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

Transcript

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

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Is in the locker room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio, brought to you
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: That's right.
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: You heard the.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: Dulcet horn sounds of Optimus Prime coming through.
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: I'm just thinking dulcet.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. Listen, I liked your words. I saw you
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: getting fancy, Rob, in my Zoom link. You have a
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: tie on and a collared shirt, so I figured I
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: had to go with the extrapolated vernacular for you on
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: that one. But it's still the power hour. Second hour
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: inside the locker room here. That's right. That's right. I'm
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: on your airwaves right now. It's Max Starks. Grooving along
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: with Willie Colon and Robert King. It's just great. I know,
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: I have to stop calling you Robert.
• 1:06
  Speaker 4: William.
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: William Colon. Yes, William.
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: We're not going to say the middle name.
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: Maximilian Starks? Are you Max or Maximilian?
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: It was Maximilian. There's a long story behind it, but yes.
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: When I was blessed with birth, I was given Maximilian.
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: So, as Max alluded to, yes, I'm Oh, now he's
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: got the vest.
• 1:27
  Speaker 5: I mean, you're going like full banker here with a
• 1:30
  Speaker 5: three-piece suit. I've never worn this vest. I'm not a
• 1:33
  Speaker 5: vest guy. My wife likes it best. I haven't decided
• 1:36
  Speaker 5: yet whether I'm going vest or no vest.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: Well, the wife said yes, so you go with what
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: the wife wants in this moment.
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: I voted one to one.
• 1:41
  Speaker 4: Yes to the vest.
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: I've said it many times before. We're a democracy. Yes,
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: we are. I voted one to one. So, yeah, I
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: haven't decided on this. I don't know if I'm going
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: to go the vest or not the vest. Anyway, so.
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: It looks like you're about to do your taxes. I'm
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: not going to lie.
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: What's that?
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: It looks like you're about to do your taxes.
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it does, doesn't it? So I might lose it.
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: So maybe I'll wear it to the wedding and take
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: it off for the reception. How about that?
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: There we go. That's a compromise. Everybody's happy.
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: Everybody's happy.
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: Wife gets the photo she wants. Make sure you take
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: the photo ahead of time before you take the vest off.
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: So a couple of performers. First of all, DK Metcalf,
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: his best game in quite some time. He made some
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: excellent catches, contested catches. It felt like every catch was contested.
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: I just thought he played a really strong game. Yeah,
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: he beat up on Tyson Campbell. He beat up on
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: Tyson Campbell in the one-on-ones.
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: And Denzel Ward was on Michael Pittman kind of neutralizing
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: him for the most part. But, yeah, no, I felt
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: like a very fine game by DK. That's kind of
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: what you need. That's number one receiver stuff. And it's
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: the first time we've seen number one receiver stuff from
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: him where he was locked in, he was focused. Now,
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: He did get that taunting penalty, catching that middle crosser
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: early in the game. But it got negated because, you know,
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: later they gave up, what, like two offsides and then
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: a personal foul. So he kind of got that yardage back.
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: One play, two separate personal fouls and an illegal contact.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so it didn't hurt. But you still need DK
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: to lock in sooner and understand the weight of what
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: his actions do for the rest of the team. But
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: I do appreciate the fact that he balled out in
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: a moment where we needed him to ball out and
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: get us back to a moment where we tied that
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: game up and we had an opportunity to go into overtime.
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: Yep. So I thought he was good. Willie, I think
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: Roman Wilson continues to get open and continues to make plays.
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: He had a career-long 49-yarder. I'm happy with the way
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: he's progressing and coming along in the passing game.
• 3:47
  Speaker 6: Yeah, well, you know, one of the things we talked
• 3:49
  Speaker 6: about earlier in the show is about maturity. You see
• 3:51
  Speaker 6: him starting to mature within the office. I think Aaron
• 3:53
  Speaker 6: is starting to trust him a lot more. And I
• 3:55
  Speaker 6: also think he's holding himself accountable. You think with his
• 3:58
  Speaker 6: skill set, his work ethic, man, there's no reason why
• 4:01
  Speaker 6: he can't be a key contributor in a slot. And,
• 4:04
  Speaker 6: you know, one of his superpowers, if you will, is
• 4:08
  Speaker 6: his ability to release off the line. His footwork and
• 4:10
  Speaker 6: his quickness is hell for anybody guarding him. And I
• 4:13
  Speaker 6: think he's starting to be a lot more dialed into
• 4:15
  Speaker 6: what's expected of him. And Aaron is just like, hey, man,
• 4:19
  Speaker 6: do your part. I'm going to get you to football.
• 4:21
  Speaker 6: And we was able to see that on that play.
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: Another guy that I thought was good for the Steelers
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: was Robert Spears Jennings.
• 4:30
  Speaker 4: Nice game for him.
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: Oh, he was huge.
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: Seven tackles. One of three guys with seven tackles, Roman Wilson.
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: I mean, I beg your pardon. Peyton Wilson also had seven.
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: Peyton also had a sack, a tackle for loss. I
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: think he had a quarterback hurry in there as well.
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: But Robert Spears Jennings. Seven tackles, interception, knocked away a
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: couple passes. Thought, Willie, that he played, you know, obviously
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: got an expanded role, played his best games in NFL.
• 4:57
  Speaker 6: Yeah, he's emerging as a true dog for the Steelers.
• 5:00
  Speaker 6: You know, one thing that I fell in love with
• 5:02
  Speaker 6: him in the preseason was his ability to communicate. You
• 5:05
  Speaker 6: saw him at times communicate with the linebackers, and you
• 5:08
  Speaker 6: also saw him at times just be a lot vocal.
• 5:11
  Speaker 6: You know, he's a young guy, but he has a
• 5:12
  Speaker 6: presence of a guy who's been in the league for
• 5:14
  Speaker 6: seven or eight years. And I'm always a fan of
• 5:17
  Speaker 6: a guy who's, me and Max have said this a
• 5:19
  Speaker 6: million times, a guy who's willing to put his face
• 5:22
  Speaker 6: in the fan.
• 5:23
  Speaker 4: And he's damn sure about that life, if you will.
• 5:25
  Speaker 6: So he's a safety who loves to tackle, who communicates well.
• 5:30
  Speaker 6: And he just seems like he has a great understanding
• 5:33
  Speaker 6: of what's suspected him out there. And I thought he
• 5:37
  Speaker 6: played well. He played extremely well last night. And I
• 5:40
  Speaker 6: thought he played a big pivotal role in the second
• 5:42
  Speaker 6: half of that game. his ability to kind of really
• 5:46
  Speaker 6: get in and out of the box and make tackles
• 5:49
  Speaker 6: in space.
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think he hit so hard that he was
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: catching a couple friendly fire strays.
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: He caught Jaquan Brisker on one play. I was like, whew.
