- 7 months ago
Seth and Sean talk with Andrew Filliponi of 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh about the Texans-Steelers Wild Card matchup.
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00:00Andrew Filippone is our guest right now on Sports Radio 610.
00:03Andrew, it's great to talk to you.
00:04So what's the general vibe up there right now in Pittsburgh on this game?
00:09We'll dig into the details in a little bit,
00:10but it feels like the Texans are getting a ton of love nationally in this game.
00:14Is there a disrespect factor going on up there right now
00:17with the Pittsburgh Steelers?
00:19Well, first of all, thanks for having me on, guys.
00:22I'm completely over-Renegade.
00:24Renegade doesn't work anymore.
00:26It's lost its magic.
00:27The luster is completely off.
00:29They played it Sunday night.
00:31Tariqo and Collinsworth made it seem like it was a cheat code to get a stop,
00:35and then another Ravens 50-plus-yard touchdown pass happened a few plays later.
00:41So Renegade's pretty much dead to me.
00:44But as far as the game goes, look,
00:48this franchise has fallen behind in double digits in the first quarter
00:54of its last three playoff games.
00:59They didn't in the first quarter against Kansas City,
01:01but then they gave up 35 points faster than any team in NFL history in that game.
01:06So we are used to getting invited to this AFC playoff party,
01:10and then we do something very embarrassing or disrespectful to the person throwing the party
01:17and are usually thrown out within five minutes.
01:20So as far as this matchup goes,
01:23yes, there is the belief among Steelers fans that this should be the most competitive playoff game
01:29they have played in a very, very long time.
01:32I guess that's what I hadn't realized really is about the Steelers in the first round of the playoffs
01:40these last six times they've been there.
01:42Look, I knew they'd lost all those games.
01:45I didn't realize that in each of those games they'd been down by at least 21 points at a time in the game.
01:53I'm starting to sense exactly why Steelers fans are so frustrated.
01:56We played a couple of your callers on our show yesterday,
01:59where basically you were laying it out is that even one of your callers,
02:03even if the Steelers win a Super Bowl, he wants Mike Tomlin gone.
02:08That's how, that's how, what's the split in the fan base up there?
02:12How many Steelers fans even want the Steelers to win this game?
02:16I think most of them do, but the difference is,
02:21is that I think there are so many fans who have made up their minds on Tomlin
02:26that the number one thing you want is for your team to win.
02:30That's the point of being a fan.
02:32Followed very closely by,
02:35see, I told you so.
02:37I was right.
02:38People like being right, and fans like being right in their opinions.
02:41So if the Steelers get clobbered by the Texans
02:44and lose Monday night,
02:47tons of fans will say,
02:48see, told you, we could never win with Tomlin.
02:51We're not going to win until he's gone.
02:52And that'll definitely be a numbing agent and ease the pain
02:56from another horrible playoff disappointment.
03:00You know, he has hit his expiration date.
03:04Fans believe if we're ever going to do something other than
03:09band-aid this quarterback situation,
03:12we need someone with a level of expertise
03:15in finding a young quarterback and developing a young quarterback.
03:18And there's zero confidence in Tomlin's ability to do that
03:22because the one thing that he definitely had in his favor
03:25when he came here all the way back in 2007
03:27was a quarterback that was already entering the prime of his career
03:31and had won a Super Bowl.
03:32So that's why there's so much frustration and anger
03:36regardless because congratulations,
03:39you get us to nine or ten wins every year.
03:41But that shouldn't be the standard or the ceiling on those teams.
03:47What if you're a Texans fan looking at Aaron Rodgers
03:50and where he is currently,
03:53what's the biggest thing you should be fearful of,
03:56if anything at all?
03:57Like what's a – and I'm guessing it's going to involve D.K. Metcalf,
04:01but where is Aaron Rodgers actually a threatening quarterback right now?
04:05It would make me semi-nervous, not very nervous,
04:11but would make me at least a little bit concerned as a Texans fan
04:14based on his style of play, which is as soon as I get the football,
04:20I'm going to get rid of the football.
04:21Nobody throws it faster and gets rid of it quicker than Aaron Rodgers.
04:27And yes, great corners in Houston.
04:30Tomlin was waxing poetic about them on Tuesday.
04:35Not so much on C.J. Stroud, which I found very interesting.
04:38But yes, Aaron Rodgers, quickest release in the NFL,
04:44average depth of targets, the shortest or smallest in the NFL.
04:48And if the whole strength of the Houston Texans defense is,
04:54we have Will Anderson and Daniil Hunter,
04:57and they make a quarterback's night a living hell.
05:00Well, if they don't have time to get there,
05:02maybe they can be neutralized or taken out of the game to some extent.
