Despite box score Steelers dominant in win over Falcons

[Music] welcome to the underground the Steel City Underground the black and gold standard for Pittsburgh Steelers coverage now here's your host Joe kozma and Brian EO hello everyone and welcome to another edition of the Steel City Underground podcast my name is Joe kba and joining me here after a Steelers Victory my good friend buddy colleag AOW a one Mr Brian e roach Brian we said it was going to be ugly and it was how are you my friend I'm good I'll tell you um I it's a victory Monday how can I be bad I don't care if it's a a ugly win a win is a win but I gotta tell you I gotta tell you even the the wonderful and aromatic and flavorful Taste of a of a bad victory was dull yesterday dulled I'm telling you dulled by the presence of one Thomas Brady doing play byplay in the Cowboys Browns game and let me just tell you why look I was I I'm gonna full transparency I went into the Browns uh Cowboys game Thinking ah I don't need to hate Tom Brady anymore he's he's out of football in the sense of you know I he's not going to come and Crush my dreams he's not going to be annoying um he doesn't play anymore so I was like I'm perfect I did the same thing with Troy Aman I'm like okay I'm willing to let see how and Tony Romo right so I'm like all right let's see and before he even got on I'm already annoyed with him because they put that stupid promo commercial up where it's Tom Brady and 18 variant images from the metaverse of Tom Brady Telling Tom Brady why he's not done with football yet screw you Tom Brady you are done with football and then so I'm already annoyed with him before it even starts even though I was trying not to be annoyed with it but I'm like all right I'm gonna give him give him some time let's see how it goes yes I am going to rant about this because it was terrible first of all if you've ever seen grown-ups the movie Adam Sandler movie grown-ups and you seen the scene around the pool where all the girls are UGL this super hot musclebound guy and then he comes over and he's like hey IAT one maybe get and he's got the stupidest voice in the world that's Tom Brady that is Tom Brady the stupidest damn voice in the world I can't I literally 10 minutes in I'm like I have to mute this because I want to enjoy the Cowboys beating the crap out of the Browns and I can't I can't enjoy it if I have to listen to Tom Brady all right Brian very serious question then for you since you were very annoyed by Tom Brady who is now the on the eight team for Fox uh sports for their broadcasting for air Fox NFL and then so the Steelers didn't have them but were you more annoyed God yeah they had Greg Olson who's bad enough were you more annoyed I I'm gonna make sure I I'm gonna have your face you hold on I want to see your face more annoyed by Tom Brady's commentary with Browns Cowboys or the officiating in the Steelers Falcons forget it oh my God I made it I made it like three or four games last year we we didn't even make it five minutes into our first postgame show are you kidding me the refs are so bad they are so how do they keep getting worse dude and I mean there's plenty to [ __ ] about from the Steelers end of things right and Homer we could Homer it up and I think most of them are valid points in this game right then the one we will get to with TJ watt he's literally a to or said he was apologized to the official missed it and there's you know there's the human element of this but there's just some nonhuman element stuff where these guys are just like they made so many critical errors I didn't know this came up on TV I got to watch almost the full first half uh replaying it still draging ass a little bit here from driving back from Atlanta being at the game but um so I got to watch about half of it and I'm glad the crow noise came through on TV I really felt like Steelers Nation really showed up I mean it was it was wild if there was ever an invasion I thought I was telling you this I texted you this from the venue and I said we were in Miami I thought the crowd in Miami was amazing and I know that I heard Atlanta people showed up before this was like unbelievable it was almost a home game there was some real there was a silent count for Kirk Cousins why did it take this is the question I have why did it take the announc this is a common theme for steel travel games right San Diego they take over Miami at excuse me Atlanta wherever else they take Indianapolis is another Indianapolis it took them three quarters to go I think there's just as many Steelers fans here as there are Falcons fans you're morons you're both sticky but nonetheless I would much rather listen to the team that we had on our game than ever to listen to Tom Brady again well the official I wasn't sure if this happened on TV and it did and they were showing the the crowd the Atlanta crowd they everybody thought it was fourth down and they ran what Jaylen Warren right into the pile basically for what we thought was a fourth and short scoreboard operators there were terrible they flubbed several times so it was a total like kind of fail from all operations officiating officiating on the one and I I don't know I I don't give the scoreboard by the way phenomenal facilities that scoreboard they get the big ring that's built in the dome and everything like that it's not even distracting you could see it literally from everywhere huge fan that's awesome in fact I don't have a single complaint about Mercedes-Benz Stadium Atlanta a just terrific venue right but the scoreboard operators I wouldn't give them enough credit to do this and be smart enough because they just screwed up the whole day but I was going to say there was one where the officiating crew I forget who I got to look back and see who the um uh the head official was on this crew and I've got the information somewhere I'll pull it up in a minute but um he he calls out you know holding whatever 79 or whatever it was the Right Guard I think that they that he called it on for the Falcons and the Falcons they show the replay and the guy just he he did like a little push and it was the only thing he barely got his hands on like TJ watt or whoever it was and everybody's booing and I'm like well they obviously got the wrong number or they just didn't see it and then it felt like there was like a makeup call after that I don't want to make the whole show about officiating and want to make it sound like blah blah blah but it was poor uh the reason we have named this particular episode uh Brad Rogers that's who the referee was the reason well he's he's now on my poop list I mean that's a long list it's as long as like you know Brown starting quarterback since 1999 it's that jersey with all the name plates on it so and to be fair it's not just them because they did that same stupid fourth down problem in the Browns game did like it is it is it's literally the refs are just terrible everywhere so I don't want to just say oh they made bad calls against us they make bad calls against everybody they're terrible they're just terrible and it annoys me that's all it was it was like preseason type football Foles I saw I saw that too I caught quite a bit of the Browns Cowboys in my travels I was I had vested interest in that game because I wanted to see if the Steelers come out like we predicted the only team to win in the AFC North to start the season I was like I don't we did we really predict the Bengals to lose nobody I don't think we did but you know that's just embarrassing we're not wrong so but yeah the uh the fourth down thing you heard crowd some of the crowd and everything and it was like you were sitting there like did did the Steelers just really do that so like I got to go backwards because I can tell you I thought it was fourth down and then rewatching