‘IT MADE NO SENSE TO ME!’ 🤷 – Harry Douglas on the Steelers’ defense vs. the Bengals 👀 | Get Up

‘IT MADE NO SENSE TO ME!’ 🤷 – Harry Douglas on the Steelers’ defense vs. the Bengals 👀 | Get Up

Cincinnati, the game of the night. Steelers and the Bengals. It’s Flacco. It’s Rogers. They’re a combined 81 years old at kickoff. Third and six on the Steelers opening drive. Harry Aaron Rogers has lots of time. They said he was too old, but Aaron Rogers buys time, scrambles around, scrambles around, and finds another tight end, John Smith, for a touchdown. 8 seconds. He held that football. Steelers take an early 7 nothing lead. And you’re thinking, “Okay, here they come. They’re 4-1. They’re for real.” You’re thinking wrong because Jamar Chase had himself an unbelievable night. This a Bengals second and goal. Bart, why is Chase in single coverage? I don’t know. The same thing make you laugh, make you cry. You talk about 179 million on defense. I need a rebate. Jaylen Ramsay singled up on him out there and that’s the theme of the night. Harry will talk about as we continue. They just wouldn’t get away from that coverage now. Very next drive as Burrow loves it. Steelers on a first and 10. Where exactly is Rogers throwing this ball? This is inexcusable. He should have hit his check down. Jaylen Warren who was right there over the ball. Sometimes you get greedy. This is the only bad play I thought Aaron Rogers made last night. And that sets up this. It’s Flaco. It’s T. Higgins and Peter. They’re not going to get him 29 yards. No, they’re not. It wasn’t just Jamar Chase last night. T. Higgins had a huge game as well. It won’t be discussed as much. These receivers for Cincinnati finally opening it up. Now we’re going the other way. And Bart, how about the defensive effort? DJ Turner wrestling an interception away from DK. I think this is really the change part of the game. Taking points off the board. One knee equals two feet. Turnover. Big play. How about I take your co Bengals turn it into a field goal. They’re up 17-10. Now 3 minutes to play in the game. Steelers down by six. And this is vintage Aaron Rodgers on his second and long. Look at him finding space, finding Pat Frymuth, and he’s going the rest of the distance. 36 career comebacks for Aaron Rogers. Only problem is that other guy on the field has 29. Look at Rogers spinning away. Still slings it as good as anybody you’ve ever seen. Steelers take a 31. Roderick Jones jumping all over him. I’m not sure I love that. That’s all right. He didn’t love it either. But here’s the point. Steelers, that big time defense. Time to do your job and close out the game. And they didn’t. Flaco Chase. Chase 16 catches franchise record 161 yardds. Drive continues. Tick, tick, tick, tick, as Chris Burman would say. Two plays later, second and eight. How about this throw from Flaco? Unbelievable. Look at the trajectory of the football, allowing his receiver to just go and run underneath it. Smart is that man coverage again. Higgins taking that knee. Six catches. So that enables them to run the clock down. 11 seconds left. Evan McFersonson 36 yds. It’s up. It’s good. Bengals take the lead 331. Joe Burrow loves it. But there’s one moment of drama remaining. You know, no one has ever thrown the Hail Mary better than Aaron Rogers. And he demonstrates it here. What you’re about to see is a 41-year-old man unleash a ball 69 yd in the air. The longest throw of the season and it’s dangerous, but it’s knocked away. Joe Flacco throws for 342 and the Bengals win the icy hot ball 3331. after Aaron. Listen, you know, 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. We are definitely not following that suit. Uh, Bart, I start with you. No one loves to hate on the Steelers more than you do. At 4-2, what do we say about a Steeler, particularly a defense last night that couldn’t get it done at all? I mean, we knew that this was a soft four and two. I mean, they should have lost to the Jets. You talk about being outsc scored in a lot of games as they won or outrush, outgainain. They were able to get five turnovers against the Patriots. This just brings them back to the pack. And I think this is why we talked about the Baltimore Ravens still being a live dog when they get back and get healthy. But this is also about the Cincinnati Bengals. And the Cincinnati Bengals recognized that they had a quarterback that can may not be able to play everywhere, but they were perfect for what they like to do with those tremendous receivers. These are the best receivers Joe Flacco has ever had in his career. He’s a guy that still has a strong arm. You can keep him upright. He proved that he can make every throw in the book. So, the Stroers open the door and maybe the Ravens can come from back in the pack and catch up and maybe the Bengals can, too. I want everyone to focus. Harry and I had a nice breakfast this morning and we got to talking in depth. the the the defensive strategy for the Steelers last night. Your thoughts? It was criminal. And Terrell Austin, as a defensive coordinator, your job is to put your guys in positions to have success. That