Latest / In the Locker Room presented by Neighborhood Ford Store (Pittsburgh Steelers) / Hour 1: Steelers vs Saints + Aaron Rodgers

Transcript

Hour 1: Steelers vs Saints + Aaron Rodgers · In the Locker Room presented by Neighborhood Ford Store (Pittsburgh Steelers)

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Pittsburgh. This is In the Locker Room with Rob King,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Max Starks, and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio. Brought
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: to you in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: it direct from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: at shop.steelers.com. And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: is the official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: And we thank you very much for being with us
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: here in the locker room on the Steelers Audio Network
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: with Max Starks.
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah. I'm getting a look from Max Starks right now.
• 0:43
  Speaker 4: Oh, yeah.
• 0:44
  Speaker 5: The pinky is up, Rob. The pinky is up. I mean,
• 0:47
  Speaker 5: you look very professional. I mean, the polo, the jacket.
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: Uh-huh.
• 0:55
  Speaker 5: You know what? That jacket looks good. I know everybody
• 0:58
  Speaker 5: else can't see it, but, yeah, it definitely looks good. Well,
• 1:01
  Speaker 5: I'll be bringing mine, too, so we'll be matching together
• 1:04
  Speaker 5: over in Paris.
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: There's a reason for that.
• 1:08
  Speaker 5: Okay. Let's hear it.
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: Would you like to know the reason for that?
• 1:11
  Speaker 5: I would love to know the reason, Rob.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: We taped a match-up this morning with Missy Matthews and
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: Matt Williams to get you ready for this Tuesdays and Saints.
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: So I had to get dressed up, you know, showered,
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: hair gel in. You're not a hair gel guy, are you, Max?
• 1:29
  Speaker 5: As you can tell, Rob, by my very low-cut hair,
• 1:32
  Speaker 5: gel has not graced his hair in a very, very, very, very,
• 1:35
  Speaker 5: very long time.
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: About 20 years.
• 1:38
  Speaker 5: Probably about 18 to 20 years.
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: Did you go jerry curls?
• 1:45
  Speaker 5: No, I never went full jerry at any point. But
• 1:49
  Speaker 5: I did have long hair and braids, so you'd have
• 1:51
  Speaker 5: to gel the braids to keep it straight.
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah, that's right.
• 1:53
  Speaker 4: I forgot.
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: Of course you had the braids. That's what I was thinking.
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: So the braids must be gelled.
• 1:59
  Speaker 5: Yeah, well, because with the helmet, because putting the helmet
• 2:01
  Speaker 5: on and off would mess up the hair, so you'd
• 2:04
  Speaker 5: get like this fuzzy halo. You'd almost look like pig
• 2:07
  Speaker 5: pen from Peanuts, right, with the hair up there. So, yeah,
• 2:11
  Speaker 5: you gel it to keep it down so the braids
• 2:13
  Speaker 5: stay more defined.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: Now, is that for– did you do that in high school,
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: or is that a college and pro thing?
• 2:20
  Speaker 5: That was college and pro.
• 2:22
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: Because I went.
• 2:24
  Speaker 5: To a private school. We weren't allowed to have long hair.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: I guess my question was going to be, is the
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: idea of having it styled underneath the helmet just in
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: case you're– on TV or they show a shot of
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: you or something? Or is it to keep it looking
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: good for the next day?
• 2:40
  Speaker 5: Yeah, it's to keep it looking good because you don't
• 2:41
  Speaker 5: want it to get ruined because you're pulling the helmet
• 2:43
  Speaker 5: on and off.
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 2:45
  Speaker 5: And if I had a big afro trying to get
• 2:48
  Speaker 5: in and out of a helmet.
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah.
• 2:49
  Speaker 5: Yeah, it would go 70s style.
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 2:53
  Speaker 5: You braid it down so it makes it easier to
• 2:55
  Speaker 5: put your helmet on and off.
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I do like those.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: Now you've got me going down a little bit of–
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: rabbit hole here because I'm trying to remember my favorite
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: early 70s because that was the sort of the heyday
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: of the afro of my I seem to think but
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: I'm not gonna I'm not gonna yeah there was a
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: a car 1976 yeah that's a pretty good afro from
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: Marlon Briscoe but there were a few others that that really,
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: and man, I'm trying to rack my memory of who
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: had some great ones inside the helmets. But they would
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: spring out everywhere.
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah.
• 3:40
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, and that's the whole point is that
• 3:43
  Speaker 5: you didn't want that. And now with the technology at
• 3:45
  Speaker 5: the time, remember the helmets that during my era, we
• 3:49
  Speaker 5: had a.
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  Speaker 3: Lot of holes.
• 3:50
  Speaker 5: So you'd have a random stray hair popping through the
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  Speaker 5: different holes and everything.
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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  Speaker 5: If you didn't have it maintained. Because, I mean, obviously
• 3:57
  Speaker 5: I came to practice a couple times. With my hair unbraided.
• 4:01
  Speaker 5: And actually, you know, it's funny. If you go look
• 4:03
  Speaker 5: at the 75th anniversary team photo, me and Chris Kimoyatu,
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  Speaker 5: because it was the throwback jerseys from then, you will
• 4:15
  Speaker 5: see us in the team photo with our big afros. Nice.
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: That is so good, man.
• 4:21
  Speaker 5: It is so good. So it's like me and then Juice,
• 4:24
  Speaker 5: you know, Juice is 68, I'm 78. So you see us,
• 4:27
  Speaker 5: and it's all numerical. You see us on either side,
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  Speaker 5: and you got these two dudes with big afros. Love it.
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  Speaker 3: Love it.
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  Speaker 5: It's so good.
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's heyday from my childhood, man. That's good stuff.
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: I enjoy it.
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: And, you know, you didn't know you were going to
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: sign in today. By the way, there's nothing you could do.
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: I mean, you see this hair right here, like hair gel? Like,
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: I did not know hair gel existed until I got
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: on TV, right? Then you have to have hair gel.
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: You have to have hairspray, especially if you're like mine.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: I look like, you know, electric socket Einstein look. When
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: I wake up in the morning, if I don't– you
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: ever see that famous picture of Einstein where his hair
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: is all over the place?
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, exactly.
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  Speaker 3: That's what mine looks like in the morning.
• 5:07
  Speaker 5: Until I do this. I've seen you walk down to
• 5:09
  Speaker 5: breakfast a couple times like that.
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 5: Hat on is usually– The pre-jouge, the pre-jouge out.
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 5:15
  Speaker 5: Jouge out, yeah.
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 5: But it's all good. Once again, it's funny the maintenance
• 5:19
  Speaker 5: routines that we now have for– like I still have
• 5:22
  Speaker 5: to like brush my hair. I still– I put like
• 5:25
  Speaker 5: a hair oil on my hair. Okay. And brush it. Obviously,
• 5:29
  Speaker 5: because you want it to look and, like you said,
• 5:31
  Speaker 5: have that certain shine or sheen to it. That's right.
• 5:35
  Speaker 5: But that's about it. I mean, but, yeah, no hair
• 5:38
  Speaker 5: gel because I don't need this to stay. Because there's
• 5:40
  Speaker 5: not enough. I can barely pinch my hair. So it's
• 5:42
  Speaker 5: not a lot to have to pat down.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: So we see each other in the radio look, right?
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: And then when we're doing radio, we still have to
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: have kind of a. You know, we're representing the Pittsburgh Steelers,
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: so we've got to be the hair's quaff.
• 5:56
  Speaker 5: Yeah, it's a public perception.
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: That's right.
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  Speaker 2: The hair's quaff. What did I ask you the last
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: time I saw you? Did you just get a haircut? No,
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: because you were styled up and looking good. Right.
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: So Justin Miller's wearing a hat and producing in our studio.
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah. He definitely did not use hair gel. He's
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: got big, fluffy hair.
