00:00For me, I really wanted the Texans to play the Steelers,
00:03and it was a very tense game from that standpoint.
00:05It was not looking good for a while there in the first half.
00:07I thought on a down-by-down basis, the Steelers were clearly the better team.
00:12The problem was that they allowed these explosive plays.
00:15And in the first half, Derrick Henry ran for 114 yards.
00:19I mean, the first quarter and a half, the Ravens were the better team, I thought,
00:23play to play.
00:23The Steelers couldn't move the football.
00:25Yeah.
00:26But regardless, I don't know.
00:30Both of, like, neither of those teams are impressive to me.
00:33Yeah.
00:34And it really just came down to, all right, which one of these teams matches up worse
00:38versus the Texans?
00:38For sure.
00:39Yeah.
00:39Like, when I say it's fun, I just said, like, it was, if you're a Texan fan watching that
00:43game and you were rooting one way or the other, it was a roller coaster.
00:47It was very back and forth.
00:48It was, so I liked it.
00:49It was cool.
00:50They're going to get the Steelers.
00:53So I started jotting down a few things as Tyler Loop missed that field goal real quick
00:58before that, though.
00:59This, I wonder, I wonder how big a topic Justin Tucker is today in Baltimore.
01:05He sucked already.
01:06I don't know.
01:06I, like, he was awful to begin with.
01:09I don't think he was going to be the kicker for the Ravens this year, even if he hadn't
01:12been alleged to have committed multiple crimes against massage therapists.
01:15I get it.
01:16It was a big spot.
01:16And the kid messed up Tyler.
01:18He was horrible.
01:19Justin Tucker was horrible in a lots of big and small spots last year.
01:23I just wonder how big a topic it is.
01:24That's all I'm saying.
01:25Yeah.
01:25I think, and I think this is the classic kind of thing where people outside of Baltimore
01:28are like, Oh, wish you had Justin Tucker.
01:30Don't you?
01:31Yeah.
01:31People in Baltimore are like, no, he sucked.
01:33Probably.
01:33He was like, probably.
01:34I thought it was interesting.
01:35Like, Tirico almost, if you believe in jinxes, he did jinx him because as he's lying, as
01:40they're lining up for the field goal, literally sort of lining up for the field goal, Tirico
01:44goes into the anecdote about how the Ravens vetted dozens of young kickers at the combine
01:50and they determined that this kid, Tyler Loop, was built for situations just like this.
01:57And then five seconds later, to the right, he misses the field goal.
02:01It was wild.
02:01So stuff that excited me as a Texan fan, watching the outcome of that game last night, Aaron
02:09Rogers could not attack downfield until Kyle Hamilton was out of the game.
02:12Aaron Rogers for a lot of that game looked like a 42 year old quarterback who had just
02:17had an Achilles tear a couple of years ago.
02:19Yeah.
02:19He, he did not look like a threat in that game.
02:22They're not.
02:23I mean, and that's, that's been the story all season long.
02:25They've got, they've got a combined, maybe I would add it all up and say they had the worth
02:31of about two receivers out there on the field without DK Metcalf.
02:35DK Metcalf's their leading receiver.
02:37He'll be, he's going to come back with two games rest and be newly energized and motivated.
02:44Yep.
02:44And hopefully we can get a, maybe a Texans fan can get punched by him or something.
02:48I'm glad.
02:48Somebody go up there to Pittsburgh.
02:50I will say this.
02:51I I'm glad whether you wanted the Steelers or the Ravens to be the Texans opponent.
02:55Yeah.
02:56Let's pretend that the Texans weren't playing the winner of that game last night.
02:59I I'm glad that blue wig back haired ball cap press conference guy from Detroit ultimately
03:05did not determine the outcome of the AFC playoffs.
03:08That's true.
03:09You know?
03:09Yeah.
03:09Yeah.
03:10If the Steelers had lost that game and you say, ah, what if it would have been a huge
03:13story.
03:13The guy that instigated a confrontation.
03:15The Steelers defense, I know we're concerned about, we'll get to the big bodies on the
03:23defensive line.
03:24They looked pretty disorganized at times last night.
03:26Yeah.
03:27I thought the Ravens did a good job of just getting, I, including with, um, I mean that
03:31one, that one formation on the long touchdown where they lined up with like all five receivers
03:35to the right side of the ball.
03:37Um, the Steelers looked like they, they looked like they looked a little discombobulated.
03:42Yes.
03:42I do wonder how much the Texans can exploit that.
03:45But it's, uh, hopefully some, hopefully maybe once that's if you can do it once.
03:50Yeah.
03:51Well, it may be.
03:52I mean, I, I don't think the Steelers are going to score 26 points against the Texans
03:57like they did last night against the Ravens.
03:59No.
03:59And this is, uh, this is not your father's Steelers defense.
04:02They've got weaknesses.
04:03Yep.
04:04Um, I am excited about not having to face Lamar Jackson, especially after seeing what
04:08Riley Leonard was able to do at times yesterday.
04:10Yeah.
04:11Um, Lamar Jackson looked much closer to the old Lamar Jackson than he'd looked the previous.
04:16Yeah.
04:16And I, I think the one play that he made where the coverage where the past protection was
04:21completely botched. Like that's, that's what you worry about with him is his ability to
04:26improvise and do all those things. Um, and then his, like the, the, the big problem with
04:32him over the course of the second half of the season also was just that he was completing
04:3550% of his passes, but it was all tied obviously to his health and he looked healthier last
04:43night. Yeah. I was, I wasn't nervous of banged up Larry Lamar Jackson, but he looked a lot
04:48less banged up last night.
