LAST-MINUTE Steelers News Before Sunday Night Football vs. Chargers – 4 Storylines To Watch Today

LAST-MINUTE Steelers News Before Sunday Night Football vs. Chargers – 4 Storylines To Watch Today

Welcome in the Steelers Talk. I’m your host, Jack Sperry. Thank you guys so much for joining me here on yet another NFL Sunday. Of course, tonight Pittsburgh Steelers take on the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday Night Football in LA. Steelers trying to improve to six and three on the season. Of course, we’ll be live tonight. Me and Ponzi will be in studio for an over hourlong pregame show to get you guys ready for tonight’s matchup. Then we’ll have live playbyplay and analysis of the game itself, followed by extensive postgame coverage. and we go live for every single Steelers game this year. Today, I’m going to be breaking down some of the top storylines that you guys should be keeping your eye on throughout the National Football League and then of course for tonight’s game between the Steelers and Chargers. Make sure you guys click that subscribe button if you haven’t already. I greatly appreciate all of your guys’ support. With that, let’s jump right into some of these storylines here that I’m going to be watching out for today uh on NFL Sunday as well as Sunday Night Football in this matchup between the Steelers and Chargers. We’ll start outside of this Sunday Night Football matchup, but stay within the AFC North as the Baltimore Ravens currently three and five um going up against the Minnesota Vikings today uh in the in the early slate of games. And that’s a big one in the AFC North in my opinion because if the Steelers or I mean if the Steelers have an opportunity to go up three games in the division today, uh that would be just absolutely incredible. And of course, the Ravens sitting at 3 and five. If they lose to Minnesota today and hey man, the Vikings, especially in their building, US Bank Stadium, it gets loud in that stadium and that that’s a tough place to play. If they can take down the Ravens today, that means Baltimore falls to three and six on the season. That gives the Steelers an opportunity to go up a whopping three games in the division um with just with just seven games left to go um if they can win versus the Los Angeles Chargers tonight. Now, obviously the Ravens, as it stands right now, are just two games behind the Steelers. So, if they beat the Vikings and let’s say the Steelers lose, that means with seven games to go, it’s just a oneame advantage that the Steelers have within the division. And obviously, things would would would feel like the Ravens are certainly coming. But, you know, it could go in two different ways today for sure. You know, in fact, it can go three different ways. You know, it could stay at two games uh for the Steelers. that can happen either if the Ravens and Steelers both lose or if the Ravens and Steelers both win. Uh but there’s also, you know, the best case scenario today where the Ravens could lose and the Steelers win. And in that case, man, that really sets the Steelers up really, really nicely um to, you know, secure this division championship by the end of the season cuz I mean, a three-game advantage with just seven games left to go, that is a pretty big advantage. barring, you know, the Ravens having, you know, a stellar uh, you know, you know, final stretch of their season, sweeping the Steelers and the Steelers having a terrible stretch to finish their season and getting swept by the Ravens. Uh, you know, the Steelers would be in a really good position to win the AFC North if that happened. So, definitely in the early slate of games today, keep your eye on the Baltimore Ravens and the Minnesota Vikings cuz that’s a really big game. Uh, surely the Ravens defense has been playing better their last two games. And of course now they have Lamar Jackson back. So I would probably expect the Ravens to win that game. I would pick the Ravens to win. But like I said, man, going into Minnesota in US Bank Stadium, really tough place to play. That team just took down a really good Lions team on the road last week. That defense played incredibly. Um so I’m going to be watching that game extremely closely today. And if the Ravens lose today, that that means that the Steelers will have one hell of an opportunity to, you know, kind of take this division by the horns and um you know, really set themselves up for a division championship here in week 10. But um now let’s shift our focus here to the game itself for tonight. Steelers versus Chargers. Of course, you’re coming off a big win versus the Indianapolis Colts in which your defense had its best day of the season by far. at least in my opinion, maybe outside of the Patriots game where you where you secured five turnovers, but last week uh once again the defense gets five, special teams gets another turnover for a total of six turnovers. And uh before garbage time, the defense was giving up less than four yards per play, which is really, really good. So, I’m looking at tonight’s game and I’m wondering, can they repeat it? Now, you know, was it more on Indianapolis not being able to get things going or was it more on the Steelers finding something uh that’s going to work? And then, you know, another question is, will Mike Tomlin and Terrell Austin actually stick to what works? Um, you know, some of their comments this week suggest that maybe they won’t have uh, you know, kind of the same game plan that really worked against the Indianapolis Colts. But I really think the best way for this team to play is to not is to be, you know, a non- blitzing team. put bodies out in coverage, play with two high safeties, and allow the run defense talents of Jaylen Ramsey and Kyle Duggar to show out in those two high safety looks. And I really think that gives us the Steelers a big advantage. And um it kind of it kind of covers up some of the holes that they have in pass coverage. You know, Darius Slay certainly hasn’t been get great in pass coverage this year. Uh Joey Porter Jr. can get called for holdings at times even though he’s pretty sticky in coverage. uh he will get penalized and guys like Patrick Queen have just been awful in pass coverage this year specifically zone coverage. So, you know, there’s certainly and then also Kyle Duggar before he came to the Pittsburgh Steelers had some lapses in coverage throughout the season. So, I’m looking at this Steelers defense and obviously the strength of this group is when the pass rush can get home, can create chaos, can create turnovers and force mistakes out of opposing quarterbacks just like they did versus Daniel Jones last week. Uh this week it’ll be a different challenge with a guy like Justin Herbert and we’ve seen some really high-end quarterbacks kind of carve up the Steelers a defense this year in the passing game and you know Justin Herbert I would say is certainly one of those guys. You know he’s a bonafide star quarterback and he’s got some legitimate receiving weapons. You know Keenan Allen, Lad Mcconi um of course Aronda Gadston their their rookie tight end who has had a phenomenal rookie season. You know, I’m I’m looking at this matchup today and I’m really excited to see what the Steelers defense is going to be able to do because at least on paper, they should be able to handle this Chargers team. They should be able to handle this, especially this offensive line. This is a Chargers team that has really struggled when they’ve missed both Rashan Slater, who’s been out this entire season, uh, and Joe Alt, who is out for the rest of the season as well now. And you know, the two tackles that the Chargers are going to be running out there are Austin Decalis and uh Trey Pipkins. And those guys should be, you know, mince meat for guys like TJ Watt and Alex Heismith. We saw Watt and Heismith really affect the game last week against two really good tackles. I mean, Bernard Raymond, Braden Smith, the two tackles for the Colts, really good players, and the Steelers