Steelers’ Offense w/Aaron Rodgers, Jaylen Warren, O-Line Must Learn Vital Lessons from Patriots Win

Steelers’ Offense w/Aaron Rodgers, Jaylen Warren, O-Line Must Learn Vital Lessons from Patriots Win

Three weeks into the Steelers season and there’s some lessons I think that Arthur Smith needs to take to heart if he wants to make this offense run more efficiently. We’ll talk about that with Alen Saunders. It’s the Locked On Steelers podcast. I’m Chris Carter. Let’s get into it. [Music] You are Locked On Steelers, your daily Pittsburgh Steelers podcast. Part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. Hello and welcome to the Locked On Steelers podcast. I’m your host Chris Carter bringing you your daily dose of all things on the Pittsburgh Steelers. As always, you can find the show on your favorite podcasting apps and on YouTube. Like this video if you enjoy it. Subscribe to this YouTube channel to get all of your daily Monday through Friday episodes as well as our bonus content. We thank you for making us your first listen every day because we’re your team every day. And today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. More on them later. We are joined by the man himself, Alan Sunders of Steelers.com. We you know him, you love him. Allan, this offense was really good in the first two drives and the last drive and then putrid in between, bookending uh the game well, but filling it with a nothing sandwich. Uh, I I did think that there were some line some things to learn here. And one of my main things that I thought that I wrote about for the Post Gazette was one passing to set up the run was the main way they they ran the ball in this game on on on first down runs where there was a pass that preceded it. Uh whether it was a completed pass or a uh or a penalty, uh the the Steelers averaged about 4.5 yards per carry. uh when there was no pass that preceded a first down run, they averaged a third of a yard. A third of a yard on six such runs dur during the game. I saw the Patriots teeing off on the run. I saw the Steelers not being able to get out in space, but when they did, it allowed them to get run. And what did you see that worked and didn’t work with the Steelers rushing offense Sunday? Well, I want to preface this entire conversation by saying the Steelers are tied for 12th in scoring in the NFL right now. And if you had told me they were going to be tied for 12th this season, I would have taken that and run away uh cackling like I just stole something. So like I while there are certainly lots of things that can be better about the offense and if you watch that game between the five minute mark of the first quarter and the twominute mark of the fourth quarter, you certainly watched a lot of bad offense from both sides. Uh but I so I I think that that needs to be said first and foremost. I think it makes sense that the Steelers were always going to have to be a team that was going to have to throw to set up the run. when you look at their personnel and their fondness and forget the fondness, just the obviousness that their best personnel is going to involve multiple tight ends. They don’t have depth at wide receiver. And if you’re going to go out there with multiple tight ends, people are going to counter that with heavier defensive packages. So, I mean, I John Smith and Pat Farmouth are not going to go out there. If you’re going to put an extra defensive lineman on the field, Pat Farmouth ain’t going to handle that guy. Like I mean I think his run blocking has improved but he’s he’s not he’s not a winner against an extra defensive lineman. Johnny Smith certainly is not. Where those guys are winners is you make them pay in the passing game for playing heavy against the Steelers two tight ends who are both tight ends but are really good receivers. And those two guys were almost complete afterthoughts in the offensive game plan against New England Patriots. By the way, major starting Robert Spalain. Remember that guy? Like real good coming forward, not great going backwards. Like I I felt like there was an obvious way to try to set up the run in this game that the Steelers never really even scratched the surface of. I I feel you on that because when I look at this offense and like you mentioned there, you when you bring those tight ends on the field, you force a defense into a joint. either a they get heavy to try to stop the run or b they get lighter and then you do have a chance to run with these guys and and block them in space and and set things up. And to me when I look at this Steelers offense the best running plays were when they pitched it out to Kenneth Gainwell or Jaylen Warren and you see Zack Frasier climbing to the second level guys pulling and hitting in space. Even Isaac Samu doing a good job doing that. and and you saw that really work in this game and I think you’ve seen that work a few times in this game and it puts less onus on having to win in tight spaces which this offensive line I think can do in spots but almost every time there’s one guy that get that that gets beat in a situation like a Troy Falanu or a Brick Jones or or Z even Zack Frasier at times and it’s it’s that popcorn scenario that Mike Tomman often talks about when you’re when you’re when you’re when you’re saying like hey like you’re trying to get a