Pittsburgh Steelers defense gets after Carson Wentz, Vikings in Ireland | Game Recap

Pittsburgh Steelers defense gets after Carson Wentz, Vikings in Ireland | Game Recap

November 16th exclusively on Paramount Plus. This just in to CBS sports HQ. The first game in Dublin for the NFL is over in Minnesota. Just barely lost this one, which didn’t seem like the game was going in that direction. 21 to 24 Steelers. Aaron Rodgers 18 of 22 200 yards and a touchdown. All right welcome back here to HQ pregame. Of course we’ve got Pete Prisco and Damien Harris with us. First game in Dublin. It was an interesting one. It felt like the Steelers were going to run away with this the whole time. And then of course at the last second the Vikings came alive here. But Pete I think the biggest story here has to be the Steelers defense. Kind of looking like the Steelers defense again. Well they pressured the quarterback. I mean they had seven sacks. But in fairness to the Vikings they lost their right tackle early in the game. Brian O’Neill is a really good player. They also lost their center Ryan Kelly. Second concussion for the year and then lost the backup center. So when you play that way obviously there’s going to be a lot of pressure on the quarterback. Wentz did some good things. Wentz did some bad things. That’s what you get with Carson Wentz. Well I think that’s important for the Steelers defense because with a backup quarterback especially in a Kevin O’Connell offense you don’t want to let Carson Wentz get comfortable. We’ve seen what he’s capable of in his career at the height of his career. But this is definitely a moment for the Steelers defense to rise to. The occasion. Put pressure on him like they did, make him uncomfortable again. Make him do some bad things. Get them off schedule. That way, the Vikings dug themselves a hole that they couldn’t come out of. Let’s talk about the Vikings for a second, because as you just said, they lost three o-linemen. And how worried are you about this team moving forward? I mean to not only your without your starting quarterback now you’re potentially down three offensive linemen and Pete knows this. Damien knows this. It’s only so many good offensive linemen that are available to you on the street. And now it’s going to really test your roster in terms of your practice squad and the guys that you’re developing there. And are they even ready to step in and play for a game? Which now leads to a completely different topic, because now you’re going to have to adjust the game plan and how Kevin O’Connell calls the game to make up for all these injuries. So it’s going to be a lot of moving parts. Oh, and by the way, they’re staying another week because they play in London next week. And so good luck trying to get guys to fly over and understanding if a guy has a passport and how soon you can get these guys over here. So a lot of moving parts when you’re playing these games internationally, which is why they always talk about making the team permanent over there. Good luck with that. I never thought about that. You have to make sure guys have a passport and even just to get like if he’s got if he if he’s the GM of the Vikings and he’s got to go get two replacements off the street this week. I mean, he’s got to make sure they have passports and they’re capable of getting over there. I feel like there’s a television show about this but it’s opposite right with Ted what’s his name? Ted. Ted lasso. Lasso. Ted Lasso. Maybe we’ll have to do that here. Let’s talk about Aaron Rodgers for a minute. He’s kind of had an up and down season so far. It feels like he did just enough as we saw there. He’s got 200 pass yards. He had one touchdown no interceptions in this game. Damien how would you rate Aaron Rodgers I would rate this performance. Let’s go with a 7.5 out of ten. The numbers may not reflect it but something important to note when you watch this game today Aaron Rodgers got the ball out of his hands at record speed. And we’re talking about Aaron Rodgers has one of the fastest and most quick releases in the National Football League. And what did he do. He got the ball out quick and fast to DK Metcalf. There were some times where they had the Steelers had a design run play called and Aaron Rodgers was just look out to DK Metcalf. Give him the nod. And then all of a sudden ball’s out. And I think that that’s that’s important for an older quarterback at this stage of his career. You want to limit the hits. You want to limit your exposure to pressure, things like that. Aaron Rodgers, we know he takes care of the football, but you want to protect him from getting hurt. Well, the best way to do that is to tell him and he already knows. Get the ball out of your hands fast. Yeah I mean, you look at this team, right. And got DK going today, which is huge. But what about Kenneth Gainwell? And he stepped up in the absence of their starting running back. And Damien you know this to finish a game with 99 yards. Come on come on. Especially if you’re the backup to finish a game with 99 yards. You’re trying to he will petition to the stats to the stat guys to try to find that extra yard for himself, but you got those type of performances and this team is built for Aaron Rodgers doesn’t have to do miraculous things every week for them to win. He just has to play within the framework of himself and not turn the ball over. And when you have a defense that played the way they did today, seven sacks and really got after a backup quarterback, that’s all you can ask for. To put his head down harder on one of those runs he would have had one. Oh, come on, Kenneth, I do want to say this since we’re on the topic of running backs, I do think it was a good sign to see Caleb Johnson active today. I saw him getting some carries late in the fourth quarter, when they’re trying to seal the game and run the clock out, and that’s a good way to instill confidence in a young guy that made a big mistake last week. Obviously he wants to flush and put it behind him, but there’s no better way to instill that confidence back in a young guy than having him in the game. Like we talked about having him active and giving him carries late when the game is on the line to show, okay, special teams, we know you had a blunder, but when it comes to running the football, which is why we drafted you, we still trust you and we still want you out there on the field. We’re a better team with you. Well, and it’s a good sign that the Steelers were able to run the football. It’s been that’s who they’ve been over the course of their history. They’ve had problems with it not only this year but going back to last year. The offensive line they have a lot of assets invested in that group. They’re starting to come together. A lot of young guys on that line, you know they have second year center and Frazier second year right guard McCormick. Those guys are getting better. And as they get better, they’re going to run the ball more. And I think that’s something they have to do to take the pressure off. Roger, I didn’t think you were going to add two sets on the end of that front end of that. You’re talking about the offensive line, but all right. Good stuff from Pete Ran and Damien. Thanks guys. If you want more from them then make sure you check out the game day recap show Sunday. Ram. Hey, finally I have my acceptance speech ready to. Yeah, he just classes the the joint up a bit here. You can catch them at 820 d

Damien Harris, Ran Carthon and Pete Prisco join CBS Sports HQ to recap Vikings-Steelers in Dublin Ireland.

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