Immediate Postgame Reaction to Steelers 23-9 win over Browns | Pittsburgh Steelers

Immediate Postgame Reaction to Steelers 23-9 win over Browns | Pittsburgh Steelers

Welcome to the Ford Steelers Extra Point. Good afternoon everyone and welcome inside the KDK TV studios. Bob Pompiani along with Hokei Bro 76, Mr. Chris Hul and we’re here after another Steelers win as they take control of the AFC North winning as you saw today over on KDKA 23 to9 over the Cleveland Browns who stunningly threw the ball 58 times today. I didn’t think that was going to be part of what they were going to do knowing that you know Quinnshot and Judkins came off 110 rush game against Minnesota and that’s kind of what they were going to do. Ease the quarterback in I thought instead it was Dylan Gabriel firing the ball all over the no question about it. The Steelers saw how well Judkins ran last week in London against the Vikings. And so now they say, “Okay, listen. We’re going to put the eight guys in the box. We’re going to shut down the run and make Dylan Gabriel beat us. Threw the ball a lot. He didn’t make many mistakes, but he was not able to move the ball consistently enough to score a lot of points.” Well, the the name of this game, quite frankly, was Steelers defensively. They had six sacks on Gabriel. They put a lot of pressure, a lot of hits, and on the other side of it, the Steelers offensive line did a good job. And really nice play calling I thought by Arthur Smith and company because they rolled Rogers out. Uh he did not get sacked today again and they’re doing a very good job whatever the formula they use and Rogers when need be made big throws. The one to Connor Hayward was a a really nice throw on the run there as he and it was a really good catch by Hayward as well. And then the one that was pump fake and then DK Metaf fourth consecutive game with at least one touchdown and that’s the most of his career. So pretty good stuff. Yeah, and Aaron Rogers really doing a great job on the field, right? He’s seeing blitzes coming. He’s seeing coverages. He’s checking at them. He’s moving people around. Things we haven’t seen here in Pittsburgh over the last few years since Ben Rothersberger retired. But he’s able to manipulate the defense and move everybody around, get the ball out quick or hold on to the ball and get it down the field. We saw a couple times today. And so Aaron Rogers really on the field is a coach like having Arthur Smith on the sideline. That’s what he does. And again, two touchdowns, no interception, Steelers win. Couple that with a Baltimore Raven loss stunningly. The Ravens are 1 and5. They only managed three points at home today. Uh, losing to the Rams 17-3. So, we have a lot to talk about. When we come back, you’re going to hear from head coach Mike Tomlin. He’ll be live over at Aisher Stadium. We have player interviews and plus your calls coming up a little later in this whole broadcast. We’re just getting started. This is our Extra Point Show. We are live on KDK Plus. Steelers Extra Point is presented by Remax Select Realy. Voted the most trusted agents in real estate. Welcome back. We continue right here with our extra point show. Bob Pompy and Chris Hul with you until 6:00 tonight. Let’s take a look at the AFC North standings. You’re going to love what you see here because the Steelers 4-1 overall, a commanding lead over the Bengals, who they will play next. And then the Ravens at 1 and5, the Browns at 1 and5. So, so the division record is 1 and0. We should clarify that. That’s not the division loss. Should be 1 and0 for the Steelers. So, that’s even better when you look at the Browns, you look at the Ravens, those conference tiebreers, those division tiebreers, those certainly mattered. But, you know, the bottom line is the Steelers took care of business. I love their very first play call because everyone thought, you know, what we saw in Ireland was going to carry over. Darnell Washington at one side helping out, then you have Mr. eligible. Uh Spencer Anderson on the other and they used that to their advantage because the very first play was a playaction fake and it went to Darnell Washington who rambled 36 yards down the field. That was a really good play. Yeah. And then you saw later in the game too, Arthur Smith called it where you had the same play Darnell Washington came on a short motion, took it up deep. You saw John Smith underneath where then Aaron Rogers checked it down to him real quick because they they stayed with Darnell Washington. The difference, Bob, when we look at the standings in the AFC North is a healthy quarterback. the three, you know, the Browns, the Bengals, the Ravens, they don’t have healthy quarterbacks right now. Their starters are out. If they can keep Aaron Rogers, he’s playing so well right now. Keep him clean, keep him, keep him upright in the pocket. He’s his balls are on the money. Something that nobody really saw coming into this season. People thought he was shot. He is surprising so many people in Steeler Nation. Yeah. Let’s talk more about Darnell Washington, Mount Washington, because everyone expects him just to be a blocker or short uh, you know, reception kind of guy, but he can turn it on and when he does, very difficult to get him. He had that 36-yer first play of the game and then later he had a couple of nice plays as well which set up a touchdown to DK Metaf. So they’re utilizing him more and more and I like that because it’s just a big target especially they didn’t have that opportunity in the red zone so much today but he’s another guy that you should look for in the red zone. There’s no question it gives him another eligible right. He’s in there to run the football but he can also be a mismatch on a linebacker. He’s able to get out in the middle of the field. Aaron Rogers can throw it high and get it to him. He’s tough to bring down. He’s always going to have yards after contact and so he’s a guy that you’re going to see get the ball more and more and more. He’s the reason why Pat Frymouth is not getting as many balls right now, Bob, is because Darnell Washington can do so much. He’s an elite blocker on the edge so they can move grass but also catch the ball and move the chains. See, it’s interesting that Fry Mouth only I think did he have one catch today? Yeah, it happened later in the game that and John Smith even he made some plays, but he hasn’t been in there as much as you would have thought based on how those guys were brought here in this contracts that they signed. Let’s take a look at the scoring summaries. We may wait for Mike Tomlin who will be here shortly live at his podium. Steelers win 23 to9 and it was a field goal fest in the first half. That’s all we saw. 933 Fred Boswell. The only one he missed. Uh his plant foot slipped on the turf there and that was for 54 yds. Uh Schmidt had a 31 yard and then in the second half the Steelers kind of took control of this. Rogers with the pass to Connor Hayward. That was a beautiful throw on the run and really nice catch by Hayward to make it 16 to three. A 53 yd field goal tightened it up to be a 10-point game. But again, the Steelers scored on another beautiful pass that was from uh Rogers to Metaf 25 yards. And and boy, I felt bad for