Steelers at Bengals Preview & Final Score Predictions | SNR Drive (Oct. 14) | Pittsburgh Steelers
You’re tuned to the drive on your 247 home of the black and gold. Steelers Nation Radio. [Music] Good afternoon, Steelers Nation. It’s the Drive on the Steelers Audio Network. West Schuler and Matt Williamson with you here on a Tuesday on a weird week where we have got plenty to get into. Matt, more than we can fit in one show probably. That’s exactly right. So, off and running to the races here and I just wanted to ask you uh before we get into some Steelers Bengals specifics. Who’s the best team in the AFC right now? I was going to ask who’s the best team in the league. I mean I mean the Lions kind of had a case and they just lost. Bills kind of had a case recently. Eagles had a case recently. Is it Tampa? Maybe. Is the are the Chiefs the best team in the My, you know, like sneaky answer was going to be the Chiefs the best team in the AFC, which is so boring. And just kind of like getting out of the way. I mean, have a conversation. But my goodness, a rough one for Buffalo last night. Yeah. I can’t put the Steelers there, though. I mean, I don’t think that’s where you were going, but you know, Right. I at least think the Steelers deserve to be mentioned in the conversation. Yeah, they might be with right now today October 14th, you know, but man, even Denver was less than impressive overseas. I mean, they won, but I I think to this point, the only teams that have been real impressive are almost the ones that we didn’t expect it from heading into the season. Indie for sure. Indie for sure. And if you buy in or not, I guess is the case on them. They’ve had the best year they have. Yes. And I think Tampa not quite to that extreme. They’ve made the playoffs five straight years. I think they were the popular pick to win that division. Sure. I don’t think they just overcame so many injuries and things. I don’t think a lot of people thought that they’d be five and one and it would have played out like this where Baker Mayfield’s an MVP favorite, right? And and they guys are dropping left and right. It hasn’t mattered. And they look, you know, like maybe the best team in the National Football League. We’ll do some power rankings here today. And I got a feeling they’re going to be uh towards the top certainly. Yeah, I think they’ve earned that. Yeah, but it’s just man, I’m sitting there last night and I’m watching the Bills struggle and as you mentioned some of these other teams um particularly in the AFC as well too that we have thought, okay, this team’s really good and even you bring Baltimore’s the best example. Baltimore is the best example, but like you bring the Lions are a good example. The Eagles are a good example. Man, nobody is perfect right now. Far from it. I mean, maybe the Colts are like the one team that feels like and the B the Bucks, too, maybe that feel like they’re hitting on all cylinders, but they’ve had the best years. Yes. Does that mean they’re the best team? I’m not sure. They have the best resume, you know? But you like Daniel Jones is out of the woods. He’s really good. I’m like, that takes a little leap of faith, you know, let alone let we’re not talking about this, but to go to, you know, beat the Chiefs and Bills in the playoffs. Like, I don’t know if Daniel Jones isn’t there ready for that yet, you know? Yeah. Exactly right. But it’s just, man, it feels like, and I always hesitate to do this kind of hyperbolic kneejerk type thing, but it feels like this year is way more wide open than most in recent memory. I tend to agree. I mean, a lot of it is just Burrow, Lamar don’t look like they’re going to the playoffs, you know? I mean, when you look at the four stud quarterbacks, Allen, I don’t think it’s his fault, but you kind of mentioned that game, the Bills and Allen are making more mistakes than they had in the last two or three years. More turnovers. He’s taking more sacks. I thought the weaponry around him was really, really lacking, you know, in that game. And the defense has worried me from the beginning, you know. So, Mahomes has had it’s starting to open up for Mahomes. Yes, it How boring is that? You know, right? I mean, Rice is coming back and, you know, it is, but it also isn’t. Yeah. Because it’s a little bit of a different kind of route for them this year where they The record’s not great. I mean, they’ve already lost more games this year than they did all of last year. They’re not going to be 15 and two. They’re not going to be 15 and two. I, you know, I guess they could still obviously get that number one seed and and and get a buy. There’s still a lot to happen. Um, but yeah, I I am just kind of blown away by it has felt like this entire season, every time we nail down, oh, the Packers are really good and then they have some bad games, a couple bad performances. Eagles are the best example. Eagles look really good and then they have two terrible performances. The Chargers are three and 0. My goodness. Herbert’s MVP, you know, and then they lose both of their tackles and and both of their running backs and they drop a couple games by the Dolphins. You know, it it’s just it has been a bizarre season. Yeah. And with that, once again, I mean, the Steelers really with an opportunity, they kind of stuck the fork in Cleveland on Sunday. Yes, I 100% agree. In Baltimore, the Rams kind of stuck the fork in the Browns. Pretty darn close. Yeah, you and I have talked. I We both If Baltimore were to come out of their bye-week and win seven of their next eight games, that wouldn’t shock us. I would I could I could you can sell me on that story. But even if that’s the case, it might the the math might still not add up or whatever. I feel like they can lose two more games to like make a wild card to even be the the team no one wants to play in the play, let alone division, right? I mean, they can two more losses any way you cut it, I think they’re out of it. Yeah. And so, you know, three more losses. Three more losses, they’re out of it. Two, I think they could still get a wild card. Three, they’re out. They would need tiebreers and stuff, right? It just it feels it feels like a very bizarre year. And the backdrop of that is the Steelers are four- one. They’ve got, you know, 48 hours from now, they’ve got a, I think, a very realistic opportunity to get to five- one. They’re favored. They’re they’re favored against a banged up Bengals team that is, you know, just in week two with Joe Flacco and really doesn’t have much going their way. No, defense is bad. I know that, you know, Mike Tomlin has never one of the won one of these Thursday divisional games on the road. I think he’s only won two of these Thursday road games in his 19 years in Pittsburgh. Yes. But this feels like a prime opportunity to bust that streak and to again I mean sitting five and one with a long week to prepare for Green Bay coming here on Sunday Night Football. You would be feeling great about where you were at particularly when surveying the landscape around you. All right. So a couple things that I wanted to just give want to rewind. One thing leaguewide, I don’t think we know who’s really good. We know who’s good. You know, I don’t know who we know who’s really good. I don’t think anybody does, right? But we know who’s really, really bad. That doesn’t really concern the Steelers. They’re not one of them, but it’s pretty obvious. You We’ve already had a coach change. I mean, there’s some good way to put it. There’s five, six awful teams, you know, and we and I don’t think they’re going to rebound, you know, like that. That story is written. As for like the Thursday night stuff, we haven’t talked about a lot. We’ve only had one show this week, but on the road Thursday night, Tomlin’s been poor. You know, caveat, most people lose on Thursday night on the road. The win the win percentage for the road team on those Thursday night games is not good. It’s like it’s like one out of three. Yes, it’s like 30 some%. His isn’t good enough. It’s below the standard, you know, for sure. But there’s also two ways of looking at it. Well, two things I would add, too. In this case, he’s always been better the more prep time he gets. We just talked about after a buy, he’s awesome, you know. Well, he’s Green Bay is a better team than the Bengals. Yes. I would rather have the long time to prepare for Green Bay than a long time to prepare for the Bengals, especially as currently restricted with with Flaco. Not you get a choice in the matter, but if you if I’m going to get extra time on one end of that battle, I definitely want it before Green Bay. Totally with you. Now, I didn’t know this till today, but I did a live show with Rob and Missy, and Rob opened it with, you know, the all the struggles on Thursday night on the road, everything you just said. And Missy retorted by saying, “Yeah, but Aaron Rogers is 13 and Michael Burch just put this out from the Steelers. He has all the stats. I think he’s 13-5 on Thursday night. 13-6. 13-6 on Thursday Night Football, which is not a small sample size with a 42 to5 interception. Touchdown interception ratio. Is that pretty good? I think that’s pretty good. That’s pretty good. I mean, like his passer rating, his yards are good and all that stuff too, but 42 to five is what I remember in terms of touchdown interception ratio. So, wow. Yeah. I mean, so maybe that mojo, you know, fights the bad mojo. You know, he played two Thursday night games last year with the Jets. The first one, 77% completion percentage, 281 yards, two touchdowns, no turnovers, no interceptions. A pretty bad team. These aren’t powerhouse Packer teams, right? 119 passer rating. Wow. The second one, okay, the first one was against New England and they stunk last year. The second one was against Houston, a division champion. Okay. Playoff team. 22 of 32 for a 69 completion percentage, 211 yards passing, three touchdowns, no turnovers for a 118 passer rating. Yeah, that’s pretty impressive. Yeah. So, you know, I mean, a lot of we’ve heard this from Steeler fans and probably from all fan bases, but particularly Steeler fans. 42 and five touchdown to interception ratio. That looks fake. That looks fake. It looks like it’s made up, right? It looks like Madden numbers or something like but a lot of people be like nothing ever changes around here. It’s going to be the same old stuff. Well, that’s a pretty big change. That’s a significant change, right? And that is another one of those um I think kind of I was about to say the hidden value of Aaron Rogers, but I don’t even know if that’s hidden. Right. It’s when you flashing in bright lights. And Matt, I have to think that there’s no coincidence. You can draw a direct correlation to how great Aaron Rodgers is from the neck up. