Drive9.24.26Hr2: Scouting the Bengals

0:00So we heard Amanda is off to school? Yeah, big step. More independent. She's not going to call every week asking for more money for books, is she? With smart start banking from S&T Bank, she gets budgeting tools, scholarship opportunities, and can send money using Zell. Wow. I guess college is about getting smarter, right? Give them financial independence and yourself peace of mind. Stop by your local branch. Call 835-2265 or visit STbank.com to send money with Zell. Both parties must have an eligible checking or savings account, terms and conditions apply. S&T Bank, member FDIC. Good evening, Steeler Nation.

1:03How we doing? Well that's good. Us too. It is hour number two of the drive here on this Thursday as we are getting closer and closer to Sunday. We've got some Thursday night football tonight, Matt. I think it's more fun than you think. Absolutely. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely is. Because you'll get to see Michael Pettics. Yeah. For the first time this season in Stofanski's offense and everything going on there in Atlanta. Beijon's worth the price of a mission by himself. Just as a fan. Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. And then I think, man, I said this to you Monday when we were recapping all the other games in the NFL. I think Jordan Love has been very impressive early here. History all of it. He's like the beijon of the Packers. I mean, he's doing leveled up and no one seems to notice because that's all they do well with football. They aligns in the zaster. Caleb Johnson might be starting running back tonight. The defense is bad. This is a loosable game for the Packers. It absolutely is. But they could also get to two and one and be feeling okay. And yeah, we let one get away week one against Minnesota, but that happens.

2:05And Michael Parsons will be back someday. Yes. Exactly right. Exactly right. Real quick on a land. I won't spend a ton of time on that game. But London, Pits, Beijon, they're still at the top of their game. They just send them anybody to give them the football. And their own lines played really well this year. But nobody's noticed because they get adequate play. They could be kind of scary tonight. They've got some real weapons on that. Yeah, yeah. That's for sure. And I'm looking, looking forward to that one. And really just a huge as we laid out yesterday, massive college football slate this weekend and a huge AFC North tilt. Of course, right here on the North Shore of Pittsburgh. I won't watch any of night because NFL's on the big, big boys are on. Is there any, is there a college tonight? There is college tonight. I don't think it's really. And I remember I looked on Wednesday, but they honestly college football has done that weird thing now where they're almost putting their better weekday games on Friday nights. Makes sense. I mean, you can't compete. I mean, it could be the two worst teams of league. It ends up Thursday's now being like a lot of Mac teams and sub belt teams and stuff like

3:06that. And then Friday, you'll get like, my, I mean, wake forest. Are you still getting like Mac on like Tuesdays and Wednesdays? You are not yet, but they do start at a certain point. I think that's pretty smart. I think it's awesome. Yeah, yeah. And you know, actually, it's funny. You say that because last night, let me look at this real quick, it's Liberty and Coastal Carolina tonight. Okay. So again, I mean, that's fine college football, but it's, it's not what it used to be. It's not going to beat the Packers and Falcons. But then tomorrow night, you get Indiana and Northwestern. You get Clemson and Cal. So you get like legit power for power for games there. And that doesn't impose on the high school world. Those are two different. I think so. Yeah. If you're, if you're a high school football town and you're, you're not going to your game because you want to watch Cal and Clemson. Yeah, maybe some folks in Indiana don't go to high school game. Maybe. Yeah, whatever. So I think that's the kind of different types of regions where high school football is massive. I don't, I don't think it's no, they're going to like business. Speaking of those, it's funny. You say those Tuesday Mac games. So you know this TV knows this. I've referenced it on the show. My wife and I, we spent the entire summer, basically.

4:07Our whole basement got gutted and remodeled, got an office put in little office studio space for me put in there. We got a full bathroom put in down there. Awesome. Little, little bar area. When's he having us over TV and then a little, and then a little TV? He always talks about how he has. This is great barbecue and smoker and doesn't bring any in. Well, you see invite. Here's the problem, guys, is that I'm either I'm always doing one of two things on the weekend. I'm either going to Morgan town Saturday in the Nacresher stadium Sunday or I'm hopping on a plane Saturday. I'm going to wherever the dealers are. You also live on the wrong side of the wall too. Maybe though next weekend when the dealers play on Thursday, the weekend free. Yeah, just saying, just saying. So we got our basement. I'll bring the high lives. We did our our basement complete remodel, gutted a whole thing and then our master bathroom as well upstairs in our bedroom. So that project started in June and all that just wrapped up in the last week or two. And then all the furniture for the basement got delivered finally on Monday. Oh, baby. So we're like, it's like home now.

5:07I mean, I need I still need to get a coffee table and like a couple little rugs and stuff like that. But it's it's pretty much home now. Gotcha. I was down there with my wife last night and I'm flipping through the channels and I'm like, babe, I need some I need some midweek action here. You know, baseball doesn't do it for me. No, baseball just doesn't do at least you're getting hockey soon. I know that that does do it for you. We'll get college basketball and we'll get hockey soon, which does it for me. But I'm like, I need something to watch on Tuesday. If it's on WVU college basketball, does that do it for you? If it's Kentucky and Yukon, you know, I'd say that wouldn't no college basketball really does it for me. I will try to watch a while. Okay. Like for example, if there wasn't an NFL game tonight, man, I would watch Coastal Carolina and Liberty. I wouldn't be sitting there watching every single place. But I would have it on the TV. Okay. Um, whereas for college basketball, kind, if it's a bit, you know, if it's a, if it's a legit match, I'll have it on a big time program. But like I can't base baseball just done do it for me, really. I might turn into the World Series. Yeah.

