Drive9.17.26Hr1: Latest News, Matt's Stats

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

1:02hours on this Thursday as we have got plenty to get to as we are getting closer and closer to Steelers and Patriots Sunday, one o'clock in Foxboro. Matt before we get into all the news of the day and all the moving and shaking and Matt stats and all that stuff. We do have a little a little bit of heavy hearts to start the show today as today, maybe at the intro, I should have said as a Dale would always say, welcome to the drive. Okay, here you go. Because today is the one year anniversary of the passing of our dear brother Dale Lolley and you and I were swapping some stories and having some last before we went on air. Yeah, not all of them are for to be on the air. Not all of them are unnecessarily show appropriate, but we miss that guy. It does not seem like a year. I guess in some ways it does seem like a year and other ways it seems like just a couple weeks. Yeah, but just kind of does seem like a year just because of the football calendar. I remember it was good point. It was early early in the season. There was already a game or two in the books, you know, that type of thing. But yeah, he's badly missed and I know no question about it, but just one day, one of

2:04the notes been exactly a year. It's been exactly a year since we lost Dale and thoughts with his kids, thoughts with Amy, thoughts with his family today on, I'm sure what is what is certainly a tough day here on September 17th. We missed Dale. I'll be thinking of them Saturday night. I know he would have loved to go out in Boston and there you go. That's for a trip. Yeah, he would have hated getting to get there and getting to the stadium, but would have enjoyed a little Saturday night in being town and maybe would have had some Sam Adams or some fun there. And we'll be we could drag them that WVU bar you're talking about exactly right. Exactly, right. But we, I think we, I think we think about Dale and Miss Dale just about every single day, but especially today on the one year anniversary of his passing. So our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the entire Lolli family. No question, no question. Matt, let's jump into the news of the day here as we get going. And I think the biggest news of the day is another data point in the ongoing Joey Porter, junior saga situation, conundrum, whatever we want to call it today in practice.

3:05Joey Porter, junior participated in the first drill, but then did not do any other drills in the open portion of practice. After one drill, he left the field with a team trainer. I know that that's very open ended. Yeah, right. And that asks a lot more questions than it answers, but that is all that we know we don't know what happened in the closed portion of practice. There could have been more, but what we do know is he did the first drill and then left the field with a team trainer. I don't know how respond to it. I mean, I just say, would say it sounds less likely he's going to play now than before that news. That's really my big. Emma is the only thing that I would say is, you know, I can't put percentage on it if he's going to play in Foxbo or Burr or not. But it's had to have gone down in the last 24 hours. I don't see how that's not the take away at this point. Yeah. Again, I know that when stuff like this happens, your mind can always wander. Of course. What does that mean that this is done? Does that mean a trade's coming? Does that mean he's actually hurt all these different things?

4:08And it could mean any of those things. Absolutely. But in the in the meantime here in the intermediate future, I think that casts real doubt about his chance to play on Sunday. Yeah. That's the way I'm taking it to is, well, you know, as this league becomes and one of the reasons the Steelers don't negotiate throughout the course of season is the whole focus of the week is beating New England and is his availability going to influence that. Absolutely. Well, if he's there or not and now just read between the lines, you think it's a less chance that he's going to play that game. It was said Mike McCarthy before practice said he scheduled to do more today than he did yesterday and quote, okay. Which doesn't sound like it doesn't sound like it happened. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. From again, just from the information that is available to us now, he may have came right back out as soon as practice closed up again and did everything, but we're not going to know that we're not going to know that exactly right.

5:09So that's the latest in a another data point here. Like I said, and kind of the ongoing Joey Porter, Jr. saga again, a lot can change and a lot will change. But I would just think on the surface that that certainly casts a lot of doubt about his status for Saturday as opposed to without question. If he would have had a full practice today, then we'd be like, oh, okay. Yeah. Maybe he'll be on a pitch count or something like that. But you know, you'd think he might be active. We will wait and see how this all plays out. Matt, no Michael Pittman, Jr. in the open portion of practice today via the media that was there and observing. Remember, he was limited yesterday with a foot injury. So again, that doesn't mean he didn't practice at all. That wasn't there in the opening portion of practice, something to monitor, something to keep an eye on. Certainly, that would be a big absence for Sunday. If he were, if he were not able to go, they got pretty good corners. Even outside he can always do. They do. They sure do. Good news for Troy Fautano. He was present during practice during individual drills, the kind of open portion of practice. Mike McCarthy said he would be limited, but he was at least out there in practice.