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And how that relates to everybody being on a short week and having less time to prepare. Great point. Yeah. Because I didn’t really dig into why other than he’s been awesome. I mean, he’s one of the best five quarterbacks to ever walk this planet. Like I bet Brady’s as good, too, you know? you know, right? I mean, they probably won more than he lost, you know, right? I get it. You know, we can’t go back to like Montana. They didn’t have as many Thursdays then. But I’m sure the great quarterbacks are better in Monday Night Football, Sunday Night Football, every situation. But I think you’re 100% right. Is he might need less prep time than everyone else, than the average Bear, you know? Yeah, it it it totally makes sense. Yeah. Particularly now at this stage of his career. Um because it’s recent, too. It’s not just his MVP years. I’m glad you mentioned those Jets teams. Exactly. Those teams weren’t good either, you know. No, they were not. The Houston team was a good defense that he carved up. He’s won four of his last five on Thursday night. Uh all in pretty decisive fashion. Okay. And yeah, that gives me a lot of encouragement heading to Cincinnati on the short week. Yeah, we were talking about off the air and I don’t think I’m like divulging any, you know, team secrets, but tell us how sausage is made. Well, you know, I mean, change the time your guys are leaving on the flight because that’ll make you block and tackle better. You’re like, we’re going an hour later or something weird tomorrow. Like, I’m not sure that’s really going to matter, but might as well change something up. Well, I like the idea of changing up the quarterback better than changing the flight time. What makes more difference, a future Hall of Fame, first ballot, one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever do it, or leaving an hour later on your weekday flight? The shortest flight in the world. I’m going to go behind door A. Yes, that is the shortest flight in the world, right? This isn’t Seattle. I think Buffalo is the only place that we fly that’s a shorter flight cuz Cleveland, we bus. Buffalo is like Matt. It’s like they don’t even have time to tell you to put your tray table up and you see it’s like a Phillyy’s got to be close. Philly is very close. It’s about the same as Cincinnati about 4550 minutes. Baltimore’s close. Yeah. Yeah. But Buffalo is I I remember like the couple I think I’ve played I think we’ve played three games in Buffalo since I’ve been on the road. don’t even take your seat belt off and it’s like 27 million. It’s like by the time we get by the time they take the the fastened seat belt light off, we’re coming down to it’s like a high-fly ball and you center catches it and we’re home. You know, you couldn’t run to your local Giant Eagle to pick up uh you know some some the cheeseburger buns for dinner, some jumbo faster than you can and we get up and down when we go to Buffalo. Uh that’s a great point. That’s something that I want to ask our buddy Chris Adamsky about when he joins us here in a few minutes. Um, Matt, I also want to get to the latest injury updates here today. Yeah, I haven’t seen anything today. It’s obviously a weird week, but you know, weird week, short week with that weird week. A lot of guys who have not practiced because they’re just getting the rested veteran status. Yeah, DK. And then they have like those he would have practiced maybe if we did practice today, you know, like some of the weird stuff that goes on this week. Uh DK Metaf has gotten the Kalin Metaf has gotten uh resting vet Jaylen Ramsay. Uh Aaron Rogers rested Monday but was a full participant on Tuesday. Calvin Austin still no practice for him this week Monday or Tuesday. Let’s ask Chris about him too. Uh Darius Slay got the day off Monday. He was limited today. Uh but it just says resting vet, no injury designation. Didn’t he leave the game, though? Like I I I lost track of how many defensive backs went out when he returned. Same with Joey Porter. Same with Jaylen Ramsey. Like somebody left for a stretch there like every other play and came back. For some reason it was only three snaps that Joey Porter Jr. missed. I thought it was more than that. It felt like more. Yeah. Um but I think other than Patrick Queen I think PZY Jr. played the second most snaps. I think Queen never left the field. He never left the field. A lot of snaps. 80 something snaps, wasn’t it? Which is which is impressive for him. They snapped the ball like 35 times in the fourth quarter. Crazy. And some of that’s the garbage time stuff, but it’s also just weird how their offense for not having a ton of success also runs a lot of plays. Yeah, they do. Yeah. Uh Darius Slay limited today after getting the day off on Monday. Deshawn Elliot resting veteran. Uh Miles Kibru has still not practiced and Mike Conlin has stated that that’s going to be a longerterm injury. So I don’t think that’s surprising to anybody. TJ Watt resting vet. Cam Hayward resting vet. Malik Harrison has been back to practice this week. He they’ve activated his IR window, that 21day window for him to return to play. I’d be shocked if we saw him on Thursday, but I got maybe Green Bay. I got to think he’s getting back in the fold sooner rather than later now that his uh 21day window for designation to return from IR. Danny Smith might be happy about that if he loses Kilibru. I mean, that’s not a one for one trade. Killer is your best guy, but still that would be one more special teamer to help. Yeah, helps. Yeah. Absolutely. And then still haven’t seen a official practice report from the Bengals yet today, Matt, but according to Ian Rapaort, of course, of the NFL Network, Trey Hendrickson will be listed as dayto-day on the short week after suffering a back injury uh in their loss to the Packers on Sunday. He had an MRI yesterday that came back clean, which does open up the door for him to play on Thursday. But I gotta wonder if there’s some business decisions from both parties in that one of like we’re going to try and trade you. You want to be traded. We don’t need you going out there and messing something up and ruining your value for your sake and for ours. Especially the player in this situation like for a short week all of a sudden, you know, coming off a pretty banged up situation. I’d be shocked if he plays. Yeah, I I would as well too. Certainly. Um but that’s kind of the latest on the injury front. We’ll keep an eye quick. I haven’t been on top of the injury front till just now, but watching the Bengals game, Mims, the first round pick, right tackle, was in and out of the game a bunch. I I’m curious what his situation for them. Yeah, no doubt. Like I said, before we, you know, in the next two hours here, I’ll continue to monitor that. Hopefully, we probably won’t learn a whole lot. Hopefully. Yeah, I I can’t imagine we will because again, it’s a weird week. all kind of do that weird stuff with the injury reports, but maybe we’ll get something from Cincinnati here before we get a bad I just want our listeners to be aware of the MIM situation. Yeah. No, I’m glad you brought that up. That’s a massive one. No doubt. It’s one of their one of their starting tackles on a team that does not have a great offensive line. No. We’ll talk about all these things and more with our buddy Chris Adamsky when we return on the other side. Wesler, Matt Williamson, it is the drive on Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network. [Music] Back on the drive here on a Tuesday on a short week as we continue to get ready for Steelers Bengals Thursday night at Pacore Stadium. Joining us to discuss now, he covers the Steelers for the Trib. He is also the co-host of the Steelers Blitz right here on Steelers Nation Radio with the great Tom Offerman. It is of course our buddy and proud Mars man himself, Chris Adamsky. Buzz, thank you for taking the time as always. Before we get into some specifics, a kind of real generic 30,000 foot question for you, but who’s the best team in the AFC right now? You could ask probably get a different answer all five weeks so far. All six weeks so far. I bet you’d get a different answer. Um, it’s, you know, it’s not, we’re not trying to be homers here or anything, but I mean, the Steelers have certainly entered the discussion, right? I mean, there’s no reason they haven’t. I mean, Buffalo, you know, I’m not willing to write off the Bills, but these last two games, they both went on prime time. Everybody’s watching. They’ve looked very ordinary. Um, offensively, I I’m kind of, you know, look at their their wide receiver core especially. what what what do what do they have there in terms of dynamicism really? And so I I don’t know. I mean, man, you know what? Me and Tom had this discussion today actually on the Blitz and and I I kind of talked through this like I’m doing now and he hits me at the end. He’s like, you know what, Chris, I think it’s the Kansas City Chiefs. That’s kind of the conclusion we came to. I’m like, that’s so boring, but it might be the Chiefs. Or if you’re on board with the Colts, I think they got they’ve had the best year. Yeah. Yeah. They they have the best. this was college I guess and you’re judging it by resume I suppose if that would the criteria or if you were to say who the best team is and uh the the Colts certainly they’ve been pretty much generally although this week notwithstanding blowing people out when they’ve won two and um you know their only loss is to a pretty good team on the road so they have the best resume their kind of their numbers look pretty good up and down in terms of you’re trying to evaluate teams that way I guess there’s still you know you’re going to be skeptical about Daniel Jones right until He till proven otherwise. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. So, but the Chiefs in terms of I mean they’re three and three. They’ve played one of the toughest schedules in the NFL so far and they’ve had certainly injury issues or absences for other reasons in terms of what they’ve why maybe they haven’t been as you know dynamic on offense. So when they have all their proverbial bullets in the chamber I I you know I I wonder so and and they until until proven otherwise too. They’re also kind of the the king of the mountain in the AFC, right? I mean, how many times they lost when it matters in the AFC. What once the past five years now? It’s ridiculous. Um, so until that happens, I guess, and you putting together the what they just just beaten maybe the NFL’s best team uh the other day, I guess you got to say the Chiefs right now, even though they’re three and three. Nobody wants to hear that, but especially with like Lamar getting out of the way and Burrow getting out of the way and all, you know, but we’ll see. Um, what’s your hunch on Calvin Austin’s availability? I I know right now it’s still up in the air, but you you leaning one way or another. Yeah. Well, um, he didn’t practice today. Um, so I would think that that would mean, you know, the Thursday game is a little bit of a different than a normal week where they don’t practice on Friday. It’s been almost unanimous over Tomlin’s tenure that if somebody doesn’t practice on Friday, they don’t pract. Now the the Thursday thing you can talk yourself into it I guess but they also didn’t it’s not like he just suffered this on Sunday and you know give a guy a day off something like that. So I I pretty at this point expect he’s not going to play uh to tomorrow Thursday tomorrow. No I these week these short weeks all throw me off two days from now. Do you think Miller would be the close to direct replacement again? Seems that way. Yeah, it see certainly in I mean in terms of snaps he did and I guess you go by targets there was only one target to be had was the whole core there and you know I think we I thought by the eye test I thought Gainwell lined up a little bit more in the slot that game but then the from what I saw the the at least the PFF numbers didn’t didn’t say he did I thought maybe that was they were going to kind of replace him more you know by committee of course this jumbo package now um that that’s one fewer wide receiver maybe you need for a lot of plays. But in terms of who the that extra eligible was wouldn’t exactly be linear, you know, in terms of Scotty Miller replacing Calvin Austin for all the snaps he’d play, I thought you’d see more Gainwell and maybe more of the tight ends. And I guess probably by extension, there probably was a little more John Smith um on Sunday than there would have been otherwise. But that seems to be it. But the sample size now is up to five games, right? So you add up Miller and Wilson and Skironic, I mean, how many targets they have in totality? It’s not too many. So, uh, what whatever anybody’s thinking about in terms of production, at least catch production, I don’t know if there’s going to be anybody who really steps into that role as the wide receiver, too. Well, Buzz, kind of sticking with a similar conversation over the last two weeks. Darnell Washington has clearly been tight end number one. Is that here to stay for the long term? Is that a function of just the opponents and the defenses they’ve played the last two weeks? Maybe the answer is somewhere in the middle. Do you expect to continue to see him being the the lead car, the pace car for the tight ends? At least certainly in terms of snap count. Yeah, I don’t know if it was by or if it has been or was their design that hey, from this point on, Darnell is going to play, you know, whatever three quarters, 80% of the snaps the rest of the season. But and maybe that was the game plan for Minnesota and the way the game flow played out and Cleveland sort of the same way and you see the results with you could say the running game you could say Washington’s production as a receiver all the a lot of reasons why it’s working the team’s winning obviously and you finally I don’t say finally but they’re finally trusting maybe putting the the pack obviously I mean he’s he’s a You’ve talked about it at Nauseium for three years now, what kind of athlete he is or unique individual he is, a neat human being he is or being that size and being that fast and having some of the skills he has. So he was projected as a remember a a possible first round pick for a reason that year and he and he fell a little bit and they were talking about his his medicals maybe whatever happened there. So, he has the pedigree, he could be that. And quite frankly, if he’s going to I mean, it’s it’s it’s again, we’ve seen it so often. We’ve seen it for three years off and on to some little sample sizes. I guess that maybe that’s why. But it’s every time he catches a pass, it is still a marvel to see these, you know, 6’2, 240lb linebacker just kind of like five both just stomping on them. It’s it’s it’s something to behold. And um let alone defensive backs. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Certainly them that that I mean without saying that yeah just the way he just kind of takes seems like it takes three guys to tackle him every time he catches the pass. So you add this up and the way things are working and obviously a lot of good vibes around the Steelers offense and the Steelers overall right now and it’s been I want to say it’s a direct result of him playing of course but if it ain’t broke don’t fix it right. So it doesn’t matter who the quarterback is but the scariest aspect without question of this Bengals team is Higgins and Chase right? I mean, it looks like the Steelers will be healthy at corner and they’ve pretty publicly said Ramsay’s their number one. How do you think they handle it, though? I mean, I I I would I still would kind of be shocked if it’s just chasing Ramsay on an island all day. I mean, that sounds like that’s asking a lot. Yeah. And it really hasn’t they haven’t done yet this season. It’s really hard to get an idea because this past game was the first game where the entire secondary was healthy for the entire game. Yeah. Yeah. And you could get you could get some kind of idea how the Steelers or how Terrell Austin and Michael everybody was going to approach how they would defend teams. Now Cleveland doesn’t have an alpha wide receiver or or a very very good wide receiver that or you know see Justin Jefferson two weeks ago and they didn’t do that you know. Yeah. So I would think now I mean they didn’t have Joey Porter that game. So in theory, you put him then you’re making yourself weaker at number two and and the Vikings don’t have the same number caliber number two that the Bengals have. So in other words, they I’m surprised at how open Yeah. Yes. They have a lot they’ve built this secondary with a lot of opinions in mind and they’ve been pretty upfront here. Even this week, I’ve been surprised at how upfront they were like, yeah, we had we have the Bengals in mind when we made a when we acquire all these DBs we’ve been getting. we talk about these eligibles and the things we’ve been doing to to get all these these cornerbacks like this that the Bengals were, you know, target number one for while we’re doing it. So now having a whole full complement of players avail, but then you have the Ramsay with the hamstring though. I mean, obviously he looked pretty healthy making plays the other day, but maybe you don’t want to put extra stress on him. You know what I’m saying? like three days, you know, a game three four days later on three days rest and you have a tender hamstring, maybe maybe you do want to keep them back in center field a little bit more than you would otherwise. So, I still wouldn’t predict it, but I also wouldn’t be surprised because like I said, I’m sure they’ve had whenever they’ve acquired all these DBs, they had the Bengals circled this entire time. So, whatever they got cooked up, it be fun to see. Couple more minutes here with Chris Adamsky on the drive on Steelers Nation radio on the Steelers audio network. Buzz. I think Matt and I kind of stumbled into a theory, into a thesis maybe in the first segment of the show. We were talking about, of course, the challenges of Thursday night games, particularly in the division, particularly when you have to go on the road. Uh Mike Tomlin just two and eight on road Thursday night football games as the head coach for the Steelers, 0 and6 when those are uh divisional games. Now, we kind of juxtapose that, however, with Aaron Rodgers, who is 13-6 on Thursday nights in his career. And Matt, I just kind of did the quick math on this. Yeah. N1 in divisional Thursday night games. Oh, okay. Aaron Rogers in in his career. So, 13-6 overall, familiar opponents, nine-1 in in his division. And obviously, he has not yet seen the Bengals as the uh you know, the quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers. But Buzz, I got to think, listen, Mike Tomlin is not alone. His percentage is a little bit lower, but it is across the league a tall task for teams to win on the road on these short weeks on Thursday nights. But Matt and I kind of hypothesize that when you have a quarterback like Aaron Rogers, obviously one of the greatest to ever do it at his position, he’s going to walk into the Hall of Fame when he hangs him up, but he’s also one of the smartest quarterbacks ever above the shoulders. just the advantage that that can have for your offense on a short week, less prep time, less practice time, all those things. Could this kind of be the the elixir? Aaron Rodgers under center against a Bengals team who feels like they’re ripe for the picking uh to get Mike Tomlin that first divisional road win on a Thursday night. Yeah. I mean, just looking at what the Bengals, I mean, the Bengals are last right now in the league, and this isn’t over the Thursday nights, of course, but they’re last in the league in point differential, and that’s after starting two and 0. Um, so you imagine how bad they they’ve been getting beat the past four weeks now. They’re minus 80 overall and minus 85 over the over this four game losing streak. So, and I know a lot of that was Jake Browning, a lot of that was Jake Browning giving the ball to the other team for the first three of those games, and he’s not going to be part of this game. H but you still have and I know he’s 40 years old too and he’s considered a smart quarterback and been around and seen everything and joined a bunch of different teams and all that so better equipped than most. But it was only eight days ago or actually as we speak now seven days ago. So when did Flaco show up in in Cincinnati? Six days ago, right? So he’s going to be eight days later playing his second game, his second game in five days. Um so there there obviously there’s a lot here going for the Steelers and but you’re right. He hasn’t even unpacked his boxes yet. Yeah. Yeah. You think about it, show up somewhere on a unless he got there Tuesday night, he’s playing game planning for a game, you know, five days later to be the starting quarterback four days later and then four days after that got another game. Um, so I’m sure it’s a frenzy time and you know, everything points to the Seers, but it is it is crazy. I mean, just from a just from a uh for entertainment purposes only perspective. Um, you know, people people love to say it’s cliche, but uh, you know, road teams in the division, you you’re always weary to back. The road team in a Thursday night game, you’re always weary to back. And of course, we have a lot of data with the Steelers that provides, although almost all those losses, unless they were on Thanksgiving, um, are against the Browns. Now, I don’t know if that makes it better or worse, but because I like the Browns are are are that, you know, have this have been that great teams over the years or anything like that, but um what there was two on Thanksgiving with the with the Ravens, I think, and they played a regular Thursday night game whenever um who was the kicker that kept missing field goals for the Steelers. The Scobby Scobby kept missing kicks over and over, and that’s why they lost that Thursday night game. That was a home game, so I guess that doesn’t count, but you get the point. Um there’s a there’s a lot here that that you would think would point to the Steelers, but then again, it’s like hashtag NFL. you you can never take anything for granted. Chris, last thing I got for you is I’m curious your thoughts on Patrick Queen. Uh there’s so many right now individual players on defense to get excited about, you know, the first round pick, Herbig, the corners, Elliot being back. I think Queen’s right there with those guys, though. I think he’s really played well of late. It is. It is crazy with this Steelers defense how you can go and talk and me and Tom will talk for a whole segment about the defense and I think it was like we got to hour two before you mentioned Derek Harman. This is your first round pick and but you know three or four games into his career. Um you just kind of like yep he’s there. He saw what he did. you know, he’s doing his. It’s like you don’t even like have to talk about it because there just so many guys around him making I mean, how can you ignore her big and Watts doing his thing and it’s just Ramsay’s you making splash plays and you guys get lost um because there just so many playmakers right now and that’s absolutely right. Here’s a guy who, you know, I I’ve talked about just in general that Queen kind of gets lost in this defense or we kind of forget about how he was this for the Steelers a very marquee. I mean, literally the highest paid free agent they’ve ever signed outside the organization to bring in as a free agent and was an allp pro when they brought him in and he’s been in the middle of the defense and yeah, so you kind of do I great way of putting it. You kind of forget forget about him. But yeah, he’s probably had a solid a time, a solid stretch here these past couple games that he’s had as a Steeler and and especially after the way that those first couple games went with the run defense overall and everything. And like I like to say, it’s not just the Steelers are four and one. I just think that they’ve been ascending literally almost every week where you just feel better and better about they played after week one and week two certainly and the way they’re playing even week three. Um these last two games they’ve been at their best and almost up and down almost all aspects of the team almost it feels like and and the run defense in the middle of the defense and and remember a few games ago we were really worried about u at least the you know more so maybe Pton Wilson but the the middle of that defense and man that that’s uh that seems like a long time ago now. Uh sure does things can change very rapidly week to week in this league. Just ask the Buffalo Bills currently uh how they’re feeling. Chris Adamsky, make sure you’re checking him out every day on the Steelers Blitz with Tom Offerman, all his work in the trip as well too. Buzz, thank you for the time. Great stuff as always and we’ll talk to you next week. Look, always look forward to it, guys. Talk to you then. There he goes. The second most popular Mars grad on the Steelers Audio Network. Oh, yeah. Right. Chris, not a bad place to be. That’s all right. Top two, right? Right. Right. Top two. Uh Matt, we have got plenty to get to today. I want to get into some Matt stats when we return on the other side to close down the first hour. That document’s starting to take shape. Starting to take shape a little bit. And tonight will put the finishing touches and we’ve only got so many segments left uh before before kickoff. And so I want to make sure we get to uh to some of the good information and and stat pools uh and factoids that you have in there this week. And we will do some of that when we return on the other side. Wesler, Matt Williamson, it’s the drive on Steelers Nation radio on the Steelers Audio Network. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Wrapping up the first hour here of a condensed week, a weird week. Uh, as this is kind of It’s fun. Yeah, it is fun. It’s kind of the end of it, too. I mean, you know, the Steelers will have uh a Monday night game, but in terms of in terms of couple in a row here have a Monday night game, right? I’m I’m a Sunday nighter, which doesn’t matter much for us. Yeah, Miami, right? The Dolphins when Minka comes back to town. Uh if he’s still a Dolphin, who knows what’s going on. Yeah, ain’t that the truth. That’s a good point, too. Don’t assume that here anymore. Uh, and yeah, and like there’s the West Coast Sunday night game in LA that, you know, it’ll be 6:00 a.m. or 7 am by the time we land back here and all that on Monday. But that doesn’t change much for the listeners, though. It doesn’t that doesn’t change much for the listeners. You and I will still be doing a show. I might be half asleep, but we’ll still be doing a show. Um, but hopefully this is the last supremely weird week uh that we will have kind of in this calendar season. You should have done this during co It was It was You were just like It was nuts, right? Nuts. We were all all doing threehour shows a day. Playing on a Wednesday or something. Playing on a Wednesday. Yeah. Even a couple years ago, a playoff game on a Monday at 4:30 against Buffalo or whatever it was. There was that Bronco game. They have a quarterback. Speaking of which, real quick for you, I was talking about like some of the travel and the flights in Buffalo and back and how quick that is. Yeah. When we went to when we flew to Buffalo for that snow state of emergency game, playoff game, the Mason Rudolph won two years ago, that was one of the most bizarre things ever. We first of all, they flew in like Top Gun from Atlanta to have him fly the Steelers plane because of the because of the weather. It was like Delta. We got mad from Del. We got Iceman, their number one guy to fly. And we never went above the clouds. We never went like I could I could see it was like a line drive 79 north the whole time that we were we were flying but it’s so short and we it’s so but we land in Buffalo and Matt it was a state of emergency in Buffalo like no other flights are going anywhere no other flights anywhere and no one on the road like unless you’re deemed like essential personnel like you work in the hospital or you work for public works like you are not allowed to be out on the roads so we fly into Buffalo on that Sunday evening before the Monday game and it was like a scene out of an apocalyp IC movie. No one’s on the roads. No one’s at the airport. Nothing going on. It’s all white everywhere with snow. We land and it’s like police escort and like seven plow trucks to lead us to lead us to the hotel. Fullback after fullback. Exactly. We have Mike Allott and Chris Fuma Malafalu and all these guys Rigggins and all these great fullbacks in front of us there to to bring us on home. Um, but yeah, that was that was certainly a bizarre one, but it will be a short flight to Cincinnati on Wednesday, of course, for this game on Thursday. And let’s jump into some Matt stats here, Matt. Couple of these that I want to run past you. We’ve talked a little bit about point differential and with Cincinnati. Yeah, they’re last Steelers uh went into last week minus two in the point differential. They are now plus 12. Uh, and that particularly on the back of winning three straight games as well, too. But Cincy 80 worst in the league. And they were two and0. And they were two and0 at one point, which you got to score more points than your opponent to win a game. I can figure that one out. Uh and over their last four games, that four game uh losing streak, they have been outscored 100, excuse me, I almost, you know, it’s so disgusting I almost threw up in my own mouth. 140 to 55. Brutal. I mean, like they’re getting boat raced out here. Crushed. on both sides of the ball. Now, I will say it was a little better with Flaco. I mean, there was nowhere to go but up and it’s one game and at least he he’s going to take shots to chase. And I was going to say it makes those two more dangerous, you know, but their running game is horrendous or O line’s really bad. I actually think the Dline’s a little bit better than it has been, but the back seven’s a mess. And we’ve talked a lot about like young linebackers, how they get manipulated. These young linebackers are just running around with their hair on fire. I mean, it’s It it’s rough right now. I mean, it’s real rough. Turnover differential, another thing that we track and keep an eye on and discuss week to week. Steelers now plus seven in turnover differential, third best in the NFL. Yep. And remember, like on some of these counting stats, that one’s not as big a deal. They’ve played one less game than some teams, too. So, a lot of these this time of year, Matt stats, a lot of things will be average per game, things like that, as opposed to they have the most rushing yards in the league. Well, you played an extra game. There’s only a couple teams that have had a by week so far and the Steelers are one of them. Plus seven turnover differential, third best in the league. Only behind Chicago and Jacksonville, just like everybody thought with those two teams heading in. That’s impressive for Chicago. Uh we talked a little bit about the Bills and the surprise that that was last night. My goodness, how good is Bejian Robinson? That we buried the lead really. I means one of the best players in the league. Period. Good lord. Right. Also, my two big takeaways from that were Bejian Robinson. Good lord. Yeah. Holy. Second is why do the Atlanta Falcons wear any other uniforms other than those ones? You know, not a uniform guy with their free SL. So much better than typical uniforms. Uh but how about how about Chicago finding a way to get it done in a weird one there against the Commanders on the road. I think you should be pretty happy with where you’re at in the Bears world. You know, Caleb looks okay. You got a coach, you know. I mean, you’re trending the right direction. Couple weeks were a struggle. I think that’s to be expected. Being a Bears fan the last 20 years or so since Ditka hasn’t been easy. No, it is not. Yeah. I mean, and particularly as it relates to their situation under center, but I think you got to be feeling as good about Caleb Williams as you have at any point. So, Steelers plus seven in turnover differential only behind the Bears and the Jacksonville Jaguars. Cincinnati minus four, only ahead of the Jets, the Ravens, and the NerS. And I don’t at least history shows Flaco all of a sudden is not going to stop the turnovers from happening. I mean, that guy turns the ball over. Correct. You know, correct. Uh, Steelers, another one that we keep an eye on, Matt, is sack differential. You know, everyone talks about turnover differential, and it’s obviously a key indicator of who wins games, but right behind that, sack differential and explosive play differential. Steelers now plus 15 in sack differential in their last three games, plus 11 on the season in total. That’s humming, man. That’s really That’s where they need to be. Yep. And it’s exactly what we’ve been hoping for. and it started slow in that regard, but it’s coming back in a big way. And you’re seeing it from everybody, you know, as well, too. Benton getting involved, Jaylen Ramsay getting involved. It’s not just the typical Watt and Highmith and and and Cam Hayward. Um, that to me has been very, very encouraging. It’s great that you’re, this isn’t a knock on Cam, but it’s great that you’re less reliant on Cam. Totally. You know, that’s how you drew it up. Why you drafted him in the first round? It’s the same thing. You said this a couple weeks ago, I think it was, but you were like, “As much as I love Chris Boswell, I don’t want him to be team MVP.” No. No. That’s like a rich man poor man thing, you know? Right. Yeah. Like, as much as we all love Cam Hayward, I don’t want him to be you, you know, pacing the way by far in snaps and and everything like he was the first week or two of the season for the defensive front, right? It’s almost like a less is more thing with him at this stage. Like the Bills want Josh Allen to be MVP. I don’t want Boswell to be MVP. I don’t want Boswell to be MVP. I don’t want Cam Hayward out there for 90% of the snaps every single week. Even if he’s great at it. Exactly. Right. Um and uh and I think we have starting to see all that stuff come together and a lot of those guys sticking their hand in the pile for the defense has been a big part of that. Some of those depth pieces have really stepped up. I mean at every position huge. It’s not just the Herbigs and the Ben and the Harmons. I’m talking like Ukay Black, Hulcom, you know, Eckles, you know. Big time. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That’s a that’s a great list right there that that you just put together uh of guys who have really contributed and started to make a difference. Uh Matt, last one here before we go to break uh and come back for hour number two. Steelers penalized 10 times last week. That’s the most penalties accepted against the Steelers since week two of last year. Yeah. Yeah. How much of that was a function though of their sloppy play verse just a Ron Tolbert crew that we know throws flags at a higher rate than anybody else in the I think it’s 50 well 6040 more towards the other the part two of that. Okay. So like you don’t expect that to be a negative trend that we now need to keep an eye on. You go back to last year they were the best in the league at it too. We got a long sample size here over 20 games or so where they’re amongst the best. I I didn’t put this in the packet yet because it’s they have the benefit of playing one less game than most, but I still think they’re the fewest penalties taken. So, on a per game basis, they’re still going to be amongst the best. Pretty good, I think. So, I’m not I’m not worried in that department. I think I think I think one more was uh was was just a or I think last week, pardon me, was just a uh was just a one-off. That’s what I’m looking for to describe it. 10 penalties, but it wasn’t for an obscene amount of yardage either. It was only like 60 yards or something. A lot of them were offsides on TJ a couple times and, you know, things like that. Lining up the neutral zone and stuff like that, you know. Correct. Uh but hopefully we’ll see that number much down lower here uh much lower on uh on Thursday night in Cincinnati. An hour in the books, another hour to go on the other side. Little fantasy football focus, some NFL power rankings. Uh more thoughts on Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, of course, as we roll along into hour number two. Westuler Matt Williamson. It’s the drive on Steelers Nation radio on the Steelers Audio Network. [Music] Good evening, Steeler Nation. How we doing? Well, that’s good. Us two. Hour number two here of the drive on Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network. Wesler and Matt Williamson with you. And much like Jean Wilder said in Willy Wonka in the Chocolate Factory, so much to do and so little time here. Yeah, we could squish some things in here. Hour number two. I do want to do some fantasy football focus with you here, Matt. Our kind of I think it’s become typical here. Tuesday waiverwire conversation as again we’re getting to the part of the season by-weeks are rolling in, injuries are piling up, left and right. Yeah, got to hit that waiver wire hard. A couple guys that I want to run past you that are popular. Waiverwire pickups uh still available in a lot of uh leagues. And let’s start with one half of the tandem that has been perhaps the topic of football the last couple weeks. Jackson Dart. Yeah. And for fantasy, I’m all in. He runs. He runs a ton and he’s aggressive as can