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: I mean, but that's what you need. We made a
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: lot about why the Steelers went after Robert Spears Jennings
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: because he had a high Raz score, relative athletic score,
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: just based on being athletic. And he had one of
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: the top ones in the combine. And you see why,
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: because he just, he can do things on the back
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: end that you're just like, whoa, like you're not supposed
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: to be able to do that at this point in
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: your career. But you said, but you said it will. He's, he's,
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: he's a tape hound. He's, he's a communicator. And that's
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: what you need. You know, we haven't, you know, we've
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: had those moments, right? You've had the Minkas of the
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: world that had to go and, and fit into whatever,
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: you know, they ask of you. And he's a, and
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: he's a Supreme athlete that can fit that way, but
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: you also have to have Supreme communication. That's the other
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: part that goes with that athleticism. And I think he
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: does that super well. And that's what puts him in
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: a position because, you know, you think about it. I mean,
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: most of those tackles were solo that he had to make.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: And it was because of, there was some breakdown and
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: he's covering in and having to make that play in
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: the open field. And, God forbid you get in a
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: position where you have a two-way go with Casey Concepcion
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: and you've got to make a decision. And he was
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: good about making sure that he limited the capabilities of
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: what that guy could have done because, I mean, we
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: saw too many times where guys got shook out of
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: their shoes. And, you know, Deshaun Watson. I mean, it
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: was also vintage Deshaun Watson was out there last night, right? Now,
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: he's not Lamar Jackson, but his escapability– Man, he was
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: dead to rights in the backfield three or four times,
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: and he was able to run away, evade, juke, and
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: get something and make something out of nothing. And I
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: thought that was something that was just we were not
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: prepared for. It's almost like we expected him to be
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: the old Deshaun Watson of the last couple of years
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: that only played. What was the stat last night? 22
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: games in six.
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: Years, Rob? Yeah, 22 games in six years.
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: We thought that we were getting that guy, but we
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: didn't realize this guy has had two come-from-behind victories in
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: a row. And is playing some really good football post-week one.
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: So week two, three, and now four, Deshaun Watson has
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: led the team in crucial situations and been the guy
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: that they could trust.
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: Three game winning fourth quarter drives.
• 8:21
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: Three games, three, four. And, you know, here's the thing, too.
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: You know, we should point this out. Look, we want,
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: at the end of the game, as fans, we want
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: every one of their drives to be three and out. Yeah.
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: We want every.
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: We don't want to see any broken tackles by them,
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: but we want to see 100 broken tackles by us.
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: That's just part of being a fan. Now, having said that,
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: because Deshaun Watson is going to make some plays. He is.
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: Casey Concepcion is going to make some guys miss. He is.
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: I think our expectations mixed with reality weren't there last night.
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: So the reality was your expectations are never going to
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: be fully met. People were talking about it in week one. Man,
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: they've got to do a better job on B. John Robinson.
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: Let's B. John Robinson, man. So he's going to make
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: plays too. Having said that, the Steelers needed to do a–
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: they're not going to make every single tackle. We talked
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: about this earlier. They need to make more tackles. But
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: Deshaun Watson made plays. I thought that it was– so
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: Corey Bohorquez, I don't want to talk too much about punters,
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: but Corey Bohorquez had an 81-yard punt. We mentioned this
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: on the air last night. Three times he has led
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: the league with the longest punt. He was pounding the
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: ball last night. I mean, pounding it. That 81-yarder, Max,
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: as you said, that traveled over 70 yards in the air.
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: 70 yards of scrimmage in the air. Over 80 yards
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: from where it left his foot. But for the Steelers,
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: Cam Johnson, the punt that was taken by Echols inside
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: the one-yard line, you know, the return games were probably,
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: you know, kind of in that wash area. Yeah, it
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: was moved. Caden Weege had a couple decent punt returns. And,
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: you know, it's still not a plus category. I didn't
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: think it was a minus category for the Steelers last night.
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: Boz missed a field goal. Obviously, that's, you know, when
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: their guy makes theirs and you miss one and you
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: lose by three, that's going to be a factor. But
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: I thought Cam Johnson had a really solid game and
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: showed you why he can be a weapon for the Steelers.
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I agree. Listen, I think it's interesting. I was
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: worried about his knee from last week when he got hit.
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 10:34
  Speaker 6: And so I was like, man, for that guy to
• 10:37
  Speaker 6: kind of have the game he had last night, I
• 10:40
  Speaker 6: was impressed because I don't know about anybody else.
• 10:42
  Speaker 4: I thought the way he came up hobbling it.
• 10:44
  Speaker 6: Hobbling, excuse me, I was for sure it was going
• 10:46
  Speaker 6: to be like an MCL sprain or ankle sprain.
• 10:49
  Speaker 4: Or something like that.
• 10:50
  Speaker 6: But for him to come out on Thursday night and
• 10:51
  Speaker 6: boom the ball the way he did and give us
• 10:53
  Speaker 6: a shot, even with Nichols at the end of that
• 10:56
  Speaker 6: game on that one play, this showed you that there
• 11:01
  Speaker 6: was some cohesiveness and the special teams were starting to
• 11:03
  Speaker 6: come around a little bit. But you're right, Rob. He
• 11:06
  Speaker 6: definitely was a bright spot.
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think when it comes down to that,
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: you know, you have to be able to answer. I mean,
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: we knew who the Hork has was and for him
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: to get that one on literally the one inch line.
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: I mean, I thought that ball was going to be
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: touched back. I thought his toes were on the white,
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: but they weren't me too.
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: And so I was like, man, so I was like,
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: we had to respond and cam did that in kind.
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: So it was a, it was a field possession game.
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: Like who can pin the other deeper. And then it's like,
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: you give your defense enough grass to defend and, So
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: that they can be aggressive. But, you know, once again,
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: we do that. And then, you know, we don't take
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: the penalty because they jump off sides. Because it was
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: a 16-inch penalty. It's like, well, he got a yard positive. So,
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: you know, we rather than take the down. But then
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: to hit the quick slant to Boston and get that yardage,
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: it was just like a gut punch. So it was
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: just like you try and play the tactical game, but
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: then something goes wrong. And that's what we talked about.
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: not playing complimentary football in the right moments. Like, we
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: had great moments, and if you strung those moments together,
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: it would be dominant. But the problem is they came dis-segmented.
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: You know, quick sudden change turnover. You don't respond. You
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: allow them to score. Then you get quick change, and
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: you don't score. And then you pin a guy deep
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: at the one-yard line. Remember our rule, Willie, was if
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: backed up football, this is B.A. 's rule, it's like
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: two first downs. You have to get it as an offense.
• 12:40
  Speaker 7: Yep.
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: And defensively, you have to turn them over to flip
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: the field and force them out. And they did what B.A.
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: would have told us to do, get the two first downs.
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: And they even went on top of that. They marched
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: onto our side of the field after being backed up
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: on the one. And I think that was just kind
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: of where it wasn't in line.
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: And T.J.
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: Had every right to be upset, right? I mean, there
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: were some things that I'm sure he wishes he could
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: have back, and I'm sure the rest of the defense
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: wishes They didn't miss on some of these tackles or
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: play a little bit more astute in the zone. But, man,
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: it was just like you saw the moments, and if
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: you just did the highlight reel, you'd be like, there's
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: no way the Steelers lost this game with the highlights.
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: But then you turn on their highlights, you're like, okay,
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: I see why they lost the game because the big
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: weighty moments, they just didn't answer in enough time.
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah. I'm going to sum up here, Willie, because I'm
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: going to be heading off here. And I want your
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: final comments.
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: He's going to a banker's convention, Willie. It'll just be
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: me and you.
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah. I look like a banker. I'm trying to decide.
