Big Ben talks Steelers loss to the Bengals, Green Bay preview, Tight End touchdowns and more! Ep 105

Big Ben talks Steelers loss to the Bengals, Green Bay preview, Tight End touchdowns and more! Ep 105

Welcome to footballing with Ben Rothllessberger. I am Ben Rothllessberger. It is a cool fall feeling day. Feels kind of like hunting. I have my camo on just because I wanted the Luke Combs camo on cuz it feels like hunting. That’s a good camo. I also have my camo on. Uh it’s we are patterned up today. Yeah, this is how you how you blend in at an apple orchard. This is this is this is what we do. But um yeah, thank you to uh for you guys for joining us. Obviously, this is Tuesday. So played last Thursday. It’s been a few days, so we’ve been able to probably um process a little bit. We’ve been able to mourn for our our days of mourning, our proper days of morning. Um we’ll we’ll definitely talk about the game. We’ll do a sevens top seven. We’ll hit some beers. We’ll have Evan. We’ll we’ll preview the Pack game. The Pack, did I say pack? The Packers game coming Sunday night. Um so we’ll kind of touch on everything. I’m sure people don’t want to open old wounds too much, so we won’t go crazy crazy, but we’ll definitely dive into some of that stuff. I apologize. My face is red. I just got done working out. I was in the sauna. Uh Spence and I were talking about saunas and cold plunges and yeah, cold plunge is not my thing. I don’t like to be cold. I’d like to be hot. I do not like to be cold. Uh except when I’m sleeping. It’s literally the only time. I feel like it’s so much easier to cool off than it is to warm up. Like if you’re like here’s what I say. So, it may not make sense, but this is why I’m going to say if I if we’re golfing, I always tell my son, if we’re golfing and it’s a cool day, once you get cold out on the golf course or hunting or if you’re doing something outside, it’s hard to get warmed up. Mhm. You know what I’m saying? If you’re out there golfing, hunting, playing football, doing outdoor activities and you’re hot, you can you can cool off quicker, but not get to the point where you’re freezing. Does that make sense what I’m saying? Yeah. So again, if I’m if I’m golfing, I’m going to layer up because I mean, I’m hot. Let me take a layer off. Where if I, you know, I’m going out in the short sleeve or just one thin long sleeve. I’m cold. Just sometimes putting a jacket on it, you got to go inside, you got to warm up. So I always say, listen, it’s easier to cool off than it is to warm up. So I’m not a big cold plunge. I know this is not what people are expecting to hear, but this is the A sauna. Research it. If y’all don’t know, research the sauna. If you can get to a sauna a couple times a week, it’s uh improves cardiovascular. Um the is Finnish or Swedish people, whoever invented the sauna, they live like 10 or 15 years longer than us. Uh I don’t I don’t not maybe probably not just because of the sauna. Maybe just what if life is healthier, but what if it is just that? What if it’s just the sauna? That’d be awesome. And it’s not like the process. Get your heart going, get your blood flowing. It’s just good for you. So anyway, yeah, I’m I’m a little red face cuz not cuz I’m Santa, but because I was in the sauna. Maybe the camo makes my face look red or redder. I mean, I can change I can change the white balance if you want. Just make I can make you any color you want, bub. And green. Make you green. Whatever. Like we can be Shrek. Oh, I like a good movie. Uh so anyway, yeah, we’re going to get into the first beer as we do seven’s top seven. Here’s a a stupid thing to say. No, there’s no stupid questions. It’s not even a question. It’s just That’s not even stupid. I shouldn’t say that. My oldest daughter wouldn’t like the fact that I said the word stupid. Sorry. Uh random fact. I think it’s I saw it on the internet, so I don’t know how true it is. But did you know uh I saw this thing that uh Chris Farley was supposed to be the voice of Shrek before he passed? No. What? Really? That I saw these like uh again, how true? I don’t know. When did Shrek come out? I don’t know. cuz I feel like he was gone way before Shrek became It does seem like that. But I saw I just saw this thing where it was like the sketches when they were doing like the voice over like whatever the rehearsals are for an animated series or you know production and it was Chris Farley reading it and I was I was like dude I think I love Chris Farley but it feels like Michael you can’t Well, can you call Michael Myers? That feels kind of weird to call Michael Myers cuz that’s the Halloween guy, right? It’s called Mike Myers. Mike Myers. I don’t know. Just when I when I hear Michael Myers, I instantly think of like Halloween or T is the season. Whatever it is, which is awful. Mike Myers. Were you maybe not Mike Myers? I don’t know how you say it. Whatever. Were you a slasher film guy? No. I mean, I’ve seen them, but they don’t do anything for me. Dude, I that was my favorite. Like all the Screams I know what you did last summer. All those things. No, not so much those like the old school slasher film like Jason Freddy. Not now. I could I haven’t watched a horror movie in I don’t know 20 years. You know what got me when I was a kid? And I don’t even know why my my parents knowing my parents let me watch it. I must have seen it in I was probably in high school or it I never saw it cuz I hated clowns. And by hated I mean currently still hate clowns. Yes. Um and I used to every time I would walk by like a sewage drain, you know, you see his face there or like it got to the point at one at one time and I’m I’m sorry for all you families watching this. I like in the shower I would be I wouldn’t stand by the drain. That’s Yeah. So you probably were young when you saw that. too young. Probably like college. No. Yeah, it’s Yeah, college. Yeah, two years ago. Um, yeah, it is a terrifying concept. What’s the Penny Wise? I like the punk band Penny Wise. I didn’t I don’t But that’s the name of the clown, right? I think the I I got introduced to Penny Wise through the punk band first and then I found out it was the clown from it. Isn’t it Isn’t it one of the is that the show where it’s like in the dark if you say is it Penny Wise three times or you’re supposed to say something three times like Beetlejuice Beetleju and then something appears in I don’t know. I don’t know. I’m a Christian. That stuff don’t affect me. It doesn’t I don’t like it that doesn’t Yeah, I don’t know. It’s a It’s a unique But I will on that topic to tie it back into NFL in some crazy segway. Um it’s insane to me this time of year you get like scary movie commercials that are rated R during NFL broadcast. The dumbest thing ever. I’m trying to watch our boys. We are I have every time a commercial comes on our my kids have gotten to the point where they’re awesome. They’re like look away look away or whatever. which it could be something where it’s like a girls wear, you know, just in anything inappropriate. The kids that do a great job, but now it’s like you have to mute it and hit the guide button just to bring up something on the TV and mute it and it’s like what are we doing? But you’re right, a movie preview like and I don’t understand why they say this the following preview has been approved for all audiences or something. No, it hasn’t. Not Miles. Uhuh. I didn’t approve that. You should have a fe you should have especially the streaming the streaming services. Here’s a business idea for somebody smarter than me. For the streaming service that you are paid for subscription, you should be able to have an ad filter that allows you to be um advertised to based on your settings and then take out things like, “Hey man, I’m watching Paramount Plus these Steeler games with a three-year-old in the room. Can you not advertise too?” Like, I don’t I’m not going to see that movie. Don’t advertise that to me. Yes, I don’t disagree with you. Of course nowadays, even like we might get cancelled for saying this. Even like Disney though, some some things are inappropriate even for everybody. About brother. Yeah. It’s insane. It’s so who knows what it is, but I’m with you. I love it. And I’m trying to help the advertisers out. I’m like you you don’t want to sell to a cold audience anyway. You want to sell to the right people. So if you allow me to set my advertising preferences, be like, “Hey, man. Maybe there is something. We just don’t know about that.” Yeah. What if it’s