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

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 0:07
  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
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: That's right. Cue the big rig, baby.
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: It's power hour in full effect here. Hour number two
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: on a victory donut Monday, Rob. Did you have your
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: donut coming down from DV?
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: I want to know. Don't don't short me.
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: Willie, something that you need to know is that I
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: dropped the ball last week. Well, obviously I wasn't on
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: the show, so I completely dropped the ball because of
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: my travel schedule. But, um, Normally on Mondays, it's Victory
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: Donut Monday. We transitioned from Victory Monday to Victory Donut
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: Monday because Wolf and Wes used to come into the
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: studio and they would bring donuts. And, you know, they'd
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: have donuts in there. And so we kind of transitioned
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: it to that. And we actually had a shirt made.
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: And I had to figure out which of our fans
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: actually sent us a shirt with Victory Donut Monday on
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: it to make sure that you and Rob have the
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: appropriate apparel. and swag for Steelers Victory Mondays, but it
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: is otherwise known as Victory Donut Monday inside the locker room.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: So I thought you'd appreciate that.
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: And we usually celebrate with a donut toast, but obviously
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: my donut is on my car and not in my mouth.
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: Yeah, well, we need to– yes, glaze. Thank you.
• 1:54
  Speaker 5: Glazed?
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: Okay, glazed.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: Good, good, good.
• 1:57
  Speaker 6: I normally am a filled donut guy. I like the jelly.
• 2:02
  Speaker 6: I'm a jelly donut, cream-filled donut guy. Maybe a little
• 2:07
  Speaker 6: powdered jelly. You know, a little powdered jelly, a little
• 2:09
  Speaker 6: cinnamon jelly would be my normal go-to.
• 2:11
  Speaker 4: You like the accoutrements on yours. What's that?
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: You like the accoutrements.
• 2:16
  Speaker 4: I do, but I like a good glaze, too.
• 2:19
  Speaker 6: And, you know, as you get older and your taste
• 2:22
  Speaker 6: buds evolve and change, I remember the plain donuts.
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: Sinkers, we used to call them.
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: I don't know what they're called.
• 2:30
  Speaker 6: Oh, yeah.
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: Well, the Dunkers. Yeah, the Dunkers.
• 2:31
  Speaker 5: Yeah, the Dunkers.
• 2:32
  Speaker 6: When you're dipping your coffee, the old-fashioned.
• 2:34
  Speaker 4: Old-fashioned.
• 2:35
  Speaker 6: That's exactly right. They're old-fashioned. I remember thinking as a kid, like,
• 2:38
  Speaker 6: what's the point? But now I like the old-fashioned donut,
• 2:41
  Speaker 6: you know? A big, chunky, old-fashioned donut. I've always liked
• 2:46
  Speaker 6: the cinnamon donut, but just a plain, old-fashioned donut, it's
• 2:49
  Speaker 6: a good way to go.
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: There's nothing wrong with that. Willie, what is your donut
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: of choice when you do partake?
• 2:56
  Speaker 5: Oh, man. So I'm a cinnamon donut guy. I'm also
• 3:03
  Speaker 5: a chocolate frosted donut guy. I am also old-fashioned. Not old-fashioned.
• 3:09
  Speaker 5: What's the French curlers?
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: Oh, the curlers.
• 3:13
  Speaker 5: Yeah, the curlers. Yep. If I had to pick another
• 3:17
  Speaker 5: one for the win, I've got to be honest. Yeah,
• 3:24
  Speaker 5: I think I'm going to– no, I don't like that.
• 3:27
  Speaker 5: I'm lying.
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: Apple fritter. Ooh, apple fritter.
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: Oh, that's a good call. That's a good call. Quality choice.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: Quality choice.
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: That's way up there.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm blessed.
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: I'm out here, and we have a Randy's donut out here,
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: obviously from L.A.
• 3:44
  Speaker 5: I had Randy's when I was out in L.A. Delicious.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: I was about to say, yeah. So, Randy, the cronut.
• 3:49
  Speaker 5: Their croissant donut.
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: Oh, my God.
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: Oh, so good.
• 3:54
  Speaker 5: Those are big in New York.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so the cronut goes hard in the paint. Maple
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: bacon Long John is still one of my favorites. I mean, listen,
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: anytime you get bacon and that little maple-y frosting.
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: On the donut, I mean, it's awesome. But I'm right
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: there with you guys. I love a good old-fashioned, but
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: I like the glazed old-fashioned.
• 4:20
  Speaker 5: Okay.
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: Where it's kind of like– it almost looks like a
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: cake-style donut, right?
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: So that's one.
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: And, of course, you'll never beat an OG glaze from
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: Krispy Kreme.
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: You'll just never beat an OG glaze. Okay. I have
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: to interject here because it is the late lunch hour, right?
• 4:35
  Speaker 6: 1 o'clock. Good time to take your lunch. Get that
• 4:39
  Speaker 6: five hours of work in. Get your lunch in. Two
• 4:41
  Speaker 6: hours of work when you get back.
• 4:43
  Speaker 5: Yep.
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: It's a good way to plan your day.
• 4:45
  Speaker 6: But the bacon– Maple donut is a little like this
• 4:49
  Speaker 6: to me. So we were watching the Stanley Tucci show.
• 4:54
  Speaker 6: Talk about a job. Stanley Tucci travels around Italy and
• 4:58
  Speaker 6: eats food. I'm like, sign me up, man.
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: Isn't it called Eataly or something?
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think it is.
• 5:02
  Speaker 6: It's like, why can't I have that job? I would
• 5:05
  Speaker 6: love that job. I'd be great at that job.
• 5:08
  Speaker 4: I'd eat.
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: You need a bald head or you need the round glasses.
• 5:11
  Speaker 4: And Italian helps.
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: And you might have a shot.
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: Italian helps. He was eating this.
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: King feels very Anglo-Saxon.
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: Not very Italian. Yes, yeah, unfortunately.
• 5:21
  Speaker 6: So we went there for my wife and I celebrated
• 5:25
  Speaker 6: our 30th anniversary. Our kids came over with us last summer,
• 5:29
  Speaker 6: and we were watching the Stanley Tucci show to get
• 5:32
  Speaker 6: ourselves ready.
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: I went to the mozzarella farm he suggested. It was phenomenal.
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: The best mozzarella cheese I've ever had. It was incredible.
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: I'm not a big mozzarella guy. I mean, I like it.
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: It's fine. I like sharp cheese usually. Incredible. Fantastic. So
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: we were going to Florence, and they have.
• 5:48
  Speaker 6: This big market, and you can go and you get
• 5:50
  Speaker 6: the third, because I guess a cow has four stomachs,
• 5:53
  Speaker 6: the third cow stomach sandwich. And my son's like, I'm
• 5:57
  Speaker 6: down for that. I'm like, I'll do it with you. Well,
• 5:59
  Speaker 6: that morning I woke up with a really bad stomach.
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: I wasn't feeling well. I had a little bit of
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: a fever.
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: Your first stomach was not happy about.
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: Eating a third stomach? I was like, uh-uh, man, I'm out.
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: I'm not doing it.
• 6:10
  Speaker 6: So he had it, but that's kind of like, Third
• 6:13
  Speaker 6: cow stomach sandwich, bacon and maple donut.
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: I kind of have them in the same category, Willie.
• 6:20
  Speaker 4: I got to be honest. I don't know if I
• 6:22
  Speaker 4: can go there.
• 6:24
  Speaker 5: Hey, man, the fact that you tried a third cow
• 6:27
  Speaker 5: stomach is impressive.
• 6:28
  Speaker 4: I backed off. I didn't do it.
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: He thought about it.
• 6:31
  Speaker 4: It was a thought. I was going to do it,
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: and then I woke up. I wasn't feeling well.
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: He did not go through with it.
• 6:35
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: My son did.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: Oh, oh.
