Steelers' Offense Close to Finding Identity? | What are 'Bet' Plays in Playbook? | Week 10 NFL Picks
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For weeks now, everyone's been wondering in Stealer Nation, can the Steelers' offense figure
it out?
Can they find an identity?
I think we're seeing glimpses of it, and some of it's from what four players and current
players are talking about.
I'll explain what I mean by that, and take you into the Steelers' locker room here in
the Lockdown Steelers Podcast.
I'm your host, Chris Carter.
All that, and my week 10 picks here, let's get into it.
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Hello, and welcome to the Lockdown Steelers Podcast.
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Steelers fans, let's talk about the offense.
You know, if you want to talk about the Steelers game, we'll get to the Steelers Packers
game and my final prediction and break down of how I see that game going.
It's a chance for the Steelers to get to six and three.
We talked a lot about the defense yesterday, and we with our with our guy Peter Bikowski
of Lockdown Packers and how they need to take on Jordan Love.
You want that discussion?
Go to that episode from crossover Thursday.
But I want to talk about the offense, specifically the offense that could be building for the Steelers.
And I know everyone's been waiting for it to happen.
Hey, I've been waiting for it to happen.
I'd love to cover some offense.
It'd be a lot more fun, right?
Talk about some fun more ways to break things down in successful plays and then putting
up some more points.
I think the Steelers actually are getting closer to figuring that out.
And part of it has been something I've been saying since time of the morning that they
need to have more routine plays.
We haven't seen routine plays where you know, hey, if we call this play, you're getting
five to eight yards in the ground or you're getting a matchup that you love almost every
play in the passing game that your quarterbacks can be able to get it to one of your playmaker
wide receivers.
There's a lot there that I think that that's needed to happen.
And I think we're starting to see the foundation for that being built.
When you look at the all 22 film, when you see it break it down and compare it week to
week, I think that the Steelers are finding that.
And, you know, I was wondering do the Steelers feel like that?
And I went in the Steelers locker room and I started asking this question.
And one time, one person I asked to was Naji Harris and Naji Harris said, actually, yes,
I didn't pull the whole clip because it was kind of a short answer.
He didn't want to give away what the, what these plays were.
He did tell me, and he did tell, he told all of us in the scrum, he said, they call them
bet plays.
And those are the plays that the Steelers feel that when they call that bet, they're going
to get, they're going to, you're going to win the line of scrimmage or they're going
to win that situation and they're going to get the key yards that they need on those.
Those are the plays that they consider the routine plays that they know that they pull
up in a big situation because those are the plays that Steelers are most confident in.
I asked Kenny Pickett that same question and he talked a little bit more about that.
There was Kenny Pickett and the Steelers locker on Wednesday when I asked him that question.
And how do you think he calls it growing and how many plays you've got to feel like
while it's a team you're facing, you're going to have success in the moment.
So again, the start.
Do you feel like you guys are about to be more routine play and you guys can call him,
you can even make out the one that you've got success in.
Yeah, I think so.
And that's what, as the season goes, you kind of build those plays and now you're just
dressing them up differently and then, you know, you see around the lead that's kind
of, at this point in the season, you are what you are, you kind of feel good on those
plays.
You dress them up and you get guys open different ways.
So yeah, we'll continue to do that.
So that's Kenny Pickett explaining, yeah, they do have those plays and now it's just
about disguising them in different ways.
So it's not as obvious and that does go on that Canada.
And I think that the Steelers are finding different ways to do that, you know, throughout
the weeks, but they also need to hit on them more routinely.
But again, when I asked them, asked them about it, it's clear.
They're finding those things.
They're still figuring those things out because this is a young offense.
A lot of older offenses, they have those plays like, you know,
it took years for the Steelers to find some of the plays that worked with the killer
B era, whether it was how they would pull two to two offensive linemen to lead in the
run blocking game, how they would line up Antonio Brown across from Marthavis Bryant or
Judges to his Schuster and get them in situations that they thought teams would have
hard times making a choice.
