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

0:10
Speaker 1: This is in the locker Room with King and Starks
0:13
Speaker 1: on Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your neighborhood Forward Store.
0:18
Speaker 1: The F one fifty is the official truck of the
0:21
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh Steelers and by Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
0:25
Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop
0:27
Speaker 1: dot Steelers dot com.
0:31
Speaker 2: And we thank you very much for being with us
0:34
Speaker 2: here in the locker room, and we're getting you ready
0:36
Speaker 2: very short week for Thursday night's game against the Buffalo Bills,
0:39
Speaker 2: who we're going to be spending more time doing that
0:41
Speaker 2: tomorrow as the Bills will be the last opponent for
0:45
Speaker 2: the Steelers. Looking forward to seeing that new high marked stadium.
0:48
Speaker 2: We'll talk more about that again tomorrow. Did want to
0:50
Speaker 2: mention before we break down on Friday night a bit
0:53
Speaker 2: of NFL News Max, which is at the Browns have
0:57
Speaker 2: announced it to Shawn Watson will begin their season at
1:01
Speaker 2: as his starting quarterback.
1:04
Speaker 3: Oh go, got gotta love, uh gotta love insanity right there,
1:10
Speaker 3: trying and trying and trying to get the same result potentially,
1:15
Speaker 3: and the Browns are just browning. You know, that's just
1:18
Speaker 3: that's just that's just what they do.
1:21
Speaker 4: Is they that works?
1:22
Speaker 2: There is there any way that he turns back the
1:25
Speaker 2: clock and turns into the Shaun Watson he was in Houston.
1:29
Speaker 3: I mean never, never say never, but never Tomlin phrase.
1:35
Speaker 3: I apologize. I mean there is, I mean there is,
1:38
Speaker 3: But there's just nothing I've seen this preseason that has
1:40
Speaker 3: given me that hope. He's not like he's out there
1:42
Speaker 3: throwing darts. I'm still I think waiting. Has he thrown
1:46
Speaker 3: a touchdown pass yet?
1:47
Speaker 4: I don't believe. I don't think.
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Speaker 3: I don't think he has. Yeah, I don't think he
1:51
Speaker 3: has either. So you know, when I look at that,
1:54
Speaker 3: I'm just like, Okay, you're going off of what I mean. Yes,
1:57
Speaker 3: granted he's throwing less interceptions than but that's about it.
2:02
Speaker 3: That's the only thing you could really hang your hat
2:05
Speaker 3: on is that is that he has not thrown the
2:10
Speaker 3: same degree. But it's still very frustrating to think if
2:15
Speaker 3: you're a Browns fan, that you have to feel good
2:17
Speaker 3: about not only trading away Miles Garrett in the off season,
2:21
Speaker 3: but then on top of that, you're starting quarterback who's
2:26
Speaker 3: been injured that you that you cheered for when he
2:30
Speaker 3: got injured last time he was on the field almost
2:33
Speaker 3: two seasons ago. Is now the guy that's gonna, like
2:37
Speaker 3: you said, turn back the hands of time and create
2:43
Speaker 3: create this buzz for your team and make you a
2:45
Speaker 3: competitive team this year. I just I don't see it.
2:47
Speaker 3: And what was the point of drafting Dylan Gabriel. I'm
2:52
Speaker 3: still miffed about that one in general, but also drafting
2:56
Speaker 3: Shador Sanders. If you're not giving these guys a chance
2:59
Speaker 3: to be the few you your franchise because you had
3:02
Speaker 3: all this guaranteed money tied up with one guy and
3:06
Speaker 3: Deshaun Watson who has not lived up to it, so
3:09
Speaker 3: it's like, well, what are we doing here? Then guys
3:11
Speaker 3: like what are we doing?
3:14
Speaker 2: And then they drafted Tailing Green, who I don't even
3:17
Speaker 2: I can't say I know what they're planning on that
3:20
Speaker 2: the plan is there.
3:21
Speaker 3: I don't know what the plan is either. Tailing Green
3:23
Speaker 3: was one of those guys I thought potentially the Steelers
3:25
Speaker 3: might have taken because he's just a highly athletic right
3:28
Speaker 3: super athlete from Arkansas, but they didn't take him. And
3:33
Speaker 3: now you've got this young man there and no clear
3:36
Speaker 3: path of what his future is going to look like.
3:38
Speaker 3: And it's not like he came out there and wild
3:40
Speaker 3: as well, but I don't think he's really had an
3:41
Speaker 3: opportunity to while because of so many other factors and
3:46
Speaker 3: so much other, so much other stuff going on with
3:50
Speaker 3: Deshaun Shadeur and the circus that is.
3:53
Speaker 2: You know, I will say this about Cleveland and and
3:55
Speaker 2: you know, obviously this is not a Cleveland show, but
3:58
Speaker 2: it's an AFC North opponent. But I like the last
4:02
Speaker 2: two drafts they've had. I think they've had very very
4:05
Speaker 2: good drafts. It's been a while coming for them, and
4:09
Speaker 2: they went out very aggressively in free agency to rebuild
4:13
Speaker 2: their offensive line.
