Texans-Steelers Wild Card Recap: The End for Aaron Rodgers and Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh?

00:00:00
Speaker 1: And Rogers tap of his gut, takes the snap, Rodgers pocket collapses.

00:00:05
Speaker 2: Rodgers, who's gonna go down?

00:00:07
Speaker 3: And the ball is out?

00:00:08
Speaker 4: Who's got it?

00:00:09
Speaker 3: Rakarts picks it up? Who's on the move?

00:00:11
Speaker 4: Darty twenty five, twenty fifteen Test five touchdown Sheldon Raggins Rocket Roll, the big guy touchdown.

00:00:22
Speaker 2: The ball came out and Sheldon his second touchdown of the year.

00:00:28
Speaker 4: And what a huge one in the postseason way.

00:00:33
Speaker 3: Rock and roll. That's Mark vandermir on k I L T. And how fitting was it that a large man on this epic Houston Texans defense scored the most important touchdown on a night where the Texans defense absolutely dominated the Pittsburgh Steelers. Texans move on to the divisional round in Foxborough. They win thirty to six. That touchdown came with just over ten minutes left in the game. It's only ten to six at that point, and yet it was only one of two defensive touchdowns on the night. Just a signature performance by maybe the signature group in the entire NFL this season. Jordan rodrieg is with me. She's been tracking this Texans team ever since she picked them to make the Super Bowl, and that pick is looking good today. You talked to my friend, and by friend I mean guy. I love watching play football Jalen Petrie in the locker room. What was the quote that he gave you in the locker room after that Chargers game.

00:01:40
Speaker 5: God is the greatest, but the Texans defense is probably second.

00:01:45
Speaker 3: I mean amazing. We might have after tonight, we might have to move the Texans up a spot in the rankings. I love the rankings. I know you love defense. I know you love this defense. Just kind of big picture first takeaways after watching them on a night where yeah, they did not allow the Steelers to score, obviously, they did not even allow the Steelers to get two hundred yards.

00:02:07
Speaker 5: Men lie, women lie, numbers lie. The Texans defense never lies. It never lets you down, Greg, It just keeps on rolling. It comes at you. It is magical, it is vicious, it is physical. It is the one of the smartest defenses yet the simplest looks that you could possibly get. And they are relentless, and they tormented Aaron Rodgers for nearly the entirety of this game. Outside of the Steelers' scripted opening drive, this was absolutely one of the most dominant performances you're gonna see, but you could flip on the tape all season and this is the Texans defense. This is the heart and soul and ethos of this defense led by Demico Ryans and Matt Burke. What a masterpiece for their first road playoff win in franchise history.

00:02:59
Speaker 3: Yet, you know the craziest stat of this game I got for you, which is I think the Steelers had five first downs in their first eight plays, which is outrageous to think about. They only got a handful the entire rest of the day. And after those first two drives which were like thirty forty five yard drives which stalled, it was only you know, they only had three points out of it, and I was thinking, that's trouble. And they basically didn't do anything the rest of the day. Big picture, like before we get into the nitty gritty of everything that happens, I think what you said about how simple it is is really cool. Tory Yikman talked about it a lot tonight. We know it to be true. I love that in this world of all the disguised looks and different formations and matching personnels and everything like that, the Texans are maybe the simplest defense in the league, and that lets them play with an aggression that made me fearful for Aaron Rodgers's life. It looked like elder abuse at one point.

00:03:58
Speaker 6: I mean, it was crazy.

00:03:59
Speaker 3: Greg.

00:04:00
Speaker 5: We talk all the time about how fun it is to like notice some of the chess match that goes on through the course of this game. At the beginning of this game, ESPN had the field mics turned up really loudly, and so the center you can hear the center and the quarterback communicate. This was a real hit when Phil Rivers did this in his game first game back for the Colts, and it was you could hear Aaron Rodgers pointing out like azizel Shayer and some of the communication. Azizel Shaier told the sideline reporters that list assaulters specifically that they could hear that Aaron could hear what they were saying and was king on some of their communications, and so they just moved to hand signals and you could hear the mics flip off after they said that. Because but it doesn't matter. That's the entire point. Like Aaron Rodgers knew what this Texans defense was.

00:04:47
Speaker 6: Going to do. The entire game, even.