6:11So that's a good sign for Troy Fautano and that ankle drill or that ankle drill part of me, that ankle injury that he is that he is endorsing. And then there were some reports that they were working out free agent offensive tackles, which you could read the penile. Although, no, they're worried about Troy, but it couldn't be both. I mean, they might just be looking for a project Jones Rosser spot replacement. Absolutely. Yeah. Maybe just keeping their eye on some potentials. If something were to happen on the injury front more serious, you know, maybe they think that's just practice squad guys. Sure. Maybe they're not overly concerned about his status for Sunday, but what if something happens to him on Sunday, it would be a head of the eight ball and all that. Again, this is the part where Matt and I play the reckless speculation. Yeah. Injuries are hard to talk about, especially with a new coaching staff that is going to view them differently. Of should they practice today or not, you know, depending on the severity of the injury. That is good news on Troy. Anyway, you got it. I think so. Yeah. I absolutely think so. And then Matt, I guess last, but certainly not least to spend the block to the other side

7:12of Sunday's contest to the New England Patriots. Travion Henderson told the media today in New England that he's ready to go and will be ready to face the Steelers on Sunday. Okay. A very talented player. He was an early second round pick out of Ohio State along with Quinshaw and Judgins. They were kind of a thunder and lightning college tandem. If you just watch his highlights, you'd be blown away with them, you know, because he is a lot of long runs. He's super fast. But if you really look at the minutia of the position and the dirty work, there were a lot of holes he missed in his rookie year. You know, not exactly staying on script with how the run is developed areas designed. And he was touted is just really good. Pass protector coming out of Ohio State. And that didn't translate at all. In fact, they pretty much took all those duties away from giving to Stevenson, who is a reliable, you know, solid NFL player. But still, I mean, you'd rather play the patch without Henderson.

8:13Stevenson got a big workload in the first, first week. And so it looks like we will have that, that two, that two headed monster in the backfield for the Patriots. And that's something that we will talk plenty about more today and tomorrow. Matt, I guess last kind of news and notable that I wanted to discuss with you. We mentioned yesterday how Joe Burrow did not practice yesterday for the Bengals with back tightness. He said that he is dealing with some back tight tightness, but expects to play this weekend against the Texans. Okay. I guess he took a couple decent hits going to the game, but I mean, it might just be early season, getting that body. Yeah. Back into football shape. I didn't realize, but that's a, that's a tough start to the year for the Texans, man. The bill was in the Bengals right out of the, right out of the shoot for Houston. That's, that's two pretty good quarterbacks. Oh, wow. Yeah. Okay. That Houston's face. Yeah. Right. After hosting, hosting Buffalo last week and then, and then getting the, the, the, the Bengals this weekend. And then Matt Niko Collins still dealing with that, hey, I'm string injury.

9:17His status is uncertain. Yeah. That sounds like a truly questionable situation. Yes. I heard in practice today or yesterday, that game is in Houston. So the Houston Texans, Houston Bengals. Yes. Yes. So Houston with two, both at home, but two tough tests there to start the year in Texas. Yes. Josh Allen in the bills and then to really potent off to very potent offence is out of a gate there for the Houston Texans. As they much like the Patriots will look to avoid starting the year. Oh, and two, which is never what you want to do. Doesn't sink yet as much as it is now. The 17th game in the extra wild card spot, but it's still not where you want to be after two weeks with that. No, absolutely. You start questioning yourselves and looking at each other and, you know, yeah, we've got going here. And then week three feels like a must. Yeah. And then all of a sudden, it's like, yeah, wait, what if we go and pressure pressures, uh, ratchet it up real quickly. Yeah. So, uh, just some, uh, some news and, uh, and shaken of the day here. All in all the leagues pretty quiet. Yeah. Yeah. It'll be, listen, the injury reports will be flying a much more, uh, once we get a couple weeks here.

10:18Yeah. These guys didn't play in the preseason. Most, most coaching staff took that same approach that the Steelers did. And some of it showed the rust and lack of tackling and week one, but it's kind of a collective league wide. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely was. And I would expect it to still be the case a little bit this weekend. Oh, I would think it'll start getting better, but it's just going to take time. Uh, I don't know if you saw the video that the Steelers posted of Mike McCarthy, uh, in the locker room with the guys after the game. Oh, no, it was pretty cool after the win after the win. But one of the thing, like the first thing he said was September football is always going to be bumpy. You know, but, uh, but what you got to do is you got to come out victorious, you know, and, and, and, and that's what the Steelers were able to do and hopefully take another step forward in that regard. I think that's a good descriptive word. Bumpy. Yeah. Rock and Bumpy. Rusty all that stuff. Stay on the road, but there's going to be bumps. Exactly. It's going to be like Western Pennsylvania, lots of pot holes. Lot of hot holes. Yeah. A lot of construction. Let's start digging into some of Matt stats when we return on the other side.