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: Do I go the vest? No vest. I'm still trying
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: to work that out.
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: I mean, all you need is a pocket watch. I mean,
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: that's the only thing. Right in the little pocket on
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: the front side and just check your time randomly.
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: And be sure to check your time repeatedly so people
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: know you have a pocket watch. Exactly.
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: Like you're at a train stop waiting for the train
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: to come.
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: I got an old one that doesn't work. Maybe I
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: should bust that out. Yeah, you should. You know, I
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: just think that You know, it's funny. When I went
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: back and watched the Patriots game against the Steelers, I thought, wow,
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: you know, the Steelers really should have been leading this
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: game at least 6-3 at the half, maybe 9-3 at
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: the half. But, you know, a lot of things conspired
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: against them in that game. I thought things conspired against
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: them in this game, too. Like, you know, the two
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: sacks that make the Boz field goal more difficult and
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: he misses and then knocks him out of Boswell field
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: goal range. Those are obvious things. I think that There
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: were some elements that I liked, certainly. It's road football.
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: I get it. I think the Browns are better than
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: people think. I get that, too. I just go back
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: to that second quarter, Willie, and again, this is just
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: my summation of the game. There's some things I would
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: have liked to have seen more. More running of Jalen Warren.
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: All that having been said, the inability, and I think
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: part of that was not running Jalen Warren more. The
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: inability to settle the game in the second quarter You know,
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: that's what is kind of sticking with me here less
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: than 24 hours later.
• 15:12
  Speaker 4: Well, yeah, I mean, they scored three straight touchdowns.
• 15:14
  Speaker 6: But even that in the second quarter, if the defense
• 15:16
  Speaker 6: is to eliminate one of them touchdowns, it just allowed
• 15:19
  Speaker 6: them to kick three.
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: Still, let's win this game.
• 15:21
  Speaker 7: Right.
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: That's right.
• 15:22
  Speaker 6: And so that's really where it stinks because as well
• 15:26
  Speaker 6: as the defense played in the second half, when the
• 15:29
  Speaker 6: Browns started to pick it up and really kind of
• 15:32
  Speaker 6: put the foot on the gas, man, we weren't able
• 15:35
  Speaker 6: to stand up. And listen, I'm trying to be, you
• 15:40
  Speaker 6: guys are better at this than I am, but you
• 15:42
  Speaker 6: saw some guys out there make some business decisions, right?
• 15:45
  Speaker 6: And so there has to be more of a collective
• 15:51
  Speaker 6: unit synergy where they're like, you know, enough is enough, right?
• 15:55
  Speaker 6: And that starts with Patrick Graham, and that starts with
• 15:58
  Speaker 6: everybody on that field where, You know, guys, some of
• 16:01
  Speaker 6: that tackling out there wasn't because guys were taking not
• 16:04
  Speaker 6: only bad angles, but because guys weren't willing to put
• 16:06
  Speaker 6: their face in the fan, as we like to say here,
• 16:09
  Speaker 6: and get guys down. And I know they were thin
• 16:11
  Speaker 6: in the secondary, and I know they were thin in
• 16:13
  Speaker 6: other places. But, man, there's some got to– just like
• 16:16
  Speaker 6: we say, there's some got to have it moments on
• 16:18
  Speaker 6: offense where you got to have a catch or you
• 16:19
  Speaker 6: got to have a first down or you got to
• 16:21
  Speaker 6: have a throw.
• 16:22
  Speaker 4: Same thing on defense, man. Like, tackling wasn't as– yeah,
• 16:28
  Speaker 4: you say it wasn't as solid– But it wasn't just that.
• 16:30
  Speaker 6: You saw guys get pushed around by– we saw some
• 16:33
  Speaker 6: of our guys get pushed around by receivers.
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying? Like, there's a difference.
• 16:38
  Speaker 6: It's one thing to miss a tackle, but when you
• 16:40
  Speaker 6: got receivers, you know, locking up– blocking up our linebackers,
• 16:43
  Speaker 6: when you see some of our– excuse me, the Browns
• 16:46
  Speaker 6: receivers blocking up our linebackers and pushing their weight around,
• 16:50
  Speaker 6: that's what was troubling for me. Like, when it was
• 16:52
  Speaker 6: time to kind of bow up and play and become bullies,
• 16:55
  Speaker 6: we didn't do that. And I thought that's when the
• 16:57
  Speaker 6: level of physicality rise for the Browns And I was strunk.
• 17:01
  Speaker 6: And that was probably the most disappointing thing out of
• 17:03
  Speaker 6: that second quarter.
• 17:05
  Speaker 4: For me, Rob.
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: All right, gentlemen, enjoy your weekend. We'll have some NFL
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: football to talk about on Monday and a matchup at
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: the Colts to talk about on Monday as well as
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: we look forward to week five for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: And again, looming is a big one as they drop
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: to the Cleveland Browns 27-24. Missy Matthews will be joining
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: the guys up next when we continue in the locker
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: room here on the Steelers Audio Network.
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio, brought to you
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: Oh, just like she drops in every Friday for us,
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: when you hear the bass drop, you know it's only
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: one person that's coming on the airwaves, and that's our
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: very own sideline reporter, Missy Matthews, joining us, of course,
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: in the aftermath of what happened Thursday night. Missy, how
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: are you doing recovery-wise? Did you get enough winks of sleep?
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: Do you feel energized or... Does it feel like how
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: we felt at the end of this game? What's your
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: initial feelings right now?
• 18:31
  Speaker 7: I'm going to go with I feel like how I
• 18:33
  Speaker 7: felt at the end of the game. And, you know,
• 18:35
  Speaker 7: I don't think the bus ride home from Cleveland helps.
• 18:39
  Speaker 7: No one was really happy, rightfully so. You know, a
• 18:42
  Speaker 7: lot of watching on the tablets, trying to relook and
• 18:46
  Speaker 7: figure out what went wrong, where, when, how. So I
• 18:50
  Speaker 7: do feel like it's, you know, one of those kind
• 18:52
  Speaker 7: of crummy Fridays. And, you know, I just... Yeah, I
• 18:55
  Speaker 7: feel like we all need a good, solid 10-hour sleep
• 18:59
  Speaker 7: maybe tonight to try to start the process over.
• 19:02
  Speaker 4: Oh, yeah. Yeah, sorry, Max.
• 19:09
  Speaker 6: Missy, I'm going to be honest with you, and I'm
• 19:11
  Speaker 6: just going to lean towards the offensive side of the ball. Obviously,
• 19:15
  Speaker 6: there was a lot that went right early in the game,
• 19:17
  Speaker 6: but a lot went wrong during the course of the game. Um,
• 19:21
  Speaker 6: this receiver, of course, in my eyes, it's still clunky
• 19:24
  Speaker 6: at times, but yet we also, we had a good
• 19:26
  Speaker 6: game out of DK Metcalf. I thought Roman, uh, Wilson
• 19:29
  Speaker 6: was able to have some impact plays, but what's going
• 19:32
  Speaker 6: on with Michael Pittman, Michael Pittman, excuse me. Why hasn't
• 19:35
  Speaker 6: he really kind of emerged as somebody for this office
• 19:38
  Speaker 6: to lean on?
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: Um, he seems to struggle against man.
