Dolphins-Steelers Week 15 MNF Recap: Aaron Rodgers Peaking at the Right Time?

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2:46Terms apply. One on the play clock. Gets a snap. Dolphins bringing pressure. Throw over the middle. It is complete to DK Metcalf. Hurls aside one defender. Stiff arm hit other. Into the end zone for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Touchdown. What an effort by DK Metcalf. Physicality on full display. This is the catch and run receiver. This is why you go in free agency and you get the big bodied man. out of Seattle. DK Metcalf caught that in traffic, had a man on him, pushed him aside, sidestepped another guy, and waltzed into the end zone like he owned the place, which he does here at Acroshore. He absolutely owned the night like the Pittsburgh Steelers.

3:32DK Metcalf getting in the end zone as part of a four-straight touchdown drive streak by the sudden go-go Pittsburgh Steelers. They beat the Dolphins 28 to 15, and they threw aside Miami's small playoff chances like DK Metcalf did with a defender there. That was Rob King and Max Starks on WDVE. Thanks for everyone checking us out live on YouTube. Thanks for everyone listening on Tuesday morning. I thought this was going to be a good game, Shook, and it was a good game by Aaron Rodgers for a second straight week. and it was a great game. I would even say the best of the season by the Pittsburgh Steelers.

4:16After the last two weeks, I'm taking this Steelers team a little more seriously. Am I overreacting? Okay, so I don't mean to throw cold water on this, but I'm going to just slightly because I would like to point back to Miami's, I believe it was week five when they played the Cleveland Browns and they completely quit. Sorry, it was week seven. They completely quit in inclement weather in Cleveland that day and the Browns dominated them. The Browns, a bad team, dominated them. So they're not a measuring stick. for a team but that does not discount the fact that the Steelers have put together two very strong games in the last two weeks namely Aaron Rodgers two best performances as Steelers quarterback in his first and probably only season as Steelers quarterback and it's they're headed in the right direction at the perfect time with this very tight AFC North race and just a few weeks after Steelers fans were calling for Mike Tomlin's job suddenly they're all back in the bandwagon they want to play Renegade again that is so true it's so Steelers it's so Tomlin they're eight and six and we're going to get into the schedule and their playoff chances.

5:15And I'm thinking about, wow, they might not even need to win that week 18 game against the Ravens because they've got the Steelers. They've got the Browns in week 17 and the Ravens have two really tough games, Patriots and Packers. And who knows? The Steelers could clinch in week 17, but it would be very Pittsburgh Steelers, Mike Tomlin to look so good like this on Monday night football, their 23, you know, home winning streak. on Monday Night Football is intact, and then lose to the Browns. But I don't know. Rodgers, you mentioned it. He's peaking. I thought he was awesome last week. Like, that was a legit vintage Rodgers game.

5:53Four, five, six big-time throws. He played great. Tonight, I think he played great, but it was more the game management style that we've seen this year, just more effective. An average depth of target under four yards. So he is last in the NFL in terms of Dinkin' and Duggan. But I'm not going to fault him for it tonight, Nick, because it worked. And the three or four times where he had to throw it a little deeper, intermediate routes, it was usually over the middle, which we haven't seen a lot of. And they were on the money, and he showed off his arm strength. And it was almost a perfect night, four incompletions from Rodgers.

6:23And they really held the ball for most of the night. Yeah, we saw one of those passes over the middle of the DK Metcalf, which I think perfectly explained or illustrated the night for the Steelers against this Dolphins defense, which is that, look, we're going to win the battle of wills. We're going to take the ball in our hands, and we're going to break tackles, and we're going to refuse to go down. and it also you know you talk about the average depth of target being minimal well it helps when you have a guy like Kenny Gainwell that you can just swing the ball to out in the flat and he can make guys miss and he can you know pick up the extra yards after the catch it's perfectly fine to fit this within the framework of Arthur Smith's offense you don't have to be a deep shot taking team although they were they were last week they did take a couple deep shots to DK Metcalf early they didn't need to tonight and they played within themselves and that's why they were able to take a game that looked like it was destined to be a low scoring close affair and blew it wide open before the end of the third quarter yeah the third quarter was crazy what was the stat you quoted to me uh right before we came on okay so the Steelers dominated the third quarter in a fashion that you're usually just not going to see in an NFL game they outgained the Dolphins 163 to negative 20 they had nine first downs the Dolphins had zero that is dominance in statistical form it was rough there just weren't a ton of possessions both teams started out punting and the Steelers did three times, but I thought Tua Tungavailoa's first interception was kind of a sign of things to come.

