Preparing For The Buffalo Bills | SNR Drive (Nov.26) | Pittsburgh Steelers
You’re tuned to the drive on your 247 home of the black and gold Steelers Nation Radio. Good afternoon, Steelers Nation. It’s the drive here on the Steelers Audio Network. Wes Schuler and Matt Williamson with you for the next two hours here on a Wednesday on the eve of one of the best days of the year. Of course, tomorrow is Thanksgiving. We will have no show tomorrow. We’ll be back. We’ll be back with you on Black Friday. Easy for me to say. So, plenty to get to today, Matt. And in the spirit of the holiday week, different week. We’re going to actually start off the program with a guest right from the jump. Very giving. And it’s very giving. And I also think it’s fitting because uh the Steelers quarterback Aaron Rogers, future Hall of Famer, missed last week of course against the Bears. Uh just spoke to assembled members of the media. So let’s talk to a member of the media. It’s our buddy Chris Hack of course covers the Steelers for DK Pittsburgh Sports. Chris, let’s jump right into it, man. Uh after Aaron Rogers speaking this afternoon, how are we feeling about his status for Sunday against the Bills? I think it’s pretty much the same from his perspective as it was last week. It’s, you know, he didn’t practice today. Uh he’s going to try to give it a go tomorrow for on, you know, for for Thursday’s practice. Uh he’s going to try again on Friday. The what he’s trying to do to get ready sounds a lot like what he did last week. The the difference here is not Aaron’s perspective, but Mike Tomlin’s perspective because last week he was obviously non-committal uh for a very very good reason because Aaron ended up not playing. But while this week it’s a very different story. I mean, Mike Tomlin said he has great optimism about Aaron being able to return and and when Aaron spoke to members of the media today, he he talked about like what what’s the the thing that’s going to change this week that could help him play and he just flat out said it’s just time. It’s, you know, time to be able to heal and um that that’s pretty much it. So, I in terms of the process for him, it doesn’t change. I think if he were the one deciding uh his fate against the Bears in Chicago, he probably would have played, but uh that obviously didn’t work out. So, we’ll see what happens this week. So, two other injuries. We already know Brick Jones is out. We all know Harmon’s out. Is YA Black a direct replacement for Harmon or is that a committee situation? And what do you expect at left tackle? Uh Calvin Anderson’s going to be at left tackle. Okay. Uh for sure. And then uh when it comes to replacing Harmon, I do think it’s going to be a bit of a committee. I do think YA Black will get uh increased reps for an obvious reason just because, you know, if if whether that’s, you know, him like being a full-on replacement for Harmon, then obviously his snap count’s going to go up. Uh but you know they got uh the the one guy and his name is uh escaping me right now, but the one guy the new hyphenated dude. Yes, the new hyphenated dude. Yeah. Yeah. My apologies to to that to that player, but uh Mr. Hyphen um uh he’s he’s also in the mix there. There are a number of guys in the mix, but I do see an increased workload for YA Black. Uh, and the great thing there is that, you know, throughout this entire process, you know, he he’s been there for it all. He knows the defense, he knows the system. Um, there there’s no guessing, uh, in that regard. So, it’s a lot more of just play. U, so I do think it’s going to be more of a of a, you know, committee that’s going to help replace Harmon. How confident are you in YA Black sticking his hand in the pile? I I think he’s been very good, albeit in small sample sizes. Do you think he can continue that with a with a larger share of the pie? Yeah, absolutely. I I think he’ll he’ll probably help a little bit more against the run and that’s going to be very important going up against a Bills team that currently ranks number one in the NFL in in rushing. Uh that’s need guys out there that can help stop the run. And so I think uh this is a good week for ya black to see uh an increased uh count in his snaps. Uh but again players continue to grow. I I think you know even if he doesn’t get back there and actually bring Josh Allen down at all maybe he can get those gigantic mits up the same way that he did in Latroe and bat down a couple of passes. you know, there are different ways that guys can impact uh in the passing game uh up front and uh that’s one way that he can do it. He’s got really long arms. He’s a really tall dude. Um I think he he can do pretty good. I’ve also been pretty impressed with the way he’s played, especially considering that he was a, you know, fifth round pick. There there were no high expectations for him coming out of Iowa. So, I think it’s a it’s a good opportunity for him. And again, you know, really stressing like the Steelers need to stop the run this week. They they like that that’s that is paramount. Uh now, it’s not like you want to stop the run and say, “Okay, we want to make the quarterback beat us because Josh Allen’s pretty capable of doing that.” But still, you definitely the the numbers kind of speak for themselves. When James Cook doesn’t run the ball well, Bills typically don’t win as many games as when he does run well. So, stopping the run is still is very, very important. Even though Josh Allen can absolutely do damage with his arm, too. Yeah, I wish it wasn’t under these circumstances, but I am excited to see more of the youngster why Black. I’m impressed. I’m excited about his future. Um, Chris, this isn’t the normal type of question I ask you, but is this team better in man or zone? I I can’t figure out what to do in pass defense, or is there a coverage scheme you think they should be stronger in or weaker in or more predominant in? I know you know this stuff, so dig in. Can I Can I go in a in a different direction? Sure. Because I think I think there are weaknesses to both with the way the Steelers play them. I do too. That’s why I asked. Yeah. Well, because in man coverage now there there was an exception in the game against the Bengals when we saw Kyle Duggar intercept Joe Flacco and run it back for a touchdown. Um, typically when they play man coverage, it’s cover one and they’re running man free. There’s no whole defender in the middle of the field. There’s no linebacker dropping back and taking away the middle. There’s no safety crashing down and and robbing uh the middle of the field. That’s been very very rare this year, like I said. And the one real um time it changed was when Kyle Duggar intercepted a pass and ran it back for a touchdown. Um, in zone coverages, from what I’ve seen and from my conversations with players, they’re asking players to do things that leave little margin for error. I guess that’s a good way of putting it. Yeah. Yeah. And and when that happens, it’s the same it’s the same thing whenever um we This is kind of the the the bone we were picking. Well, one of the many bones we were picking about Matt Canada’s offense when he was the offensive coordinator was there was just so little room for error on specific concepts that that whether it was the details of the routes or whatever it was, it was just so hard to execute plays because everybody, all 11 guys had to do their job absolutely perfectly. And if it wasn’t done to perfection, if one guy screwed up, the whole play was blown up. And that’s kind of what I’m seeing. And that’s kind of the reason why I think there it’s been so inconsistent because when they have executed more often than not they’ve looked really really good like really good and when they haven’t been able to execute as consistently they’ve looked really really bad and I think that’s probably that like that’s what I deduce from this past week in particular. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah, I think you know and but then again like sometimes and I know Mike Colman didn’t want to get into it in his in his press conference but then there are also times in which Ben Johnson just does what a high school coach would do against spot drop cover three and you just run four verts that like that’s that’s your typical cover three beater and the Steelers don’t have an answer for it. like then there’s also those lapses and and so it’s just there are there’s not one issue and I think that’s the that’s the problem with this team and I think it’s why we’ve seen like we we don’t know what team is going to show up on Sunday because they’ll play the Colts and they’ll look great. They’ll be extra motivated because Jaylen Ramsey and Johnny Smith gave a great speech the night before the game and they were ready to go and they were motivated. They were zoned in. And then there have been other games like this past Sunday where it’s just you know I I don’t know. I think I but that that’s what I deduce from it is that I I just don’t think there’s a there’s a a wide margin for error and when one guy out of 11 screws up or doesn’t execute it the perfect way, the whole thing gets blown up. Chris, last one I’ve got for you. Where can this team start to find some momentum, start to find some level footing on offense? It’s been a struggle the last few weeks. They’ve averaged less than 20 points per game as in offense if you take away uh the handful of defensive touchdowns against the Bengals and the Bears. And of course, just the 10 points out there in Los Angeles on Sunday Night Football. I I mean I know that there’s a lot of simplicity of get the run game back going. You get some of the tight ends involved, but we’ve been talking about these things for for seemingly most of the the the second half of the season so far. In your mind, where’s it start for this offense? Where can they get a little momentum? Where can they get a little confidence? Who are you who are you looking to to kind of make some plays and get everybody moving in the right direction? I I’m looking mainly at the run game. Uh and I understand that this is a team that just ran for 186 yards against the Bears, but that second half it was kind of the same thing, not exactly, but kind of the same thing that I saw in the loss to the Packers. Um they ran the ball really well in the first half. they really kind of suck to it and then in the second half they they kind of they had some downs where you think they’re going to run and then they end up throwing like there was a first down I don’t remember on what series it was in the second half but it was in the third quarter that you know they they run play action and it’s not a a play action pass that that has an easy target if if for whatever reason your first read or second read isn’t there and then you take a sack and Now all of a sudden the run game is completely taken away from that set of downs because now at second long you have to throw to get to third and manageable. Then you’re at third and manageable. You’re definitely not running the ball because you know I mean unless you’re I mean there was the one time they ran out on third and seven but typically if you’re third and seven third and eight you’re not running the ball. Sure. Um there’s just there’s too too much of that going on when I think both Jaylen Warren and Kenneth Gainwell and I I understand about like the we could talk about the rotation of of Warren and Gainwell. I do think that Gainwell has at least earned the right to be like to for this to really really be a tandem. If we could talk about the way they’re rotated as being an issue, but with what they have with Warren and Gainwell and the way that they’re playing and the way that they’re running the ball and the way that they can both be utilized as pass catchers as well, I really think the offense needs to run through them and then allow that to open things up for everybody else. I understand you want to get DK Metaf’s targets, but I also think that DK Metaf’s targets can come a little bit easier if you’re forcing the defense to be like, “All right, we have to throw everything we possibly have at stopping the run, at stopping these two guys out of the back field.” Because I don’t I have not seen that commitment to getting the run game going, even when they run for 186 yards. So, I think that’s where it starts. And the Bills are not