Falcons Preview & Prediction | Steelers Afternoon Drive

0:00It's time to take a ride on the Steelers afternoon drive with our co-hosts Alan Saunders in Zachary Smith. Well that's he in the van we're going to first do his afternoon drive. I'm Zachary Smith that is Alan Saunders and give me one sec. He is maybe back there is also there at Bell because it is a Friday during the NFL regular season, which means Alan talks about all the time how his favorite episodes of the show are when he's driving. My favorite episodes of the show are Fridays during the NFL regular season where it's the three of us we're doing previews we're doing bold predictions. I'm excited for it Alan coming off of the very successful first episode the pilot episode of the Pittsburgh football show how we doing. I'm great man that was so much fun. I'm like bugging honestly that was a great show. I already had a million ways I need to make it better next week.

1:05You get those out of the way with the first one. Much like the NFL season where I'm not expecting a lot of Chris play around the league in a week and when considering how little people play in the preseason but you just got to be good enough. I think I was and I'm not going to give the prediction away but I think Pittsburgh Steelers will be this Sunday as well. Yeah I mean or you could have pulled the Rams go into Australia showed up maybe at I don't know 8.59 in the morning for the show start started it and you know not been on your peas and cues because of that. So you're ready to go early but the fan of hand is approached the McVeigh approach today and I appreciated that because it was really good so I can't wait to see what's in store going forward. D.B. How we doing. I'm doing fantastic man. Yeah it feels like we're at home here. I think this is my fourth year I think with Steelers now doing the podcast. I mean we've been doing the podcast I think for what three or four something like that.

2:07So the 2023 season was the first yeah. It was the first one. So yeah that's the year four that's crazy man. Yeah I mean it's been cool to see like obviously the YouTube channel continue to grow. Should be a fun season I'm excited to talk some more. Well yeah hopefully it's a fun season they get out on the right foot. Obviously not something that we expected to really be talking about up until the last 24 hours but Alan I talked about this already on the afternoon drive but now I guess official word. Cooper Rush will be the starting quarterback of this game for the Atlanta Falcons no two at Tudor, Veloah. Peckle Penick Jr also inactive as he works his way back from the knee issues so in what seemed like it was going to be one of the quarterback battles that could go down to the wire with Michael Peck Jr. into a tug of my low other two healthy quarterbacks on Sunday will be Cooper Rush in Jack Strand. D.B. How does this change things for you going from to a Cooper Rush. I mean I don't I don't know I think any of the options seems like it was going to be pretty friendly for the Steelers. I mean with Rush he definitely has struggled of late you know has not played his best ball.

3:16I think you could say the same thing about two of you know the Steelers are probably more familiar I guess with two just haven't seen him last year. Granted I think the number one thing that's unique I guess about this match up I mean week one like Alan said there's there's always some rest there's just a ton of unknowns I mean you got new play callers. You got two new offensive play callers you got a new David to play collar for the Steelers Jeff Olberg's back for the Falcons but obviously there was a collaboration there between like him and her he more slash year. Yeah, I mean last year. Got a new quarterback for Atlanta so there's just a lot of unknowns here but I mean at the end of the day like Steelers the coaches players fans have to feel pretty good that they're going up against Cooper Rush in week one I would say it's a pretty pretty nice late spot. Yeah, Alan this is maybe a better spot to ask you as somebody that's been obviously in the rock locker around these guys obviously not a fish a word today you weren't around them to know this and I'm not sure that any of you guys would reveal this but you ever get the feeling like that's a real thing or they don't like players don't think that way in

4:25the game. I think it's a really good thing to say in there in terms of players or coaches when they see a starter like inactive and know that they're facing a backup. Is that thought of a creep in it all? I think really in my interactions with players the thing that I notice right away is that I think people would be surprised maybe isn't the right word but I think people probably underestimate how much work these guys do in terms of looking at guys very specific tendencies and when there's a backup that comes in late into the process I think the very first thing is people are like oh man this changes so much and like it's not it's not a big picture changes to the preparation but I can feel it you like throw out and hold package and there's defense they have just because super rushes in there but I can tell you that the ad rushers have been doing very specific drills for left handed quarterbacks for three days that they're not going to do that they didn't do today obviously right and like it goes just way beyond that like these guys are real

5:33scientists about their craft like they're looking at how a guy's set in his feet how he's lined up with our feet square at the snap is a left foot forward is a right foot forward and is there any tendency to oh he goes left foot forward on the left player he goes right foot forward on the run and we're doing all this work to try to find any little advantage and then you know you say oh the other guy actually I'm like yeah I just don't know what I'm doing Alex see if we can go so I don't think I ever really worried about the other guys ability as much as they are just we don't have to go to themselves with the spudging of their tendency yeah okay all right well I'll start with you on this and then throw it to DB because obviously the distributor of the football may be different here but the three guys that this offense is going to go through remain the same and be John Robinson Kyle pits Drake London that's obviously where the things start for this Falcons offense I would assume that's going to be the focal point of defending them

