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

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio, brought to you
• 0:12
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• 0:15
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• 0:19
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• 0:24
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: All right, that's the beautiful air horn sounds of Optimus Prime,
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: and we are live coming at you for the power
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: hour here inside the locker room.
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: Rob, back to you.
• 0:48
  Speaker 4: Thank you, Max.
• 0:50
  Speaker 5: So, at the beginning of the season, the Steelers, after
• 0:56
  Speaker 5: signing Jamel Dean and drafting Dale and Everett, seemed to have,
• 1:02
  Speaker 5: and the emergence of Asante Sammy, who's talked about quite
• 1:05
  Speaker 5: a bit by Mike McCarthy in OTAs and in the camp,
• 1:10
  Speaker 5: seemed to have almost an embarrassment of riches at a
• 1:14
  Speaker 5: position that it is very difficult to find quality starters.
• 1:18
  Speaker 5: You had Jamel Dean. You have Joey Porter. You signed
• 1:21
  Speaker 5: Jamel Dean and Porter. What a wonderful pair that is.
• 1:24
  Speaker 5: Jalen Ramsey, the multiple pro bowler and all pro in
• 1:29
  Speaker 5: the slot.
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: Echols backing him up.
• 1:32
  Speaker 5: Asante Samuels is your fifth cornerback.
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: Daylon Everett is a guy you could develop. Phenomenal.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: Wow.
• 1:39
  Speaker 5: Look at the depth there. Well, then Dean gets hurt.
• 1:43
  Speaker 5: Porter gets traded. We know what's going on now. Now
• 1:46
  Speaker 5: you're looking around at other teams' practice squads to fill
• 1:51
  Speaker 5: what had started the season as enviable depth. And then
• 1:54
  Speaker 5: I think in the offseason, the Steelers also clearly wanted
• 1:57
  Speaker 5: to bolster The wide receiver position was DK Metcalf and what? Well,
• 2:02
  Speaker 5: Roman Wilson starts to emerge. You spend a second round
• 2:05
  Speaker 5: pick on a on Jeremy Bernard, who, by the way,
• 2:09
  Speaker 5: is supposed to join us on Friday in the locker room.
• 2:11
  Speaker 5: You spend a second round pick on him. You go
• 2:13
  Speaker 5: out and you trade for Michael Pittman. And all of
• 2:15
  Speaker 5: a sudden, you know, you draft a guy like Caden
• 2:19
  Speaker 5: Weege and he's not even out there playing wide receiver. Well,
• 2:23
  Speaker 5: fast forward five weeks and your cornerback position, you're scrambling around. And, Max,
• 2:27
  Speaker 5: now your wide receiver position, you call up Brandon Smith
• 2:31
  Speaker 5: from the practice squad.
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: Because of the injury to Pittman.
• 2:34
  Speaker 5: Then you lose two more guys, neither of whom, and
• 2:38
  Speaker 5: this was the big injury news yesterday, Skoranek nor Roman
• 2:43
  Speaker 5: Wilson will be available on Sunday. So now what, Max?
• 2:46
  Speaker 5: Now what do you do as a football team?
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: You go to your local track. And you just start
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: bringing in speedsters.
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: No, no.
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: I mean, this is one of those moments where you
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: don't blink. I mean, this is why you have this
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: expanded veteran practice squad roster or farm of guys for
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: these type of moments. I mean, you know, our quote-unquote
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: skill speedy guys are in high demand, you know, trying
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: to find what you can put together to put them
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: on the field. And now, you know, Caden Legion, you
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: have to start exploring what else can you do? Can
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: we trust you on the field in regular down situations
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: without a Roman Wilson? Cause he fits the body type
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: for that position. And like you said, Brandon Smith, another
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: guy fits more of that Michael Pittman type of Jeremy
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: Bernard body type, because Jeremy's going to now take an
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: expanded role. And you just start fixing it until guys
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: get better until you get a designation. We know, Michael
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: Pittman's IR'd, so he's on the short-term IR, so he's
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: on the shelf.
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: For four weeks. So you have to figure that out.
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: There was a.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: Big trade, but I don't know if you want to
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: go and try and trade for a guy in Marvin
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: Harrison Jr., how viable that was. I don't know if
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: we got a real determination if they looked at that
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: or not, knowing the health of Michael Pittman before they
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: put him on IR. But you start scouring other teams'
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: practice squads, looking at what they are, so that's where
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: Andy Weidel is. Omar Khan, the scouting staff, have this
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: short list of where did guys that we trust and
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: know go? And what is their status? Are they active roster?
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: Are they on practice squads? I mean, that's what we
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: did with Sean Murphy Bunting, right? Went and got him
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: off the Bucks practice squad. You go and you start
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: searching for those guys and you keep a short list
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: ready if you have to make a decision. But here's
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: the other thing. If you take a guy from practice squad,
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: you must activate him to the active roster. That's one
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: of the glitches in this. Um, you can't add them
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: and do it. Uh, all things are equal type of
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: trade and put them on practice squad for practice squad.
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: They have to be released first.
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: So this is where your front office now has to
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: get creative and has to present options for your head
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: coach and your staff to see what can we do
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: and what are the worst case scenarios. You know, it's
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: like when you see the situation room, you know, in
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: all those movies with the president, like you have this
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: big tribunal, you know, this big ass table. in the
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: middle of this room and there's like 17 people with
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: a lot of brackets on their shirts and really nice
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: suits and they're giving the president all these action reports
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: and all these possible scenarios and you're hearing it from
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: all these different situations. That's kind of what you're doing,
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: except for not as a high-stakes situation, but you're getting
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: presented all this different information for options available and then
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: the head coach and the GM ultimately make the decision
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: on how they want to move forward But that's what
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: you kind of have to do, and that's what happens
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: when attrition hits.
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: I always say this phrase, Rob, it's.
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: Not a matter of if, it's always a matter of when,
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: and how much you're going to be affected. And right now,
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: Steelers secondary, Steelers wide receiving core have been affected greatly.
• 5:57
  Speaker 5: Yeah, and there are, Willie, some guys internally. I mean,
• 6:01
  Speaker 5: Brandon Smith was one of those guys who seemed to
• 6:03
  Speaker 5: turn some heads in camp and then in the preseason.
• 6:05
  Speaker 5: But Isaiah Hodgins, he's a guy who's been around. Brandon Johnson,
• 6:10
  Speaker 5: he's a guy who's been around. Both guys have some
• 6:12
  Speaker 5: NFL pedigree. I suppose that's your next step up. And
• 6:16
  Speaker 5: there's also the question was put to Mike McCarthy, hey,
• 6:21
  Speaker 5: do you start leaning on more, you know, two tight
• 6:24
  Speaker 5: end or three tight end formations because you got good
• 6:27
  Speaker 5: guys at that position, you know, proven guys who are
• 6:30
  Speaker 5: at your level now who don't have to be elevated
• 6:33
  Speaker 5: from the practice squad and who you've paid a lot
• 6:36
  Speaker 5: of money to, you know. Um, so maybe that's the
• 6:39
  Speaker 5: direction that you're going to go in this week, but
• 6:41
  Speaker 5: I do think it's going to be interesting.