was not the case last night. You have Jamar Chase who is a top two receiver in the game. You have T. Higgins and Jamar Chase who was the number one duo from a receiver standpoint in the game. The amount of man coverage that they played last night makes no sense to me. And here are the numbers for uh Greeny. Joe Flacco threw for 199 yards and two touchdowns on 28 dropbacks versus Pittsburgh’s man coverage. Jason Higgins caught 13 of 20 targets on those reps for 151 yards. And the Steelers played man coverage 57% of dropbacks last night, which was a season high. Thank you, HBO, for that stat. That’s inexcusable in my opinion going into a football game knowing that you had these lethal wide receivers. Joe Flacco is a guy that we know if he’s protected that can sling it around with the best of them. All he had to do or all he needed was was to be protected. You play man coverage all night long and the proof was in the pudding. Let me tell you why. Yeah. In the first half, Jaylen Ramsey had two penalties. Joey Porter Junah had two penalties. So why are you still playing man coverage like that at that depth in the second half? The proof was in the pudding. Absolutely. So it’s a bad night all the way around for the Steelers. Bengals take advantage. What’s the story to you, Peter? I I think you’re you’re concerned if you’re a Steelers fan because this was no surprise. This is a team, the Bengals that always light the Steelers up in that building. Joe Burrow throws for more yards than even Flaco did. And then in the offseason, they brought in Jaylen Ramsay, they brought in Juan Thornhill, they brought in Darius Slay, they brought in Brandon Eckles, and then they reuped with Deshawn Elliot. And also, they drafted Joey Porter Jr. two years ago. Like, this was no surprise. This is their weakness. And they really address it this offseason. And if you’re going to address it and make it a point of emphasis in the offseason and still get lit up through the sky, well, then what hope do we have? The truth of the matter is Jamar Chase was targeted 23 times. 23 times he was targeted. If that is not dunking on and insulting that defensive backfield and saying, “We know what your weakness is and we’re going to go at it and we’re going to succeed.” I don’t know what is. I think it’s insulting that pass rush because you you you you go manto man because you believe in that pass rush. Now, it’s tough as somebody who’s played on some great defense that had great corners. Like you paid $179 million to this defense. this the most expensive defense in the league. You’re going to go down doing what you do because I can remember when we had Reebus, when we had Chris Mallister, we didn’t practice zone coverage. So, it’s it’s great to say go to zone coverage, play cover, too. But a lot of man corners don’t know how to play zone coverage. And I think that’s what the mistake. So, what you’re saying is these guys are supposed to be getting after the quarterback. $179 million, the most expensive defense in the league. You have to do your job. Joe Forinball, let me turn to you because our gambling expert extraordinaire. What comes out of last night’s result as far as you’re concerned? So now you get the answer as to why the Baltimore Ravens were favored to win the division despite the 1-3 start, despite the one-4 start. There was no team that was going to run away with it. Pittsburgh might be 4-2. They’ve been outgainained from a yardage standpoint in five of six games, which includes the Jets game. So how do you bet it? You buy low on Baltimore to win the division. This is the best price you’ve been able to get all season plus 130. Regular season win total over eight and a half wins. The division’s soft as we’ve already laid out, but the upcoming schedule for Baltimore, they’re going to get healthy off their buy. They get the Steelers twice in the final five weeks of the season. And according to ESPN’s FBI, 10th easiest schedule the rest of the way out. That team is primed to go on a run where the Steelers team is going to suffer a little bit of regression throughout the rest of the way. You can’t win as many one-score games as they’ve been winning over the last five plus years. It’s worth pointing it out. scoring differential, yardage differential, particularly early in the season, sometimes a better indicator than a team’s record is of who is really legit. The Steelers have been hovering in that in that fugazi area, if you will, on this football Friday. We’ll get back to last night’s action in just a moment, but first, Peter’s here. Let’s do Shraer Bombs. All right, Peter, let’s start with the team. You were on the sideline with Atlanta on Monday night. Talk to me about their superstar. Be John Robinson is everything you could ever want in a team leader as well as a offensive superstar. Right now he’s 21st in odds. Joe, I’m looking at you as the betting expert here for MVP. I think give it one more week. They play the San Francisco 49ers. I think he goes scorched earth. And this is a guy who I would watch out for to suddenly be in the MVP competition. Even though he plays running back, he