good against the run. No. So, this is another good week for them to try to really do it. Almost run it ad nauseium like like to a point where you might get fans to go like, “All right, would you just throw the ball already?” Like, I I get it. But I think that’s what they need to do. They need to really really stick to running the ball and then allow the the targets to manifest themselves. Chris, piggybacking off this and we’ll get you out of here after this. How would you divide the labor amongst the three tight ends? Oh man, it’s a tough puzzle. It’s it is it is a tough puzzle because and it’s a great puzzle to have because you know Darnell is just so dangerous in a number of ways and I I also want to take advantage of Pat Farnwith and Johnny Smith as well because they both do uh do great things. Um, I would still prefer Darnell to kind of lead the snaps because you can use him in so many different ways, but playing against that guy. Yes, absolutely. Yeah, because because he’s such a good he’s such a good run blocker and he’s obviously shown what he can do as a pass catcher, especially if you can get a blocker out in front of him. Can you imagine a tight end screen where he has, you know, even one blocker in front of him? Like that’s a good way to create an explosive play right there. Um, when it comes to using Pat and Janu, I I don’t know if it’s necessarily about the like the workload, but how they’re using them. Like Jonnu Smith last year was phenomenal after the catch and a lot of the passes I’m seeing with Jonnu are not putting him in a position to get Yak. They’re in a position like I understand like they’ve tried to throw stuff to the flat or you know throw screens. And the problem is they’re not good they’re not good at playing those. They’re they have not been good at at executing screens like that for a long time. So what about some more inbreakers? What about some stuff attacking the seam? You know, stuff like that. Uh, this guy had 55 like he had 88 catches last year, but 55 of those moved to chains and I don’t even know if he’s gonna get to 55 catches like total this year. I I wouldn’t mind seeing them running more horizontal, you know, get them try to hit them on the move going across the field, you know? Yeah, absolutely. and and and that that I I I I think a lot of people are trying to figure out now why the middle of the field isn’t being used as often uh as it should. But you know that that’s a an entirely different topic. I think we could spend an entire segment on. But um yeah, I when it comes to the tight ends, I I think I don’t know if it’s necessarily the way that they’ve been divvying up the snaps as it has been like the proper way to utilize each guy. I think they’ve kind of figured it out with Darnell. I think they’re actually using Darnell in a pretty good way. I think they could expand on that, but I think with Jonnu, I just I don’t see a lot of opportunities for Yak with him and that’s something that I would be trying to take advantage of if I had him on my roster. Excellent stuff as always with our buddy Chris Hock, DK Pittsburgh Sports. Chris, thank you so much for the time on a busy Wednesday and have a great Thanksgiving, dude. We’ll talk to you soon. Hey, you too. Happy Thanksgiving to you guys. Take care, Chris. There he goes. Awesome stuff from him. Yeah, a lot of good stuff as always and plenty to ponder here as we get closer and closer to kickoff. We’ll get back into more of that as we roll along. When we return on the other side, though, Matt, we’re going to have a little fun. We’re going to switch gears for a few minutes. Okay. Best of the West Wednesday. Oh, baby. Best athlete statues I’ve ever seen. Okay. And there’s two from this past weekend that are going to get a shout out. Wow. Uer Williamson. I’m not sure I’m going to have any comments on that. I don’t know what. Okay. There’s a few Pittsburgh ones on. So you have some you’ll have some don’t don’t you worry. Don’t you worry. We’ll have some fun with it when we return. Uer Williamson the drive. Steelers Nation radio on the Steelers audio network. Hayden Shock currently resides in Arlington, Virginia. As an Air Force kid, he was born in San Antonio, Texas, and moved frequently growing up. He was born with golden ard syndrome. Hayden is married to his wife, Lauren, and shares his life with a retired hearing service dog, Remy, and an active hearing service dog, Abby. He is a federal employee for the General Services Administration. Hayden’s father, Ed, who is from Indiana, Pennsylvania, has been a lifelong Steelers fan. Hayden decided to follow his dad’s fandom journey around the age of six or seven. And for nearly three decades, he and his father have watched the Steelers games together and bonded over countless traditions. The Steelers celebrations were a family affair. His five other siblings who were all always ready and willing to play backyard football with him, while his mom taught him how to hold a football and draw plays on the palm of his hand. Hayden lives by the inspiring quote of his late friend Taylor Hogan. Don’t quit, never give up. Steeler Nation, make sure you vote for Hayden Shock as the NFL’s 2025 fan of the year. Vote now at NFL.com. Back on the drive here as we roll along on a Wednesday, the night before Thanksgiving, day before Thanksgiving. Everybody have some fun, but behave tonight. All right. Uh Matt, before we get into Best of the West, some pretty big news about a bigname center returning to the National Football League. Yeah, as we’re recording this, my phone just lit up and Frank Ragnau is coming out of retirement. like, wow. I would imagine for the Lions, I mean, I assume they own his rights still. I mean, I assume that’s how it goes. Um, he retired because of a myriad of injuries. He must be feeling better and say, “I’ll help you down the stretch and into the playoffs.” Welcome back, dude. Could be a big boost. Kind of like Brandon Graham. I mean, it’s kind of like Philly. Yeah, that’s a great call. And unfortunately, that could help the Lions chances when the Steelers are there about a month from now. Yeah. But who can the Steelers call? Mel Blunt’s probably a little past. Max Starks can pull him out of the booth. He’ll be in the building, right? Pull him out of the booth. He’s close now. Uh, you know, Raone Foster still around. I mean, he’s in Tennessee, but he, you know, was around for preseason stuff. I think Antonio Brown’s a little occupied. I don’t think that one’s going to happen. Moving on. Uh, Matt, Best of the West on Wednesday. Best of the West. A goofy goofyish one for you, but it’s sports related. Like to have, you know, as you always say, brainstorm in here. I I don’t know many statues. As you always say, I’m sure there will be a small percentage of people out there that are like, “What the heck, Uler? Just talk about the Bills. We don’t care.” Of course, but we have 30 segments a week. We have 30 segments a week. We like to have some fun with it and switch it up. And so, simple coolest, best athletes with a statue that I’ve ever seen. Okay. Now, you actually had to walk past them and be there, right? I’ve had to actually have seen them in person. Yes, that’s the kicker here. And big shout out to JT. I went back and looked. So on on Saturday night, I went to the Chicago Bulls game, posted a picture of the Michael Jordan statue, and JT on my Instagram, and JT commented and was like, “You should do a best of the West, you know, best best athlete statues.” I’m cool with it. I was like, “Sweet. Love it. Let’s have fun.” The MJ1’s pretty awesome, though. It might be at the top of the list. Okay. It’s going to get mentioned. It’s going to get mentioned for sure. Couple honorable mentions before we get into the top 10. The Hammer and Hank statue in Atlanta, Hank Aaron for the Braves. Yeah. Yeah. I think it was two years ago, three years ago, the Steelers played a preseason game in Atlanta. It was the one where the offense was like two for two on Kenny Picket was humming. Corderl Patterson was like every time Pickicket got the ball, they scored that whole preseason. It was like and this was kind of the the the cherry on top of just oh my goodness, this offense is about to explode. Look out. 50 points a week in the regular season. And they didn’t. Yes. And they did not. And since that was in August, it was obviously still baseball season. Okay. Mike Pursuda, our guy who you’re going to do a show with here in another hour or two, was like to to myself and Dan Quinnland was like, “Come on, we’re going to the Braves game. Let’s go.” And we had a great time. We went to the Braves game. Pursuda and I got beer bats and everything. Okay. But they have a really cool Braves museum in the stadium in the bowels of the stadium and of course a awesome Hank Aaron statue there. Hammer and Hank. Uh really great respect for Great respect for Henry Aaron. Absolutely. and what he means to just the history of sport and of course baseball. Consistency year after year too. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. Was the home run king for so many years. Uh and a a kind of similar the Willie Stargel statue at PNC Park. Old Pops. I thought that might make it. Yeah. There’s going to be a PNC Park statue that’s in the top 10, but I’m giving Pops an honorable mention. And then one that I saw Sunday morning walking into the Before you do, super quick. I mean, I think there was like a million years in a row where the National League starting all-star outfield was Clemenian right, Aaron and left, Maze and Center. Pretty darn good, huh? Like that’s a hard one to crack, dude. That’s one of those oldtimey things of sport. Like I I wish the Major League Baseball All-Star game was still as big as it used to be. Cool. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, it was it was a massive event. That’s a game you can play full full boore. Like Pete Rose does have to run over and catch somebody at home plate, but 99% of it you can absolutely play full boore. So Pops in an honorable mention, Hammer and Hank in an honorable mention, and then a really cool one that I saw Sunday morning outside of Soldier Field, the Walter Payeyton statue. And it just says sweetness on on the plaque. Might be. I mean, if we do FA best nicknames someday, that’s going to be really high in the list. That’s not a Maybe that’s a good one for I was say I’m planting a seed here. Top top 10 sports nicknames. All right, let’s get into the top 10 here. Number 10, Western Pennsylvania’s own. Latroe’s own, the Arnold Palmer statue at the Latro airport. Oh, I was say, is there one at St. Vincent’s I don’t know about? Yeah, it’s across the street there at the airport. It’s really cool. I haven’t been there for a while, but yeah, it’s like him with his golf club and he’s got like this smiling look on his face. It’s It’s very cool. It was probably five years ago, but I just posted a picture of him on Twitter just smoking a cigarette, being a badass. Really, you know, like as golfers could be, you know, it’s like times a little different back then, you know, a little bit. Yeah. And we’re of course very thankful for his drink concoction of iced tea and lemonade. Absolute legend, icon of Western Pennsylvania sports. No question. Arnold Palmer, his statue at the LRO airport, his hometown, is is pretty cool and pretty unique. Number nine, I’ve kind of got a two-parter here and I’ve got a couple of these, but I had shared with you how I’d been to Lambeau Field before back in my working in minor league hockey days. Yeah. Yeah. At Lambeau Field, there’s two really cool statues. The first is a massive one of Vince Lombardi. This thing’s like 10 feet, 12 feet tall. I was actually sitting thinking, I’m like, how big is the average statue? They’re all They’re probably bigger than they actually humans were. Most of them. Yeah, absolutely. probably a good 8 to 10 feet I would say. Okay. Slightly exaggerated. This one feels like 10 to 12 feet. This massive Vince Lombardi. He’s got his hands in his trench coat pocket. He’s got the fedora type hat on standing outside of the atrium field. It’s pretty cool. And then right beside it, they have a Lambo Leap statue really where it’s a cut it’s a cutout of like what the wall would be and it’s a statue of Packers fans and you can do a photo op Lambo Leap like you’re the leaper. You’re the leapy