00:00:04
Speaker 1: Randy Ballen along with Abby Krizner and Tad Whistle. Mike will be in a little bit later on this morning. Merrill Hodge, Talking Steelers, Missy Matthews, Mark Madden, all the M's for you. Yesterday was like one of those unbelievably beautiful days.
00:00:18
Speaker 2: Great day.
00:00:19
Speaker 1: Yes, it was a great day. I did the Ohio Powell trip back down and back. I don't know if you.
00:00:26
Speaker 2: Guys know this.
00:00:27
Speaker 1: On 43, you're allowed to go as fast as you want. You can go 150 miles an hour.
00:00:31
Speaker 3: 43 is like Second Ave and that stretch of Forbes between Regent Square and Squirrel Hill.
00:00:41
Speaker 2: There are no rules. There are no rules.
00:00:43
Speaker 4: No.
00:00:44
Speaker 1: But the funny thing is, is every bridge, I'm always like, this is the Joe Montana Bridge.
00:00:48
Speaker 2: Wait, no, it's not.
00:00:49
Speaker 1: Okay, this is the Joe Montana. No, this is not the Joe Montana Bridge. That's named for?
00:00:53
Speaker 2: Uh-huh, yeah.
00:00:55
Speaker 1: It's like one of the first ones as you come off of that, I think, Finleyville exit. And then it's like the huge bridge with a huge span. It's got like the vista. It's a really nice bridge. Look, it's a Joe Montana bridge. It's really nice. It's very nice. And you think you can see John Candy off in the woods also. Did you stop and see.
00:01:18
Speaker 5: Gene Steratore? Like he wanted you to come hang out?
00:01:21
Speaker 1: We talked and we were going to do it when we got done hiking. And then he was like, oh, dude, I got called into town. And I was like, all right, next time. And then I was like, he didn't get called into town. He was like, the last thing I want is some muddy idiots walking through my. I really wanted to see his set up. Out there because he works from home. So, you know, a million monitors. But the other thing I was bummed out is we stopped for a beer at the summit. You know, the legendary Summit Hotel, which was that hotel that got was the architect is the same architect as the one that built the hotel. The Shining is based on the Stanley in Estes Park. And I think that's the name of it. They look, I've, I've been to both of them and they look identical. Pull in to like, Oh, let's have a porch beer. Look at the view closed for the season.
00:02:17
Speaker 4: No.
00:02:17
Speaker 1: Oh, close for the season. They close after what.
00:02:24
Speaker 5: Season you don't do anything in the winter.
00:02:26
Speaker 2: Apparently not.
00:02:27
Speaker 1: But then it made me think I was like, well, wow, this really is like the shining. Oh yeah. Like, That means there's a caretaker in there. You could be the caretaker, Mr.
00:02:39
Speaker 4: Bauman.
00:02:39
Speaker 2: For the winter.
00:02:40
Speaker 1: Your money's no good here.
00:02:42
Speaker 2: But I was bummed out at that part of it.
00:02:44
Speaker 1: But the rest of it, just a gorgeous, absolutely beautiful day in western Pennsylvania. Probably like 40% to 50% of leaves still on a tree. Because we're going to lose them all this week. They're coming down. There's no way they're going to stick around very much longer. It's leaf season.
00:03:02
Speaker 2: Oh, dude. Don't I know it. Leaves. Don't I know it. Every time I walk out of my door, no matter.
00:03:08
Speaker 1: I'm going through those batteries, like, you know, every hour I have.
00:03:12
Speaker 2: To replace the battery. Yeah.
00:03:14
Speaker 1: Those lithium batteries, which are probably not great somehow.
00:03:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, just when you're done. I think they say on the box, just kick them down a storm drain.
00:03:23
Speaker 2: Is that what you're.
00:03:24
Speaker 1: Supposed to do?
00:03:24
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:03:25
Speaker 1: Lithium batteries. It's the best place for them. Those are one-use.
00:03:28
Speaker 2: Oh, okay.
00:03:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, don't charge them.
00:03:30
Speaker 2: Don't charge them. Straight in the sewer. Right in the sewer.
00:03:32
Speaker 1: Got it.
00:03:33
Speaker 4: And.
00:03:34
Speaker 2: Then the raccoons use them, right?
00:03:36
Speaker 1: To gain power.
00:03:37
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:03:38
Speaker 1: Awesome power. These monster lithium enhanced raccoons emerge one day. Well, I'm doing my part is what you're saying. And that's all you can do. But lots of leaves. But what are we doing weather-wise here, Abby? What's it going to continue to look like?
00:03:54
Speaker 5: It sounds like just.
00:03:55
Speaker 6: A couple brief showers this morning, and then it's warm with some sunshine a little bit later. So high of 71 today, so we're kind of staying in the 70s. But News This Hour is brought to you by Keystone Basement Systems.
00:04:06
Speaker 5: All things basement-y. Wet basement. KeystoneBasementSystems.com.
00:04:10
Speaker 1: All right.
00:04:11
Speaker 6: Imagine if you could see your favorite movie again for the first time. There's a theater in the Netherlands that's going to give people that opportunity. So next Monday, the pay cinema chain is going to take a 30 willing participants hypnotize them so that they temporarily forget about a movie that they've already seen and then those people will watch the movie and get an opportunity to feel like they're seeing it for the very first time so the.
00:04:41
Speaker 5: Volunteers have four movies to choose from.
00:04:43
Speaker 6: The matrix seven la la land and interstellar uh.
00:04:49
Speaker 2: First of all, what is the point of limiting their choices? Yeah.
00:04:54
Speaker 1: I don't know. That's the thing. Yeah.
00:04:57
Speaker 5: And also, I don't know, like maybe some of those movies I would pick, but there's some classic movies.
00:05:03
Speaker 6: Wouldn't you want to see The Godfather again or Goodfellas or just like something else that's really huge in the canon?
00:05:11
Speaker 3: Is the hypnotism specific to the film? And that's why they're limiting it to four movies. Like, they're going to have a classroom of people who are like, Interstellar. I want to forget.
00:05:23
Speaker 2: Meanwhile, I've never seen three of them.
00:05:26
Speaker 1: Which are what?
00:05:27
Speaker 2: I never saw Interstellar. I never saw The Matrix. Really? Believe it or not, I never saw The Matrix.
00:05:34
Speaker 1: I don't know why.
00:05:35
Speaker 2: I just never did.
00:05:35
Speaker 6: But you've seen seven, so you haven't seen La La Land?
00:05:38
Speaker 2: Oh, okay.
00:05:39
Speaker 1: I didn't see two of them. I saw seven in La La Land. La La Land, to this day, I'm like, why.
00:05:44
Speaker 2: Did that win Oscars? I don't understand it.
00:05:47
Speaker 1: It was a movie about how a white dude taught black people how to play jazz. And that seemed. It's picking up where Marty McFly left off. It's your cousin, Marvin Monk.
00:06:04
Speaker 2: Anyways, yeah, I don't understand it.
00:06:06
Speaker 1: I've not seen.
00:06:06
Speaker 5: What movie would you pick, though?
00:06:07
Speaker 1: I would pick The Godfather because there's no movie that I can think of that has as many layers that I love.
00:06:15
Speaker 2: And it's long, and there's characters, there's storylines. It's the best. Godfather's the best.
00:06:22
Speaker 3: I might pick a one-watcher, you know? Well, that's why Seven's in there, right? Because no one throws on Seven as their comfort, do-stuff-around-the-house movie.
00:06:32
Speaker 1: Oh, my God. You're in it for the twist. But the interesting thing is, Seven is a movie you will only watch one time, typically, right? But Silence of the Lambs, which is not that.
00:06:46
Speaker 2: Much less sort of horrific. I think I've watched that 50 times.
00:06:52
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:06:53
Speaker 2: Silence of the lambs is rewatchable. It is so damn good.
00:06:57
Speaker 1: What, why is that?
00:06:59
Speaker 2: Uh, it's a much better movie. It's a much better movie. You're right. You're right.
00:07:03
Speaker 3: Well, also as a Pittsburgh or you're like, you're like the house where he's at. My aunt lives like 15, 20 minutes from the house with the well in the ground, the, The well that goes down with the innkeeper.
00:07:16
Speaker 2: Buffalo Bill's house.
00:07:17
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:07:18
Speaker 1: You can rent that out now. The Airbnb that. There isn't a well in the house though, right? They put one in there. They did. Kind of like the house that's the Christmas story house up in Cleveland that was only the exterior of the shot. And then they made it look like the interior of the movie complete with.
00:07:40
Speaker 2: A leg lamp.
00:07:41
Speaker 1: Just like when you go into the Bull and Finch Pub in Boston, it's not really Cheers. But they never tried to make it look like Cheers. It doesn't look like Cheers. You know that people.
00:07:50
Speaker 3: Have done some gross stuff in the Silence of the Lambs Airbnb.
00:07:55
Speaker 2: No question. There's got to be cameras in there, right?
00:07:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think so. Well, just like the owners making sure that nobody's doing a satanic ritual. Or some guys just fapping like everywhere.
00:08:09
Speaker 3: Well, that is so exciting. For sure happened in that house. Someone has done.
00:08:13
Speaker 5: Everybody has to do the dance.
00:08:15
Speaker 2: Yes, exactly. There's the mirror.
00:08:20
Speaker 1: Like when they're showing them the house and they're like, and here's your fruit basket mirror.
00:08:24
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:08:25
Speaker 2: No, this is when you're going to do the fruit basket. Oh, this is great.
00:08:28
Speaker 5: You can choose... Your own kimono, whichever one feels like it's you.
00:08:33
Speaker 3: We have sort of an open kimono policy around here. Oh, that's the guy who's showing you around. His own open kimono?
00:08:41
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's right.
00:08:43
Speaker 1: Was she a great big frat person? I told you my friends were at the Nutcracker with the PSO at Hines Hall one year, and they were like, that voice on the Nutcracker, it sounds so familiar. And then they, like, open up the program, and they're like, Ted Levine. No, it's the guy. It's the guy. It was Buffalo Bill from.
00:09:05
Speaker 5: Oh, my God.
00:09:06
Speaker 1: And he was like, Nutcracker, Nutcracker.
00:09:08
Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't know how the Nutcracker is.
00:09:10
Speaker 1: Make me a nut. Find me a fine.
00:09:14
Speaker 7: Why was I doing Max Baker? For some reason, I made it. Fiddler on the roof. Sunrise, sunset.
00:09:25
Speaker 2: And when he does that, he flips it out for sunset.
00:09:27
Speaker 1: No. Sunrise. If I had a girl suit. If I had a girl suit.
00:09:43
Speaker 2: Oh, my God.
00:09:44
Speaker 6: I like that we're workshopping a musical Silence of the Lambs.
00:09:48
Speaker 5: It's about time.
00:09:49
Speaker 1: Silence of the Lambs meets Fiddler on the Lambs.