• 6:16
  Speaker 5: I mean, Halloween's around the corner. I mean, if he
• 6:18
  Speaker 5: just goes and rocks like a green shirt with orange pants,
• 6:20
  Speaker 5: he's Shaggy from Scooby-Doo.
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: Oh, I like it. That's a good call.
• 6:24
  Speaker 5: He has a green sweatshirt on. Yeah. Yeah.
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: So I would say this, like most guys that are
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: wearing hats, a bald spot, right? Mine's not there yet,
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: but it's, but, but a few years from now, that
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: could be plausible as to why.
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  Speaker 5: I'm wearing a hat.
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  Speaker 2: I'm not there yet, but it's coming, man. I can
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: see it's coming back there.
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  Speaker 5: Hold on.
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  Speaker 3: It's coming.
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  Speaker 2: Um, Or you have big, shaggy hair like Justin's got
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: that you don't want to.
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  Speaker 5: You just got to contain it.
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 5: You just got to hope to contain it.
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  Speaker 2: Or third, and most likely for somebody like me, you
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  Speaker 2: have yet to bathe that day.
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: Right?
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  Speaker 3: That's the three reasons you're wearing a hat.
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  Speaker 4: Right?
• 7:10
  Speaker 5: Don't you think? That is true. Outside of going outside
• 7:13
  Speaker 5: where it's actually bright out.
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: That's right. If it's sunny, you're at a golf course,
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: something like that.
• 7:17
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: Sure.
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  Speaker 5: Right?
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 5: Because I was always a visor guy. Like, I'm still
• 7:20
  Speaker 5: a big visor guy, but I've now transitioned in my
• 7:23
  Speaker 5: maturity to the bucket. I'm now a bucket guy.
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah. I don't think I've ever worn a visor.
• 7:29
  Speaker 5: You know what?
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: Steve Spreer wore a visor. Is that where he came from? Yeah.
• 7:32
  Speaker 5: Once again, yes. It's like that unconscious kind of. kind
• 7:36
  Speaker 5: of bias that you have I'm like man coach Murray
• 7:39
  Speaker 5: makes that visor look so cool even though he throws
• 7:41
  Speaker 5: it down like 17 times of practice uh it was
• 7:44
  Speaker 5: just easier I guess to take off and slam to
• 7:46
  Speaker 5: the ground but uh but yeah I mean old ball
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  Speaker 5: coach um always wore it and I just yeah I
• 7:53
  Speaker 5: just I I love a good visor a good visor
• 7:56
  Speaker 5: is just a great one but the bucket has definitely
• 7:58
  Speaker 5: taken over I am not bringing a bucket to Paris
• 8:00
  Speaker 5: because that's not fashionable over in Paris no no no
• 8:04
  Speaker 5: We have to be very fast. But I did get
• 8:07
  Speaker 5: my Paris game hat.
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: Okay, not a beret, though. No, listen.
• 8:16
  Speaker 5: I tried to get a beret made.
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: Did you?
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  Speaker 5: A special one. I was actually trying to get a
• 8:20
  Speaker 5: Steelers-styled beret made, and it didn't come in time. My
• 8:24
  Speaker 5: cousin is a fashion designer.
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  Speaker 3: Oh, no.
• 8:27
  Speaker 5: And he wanted to style me in a whole Paris
• 8:31
  Speaker 5: kind of Steelers-influenced outfit. You know, because he does Fashion
• 8:35
  Speaker 5: Week and all that kind of stuff, his designs and everything.
• 8:38
  Speaker 5: So he's like, Max, just let me know. And I
• 8:40
  Speaker 5: didn't get my measurements in in time. Oh. I'll send
• 8:44
  Speaker 5: you the mock-up. I was going to say, I would gladly.
• 8:46
  Speaker 5: I'll send you the mock-up of what it was.
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: I would gladly pick up the tab to get a
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: custom-made black and gold beret for Max Starks.
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: I would gladly pick up the tab.
• 8:56
  Speaker 5: I would love to see that look. Hey, trust me.
• 8:58
  Speaker 5: I wanted to. I wanted to get it.
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: The only caveat is then.
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: I would have to walk three steps behind you down
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: the Champs-Élysées to see the reactions. That would be the
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: only caveat. I would want to see what the Parisians
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: thought about you rocking the big... Yeah, that would have
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: been great. Okay, so I think that's enough haberdashery and
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: hairstyle products.
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: But I am dressed up from the matchup. Anna, you
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: know what? I'm going to keep going this week.
• 9:31
  Speaker 5: We're getting Parisian sexy. That's all it is. We're just
• 9:34
  Speaker 5: getting ourselves a duck in a row.
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: That's exactly right.
• 9:37
  Speaker 5: It's a fashion capital, so we've got to represent.
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah, they're not afraid to wear black over there either, man.
• 9:43
  Speaker 5: Yeah, exactly.
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: With their galoose smokes. I don't know if they're still
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: doing all that stuff. The berets, all that stuff. Max,
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: looking forward to this game. We're going to be getting,
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: Jim Wexler is going to be joining us. We're going
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: to be getting into our. our key matchups and big-time
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: matchups a little bit. We're kind of trying to scrunch
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: everything together. We will be doing an edition of the
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: locker room from Paris on Friday. So that will happen.
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: So there won't be a show tomorrow, I don't believe, right?
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: No.
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: No show tomorrow.
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: Then Friday we will be in Paris and bringing you
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: a sort of a final, you know, edition of the
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: matchup prior to the game against the Saints. You know,
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: before we bring Willie Colon in and sort of dive
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: more into that, Max, do you have a general sense
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: of this Saints team yet? I mean, you know, we
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: know they've got a lave. We've got a young, talented
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: quarterback who can look good. And can also be prone
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: to mistakes. And young experience-wise, he's an older guy. But
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: he's a young– talking about that with Matt Williamson today,
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: he said he would have been a first-round pick if
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: he'd been 23 instead of 26 or 27 coming out
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: of school.
• 11:01
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I was going to say, if he was just
• 11:03
  Speaker 5: two years younger, he might have easily been one of
• 11:07
  Speaker 5: those guys. I mean– He's got talent. Yeah, no, he's
• 11:10
  Speaker 5: a very talented kid. But like you said, the injury history,
• 11:13
  Speaker 5: I think, that prolonged him staying in college. is what
• 11:18
  Speaker 5: ultimately hurt him. I mean, and so, you know, he's
• 11:22
  Speaker 5: going to age a lot faster than what everybody else
• 11:25
  Speaker 5: is prepared for.
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: It's still going to take the acclimation process at the
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: NFL level, and then instead of having a 25-year-old acclimated quarterback,
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: you're going to have a 31-year-old acclimated quarterback.
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: I mean, he's been around.
• 11:38
  Speaker 5: It's the Chris Winkie, Brandon Whedon situation.
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: That's exactly right, except I think– Shuck is more talented
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: than those guys.
• 11:49
  Speaker 5: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, you know, Brandon Whedon was
• 11:53
  Speaker 5: good in college. I remember him versus Andrew Luck in
• 11:55
  Speaker 5: the Fiesta Bowl. But Brandon Whedon got to the league,
• 11:58
  Speaker 5: and he was like an old man by the time
• 12:00
  Speaker 5: he got there. So, you know, when you look at, like,
• 12:03
  Speaker 5: those kind of issues, so to speak, that's where you're like, okay,
• 12:08
  Speaker 5: this is not going to work. And then you learn
• 12:10
  Speaker 5: from Chris Winkie, you know. I mean, and look at,
• 12:14
  Speaker 5: you know, Quincy Carter had a pretty decent career. um
• 12:18
  Speaker 5: with the cowboys even though it was short but you
• 12:21
  Speaker 5: know that's what you're thinking about when you see those
• 12:22
  Speaker 5: older quarterbacks those are the guys that kind of come
• 12:24
  Speaker 5: up the guys that went back in the day baseball
• 12:27
  Speaker 5: and then came back to college and played right that's
• 12:29
  Speaker 5: what you're kind of thinking of even though this was
• 12:31
  Speaker 5: covid and multiple red shirts type of deal that kind
• 12:35
  Speaker 5: of still gave the same type of instance that's why
• 12:38
  Speaker 5: you know the league's trying to get this five and
• 12:40
  Speaker 5: five deal um done and it's going through all of
• 12:44
  Speaker 5: its issues but you know, older quarterbacks, you want them
• 12:47
  Speaker 5: to kind of mature with the guys, not come in
• 12:49
  Speaker 5: super mature.
