Ryan Clark SOUNDS OFF after the Steelers’ loss to the Bengals 🗣️ ‘It’s on Mike Tomlin!’ | First Take

Ryan Clark SOUNDS OFF after the Steelers’ loss to the Bengals 🗣️ ‘It’s on Mike Tomlin!’ | First Take

Hold on. You know, I had a long morning. I’ve been working on Good Morning America. I came over here the first take thinking that I was going to be alone, that my boys was going to be on the big screen in the ATL in Louisiana. But you know something? When I look to my right and I see my dog, my man Cam Newton, he said the he said the hell with the ATL. I’m coming up to the city cuz my boy Stephen A is there. I look to my left and my man RC didn’t just see him. He was out of town but he pivoted to New York City. Why? Because your boy is hosting. You know what I like to say? I know we got people coming up on the show but it’s the it’s the fellas up in this house. Okay. But first take. So you know what I’m going to do, right? That’s a boy. Woo! 231 remains. 30 to 24 is the score. Rogers gets a snap. Fires down field. Caught by Fribo. Touchdown Fribo. The Steelers have taken the lead. Jamar Chase. 16 receptions for 161 yards. This is what we do it for is games like that. It came down to the wire just like we we know it’s going to. 36-yd field goal try for the lead. hit is good. The Bengals have knocked out the Steelers. We’re 4-2, still first in the division. I’m not going to ride the roller coaster and hopefully you guys follow suit. Welcome. This is Friday and obviously it’s your boy Stephen A. Smith sitting in the host chair. Okay, so before I do anything else, we understand that when I take over, okay, remember there are rules we must follow. Can’t do a turn around. Look at the rules. Look at the screen right there. You see the rules? Speak when spoken to. No cussing. I will be addressed as Stephen A or Mr. Stephen A. Mr. T with the gold chain. Okay. Leave the fluid comments to yours truly and no rude reactions. Okay. So, I have a question. You may you can can I ask really quick 10 seconds. Do you abide by these rules when you are not hosting? No. Exactly. cuz we need our rules to be implemented as well. We believe in equality. Equality. This is a rookie. This is a rookie here. The rules. Ain’t the rookie. Our second year. My second year. It is your year. It is year two. I got you. Let’s kick this off y’all. We got to start off with Thursday night football. It was a thriller. It was not a good night for the Mitt Steelers though, especially that defense. They let Joe Flacko march up and down the damn field to the tune. A 342 yards and three touchdowns. Aaron Rogers gave Pittsburgh at a one-point lead late, but it wasn’t enough as the Steelers lost 33-31 on a Cincy field goal. Here’s Aaron Rogers on the loss. We had a chance to really open up some space, but we’re 4-2. Still first in the division. Got a couple uh, you know, home games coming up back to back. Another Sunday night opportunity against my former team. So, um, I’m not going to ride the roller coaster and I know Mike isn’t, and hopefully you guys follow suit. Here we go. So, Cam, we’ll start with you first. So, you’re giving more credit to Flaco or more blame to the Pittsburgh Steelers defense for last night’s outcome? Uh, before we get there, okay, they said take your time. What’s the rest? Uh, Kevin Patulo. Hey, hey, hey, let me holl at you real quick. Hey, uh, Brown’s organization, uh, let me holl at you real quick because when you think about what’s going on right now, do you not think that AJ Brown saw or heard what happened? Do you not think that other receivers around the league was looking like, man, that’s how you get the guy the ball? When you’re looking at a situation that took place last night, there was a guy by the name of Jamar. Good lord, Chase. Chase. Good lord. and he got off Stephen A. 16 receptions, 161 yards. And to to his greatness, nobody took a back seat because T. Higgins also got off as well. Yes, he did. When you see these type of displays of making it abundantly clear, we want to get these guys the ball. We want to put the guy, we want to put the ball in our guys’ hands. And that’s what it is. But when you’re talking about the blame, I don’t think it’s more the blame than just the magnificent play of Joe Flacco. Joe Flacco showed that, hey, me being 40 plus, I got guys, I got dudes, I got difference makers, I have game changers around me, so let me put the ball in their hands so they can do what they do. Oh, see is dead and I can’t cuss ass wrong then. What? Cuz here’s it’s all the Pittsburgh Steelers. We come into this game, you know what you’re going to get. Go back to the Green Bay game, the second half. Every time Jamar Chase