00:09:54
Speaker 2: Fiddler on the Lambs.
00:10:06
Speaker 1: This feels blasphemous somehow, and I don't know how. No, it doesn't. It doesn't.
00:10:11
Speaker 2: Ted Levine.
00:10:11
Speaker 5: It sounds like a million dollar idea.
00:10:13
Speaker 1: Is what it sounds like.
00:10:14
Speaker 2: Ted Levine, 69 years old, still around, kicking ass.
00:10:19
Speaker 6: Yeah, he's done so much character actor work that when he pops up on television, it usually does take me a second to recognize him.
00:10:26
Speaker 5: But then I immediately go into the creep factor.
00:10:29
Speaker 6: And I wonder how much that's followed him in his career.
00:10:34
Speaker 2: Do you know where he's from?
00:10:35
Speaker 6: Do people see him out of context and they're like not sure who he is? Or do they see him and they're like, oh my God, I can't watch this movie.
00:10:41
Speaker 5: That's Buffalo Bill.
00:10:42
Speaker 1: It's jarring to see him. If Ted Levine was sitting in his childhood home right now, He could be listening to the DVE morning show. Where is he from, like Grove City or something? Bel Air, Ohio, which is right on the border of, like, the panhandle between Wheeling and Pennsylvania. Yeah, I love DVE.
00:11:01
Speaker 2: That was a big Jack Malloy guy. Yeah. Jack Malloy and Ted Levine.
00:11:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, all night, Jack Malloy.
00:11:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, here we go. We're going to play a little hearts. I like Ed Wilson.
00:11:18
Speaker 8: Ann Wilson looks gorgeous.
00:11:24
Speaker 1: I just saw her on an interview the other day. She did, um, uh, the Aerosmith thing this week.
00:11:33
Speaker 2: She was part of that.
00:11:33
Speaker 1: That's right. Are they tights or what? Or it's just, I mean, reach a level of celebrity where, I think that's it.
00:11:41
Speaker 2: I think they might have toured together at one point.
00:11:43
Speaker 1: Madden was there for those Hollywood Bowl shows, and we'll talk to him about it at 8.45 today.
00:11:49
Speaker 6: But you brought that up, but Aerosmith apparently isn't saying goodbye to the stage just yet. So during the band's second Aerosmith and Friends show, which was on Sunday night in Hollywood, frontman Steven Tyler pushed back after comedian Bill Burr seemingly referred to the two shows as the end of Aerosmith. So while he was on the stage, Steven Tyler told the crowd, so Bill Burr said that these are our final shows.
00:12:13
Speaker 5: Doesn't he know you can't get rid of Aerosmith?
00:12:16
Speaker 6: And then he added, at the end of the world, there's only going to be cockroaches, Aerosmith, and I guess Bill Burr.
00:12:22
Speaker 1: Well, that's good news, I guess.
00:12:24
Speaker 3: I thought Bill Burr was doing them a solid by hyping it up.
00:12:29
Speaker 4: Yeah. So that's.
00:12:31
Speaker 2: So they're just like. I'm sure he's going to be pissed about it.
00:12:33
Speaker 4: Okay.
00:12:34
Speaker 3: Yeah, because he's being used as a pawn. Yeah.
00:12:38
Speaker 2: You might have just got it wrong.
00:12:41
Speaker 1: It's one of those I didn't know I wasn't supposed to say that things.
00:12:45
Speaker 6: It feels farewell-y though to do such a hype show and I get that they had cancelled essentially a farewell tour. This is a much better set up especially for Steven Tyler's vocals to do it this way and just do two really celebratory shows.
00:13:04
Speaker 5: I kind of thought that that was what they were doing.
00:13:07
Speaker 6: So maybe Bill just had the same interpretation of that.
00:13:11
Speaker 1: Like, dude, not for nothing, but maybe you should hang it up. I mean, this was fine. I'm saying this as a friend. You know, it's been a minute since Bill's been on the show. I'm going to have to send out the bird signal and tell him to check in halfway through the football season. Because he'll start bitching about us cheating or something like that.
00:13:34
Speaker 8: Patriots going through a rebuilding year, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Steelers get all the breaks. Look at their scheduling. He actually couldn't bitch about the scheduling. We lost to the Patriots, too. How could he complain? They scheduled their way into a Super Bowl last year.
00:13:48
Speaker 1: Look, Bill's turned a corner since he's done shrooms and dropped his anger and ego that morning when he woke up that day and decided to kill his ego.
00:13:58
Speaker 2: That's a whole new guy, man.
00:14:01
Speaker 3: I would feel robbed if I did psychedelics and they took my anger and passion away from football specifically.
00:14:10
Speaker 1: If you couldn't be mad at the Steelers.
00:14:12
Speaker 2: Wait a second.
00:14:13
Speaker 3: What am I going to put all of my stuff into?
00:14:16
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:14:17
Speaker 1: Well, that's why I think the ayahuasca thing is funny. Like, oh, yeah, it just kills your ego. It's like, have you seen Aaron Rodgers?
00:14:23
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:14:23
Speaker 1: Because I don't think it's worked on his ego.
00:14:26
Speaker 5: I don't think so.
00:14:27
Speaker 1: Do the fade one more time.
00:14:29
Speaker 2: Has anybody else seen that?
00:14:30
Speaker 1: The DMT video that's been going around or is that solely in my algorithm about the guy? What do you mean? That smokes toad venom DMT that is taken from toad venom and the freak out that ensues. He's got two people who are his guides and this dude just decides to go on a journey and And it's only like a minute long. And it looks like it's going to alter his brain forever. This is what it sounded like.
00:15:01
Speaker 2: Hold on.
00:15:06
Speaker 1: He's like smoking a bowl of like toad venom DMT.
00:15:10
Speaker 4: Hold it.
00:15:11
Speaker 1: Nine.
00:15:12
Speaker 4: Eight.
00:15:13
Speaker 2: Seven. Hold it. Five. Four.
00:15:18
Speaker 3: Three.
00:15:18
Speaker 4: Two.
00:15:23
Speaker 2: And the guy's just, like, slowly going to sleep for a sec.
00:15:26
Speaker 3: Oh, I love you.
00:15:28
Speaker 1: And now he's freaking out.
00:15:30
Speaker 2: Just relax.
00:15:31
Speaker 4: Undulating.
00:15:32
Speaker 1: Release. Just relax. I love you guys.
00:15:35
Speaker 3: Oh, my.
00:15:36
Speaker 1: Just feel the love. Oh. Oh.
00:15:41
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:15:42
Speaker 1: He's flipping out, losing it.
00:15:46
Speaker 6: This is like everybody picture your kid in Target not getting what they want.
00:15:50
Speaker 9: Yeah.
00:15:50
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:15:54
Speaker 1: Why is he so close to water?
00:15:59
Speaker 5: Yeah, he's going to drown.
00:16:04
Speaker 1: My God. Relax. Relax. You're just seeing the goblins of the afterlife coming after you.
00:16:12
Speaker 2: They have him in a crick. Oh, dude, it's messed up.
00:16:15
Speaker 1: And apparently when you do this, like you go to some dimension and it's the same chemical your brain releases when you die. And you go to some dimension and they keep describing these like nefarious gatekeeper figures. Some people call them goblins and stuff like that. I mean, Neil Brennan said it took him a year and a half to come back from his DMT trip. Is there any world that you want to explore that? Does that sound fun? Like, let's smoke some DMT from a toad. And apparently the guy, the ancient toad ritual was actually invented by a guy in Texas in 1983. Oh, that takes the mystique away from the whole thing. Ken Nelson came across this Italian study about toad species.
00:17:07
Speaker 2: His dog found one. He's like, I wonder if this is one of them.
00:17:09
Speaker 3: And he.
00:17:10
Speaker 1: squirted out the toad goo and he, and then he, and then he just went after it. And then he was like, Whoa, that was crazy. And then he kind of became a shaman after that. I assume this was a 3000 year old practice. No, the ancient ritual is the same age as like the technology that started the iPhone.
00:17:31
Speaker 3: No.
00:17:31
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:17:31
Speaker 3: This is like, if I knew it was created by a dude in an Earl Campbell Jersey somewhere in Texas, I would be out.
00:17:39
Speaker 1: $ 2, 600 is what they charge you to take you out into the middle of wherever and do that and then guide you on a trip you may never come back from. But I tell you what, my buddy did it.
00:17:54
Speaker 4: DMT?
00:17:54
Speaker 1: He had toad venom, which I don't know if that's the same thing.
00:17:57
Speaker 2: I'm pretty sure.
00:17:58
Speaker 1: It's the same thing?
00:17:59
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:17:59
Speaker 3: Okay, so I used to work with this guy and he's like, yeah, yeah, I did toad venom. I'm like, how was it? And he's like, Can't say that.
00:18:12
Speaker 1: Can't say that.
00:18:13
Speaker 2: Can't say that, Ted. No!
00:18:17
Speaker 1: What was he doing? I don't know.
00:18:20
Speaker 5: He's a very smart guy.
00:18:22
Speaker 1: What you're saying is your friend smoked the toad venom and then he achieved.
00:18:29
Speaker 2: I arrived.
00:18:31
Speaker 1: I arrived. And we're like, what? And he's like, hard.
00:18:35
Speaker 2: Alright, dude.
00:18:36
Speaker 1: I got it. We're going to send you to the iHeart training just for a little bit.
00:18:41
Speaker 5: You need to do your training again.
00:18:42
Speaker 2: That's right.
00:18:44
Speaker 1: And by the way, the iHeart training does resemble that guy's DMT trip. You're going to be writhing around in the water. In the creek, being held down.
00:18:51
Speaker 2: David Edgar's going to be holding you down.
00:18:53
Speaker 1: Relax, Ted. Relax. It's only A, B, or C. Pick one. It's usually D, all of the above, Ted. All of the above, you got to pick that.
00:19:08
Speaker 5: Why can't I get a raise?
00:19:09
Speaker 1: Relax. Relax. Yeah. It's a pizza party.
00:19:16
Speaker 2: You're at the pizza party.
00:19:17
Speaker 1: There's donuts in the break room. Your friend starts to tell you about his toad venom experience. Do you, A, ask him to describe it in great detail? B, allow Tad to dig the hole even deeper for himself?
00:19:32
Speaker 2: Mike will be in here in just a little bit.
00:19:34
Speaker 4: Pens.
00:19:35
Speaker 2: Oh, the pens.
00:19:36
Speaker 1: People hated the jerseys. I thought the jersey was okay. I didn't hate it. I didn't love it.
00:19:41
Speaker 3: It was better on the players than it was released as a picture of a shirt.
00:19:47
Speaker 1: Did not help. There was no blue wave. at PPG Paints Arena last night. If they got the Chili Goal last night, we'd feel a little differently about it.
00:19:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, but that didn't happen. Wasn't it far away from a Chili Goal?
