Latest / In the Locker Room presented by Neighborhood Ford Store (Pittsburgh Steelers) / HR2: Key Matchups

Transcript

HR2: Key Matchups · In the Locker Room presented by Neighborhood Ford Store (Pittsburgh Steelers)

• 0:12
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio, brought to you
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: Powering through like a diesel engine into the power hour
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: here inside the locker room.
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: And we are ecstatic. We are excited.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: We had Jerry Dulac on, and we have Willie's emotions
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: to carry now with what, you know, has now become
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: a beloved part of the program, I think is the
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: best way of putting it. It's a beloved part of
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: the program. That's what I'm going with, Willie. It's a
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: beloved part of the program when Optimus comes.
• 1:10
  Speaker 4: I'm learning to love it even though I hate it.
• 1:12
  Speaker 5: It's kind of like when you see your kid's 18th
• 1:16
  Speaker 5: million dinosaur drawing. You have to pretend you love it
• 1:19
  Speaker 5: even though it looks like absolute chicken scratch.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: It is the best dinosaur you ever seen. Dinosaur raw.
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying? Is that T-Rex got a
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: longer arm now? You find something. Oh, I didn't know
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: he had... he had like little spines on the back
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: of his tail.
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: Okay, cool.
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 1:39
  Speaker 6: Yep.
• 1:40
  Speaker 4: It's like, it's abstract.
• 1:42
  Speaker 5: It's you got, but you got to treat it like
• 1:43
  Speaker 5: a Picasso within a three minute span while he has
• 1:46
  Speaker 5: your attention.
• 1:46
  Speaker 6: So it's, so we're, we're moving from the factual into
• 1:53
  Speaker 6: the hypothetical here. Cause we're talking about the factual is
• 1:58
  Speaker 6: that Troy Fountain is going to be limited in practice
• 2:01
  Speaker 6: with an ankle. The, Now, we started to talk about, like,
• 2:06
  Speaker 6: who makes these decisions about whether a guy can go.
• 2:08
  Speaker 6: And I would ask you, so Willie was talking about this, Max,
• 2:11
  Speaker 6: but I just wanted to get your opinion on this
• 2:13
  Speaker 6: before we move on to other matters, that, you know,
• 2:17
  Speaker 6: a player, I think most players are going to say,
• 2:22
  Speaker 6: I can go. Don't worry about it. I can go.
• 2:24
  Speaker 6: I'm good for a number of reasons. You want to
• 2:26
  Speaker 6: man up. You might not want the guy behind you,
• 2:29
  Speaker 6: you know, to play.
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: You want to play.
• 2:32
  Speaker 6: It's your job.
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: You want to play.
• 2:34
  Speaker 6: By the same token, sometimes it's not best. I mean,
• 2:38
  Speaker 6: some guys are so good that they're better at 70%
• 2:41
  Speaker 6: than the backup would be. And maybe the cohesion to
• 2:44
  Speaker 6: the unit and 70% of that guy, you know, Mike
• 2:48
  Speaker 6: McCarthy talks about groups of players and maybe that chemistry
• 2:51
  Speaker 6: you have with somebody else and you at 70% is
• 2:53
  Speaker 6: the best scenario for the team. But maybe it isn't.
• 2:56
  Speaker 6: The player's almost always, Max, going to say, I can go.
• 3:01
  Speaker 6: So has there ever been a time where you've said,
• 3:03
  Speaker 6: I can go, and a coach has said, no, you can't?
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: I had a neck injury, and I was trying to
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: go for the Super Bowl. I was trying to get
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: off IR. Coach didn't quite believe that. So Willie and
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: I then proceeded, as we were both on IR at
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: that point, to enjoy all that Super Bowl had to
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: offer since we weren't allowed to play.
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 3:31
  Speaker 6: A conversation perhaps best off camera.
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, no, no, no. We're not going to–
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: you just asked a situation, Rob. I gave you an answer.
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: I just gave you an answer.
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: Hey, shout out to Rich Cabaret.
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: Woo!
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: The Playboy party with Snoop. Yeah, the Ciroc party. Well,
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: I guess you can't say who the Ciroc party was at,
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: but that's faux pas now.
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: But, yeah, he had a party. We were there. DGs– Yeah,
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: we had a good time.
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: Just know we know how to have a good time,
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: and we did that.
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: Moving on, Rob. Ask a new question.
• 4:09
  Speaker 6: Snoop Dogg's made some appearances on this show. Snoop Dogg.
• 4:13
  Speaker 6: Who was it that hasn't seen Pizan at Z? Was
• 4:16
  Speaker 6: that you, Willie? Haven't seen Pizan at Z? You got
• 4:19
  Speaker 6: to check it out. You got to check it out. Very, very,
• 4:22
  Speaker 6: very funny. Snoop Dogg. Snoop Dogg as Attenborough is just hilarious, man.
• 4:28
  Speaker 6: It's good stuff.
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: I've seen the viral clips. I haven't watched an actual show.
• 4:34
  Speaker 6: That's what there are. They're clips. There's like eight clips.
• 4:37
  Speaker 6: I don't think there's any more than that out there.
• 4:38
  Speaker 6: But they are funny. They are hysterical. Snakes. Go check
• 4:43
  Speaker 6: out the one on snakes. I thought that one was
• 4:45
  Speaker 6: pretty funny. So, guys, as we look at this New
• 4:49
  Speaker 6: England team, first of all, it just seems like, and
• 4:53
  Speaker 6: I don't know if you guys feel this as ex-players,
• 4:55
  Speaker 6: it feels this way as a fan, that New England's
• 4:59
  Speaker 6: got an intangible advantage. Forget the fact that they're at
• 5:03
  Speaker 6: home in that they do not want to start the
• 5:08
  Speaker 6: season 0-2. Of course, the Steelers don't want to start
• 5:10
  Speaker 6: the season at 1-1, but 0-2 would be a terrible
• 5:13
  Speaker 6: start for your defending AFC champions. Willie, is there any
• 5:17
  Speaker 6: kind of intangible edge that a team gets from that
• 5:20
  Speaker 6: little maybe extra sense of desperation, or is that a
• 5:24
  Speaker 6: fan-invented view of the game?
• 5:28
  Speaker 5: Rob, that is a brilliant question. And in fact, it's
• 5:32
  Speaker 5: a great question. I'll tell you why.
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: This is a.
• 5:35
  Speaker 5: Must win for the New England Patriots. Look at all
• 5:40
  Speaker 5: the headlines that surround this team from the Mike Vrabel situation,
• 5:45
  Speaker 5: from Robert Kraft situation. Now you went on the road
• 5:49
  Speaker 5: and lost to the same team, by the way, you
• 5:52
  Speaker 5: lost Super Bowl to. So here comes the Pittsburgh Steelers
• 5:56
  Speaker 5: And if you lose to Aaron Rodgers, who has been spicy,
• 6:00
  Speaker 5: if you will, and you talk about an offense that's
• 6:04
  Speaker 5: really starting to form and we just started talking about
• 6:06
  Speaker 5: all the things that the Steelers team now wants to represent.
• 6:11
  Speaker 4: If you're Mike Rabel and you're Drake May, not having A.J.
