The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Tim Benz Joins Previewing Texans vs Steelers Playoff Matchup

Episode Date: January 7, 2026

Tim Benz Joins Previewing Texans vs Steelers Playoff Matchup 

Matt and Ross with you here on 790. I'm here in Portland, Rockets, and Blazers tonight. We'll have the broadcast for you beginning at 8 o'clock with a launchpad network pregame at 830 on the call at 9 o'clock. We are joined now by man who's been with us a few times over the years. We don't do a lot of Houston-Pittsburgh talk because, frankly, the Astros and Pirates don't play in the World Series, I don't believe ever. And the Texan Steelers don't have not played a whole lot over the years. But Tim Ben's with us, breakfast with Ben's columnist for the Pittsburgh Tribune Sports. is also found on Fox Sports Pittsburgh.

He's got a bigger resume than I do. Is that right, Tim Benz? How are you this morning? By the way, nice to hear from you again. Yeah, the other issue why we don't talk too much is because no NBA team here, which a lot of people would still love to see happen. I'm not holding my breath. But, yeah, maybe someday.

But I think Pittsburgh has to figure out how to make its other two teams competitive again besides the Steelers and the Penguins and the Pirates, although the Penguins are overachieving so far this year. see what the Steelers can do against the Texans to make this a thumbs up or thumbs down season on Monday night. I swear to God, Tim, when the Houston hockey team plays the Penguins, we're going to have you on for like a whole half hour, I promise. Hey.

There's a lot to talk about there. There's a lot of history to go over in a half an hour, but I'll do my best. Yeah. Hey, let me ask you this. If that kick is made, what's Mike Tomlin doing today? maybe holding his season-ending press conference or maybe he would have done that yesterday and we'd be at lock or clean out and I don't think much else would change with Tomlin. I think it would take consecutive sub-500 seasons before Art Rooney the second ever actually

listened to the outside noise and the calls for his job. I wrote a column about it not too terribly long ago. when the bills came in here and whooped the Steelers and, you know, people were chanting fire Tomlin throughout the course of the second half. And I said words to the effect that there were 67,050 people at Accresher Stadium and 67,049 of them heard the chance and the only one who didn't was Art Ruey the second. So I just think that's where his headspace is versus everybody else in Pittsburgh. We can talk about it, but it's not going to happen.

A lot of people have made that analogy. If Tyler Loop doesn't push that field goal well, wide, right, does that mean Tomlin is out of a job and Harbaugh is getting ready for a playoff game? Well, the second part would be true, but I don't think Tomlin would have gone anywhere anyway. I think it would take consecutive sub-500 seasons before that happens. Okay, Tim. So not to be rude, but we don't follow the Pittsburgh Steelers all that much. No, look, Aaron's been on TV a lot and the Steelers have a national fan base,

but the Texan Steelers have not played in a while. Before we get into what has been a mediocre season for that entire division, tell me what's right. I mean, T.J. Watt, coming back from his ailment and stepping back on the football field, what are the things do Pittsburgh Steelers fans, and they travel well? So we've got Steelers listening to us all over the country. What do the Steelers do right? What got them to where they are right now?

Well, with Watt out, they kept it afloat with good outside linebackers. depth. I think they're legit four deep at that position this year. They haven't been in the past. They have gotten around secondary injury issues better than expected. Joey Porter's

started to live up to reputation. They found a home for Jalen Ramsey by force of necessity at safety. The run defense has actually been good in games where they haven't had to worry about a mobile quarterback. If there's a

mobile quarterback out there and they've got to make decisions to stop the mobile quarterback or stop the big time running back. Big time running backs have gotten loose. Henry's had a couple good games better statistically than actual imprint, but good statistically against them. James Cook went off in a situation like that. Breece Hall, game one, where he had Justin Fields flanking them. Those things they've done well on defense. On offense, they've had good second halves in the passing game out of Rogers. The Rogers to Metcalfe connection is sometimes good. The offensive line play has been better than anticipated, especially after Broderick