00:19:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's what I'm saying. If it's like, oh, they're 1-0 in the remix.
00:20:03
Speaker 2: Oh, right, yeah. It was 3-2 Vegas Knights. Win that one.
00:20:08
Speaker 1: It doesn't look great for your Pittsburgh Penguins. What's the weather looking like going forward, Abby?
00:20:13
Speaker 6: So just a little bit of rain this morning is possible. But then otherwise, it's going to be clouds giving way to sunshine today.
00:20:19
Speaker 5: High of 71.
00:20:20
Speaker 1: Your WDVE game day update. Bud Light game day bar of the week. Getaway Bar and Grill in Brookline. Stop at Getaway Bar and Grill and enjoy $ 3 Bud Light bottles. What a deal during all Steelers games. Bud Light, easy to drink, easy to enjoy. The E-Morning Show. Here's Mike Pursuta with three takes that resonate. All right, here we go. Mike Pursuta, one, two, three.
00:20:41
Speaker 2: Let's hear them. Take number one, keeping up with the Joneses.
00:20:45
Speaker 9: It's the way Jeffrey Simmons dominated Seattle for the Bears on Monday night. Got you pondering what the Steelers might add in advance of the November 10 NFL trade deadline.
00:20:55
Speaker 2: You are not alone.
00:20:57
Speaker 9: Previous high-profile transactions involving DeForest Buckner and Quentin Nelson got the ball rolling this season in an NFL that in recent seasons has shifted gears as a collective and leaned into embracing trades for a change. Are the 6-2 Steelers prepared to keep pace in the arms race? And are they positioned to do so? Omar Khan is on the clock. If there's a move to be made, he may have to get creative before the alarm goes off. Take number two, it's complicated. Everyone, it seems, would love to add a wide receiver, preferably a potential difference maker as opposed to another MVS.
00:21:33
Speaker 2: But it's a lot more layered than.
00:21:35
Speaker 9: The Steelers simply deciding it's time to go get Brian Thomas Jr. For one thing, bringing in a pass catcher who lacks familiarity with Aaron Rodgers and Rodgers' maniacal insistence on precision might not be a fit. For another, the draft capital it could take to acquire the right player might need to be kept in reserve in the event the Steelers want to trade up in April in pursuit of a first-round quarterback, assuming there's one perceived as worth going to get by then. Mike McCarthy prefers solutions from within. The Steelers might have to roll the dice on their wide receiver solution being Roman Wilson and or Michael Pittman Jr.
00:22:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't love that either.
00:22:19
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:22:20
Speaker 1: I like Pittman coming back.
00:22:23
Speaker 2: I don't know that I like. I'm interested.
00:22:26
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:22:27
Speaker 4: Right.
00:22:28
Speaker 1: I don't have enough information. Right.
00:22:31
Speaker 2: Take number three. So how do they get better?
00:22:33
Speaker 9: Six and two is a hell of a start, but there's more to be gleaned. Special teams tops that list. Cover better and get more from returns, specifically the returner in which so much was invested. And run the ball in the red zone.
00:22:48
Speaker 2: What am I talking about?
00:22:49
Speaker 9: Well, my favorite play from Sunday's pounding of the Browns was Jalen Warren's one-yard touchdown run. That was a snap on which they couldn't throw another fade to DK because.
00:22:59
Speaker 2: DK wasn't in the game. Now you just can't leave.
00:23:08
Speaker 9: The more I think about that, that was Mike McCarthy's solution to Rodgers' insistence on throwing. Okay, if this is how it's going to be, you can throw it to him, but he's standing next to me.
00:23:17
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:23:17
Speaker 9: So do something else, please. And they handed it off to Warren, and he ran it in the end zone, and they played. The guys ran out with the big flags and everybody went, yay.
00:23:26
Speaker 1: You're the only person I've heard make that connection. And it makes perfect sense to me. It's a good way to do it. Rob him of his toys and he cannot play.
00:23:39
Speaker 2: You have to eat your vegetables because there's nothing else.
00:23:42
Speaker 1: Baldinger did a couple of great videos yesterday. You don't like him? No, he loves the Steelers O-line. Yeah, loves it. The one where he went from the 80s to the 90s to the 2000s, comparing them, it's great. I mean, they really have kind of redefined the attitude of this team. It has matched what I think TJ Watt has tried to have as the representative emotion of this team for a long time. but felt like he was fighting that one alone, you know? And now I think that the edge is actually on the offensive side of the ball.
00:24:24
Speaker 2: I'll say both lines, which... Yeah, defensive lines. Cam Hayward's been amazing. That was... He has, absolutely.
00:24:31
Speaker 9: He's been amazing. No perceptible decline in his play whatsoever.
00:24:38
Speaker 1: As soon as all that stuff happened with his contract and all the criticism came his way... He's been incredible. Seriously, the noisier it got, the better Cam Hayward got.
00:24:49
Speaker 9: But this was the plan all along. Since Khan and Weidel became the tag team. Build the lines. Remember we were talking going into training camp.
00:25:02
Speaker 2: Both lines should be a strength. And it didn't start that way.
00:25:05
Speaker 9: And I think a lot of people, oh God, they stink again at this, they stink again at that. It's hard for people to wrap their head around September is still the preseason.
00:25:15
Speaker 2: It just counts.
00:25:18
Speaker 9: And there were some complications with the Honitore being injured. And, you know, the starting line wasn't the starting line until it was week three. But clearly, you know, Frazier is advancing as you should.
00:25:31
Speaker 2: Best center in the game, most people are saying.
00:25:33
Speaker 9: McCormick is advancing as a young player. Fatano's a little slower than those two guys at his new position, but the run-blocking stuff is there. Baldinger had a clip on the Dowdle run on which Dowdle fumbled and Fatonowitz chasing the play and in position to recover it.
00:25:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, thank God.
00:25:51
Speaker 9: He's a long way down the field for alignment at that point. Those are little indicators of how well they're playing as a group.
00:25:59
Speaker 2: And coached.
00:26:01
Speaker 9: And the defensive thing, the divisional labor at outside linebacker is fascinating to me.
00:26:08
Speaker 1: T.J.
00:26:09
Speaker 2: Watt playing 56% of the snaps.
00:26:11
Speaker 9: As a guy who's making $ 41 million.
00:26:14
Speaker 2: So what? So what? He got two sacks. Exactly. And the other guys are helping. Would you feel better if he played 90 and had two sacks?
00:26:21
Speaker 9: Or less than that because he's not as effective. But that's a little bit of a different way to.
00:26:27
Speaker 2: Approach it, right? I don't think people have been screaming for the last several years. Less T.J.
00:26:34
Speaker 4: Watt.
00:26:34
Speaker 9: This defense is living up to its reputation or its paychecks.
00:26:38
Speaker 1: Play them less. No, I'm sure there are people who are still bitching about him not being in there more, as it is.
00:26:45
Speaker 2: It's working.
00:26:45
Speaker 1: But is the defensive line going to be better with Derek Harmon? Because they've been pretty good without him. I just hope he can get on the field.
00:26:51
Speaker 2: At the very least, it's deeper.
00:26:53
Speaker 9: I feel bad for the kid. Number one pick, and now he's got to get in line behind me and Joe Jobity. Yeah, you got Wally Pipps. No, yeah, of course it's going to get better with Derek Harmon.
00:27:03
Speaker 1: All right.
00:27:04
Speaker 2: Been pretty good.
00:27:07
Speaker 9: Six and two is not their top end. In terms of what they're capable of. They can be better. And they're going to have to be if they're going to do anything in the postseason because the teams that win in January are the ones that keep getting better all year.
00:27:24
Speaker 1: If they beat the Ravens once and beat Cincinnati a second time.
00:27:31
Speaker 9: It's going to be hard not to win the division.
00:27:35
Speaker 1: They'd have to lose like every other game. and Cincinnati would have to not tank. The other thing I think we saw from Sunday... And we're assuming that the Ravens are done, because they're going to lose Lamar for a month, and they're on quarterback number four and five this weekend.
00:27:51
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:27:53
Speaker 9: Normally I don't go there, but I think that's a reasonable assumption.
00:27:56
Speaker 1: And Derrick Henry, I think, finally hit the wall.
00:27:59
Speaker 2: Well, and he doesn't have the blocking he used to have.
00:28:02
Speaker 1: No line, no fullback.
00:28:03
Speaker 2: Hence the wall.
00:28:07
Speaker 3: It's not like the Ravens are falling back. Well, but we still have this stout defense.
00:28:11
Speaker 2: No, no.
00:28:12
Speaker 1: In the absence of Lamar.
00:28:13
Speaker 2: And they don't believe in what they're doing.
00:28:15
Speaker 1: They're bitching and like Jesse Minter was supposed to go in there and tighten the ship up there.
00:28:20
Speaker 2: A mixed metaphor.
00:28:21
Speaker 9: But still, they're complaining. So nobody can just come in and coach well?
00:28:29
Speaker 1: Just anybody?
00:28:30
Speaker 9: You can't just pick the hot bleep assistant and say, yeah, go do what Harbaugh did.
00:28:35
Speaker 1: Dick LeBeau couldn't effectively be a head coach in the NFL. And he's a.
00:28:42
Speaker 9: Hall of Famer. Think about that for a minute. The other thing that I think we saw Sunday for the first time was Cleveland missed Jim Schwartz. Because I'm probably watching all the same clips that you were watching that are on the internet, the All-22 stuff. And the Browns kept Leaving the middle open in the defensive line with the wide spread of the front four, and they stayed in nickel, and the.
00:29:11
Speaker 2: Ball ran down their throats. Why did they stay in nickel? They had no adjustment. The whole freaking game.
00:29:18
Speaker 9: You know, the stunts and all that worked the first time, so they did it again, and the Steelers just trapped the crap out of them.
00:29:22
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:29:24
Speaker 9: So their new defensive coordinator's got some figuring out to do, although I don't think Cleveland is done. I don't think that was exposing Cleveland.
00:29:31
Speaker 1: No, I don't think that that unravels them completely, even though I was saying it did yesterday. But it is fascinating when you watch those all 22s. Dowdle's got some really good vision, Mike. And he hits the hole hard. I really like the combination of these two right now. And I hope Aaron Rodgers realizes he has a chance to do what Peyton Manning did As long as he is as humble as Peyton Manning was forced to be at the end.
00:30:03
Speaker 9: I think he can do way more than Peyton Manning did. He just can't do what Aaron Rodgers did in 2010.
00:30:08
Speaker 1: But he needs to go more in that direction.
00:30:12
Speaker 2: A little more in that direction. Just, you know, take his toys away. Go three tight ends fullback.
00:30:18
Speaker 1: Less is more, just like the TJ thing.
00:30:20
Speaker 2: Throw it now, smart guy.
00:30:21
Speaker 1: Merrill Hodge joins us when we come back. And we've got Missy Matthews and Mark Madden on the way.
