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00:00Mike Dicorsi, the esteemed columnist at the Sporting News.
00:08And of course, you see him on Fox Sports and Big Ten Network with College Rack.
00:12I saw him on Sunday at the place the Steelers play, and I have to tell you, it was disturbing.
00:19I was, you know, I mean, just minding my own business.
00:23And then I look over and went, is that Mike Dicorsi?
00:28And he had a snake of about 15 beers in his hand, and he was cheering.
00:33He had on a Steeler hat, he had a terrible towel, porous behavior.
00:38I was trying to maintain a professional decor and decorum the entire time I was there.
00:44But wait a minute, maybe it was me with 15 drinks stacked and a hat on and a terrible
00:50towel.
00:51I don't remember much from Sunday, although I do remember the final score, Mike, 18-16
00:56Steelers.
00:57That's what, 9-1 in the last 10 against the Ravens, or is it 8-9?
01:03I mean, I can't keep track of all the ass whoopings that they've given the overrated
01:07Baltimore Ravens.
01:08I believe it's 8-9, but you're doing a pretty good job of keeping track.
01:13You're in the ballpark.
01:15They did an amazing job on Lamar Jackson, and it's not anything new for them.
01:21And one of the compelling things to me about the Steelers' success against Lamar Jackson,
01:28it's a fairly small sample size.
01:30It's only, they've won four games out of five against him.
01:34So it's a fairly small sample size, but it is four out of five, and that's 80% success
01:40rate when no one else in the league, save for Kansas City, which has done the same four
01:44out of five, and Oakland, which has done two out of three.
01:47No one else has a winning record against him.
01:50And it's amazing to me that no one else seems to be able to copy what the Steelers have done.
01:57Because it's not just the Steelers have gone out and put up 40 and Lamar scored 38.
02:02It's not like that.
02:03The Steelers have not scored in those games by and large.
02:08Like you said, Sunday was only 18 points.
02:11The Steelers put up six field goals, and it was still a winning score.
02:15Last year, the winning score at Akershore was 17 points, and the Ravens only got 10.
02:21And it's not just that they are more familiar with Lamar Jackson than the rest of the world.
02:25They are, but that's not the whole ingredient because Cincinnati has played him a dozen
02:31times, Scott, and they've only won twice.
02:35So it's not just that they see him more often.
02:38Cleveland has done a good job on occasion with teams that haven't been great.
02:41They think they're around three and six or something like that.
02:45But it's a Steeler formula that's been successful, and no one else seems to be able to replicate
02:51it because he gets in against everybody else, and he's passing for 300-plus and rushing
02:55for close to 100.
02:57So you were doing your column, and did you go to the press box to cover the game, or
03:03did you go as a fan?
03:05No, I went with a friend.
03:08I sat in one of the 500 sections on the 48-yard line and enjoyed the day.
03:14The weather was spectacular.
03:15It's what NFL football should be, that tremendous autumn weather.
03:21And I was really impressed by what the Steelers were able to do in that circumstance.
03:26Even though they allowed the Ravens to come back and nearly tie them, they did a phenomenal
03:32job as well, very strategically calling the timeout just as Baltimore was getting ready
03:37to snap the ball.
03:39I will say, Scott, that I have advocated for years for no defensive team being allowed
03:46to call a timeout within the final five seconds of a play clock.
03:50I've always advocated for that because I think it's kind of nonsense that the guy goes through
03:54the kicking motion because it's called when the ball is snapped.
03:59But if you're not going to change the rule, the Steelers did a great job of taking advantage
04:03of that because the Ravens turned the page from their original play call to their secondary
04:08play call, and the Steelers defended that mercilessly is the best way to put it.
04:14Because Nate Herbig went in and blew up two blockers, and then you had Cam Hayward surging
04:20into the backfield and Joey Porter coming up to make the tackle.
04:24What's your thought on the scene in Pittsburgh with sports?
04:29I went to PPG Saturday night, and the Penguins won a shootout.
04:32They're awful, but they won the game against the Sharks.
04:34They blew a lead.
04:35But the one thing I noticed was they're still selling out every game at PPG, and the team's
04:40not even worth, really, they're not worth watching.
04:43They're a bad team like they were in the 80s.