on TV like everybody's like all of a sudden they put up second down I got Falcons fans sitting around me there was quite a bit of there Steelers fans behind me but you know we're we're scattered about and everybody both sides were just like what the hell is going on like nobody you're trying to follow and they would they would put the wrong down on there I'm surprised there wasn't like some um Corrections with the with the actual clock so it was weird dude it it was weird in that aspect but again beautiful venue uh very loud it was like a Steelers home game but on the road we had uh so getting back to what I was I was starting to say and the reason I brought up officiating first was the title of this show and we're getting to it and some folks probably tuning in are like what are these guys talking about despite the box score Steelers dominant and win over Falcons well the Steelers had a number of big plays taken away right or wrong by penalties and there's no other way of saying that um they also had some other opportunities so the first drive with the Falcons it didn't look so hot they actually converted uh he might have converted so here's the team stat for you Brian the Falcons were two and n on third down that's the Steelers defense that's dominant right there so we pull out that despite it being only 18 to 10 the Steelers don't get in the end zone They Don't score touchdown offense it's all Chris Boswell and kicking field goals but the Falcons had 15 first downs so it's kind of like weird in the way it's lops side but most of those first downs were all in that very first drive it didn't look clean it looked like preseason football Dante Jackson almost got an interception that was dropped then all of a sudden like we got to talk about the rest of the defense here because um TJ watt more than once had a sack that was negated for one reason or another the major one was the one that led to seven of those 10 Falcons points with cousins finding was it Ray Ray McLoud with beanie Bishop in coverage I believe that's no it was Michael pittz was it Michael oh yeah yeah yeah yeah you're right you're right I was thinking about McLoud for some reason um well because he was he was he was all of a sudden catching a lot of balls yeah at one at one point before he was catching none yes you're right KY Pitts 12 yards so that play should have never happened and that's what the aention was referee blinked or sneezed or whatever and thought he saw something he didn't this was picked apart in several areas of the media good morning football discussed it and uh one of the mccordi twins that's on there or whatever they're talking about it Kyle Brand's talking about it and it's just like you couldn't have perfectly timed it you see everybody else sharing it over on social media so that was a strip sack like TJ watt ends up to the box score with one sack when in fact he had three and even though those don't get marked down towards getting straight hands record or beating it eventually those definitely influenced her cousins had some ghosts he was seeing some stuff and it influenced his timing Etc it also influenced some of the play calling I think from the Falcons end so um let's go through this I said some individual performances we'll have to we'll talk maybe we'll give some grades for it I mean TJ is going to be an A+ yeah closes out the game too how can he not he's just plus he took a bow how can how you gotta get an A when you take a bow you know you know it was great he comes over that's the end zone I was sitting in I was sitting in the corner End Zone and there was probably more Steelers fans in that spot in that particular end that um you know the Falcons were playing with their heels up against the goal their own goal line that was a bad spot for Kirk Cousins there they had to go to a silent count at home and Charlie Batch was saying oh I bet I guarantee didn't practice that you're going to practice for noise at home especially in your home opener that's a little rough but uh anyways definitely for TJ watt let's rewind to something we didn't get to talk about in our pregame show because we didn't know that Russell Wilson tweaked his calf on Thursday we were already packaged and uploaded the show and this news drops and now it's like all of a sudden it we just had a whole spiel about it's rust the whole way and then Justin Fields ends up starting um I'm trying to figure out what I would assign a grade letter to Justin Fields because there's like there's two ways to approach this for the job that he had to do I would say an A but if you wanted to see him do that same thing throughout the season and you felt it was impressive or something of that nature I I can't give him an a I might not even be able to give him like maybe it's a B minus or a C+ it's a c yeah look he he was he did enough to not lose the game right he he managed the game you got six field goals right they could not get in the end zone um you can't get even a b performance if you can't score a touchdown um out of out of six drives they were set up with very good field position multiple times and and walked away with a field goal and the only reason is cuz bosa's leg apparently is on uh performance-enhancing drug um because you know 50 what 57 51 54 multiple 50 yard field goals they I I can't I'm not upset with Justin Fields don't get me wrong I'm not gonna poo poo Justin Fields he did enough right but I can't give him more than a c because the offense simply didn't produce I'm totally with you on that I want to give B an A+ by the way for you saying that is there is there is there an a letter higher than A+ you know back in the day back in the day when I was in honors classes we would get an H right if you got the honors grade that was the fiveo grade an H so I'm giving BOS an H well that's fine I was gonna say like an S I always see that like on like some of these Nintendo games like a like a Mario party or something and it's like it seems like it's higher than an a you score better and it's an S maybe it's a star I don't know I don't know it's maybe it's less in Translation we we got into video games the last time too thanks for the comments that were there about techmobile and all that stuff so that I was like aha but anyways Boswell along with the Texans Kime Fairburn they each made three field goals of 50 or more yards they're the first two kickers all time to make three 50 yard field goals in a season opening game all time no one's ever done it and two guys do it in the same day the first time in NFL history that multiple kickers converted three 50 yard field goals in the same week and then Boswell with five of his six made field goals coming from at least 40 yards became the first kicker in NFL history to record multiple career games with five field goals of 40 or more and he's done it twice move over Justin Tucker you bum they can't like to make chip shots Chris Boswell King of the North and it's is sad Brian because he going to segue into something else as we jump around the games it's a on special teams I think everybody was um playing Chicken in this game because there I don't think there was a single kickoff with this Dynamic kickoff the NFL's out there tell there was one was there one that actually got returned everything got to yeah watching may have returned too yeah it just didn't see like nobody was doing it like it was they were kicking him out of the end zone touchbacks everybody was like let's start at the 30 which is absurd and and like give gives the advantage to offense like we said when it went to the 25 from the 20 why wouldn't you do that with the Steelers defense I would kick I'd kick it out of the end zone every single time well your hope is in the landing Zone that you could maybe force somebody to be shorter than the 25 if you kick it