leaper. It’s pretty cool. The combination of those two really cool there. That’s number nine. Number eight, I’m going to go with another kind of by committee here. And I’m cheating a little bit because they’re more like busts than they are statues. Yankees. That’s coming up next. Oh, okay. But number eight is John Elway and Terrell Davis at Mile High Stadium. Are they together? Like in they’re next to each other and it’s like a It’s not a full statue. It’s like a bust thing, but it’s really cool having those two next to each other, the cutouts. And as you know, I loved those two guys growing up as a football fan. So, Elway and TD right next to each other outside of Mile High is is number number eight on my list. Cool. You mentioned the Yankees. They’re monuments though, aren’t they? Monument Park. Okay. And again, this is kind of cheating a little a little bit like Elway and Terrell Davis. It’s not just a pure statue, but if you ever go to Yankee Stadium, which I did once in 2018, uh they have a whole area called Monument Park. Now, it closes down an hour before the game starts, so you got to get into the stadium pretty early to see it, but it’s totally worth it. Oh, I bet. monuments of every Yankees retired number which is like 20some numbers from Ruth and Garrett and Deaggio to Jeter and and you know Mariana Rivera and those guys. They all have a monument. They all have like a plaque and their number and a little bit about the player. It’s like a almost like a it’s like kind of like a graveyard almost. Kind of like a grave. I was going to say a garden to like cheer it up a little bit, but it’s a it’s it’s awesome. the the the history of it, the eras, the years it spans. It’s really pretty with flowers and all kinds of stuff, too. Monument Park at Yankee Stadium checks in at number seven. Like it. Are you going to allow me to be a touch of touch of Homer here for a second? I definitely would, but I also haven’t seen that many statues, and I have seen the ones in Pittsburgh. We’re going to do that with the Yinszer statues here in in a second. But checking in at number six in good old Morgantown, West Virginia, the Jerry West statue outside of the WVU Coliseum. Has West Virginia ever had a football player good enough to make a statue? I mean, maybe Chuck Hally or Sam Huff. You know, you heard of those guys. A Super Bowl MVP, Chuck Hally. No big deal. It’s a long time ago. You know, you pit guys love to talk about your NFL success. Have you ever had a Super Bowl MVP? Huh? That’s not even Don’t even go down that road, dude. Have you ever had a Super Bowl MVP? Huh? I’m not much of a PIT guy, but you can’t have that conversation. I’m going with the NBA MVP. WVU on the short list of like seven universities that has produced both an NBA and NFL well Super Bowl and NBA Finals MVP. But the Jerry West statue outside of the WVU Coliseum, I’m cheating a little bit, but come on. He’s the logo of the friaking NBA. That’s not cheating. That’s not cheating. It’s It’s the logo of the NBA statue outside of the WVU Coliseum. Oh, so it’s the same pose. Yes. Okay. Yeah. Uh it’s it’s it’s really cool. It’s got lights on it and like when it snows and the lights are shining and it’s it’s awesome. That’s number six for me. The Jerry West logo statue in Morgantown outside of the coliseum. Into the top five. Number five. And if it wasn’t for the history element, this might just be the purest architecture of a statue I’ve ever seen. Shack statue outside of whatever they call the Staple Center now, Crypto.com Arena or whatever it is in in LA. It’s Shaq like tearing down a basketball rim. Oh, like it’s a hanging statue. He’s like two-handing dunking on the rim in the backboard and it’s really cool cuz it’s just so different from what you normally see of a statue guy. You know what I mean? Like I know the pose. That’s it. The pose million dunks that way. It’s like a statue that’s kind of mounted into the wall and hangs. Okay. It’s really unique. I know. I know exactly what you’re talking about. It’s really unique. really cool and I, you know, grew up loving Shaq, so that one’s got that’s got a cool angle. That’s number five. All right, now we’re really going to go touch a homer and Yins out here for a minute. Number four, the Roberto Clemente statue. Sure, at PNC Park. I mean, you’re definitely allowed to be a Homer. Iconic player. It’s an awesome statue. He’s massive. He’s doing the swing with the baseball bat. Yeah, that’s a big statue, too. Huge statue. Uh, one of the greatest baseball players of all time. One of the greatest ambassadors of Pittsburgh sports of all time, Roberto Clemente checks in at number four. There’s a a two-hour Clementi documentary on the History Channel like a month or two months, probably longer than I thought. Well worth people time to check out. It’s on History Channel, you said? I think it was on History Channel. I don’t think I’ve seen that. I It’s recent. Okay. I’ll have to check. You’ll have a new respect for him if especially the younger folks. I mean, again, he was before my time, but we’re going to stay here in Pittsburgh. Matt number three. Swiss on Swiss. Oh, sure. Mario Elmu. Yeah. Splitting the two defenders of the Minnesota North Stars iconic moment that helped the Penguins capture their first Stanley Cup in franchise history right there uh on Fifth Avenue. The Lemieux statue checks in at number three. So, just a quick side note, especially because you put those two next to each other. My uncle Clementi died in 91. I was born n or 73 and 71, respectively. Uh my uncle’s about 10 12 years older than me. He’s the one that like got took me to Three Rivers. Absolutely. I’ve got some uncles like that. And it was like a Thanksgiving or some event and him and I were chatting and he’s like, “Oh, what’s my damn password again?” He’s like, “Clenny 21.” I’m like, “Mine’s Lemu 66.” You know, like just we both said it like at the exact same time, you know, like my Lemieux is his Clemeni. Yeah. You know, absolutely. I I I love that. That’s really cool. Like everything’s Lemuzi takes. He’s all Clemeni 21. This was the toughest part was differentiating my the Yinszer here. So I had the Yinszers here. So I had Clemeni 4, Swiss on Swiss 3, but you got to go the Franco statue at the airport. Number two, I didn’t even consider that a statue. I might be kind of cheating there a little bit, but it’s it’s full color. It’s an iconic part of an of of an airport. Like people like, “Where’s the Franco statue?” Roll into Pittsburgh. It’s one of those things that everybody talks about. It is the most iconic moment in the century plus long history of the National Football League. Him picking the ball off the ground for the immaculate reception. Franco checks in at number two. It’s a great one. I wouldn’t have even thought of that as a statue, but just because it’s color, you know, but it it definitely counts and it is a statue. I’ve regurgitated this joke on this show probably five times over the years, but I was probably 16, 17, 18 before I knew. I think I like asked my parents when we got off the plane. I’m like, who’s the guy next to Franco again? Like, that’s George Washington, you dumbass. Probably probably a lot of Pittsburgh kids out. Didn’t even pay attention to the dude on the other side. They’re like, “Who’s the guy in the blue coat with I don’t I mean I only passed that thing like we didn’t travel much growing up and maybe twice a year I was at the at the uh the airport and I checked out Franco and I’m like I remember there was somebody else there. I was well into my teens or maybe even my 20 like who’s the other one that’s I’m like it’s George Washington. Speaks to how iconic it is, right? Speaks to how important it is. That’s why it’s number two on the list. And then you see the T-Rex and I mean like you forget all about the other guy. You forget all about the T-Rex and George Washington, right? Then number one, the best there ever was, the best there ever will be. 23, the airman, Michael Jordan. Is it him like dunk? Is it the Jordan logo? It’s the the Jordan logo like it’s on how it couldn’t be the most iconic athlete silhouette in the history of sports is the Jordan the Jordan logo. I mean, that’s the jump man or whatever. Most launched an entire billion dollar brand, right? Made Nike what Nike is and the Jordan brand attached to it. And I told you it just I I really like some of the inscriptions on the statues. Like I love how for Walter Payton it just says sweetness in big huge bold capital letters. Just one word, right? Michael Jordan’s it says Michael Jordan. The best there ever was, the best there ever will be. And I’m like that’s freaking awesome. Okay, so I have two I want to throw out there. Neither of which I’ve seen in person and one may not even exist. The Detroit boxing glove that counts as a statue to me. You know what? That would be really high on the list. I didn’t think cuz I have seen that. That’s pretty cool. I didn’t think about that, but that it’s not a person, but I think that counts. That’s a good It’s a sports statue. Trying to think outside the box. That’s a very outside the box, but very good. I don’t You would know. I don’t actually think this is standing there, but Baloa at the top of the steps. It is. It is there. Oh, yeah. It’s not at the top of the steps anymore. It’s at the side of the steps. It’s still right there. I I thought I’m almost certain it’s not at the top of the steps. I thought about that one. I did. That one might have to be won because it’s so iconic in I mean, people run the steps just to do this. Yeah. Yeah. But it’s not a real athlete. I mean, only in Philadelphia do they fantasize. I mean, you finally won some championships. All right. The Eagles got two Super Bowls. The Boss guy. Pretty pretty awesome. You know what? All right. Can I confess something for just a minute? Yeah. I didn’t even think about that until you just mentioned. I was just trying to think real outside the box. It’s real outside the box. One’s from movies. I’m like, is there any from like Major League? That might be though the most photo sought after statue the certainly people run the steps and that’s why there’s some complaint now because you can’t like I mean you can still run the steps but the statue’s off to the side. Yeah. Yeah. They want to run. They had to move the statue off to the side because it was such a tourist attraction like people couldn’t get in and out of the art museum because everyone was running the steps and taking pictures. Yeah. Yeah. Those three years I think people take as many pictures as the Lincoln Memorial. the Matt, the three years that I lived in Philly, I would actually my my wife and I lived just like a mile and a half, two miles away from that. So, I would always drive that way to get to our studios on game days when I was working the Eagles broadcasts, the amount of times on Sundays that like I’d be trying to get through downtown Philly and that area was just a traffic jam. Vikings for only that reason. Vikings fans or Steelers fans or whoever they’re playing on a Sunday loaded with people that are trying Not Wednesday at noon. Yeah, but I mean I mean there’s probably somebody there Wednesday at noon. Absolutely. Weekends all the time. Holidays like July 4th, Memorial Day, you name it. Packed zoo. Forget about it. Okay. It’s a really good one by you. It’s a great one. Yeah. Hopefully hopefully my in-laws aren’t listening right now on their way out from Philadelphia to spend a couple days with us for Thanksgiving. You’re going to hear about it a lot in the next couple days. I hear about it a lot. They’d be very upset with me. Balboa. But that’s my Yo, Adrian. Dang, Matt. That’s a good one. That is a really good one. And I’ve seen that probably more aside from the Pittsburgh statues and the Jerry West statues. I say you you actually lived there, right? Drove past that thing almost every day for the three years that I lived in Philly. There’s probably some cool one in Oregon or Maine or something we don’t think about that we’ve never seen, but you know. Right. Um there there’s some I mean some great ones across the across the country. Right. Right. Right. Um I’m sure there’s a Gretzky one and no doubt like the the uh the Pat Tilman one out at Arizona State is really cool. Yeah, I’m sure that’d be a good one. Um, we go on. Dang though. Balboa is a good one. Matt, I