexie Lawrence. I'm sticking with a loss. I think it's going to be a tough one for us. I think they're going to score 30 plus points. This will be hard. I just don't think we don't think our office is ready yet. What if it's just, hey, we're not going to let the stain of what happened in New England be with us any longer. And we rally together, player led team. It's a Rudy moment. I don't know who's Rudy in the locker room, but one of them is Rudy. Run out and it's new fire in the chest. Yes, and then they realize stains don't come out. Yeah, well, that's in last year. This is a tie commercial. You can't say we're not. You're not sponsored. Not yet, but if you want to, would you say Magic Racer? No, it's tied. I'll spill this on my shirt and we can tie it. Absolutely. All right. Well, that's enough of the preview because so that's it. You just it's enough. You're just you're saying you just be optimistic. You don't really think we're going to win. I'm being optimistic because, you know, I want them to win. And I want to. How are you doing that, Ben? Just like the camera goes like every other every other answer, you know, I believe and it could be a bounce back game. That's what I'm saying. You know, they could show their metal right now. I'll let you know. Seven minutes into the first step. Yeah, after our first offensive drive, we'll have a taxi. Well, I'll text both of you and let you know. I'll check in. Yeah. Yeah. Depends on how nervous I get immediately. Yeah. OK. Well, Evan, thank you. Thank you for the near two cents. That was by three cents today. Either way, it's not worth much, right? Your three cents is worth a head pay and a half. But no, thank you, everybody. Thank you for tuning in. Thank you, Brian Eagle again for the family dinner. Thank you, football and fans. Thank you, Chuck. Thank you, San Antonio for last week. Guess what? See you next week. All right.