is the heart and soul of that team. Last nonQB was Adrien Peterson in 2012. Keep that in mind. Let’s let’s not gloss over how happy Harry is. It’s delightful to see Harry dancing that way. All right, the next one. Revenge thy name is Vrabel. Yeah, look, there are some guys who don’t have that in them. Some guys who are not petty, some guys who don’t even think of this stuff. Vrabel’s not one of those guys. Vable is going to want to go into Tennessee 6 days after they fired the guy who they hired to change the culture because his wasn’t the one they wanted there. And I think he’s going to go absolutely scorched earth with these Patriots players. Patriots are hot. Drake May’s doing his thing. The Titans are at the very bare bottom of what they ever could imagine to have been. And I don’t think Velma’s going to hold any punches going back into that building. Yes, that we said the other day, they might be up 30 points and go for two late in the game. All right, finally, how about the New York Football Giants? I think this is the biggest Giants game since their playoff loss to Philadelphia a couple of years ago. The excitement right now amongst Giants fans and in this market is unmatched. And Greeny, I want to present you with something here. We had the uh NYC Mayorial debate yesterday. I already have the case. If you’re not happy with the candidates in New York, and I know many aren’t, this might be the one. Bart Scott. Bart Scott, a couple of weeks ago, I said the Giants are going to beat the Chargers, and you said, “Oh, you’re just a Giants fan.” I’m going to give this shirt to you as the you can enjoy it. Dart Scatteraboo 25. Who’s coming with me? Let’s go. These are only two that’s keeping my radio show even on the air. I ride with it. You know, it’s interesting. Okay, so that’s that’s awesome. And it actually could not more perfectly set up the conversation because you’re excited, the city is excited, and I think generally fans who don’t have a a horse in the race are excited to see these two young players. But you were making the point that the Denver Broncos are who are there playing this weekend with a pretty tough defense. They’re going to be listening to all of this noise and they’re going to see it different. Yeah, 1000%. Jonathan Cooper just got interviewed, right? And he talked about, hey, Jackson Dart’s running around with a chain on. He’s celebrating. They’re doing this flips. When you have a young quarterback in this league that is having success like Jackson Dart and he’s doing it in the manner that he’s doing it, you’re going to have defensive players that feel some type of way. It’s not I’m not sitting here saying that Jackson Dart is doing anything wrong, but when you have the number one defense in third downs, the second and total defense, first and sacks, third and pass defense, six and run defense, and you have multiple guys with three or more sacks, they’re going to feel some type of way. They want their piece of the pie. They want some of that young buck. Well, I I’m trying to read your face. Well, that’s just useful, youthful, exuberance. And just listen, all great defensive players find things to be mad about. He It didn’t matter if he was the most perfect, most polite Russell Wilson. Yes, sir. Jonathan Cooper was going to find something, right? He was going to find something to be pissed about. And listen, I was over there in London. I saw this defense firsthand. Listen, they don’t have any cracks. And they just experienced a Justin Fields type of athletic quarterback. I think they’re going to use Hufuna down there in the box because when you have Packer Satan, they have the Giants have no type of receivers. They’re going to lock that down and add a eighth man to the box. Giants have lost eight straight road games and they have not won back-to-back games since 2023. This game is huge and I think everyone’s going to be watching and this is a real test. Is this just a fun flash in the pan and the Amazon postgame show they’re ripping their shirts off with 50 the whole thing or is this for real? And I think Giants fans are leaning all the way in for I see that you’re taking the Giants with the points. Yeah, this one won’t be comfortable. There’s ones that you run away with and then there are ones that are going to be uncomfortable. This is going to be uncomfortable. A lot of talk about Denver defense. A lot of talk about Denver defense. Anyone want to talk about the offense? You’re going to cover seven and a half points. You’re going to have to put some points up on the board. I saw him score 13 against the Jets. Not really sure that’s a juggernaut of a defense, but okay. 21 against Philly. They’re struggling this year. 20 against Tennessee. That’s going to be the key to covering seven and a half. You can win this game, but that hook represents an entire additional scoring drive. I’d look to the Giants, but again, you’ll need some Pepto-Bismol. Okay, we’ll see how that one goes. Our next stop, Minnesota. We are flying through games today. The Eagles looking to halt a two-game skid against the Vikings. Philly outscored by 21 