Campbell. They just brought him over in a trade and they were picking on him today. And quite frankly, he started okay, I thought, but after that, it just was not his day. As the Steelers continued to pick on him and Medaf really making and there was one where it could have been a big reception. Medaf got by him. He slipped. Yeah. And he under threw him. You don’t see that often over there. No, you don’t. And here’s the reality. He was he went as the Browns defense went. They played tough in the first half and then they started to leak. They started to break and the Steelers took advantage of that. I think Bob the breaking point really was that run running into the punter. That was controversial. I think you can go either way on that. You saw Astronic knocked his guy into the punter into the Weightman. That right there turned the tide for the Steelers. They went down and scored a touchdown. Came back, scored another touchdown again, broke the game up and and broke the back of the Cleveland Browns. Yeah. Led to a 10play 79yd drive and that featured the Hayward touchdown at the very end of it. He’s a guy we haven’t said too much about, but normally when you throw him the ball, he’s going to make a catch. And that was a tight one. Very good coverage, I thought, by the Cleveland Browns on that play, but Rogers put it in an area where only he can get it. And that was the difference in this game. Dylan Gabriel on the other hand, you could tell he’s a young kid with a lot of potential though. He, you know, he took a beating in there today. But, uh, from what you saw last week in Minnesota and this week, it’s it’s not a good start. They lost both games from that point of view. But, I think you see some maturity in there. What I like is he’s making good decisions. He’s not taking, you know, he’s trying to get the ball out. He he’s not turning the ball over. I don’t think the receivers for the Cleveland Browns helped him out today. one that you know rated by pro football focus however you think of that Bob but they rated the Cleveland Browns line receivers as the worst in the NFL I mean they only at 60% they today had four or five drops how many times did you see the ball hit him in the hands hit him in the face and joke you Judy not expecting the ball to come out quickly that’s the kind of you he’s he’s decisive Dylan Gabriel who’s able to get the ball out as they all get on the same page and he plays more I think this offense will be a little bit more productive yeah and Harold Fannon Jr right down the sidelines right in his hands and he dropped that one as well all let’s take a look at quarterback comparison here as we wait for coach Tomlin to make his postgame comments. 29 to 51. Now, that number could be I’ve seen two different numbers on that from 52 to 57. Whatever the case, uh he threw the ball an awful lot and you wouldn’t have expected that from a rookie quarterback in his only his second game. On the other hand, again, very efficient was Aaron Rogers 21 for 3235, two scores, no interceptions, 115.3. And right now, Mike Tomlin is at the podium. Let’s take you there live at Aquasher Stadium. Um, I appreciate how the guys came off the buy. We didn’t warm up to it. We had certain agendas that we thought were critical to to making this game unfold the way we desired for it to unfold. Uh, we thought they play behind the runner. Um, we we wanted to do a good job of minimizing him. And I think we did that. When you do that, then then you’re in favorable one-dimensional passing circumstances for your defense. And I think that was reflected in the pressure that we were able to put on the quarterback. on the other side of the ball, we were able to stay on schedule and minimize those onedimensional moments uh to minimize Miles Garrett’s impact on the game. And so like some of those agendas, man, that we had, we were able to get accomplished. And I think that’s why we engineered victory. Uh one area where we certainly fell short um is the penalty component. Um we scout crews just like we scout teams. We know this crew throws a lot of penalties and uh we dropped the ball in terms of our preparedness there. I’ll accept responsibility for that. We got to be better. Um, you can’t beat anybody when you’re beating yourself and it just felt like at times we did that today. Um, and so we got to own that. Um, we got a short week. Um, we chasing another AFC North pelt here in a short number of days and so we respect the process. Uh, we got to work fast here in preparation for Thursday night. Um, got some bumps and bruises associated with play. Um, the only one that that’s worth mentioning of any significance is Miles Kilibru. Um, he’s got a significant knee injury and I’ll have more updates for you, I’m sure, in the not too distant future about the details of that. Um, questions, Mike, aside from those kind of couple leaky moments in Ireland, what’s been a difference with your defense the last two weeks with the pressure and everything? I just think we’re getting a full complement of our weapons back, you know. Um, you know, in Ireland, man, we we we got 25 back. Uh, this week we got 56 back, 24 back. Um, everybody goes through injuries. I’m not seeking comfort in the in the lack of availability, but if you’re asking me why is it starting to look the way that we desire, we got a full complement of talent. Um, and when we put this band together, we feel like we can do do things like you saw today. On Tuesday, Mike, you mentioned how good Dylan Gabriel is at processing. I think he called it his superpower. What did you guys do to be kryptonite to that? you know, we we we did a nice job with our pre- snap looks, but I think that’s aided again by having, you know, our secondary intact and and some of the things that that we developed in Latro, man, you’re able to execute when you got a full complement of guys, I thought they did a nice job with their pre-nap disguise. They didn’t allow him to digest information prior to getting the ball in his hands, and that’s a that’s the first component of slowing down the processing. Mike, what led to some of the chunk plays in the passing game and what was how impactful was that for you guys offensively? You know, um I thought we ran the ball effectively. I think when you run the ball effectively, it tease up some of the some of the action, the play action and most of our chunks were born out of out of run action. And so, you know, it’s really simple as that. This game has had now two 100yard rushing games. Just how much consistency have you seen them build over these last stretch here? you know, it’s it’s the overall trajectory of it has been what we desired. I’ve been talking about that and, you know, we certainly start to see see the result of that. Um, but we got to keep rolling. You see that the fact that um Aaron Rogers is a a pretty grizzled vet, but do you think he’s getting more comfortable with him motoring the offense? I I I certainly think that’s a reasonable expectation with more exposure whether you’re young or old, experienced or inexperienced, uh particularly this collective journey that we’re on, uh the more that you get an opportunity to play, certainly there’s more comfort there. Did you have Ramsey on any kind of pitch count? Were just