7:45Asante Samuel Jr. gets the pick. It's his third game as a member of the Steelers. And it was one of those double whammies, like bad decision, bad execution. And then Joe and especially Troy Aikman in the booth just shaking his head. Troy Aikman was sick of watching Tua by the end of this game. He was saying that Tua was lucky to only be leading the league in interceptions by as much as he is because he throws two or three of them every week that teams could pick off. And he's not beating the I can't play in the cold allegations. There were one or two more that could have been picked off tonight.

8:23And going into the fourth quarter, like early, it was 60 plays to 26. And Tua had so many negative plays. And they put up a couple late scoring drives and what amounted to garbage time. I mean, even those you couldn't be happy about because Troy Aikman's making fun of them for playing so slow. Like they were essentially waving the white flag on the game and the season that you can't even enjoy the garbage time unless you're Darren Waller's fantasy owner somewhere. Yeah, that's true. I mean, the production that they got in the fourth quarter really skewed the stats and made it look a lot closer than it was.

8:54It was not as close as the 28 to 15 final that we got. It was not. It was a very lopsided game. And you're right about Tua's propensity for throwing interceptions. In fact, it's so prevalent, ESPN ran a montage of the interceptions that he's thrown that were just easily red passes picked off by opposing defenses. Buffalo, Cleveland, tonight. You can just keep going down the list. It just kind of adds to the fact that we don't know what Tua's future looks like. And especially when you are playing in an AFC where most of the heavyweights are playing in cold weather. And Tua is now 0-6 in games that kick off below 40 degrees.

9:28And they never look like they stood much of a chance tonight either. wait wasn't the stat that they had never won one like below 45 degrees and now they lost 13 i think they won one at like 42 degrees so now they moved that yeah but it is sad that this could and should be the last meaningful game of the mike mcdaniel era i'm not buying all this talk that he might be saving his job and he's got a chance to return like i believe there is a chance but it's going to be up to the next general manager and i have a hard time believing that the ownership is going to make them keep Mike McDaniel. And just usually in those situations, the coach doesn't stick around.

10:07So I hate how fitting it is that they come up short in the cold because you think of so many of the big moments of the Mike McDaniel Tua era, and this is what happened. I want to get to a bit of a hot take I have on that in just a second. But first, I want to give a little more love to the Steelers. It is time for Who Delivered, presented by Uber Eats. And I'm giving it to two men tonight. And it's the great buddy comedy of the last five years. Yes, it's Arthur Smith, the offensive coordinator of the Steelers, and Jonu Smith. Let's listen. Is that left tackle here for the Steelers? Now the pitch to Jonu Smith.

10:43And Smith off the right side and burst through into the end zone. Touchdown, Pittsburgh Steelers. Jonu Smith with the rushing touchdown for the Steelers. Their fourth touchdown of the game. So to add insult to injury, let's go ahead and let's go with this. Minka Fitzpatrick, injured, traded to the Dolphins. Jalen Ramsey, a sack. John Smith, a rushing touchdown. I think the Steelers won that trade. A little rude about Minka there because he's been the best player in that trade for what it's worth. But a great call there by Arthur Smith and by Max Starks, too, doing our job for us and helping to point out that Jalen Ramsey had a nice night.

11:27Jonu Smith has been in the crosshairs for Steelers fans. I couldn't believe this, but earlier in the game, he had his first first down since week nine. He also had a brutal penalty and a couple of brutal blocks in this game, which has been typical for him, but he did get that touchdown. And that's when you know that the Steelers are really rolling when Gainwell goes over 140 yards from scrimmage and Jonu Smith is getting a rushing touchdown. Well, I mean, this is the team with the deepest tight end room in the NFL. I mean, you have Jonu Smith, Pat Fryermuth, Darnell Washington, Cam Hayward or sorry Connor Hayward his younger brother and you think about all four of those of course John is not going to see the field very often he's not going to make much of a difference but leave it to Arthur Smith to roll out a personnel grouping that you almost will never see I just looked it up just because I wanted to check it out you know about 12 personnel right two tight ends on the field usually there's a running back involved that's why it's 12 there's no running back on the field this play there's six offensive linemen two tight ends two receivers and Aaron Rodgers and they run a toss to John Smith that is the diabolical nature of what Arthur Smith, the offensive coordinator who once as a head coach turned Cordero Patterson into a running back.