has a one-on-one, they throw the fake ball. Terrell Austin, watch the film. You know it’s coming. And we don’t stop that. 47 attempts. They threw the ball to Jamar Chase thr 23 times. They wasn’t tricking us. I want to be tricked. I want to be fooled. You know how people say, “Well, I got in a marriage and he just wasn’t who I thought he was going to be.” I want to be that guy. I want to be the person that got tricked. I don’t want Joe Flacco at his age to pass the ball 47 times, 342 yards, three tubs, and when Aaron Rogers pulls a rabbit out of his hat, because it ain’t on him. When Aaron Rogers pulls a rabbit out of his hat, you got to go get a stop. The last I checked, Jaylen Ramsey is going to be a Hall of Famer. Last I checked, TJ Watt is going to be a Hall of Famer. We went out and paid money for Patrick Queen. Cam Haywood is going to be on that list as well. Joey Porter Jr. is an up andcoming star. Somebody got to stand up and make a play. Chase Brown ain’t running the ball. They going to run the ball all year long. Brown ain’t ran the ball more than Cam Newton ran the ball since he been working on 106 of sport. Damn it. And he had 11 carries for 108. Cam, I don’t care what you say. You can credit the Bengals all you want. You know who this game is on? The Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cleveland Damn Browns. Why the Cleveland Browns? Mike Tomlin said it. Mike Tomlin said they must be smarter than me to get rid of Joe Flacco. The people that got rid of Joe Flacco and damn it, it’s 20. Listen, listen. I’m not going to blame Cleveland. Cleveland is Cleveland was moving on. And the bottom line is they didn’t have the requisite pieces to capitalize off of what Joe Flacco could still do. Obviously, you Cincinnati, you got Jamar Chase. You got T. Higgins. flacker to fling the football to. Where was the Steelers? I can’t completely agree with RC. Where the hell was the Steelers defense? Didn’t TJ watches get over $40 million? Hey, Cam Haywood 40 million. $40 million. Okay. Didn’t they get just get that money? Cam Haywood and he still on the team. Jaylen Ramsey, didn’t you trade? Didn’t you let go of Ma Fitzpatrick so you could get Jaylen Ramsey? Jaylen Ramsay was getting exploited throughout the night. Multiple times by multiple people, not just Shabbase. Okay. And I love Jaylen Ramsey, but damn it, it’s the truth. The truth and nothing but the truth. I hope you you know what the bottom line is this. The Pittsburgh Steelers defense lost this game. You g Aaron Rogers gave you a lead and did you see Cincinnati moving down the field with ease. There was there was no urgency to it. Matter of fact, they couldn’t score a touchdown. They just tag just said, “No, we just let this slide. It’s not like we going to miss this damn chip shot field goal. We going to make this chip shot field goal.” This is what happened when think about this. You’re the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati got the ball and you were scared for your life because the second they scored that touchdown and went up 31 to Fry when they went up 3130, you just found yourself saying, “Oh, damn. Jamar Chase. I mean, what you going to do to stop him?” I didn’t celebrate the touchdown. I didn’t celebrate the touchdown cuz I knew that they had enough time to get the ball with Jamar Chase. And sure enough, a 15 yard catch an 18 yard catch T. Higgins. I mean, come on, man. Come on, Cam. When you’re thinking about what took place and what was on display, the wherewithal, the absolute gall of T. Higgins to have the understanding to say, “Hold on, hold on. If I score right here, it’s still Aaron Rogers that we playing against it.” This type of game comes down to, and we saw firsthand yesterday, who has the ball last for T. Higgins to make that in the- moment uh uh situation and say, “Hey, man, I got to get down just so we can really have the ball last.” Right. But this is what I would say in in regards to to who takes the blame. Joe Flacco knew what the assignment was. Understand? He knew that going into this game, in order for them to have a chance, he has to give guys opportunity. So going back to when you got guys like AJ Brown, Devonte Smith, when you got guys like hopefully CD Lamb and George Pickkins, when you have a dynamic duo, you have to give these guys the ball and give them opportunities to make plays. Not when it’s too late because Jamar Chase was involved in the game every point of the game. Okay. But but here’s my question to you, Cam, before I go back to RC. How do you I I understand Flaco was being Flacco and and Jamar Chase. I mean, we got to have a discussion as to whether or not he really is the best