Do we just double cover Antonio Brown?
Do we leave our corners on on these guys over here?
Who do we try to, who do we try to match up with?
It's those type of calls that build a successful offense and actually get into the
critiquing of how is an offense being called when you don't have those plays,
when you don't have those that foundation, it is that much harder.
But again, it doesn't matter if you call some amazing play that on a board,
it looks cute and cool.
You need the playmakers to execute them.
You need players that put fear in the hearts of defenders that force them to
respect different things and force them to make mistakes that you can take advantage
of them.
For example, there's plays that Mike McCarthy, where he calls Jet Sweeps to Tyree
Kill or to other guys based off of Tyree Kill and defenses when they're playing the
Dolphins, they are so scared of Tyree Kill and Jalen Waddle and that offense that they
make mistakes in those moments and McCarthy's offense is keyed on trying to pressure them
into those mistakes so that they can get more easy yards, more open looks, and that's
how they do it.
And Matt Canada has been trying to do those things.
And again, I'm not saying Matt Canada is Mike McCarthy.
I don't think he's on that level at all.
But I do think that he's been trying to do those things and he hasn't had the guys
that have been able to really strike fear in the hearts of defenders right away.
But I think now you're starting to see it and especially when we've been talking
about all week with George Pickens, how he's attracting double teams, how he's
get, how he's about defenses are trying to take him away because they see how dangerous
he is.
That is part of what they're starting to do.
And I think that's part of where Pickens, you know, his frustrations come from,
but that is exactly what you want to open up the offense because as Kenny Pickens
said after the game, as several Steelers have said since then, it allows other people
to get in single coverage and put the, put the defense at a disadvantage.
It also helps open up the run game because people are focusing on Pickens.
Naji Harris spoke about that when we asked him, has he talked to George Pickens this
week about, about that situation?
And he said this from the Steelers locker room.
Same day, I talked to Kenny Pickens.
You've been on the Georgia to George in a lot of ways since he's been here.
And just, what do you kind of tell him when he gets frustrated that the game isn't maybe
going the way he wants it to on the staff plan?
Yeah.
Um, like this is going to be a part of the NFL.
I mean, you know, I, I was, I talked to him.
I had time, um, whenever you're a key player in the office, they're not just going to
let you blow up the stashy.
You know, that's why I think that people tell to realize, you know, I mean, they're
not going to let you be a game work that that's what we call it.
So they don't find ways to minimize that player.
And when you find ways to minimize that player, it creates somebody else opportunity.
And that's the part of the team.
So now it's telling GP that it's okay.
It's not the wrong with being frustrated.
It's just how you handle things when you're frustrated, um, you know, there's, uh, obviously
it's a talented guy.
You're going to do all of all kinds of things to minimize him.
Um, but I was just telling him in the middle of the game, too, that you have a few
different poses and just know that you're going to have an opportunity to have an opportunity
to play.
So, um, you know, GP's a talented guy.
Like I said, I talked to him before half.
I talked to him at halftime.
I was telling him to be focused.
Did you talk to him at all the last couple of days?
I know that there were some stuff on, so today, it's like that today.
Today I was just the same stuff.
I was okay with frustrated, just, you know, young.
He's got a handle on the other way and you'll be good.
Well, I ain't known to make a big deal off of this is part of the sport.
And I'm using the ups and downs.
But as a team, we've got to rally everybody up and, you know, get back to the main goal.
And that's one of the games.
So there with Najee Harris, you talk about how he talked to George picking during the game
after the game, saying, Hey, yeah, that's a natural part of football.
People respect you.
So they're going to try to take you away and we're going to have to try to adapt to that.
And I think it's real funny that it's Najee Harris saying this because he's speaking
from experience because he is who people have keyed on for the past two years while
focusing on the ceiling because the steers haven't had a passing attack to scary ones.
So they say, Hey, you take away Najee Harris.
You really limit this offense.
You don't allow them to get that balance because they don't have the offensive line to really
scare us.