win across the forward. But that’s I think where the Steelers offensive line puts it at. And that’s why I think sometimes you you need to get defenses on the move out in space so that their wins can kind of space thing things out. And then you also allow your two faster running backs, Jaylen Warren and Kenneth Gainwell to make guys miss. And Jaylen Warren made nine guys miss in this game. Yeah, I thought their screen game looked pretty good, way better than it has in previous years. Uh, and I I thought they did look good running on the edges, which is what they want to do. Um, they don’t want to be a lineup in three yards in a cloud of dust team. They want to run on the edges and get explosive plays out of their running game. Um, it’s why Arthur Smith likes the wide zone so much. I, you know, they aren’t pass protecting very well. And it’s not, like you said, like it’s not like everybody’s out there just getting whipped every play, but somebody’s getting beat on almost every play. And that’s the problem is that there’s not consistent time for Aaron Rogers to throw and uh the receivers aren’t getting open and so there’s limited there’s really limited stuff in the passing game. I think they should have tried to use the tight ends more earlier. Um but like you know the also like there was a lot of cover two. You’re not going to get DK Medaf and Calvin Austin open if it’s cover two and they’re still stopping the run. like the the counter to cover two is well fine, put those safeties back there. Let’s go run at them. Like you want to put your safeties 13 yards off the ball. All right, bet. Let’s go run it. But uh the Steelers are playing heavy personnel, failing to block, and not getting open downfield because they’re not making teams commit to stacking the box against the run. It’s a bad combination. Um I don’t think the offensive lineman individually played poorly, but I think it starts there. I I don’t feel like the offensive line has yet been a winning edge for this team. I think they they could be better. We got a chance to talk to Kenneth Gainwell Monday morning or Monday afternoon in the Steelers locker room. Here was him when I got a chance to ask him some questions about his perspective on the Steelers early offensive performances. Um I think it would be real dangerous. Um I think we know the match up we’re going against and knowing the guys that we have in our room and the guys that we have on this team. um it’s going to be real dangerous, you know, mismatch against guys and um I mean it’s a game plan type of thing and um I think we can be real danger. Seems like like when you get guys like Zack Frasier and everyone else, they can they get to he get out fast like on your screen, Zach’s upfield blocking a dude like 5 10 yards downfield, then that gives you space to work. Yeah. Yeah. No, most definitely. Um the guys work hard doing it during their job throughout the week and you know um I trust them to get that block and they know they trust me to um make the right cuts and make the right reads to um you know get us yards cuz on that play we lost yards. You know we had the off start. So I mean um you know they trusted me to get get to the yard that we need to and basically did it. Early on you guys were running the ball almost at will in that opening drive. you had the pop pass to DK, but then it was just Jaylen here, you there, Jaylen there. What were you guys doing early? Well, and then what do you what did you see later that you guys want to clean up to be more consistent with that? Um, for one, I want to say um happy we got the win. And for two, um I think we need to clean up a lot on just grinding penalty. We just we got our foot on their neck. We need to keep pressing more, pressing harder. Um you know, that that got us in the end zone, got us in the red zone real fast, and we wanted to score in the first drive. So, I mean, um, I think running the ball is real good and, um, you know, we just trying to create plays and, you know, do everything we can. I think on your touchdown, you guys did like the fake jet sweep to Johnny one way and I think you guys did it another time for a really good game. What does that lateral like, you know, challenge do for defenses when they know that you guys have so many different players that can go different ways? Um, I think it’s I think it’s sort of kind of a mismatch. Um, but I mean, at the same time, it’s game plan. game plan situation and I mean shoot I mean hey if we can game plan it and get it done throughout the week I mean it’ll be good. Shout out to all the Steelers that continuously troll their teammates as they jump up behind us and say their name uh while we’re recording them because they it is funny like I legit have to hold my laughter half the time. But anyways, uh Allan, you know, to his point, like some of it is mismatches. Like I do like the wrinkle of the John Smith jet sweep where they’re a where he goes one way and it pulls a defender or two and it opens up space one way, but eventually we’re talking about this offensive line. They’re going to have to be a unit that can win on their own merit and not just catching them with certain schemes that that can displace people because those are good to have in your offenses, but they can’t be. This isn’t like, hey, Arnold, fourth grade footballers beat the