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Christopher Carter's Steelers chat: 11.28.25
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Sunner in Orlando from Lebo
12:10
How many targets should Mount Washington, Smith and Freiermuth get each? I just don’t think there’s enough balls to go around to all these tight ends. Also, which wide receiver too will step up? Austin or Wilson?
Christopher Carter
12:12
I think they should try to work at least 5 targets to each Washington and Freiermuth, and find Smith on the occasional pass where he was left open because a defense was worried about other targets.

I really think Roman Wilson is close. He cooked the Bears CBs at least 5 times where he deserved either a target or a better ball that could've led to an explosive play. Could just take someone getting the ball there.
My name is Jeff
12:12
The Tomlin era has seen 16 years since a championship, this is almost an entire generation that has seen an inept version of Steeler football.  Does this represent a risk to the future of a passionate fan base?
Christopher Carter
12:17
If that's all it takes to lose a passionate fanbase, that would be sad and dispell the notion Pittsburgh's a football town, and make it look like just a front-running town. The Bills have never had anything but their fanbase has remaineed loyal and passionate -- not to mention they went 16 years without even making the playoffs, let alone 24 without a playoff win.

I grew up in Pittsburgh during the stretch of 26 years between the 4th and 5th Super Bowl and thought fans were pretty passionate then, even with some really bad years thrown in at 7-9, twice at 6-10.

Pittsburgh is a place I've always felt understood how hard it was to win a football game and stood by its team even during the hard times. And frankly, these times aren't as hard compared to most of the NFL.

I don't think passion becomes an issue unless they fall into a pit of being like the Pirates for a long period of time. But football's different here. I don't see it ever disappearing.
Alan in Bama
12:18
Good morning Christopher, best to you in this holiday season. The offense under Smith is starting to take the heat for the losses, understandable, but I believe the defense is and has been the issue. Thinking back to a couple years ago with Pickett/ Canada leading the charge, I remember thinking if the O could just score 18 points a game we’d roar to the playoffs. Now I’m guessing we’re averaging maybe 24 a game and struggling to get to the playoffs. What happened to the highest paid D in two years? Did we get old that fast? Lack of talent? COACHING?
Christopher Carter
12:23
Good afternoon and same to you and yours!

I also think the defense bears more of the weight, especially in the losses to the Bears, Bengals and Packers. I'd put the offense in charge of the Chargers loss, a the Seahawks a mix of the special teams whoopsie, offense and defense.

I think one thing that's happened in just one year is people are seeing the impact Minkah Fitzpatrick had on the defense. I said here all last year that even when he wasn't intercepting passes, Fitzpatrick was plugging a lot of holes in the pass defense. They were a top 10 defense in scoring for the past 3 years, and were top 5 in 2/3 of the years before that, and he was huge in all of it.

Ramsey and Dugger have helped, but if Fitzpatrick was still here Ramsey could still be a slot and a lot more aggressive knowing he had an elite cover man behind him. Between that and some players getting older, I think those are the primary culprits.
Jim Bow Dean
12:23
What is the advantage to the offensive if the tackles are not covered? Why can’t they be covered by more than one player? I never understood the illegal formation rules.
Christopher Carter
12:27
The rule is that seven men must be on the line of scrimmage at all times and five of them must not be eligible. If a lineman is an eligible receiver, they must declare that's the case and it get announced so that the other team knows.

Also, two players can cover an OT, but if both are on the line next to each other, only the furthest man to the outside is eligible as a receiver.

Idea is there needs to be fairness for a defense to anticipate who, when and how the offense goes about its business.
Jeremy
12:27
Hi Chris. Buffalo’s defense is 1st in the NFL in yards yielded per game against the pass, but 30th against the run. Shouldn’t the Steelers have a very run-heavy game plan on Sunday? As in, more than we have seen all year? The Steelers been very poor this season at time of possession/plays run differential - isn’t this an opportunity to reverse this pattern? If so, should we see emphasis on Warren and Washington?
Christopher Carter
12:28
I personally think this would be a great time to run the ball and run it some more. Will anger fans who want the aggressiveness but this is a week where I can see the run game working. Still need to hit on a play action shot play or two to keep the defense guessing.
JF
12:29
How will Pittsburgh’s offensive line adapt its protection calls to mitigate Buffalo’s interior pass rush, particularly against Ed Oliver and DaQuan Jones, while still maintaining the ability to set up play-action concepts for Aaron Rodgers returning from a wrist injury?
Christopher Carter
12:31
DaQuan Jones will play, but Ed Oliver's on IR. I think this could be a week where you have a lot of power runs and pulling OL who hit the LBs in space. Test that group to have to run and hit.
Sunner in Orlando from Lebo
12:32
How did the Steelers get Ramsey more involved? I don’t like him being a centerfielder like Fitzpatrick was last year. Move more to the line of scrimmage and play cover one with Dugger covering any deep balls?
Christopher Carter
12:36
Yeah, centerfielder isn't the move as a general role. But it's fine for him in spots.
Best way to use him in my opinion is to rotate him among the cover 2, quarters and cover 6 deep zone roles with the occasional bump down to cover underneath zones or jump into man to keep quarterbacks guessing what his role is in the defense. I also think he can do that very well.
TC in SC
12:36
After yesterday’s games do you think 9 and 8 will win the AFC north?
Christopher Carter
12:38
It's certainly looking like it. Ravens are 6-6, and have to play the Steelers twice, the Bengals in Cincinnati, the Patriots, and the Packers ion Green Bay.