• 6:37
  Speaker 5: Yeah, well, you know what? Sometimes God knows how to
• 6:40
  Speaker 5: intervene and say, listen, we need you here, so let's
• 6:46
  Speaker 5: push that away. Yeah, I'm a risky eater. It's probably
• 6:51
  Speaker 5: my wife hates that I'm a risky eater because if
• 6:54
  Speaker 5: I like it or if I haven't had it, I
• 6:55
  Speaker 5: feel like I have to try it. It's kind of
• 6:57
  Speaker 5: like a part of being a man. The problem is
• 7:00
  Speaker 5: it usually backfires on me, and that's what she doesn't like.
• 7:03
  Speaker 5: She doesn't like the fact that I'm usually– doing a
• 7:06
  Speaker 5: 4-2 sprint to somebody's bathroom trying to lose myself. So
• 7:10
  Speaker 5: outside of that, yeah, I get it. And I'm also
• 7:13
  Speaker 5: a fan. Like, if you're in another country or somewhere
• 7:17
  Speaker 5: you haven't been, try the food. Absolutely. Don't be– I
• 7:22
  Speaker 5: hate people. I've traveled with folks like, well, is there
• 7:24
  Speaker 5: not a McDonald's or Winnie around? Like, we're in Antigua, okay?
• 7:28
  Speaker 5: We got fish. We got other things. We got other
• 7:31
  Speaker 5: things that we should– Like seafood's on the menu. Yeah. Yes. Yeah, like,
• 7:34
  Speaker 5: don't be that person. Like, I only eat certain things.
• 7:37
  Speaker 5: I'm like, well, you should have stayed your ass home.
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: All right?
• 7:39
  Speaker 5: We're on vacation. I totally agree with you.
• 7:42
  Speaker 4: I totally agree. And I was down for it.
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: What was the beer we had in Greece? What was
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: that beer we had? Remember, we got the bucket of
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: beers by the beach.
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: Oh, bitch.
• 7:51
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: Was it good? It was wet. It was cold. It
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: was amazing. Yeah.
• 8:00
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 8:02
  Speaker 6: Warm probably in Greece. Yeah, so we all agree, adventuresome eating. Okay,
• 8:06
  Speaker 6: you know what, Max? In your honor, the next time
• 8:09
  Speaker 6: we're together and we're near a donut shop, I'll get
• 8:13
  Speaker 6: a maple glazed bacon donut.
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: Maple bacon long john.
• 8:18
  Speaker 4: Okay, maple bacon long john.
• 8:20
  Speaker 5: All right. It sounds delicious. I already know you're going
• 8:22
  Speaker 5: to like it.
• 8:23
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I'll probably like it. I'll probably like it. I guess,
• 8:26
  Speaker 6: you know, maybe deep down in my gut is a
• 8:30
  Speaker 6: fear that I'll like it too much.
• 8:33
  Speaker 4: Then I'll be.
• 8:33
  Speaker 6: Dashing out every two seconds to find a maple-glazed, long-john, bacon-filled,
• 8:39
  Speaker 6: third-cow-stomach donut. So, hey, guys, I cannot get enough Jalen Warren, man.
• 8:48
  Speaker 6: I can't get enough of him. I mean, he's so good.
• 8:51
  Speaker 6: Once again, 17 carries. He's never had more than 18.
• 8:55
  Speaker 6: I understand why they don't want to play him more.
• 8:58
  Speaker 6: He's not the biggest guy. He plays so hard. By
• 9:01
  Speaker 6: the way, the other number 30 plays pretty hard too,
• 9:04
  Speaker 6: Chase Brown. He plays pretty hard, and he'll pick up
• 9:07
  Speaker 6: the blitz as well. But Jalen Warren, he's a singular guy, man,
• 9:11
  Speaker 6: just how hard he plays, the contact he takes in,
• 9:16
  Speaker 6: his true dislike of being tackled. He doesn't really care
• 9:19
  Speaker 6: for it. So he's bouncing off guys. Max calls him AFF,
• 9:24
  Speaker 6: always falling forward. I understand they want to maintain his
• 9:29
  Speaker 6: ability throughout a game. They also want to maintain his
• 9:31
  Speaker 6: ability throughout a season and not wear him down. But, man,
• 9:35
  Speaker 6: every time he gets the ball. I mean, he's one
• 9:37
  Speaker 6: of their biggest playmakers. You know, he's just such a
• 9:40
  Speaker 6: great playmaker.
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: Dynamic.
• 9:43
  Speaker 5: Yeah. Yeah. I think you're right, Max. He is dynamic.
• 9:47
  Speaker 5: And I think. One of the things that I've fallen
• 9:49
  Speaker 5: in love with is his ability to catch the football, too.
• 9:54
  Speaker 5: I think that's one aspect of his game people don't
• 9:56
  Speaker 5: talk about. If you talk about some of the premier
• 10:00
  Speaker 5: backs around the league, like the Jameer Gibbs, the B.
• 10:03
  Speaker 5: John Robinsons, or even the Saquon, or even Kenneth Walker now,
• 10:08
  Speaker 5: one trait they all have is they're great contact-balanced runners,
• 10:14
  Speaker 5: meaning that they can take a hit and still be
• 10:17
  Speaker 5: able to turn their feet over and get yards. They're
• 10:19
  Speaker 5: able to kind of lower their scene of gravity and
• 10:22
  Speaker 5: push through tackles or arm tackles. So we know he
• 10:26
  Speaker 5: has that aspect of him. We've seen it. I think
• 10:28
  Speaker 5: the next step for him is using him as a
• 10:31
  Speaker 5: legit weapon out of the backfield, which we have seen before.
• 10:36
  Speaker 5: But I think we also have to start using him
• 10:38
  Speaker 5: and having more pass-designed plays for him because of his
• 10:42
  Speaker 5: ability to catch the football. So obviously another impressive day
• 10:46
  Speaker 5: for Jalen Warren, man. Didn't he have 127 yards? or
• 10:50
  Speaker 5: something like that.
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and around 176 total on 20 touchdowns.
• 10:54
  Speaker 4: From scrimmage, yeah.
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 10:56
  Speaker 5: I mean, that's just a hell of a day. So
• 11:00
  Speaker 5: with him and possibly having, you know, listen, I'm going
• 11:04
  Speaker 5: to be honest with you, man. I would love to
• 11:05
  Speaker 5: see Lou Nichols get some action, too, because I think
• 11:08
  Speaker 5: he just, he will complement the line as well as
• 11:10
  Speaker 5: Jalen Warren. And Rico Dotto, hopefully we can get him
• 11:14
  Speaker 5: running soon. But great day for Jalen Warren all the
• 11:18
  Speaker 5: way around.
• 11:20
  Speaker 6: You know, Max, when I look at the Steelers, you know,
• 11:26
  Speaker 6: you see other teams and you see a guy like
• 11:28
  Speaker 6: a Jamar Chase and, you know, he's obviously a singular player.
• 11:33
  Speaker 6: I mean, he's a great playmaker. I think that the
• 11:36
  Speaker 6: Steelers have different kinds of playmakers. You know, like to me,
• 11:41
  Speaker 6: you know, DK Metcalf is really good at taking something
• 11:45
  Speaker 6: short and running it long. You know, I don't know
• 11:48
  Speaker 6: about down the field, long fade routes. I don't know
• 11:52
  Speaker 6: if we've seen that be really successful here, but he
• 11:56
  Speaker 6: can be a game changer. Jalen Warren can be a
• 12:00
  Speaker 6: game changer. Roman Wilson, again, he had that one play,
• 12:04
  Speaker 6: but he has the ability to get open. I think
• 12:06
  Speaker 6: how these guys are utilized is going to go a
• 12:10
  Speaker 6: long way toward maximizing their ability to make plays. But
• 12:14
  Speaker 6: I would put– I'm lumping Darnell Washington– into that group
• 12:19
  Speaker 6: because he can, you know, if you give him a
• 12:21
  Speaker 6: five-yard pass play, he's probably going to get 10. If
• 12:26
  Speaker 6: you give him 10, he's probably going to get 15.