really won that matchup all day long. uh there’s no reason why they shouldn’t at least, you know, have a similar type of performance, if not even better tonight and really put the pressure on Justin Herbert and do it quickly. So, really excited to see if this Steelers defense uh can show up yet again and in front of a national audience. The last time, you know, the NFL world saw this defense, they were getting absolutely shredded in the second half versus the Green Bay Packers and Jordan Love. So hopefully tonight uh this defense can step up, put together four good quarters, uh and help lead this team to victory. But then on the other side of the ball, there’s definitely something to keep your eye on for the Steelers offense tonight. And that is the fact that Isaac Seamalo, starting left guard for this team, is out this week with a pectoral injury, which means Spencer Anderson, who is usually your jumbo tight end, is going to be playing left guard. And you know, my big question as to how that dynamic is going to work is how does it affect the run game? Because we saw in the first three weeks of the Steelers schedule, they didn’t really play jumbo personnel packages. And they were honestly one of the worst uh run games in the league. And what that led to was defenses playing a lot of two high safety coverages and taking away the downfield passing game for Aaron Rogers and the Steelers offense. And the Steelers offense really depended a lot on playaction passing and underneath passing quick throws out into the flat just because there’s nothing open downfield for Aaron Rogers. So certainly um taking Isaac Samalo out and having to put Spencer Anderson at left guard creates some questions. Not only is Anderson a straight up downgrade from Samalo at left guard. He gave up multiple pressures against the Colts last week when Samo had to leave the game, but also, you know, can you really operate your jumbo personnel packages? You know, it’s going to be interesting to see if they do turn to those jumbo looks, who’s going to be out there? Um, will it be Ryan McCullum, the backup center? Will it be Andrew Pete, a backup offensive lineman? And then if they do go to those guys, how effective will it be? Because I really think tonight, guys, you know, the run game for the Steelers is going to be key because Jesse Miner and that Chargers defense loves to sit in nickel loves to sit in two high safety coverages and loves to, you know, try and force teams to beat them on the ground. And uh if the Steelers can’t move the line of scrimmage without their jumbo personnel packages out there, um similar to how they weren’t able to get any push in the first three weeks of the season, then you know, obviously that’s going to force the Steelers offense to be very dependent on Aaron Rodgers and the quick passing game and the play action passing game, all that stuff. And I don’t know if I want to go back to that world. really much preferred I really much preferred the way that this offense has looked since week four as opposed to those first three weeks where there’s been more downfield passing. Aaron Rogers has had more freedom to throw the ball uh down the field to his receivers and I guess we’ll just have to see how things play out, what Arthur Smith’s game plan is with Isaac Samalo out of the lineup. So that’s certainly something to keep your eye on tonight. I know I certainly will. Then the final thing uh that I want to talk about here before I say goodbye until our watch party tonight guys at seven uh is that if the Steelers win tonight, man, like you have to look at the Steelers as a team that is certainly capable of beating playoff caliber teams, at least at this point in the season. Because if they win tonight, that means during this three-game stretch where they have played the Packers, they have played the Colts, and they have played the Chargers. If they win tonight, that means they go two for three um in those three games. And you know, in this stretch where you’re facing playoff caliber teams, you win a majority of those games and then when you take on the fact that you, you know, played Seattle, played New England earlier on in the season, that means you’d be going to three and two on the year against playoff caliber teams. So, you know, that would certainly indicate that this Steelers team is capable of beating playoff caliber teams this year, especially if they win this game uh pretty handily. And by the way, I have predicted a 2717 victory for the Steelers tonight. I think with the pass rush that the Steelers are going to have, I think that the run game will be good enough and I think the pass game will be good enough to get to 27 points tonight. I think there will be some turnovers. I think that the Steelers will play a good brand of football here this evening and I think they’ll make a statement. And if that happens, man, like you’re sitting at, you know, a pretty decent spot, six and three, like we talked about. If the Ravens lose today, that’s even better. Um, and you’re above 500 when playingoff quality teams heading into next week at home in a revenge game here against the Cincinnati Bengals where I’m hoping they have a better game plan against Jamar Chase than what they had a couple weeks back on Thursday Night Football. But, you know, certainly this tonight feels like a pivotal night for the Pittsburgh Steelers, not just because of the dynamic in the AFC North that we talked about earlier, but also because of the narrative surrounding what kind of teams the Steelers can be. because if they lose tonight, you know, you’re looking at losses, you know, you’re sitting at two and three against playoff caliber teams, right? Um, and you know, the two times that you won was because you had to depend on a lot of turnovers, all that different stuff. If you lose tonight against a Charger team that has really struggled without Joe Alt this season, um, you know, especially because the it’s going to be almost like a pseudo home game for the Steelers. the reports on the ground in LA is that uh you know the crowd at Sofi tonight is going to be very heavy Steelers if you lose this game and like that that really feels like a big step backwards for the Pittsburgh Steelers and you know I I really think because of that uh tonight feels like a pivotal night for the Pittsburgh Steelers uh 2025 season. Obviously, you know, with the games meaning in the regular season as much as they do in the National Football League, especially in the middle of the season, you know, obviously it feels like every single game at this point is a pivotal game for the Steelers. But, you know, especially this week, Sunday Night Football in front of a national audience, uh, against a 6 and3 football team in the Los Angeles Chargers, if you can go out in there, get a win, get to six and three, I think the narrative surrounding this Steelers team is going to change quite drastically and it’s going to set this Steelers team up. uh certainly to get into the playoffs once again this year. But if you lose, you go to five and four and you know some of these games coming up against Cincinnati, against Chicago, against Buffalo become really really important for uh you know the destiny that this team is kind of on their way towards. So really do appreciate all of your guys’ support uh watching today’s video. Make sure you guys click that subscribe button if you haven’t already. And again, a reminder, we’ll be going live on this channel. Uh we will we’re expecting about 200,000 people to watch tonight’s show um on the Steelers Talk watch party. Again, we’re going to have over an hour of pregame coverage. We’re going to have live playbyplay and analysis of the game itself, followed by extensive postgame coverage when the game is over. We’re going to be doing super chat raffles. We’re going to be doing all the great stuff that we usually do on the channel. So again, guys, don’t be late. 6 p or 700 p.m. Eastern time tonight. Uh can’t wait to see you guys there. And until next time, guys.