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 6:44
  Speaker 4: I mean, listen, I, I, it's unfortunate. Roman Wilson got hurt. Um,
• 6:48
  Speaker 4: it's unfortunate.
• 6:49
  Speaker 6: Michael Pittman got hurt, but seeing Jeremy Bernard and DK
• 6:53
  Speaker 6: Metcalf and Washington and fair move and Warren on those
• 6:56
  Speaker 6: guys on the, on the field. it felt like that's
• 7:01
  Speaker 6: the best the Steelers' offense looked in a long time.
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: And I understand the Colts' defense wasn't very good.
• 7:07
  Speaker 6: But seeing the Steelers leaning on their heavy personnel and
• 7:10
  Speaker 6: not spread them out.
• 7:11
  Speaker 4: Because, you know, Mike Carthy traditionally.
• 7:13
  Speaker 6: Wants to have a spread-out offense where he spreads the
• 7:15
  Speaker 6: defense thin, man, and he fires the football.
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: But seeing us line up in heavy.
• 7:19
  Speaker 6: Personnel without tight ends and not running back and seeing
• 7:23
  Speaker 6: how we responded just felt like this is the direction
• 7:26
  Speaker 6: the Steelers should be going. Having Jalen Warren be running
• 7:30
  Speaker 6: back number one and continue to lean on him from
• 7:33
  Speaker 6: a volume and production standpoint. On top of that, you know,
• 7:36
  Speaker 6: I like seeing Jeremy Bernard out there. I will continue
• 7:39
  Speaker 6: to pound the drum and fight for the young fellow
• 7:40
  Speaker 6: because I just know how explosive he can be when
• 7:43
  Speaker 6: given multiple opportunities. And so now you saw Pat Fairmuth
• 7:47
  Speaker 6: have a big-time game. You know what Darnell Washington can do.
• 7:50
  Speaker 6: You know what Jalen Warren continues to do on top
• 7:53
  Speaker 6: of our offensive line, finding their identity up front.
• 7:55
  Speaker 4: I don't think we have to make it harder than
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: it needs to be.
• 7:58
  Speaker 6: We have to live in heavy personnel for this Steelers
• 8:00
  Speaker 6: offense to be productive.
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: They put up 34 points, the.
• 8:03
  Speaker 6: Most they've put up all season, and it allows Aaron
• 8:07
  Speaker 6: Rodgers to see– it allows him to operate within manageable
• 8:13
  Speaker 6: downs with having options to not only get the ball
• 8:16
  Speaker 6: out quicker, but also deliver the ball in the middle
• 8:19
  Speaker 6: of the field when he likes to throw it. I don't, I,
• 8:22
  Speaker 6: you know, listen, I, I, I didn't see, I know
• 8:24
  Speaker 6: who Brandon Smith is and I'm glad he had an
• 8:27
  Speaker 6: impact in camp and in the game. But we, I
• 8:30
  Speaker 6: think the people who we are looking for are already
• 8:33
  Speaker 6: up and ready to go.
• 8:33
  Speaker 4: I don't think Mike.
• 8:35
  Speaker 6: McCarthy needs to kind of reinvent the wheel or add
• 8:39
  Speaker 6: any more layers to this. You know, if we got
• 8:41
  Speaker 6: to roll out there with three, three tight ends and, and,
• 8:44
  Speaker 6: and just run the football and be able to throw
• 8:46
  Speaker 6: out of that, then that's what we.
• 8:47
  Speaker 4: Have to do.
• 8:48
  Speaker 6: And I think I, I, you know, I feel like
• 8:50
  Speaker 6: our office line responded a lot better, um, with those
• 8:54
  Speaker 6: personnels on the field.
• 8:55
  Speaker 4: So I think it's easy, man. Uh, what we have
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: right now.
• 8:58
  Speaker 6: Is more than enough to kind of push through this season, uh,
• 9:01
  Speaker 6: until some of the, we get Roman healthy and we
• 9:03
  Speaker 6: get Michael Pittman healthy.
• 9:05
  Speaker 4: Um, and I think it.
• 9:06
  Speaker 6: Allows also DK to, to use his, his physical presence
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  Speaker 6: out there more.
• 9:10
  Speaker 4: So yeah, I like it.
• 9:12
  Speaker 6: Um, hopefully, hopefully Mike McCarthy doesn't stray away from it.
• 9:16
  Speaker 5: You know, I think one of the other things too, um, Max,
• 9:19
  Speaker 5: because they're all intertwined, is that Rico Dowdle, it sounds
• 9:23
  Speaker 5: like he's trending in the right direction to hopefully return. And,
• 9:27
  Speaker 5: you know, Mike McCarthy, one of the other things he
• 9:29
  Speaker 5: said was, Jalen Warren's our guy, right? So he's going
• 9:33
  Speaker 5: to get a lot of carries. Now the question becomes,
• 9:35
  Speaker 5: with this ratio of throwing the ball more than they
• 9:39
  Speaker 5: wanted to run, the ratio of running to pass, and
• 9:45
  Speaker 5: they want that to be closer. Too many passes. Mike
• 9:47
  Speaker 5: McCarthy said it the first several weeks. Throwing the ball
• 9:49
  Speaker 5: too much. Want to run the ball more. With Dowdle
• 9:53
  Speaker 5: back and a couple of tight ends, is this a
• 9:58
  Speaker 5: week in which you lean more on the run? Is
• 10:01
  Speaker 5: this a week in which Aaron Rodgers goes to the
• 10:02
  Speaker 5: line of scrimmage? And you know how well he diagnoses things.
• 10:05
  Speaker 5: It's one of the things that makes him so great,
• 10:08
  Speaker 5: where maybe he says, you know, I want to be
• 10:11
  Speaker 5: teaching calculus, but I might be teaching, you know, geometry
• 10:16
  Speaker 5: or algebra here. Maybe I ought to just keep it
• 10:19
  Speaker 5: at the algebraic level and keep things simpler for this offense.
• 10:24
  Speaker 5: I don't know. I mean, I'm just throwing out different
• 10:27
  Speaker 5: scenarios that you could see using the personnel maybe to
• 10:30
  Speaker 5: their best and trying to be successful that way.