• 6:15
  Speaker 5: Brown and having all these things, you want to stop
• 6:19
  Speaker 5: this snowballing, this kind of avalanche that you've now– happen
• 6:24
  Speaker 5: to be standing in front of. Because if you go
• 6:28
  Speaker 5: on to the Mike Vrabel situation gets a lot bigger
• 6:32
  Speaker 5: because they consider that a distraction. The Robert Kraft situation
• 6:36
  Speaker 5: becomes a lot bigger because that's a new distraction. Oh,
• 6:39
  Speaker 5: there's another distraction. This Super Bowl contender, that is, and
• 6:43
  Speaker 5: the New England Patriots, now looks like it's a sinking ship.
• 6:48
  Speaker 5: So all these things start to kind of form its
• 6:51
  Speaker 5: own monster and it's directed at the New England Patriots.
• 6:54
  Speaker 5: The media will be all over Drake May. The media
• 6:57
  Speaker 5: will be all over Robert Kraft and Mike Vrabel. The
• 7:00
  Speaker 5: media will be all over everything New England has to
• 7:02
  Speaker 5: offer thus far.
• 7:04
  Speaker 7: So if you're the Steelers, this is a great time
• 7:08
  Speaker 7: to get some get back. This is a great time
• 7:12
  Speaker 7: for all the trouble that Sir Tom Brady, all the
• 7:16
  Speaker 7: playoff loss, all the hard times.
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: That we've had in Foxborough.
• 7:20
  Speaker 5: Like, this is a great time to put another hole
• 7:24
  Speaker 5: in that ship. So if I'm a patriot, yeah, this
• 7:29
  Speaker 5: is a must win. And by the way, you have
• 7:31
  Speaker 5: to do it without your Alpha 1 receiver. Also, you
• 7:33
  Speaker 5: have to do it without, you have to figure out
• 7:35
  Speaker 5: what's going on with Romeo Dobbs since he had all
• 7:37
  Speaker 5: those drops and he didn't play well the last hour.
• 7:40
  Speaker 5: By the way, you have to do it considering that
• 7:42
  Speaker 5: this defense, who is supposed to be a staple underneath
• 7:46
  Speaker 5: Mike Vrabel, you know, led up.
• 7:48
  Speaker 4: Towards the end of Seattle. And so.
• 7:51
  Speaker 5: There's a lot going into this game. People kind of
• 7:54
  Speaker 5: want to sweep it underneath the rug. And like, oh,
• 7:56
  Speaker 5: you know, Steelers are quite not who they are. And
• 7:58
  Speaker 5: they're still figuring out. And New England is going to
• 8:00
  Speaker 5: be fine.
• 8:01
  Speaker 4: No, no, no, no, no, no.
• 8:02
  Speaker 5: If New England loses this game, be very clear. The
• 8:07
  Speaker 5: house is on fire. And it won't just be in
• 8:10
  Speaker 5: an in-house situation. This will be our house situation. The
• 8:13
  Speaker 5: whole compound will be on fire. So the Steelers have
• 8:16
  Speaker 5: a great opportunity. I don't know if anybody has seen
• 8:19
  Speaker 5: the Odyssey.
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: Right, with Matt Damon. They can be that children's horse.
• 8:23
  Speaker 5: Yeah, they can be that children's horse, open the door,
• 8:26
  Speaker 5: and set the whole thing on fire for the rest
• 8:29
  Speaker 5: of the NFL to come in and say, oh, here
• 8:31
  Speaker 5: we are.
• 8:32
  Speaker 4: It's time to get some get back.
• 8:33
  Speaker 5: So this type of week for a guy like me, oh, yeah,
• 8:38
  Speaker 5: I want all the smoke. This is a T-bone steak
• 8:42
  Speaker 5: with the fixings, a tall calf. candlelight dinner, baby, because
• 8:47
  Speaker 5: I want all the smoke in this game because you
• 8:50
  Speaker 5: have an opportunity.
• 8:51
  Speaker 4: You know, there's so many people who looked.
• 8:52
  Speaker 5: At Drake May and looked at all those guys like, oh,
• 8:56
  Speaker 5: this offense should be dynamite. This defense should be this
• 8:59
  Speaker 5: and that. You have a chance right now to stomp
• 9:03
  Speaker 5: all over, to step, as these young kids say these days,
• 9:06
  Speaker 5: Justin will know, I'm stepping on it, right? They got
• 9:08
  Speaker 5: an opportunity to step on all those things that the
• 9:11
  Speaker 5: Patriots are supposed to be this year.
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: So this is why.
• 9:15
  Speaker 5: And I'm actually– this is why you have– if you
• 9:18
  Speaker 5: TJ Watt, man, if you can't– if you– this is
• 9:25
  Speaker 5: where you might– you're telling your defense right now, we
• 9:27
  Speaker 5: got a chance to put a lot of people in
• 9:29
  Speaker 5: body bags.
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: Let's go eat. Straight up. If you're the.
• 9:32
  Speaker 5: Offensive line, they say we can't run the ball right now,
• 9:35
  Speaker 5: we're about to force feed them. Like, this has to
• 9:37
  Speaker 5: be that buildup because if you– we talk about power
• 9:40
  Speaker 5: rankings on Wednesday, man. You beat the New England Patriots
• 9:43
  Speaker 5: on their opener and they finish– they leave out of
• 9:46
  Speaker 5: that building 0-2. Man, you talk about momentum? You talk
• 9:51
  Speaker 5: about being 2-0? Like, this is a big– this is
• 9:54
  Speaker 5: why the NFL is fun because you get to chew
• 9:56
  Speaker 5: on the headlines and then Sunday you can say, see,
• 9:59
  Speaker 5: I was either right or wrong. And I'm a fan
• 10:03
  Speaker 5: of what the Steelers could do, and I would be, man, whew.
• 10:07
  Speaker 5: I just know how I would be. I just know
• 10:09
  Speaker 5: what Willie Colon and the Steelers– I would be– I
• 10:11
  Speaker 5: would talk in boo-coo, cash, money, jump, and I would
• 10:14
  Speaker 5: be trying to start a fight in warm-ups.
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: I would just be so geared up for this game, man.
• 10:18
  Speaker 5: I would– This is a big opportunity for the Steelers,
• 10:21
  Speaker 5: and I hope they realize it.
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: Listen, and, you know, people questioned the week one victory
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: for the Steelers, right? They questioned, oh, man, it was
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: the Falcons. It was a third-string quarterback. They didn't have this.
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: They didn't have that. No, ain't no excuses. If you
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: go into New England in their house and you take
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: a dump in their toilet, they going to have a problem.
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah, bro.
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: You wanted it, you asked for it.
• 10:52
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: The Poo-Pourri commercial where it's like everybody's sitting in the
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: family dinner and that bathroom is like right by the
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: dining room. And they are just blowing it up and
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: then they spray it and they walk out like, oh,
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: this is a bit.
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you go do that.
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: No Poo-Pourri, baby. No, you're getting all that. You're getting
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: all of that. And that's what you want to see.
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: You want these moments. And Mike Tomlin said it best.
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: People don't care if you have problems. They're just happy
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: that you got them and they don't.
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: And they got some problems. So if we can cause
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: a Houston, we have a problem moment with them and
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: it'll bring up every transgression. It'll bring up every little
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: issue and they will start cracking at the new England
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: Patriots Superbowl. Like y'all were lucky to get there. Y'all
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: had a fourth place schedule.
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: Yep.
