The Pomp And Joe Show
Nick Farabaugh Discusses Cleveland Game and Looks Ahead to Ravens Matchup
30 Dec 2025
Chapter 1: What is the main focus of the Steelers vs. Ravens matchup?
Nick, it's a pleasure to have you. I don't believe we've ever spoken before. You're a recent graduate of Slippery Rock. Am I right about that? No. It's one of our favorite times of the week.
We get a chance to talk to our guy Nick Farabaugh of PennLive, covers the Steelers, and he's on the Fan Hotline presented by Sullivan Super Service, Pittsburgh's trusted plumbing and HVAC provider for over 50 years. Nick and I were talking a couple of days ago about how I visited New York, Nick, And it was a very thrilling experience. I got to ride the subway. I was safe on the subway.
I was a little bit scared of the subway when I first got on it, but ultimately had a great time exploring Manhattan. It's great, man. I love New York City. I've been there more than a few times. Now, was that your first time there in NYC or what? First time in New York. Yeah. It's a great city. One of my favorites.
It was interesting to get to the New Jersey side this year, actually, when the Steelers played the Jets. I had never been to that side of it. But in terms of Manhattan, man, I've been there enough times. I've been to Brooklyn. I've been all over that place. One of my favorite cities in the world. It's awesome.
Yeah, I was talking to my sister about it because she's graduating from Penn State this year. So the last four years we've gone to everywhere the football team has played outside of the Fiesta Bowl. So we went to Atlanta for the Peach Bowl. We were in California and L.A. for the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. We went to Miami to watch Drew Aller throw a back-breaking interception in the Orange Bowl.
And we went to New York in the Pinstripe Bowl. So... Pretty cool, the last four years of trips and experiences that we try to save our money for to go on big trips and stuff like that. That have been pretty cool. Cool where football will take you. Yeah, man, that's pretty cool. I mean, you know, with Pitt, I remember when I was in college, I was able to go to the Peach Bowl, Atlanta.
I went to the ACC Championship in Charlotte. You know, I went to Virginia Tech, for example. I thought that was really cool, just Lane Stadium and everything. Seeing Enter Sandman, you get to see a lot of cool things. I went down to Miami.
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Chapter 2: How did injuries impact the Steelers' performance against the Browns?
I went to a lot of different places. Knoxville, that was really cool. Like just a lot of cool places. El Paso for the Sun Bowl, right? Like just so many really cool spots. It's crazy where sports will take you, man. I mean, like, for example, just covering the Steelers this year. Get to go to freaking Ireland. I mean, it's cool, man. It's really cool.
And now it takes you back to Sunday night football, which seems to be the worst kept secret ever after the Steelers lost that game that it was easily going to be a Sunday night game. Why do you think that the Steelers have been so poor in prime time outside of that Miami game? The Ravens have also been poor in Sunday night football. I think both teams are like 0-2.
It doesn't make sense for the Steelers to usually do very well in those situations, and now they have to play a Ravens team where, you know what, Nick, I think this is a coin flip type of game. I don't think it has anything to do with the fact that it's at night. I just think they played really good teams. The Chargers on the road, that is a good team.
I know that they're a beatable team, but Justin Herbert is still an incredible quarterback. Derwin James is playing like one of the best defenders in football. Khalil Mack is finding the fountain of youth. That's a hard game to play. Green Bay, the Steelers got the full version of Green Bay for the most part. They had Micah Parsons. Jordan Love was healthy. The Ravens version,
But they faced no Jordan Love, no Micah Parsons. It's a little different. They were really banged up up front, period. They just faced two really good teams. And then Thursday night football in the division, the Seahawks never win that game. It doesn't matter who it is. It doesn't matter if it's the Browns. They don't win at Cleveland. They don't win at Cincinnati.
Thursday night football in the division wasn't going to go well. Same thing with the Ravens. I think they had like Buffalo in that game on the road. They had a lot of few matchups that were really tough in those spots. So I just think it speaks to the fact that what we are watching is a mid-off. And I think that's a great way to say it. Austin, is these two teams are really just mediocre.
They're not great. They are teams that are probably not going to be favored against whoever they face in the first round. And that's kind of what I think you look at it and say, these two teams are just okay football teams.
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Chapter 3: What role does DK Metcalf play in the Seahawks' offense?