4:14
Speaker 4: I think.
4:14
Speaker 2: I know a lot of people had questions about Zion
4:17
Speaker 2: Johnson and how good of a signing that really is.
4:19
Speaker 2: They spent a third round pick on Austin Barber at
4:22
Speaker 2: right tackle, but they have Titus Howard. Spencer Faneau was
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Speaker 2: a guy that really interested me because I thought that
4:29
Speaker 2: as a first round pick as a left tackle, you know,
4:31
Speaker 2: the word was that, you know, probably could handle tackle,
4:35
Speaker 2: could maybe bounce inside and be an outstanding guard if
4:38
Speaker 2: that didn't work out. Kind of sounded like when the
4:40
Speaker 2: Steelers draft de Troy Faltano. You know, that's sort of
4:44
Speaker 2: a player. So and I really was a fan of
4:47
Speaker 2: Casey Concepcion as a separator and a guy who could
4:51
Speaker 2: make plays. They just and you know, they drafted Quinchawn
4:55
Speaker 2: Judkins last year. What they lack as a quarterback. And
4:59
Speaker 2: that's important for the Steelers because if the Steelers feel like,
5:03
Speaker 2: at some point, hey, we have to go into the
5:04
Speaker 2: draft and get and get a quarterback, I think most
5:08
Speaker 2: people would predict that the Browns will be selecting ahead
5:11
Speaker 2: of the Steelers, and therefore that's one team the Steelers
5:14
Speaker 2: would have to be in contention with should they decide
5:17
Speaker 2: to go down the quarterback rabbit hole or a quarterback gut.
5:20
Speaker 2: But selection that that is a rabbit hole that we
5:23
Speaker 2: will leave for another time. That's a warren. That's a
5:26
Speaker 2: hole that leads to a warren, which is a later discussion. Agreed,
5:29
Speaker 2: get to that later agreed. All right, Okay, I think
5:32
Speaker 2: we should hold off on that one. All right, So
5:34
Speaker 2: let us talk about the guys that stood out. First
5:39
Speaker 2: of all, I will tell you this, Max. On Friday night,
5:42
Speaker 2: I was just happy to see ric o'dowdell and Jaalen
5:45
Speaker 2: Warren get on the field get some reps. I would
5:48
Speaker 2: not expect to see them Thursday night. I don't think
5:51
Speaker 2: the plan has been talked about yet, but just good
5:53
Speaker 2: to see them playing, right, they're out there. Yeah, they're
5:55
Speaker 2: playing good. We know we got them. Let's save them
5:58
Speaker 2: for week one.
6:01
Speaker 3: I think that that would be what I would put
6:04
Speaker 3: it at. I'm not gonna lie like listen, put him
6:07
Speaker 3: in bubble wrap, yep. I like what I saw.
6:10
Speaker 4: Ye.
6:11
Speaker 3: I know what they can do. They have an NFL resume,
6:13
Speaker 3: They've done it in big games, so why are we
6:16
Speaker 3: wasting our time? We need to figure out who the
6:19
Speaker 3: number three running back is, yes, and potentially who the
6:22
Speaker 3: number four is as well. Right, so you know you
6:24
Speaker 3: got to see if it's Travis Homer, Lou Nichols, Caleb Johnson,
6:28
Speaker 3: or Eli hyden Reich. We know Riley Olkowski's probably a
6:31
Speaker 3: guy that's likely going to be on here. He's only
6:33
Speaker 3: full back and he's produced in both of the preseason games,
6:37
Speaker 3: so you kind of know what you have with it,
6:39
Speaker 3: But we do not know who that third RB is designation.
6:43
Speaker 2: So let's just touch briefly then on a guy you
6:46
Speaker 2: just mentioned, Riley Oakowski. I think he's been as advertised.
6:52
Speaker 2: I would be shocked if he's not on the roster.
6:54
Speaker 2: Absolutely shocked that they plan It looks like they plan
6:57
Speaker 2: on utilizing him at the full back position. They've talked
7:00
Speaker 2: about what a good special teamer he is. I think
7:03
Speaker 2: if we talk about young players, you know, those mid
7:06
Speaker 2: to late draft choices, they have to fight to earn
7:10
Speaker 2: a roster spot. You know, if you are if you're
7:13
Speaker 2: a first or second round pick or a third round pick,
7:16
Speaker 2: you're gonna make the roster, right, you are going to
7:18
Speaker 2: make the roster. It is once in a not it's
7:22
Speaker 2: actually more uncommon than once in a blue moon that
7:25
Speaker 2: those guys don't make a roster they're gonna make the
7:28
Speaker 2: roster correct. Start moving beyond that. Now, guys have got
7:32
Speaker 2: to show something. They're in a serious fight. Riley Okowski. Yes,
7:36
Speaker 2: the only fullback on the roster, but we've seen the
7:38
Speaker 2: only fullback on the roster get cut by this year
7:40
Speaker 2: this because he wasn't good enough at fullback. Riley Okowski
7:44
Speaker 2: to me, I think that in the first two games
7:47
Speaker 2: and solidifying again on Friday Night, he has I think
7:51
Speaker 2: he is a bright spot in these first two games,
7:54
Speaker 2: a bright spot against the Jets, and I think he's
7:57
Speaker 2: an arrow pointed upward guy.