Pittsburgh Steelers news is red hot just hours before Pittsburgh’s Week 10 matchup vs. the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday Night Football. On today’s show, host Jack Sperry goes over the 4 top storylines he will be watching today as the Steelers look to improve to 6-3 & take even more control over the AFC North. Can the Steelers defense repeat the kind of performance they had last week vs. the Indianapolis Colts? How will the Steelers offense look without Isaac Seumalo in the lineup? Get ready for tonight’s primetime matchup right here on Steelers Talk.

HIT THAT SUB BUTTON & turn on notifications so you never miss a Steelers Talk video: https://www.youtube.com/SteelersTV?sub_confirmation=1

Want more Steelers YouTube videos? We got you!:
– Steelers Rumors: Will Aaron Rodgers RETURN To PIT In 2026? + Should We TRUST Omar Khan As GM? | Q&A – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_on3hRy61ek
– Why The Pittsburgh Steelers Have A Real Chance To Be A DANGEROUS Team In The AFC Come Playoff Time – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CnCRsDBzfc
– How Steelers GM Omar Khan Is Setting PIT Up For The Future While Maintaining A ‘Win Now’ Approach – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjPtNFMbi9w

Follow @chatsports on social media and subscribe on YouTube for the latest NFL rumors, NBA news and college football recruiting:
– X: https://x.com/ChatSports
– Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chatsports
– Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chatsports

Set your notifications to ‘ALL’ to never miss a video from Steelers Talk!

If you’re excited about the future of the Pittsburgh Steelers, HIT THAT THUMBS UP ICON!

More 2025 NFL talk from Sperry can be found on social media! Hit him up on X: https://x.com/jack_sperry

Follow the latest Steelers rumors & news on the Chat Sports Pittsburgh Steelers website: https://www.chatsports.com/pittsburgh-steelers

Love our videos? Then share this one!

#Steelers #SteelersNews #SteelersChargers #CSB