Browns vs Steelers REACTION with JJ Watt: Steelers another step closer to locking down AFC North?

Browns vs Steelers REACTION with JJ Watt: Steelers another step closer to locking down AFC North?

to 9. And for more, we’ll get you back out to the site where CBS NFL analyst and future Hall of Famer J.J. Watt joins the conversation. J.J. on the call of what I like to call the noun matchup people, places and things. When these people get together in this place, only one thing happens. J.J. 22 in a row now for the Steelers at home against the Browns in your career, was there a building where the air was just heavier? How much does that play into a matchup like this? I mean, there’s certainly that. The AFC North kind of has those rivalries that go so far back. And unfortunately, the Cleveland Browns have been on the losing side of this building for a very long time. But today the story of it was they had to get into an offense where they had to throw the ball 58 times with rookie quarterback Dillon Gabriel. And that’s just not the game plan they wanted to have coming into today. But that’s the way it turned out. I want to pull out a couple of those strings that you offer there. Let’s go. Steelers first, because the divisional waters in some ways have parted for them. They look primed to claim this one. We’ll see how the numbers react to the outcomes here once again. But when you look at a run game that came to life here on Sunday and what they can be down the stretch, how much positivity is there boiling in that building right now? Yeah, I think early in this season they just found ways to win. They weren’t playing their best football at all early on, but they still scraped out these victories with not giving up penalties and having a plus turnover ratio. But now they’re starting to look like a football team. That’s figuring it out. Aaron Rodgers and DK Metcalf having a lot of success recently. The defense taking the ball away, getting sacks starting to look like that old Pittsburgh Steelers defense that we know. So as that gap widens they’re going to continue to get stronger here and hopefully put a lock. Hold on it. If you’re a Steelers fan yeah. Identity you want to establish through this first third of the season. And it looks as you said like a Pittsburgh Steelers team that we’ve come to know. Despite all the changes here personnel wise on the other side, Dillon Gabriel, you said it. He was asked to throw the ball maybe a few too many times. You are playing from a chase game script that’s always going to inflate those numbers. But how do you assess the play? Also, regarding what we know is waiting behind Gabriel for an opportunity. To drop? Yeah, I mean, I personally think that’s a conversation that the media loves to make because it’s a conversation that draws, clicks and everything. I think Dillon Gabriel has this offense. He’s in command of it. He’s the one who they are trying to build this around. And shudder is going to continue to grow and develop in that role behind him. But you just talked to everybody around the organization. You see how he handles himself. You see how Coach Stefanski talks about Dillon Gabriel. You can tell they want to try and cultivate it, but you have to get the run game going. You have to make it easier on him. You have to stay ahead of the sticks. And today, a lot of drop balls in addition to some overthrows and behind throws. But he’s the guy that they want to build around, I think. And that conversation is always going to be there because of who he is and what he did in college. That’s how they approach the draft. It’s the conversation that now carries through. But as you said, Dillon Gabriel, you can learn some things in losses as well. Calm in the face of adversity. We’ll see if they can start stacking up some wins from here. J.J. Watt, always appreciative of your time. Thank you guys. JJ Watt and Ian Eagle on the call. And you know where to start each and every Sunday. That’s with our team on the NFL today, JB coach Matt Ryan and Nate getting you set starting Sundays at 12:00 Eastern time. Enjoy the NFL today on CBS and streaming on Paramount Plus. All right a look here at some Aaron Rodgers numbers. Most passing touchdowns 40 plus years old Rodgers with 38. The oldest player in the NFL at 41 years old now sitting at four and one. Back in studio with the guys. Don’t you just love it when the numbers work out? I mean, the numbers on the scoreboard worked out perfectly here for your Steelers. Mac, your thoughts on this performance against the young? And, I don’t know, talent deficient team? I’m trying I’m trying to be nice here. A bad team in the Cleveland Browns and yes, the Cleveland Browns. They’re a bad team, but they’re the wrong team. You want to get in a sparring match with because if you’re not careful they can put you to sleep. We’ve seen that you know throughout recent moments with the Cleveland Browns. And that’s why this game was so important for Pittsburgh, because they’re a playoff caliber team sitting atop of your division, playing against a divisional foe, that they have a lot of issues. You got to win this ball game by any means necessary. Luckily for Pittsburgh, they did so with style, right. Aaron Rodgers is having fun. That’s the most important