Missi Matthews | Pittsburgh Steelers Sideline Reporter

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One year upgrade requires financing, qualifying, device and upgrading in good condition after six months with half paid off. Steeler's Radio Network is where we turn for tonight's guest. Missy Matthews is the sideline reporter right in the middle of the action. Made a lot to digest after this one.

So Missy, thank you for a couple of minutes. When someone asks you about this game, what will you remember the most? I think the turnovers, the craziness, the fact that the first quarter became the second quarter, then went back to the first quarter of two penalties by a quarterback.

TJ Watt, of course, breaking the record. Just two defensive touchdowns. You know, that's something I haven't seen before in a single game. Typical AFC North football. It's kind of hard to put into words what we all just witnessed. It's interesting because I heard an interview on Westwood One after the game with Alex Highsmith and he was asked about AFC North football and what characterizes it.

And he even struggled to put it into words. But since you've been a part of a bunch of these games, can you describe it? I think you always have to just expect that it's going to be close. It's never usually lopsided. It always comes down to the end. And there's always something where you're like, man, kodashoda woulda.

If this happened, then this would go in their favor. It's almost like you have to be anticipating something crazy happening every minute of the game. What was the atmosphere like on the field, especially when nine seconds in, Highsmith ends up with interception return for a touchdown? Well, you know, it was a great crowd and it's Monday night football. They did a lot of stuff with the stadium lights going down before introductions and fireworks. You know, just the whole like pomp and circumstance that I just love about football. So the crowd was just so energized. And if you weren't looking up, you missed it. That's how quick it happened.

And that just, you know, sent the towels waving the fans going crazy. You could tell it just really lit something, especially under that defense. They didn't have campy work tonight and they're not going to have him for a number of weeks.

He's on IR, unfortunately, after undergoing that surgery this week. And he's just kind of the heart and soul of that defense. You knew going into this game, they were going to run the ball with Nick Chubb. So it was a good way to set the tone, I think. And it also just speaks to, like I said, the craziness of AFC North football.

You bring up Nick Chubb, that may be the only black mark of the game and devastating for the Browns to lose him. But personally, really hard to hear him over the TV broadcast, even yelling in pain. What was your perspective, Missy? From where I was on the Steelers sideline, I did not see the actual like in real time. It didn't really like hit me what had happened because Minka was more so like blocking it in a way from where we were. But they did replay it on the video board and the entire crowd just did the like, oh, you know, because you didn't realize it because Minka went down at first.

So, you know, everyone's watching Minka in terms of Steelers fans. And then Nick Chubb finally sat down. And then you're like, oh, man, they must have collided.

And then it was played. And you're like, wow, you can just tell every single player from both teams are trying to be supportive to him in every which way. And he's just one of those.

He kicks the Steelers butts a lot in terms of just being able to run the ball and being really tough to bring down and stop. And it's one of those guys that you like to watch because he's so electrifying and so good at what he does. So it was definitely crazy. I mean, the Browns responded amazingly after watching something like that happen during the drive. So good for them on that.

But yeah, it's very heartbreaking when you see something like that happen. And then after the game, Kevin Stapansky confirming that, you know, it's season ending and extremely significant. We're spending a few minutes with Missy Matthews, who is fresh off the field in Pittsburgh as part of the Steelers radio network, the sideline reporter.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio. Late in the first half of this game, TJ Watt becomes the Steelers all time franchise leader in career sacks, sitting on eighty one and a half. This is an unfair question. I'll just qualify it that way. What does he mean to the franchise?

A lot. I don't even know if you can put it into words. He wasn't even able to put it into words what this moment meant for him.

I think last week he tied James Harrison. It was an ugly loss to San Francisco. I actually interviewed him right on the field after the game.

And you could just tell it was kind of like, I don't even care. We need to go watch film. We need to get back in the meeting room.

We need to go lift. His brain was already going on. We have to get better.

We have to fix our mistakes and we have to start getting ready for the Browns. But today, I think because the outcome was positive for the team, he was able to just take it all in. And TJ is a very he's emotional when he's on the field, but he's also like even killed in a weird way. But as soon as he broke the record, he found the sky camera that ESPN used and kind of went towards it and started going crazy.

That's not very TJ Watt like. So you could just tell that, you know, he was jazzed up about it. So it was really cool to see somebody that, as you can imagine, is a hard worker. Great teammates. Always there for everybody and anybody. Always working to get better.

Never slacks. Always comes up with something he can do differently or better. So to see him get that in eighty nine games. To patch James Harrison, this record he had since 2016.

It was just really cool to see. And it was also the same team that James Harrison broke the record against. I'm sure the Browns are thrilled with that.

Right. What did he have to say about his first career touchdown? Again, this is another thing that you love about TJ Watt.

He was picked by ESPN to do their postgame interview. And he was like, nope, Alex Highsmith is coming with me. Like, we're a package deal.

We work together. And that's just kind of who he is. It's never just about him. It's about the team. And when he went to the podium for all the local media, it was just, you know, I'm so excited about what Alex was able to do. You know, being this awesome tandem and watching film together and we knew what this play was going to be. It's just great to see guys who work hard get rewarded for their efforts. Okay, so that's the defense, which was not just flexing its muscles on this Monday night, but certainly a fantasy bonanza as well. I have them on my fantasy team.

