Steelers, T.J. Watt, Trending Back to Elite? | Keeanu Benton, Payton Wilson Finding the Right Places

Steelers, T.J. Watt, Trending Back to Elite? | Keeanu Benton, Payton Wilson Finding the Right Places

The Pittsburgh Steelers have wanted to be aggressive on on defense all year long, but their performance Sunday shows they’re getting a lot closer to being that style of defense. I’ll break that down after what I saw in the All 22 film here on the Locked On Steelers podcast. Chris Carter with Alan Saunders. 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 of the Pittsburgh Steelers. As always, you can find this 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 new customers bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. We’ll have more on FanDuel later. As I said before, we’re joined by the man himself, Alan Sunders. He’s back on the show from Steelers Now.com. I’m still here stuck in Dublin Island. Stuck is a ugly word. I’d prefer to say at home here. It’s a wonderful place where I’ve enjoyed many a Guinness. But Mr. Saunders, this was an interesting game. I thought even though it was a three-point game, the Steelers, it got close in the end. I thought this was the most complete version of the Steelers that we’ve seen. And we’re going to focus on defense specifically in this episode in this first segment here. But I thought there were a lot of really good signs that if this team continues on the trends that I think it’s building, there’s a chance they could be a lot more competitive than most people gave him credit for uh as we get later into the season. Well, I mean, I think anybody writing off a defense with this talent after a couple weeks was doing so quite foolishly. I mean, they they’re just too good and we haven’t even seen them at anything approaching full health yet as they played this game without Joey Porter Jr., without Alex Heismith. that’s two of their better players. And so, um, I think you’re starting to see the impact of Derek Harmon. I think you’re starting to see a couple guys play their best ball, uh, after struggling early and Pton Wilson and Ker Benton. I think you’re starting to see the secondary communication start to settle down after I mean, a whole new group comes in, uh, to start this year. Some of that was to be expected. I still think this is going to be a really good defense, if not one of the best defenses in the NFL by the time all things said and done. And I don’t think we’ve seen them at anywhere near their best, but I do think this was the first game where they’ve started to look, at least in spurts, like the unit they’re capable of being. I agree. When I looked at when I looked at the all 22 and I thought that live and I got to sit in the stands and enjoy the game with my wife and two two great friends of mine uh and watch that game uh from the more of the fan perspective and seeing I was in the middle of an Ireland renegade. That was an experience. But I thought it was really interesting just seeing that live and then re-watching it and seeing all the times that you saw the things that we’ve been talking about the last couple weeks with oh man they’re sending this blitz at this time but the coverage is right behind it. There was a there was a third down there were several third down stops they uh where you saw the pass rush just team up with the coverage very well. a play where Nick Herbig win beats Christian Darasaw and gets a sack. But it’s coupled with Patrick Queen and Pton Wilson properly communicating and saying, “Hey, hey, hey, motion. You take the running back, I’m taking the tight end.” They take him away. The secondary, he went James Pierre in the secondary. I thought he also had a good game. U they take away everyone. You see Carson Lent, he has to buy time. All of a sudden, Nick Herbick has time to get to the quarterback. These were the things we didn’t see them do a whole lot. They also switched their coverages. Deshawn Elliott play was a play where they showed initially cover two. Then it’s a cover three invert. He jumps down. He’s playing intermediate zone. Carson Wentz thought, “Oh, I have the middle. I have this part of the thing open because they’re in cover two.” Nope. Throws it. Deshawn Elliot is all over it. And it seems to me they are doing those things at a higher rate and more consistently week after week. Now, they could dip off again at some point after the buy and things happen. Seasons are always roller coasters. very very rarely do you just keep going up up up every single week. But I think it’s very encouraging that I think we saw them step up a little bit even though it was a loss to the Seahawks. They stepped up a little bit there from the Jets game, especially defensively. Then we definitely saw that with the Patriots game where they had five sacks. Then you see that again this week with six sacks. That to me is an encouraging sign that the defensive plan there is a good one in place. They’re still just melding it together and it is taking time. But you and I said that months ago. Yeah. Yeah, I think they also stopped the run better in this game which made the rest of the pieces fit. Like that is an essential for every defense. There is no scheme. There’s no group of talent on the back end that makes a bit of a difference if you’re getting gashed in the running game first and foremost. So I think they tightened that up and then that allowed some of those other things that they’ve been trying to do anyway. Like it doesn’t matter how much you blitz and how well you blitz. If you’re