Big Ben talks Steelers win over Browns, AFC North dominance, Bengals preview and more! Ep. 104

Big Ben talks Steelers win over Browns, AFC North dominance, Bengals preview and more! Ep. 104

Welcome back to footballing with Ben Rothllessberger. We are excited because we just beat the Browns like usual. So, what better way to start an episode off than hand it to my friend Spence. Yeah. And a beer. Well, let’s celebrate again. It feels It feels uh Do we really celebrate being the Browns? It’s like we’re like we should always, right? Did we expect it? Of course. Of course. Did it happen? The The fear That’s not wood. Um, the fear is the moment when you expect it and it doesn’t happen. Yeah, I know. But I will say this as you’re pouring that and talking about it, there was a a small like itty bitty part of me that was a little bit like, man, there’s a chance this young rookie quarterback, us coming off a buy, being a little bit, you know, getting behind maybe the Browns defense, like there’s a chance. I mean, just I mean, I’m talking like a fleeting thought. Sure. where it’s like this could come down to like a lot like not that they’re going to like beat us, but it could come down to like man, they might just kick a field goal or something might crazy might happen. And then that was quickly dashed. Well, that I mean that’s I feel like a healthy level of respect for your opponent, right? You have to have I feel like when you go out there even with the amount of confidence that you have in any game, but especially this one, you have to have some levels. But it could we can’t just like mail it in. I know, but it’s still tough. All right. So, all of the beers for today are from 21st Amendment Brewery. We’ve done some of these. The Heller High Watermelon that I think we’ve done like in the first season of the show, the they have one called the Fireside Chat, I believe. It’s like a holiday ale, but we haven’t done these three. So, this one is a It’s called Hell or High Twilight. It is a citrus wheat ale. 5.6% alcohol by volume. Um, it’s brewed with sweet orange peel and natural flavors. What What are your thoughts? A little celebratory beverage. That’s really good, actually. Here you go. It’s got a um It’s got the the wheat that you that you won’t like, but it doesn’t have but it’s not bubble gummy obviously because it’s got the citrus. Nice. So, it’s got like a a twinge kind of like my twinge of potentially losing the game. A twinge of citrus to it. Um, but not overpowering. No, overpowered citrus and not overpowering uh wheat. That’s that’s that’s really good. Hey, there you go. Yeah, it’s it’s actually light, crisp, refreshing. I like that. That’s good. Well done. Good job. 21st. Not that you need our approval, but uh No, not at all. But well done. But you got it. Um get into here. Hold on before we get started. I forgot I I labeled all these. Go ahead. We won. So I had us as a W. That’s another win for me. I mean, it’s for the Steelers, but win for me. We are now I am three and two. Okay. Anyway, I just wanted to make sure I got to that right away. And we’re what? Four and one. I think we’re four in one. Yes, we are four and one lost one that I mean it is insane. I saw something today uh this morning that there’s like four one lost teams. Well, Bucks, Colts, us and the Lions just took a thumping, dude. What was that about? Just when I was about to write the Chiefs off, my kids were asking me, “You think Chie has a chance to win the Super Bowl?” I was like, “No, I think they’re I think their run’s over.” And I always give them always have a chance when you’ve got Patrick, when you’ve got Kelsey, when you’ve got Andy Reid. Always have a chance. But I’m like, you know what? They just haven’t I don’t know. I think it just it’s and then they just put a thump in on Detroit. I didn’t get to I didn’t really watch the game, but I didn’t watch the end of it. I was done probably at halftime putting um the babies to bed. But um yeah, that was one that going into it, my oldest daughter always just when we put football on, she’s like, “Daddy, what teams are playing?” I’ll explain them and she can able to start identifying the different teams, different cities. And whatever team I tell is like the best, I’m like, “Ah, the blue team here is probably going to win this one.” She’s like, I want the red team to win. She always like for the underdog. Underdog. I like him. Yeah. And I’m like, baby, that’s probably not going to happen. And then it panned out. Yeah. And Bills went down. She told me, “Told you.” And I thought that was unnecessary. I don’t know why it’s too early for that. Yeah. Um but anyway, yes. I don’t you know who the 4-1 teams are, but we are one of them, which is awesome. I I think, you know, looking at this at the schedule and the season early on, I think this was, you know, we kind of said that we we’re going to need to take care of business early because the back end of our schedule was where it gets potentially tough. Now, we’ve seen some things start to, you know, unpack itself, if you will. Um, some teams maybe aren’t looking as good, especially in the AFC North. I think we all expected the North to be a lot better than it is. Uh, injuries obviously play a part in that. Uh but it it’s you know we got the wins we were supposed to. You know right now it looks like Tomlin at this rate is going to get his you know another winning season. I would say they keep on this they’re going to get a I think they’ll get a home playoff game which I think would be huge. Yeah that’d be nice. Can we talk talking about AFC North? Can we talk about um our premonition? So we released a clip after the Giant Eagle live show we did last week about the Bengals needing a seasoned veteran quarterback. I was making a joke about you and then that day that the clip dropped. It’s crazy. They get Joe Flacco. What are we divisional trading of a veteran quarterback? That’s insane. Crazy. Like it’s one thing if they would have been like, you know, take Gabriel, take Shador Sanders, take someone like But you’re going to give them like they just need they have great weapons on the outside. They just needed a quarterback that can get them the ball. It like the Bengals just got a lot better. Yes. A lot better. and we have them this week on Thursday. Now, you know, I’ll get to my pick here um a little bit later, but talking about that game, but but they now are a much more dangerous team. It was crazy to me when that came in. Uh obvious for the reasons you just mentioned, but I feel like the timing of it is weird. It’s weird, too. I mean, what do you think is going through the Browns mind to get rid of somebody you felt was qualified to start your season off? It’s crazy. Like the irony of it is it feels like they had 17 quarterbacks in the preseason and zero to choose from. I mean, now Gabriel’s out there obviously young. He’s doing all right. I don’t know. I don’t I don’t I can’t see Shadore getting a shot over there realistically. I don’t think so. Um, which is kind of crazy. Why wouldn’t you get rid of him in that situ? But they also might not have been interested. I I don’t know how that played out. But does it feel like the the Browns I know the Browns are getting new stadium in a couple years or next year. I don’t know when that’s supposed to be done. Does it feel like they’re kind of playing for the future there? Like whenever they probably I mean, you know, you’re supposed to have this great defense. you’re supposed to, you know, have a young quarterback, which is always gonna, you know, potentially, but, you know, obviously you talk about Joe being early and then they they decided to bench him cuz they weren’t doing well and it’s like, okay, it