Woo! But Missy, let's talk about the offense a little bit because there definitely were some struggles again. First, the run game. What did Mike Tomlin or anyone associated with the offense have to say about the lack of a running presence? Yeah, I mean, you know, last week against the 49ers, they only had ten rushing attempts and that was a big sticking point this week. Obviously, the offense wasn't able to do a ton in that week one. You think, okay, you had a great offseason, great preseason, clean things up.

You're also going against the 49ers defense, which is probably the best defense you're going to face all year, along with every other team that has to face them. But then it was, you know, kind of the same slow sledding again and not being able to find a rhythm for them. There were some big runs towards the end. Najee had, I think, a 17 and then a 21-yard run, but it was not able to go. And I don't know if it's, you know, there's some moving parts on the offensive line. Some guys weren't able to practice this week due to injuries, but it just felt like they weren't as cohesive as we had seen prior to the regular season starting. And it's definitely something that worked so well for them at the end of last year when they really turned things around, especially offensively. After Penny Pickett became the starter, they got through their bye week after an ugly loss to the Eagles. They were really able to get the run game going, relying on Najee and Jalen Warren, and it just seems like that's not happening just yet. And you can kind of see the frustration on everybody faces from offense, not just on the run game, but even before it was dropped balls, throws that weren't exactly where they needed to be and just coming to the sideline and trying to regroup and looking at the surface and figuring out what's happening. Luckily, they were able to get some stuff going, but they all pretty much said, like, hey, man, shout out to our defense. You know, they saved us. Knowing what you know of the offense, what tells you that they can figure this out and turn it around?

I think because they're a young group and we saw a majority of them with even better pieces added in, too, as well, do it at the end of last year. And just the bond that we saw them build throughout the offseason, Kenny Pickett pretty much was like all the skill players. You know, before OTA started, I'm going to Miami. You guys are coming to you.

We're spending four days together. They worked with his personal quarterbacks coach. They did nothing but football and bond, you know, went to Topgolf, things like that. And you saw it translate into practice and you saw it translate into training camp and you saw it translate into the preseason.

I understand the competition. The intensity is not the same, but they had this confidence and swagger about them. And we're just really not seeing that right now. When you think about Kenny Pickett, where he was a year ago, comparing him now versus then, where have you seen the greatest growth? I think a lot in terms of his game per se was just the zip on his ball. The velocity is something that, you know, his quarterbacks coach has talked about. He's a baseball player first. So sometimes he kind of has that in terms of his arm.

And that's something that they worked on a lot. But I think off the field, even though it's technically on the field, it's just the leadership. He's so calm. You know, like I said, if you look on the sideline when things aren't going great, there's a lot of guys you can read their face of what they're thinking.

Kenny Pickett, you don't read it. You can see him doing and trying to change things and talk to certain guys and go up to coaches and whatnot. But he just has this leadership ability, this factor, as Mike Tomlin likes to always call it, where guys just gravitate towards him and know that he's going to lead them in the right direction. He also, you know, they built him basically a makeshift office in the coach's wing of the practice facility that he lets make up Fitzpatrick come in sometimes because they're, quote unquote, Jersey boys.

But that way he can watch film. He can be around them. He attends some of their meetings. It was just a lot of stuff that started last year because he jumped on the so-called moving train.

And it's carried into this year of just trying to always be outworking everybody in terms of knowledge and watching things and trying to get better. The Steelers put Deontay Johnson on IR as one of their pregame moves. So who would get the catches or the targets that are intended for him? Well, George Pickens definitely, you know, saw the majority of those tonight. I thought that Calvin Austin, the third, who is just a shifty speed guy who unfortunately his rookie year last year was injured, never even played in a preseason game and just really came on in his second year, quote unquote, or first year this year. And we didn't see, you know, four targets for him tonight.

I was surprised too. Pat Frye removed somebody that just has built this natural bond with Kenny Pickens even last year when he took over as the starting quarterback. Same thing with him. So I don't know if it was just because they were kind of in the funk and not being able to get things going.

I think George Pickens makes sense, but you also want somebody else so that they're not always keying in on Pickens as well. And that's kind of what Deontay brought in terms of just, you know, what he was able to do in his route running. So Deontay will certainly be missed.

It was great, though. He was here at the game helping warm guys up. He was on the sideline the whole time. So he's still trying to be as much a part of the team and this offense as he can. Wow. Does it feel like you need to recover after a game in an atmosphere like that? No, this is the bad thing.

I will be completely wired for like the next three hours and then be so mad tomorrow when my alarm goes off. But that's OK. I love football. Yes, it's totally worth it, which is why we can only handle it once a week, really, because otherwise we would be spent.

Yes. Well, you can find Missy on Twitter at Missymissi underscore Matthews as part of the Steelers radio network as a sideline reporter. It's great to catch up with you again. Happy football season. And thank you for a couple of minutes. You got it. Thanks, Amy.

I'll be listening to you next week when we're getting home from Las Vegas in the middle of the night so that you'll you'll keep me up on my drive home from the airport. Imagine you're looking at a balancing scale with everything you do for other people on one side and everything you do for yourself on the other side. If it isn't balanced, maybe it's time to spend a little more time on you. And therapy is a great place to start. BetterHelp connects you with a licensed therapist online who can help you find that balance and stick to it. Visit better help dot com slash positive to get 10 percent off your first month.

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