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HR2: Wednesday Headlines · 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.
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: That's right, chugging along on a Wednesday here, moving down
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: the football highway as we prepare for a match down
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: south in the Bay of Tampa, Tampa Bay. Or as
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: I know it, it is I-4 West as I'm from Orlando.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: You just take I-4 West and you bump your head
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: right into Tampa.
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: So that was one. Orlando.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: So it goes I-4, goes horizontal across the state, Daytona Beach,
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: all the way to Tampa.
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: Right there, I-4, right there.
• 1:12
  Speaker 4: How far is it from Tampa to Orlando? Hour and
• 1:14
  Speaker 4: a half?
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: About two hours.
• 1:16
  Speaker 4: Two hours?
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: Yeah, almost two hours, yeah. Go through Haines City, go
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: through Lakeland, a.k.a.
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: Marquise Pouncey and Mike Pouncey Country, Dreadnought Country as we
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: know it because that's the Lakeland High School mascot. Um,
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: and then boom, you hit Tampa Bay. And then of
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: course you got like Sarasota and all those St. Petersburg,
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: all that up and down the coast.
• 1:35
  Speaker 4: Um, but yeah, the football game, you have a college
• 1:37
  Speaker 4: game on Saturday.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: No.
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: Cause I have the, uh, the illustrious, uh, what is it? Steelers, um,
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: beach party. Oh, that's right.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right.
• 1:47
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 1:48
  Speaker 6: Exactly.
• 1:49
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: The commercial.
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: So yeah, me and Willie Parker will be there Saturday. Um,
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: don't ask me where exactly it is. Is that a resort?
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: Um, On the beach.
• 1:58
  Speaker 4: That's a pretty good way to go. Okay, so recapping
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: our power rankings, which you look at on Wednesdays with
• 2:06
  Speaker 4: a little bit of a digression on who should have
• 2:08
  Speaker 4: blocked two on that sack. The lone sack the Steelers
• 2:12
  Speaker 4: gave up. Okay, San Francisco 49ers 1, Chiefs 2, Bills 3,
• 2:17
  Speaker 4: Vikings 4, the Jaguars 5, Seattle Seahawks 6, the Ravens Seven.
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: The Patriots, eight. The Broncos, nine. The Crimson Tide, ten.
• 2:33
  Speaker 4: Chicago Bears at 11. Detroit Lions at 12. They got
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: molly whopped by Green Bay. Cincinnati Bengals at 13. Three, three,
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: and two teams. Bears, Lions, Bengals.
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: Bears need to be at the bottom of that list.
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: They got destroyed by Green Bay.
• 2:53
  Speaker 5: Yeah, they got picked apart.
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: It was embarrassing. Yeah.
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: So I agree with you. I will say this. As
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: a person who was, as I've said many times in
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: this era, thought the Bears might be a regression candidate team,
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: you know, you can only hang on there so long
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: without your quarterback. And Caleb Williams is coming back soon. But, yeah,
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: that's okay. So they're 11. Lions are 12. I think
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: the Lions were my overrated team. last week they got
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: beat by the they beat the Cardinals 45 to 21
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: they got a bye coming up their wins are over
• 3:29
  Speaker 4: the Saints Jets and Cardinals I still got it I'm
• 3:32
  Speaker 4: calling the Missouri Cardinal Lions you got to show me
• 3:35
  Speaker 4: yeah 13 the Bengals I don't have any real problem
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: with that again You know, this is based on what
• 3:51
  Speaker 4: people think.
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: Who have they lost to again?
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: I know. The Steelers? I know. The Bengals? Well, I know.
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: Especially when the discrepancy is factored in. That's what gets me.
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: We'll get to the discrepancy. We're nearing a discrepancy. Their
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: wins are over the Buccaneers. Okay, Steelers are going to
• 4:08
  Speaker 4: play them this week, so we'll find out. The Texans,
• 4:11
  Speaker 4: who are mysterious.
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: Just got their first win against the winless Titans.
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: Yep.
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: And the Dolphins.
• 4:19
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 4:20
  Speaker 4: But you know what? This is a matter of perception.
• 4:22
  Speaker 4: Dolph is still searching for a win. So, this is like, again,
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: this is like college football, Willie.
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: Right?
• 4:30
  Speaker 4: They were ranked already. You know? Since they were ranked. Like,
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: they should not do power rankings until like four or
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: five weeks in. Since they were ranked, they can't fall
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: down that. You know what I mean? It's like when
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: you started out, this is the Alabama thing. When you
• 4:44
  Speaker 4: started out number one, then you lost and you're number four.
• 4:47
  Speaker 4: Then you lost again and you're number eight. He lost
• 4:49
  Speaker 4: again to your number 11. Well, if you'd started out
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: one and three, you wouldn't be ranked, right?
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: Correct.
• 4:54
  Speaker 4: Correct.
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: Exactly.
• 4:57
  Speaker 4: They're 13. 14, another three and two team, the Green
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: Bay Packers. Remind me, Justin Miller, was that my upset
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: team of the week? Remind me. Did I pick them
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: for the upset? Oh, that's right. No, that's right. Justin
• 5:12
  Speaker 4: talked me out of it. I forgot. That's right. That's right.
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: Justin talked me out of that. I had to remind
• 5:19
  Speaker 4: myself that I talked you out of it. Uh-huh. They're
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: number 14.
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: Even though there was like five other choices that he
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: did not talk you out of, you're going on the
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: one that he talked you out of of the five choices.
• 5:31
  Speaker 5: Okay.
• 5:31
  Speaker 4: I got to tell you this. Like for a couple
• 5:34
  Speaker 4: of years.
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: Don't mess with my man Jay like that.
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: For a couple of years, my mother would call me
• 5:37
  Speaker 4: on like a Saturday and I wouldn't pick up the
• 5:39
  Speaker 4: phone because here's what was going on. She got into
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: one of these pools right where you pick the teams.
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: So one year. One year she actually won the pool,
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: but I will tell you this. In week 17, she
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: was still asking me, now what does this mean when
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: somebody is plus four and a half or minus three
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: and she won the league? I'm not exaggerating. She won
• 6:01
  Speaker 4: the league. But if she calls you for three picks
• 6:04
  Speaker 4: on Saturday, right, and you get two of them right,
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: you get the callback on Monday morning, and you know
• 6:12
  Speaker 4: what you get? I knew I should have gone with
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: the Packers. My gut told me to go with the Packers.
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: What about the two I got right, Mom? Never remembers that. Never.
• 6:22
  Speaker 5: Right?
• 6:22
  Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying? Nobody ever remembers that stuff.
• 6:25
  Speaker 4: Except me, Justin. I'm going to remember that Green Bay
• 6:27
  Speaker 4: Packers thing all season long. Okay. Green Bay's 14. Carolina
• 6:31
  Speaker 4: is 15.