points across those two games. Yesterday here on our set, Will Compton had this to say about the defending Super Bowl champs. The Philadelphia Eagles are done. Fly Eagles fly. It is fall. Eagles fall. They are struggling to run the football. Jaylen Herz doesn’t throw the football. They have question marks on defense right now. Their record 4-2 is a pick with lipstick. They could easily be one and five. And I think the Eagles are in trouble. Buying at Bartholomew. No, you can say that about every team. We said that about the Kansas City Chiefs a couple of weeks ago. One thing I know, the Dodgers of the football world, Harry Roseman is going to get whatever this team needs by the trade deadline. He already he always does. And we can’t count off the champions. They They’re too talented and they’ll figure out a way how to win this year. I don’t think they’re done. Are they Super Bowl favorites? I don’t know about that. But Dunn, I would agree with you. Done. I think he was I mean I think he was saying that they’re still final four type of content. I think he was being a bit extreme. But perhaps I guess the point they’re making is are they going to get it back together again or could this be starting to show shades of two years ago when things started to really start to slide and fall apart and the vibes seem the vibes feel off now? Vibes are always leadership. They’re always one good game away from vibes coming right back again. But are we worried about the vibes? No, I I I believe the offense is they’re going to find their identity. They’re going to get it together. What is it? What should their identity be? Well, number one, Saquon Barkley. You have to run the football, but you have to be committed to it. But then from a pass standpoint, if you’re Jaylen Herz, you have to trust yourself. You have to anticipate throws. You’re a veteran quarterback now. You should not be waiting to see guys open to let the ball go and let it fly. Trust your receivers. Trust yourself. Get it done. The thing that I’m most worried about when it comes to the Philadelphia Eagles is their defense. Yeah, you’re talking about their 21st in total defense, 27th versus a run, and then 26 in third downs. They had they have nine sacks in six games, Green Gy, last year they had 18. The inability to uh affect a quarterback is really hurting this team defensively. Peter, if you’re an Eagles fan, you’re generally cranky, but should you be gener genuinely worried right now? There’s always a bravado with Eagles fans, too, where it’s like, how dare you question us? This is the first time in the last couple years where it’s, wait, maybe we are looking at ourselves and saying, are we the same team? You hit it on the on the head with with that 2023 comparison. They went in-house. They promoted Brian Johnson. It didn’t work out. They did the same exact thing when Kell Moore left. They went in-house. They promoted Kevin Patulo. And now there’s questions whether he’s the guy. I will add this vibeswise last week losing to the Giants the way they did. Then the Seaquan documentary being promoted all week then being on after there was questions of like, okay, what are we right now? Cuz that didn’t look great either. No, I mean there’s there are legitimate questions there. And Joe, I see you’re taking the Vikings with the points. They’re the play. They’ve had two weeks to get ready for this game. Offensive lines getting healthy. Key to the game. Jaylen Herz struggles against both zone coverage and the blitz. Something Minnesota loves to do. Third highest blitz rate in the NFL. Herz ranks right around 26th in quarterback rating when facing the Blitz this season. Look for all his unders in this game. Minnesota gets it done. Feels like a very important game for both teams. Final word. Who’s playing quarterback for Minnesota? That’s a good question. That is the question. Who’s playing quarterback for the Giants? Who’s playing quarterback? Like it doesn’t matter. They’re not going to be able to score points. That’s the problem with that offense. We talk about what’s wrong with the Eagles. They’re not hungry. They’re one of the worst fourth quarter teams in the NFL. That’s when hunger shows up, the time to go out and win the game. They’re not hungry. They’re resting on the championship. So, yeah, it’s hard. It’s hard to make a starving. What What was the expression? It’s hard to make a full man starving. I thought it was pig on a lipstick. [Music]

Joe Fortenbaugh, Peter Schrager, Harry Douglas and Bart Scott join Mike Greenberg on Get Up to react to Joe Flacco and the Cincinnati Bengals’ win over Aaron Rodgers and the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday Night Football. Then, Schrags shares his predictions and hot takes for the rest of Week 7.

0:00 Steelers vs. Bengals
3:53 Steelers’ defense
6:03 Bart brings the numbers
7:45 Joe’s Best Bets
8:35 Is Bijan Robinson an MVP candidate?
9:18 Mike Vrabel & the New England Patriots vs. the Tennessee Titans
9:54 New York Giants vs. Denver Broncos
13:08 Philadelphia Eagles vs. Minnesota Vikings

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