6:42here is that where your mind is that and how do you feel like the Steelers defense will attack that offense football is back and so are the predictions who makes the playoffs who wins their division who takes home the title on call she America's number one prediction market platform it lets you trade those predictions in a live market maybe you like the Steelers in week two going to England a hundred dollar trade pays out over three hundred dollars if they pull out the upset win on the road against last year's AFC championship Patriots on call she you're trading against peers in a live market meaning there's no house and as the probability changes you can buy in and out of your position trade the draft pick the game and more on call she download the call she happened use code FFSN to get twenty dollars when you trade twenty dollars KALS H.I. call she trade on anything eighteen and older only restrictions and eligibility requirements apply event contract trading involves risk and may not be suitable for all investors

7:45call she products are not available in all jurisdictions prices values and available markets may differ from those mentioned for more information see call she dot com backs last regulatory yeah I mean I think this is a real good test to find out it's not tackling in the preceding matters because uh he didn't yeah and not the preceding the train camp he was a silly didn't and uh they're going to need to win this game those guys are off the talk like not not just like you know the upper tier in terms of eligible that makes things difficult on you down the field and they're really going to have to do a very good job of that now I don't know that like you have to worry too much about getting beat beat by Drake London because I don't know that two per Russian is going to make you pay even if you do but I mean he can check it down and make a tackle

8:49a lot of Kevin's defense he's off and anyway so I I wouldn't think you soon but I think we're going to find out a little bit this week D.B. I mean I again I think that it kind of goes without saying you know who you need to circle on this Atlanta Fowke and Zoffance in terms of defending them but as you kind of go through here because it is a first time well new play caller for them obviously he's been with the Browns what is what is your mind go to first within that offense I mean definitely be John I think it's a it's a boring answer but I mean it's it's the truth kind of like what Alamos saying just just trying to get him on the ground is definitely a challenge I think what makes be John so special is you know the vision and attack balance is obviously really good I just think that his ability to make like quick cuts in succession like he can really string together those like one by one I think the biggest thing for the

9:49Steelers defense when you're facing a back that's like really dynamic that also they're going to want to get involved in the passing game whether it's out of the back and then they're going to get a benefit on screens or whenever they split him out wide as a receiver is really just make sure that you're getting as many helmets to the ball as possible like this is not a situation where you want to get in space like one on one a bunch of times and they're going to try Atlanta is going to try to do those those things but you want to make sure that you've got good vice opportunities where you got a guy on the outside leverage you got a guy on the inside leverage to really make sure that you're going to be the one way that the Steelers lose this game is if like if BZON has like a home runner to you know and he's certainly capable of doing that we've seen that before over the course of his career like he can rip off those really long runs or you know take a screen to the house something like that so we're talking about like closing the gap and the talent disparity or whatever like explosive plays are always going to be number one and he can certainly do that and I would drag London I think the biggest thing is that he's going to be able to do that and I think that's the biggest thing for me is he's going to do that.

10:53I think the biggest thing with him is just like how is he going to be deploying in that offense because this is a new like it's a new system last year he played a lot in the slot like more of a power slot role really good dirty work guy really reliable like underneath he's a big body presence so I was just kind of curious like if joy port a junior plays does he follow him on third downs does he follow him into the slot like what does that match up against Jalen Ramsey look like if he stays in there so I think those are really obviously the two key points Atlanta. His offense is just much more suited to run the ball so I would say B John would be like my number one priority especially on the offensive line. In terms of Joey will find out about an hour before kickoff probably with the status of that is going to be I was thinking about this though and in hindsight I'm kind of kicking myself for not including this in my smiddy six pack or check it out by the way part of the Pittsburgh football show to check out the entire show. I do think about Stephans you not with Atlanta but with the Browns and certainly no stranger to having poor quarterback play so Cooper rush it's almost kind of surprising to me that their pads have not crossed before with Kevin Stephans he at some point Cleveland but I also think about the tight end utilization you know what he did with David and Joku and then with Harold fan and I'm not saying that I would put pits above bjohn in terms of priorities here for defending this offense but I am curious to see what all he does with him I know that you just mentioned about it being a different.