6:08I mean, I would often have the pirates. And I was going to say I say that I would love it if the pirates were going to the playoff here in the next couple of weeks. I would absolutely love that. I would love to see the pirates win a World Series at some point in my life, but it's just not, it's not my, uh, my favorite cup of tea. I'm not the biggest pirates guy. Obviously, um, but I really enjoy sharkies when there's a pirate game on more than not, especially the year, like this year, it was fun at sharkies at evenings because the pirates were still playing meaningful baseball. And plus I had some years where the season's over by the time we get to let you know, plus I learned so much talking to the folks that do more than just the pirates to the media folks that actually know what they're talking about. Like Dale is like that. Pursuit is like that. And some of his guys like Ben Benz will like write pirate articles. I mean, he's on top of it. Yeah. A damn ski does some. Always picking their brain. Yeah. So yeah, now I'm with you on that, but I'm excited. We're really getting into the best part of the sport. But the good stuff's coming up. This good stuff's coming up. Obviously football NFL and college is going full steam. You're going to have baseball playoff start next week, which I do kind of keep an eye on that. And you'll love this.

7:08I mean, you mentioned Vegas. You mentioned Vegas a little earlier for a different context. I sure did. But I was always so jealous that there was maybe 10 years in a row where my best buds. It was like probably two weeks from now. Baseball playoff time would go to Vegas for like four nights and just stay in the sports books because hockey's going. I mean, everything in the game started three or four o'clock because of the time check. There's football everywhere. There's hockey. There's NBA, I think by then. And there's baseball playoffs. It was the, I'm like, that sounds like a great day. I don't want really want to sit at the crap tables or anything. But I'll sit there with my boys, eating, drinking, watching 400 sporting events, putting a couple bucks down. To be a football fan in the West Coast time zone is dreamland. Yeah, some of them are an early riser. 10 o'clock. I mean, that's I know. I started 10. Yeah, that's part of some bad. Yeah. Think about that. Your NFL Sunday would start at 10 a.m. and it would be over at like 830. Yeah. That's pretty good. I just can't wrap my head around. I've never done that.

8:09I've only ever done it whenever we, whatever we fly out there for games. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's always my favorite thing is we fly out there for games and we leave early Saturday morning. And so by the time we land, it's like the first quarter of the college football noon games and you're right to the sports book. Yeah, yeah. Everything ever. Yeah. And even like the 10 o'clock West Coast games, they started seven out there. So you're still getting embedded a decent time. Even if you're for the last leg, you're done by 11 or whatever if you want. Yeah. Like I've got, we've got family that live in just outside of Nashville. And so that's an hour behind us. And my, I guess I didn't even make it there. My uncle talks about that all the time. He's like, it's awesome. He's like, think about it. He's like the penguins games are on it and pirates games are on at six o'clock. Five, four, like I get home from work and I'm. Make a burger and turn them all over. Yeah, right. Yeah. And then the, you know, the late night football games instead of eight, 15, they started seven, 15. So it's a little bit better. You know, it's, it's a little more reasonable. I'm such a night owl by, by nature. You are. I don't bother me as much, but I could see a lot of people be like, I'm struggling. Stay for the fourth quarter of my day. You know, that's being now.

9:10Yeah. I've always been a night owl before I had two kids, 18 months apart. They're now four and three years old and wake up to crack a dawn every day. Yeah. I don't know how we got there, map. That was a fun intro here for hour number two. But yes, fired up for everything coming down the other line here in the football world over the next few days. Matt. I'm going to add to some more numbers and notables here as we continue to roll along. I also, oh, let's mention two because I forgot to do this in the first hour, 80th birthday today. Happy birthday. How about it? To mean Joe Green, a true icon of the National Football League. That, that term legend and icon, goat and all that gets thrown around way too often out of the modern era, all those very fitting adjectives from mean Joe. Yeah. Happy 80th to what I feel is the greatest stealer player of all time. Yeah. I mean, that's a pretty tough one to argue again. I think in you and I have even, we've referenced this in summer times when we've been slow for

10:10content. I think the conversation, the debate of a stealer's mount rush more is almost impossible. Oh, it's almost impossible. Especially if you include owners and coaches, especially if you include owners and coaches, but the one thing that is without a debate or a question or a doubt is the first person chiseled in stone on there is mean Joe Green. And then we can start having the conversation. I agree. And it's not only maybe he's the best player, maybe not. Maybe Mel Blunt was better at corner than he was at the tackle or Dermani Dawson's better at center. I get what you're saying. Yeah. I mean, but it was better at corner. Paul Malu or whatever that we could fight about who was better at what they did on the fielder at their position. Right. That's a fun debate on the centers are hard argue with. I think there's the best two centers that have ever lived. Yeah. And then yeah. But I think most important is 75 and it's not even close. Not even close. Right. I mean, that's when it all changed. And you still feel the ripple effects of the day he was drafted. So look this up or something.

11:11What they look this up if you don't mind. I hate to give you guys projects, but I think he was drafted like the day after they hired Chuck Nolts. Times are different back then. Like the draft was way earlier. I think Chuck Nolts got or got hired and like a day. I wish I had labs on and I feel like a day or two later they drafted Joe Green. All right. The Pittsburgh Steelers hired Chuck Nolts their head coach January 27th 1969. The Pittsburgh Steelers drafted mean Joe Green January 28th. That's so great. 1969 fourth overall. I mean, how much North Texas scouting did Chuck Nolts as soon as he gets hired? You know what I mean? Who was the headscout on that one? Right nailed it. This is crazy how different the world was about that. I don't think I'd ever, I mean, I'm sure I'd probably heard that at some point, but I actually learned that a couple of years ago. You know, the, you know, the first pick overall was in that draft. The 1969 NFL draft. I would get it in a vulnerable choice.

