Big Ben talks Week 3 Steelers/Patriots, using tight ends, O-line struggles and more Ep 101

Big Ben talks Week 3 Steelers/Patriots, using tight ends, O-line struggles and more Ep 101

Welcome back to footballing with Ben Rothllessberger. I am Ben. He is Spence and you are in the basement. So, welcome. We are here after a big win in New England which I said we would win. Uh and we did. It’s funny because I put question marks around me. Look, Drake May question mark how he played. I thought he played really well. I mean, we’ll get into it, but um still a win. I am two and one now in my predictions of the season. We will get into this week’s game uh in Ireland uh in the Minnesota game. Um I was going to do an accent. I thought I’m not going to be able to pull that off. Um but as you’re pouring me the first one as we start the show as always. Yeah. Um why does it look so dark? Yeah, that’s a bad start. My bad. But hey, I I warned you though. I warned you a couple weeks ago. That’s right. I did remember that. You know what I mean? This one is This is a This is This feels like it’s going to be bad. Oh, it smells good. You know what else is bad? The reason I’m um dressed golf tired. I just got back from golf. Yeah, you look great. And thank you. I appreciate it. Uh my buddy Chris and I of course destroyed um my other buddies again, Chuck Nettles and Jeff Dyer. I mean, we just kind It’s kind of a reoccurring thing. We’ve never lost and so um this is going to be the first drinking. This is going to be the first loss I’ve had today. Hey man. Um probably looks like it. But uh just appreciate Chuck Nettles. It was at uh the 10 memorial celebrating his father to the Eden Nettles Foundation. So, love those guys. Love the Nettles family. Awesome dudes. Love uh winning. Keep asking them if they want to mix the teams up. They don’t. They’re still looking for their first win. So, sorry Jeff and Chuck Chris. Well done, my friend. Well, let’s have a celebratory drink. All right. So, this is from New Belgium. It is the Belgium collection 1554. A surprising bright taste and dry chocolatey finish. one evocative of dark brews enjoyed in Belgian taverns 500 years ago. So this is the OG just like you ain’t never lost 500 years ago. You’ve been winning for 500 years. Still a little stuffy. Sorry. You let me know what you think here. Okay, that’s not too bad actually. See, I told you. Yeah. You go. I was expecting Look at that. There’s a little like a hinty, not coffee, but there’s definitely something that you you can taste in there. The malt finish. Yeah, maybe that’s what it is. Um, it’s not I mean, which I’m excited to Did I say I was excited to get some Guinness? Yeah, you’re Cuz you’re going to Ireland. In Ireland, I’m definitely going to get some Guinness. Um, it is not. This is not bad. I’m going do one more little one. Yeah. Um, this Yeah, it’s like it’s like Chris and I meeting Chuck and Jeff since 1554. Yeah. Well, we like that. It’s not bad. Actually, that’s not that’s not horrible. You got a lineup of a couple heavy hitters today. One I think you’ll really like. Okay. I think it was it was the next one. I’ll break down the next one when we get to it. But um yeah, so you were golfing this morning. Yes. Rain victorious. And I used rain literally rained on us. Um yeah, here in Pittsburgh it was finally. But it’s been a month. I mean, you get like a couple inches of rain, it’s like it’s flooding. Unbelievable. We needed it bad. Yeah. My my yard was just yellow. Yeah. Yeah. So that’s what happens when there’s no rain. Yeah, let’s uh let’s do this, man. If you guys uh were with us on Sunday, thank you so much for joining. We did our first live stream of the season. We have a couple more of those that are going to be happening throughout the season. Um which we’re excited about. Those are always fun. We get to hang out with you guys, jump into the chat, take questions. Um those are a lot of fun. It’s It’s a long time to be staring at our faces though. Yeah. But um but it was fun. Yeah. We’re grateful for you guys tuning in. We’ll let you guys know the different games that we do as those get sorted out. Make sure you stay tapped into at Football with Benb on Instagram. We’ll announce those also on this YouTube channel. So stay subscribed to that as well. That being said, we got live reactions on tape for this game in New England. Um but we but that video which you can go watch it was just it was in the moment. We’ve had some time to think about it. We’ve had some time to react. Uh let’s let’s hear what you thought about the game after having some time to let it breathe a little bit. Yeah, I’m trying to figure out if I start this with, you know, do you start it or finish it with a win’s a win, you know, because it is a win is a win. Um but there was definitely some negative. I mean, there there’s some again, how do you people will say, well, and I when I played, same thing like, yeah, there’s negative, but a win’s a win. Um there’s things that need cleaned up. Let’s say that. Um there’s no there’s no way, rhyme, reason, shape, form, anything that that game should have been that close with five turnovers. No chance. That gives me if you say what? Give me some causes for concern. Causes for concern. The game probably should have been a blowout. They they turned the ball over. New England turned the ball over twice inside the two yard line like in the end zone. Like that that’s unbelievable. If if one of those isn’t a turnover. Mhm. One scores. I mean, it’s unbelievable. Not capitalizing off the turnovers. Now, again, we talked about during the the the live stream when you when the ball gets turned over somewhere like in in their own ends in in um like the when they’re backed up, the pitchers backed up, so the Steelers are going in, that’s a different ball game. When you get the ball turned over at like the one or two yard line, you still have a lot of field to work with, you know. Um, I still think that being said, a plus4 turnover ratio is great on the on the stat sheet, right? But