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: Well, I think it comes down to with the personnel
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: I have, what do we do best, right? What are
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: we most inclined to do? And I think that's kind
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: of the approach you have to take. You have to
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: come in and say, here's what we got, and here's
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: what we do well with what we've got. And you
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: build a game plan off of that. You can't build
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: a game plan off of, oh, my gosh, you can
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: go do exactly what this guy does, right? I can't
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: make Brandon Smith be Michael Pittman, but I can let
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: Brandon Smith be the best version of Brandon Smith that
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: he can be. And for Lou Nichols, I can't make
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: Lou Nichols be Rico Dowdle. Lou Nichols has to be
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: Lou Nichols. So what does Lou do well, and how
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: does that work with the current way that our offense
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: is running? That's how you kind of have to make
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: the game plan going into these type of situations where
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: you are short at certain positions. Or if we are
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: going to have to include Caden Weege in, what packages
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: does Caden Weege in fit in best and overlap with
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: what Roman did? Those are the kind of things that
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: coaches have to do. That's why they get paid the
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: big bucks. to diagnose what your team is at this
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: current state and craft a plan that best suits their
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: strengths and play to those in the game.
• 11:52
  Speaker 4: So I would love.
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: To say that it would be, Hey, let's just lean
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: on the run this week, but we all know that
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: they're going to do something a little bit more in
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: depth and try and get guys involved. Um, so yeah,
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: I like the idea of running the ball more, but
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: I don't think that that's necessarily going to play into
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: it unless they, unless they fleshed out how we do
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: better at this. I mean, I look at our offensive
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: line and say, these guys can roll great. If you
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: tell them they're going to run the ball 40 times,
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: this group is not going to bat an eye, right?
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: If you ask them to go and throw the ball
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: 45 times a game, or you have a Matt Stafford
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: type of game where you got to throw a 54 times,
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: I don't think that's going to be their strong suit,
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: but They also know their personnel better than we know them,
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: and they know what their habits and their propensities are.
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: I would love to see this be a game that,
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: because you're shorthanded, err on the side of nasty and physical.
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: What do you think, Willie? Yeah, I mean, Max is 100% right.
• 12:52
  Speaker 6: I think it's, at this point, our line has proven
• 12:55
  Speaker 6: they're always ready for the fight, and I think he
• 12:57
  Speaker 6: started back in the Bengals game when they accepted the
• 13:01
  Speaker 6: fight against the Bengals and we had our dual scheme
• 13:04
  Speaker 6: and we were just rolling guys off the ball, I
• 13:06
  Speaker 6: think we've got to continue that momentum. It's imperative that
• 13:09
  Speaker 6: the Steelers start to really shave down who they want
• 13:12
  Speaker 6: to be and not let the injuries dictate what they
• 13:15
  Speaker 6: need to be. I think, once again, the personnel we have,
• 13:19
  Speaker 6: they have more than enough to kind of identify what
• 13:22
  Speaker 6: they want to be. I think it's up to Mike
• 13:24
  Speaker 6: McCarthy to not only– adhere to the theme of playing
• 13:29
  Speaker 6: bully ball, but continue to let that be its identity
• 13:32
  Speaker 6: even with guys getting healthy. Even if Michael Pittman is
• 13:36
  Speaker 6: able to come back, even if Roman Wilson is able
• 13:39
  Speaker 6: to give back, I think that Steelers' identity right now
• 13:42
  Speaker 6: from a strength standpoint is their ability to line up
• 13:44
  Speaker 6: in heavy and let the ball go through Jalen Warren.
• 13:48
  Speaker 6: And I think it allows you to, one, on the
• 13:52
  Speaker 6: time of possession to run the ball efficiently three play
• 13:55
  Speaker 6: to the strength of what we do well, which is,
• 13:57
  Speaker 6: you know, having our Titans block and catch. And I
• 14:00
  Speaker 6: think it also gives the fans the type, you know,
• 14:04
  Speaker 6: we had a caller yesterday say, Hey, we don't, Steelers
• 14:06
  Speaker 6: don't strike fear to anybody anymore. Well, that was part
• 14:10
  Speaker 6: of the field with getting Mike McCarthy that we was
• 14:13
  Speaker 6: going to become pass-heavy. And we've seen it over the
• 14:15
  Speaker 6: last couple weeks because Aaron Rodgers is damn near throwing
• 14:18
  Speaker 6: the ball 40 times a game.
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: And we love to say, well, you know, he's a
• 14:21
  Speaker 4: 40-year-old quarterback. Do we really want to do that? No,
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: we don't want to do that. What we want to
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: see is more balance.
• 14:25
  Speaker 6: And so when you highlight the Steelers being able to
• 14:27
  Speaker 6: run the ball 30-something times or 22-something times and throw
• 14:30
  Speaker 6: the ball 30-something times, that's close to the balance and
• 14:34
  Speaker 6: that's what this team needs to be, especially as we
• 14:37
  Speaker 6: continue to get into the thick of the season.
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: So it comes down to Mike McCarthy.
• 14:41
  Speaker 6: You know, we, we've talked about his ability to build
• 14:44
  Speaker 6: this ecosystem and have this kind of West Texas coast offense,
• 14:48
  Speaker 6: if you will. And, We lean on his resume for
• 14:51
  Speaker 6: what he did in Dallas and how explosive he was.
• 14:53
  Speaker 6: But I think it also comes with maturity and growth.
• 14:57
  Speaker 6: I think it's easy to say what he did in
• 14:59
  Speaker 6: Dallas and what he was able to do in Dallas
• 15:03
  Speaker 6: and Green Bay was due to what the personnel he had.
• 15:07
  Speaker 6: I think right now he doesn't have that type of personnel,
• 15:10
  Speaker 6: even though he wants to mimic it. What he has
• 15:12
  Speaker 6: right now is a heavy personnel that's highly efficient because
• 15:14
  Speaker 6: of the guys he currently has. So it's going to
• 15:17
  Speaker 6: be his ability to adjust to that. And right now
• 15:20
  Speaker 6: the strength of this team is running the ball on
• 15:21
  Speaker 6: our tight ends with our offensive line that's young and,
• 15:24
  Speaker 6: you know, to Max's point.
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: Up for the fight.
• 15:27
  Speaker 6: And I don't think we should stray away from that,
• 15:29
  Speaker 6: even though we get guys get healthy down the road.
• 15:33
  Speaker 6: I think this is who we are, and I think
• 15:35
  Speaker 6: we lean into it. Because I think if you pay
• 15:37
  Speaker 6: attention to Tampa as we move forward, they play that
• 15:42
  Speaker 6: bend but don't break defense. But they have a really
• 15:44
  Speaker 6: good defensive line, and they like to blitz. And so
• 15:47
  Speaker 6: one way of neutralizing the blitz is being able to
• 15:49
  Speaker 6: run the ball and catch them out of position, which
• 15:51
  Speaker 6: you know Aaron Rodgers is always going to have the
• 15:53
  Speaker 6: answers at the line of scrimmage, and.
• 15:54
  Speaker 4: He always knows where to go with the football.
