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HR1: Week 1 Reaction · In the Locker Room presented by Neighborhood Ford Store (Pittsburgh Steelers)

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio. Brought to you
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Well, the locker room felt incomplete yesterday. It felt incomplete
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: because we did not have Willie Colon in this We
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: have Willie Colon with us today. Willie, right now, for
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: people that can't see me on the radio, I make
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: this big circling gesture.
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: You complete us, Willie.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: You complete us. How are you, my friend?
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: I am well, man.
• 0:49
  Speaker 4: Thanks for letting me back on the ship, especially after
• 0:53
  Speaker 4: a steal or win. I think for a lot of
• 0:56
  Speaker 4: people who watched that game, I think it's safe to
• 0:59
  Speaker 4: say it was good, the bad, and the ugly. It
• 1:01
  Speaker 4: felt like we were watching a fourth preseason game But nevertheless,
• 1:05
  Speaker 4: we got the dub against.
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: The Atlanta Falcons.
• 1:07
  Speaker 4: So I'm happy to be aboard on this beautiful Tuesday afternoon.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: You know, we talked about that last week, the fact that–
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: and now the Falcons did play their regulars more in
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: the preseason than the Steelers and more than a lot
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: of other teams that I saw, frankly. You know, Kevin Stefanski,
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: I think, trying to establish something down there in Atlanta.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: And it makes sense. It's the division in which– I
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: think there's four teams in the division and five of
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: them finished with an eight and nine record, right? I mean,
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: they're all, you know, they're all competing for, you know,
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: who can break 500 and win the division maybe. So
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: it makes sense to do that. But I think there's
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: a lot of this around the league. Isn't there really
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: a lot of teams that just, you know, not all
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: of them, but some of the football just doesn't look
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: that crisp in week one.
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah. And I think a.
• 1:56
  Speaker 4: Lot has to do with the preservation of the guys
• 1:59
  Speaker 4: in training camp and, and, You know, you never want,
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: I don't mean to be redundant, but to be good
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: at football, you have to play football. And you have
• 2:11
  Speaker 4: to go out there and go through the minutia of
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: playing football. You have to schematically be prepared for the opposition.
• 2:21
  Speaker 4: And what we saw throughout the NFL this weekend, especially
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: in various games, I mean, go back to Sunday, the
• 2:29
  Speaker 4: Packers versus the Vikings. Everybody knows Brian Flores loves the blitz.
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: He lives and dies with the blitz. I think he
• 2:38
  Speaker 4: pressured Jordan Love 80% of that game. And if you're
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: the Packers, to have the blunder and kind of have
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: the collapse you had in the second half and not
• 2:47
  Speaker 4: make the adjustment accordingly, that's how.
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: You lose the game, right?
• 2:51
  Speaker 4: And so there was countless examples of, it seemed like
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: the lack of preparation, the lack of operation, it just
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: all kind of, it all came to fruition on Sunday.
• 3:04
  Speaker 4: And I think a lot of teams are right now
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: still getting their sales, you know, and they're still trying
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: to figure out who they are and what they are.
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: Nobody gets their identity week one. We understand that. But
• 3:13
  Speaker 4: you still want to see something. And I don't know
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: if we saw enough of, you know, a team's identity
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: or what they want to be in week one.
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: I think the Steelers tried to against the Falcons. They
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: want to be more explosive.
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: It's been highlighted that Aaron Rodgers wants to throw the
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: ball down the middle of the field. I think he
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: threw it, I forgot, I think he threw it damn
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: near 40 or 50, 40 times.
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: In that game. So they wanted to air it out.
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: But you saw the disconnect and the lack of chemistry
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: between him and the receivers and the time, everything.
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: That comes along with having an explosive offense.
• 3:46
  Speaker 4: And a lot of that has to do with just
• 3:48
  Speaker 4: not playing enough in the preseason where week one they
• 3:50
  Speaker 4: looked like they were a little more polished.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: Okay, so Willie, since we didn't get your breakdown of things,
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: we're going to give Max a little bit of time
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: to to take a segment off here because I want
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: to ask you about what you liked and didn't like
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: from the Steelers' week. So, obviously, we all like the win, right?
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: We talked about this. I don't care if it's 3-2.
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: Win is the win. Right.
• 4:14
  Speaker 5: Yeah, that's right.
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  Speaker 2: You'd rather win ugly than lose pretty. And it wasn't
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: all ugly, certainly. I mean, there were some parts that
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: weren't great. But what did you– let's start out with
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: what you didn't like.
• 4:26
  Speaker 5: I'm sorry.
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: Let's start out with what you did like. from the Steelers'
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: win over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday?
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  Speaker 4: Well, so what I did like was the fact that
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: our defense stood up when we needed it the most.
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: Our defense pretty much carried the team.
• 4:44
  Speaker 4: I think when you look at the last time I
• 4:47
  Speaker 4: was on with you guys, I talked about what.
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: I wanted to see out of that linebacker core.
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: And what we saw out of Peyton Wilson was absolutely phenomenal.
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: I thought he was amazing. He was a tackling machine,
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: and he was absolutely spectacular.
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: I wanted to see Juwan Brisker really pop off the tape,
• 5:04
  Speaker 4: and I did.
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  Speaker 3: I think he played in the slot. He played deep.
• 5:08
  Speaker 4: They had him down in the box a couple times,
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: and obviously he had a big pick. I wanted to
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: see this defensive line play with a level of attention.
• 5:19
  Speaker 6: Sorry.
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: Sorry. play with a different level of attention, and they did. Sorry,
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: my wife's phone is going off.
• 5:25
  Speaker 5: I apologize.
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: Give me one second. Go ahead, Rob. My wife is
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: killing me.
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: You got to love live radio, man. You got to
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: love live.
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: It is.
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: And, you know, for those of you who missed our
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: recap yesterday, you know, Willie really kind of hitting, you know,
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: the things that we liked yesterday. Peyton Wilson I thought
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: really stood out. You know, I guess let's start from
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: the inside moving out defensively or from that front line
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: moving backward. I mean, I think the obvious Herbig have
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: about equal amount of snaps. Herbig had the most. Jack
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: Sawyer got a lot of snaps. Mike McCarthy's talked about
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: wanting to keep these guys fresh both in game and
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: over the course of a season.
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: As well, Willie.
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: And to me, I thought Watt and Highsmith, in particular,
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: were sensational for the Steelers. Having some troubles again. So
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: for those of you who somehow missed the game, and
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: I'm sure there aren't many, Highsmith had two sacks earlier,
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: and then T.J. Watt, as the game went on later,
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: he had a pair of sacks as well. Of course,
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: he had the interception return for a touchdown the first
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: time he has taken an interception. in for a score.
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: He has a fumble recovery for a touchdown. Also had
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: one in the postseason as well. Those don't officially count
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: in the statistics. So a great game turned in by T.J. Watt.
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: A great game turned in by Alex Highsmith. We talked
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: again about the snap distribution of the guys in the
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: middle and how Cam Hayward, you know, you want him
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: out there as much as possible, but you really want
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: him out there when the game is on the line.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: And Cam Hayward certainly turned in a good performance there.