Jones got hurt. Dylan Cook at left tackle has been a stunning revelation out of nowhere. We've seen that along the offensive line before with guys here in Pittsburgh. So those are some of the things that they do well. The checkdown game to the running backs is good. they have a good dual threat thing going on with Jalen Warren and Kenneth Gainwell, but they do not throw the ball well down the field or over the middle of the field consistently whatsoever. You mentioned T.J. Wa coming back in some of the depth on defense,

how did he look in your eyes in his return? Pretty active. It's a tough read with the way they play against the Ravens. Those outside edges crashed down so much, and they've always had a script of, whether Lamar has the ball or not, hit him. Just go after him and hit him. So it looks like what or Highsmith in certain games may be making more of an imprint than they really are because you just see him in the backfield so often

because they're crashing so hard. I did think he looked okay. He had the interception off of a batted ball that Highsmith and Hayward really made the play out. I didn't mention Hayward before. He's been great in the second half of the season. I should have brought him up too. But he's part of that running defense I was speaking of.

So I thought T.J. was first game back-ish, yeah, but I also thought that that was a pretty high platform, even if it didn't show up a ton statistically. I thought he did enough good things. And the outside linebackers behind him, particularly Herbig and Jack Sawyer, you don't see the dip when T.J. goes out as much as you used to. Tim Binns with us here on Sports Talk 790, and you talked a lot about the offense, the offensive line looking pretty good. Just overall, how do you see this matchup? Because, I mean, maybe I've got my Texans colored glasses on Tim, but it just feels like it's going to be difficult for them to score points, obviously against a very good Texans defense. But I just don't feel like there's much of a dynamic element with the Pittsburgh Steelers offense. there isn't you know when we're looking at the prospects the potential teams going into the weekend with of course the Steelers playing last who would be coming here to Accrescher if they beat the Ravens I was kind of playing the game with myself or if this team came how much would they be favored by it this team came I said three points for the Texans it's been at three and a half most of the week they are very worthy favorites by that much at home for the Steelers you know the Monday night thing

everybody always says it means nothing it's just a historical fluke it must mean something it's been going on since 1991 they haven't lost a home Monday night game that span three coaches you know the Texans without a road playoff win you know there's something to think about there

but I do think that if you went unit by unit if you took like the four units of the teams and you did Steelers defense Steelers offense Houston defense Houston offense by far in a way the best unit of the fours, the Houston defense.

I do worry that for as good as this offensive line has been over the last five or six weeks, that Houston's defensive front is going to cause them problems. And for as slow as the Steelers have been to start in some games of late, it's going to be harder for them to come back in a hurry like they did against the Ravens. Like, their most success throwing the ball down the field all season long, basically, has come in two games against Baltimore. And that's because their secondary has been pretty banged up at times, and they don't have much of a pass rush threat.

I do get concerned when I think about the Steelers' offensive line, as much as it's gotten better and it's been arrow up throughout the second half of the season, trying to stop two good pass rushers at once, especially if they're not in advantageous down-and-distance situations to begin with. So that's why I give the Texans the edge. I've been saying 23-20, Houston in overtime all week, and I'm not moving off of that. Tim, D.K. Metcalfe has been reinstated.

What is his mind going to be like going into this game? I mean, tell me, forgetting about the situation involved in Detroit, but, I mean, is he got his blank together, or is he going to be, is he highly emotional guy that you don't know, you're getting from one week to the next. I didn't even realize the depths of how many times he had been fined prior to what happened in Detroit, but he had like 16 fines, you know, for celebrations or in-game face mask incidents or fights with various players.

Like, he's always been a hothead. I knew that was the case of him coming here, but he's literally, yes, sir, no sir, to any question that he's ever asked by the media. He gets a little prickly at some questions, but he's always politically correct in how he answers them, at least on the record, and then he grumbles a little bit after. But, like, to see him lose it like that in Detroit, not stunning based on his history, but it did feel to be a departure based on what we had seen for the previous 14 weeks here. He's been contrite. You know, he was forthright in speaking with us earlier this week. He said all the right thing.

He even thanked the NFL for letting him practice, which was bizarre because I thought they were a little heavy-handed in their discipline, and you didn't get whiff one of that from him. I think he was tight-lipped in how he talked about the situation because there might be something legal pending there. But he was even tipping his hat to the league that suspended him for two games. So you would think that his head is in the right place, but I never saw that coming against Detroit. So maybe I should check myself on that. He has gotten some post whistle penalties and he's still barking at guys all the time. And, you know, you see him wolf out there a lot during games.