• 15:56
  Speaker 6: So how do we kind of mirror what he likes
• 15:59
  Speaker 6: to do on top of what we need to do
• 16:02
  Speaker 6: to be efficient? Because I would be, listen, it was
• 16:06
  Speaker 6: a big win for the Bucs to beat the Cowboys.
• 16:08
  Speaker 6: I think it was more about the Cowboys laying an
• 16:10
  Speaker 6: egg than it was about the Bucs somehow now emerging as,
• 16:13
  Speaker 6: You know, this dark horse, right? They were 0-4 going
• 16:16
  Speaker 6: into the game. Now they're currently 1-4, but they do
• 16:19
  Speaker 6: have momentum on their side because they won a game
• 16:21
  Speaker 6: with an undrafted quarterback. And so if you're the Steelers
• 16:25
  Speaker 6: right now and as you roll into Tampa, your goal
• 16:28
  Speaker 6: right now is to say, hey, is to humble that
• 16:30
  Speaker 6: young quarterback. On top of that, continue to do what
• 16:33
  Speaker 6: you do well is run the ball with Jalen Warren
• 16:35
  Speaker 6: and be a lot more efficient on third down, which
• 16:37
  Speaker 6: they're capable of doing. And then also highlight Jeremy Bernard
• 16:40
  Speaker 6: and give him isolated packages because like the Niners do
• 16:44
  Speaker 6: with Deebo Samuels, like you see every other guy, like
• 16:47
  Speaker 6: even last night when you watched the Rams last night
• 16:53
  Speaker 6: do with their tight ends too.
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: Like their selective packages.
• 16:56
  Speaker 6: When you lean on certain guys and say, hey, man,
• 16:59
  Speaker 6: we're going to give you the ball and solely you
• 17:00
  Speaker 6: the ball. So Mike McCarthy has all that in his will.
• 17:04
  Speaker 6: He just has to tap into it more than ever.
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: So hopefully we get to see it.
• 17:10
  Speaker 5: One thing I just want to mention real quick, and
• 17:11
  Speaker 5: I know we're running late here, but, you know, Willie
• 17:15
  Speaker 5: and Max, you can't, it seems to me, right, like,
• 17:19
  Speaker 5: you know, so, for example, Tampa Bay might say, well,
• 17:22
  Speaker 5: we've got a young quarterback, we need to run the
• 17:24
  Speaker 5: ball a lot.
• 17:25
  Speaker 4: Well, guess what?
• 17:25
  Speaker 5: The Steelers know you're going to want to run the
• 17:27
  Speaker 5: ball a lot, so they're going to crowd eight guys
• 17:29
  Speaker 5: up around the line of scrimmage, and it's going to
• 17:32
  Speaker 5: be very, very difficult to run the ball. I would
• 17:36
  Speaker 5: imagine if you're Tampa Bay, you go in and say, okay, well, listen,
• 17:40
  Speaker 5: outside we're going to worry about bernard and metcalf but
• 17:43
  Speaker 5: you know we're going to take a lot of resources
• 17:44
  Speaker 5: and put them against your run so there's that element
• 17:47
  Speaker 5: too you can't just say well we want to run
• 17:49
  Speaker 5: the ball of course you want to run the ball
• 17:51
  Speaker 5: but you know an eight-man look up front um you
• 17:55
  Speaker 5: know might not and with that free safety maybe even
• 17:57
  Speaker 5: you know starting to creep down toward the line of
• 17:59
  Speaker 5: scrimmage to make it nine that might not be a
• 18:01
  Speaker 5: good look to to run against and something you're not
• 18:03
  Speaker 5: going to be successful.
• 18:04
  Speaker 4: Against nonsense nonsense.
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: Okay all right i like it if you if.
• 18:11
  Speaker 6: It's all about communication and your ability to scheme things up. Yeah,
• 18:15
  Speaker 6: load a box always makes it tough for you to
• 18:16
  Speaker 6: run the ball, but that's football. If you have the
• 18:20
  Speaker 6: ability to do something well, it's your now– you now
• 18:24
  Speaker 6: have to build upon that. And so from a scheme standpoint,
• 18:27
  Speaker 6: I would like to see us pull our guards a
• 18:28
  Speaker 6: lot more. Like if you watch Tampa's game against the Cowboys–
• 18:33
  Speaker 6: they used to run our old, they ran our old
• 18:35
  Speaker 6: 36 power where they would motion one guy one way, right?
• 18:38
  Speaker 6: And then we would run and we would motion back
• 18:40
  Speaker 6: the other way and then we would just simply pull
• 18:42
  Speaker 6: the left guard and pull the tight end behind them
• 18:44
  Speaker 6: and boom, there goes the running back. So, it's all
• 18:47
  Speaker 6: about using our motions.
• 18:48
  Speaker 4: To dictate change leverage.
• 18:51
  Speaker 6: And the Steelers have that capability because of what our
• 18:53
  Speaker 6: tight ends, they're both willing blockers with Fairmouth and Washington.
• 18:57
  Speaker 6: We do have a fullback and we do have a
• 19:01
  Speaker 6: big time running back in Jamie Warren. So, I understand
• 19:04
  Speaker 6: the premise like, well, if they're going to load the
• 19:05
  Speaker 6: box and stop the run, don't you think we should
• 19:07
  Speaker 6: be more optimistic, feel more optimistic about us throwing the football?
• 19:10
  Speaker 4: I get all that. But we can still run the
• 19:13
  Speaker 4: ball in loaded boxes.
• 19:14
  Speaker 6: Now, I'm saying let's not beat our head on the
• 19:15
  Speaker 6: wall and crack our skull because But we shouldn't go
• 19:18
  Speaker 6: away from that just because we expect what Tampa plans
• 19:22
  Speaker 6: to do because we know they're going to blitz. They're
• 19:24
  Speaker 6: going to try to kill us with moving their defense
• 19:27
  Speaker 6: line with movement. But you can get a defense in
• 19:31
  Speaker 6: trouble if they're solely focused on loading the box. And
• 19:33
  Speaker 6: then you understand, like, we have a juggernaut on the
• 19:35
  Speaker 6: outside of DK Metcalf who we can lean on, but
• 19:38
  Speaker 6: I don't think it's something we lean on all the time.
• 19:41
  Speaker 6: I just wouldn't be afraid of a load of box.
• 19:42
  Speaker 6: I think you said, all right, load the box all
• 19:44
  Speaker 6: you want. We're going to still run the ball at you.
• 19:46
  Speaker 6: We've done that before. Me and Max have played in
• 19:48
  Speaker 6: games where they've it seemed like put the whole city
• 19:50
  Speaker 6: in the box. And then all of a sudden, boom, we, we,
• 19:54
  Speaker 6: we crack one and when we 88 out the gate.