12:18System and how much he was flexed out in the past and how much his role is going to change this year but I just think about what's the fancy didn't Cleveland and what they could potentially do with pits even with sub park order back play. We saw a little bit of that in the preseason right like if you go I was like watching a couple I watched the film of two of snaps like earlier this week when I thought it was going to be him plan I didn't watch as much rush I haven't yet I probably will take a peek but I'm not going to be a little bit more. I'm just getting the ball to pits like I'm in the flat like they do some like arrow screens to him here and expose a play that he ripped off in space with that so yeah I mean and and even then I mean I know fan and if I recall like the last matchup last year like he had a couple big plays before he got hurt and then he ended up exiting the game I think one of them was a touchdown so yeah I mean the other thing too is like you go back to some of those like Cleveland matchups when the Browns offense understood fans he has given the Steelers issues it's been like a couple of random David and Joku games especially like down near the red zone so yeah I mean there's scheme familiarity and likes defense these offense is not going to be a surprise to anyone at least on the Steelers defense because they've seen that you know for years and years.

13:31What about I don't start with you what about in the trenches you make this match up because I do think it land as offensive line is kind of feast or fam and I like three of the players and then I think there's pretty big question marks at two of the spots and then obviously I like the Steelers defensive line to be a little bit more. Defensive line to be able to create a bunch of havoc up front in the past game but with how fast I'm expecting Cooper rusted it rid of the ball I'm curious to see how much of that they're even able to dial up so what you make of the the trenches there at land as offense if line going against the Steelers defensive line. Yeah, I mean I don't think anybody's casual feel good to go on Steelers but I really don't think and John Taylor banged up not even group and I think there's again I think the season of line is going to be feeling good about almost every match up this year I am just curious to see of exactly how they how much they can get pressure without blitting and how much they need to do. I think that's a real unknown question here and then the other part of that is when they do blitz how well does they cover it up behind and I don't really think we know the answer to any of those questions like man to man I'm going to take the Steelers front against about everything.

14:51What do you think of that match up. Yeah, I mean I think in terms of Russian the past or the Steelers are going to have a big advantage there because even like I think like Chris Lindstrom if you're just looking at like the run blocking tape especially if you're just looking at like the flashes like one of the better like zone blockers that we have in the league but even he is like susceptible to like some quick losses in past protection so like that is even even that like if you're talking about if you get into some third long situations and you're going to be able to do that. You put Nick Herbig in there as a spinner that's probably going to be advantage to Herbig and also thing like what could have a big gain like he could start off the season pretty hot here too because like Joanne Taylor is going to be at right tackle probably I would assume. And then like one of the things with Taylor is like you know he's got pretty good links but he like some of the Hassout rushes like he can have trouble with that's like one of the reasons why he picks up so many ball star penalties because he's trying to get off the ball. He's trying to like you know cheat make sure that he can protect that outside shoulder. I mean we know why that's kind of how he wants to win is like outside anyway different on the corner and bend his way to the quarterback so yeah I definitely think they have the they have the advantage there.

16:03I mean Atlanta's runs game stuff I mean it was primarily like all outside zone last year under Zach Robinson it's basically like all they ran in the preseason it was a little bit more varied like they pulled some linemen did some different things that's kind of like going to be. And a thing that we really don't know I mean you would expect it to be a lot of stuff and ski stuff like with the Callahan style of run game but you know just with it being week one you're not really going to have a lot of like data points and scouting on that type of stuff so you're going to be expecting to see unexpected looks I guess you could say. Hey I'm going to be a better delivery some beard a little pink. Just to show you guys that we we do deliver on our giveaways there you go right there and they're the new those cans by the way are awesome so whether or not you're even a drinker or a Bud Light specific drinker you should want to get your your hands on some of those cans. We'll wrap up talking about the offense of Atlanta here with with one final thought or question I guess that I have here in regard to a complimentary piece obviously Tyler out gear X's Brian Robinson there to compliment B Jean Robinson do you think he's going to have like the same type of roll though or do you think it's possible like B Jean becomes even more of a bell cow than what we've seen in the past.

17:16Like as far as like is he going to take over and vulture a bunch of touchdowns in the red zone yes basically take the exact same role that out your head yeah I don't know it's interesting I mean out years a tough one man because like when I when I watch him play I always thought that you know at first I was like yeah this kind of seems like kind of dumb but then again like the more you watch him especially like when years ago before their Smith was hired I was like man this dude can really run the rock and he was like perfect for their scheme too so. I don't know I mean I would say if I had to guess it's probably not going to be as heavy of a split maybe and maybe maybe this week in particular and I mean I'm just spitball in here but I think if I'm still fancy you know and you're being brought to Atlanta to inject some life into the franchise you're trying to keep them competitive I would say you probably want to lean on Beaston even more this week just for you. I'm not going to be in the league without the starting quarterback rather than like oh we'll just preserve him because like you look at Atlanta schedule there's not a ton of games where you're just going to say like okay we're going to win this like there's no guarantee Atlanta is going to be in the dick of things come Halloween Thanksgiving so you might as well try to like see a vision yeah yeah Beaston can keep you a float so that would be the way that I would approach it I would expect to see a heavy dose I mean it wouldn't surprised me they're going to go out there and try to win it wouldn't surprise me of be