far enough back but that was something like Cameron Johnston this is going to be said because he was going to be probably goat territory and now presumably according to several reports lost for the season um outkicking the coverage and you got to give Boswell his due there's there's multiple things here with the special team so Boswell comes out there and has to punt with like 3 and a half minutes left you don't even know if this guy could handle the snap let alone punt it and he kicks like a 40 some yard 50 in the air because you got the 10 or so eight to 10 yards that snap back to him and didn't even this is why I say his leg is on performance enhancing drugs because it didn't even look like you know punters they do that Big W up in the air thing and they do a little hop B just came out and went like this he went it all he did like a Lego mini figure that's all the further he like didn't go off the ground didn't look he's just like whatever plump and the ball goes a million miles in the air I don't know unbelievable that was one thing I was worried about because if you remember opening week two years ago at Cincinnati you go to overtime because there was no backup Long Snapper after the starter got hurt for the Bengals and mcferson couldn't make any kicks to save his life there was all kind of mechanical issues with the snap getting it down so we're at the end of this nearing the end of this game you're chewing a lot of clock and you're just like if the Steelers just elect to are they just going to keep going for it because if they elect to kick a field goal here who's going to hold that's like in the back of my brain now and all of a sudden they bring it Scotty Miller starts coming out and I immediately identify him as someone who should not be in the Huddle number 13 is out there and I'm like is this going to be like some sneak play some trick no Scotty Miller ol gets it down laces out boom I know it's a short kick and it may not have been pretty may not have been able to do this from 50 he may not have wanted to attempt this from like 50 some yards like the other ones but man Scotty Miller man you get and Scotty Miller was in on one of the other plays too on special teams too uh on the coverage or whatever it's just like on the Boswell punt it's just like you showed up the plate remember I was talking about Scotty Miller I was like look out for Scotty Miller look out for Scotty Miller this is like one of these guys where you have these contributions in week 18 we're going to forget we're going to forget about this a month from now but it cannot be understated the Steelers get a victory because of this special teams play here with Boswell and Scotty Miller and this is like the thing where you get into December and January now and tie Breakers and whatever else and you've got that extra win it might win you the division because of how they handled this um Craig wolfley said the game had warts I believe um that's fair I believe that's his term he usually uses is it warts and we talked about it possibly being this kind of affair Steelers mainly winning with their defense but I think you hit the nail on the head Brian the big going into this the biggest difference was the offense at least sustained drive so I will say at least this much like Justin Fields if there's some Panic or he's not reading the field or whatever and trust me there were some plays that were left out there I'm not trying to crap all over him much better performance than a Mitchell trabis out there for the decisions he finally made even when he stared him down he might have been a second late in processing he gets it going definitely Jitters the start those balls were sailing all over the snap exchanges maybe even Fraser having some of the some of the Jitters and then uh they got it all ironed out Arthur Smith a plus because he puts Justin fields in a position that utilizes Justin fields' strengths they go an empty set on a third down spread everyone out it's like a a quarterback keeper like a draw play and he gets five or six yards out of it goes right up the gut behind Zack Frasier who I'm also going to give an A+ for this Arthur Smith second half adjustments we what are those the last previous three seasons the Steelers offense didn't adjust to anything it's like you're constantly waiting for Matt Canada to come up with some kind of answer and Arthur Smith pulled some things from wherever out of The Ether they ran the football they had an identity a lot of multiple tight end sets I think prit played almost 50% of the game and he's the the third tight end I think Darnell Washington actually played fewer snaps and Firth was out there more than I think some of the wide receivers too when I look at the game book um Kudos my hats off to Arthur Smith because they had to get this together fast this game plan what they were working on was to prepare with Russell Wilson and luckily enough another hats off too i' would say to Mike Tomlin I do have some demerits for Mike Tomlin I might give him a b even though good morning football gave him coach of the week I'll get to those in a second but hats off because this was prepared for Russell Wilson and they flipped this script and got it all ready for Fields I'd say uh for Tomlin at least he got Fields enough reps where it wasn't that awkward because he had gone through training camp practically as the starting quarterback I'm not I think you're you're riding a little bit of the orgasmic Afterglow of the victory um I'm remembering uh the reverse I'm remembering some of the toss plays um that that seemed egregious and and not not greatly timed um but I will say this I I mean I would probably give Arthur Smith a B+ I'm not ready to give him an A or an A+ so I'm a full grade lower than you because I'm I'm remembering some of the plays that I felt were ugly first half but yeah yeah but if you want to compare Arthur Smith's uh first game to the entirety of Matt Canada's career um you have to find a different level of grading because it's that much better right it is it there was Dynamic I can't say the word just like I can't pronounce people's names dynamicism is probably still wrong um it was Dynamic right it was it was not overly predictable were there times sure but for the most part you weren't 100% certain what you were getting right there were there were plays that you were like okay didn't see that coming and I don't think Atlanta did either was it enough I don't know but maybe you blame that on the players and execution they also had Spencer Anderson in on the offensive line instead of um Isaac so you know it wasn't the full compliment um and but it was it was a market improvement over any Matt Canada called game in the history of Matt Canada's life that is very fair um yeah some of the the initial as we always say the script the first half script when you get done with that script let's see how teams adjust and the Falcons had nothing for it maybe it was Kirk Cousins not playing in the preseason uh it was definitely you got to give credit to Steelers defense so but I do want to stick on the offense I thought nji Harris pretty good game out nii you didn't see not a bad game not a bad game you didn't see a lot from Warren I think they had to ease him in with the hamstring so it was nii 20 carries 70 yards there were two plays left on the field with nii there was one that was very obvious the Run behind him in the first quarter that should have been a decent Gainer but there was another one that was very similar to this where he just straight up Fields missed him wide open and not the only player he missed wide open in this game and it's going to sound like I'm really down on this but I wonder you're not going to get quarterback runs the same way with Russell Wilson right but I do think if Russell Wilson plays