• 12:28
  Speaker 6: I mean, I use the analogy of it was like
• 12:32
  Speaker 6: when Jordan Battle hit him on the one play, I
• 12:34
  Speaker 6: think he gained 15 maybe. Jordan Battle, Darnell caught the
• 12:39
  Speaker 6: ball over the middle. Battle hit him perfectly just as
• 12:43
  Speaker 6: he was turning. And Battle's a good player. He hit
• 12:46
  Speaker 6: him hard.
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: Pow!
• 12:48
  Speaker 6: And it just reminded me of the old country fairs
• 12:52
  Speaker 6: where guys try to climb the greased pole and they
• 12:55
  Speaker 6: just slip off. Jordan Battle just hit him and then
• 12:58
  Speaker 6: just slipped off. And Darnell just turned around and ran.
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: Up the field.
• 13:03
  Speaker 6: I mean, he's a game-breaker in his own. Is he
• 13:07
  Speaker 6: going to go 90 yards with it?
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: No.
• 13:09
  Speaker 6: But is he going to get more than that's there?
• 13:11
  Speaker 6: I think he does it routinely, Max.
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: No, he does. I mean, if you can see– His numbers, right?
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: If you could see the 8-0, Aaron will.
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: Put it on him. That is a bad sign for
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: the defense.
• 13:26
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: Because once he turns up, I watched, and this is funny. Now,
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: this is one of the clips I did watch. I
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: watched on that 47-yarder they tightrope down the sideline.
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: Go back and watch it, Willie and Rob. There was,
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: I think it was Pittman that was blocking on the
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: edge on a DB. The DB.
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: was about to shed underneath and realized that Darnell was close,
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: literally backpedaled a step and then was working north laterally
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: parallel to him to avoid hitting him head on and
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: let the other guy hit him low. And then he
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: came at the end and kind of pushed him in
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: the back to finish him off to get credit.
• 14:07
  Speaker 5: I know exactly what you're talking about. You saw in
• 14:12
  Speaker 5: one play multiple DBs make business decisions.
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: Oh, no question.
• 14:17
  Speaker 5: No question. You saw a secondary. Once Mount Washington started
• 14:21
  Speaker 5: chugging down that field, you saw a lot of dudes say,
• 14:25
  Speaker 5: you know what, we may let him take this to
• 14:28
  Speaker 5: the house. Because every time you see a Mount Washington highlight,
• 14:35
  Speaker 5: if you don't know about him and you just discover
• 14:37
  Speaker 5: him and you go on YouTube and say, oh, let
• 14:39
  Speaker 5: me see what this guy does, a lot of his
• 14:41
  Speaker 5: highlights is him running through the Cincinnati Bengals, the secondary.
• 14:46
  Speaker 5: And so I think that was a– I think a
• 14:49
  Speaker 5: lot of them was like, you know what, I'm not
• 14:50
  Speaker 5: trying to be on this guy's highlight tape no more.
• 14:52
  Speaker 5: So if I could just nudge him or do something
• 14:55
  Speaker 5: to kind of alter his route, nobody wanted to stand
• 14:58
  Speaker 5: on them tracks. And, man, I tell you, he's such
• 15:02
  Speaker 5: a weapon for us. If we can get him the
• 15:04
  Speaker 5: ball and put him in a position where we just like, hey,
• 15:07
  Speaker 5: big fella, it's like Hulk smash, that's where we got
• 15:10
  Speaker 5: to get him. We got to get him. We just
• 15:11
  Speaker 5: give him the ball, Hulk smash, and let him just
• 15:13
  Speaker 5: go because he's– He's a mountain of a man who's nimble,
• 15:16
  Speaker 5: who can run. And, you know, I think the weight
• 15:18
  Speaker 5: loss in the offseason has helped him a lot because
• 15:21
  Speaker 5: you can see how he's able to stay on his
• 15:22
  Speaker 5: toes and just really lower his shoulders. And now you're
• 15:26
  Speaker 5: seeing secondary guys like, if that's going to be the
• 15:28
  Speaker 5: game all day, y'all can have it. We'll start over
• 15:31
  Speaker 5: next week. Nobody wants that type of action.
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: Let both him and Friermuth own the seams, right, Will?
• 15:38
  Speaker 6: Right.
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: And then get a couple of, like, funnel screens out
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: to him. You know, we saw the Pat Friermuth tunnel screen.
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: They threw out to Pat in the game. But if
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: you get them owning the train tracks on the field,
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: and then you can pop them out between the.
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: Numbers every once in a while, man, that's a hell
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: of a decision. Like you said, business decision.
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: You'll see a bunch of Antonio Cromarties out there.
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: And listen, we both love Crow, right, Will? We love Crow.
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: But Crow was the master of business decisions now.
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: He was like, listen, listen, I got 14 more games
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: after this. I'm not going to throw out my left
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: shoulder blade trying to take this guy down on one play.
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: If he's not at the sideline and I.
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: Can nudge him, good luck. Good luck. But that was
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: what I would like to see kind of happen.
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: And I think we got a glimpse of it in
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: this game that what can be, and especially when you
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: think about Pittman and Bernard, the way they're able to
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: come over on the crossing routes, you run some rubs
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: off of that, allow them to come the underneath stuff.
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: If you're tracking Darnell and Pat, you're pushing that safety deep.
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: have some of that underneath where those two who are
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: great catchers in traffic and can also bowl through some
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: guys with the 50-50 ball, and then you run DK
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: off of that, right? DK run those short intermediate catch
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: and run routes. He comes straight off of a rub.
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: You think about you come off behind Darnell. That safety
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: has to bowl over the top. You get the ball
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: in DK's hands and allow him with a head of
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: steam to go. There's a lot of different things you
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: can utilize if you activate the tight ends like we
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: did yesterday.
• 17:11
  Speaker 6: Let me just break down some of these, and I'll
• 17:13
  Speaker 6: just run down the numbers for you really quickly. Darnell Washington,
• 17:17
  Speaker 6: he had a 47-yarder. Roman Wilson, a 38-yarder. Jalen Warren,
• 17:21
  Speaker 6: a 30-yarder. DK Metcalf, a touchdown. Friermuth, a 22-yarder. Skoranek,
• 17:28
  Speaker 6: a 23-yarder and a touchdown. Bernard's lone reception went for
• 17:31
  Speaker 6: 14 yards. Pittman, you know, was more the possession type,
• 17:35
  Speaker 6: two catches for for 16 yards, but I just named one, two, three, four, five, six,
• 17:40
  Speaker 6: seven players who came up with some sort of big
• 17:44
  Speaker 6: play for you in the passing game. You're not relying
• 17:48
  Speaker 6: on one or two guys. Now, do you have CeeDee
• 17:51
  Speaker 6: Lamb out there? Do you have Jamar Chase?
• 17:52
  Speaker 4: I mean, we'll see.
• 17:53
  Speaker 6: It doesn't look like that. But you have seven guys
• 17:56
  Speaker 6: that can hurt you. That's tough to defend.
• 18:02
  Speaker 5: Yeah, it's not even that. That's one aspect of it, Rob.
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: But I think.
• 18:07
  Speaker 5: You know, I think when it comes to our tight ends, man,
• 18:10
  Speaker 5: it's their athleticism. You know, and I think Max kind
• 18:12
  Speaker 5: of alluded to their ability to eat up the seam routes.