being cautious with him or just circumstantial when he came out? Uh we did. Um but we certainly wanted to make sure that he could impact the game. Um I cannot say enough about Jaylen Ramsey, guys. This guy plays outside corner. He plays nickel. He plays free safety. Um he is exactly what we hoped he would be. Um and certainly he was significant today. Coach, your thoughts on the performance of Darnell Washington today? You know, um we’ve been very transparent about Darnell’s role. Um we play 4-3 teams. Man, we need a guy that looks like those 4-3 ends. Um it’s a major component of our run game. Can’t say enough about his efforts and and also Spencer Anderson. um you know their weight classes in combat sports for a reason. They got big people out in that C and D gap area and so do we when we deploy those two guys and it and it really gives us a fighting chance. Coach Caleb Johnson saw a lot more play playing time today. Um can you talk about his play more especially a a young guy coming back after the mistake he made in I don’t want to get into all of that man. He’s a young guy. He’s getting better. He’s earning opportunities. Um, there’s a reasonable expectation for him to get better. Anyone else? Mike, you mentioned Ramsey, but what kind of level is Herbic playing at for you right now? He’s playing at a pretty high level. That’s why I introduced 12 defenders today. Anyone? All right. Thanks. Yeah, I wondered about that, too. 12 defenders and that’s the reason uh Nick Herbick is all over the place. Had two more sacks today. I thought it was interesting that the CBS team did a very good job in going back to when Dylan Gabriel was in Hawaii along with Nick Herbig and it was Herbig who was getting him all over the place. He had to have flashbacks today. Dylan Gabriel Herbig’s biggest asset is his quickness off the ball. He is so explosive off the ball. Tackles don’t have enough time to get back in there to get back and kick back. He’s able to get around that corner very very quick. And right now in my mind, he’s the best pass rusher with the Steelers. Even with TJ Watt out there on the field, I mean, Nick Herbig is a guy that you have to account for, which is going to open up now opportunities for TJ Watt. How often you hear that, Bob, when you hear TJ, you know, TJ Watt’s opening up opportunities for other people. Her big is going to open up opportunities for TJ Watt and Heismith and the other rushers because how explosive he is. He tends to make those big plays in the fourth quarter. He did that today. Two sacks in the fourth quarter. Yeah. And he moved around a bit. He was in the middle today. He was moving around. They’re doing a lot of good and creative things both on offense and defense. It resulted in a 23-9 Pittsburgh win over Cleveland. By the way, that’s 22 in a row. Regular season losses for Cleveland here in Pittsburgh. The streak goes on. 239 your final score. We’ll have player reaction and then later your calls. All coming up right here on Extra Point. KDK Plus. Welcome back to the Ford Steelers Extra Point. We continue with a look around the league here on the Ford Extra Point. The Rams went to Baltimore and boy, I tell you what, they got offensive issues. They got tons of injuries, but still the Rams beat him today in Baltimore 17-3. The Ravens fall to 1 and5. Below that, you see the Chargers, our last second field goal to go down to Miami and win that game 29-27. The Colts came back. They were trailing late in this game. Jonathan Taylor put them up for good 31-27. Indie is for real. And so are the Seahawks. They go on the road to Jacksonville team which came off a very good performance the other day and Seattle wins it 20 to2. So man these week to week you never know what you’re going to get. Tough loss there for Jacksonville Jaguars. You know he thought after last week’s win that they were on to something but then Seattle they’re hot right Sam Darnold kind of rebirth of his career right I mean the last two years last year and this year he’s done a good job of reinventing himself because he struggled. He was kind of a journeyman there Bob after being a first round draft pick and not panning out with this first team now goes out there. But I look at the Baltimore Ravens. I mean, they just got to be so disappointed in Baltimore. All those injuries, don’t know what to do at quarterback. I heard today they were chatting for uh Snoop Huntley to come out and play in this game. And so they just don’t know what to do. They are reeling out in Baltimore. Yeah, they have a bye-week coming up and then their schedule gets a little lighter, but there just a matter of how many players are going to return after that bye-week. And not only that, they’re one and five. That’s a big hole to dig out from. All right, Jaylen Warren uh was a running back who certainly are Jaylen Ramsey. We’ll get to Warren a little bit later, but it’s Jaylen Ramsay first up and as you heard Mike Tomlin talk about him lavishly with the kind of stuff he’s done all over the place defensively. Let’s hear what he had to say after the game. You think about the way you guys bottled up the run and how much was that a key coming into this game? It was one of our keys to victory. So, um obviously I got we got to watch the film and see exactly how we did. I’m I’m sure it wasn’t perfect, but um it was definitely a key to victory and I think we did well. Jaylen, what has been the key to the defense kind of having this job performance the last two games? And is is it as simple as everyone’s healthy or is there more to it? Um being focused on the details maybe a little bit more. Um playing together, flying around. Um still things to, you know, fix. you know, it doesn’t look perfect out there, but um it’s a next play mindset. We go take play by play and we just go get it. How much did you guys want those last couple stops to keep them out of the end zone the entire day? Oh, yeah. That’s that’s always important in NFL games. You can uh keep an NFL offense out of the end zone. That’s um that’s something to be proud of. It’s something important. Jaylen, kind of a statement win for you guys versus both games. I would say it’s an important win. Um I think every game’s important, but obviously uh divisional opponent I think is a little bit extra important. I I wouldn’t say statement win, but it was an important game. Obviously, how’ it feel to get in the back field for two sacks? Felt good. Um I’m going probably tell my kids about this. I played in a game with TJ Watt and Miles Garrett and I had two sacks. That’s crazy, huh? That’s crazy. So, um, yeah, it’s my first first time in my whole career having two sacks in one game. So, that’s pretty cool, too. Do you know that was going to be kind of the game plan going into this one, or is it just how the game me blitzing or me getting a sack? Um, it’s always on on on the plate. Um, I guess you could say, you know, in my various roles and and things that I play throughout the game. I think about late. I never counted out, but I wouldn’t say that it was, you know, the exact plan to have me do that. They threw it 52 times. Is that something that you guys anticipated throughout the week as well, them throwing it potentially that much? Uh, no, definitely not. Um, and