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: You knew how that felt with your mom, and you
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: still are exacting your mom's vengeance.
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: Okay. Got it.
• 6:39
  Speaker 4: Go ahead.
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: Go ahead.
• 6:40
  Speaker 4: 14. Okay. 15 is Carolina at 2-2.
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: What?
• 6:46
  Speaker 4: I'm right there. There's my overrated team right there.
• 6:49
  Speaker 6: Oh.
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: You don't like the Panthers?
• 6:52
  Speaker 4: At 15?
• 6:53
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: No.
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: I don't. No. I don't.
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: I don't mind them being right after us, but I
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: can't go before us.
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: I can't.
• 7:06
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: I can't.
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: I think I would have them behind the next four
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: and maybe the next five.
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: The Lions should have been out of it. The Bears
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: should have been out of it. Who did we just say?
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: Green Bay. All those teams that we've listed in front
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: of us right now.
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: I could see the Panthers being there, but I would
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: need other teams in front of them that are currently being.
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: Held by teams that should not be up there. But
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: I digress. The Bengals. Anyways, go ahead.
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: Justin Miller, it's time for your Buddy Rich impersonation. Number 16,
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: the Pittsburgh Steelers. By the way, this is far and away.
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: I looked at three polls. I'm going to get to
• 7:52
  Speaker 4: the other polls here. Far and away the highest ranking
• 7:55
  Speaker 4: for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Far and away.
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: Yes, sir.
• 7:59
  Speaker 4: And number 16.
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: What were the– well, you said you were going to
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: get to it.
• 8:04
  Speaker 4: I'll get to it.
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: Jump the gun there.
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: Yeah. I'll get to it. All right, they've beaten the Falcons,
• 8:11
  Speaker 4: the Bengals, the Colts. Wait, let me scroll back up here.
• 8:18
  Speaker 4: The Bengals are 13. Where did we say the Steelers were, Max? 16. Yeah.
• 8:25
  Speaker 4: Let me see again. Who have you beaten? Falcons, Bengals, Colts.
• 8:30
  Speaker 6: Hmm.
• 8:31
  Speaker 4: Behind the Bengals. Okay.
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: Still behind the Bengals.
• 8:34
  Speaker 5: Yep, exactly.
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: Still behind the Bengals. 17, the Raiders dropped from 13
• 8:38
  Speaker 4: to 17, the Eagles at 18, the Giants at 19.
• 8:44
  Speaker 4: I think I would have Carolina behind all three of
• 8:47
  Speaker 4: those teams. That's just me. That's why I got them
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: as overrated. So any complaints with any of those?
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: No, I'm actually fine.
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know.
• 9:03
  Speaker 5: This thing drives me crazy because I'm always trying to
• 9:06
  Speaker 5: get emotional about it, but some of the teams that
• 9:09
  Speaker 5: we just selected that were higher don't belong there, and
• 9:11
  Speaker 5: the teams that are lower I feel like need a bump,
• 9:13
  Speaker 5: so I'm always caught in the middle.
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: I agree. I agree.
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: I would say I would be okay with that order
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: of the last four that you read if you took
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: the lines and put them behind them. You could probably
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: slot the Bengals probably maybe in front of the Giants.
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: And– um.
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: Chicago should definitely be back there you don't currently have
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: your quarterback you can't go off of when he comes
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: back right like he's not there you got an embarrassing
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: loss boom i i don't know how you're in the
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: top 20 um.
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: As bad as you got beat by a green bay
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: team that where's green bay ranked.
• 9:53
  Speaker 4: Uh they are i'm scrolling back up again this is
• 9:59
  Speaker 4: a problem with doing it on my phone. I must
• 10:01
  Speaker 4: have passed them. Hang on a second. Let me go
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: back again. Green Bay Packers are 14.
• 10:06
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: And where were the Bears ranked?
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: The Bears are ranked 11.
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Problem right there.
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: And that's actually 14 based after they beat them. So
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: if we had to go back to last week's poll,
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: I want to say that the Packers were even worse
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: and the Bears were even higher. So, yeah, this is
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: a post result that is 11 to 14. But yet
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: the Packers beat them and there are three spaces behind them.
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: So any who.
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's the frustrating part about looking at these power
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: rankings because you're still basing it on potential like like.
• 10:47
  Speaker 4: Yes, that's right.
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: The Alabama Rams, a.k.a.
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: The Los Angeles Crimson Tide, still get ranked up there
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: because I guess they're assuming that Miles Garrett is going
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: to be back and he still gets a residual vote
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: of confidence.
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: But you're a 2-3 team. They're below.
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: 500.
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: And where are they ranked, Rob?
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: At number 10 as a below. 500 team. The only below.
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: 500 team in the top, what, top 19?
• 11:14
  Speaker 4: I think you have to get to the Eagles at
• 11:17
  Speaker 4: 2-3 at number 18.
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: Okay, 18. Out of 18, they land that high.
• 11:23
  Speaker 4: So I'm going straight up spoiler rank. By the way,
• 11:26
  Speaker 4: the Cowboys at 20, the Texans at 21, and the
• 11:29
  Speaker 4: Jets at 22. The Browns at 23, at 3-2. Falcons
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: at 24. The Colts are 25. They dropped six spots
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: after losing to the Steelers, which tells you what they–
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: what people think about the Steelers. You lost to the Steelers? Oh,
• 11:49
  Speaker 4: my goodness. And, by the way, the 16th ranked. The
• 11:52
  Speaker 4: Steelers moved from 20 to 16. Now, let me jump
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: to two other power rankings for you. ESPN has the
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: Steelers ranked 20th.
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: 20th?
• 12:04
  Speaker 5: 20th?
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's disrespectful. You know, they started us off kind
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: of in the barrel anyway.
• 12:12
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 12:14
  Speaker 6: Yep.
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: So I'm not surprised they kind of put us down there.
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: They haven't.
• 12:21
  Speaker 5: Been fans of what the Steelers are capable of or
• 12:23
  Speaker 5: what they've been able to do thus far.
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: So I'm not surprised they kind of put us down there.
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: It's all right. Extra motivation. Exactly.
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: I'm astonished. And so I didn't look at the NFL rankings,
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: NFL.com rankings last week. NFL.com had the Steelers last week.
• 12:43
  Speaker 4: Two and two Steelers, they had them ranked 25th. 25th
• 12:49
  Speaker 4: in the NFL. After this week, they have them ranked
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: at 22nd. The worst three and two team in the league.
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: The Pittsburgh Steelers. 22nd, guys.
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: Now, that's just haterism right there. You know why?
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: Because NFL.
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: has been pissed that they have gotten us wrong for
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: the last, like, nine years.
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: So they can't wait to bag on our squad.