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: And that's, you know, but again, if you have a
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: guy and he's, you know, especially with today's quarterbacks and
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: he's 32 and he's proving to be that sort of,
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: you know, I don't know how you want to label it, franchise,
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: or I just look at, you.
• 13:07
  Speaker 5: Know, top 10 or 15.
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: I'm just saying, you know, can you be a top
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: 10 or 15 quarterback?
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: We've talked about this a little bit, Max. You know,
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: there's a sliding scale, obviously.
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: If you have a super team, then you don't need
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: a super quarterback to win. If you have a, but
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: same token, if you have just an okay roster, a
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: superstar quarterback can maybe win it for you. So where
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: do you need to be in that mix in order
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: to win a Super Bowl? Like, I don't think the
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: 23rd best quarterback in the NFL, I think has a
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: hard time winning a Super Bowl. Depends on what kind
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: of player he is. It's just hard to build that
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: much of a quality team around him. But if you
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: tell the Saints, hey, two years from now, Tyler Shuck's
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: going to be a top dozen quarterback in the NFL,
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: I'm sure they're going to take it, right? They're going
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: to say that's fine. Okay, he's a little bit older.
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: That just means we have a top dozen quarterback for
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: the next six or seven years, which means we have
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: a six or seven year window to.
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: Win the Super Bowl.
• 14:10
  Speaker 5: And he's just a longer bridge, right? You know, when
• 14:14
  Speaker 5: you think about this, and for the Saints being in
• 14:17
  Speaker 5: cap hell as long as they were, this is the
• 14:21
  Speaker 5: best possible scenario for them. They need to get a
• 14:23
  Speaker 5: quarterback and have him kind of depressed under a smaller
• 14:27
  Speaker 5: salary cap to keep them back in there where they
• 14:30
  Speaker 5: can kind of rebuild the coffers. Because, I mean, we'll
• 14:32
  Speaker 5: get into the actual depth chart and personnel, but, you know,
• 14:36
  Speaker 5: first glance... this offense is not that deep with people.
• 14:42
  Speaker 5: Like it's a very shallow, very shallow well of players
• 14:47
  Speaker 5: that they have. So they're playing because they have so
• 14:50
  Speaker 5: many guys on IR, but they don't have a lot
• 14:53
  Speaker 5: of depth around them. And you have to continually build
• 14:55
  Speaker 5: that and churn that. And that takes free agency. That
• 14:58
  Speaker 5: takes draft, multiple drafts that you don't mess things up
• 15:02
  Speaker 5: or trade things away. And then they have an overabundance
• 15:05
  Speaker 5: of old guys on defense. So, We'll get into it,
• 15:08
  Speaker 5: but I do have a good sense about this team
• 15:11
  Speaker 5: watching the last couple of games that they played. I
• 15:14
  Speaker 5: watched their Vikings game. I watched the Giants game specifically.
• 15:18
  Speaker 5: I'll get into one more game before we get on
• 15:22
  Speaker 5: the plane just because something that you brought up a concern,
• 15:25
  Speaker 5: like access to game film while abroad is a little
• 15:29
  Speaker 5: bit tougher when you get to different countries. So just
• 15:32
  Speaker 5: to kind of make myself as– good as possible going
• 15:36
  Speaker 5: over there and not being able to have access to
• 15:38
  Speaker 5: game film, I think is going to be key to
• 15:41
  Speaker 5: just kind of get my last glances and write, write
• 15:43
  Speaker 5: up my boards before I get on the plane tomorrow.
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: And they've, like you mentioned, the, the injuries, um, have,
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: have played a big part. Uh, by the way, Max
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: just sent me the picture that that was, that you
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: had mocked up.
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: That, that, that would have been extremely sharp.
• 16:02
  Speaker 5: Listen, listen, I would have been walking around with a
• 16:04
  Speaker 5: champagne glass and a baguette in the other hand the
• 16:06
  Speaker 5: entire trip.
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they have Max casually holding a bottle of champagne.
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: In his hands.
• 16:12
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: Which is, it's a great picture, man.
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: I don't know if we can get that up on
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: social media or whatever.
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: Come on, Max.
• 16:23
  Speaker 5: They will lose their mind. I'm not going to put
• 16:26
  Speaker 5: myself out there because I don't have the outfit. I
• 16:28
  Speaker 5: don't have the outfit, man. You don't have it. So
• 16:30
  Speaker 5: I feel bad. But, yeah, but check that beret. The
• 16:33
  Speaker 5: beret design before we got the actual logo, because obviously
• 16:38
  Speaker 5: I don't want to go through the copyright issues, but
• 16:40
  Speaker 5: that beret, if I just had that beret, I would
• 16:42
  Speaker 5: have been good.
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but the whole thing was really good. But when
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: you do look at the Saints, I mean, you know,
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: when you have, you know, Kelvin Banks, right, your top
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: young offensive tackle, he's out. You know, you draft. You
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: go out, you know, you think about this from the Saints' perspective, right?
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: So is the offensive line completely set? Maybe not, but
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: they've got a really good starting spot with Banks at tackle.
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: Then you have Juwan Johnson, a good tight end. Noah
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: Fant is a guy. So all of a sudden you
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: feel pretty good about the depth of the tight end position.
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: You have on the outside Chris Alave's elite. I mean,
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: he's an elite wide receiver. Then you draft Jordan Tyson
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: high in this year's draft thinking, I mean, I think
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: that was the guy everybody thought, okay, if there's one guy–
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: You splurge on in this year's draft. It's Jordan Tyson.
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: He gets hurt. He hadn't played all year. And then Travis,
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: he's now A-chan, by the way.
• 17:36
  Speaker 5: Yeah, A-chan.
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: Should have been A-chan all along, right? Especially going to France.
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: Instead of E-chan, he's, I guess, announced that he wants
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: his name pronounced in that fashion. But, I mean, there's
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: your big off-season signing. So this offense has a completely
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: different look, Max, I think, if they're healthy.
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: But they're not healthy. So there you go.
• 18:01
  Speaker 5: Well, and also, think about this. Their whole entire right
• 18:04
  Speaker 5: side is, I'm sorry, their left side is all backups
• 18:08
  Speaker 5: because also Dylan Radins is on IR as well. So
• 18:11
  Speaker 5: Dylan Radins and Kelvin Banks are your two starters at
• 18:14
  Speaker 5: left tackle and left guard.
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: They're out.
• 18:16
  Speaker 5: He's out for the season, Radins. Yeah, so you have him.
• 18:19
  Speaker 5: You throw A-Chan out there on IR, Jordan Tyson on IR,
• 18:24
  Speaker 5: Ty Chandler, another one of your running backs. You throw
• 18:27
  Speaker 5: him on IR. Brian Brisset, the DN is on IR,
• 18:32
  Speaker 5: David Long Jr., one of your corners, on IR. You know,
• 18:35
  Speaker 5: it's just the list keeps going on and on.
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: They are punished.
• 18:39
  Speaker 5: So they're very banged up as a team on some
• 18:43
  Speaker 5: of their front-line guys. And that's why, you know, you
• 18:46
  Speaker 5: have Chris Alave and Devon Vele as your two starting receivers,
• 18:50
  Speaker 5: and you have two true rookies, a fourth and a
• 18:52
  Speaker 5: sixth rounder, your only other two receivers.