They're not bad. They're not really good. A mid-off. Be careful how you say that, but it's a very 2025-esque word in turn to be able to state it. Because, look, I thought that they were going to go into Cleveland and not push them around and dominate. But I was stunned that they lost that game. I thought things were different, Nick.
After coming off of the Lions game, you beat the Ravens earlier. You took care of Miami handily. It seemed like they were finally riding some momentum with a quarterback that you trust, with an offense that was playing a lot better than it had in previous years. And then they lay an egg in Cleveland. And I don't think that we should take that as just a burn the tape type of game. Do you?
I mean... Listen, they have one or two of those games every single year. Baltimore does too. I mean, Baltimore got smoked by the Bengals on Thanksgiving. We saw that happen. They've almost lost to the Browns. It just is like – it's clockwork for the Steelers. Listen, they don't win in Cleveland either. That's just a big thing. It's a tough environment for them. There's something to that place.
The fans, they're rabid. The type of ball that they play, I think –
brings the Steelers down into the swamp with them like there if there's one team that could out Steelers the Steelers in recent years has been Cleveland um that has been an issue for them and I also do think I just think at some point the injuries caught up to them I just think you look at the laundry list of them I mean you missed three of your top four pass catchers and
I think that's what your offense is going to look like. You know, DK Metcalf changes not only the passing game, but the run game. Calvin Austin III, I think, is the best route runner they have on this team. They missed him. Darnell Washington going out totally changed probably the game plan.
And then even defensively, you know, all the injuries to safety, missing Brandon Echols and James Pierre, who had been two real revelations a corner. I think at some point when you look at it, injuries do catch up, but this is the same old Steelers. It is to a degree. This is not a great team. You felt like they'd maybe turn the corner, but this team has been here multiple times this year.
When you think about the Cincinnati game, the Buffalo game,
uh just the chargers game different performances that they have put up throughout the year very similar to this one in some respects and so i i can't say i'm surprised i knew this team was still in there and i knew this type of performance from aaron rodgers was still in there who has also just been a roller coaster just like the team how big of an impact did not having dk metcalf truly have
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Chapter 4: Why have the Steelers struggled in prime-time games?
Because I think that MVS being targeted, what was it? Was it three consecutive plays? It was at least three consecutive times. It just made me irate. Listen, I mean, you have to give the 42-year-old four-time MVP, future Hall of Famer, the credit he deserves for his career, and you should give him that.
There have been games they have won this year because of his creative freedom at the line of scrimmage. So I don't want to take that away from Aaron Rodgers. But Aaron Rodgers has had a tendency over his career. to just take the fade route. I mean, it's not just the thing the Steelers are doing this year. He did it in New York last year. He did it the last year with Mike McCarthy in Green Bay.
Ask any Packers fan. He would just throw it up. The issue is, oftentimes he'd be throwing that ball to Devontae Adams, to Jordy Nelson. Even last year, Devontae Adams, again, or Garrett Wilson at least, right? Not throwing it to MVS and Scotty Miller. So, to a degree, I think there's a few things you can place the blame on. Sure, you can place the blame on Rodgers a lot.
He has to let the concept breathe. Arthur Smith drew up a few really nice man-beating concepts, and Rodgers ignored it. Instead, threw the low percentage fade route. Especially on that fourth and one. I mean, Adam Thielen's wide open. Wide open. That was a good route. Pick play. Right. He's wide open. So you've got to let that breathe and throw to Phelan, not throw to Scottie Miller.
MVS on the final play, I understand the process behind just going to MVS on that play. It doesn't look like Gainwell's going to be open pre-snap. He is. So I understand that one. The other two, though, are just miscommunications. There's no concept. He just turns and throws it to MVS. And I just think...
just banging your head into the wall, essentially, without actually letting a concept run out. I mean, on the second play of that, Phelan's open. Phelan kind of runs a little stick and nod, gets open. If Rodgers can put it to the back of the end zone, that's a touchdown. I just think, you think about that, you don't even get Fryermuth one touch in that scenario on those four plays.
Like, there's just a lot there that doesn't make much sense. And so, Aaron's to blame a lot. I also think, to a degree, at some point, Arthur Smith has to be like, Hey, I know what my quarterback's doing right now. I know the mode he's in. Time to put my best playmaker in the spot where Aaron's going to throw the ball. And I tweeted this yesterday.