00:04:50
Speaker 5: When they switched to hand signals, and it did not matter because their dudes are better than your dudes, and their dudes are better than your dudes at every single position on this defense.

00:05:03
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it's almost hard to pick out one, like Daniel Hunter had Foulatanu in all sorts of problems tonight and in Fletan who had had a good season, you know, Will Anderson, on the other hat, gets a couple of sacks going up against like a backup tackle. That's an unfair matchup. But I think the players that stand out to me more for this team is our guy Petrie that you talk about Petrie and Lasseter and the tone that they set early in this game. And I think what you said about like Rogers can figure out what you're doing, and so they go to the Hansuckings, and so maybe this is the worst matchup possible for a Steelers team, where like that's their one advantage is he can figure things out. But there there's nothing, uh to figure out. Jordan's laughing because we have a comment in the chat that says, I'm never as smug as when a team he dislikes loses in the playoffs. I apologize. I have loved the Texans all year, and to be fair, my son, for some reason, he doesn't really love me, so he chose the Texans as his favorite team. But I love him. And we had cupcakes tonight that said go Texan, so they needed to come through. Or also, it was going to be a bad night in the Rosenthal House tonight, so I am happy that they were.

00:06:14
Speaker 5: So it does the rankings did change Greg. It goes the Texans defense is the greatest, and then there's Greg.

00:06:21
Speaker 3: Sure and they did it too on a night where CJ. Stroud fritzed out for a good portion in this game. And I think that is kind of like the last level of a dominant defense is that you can completely pick up. We can get into CJ's night a little more in depth in a second. I do want to stay on the Texans defense, but I do think that is kind of the final form me and you have talked about to this Texan defense. There's been a couple fourth quarters earlier in the season where they gave up game winning drives and I was thinking, like, if they want to be all time defense, and that's kind of what they're gonna have to do. I think to make the Super Bowl, to win the Super Bowl, they have to do things like they did tonight, which is pick up the other side of the ball on a night where because of CJ's turnovers, almost any defense would have given up the lead and maybe give up the game.

00:07:09
Speaker 5: You know, I was thinking about I tried to like reverse game theory this and think about, like, what is the way that you could try to beat the Texans defense. If you're another team and you're the Patriots, for example, and you're looking down the line, how do you possibly beat these guys? And really, one of the few ways to do it, if one of maybe the only ways to do it, is those intermediate and deep crossers that we saw maybe two of them have success. Because the Texans don't often carry their corners with a single receiver. They pass things off really well. If you pass things off in the middle of the field, you're going to need some safety help, and they're missing their one of their best safeties to injury, and Jalen Reed left the game as well. He started this game, left the game to injury, and right after that you saw DK Metcalf have success on one of those those intermediate crossers. Well, you also have to count on the fact that the quarterback can get to enough of a step and his dropback to get to that deep cross or intermediate crosser, and at a certain point they showed it's just not possible. So it's like there is very little margin of error, if any against this team and especially Jalen Peatrie coming down the corners, coming down as well and tackling this Pittsburgh team. They've been yack merchants all year. They've been yards after the catch merchants. That's where they've had success running backs in the passing game as well, and they couldn't get anything after that first script like I said, the scripted drive that got them a couple of first downs because of how well this Texans team tackles, because of repeated back to back tackles for loss run and pass into the flats that they can just smother and snuff out, so you're behind the sticks before you even get your drive started. And that is exactly why they're so fearsome and why they were such a great foil to everything that that's Pittsburgh likes offense likes to do, inclusive to Aaron getting the ball out fast, which he know he loves to do.

00:09:05
Speaker 3: The crazy thing is like he has played so much of this season to avoid taking big hits, letting go of the ball, throwing the ball near the line of scrimmage. I was wondering if he'd be a little more willing tonight to stand in there and take a hit the very first I believe, third and long in the game, I thought, nope, he got rid of it very quickly to avoid a hit. And it really felt like once there was pressure and you moved him off the spot, that the play was essentially over. If you're watching us, we love that you're with us live on YouTube, keep the comments coming, and if you're watching later on YouTube, you can see actually the sack that Rogers took in the red zone late in the second quarter at this point that the Steelers are trying to go in for a touchdown after another one of those CJ. Stroud turnovers. And this sack, to me, was kind of typical of the night because you know, Anderson caves in the pocket and Rogers wants to step up, but there is nowhere to step up because Hunter is pushing the pocket on the right side. There's interior pressure and Rogers doesn't even really like get hit. He just sort of trips on the feet that are in front of him. And look, if you're a big time Aaron Rodgers fan like this, if it was his last game, I kind of think it won't be. His last game was a sad way to go out. Let's actually listen to the pick six in the fourth quarter that finished off the score.