fifth graders because we’re just calling the right trick plays at the right moment. Eventually, you have to win monoe mono in situations. That’s just football. Yeah. And I I haven’t really seen that. And I don’t think they’re far like it’s not like they’re they’re just get they’re just like playing uncompetitively. It’s that it’s a fiveman unit. You have to have everybody blocking together. They have a lot of inexperience. Uh I don’t think Isaac Sam or the one guy with any experience is playing as well as he’s capable of. And so you just have a whole lot of plays where four guys are doing it and one guy’s just not quite there. And that’s unfortunately not good enough. Like that’s that’s the the nature of offensive line plays. You have to have five men working as a unit and I just don’t feel like they’re there yet. And I think that’s part of what happens with a young group. They need to coales. They need to come together. This was something we said was going to take time this season and something that they needed to try to offset with Aaron Rogers and his ability to see the field and take advantage of what’s there. Uh we’re going to get to our stars and skulls grades. That’s next here on the Locked on Steelers podcast. Chris Carter, Alan Saunders. Stick with us. We’ll be right back. But first, want to remind you this show is brought to you by 5Hour Energy. Caffeine just got a flavor upgrade. Five Hour Energy Shots deliver tasty caffeine and 17 bold flavors. Each 2 oz shot packs the caffeine of a premium 12 ounce cup of coffee, plus B vitamins and nutrients with zero sugar and zero crashes. What I love most is how portable they are. They have big taste in a tiny shot. You can take it anywhere and get that boost when you really need it. Honestly, I love how fast it kicks in that it’s sugar-free, so I don’t have to worry about crashing later. It’s the fall, so if you’re looking for great flavors to mix with the cooler weather, try out gingerbread snap or pumpkin spice. Enough with boring flavorless caffeine. It’s time to give your caffeine a flavor upgrade with 5Hour Energy Shots. Get the favorites you love. Or be bold and try something new in store and online at www.5hourgy.com or on Amazon today. [Music] We’re back here at the Locked On Steelers podcast. Chris Carter here with Alan Saunders of Steelers Now.com. Uh let’s get to our Stars and Skulls grades this week. As always, we do our grades uh after the Steelers performance. Stars are good, skulls are bad. One to one to three stars are good to great to elite on the day. Uh, one to three skulls are bad play without a redemption. Uh, two skulls bad game as a whole. Three skulls all time terrible. And of course, there’s the dreaded bus ticket grade for if you need to get the heck off the roster with how bad you are. No bus tickets this week, y’all. We’re not, like I said, that’s a very rare rare thing. But with wins, we always start with the uh with with the good parts. Let’s start with the stars. We go one star here. Um, and we got quite a few one stars here. I’m not going to make Allen try to guess because there’s quite a few guys who I think did, you know, marginally well in the game. We start off with Aaron Rogers. He did have two touchdown passes including the game winner. Would have had more, I think, if he didn’t throw that bad interception to Robert Spelain. Uh, but he was efficient where he could be. Other guys here, Zack Frasier, DK Medaf, Calvin Austin, Broadick Jones, Mason McCormack, uh, Darius Slate, Jaylen Ramsey, Jaylen Warren, Kenneth Gainwell, Dana Qual, Derek Harmon, Patrick Queen, Cole Hulcom, Gabriel Peppers, and Chris Boswell. I know I just said a whole lot of players, but the offensive lineman specifically, Allan, they weren’t great, but I they they went up against a team that was leading the NFL in sacks and Aaron Rogers wasn’t sacked once in this game, and they were they won just enough in some key spots in the run game to help in some key moments. That’s why I gave those guys one star grades. Let’s stick with the O line. We’re going to move around here in a little bit, but what did you see out of the O line and specifically the guys that I mentioned? I mean, I’m I’m a little uh like the the no sacks thing is Yeah. What was his time to throw, though? Like, I mean, he was he was really really getting rid of the ball quickly. And you could tell when a lot of those throws were fairly uncompetitive. Like, he was just chucking it uh at times. Um 2.61 on the season, tied for third shortest time to throw for Aaron Rogers. Um, I think the like I said like it there’s there’s a lot of good out there. It’s just not quite good enough yet. And I think you’ve seen growth individually like Broader Jones had a tough week one’s really bounced back. I thought he might have been their best lineman. Um, like I you know I I feel like there’s there’s they’re showing growth and and maybe it’s not what people want to see right now. I actually talked to Mason McCormack today and he said, “We get it. We get frustrated sometimes, too, but you have to trust the process and and stick through it and understand that development curves are not linear. There’s going to be hiccups along the way and bumps in the road and I think I think you should like the trajectory of the offensive line. I gave one star grades to Medaf