18:45I mean if everything goes according to their plan that that would probably be their plan of attack. I mean I think Kevin Stephanski love to run the ball so I want out but also are we even sure the Falcons are trying to win. Well so Alan the two things that I said well two things one was actually like a legit thought the other one I just wanted to make a joke and say how funny it would be if you ever just did like door to ashing while we were recording an afternoon drive I was thinking about that when you got out of the car. The actual the actual thing that I brought up there was Tyler out george had quite a role in Atlanta before he exited in one to the air as the car and I was no Brian Robinson is there and I was just picking D.V.s brain about like if we think that we'll see like the same type of split of workload or Fisja and ends up becoming more of about Bell Cal back than what we've seen in the past. I mean I think the Fisja has usually mixed his running back pretty to a pretty significant degree. But I also think those two guys are very similar skill sets. I don't know that there's like there's not a child in a hunt right like it's kind of like to the same guy for me so I mean obviously Brian Robinson is not as good as B. John but it's pretty similar skill sets.

20:01I don't know I mean I think they're going to run the ball a lot and I think when they throw the ball it's going to end up in the running back hands a lot whether that's what's called or whether that's keep a rush just panicking and getting rid of it so I mean I think you're going to see a ton of touches for both backs on would not surprise me at the end of the game. And I think that's this is the chance that it's Robinson 1 rather than two. OK, all right well let's flip the script and talk about the Steelers offense going against his defense much like the three unoffence I think about three players automatically when I think about this Falcons defense especially since. No Kate knows there and what's going on with their edge rushes I mean you're looking at the ed. rushing group for the Falcons right on your screen right now folks. this on YouTube. So I think about obviously the two safes, Jesse Bay from Dave, your Watts and I think about AJ Torell. DB again, Jeff Albrick actually has been there out of both teams. He is the one play caller on one of these sides here that has remained. So what do you expect from this Falcons defense? And how do you think the Steelers offense attacks it?

21:01Yeah, gonna be a really interesting kind of case study here to see like how he pivots. I mean, the defense that he ran, you know, even back to like when he was with the Jets, I mean, it looked different than it did in Atlanta. And I thought last year their defense like really maximized the skill that they, the skill guys that they had. I mean, I thought that just they were one of the more like habit creating defenses. I mean, they were second blitz rate behind the Vikings. When they did blitz, they had the most saxophone league. I think with like 30 sacks, did a lot of creative stuff. You know, those same guys from all over the place, you see a lot of like mugged fronts, they'll drop guys out, they'll bring, you know, slot corners, Billy Bollman, who's I think recovering from it. Achilles, I don't know if he's gonna play in this game. I wrote them out. They wrote them out. Okay. So maybe the other Tarell brother, would he be to back up in the slot? I'm assuming Avion will be there starting. Yeah. He is a guy that probably could do well in some of their pressure stuff too. If they want to bring him off the edge, the one thing with Tarell, the younger one is

22:03like, he's a willing player in terms of tackling, but like he's just really small. So like you can, you can really do some things like if he's in the game and you want to attack him in the run game, you could probably do that. But I think it's just going to be a really big challenge. I mean, for Oberg to really compensate for like losing Jalen Walker, who is really coming off and then not having James Pierce, like that's going to really be difficult. The good thing for them is they've got a really veteran safety and Jesse Bates, who's in a column that I wrote for Steelers now earlier this week and then Xavier watches phenomenal as a rookie. So they've got good safeties that give him a lot of interchangeability on the back end. They can do some fun disguises and rotations. It's really difficult to figure out what they're going to do. Pre-snap, but you know, Rogers, like against the blitz, is going to be the big big thing this week. Dang, that's exactly what I wanted to head on. I think, you know, usually, generally speaking, if you ask defensive coordinates, you say, do you want to blitz an old salty veteran quarterback? And they would tell you probably not.