that numbers probably got inflated a little bit. Like I know in the first half we, you know, we were kind of low on numbers into that two-minute drive and that was like a 18play drive. You know, a couple penalties, a couple stuff here and there. That kind of was a lot of passes that drive, I would say, and then maybe one more drive in the fourth, I believe. Um, probably inflated those numbers a little bit, but definitely not something we expected. All right, that’s Jaylen Ramsay. I love that comment. I’m playing in a game with TJ Watton, Miles Garrett, and I’m the one who gets two sacks for the first time in his career. He did. Tackles for losses, quarterback hits. He’s all over the place. Um, you know, Chris, they brought him in with a thought that he could still do that. a lot of team he’s been with four teams so a lot of people had doubts about maybe he can do this his ability to adapt to different roles is not easy to do as a defensive guy you know that well and here he is doing those kinds of things and making plays and there’s no question he’s a game changer right he’s electrifying when he gets out on that football field and coach Tomlin loves having him because of his versatility but you look at today Bob this is the reason why coach Tomlin’s 276 against rookie quarterbacks now and you look at Dylan Gabriel and I remember one time them showing coach Tomlin on the screen on on CBS saying Hey KDK, he says pressure. He says pressure. I saw him lip that to Terrell Austin. They went out there and they called these pressures. These were corner blitzes and Jaylen Ramsey came unblocked. When a guy like Aaron Rogers, a veteran quarterback would see him creeping. Dylan Gabriel had so many things going on. He wasn’t able to see him and Jaylen Ramsey creeping up to blitz came unblocked at those two sacks, two more QB hits. What a game and what a call throughout the game by by Terrell Austin and Mike Tomlin. Yeah, they really did. And you know that’s the their message was clear to their team. Stop the run first, force the guy to pass. And that’s exactly what they did. And a lot of that comes from pressure. Once that is established and they can’t move the line of scrimmage, you know, the way they did, uh I think uh Judkins had 2.8 yards minimal yards. I mean Judkins had 10 12 for 36 yards and last week he had 110 yards and he was very explosive. A lot he showed himself to be a home run hitter and Steelers knew we stack the box. We make Dylan Gabriel try to beat us. He threw the ball 50 plus times, but the reality was they were very minimal, you know, short passes. I think biggest gain of the day was 18 yards. Still did a good good job of keeping everything in front of him and big- time tackles on the second and third level. Yeah, that debate that we always talk about, Miles Garrett versus TJ Watt was one-sided today. Miles Garrett had one tackle, that was it. Watt had six tackles, a half a sack, three quarterback hits, and a lot of other things that he was doing on the field. Let’s hear from TJ Watt in the locker room after the game. Division game for you guys. You feel like this is kind of like a statement win the way you guys want to play? I mean, we want more turnovers. We want to I mean, we feel like we played the run well. Obviously, you have to watch the film and stuff, but anytime you’re able to get at the quarterback, make them onedimensional. Um, happy with the performance, happy with the win. Short turnaround. We have another game here in a couple days. Are you surprised they threw so much? Um, it’s it’s tough. You never know each and every week. Obviously, if you’re neutralizing the run, you have a young quarterback trying to see what you have, max protection, things of that nature to um see if he can get the ball into the playmaker’s hands and that was their plan today and we did a good job of stopping him. Jaylen said he was going to tell his kids he had two sacks in a game that TJ Watt and M played in. He’s he’s a hell of an asset to us and I’m just glad he’s a part of our team. About what Nick was able to do out there today along with Alex coming back. Herb’s a baller, man. I think you guys are just kind of getting hip to it, but we’ve known it for a long time and uh kid does everything right. Uh we have a hell of a rotation. Obviously, Alex back. I think Sawyer’s done some great things as well. So, it’s it’s a deep room. How much fun is it when the defense is kind of buzzing up like that and anyone can get into the back field? It feels like it was huge. Um we we know we have guys in the back end that can cover. So, it allows us to have that extra second to get after the quarterback. All right. TJ Watt had his birthday this week and certainly he had a nice birthday day today when you look at it. the tackles. This is a double trouble. We always put Alex Heismith along with TJ W. We should probably make it a triple double, include Nick Hervik, who now leads the team in sacks. Uh but it was good to get Heismith back and they were really good off the line of scrimmage today. Yeah, and you look at right here, the reality was it was good to get Alex Heismith back. I really was impressed at how he set the edge. A lot of times what Alex Heismith does isn’t doesn’t show up on the stat sheet, Bob. He’s really good at setting the edge, not letting running backs hit downhill, letting linebackers flow to the football, playing down the line, and he did that today. So, it’s great to have Alex Heismith back, but you talk about TJ Watt and Nick Herbig. If these three can stay healthy and then be able to rotate and I ran it in there, Jack Sawyer, I saw have some good rushes today. They are going to be tough tough to move the ball on because those three guys, four guys can rotate and put pressure on the quarterback. Yeah, you see Watt flying around and it took a couple of guys. They were trying to add some people on his side of the football, chipping with running backs, tight ends, whatever the case may be and he still would get around that. But I was surprised that they let TJ Watt, Nick Herbig go single against the tackle one-on-one, much more than I anticipated they would today. But they did at times bring him in critical moments. But there were many times even when the backup came in when Conklin went down. They were able to they went manto man, one on monoemano and TJ Watt was able to take advantage of it. Nick Herbert took advantage of it. Two sacks in the fourth quarter. So that’s what you got to do. If they’re not going to put, you know, if they’re not going to scheme around you and double up on you, you’ve got to take advantage of it. Yeah. And their offensive line is really struggling right now. They have injuries. They have a lot of unproven guys there and the Steelers took advantage of that. We’ll take a break, come back with more reaction to a Steelers 29 to uh 23 to9 win today over the Browns. Again, Pittsburgh now 4-1 in really good command position in the AFC North. We’ll continue right here on the Ford Extra Point. Welcome back to the Ford Steelers Extra Point. Aaron Rogers two touchdown passes. He’s now talking over at Acer. Let’s find out what he has to say. Uh he had a quick out conversion. He did a nice job with his late hands. I think the other one