11:20Matt's weekly dossier is in and we will begin to, uh, to peruse that and get to all the good stuff and start to set the scene for Steelers and Pat's Sunday in Foxboro. All that more as we roll along here, just getting started on the drive on this Thursday, Yulah Williamson, Steelers Mission Radio on the Steelers Audio Network. And now a word from our sponsor, Bud Light. There's nothing better than the clean crisp. There's nothing better than the clean crisp. What if we just got out of here and grab some Bud lights? The man, we're on air for four more hours. I'll figure it out. Sounds good to me. Anything for the clean crisp taste of Bud Light. Stock up now. Bud Light. Easy to drink, easy to enjoy. Enjoy responsibly. Copyright 2026 and has a Bush Bud Light beer St. Louis, Missouri. I used to have cable in the net, but I'm a 100% kind of fan. So I switched to Verizon Fios. It's 100% fiber in the net that's super reliable. So I streamed 100% at the NFL Draft Live with ultra low lag. And after what went down in the first round, still getting video calls from my best friend

12:24rubbing it in that he called all the pigs. I told you they were building their own line. I win the bet. Get 100% fiber internet with Verizon Fios because when it comes to your team, it's 100% or nothing. Call 1-8-3-3 Verizon to switch today. Get that hotdog costume ready. Bra. You're tuned to the drive on your 24-7 home of the Black and Gold Steelers Nation Radio. Matt Big Thursday here tonight. I'm looking forward to this game this evening. That could be a bar burner.

13:25Yeah. Certainly could be the regular season opening of High Mark Stadium up there in Buffalo, where of course we just were for a preseason game a few weeks ago, but it will be the first regular season game there at the Bills new home. That's a tough ask for the lines. It's a tough ask for the lines. That's what I was kind of from a Buffalo standpoint. And maybe especially selfishly if I was a fan. I'd be like, I want our first game at the stadium to be on a Sunday. I guess. Because if you're going to the game, you probably have to work and you're going to be up early this morning and you're going to be rushing to get there and won't have as much time to tailgate and all that. No, and that fan base. That's nobody worked today. That's a very good point. That's a very good point by you. That's like a national holiday. Maybe they just took the double long weekend. Wednesday's our last day at work this week. Traffic right now is probably just a zoo there. Yeah, pure job through tables as we speak. But you're right. I mean, that's going to be for it being a prime time standalone game. It's going to be a bonkers atmosphere tonight. Yeah. And the first short week of the year against a really good team. I mean, builds this had a big win. I think that's a tough environment for the lines.

14:26Also Matt across across yonder here, a little ACC old school, big east clash between the pit panthers and the Syracuse Orngeman this evening. But the beauty of it was there were parking spots everywhere today because the panthers went around. Oh, when you had to go down to the facility. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a nice little part and put two and two together. I'm like, why is there's all these spots? It's a game day. Yeah, the kids aren't there pirates are pirates out of day game pit has a night game down there against Syracuse. I will say that always makes every time every year when pit plays Syracuse, it makes me feel some type of way because I'm like old school big east. Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Same when same when they play like Miami or Virginia Tech. I'm like, hey, it'd be cool if we were all doing this together. I mean, I'm not a huge pit fan. I'm, you know, how I watch college football, I watch it for prospect, but still, I mean, I'm old enough to remember like pit Villanova and pit Georgetown hoops and note that was a fun, fun conference then physical Patrick Ewing. Big east basketball was unbelievable. And then, you know, in my day was we played Boston College in Syracuse and WVU and

15:29DRS. Yeah, old school big east schools. Yeah, I kind of miss that. Teams in your region, imagine. Yeah, right, imagine that. I think pit hosts cow in a couple of weeks. You know, that's a, that's a real, that's a real story. Story driver. Yeah, story. Regional match up there. Oh, I hate it. I am optimistic that one day college football will get back to some semblance of, of regional, uh, you know, at least reach out a little bit. Yeah, but I don't know if it's going to be anytime soon. Matt, speaking of kind of, you talk about the, the short week there with Buffalo and Detroit, maybe that's where we'll start as we dive into Matt Stats week two edition here. This is something that you and I discussed like last Wednesday, uh, on our show before the NFL season kicked off in Seattle against the Patriots and the Seahawks. But remember, a pretty significant rest advantage, a four day rest advantage for New England heading into this one is they have not played since Wednesday. Could I argue Matt? Here's the angle that I want to discuss with you. And I argue that this would be a bigger deal if it was a four day rest advantage for the

16:33Patriots in the middle of November. Oh, that's exactly what I just said. As opposed to week two when you're, when you're obviously, yeah, you're still trying to ramp yourself up in a football shape, but you're not nearly as beat up at the same time. I tend to think so. I mean, there's tons of evidence that rest advantages are a true advantage in the NFL. There are true advantage even if you include the spread. You know, I mean, like more teams cover with the rest advantage, let alone get the win. But I bet and I have not seen any evidence to what you just brought up, but I would bet everything I have mid season late season, it pays off more. You know, I mean, like, both the two years ago, Steelers had to play those three games in 10 days or 11 days or whatever. I mean, after you'd already been really banged up. And then you're also, I mean, it probably goes out saying, but the, the, the people that are going to be on the field are more experienced. They're the guys you've trusted all along. You know, they're the guys that you're not, man, we're on our fourth linebacker, this late. And we just pulled them off the practice squad and I get them ready to start and, you know, I know they're going to take advantage of them.