23:07Like, those are the guys that you just want to play four guys down and make them make difficult passing down the field. But the problem is the Falcons, if they're Russian four, Rogers is going to turn 50 by the time somebody gets to the quarterback. Like, there's just no way. And so I think they have to blitz him. And then at that point, if you decide you have to blitz him anyway, why not get him that? If I was Jeff Olbrick, I might come out of this game and just set six every play until I lose or Aaron Rogers is out the game. Like that might really be the best way forward. Like, they're good, they're good blitzing team. I think he calls good blitzes. And they're never ever going to get pressure with four. So why not? I don't know. I'm very interested to see how much they blitz Aaron Rodden. Because I guess the general rule of foam is like, don't do that against this guy. But he was so bad under pressure. Well, bad is like a

24:10strong word. His worst games last year are when he was being heavily pressured. I feel like you have to pressure on Rogers if you're going to beat him. And I don't know. I think that's the only way they can get pressure. DB, we played the Vikings last year who were the only team that were a head of Jeff Olbrick's unit in Atlanta in terms of the blitz rate. How much were they above average or below average in that game specifically against the Steelers? Do you know? I mean, that's kind of the thing is like, if you look at all the numbers and obviously, Alan's, you know, kind of state in the obvious that Rogers was not good and has not been good for a while now when he's when teams have been able to pressure him in the pocket. But the Vikings game like, I mean, some of it's slanted because of some of the explosive plays, but like they were, they were finding that game and move the ball quite a quite a bit. A lot of was in the run game, but they hit a couple of explosives because they threw the ball in the middle of the field. They hit the DK strike early in that game. One of the things about the blitzing thing that kind of made going to their thought process in terms of like bringing five or six guys last year, like

25:12Rogers against like blitzes where they at least brought only brought five guys, I would say. His pressure to sack ratio was 37.5%. It was 7% higher than the next high score back in the league. So that's that's kind of the thing is like because he doesn't have like the ability to really like move around. If you do scheme stuff up, it's going to be, you know, he's going to go down or he's going to check it down, throw the ball away, whatever. And those are usually going to be advantages to the defense. But the big thing too is like if the Steelers on the flip side of like you can hit one or two explosive plays, that might be all you need. You hit a you hit a DK strike where you where you do get a good pre snap tell and he knows where to go with the ball. Rogers is a quick thinker on his feet. So if he can get some of those quick strikes, especially if it's over the middle, you get to run after catch stuff that could work in their favor too. It's not where they're going to need to consistently be great against the blitz. It's just you can't have the catastrophic moments that ruin drives the turn the ball over. And then if you can get one or two explosives, that would be good. But yeah, I mean, I'm curious on how they're going to play because like I said, I mean, regardless of what concerns you have on the Steelers

26:15offensive line, I would be my concern level about that group would skyrocket if this falcons front gives them any issues because there's no one on winners. Yeah, there's like no one on one winners on this line. Alan, let me ask you then, you know, one of the words that you just mentioned there was concern and we've had a lot of people recently expressed concerned our comments about the run game. Do you feel like this should be a game though where they should be able to run the football? Football is back and so are the predictions who makes the playoffs, who wins their division, who takes home the title on Colchee, America's number one prediction market platform, it lets you trade those predictions in a live market. Maybe you like the Steelers in week two going to England. A hundred dollar trade pays out over three hundred dollars if they pull out the upset win on the road against last year's AFC championship patriots. On Colchee, you're trading against peers in a live market, meaning there's

27:15no house. And as the probability changes, you can buy in and out of your position, trade the draft pick the game and more on Colchee, download the Colchee app and use code FFSN to get $20 when you trade $20 KAL SHI Colchee trade on anything 18 and older only restrictions and eligibility requirements apply event contract trading involves risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Colchee products are not available in all jurisdictions, prices, values and available markets may differ from those mentioned. For more information, see colchee.com backs last regulatory. I don't know how many of them say it's going to happen before I see it happen. Okay. The problem is twofold. One, I'm not seeming to be very good at it. Two, I don't even really think they want to do it that badly. So I don't know. I mean, if they're blitzing a lot, you can certainly catch them.

28:26You know, that's possible. I just, I don't know. I've got to say, from what I've seen in training camp, this is not a good running, it's not a good running walk. Even that is see a defense is just God tier. Until I see it, I don't see anything to believe it. Maybe what is your thought on that? I don't know if we've had a conversation about the Steelers run game. I mean, I like the backs in a vacuum. And I think that because of the playstyle of their playmakers and the willingness to be blockers that theoretically, they should be better perimeter run team than they have been in the recent history. What do you make of the run game overall, though, and specifically in this matchup as well? That's kind of the thing is, I mean, Atlanta was not a great run defending unit last year. I mean, some of their playstyle leads into some volatility there. And then you're just talking about, they're going to be playing a lot of

