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The Steelers 2024 season comes to an end · The Irish Steelers Podcast

0:05
Speaker 1: Head folks, welcome into the Irish Steeters Podcast on this
0:10
Speaker 1: week of no game for the Staders.
0:11
Speaker 2: The season has ended for twenty twenty four.
0:14
Speaker 1: We're obviously at the end of the season now for
0:17
Speaker 1: us as we start to look ahead the twenty twenty
0:19
Speaker 1: five and Michael McCay delighted to be here with Dialogue
0:22
Speaker 1: McKee on the Irish Series podcast. A little mini season finale,
0:25
Speaker 1: I guess for now. After the Steelers lost to the
0:29
Speaker 1: Ravens in the wildcard round last weekend, obviously at disappointing
0:34
Speaker 1: night which we'll talk about talk about in a few
0:35
Speaker 1: minutes twenty eight to fourteen. Mainly the Steelers fall to
0:39
Speaker 1: a wild card defeat and the Ravens progressed to play
0:44
Speaker 1: the Bills in Buffalo this weekend, so the season is
0:47
Speaker 1: over for the Staters. Look delighted regardless of the result.
0:51
Speaker 1: It's always a good time when I get the chance
0:53
Speaker 1: the chat to Dialog McKay Davog congratulations some big news
0:57
Speaker 1: of any patric driving test.
0:59
Speaker 2: I wontringu up with Paul, but I'm going to do it.
1:00
Speaker 2: Some good news to start the podcast off. First off,
1:04
Speaker 2: how you do? And it was like it wasn't probably.
1:07
Speaker 1: I know this is an avert all podcast, but I
1:09
Speaker 1: feel like the big weekend in terms of action is
1:12
Speaker 1: probably this weekend. But certainly, you know, we obviously were
1:15
Speaker 1: very very pumped up for the Leaders game. Outside of that,
1:17
Speaker 1: it wasn't too many It wasn't wasn't too many shock surprises.
1:21
Speaker 1: How are you feeling overall?
1:22
Speaker 2: Are you got it? Absolutely?
1:23
Speaker 3: Got it?
1:24
Speaker 2: MC? What do you call it?
1:27
Speaker 3: You were saying about my draven tester, He's probably thinking,
1:29
Speaker 3: what hey, it is just get twenty seven and to
1:31
Speaker 3: only be passing it today. Yeah, it's a bit of
1:33
Speaker 3: an embarsement. But I got there in the end, so
1:35
Speaker 3: that's really shared me up to be fair. But unfortunately
1:39
Speaker 3: it hasn't sort of sunk in that the seasons over, Michael.
1:43
Speaker 3: I mean, it was looking so good at some at
1:45
Speaker 3: one stage, and you know, we were sitting there on
1:48
Speaker 3: what was the three losses? We're ten and three at
1:50
Speaker 3: one stage, everything was looking rosy, and then we had
1:53
Speaker 3: that We talked about it the gnelet of games, and
1:55
Speaker 3: we've lost you know, we lost four games heading into
1:58
Speaker 3: the playoffs and unfortunately it just we've went out in
2:00
Speaker 3: the Wember and so it's difficult to sort of painted
2:03
Speaker 3: on any sort of positive but we will try.
2:05
Speaker 2: Of course.
2:06
Speaker 3: You know, we're we're always optimistic on this podcast, no
2:09
Speaker 3: matter what we have to be. And then no matter what,
2:12
Speaker 3: you know, we're Steelers songs. We we have to always
2:14
Speaker 3: look at the bright side because we have that backbone
2:17
Speaker 3: of an organization that's able, gonna gonna make the right
2:19
Speaker 3: decision no matter what. And I'm already looking forward the
2:22
Speaker 3: next year. Account wait, because we still remember we've still
2:25
Speaker 3: got a young quarterback and Justin fat septing there ready
2:28
Speaker 3: for development, and we've still got a very young receiving core,
2:32
Speaker 3: and we're we're ready to be praying for next year.
2:34
Speaker 3: So let's just take a breath, step back, enjoy the
2:38
Speaker 3: off season, and then when September comes, we'll be ready again.
2:42
Speaker 1: I'll probably come back to that point and Justin Fields
2:44
Speaker 1: and a femalies, but look, just won't whack him everybody
2:46
Speaker 1: in I know it's for a lot of Steelers fans.