this game with Steelers not only score a touchdown they maybe get two and I think it's I think it's more of a route um because there was another one there was not only the one with Nai uh Fields never even looked at Direction but it was another one where he threw a pass incomplete to Michael puit third tight end on the roster and he threw it past him and ends up incomplete and on the other side of the field never even looked you have ni in an intermediate route but van Jefferson coasted down the field and out and there the Atlanta secondary lost him he was on an island this was a throw you or I probably could have made he was that there nobody within 10 yards of them I I guess if I find the all 22 not trying to be Preposterous or exaggerating here I just think that Russ maybe as a more veteran player probably sees that play probably makes that play now that's not to take away anything from Fields but there were times in this game where Fields there are some throws there were some great throws there were some the Fri MTH uh in particular uh the couple that he got four for 27 George pickings seven targets six catches for 85 yards George Pickins is like a cheat code and I think George Pickins gets tagged with another one of these calls you would have liked to have had back it's really weird because when you watch it in real time it looks like I don't know if it really looks like he shoves off they're hand fighting the whole way and then all of a sudden he goes back to the other guy plays forward and it just in it doesn't it looks like nothing it looks weak it looks very Ticky tack uh to say the least and it's terrible call just a flat out terrible call well it takes away from Justin Fields because if that play stands you're like wow Justin makes this real bit and he made another one to Pickins that whole this is where I got to give him his roses and also with Arthur Smith too to close out that second quarter this is where I give the demerit to Mike Tomlin okay he takes two time outs in the halftime now they freaking ran this to a t find George Pickins Pickins doesn't nearly doesn't get out of bounds yeah Pickins almost screws it up yeah let's be fair he didn't know he was out of bounds by the and you know there was there was a real question of whether there was one second or left left or not but luckily for him his toe you know once again a game helped Along by a toe his toe slid Out of Bounds at 3 seconds uh yes so it was a 41 yard uh hookup and that's just that's incredible the Steelers actually got the ball with 32 seconds now there was just a short pass to Kelvin Austin for seven yards on first down this was from the Steelers 30 so I got him up to the 37 and the next snap even out of a no huddle all the way down to 15 seconds I'm like Coach T what are you like what are you doing man you don't get to take these with you you have two timeouts not just one that you're going to say maybe you play in the middle of the field and then you could get a field goal they had a little bit more time that combined with this Pickin play that was outstanding great throw great time great execution everyone involved other than you know he did get out thankfully but that should have never come down to that they probably could have had another 15 to 20 seconds on the clock had Tomlin pulled one of those timeouts out of his back pocket well here's what I'm I'm gonna play Devil's ADV I'm gonna play devil's advocate he takes the time out that gives Atlanta time to prepare right if he doesn't take the time out you're keeping momentum you're keeping pace so there's a balance there right yes and no because the next play that they actually run is the Fri meth and it's only a 5 yard Gainer and he goes out of bounds Atlanta ends up the time now now that the clock stopped and Atlanta ends up using a timeout here anyways um so it's kind of like almost a moot point because that goes down to nine seconds at that point so Atlanta would have used that timeout and then the big play to Pickins happens anyway so I think Atlanta ends up using a timeout where they try and hurry up any like the Steelers came out and they got to put this play they got to draw it up on the chalkboard and then go out and execute it I I will also say I mean I'm I'm willing to get I'm I'm about a be level for for Tomlin as well in this game my big issue is the the sneak on fourth and one that was the worst called sneak ever and you know kick the field goal and you're eight points up and you change you change some little bit of the Dynamics I get it you want to try and put it in the end zone you feel frustrated you haven't had that sweet sweet e Ecstasy of the end zone yet and you want it you want it bad but you can't have it and then but that that was a mess that was a ugly ugly play I absolutely agree with you it's still disappointing Mark Madden of course exploited this for thing in the morning they's like well the def or the offense is it just looks like the same stuff no dude no it does not no um that was poorly executed they had like two guys in every Gap like um and I mean some of that goes on just because you should be able to come up to the line and go oh wait a minute this isn't going to work yeah right that box was as I could tell sitting in front of my TV I'm like that sneak is never going to work unless you're going to run an end around or you know some kind of thing you go up the middle or try and do a quarter you're going nowhere there's no place to go yeah and I I I mentioned this Zack Frasier uh I think it's going to come out if it hasn't already maybe I'll take a look Pro Football Focus or some like that he's going to be very highly graded some other people already talk about the film it's like I don't need to see film I saw it in person I'm watching this dude all the time and he's a beast and you know above the line play to Spencer Anderson he was Grady Jarett was on him all day long like he had to contend with that and Dan Moore is next to him too and so Dan Moore coming out of this and you know relatively unscathed for the most part the sacks the fields took you really want them to make some plays maybe there was a throw that's there but at the same time you know what he didn't risk it he didn't put the ball in Jeopardy he didn't put the team In Harm's Way but at the same time there were some things there that you know when Mark Bon's talking about this he's talking about the middle of the field was not utilized whatsoever very reminiscent of last year's offenses with Kenny picket or Mitch Tris so that could come as part of the very short week game planning play it safe play to win I'm cool with the whole play to win thing so I don't want to make this sound like a rain on the Justin parade great work is a backup quarterback maybe above the line as the backup quarterback and you know completely new environment system on the road Etc so uh that was pretty good there was no other wide receiver play to really be talked about we talked about Fri MTH probably ascending to that type of position the running backs getting a little more involved a few plays left on the field for nii maybe only one catch for like nine yards Jaylen Warren two for 13 the other receivers van Jefferson caught a ball for one yard and Calvin Austin one for seven I mean let me speak about Calvin Austin for a second somebody needs to get a go button I understand on on the the kickoff or the punt returns there are times when he's trying to assess where to go but my God it seemed like he would catch and wait multiple seconds and it was driving me nuts I'm like go somewhere do something yeah I mean he's quicker than a hi up too though so like I give him a little yeah that being said he he had a couple halfway decent uh you know returns and I we didn't have any Brian Switzer returns which made me