00:30:27
Speaker 2: I love those tight ends, too. They're both, as pass catchers, explosive options.
00:30:34
Speaker 1: How much of a deal does the Washington contract seem like right now?
00:30:40
Speaker 2: People are all pissed off. Four years, $ 42 million?
00:30:42
Speaker 1: Keanu Benton, too. Critical part of that defensive line. And Herbig, another big contract that people bitched about.
00:30:56
Speaker 2: The backup line. Yeah, they're all backups. They're football players.
00:31:00
Speaker 1: Till they're not.
00:31:00
Speaker 9: Till they're not backups. The other thing we've seen about McCarthy, he uses everybody. If you have a hat on game day, you're going to play some snaps.
00:31:08
Speaker 1: He said that in camp, right?
00:31:10
Speaker 3: He's like, how many guys he elevated the year they won the Super Bowl in Green Bay.
00:31:15
Speaker 1: He's like, it took 75 guys. Yeah, so we're seeing some McCarthy influence, and so far it's working. But they can't lose Andy Weidel. That cannot happen. All right, Merrill's coming up here in just a little bit. Abby, we'll have your news at the top of the hour. Abby, what are we going to be talking about?
00:31:35
Speaker 6: Okay, what if everyone knew whether you tipped or not? There's one vacation spot that's making that a reactor.
00:31:40
Speaker 5: The next video.
00:31:41
Speaker 2: Home of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
00:31:43
Speaker 1: 102.5 DVE, Randy Bauman and the DVE Morning Show. Mike Percutita, Tad Whistle in the studio with me as we welcome our next guest brought to you by South Hills Kia. South Hills Kia has the ride and a price you'll love. Ladies and gentlemen, Merrill Hodge. What's up, Merrill? Yeah. Well, it is good to be with you.
00:32:08
Speaker 4: Sorry I missed last week, but our... The Pittsburgh Steelers have vibes of a champion in them.
00:32:16
Speaker 1: Vibes of a champion. I like hearing that. Here's what I'll say, Merrill. I'm interested on your take about the trenches. Because for me, on both sides of the ball, that was the most dominating performance from a Steelers offense and defensive line in the same game as I can remember in a long time.
00:32:39
Speaker 4: I totally agree, and they've built up to this. Let's go back to the first Cleveland game. I guarantee you that everybody here, well, I've walked into a locker room after games like that, and it's not comfortable. I went into meetings. It's not comfortable because you're uncertain about everything. Your house is a mess. And then I've walked in a locker room in meetings when it's like this. And when I say like this, In that Cleveland game, was there any time that you ever thought it was out of control? Even when DK dropped that pass, I had that interception, you know, I was a big... That would have ended the game, okay? And then it gave them hope. But did you ever think or feel that that game was out of control?
00:33:25
Speaker 1: Never.
00:33:26
Speaker 2: No. I'll say this, Merrill. I was uncomfortable.
00:33:31
Speaker 9: In the first half, because I thought they were dominating it, but they weren't achieving separation on the scoreboard. But when they went for the touchdown at the end of the second quarter, I thought that was really significant for a lot of reasons. One, it gave them a two-touchdown lead. Two, I love the screw-the-field goal touchdowns coming up here on this play. I thought that betrayed a confidence and a singleness of purpose.
00:33:56
Speaker 2: That helps.
00:33:58
Speaker 4: I would not disagree. They created a mindset there. Would not disagree with that. But my point is, there's two things I talk about all the time that you have to do, and if you can do, you win 90% of the time. If you can control the tempo in the game, which they did. They controlled the entire game. Even though they weren't scoring points, Cleveland wasn't going up and down the field on them. And they were moving the ball. And then they added that. that fourth and one scored touchdown versus the field goal. Did that drive. Okay. Might be the signature drive that really ignited who they are now, because the last couple of games they've been like this, you know, I'll give you a team that's, that's really at this level is the Chicago bears. I mean, they're in the trenches. You talk about, I mean, that's where it starts and ends. Like if you're ever going to build a team, if you're one of how good a team is, If you start there, it's going to tell you about who the team is. You know, you don't start the quarterback, don't start the running back, receivers or linebackers. Like closest to the ball tells you everything about the team. And what this team is doing closest to the ball is like the equivalent of what the Bears are doing. They may not be as complete right now as the Bears, but they are vicious in the box. And they're vicious around line scrimmage. And where they have elevated is on the defensive side. What they've done schematically, you know, to help, you know, they move their fronts around. Their linebackers are more aggressive. They're putting them in multiple spots. I mean, that's a burden. That's a burden on your offense as a whole. That means your offensive line. You know, they've got to identify people. Your running back has to identify your quarterback. And even your receivers from the perimeter when it comes to a pass, even blocking assignments. And it's been a real problem for teams. And they like it. And you can tell that they play better offensively. That way. And our offensive line, I'm telling you, from our just inside to outside, you know, they're going to maul you. They're going to maul you and they're going to move you. They're athletic. They work together. Now, they can just keep building from this. You know, we have 10 games to go, you know, roughly around there. You just keep building from.
00:36:12
Speaker 3: This, man.
00:36:13
Speaker 4: But I'm going to tell you this, those meetings that they're walking into now, there's a confidence and they know who they are now. A month ago, I don't think anybody really knew, including them. They didn't really know, but they know who they are now.
00:36:26
Speaker 3: Merrill, I guess if I were going to nitpick the win and a couple moments that were like, what are they doing? It would be, other than the DK drop that turned into the pick, it would be Aaron Rodgers in the red zone on that first drive, throwing the fade to DK. How do you keep him from doing that? How do you It seems like he's calling his own number there, and maybe he's not, but how do you instill in him that, hey, we're going to have success if we run the ball inside the five?
00:36:56
Speaker 4: I think he's starting to see that. I know he did that in the game, but I really believe when he did that, too, he was trying to reinstill some confidence in DK and felt that he had the window to do that. Listen, I always trust the player. Because I've been both sides of that line. I've been inside the white lines, outside the white lines, from a coaching perspective. And sometimes you've got to trust your players, you know. But then you still talk about it. I don't think that Aaron's going to make– I don't think ever he'll make a foolish decision in the chance of jeopardizing the team to win. You know, I just don't– I don't worry about him in that sense. And when he did, I understand what you're saying and what you're feeling and what you saw. Because I was like, yeah, I know why he did it, but I was like, boy, going forward, you might not be able to try to build somebody's confidence when this play is a little different. We need to win. We need to score a touchdown here, not build somebody's confidence.
00:38:03
Speaker 1: I completely understand seeing that you have the room on first and goal from the two to try and get DK the ball there. And give him some confidence and be able to build on that because he certainly doesn't have the foundation you'd like him to have at this point in the season. But second down, run the ball. Third down, run the ball. At that point, it didn't have the component that it had in Tampa Bay where it actually screwed them because they didn't run time off the clock and make Tampa use a timeout. But coming off of that game and seeing that there was an obstinance to what Rodgers was doing that seemed to be A little bit of this is for DK and a little bit of this is for Aaron.
00:38:53
Speaker 9: Yeah, and I really appreciate where Merrill's coming from on that because they need that guy.
00:38:57
Speaker 2: 100%. They need to build him up.
00:39:00
Speaker 9: But I got a problem with assuming just because you're on the one-yard line, you can score on second down because you could get a false start. Now you're back at the six. A lot of teams defend every blade of grass, and it's not a gimme that you're going to get in.
00:39:14
Speaker 2: So I.
00:39:15
Speaker 4: I.
00:39:15
Speaker 9: Appreciate where you think he's coming from, Merrill, and I kind of agree with it as I hear you explain it, but I think that needs to shift. I think it needs to be whoever scores the freaking touchdown scores the freaking touchdown, and we win the game, and that's how you get confidence.
00:39:29
Speaker 2: But that's why Merrill said I think he's starting to see that.
00:39:31
Speaker 4: I think that going forward, that's what he'll do. I really do. I just, you know, this is, we got to win now. You know, this isn't about building confidence. In that moment, I understood why I did it. Because I was just like, I was like, ah, why, why? And then I'm like, okay, I get it. I know why.
00:39:46
Speaker 1: Because not the.
00:39:48
Speaker 2: First time, right, Merrill?
00:39:49
Speaker 9: We've seen that fade all year and it ain't working. It doesn't work down the sideline and it doesn't work in the end zone. It just doesn't work.
00:39:58
Speaker 4: Because, well, true story. But there's a lot of other things that are working. Because he can't deny it. I can tell just in the overall, the way players are being called and what we're going to. He knows where our strength lies. You know, the shoot. Anybody who just starts watching football knows where our strength lies, man. Our ability to run the football and our ability to get those two backs rolling. Now, I will tell you this, though. Explosive plays are an element of a championship team that you do have to have. Now, it isn't like we don't have capabilities. There's a lot of teams that wish they had people on the perimeter that could do that because that takes the load off. So getting those guys rolling, too, and putting those elements in it. is going to help. Now our tight ends bailed us out of that because our, you know, our tight ends are starting to become a bigger part of what we're doing, you know, which, and they're simple throws too, that we're getting big plays off of. So, um, I'll just tell you the way they, I was like, I was like, dang, you know what, man, I never thought they'd get this to this point this fast in the trenches. Cause I'm just going to start starting in there. I'm just special offensive line. I mean, I'm, I just, I think the football gods above that Cleveland, Philadelphia did what they did. That's the best thing that ever happened to us. I mean, that are getting the on a chore over that receiver.
00:41:24
Speaker 2: Oh yeah. Yeah.
00:41:27
Speaker 1: And also, uh, more evidence of why the Steelers cannot let go of Andy Weidel, as far as I'm concerned. And I want to continue to bang that drum. Don't let that guy leave the organization.
00:41:34
Speaker 4: I mean, listen, we, it's, you know, Omar, they got a great team, you know, I know that team and they, they all, there's a ton of guys in there that are, you know, it takes a team there too. It takes a team and you have to have, and we, I've sat in those meetings and they have a heck of a team and they do a good job. And I thought this year's their best draft they've had, you know, in quite some time. And like there's significantly like four or five guys that could be impact players, you know, and it takes two years, you know, you don't, you get ideas right now, but you really know in two years in all fairness and the guys that, The draft they had was, so far, an outstanding draft.
00:42:18
Speaker 1: Merrill is brought to you by the team at South Hills Kia. South Hills Kia is the ride and a price you'll love. Merrill, love you, brother.
00:42:24
Speaker 2: Thanks so much, man. Love you, too. Enjoy the bye week.
00:42:26
Speaker 1: We'll see you.
00:42:27
Speaker 2: All right, Abby's got your news when we return. What are you talking about?
00:42:30
Speaker 5: Ew, what if everybody knew whether you tipped or not?
00:42:33
Speaker 2: Mark Madden, we'll ask him that.
00:42:35
Speaker 1: Missy Matthews and more M's on the way.