thing. Aaron Rodgers is very, very efficient and he’s making the other guys around him better. The offensive line has grown. You look at DK Metcalf. He’s embraced that new role within the offense being the ultimate wide receiver one and creating separation and coming down with big time plays. The running game led with Jaylen Warren, Kenneth Gainwell. They’re doing a great job as well. So the future in terms of this season, barring great a great slate of health. It should be bright because of everything that’s going on in their neighborhood in the AFC North. And lastly, the defense they made Dillon Gabriel look like a rookie quarterback. They made him struggle. They touched him up at the end of the game. When you looked at his jersey, you’re going to have to use extra bleach to get some of those grass stains out of it because he was constantly on the ground, six sacks, and they missed another 3 or 4 on him as well. So collectively for the Pittsburgh Steelers, you did what you were supposed to do. And that’s what good teams do. Take care of the teams you’re supposed to take care of. That’s what impressed me the most, is the fact that they didn’t allow a bad offense to gain confidence. And you talk about Dillon Gabriel getting peppered up by the Steelers defense. Everyone in the Browns uniform got peppered up because we saw backs getting tagged. We saw Njoku get tagged. We saw receivers getting tagged. So they let it be known that this is not going to happen on our watch on our Sunday in Pittsburgh. So I love that they went out there and took control defensively first before the offense got going because this was a, you know, low scoring game early on. And then Pittsburgh opened up with their offensive passing attack. But at the end of the day this defense led from the front today didn’t give that offense confidence and the offense did the rest. Just to reiterate Dillon Gabriel, the rookie quarterback 29 of 52 for 221. JJ it’s going to be hard to develop when you’re in a negative game script this way, but it’s also, as we heard JJ Watt just say, going to be hard to develop when that conversation is happening. Maybe not as actively as it is outside the building inside, but how do you stack it up right now with a young quarterback threw a couple? I can tell you with great confidence that the conversation is much greater, much greater outside the building than inside the building. And I think JJ Watt alluded to that and spoke to that quite well. 52 pass attempts. 58 Dropbacks you got to include the sacks as well for a team that this game was not out of hand really until the fourth quarter. This was a ten point game going into the fourth quarter. There’s no reason for your rookie quarterback to be dropping back nearly 60 times. I understand maybe it’s not working with Quinshon Judkins, who only had three yards per carry today. I get it, but man, you have to attempt to run this football just a little bit more. You mentioned how the Browns aren’t that great of a team. This record could and probably should be looking a lot different right now. You go back to that week. One game that they had against the Bengals probably should have won that game very close. One there in London last week against the Vikings that they arguably could have won there. Ball bounces a couple of different ways. You could be talking about a three win Browns team right now. And now you have Dillon Gabriel attempting to pass the football 58 times against the Pittsburgh Steelers defense in his second start, his first start on U.S. soil. That’s you’re not going to win a football game to all those points. Maybe more prescient to to prodigy here on a Steelers team that’s ahead of schedule. I don’t know what that schedule looks like. The schedule is right now. Right now with a 41 year old quarterback. Do you see them on the open market, maybe pushing their chips to the middle of the table and filling in some spots that they still identify they need to they could. We also have to remember what they did in the off season. Right. So yes, they go out and get Aaron Rodgers and not just get him, but they wait for him. And so that was very un Steelers. Like they go out and they get DK Metcalf and sent a day two pick in order to acquire him. And then paid him at the time as the highest paid player in Pittsburgh Steelers history. And then they went out and got Jalen Ramsey and sent away Minkah Fitzpatrick. They have done sort of a lot of what you would expect a potentially contending team to do, right. They’re on the precipice. They’ve already done it. Now could they go out and send a conditional sixth round pick for someone the next couple of weeks? Of course they could absolutely do that. But in terms of a name, some someone who’s a fantasy football player, I think they did all their fantasy football in the off season. Got room. I defer from my side of the table to my front office. Brian McFadden now is the time. Yeah, just go trade for Trey Hendrickson who saw offensive guy. We need we need a pass catcher JJ okay. Pass catcher. Y’all had one four andne another. The Pittsburgh Steelers

JJ Watt, Bryant McFadden, Jonathan Jones and Emory Hunt join CBS Sports HQ to recap Browns-Steelers in Week 6.

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