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: Because I remember we used to always have a crappy
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: ranking with them, and then we'd be in the playoffs,
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: and the teams that they picked to be in the
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: playoffs aren't there. And then all of a sudden they'd
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: have a hissy fit.
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: So it's par for the course.
• 13:32
  Speaker 4: So NFL.com has them. I believe they're the lowest ranked
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: three and two team. Yeah, they're the lowest-ranked 3-2 team.
• 13:42
  Speaker 4: According to ESPN's ranking, I think the Steelers are ahead
• 13:46
  Speaker 4: of two teams that are 3-2. I believe they're ahead
• 13:49
  Speaker 4: of the Browns, I believe. Let me make sure I
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: have this correct. They're ahead of the Browns at 3-2.
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: That's the only 3-2 team they're ahead of. So the
• 13:58
  Speaker 4: team that's got them ranked the best, the highest, is
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: the Athletic at 16. They have them ahead of the
• 14:03
  Speaker 4: 3-1-1 Giants. They have them ahead of the 3-2 Raiders.
• 14:07
  Speaker 4: They have them ahead of the 3-2 Browns. Just again,
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: so everybody knows how the Steelers are perceived around the NFL.
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: Stick around. Jim Wexel is going to be joining us
• 14:19
  Speaker 4: next as we dive back into the Steelers specific when
• 14:21
  Speaker 4: we continue in the locker room here on the Steelers
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: Audio Network.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio. Brought to you
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 14:52
  Speaker 4: Uh-oh, guess what day it is. Guess what day it is. Huh? Anybody? Julie, hey,
• 15:00
  Speaker 4: guess what day it is.
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: Oh, come on.
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: I know you can hear me. Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike.
• 15:04
  Speaker 4: What day is it, Mike? Leslie, guess what today is.
• 15:08
  Speaker 5: It's hump day.
• 15:14
  Speaker 4: Oh, it is Mike the Camel invoking friends of our
• 15:17
  Speaker 4: good buddy, evoking memories of our good buddy, Craig Wolfley.
• 15:23
  Speaker 4: But you know what day it is, Max Starks. You
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: know the introduction that needs to be made for our man.
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: It is Wex Wednesday.
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: And that is, of course, when our good friend Jim Wexel,
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: Steel City Insider, Editor-in-Chief, also famed author of the Three
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: River Country. And I'm staring at. Three different Jim Wexel
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: books on my bookshelf right now. And of course, the
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: most recent, If These Walls Could Talk. Of course, we
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: know this is a Craig Wolfley story. We know the
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: also self-informed mentioned Palamalu biography. Of course, On the Clock
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: and numerous other tales of Steeler lore as so expertly
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: pinned by the one, the only Jim Wexel.
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: How are we doing today, Jim?
• 16:16
  Speaker 6: Really good, really good. Max, you've got to get the
• 16:19
  Speaker 6: Steelers historical timeline, the coffee table book, with pictures. I'm
• 16:25
  Speaker 6: not sure if your picture's in it, but you are mentioned.
• 16:28
  Speaker 6: You're a Super Bowl tackle.
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's one that's missing from the collection. I've got
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: to order that one. So I'm one shy on my
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: Wex collection.
• 16:40
  Speaker 6: Well, you used to see that book behind Cam Hayward
• 16:43
  Speaker 6: when he did his podcast. It was on his shelf.
• 16:45
  Speaker 6: And so ever since I noted that on Twitter, he
• 16:49
  Speaker 6: has taken it down.
• 16:51
  Speaker 4: Oh, no.
• 16:57
  Speaker 5: Oh.
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: I guess no free meals. He had no free meals.
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: We were going over the power rankings as we do
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: every week, not only to look at the Steelers, but
• 17:10
  Speaker 4: look at the rest of the league and kind of
• 17:12
  Speaker 4: our our perceptions of what's going on around the rest
• 17:15
  Speaker 4: of the NFL. Steelers ranked 16th by The Athletic, 20th
• 17:21
  Speaker 4: by ESPN, 22nd by NFL.com, which had them ranked 25th
• 17:26
  Speaker 4: before this win over the Colts. I know there's still
• 17:29
  Speaker 4: a lot to prove and a lot of games to play,
• 17:32
  Speaker 4: but it's baffled me over the last several years that
• 17:37
  Speaker 4: the perception of the Steelers has constantly been less than
• 17:42
  Speaker 4: what they've been able to achieve on the field. Does
• 17:44
  Speaker 4: this narrative of this team being ranked that low, or
• 17:49
  Speaker 4: maybe you think they're proper rankings? What do you think
• 17:52
  Speaker 4: of rankings like that when you see them?
• 17:55
  Speaker 6: Well, I'll tell you what, Rob. With the explosion on
• 17:58
  Speaker 6: Twitter of anonymous hate, I pretty much don't listen to
• 18:03
  Speaker 6: narratives anymore. I'm really looking at this team, I mean,
• 18:11
  Speaker 6: I feel like a coach, you know, when they said,
• 18:14
  Speaker 6: we don't care so much about what the other teams
• 18:15
  Speaker 6: are doing. You've got to worry about what we're doing.
• 18:18
  Speaker 6: I always liked that. And you, you do have to
• 18:21
  Speaker 6: look around when you have a matchup coming up, but I, I,
• 18:26
  Speaker 6: then the one narrative that I, I thought might've been
• 18:31
  Speaker 6: debunked last week is that this is an old team
• 18:34
  Speaker 6: in need of a tear down a complete tear down.
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 18:38
  Speaker 6: While they've been building both lines, foundationally, that's where they're starting. Yes,
• 18:43
  Speaker 6: they missed some playmakers, but then they got a second rounder,
• 18:46
  Speaker 6: Jeremy Bernard, who's now going to play a key role.
• 18:49
  Speaker 6: So even the playmakers have to start coming on, but
• 18:52
  Speaker 6: the lines. Now, I think against the Bengals, we saw
• 18:56
  Speaker 6: how a haunted Jordan Hoffman fit right in. I really
• 19:01
  Speaker 6: like Dunker, so he's behind that in the developmental thing.
• 19:06
  Speaker 6: regarding the right guard position, and maybe Hoffman holds him off, whatever.
• 19:10
  Speaker 6: But I was pretty confident then that the offensive line
• 19:13
  Speaker 6: was done. Last week, I thought the defensive line really,
• 19:18
  Speaker 6: really stood out without Derek Harmon. And down in goal
• 19:23
  Speaker 6: to go, they were without Cam. So these young guys,
• 19:28
  Speaker 6: Black and Benton, we know about, but Black finally was
• 19:31
  Speaker 6: started at nose tackle. He pushed Benton totally over to
• 19:35
  Speaker 6: a more comfortable position, I believe, for him, a better
• 19:40
  Speaker 6: position for him. And Rubio stepped in, did a great job.