• 18:15
  Speaker 5: But they're a mismatch for a lot of linebackers. A
• 18:17
  Speaker 5: lot of linebackers can't run with them. And so when
• 18:21
  Speaker 5: you start isolating mismatches and we start to see what
• 18:23
  Speaker 5: they can do in the middle of the field, and
• 18:25
  Speaker 5: you know Aaron has the willingness to throw the ball
• 18:27
  Speaker 5: in the middle of the field, it just makes the
• 18:29
  Speaker 5: offense that more dynamic on top of getting this run
• 18:32
  Speaker 5: game going, which I think as of right now we're
• 18:34
  Speaker 5: trending in the right direction. And so, and I was
• 18:37
  Speaker 5: just with everything they was able to do from catching
• 18:40
  Speaker 5: the football to see collectively the receiving core and the
• 18:43
  Speaker 5: tight ends be able to block, man. Even Jeremy Bernard,
• 18:46
  Speaker 5: as young as he is, he got it. He put
• 18:49
  Speaker 5: his head in the fan and mixed it up. So
• 18:51
  Speaker 5: I think that start had, you know, when you start
• 18:54
  Speaker 5: talking about what an offense looks like, and I'm a
• 18:57
  Speaker 5: firm believer, an offense doesn't know what it looks like
• 19:00
  Speaker 5: until week four. Week five is where you kind of
• 19:02
  Speaker 5: can't just say, like, this is who we're going to
• 19:04
  Speaker 5: be this year. That has to be a part of
• 19:06
  Speaker 5: the Steelers' makeup. Traditionally, it has. We're having receivers and
• 19:09
  Speaker 5: tight ends that can block really well. This group in particular,
• 19:12
  Speaker 5: for them to get the output they want, it's going
• 19:14
  Speaker 5: to have to be a collective effort that every guy
• 19:16
  Speaker 5: in the helmet, they're going to have to block on
• 19:18
  Speaker 5: the outside because our backs have the ability. Once they
• 19:20
  Speaker 5: get on the outside, they have home run speed. They
• 19:24
  Speaker 5: have home run capability. It has to be going into
• 19:28
  Speaker 5: every game for here on out. If we can hold
• 19:32
  Speaker 5: up on the edges and If we get a guy
• 19:34
  Speaker 5: the spring one that everybody puts a hat on the
• 19:35
  Speaker 5: hat and really get digging and it just makes for
• 19:39
  Speaker 5: a more positive energy and it garners more momentum for
• 19:42
  Speaker 5: the offense where Aaron doesn't have to make every Herculean
• 19:45
  Speaker 5: throw or make every pass to kind of get the
• 19:48
  Speaker 5: offense moving in the right direction. The synergy is just
• 19:53
  Speaker 5: better that way for the Steelers right now. If they
• 19:55
  Speaker 5: collectively all say, hey, man, when a guy gets a ball,
• 19:58
  Speaker 5: we're looking for another guy so we can spring him loose.
• 20:01
  Speaker 6: Yeah, it's good stuff right now. It's always good stuff
• 20:04
  Speaker 6: when you win. And Aaron Rodgers kind of alluded to
• 20:07
  Speaker 6: that yesterday. It all– You know, the sky was falling
• 20:10
  Speaker 6: last week, and now we put all those puzzle pieces
• 20:12
  Speaker 6: back up there, and it looks nice and blue, not
• 20:15
  Speaker 6: a cloud in sight. But things are going to– you know, look,
• 20:18
  Speaker 6: you got to– things are going to have to be
• 20:20
  Speaker 6: proved again on Thursday night in Cleveland. So we're going
• 20:22
  Speaker 6: to get to more of that, but still, you know,
• 20:24
  Speaker 6: some great performers to talk about on the defensive side
• 20:27
  Speaker 6: of the ball, special teams as well when we continue
• 20:29
  Speaker 6: in the locker room here. Oh, by the way, a
• 20:31
  Speaker 6: trade just happened too. We're going to fill you in
• 20:33
  Speaker 6: on that when we return. And this year there's Audio Network.
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio. Brought to you
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 21:05
  Speaker 6: So here's something I'm not going to mention as we
• 21:07
  Speaker 6: welcome you back in the locker room.
• 21:09
  Speaker 4: I'm not going to mention how.
• 21:12
  Speaker 4: I rolled my eyes when Willie said his game of
• 21:14
  Speaker 4: the week was Raiders-Saints.
• 21:17
  Speaker 5: He couldn't see me.
• 21:17
  Speaker 6: Rolling my eyes because I'm hundreds of miles away from him.
• 21:21
  Speaker 6: And that it turned out to be a great game.
• 21:23
  Speaker 6: That Max's game of the week was that Ravens-Cowboys game
• 21:27
  Speaker 6: that was spectacular.
• 21:28
  Speaker 4: And that my game of the.
• 21:29
  Speaker 6: Week was a complete and total dud, which also got
• 21:33
  Speaker 6: an eye roll from Willie, by the way. I scoffed
• 21:36
  Speaker 6: at his eye roll. but I'm not going to mention
• 21:39
  Speaker 6: any of that on the air for fear of embarrassing myself.
• 21:41
  Speaker 3: You didn't want to mention the 10 possibles you had.
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: Like it was like, it was like playing spades with
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: terrible part.
• 21:48
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: I got nine possibles on the way. This is also interesting.
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: This is interesting. This is interesting ish.
• 21:55
  Speaker 4: They're all interesting. Cause it's early on. It's early in
• 21:58
  Speaker 4: the season.
• 21:58
  Speaker 6: Okay. Here's what we're going to do. Maybe not this week.
• 22:01
  Speaker 6: Cause it's going to be hard this week to pick games,
• 22:03
  Speaker 6: but maybe, maybe we will. Maybe we're going to, Everyone's
• 22:06
  Speaker 6: going to come with an upset special. We kind of
• 22:09
  Speaker 6: did it. And Justin Miller's going to keep score. How
• 22:12
  Speaker 6: about that?
• 22:14
  Speaker 4: All right. Are we ready?
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: I like it.
• 22:15
  Speaker 4: Okay. We're going to do that.
• 22:17
  Speaker 6: The winner– actually, I don't know whether the winner should
• 22:22
  Speaker 6: get the Long John maple syrup encrusted bacon cruller apple
• 22:27
  Speaker 6: fritter donut or the loser should get that.
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: If somebody makes that, I believe we all should eat
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: it at that point. The 17 different donuts you just combined.
• 22:38
  Speaker 6: Hey, just real quick before we get back to the game,
• 22:40
  Speaker 6: the Giants just traded for J.J. McCarthy, sent a fifth-round
• 22:44
  Speaker 6: pick to Minnesota. Hey, look, sometimes we saw this with
• 22:48
  Speaker 6: the Steelers with Broderick Jones. Sometimes you just have to
• 22:50
  Speaker 6: get out from under something that you don't like or.
• 22:53
  Speaker 4: That just didn't work out. I'm saying they don't like it.
• 22:55
  Speaker 4: It just didn't work out. And Minnesota has moved on.
• 22:58
  Speaker 4: and they've traded J.J. McCarthy to the Giants.
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: We also have Kenny Pickett. We have an actual quarterback
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: that we also did that to.
• 23:04
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's right. That's right. That's exactly right. And it happens.
• 23:08
  Speaker 6: You know, you move on, and the Vikings have moved on,
• 23:11
  Speaker 6: and the Giants, interesting, because with Jackson Dart out for
• 23:14
  Speaker 6: the year, I mean, are they going to give McCarthy
• 23:18
  Speaker 6: a chance to play at some point to see if
• 23:22
  Speaker 6: he's the guy as opposed to Jackson Dart?
• 23:25
  Speaker 4: It's an interesting decision, isn't it, to trade for J.J. McCarthy,
• 23:28
  Speaker 4: if you're the Giants, I think.
• 23:29
  Speaker 5: Go ahead, Will. Go ahead, Max. Go back.
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: I was going to say, it's interesting, but you realize
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: he's going from being taught by one Harbaugh and Jim,
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: and now he's going to play for his brother, John,
• 23:44
  Speaker 3: in the league. I would imagine John called his brother
• 23:47
  Speaker 3: and asked about what J.J. does well, what he can do,
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: and made a decision off of that to make an offer.
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: There is a family historical connection and coaching him that
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: is a different dynamic. So you have to think that
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: there's something that he possesses that could potentially help them
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: if Jameis Winston doesn't turn out to be the consistent
• 24:09
  Speaker 3: guy that they expect.
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: Him to be.
• 24:11
  Speaker 5: Yeah, the whole J.J. McCarthy situation was always puzzling to
• 24:15
  Speaker 5: me considering that they drafted him in 2004 and Once
• 24:24
  Speaker 5: he was able to play, he only played 10 games
• 24:27
  Speaker 5: for the Vikings. But somehow the Vikings decided that was,
• 24:30
  Speaker 5: you know, obviously he wasn't good enough. There was a
• 24:32
  Speaker 5: lot of talk about his mechanics and always injury prone.