8:01
Speaker 3: I agree with you completely. I think he's done nothing
8:03
Speaker 3: to hurt himself, and I think he's shown his utility
8:06
Speaker 3: and versatility that he can go out there and he
8:09
Speaker 3: can do multiple things for you. You know, he's a
8:12
Speaker 3: guy who could line up in the I formation and
8:15
Speaker 3: give you that traditional fullback pop in a lead concept.
8:19
Speaker 3: But I think he's also a guy who can come
8:22
Speaker 3: off the edge as a wing position h BAC tighte,
8:25
Speaker 3: move into a lead, and he can also catch the
8:27
Speaker 3: ball out of the backfield. So what else do you
8:29
Speaker 3: need to show show? I think at that point he's
8:31
Speaker 3: shown he can do all of it. He's done in
8:33
Speaker 3: the competitive environments. So I'm seeing a lot more utility
8:37
Speaker 3: and a lot more scheme design for Riley Nowakowski in
8:40
Speaker 3: this offense. So I think he's a firm guy that
8:42
Speaker 3: you feel comfortable with going into the season.
8:45
Speaker 2: So when I look at the running back position, and
8:48
Speaker 2: let's go ahead and dive into that, because I think
8:50
Speaker 2: it's been a topic of conversation, certainly a big topic
8:53
Speaker 2: of conversation. I felt since the moment that Eli Heidenreich
8:58
Speaker 2: was drafted that he was a really good practice squad candidate.
9:04
Speaker 2: I still believe that. I still think that. I mean,
9:06
Speaker 2: I like him back there. He's returned kicks. I think
9:08
Speaker 2: he's run hard. I think he's done a nice job.
9:11
Speaker 2: He's a seventh round draft choice. I think that he's
9:14
Speaker 2: a guy that would would likely make it through to
9:19
Speaker 2: the practice squad, and I think that that's a good
9:22
Speaker 2: would be a really good position for him, a developmental position.
9:25
Speaker 2: He's I think he's been good. I'm not saying he
9:28
Speaker 2: hasn't been good, but I think that as I look
9:31
Speaker 2: at the three guys ahead of him, that's where I
9:33
Speaker 2: think he's he's headed. Am I selling him short, Max,
9:36
Speaker 2: or do you think that's the proper target.
9:40
Speaker 3: I don't think you're selling them short. I mean the
9:42
Speaker 3: ability for a seventh round draft pick to make a
9:45
Speaker 3: fifty three band roster is tough, especially year one. Right,
9:48
Speaker 3: you have to be super exceptional to make it. I
9:52
Speaker 3: think anytime you get fifth, sixth, seventh rounders, you're saying,
9:56
Speaker 3: these guys have a shot not only at camp, but
9:58
Speaker 3: at a practice squad and then bonus bonus for you
10:03
Speaker 3: if if he makes a fifty three man roster. So
10:05
Speaker 3: I think Eli hyden Reich has a high chance, especially
10:08
Speaker 3: for the for the practice squad for this team, you know,
10:13
Speaker 3: And I just I just don't think right now he
10:17
Speaker 3: has the skills set to crack the top three. Just
10:21
Speaker 3: isn't there yet. And I think, you know, for his
10:25
Speaker 3: special team's prowess and capabilities, I don't know if that's
10:29
Speaker 3: enough to put him over the top and say that
10:31
Speaker 3: he's better because you're gonna need some every down runners
10:33
Speaker 3: and third down runners as well as just saying he's
10:35
Speaker 3: a core four special teams guy. I think this roster
10:38
Speaker 3: is too talented. We'd be selling the roster short if
10:41
Speaker 3: we said that, yeah, he's gonna be there just strictly
10:43
Speaker 3: off specialties, like you have to be able to do
10:45
Speaker 3: something else.
10:46
Speaker 4: Yeah, I would say this.
10:47
Speaker 2: I see why they drafted him, you know, like I think, yeah,
10:50
Speaker 2: I'm intrigued. I definitely am intrigued that this is And again,
10:53
Speaker 2: you have two spots that are locks, right, So really
10:57
Speaker 2: you're talking about for guys competing for one spot, that's
11:01
Speaker 2: what you're talking about. And you're talking about a guy
11:04
Speaker 2: you signed in free agency who is a known special
11:06
Speaker 2: teams commodity, last year's third round pick, and Lou Nichols
11:11
Speaker 2: a former late round draft choice himself. That's who you're
11:14
Speaker 2: competing against. It's no shame to be on the practice
11:17
Speaker 2: squad and be able to develop. And I think that that's,
11:20
Speaker 2: like I said, I can see why they drafted him.
