FIRST TAKE | Steelers defense is KEY to win Week 4! – Stephen A. credits Aaron Rodgers outplay Wentz

FIRST TAKE | Steelers defense is KEY to win Week 4! – Stephen A. credits Aaron Rodgers outplay Wentz

Back here on First Take, the NFL heads overseas again. This weekend, it’s going to Dublin for the first time. Wow. Where the Vikings will take on the Steelers. Dave Pash not on the call. Aaron Rogers is 172 and one in his career against the Vikings, including the You saw Pass is not on that call. I don’t think so. But he’s just two and four in his last six games against Minnesota going back to that 2220 season. Swagu, is Rogers the biggest key for the Steelers here against the Vikings? No, it’s their defense. Uh Carson Wentz actually played really well in Kevin O’Connell’s offense, but this defense came alive. Five turnovers last week. The Stars made plays, Cam Hayward, TJ Watt. They intercepted the ball in the red in the almost at the goal line. Caused the fumble at the goal line against the New England Patriots. So I think this defense because here’s the thing we said about Aaron Rogers. If he turned into being great, it would have been a great story. But they just needed some some consistency at the position because we thought the defense would carry Pittsburgh majority of the way anyway. If you we I know I came into the season saying if you can give them 21 points, 24 points a game, which I think Aaron Rogers is still capable of, this defense should be able to shut the door on a lot of people. They got back to that with New England. I think they are the most important part. And if they continue to play like that, and I’m not saying get five turnovers, but if you see the level of play get back to where they usually are, it’s a playoff team. Yeah, I think that uh I think it’s Wentz because I think Rogers will play decently all year. I I think have his moments where he’s a little better than that and maybe other moments like Seattle, he’s a little worse than that. I think Rogers, you know, he’s an improvement over Wilson. I think he’d be pretty good. I don’t think he won’t be great. Won’t be like he was 10 years ago. He’d be pretty good. And I think he’d be better against Minnesota. Remember, last year he threw that bad interception with the Jets. They lost the game. But I do think Wentz, who had five turnovers to work with, they scored 48 points. The Bengals were terrible. He didn’t have to do a lot. This game is going have to do a little more. And I’m not sure if WZ is capable of doing that. So, I think the game is more on Carson Wson. I think the Well, you could say that. I’m going to say this. It’s on the Steelers defense because if Carson Wentz goes out there and picks you apart, we got a problem. Now, I’m not enamored with what I see from the Steelers defense. Rogers is second in the league in touchdown passes at seven only behind Lamar Jackson who’s at nine. But if you look at him in a clean pocket, he’s completing 78% of his passes. Under the rest, it’s 27%. He’s not doing much. You know, Brian Flores knows that. And Brian Flores is going to bring the rain. Okay. So, I don’t expect the Steelers offense to do much in this particular game. It should be a very lowscoring game because you know the Vikings defense could help assist in neutralizing the Pittsburgh Steelers. DK Metave can’t get open for some reason. Calvin Austin the third. I don’t you need another receiver. Okay, bottom line. Fry Muth and Smith at the tight end spot. You expected more from them. You could still utilize them. Bratz and Rogers security blanket, but still in all you need more from them offensively cuz Warren is not a bellcow running back. He’s gifted, but he’s not a Bellcow. It’s going to come down I don’t expect much from their offense. It’s going to come down to the defense. And if Carson Wentz, goes out on that field and picks you apart, I will completely lose all faith in the Pittsburgh Steelers defense. I don’t give a damn where the game is. Agreed. You better show up and show and cuz you know better’s defense going to show up. What are you going to do if you’re the Steelers defense? That’s the story of this game. I would add this. Mr. Rooney was an ambassador to Ireland. There is a huge Irish contingent of Steelers here. Oh, that’d be a Steeler fan base. This might be one of those where it feels like a Steelers home game. Saying Rogers and that defense, they have nothing to complain about by going overseas. This is on them to take care of business. Yeah, got it. I got my right. He’s got it. Former Giants Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley are currently two of the best players in all of football and they’re both on three and 0 teams while the Giants haven’t won a game. Which departure makes is out. Jackson Dart is in Sunday against the Chargers and our NFL reporter Kimberly A. Martin will be covering that game as she joins us now live on Sports Center. Kimberly, what more can you tell us about what has transpired since his news broke about 24 hours ago? Well, hello Amina. Listen, I want to take you back to August before I get back to yesterday’s decision. I remember checking in on the quarterback situation and getting a sense of, you know, Jackson Dart is everything we thought he’d be. Guys gravitate to him. we have a great QB room. Um, you know, the lights aren’t going to be too bright. But the sense I got at that time was sort of like, we love him, but hopefully