like, “Yeah, Spence, you’re describing a feature that’s already on there.” But if Hey, we we apologize cuz we don’t know. But uh if not, we should start that business together and then just sell it to the streaming companies. I’m with it. I’m with it. All right. Tell me about this beer cuz that being said, we’re This is This is like This is like having a conversation with Brennan and Justin. It just goes wherever. It’s unbelievable. We’d have to cut their conversation out. That gets great. Well, this is from Lost Coast Brewery um out of Eureka, California. All right. This is a Lost Coast Blackberry Logger. American logger that is lightly infused with blackberry. It’s crisper. It’s clean and refreshing with a moderate hint of fruit on the nose. A new taste. Actually, I like black raspberries, not blackberries as much. Not an old classic. Well, you might like this one. Okay, try it out. If Lost Coast Brewery sounds familiar, they are the inventors of the great white ale. If you’ve seen it, it’s got the shark on it. Buffalo Buffalo. Um H 5%. It’s not a I don’t um That’s what you’re looking at. It go You keep thinking that it’s going to be sweet kind of. Yeah. Like like what um Brennan likes, but it doesn’t And just a little bit more. I’m catch you got to solve it. You got to figure it out. It is. It’s interesting. Crack the code. Crack the code. Kind of like what we’re trying to do with our defense. Crack the code. It’s It’s It’s pretty good. It’s There’s no sweetness to it like you think that there would be, but you taste the blackberries, but not a sweet. That’s nice, right? Yeah. It’s I wouldn’t want to have too many. I could have one of these. Yeah. I would imagine with a sweeter beer, like that’s I think the hard time with the or the hard time I had with the fruier stuff is like sometimes it gets so sweet that you’re like, I’m not even enjoying this, you know? Yeah. It’s definitely not sweet. It’s almost the opposite of sweet. I don’t know. You think that’d be sour, but it’s not sour. Is it? Or is it like salty? What’s the opposite of sweet? I mean, sour. Sweet and sour or not? I mean, they always paired together, but is the opposite? I don’t know. Bitter. Bitter. You should ask Evan. Gosh. Yeah, he would know. He would probably know, right, guys? Sweet. Cuz that’s not sweet, but it’s not sour. And sweet and sour seem to go together. But I agree with you. Maybe it’s just a They make a great sauce. Sweet and sour. is the old sweet and sour stuff like on the back of your like a bitter isism right cuz it’s not I don’t know. Hey, well you guys can go check this out. Lost coast. I am lost. Yeah, it’s it’s it’s not bad though. But please will Yeah. Will you guys please go try this? Um because I want I want you Yeah. I want I want some help with this. Yep. cuz I can’t. I just If you’re looking at it or looking for it, I should say, in the region in which there is a Giant Eagle, you can pick it up there. That’s where I got this one. From Giant Niggle. From Giant Niggle. Giant Niggle’s got a good a good cause collection. Good selection. I guess it is their collection that we select from. Well said, sir. That’s why you’re the wordsmith and I am just the face. Yeah. Uh the steak and the sizzle, baby. Um, let’s do seven stop seven. Okay. And typically, if you are familiar with the show, what this segment is is a ranking segment in which we give Ben a topic and he ranks his top seven of that topic. This is a little bit different. We’re going to switch it up. We’re going to do uh since the Steelers play the Bengals on Thursday night, we’re going to do the top seven plays from that game because it got pretty crazy there for a minute. Mhm. And I’ll be honest, I I I put them down here. I didn’t really put them in order, so I’ll try and like look at them and and I’ll I’ll put them in some sort of order if I can. Mhm. Maybe as I’m just going through it. I definitely think there’s a couple that are more a bigger deal. Um now, obviously, there’s a lot of plays that happened in that game. Everyone’s going to have their own opinions. This was me watching the game and then going back through the highlights. So, there could have been something small in here that in the game that I didn’t put in that was like, “Oh, yeah, that a penalty.” Uh, sure. a no catch. You know, for instance, a decent play in that game, Jamar Chase, he catches that one the sideline. He kind of bobbles it, tips it to himself, it about gets intercepted and ends up completing it and the spin move helps him get extra yards. Decent play. Someone might say, “Well, that’s a big play because of, you know, PFF might rate it a certain way, but in my opinion, this is kind of where uh I saw some of these plays uh going.” So, uh, I I’ll just start with the the the one that’s on the bottom of my list, and it it it seemed like a and we’ll what we’ll do is as I go through this, we’ll be able to to kind of recap the game as we go too. So, if questions come up about it, but I have backed in the end of the game, fourth quarter, one of the I think the second to last drive for the Bengals, which I thought was interesting as we get going. Oh, I guess we’re not into that yet. Sorry, my notes. But this the the Bengals kept throwing the ball which was very interesting late which we can talk about. But there was a play run Alex Heismith running down the play. He’s it’s going to it’s a second and long maybe second 10 backed up. Alex is running down the play. Joe Flacco keeps he pulls it away from the running back. He runs for 11 or 12 yards. Gets a first down. I thought that was a really big play because no one expects Joe to do that one. He doesn’t, you know, if if he hands that ball off, it’s a loss of three yards or so. He keeps it, gets the first down and kind of gives you a new set of downs. And obviously, it wasn’t the final drive to keep things going, but it was a able to you’re able to keep the ball longer. So, I thought Flaco and because you don’t expect from Joe Flacco, um that’s my seventh play on the top seven plays from the game. Um my next one I’ll put um I’ll put Aaron’s second interception. Uh it was towards the end of the half wasn’t necessarily his fault. You know, it’s kind of a play where it’s on DK’s chest shoulder. He’s kind of has it. You expect DK to at least I expect him to make that catch. I think he would expect himself to make it, but at least you you expect an incomplete pass. The guy ends up making the DB makes a great play. Takes it away. And why it was a big play cuz it was end of the half. We’re moving down the field. We have a chance to put points on the board before half. Uh, and anytime you have a chance to get points, that’s a big deal. So, I put that one as my next one. Um, my next one I I’ll say kind of goes the same thing. Actually, the fir the my first one here leads to the second one. Uh, the running back for the Bengals, number 30, Chase Brown. Brown had a huge run down to the first half. They were kind of you were kind of wondering what was the what were the Bengals going to do? Uh, which is why I had Brown number 13. Oh, there you go. Yeah. Yeah. Not Not the Browns. They didn’t win. The The They did win. They blew out the Dolphins. No, they didn’t against us. Crazy. Well, it’s the Dolphins. That doesn’t, you know, pick a high school in the in in the country. Have them play them. He has a huge run the end of the first half. Gets them into field position, you know, because you’re kind of like, okay, are they running the half out? What’s going to happen? And I think it also set the tempo and set the like for little bit of juice there. Yeah. kind of like let them run like it just proved like the the Bengals right here running the ball on us like they averaged 50 some yards a game and they had 90 some in the first half. Mhm. So anyway, I know we can talk about that game but that was he had a real big run. It was like a 30 yard run maybe up the sideline. Got him in position for this next play. I believe this came in the same series was um Higgins TD at the end of the half split you know Joe puts a ball on him. He splits the defense splits the safeties gets up through there just like Aaron’s interception took points off the board. They were able to score right before that. I believe that’s how the order went and they put points on the board right before half. I think that was huge. Um uh my next one will be Aaron’s first interception. We we’ll talk about that play as we get into the game, but you know that’s another one where anytime