11:22
Speaker 2: I can see why they they picked him up, But
11:25
Speaker 2: as we break down the running back position, I think
11:29
Speaker 2: that that's most likely. And then this week we saw
11:33
Speaker 2: Caleb Johnson ten carries thirty nine yards, didn't break any
11:38
Speaker 2: I think his longest run was five yards. It was
11:40
Speaker 2: four or five yards, three four five yards. Pretty much
11:42
Speaker 2: every carry for Caleb Johnson a reception or two. In
11:46
Speaker 2: the passing game. They even used him on kick coverage,
11:51
Speaker 2: kickoff coverage, which I have to say, Max, I didn't
11:54
Speaker 2: notice on the kickoff and unfortunately for the Steelers, they
11:57
Speaker 2: only had one of them because they didn't score, so
12:00
Speaker 2: we didn't get we didn't get a long chance to
12:02
Speaker 2: look at him in special teams. But clearly, you know
12:06
Speaker 2: that it seems to be clear that, look, you got
12:09
Speaker 2: to make a you got to make a mark on
12:11
Speaker 2: special teams to be able to make this roster because
12:15
Speaker 2: and that was a problem that Caleb ran into last
12:17
Speaker 2: year was as the third running back, he wasn't being
12:20
Speaker 2: utilized on special teams.
12:21
Speaker 4: He was originally as a kick returner.
12:24
Speaker 2: He had the kick that went over his head that
12:25
Speaker 2: was recovered by Seattle for a touchdown, a huge play
12:29
Speaker 2: in that game, and then we never saw him again
12:32
Speaker 2: back the returning kicks.
12:33
Speaker 4: And so you've got to be able to do more.
12:37
Speaker 2: You've either got to be so exceptional that you're going
12:39
Speaker 2: to push somebody out of the running back rotation, or
12:42
Speaker 2: you've got to be able to earn it on special teams.
12:45
Speaker 2: And so that's that was the problem that Caleb Johnson
12:47
Speaker 2: ran into last year. They're trying him in that regard.
12:51
Speaker 2: He got a bulk of carries. We saw Travis Homer
12:54
Speaker 2: be that that, you know, that next guy up, even
12:57
Speaker 2: though the first two guys didn't play. He was sort
12:59
Speaker 2: of that next guy position in week one. Caleb Johnson
13:02
Speaker 2: was that guy in week two. Your thoughts on whether
13:06
Speaker 2: he made any progress toward making the roster.
13:10
Speaker 3: Hmmm. I don't know if I could say that out there.
13:15
Speaker 3: I just think it has to be more, it has
13:17
Speaker 3: to be dynamic, and it has to stand out. And
13:21
Speaker 3: I just I can't say I can't say that. I mean,
13:23
Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, I mean, because let's face it, we're
13:26
Speaker 3: watching that We've watched the same films, watched the same games, Rob,
13:31
Speaker 3: and I just I haven't seen that exceptional yet, right,
13:33
Speaker 3: And when you're talking about making an NFL roster, a
13:36
Speaker 3: top fifty three in a roster, are you the top
13:42
Speaker 3: eleven hundred and fifty guys in the world playing football? Right,
13:48
Speaker 3: That's that's what you have to kind of weigh it,
13:51
Speaker 3: I guess, And I just I haven't seen enough splash
13:53
Speaker 3: from him to say that I've seen the opportunity. He's
13:57
Speaker 3: gotten the opportunities, but I haven't seen him that splash
14:00
Speaker 3: and make that jump yet. So that's why it's tough
14:02
Speaker 3: for me to say that.
14:03
Speaker 2: Right now, I'll tell you the guy who's the guy
14:07
Speaker 2: who's sorry, I just put a damper on that.
14:09
Speaker 3: No, no, no, no.
14:10
Speaker 2: I was like, I don't disagree, I don't disagree. I
14:13
Speaker 2: do not disagree. I mean, that's gonna be a hard one,
14:15
Speaker 2: right because you know your scouting department selected this guy
14:19
Speaker 2: for a reason. Now, some of that might have been
14:21
Speaker 2: tied in with Arthur Smith in his scheme, right, Like
14:23
Speaker 2: you thought he was a really good fit for that scheme.
14:26
Speaker 2: And that's important for players, clearly, that's important for players
14:29
Speaker 2: are you in the right scheme.
14:30
Speaker 4: Are you in a scheme that benefits you the most?