receiver in football. We talked about Justin Jefferson, a couple others, but to me, Jamar Chase is that dude. He’s just spectacular. My question to you would be this. The Cincinnati Bengals were down 10 to nothing. They got they outscored Pittsburgh 17 to nothing from that point forward to end the first half. They were running the football. Couldn’t rush for more. averaging 50 yards a game rushing and had damn near 100 yards while chasing himself in the first half and then the Bengals scored on seven of their last eight drives of the game. If that ain’t the Steelers defense being problematic, I don’t know what is. Especially when you got what you got from Aaron Rogers. Right. Right. I mean, that’s something to consider. But it’s how they did it, though. It’s it’s understanding that when you go to the sideline, there’s obvious frustration if you’re losing, but there’s no panic. It’s it’s a glance. It’s a look. It’s a Yeah. Allow me to help everybody out. And that’s what playmakers want to do. We don’t have to reinvent the wheel, man. Give me something so I can now put the whole team on my bag, though. So, so I see what what do you find yourself wishing the Steelers had done defensively? Can I’m I’m talking about obviously we want stops. So, I’m talking about specifically what what should they have done? I would have wanted him to do a lot of stuff, but this loss is on Mike Tomlin. Go ahead. Mike Tomlin to me is one of the greatest coaches of this era. He has failed this team, especially on Thursday night. When you’re a great when you’re a great coach, you’re supposed to get your team prepared to win the most important games. You often highlight not having a a playoff win since 2016. Yeah. Right. If you’re 0 and six on Thursday night on the road in the AFC North, your team needs to understand that. And so when we’re up 10 points, we need to lock in on our focus. When we’re up 10 points, we need to hold our shell on defense so Joe Flacco can’t see us spin down into one high and understand where he has the one-on-one because we saw that continuously through the night. If you’re Patrick Queen and Terrell and Terrell Austin, you have to have the conversation. We can’t go back door on runs when we’re supposed to stay front side because the safety is inserted to the backside of the defense. Mike Tomlin needed to have these players with the understanding that at 100, this game isn’t over. The offense needs to continue to play. We can’t throw the interception to battle. We can’t allow DJ Taylor to pull the football out of DK Metaf’s hands. Those things can’t happen. And when Pat Frier moved scores, we got to have a conversation on the sideline that whatever has happened for the first 58 minutes of this game is now over. If we get this stop, we’re five and one football team in control of our own destiny in AFC North and in the AFC. Mike Tomlin did not have this team prepared to finish. They’re two and 10 on Thursday night road games under Mike Tomlin. Two and 10 and 0 and seven versus AFC North rivals. So, does that make the Steelers contenders or pretenders? I’m asking RC right here on national television. I need an answer. This team, the reason the question is hard is because you got to be the polar opposite. I would give them closer to contender than I would pretender. Okay? Right? I’ve seen this team this year understand defensively how we need to bring pressure in order to get people around the quarterback and create turnovers. I’ve seen whether it’s Nick Herbig, TJ Watt, Cam Haywood, uh I’ve seen all of these players defensively make the plays they need to make. I’ve seen two sacks from Jaylen Ramsey. Aaron Rogers is obviously exactly who they acquired him to be. Not from a from a leadership standpoint, from a production standpoint. What I did notice last night was the conversation we had yesterday though, Stephen A. Who’s number two? Yeah. Are we gonna throw Are we gonna give the ball to Scotty Miller? Is the ball going to go to Roman Wilson? Is it going to be Jean New? Is it going to be Darnell Washington? Washington. This team is a contender in the sense that I think they’re closer to being or they’re a playoff team more so than they’re a team that doesn’t make the playoffs. But with what I saw last night, that team can’t win a championship. when when we’re having this dynamic, there’s obvious connectivity to the Steelers. Yes. From the fans perspective, obviously playing from the organization. My question is, when you see a game like this, given the circumstances, given the statistics, how do you see them moving forward? And does it give you confidence in them moving forward? You know what I don’t like about what I