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: Bo Nix wasn't in the AFC chat. All that stuff
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: will start to rear its ugly head. if they go
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: 0-2 after this, because you just lost to the guys
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: you played last year, and now you're about to lose
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: to a team, by the way, that beat you in
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: your place a year ago, and now it's their place.
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: It's no longer, you might as well call it Gillette.
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: But it's the Steelers razor that's shaving you with it,
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: because you're not allowed to be in that stadium. You're
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: paying rent to the Steelers to be in there. All right,
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: we are fired up on a Thursday, Rob. You got, listen,
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: when me and Willie started to get fired up, this
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: is why, When coaches would look at us like, hey,
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: calm that down. Justin Hartwig got on us in the
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: San Diego Chasers playoff game because Willie and Darnell was riffing.
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: And they was blowing Jamal Williams off the ball.
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: And then Justin goes, hey, you ain't got to block
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: him every play.
• 12:32
  Speaker 6: We're like, what?
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: Man, we just tagged him. They high-fived on top of him.
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: Jamal tried to roll around on his belly and stand up.
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: And I'm like, Justin, back off. This is a playoff game.
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: You just have that emotion. And that's also what we
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: want to see from this offensive line unit.
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: What you just heard from me and Willie, that's what
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: you need to be.
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: You have to go out and be a bully and
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: punch a guy in the mouth and have your brothers back.
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: No matter what happens, you have to say.
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: Hey, man, he did this. Well, I don't know what
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: to tell you. But if you come on my side,
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: you're going to get the same result. So don't come
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: on our side of the fence.
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: We can fight amongst ourselves in our own yard.
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: Don't come from the outside and jump in our yard
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: and try and pick a fight.
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: It's not going to be good.
• 13:15
  Speaker 6: Yeah, and, you know, when you think about, you know,
• 13:18
  Speaker 6: you mentioned that fourth-place schedule last year, and you think
• 13:22
  Speaker 6: about the quality of their opponents. And I was thinking
• 13:25
  Speaker 6: along the same lines, Max, as you were talking. I
• 13:27
  Speaker 6: was actually drawing up their schedule from a year ago,
• 13:30
  Speaker 6: which included a loss to Vegas. But here are their
• 13:32
  Speaker 6: victories and a loss to the Steelers. Only three regular
• 13:34
  Speaker 6: season losses. Here are their victories. Miami, bad team.
• 13:39
  Speaker 4: Carolina, meh.
• 13:40
  Speaker 6: Buffalo, that's a good win, obviously, in Buffalo.
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: New Orleans, eh.
• 13:44
  Speaker 6: Tennessee, Cleveland, Atlanta, Tampa Bay, that was a quality win
• 13:51
  Speaker 6: for sure. The Jets, you beat Cincinnati, but they didn't
• 13:56
  Speaker 6: have Joe Burrow in that game. You beat the Giants.
• 14:00
  Speaker 6: You lost to Buffalo. You beat Baltimore in a game
• 14:03
  Speaker 6: Lamar got hurt. You beat the Jets. You beat Miami. Now,
• 14:06
  Speaker 6: they started to roll toward the end of the season.
• 14:09
  Speaker 6: I'm a big believer that That belief helps a team.
• 14:12
  Speaker 6: When a team believes they're good, they're going to play better.
• 14:16
  Speaker 6: They're going to play up. And I think the Patriots
• 14:19
  Speaker 6: believed they were good. But I'm sure they've heard the criticisms, Willie. Yeah,
• 14:23
  Speaker 6: you beat a fourth-place schedule. That list right there, what
• 14:27
  Speaker 6: do you have? A couple quality wins maybe? Two, maybe
• 14:29
  Speaker 6: three quality wins? You know, and I'm not saying they're
• 14:33
  Speaker 6: not a good football team.
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: Think about how many teams had new head coaches this
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: year from the teams they beat.
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: A year ago.
• 14:40
  Speaker 6: Right, yeah. So I'm not saying they're not a good
• 14:43
  Speaker 6: football team. I'm just adding on to what you're saying, Willie,
• 14:48
  Speaker 6: is that that's another thing that will come up if
• 14:50
  Speaker 6: you don't win this game.
• 14:52
  Speaker 4: How about I give you one more before we roll
• 14:54
  Speaker 4: up out of here?
• 14:55
  Speaker 5: The Steelers beat the Patriots last year, right?
• 14:57
  Speaker 6: That's right.
• 14:58
  Speaker 5: After a game, the Steelers won against the Jets, but
• 15:01
  Speaker 5: because of the way the Jets beat them up in
• 15:03
  Speaker 5: the trenches, the Steelers came into that game more fired up.
• 15:07
  Speaker 4: To me, it's no different. You were supposed to run
• 15:09
  Speaker 4: the ball a lot better against this Atlanta Falcons team.
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: You did, right?
• 15:12
  Speaker 5: You were probably more intact than the Atlanta Falcons, and
• 15:16
  Speaker 5: that's all you gave us. So if you needed some momentum,
• 15:19
  Speaker 5: excuse me, if you needed some extra incentive, if you
• 15:21
  Speaker 5: needed whatever you need to go into this game, understand
• 15:24
  Speaker 5: that the Patriots are looking at an 0-2 start. They
• 15:28
  Speaker 5: know you came to their house last year and beat them.
• 15:30
  Speaker 5: They're going to be fired up. They're going to throw
• 15:33
  Speaker 5: everything at the Steelers to make sure they even out
• 15:35
  Speaker 5: this record. And on top of that, recognize that this, hey,
• 15:41
  Speaker 5: if you're the Steelers right now, with everything that you've
• 15:44
  Speaker 5: done thus far, there's a lot of people that aren't believers.
• 15:48
  Speaker 5: So you've got another opportunity to make people believers by
• 15:51
  Speaker 5: beating the New England Patriots at home.
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: We talked about what the win will do to that.
• 15:56
  Speaker 5: Organization and that team as a whole, but you have
• 15:59
  Speaker 5: an opportunity for them to put the mirror in front
• 16:02
  Speaker 5: of their face and say, hey, this is who you
• 16:03
  Speaker 5: really are, and we just exposed you. And so I'm
• 16:07
  Speaker 5: of the mindset that If you're the Steelers, you have
• 16:10
  Speaker 5: a lot more going for you going into this game
• 16:13
  Speaker 5: than you think. And you have to attack it. So
• 16:16
  Speaker 5: we know what the Patriots want to do. They want
• 16:18
  Speaker 5: to even out the record. They want to get back
• 16:20
  Speaker 5: on track. Sure, that's their business. But from a Steelers situation,
• 16:23
  Speaker 5: if you're Mike McCarthy, I'm interested. And Robert, I don't
• 16:27
  Speaker 5: know if Max and Justin, since we're all in it together, man,
• 16:30
  Speaker 5: I would love to hear what Mike McCarthy's message is
• 16:35
  Speaker 5: Saturday night. Because I tell you what, I know what
• 16:38
  Speaker 5: Mike Thomas' message is, right? Like Mike Thomas, and I
• 16:42
  Speaker 5: know we don't like to talk about the ex, but
• 16:45
  Speaker 5: I just know for a fact, once Mike Thomas closed
• 16:48
  Speaker 5: that door and he had the offense in one room
• 16:50
  Speaker 5: and he had the defense in one room and he
• 16:52
  Speaker 5: was standing in front of us, I just know he
• 16:55
  Speaker 5: would put on an Oscar-like Academy Award performance because he
• 16:59
  Speaker 5: would have us not, he would have all 53 men
• 17:02
  Speaker 5: waiting in the lobby ready to play the game at midnight.