we won’t need him soon because that means we’re playing well. As we’ve seen, the Giants have not been playing well, in particular Russell Wilson. I think this move, Amina, is as much about the rookie readiness at this point. Um, it’s also about Brian Dable and Joe Shane’s uncertain futures. That’s also part of it. And right now, Brian Dable, their head coach, has a chance to win with a Q, a young QB of his choosing. We will see this weekend. They play the Chargers. D Jackson Dart surely will, you know, bring a spark. The question is, how long can he spark this offense? So, we’re going to find out. Yeah. Yeah. We all know that the fans in New York, they’re ready to see Jackson Dart out there on the field. However, what indicators have you seen or maybe even Brian Dable has seen from the rookie to say that he is ready for this game on Sunday? Listen, it’s it’s the attitude that he has and the talent. I think when you look at this offense, it has struggled uh namely because of its offensive line and Russell Wilson not throwing the ball well. Well, listen, Jackson Dart is younger, he’s more athletic, he can escape pressure and he’s just got like when he’s in the game, it just looks like he’s just having more fun that guys are kind of more into it. That again, that’s preseason stuff. This is this is regular season. So, we’re going to see if he can translate that into uh wins here. Um but they’re excited in the building. Yeah, it it’ll be tough though that Chargers team 3 and 0 coming into that matchup on Sunday. So, we’ll have to see what happens out there. Matchups on the marquee and Jeff, what titles do you have for us this week in the NFL? Well, let’s start right there with Dallas and and Green Bay. How what’s the overunder for Jerry Jones being seen up in the box? were just a face of grimace and pain. You know what I mean? Watching Micah chase Dak and making all the plays out there. You think about Dak Prescott and what he’s going to be asked to do without CD Lamb. This is this is a tall task with a very good front up in Green Bay, not just Micah Parsons. It’s going to be a it’s going to be a a big time ask of Dak. And then flip it over from Dallas’s defense. They they can’t give up these explosive plays. They’ve given up way too many explosive plays. If they get behind early, it’s going to be a track meet. That is the That is the exact opposite of how Dallas needs to play this thing out. Mayfield of dreams. How about this? You got to love the Eagles and the Bucks. This is This is a prime time game. And think about this. The Bucks have won the last two they played. Todd BS does a good job of blitzing. They play good run defense, which makes it tough for this Philly offense. This This is again like the Rams Eagles last week. This this a good matchup for the Bucks. However, they’re injured up front in the offensive line. No Mike Evans because of the hamstring. I think it’s going to be a tall task. Look for the Eagles to win this one, but it’s a gonna be a great matchup because of the uh the last two being won by Tampa Bay. And then familiar foe Lamar vers the defensive coordinator of the Kansas City Chiefs. And we know whoever loses, they’re one and three. That is not the spot you want to be in. So this is a this is a must-win for both teams. Again, Spags has given all all kinds of grief to this Baltimore Ravens offense. But how good has this Ravens offense been this season? They’re one of the best in the NFL. It’s a tall task for that Chiefs defense. I can’t wait to see the matchup between these two. It’s going to be special. Yeah, I’m juiced up for these matchups this titles. The titles I think are on point. I’m not Jerry Jones. I’m not going to lie, that’s great. That was fantastic. All right, we love your sneak peek, Jeff Saturday. But of course, these coming attractions, they catch the attention of movie critics. and your buddy Dominique Foxwork is our critic here on Sports Center. So Nick, let us know how you feel about some of these coming attractions starting with that Baltimore KC matchup which Jeff has coined familiar foe. Yeah, I’m looking forward to that matchup. The Ravens offense has been really effective but streaky. They go on a few three and outs and then just have explosive plays. Then you combine that with a little too many turnovers for Derrick Henry. It’s going to be interesting to see how this game plays out. If the um Chiefs can score some points to force the Ravens to go um to go into like high octane mode, that’s going to be a fun game. But I have a hard time imagining that the Chiefs are going to have an easy time scoring points because they can’t run the ball with the same amount of power that the Detroit’s Lions did, which is kind of the weakness of the Ravens defense right now. Yeah. And you hope you hope the Ravens defense is a get-right game for them to Nick’s point. Like you would never think of the Chiefs that way, but the Chiefs, they’re not very explosive on the back end. They’re not running it great. So, if there is a game to get right, Baltimore Ravens, this is the week to get right. I want to know what is the over under on Jerry Jones in the box and watching Michael Parsons. I actually would be interested in a dozen and a half. I actually would be interested in that. Jerry’s probably going to have a few meanw worthy uh cutaways.

FIRST TAKE | “Steelers defense is KEY to win NFL Week 4” – Stephen A. credits Aaron Rodgers outplay Carson Wentz