• 19:44
  Speaker 6: And Sebastian Joseph Day, those were the goal line. Those
• 19:47
  Speaker 6: were the goal-to-go guys. the Colts had 10 goal to
• 19:52
  Speaker 6: go plays and gained one yard you know there were
• 19:58
  Speaker 6: four incompletions and Taylor took a two yard loss but
• 20:03
  Speaker 6: man they did score one touchdown that was a fourth
• 20:06
  Speaker 6: and one it was a misdirection handoff to the tight
• 20:09
  Speaker 6: end playing fullback. So a bit of trickery was needed.
• 20:13
  Speaker 6: And he barely got in.
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: And by the.
• 20:15
  Speaker 4: Way, Jim, old school football, like where you weren't allowed
• 20:19
  Speaker 4: to push the guy, I don't think Warren scores there.
• 20:22
  Speaker 4: I think that's a goal line stand. I don't think
• 20:23
  Speaker 4: he got in until the second search.
• 20:27
  Speaker 6: That's a great point. But even in today's game, those guys,
• 20:31
  Speaker 6: without Cam, without Harmon– Really, look at the rushing stats.
• 20:37
  Speaker 6: Look at Jonathan Taylor's total. All of that really made
• 20:42
  Speaker 6: me feel good about the foundational part on the other
• 20:47
  Speaker 6: side of the ball. So now both lines, I think,
• 20:53
  Speaker 6: have been built. I'm not saying they won't draft anymore,
• 20:56
  Speaker 6: but I can really focus on the playmakers on both
• 20:59
  Speaker 6: sides of the ball. And I just don't think it's
• 21:03
  Speaker 6: an old team in need of a teardown. I know
• 21:07
  Speaker 6: Rodgers is the face of the team and TJ and Cam.
• 21:11
  Speaker 6: Everybody thinks, well, because they're old, the team's old. But
• 21:14
  Speaker 6: they're proving that's not the case. And I'm really excited
• 21:17
  Speaker 6: about both lines now.
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: Couldn't agree with you more. I couldn't agree with you more.
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: And I think you're right, Jim, that a lot of people–
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: kind of look at it and, you know, like you said, you,
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: you make these face assumptions. And I think, you know,
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: as we look at these kinds of power rankings, they
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: don't look at actually what the team's been, been doing.
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: I mean, you know, they've been putting up 24 points
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: or better the last three games. And where was that departure?
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: You know what, what we were arguing about that for what,
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: five years, Jim, these airwaves about how they can't score.
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: And then we get a team that does score. And
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: then all of a sudden, no, it's still not good
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: enough yet. Um, You know, Jalen Warren, of course, recently
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: awarded the offensive player of the week.
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: You just talk about just, you know, where we're at
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: with him.
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: And are we really ready to say he is the
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: lead back for this team? He is a number one
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: back in this league. Or people still have questions about
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: what Jalen Warren can or can't.
• 22:20
  Speaker 3: Do because he did it. He literally did it. like
• 22:23
  Speaker 3: a delivery man.
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: He did it on the ground, and he also did
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: it in the air. He just can't do C because
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: we don't play on water. We play near water, but.
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: Not on it.
• 22:32
  Speaker 6: You know, Jalen, when he first came here, he signed
• 22:34
  Speaker 6: out of Oklahoma State, and he'd only been there a year.
• 22:37
  Speaker 6: And I looked up before I talked to him in
• 22:40
  Speaker 6: the spring or summer when he signed as an undrafted guy.
• 22:45
  Speaker 6: There was some buzz about this guy from Oklahoma State,
• 22:47
  Speaker 6: looked pretty good in the Big 12. And so I
• 22:50
  Speaker 6: did some research. He had 3,000 yards rushing in his
• 22:53
  Speaker 6: senior year of high school. And I asked him, why
• 22:56
  Speaker 6: didn't that get you a scholarship? And he said, all
• 23:01
  Speaker 6: five of my linemen got major college scholarships, and everybody
• 23:06
  Speaker 6: thought it was them and not the little guy in
• 23:09
  Speaker 6: the backfield. And so he finally goes to junior college,
• 23:15
  Speaker 6: and then he goes to Utah State, and then he
• 23:16
  Speaker 6: goes to Oklahoma State. And he's undrafted. So he's really
• 23:20
  Speaker 6: used to not having anybody believe in him for the
• 23:24
  Speaker 6: most part. And then he was stuck behind Najee, even
• 23:27
  Speaker 6: though he would, he would, he would show this explosion
• 23:30
  Speaker 6: every now and then. I remember you look back, he
• 23:33
  Speaker 6: has long runs, really long runs leading up to this. And,
• 23:38
  Speaker 6: but anyway, I asked him, I said, you went to
• 23:41
  Speaker 6: high school in Utah, but you were born in Clinton,
• 23:43
  Speaker 6: North Carolina. I said, there's a, there's a famous running
• 23:45
  Speaker 6: back from this organization. He goes, yeah, Willie's my cousin.
• 23:49
  Speaker 6: Willie Parker's his cousin. And then when Jalen made the team,
• 23:53
  Speaker 6: I walked over to his locker, his new locker with
• 23:56
  Speaker 6: his name plate. And I said, you know, this was
• 23:59
  Speaker 6: Willie's locker. Did you know that? He goes, no. I go,
• 24:02
  Speaker 6: did any Rogers, Bri Vogel, the equipment manager was gone.
• 24:06
  Speaker 6: So nobody knew that that was Willie's locker. And then,
• 24:11
  Speaker 6: A couple years later, last year when Jalen got his
• 24:14
  Speaker 6: contract extension, I said, you're the first running back here
• 24:18
  Speaker 6: to get a second contract since guess who? He goes, Willie?
• 24:22
  Speaker 6: I mean, it's just following in order with this guy.
• 24:25
  Speaker 6: And so when McCarthy the other day almost said, he
• 24:30
  Speaker 6: said in other words, but he almost said, we're going
• 24:32
  Speaker 6: to run him until the wheels come off. I remember
• 24:34
  Speaker 6: Tomlin saying that in 2007, and the wheels did come
• 24:39
  Speaker 6: off of Willie Parker. So that's why I hesitate with Jalen.
• 24:42
  Speaker 6: I know it's a long story, but this is where
• 24:45
  Speaker 6: the comparison I hope would end because as much as
• 24:48
  Speaker 6: I want to see him get the ball, at least
• 24:50
  Speaker 6: he's now lead dog and everybody knows it, but he's
• 24:53
  Speaker 6: still going to need that rest. Don't run him until
• 24:56
  Speaker 6: the wheels come off in week five. I mean, stick
• 24:59
  Speaker 6: with your hot guy, but get Rico in there when
• 25:03
  Speaker 6: you can and try to give him some rest so
• 25:07
  Speaker 6: Jalen is strong down the stretch. where his cousin wasn't.