• 24:36
  Speaker 5: And a lot of people had issues with his maturity level.
• 24:39
  Speaker 5: And things just kind of fell apart. And then I
• 24:41
  Speaker 5: used to see Kyler Murray, who got dinged up once again.
• 24:43
  Speaker 5: And Collison Wentz kind of was able to step in
• 24:46
  Speaker 5: and to kind of hold the ship down until Kyler
• 24:49
  Speaker 5: got back in the game. With all that said, J.J.
• 24:52
  Speaker 5: McCarthy is still a young quarterback. And so now he's
• 24:55
  Speaker 5: going into a situation in New York where he's going
• 24:58
  Speaker 5: to be paired with another young quarterback in Jackson Dart.
• 25:01
  Speaker 5: And really an outfit in the offense that's young themselves.
• 25:06
  Speaker 5: And so I was a fan of the kid in Michigan.
• 25:11
  Speaker 5: I'm still a fan of him. I really hope he's
• 25:14
  Speaker 5: able to kind of rewrite his name, if you will,
• 25:17
  Speaker 5: and change the narrative around him because I think he
• 25:20
  Speaker 5: is talented. And I think sometimes when you're a young
• 25:23
  Speaker 5: kid like that and you have a lot of expectations
• 25:25
  Speaker 5: and you're trying to live up to the hype and
• 25:27
  Speaker 5: you really want to, you know, you really want to
• 25:29
  Speaker 5: kind of immerse yourself as a rising star in this league.
• 25:33
  Speaker 5: And when the things don't go right, man, you start
• 25:35
  Speaker 5: to kind of crumble internally. And I think that's what
• 25:37
  Speaker 5: we witnessed. Because if you're the Vikings right now, you
• 25:41
  Speaker 5: feel like with the receiving core they have between Justin
• 25:44
  Speaker 5: Jefferson and Addison and, you know, you have Hockinson and
• 25:47
  Speaker 5: you have all these other guys, man. You feel like
• 25:50
  Speaker 5: with a defense, too, led by Brian Flores and what
• 25:52
  Speaker 5: he can do from a scheme standpoint, you feel like
• 25:57
  Speaker 5: you have a team that can go win a Super
• 25:59
  Speaker 5: Bowl and not to be a part of that plan,
• 26:01
  Speaker 5: especially when you're drafted to be a part of that plan.
• 26:04
  Speaker 5: It's a tough situation, a tough pill to swallow altogether.
• 26:09
  Speaker 5: So we'll see. But, yeah, as of right now, J.J.
• 26:12
  Speaker 5: McCarthy is a New York giant. He's headed to New York.
• 26:15
  Speaker 6: 23 years old. It doesn't seem like a bad crap
• 26:18
  Speaker 6: shooting for the giants to me. You know, the only
• 26:20
  Speaker 6: thing I would say, I normally like you're, you're hoping
• 26:23
  Speaker 6: he's going to develop, right?
• 26:24
  Speaker 4: You're hoping he's going to be a good player. Um,
• 26:27
  Speaker 4: and maybe he's an asset you trade. Maybe he becomes, uh.
• 26:31
  Speaker 6: A good solid young backup that you compare with Jackson dart.
• 26:34
  Speaker 6: Maybe he winds up being better.
• 26:35
  Speaker 4: Who knows?
• 26:36
  Speaker 6: And the other first round pick generally max, I say
• 26:39
  Speaker 6: about these things a little bit tongue in cheek, but,
• 26:42
  Speaker 6: but really mostly believing it. Um, No team ever says
• 26:47
  Speaker 6: to themselves, boy, we got problems, man. We got too
• 26:51
  Speaker 6: many good players. I don't know what we're going to do.
• 26:52
  Speaker 6: I don't know how we're going to win.
• 26:53
  Speaker 4: We got too many good guys.
• 26:55
  Speaker 6: Now, having said that, it's mostly true, but you still
• 26:59
  Speaker 6: have to have a team, right? You still have to
• 27:01
  Speaker 6: have guys that will fill in the cracks and fill
• 27:05
  Speaker 6: in the mortars. A superstar with the right attitude can
• 27:08
  Speaker 6: do that. A superstar with a bad attitude that you
• 27:11
  Speaker 6: need to be mortar can be bad. I go back
• 27:14
  Speaker 6: to the 70s, these two other 70s teams, when they
• 27:17
  Speaker 6: were trying to figure out, is it Terry Bradshaw or
• 27:19
  Speaker 6: is it Joe Gilliam? And they kept going back and
• 27:22
  Speaker 6: forth to the detriment of the team. They finally settled
• 27:24
  Speaker 6: on Terry Bradshaw, and of course he wound up winning
• 27:27
  Speaker 6: four Super Bowls. But at that position, man, it's tough
• 27:31
  Speaker 6: because it can divide a locker room a little bit
• 27:36
  Speaker 6: when you've got the most important position in sports being
• 27:40
  Speaker 6: manned by potentially two different guys.
• 27:43
  Speaker 3: Well, and I think you have to say, you know,
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: no pun intended, but you have to have as many
• 27:49
  Speaker 3: darts as you can to throw at.
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: The board to see if you can hit a bullseye, right?
• 27:52
  Speaker 4: Look at you.
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: And that's what you're getting with J.J.
• 27:56
  Speaker 5: McCarthy.
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: You're getting an extra dart to throw at the board
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: to see, can he beat it?
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: And you also have to have a realistic succession plan
• 28:04
  Speaker 3: when you're talking about the quarterback position, especially.
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: And Jameis Winston is not getting any younger.
• 28:10
  Speaker 5: Right. So.
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: If I can get a guy with.
• 28:13
  Speaker 3: A fifth-round pick now, mind you, that has NFL experience,
• 28:16
  Speaker 3: that has played in games, that could potentially be a
• 28:20
  Speaker 3: backup for Jackson Dart next year and possibly get some
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: reps this.
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: Year so that he's ready to rock and roll, he
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: understands the system, in an offense that is still.
• 28:30
  Speaker 3: Very run-heavy with Cam Scadabo and company, and J.J. McCarthy
• 28:34
  Speaker 3: gives you the run capability, a quarterback that you don't
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: have with Jameis and what you want with Dart.
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: So he fits.
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: And the philosophy a little bit better.
• 28:44
  Speaker 3: Kind of like when Lamar Jackson, you took a Brett
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: Hundley behind him, right? In the RG3, you wanted these
• 28:50
  Speaker 3: mobile quarterbacks that kind of fit the same system of
• 28:53
  Speaker 3: what you're trying to do so that if a guy
• 28:55
  Speaker 3: goes down and you insert guy here, you don't have
• 28:58
  Speaker 3: to change the offense for him. He's a guy that
• 29:00
  Speaker 3: can go in and run the same plays and do it.
• 29:03
  Speaker 3: He might not do it as dynamically as your starter,
• 29:06
  Speaker 3: but he has a competency level to go out there
• 29:09
  Speaker 3: and run the RPO. He has the opportunity to run
• 29:12
  Speaker 3: quarterback draw if they have that in the playbook. And
• 29:15
  Speaker 3: you don't have to change it from pocket passer to
• 29:18
  Speaker 3: mobile quarterback back to a guy that's a short underneath
• 29:23
  Speaker 3: play action pass, short dink and dunk. You don't have
• 29:26
  Speaker 3: to worry about all these different systems that you might
• 29:28
  Speaker 3: have to put in place to make a quarterback feel comfortable.
• 29:31
  Speaker 3: You can kind of get that cookie cutter type of
• 29:34
  Speaker 3: template and put a guy who's very similar behind your starter.
• 29:38
  Speaker 4: So I think you're right. I think there's more.
• 29:39
  Speaker 6: Upside than downside. I pointed out the only downside I
• 29:43
  Speaker 6: could really think of. And again, is it really a
• 29:46
  Speaker 6: downside if J.J. McCarthy comes out and performs really well
• 29:49
  Speaker 6: for you? I mean, again, I'm squinting to look for
• 29:52
  Speaker 6: the downside. I think it makes a lot of sense.