be. And frankly, if he gets hurt, I’ll just pick up another quarterback. You know what I mean? Like that that that’s not a hard position to replace. So durability for me in quarterback world isn’t that big a deal. I think there’s plenty of really tough games ahead where he’ll be throwing late in the game. So, you know, pick up extra 80 yards in the fourth quarter, garbage time. They want to play him no matter what. Uh the offensive line’s in a little bit better shape with Andrew Thomas back. So sure. Yeah. I he should probably be in close to every league. He has yet to throw for more than uh 202 passing yards in his three starts, but when you combine the running I I think it’s worth it. If you if you need if you need a quarterback, I think it’s worth it. The running’s not going away. No. If that were fluky, I’d be like, “Ah, be quiet, you know, be you know, be cautious.” No, he’s that’s what he’s got to do. Here’s another one. How about Bryce Young? There’s some good ones. Interesting for me. Some good days. The last two weeks he’s faced the 31st and 32nd uh pass defense by EPA. I was going to say the teams he’s played are so bad though. But he has five passing touchdowns in his last two games. They want to run the ball by nature though. Yeah. And they do. They also have the Jets though this weekend. So another favorable matchup for him. Yeah. I mean, if your guys on buy or you’re streaming or DFS, you know, I’d have a hard time probably putting him like in my top 12, you know, but situationally maybe. Yeah. T McMillan’s really involved. Coker’s coming back. Yeah. Situationally, he could maybe get you out of a jam for this weekend. Yeah. Yeah. I wouldn’t hitch my wagon entirely. No, no, no, no. Absolutely not. But again, a lot of people you just need a kind of oneweek fix at this point. You slap duct tape on it for a week. I think he could do worse. If he’s cheap in DFS, I’d consider too against the Jets. Yeah, that’s a good that’s a good point as well. Uh running backs here. How about Kamani Vidal? Yes. Love that name, by the way. He sounds like he’s like winning World Cups with Argentina and Leo Messi. Kamani Vidal goal. Uh he gets to start at running back for the Chargers. 18 carries, 124 yards, added a touchdown through the air, 67% snap share, 72% of the Chargers carries. Is he the guy in the backfield for LA now going forward? Probably. I mean like this time last week it was Vidal or Haskins and like in all my leagues they got picked up and I think people were hoping 50/50. Um I warned people that I thought Vidal was the better talent and the more well-rounded player. Haskins is kind of a plotter between the tackles. Tough guy, but he’s Michigan dude and Harbaugh loves him and he trusts him. So that was scary, you know. But I think now it’s only one game, but you’re probably starting Vidal. You mean not just like Yeah. I mean, not just like picking him up. If you didn’t, he probably got picked up last week. But I mean, if if you did, I think you can trust him enough you put him in your lineup. You know, he is RB1 on a team that wants to and is going to run the football. Yeah. I mean, you know, how about Taj Taj Spears of the uh of the Titans? Uh man, Tony Pard’s snap share continues to fall four straight weeks. Uh Spears 60% of the snap share. Uh he had four catches, he had five carries. Um you could see that continuing to grow. Maybe they’re such an awful football team that I mean they hardly ever get first downs and they’re miserable. I mean like they don’t ever move the ball. But there’s two things that could work in its favor for fantasy. Is a coaching change. I mean, if it’s a two-week bump that all of a sudden Absolutely. and Pard could get traded, you know what I mean? That would and you if you can get ahead of that, that would go a long way. I mean, we we opened the show talking about there’s five or six horrendous teams and I think that’s the most horrendous team. If you could trade a running back that’s been around the block for picks, why wouldn’t you if you’re Tennessee, you know? Yes. Yes. That’s a that’s a actually a very astute point there. uh final one in the uh and I urge people to use that strategy too. Like if you start looking at the the Saints, the Jets, you know, like look at some backups that could get a spot, could move to a better situation. Yeah. Yeah. Like I’m not saying pick up Jack Bash, but if Jacobe Meyers gets moved from the Raiders, they’re going to play Jack Bash a lot, you know? I mean, but I’m not saying he’s relevant, but that’s just one example. You know, what about Kareem Hunt? 71% of the Chiefs carries. I know. Uh, I just don’t think he’s very good. He’s not Kareem Hunt when he was there his first time around. Uh, the young pup I picked up a couple weeks ago, Smith, the the the draft draftable dude that they drafted and thought that he might be a spark plug, but he just hasn’t been relevant enough. I’m thinking about dropping them. I don’t They seem like a team that should trade for a running back. Yeah, they really do. Yeah, I mean, I don’t think Pacheco is particularly good. Hunt is trustworthy but very pedestrian. But he gets the goal line carries in a good offense, you know, like maybe one of these teams that Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There’s there’s running backs you could get. I I think they should be the team to try. What’s the uh not Breece Hall, but the other Jets running back? I’m drawing a blank. Allen got hurt. That’s right. He did get hurt. Never mind. But Hall’s up after this year. There’s a chance he gets move. I mean, imagine throwing him on the on the Chiefs. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. They was going to give him money. You could probably pry him away. I think they would definitely be the best my best team in the AFC if they were able to get Bree Hall. That would be scary. A couple wide receivers to run past you here, Matt. How are we feeling about Sterling Shepard on the Bucks with all their injuries? Any re I’ve come to the conclusion and this is a compliment to Baker. Any starting receiver on that team is fantasy worthy. I mean, guys we’ve hardly heard of Tez Johnson’s playing, you know, like playing well. I I I don’t know what the status is on a Tuesday for Evans, Godwin, and Ibuka for this this upcoming week, but I don’t think any of them are good, you know. So, I just trust the team and the quarterback and the offensive system right now. Last one for you. A guy that you and I, Dale Moes, trying to think who all else was there with us, Jerry Doolac. spent a lot of time talking about this guy at the combine, Luther Burden. Yeah. Of the Chicago Bears. Offense is starting to come on a little bit. Williams starting to come on a little bit. Is Burden worth a waiverwire pick at this point? He flashed a little last night. He’s flashed a little in his rookie year. Um something I’ve brought up a few times. I can’t remember if you and I have talked about it or not, but it’s not uncommon for a rookie coming off their buy to get a spike, you know, and they just came off their buy last week. You spend extra time with them. Now I trust him. I’m ready to thrust him in the mix. That’s just a note for fantasy that if you’re a guy you’ve been waiting on Tayon Henderson or whoever, you know, like when they come off their Yeah. Right. Right. They come off their buy, they sometimes get a spike. And this is sort of Steeler related, but it would not blow me away if DJ Moore got traded. Yeah. I think he’s got to be one of the guys um Yeah. kind of on that list. Yes. But that’s what you need to happen for burden to be I think so too usable for fantasy. Now DJ Moore was also hospitalized for unknown reasons. I say something just popped on my phone right now about DJ Moore that in mind. Um but even if if it’s something injury related or healthwise for him that keeps him out too another opportunity for for an offense on the rise and he’s your third receiver that’s you know it’s not bad. There’s a lot of mouths to feed there though. There are there certainly they’ve got some talented eligibles. Yeah. in the wind in the Windy City like is Lovelin gonna get a bump? Maybe usually a first round pick on the guy. Maybe he’s been a little banged up, but I think they have a byee coming up here. They just did. They came off. That’s right. They just did. You’re right. Never mind. And so yeah, maybe maybe it’s the time to start seeing him. He’s a first round pick on tight end. You think they’d use him more? Maybe he’ll start to perk up as Mike Tomlin would say here before the Steelers uh see the Bears in about a month or so there in Chicago. That’s it for your uh your Waverwire conversation of the week here. When we come back on the other side, it’s time for a little NFL power rankings. And uh spoiler what do spoiler? I I think I do. Okay. I think it’s one of the teams in the NFL that is not named after an actual city. Yeah. Tampa Bay Buccaneers cuz Tampa Bay is not a city, right? They are. Yeah. Along with Carolina and who’s the other one? There’s one more. three teams in the league that are not named after an actual city. The Arizona Cardinals. There you go. I didn’t know that, but that makes sense. Yeah. Arizona, uh, Carolina, and Tampa Bay. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Good stuff. Uh, that it’s that’s it for fantasy football. Onto some power rankings when we return on the other side. Wesler, Matt Williamson, and it is the drive on Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network. [Music] [Applause] Weekly Tuesday power ranking check-in here. All right, Matt Williamson. And as always, we start at the back of the bus. Yeah, we’ll go a little quicker on these. Sometimes these can eat up a lot of time. We We got two more segments left. We got two more segments here. Uh the Jets at number 32. I don’t think there’s any surprise there. Titans are worse. I’m I don’t mean like I think you’re right. I think I think the Titans would or I think the Jets would be favored against the Titans. I think the Jets might be favored against the Browns right now as well too, but they’re the only team that hasn’t won a game. Yeah, they negative passing yards last week in net passing yards. I mean, nine sacks. I mean, it’s bad. So, I’m not going to stand on the table and see like the Jets are good. I just think the Titans are miserable right now. And they’re at 31. Fired uh you know, Brian Callahan, first team to fire their coach this season. Tennessee at number 31, the Browns at number 30. Yeah, but at least they have a defense. And I mean, I was going to say like Miamiy’s ahead of them. I might take Cleveland to beat the Dolphins this week. Maybe. Maybe Miamiy’s offense isn’t hideous. Vegas. I don’t know. I think Vegas is bad. I do too. But I But of all these teams, I think Vegas also has the best potential to semi turn things around a little bit. Maybe I’m not saying win nine games and suddenly get in a wild card hunt, but maybe get respectable. But yeah, I I like Miami, I don’t think they’re going to win many more games this year. Cleveland, Tennessee, New York, but if Las Vegas somehow finished with seven wins, it wouldn’t if if they were to go five and if they were to go five and six in the remaining games, it wouldn’t shock me, right? Like I think Cleveland is clearly looking at next year. Miami’s looking at a coaching change sooner than later. you know, at least the Raiders have an eye on the prize. You know, I also say that and they have to go to Arrowhead this weekend and I don’t anticipate that going very well for them. I haven’t looked at the spreads yet, but Cincinnati checking in at number 27. Yeah, they’re every bit as bad as all these teams right now. They are. I think I would probably have them favored over all these teams probably just cuz their chance of having a good day is there. And that’s what scares me about Thursday. They could have a good day. They got a couple guys who could have a good day, including Flaco. Can make some plays. Absolutely. Uh up to number 26 after uh their obvious best performances of the season. Uh the New York Giants, the Gmen at 26, up two spots from last week. Okay. I’m