Steelers Kickoff: Week 15 vs. Dolphins Preview | Pittsburgh Steelers

Steelers Kickoff: Week 15 vs. Dolphins Preview | Pittsburgh Steelers

The Steelers are back in first place in the AFC North following a tight win over the Ravens last week in Baltimore. Tomorrow, the team returns to Acrasher Stadium for a matchup on Monday Night Football with the Miami Dolphins. We have all the latest on the game coming up next as you are watching Steelers kickoff. It’s live right here on KDKA TV. Welcome to Bet MGM Steelers Kickoff. Good morning everyone. A snowy cold morning here in Pittsburgh, PA. Getting the stage set for Monday Night Football tomorrow from Acer Stadium between the Dolphins and the Steelers. And welcome inside our KDK TV studios for another edition of the Steelers kickoff, Bob Pompiani, alongside the quarterback of the program, Mr. Charlie Bats. Jerry Dulac also joining us in studio momentarily to discuss the TJ watch situation from this past week as he has been as you know ruled out for Monday Night Football. But first let’s take a look. Last week the Steelers traveled to Baltimore in desperate need of a win and they got it. Tough place to play. They got it out a 2722 win over the Ravens possibly helped by a few impactful rulings by the officials but a win nonetheless which allowed them to overtake full sole possession of first place in the division. So Charlie, how important was this win, especially considering both of these teams and their upcoming schedules? Yeah, this was very important to it. The Steelers knew what was at stake. If they win, they control their destiny as they move forward and don’t want to put themselves into the clutter. So it was a huge win on the road in Baltimore. So here’s the comparison. The roads ahead, the Steelers have the weaker schedule compared to the Ravens. Four games for the Steelers, Dolphins, Lions, Browns, Ravens to end the regular season. The Ravens, meanwhile, have to face Joe Burrow today and they lost to him and them just a couple of weeks ago. And then the resurging Patriots, Packers, and again at the end of the year against the Steelers. So we head across the studio where Post Gazette Steelers insider Jerry Dulac is standing by. And some shocking news this week from the Steelers practice facility. Jerry, on a day where the team didn’t even practice, TJ Watts sent to the hospital after receiving treatment. Uh give us the latest information on that, Jerry. Take us through the timeline of what actually happened down there and when. Well, uh, Bob, uh, on Wednesday, which was an off day this week for the players because of the Monday night game, uh, TJ Waters, a lot of players, uh, do he was in for, uh, treatment and, uh, he underwent this procedure called dry needling, which a lot of players do use as a way to kind of expedite the healing process. And, uh, when he wasn’t feeling well, he went to one of the doctors and they said, “Look, go, you go to the hospital right away.” And so he did. He stayed there uh, overnight. He was there through Thursday and he was finally uh released. But uh you know the he sustained a collapsed lung according to his brother. And I know that sounds serious, Bob, but it’s not as serious as it sounds. And TJ Watt is not expected to miss the rest of the regular season or anything like that. I believe he’ll be back sooner than what people believe. Well, that’s certainly good news. And the better news is he’s doing well and should make a full recovery. But for those who don’t know, Jerry, explain what dry needling is and you know, how prevalent is that for players in the NFL these days? You know, Bob, depending on on what medical person you talk to, dry needling is somewhere between voodoo and non-traditional medicine. Basically, what it is, it’s a it’s very similar to players who feel they have to do electro stem, hyperbaric chambers, whatever it is that helps the healing process uh uh go faster. And so if they think they’re going to be out four weeks, they do these procedures. Hopefully, they’re only out two or maybe one. And so what it is is there’s some type of injection near the area where there’s a problem. And uh you it’s you know, I don’t want to say it’s uh a lot of players use it, but enough players use it and it’s prevalent not only with the Steelers, but around the NFL. And so uh in this situation, it did not go well, but it could have been a lot worse, apparently. Well, that’s good news, Jerry. Thanks very much. We’ll check in with you again shortly. Uh, and hopefully, like we talked about, TJ will make a full recovery and get back on the field soon. But as for this next game against the Dolphins, Charlie, he