12:11It was somebody good. Hey, it was somebody who was good at someone who's in the Hall of Fame. Someone who's number Matt, you recently asked me if it was enshrined in a stadium that we were at. Uh, not New England, new stadium that we were at. Is it the juice? The juice of the Simpson was the first overall pick that year. Then George Coons goes to Atlanta. Second, Leroy, keys defensive back goes to the Eagles. Third in a mean Joe Green out of North Texas. I think there was even like weird headlines in the post Gazette and Pittsburgh. I sure was like, what the hell are they doing drafting this guy? Because no one's ever heard of North Texas state. Correct. I think they wanted them to take Greg Cook, who was the quarterback from Cincinnati, who ended up going to the Cincinnati Bengals in the first round. That is definitely who people wanted them to take. But you're, but you're right. I remember those headlines are like, what are the Steelers doing? Yeah. Yeah. And what's crazy sometimes it works out all right for you. This can't be a coincidence, but they were the North Texas state mean Greens. But I think he would have been mean Joe Green if he went to LSU too.

13:14You know, roll off the tongue very nicely. Yeah. Like I don't, but there had maybe that was part of what led to the easy nickname. I imagine. And I don't think that's why he went there. I mean, he was Joe Green from birth. He didn't go there because their colors were green. I assume. You know, I mean, he's been a heck of a story. I mean, I don't know about that. I mean, you get hired in like a couple days later, you got to make the first pick in the draft or you're going to have to draft. We're all over the place in this segment. We are. But I kind of like it. Yeah. Once we're going to do it. Here's what we're going to do. This is the Hodgepodge segment of the week. All right. And I do want to get into some fun. Now Matt's got me doing all this nerdy draft stuff here. I mean, I tell you what. Who else was draft? Say what you want about OJ and you can say a lot about OJ. Go watch his call and chylates and you're like, that's the first pick in the draft. Say what you want about OJ. You could say you could say a lot. There's a lot of say. I would talk about the hand the ball at USC. Boy, his highlight something. All right. So who's this this Terry Hanra had he quarterback from Notre Dame that you say is that who

14:14the steal is drafted in the second round? Mm-hmm. Okay. So again, that would allude to the fact that people thought they should have taken the quarterback in the first round. Yes. Just since an addy guy, I see where he is. No, people thought Hanra had he was the answer. And he battled with Bradshaw for quite a while. Okay. Especially Bradshaw's really rough years. Interesting. And what you want. And other things have changed. Go look at Bradshaw's first two or three years in a league. I mean, like, you would have never worse than any quarterback playing right now. I mean, like, Peyton Manning's first year was a disaster. So his eight minutes, but like, John L.A.'s first year was a disaster. I mean, no one would have stuck with Bradshaw for two or three years with his horrible as he was in those times, benched in terrible stats and no wins. And I mean, like, times have changed. They certainly have. They certainly have. I bet you wonders. Should be a little more patient with somebody's quarterback. And I, I mean, I told you that, that L.A. documentary on Netflix, like, oh, man, I say, I forgot. I mean, I was like seven, eight years old, you know, but they would always rookie year. They would pull them in and out of the game all the time. All the time. Like all the time.

15:15You're having a lot back then, right? So what are you doing? I think his second ever game and first road game was a three or a stadium. It was. And he lined up behind the guard. Sure. Yeah. And in that documentary, he's like, it's my first road game in the NFL. And I'm looking across the line of scrimmage at Jack Lambert missing T's neck roll. And I'm like, maybe I should go play baseball. There's no internet or Twitter. I mean, imagine if Archmaning lines up behind the guard in week two next year, you know, that would be pretty, uh, pretty incredible. Uh, Steelers third round draft pick that year. I would never know. John Colbe. Oh, okay. That's the beginning. Pre A. Yeah. You get me and Joe on one side of the trenches. You get John Colbe on the other side. That's a good. This should have been a lab segment. I've heard about when Chuck Noel arrived here. Is he addressed the team and said, we're going to win here. But almost none of you will be here. Correct. Because none of you are good enough for players. I've watched the tape and you guys are junk.

16:16Yes. I was either right. And he was right. It was either labs or maybe like Wolf or Tunch who told me that in that first meeting, there were a couple players who lat, like Chuck Noel said, we're going to win the Super Bowl here. Yeah. And a couple guys snickered and those guys were like off the team the next day. Yeah. Like there's like Andy Russell and there's about that's about it. Ray Mansfield. I mean, that's the guys that actually helped the great Andy Russell story of Chuck Noel gets hired and a couple weeks later, Andy Russell goes to visit him. Like Chuck Noel wants to have a meeting with him. And Andy Russell told this story and he's thinking in his mind like, the new head coach man, I'm the best player on the team. Yeah. Coach wants to get to know me. And he sits down and Chuck Noel says, Andy, if you're going to, if you're going to play for me, you got to completely change your game. And Andy Russell's like, I'm the best player on the team. I got to completely change my game. But imagine the head coach walks into, you know, I just got this first time head coach. We're going to win Super Bowl here, but none of you are good enough to come along for the ride. You guys all stink. Yeah. It's basically what he said.

17:17I watched the team. None of you can play. I'm getting number place in all of you. That's like the, uh, the hard Brooks, the miracle and ice team where he told the team, you think you can win on talent alone, gentlemen. You don't have enough talent. No, no chance. Matt, how do we get here in this segment? It was fun though. Yeah. But I really enjoyed it. I do have a couple of final of those numbers that I want to run by you when we return on the other side. And then we'll give some Thursday night football predictions and hit on a couple tweets before we get out of here. I'm having fun on the show today. Thank you. You'll learn Williamson. It's the drive. Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network. Now a word from our sponsor, Bud Light. There's nothing better than the clean crisp. There's nothing better than the clean crisp. Uh, what if we just got out of here and grab some Bud lights? The man, we're on air for four more hours. I'll figure it out. Sounds good to me. Anything for the clean, crisp taste of Bud Light. Stock up now. Bud Light.