and and Austin. They both caught a touchdown in this game. Not it’s tough, but it’s tough to grade them much higher when they just they don’t get many shots. uh um uh both Jaylen Warren, Kenneth Gainwell with the with their Kenneth Gainwell gets his touchdown, but Jaylen forced nine missed tackles. And I said this during the game where I was like, man, if that was Harris averaging less than three yards per carry, people would be mad right now. But again, it’s just I think Jaylen Warren is doing a lot of the things that Harris did. Granted, he’s doing it differently because he’s he’s quicker and faster, but he’s making guys miss and he’s he’s converting situations even when the offensive line isn’t doing him as many favors as they should. Uh so they get they get points there. But, you know, I I thought from running backs to receivers, the Steelers largely had had a solid day. Yeah, I might have given Jayen Warren too. I thought he was the only reason they had any offense at all in this game. Um, and like you said earlier, I felt like when it didn’t work, it was mostly him getting hit in the back field because of the play calling. Um, like when they gave him any kind of chance, he was doing good things. Um, and then throwing in the the the Dline here, I thought Dan Aqual actually acquitted himself very well. And the way I look at it, he needs to be in over Keanu Benton right now because Keanu Benton, we’ll get to his grade later. Um, but I think if if Harmon can be healthy and and start, uh, who I thought he also had a solid game, you know, he had a sack and could have been better in some spots, but again, I’m not going to ding him too much in his first NFL action. Uh, but if if Cam Hayward, who we’ll get to his grade shortly, um, and Harmon and Aquali, your starters, and they can be consistently solid, that could solve up a lot of their problems they’ve had in the run game. I thought Dan Aqualia was really good. Uh, you don’t have Harmon on this list? If you don’t, I would. I put I put him as a one star. Okay. You do? Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I thought both those guys were really good. I thought the presence of Harmon was immediately noticeable. Uh when you saw I I thought the guys around him played better than they had. I think that’s a huge credit to him. Um Aqual every time I see somebody make a really nice play against the run. 96 is right there. I thought he was really good. Um and good shot with Cole Hulcom, too. You know, he came in pretty cold. Hadn’t played a lot. Uh, and and I thought he was, especially against the run, a differencemaker. The coverage wasn’t probably what he was happy with, but I thought the run defense was really good. Yeah, the I would have graded him higher had he not lost on that fourth and one play where he was out in space and yeah, there was that one. He lost the tight end down there in the fourth quarter, too. I can’t remember which one it was. I think it was Henry. Um, but uh but yeah, and then Jabil Prepers I thought was solid. Boswell points. Um, and then Slay with a second straight a second a second game with a with a breakup. Ramsay also just not targeted that they and he he lined up every I checked the the official uh snap count like checker and he was slot cornerback both outside quarterback positions and in the box in several different spots. For him to be all over the place and the Patriots just say we’re not targeting you anywhere. That means you’re doing something right. 47 coverage snaps and two targets and no zero completions. That’s that’s about as good as you can do it. Yeah. Somebody asked us like why were they picking on Slay? I was like I don’t think they were I think they were afraid of Ramsay. They they’d rather go at the other guy and that means I I don’t think it was about picking on Slay. I mean they were picking on James Pierre when he was in there. Sure, that’s fair. But uh I don’t think they were picking on Slay so much as just trying to stay away from five. Let’s go to our two star grades here. Um I threw in Corless Weightman because I really I didn’t at first I wouldn’t have thought that but he had three punts that pinned them inside the 20 and one really nice that there was a 55 yard that was really well done. Um in a defensive game when you’re having to win because your defense is creating turnovers, giving them longer fields to protect helps in there. So he gets two star grade. Brandon Eckles the the interception in the red zone which even though Kim Hayward tipped that pass, he looked like he was on it anyways. Like he was sitting on on that pass there and maybe it’s it gets through if it’s not tipped, but still huge red zone turnover and then of course big tackle at right at the the line to gain uh to end the game. He gets points there. Nick Herbig a sack, a forced fumble and also led the team with six pressures. I thought he was solid there. But I I think you’re going to contest with me here on Isaac Seamalu. I actually thought he was their best lineman. When I looked back, just there were several plays where I felt that Seamalu was kind of keying up the offensive line. I thought the screen pass, he was one of the key blocks for Kenneth Gainwell that set up the game-winning touchdown play later, but like he had the DTackle, spins his guy inside, and then he just