14:33
Speaker 2: But that's going to be a tough pill to swallow,
14:35
Speaker 2: to take a guy that your scouts thought highly enough
14:38
Speaker 2: to select in the third round and a year later
14:40
Speaker 2: say you're not making the team. So again, I understand
14:44
Speaker 2: exactly what you're saying. The guy that I I just
14:47
Speaker 2: I like every time I see him is Lou Nichols,
14:50
Speaker 2: and I just I like Lou. And by the way,
14:54
Speaker 2: I was watching the game back again last night and
14:56
Speaker 2: the Jets, Lou was on the right side of I
14:59
Speaker 2: think was Drew Aller in the second half in the shotgun,
15:03
Speaker 2: and the Jets brought a blitz from the right side,
15:06
Speaker 2: so the opposite side of where he was lined up,
15:08
Speaker 2: and he moved over instantly recognize it and just drilled
15:15
Speaker 2: the defensive back who was blitzing, just stopped them in
15:17
Speaker 2: his tracks.
15:18
Speaker 4: I'm like, all right, Lou, So I again, and I
15:21
Speaker 4: don't know.
15:21
Speaker 2: I mean, the one thing you know about Travis Homer,
15:25
Speaker 2: and I think maybe part of the reason that he
15:26
Speaker 2: didn't get a lot of playing time was because he's
15:28
Speaker 2: a known commodity. You know what he can do. You
15:31
Speaker 2: know that he's going to be responsible. If he's playing
15:33
Speaker 2: in a game, he's going to be responsible and blitz
15:35
Speaker 2: pick up. He's going to be able to catch the football,
15:38
Speaker 2: and he's going to be able to help you on
15:39
Speaker 2: special teams. But I have to say, every time I've
15:42
Speaker 2: seen Lou Nichols in the last couple of years, I've
15:44
Speaker 2: liked what I've seen.
15:46
Speaker 3: Yeah. No, Lou is like a little bowling ball man.
15:49
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah. Will you see him barreling down, You're like, Okay,
15:53
Speaker 3: somebody is going to feel some pain when he runs
15:55
Speaker 3: the football. And that's the beautiful thing about I think
15:59
Speaker 3: when you see Lou, you're just like, Okay, I know,
16:02
Speaker 3: I know what I'm getting and it's gonna and it
16:04
Speaker 3: might be a two yard game, but he's going to
16:07
Speaker 3: do it forcefully. And I think that's what she that's
16:09
Speaker 3: what she enjoyed watching. And why why we're so intrigued
16:13
Speaker 3: by him is because he runs hard, he plays hard,
16:16
Speaker 3: he plays football at a very high level, and he
16:19
Speaker 3: doesn't back down to anybody. Nobody is too intimidating, nobody
16:24
Speaker 3: is too much for him. He is right there and
16:28
Speaker 3: he wants all the action, no questions asked.
16:30
Speaker 2: He does he does. So that's just a look at
16:35
Speaker 2: the running back position. I don't think anything was Again,
16:39
Speaker 2: I don't think anybody came in and said, see that
16:42
Speaker 2: job belongs to me.
16:44
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, No, I think you got you got a
16:47
Speaker 3: lot of guys kind of jumbled in there with the
16:50
Speaker 3: skill set, and so you're just kind of still kind
16:53
Speaker 3: of waiting. You're waiting for somebody just really break out.
16:56
Speaker 3: But there hasn't been a lot of opportunities to break
16:59
Speaker 3: out because it's been so tight. It's been very tight,
17:03
Speaker 3: and you're like, Okay, well, what are we gonna do here?
17:06
Speaker 3: Gotta wait, got to continue to wait and see for
17:09
Speaker 3: this to flesh yourself out. But I do think, you know,
17:11
Speaker 3: if we're talking about, you know, clubhouse leaders, I think
17:15
Speaker 3: Travis Homer has the inside track. I agree with Loud
17:18
Speaker 3: Nichols right behind him, I think, and they uslate Caleb
17:21
Speaker 3: Johnson and Eli Heyden right behind that.
17:23
Speaker 4: Yep, I agree with you. That's the way it looks.
17:26
Speaker 4: It looks to me.
17:27
Speaker 2: And again, with more one more game coming up on
17:29
Speaker 2: Thursday night, thought some veterans, really, did you know, some
17:33
Speaker 2: veteran guys that aren't starters, right, that aren't absolute first
17:38
Speaker 2: team type of guys did some favors for themselves. We're
17:42
Speaker 2: going to talk about that when we continue in the
17:44
Speaker 2: locker room here on this cheer there's Audio Network.
17:52
Speaker 1: This is in the locker room with King and Starks
17:55
Speaker 1: on Steelers Nation Radio, presented by your Neighborhood for Store.
18:00
Speaker 1: The F one fifty is the official truck of the
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Speaker 1: Pittsburgh Steelers and by Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
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Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop
18:09
Speaker 1: dot Steelers dot com.
18:13
Speaker 2: Ben, welcome back inside the locker room here on the
18:16
Speaker 2: Steelers Audio Network alongside Max Starks. I'm Rob King and
18:18
Speaker 2: Max were going through are pluses and minuses for the
18:23
Speaker 2: Steelers in the preseason game on Friday, and so obviously
18:28
Speaker 2: the quarterback position is one that everyone is paying attention to.