seems like, okay, now it’s just we’re going to ride with Gabriel the rest of the way is what it seems like in watching that game. You know, I know I’m sure we’re going to start we can get into the game. They are worse than I thought. Yeah. like they like they are abysmal like offense, defense, and I’m not just saying because it’s Cleveland and I know I like to joke about Cleveland on this show. They were I mean I was texting you during the game. They are they were terrible. Like they were terrible on offense. Where’s this vaunted defense? Like like where is Miles Garrett player of the year? Like he didn’t didn’t do anything. They had two tackles. I think they did nothing. Now I will say this because we got on Brick Jones so much early in the season. It was it was warranted. It was deserved. I will say this, we because again we didn’t attack him, but we we spoke truth of what we saw of what I saw. I will say this cuz I I feel like now is the time that I would like to to also acknowledge when he’s doing better. Yeah, he is playing better. Every week he’s getting better, which is awesome because you wanted to keep trending the right direction. Is he still have a handful of kind of like what was that? Absolutely. But all in all, he is is making big strides and playing better. So, I wanted to take this moment to give him kudos for working, for getting better, for for going against one of the best pass rushers in the game, really shutting him down. Now, he had help. You know, there’s there’s other people there helping, but all in all, because we had kind of um pointed him out early in a negative light, I’d like to point him out now in a positive light that he is getting much better. Uh, I hope that he takes the approach of I’m I’m never I need to keep getting Don’t Don’t sit there and say, you know what, I’m so much better now. I’m good. I just shut down Miles Garrett. Let me just relax. Let me cruise now. Never cruise. Always continue. Always continue to get better. Always strive to be um excellent. So, uh anyway, Brick Jones, keep it up. You’re doing uh much much better. Yeah. Uh I agree. Good job there. 77. Yes. Um, but yeah, it was that was something coming in like obviously you keep your your eyes on Miles Garrett, but it was the the defense could be the issue and I’m like I don’t know that is anyway was there was nothing there. I feel I I started to feel bad for Browns fans cuz I’m like they have such a great fan base, a passionate like that I was like buddy what are we doing here? No turn. I mean I’m just looking at like the team stats. I mean, the only negative that I can find from the Steelers from the from the Steelers performance is maybe two is they are five of 13 on third down, which isn’t not not at a level you’d want, but I’ll but I’ll want to come back to why. Okay, I’m going explain that and why it’s not a big as big of a deal. Um, but the bigger one probably is 10 penalties. We were one of the least penalized teams going into that and that was a big penalt a big penalty game. So that’s about that’s literally about the only thing I can find that was not a positive. Rush for 100 yards, threw for 235, you know, Aaron was 21 to 30, 7.8 yards per attempt. All those are really good numbers. Yeah. Again, third down, five of 13. Here’s why I say it’s not as big of a deal in a game like this. This is one of those games that they are not going to beat you. Sure. They’re you can only beat yourself. So, and I I think I texted you at one point in this game is even on some of the third downs, it was very evident that Aaron was like, “Okay, just get the ball out and and make a positive play. Don’t turn it over. Don’t force it down the field.” Because a punt and a field goal kicking the kicking game is your best friend in this game. Punting, we I’ve gone into games like that before where it’s like, “Hey, listen. This team is not good on offense. Don’t give them an opportunity. Don’t turn the ball over. Don’t give them a short field. a punt is is is your is a is is a great play. Punt it down there. Let our defense step up. We’ll get the ball again. We’ll try and score. Knowing that if you’re in field range, Bos is going to hit your three. Um so, you know, that’s why I guess I would say that the third down conversion doesn’t concern me as much as as maybe it should in terms of just the numbers because that’s a this is a game where it’s like, you know, if it’s not there, just get get rid of the ball, throw it away. um you know that that that was just important that that you do that and they did that. Yeah. I mean that makes sense in this game. I think my fear or fears that I’ve seen in the fan base is like is that something that in a game like this we are just making those decisions cuz we know that or are we incapable of actually I don’t know converting. Yeah. Here I don’t know all in all but but going into this game I mean as a veteran guy and Aaron I mean I’m sure he had conversation with coach and and he’s and he knows this. He’s like, “Hey, listen. This team stinks.” Yeah. Like, just don’t make the mistake. Take the check down. Take this. Throw it away if you don’t have it. Just can’t give them the ball. I cannot turn a ball over knowing that they can’t do anything on offense. And again, their defense was I was just I was blown away at how bad their defense was. Like, I’m just like, what are we doing? I thought the same thing, man. I that was one thing I that I I want to say nervous about, but I was like, “Hey, this is going to be a a cool test for our offense to see how they, you know, game plan against something like this.” this and I was like this this what was frustrating tough is the at the first play they come out the gate it hit old Mount Washington up great great scheme great play call Arthur Smith awesome I I thought oh this might be a long day for these boys and then it was just three and out three and out three and out yeah um but again you’re you’re you’re getting your field goals you know it’s it’s I think it was three nothing 6 nothing 63 I mean you’re a great play design early on bring bring Mount Washington And you know it’s like okay he’s 11′ three. He’s going to block come right into the line and he inserts and then you know it’s like everyone everyone as Mo would say sucks down on the on the play fake and he just out the back door. Awesome play design and I think it works well with him. If it’s Pat, if it’s Janu, there might be a guy a little more like why is he coming into the block? You bring the big fell in known blocker and just sneaks right through. Unbelievable first play of the game. Um, I thought Aaron played really well. Uh, I thought he threw the ball. Obviously, he’s still he’s so accurate. He can hit those deep balls. Getting um DK involved, hitting the the little sluggo was like that’s like taking candy from a baby. I saw it sitting there as man coverage. Aaron gave a little this and he just like you could tell he was probably smiling before he even released it. Those are those ones that you’re like, “Oh, this is so much fun.” The only thing I saw from from Aaron really that would that you know would would not even not even cause for concern, but I was just like, “Oh, that’s unusual for Aaron.” How about that? I’ll say that for for who he is. There’s a deep ball to to DK down the left side that DK was behind the the defender. Aaron threw it. Um, you know, wasn’t like it was a crazy, but he underthrew a guy. I don’t know the last time I saw Aaron underthrow somebody. He’s got such a big strong arm. Am I concerned? No. But it just was like, “Oh, interesting that he missed the, you know, those layups.” That guy doesn’t miss layups. You know, it just doesn’t happen. Uh, and then the only