00:10:27
Speaker 1: Short side left friar mouth will be the target here.

00:10:31
Speaker 2: On fourth and five.

00:10:32
Speaker 1: Rogers looks it over. Here's the snap, Rogers in the pocket, Rogers leaning at downfield.

00:10:37
Speaker 2: They're picked off, helped up Betsy pull Off to his left forty thirty five thirty pull Off, twenty pull off, I'll pack it with the sideline, maintains his palace head runs poor pay dirt. Pull Off took a hit, kept going penny scars two defensive touchdowns to the game.

00:11:00
Speaker 3: I want that to be like his last moment. But if ever there was a game that was going to kind of make you question whether you were going to come back, because it started to sound that Aaron Rodgers would be coming back, and in my mind, he talked to his teammates by all reports about that and just the way he's talk publicly, sounded like his mind was maybe changing, like this would be that game because they really got after him and hit him hard.

00:11:23
Speaker 6: Yeah.

00:11:23
Speaker 5: By the way, you catch Jalen Petrie running all the way down to lead block from Kaylen Bullock. I believe the season started out with a Kaln Bullock pick six as well. So nice little bookend for the Texans here.

00:11:35
Speaker 6: Yeah.

00:11:36
Speaker 5: You know, Aaron Rodgers is one of the greatest we've ever seen play the position, that anyone's ever seen play the position, So something about it. You know, players never like to leave on a sour note. Often it's unavoidable, such as injury. He's not injured, so I would not be surprised if he comes back. I don't see another pairing with this Pittsburgh Steelers off and with or without Mike Tomlin. I know we'll get into sort of the stakes in the future and all of that, but I know they.

00:12:07
Speaker 6: Get along really well personally.

00:12:08
Speaker 5: I just don't see him sticking with this type of offense the way that it was. You just it was lacking in some ways. He was really needing to get the receivers on the same page. They shuffled the receiver's room a Ton he ended up loving thrown to the running backs the most. So it's just I don't know. We'll see how it goes Baron Rodgers, but you I mean, it's it's tough to go out that way exactly to your point, Greg, So I just can't see it happening for that reason.

00:12:34
Speaker 3: Well, it's interesting. Well we're talking about it now, let's talk about it, because yeah, on this night, he was getting upset with the receivers a couple of times, but he was upset with himself, like he missed an open third down dk metcalf I thought his drop which I think he alluded to in the second drive of the game, second or third drive of the game, where he springs open and it just clangs off his hand against a defense like this when they do make a mistake. That was where you texted me. You know, Stingley lost on that one, and he is prone to gambling a little bit, so occasionally you can beat him, and there's just so few chances like that that you have to make make it happen. So Rogers, you know, misses a thrower or two here. Tomlin has been reported to be considering going to television to me it is really hard to imagine Aaron Rodgers back if Mike Tomlin is not back, Like, why would the Steelers want to keep that going? Cut feeling? What the heck? Jordan, we have no information. Do you think Mike Tomlin is going to be back with the Pittsburgh Steelers because this is what They're six straight playoff loss. It is now more than more than eight seasons since they won a playoff game. I was there at that AFC Championship game which started this losing streak for Tomlin in the playoffs. They're now the first team in NFL history to lose five straight playoff games by double digits, for whatever that's worth. And it's just the same thing over and over. And they get that win over the Ravens last week with a little bit of luck, certainly, but it almost makes it feel worse here because it just feels like it's groundhog Day. And maybe Mike Tomlin, not the Steelers, but maybe Mike Tomlin has had enough.

00:14:15
Speaker 5: I think there's something to the maybe he's had enough point, because it has taken since Ben Roethlisberger for Mike Tomlin to have a quarterback like Aaron Rodgers. Even this version much older version of Aaron Rodgers to even get into his building. And this was after an incredibly fruitless sweepstakes where you know, the Steelers were in at one point and trying to convince Matthew Stafford like lurking sort of quietly in the background. They were trying to if I'm remembering right, they were in on justin Field.