04:46But the fans go to every game.
04:48It's a scene down there, and the Steelers' atmosphere around that stadium, those tailgates,
04:55and the throng of people walking into that stadium is like nothing I've ever seen.
05:00It is an unbelievable fan experience and fan base in Pittsburgh.
05:04Would you agree with all that?
05:06I do.
05:07I think that you throw in the Pirates, too, for as bad as they've been over the last three
05:10decades and still to get decent crowds at PNC Park.
05:14It's a great place to watch a game for anybody who's ever been there.
05:17It's the perfect place for visiting fans to come for a great weekend, to see their team
05:22in the best ballpark in the Majors, and enjoy the downtown Pittsburgh life.
05:28And I think that's contributed to the attendance, but a lot.
05:31It's mostly Pirates fans, and they still do it.
05:34One thing I came away from over the last 10 days or so, Scott, regards to the Penguins
05:40situation is this idea that they missed their opportunity to tear it down and build it back
05:44up.
05:45That's all nonsense.
05:46And all you have to do, you don't have to look any further than the top of the division
05:50in the Capitals.
05:51The Capitals still have all their old guys, Carlson, they still have Ovi, they've got
05:57Tom Wilson, they've even got players that are older that are on injured reserve and
06:03not contributing.
06:05They didn't get younger in Washington.
06:08They just didn't bring in a lot of bad players.
06:11It's really that simple.
06:12You don't have to strip it to the bolts in order to continue rebuilding on the fly.
06:17The Penguins just did a horrible job of it.
06:20And it's not just the previous general manager, it's the one who's currently in place, who
06:24signed Carlson, who extended a failing goaltender.
06:29They've made a lot of mistakes, and it's not about the fact that they're paying Sidney
06:34Crosby and Evgeny Malkin below market rates to stay.
06:38It's about what they've done around those guys.
06:40And what they've done around those guys, Scott, is fail.
06:44They have no talent at all, none whatsoever.
06:47They have Carlson, Malkin, Crosby, and Letang, and Letang wasn't playing on Saturday.
06:55And I was watching, and I sat there, and I said to the people around me, I said, they
07:00literally have no one.
07:01I mean, they have no one with any talent whatsoever on the team.
07:04I mean, I guess I'll give you Rust, and Connor looks like he has potential to be a player,
07:11but he hasn't been around long enough to get that credit from me.
07:14I just think they look terrible.
07:17They blew a lead, as I mentioned, and they somehow found a way to win, but they don't
07:21win that often.
07:22They're an easy pushover.
07:23In fact, Friday night, I said they would lose by three goals in Columbus.
07:27Sure enough, they lost by four.
07:29I mean, they're just not a good team.
07:31Yeah, that's what I'm talking about.
07:33I mean, bringing Carlson, paying him $11.5 million, and then seeing the efforts he puts
07:38out there.
07:39Is he skilled?
07:40We know he's skilled.
07:41You don't score as many points in the NHL as he has without being super skilled.
07:47But he's a turnstile on defense, and you saw that in multiple games this season where he
07:54just did not put in the appropriate effort defensively, and every now and then he'll
07:59contribute offensively, but he's not contributing at the rate he once did, and so you don't
08:04make up for the goals that you're giving up if you're contributing offensively at a much
08:11lower rate than you used to.
08:13They've made a series of terrible decisions, and the decision to keep LaTang, Malkin, and
08:19Crosby was not one of the terrible decisions.
08:22It was everything they did around it.
08:24My wife would say it started with letting Marc-Andre Fleury go.
08:27She loves Marc-Andre, but I think it's really escalated probably since 2020 or 2021.
08:36Once Rutherford left the GM job, that's been an absolute mess.
08:40I saw Mario at the airport, and I talked to him for like 10 minutes.
08:45I hadn't seen him in 20 years.
08:47I bumped into him at the baggage claim area where he was getting mobbed by people for
08:52pictures, but I've known him since he was drafted, and I was always friends with him
08:58when I covered the Penguins on a daily basis.
09:02It was fun to see him.
09:03He was with his wife, and we were both a lot older and fatter, and it made my day to see
09:10him, I got to tell you.
09:12He went home telling stories about how he saw Scott Farrell, and he was being mobbed
09:18by people.