2:48
Speaker 1: We were sort of thinking, do we do a podcast
2:51
Speaker 1: on Monday? We do, we give it a couple of days,
2:52
Speaker 1: and I thought, you know what, let's let's hear from
2:54
Speaker 1: coach Tomlin before we do that. And we will we
2:59
Speaker 1: will come back that in a few minutes. And actually
3:01
Speaker 1: hear from coach Tomlin at the end of the season
3:03
Speaker 1: and I think you've hit the nail in the head
3:06
Speaker 1: there that Blogue. I think when you have the ten
3:08
Speaker 1: wins and you get to that point where you I
3:10
Speaker 1: think you really do start to believe and you start
3:12
Speaker 1: to think, Okay, look here we go. This is a
3:14
Speaker 1: team that can really go far, and it just for
3:17
Speaker 1: whatever reason, it just didn't work out in the end.
3:21
Speaker 1: And I think it's obviously difficult going into Baltimore.
3:23
Speaker 2: It was hard.
3:24
Speaker 1: It was hard to watch because I think at times,
3:25
Speaker 1: you know, it just it felt like the Ravens had
3:27
Speaker 1: more energy and it was almost like seeing a team
3:29
Speaker 1: towards the end of the year where they just ran
3:30
Speaker 1: out of steam and it just didn't work. And at
3:33
Speaker 1: the same time, you know, we obviously have to learn
3:35
Speaker 1: from that and we have to find a way. But
3:38
Speaker 1: I think one of the things, and if we sort
3:39
Speaker 1: of look at this game first off, and I know
3:41
Speaker 1: we don't want to, but we have to in some way.
3:43
Speaker 1: One of the things that set out for me was,
3:46
Speaker 1: you know, I expected, I think everybody would expect as
3:49
Speaker 1: good as the Staelers defense is and I know there
3:52
Speaker 1: were times in the game where it was a bit
3:53
Speaker 1: you know, it was it was one way traffic with Baltimore,
3:55
Speaker 1: But certainly you would have expected Baltimore to score between
3:59
Speaker 1: twenty five to thirty points in any game, and that's
4:02
Speaker 1: the minimum expectation. So it's on us to get uppers
4:05
Speaker 1: of that on the board to at least have an
4:07
Speaker 1: opportunity in this game. So for me, certainly, DOVGG, I
4:11
Speaker 1: don't think the defense could have done anymore in terms
4:14
Speaker 1: of twenty eight points.
4:16
Speaker 2: And I do, don't get me wrong.
4:17
Speaker 1: I think there were certain plays, and I'll be fully honest,
4:19
Speaker 1: I think there were certain plays where there could have
4:21
Speaker 1: been more energy, more pip almost maybe with some of
4:23
Speaker 1: the Ravens runs. That being said, like, let's just be
4:26
Speaker 1: honest here, Derek Henry was in a different league.
4:28
Speaker 2: It was the only other night he.
4:29
Speaker 1: Was unbelievable, and I'd like to find any defense that
4:32
Speaker 1: could stop him going through just in the playoffs. And look,
4:35
Speaker 1: let's be very clear, the waves are going to be very,
4:37
Speaker 1: very difficult to stop.
4:39
Speaker 2: In the playoffs.
4:40
Speaker 1: But I think that as well, And then couple with
4:42
Speaker 1: the fact that Nolgie's contracts up and he had a
4:45
Speaker 1: very quiet game. I just couldn't get the run game
4:48
Speaker 1: together at all. And it was almost that staticness of it,
4:51
Speaker 1: was that belief in trying to get the guys on
4:53
Speaker 1: the field. We were texting during it, like, let's be honest,
4:56
Speaker 1: like it was. It was frustrating. You know, it's hard
4:58
Speaker 1: enough to watch the game.
5:00
Speaker 2: Two o'clock in the morning.
5:02
Speaker 1: But yeah, it just didn't work out, man, And I
5:04
Speaker 1: think we sort of knew. I think, I think you says,
5:07
Speaker 1: I think we sort of knew when we got to
5:10
Speaker 1: the half. We knew it was gonna be a real
5:12
Speaker 1: uphill task, and it just it just didn't work out.
5:15
Speaker 2: Have I covered most of the bases?
5:16
Speaker 4: Are?
5:16
Speaker 2: Or was there anythanalysis sort of that I feel in
5:18
Speaker 2: that game.
5:19
Speaker 3: You have, Michael, I feel like you know you mentioned
5:22
Speaker 3: with the defense. Of course, you know, I do agree
5:24
Speaker 3: with you there where they can only sort of when
5:27
Speaker 3: you're dealing with a high power offense like Lamar and
5:30
Speaker 3: the Ravens. I think there is only a certain mic
5:32
Speaker 3: your defense can do. But I have to be honest.
5:35
Speaker 3: I mean the inability to stop the run. I mean,
5:37
Speaker 3: Darren Henry, what was it over one hundred and seventy yards.