18:32
Speaker 2: And in going back and looking at the tape, I
18:35
Speaker 2: thought both quarterbacks played better than I originally thought watching
18:40
Speaker 2: him live, I thought Will Howard. And again now the
18:44
Speaker 2: Will Howard thing is mixed in with the the question
18:48
Speaker 2: about what happened in those interceptions, because after the game,
18:52
Speaker 2: you know, both you and Willie Cologne said during the game,
18:55
Speaker 2: you thought Roman Wilson didn't flatten out his route on
18:59
Speaker 2: the first one, and that made it for an easy
19:01
Speaker 2: interception for the Jets defensive back to step up and
19:05
Speaker 2: make the pick. The second one, again Roman was angling
19:08
Speaker 2: away a little bit. Again, I don't know whether that
19:10
Speaker 2: was supposed to be sharper across the field or whether
19:13
Speaker 2: that one was on Will Howard. So I'm tempering sort
19:18
Speaker 2: of my grade on him or my thoughts on him
19:21
Speaker 2: based on whether, because both those balls were intended for
19:25
Speaker 2: Roman Wilson, whether that had more to do with the
19:27
Speaker 2: receiver or something else than the quarterback itself. So if
19:31
Speaker 2: you can break down for me what you saw from
19:33
Speaker 2: Will Howard and from Roman Wilson.
19:36
Speaker 3: So I'm still standing by my assessment on the first interception.
19:42
Speaker 3: I watched the film as well, and I just didn't
19:45
Speaker 3: see any fight towards the ball coming back. Andre Cisco
19:49
Speaker 3: was sitting in the hole in the zone and Will
19:53
Speaker 3: threw it in a place where he felt like, Okay,
19:55
Speaker 3: if Roman's still running at full speed towards this, he
19:58
Speaker 3: should cut this off or it's going to be an incompletion.
20:01
Speaker 3: I don't think he was anticipating it being an interceptions
20:06
Speaker 3: as it ended up being, and watching the film, yeah,
20:09
Speaker 3: Roman kind of acquiesced. He gave the uh, he gave
20:13
Speaker 3: the dB the lane and did not come and fight
20:17
Speaker 3: back towards the football. Ball was coming towards him and
20:19
Speaker 3: he kind of drifted and was expecting to catch it
20:22
Speaker 3: versus attacking towards where the ball was going. And so
20:27
Speaker 3: I'm going to maintain that that was you know, obviously
20:31
Speaker 3: will Gets gets you know, part of that blame because
20:34
Speaker 3: he put it in a place where there was a defender,
20:36
Speaker 3: a whole defender sitting. But I think also that could
20:39
Speaker 3: have been avoided the interception stat could have been avoided.
20:42
Speaker 3: Now the second one, I felt like, we'll just we'll
20:46
Speaker 3: just laser that ball in. He didn't put any loft
20:48
Speaker 3: or touch on a back shoulder fade on that one.
20:50
Speaker 3: Even if Rogan was drifting, you want to put a
20:52
Speaker 3: little arc on it, and I felt like he tried
20:54
Speaker 3: to drill it in there tight and at that level
20:57
Speaker 3: the dB, it was a very easy read for them
20:59
Speaker 3: to make. So I think that was more so his
21:01
Speaker 3: fault decision making wise on what type of ball to
21:04
Speaker 3: throw that led to the second interception. So, like I said,
21:08
Speaker 3: half and half, you know, one unearned one earned interception.
21:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean Mike McCarthy said afterwards, rather cryptically, that
21:16
Speaker 2: one mistake led to two. So I again, I don't know.
21:19
Speaker 2: We're surmising what happened on the first one. Don't know
21:23
Speaker 2: what he was referencing on the second one. I will
21:26
Speaker 2: say this, another thing that I didn't think was a
21:28
Speaker 2: good look was after the interception. And again maybe he
21:32
Speaker 2: didn't see it, I don't know, but Roman didn't exactly
21:36
Speaker 2: take off after the after Cisco. He stood there for
21:40
Speaker 2: a couple of seconds. Now, again maybe he didn't see it,
21:42
Speaker 2: maybe he didn't see what happened, but it didn't look good.
21:45
Speaker 2: The optics weren't good on that.
21:47
Speaker 3: No, they weren't. No, if you're gonna, I mean, the
21:51
Speaker 3: guy caught the ball in front of him.
21:53
Speaker 4: So I don't know, really, I don't know how you
21:54
Speaker 4: would have missed.
21:55
Speaker 3: Kind of missed that. Yeah, how you missed that? Right?