happy yeah we also had nj's helmet pulled off na was oh you know you know fire yeah okay that's because you know what Jessie Bates is a little punk ass that's why we were actually we were we were talking about that so every now and then just like okay so if I'm in a live environment like I'm talking to Brian or my cousin Brad or somebody that might be watching it on TV and it's like hey did they show this on TV or what did you see there that was like you were like Jessie Bates is a punk and I'm like oh that's who did it I didn't catch who did it but I saw it playing his day dude was already tackled on the ground he rips his helmet off I'm like oh yeah that's a jerk move and I'm like you know I'm not screaming for a penalty all the time but B when you when you when you look at the overall picture of things that were goofed missed maybe incorrect you could deal with a call like that's very borderline I mean TJ watt moving before the lineman even like pop up but the ball is moved is inhuman there is like who else can do that you know what I mean like who else and Cy Brandt mentioned it he's about to get to 100 sacks faster than anybody not named Reggie White in league history it's it's incredible and he should have had it in this game he was like he's on his way there the the officiating crew has to know that be aware of it um I wish was like replay or something that could help with that cuz again that cost the Steelers uh seven points and made this game a lot closer than what it what it needed to be we're going to talk about defense now too because I don't think there's anybody else on offense that's worth discussing here I think we've hammered it home Cordo Patterson running here I think that's a product Warren not being 100% And thre some good blocks too I was okay with that yeah yeah yeah what's the deal with je uh with Daniels wearing that Nerf helmet the he's one of the guys he was doing it during the preseason 2 and unless they zoom in you can't even tell that it's the the guardian it looked lumpy it was weird I was like wait why why is he got a Nerf helmet on That's not healthy it's it's like it came from teu or something it is um I'm trying to find him here he wasn't in this shot here with Fields leaning forward and the Steelers uh as a team yeah no wait there he is there he is see the crease the fabric crease under underneath whatever that Falcon's arm is next to yeah a little bit a little bit it looks like one of those inflatable things you can get at like the Home Depot like oh I got it here we go for those of you that could see this or watch YouTu that it's so weird like the way it's it doesn't it it looks like you know what it looks like it it it looks like somebody had like a a hack in the new Madden or something you've got these great next gen PlayStation 5 graphics and somebody has a code for Nintendo 6 four helmets or something I'm sure it's a concussion protection thing some kind of but I'm like you know you know the trash talkers on the other team are like hey hat boy hey what are you doing what you got a marshmallow head marshmallow head over you know they're giving him crap about that because it's ridiculous looking yeah well just for the the close out the Steelers on offense and I I was mentioning some of the snap counts too with like puit and who else like Fri Muth I was trying to get the rest of them here so uh 68 plays for the Steelers offense Pat Fri Muth plays 50 of them that's the most outside of fields in the offensive lineman van Jefferson plays 49 so he out snaps even George both of them out snap George pickings who plays 46 and then puit played 40 plays nji Harris 38 Darnell Washington 37 then kvin Austin 28 Jaylen Warren Jaylen Warren surprisingly 21 even though he only only got a couple of touches I do have an F that I want to give okay wide receiver blocking f it was terrible well and you saw a lot of the multiple tight end sets that were out there I'd say Connor Hayward might have had one of those too where he just got pushed or blown up he had one where he made a ni hole and come in uh right off the a gap I think but then there was another one I think it went to go uh off the edge and wasn't quite he didn't quite get all of who he was he didn't get a hat on a hat so there there was just one play that was just super egregious because two of them got blown up at the same time and you know looked like we had a nice little screen that was going to happen had two blockers in front but the they just got their butts handed to them and it went over Patterson blew someone up pretty good on uh picking up uh pass protection which I thought was was pretty good I'm going to be interested in seeing how much of this is a product of just uh protecting fields and having like Spencer Anderson and Zack Fraser new guys in off on the offensive line 16 first downs by the Steelers nine of those running the football only one by penalty so they were a to 17 47% uh they were 0 for one on fourth down uh they only got the fourth down that didn't count as a fourth down I think yeah 0 for two in the Red Zone which is tough so you do you can criticize they they had 270 net yards so it's not like a this big Masterpiece of you know um Josh Allen or somebody out there like lighting Baker Mayfield lighting it up yesterday Steelers 137 yards on the ground they held the Falcons to 89 um 133 net pass yards so that's just not really going to get it done but they Fields only threw it 23 times what else can you ask for that's it's you know if you could win doing that by all means they ran it 40 one total yep I I will I will put it this way the I felt like the offense was just about what I expected it to be but it was less than I hoped it would be fair enough defensively where I think we have a lot discuss a lot to give out Steelers secondary now I'll say the Falcon secondary was pretty pretty darn good too but the Steelers secondary was I'm going to say Second To None here Deshawn Elliott fantastic Edition to this team Dante Jackson looked the part every bit through the way in this game beanie Bishop got lost on thatd whether or not I I don't know if he's playing a zone or a man or whatever but he had no idea that Pitts was standing behind him in the back corner of the end zone so but that's a undrafted rookie that you've got thereon Wilson saves a touchdown with bjan Robinson uh he was all over the field Patrick Queen and it's not going to show up on the stat sheet but there's a lot of things that he did where you know Mick is able to come up and just fill the one uh Gap from his position and hold them to short yardage there was all the pressure that was given you saw some looks with three of the outside linebackers on the field with Watt heith and Nick herbig they did that several times trying to get Nick big some more reps the defense the defense looks scary and then of course cam Hayward thought I mean him montravius Adams Cano Bon Larry Oobi they were all getting theirs throughout the game um Elliott as far as his first appearance in a Steelers uniform I gotta say probably an A and maybe even Jackson to that degree uh fortunately the Steelers come out of this game KN on would I mean the the major injury it's going to be problematic is to see who replaces Cameron Johnston but as far as everybody else anybody else who left ended up returning I think Porter got dinged for like a second or so left for a couple plays and came back in uh Cory Trice was out there in his place and uh you would expect the Falcons to have taken advantage of it but they really couldn't there was hands and Kirk C there was somebody in breathing on Kirk Cousins for most of the second half so not only the offensive adjustments but this goes back to Arthur Smith time of possession for the Pittsburgh Steelers versus the Atlanta Falcons 3536 to 2424 a