5:39
Speaker 3: He is a monster. We know that he's a great
5:41
Speaker 3: running back, you know, the best in the league. You know,
5:42
Speaker 3: up there with Sake one. I don't think anybody can
5:46
Speaker 3: deny that. But you know, the inability to stop the run,
5:48
Speaker 3: of course, Lamar, we know what he's gonna do. I mean,
5:51
Speaker 3: if he can't find his first target, second target, he's
5:53
Speaker 3: gonna get off and run. And we couldn't stop him either.
5:56
Speaker 3: So the inability to stop the run really was was
5:59
Speaker 3: what stopped it, stop us all together. But also I
6:03
Speaker 3: have have to say the offensive line as well to
6:06
Speaker 3: stop their passers. Think Kyle van Noy was a massive
6:09
Speaker 3: trap for them all evening. And then the lack of
6:13
Speaker 3: another thing as well. When I come out of it,
6:15
Speaker 3: you know, we didn't force any turnovers. We're close to
6:17
Speaker 3: forcing any turnovers. Whether that's good play on the offensive
6:20
Speaker 3: side of the ball of the Ravens, or that's just
6:22
Speaker 3: medi per player for our defense. Maybe it's hard to say,
6:25
Speaker 3: but if you're gonna go up to to two against
6:28
Speaker 3: one of the best teams in the league in the playoffs,
6:31
Speaker 3: you're gonna have to force some turnovers. You're gonna have
6:33
Speaker 3: to make big splash players. We didn't make down sploss
6:35
Speaker 3: plays until we were too far behind. Will be twenty
6:37
Speaker 3: one to nothing down about halftime and at that stage,
6:40
Speaker 3: you know we're trying to fight our way back into
6:42
Speaker 3: the game against that offense. Is we're gonna put up
6:44
Speaker 3: points in the second half. So ultimately very disappointing. But
6:49
Speaker 3: again you probably hit the kneel on the head that
6:51
Speaker 3: start as well. You're coming up against that team where
6:54
Speaker 3: all season long La Mars being barked around. Yeah he's MVP,
6:57
Speaker 3: but this is the season he now needs to make
6:59
Speaker 3: a super Bowl. And we've seen it. Last year he
7:00
Speaker 3: had at Taxes in the first round. He completely brew
7:03
Speaker 3: them out of the water, and then he went into
7:04
Speaker 3: the next round against you know, the Divisional super Bowl champions,
7:08
Speaker 3: Kansas City Chase, and he led a bottle one off.
7:11
Speaker 3: So and he has that record where he'll have one
7:14
Speaker 3: good game in the playoffs and many shrink in the
7:16
Speaker 3: second one. We'll see this weekend against Buffalo what happens.
7:19
Speaker 3: But yeah, ultimately disappointing. My reaction would be then ability
7:24
Speaker 3: to stop the run against that team is going to
7:26
Speaker 3: be difficult, you know, no matter what. But that has
7:29
Speaker 3: to come down to the loss, and unfortunately it just
7:32
Speaker 3: means that you know, our season ends here, and you
7:35
Speaker 3: know it's give us more bulletproof to go in the
7:37
Speaker 3: next season with that actra motivation. Look at who we
7:40
Speaker 3: lost to, we need to pay them back next season.
7:42
Speaker 2: I think we will.
7:43
Speaker 1: We're gonna talk about maybe I know it came down
7:46
Speaker 1: sort of to a negative ending, but we are going
7:47
Speaker 1: to talk about our maybe moment of the season and
7:50
Speaker 1: putting dabble in the spot here in a few minutes.
7:52
Speaker 2: And we're also gonna and.
7:53
Speaker 1: Maybe look ahead at what we'd like to see in
7:54
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five, whether ass in the combine, whether that's
7:56
Speaker 1: in the draft, or whether that's free agency, coaching, et cetera.
7:59
Speaker 1: We'll about in a few minutes. We're gonna hear first
8:01
Speaker 1: off from coach Tomlin, who was in his an off
8:04
Speaker 1: season pass conference on Tuesday. Here he is, you're listening
8:07
Speaker 1: to I Receivers podcast.
8:10
Speaker 4: Certainly disappointing to be conducting this business today, but I
8:14
Speaker 4: don't view it as misfortune, to be quite honest with you,
8:17
Speaker 4: particularly at this level in this business and game, there's
8:22
Speaker 4: football justice. You get what you deserve, and so you know,
8:26
Speaker 4: we're here, and we're here for really tangible reasons. Man,
8:29
Speaker 4: we didn't involved in the right ways. We didn't strike
8:33
Speaker 4: the right chords at the right time, particularly down the stretch,
8:36
Speaker 4: and so we've been eliminated from the single elimination tournament.