• 19:42
  Speaker 6: And, um, anytime, you know, somebody plays man against Michael Pittman, um,
• 19:47
  Speaker 6: we can't find them on tape.
• 19:49
  Speaker 4: What's going on with him?
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know.
• 19:51
  Speaker 7: You know, it's interesting. I think even just like the
• 19:54
  Speaker 7: pre-snap penalties that we saw from him last night, Willie,
• 19:56
  Speaker 7: and I don't know if it's, you know, the missed
• 19:59
  Speaker 7: time when he was dealing with an injury during training
• 20:01
  Speaker 7: camp or not being with Aaron Rogers and, you know,
• 20:04
  Speaker 7: getting in the work, the hand signals, all the different
• 20:06
  Speaker 7: things that, you know, come with an Aaron Rogers offense. It,
• 20:10
  Speaker 7: it did just feel like it was not what you
• 20:13
  Speaker 7: would want out of the guy that you traded for
• 20:15
  Speaker 7: this off season in terms of performance last night, obviously
• 20:19
  Speaker 7: missed another game after, you know, not being healthy throughout
• 20:23
  Speaker 7: the beginning process, but yeah, it, it, Herky jerky is
• 20:28
  Speaker 7: the word that Mike McCarthy has used that I think
• 20:31
  Speaker 7: epitomizes kind of what we've seen from the offense overall.
• 20:34
  Speaker 7: And it does feel like there should be a bigger role,
• 20:37
  Speaker 7: something more happening that's better with Michael Pittman, a veteran
• 20:42
  Speaker 7: wide receiver. Obviously, his numbers are probably the lowest they
• 20:46
  Speaker 7: have been through four games. So, yeah, it's just one
• 20:50
  Speaker 7: of those things that's been kind of hard to watch.
• 20:52
  Speaker 7: And obviously, pre-step penalties don't help anybody, no matter what
• 20:55
  Speaker 7: position you are.
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: And Missy, I want you to do this for me
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: because obviously you have a unique vantage point, you know,
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: from where Rob and I are all the way up
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: in the crow's nest. And you're right there on the sidelines.
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: Just kind of talk about the the mood.
• 21:13
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: You know, first quarter mood. And then kind of after
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: that second touchdown, you know, the Browns scored. Was there
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: any significant shifts on the sideline mood-wise as far as
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: how they felt? Did they seem to get down on
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: themselves or was it something where they were still super encouraging,
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: trying to get guys, trying to rally each other? What
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: was the mood down there on the sidelines as you
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: kind of went through that lull after the big first
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: quarter and then probably midway through second quarter?
• 21:53
  Speaker 7: I think a little column of column a little column B,
• 21:56
  Speaker 7: maybe a little column C, whatever you want that to be,
• 21:59
  Speaker 7: you know, especially I think the defense, it just felt like,
• 22:03
  Speaker 7: you know, I watched so much of Jalen Ramsey pregame
• 22:05
  Speaker 7: and he's dealing with wearing a cast and he's hating
• 22:08
  Speaker 7: it and he's doing everything in his power to try
• 22:10
  Speaker 7: to have them, you know, manipulate it while it's still
• 22:13
  Speaker 7: protecting him in some form or fashion, but he's still
• 22:16
  Speaker 7: able to catch the ball and, you know, go through
• 22:18
  Speaker 7: warmups and do things. And, He comes out, he has
• 22:22
  Speaker 7: that play, you know, the pass breakup, they go three
• 22:25
  Speaker 7: and out. And then it just felt like, you know,
• 22:28
  Speaker 7: the normal things that you see. But then it was
• 22:29
  Speaker 7: the defense that I think is where you started to
• 22:33
  Speaker 7: see hair splitting and just kind of like, maybe not every...
• 22:38
  Speaker 7: every layer of the defense, every, excuse me, level of
• 22:41
  Speaker 7: the defense being on the same page. And then clearly we've,
• 22:46
  Speaker 7: we've all seen the video of TJ Watt, Max, and
• 22:48
  Speaker 7: I kind of saw it in real time, you know,
• 22:51
  Speaker 7: getting on the headset and some having some few choice
• 22:54
  Speaker 7: words with what I would assume to be Patrick Graham,
• 22:56
  Speaker 7: who's clearly up in the coach's booth. And it just
• 22:59
  Speaker 7: felt like they could not all it just felt like
• 23:02
  Speaker 7: it was the frustration of everybody not being able to
• 23:04
  Speaker 7: get on the same page and doing what they wanted
• 23:07
  Speaker 7: to do. That just seemed to be the overarching theme
• 23:09
  Speaker 7: for offense and defense for sure.
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: How much do you think Joey Porter Jr.
• 23:16
  Speaker 6: Going to the Cowboys impacted them emotionally and schematically going
• 23:20
  Speaker 6: into that game?
• 23:22
  Speaker 7: See, I don't know so much emotionally. I really didn't
• 23:25
  Speaker 7: get that vibe, but I cannot imagine just as a
• 23:29
  Speaker 7: human being that during the course of that game, you're
• 23:32
  Speaker 7: not thinking, it'd be nice to have Joey right now.
• 23:35
  Speaker 7: And I'm sure they've thought that before, but I think,
• 23:37
  Speaker 7: you know, when you go through the first few weeks,
• 23:40
  Speaker 7: it's not so much, okay, he's with us. He's working back.
• 23:45
  Speaker 4: We're hopeful.
• 23:46
  Speaker 7: It sounds like we're going to get him soon, but
• 23:47
  Speaker 7: then clearly when you're traded, it's He's gone. You're not
• 23:51
  Speaker 7: untrading him. You're not, you know, able to call the
• 23:54
  Speaker 7: league and say, you know what, scratch that. We want him.
• 23:56
  Speaker 7: I mean, he was already in Dallas going through a
• 23:58
  Speaker 7: practice by the time they took the field. So maybe
• 24:02
  Speaker 7: it was, you know, they were able to control it,
• 24:04
  Speaker 7: but then the frustrations, you know, started to expose themselves
• 24:09
  Speaker 7: when things were not going right. But I don't think that,
• 24:12
  Speaker 7: you know, you can pinpoint that as something that was
• 24:15
  Speaker 7: like the reason why things didn't go right last night.
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and, you know, the Miss tackles defensively, Missy. I mean,
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: for as great as the defense was the first three weeks,
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: it's like, you know, it was a short week and,
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: you know, recovery was a premium. I felt like they
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: didn't really get dialed in on what the game plan was. And,
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: you know, it's something to be said, you know, coming
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: off a team that, you know, that's had two straight
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: wins and you're playing at home, it's another thing to
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: be the team that's visiting That's kind of on the road.
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: And then we saw, you know, what happened with, you know,
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: as I kind of pivot here, I was going to
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: ask about missed tackles. But then I thought about this.
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: I saw that, you know, there was a thing about
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: the 19-hour rule and that the Steelers, like, didn't want
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: to travel to Cleveland, but they had to. What happened
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: with it? Do you know anything about that? Because I
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: remember seeing something like, oh, it got denied and you
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: have to be in cities 19 hours before a game
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: or something.