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: batting balls back at the line of scrimmage and pushing
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: the pocket back. So I guess Willie, again, to sum up,
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: you know, TJ Watt, Highsmith, you know, pretty much all
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: you could ask from them. And it seems like the
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: smaller pitch count, you know, fewer plays for those guys
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: worked in this one and hopefully will work when we
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: get into December and January football as well.
• 7:42
  Speaker 4: Yeah, TJ, I think, played 38 snaps, which was– You know,
• 7:46
  Speaker 4: I wasn't, it's funny because that used to.
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: Be the snap total, snap count for Nick Herbig, right?
• 7:54
  Speaker 4: And they kind of used him in a hand selected,
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: they kind of handpicked when they wanted to unleash him.
• 7:59
  Speaker 4: And that's why his stats look so good because they
• 8:01
  Speaker 4: was able to limit his, he had limited snaps and
• 8:04
  Speaker 4: they put him in situations where he can thrive. And
• 8:07
  Speaker 4: now it's kind of the reverse. Now they're saying, all right, TJ,
• 8:09
  Speaker 4: we're going to dial back your snaps. You're already an
• 8:12
  Speaker 4: elite pass rusher. You're already an elite at your job.
• 8:15
  Speaker 4: there's no wonder he popped off the tape and he
• 8:17
  Speaker 4: was that impactful with his sacks and tackles and everything
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: because he looked fresh, right? And then he understood, he
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: was like, all right, I'm going to play a majority
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: of my snaps on the left side, but I'm going
• 8:26
  Speaker 4: to get a little bit of right. And I think
• 8:27
  Speaker 4: when you talk about Patrick Graham, his mindset is I'm
• 8:30
  Speaker 4: going to use you all over the place, right? Wherever
• 8:32
  Speaker 4: I think you can be effective and we can get
• 8:33
  Speaker 4: a win, that's where I'm going to put you. But
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: I think the fact that he had 38 snaps and
• 8:38
  Speaker 4: he looked fresh and I think that's the rest, excuse me,
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: I feel that's the recipe for him right now at
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: this stage in his career. And now that you have
• 8:47
  Speaker 4: Jack Sawyer, who's getting older, a lot more savvy, and
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: who's a vet, on top of having Nick Herbig, who
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: is trying to prove himself worthy of the contract that
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: he just received, I think the Steelers got something brewing
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: right now to look good on Sunday.
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: It's going to be interesting, too, because when we talk
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: about snap counts, and we went over this yesterday a
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: little bit, but Queen had them all. Peyton Wilson had
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: all but three. And so when you see the snap
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: counts of the other guys, you know that they had
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: five linebackers out there quite a bit. There were 12
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: times when it was Watt, Highsmith, Herbig, six times when
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: it was Highsmith, Herbig, Sawyer, three times when it was Watt, Herbig, Sawyer.
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: So that's 21 snaps, right? So if Peyton Wilson was
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: off for three of those, that means 18 times out
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: of 60 snaps, almost a third, you had five linebackers
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: out there. The two inside guys and the three outside guys. Now,
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: I guess part of that, Willie, is let's get your
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: best players out there. And the other part of that
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: is maybe this opponent allowed you to kind of like
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: that sort of matchup.
• 9:58
  Speaker 5: Oh, yeah, 100%.
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: Listen, I.
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: I will take a breath here. Juan Taylor's not a
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: great right tackle, right? He's not a great tackle.
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 10:05
  Speaker 4: But he's what the Falcons put out there, and you
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: could only play what they put out there. So on
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: top of the offensive line for the Falcons kind of
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: playing up and down, I thought collectively as a unit,
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: With Highsmith, with, you know, Wilson and Queen and Jack Sawyer.
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: I mean, collectively as a group, they look good. They did.
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: And they look great. And so I applaud what they
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: was able to do.
• 10:33
  Speaker 4: I do think right now if there was somebody who
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: I would like to see play at a better tempo
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: and have more production would be Patrick Queen. But he
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: wasn't got off. I just would like to see more
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: out of him. Especially against, I guess, a lesser opponent.
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I would think Two, Willie, it's going to be
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: really interesting to see how this evolves over the course
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: of the season and whether when you're taking on, say,
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: the Cincinnati Bengals, are you– you want those– and I'm
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: not trying to slight Jack Surry, but you want in
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: particular those three outside linebackers, your three highest paid guys
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: out there at one time. Well, maybe now one of
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: those guys, Queen or Wilson, comes off the field because–
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: or maybe one of the defensive linemen comes off the field.
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: But then again, you got Benton with his contract extension,
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: Cam Hayward on his way to hopefully to Canton, and
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: Derek Harmon is a first-round pick. Do you want to
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: take those guys off the field? As they say, these
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: are good problems to have, but I just think it's
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: going to be matchup-specific, Willie. I do. I don't think
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: they're going to go into a game saying, or they're
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: going to go into the season saying, this is going
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: to be the snap distribution. This is it. I think it'll...
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: They've got good personnel, and I think they're going to
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: tweak it by opponent.
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: I mean, that's fair to say, but I also think there's–
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: to as much as we credit Mike McCarthy trying to
• 11:59
  Speaker 4: show the rest of the league what he wants this
• 12:02
  Speaker 4: offense to look like and what it has to be,
• 12:05
  Speaker 4: I think the same thing goes on the defensive side.
• 12:08
  Speaker 4: They want to be Patrick Graham's– he wants his defense
• 12:12
  Speaker 4: to be aggressive.
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: He wants to get after the quarterback.
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: He wants to disguise coverages and be able to play–
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: You know, I think we saw a little bit of
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: a brisker kind of be versatile. I think he wants
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: a more versatile group. And I also want to I
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: think he also wants to prove that he can cover.
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: Right. I think Jamel Dean had a solid game.
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: I thought I thought there was aspects of that secondary
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: that would really play well. And I think right now,
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: if you're from the D-line standpoint, you know, Derek Harmon
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: was up and down for me. You know, I would
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: love to see a little more out of him. Collectively,
• 12:43
  Speaker 4: I think as a unit, they want to identify defensively
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: as a group. that gets after the quarterback, and that
• 12:50
  Speaker 4: really puts teams in a bind, right, with multiple packages,
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: putting their best guys against, you know, matchups, as you
• 12:59
  Speaker 4: just mentioned.
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: And so I think right now I think we're just
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: seeing this defense.
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: I thought they just played better than I expected on
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: week one, considering they didn't get a whole lot in preseason.
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: Yep, I agree. I thought the defense was really good.
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: They're going to have a bigger test, although there's no A.J.
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: Brown for the Patriots, but that'll definitely be a bigger test.
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: You're not going against a third-string quarterback. You're going against
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: a guy who finished second last year in MVP voting.
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: We could probably save special teams because there were some
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: things that happened there that weren't great. We could talk
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: about that a little bit. But was there anything on offense, Willie,
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: that stuck out to you in a positive way?
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we've got to be positive, right?
• 13:44
  Speaker 5: We won, Will.
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: We won.
• 13:46
  Speaker 5: We won the game.
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: No, you got to be positive. You're right.
• 13:49
  Speaker 4: You never want to start into, you never want to
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: go into a new week talking about the shoulda, coulda,
• 13:53
  Speaker 4: wouldas and all that nonsense.