rides him downfield. I felt like on a day where there was a lot of popcorn from the offensive line, he might have been the most consistent. I think it was his best game this year for sure. Um, and the first two weren’t weren’t up to his standards. Uh, I thought he was better in this game. Um, and I think uh I think there’s I mean I I don’t think he was bad. I’m not sure I think he was the best lineman, but you know, I certainly think he was good enough. Um, I I think will say that I’m grading Isaac Samalu on a little bit more of of a curve when it comes to it’s a lot easier to deal with stuff that doesn’t go right when you’re talking about first and second year starters on the offensive line compared to a Pro Bowler who’s 30 years old. I agree with that entirely. This one should be fairly This might be your easiest guess of the season. I got two three star grades here. Who are they? Who else? Quaden Hayward. Bang and Bang. I mean, Allan, I I don’t we we don’t need too many too much analysis of what they did so great. But, um, this is the second straight game where Cam Hayward’s tipped the pass that’s been intercepted. Uh, I, you know, I I I made this joke last week, I made it again this week. Man, he sure don’t look washed right now. Uh, you know, because he’s out there making plays, stuffing the run. also got his own sack. Uh, and then TJ Watt, two sacks and just they’re still giving so much attention to him. He’s helping against the run. He’s and he’s also dropping back in coverage. Like he’s doing different things as well. I I just think the the two guys that are supposed to be the superstars of the front were the superstars of the front in this game. Yeah, I thought TJ finally um broke through a little bit. U you know, tough stretch for him to start the season. I know he’s dealing with a lot of double teams, but uh still just just coming up short on a lot of plays in the first two weeks. And uh saw him get home, finally finish some plays. Uh think he actually ended up getting the forced fumble on the the one that Peppers recovered. They eventually changed that to what? I Yeah, I caught that after the game. I thought live that was Peppers, but Yeah, so did I. Um but but um yeah, that’s a really good game for him. And you know, they’re still running away from him. And I thought he made a pretty good point when I when I asked him about it today. He said, “Look, if we’re making them onedimensional, that’s a good thing for everybody else. Just let Patrick Queen and Cole Hulk and Peyton Wilson just turn and sprint to the other side of the field because they know it’s not coming this way.” I think that’s an interesting way to look at that. It certainly is. And my last point about the stars here, I look across the board here and I see Nick Herbig. I see Brandon Brandon Eckles. I see Dana Qual. I see uh I see a lot of guys coming coming in here. Kenneth Gainwell, Cole Hulkcom. That’s a real preers. A lot of guys coming off the bench and being key contributors in this in this win. That’s a good sign for the Steelers in their depth. And granted, there’s guys that could be better on the depth chart, too, but I thought that was another key point to this win was that they had guys filling in in so many different spots and playing fairly decently well and some even better than that. Yeah, I thought especially um and you know, I don’t think guys that Well, there’s a lot of guys on defense that are filling in. Chuck Clark, Jabril Peppers, Brandon Eckles, James Pierre, like uh Cole Hulkcom coming in. I don’t think they were all great, but none of them like none of them made the big bad play. Like, and I think when you have a defense that talented and you have backups in there, like that’s kind of all you need from them is just just don’t lose us the game and then the rest of these guys will win it. I’m I’m right with you there. Speaking of losing you the game, the guys that could have done that, we’ll go over that next with our Skull Grates here on the Lockdown Steelers podcast. Chris Carter, Alan Saunders. Stick with us. We’ll be right back. But first, I want to remind you this show is also brought to you by FanDuel. The NFL season is here and FanDuel is here to make sure you’re ready for all the action with this can’t miss offer. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. If your bet wins, you’ll get $300 back in bonus bets to use all across the FanDuel app. I love using FanDuel because it fits however you like to bet, player props, building same game parlays, or even jumping in live as the action unfolds. It makes every game more exciting, whether you’re watching your team or just keeping an eye on your fantasy lineup. It’s quick, easy, and the best way to add a little bit more energy to your Sundays. So, are you ready to play? Download the FanDuel app today by visiting fanduel.com to get started. That’s fanduel.com to place your first $5 bet and get your chance at $300 in bonus bets only on FanDuel. [Music] We’re back here on the locked on Steelers podcast. Chris Carter, Alan Saunders of Steelers Now.com. Let’s get to our skull grades here. Going to start with our one scholars here. Not too many skulls here. When I was reviewing the game, there was a lot of guys who ended up being neutral, I thought, but some some guys that did end up in the skull department. Uh