• 25:16
  Speaker 7: Yeah, I think, you know, I don't know this for sure,
• 25:18
  Speaker 7: but just based off of everything, Mike McCarthy has said,
• 25:21
  Speaker 7: he's very into the, um, sports science. I feel like
• 25:24
  Speaker 7: as always the, the like cliche word that he uses,
• 25:27
  Speaker 7: but it does encompass a lot. And his whole thing
• 25:30
  Speaker 7: is like, there are times when, you know, sleep has
• 25:33
  Speaker 7: to be the priority. He's a, he, he works early,
• 25:36
  Speaker 7: you know, there's guys who are now going to bed
• 25:38
  Speaker 7: at like eight or nine o'clock because of how early
• 25:40
  Speaker 7: they have to be in on a regular basis. you know,
• 25:44
  Speaker 7: during the normal work week. I think obviously you play
• 25:48
  Speaker 7: an AFC North matchup. Yes, it was at home, but
• 25:50
  Speaker 7: then you know that you're going to play another AFC
• 25:52
  Speaker 7: North matchup. You're on the road. It's a bus ride,
• 25:55
  Speaker 7: but it's still, it's still a bus ride guys. You know,
• 25:58
  Speaker 7: like it's still, you're losing that day. Even I know
• 26:01
  Speaker 7: Todd Munkin and his comments last night or early this
• 26:04
  Speaker 7: morning was saying, we didn't do anything this week. We
• 26:07
  Speaker 7: literally did more of something today before the game in
• 26:11
  Speaker 7: terms of like a heavy duty walkthrough to really go
• 26:14
  Speaker 7: over things. That was not something that, you know, the,
• 26:18
  Speaker 7: the Steelers were able to do. And I think his
• 26:20
  Speaker 7: whole thing was like, don't we all sleep better in
• 26:22
  Speaker 7: our own bed? You know, opposed to going to a hotel. Sure.
• 26:27
  Speaker 7: It can be nice. Sometimes our friends, you know, Wes Euler, who,
• 26:31
  Speaker 7: you know, when you have kids, sometimes it doesn't matter
• 26:33
  Speaker 7: where you're sleeping. If you're in a room by yourself,
• 26:35
  Speaker 7: you sleep great. But for an athlete, as you guys know,
• 26:39
  Speaker 7: whose body goes through a game and then has to
• 26:41
  Speaker 7: rebound so quickly. I think that was Mike McCarthy's point
• 26:44
  Speaker 7: of like, There's so much more we can do to
• 26:46
  Speaker 7: help them recover without having to go to Cleveland the
• 26:50
  Speaker 7: day before. But, you know, rules are rules, and it's
• 26:53
  Speaker 7: clearly different even if you're getting on a plane. It's
• 26:57
  Speaker 7: not like you're flying in the morning of a game.
• 26:59
  Speaker 7: That doesn't happen. Those are, like, extreme circumstances.
• 27:03
  Speaker 6: Missy, the second half of the game, and the offense
• 27:07
  Speaker 6: at the end of that game seemed to put it together.
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: A little bit.
• 27:11
  Speaker 6: Have there been more– I don't know what to say.
• 27:15
  Speaker 4: I'm pretty sure they have been talked.
• 27:16
  Speaker 6: But that final play with 10 seconds left on the clock,
• 27:20
  Speaker 6: Aaron Rhodes out. He tries to get the ball to
• 27:22
  Speaker 6: Roman Wilson, but he has D.K. Metcalf in the middle
• 27:24
  Speaker 6: of the field wide open. If he hits D.K. with
• 27:28
  Speaker 6: 10 seconds, hopefully the ball.
• 27:29
  Speaker 4: Gets down to five.
• 27:30
  Speaker 6: They get an opportunity to tie the game up for
• 27:33
  Speaker 6: a go-ahead field goal. Has there been a lot of
• 27:36
  Speaker 6: talks about his decision-making in that aspect?
• 27:40
  Speaker 7: I didn't hear a ton, to be perfectly honest, after
• 27:43
  Speaker 7: the game. Everyone was very, you know, short comments, I think,
• 27:49
  Speaker 7: were kind of the theme. You know, it was kind
• 27:52
  Speaker 7: of the awkwardness.
• 27:52
  Speaker 3: Of the media.
• 27:54
  Speaker 7: Like, okay, who can we all go talk to at
• 27:56
  Speaker 7: the same time and get it over with? Because nobody's happy.
• 28:00
  Speaker 7: There's people screaming in the shower. You know, like, it's just... Everyone's...
• 28:05
  Speaker 7: It's the emotion.
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: Of the game.
• 28:06
  Speaker 7: That's why we love it. You're either... the Browns where
• 28:09
  Speaker 7: you're still celebrating or you're like trying to get the
• 28:12
  Speaker 7: heck out of that city if you're the Steelers. But
• 28:15
  Speaker 7: I do feel like, you know, even watching it live,
• 28:18
  Speaker 7: clearly there was a lot going on on the sideline.
• 28:21
  Speaker 7: I didn't necessarily see DK because I'm watching Aaron. And
• 28:26
  Speaker 7: in that moment, you don't know, but then of course
• 28:27
  Speaker 7: it's like the second you pull up the video that
• 28:29
  Speaker 7: everyone can see on TV and you're like, Oh man, like, yeah.
• 28:32
  Speaker 7: And I just, you know, it's kind of hard to
• 28:35
  Speaker 7: pin on Aaron and say like, it's all his fault.
• 28:38
  Speaker 7: I mean, he did so many crazy things. I think
• 28:41
  Speaker 7: about that touchdown pass to Darnell Washington to get them
• 28:44
  Speaker 7: in the position to be there. But you are kind
• 28:46
  Speaker 7: of like, man, like that's something that Aaron doesn't miss, right?
• 28:50
  Speaker 7: Like that's why he is who he is.
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: And the quarterback that he is.
• 28:53
  Speaker 7: So I'm sure when he saw that video on the
• 28:57
  Speaker 7: bus ride home, he was probably not, you know, excited
• 29:00
  Speaker 7: at all.
• 29:02
  Speaker 6: Reminded me of the Baltimore Cowboys game. It was almost
• 29:06
  Speaker 6: identical where Lamar Jackson hits a flower in the middle
• 29:10
  Speaker 6: of the field.
• 29:11
  Speaker 4: They rushed the field goal unit on there. Boom. Baltimore's out.
• 29:14
  Speaker 6: Baltimore's out the door with a win. And you feel like, man,
• 29:18
  Speaker 6: if Aaron hits DK in that moment, they tie that game.
• 29:21
  Speaker 6: Momentum's now back on Pittsburgh side. Steelers win that game.
• 29:25
  Speaker 6: You know, I've always been a fan of saying that winning,
• 29:29
  Speaker 6: you know, or is the ultimate deodorant. Coming off a scrappy, ugly,
• 29:35
  Speaker 6: gritty Thursday night AFC North win, you now back-to-back win.
• 29:40
  Speaker 6: Now you're top of the division, and now you've got
• 29:42
  Speaker 6: the Colts. It just feels like we get to push
• 29:46
  Speaker 6: aside the ugly and really start stacking dubs. Now with
• 29:50
  Speaker 6: the Steelers 2-2 at the bottom division, not the end
• 29:52
  Speaker 6: of the world, but now it feels like the seams
• 29:56
  Speaker 6: are starting to unravel right now with this team. And
• 29:58
  Speaker 6: I know you kind of highlighted that, you know, an
• 30:01
  Speaker 6: emotional locker room at the end, rightfully so. You want
• 30:03
  Speaker 6: to hear a team who's pissed off and really upset
• 30:06
  Speaker 6: about how they perform through fourth quarters. But I think
• 30:10
  Speaker 6: after this loss, there seems to be more questions looming.