other thing is is maybe his escapability isn’t what it used to be. But again, who is at 40ome years old, no one’s running around like that. So, all in all, Steeler fans should be pleased. I think I said it early before the season started after going to the practice in the stadium. Watch out for what Aaron and DK can do cuz DK’s never had a quarterback like Aaron. And they’re just now, it feels like they’re just starting to get that rhythm. like they’re just I mean he’s hitting them on the deep balls and I think Aaron loves having a guy like that and that guy loves having Aaron. So um anyway I I I thought Aaron played a really good game you know looking at the numbers 21 to 30 very efficient 235 7.8 yards per, no interceptions, two touchdowns. I thought the throw to um Connor Hayward was was a great throw, a little scramble, and it was kind of like I’m like, “Aaron, get rid of the ball. Here they come.” And he kind of gives him a little point, throws it back, and Connor, what a great catch by by him. And I think that’s just awesome when you see a guy that’s that’s a special team guy, a a hybrid fullback, running back, tight end, like what’s his role, making a great play like that. Awesome to see. Yeah. And it seemed too that the uh this was kind of like the first thing game where I I felt like you were seeing the Steelers offensive identity like they were using these jumbo packages, you’re bringing in Darnell and how how um how important do you think the previous weeks were and implementing like when you’re bringing Spencer Anderson in, you’re bringing um Darnell did a block and he was catching more more balls and running more routes uh and creative scheming on the offense. How how important were those other weeks putting that stuff on tape you think it was for like effectively executing that that play the first play of the game? Oh yeah, absolutely. Like I said, it’s the fact it was Mount Washington, the fact it was he inserts inside the line to be a lead blocker. Everything just just just screams that that’s that’s tape study. And and listen, the Browns tape study, too. They said that guy’s going to come in here. He’s going to block. He’s going to run right here. They all excuse me, they all came flying downhill. Well, that’s exactly what you want. You go into games like that and every once in a while you’re like you know what you go into games I don’t know how Smith does it but you would go into a game with with a a first play you know and then you’d have like usually a top 10 to 15 12 play scripted usually it’s like okay we want to do this play or a run or a pass every once in a while you’ll hit them with like a little trickle play every once in a while it’s like you know what we’re throwing a go ball like deep we’re going to we’re going to hammer right now this is one of those plays this is like a this is a trickle type play. We’re going to hit them on a and and they gained however many yards on it. So, I I I I love that. I love that. It won’t work every time. That that play probably won’t work again as a as an opener, but you might be able to do something sneaky on where he comes in and does the same thing. Instead of going deep, he goes out to the flat or cuts across the field. There there’s other ways now you build off that play. But what they’re doing is they’re building off the run game. They’re building off the extra line. They’re building off using uh Washington and and that’s that’s kind of what they’re doing. It’s it’s a run first kind of offense. Yeah. And I love to see obviously I thought Jaylen ran well as well, but it feels almost like they’re even they’re getting creative and developing an identity out of the offensive line deficiencies like okay, we need to bring in guys here. We need to get the ball out quick. I think Aaron had like the quickest release in the league league coming in this game or something like he was I’m getting rid of the ball quick and you know part of that is because the production is I got bashed for that. Why you getting rid of the ball so fast? That’s why don’t Okay, because those guys are 300 lb. The guys running at me are 300 lb. That’s why. Um, but it seemed like they build um an identity off of that. That’s that’s seems to be working. Do you think as the offensive line play u begins to improve that they’re going to maintain this kind of identity since it seems to be working with I would think so. I think the key is going that’s always going to be my like wild card for this team is the O line play staying healthy. That’s the other thing that’s been crazy. It seems like all these other teams like people are dropping like flies. Uh and so like if our line can stay healthy, I think that’s huge. Obviously some of our big time guys need to stay healthy, but but it seems like everybody we play just gets beat up. It’s crazy. Yeah. um a couple injuries this game as well, but it does seem around the league that more people are are getting injured. Lineman are going down like crazy. But yeah, there are there are a lot of big big time injuries, quarterbacks and and just some bigger name guys. Yeah. Nobody in our division game, man. Like nobody in our division has a quarter a starting quarterback anymore. Do you think we should, I don’t know, maybe like towards the end of the season, depending on what the Bengals do, we should just draft Flaco as a backup just so he can complete complete the Infinity Gauntlet of the AFC North. I don’t know. Maybe hopefully missing one helmet, man. Hopefully, we don’t need him. But yeah, that’s a I mean, that’s a crazy move. Um I I think as we’re talking about the offense here, um I’m excited to we play Thursday, we’ll we’ll touch on that later. Um, I’m excited to see the offensive identity develop some more. Um, and just throughout the season, it does seem like we are getting more and more creative in our scheming. It feels like every week we’re having a little bit of, you know, wrinkle play here. Some, you know, not just like straight, you know, fundamental football. Seems like we’re we’re But as I I start to see that around the league, Detroit did that uh got called back with golf, caught a touchdown. I don’t know if you saw that. They’re kind of known to do that in the Ben Johnson era, but it seems like a lot of teams are getting more creative. How how important do you think it is in today’s NFL to establish a level of creativity in your offensive identity as opposed to just executing fundamentals? Yeah. I mean, you’ve got to throw wrinkles in. You’ve got to throw some unique I mean, even the the simple fact of, you know, Aaron not taking a snap for the tush push in in London or in um in Ireland. That was awesome. You know, there there’s there’s definitely ways that you you you do that stuff and we talked about on here before. You do it one to throw the the defense off, make them practice for something else, even if you don’t ever do it again. Uh I I think there’s also a fine line of getting too creative. I don’t know that, you know, with Aaron and some of the stuff when you have a veteran guy, you don’t need to necessarily get gadgety all the time. So, I think that there’s there’s definitely some things that that, you know, can can keep coming. I think you don’t want to throw them all out at once. It’s like, okay, show us, show us a little bit. Give us a little bit. Give us a little bit. The extra lineman has been a kind of a wrinkle using Washington in the blocking game. I think we got to see some more guys get involved. I think you’ll see um Pat should start to get more involved. You know, you’re getting John the ball, but it’s almost like the Arthur Smith and the Steelers offense is they’re like, we have a bunch of weapons still. We’re just