• 19:56
  Speaker 6: So I don't, I wouldn't let that mindset or that
• 19:59
  Speaker 6: philosophy deter us from doing what we have.
• 20:01
  Speaker 4: We we've shown we could do last week. Love it.
• 20:06
  Speaker 5: That's Willie Cologne. Part of the locker room with Max Starks.
• 20:10
  Speaker 5: We have Justin Miller at the controls. You know, we
• 20:12
  Speaker 5: were kicking this around a week or so, a couple
• 20:15
  Speaker 5: weeks ago. Willie posed the question, which we're going to
• 20:18
  Speaker 5: get to next. Is there enough being made of Aaron Rodgers'
• 20:23
  Speaker 5: farewell tour around the NFL? We're going to dive into
• 20:25
  Speaker 5: that subject when we continue here in the locker room
• 20:28
  Speaker 5: on the Steelers Audio Network.
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio. Brought to you
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 20:59
  Speaker 5: Thanks for being with us in the locker room on
• 21:01
  Speaker 5: this Tuesday afternoon. Willie, this is the final season for
• 21:05
  Speaker 5: Aaron Rodgers.
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: He said this is it.
• 21:08
  Speaker 5: He was asked in training camp, any chance you're going
• 21:10
  Speaker 5: to change your mind? He said, nope, this is it.
• 21:12
  Speaker 4: I'm done.
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: I'm finished.
• 21:14
  Speaker 5: And, you know, you brought up this question while we
• 21:16
  Speaker 5: were just, you know, having a chat a couple weeks ago.
• 21:19
  Speaker 5: Is there enough being made of that? You know, I mean,
• 21:22
  Speaker 5: shouldn't this kind of be like a celebration around the
• 21:26
  Speaker 5: league that one of the all-time greats is calling it quits?
• 21:30
  Speaker 5: I think that's where you were kind of going with this, Willie,
• 21:32
  Speaker 5: wasn't it?
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: A hundred percent.
• 21:35
  Speaker 6: You know, we've watched in all the sports, whether it
• 21:38
  Speaker 6: was Derek Jeter's, you know, tour, if it was Kobe's tour,
• 21:43
  Speaker 6: if it was anybody else, Aaron Rodgers is in that
• 21:47
  Speaker 6: conversation of one of the best to ever do it
• 21:49
  Speaker 6: at his position.
• 21:50
  Speaker 4: And maybe one of the best football players of this
• 21:53
  Speaker 4: modern generation.
• 21:54
  Speaker 6: So, It's interesting to see somebody who we know notoriously
• 22:00
  Speaker 6: holds the media world or the sports world hostage year
• 22:02
  Speaker 6: after year, whether he's going to come back or play
• 22:05
  Speaker 6: or not. And, you know, he has returned and he's
• 22:08
  Speaker 6: playing pretty well for the most part. It's interesting to
• 22:12
  Speaker 6: see that there's not a more televised or more, I guess, hands.
• 22:16
  Speaker 6: I might say it doesn't seem like he's being champion,
• 22:19
  Speaker 6: if you will. It doesn't seem like he's being celebrated.
• 22:21
  Speaker 4: And I get it.
• 22:22
  Speaker 6: You know, he's being. He's been spicy, a little bit ornery.
• 22:25
  Speaker 6: He's been very flagrant about his thoughts and how he
• 22:30
  Speaker 6: feels about certain situations in certain companies, and maybe that
• 22:33
  Speaker 6: has a lot to do with it overall. But I
• 22:36
  Speaker 6: think if we take away the comments and we take
• 22:38
  Speaker 6: away his approach to certain things, if you just specifically
• 22:45
  Speaker 6: pay attention to his career and what he's done for
• 22:47
  Speaker 6: the NFL over the last decade or so, he's been
• 22:51
  Speaker 6: simply amazing, man.
• 22:52
  Speaker 4: He's been a hell of a quarterback. He's been one
• 22:54
  Speaker 4: of the most best throwers of.
• 22:56
  Speaker 6: The football of all time. And some may argue the
• 23:00
  Speaker 6: best ever. So it's interesting that in a time where
• 23:04
  Speaker 6: we love to, I guess, pepper our goats with flowers,
• 23:08
  Speaker 6: that Aaron Rodgers is getting left out of that conversation
• 23:11
  Speaker 6: or not even being paid attention to simply because maybe
• 23:14
  Speaker 6: a little bit of age shaming, maybe a little bit
• 23:17
  Speaker 6: because of his takes and his comments off the field.
• 23:20
  Speaker 6: or his approach to certain things. So, I don't know.
• 23:22
  Speaker 4: I think guys like him don't come around very.
• 23:25
  Speaker 6: Often, despite how you feel about him. He definitely is
• 23:30
  Speaker 6: worthy of being celebrated, and I'm not sure if.
• 23:32
  Speaker 4: The NFL is doing enough to do that.
• 23:34
  Speaker 5: Okay, so I'm going to throw in at least one
• 23:38
  Speaker 5: thing here, which is I think he is the best
• 23:42
  Speaker 5: thrower of a football I've ever seen in my life.
• 23:44
  Speaker 5: There's not a throw he can't make, and there are throws–
• 23:48
  Speaker 5: He can make that other guys just simply can't make.
• 23:51
  Speaker 5: And look, you want to tell me Terry Bradshaw, Dan
• 23:56
  Speaker 5: Marino had stronger arms. James Harris had a stronger arm. Look,
• 24:00
  Speaker 5: there are guys, there are great quarterbacks who've had stronger
• 24:04
  Speaker 5: arms probably than Aaron Rodgers, but it's as strong as
• 24:07
  Speaker 5: it needs to be. It doesn't need to be, and
• 24:09
  Speaker 5: it's a strong arm. It doesn't need to be any stronger.
• 24:12
  Speaker 4: Than it is.
• 24:14
  Speaker 5: And his ability to move left, move right, throw off
• 24:19
  Speaker 5: one foot, throw off the other foot. None of it
• 24:22
  Speaker 5: seems to bother him. You know, every time I watch him,
• 24:27
  Speaker 5: I think to myself, I wonder if he plays pickup basketball,
• 24:30
  Speaker 5: you know, because he would be just a dragged cover,
• 24:34
  Speaker 5: you know, because he'd constantly have you off balance because
• 24:39
  Speaker 5: his balance is so good.
• 24:41
  Speaker 3: His footwork, it is not footwork that I.
• 24:45
  Speaker 5: Think you would teach many people, because it is so
• 24:49
  Speaker 5: unique to him. But that ability to just, like I said,
• 24:54
  Speaker 5: he could be jumping in the air or going off
• 24:57
  Speaker 5: balance or whatever, but actually it's never really off balance.
• 25:00
  Speaker 5: It's on balance for him. It would be off balance
• 25:02
  Speaker 5: for somebody else, which is why you wouldn't teach it.