18:18Easy to drink, easy to enjoy. Enjoy responsibly. Copyright 2026 and has a Bush Bud Light beer St. Louis, Missouri. I used to have cable internet, but I'm a 100% kind of fan. So I switched to Verizon Fios. It's 100% fiber internet that's super reliable. So I streamed 100% at the NFL Draft Live with ultra low lag. And after what went down in the first round, still getting video calls from my best friend Robin Gideon that he called all the pics. I told you they were building their own line. I win the bet. Get 100% fiber internet with Verizon Fios because when it comes to your team, it's 100% or nothing. Call 1-8-3-3 Verizon to switch today. Get that hotdog costume ready. Vra.

19:22Statt it up here on this Thursday after a little pods podge of one conversation there to get our hour number two going. Matt, some final numbers and metrics and notables from your stats packet that I want to run past you here today. The Bengals using 12 personnel. Remember folks, I know you know this. You're a smart football audience, but that means one running back in two tight ends on the field. 12 personnel 35.2% of the time. That's the highest rate in the NFL. That's very on Cincinnati. Very unsensitling. Yes. So what's the reasoning behind that? A couple things. Well, the league is going to more tight ends. And should we expect that to even maybe uptick with Yoshevaz on IR? I can't remember when he got hurt.

20:23So some snaps have had to happen since him. I don't remember when he left the game or whatever. But I do think they're evolving a little bit. I mean, teams just across the league. It's a huge trend. They're putting more and more tight ends on the field. You're seeing more and more 13. I don't have a great reason why they've adapted so much. But really since Taylor's been there as a head coach, even before Burrow, they were like first or second in 11 all the time. Now with them, we never go down this road. But their 12 personnel often is 11 and a half. Because Gaseki's not really a tight end. You know what I mean? He is a tight end, but he doesn't really block anybody. And he doesn't line up in line. It's like Kyle Pitts usage. Yeah. So that's actually an advantage at times. If you can be 11 and a half or any of those tweeners, sometimes defenses don't count them the way that you want.

21:25You know, like, oh, if I put Gaseki out there and I'm getting base, I'm running verticals all day long, you know, or vice versa. If they think he's a blocker and he isn't, you know. But I do think a lot of it is a real unsung hero. Like Tom and I do this diamond in the rough segment for the pre pre game show. And if I were doing one for the Bengals, it'd be Eric All who people don't know who is. He's just a really solid young two way tight end. Iowa kid Iowa tight end. He'll probably be good to say. I think he'll be all right. The only reason he didn't go like in the third round was because of a knee. I think coming out and it's taking him a while to get adjusted. But he's going to be a foundational piece for them. And I think they're just trying to get their better guys on the field. Is that going to be your diamond in the rough for Sunday? I usually don't do an opponent, but maybe gotcha. Yeah. Well, little teaser. Yeah. It's a good one. Matt, here's something that worries me Cincinnati seventh best explosive pass rate in the league. Yeah. Steeler's defense. Twenty second. So far, that's one of those things that we talked about of spend the one like chicken

22:25the arm. It's it's it's been the fly in the ointment. Yeah. Defense that has been otherwise very good too many explosives. And this is a Cincinnati offense that knows how to hit them. And they always do and they have just have explosive players. They often get like boxes and they get hit explosive runs because they're I mean, it's all derived from chasing Higgins. Those two are unbelievably explosive to begin with. Chases as explosives. Any receiver in the league. So they're always going to have explosives. But for the fact that you have them makes it harder to defend against explosive runs because you they're going to play a lighter box against the Bengals a lot, you know, but they're in explosive theme. Matt, just three guys, Jamar chase T Higgins and chase Brown accounted for. Over 77% of Cincinnati's targets last week against Houston. And I think that's what's going to happen. Like chase Brown's on the best running back in the league, but he's right there with like B. John in terms of. When the ball goes to a running back, it goes to him. Yes.

23:26You know, like another diamond. The rough is like Samajipi Ryan. He runs a lot of routes though. He runs a lot of routes. Interesting for a bigger body. Yeah. He's really good in protection. He runs all around while routes because he's out there on third and long because he's by far the best protection. He can ship and then get out. Yeah. But so he's the dirty work guy. He knows exactly what his role is in this league. He's not going to be a big time ball carrier. He's not even catch that many balls. He's stealing Dan. Yeah. I mean, you know what you're getting your dirty work for the dirty work. But Brown gets almost all the touches in terms of the running back room. And he's a good player, but he's not. Bajan, you know, that's why he's high fantasy value. High fantasy value. Just volume volume. Yeah. But no, that's something they've always done is they're one of the better teams in the league getting the best players the ball, which sounds easy. But this isn't kids flag football. I mean, the defense board knows. Everyone knows that. They want to go with the ball. Right. Right. Right. She's in a secret. Few more of these Matt that stood out to me. Here's a very interesting one. And we are starting to get to where these things are trends, but it is also just two data points.

24:33Joe burrow. He is getting blitzed 36% of the time that he drops back. That is by far the highest percentage of his career. Yeah. Why? Or is it just a hundred percent? No, it could be as simple as Tampa and Houston. Like balls is a big blitz guy. So that might be it could just be, you know, the opponents they've faced through two weeks of the season, but 36% of the time. That's I haven't studied the Texans, but traditionally they are not a big blitz team because they don't have to. They don't have to. They're pretty straight up. The Bengals hardly blitz at all. I mean, that's a side note just what this is something I was thinking about. One thing I can tell you is Bengals games have a lot of quarterback hits and a lot of sacks. I mean, the Bengals are burrows getting hit a lot. He got sex five times last week. I think so. And they had five. I think they had five. Okay. So just through two weeks, quarterbacks are getting hit a lot. And it's been it's a pretty serious Bengals trend. The burrows getting the ball out of his hands quicker. He's still getting hit a lot.