8:41
Speaker 4: And so for us, it's about assessing the reasons why,
8:47
Speaker 4: doing an assessment of every component of what it is
8:51
Speaker 4: we do here in a manner in which we do it.
8:54
Speaker 4: But we at the very emphasy of that it comes
8:58
Speaker 4: to a screeching halt in this business, and those of
9:01
Speaker 4: us have been in it for a long time kind
9:03
Speaker 4: of understand that. But we also understand that moving forward
9:10
Speaker 4: happens pretty quickly. And so you know, since Saturday night,
9:15
Speaker 4: that's what's been going on behind the scenes here, the
9:18
Speaker 4: very beginning stages of assessing what transpired and why. Certainly
9:24
Speaker 4: is disappointment in that, but there's also lessons and information
9:28
Speaker 4: within that, and so we're going through some procedural things
9:31
Speaker 4: that allow that information to come, you know, to rise
9:37
Speaker 4: to the surface and to be hopefully utilized for the
9:39
Speaker 4: foundations of twenty twenty five. We had a team meeting
9:43
Speaker 4: yesterday at two o'clock and you know, we outlined some
9:48
Speaker 4: of those things, some of those initiatives. We talked about
9:51
Speaker 4: exiting the season appropriately professionally, whether it's health related, or
9:56
Speaker 4: whether it's meeting related, whether it's positional coaches, unit coaches,
9:59
Speaker 4: my self, those things are just beginning here today, for
10:04
Speaker 4: for individual players, for me as a collective, or US
10:09
Speaker 4: as a collective. There's obviously a lot that happens this
10:13
Speaker 4: time of year. There'll be some questions that that you
10:16
Speaker 4: have that I won't necessarily have the answer for, and
10:19
Speaker 4: that's just a component of this time of year. Certainly
10:23
Speaker 4: that's changed, that's that comes with this time of year.
10:25
Speaker 4: Certainly there's changed that comes when we don't have the
10:29
Speaker 4: desired outcome. And so those are just the realities of
10:31
Speaker 4: the business. I would imagine there's gonna be some things
10:35
Speaker 4: that change around here on a lot of levels. But
10:38
Speaker 4: that's just this this game, as I mentioned, and so
10:43
Speaker 4: I understand that I'm open to that really just beginning
10:47
Speaker 4: the processes of some of the decision making that has
10:50
Speaker 4: to transpire. I met with Art Rooney yesterday, I met
10:53
Speaker 4: with Omar yesterday, and those are just the very beginning
10:57
Speaker 4: of multiple conversations in terms of how we wrap a
11:01
Speaker 4: bow around some of the lessons learned, analyze some of
11:04
Speaker 4: the decisions made, personnel strategy, et cetera, and and those
11:11
Speaker 4: type of discussions are going on on a lot of levels.
11:15
Speaker 4: How can we keep our team healthier was a discussion
11:18
Speaker 4: that happened yesterday. For example, we experienced a rash of
11:22
Speaker 4: soft tissue injuries this year that was impactful. And that's
11:26
Speaker 4: just an example of many of the things and subjects
11:29
Speaker 4: that we have covered and we'll continue to cover as
11:32
Speaker 4: we assess what transpired and and quickly transition ourselves and
11:37
Speaker 4: build for the future. At the same time, there's a
11:41
Speaker 4: lot of unanswered questions regarding the direction that this could go,
11:45
Speaker 4: free agency and so forth. Don't have a lot of
11:48
Speaker 4: answers there, but certainly happy to feel and address questions
11:52
Speaker 4: along those lines to the best of my ability. Again,
11:57
Speaker 4: just assessing what transpired specifically in the stadium. You know,
12:05
Speaker 4: I believe what I said to you after the game
12:07
Speaker 4: the day with the better team on Saturday night. I
12:10
Speaker 4: thought that was displayed and that is not comfortable to say,
12:15
Speaker 4: but it is truth and for us and for me,
12:19
Speaker 4: moving forward is having sober conversations such as that and
12:25
Speaker 4: then beginning the process of unearth and why when I
12:31
Speaker 4: originally opened I talked about the level of disappointment that
12:34
Speaker 4: we're going through this today, and and certainly that is
12:37
Speaker 4: the case. But a component of that disappointment is I
12:40
Speaker 4: thought that this collective was was better positioned, maybe more
12:44
Speaker 4: so than in recent years, to to not be in
12:47
Speaker 4: this similar place. But we are, and so there's obviously
12:53