full 10 minutes more because they kept the ball on the ground chewed the clock ran the right type of plays that would get you first downs and keep the clock moving to play possession football keep the defense fresh on the sidelines so when they came back in they could harass the Falcons offense isn't that a isn't that a song by like 10 years after or something in the year 2424 I don't know something like that anyway um when you said that time it made me think of that um we haven't done this in in in a while because I've been doing over the last year or so I've been doing pre and Zach has been doing post yes but damn it grown ass man Awards yes we may as well by the way Zach wherever my dude ended up at he's excited to be back on here but he's having some trouble with his equipment or whatever to try and get get going so hopefully back on his feet again little blue pills for that Zack not that equipment just letting you know older as an older man I can speak you know there's nothing there's no shame in the little blue pill um but be that as it may um grown ass man Awards montravius Adams I mean forget TJ gets a grown ass man award there's no question about it right montravius Adams uh I thought did a great job I thought the whole defensive line to my in my mind should should just all get grown ass man Awards um I thought Alex had a good game uh I thought as you said the D the Dbacks I'm gonna give um Jackson his own grown ass man award I thought he played great um and he was gonna get targeted more than Joey I was a little scared when Joey went out I don't know what the injury may or may not have been um but he did go out for a couple plays and that's when Cory tce came in but you know then he came back they didn't they I mean Drake London had what three catches uh yeah I was about to bring that up actually uh let's see here as far as on the Falcon side of things Kirk Cousins with a 59 quarterback rating he had he went 16 of 26 he completed fewer passes than Justin Fields now you could say some stuff with air yards or whatever trying to find stuff uh 155 yards it was almost identical Fields was 17 of 23 156 cousins 16 to 26 155 he had a touchdown pass but he had to two picks uh Ray Ray McLoud the leading wide receiver I'm not sure that's the way they drew it up four catches for 52 yards bejan Robinson and one was a gift one was one was an absolute gift there's you know should ridiculous bejan Robinson five for 43 out of the backfield Kyle Pitts three for 26 he had the touchdown the tight ends largely locked down because of the linebackers that you've got in coverage I mean Patrick Queen was out there in the prevent def like I haven't seen that for a while with you know he might have had tried to do that with Devon Bush and it wasn't the prettiest but you usually might have another safety dotting the eye there in the middle of that um prevent instead of just the actual linebacker Drake London two for 15 Darnell Mooney one for 15 and um Warner uh the fullback one for four so uh yeah as they you know the ball didn't even get spread around as much as the Steelers offense did I though a lot of people thought that the Falcons were favored had the edge they're team on the rise NFC south then Mayfield goes out in his game and throws four TDS I know it was on Washington but just like embarrassed the hell out of that team and just said nope no Falcons there and the Steelers did the same thing here we'll look forward looking forward uh maybe Russell Wilson now get it healthy held out so he could play his revenge game next but Arthur Smith gets his at at least in this 18 to1 win yeah I I I am hopeful that I feel comfortable in saying that if Russell can't play we are not in the position that we may have been uh because this neither one of these guys is Mitch trabis so uh that's that's on the plus side right but uh I would like Russ to be able to play against Denver um you know I that is a that is a that is a location where Steelers Nation does doesn't usually get the chance to overtake the stadium right Denver's got a pretty rapid fan base and they don't tend to let us uh take over their Stadium but they haven't been that good recently and I don't know how good they were yesterday they lost although I think they scored a little bit um you know I I'd like to see I'd like to see the uh you know the Colorado Steelers Nation base get some tickets and go to the game man I'll tell you what it's killing me because I I've never been to Denver I want to go to Denver really bad but I've been I've been multiple times it's an awesome awesome City yeah I want to be I want to be able to take in city like Atlanta was like a quick in andout I've been to Atlanta many times Atlanta man I'll tell you what a good great experience uh there's something with the southern hospitality that I can't argue so it was it was a lot of fun the fans were I even told the guy that was next to me he he seemed a little distraught about the game and I was he was old gentleman uh Falcons fan and I was like I I don't typically I'm not a terrible to waiver I bring one every game it's superstitious but I don't wave it for every little thing and especially on the road I'm like already you know I'm 65 Brian people in front of me they're like whipping it people behind me I get like hit in the eye and the ear and the mouth like sometimes it's annoying and and that's at home on the road I'm not going to do that to anybody but I was like at the end of the game and TJ did that I was like hey I'm not going to rub it in but I you know I got a little towel twirl when they went ahead when they won like I'm going to celebrate take it in a little bit uh but not be a jerk not getting any fights or anything like that I didn't see anything like any anything remotely like that the strangest thing though was uh we did see somebody in full Browns gear like head to toe walking around The Concourse and it was just like that guy is really confused he's in the wrong spot that's odd now I'm gonna bring this up simply because I'm I I I will tomorrow night uh I leave for Scotland uh for I don't know 12 days or something so next Sunday uh I will be on a 19 mile hike while the game is going on and we'll have no idea what the hell is happening until I get to my final respit or until I die whichever happens um so I am I I am curious what you think of this um for next week right what what are your expectations for that game um as far as I mean when uh B Nicks I don't think it gets cleaned up with three days of practice he made uh he threw one ball against Seattle like in a triple coverage very ill-advised throw I see a lot of the same things with the the speed of this game is going to be that was Seattle and it's Mike McDonald uh not that Seattle's defense is bad but I think Steelers defense is going to be borderline Elite and special this season uh and I'm particularly influenced by seeing what Dante Jackson DeShaun Elliott already did Patrick Queen and Payton Wilson that's going to come together I think they're going to be a pretty fair tandem uh on the field so I I do think that they're going to force a number of turnovers and if this is Russell Wilson healthy they're not going to dial up like all of these runs and stuff but I I I mentioned this in the pregame I said the differen is is that field is trying to read the field and find uh you know trying to diagnose and Russell I has been around longer he's done this uh for many years at a high level he's going to be able to just boom decision maker and he he looks to extend plays I don't know that Denver defensively has anyone that's going to bring enough heat or cause enough problems this is a team that let's face it they're in a rebuild mode so so I think when you combine that with the rookie quarterback some potential three and outs they're going