didn’t mean to show you up. Best of the mat here on a Wednesday. There it is. Thanks to uh to JT on on Instagram. Uh, coolest athlete, best athlete statues I’ve ever seen. And uh, yeah, some really cool ones here in Pittsburgh. That Michael Jordan one though, tough to beat, man. Like the most iconic silhouette of any athlete in sports history. Let’s take a break. When we return on the other side, we’ve got the Steelers latest practice report across the timeline. Same for the Bills. Good. I’m I need I have not heard anything about the Bills, especially in a long week. There’s some guys I’m interested in. There’s some interesting stuff in there for the Steelers. There’s some real big stuff in there for Buffalo. We’ll do that when we return. Wesler, Matt Williamson, it’s the drive on Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network. All right, real quick before we get into the injury reports, we went to break there in the previous segment talking about statues and our video producer, statistician, Mr. Do it all. Hey, Matt, don’t tell him I said this, but he’s a big part of this show, Tyler. Behind the scenes, right, Mr. TV goes, “What about the Chief statue? What are you doing here?” I didn’t even think of it either. I didn’t think of it either for two reasons. One, I’m never on that side of the stadium. Like, I uh Yeah. Yeah. I park over on the science. I’ve been doing this for years. I never walk past that statue. Two, he’s not an athlete. That is true. I did say best athletes. That’s the That’s the kicker cuz no one else on there was like an owner or a except for Jerry West, but he was Lemieux, I guess, too technically, but he was an athlete. Actually, there was two. Matt Matt saved my bacon by a technicality there. But I also, it’s funny, the Franco thing, too. I don’t think when you think of the Pittsburgh Steelers, it’s part of why we love them. You don’t think about mascots and all due respect to our guy Steelely Mc Beam, you don’t think about mascots and cheerleaders and statues and retired numbers. The Steelers don’t do that stuff. marching bands and nonsense, you know, like you go to you go to Foxboro and there’s a Tom Brady statue and there’s they got the six banners hanging up and yeah, you go to the link, you go to Philadelphia and there’s a Nick Fos and Doug Peterson statue and they’ve got the banners hanging up. Pittsburgh don’t do that nonsense. We got our terrible towels and that’s it. Is pretty awesome. It is pretty awesome with the cigar and everything. It’s pretty sweet. But along those lines, like when you sprung that on me, I started thinking of him. I’m like, well, Clemeni will be on there. It even took me a while to come up with Lemieux and that’s my guy. Like I I just didn’t think Pittsburgh statues because it’s for those reasons. You know, it’s not, you know, a bunch of hoopla, you know, you did you saved me on the technicality that I did many times say athletes. We’ll get out on that one. I wouldn’t have thought of it, though. Mr. Mr. The Chief Statue is just in its own category. Okay. It can’t be ranked with these amateurs. It’s it’s in its own. It’s in its own league, obviously. Uh, good stuff from TV. Uh Matt, let’s get into the from TV to IR. Let’s get into the injury report for both of these teams. You want Bills first or Steelers first? TV. Bills or Steelers. Okay. Buffalo Bills head coach Shawn McDermott said today Dion Dawkins. Spencer Brown uh will not practice on Wednesday. Did not practice on Wednesday. Dawkins in concussion protocol, which is important to note as well. Also, uh, Bernard Conincaid and Curtis Samuel did not practice either. So, the linebacker, Bernard, the tight end, obviously, Dalton Concincaid, and wide receiver Curtis Samuel did not practice Wednesday. Okay. So, Dawkins is an excellent left tackle. Excellent. One of the more underrated left tackles in the National Football League. No question. He’s been kind of a stalwart for years. Um, unorthodox. I mean, he just doesn’t look the part. He’s real round in the middle. It’s like a guard almost more so. I’m pulling up something here real quick. Um, you need me to filibuster for you? Nah, not at the moment. We’ll talk tackles first, but I’m just trying to There’s some concaid numbers I found this morning I’m going to bring up. Okay. Um, Spencer Brown’s also an excellent right tackle. Developmental Northern Iowa third round pick project. The Browns offensive line or the Browns the pardon me, the Bills offensive line is underrated. It’s very very good and they develop talent well you know like very different one’s 68 and looks like a former tight end that he was and one’s kind of a round looking guard but they still get great production from both. Uh both were very not healthy for that Texans eight sack mess on Thursday night against awesome edge rushers but I would say the Steelers edge rushers are in that category or in that neighborhood. Um, Dawkins finished the game, so concussion was not what I was thinking with him. Brown did not. And I kind of thought, man, he might be out a couple weeks. Just watching the game, you could tell he was really, really hurting. Um, let me look up filibuster for a minute. I’m look up. Well, I was just going to say, uh, Dawkins and concussion protocol, typically that’s kind of become like a kiss of death. 100%. I wonder though with the three extra days of rest if he’s got more of a chance. you know, he didn’t get a concussion on Sunday, he got it on Thursday. There’s that three extra days of rest factor for Buffalo coming into this one as well. So, I wonder if that gives Dawkins I mean, I’m sure it does give him a greater opportunity to play. Yeah. Um and how much that factors in. I’m sure it does. Um Okay. Cancade is really important to them. Oh, big time. Yeah. He’s been sort of a disappointment after being a first round pick until this year. He’s really stepped up in a big way and him being out these last two weeks, maybe three. They’ve missed him a lot because he’s kind of the closest thing to a number one receiver. And I saw these numbers and I was like, “Wow, that’s a big deal for someone you don’t look of in that light.” So, in his eight games with Concincaid, Allen has a 72% completion percentage and a 13-3 touchdown to interception ratio. really good numbers, but nothing Allen does shocks anybody at this point. Did you hear what Cam Hayward said about him today? No. That he’s perhaps the NFL’s best superhero. Like something along along those lines that he does it better than anybody. So in the three games without concade, he’s only completing 64% of his passes as opposed to 72. And he’s got a five-to touchdown to interception ratio. He’s got a negative touchdown interception ratio. Now, it’s only three games, but he’s super important to them somewhat by default because they don’t really have a number one receiver. Here’s what we know about here’s what we know about this. None of those dudes practiced. None of those guys practiced. Uh we again will not have a show tomorrow, but we’ll obviously Friday revisit revisit injury reports for your Pixburg Steelers. Um not a ton of surprise here. DK Metaf did not practice today with the ankle. I think you would have maybe liked to see him limited, but that doesn’t shock me. I bet that was the plan all You know, I don’t Aaron Rogers did not practice today. I bet you that was probably the plan all along. Probably, but I just want to make sure people know he does not take those veteran Wednesdays. No, he did last week with the wrist. More injury related than you think. Uh, absolutely. Ben Scronic did not practice with that shoulder injury today, Wednesday. Uh, and then obviously Brick Jones, Dererick Harmon, as we already knew, they’ve been talking, they’ve been ruled out. Uh, let’s see. And then limited today in practice. Joey Porter Jr. with the hip. So, him being out there, I think, is a good sign. Alex Highmith limited with the pec. And Cam Hayward limited with an ankle. Okay. And and Cam on a Wednesday, I never think anything about it either way. You’re right. Like like Isaac Samalu was limited with rest, but he’s another one rest. They just get him the game day. So, Metaf Rogers, Scrawnic, and the two that have been ruled out, Brick and Derek Harmon did not practice. Okay. Uh, Pezy Jr., Highmith, Cam Hayward, limited in practice. A lot of big names if you you combine those two. Pratt, I mean, this whole segment, the names we’re talking about, some big ones on both sides of the ball. It’s that time of year, too. I mean, injuries are piling up, but that’s kind of where we stand with what we know here on this Wednesday. I expected the Bills to be in a little bit better shape on Wednesday after the long week after I get too excited. The golden rule on injury reports, folks, is Wednesday stuff, don’t get too excited, but it is noteworthy. Um, Highmith, Porter, Metaf are the ones I’m kind of keeping an eye on most with Steelers. When we return on Friday, that might be where we start is with the conversation of here’s what Thursday’s practice report looked like. And it might be Rogers is completely back. which would be great. Yeah, it might be, you know, Joey Porter Jr. was a full practice participant. He highmith was was was full, however that looks. But yeah, that’ll be certainly something uh you check your social media tomorrow when you’re in the middle of your second or third round of Trypto Fame and uh and see what the Thursday practice report looks like. Hour in the books, another hour to go. When we come back on the other side, Matt, um we have to talk a little bit about the Thanksgiving games, the the Black Friday game. Uh, we’ve got to do our Buffalo Bills pick a player, talk about some Matt stats, but when we kick off hour number two, what do you say we go around campus for our for our weekly quarterback college quarterback check-in? We’ll do all that and more in hour number two. Wesler, Matt Williamson. It’s the drive on Steelers Nation radio on the Steelers Audio Network. Good evening, Steelers Nation. How we doing? Hungry? Yeah, me too. Yeah. Yeah. I’m I’m ready for tomorrow, baby. Hour number two here. We got nothing in the house on the drive. It’s like I’ll be starving by Thanksgiving dinner. I can already tell. Wait. Oh, you mean like you have nothing in the house besides the stuff that you’re cooking for tomorrow. Well, that all it’s all my mom’s, you know. I know what you’re saying. Like we just have empty fridges at the moment. Although, I picked up desserts today. I got all these cakes and stuff and filling up fridge space. My dig into tonight. My wife probably right about now is picking up a bunch of Chinese food for tonight. So, I’m excited for that. Excited. You got people in town, you said, right? We do. We got the in-laws in town from Philly. bringing their water and all and all that Eagles nonsense. Although they might be a little bit quieter after what happened this past Sunday concerned. Yeah, they I tell you what though, they’ll be rooting hard for those Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday tomorrow. You can you can believe that. Um Matt is uh we were laughing too. I This has nothing to do with anything, but I just want everybody to know that Matt has a bird. Matt has a pet bird. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And there’s a dog walking around our hallways here right now. That’s what made us get on this topic. And Matt was like, I should bring my bird in sometimes. First of all, his name’s Larry Bird. All right. Greatest greatest bird name ever. You think we could get Larry Bird? I bought him. We were at the combine one year. I get this text like we bought a bird. It was It was like 10 years ago. His hatch day. They don’t have birthdays. They have a hatch day. Sure. And I think it was like just a month ago. So it was like nine years ago. I remember being with Dale and like, “Oh man, he’s got a bird.” And they did it without my basically without my permission. But I forget what his name was. Actually, you don’t even know if they’re males or females, right? Unless an egg shows up one day. I mean, like, there’s a test you can do, but like a DNA. Yeah. Or they only need to be poking around with Larry, you know? That’s hilarious. But if an egg shows up, you’re like, “Oh, it’s a female.” Everybody here brings their dogs into work. Do you think we could bring Larry Bird in like on like a Friday and have him do pick them? He’s He’s noisy. Eagles or Cowboys? He showed up a lot of podcasting over the years. Steelers or Bills? Final score. Matt, let’s go around campus here. Okay, week 14 edition. I will just say this is the best weekend of college football. Oh, great games Fridays, great games Saturday. I know I’ve told you this before. I know I’ve said this before. We get to this point every year and it just still even though it’s been 15 years. I’m going to interrupt cuz I was about to say something about Larry. Whenever they bought him at the combine, they’re like, “And his name is Wait, one more Larry story. Hold on before and his name is blah blah blah blah something dumb.” And I’m like, you’re like, “No, it’s not. It’s forget a bird. Larry Larry the bird. He’s green. Oh, that’s a perfect name. He’s a green cheek conjor. Like, come on, man. Uh, tomorrow night good statues, too. Saturday, I bet you that’s the case. The Bobby or statue is pretty cool. I’ve never seen it, but flying through the air. Um, where was I going with this? Oh, it’s still it still hurts my soul that the Backyard Brawl is not played Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday, Thanksgiving weekend as it should be. Even though it’s been 15 years, it’s still there’s this weird feeling in the air when I wake up Thursday, Friday, and there’s no backyard brawl. But at least it’s on the schedule. Although it’s not now for another four years. Different conversation. Move on, Uler. It’s time to talk quarterbacks around campus. Week 14 edition. Some massive games this weekend. But let’s talk about the quarterbacks. Fernando Mendoza, Matt, not much new. IU had a by-week last week, so he did not play. And they play tomorrow, Black Friday. their big rival Purdue. Indiana and Purdue of course huge rivalry more so on the hardwood than it is in football, but they’re going to shred Purdue Friday night. Purdue is terrible. He’s still the Heisman front runner. I think he’s still QB1, but I tell you what, he’s going to play Ohio State in the Big 10 Championship game in a couple weeks and then the college football playoff happening, right? Yes. I mean, even if Ohio State loses to Michigan, even if Ohio State loses to Michigan, I don’t know how that would work because they didn’t play Oregon head-to-head this year. Oregon lost. Oregon’s only Big 10 loss is to Indiana. Indiana. So, I’m not sure who would have the tiebreaker between Ohio State and Oregon. I’d have to look into that before I can say definitively. But, but Indiana’s going to be in the game. Indiana’s going to be in it. And I’ve got a feeling M Matt Michigan has beaten Ohio State four straight years. Four straight years. And I know that that game’s in Ann Arbor, but I’ve got a feeling Ohio State has some some vengeance to take care of. Uh, but week off for Mendoza. He looks like he’s still the front runner to be first quarterback take and yes potentially first overall you know and should have a massive night Friday night and then it’ll start to get real interesting whether it’s Ohio State or Oregon whoever he’s playing in the Big 10 championship game and then obviously the college football playoffs some some real tests ahead for him Matt a guy who’s moving in the wrong direction Ty Simpson the Alabama quarterback I wonder if that drives him to go back I was just thinking that really I I I really think that I if I’m leaning towards returning for him now second straight game where he’s felt off. But this time it was against Eastern Illinois. Yeah. Real inferior competition and he struggled just 11 of 16. 145 147 yards, pardon me, no touchdowns, two interceptions, just off against bad competition. Hey, maybe he lights it up here against Auburn this weekend and has a great playoff and and and we’re singing a different tune. But I think a lot of these guys are trending in the right direction. him and maybe Haynes King, the only two where I would say stock down. Not a great Saturday for Tai Simpson against inferior competition. Ouch. Dante Moore, the Oregon quarterback. He’s another one of these guys who’s, you know, will will he or won’t he in terms of declaring for the NFL draft. Matt, we had talked about how he had had a couple down weeks, not bad weeks, but just down weeks um after his injury and after Oregon’s bye-week. Well, he returned in a pretty big way in a big win for the Ducks. 42 to27 over USC. He completed over 73% of his passes. Uh 257 yards, two touchdowns, one interception. But you know what? I thought he made a couple highlevel throws and yeah, one of them got picked off. Um but he was throwing the ball downfield. He’s accurate. Uh Kenyan Sadi, who’s the Oregon tight end, we’ll we’ll talk about him when we get to draft season. uh through two really tight window over the top between defenders and coverage touchdown passes to Sadi. I think he’s trending in the right direction at the right time. Good. Good. So maybe he It’s funny with like two weeks ago it’s like I think Simpson’s coming out and coming back like maybe that’s the opposite. It’s a great point. Certainly feels like the opposite now, but still even though we’re at the end of the regular season here, plenty of meat left on the bone for those guys. Super quick. I I absolutely understand the immense attraction of going back because you’re going to be big person on camp, big guy on campus, Kumman national title and now you get paid legally and but the top of this draft isn’t that that great. I mean as opposed to competing to the guys that can’t come out. I mean I would maybe lean towards coming out if I’m on the fence this year. That’s where this this quarterback class is so weird to evaluate because there’s in all likelihood still going to be three or four first round picks. Yeah. Kind of what we thought. We thought there’d be four or five before the season started and they’re all different names. Thought Club Nick and Aller and Right. Yeah. Yeah. But if Mendoza is the only clear-cut coming out going to be a top five pick guy, if you’re Tai Simpson, if you’re Dante Moore, if you’re Lenor Sers, it’s like mean like I have a really good chance to be a second one taken. I’m going to be a top 10, top 15 pick. Exactly. And maybe even top five. I mean, if you’re number two quarterback off the board, which is always a tough, you know, proposition to decline. I wonder, and maybe you know this better than I do. I would love to know if I’m sellers, I want to know if Simpson and Moore are coming out. So, is it a game of chicken when you declare? might be, you know, like or is there a date to everybody announced at the same time? Or one of these guys, Simpson Moore, goes on a run in the college football playoff in January and then is like, I’m going, you know, I’m doing it right. I’m after they win the national championship is like, “Thanks, Oregon. Thanks, Alabama. I’m out. I’m out.” Yeah. Interesting. Lenor Sers, you mentioned him. Uh, albeit against Coastal Carolina, Matt, he looked like the stud prospect that we had kind of been waiting to see all year. They smoked Coastal Carolina 51 to7 who is clearly inferior competition but also also a pretty good program in their own right. Coastal Carolina 51 to7 they beat him uh completed 80% of his passes 274 through the air, two touchdowns, no turnovers. Also rushed for 82 yards and two touchdowns. So, you know, well over 300 yards and four touchdowns in total. Looked like how, you know, like we what we wanted to see from him when the season started. I mean, he was absolutely electric against inferior competition. And you might say, “Okay, it’s inferior competition.” Ty Simpson Ty Simpson didn’t do it for Alabama. That that’s what you’re supposed to do and that’s what he did. It was good to see for him. He’s got this last game against Clemson. And then we’ll wait and see. Is he going to go pro? Is he going to transfer? What’s what’s going on there? But lots to keep an eye on for him as well. This is dating me. And and I know South Carolina is SEC. They’re not Alorn State, but Steve McNair and Cell Sellers remind me of each other, you know, in terms of I like that comparison. But McNair was always the best player on the field times a thousand. Like, who is that dude? And I bet this is a situation here with him. Like watching T and Jerry Rice and their their small college as well. Like who is that? Like watching friend of the show Kyle Duggar at Lenor Ry. Like who is that guy? He stands out. Jaden Mavia USC. Uh, you know what? I was honestly impressed with uh our buddy Brian Bo. Him and I were sitting at a watering hole in Chicago watching Oregon and USC and talking about Dante Moore and and Jaden Miyava. He made a lot of plays. He really did, but just couldn’t hang with Dante Moore in Oregon. Again, USC fell 42 to 27. He threw for over 300 yards and three touchdowns. But in the process of trying to keep up with the Joneses, he also threw two costly interceptions. Tell you what, this though, connected on some really impressive defense. He made some real NFL throws. Some real NFL throws. And he’s throwing to Malachi Lemon, who’s going to be a first round wide receiver out of USC, but he made some real NFL throws to a real NFL prospect at wide receiver. And they have another one that’s also like a third round pick receiver, too. So, he has good a good battery. They’re not as loaded as Oregon, but he’s got some weapons to work with, and they hung around for a while, but just against that Oregon team in Eugene, tough atmosphere. the Ducks were able to pull away. I I always just think of traits with this guy. I have every the little bits I’ve see of him. Traits is is an outstanding I mean and he’s got the proto 6’4 230. He’s got the body type as well. He might be the there’s a lot of guys in this class that have production. There’s a lot of guys in this class that have traits other than Fernando Mendoza. He might be the best combination of both. Okay. Yeah, I could see that. Like Dante Moore and Lenor Cers have a ton of traits, but the production hasn’t always been there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, Tai Simpson has a ton of production, but you don’t love his, you know, he’s 6’2, 200 pounds. He doesn’t walk in the room like, whoa. Yes. Yeah. Miova with Fernando Mendoza might be kind of the most impressive combination of both. Uh, but we’ll see what happens there with him and USC. He does have another year of eligibility if he would wish to do so. I’ll be honest, when we start talking like potential Steelers, all that kind of stuff, traits are going to kind of rule the day for me, you I mean, like, you’ll see it in person, but the dude from Buffalo shows up on Sunday, you’re going to be like, “Whoa, whoa.” Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, and I’ve Did you see any of the stuff that was going around, the postgame clips from Oregon and USC? No. So, I watched some of that game, but Oregon has like a dynamite media department, as you can imagine, because they’ve got unlimited Phil Knight budget to hide. You want to get four more cameramen for the football team, go for it. Yeah. Yeah. So, every week they probably understand marketing pretty well. Every week they put out this like 10-minute recap video after their wins and it’s some of the coolest college football content that you could hope to see every single week, Matt. It’s like total dork stuff. It’s awesome. Um it’s behind the scenes like it’s it’s all that, you know, that really cool stuff that that you would expect. Um and with that there’s uh you know they put out every week and I’ve told you before I I some people hate them, I love them. Oregon’s coach, head coach Dan Lanning. He’s young. He’s cocky. He’s brash. He speaks his mind. Stands out. Yeah. He stands out. He rips his shirt off with McAfee on game day. I think I’ve told you that if I could have any coach in college football in Morgantown for the next 10 years, it’d probably be him or Ryan Day, the Ohio State head coach. There was a clip they put out in that thing of him talking to the team right before they take the field. And he’s like, “They’re living off their past glory. Matt Liner ain’t walking through that door. Reggie Bush ain’t walking out of that tunnel, but you know who is Dante Moore and and he starts listing all the the Oregon players. It was it was it was pretty cool. Uh Trinidad Shameless of Old Miss. I’m going to make you feel old for a second. Do you think 18year-olds remember Liner or Bush? You know what? Bush definitely. I mean, he’s like an icon. I mean, I guess cuz he was better in the pro. I mean, because he had a good pro career. Yeah. And I just I I But they probably don’t like remember that game against Vince Young. No, no, no. Yeah. Yeah. I mean those jeez that’s those guys would have been like five. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I think now with the the one there’s very few positives Matt of like the everchanging landscape of collegiate athletics particularly Stanford and Cal playing in the Atlantic Coast Conference. You know USC in Oregon playing in a conference with Ruters WVU playing in a conference with Arizona and Arizona State. One of the good things of that though is I think these programs are so in tune now of we have to teach these guys the history because it’s it’s not the same like Pat Narduzi and Rich Rodriguez talk about how we got to teach these guys the history of the backyard brawl because we’re not in the same conference. It’s not something there’s lapses in the games and all that stuff. So I do think they do a better job of that now than they ever have before. But I mean just to keep it local like the freshman at Pit doesn’t care about Pit Penn State. great example, right? Which was the biggest rivalry in the 80s, you know, right? Three, four years from now when WV and Pit start playing again, they’re going to have to revisit all that stuff of like, hey, we haven’t played these guys in forever, but here’s why we hate them. Here’s why they hate us. Um, that’s a good point. I wonder when he said that if you would have could have taken a poll of all the Oregon football players in the locker room at that moment, right? Like Matt who? It’d be like who? Yeah, Reggie Bush definitely. I would assume they know who he is, but they didn’t watch him. Trinidad Chambers, Old Miss quarterback by week this past weekend. Should feast against a bad Mississippi State defense in the Egg Bowl, which I think might be thank Is that Thanksgiving night? It’s Friday. I think it’s Friday. I think it’s Friday. Matt, he’s an interesting one to watch because he’s got another year of eligibility. I do think he’s going to return to college football for one more year and I think he’s going to transfer. He probably is losing his head coach, right? Because I think by the time you and I get on air next week. Yeah. Yeah. So, not by Friday because again, Old Miss has to play Friday. They’ll play Mississippi State in the meantime. But I think by the time we get back on air Monday, I think by the time the Steelers even kick off on Sunday, Old Miss is going to need a new head coach because Lane Keifin is going to be the newest Bayou Bengal head coach of the LSU. Tiger, Tiger, Tigers. And chances are then you transfer if you’re a stud quarterback. Totally. Why would you? I mean, unless they go out and get another offensive-minded coach like Lane Keifin that you want to work with. Yeah. I mean, go to Indiana and, you know, play or go to Alabama or Oregon or or one of these places where you’re going to get a lot of money and play for a high level program and really have a chance to, you know, make yourself a top 15 pick the following year. Haynes King, Matt, the Georgia Tech quarterback. I’ve sung his praises all year, but remember last week I told you I’m very interested to see how he looks against this pit defense because they’ve got linebackers that can move. Yeah, they’ve got defensive backs that can man you up. I didn’t think Haynes King was going to be able to use his legs like he typically does. He’d have to make plays with his arm. And he got schooled, Matt. I watched a lot of that game like I don’t know. He threw two terrible interceptions. One of which was a backbreaking goal to go interception in their own end zone that the Pit guy took back 100 yards for it right when Georgia Tech was about to get back into the game cuz they fell behind like 28 nothing early. It was like a James Harrison return. But they had a chance to make it a sevenscore game and really grab all the momentum and he threw a terrible interception that led to a James Harrison type backbreaking pick six right as Georgia Tech had some momentum. Worst performance of the year for him at the worst possible time. And like I said, he a he averaged just 3.8 yards per carry, which for him is crazy low. Yeah. And when he bread and butter, right, when he could Yes. when he was playing from behind, when he couldn’t use his legs against that that pit defense that’s really good against the run, it was a rough outing for him. It was a very rough outing. And and I think he’s just that’s kind of what he is. He’s a good college football player, but he’s a system guy kind of in that regard. And you know, he can go back though, right? No. Oh, he’s coming out next year. He’s going to be 25 in January. So, I guess un I mean, unless he gets some kind of like crazy special waiver exemption. No, he’s coming out then. He’s He’s He’s got to uh He got to get himself a job, Matt. He going to get himself a job. Let’s see here. Carson Beck for like the second or third third straight week since that bad SMU debacle, he lit it up. Four touchdowns, 300. He’s going to he’s going to be interesting conversations in war rooms. He’s going to be an interesting conversation in war rooms for us at the combine, all that stuff. But I’m telling you right now, I mean, I I totally get that. He’s not getting back into my I’m I’m I’m still out on this guy no matter what happens. All right. Unless he saves my family from a burning building. I just I don’t like his leadership and his maturity and his attitude. I think he has all the talent in the world. I mean, he had that reputation when he before he got and you know this better than I do, Matt. If you’re listing the traits that you want from your quarterback Yeah. Yeah. like accuracy and arm strength are probably but but from the neck up from the shoulders up is almost as important as anything for a quarterback and I just don’t think he has what it takes to be and we’re not talking about like intelligence you know leadership being the guy you know every time he has a bad game and he loses when he was at Georgia when he was at Miami he blames his offensive coordinators blames the play calling blames and then he goes back out and lights it up and looks like a first round pick for a couple weeks yeah it sounds like couple weeks on couple weeks off. And if you want some good news as a Pit fan, he’s due for one of those couple weeks off. And it’s Oh, that’s this week, too. That’s it’s going to be bad weather against Pit and a and a tough PIT defense that plays a pro style scheme that that ACC teams don’t see very often that just gave Haynes King all kinds of grief. Let’s see it from Carson Beck. A story you’ll like. It was about this time, my last year at Pit. It has to do with Pit success. I don’t know if I’ll like it. Well, that’s why you’ll like it. It was the best team we had. This was Larry’s last year. I think we were like 10th or 11th and Miami was coming to town. They were the you know I mean obviously and and it was the winner won the Big East. Okay. It was down to that and Oh, I remember this game. Oh, and it’s snowing. It’s pretty nasty. And we’re like this is perfect. We got We got them right where we want them. You know, like they’ll hate coming up here. You know, we’re we can compete with the U now. We got the Fitzgerald kid. We got you know 10 dudes are going to get drafted which end up happen. I don’t remember what the final was, but it felt like it was 47 to nothing. The U the you won. And like a year later, I’m with the Browns and I go down to Kellen Winslow’s locker. I’m like, “So, were you guys really worried about coming to pit for that game?” He’s like, “What?” Like, he almost didn’t even know what I was talking about. He’s like, “Huh? What?” Like, “Worried about pit?” Worried about what? I mean, some weather. K2 wasn’t the brightest. 284 final score. Does that sound right? Probably. 2003. That would be about Yeah. And Larry caught an 18 yard touchdown from Rod Rutherford to break the NCAA touchdown streak 18 games. That would be it. It felt like 50 to nothing though. Like we were never in it, you know. And Winslow wasn’t the the brightest bulb in town, but I mean kind of not the best person either, but he’s just like like offended that I would even ask him about it. Yeah. Like crazy. He was incredible in college. Oh, he was incredible when I got to the with the Browns, too. before his motorcycle accident. He looked like Larry with 30 lbs on him. John Matir Oklahoma uh Sooners I I told you they have had a hellac I don’t think anyone I think they’re a little overrated. I got to interrupt you one more time. Yeah. Laka polite great dude with Woodland Hills tough guy leader played in the league a long time as a fullback. Mhm. I remember on a punt, Lou was our personal protector, which meant that it was a, you know, big deal. And they had Winslow rush and Winslow took Lou and went I’m like, whoa. Can I tell you my Kellen Winslow collegiate story real quick? Wow. Same year, Miamiy’s ranked second in the country. Yeah. Right as this is when Rich Rod’s starting to get Rich Rod 1.0. This is Big East time. starting to get like we had just beaten Marcus Vic and Virginia Tech like two weeks earlier and they were ranked like fifth in the country. So this was when you know the next year was when we went 12-1 and beat Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. So like this was kind of the moment that Rich Rod started to take off in his first tenure at WVU. We’re playing number two or number three ranked Miami after like I said just beating a top five Virginia Tech team two weeks earlier. Quincy Wilson, who was a WVU running back, had one of the great all-time screenplay touchdowns that you’ll ever see. He ran over Shawn Taylor. He ran over like three NFL Hall of Famers. Yeah. To score a 22 yard touchdown run on like third and 19 to put WV ahead with like 90 seconds left in the game. You’re like, “Wow, we might be.” I’m like, “This is the this is my this is it, man.” Like, we’re on the ascension. We just beat Virginia Tech. We’re about to take down the U. We have them fourth and 14 Miami with like 20 seconds left. Kell Winso makes a diving one-handed catch on fourth and 14 to get a first down. They run up to the line of scrimmage, spike the ball, kick a field goal to win the game. Fourth and 14. One-handed catch. I hated Kell Winsow ever since that moment. Yeah, good thing he turned out to be a terrible guy and all that stuff. I feel better about hating him. That was the Ben class. And yeah, what’s crazy is I went back and I read all the reports. If they were going to take a quarterback, the Browns, it would have been Ben. So they had him as number one over Eli. Eli and River. I guess Eli would have been gone at that point, but still they had a higher grade. Yeah. I mean, I was not in the war room for it, but I went back and read report especially on Rock. You were there the next year, right? You know, I could still go in the in the system. Yeah. So if they were to take a quarterback, it would have been Ben who was there and from Ohio, but they were taking Taylor or Winslow with Butch. I mean, Butch was the you guy. Yeah. He’s like, I know these dudes and they’re incredible. I’ll take whatever’s there. Bird in the hand type thing. You’re right. Right. Right. John Matir, I continue to give him some credit. And Oklahoma. I Matt, I don’t think they’re that they’re like the number eight seven or eight team in the country. I don’t think they’re that good. They’re very good on defense. I say, is their defense really good? Very good. Very good. And they I was listening to Todd McShet. He’s like, the defense is great while Matier’s getting back. Like they won 17 to6. They’ve won a lot of 17 to6 type games and their schedule has been hellacious. So I regard Matine completed 47% of his passes, threw for 173 yards, two touchdowns, added 60 on the ground. He’s got them in position to make the College Football Playoff. I mean, they take care of business this week against LSU, a kind of banged up look into the future LSU team, and and they will be in the College Football