17:38You know, they're going to test them every which way possible. We can. I think there's less of that this time of year. That's what I said. I mean, of course, New England's going to spend a lot more time. They get more time to look at what, how to attack the steel. Sure. You know, sure. And that's important. No, it absolutely is. And so it's certainly an advantage for the Patriots. But if you were going to have to face a rested, a rest discrepancy like this, that's not related to a biweek or anything. Yeah, yeah. I think I think it's a good time to, it's probably about the best time. I think you're 100% right. Could have it happen. Now I would one thing it might help the Patriot. A lot of things in their body will be a little less sore, etc. But losing AJ Brown, I'm sure that instead of adapting on the fly the second he gets hurt, or we can start feeding Mac Holland's the ball or whatever. I assume they've come up with more of a formula. No, no, yeah, no doubt. They will have a, I think the, I think the offense will look more comfortable. Yeah. And they, then they looked, although, hey, you able to dial up that pass rush and make life difficult for Drake May. Yeah. That's where you can, that's where you can maybe knock that back. I'm curious how Romeo Dobbs fits in from that perspective too, because he was not on the field of tonne, pre-Brown injury.

18:44And then even when he got hurt, Dobbs got a spike in usage, but certainly wasn't close to the feature guy. I mean, there's more like tomorrow Davis and Mac Holland's and I don't know if they're just unhappy with Dobbs or now they have these 10 days or 11 days. They're going to feature him. Be there number one receiver. I don't know. So we'll be keeping an eye on on Sunday. Yeah, we have to. Matt, the Patriots, six and three at home last year, the Steelers were five and three on the road. One of those losses for the Patriots, one of those wins for the Steelers happen against each other early in the season. I think it was week three. Does that sound right? TV week three. I think it was three last year. So it's week two this year, week three last year, but very early in the season once again here for the second straight year. Matt, this one popped out to me. The Patriots have lost five straight home openers. Yeah. I realize they had some real down years after Bella check where they had bad seasons and picked in the top two last year. But that's that's still that's five. A lot. Yeah. That's a lot. I don't much to bank it on.

19:44They they've had several different coaches, several different quarterbacks. As you mentioned, they weren't a great team there for most of those five years. But hey, you know, you're like here in it. Then one thing, Matt, listen, a lot did not go well for the Patriots in their opener out in Seattle last Wednesday. They ended up losing the game. They had a lot of turnovers. They lost AJ Brown for a few weeks. One thing that they did do very well, though, was possess the football in their opener. They held the ball for over 34 minutes, 34 minutes and 17 seconds. They ran 19 more plays than the Seahawks. Yeah. If they just take care of the ball, Drake made us and throw those interceptions. They probably end up winning a ugly, low scoring game there in Seattle. And that last interception was brutal. Ridiculous. Yeah. Worst case, they go to overtime. If he doesn't throw that last one. And that's something you want to see. I mean, time possession is something you and I have been very conscious with all off season. Steelers lost the time of possession. It's a lot of defense. Yeah, that's I think they contribute. I think they go hand in hand. Steelers lost the time possession battle on week one, but not badly.

20:45They were 28 53. Yeah. So they were a little under 30 where Atlanta was a little over 30. Here's what can happen again, though, Matt. And I realize the Patriots just turned the ball over three times. So maybe that will continue. I don't expect them to turn the ball over five times like they did last year. But turnovers been a big problem lately for this team. But the most recent game, which made this startling. And when I when I was reading through this this morning, uh, because you sent this to me last night, I was like, that is it's, it's, it's, insane statistical anomaly that what happened last year in New England. The Patriots ran 71 offensive plays compared to 49 for the Steelers. And when you consider they turn the ball over five times, that's insane. That's insane. Right. We hand it back to you and give you another whole possession. And you still ran 30 more plays in it. You know, I mean, like holy cow. Right. Yeah. That's, that's, that's astronomical. That cannot happen. That cannot happen. I would be like I said, when I was not, when I read that last, I had the, I had to go wait a second.

21:46Did I am I reading that backwards or didn't get that back? Where I actually do a little bit of double checking for you. I don't remember, obviously, what play of the drive, the turnovers happen. But especially if they're early, you kick off to them, they snap the ball once. Next snap, they throw you the football or whatever. It's like, it's hard to get a whole long series out there. If you're turning the ball over five times, normally the only time you see that type of discrepancy with a team clearly leading the way, what 22 or 23 more offensive snaps with all the turnovers is if they're like throwing a couple pick sixes or a couple, yeah, yeah, yeah, directly to touchdowns. And then right back out on the field, you get back to back possessions. Then, you know, but that, that to me was just, I hadn't thought of that angle, but that's pretty crazy. Yeah, that's hard. That's hard to keep up. You don't see very often. That's a good call. Matt, last week, Patriots running backs failed to gain yards on over 29. 9% of their runs in week one. That was the worst in the national football league, but not by much, but not by

22:48much because the Pittsburgh Steelers were right on their heels at a little under 28%. They were 31. So both of these teams, I'm sure this week have been preaching when we run the ball on first down, we can't be getting stuff at the line. We got to be getting ready for five yards, not getting stood up at the line of scrimmage. Now, New England ran the ball more than the Steelers, you know, so some of that, I think, is sticking with it pounding the rock, all those things in the run game. But no, I mean, negative runs are not going to cut it. And I don't know about you. I haven't thought about my predictions of what not, but I can't see this being a high score game. Same. Yeah. Yeah. Same. I think it's going to be kind of similar to last week. Yeah. And Matt, with that last year, the Patriots ran the most offensive plays in the league when leading on the scoreboard. I don't think that surprises anybody with the success that they had. We've, we talked this to death throughout the playoffs last year. They had a fairly easy schedule. They did. I think they only played five game, four or five games against teams that went to the playoffs and two of them were the bills in their own division.

