ESPN reacts to Steelers def. Vikings 24-21; Aaron Rodgers 200 yDs, TD; Wentz 350 Yds, 2 TD, 2 INT

ESPN reacts to Steelers def. Vikings 24-21; Aaron Rodgers 200 yDs, TD; Wentz 350 Yds, 2 TD, 2 INT

Jess to CBS Sports HQ. The first game in Dublin for the NFL is over and Minnesota just barely lost this one, which didn’t seem like the game was going in that direction. 21 to 24 Steelers. Aaron Rogers 18 of 22, 200 yards and a touchdown. [Music] All right, welcome back here to HQ pregame. Of course, we’ve got Pete Prrisco, Ran Carthan, and Damen Harris with us. Uh, first game in Dublin. It was an interesting one. It felt like the Steelers were going to run away with this the whole time. And then of course at the last second the Vikings came alive here. But Pete I think the biggest story here has to be the Steelers defense kind of looking like the Steelers defense again. Well they pressured the quarterback. I mean they had seven sacks but in fairness to the Vikings they lost their right tackle early in the game. Brian O’Neal was a really good player. They also lost their center. Ryan Kelly second concussion for the year and then lost the backup center. So when you play that way obviously there’s going to be a lot of pressure on the quarterback. Wentz did some good things. Wentz did some bad things. That’s what you get with Carson Wentz. Well, I think that’s important for the Steelers defense because with a backup quarterback, especially in a Kevin Oonnell offense, you don’t want to let Carson Wentz get comfortable. We’ve seen what he’s capable of in his career at the heights of his career. But this is definitely a moment for the Steelers defense to rise to the occasion, put pressure on him like they did, make him uncomfortable again, make him do some bad things, get them off schedule that way. The Vikings dug themselves a hole that they couldn’t come out of. Let’s talk about the the Vikings for a second because as you just said, they lost three O linemen. Ran, how worried are you about this team moving forward? I mean to to not only you’re you without your starting quarterback now you’re potentially down three offensive linemen and Pete knows this, Damian knows this. It’s only so many good offensive linemen that are available to you on the street and now is going to really test your roster in terms of your practice squad and the guys that you’re developing there and are they even ready to step in and play for a game which now leads to a completely different topic because now you’re going to have to adjust the game plan and how Kevin Oonnell calls the game to make up for all these injuries. So, it’s going to be a lot of moving parts. Oh, and by the way, they’re staying another week because they play in London next week. And so, good luck trying to get guys to fly over and understanding if a guy has a passport and how soon you can get these guys over here. It’s a lot of moving parts when you’re playing these games internationally, which is why they always talk about making a team permanent over there. Good luck with that. I never thought about that. You have to make sure guys have a passport and even just to get Well, like if he’s got to if he if he’s the GM of the Vikings and he’s got to go get two replacements off the street this week, I mean, he’s got to make sure they have passports and they’re capable of getting over there. I feel like there’s a television show about this, but it’s opposite, right, with Ted, what’s his name? Ted Lasso. Lasso. Ted Lasso. Maybe we’ll have to do that here. Uh let’s talk about Aaron Rogers for a minute. He’s kind of had an up and down season so far. It feels like he did just enough as we saw there. Uh he’s got 200 pass yards. Uh he had one uh touchdown, no interceptions in this game. Damen, how would you rate Aaron Rodgers? I would rate this performance, let’s go with a 7.5 out of 10. The numbers may not reflect it, but something important to note when you watch this game today. Aaron Rogers got the ball out of his hands at record speed. And we’re talking about Aaron Rogers who has one of the fastest and most quick releases in the National Football League. And what did he do? He got the ball out quick and fast to DK Metaf. There were some times where they had the Steelers had a design run play called and Aaron Rogers would just look out to DK Metaf and give him the nod and then all of a sudden balls out. And I think that that’s that’s important for an older quarterback at this stage of his career. You want to limit the hits, you want to limit your exposure to pressure, things like that. You know, Aaron Rogers, we know he takes care of the football, but you want to protect him from getting hurt. Well, the best way to do that is to tell him, and he already knows, get the ball out of your hands fast. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, and you look at this team, right, and got DK going today, which is huge. But what about Kenneth Gainwell, and he stepped up uh in the absence of their starting running back, and Damen, you know this, to finish a game with 99 yards. Come on. To especially if you’re the backup to finish a game with 99 yards, you’re trying to he’s he will petition to the stats to the stat guys to try to find that extra yard for himself. But you got those type of performances and this team is built for Aaron Rogers doesn’t have to do miraculous things every week for them to win. He just has to play within the framework of himself and not turn the ball over. And when you having a defense that played the way they did today, seven sacks and really got after a backup quarterback, that’s all you can ask for. Should have put his head down harder on one of those runs, he would have had one. Come on, get it. I I do want to say this since we’re on the topic of running backs. I do think it was a good sign to see Caleb Johnson active today. I saw him getting some carries late in the fourth quarter when they’re trying to seal the game, run the clock out. And that’s a good way to instill confidence in a young guy that made a big mistake last week. Obviously, he wants to flush it and put it behind him. But there’s no better way to instill that confidence back in a young guy than having him in the game like we talked about having him active and giving him carries late when the game is on the line to show, okay, special teams, we know you had a blunder, but when it comes to running the football, which is why we drafted you, we still trust you and we still want you out there on the field. We’re a better team with you. Well, and it’s a good sign that the Steelers were able to run the football. It’s been that’s who they’ve been over the course of their history. They’ve had problems with it, not only this year, but going back to last year. They the offensive line, they have a lot of assets invested in that group. They’re starting to come together. A lot of young guys on that line. You know, they have second year center and Frasier, second year right guard, McCormack. Those guys are getting better and as they get better, they’re going to run the ball more. And I think that’s something they have to do to take the pressure off Rogers. I didn’t I didn’t think you were going to add the sets on the end of that front end of that line when you were talking about the offensive line. But all right, good start from Pete Ran and Damen. Thanks, guys. We want more from them. Closer than it felt like it needed to be for a Steelers fan, but at the end of the day, three in one is 3 and one. The Steelers a three-point win. 2421. Let’s bring it out here. We have full reaction to what turned out to be a thriller. Randy, obviously, first thought from you on this one. 24-21 Steelers. You know, when a game is on the line like that, you put the last play up, you throw it to Addison. Yes, this is first game back, but man, I I want to see 18 at least get a target or attempt. The game’s on the line, fellas. And we know you give it to your best player. I don’t understand that last play right there. This is the formula that I think we hoped for for the Pittsburgh Steelers preseason, right? Like, this is what it could be. Dominant defense, six sacks, two interceptions, and a really efficient Aaron Rogers. I mean, 19 to 22 for 200 yards. Oh, yeah. And they ran for over 100, right? This is their formula that I think can really this can go places. You know what we didn’t see? Kenneth Gainwell as the back. They had three other backs over him and all of a sudden now this guy comes up. All he did was rush for 99 yards. Yeah. Like so this is funny. But yeah, cuz I was like, Kennek’s in there. Oh, this won’t be Now they finally look like the Pittsburgh Steelers. So hopefully this this could be a thing that’ll catapult this thing. Some of the things we noticed about Carson Wentz, some of the problems he had in the past ducking in the pocket, making bad decisions in the end. I think the tip ball to TJ Watt was another critical mistake. But the Steelers, I mean, when you win, fell, this is in Ireland. All right, you’re taking your entire operation across the globe. You get a win. This is almost like two of them. You know, you take this back to the plane. Guess on the ride home, huh? There’s so much history so much history involving the Rooney family and Ireland and and and the the late Dan Rooney was an ambassador to Ireland once upon a time. And Minnesota stays there. Now, the Vikings will stay. They play a game in London next week. So, the Vikings will stay in Europe for another game next week. Steelers get a win and they bring that home at 3 and one. Okay, so that game has been played. Now, let’s pick some of the biggest games of the weekend. We got the Packers and the Cowboys. Rex, who do you like? Well, I mean, I like the Packers here. Why not, man? You got to that that Cowboy defense. You think they fix all their problems? I don’t care if they fix half their problems, man. I’m just going with Parsons, man. Anytime you traded me and I wanted to be here, man, I think he’s going to have a hell of a game today. Cowboys too beat up. Too beat up right now. Rock bottom for the Cowboys after this. I picked the Cowboys for one reason and one reason only, cuz absolutely no one thinks they have a chance. And the things that no one thinks can happen happen in the NFL all the time. Eagles and Bucks. Battle of unbeatens in the NFC. Rex, I think this one’s going to be an amazing game against two of the best quarterbacks in the league. But my money is on the guy that always wins, Jaylen Herz. Man, I talked about it earlier. One and four against Todd BS, but the one victory that the Philadelphia Eagles had, AJ Brown did play. The other four, he was absent. Today, they will see AJ Brown get it to him early. Get it to work.

ESPN reactions to Steelers hold off Vikings 24-21; Aaron Rodgers 200 yDs, TD; Carson Wentz 350 Yds, 2 TD, 2 INT