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: But I think.
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: Rico Dotto plays solid for the most part. I thought
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: Zach Frazier had a really solid game. I was able
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: to put my eyes on him. I thought he was solid. And,
• 14:05
  Speaker 4: you know, Spencer Anderson, I thought had a solid game too.
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: Our left side still needs a little seasoning. We got
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: to be a lot better, but I thought we held
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: for the most part. Dylan Cook, obviously, you know, I
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: would have liked to see him play better. I think
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: Michael Pittman, out of everybody, seemed to have– he seemed
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: to be more in line with what Aaron was trying
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: to do out there. I think he seemed like a
• 14:27
  Speaker 4: shorthand catcher. And, you know, Aaron's used to those kind
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: of slender, big-body receivers, and it felt like he was
• 14:33
  Speaker 4: just familiar with looking at Michael Pittman. And, listen, at
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: the end of the day, Aaron throwing the ball 40 times,
• 14:41
  Speaker 4: I don't know if that's going to be the world
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: we live in. but I thought he, for the most part, man,
• 14:45
  Speaker 4: he wasn't afraid to just let it rip and he
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: was doing it. And it's clear, like he's not, he
• 14:50
  Speaker 4: doesn't want to get a hit. He doesn't, he's not
• 14:51
  Speaker 4: in the business of getting hit anymore. Um, but even
• 14:55
  Speaker 4: with that one scramble, he got off the floor, like,
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: Oh man, I don't want to be down here ever again. Uh,
• 15:00
  Speaker 4: so it's, uh, I thought it was, it was a clunky,
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: it was a clunky, clunky, excuse me, outlook for this offense,
• 15:06
  Speaker 4: still offense, but you know, Hey, week one, you got
• 15:09
  Speaker 4: the dub moving on to the pets.
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: Just real quick.
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: Um, offensively, as we kind of wrap up, Willie's look
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: back at this team. I didn't see any real glaring
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: negatives on defense. I mean, you mentioned Patrick Queen. Hopefully,
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: we'll accelerate a little bit, and maybe that was just
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: because Peyton Wilson got greedy and had all the tackles
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: in a good way. But were there things, you mentioned
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: a couple along the O-line. Anything else? I mean, DK Metcalf,
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: I think, has received a lot of criticism, but Anything
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: else that stuck out to you positively or negatively, Willie?
• 15:43
  Speaker 4: Well, that's the thing about DK. I know a lot
• 15:46
  Speaker 4: of people are kind of highlighting his drops. You got
• 15:49
  Speaker 4: to give credit to the Falcons secondary. I mean, they
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: were covering him, right? There were some good plays on
• 15:55
  Speaker 4: their end. So it just wasn't all DK. I mean, yeah,
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: he had– I think he was targeted 10 times. He
• 16:00
  Speaker 4: had two drops. But you got to give credit to
• 16:04
  Speaker 4: the Falcons defense. I think a lot of times they
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: covered him well and did some good plays on the
• 16:08
  Speaker 4: ball that kind of– And I think one in the
• 16:10
  Speaker 4: back of the end zone was actually DK playing a
• 16:11
  Speaker 4: little defense there that saved him. But overall, you know,
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: I think my goal for DK, if I was to,
• 16:19
  Speaker 4: you know, have a request or a wish list, I
• 16:21
  Speaker 4: just want him to be, you're going to see a
• 16:24
  Speaker 4: lot of DBs right now play a lot more sticky.
• 16:28
  Speaker 4: And I think when you have a juggernaut like DK,
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: you just want to see him kind of be able
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: to catch the ball through contact.
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: That's what makes A.J. Brown great.
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: That's what makes a lot of these big body receivers good.
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: It doesn't matter who's draped all over them. They can
• 16:40
  Speaker 4: kick this flat out, act like Shaq in the paint,
• 16:42
  Speaker 4: get the ball and dunk it. And DK, with his
• 16:46
  Speaker 4: skill set and what he can do, that's just what's expected, right?
• 16:50
  Speaker 4: You're going to have DBs get handsy. You're going to
• 16:52
  Speaker 4: have DBs drape all over you. You're going to have
• 16:54
  Speaker 4: people kind of try to rough you up. You just
• 16:56
  Speaker 4: want to see him be bigger than life in those moments.
• 17:00
  Speaker 4: And we just didn't get that Sunday. But I don't
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: think that's something we're not going to see. I think
• 17:05
  Speaker 4: he just has to really just– elevate his game. You know, they,
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: the quarterbacks are going to play him a lot tough
• 17:10
  Speaker 4: because of his, his, you know, his physical skillset. And
• 17:13
  Speaker 4: he's just going to have to kind of just, you know,
• 17:15
  Speaker 4: just be better at the point of attack when the.
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: Ball's in there. Yep.
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: Well, you know, again, there's a, there's a victory and
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: there's room for improvement and that's never a bad place
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: to be right. The Steelers certainly didn't hit their ceiling
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: in week one. I'm going to talk about that improvement
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: from week one to week two in a season. Also
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: look back to last night's game. Was that a statement
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: win for the chiefs? Uh, We're going to get the guys'
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: opinions on that when we continue in the locker room
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: here on the Steelers Audio Network.
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio, brought to you
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: in part by a Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: And thanks very much for being with us on this Tuesday,
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: wrapping up week one. And we're going to soon turn
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: our attention to week two in a big matchup.
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: Against the New England Patriots in New England.
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: Second consecutive year. The Steelers will go up to Foxborough
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: for a game. And, Max, we'll start here with you
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: on this one, getting Willie caught up with some of
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: the stuff we talked about yesterday. But, you know, I
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: think Mike McCarthy seemed to indicate Danny Crossman, the special
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: team's coach seemed to indicate, getting in your lanes and
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: tackling better and the whole notion that week one to
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: week two is obviously a big opportunity for improvement. Is
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: that the biggest opportunity for improvement for a team going
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: from week one to week two, especially now maybe when
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: you're not quite as physical as you were in camp? Look,
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: and again, CBA doesn't allow some of this stuff. It
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: doesn't allow what was allowed back when you guys played.
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: In some ways, teams are Hands are tied. Could they
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: do more? That's perhaps another debate. But, you know, now
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: in today's game, should we expect a big improvement from
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: the Steelers and from other teams week one to week two?
• 19:25
  Speaker 5: I think you have to.
• 19:26
  Speaker 6: I think, you know, the last couple of years with
• 19:28
  Speaker 6: these rules and the loss of the fourth preseason game
• 19:31
  Speaker 6: with the 17th game being enacted, I think you kind of–
• 19:35
  Speaker 6: a lot of teams look at week one as the
• 19:37
  Speaker 6: week four preseason. And you do see a market difference–
• 19:42
  Speaker 6: what you thought you knew versus what you put on tape.
• 19:47
  Speaker 5: And that's what I'm expecting to see.
• 19:49
  Speaker 6: I'm expecting to see a lot cleaner special teams um
• 19:53
  Speaker 6: i expect also to see a lot better you know
• 19:55
  Speaker 6: offensive production because it is now something where i've seen
• 20:01
  Speaker 6: it on tape i've looked at my feet i've looked
• 20:03
  Speaker 6: at what i've done or not done and you know
• 20:07
  Speaker 6: i still think offensively It's probably going to be another
• 20:11
  Speaker 6: two weeks in my mind. But you are going to
• 20:13
  Speaker 6: see a big jump from last week to this week.