you you you can’t make it so close and have to score at the end of the game. You know, Aaron Rogers throws a great ball to Calvin Austin to win the game. Still, New England’s got a chance to drive down and and really I think they they probably it would have been more interesting if they didn’t if they had a better fourth down call. Sure. Um, you know, they threw it short of the ch of the sticks, maybe expecting their guy to make the play. I I still am a little bit baffled. I don’t know if anyone asked coach Tom in his press conference today about the timeout he took there. You know, he’s during the when it happened, I was like, “Oh my goodness, I can’t believe that happened.” You, in my opinion, you want a team on offense that is kind of panicked. They’re rushed a little bit. They’re they’re they’re trying to get something figured out. Now, at the end of the day, it worked out and maybe coach designed some sort of a defense there uh because he had the time to to draw something up or or kind of calm it down. I guess it would kind of go back to how we’ve talked about a lot of times in the show when when we would go no huddle, you’d get the defense, they’re very vanilla, right? They they can’t draw up unique things. So, maybe in that sense, coaches like we would had to be a very vanilla defense because they’re rushing. Sure. You know, I don’t know. I to me without studying our defense, it seems like we’re a pretty vanilla defense as it is. Like it doesn’t feel to me like we’re getting a lot of unique pressures, unique defenses. And I think even coach Tomlin said that today in his press conference, he said there’s something along the lines of and I and I I’ll probably mess it up that situations or circumstances are preventing them from doing things. And I don’t know what that means exactly like like like what what the offense is showing them is preventing them or is it injuries? Is it Yeah, I don’t really know. But I want to see Jaylen Ramsey blitzing. I want to see safeties doing I want to see more linebacker stuff. I I I just I’d like to see the uniqueness. But anyway, I know I’ve kind of gone away from the the fourth down and Tomlin and then the turnovers. But the game shouldn’t have been that close. So that’s my cause for concern with the with the turnover thing. That just is it’s it it’s scary that that you can’t score more points with five turn that the game was that I should say that the game was that close with five turnovers for sure. Now, if it was five to four turnover ratio, there’s only one difference. You’re talking four of plus four. That’s crazy. Yeah. If that was five to four turnover ratio, that would have been a soup sandwich. It was already crazy. It was a crazy game. But is that is is that just something maybe then to be said about the Patriots defense or is it just hey man you got to turn something into something like Well, I’ll I’ll go to my my next cause of concern and it’ll answer your question a little bit. I felt like and again this is my opinion. It’s my it’s it’s our show. We’re we can say what we want. We might be completely off but this is this is never we’re never wrong. My opinion is as the game is going on, I think, and I’ll give you an example of why. I think that the the Steelers are afraid to take shots down the field because that cause forces your quarterback to stay in the pocket and hold it a little bit longer. And I don’t think the line’s playing well enough to do that. I think Aaron’s getting the ball out of his hands because he doesn’t trust what’s going on. Again, my opinion. I’m not saying maybe doesn’t not trusting is the wrong way, but he’s been getting hit. Okay, no sacks. Congratulations. Aaron still got hit a bunch. There’s a play where Brick Jones is standing completely upright and the guy basically runs right through him. It’s actually the play we laughed about when his guy hit Aaron as soon as he threw it and Broadick ran by. Remember yanked his shoulder out of place. That play, if you go back and watch it, cuz I went back and and and watched two plays specifically to watch the line play. Brick is he’s so upright and you can’t stand upright as a tackle. You’ve got to be you’ve got to get low because guys are just going to get underneath you. James Harrison, what are you talking about? Leverage. You get a guy like if James Harrison was going against Roger Jones, he’d have 15 sacks a game. I’m telling you, the low leverage he’s going to get around Brick has to be better in protecting. And then there was a play later and when we actually ran the ball, we’re in the end zone. I I wish I knew exactly. I could probably look up on my phone the exact play, but he you watch this from from start to finish of the play. It was a run play. He doesn’t block a soul. He like runs by the first guy and is looking around looking for another. I mean, it it’s it’s a little bit cause for concern. Okay. Like the panic button is sitting here, right? It’s in the glass case. You got to you got to flip the glass case open, then flip the little red thing, then hit the button. Okay. this team. I’m I’m not the team as a as a Steeler fan. I’m I’m just looking at the button, okay? I’m just looking at I’m not even ready to flip the glass the first glass case up yet. Okay? But when I start thinking about my line play, my hand is right here getting ready to flip the case up. I’m not I’m not I haven’t flipped the glass case up and then flipped the little red thing and then flipped. So, I got a couple more, but my hand is like h because I’m concerned with the line because I think what it’s doing is it’s preventing us um them the team. I know that part of it preventing the Steelers from opening up the offense. We’re not taking shots down the field. I saw we talked about it when we were watching the game. I’m like, we got to start taking shots down the field. Now, they threw it to DK, got a PI, which was great, but I would love to know the stat sheet on on plays potentially over 20 yards. even potential 100%. How many of those? Yeah, we’re