glad they didn’t reward him too much. I mean, I think that’s fine. I think that’s fair. Um I didn’t want to see him at like 19 or something crazy. I’m with you. I’m with you on that. There’s a lot of Kool-Aid going around in giant circles right now, and I get it. They are exciting in a in a different kind of way, but I don’t think that means that they’re particularly Thursday night division game. Hint hint on the road for Philly. Not not the easiest environment, you know. No doubt. No doubt. Um and I just I think at some point that Malik Neighbors injury is really going to catch up with them. Yeah, they don’t have a lot of firepower. Sticking at 25 this week, it’s the New Orleans Saints. Like once again, I’m cool with that. They don’t look terrible against everybody. They just lose a lot of close games. Yeah, they’re not embarrassing. I mean, they’ve had a couple bad games, but they just don’t have great talent. I mean, at least they’re competitive. Yes, they are competitive. You can’t take that away from them. Uh, a team who has been competitiveish. The Arizona Cardinals check in at 24. Good performance by Jacobe Brassette. Yeah, I like Brassette. Um, but they lose a a close one to the Colts. They’re better than everyone we’ve mentioned, but the season’s pretty disappointing overall. There could be coaching changes there, too. Certainly, you know, especially again after they started 2 and 0. Yeah. They’ve now lost four straight. The bad luck. And at number 23, down just one spot after falling to one and five, it’s the Baltimore Ravens. The good news, Matt, is it sounds like Lamar is going to be back after the buy. The bad news is they’re one and five. They’ve got six more road games. Probably need to go nine and two, at least eight and three to make the to make the postseason. I wouldn’t say that they’re still too high. I mean, as currently constructed, it might be, but really, if you’re looking at it, how they’re currently constructed is is it what they’re about to be, which is a by-week away, or is it what we just saw? Well, next time we see them, they’re that team at least because Lamar. Yes. I mean, the last time we saw them, they should be below like the Cardinals and, you know. Yeah, I think that’s I think that’s well stated. Number 22, the Dallas Cowboys fall two, three, and one after getting outgunned by the Panthers. They got pushed around on defense. I mean, that’s that’s what’s worrisome is the the defense just gets manhandled every week. 21 is those Carolina Panthers who beat the Cowboys, have now won two straight. Um, and they’ve got the the their good days are good, their bad days are terrible, you know, but that’s a young team and that’s they got the Jets. They could easily win three straight and be four and three all of a sudden. Maybe they’re trending the right way. Maybe. Maybe. I still don’t know how to feel about the quarterback, but I think they do have some other things moving in the right direction. They’re running the ball no matter who the running back is. And you know, Daell’s been crazy lately at uh number 20 here. Little surprising to me. It’s the Houston Texans at 20. Two wins in a row. They’re not the best wins we’ve ever seen coming. One thing I’ve noticed, and I’m not giving this author a hard time, but when you’re on a buy, sometimes you get forgotten or dropped a little bit. You know, I get that part. And I get that, too. I might have just kept them where they were and not moved them down three spots, but I bet the teams ahead of them all won or something. You know, a a a big one for them heading to Seattle this weekend, which is that might be real telling. That’s going to be one of those circle and watch this game on that’s the one part about this Thursday game, Matt. I’m excited to kick my feet up on Sunday. It’s funny. somebody I was at the facility today. Three or four people were telling me that. Rob King was telling me that. Dale used to say that every time like I get to watch Sunday all day long just as a fan. I’m like it’s great. I do it all the time. You know what I you know what I extra love about it? Aside from WVU, there’s really only one game on Saturday college football that I really want to watch this week. Okay. So, it’s not like it’s BYU and Utah. The holy war. a a top 20 holy war out there out there in Provo, which I think is probably the most underrated rivalry in college sports. Both teams are ranked. There’s a couple good SEC games, too. There’s there’s a couple good ones, but they’re not ones you have to watch. There’s only so many hours and I can only watch Georgia so many weeks in a row. Okay, they’re good. Check. I mean, uh, but yeah, a rivalry game like that, uh, 5-1 Utah, 6 and0 BYU, like I said, one of the more underrated nasty rivalries in college sports. It’s cool you brought that up. Like, I didn’t I didn’t not know that, but I bet a lot of Pittsburgers aren’t like, “Oh, that huge rivalry in Utah, right?” It’s also like, obviously, we’re a little biased. The coolest rivalry name in college sports is the Backyard Brawl. Okay, everybody knows that. But the Holy War might be number two. That’s a pretty good one as well. But yeah, I’m excited to be planted on the couch on Sunday. Pay attention to the Utah offensive tackles. Both could be first round picks. Okay, they’ve they’ve got a they’ve got a lot of those. They do that very well in the trenches there in Utah. 19, the Minnesota Vikings. Another one out of sight, out of mind. Yeah. Okay. I That’s about right for them. Fine. Yeah. Uh moving up a little bit after that win last night at 18. It’s the Chicago Bears up one spot from last week. I guess I’d have him over the Vikes, but they’re right next to each other. Sounds about right in that division, you know. I think so, too. Up four spots, three and two. Feeling good. It’s the Atlanta Falcons. Raheem Morris said last deserve it. I think so, too. Raheem Morris said last night that Bejan Robinson is the best football player in the world. I don’t think he’s crazy, right? He’s not That’s not insane to say. That’s a conversation. Yep. That’s not insane to say. He was outstanding. Drake London’s playing at a high level. Um, their defense is not a pushover like they’ve been in the past. They had that one horrendous game against Carolina that when we look back it was probably like this had a bad day, you know. Okay, one bad day, especially when you got a new staff cutting was really bad that day. Couldn’t complete a pass. I mean, just had a bad day. Up a couple spots, feeling great about themselves. Uh, actually first place in the AFC East now via tiebreaker. Wow. Yeah, I guess that’s true. The 4-2 New England Patriots. Okay. I mean, I guess they belong in this neighborhood. I mean, I can make an argument for the Vikings, Bears, Falcons over them, but May’s playing unbelievably well. Yeah. And can I just piggybacking off of that? That drives me nuts. I really like Drake May. Yeah. I liked him at North Carolina. I liked him coming out of college, but man, it’s just it’s not fair that it feels like the Patriots, just a few years removed from Tom Brady, have found their guy. Got their guy already. Yeah. It’s like the Packers going from Favre to Rogers. Like, that’s not fair. Come on, man. That shouldn’t be able to happen. But I at least the Packers plan so far ahead. You draft Rogers when you don’t need them. You draft love when you don’t need them, which is a nice lesson, you know, for teams to do. This one, it’s like bottom out. Maybe they’ll be terrible for a while on M. Jones. Right. Right. And you know, couple years later, you got the guy again. Jerks. Uh, number 15. Yeah. You know what though? I will say it’s about time something nice happened to Boston sports fans. They certainly haven’t had any success in the 21st century. Uh number 15, the San Francisco 49ers. That might be a little rich for my blood after the Warner injury. After the Warner straw that breaks the back just keep on coming for them, man. I mean they’re down Fred Warner and Nick Bosa for the year, right? Like I they still have some talent. I just mentioned M. Jones. Credit to him. He’s playing he’s been really good. I bet Shanahan has a starter in the league next year. I kind of think he might be. He’s under contract after this year, but I bet they get a third round pick for him or something. And more so now, he’s competing with like a first round pick or something. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, more so now than ever before teams take those flyers on those guys. Give me Daniel Jones, Darnold Baker, blah blah blah, you know, that go to a rehab program, Gino Smith, like all these reclamation projects in the last 10 years where we used to never see that kind of stuff. And these coaches or these quarterbacks getting so much smarter, they go to a great place to learn. I’m gonna go hang out with Shanahan. You know, people that’s what Darnold did before Minnesota. You mean he spent a year with the ners, you mean? Or, you know, somewhere like that. So smart. Makes a lot of sense. At number 14, they get back in the win column. Justin Herbert once again looks fantastic. The LA Chargers. I’m cool with that there. Maybe they’ve weathered the storm a little. Alt’s not that far out, but that getting that win late in the game like they did, they would be so much lower in this list if they were two and four. No doubt. You know what I mean? Like, oh, bury them, they’re done. You know, that’s how this league is, though. That’s rough. It is a It is a onepossession league, man. Uh number 13 after uh you know that they come off that emotional win against Kansas City. They fall at home to Seattle in a one-sore game. the Jacksonville Jaguars at number 13. I’m not going to hold that loss too hard far ahead of them against them. I’m not either. I mean, the offense, it was all field goals, right? Those 12 points. I don’t think they scored a touchdown if I’m remembering correctly, but could be right. Still, it’s a good Seattle team, good Seattle defense. I I don’t think Jacksonville is going to win the division, but I still think they’re heading in the right direction. Yeah, I think they got a coach. Yeah, we’ll see on Lawrence still. But yeah, I I made the joke yesterday about how we’re so hyperbolic with football because we love it. It’s religion and it’s not baseball. It’s not basketball. It’s not hockey. You get 17 meaningful games a year, maybe if you’re lucky, right? Cleveland’s not playing 17 meaningful games. The Jets aren’t playing 17 meaningful games. I think the Jaguars, they have very rarely in their history played 16 or 17 meaningful games in a season. I think they’re going to play 17 meaningful games this year. be one of the first times in their existence they’re not picking in the top 10 and you know that type of thing. I think they’re definitely trending that way. Um so I heard this just today. I knew Lawrence was under a lot of pressure. That Seattle front is awesome as we saw in person, but it was one of the most pressured any quarterback has been since like NextGen stats. Yeah. I mean just every snap was ah you run for your life. That would explain why they had to settle for four field goals and weren’t able to find the back of the end zone. Number 12. This is a little too rich for my blood. The Washington Commanders. Me, too. But the names we just mentioned aren’t blowing me away to be ahead of them either. They’re not. And listen, I get it. Like Washington had that game literally in their hands last night. Weather. They fumbled it away. A sloppy exchange um there with Jay with Jaylen Daniels. And I’m not saying I would bury this team, but I No, I’ve never been super high in them all year, but the teams around them aren’t blowing my doors off either. They’re not. But I like I think I’d have the Jags and the Chargers ahead of them. Okay. I might have the Patriots ahead of them at this Oh, but they’re at 12. I’d have them at 14 or 15. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Number 11. They actually fall a spot despite winning a sloppy one across the pond there at Oh, they should Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. It’s the Denver Broncos at 11. D was great. Offense is worrisome. I mean, I know weird stuff happens overseas, so I don’t hold But that’s been happening to them all year. It’s been all year. That’s a thing. And what’s funny is Shawn Peyton is It’s not funny if you’re a Denver fan, but Shawn Peyton is so good with quarterbacks and such a grasp of offense. He’s not letting Knicks do much, which is very telling. Well, exactly right. That’s that would be worrisome to me. Um if I were Denver, uh big one big kind of measuring stick game this weekend between the Broncos and the Giants. Are the Broncos who they think we are take care of a lesser opponent? Are the Giants really on to something and and knock somebody else off? You hope it’s not like Broncos Jets if if you’re a Denver fan. You like I know a win’s a win, but it’s like are we better than these the York teams or not? You know. Correct. Number 10 into the top 10 for the first time this season, Matt. Up five spots after defeating the Cleveland Browns, it’s your Pittsburgh Steelers. I’m good with this. Yeah, compared to the other teams around them. I would have them ahead of all these teams we mentioned, the Washingtons and that group we just talked about for sure. I one of the only four in one teams in the league. I completely agree. I They were one loss teams in the league. I think that this is about perfect for the Steelers right now. Yeah. Number nine, it’s the Kansas City Chiefs. They move up three spots after that impressive win at home against the Lions. Uh they’ve got the Raiders and the Commanders next and then they go to Buffalo. They’ve had a tough schedule already. They’ve had a tough schedule already. Okay, hosting the Raiders. You’re probably not too moved by that one. Commanders is going to be a tough one. Uh, Buffalo, of course, always a great one when those two teams get together. I’d have them higher. I We We talked about who’s the best team in the NFL. I came down to Kansas City and Indianapolis. I still don’t think it’s going to be a cakewalk for them in the division. I think the Chargers and the Broncos are going to They’re not going away. Hang around. Yeah. Yeah. But I think Kansas City in the top 10 makes sense at this point. Okay. I would have the Colts ahead of them. We were talking about AFC. Well, there you go. That’s who’s at number eight. Oh, really? The Colts stay at number eight after they move to 5- one. a close win over uh the Cardinals. Um and some real uh you know, in the next uh the next three weeks here, Indie has to go to the Chargers. They have to go to the Steelers. They’ve got some all right, let’s see it type games coming up here. I mean, if they win those two games handily, it’s like, whoa, these It’s like, okay, they are really for real. But what I like about the Colts is they have won games in a lot of different ways this season. They haven’t had a bad week. Exactly. Right. Their loss isn’t a terrible loss. Exactly. Right. Like they, you and I kind of talked about how, you know, it felt like the last couple of years, I think we talked about this yesterday, the last couple years, it felt like the Steelers only had one recipe to victory, whereas now they have a few more. It feels like feels like the Colts have a lot of avenues to victory here through the first six weeks of the season, which I would be encouraged by if this were Colts Nation Radio. Number seven, it’s the LA Rams. Um, less than impressive against the Ravens, though, too. Less than impressive against the Ravens. Yeah, they came out. They go overseas, I think, and then get a buy. They do. And so, they’ve had a lot They’ve had a weird like they’re traveling to Baltimore across the country, then they go home, then they’re over to London, which is a crazy long trip for them. What What if they should have stayed? That’s what I was just going to say. Like, if they should have stayed in Maryland, you know, practice at a college resort there for for a day or two and then fly over to I don’t know. I’m surprised they didn’t or maybe they didn’t. I don’t know it. That’s a lot. But like Puka is probably going to be next week big loss, but they’re they weren’t that great against the Ravens. They They’re not They’re not crazy impressive right now. I do still think in the grand scheme of things, they’re a top 10 team in the NFL. Oh yeah. And I They could win the Super Bowl. They could win the Super Bowl. Absolutely. I trust them. Um but right now I might have them a spot or two lower. It’s not their finest. I’d have the Chiefs out of them. Speaking of might have them a spot or two lower. Not their finest. uh last couple of weeks down four spots to number six. It’s the Eagles. A week ago I was hesitant to crush them now. Lost two games because they lost like they won like 16 out of 17. Week ago they lost to the Broncos. Very good team, right? And it was the first time they had lost a game in 10 months and everyone’s been playing and all this team’s falling apart. But I do think there are noticeable problems with this team right now. Agreed. And they had some of this at this point last year, but it feels like figured it all out. There’s some more smoke to that fire this time around. I like Herz and I I’m hard on him because I think he has to play a certain way, more so than the other top quarterbacks. And as much as you say that and here comes here comes everyone from Philadelphia to bite your head off, it’s just the truth. Right. And that’s and they should all have Herz jerseys, I understand that, you know. Right. Right. Right. I understand why they love them. But it’s like if you don’t have all off seasonason if you didn’t have Herz in your top 10 quarterback rankings, my goodness, all of Philadelphia would descend upon your mentions or your comments or whatever. And I don’t think I’ve ever had him in my top 10. I mean, not far off, but I don’t think he’s ever been my top 10. I think when you and I did some one of those exercises leading up in the season, right? I think I had him at like nine or 10 and you had him at 11. So, he’s he’s there, but he is li he’s he’s got a lot of heat. Like I’ll put like Stafford and Dak ahead of him which looks better this year but in the offseason I got a lot of heat. I don’t think that’s even a question. Herbert is obviously ahead of him like Yeah. Uh but and now you probably got to put like the Bakers of the world and absolutely definitely Baker. Right. Absolutely. If you’re doing this Madden style and you’re drafting a team from scratch. Mhm. No doubt. No doubt. Yeah. He’s not in the top 10. No. Uh number five and I again this is maybe like the Rams in the big picture. I like them, but how they’re playing right now, I don’t love this. It’s the Green Bay Packers. Yeah, not super impressive against a not impressive team. They haven’t been impressive since Yeah, it’s been a month now, basically with a with a buy and a tie. Yeah, right. Number four, only down one spot after dropping two in a row. It’s the Buffalo Bills. Oh, I’d be lower on them. I don’t know what their receiver injuries entail big picture, but they were really short on weapons last night. concaid out and you know guys falling defense isn’t very good. No, it’s not. Yeah, it’s not gonna get better. The They are another one of those teams that don’t seem to be in a good place right now. And it’s Hey, it’s October. I mean, they got plenty of We’re still two weeks away from Halloween. They got I’m sure they’ll be in the playoffs. Yes. You know, and that’s all that matters to this team. But Josh Allen looks about as frustrated as we’ve ever seen him, right? He’s as cool as calm as it gets, but you could just tell like, “Come on, man. Give me a little help.” A little bit. a little bit here. Number three up two spots, highest we’ve seen them this season. Seattle Seahawks. Yes. I don’t hate it. I don’t hate it. I’d have them ahead of the Eagles and the Bills. And that’s an imp. They go into 4 in one Jacksonville. Yeah. One:00 West Coast to the East Coast game. And And they don’t let the that Jags team find the back of the end zone. Like their two losses are both very good losses. You know, there’s no bad moments. Darnold’s for real. Smith and Jigba is a star. The defense is great. And I was a little hesitant to give him credit like when we previewed Seattle at Pittsburgh, but them going on the road’s real. Totally. Right. It’s too big a sample. It’s a organizational. It goes back to Pete Carol and whatever they’re doing, they know how to travel across the country and win games like nobody else. I McDonald only lost one road game last year. I mean, let alone the cross country stuff anywhere, right? you know, right? Uh it’s crazy impressive how how how they pull that off. Uh number two, only down one spot after falling at Arrowhead Stadium. It’s the Detroit Lions. Yeah, I think we talked a little about that game that really difficult situation to go in and beat the Chiefs in a kind of a desperate time for them. It wasn’t their finest moment, but I’m not like, “Oh, the Lions look terrible.” No, I don’t think they’re in the top two. Might be a little rich for my blood, but they’re still top five. But also, it’s tough. Wind an hour and a half. We don’t know who’s good in the league. Right. Right. Who you putting ahead of them, right? Like all these teams in the top 10, they all got something wrong with them. Like they can’t put the Bills or Eagles ahead of them the way they’re both playing. You know, it’s a tough week to be doing power rankings. It is at the top. Except for I think number one is pretty clear at this point. It’s the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Yeah, I think they’d be my one. Especially the way they’re playing in the face of a lot of key injuries. I think they have to be number one right now, right? Five and one. Uh would they be favored at home against any team in the league right now? Probably. Probably. Yeah. Kansas City or Buffalo or Philly or whoever. Those would all be interesting conversations. And they might be a one and a half point favorite. Right. Right. But yeah, I think so. I think so. Even with the injuries because they’re proving that they’re good. I think so. At home is the kicker. But yes, I think so. Mhm. I think so. Now, if they went on the road to Detroit, somewhere like that, they’re probably a point and a half dog. You know, again, not a massive spread, but at Kansas City, they might be a dog. You know, like you and I have discussed, this has to be a week toe thing. That’s the point of power rankings. And right now, this year more than ever. Right now, this year more than ever. Absolutely. Right now, I think it’s Tampa. I do. I’m cool with that. Wouldn’t shock me if this the only time they’re won. Absolutely. So, but that’s still one. Absolutely. Uh this coming Monday night, Bucks at Lions Monday Night Football, baby. That’s probably a dog in the game. That’s going to be There’ll probably be a one one and a half point dog. We’ll obviously talk about that on on Monday’s show. Um Oh, we talk about it Monday because it’s Monday night. Oh, it is. Oh, I didn’t realize you said Monday. I thought that was a weekend game. No, that’s the Monday about Monday. We’ve had some good Monday night football games as of late. And yeah, we have two again this week. Do we? I not sure. I’ll take it. I think they’re getting another early one Sunday and a double I know a lot of people don’t like it because you got two kind of conflicting games in prime time. It’s easier for me to pay more attention to those four teams than it is if one of them’s an extra 1:00 game. Exactly. Right. And I’ve told you this before. It gets me out of bed time with the kids a little bit earlier, which is fine. Little bonus prize. And like, hey, get a second TV and watch them both at the same time. I have my iPad sitting here and I have TV on. It wasn’t that hard to find. I got my big screen and then I got a smaller TV that we sit right next to it in these types of situations. Half time I flip them, you know, whatever. Final segment on the other side. More Steelers Bengals thoughts, some Steelers Bengals predictions. We’ll get into all of that when we return to close this thing down. Weser, Matt Williams, send us the drive on Steelers Nation radio on the Steelers Audio Network. [Music] Here we go down the home stretch. Final segment. Some final thoughts and predictions for Stellars and Bengals. Of course, 8:15 in prime time Thursday night here. Reminder, Aaron Rodgers 9 and one in divisional play on Thursday nights in his career. 