00:14:48
Speaker 6: You know who else were they in on this?

00:14:50
Speaker 3: They wanted justin Field to come reports, but they weren't willing to go as far financially as the.

00:14:55
Speaker 5: Jets were, correct, Like they they really were thinking about their different avenue at quarterback. And I think it's good for them in a way that they landed with Rogers because him and Tomlin do seem to have a very good working relationship for personal relationship as well, And this was as good as it was going to get for this version of the Steelers, right And so that's where I think maybe it is time for a break, reset, recalibrate, look at where the rest of the league is at right now now. I also believe that if he decided that he was going to step away, he'd have teams blowing up his phone immediately, like this would now start to be a competitive situation between someone who wants to hire him and potentially a TV situation at one of these broadcasters. You know, there's a vacant CBS spot now because Matt Ryan's no longer in the chair.

00:15:42
Speaker 6: So I feel like this, which is.

00:15:44
Speaker 3: A why I feel like every network would literally just like be in a room. I'm not going to say who they might, you know, kick off, but some of those guys have been out a while, or they'll just make a new spot. The money is just flowing. Have you seen the ratings lately? Give all the money to Mike Tomlin. I feel like if you wanted to like he would do that, and if you wanted to take a year off, kind of like Sean Payton, who quote unquote retired from the Saints if you remember back in the in the day, and then a year later, you know he was back looking for a job, So that could be an option. I almost feel bad talking about such negative things on a beautiful night for the Texans moving to the Final eight, and what a fascinating matchup it is against the Patriots. Drake may having just faced you know, maybe his toughest defensive challenge of the season and now has to go up a level and the two best tackling teams. I would argue in the NFL the Patriots are not a great defense, but they do not give up any extra yards. They are really sound tacklers and just two physical teams. I'm really excited for it. But I want to give you the floor here at Jeordan. So you said, you know you lead the way tonight, you know, you decide what we're going to do. Just anything that we haven't mentioned about the Texans defense so far that you want to get in there, whether it's a shout out to a player or something that they do schematic before we get to the fact that this game was way closer than it needed to be, despite the Texans putting up four hundred yards, Like this thing was on a knife edge till about ten minutes left of this game.

00:17:11
Speaker 6: Yes, and you're so correct.

00:17:12
Speaker 5: I'm glad we're going to get to that part of it too, and especially the offense, which still has its issues. But this interior of this defensive line, as good as the exterior is, the interior often gets slept on, in my opinion, Tommy TOGII and Sheldon Rankins. Obviously, both of those guys have a touchdown in back to back weeks, which I love that for them, big Man thick six, you know, happening, and this is a defensive front that plays in such a an egoless way. They you know, Demiko Ryans, I think there was some fun being poked at him because of his acronym swarm and what a swarm and what does that mean or whatever?

00:17:51
Speaker 6: Probably not on this show, but you know.

00:17:53
Speaker 3: Like maybe I mean, don't babe aggressive, I like aggressive aggressive, just say so fun with this. We were having it in a fun way.

00:18:02
Speaker 5: I just you know, I truly actually I actually could not remember if it was you that was that was poking fun at it, but so I guess I should have just assumed. But the greatest thing about this is how as one they rush, they rush in layers. They see each other's space that they create. They are very egoists about the numbers, they're very ego lists about opportunity. You don't see a lot of freestyling out there. You see a lot of discipline. They play so professionally with each other that is so incredible to me. And you see it in these little moments like Nick Schuk and I did a show a couple of weeks several weeks ago or it was another Texans game, and we were talking about how when Daniel Hunter and Will Anderson were tackling the quarterbacks sometimes the physics of their body were twisting them around where they could have gotten flagged for a roughness penalty or even a hip drop because.

00:18:54
Speaker 6: Of the way the physics were carrying their bodies.

00:18:56
Speaker 5: And if they didn't let go of the quarterback's legs at that moment, they would have gotten flagged. And so they knew they had the quarterback contained, so they let go. This is similar, you know, trying not to step on Aaron Rodgers when all that mess is happening, is being tackled by his own offensive lineman, right, and he's being sacked by his own offensive linemen. Staying underneath sort of that pile to make sure that you have a hand on the quarterback when he's on the ground, like Will Anderson did. It just is like really professional football in every single phase. I love their linebackers. I don't think I just think they're just clean everywhere. They're so good, Greg, it's just incredible to watch.