23:51May it a phenomenal season. They had a great season. They had, they had a great season. And when we bring that stuff up, we also always say they're not Ohio State playing Akron. Right. It's teams in the national football league. Okay. They played the 32, the 32nd schedule, but it still isn't like college, you know, yes. I think it's also easier on the ball when you've got a lead. You saw some of this Latin. It's only one week and it's a new season, but you saw some of it last week when they fell behind to the Seahawks. I think that's a big key in this game too is if you could at least stay even or stay ahead. Yeah. I'd be great to take a half time lead on the road. You know, right. This variable Drake may entity of the Patriots. They haven't had to come from high. They have not had to play. They're from behind very often. And I think it shows when they have. And as much as I like May, he still has that young Bronco in him where things aren't going well, I'm just going to force one in here, you know, and that can lead to picks and a lot of bad things, especially when it's supporting cast isn't really living

24:51up to it. It's supporting cast is okay. I don't think it's great. Matt, you and I talked a lot about the usage and deployment of the Steelers offense and the Steelers defense this week's snap counts formations and personnel and all that stuff. New England side of things. They employed their nickel package in their season opener nearly 92% of the time, 91.7% of the time in week one didn't play a single snap in dime. No, and would you expect that to continue this week? I would assume so they can run the ball. I mean, Darnell Washington always throws a wrench in things for the opponents to say, we're just going to stay in nickel because a lot of teams, they're not unique in saying they want to basically live in nickel. That's how they're designed. They have some safeties that are big enough that they can play some brand. That's like a new base formation. Exactly. But 92% of the time is a lot. It's a very high number without question, but I do wonder if it's Friar Mooth, Pitman Metcalf, how much different it is when it's Darnell versus Roman.

25:54I mean, like they couldn't be any more different. You're going to leave the same nickel package out there. If I replaced Darnell Washington with Roman Wilson, do you guys, pretty confident in your guys? Yeah. And I say, do you sub when we do that or not, you know, or vice versa? That'd be something I'm sure the offensive staff's going to do immediately. Yeah. They know all this stuff. They sure do. Yeah. Matt, two stats here that I think juxtapose nicely next to each other. So since the beginning of last year, New England allows the ninth fewest passing yards per game in the NFL, yeah, stingy past defense, just 200 and that includes the last weeks games. So that's an eight. Did that include playoffs? No, no, no, because not everyone's involved. So you know, right? The last 18 games there basically regular season. Yes. Averaging, given up just a little over 200 yards in the air per game, ninth fewest in the NFL. When you juxtapose that next to the Steelers last week, 37 called dropbacks versus 12 runs. Yeah.

26:55That's something's got to give there because I don't think you can. I don't think you want to do. I don't think you can throw the ball 40 times against this team. So I mentioned I was down to the facility today and I think it was robber Missy mentioned that coach McCarthy. So again, secondhand information and I don't mean to talk to him to him or for him, but it does not basically if this flat out said did not want to live with that run pass ratio. I mean, that's not what they're about. Even if you are a, I mean, and I don't that doesn't count the deal. If you're Mike Leach, man, I think you want better. You'll be three to one. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Even if you're someone who is built upon air and it out, that's still, that's a little jarring. Aaron Rogers, 26 first half pass attempts last week. The most for him in six years. That's pretty crazy. That is a big where it wasn't as queer six years ago. Winning MVP. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. So those were some of the numbers that really stood out to me, Matt. I would think balance is going to be a theme of practice this week offensive balance.

27:55It has to be. It has to be because again, I just ask him. It doesn't have to be 50 50. It's it's never going to. No, no, but you, you got it. You got to be, you got to be closer to, uh, to level footing on both sides of the equipment. And even just big picture developing a rushing attack. We've seen very little evidence of that yet. And one of the key ways to do it is you got to stick with it. It, it, you know, it's going to be a monotonous repetition. Okay, I did get a tackle for loss. Fine, but I still can't go away from it, you know. And the other thing, both these teams, but sticking with the stealer offense as we know, we're really bad on third down. Not they were rarely ahead of the chains on first and second. And that's where when you're getting stuff that the line of scrimmage, every time you run the ball on first down, all these negative runs. There's no no wonder that both these teams were bad on second. Yeah. Yeah. Second and 11. Yeah, yeah. And you're behind your behind the eight ball. No, it is not. I can still hear Craig Wolfley. You got to get four yards on first down, brother.