21:58
Speaker 3: And you hear and you hear and you see the
22:00
Speaker 3: team running in the opposite direction at full speed. So
22:04
Speaker 3: I don't know if i'd necessarily buy that. I think
22:07
Speaker 3: it's a lack of effort, and you know, the the
22:09
Speaker 3: immaturity of young receivers. Right when things don't go well,
22:13
Speaker 3: it's almost like the equivalent of looking at your hands
22:16
Speaker 3: when the ball bounces off of them, you know, uh
22:19
Speaker 3: you know, kind of a kind of a Chase claypool
22:21
Speaker 3: S type of the facto excuse. But yeah, I didn't.
22:27
Speaker 3: I didn't like that body language. And that just lets
22:29
Speaker 3: me know that I don't know if I can sit
22:31
Speaker 3: there and blame all of that on Will Howard, right,
22:33
Speaker 3: like like we had like we had talked about.
22:36
Speaker 2: Right, and I and I wonder what that does for Roman,
22:39
Speaker 2: you know, all coming off the good camp and the
22:40
Speaker 2: good OTAs and everybody talking about them and getting some momentum,
22:44
Speaker 2: and I mean, you just chalked this up as not
22:46
Speaker 2: a good game or what So I because if those are,
22:51
Speaker 2: you know, you know, if those are things that he
22:54
Speaker 2: needs to straighten out, then maybe those are just coaching moments.
22:57
Speaker 2: I don't know how those are going to be viewed.
22:59
Speaker 2: Uh So I think he's he's one that I've just
23:03
Speaker 2: my eyebrow, my left eyebrow, not my right, not both.
23:05
Speaker 2: My left eyebrow is just one eyebrows, got.
23:08
Speaker 3: A little bit. Yeah, it's inquiring minds want to know, right.
23:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, and so and then as far as Drew Aller is, concerned.
23:16
Speaker 2: I mean, Max, he was under durest the entire game.
23:22
Speaker 2: I don't think his offensive line did him any favors.
23:24
Speaker 2: He had three or four balls dropped that that made
23:28
Speaker 2: his passer rating look bad, including a couple on the
23:30
Speaker 2: very final drive where you're trying to march it in
23:32
Speaker 2: for a score. I thought again looking back at him,
23:37
Speaker 2: I thought, and he made that good throw down the
23:39
Speaker 2: sideline to Lake McCree, the biggest gainer of the game
23:43
Speaker 2: for the Steelers. I mean, you know, I don't think
23:46
Speaker 2: you look at that performance and say, oh, you know,
23:48
Speaker 2: that's that's an all pro quarterback at its prime. But
23:52
Speaker 2: I think a lot of people walked up saying, oh
23:53
Speaker 2: it was you know, it wasn't that good a performance.
23:55
Speaker 2: I look back at it, I thought he was. I
23:57
Speaker 2: thought he was better on tape than I thought he
24:00
Speaker 2: looked live.
24:01
Speaker 3: Yeah, I would say better on tape. But you know,
24:04
Speaker 3: at the same time, I there was a couple of
24:06
Speaker 3: throws where I felt like he could have had a
24:09
Speaker 3: little bit more consistency, a couple of those where he
24:14
Speaker 3: was anticipating a little bit too much for my liking, okay,
24:17
Speaker 3: and and was not throwing guys open in some of
24:20
Speaker 3: the some of the key moments. So I think, uh,
24:24
Speaker 3: you know, not as bad as the tape would denote.
24:26
Speaker 3: But it wasn't a clear like, oh man, this is
24:29
Speaker 3: this is totally on the receiver. I think he he
24:32
Speaker 3: didn't do himself some favors on a couple of things
24:34
Speaker 3: as well.
24:35
Speaker 2: I think we both saw it the same way. I
24:37
Speaker 2: agree with you one hundred percent. That's exactly you. You
24:40
Speaker 2: put it much better than I was putting it. So
24:42
Speaker 2: we talked about the offensive line.
24:44
Speaker 4: What's that is that?
24:45
Speaker 3: No worries, that's that, that's what that's why, that's why
24:48
Speaker 3: we are the dynamic duo.
24:49
Speaker 4: We we agreed. But sometimes sometimes you know, I just
24:53
Speaker 4: need a translator.
24:55
Speaker 3: Yeah, nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong with having a
24:58
Speaker 3: translator every once in a while. Kay.
25:00
Speaker 2: And I'm really eager to get to the defense. Is
25:04
Speaker 2: there anything else on offense you wanted to get to?
25:07
Speaker 2: Because I think both sides, both of us saw and
25:11
Speaker 2: we mentioned this earlier. For those just joining us and
25:14
Speaker 2: thinking that we might be glossing this over, we're not.
25:17
Speaker 2: I think both of us thought that after this game,
25:21
Speaker 2: Maxahana Char's got a real opportunity in front of him,
25:25
Speaker 2: returning to practice today because the right tackle position, nobody's
25:29
Speaker 2: stepped forward and said I'm the guy.
25:33
Speaker 3: Completely agree, completely agree on that one.
25:36
Speaker 4: Do you think Spencer Anderson took a step forward at
25:39
Speaker 4: right guard?