25:34You know, I mean, so it sounds crazy because their offense is still really good. But I think their offense is still trying to find itself a little bit. Teams are playing them a little different. They're playing a little different with more 12 burrows getting it out quicker. They're seeing more blitz. So that even though they're still great offense and frightening this could be, this is even more frightening. I feel like the offense is playing at a B plus level where it almost always is at an A. And probably the A days are coming because they always do. Hopefully not until right. Right, right, right. But meanwhile, it's been the defense that's, I mean, they've scored on defense and the offense isn't bad, but it's not coming to the point where it always is. And as we laid out yesterday, they haven't had to dial up a bunch of blitzes with their defense. It's just been those four, those front four have an a ton of success. They play light boxes and they don't blitz and still get their grade against the pass and run. Thanks, extra Lawrence. Reminds me of the teams that have won the Super Bowl the last two years.

26:34You see Adel and Philadelphia. You can pull that stuff off down front for wreak havoc and everyone else does a job on the back end. Yeah, absolutely. It's a good way to live. Good way if you can do it. Matt to kind of piggyback off of that to wrap this up. It was a tale of two different stories for the Steelers defense in terms of their blitz deployment deployment. We won week two. And I don't think that would surprise anybody when you consider Cooper rush. I think the quarterback just the first strike may. Week one against Atlanta. The Steelers blitzed on just about a little over seven and a half percent of the time Atlanta dropped back very little probably two times. Last week, nearly 50% over 48% of the time that Drake may drop back the Steelers blitz. That's a beefy number. So really time. Wee, incy, baincy tiny week one. Yeah. Mass of big chunky number week two. Yeah. You expect somewhere in the middle. What do you expect that to look like against Joe borough this week? Or whatever reason the book on borough this year is blitz a more right. But that's scary. Seems like it seems like dangerous way to live.

27:36I don't know, but I think what we can definitely take away from it, which we highly suspected is Patrick Graham will change very much the pendant on who they're playing as opposed to this is my way or the highway. Not what you asked, but the same thing's true for the Steelers. How much talk do we have about the Falcons were the biggest blitz team in the league? Your number two, will they blitz Rogers nobody blitzes Rogers. They didn't Falcon or the Patriots blitz Rogers like crazy. And frankly, this worries me because it's unfair to just say Rogers number, but he's the quarterback. The Steelers number verse blitz is really bad this year. So I have a hunch teams are maybe not the bangles they haven't had to, but teams are not going to be afraid to blitz Rogers like they did in previous years until he proves them otherwise. So he burns them. Yeah, right. Which he very well could, but you know you're going to get it now. Does how he works? You show any bit of weakness.

28:36It's not slipping by anybody anymore. No, not at all ever. And man, I tell you what, hold lot on the line in this regard on Sunday. It feels like if you're sincere and you end up going three and oh and Ravens lost last week, can you put the Steelers to one and two? You're in pretty comfortable spot. And you did that on the road to on the road. Yeah, want to know in the division on the road. Yeah, you got to win over the Houston Texans. Yeah, three pretty decent teams. You know, right Ravens losing last week's a nice gift for you too. If you're going to go to Brazil, maybe you know, that is this week, right? Isn't it? I don't know. Yeah, Ravens out of Brazil. Cowboys, right? Sunday and Brazil. Is that an early early game? I believe it four o'clock. Oh, okay. Oh, time difference is not that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like an hour ahead of us or two hours ahead of us as opposed to as opposed to Europe. That's definitely a looserful game for Baltimore. Sure. I don't know the schedule very well. Yeah, that's one of the things I'm trying to do with that. Trying to get a get a firm grasp on here as well. Yeah, that one.

29:37Well, I'm not seeing it on the schedule here for some reason, but regardless. Okay. We'll go through it tomorrow. Yeah, we'll go through. We'll go through all of those all of those games tomorrow. As we like to do, it is a. Oh, it's for it's 425. Yep. CBS Ravens Cowboys NFL Rio. Baby, Baltimore three and a half point favorites. We'll talk about. We'll talk about that. Steelers should be done by then and you know, right? Absolutely. Focus in on it. Matt Steelers, injury, participation report for practice today. Are you ready? I'm a little worried about this one. I said, Oh, you ready. Let's go right to the lead story. Joey Porter, Jr. Limited listed as limited again today. Same as tomorrow. Still though, no back report on the injury list. It's just conditioning. He said he did everything. Remember, this was last week where the back went this time last week where the back reappeared on the injuries. Oh, right, right. Remember to start the week last week. It was non-injulated conditioning and then the back was added this week.

30:38It could pop up again on Friday. Who knows? It could pop up again tomorrow, but at least I think again, this is a better sign than where we were last week. So still limited for Joey Porter, Jr. But no back report listed on that injury report. Good news for Jalen Ramsey. He was back to a full participant today. Michael Pittman, Jr. Still limited with that foot for the second straight day in a row. I thought he made progress though. Did he go from non-delimited? Just limited to limited from yesterday to today. Now that could still be progress. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Still no rickled out. Like I don't think Pippman practiced last Thursday. I believe in you. I believe you are. Maybe that's what I've heard. Okay. Doudal has not practiced with that toe yet this week and other DNP for him. That's a good turning. Yeah. Jalen Warren has been limited once again with the shoulder that he was listed with yesterday. So back to back, limited days for Jalen Warren. I would bet you just want to keep him in bubble wrap, especially with a doubtful situation. Absolutely. Good news for Jamel Dean. He missed practice yesterday with that ankle.