• 29:54
  Speaker 6: For a fifth-round pick at that. Our bigs don't usually
• 29:57
  Speaker 6: make rosters.
• 29:58
  Speaker 4: That's right.
• 29:59
  Speaker 6: By the way, you gave me a bad flashback to
• 30:00
  Speaker 6: Jameis Winston actually running the ball well. I think it
• 30:04
  Speaker 6: was last year, right, on that Thursday night?
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 30:06
  Speaker 4: We had two Thursday nights in a row.
• 30:08
  Speaker 5: Yikes.
• 30:09
  Speaker 4: I don't want to think about that.
• 30:11
  Speaker 6: Willie, I do want to think about the special teams because, look,
• 30:14
  Speaker 6: I still think the coverage units, particularly the kickoff coverage unit,
• 30:19
  Speaker 6: needs to be better. It wasn't great in week one.
• 30:23
  Speaker 6: We said it was better in week two, but Steelers
• 30:25
  Speaker 6: only kicked off twice. I think it needs to be better.
• 30:30
  Speaker 6: They need more out of the return game right now.
• 30:33
  Speaker 6: That's not a net positive. Cam Johnson's been terrific. It
• 30:37
  Speaker 6: was great to see Chris Boswell bounce back. Cam Johnson
• 30:40
  Speaker 6: got the penalty. Of course, I don't know if you
• 30:42
  Speaker 6: draw a penalty or you're the punter. He looked like
• 30:44
  Speaker 6: he got hurt, and I was getting nervous about him.
• 30:46
  Speaker 6: But then you get the fumble recovery. I think you
• 30:49
  Speaker 6: have to give the Steelers special teams unit a plus.
• 30:54
  Speaker 6: They were a big part in helping you win the game.
• 30:56
  Speaker 6: That doesn't mean I don't think there's still room for
• 30:58
  Speaker 6: improvement in those units as well.
• 31:00
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, kick return for sure needs more work.
• 31:03
  Speaker 5: I mean, when you have an ability with the offense
• 31:06
  Speaker 5: we have to chew up yardage with the assets we have, man,
• 31:10
  Speaker 5: if we need somebody who can get us routinely, consistently
• 31:14
  Speaker 5: into the 40, that just elevates our opportunity to score.
• 31:17
  Speaker 5: And I think Ben Sharonik, obviously he pops off the tape.
• 31:21
  Speaker 5: You talk about You know, some of the other– I
• 31:25
  Speaker 5: thought our kick covers, man, just from like– I thought
• 31:29
  Speaker 5: we were better than last week, man. But there's– it
• 31:35
  Speaker 5: has to be more consistent. And until we become more consistent,
• 31:38
  Speaker 5: we're just going to be kind of searching for answers.
• 31:40
  Speaker 5: But overall, man, it was better than last week. But
• 31:43
  Speaker 5: it was in the middle of the road compared to standards.
• 31:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and I look at it, and we had the splashes, right?
• 31:50
  Speaker 3: But that came from the punt side of things. And
• 31:53
  Speaker 3: I like where a punt unit is, but you're right.
• 31:56
  Speaker 3: The kick return for Caden Weege and we have to
• 31:59
  Speaker 3: be able to create some type of lanes. And I
• 32:01
  Speaker 3: know that this system is a lot different because of
• 32:05
  Speaker 3: the new kickoff or the dynamic kickoff rule.
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: Trust me. I did too many videos explaining it over
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: my years that it.
• 32:13
  Speaker 3: Still bothers me, but you know, there has to be
• 32:17
  Speaker 3: a way to be able to funnel and wedge and
• 32:18
  Speaker 3: get Caden Weege in a position where where he has
• 32:22
  Speaker 3: a little bit wider of a lane. He doesn't have
• 32:23
  Speaker 3: to bend it all the way back against the grain,
• 32:25
  Speaker 3: risk getting a holding penalty by the guys who are
• 32:29
  Speaker 3: trying to block for him and create those lanes.
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: We didn't get core four.
• 32:34
  Speaker 3: Guys when we created this 53-man roster. We got backups
• 32:39
  Speaker 3: who can also must-do special teams.
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: So it's a little bit different. You have a.
• 32:44
  Speaker 3: Couple of guys who are your mainline guys that you
• 32:47
  Speaker 3: know that they're here for special teams, but We don't
• 32:51
  Speaker 3: have as many as we would normally carry on a roster.
• 32:54
  Speaker 3: And so there has to be some creativity by Danny
• 32:57
  Speaker 3: Crossman and company to get those because you're right. You
• 33:01
  Speaker 3: have to be 35 yards plus, right? That's the goal.
• 33:04
  Speaker 3: That 35 to 40 yard line is a sweet spot
• 33:07
  Speaker 3: because you don't want to depend on somebody not hitting
• 33:09
  Speaker 3: the zone to get there. Or, you know, it gets
• 33:12
  Speaker 3: kicked right at the 20 and the guy has a
• 33:14
  Speaker 3: full head of steam and he's able to kind of
• 33:15
  Speaker 3: sprint forward and get you 15 yards.
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: You want to have routine.
• 33:19
  Speaker 3: plays and guys feeling comfortable with their blocking assignments, understanding
• 33:23
  Speaker 3: who the returners are back there, and to create that
• 33:26
  Speaker 3: harmony with them. It's just like an offensive line with
• 33:27
  Speaker 3: a running back, right? Once I know what my running
• 33:30
  Speaker 3: back likes to do and how he views the hole,
• 33:32
  Speaker 3: it's easier for us to block. And if he's patient
• 33:34
  Speaker 3: to set up the block for me, that makes my
• 33:37
  Speaker 3: life a lot easier. And so that's where it just
• 33:40
  Speaker 3: has to come with time. And they got a lot
• 33:42
  Speaker 3: of reps added on Sunday.
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: Not as much in week two.
• 33:46
  Speaker 3: So you hope that they continue to build and just
• 33:48
  Speaker 3: create a better harmony back there. And then also we have, what,
• 33:52
  Speaker 3: Travis Homer instead of Eli Heidenreich back there on game day.
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: So that was already a new returner in that game.
• 33:58
  Speaker 3: That's lead blocking for the first time for Caden Weegean
• 34:01
  Speaker 3: when he doesn't get the ball in his hands. So
• 34:03
  Speaker 3: there's still some adjustment. I just hope that they finally
• 34:05
  Speaker 3: found two.
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: And like you said, Willie, by week five, by week six, you.
• 34:09
  Speaker 3: Want to know what your identity is. And you want
• 34:11
  Speaker 3: to be able to hammer that and continue to build
• 34:13
  Speaker 3: upon it.
• 34:14
  Speaker 6: Yep, we're going to explore the Steelers' defense, which obviously
• 34:16
  Speaker 6: came up with some big plays when they needed it
• 34:19
  Speaker 6: as the Steelers defeat the Bengals 30-27. We continue in
• 34:22
  Speaker 6: the locker room here on the Steelers Audio Network.
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio, brought to you
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 34:57
  Speaker 3: All right, final segment of the day here inside the
• 35:00
  Speaker 3: locker room. And what a victorious Donut Monday doth we have.
• 35:11
  Speaker 3: And thou hast now committed this day to the victorious
• 35:16
  Speaker 3: Donutus Maximus of a day.
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: So, yeah. So, anyways, I ran out of old English
• 35:23
  Speaker 2: phrases to say, so. We'll just toss it back to you, Rob,
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: for the final segment of the show.
• 35:27
  Speaker 6: You know, understandably, we have a couple of big offensive
• 35:33
  Speaker 6: linemen here, and we're talking about the offensive line play.
• 35:37
  Speaker 6: We've mentioned it before how imperative it is that this
• 35:40
  Speaker 6: group be talked about, certainly by the end of the year,
• 35:45
  Speaker 6: as one of the up-and-coming groups, maybe even better than that,
• 35:48
  Speaker 6: maybe even already looking like a top ten or established
• 35:52
  Speaker 6: group or higher than that because they've invested in it.