25:40
Speaker 3: I think he did. I think I think he's a
25:42
Speaker 3: clubhouse leader, yep. And I think it's just figuring out
25:46
Speaker 3: who's gonna be next to him because right because mar
25:48
Speaker 3: McCarthy talked about combinations, right, so who's the guy that
25:51
Speaker 3: fit that meshes best with Spencer Anderson? I think is
25:55
Speaker 3: really what's going to determine that. And then of course
25:57
Speaker 3: brock Hoffman, I think is your leader for kind of
25:59
Speaker 3: that swing interior guy. Yep. I think he's shown he
26:02
Speaker 3: can play all three positions comfortably. So I think with that,
26:07
Speaker 3: I think, yeah, you say Spence is your starter, Brock
26:10
Speaker 3: is behind him, and Brock is is battling Brian McCollum
26:12
Speaker 3: for that for that swing interior position as far as
26:16
Speaker 3: interior challenges go. Because I think jennings Zucker is still
26:19
Speaker 3: on the roster. He was injured app play last week,
26:22
Speaker 3: but I think it's a guy that shows a lot
26:24
Speaker 3: of promise, So I don't think you mess with him
26:25
Speaker 3: and you just have him slotted like his left guard
26:27
Speaker 3: behind Mason McCormick. But yeah, that right tackle position is
26:32
Speaker 3: going to be key because you know, if Max figures
26:35
Speaker 3: into this, then you're saying, Okay, Dylan Cook, PROGERC. Jones,
26:38
Speaker 3: which was the swing guy behind Troy Faltano, and as
26:41
Speaker 3: eventually Maxiana Trrore or whoever starts the season, because Max
26:45
Speaker 3: isn't ready once he is has to be ready to swing.
26:49
Speaker 3: So you're kind of speculating and pushing forward that aspect
26:53
Speaker 3: of it to get you kind of nine nine potential guys.
26:57
Speaker 3: I don't see it being ten as of As of
26:59
Speaker 3: right now, I think it's gonna to be at nine.
27:00
Speaker 2: I agree, I agree, And I went into training camp
27:03
Speaker 2: wondering how they were going to get down to ten.
27:06
Speaker 2: Now I think you know we're looking at I'm looking
27:08
Speaker 2: at it a little bit differently. I think it's gonna
27:10
Speaker 2: be nine. I agree with you, okay. So and by
27:13
Speaker 2: the way, you know, Jennings Dunker is a guy.
27:17
Speaker 3: Uh.
27:17
Speaker 2: Look, I talked about how important it is for Maxahona
27:20
Speaker 2: try to get out there, how important I think it is,
27:22
Speaker 2: and I'm sure this Jeus would not disagree with that.
27:25
Speaker 2: I think it is because I think he's competing for
27:28
Speaker 2: a starting job. I'd like to see Jennings Dunker get
27:30
Speaker 2: out there just because he's making a transition from tackle
27:34
Speaker 2: in college to guard at the NFL level and I
27:37
Speaker 2: would love to see him. I don't know what his
27:39
Speaker 2: status is, love to see him get the opportunity to
27:41
Speaker 2: get out there Thursday night, get some meaningful reps in.
27:45
Speaker 2: I think he is a player that we're tucking away
27:48
Speaker 2: and hoping that in the future he is competing for
27:53
Speaker 2: a starting guard position in the NFL. But I think
27:55
Speaker 2: a year of transition is probably in the cars.
28:02
Speaker 3: I completely agree. I think I think, you know, that
28:04
Speaker 3: year of transition is a necessary because I think he
28:08
Speaker 3: has all the physical tools. It's just matching his body
28:13
Speaker 3: and his habits with what it is to be an
28:16
Speaker 3: NFL guard.
28:17
Speaker 2: Yep, yep, totally agree. And by the way, before we
28:21
Speaker 2: get to the defense, which we're going to get to
28:25
Speaker 2: next segment, because I thought that there were some guys that,
28:29
Speaker 2: man if they might be one strike from the hammer
28:32
Speaker 2: away of nailing down a spot. But Cam Johnson, Man,
28:36
Speaker 2: this guy's a really good punter. He looks like he's
28:39
Speaker 2: back to health. You know, won the starting job was
28:41
Speaker 2: the starting punter two years ago, got hurt early last year.
28:45
Speaker 2: I think he just wasn't quite all the way back,
28:47
Speaker 2: you know, fifty and a half yard average. I think
28:50
Speaker 2: that I think that he could potentially if he can
28:53
Speaker 2: return to that top form that he was, you know,
28:56
Speaker 2: three or four five years in a row. He was
28:58
Speaker 2: a top ten punter in the NFL. And look, I
29:01
Speaker 2: think Corley's weightman did a heck of a job last year.
29:03
Speaker 2: But I am excited about seeing Cam Johnston.
29:07
Speaker 3: I mean, listen, he he he had that he had
29:09
Speaker 3: that five yard