Speaker 1: Randy Ballen along with Abby Krizner and Tad Whistle. Mike will be in a little bit later on this morning. Merrill Hodge, Talking Steelers, Missy Matthews, Mark Madden, all the M's for you. Yesterday was like one of those unbelievably beautiful days.
00:00:18
Speaker 2: Great day.
00:00:19
Speaker 1: Yes, it was a great day. I did the Ohio Powell trip back down and back. I don't know if you.
00:00:26
Speaker 2: Guys know this.
00:00:27
Speaker 1: On 43, you're allowed to go as fast as you want. You can go 150 miles an hour.
00:00:31
Speaker 3: 43 is like Second Ave and that stretch of Forbes between Regent Square and Squirrel Hill.
00:00:41
Speaker 2: There are no rules. There are no rules.
00:00:43
Speaker 4: No.
00:00:44
Speaker 1: But the funny thing is, is every bridge, I'm always like, this is the Joe Montana Bridge.
00:00:48
Speaker 2: Wait, no, it's not.
00:00:49
Speaker 1: Okay, this is the Joe Montana. No, this is not the Joe Montana Bridge. That's named for?
00:00:53
Speaker 2: Uh-huh, yeah.
00:00:55
Speaker 1: It's like one of the first ones as you come off of that, I think, Finleyville exit. And then it's like the huge bridge with a huge span. It's got like the vista. It's a really nice bridge. Look, it's a Joe Montana bridge. It's really nice. It's very nice. And you think you can see John Candy off in the woods also. Did you stop and see.
00:01:18
Speaker 5: Gene Steratore? Like he wanted you to come hang out?
00:01:21
Speaker 1: We talked and we were going to do it when we got done hiking. And then he was like, oh, dude, I got called into town. And I was like, all right, next time. And then I was like, he didn't get called into town. He was like, the last thing I want is some muddy idiots walking through my. I really wanted to see his set up. Out there because he works from home. So, you know, a million monitors. But the other thing I was bummed out is we stopped for a beer at the summit. You know, the legendary Summit Hotel, which was that hotel that got was the architect is the same architect as the one that built the hotel. The Shining is based on the Stanley in Estes Park. And I think that's the name of it. They look, I've, I've been to both of them and they look identical. Pull in to like, Oh, let's have a porch beer. Look at the view closed for the season.
00:02:17
Speaker 4: No.
00:02:17
Speaker 1: Oh, close for the season. They close after what.
00:02:24
Speaker 5: Season you don't do anything in the winter.
00:02:26
Speaker 2: Apparently not.
00:02:27
Speaker 1: But then it made me think I was like, well, wow, this really is like the shining. Oh yeah. Like, That means there's a caretaker in there. You could be the caretaker, Mr.
00:02:39
Speaker 4: Bauman.
00:02:39
Speaker 2: For the winter.
00:02:40
Speaker 1: Your money's no good here.
00:02:42
Speaker 2: But I was bummed out at that part of it.
00:02:44
Speaker 1: But the rest of it, just a gorgeous, absolutely beautiful day in western Pennsylvania. Probably like 40% to 50% of leaves still on a tree. Because we're going to lose them all this week. They're coming down. There's no way they're going to stick around very much longer. It's leaf season.
00:03:02
Speaker 2: Oh, dude. Don't I know it. Leaves. Don't I know it. Every time I walk out of my door, no matter.
00:03:08
Speaker 1: I'm going through those batteries, like, you know, every hour I have.
00:03:12
Speaker 2: To replace the battery. Yeah.
00:03:14
Speaker 1: Those lithium batteries, which are probably not great somehow.
00:03:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, just when you're done. I think they say on the box, just kick them down a storm drain.
00:03:23
Speaker 2: Is that what you're.
00:03:24
Speaker 1: Supposed to do?
00:03:24
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:03:25
Speaker 1: Lithium batteries. It's the best place for them. Those are one-use.
00:03:28
Speaker 2: Oh, okay.
00:03:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, don't charge them.
00:03:30
Speaker 2: Don't charge them. Straight in the sewer. Right in the sewer.
00:03:32
Speaker 1: Got it.
00:03:33
Speaker 4: And.
00:03:34
Speaker 2: Then the raccoons use them, right?
00:03:36
Speaker 1: To gain power.
00:03:37
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:03:38
Speaker 1: Awesome power. These monster lithium enhanced raccoons emerge one day. Well, I'm doing my part is what you're saying. And that's all you can do. But lots of leaves. But what are we doing weather-wise here, Abby? What's it going to continue to look like?
00:03:54
Speaker 5: It sounds like just.
00:03:55
Speaker 6: A couple brief showers this morning, and then it's warm with some sunshine a little bit later. So high of 71 today, so we're kind of staying in the 70s. But News This Hour is brought to you by Keystone Basement Systems.
00:04:06
Speaker 5: All things basement-y. Wet basement. KeystoneBasementSystems.com.
00:04:10
Speaker 1: All right.
00:04:11
Speaker 6: Imagine if you could see your favorite movie again for the first time. There's a theater in the Netherlands that's going to give people that opportunity. So next Monday, the pay cinema chain is going to take a 30 willing participants hypnotize them so that they temporarily forget about a movie that they've already seen and then those people will watch the movie and get an opportunity to feel like they're seeing it for the very first time so the.
00:04:41
Speaker 5: Volunteers have four movies to choose from.
00:04:43
Speaker 6: The matrix seven la la land and interstellar uh.
00:04:49
Speaker 2: First of all, what is the point of limiting their choices? Yeah.
00:04:54
Speaker 1: I don't know. That's the thing. Yeah.
00:04:57
Speaker 5: And also, I don't know, like maybe some of those movies I would pick, but there's some classic movies.
00:05:03
Speaker 6: Wouldn't you want to see The Godfather again or Goodfellas or just like something else that's really huge in the canon?
00:05:11
Speaker 3: Is the hypnotism specific to the film? And that's why they're limiting it to four movies. Like, they're going to have a classroom of people who are like, Interstellar. I want to forget.
00:05:23
Speaker 2: Meanwhile, I've never seen three of them.
00:05:26
Speaker 1: Which are what?
00:05:27
Speaker 2: I never saw Interstellar. I never saw The Matrix. Really? Believe it or not, I never saw The Matrix.
00:05:34
Speaker 1: I don't know why.
00:05:35
Speaker 2: I just never did.
00:05:35
Speaker 6: But you've seen seven, so you haven't seen La La Land?
00:05:38
Speaker 2: Oh, okay.
00:05:39
Speaker 1: I didn't see two of them. I saw seven in La La Land. La La Land, to this day, I'm like, why.
00:05:44
Speaker 2: Did that win Oscars? I don't understand it.
00:05:47
Speaker 1: It was a movie about how a white dude taught black people how to play jazz. And that seemed. It's picking up where Marty McFly left off. It's your cousin, Marvin Monk.
00:06:04
Speaker 2: Anyways, yeah, I don't understand it.
00:06:06
Speaker 1: I've not seen.
00:06:06
Speaker 5: What movie would you pick, though?
00:06:07
Speaker 1: I would pick The Godfather because there's no movie that I can think of that has as many layers that I love.
00:06:15
Speaker 2: And it's long, and there's characters, there's storylines. It's the best. Godfather's the best.
00:06:22
Speaker 3: I might pick a one-watcher, you know? Well, that's why Seven's in there, right? Because no one throws on Seven as their comfort, do-stuff-around-the-house movie.
00:06:32
Speaker 1: Oh, my God. You're in it for the twist. But the interesting thing is, Seven is a movie you will only watch one time, typically, right? But Silence of the Lambs, which is not that.
00:06:46
Speaker 2: Much less sort of horrific. I think I've watched that 50 times.
00:06:52
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:06:53
Speaker 2: Silence of the lambs is rewatchable. It is so damn good.
00:06:57
Speaker 1: What, why is that?
00:06:59
Speaker 2: Uh, it's a much better movie. It's a much better movie. You're right. You're right.
00:07:03
Speaker 3: Well, also as a Pittsburgh or you're like, you're like the house where he's at. My aunt lives like 15, 20 minutes from the house with the well in the ground, the, The well that goes down with the innkeeper.
00:07:16
Speaker 2: Buffalo Bill's house.
00:07:17
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:07:18
Speaker 1: You can rent that out now. The Airbnb that. There isn't a well in the house though, right? They put one in there. They did. Kind of like the house that's the Christmas story house up in Cleveland that was only the exterior of the shot. And then they made it look like the interior of the movie complete with.
00:07:40
Speaker 2: A leg lamp.
00:07:41
Speaker 1: Just like when you go into the Bull and Finch Pub in Boston, it's not really Cheers. But they never tried to make it look like Cheers. It doesn't look like Cheers. You know that people.
00:07:50
Speaker 3: Have done some gross stuff in the Silence of the Lambs Airbnb.
00:07:55
Speaker 2: No question. There's got to be cameras in there, right?
00:07:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think so. Well, just like the owners making sure that nobody's doing a satanic ritual. Or some guys just fapping like everywhere.
00:08:09
Speaker 3: Well, that is so exciting. For sure happened in that house. Someone has done.
00:08:13
Speaker 5: Everybody has to do the dance.
00:08:15
Speaker 2: Yes, exactly. There's the mirror.
00:08:20
Speaker 1: Like when they're showing them the house and they're like, and here's your fruit basket mirror.
00:08:24
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:08:25
Speaker 2: No, this is when you're going to do the fruit basket. Oh, this is great.
00:08:28
Speaker 5: You can choose... Your own kimono, whichever one feels like it's you.
00:08:33
Speaker 3: We have sort of an open kimono policy around here. Oh, that's the guy who's showing you around. His own open kimono?
00:08:41
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's right.
00:08:43
Speaker 1: Was she a great big frat person? I told you my friends were at the Nutcracker with the PSO at Hines Hall one year, and they were like, that voice on the Nutcracker, it sounds so familiar. And then they, like, open up the program, and they're like, Ted Levine. No, it's the guy. It's the guy. It was Buffalo Bill from.
00:09:05
Speaker 5: Oh, my God.
00:09:06
Speaker 1: And he was like, Nutcracker, Nutcracker.
00:09:08
Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't know how the Nutcracker is.
00:09:10
Speaker 1: Make me a nut. Find me a fine.
00:09:14
Speaker 7: Why was I doing Max Baker? For some reason, I made it. Fiddler on the roof. Sunrise, sunset.
00:09:25
Speaker 2: And when he does that, he flips it out for sunset.
00:09:27
Speaker 1: No. Sunrise. If I had a girl suit. If I had a girl suit.
00:09:43
Speaker 2: Oh, my God.
00:09:44
Speaker 6: I like that we're workshopping a musical Silence of the Lambs.
00:09:48
Speaker 5: It's about time.
00:09:49
Speaker 1: Silence of the Lambs meets Fiddler on the Lambs.