28:56Yeah. Yeah. Four yards on first down, brother. Then we're staying ahead of the sticks. And wolf as everyone knows is about the least analytical person out there. But that's why success rate on first and 10 is a four yard gain. That's a successful play. Get the second and six. And I don't think you have to be super analytical to pick that one up. No. I mean, yeah, you'll take it. Matt, I want to continue with some of these numbers as it relates to Patriots quarterback Drake May. When we return, there's a there's some some things lately that aren't great. Some things lately that aren't great for Drake May. Let's discuss that as we continue into Matt stats. We continue beginning to paint the picture of the Steelers and the Patriots Sunday in Foxboro. We'll do that on the other side. You'll learn Williamson. It's the drive Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network. And now a word from our sponsor Bud Light. There's nothing better than the clean crisp. There's nothing better than the clean crisp.

29:59What if we just got out of here and grab some Bud lights? Man, we're on air for four more hours. I'll figure it out. Sounds good to me. Anything for the clean crisp taste of Bud Light. Stock up now. Bud Light. Easy to drink. Easy to enjoy. Enjoy responsibly. Copyright 2026 and has your budget Bud Light beer St. Louis Missouri. I used to have cable internet, but I'm a 100% kind of fan. So I switched to Verizon Fios. It's 100% fiber internet that's super reliable. So I streamed 100% at the NFL draft live with ultra low lag. And after what went down in the first round, still getting video calls from my best friend rubbing it in that he called all the pics. I told you they were building their own line. I went to bed. Good 100% fiber internet with Verizon Fios because when it comes to your team, it's 100% or nothing. Call 1-833 Verizon to switch today. Get that hot dog, Austin Ready. Bra. You're tuned to the drive on your 24-7 home of the Black and Gold Steelers Nation Radio.

31:12Matt, there's going to be plenty of attention on Sunday on both quarterbacks in this game. Intriguing storylines around both, you know, Aaron Rogers, his final year of a Hall of Fame career. Game number two with his old head coach, Mike McCarthy. Yeah. Also for Drake May, who was the runner up in the MVP race last year, took his team to the Super Bowl, but has really struggled in his last handful of games dating back the last year. He has. And these are week one that everybody watched and what four playoff games. Yes. Yes, four playoff games. So the last, I mean, I'm you, the numbers in front of you, I don't, but the last five have been statistically pretty disasters. After really being dynamite before that, as you said, I mean, runner up for MVP. You gotta have a pretty good year to be the runner up for the MVP.

32:14Yes. Now, I would the caveat and people know I am a May defender of those five games. They played the chargers with mentor, a really good defense. They played Denver, one of the best defense in the league. They played Houston, probably the best defense in the league and Seattle twice. Pretty good. Right. I mean, that's some as tough as you get. Can the Steelers play at that kind of level? Is that what this defense is? I mean, after one week, the Steelers are number one in DVLA on defense. Now they played Cooper Rush. Sure. You know, that this is a much different quarterback that they're playing against. But it couldn't this be one of the better defenses in the league and keep that trend alive with May. Possibly, we'll see. We shall, we shall. So in Drake May's most five recent games here, including last year's postseason. He's throwing seven interception or sorry, seven touchdowns compared to 11 turnovers, seven interceptions, four fumbles. Yeah. So seven touchdowns, seven interceptions, four fumbles in his last five games.

33:17He's also Matt taken 24 sacks in those five games, which some of them are on him. I mean, a lot of them are we talk about sacks is often a quarterback number and he's kind of holding the ball too long and his protection wasn't great. And he faced some really, really good past rushers on those defenses, we mentioned, but I do think the Steelers can get to him. And that's going to be a huge key for me in this game is what kind of pressure and resulting in sacks. Can you get him on the ground without a doubt? He through three interceptions and three sacks last week in Seattle. Now get this. Last year May led the NFL 72% completion percentage as well as led the league in his air yards per attempt. 8.9. Yeah. His deep ball was great. And the completion was really good last week and it's just one week and he lost his number one wide receiver early in the second half, but just 6.2 air yards per attempt compared to that big number in 2025. Yes. So last year was a small number against the Steelers 5.9 air yards per attempt.

34:18Here's a well done. Which was his lowest of the season last year did not attempt a pass over 20 yards in that game last year. I think there's a lot of take from last year's game. I mean, if you're this coaching staff, I'm sure you're digging into that heavy. And I'm sure you're asking how do we how do we frustrate him? Yeah. And we haven't brought this up in a while, but it's one of the reasons I'm so happy that they kept coach McCurley and coach Arth because there's one guy from each staff or each side of the ball that can sit there when defensive staff will spend a lot of time early in the week in a room like the one we're in now, just sitting there watching tape and you know, how do we prepare for this? How do we prepare for that? What if they do this? And I'm sure they're like, Hey, Scott, why did you guys decided to do this? Haven't someone who just thought was this and it didn't work at all or we saw this tendency and it worked perfectly. You know, at least you can explain it. And that's well said by you. And it is, it's good to have someone in the room that knows how the others around you were thinking previously.