05:05And so I think that'll be the Steelers' game plan for this one.
05:09Don't put Aaron Rodgers in those situations by having him do what he's done all year,
05:13and that's throw the football as soon as he gets it.
05:16Andrew Filippone, 93.7 The Fan,
05:18joining us here talking Steelers and Texans on upcoming Monday night.
05:22Just sticking with Rodgers for a second, Andrew,
05:25how has it been covering him this year?
05:27Because we know the last couple years in New York,
05:29it was a dicey situation covering Aaron Rodgers through the McAfee show stuff
05:35and just the general dysfunction that probably had more to do with the Jets
05:38than Aaron Rodgers himself.
05:40But what was the expectation going in with him coming there,
05:43and what's it been like covering him up there this year?
05:45It's been way better than I ever thought, than I ever imagined.
05:49I've enjoyed him thoroughly.
05:51He's turned me into a fan.
05:53I did not really embrace this whatsoever at Ida.
05:59The only silver lining I saw in it when it was being rumored for months upon months
06:03was that, hey, maybe this is the year the Steelers sink to the bottom,
06:07and we were told that the 2026 quarterback class in the draft was going to be 10 names deep,
06:14and I wanted to have a bite at that, a piece of that,
06:17especially with the drafting here at Pittsburgh.
06:19I think the Steelers had circled April of 2026 as the time that they were going to announce
06:25and introduce their next great young quarterback to the world.
06:28But two things happened.
06:31Aaron Rodgers didn't act like an a-hole.
06:34He behaved himself.
06:35He didn't do outside media appearances where he made things awkward for teammates or coaches
06:41or for the organization or even put fans in a weird spot,
06:45having to choose either him or the team.
06:47He's played, for the most part, well.
06:50I mean, the numbers don't blow you away.
06:52His numbers really aren't all that different from Russell Wilson a year ago.
06:55But I can point to at least three games that he won on his own.
06:59They don't sweep Baltimore, if not for his exploits and how well he played in both games.
07:04It's been fun.
07:05It's been neat to have a four-time MVP in the twilight of his career,
07:10have a little bit of a renaissance here.
07:12And I would actually welcome, I would be all, maybe not all four,
07:17but I would be fine if the Steelers' plan for 2026 is to run it back with him for one more year
07:23and then wait to see if 2027 has a better crop of young quarterbacks.
07:29Looking at this Steelers' defense, you know, they're not a classic Pittsburgh Steelers' defense,
07:33but they look like they've shored some things up.
07:37The biggest thing, Drew, is that this Texans' offensive line is at times struggled
07:42versus, frankly, just physically tough defensive lines.
07:47Big, strong dudes who are manly men.
07:50And I'm looking at Cam Hayward, and I just, I don't see where there's much of a drop-off in his play,
07:55even though he's in his upper 30s now.
07:58He is a Hall of Famer, in my opinion.
08:01He's gotten better as he's gotten older.
08:04The decade of his 30s, more impressive than his 20s, which makes no sense.
08:10I think he's going strong.
08:12He's coming off one of his best games ever in a Steelers uniform,
08:15which is hard to fathom, given his age.
08:18He is awesome.
08:20He never got, like, the hype or the accolades or the love, say, of an Aaron Donald,
08:26and I get it because Aaron Donald is, you know, one of one.
08:30Aaron Donald also invited me to his draft party, which was really cool of him.
08:33So props to Aaron for that.
08:35That was a very nice gesture on his part.
08:37That's nice.
08:37And Cam invites me to his softball game every year
08:41and has told me that I can no longer pitch to get people out
08:44because that was making fans upset who were there to see guys at home runs.
08:49Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
08:51How do you, in slow pitch, I'm guessing it was, right?
08:55Yes, yes.
08:56So what was your, what's your strategy in slow pitch?
08:58How we spin, he's putting spin on the ball.
09:00Yeah.
09:01Yeah, spin, arc, where I put it.
09:04I would pitch batting practice.
09:06I would see where guys wanted the ball,
09:08and then I would do the opposite in the game.
09:11Yeah.
09:12Hell of a show.
09:13Put on a good show, kid.
09:14Two years ago, I had a no-hitter go,
09:18and I was the only person that was taking, I think, delight in it,
09:24to be honest with you.
09:24Oh, my God.
09:25But that's okay.
09:25That's great.
09:27Seth, to answer that question, though,
09:29their defensive line has gone from being a liability this season.
09:34I mean, they had games, the first time they played Baltimore,
09:37they gave up over 200 yards, and they lost to Buffalo at home,
09:40and there were fire Tomlin chants.
09:43James Cook had the most rushing yards in Buffalo since OJ Simpson.
09:46I mean, it was just a horrible day.