Speaker 4: a lot of work to do. To be quite honest
12:56
Speaker 4: with you, I'm in a in terms of beginning the
13:01
Speaker 4: process and doing it because I'm a competitor. I love
13:07
Speaker 4: this game in this business, even what it's miserable. To
13:11
Speaker 4: be quite honest with you, I've seen so much in
13:13
Speaker 4: it and been through so much in it. I very
13:16
Speaker 4: rarely do I respond to present circumstance, whether it's positive
13:21
Speaker 4: or negative, because of the depths of the relationship that
13:23
Speaker 4: I have with the game. I expressed that to the
13:26
Speaker 4: team yesterday, because it's not only my job to you know,
13:31
Speaker 4: obviously lead the group and strategize and so forth, but
13:34
Speaker 4: also to provide perspective. We got a lot of young
13:38
Speaker 4: guys who played major roles, man who evolved in a
13:42
Speaker 4: lot of ways. I'm excited about them continuing their individual
13:46
Speaker 4: journeys and enhancing those and getting better and better positioning
13:51
Speaker 4: themselves to be significant as we move forward. There's a
13:55
Speaker 4: lot of you know, successes within the within the story. Certainly,
14:01
Speaker 4: I don't feel like it's the time to highlight those
14:04
Speaker 4: or to search for those, but I certainly acknowledge that
14:07
Speaker 4: it exists. You know, it's important that we recognize that
14:11
Speaker 4: although we have some ills and certainly a lot of
14:14
Speaker 4: things to address, we do have some really solid foundational
14:17
Speaker 4: things to build upon and to enhance. And so a
14:22
Speaker 4: component of moving forward not only is acknowledging that which stinks,
14:28
Speaker 4: quite honestly, but also acknowledging the things that are moving
14:32
Speaker 4: in the right direction or the things that are really
14:35
Speaker 4: assets to us, and figuring out ways that we can
14:37
Speaker 4: continue that or enhance that. And so there's complexities to
14:43
Speaker 4: the next few days and weeks for us and for me,
14:48
Speaker 4: but you know, it is what comes with this thing
14:51
Speaker 4: at the highest level. Certainly there's gonna be pain in
14:54
Speaker 4: terms of watching the rest of the tournament from the outside,
14:57
Speaker 4: but again, as I mentioned at the outset, there's not
15:00
Speaker 4: a lot of misfortune in this business. Ultimately, you get
15:04
Speaker 4: what you got coming to you, and so certainly as
15:08
Speaker 4: uncomfortable it is as it is, it better be growth
15:11
Speaker 4: in it for us individually and collectively in an effort
15:15
Speaker 4: to make sure twenty twenty five doesn't end in a
15:18
Speaker 4: similar way. Don't have a lot of updates in terms
15:22
Speaker 4: of the general medical component. A lot of those exit
15:26
Speaker 4: physicals and examinations and decision making regarding those things are
15:32
Speaker 4: still ongoing.
15:33
Speaker 1: Interesting the air from coach Tomlinoff's Theaters fail to a
15:36
Speaker 1: loss against the Rivens the end of twenty twenty four season.
15:39
Speaker 2: Just like the seasons up.
15:41
Speaker 1: It feels like a couple of weeks ago, probably a
15:44
Speaker 1: bit longer than that, but that we were sitting with
15:47
Speaker 1: Calvin Austin, Connor Hayward in Belfast just agree we experiences,
15:52
Speaker 1: I guess for people listening, I just look, folks think
15:55
Speaker 1: so much on thanks to the theaters for the continued
15:58
Speaker 1: support and the fight with the look, the opportunity to
16:01
Speaker 1: to have a bit.
16:01
Speaker 2: Of crack with your ars lands as well. It's very
16:03
Speaker 2: very much appreciated.
16:04
Speaker 1: We know the season did not end the way we
16:06
Speaker 1: wanted to, but you know, Davg, I appreciate you coming
16:09
Speaker 1: on shot and has actually perked me up wee bit
16:10
Speaker 1: after that there, and I can't wait to hear Relegade
16:13
Speaker 1: in week one again bringing on that or in week two.
16:16
Speaker 2: Whenever you play at home.
16:16
Speaker 1: I don't know yet, but we'll see a big year
16:19
Speaker 1: ahead obviously, and then big twenty my Sex ahead because
16:21
Speaker 1: the Seelers are going to have the Draft in Pittsburgh
16:23
Speaker 1: as well, So a lot more to talk about, a
16:25
Speaker 1: lot more fun to have for now, Thank you all
16:27
Speaker 1: very very much.
16:29
Speaker 2: For myself Michael from Davog. We'll chat to you soon.
16:32
Speaker 2: One last Here we go for the year. Here we go,
16:34
Speaker 2: Here we go.