31:40He was back out there today in a limited capacity, but still out there. Certainly we wouldn't want to be out without Porter and Dean against these guys. Exactly right. Exactly right. And then last kind of thing to note here, Jennings Dunker popped up on the injury report today, limited with a knee issue. That was new. And he's been an active both weeks. Yeah. And if there's an online change, I don't think he would get a helmet either way. I agree with you on that. I think he was drafted with the idea of down, you know, give him a year and let's see what he can do down the road. And he might be a starting rickard a year from now. He absolutely could be. And remember, he was a tackle at Iowa. So he, you know, I think that was kind of always the plan to give him some time. And we'll see how this all transpires tomorrow. But that's what we know here on this Thursday. One more segment to go on the other side. We'll cross some T's. We'll dot some eyes. We'll get to some questions, comments, concerns and reactions before we get up out of here. Yuler and Williams and it's the drive Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network. And now a word from our sponsor, Bud Light.

32:43There's nothing better than the clean crisp. There's nothing better than the clean crisp. What if we just got out of here and grab some Bud lights? A man, we're on air for four more hours. They'll figure it out. Sounds good to me. Anything for the clean crisp taste of Bud Light. Stock up now. Bud Light. Easy to drink, easy to enjoy. Enjoy responsibly. Copyright 2026 and Heiser Bush Bud Light beer St. Louis, Missouri. I used to have cable internet, but I'm a 100% kind of fan. So I switched to Verizon Files. It's 100% fiber internet that's super reliable. So I streamed 100% at the NFL Draft Live with ultra low lag. And after what went down in the first round, still getting video calls from my best friend rubbing it in that he called all the pics. I told you they were building their own line. I win the bet. Get 100% fiber internet with Verizon Files because when it comes to your team, it's 100% or nothing. Call 1-8-3-3 Verizon to switch today. Get that hot dog costume ready. Bra. Your tune to the drive on your 24-7 home of the Black and Gold Steelers Nation Radio.

34:04Final segment here on this Thursday. You know what that means. All right. So I have a couple of days to go to the news. I learned about these two things. For the past two weeks, it's been a big time. It's been a great time for questions, comments, concerns, reactions. The time is yours. And Matt, before we jump into the participation here from the YouTube comments, and from the ex Twitter, I didn't want to give a quick shout out to Elijah in Saxon Berk, 11 years old, listens to the drive every night before bed. Elijah, I love it. I met his dad, Cory, earlier today and he told me all about how his son loves listening to us. That's cool. And he's like, it's sometimes difficult to get my son to go to bed, but how we can get him kind of is like, let's go listen to the drive and you know, you and I are obviously so, so dry and boring that it puts him right to sleep. But no, but I we've got a we've got a huge listener, Elijah, 11 years old in Saxon, Bergen. So just wanted to give him a shout out and thank him for Elijah. I'll tell you a little story and I don't have any idea what your career aspirations were and I had no aspirations of doing this for a living when I was your age. But when I was your age, my dad had transistor radio sitting up on the microwave and Myron had a talk show and then

35:08Stan had a talk show. And I think Stan was from seven to eight and Myron was something like that. Yeah, right. It's always like a two hour block. And this is 40 years ago, you know, but I would sit there shooting nerve hoops like crazy in the kitchen, listening to those guys would have it on during dinner. My mom would hate it, you know, and I'd just be on the background. And the first time I was ever on the radio was like an 11 year old call in the stand show. And then every Friday for many, many years at 120, I was on the stand as one of my favorite hits of the week. I knew you always loved that. Yeah, yeah. It's it's pretty cool. I've I've told you that before for me, you know, 2018, my first year in training camp with the Steelers. And I had, you know, I had worked in hockey in Ohio for a couple of years. Then I worked in radio in Philadelphia for a couple of years. I finally get a job back in my hometown. I was like 26, 27 years old at that point. I'm so excited and all these people that I my entire life in Pittsburgh. I had

36:09been reading and listening to you know, Mike, Jim, you know, Mike, Mike, Jim, Jerry, who lack Tim Benz and Dale Wally and all these people that I had been, you know, listening to and reading their work, my entire life and all of a sudden they're all around me and everything and they're buying me beers at Charkeys. Yeah, sure. And friends and and all that. It is it is a pretty cool when that when that comes full circle. Absolutely. Well, maybe maybe Elijah will be a guest on the show one day when he's you know, when he's maybe he'll be the host 20 years. When he's not in the drive. That's exactly right. Exactly right. Although Elijah, you're going to need to go to Mars or Mount Lebanon if you want to host the drive. That's kind of works. It's kind of in the it's kind of in the bylaws here at this point. Matt, Mr. Steel City. And this is something I think you touched on yesterday. But Mr. Steel City asks, do you think Brock Hoffman having experience against Dexter Lawrence could play a role if that change is made along the offensive line? He has multiple years against him from when they played in the same division. Can't hurt. I mean, he's a very unique player to go against.