won’t be there. So, how much of losing TJ? What will affect this team and what do they have to do to compensate for his loss? Yeah, this is going to be a tough one for him because well, you know, now all we’re hearing about is the one and 11 record when TJ is not in the lineup. But ultimately, I look at it one level deeper as how will this now impact the depth of the outside linebacker group, but also the special teams game. So conditioning is definitely gonna be something that’s going to play a factor in this particular game. I don’t have no problem with Herbick or Highmith. It’s just what what does it look like on a special teams game. Yeah. And Jack Sawyer is another guy who probably get more reps this week and he’s shown some improvement throughout the year. The Steelers doing their part certainly to attempt to write the ship at the right time of the year with the playoffs on the horizon. Rich Walsh was in the locker room this week and he has more. Well, the Steelers are hoping to stack wins, something they haven’t done since winning three straight games more than two months ago. Well, the good news is despite the ups and downs, the Steelers are playing meaningful games in December. Obviously, you play to win championships. You got to be in position and playing the right way late in the season. So, good to be a part of a big time game last Sunday, and the rest of these will all be the same. And this is Aaron Rogers time to shine. He had a feeling this team could be in this position when he signed here. Different seasons play out in their own ways, but you know, Baltimore started uh one and five, I believe, and then we won five out of six to get back in it. And we’ve kind of been up and down, and Cincinnati’s deal with some injuries, and Cleveland has dealt with some, you know, their own their own stuff, too. So, we we knew it might not take 13 or 14 wins to win the division this year, but it’s, you know, like I said, it’s nice to be playing media for football in December. And one of the reasons the Steelers are in this position to make a run is Mike Tomlin. You know, I think every team is looking for that special sauce of a coach who can lead and be consistent. The Steelers haven’t had the playoff success they’ve wanted over the last few years, but there is a winning culture here in Pittsburgh, and the Steelers are always in the mix until the very end. And when you report an organization like that, which I was in Green Bay and then didn’t have it in New York, uh it makes a big difference. Teams that don’t have that ingrained in it, there’s always the opportunity to do it. It just takes the right people and the right timing and the right coaching to kind of put it together and you learn how to win. When you’ve been in a place that has a history of accidents like Green Bay with the 60s on, like Pittsburgh with the 70s on, it’s just kind of understood when you walk in the door that uh that winning is the most important thing. And like the great Vince Lombardi said, it’s the only thing that really matters. And the Steelers decide to move Saturday’s practice here to Acer Stadium to get ready for that Monday night matchup against the Dolphins. Mike Tomlin is 5 and3 all time against Miami with the Steelers from AARE. Let’s send it back to a much warmer studio, guys. Yeah, it is warmer, Rich, but you’ll survive out there. I know. Thank you very much. Here’s a look at the AFC North standings heading into week 15. The Steelers sit alone at top the division. Oneame lead over the Ravens. The Bengals still alive, believe it or not, at 4-9, but they’re holding on for dear life. Meanwhile, the Browns have officially been eliminated from the playoffs. And now it’s time for our weekly quarterback analysis sponsored by Cleveland Brothers. And last week, Aaron Rogers really did let it fly down the field. It opened things up against the Ravens. So Charlie, how necessary is that to continue? Although the Dolphins play a cover two, what do you expect on Monday? Yeah, I expect this very similar format and I think ultimately when you hit that big play like we’re seeing here down the field early, it softens up the defense from a defensive coordinator perspective. So, I expect Aaron to want to spread the this offense out or at least the defense out with this four receiver set because weather is not going to be a factor for him. He’s used to it playing it in in Green Bay. So, expect this moving forward. All right, time for the Hyundai by the numbers segment. And the Steelers red zone trips, you know, really are fruitful when they’re able to make it there. 