Steelers vs. Bengals FULL PREVIEW 🔥 Would a win PROVE Pittsburgh is a CONTENDER? 👀 | First Take

Steelers vs. Bengals FULL PREVIEW 🔥 Would a win PROVE Pittsburgh is a CONTENDER? 👀 | First Take

It’s an order to go. [Music] Hey, 60 minutes. Play for one another. Yo, this means something to me. Hey, to you, too. What’s going on everybody? It’s your boy Stephen Day in the house. I’m hosting today. I’m hosting today. We don’t have anybody else hosting. It’s me. I’m in the house. Okay. We have my man Dan Olowski here. RC. I don’t know why he is not in studio. We will address why he is not in studio at some point in time today. You know what I think it is, Dan? I think he just wanted to be on the big screen. I think he just wanted to be on the big screen. He wanted to see himself. He wanted to see himself blow. Big screen. Do you see what I’m saying? He never been on a big screen. What’s it feel like? That’s what it is. What does it feel like? What does it feel like? You know what? I feel real Stephen Aish. I feel real big. You know what I mean? It almost It almost feels like I run the show when I’m sitting here. You guys are so very small and I’m so so big. Well, let me say this. Mina Collins will join us a little bit later on in the show. Of course, any any minute. Of course, the wonderful Jessica Mendoza will be in the house. Y’all do know that before we start the show, there are rules and regulations when I am hosting the show. We do know this, right? You will speak when spoken to. Look at me, Dan. Look at me. You will speak when spoken to. Okay, that is number one. Excuse me. Blow it up so I could see it more clearly on the screen. So, America could see it more clearly on the screen. No cussing. We don’t allow that. All right. RC, you will address me as Stephen A or Mr. Steven A. You understand? You ain’t a You ain’t a studio, so you can’t argue with me about this stuff. Okay? Leave the fluid comments to me, Dan. You don’t take that over. Don’t steal my ideas. Get your own damn stupid and no rude reactions, no gyraces, the facial expressions and all that. You stop that. You stop that right now with your troublemaker self. Okay, let’s get to it. We got a show to do. We got a show to do. Right, we’re going to start with the game tonight in AFC North rivalry as the Steelers visit the Cincinnati Bengals. Aaron Rogers and Joe Flack are set to become just the second pair of 40-year-old opposing quarterbacks to start against one another in NFL history. The Steelers sit at 4-1 and are the favorites to win the division at minus 160. The Ravens have only one win this season, but have the second shortest odds to win the AFC North. The Bengals and Browns being long shots needs to have a bigger game. DK Metaf or Jamar Chase. Who is it? I’m gonna say DK Metaf. And it’s because the the Steelers in the way that they’ve built their pass game, it’s a little bit I’ve called it like creatively cautious where they’ll move Rogers a little bit, but it’s hey DK, we we want to get the ball into your hands. And so they run kind of traditionally, historically like simple concepts. He leads the NFL in yards after the catch. 224 yards after the catch with wide receiver or DK one-on-one. And then it’s a little bit like Rogers move the pocket, play action, find the tight end. And so as great as Jamar is, the Steelers, and I see why they make the trade because there’s so much of DK, go be the focal point of the pass game. Go dominate, which he has done, and then our offense has rhythm. It has big play explosiv explosiveness to it. I say DK Medaf. What about you, Aussie? Now, I say Jamar Chase and I think when you think about DK Metaf, you’re thinking of the entire picture, right? How the does DK Metaf playing well in this game sort of pushed the Pittsburgh Steelers forward as we’re talking about this AFC North picture? But if you watch the second half against the Green Bay Packers, Jamar Chase was everywhere. Jamar Chase felt like the Triple Crown winner. There were three separate occasions where we watched him go one-on-one and Joe Flacco just give him a chance to make plays and he did that on Keshan Nixon. And so I’m expecting for a Jamar Chase to be the focal point of this offense as it was supposed to be when we came into this season. And Joe Flacco found a way to get comfortable in the second half. We watched Zack Taylor open up in the second half against the Green Bay Packers. For people who didn’t watch that game or see that film, that game was extremely close in the fourth quarter to the Green Bay Packers were able to put some distance between themselves and the Cincinnati Bengals. And it was because of Jamar Chase being able to win in one-on- ones. Jamar Chase on third down. And so for me, if this game is going to be close in any way, if the Cincinnati Bengals are going to have any sort of chance, Jamar Chase has to have one of those days we watched him have last year where he was showing