talking about one play in which you’re targeting DK down the field. Down the field. And I know that Calvin also caught the touch. I don’t know how far that was the the last one, but it wasn’t like like I want some I want some deep balls. I want even if it’s the middle of the field, let’s work the middle. Let’s But but I don’t think I don’t think that the line is giving him enough time. And I think it starts with that left tackle. So either give him help or figure something out, right? Yeah, I 100% agree. I mean, that was the thing we were s we were seeing as we were watching it. I mean, the the challenge with that is when we were looking at the schedule and predicting things early, we’re like, well, you have the Aaron factor. Mhm. Well, the Aaron factor is only making an impact if you get to leverage his skill set with those receivers. Yep. And if you’re taking away the ability to leverage his skill set, then it’s you eliminate the Aaron factor. Right. And so, and but but here’s what I would say, too. Okay. So, so here’s my So, people might say, “Well, Ben, what do we do? Do you bench him?” No, I’m I’m not you. I don’t know what you have behind him, so I’m not saying bench him, but here’s what you do. And I think here’s here’s what needs to happen in order for Aaron to be maybe more comfortable. If I was the quarterback, maybe I don’t I don’t want to speak for Aaron. If I was a quarterback and I was in in this situation, here’s what I would say, and I think this is a a multiaceted answer. I want to get the tight ends more involved. We talked about it on the on the live stream. Remember, we talked about those little stick routes and the the We need to get John New Smith more involved. We need to get Pat Footh more involved. even Mount Washington. We have to get those guys more involved. And how do you do that? It’s it’s it’s five yard out routes. It’s little juke routes over the ball where they get lined up on linebackers and they have the option to go in both directions. We don’t need to get them involved right away at 15 or 20 yards down the field. Sure. If we can throw those little out routes and stuff like that to the tight end, just like we saw New England do right right after I said it, they did it and they hit the kid they hit the guy for almost 15 yards. I think it gets the ball out of Aaron’s hand. He’s not getting hit. It protects your lineman so that they’re not like having to block all day. So, you kind of get a two-fold, maybe three-fold answer there. A ball out, protect your lineman, and you’re getting tight ends involved. So, I think it’s a good way. It’s it’s it’s short passing game. And I’m not talking about throwing little like the I felt like it feels like there’s a lot of like let’s look down the field deep and then let’s hit the back as a checkdown. That’s great, but you can use your tight ends as checkowns, too. And it’s actually a way that you and and let them break a tackle. Let Johnny Smith break a tackle. Let Pat break a tackle and get seven or eight. Now you’re you’re in second and short. And let’s do it on first down. Let’s come out. Let’s come out the blocks a little bit. Um because listen, I know I’m all over the place. I I didn’t even anticipate doing this. Jaylen Warren ran runs hard. No one’s questioning how hard he runs. No one questions his balance, um his toughness, but at some point you’ve got to you’ve got to do something else. You’ve got to open holes. You got to give him the opportunity. We we have no explosive no explosive run game. No explosive plays in the run game. Um, and so I think it’s it’s it’s it’s frustrating as a fan. I think you can tell I’m frustrated that we have the weapons on offense. We’ve we didn’t have the preseason to do this stuff. Maybe all of a sudden now this is the end of the preseason, right? It’s three games. Now we’ll start to mesh or something. I don’t know. But if Aaron’s feeling that heat again, no sacks, great. But he’s still getting hit. He’s still got he’s still getting picked up off the ground. Yeah. He’s feeling that pressure. I promise you. And Aeron’s probably going to be in there right now with those guys. Hey, hey fellas. Like what are we doing? What are we doing? I mean, you saw them Sunday yelling at people. You know what I mean? Like it’s which and understandably. And I it’s I think the my question is like trying to diagnose and then remedies this is everything that you just spelled out. I think you know fans have been asking the same questions. Why are we not getting tight ends involved? Right. If our tackle is struggling over there, why are just you got five tight ends, man. We got more tight ends that the Browns have quarterbacks. Put give him a rib, but let him chip somebody on his way out. No doubt. Same thing they do to TJ Watt. You put a guy there, you chip, and then then he’s your league. So So then the question is, if this seems so obvious to us watching, why have we not implemented this so far? I don’t know. I I don’t know if it’s not in the game plan. I don’t know if they if if how much you need to see your your quarterback who’s not a spring chicken who doesn’t want to get hit get get hit until you start saying, “Hey, listen. We got to do something about this.” Yeah. And and listen, I’m not bashing Brick Jones out of just it’s it’s evidence. And that’s only two plays that I saw that it’s like, “Oh my goodness.” And I’ve I got some I got word from someone outside the organization, not in the organization, but someone that that watches the All 22 that was like, “Hey, there’s a there’s it’s not just these ones. There’s there’s a majority of the plays where it’s just it’s not good. It’s not good enough.” And I assume that Tom was addressing I assume the maybe it goes the O line coach. I don’t know him. I don’t know what he’s doing. But at some point there needs to be some accountability from that left tackle. Yeah. It just it’s twofold in my mind. one, it’s like why why is it seem so difficult to adjust it? Yeah. In real time, you know, I don’t know, maybe