saw last night? The Steelers showed me why they wouldn’t win a playoff game. In other words, you what you saw from the Steelers last night, we’ve seen before in a regular season game. We’ve seen them plummet when they should have ascended, right? They’ll correct the ship enough to be respectable enough to get to the to the postseason and then when you get there, that kind of stuff is going to happen. If you go up against Indianapolis, Jonathan Taylor probably gonna run all over you. If you go up against Buffalo, it’s going to be on the road, all right, in that inclement weather and Josh Allen’s going to find a way to hurt you. You go up against Kansas City, there’s nothing to discuss. They’ll beat you any which way they want to. Okay? You see vulnerabilities and you’re expecting people to step up and to give you the impression this is different. What do you constantly remode? If you can’t be great, be awful. That way, that way as a result, you can position yourself in the draft. You understand? and potentially free agency because you know you need a plethora of parts. The problem with the Steelers is they’re good enough to be better than half the league and not good enough to be better than the other half. They’re the middle of the road which means they’re good enough to make regular seasons interesting for you. But every Steeler fan know you looking at this team that is not a Super Bowl championship legitimate. Well, how much were you paying attention to? Because when they acquired Aaron Rogers, my thing was this. I believe they’ll be a playoff team and I think they’ll struggle to win a first round game. Right. So, you’re saying in watching that game, even with the way Aaron Rodgers played, you think this is still a team that’s one and done? That’s what has shocked me because I’ve seen too many occasions this week, this season, where the Steelers defense could be exploited. I saw it against the New York Jets. I saw it last night. I’m seeing teams moving the ball and being able to get what they need when they need it. You know, one of the things that was great about the Ravens with Ray Lewis and those boys was that they were going to find a way to stop you. We not having it. And the Steelers at that time when they had to go up against the Ravens, even though it was sporadic, it was inconsistent. There were seasons when you knew the Steelers defense going to show up. Are you going to get something offensively, Big Ben? You going to do something? You going to do something, Antonio Brown? What y’all going to do? But you knew the Steelers defense would would answer the call. We don’t see that from this team this year. Yeah, man. My question now goes to to you RC because from a players perspective or from the fans perspective as you’re watching this game when you see your guy giving up the play like speak to the fans that see a guy like Jaylen Ramsey who I have the utmost respect for as a dog but he’s getting beat. No, it’s dis it’s disappointing because the the biggest thing is he got beat on two fade balls. Yeah. Right. And this is that’s what he does, right? He understands how to play the ball. He’s he can press at the line of scrimmage. You get the Jamar Chase, what he tried to play as a push off. Now Jamar scores the touchdown. Right. And then late in the game, T. Higgins, he’s trying to lean into T. Higgins and then T. Higgins scores. It almost feels to me because he is so special, because he is so talented, because he can do so many diverse things from an intellectual standpoint, he might be doing too much. This is a guy that’s played free safety, that’s played nickel, that’s played dime, and that’s played outside corner. And so now on a night when you’re facing, he did all those things. Excuse me, fifth dctor. All those things he’s been He’s done all those things since he been the Steeler in the first in the first game against the New York Jets, he opens the game with the tackle on Bree Hall from the middle of the field, right? He plays the nickel spot and then later on and he has a tackle for loss on Garrett Wilson and then late in the game, the big hit came from the corner position. So, you’re asking a player to move and maneuver into all those roles and they may have to have an understanding that Jaylen Ramsey has to be this thing for the Pittsburgh Steelers and we have to play this way. And you’ve seen it with the greats. You’ve seen it with the greats. Eventually, you get to a point in their careers where we can’t say we’re just going to leave you out there and have you do it one-on-one each and every game. And I think that’s where Terrell Austin failed this team last night. And I think for me personally