35:19Yeah. Yeah. You know, we didn't think Peyton Wilson should be taking on this block. So we hit him this way or whatever it is. You know, right. Drake May was sacked five times when these teams met last year twice by Trent Jordan Watte, hopefully he's in for another big performance on Sunday. I think your path for us is a huge key. Huge key. And I think it Matt, I don't think I expect it to look much different than it did last week. Whereas last year was last week part of me, it was just kind of a nela and static for the Steelers defense. They blitzed on just 7.7% of Atlanta's dropbacks. Very few tons of zone and no blitz. And that was the lowest blitz percentage in the league. I don't think that would surprise anybody. Very, very low. But how much of that though is just because it's Cooper Rush, we're going to clog up the lanes. We're going to make him beat us with his mind and with his arm and we don't think he can do him. We want a lot of eyeballs on Bejohn. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Just all the things that we, not that the Patriot running backs are bad. They absolutely are not. I'm a Stevenson believer. But it's different when you have a special back like Bejohn and the whole key to our,

36:22you know, our prep last week was, don't let this guy go crazy. He's going to get his, but don't let him go crazy. And I'm sure the Steelers knew that Atlanta was going to feature Bejohn to know in. Then the news comes out that Rush is going to start. And that's somewhat of a gift for the Steelers for sure. Not that the other quarterback options for Atlanta are, you know, the best dudes out there. But this team is not going to rely on one skill dude nearly to the level Atlanta. Oh, I mean, the way Atlanta took it to a new level was pretty. Crazy. And they are going to trust the, I mean, the guy that they're going to trust is the quarterback where Atlanta is going to do everything possible to hide the quarterback. Yeah. So do you come after him? Do you play man? It's a real flash in styles between what you saw last week and what you'll see this week, which makes me think we'll learn a lot more about Patrick Graham. You know, his history shows he changes things week to week to week. Well, the way you play these two teams is very different. It's a, it's very well said. That's that is something that we speculated hypothesized.

37:24I'm Patrick Graham all off season. Yeah. He's a very much. I've got red paint. I'm painting the barn red. I've got green paint. I'm painting the barn green type defense of coordinator. And I think this will be the first test to really see that. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it will be a lot of the same themes or not. Yeah. And I mean, I'm sure they won't play a hundred percent zone and have seven percent blitz rate. I do not. I do not think that that will be the case. And certainly Matt, talk to me about because we discussed. Previously, a little bit about what to expect some of the names, you know, and their wide receivers there in the absence of Jay Brown. But what about the tight ends? Hunter Henry Eli Reardon. Would you expect? I think it was pretty heavy usage game for those two. It was. They're open or do you expect that to continue this week? Uh, Reardon's a rookie. I liked a lot coming out of Notre Dame and a tight end rich draft. I think they use a third round pick on them. I think eventually not this year, but probably as soon as next he takes over for Henry is the number one every down type of guy. He caught a touchdown, but it wasn't a phenomenal play by him or anything like that.

38:26It was a good play design deep in the red zone. Um, he's a good prospect. Little leaner. He's so good. He's a work on his center of gravity and thickness and blocking and things like that. Um, I'm going to go a different direction or two. Henry is what he is. He's a quality starting pro in his upsides, not high. His floor is, he did a lot of damage against Steelers a year ago. But I wonder with 11 days to prepare, no AJ Brown, who was clearly the guy you wanted to get the football through in the passing game. Yeah. This goes back to blitz. This goes back to pass rush. This goes back to trying to help your tackles who are okay, not great. But I would think you might want to get more eligible out in routes, tight ends and running backs as opposed to having them chip against walked in high Smith and her big et cetera. So I think that's something I'm going to pay attention to too because the running back in tight ends, considering the state of their wide receiver core, which is not

39:29great right now, you might have to lean that way a little bit more than you planned. Cool. Which isn't good news for them. No, I wouldn't think so. I, it's, it's a tough spot to be. And we kind of met. We discussed that a little bit yesterday when we were going over their roster and how there's not, there's not a lot of weaknesses. No. And maybe kind of hunter Henry is the personification of that, right? Yeah. Yeah. Like not a player guys who aren't going to sink you, but guys who aren't going to be on future all pro lists or anything like that. Yeah. And it was chatting some people today too. You see a lot of people on their roster that are sort of similar to hunter Henry, about age 28 to 32, making a pretty decent buck, not a huge bargain, not a huge difference maker, but you don't dislike having them on the team. Sure. They're fine starters, but that's kind of how they're made up. You know, they do their job. There's some Bella check rub in there still to his DNA still floating around that building, especially as rabble now in charge, you know, sure, but there's not a lot of scary dudes.