39 trips into the red zone, 19th in the league, but they’re seventh in red zone touchdown percentage of 64.1. Meanwhile, the defense has allowed bunch of red zone trips, 48 to be exact. That’s 25th in the league. But the Steelers usually hold on strong, only letting opposing offenses score about half the time. That’s seventh best in the league. When we come back, we’re going to hear from one of the better players on the Steelers defense. Last week, Rich Walsh talk to linebacker Alex Highmith. It’s coming up next. Welcome back to Bet MGM Steelers Kickoff. Welcome back to the program everyone. Hope you’re having a good morning. You know, the Steelers had an added boost from Alexis Smith last week. a tight win over the Ravens and they needed him to be out there and do what he did. Rich Walsh spent some time with the veteran and here’s part of that conversation. Alex, man of the year nominee. What’s that feel like? Yeah. Um I’m just humbled, grateful, honored to be the nominee for this year’s Walter Payton man of the year award. Um I know that, you know, God has given this platform to be a blessing to others and um just to really use this platform for good while I have it. Um I know my purpose here goes far beyond the field. Um you know, football is is what I do. It’s not who I am. So, I know, like I said, I know I’ve been given this platform to be a blessing to others and so just being out, being in the community is really what, you know, means most to me. You know, Cam was nominee also, Charlie Batch, who’s one of our co-hosts on the show. What was it like being presented that from him? It was cool. Um, it was total surprise. So, I went to to help out at his Thanksgiving event uh that day and uh I get there and they miked me up and I was just kind of wondering, all right, why am I going to get miked up and whatnot and then went in, there’s some cameras, saw Charlie talking to him for a little bit and you know, he he he surprised me with that and um my my wife uh was there with my parents and her parents as well. So, it was awesome surprise, but to get it from him was pretty cool. Well, you guys were coming off a huge win. You made the play that sealed the game uh for for you guys. you know, how important was getting that win against Ravens in that game? It was huge. Um, you know, we were fighting for first place in the division and obviously we had two backto-back um, losses and so we knew we needed to get back on the right track and so um, I think that was just the mindset throughout the whole week. Yeah, we played bad the past couple weeks, but you know, we still are fighting for first place in the north and so um, for us to get that win was huge, especially after last year going there twice and not getting it done towards the end of the year. Um, it was a big win for us. So, um, but now we got to stack wins and beat the Dolphins. So, but to go there was huge and get the W. All right, Rich. Thanks very much. And congrats to Alex. And so, Charlie, you were the one. You had to be the guy to let him in there. Did he have any idea it was coming when he walked in the door? He had absolutely no idea that this was going on. He was just, why are they miking me up for this? We’re here to pass out some turkeys and be a part of it, but yet being able to surprise him with the announcement. You can see he became emotional. He saw his family as they surprised him. His wife and his parents were there. So, it was beautiful to see. His heart is in the right place. He shows up when he says he’s going to do so and those are things that are important. So we’re highlighting things that he do in Pittsburgh but man in North Carolina down in Charlotte Wilmington area this guy does amazing things as well. So congratulations for Alex to Alex Alex Highmith for this welldeserved award. Very much so. And and coming from you that means a lot because you’re as heavily involved as anyone I’ve seen in the community. So congrats to Alex Highmith. Steelers and Dolphins taking place at AARE on Monday night. Stage is going to be set. It’s going to be cold. Temperatures in the teens. Wind chills could be, who knows where they dip. Up next on Steelers Kickoff, we’re going to break down the Dolphins who are going to play in the snow and the cold weather. We’ll talk about it next right here on KDK TV. When the light fades, what remains is gold. In this city, we embrace the darkness. Black and gold in our veins, harnessing the shadows, bringing the darkness to light. Nothing like a color rush game to make this matchup even bigger on Monday night. Sounded like Phantom of the Opera there for a while. Miami goes into this game on a solid win streak to keep their postseason