• 20:15
  Speaker 6: I thought the most encouraging thing offensively was the four-minute
• 20:20
  Speaker 6: drill at the end of the game. Like the got
• 20:22
  Speaker 6: to have it moment. We need this. We cannot give
• 20:26
  Speaker 6: them the ball back. Bully ball, grind them to a
• 20:30
  Speaker 6: halt to where all momentum, all hope is just squeezed
• 20:34
  Speaker 6: out of them. I thought they did an excellent job
• 20:36
  Speaker 6: of that. So and defensively, I think, yeah, you could
• 20:39
  Speaker 6: be cleaner. You know, you're not going to see B.
• 20:41
  Speaker 6: John Robinson every week. So a heavy 12 package personnel
• 20:47
  Speaker 6: featuring just that guy is not going to be every week.
• 20:50
  Speaker 6: You're going to see a duo of backs this week.
• 20:53
  Speaker 6: So now they can kind of learn and see, OK, well,
• 20:55
  Speaker 6: when we see the running back in the bunch and
• 20:58
  Speaker 6: the inside wing of the bunch flaring out, it's screened
• 21:02
  Speaker 6: to the running back. OK, I mean, it's like some
• 21:05
  Speaker 6: of those things that they just hadn't seen.
• 21:07
  Speaker 5: That they've now seen, they can now talk through them.
• 21:09
  Speaker 6: So I think we can expect an uptick in production.
• 21:16
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think you're spot on.
• 21:17
  Speaker 4: I think what's interesting about the Patriots going into next week,
• 21:22
  Speaker 4: and they have two running backs that can go.
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: I mean, Ramond A. Stevenson is a guy who loves
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: to run between the tackles.
• 21:28
  Speaker 4: Trayvon Henderson, excuse me, is he's a guy who's more
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: of a screen guy who has home run speed. With
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: all that said, man, I think the Steelers, defensively, it
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: was good to see Peyton Wilson get unlocked. But at that, man,
• 21:45
  Speaker 4: you still want to see collectively as a group them
• 21:48
  Speaker 4: just tackle better. I mean, you highlighted that before we
• 21:50
  Speaker 4: went into this game, Max, that the Steelers collectively got
• 21:53
  Speaker 4: to be better at getting to the football as a
• 21:54
  Speaker 4: gang and tackling. Because one thing that I thought the
• 21:58
  Speaker 4: Seahawks did against the Patriots was the defensive unit of
• 22:01
  Speaker 4: the Seahawks, they tackled really well. And they made it
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: hard downs for the Patriots to operate with. If the
• 22:07
  Speaker 4: Steelers want to have success going into this game, that's
• 22:09
  Speaker 4: something they're going to have to do. They're going to
• 22:10
  Speaker 4: have to tackle a lot better and just as a
• 22:12
  Speaker 4: group rally to the football a lot faster. And that's
• 22:15
  Speaker 4: going to show up and bring more energy to the defense.
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: You know, that's a really good point, Willie. And I agree.
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: You want to be known as a really good tackling team.
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: And I think this would be a more– maybe a
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: better litmus test for where they stand in that department because,
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: as Max just alluded to, Willie, I mean, be John Robinson.
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: For me, he's the best in the league. I mean,
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: he just– I brought this up yesterday. I was wowed
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: by this on the air. They threw a little pass
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: out to him to the right. I think it was
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: in the first half. He was at four defenders. He
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: had one blocker in front of him. He picked up
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: seven yards. I'm like, I don't know who else picks up–
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: I don't know who picks up seven yards there other
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: than him. I mean, he's just– he slithers. he'll shrug
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: you off. I mean, he just, I mean, I don't even,
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: forget all the adjectives. He's just the best. I think
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: he's the best in the league right now.
• 23:08
  Speaker 6: Well, and I think the thing is, his athleticism was
• 23:11
  Speaker 6: just unparalleled. His lateral quickness was one of the best,
• 23:15
  Speaker 6: and that's why he was drafted in the first round
• 23:17
  Speaker 6: top 10.
• 23:17
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 23:18
  Speaker 6: Let's just, you know, sometimes it just comes out the womb,
• 23:21
  Speaker 6: and he maximized it.
• 23:25
  Speaker 4: Well, also, I think when you talk about what really
• 23:28
  Speaker 4: good backs can do, like the elite backs, they can
• 23:30
  Speaker 4: run horizontal really well. He's one of those guys that
• 23:32
  Speaker 4: can do that. And if you're a defense who's not,
• 23:37
  Speaker 4: you know, as you're attacking the football from a tackling standpoint,
• 23:40
  Speaker 4: if you're not detailed on your keys, man, he's going
• 23:43
  Speaker 4: to embarrass you. And I think a couple times when
• 23:44
  Speaker 4: you saw him in space, you kind of held your breath.
• 23:47
  Speaker 4: You were like, uh-oh, this kid, he can shake one
• 23:50
  Speaker 4: or two guys and you just saw the crease somehow
• 23:52
  Speaker 4: get bigger. And, you know, by the grace of God,
• 23:55
  Speaker 4: we were able to get to him sometimes, but He's
• 23:57
  Speaker 4: the type of guy, to your point, Rob, he's a
• 23:59
  Speaker 4: special talent, but he's a special talent with really good
• 24:01
  Speaker 4: feet and has a nose for the end zone. So
• 24:04
  Speaker 4: when we talk about getting to the football, you know
• 24:06
  Speaker 4: one guy's not going to be able to get it done.
• 24:08
  Speaker 4: You're going to have to call the cavalry every time
• 24:11
  Speaker 4: you get a guy like that on the field because
• 24:14
  Speaker 4: one thing really good running backs hate to see is
• 24:17
  Speaker 4: multiple guys flying at them, right?
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: Because that means they've got to think on the fly
• 24:20
  Speaker 3: and kind of recreate.
• 24:21
  Speaker 4: He has that ability, but you slow him down as
• 24:23
  Speaker 4: the game goes, and I thought Stills was able to
• 24:25
  Speaker 4: do that.
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: I think you described Ramondre Stevenson perfectly. He is a
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: hard physical runner. Rico Dowdle is a hard physical runner.
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: It is difficult for one guy to bring him down.
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: They're a little more traditional. There's only one B. John Robinson.
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: I mean, there's Jameer Gibbs and Cook, but to me
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: there's only one B. John Robinson. Travion Henderson, like you said,
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: home run hitter. So your angles better be good. And
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: some of those things better. This seems to be, and
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: this isn't meant as a slight at all because I
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: think both guys are really good. This is two more
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: traditional running backs that you're going to be facing than
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: a B. John Robinson. So, yes, your tackling is going
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: to be tested, and this might be a better litmus
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: test to where your tackling is. I have a lot
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: of respect for both guys, but they're different guys than
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: the guy we just saw.
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: But I want to add one thing before you go, Max.