slowly letting him out of the bag. You know, like it’s like, we’re not giving you everything we have right now. Cuz I still think there’s there’s a there’s got to be a big place in this offense for Pat. where is what is going on. Uh even Janu I think there’s still a lot that can be used there, but um I it’ll be interesting to see how Arthur keeps using using it and utilizing the different people on offense. Yeah, I want to jump to the defensive side of the ball because I think coming into the season there was uh talk about the secondary and the three-headed monster in the secondary with Ramsay, Slay, and JPJ. And I what was cool that you saw um this week was kind of a three-headed monster in the linebacker rotation, right? So obviously Alex was out for a couple weeks with a ankle thing. He came back, great to see him back, played really well, but between him, TJ, and Herbig, I mean, it’s pretty even distribution of snaps there. Uh Herby got two sacks in that. What do you think um is the best way to manage the edge rusher rotation without like sacrificing the consistency or the chemistry? Well, I’ll start with watching that game. It felt like watching an Oprah giveaway. Like seriously, like I’m watching this game and it’s like you get a sack. You get a sack. You get a sack. Tackle for loss. It was just like that’s one of those games that our defense had to be like my turn. No, no, no. My turn. Ramsey blitzing, getting two sacks. I mean, what are we doing? That’s what I’m saying. This team was so The brothers are so bad. But this is something that builds you as a build your confidence as a defense. You know, it’s like, listen, we went in here like, no, this is who we are. Like, they should be leaving that game being like, no, they’re not that bad. We’re just that good. Now, the rest of us are going to look at be like, no, they’re that bad. But y’all are good, too, but they’re they’re horrible. Um, and so it was hard to watch from a from just a perspective of like at least make this game like make it a game. Now, as a fan, you’re like, dominate him, you know, but like as a football guy, you want to see something. But, um, you know, in terms of the linebackers, you throw Jack Sawyer in there, too, as a young guy who used to learn from some really good guys. I I would what I would do is I would just it’s it’s TJ and it’s um it’s Alex and then you’re using Herbic to spell them. If you’ve got three and I’d call I’d put Sawyer in there as a four four rush guy. I would just be who who needs one like like you know old NASCAR. Keep keep yourself fresh. Keep yourself running like TJ you need two get out for two. Take TJ out maybe on first or second down every once in a while. Yeah. You know what I’m saying? And give him a breather on first down if he wants one on second. Let TJ just get I would let him make his own thoughts. Now, I think the the the good thing if you’re TJ is TJ can now have the confidence to be like, I can actually take a break because I trust the other guys that that it’s yeah, I’m the I’m the best defensive player in the league right now, but I also trust that these guys can get it done while I’m not out there. So, I’m okay taking a break to get myself gassed back up to go 110 every single play. So, it’s a great problem to have. Um, just got to stay healthy. But, but I would just let those guys just as they need to rotate fast, rotate fast. Yeah. What does that do to the offensive line? I mean, obviously you’re g you’re gassing them, but like you got to if you’re training to I mean, throughout the week to play three different guys on the end, you know? Yeah. I mean, it’s more, you know, you you almost as a as a tackle, you’re like, “Okay, TJ’s out. I can take a breather.” But then you’re like, but he’s getting like gassed up to come back in. So he’s recharging his battery. So like, oh no. If I’m on offense and TJ takes a break, I’m I’m going instantly no huddle just to keep them on the sideline or up temple because you don’t you just got to take advantage of that stuff. But I don’t expect TJ to come out much, but I think when he does, you’ll have, you know, some really good players coming in behind him. So in terms of just blocking, like guys, if guys have different moves, there’s things like that you have to be prepared for. But you know, TJ brings so many different things. Herbit can do do it all. I I also think there could be some merit to rotating him on sides, which we’ve seen TJ a couple times go the other side just to mix it up because he wants to rush against a different guy. So, you know, and maybe there’ll be something moving down the road there’s enough faith in them and maybe it’s a third down situation where you have all three guys on the field, you know, where you have one D lineman and three rushers and they’re all it’s Alex, Herbick, and and TJ and they’re all rushing from different spots. You know, they’re standing up and it creates kind of confusion by the line. So, I still think there’s a lot of things that could be done on defense, too. Yeah. And and that I mean, talking about the the efficient um rush on the edges, I feel like a lot of times we forget about what’s happening on the interior like that. You still got like Derek Harmon and Cam Hayward to deal with. I didn’t even know like, you know what I mean? I didn’t even hear about their names this week, which is I don’t know if good or bad. Like, did did Harman play well? Did I mean that that’s that’s a great problem to have when your guys when when you don’t like hear about like it’s like what are they doing? So, yeah, see what they do on defense. Yeah, let’s see what their stats are. Um, I wanted to ask about the middle because I think um Patrick Queen’s impact has been I mean it’s I thought this was a great game. It’s I mean looking at these stats here, he said had nine tackles. Derek Har had a sack. Four tackles in a sack. So, look at us. Look at us not even knowing that. Um but again, that’s probably a good like that’s probably well spells Cam cuz Cam had two tackles. So that’s giving, you know, you’re giving your guys giving the older guys rest. And again, there’s not a drop off, right? That’s what you want. Yeah. And um what do you uh what do you think about getting Ramsay in there? Obviously, we saw him. We’ve been ringing that bell for manes the preseason. Blitz him, bring him off the edge. And again, maybe it’s maybe this has been the plan the whole time, like let’s not throw it all at you right away, you know? And so I think that’s what’s been great to watch is to see the evolution of this defense, the offense. They’re they’re just getting better. You don’t want you don’t want to to be your best in week 1 2 3 or four. Yeah. You know, it’s like let’s start trending in the right direction. Right now is the time. They got now they got a stretch coming, right? We got no buys and obviously you get a mini buy after this Thursday game, but it’s going to be time to we’ll we’ll look at the schedule again moving forward, but but I I love what they’re doing blitzing guys and doing some of that stuff. Yeah. Yeah, I want to ask one one more and then um we’ll hit this other beer and dive into some other aspects of the game. But one thing that stood out or one player that stood out was Keshan Williams. I think he was brought up from the practice squad to help return uh in um lie of CA3 as he was injured. I thought I mean the return he had was awesome. The only got called back the one got called back. But um what do you think about that young man’s talent? Do you see anything beyond that one play that could have earned him a roster spot? Well, you make one play on special teams, you have a chance. Yeah. You know what I’m saying? I don’t