That is no easy path to 9 wins for them.

Granted, not so easy for the Steelers either with 2 Ravens games, the Lions and in Cleveland, where they haven't won since 2021.

If the Steelers can split with the Ravens, beat the Browns and the Dolphins, that might be enough.
JaxSteelersFan
12:40
I've been listening to you since you're days with Tony! Appreciate your not to optimistic AND not to negative responses!
Christopher Carter
12:40
Thanks! Try to keep it balanced. Never get too high, never get too low.
Tom P.
12:40
Chris, the Steelers supposedly simplified the coverages after moving Ramsey to full time safety and the addition of Dugger. Why does it seem their are still too many blatant coverage busts such as Slay instead of providing coverage help to Dugger following the RB when Queen already had him in man coverage or Queen electing to executing a delayed blitz with no one covering the RB allowing the Bears to reclaim a chunk of yardage lost to a bad personal foul penalty?
Christopher Carter
12:45
I think it should be noted they went away from that more simplified p[lan last week when you're talking about that specific play.

They worked much better in tandem when they had the safety support on both sides of the field. I think that's allowed cornerbacks and linebackers to be more aggressive in their assignments without worrying about being the last line of defense. There's been years where that was fine, but this group just doesn't seem to respond to those types of assignments this year.
Ryan
12:45
Chris what do you think about the play of Kenneth Gainwell he looked good against the Bears Go Steelers
Christopher Carter
12:47
He's honestly surprised me. I thought he'd be a good 3rd down back, but he's been very reminiscent of Mewelde Moore in the late 2000s. Tough, gritty, but fast and quick enough to exploit open space. Funny enough, he's backing up the cousin of Moore's backfield partner in Willie Parker -- Jaylen Warren.
Rocky,
12:47
Love your chats, Mr. CC!  Do you see Roman getting more targets in the game against Buffalo than he’s usually getting?   Or will they be going to TEs more?  Thanks!!
Christopher Carter
12:49
Thanks for being here!

He really should get more targets. He's getting open, especially on go routes, slants and crossers. His speed isn't being targeted enough -- and that's on both Rodgers and Rudolph. Still have to be mindful to mix it up, but he's giving them chances.
Dan From Cleveland
12:50
After watching last night’s game, with Burrow back, maybe the Bengals are the top team in the AFC North. Compared to our Steelers, they have a better QB, far better WRs and, I know you don’t agree, but a better coach! Any comment?
Christopher Carter
12:54
Yeah, I don't know if I'm ready to crown the Bengals after one game. They had Burrow all last year and still finished behind the Steelers. They're on pace to miss the playoffs for a 3rd straight year, and the 4th time in the 6 years since drafting Burrow and Chase.

For all the bellyaching about Mike Tomlin being 9-8, he's done that once. Zac Taylor's coming off back-to-back 9-8 years, and if the Bengals win out, that'll be their record for a 3rd straight year. And that's with the superstar quarterback in his prime. So, don't know about the coaching aspect.
Gary
12:54
Hey Chris. You do outstanding work covering Steelers. I thought it was interesting that Tomlin basically said you know your stuff about schematics .what were your thoughts
Christopher Carter
12:57
Thanks Gary! I thought I could be slick and slide in a more specific question about a particular coverage bust after he gave me a good answer about their usage of Cover 3, but Tomlin saw through it and shut it down.

Even gave me a "nice try," when he walked off the podium. I was trying to see if he could illuminate who exactly should've had the coverage shift when they were caught out of position. But he's right to not answer that, as it would expose more of who and how they make certain checks pre-snap.