• 25:20
  Speaker 4: This Patriots offensive line, right, this new group, if you will,
• 25:24
  Speaker 4: their mindset right now, they want to run the ball
• 25:26
  Speaker 4: a lot more than what they did last year. Yeah,
• 25:29
  Speaker 4: they know what Drake Mays is capable of, and sure,
• 25:32
  Speaker 4: last week, you know, he got away from it. But
• 25:35
  Speaker 4: if you watch the start of that game, their mindset, man,
• 25:38
  Speaker 4: they want to get off the football. They wanted to
• 25:40
  Speaker 4: dictate their terms on how they wanted to play that game.
• 25:44
  Speaker 4: It was the fact that the Seahawks had a tough
• 25:46
  Speaker 4: defensive line and that those guys– had a lot of
• 25:50
  Speaker 4: fight and grit. But if you look at from Will
• 25:53
  Speaker 4: Campbell to Elijah Veritaker to their center, who they just
• 25:56
  Speaker 4: bumped in, the kid, the right, by the way, Max
• 25:59
  Speaker 4: can attest to this, they have a right guard.
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: His name is Mike Onuwano.
• 26:03
  Speaker 4: If you're talking about somebody that's just a brute and
• 26:05
  Speaker 4: is physical and nasty, that dude, like for me, he's
• 26:09
  Speaker 4: the best outside of Elijah Veritaker. He's the best guy
• 26:12
  Speaker 4: on that offensive line. He's number 71. You turn on
• 26:15
  Speaker 4: that tape against the Seahawks, You see him displacing grown
• 26:18
  Speaker 4: men with force. And Morgan Moses is a 13-year guy
• 26:22
  Speaker 4: who's been around the league and is very well-seasoned.
• 26:27
  Speaker 3: He's probably the eldest statesman out of the group.
• 26:29
  Speaker 4: But collectively as a line, Mike Rabel wants those guys
• 26:32
  Speaker 4: to be able to run the ball and be physical.
• 26:34
  Speaker 4: So if you're this defensive line, we'd love to talk
• 26:36
  Speaker 4: about what Keanu, Derek Harmon, and Alcee Haywood. Man, there's
• 26:41
  Speaker 4: a fight coming at these guys. And so they're going
• 26:44
  Speaker 4: to have to play and be a lot better than
• 26:46
  Speaker 4: what we saw against the Falcons. Because I tell you firsthand,
• 26:51
  Speaker 4: Drake may have lost that game. Yeah, he threw three picks.
• 26:54
  Speaker 4: But they want to dial that back. They want to
• 26:56
  Speaker 4: protect his confidence and make sure he thrives within that system.
• 26:58
  Speaker 4: And one way you can do that is by having
• 27:00
  Speaker 4: an offensive line that can run the ball.
• 27:02
  Speaker 3: And they got two backs that can do it.
• 27:04
  Speaker 4: So the Steelers, as much as we talk about the
• 27:06
  Speaker 4: lack of physicality they saw in the preseason, well, they're
• 27:09
  Speaker 4: about to see it this upcoming week.
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: Max, did I do something? Yeah.
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: No, no, no.
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: No. Yeah.
• 27:18
  Speaker 6: And I'm just I'm just going through my head because,
• 27:22
  Speaker 6: you know, as I look at, you know, just early
• 27:25
  Speaker 6: kind of response. The other thing that New England's benefiting
• 27:28
  Speaker 6: from is they had a lot longer layoff than the
• 27:33
  Speaker 6: rest of us. So they they played Wednesday night. So
• 27:38
  Speaker 6: they've now got extra time to prep as well. You know,
• 27:42
  Speaker 6: Travion Anderson wasn't in that game. He will be back
• 27:46
  Speaker 6: this week. And so, like you said, no A.J. Brown,
• 27:50
  Speaker 6: but still not a problem for this team. So, you know,
• 27:53
  Speaker 6: I felt like there was a little bit of pistivity,
• 27:57
  Speaker 6: I think is the best word to put it, Will
• 27:59
  Speaker 6: and Rob. A little bit of pistivity in that game
• 28:01
  Speaker 6: because of the Seahawks. It was the last team you played.
• 28:03
  Speaker 6: You lost the literal world championship to, and then now
• 28:06
  Speaker 6: it's the first team you play.
• 28:07
  Speaker 5: So it was a little bit of, They.
• 28:10
  Speaker 4: Also gave up six sacks to the Seahawks, right? And
• 28:13
  Speaker 4: so there's a little bit of trauma with that too.
• 28:15
  Speaker 6: Yeah, and so you're trying to minimize. So I think
• 28:17
  Speaker 6: that's right. You know, you come in, you say, hey,
• 28:19
  Speaker 6: what can we do different? We need to run the
• 28:22
  Speaker 6: ball better so that we don't get in a situation
• 28:23
  Speaker 6: where we can give up six sacks because Will Campbell's
• 28:26
  Speaker 6: arms have not grown since last year. So we can't
• 28:30
  Speaker 6: put him in these situations where we're passing the ball 35,
• 28:33
  Speaker 6: 40 times a game. So I think that renewed interest,
• 28:37
  Speaker 6: and like you said, having a win new over there,
• 28:40
  Speaker 6: and having Elijah Rivera-Tucker, a lot of that interior counter,
• 28:44
  Speaker 6: inside double, tight track zone dive, iso plays. They have
• 28:50
  Speaker 6: a fullback as well. They got their own Riley Nowakowski
• 28:53
  Speaker 6: on the roster. So 12, 21 personnel fully at their disposal.
• 28:59
  Speaker 6: So you have to come into it thinking, hey, we
• 29:02
  Speaker 6: have to put on the big boy pants one more
• 29:04
  Speaker 6: time Because we're going to force this team into a one-dimensional.
• 29:07
  Speaker 6: But then that's why the offense needs to come in.
• 29:10
  Speaker 6: They have to score points to put them in that position.
• 29:13
  Speaker 3: And I also want to add one more thing. As
• 29:15
  Speaker 3: much as, you know, Drake May can throw the hell
• 29:18
  Speaker 3: out of football. He's great at throwing into tight windows.
• 29:22
  Speaker 4: One of the things, and not to be redundant once again,
• 29:25
  Speaker 4: is he uses his legs a.
• 29:27
  Speaker 3: Lot in that game, especially early in the game.
• 29:30
  Speaker 4: So you're talking about now having a quarterback who's conscious
• 29:33
  Speaker 4: of he doesn't want to have a turnover fiasco but
• 29:36
  Speaker 4: he's you know Drake May came into this league as
• 29:39
  Speaker 4: an athletic quarterback who they, when there was questioning his
• 29:42
  Speaker 4: arm talent, I didn't realize, Oh, this, he can throw
• 29:45
  Speaker 4: it in real time. So now you look at a
• 29:47
  Speaker 4: guy who, you know, as much as he can, he
• 29:50
  Speaker 4: can throw it all from a well, he's going to
• 29:51
  Speaker 4: be planning on running the football too, to kind of
• 29:53
  Speaker 4: keep his office on time and to stabilize it. Cause
• 29:56
  Speaker 4: that's what he was able to do against Seahawks. So
• 29:58
  Speaker 4: the Steelers are also going to have to keep an
• 29:59
  Speaker 4: eye on his ability to run the football as well.