to get gassed I think we're going to see some touchdowns from the Steelers offense I think Russ can make the the big play throws and even if he doesn't and they go back to Fields my expectations could to be about the same with the F they trusted Fields enough as he settled in to make some of those throws they'll entrust him a little more next uh with the next game and there might be a little bit more in there you may see some of the middle of the field uh you may see him take a risk you may even see him turn the ball over but I don't think it'll be enough that unless the Steelers were like penalized 13 times and just completely shoot themselves in the foot and forget what they were doing that uh that Denver that Denver should be that much of a hurdle to get over yeah it I'm what I'm the second part of what I'm curious about is they said this multiple times on the on the telecast for the Falcons game that the Falcons offensive line was supposed to be this awesome offensive line and I'm not sure that they looked like it and I so I'm I'm trying to gauge is is Atlanta's offensive line not as good as expected or are we just that damn good right and and there probably is a combination of both but what do you what do you know about the what do you know about the Broncos offensive line well I say Denver actually pretty decent offensive line I think we mentioned in the pregame they're very good at run blocking uh they're one right their Right Guard I think got hurt I can't remember he if he left and didn't come back at point maybe he was playing a little dinged so uh but when you got to contend with TJ watt I mean else nothing else that the Falcons did play calling wise like when they were the biggest thing I think that Denver will look at I don't think Javonte Williams is going to be the guy to do this I think it'll be Jil mcclaflin uh from my home uh Alma moer at Youngstown State undrafted running back that's going to hit the corners but jalo also had a little bit of difficulty protecting the football too so uh you know as long as the Steelers could tighten that up and not and not allow those um like those halfback toss or sweeps and stretch the defense a little bit which also tries to keep some of the edge rushers from breathing on the quarterback it's going to be a long day for B Knicks and uh I don't know that Denver will have the luxury of running the football the Steelers get up two scores they're going to have to start throwing it and playing from behind I think it's a pretty good game script where the Steelers can Arthur Smith can play call and just choose some more of the clock I think they can play lot of the same type of possession football regardless of who the quarterback is going to be in this game and if they have to keep it tight and in a small scorer they could do so I I I I feel confident enough they' have to really and again Brian we've seen it happen week to week early in September they could completely crap the bed and be awful in all three phases of football I think the most alarming thing right now for me the pit in my stomach is the injury to Cameron Johnston because that guy was a weapon he could definitely flip the field I don't know they're going to find somebody on the the you know that's out there still as a free agent that's got the same type of capabilities they might get lucky maybe somebody that's just like a diamond and a r like they found Chris Boswell but this the guy that they paid that was going to be a pro bowl All Pro level punter I know shaking heads too because Presley Harvin or something's up there coming back I'm just telling youy har yeah because they know how to hold for Boswell that's what it's going to be it's either going to be the big fat punter or it's gonna be Brad WI and you texted me back the big fat punter might be fatter he might be he's not on anybody's roster he might be sitting at home eating chocon nuts or something blew my job nice 400 pounds um but that's okay uh either way I don't care they got to get a punter I agree um and they will obviously this week so where I'm leading to with all of this is unfortunately the Ravens play the Raiders next M but you can pretty much assume the Bengals are likely to lose to the Chiefs and there is as much a chance that the Browns lose in Jacksonville as there is that they win in Jacksonville Jacksonville is a better team now than they have been in years past they almost managed to beat the Dolphins in Miami they blew they should they blew it they completely blew it like there's some bad play calling if you want to see any yeah but they could beat the Browns next week um and so you know I sitting there thinking is there a way we're two games up in the division at the end of week two probably not I think we'll be one because I don't I just don't see the the Raiders beating the Ravens in in Baltimore but I do think the other two are going to be 0 and2 yeah I mean the Raiders were not good not good we talked about it with mchu and stuff and yeah just speaking of not good Deshawn Watson I mean the Browns I talked about you know losing uh the Elder um I always get it confused now Brian Callahan the dad of the Callahan now that he's with the Titans with his son who's the head coach I it's going to be the biggest loss probably uh that and McDonald leaving the Ravens in their defense like that'll be the biggest one we've seen the Ravens Harbaugh has been around as long as Tomlin we've seen them like kind of weather the storm with that I don't know that guys like Zack Taylor or Kevin stefansky know how the weather the storm there was also some questionable play calling going forward on Fourth downs and stuff that Cleveland did they were playing with fire with the Cowboys and it was like that was a mistake cuz once Dak figured that out I mean speaking of which something else that happened Dak making like what 60 million per year and all the Browns fans are rejoicing they're finally like look see deshun Watson's not even a top 10 paid quarterback anymore I'm like yeah whatever whatever makes you sleep at night here's what you can this is what I'll say to Browns fans all these other quarterbacks making that money it's your damn fault absolutely just like it's Christian Kirk and the Jacksonville Jaguar your DN the wide receivers yes you set the tone and everybody else said where's my money and I it has to reset itself somehow with quarterbacks it probably never will but I mean je I mean the the Ben rothberger 40 million we thought was a big cap hit like four years ago that's what I was trying to spit out like 44 for uh that's like a drop in the bucket now so it's just oh man and how about the other the other one Brian was 49ers gave Brandon iuk in ultimatum I think it was Tom pisero that reported this and it was like either take this deal or we're trading you and he took the deal over coming to Pittsburgh so screw you Brandon iuk but he was com he was that close thank you thank you Brandon iuk is what I'm gonna say we were not we're not paying that damn money and I don't and if we were I don't want to I I wonder what the trade compensation was then if that deal was in place I think it was a second round pick I'm not really I wasn't willing to part with maybe a third rounder cuz you could always get like a comp pick or something not that the Steelers got that going with unsigned free agents right they're not in a position now where they've had a talented enough roster where they lose free agents and get comp picks and stuff like that but uh you know third pick third round pick could be had you know something like that but I digress Brian we're up against it uh you have safe travels my friend maybe we'll be back uh for the pregame and then uh flash hope we'll be back around and we'll be able to talk but we uh we won't we won't be back for the