Thought I almost got'em though.
MZ - SOTD
12:58
Do you think the Steelers made the correct play in trading Pickens and signing DK long term? Based on this years performance.
Christopher Carter
1:01
Pickens' statistical success is certainly impressive with the Cowboys, but it's also kind of what I thought would happen with CeeDee Lamb and Dak Prescott.

The biggest thing is that the Steelers didn't want to pay Pickens long term, and needed to get something out of it. They got a day 2 pick and a day 3 pick in 2027. That doesn't look as appetizing when Pickens is lighting it up on Thansgiving Day, but it might when he most likely hits free agency this year.
1:05
Look at the Cowboys' salary cap, where next year they're over the cap by $47.9M. That's going to take a lot of trimming just to break even, let alone get Pickens a contract to stay.

The Cowboys can cut the deficit down to $26M by cutting DT Kenny Clark next year, but would still need to let go of other key pieces or renogotiate several deals just to get in the black.

Even if they wanted to tag Pickens, that would take a minimum of $24M in cap space, and all the cuts they'd need to make would cause a lot of holes on the roster that'd need to be filled.

In short, it looks better for the Cowboys now, but the Steelers just might've gotten ahead of not being able to sign Pickens. He's still late to things, as was evidenced by his punishment last week. And the Steelers didn't want the top WR they pay to have those types of problems. Hence, why they got Metcalf, who's a very "by the book" kind of guy.
Ty Hink
1:07
Chris, no Harmon Sunday. How are they going to contain Allen? Who's going to play up front mostly ?
Christopher Carter
1:09
I think this leads to a lot more four-man fronts with Heyward-Benton as the first DL set and Black to be worked in with the others as part of the second grouping. It's unfortunate, as this would've been a big game for Harmon.

But I also think Benton's been much better over the past month. He's getting out of his stance faster and into the moves he wants to do to win his spots.
Seven
1:10
Thanks for the chat, Chris. Your article Tuesday about Mason Rudolph missing on open pass designs was informative and fair. I put it in the context of a person who has played only nine holes of golf over the past three months going out and realizing that his driver isn't there. Rudolph had to play his short game, and it did account for three touchdowns. If your backup QB has to score 34 points to win a game, I think the team's major problems are elsewhere. Rudolph didn't call for the nickel defense on the 2.
Christopher Carter
1:14
Thanks! I want to point out that at no point did I say Rudolph was the only reason they lost. Our first North Shore Drive podcast this week right after the game was about how I couldn't fathom what went into the gameplan to go back to the spot drop cover 3 zones that were getting them burned for half the year instead of the looks that helped them play much better over the past month.

But I've also written A LOT about the pass defense, its shortcomings and its turnaround during that time. When talking with our editors, I decided switching it up to counter the false narrative that they're not designing plays to go to the middle of the field would've added to the scope of things we've shown on tape. Rudolph even admitted Wednesday that he missed those opportunities, so it's not a controversial take.

But make no mistake, the defense needs to get back to what it was doing if they want to have any chance of winning the division.
JaxSteelersFan
1:15
BTW on the Tomlin comment on your question I've seen it reported on multiple sites. Makes me proud to be your fan. I have my two boys listening to you also
Christopher Carter
1:16
Thanks! I always appreciate how far and wide the fanbase for the team spreads and how many people I connect with in our coverage. That's really cool to hear!
Maki H.
1:16
Hey Chris! Love the chats and your comprehensive analysis! It’s refreshing! With the draft stockpile the Steelers have in 2026, plus the compensatory selections ulcer to be added, what is more likely, trading up with the Giants at #2, or with another team ahead of them, or grabbing a QB at where they will stand in the draft, or possibly even in the 2/3rd round, like the kid from USC? And if you were making your QB pick for them right now, who is the most realistic target? Thanks so much for all you do!
Christopher Carter
1:20
Hi Maki! Thanks for being here!

I think the Steelers will consider all possibilities when it comes to this class, but we need to see who actually declares. There's a chance that only Fernando Mendoza of the top tier goes into the draft, which would put the Steelers out of the running for that.

But if Maiava were to join the class, that would be enticing and I don't know that he'd require a top 10 pick.

I still maintain that the Steelers should trade up regardless this year to get a top-end player. Even if it's not the quarterback, if they landed a Caleb Downs, Arvelle Reese, Jermod McCoy, Makai Lemon type of player, this team would get a major boost, and then next year's QB class would probably look even brighter with the potential for Manning, Maiava, Sellers, Leavitt, Mateer and potentially other risers.

When we see who actually declares for the draft, then I'll get a sense of how this will play out.
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