13-6 overall. Pretty good. Hopefully that will be uh enough to get the Steelers over the line to get Mike Tomlin’s first road Thursday night divisional win of his It’s a lot of caveats though. It road Thursday Thursday on the road against the division fo in October in a leap year, you know, but it does matter in a presidential election year. Right. Right. Right. In the in the winter Olympics year. It does matter though. I’m not blowing it up. No, no, for sure. Absolutely. Um, I’m sure that’s something he’s probably tired of hearing brought up, you know, every couple years as well, too, and wants to get that uh moving in a different direction. Matt, this is a weird one for it’s terrible for like matchups and things to break down. It wouldn’t even be fivear Friday this week. It’d be like fivear Thursday or fivear Wednesday, I guess. But, uh, everyone knows Jamar Chase against whoever’s lined up against him is a huge matchup. T Higgins as well, too. Huge match up. Higgins worries me to no end, you know, just cuz Flaco will throw jump balls to that guy. He has not exploded. He did it against the Packers. I did that video today. I’m like, that’s a sleeping giant there. Let’s Chase was really good. They fed Chase. Chase is always open. Chase is great. Much like Jefferson in in the Dublin game, but Higgins is great. And Flacco is the perfect quarterback for him. Now, he’ll probably be on Porter or Ramsey a lot. He’s going to be on a good corner, but you know, he’s still scary. You know, Jamar Chase is going to get his. What you can’t do is let T. Higgins run wild at the same time. Yeah. Yeah. That’s that’s kind of I think the the kicker. It’s like you knew Justin Jefferson was going to get his. You couldn’t let Jordan run wild, you know, type thing. Good comparison, right? And other than that one busted play at the end of the game, you did a very They didn’t, but there was one a very good job in that regard. Uh Matt, any other I mean, they’re banged up on the offensive line. We don’t know about Trey Hendrickson’s status, but is there any other kind of matchup that sticks out to you that people should be keeping an eye on Thursday? Individually, not as much. Um, their offensive line to me, I don’t like how they play. They’re not very physical. Even like huge Orlando Brown, I think he’s kind of shot. Zeus, as Mike Tomlin calls him. Yeah, his dad was Zeus, you know. I mean, they they have the highest percentage of passing in the league. I mean, they’re the the pass heaviest team in the league. They don’t run the ball well at all. They only average like 60 yards per game on the ground or something really terrible. And yes, cuz they’re losing a lot, but Chase Brown used to be a foundation of the team and he’s been an afterthought and he’s starting to get phased out a little bit, not getting as many snaps. They’re just so they’re built to be so burrow Higgins Chase ccentric, which I don’t think’s the worst build in the world when those guys fall on your lap. I’d rather have be more O line centric but you know um and just the biggest piece of that puzzle is not there but you get Flaco on the wrong night you know if he snake eyes on you he could we saw it last year and I do think the defense showed a little bit of signs of life this past week especially the defensive front but it’s still not a good group the linebackers are really bad and you know easily manipulated the secondary there’s guys like Turner that I kind of like, but they’re a ways away. It’s not a very diverse scheme, and I’m sure Rogers will eat that up. And I do think the short week, really what they have going for him to me, and this is taking a team lightly, I understand that, is can Flaco get hot? Can the receivers be unbelievable? That part two is a definite yes. Yes. and short week on the road in the division. I hate, you know, like when the when the schedule came out and you assume Burrow, I’m like, that’s a loss. I hate that. Hate that. I hate that, you know, and that’s still part partly out there, you know. No, it absolutely is. Uh nothing comes easy in the National Football League, but particularly on a on a Thursday night on the road. Yeah. Did want to follow up uh with the Bengals latest practice reports. Oh, good. Good. I’m curious. Ray Hendrickson has not practiced yet to this point. I give him a slim chance. I give him certainly a slim chance, but it’s looking unlikely. If I’m him, I don’t think I want to play. No doubt. Right. Especially if if we’ve come to a mutual agreement that we’re going to move me on. I’m not going to be here next year anyways. I’ll go to a contender. You’ll get something in return for me. It works out well for both parties. Heck, he could get traded Friday. He could. Absolutely could. Long week. Shimmer Stewart, uh, the rookie edge guy. He first round pick. He has been a full participant with an ankle injury. So, it looks like he’s good to go. Uh BJ Hill has not practiced. Mike Gaseki has not practiced. I don’t think Gaseki is going to play. Tanner Hudson, the other tight end, has not practiced. Good news for Amarius Mims. He’s been a full participant all week. So, so it sounds he was kind of hobbled in that game. Sounds like uh like he will go. I’m a Mims fan. I I I am too. I I know you were I know you were a big fan of of his selection when he was drafted. Um he’s going to get TJ obviously. He is going to get TJ. Uh, and Charlie Jones, the wide receiver who’s dealing with a rib injury, has not practiced. Okay. Either. So, he’s our fourth guy. Yeah. There’s kind of the latest update on the Bengals. I’m going to operate like Hendrickson’s not going to be in the mix. Same. I think Listen, hey, you know what they say happens when you assume, but I think that’s just logically for all involved, it doesn’t make much sense. Even if from a health standpoint he thought he could go, it still doesn’t make much sense. Matt, Thursday night 8:15, of course the Amazon Prime game locally. I believe it’s Channel 4 here in Pittsburgh that’s going to carry it. Uh the Steelers 5 and a half point favorites. I have a Steelers winning 24-10. Okay, so comfortable. I think Rogers will do a lot against that defense and I I like where the Steelers are at. I don’t see a great I don’t see a great guy to deal with Metaf. I think the Steelers will run the ball pretty well. I think the Steeler O line will be happy with and the defense just is chaos. You know, it wouldn’t shock me if Chaser Higgins does some good things and you’re happy you started them in fantasy. They’ll make a play or two. They will they will especially as aggressive as the defense has been. They’ll sting you maybe once or twice. Flaco is going to hit a lot and I don’t think they’re going to drop near interceptions and things like that going forward very much. The defense is flying around right now. I am gonna go 20 to 13 Steelers. I think it’ll be not as comfortable as Cleveland was, but that there will be not much doubt from start to finish who’s going to win, but it’ll be a little bit tighter than we all want. Maybe it’s a late touchdown, you know, maybe it’s 20 to six and the Browns score with 90 seconds left to make it 20 to 13 to look a little bit better. Uh, but I the 20-3 is what I has been sticking in my crawl all day. So, that’s that’s what I’m going to go with. Um, as we both think the Steelers are going to move to five and one. And man, with a long week to get ready for a big sun, man, the hype machine for that Sunday night football against the Packers, an extra long week. Both of those teams take care of business. Would be the Steelers would be 5-1. The Packers would be what, 42 and one. I mean, Rogers and his old team, the two big like with the Cowboys, the two biggest brands in and two of the three biggest brands in football, it would be Rogers, Aaron Rogers, Aaron Rogers, it would be incredible. So, let’s get it done and take care of business. Five and one would be going into a long week would be a magnificent place to be. I don’t care who you played and who you beat, but two straight division wins. Just the math of it and the rest of it and all of that, you know. What I mean is the resting of your body, you know, for a huge game. Yeah. No doubt. And hopefully when we’re back here on Friday breaking it all down, that is what we will be discussing is a victory and a very fortunate, very ideal position for the Steelers heading towards the end of October. But that will do it for today. A couple people to thank, of course, Chris Adamsky for joining us as always. Tyler V, Mr. TV uh on the video side of things, producing it, making sure we look handsome on the YouTube and to Matt Williamson. So, I’ve been trying out these different nicknames with you, right? Like L Magnafi and Swiss on Swiss and all these different things. That’s too rich, dude. I I I I I I get it. And I know you and I, we spend a lot of time talking about Mario Lemieux. We’ve told this story. Used to drive our brother Dale crazy when we’d be driving out to Indianapolis every single year, 5 hours each way in the car. and Matt and I at some point would get into a Mario Lemieux love fest. I got one for you. I’ve been trying to think of a nickname. Just not even a nickname, but just something that I can use at the end of the show as like a little How about the bard of bourbon? The bourbon bard. Something in there. You know what a bard is? It’s like a It’s like a poet. Like someone who’s really good with words. You’re really good with words. You love bourbon. I think there’s something there. We’ll workshop it. I don’t know. You’re not loving it? That’s all right. We we we’ll get back to something better. But for today, he’s the bard of bourbon, Matt Williamson. I’m Les Uler. Take care, everybody. We’ll talk to you soon. You have been tuned into the drive on Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network.
Matt Williamson and Wes Uhler preview Steelers at Bengals, give their predictions for the game, talk about the AFC teams, review Matt’s Week 7 stats and more on SNR Drive on Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025
#HereWeGo #Steelers #NFL
21 comments
Let's be real. What have the chiefs done this year?
Favorite time of the day. Go black and gold!
Colts beat Miami, Raiders Cards and Titans and squeaked by DEN early. As far as I’m concerned, they are unproven.
We won in Foxborough this year, time to break the next bad streak. LFG!!
I wouldn't play Cam or Slay this week
Colts donot have a back up QB now.
Wilson caught one,is that his CHERRY? Here we go!
Scouting report has to have #88 as non factor…oh my! Release for a post= 6
Double team both #33 and corner,#41 and corner thezone with four in middle
You neglected. New England Patriots and Minnesota Vikings.
On ESPN, Steelers are ranked 12th in the power rankings. Love it. Let’s goooooo
Mike Tomlin is 0–6 on Thursday night football division away games. Does he get off the schneid?
Seems like it's time for us to lose one.the NFL isn't gonna let the Steelers close out the division early.its not good business practice…..
Mims is having issues with that surgically repaired ankle.
4, new england is not a state nor city 😂
It's only Tuesday… Why are we giving predictions? No show on Wednesday then? The show has gone downhill quicker than expected 😢
I think the Chiefs are best in AFC currently but not by alot. Lions looked a little tired but should be a top 5 team overall on their trajectory. Would love to see a Steelers-Lions superbowl from here in Ann Arbor 🖤💛
This should be an easy game. Play coverage and don't worry about the run. Their defense sucks. Let's see how it plays out.
35-10 Steelers.
Wes, count again. Tampa bay, Carolina, Arizona, and Tennessee and New England and Minnesota! 6 teams
The Lions were decimated on the back end. I do give KC credit for slowing down their offense though.