was just quick out that uh you know I thankfully put in a good spot. DB kind of tried to break on it and uh DK made a play. The other third catch was on the shallow cross after I threw a bad one on the on the inside go. His fourth catch was a nice little slant and go he ran. How do you describe your first taste of true AOC North football and especially getting a win tonight? Well, I think division games in the NFL are always different. Anything can happen. Uh been in the a North division for 18 years of my career, 15 as a starter, so I know what those games are all about. Um anything can happen. U definitely seems those games are always a little more physical than the other ones. Felt like it was a physical game. I think our defense was really getting after it. I was joking with PQ. felt like he was trying to knock himself out out there, he’s drilling people. Um, yeah, there was a lot of big hits on both sides of the ball, but anytime you play division games, really in the NFL in general, you know, you take care of the football and you win the line of scrimmage, you’re going to win a lot of those games. So, I thought we did that today. No, no sacks today. Um, you know, Roger got a lot of questions from this this week about how you going to handle 95. It seems like he did got some help sometimes, but he also kind of handled his business on his own. What have you seen specifically maybe from him in terms of his growth the first five weeks of the season? Well, I think he he took uh hopefully he wasn’t reading it, but I feel like probably there’s some negative uh based on the questions I was getting. I think week three, some negative thoughts out there about how he was playing. Um I got a lot of confidence in him. Um I really enjoy his energy. Um sometimes trying to kick him in the ass a little bit in practice to, you know, get going, but um but I like his positivity and I like uh you know, he’s always like the first one to come celebrate with me uh on the field. I appreciate that and I appreciate um you know him rising to the challenge this week. Obviously, you’re playing a generational type player like that. Uh there’s not going to be a ton of one-on- ones. We’re going to you know throw different things at him. I thought we did a good job with tight ends, various body types and and running backs out there trying to chip them just to kind of slow them down. Uh but when he had singles, uh I felt like broad, you know, I got to look at the film, but seems like he played pretty well. You guys have been seeing a lot of two high coverages coming into this game. Just how did you try to take advantage when they did go to that super high coverage? Throw it to DK. Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead. What were the keys going up against a tough um Cleveland defense? You put up 23 points and you probably could have had more. Yeah, just patience. If you look at the film uh and the opponents and the way the games went um you know uh they played they have a great defense and they played tough in all those games. You know the Detroit game got away from because of some turnovers. Um but I thought Dylan you know took care of the football. We had some chances to pick the ball off and didn’t. Um but uh you know for the most part that’s a really good defense that’s going to stand up most of the game. We just had to make the most of, you know, a short field on one of them and then a couple really nice sustained drives in the second half. We were better on third down than we had been uh previous weeks. You know, we converted uh some third and long longer ones. I think we’re around 50% for the for the day. I’m not sure if the uh the kneel downs took us under that. Uh but seems like we’re right around 50% which was good. Uh first half drives stalled but thankfully Bos, you know, took care of those kicks before the field got uh uh borderline unplayable. Um, so that was nice to get those touchdowns in the second half. Aaron, what do you like and what you’re seeing from the offense and how it’s evolving here each week? What’s it second? The offense. What do you like about the offense and how it’s evolving each season? Well, I think we’re playing uh playing pretty smart football. I think Art, you know, got us into a good rhythm today. And uh when we take care of the football and don’t turn it over, we’re gonna have a chance in any game. And then if we can control the line of scrimmage, um you know, we’re really be playing downhill. I thought the key to the last two games has been first and second down. You know, when we’re efficient on those those drives, we usually score points. When we’re not, you know, there’s been some three and outs. So, I like what we’ve done with Spence. I like obviously what we’ve done with Darnell. You know, seemed like the more playing time he’s out there, big things happen. The first play of the game, you know, I know he got the ball punched out, but uh he’s a he’s a super talented guy from 68 and whatever he tips his scales at. Uh, I love having Darnell out there. Just his energy, his presence, his body. Um, he’s made a big difference for us. You mentioned the field there. Was it rough going pregame? Could you tell it was going to be rough pregame or did it I couldn’t tell pregame, though. I just felt like uh it got real beat up. Uh, by the time the third quarter rolled around, that thing was uh was really beat up. So, I feel bad about what happened to Miles. Not sure, you know, if there was any carry there. I know that field gets a lot of play. Um, I don’t know why anybody wouldn’t wear seven studs, you know, cleats. Some guys are opposed to that. They just want to wear molded, but it reminds me a little bit of the field in Green Bay uh, in the early years, but not until like November, early December where it’ get kind of torn up a little bit. Then they went out, they found an incredible um, you know, field maintenance uh, guy that come over and help our guys out. And the field in Green Bay is absolutely immaculate. But the field today got pretty torn up. Two more. Aaron, during the week we asked you about momentum and you said it’s not about, you know, coming out the body. You said it’s more about the way you practice, the way good teams practice. I see evidence of us. When you did you see that evidence on the field today? Do you get the s do you feel confident this one you guys are trending in the direction of being a good team and a factor in the AFC? Well, that’s where we want to be and and we’re putting ourselves in a position right to start entering the conversation. Um, but a lot can happen. There’s a lot of time between now and and December football. December football is when you want to be playing your best, but you also want to be healthy. And you know, we got some guys back today. I thought Joey played really well. Getting Alex Icemith back uh was great. Um you know, when you can throw Heismith and Herbig and TJ at you, that’s uh pretty uh pretty tough for any offensive line. And uh you know, I thought I think the Sean’s you know, him having coming back on the back end’s been a big deal for us. And you know, you go out and get guys like Darius Slay and Jaylen Ramsey. Um, I do want to make a point and and talk about Ramsay because