00:09:54
Speaker 2: Fiddler on the Lambs.
00:10:06
Speaker 1: This feels blasphemous somehow, and I don't know how. No, it doesn't. It doesn't.
00:10:11
Speaker 2: Ted Levine.
00:10:11
Speaker 5: It sounds like a million dollar idea.
00:10:13
Speaker 1: Is what it sounds like.
00:10:14
Speaker 2: Ted Levine, 69 years old, still around, kicking ass.
00:10:19
Speaker 6: Yeah, he's done so much character actor work that when he pops up on television, it usually does take me a second to recognize him.
00:10:26
Speaker 5: But then I immediately go into the creep factor.
00:10:29
Speaker 6: And I wonder how much that's followed him in his career.
00:10:34
Speaker 2: Do you know where he's from?
00:10:35
Speaker 6: Do people see him out of context and they're like not sure who he is? Or do they see him and they're like, oh my God, I can't watch this movie.
00:10:41
Speaker 5: That's Buffalo Bill.
00:10:42
Speaker 1: It's jarring to see him. If Ted Levine was sitting in his childhood home right now, He could be listening to the DVE morning show. Where is he from, like Grove City or something? Bel Air, Ohio, which is right on the border of, like, the panhandle between Wheeling and Pennsylvania. Yeah, I love DVE.
00:11:01
Speaker 2: That was a big Jack Malloy guy. Yeah. Jack Malloy and Ted Levine.
00:11:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, all night, Jack Malloy.
00:11:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, here we go. We're going to play a little hearts. I like Ed Wilson.
00:11:18
Speaker 8: Ann Wilson looks gorgeous.
00:11:24
Speaker 1: I just saw her on an interview the other day. She did, um, uh, the Aerosmith thing this week.
00:11:33
Speaker 2: She was part of that.
00:11:33
Speaker 1: That's right. Are they tights or what? Or it's just, I mean, reach a level of celebrity where, I think that's it.
00:11:41
Speaker 2: I think they might have toured together at one point.
00:11:43
Speaker 1: Madden was there for those Hollywood Bowl shows, and we'll talk to him about it at 8.45 today.
00:11:49
Speaker 6: But you brought that up, but Aerosmith apparently isn't saying goodbye to the stage just yet. So during the band's second Aerosmith and Friends show, which was on Sunday night in Hollywood, frontman Steven Tyler pushed back after comedian Bill Burr seemingly referred to the two shows as the end of Aerosmith. So while he was on the stage, Steven Tyler told the crowd, so Bill Burr said that these are our final shows.
00:12:13
Speaker 5: Doesn't he know you can't get rid of Aerosmith?
00:12:16
Speaker 6: And then he added, at the end of the world, there's only going to be cockroaches, Aerosmith, and I guess Bill Burr.
00:12:22
Speaker 1: Well, that's good news, I guess.
00:12:24
Speaker 3: I thought Bill Burr was doing them a solid by hyping it up.
00:12:29
Speaker 4: Yeah. So that's.
00:12:31
Speaker 2: So they're just like. I'm sure he's going to be pissed about it.
00:12:33
Speaker 4: Okay.
00:12:34
Speaker 3: Yeah, because he's being used as a pawn. Yeah.
00:12:38
Speaker 2: You might have just got it wrong.
00:12:41
Speaker 1: It's one of those I didn't know I wasn't supposed to say that things.
00:12:45
Speaker 6: It feels farewell-y though to do such a hype show and I get that they had cancelled essentially a farewell tour. This is a much better set up especially for Steven Tyler's vocals to do it this way and just do two really celebratory shows.
00:13:04
Speaker 5: I kind of thought that that was what they were doing.
00:13:07
Speaker 6: So maybe Bill just had the same interpretation of that.
00:13:11
Speaker 1: Like, dude, not for nothing, but maybe you should hang it up. I mean, this was fine. I'm saying this as a friend. You know, it's been a minute since Bill's been on the show. I'm going to have to send out the bird signal and tell him to check in halfway through the football season. Because he'll start bitching about us cheating or something like that.
00:13:34
Speaker 8: Patriots going through a rebuilding year, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Steelers get all the breaks. Look at their scheduling. He actually couldn't bitch about the scheduling. We lost to the Patriots, too. How could he complain? They scheduled their way into a Super Bowl last year.
00:13:48
Speaker 1: Look, Bill's turned a corner since he's done shrooms and dropped his anger and ego that morning when he woke up that day and decided to kill his ego.
00:13:58
Speaker 2: That's a whole new guy, man.
00:14:01
Speaker 3: I would feel robbed if I did psychedelics and they took my anger and passion away from football specifically.
00:14:10
Speaker 1: If you couldn't be mad at the Steelers.
00:14:12
Speaker 2: Wait a second.
00:14:13
Speaker 3: What am I going to put all of my stuff into?
00:14:16
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:14:17
Speaker 1: Well, that's why I think the ayahuasca thing is funny. Like, oh, yeah, it just kills your ego. It's like, have you seen Aaron Rodgers?
00:14:23
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:14:23
Speaker 1: Because I don't think it's worked on his ego.
00:14:26
Speaker 5: I don't think so.
00:14:27
Speaker 1: Do the fade one more time.
00:14:29
Speaker 2: Has anybody else seen that?
00:14:30
Speaker 1: The DMT video that's been going around or is that solely in my algorithm about the guy? What do you mean? That smokes toad venom DMT that is taken from toad venom and the freak out that ensues. He's got two people who are his guides and this dude just decides to go on a journey and And it's only like a minute long. And it looks like it's going to alter his brain forever. This is what it sounded like.
00:15:01
Speaker 2: Hold on.
00:15:06
Speaker 1: He's like smoking a bowl of like toad venom DMT.
00:15:10
Speaker 4: Hold it.
00:15:11
Speaker 1: Nine.
00:15:12
Speaker 4: Eight.
00:15:13
Speaker 2: Seven. Hold it. Five. Four.
00:15:18
Speaker 3: Three.
00:15:18
Speaker 4: Two.
00:15:23
Speaker 2: And the guy's just, like, slowly going to sleep for a sec.
00:15:26
Speaker 3: Oh, I love you.
00:15:28
Speaker 1: And now he's freaking out.
00:15:30
Speaker 2: Just relax.
00:15:31
Speaker 4: Undulating.
00:15:32
Speaker 1: Release. Just relax. I love you guys.
00:15:35
Speaker 3: Oh, my.
00:15:36
Speaker 1: Just feel the love. Oh. Oh.
00:15:41
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:15:42
Speaker 1: He's flipping out, losing it.
00:15:46
Speaker 6: This is like everybody picture your kid in Target not getting what they want.
00:15:50
Speaker 9: Yeah.
00:15:50
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:15:54
Speaker 1: Why is he so close to water?
00:15:59
Speaker 5: Yeah, he's going to drown.
00:16:04
Speaker 1: My God. Relax. Relax. You're just seeing the goblins of the afterlife coming after you.
00:16:12
Speaker 2: They have him in a crick. Oh, dude, it's messed up.
00:16:15
Speaker 1: And apparently when you do this, like you go to some dimension and it's the same chemical your brain releases when you die. And you go to some dimension and they keep describing these like nefarious gatekeeper figures. Some people call them goblins and stuff like that. I mean, Neil Brennan said it took him a year and a half to come back from his DMT trip. Is there any world that you want to explore that? Does that sound fun? Like, let's smoke some DMT from a toad. And apparently the guy, the ancient toad ritual was actually invented by a guy in Texas in 1983. Oh, that takes the mystique away from the whole thing. Ken Nelson came across this Italian study about toad species.
00:17:07
Speaker 2: His dog found one. He's like, I wonder if this is one of them.
00:17:09
Speaker 3: And he.
00:17:10
Speaker 1: squirted out the toad goo and he, and then he, and then he just went after it. And then he was like, Whoa, that was crazy. And then he kind of became a shaman after that. I assume this was a 3000 year old practice. No, the ancient ritual is the same age as like the technology that started the iPhone.
00:17:31
Speaker 3: No.
00:17:31
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:17:31
Speaker 3: This is like, if I knew it was created by a dude in an Earl Campbell Jersey somewhere in Texas, I would be out.
00:17:39
Speaker 1: $ 2, 600 is what they charge you to take you out into the middle of wherever and do that and then guide you on a trip you may never come back from. But I tell you what, my buddy did it.
00:17:54
Speaker 4: DMT?
00:17:54
Speaker 1: He had toad venom, which I don't know if that's the same thing.
00:17:57
Speaker 2: I'm pretty sure.
00:17:58
Speaker 1: It's the same thing?
00:17:59
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:17:59
Speaker 3: Okay, so I used to work with this guy and he's like, yeah, yeah, I did toad venom. I'm like, how was it? And he's like, Can't say that.
00:18:12
Speaker 1: Can't say that.
00:18:13
Speaker 2: Can't say that, Ted. No!
00:18:17
Speaker 1: What was he doing? I don't know.
00:18:20
Speaker 5: He's a very smart guy.
00:18:22
Speaker 1: What you're saying is your friend smoked the toad venom and then he achieved.
00:18:29
Speaker 2: I arrived.
00:18:31
Speaker 1: I arrived. And we're like, what? And he's like, hard.
00:18:35
Speaker 2: Alright, dude.
00:18:36
Speaker 1: I got it. We're going to send you to the iHeart training just for a little bit.
00:18:41
Speaker 5: You need to do your training again.
00:18:42
Speaker 2: That's right.
00:18:44
Speaker 1: And by the way, the iHeart training does resemble that guy's DMT trip. You're going to be writhing around in the water. In the creek, being held down.
00:18:51
Speaker 2: David Edgar's going to be holding you down.
00:18:53
Speaker 1: Relax, Ted. Relax. It's only A, B, or C. Pick one. It's usually D, all of the above, Ted. All of the above, you got to pick that.
00:19:08
Speaker 5: Why can't I get a raise?
00:19:09
Speaker 1: Relax. Relax. Yeah. It's a pizza party.
00:19:16
Speaker 2: You're at the pizza party.
00:19:17
Speaker 1: There's donuts in the break room. Your friend starts to tell you about his toad venom experience. Do you, A, ask him to describe it in great detail? B, allow Tad to dig the hole even deeper for himself?
00:19:32
Speaker 2: Mike will be in here in just a little bit.
00:19:34
Speaker 4: Pens.
00:19:35
Speaker 2: Oh, the pens.
00:19:36
Speaker 1: People hated the jerseys. I thought the jersey was okay. I didn't hate it. I didn't love it.
00:19:41
Speaker 3: It was better on the players than it was released as a picture of a shirt.
00:19:47
Speaker 1: Did not help. There was no blue wave. at PPG Paints Arena last night. If they got the Chili Goal last night, we'd feel a little differently about it.
00:19:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, but that didn't happen. Wasn't it far away from a Chili Goal?