hopes alive. And you know, during the streak, the Dolphins have kind of reinvented themselves. After a disastrous blowout in Cleveland, the Dolphins had the worst record in the NFL through seven weeks. And things seem to be crumbling around head coach Mike McDaniel. But somehow they have patched up their leaking ship and rattled off five wins over the past six games, including a relatively easy win over the Buffalo Bills. Taking care of the ball and winning the turnover battle has been key to their turnaround. Through the first seven games, they had 12 giveaways, but they have cut that number in half during this successful stretch. It’s brought up so often because it it’s one of uh the very highest um causations uh rather than a correlation. What came first, chicken or the egg? I think our play style is leading to the take uh takeaway margin and um we’ll we’ll need to continue that to to um hope to have the same success. It doesn’t take much deep thinking to figure out how they’ve gotten better on offense. They’ve relied almost exclusively on the run. Over the past four games, all wins, they’ve averaged nearly 200 yards rushing per game, while their passing attempts per game have dropped from 34 to 20 over that same span. They’ve also improved dramatically on defense. Over the first seven weeks, they allow 29 points per game, but have since given up just 15 per game, largely because they’ve gotten tougher against the run. the rushing yards allowed have dropped 60 yards per game over that same stretch. And so the some of the very critical statistics that measure how you’re playing. Um they’re checking those boxes and that’s why they’ve won they’ve been the winners of four straight. All right, time for the South College game plan regarding the Steelers Dolphin series. Pittsburgh leads it overall 15 to 14. Regular season series 13-12. Teams are 2-2 in the playoffs. The Steelers 4-3 edge on Monday night, 5-3 under Tomlin. The average score all time, this is interesting, Dolphins by 6/10en of a point, 20.7 to 20.1. And there have been so many memorable games between the Dolphins and the Steelers. One of the most memorable to my partner over here came in Bill Coward’s final year. Charlie, you played a big part of that game. What do you remember from it? Oh, that was one one of coming off a Super Bowl 40 victory and coming out Thursday night leading the team and throwing three touchdown passes. But here’s a pass right there to Heath Miller going 87 yards against a Nick Sabin Mike Miami Dolphins team coming in Hinesfield at the time. So it was very cool to be a part of and really when you’re starting out the season that way you want to go out there and leave your mark and it was a big game for myself to be able to hopefully go out there and help this team moving forward even though nice little window there forward and back of the end zone. You got it in there. Uh we can’t also forget about Mike Thomas first year on the job and the Monday night mudfest the next season. The fresh sod combined with torrential downpours made for a soupy mess at Hinesfield. Everyone remembers that game for the punt that kind of plugged in the field just like a Jerry Dak wedge shot that goes 2 in from the hole on rainy conditions. Of course, uh that is tied for the lowest scoring game all time in the Super 3 on a Jeff Reed field goal. So, let’s bring back Jerry Dulac. And Jerry, what do you remember about that Mudfest three nothing game in 07? And why has Mike Tomlin been so good on Monday nights overall? Well, Bob, uh I think uh you know in that game it was the literally the perfect storm. Not only was there a deluge of rain, but the sod was freshly laid laid earlier in the week. But the other thing that people forget or maybe they don’t even know is that there was a tear in the tarp. So when they took the tarp off the field, all that water that was on the tarp leaked onto the playing surface and that just made it the gooey mess that we saw. Of course, the thing everybody remembers is that punt sticking in in the turf like one of those lawn darts. And I mean, it was it was, you know, replayed years and years later. Of course, as for Mike Tomlin, I’ll on Monday nights, you know, I’ll hark back to what my old friend Bino Cook used to say about giving Joe PNO the week off before a game. You can’t beat him. Maybe getting that extra day helps Mike Tomlin, but whatever it is, he’s been very good on Monday nights. He certainly knows how to navigate his players in terms of resting them just like he did this week, changing the days off. So, whatever he’s doing, keep doing it. All right, Jerry, thanks very much. Yeah, he’s doing