everyone in the world he was the most valuable non-quarterback on the offensive side of the football. I totally agree with RC and I think it’s necessary because listen, I think that’s the only hope the Cincinnati Bengals have. Their defense isn’t great offensively. It is about Jamar Chase because he helps get T. Higgins off and others as well. If he’s flowing, then you got to worry about him. Obviously, you got to preoccupy yourself with him. And that leaves opportunities open for other people. And if you’re Joe Flacco, who’s immobile, you don’t have to worry about him scrambling. You’re going to really, really need to rely on Jamar Chase and others to step up in order for this to be successful. Go ahead, Dan. Well, here’s my push back to it, okay? If DK Medaf doesn’t impact the game the way that he has for most of this season, this game will be close because he’s such an integral part of their offense. I’ve talked to the Steelers don’t do a ton. They’ll put six offensive linemen on the field. You’ll see that and hear that a ton tonight. Darnell Washington will be the tight end and they’ll do a bunch out of it. But the reason they’ve been explosive, the reason they’ve scored points is because DK. So if DK doesn’t dominate tonight, this game will be close. Whereas the the the Bengals still have T. Higgins. Like Jamar’s going to be impactful. He’s sensational. But if like the Steelers take away Jamar Chase, T. Higgins can still hurt you. T. Higgins can still keep you in the game. Metaf is the focal point of that offense. And also being realistic, the Bengals keep it closer. The Bengals find a way to win tonight. Does it really change our prospect on them? Well, that’s true. That’s true. And that gets me to another question, which is the obvious one. That was just a warm-up question. Very, very good on both of you part. I wanted to test to see if y’all were ready to roll because sometimes, sometimes, man, I don’t know. I don’t know. So, I had to make sure y’all was ready to make sure we’re TV ready. Finally, Stephven, we needed you to come on this show and host in order to make sure we understood. This is not a day for you to clap back at me with that background of yours. It’s not the day to do it, RC. It’s not the day to do it. Okay. Exactly. Let’s go. Let’s go to a bigger question involving the Steelers because we really need to get to what’s on the line for them tonight. How allin do you want to be? If I’m the Steelers, Steelers win tonight, this division’s blouses. It’s a wrap. Okay. If you’re the Steelers and you win tonight, you have a I think I think it would be a three and a half game lead on the division. Do you make a call to the New York Jets and see is Garrett Wilson available? Do you make a call to the Miami Dolphins and see if Jaylen Wadd’s available? Do you call the Saints and see if Chris Olivia is available? I like those. I like those options because I like those options, Dan. This team is different than I thought they were going to be. I I thought they were a playoff football team. I didn’t. What did you think? would have had. I thought they were a playoff team after I’ve watched them over the last three or four weeks and now the defensive line has gotten healthy with Cam and Nate Hervig and TJ and I watched the way this offense is playing last year. You remember I said this offense can’t beat the good football teams. I don’t feel the way about this offense this year. This offense can beat the good football teams. And I’ve talked about I just laid out who they are on offense. Could you imagine if they really added a number two viable wide receiver opposite DK Mech or a Wadd? They went tonight division. I want to know how allin will Pittsburgh go to really say we’re making a no question expectation run at winning the Super Bowl. I think the other piece that we have to add to that is just how good Aaron Rodgers has been. And it’s not in the numbers, right? This won’t be the gaudy Aaron Rodgers numbers that we saw during his four MVP seasons, but he’s been a steadying force for this offense. He’s been a leader on the field. They haven’t necessarily conformed as the other teams have under Aaron Rogers to be exactly what he needs them to be or what he wants them to be. He’s used his legs in the pocket. He’s created extra time. Darnell Washington in the last game against the Cleveland Browns became a force on late leagues and moves and giving him opportunities in one-on-one. DK Metaf and now Aaron Rogers developing some chemistry down the field. Aaron Rogers is the reason period that this offense is good enough to beat good football teams. And I love the question that Dan is asking because the reason they can be allin is because the AFC is not what we thought it would be. We thought the Buffalo Bills would be a better team. You thought the Baltimore Ravens would be a better team. Obviously, the Kansas City Chiefs have sort of fallen back into the pack. And so