00:19:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's what I'm saying. If it's like, oh, they're 1-0 in the remix.
00:20:03
Speaker 2: Oh, right, yeah. It was 3-2 Vegas Knights. Win that one.
00:20:08
Speaker 1: It doesn't look great for your Pittsburgh Penguins. What's the weather looking like going forward, Abby?
00:20:13
Speaker 6: So just a little bit of rain this morning is possible. But then otherwise, it's going to be clouds giving way to sunshine today.
00:20:19
Speaker 5: High of 71.
00:20:20
Speaker 1: Your WDVE game day update. Bud Light game day bar of the week. Getaway Bar and Grill in Brookline. Stop at Getaway Bar and Grill and enjoy $ 3 Bud Light bottles. What a deal during all Steelers games. Bud Light, easy to drink, easy to enjoy. The E-Morning Show. Here's Mike Pursuta with three takes that resonate. All right, here we go. Mike Pursuta, one, two, three.
00:20:41
Speaker 2: Let's hear them. Take number one, keeping up with the Joneses.
00:20:45
Speaker 9: It's the way Jeffrey Simmons dominated Seattle for the Bears on Monday night. Got you pondering what the Steelers might add in advance of the November 10 NFL trade deadline.
00:20:55
Speaker 2: You are not alone.
00:20:57
Speaker 9: Previous high-profile transactions involving DeForest Buckner and Quentin Nelson got the ball rolling this season in an NFL that in recent seasons has shifted gears as a collective and leaned into embracing trades for a change. Are the 6-2 Steelers prepared to keep pace in the arms race? And are they positioned to do so? Omar Khan is on the clock. If there's a move to be made, he may have to get creative before the alarm goes off. Take number two, it's complicated. Everyone, it seems, would love to add a wide receiver, preferably a potential difference maker as opposed to another MVS.
00:21:33
Speaker 2: But it's a lot more layered than.
00:21:35
Speaker 9: The Steelers simply deciding it's time to go get Brian Thomas Jr. For one thing, bringing in a pass catcher who lacks familiarity with Aaron Rodgers and Rodgers' maniacal insistence on precision might not be a fit. For another, the draft capital it could take to acquire the right player might need to be kept in reserve in the event the Steelers want to trade up in April in pursuit of a first-round quarterback, assuming there's one perceived as worth going to get by then. Mike McCarthy prefers solutions from within. The Steelers might have to roll the dice on their wide receiver solution being Roman Wilson and or Michael Pittman Jr.
00:22:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't love that either.
00:22:19
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:22:20
Speaker 1: I like Pittman coming back.
00:22:23
Speaker 2: I don't know that I like. I'm interested.
00:22:26
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:22:27
Speaker 4: Right.
00:22:28
Speaker 1: I don't have enough information. Right.
00:22:31
Speaker 2: Take number three. So how do they get better?
00:22:33
Speaker 9: Six and two is a hell of a start, but there's more to be gleaned. Special teams tops that list. Cover better and get more from returns, specifically the returner in which so much was invested. And run the ball in the red zone.
00:22:48
Speaker 2: What am I talking about?
00:22:49
Speaker 9: Well, my favorite play from Sunday's pounding of the Browns was Jalen Warren's one-yard touchdown run. That was a snap on which they couldn't throw another fade to DK because.
00:22:59
Speaker 2: DK wasn't in the game. Now you just can't leave.
00:23:08
Speaker 9: The more I think about that, that was Mike McCarthy's solution to Rodgers' insistence on throwing. Okay, if this is how it's going to be, you can throw it to him, but he's standing next to me.
00:23:17
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:23:17
Speaker 9: So do something else, please. And they handed it off to Warren, and he ran it in the end zone, and they played. The guys ran out with the big flags and everybody went, yay.
00:23:26
Speaker 1: You're the only person I've heard make that connection. And it makes perfect sense to me. It's a good way to do it. Rob him of his toys and he cannot play.
00:23:39
Speaker 2: You have to eat your vegetables because there's nothing else.
00:23:42
Speaker 1: Baldinger did a couple of great videos yesterday. You don't like him? No, he loves the Steelers O-line. Yeah, loves it. The one where he went from the 80s to the 90s to the 2000s, comparing them, it's great. I mean, they really have kind of redefined the attitude of this team. It has matched what I think TJ Watt has tried to have as the representative emotion of this team for a long time. but felt like he was fighting that one alone, you know? And now I think that the edge is actually on the offensive side of the ball.
00:24:24
Speaker 2: I'll say both lines, which... Yeah, defensive lines. Cam Hayward's been amazing. That was... He has, absolutely.
00:24:31
Speaker 9: He's been amazing. No perceptible decline in his play whatsoever.
00:24:38
Speaker 1: As soon as all that stuff happened with his contract and all the criticism came his way... He's been incredible. Seriously, the noisier it got, the better Cam Hayward got.
00:24:49
Speaker 9: But this was the plan all along. Since Khan and Weidel became the tag team. Build the lines. Remember we were talking going into training camp.
00:25:02
Speaker 2: Both lines should be a strength. And it didn't start that way.
00:25:05
Speaker 9: And I think a lot of people, oh God, they stink again at this, they stink again at that. It's hard for people to wrap their head around September is still the preseason.
00:25:15
Speaker 2: It just counts.
00:25:18
Speaker 9: And there were some complications with the Honitore being injured. And, you know, the starting line wasn't the starting line until it was week three. But clearly, you know, Frazier is advancing as you should.
00:25:31
Speaker 2: Best center in the game, most people are saying.
00:25:33
Speaker 9: McCormick is advancing as a young player. Fatano's a little slower than those two guys at his new position, but the run-blocking stuff is there. Baldinger had a clip on the Dowdle run on which Dowdle fumbled and Fatonowitz chasing the play and in position to recover it.
00:25:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, thank God.
00:25:51
Speaker 9: He's a long way down the field for alignment at that point. Those are little indicators of how well they're playing as a group.
00:25:59
Speaker 2: And coached.
00:26:01
Speaker 9: And the defensive thing, the divisional labor at outside linebacker is fascinating to me.
00:26:08
Speaker 1: T.J.
00:26:09
Speaker 2: Watt playing 56% of the snaps.
00:26:11
Speaker 9: As a guy who's making $ 41 million.
00:26:14
Speaker 2: So what? So what? He got two sacks. Exactly. And the other guys are helping. Would you feel better if he played 90 and had two sacks?
00:26:21
Speaker 9: Or less than that because he's not as effective. But that's a little bit of a different way to.
00:26:27
Speaker 2: Approach it, right? I don't think people have been screaming for the last several years. Less T.J.
00:26:34
Speaker 4: Watt.
00:26:34
Speaker 9: This defense is living up to its reputation or its paychecks.
00:26:38
Speaker 1: Play them less. No, I'm sure there are people who are still bitching about him not being in there more, as it is.
00:26:45
Speaker 2: It's working.
00:26:45
Speaker 1: But is the defensive line going to be better with Derek Harmon? Because they've been pretty good without him. I just hope he can get on the field.
00:26:51
Speaker 2: At the very least, it's deeper.
00:26:53
Speaker 9: I feel bad for the kid. Number one pick, and now he's got to get in line behind me and Joe Jobity. Yeah, you got Wally Pipps. No, yeah, of course it's going to get better with Derek Harmon.
00:27:03
Speaker 1: All right.
00:27:04
Speaker 2: Been pretty good.
00:27:07
Speaker 9: Six and two is not their top end. In terms of what they're capable of. They can be better. And they're going to have to be if they're going to do anything in the postseason because the teams that win in January are the ones that keep getting better all year.
00:27:24
Speaker 1: If they beat the Ravens once and beat Cincinnati a second time.
00:27:31
Speaker 9: It's going to be hard not to win the division.
00:27:35
Speaker 1: They'd have to lose like every other game. and Cincinnati would have to not tank. The other thing I think we saw from Sunday... And we're assuming that the Ravens are done, because they're going to lose Lamar for a month, and they're on quarterback number four and five this weekend.
00:27:51
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:27:53
Speaker 9: Normally I don't go there, but I think that's a reasonable assumption.
00:27:56
Speaker 1: And Derrick Henry, I think, finally hit the wall.
00:27:59
Speaker 2: Well, and he doesn't have the blocking he used to have.
00:28:02
Speaker 1: No line, no fullback.
00:28:03
Speaker 2: Hence the wall.
00:28:07
Speaker 3: It's not like the Ravens are falling back. Well, but we still have this stout defense.
00:28:11
Speaker 2: No, no.
00:28:12
Speaker 1: In the absence of Lamar.
00:28:13
Speaker 2: And they don't believe in what they're doing.
00:28:15
Speaker 1: They're bitching and like Jesse Minter was supposed to go in there and tighten the ship up there.
00:28:20
Speaker 2: A mixed metaphor.
00:28:21
Speaker 9: But still, they're complaining. So nobody can just come in and coach well?
00:28:29
Speaker 1: Just anybody?
00:28:30
Speaker 9: You can't just pick the hot bleep assistant and say, yeah, go do what Harbaugh did.
00:28:35
Speaker 1: Dick LeBeau couldn't effectively be a head coach in the NFL. And he's a.
00:28:42
Speaker 9: Hall of Famer. Think about that for a minute. The other thing that I think we saw Sunday for the first time was Cleveland missed Jim Schwartz. Because I'm probably watching all the same clips that you were watching that are on the internet, the All-22 stuff. And the Browns kept Leaving the middle open in the defensive line with the wide spread of the front four, and they stayed in nickel, and the.
00:29:11
Speaker 2: Ball ran down their throats. Why did they stay in nickel? They had no adjustment. The whole freaking game.
00:29:18
Speaker 9: You know, the stunts and all that worked the first time, so they did it again, and the Steelers just trapped the crap out of them.
00:29:22
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:29:24
Speaker 9: So their new defensive coordinator's got some figuring out to do, although I don't think Cleveland is done. I don't think that was exposing Cleveland.
00:29:31
Speaker 1: No, I don't think that that unravels them completely, even though I was saying it did yesterday. But it is fascinating when you watch those all 22s. Dowdle's got some really good vision, Mike. And he hits the hole hard. I really like the combination of these two right now. And I hope Aaron Rodgers realizes he has a chance to do what Peyton Manning did As long as he is as humble as Peyton Manning was forced to be at the end.
00:30:03
Speaker 9: I think he can do way more than Peyton Manning did. He just can't do what Aaron Rodgers did in 2010.
00:30:08
Speaker 1: But he needs to go more in that direction.
00:30:12
Speaker 2: A little more in that direction. Just, you know, take his toys away. Go three tight ends fullback.
00:30:18
Speaker 1: Less is more, just like the TJ thing.
00:30:20
Speaker 2: Throw it now, smart guy.
00:30:21
Speaker 1: Merrill Hodge joins us when we come back. And we've got Missy Matthews and Mark Madden on the way.