37:12So I would think having any experience whatsoever against sexy dexie is useful. I mean, at least you knew what didn't work or how powerful he is coming off the line of scrimmage or tendencies. Doesn't make it easier. I mean, I guess it doesn't hurt. We didn't really touch on this. But it sounds as though, again, we're learning about this staff. However, we can. They took Faltanu and McCormick both from the right side and move them as a pairing to the left side because they really both those guys played left in college. I bet they both prefer left. I've been told they do. I didn't talk to you the one of them. But I also think that they really have value in how those two communicated on on the right side. So it's like a hockey line change type. That's what it's got to what I was going to say is I don't think this is a huge secret. But it sounds as though it practiced this week that line two of Max Aharnature and Brock Hoffman are practicing

38:20as a unit almost. Okay. That would make that would make sense that if there is a change, it probably won't just be a new right guard. Right. I want just be a new right guard or a new right tackle. But it'll be a new hockey line. Mike McCartney will blow the whistle. Yeah. And I guess that's sort of odd to me. I mean, it seems like such a wholesale change that I originally thought, man, that's more more than it should be. But if Aharnature and Hoffman through preseason and running with the twos have a really good understanding, especially with one of them being a highly touted rookie, would Max be more comfortable next to Hoffman than next to Anderson? Maybe. Maybe. I just think it's an interesting way of thinking of it. And I've never really had an old line approach it that way. I, you know, that part is unique. You're right. Yeah. Yeah. I kind of like it. I kind of like the I understand it. But it's not something that we hear about all of it. It's not conventional. Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. That's something to keep an eye on for Sunday. Right.

39:22Uh, it will perfect fit points it out here too. That it was Halak who brought that up yesterday. And we had Chris Halak on about the Hoffman experience against against Dexter Lawrence. And that makes a lot of sense. That makes a lot of sense. Hey, when we do our five star for I wasn't a starter the whole time he was there. He was not the whole time. But he did. They play some in a lot of it at center right over and nose. And and their run game had a significant uptick whenever he was in there for the Cowboys. I have a feeling we will talk plenty about the Steelers interior offensive line and against sexy Dexey when when we do our five star Friday and Alan played really well for them too. Who has Alan? Oh, yeah. Yeah. And Alan. He's again, he's been good. He's almost been forgotten. Yeah. And he's been quite good. Yeah. He's been outstanding. Let's see here. Ted says, um, would you guys, um, again, we got some more questions about and I don't even know now. And maybe I'm just a prisoner at the moment. Some more questions

40:23about potential, you know, JPJ trade stuff. If Steelers were to go into that market, you know, would you be interested in adding another piece to the defense and not a wide receiver is kind of what Ted's asking. Miguel points out that, you know, he likes James and Williams. But he feels like he might be very similar to DK Metcalf and would rather, you know, have something different. Yeah. I, I'm at the point now. I just want to join your back on the field in the middle of the night. I'm going to go old and either sign them when the season ends, franchise tag, and whatever the case may be. But yeah. I just, I mean, if the, if the bridge has been burned, which I don't know, he talked to me, if it was, then we could start talking trades. Or if he doesn't play this weekend, and hey, I mean, I know it sells, we consider and talk trades like crazy. People would love that. That's the fun conversation. And it is fun conversation. But it has to at least cross the mind of the people in the Steelers office. I mean, they didn't have a deal done and he's not been on the field. You're not doing a job if you're in all these to think about it.

41:24As you and I, we talked about this with the whole McCoy Lemmon situation during the NFL draft. That type of thing shouldn't have caught the Steelers off guard. No, you plan for everything. Yeah. If A happens, what do we do with B? If A and B and C happen, what do we do at D? Yeah. Yeah. If we, if this guy we're going to take them in the draft and he gets picked up, pick or two before us, then who are we drafting? If something happens with Joey Porter, Jr., that it's a total impasse and it's just, it's beyond repair, then what happened? Then what are we looking for? Like they, they, this stuff doesn't just pop up on them overnight. And the drafts are a great example because obviously you wouldn't take, have taken Jeremy Bernard or traded up for him the second round if you took lemon the round before. I mean, it has a ripple effect too. Like men, all of a sudden, maybe you're looking for a tackle a lot heavier. That's part of the reason why I like the way it planned out because the tackles you'd be picking from the second round don't even resemble the honniture. You probably wouldn't have been able to trade broadrick Jones if that was the case. Right. You may not have got a tackle. Yeah.

42:27Christopher says after reviewing the all 22 tape of SNR, the drive, do we need to start to go fund me to get Matt a haircut? I kind of like, we talked about this a couple of weeks ago. I like how you're letting the flow grow out. I think it looks good, brother. If you go back a year or so, it's night and day different. I'll tell you what. Dude, I laugh and I mean this to you as a compliment. Yeah. You get like the memories and the on this day. Of course. Right. Right. Right. Pop up. And so a lot of times it's, it's like you and I at the combine doing a show together six years ago. Yeah. And I'm like, man, Matt back then, Matt had a much chunkier face back then. And he had a lot less hair. You lost some weight, brother. And you got the flow going on. You've got a glow up here probably midlife crisis. That's some sort. You know, if it is, you should have had it 20 years. Steel curtain says fantasy football quarterback question. Do I start Joe burrow against the Steelers this Sunday or Bryce Young against the Browns? Brown's D played a lot better than I thought. I'm not saying they're back, but that's not as easy as a matchup as you think. I tell you

43:31what though, Bryce Young has been lighting it up. He's been like numbers have been out. He's in shock. I think they're right behind. I think they're second and third and fantasy points behind Alan. Alan's like running away with the crown. I'd have a hard time putting burrow in the bench. Like I have respect for what Bryce Young's done, but one of those guys went like the fourth round of your draft. One of them might have been unadrafted. It takes me a while to get rid of my priors in fantasy. And I don't like admitting this, but Matt, men lie, women lie, numbers don't. No. Joe burrow his, he's only started against the Steelers four times in his career to this point, which is a pretty low number. He's missed a lot of those games with injuries and unfortunate timing, but his numbers are pretty good in those four games against the Steelers. The one thing though, is he does have an interception streak going against the Steelers. He does. Yeah. I think every game other than his first start against Pittsburgh, he's thrown a pick. Interesting. Yeah, I think it's five or six. Let's keep that. Let's keep that going. John says I really like the H line on defense. Highsmith Hampton Hayward Herbig Hampton Casey Hampton. He's he back. I think he means