• 17:05
  Speaker 6: And so.
• 17:06
  Speaker 4: Mike McCarthy, I don't know if we can ever get
• 17:09
  Speaker 4: that intel.
• 17:10
  Speaker 5: Rob, you know, but I would love to see what
• 17:12
  Speaker 5: he has to say to that team to get those
• 17:14
  Speaker 5: boys ready. Because I know for a fact I'll probably
• 17:16
  Speaker 5: be in my uniform with.
• 17:17
  Speaker 4: The covers over me. I wouldn't have to change.
• 17:20
  Speaker 5: So I don't know how we could ever get that,
• 17:25
  Speaker 5: but that would be a hell of a question for
• 17:26
  Speaker 5: one of the guys at the game.
• 17:28
  Speaker 4: What did Mike McCarthy say?
• 17:29
  Speaker 5: Because I know Mike McCarthy wouldn't have to say a
• 17:31
  Speaker 5: lot for us, but it would be interesting since he's
• 17:34
  Speaker 5: stepping on the road with this roster, how is he
• 17:38
  Speaker 5: going to get these boys fired up? Because I would
• 17:40
  Speaker 5: be oozing, I would be jumping out of my skin
• 17:41
  Speaker 5: to play the Patriots on Sunday.
• 17:43
  Speaker 6: And there's something Willie said in there, amongst all the
• 17:47
  Speaker 6: other stuff that's all got us charging out of our
• 17:48
  Speaker 6: chairs and ready to go, that I want to follow
• 17:51
  Speaker 6: up on. And it is something that Aaron Rodgers said yesterday.
• 17:54
  Speaker 6: We're going to get to that when we continue in
• 17:56
  Speaker 6: the locker room here on the Steelers Audio Network.
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: This is in the locker room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: and Willie Cologne on Steelers nation radio brought to you
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers pro shop. Get it direct
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers pro shop at shop.steelers.com
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: and by your neighborhood Ford store. The F one 50
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: is the official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 18:28
  Speaker 6: And thanks for being with us back in the locker room.
• 18:30
  Speaker 6: You know, uh, Max, Willie was talking about something there,
• 18:34
  Speaker 6: kind of alluding to the fact that the Steelers won
• 18:36
  Speaker 6: the game, right? They're 1-0. And that's where you need
• 18:39
  Speaker 6: to be. You need to be 1-0, and now you're
• 18:41
  Speaker 6: trying to be 2-0. You're trying to carry that momentum
• 18:44
  Speaker 6: into New England. You know, Aaron Rodgers spoke with the
• 18:47
  Speaker 6: media yesterday, I think it was yesterday, and was asked about,
• 18:50
  Speaker 6: you know, targets, right? Like receivers. And he said, I
• 18:54
  Speaker 6: don't give a blank about targets, you know? I mean,
• 18:58
  Speaker 6: DK's going to get targets. Everybody else is going to
• 19:01
  Speaker 6: be whatever, who's open, right? Who's open? And that then
• 19:07
  Speaker 6: leads to the game plan and the way you're attacking
• 19:10
  Speaker 6: a team. And, you know, again, you love this. If
• 19:14
  Speaker 6: everybody's just into buying into winning the game and none
• 19:16
  Speaker 6: of that stuff matters, that's a great place to be
• 19:19
  Speaker 6: for a football team. But it got me to thinking
• 19:21
  Speaker 6: about how guys are deployed defensively against the Atlanta Falcons
• 19:30
  Speaker 6: and you know, you got Bijan Robinson.
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 19:32
  Speaker 6: So New England's got two fine running backs and Travion
• 19:34
  Speaker 6: Henderson's pretty dangerous, but Bijan's Bijan. You have a premier
• 19:38
  Speaker 6: wide receiver. Well, now with A.J. Brown hurt, I don't
• 19:43
  Speaker 6: know if you'd categorize anybody in New England as a
• 19:45
  Speaker 6: premier receiver. You have Pitts and Hunter's a good receiving
• 19:48
  Speaker 6: tight end. In other words, it's a different type of offense,
• 19:52
  Speaker 6: trying to do different types of things. And I think
• 19:55
  Speaker 6: this will be really interesting. I don't know if you
• 19:58
  Speaker 6: go against a quote-unquote Josh McDaniels offense and think about
• 20:01
  Speaker 6: certain things, but I'm suspecting you're no longer going against
• 20:04
  Speaker 6: a third-string quarterback. You're going against, I mentioned the things
• 20:07
  Speaker 6: you weren't going against. You're also not going against a
• 20:09
  Speaker 6: third-string quarterback. You're going against the guy who finished, Max,
• 20:11
  Speaker 6: second in the NFL in MVP voting, who, by the way,
• 20:15
  Speaker 6: can get out of the pocket and kill you by
• 20:17
  Speaker 6: scrambling and running with the football. I will be very intrigued,
• 20:21
  Speaker 6: and Patrick Graham also talked about this, the game plan's
• 20:25
  Speaker 6: going to change week to week. It is always tweaked,
• 20:28
  Speaker 6: but I get the sense, Max, we might see a
• 20:31
  Speaker 6: more radically different approach week to week, perhaps, than we've
• 20:34
  Speaker 6: gotten used to seeing.
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I think it's going to be a... It's
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: going to be a different game plan. And Patrick Graham
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: kind of talked about this on Monday, right?
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: He was saying because he spent time in New England.
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: So it's not like he's unfamiliar with it. And he's all,
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: you know, he's, I'm sorry, not with New England, but
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: spent time with Josh McDaniels. He worked under him when Dr.
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: Daniels was the head coach of the Raiders. So he's
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: familiar with the New England way. And he's played against
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: the Patriots a number of times as a coach, or
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: I should say coached against the Patriots. So he understands
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: what this chess match looks like. And he understands how
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: Josh McDaniels thinks. So it's going to be that cat
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: and mouse type of game with both of them because
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: Patrick Graham, a highly intelligent dude, Josh McDaniels, a highly
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: intelligent dude. So it's going to be, can my, to
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: go back to the game I talked about earlier that
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: you guys don't watch for, we'll appreciate this on the
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: replay when he's older.
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: You know, when it comes to chess, right. Do I
• 21:34
  Speaker 3: have the better pieces on the board? Right. Am I
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: only working with pawns? Or do I have a couple
• 21:40
  Speaker 3: of nights?
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: I might have gotten a pawn across the board. Now
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: I've got two queens, and now I can dominate the board.
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: And I think with the Steelers, you have to say,
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: I've got two queens, Cam Hayward and I have a T.J.
• 21:54
  Speaker 4: Watt.
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: Like, they can move in multiple ways.
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: The queen is what makes the queen so good is
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: they can move vertical, they can move horizontal, and they
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: can move diagonal, right?
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: That's the only piece on the board that does all
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: of those things. And that's what T.J. Watt does.
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: TJ Watt can rush the edge. He can now intercept you.
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: He can force a fumble. He can play in the
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: backfield with a running back. He can drop into coverage.
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: And Cam Hayward is I am a game wrecker in
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: the middle. I own the line of scrimmage. I run
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: the trenches and I can move vertical. I can move horizontal.
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: And sometimes I can go diagonal and get a pass rush.