00:30:27
Speaker 2: I love those tight ends, too. They're both, as pass catchers, explosive options.
00:30:34
Speaker 1: How much of a deal does the Washington contract seem like right now?
00:30:40
Speaker 2: People are all pissed off. Four years, $ 42 million?
00:30:42
Speaker 1: Keanu Benton, too. Critical part of that defensive line. And Herbig, another big contract that people bitched about.
00:30:56
Speaker 2: The backup line. Yeah, they're all backups. They're football players.
00:31:00
Speaker 1: Till they're not.
00:31:00
Speaker 9: Till they're not backups. The other thing we've seen about McCarthy, he uses everybody. If you have a hat on game day, you're going to play some snaps.
00:31:08
Speaker 1: He said that in camp, right?
00:31:10
Speaker 3: He's like, how many guys he elevated the year they won the Super Bowl in Green Bay.
00:31:15
Speaker 1: He's like, it took 75 guys. Yeah, so we're seeing some McCarthy influence, and so far it's working. But they can't lose Andy Weidel. That cannot happen. All right, Merrill's coming up here in just a little bit. Abby, we'll have your news at the top of the hour. Abby, what are we going to be talking about?
00:31:35
Speaker 6: Okay, what if everyone knew whether you tipped or not? There's one vacation spot that's making that a reactor.
00:31:40
Speaker 5: The next video.
00:31:41
Speaker 2: Home of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
00:31:43
Speaker 1: 102.5 DVE, Randy Bauman and the DVE Morning Show. Mike Percutita, Tad Whistle in the studio with me as we welcome our next guest brought to you by South Hills Kia. South Hills Kia has the ride and a price you'll love. Ladies and gentlemen, Merrill Hodge. What's up, Merrill? Yeah. Well, it is good to be with you.
00:32:08
Speaker 4: Sorry I missed last week, but our... The Pittsburgh Steelers have vibes of a champion in them.
00:32:16
Speaker 1: Vibes of a champion. I like hearing that. Here's what I'll say, Merrill. I'm interested on your take about the trenches. Because for me, on both sides of the ball, that was the most dominating performance from a Steelers offense and defensive line in the same game as I can remember in a long time.
00:32:39
Speaker 4: I totally agree, and they've built up to this. Let's go back to the first Cleveland game. I guarantee you that everybody here, well, I've walked into a locker room after games like that, and it's not comfortable. I went into meetings. It's not comfortable because you're uncertain about everything. Your house is a mess. And then I've walked in a locker room in meetings when it's like this. And when I say like this, In that Cleveland game, was there any time that you ever thought it was out of control? Even when DK dropped that pass, I had that interception, you know, I was a big... That would have ended the game, okay? And then it gave them hope. But did you ever think or feel that that game was out of control?
00:33:25
Speaker 1: Never.
00:33:26
Speaker 2: No. I'll say this, Merrill. I was uncomfortable.
00:33:31
Speaker 9: In the first half, because I thought they were dominating it, but they weren't achieving separation on the scoreboard. But when they went for the touchdown at the end of the second quarter, I thought that was really significant for a lot of reasons. One, it gave them a two-touchdown lead. Two, I love the screw-the-field goal touchdowns coming up here on this play. I thought that betrayed a confidence and a singleness of purpose.
00:33:56
Speaker 2: That helps.
00:33:58
Speaker 4: I would not disagree. They created a mindset there. Would not disagree with that. But my point is, there's two things I talk about all the time that you have to do, and if you can do, you win 90% of the time. If you can control the tempo in the game, which they did. They controlled the entire game. Even though they weren't scoring points, Cleveland wasn't going up and down the field on them. And they were moving the ball. And then they added that. that fourth and one scored touchdown versus the field goal. Did that drive. Okay. Might be the signature drive that really ignited who they are now, because the last couple of games they've been like this, you know, I'll give you a team that's, that's really at this level is the Chicago bears. I mean, they're in the trenches. You talk about, I mean, that's where it starts and ends. Like if you're ever going to build a team, if you're one of how good a team is, If you start there, it's going to tell you about who the team is. You know, you don't start the quarterback, don't start the running back, receivers or linebackers. Like closest to the ball tells you everything about the team. And what this team is doing closest to the ball is like the equivalent of what the Bears are doing. They may not be as complete right now as the Bears, but they are vicious in the box. And they're vicious around line scrimmage. And where they have elevated is on the defensive side. What they've done schematically, you know, to help, you know, they move their fronts around. Their linebackers are more aggressive. They're putting them in multiple spots. I mean, that's a burden. That's a burden on your offense as a whole. That means your offensive line. You know, they've got to identify people. Your running back has to identify your quarterback. And even your receivers from the perimeter when it comes to a pass, even blocking assignments. And it's been a real problem for teams. And they like it. And you can tell that they play better offensively. That way. And our offensive line, I'm telling you, from our just inside to outside, you know, they're going to maul you. They're going to maul you and they're going to move you. They're athletic. They work together. Now, they can just keep building from this. You know, we have 10 games to go, you know, roughly around there. You just keep building from.
00:36:12
Speaker 3: This, man.
00:36:13
Speaker 4: But I'm going to tell you this, those meetings that they're walking into now, there's a confidence and they know who they are now. A month ago, I don't think anybody really knew, including them. They didn't really know, but they know who they are now.
00:36:26
Speaker 3: Merrill, I guess if I were going to nitpick the win and a couple moments that were like, what are they doing? It would be, other than the DK drop that turned into the pick, it would be Aaron Rodgers in the red zone on that first drive, throwing the fade to DK. How do you keep him from doing that? How do you It seems like he's calling his own number there, and maybe he's not, but how do you instill in him that, hey, we're going to have success if we run the ball inside the five?
00:36:56
Speaker 4: I think he's starting to see that. I know he did that in the game, but I really believe when he did that, too, he was trying to reinstill some confidence in DK and felt that he had the window to do that. Listen, I always trust the player. Because I've been both sides of that line. I've been inside the white lines, outside the white lines, from a coaching perspective. And sometimes you've got to trust your players, you know. But then you still talk about it. I don't think that Aaron's going to make– I don't think ever he'll make a foolish decision in the chance of jeopardizing the team to win. You know, I just don't– I don't worry about him in that sense. And when he did, I understand what you're saying and what you're feeling and what you saw. Because I was like, yeah, I know why he did it, but I was like, boy, going forward, you might not be able to try to build somebody's confidence when this play is a little different. We need to win. We need to score a touchdown here, not build somebody's confidence.
00:38:03
Speaker 1: I completely understand seeing that you have the room on first and goal from the two to try and get DK the ball there. And give him some confidence and be able to build on that because he certainly doesn't have the foundation you'd like him to have at this point in the season. But second down, run the ball. Third down, run the ball. At that point, it didn't have the component that it had in Tampa Bay where it actually screwed them because they didn't run time off the clock and make Tampa use a timeout. But coming off of that game and seeing that there was an obstinance to what Rodgers was doing that seemed to be A little bit of this is for DK and a little bit of this is for Aaron.
00:38:53
Speaker 9: Yeah, and I really appreciate where Merrill's coming from on that because they need that guy.
00:38:57
Speaker 2: 100%. They need to build him up.
00:39:00
Speaker 9: But I got a problem with assuming just because you're on the one-yard line, you can score on second down because you could get a false start. Now you're back at the six. A lot of teams defend every blade of grass, and it's not a gimme that you're going to get in.
00:39:14
Speaker 2: So I.
00:39:15
Speaker 4: I.
00:39:15
Speaker 9: Appreciate where you think he's coming from, Merrill, and I kind of agree with it as I hear you explain it, but I think that needs to shift. I think it needs to be whoever scores the freaking touchdown scores the freaking touchdown, and we win the game, and that's how you get confidence.
00:39:29
Speaker 2: But that's why Merrill said I think he's starting to see that.
00:39:31
Speaker 4: I think that going forward, that's what he'll do. I really do. I just, you know, this is, we got to win now. You know, this isn't about building confidence. In that moment, I understood why I did it. Because I was just like, I was like, ah, why, why? And then I'm like, okay, I get it. I know why.
00:39:46
Speaker 1: Because not the.
00:39:48
Speaker 2: First time, right, Merrill?
00:39:49
Speaker 9: We've seen that fade all year and it ain't working. It doesn't work down the sideline and it doesn't work in the end zone. It just doesn't work.
00:39:58
Speaker 4: Because, well, true story. But there's a lot of other things that are working. Because he can't deny it. I can tell just in the overall, the way players are being called and what we're going to. He knows where our strength lies. You know, the shoot. Anybody who just starts watching football knows where our strength lies, man. Our ability to run the football and our ability to get those two backs rolling. Now, I will tell you this, though. Explosive plays are an element of a championship team that you do have to have. Now, it isn't like we don't have capabilities. There's a lot of teams that wish they had people on the perimeter that could do that because that takes the load off. So getting those guys rolling, too, and putting those elements in it. is going to help. Now our tight ends bailed us out of that because our, you know, our tight ends are starting to become a bigger part of what we're doing, you know, which, and they're simple throws too, that we're getting big plays off of. So, um, I'll just tell you the way they, I was like, I was like, dang, you know what, man, I never thought they'd get this to this point this fast in the trenches. Cause I'm just going to start starting in there. I'm just special offensive line. I mean, I'm, I just, I think the football gods above that Cleveland, Philadelphia did what they did. That's the best thing that ever happened to us. I mean, that are getting the on a chore over that receiver.
00:41:24
Speaker 2: Oh yeah. Yeah.
00:41:27
Speaker 1: And also, uh, more evidence of why the Steelers cannot let go of Andy Weidel, as far as I'm concerned. And I want to continue to bang that drum. Don't let that guy leave the organization.
00:41:34
Speaker 4: I mean, listen, we, it's, you know, Omar, they got a great team, you know, I know that team and they, they all, there's a ton of guys in there that are, you know, it takes a team there too. It takes a team and you have to have, and we, I've sat in those meetings and they have a heck of a team and they do a good job. And I thought this year's their best draft they've had, you know, in quite some time. And like there's significantly like four or five guys that could be impact players, you know, and it takes two years, you know, you don't, you get ideas right now, but you really know in two years in all fairness and the guys that, The draft they had was, so far, an outstanding draft.
00:42:18
Speaker 1: Merrill is brought to you by the team at South Hills Kia. South Hills Kia is the ride and a price you'll love. Merrill, love you, brother.
00:42:24
Speaker 2: Thanks so much, man. Love you, too. Enjoy the bye week.
00:42:26
Speaker 1: We'll see you.
00:42:27
Speaker 2: All right, Abby's got your news when we return. What are you talking about?
00:42:30
Speaker 5: Ew, what if everybody knew whether you tipped or not?
00:42:33
Speaker 2: Mark Madden, we'll ask him that.
00:42:35
Speaker 1: Missy Matthews and more M's on the way.