that’s a conversation we have. What does it take to if you have a game plan and and that’s what you’re putting in meetings and in the install? What does it look like to say, hey, that’s not working out here. Let’s flip the script, boys. Belich used to do that amazing at halftime. Yeah. What’s the impact of that? And then also like Arthur Smith coming in. I felt like we almost anticipated the overuse of tight end. Tight ends. I know. How has that not happened? Especially without like a a core two wide receiver. I know we’re using CA3 as that, but like I don’t know. That’s what we thought that that Pat was going to be like the you know a dude and and January. I was like remember how excited I was for John kind of like man what are we doing? I’m not sure why they’re not using it. As for the adjustments you can make in game when it comes to blocking. I don’t know if Arthur Smith’s offense maybe doesn’t have it, but it was super easy when we were playing. We would just call the protection with a chip. Put a chip on it. That tells the back to go chip that guy. If we had a tackle or someone that was struggling, whether you know he was whether injury or he’s going against Miles Garrett or one of the best guys, hey, listen back, you’re chipping that way every time or we’re going to put a tight end there. Chip on your way out. That’s not a in most offenses, that’s not a hard thing to do. I’m not Now, why are they not doing it? I don’t know. Maybe it is not in the game plan. Maybe they don’t want to do it. Maybe it’s a challenge. Maybe they didn’t think that pass rusher was that good. I don’t know. But it’s not hard to just put someone there. I mean, if it’s not in the game plan, brother, you need a new game plan. I don’t disagree. So, anyway, that was a, you know, I know that was a long-winded cause for concern. My cause for concern is is it’s always going to be the quarterback being protected, you know, and I never like to go with the lineman, but when you’re watching that and you’re watching someone get get beat up and and it’s affecting the game, again, yes, a win’s a win. We can keep saying it, a win’s a win. But this is that my hand when it comes to old line plane is is sitting right I’m tapping the top of that that glass case of that panic button. Just see 100%. Here you go. What What do you got here? Panic button. Cam just touching it. Just touching the top, you know. So um that that’s my that’s a that’s a cause for concern. And again, it kind of leads to the offense all in all. Like why is the offense the offense looks great? They they they might lead the league in scoring on the opening possessions, right? You go down and score opening possession. That’s awesome. They got a 14 nothing lead. We talked in the in the game, man. This is going to be a blowout. Mhm. Then all of a sudden it starts to settle in and it’s just like, yeah, what are we doing? Well, the pulse I mean the pulse of the city, man, and and fan the fan bases. Yeah, of course we should take we’re happy that we won, right? Cuz that’s going to matter in in in week 16 and 17 for sure. However, sitting here right now, I’m like, that many turnovers and you ain’t and you didn’t put up 56 points or you know what I mean? Like Aaron Rodgers, it’s not like you have a rookie quarterback that needs to get, you know, accustomed to the speed of the game in this league. You have Aaron Rogers, man. Yeah. And Aaron came through at the end when you needed him to, right? He made some plays. He made some throws. He went down the field a little bit. Got got help with some penalties. And um you know, you get a you get you’ve got weapons. I think it was great that on that play call is third down I think and they ended up going past the sticks. I think the defender probably thought it was going to be a shorter. You go to a guy that’s probably not expected to get the ball but you put it I mean that was a great throw and the one to DK was a was a was a good throw but DK is I mean that’s a big window. The one to Calvin Austin is is Gold Jacket Aaron Rogers. That’s a great ball, great throw. Um great read. And so yes, you you can look there look at it and say, “Hey, listen. Aaron bailed us out when he had to.” Yeah, probably did. But we again with five turnovers, you you probably should have put 30 someone on the board. Yeah, let’s be honest. And I think they know that. And again, the the the cause for concern is just that right there. I I think defensively I I I would like I want DK to get more involved. Yeah. Somehow. It’s crazy to me, man. We’re not We brought him in with all that money and he’s What are we doing? What is I’m curious of his stats because like I feel like I’m not hearing his name as much as I’m not saying he get the ball every time but like I felt like even when we had George we were targeting more I mean it’s every once in a while be like listen just get I don’t know throw it up there and we we talked about they threw a little screen to you get him involved but at some point let’s get down the field on on like a deep like a real nice slant route and maybe they’re maybe they’re putting two and three guys over the top. Maybe it’s not happening but I did see the one when they threw the deep ball and I’m like no here comes the safety down it’s single high and they took the shot. Yeah. Now, you know, there was a PI, but uh I think that that’s one too where Aaron will probably look back and be like, I if I keep that in, we talk about penalties are good, but you want to give them a chance to catch it, right, for touchdowns are always better than PI’s. Yeah. And you made an interesting point, too, man. Just putting your guys in positions like let them try to break the first tackle. Like, give them these You did that a lot. You did that a lot. Uh and I don’t know the reason behind it, but the last couple years like get these guys out there like you have playmakers. Get it to them. You know what I get the ball to playmakers and let them make plays. But it again, it feels like we’re giving the ball to