uh what he did this week getting ready to play. I’ve been around the game a long time and I’ve seen a lot of guys in situation where you got a Sunday, Thursday, skip both games where maybe they’re 80% uh 85% but they want to be 100%. Because there’s I think there’s a fear of failure almost that uh that can paralyze them where if I don’t play my best game then what does that say about me if I’m not 100%. I think some guys are scared to go out there and play. But for Jaylen to go out there with everything he’s accomplished in this league, I just can’t say enough about the level of respect I have for him. Then he had what, two sacks and pass breakups and tackles and um if there was any question about the type of person that he is, take away the incredible player, but person and teammate, I think he just showed uh all of us the kind of the kind of guy that he is by going out there and playing today. You guys saw some single high today and were able to get downfield passing attack going. How how did the run game kind of open that up for some teams out of too high and you’re starting to get that downfield passing attack working? Well, teams want to play too high and rush with with their front four, but I think Arts done a nice job the last few weeks of mixing the personnel groupings a lot and some with Spence out there as an extra offensive tackle and it it puts some stress on the defense. Um, if you would just want to play two eye because now we got some extra extra poundage there on the same side, especially when him and Darnell are on the same uh same formation alignment side. So, um I think Art did a good job of keeping off balance and we, you know, started it uh today with a with an action keeper. They blew wide open and, uh, but Art’s done a good job with the the formation. So, we throw a lot of things at him. Obviously, we’re trying to keep DK out there as much, but we can do some big 11 stuff and let Ben do some things. We can get our, you know, our fast guys in there with Scotty and and Roman and Cal when he comes back. Or we can go big and play, you know, three or four tight ends at the time and sometimes have Spence be that tight end. So, uh, a lot of credit goes to to Art, um, Fredo getting those boys ready and then, uh, you know, I think Pat and Ike have done such a good job with the offensive line. They’re really smart group. One of the smartest groups I’ve been around, but they controlled the line of scrimmage today. All right, thank you. We have DK coming in right and any quarterback would appreciate that with the line of scrimmage and the way that offensive line is playing. He had nice praise there for Brick Jones and what he’s been able to do. You take a look at Rogers Day here, 21 of 30, two uh 35 with two touchdowns, no interceptions, as I said before, 115.3 quarterback rating. Yeah, I don’t know about you, Chris, but he sounds like a coach. I mean, everything that he says, meticulous. He remembers the one, the two, the three, and the four catches that I looked at you when he said that. We both looked at each other and thought, “Holy smokes.” I mean, four catches every single one. He knew when. But I’ll tell you what, if they can keep him clean, I mean, today, I mean, 30 passes and he was only hit three times. I mean, that’s really really incredible onetenth of the time. If he can do that all day long and his balls are on the money because he’s clean, that’s what you can see. You know, people talked about him going to the Jets last year, last two years, and didn’t play very well. Now, you’re seeing where he comes to a team with a solid coaching staff, solid supporting cast. Look at the kind of throws he’s making and how he’s playing. It’s pretty incredible. All right, one of those two touchdowns to DK Medaf. He’s at the podium right now. Let’s take you there. the timing um during practice and you know us talking about the different DBs that we’re going to go against uh dur throughout the week um and making sure we’re both on the same page with how they play me. Uh either press coverage, soft shoe, or if they hard jam, if they two-hand jam or one hand jam um and just all all those details about uh you know the DBs, the two 25 yarders that you had when you got to the line in both cases, did you feel like those were opportunities that were going to cash in? Do you think you had a chance of those two? Yes, sir. Uh especially when eight’s in the uh in the gun. Uh especially throwing the football. I always think I got a chance. Uh especially with the way our O line is playing. Um you know, they’re they’re definitely giving them time back there to uh you know, find the open guy downfield. DK, with some of the personnel groupings you guys are using your goal to start seeing single high, which allows you to get the downfield attack going. How has that kind of opened things up for you, not just in the yards after catch game, but also catching those deep balls on those fade routes in the nine routes? Uh I think it’s uh pretty much the run game. Uh opening up um you know all those middle of the field throws or on the outside throws uh because they got to stack the box to try to stop the run. Like I said, I keep I keep giving praise to our old line for uh you know either pass blocking or run blocking because they go against some heavy hitters uh week in and week out. Um and they’re holding holding their own uh every week. What did you see click with that group especially in the third quarter? You had several nine 10 11 yard runs and that seemed to open up more of those play action passes that came together for you guys. I think it’s just wearing the uh defenses down. Uh whether they’re um you know the for handling the four down line and then pushing up to the second level uh getting hands on linebackers to where you know we got strong running backs and Kenny G Caleb and um Jaylen Warren who can you know break tackles from one, two, three guys, you know, when they want to. So uh just kudos to you know our running backs and our O line. How exciting is it for you as a vet to see a line with three secondyear guys and a thirdyear guy playing this well against a team that was the number one run defense going into this game? Uh it’s no surprise because I see them and the way that they work and handle their business throughout the throughout the course of a week. Uh they’re always hang hanging around each other, always joking. I always see them in the wait room early in the morning. Um and they’re they’re serious about their work when we strap up and and hit the field. So, uh I commend them for that. How do you describe your first true taste of ABC North football? Uh I mean it was football at the end of the day. Uh they they they couldn’t beat us today. So, you know, got another one Thursday and you know, hoping to do the same thing. Dell was another guy who had a big game. I would say at what point in the game did you know he was going to be heavily involved, but it was the first play. So, I’ll say what point in the week uh did you know that he was going to be a big part of this one? Yeah, Mike T uh you know teed us up for uh Darnell to have a big game today. Um he he kept uh you know putting up Miles Garrett or uh you know other D linemen saying that he had the