Playoff. I hope they could be dangerous. Absolutely. They they have one of the best best defenses in the country. Short list. It’s like Ohio State. Ohio State is an easy one, right? Them or Texas Tech. I think Texas. Now, Texas Tech doesn’t play in the Big 10 or the SEC. So, I’ll give But they’re they’re not their their stop rate is the best in college football in terms of forcing a punt, turnover, or turnover on downs. Better than Ohio State. Uh their points per drive is second, just behind Ohio State. Oh, okay. I thought Ohio State was a distant. They’ve got David Bailey on their defensive line who’s gonna be gonna be a top 10 pick, but Ohio State, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, I think, are the three best defenses in college football. And you could really any order you want to put them in. In terms of They’ll all be in the playoffs most likely. They’ll all be in the playoff. Uh, in terms of NFL dudes, Ohio State’s number one, but Texas Tech and Oklahoma have have plenty. Yeah. Yeah. Um, Ohio State has a lot of them. Shocker. Shocker. I’m excited to see with a couple weeks off between the playoff and all that. Can Matir get that hand even closer to because just listen to Todd. He doesn’t think the hand I don’t think I don’t think he’s anywhere close to 100%. This is throwing hand. Um and he’s another who could do one more year if he wanted to. If I were Oklahoma, I’d be trying to line up the Brinks truck to keep him around. Yeah, it go a long way, I’m sure. Uh Garrett Nusmeer still hurt, doubtful for the season finale against Oklahoma on Saturday. Um, Cade Clubnick starting allers are also hurt. Also hurt. Will they both go back? Uh, I think can get a could get a medical red shirt. Nus can’t. Fifth year. Okay. I don’t think he can. He will be in this class. Yes. Aller I think could do a medical red shirt if he wanted to. Could he go to Virginia Tech? I I I don’t. And follow Franklin. I I don’t know. Again, there’s so much gray area with all that stuff. I know. I know. Four years, but with the broken ankle this year. Could he apply for a medical red shirt and get another year? I’m not sure. Uh K Clubnik arrow pointed up. I I don’t think he’s a first round pick, but he’s working himself back into that conversation. Crushed Furman, a bad team like he should. He’s been playing much better football. Has the Clemson quarterback as of late. Sawyer Robinson, he maybe is another one, Matt, that’s been struggling a little bit. They got Baylor got smacked around by Arizona. Um he had two interceptions. He did have two touchdowns, but just took three sacks and just looked uncomfortable really the whole time. Um, but he’s another one of those guys. You love the traits. Um, and just not in the best situation uh at Baylor. Tayen Green, Matt, big Saturday for him last week. He was replaced by red shirt freshman KJ early in the second half. did appear a little bit hobbled, but Bobby Patrino is the Arkansas interim head coach right now actually and and said after the game it wasn’t just an injury thing and he was kind of uncommitted status for this weekend finale against Missouri. I told you he’s another guy with traits 66 225 big time athlete but hard to evaluate in such a bad situation and Bobby Patrino interim head coach I mean doesn’t feel really attached to this guy for any reason. Let’s go see what the freshman had. I say they just kind of like building for the future type move. Uh, a couple more here real quick. Brendan Sorsby, the Cincinnati quarterback. He struggled for the third straight week at home as they fell to a really good BYU team. He made a couple, he’s done this the last few weeks, couple big impressive NFL type throws, but costly interceptions, not doing much with his legs. Feels like a strong candidate to return to school. Sound like he had some heat and now it’s cooling off, you know. And then Matt, tomorrow night, buddy, Friday night, 7:30. I’ve seen some of this dude. you and you and your son, pour you some bourbon, crack you some beer, get your second or third play to trip the fan, and get ready for number three Texas A&M, Marcel Reed at number 17 Texas and Arch Manning. This is a rivalry that has only been renewed now for two years. Remember, this one went away for like 15 years when Texas A&M left the Big 12 to go to the SEC. This is only the second year that it’s been back. So, a classic hatred rivalry that still has that fresh animosity of it’s only back for the second time in a long time. Marcel Reed, two NFL quarterbacks, two two potential NFL quarterbacks. Yeah, Marcel, they’ll both be in the league. It’s no doubt. I I think so. Uh Texas&M rolled Sanford 48 nothing. He was their first three drives, boom, boom, boom, down the field, three touchdown passes, and then they took him out. He was sharp early. Put a bad opponent away. huge test against that Texas defense in that nighttime environment in Austin for him and for Texas A&M. Uh and for Arch Manning in Texas on Friday night. That’s mustwatch for Marcel Reed for for Arch and for just playoff implications. Very cool. Uh I’ll be watching Ravens Bengals though. No, Friday. Oh, that’s Friday. Friday. Okay. Okay. Yeah. College football doesn’t do Thanksgiving anymore because again the NFL You mentioned trip to Fay and Turkey. I’m like, “Oh, yeah. Sorry, I’m wrong. I was Yeah, I crossed myself. might be doing leftovers. But Friday, Matt, here’s what you’re watching this weekend, okay? Friday at noon, the Egg Bowl, Chamberlain, and Old Miss against Mississippi State, 3:30. Georgia Stockton, who is going to be in this conversation next year against Haynes King and Georgia Tech. Uh, and then Indiana Mendoza and Purdue 7:30 Friday night, but really watch Texas A&M and Texas Reed and Arch 7:30 Friday. That’s the one to highlight better. Much better. Yeah. Yeah. And then Saturday, brother, uh, two guys that we’ll be talking about a lot in this in the future. Number one Ohio State and Julian Seyan up in Michigan against top 20 uh, Wolverines and Bryce Underwood. One of like the super recruit. He was the super number one recruit quarterback that you know they paid like $13.5 million to reportedly in NIL. That’s at noon on Saturday. And what has just is firmly back as the best rivalry in college football. Oh, I would say there was a stretch there for Ohio State in sports. Ohio State owned Michigan for 15 out of 16 years. Oh, right, right, right. And that was like when I was in high school and college and that rivalry was on the back burner and there were some others that were better at the time, but it’s back to being changed that. It’s back to being maybe the best rivalry in sports. It’s in the best in college football. It’s right there. Duke and North Carolina. Those are the two best rivalries in college sports. I can’t wait for that Saturday at noon. Uh Miami and Carson Beck against Pit also Saturday at noon. I want to see how Carson Beck does against that defense. That’s another one with massive playoff implications. Uh Oregon and Dante Moore at Washington 3:30 on Saturday. LSU Nusmeire is doubtful, but we’ll see. At number eight, Oklahoma, that’s 3:30. Matier, uh on Saturday, and then a big one, uh number 10 Alabama and Tai Simpson. Matt, after two back-to-back bad weeks, how can he respond on the road at Auburn? Massive rivalry, Iron Bowl in a Saturday nighttime. Auburn’s only like five and six and they fired their head coach and they’re going through transition right now too. They have a defensive end that’s gonna be high but their defense is legit. Okay. Alabama’s only a five-point favorite in this game. Wow. So despite being top 10 and Auburn being down night game on the road, good Auburn defense. Auburn Super Bowl. Auburn Super Bowl. Exactly right. I want to see how Simpson responds after a couple down weeks. That is a long beefy around campus segment here. When we come back, big weekend coming up, though. Huge weekend. The biggest, the best in college football. I wish we still had the backyard brawl. But you know what? We won our Super Bowl back in September, baby. Woo. Uh Matt, we’re going to take a break. More Steelers Bills stuff when we return on the other side. It’s the drive on the Steelers Audio Network. Coming down the home stretch here on this Wednesday penultimate segment and we’re going to do what’s become a uh a favorite routine or exercise and we’re going to talk about the Buffalo Bills roster and who we would like to steal for the Pittsburgh Steelers. But real quickly first, Matt, I told our wonderful our intrepid uh video producer slashstatistician slash uh good all-around guy Tyler V Mr. TV that I would do a quick plug for the Steelers 2025 fan of the year competition. Hayden Shock is the Steelers nominee. He’s a really cool story. The Steelers put out some great content with him and Zack Frasier. uh he is deaf and so does sign language and Zach Frasier can sign because he’s got an uncle who is who is deaf and so Zach learned to sign when he was growing up. Okay. Um some really cool videos out there uh on Steelers.com on the Steelers YouTube page, but go to NFL.com and vote for Hayden as the NFL fan of the year. All 32 teams, all 32 teams pick their fan of the year and then kind of exactly like the Walter Peyton man of the year. So, if uh Steeler Nation could get behind Hayden Shock, uh he’s a deserving candidate and that would make all of our friends in the content department very happy. Nice. Nice. So, I wanted to make sure and give a big shout out to that today. NFL.com, just click on the fan of the year tab at the top of the page. That’s where you can vote. Matt, who do you want to steal from the Buffalo Bills roster? Yes, obviously Josh Allen is the answer, but we don’t do quarterbacks for this exercise cuz it’s too easy. We talked about how the Bear or the Bears one was a lot of fun last week. Yeah. And I want to rewind because this this too because their positions of strength are a lot like the Steelers positions of strength. Yeah, exactly. Like some offensive lineman, some edge rushers. So, I want to go back a week. I end up taking Jaylen Johnson from the Bears when it was all said and done. And poor Jaylen doesn’t get to defend himself because he didn’t play in the game. Yes. you know, but I went darn all right after watching the all 22 and just watching every snap of him again and I know my only reservation before was he’s a right tackle and a bit better of a left. My who cares? Troy, you’re going to left. You’re in Washington. I just tackles like him are too hard to find. He’s going to be a really good player and he already is. So So I I made the wrong choice last week. I told you those those those West Virginiaians, man, they got a hard edge to them. Um went to Tennessee. He did go to Tennessee. That’s why I said West Virginia. I didn’t say Mountaineer. I said West Virginia. Freaking Dana Hogerson. Could you imagine? We would had an offensive line with him, Zack Frasier, and Wyatt Milm who’s with the Jaguars right now. My goodness. Um I don’t see a lot of great I’m still going with Rome, but I but Darnell Wright, easy number two for me. Bears are a good conversation. Great conversation. Five guys. This one’s tough because their positions of strength are areas where you feel all right about the Steelers. I also don’t think their roster is that good. It’s not. You know what I mean? Like they don’t have all these great young talents or budding first round picks that are turning to stars like a right. To me, this comes out of two guys. Okay. And no one on defense. No. I mean, I don’t I think the defense is suspect. I I agree. And even guys like Bosa and Rouso, you’re loaded at edge rusher. I like Rouso and he’s not a real scheme fit. I think Ed Oliver is fine, but I’m not paying them what they pay. I’m not stealing that guy and picking up his contract, right? And they don’t really want undersized upfield types. I mean, he doesn’t look like Cam or, you know, I mean, he’s not a great scheme fit. There’s nobody really at safety or linebacker that Matt Milano. Right. Right. Uh Bedford the corners is a good player. He’s underrated player, but and actually the corners aren’t bad, but that’s not the direction I’d go. I think it comes down to two dudes. Like there’s not a receiver like you they hope it’d be Keon Coleman. Sure. He’s been a healthy scratch for two weeks in a row, right? You know what I