you have a chance to put points on the board right after they scored the the Steelers have done such a great job of answering scores all year and he had a chance to go down and score and he kind of uncharacteristically throws an interception. and Aaron just doesn’t do that. And uh just, you know, taking points off the board. I think that’s big. Uh my next one was Pat’s first touchdown. Yep. Okay. Third and 18, cover two. I mean, it it it screams tight end down the middle. And one of the reasons that that that really became successful is there’s a safety on that side of the ball and he is supposed to kind of be on the hash. His job is he has half the field. That’s why it’s cover two. That safety has this half field. This safety has this half the field. Where you attack cover two is down the middle and on the outsides because you have two guys to cover the whole field. So you basically can there’s three different areas to attack. DK Metaf is on the outside. He is attracting attention. That safety got so wide because of the fear of that outside hole shot. And you know, to be honest, Pat hasn’t really been a threat down the middle of the field this year or they haven’t utilized it. So, the safety gets wider than need than he needs to and Aaron is going to is going to capitalize on that all day. Pat down the middle. Great call by Arthur Smith and Aaron puts a beautiful pass on on Pat. And I just think one, it was huge. Third and 18. And I think it got Pat moving, right? Like like, okay, we need to get get Pat involved more. And I think that probably got him juiced up a little bit. got Aaron feeling good. Got everyone feeling good. So, that was my next one. Uh, and then my number one top I think we’re number one now was obviously Aaron’s touchdown to Pat. Mhm. Multiple things to talk about on that play. It comes right after a big hold by Brick Jones. So, you’re back. You you now you’ve lost you’re you’re moving the wrong direction. You’ve lost yards. Aaron gets a little scramble. Great block by Brick to help him get outside. Aaron throws a a beautiful pass and I don’t know if I should if we should get into it now or whatever, but but the the safety was kind of outside. The safety sees the whole thing when he threw it. I’m like this I thought it was going to be intercepted at least knocked down. The safety’s running to the I mean he sees it and for some reason at the last minute instead of playing through the ball he go he like goes to to the to Pat and and then misses everything. And I was like I was so confused at what he was doing because I’m like that guy the the safety clearly in my opinion really could have knocked the ball down at minimum. But he but he he just went from here to to to playing the defender maybe playing the the offensive player Pat he didn’t he got lost where if he just keeps tracking through the ball it looks like he makes the play. I could be wrong but what I saw and how I I you know playing the game and seeing plays like that it just man unbelievable that part. Aeron’s throw spectacular and then Pat running Pat scoring a touchdown scores a touchdown is huge. I will say this when he was getting ready to score as he was at like the 15 yardd line I was like go down go down go down because you don’t want to score too fast because the defense couldn’t stop the Bengals typically you’d be like just get in the end zone it’s over. Yeah cuz you know that the Steelers defense is going to hunt now right and I know that he had if he would have got down they still would have had to try and score a touchdown but but right now the Steelers offense is clicking. I know they’re scoring 30. They’re everyone’s getting involved. People are talking about you need another receiver maybe, but right now the offense isn’t the issue. So anyway, that was my number one play for on all fronts, right? Many many facets to that play of of how it maybe potentially could have been different, but you scored a touchdown. And again, it’s Pat Frymouth. Like I’d like to see that snow to see that ball just keep snowballing and getting bigger and rolling and using him more. Hopefully the confidence will build. Um, and I will say this, I know that’s my seven. That’s my number one. I’m going to put a a beyond a one. I’m going to I’m going to put one more play down that is probably the play of the game and that’s T. Higgins play at the end of the game. T. Higgins catches the ball. Joe drops a beautiful throw in there on a fade ball and he catches it and he does the same thing we just talked about. He goes down which is incredibly headsy. I don’t know if coaches or someone’s like telling you, “Hey, listen. We get down here. get down or if that’s just he thinks of it in the moment. That’d be hard because I’m thinking you want to score, right? But he goes down, forces the Steelers use timeouts, lets the lets the clock burn where if he scores there now, the Steelers, all you do is get a field goal, right? They get to go down and and everything. So to me, what a headsy play. Great throw by Joe, great catch by T. Get in position, get down. Um to me, that was the number one play of the of the game as I look back on it. Yeah, definitely the most impactful towards the end when it’s a tight game like that. You saw Jamar Chase in his presser. You could have picked any of his plays, too, by the way. What? His 16 catches. Uh, insane. Yeah, that’s with dropping three. So, that’s how he had some to spare. And I had his touchdown on there with the PI. You know, people were talking about did he push off? Did Did Ramsay, you know, I I thought it was a good honestly, it was probably a good call to a no call. Yeah, cuz I think both of them were doing that for sure. Um but he in his in his postgame presser he gets asked that question. It’s like you know if that comes to you are are you sliding or are you you know kind of motivated to go score? He’s like no I would have slid and he hits with the the reporter it’s like you wouldn’t have wanted to run in there. He’s like not if you want to win you know and so I think you have these you do have these seasoned players that like in the moment I think as of us watching it yeah it is kind of like yeah man it’s you score. It’s it’s what we’re driven every single snap to try to do is just do this one thing, but to have that um that wherewithal. I mean, you even mentioned it when you’re talking about Pat. You’re like, “Oh, I wish you would have.” That’s in the back of your mind already. But at that point, Yeah. But see, that’s why I wonder too. And I I don’t know, but I wonder if they kind of I mean, they they basically went the Bengals went down the field no problem. Jamar Chase, it was like completion, completion, busted coverage, completion. And I wonder at some point when you get to like the four like before that play, was there ever a talk in the in the huddle? Sure. Was there something mentioned from Joe like maybe a coach told Joe or someone or ch any of them in the huddle said hey listen guys like they may let us cuz now you start seeing teams letting people score and and it’s like hey listen we only need a field goal let’s get like was that communicated as well? Maybe maybe not. Who knows? Um again because like you say you’re they are so regimented and so trained and so just everything is like score score that how do you not try and score every time? If that’s yeah if that’s the case if you got coaches chiming in man that’s just a well coached team. Um yeah so that’s seven top seven top seven plays of the game. You had mentioned um some uh offensive moments there for the Steelers. I want to stay on the Steelers offense. I think big shout out to Brick Jones for getting his first sack. Uh, not a lot of O line wasn’t happy about that one, was it? Not a lot of O line get bombs brought up there. Let that hair and celebrate. That’s a that’s a crazy thing. Yeah, that was a cool, right? A little Aaron uppercut. I’m going to wreck it. Um, that’s a that was a crazy thing to witness on TV. It was unbelievable. Broadick was so excited. I He was just so happy. Yes. I I like I I think about it like I probably part of me would have been mad too like dude what are we doing like I’m not trying to be on the ground but you also understand what just happened and you’re excited and I also think like I always the first thing I did is celebrate with my lineman so you don’t have to worry about that either get it out of the way safely um I say like how did you how did you feel watching that and what would you have