40:31And that's true of their defense too. Like I don't really love their edge rushers. I think you can see how the Steelers tackles play, but I think you can leave them on islands a fair amount. You know, we're worried about the interior of your pass. Yeah, that's the strength. Yeah. Matt, a last kind of note here that stuck out to me, as it relates to your, your stats packet for Steelers and Patriots, remind us, some people had tweeted us asking if you're able to view this anywhere, Steelers.com. Yeah. If you want the entire kitten caboodle here, the entire 4,000 word essay by my, by my co-host last week, Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rogers first win as quarterback and head coach since week 10 in 2018. That is 2,863 days between wins of a head coach and quarterback duo. That's the third largest gap of such a duo since 1950 in the NFL. Yeah, what about that? Did you know who the other two were? Yeah, because this came from the packet that the NFL sends out.

41:33Okay. Their research every week packet, which is cool. That's like 50 pages long. Every game has a couple pages about it. And frankly, I grab a few things out of there every time. Sure. Any source I can. I was going to say you know that that's a credible research. I, I'm trying to just pull it off of memory because I don't have it handy. But it's I have to imagine it was probably both were from the way back days of your. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I don't think they were any time recent. That would make that would make sense to me that that would make shock that was third longest. I mean, you would think that'd be the first long. That's a long break. It's a long. I often coaches and quarterbacks get back together. Not very often. Yeah. Not very often. And then always I always like a little series history from Matt in these stat packets. This one's not as good as the Atlanta one. The Atlanta and the Falcons beat the Steelers twice ever. It's a little different, a little different for New England in the 21st century. But the Steelers have been to eight Super Bowls winning six. The Patriots have been to 11 winning six. That's the most of any of the 32 franchises combined in terms of Super Bowl appearances.

42:34And then this series began 1972 was the first time these teams met Steelers won the first two matchups. Five of the first six overall New England has a slight lead 19 to 17. If you include playoff matchups, the Steelers only post season went over the Patriots. A seven to six victory in the divisional round in 1997. Whoa. The Patriots have won the last three of the last four meetings. But the Steelers did win the last one in New England last year. But this kind of, I think what you were alluding to Matt, since 1998, the last 20 meetings between these two teams, the Patriots are 15 and five. Yeah. And they're like that against pretty much all teams during the Brady Bell. A check year. Of course. There for about 20 years. And now the Steelers have had their decades of success as well. I mean, for historians of the league, I grew up the Patriots were semi laughing stuff. Oh my gosh. I mean, yeah, I mean, it took a long while before they were considered even an average football team.

43:36And like you looked at their Hall of Famers up until like 1990. There's like one or two, you know, John Hannah. I mean, there's not many. This is one of those you and I have joked about just random bar stool conversations that we have. When we're on the road with pursuit of with Dale with our friends. Yeah. Boston, I think is one of the few cities. And it might have changed since the Brady era, but for a long time, especially for a city that had four major sports teams. Oh, yeah. Where the football team was at the bottom of the pecking order. Oh, they definitely were when I grew up. The Red Sox rule Boston. Yes. Celtics are massive. Hockey in Boston is huge. The Bruins are the Bruins have a massive following. There's all those Boston College and BU and Northeastern and Harvard. Like college hockey is massive huge up there in New England. Like they are the Celtics are probably the most successful. It's franchise. It's the Celtics and the Red Sox are one and two in Boston. Yeah. Have been and will be like they're just a weird case in that where they're one of the very few cities

44:37in this country where the football team is not the dominant driving factor. And I'm sure for most of my life, they were at this. Yeah. I mean, now now there's hard to ignore the Brady and absolutely. Absolutely. But they were a distant for a long time. And like, you know, maybe in St. Louis, that was the case with the Cardinals and the Rams for a while. But that's not as big of a sports city as ball. Right. Right. It's just bizarre that the football team has not been the the straw that stirs the drink there. I mean, those are hard teams competing against the Celtics and the Red Sox by far. Yes. Which is very weird for someone like me who's spent his entire life in Pittsburgh, spent time in Philadelphia, you know, where it's like, I mean, you know, I spent some time in Ohio and all those places, it's football, football, football, football, football. And then we got what you got. Yeah. And who's good that year? What I would have. Yeah. Right. But yeah, it's been a weird history for the Patriots where that is interesting. Yeah. For those, you know, for that period of time, they were about as good as anybody. But other than that, they were in the Dalgons. They they they certainly were in the series history really reflects that.

45:39Steers got to better them for decades. And then there's a two decade Baloch X stretch where we know all that went. Hour in the books. Unfortunately, we do know how that went. Hour in the books. Another hour to go here as we roll along. I do have some more Steelers Patriots preview stuff that I want to run past Matt here in hour number two. We'll kind of continue the the early scouting here of Sunday's clash in Foxboro halfway home on this Thursday, you'll learn Williamson. It's the drive. We're going to start with the Steelers Nation radio on the Steelers audio network. So we heard Amanda is off to school. Yeah, big step. More independent. She's not going to call every week asking for more money for books. Is she with smart start banking from S&T bank. She gets budgeting tools, scholarship opportunities, Incons and money using Zell. Wow. I guess college is about getting smarter, right? Give them financial independence and yourself peace of mind. Stop by your local branch. Call 835-2265 or visit STD. STBank.com to send money with Zell.

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