Warren whether it’s hand off or throw a check down like way too much. Let’s get the ball on five and six yard out routes, five in routes, basics. That’s just like a 10 to 12 yard in route. Let’s work the middle of the field. It seems like we’re getting the middle field’s getting worked on us. Yeah, dude. Let’s let’s figure it out. Yeah, at least try it. I mean, you know, doesn’t work the first couple times and Jess, but like we’re not even I don’t know that I remember anything going over the middle of the field. Doesn’t feel like it. Yeah, I know Aaron was trying to go there on the pick. It was kind of a little seam route. We did hit a seam out early um you know on the cover two, but it just it is a little bit frustrating offensively that we’re not to me feel like we’re utilizing our weapons and I think it all to me it all does go back to the line. Like maybe they’re just not comfortable in in in having enough time to throw the ball down the field. So again, take the shorter passes. Seems like you you would be it seems like I don’t know if you ever thought about inside curl routes from the tight end. Yeah, it seems like you you’re passionate about this. I think you should a diagonal. That’s just like an arrow just straight to the flat. Let him break a tackle. That’s what I’m saying. Just lay it behind it with with DK. All right, we’ll dive into some of the positives after this beer. This one is from Victory. It is Dirt Wolf. Dirt Wolf. Dirt Wolf. This is one of the very first double IPAs I’ve ever had. kid. Dirt Wolf. Dirt Wolf. Uh, it’s 8.7 and says it has untamed howling hop flavor emerging from the woods. This strong pack of American hops converge in an aggressive dry hopping to deliver a big bold bite of citrus and earthiness. This untamed double IPA is on the brow. Call in the Dirt Wolf and you’ll invite the pack. Yeah. You do one of these. Yeah. Oh yeah. It’s double. I mean, it’s hoppy. I will say this about right here on this bottle, you’re like, “This is a smooth.” You get halfway through it. Yeah. You’re like, “That’s a nice I could I could drink a whole one no problem.” Yeah. Cuz it is that that’s one when if you want a good craft beer, that’s it. That’s got a If you If you like IPAs, double IPAs. That’s a great beer. No doubt about it. And it’s it is it is good. It’s It’s hoppy. You better have a water with you. Yeah. And you want to order a water with that one. That’s what I was saying. Better have a water. But this is one, this is one our good friend Brendan will definitely enjoy. He likes IPA. He would like that one. He might have to put it in like a glitter. Yeah. Cup or something. Well, he’s got that glitter cup. That glitter sippy cup. He always drinks out of Brendan does. Right. With the straw with the building straw, the curling straw. Yeah. Yeah. He loves that. It’s all right, though. So, I mean, we talked about some of the the areas of concern. What did you see that you liked? What did you see? You’re like, you know what? If we can maximize that. No. Um, well, I think if I’m going to start uh in on the positives, I’m going to go to the defensive side of the ball. Yeah. Yeah. Makes sense. And I know that there’s it’s it was far from perfect. Trust me. But I think the first thing you’ll you you have to go to if you talk about the defense is TJ Watt, right? There was a lot of talk going into this game about how many games as a sack, where’s he on the stat chart, where’s this, where is that? and all of a sudden he comes out and he’s he’s an animal. He does what he does. He recovers a fumble, at least one sack, tackles for losses, got held on a couple plays, he doesn’t get calls for. I think uh if you’re if you’re a Steeler fan and you’re excited about something, you should be excited about that. That okay, he still has it. We know that. We know he can change the game. Maybe this is what he needed to kind of get get going again. But again, it felt like they didn’t pay as much attention. They like a couple of their chips were not real chips. Like it was like in the tackle. Then one time when he’s sitting there waiting, he didn’t sit wide enough. TJ was right around him. So you still have even though you have a chip, you got to be a competent tackle. Yeah. If if I’m a a back or a tight end, I’m not looking forward to chipping 90. You know, I try. You saw me try though, right? I hear you. One thing I will say that might contribute to that um is this was the first appearance of Derek Harman who I was going to be my next comment very well. Yeah, I’ll keep it there then. I was very um grateful for his presence on that line. Sack again snaps limits. Yes, it’ll be it’s going to be fun to see the the continuation and the usage of him and stopping the run. Not again. Was it perfect? Did they limit them to you know yards rushing? I think they still had 100 yard rusher I think. Whatever. Um maybe not like 100 as a team maybe. Yeah, they did fumble a lot though. I think that you you should be excited as a as a Steeler fan about the defense in that sense. The front kind of group Hulcom the plays that were made guys cuz it’s one thing when balls are on the like when the when the the other team is coughing up the ball. Yeah. But we fell on them too when we recovered them. That’s a huge deal. So that means guys are in places to make plays. Cam batting a ball, getting intercepted. I think there’s definitely um excitement, I would think, where the defense is going. Now, does that mean it’s perfect and that means that Drake May didn’t, you know, have a good day running the ball? Sure. And he’s a he’s a great runner. You’re not going to get a guy I don’t think that’s as good of a runner as him all the time. You know, you’re going to play we’ll talk about Minnesota this week. you’re gonna play Carson Wentz who can move still a little bit you know but but you know looking ahead to the Browns just keep flack you know those are ones where you push the pocket you want Flaco to run you know certain certain teams you want them to run there’s probably still a