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: Wow, I didn't know that.
• 25:14
  Speaker 4: That's fascinating. Great stuff.
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's good. Great job, Jim.
• 25:19
  Speaker 5: Can you talk about the production of our tight ends
• 25:23
  Speaker 5: this past Sunday, and should the Steelers now focus on
• 25:27
  Speaker 5: leaning more into the heavier personnel since that was so
• 25:30
  Speaker 5: productive against the Colts?
• 25:33
  Speaker 6: That's a great point, especially for the game coming up. Now, Tampa...
• 25:37
  Speaker 6: really rugged. They got Vita Faye in the middle. They
• 25:40
  Speaker 6: won their first game 10 days ago. They saved their season.
• 25:44
  Speaker 6: Now they're coming home. This rookie quarterback's not playing that bad.
• 25:47
  Speaker 6: They had like 260 rushing yards. This is going to be,
• 25:51
  Speaker 6: this is going to be a problem. This is going
• 25:53
  Speaker 6: to be a tougher game than people think. You know,
• 25:56
  Speaker 6: 10 days rest, Seals coming off a win, probably a little,
• 25:59
  Speaker 6: feel a little fat about themselves, but can they run
• 26:04
  Speaker 6: on Tampa Bay? And should they use 12 personnel, two
• 26:08
  Speaker 6: tight ends? And Tampa Bay, one of their weaknesses is
• 26:12
  Speaker 6: covering tight ends. So that could be the matchup for
• 26:17
  Speaker 6: the Steelers. You know, concentrate on a lot of 12.
• 26:20
  Speaker 6: You have a lot of receivers injured right now, a
• 26:23
  Speaker 6: couple receivers, even though I want to see more Germany
• 26:25
  Speaker 6: for sure. But they've got, what, three wide receivers injured.
• 26:29
  Speaker 6: So it would behoove them, I think. I think using
• 26:32
  Speaker 6: two tight ends, a lot of 12 personnel, I liked
• 26:35
  Speaker 6: what Friar Muth was saying. He said, you know, while
• 26:38
  Speaker 6: Washington came here as a blocker and he's learning how
• 26:42
  Speaker 6: to be a receiver, I came here as a receiver
• 26:45
  Speaker 6: and I'm learning how to be a blocker. And he
• 26:48
  Speaker 6: explained that, and you guys know this, it's basic football,
• 26:51
  Speaker 6: but there's no key now. When Friar Muth and Washington
• 26:55
  Speaker 6: are in the game, you don't know if they're going
• 26:57
  Speaker 6: to run or pass. Before, when Washington would come in,
• 27:01
  Speaker 6: it would be a tip that, yeah, they're going to
• 27:04
  Speaker 6: run the ball. So now they have two tight ends
• 27:08
  Speaker 6: that are pretty balanced in their games. Fire Moose is
• 27:10
  Speaker 6: doing a lot better job blocking. And, of course, Darnell
• 27:14
  Speaker 6: is becoming an offensive force. So I agree with you, Willie.
• 27:18
  Speaker 6: I think that's the way to go. I think attack
• 27:20
  Speaker 6: them also through the air with those two tight ends.
• 27:24
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and that is– I'm glad you pointed it out
• 27:26
  Speaker 4: because that is a weakness of Tampa Bay. And then
• 27:29
  Speaker 4: also when you think about the personnel– Jim, you know,
• 27:33
  Speaker 4: your Brandon Smith right now is your third receiver. He
• 27:36
  Speaker 4: was signed off the practice squad. Probably, barring any other moves,
• 27:40
  Speaker 4: going to go reach into the practice squad for a
• 27:42
  Speaker 4: couple of more guys. So those tight end guys are
• 27:45
  Speaker 4: guys you know are good quality players and have been around.
• 27:48
  Speaker 4: And I'm really glad you hit on this narrative that
• 27:52
  Speaker 4: has kind of driven me crazy. Now, look, I will
• 27:55
  Speaker 4: say this. You know, the narrative of the team is
• 27:58
  Speaker 4: old because you pointed out, look, Jalen Ramsey, T.J. Watt,
• 28:02
  Speaker 4: cam hayward um aaron rogers they're they're over 30 i
• 28:07
  Speaker 4: understand that um they're also your best players so you
• 28:10
  Speaker 4: know on the other on the other hand you do
• 28:12
  Speaker 4: need some of these younger guys to merge as like
• 28:15
  Speaker 4: like i've said the only caveat i have with this
• 28:19
  Speaker 4: uh my kind of decrying this this notion that the
• 28:22
  Speaker 4: steelers are getting old is that now the players do
• 28:25
  Speaker 4: have to pan out they're showing sign to that but
• 28:27
  Speaker 4: at some point you know say at the end of
• 28:30
  Speaker 4: this season or beginning of next season when pff or
• 28:33
  Speaker 4: whoever ranks the top 10 offensive lines steelers need to
• 28:36
  Speaker 4: be in that or in that conversation steelers defensive line
• 28:39
  Speaker 4: needs to be in that or in that conversation but
• 28:42
  Speaker 4: as we sit here today jim those things and i
• 28:44
  Speaker 4: just wanted to drive home that point because i thought
• 28:46
  Speaker 4: it was a good one by you those things seem
• 28:48
  Speaker 4: to be trending in the direction that.
• 28:50
  Speaker 6: You want well also look at those four guys i
• 28:54
  Speaker 6: i don't know as much about ramsey He was offended
• 28:58
  Speaker 6: by the insinuation that he mentored Joey into faking a
• 29:02
  Speaker 6: back injury and getting out of here. And he shouted
• 29:07
  Speaker 6: out against that on Twitter.
• 29:08
  Speaker 3: Great.
• 29:09
  Speaker 6: Okay, that was a nice first step for him. But
• 29:11
  Speaker 6: I know the other three, for sure, are mentors to
• 29:15
  Speaker 6: all these young guys. You see Rodgers talking to young cornerbacks.
• 29:21
  Speaker 7: Absolutely.
• 29:21
  Speaker 6: Rodgers gets this. And he wants to win this in
• 29:27
  Speaker 6: his last year. He's patching his team together. He's talking
• 29:30
  Speaker 6: to kids. He's teaching Aller. He's teaching Howard. And Cam
• 29:35
  Speaker 6: has been doing that on the defensive line for years.
• 29:38
  Speaker 6: And TJ, of course, with Herbig. Herbig came from his school.