what I’m worried about Cam is the reliant is is the reliability associated with Jaylen Ramsey because we have to ask he’s been around for a very long time and he’s done it all. It’s not to say that the brother still can’t play and he still can’t do good things but is he what he used to be because I don’t see last night happening to a younger Jaylen Ramsey. But you got Darius Slay as well too for so so Slay got banged up last night and so they had to insert Eckles. So now they had Eckles playing the nickel and then we had Joey Porter Jr. and Jaylen Ramsey on the outside. But that was also the whole point about all of these acquisitions, right? You felt like Joey Porter Jr. was a guy last year. He traveled with the one. Now you go get Jaylen Ramsey. You get Darius Sllay. You were supposed to be able to man him up. And listen, I had a conversation with Jaylen. Like that’s my dude. Love. He was acquired for this game. Yes. He told us before this game, we are going to have a conversation in the cornerback room about who has who. And I asked him specifically, I said, “Jaylen, who has one?” And he said, “That’s me.” And I believe he can do it. He believes he can do it. Obviously, Mike Tomlin, Terra Austin believes he can do it. Bill Ford last night. It’s not easy since it’s not past. I’m not saying I’m not saying it’s No, I’m not saying it’s past tense, but here’s what But here’s why. We got to be real. You have to understand why it’s not past tense or why why why it’s not past because everybody ain’t Jamar Chase. You see what I’m saying? That’s true. So, you know, you got 256 yards receiving between Jamar Chase and T. Higgins. Both them was getting they both every time I saw this is how it felt. You know better than me. You know better. Every time I’m looking at the screen because we don’t see all the angles. Yeah. Every time you looked at the screen and a play was being made by a Bengals wide receiver. Jaylen Ramsey was in the picture, right? Every single time. Every single time. Go back and watch it. Go back and watch. I’m not saying it was his fault. Please don’t get me wrong. That’s for football analysts to break down. Yeah. I’m telling you, watching the camera, you know, you watching the camera and you just see somebody getting up. They’re right there. They’re coming off their knees. They’re coming off. You right there. They kept showing up on camera. I mean, we saw Jaylen Ramsay more last night than we’ve saw him than we saw him in the first damn five games. I let y’all do that. That’s just the truth. That’s just the truth. I’m not saying Listen, I’m not knocking the brother as game. I’m talking about last night. Last night was not a good game. Absolutely not. Absolutely not. And those games happen. And that’s what I would tell the fans who watched the game. It’s like, yo, if you’re telling me that we expect this from every single game, absolutely not. We are surprised because a guy like Jaylen Ramsay who is the alpha, you know, of all alphas and when he has an opportunity to say, “Hey, I get the opportunity to cover Jamar Chase and the T. Higgins, these games cement legacies, right? When you go back and you look at stat lines from Derel Rivas, prime time, when you look at certain games, man, he held that person to only eight yards, man. Those are type of dominant games that we see. But to Stephen A’s point, everybody’s not T. Higgins. Everybody’s not Jamar Chase. So now we have to re-evaluate if we were to play that type of situation again. How we play it. How do we play him and do we really give him here’s my nonOT ass self. Here’s how you play that. You do not put that man one-on-one with Jamal Chase. that on any the thing is this though at any occasion at at some point you have to because that’s part of football and you have to you have to allow him to go make his money. You have to allow him to go stand on his name. Yeah. And if he if he realizes he can’t do that, he comes to you, he says it, then that’s fine. It’s okay to give up plays to a Jamar Chase and a T. Higgins, but you got to make one. Yeah. Right. And Jaylen Ramsey didn’t make the one he needed last night. I believe he can in the future. [Music]

On First Take, Stephen A. Smith, Cam Newton and Ryan Clark react to the Cincinnati Bengals’ 33-31 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 7.

0:00 Stephen A.‘s host rules
3:25 More blame on the Steelers defense or credit to Flacco?
5:00 Ryan Clark disagrees with Cam Newton’s take
7:40 Stephen A. thoughts on the Steelers’ loss
10:45 Ryan Clark says the Steelers’ loss is on Mike Tomlin
12:48 Are the Steelers contenders or pretenders right now?
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