• 25:05
  Speaker 5: You know, they teach you, hey, man, you drop back,
• 25:09
  Speaker 5: that back foot hits the ground, square up and be
• 25:11
  Speaker 5: ready to throw. Square your shoulders towards where you're throwing
• 25:13
  Speaker 5: and throw it. He didn't do any of that stuff.
• 25:15
  Speaker 5: I mean, not that he does it on occasion. Not
• 25:18
  Speaker 5: that he can't do it, but he's just constantly working,
• 25:22
  Speaker 5: you know, quote unquote off platform. I've never seen anybody
• 25:24
  Speaker 5: do that the way he can and the way he does.
• 25:28
  Speaker 5: And whether it's a firing ball over the middle, lofting
• 25:31
  Speaker 5: one up the sideline, I think he's, when you look
• 25:36
  Speaker 5: at the quarterback position from that way, and I'm not
• 25:38
  Speaker 5: talking about ripping one 65 yards over the middle. If
• 25:42
  Speaker 5: you could do that as well as Marino or Bradshaw
• 25:45
  Speaker 5: or some other guys, um, To me, he's number one.
• 25:48
  Speaker 5: He's the best thrower of football I've ever seen. He
• 25:51
  Speaker 5: puts me in awe. It's like watching a Michael Jordan
• 25:54
  Speaker 5: or somebody do things. You mentioned Steph Curry. How in
• 25:58
  Speaker 5: the world did Steph Curry make that shot? To me,
• 26:01
  Speaker 5: that's what I get when I watch Aaron Rodgers. How
• 26:03
  Speaker 5: in the world did he throw that ball at times
• 26:06
  Speaker 5: and have it so accurate? I think he's the best
• 26:09
  Speaker 5: thrower of football I've ever seen.
• 26:13
  Speaker 4: I would completely agree. I think when you think about.
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: You know, the advent of like a Patrick Mahomes or,
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: you know, what we see with a Josh Allen. Like
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: there was that kind of precursor of style of guy
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: that you look at.
• 26:31
  Speaker 4: And Aaron Rodgers is one of those guys.
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: Ben Roethlisberger is one of those guys where you have
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: a heavy-handed guy that can run. And like you said,
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: make all those throws. Like how do you come off platform?
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: How do you throw the sidearm when that's not your styling?
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: You know, you're not Dan Marino. But you have a
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: guy in Aaron Rodgers who just absolutely just knows what
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: to do and when to do it. And it's uncanny
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: because we talk about it and we joke about it,
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: having a PhD-level type of understanding in everything. But that's
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: literally who he is. I mean, he just understands this
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: game at a higher level than everybody else. And he
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: operates as such. And he knows that whatever it needs
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: to be done, That's what I'm doing. I'm going with,
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: by any means necessary, get the ball to the guy,
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: get the job done, and make sure that we are
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: in a position to fight another day.
• 27:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, it's interesting.
• 27:31
  Speaker 5: I would love to have a conversation with Patrick Mahomes
• 27:35
  Speaker 5: and ask, and maybe it's been out there, maybe he's
• 27:37
  Speaker 5: already talked about it, ask whether he was influenced by
• 27:40
  Speaker 5: Aaron Rodgers. Because, by the way, if you wanted to
• 27:43
  Speaker 5: tell me, you know, Pat Mahomes is on his way
• 27:47
  Speaker 5: to being the greatest quarterback of all time. You know, look,
• 27:51
  Speaker 5: I think it's a fruitless exercise. I think you take
• 27:55
  Speaker 5: all the great ones over the years, and there's only
• 27:59
  Speaker 5: so great you can be. Everyone wants to call Tom
• 28:01
  Speaker 5: Brady the greatest of all time.
• 28:02
  Speaker 3: Maybe he is.
• 28:04
  Speaker 5: Maybe Otto Graham was the greatest of all time. You know,
• 28:07
  Speaker 5: maybe Aaron Rodgers was the greatest of all time. Maybe
• 28:09
  Speaker 5: Dan Marino was the greatest of all time.
• 28:10
  Speaker 3: Who's to say, man? You can only be so great,
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: in my opinion.
• 28:14
  Speaker 5: But I would be interested to know, if Mahomes with
• 28:17
  Speaker 5: the no look passes and, uh, the, the ability to
• 28:21
  Speaker 5: throw the football, um, in different ways. Uh, he, he
• 28:25
  Speaker 5: reminds me a lot of Aaron Rogers. Uh, he's obviously
• 28:27
  Speaker 5: a bigger guy physically and he's won three Superbowls, I think, right.
• 28:32
  Speaker 5: Three Superbowls for Patrick Mahomes. Uh, so he's got that,
• 28:35
  Speaker 5: you know, I, I mean, you know, he's, he, I
• 28:38
  Speaker 5: would be interested in, in, in Mahomes, the way he runs, uh,
• 28:42
  Speaker 5: You know, I mean, and look, Pat, he'll lower his
• 28:46
  Speaker 5: shoulder too, which is, you know, I don't know if
• 28:48
  Speaker 5: Aaron did that a whole lot when he was younger,
• 28:50
  Speaker 5: but the similar thing they have is I don't think
• 28:54
  Speaker 5: people perceive them as running backs or running quarterbacks, but man,
• 28:58
  Speaker 5: oh man, when it's third and seven and you decide
• 29:01
  Speaker 5: to play man and they break through and, you know,
• 29:04
  Speaker 5: they always get eight, you know, they're not maybe Josh
• 29:07
  Speaker 5: Allen-ing it down the field, but man, they It's just
• 29:10
  Speaker 5: that back-breaking ability that both those guys have.
• 29:14
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's interesting.
• 29:16
  Speaker 5: When you posed the question, I began to think, did
• 29:18
  Speaker 5: they do that with Brady? Did they do that with Manning?
• 29:21
  Speaker 5: Were they talking about those guys, Willie, at the end
• 29:24
  Speaker 5: of their career in that way?
• 29:26
  Speaker 3: Was that last season? Or did it maybe reach more
• 29:30
  Speaker 3: of a crescendo as it got later? Well, I felt like.
• 29:33
  Speaker 6: We saw it with Peyton for sure um because he
• 29:36
  Speaker 6: was able to leave out a champion and i think
• 29:38
  Speaker 6: once and he had the neck issue and there was
• 29:40
  Speaker 6: so much talk about his health and remember brock oswala
• 29:43
  Speaker 6: was in there from a little bit and and then
• 29:45
  Speaker 6: he was able to kind of get himself together and
• 29:46
  Speaker 6: make that running uh against the seahawks um.
• 29:51
  Speaker 4: And for for denver uh against the panthers.
• 29:54
  Speaker 6: I think i think that was the game excuse me
• 29:56
  Speaker 6: uh I'm missing my Super Bowls up.
• 29:58
  Speaker 4: But nevertheless, I feel like I've seen it with Peyton.