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: On the roster.
• 18:58
  Speaker 5: On the roster.
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: On the roster, yeah.
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: And Bryce Lance, and by the way, Vele was the
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: guy that was let go, right? Okay, we've got to
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: take a break.
• 19:04
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: We'll dive more into this. We'll dive more into it, yes.
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: Jim Wex is going to be joining us.
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: We have another week, another player of the week for
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: the Pittsburgh Steelers. An update on an injury issue we
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: were talking about yesterday. Lots still to get to. We
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: continue in the locker room. Steelers Audio Network.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio, brought to you
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store, the F-150 is the
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: And thanks for much for being with us in the
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: locker room. Max Starks, Willie Colon with us. I'm Rob King. We,
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: once again, to recap for you, we have.
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: A program today. We do not have a program tomorrow.
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: Then Max and I will be bringing you in the
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: locker room on Friday from.
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: Paris, France. as we get you ready for the Steelers
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: and the Saints. How you doing, Willie?
• 20:14
  Speaker 4: I'm having a morning. Oh, I heard.
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: I heard. How many flights of stairs, Willie?
• 20:22
  Speaker 6: Not even the flights of steps, Rob, because I was
• 20:24
  Speaker 6: able to make it up on the elevator. It was
• 20:28
  Speaker 6: the process that the power is down, so the elevator
• 20:31
  Speaker 6: is down. So when the elevator is down, you imagine
• 20:33
  Speaker 6: that once the elevator got back up, the key that
• 20:35
  Speaker 6: I was originally using would have worked, but that.
• 20:37
  Speaker 4: Didn't work, so I had to go back to the manager.
• 20:39
  Speaker 4: The manager had to reset my key, and then when
• 20:41
  Speaker 4: we got back to the elevator, the elevator had taken off,
• 20:44
  Speaker 4: and we were down two elevators already. So the one
• 20:46
  Speaker 4: elevator we were using was the only elevator we could use,
• 20:48
  Speaker 4: so we had to wait. And then when we waited
• 20:50
  Speaker 4: and the elevator came back down, the key wasn't working.
• 20:52
  Speaker 4: So now we had to go back to the desk.
• 20:56
  Speaker 4: To go back to the elevator. To wait in line.
• 20:59
  Speaker 4: Because there's only one elevator. And then once we got
• 21:02
  Speaker 4: on the elevator, I got off and I was just
• 21:06
  Speaker 4: at this point, I'm like, I know the guys are
• 21:08
  Speaker 4: already in flight taking off for the show. And so
• 21:11
  Speaker 4: I had to calm my nerves down, get ready to
• 21:16
  Speaker 4: do what we do daily. But it's been a morning. So,
• 21:20
  Speaker 4: you know, but listen, play like a champion, right? That's
• 21:22
  Speaker 4: what we like to say around these parts. So that's
• 21:23
  Speaker 4: where we are.
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: That's exactly right. So, uh, glad to have you with us. Uh,
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: we were talking about the saints and by the way,
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: there was a, an article on ESPN where, you know,
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: Mickey Loomis, the general manager said, look, uh, please be
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: patient with us. And you could understand because the, the,
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: the owner kind of called them out. You can understand
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: why he would say that. We're just talking about this.
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: I mean, you know, you have a lobby on the
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: one side, you go out and you get Jordan Tyson
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: in the first round.
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: He's hurt.
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: You go out and free agency and sign. Uh, he
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: wants to be called a Chan now, uh, Travis Etienne.
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: He used to be Etienne, now Etienne. He gets hurt.
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: The left side of your offensive line is hurt. It
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: is one of those teams, if Shuck's the right guy,
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: and I think a lot of people expected them, Willie,
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: to take a step forward this year, and I think
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: the injuries have just really, really hamstrung that. But this
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: is one of those teams where a forced year of
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: being bad that's out of your control might wind up
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: being good for him. I mean, maybe you get, you know,
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: that right tackle or whatever your number one need is.
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: Now maybe in the draft you're able to scoop up
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: a couple of guys. You get A-Chan back healthy. Maybe
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: you figure out a young guy or two can contribute.
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: You get Tyson back. And all of a sudden, you know,
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: maybe Bryce Lance uses this to become a solid number
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: three receiver. And all of a sudden you're looking up
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: a year from now and you're like, man, I don't
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: want to play the Saints. But it is a tough–
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: they've really, really had some bad luck.
• 22:57
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, that's the story. The NFL, you see
• 23:00
  Speaker 4: teams that end up debilitated because of injuries. I also
• 23:06
  Speaker 4: think it's– I thought the Saints team that started the
• 23:11
  Speaker 4: year was a scrappy team. We've got to remember they
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: beat the Ravens early this year, right? And so they
• 23:16
  Speaker 4: put a lot of the NFL on notice that this
• 23:18
  Speaker 4: isn't the same old Saints. And I think a lot
• 23:20
  Speaker 4: of what happened to the back end of last season–
• 23:23
  Speaker 4: Even though the record wasn't good, they finished in a
• 23:27
  Speaker 4: manner where, like, man, if they put some things together,
• 23:30
  Speaker 4: they'll be fine. And we started to see some semblance
• 23:33
  Speaker 4: of that early. Nevertheless, we talked about the injuries. I
• 23:37
  Speaker 4: still think under Kellen Moore, with Tyler Shuck, the defense
• 23:41
  Speaker 4: that's playing a lot better than what people expect, this
• 23:44
  Speaker 4: is still a scrappy team. And they're playing a division
• 23:46
  Speaker 4: where everything's up and down. So I wouldn't write the
• 23:49
  Speaker 4: Saints off. I understand why Loomis would say, hey, man,
• 23:53
  Speaker 4: We're trying to figure it out in real time, and
• 23:55
  Speaker 4: we don't have all the answers. That's life of an
• 23:58
  Speaker 4: NFL team. You want guys to get healthy. You want
• 24:00
  Speaker 4: to try to stay in contention. But nevertheless, there's some
• 24:05
  Speaker 4: things you just can't control, like injuries. So I get it.
• 24:09
  Speaker 4: I think going into this game against the Steelers, the
• 24:11
  Speaker 4: Steelers are obviously riding on an emotional high. They haven't
• 24:17
  Speaker 4: proven to play well on the road, meaning they haven't
• 24:20
  Speaker 4: been able to have success through all four quarters. So
• 24:23
  Speaker 4: the Saints don't feel like they're walking into a game
• 24:25
  Speaker 4: where they can't get the Steelers or this can't be
• 24:27
  Speaker 4: a reset game for them. And we've talked about this
• 24:31
  Speaker 4: time after time. You know, Steelers right now have to
• 24:34
  Speaker 4: figure out, you know, what's that wall? Why are they?
• 24:38
  Speaker 4: Why does this seem to be a moment in time
• 24:41
  Speaker 4: or a space within the games where they just fall
• 24:43
  Speaker 4: flat in this ugly football? this is the time where
• 24:46
  Speaker 4: you expect the Steelers team to really start kind of
• 24:48
  Speaker 4: figuring out what they do well and what they need
• 24:50
  Speaker 4: to be and execute at a lot higher level. But,
• 24:53
  Speaker 4: you know, when you don't have the answers and you
• 24:56
  Speaker 4: have a quarterback like Aaron Rodgers who can fix things
• 24:58
  Speaker 4: or erase your deficiencies or at least get you, you know,
• 25:01
  Speaker 4: get the engine going, you know, it helps. I think
• 25:04
  Speaker 4: for the Saints right now, they're looking at this defense
• 25:07
  Speaker 4: and the Pittsburgh Steelers like, hey, man, if we can
• 25:11
  Speaker 4: just stay, if we can run the ball, if we can–
• 25:15
  Speaker 4: you know, not allow their edge pressure to be a factor,
• 25:19
  Speaker 4: we can do enough, right? Because the Steelers don't score
• 25:22
  Speaker 4: a lot of points. It's not like the Detroit Lions
• 25:24
  Speaker 4: or Buffalo Bills where they're putting up 30 points a game.