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: So you have those pieces, and that's what you're playing with.
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: So it becomes a more strategic game in that sense.
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: And it's going to be really.
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: Fun to watch both of these, you know, guys, both
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: these coordinators working against each other on those sides of
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: the ball.
• 22:45
  Speaker 6: So before you answer, Willie, I just have to say
• 22:48
  Speaker 6: a little bit of a disappointment. You know, I probably
• 22:52
  Speaker 6: wouldn't have done it. I thought about it a couple times.
• 22:55
  Speaker 6: But Beanie Bishop, I love Beanie Bishop, really, really, really
• 22:59
  Speaker 6: nice young dude. And I thought to myself, how about
• 23:03
  Speaker 6: a picture? I get a picture with Patrick Queen, who
• 23:06
  Speaker 6: is dismayed to learn he's not a queen in Max's chessboard.
• 23:10
  Speaker 6: But a picture of Beanie, Patrick Queen, and myself. So
• 23:14
  Speaker 6: then we'd have King, Queen, Bishop. Now, should I have
• 23:18
  Speaker 6: done it? It's a t-shirt.
• 23:19
  Speaker 4: You should have.
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: Absolutely. Absolutely.
• 23:21
  Speaker 6: I didn't do it, though. I take that thing seriously.
• 23:24
  Speaker 6: It says no pictures, no autographs. I don't get pictures.
• 23:28
  Speaker 6: I don't get autographs. But that's one that I would
• 23:30
  Speaker 6: have liked to have gotten. I think that would have
• 23:32
  Speaker 6: been fun. But I didn't do it. I blew it.
• 23:34
  Speaker 4: It would have been a great pitcher for the man
• 23:36
  Speaker 4: cave for sure.
• 23:37
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: Oh, yeah.
• 23:38
  Speaker 6: Unfortunately, didn't get it. So do you expect them? And
• 23:41
  Speaker 6: we're going to talk specific matchups. But, Willie, I would
• 23:45
  Speaker 6: expect them, and I don't know what that would be,
• 23:46
  Speaker 6: but I would expect them to do different things. I
• 23:49
  Speaker 6: don't know if we'll see the same personnel groupings, for example.
• 23:53
  Speaker 6: I mean, one-third of their snaps, we saw five linebackers
• 23:58
  Speaker 6: on the field. You know, I don't know if we'll
• 24:00
  Speaker 6: see that against Drake May, although we talked about this
• 24:02
  Speaker 6: before the season began. You know, Peyton Wilson and Patrick
• 24:06
  Speaker 6: Queen are speedy inside linebackers. Could they be utilized as such?
• 24:11
  Speaker 6: And you don't feel like you have to go to
• 24:14
  Speaker 6: a nickel or a dime, particularly a dime package, because
• 24:17
  Speaker 6: you've got linebackers you can run.
• 24:19
  Speaker 5: Not only do you have linebackers who run, the goal,
• 24:24
  Speaker 5: I think, going into this game is It would have
• 24:27
  Speaker 5: to be that you're going to have to spy Drake
• 24:30
  Speaker 5: May because of the way he used his legs in
• 24:33
  Speaker 5: the first half of that game. You know you're going
• 24:35
  Speaker 5: to be able to get home with the guys we
• 24:38
  Speaker 5: got as far as from a pass rush standpoint. But
• 24:42
  Speaker 5: I think right now the goal for the Patriots, they're
• 24:46
  Speaker 5: aware that this front five for them ballot is an
• 24:50
  Speaker 5: upgrade from last year. But the Steelers are the best
• 24:53
  Speaker 5: at rushing the quarterback. So what the Steelers have to
• 24:55
  Speaker 5: now be prepared for is for New England to spread
• 24:58
  Speaker 5: them out. So expect a lot more screen. Expect Drake
• 25:01
  Speaker 5: May to have a lot more run, one focus.
• 25:04
  Speaker 4: One dominant plays.
• 25:05
  Speaker 5: Expect them trying to emphasize the run early in that
• 25:08
  Speaker 5: game because they feel like they have the guys up
• 25:10
  Speaker 5: front that can do so.
• 25:12
  Speaker 4: I talked about Mike Onowano, their right guard. Elijah Hurtuck
• 25:15
  Speaker 4: is playing left guard for them.
• 25:17
  Speaker 5: They feel like, man, they're not going to sit there
• 25:19
  Speaker 5: and let the Steelers dictate how.
• 25:21
  Speaker 4: The Steelers want to play football.
• 25:22
  Speaker 5: So the one way of stabilizing a pass rush is
• 25:25
  Speaker 5: being able to run the ball and being able to
• 25:28
  Speaker 5: catch them off balance. And if you watch a lot
• 25:30
  Speaker 5: of what the Patriots did against Seattle, it was a
• 25:33
  Speaker 5: lot of misdirection early in that game. And there was
• 25:35
  Speaker 5: a lot of motion that kind of shifted the defense.
• 25:37
  Speaker 5: So as much as we feel like we like our
• 25:41
  Speaker 5: odds and we have the momentum on our side, the
• 25:44
  Speaker 5: Steelers are going to have to be able to communicate.
• 25:47
  Speaker 5: And they're going to have to be able to be
• 25:48
  Speaker 5: on their P's and Q's because What we saw, what
• 25:52
  Speaker 5: saved Seattle in their game against New England was the
• 25:55
  Speaker 5: fact that there was one able to really keep Drake
• 26:00
  Speaker 5: May in the pocket, force him to make some throws
• 26:03
  Speaker 5: in the middle of the field.
• 26:03
  Speaker 4: That end up getting picked off, and keep everything in
• 26:07
  Speaker 4: front of him.
• 26:07
  Speaker 5: And because they were able to tackle really well, it
• 26:10
  Speaker 5: kept them in the game and it gave the offense
• 26:12
  Speaker 5: more opportunities to get back in that game. The goal
• 26:15
  Speaker 5: for the Steelers to get off in this game is
• 26:17
  Speaker 5: they have to get off the field on third down
• 26:20
  Speaker 5: Because if Drake May gets momentum, he's going to get
• 26:24
  Speaker 5: the crowd on their side. And that defense feeds off
• 26:27
  Speaker 5: that crowd. So it's going to be imperative for our
• 26:31
  Speaker 5: defense to constantly, one, be willing to put out fires
• 26:34
  Speaker 5: early and often. And two, be a tackling team, as
• 26:37
  Speaker 5: we stated all week. And three, don't let Drake May
• 26:40
  Speaker 5: get going. Force him to see ghosts. And we can
• 26:43
  Speaker 5: do that because of the oblique packages and how we
• 26:45
  Speaker 5: get after quarterbacks. So it's imperative that, man, that they
• 26:49
  Speaker 5: don't allow the run game to become a factor early
• 26:51
  Speaker 5: in that game because that's the only one that's going
• 26:54
  Speaker 5: to feed Drake May.