• 29:43
  Speaker 6: Talk about a mentorship there. But he's doing the same
• 29:46
  Speaker 6: with Sawyer. And, of course, Alex Heisman probably doesn't need
• 29:49
  Speaker 6: as much mentoring now. He's doing it. But these guys
• 29:52
  Speaker 6: are more than valuable as old star players. They're just
• 29:58
  Speaker 6: so much wisdom. That's just how you perpetuate winning. You
• 30:02
  Speaker 6: don't break it down and rebuild. Then you learn how
• 30:06
  Speaker 6: to lose. And then most times you don't come out
• 30:09
  Speaker 6: of that. For years you're down there. So this tear
• 30:12
  Speaker 6: it down idea is really lost on me. I really
• 30:17
  Speaker 6: think they have a good thing going. Omar's doing a
• 30:19
  Speaker 6: better job than he's getting credit for. He's putting together
• 30:22
  Speaker 6: two lines. Jeremy Bernard is now going to be a
• 30:25
  Speaker 6: guy to come on. And even Everett. third round quarterback
• 30:29
  Speaker 6: looks like a good player too. So yeah, you have
• 30:33
  Speaker 6: to be happy, but then again, next week awaits.
• 30:37
  Speaker 4: Right. That's right.
• 30:42
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: Um, as I kind of look at, you know, where
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: we're at a lot of young guys and we, you know,
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: we intimated Everett. We talked about how different guys have
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: kind of filled these roles.
• 30:57
  Speaker 3: Um, as I'm kind.
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: Of like looking at this, Wex, and I just wanted
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: to kind of know where you were with this was,
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: you know, was the emphasis of these rookies and now,
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: you know, you see a guy like Landon Roberts gets
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: re-signed and knowing that there are some, you know, some
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: discrepancies about what the linebacker role should and shouldn't be.
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: I mean, why didn't they just keep him at the beginning, right?
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: Why did they just keep the guy that we were
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: thinking was going to be the fourth linebacker? Why didn't
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: they just keep a Landon Roberts earlier and opted for
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: younger skilled guys where sometimes maybe that tried, trusted, and
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: true old guy was the right choice?
• 31:45
  Speaker 6: Well, I wasn't so sure it was the right choice.
• 31:50
  Speaker 6: I actually had him getting cut and I'm glad he
• 31:54
  Speaker 6: signed back, but there's guaranteed contracts for the year if
• 31:57
  Speaker 6: you keep a I believe, over fourth year. So I'm
• 32:01
  Speaker 6: pretty sure that played a big part in it. Also,
• 32:05
  Speaker 6: they don't want to lose Carson Bruner. I really would
• 32:08
  Speaker 6: like to see him play. I think he's a natural-born tackler.
• 32:12
  Speaker 6: I know he's not as big. He's about as big
• 32:15
  Speaker 6: as Larry Foote. Was he a tackler? Yes. So I
• 32:21
  Speaker 6: would have liked to have seen him, but I have
• 32:23
  Speaker 6: a feeling that Roberts was brought in for Tampa Bay.
• 32:26
  Speaker 6: I don't know what happens after that. But I mean,
• 32:30
  Speaker 6: Tampa Bay is going to run the ball. They, what,
• 32:33
  Speaker 6: 267 last week, I believe, against the Cowboys. So I
• 32:37
  Speaker 6: like this. Maybe they feel they've given Queen and Wilson
• 32:46
  Speaker 6: more of a chance to be run stuffers, and maybe
• 32:51
  Speaker 6: they're not happy. I'm unsure. of the answer there, but
• 32:55
  Speaker 6: there are a lot of injuries. And so they didn't
• 32:56
  Speaker 6: have to lose one of 11 rookies that made this team,
• 33:00
  Speaker 6: this old team, 11 rookies made it. So maybe Roberts
• 33:06
  Speaker 6: was in the way of one or two guys. I'm
• 33:08
  Speaker 6: not sure, but they got them back. You know, Mason McCormick,
• 33:15
  Speaker 6: the first day Roberts came back, Roberts was blowing everything up.
• 33:19
  Speaker 6: And McCormick was hot. McCormick was the guy that started
• 33:23
  Speaker 6: the brawl when Roberts blew up Justin Fields in practice,
• 33:29
  Speaker 6: quarterback running downfield. Roberts hit him, and Mason McCormick came
• 33:33
  Speaker 6: flying and began a whole field brawl. So Mason and
• 33:37
  Speaker 6: Landon go way back. And when Landon came back this week,
• 33:43
  Speaker 6: Mason kept yelling, you know, that's your teammate.
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: What are you doing?
• 33:48
  Speaker 6: You know, he's yelling, yeah, you got fresh legs. We
• 33:53
  Speaker 6: see that. Good for you. You know, I'm like, McCormick,
• 33:55
  Speaker 6: I didn't know you were crazy.
• 33:57
  Speaker 7: As the last few weeks have unraveled, we've seen he
• 34:00
  Speaker 7: is crazy. So Roberts was getting chewed out by– and
• 34:05
  Speaker 7: almost another brawl almost happened with McCormick. McCormick, he wasn't
• 34:10
  Speaker 7: having it. He didn't seem like he liked him very much.
• 34:13
  Speaker 7: And so– he was giving him the fresh legs saying,
• 34:16
  Speaker 7: you know, this is why you're making all these plays
• 34:19
  Speaker 7: and things like that. So there was, there was another
• 34:24
  Speaker 7: comment that Roberts that McCormick made that made sense to me.
• 34:28
  Speaker 7: And it was on the field and maybe that's why
• 34:30
  Speaker 7: Roberts is so fresh and blowing people up. And, but
• 34:35
  Speaker 7: so he, you know, he got cut and nobody else
• 34:38
  Speaker 7: picked them up. So maybe McCormick was right on. So,
• 34:41
  Speaker 7: I'm going to defer to him. I'm going to go
• 34:43
  Speaker 7: in there and talk to him about Vita Bay, see
• 34:45
  Speaker 7: if he's going to use the same techniques he used
• 34:47
  Speaker 7: on Dexter Lawrence.
• 34:50
  Speaker 4: Yeah, another Vita.
• 34:53
  Speaker 7: Lifting the, what was his femur?
• 34:55
  Speaker 4: I don't know.
• 34:56
  Speaker 6: I don't know what he called it.
• 34:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah, lift of the upper leg.
• 34:58
  Speaker 4: I've got to find out. Bit of a forklift. Hey, Jim,
• 35:02
  Speaker 4: always appreciate the insight, my friend. Thank you so much
• 35:04
  Speaker 4: for being on with us.
• 35:05
  Speaker 6: Okay, guys. Hey, thanks for having me on. Have a
• 35:07
  Speaker 6: good day, boys.
• 35:08
  Speaker 4: It's a hump day, headline day with Jim Wexel, our buddy.
• 35:11
  Speaker 4: who joins us to give us his, you know, always
• 35:14
  Speaker 4: fun to hear those stories, those things about Willie Parker
• 35:16
  Speaker 4: that I did not know. Very, very cool.