But they Najee Harris, as a talent, if you let him run, he'll be able to make everyone
else's job easier.
So I think Najee Harris there is speaking from experience from all the, the attention
he's attracted.
And now you're seeing him in that Titans game, him and Jalen Warren getting a lot easier
open lanes because the offensive lines getting down hill a little bit quicker because one
broader tone is on the field and that's helping.
But also too, you're seeing, you're seeing defenses have to pay attention to more things
in the Steelers offense because they're respecting that.
And that's where, you know, it comes into this is where creative play calling comes in.
How many times are they going to use Pickens isolated on one side of the field to force a
defense to declare, declare, obviously, are they double teaming him or are they not because
if you don't put another defender over there, pick pick pick it gets to know, Hey, George
Pickens is going to be on one on one, and I like this match up over here.
Or if they put a safety over the top on that side, you know, okay, well, that's two defenders
that they're putting on over there.
That means that if he's out, if he's out wide, we have all the guys over here, we can get
some mismatches here, whether it's in the run game or the past game.
And so those are part of the routine things that need to be part of the Steelers offense.
And it again has to be built on what, you know, Najee Harris was talking about what game
records and guys who are respected in that way.
And I think what they're also starting to do is they're starting to key in on the strengths
of their offensive line and pulling, putting guys in situations that they're, that they're
going downhill, they're using their strength, Broderick Jones, I said this a couple of weeks
ago, when we first saw him, oh, I guess it's a month ago now, but when we first saw him
against the Ravens and plays where he was, he was pulling and he was hitting in different
spots.
And you're starting to see that there.
And even against the Rand, Dan Moore doing it, you know, pulling their tackles, letting
them use their athleticism to get up and get to the second level, those type of things
are going to have to be game planned against by defenses, which means they can't focus
on everything else.
Once you can't focus on everything that an offense does, if they do more things well.
And, you know, talking about those plays, Craig Woofley, a former Steeler who covers
the Steelers with, you know, being their, their color man, you know, on the, on the broadcast.
He's been talking about it.
My first person, a clip of one of the plays against the Rams, they had Dan Moore Jr.
pull up into a gap and he was getting down to the second level and getting the linebacker.
He said, that's, that's the old 92 track.
We used to call that in the Chuck No Days.
And I'm like, wow, that's really cool.
And then he also brought it up again during the broadcast in the against the Ravens.
And there was a 33 track that's sprung open, Jalen Warren and it's using Sao Mali, using
Broderick Jones, using those guys, finding those strengths and incorporating them more
consistently into the offense.
And that's where the Steelers, if they are going to turn the corn on the offense, if they're
going to figure things out, they have to focus on those strengths and balance them out.
And if they're able to do that, you know, use it, use it, George Pickens, whenever he's
not waiting for you to target George Pickens, when he gets single coverage, if he's getting
double coverage, find other ways to hurt defenses and say, hey, if you, if you take him away,
the auntie Johnson is going to hurt you.
Naji Harris is going to hurt you.
Jalen Warren is going to hurt you.
Maybe Donnell Watchtaker to hurt somebody.
It sure would be nice to target him more.
But point being, there's other things the Steelers can do with this, with this offense.
And I think moving forward, it's going to be about playing to those strengths with how
the, with how they, with how they build things.
And I think they're starting to see it.
And I think pick it.
It's starting to see it too.
And that's what should really be exciting because as people know, if you've been listening
to this show, you've been watching this show, I still think he can be the guy that puts
it all together.
And when he does, it's going to make this offense so much more dangerous for years to come.
We got to get to my week 10 picks after the break here.
So stick with us.
We got all my week 10 picks.
And what, how I think the Steelers Packers game is going to break down in the key parts
of that game that need to be focused upon on Chris Carter here on the Lockdown Steelers
podcast.
Stick with us.
We still have so much to discuss.
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We're back here in the locked on Steelers podcast, I'm your host Chris Carter.
We get to the week 10 picks now before we get to the week 10 picks as always, I give
shout outs to our top players in the locked on Steelers pick them.