done if like Pouncy ran up and did that to you? Well again I’ll say this I don’t think Pouncy would have actually took me to the ground. None of those guys would have, but if you do, you you just like, “Okay, love you. Like, help me up type thing.” But again, he’s a young dude and so like the coaches and stuff are probably like, “Dude, don’t hurt our guy.” Uh, so I don’t know. It’s It’s definitely a a unique situation. You’re not even allowed to touch him in practice. What makes you think that this was he was not happy. But no, Brick played is getting He’s getting better. The line is getting better. Yeah. The offense is playing well. Warren is running well. I I mean, right now, again, I’ll say this. The offense is not the issue. Offense is putting up points and doing their thing. You expect this defense to to to step up when Yes. when when they’re given the opportunity. Yeah, there’s plenty of talk about over there. Um, one thing I think we probably did not expect was how highscoring of a game this was. Um, from your perspective in the huddle, uh, what does it feel like when you’re putting up 31 points and still losing? Like how do you stay focused when the scoreboard suggests you’re you’re doing your part but the results are not there? Well, it can be frustrating definitely because you’re like man we’re putting up points but you also have to understand it goes both directions, right? Because there’s going to be times when you’re not scoring points and you’re winning cuz your defense is helping you out. So there’s there’s there’s eb and flow both directions. So that’s why it’s really important not to get so caught up in that moment of like what are we doing, man? How many more points we got to score? because you know there’s going to be situations and times when you’re not putting up points and the defense is getting three and out three and out turnovers and now they’re thinking what are we doing? Yeah. So that that’s why football is the ultimate team sport because you’ve got to be able to work together and have an understanding that there’s going to be es and flows peaks and valleys throughout this season throughout games. Uh so you you just got to completely and and what you what you should say as an offense is like hey listen when we’re up in our offensive meeting room hey guys keep going like we got to keep doing this. Our defense will come around. Our defense will be just fine. They have they’re full of studs over there. They pay a lot of money. What we need to do is keep doing our job and not worrying about them. Let them worry about them. We worry about us. Yeah. And obviously, I think we’ve seen um the last couple weeks the offense really forming its identity. I mean, Jaylen Warren ran for 127 yards, had 7.9 yards a carry. um as a quarterback when you have a run game being successful like that, does it change how you start to call plays or the confidence you have when you start taking the field? Cuz it feels like for a while we were getting frustrated early on with, you know, not being able to establish a run game, but it feels like with those jumbo packages bringing in, you know, oh, Mount Washington and Spencer Anderson, we figured out how to run the ball successfully. Yeah, that jumbo package is something else right now. Uh it’s really working. And now at some point defense are going to start trying to figure it out and you’re going to have to to come up with with wrinkles. And I think Arthur Smith is doing a great job of getting us in situations. I I probably would have stuck with the run a little bit more. Uh especially cuz you you you know you you got DK and DK’s doing his thing when it you know when it when he’s getting the ball, but right now the the run game is is it’s there. And so I think that if you can shorten, especially if the defense isn’t doing, you know, they’re they’re kind of in a little bit of a lull right now. How can we possess the ball longer? Give the ball to the other team the least amount of time as possible right now. Uh, you know, and again, I don’t know if the if the defense or whatever didn’t expect that from Joe to sit in the pocket and obviously Tomlin expected something because he was complaining before the game about the trade and this that and the other, but it’s like we talked about there’s there’s a a 90% chance the Steelers blow this team out, right? The way the game started too, I remember texting you like I don’t know which team’s worse, the Browns or Bengals. Yeah. Yeah. Because I’m sitting here watching this game like the Steelers are going to be able to do whatever they want this game. Like let’s do a triple reverse pass. Like just let’s just try things because the Bengals have no pass rush without with Hendrick Hendrick Hendrickson down. Yeah. There’s no pass rush. I mean Aaron’s just I’m scramble here. I’m scramble here. I’m going to throw it to you. Old Aaron, man. I’m telling you. It was just like let let me just do what I want to do back here. It’s great. And so that game should have probably been a blow. I mean the way it started I’m like oh boy this is going to be ugly quick kids get to bed. Yeah. And then all of a sudden it’s okay a turnover whatever. But we had said that if they play nine more times the Steelers are going to win nine. Okay. The Bengals are going to get one out of 10 and things have to go like no turnovers by the Bengals, turnovers by the Steelers. Flaco’s going to have to play well and utilize his receivers and there’s no everything that could have went right for the Bengals went right for him and everything that that I mean almost everything that could have went wrong went wrong for the Steelers. That game shouldn’t have been like that. Now I know that doesn’t help anybody and you’re saying like well okay we win nine more times but we lost the one. Yep. Sure did. You caught Joe on a day when Joe was trusting his receivers and that’s what Joe Flacco can do. Joe Flackle can throw the ball. You give him two stud receivers and a tight end that’s doing well. Yeah. And all of a sudden, like why are we allowing the running game to go for 150 yards again? Like that’s the other thing because if they would have shut down the run, then you forced Joe to throw it and they come on dimensional. Yeah. It was like the Steelers defense just kept bringing pressure, pressure, pressure. Joe’s getting the ball out before it’s even the guy before receivers are even turning around. Yeah. I mean, I think that’s one of the reasons Jamar dropped a couple balls because he’s like, “Oh, it’s on me.” So, like, I didn’t expect the ball to be on me so quick. Well, yeah. And it was it was a crazy thing to see like vintage Joe Flacco again. Like it was like, “Oh man, his I mean he the way he was getting that ball out and and finding the pockets and the defense, man, it looked like the Joe of old.” Um, but there’s been a lot of conversation. Um, actually, I’ll go here first. I want to end with the offensive stuff talking about wide receivers, but talk about the uh offensive line and the protection. So, I think going into this game it was uh Aaron’s release time was like 2.5 seconds getting the ball out quick. Um I think this time or the last two weeks it was 2.8. So, not much but a little bit more time in there. Um when you establish the rhythm of getting the ball out quickly, how does it feel to have a consistently increased time to throw? Like is it is it comforting to have a little bit more time or is that split you know.3 seconds throwing off the thing that you’ve built into your rhythm? No, it doesn’t you don’t really it doesn’t really mess with you. Typically it’ll give you more chances to take shots down the field. Uh why you why I think that number is a little skew is because he was able to scramble around a little bit, right? Some of those plays were lasting four and five seconds. So you’re going to get longer, you know, you’re going to get higher numbers in there and the averages are going to get skewed. Uh I I don’t think it changes your offense too much other than the fact that okay I the line to me it tells me the line’s playing better. They’re jelling. They’re they’re they’re protecting. They’re staying healthy. And so I think that is is a big deal because now you’re let’s take our shots down the field a little bit more. Now they did they took a deep one to DK. They got intercepted. They took another one down to DK. They got caught. And I know that’s where like you could if you wanted another receiver like you need someone else to stretch