• 26:55
  Speaker 6: You know, my tendency is to think along the same
• 26:59
  Speaker 6: lines Willie is thinking, and especially Max without A.J. Brown,
• 27:05
  Speaker 6: that the Patriots, I think the Patriots wanted to show
• 27:08
  Speaker 6: the Seahawks, I think they felt like they got pushed
• 27:10
  Speaker 6: around in the Super Bowl. They did get pushed around
• 27:12
  Speaker 6: in the Super Bowl. They wanted to show them, hey,
• 27:15
  Speaker 6: kind of like the Chiefs did against Denver, you know,
• 27:18
  Speaker 6: We're not here– we're not going to be– this is
• 27:20
  Speaker 6: a different day, you know. We're not going to be
• 27:22
  Speaker 6: pushed around. And I love the Patriots tried to establish
• 27:25
  Speaker 6: that run early. But I also agree, especially without A.J. Brown, that,
• 27:31
  Speaker 6: you know, some teams spread it to throw. I could
• 27:33
  Speaker 6: see them spreading it to run or spreading it to
• 27:37
  Speaker 6: set up screens or draws or allow Drake May to
• 27:41
  Speaker 6: use his legs. So that will be interesting to see
• 27:45
  Speaker 6: how the Steelers would counter Both of those things, I mean,
• 27:48
  Speaker 6: if they come with a jumbo package, obviously you can
• 27:51
  Speaker 6: stay in your three down linemen or whatever. But when
• 27:53
  Speaker 6: they spread it out, if they spread it out to run,
• 27:56
  Speaker 6: like I think both Willie and I suspect they might,
• 27:59
  Speaker 6: how do you counter that personnel-wise, Max?
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: No, I think the biggest thing is it's timely blitzing.
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: I mean, when you spread guys out and, you know,
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: we saw this to a degree with Atlanta. There was
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: a certain level of it. They ran a wider bunch set.
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: to try and get you to declare, right.
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: If it was man.
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: So you saw a lot of Peyton Wilson outside the
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: box with Patrick Queen, so it looked like a single
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: backer box. And then they would motion back in to see,
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: is he carrying in or is it a bump in?
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: So you get these kind of context clues about what
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: the team's trying to see pre-snap so they can choose
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: either to send in a double play right, send a
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: kill play in, So you have a run, kill it
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: to a pass, vice versa, or you call in a
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: double play, and then there's an activation word that signals
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: a second play because based on the front alignment. And
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: as a defense, you just have to be spatially aware
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: of what the personnel is.
• 29:00
  Speaker 3: Like, who is that guy, right?
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: Is it Ramondre Stevenson or is it Travion Henderson that's
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: in the inside half of a bunch? And how do
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: I attack that? Who's the ISO guy on the backside
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: away from the bunch? Is that what they're trying to
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: feature in this moment? Because I think when you look
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: at their receiving core, no A.J. Brown, this is not
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: a scary receiving core. Romeo Dobbs, questionable hands, right?
• 29:28
  Speaker 3: At best.
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: And the rest of that crew is unproven. You know,
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: the reason why they went and spent what they did
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: to get A.J. Brown was because they needed a number
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: one receiver. And they're going to be back at square one. Well,
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: they're back at square one again, trying to figure it out.
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: So now they have to kind of run some smoke
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: and mirrors, but as a defense, you can't get fooled
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: by the window dressing. You've got to stay with your keys,
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: and we talk about this. This is why you practice.
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: You practice to make sure that whatever window dressing, whatever
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: smoke and And side card, three card parlay, they're trying
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: to run on you. At the end of the day,
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: what's the alignment and what can they do out of
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: this alignment? That's what I need to be keyed in on.
• 30:08
  Speaker 6: Can't wait to see that part of it. I'm fascinated
• 30:10
  Speaker 6: to see, you know, when this game is over. I mean, obviously,
• 30:13
  Speaker 6: you want to watch the game when this game is over.
• 30:15
  Speaker 6: I'll be fascinated to see what the snap counts look
• 30:17
  Speaker 6: like and and what the Steelers do to attack. And
• 30:20
  Speaker 6: there's something the Steelers do offensively. I think it's going
• 30:22
  Speaker 6: to be I think it's the most intriguing matchup of
• 30:24
  Speaker 6: the game for me. We're going to get to that
• 30:26
  Speaker 6: when we continue in the locker room here on the
• 30:28
  Speaker 6: Steelers Audio Network.
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio, brought to you
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 30:58
  Speaker 3: The king is here. The cologne is here. The max
• 31:03
  Speaker 3: is here. Ring the bell lap. Hear ye, hear ye.
• 31:12
  Speaker 3: Final segment of the show. I passed the baton, Rob.
• 31:19
  Speaker 4: Love it.
• 31:21
  Speaker 6: You know, the bell lap. Made me laugh every time
• 31:26
  Speaker 6: last year. I laughed for five months because of Max's
• 31:29
  Speaker 6: sheer joy, Willie. But I think now the trumpet is
• 31:32
  Speaker 6: going to get me every time. That's tremendous.
• 31:36
  Speaker 4: It grows on you.
• 31:37
  Speaker 6: Thank you for that intro. So we're talking about matchups
• 31:41
  Speaker 6: in general and personnel usage. And I know this is
• 31:44
  Speaker 6: kind of going ahead to a little bit of what
• 31:46
  Speaker 6: I want to talk about tomorrow. By the way, we'll
• 31:47
  Speaker 6: look ahead at some of the key NFL games. We'll
• 31:50
  Speaker 6: all look at games that we are really interested in seeing.
• 31:54
  Speaker 6: over the course of the weekend. But tonight is what
• 31:58
  Speaker 6: the Lions and who is it tonight?
• 32:01
  Speaker 3: Buffalo.
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 32:03
  Speaker 3: Oh, Lions and Buffalo. Yeah. In Highmark. The regular season
• 32:06
  Speaker 3: Highmark unveiling.
• 32:08
  Speaker 6: That is, that's a fun game. So there's a bunch of, boy,
• 32:11
  Speaker 6: it's already, I mean, there were a bunch of fun
• 32:13
  Speaker 6: week one matchups. There's a bunch of week two matchups
• 32:16
  Speaker 6: that I think are really intriguing, including this one. We
• 32:18
  Speaker 6: talked about like personnel usage and trying to do things differently.
• 32:22
  Speaker 6: You know, I don't want to pretend I'm any expert
• 32:27
  Speaker 6: on Pete Carroll's defense, but he came out in that
• 32:29
  Speaker 6: cover two and was basically like, hey, man, good luck.
• 32:34
  Speaker 6: We got you. Cover two, right? Or was it a
• 32:36
  Speaker 6: cover three he played? I can't remember now.
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: No, no. It was cover two, and they didn't switch sides.
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: That was the biggest thing. They never traveled anybody. So
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: Richard Sherman was only on the left side, and that
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: was his side. And then Cam Chancellor did everything else
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: in the back half. So, I mean, the Legion of Boom–
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: was like, this is what we're doing. We dare you
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: to stop us.
• 32:56
  Speaker 6: Worked pretty well. I think most teams are more matchup
• 33:00
  Speaker 6: oriented than that. But some, it's like anything else. Some
• 33:03
  Speaker 6: will shade more toward we're going to kind of stay
• 33:05
  Speaker 6: in our base. Some will say, hey, we have personnel. Some,
• 33:08
  Speaker 6: it might be a scheme. It might be the quality
• 33:10
  Speaker 6: of your personnel. It might be a lot of things.
• 33:13
  Speaker 6: One of the things that Mike McCarthy said early on
• 33:15
  Speaker 6: about his wide receiver group is I don't want and X, Y, Z.