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: Uh, later, because I think that Peyton Wilson and Patrick queen,
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: that's going to be a big test for those guys.
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: Can they track him down? Um, cause he's a very
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: good runner, you know, I doubling down on what you
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: guys are talking about. Again, we'll get more into the
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: specifics of these matchups later. Uh, by the way, I love,
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: I know, uh, whether you got to see Elijah Vera
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: Tucker with the jets when he's healthy, I've, I've always
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: been a big fan of his. I mean, he's, he's nasty.
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: He's just a good player. Um, I think the kind
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: of guy, when he's healthy, any team in the NFL
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: would like Elijah Vera Tucker on their offensive line. Tone-setting
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: kind of guy. You know, they were sixth in the
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: league in rushing a year ago. And so, you know,
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: they didn't like the way their top receivers were performing.
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: Stephon Diggs and those guys. They go out and get A.J.
• 30:44
  Speaker 3: Brown.
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: They go out and get Romeo Dobbs to take a
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: little pressure off the passing game. Well, guess what? A.J.
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: Brown sprains his ankle in week one. I believe... that
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: the Steelers, I believe that the Patriots are going to
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: want to come out. They still have weapons. They still
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: have Hunter Henry tight end. They still have Dobbs. They
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: still have Henderson coming out of the backfield. But I
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: believe they will want to make this a physical matchup.
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: I believe they will try to run the football at
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: the Steelers and be physical. And so this will be
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: a good test going back to, you know, what Willie
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: was talking about, Max, with tackling, right? You've got to
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: be able to tackle. Because if you don't, they will
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: hammer Ramondre Stevenson at you 30 times every and be
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: happy to win this football game that way.
• 31:27
  Speaker 6: Well, and I think you look at it and you say,
• 31:30
  Speaker 6: this is Atlanta Falcons 2.0. And you're saying, Max, what
• 31:33
  Speaker 6: do you mean Atlanta Falcons 2.0? This is actually a
• 31:35
  Speaker 6: team that went to the Super Bowl. They have issue
• 31:39
  Speaker 6: at wide receiver, not quarterback, whereas the Falcons have issues
• 31:44
  Speaker 6: at quarterback and not wide receiver. So, Romeo Dobbs, there's
• 31:49
  Speaker 6: a reason why he was allowed to leave Green Bay.
• 31:52
  Speaker 6: was because he has suspect hands, okay? So he's now
• 31:56
  Speaker 6: your number one receiver, and then Mack Hollins is there.
• 32:00
  Speaker 6: And like you said, Hunter Henry's still there, but Hunter
• 32:01
  Speaker 6: Henry isn't what he used to be. So you have
• 32:04
  Speaker 6: a quarterback that's going to try and work with less
• 32:06
  Speaker 6: than stellar receivers, so it's going to look a lot
• 32:08
  Speaker 6: like last year because A.J. Brown was that differentiator that
• 32:12
  Speaker 6: was going to make the passing game go and then
• 32:15
  Speaker 6: upgrade the offensive line.
• 32:17
  Speaker 5: Well, now you don't have that guy.
• 32:18
  Speaker 6: So run game is going to be an emphasis once
• 32:21
  Speaker 6: again but not because of the quarterback because of the
• 32:25
  Speaker 6: wide receiving core and their leader being out. So you're
• 32:29
  Speaker 6: getting a, I won't say ease into it. Cause you're
• 32:32
  Speaker 6: not getting a full power, new England Patriots team. And
• 32:35
  Speaker 6: you're going to see, did we learn our lesson from
• 32:38
  Speaker 6: last week? Like, this is like a pop quiz. It's like,
• 32:42
  Speaker 6: I just gave you the material. Now we've studied it.
• 32:46
  Speaker 6: You should, you should be ready for this quiz. Now,
• 32:49
  Speaker 6: can you answer it? And that's what it's going to be. So,
• 32:52
  Speaker 6: It's going to be stopping the run, once again, just
• 32:54
  Speaker 6: like it was the MO for last week, and then
• 32:56
  Speaker 6: eliminating the big play RPO-style plays that can come off
• 33:00
  Speaker 6: of that run game if it gets established.
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: Okay, we're going to take a break. A bunch more
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: to talk about. I want to talk about last night's
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: game as well. It was an interesting, really interesting game.
• 33:11
  Speaker 5: Talk about no tackling.
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: Oh, man, Kenneth Walker made sure of that. We're going
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: to talk about last night's game when we continue here
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: in the locker room here on the Steelers Audio Network.
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio. Brought to you
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: And welcome back inside the locker room. And I think
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: we were all watching last night's game. And to me,
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: that was– you know, the Chiefs came out. Willie and I– Willie, Max,
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: and I were talking during the preseason, you know, the
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: new head coach, the old line when a monarchy changes, right?
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: The king is dead. Long live the king. Well, if
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: people thought the king was dead, meaning Kansas City, they're
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: alive and kicking.
• 34:24
  Speaker 5: And I was really– I.
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: Mean, they just– it was like– It was like, again,
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: I give you the boxing analogy. Like maybe a guy
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: who you think of as a boxer, right, you know,
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: as a guy who's going to stay on the outside,
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: just came into the middle of the ring and said,
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: let's start swinging. And that's the way the Chiefs felt
• 34:45
  Speaker 2: to me. Like, let's start swinging. We're going to jam
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: Kenneth Walker down your throat. And it was a, you know,
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: they must have swaggered off that field. Like, all right,
• 34:55
  Speaker 2: we got you, man.
• 34:58
  Speaker 4: Well, think about the storyline going into that game. One,
• 35:03
  Speaker 4: was Patrick Mahomes going to be healthy enough to kind
• 35:07
  Speaker 4: of resemble what he's been in the past, right? I
• 35:10
  Speaker 4: think his front knee was taped up and wrapped up
• 35:14
  Speaker 4: in a brace, so there were questions about his mobility.
• 35:18
  Speaker 4: Was he going to be able to extend plays and
• 35:19
  Speaker 4: improvise like he's done in the past?
• 35:22
  Speaker 3: On top of that, they got some new guys on
• 35:25
  Speaker 3: that offensive line. Both of their tackles are new. So.
• 35:29
  Speaker 4: You're talking about the Chiefs also not having a true
• 35:32
  Speaker 4: number one receiver. So there was a lot of things
• 35:35
  Speaker 4: that you had to question about this Chiefs offense. Now
• 35:38
  Speaker 4: with that said, you get Kenneth Walker, you bring in
• 35:41
  Speaker 4: Eric Biannimi, and you say, all right, we need somebody
• 35:45
  Speaker 4: who can really be an absolute grass.
• 35:47
  Speaker 3: Eater between the 20s. And Valet, they call him K-9 now,
• 35:53
  Speaker 3: he was an absolute dog on that field last night.
• 35:56
  Speaker 3: You talk about having, I.
• 35:57
  Speaker 4: Think he had 23 carries for 173 yards. And to
• 36:01
  Speaker 4: be trusted. I think he had three catches for 18 yards.