the field to do other things. Roman Wilson had a catch, but but we’re still not utilizing the the receiving the receivers as much as we’re not throwing it 40 to 50 times a game. Yeah. Because I don’t think we need to. We’re I think what the offense is doing right now is just fine. You’re you’re you’re turning out 30 points. You’re putting up you got a running back that’s running the ball really hard. Aaron’s being protected. He’s not being sacked. I think right now uh you know, you just you want to keep keep this consistent. Now, if all of a sudden we’re, you know, we’re 14 points, 17, maybe a 21, and we’re not we’re not doing anything, then we need to be more concerned. But right now, um I I’m not really concerned with the offense. I just think you keep you keep doing what you’re doing and finding ways to put points on the board. So, that would lead me to believe that you think going out and trying to get a wide receiver too is unnecessary at the moment. At at the moment, I don’t think it’s necessary. I mean, what what’s the point like like what is your goal of getting a second receiver right now besides obviously, you know, you’re you’re already scoring I don’t know what our averages are, but we’re scoring 30 it feels like we’re scoring 30 points a game. Okay, that’s a goal. Um, you know, is is Aaron throwing the ball like do you want 300 plus yards passing per game or do you want a consistent offense that is scoring points that is balanced? Mhm. Because I’m sure we’re we’re relatively balanced. I mean, I I’ll sit here and look it up as we’re going through it, but right now, again, I keep saying it doesn’t seem to me like the offense is the issue. Mhm. You know, we’re we’re consistent and we’re doing things and so um yeah, this seems like the this seems like the um Arthur Smith offense we had anticipated. Mhm. Right. When you you figured out how to run the ball, I think that’s going to be successful even when teams are are game planning for it. I think when they’re like, “Okay, they’re bringing in this gumbo package. This is what they’re going to do.” I think with Warren’s skill set and uh the avenues they’re creating, I think he can average four yards a carry. I think that’s going to be something we can lean on throughout the season, even with better teams. And I and this is where you start seeing the tight ends we were griping about, or at least I was complaining about early, even in the preseason, like where is where is these tight end? We got four tight ends that we’re utilizing and now we’re we’re kind of seeing them play out and it’s obviously working. Um because here’s what I’ll say. Don’t don’t lose that thought because as I’m looking at the stats, so Aeron’s averaging 213 yards or or we’re averaging 213 yards a game passing. Would you like it to be up in the 50s high 200s? Sure. So, could we improve that a little bit? Maybe. 95 about 95 yards of rushing per game for the team. Again, that’s close to 100 yards. That’s what you’re you’re you’re wanting. Um Aaron’s got 14 touchdowns now. He’s got five interceptions, which is high for him, but he’s got a ton of touchdowns. So, yeah, let’s get a little bit of a bump in some of that stuff, but but where, you know, does that be is it a new another receiver? Sure. Would another receiver come in be helpful? Yeah, but but it’s not like we’re throwing the ball all over the the the field and it’s like, you know, Aaron Stone from set, you know, 68 completion percentage. Uh I just don’t think that we’re that adding a receiver is the the main thing. I’m not saying wouldn’t be would it be beneficial? Sure. But is that like listen if we don’t get this we got no chance. Yeah. Yeah. No, we’re putting the points in the but we’re doing we’re doing it right now. Yeah. So that’s twofold. I want to see a little bump in all those categories. But again, that’s twofold cuz then I feel like if if we can perform the way that our offense performed this past week and minimize the turnovers, then that’s a real contender of an offense. Listen, if we don’t turn the ball over, the game is it’s the game’s it’s not even close cuz they scored off the turnovers and it it stopped us from scoring. So, we always talked about that. Again, that’s the reason that when we went to this game, one of the reasons we were going to lose is if we lost a turnover battle. And we’ve lost a turnover battle the last two weeks, I believe. We haven’t gotten turnovers. You know what I’m saying? And so, when we were getting them heavy early and now we’re not. Yeah. Yeah. I remember seeing some stat about the force fumbles that we like that we were creating. I’m like, is that surely that’s not true? It was like double digits in the first three weeks or something. It was crazy. Like um and I’m sure people will say, “Well, the Cincinnati’s defense is terrible. We didn’t, you know, we we didn’t, you know, Aaron didn’t throw for more yards or you didn’t do all this and the other, but again, you scored 30 plus points.” Yeah. And it wasn’t like the defense scored the points or we ran a kickoff back or a punt back. Like those points were boss kicked us goals and whatever, but those are offensive points. I mean, Bos is good for nine every game. Absolutely. So, yeah. Then that that’s the other conversation is like with the trade deadline approaching like is is there help you get on defense then? And if so, what are you what are you gonna what are you going to do? What are you gonna do there? You got so much money like you’ve already got so much money invested there. What are you and the Okay, so I’m trying to diagnose it then. Is it execution? Is it schematics? Is it a lot of lot of the conversations happening after the game is like I don’t know how you go get a better defense. I mean the talent is unreal. All right. What is it that we need to do? And obviously you saw a couple things um miscommunication leaving receivers open that happened with Cincinnati, but in the second those are pretty good receivers by the way. Just saying. Yeah, they’re not they’re not the bad ones. Yeah. So we we’ll jump into the defensive performance here after this next beverage. Um I mean we’re a So our offense point right now we’re averaging 25 points a game with with with a couple bad games early, right? Yeah. So it’s like we’re trending in the right direction. We’re It’s We’re doing We’re at 43% on third downs. That’s a That’s a good trending number. This was the first time I was watching the offense’s performance and I’m like, “Oh, this this could be a like a legitimate contender of an offense, right? You see these high-powered offenses like I think about what you know what Detroit has over there and I always felt like unsure in the early weeks of this season like okay if it we can’t win games by getting lucky. like we got to go and and it felt like every time we were taking the field I expected us to score. Yeah. And that was the first week this season that that was true for me. Um averaging 300 yards a game. We could up that. I mean again we could we could you know up our yards per game a little bit. We’re giving up almost 400 which is crazy. We’re only giving 300. We’re only doing 300. So there’s definitely some some things in there. But again it’s not like we’re throwing the ball 50 times a game then an extra receiver is going to help with that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So good. Smells delicious. Uh, this is Victories Fest beer. It’s a Mars and style logger. I figured since we didn’t really celebrate October Fest, I bring one in here. It’s 5.6%. And it says, “Traditions matter, Ben.” And for us, that tradition started in 1996 when we opened the doors of Victory Brewing and brewed our very first recipe, fest beer. This was the first one they did. Look at that. Yeah. What do you think? It’s good. Festive. You big October Fest guy. No. Nope. I’m gonna just have one of those. Just keep it moving. Have you ever been to Germany like to do the October? I feel like No, that would be fun. We should do an October Fest. I expect it. It’s not It’s not October Fest doesn’t mean it has to be pumpkiny. No, no, no. October Fest beers are not pumpkiny. Okay. So, it’s like a malt. It’s like a darker malt malt forward. I’ll try one more because I don’t want to be that guy. They that and there’s usually like a Helis like loggery beer as well that they’ll drink there. And then your boy the Dunle. The Dunle. The Dunle. You can in you can always acquire one of those during an October Fest. I mean I’m I’m I’m okay