• 35:18
  Speaker 3: I had no idea. That's amazing.
• 35:22
  Speaker 4: Yeah, great stuff. Great insight from Jim. Stick around. Much
• 35:25
  Speaker 4: more to get to when we continue here in the
• 35:26
  Speaker 4: locker room on the Steelers Audio Network.
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio. Brought to you
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 35:57
  Speaker 3: All right, we have had a fun, entertaining show. Kind
• 36:01
  Speaker 3: of went over... Power rankings. Who likes us? Who doesn't?
• 36:06
  Speaker 2: Player of the Week honors for Jalen Warren. We had
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: the great Jim Wexel on for Hump Day Headlines. We've
• 36:13
  Speaker 2: talked everything. This show's just been chock full of everything, Rob. Nuts, Vichyssoise, everything.
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: We've kind of gone around the du jour of topics, so.
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: I am going to leave this up to you to, uh,
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: to guide the ship into the final, uh, final lap
• 36:31
  Speaker 2: here as only a King can do.
• 36:39
  Speaker 4: Willie, it's good to be on the, uh, the right
• 36:41
  Speaker 4: side of one of those Max Starks, uh, introductions.
• 36:45
  Speaker 3: It's a thing.
• 36:50
  Speaker 4: It is definitely a thing. Um, You know, I do
• 36:54
  Speaker 4: think that, you know, Jim gave us a lot to
• 36:57
  Speaker 4: chew on, and we're going to get into the matchups tomorrow.
• 36:59
  Speaker 4: We're going to be joined by Jerry Dulac, who will
• 37:02
  Speaker 4: get us caught up on the latest news. Of course,
• 37:04
  Speaker 4: the team is out practicing now, so any kind of
• 37:07
  Speaker 4: injury updates or whatever we should be able to get,
• 37:10
  Speaker 4: you know, sort of through Wednesday's practice, through today's practice.
• 37:14
  Speaker 4: And Tony Castricone, the play-by-play guy for Tampa Bay, is
• 37:18
  Speaker 4: going to be joining us as well. But, you know–
• 37:21
  Speaker 4: I thought it was an interesting point about a landed
• 37:23
  Speaker 4: Roberts Willie that, that this could be a sort of, um,
• 37:27
  Speaker 4: specific to this kind of game, a veteran guy that
• 37:30
  Speaker 4: you could call up in the practice squad, uh, you know,
• 37:33
  Speaker 4: hopefully fresh legs playing a lot of minutes and a
• 37:36
  Speaker 4: lot of snaps to help control the running game. And
• 37:38
  Speaker 4: Bucky Irving, who had a huge game, you would think
• 37:40
  Speaker 4: with a younger quarterback, who by the way, uh, does
• 37:43
  Speaker 4: a pretty good job running himself that stopping the run
• 37:45
  Speaker 4: would be good. And, you know, your call for the
• 37:47
  Speaker 4: tight ends, uh, you know, I do a show called
• 37:50
  Speaker 4: the matchup with, uh, with Missy Matthews and Matt Williamson
• 37:53
  Speaker 4: on Thursdays. And my key is the tight ends because
• 37:56
  Speaker 4: Tampa Bay does not do a great job covering tight ends.
• 37:59
  Speaker 4: And we know we've got two good ones. And Robert
• 38:02
  Speaker 4: Tynan is a pretty good one too, who just hasn't
• 38:04
  Speaker 4: played a lot as opposed to three guys. You're going
• 38:07
  Speaker 4: to be, you know, probably three wide receivers. You'd be
• 38:10
  Speaker 4: bringing up off the practice squad to play in this game.
• 38:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's a, it's, it's a multitude of things.
• 38:19
  Speaker 5: I think one, bringing E-Rob in is beneficial because I
• 38:24
  Speaker 5: think if there was one aspect of the defense that's
• 38:27
  Speaker 5: kind of underperformed to some degree has been.
• 38:29
  Speaker 3: The linebacker core.
• 38:30
  Speaker 5: And I know there's been speculation with the trade deadline
• 38:34
  Speaker 5: coming close that we're approaching the trade deadline, so to speak.
• 38:37
  Speaker 5: Now there's talks that Patrick Queen may be the guy
• 38:41
  Speaker 5: who may be on deck if there was a move
• 38:43
  Speaker 5: to be made. With all that said, I think E-Rob
• 38:46
  Speaker 5: just brings a level of physicality that's needed this time
• 38:49
  Speaker 5: of year when you have to start to form your
• 38:53
  Speaker 5: identity on both sides of the ball. You know, Jim
• 38:56
  Speaker 5: did a great job of talking about the impact our
• 38:58
  Speaker 5: defensive line had in the game against the Colts. Well,
• 39:02
  Speaker 5: there's going to be another big task at hand because
• 39:04
  Speaker 5: the Tampa Bay Bucs cannot throw the football, right? They
• 39:07
  Speaker 5: can only run the football, and they run it well,
• 39:10
  Speaker 5: and they play behind their defense.
• 39:12
  Speaker 3: That kind of has that bend but don't break.
• 39:14
  Speaker 5: But they also blitz at a high tune as well.
• 39:17
  Speaker 5: So you're going to need some linebackers who are short
• 39:20
  Speaker 5: tacklers and physical. And, you know, there's going to be
• 39:24
  Speaker 5: a lot put on that young undrafted free agent, was
• 39:28
  Speaker 5: Jamel Dean. It was a Jalen Dean Daniels, excuse me,
• 39:32
  Speaker 5: for Tampa Bay. And, you know, they have Ted Johnson's
• 39:37
  Speaker 5: and they got a book and they got a bunch
• 39:38
  Speaker 5: of guys that can are worthy receivers, man. But they
• 39:41
  Speaker 5: don't want they don't want that young quarterback throwing the
• 39:43
  Speaker 5: ball more than 20-something times a game.
• 39:45
  Speaker 4: You know, they want to run the ball.
• 39:47
  Speaker 5: And be in control of the clock and be efficient.
• 39:50
  Speaker 5: So with all that said, man, it's imperative that a
• 39:53
  Speaker 5: linebacker core really show up. And so I think I
• 39:57
  Speaker 5: consider E-Rob more of a reinforcement.
• 40:01
  Speaker 4: And it's necessary.
• 40:02
  Speaker 5: So none of us wanted to see him get cut.
• 40:05
  Speaker 5: I know Jim said he had him getting cut. I
• 40:07
  Speaker 5: did not see him having him getting cut. I thought
• 40:10
  Speaker 5: he was kind of a short spot. He had a
• 40:12
  Speaker 5: short spot. Um, obviously that's not the case, but you know, if, if,
• 40:16
  Speaker 5: if he's walking into this field with a fresh legs and,
• 40:19
  Speaker 5: and ready.