• 33:19
  Speaker 6: I don't want a wide guy, a flanker, and a
• 33:22
  Speaker 6: slot guy. I want all three guys to be able
• 33:25
  Speaker 6: to play all three positions. And to me, to me,
• 33:30
  Speaker 6: this matchup screams that more than almost any matchup I
• 33:36
  Speaker 6: can think of. I mean, you look down at New
• 33:39
  Speaker 6: England's corners, and it's a really lovely setup they've got going.
• 33:43
  Speaker 6: Very nice, right? You have Christian Gonzalez, a pro bowler,
• 33:47
  Speaker 6: Just got a huge contract, highest paid corner, I believe,
• 33:51
  Speaker 6: in the league. Number one. Yeah, number one contract. He's
• 33:53
  Speaker 6: an elite cover corner. So you could put him on
• 33:56
  Speaker 6: the other team's top guy. Then you have a Carlton Davis,
• 34:00
  Speaker 6: who's pretty darn good in his own right, more of
• 34:02
  Speaker 6: a physical guy. So if you're the Patriots, you're thinking, okay,
• 34:06
  Speaker 6: Christian Gonzalez, DK Metcalf. Now you're thinking Carlton Davis, Michael Pittman. Hey,
• 34:11
  Speaker 6: that's pretty good. And then you've got Marcus Jones in
• 34:15
  Speaker 6: the slot. He's the quicker guy. Well, who's the Steelers
• 34:18
  Speaker 6: quote-unquote slot guy if you look at it on paper?
• 34:20
  Speaker 6: Roman Wilson. So that's a really intriguing matchup to me
• 34:26
  Speaker 6: of good on good.
• 34:27
  Speaker 3: All of that, right?
• 34:28
  Speaker 6: And the Steelers made us line up and be like, okay, well,
• 34:31
  Speaker 6: we think DK's better than Gonzalez. We think Pittman's better
• 34:33
  Speaker 6: than Davis. We think Roman's better than Jones. Let's go.
• 34:37
  Speaker 6: Or if you're going to keep Jones in the slot,
• 34:40
  Speaker 6: maybe that's where Pittman lines up on occasion. Maybe that's
• 34:43
  Speaker 6: where DK lines up on occasion. So non-traditional looks, but
• 34:48
  Speaker 6: you're going to love that matchup size-wise. So I am
• 34:51
  Speaker 6: just really, really intrigued by that particular matchup in this game.
• 34:59
  Speaker 2: And I think when I look at it, I'm going
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: to be very interested to see how they deploy Kevin
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: Bayard as well.
• 35:05
  Speaker 3: Bayard. Bayard. I was confused how to say it.
• 35:08
  Speaker 4: Bayard. Bayard.
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: And that's because also you think about, well, now who's
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: going to be on that slot? Who's going to be
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: the slot guy that's going to take if, let's just say,
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: Pat Fryer decides to line up there? And I think
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: we saw it in the first game. Like DK, when
• 35:23
  Speaker 2: he caught that slant route, he was in the slot.
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: And they do motion some things to where Roman Wilson
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: will actually end up on the outside and Michael Pittman
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: will be on the slot position and vice versa. So
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: I do like the fact there is versatility. They're more
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: scheme-oriented than personnel as far as how they deploy those guys,
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: which I really like. So yeah, it's going to be
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: a fun matchup just to kind of see how do
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: we get through this game of cat and mouse. And
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: I think the Steelers, unlike a lot of other years,
• 35:56
  Speaker 2: they match up really well. They match up really well
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: with what New England can throw at you. And I
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: can't say that a year ago, even though they did win,
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: it wasn't one where it was an easy victory and
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: DK had to do a lot of stuff to get
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: into position and Ben Skoranek.
• 36:11
  Speaker 3: Was a guy you were relying on a lot.
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: So the difference a year makes and, and, you know,
• 36:16
  Speaker 2: they didn't really make as many upgrades to their, to
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: their defense schematically like we did. So offensively. So I
• 36:25
  Speaker 2: think that's where I think that could be an X
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: factor for us.
• 36:30
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 36:30
  Speaker 5: I think you, it's funny you mentioned Vince Garonic, because
• 36:33
  Speaker 5: I think that's one thing that's still has to come
• 36:35
  Speaker 5: out in this game and, prove that the special teams
• 36:38
  Speaker 5: operation is a lot cleaner and better than what they
• 36:41
  Speaker 5: displayed last week against the Falcons. Because if you know
• 36:44
  Speaker 5: one thing about Mike Vrabel's teams, they play special teams. Actually,
• 36:48
  Speaker 5: they pride themselves on playing special teams.
• 36:51
  Speaker 4: And that's one factor.
• 36:52
  Speaker 5: Ever since we lost Danny Smith, man, we don't want
• 36:55
  Speaker 5: to feel like we took a step.
• 36:57
  Speaker 4: Backwards in that department.
• 36:59
  Speaker 5: So from a special team standpoint, Our operation and how
• 37:05
  Speaker 5: we operate from a kickoff return to punt return to
• 37:07
  Speaker 5: field goal protection.
• 37:08
  Speaker 4: All of the above, has to be a lot better.
• 37:11
  Speaker 5: And that's one factor we can't afford to lose because
• 37:14
  Speaker 5: that's one thing the Patriots do focus on. They focus
• 37:17
  Speaker 5: on special teams, and that's being able to get in
• 37:20
  Speaker 5: field position, tackle, get in proper field position.
• 37:24
  Speaker 4: On the kick return.
• 37:25
  Speaker 5: So it will be imperative that that one aspect is
• 37:30
  Speaker 5: not a sore spot for the Steelers going into this
• 37:32
  Speaker 5: game because I thought that was– a sore spot for
• 37:34
  Speaker 5: the Steelers last game.
• 37:35
  Speaker 6: Oh, for sure.
• 37:36
  Speaker 4: No doubt.
• 37:37
  Speaker 6: I mean, that, that is, and you know, again, we're
• 37:39
  Speaker 6: going to, I'm sneaking ahead because I'm so excited about
• 37:42
  Speaker 6: this wide receiver defensive back matchup, but Willie, do you suspect,
• 37:46
  Speaker 6: I mean, and cause New England plays some man, but
• 37:49
  Speaker 6: they play a lot of zone too. Nobody, I don't
• 37:51
  Speaker 6: think anyone's going to come out and play a hundred
• 37:52
  Speaker 6: percent zone. Do you think the Steelers would be looking
• 37:55
  Speaker 6: for those mismatches offensively to try to get a bigger
• 37:59
  Speaker 6: receiver say on a Marcus Jones? Who's a, who's a,
• 38:02
  Speaker 6: Very nice player, but he's, what, 5'8, 5'9. Yeah, well,
• 38:07
  Speaker 6: I think.
• 38:07
  Speaker 5: Last week what we saw was Aaron Rodgers really feeling
• 38:12
  Speaker 5: his way a little bit early in that game, feeling
• 38:14
  Speaker 5: that defense out as far as what he can do
• 38:18
  Speaker 5: and what he was willing to do. You know, we
• 38:20
  Speaker 5: all understand Aaron Rodgers' night of business of sitting in
• 38:23
  Speaker 5: the pocket and taking hits, right?
• 38:25
  Speaker 4: That's not a path.