know. I need to see I don’t I honestly I if I spoke on it, I’d just be talking and I don’t want to do that. But I but but you get a big return like that. That’s going to that’s going to get you some more some more looks. Yeah. I mean, I don’t know if it’s because I was unfamiliar with him that I didn’t I didn’t I had a low expectation or something, but he when he like started running, I was like, “Who’s this? Get a young man. Go.” Yeah, you got it. Have yourself a day. Uh let’s jump to this next beer. This is a nice little hazy. Okay. Just a little something something familiar again from 21st Amendment Brewery uh out of California somewhere. I think maybe Bay Area. Uh but this is their hazy IPA. I cannot get I I just I can’t get over how bad the the Browns defense was. You’re the irony of this for me at least is that you were legitimately shocked. Like again you do joke a lot in here because you are I mean you own a franchise. But um you were legitimate after the game you were legitimately shocked that they kind of lived up to your jokes. I thought it was going to be close. Like like the I thought I say this close like I thought it was going to I thought the def the Browns defense would show up more to make it more challenging on the Steelers. Yeah. Now, okay, 23 points like Yeah, you can say what you want, but it never really looked like it was that hard. Like I’m just talking like it wasn’t like sacks, sacks, lots of p like it just didn’t look like that. You know, I texted our group chat at one point and it was probably early. It might have been before halftime. I was like, “Is this the most boring Browns Steelers game we’ve had in I there was point in times I’m like, “Yo, let him get a first down just so we can I mean, just like let Yeah, I don’t think they Oh, that’s nice. Yeah, there you go. Uh six and a half, I think. 35 IBU. I also don’t think that um Oh, Abe. Honest Abe. Um, I don’t think that the Browns put Dylan Gabriel in a advantageous situation to succeed either throwing the ball 52 times. I was going to ask, yeah, like like it just felt like I know Kevin Stansky I think Yeah, Kevin Stansky is like this really good coach, but like I don’t think that they did a good job of of of helping him. And now maybe it was maybe he didn’t see guys, maybe he didn’t hit them. May help your quarterback out with some like short passes. take some shots every once in a while. Maybe the defense was just that good and got after him, but I just didn’t think that get him out and let him run a little bit maybe. I don’t know. Yeah, because he has that skill set. I mean, not a big guy, but I mean, quick, athletic. I did think I did think having a rookie quarterback in his second start against a division rival at their place. At their place throw 52 times was a wild choice. Yeah. And it it wasn’t really out of hand that you need to throw it that much. You know, sometimes you get those numbers because you it’s skewed because you got sling all over the place. No, I didn’t see that. I mean, they couldn’t get a run game going, but like these tribes, I mean, 52 times is wild for young man. Yeah. Um, next thing I want to talk about was that kind of making headlines during and after the game, and it seemed to be a um an issue obviously for Bos. There was one that we saw. Um, but maybe I don’t know that I remember it being an issue in Pittsburgh before, but the field looked like the community, you know, park, brother. Like that was Yeah, usually you see that later in the season. Usually you see that um bad weather games. I mean, we had one against the Dolphins a few years back now where the punt stuck in the ground, which is mindblowing. I can’t even I don’t know how that happened. But you have Monster Jam the other week. It was unbelievable. Uh I think it was unfortunate cuz that’s the only reason Bos misses a field goal is cuz he his whole foot goes out, right? I heard Aaron made some comments about it. I’m sure the other team made comments about it. It looked awful in this. I don’t even think the Pit played there this weekend. I think they were at Florida State. So, it it it has it’s been there’s been issues with it before. Players have talked about it before. We’ve all been out there when it’s like it’s just a sand base. It just gives out so easy. I don’t know what the solution is other than in my opinion either get like we’ve even said this get what about just getting Bermuda like well it grows dormant. Who cares? Yeah. Like at least you got put on the practice at least you got something because our our our practice fields are about the same way really like they tear up and it’s terrible. You can’t have a professional football team, not just the Steelers, but the opponents play on a surface like that. Yeah. Because you’re paying them a lot of money, and if people get hurt, it’s not a good thing. And and only thing I can think of is, and I’ve been saying this for a while, I don’t think Pit should play there anymore. Yeah, that’s a wild thing to me when I moved to the city to find that out. I don’t I understand there’s like high school games that like the playoffs play there and that’s not a big deal, you know, concerts, things like that. But my thing is, and I’m saying this for multiple reasons. I’m saying this for pit’s sake as well, I firmly believe that Pit should put like a 35,000 person stadium up on up on Oakland. Mhm. Pack that thing because when you’ve got 65,000 or 70,000 in in in Acure and it’s only half full, what’s that look like? You’re punching the gun. Go go go go go pack put a 25,000 person stadium and then have it like just bumping crazy loud fans everywhere. The students the students won’t have to drive anywhere. They can walk to camp. They can walk to the stadium, walk to the game, walk back to their dorms and then you keep them off of that field for the Steelers. Yeah. No, I’m I know there it was probably part of the deal the taxpayers dollar when they built the stadium when it was Hinesfield. It was like, okay, we’re going to do this and part of the the deal was both teams are going to play here. UPMC probably put money. I don’t know. But some somehow someway they have got to figure out how to separate those things and make that feel better because you can’t put that product out there for the best kicker in in in the game to miss field goals because his whole foot just gives out. Yeah, that was a wild thing. I heard um Miles had an in I don’t know it was related to that but um I wouldn’t be surprised and you guys you got guys going out there playing in I mean if Miles really got hurt because of the field and he create he’s he’s a a relative face of of this of the team of the um NFL of the Shield if he goes and creates a stink about this there there’s some ramifications. Well, do you Okay, so we’ve had this conversation a couple times on this show and with former players with the natural grass and turf conversation. Obviously, you guys hate playing on turf. Has there been two-part question. Has there ever been a turf that you’ve played on like, “Hey, this isn’t too bad.” And what do you think this is a a kind of argument for turf field uh being more beneficial than a grass field? Yeah, the artificial surface is obviously it’s it’s great for a lot of things. doesn’t tear up. You can do a lot more on it. It can be incredibly hard. If they take care of it and don’t do a lot of things on it, it can be soft enough. It’s still not to me it’s still not the same as playing on on dirt. I love the natural. I love the potential for mud and and you know, dirty uniforms, things like that. I just think it the field it just you need it just needs to be taken care of better. Like in terms of like if it’s a different grass, is it