29:28guys that weren't in the lineup last year too. You mentioned Bowman being rolled out. Kate Nellis is in New Orleans, I think. And then, you know, both the Edgershers aren't going to be there either. So it's kind of just, it's really difficult to tell. I mean, they were, like I said, they were 27th Lash NDP per rush allowed. So, you know, the numbers would say you'd have a little bit of an advantage. Something new mentioned that I think is a, is a good shout, especially if you're trying to do some creative stuff to the perimeter is like, you know, the stories did add like some really good blockers out there. I mean, you got Michael Pitman, who's a bigger body guy. I would say he's an adequate blocker. Jeremy Bernard's probably, I mean, he was like one of the best stock blockers. And that I've like ever scouted. And then like, he's also, I actually like Bernard though is the receiver in the screen game, though too. Like I think he to be the guy that they could weaponize in the ways the extension of the run game. Yeah, I mean, that could also be a thing. I mean, they're going to throw a ton of like quick game screens stuff like that. You know, that's going to be a big part of the offense. But I just think that if you're looking for ways to get

30:31the ball to the perimeter, like one of the things that Bernard can do for you is like, you can bring him in tight to the formation. You can have him pin an edge rusher. And then, you know, you can get other guys out on the perimeter. So like you can pull foul ton of like a little pin and pull action. Do things like that that I think could work for them in this game in particular. But yeah, I mean, this there's one of the ball for sure. I think that's just always been big mics philosophy. But you know, you want to try to, you know, not necessarily need to throw it 40 something times in this game, I would say. Hopefully that it doesn't come to that. Well, hopefully that's the case. All right, we set a lot of the table here. I don't know if there was anything else specifically on your guys's minds when you look at either these matchups offense versus defense. Or if you want to get into some bowl predictions and scores here. I'm ready to go. Okay. And I'm okay. DBO's just say I couldn't tell by the look on your face if

31:32you even prepared. No, and all I said earlier something about predictions and it will be all what in my head is like, oh man, we do this podcast. I forgot. I do actually have one defensively at least. I'll conjure something up offensively. My defensive ball prediction already kind of alluded to it. But I'm going to say like the old heads kind of rain supreme on Sunday. I'm going to say that what and hey, we're both get a sack. I'm going to say why gets his high side on a like different rib goes move around the edge. I'm going to say, Hey, we're just on a bull rush over the center. That's what I'm going to say. Okay. I mean, I wouldn't have asked you to get dig that deep into what the prediction was. I appreciate. Oh, I'm going to go big. If I'm going to give one, I'm going to go big. I'm going to try to give them all up. Hold on. First time. First time we've been on a stream, by the way, since your season prediction, I love it. I love the shots that you're taking.

32:32Oh, yeah. Big swings only. Yeah. Alan, what do you think in terms of a defensive old prediction? I've got a racer on Jenkins take away. I think he is going to be the guy that gets the lion share the reps in the secondary with the shine Elliott down. And I don't know that he's like still the guy he was five years ago. And I don't know if he was ever evenly all that good then, but I've been really impressed by a certain match for the football. He certainly can be had in main coverage at this point in his career, but he seems to find the way to be around the ball that I really like. I'm going with the jink as they call him with the table. All right. DB's talked about the yord heads. Alan's talking about takeaways. I'll combine the two. I'm going to go with somebody within the front four or five, obviously depending on the alignment here, gets an interception. I think Cooper Rush is going to want to get rid of the ball quick.

33:35It's going to be one of those patented tip balls at the line of scrimmage where they come down with an interception. TJ Watvers, Joe Burrow, Wes is what we're looking at here in terms of way that this is going to happen. So somebody within the defensive front, I guess I could have said defensive line, but I want to do include the ad rushers within that as long as it's tipped at the line of scrimmage. So that is my defensive bold prediction. I'll give DB a little bit of extra time here. I'll have to be YA. If you're going to win, I will. Yes. I want that to be the hit ball. No, I have one. Something for wide block. Okay. I won that came into my mind. All right. Well, we're going to go back around the horn. We'll go back around the horn. So actually, I'll go first for the offense and then throw it to Alan my offensive bold prediction. I asked you guys about the run game to see if you were feeling the same way that I was feeling. I don't know this is going to be a good group on the season, but I like their ability to create a little bit of something in this game. Mentioned Atlanta's run defense, they give up this fifth most explosive runs in the league last year

34:37and seventh worst in terms of yards per carry. I'm somewhat bullish here on the backs group in this game creating some explosives. I'm going to go four plus explosive runs for Jalen Warren and Rico doubt combined. Wow. That is extremely bold. Put it, put it, Debi, put it in the season prediction. We're talking that. I'm going to go with the quarterback position here. We talked a lot about how we think the dealers are going to attack this talking team. I think there's there's some talent in the secondary. There's no question. But I think this is just a throw the ball short of fun game. And so I think Aaron Rogers is going to be extremely efficient. I'm going to say Aaron Rogers passed a rating over 109.