• 35:54
  Speaker 6: They've invested two first-round picks. Well, you know, Broderick Jones
• 35:58
  Speaker 6: was a first-round pick. They've moved on from him, but
• 36:00
  Speaker 6: you have two first-round picks at tackle, one at center. Well,
• 36:04
  Speaker 6: the same thing could be said for the defensive line,
• 36:06
  Speaker 6: except those guys, you know, you're not moving sides. Like,
• 36:09
  Speaker 6: you're not taking the right side and moving it to
• 36:11
  Speaker 6: the left side. You know, Max has said, hey, five
• 36:14
  Speaker 6: or six weeks to give this offensive line time to gel. Well,
• 36:18
  Speaker 6: now you've got new starters on the right side, so
• 36:20
  Speaker 6: let's add a few more weeks to that. So I'm
• 36:21
  Speaker 6: kind of hoping by, again, hoping for success like we
• 36:25
  Speaker 6: saw this weekend, but mounting success. I think the expectations
• 36:31
  Speaker 6: for me, Willie, are a little higher on the defensive
• 36:33
  Speaker 6: line because it is the second year for Harmon. It
• 36:36
  Speaker 6: is the second year for Black. You've signed Benton to
• 36:40
  Speaker 6: a contract extension. You still have Cam here. You're bringing
• 36:43
  Speaker 6: a veteran like Sebastian Joseph Day. I mean, you've got
• 36:47
  Speaker 6: the pieces in there to be good now. And at
• 36:50
  Speaker 6: the end of the game, when you needed to make
• 36:51
  Speaker 6: a play, Derek Harmon made the play and, you know,
• 36:55
  Speaker 6: good hustling veteran play by Sebastian Joseph day to locate
• 36:59
  Speaker 6: the football and fall on it. And those are the
• 37:02
  Speaker 6: kinds of plays that they're going to need from this
• 37:04
  Speaker 6: defensive line to get where they want to get to.
• 37:06
  Speaker 4: This season, the Steelers.
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 37:09
  Speaker 5: And I, I thought it was telling for the most
• 37:11
  Speaker 5: part that our, you know, our premier edge rushers and
• 37:15
  Speaker 5: TJ watt and, Obviously, High Smith and Nick Herbig. A
• 37:19
  Speaker 5: lot of those guys had trouble getting to Joe Burr.
• 37:22
  Speaker 5: I think you've got to give the Baines credit. They
• 37:25
  Speaker 5: schemed him up. But it was Tyrian Lyman that really
• 37:31
  Speaker 5: kind of met the challenge. They knew they had to
• 37:32
  Speaker 5: win their one-on-ones. At the end of the game, Derek Harmon,
• 37:36
  Speaker 5: we don't talk a lot about. He's been playing pretty
• 37:39
  Speaker 5: well these last couple weeks. To see him kind of
• 37:41
  Speaker 5: have his moment in the sun where he's able to
• 37:44
  Speaker 5: capitalize on that game because I think Jim talked about
• 37:47
  Speaker 5: it early in the show. If Derrick doesn't get to him, man,
• 37:50
  Speaker 5: you know, we got our young corner, Daylon Everett out
• 37:53
  Speaker 5: of Georgia, matched up with Jamar Chase. And, you know,
• 37:57
  Speaker 5: not to speak bad on the young fellow, but, you know,
• 37:59
  Speaker 5: the books would say they would lean on Jamar Chase
• 38:01
  Speaker 5: if we're getting that touchdown because Joe Burrow said he
• 38:03
  Speaker 5: was trying to get the ball to him. But with
• 38:06
  Speaker 5: all that said, man, it was good to see our
• 38:10
  Speaker 5: defensive line kind of, you know, bring the fight and
• 38:13
  Speaker 5: win our one-on-ones and, just be more dominant in that aspect.
• 38:17
  Speaker 5: But it also shows you that, you know, there's layers
• 38:19
  Speaker 5: to Patrick Graham's defense, right, where there's enough talent on
• 38:22
  Speaker 5: this side of the ball where if one is not coming,
• 38:25
  Speaker 5: the other one is coming. And so it's interesting to see,
• 38:30
  Speaker 5: you know, our guys step up in crucial situations. And
• 38:33
  Speaker 5: when you got to have it, man, it was good
• 38:35
  Speaker 5: for our defense, for the line to stand up, especially
• 38:37
  Speaker 5: Derek Harmon to stand up and get the sack.
• 38:40
  Speaker 3: And when we talk about big play, jeans, right? We
• 38:43
  Speaker 3: always depended on cam Hayward to make that big play.
• 38:46
  Speaker 3: We've always depended on TJ watt to make that play.
• 38:49
  Speaker 3: And I don't want to call this a passing of
• 38:53
  Speaker 3: the torch, but you see a passing of the skills, right?
• 38:57
  Speaker 3: You know, whereas we always said, Oh, 97 has got.
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: To make this play.
• 39:00
  Speaker 3: Well, 99 comes up with it. Second year guy in
• 39:04
  Speaker 3: the most pivotal moments. And he just delivers in that moment. And,
• 39:08
  Speaker 3: you know, we, we were laughing, um, in his post-game
• 39:12
  Speaker 3: interview with Missy as the game ended, we got Derek
• 39:15
  Speaker 3: Harmon on there, Willie.
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: And, you know, and you could appreciate this. He was like,
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: he's like, he's like, hey, what were you thinking? He's like, nothing.
• 39:22
  Speaker 2: I just blacked out. I just blacked out and then
• 39:24
  Speaker 2: something happened. Right. Sometimes you just got to black out.
• 39:29
  Speaker 5: Exactly.
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: Will happen.
• 39:31
  Speaker 5: Right?
• 39:31
  Speaker 3: That rage monster gets in you. It's like, hey, listen,
• 39:34
  Speaker 3: it is what it is, guys. And it worked out
• 39:37
  Speaker 3: for the best. And that's what some of the greats have.
• 39:39
  Speaker 3: They just have those moments where you can't describe it.
• 39:42
  Speaker 3: You just get the job done. And I thought that
• 39:44
  Speaker 3: was a great job by Derek Harmon. just sitting there
• 39:47
  Speaker 3: intimating kind of how we feel, right? When you make
• 39:49
  Speaker 3: a block or you create that one moment at the
• 39:53
  Speaker 3: most crucial time of the game, it's like there was
• 39:55
  Speaker 3: no plan in this.
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: It just happened. It's where effort met opportunity, and this
• 40:00
  Speaker 2: is the result.
• 40:02
  Speaker 5: By the way, we forget a lot of these, and
• 40:06
  Speaker 5: Max is 100% right, and Derek probably didn't know how
• 40:09
  Speaker 5: to articulate why he was able to be effective in
• 40:12
  Speaker 5: that moment, but deep down, For defenders, it's see ball,
• 40:16
  Speaker 5: get ball. It's about read and react. So when you're
• 40:18
  Speaker 5: doing it real time and it happens, you're like, man,
• 40:21
  Speaker 5: I didn't do anything but just do what I've been
• 40:23
  Speaker 5: trained to do. And a lot of these young guys
• 40:25
  Speaker 5: are just trained to go hunt. And so it's just
• 40:28
  Speaker 5: a part of their DNA right now. But it was
• 40:30
  Speaker 5: good to see him kind of have this moment in
• 40:32
  Speaker 5: the sun, man, because he deserves it.
• 40:34
  Speaker 6: You know, when you look at this Bengals offense and
• 40:38
  Speaker 6: the Patrick Graham defense that he's put out there, You know,
• 40:41
  Speaker 6: a little bit of a different approach again from week
• 40:43
  Speaker 6: to week. He said he was going to be that way.
• 40:45
  Speaker 6: He's been that way. Felt like a little more of
• 40:49
  Speaker 6: keep it in front of you kind of thing. But,
• 40:51
  Speaker 6: you know, Joe Burrow was effective. Chase Brown was effective.