little bit of concern in the secondary about some of the stuff they’re doing there just seems to be some holes and it to me it looks like they’re trying to drop too many guys so you just got time to sit back there you’re trying to let your your your rush get home and it it does when when it’s working and they get home but again I’d love to see this week, especially against Carson. Bring some pressure. Bring some pressure. Make it uncomfortable. Make him get the ball out quick. Catch the tackle or tackle the catch, I’m sorry. So, I I am excited about where Harmon is. I’m excited about, you know, Cam still playing well. TJ obviously doing his thing. So, there’s definitely some some I think the the defense is trending in the right direction. Let’s say that. Sure. Yeah. It did seem like New England could do anything they wanted in the middle of the field. What do you how would you diagnose that? Like why is what are we doing to allow that? Yeah, it feels like at times we’re just we just have a lot of guys dropping and I don’t know that’s all their their strong suit. You know, I think that’s you know Patrick Queen I want to see him let’s see him blitz. Let’s not see them drop into coverage so much. So some guys are built for that, some guys aren’t. And so I I just think that when you’re dropping guys back and it’s it just creates these pockets to throw the ball and maybe the the outside guys are making plays and so that you’re going to work the inside. People aren’t afraid to use their tight end. Hint hint hint hint. Let’s use the tight end. We got enough of them that are good. Yeah. So yeah, nothing nothing like there’s no, you know, magic. Oh, we got to do this. Yeah. We just got to be better on on fourth down as well. I think they were pretty successful on fourth down and that was fourth and short, which is good. Obviously, the last one got the win off of, but you’re not going to you’re going to start playing some some good teams towards the end of that schedule that are going to be I’m going to go through this thing at some point. I got a lot of W’s down here at the end I might have to readjust. Re Yeah, I’d love to see more. Um and I know we just got Jabril Peppers. Um played well. He played really well and obviously some extra motivation, but it’s also like that’s a dude, you know, that’s a dude that’s been around the league for a minute, but I’d love to see um I’d love to see more uh blitzes. Like I saw you they did that in the preseason with Ramsay and the series that he got. Super effective. We used to do that all the time with uh Mike Hilton. Yes. Bring the nickel off the Mike was a very very good blitzer. I had a great feel for it. We used to blitz Troy Palamalu. You blitz. You need now Troy’s I see he’s different level but but but but let’s see some secondary blitzes. Let’s see some more linebackers go. Let’s show some cover zero. Like bring the house. Make the ball come out quick. Make them make a decision. Like let’s go. Yeah. I wonder why we’re not I don’t know. But again, I’m not really sure why it is either. H if there was just someone we could ask. I know. Like if you knew someone over there, you know, like hey guys, quick question. God. Any reason why we’re not blitzing ever feels like and I, you know, I could be wrong. I I I need to probably look up and see like what our percentage of blitz is because technically a blitz is when you bring one more guy. Yeah, but you know what I mean, man. I want to see some I want to see two guys come. I want to make it uncomfortable for a back where he’s got a two guys to pick up. Which one’s he going to pick up? And then we got a free runner. Like cuz even if you don’t get home, you’re hitting the quarterback. Hit the quarterback. In this city, we should not be wondering if it’s a blitz or not. No doubt. You know, I mean, this blitz, that’s what I mean. We should be like so overwhelming. Yes. That again, and it does put pressure on the back end, but you but you brought in guys in the back end. You you got, you know, I know he’s not out there, JPJ, and you’re going to have Slay and you got R like you have guys back there on purpose. I thought, let’s go. I thought they were bringing in your Ramsies, your Slay, your you’re getting him tight with um JPJ. I mean, literally, they they named that the three-headed monster. I I figured we’re doing that so we can so we can send in some linebackers so we can get and maybe we will if Joey comes back this week. We’ll we’ll see Porter’s coming back. I I we’re waiting for one guy to do all that. I I wouldn’t think so. But but again, we need to see something and and I don’t know why it feels like the defense is just predictable. Maybe it’s not. Maybe it’s just dumb eye watching. It doesn’t, you know, they’re Yeah, I would argue that your eye isn’t necessarily the dumb eye. Me for sure. some some fans who don’t have an inside of football were just angry that like something didn’t go our way for sure. But um if you’re seeing it and you’re not the only former player with with a platform that is has acknowledged these things. Yeah, I’ll say that. That being said, let’s bring in uh football and sports analyst expert Chef Evan. Hey Evan. Hey guys. Welcome to the family dinner. Hey guys. Brought to you by Giant Eagle. My reach. You’re good. Hey, good to see you, bud. Good to see you. How are you? Good. Good. So, this is I just want to make sure I remember this honors the last game. Yes. This is not a preview of next week’s game. No, this is in New England. Okay. Hi, Evan. Hello. I’m glad you’re here. We had a lot of people during the live stream asking if Oh, thank you. if you were, you know, okay, if you were falling off the bean bag chair. I almost facetimed you. I was going to FaceTime you like, “Hey, man.” You should have. I was I was available. I didn’t I don’t want to jinx anything. I don’t know. I wasn’t on the bean bag, though. What are you doing? Why? I was at my parents house, so we were watching the game there. Do you have a bean bag? I don’t. I have an old a very