• 30:02
  Speaker 6: I think Tom did have it at one point, but
• 30:05
  Speaker 6: then he said, you know what, I'm not done, went
• 30:06
  Speaker 6: to Tampa, won, and then his last season he ended
• 30:09
  Speaker 6: up getting bounced in the playoffs against the Cowboys. So
• 30:13
  Speaker 6: I think Tom had it a little bit, but then
• 30:16
  Speaker 6: he kind of, I think he himself said, put the
• 30:18
  Speaker 6: parade on pause. I still got left in a tank.
• 30:21
  Speaker 6: But I think we saw it definitely with Peyton. I
• 30:24
  Speaker 6: think Tom was a little clunky solely because he decided
• 30:27
  Speaker 6: to come back and play, becoming a Buccaneer.
• 30:31
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I do think one of the sort of wonderful
• 30:35
  Speaker 5: things about sports is this doff of the cap to
• 30:40
  Speaker 5: the great ones as they're finishing things up. You know,
• 30:47
  Speaker 5: just this acknowledgement that they've been great and done great things.
• 30:52
  Speaker 5: I do agree it's something that, especially when you know
• 30:55
  Speaker 5: it's it, that's it, you know.
• 30:58
  Speaker 3: Like you said, with Jeter. That was it.
• 31:00
  Speaker 5: You could never do it with Brett Favre because you
• 31:04
  Speaker 5: just didn't know. I'm coming back.
• 31:06
  Speaker 3: I'm not coming back.
• 31:07
  Speaker 6: Brett was going to ride it until the wheels fell off.
• 31:09
  Speaker 3: Literally. I don't know. Max, I think it's a great question.
• 31:15
  Speaker 5: I'm going to pay attention to it as the year
• 31:18
  Speaker 5: goes on and see if maybe it does reach towards
• 31:21
  Speaker 5: a crescendo.
• 31:22
  Speaker 3: I would say this. I do think Willie, if the Steelers.
• 31:27
  Speaker 5: get to the playoffs, if they're playing well, if they're
• 31:31
  Speaker 5: not perceived nationally the way I think they've been perceived,
• 31:36
  Speaker 5: which is kind of like a playoff version of the Colts, right?
• 31:39
  Speaker 5: Like we talked about this. The Colts are right in
• 31:41
  Speaker 5: the middle ground of the NFL. Not a bad team.
• 31:44
  Speaker 5: Not a great team. Under Shane Steichen, 9-8, 8-9, 8-9.
• 31:48
  Speaker 5: They were 2-2 going into this game against the Steelers.
• 31:52
  Speaker 5: You know, the Steelers have been a level up from that.
• 31:55
  Speaker 5: but they haven't won a playoff game in their last
• 31:57
  Speaker 5: seven times or seven years, and I think they're perceived
• 32:01
  Speaker 5: a certain way nationally. I think if the perception changes
• 32:04
  Speaker 5: or if he wins a playoff game, I think we
• 32:08
  Speaker 5: will see more of it. That's just a guess on
• 32:10
  Speaker 5: my part, but I think we will see more.
• 32:14
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I hope so. Oh, go ahead.
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: I'm sorry about that. No, I was just going to say,
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: he's breaking all these milestones. Every game we're talking about
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: a different milestone that he's broken. So I think we
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: are getting it in doses. But like you said, when
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: you're in the middle of a season and fighting and,
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: you know, you already have all these doubts, I don't
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: think it gets celebrated enough. I mean, you have to
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: be blowing teams out by 50. And it gets to
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: the third and fourth page of your notes in the
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: game to start kind of gushing over who that guy
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: is because the game is the game. And I think,
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: you know, as we look at it and you go
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: back on highlights, you hear the milestones reach, right? You know,
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: Aaron Rodgers is mentioned with everybody who's either in the
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: Hall of Fame or about to be in the Hall
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: of Fame. In all of these, or the only person
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: left to beat is Tom Brady in this category. Like,
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: he just went past Ben on all-time touchdown list, right?
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: You know, to move into that top four category. And
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: you think about victories. Like, all of these things, he's
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: right there in the top fives. But when you have
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: a season like the Steelers are going through right now,
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: and you also have the polarizing figure, I sometimes think
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: that gets looked over in the process.
• 33:31
  Speaker 4: But you're absolutely right.
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: He deserves his flowers while he's playing because he is
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: one of the greatest to do it. He just doesn't
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: have the Super Bowls that the other guys have. But
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: he's always been competitive and always been at a high number,
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: high caliber, high execution level player throughout his entire career.
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: And like you said, who's to say who the GOAT is?
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: Because times change. the modernization of the game changes, and
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: so things that have numbers and statistical values are going
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: to wane over time, but as it's going right now,
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: if you're beating people who no longer can compete with that,
• 34:05
  Speaker 2: you're in the right category.
• 34:09
  Speaker 4: Willie? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, not to beat a dead horse,
• 34:17
  Speaker 4: I think for a lot.
• 34:18
  Speaker 6: Of people out there, like, well, you know, Aaron hasn't
• 34:20
  Speaker 6: been the you know, the friendliest to the media and
• 34:23
  Speaker 6: you do need the media on your side to kind
• 34:26
  Speaker 6: of get that campaign going. So, um, I can understand
• 34:29
  Speaker 6: the pushback from that aspect. I also think Aaron thus
• 34:33
  Speaker 6: far being simply 42 going on 43 years old, still
• 34:38
  Speaker 6: being able to lead a team to victory or attempt
• 34:40
  Speaker 6: to lead a team to victory week after week.
• 34:43
  Speaker 4: It's, there's a lot to be said with that. And
• 34:45
  Speaker 4: I think, I think a lot of, and I know.
• 34:47
  Speaker 6: Max and I, um, we appreciate when other guys from
• 34:52
  Speaker 6: other teams or even our own teammates say, hey, man,
• 34:55
  Speaker 6: this guy's special because of X, Y, Z, right? And
• 34:58
  Speaker 6: I think anytime you get that type of admiration and
• 35:01
  Speaker 6: respect from your own teammates, like Cam Haywood and TJ Watt,
• 35:05
  Speaker 6: some of the other guys who have had the opportunity
• 35:08
  Speaker 6: to not only respect Aaron from a quarterback standpoint, but
• 35:13
  Speaker 6: from a humanistic standpoint, I think that's also kind of
• 35:16
  Speaker 6: a badge of honor.
• 35:16
  Speaker 4: And I think Aaron could be some of these guys' dads, right?
• 35:23
  Speaker 4: He can be some of these dudes' fathers.