We could join by going to ESPN's pick skin pick them and it's looking for the locked
on Steelers pick him.
We could join any point in time.
We have over 280 members in it right now and it's a lot of fun.
In first place, there is a four way tie for these those picks, Jace Smith, Britt and holding
all of them.
It tied for first place with 93 correct picks on the year.
100 still six games up on me and I am tired of it.
Also shout out Jenna.
We apologize.
We don't have her on the show, but she's had a busy schedule this week and she is going
through it with that.
We give her a time and space to get her to get her other job done because that's the
number one right there.
Rest assured, she will be back and on the show.
Without further ado, let's get to our week 10 picks, the bears.
I did pick them to win this game, won a sleeper fest against the Panthers.
I was one of those games that I was like not paying a whole lot of attention to because
I was doing other things at the time.
But in all seriousness, next Thursday, we'll be very interested because that'll be Ravens
Bengal Steelers fans who have their eyes glued to that game.
But let's get to the games that are left here and reminder, all our odds and ends and
our lines are brought to you by Fandall Sportsbook, the number one sportsbook in America.
First game, we go to one o'clock here.
The Colts at the Patriots, the Colts are one and a half point favorites and I'm taking
them on the road here.
The Patriots have a disappointing team, but the Colts have been a feisty team.
They've got a defense that's been getting after it, causing turnover stuff in the run.
And they're offends with Gardner-Mintjou just just enough.
I got to see their injury report on Friday to confirm who's going to exactly be available.
But I like that their chance is against this Patriots team that struggled all year.
Another game actually got to 9-30 games, excuse me, that's one of the Germany games.
So excuse me.
But now we get to the one o'clock games and that's going to be the Niners at the Jaguars.
This is, the Niners are favored by three points on the road here in Jacksonville.
And man, I am tempted by this game and I took the temptation.
I'm taking the Jaguars in this situation.
I think the Niners, yes, they're coming off a buy, but they're coming over to the East
Coast.
They're playing against the Jaguars team.
It's also, it's also fully rested.
I think this Jaguars team is going to give the Niners some problems and they're going
to get after it and you're going to see the Niners after their hot start.
I think they're starting.
They've cooled off a little bit and the Jaguars, they're going to keep riding high.
I got them winning at home.
The Saints at the Vikings, the Saints are three point favorites against the Vikings.
And look, I'm loving what the Vikings are doing right now.
Josh Dobs, if you're a Steelers fan who remembers Josh Dobs, Josh Dobs was one of the nicest
people you could meet.
He was always so good with kids and all the charity work that he did in Pittsburgh.
And you know, he was always like a third stringer for the Steelers.
But no one ever said anything bad about Josh Dobs as far as, or no one had anything bad
to say about Josh Dobs as far as what kind of a person he was.
So when he went to the Cardinals and started balling out, Steelers fans are rooting for him
there.
And you saw that great, the great effort he showed when he went to the Vikings didn't
even have snaps to practice with when he played for the Vikings and led them to a win last
week.
This week, I don't think that that's going to get done.
The Saints have a really good defense.
They have a balanced team.
I think that the Saints find a way to win here, but I do think Josh Dobs comes out and
does make some planes.
But I've taken the Saints to win on the road and you can, and I'll keep the points as
well.
I think that they'll win by more than three.
We're going to the Titans at the Buccaneers, an important match up this week in the AFC
for both teams, if they want to stay in their playoff race.
The Buccaneers are our favorite by one and a half points, and I'm going to take them
on that.
I think that actually the Buccaneers at home can be a team that battles that out.
I think Will Levis is starting to figure some things out, but I really like one thing
the Buccaneers have.
They have guys up front, Vita Vea, and now Kalagia can see the pit man who went in the
first round this year at defensive tackle.
Those guys should be active for this game, and the Titans line won't be able to hold
up.
I'm taking the Buccaneers here.
Now, a game that Steelers fans will be keeping an eye on while they're watching the Steelers
play the Packers at 1 p.m.