get like if you’re giving up runs running against the blitz can be very effective. like you you know you they’ve been blitzing a lot. We haven’t seen the impact of the blitz until this game. Uh they’ve had talent in the secondary. I don’t think we’ve seen the impact of that talent the way we did until they got some teams into some disadvant disadvantageous down distance. Also, you talked at the beginning about complimentary football. The Steelers played three quarters with a lead in this game. I think that is a big deal. That’s they’ve been playing even or behind almost the entire season. This defense is going to look a lot better when it gets teams who make big picture, not just they’re stopping the run, so they’re in down in distance must throw situations, but you get them in team score must throw situations, then that’s where this defense can really look like it’s capable of looking. Agree. I think that’s where the Steelers sweet spot is is that you could when they get to pin their ears back and they get to be extra aggressive with multiple things that they do and they can be aggressive up front and in the back end, that’s when this defense is going to get really tricky. Not just for uh not just for car Carson Wentz or Drake May either, but like these are the things that can catch up to you if you’re Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, if you’re able to get that, but you need to be able to take advantage of that. It’s been it’s been a while since you’ve seen that complimentary football really work for this for for the Steelers uh in a big in a big game. And despite the Vikings having Carson Went in this game, I do think the Vikings are a good team. You know, I think that they they got banged up as well in this game, but like they have plenty of playmakers. This is a team that last year Sam Darnold was able to get to get to get to the playoffs. Um, and even with Carson Wentz, I thought Carson Wentz largely played well in this game. You know, he made some key mistakes, but there were some really good throws that he made into some tight coverages and some plays he made with his legs that showed, hey, that he’s still a good NFL veteran uh that when you put him behind, uh, you know, put him in a unit with a lot of playmakers, he can make things happen. And the Steelers had to counter that. And um you know to your point about complimentary football and we’ll get to the to the run game and to all the other playmakers on the offensive side of the ball. They gave this defense a lead and though the defense did give up two fourth quarter scorers, you saw them when when all when all the chips were down just like in the Patriots game, they were able to get the stop in the end and and and close it out. Um and I think that’s uh that’s where you want this team in position more often than not. You want the defense being the group on the end that has to win the game and in the end they did. Yeah. And and I don’t, you know, Patrick Queen was lamenting after the game, you know, the way the game ends because they don’t want to give up the big play there. They want to be able to to put the exclamation point on things as a defense. They didn’t quite get there. There’s still some things to work on. Uh but like I don’t know how you’re any offense thinking like, oh, we come back against these Steelers like that. Like that those things aren’t going to keep happening. They’re going to get Porter and Ramsay back in there eventually, Highmith back in there, and they’re going to get even more dangerous. I think that’s the real key to this team is the offense doesn’t need to be great. It just needs to be opportunistic. Take advantage of the short fields defense gives you on turnovers, be really uh be very successful in the red zone, get this defense a lead, and then look out and let it do its thing. Absolutely. We’ll be back with Alan Saunders in a minute here on the Locked on Steelers podcast because we got our stars and skulls grades. Let me tell you, it’s a lot of stars this week. We’ll do that next year on the Locked On Steelers podcast. Chris Carter, Alan Saunders. Stick with us. We’ll be right back. But first, we’ll remind you the show is brought to you by Mizen in Maine. You know the saying, look good, feel good. The problem is that most dress clothes only check one of those boxes. They look sharp but feel stiff, hot, and high maintenance. That’s where Miz and Maine comes in. Miss and Maine makes classic men’s wear with performance fabrics, so it’s effortless to look sharp and still feel comfortable. They actually invented the performance fabric dress shirt over 10 years ago, and they’ve perfected it ever since. Their shirts are stretchy, moisture wicking, wrinkle resist uh uh wrinkle resistant, and machine washable. No ironing, no dry cleaning. It’s the feel of athletic wear, but the look of professional men’s wear. Right now, Mizen and Mine is offering our listeners 20% off your your first purchase at misinandm.com with promo code locked on NFL 20. That’s mizen spelled m i zn and maine spelled m i n.com. Promo code locked on NFL 20 for 20% off. And if you’d rather go shop in person, you can find visited main stores in select states. We’re also brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook, the number one sports book in America. The NFL season is here and the NFL is making sure that you can take advantage of all the action with this can’t miss offer. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 back in bonus bets to use across the app. I love using FanDuel because it fits however you like to bet. Whether it’s player props, building a same game parlay, or even jumping in live as the action unfolds. It makes every game even 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 more energy to Sundays. So, are you ready to play? Download the FanDuel app now by visiting fanuel.com to get started. That’s fanduel.com to place your first $5 bet and get your chance at $300 in bonus bets. Only available on FanDuel [Music] back here in the locked Steelers podcast. Chris Carter here with Alexanders of Steelers Now.com. It’s time to get to our stars and skulls grades. As always, we do our grades after the game. We get a chance to watch some all 22 film. You the more stars the better. One to three stars good, great to elite. One to three skulls is bad. Bad played a bad game to alltime terrible game. And of course, the dreaded bus ticket. No bus tickets this week. They played Well, that’s good because you can’t get home from Ireland with a bus ticket. So, it was it was going to be especially cool punishment if all you got leaving this game was a bus ticket. You That was I was I was This would have been the most painful bus ticket of all time. This would have been You’re right. I kind It kind of makes me sad that there wasn’t someone so bad to get a bus ticket because it would have been funny. I would I guess it would had to be a bus ticket, a plane ticket, another bus ticket, uh something along those time. A tram ticket if you’re here in in in the EU. But uh anyways, uh let’s get to our stars and skulls raised. As always, when there’s good things, we start with the stars. There’s plenty to hand out here because this was a good game in the large part for the Steelers. We start with the one stars. Uh looking here, I got Darnell Washington, Zack Frasier, Cam Hayward, Payton Wilson, Brandon Eckles, James Pierre, Juan Thornnehill, Chris Boswell, Derek Harmon. Um Derek Harmon, I thought did solid on the defensive line. Cam Hayward was solid as well. Didn’t have a, you know, one of his elite days, but he also wasn’t a weakness either. It’s not always that you’re always going to be the superstar of the game. Um, I will say this, Payton Wilson almost had a two-star game, but when I look back at some of the plays, I thought he had a few miscues that caused some key errors, but this was his best game of the season because he’s been a three skull, two skull guy most of the year. He was flying around. He was making plays. That chase down of Jordan in the space was epic. But he also gave up a few coverage plays that led to some big plays, big play misses on his part. Um, but still much better out of him. Allan, what do you think of my one stars here? I’ve already gone too for Payton Wilson. Um, but I I like the rest of this list. Cam Hayward, I’m pretty sure got a finger on the one uh interception. Uh, TJ Watts, I think it was. Uh, Brandon Eckles, man. Like just the totality of how much they’ve leaned on that guy compared to how much we thought they were going to need to. And he’s been really impressive. Agreed. thought James Pierre really played well con considering how much he had to play and the quality of competition. It’s not like there’s a bad receiver out there you can hide him against. Uh Darnell Washington was a monster run blocking in this game. Um yeah, this is a solid list. Juan Thornhill had a nice PBU uh near the red zone. Um yeah, a lot of almost interception. Yeah. Yeah. I’ll point out too James Pierre targeted twice. Both times he broke the ball up. Now he could have intercepted that one pass. If he if he intercepts that ball at the end of the game, this is a two star game for James Pierre, which like I never would have thought that would have happened. Somewhere Tony Serino is saying give him two stars anyways. Uh but uh shout shout out to our boy Tony. But yeah, so the again the only reason I held back on Pton Wilson because I felt like there were a couple plays that he left out there, but still a good game from his part. But there were plenty of other guys who had pretty good games. Let’s go to our two stars here. We got several two stars. We got Aaron Rogers, Brick Jones, Mason McCormack, Keano Benton, and Patrick Queen. I saw Patrick Queen as being a a much more consistent guy in the middle in this game. He he got a sack. He was he was right behind Payton Wilson in tackles, but he was a big part of keeping it all together. Keanu Benton much better this week. And Allan, you were calling this out. People were saying he’s not a nose tackle. He’s not a nose tackle. And you were saying, hey, he hasn’t been bad at nose packer before. He’s just struggling in these early games. This was a redemption game. if if not if not anything else for Keanu Benton. And then on the O line, Mason McCormack, great run blocking in this game. Also didn’t give up pressure. Roderick Jones also really good run blocking in this game. Gave up one pressure, but I also give him extra points for the ultimate hustle play where Aaron Rogers is running and you just see Brick Jones chasing after him and the ball bounces right to him and he’s like, “Huh?” And then you see Aaron Rogers like, “Thank you, Bricky.” Which was very clear on on the broadcast. Uh, and then Aaron Rogers, anefficient day, not an elite day, which is why I struggled to give him three stars, but I kept him at two just because I thought like if he threw one more touchdown, they finished in the red zone one more time, he would have gotten the three stars there. Uh, but what do you think