• 35:25
  Speaker 6: And to call him, to call them their teammate and
• 35:30
  Speaker 6: big brother, so to speak, or unk, as the young
• 35:33
  Speaker 6: kids like to say now, if you're over 33 right now,
• 35:36
  Speaker 6: you're an unk in the locker room. You know, I
• 35:40
  Speaker 6: think if you don't get it from the media, I
• 35:42
  Speaker 6: think the admiration and respect you get from your teammates
• 35:45
  Speaker 6: and the guys around the league, sometimes means more.
• 35:48
  Speaker 4: Um, I just hope he gets both honestly, but I
• 35:51
  Speaker 4: think if he.
• 35:52
  Speaker 6: Were to have it his way, he probably would appreciate
• 35:54
  Speaker 6: it or probably it would hold more weight.
• 35:56
  Speaker 4: If it gained from guys, he respected in the locker.
• 35:58
  Speaker 3: Room, by the way, one more quick aside.
• 36:00
  Speaker 5: Cause I, I did mention this about, you know, God,
• 36:03
  Speaker 5: I got a little off track, but this notion that, uh,
• 36:07
  Speaker 5: of all time greats, I can't stand it. Every sport,
• 36:11
  Speaker 5: you know, and now they, now they have a little, uh,
• 36:13
  Speaker 5: little symbol that you can go to. You can type
• 36:15
  Speaker 5: in a little goat. You can have a goat next
• 36:17
  Speaker 5: to it. Oh, he's the goat. Everybody's the goat. Everybody's
• 36:20
  Speaker 5: the greatest of all time. I just think, you know,
• 36:24
  Speaker 5: like I always throw the name Otto Graham out there
• 36:26
  Speaker 5: when they're talking about great quarterbacks.
• 36:28
  Speaker 4: Why?
• 36:28
  Speaker 5: Because the guy played 10 years, and I know he
• 36:31
  Speaker 5: started out in what was basically the AFL back in
• 36:33
  Speaker 5: the day when the Cleveland Browns, before they merged in
• 36:35
  Speaker 5: the NFL. Ten years, seven championships. So we're going to say, hey,
• 36:39
  Speaker 5: Tom Brady.
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 36:40
  Speaker 5: You know, in his 20 years, he won seven championships. Okay, well,
• 36:43
  Speaker 5: Otto Graham won seven in 10 years.
• 36:45
  Speaker 3: What does that make him? Doesn't he belong in there?
• 36:47
  Speaker 3: If that's your criteria for greatness, how about Otto Graham?
• 36:52
  Speaker 5: Anyway, I just think there's only so great a guy
• 36:55
  Speaker 5: can be, and this whole notion of he's the greatest
• 36:59
  Speaker 5: of all time is probably silly. Although, I don't know,
• 37:05
  Speaker 5: it's always fun. You know, it's always a fun debate
• 37:08
  Speaker 5: for sure. Okay, I'm going to leave it there. We're
• 37:10
  Speaker 5: going to take a break. We'll be back with more
• 37:12
  Speaker 5: when we continue in the locker room here on the
• 37:14
  Speaker 5: Steelers Audio Network.
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio. Brought to you
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: All right, we are in the final segment of the show. And,
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: you know, with the King's Decree comes many things, but.
• 37:53
  Speaker 3: Most importantly, sound the trumpets!
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: By royal decree, we will now consecrate this last segment
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: to Inside the Locker Rooms with Rob King, Willie Colon,
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: and Max Starks.
• 38:10
  Speaker 4: All right, Rob, it is on you, bud.
• 38:13
  Speaker 5: Well, I'm going to put it right back on you
• 38:15
  Speaker 5: because I invoked the name.
• 38:17
  Speaker 3: Otto Graham, winner of seven championships.
• 38:21
  Speaker 5: A couple of those, three, I think three or four
• 38:24
  Speaker 5: were the All-American Football Conference, and he won with Cleveland.
• 38:28
  Speaker 5: There's a famous game in which Cleveland entered the NFL,
• 38:32
  Speaker 5: and they played, I believe it was the Eagles who
• 38:34
  Speaker 5: were the defending NFL champs, and there was the expectation
• 38:39
  Speaker 5: that the Eagles would wipe the floor with them because they're.
• 38:41
  Speaker 4: In that inferior.
• 38:43
  Speaker 5: Conference, or league, the All-American football conference, and the Browns
• 38:48
  Speaker 5: beat him in that game and let everybody know, hey,
• 38:51
  Speaker 5: we're here, we're good, we're legit. So I invoked the
• 38:55
  Speaker 5: name Otto Graham, and then during the commercial break, Max
• 38:58
  Speaker 5: told me he played with Otto Graham's grandson?
• 39:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, played with his grandson, which was funny because Otto
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: Graham III, but he came to the University of Florida.
• 39:14
  Speaker 4: Okay, same name, I like it.
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, he can't– you're like, wait a second, what?
• 39:18
  Speaker 2: He's like, yeah, yeah, no, that was my granddad.
• 39:21
  Speaker 4: I'm like, what?
• 39:21
  Speaker 2: I was like, your granddad's a legend. But he was
• 39:26
  Speaker 2: a tight end. He was more of a blocking tight end.
• 39:28
  Speaker 2: But Otto was on the squad. I mean, he was
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: not going to start over Ben Troop. Ben was just
• 39:33
  Speaker 2: a fantastic tight end. But Otto got in the games.
• 39:36
  Speaker 2: He was one of my teammates at UF. So it
• 39:38
  Speaker 2: was just funny, you know, just asking. He was like, yeah, man.
• 39:41
  Speaker 2: You know, he's like, it's way different than it was now, Max.
• 39:43
  Speaker 4: I'm like, yeah, I know.
• 39:45
  Speaker 2: But he was at like the inception of what the
• 39:48
  Speaker 2: NFL is.
• 39:48
  Speaker 3: He was.
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: the quarterback blueprint that everybody wanted. I'm like, that's pretty wild.
• 39:53
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's right. Yeah, he was.
• 39:55
  Speaker 2: Just a great ambassador. And, in fact, I think his
• 40:00
  Speaker 2: grandfather passed, like, right after I left.
• 40:04
  Speaker 4: Florida.
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: And so, like, you know, there was a sad moment there.
• 40:08
  Speaker 2: Kind of sent our condolences to him. But, yeah, he.
• 40:11
  Speaker 4: Was that guy.
• 40:14
  Speaker 2: And so it was funny. When we mentioned that name,
• 40:16
  Speaker 2: you know, it just popped up.
• 40:17
  Speaker 6: I'm like, oh, shoot.
• 40:18
  Speaker 3: It was like, oh, gee.
• 40:19
  Speaker 2: All right, because his nickname we called Emoji.
• 40:22
  Speaker 4: Oh, nice, nice. But, yeah, but Otto was a cool teammate.
• 40:26
  Speaker 4: He was a good dude, man.
• 40:28
  Speaker 5: You know, it is the legacies that get passed on. Like,
• 40:33
  Speaker 5: we're going to see that this week.