35:38109. Okay. Very specific. How did 10 plus? How did 10 plus? How did 10 plus? Okay. Yeah. All right. That sounds better. All right. I liked it. Debi, what did we come up with? I was just thinking about something that I recall. I know DK had a really nice game against the Falcons and A.J. Terrell a couple of years ago. So just prompted me to think about, you know, like I said, just trying to get that like one explosive play. Can you get a long touchdown? Something like that. Metcalf has played the Falcons four times in his career. His numbers, 16 catches, 271 yards, five touchdowns. He's average in 17 yards per reception. The Steelers, I think, are going to lean into like more of like him and Fryermouth early on because those are the guys that got reported with Rogers. We know how much that matters. So I'm going to say DK scores on Sunday and I'll say that he scores on a deep ball.

36:38Hmm. Okay. All right. You know what? One of my things was talking about the top 100. There you go. There you go. Working together. Not sure how it would do for me. You know, if the explosives come through the air, that's not necessarily what I'm looking for. Maybe they get up to a big lead early and they're running the ball so much that they almost get it just because of how many how many times they're going to run the football. But all right. Here we go. Final store predictions. I'll be honest. I don't know how many are going to be as anti-climactic leading up to the actual prediction of the game for us because I feel like through the course of talking about this. We've given it away how we feel things are going to go. But for the sake of having the conversation. Let's get into this. I will start and we'll go back around the horn here. I don't want to say that this is going to become complete laffer. Like as a Steelers fan, I know that's a new regime and I got to get used. Potentially things being different, but I also got to see it to believe that that's going to happen.

37:38So I think it's a comfortable win, but not a total laffer. I don't think that this is going to be much of a game in the fourth quarter. That being said, I'm going to go 26 to 13. The Steelers win this one. I'm going to go very, very close to the title. I don't think this game is going to be close. The only question I have is whether it looks close enough. You know what I mean? Like there's a game where a team has never really yet, but they score in the fourth quarter. And I go, it was only a 17 or 14th-week game. Like if Stetson Bennett would have gotten a touchdown at the end of the last night's game. Exactly. I'm not sure about that part, but I'm going to pick it a little, like I'm going to kind of have the middle where I think this could be. I honestly do feel like this game could pretty easily get ugly for a lino.

38:41But since you have that, you're getting high level to make that happen. I'm not sure that I've seen them do that consistently enough to be able to add full faith and catching it. I'm still going to pick a multi-square win. I'm going to say this is wins 24th-ouging. So I'm sliding in right under you. Okay. All right. DB, what do you think of him? 49 or nothing. That's what I'm going to say. No, it all seriously. I mean, I don't really know what to say. I feel like, you know, one of my bold predictions or one of the LaRouche out best that I have this year is that the Falcons could finish with the worst record in the league. I think they've had by far my least favorite offseason. It pains me to say that because like it almost feels like impossible that they would be really, really bad considering they have BGD on Robinson. I'm awesome. Drake London. I'm a BGD on fantasy owner. So I understand that. But I just think the quarterback plays terrible.

39:42I don't understand the alert behind this defense key hire either. Jeff Olberg's going to be working with a way less talented crew last year. So I just think it's going to be really tough on them this year. I think it's going to be tough on them one Sunday. I'll say conservatively like 26 to 13 was kind of the score I had in my head. But I've got money on the Steelers covering like easily this weekend. So that's where my money lies. Like actual. Did you actually play? Oh, yeah, actual. Yeah. Like, three unit type play. But I also got it when it was like three. It was like a three points right at that point. Now I think it's like five and a half. I mean, that's no bearing on it. But I almost get worried when it we get too confident. Well, that is true. But like one of the things that I don't understand. And this is just my thing is like. You know, from my perspective, I try to be like objective.

40:44And then it always seems like. Whenever we get closer to the games and like situations like this, like they're playing a Falcon team that's not going to be good this year. They're playing Cooper rush. We know is not a good quarterback. And then the only thing like I've seen so much like gloom and doom on social media. Like, oh my god. This is the worst thing ever for the Steelers. And it's like, you guys have been telling me for the last six months. You think this team's winning 11 games. Like, how are they going to get there if they can't beat Atlanta at home? The season opener against the back quarterback season one. I will say week one has some really weird results. I will say that I will acknowledge that weird stuff does happen on cases. Last year's AFC champions lost to the Raiders in a week one. It's true. Last season. Seahawks lost a last week one. I think it's like a no matter to the 49ers, but yeah, yeah, certainly. Certainly weird stuff. All right. Well, good stuff. I'm glad that we're back in the saddle here with all three of us on a Friday.