four one scholars. We got Troy Falano, Pat Farmouth, Juan Thornhill, and Chuck Clark. Uh, Falano, I felt like of the offensive line, some of his losses were more detrimental in in in some of those spots we’re talking about was it was really costly. I thought there were some really good run plays that were set up by everyone else on a few plays and Troy Falanu’s losses, I think, just stymied more of those. Uh, Pat Fryouth just really not much of a of a day for him. And then he had the third down play or if he just sits down in in space, uh, Aaron Rogers can hit him with a pass and it keeps the Steelers third drive of the day alive. U, and then really not much else notable for him. He had one catch on three targets for like six yards. And then Juan Thornhill and Chuck Clark. I’m not going to ding these guys too hard, but I felt like they were kind of picked out at times. I could have thrown James Pierre in this as well, but just they were in spots where that that zone coverage that Drake May was able to find through them times. I felt like they could have stuck a little stick been a little stickier uh in coverage deep downfield. But again, not terrible showings for them. Just you want a little bit better. Yeah. Yeah. I think um Clark dropping the interception too. That too. That one kind of hurt. Uh TJ was funny talked about he’s like, “Yeah, they all run down to the end of the end zone to celebrate and then you got to look up on the board and you go, oh crap, now we got to go back and play defense again.” It’s like I never even considered that uh how much of a in addition to the let down, now you’re tired from running to go celebrate. Uh yeah, I mean that was a pretty easy one too, right in his hands. Um Thornhill I thought was okay. Didn’t play very much. Um and I don’t think he made like a lot of positive plays necessarily, but so I’m buying it. Uh two skull grade here. Only one two scholar this week and it’s Keanu Bettton, which I guess is kind of an upgrade because he’s been a three scholar in both the last two games. Uh, the only reason he’s not a three skull this time though, Allan, is as much as I hate the stat pass rush win rate, I I do I did feel like there were some plays, though he did not register any official pressures, I did feel like he did contribute sometimes to the pass rush with his ability to beat the guy off the snap, but still only one tackle. Still a problem in the run game. Needs to be better overall. Yeah, I thought he was much better. uh still with a lot uh left to be desired, but I thought he was much better. Uh I thought playing next to Harmon seemed to help. Um especially with the pass rush. I felt like those guys played off each other pretty nicely. Uh they got into a couple games uh that I thought worked well. So we’ll see how it goes. Uh they need Ka Benton to be a lot better than he’s been. No question. A agreed. One three skull grid. Can you guess who it is? 13 skull grade. Uh Payton Wilson, correct? And Payton Wilson primarily because when I asked around the locker room, got the sense he was the guy that was supposed to have the guy on the second touchdown. Uh letting him go and then just o overall getting benched for Cole Hulkman, still giving up a big play in that situation. Just not a good look for Pton Wilson. Also didn’t really contribute. But one thing he did contribute on, I thought about lowering him to his two skull grade was he recovered the Cam Hayward fumble at the goal line and that was a crucial play. He was on top of that one. I I just I look at these two guys, Bettton and Wilson, and I see so much potential for for both of them. P we we we know how athletic both of them can be off the ball. Keanu Bettton can win at the line of scrimmage. We’ve seen him do it the last two years. Payton Wilson, we’ve seen him in practice and last year in games, too, where when he’s just running and hitting, he can go make plays, but I think he’s in his own head a little bit and he talked a little bit in the locker room Monday, too, about, hey, like, you know, needing to be tighter on things, needing to be confirming on things, just like what what he’s doing here, what he’s doing there. Um, and I get if if those two guys in particular can shore up their weaknesses on defense, those are the things that can turn a defense from being uh from being bad early to being okay to being like opportunistic in this game to being more consistently good the way that I think a lot of people expect this defense to be. Yeah, I was looking at the PFF coverage stats and I I mean I hate the way they like just have to assign everything to somebody. I feel like it makes Pton Wilson kind of look a little worse than he was in this game in coverage. Thought outside of the one bust, he was okay. Um, and he played, you know, it’s funny. He was a guy that like during the game, my perception was he wasn’t out there very much. And then you go and look, you look at the snap count, you’re like, “Oh, yeah. Was that actually that there 35 tackles?” Yeah. And so, like, I feel like there’s this may be a little harsh. Um, I don’t think he had a great game, but I think you’re finding that I like I liked this performance from Pton Wilson a lot better than last week. Okay, I hear that. And listen, I I I think Pton Wilson’s going to end up being a good player and