mean? Like he was a first round pick and they’re not even he can’t get on the field for them and they’re picking up Brandon Cooks and you know they’re going they’re searching at wide receiver. Traded Amari Cooper last year at the for Amari Cooper at the deadline and that didn’t work out. They’ve been right a lot of stones over here. They are. Now James Cook’s awesome. He’s great. I mean, I think that’s my answer. I think that’s the easiest one. I know he’s got the contract and it’s a position where you But I’m just very prejudice against running backs for this exercise. I am too. And this is not a knock. We both love Jaylen Warren and Kenneth Gainwell, but if you put him on that offense right now, he’s the best player on the Steelers offense. Yeah. Yeah. I think that’s enough for me to kind of overcome everything else. So, my other consideration is Dawkins, but he’s old. I mean, he’s very old. Oh, but he’s a top 10 left tackle. Oh, and I think that’s who I’d take. He’s a really good player. Be a big deal if he’s out. And he’s I mean, the bottom line is he’s a top 10 left tackle. Now, I don’t know his age off top of my head. I’m guessing he’s into his 30s. That is a good question, actually. Uh I know he’s expensive. Oh, yeah. But he’s a left tackle. I’m paying my left tackle anyways. I I I don’t need it. He was born in 94, so he’s 31. Okay. I was guessing like 33ish. So, I’m definitely going Dawkins, but I mean, rarely am I taking someone over 30. I mean, maybe never. And in a way, it’s an indictment on the Bills roster. It is. I mean, if I’m to torn between a 31y old and a running back, they got some work to do on that roster. I mean, Josh Allen is the ultimate deodorant. Like Cam Hayward said, he’s the NFL’s biggest superhero or I forget what the exact way that Cam Hayward Yeah. worded it, but And he is a total superhero. He absolutely is. And man, he does less with more than just about anybody. And there’s not many candidates. There’s not. There’s really not. It’s It’s not the greatest crop to pick from. No. Like I mean, if we played the game of could be an offseason game, who are you picking in the league to add to the team? I’m not sure either one of those would be in my top 50. You know what I mean? You know, like there’s absolutely I’d take Josh Allen might be number one if we allowed quarterbacks in this exercise, but nobody else might be, right? I mean, I’m not It’ be a long time before I took a running back. If you combine the Steelers and Bengals, Hall of Honor conversation, we had pretty high on that list. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. John Breach is not on the list. Yeah. So, yeah, it’s not a great group. No, it is not. No, it is not. But I I think we got it narrowed down to the two that you could choose from. We come and I would understand both. Cook’s really good and he’s young. Yeah. When we come back on the other side, we’ll wrap this thing up talking about some of these uh Thursday a trio of big important really good games. Like I’m going to like pay attention. I’m not like my phone’s going to be on next to my plate. Yeah. I’m not going to be napping off all that trip the fan as much as I normally would. We’ll close down with some thoughts on the Thursday games to get up out of here on this Wednesday. Wesler and Matt Williamson. And it’s the drive on Steelers Nation radio on the Steelers audio network. All right, Matt, I promised you we weren’t going to do any Thanksgiving fodder. Okay. Yeah. So, I’m not going to ask you to talk about how thankful you are for me or your kids or your wife in that order, by the way. Sure. Um, but I will ask you when you when when when dinner time happens tomorrow. Yeah. When you fill up that first plate, what goes on that first plate, that first round? Pretty boring. Yeah, I’m pretty bor I mean, a lot of stuffing. Yep. White and dark meat. Love it. Yeah. Like my dad’s a big dark meat only. Most people seem to like white meat better. I think dark meat’s super underrated. I agree. I’ll go like uh probably 7030 white meat, but I like both. Okay. I’d probably go 7030 dark. Nice. You’re welcome at our house anytime. Yeah, there’s always leftovers, too, which I’m fine with. Um giant pow and mashed potatoes. Something green, I guess. Do you do like green bean casserole? I’m a big green bean casserole on Thanksgiving guy. Used to be my aunt, but we took the res over the the There’s a spinach casserole we use. I’d like that. But it’s like 90% cheese. Well, sure. I mean, there’s some green in there, but I think a green bean casserole is very healthy. Exactly. Uh, dinner roll. Some kind of roll. Dinner roll guy. Tons of gravy. Tons of gravy. Yeah. Are you mac and cheese on Thanksgiving? Yes or no? It exists, but I might eat it cold later. It’s not my first round pick, but I’m not going to not have some mac and cheese. Right. Do you have anything different? No. I’m I’m a big like like green bean huge hump of green bean casserole. Huge lump of stuffing. Yeah. Little mashed potatoes, turkey. I’ll save ham for the second round. Ham and mac and cheese will go in the second round. Okay. Big of ham there for us. Okay. Last one. And I’m a big fan. Like I I love all the Give me all the pies. But what’s the what’s the first one you’re taking a bite of? Cherry. I would say like it. I like it. I mean, I love pumpkin. Peon. It’s fine. I mean, it’s probably my last round pick of the potential ones there. See, I go My aunt is like a great homemade pie maker. And she learned from my great grandma, you know, like and it’s good stuff. Yeah. Love it. Uh I’m a I like peon and pumpkin on Thanksgiving more so than like apple and cherry just because it’s really the only day of the year that I have pumpkin or peacon pie. See, it’s not the only day I get pumpkin. Like if I go walking through Giant Eagle, I’m like, “Oh, I’ll throw a pumpkin pie in the cart.” Yes, you’re you’re much wiser than I am. I need to get with it. Breakfast. Who are you? Uh Mel Kyper. He has he has a piece every day supposedly. Yes. Pumpkin pie. Mel Kyper every day for breakfast. Also, did you for breakfast? Speaking of these Thursday games, did you guys know that Collinssworth, who makes like 50 bazillion dollars a year, has it in his contract that he doesn’t do Thanksgiving games. Oh, really? Yes. He did his 500th game. It’ll be Jason Garrett with Tariq and not Collinsworth because they were kind of mentioning it during that 500 celebration. They’re like, “We won’t see you Thursday.” Big hat tip to Collinsworth. I hope I have the gravitas one day. That’s some power. You know what I’m putting in my contract? I ain’t working on holidays. We did. That’s why we’re not going to be here tomorrow. I saw I saw a I saw a lot of work all night a 14hour day on Christmas last year. I respect the heck. I saw a lot of people being like, “Collinssworth makes $12 million a year. He should have to work on Thanksgiving.” No, that’s the power we all aspire to. Right, Matt, we got like two minutes. Let’s run through these. They’re really good games. Great games. We’ll recap them a little Friday. We should Black Friday, too, because that game will be going on before we get on air. So, I know we will obviously talk about challenge to watch that performance. Um, Packers Lions in Detroit. Uh, Detroit a three-point favorite. I’m taking the Lions. I mean, the short week Thursday thing still applies for all especially division and I’m going to throw a little extra for Dallas and Detroit being nostalgia. So, I’m taking Dallas and Detroit this week. I’ll take the Packers plus three. That’s one I’d like to tease up to three and a half. Yeah, I don’t love the But I’ll take the points with Green Bay. Crucial game though. I think I’m going to take the Cowboys plus three and a half. Me, too. I like how they’re playing a lot. I think the Chiefs will find a way to win probably, but I’ll take the plus three and a half. They’re talking about it’s like the most most viewed game in like NFL history. I think we mentioned that a little bit yesterday. Regular season game in NFL history. Wouldn’t surprise me. It’s going to do a mass or at least like of the 21st century back before there was five things to watch on TV. Perfect time frame, you know? Right. Oh yeah. 4:30, which is right in the middle of the day. Yeah. And then 8:20 at night, Ravens, Bengals. I know how much time. It’s super weird. My co-host for different podcasts is a West Coast guy and I never thought about Thanksgiving with West Coast time. It just doesn’t seem right. I would love that. I can understand it like on a Sunday, but just Thanksgiving doesn’t work. Good excuse to crack your first drink of the day. Okay. 10:01. 10:01 or, you know, 9:59 right before kickoff. Ravens hosting the Bengals. I’m definitely taking the points in this one. Baltimore minus 7. I think this is the Bengals Super Bowl, too. Everyone’s watching. Burrow’s back. Chase is back. I don’t think Higgins plays Baltimore. I I want all the points on Thursday. Baltimore finds a way to win, but not by not by more than a touchdown. Yeah, I definitely want the points for Dallas and Cincy. And then we’ll touchdown seems like a lot. We’ll preview it now. We’ll talk about it because it’ll be again on Friday in the middle of the day. But 3:00 the Black Friday game, Bears, Eagles in Philly. Eagles a touchdown favorite. Bears, I’ll take the Bears. I don’t love how the Eagles offense is playing. I haven’t given that one much thought. I previewed the other three games on a different show, but I have not really thought much about Friday. Um, I definitely want the points there just because I don’t think the Eagles offense is cooking. I don’t, but I think the Bears might be in for a little bit of a back to reality in Philly in that environment. I think I mentioned this yesterday. They had one of the the Bears have one of the easiest schedules in the league and now from this point on they have the second hardest. So, we might really find out who the Bears We will really find out who the Bears are in the next couple weeks. Yes, we will because their schedule gets very very You won’t be able to say that they haven’t played anything anybody thing for much longer. They got a bunch of Lions and Packers ahead and you know maybe all four. Matt, great stuff, dude. Happy Thanksgiving. You too. Enjoyed the shows this week. I will enjoy the day in the in the famous words of our friend Rob King. I love going to work, but I love being home with my family even more. Me too, but I kind of work. I mean, like I got to know everything that happens at those games. You know, right to me. He’s like, “The only thing I love doing more than going to work is not going to work.” I think that’s a very good way to put it. Uh, big shout out, big thank you to Chris Hack for joining us today. Of course, to our guy, Mr. TV, to everybody who rock and rolls with us throughout the year. We are thankful for you and we appreciate you guys participating and listening for Matt Williamson. I’m Weser. Happy Thanksgiving, everybody. Be smart and be safe if you’re going out and bal Whoing tonight. All right. Don’t do anything dumb. We all got to meet back here on Friday and uh and and tee up Steelers and Bills and recap all those Thursday games. You know where to find us as always. It’s on your 247 home of the black and gold. Steelers Nation radio on the Steelers Audio Network.
Matt Williamson & Wes Uhler begin to preview our upcoming game against the Buffalo Bills on SNR Drive Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2025
00:00:20 – Chris Halicke calls into the show!
00:16:48 – Fan of the year – vote for Hayden Shock
00:18:26 – Quick news from around the league
00:19:20 – Best of the Wes! Top 10 athlete statues
00:36:31 – Continued statue talk
00:38:45 – Talking about both teams ‘practice/injury reports
00:45:32 – “Around Campus” Talking College Qb’s
01:17:44 – Add one player from the Steelers next opponent, who would it be?
01:24:52 – What’s on your Thanksgiving plate + Previewing Thanksgiving & Black Friday games
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8 comments
🔥Arthur Smith Art Rooney
🖤💛🖤💛
Drew is not that guy
Give Logan Lee a helmet.
world class act for our very own franchise center!
We’re gonna get smoked lol. Mondays pods are gonna be spicy
Don't mind the topic at all, but I loathe Jordan.
Take a shot every time Wes says tryptophan