on that. You the lighter ones will probably be more your your speed. I just What are you trying to say? I’m just saying you know you hang out with Brennan a lot. Maybe maybe he’s influencing your your beverage choices. It’s Listen, it’s fine. Is it too malty? No, the second one was bad. The first one I was like, “This is awful.” Yeah. Yeah. And I take that back. I’m sorry. Victory was not awful. I apologize. I just I wouldn’t order it. Yeah. Victory has an IPA that’s really good and sli the name of it is slipping in my mind, but um yeah. So, all right. Let’s let’s dive into this Steeler defense. Okay. Obviously not not a great performance. I think they would be the first one to tell you that. I think they were. I think they did. I said they they’ve been quick to Yeah. Um which I think is encouraging. Obviously, I don’t think a performance like that player and professional football players to come out and be like, “What are you talking about, man? We did great.” Yeah. Uh but to be able to acknowledge their standard of excellence, not only as a professional player, but also in this city defense means something different. Um is encouraging. But you know how how does it show up on the field? Well, it’s like they wanted to like show a bunch of blitzing and and they had a bunch of people on the line, but it’s like they didn’t get the pressure. How do we again I I feel like I’m saying the same thing. How do we keep letting teams that don’t can’t run the ball run the ball on us? I know Captain Cam said it like that’s it starts up front with the Dline and and him and you just you you can’t if you want to take away if you want to if you want to beat a team you’ve got to make them one-dimensional. It’s really hard to beat a team that’s two-dimensional on you that can throw and run. Yeah. And they did it what it felt like with ease. Um so it’s just it’s surprising to watch that. you’re just not expecting it from this defense. And I think we all kind of felt early in the season, first couple games, we’re like, “Okay, what’s going on?” And then it’s like they got it together. But when they got together, it was really because they created a bunch of turnovers. Sure. Right. You play the Patriots and there was like six turnovers and then all of a sudden when they’re not getting turnovers, it’s like they’re not getting really getting sacks. They’re not getting turnovers. They’re they’re just not creating splash. And and there must be something in Cincinnati that that Porter Jr. just doesn’t agree with him because it he’s a penalty machine in Cincinnati. We’re getting handsy in the secondary. We’re getting penalties called on us. Are they all good calls? Probably not, but don’t give them reason. Yeah. So, I don’t know. I don’t know. I I don’t really I don’t have an answer for the defense other than they are a lot of really good players on that side of the ball. Yeah. You know, it sometimes it feels like it just takes one or two guys to have a really bad game. Typically, when you have a really good offense, a really good defense, a good team, you can afford for a guy or two to be to have a bad day because the other guys pick them up. Sure. Sure. It feels like right now, like this game, Queen didn’t play very well. Wilson didn’t play very well. Games before they played really well, but the other guys kind of like cover them up. It felt like the last game there wasn’t that cover up for some reason. and just what it felt like, you know, it’s like you got a you know, Ramsay is a great player in the secondary. Got a couple PIs, got, you know, um, Slay, same thing. We’ve got guys that are really good players that, and again, listen, Chase and Higgins are are are no sl are no slouches, right? They are stud receivers, so it’s not an easy job, but it just didn’t feel like this week that we had the cover up that we’ve had in the past. Sure. Do you feel that on the sideline? like you say you’re coming out of halftime or whatever, you know, maybe later in the game, say, and you’re feeling um or you’re watching, excuse me, you’re watching your your defense go out there and and the time of possession, I believe, again, was not in our favor. Um and everything we’re watching at home, are you guys feeling that on the sideline? Yeah, you can feel it. You can feel like, man, they just can’t we just give give us one stop. Yeah, one stop. Come on. What does that do to your offensive game plan? Are you more conservative? or you more aggressive? Like is it predicated on situation in the game? Yeah, situational. I think you you definitely have to understand like you’ll go out there like, “Hey, listen guys, like our our” And I’m sure the defense has done the same thing like our our defense can’t stop anybody. We got to score. We can’t punt. We have got to score. Urgency has to be up. We’ve got to score. Same thing. I know the defense has said, “Hey, listen. Our offense can’t do anything today. We got to stop them.” But that’s what a team’s about. The team is about stepping up and and covering each other six. And that not just inside of the offensive defense, but as a team. And so, uh, when that’s not, you know, going down or you you got to put a little extra in, then you just got to rise up and do it. That’s what a team’s for. Yeah. Well, I think this is a good time to wash ourselves of this Cincinnati debacle. Well, you know, Evan’s going to come down here and he’s going to want to talk about I mean, we we’ll dig it up for Evan. Okay. All right. But because I honestly think because I’d like to say well always let him come down because I have a good qu I have a question about that because I think before he gets down here and we should jump a little bit into next week or this week uh if we’re playing Green Bay obviously there’s a big narratives attached to it because of Aaron. Um I I don’t think I know you’re high on Green Bay. Um I watched this last game against the Cardinals pretty close till the till towards the end. I don’t think they are who they say they are. I don’t think they are either. I think we’re going to win this one because of obviously there’s extra heat there for the from the narrative. I don’t think that they are who they say they are. Um and hopefully it’s a bounceback game where our boys figured out whatever it was. Um but my my fear with that is then you go into this stretch like the divisional opponent has something special in in the schedule. I understand that. They know us, we know them. It’s going to be a different type of game. Um, but is if we win with Green Bay, is that enough juice to to kind of get us through these this tougher schedule? Wait, so we’re the team’s four and two, right? Yeah. Okay. Cuz I saw through cuz I had to put a loss down. I took a loss this week cuz I said we were going to win. So I I had a loss and I crossed it out and I put win cuz I felt good about it. You had it, man. Trust the gut. Trust your gut. So I’m three and three. Uh, on paper. Okay. I have us down for a loss. This is our our our beginning of the season predictions because of Parson’s going there. I like Jordan Love. I still think Jordan Love is a good player. Where I think after watching this game, I don’t think the Packers are as good as they think they are. They that we as we think they are. I don’t think they’re a contender in the NFC. I shouldn’t say a Super Bowl contender. I don’t think that. I think part of the reason is they’ve got a they’ve got a pretty good defense. Parson’s obviously is a stud. And where he’s unique is they move him around. Like he’s not always just a one-side rusher. Sometimes he’s rushing the center, sometimes he’s rushing the guard. He’s all over the place. So, I think that that is is is definitely something that we’re gonna have to be alert for because he’ll just he’s like, “Okay, which one of you do I want to rush over?” Hey, Evan, who do I want to rush over? I’m going to rush over that person. Can I help you? I’m going to rush over that guy. And that’s where where Parsons is why he’s so good and why he’s a stud. One of the reasons. Yeah. Now, I watch the Packers and I think, okay, I still like Jordan Love. I think he can do a lot of good things. He can throw the ball well. I think they miss. You talk about like not having some receivers. Like they got some guys, but they don’t have any like scary dudes. You know what I’m saying? I know they lost their first their guy early in the season. Um Well, he was supposed to be a stud, wasn’t he? Yes. And they got hurt. So, I think now where where he