Will be the Browns at the Ravens, the Ravens are favorite by six and a half points at
home, and I like the Ravens for this game.
I think the Ravens play defense and offense will counter what Cleveland does best.
I think it'll give the Ravens a chance to win at home and continue to assert their lead
in the AFC North, and that win will also give the Steelers some breathing if they're
able to get Owen over the Packers.
We'll talk about that game too.
Now we go to the other game of Steelers fans are going to be keeping an eye on the 1 o'clock
hour, and that's the Texans at the Bengals.
The Bengals are six and a half point favorites just like the Ravens are.
I was tempted to pick the Texans because it looks like Jamar Chase and T Higgins are dealing
with some serious injuries, and that would bring down Tyler Boyd to be the number one
wide receiver.
Tyler Boyd, another pit man, he's still talented, but he's not that guy, he's not that
number one guy that you want for Joe Burrow, and it makes me pull up because CJ Stroud
is playing phenomenally, but the Texans are also dealing with a lot of injury questions
to a lot of different positions.
So I'm going to take the Bengals.
I think they're overall the better team anyways, despite those injuries.
I think that both injuries will cancel out, and the better team will win this one, Bengals
win at home.
Again, we'll pick Steelers Packers in the third segment here, but moving along the Falcons
at the Cardinals, the Cardinals, man, Tyler Murray's back, but I'm not sure if it matters
a whole much.
This team is basically setting it, setting itself up so that they can rebuild in the draft
and start to reclaim, you know, climb back up in the future years.
I'll take the Falcons on the road winning this one out of their time zone.
Going on to the Lions at the Chargers.
This is an intriguing matchup in the four o'clock hour here.
The Lions have been a good team, the Chargers at the team that everyone says will be good
every year, and then they're not.
I'm taking the Lions.
I think they're playing better football.
I think they can hold a lot of scrimmage.
They get after Justin Herbert enough in this game, and that's the difference maker.
They'll win even with the three points that they're given on Fandals Sportsbook.
Then the Giants at the Cowboys, this is a crazy spread.
I attempted to just take the Giants if I was betting here in this game because 17 and
a half points is how many points the Cowboys are favored by.
It's a lot of points in the NFL to put on somebody.
I'm going to take the Cowboys to win, but I like the Giants to cover something because
I'm not sure if they'll allow themselves to go down that much, even though the Giants
are a stinking pile of trash right now.
But commanders at Seahawks, Seahawks, six and a half point favorites, I think that's
fair.
I'm taking the Seahawks at home against the commander's team that's not really doing
too well.
They were sellers at the deadline Jets at Raiders.
This is an intriguing matchup because both of these teams are, you know, didn't have
great starts and they're trying to build it back, they're trying to, you know, build
some momentum.
I'm going to take the Raiders at home in this one.
I think that they do just enough on defense to cause problems for the Giants.
I think this is going to be purely about which defense gets after the quarterback and which
teams manages that better.
I think the Raiders do that at home against the Jets better.
Then we move on to Monday night football here and it's the Broncos at the bills, taking
the bills minus seven out of the Broncos were upstarts and upset the chiefs the other
week.
I think that was a divisional rivalry thing and I'm totally taking the bills to handle
their business at home.
But who do I have in Steelers Packers and what are the keys that the Steelers have to achieve
in this game?
We'll get to all that in just a minute here on the Lockdown Steelers podcast.
I'm your host Chris Carter stick with us.
We still have a lot to discuss.
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Back here in the Lockdown Steelers podcast, I'm your host Chris Carter.
We continue our discussion here.
Let's focus on this Steelers Packers game now because these are two teams that are coming
into this game and both are in kind of different positions right now.
The Packers three and five, they need to do something to stay in the picture of trying
to get into the NFC playoff race, their division, the Vikings with Josh Dobs maybe at five
and four, they can catch them if they pick it up.
But the Steelers are also in a position this week, they have a chance to take some serious
ground.