If Aaron's going to target the fade route that much in those situations, it's time to put Pat Frymuth there because he's your best pass catcher right now. He's your best contested catch weapon right now. That's what you've got to do at this point. So you've got to understand your quarterback's tendencies to a degree as a play caller and start to put the personnel where it needs to go.
And so I blame Arthur Smith a little bit, but yeah, mostly that's an Aaron Rodgers decision. that Pat Friermuth cannot consistently be targeted because we saw it when he was in the fourth quarter. Good things can happen, and they don't go to him at all. He wasn't even on the field, I think, half the plays in that four-game sequence, that four-play sequence in the very end of the game.
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Chapter 5: How can the Steelers improve their offensive strategy?
I don't know if it's Aaron Rodgers maybe doesn't like throwing to Pat Framley as much as he likes Johnny Smith. I don't know if it's John Smith is Arthur Smith's kind of boy. There's a lot of different ways to look at that. It's probably a little bit of both to a degree. But we're talking about I think the Steelers have so much tight end room diversity.
that they have kind of typecasted every single player into very specific roles. I mean, when you look at Darnell Washington, he's kind of just become a big hulking run blocker that catches it either in the flat or sometimes over the middle of the field. Jonu Smith is like the manufactured touch screen jet sweep guy.
And then Faramuth has kind of been typecast as only the zone beater and really nothing else. And I just think that's doing him a disservice. Every time this guy, as you mentioned, gets on the field, he makes a big play. He's great up the seams. He can win in man-to-man coverage on choice routes, which is just the type of stuff that they need. They need easy-button stuff. And so I don't know, man.
I can't answer that because you look at who they have at their disposal right now. Without Metcalf, without Washington, without Austin, I mean, he's so easily their best player as a weapon, as a pass catcher. It just doesn't make any sense. And, you know, we talk about Fryer moves, but even in this last game against Cleveland, I mean, they totally minimized Kenny Gainwell.
He had been someone that got manufactured touches for weeks, and I felt like they were lacking that. It's just this team doesn't do a good job of accentuating. its playmakers, and its players in ways that they should. And I think Frymouth falls into that bucket more so than anyone. So I would imagine that Darnell Washington is now out for the season with a broken arm. I would think, right?
I mean, there's no way he's coming back. Unless they make some improbable run, right? What about T.J. Watt? Do you think he will practice this week? Do you think there's a chance that he plays? I do think he'll practice this week. I think he will continue to practice. I think this is pretty up in the air. It's going to be how he looks. It's going to be how he responds to things.
I think he needs at least two full participations this week for them to get him on the football field. I think that's something he's going to need. He's going to need to pass some certain thresholds. He's going to need to show them he has really good football conditioning, and he's going to have to show he's fully healthy.
I think those – the level of return from a thing like a collapsed lung is just higher than, say, I don't know, a strained calf. It's just different, right? It's not as much an injury as it is a health issue. And so the Steelers are going to make sure he's 100% out there multiple times this week, I think, if he can play. My feel on it right now –
I think it's very much 50-50, and they don't even know necessarily if they're going to have T.J. Watt. I think certainly when this happened, you know, when this has happened, I heard three weeks was the earliest. Hey, we're at three and a half. So at Sunday, we will be at three and a half weeks. This is probably the first possible time he will be able to play.
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Chapter 6: What is the significance of Pat Friermuth's usage in the offense?
No, I don't think he is. He might be with the Eagles still. I know they traded him there. But he's not good at all. I mean, Shador, I think, has at least shown some flashes of talent. He's not in the league right now. Maybe he's on the Eagles practice squad, but not on an active roster. To me, that's by far the worst one. I think Shador is better than him.
I think that, obviously, Percet has been in the league as a backup for a decade at this point. Jameis has been, he's a first overall pick, starter plus backup for over a decade. Yeah, losing to DTR is still absolutely mind-boggling to me. That's the worst one.
There is some account that I see on Instagram here when I looked up Dorian Thompson Robinson, and it's just a screen grab of my tweet, and they edited out my name in the tweet, Nick. Do you ever get annoyed when people do that? I see that a lot. I don't really ever mind it. I don't care. I mean, listen, is it annoying? Mildly so, sure, but... Whatever, man.