• 25:27
  Speaker 4: So they feel like, man, if our defense can keep,
• 25:29
  Speaker 4: you know, neutralize the Steelers and we can keep, you know,
• 25:33
  Speaker 4: keep this in a dogfight scrap match, man, we can
• 25:36
  Speaker 4: get out of this building with a field goal win,
• 25:38
  Speaker 4: you know? So I think the Saints aren't as bad
• 25:43
  Speaker 4: as people say. I think they've been in a lot
• 25:45
  Speaker 4: of dogfights that they just haven't been able to be
• 25:49
  Speaker 4: on the good side of things. I mean, the Raiders
• 25:52
  Speaker 4: are on a three-game losing streak, but we know they're
• 25:54
  Speaker 4: a damn good team, right? So I think it's just different,
• 25:58
  Speaker 4: and it's unfortunate that the main bugable is the injuries.
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I wouldn't by any means say, oh, the
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: Steelers are going to go over to Stade de France.
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: And come up with a big win. Yeah, just wipe
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: them off the floor.
• 26:13
  Speaker 3: You know what I mean? I expect the Steelers to
• 26:14
  Speaker 3: win the game. I think you're the better team. Correct.
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: Better team doesn't always win, man.
• 26:19
  Speaker 4: You know?
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: Doesn't always win.
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: So, listen, I wanted to get to a couple of
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: bits of news. So, let's start with, let's go ahead
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: and start with, we talked about Terry McCollin yesterday. And
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: that's just a blow for the commanders, you know? A
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: couple years ago, they break through. I've talked about this before.
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: There's always a team that breaks through, and then the
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: next year, regression comes. The schedule gets harder. People get
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: a better game plan for you. I go back to
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: when the Jaguars came into then-Hines Field and beat the
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: Steelers in the first round of the playoffs. Blake Bortles,
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: they had like eight pro bowlers, seven or eight pro bowlers.
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: They really looked like a team on the rise. Well,
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: you know, A lot of things went right for them
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: that year. Those guys weren't able to duplicate their all-pro seasons.
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: They had a tougher schedule. All the things that happened
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: where there's a regression team. Well, the Commanders regressed last year,
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: but a lot of it was because Jaden Daniels got hurt.
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: And now you're trying to struggle back to prove that
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: you're a team that can compete, Willie, in the NFC East.
• 27:31
  Speaker 3: And then McCollum getting hurt. That is just.
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: I mean, he's obviously the top weapon there.
• 27:37
  Speaker 3: That's a big blow for them.
• 27:40
  Speaker 4: Yeah, Torin Patel is a tough injury to come back from.
• 27:43
  Speaker 4: Many have been able to do it, but he's just
• 27:45
  Speaker 4: quite not the same player along with Torin Achilles. Sometimes
• 27:50
  Speaker 4: when those injuries happen, man, you expect the guy to
• 27:53
  Speaker 4: kind of fall back in line, but it takes a
• 27:55
  Speaker 4: little bit. With all that said, man, a lot of
• 27:58
  Speaker 4: the issues with the Commanders as you push forward, is
• 28:02
  Speaker 4: the fact that not only Jaden Daniels seems to be
• 28:04
  Speaker 4: the only corner offense they can generate, that the run
• 28:08
  Speaker 4: game was supposed to be, you know, one of the
• 28:10
  Speaker 4: things they focused on in the offseason to be better.
• 28:13
  Speaker 4: They didn't want the injury-prone quarterback to be, you know,
• 28:16
  Speaker 4: able to be focused so much on his legs. We
• 28:18
  Speaker 4: know he can deliver for the pocket, and I think
• 28:20
  Speaker 4: they were able to show that they can be explosive.
• 28:22
  Speaker 4: They did it early in the game. against the Redskins,
• 28:25
  Speaker 4: and they were able to kind of, you know, put
• 28:27
  Speaker 4: some things together, especially late in that game. I think
• 28:29
  Speaker 4: they had 224 yards off into the second half, and
• 28:32
  Speaker 4: the Niners fell flat. Jaden Gaines right now and Dan Quinn,
• 28:36
  Speaker 4: the main headline coming out of that building is the
• 28:38
  Speaker 4: fact that, you know, situational football and just understanding what's
• 28:44
  Speaker 4: needed to be done and how to execute it and
• 28:46
  Speaker 4: got to have a moment seems to be, you know,
• 28:49
  Speaker 4: just seems to be, That, to be honest with you,
• 28:53
  Speaker 4: when you talk about the end of that second quarter,
• 28:56
  Speaker 4: fourth and two, Daniels throw away the ball. They can't
• 28:59
  Speaker 4: get the field goal team out there. Coming off back-to-back
• 29:01
  Speaker 4: weeks where there seems to be some disconnect and lack
• 29:05
  Speaker 4: of communication that really plagues the impact of the game,
• 29:09
  Speaker 4: it's tough to understand how, from a professional outfit like
• 29:14
  Speaker 4: the Commanders, how those things happen in week six. They're
• 29:18
  Speaker 4: trying to figure out what's happening, why isn't it happening,
• 29:21
  Speaker 4: how come this happened in back-to-back week where the head coach, quarterback,
• 29:25
  Speaker 4: and the guys in the booth aren't in line, what
• 29:27
  Speaker 4: to do, and those got to happen moments. That's what
• 29:30
  Speaker 4: leads to bad football. I do think the Redskins are
• 29:33
  Speaker 4: excuse me, Redskins, I apologize, the Commanders are a scrappy team.
• 29:36
  Speaker 4: I think their defense is tough. I think I'm extremely
• 29:40
  Speaker 4: impressed with Sonny Stiles. They have some guys on the
• 29:43
  Speaker 4: back end that make plays. They're one of those teams
• 29:45
  Speaker 4: that continue to put things in place and build on
• 29:49
  Speaker 4: the little foundational pieces they have just to be better,
• 29:52
  Speaker 4: but it's not easy. Until they find other forms of
• 29:58
  Speaker 4: offense outside of Jamie Daniels, they're going to be this team.
• 30:01
  Speaker 4: They're going to be good enough, but not that great
• 30:04
  Speaker 4: when they need to be great. And so I don't
• 30:06
  Speaker 4: think it's a talent issue. It may be now because,
• 30:08
  Speaker 4: you know, McCormick being down. And they struggle on the ground.
• 30:15
  Speaker 4: But at the end of the day, Jada Daniels has
• 30:18
  Speaker 4: way too much on his plate. And he's shown at
• 30:21
  Speaker 4: times that he's not as dialed in as he can be.
• 30:24
  Speaker 4: And I think he showed that in the second quarter
• 30:26
  Speaker 4: when he threw the ball out of bounds. that ultimately
• 30:28
  Speaker 4: ended the half and left points on the field.
• 30:32
  Speaker 3: So Max, some news to get to.
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: Let's start with something that broke yesterday after we got
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: off the air and that is the re-signing of Marquez
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: Valdez-Scantling as a wide receiver and added to the practice squad.
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: Obviously the Steelers had to bring up a couple of guys,
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: Brandon Johnson and Brandon Smith from the practice squad to
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: play wide receiver for him. So Your thoughts about that
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: move and bringing MVS back into the fold?
• 30:59
  Speaker 5: I mean, this is one of those where, you know,
• 31:02
  Speaker 5: you just go with what you need is comfortable, right?