44:35Harman. I think you know, okay, okay. They have been playing their sets really well, completely agree. Oh, yeah, completely completely agree. Yeah. No, I think the front in particular has been pretty dominant and very encouraging, very encouraging. You could argue as great as Watts been this year. You could argue the Herbig's been their best offensive player. I mean, he's really had been right there. He's been great. Yeah. I think Benton's been really good. I think Patrick Queen's been really good. Harman played his best game as a Steelers past week too. He might have. Yeah, he might have. That was one of the things that I had in the Tuesday rewind that I don't think we discussed because we talked about how impressive Benton was. I think Harman had a really good game. I think he's starting to scratch his surface too. Brad Tast. Get it? It's like a play on words, like bad taste. I'm assuming his name's Brad. Brad Tast. Brad Tast says question. If the following three things were true, one, archmaning returns to college for one more year. Two, Mike McCarthy decides he wants to use 2027 to play one of the young quarterbacks on the roster because he thinks

45:38the Steelers have something there in Aller or Howard and three. Every team will be required to accept JPJ for a 2028 first round pick. Which team would you want to make the trade with and would you make the trade? Oh, yeah. I mean, if you could pick your hand shoes. You can. And listen, I think I feel about as highly as Joey Porter, Jr. Is anybody who does this in this market. Yeah, but if you could get what you think is the top five pick without a doubt. Now, like the Browns might have Dante Moore and be better. Sure. But I mean, you can't go too wrong betting on the Browns Cardinals. Yes. I mean, like they're always picked. I, right. Miami, all of a sudden, I doubt goes from, you know, light years better. Yes. I mean, I would love to get to the offseason and real and figure out who who's doing the Falcons move of we know this is going to be one tough year. You know, because there's always a team that like doesn't do anything in the offseason that's probably setting up for a high pick. And I don't know who that's going to be that isn't the perennial

46:40bottom feeder. But yeah, I mean, there aren't many players in the league. I wouldn't trade for what I think is a top five top five pick top five pick, especially with the quarterback. When you're with quarterback need. Brad also says, I like it when you guys discuss some other topics. I would love to know your Mount Rushmore of chicken. Mine would be hot wings fried chicken chicken, chicken, jess a peak. That's a really good. I thought you'd say like KFC versus a good. K's or whatever. Yeah, definitely. Wings and chicken parm absolutely. Those would be the, in fact, a really interesting debate to me would be if I could only have chicken wings or chicken parm the rest of my life, what would it be? Because that would be a Buffalo old school. I think it would be too. But I also, if I was on death row, I think my mom's chicken parm would be my last one. Wow. Those two for sure. Then I'd go like a spicy chicken sandwich. Good spicy chicken sandwich. And that's good fried chicken. So good. I went many years without. So good. But now it's like, if you smell it, it's like, that's so good. I'm back on. So yeah. So mine would either, my last one would either be old school fried

47:44chicken or like chicken fajitas. I say somehow Mexican would have to factor in rice bowl. Yeah, the rice is gets in the way though. You say that. I like a nice little better rice. It's so good. Like Chipotle. I'm like, leave the rice. We put the good stuff on. It's just filler. I love the right. Yeah. It is. Yeah. I mean, I went the high stuff. When I have you in TV over to check out the new basement in the bar and all that stuff, I think that I've been doing this summer boys. I don't think I've told you guys this yet. So I have a black stone, right? Yeah. Yeah. Nick the flat top grunts. Get a big cast iron pan. Fill it up with oil. Put that thing right on the black stone. Fry your chicken on there. Okay. And then and then when you take the chicken out, just for like what's nice about that is that you're outside with the black stone. So the splash and the message. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then when when the like once it hits the perfect internal temperature that you're looking for like 165, throw it on the black stone for like 60 seconds on each side and it crisps it up even a little bit more. Yeah. Okay. So good. So good.

48:46Something I need to explore more, but I'm always happy with is like a Nashville hot. Oh, yeah. Matt, you need to travel with us to to Nashville in January for that game against the Titans. I'll take you to had a beast. Okay. Which is really good. Spot in downtown Nashville. What's the best chicken for some chicken situation? I love a good chicken and a lot of soup. Okay. I mean, old school chicken noodles not bad. Kind of boring, but you know, right? Like chicken and chicken and dumplings really good. Yeah. Chicken and dumplings from cracker barrel. All right. We've said too much. I'm hungry too. A lot of fun. I am. I'm hungry as well. Let's get out of here and get some dinner. That will do it for us today. Tomorrow on the show fully focused on those Cincinnati bangles and that big clash on the North Shore Sunday. We'll talk to Missy Matthews. We'll have five star Friday and we'll have our weekly pick them. But that will do it for us today. Big thanks. As always, to Mr. TV Tyler V for producing on the video side of the equation for Matt Williams and I'm Wessula take care everybody and we will talk to you tomorrow. As always, you know where to find us. It's on your 24-7 home of

49:48the black and gold Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network. So we heard Amanda is off to school. Yeah. Big step. More independent. She's not going to call every week asking for more money for books. Is she with smart start banking from S&T Bank? She gets budgeting tools scholarship opportunities. Ironson money using Zell. Wow. I guess college is a about getting smarter, right? Give them financial independence and yourself peace of mind. Stop by your local branch. Call 835-2265 or visit STBank.com to send money with Zell. Both parties must have an eligible checking or savings account terms and conditions apply S&T Bank member FDIC.