• 30:15
  Speaker 6: And I don't know if the Steelers have the answers
• 30:17
  Speaker 6: to that. And people are kind of looking at the Steelers. Like,
• 30:21
  Speaker 6: you know, are they for real or are they not?
• 30:23
  Speaker 6: Because you beat a significant team in the Bengals but
• 30:25
  Speaker 6: lose to a Browns team who, sure, we didn't give
• 30:28
  Speaker 6: a lot of credit to.
• 30:29
  Speaker 4: Now we know they're legit.
• 30:30
  Speaker 6: But at the same time, we felt like going into
• 30:32
  Speaker 6: this game, the Steelers just had a more competent and
• 30:35
  Speaker 6: mature roster to beat the Browns, and that didn't happen.
• 30:37
  Speaker 4: So I just feel like this game kind of opened.
• 30:43
  Speaker 6: Up a wound that I don't know if we're ready
• 30:44
  Speaker 6: to address a lot of things that are in our head.
• 30:48
  Speaker 6: I agree.
• 30:49
  Speaker 7: And honestly, when they were, you know, making the comeback
• 30:52
  Speaker 7: towards the end in terms of the Steelers offense and
• 30:54
  Speaker 7: the defense being able to get the offense, the ball back,
• 30:57
  Speaker 7: I was thinking to myself, wow, like this has dramatically
• 31:00
  Speaker 7: changed if they pull out this win in terms of
• 31:03
  Speaker 7: how we're discussing this game. But I think it's true
• 31:06
  Speaker 7: every week, but I'm with you. It felt like, okay,
• 31:09
  Speaker 7: you did what you did against the Bengals. This team
• 31:11
  Speaker 7: was coming in. Everyone's their third defense is so much better.
• 31:14
  Speaker 7: It's so different. the Steelers are screwed type deal. And
• 31:18
  Speaker 7: then they go and prove, okay, not the case, but
• 31:21
  Speaker 7: I do think it's early in the season and, you know,
• 31:23
  Speaker 7: you could go back.
• 31:24
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 31:25
  Speaker 7: The Browns beat two defenses that weren't that good. You know,
• 31:29
  Speaker 7: there's always, you could, I feel like you can always
• 31:31
  Speaker 7: convince yourself. And I think maybe that's what we sometimes
• 31:34
  Speaker 7: do as fans, media members, people close with people on
• 31:37
  Speaker 7: the team. You can write it however you want, but
• 31:42
  Speaker 7: I did think, wow, like if you get this win,
• 31:44
  Speaker 7: you're able to fix things and it doesn't feel as gross.
• 31:48
  Speaker 7: Now it's almost worse to me that you have a
• 31:51
  Speaker 7: long weekend.
• 31:51
  Speaker 4: Exactly.
• 31:52
  Speaker 7: You have an extra time to like dwell on this
• 31:55
  Speaker 7: because like another game doesn't happen until Sunday morning. I
• 31:59
  Speaker 7: think someone plays in London. So it is, it's so
• 32:03
  Speaker 7: weird how it can change just by, you know, one
• 32:06
  Speaker 7: little thing. Of course, the outcome is the biggest thing
• 32:09
  Speaker 7: that matters, but it does feel like this one will
• 32:12
  Speaker 7: be taking some time to kind of get that taste
• 32:14
  Speaker 7: out of your mouth and you have to wait longer
• 32:16
  Speaker 7: to try to do it anyways. But now it's like,
• 32:18
  Speaker 7: all right, the wounds are open. Let's, let's try to
• 32:21
  Speaker 7: figure this out so we can close them up.
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. And, and Missy, once again, thank you so much
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: for joining us and, and, allowing us to perseverate, lick
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: our wounds, so to speak, and commiserate in the misery
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: that is the loss for the Steelers. Like you said,
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: we're going to have another 40 hours to chew on
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: this before something distracts us and takes our minds off
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: of the fact that we lost in Cleveland yet again
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: for the ninth time in 10 years. That's tough to
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: say out loud. Oh, how it's changed.
• 33:02
  Speaker 3: But yeah, it does.
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: But it does. But hey, listen, we got the weekend.
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: You get to relax. You get to take some time
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: off and think about it. And we'll regroup on Monday.
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: And of course, we'll talk to you next Friday, Missy.
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: So thank you so much for joining us and enjoy
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: the weekend.
• 33:18
  Speaker 7: All right.
• 33:18
  Speaker 6: Thanks, guys.
• 33:19
  Speaker 7: You as well.
• 33:19
  Speaker 3: And go pick a big game tonight.
• 33:21
  Speaker 7: So I'm going to turn my attention to the Panthers.
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: There we go. There we go. Find the bright side
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: of it all. All right, we'll be back with the
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: Bell Lab when we come back here inside the locker
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: room here on SNR and Steelers Audio Network.
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio. Brought to you
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: All right here, we are inside the bell lap of
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: This show is the final segment. Thank Missy. We want
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: to thank Missy Matthews for joining us as she always
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: does on Fridays. Like I said, Rob King is at
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: a banker's convention the way he was dressed on my
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: zoom earlier. So we wish him well and may he
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: have a joyous time. Hopefully he didn't forget his monocle, but, um, well,
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: I have to sound it because it's just only right.
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: So let's just go ahead. Just play the sound. Just
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: get it out of the way. Um, It's not a
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: joyous occasion that I ring the trumpets. It's more so,
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: it's like a morning. I felt like we almost need
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: like a 21-gun salute, you know, as an option after a.
• 34:45
  Speaker 3: Lot of work. Okay, there we go.
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: There we go. Those are the trumpets we need. That's
• 34:50
  Speaker 2: how we feel. That was a result of the game
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: last night. You know, if you didn't watch it or,
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: you know, you fell asleep before it got to the
• 34:59
  Speaker 2: end of that game, Steelers go down. 27, 24 loss
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: to the Cleveland Browns in Huntington bank field. I used
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: to call, I've called it first energy for so long.
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: I forgot it was called Huntington bank field, AKA the
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: house of horrors, AKA the place that mistakes were made
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: by the lake. I think we have to say it now.
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: I can't call it the mistake by the lake is Wolf.
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: So famously coined it. We made mistakes by the lake
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: and they won. We'll just kind of, you know, as
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: we go through this, just, you know, final thoughts about it.
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: I think, you know, we just have to rip the
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: bandaid off and this is the last that we'll deal
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: with it. Cause when we get to Monday, you know,
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: like Bill Belichick said, run Indianapolis. Um, that's kind of
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: the mindset that we had to have with the, with
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: this three day extended weekend. So just give me your,
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: your final thoughts about what you saw and what you
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: would like to see come of this situation.
• 36:01
  Speaker 4: Whew.
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: Okay. It's a therapy session. We have a couch somewhere.
• 36:06
  Speaker 2: Somewhere there's a couch.
• 36:08
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I struggle.
• 36:10
  Speaker 6: You know, I've been an advocate and fan of Aaron Rodgers, man.