• 40:19
  Speaker 4: To roll, that's a plus for the Steelers. Max, uh,
• 40:24
  Speaker 4: Alandon Roberts, again, he's on the practice squad, so he'd
• 40:27
  Speaker 4: have to be elevated for this game. Although there's some
• 40:29
  Speaker 4: room because guys are be injured and aren't going to
• 40:31
  Speaker 4: be able to play your thoughts on Alandon Roberts and
• 40:34
  Speaker 4: whether this is, I hadn't thought about it as specific
• 40:37
  Speaker 4: to this game. I thought that was an interesting point
• 40:39
  Speaker 4: by Jim. And also again, just to piggyback on that, um,
• 40:42
  Speaker 4: You know, this notion that you've got tight ends on
• 40:45
  Speaker 4: the NFL roster and good ones, and you're going to
• 40:48
  Speaker 4: note nothing against any guys you might call from the
• 40:50
  Speaker 4: practice squad at the receiver position, but they're on the
• 40:53
  Speaker 4: practice squad. And it's a Tampa Bay defense that you
• 40:55
  Speaker 4: would think the tight ends would be a good match
• 40:59
  Speaker 4: for you as well.
• 41:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and listen, I love E-Rob.
• 41:04
  Speaker 2: E-Rob is one of those guys that when I look
• 41:07
  Speaker 2: at just the style of play and the physicality, sometimes
• 41:10
  Speaker 2: you need that, just an identity setter.
• 41:12
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 41:13
  Speaker 3: An identity tone setter.
• 41:16
  Speaker 6: Yes.
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: Is he possibly a liability in some of your past
• 41:19
  Speaker 2: coverage stuff?
• 41:20
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 41:22
  Speaker 2: But at the same time, he's still a guy who
• 41:25
  Speaker 2: is highly, highly decorated and and and and has made
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: a lot of tackles in this league.
• 41:30
  Speaker 3: So sometimes you just need the guy to come in.
• 41:32
  Speaker 3: Just set the tone for me. You know, let me.
• 41:34
  Speaker 2: Know what what you what you what you're doing. And
• 41:37
  Speaker 2: let's go from there. I think that's kind of how
• 41:39
  Speaker 2: I look at. you know, where he is and what
• 41:43
  Speaker 2: his game has meant, you know, in those situations. And
• 41:46
  Speaker 2: I think the veteran leadership, if you are going to
• 41:49
  Speaker 2: bring along a Carson Bruner type, right, bring that veteran
• 41:53
  Speaker 2: presence there too with him and let us see what
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: he can do. Because I just know he's a quality
• 42:00
  Speaker 2: guy that has always been, you know, a great leader
• 42:05
  Speaker 2: of men. and has been a guy that's going to
• 42:08
  Speaker 2: go out there and physically show you how to do it.
• 42:10
  Speaker 2: He's not going to just tell you how to do it.
• 42:11
  Speaker 2: He's going to show you how to do it. I
• 42:13
  Speaker 2: think that's what I love most about him.
• 42:15
  Speaker 4: But it's hard to carry five inside linebackers. So you're
• 42:17
  Speaker 4: making a decision. I think a guy like a Landon Roberts,
• 42:20
  Speaker 4: you're making a decision. Is it a Landon Roberts or
• 42:23
  Speaker 4: is it Kevin Jobity or Gabe Rubio? That might be
• 42:28
  Speaker 4: the decision more than him versus Cole Holcomb or him
• 42:31
  Speaker 4: versus Carson Bruner. And it'll be interesting, I think, Max,
• 42:36
  Speaker 4: Willie's been calling for it, for this tight end usage,
• 42:38
  Speaker 4: increased tight end usage. This would seem to be the week, right?
• 42:42
  Speaker 4: This would seem to be a good week for all
• 42:44
  Speaker 4: the reasons we mentioned. You got guys that are already
• 42:47
  Speaker 4: on the 53-man roster. That means you like them, they're
• 42:51
  Speaker 4: performing well, and they're going against a Tampa team that
• 42:53
  Speaker 4: has struggled covering tight ends.
• 42:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely. This is what you're looking for.
• 43:00
  Speaker 2: You're looking for where are the advantages, right?
• 43:03
  Speaker 3: Where are Where are.
• 43:04
  Speaker 2: We going to be the most successful in a lot
• 43:07
  Speaker 2: of these things? And I think, you know, tight ends,
• 43:11
  Speaker 2: we have three of them. Most people struggle with two,
• 43:15
  Speaker 2: but we have three. And I would love to see.
• 43:18
  Speaker 2: We saw it last week, and it was very brief,
• 43:22
  Speaker 2: but I really like. They had a 13 personnel grouping
• 43:25
  Speaker 2: that they lined up like 11. And I love that
• 43:30
  Speaker 2: because you had one that was your base guy, and
• 43:32
  Speaker 2: then you had another one. that he had two guys outside.
• 43:36
  Speaker 2: And I'm like, man, that is just such a smart
• 43:39
  Speaker 2: way to use it. We saw this with Arthur Smith.
• 43:41
  Speaker 2: He kind of toyed with it, but didn't really commit
• 43:43
  Speaker 2: to it. And now you're seeing it done from that perspective.
• 43:47
  Speaker 2: And I'm like, that's what we need to bring out.
• 43:50
  Speaker 2: Force them to get into a base personnel, spread them
• 43:53
  Speaker 2: because we know Pat can run the routes. And who
• 43:56
  Speaker 2: wants to block? Let's just face it. Who wants to
• 43:58
  Speaker 2: block Darnell Washington?
• 44:00
  Speaker 4: Nobody.
• 44:00
  Speaker 3: Never, ever, ever, ever. Nobody. All right. So, yeah.
• 44:03
  Speaker 4: Yeah, so we'll dive more into– sorry, Max, I thought
• 44:06
  Speaker 4: you were completed. Did not mean to cut you off.
• 44:08
  Speaker 4: We will dive more into these topics over the next
• 44:11
  Speaker 4: couple days as we break down the key matchups. Our
• 44:13
  Speaker 4: thanks to Jim Wexel today, of course, for Justin Miller
• 44:17
  Speaker 4: coming up with a drumroll. Drumroll, please. And other things,
• 44:21
  Speaker 4: of course, the controls. Again, a reminder tomorrow, Jerry Dulac
• 44:24
  Speaker 4: going to join us. Tony Castricone, the play-by-play guy for
• 44:27
  Speaker 4: Tampa Bay, will give you the lowdown on the Bucs.
• 44:30
  Speaker 4: For Max Starks, for Willie Colon. For everybody here at
• 44:35
  Speaker 4: the iHeart Studios, Justin Miller and beyond, I'm Rob King.
• 44:38
  Speaker 4: We thank you, as always, for being with us in
• 44:40
  Speaker 4: the locker room here on the Steelers Audio Network.