about two star grades here, Alan? Yeah, great game from Roderick Jones. If you go back and watch that rep, the whole thing um because he his guy tries to go inside, he takes him all the way across the other side of the formation, blocks his guy completely out of the play, then he’s hustling downfield, picks up the ball. I was like, “All right, I got this.” Like, I just think uh a that’s what Roder Jones looks like when he’s playing his best football. I thought he was really good. Mason McCormack really good. K Benton just a huge bounceback game for him. Uh one and a half sacks is his his careerhigh over a season. Uh does it in one game. Patrick Queen, I thought did not rush the passer a ton, but he was really effective when he did. whether he made the pressure or he made the the offensive line overcompensate. When you have backup offensive linemen in as Minnesota did, it’s usually really easy to confuse him. And I think the Steelers did that and Patrick Queen’s blitzing was a big part of it. Absolutely. I also thought he he had some really good run fits in this game that there was one run stuff where you saw him and Payton Wilson just meet in the back field and like you saw afterwards he just started like slam you slamming his chest cuz he was just like, “We’re getting it. We’re getting it. We’re feeling it.” And I feel like Patrick Queen has been the guy in the middle trying to get everyone on the same page and they just have it all the time. But now you’re starting to see the impact of now that everyone’s starting to feel when Keanu Benton has a good game keeps him clean. Also another point for Keanu Benton. There were times they tried to double team him and he did not get blown off the ball. Uh and I point out one of these also in the Post Gazette. I do a film review for the Postgazette. Check that out at post-gazette.com where I break down some of the defensive filming that led to this. But in that run stuffing that you’re talking about there, Allan, I I saw the defensive line across the board, Harmon, Hayward, uh Benton, uh when they when they were out there, even YA Black, who I didn’t give a star, but because he didn’t register on the stat sheet, but I didn’t give a skull because he wasn’t getting taken advantage of. And I thought they did a great job making plays when they could make plays, but then also opening up plays for everyone else. And both Payton Wilson and and Patrick Queen got a got a chance to take advantage of that. Yeah, it was a it was a really good defensive performance all the way around. I thought they also disguised some coverages and gave the pass rushers an extra half a second and that they really made that extra half a second um pay off with the amount of times. I mean I they they were pressuring throughout the game, but they I mean I feel like they made the most of their pressures as a defense. Absolutely. All right, Allan, as always, I try to make you guess when we get to our last set of stars here, but this one’s gonna be tough because I got five players who made three star grades this week. Can you guess the five? Kenny Gainwell, correct? Deshan Elliott, correct? TJ Watt, correct? Nick Herbig, correct. I don’t know if I have the fifth [Music] Is it an offensive lineman? Nope. Okay. Big big time playmaker. TK Bank. There you go. There you go. Oh, I forgot about that one. Does that’s all right. It was a lot of names. When you get to like five, when you get to like four or five, it gets tough to name them all. But you’re correct. Nick Hervik, TJ Watt, Kenneth Gainwell, DK Metaf, and Deshawn Elliot all got three star games for me. Kenneth Gainwell. I said this after the game. I was talking to my old man and I felt like this was a Meldy Moore game for Kenneth Gainwell where like you remember Meli Moore in the 2008 season like there was just some games he came off the bench and he was just a beast for the Steelers. This was like one of those games because they obviously wanted to run the ball on these Vikings and they got the blocking for it but they needed a running back to fill in for Jaylen Warren and man did Kenneth Gainwell fill in for Jaylen Warren. 99 yards, his careerhigh, two rushing touchdowns, also got 134 yards uh all uh you know from from scrimmage. Really great great stuff there. DK Medcafe caught all five of his passes for 124 yards I believe. Uh and the and had an 80 yard touchdown catch and run just fantastic on his part. Sean Elliot everywhere on defense. We’re going to get to the edge edge rushers in a second here, Allan, but what what would what did you think of Gainwell Metaf and Elliot? Gainwell to me is the big story here. Wasn’t expecting to play. You know, Jaylen Warren was supposed to go, goes out there in pregame warm-ups, can’t go. Now it’s Kenny Gainwell, and he did not look at all uh like the situation was too big for him. Just went out there and did his job. I thought the offensive line blocked its best game, but he took full advantage of the blocking that they were providing. Um, I don’t think there’s a single run where you can kind of sit there and like second guess, you know, like, oh, it should have gone this way or, oh man, if it had just cut back, like everything that was available for him, he took in this game. And I’m not sure we’ve seen that from him when he was being used the way he was being used the first few weeks. This is the best he’s played in the Steeler uniform. Thought it was really, really good game for him. Uh, DK Metaf, we’ve seen, I feel like this has been coming like we’ve seen the