• 36:04
  Speaker 4: So you talk about being a complete back and him
• 36:06
  Speaker 4: being a true third down back. I mean, it just
• 36:10
  Speaker 4: spoke volumes to saying, hey, at this point, we have
• 36:13
  Speaker 4: an office line we trust. We have a running back
• 36:15
  Speaker 4: who's already decorated. Let's go out and just do the
• 36:19
  Speaker 4: damn thing. Because I think the Chiefs are kind of
• 36:21
  Speaker 4: like in a state from this context.
• 36:25
  Speaker 3: Omar Khan has come, came out and said, We're going
• 36:27
  Speaker 3: to keep the old guys to teach the young guys what.
• 36:30
  Speaker 4: It means to be a Steeler. Well, the Chiefs are
• 36:32
  Speaker 4: doing the same thing. They have the old guys and
• 36:34
  Speaker 4: Kelsey and Mahomes and all these other guys to teach
• 36:37
  Speaker 4: this young core Chiefs how to be a Chief, how
• 36:40
  Speaker 4: to be a Chief, and to get Kenneth Walker to
• 36:43
  Speaker 4: immerse himself into that culture, for them to trust him
• 36:45
  Speaker 4: with the ball that many times. They ran the ball
• 36:47
  Speaker 4: 26 times. And so for them to trust him with
• 36:50
  Speaker 4: the football in his hand and a new building and
• 36:52
  Speaker 4: new threads and a new offense, and for him to
• 36:54
  Speaker 4: thrive behind that offensive line, This shows you who the
• 36:57
  Speaker 4: Chiefs are going to be this year. They won't be
• 36:59
  Speaker 4: the light show, but they will turn out to light
• 37:02
  Speaker 4: with that run game. So it was impressive to see.
• 37:05
  Speaker 4: It was a great debut for Kenneth Walker. And I
• 37:07
  Speaker 4: think the Chiefs, I did not have them win in
• 37:10
  Speaker 4: the division. I'm going to be first. I'm going to
• 37:12
  Speaker 4: tell you who.
• 37:12
  Speaker 3: It was the Chargers.
• 37:14
  Speaker 4: I jumped on the Charger train and said, hey, look out.
• 37:16
  Speaker 4: The Chargers are going to be the most explosive and
• 37:18
  Speaker 4: nasty team.
• 37:21
  Speaker 3: In the NFL.
• 37:22
  Speaker 4: And obviously they packaged that up and shoved it down
• 37:25
  Speaker 4: my throat. Because they did not look like that against
• 37:27
  Speaker 4: the Arizona Cardinals. The Cardinals absolutely looked filthy, sneaky good.
• 37:30
  Speaker 4: And with all that said, just to get back on track,
• 37:34
  Speaker 4: it was a hell of a night for the Chiefs.
• 37:36
  Speaker 4: And it was a good win. It was good to
• 37:37
  Speaker 4: see the boys back up and running in Kansas City.
• 37:42
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 37:43
  Speaker 6: Khalil Benson was the tackle that came in. Josh Simmons
• 37:49
  Speaker 6: obviously went out. And Kidd actually went into camp as
• 37:53
  Speaker 6: a camp tryout. did not get drafted plate. Now, mind
• 37:58
  Speaker 6: you played on Indiana's national championship team, which was a
• 38:02
  Speaker 6: pretty darn good squad. And he did not get drafted
• 38:06
  Speaker 6: and came in as a college tryout and was starting.
• 38:10
  Speaker 3: Week one left tackle, right?
• 38:12
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 38:13
  Speaker 3: The left tackle. Yeah.
• 38:14
  Speaker 6: So, you know, you sit there, you're like, dang, okay.
• 38:18
  Speaker 6: I mean, this kid is only going to get better, right?
• 38:21
  Speaker 6: That was his floor. Um, And then Jalen Moore came
• 38:26
  Speaker 6: over from San Francisco. I mean, Jalen Moore is decent,
• 38:28
  Speaker 6: but it's like they've had since 2023, Will, listen to this,
• 38:33
  Speaker 6: 10 different starting tackles in the last three years for them.
• 38:39
  Speaker 6: So talk about bugaboos and issues, but like you said,
• 38:42
  Speaker 6: K-9 was dog certified.
• 38:45
  Speaker 5: He was ready for the challenge, and he was all
• 38:48
  Speaker 5: about it.
• 38:49
  Speaker 6: He was all about it, and that was the biggest
• 38:52
  Speaker 6: difference I think you saw. Because like you said, Xavier Worthy,
• 38:56
  Speaker 6: Rashi Rice, they're two number twos trying to fight for
• 38:59
  Speaker 6: who's going to be number one. And I think that's
• 39:02
  Speaker 6: what the Kansas City Chiefs are right now. And Travis
• 39:05
  Speaker 6: Kelsey is just old as all get out. I mean,
• 39:07
  Speaker 6: it took him forever to finally pass Jason Witten. Jason
• 39:10
  Speaker 6: Witten literally, I think, did the same amount of damage
• 39:13
  Speaker 6: in about seven less years. It feels like, because Travis
• 39:17
  Speaker 6: Kelsey looks like he's about 27 years in the league.
• 39:19
  Speaker 6: But what I saw last night was, This is what
• 39:24
  Speaker 6: the worst-case scenario was about not tackling in camp.
• 39:29
  Speaker 5: That's what the Denver Broncos was.
• 39:31
  Speaker 6: I think that was the fear we had going into
• 39:34
  Speaker 6: the preseason and the regular season.
• 39:36
  Speaker 5: Like, dang, man, we missed tackles.
• 39:40
  Speaker 6: We now can say that we are not the worst
• 39:42
  Speaker 6: tackling team in the NFL, and we will.
• 39:44
  Speaker 5: Not be because of what we saw last night. But
• 39:47
  Speaker 5: it was. It was a return.
• 39:48
  Speaker 6: It was like, hey, listen, we– When you go to McDonald's, yes,
• 39:52
  Speaker 6: they have all these new sandwiches and everything else. But
• 39:55
  Speaker 6: all I know is when I call and I pull
• 39:57
  Speaker 6: up to the window, if I say a number one,
• 40:00
  Speaker 6: any McDonald's in the world, you order a number one,
• 40:03
  Speaker 6: you know what you're getting. It's a Big Mac fries
• 40:06
  Speaker 6: and an extra crispy cold Coke. That's what you're getting.
• 40:10
  Speaker 6: And that's what Kansas City said. We got a number one.
• 40:13
  Speaker 6: Let's just go ahead and just go do it.
• 40:15
  Speaker 5: Run the ball. Pound it.
• 40:17
  Speaker 6: We got an injured quarterback that's coming back off of
• 40:19
  Speaker 6: a knee. We're not going to put him in harm's
• 40:20
  Speaker 6: way as much as we can. So, young dog that
• 40:23
  Speaker 6: we just paid a lot of millions of dollars for,
• 40:26
  Speaker 6: and you got that Super Bowl MVP?
• 40:29
  Speaker 3: Go ahead.
• 40:29
  Speaker 5: Hey, we're in Missouri. It's a show-me state. Show me,
• 40:33
  Speaker 5: and he did.