• 36:15
  Speaker 4: Watched him from afar.
• 36:16
  Speaker 6: You know, obviously I have an opportunity to sit here
• 36:21
  Speaker 6: and talk Steeler football with you, but also had the
• 36:22
  Speaker 6: opportunity to talk Jet football on Sunday.
• 36:26
  Speaker 4: That's my other hat that I wear.
• 36:28
  Speaker 6: And so I watched his time not only as a Packer,
• 36:30
  Speaker 6: a Jet, and now a Steeler, man.
• 36:32
  Speaker 4: Last night was trouble.
• 36:33
  Speaker 6: Last night was not trouble, but it was hard to
• 36:35
  Speaker 6: watch him look so unhinged.
• 36:37
  Speaker 4: And I think you made a good point.
• 36:39
  Speaker 6: When you're in hostile games like that and everybody's pressing
• 36:42
  Speaker 6: and trying to make right, your leader, right, your guy
• 36:48
  Speaker 6: has to be steady Eddie. He has to be the
• 36:51
  Speaker 6: calm in a storm. And that wasn't the case. And,
• 36:54
  Speaker 6: you know, you say what you want about Ben.
• 36:56
  Speaker 4: Roethlisberger, man, and and however you feel about him, but there.
• 37:00
  Speaker 6: Wasn't a time where I knew I wasn't playing my
• 37:02
  Speaker 6: best ball or didn't do my job to the best
• 37:05
  Speaker 6: of my abilities where he ever looked unhinged to the
• 37:08
  Speaker 6: point where he was just aggressively, yeah, he may have
• 37:11
  Speaker 6: said some things or looked disjointed, but I felt for
• 37:14
  Speaker 6: the most part he kept his cool for the better
• 37:17
  Speaker 6: sake of the good.
• 37:18
  Speaker 4: You get what I'm saying, Max?
• 37:19
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 37:19
  Speaker 4: You know what I mean? Yeah.
• 37:21
  Speaker 6: He never seemed, yeah, he may be a disciplined player
• 37:24
  Speaker 6: or the outcome, sure, But he never seemed that angry, right?
• 37:29
  Speaker 6: He never seemed that ferocious and unhinged to the point where, like, man,
• 37:32
  Speaker 6: I don't know if this guy understands that.
• 37:34
  Speaker 4: The world is watching him.
• 37:35
  Speaker 6: And I think as much as we admire Rodgers for
• 37:40
  Speaker 6: his resume and everything he's been able to do thus
• 37:42
  Speaker 6: far in his career, you know, he's still the current
• 37:45
  Speaker 6: quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 37:47
  Speaker 4: There's still guys.
• 37:48
  Speaker 6: In that locker room who look to him to be
• 37:51
  Speaker 6: the calm, to look to him to be not only
• 37:55
  Speaker 6: the difference maker, but also, the person who can carry
• 37:59
  Speaker 6: a team at any given moment over the threshold. And
• 38:04
  Speaker 6: it was rough to see him kind of like that. Like,
• 38:06
  Speaker 6: I get, you know, I was a passionate player. I
• 38:09
  Speaker 6: play with a lot of heat, and I get guys
• 38:11
  Speaker 6: do that too. But there still has to be a
• 38:13
  Speaker 6: level where, like, the guys who aren't on your level
• 38:16
  Speaker 6: are watching to see how you respond in certain situations.
• 38:21
  Speaker 6: And it looked like he lost a bit of it
• 38:23
  Speaker 6: last night.
• 38:24
  Speaker 4: And I know this is last year, and so he
• 38:26
  Speaker 4: may say, hell with it. I am who I am.
• 38:28
  Speaker 6: I'm going to do what I do and say what
• 38:29
  Speaker 6: I want to say. But it's important that the leaders
• 38:33
  Speaker 6: of that group, of that team, the T.J. Watts, the
• 38:37
  Speaker 6: Cam Haywoods, on and on and on, understand there are
• 38:40
  Speaker 6: guys in that locker room who don't have the data
• 38:43
  Speaker 6: nor the resume to figure out how to navigate those
• 38:48
  Speaker 6: games in that environment.
• 38:50
  Speaker 4: And a lot of the young.
• 38:51
  Speaker 6: Guys look to them to– how to, how to respond,
• 38:57
  Speaker 6: body language, how to approach situations, how to talk, how
• 39:00
  Speaker 6: to communicate all those things. A lot of those young
• 39:02
  Speaker 6: guys in the locker room are leaning on those guys
• 39:04
  Speaker 6: to learn.
• 39:05
  Speaker 4: Right. And so I mean, you was fortunate enough to have.
• 39:09
  Speaker 6: The elephant because of the world, the Troy, Paula models,
• 39:12
  Speaker 6: the Heinz wards, you know, guys who, you know, in
• 39:16
  Speaker 6: hostile situations when you don't, you can't recognize yourself in
• 39:19
  Speaker 6: the mirror, they showed us how to remain calm and
• 39:22
  Speaker 6: competitive and competent.
• 39:24
  Speaker 4: During hard times.
• 39:25
  Speaker 6: And so I just hope those guys who we consider
• 39:29
  Speaker 6: the face of of the Steelers recognize there's a lot
• 39:32
  Speaker 6: of guys in that locker room who are looking to
• 39:34
  Speaker 6: them to be everything they should be in those moments. And,
• 39:38
  Speaker 6: you know, the X and O's are the X and O's.
• 39:43
  Speaker 6: The Browns did a hell of a job. They schemed
• 39:45
  Speaker 6: the Steelers up. They did what they had to do.
• 39:48
  Speaker 6: They needed to do, excuse me, to win that game.
• 39:51
  Speaker 6: I think from the Steelers standpoint, this is a pivotal
• 39:54
  Speaker 6: game because Valet, there was a significant win against the Bengals,
• 39:57
  Speaker 6: but it was, it was a tough loss against the
• 39:59
  Speaker 6: Browns because we just assumed, assumed we were better than
• 40:04
  Speaker 6: the Browns this year. Um, and we were proven wrong.
• 40:07
  Speaker 6: And so now how do you respond? And they have
• 40:09
  Speaker 6: a long time to drink it up, soak it up
• 40:11
  Speaker 6: and get better from it and hopefully heal up too,
• 40:14
  Speaker 6: because that's going to be important. Um, but I, it's
• 40:17
  Speaker 6: important for the leaders of that team to look at
• 40:19
  Speaker 6: their and look in the mirror and, and maybe have
• 40:21
  Speaker 6: a gut check because this is a long season.
• 40:24
  Speaker 4: A lot can happen.
• 40:26
  Speaker 6: But they must be reminded that, you know, they're still
• 40:30
  Speaker 6: leading and they can't be unhinged.
• 40:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you hit the nail on the head there.
• 40:36
  Speaker 2: I mean, you know, and it leads back to consistency, right?
• 40:40
  Speaker 2: And I think that's also a mark of leadership is,
• 40:43
  Speaker 2: you know.
• 40:44
  Speaker 6: To.