even a very good player for the Steelers. I think that maybe that’s even where where my three skulls coming from is that I I see this guy being such a bigger contributor in the very even in the very near future. I think that like like you said with the offense, I I think the Steelers are a lot closer on both sides of the ball to playing more complete football than people realize. I think that there’s some of the mistakes are very fixable things. Um, and they’re things that from guys that you can expect to fix them. Um, and I I think that if they can do that, they can be a team that wins because again like you know this this was an ugly win. You know, we you get five turnovers, you only win by seven. Sure, that’s an ugly win. It’s not a clean win. It’s not one that you’re that you’re that you’re saying put on the resume to make to rise up the power rankings, but it is a win in a in a situation where you you are glad to have this on your resume instead of a loss like the Packers have to the Browns on on Sunday. Uh and you know, at the end of the day, you look at the you look at the division records right now and now you’re ahead of the Ravens because they lost to the to the Lions this week. And granted, you got to face the Lions the Lions and the Bills at some point this season. Uh, so that’s going to be a challenge, but I I I still think that this is that when you’re doing these types of things early in the season and you’re learning from this, if the Steelers can continue to learn and run and grow on both sides of the ball, you’ll be looking back at these wins and saying like, “Hey, good thing they got those and they they grew because now you’re not in a situation where you’re barely making it into the playoffs or miss the playoffs while you are a growing team.” Kind of like the Bengals were late last year. Well, I think we saw last year the Steelers kind of they did not play their best football in December. Yeah. Um I think you’ll trade some September for some December if you get there. If you get there, that’s the big if. If you get there, I do appreciate the thought process of it is a lot better to work on the things you need to work on after a win. Um, but you know, I don’t hear a lot of people say like it would also be a lot better to not have so much to work on. You know, that would be, you know, it would be nice to just be going to this Viking games like, oh, well, you know, he beat the Patriots 28-3. It was kind of a laugher and yeah, we maybe we won’t even review the tape because it was pretty clean and it’s on to the next one. You know, got a tough travel schedule this week. Maybe we’ll just skip that. Like that would be okay. I’m just throwing that out there. No, they can’t do that, Alan. Then everyone would be able to write their stories by the end of the the third quarter. And I know I haven’t even started a game story until like 5 minutes left this year. Got to got to keep the fans stressed and the writers uh busy going up to the final final whistle there. Uh but hey, those were our stars and skulls grades here on the Locked on Steelers podcast. Allan, thanks so much for as always for tagging along and giving us your thoughts on the grades. Let people can find you, follow you, and get more of your work. Hey_PPGH on social media. SteelersWow.com is where you can find my written work and my podcast. Steelers morning rush and Steelers afternoon driver on the Steelers Now YouTube page or anywhere you find podcasts. Absolutely. He’s Alan Saunders. Allan, thanks so much for joining us. Thank you all for joining us here on the Lockown Steelers podcast. I’m your host, Chris Carter. Read my work in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette where I have a new number one in my quarterback draft rankings. Check who that check out that who that is and why that is uh in in in my rankings there. I also have a film breakdown on the run talk that we had uh and my stars and school grades could be read all at the Pittsburgh Post Gazette post- post-cazette.com for all of that work. As always, this is the Lockdown Steelers podcast. You can also find it on your favorite podcasting apps and on YouTube. Like this video if you enjoyed. Subscribe to this channel to get all of the daily Monday through Friday episodes. Back here tomorrow with Nick Farabah breaking down more elements of the Steelers here on the Lock Steelers podcast. [Music] [Music]

The Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense didn’t have its best day Sunday, but there were spurts where some of the potential was on display for Aaron Rodgers, Jaylen Warren and the offensive line. Christopher Carter and Alan Saunders discuss what some of the key lessons for the unit to learn were, and how the offense could be a lot closer to putting more complete performances together than many realize.

Also, it’s time for the Steelers’ Stars & Skulls grades from their week three win over the New England Patriots. T.J. Watt and Cam Heyward were obvious superstars, but Chris and Alan point out several backups who brought key performances to help with the win.

Steelers’ Offense w/Aaron Rodgers, Jaylen Warren, O-Line Must Learn Vital Lessons from Patriots Win https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7JorgD8nGLtvvMy1ogFetg

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