04:49He definitely did. Um, things that concern me as a Texan fan through the lens of watching
04:55the game last night, there's running X are slippery. Yeah. And we know that sometimes
05:02the swarm mentality can run amok a little bit. They're slippery. I mean, the, I, you know,
05:07it worries me more in the passing game. A lot of the bad tackling when it was a real
05:12problem for the Texans was more on the run after the catch side of things. The Texans
05:16this year, D I, there's this perception out there that the Texans aren't a good run defense
05:20and I, for the life of me, I don't know where it comes from. Really? They're top five in
05:24so many regards.
05:25Who are these people saying that?
05:27I don't know. People make comments to me. I'll, I'll forward you their comments and questions.
05:32Um, they're top five and overall rush defense. And then when it comes to the, the, the other,
05:37the more advanced stuff like success rate and first down rate and all of that stuff,
05:42um, they're top three in a lot of things. They're a really good run defense, but those guys gain
05:48well in Warren though. Yeah. A hundred percent agree with you. They're both averaging over
05:524.5 yards per carry. Yeah. Um, and they can, they can grind clock. They can do all those things.
05:57You don't look at them like physically and say, boy, these guys, I could see where they
06:01would take over a game, but at times they take over games. It's very strange. Um, the
06:06biggest concern probably literally and figuratively is the defensive line for the Steelers as we
06:10have the TV on in the studio here. And they just showed the play where high Smith bats the
06:14ball up in the air. Yeah. Cam Hayward's pushing a guy into Lamar Jackson's lap and TJ
06:19watt comes down with an interception. Yeah. And this has been an issue for the Texans offensive line.
06:24We've known, I mean, for a long time before they really hemmed things up defense on the
06:29offensive line, it was almost like you could look at the opponent's defensive line. And
06:35if they were big, tough, physical dudes, they're screwed. Texans are screwed. Um, they've gotten
06:41better, but even going back to as recently as the Kansas city game, when they faced Chris
06:46Jones, Chris Jones was a complete game record for the Texans. Yes. Cam Hayward is that really
06:52tough and disciplined type of guy that can do damage anywhere along the offensive line.
06:57How about the play, the call where, uh, I forget. I think it was Zay flowers. I think
07:02got called for a blind side block, which definitely wasn't a blind side block. Yeah. He did throw
07:08the defensive back into cam Hayward's knees. Um, I thought that cam Hayward came right back
07:13in the game after that. But I'm, I, as I'm watching that play in the moment, I'm watching
07:17that play. I'm like, God, what a horrible way for cam Hayward to go out. And that would have
07:21been, and that was a, what a horrible call. Cause Pereira said it was a bad call flat out.
07:25Right. Yeah. Um, yeah, that was both that violated both the spirit and the letter of
07:30the law on that one. Those are, you're supposed to be protecting in those blind side peel back
07:35blocks. Like it kind of got Ryan Cushing hurt a long time ago. Yep. And, uh, that, that,
07:41some ticky tech stuff in general in the NFL over the last few weeks, putting in the Texans
07:45game yesterday. Yep. Yep. Um, things that concern me about this Steeler game, but, and
07:50I'm going to pick the Texans in this Steeler game just to be clear. Um, but this is a big
07:55one for me, the kicking conditions, which we saw play out in the last minute of that game
08:00last night, Chris Boswell, missing an extra point, which opened the door for the Ravens
08:05to possibly win the game instead of tie the game with a field goal. And then Tyler loop misses
08:11the field goal to missed kicks were the big story at the end of that game. Missed extra
08:14point by Boswell Ravens drive the ball to second left in the game. They line up for a last second
08:20field goal and loop misses it wide, right? For a team that has relied heavily on field
08:25goals. For those who missed it, Jaime Fairbairn with six field goals yesterday ended up tying
08:30the record for field goals in a season in the NFL. Nobody was talking about that going into
08:36the game and he was that close. Cause I don't think even the most skeptical Texans fan
08:40would think, Oh, you're going to kick six field goals in a game, but he did for a team
08:44that relies on field goals quite a bit. That's probably the least optimal stadium to be kicking
08:50it. I guess the, the, the flip side of that is the Texans are very good at not just blocking
08:57field goals and extra points, but just making field goal kickers miss. D'Amico talked about
09:01it last week about how he thinks the presence of Danico Autry and the fact that the Texans just
09:06do not relent or ever take the short field goals off or anything. Um, they, it looms large in the
09:11minds of kickers. Yes. And the, the Steelers missed the extra point to put them in a situation where
09:17they could have lost that game. If Tyler loop had, had made the field goal. Uh, so it, but it
09:23illustrates just how hard it is to kick up there. It was the only study I could find was from 2015.
09:28So for whatever it's worth, uh, Accra sure stadium was judged the second hardest place to kick in the
09:34NFL after Lambo. Uh, so I don't think that's changed with any of the new stadiums as a Boswell miss was
09:41crazy. Yeah. It's like the, the gods stepped in and just went and blew the ball. Like it looked like
09:47it was going right through the uprights and it knuckles to the right-hand side loop had made 90%
09:52of his field goals this year. Yeah. Justin Tucker last year. Remember he had an awful 73. I, yeah,
09:59I, I completely remember him being bad. I just say, you know how football fans are. Yeah. There's
10:04going to be football fans in Baltimore. They're like, well, if we had Justin Tucker, you know,
10:07he, he was only 73%, but he'll make that kick right there. He had turned into an, a horrendous kicker.
10:13Well, probably aware of the allegations that were mounting against him is the thought that, Oh, okay.
10:19Maybe he would have resolved all of that by now. Yeah. Look at how well it's worked out for Deshaun
10:23Watson. Right? Exactly.
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