Jordan Love and that team really they like to go for on fourth down. They like to take their chances. They gamble. Where he is at his best in my opinion is when there’s the when when the the there’s no pass rush, right? their line is doing a decent job. No one’s around. He can kind of sit back there, pat D, and then take their take his shot cuz he can throw the ball. Mhm. I don’t I don’t foresee our guys not getting to him. Yeah. Um I I I again, I think their defense is good. I don’t think it’s great. I think without knowing injuries and this, that, and the other, I think Parsons, again, is an absolute stud. Got to know where he is. He’s going to wreck the game. But I still don’t think we lose this game. Okay. So, I went from a I’m going from a loss to a win. Okay, I’m gonna put a win over here and I boom, boom. So, it’s the second week in a row I’m doing that. So, I’m taking a chance this week. But, I agree with you getting into this stretch like we need to win this one Sunday night at home. It’s important because we have the Colts who might be the hottest team, but I know Daniel Jones is getting scanned for I think a hamstring. Oh, is he? Um, and then the Chargers and then back with the Bengals. So, there there’s some there’s a stretch coming up. So, this is a big one for us to kind of Okay, let’s let’s bounce back. It’s going to be a game for Aaron. He’s going to they’re going to want to win it for Aaron, I think. So, I I just don’t see how they come here on Sunday night and and we lose at home. So, that’s my two cents. Um, Evan, yes. I will let you Hello. Welcome to the show. Thank you. I’ll let you weigh in on that first. Okay. Hit us first with the the Packers prediction or thoughts on the game, please. I think that it’s going to be one of those um bounceback games. I think everybody will show up. hopefully the secondary and the defense and I think they’ll be all right. Yeah. I I think they’re going to get after Love and they’re they’re not he’s not got time to get down the field. Hopefully that’s the case. Yeah. So you you expect us to win? Yeah. Okay. Do you do you think I’m sure there’s a chip on the shoulder there obviously for Aaron playing Green Bay, but do you think that same chip is on the shoulder for Green Bay playing Aaron? Everyone’s going to say no, but there’s something to Maybe with the coach, maybe with the floor and and maybe a little between him and Lav want to say. Yeah, you made the right decision. Yeah, I don’t disagree with that. Yeah. Okay. Thank you, Evan. Um uh family dinner time. Now, we still have there’s salt in the wounds still from last week. So, we’re definitely we have to I have a couple questions I want to ask you about last week’s game, but Giant Eagle so graciously supplies us with some amazing food, which always brightens our day. It does, Bill. Oh, actually we had a nice little thing this I had to thank Ian and Chef Mario. They came catered something at the barn the other day. So, thank you guys again. I’m telling you guys, if y’all want food catered, get a hold of of of those guys over there. They do an amazing job. What a spread they put on for a worship night we had at our barn. So, anyway, um thank you Giant Eagle Bill, all those guys over there. They’re great. And the food that you supply with Evan. Evan, tell us what we got. All right. In the foil, we have a gyro. A gyro or a euro. Yes, correct. Is that tomato? That is not tomato. Instead of tomato, I just did some red pepper, so it was aesthetically. Yes. Okay. Uh, and behind that is some Cincinnati chili. That’s the chili. Are you a Skyline or are you a Gold Star? Gold star. Gold star. Yeah. Never had I’m a neither actually. I’m from a Yzer. Skyline is awesome. We put fries on everything. Skyline. Oh, I’ve been to Skyline. I’ve never had this like on pasta. Oh, okay. Yeah, that’s the It’s a bold choice. Cincinnati. I like it. Careful, some of those might be warm. No, I meant to say that when I let off, but there was so much going on guy over here. I’m fine. I’m fine. And then in the middle there is Goeta. Goeta queso. So goetta is like a pork and beef mixture with some rolled oats. So you can’t have that. Well, I didn’t put pork in it. Okay. I just did the beef. That’s right. We’re going with, you know, everyone’s favorites. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Evan. Thank you. So thoughtful. Thank you. It’s amazing. He’s the best, man. Wow. Okay, so Oh, wait. We do have a question before we open the wound. Okay. Pour some salt on it. Yeah. We are having a this beer I had right here. Yeah. It wasn’t sweet. It was What’s the opposite of sweet? People would think sour, but is that true? Or bitter. That’s the first thing that came to mind. My god. I said bitter. I said I think bitter would be the opposite. Yeah. Yeah. Because I mean if it’s the hops are bitter as well. So, not even beer, just in general. Okay. Sweet, not sour. Yeah. Bitter. Yes. Wow. Look at this. We had to bring in a professional, but you This was unrehearsed, just so everybody knows. Yeah. This whole show is unrehearsed. That was That was good. That’s um It was okay. It just wasn’t sweet. Yeah. All right. I don’t know if you’ve seen our show, Evan. Um but it gets off the rails quick. Quickly. That’s so All right. I’m going to ask you a question, Evan, and I want you to tell me what you think as I eat this. Okay. cuz I wanted to talk about this. So Aaron’s um interception, the first one, the deep one. Yeah, I think there’s an outside chance. I I I know it sounds crazy because Aaron, I think, you know, he he’s incredibly good. He sees everything, but the Bengals were in all white. They painted the middle of the field white. I think there’s a chance that the safety was camouflaged in the middle and Aaron didn’t see him. I think that’s a that’s there’s a big chance of that. I didn’t think of that, but that’s, you know, that’s what quarterbacks think and see, but I didn’t. I was just upset that the interception happened. Typically, you would think like it’s not the Patriots, so it wasn’t cheating. Well, yeah. Surely these guys are honest about it, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This is unreal. So, here’s the deal, guys. If you want to cook all these things, we have a cookbook. It’s back there. If you’re unaware of it, the cookbook, you can’t make this. There’s a link in the bio below. Um, get them while supplies last. I don’t know how many are left, but when they’re gone, they gone. And um this is I’m supposed to eat this. Evan, give us while I eat this, give me your thoughts on the game. Open the puts the salt on the wound. Uh I think offense did did well and defense did not do well. And I don’t want to go too deep into it. I know it was last Thursday, but I’ve made a lot of progress since then. And you have Yeah. How many times you go to therapy? Uh not enough. Not nearly enough, but I get it. I mean, they I don’t want to say they played down to their opponent, but at the same time, I just don’t think that they were prepared for Flaco to carve them up the way that he did, you know, and whether that’s because the defense couldn’t get to him or the secondary was a tick too slow or, you know, there’s a multitude of things that could have happened or did happen. It just it right after halftime, I just didn’t have a good feeling, you know, from that point. It was early in the game. You felt great though, didn’t you? The first like quarter. Oh, yeah. I mean, because you there’s always so much hope and there’s so much, you know, this could go our way and that and then you have that first interception and then you have the second one where the guy pretty much took the ball, you know, said that’s my ball, I’m going. Yeah. I mean, we’ve seen Patrick Wilson did that last year, you know. So, it’s just about the somebody being in the right place at the right time. And are you meaning hating Wilson? Am I hating him? Or do you mean Payton? Yeah, I call him Patrick, though. Oh, okay. We’re We go way back. Is that short for Payton? Yeah. Yeah. Um, yeah. We call You can cut that. I don’t know if you’ve seen our show, Evan. We don’t cut it. Well, you know, sometimes the names I’m real squirly guy sometimes. Yeah, I know. Dude, the amount of things I’ve gotten wrong about sports on this show could be its own show. Me, too. So, I think you’re all right there, buddy. Perfect. Well, you know, that was the one in 10 we talked about in my opinion. That’s what I said. I said there’s one in 10 chance that they beat us and