• 31:09
  Speaker 5: I mean, I think that's the biggest thing that we've
• 31:11
  Speaker 5: learned is that, you know, MVS has a good relationship
• 31:15
  Speaker 5: with Aaron Rodgers. And when you're down receivers like down
• 31:18
  Speaker 5: Roman Wilson, down Michael Pittman, and down Ben Skoranek, You
• 31:23
  Speaker 5: need some reinforcements, and why not bring a guy who
• 31:25
  Speaker 5: already knows his system? Obviously, he knows Mike McCarthy's system,
• 31:29
  Speaker 5: and he also has a familiarity with not only the
• 31:32
  Speaker 5: Steelers organization but also Aaron Rodgers. So it kind of
• 31:34
  Speaker 5: just makes sense to bring him in, get him on
• 31:37
  Speaker 5: the practice squad, see how fast he can get up
• 31:38
  Speaker 5: to speed to see if he can possibly help bolster
• 31:40
  Speaker 5: a position group that's not as deep as it once was.
• 31:45
  Speaker 5: So I just kind of look at it from that perspective,
• 31:48
  Speaker 5: like this is kind of what we kind of expect, right?
• 31:53
  Speaker 3: Willie, any thoughts on that signing?
• 31:57
  Speaker 4: Not really. MVS was serviceable last year. You know, it's
• 32:03
  Speaker 4: always good to know the principal, right? Keeps you out
• 32:05
  Speaker 4: of detention. So, you know, it's a buddy pass. I
• 32:10
  Speaker 4: get it. That's his guy. That's Aaron Rodgers' guy. As
• 32:13
  Speaker 4: Max stated, you know, there's a relationship there. There's a
• 32:17
  Speaker 4: trust there. I've seen some games where MVS was good
• 32:21
  Speaker 4: for us, and I've seen some games where he wasn't.
• 32:24
  Speaker 4: I understand the signing. I just don't expect much from it. Hopefully,
• 32:28
  Speaker 4: we'll reach out to you.
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: You know, when he just was briefly there, I think,
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: for Mike McCarthy, right? He was 18, where Mike McCarthy
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: was let go, and Philbin, Joe Philbin, became the head coach.
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: Do you think there's any kind of system familiarity, Willie,
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: or is that just way too long.
• 32:52
  Speaker 3: Ago to be a factor?
• 32:54
  Speaker 4: It may be, but I think right now the offense
• 32:56
  Speaker 4: goes through Aaron Rodgers and wherever he needs MBS to be,
• 33:00
  Speaker 4: he's going to be. I think when you talk about
• 33:03
  Speaker 4: what needs to happen with this offense moving forward, they
• 33:06
  Speaker 4: just need to be more explosive. And Aaron Rodgers doesn't,
• 33:08
  Speaker 4: as of right now, throwing the ball 50 times a game,
• 33:14
  Speaker 4: this isn't it. So they're going to have to figure
• 33:16
  Speaker 4: out one how can they be more, I guess, show
• 33:20
  Speaker 4: more range in the run game to continue to throw
• 33:23
  Speaker 4: the ball in the middle of the field, allow our,
• 33:25
  Speaker 4: allow our, you know, our tight ends to have an
• 33:27
  Speaker 4: impact in games. We know they can do it. And
• 33:29
  Speaker 4: I think if we have, I think there needs to
• 33:32
  Speaker 4: be a more balanced approach about throwing the ball. And
• 33:37
  Speaker 4: Rogers was, I mean, when he needed to step up
• 33:38
  Speaker 4: in that game against Buccaneers, he did. I mean, he
• 33:40
  Speaker 4: used his legs and avoided some sacks. He was able
• 33:42
  Speaker 4: to deliver the ball. He got the ball to hand
• 33:45
  Speaker 4: and the hands of Jalen Warren and, was able to
• 33:47
  Speaker 4: feed DK and obviously Jeremy Bernard. But as this thing
• 33:52
  Speaker 4: starts to kind of grind and, you know, form a shape,
• 33:57
  Speaker 4: there has to be a more consistent effort of not
• 34:00
  Speaker 4: giving up on a run game. And if the run
• 34:02
  Speaker 4: game falls flat, let's start manufacturing some things where we're
• 34:06
  Speaker 4: not only getting Jalen Warren the ball, but we're getting
• 34:08
  Speaker 4: Jeremy Bernard the ball. We're getting, you know, Pat Ferrum
• 34:10
  Speaker 4: with the ball. I mean, we have weapons. We just
• 34:13
  Speaker 4: have to do a better job peppering it around. and
• 34:16
  Speaker 4: not have Aaron Rodgers sit back in the well and
• 34:18
  Speaker 4: throw the football. Just give it the ball, get the
• 34:20
  Speaker 4: ball to our playmakers, let them do what they do,
• 34:22
  Speaker 4: and just have a more of a balanced attack in
• 34:25
  Speaker 4: that regard. So, I mean, everybody that, you know, I
• 34:29
  Speaker 4: think if we're being honest, Aaron Rodgers can still throw
• 34:31
  Speaker 4: the ball at a high level. He's still playing well
• 34:34
  Speaker 4: enough to win games. But the goal is not to
• 34:36
  Speaker 4: win October. It's to get to December and play meaningful
• 34:40
  Speaker 4: games in December and win in January. So when we
• 34:42
  Speaker 4: win in January, where are we at in February? So
• 34:46
  Speaker 4: you have to start thinking about the preservation of a
• 34:48
  Speaker 4: 43-year-old quarterback. And as of right now, we're leaning on
• 34:53
  Speaker 4: him a lot. And I get who he is and
• 34:55
  Speaker 4: what his resume looks like. But at some point, we've
• 34:58
  Speaker 4: got to start putting bricks in other people's pockets so
• 35:00
  Speaker 4: they can carry this load. Because a 43-year-old quarterback throwing
• 35:03
  Speaker 4: the ball 50 times a game, 40 times a game,
• 35:06
  Speaker 4: every Sunday, with the protection that's been spotty but steady, nevertheless,
• 35:13
  Speaker 4: I start thinking ahead to December and what the Steelers
• 35:16
  Speaker 4: could look like. Now, in Valley, I think they should
• 35:18
  Speaker 4: start gaining some steam. This game against the Saints, hopefully
• 35:22
  Speaker 4: they win it, get it done, and continue to move
• 35:24
  Speaker 4: on and get back in the hunt in the division.
• 35:28
  Speaker 4: But I just know come December, man, there's some games
• 35:31
  Speaker 4: we've got to win in two of those games late
• 35:33
  Speaker 4: in the season on Baltimore Ravens.
• 35:35
  Speaker 3: Yep, which makes it so much fun, doesn't it? So
• 35:39
  Speaker 3: a weekly award.
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: Won by one of the members of the Steelers for
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: a second consecutive week. We're going to get to that.
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: Jim Wexel is going to be joining us a little
• 35:46
  Speaker 2: bit later on as well when we continue in the
• 35:49
  Speaker 2: locker room here on the Steelers Audio Network.
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio. Brought to you
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: And thank you very much for being with us in
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: the locker room along with Willie Colon and Max Sarks.
• 36:26
  Speaker 3: I'm Rob King. Justin Miller controls in our iHeart Studio.
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: And so Jalen Ramsey for the third time in his
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: career has been named Max as the AFC Defensive Player
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: of the Week for his performance against Tampa Bay. As
• 36:41
  Speaker 2: the release said, recorded career highs of 10 tackles, 9 solos,
• 36:47
  Speaker 2: and 4 tackles for loss. And he also matched a
• 36:52
  Speaker 2: career high with 2 sacks. So his most ever tackles,
• 36:55
  Speaker 2: his most ever tackles for loss, and tied for his
• 36:59
  Speaker 2: most ever sacks. And, you know, we were kind of
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: playing around because of our buddy Bill Priatko, who turned
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: 95 on Friday last week, you know, playing off the
• 37:10
  Speaker 2: 95 theme. And he said, you needed 90 and 5.