09:49And what happened over the course of the season was not only did Hayward
09:53continue to play at an elite level, but Derek Harmon,
09:56who they drafted in the first round, doesn't have good counting stats,
09:59but makes a gigantic difference.
10:01The splits in when he plays versus when he does it against the run are insane.
10:05There's almost like an 80- or 90-yard difference in what they give up.
10:09And then Keanu Benton, who's their nose tackle,
10:12is a guy that was kind of iffy for the first two-and-a-half years of his career
10:15and has really come on and is coming off a really good game against Baltimore, too.
10:19So that probably was a weakness of the team.
10:22Definitely last year when they got blown out in the playoffs by Baltimore,
10:25they went out in the offseason to try to beef up their front seven,
10:29and Harmon has made a huge difference for this defense.
10:32And given the way the Texans run the ball,
10:34I don't think that that's going to be something that beats the Steelers Monday night.
10:37Interesting.
10:38Andrew Filippone, 93.7, the fan, joining us here,
10:40talking Steelers-Texans Monday night wild card round.
10:43Get started here.
10:44Kickoff 7.15 on Sports Radio 610.
10:47Andrew, the Texans, as I'm sure you know, not a great red zone team.
10:51Their kicker, Kaimi Fairbairn, set a record, tied a record for field goals
10:56in a season this season to be proud of, I don't think,
10:59because there's a lot of touchdowns left on the field.
11:02But kicking game is going to be a big part of this, I think, for the Texans.
11:05We saw Chris Boswell miss an extra point in that game.
11:08Obviously, we saw Tyler Loop miss a field goal.
11:10Between the weather and the field itself there,
11:14how big a factor are field conditions, especially for a team like the Texans,
11:17that play, that are used to playing in the easiest of situations indoors.
11:23Yeah, I'm sure you guys have seen the stat by now.
11:25In the last 10 years, only one dome team has won a playoff game
11:29in under 40 degrees, and it was the Rams in Seattle
11:33in a 39-degree game against Russell Wilson a few years ago
11:38in the wild card round.
11:39So that was a game that John Wolford started over Jared Goff,
11:42which is insane to think about now.
11:44In retrospect, that Goff was the backup in that game.
11:48Sean McVay, his preference was Wolford.
11:51But anyways, you know, the wind, which when Seth came here
11:56and beat the Steelers in what was arguably the worst loss
12:00in that stadium's history, which I think is a compliment to you, Seth.
12:03Yes.
12:04Yes.
12:05Thank you, Tommy Maddox, who's probably not listening.
12:07But anyways, it used to be with the open end of the end zone
12:14facing the river that the rivers that it used to play fits on kickers
12:22and they could not really, they couldn't predict the weather pattern,
12:26the wind patterns and, you know, kicks over, say, 40 yards
12:30were not really even a 50-50 proposition.
12:33When they added seats to that section of the stadium
12:36and closed, that's now and back almost 10 years, it changed all that.
12:42The wind is really not an issue anymore.
12:44But the bigger one is what you brought up, Sean, and that's the field.
12:48The field is brutal.
12:51And Aaron Rodgers has ripped it in a very polite kind of way,
12:56but it's not good.
12:57And Boswell almost got hurt in a game against the Browns earlier this year
13:01because he slipped on it and landed awkwardly
13:04and could have twisted an ankle or even worse yet, a knee.
13:07So I think it gives the Steelers actually an advantage
13:09because they're used to it.
13:11And guys like Fairbairn won't.
13:13And he might be thinking about that even a little bit
13:16when he lines up for longer field goals.
13:18So I do think that that is a home field advantage.
13:22And I will also say one more thing.
13:24The NFL looked back at that extra point by Boswell
13:27and they changed it to a block.
13:30And he said yesterday that he did feel like he didn't shank it.
13:34And if you really look at it, the direction of the ball did change somewhat.
13:38Oh, yeah.
13:39So at least that's how he's getting over it.
13:41He's now claiming that it was a good play by the Ravens.
13:43Okay.
13:44So he's not psychologically affected by it at all.
13:47Yes.
13:48Well, and the other part where the field,
13:49and I'm glad you brought up the field conditions,
13:51whether it's raining or not.
13:52Yeah, it's been notoriously bad since they built it.
13:56That Calvin Austin touchdown,
13:58the cornerback just whiffs, slips, and he's got no chance at it.
14:02That's something that I feel like you know how it goes with the underdog.
14:06It always feels like any kind of adverse field conditions favor the underdog
14:10or at least balance things out a little bit.
14:12Are they still playing high school football games in there on Thursday and Friday nights?
14:16Uh, they, uh, like what you would call like the section or area championship games there.
14:23Yeah.
14:24And then they re-sod it afterwards.