old wooden rocking chair that that if I put on like 20 more pounds, I’ll break it the next time I sit in it. I have a hammer. I got like a mallet. I got to tap the side to Yeah. keep it together. There we go. Smart. Well, before we get into the game, talk to us about what we have here. All right. Uh what you just put on your plate was some New England clam cha. We just we just took it off of There you go. There it is. Action. Get your cookbook, folks, and you’ll get this in person. There’s an Italian grinder up at the top there. Yep. And then those are maple bacon sliders and Spencer. Your That’s This side is Ben’s and that side is Spencer’s. Can I just touch him a little bit? That’s okay. There you go. Just flip it there cuz I did yours with turkey and pepperoni. And thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. I appreciate that. You’re welcome. So thoughtful. Well, good chef. Good guy. Well, Evan, as we’re as we’re we’re going to just quickly talk about You’re approaching it like it was a loss. I’m This was a loss for me. Oh, okay. I thought you about the game. No, you know, you know what this is? It’s like the It’s like the Steeler game. It’s like Well, it’s a win because we got it and everything, but it just looked really bad. The performance was awful. At least at least we won, right? So, let’s run. Let’s run with that. Probably at least we won. But yeah, we need we need we need the people need to know what you how you feel. Yeah. What’ you feel about the game? I I told I I kind of before you came down here just kind of said I my cause for concern is the O line, especially the left tackle. There were some clips of him not blocking anybody, which I think then in turn affects Aaron and the play calling and maybe getting the ball out quick. I’d love to see them work the middle of the field with tight ends. That’d be far down the field, but just get some tight ends involved, please. Um, and then the on the positives I was very positive about. Was there anything positive? Oh, yeah. the defense. TJ, obviously I thought Harmon being out there for the first time was good. I think there’s there’s there’s some I think the defense is starting to trend potentially in the right direction. That’s just my two cents. Yeah. I don’t know what you thought about the game or or your or questions or we can talk about whatever you want. Yeah, I think uh having an offense that has got three tight ends, I think you should, you know, utilize those tight ends just a wee bit more than we already do. So, yeah, I think we need to open up the tight end game in in the middle of the field. I think that would be great. Um, defense-wise, I mean, I’ve been a harsh critic of the defense here the last two weeks, and I think I’m I’m Dublin. No, no, no pun intended. Dublin. You get it? Dublin. I was way too excited about that, but it felt right because of Ireland. Dublin. Yes. This guy’s clever. Sometimes I don’t even know I’m doing it. just that’s a real talent. I’m doubling down on still uh very minimal vote of confidence for the defense. I think New England has terrible ball control. They’re not really concerned with holding on to the ball and I think obviously Yeah. And I think I don’t know if the Steelers really exploited that or if New England was just that bad at taking care of the ball. There was some some shining moments on defense and I’m not saying they’re a terrible defense. I just it would make me a little more confident if I could see see it again. And you know, Minnesota’s not going to be a slouch team either. So, they’ve got a Yeah. Well, let’s go into that. Ben, if you don’t have anything else on this past week, maybe we can jump into a Minnesota review. I know it’s big deal cuz the Ireland game and all the stuff, but we still, you know, beyond the fanfare and the the we still have to win a football game. Mhm. against a team that put up 40. I’m actually I’m actually more concerned that Carson Wentz is playing than if JJ was playing. I think if JJ McCarthy was in the game, I’d be like this is I have us as um I put us down as a win here. I put depending on timing. Um I think they actually um have a hard I think this is going to be a harder game with Carson Wentz than it would be with JJ. They got he’s got weapons. He can do still move enough and he can make throws when he needs to. defense just just absolutely went nuts last week against Cincinnati. Oh yeah. The Steelers aren’t going over till remember I said look I wrote depends on timing. They’re not going over till Thursday. So I think they’re getting in Friday which same thing we did which when we played Minnesota in London it was we were so dead because we didn’t go over early enough. I don’t know when Minnesota’s going over but it was a big deal. I think uh I I heard that they both both teams are going over at the same time because of how last year and the years before the home team got to go a couple days ahead of time because they were the home team so they had extra time to prepare but now they instated a rule where both teams are going at the same time. So competitive advantage no one you know which is a good thing because I could only imagine you know getting over there on a Thursday and having to play on Sunday. Well, that being said, that’s good to know. That’s why we need you, Evan. Uh, I’m still a little nervous about this game. I’m be honest. Uh, I think I I have us as I have us as a W and I and I changing my mind. I did. I’m changing my mind. Okay. Unfortunately. Unfortunately, you’re going to say we’re losing this. I’m saying we’re losing because of the quarterback switch primarily. I have a fear that our offense is is not going to be able to do enough. I think our defense will play fine. I don’t think our offense will do enough this week where their defense was like legit last year, wouldn’t it? Here’s why. You ready for this? Flores. Oh, yeah. I forgot. Man, they missed the boat with him, didn’t they? He was in the building. He was in the building. Let him go. All right. You heard it