now Dan is asking the right question and he’s asking the right question to general manager Omar Khan. You went out in this off seasonason. You said, “Give me DK. You say give me Jaylen Ramsay. You said give me Aaron Rogers. We aren’t going to draft a quarterback in the first round.” So that told me you were all in already. If you win tonight and you’re 5 and one and right now you have an opportunity to be the team that hosts every single playoff game at your stadium, go make a play. Go make another deal and get that number two wide receiver cuz that doesn’t just put you in a situation where you can represent the AFC. You can win a Super Bowl. RC, I’m begging I I’ve been begging to ask you this question, my brother. Did the Steelers make a mistake letting go of Mr. Pickkins. George Pickkins. They had they did have that number two. I’m not saying he’s a number two because the brothers elite. What I’m saying, however, is that that’s that second receiver that you need right now that would have been there already. Did they make a mistake letting George Pickkins out the door? So, first a little background. That was sort of a mutual decision. It wasn’t what everybody thought in the beginning that George Pickkins was just so much of George Pickkins that the Pittsburgh Steelers could no longer tolerate him. I think in 20 looking back in hindsight, yeah, you’d love to have George Pickkins, but George Pickkins and DK Metav did so much of the similar things, right? So many things were alike. So many things would be taking food off of one another’s plate. I believe that’s a little bit of why they moved on from a game plan and strategy schematic standpoint more so than the personality clashing. But now you say to yourself, if we have George Pickkins, if we have a DK Metaf, Darnell Washington coming along, Caleb Johnson, the rookie running back from Iowa getting more snaps last game showed me that he could also be a differencemaker in the run game with his downhill physical running style. Yes, if you would have George Piggins, you would be a better team and you would be a team that had a formidable passing attack in the sense of being able to stretch the field with more than one person. But they don’t need that. To me, they need that guy that’s somewhere in between Calvin Austin and in between DK Metaf that can make plays that can win one-on- ones inside or outside and also stretch the field in the way they don’t have another receiver that can do that. Before I get to answering uh asking Dan about what he feels about what you just said and oh by the way if not pickings being gone which one of those wide receivers you would want. I would say this to you RC that was a little long winded. You might want to condense your comments just a little bit. You understand? So you give more air time for me because you know that’s important. Go ahead. We’ll do. Go ahead. We’ll do. Um in relation to George Pickkins one, Cowboys absolutely won the trade. Cowboys won the trade. But I don’t think that means that Pittsburgh regrets moving on from him. DK Metaf has to be the focal point of the pass game. And it’s hard to have a pass game have the focal point of a DK and then the the secondary guy be Pickkins because this offense doesn’t it’s different than Dallas. It doesn’t need to score 40. Dallas has got to score 40. So there’s enough for CD and George Pickkins to go eat. Um so I like the fact that DK’s the guy. The second thing is you ask me what receiver I the the four that would be awesome if the Steelers make this move I would sit here and I go which Steelers are the team to beat in the AFC. Okay. Number one I’d call the Jets on Garrett Wilson. I would I don’t know if it’s likely because the new contract all that but it’s not a great situation right now. Number two I’d call the Dolphins with Jaylen Wadd. They’ve got both receivers paid. They’re struggling. I’d call the the Saints and I’d ask for both of their guys, Chris Olive and Rasheed Shahed. Both of those guys I think out of that group, most likely the Saints guys are the most viable options. Could you imagine if the the Steelers offense added a Chris Olive opposite DK Medaf or Rashid? I like Wadd too now. Medap. Yeah. So like that’s I don’t you don’t want that like true one guy with DK. You really want that one B or 2 A and that group would be the group. Right. Right. Very timely answer too. You’re relatively quick with that. Take notes. I say [Music]

Dan Orlovsky and Ryan Clark join Stephen A. Smith on First Take to preview Week 7’s Thursday Night Football matchup between Aaron Rodgers and the Pittsburgh Steelers and Joe Flacco and the Cincinnati Bengals.

0:00 Stephen A.’s hosting!
2:23 TNF set up
2:55 Who needs more: DK Metcalf or Ja’Marr Chase?
6:51 What’s on the line for the Steelers?
8:38 Aaron Rodgers’ play
10:01 Do the Steelers miss George Pickens?
12:20 RC’s talking too much

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