• 40:34
  Speaker 2: So, two things on that. First of all, I don't
• 40:37
  Speaker 2: know if it was Troy Aikman or Joe Buck last night,
• 40:41
  Speaker 2: after they ran Walker early and often, they're like, okay,
• 40:44
  Speaker 2: this looks great, but can Andy Reid help himself? Can
• 40:48
  Speaker 2: he continue to run the football? That's a question. I
• 40:52
  Speaker 2: don't know whether he can or not. The other thing is,
• 40:54
  Speaker 2: to bring this back to the Steelers, Kenneth Walker, I
• 40:59
  Speaker 2: was in a locker room a couple years ago, and
• 41:00
  Speaker 2: they were talking about guys, some of the defensive players
• 41:03
  Speaker 2: were talking about guys who run hard, guys who are
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: hard to tackle because they run hard. And Kenneth Walker's
• 41:10
  Speaker 2: name got brought up. He reminds you, I think he's
• 41:13
  Speaker 2: a better version of Ramondre Stevenson But, you know, this
• 41:18
  Speaker 2: is like B. John can embarrass you because he's just great, right?
• 41:22
  Speaker 2: Like Gale Sayers would embarrass you.
• 41:25
  Speaker 5: Superior athlete, yeah.
• 41:26
  Speaker 2: He's great, right? He's greater than you are probably if
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: you're going to try to tackle him. Kenneth Walker will
• 41:31
  Speaker 2: embarrass you if you don't bring something and bring some
• 41:37
  Speaker 2: help probably too. And I think Ramondre Stevenson is in
• 41:40
  Speaker 2: that mold. I think Kenneth Walker is the better back.
• 41:43
  Speaker 2: But Ramondre Stevenson, to bring this back to the Steelers,
• 41:46
  Speaker 2: you know, That's the kind of guy they're going to
• 41:49
  Speaker 2: have to bring to the ground or he will– he
• 41:52
  Speaker 2: can embarrass you if you don't.
• 41:54
  Speaker 5: He did week two. He did week two last year. No.
• 41:58
  Speaker 4: Well, I just– I think when people hear us talk
• 42:02
  Speaker 4: about what it means to see a running back run
• 42:04
  Speaker 4: with that level of physicality and why is it hard
• 42:07
  Speaker 4: to tackle him, it's hard to tackle a physical back,
• 42:09
  Speaker 4: especially a wide leg, big butt, big thigh back, because
• 42:13
  Speaker 4: it's hard to wrap your arms around, right? When you
• 42:15
  Speaker 4: talk about a guy, I think he's barely 5'10 or 11, whatever,
• 42:19
  Speaker 4: but he's still wide, and he's a muscle. And then
• 42:22
  Speaker 4: if you look at his lower body, them quads, that
• 42:25
  Speaker 4: big old butt, them hamstrings, man, when that's running at
• 42:27
  Speaker 4: you full speed and you're trying to wrap up, your
• 42:31
  Speaker 4: wrap-up circumference goes from here to here, right?
• 42:34
  Speaker 3: And you're trying to wrap your arms around that move
• 42:36
  Speaker 3: and that high speed. It's hard.
• 42:38
  Speaker 4: And then he runs behind his pads, so He's not
• 42:40
  Speaker 4: a guy who stands upright on contact. He's trying to
• 42:43
  Speaker 4: deliver the blow also. With all that mass and force
• 42:48
  Speaker 4: coming at you, if you're not a guy, one, who's
• 42:51
  Speaker 4: about that life, and two, knows how to properly tackle
• 42:54
  Speaker 4: a guy like that, because you don't hit guys like
• 42:56
  Speaker 4: that head on. You've got to hit guys from the side.
• 42:59
  Speaker 4: You want to knock them off as momentum, and then
• 43:01
  Speaker 4: hopefully the boys can rally behind that. And I thought, listen,
• 43:05
  Speaker 4: he ran behind them guards. He kept moving his feet.
• 43:09
  Speaker 4: He was physical at the point of attack. You weren't
• 43:12
  Speaker 4: going to get him with one guy.
• 43:14
  Speaker 3: He proved it time after time last night.
• 43:16
  Speaker 2: It reminds me of a little bit of at some point,
• 43:21
  Speaker 2: Tunch used to say guys would take convenient angles to
• 43:24
  Speaker 2: miss Jerome Battist. Ah, I just did late in the game. Man,
• 43:27
  Speaker 2: somehow I missed him. And a guy like that, there's
• 43:31
  Speaker 2: just after a while, it dawns on you as a
• 43:33
  Speaker 2: defender when that guy just keeps hitting you and hitting
• 43:35
  Speaker 2: you and hitting you that There's no place where you
• 43:39
  Speaker 2: can hit him where it's going to hurt him more
• 43:42
  Speaker 2: than it's going to hurt you. You know what I mean?
• 43:44
  Speaker 2: That's not a fun position for a tackler.
• 43:46
  Speaker 3: To be in. And don't get it twisted, too.
• 43:49
  Speaker 4: When that score is starting to get away from them
• 43:52
  Speaker 4: and they realize they got a couple more weeks of
• 43:55
  Speaker 4: playing football, you start to see that defense get a
• 43:57
  Speaker 4: little bit of gator arms. Because at that point, nobody
• 43:59
  Speaker 4: was trying to get hurt late in that fourth quarter.
• 44:01
  Speaker 4: When they kept pounding the rock, they was like, oh,
• 44:03
  Speaker 4: we got a whole other game next week. Y'all can
• 44:04
  Speaker 4: have it. We'll see y'all in a couple weeks. you
• 44:06
  Speaker 4: start to see the body language things of that defense.
• 44:09
  Speaker 4: And this is supposed to be one of the best
• 44:11
  Speaker 4: defenses in the league, the Broncos defense.
• 44:14
  Speaker 3: And they got, I don't know. I don't know if
• 44:16
  Speaker 3: they know it. They didn't just get in.
• 44:18
  Speaker 4: They got exposed, but they got, they got the G
• 44:21
  Speaker 4: card check. And then for those who haven't been in
• 44:23
  Speaker 4: urban areas, that that means your gangster card was pulled
• 44:26
  Speaker 4: from you.
• 44:26
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 44:27
  Speaker 4: And so we saw, we saw multiple guys on that
• 44:30
  Speaker 4: defense who we consider guys kind.
• 44:32
  Speaker 3: Of, kind of, kind of, you know, they kind of
• 44:34
  Speaker 3: got a little small out there. So, the Broncos are
• 44:37
  Speaker 3: going to have to go back in that room and
• 44:39
  Speaker 3: look in the mirror and see if they're really about
• 44:40
  Speaker 3: that life. They didn't look like it last night.
• 44:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I needed a translation. I looked for my wallet.
• 44:45
  Speaker 2: I don't have a G card, guys, just in case
• 44:47
  Speaker 2: you're wondering. Nobody has to take it from me. I
• 44:49
  Speaker 2: don't have one. But I do– you know what? Let's
• 44:54
  Speaker 2: finish up because I don't think we're done with this
• 44:55
  Speaker 2: game because it's a monumental game in the AFC. We
• 44:57
  Speaker 2: have to take a break. We're going to hit more
• 44:59
  Speaker 2: of this on the other side of the break. We
• 45:01
  Speaker 2: continue in the locker room here. On the studio, there's
• 45:03
  Speaker 2: audio network.