connection between him and Rogers on the short routes. you know how dangerous he is in Yak. It was just a matter of time until he broke one. This was the game that happened. It came in a huge moment. Changed the whole rest of the game. That play Minnesota was really never able to answer uh after that big play changed the whole momentum of the game. And and uh the Steelers don’t win this one without TK Medaf and Deshawn Elliott. Man, tell me how much the Steelers defense missed him. Boy, boy, I mean, I don’t know that any player has ever gone from like an afterthought of a free agent signing to an oh my god, our team can’t function without him as fast as Deshawn Elliott has because uh everybody around Deshun Elliott played better in addition to him having a pretty good game himself. I mean, he had the breakup that sealed the game, the interception that flipped the game. He had several uh uh great great uh run stuffs. He was helping in the underneath passing game, just a tackling it, a sack, a forced fumble. Heck, if they just see the ball in time, he they would have had three turnovers in in in this game. But still, yeah, just epic game from Deshawn Elliott. But let’s talk about the edge rushers, Nick Herig and TJ W. Now, it’s it’s nothing new for TJ Watt, right? He gets a sack. He attracts all the attention. Still gets seven pressures in this game. That is just insane on his on his part. But Nick Herbe, I gotta say, man, this was my most impressive game to watch Nick Herving on tape because not only was he beating Christian Darasaw, who by the way is a very good tackle in my opinion. Uh, you know, he was beating him consistently, but you also saw him helping out in the passing game, jumping out in coverage, he also was not a liability in the run game the way he had been in other weeks. I saw really good stuff from him, and you saw him do the thing that we’ve been talking about the Steelers defense needs to do. when the other team pays all the attention to TJ Watt, you need other people to win their matchups. And what do the Steelers do on that intentional grounding play uh where Carson Wentz got called for it because Herig pressured him uh you know in in the last drive of the game that ultimately set up their final stop. TJ Watt not only got chipped by Jaylen Naylor, but had the offensive tackle and the right tackle and the right guard both just just on him the entire play with Derek Harmon taking up the center that left one-on-one for Cam Hayward and and Nick Herbick. They twisted. Deros is like trying to pass off Herby. He can’t get it to the guard in time. Herbic has a clean shot at at Wentz. Wentz does a good job to avoid him and not not get give up a turnover, but he still ends up trying to throw the ball away. Can’t find anybody. It’s intentional grounding. Nick Herbig had himself a career day in my opinion. That sets himself up to be a very good player for this defense moving forward even when Alex Heismith does return from injury. Yeah, this two really good matchups for him in back-to-back weeks. Um, at Will Campbell last week and I thought he did well with him there. Uh, again with Darasaw shows no fluke. Also feel like he held up against the run better. And I think that again like a lot of complimentary football here and that it wasn’t just herbig, but that big discrepancy we saw in the rushing success goes away. Yeah. Uh, with a I thought Cam Hayward was really good against the the run. And I thought the interior lineman kept the linebackers clean and let Queen and Wilson do their job flowing to the ball. And then you get some third and longs. And then you get Nick Herbig flying with his ears pinned back. And that’s should be a scary thing for every offense. I thought he was great. And uh the you know TJ, you know, kind of beating up on the backup over on the other side. Uh, but I mean they just had the whole Vikings offensive line in a blender and and the tight ends like they chipped and it was not effective. Those guys did not care. They were going right through it. They were going right through it. And I think huge wins for the Steelers edge guys up front. Again, five three star players. That might be the most three stars I’ve awarded in a single week. I don’t know. I have to I have to go back and look through all my grades, but uh really impressive stuff by them. We’re going to take a quick break. When we come back, we got to go over our skulls and we’re going to talk about one particular player. If you can see your screen on YouTube, you can see who that is on the on the last topic there. But where they’ve been, what’s going on there, all that’s next here on the Locked On Steelers podcast. Chris Carter, Alen Saunders. Stick with us. Be right back. But first, remind you, the show is also brought to you by Rouette. Guys, you probably heard of Viagra Seialis. Maybe you’ve even tried them. But if you’re looking for something beyond the usual pill, it’s time to meet Rouette. Golong. That’s exactly where Rouette Golong comes in is that it’s just not it’s not just the other ED pill. It’s a total gamecher for confidence. Golong combines two doctor trusted medications in one dualaction formula so you can get hard and go the distance. The effects can last up to 36 hours. That’s confidence all day, all night, and even into the next day. The process is simple. Connect with a board-certified doctor 100% online. And if prescribed, your treatment ships discreetly right to your door. If prescribed, your treatment will get there on time, every time. Ready to level up your