00:19:44
Speaker 3: They just don't have a weak spot. And you thought maybe Reid gets hurt, and like is the other seaf They're going to get picked on, toe toe. I think had a really good game. Like yeah, in coverage like that is where you would think you would be able to get some of these linebackers. But Aaron Rodgers's eyes very often going to the place where the linebackers were and he had to hold the ball like an extra half a beat. And I thought they all were just swarming. To use that word in terms of their tackling, it was. It was just a magnificent performance. I mentioned those five first downs in the first eight plays. They only had six more the rest of the day. The Steelers had a twenty one percent success rate, which is just absolutely brutal throwing the ball. And then here's here's my favorite just stat I'm pulling. This is from next Gen. They had a forty five percent pressure rate, which is sky high. You know how many times they blitzed tonight, zero times zero crazy, but three is three is nuts. And so they just they just don't have to send any extra rushers. And yeah, Anderson and Hunter are going to be keeping Mike Braboll up at night, and Will Campbell and Morgan Moses because I think that's the biggest weakness of the Patriots, and they can get after Drake maybe had fifteen pressures combined tonight. Let's talk about the offense, and I guess we got to start kind of with the bad. What was happening with CJ? Here to give you just like a quick overview. I need to double check this, but he ended up with five turnovers on I mean five fumbles on the night right because he reminiscent to that you know, crazy Jalen Hurts Herbert game and play that happened in the game I went to on Monday Night football where there's like, you know, a multiple turnovers on one play. Twice tonight, c J. Stroud had two fumbles on one play, so he had four total fumbles, I mean on two combined plays. And in each one of those plays he wasn't paying attention and fumbled the shotgun snap and then eventually fumbled because he held the ball too long on that play and lost both of those films, and then had another one later on and then also had a red zone interception. It was really a crazy combination of him getting so in his head on a night when if you just took those plays away. It was a great offensive performance by the Texans and a good one by c J. Stroud. If you took those plays away.

00:22:22
Speaker 6: Yes, big caveats are that's a big if.

00:22:25
Speaker 3: I just mean the other fifty plays, which are a lot of plays.

00:22:28
Speaker 5: Totally, I thought it was one of the more balanced games that I've seen from this Texans offense, in huge part because the run game was great. Now, it's been a work in progress all season and they've chipped away at it. And really want to give credit to Nick Keyley, the offensive coordinator here, who has been through his fair share of battles here on the season, but didn't run away from it, kept going even when the turnovers would happen, kept trying to find ways to balance and settle this offense down. Woody Marks goes over one hundred yards and has a touch down at the end of the game, and it's like they just kept chipping at it. They were at or over nearly a fifty percent success rate between Woody Marks, who had the line's share of Carrie's left the game at one point, came back in, and Nick Chubb as well, who had three consecutive really solid runs in the first half that started getting this run game going, settled the offensive line down. When they got into the third quarter, they really started moving the offensive line, They really started controlling the line of scrimmage more so especially half over half. This third quarter was when they really started, you know, settling and digging into that trench work. And I thought it was It was great because you had a combination of Nick Chubb with a lot of that middle zone or gap running, and then you would get Woody Marx who can also do that, but then would hit you with like some explosive speed around the edge too, and the Steelers were just not quite sure whether they were going to be stretched physically or stretched wide. And that was just really like special to me because that's kind of balance with in the run game that you also need to have in order to really challenge these defenses in the postseason. And this was the best, to me, the best game that Nick Kayley has called. Because there was chaos, Greg, you mentioned it, c J. Stroud, I mean, dude, take take the sack, take the four yard scramble, don't try to force the play. He just was so in his head Greg through this game, and there was clear issues with the center Jake Andrews too, and issues in the shotgun, but they just kept steady and they got a monster performance out of their defense. And that's like, I hope that's not the formula because we know CJ.

00:24:36
Speaker 6: Stroud can be better.