12:26That's what he's capable of doing. And it's just the icing, the cherry on top of this blowout cake, this blowout Sunday that we're going to run a toss sweep to a tight end because we know that we have a little bit of revenge to earn for Johnny with the Dolphin. And I know you don't want to give too much credit, Chuck, but if I'm going to be fair and say I'm looking for a game where they thoroughly beat a team, they've been on my radar because they've only outgamed their opponent three times this year. Nick, that's crazy before tonight. And only one of them was by a significant margin. It was actually the win over the Browns that they had earlier this season.

13:01So they are a tough team up front. I actually think they might be a little underrated in terms of their offensive line. They can run block pretty well. They do some fun stuff. Rogers has not been pressured too often. He gets rid of the ball so quickly. That helps them out, certainly. In fact, tonight, he was only pressured. I saw, according to NextGenSats, four times. And that's just nuts. And he was sacked on three of them. Like, he is the ultimate pressure-to-sack ratio king or guy at the bottom of the league, which is why, like, the way they're winning is, you know, it's a thin way to win. And yet, I'm much more intrigued by that Steelers-Lions game in a week.

13:41So congratulations to Arthur Smith and Johnny Smith. That was Who Delivered presented by Uber Eats. When football makes you hungry, get game day deals on Uber Eats, the official on-demand delivery partner of the NFL. Order now. We had a question in the chat that asked, is it going to be a new coach and a new quarterback for the Dolphins? And here's my Hattish take. That could have been the last time we ever see Tua Tungabailoa play for the Dolphins. Like, he could be benched as soon as Sunday. because he's in a similar situation, I think, to where Derek Carr was a couple years ago when the Raiders benched him, where Kyler Murray, frankly, is right now.

14:24When you know that that quarterback with some guarantees on his contract is not going to be playing for you necessarily next season, maybe just sit him down. They have a draft pick there in Quinn Ewers. It's just a possibility. You have Zach Wilson. I'm not saying it's going to be an upgrade, but two has not been playing well at all. So I just think there's no chance in my mind that he's going to be the guy there next year, almost at all. And so possibly do they do they bench him early? Yeah, this also reminds me of the Russell Wilson situation in Denver, in which they went to Jarrett Stidham for the last couple of games, because Sean Payton knew they were moving on from from Russ in the offseason.

15:03And maybe that does come to fruition. I do think that this is not a move made to save a coach's job, to answer the other half of this question, because I believe that Mike McDaniel and Tua Tungabailoa are a package deal, and they will both be gone. And especially with a new general manager coming in, he's going to want to hire his guy. He's going to want to have his quarterback. Neither of the existing guys are probably his choices, whoever they do hire as general manager. So it feels like the end of an era, and an end of an era that we saw coming, I don't know, six to eight weeks ago before the Dolphins went on this little mini winning streak, which they can credit entirely to Anthony Weaver getting the defense together.

15:34They held their last four opponents before tonight under 20 points in each of those games, and Devon Achan for running through defenses. and powering this offense. Those are parts of the team that are going to carry over next year and building blocks for the general manager. You'll have some changes defensively, but A-chan is a cornerstone of sorts for your offensive side of the football. I don't think the quarterback and coach are, though. Yeah, I have something to say about the package deal, and they have been. But first, I do want to get to a comment that says, the Dolphins are terrible, but you saw Ewers playing against the Browns.

16:05How do you switch to that, even as bad as Tua is playing? You do have a responsibility to the veterans on a team to try to keep winning and all that. But I will point out one of our throw of the year nominees on NFL Daily that no one believed me until they watched it was from Quinn Ewers throwing it about 58 yards down the field while getting drilled by a Browns defender. Although he did not look particularly good in that game other than that one throw. I don't think they're connected anymore. My theory is that we're going to hear some blame maybe from sources from McDaniel. You know, I have been noticing a nasty little game was going on when there was losing and they threw the GM off the boat.

16:46And it felt like there was maybe like a split there, a schism between McDaniel, who has a lot of friends in the media, and Tua. and that Tua was getting blamed through the media by some just very specific criticisms that felt like it was coming from inside the house. I think arguments can be made in McDaniel's favor. And really the way you do that is you trace it all the way back to his roots being on Kyle Shanahan's staff in San Francisco, where they were an incredible rushing attack. And you can point to A. Chan's recent success and say, look, he's scheming it up. They can find success with the running game.