a different base? I would never want to play on an artificial surface and I know most players wouldn’t want to either. That being said, if you had a choice of either like what you know, divots and and what happens if TJ Watt would have twisted an ankle, heaven forbid, or or Aaron or somebody got hurt on that field just because they there was a dividend or something like that’s what does that look like? What if what if what if um Patrick Mahomes or Jamar these these these these faces of the NFL go in there and then something happens on that field? I remember Sean Sweet got hurt the Hall of Fame game uh in a preseason and they they redid the field. Coward wouldn’t let us play, you know, we did a preseason game, I think Detroit. He’s like, “No, we’re not going out there till the seam gets fixed.” I mean, there’s things that, you know, you have to be aware of and you know, I know that that the Steelers usually at some point will start to resod it. you know, they’ll take out in between the numbers and resod it, but that sod doesn’t it’s like it grows and all of a sudden it’s like perfect again and then you’re only soding between the the hashes or the numbers and it’s just a it’s a it’s a bad look. I’m glad it wasn’t like a prime time thing game where it happened. But it’s just we just steers have to be careful because if someone gets hurt on that or we what if that was what the gamewinning field goal? Yeah. Yeah. And boss slips then what are we talking about? Yeah. You know, so it’s just it can be very frustrating. Obviously perfect services in terms of artificial surface. Sure. But is that you know that that feels like artificial surface doesn’t feel like the Steeler way, you know. No, I don’t I can’t ever see that in this be on Astro Turf. But you know Yeah. Well, that I mean back when that first came out that was just a parking lot with carpet on it, wouldn’t it? I mean that was plus the Pirates played there. I mean you know you a lot going on there. So yeah. Yeah. It’s it’s a crazy um it’s a crazy thing to witness when you’re watching Bos like legit plant his foot and slide. Yes. You know what I mean? And um but is it the Raiders? Do they have like do they have real grass but like on a their field like changes out or something? Goes outside. Well, Arizona does. Is it Arizona that I’m thinking about? Um the Raiders might as well, but Arizona does. It goes in and out like it it gets in this big thing and goes out and lives outside and then comes back in. That’s a little There’s no room for that here. But I’m going to put that we’re going to put that on the river for a little while. Yeah. Is that is that a possibility? And we’re over here. I saw something that they were residing like directly after the game. They’re like just ripping it up and getting back after of course I think what uh again you fact check me on this but I think the next game there is I think there’s two weeks cuz Pit’s out of town too. Oh and then they’re at the Saturday before the Green Bay game and so I think there’s some time to kind of get back. So Pit is at home before we play Packers the day before. See pretty tight. That’s tight. Hey that’s cool. Awesome. And and if it rains or who they’re playing I mean what they come and play a team that’s like a grinded out team. It could tear it right up for that. And it’s a Sunday night game, too. Yeah. Yeah. We Well, we’re definitely going to want to test it in prime time in front of everybody. And luckily for Pittsburgh weather, it’s so predictable, so you’ll be fine. You’ll be fine. Uh yeah, I know. Should we go into that pit that Beno game? Should we should we start talking about that or is are we done with this last game? Is there anything? Did we talk about everything that we need to talk about? Talk about how bad the Browns defense was, how bad the offense was. We contained Miles Garrett. That was a big story line. Um but field was bad. Aaron played well. Yeah, it’s it’s I don’t know. It’s such a weird thing because I I mean it was hard to have controversy too. Like what we Well, I’m I it just didn’t feel like I don’t know. It was a weird one, man. I’m like I was so happy when we were up that much like 23 to N. I mean, yeah, you expect it. But um I’m just I’m just still weary of our division. You know, obviously divisional wins are huge wins and it’s and it can be an upset because you know the famili familiarity. There’s a lot coming back. But all right, so yeah, let’s jump to Cincinnati. Man, what is I mean Flaco comes in and uh 3 days notice or whatever. Yeah. How challenge How challenging is that? It can be hard, but you know, this is this is at Cincy. Obviously, I um Oh, hey Evan. Just we’re talking about the getting ready to talk about the Bengals game. You love the Bengals. I’m just You love Don’t you love the Bengals? Big Ben. Big Bengals guy. Oh my goodness. I’m just thinking about what I was going to say about the Bengals and then you distract me with amazing looking food. Look at that thing. What’s up, Evan? Good to see you, bud. That’s yours. Sorry. Thank you. This is mine. Yours? Mine? Yours? Look at us sharing. Um, hi Evan. How are you? Good. How are you? Well, I guess this is perfect timing because we we can Well, going to walk us through this first off. All right. Where’d you get this food? Giant Eagles. Giant Eagles. That’s right. The family dinner brought to you by Giant Eagle. Thank you guys so much for this amazing food. As always, we cannot wait to dig in once you tell us what it is, of course. All right. Closest to you in the corner here is a grilled cheeseburger. Is that all that? Four pieces of bread allin one. Hey man, how you make a cheeseburger better? Huh? How do you do that? With a grilled cheese. You make the buns of grilled cheese. And that’s what he has here. This whole thing is one sandwich. But technically, it’s only two pieces of bread if you fold the bread down, you know. Well, I seem to count. So, it’s a regular sandwich. That’s a full grilled cheese and a half a burger. There it is. Yes. Okay. Next. All right. Uh I like it. I like it. Some jalapeno poppers in there. And uh some ground beef nachos with sour cream and like a spicy little of course salsa on top. Why wouldn’t it be? Yep. Um, thank you Evan and Giant Eagle very much. The Giant Eagle, that was a nice little show we did last time over there. Nice. Thank you Bill, everybody over there, they did a great job. We’re very appreciative of the opportunity to spend our bye-week. Yeah, warm under there. Wasn’t expecting that guy. Um, okay. Yeah, I see that coming. So, what do you Let’s Let’s Before we get into the Bengals. Yes. Do you want to recap? We We did our recap. I’m sure you’re up there listening live. Yeah. What What do you Any thoughts? What are your What’s your postgame thoughts? Um we can tee you up on things or you can just give us your thoughts. I’ll just I’ll just see where it takes us right now. Um it was a win so that’s a good thing. Um offense looked pretty good. defense. They’re they’re hitting their stride at the right time. Especially TJ Watt, the linebackers and the defensive line is starting, I think, starting to get really, really good. Harmon was is a great addition. Glad to see him out there. And and that’s it really. I mean, there was some there was a turnover, wasn’t there, or two? Nope. Okay. Well, there was at least four chances for turnovers that I counted. But what what what quarter did you get out of the bean bag? Uh, usually around halftime or like a little bit before halftime. Is that just the stretch? Uh, no. Like I I make snacks before the game. So then the snacks, you share the snacks. They’re for you. Absolutely. They’re for everyone. That’s awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Do you have We obviously know Giant Eagles cheese fil pretzels, which you love. Delicious. Um, which Honestly, I would attribute all of the Steelers wins to those pretzels. Um, what are some other Chef Evan favorites? Um, I’d like to do like a uh a shuderie type tray. You know, you bougie various Well, I mean, I don’t know what else to call you. You call it a snack tray like cheese and crackers. And you’ve seen like a blue collar of people when you’re over eating pushcuto. No, no, no, not pushcuto like summer sausage, pepperoni, salami. Well, that’s not shakut people, I don’t think. Well, that’s, you know, that’s for lack of better terminology. And then, you know, you got some some veggies on there, cheese, crackers, some chips, and then usually a dip or I’ll make like meatballs or cut up kabasi or something like that. Just easy stuff. Grab and go cuz we don’t have time to waste. No time to waste. Got to be ready. Kind of like the browns. Very just wasteful. Wow. I I I said on this, I’ll say it again cuz I might as well. I didn’t think they were good. No, but they were that was awful. Yeah, it was they they they couldn’t get their footing literally and figuratively. That’s a grass joke. That’s a good grass joke. Wow. Sometimes I don’t even try to do it. It just happens. This guy, you know, that’s phenomenal. It was a good win. So then Cincinnati on a short week. Yeah, let’s talk about that, boys. I feel I felt better when it wasn’t Joe Flacco as the quarterback. Okay. So, well, besides that, I’m I’m pretty confident because I think Hendrickson is he’s he’s out with a back injury. Is he out? I thought so. I I thought I heard that. Their their defense isn’t good anyway. No. Um so, I agree with you. I Joe Flacco does make me a little nervous cuz he can throw the ball. Yeah. And that’s why they need someone to throw the ball to those receivers cuz those receivers are really good. That being said, I do have down for a loss preseason. I has his loss. Well, that was Joe Burrow. This is a loss Kevin Joe. I’m um I’m three and two right now in Pickhams. All right, Evan, you are 0 and five. Um no way. There’s no way. Okay, I’m I love how you believe that. Am I? I’m like really? I’m trying to think like no I didn’t. So I I part of me wants to again like I said last week like there’s a small part of me that thinks that this could go at least be a close game and it it’s it’s a short week. It’s at Cincy. Joe’s got another week to learn the offense. We could take him lightly, but I think our defense is too strong right now like you said they’re clicking. Yeah, I think they’ll get after Joe a little bit. I think they will. I think the Bengals would do a better job than the Browns did of like protecting Joe in terms of ball out, maybe some screens, them different things to slow down um the pass rush, but at the end of the day, the Steelers are too much for the Bang Gals. So, I’m going to go to a W over here. Boom. Switch over. Take us a five and one going into a mini buy. I also think too like having control of that last game against the Browns which was good but to see like Tomlin keep some guys out towards the end there which is which is I’ve never really seen before you know from Tomlin but that was I thought that that was a good sign. Not that like you Tom fan that I am. Not that that much rest like they didn’t rest a whole quarter but still you know moving them out of the harm’s way there for a bit also is a good thing. So I think that that’s a plus going into Thursday and we should be getting uh possibly Calvin Austin back too already. Yeah, possibly. I mean, based on what I saw the offense do against Cleveland, Aaron might put 40 points up on the Bengals defense. Well, if you compare the defenses, Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. Oh, so it’s an easy win. Cool. It’s AFC North football, though, so it is. You know that that goes sometimes. What do we have after them? Packers Sunday night. Oh, yeah. Home. Dude, I will say this, man. I know the Packers are like it’s every time I’ve watched a Packers game, I’ve been not impressed. You know what’s going on right here, guys? This is the classic look ahead. We shouldn’t We should be focusing focused on you guys. That’s on me. No, that’s on me. That’s on me. You’re You’re classically trained guys. We’re not. That’s not fair. I all the way. You guys are already probably talking about the playoffs, aren’t you? No, that’s on me. Listen, I just But the Browns did beat the Packers. That’s what I’m saying here. Also, I just learned how to spell the word football, so you can’t expect much out of me. There’s the three L’s. Oh, no. There’s two. Silent. God. Silent back. I’m going to learn it. Um, okay. So, we we’ll we’ll look at this one. We got a win. You we’re winning this one. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, all this. Thanks to China, Eagle, and Evan. Um, all right, Spence, grab me that last one. Let’s take this thing home like we always do in the family dinner. Yeah. Well, I got a little bit of questions. You have more questions for you? Oh, well then bring them. Not really about football. Cool. About family? About family? Oh, yeah. Do you want Evan to stay or you want Evan to go? No. Evan, you got anything to do today? You’re more than welcome. No, if you don’t mind. Yeah. Do you want a chair? Thanks, Evan. Grab a stool. No, no, I’m fine standing. I was I’ve been sitting all morning. Oh, I thought you said you don’t mind. You want to leave? You got to stay. Oh, I can go. No, I I’m just kidding. Let’s stay. I’ll stay. No, please stay. I’ll stay. Please stay. Okay. This is 21st Amendment Brewery tall hat. 9% alcohol. It’s an Imperial IPA. It’s got your boy on the front. You got that tall hat. You know what I mean? Abe on the I get you. That guy’s a That Hey. Hey. That’s number That’s number three there. I mean, listen, I didn’t want to come out the gate with that. Thank you. Yeah, that guy’s strong. Yeah. Um Yeah. I don’t even know if I want like did I just mess that first sample up and now I’m going to try it again. I don’t really want to. You got this. No, cuz you now you have some expectation. Boy, I don’t know. Do you see? Yeah, you can judge it. Honestly, now why say on the back it must be 33 to drink this? You be 33 cuz it’s Yep. Nope. I’m good. It’s I mean that that tastes like almost like I mean listen, you like IPAs? Sure. It’s got that but it almost tastes like it’s like like rubbing alcohol or something. Classic. That’s like a Jack and Coke. There you go. I got that dragon breath. Fire. Me a nacho. Chance that with some nachos. Yeah. So, my question was, um, you had a busy weekend. I did. And I haven’t seen you to talk about it. Uh, so I figured I’d just wait. That happens a lot on this show is that Ben and I will link up and hadn’t seen each other and something will happen. And this is the time I use to ask them. Yeah. Well, this is the family dinner. This is what you do. You sit around the table. eat great food, great company, and you talk about things. And so, yeah, this weekend we had uh the Drip Series is a a youth golf kind of tournament group run by Jeff Dan, who’s an awesome guy who his like I don’t call a motto. His his statement underneath Drip Golf says, uh, God, family, country, unapologetic. There you go. He goes, I love my God. I love my family. I love my country, and I will not apologize about it. They do like on the 13th hole they do like flag folds of honor a big thing for them. They do uh Oh, got you. I think the 13th hole um the flag or the the pin flag is an American flag. Oh, that’s cool. And so the kids have to take it out and they don’t let everybody hit the ground. So some kid always