here, guys. I’m crossing out my W. Hold on. I’m punching in on him and I’m putting an L. He’s so frustrated about that. That’s all right. Okay. There it is. Sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I I don’t in my heart of hearts. Break it down for us. I mean, I want us to win obviously. I think we might, but I just feel like it’s, you know, they do like the the poll the nation. You think this is the poll of me is 55% loss, 45. You know what I’m saying? It’s very close. Like it just feels like there’s a little bit that needle’s moving like this. and and it’s because I’m afraid of our line that they’re not going to get it done and they’re going to and Flores is going to take advantage of it because he’s a very good defensive coordinator. He knows what he’s doing. We never should have let him go and he’s going to find a way to attack and our defense isn’t going to be able to do enough to keep us in the game. Mhm. Unless there’s turnovers again, brother, that we create that the defense creates, which yes, I agree is possible. So, I mean, Carson Wentz, yeah, he’s he’s beaten the Steelers before, and JJ McCarthy would have been a way better quarterback to have in there for the Steelers, but like you said, having Carson Wentz in there kind of changes the game a little bit just because he has that the veteran capability and he’s been there before and he’s played this team before and and I don’t know if the offense can produce enough points. I’ll say this. Oh, this is No, that’s probably this too controversial. If I say I think we’re going to get out coached, is that controversial? Uh, I mean, if you’re telling the truth, it’s not controversial. I just say I I’ll say this. I think Brian Flores is a very good defensive coordinator. They’ll let you know if it’s controversial. Sure. I I’ll say this. I’m not going to say. I’m going to say Brian Flores is a very good like he’s going to call he’s going to call a good coordinator. I’m going to say he’s better than coach Austin good coordinator. I think coach Kevin Okonnell is a exceptional offensive mind. Oh yeah. Yep. And I think so I just think that there’s that working those things they’re going to find ways to exploit try and exploit our defense and their defense is going to try and which is what everyone does. I get it. I just think that there’s a chance that it could well especially I mean they’re watching the tape from the Steelers last game and and that revolving door at left tackle is probably what they’re going to go after. And yeah, watch watch this. I missed. Don’t you mean not touch anybody? Yeah. Yeah. The reverse of tag. Okay. Anything else? I don’t know. Not really. I mean, I I I’m hopeful. I’m very hopeful because I think that this would be a great a great win because of the stage and you know, the history of Ireland and the Steelers and you know, I think for Mr. Rooney, that’s what I mean. Like, yeah, we can’t lose this boy. Can’t we can’t lose this. This is a This is very good by the way. Big game. Thank you. I love CL. I love doing it’s one of my favorite soups. You know what? You got to do though, bro. Y’all got to get the cookbook. Take a slider and use it as a sauce. I’m going to go I’m going to wait till we’re off the air before I try and go with this guy. Oh, brother. All right. Well, so well, thank you, Evan. Appreciate you. Um, appreciate you. Glad you survived. Congratulations on your Fighting Irish winning and your Steelers winning. It was a good weekend. Good weekend. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Thanks to um Chef Evan as always for not just his insight and his amazing food, but his insight is amazing food. Let me ruin your taste buds real quick. Go ahead. You’re going to ruin my taste buds. I’m going to say thank you to Bill and everybody over at Giant Eagle for this amazing food that Evan gets to just bless us with. We couldn’t do it without you guys because this is where the good food comes from. So, thank you. Oh gosh. This is This is You know what? Signing off. That’s fine. That’s good. That’s fine. I got my kids. Yeah, I got my kids. That’s fine. No, that’s good. This is Sierra Nevada’s Norwall. It’s a good name. You can’t be afraid of something called Narwhal. It’s an imperial stout. You know what I mean? Inspired by the mysterious creature that dwells in the deepest Arctic seas, Narwhal Imperial Stout is midnight black and bold with notes of baker’s cocoa and dark roasted coffee. You’re going to love this. This is good stuff. The massive Imperial Stout is incredibly complex and explores the darkest depths of malt flavor. Why are we doing this? What are we doing? You’re going to love this. This is great. This is good for you. This is a good thing. So stupid. This is a Yeah, there it is. Ah, no. You don’t like that at all. That’s disgusting. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. I thought that was going to happen. Got him. I got it all. Yep. You win your ball. Drink it all. There it is. Follow the rules. Yeah. Chase it with a sandwich. I think I think that’s going to be the move. Awful. All right. We’re out of here. I thought that was going to be good. I’m sorry. That’s actually I feel bad for you. This is footballing. We’ll see when we get back from the other side of the pond later.

Ben and Spence discuss the recent Steelers game, highlighting the win against New England while addressing concerns about turnovers, the offensive line, and the need for better utilization of tight ends. They also preview the upcoming game against Minnesota and share insights from Chef Evan.

Footbahlin Cookbook volume 2:
https://footbahlin-with-ben-roethlisberger.clockwise.io/products/footbahlin-cookbook-volume-2?

00:00 Introduction and Game Recap
02:44 Concerns About Turnovers and Game Performance
05:16 Offensive Line Challenges and Quarterback Protection
08:20 Utilizing Tight Ends and Short Passing Game
10:57 Defensive Highlights and Areas for Improvement
14:05 Previewing Upcoming Game Against Minnesota
16:42 Chef Evan’s Insights and Food Segment