17:20They just need the quarterback. And they don't have the quarterback. And I can see them selling that, especially if Steven Ross, the owner who was most likely to fire his coach a month or two ago, decided to stick with his coach when things were at their absolute worst, which was coming off of that loss to the Browns, by the way. An embarrassing showing, the second embarrassing showing of the season, week one against the Colts being the other one. I don't know how you show up completely disinterested in week one, but that's what the Dolphins did. So I think if like if you're looking for a reason to keep him or a theory or a path for him to stay there, It's that the owner already stuck by his coach and you can just pin all the blame on the quarterback.

17:55But the problem is it's so hard to get a different quarterback. And if you hire a new general manager, you're going to have to sell that candidate on keeping the coach when that's not his coach. That's where it gets a little tricky. Yeah. We've had, we have a call for Chad Pennington. He's not that much older than Phillip rivers about the same arm strength at this point. Yeah. I don't, I don't think it's even that crazy to keep Mike McDaniel because of the options that'll be out there. Will anyone be better that you could bring it? Like, I don't think it's crazy. Just history tells us it's less than likely.

18:24I think Anthony Weaver will get a real interview there and might get some interviews elsewhere. Before we move on from this game, and yeah, the Steelers' schedule is really interesting, at Detroit next week. And so that's a huge game the Lions need to keep their playoff hopes alive. And they got some real defensive issues. Rodgers is playing his best ball of the year right now. I think their offense actually can score on the Lions. I don't think their defense without TJ Watt, he missed this game and is going to be out. It sounds like for a while after a lung injury. We mentioned that earlier, but not on this show specifically.

19:02Just a horrible injury, a procedure gone wrong inside the building, some therapy gone wrong inside the building. And without TJ Watt and some of the problems, the speed that they have in the secondary, I think that's going to be a bit of a score fest and it'll be fun. Let's give one more love to the old guys. Our producer, Chris Babona, not an old guy, says we got to listen to the MVS touchdown. We had a Marquez Valdez-Scantling primetime touchdown from Aaron Rodgers in the year 2025. Rodgers under center. Gets a snap. Play action pass. Looking. Steps up. Throws to the right. To the left. I beg your pardon.

19:42Touchdown. Pittsburgh's unit. How about that? And now Marquez Valdez Scantling with his first reception as a member of the Steelers. And it is a Pittsburgh Steelers touchdown. And Aaron Rodgers celebrating with his former teammate from Green Bay. Red Rover, Red Rover, bring Marquez Vandale Scantling over. That was great. That was the moment where I realized this wasn't going to be like the Steelers-Dolphins game from 2007, I believe. tell the listeners about that before uh we move on to our final segment there well in the history of steelers dolphins in pittsburgh the elements usually get involved but way back in 2007 it was a lot of rain and the field at what was then known as heinz field wasn't very great it was in terrible condition that night so terrible so wet so soggy that a punt lodged itself into the turf upon contacting the turf it's a memorable moment in the history of monday night football and it's a It's a memorable moment, I guess, in this history of this matchup.

20:45Luckily tonight, they had the field in much better shape, and it was more frozen than wet, and we didn't get another football lodge in the turf. I wish they did. It was 0-0 with 3 minutes, 55 seconds left. You know what? Well, look at the sloths they're playing in. This is probably never going to come up on this show again. I actually want to listen to the whole call because it includes a young Mike Tirico, an aged Tony Kornheiser, I believe. Like, Tariko's voice sounds a little different. Let's listen. It might have been if picked, a play it worked out just as well as this punch. Brandon Fields struggled earlier, got the wet ball away.

21:19Alan Rossum going to let it go. And it looks like it's on a tee. If you tee the ball up, you couldn't put it any better. I love that. That is Tariko, right? I think it's Tariko, Kornheiser, and Joe Theismann. Yeah, it might be Joe Theismann way back in the day. Everyone watching tonight, we love you all. You know, there's live YouTubes after the games. There's watch alongs with Eli and Peyton and other various like ways to watch it. It's the best crew in the business. Monday Night Football, Joe Buck and Troy Aikman. You know, appreciate what you have because it was rocky up and down over some of the years.

21:57I actually defended the Tony Kornizer year between him and Tirico. I had fun watching that one. But there were some ups and downs in the booth over the year. Steelers, they define up and down. But they were awesome tonight. And they might just clinch this division before week 18. We'll see. Something about the Steelers and the Ravens. It just seems like the football gods want that game to maybe be the Sunday night game in week 18 to decide who goes to the playoffs. But we'll have to wait and see. Maybe your Browns can help us.

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