41:46Let us know your predictions, both bold and final score ones. You guys know the drill. You can do that down below the DB before we get out of here. Tell the people that you find you. And the bull prediction like honestly, I asked for bull predictions. Another down social media. You guys are not being bold enough. I want some like crazy outlandish takes like that's what we will be willing to comments. Yeah, you follow me on at Steelers and score DB on Twitter on YouTube. You can find them on red and work as soon as not. Football is back and so are the predictions who makes the playoffs. Who wins their division? Who takes home the title on call sheet? America's number one prediction market platform. It lets you trade those predictions in a live market. Maybe you like the Steelers in week two going to England. A hundred dollar trade pays out over three hundred dollars. If they pull out the upset win on the road against last year's AFC championship patriots on call sheet. You're trading against peers in a live market, meaning there's no house. And as the probability changes, you can buy in and out of your position.

42:47Trade the draft pick the game and more on call sheet. Download the call sheet app and use code FFSN to get twenty dollars when you trade twenty dollars KALSHI. Call sheet trade on anything eighteen and older only restrictions and eligibility requirements apply event contract trading involves risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Call sheet products are not available in all jurisdictions prices values and available markets may differ from those mentioned for more information. See call sheet dot com backs last regulatory. There we go. Alan. Yeah, a song to times for PG H on social media. See there's now dot com and make sure you go over there and send up for SN plus. Anyone can do that. Call for dealers now dot com cost forty bucks a year a little less than four dollars a month. And you get all the best contact from me. Many DB the rest of the team to get at three you get access to our subscribers on a live stream, which is just sort of like this show, but more fun and more involving you guys. And we can give a shout out as they come by for today's.

43:53Yeah, I don't want to say can't I don't want to say Ken's last name that's Ken a new Hampshire he knows who he is getting the van and get on the bottom ticker for subscribe this and plus just like Ken. Sean Doyle is there as well and Sean Doyle I will definitely see his first and last name the Ken that's that's Ken a new Hampshire. Ken a new answer. Yeah, yeah, and then. Maybe we got a we got a sponsor for this show today that we got a knowledge here. Yeah, you know what I'm the I was deciding how we wanted to do this going forward. So this will be where we do it. They will sponsor the shout outs that we just gave for today. But I think going forward what we're going to do every day besides Friday. They will sponsor any questions when we get into the question portion of the show Friday. They will sponsor our predictions. That's how we're going to do it. Going forward anyways these shout outs for today's Joe are sponsored by amtech. Are you experienced electrical electrical foreman. We're superintendent who knows where success comes from leadership not just schedules and job walks.

44:53Then am tech wants to meet you am tech is a nationally recognized electrical contractor with a culture where people who look for people who look out for each other and take pride in their work. We make time to mentor apprentices and develop the next generation of electricians. That's the kind of company amtech has been building for five plus decades with opportunities throughout southeast. We're looking for leaders who want to build their careers while leaving a positive impact on the people around them. If you're ready for a company that values the people behind the craftsmanship, then we'd like to talk that's a M T E C K. We're builders become leaders. Check them out. It's a Matt Noble who is the very noble. And that's a podcast with me that's so hooked us up there and I will start a link to amtech guy in the description for you guys. So hey that sounds like somewhere you want to go to work. And this will also be on the overlay going forward as well. So boom right by now.

45:55All right. So yeah, full week next week, but they got in there so they will sponsor portions of the show going forward. Good stuff. Be sure to like, subscribe to the notification bell on the YouTube community as well. The ongoing growing community over there that sits at 18,113. Oh, you know what? I just realized when you have a Rico Dowdle first touched on because of that. I'm not going to throw a bunch of money on it, but I'm just sprinkle it just because of the happenstance there. There we go. All right. Good stuff. We appreciate you guys as always. If you are listening somewhere else Apple Spotify with your podcast from be sure to lose a five star view and subscribe over there. Regardless if it's on spy fight, you can leave a comment or question right on the individual episode. Hit us up on all the socials. Steelers afternoon drive other than on Twitter where it's Steelers underscore AD to find me over there. Zach resmit PGH. If you don't get enough me there also find me over at around 412 for Derek Bell, Alan's phoneers and myself. Thanks for jumping in taking another ride on the Steelers afternoon drive.

47:03Football is back and so are the predictions who makes the playoffs who wins their division who takes home the title on call. She America's number one prediction market platform it lets you trade those predictions in a live market. Maybe you like the Steelers in week two going to England. A hundred dollar trade pays out over three hundred dollars if they pull out the upset win on the road against last year's AFC championship patriots. On call she you're trading against peers in a live market meaning there's no house. And as the probability changes you can buy in and out of your position trade the draft pick the game and more on call she download the call she app and use code FFSN to get 20 dollars when you trade 20 dollars KALS H I call she trade on anything 18 and older only restrictions and eligibility requirements apply event contract trading involves risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Call she products are not available in all jurisdictions prices values and available markets may differ from those mentioned for more information see call she dot com backslash regulatory.