• 40:54
  Speaker 6: Their receivers were effective. They were effective offensively. Steelers found
• 40:58
  Speaker 6: a way to win the game. And I just think
• 40:59
  Speaker 6: it's interesting, Max, that, you know, one of the headlines
• 41:02
  Speaker 6: in The Athletic was same old Bengals and not in
• 41:05
  Speaker 6: a good way, right? So everybody's got them predicted– As
• 41:08
  Speaker 6: a team that's going to win the AFC North, they're
• 41:10
  Speaker 6: a Super Bowl contender, harkening back to a couple of
• 41:14
  Speaker 6: years ago when they were knocking on the door. Everybody's
• 41:17
  Speaker 6: healthy now. They lose one game, and it's not, hey,
• 41:21
  Speaker 6: great job by the Steelers.
• 41:22
  Speaker 4: It's same old Bengals.
• 41:24
  Speaker 6: And the whole article is about how the mistakes they made.
• 41:27
  Speaker 6: What about the mistakes the Steelers made? What about that
• 41:29
  Speaker 6: ball that goes through Roman Wilson's hands at the end
• 41:32
  Speaker 6: of the first half? You go up by two scores there.
• 41:35
  Speaker 6: Think about that momentum swing. You go up two scores
• 41:39
  Speaker 6: to the half, it doesn't matter what they do with
• 41:41
  Speaker 6: the opening kickoff, right? You still are going to get
• 41:43
  Speaker 6: the ball back with a lead no matter what. Well,
• 41:46
  Speaker 6: there's something that happened bad. The penalty on the Jalen
• 41:49
  Speaker 6: Warren long run, some of the mistakes the Steelers made.
• 41:52
  Speaker 6: I just think it's comical that the narrative over the
• 41:56
  Speaker 6: last couple of years never seems to quite be, hey,
• 41:59
  Speaker 6: the Steelers did a great job. The narrative seems to be, well,
• 42:02
  Speaker 6: same old Bengals, and this team can't rise up, and blah, blah, blah.
• 42:08
  Speaker 2: Well, and, you know, you have to have that bungles
• 42:11
  Speaker 2: type moment, right?
• 42:12
  Speaker 3: I mean, you know, if we don't have that and
• 42:14
  Speaker 3: we'd like it handled, but this is AFC North football.
• 42:17
  Speaker 2: You're going to have to have that momentum shift.
• 42:20
  Speaker 3: You have to have some type of catalyst. And, you know,
• 42:24
  Speaker 3: with that, I mean, I think of the craziest part
• 42:26
  Speaker 3: where they said Joe Burrow now as a starting quarterback
• 42:32
  Speaker 3: is one in 34 when they don't have the lead
• 42:34
  Speaker 3: with eight minutes left in the fourth quarter.
• 42:37
  Speaker 2: That's a damning stat, right?
• 42:40
  Speaker 3: The last eight minutes, you don't have any fourth quarter
• 42:44
  Speaker 3: game-winning drive genes in your system?
• 42:49
  Speaker 2: That's what's crazy.
• 42:50
  Speaker 3: As much as we love Joe Burrow, that's a hell
• 42:52
  Speaker 3: of a stat that's now on his resume that he
• 42:57
  Speaker 3: has to work hard to kind of get back to
• 42:59
  Speaker 3: any point of, I guess, decency in that moment, right?
• 43:04
  Speaker 3: It's pretty crazy to think As good as those teams are,
• 43:08
  Speaker 3: you have Jamar Chase.
• 43:09
  Speaker 2: You have T. Higgins.
• 43:10
  Speaker 3: You have Mike Giusecchi. You have Chase Brown. You have
• 43:14
  Speaker 3: all these different guys. And you still have these type
• 43:18
  Speaker 3: of similar results. And we could have actually handedly have
• 43:22
  Speaker 3: beaten this team that spent $ 140 million on its defense.
• 43:25
  Speaker 2: $ 140 million on defense. Let me hope so. That still
• 43:29
  Speaker 2: gives up. That still gives up.
• 43:32
  Speaker 5: Okay.
• 43:36
  Speaker 4: I get it.
• 43:36
  Speaker 2: 30 points. Come on.
• 43:37
  Speaker 4: I get it.
• 43:37
  Speaker 6: But, Willie, to borrow, to paraphrase Shakespeare, I came not
• 43:42
  Speaker 6: to praise Caesar but to bury him. Can we praise
• 43:45
  Speaker 6: the Steelers for once or do we always have to
• 43:47
  Speaker 6: bury who they're playing?
• 43:50
  Speaker 5: No, you have to praise the Steelers, man. The problem is,
• 43:54
  Speaker 5: you know, when you look at the way we were
• 43:57
  Speaker 5: able to kind of subdue for the most part. I mean,
• 43:59
  Speaker 5: we weren't able to stop them. But he didn't have
• 44:01
  Speaker 5: one of those monstrous games that Jamar Chase. I know T.
• 44:04
  Speaker 5: Higgins having a touchdown. And I think to Max's point,
• 44:09
  Speaker 5: Joe Burrow really, we didn't see signs where he was
• 44:11
  Speaker 5: able to put this team on his back late in
• 44:14
  Speaker 5: the game. You lean on the narrative that this offense
• 44:19
  Speaker 5: should be up there in the top five category with
• 44:21
  Speaker 5: some of the other offices and that people look at
• 44:24
  Speaker 5: the Steelers defense as like, yeah, they're good, but they're
• 44:28
  Speaker 5: not better than what the Bengals can do. It just
• 44:32
  Speaker 5: leads to, you know, the same old, well, the Bengals
• 44:34
  Speaker 5: just need to be better and the Steelers are going
• 44:36
  Speaker 5: to be the Steelers. I'll say this to the end
• 44:39
  Speaker 5: of time. I have no problem with the way Steelers
• 44:41
  Speaker 5: win football games, right? A dub is a dub. It
• 44:44
  Speaker 5: doesn't matter how you get them as long as it's
• 44:46
  Speaker 5: on your side of the fence when you start stacking them.
• 44:48
  Speaker 5: So I thought our defense played strong. They were able
• 44:52
  Speaker 5: to double team Jamar Chase at times. You know, we
• 44:55
  Speaker 5: kind of had that bend but don't break mentality considering
• 44:58
  Speaker 5: that we didn't have JPJ out there. still dealing with
• 45:02
  Speaker 5: his issues. I thought, and considering that we didn't really
• 45:05
  Speaker 5: dominate off the edges and really had the interior defensive
• 45:08
  Speaker 5: line that really was capable to knife through the office
• 45:10
  Speaker 5: line of the Bengals, I thought collectively, man, they found
• 45:13
  Speaker 5: a way to win. And so whether they want to
• 45:15
  Speaker 5: give us our flowers or not, man, you've got to
• 45:18
  Speaker 5: credit the defense for really standing up and putting a
• 45:21
  Speaker 5: cap on that game.
• 45:23
  Speaker 6: Pittsburgh Steelers win 30-27. They are the first place Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 45:27
  Speaker 6: They'll be going to Cleveland on Thursday night with first
• 45:29
  Speaker 6: place in the line. against the Cleveland Browns in another
• 45:32
  Speaker 6: AFC North matchup. We're going to dig more into that.
• 45:35
  Speaker 6: Jerry Dulac is going to join us as well. For
• 45:38
  Speaker 6: Willie Colon, for Max Stark, for our producer Justin Miller,
• 45:41
  Speaker 6: I'll enjoy it one more time. See you at this win, 30-27.
• 45:44
  Speaker 6: We will see you tomorrow. in the locker room on
• 45:46
  Speaker 6: the Steelers Audio Network.
• 45:47
  Speaker 4: Rodgers takes the knee.
• 45:49
  Speaker 6: The Bengals will not use the timeout, and the Steelers
• 45:53
  Speaker 6: are 2-1 in first place in the AFC North, 1-0
• 45:57
  Speaker 6: in the division. So much talk about the Bengals being
• 46:01
  Speaker 6: the super team in the division.
• 46:02
  Speaker 4: We'll see.
• 46:03
  Speaker 6: In week three, they come into Accresher Stadium, and the
• 46:05
  Speaker 6: Steelers top them by the final score of 30-27.