00:24:37
Speaker 3: Than this, and maybe maybe I was. I remembered it incorrectly that he had was credited for two fumbles on two separate plays, because he also, of course had the fumble on what I thought was Kayley's. I mean, it's hard to say it's his worst call the night, but they didn't execute it perfectly. The flea flicker.

00:24:55
Speaker 5: What is happening with these flea flickers?

00:24:57
Speaker 3: What's happening? I love playing on be on the bad grass. This is the worst field maybe in the league. Green Bay certainly up there, and woody marks just like slightly slipped I think on the flee flick are very similar to that Carolina game in Week eighteen, and he still got the ball back to c J. Stroud, but the timing was just messed up just a little bit, and then c J. Stroud gets his arm hit. Now it appeared there was a wide open receiver down the field, so if they had time to do it, he would have gotten it deep, but instead Jack Sawyer comes up with the first of a few really big plays in this game. But I'm glad you brought up, you know, the running game and how great it was. And look, they ended up putting up what one hundred and sixty four yards on the ground. And the crazy thing is tonight, they didn't have a ton of drives. There's only nine drives in this game. If it wasn't for the turnovers, they actually played pretty good, complimentary football, and they do deserve some credit, I think, because you see the final score and you're like, this is this is a joke. In the fourth quarter, they go on a pretty long field goal drive to actually, you know, get it up to ten six at the very least, and then they do capitalize with a touchdown drive after the Texans you know, get their fun and get the turnover on Rogers and it was just a waterfall. So like, there's no rule that says they were gonna have to go and score a touchdown there in the fourth quarter to completely put the game away on offense, and they did it, and so they deserve credit for that. And they also deserve credit for that second quarter drive which was fourteen plays ninety two yards. They start with the ball on the eight yard line and they go mostly running, but some nice throws by c J. Stroud. Let's actually listen to how that drive was capped off. The first touchdown of the game and three.

00:26:45
Speaker 1: That's a sixth Stroud takes the snap, takes the Tossbahinda throws right side Chris Drake Kirk.

00:26:50
Speaker 3: To the end zone.

00:26:52
Speaker 4: Touchdown, show stand six yard touchdown pass from CJ. Strout our christ Jane Kirk and the Texans go in.

00:27:02
Speaker 3: Stroud did have some nice throws, like his first first down of the game was a dime down the field to Christian Kirk. There also was a forty six yard reception late in the third quarter to Christian Kirk which came on third and fifteen. This is with about forty seconds left in the fourth quarter, right after c J. Stroud had had his fifth fumble on a ball that he was very lucky to get back. He wasn't looking before the ball was snapped, and it's third and fifteen. You think you're thinking they really might blow this game. It's seven to six, and he gets protected really well, and I think the offensive line actually had a sneaky good game in front of c J. Stroud, even pass protecting and he hits a dime down the field to Christian Kirk. So there were moments. So I do want to pat him on the back. But there's something weird about Stroud when he gets in his head, like he kind of stays there.

00:27:56
Speaker 5: Sometimes he's kind of like a he wears his heart on his sleeve as a quarterback, where you can tell exactly when he's overthinking things, and it's I think it's a I think it's a product of being young. I think it's a product of all the hits he took last year and all the chaos at offensive line. I think some of it's a product of changing systems and still trying to figure out what his rhythm is. Nico Collins was in and out of the game. Hope he's okay. He left on a cart to the locker room in the concussion protocol, but it and so trying to figure out, you know, different guys, different timing and those types of things. Christian Kirk really stepped up for CJ. Stroud, gave him wide open targets. There were a couple of times where I worried about some of the other receivers because CJ was throwing them into some danger too, because and this is not this The thing is, we know what his potential is and we know what his ability is, and you saw it in a lot of the past plays and a lot of the the decision making this game. I love that Christian Kirk touchdown because it was a fake toss to one direction and then he throws a touchdown to the other direction, calm and steady as can be. A lot of misdirection cadence timing has to happen on that type of play, selling the fake flowing in one direction, hitting the.

00:29:08
Speaker 6: Other side like you see it right, it's there.

00:29:10
Speaker 5: And then you know he throws a high sort of hospital eball to Jaden Higgins, and Jaden Higgins somehow hangs on and he overthrows a couple too, and and you know, it just is one of those things where they're gonna need more consistency out of CJ.

00:29:25
Speaker 6: Strout.