14:26And it's the funniest thing.
14:28Our, our, uh, radio station will send out video of them tearing up the field and it'll
14:33get hundreds of thousands of impressions.
14:35And then they'll put out a video of the new sod being laid down and it'll get hundreds of
14:40thousands of impressions.
14:41And then there'll be a video that's taken five minutes before the first Steelers game
14:46played on the new surface and it'll get millions of impressions.
14:49Oh, look how pristine this is.
14:51Look how great this is.
14:52And by the second quarter of the next game, the field looks like crap again.
14:56I don't get it.
14:57Every year they do some documentary about how it's taken years to grow this pristine service
15:04and you're like, yeah, great.
15:05It looks nice.
15:06But when you slap it down, the, when you slap it down right before a game, it doesn't, it's
15:11not solid.
15:12It looks pretty, but yeah, that's, um, I, I do as far as the kicking, obviously it can
15:17make a difference.
15:17My nervousness would be if, you know, when you're the favorite in a game and it's not
15:22like they're heavy favorites or anything, but that those, those shoddy conditions, just
15:26they make it way more random.
15:28And there's just more of a chance for a guy that, you know, getting past the slipping
15:32defensive back in the Texans.
15:34Yeah.
15:34I think of the Texans, the Texans defense is the best unit on the field Monday night.
15:38And if they're weakened at all because of poor surface conditions, that's a, as a Texans
15:43fan, that makes me nervous.
15:44Yeah.
15:45And I did not feel like Tomlin gave Stroud his proper due respect when he talked about Houston,
15:54which is a very odd thing for Mike, because days before a game is to make whatever opponent
16:02he's playing sound like they're either the 85 bears or Oh seven Patriots.
16:07And when he started to talk about the Texans offense, he said, I respect CJ Stroud.
16:12Okay.
16:12That's nice enough.
16:13And then the next two minutes was an ode to Davis mills and Davis mills, saving the
16:20Texan season and how the Steelers would not be playing the Texans Monday night.
16:25If not for the tremendous production of Davis mills during that three game streak, it was
16:33very, very strange to me.
16:35Yeah.
16:35I've never heard him do that where he lumps more praise on the backup quarterback and the
16:40starting quarterback.
16:41They're about to play.
16:42That's really interesting.
16:43Andrew Filippone joining us.
16:45Hey, Andrew, we've got about a minute before we get you out of here.
16:47Just real quick.
16:48We'll play a little game.
16:50The Steelers win this game.
16:51If the Texans win this game, if what's the one big thing for each of these two teams?
16:56Well, the Texans win this game.
16:58If they hit more of those big plays, I mean, they hit a lot of 40 plus yard plays and we
17:02just saw the Steelers give up two of them in the fourth quarter Sunday night.
17:06And thanks to Tyler loop, they were able to overcome them.
17:09And we also saw that against the Chargers for the Texans two games ago.
17:13So that is a concern.
17:15The Steelers safeties look like garbage.
17:17Jalen Ramsey's coming off his worst game and Kyle Duggar got benched by the end of the
17:21game against Baltimore.
17:22So that's something to watch.
17:25And the Steelers win this game.
17:27If their defense plays like it's paid to play $170 million spent, the Steelers should
17:33be the team that has the lofty rankings and stats like.
17:39Like the Texans, the first time in a decade, they show up and play like it in a playoff
17:44game.
17:44Should be a whole lot of fun.
17:45A lot of streaks in this game and something's got to give.
17:48It's really, really interesting.
17:49Andrew Filippone, 93.7, the fan in Pittsburgh.
17:53Andrew, we appreciate the time and enjoy the game on Monday, but don't enjoy it too much.
17:57You guys are great.
17:58Keep up the good work.
17:59I think.
17:59Don't be bowing down to Cam Hayward trying to bully you into not being the immaculate pitcher
18:05that you are.
18:07Seth, I have a smoothie that I'm about to drink and I'm about to go pump iron, but have
18:11you seen that man?
18:13He's a smungous human.
18:16Andrew ain't telling him anything.
18:17He's easier said than done.
18:19You can get Andrew on Twitter at the Pony Express Pony with an eye.
18:22Andrew, keep up the great work as well.
18:23We appreciate you, man.
18:25See you guys.
18:25All right.
18:25Take care.
18:26They do a great job up there.
18:27I've been listening the last couple of days to his show.
18:28It's a really good show up there.
18:29If you're looking to get the flip side to this game on Monday, that's a good place to go.
18:34That's the least smack talking version of Andrew Filippone I've ever had when we've
18:39had Andrew Filippone on the radio.
18:40Usually he's talking all kinds of smack.
18:42I think that tells you everything you need to know about how this game is going to go.
18:44How they feel about this game.
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