opportunity to block those guys and when he got in space uh you know he he’s very big unmovable object whenever he has the ball. So, uh, just get put the ball in his hands and let him do the rest. I’m guessing you’re not used to lining up at fullback like you did today. You said what? I’m guessing you’re not used to lining up at full back like you did today. Why you say that? My stance wasn’t good enough. I thought it was good personally, but yeah, that was my first time being back there. The view was a little wicked, but you know, I like being outside the numbers. DK, what kind of Yeah, he did line up in the back field and when we saw that, I said, “What is going on there?” But how about DK’s day? Well, you see it. you know, he hasn’t had a whole bunch of receptions, like big numbers, but every time he seems to be targeted in a critical situation, he comes up with big plays. And then when he starts running, look out. Four catches, 95 yards. That’s a healthy average right there. Uh, and the touchdown, which was beautifully thrown by Aaron Rogers. And I look at that nine targets, some missed opportunities there, right? He was open for a touchdown that Aaron Rogers under threw, but you look at the chunk plays. 25 yard catch, 19 yard catch, 25 yard catch, and then a 25 yard TD catch, Bob. And those are big chunk chunk chunk um things that you you like to see from a guy you’re paying what $150 million. He is now starting to produce. He’s getting into form and I believe that you’ll see him getting more and more balls. I mean I mean one time Aaron Rogers threw the ball only where he could catch the ball and he caught it and great coverage by the corner. Um I believe this show is just beginning here in Yeah. Honestly, when you think about it again, four games in a row with a touchdown reception uh and the confidence and the communication, everything is on pace to become very good in this league as they’re four- one after five games. And I think like you said, they’re just getting started. It seems like they’re warming up to this and the offense continues to turn out better performances. And we’ll see what happens on Thursday night when they have to make a trip to Cincinnati. We have more coming up right here on our Ford Extra point show. Steelers win today 23 to9 to get to 4 in one. We’ll come back with more and soon we’ll take your phone calls and your opinions on what you saw today and maybe what you look ahead to see for the Pittsburgh Steelers. It’s all yet to come. Welcome back to the Ford Steelers Extra Point. All right, welcome back. Now it’s time to take a look at the final stats. Uh if you look at this, you may have thought, you know, it was a lot closer than it was. I thought the Steelers carried the play a lot today. Those 10 penalties, something that frustrated Mike Tomlin because they’ve been one of the leaders when it comes to least penalties in games, but that changed a little bit today. Third down conversions need to get better. But overall, um, it’s a it’s a complete win when you consider the physicality of this game. A lot of guys went down with injuries. You heard Aaron Rogers talk about the field condition, which man, Chris Boswell attempted that 54 yard and that plant foot went down and I thought that could be scary, but he survived that. Hopefully he’ll be fine for Thursday night. In the meantime, while Connor Hayward got in the end zone today, let’s hear from Cam Hayward, who did a very good job with that defensive line today against the Browns. How close was that to just the um I guess the how good you guys can be? Uh you know, uh I’m looking at in a vacuum. I think we can just continue to keep getting better. Um I thought we did a good job on the run game. Um but you know, there’s still uh things we got to strive for. Um, third down in the second half, I thought we needed to be better. Uh, penalties, whether they were wrong or right, they were called. Um, and we still got to get some more turnovers. Um, you know, a couple times the ball was batted up in the air and, you know, we just didn’t finish those plays, but, uh, you know, overall good performance. Um, but we still got work to do. Is this what this defense is expected to look like at full strength? This first time you guys were four strength. Uh, I I thought we just um, you know, great communication today that uh, you know, I think that starts with six. Uh, I thought Patrick got the calls out. Uh, and then, um, it reverberates all over the field. Um, but, you know, execution has to take, you know, ownership and, um, I thought, you know, especially with this game plan and understanding that they love to run the ball, we attack that. Said tennis helps kids two sacks in the game with TJ and all you guys out there. Yeah. Um, we don’t care where it comes from. Uh, we are concerned with winning. Uh, and you know, we you got a guy like Jaylen who is, you know, there’s nothing, um, he can’t do on the field. And so, um, you know, we’re very lucky to have a guy like that. I know all wins are important, but is it even maybe a little more important to play like you did in one short week with game? A North games are, you know, critical. Um and um we’re trying to win as many as possible. Uh this is a good start. Um but Thursday comes very quick. Ken, what can you say about Derek and what he’s done so done so far, especially in this game? He was making plays in the run and in against the pass, also chasing guys downfield after reception. Yeah, I thought uh you’re talking with Derek Army, right? Um you know, I just thought he’d uh you know, played with great hands. Uh got off box. Um, you know, four technique is not an easy job and you know, he’s he’s playing at a high level. Uh, and he’s just going to keep getting better. What happened with you guys in the run? All right, leading tacklers today. Deshun Elliott was everywhere and you you talk about the guys that Omar Conn has brought in in this off seasonason. They’re all making big plays at big times. Of course, Patrick Queen was last year’s free agent signing. He was up there along with Juan Thornnehill against his former team. Pton Wilson did a good job. And Ramsay, boy, he continues to get all that praise. And you know, I remember at the beginning of this week, we were thinking he’s going to be out for a couple of games as Aaron Rogers suggested. Next thing you know, he’s not only back on the field practicing, but he goes from doubtful to questionable and then he’s in the lineup. It says a lot for his willingness to put himself on the line even where he may not be 100%. You know, the last two weeks Steelers have been playing lights out defensively. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Deshawn Elliot’s out there now playing. He does a good job of communicating. Has a good job. He’s a big hitter, big heavy helmet out there on the back end of this defense. So, he is one of the reasons why this thing has turned. I think also is you’re seeing a lot of the players um kind of rounding into shape. Bob, they’re starting to get the rust off from not playing in August and now you’re a month into the season, five weeks into the season, and now you’re looking at a team that’s playing fast, that’s playing confident, and playing physical. And that’s this defense right now. Let’s hope they can keep some guys healthy and and a lot of these guys that got banged up today will be ready for Thursday night against and that would include Calvin Austin who did not play, but Alex Heismith was back after missing some time with an injury. He spoke after the game. Oh, great. Um, you know, to see Blake out with out there with the guys, you know, getting after it. Um, you know, just a great feeling. So, I’m just, you know, all all focuses for Thursday at at Cindy. So, I’m just glad we’re able to get the dub at home. Six sacks today. What was the key for you guys to get after Gabriel? Yeah, I mean, I think we had a good plan going into it. Um, we had a lot of different games that we ran. Um, you know, a lot of guys beat their guys and so, um, we just got to continue to get after it, you know, week after week. And so, um, we just got to look at the good things we did, uh, today and, you know, take them to Thursday. first time this defense strength. Is this kind of what we should expect from you guys all together? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we have a bunch of dogs on our defense and so we got a bunch of great players and so depth at their position and so um like I said, I was just happy to be back out there with the guys. I’m out there getting after it. So, um looking forward to Thursday to get a win like this, especially the way you guys played on a short. I mean, it’s it’s huge because you always want to come out your first division game and make a statement. I think we did that today. Um you know, obviously we didn’t play perfect. there some things that we can we can we can get better at. Um but you know to come out and get this first one at home versus division opponents huge and then get two in a row in four days will be will be huge. So we got to have all our focus on Cincy. All right that’s Alex Iith and we talked a lot about Jaylen Ramsay but another Jaylen was back in the lineup. He missed some time. Jaylen Warren did not play in that Dublin game but he was out there today and boy he runs hard. Let’s hear what he had to say after the game. like what you guys were able to do offense, how it complemented kind of each other here today. Yeah. Yeah. That’s that’s the ball we play in Pittsburgh and it showed out there. I’d imagine you guys aren’t surprised, but the way how effective you guys maybe not the stats are there, but how effective you were running the ball against one of the top run defenses in the NFL. Yeah, I knew, you know, with the camaraderie we have as a team, the chemistry, I knew, you know, we just all did our 111 that, you know, it would come out our way. When have you guys been opening up the run game over the last couple of weeks? Uh, our props to the lineman. The lineman been really working hard. Uh, you know, our receivers are blocking and so props to all them. They’re the ones that make it happen. How about what Jones did against Miles Garrett here today? Broadick. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What he did against M how they handled how you handle Miles Garrett? Oh, I mean, yeah, it was very quiet on that side. And uh, you know, we that’s what that just shows that’s goes with our preparation. A lot of guys were talking about being an important game. Is this almost like a statement type game? First AFC North game heading to Cincinnati on a short week. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it is. Um, you know, we come in we come in this game with like, you know, a chip on our shoulder onto the next. Is it important for you guys not to be to be able to run the ball like one dimensional especially against all the pressure packages you guys? Yeah, 100%. Uh, you know, we run the ball effectively. Opens up the pass game. Just seen we dumped the DK then, you know, they got up in too high. Then we were able to run the ball. Jaylen, you guys come out the third. All right, Jaylen Warren got back after missing last uh game in Ireland. 11 carries, 52 yards. He just runs hard every time and it takes two or three guys to bring him to the ground. You know, this run game, we talked about it. I wasn’t sure how they were going to divvy up all the snaps today, but we saw Caleb Johnson also get in there and it’s good to see him in there. He was running hard when he got a chance to. Yeah, and they rotated those guys pretty good. But what I loved about Jaylen Warren was he he is not a small running back. He is compact. He is physical. He’s explosive. And not only does he make guys miss, he’s able to run over guys. But how many times do we see him carry three or four yards these defenders for the Cleveland Browns in this game today? He had a lot of eight, nine, 10 yard runs. Um really really excited about getting him back. Hopefully, you know, he comes out from this game and and know dings and can play Thursday night and keep this three-headed monster, if you will, running back because really liked what we saw today. 100 yards against a defense that was holding teams to 75 yards a game. Number one in the NFL. I thought they did a good job of putting the Browns on their heels. Short week coming up as the Steelers now will head to Cincinnati on Thursday. The Packers uh are hosting the Bengals right now and they lead that game three to nothing. So, let’s take a look at the Ford Road ahead. It’s a Thursday night trip to Cincinnati. And again, some of these guys are banged up. Um if you heard Mike Tommy said Miles Kibru is the only significant injury. He has a knee injury, but the other guys left the game, came back into the game. They’re going to need everyone to go against Higgins and Chase, even uh with Joe Flacco as their quarterback, and he’s their new guy there, and he’s playing today. Then it’s Green Bay, and that’s a Sunday night here in Pittsburgh at 8:20. The Colts, who won again today, they’ll be here on November the 2nd. That is Hall of Honor weekend, uh an alumni day for the Steelers. And then it’s at the Chargers. So, this schedule does start to pick up, especially uh October the 26th and after that. The one thing about Joe Felco in Cincinnati, he knows how to beat the Steelers. He knows the Steelers defense very, very well. He knows the weakness, he knows the strength, he knows the scheme. So, it’s be interesting with him still having the arm, can throw the football. If they could protect him, Jamar Chase, T. Higgins, it’s it could be a tough game for the Steelers. Yeah, but their offensive line is really, there’s no question about it. Bad things for Joe Burrow. He’s missed a lot, but he gets rid of the ball quick. He does. And Mike Thomas always watch out for Joe Flacker when he gets in the game. So, that trade happened this week and he’s now the starting quarterback with the Cincinnati Bengals. All right, that’s going to wrap up this program. Thank you for joining us on the Ford Extra Point. When we come back, we’re going to take your phone calls. It is a special Steelers edition of the Ireland Contracting Nightly Sports Call. It’s next right here on KDKA Plus.

KDKA’s Bob Pompeani and Chris Hoke talk about the Steelers 23-9 win over the Cleveland Browns in Week 6 and more on Steelers Extra Point

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