holds it and he passes it to the next kid pass. So they don’t you don’t you know you take the flags you got you put on the ground. You don’t put that one on the ground. Uh, so it’s just really cool that and he’s like, “Listen, I’m gonna stand up here because I they asked me to speak because so anyway, I apologize. Drip series is is does series does these tournaments all over the place. They brought one to Pittsburgh and we they did up at Nemco. They asked put my name on it. So, uh, it was like Ben and Friends drip series Nemol two-day golf tournament plus we did a father son practice round or parent child practice round which is really cool. Ashley’s idea. Uh, and so anyway, they and so they ask me to speak at it just quickly at the banquet uh the Saturday night, but he gets up there and and he starts this thing off and he’s like, “Listen, I love my I love my God. I love my family. I love my country and I’m going to talk about it and if you don’t like it, you probably shouldn’t be here.” Like, all right, that’s manage expectations early. Yeah. Let y’all know what we’re going to talk about. And so, he does a great job like teaching the kids about it doesn’t short and sweet. It’s like he talks for like 10 minutes. It’s not like I’m making these kids sit here a long time. talks about, you know, what it is for success, what it is when you have failures, and just does a really good job. And so, it was fun to be there with those guys. Michael from Fig Tree, who we had the hat back up there. We love his gear. It’s a Christian golf company. If you um if you’re a golfer and you even if you don’t believe in Jesus, go check out this golf gear cuz it’s really cool. But if you do believe or you want to believe, go check this stuff out because all their stuff is really cool. It’s all faith-based. it goes to like um uh fund that but also to um like adoptions and and that kind of stuff. So it does does some really good stuff. So it’s for a good cause too. So Michael was there. Got to meet him for the first time. Only text and emailed with him, but we were a lot of their gear. So it’s really really cool to meet him and hear his testimony. He was he literally is like yeah from he’s like I became he’s he’s a relatively younger guy, but he’s like from 19 to 24 I was an atheist. Mhm. And then someone challenged me to prove the Bible was not true and he goes, “I couldn’t.” And so now he’s making Christian golf care gear. Pretty cool. That’s an awesome story. Yeah. Uh so anyway, we got to go up there and spend time up there with our family up in Neico, which is great. The Hardy family and and and all the people up there were awesome. Give a shout out to my guy Mason. Uh he was a guy that kind of helped take care of us up there. Nice. Not Mason Rudolph that cuz he had a game. Yeah, he was busy. He had to work. U but anyway, yeah, we had a great time. Great family weekend. So, great time to talk about the family dinner. At the family dinner. Nice. What’d you do this weekend, Ev? Uh, had some family in town. So, shout out Evan’s family. Yep. My brother and his meet I got to meet your parents. I diggle. You did. That was nice. Yeah. They just seem like they like me. Great people. They They did. You know, it’s it’s like that initial shock of like standing next to this mountain of a man. Yeah. My my grandmother saw a picture from it and at first she thought it was all of us standing around my old my son Jackson and she’s like Jackson didn’t get that tall and I said no grandma that’s Rothber that’s big man who’s that that’s always the funny anytime we do a live show the funniest thing I’ll without a fail have a handful of people come up like you’re a lot you’re a lot bigger in real life I’m like that’s cuz you see me sit next to big Ben like what you like what do you want me to do we all look tiny next Yeah, it was a good show. That’s cool, man. Yeah, it was a good great weekend. Where were they in town from? Uh Texas. Midland, Texas. So, we got to hang out with them for a bit and then watched football Saturday, Sunday. They did they win. They did surprisingly. I know. Who’ they beat? Uh Holy Cross. No, I can’t even remember at the Oh, North Carolina State. Mhm. Okay. Congratulations. Thanks. Spency this weekend. Yeah, I went I went to Indianapolis. You did? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I went to Butler University. My mom was in town. She flew up and then we drove out. Little road trip. Me and my mom’s. She was part of Who drove? I drove. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Um just I got a safety. I love you, Mom, but I just I’ll take I’ll take this one. Um but uh yeah, she was part of the very first women’s volleyball team at Butler University in Indianapolis 50 years ago. So they did like it was like parents weekend which was cool. And uh so we took her up there and they and honored the alumni. We went to go see a game. The girls on the the Lady Bulldogs, I don’t know if that’s the the Butler Bulldogs volleyball team played Yukon. Didn’t go our way, but uh valiant effort. She got to see her old sorority house that she lived in. And it was a it was a really cool Did a lot of girls from her women from her team make it back. She was the only one, but it was all different decades. I don’t know where everyone else is at, but there was some from the 80s, some from the 90s. Like it was really cool to see all that and and to just like go down that memory lane with my mom like, you know, you grow up hearing about the college and get to see all this kind of stuff. And um she went into her sorority house and like a hallway into the dining hall was a picture of her like her and her on she was just like, “Yeah, I don’t think I don’t think my mom Yeah, my mom literally just texted me as I’m talking about it.” That’s so funny. How do you know where Hey, mom. Uh yeah, so it was really cool, man. It was really cool to go see all that and and and have that little um you know, mother son trip. So very cool. Y very cool. Well, it was a fun weekend for all of us. Most importantly, we got the win. Well, most probably with our family, but then importantly though, we got the win. Yeah. So, thanks for joining us. We appreciate you guys. Thanks again to Giant Eagle for all the food. Thank you, Evan, for filling my belly. I appreciate it. Uh we will I know we’re playing on Thursday, so we’ll be playing in two days. Uh but we’ll still do a show in two, so it’ll be a little bit removed from the game, but uh good luck stillers. go get them uh bungles and uh we’ll see you when we see you or we’ll see you another time. See you.

In this episode, Ben and Spence celebrate a Steelers victory over the Browns while analyzing team performances, player highlights, and the struggles of the Browns. They discuss the impact of injuries, the development of the Steelers’ offensive identity, and the challenges ahead in the upcoming game against the Bengals. The conversation also touches on community engagement and family involvement in sports, emphasizing the importance of support and connection in the football world.

Get the Footbahlin Cookbook Volume 2:
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00:00 Celebrating a Win Against the Browns
02:42 Analyzing Team Performance and Player Development
05:30 Quarterback Changes and Team Dynamics
08:09 Offensive Strategies and Game Management
11:14 Defensive Strengths and Player Rotations
13:43 Creative Play Calling and Offensive Identity
16:47 Special Teams and Emerging Talents
26:31 Browns vs. Steelers: A Disappointing Showdown
28:39 Field Conditions: A Major Concern
32:20 Turf vs. Grass: The Ongoing Debate
36:09 Looking Ahead: Bengals Game Preview
38:52 Family Weekend: Balancing Life and Football