Someone's going to lose the Ravens Browns game and that means if the Steelers win, they
either pick up, they bring it to just a half game behind the Ravens or they gain up
a game on the Browns and then they play the Browns the next week and they would have
a chance to sweep them and give themselves a really big cushion against the Browns.
So the Steelers need to win this game because this AFC North is highly competitive.
The AFC is highly competitive and who knows how this is going to go.
But breaking this game down, as I talked about it with Peter Bukowski on defense, Steelers
have to get out to Jordan Love.
They can't let him be comfortable.
The guy does have arm talent, but you can't let him get comfortable enough to use it because
when he's been flustered, that's when he's been running into trouble.
And that's where I think the Steelers can get after him and cause some problems.
And one thing that you saw if you were watching ESPN and watching NFL Live this week, there's
a lot of talk about simulated pressures and how so many teams are crowding the line of
scrimmage and creating easier matches because teams don't know where the press rush is
coming from.
The Steelers in this game, I think that they do a little bit of that to try to confuse
the Packers' offensive line and create those mismatches that they can get up front to
cause Jordan Love to panic in the pocket.
Both teams have young offenses that are trying to figure things out.
The Packers have what I believe is actually, if I were to sub-correctly, they have the
youngest offensive set of playmakers to work with in the receiver room and the tight-end
room with a quarterback in the NFL, the Steelers need to take advantage of that.
And that's why I think that they do in this game.
Jordan Love has thrown quite a few interceptions this year.
I think that this is a game where we see Jordan Love make some key mistakes against the
defense, but it won't matter, right?
If the Steelers can't score.
And that's where I think the Steelers do find some of their foundation in this game to
build forward on.
I think that the run game, it sounds like Brother Jones is going to start.
I think if the run game is going to be there, that can be such a huge factor to again balance
this offense.
I think it's going to be a good way to get on the good foot before they get ahead on the
road to play both their Ohio AFC North teams in the Browns and the Bengals in the coming
weeks.
I think a big key to this game, like I said, control the ice creamers, don't let those
running backs get loose, get after Jordan Love, but all the offensive side of the ball,
they also actually control the light of scrimmage.
If you go back and you watch the Steelers sites and sounds games, the confidence that you
heard from this team and also the confidence you heard from Brother Jones in the locker room
I believe was on Thursday when he was talking to reporters.
There's a swagger being developed in the Steelers locker room about them becoming a more
physical team than actualizing what we've been talking about on this show about them becoming
the goon squad, the physical guys that bully people at the line of scrimmage.
This needs to be a game where they start to do that.
If they start to do that, that makes can you pick it's job a lot easier, that makes George
Pickens job a lot easier, that makes Johnny Johnson's job a lot easier.
And then you start to build off things because then teams have to respect those factors.
And this could be a great warm up for the Browns game, but Steelers can't afford to treat
this like a warm up.
They're going to be a live game.
There's a still a packers team that has talent on it, they've got passers, they've got guys
in the secondary, they've got guys, some offense that can hurt you if you're not careful.
I think that this game comes down to one who turns the ball over less and two who controls
the line of scrimmage to get their run game going faster.
Those two things, if those two things are achieved by the Steelers, I have them winning
this game.
I think my final prediction here is 2420 Steelers and I'm saying the Steelers, the defense
does just enough to keep the Packers out of reach.
The Packers get some points in this game, but the Steelers offense clicks a little bit
throughout the week.
And I think it's going to be the most optimism Steelers fans have felt about this Steelers
offense all season long after they play this game.
And as I predict, they get the win over the Green Bay Packers in advance to six and three
in the AFC.
We still will have all the reactions here from the on the lockdown Steelers podcast after
the game.
So stay tuned for all of that.
I'm your host Chris Carter.
Check out the game in the press box and in the locker room after the game getting all
the reactions.
So stay tuned.
I'll have my post game reaction video and then follow it up by our full episodes Sunday
night after the 1 p.m. kick off here at Acresure Stadium in Pittsburgh.
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