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: 90 meaning T.J. Watt, 5 meaning either 5 players or
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: number 5, Jalen Ramsey, rallying to the ball. Well, first play,
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: Jalen Ramsey comes up with a, a five-yard loss of
• 37:25
  Speaker 2: Bucky Irving, and then ended the game with a sack,
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: and in between, Max, was just spectacular.
• 37:32
  Speaker 3: Phenomenal game by Jalen Ramsey.
• 37:34
  Speaker 5: Jalen Ramsey was an absolute maniac in the game, and
• 37:39
  Speaker 5: like you said, when you needed that extra push, he
• 37:44
  Speaker 5: was that guy. He gave you everything you needed. I
• 37:49
  Speaker 5: just look at just starting that game early, and him
• 37:52
  Speaker 5: just already affecting the game the way that he did
• 37:56
  Speaker 5: was just kind of one of those things where it
• 37:58
  Speaker 5: was like, this is indicative. This is what we expect
• 38:00
  Speaker 5: from Jalen Ramsey. He is a guy that's going to
• 38:04
  Speaker 5: be a problem, and he made play after play after play,
• 38:09
  Speaker 5: and it was just so awesome to kind of see
• 38:12
  Speaker 5: him in that element play a loose game and be
• 38:17
  Speaker 5: a big factor and no bigger play than the one
• 38:19
  Speaker 5: at the end of the game. So, I mean, from
• 38:21
  Speaker 5: start to finish, he just filled. He's a great blitzer
• 38:25
  Speaker 5: off the edge. He's a great guy that knows how
• 38:27
  Speaker 5: to sack the quarterback. And he just has a knack
• 38:30
  Speaker 5: for being a defensive X factor. And I really enjoyed him.
• 38:33
  Speaker 5: We talked about it during the game. No surprise that
• 38:35
  Speaker 5: he would have gotten this. In back-to-back weeks, we've had
• 38:37
  Speaker 5: players that have been, you know, offensive and defensive players
• 38:40
  Speaker 5: of the week because of their play. And, you know,
• 38:43
  Speaker 5: this is what you need right now this time of year.
• 38:45
  Speaker 5: You need the guys that can be the vocal leaders
• 38:48
  Speaker 5: and also the physical leaders on the field. And Jalen Ramsey,
• 38:51
  Speaker 5: well-deserved credit. Kudos to him. Willie.
• 39:01
  Speaker 4: Sorry, I got disconnected.
• 39:02
  Speaker 3: That's all right. Oh, my goodness. The trials and tribulations continue.
• 39:08
  Speaker 4: The road life, dog. I apologize. Can you give it
• 39:10
  Speaker 4: to me again?
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: Just talking about Jalen Ramsey, defensive player of the week.
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: You know, matched his career high with two sacks. Career
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: high with 10 tackles for him. That surprises me because
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: he's just such an aggressive player. And a career high,
• 39:26
  Speaker 2: four tackles for losses. I mean, just a phenomenal game
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: by Jalen Ramsey.
• 39:32
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think he's one of the most underrated pieces
• 39:35
  Speaker 4: we have on defense. I think his versatility continues to
• 39:39
  Speaker 4: show that he has a lot left in the tank,
• 39:41
  Speaker 4: especially a guy who's dealing with some injuries that we
• 39:43
  Speaker 4: thought may have sidelined him, but that's not the case.
• 39:45
  Speaker 4: I think he's going out there leading this group that
• 39:47
  Speaker 4: definitely needs it, especially it's hard to win on the road, man.
• 39:51
  Speaker 4: It's not an easy task. You definitely need all hands
• 39:53
  Speaker 4: on deck. Jay Ramsey continues to show that he can
• 39:56
  Speaker 4: impact the game in multiple ways. He can cover. He's
• 39:58
  Speaker 4: a short tackler, and he's able to rush the quarterback
• 40:00
  Speaker 4: when he's coming off the edge on a blitz. I'm
• 40:03
  Speaker 4: a fan of his work because when you lose a
• 40:05
  Speaker 4: guy like Joey Porter Jr., you know he has a
• 40:07
  Speaker 4: tight relationship with. You can let it affect you, but
• 40:11
  Speaker 4: it didn't. If anything, he has stepped up and allowed
• 40:14
  Speaker 4: his play to really kind of go to the next level. So,
• 40:17
  Speaker 4: He's another battle horse the Steelers need, and with all
• 40:20
  Speaker 4: that said, man, I'm glad he's ours.
• 40:23
  Speaker 3: For sure.
• 40:25
  Speaker 2: One of the things, too, Willie, we've been kind of
• 40:28
  Speaker 2: kicking around a little bit, and we're going to have
• 40:31
  Speaker 2: you get your licks in because you're not going to
• 40:32
  Speaker 2: be with us on Friday, but.
• 40:35
  Speaker 3: I hope I see more of this.
• 40:36
  Speaker 2: I would expect to see more of this this week
• 40:41
  Speaker 2: because even though Shuck is an older guy, he's also
• 40:44
  Speaker 2: still an inexperienced guy.
• 40:47
  Speaker 3: And I still think that.
• 40:48
  Speaker 4: Well, Chuck is young, Rob, if you will. He's not
• 40:51
  Speaker 4: that old. Who?
• 40:53
  Speaker 3: Chuck?
• 40:54
  Speaker 4: Yeah, Tyler Chuck, the quarterback.
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 40:57
  Speaker 3: I mean, he's– Yeah.
• 40:58
  Speaker 4: Go ahead. I mean, he's not– he's not– he's not–
• 41:01
  Speaker 4: Kirk Cousins old. I mean, but he's still– Right, right, yeah.
• 41:04
  Speaker 2: I'm just saying– I'm just saying when people see a
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: second-year guy, they don't expect to see 27 next to
• 41:11
  Speaker 2: his name.
• 41:12
  Speaker 4: I understand. I apologize. I understand. I understand.
• 41:14
  Speaker 3: We were talking about.
• 41:14
  Speaker 2: That a little bit in the first block when you
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: were not getting up and down in your elevator. He
• 41:22
  Speaker 2: had injury problems. I was talking to our buddy Matt Williamson,
• 41:26
  Speaker 2: who does a lot of draft stuff and used to
• 41:28
  Speaker 2: work in the front office with the Cleveland Browns. He
• 41:31
  Speaker 2: thought if Shuck was 22 or 23 instead of 26
• 41:37
  Speaker 2: coming out of college, he thought he'd be a first-rounder.
• 41:39
  Speaker 2: But he's still... had some inexperience, I think is the
• 41:42
  Speaker 2: point I was trying to make at the NFL level.
• 41:44
  Speaker 2: And so, you know, hopefully he's a guy, because it's
• 41:48
  Speaker 2: fun to watch that Steelers aggression that we saw in
• 41:52
  Speaker 2: Tampa Bay. Maybe it's not always the best way to
• 41:54
  Speaker 2: go for victory, but in this week it might be
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: the best way to go for victory when you're going
• 41:59
  Speaker 2: against a guy who's still getting his sea legs under him.
• 42:02
  Speaker 3: At the NFL level.
• 42:05
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and you know, he's also, he'll not only throw it,
• 42:09
  Speaker 4: but he'll use his legs. That's one aspect of his
• 42:11
  Speaker 4: game that when you watch him, he will run it
• 42:16
  Speaker 4: on you, especially if the pockets collapse. If he can
• 42:18
  Speaker 4: escape out and get yards and catch the defense with
• 42:20
  Speaker 4: their back turn, he'll use whatever he can to get
• 42:24
  Speaker 4: a yard. I think that's one of the things this
• 42:27
  Speaker 4: fan base and people continue to talk about when it
• 42:29
  Speaker 4: comes to him in particular. You can watch his development.