confidence in the bedroom? Head to rouette.comlocked NFL and use code locked on NFL and you’ll get 15% off today. That’s rugg.com NFL. Use promo code lockdown NFL for 15% off to get Rouette. Go long [Music] back here on the Locked On Steelers podcast. Chris Carter with Alan Saunders of Steelers Now.com. Allan, let’s go over our skull grades here. Not many to hand out uh when I look back at this and maybe I was a little over egregious with some of these, but let’s go to our one skulls. I give uh our one skulls grades one to Isaac Seamalu gave up a sack. He was decent against the run which why he didn’t get much worse uh but uh or not against the run but in the run game but I thought the sack was pretty excusable and also killed a red zone drive that was the um the eventual blocked field goal. If he doesn’t give up that sack, I think he hits a really good spot there. I also got Pat Frymouth. uh he got he gave up the block on the field goal block that came later on that drive and if he doesn’t give that up the Steelers are up six points uh at the end of the game when they’re at the in the red zone and instead of going for it on fourth down they can kick a field goal go up nine make it a two-score game and pretty much ultimately pull it pulled it put it out of reach uh differently he also didn’t have many receptions were going to him later and then there’s Chuck Clark uh I thought Chuck Clark on the 81 yard Jordan play was the communicator I thought he communicated the right thing but Darius Slay didn’t catch it So maybe that’s not all in Clark, but I still felt like he was not as effective in this game or in in places he could have been the way he has been in some less. What what say you about by one skull grades here? Yeah, I mean, no matter what the communication was, uh you’d like somebody to recognize what’s happening in front of them and and realize that hey, Slay went the wrong way, uh or whatever or not the way you were expecting him to go, whether it’s right or wrong. and uh and as a deep safety keep help keep a lid on it. Um I didn’t think Clark was super effective other than outside of that either. So I think that’s a fair grade. Same thing with Fmouth really. I mean like he’s been on the field goal unit his whole career. It’s not like I think he’s bad at that. But uh you know doesn’t get a good block there and then didn’t really do much the whole rest of the game. And so I think that makes the skull more than fair. The only other person that gets a skull, there’s no three skulls this week. No no uh bus tickets. The only wonder skull is we got Darius Slay for the two skulls particularly because I thought he was the bigger culprit in the 81 yard Jordan play. Um and uh he also got gave up four other receptions. Uh and I thought that with all the injuries to the Steelers secondary he needed to kind of step up at the at the top quarterback man, but I didn’t think that he did a lot there. Still wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t his best game. Wasn’t a good game, I think, in my opinion. And had he not g had had they had they not given up the 81 yard pass to Addison, this he would probably might not even registered as much. Granted, this game’s probably also more of a blowout than a three-point win. Uh, but I I just when I looked at that play, the only reason I think it’s it’s more on Slay than Clark, and we talked about this off camerara, but to explain to our audience, when I looked at the play, Clark at the beginning of that play gives out some sort of adjustment, and they’re in a cover two shell where he’s a deep half safety and Juan Thornhill is the other deep half safety. But at the snap snap of the ball, Clark jumps down into an intermediate zone, which does appear to cover a legitimate space that’s uncovered. him, Patrick Queen, I think Pton Wilson were the three intermediate zone guys. Thornhill stayed back, but problem was Deshawn Elliott jumped into the flat and that’s where Darius Slay was. And that told me that I think that the the call was always for Elliot who was playing in the box to jump to the flat while Darius Slay just ran deep and they were trying to catch uh maybe catch off Carson Wentz off guard and thinking, “Oh, wait. Uh they got deep they got deep halves. Let’s uh or they There you go. Thornhill or not Thornhill. Clark’s playing back. We’ll we’ll try to throw it this way. And so that’s where the miscommunication was. I think that was more on Darius Slay in that moment. I could be wrong. I’m not going to profess like I know for sure. Uh but the uh because that’s something that you got to talk to players about. You never know all the different switches they could have. Uh but I I just felt Slate could have been better there. And I also felt like, you know, we talked about the three cornerbacks that are supposed to hold his quarterback room together. He’s the third and he really didn’t in that situation. Yeah. Yeah. I again like I think the default has to be figured out. Uh but somebody needs to have a lid on it. And um Slay I I don’t think had a great game either. He was banged up too, you know. Uh he he left the game and came back. So uh that’s a tough tough receiver. Uh, it is a tough receiver and and I thought they handled it overall pretty well. Like they that was the only time they did not keep a lid on it, but you got to go 60 minutes if you want to be a great defense. Agree. But I think that’s part of what they’re trying trying to get to. Uh, and we talked about like, you know, part of that is where they’ve been