the right things. Hopefully, that’ll continue tomorrow. Right now, it’s time to send this program to New York City. James Brown is standing by with a look what’s coming up today on the NFL Today following this show. JB, what’s up? Hey, Bob. Up next on the NFL Today, our double header kicks off when we preview the AFC North clash between the Ravens and the Bengals. And the guys give their thoughts on the comments made by Cincy Star quarterback Joe Burrow. Then your Hall of Fame coach Bill Cra chops it up with Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel. And we’ll look ahead to the battle, the afternoon battle between the Packers and the Broncos. But right now, Bob and Charlie. They’ll be right back. That’s when Steelers kickoff continues right here on KDKA. Steelers Kickoff is presented by Mlen’s Contracting and Roofing. If our name goes on it, we stand behind it. so you can stand in it. All right. On Tuesday, the Steelers welcomed 500 families from local nonprofit organizations to their seventh annual huddle for the holidays over at Aasher Stadium. And several players took part by interacting with the kids and handing out food and gifts. And while some of the current Steelers were busy doing their part for their community, so was our quarterback over here. The crew from Pittsburgh Today Live paid a visit to the Batch Foundation. And it looked like a very busy place, Charlie. So, we may as well call you Charlie Claus. How big is that sleigh? You’re going to need more slays, it looks like to me. Uh, it was big. I mean, that takes over 1500 volunteers to make this work. And you can see behind the scenes our rappers that are help making it happen. This year, we adopted 400 families, 1,811 kids. This week, we knocked out half of those. So, it’s going to be a busy week this week as we continue to wrap and prepare to get ready for it. But, we are still in dire need of toys that are 10 and above, 10 through 18. We still need help. So, please, if you can consider, there’s a QR code if you want to be a part of it right there. You can go to batchfoundation.org. There are still ways that you still contributing. We’re collecting toys up until December 22nd. So, thank you for believing in what we’re doing in the mission with the mission and vision of the best of the batch foundation. It all started with your vision. Congrats to you and Latasha. Outstanding work and benefiting so many people. We’re almost out of time here on KDK with the Steelers Kickoff. When we come back, our crew has the weekly predictions ahead of Monday Night Football. It’s the Steelers and the Dolphins tomorrow from a really cold Acasher Stadium. We’ll be right back. Welcome back to Bet MGM Steelers Kickoff. All right, we’ll set the table for you. Steelers have a one-game lead over the Ravens and four games left. Jerry Dulac, how do you see this working today tomorrow night? Well, uh, the battle line shouldn’t be hard to figure. You know, the Dolphins were averaging 165 yards rushing during this four-game win streak. Had 239 last week. The Steelers have allowed over 200 yards rushing each of the past two games. Dolphins want to run it. Steelers have to stop them. It’s time for the Steelers to start stacking wins. They haven’t done it since week four. They have to win back-to-back games. I think they take the momentum from what those big stops they made in the fourth quarter. I like the Steelers 27-21. All right, Charlie, you’re up next. Yeah, all before the injury news of TJ Watt, I was certain that they were going to win this game, but just something’s not sitting right with me without TJ Watt in this lineup. I think at the end of the game, the Dolphins make a play and shock the Steelers in Aashore 24-23. M that’ll be one of those games that they’ve played over the years. Rich Welsh says Steelers and so do I. I think it’ll be a lowercing game. Uh the cold will affect things. It’ll be a run first for both teams. I like them 1716. All right, what do we got in store for you today? Next up, it’s the NFL today on CBS. And then it’s the Ravens Bengals. You get a chance to watch that game. Very big implications on it. Packers Broncos at 4:25. Jim Nansen Company on that one. Then we have the Ireland Contracting Nightly Sports Call. 10:35 on KDK Plus. number one Cochran Sports Showdown. Join us for that after the late news on KDK. A full day of football. Even though there’s no game here, there will be tomorrow. And look at this. All the snow. You can’t even see Acasher Stadium. Have a great Sunday, everyone.

KDKA’s Bob Pompeani, Charlie Batch, Rich Walsh, and Gerry Dulac preview the Steelers Week 15 game against the Dolphins