• 42:32
  Speaker 4: You see him get struggled. He has cost him some
• 42:34
  Speaker 4: games earlier this year by throwing some picks in the
• 42:36
  Speaker 4: second half, especially in at times when they needed to,
• 42:39
  Speaker 4: you know, get a touchdown. But his development and how
• 42:43
  Speaker 4: he approaches the game, you have to respect. And I
• 42:46
  Speaker 4: see a scrappy kid who takes the game seriously. Kellen
• 42:49
  Speaker 4: Moore loves team rally round. And, you know, with some
• 42:52
  Speaker 4: of the pieces, if they were available, he would be
• 42:54
  Speaker 4: a lot better quarterback and this would be a lot
• 42:56
  Speaker 4: better offense. I just think this is a team right
• 42:59
  Speaker 4: now that the Steelers can't just walk up on and
• 43:02
  Speaker 4: bring their B game. Like, this is going to have
• 43:05
  Speaker 4: to be an A game performance because of all the
• 43:07
  Speaker 4: distractions around this game, right? Like, I don't know how
• 43:09
  Speaker 4: much Max– me and Max have never been a part
• 43:12
  Speaker 4: of anything like this. I've never played in London. But
• 43:15
  Speaker 4: thinking about everything that's going into this game, the travel,
• 43:18
  Speaker 4: the extra security, you know, these guys are going to–
• 43:21
  Speaker 4: things are going to be different for these guys, for
• 43:23
  Speaker 4: both teams. So it's going to take the Steelers to
• 43:27
  Speaker 4: lock in because– as much as we know about what's
• 43:34
  Speaker 4: going on in France, you know, guys are going to
• 43:35
  Speaker 4: be bringing their families. There's going to be things going
• 43:39
  Speaker 4: on off the field that is going to be pulling
• 43:40
  Speaker 4: their attention. So this Saints team right now, they feel like, hey, man,
• 43:45
  Speaker 4: you know, we are what we are, but if we
• 43:47
  Speaker 4: can stay in this game for four quarters with the
• 43:49
  Speaker 4: quarterback we have and a defense that continues to play
• 43:52
  Speaker 4: well enough, especially led by Chase Young, we can get
• 43:55
  Speaker 4: the Steelers. So, I just want to see the Steelers
• 43:59
  Speaker 4: play a complete game of football, and hopefully we get
• 44:02
  Speaker 4: it done this Sunday.
• 44:03
  Speaker 2: Do you think they'll be aggressive, Max? I mean, they
• 44:06
  Speaker 2: don't have a Jonathan Taylor or a Bucky. I mean, look,
• 44:10
  Speaker 2: any NFL player can beat you, and Kendra Miller is
• 44:13
  Speaker 2: the guy taking over right now with Travis A.
• 44:15
  Speaker 3: Chan out.
• 44:17
  Speaker 2: But it would seem to me that this would be
• 44:21
  Speaker 2: another opportunity for you to be aggressive. Now, saying that,
• 44:24
  Speaker 2: They're coming off a game in which they scored 34 points.
• 44:26
  Speaker 2: It's not like this team isn't capable, as Willie mentioned,
• 44:30
  Speaker 2: of putting up points. But I'll be interested to see
• 44:32
  Speaker 2: if it's going to be more like the aggressive defense
• 44:36
  Speaker 2: that they played last week as they go to Paris
• 44:40
  Speaker 2: and Stade de France to play the Saints come Sunday.
• 44:47
  Speaker 5: Yeah, and I think this is– With this game, I mean,
• 44:53
  Speaker 5: there's a lot at stake, right? You know, for both
• 44:57
  Speaker 5: of these organizations.
• 44:58
  Speaker 3: For both teams, that's right.
• 44:59
  Speaker 5: Yeah. So I think, you know, you take this with
• 45:05
  Speaker 5: a grain of salt, right? You take it with what
• 45:10
  Speaker 5: it is in the moment. And I say that to
• 45:13
  Speaker 5: say we've got to be on our A game because
• 45:15
  Speaker 5: what is the next game? And you go from being two...
• 45:22
  Speaker 5: 3-0 on your streak to 3-0. And it's the next
• 45:26
  Speaker 5: opponent that's up. And for the month of October, you
• 45:29
  Speaker 5: close the month of October out on top. And you
• 45:33
  Speaker 5: don't finish it 50-50. You finish out 3-1 for the month,
• 45:37
  Speaker 5: and then you start November with somebody, and you can
• 45:40
  Speaker 5: kind of exact revenge on a previous loss. So this
• 45:44
  Speaker 5: is a very important game for the Steelers as they
• 45:47
  Speaker 5: travel across. And, yes, the Saints are the home team.
• 45:50
  Speaker 5: That's why they're leaving so early and getting all acclimated
• 45:53
  Speaker 5: to Paris. But it's a business trip for the Steelers.
• 45:56
  Speaker 5: You know, they're here to do business and get back. And,
• 45:59
  Speaker 5: you know, a quote-unquote shorter week because of the travel distance.
• 46:03
  Speaker 5: But still, it's just one game along the way. Yes,
• 46:06
  Speaker 5: it's nice to be international. Yes, it's nice to see
• 46:08
  Speaker 5: a new country and open the game of football to
• 46:11
  Speaker 5: a new fan base. But at the end of the day,
• 46:13
  Speaker 5: it's still Saints-Steelers, whether it's in Accresure, whether it's in
• 46:15
  Speaker 5: the Superdome, or whether it's in the Stade de France.
• 46:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah, please do. Please do.
• 46:22
  Speaker 4: No, luckily, I also think the Steelers have to be
• 46:24
  Speaker 4: careful because I think they, as much as we know
• 46:28
  Speaker 4: what the Steelers can do offensively and validate, really didn't
• 46:31
  Speaker 4: show up until late in the second half of that game,
• 46:34
  Speaker 4: and they were able to get it done. But the
• 46:35
  Speaker 4: Saints understand that if you give Aaron Rodgers multiple chops
• 46:38
  Speaker 4: at the wood, man, he's going to chop it down.
• 46:41
  Speaker 4: You know, the Saints ran the ball 38 times, and
• 46:44
  Speaker 4: against the Giants, man, and it helped them. I think
• 46:47
  Speaker 4: they had 175 yards. And so, valid with some of
• 46:50
  Speaker 4: the injuries they had, they want to play a more
• 46:53
  Speaker 4: grind it out, time-controlled, dink and dunk, take your shots
• 46:57
  Speaker 4: when you can type of offense. So, if the Steelers don't,
• 47:01
  Speaker 4: you know, if they don't come out hot, man, they
• 47:03
  Speaker 4: may not have a lot of bite at the apple, right?
• 47:05
  Speaker 4: And so, it's going to be imperative for our defense
• 47:09
  Speaker 4: to show up, one, and two, understand that this is
• 47:13
  Speaker 4: a game where you can't settle for threes. We understand
• 47:16
  Speaker 4: what Chris Boswell is capable of and how much he
• 47:19
  Speaker 4: impacts this team. I mean, he's kept us in a
• 47:22
  Speaker 4: lot of fights and helped us win a lot of games.
• 47:24
  Speaker 4: But this has to be a game where the Steelers
• 47:26
  Speaker 4: in the run game, they have to get in the
• 47:28
  Speaker 4: red zone and score points because this Saints team, they
• 47:32
  Speaker 4: don't want to give them the ball back a lot.
• 47:34
  Speaker 4: They want to grind it out, and they want to
• 47:36
  Speaker 4: lean on whatever running back they have on top of
• 47:38
  Speaker 4: Tyler Shook. to dinky-dunk methodical down the field.
• 47:42
  Speaker 2: Yep, and again, you know, New Orleans, we'll talk more
• 47:46
  Speaker 2: about this game from their perspective.
• 47:47
  Speaker 3: We've got to take a break right now because this
• 47:49
  Speaker 3: is a huge game for the Saints.
• 47:51
  Speaker 2: We'll underscore why it is, and we'll have Jim Wexel
• 47:54
  Speaker 2: joining us in a little bit as well. We continue
• 47:56
  Speaker 2: in the locker room here on the Steelers Audio Network.