00:29:25
Speaker 5: They don't need him to be a superhero anymore at this point or or ever, because he has this defense that's going to be the hero of this team and he's got a great even keel Special Teams unit just needs some consistency, and that's why I love that the run game was there. If this run game wasn't there, Greg, they don't recover like this.

00:29:44
Speaker 3: Yeah, I totally agree. And I was watching this game with with, you know, my family and in Amica. My wife is just like, what why is every pass so hard? And it's a great point because the first half of this game, ever, recompletion was contested and for the most part CJ was on point and some were broken up and some were and so I don't know if the receivers just weren't open or he's just trying to fit it into tight windows, but they were like very difficult throws. I actually think the Steelers defense overall, you know, played a pretty good game. Their their offense just sold them out. Maybe not good. You give four hundred yards to the Texans and nine drives. That's not good. And you also allow Christian Kirk, who's been quiet all year, to be the guy who makes me say that it is time for delivering results presented by Uber Eats. When football makes you hungry, order Uber eats, and yes, Christian Kirk goes eight catches, one hundred and forty four yards and a touchdown, a couple of times gets them out of bad field position, a couple of times sets up a big score. And these playoff games are funny because Christian Kirk has not been a productive, you know, trade chip for what they expected it for a good chunk of this season. He's hurt, and then the rookies end up kind of passing him in terms of importance on the team. He plays thirteen games and he somehow only ends up with two hundred and thirty nine yards, like he almost matched that tonight. But I'll tell you what, Like that front office is so happy they made that move. Now, it's like the Brandon Cooks move in Buffalo, Like it's all worth it if they come up in a big spot like this. And he's obviously a really talented, experienced receiver, and he gave them something tonight that they absolutely needed. And if Nico Collins is out next week he went into the concussion protocol tonight, then Christian Kirk's importance is even going to be bigger next week.

00:31:40
Speaker 5: A little Bertie told me that Christian Kirk was set to be a huge factor tonight in part because of the way with a healthy Nico Collins, and part of because of the way that they thought the Steelers were going to defend them, which I think is a fair fair assumption to make. Unfortunately, Nico Collins, who had a couple of great catches himself, including a really tough one over the middle for a big conversion. You know, that's as he just took so much contact to his head and hopefully he's gonna be okay. And we'll hear more about that obviously in the in the coming in the coming days.

00:32:16
Speaker 3: Yeah, and they are on a short week, which I think is unfair for these teams that that have to do it. The Monday night game is sort of inherently unfair. Teams have won coming out of it, teams of loss coming out of it hasn't been you know, decisive or anything. The Rams won the Super Bowl coming out of it as as you know. But yeah, shout out to Christian Kirk getting it done. And it's a free agency year for him, so reminds everyone how good he can be. That was delivering results presented by Uber Eats. When football makes you hungry, get game day deals on Uber eats, the official on demand delivery partner of the NFL. Order. Now I am frustrated by the Nico concussion because I just thought it seemed kind of obvious on TV when he took a hit on that very I think it was the first target he had of the game that he was shaken up and he just goes over to the sideline and I didn't see them examine him for a potential concussion, but he got up very slowly after that first play. And I do feel like it's becoming a little bit of a trend lately that they are not taking care of the players as much as they were let's say, five to ten years ago. There's just not as much attention on it. And you can have a rudimentary understanding of science and concussions and everything that when you suffer maybe a more minor one before suffering a bigger one, like in the same game, it makes it worse. And he did, you know, as Troyman pointed out, like he was walking the wrong way after the second one. You just you just hate to see that, and you just hope that like they did everything that they were supposed to do before that, because I was a little surprised how quickly he returned to that game. If you remember, I think he sat out basically like five or six plays on the first drive and then came in for the final third down. I was like, Wow, that was quick for him to come back in there. So you just hope he's gonna be okay, and he's really important that It almost goes without saying for this team.

00:34:12
Speaker 5: I'll just say, too, Greg, to your point, which is a great one, that it's not for lack of technological tools to help the spot or see what they should be pointing out. They had every tool available to them up in the booth to literally spot, to spot these things and to raise the alarm.

00:34:30
Speaker 6: So that's that's what I'll say on that.