• 38:27
  Speaker 5: What you did see was him take shots out of
• 38:29
  Speaker 5: the field, but he also featured the running backs. He
• 38:32
  Speaker 5: was able to get the ball out of the flat
• 38:33
  Speaker 5: to the running backs. He was able to feed, you know,
• 38:36
  Speaker 5: feed the tight ends and fair move in Washington. But
• 38:39
  Speaker 5: I think this game, you know, one thing they want
• 38:41
  Speaker 5: to do to Aaron Rodgers, they want to get him
• 38:43
  Speaker 5: on the move because they know he doesn't want to move.
• 38:45
  Speaker 4: So I expect the Steelers to get blitzed a lot more.
• 38:48
  Speaker 5: I expect, you know, now that there's rumblings that, you know,
• 38:52
  Speaker 5: whatever's going on with Troy Fatano, I expect him to
• 38:55
  Speaker 5: put a lot more pressure on the left side. And
• 38:57
  Speaker 5: I think they're going to try to heat this line up,
• 38:59
  Speaker 5: to be honest. That's my gut feeling. I think they
• 39:01
  Speaker 5: want to put as much pressure on that offensive line
• 39:04
  Speaker 5: and force Aaron Rodgers to not only get hit but
• 39:06
  Speaker 5: put him on the move, which is going to disrupt
• 39:08
  Speaker 5: the timing and continuity with that receiving core. So if
• 39:12
  Speaker 5: I'm the Steelers, we talked about how big the run
• 39:15
  Speaker 5: game is. But at the same time, understand that they
• 39:19
  Speaker 5: want to get to Aaron Rodgers by not just blitzing him.
• 39:22
  Speaker 5: They want to get him outside of their pockets where
• 39:24
  Speaker 5: they can get free shots on him because, yeah, It's
• 39:26
  Speaker 5: he's put him in the well and fire linebackers at
• 39:29
  Speaker 5: him and bring safeties and corners. No, they want to
• 39:31
  Speaker 5: get him outside of the pocket where he's now looking
• 39:34
  Speaker 5: at half the field and they can get shots at
• 39:36
  Speaker 5: him because we all understand mentally he's just not there
• 39:39
  Speaker 5: no more. He's not in the business of just getting hit.
• 39:41
  Speaker 5: And that one shot he took on the game, his
• 39:44
  Speaker 5: body language, his face told you everything. He was like,
• 39:46
  Speaker 5: hell no. You know what I mean? Don't touch me again.
• 39:49
  Speaker 5: So if you're Mike Vrabel and the power is big,
• 39:53
  Speaker 5: you're conscious of that. Let's flush him out of the
• 39:55
  Speaker 5: pocket where he has to use the legs. Let's cut the.
• 39:59
  Speaker 4: Field in half.
• 40:00
  Speaker 5: And if we can get whatever shot we can get
• 40:01
  Speaker 5: on him, let's take our shot, even if it may
• 40:04
  Speaker 5: cost us 15. Because we know that it goes into
• 40:10
  Speaker 5: Aaron Rodgers' memory bank. Like, man, I got to get
• 40:12
  Speaker 5: this ball out a lot faster because I don't want
• 40:15
  Speaker 5: to use my legs. I don't want to have to
• 40:17
  Speaker 5: kind of be in open land where– guys can take
• 40:19
  Speaker 5: shots at me. So it's going to be interesting how
• 40:22
  Speaker 5: they combat all that. But don't be surprised.
• 40:25
  Speaker 4: Once again, if the Patriots' defense.
• 40:29
  Speaker 5: Tries to light that offensive lineup, and not just from
• 40:31
  Speaker 5: a pass-through standpoint, they're going to blitz, and they're going
• 40:34
  Speaker 5: to force the ball.
• 40:35
  Speaker 4: Out of Aaron Rodgers' hand a lot faster.
• 40:36
  Speaker 5: Because sooner or later, they watch the drops out of
• 40:39
  Speaker 5: DK and everybody else in that receiving corps.
• 40:42
  Speaker 4: So it's definitely going to be a game of cat
• 40:45
  Speaker 4: and mouse.
• 40:46
  Speaker 6: I think, too, when you have that good of a
• 40:47
  Speaker 6: secondary and those three good cover corners, you're more emboldened
• 40:52
  Speaker 6: to bring the blitz. Max, we're not going to have
• 40:54
  Speaker 6: you tomorrow, so give us a couple of keys to
• 41:00
  Speaker 6: a Steelers victory on your way out.
• 41:03
  Speaker 3: All right, a couple of keys. Here we go.
• 41:07
  Speaker 2: First thing, if I'm turning on the defensive side of
• 41:09
  Speaker 2: the ball, it's going to be stop the run.
• 41:12
  Speaker 3: I mean, that's something, until you.
• 41:14
  Speaker 2: Do it, It's going to constantly be a key, and
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: we haven't seen that done yet.
• 41:19
  Speaker 3: The second thing is going to be clean tackling.
• 41:23
  Speaker 2: Got to have clean tackling on the defensive side, and
• 41:26
  Speaker 2: that starts with communication. Special teams, anything better than last
• 41:33
  Speaker 2: week is a win. Tackle, coverage, return game. I know
• 41:39
  Speaker 2: they keyed Eli Heidenreich after the first Caden Weege in return.
• 41:43
  Speaker 2: They're like, oh, no, we ain't letting this dude get
• 41:45
  Speaker 2: away from us. So now we're going to utilize, you know,
• 41:48
  Speaker 2: kicking Eli Heidenreich. So I want to see Heidenreich kind
• 41:51
  Speaker 2: of show a little wiggle there. This was the reason
• 41:53
  Speaker 2: why you brought him in. He was a kid that
• 41:55
  Speaker 2: could catch out of the backfield. He's a kid who
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: can play on special teams. He's a core four guy. Returner,
• 42:01
  Speaker 2: let me see some return wiggle on him. Offensively, it's
• 42:05
  Speaker 2: catching the football and protecting the quarterback, like Willie said.
• 42:08
  Speaker 2: protecting Aaron Rodgers is going to be monumental because Mike
• 42:11
  Speaker 2: Vrabel and company is going to dial up that blitz,
• 42:14
  Speaker 2: and Zach Year is going to listen to whatever Mike
• 42:16
  Speaker 2: Vrabel says, and he's going to do that. So how
• 42:19
  Speaker 2: do you attack Elijah Ponder, Draymond Jones off the edge?
• 42:23
  Speaker 2: We'll see if Harold Landry is healthy again. You've got
• 42:27
  Speaker 2: to be able to handle those guys at the front,
• 42:29
  Speaker 2: and I need to see a 100-yard rusher this week.
• 42:32
  Speaker 2: I feel like this is the week, if I want
• 42:34
  Speaker 2: to make a statement, Rico Dowd or Jalen Warren, one
• 42:36
  Speaker 2: of you has got to hit 100. We've got to
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: hit the century mark.
• 42:40
  Speaker 6: No one's going to be disappointed with that. Max, Willie
• 42:43
  Speaker 6: will get your keys tomorrow. Max, safe travels, my friend.
• 42:45
  Speaker 6: We look forward to seeing you in Foxborough. I know.
• 42:49
  Speaker 3: I can't wait. Chowder time.
• 42:51
  Speaker 4: Chowder.
• 42:53
  Speaker 6: He's Max Starks and Willie Colon for our producer back
• 42:57
  Speaker 6: in the studio, Justin Miller. I'm Rob King. We thank you,
• 42:59
  Speaker 6: as always, for listening to us in the locker room
• 43:02
  Speaker 6: here on the Steelers Audio Network.