Instagram accounts always steal the stuff from Twitter. It's like a day later. Everything that comes on Twitter leaks over there. It's always stolen. That's like a thing for TikTok, too. Although TikTok has their own original brain rot stuff from time to time. All right, Nick, before we let you go, what do you think the vibe is going to be like in the stadium? So I'm going to be there.
A couple of my buddies I've texted with are going to be there as well. And we don't know what it's going to be because I think if it's the fourth quarter and I was at the Buffalo game, the environment could be...
twice as bad, if they're down by a score in the fourth quarter, if it's two scores, and if it's clear that they're not going to win the game, that things could get overwhelming in terms of booze, fire Tomlin chants, and it could get out of hand, not from an unsafe perspective or anything like that, but just from fans voicing their frustration. What do you anticipate if it doesn't go well?
I mean, I anticipate the same thing we saw in Buffalo. Fire Tomlinson, booing Renegade, like all that. If they get run off the field, I think it's going to be really bad because you shouldn't get run off the field by this Ravens team. It's really that simple. I do look at it, and I think throughout the week, I think this is progressively going to get a little bit more hyped up.
I think Steelers fans will buy into it more, and they'll be very excited come Sunday. Even if there's this trepidation and everyone now has the doomerism saying they're going to lose for sure, there's no confidence. As Baltimore fans, they also think they're going to lose. It's kind of funny, actually, because the Buffalo game was the same way. Buffalo thought they were going to lose that game.
And then you look at it, and I just think the fan base is frustrated, man. It's like the same story. Whether they go 9-8 or 10-7, I honestly think even next week, let's say they win, but they get run off the field by Buffalo. I think the same thing's going to happen next week if that happens. You know what I mean? Yeah. It'd be the same thing. 10-7, get blown out in the wild card round.
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Chapter 7: What are the expectations for T.J. Watt's return to practice?
They weren't utilized in the offense. And those are two players that you should try to be scheming systems and scheming plays around. to be able to best utilize their talents. Kenneth Gainwell has been the best offensive weapon on this team this year. I think that's unquestionable. And it's unquestionable when you don't have DK Metcalf and you don't have Darnell Washington.
And another thing that just absolutely drove me insane was that fourth, was on the fourth down play with Scotty Miller. It's fourth and one. You're at what, like the 20? And you decide to throw that fade. Why not run the tush push if you are so concerned because, oh, well, we don't have Darnell. We need somebody to push Connor Hayward forward.
You're telling me that you can't trust, like, Keanu Benton or Derek Harmon to just stand there, wait for the ball to be snapped, and then push? Or a backup offensive lineman? You don't have a backup guard that can do that? Or... You can't, it's not that hard.
Look, how many times did Mike Vrabel go from the defensive side of the ball to the offensive side of the ball and catch touchdowns for New England? How many times have we seen defensive linemen? I'm trying to think, who was the guy in Tampa Bay, Vita Veya?
How many times has Vita Veya, at least when Brady was there, lined up as a fullback to clear the way for Leonard Fournette or whoever was rushing for Tampa Bay? And I get it, maybe a little bit, well, it's on the fly, we don't know. Practice that in case Darnell Washington does get hurt.
That you already have somebody in a backup role there to where, oh, well, it's fourth and one, we don't have Darnell, we don't know if we're going to run it as effectively. Have something already in place to push Connor Hayward into me.
That means, oh, well, we think Darnell is the real reason why we succeed on the touch push, not Connor Hayward and just moving forward and trusting our offensive line. That's what it... meant to me. Fan Twitter, brought to you by South Hills Kia and Peters Township. Visit them at southhillskia.net.
And the fan text line is brought to you by Edgar Snyder & Associates, a personal injury law firm where they always say there's never a fee. And once we get money for you, you can also listen to the Poppin' Joe Show on demand on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts. Up next, what is Mike Tomlin going to say before this matchup against the Baltimore Ravens?
Plus, let's go inside the locker room. What did Steelers players have to say about the loss to the Cleveland Browns? And what are some of the things that are staffing up against the Steelers? Some of the numbers and facts that matter from the Cleveland game that we can take into Baltimore, where I think you'd be surprised by what the point spread is right now. At least I definitely was.
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