And sometimes he does take it too far. So I don't know how to answer that question. It feels like that answer should be yes, but past history tells me probably not. And if somebody gets under his skin, he could lose it at any point. Yeah, sure. All right, Tim, I got two last questions for you. Aaron's pass rush, the Texas will be the best pass rush. he probably sees all season long.

And again, I don't know all 17. If you were to give him a 30 seconds advice about going against Daniel Hunter and Will Anderson, is it getting rid of the ball quickly? Is it going through progressions? Tell me what Aaron's thinking about this week going against a team that has really destroyed a lot of quarterbacks, namely, you know, Josh Allen being one particular quarterback.

Yeah, I think one piece of advice I would give is, and this is maybe more to Arthur Smith, it is Aaron Rogers, is don't obsess with keeping Warren and Gainwell back to chip. Get him out in the flat quickly and let Rogers be his own pass protector. That worked out better against the Browns when they did it that way. The first time they played them versus what they did against Garrett and the Browns, the second time they played them, where they just obsessed over making sure Garrett didn't get at Rogers.

And they kept Gainwell, who's their team MVP in, to eat blocks the whole time. And it didn't seem to make sense to me. And I happen, as good as Gainwell is it that, I still happen, I think Warren's better at it anyway, because he's a little bowling ball and, you know, it's a good blocker. So

I would just, they love using those guys in the flat, they love checking it down to them, but if they're so obsessed with holding off those two pass rushers and keeping them in the, you know, offensive backfield to do so, they're not going to get out in time. And by the time that they do, the rest of the Texans

defense is going to flow over there and they're going to get very little, even less than they do in the past game. So that's what I would say. I think the advice has to go to Arthur Smith before it goes to Rogers and just get those guys out in the flat and get it out to them quick. All right. And last question. My good friend, Chris Brown

used to kick for the Steelers. Chris Boswell, Rice Kid, has been doing it for a long time for Pittsburgh. Chris told me many years ago, Tim, that's the worst place for kickers to kick field goals is at your stadium. And it's clearly Baltimore's special teams would probably agree with you on that. Is it still as bad as it was when Chris was playing? Is there a decided advantage? And the reason

why I bring this up is because, frankly, Kami Fairbairn has been as big of a part of the Texans offense as any of the receiver or CJ Stroud has been for Houston so far this year. Oh, and that's been talked about this week. People are aware of that here too. And I like Chris, a great deal. I covered him when I first got on the beat with the team back in 01, I think it was. And yeah, the feel was terrible. The field was awful for the first five years or so, maybe even six or seven beyond that. But I would say going back the last handful of years, maybe five, six, they've figured things out with the turf a lot better. I would say, yeah, going back to about 20 or so, right around COVID, they started to figure out the field better. And it's no coincidence that

Boswell's been great over the past few years. years. And there have been more long kicks from opposing kickers here, too. And they've closed in the outs. As Chris would remember, the open end of the stadium has been closed in a little bit. Bigger scoreboard. They've changed the seating. So it's not as windy coming in off the open end as when Chris was kicking here. They did have some issues with the field earlier in the season. I'm not sure they've gotten all those right yet. It was an extraordinarily narrowly dry fall here and a little warm late and then we had one rainy cold weekend and that seemed to screw everything up and there's a lot of action from pit here earlier in the season

and it's been very snowy here in December 2 so it's not great this year but boswell for the most part has navigated that okay i think his extra point miss was partially blocked that was the way it was in the scorebook i think that's right and um i don't loop just pushed it so Chris has a great point. He's 100% right, but I would say in the long time since he's been here, they've gotten that field much better and Boswell's career numbers. If you look at, he's got 12 to the 13 longest field goals in Accresor Stadium history, and that's in large part because the turf has gotten better and it's easier to plant for those kickers now. If you want to follow the Pittsburgh perspective of this game leading in next Monday,

please go to at Tim Benz, B-E-N-Z-P-G-H. He will give you all what you need from the Steeler Advantage. Thank you for the time, and I'll talk with you on Friday. We appreciate the visit here this morning. Awesome. Thanks for having me.