pregame no back for the pregame I might be I leave at 9:30 tomorrow night so oh jeez well hey definitely safe travel I didn't realize that you were heading out there that early so safe travels dude definitely um get some rest different I need to it's 14 and a half miles a day plus a 19 Mile day thrown in 96 miles over seven days what's wrong with you ain't no way man ain't no way I don't want anything to do with that well we wish we wish the best to Cameron Johnston um hopefully this isn't we've seen some of this type of stuff and careers I'm going to knock on wood and say it's not it healthy hopefully a healthy recovery uh happened early enough in the season that he could be back for next year if it does end up indeed being season ending that's what the reports are that we leaking and looked nasty yeah it did it looked nasty but I'm just glad he has comedy to fall back on oh geez CU you say he's like Bill Burr but um and to finish that off too it was just kind of surprising like I was on the other side of the stadium and you see Johnston go down and you're like oh a flag all right Steelers get the first down they get to carry on and then it was no and when I saw the replay it was like man the guy is still diving to try and make a play at the ball but same time miles kbu has got a handful of Jersey and stuff too I don't know what the hell you do there and if I'm miles kbu maybe he just got momentum and overpowered through it and man just hold the dude take the flag live the fight another day keep your damn punter healthy it's like protecting your quarterback sometimes don't let the guy through screw it um or not giving up a score when you're a corner you just held the guy didn't give up a touchdown because maybe your defense can then at least just only give up a field goal even if it's the spot foul but the one that felt about as dumb as anything and I feel was imbalanced now after being at the game and everything there was like a situation the Steelers had what was it like a third and 20 something was the third and long because they Falcons had been penalized they'd lost yards on a play and then there was like a hands to the face defense five yard penalty automatic first down wait a second no no no this team could literally run like multiple negative plays get penalized being like a third and 40 and then get an automatic first down like the from hands to face defensive hands to face because the offensive hands to face I forgot what that penalty was maybe that was 10 yards or whatever but that happened on that same series and I'm just like I gotta go back and look at that I might not be remembering it 100% of the way but I was like man that just doesn't seem balanced not that the NFL wants that they want high scoring games and people to there's no bet there's no there's you know you commit a penalty you commit a penalty I I don't to be honest with you there's certain penalties that they give that automatic first down on that I'm like that's you should you should not be giving an automatic first down on that penalty like hands to the face defense I don't think that should be an automatic first down I know why it is I know why defensive holding is an automatic first down because they don't want them to do it right and so they over penalize it but then make it 15 yards then it is an automatic first down screw it face mask mask I think carries more weight when you're yanking on the face mask and the helmet and whatever as opposed to just a uh a face mask and I wanted to bring up the broadrick Jones on sportsmanlike conduct with Grady Jarrett too it just seemed like a whole nothing Burger there and you have these you have guys that get in a fight and all of a sudden it's offsetting penalties even though one was clearly more of an instigator that just it it's just unsettling you had a lot of that type stuff throughout this game some of the penalties you're going to get is just because it's early it's like preseason football but hey we could at least I think we're happy with the result not only being a win but for but but you think you think with the result it's a win but I'm saying when we were here what let me finish my statement when we were in this same position last year and it got absolutely throttled at home by the San Francisco 49ers you didn't have a single positive feeling or anything you felt they could have built upon for the rest of the season it was just Doom and Gloom and it's all over and Atlanta fans were leaving there and they're just like man we signed Kirk Cousins for how much money and it's like well at least you have a backup plan and it's like with Michael penx maybe but like at least feel like safe in in you know your feels there but yeah I know you take one game you take each as they go but again you would like to have seen them get a little more offensively but it's building blocks and I think it's more of what you're going to see throughout the season run the football and uh you know I think on Atlanta I think Atlanta has some positive they they'll get there I think they'll get there uh just that first game and not having Cousins play the whole preseason you could very easily saw that with Russ too you might so Fields had more playing time still looked jittery but overall you know not having so Malo there was a lot of things to be concerned about field starting I'll take it they did what they needed to do to win uh and that should go to the coaching staff and also the fields Fields get get a game ball and of course Sean swum goated as he should be so Sean swum oh I'm sorry did I say Sean swum yeah my Chris Boswell well sw's a goat too but not quite you need you need some rest you need to sleep I do I do here's the thing it's a it's an ugly win but it's a win there's been maybe once maybe twice where after an ugly win you almost went I just don't didn't even want to win that game I it happened once last year I remember coming on in a post game and going I I I feel like we shouldn't have won that game I'm I'm not even happy we won because it was that ugly but this was not that so yeah I'm glad they won there's been plenty of tight games one off of Chris Boswell's foot what in the hell was that picture that was uh Boswell I believe this is Scotty jumper from is that the guy who did the pole vault what the hell well this is that was Boswell with I believe Scotty Miller holding at the very end well there you go another another more evidence that Boswell is in fact the goat 25 25 yard field goal you would have liked to see him get in the end zone but hey we'll take what we can get we've seen him win with just field goals and defense and hopefully you know uh even this pattern should be somewhat sustainable through these first few games that they've got so uh and then go from there anyways folks we're up against it don't forget to like comment and subscribe Brian thank you my friend and safe travels are you sitting over there like giggling about the reason I had Sean swum on my brain by the way was because that's not what I'm giggling about I know but but the reason he was on my brain is becau is because he had the knee injury that ended his career I'm just sitting over here hoping you know you know hoping for the best for Johnston so what's up nothing I'm just I can't I can't stop laughing at myself in my pole vault joke that apparently you didn't even know that I made I just you're you're fine there dude I'm I need some rest too I'm tired folks that'll do it for us my name's Joe his name's Brian again uh leave a rating review wherever you may be watching or listening till next time uh we encourage everyone out there to be safe be good and we'll catch you later we would like to thank you for listening and remind our listeners to follow us on social social media and our website www. steelcity underground.com