everything went right for him. And it was just it it was like a nightmare unfolding. Joe Flacco just hobbles back and then launches passes, you know? Like, I’m serious. Like, who who we expected it, but in all reality, nobody was expecting it. Nobody was because he’s only been there for two weeks at that point. Yeah. 10 days. Whatever. I mean, it’s just like, what are we doing? For him to go in there and do that is just I had a question about this. Um, when you get traded to a team like that midweek, everybody’s talking about how difficult it is for the quarterback to learn all the plays. How challenging is it for the line to get familiar with a new quarterback’s cadence? Not hard. Okay. A lot of guys will come in to do the do whatever’s been done. Okay. Yeah. But not hard. I think it also lends to that uh Joe Flacco has been in the league for how long and he’s played the Steelers how many times and he knows somebody somebody from the Bengals Yeah. Someone from the Bengals said that they they knew every defensive scheme and play that they were going to run. Well, that’s because everyone talks about that. How long have they been talking about that for our defense? It’s years that we’re not mixing anything up. We’re not doing anything unique. And why is that? you know, I mean, he just somebody just thinks they’re smarter than the other team or, you know, they think, oh, they’re they’re not paying attention this year. They won’t know that we’re still running plays from 2021 or, you know, I don’t know, but it’s it’s frustrating. The pre-COVID plays in here. This is really good. Yeah. And it doesn’t make sense to me. Oh, on spaghetti. Yeah. Yeah. I’m used to it. We just This was normal for y’all. I We use um rice under a lot. That would make more sense to me than Yeah, this is just a thing. Just spaghetti with just chili. Like we got all this spaghetti and all this chili left over. What are we going to do? Put some cheese on it. There’s cinnamon in there. Onions. Is this Was this B? Is this a struggle meal? Struggle meal. You know, like like like Hines ketchup on on Wonderbread. Like hey, all we got brother ketchup sandwiches. Is this what this is this how this started? I don’t know. I like it. Yeah. It’s very good. Evan, I had I did have another question I was going to ask you. One last one before not to have me last one, but and now I can’t think of it. That’s all right. Oh. Oh, no. I know. Do you There’s been a lot of talk about the trade deadline. Oh, yeah. Okay. So, give me give me do you think that we need a receiver or is something else on offense? And do and or as Spence asked me, do you think the Steelers should trade for someone on defense? I mean the defense thing is you’re the you’re the right now you are the general manager. Well you have actually you’re the head coach cuz he’s got more pull than the general manager. I forgot my sunglasses. What are you doing? I’m getting a speedy wide receiver. Yep. And we need somebody to You don’t Roman Wilson’s Calvin Austin. Calvin Austin’s hurt. Yes. So the offense is the issue. scoring points almost 30 points a game. I don’t think that the offense is the issue, but I think the offense has to be the solution. Meaning they need 40 points a game now. That’s it. Usually it’s the defense, you know, helping out the offense. It’s just it’s people like you that don’t want any it’s it’s you’re one of the mers that people you’re you’re just like everyone else out there and doesn’t want that. You know what? Run the ball cloud of dust. Defense, defense, defense. All we got to do and now all of a sudden it’s like we can’t win. So, you know what? Go throw the ball. Score 40. Listen, my whole thing is when you spend a billion dollars on a defense and it’s not panning out, like what do you what else can you add? Like, you’re just going to add another veteran. Like, who would I don’t think I don’t I mean, you could add on defense. Absolutely do it. But I you could you could put How about do nothing? I mean, you could do that as well, but I think offensively, if you have another speedy wide receiver, now all of a sudden you guys want to score points. Oh jeez. Well, it’s just used to be just about running the ball and playing defense. Oh, y’all want me to throw? No, now I was on y’all want me to throw the ball. How much of his 40 times a game? How much of his schematics? How much how much of it is the like do you analyze any of the coaching or your your or is it too late in the game here for that trade a coach? I think I think offensively I think Rogers has the most pull. So when it comes to schematics and plays and you know I when you call your head coach by his first name, you’re sitting at the table. But that’s what I mean. So like you’re at the table. He just lived in the basement. But defensively it just I I don’t know what happened for the the defensive line to not be able to do anything. And like they had a good run game. No, they didn’t. They had he had 30 yards like per per game going into that game. We turned him into Barry Sanders. You know, you got to start somewhere, Evan. Well, I just don’t understand it. Like, with the the talent that we have, maybe when the defense maybe when our defense plays against an offense that isn’t that good, they don’t they don’t they play down. Listen, I I have theories on that, but we can’t get into We’re getting them cranked up, bro. We’re getting them cranked up. I have my thoughts, but this is a family show. And well, you heard it here first. Evan said it. Evan said you heard what Evan said and only Evan only Evan said the football and the rest of the football family does not co-sign with that. Just Evan Evan’s opinions are not indicative of football and football incorporated. These are all my opinions and all right well we’re grateful for them. Yeah. Hey, is this the goat chunks? No. Oh, okay. It’s lamb. Okay. All right. Well, thank you, Evan. Thank you for your insight. Thank you for your food. Thank you, Giant Eagle. Um, and our good friends over at Pawnley Hockey. Thank you guys so much for sponsoring this episode. We appreciate you guys. Always. I saw a billboard when I was going Pley Hockey. Yeah. And it said proud sponsor of the Pittsburgh Steelers, but I yelled proud sponsor of football. That’s what I’m talking about. And everybody in the car like looked, but it said Steelers. But But we all know. Oh, yeah. We know. You all know. The family knows. It’s pronounced football, I think. Yeah. Did I say it wrong? Oh. Oh, you spelled football in wrong. Yeah, you Yeah, it’s I know it looks like it says Steelers, but yeah, it’s football. And if you guys if you guys go to Palley Hockey and mention us, they might give you a high five. That’s true. Friendly people. Not only that, but uh they’re actually giving some stuff away this season. So, we’re going to do something with that. Yeah, it’s going to be super exciting. So, you guys stay tapped in. Win. Yeah, I’m I’m already winning being here. Oh, wow. And on that, that’s how we’re ending. That’s it. Um Yeah. Thank you, Giant Eagle. Thank you, Pley Hockey. Um thank you, Evan Spence. Um, thank you Jesus. Um, we’re going to have a better week this week. Sunday Night Football, which means Is that Carrie or is that Snoop? That’s Carrie Underwood. Carrie Underwood’s coming to town. Which mean which means we’ve got Who announces those games? Al Michaels and Kirk Curb Street. Kirby, come do the show. Come in early. Stay late. Do the show with us after. Stay late. Bring your golden over. Doll can lay right here. Whatever you want to do. Oh, Evan spot. That’s fine. I should put the dog right here in this seat. Yeah, there you go. So, Herby, come on, man. Don’t make me text you.

In this episode, Ben and Spence reflect on the Steelers’ recent game against the Bengals, discussing key plays and performances. They emphasizes the importance of the offense’s current success while addressing the defensive struggles that have plagued the team. The conversation also touches on the upcoming game against the Green Bay Packers and the potential for trades as the deadline approaches. Throughout the discussion, Ben shares insights on teamwork, strategy, and the dynamics of the NFL. This Episode is Brought to you by Pond Lehocky

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00:00 Introduction and Game Reflection
09:41 Top Seven Plays from the Bengals Game
19:57 Offensive Performance and Identity
32:18 Defensive Struggles and Analysis
42:37 Previewing the Upcoming Game Against Green Bay