00:34:32
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it's crazy. I'm checking the stats while we're talking in terms of Kirk because I was like two hundred and thirty nine yards. That's even less than I expected. He was not wide receiver two for this team as everyone expected Jordan he was. That was Jayden Higgins in the end. He was not wide receiver three for this team in the end, that was Xavier Hutchinson. And if we're just going off yards, he was not wide receiver four for this team. That was Jalen Noel. He was wide receiver five on the season, and he steps up on a big night and yeah, helps helps c J. Stroud out. It's why you know, it's a it's a team game, and we talk about quarterback wins and everything. The rest of his team picked up c J. Stroud and you know he's a much more accurate quarterback than than he was tonight. I think he'll play better next week. But you want to know who my comp is for him, just in a little way right now in terms of in terms of the streakiness that he has within games, the emotions on his sleeve you mentioned, really hammered it home for me.

00:35:36
Speaker 6: I mean c J.

00:35:37
Speaker 3: Stroud, c J. Stroud's comp that I'm that popped in my mind right now in terms of how he's playing something maybe not style. One of my least favorite quarterbacks, as you know, in terms of frustrating to watch Baker Mayfield because because it's just like he doesn't never.

00:35:50
Speaker 6: Miss an opportunity. Greg never missed an opportunity.

00:35:54
Speaker 3: It's like it's just that he because of the emotions, you could almost see it, like you said, drive to drive, like quarter to quarter he can just get so hot. And that they obviously are different in different sorts of ways. I think you know CJ can be a great pocket quarterback at his best. We'll wrap up with Tomlin because we do have some quote shout out to Chris Bobona, who's been doing great on these live shows all season long. We have one more next or this Saturday night. After the divisional round, Mike Tomlin was asked about, you know, the status of him with the team. He said, it's not time for talk. We agreed we'll meet tomorrow and go from there. When you're in this single elimination tournament, there's not a whole lot to talk about. You win or go home. And then when asked for a message to the fans, he just said, when you don't get it done, words are cheap. There's too much talking in our business.

00:36:43
Speaker 6: Fair just another manic Monday.

00:36:49
Speaker 3: I want you to promise we can you know, count on you singing at the end of all these shows. What a night for the Houston Texans thirty to six.

00:37:00
Speaker 6: You know, I keep smiling. I shouldn't be smiling this big what No. I love this team so much.

00:37:07
Speaker 3: The Steelers fans are going to take take offense. But for everyone who it's like I want, you know, the Texans are kind of what you would want the Steelers to be. Right like this, they are the closest thing we have right now to the steel curtain. If you want some nineties set seventies, maybe even nineteen eighties ass looking football like this, is it right here? It's crazy. I love it.

00:37:34
Speaker 6: It's true. It's true.

00:37:35
Speaker 5: And I you know, if this is what Mike Tomlin steps away after it, it is there's you know, we've had some crazy poetry in football.

00:37:43
Speaker 6: It's John Harbaugh who uh parts.

00:37:46
Speaker 5: Ways quote unquote with the with the Ravens after a game that is going to most be remembered for some special teams errors, including a miss field goal as the special teams expert, who is one of the few special teams coach has ever hired to be a head coach. And then Mike Tomlin, the defensive mastermind, getting beat in his own house by the best one of the best defenses we've seen in modern football. That's playing like a total throwback run and hit somebody defense. It is there's there's poetry in there, I think.

00:38:19
Speaker 3: And it's true. The Steelers are, if not the most expensive defense in the league, they're like second or third. And when this losing streak in the playoffs started a lot of the criticism with Tomlin and this happens in the regular season. Two from his fans are like, well, they're just so static and they're just the same defense year after year. And I think Demiko Ryans is showing like you know you can. You can be all about fundamentals and hitting and playing fast and old school, but you just got to have the right players in the right coaching and the right system. And they they are the new. So we will We will be tracking obviously everything with Mike Tomlin and the Steelers throughout the week. We'll be talking about this Texans and Patriots game. We might get Seth Payne on the show, I think for the preview show. Yes, who's a big Houston Texans follower, So I can't wait for that. Let's hit the music here, Chris Babona. I told Walker my son earlier today, not many teams make the playoffs every year, Like, how many teams have made the playoffs three straight years like the Texans. You can't take this for granted. How many teams have won a playoff game now three straight years? You can't take them for granted. We find out Next week Drake May versus c J Strowd. Can the Texans win too