• 40:45
  Speaker 2: Quote Drumline, one band, one sound, right? I mean, you've
• 40:51
  Speaker 2: got to have a consistency there and a model to
• 40:55
  Speaker 2: follow that when all else fails and you're looking around
• 40:59
  Speaker 2: for inspiration, there's an example that's being set. And an
• 41:02
  Speaker 2: example that's being set in a positive way. And you
• 41:06
  Speaker 2: can't just fly off the handle. Like, you know, I
• 41:10
  Speaker 2: think you said it very pertinently, like, you know, the
• 41:12
  Speaker 2: world is watching Aaron Rodgers, so conduct yourself as such.
• 41:17
  Speaker 2: But at the same time, you know, for the team,
• 41:19
  Speaker 2: you need those leaders to emerge. I mean, like you said,
• 41:23
  Speaker 2: we walked into a veteran locker room, Will, both of us,
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: when we came in. And there was a certain middle class,
• 41:30
  Speaker 2: so you passed things down. You didn't have to necessarily
• 41:33
  Speaker 2: go to Jerome Bettis to ask him what to do.
• 41:39
  Speaker 2: You had other guys along the way. And with Ben,
• 41:43
  Speaker 2: you also had a Charlie Batch as a counterbalance. You
• 41:46
  Speaker 2: also had a James Ferrier and a Larry Foote. that
• 41:51
  Speaker 2: also were those leaders and they provided the consistency that
• 41:54
  Speaker 2: you needed. And I think that's something, you know, and
• 41:58
  Speaker 2: Hines was that consummate guy that, you know, he, when
• 42:01
  Speaker 2: he did speak, you listen, but he led by example.
• 42:04
  Speaker 2: He went out and had a very physical brand of football.
• 42:06
  Speaker 2: I was like, listen, if we're going to lose, guess what?
• 42:07
  Speaker 2: We're going to, we're going to lose. We're going to
• 42:10
  Speaker 2: lose going down swinging and we're going to hit you
• 42:12
  Speaker 2: as hard as we can every single time. And we're
• 42:15
  Speaker 2: going to make sure that you remember us. And I
• 42:17
  Speaker 2: don't think that that's kind of that mantra right now.
• 42:20
  Speaker 2: And I think those guys have to take that moment
• 42:22
  Speaker 2: to realize, hey, who do we want to be? And
• 42:25
  Speaker 2: we can look to other individuals, but sometimes you've got
• 42:27
  Speaker 2: to look inside and you've got to build it. These
• 42:29
  Speaker 2: guys have now had enough reps, the guys that are playing,
• 42:32
  Speaker 2: that you can now start to believe in yourself a
• 42:36
  Speaker 2: lot more and go forward. And I think the guys
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: just need to spend more time together because that's the
• 42:41
  Speaker 2: biggest thing that helped us. When I look back at
• 42:43
  Speaker 2: Super Bowl-run successful teams that we had, we always had
• 42:47
  Speaker 2: each other to depend on and we all, and we
• 42:50
  Speaker 2: all hung tough to get all of us. It wasn't a,
• 42:52
  Speaker 2: some timey type of thing, you know, me, you juice
• 42:56
  Speaker 2: trade Darnell, right? Even, you know, wig and all of
• 43:00
  Speaker 2: us stuck thicker than thieves in those moments. And I
• 43:03
  Speaker 2: think that's something that has to be addressed because that's,
• 43:07
  Speaker 2: what's going to help you in the hard times. And
• 43:09
  Speaker 2: in between times, the only thing you can look to
• 43:11
  Speaker 2: is your brother. in those moments because you're not going
• 43:13
  Speaker 2: to get it from the outside world. You're going to
• 43:15
  Speaker 2: get a cold shoulder instead of a warm hug, and
• 43:18
  Speaker 2: every once in a while you just need that, but
• 43:19
  Speaker 2: you can only get it from your peers, especially as
• 43:21
  Speaker 2: offensive linemen, right? We have no tangible stats to go
• 43:25
  Speaker 2: off of, so we've got to commiserate together.
• 43:29
  Speaker 6: Yeah, and I get why you're saying a warm hug,
• 43:32
  Speaker 6: but I also think that comes with growing up, realizing
• 43:35
  Speaker 6: that you have to accept accountability for what you put
• 43:38
  Speaker 6: on tape. We've always kind of held ourselves to that standard.
• 43:40
  Speaker 6: But I also think right now if you're the Steelers
• 43:42
  Speaker 6: and you continue to press forward throughout this season, understand
• 43:46
  Speaker 6: one thing, that nobody's coming to save you. You know,
• 43:49
  Speaker 6: there's nobody walking through that door to help elevate this team.
• 43:53
  Speaker 6: That everything, everybody that's in that locker room collectively has
• 43:58
  Speaker 6: to really be more dialed in and realize that, you know,
• 44:02
  Speaker 6: even though we're in the first week of October and
• 44:05
  Speaker 6: this thing starts to kind of chug along, man, what
• 44:10
  Speaker 6: keeps teams together is their ability to dive harder into
• 44:13
  Speaker 6: the work, to get lost in the work.
• 44:16
  Speaker 4: I think that mirrors a lot of things.
• 44:18
  Speaker 6: To your point, doing things together, staying collected, also realizing
• 44:22
  Speaker 6: that each game counts. Only you know if you're putting
• 44:26
  Speaker 6: your best foot forward from preparing for a game. You
• 44:30
  Speaker 6: can say you do it, but only you truly know
• 44:32
  Speaker 6: if you're preparing. We hope this team continues to mature
• 44:36
  Speaker 6: and grow. We've had together some ups and downs seasons
• 44:41
  Speaker 6: um but i also think it comes down to this
• 44:44
  Speaker 6: team really understanding that not one man can win a
• 44:47
  Speaker 6: football game you know not one side of the ball
• 44:49
  Speaker 6: can win a football game that collectively teams win football
• 44:53
  Speaker 6: games and when the teams when this team starts winning
• 44:57
  Speaker 6: on all three phases then we'll be proud of the
• 45:00
  Speaker 6: steelers uh that we.
• 45:02
  Speaker 4: Know and love and right now i'm not saying i'm
• 45:04
  Speaker 4: not proud.
• 45:05
  Speaker 6: Of the steelers i just know that we were better
• 45:07
  Speaker 6: than what we were last night Absolutely will.
• 45:10
  Speaker 2: And so just to wrap things up, I leave you
• 45:13
  Speaker 2: with the acronym team, right? Together, everyone achieves more, not
• 45:18
  Speaker 2: in a silo, not one person, but a team. So
• 45:23
  Speaker 2: collectively you win collectively, you take the L's together, but
• 45:26
  Speaker 2: you grow on this journey together, not isolating yourself, not
• 45:31
  Speaker 2: singling guys out. So With that, that's the end of
• 45:34
  Speaker 2: our show. That's the end of us for this week.
• 45:37
  Speaker 2: We will be back on these airwaves on Monday, noon
• 45:40
  Speaker 2: to 2. Rob King will be back with us as well,
• 45:43
  Speaker 2: so you'll have King, Starks, and Colon coming up, getting
• 45:47
  Speaker 2: ready for the Indianapolis Copes. Until then, for Willie, myself,
• 45:51
  Speaker 2: Justin Miller, Gino, and the crew, we will talk to you.
• 45:55
  Speaker 2: Have a better weekend than you did Thursday night, and
• 45:58
  Speaker 2: we'll talk to you on Monday. Signing off from the
• 46:01
  Speaker 2: locker room.