growing, right? They’ve been getting better at being a defense that’s not giving up those plays. But let’s let’s go back to Pat Frywick for a second here. And I because I’m not talking too much for just that, but this is a game where Pat Farmmouth comes out of it and he didn’t even get targeted in this game. And to me, that’s the disappointing thing is that he’s still not getting worked in the offense. Now, part of that is also just timing, right? Like, you know, DK Medaf with 120 yards. Uh the offense is, you know, efficient at different points in the game. But I it makes me wonder, man, because it’s been a few games now where he hasn’t really been much of the passing off involved in the passing offense much. Um, do you think this is more of just the volume of passing being low right now because of the way the Steelers are playing or do you think that there’s something going on there that he’s not getting more looks for one reason or another? Because in this game, he was also outnapped by Connor Hayward, which I didn’t think could ever happen in his game unless Pat Prime was hurt. Well, we’ve seen him and Aaron Rogers not be on the same page a couple times now. And um you know, I think that’s probably playing into this a little bit. Um they’re in general like the offensive line not playing well to me has led the Steelers to relying more on their heavier tight ends in this game. Uh going with Hayward and and Washington more was a sensible adjustment to, you know, some offensive line struggles, struggle to run the ball. why not go a little bit heavier? Um, and so I think it’s a combination of things. I don’t think Forth is playing as well as he’s capable of playing either. And uh, so I think there’s it’s sort of all those things at the same time. I wouldn’t, you know, say there’s anything big picture wrong here other than get a few weeks and and we’ll see how things go. But certainly, you know, not playing as well as he’s capable of at the moment. I also think that there’s the sign that people need to not always live in the moment. Evaluate the moment. You know, you make make note of the moment, but don’t do not try to make a mountain out of a molehill. And that’s what, you know, I I we talked about might be happening with the poor play of guys like Keano Bettton and people are saying, “Oh, this guy’s terrible. He’s a bust. Get him out of here.” Same. People said the same thing about Roderick Jones several times. It’s like, “Hey, let’s see how these guys bounce back. Let’s see how these guys continue to perform.” And you know, if they keep performing bad, then they are a bust. you know, Devin Bush, you know, had his time in the Sun and then after his injury, he became he became not a good player and and he wasn’t reliable for the Steelers and that proved out over time. But, uh, there’s also good players uh, who, you know, to take time to develop and there’s also good players that hit a lull at times. Happens to everybody at some point or another. And, um, I think that that’s where people need to be understanding about Pat Fryouth, about different guys. We look at Pton Wilson and Keo Benton. just the last three weeks I’ve been killing them on the show with for their grades and objectively so like it’s not it’s not me trying to pick on those guys. I respect them the same the way I respect every other player. But uh when you’re when you watch the tape, you see things that you got to evaluate it, but don’t try to, you know, over assign what could just be, hey, they’re putting some bad games out there. They got to improve. Let’s see if they improve. Don’t make that something bigger than it needs to be. And I think that’s where sometimes everyone tries to jump out a little bit over their over their uh over their feet and to try to get ahead of the game and be the first person to give the hot take. That’s why we try to keep grades game by game here and not overstep uh just what we’re evaluating. Yeah. Uh do do we still think that Derrick Harman was a wasted draft pick or are we Oh gosh. You know, like like let’s just just just relax. Four weeks. It’s a long season. learn a lot about these guys moving forward. More than we know right now. AB absolutely. He’s Allan Saunders. I’m Chris Carter. Thanks so much for tuning in to the Locked on Steelers podcast. Allan, the people they can find you follow you where you work. A_PGH on social media, Steelers Now.com. It’s where you can find my written work and my podcast. Steelers afternoon drive and Steelers Morning Rush on the Steelers Now YouTube page or anywhere you find podcasts. Absolutely. He’s Alan Saunders. I’m Chris Carter. You can read my work in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, including uh my film study on the Steelers mixing of coverages and and pass rush and how that improved this week and how it could mean good things for the future. Check out that film study and cartridge critiques in the Pittsburgh Postcazette, post-ashcazette.com. You can also check out my stars and call skulls great in written form. Uh that should be up Tuesday morning there in the Pittsburgh Postcazette. But as always, you can check out this show, the Lockdown Steelers podcast on your favorite podcasting app on YouTube. Like this video if you enjoy it. Subscribe to this channel to get all of our Monday through Friday episodes. We got another episode coming to you Monday looking at things going into the by-week and how things look for the Steelers moving forward. That’s next here on the Locked On Steelers podcast. [Music] [Music]

The Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense registered five or more sacks for a second consecutive week and continues to trend upwards. Christopher Carter and Alan Saunders explain the signs that show T.J. Watt, Jalen Ramsey, DeShon Elliott, Cam Heyward and company can form an elite defense this season if they stay healthy. The struggles in communication have lessened, and the emergence of better play from Keeanu Benton and Payton Wilson has helped the unit look more complete.

*EDITOR’S NOTE* Chris changed his grade of Payton Wilson from a one-star performance to a two-star grade as he was informed by a source close to the Steelers that second touchdown allowed by the Steelers wasn’t on Wilson. While he could not change it in time before the airing of this show, the change is reflected in his official grades in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, as well as in his future tallies of grades moving forward.

Also, Chris and Alan go over the Locked on Steelers Stars and Skulls grades of the Steelers’ win over the Minnesota Vikings. DK Metcalf and Kenneth Gainwell joined Elliott, Watt and Nick Herbig for top grades, but where did others rank? And what’s become of Pat Freiermuth in the Steelers’ offense?

Steelers, T.J. Watt, Trending Back to Elite? | Keeanu Benton, Payton Wilson Finding the Right Places https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7JorgD8nGLtvvMy1ogFetg

WANT MORE DAILY PITTSBURGH STEELERS CONTENT?

Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…
🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOSteelers?sid=YouTube

Locked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More
🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNFL

Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CarterCritiques

Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!
5-Hour ENERGY
Enough with boring, flavorless caffeine, it’s time to give your caffeine a flavor upgrade with 5-hour ENERGY®️ shots. Get the favorites you love or be bold and try something new in-store and online at https://www.5hourENERGY.com or Amazon today.

Peloton
Let yourself run, lift, flex, and push forward. Explore the new Peloton Cross Training Tread+ today at https://www.onepeloton.com.

Rugiet
Ready to level up your confidence in the bedroom? Head to https://www.rugiet.com and use promo code LOCKEDONNFL for 15% off your first order.

Monarch Money
Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNFL at https://monarchmoney.com/lockedonnfl for 50% off your first year.

Square
To learn more, go support your favorite neighborhood spot and see what Square has been up to in your neck of the woods. And then if you have extra time, check out https://square.com/go/lockedonnfl.

PrizePicks
Download the PrizePicks app today and use code LOCKEDONNFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup.

Gametime
Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.

FanDuel
Right now, new customers can bet just FIVE dollars and if your bet wins—you’ll get THREE HUNDRED dollars in bonus bets to use across the app.

FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)