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Steelers Training Camp Gets Closer! · The Irish Steelers Podcast

0:06
Speaker 1: Hey books walking into the Irish Steelers podcast. We are
0:10
Speaker 1: recording this a little under nine days away from training camp,
0:15
Speaker 1: just under twenty five days from a pre season up winner,
0:18
Speaker 1: and almost fifty days away from Steelers football. Michael mcquaid's
0:24
Speaker 1: solo this week. Delighted to be joined. You'll know him
0:27
Speaker 1: from Steelers Radio and many of our platforms, A guy
0:30
Speaker 1: that was named on the Steelers All Century Team, among
0:34
Speaker 1: many other accolades.
0:35
Speaker 2: Craig walthy, wealthy, It's good to how you only get man?
0:37
Speaker 3: How are you doing. I'm doing a great brother. It's
0:40
Speaker 3: good to see you. You know, I'm all charged up.
0:42
Speaker 3: You were talking about the fact that we were just
0:44
Speaker 3: short time out from training camp. I'm sitting over I
0:47
Speaker 3: was getting the tremors and then I had to realize, oh,
0:49
Speaker 3: wait a minute, I'm a white head. I'm old, I'm doone. Okay,
0:51
Speaker 3: We're all good.
0:55
Speaker 1: For someone that's obviously been with the team and obviously
0:59
Speaker 1: in your position, Night Craig gets to cover the team
1:02
Speaker 1: Aftrian in comp Is this the best part of the
1:05
Speaker 1: year for you? Is it the most exciting part of
1:07
Speaker 1: the year for you?
1:08
Speaker 3: You know, I'm a good brother. Toun Yoakin, who we
1:11
Speaker 3: always you know, we were drafted together back in nineteen eighty.
1:14
Speaker 3: We when we did the show together to start at
1:17
Speaker 3: training camp. On the very first day, he would play
1:21
Speaker 3: it's a wonderful time of the year, you know, the
1:24
Speaker 3: most wonderful time of the year. That it's a Christmas song,
1:28
Speaker 3: you know, and he would just get all jolly about it.
1:30
Speaker 3: He just loved the first day of training camp, you know,
1:34
Speaker 3: and so well Max and I will probably do something
1:37
Speaker 3: along those lines, because it is a wonderful time. It
1:40
Speaker 3: kicks off the new season, there's a lot of newbies,
1:43
Speaker 3: there's a lot of action that's coming up, and everybody
1:46
Speaker 3: buckle up. It's going to be a great year.
1:48
Speaker 2: It is going to be a great year. Really really
1:50
Speaker 2: excited for it.
1:50
Speaker 1: Before we go into even talking over the last few
1:54
Speaker 1: weeks on the off season, and we find out this
1:57
Speaker 1: morning that the Staters are going to have their first
2:00
Speaker 1: share training comp. I believe since twenty sixteen, Craig correct
2:03
Speaker 1: me if I'm wrong with the Buffalo Bills, that's definitely
2:07
Speaker 1: enough to get the juices flowing in the troupe.
2:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, oh, there's no doubt about it. I mean, I
2:12
Speaker 3: was a little bit surprised but again, you know that
2:15
Speaker 3: the head coach of the Bills and Sean mcdermot's buddies
2:17
Speaker 3: with Mike Tomlin and so they've re engaged. I don't know.
2:22
Speaker 3: I've experienced it in my career. We practiced with Washington
2:27
Speaker 3: back in the day. There's a lot of chippiness that
2:31
Speaker 3: it can accompany it, and it's got to be veteran
2:33
Speaker 3: based teams with good veteran leadership that you need. No,
2:37
Speaker 3: you can't have a lot of frosty newbies out there
2:39
Speaker 3: that go at it and just have no ability to
2:42
Speaker 3: restrain themselves. You've got to make sure you have a good, healthy,
2:46
Speaker 3: senior leadership group. And I think that's what the Steels have.
2:49
Speaker 3: I think the Bills have the same, and I would
2:52
Speaker 3: expect to be a highly contested but a learning experience
2:55
Speaker 3: for both teams.
2:57
Speaker 2: I love it.
2:58
Speaker 1: As we said, we're getting closer and closer or the
3:00
Speaker 1: training camp. It's a really exciting time for the stators
3:03
Speaker 1: because when we're so close to the pods going on,
3:06
Speaker 1: so close to the fans to see the players again,
3:08
Speaker 1: fans are going to get out Greg and they're going
3:10
Speaker 1: to see a really new look charge offense. What's your
3:15
Speaker 1: Tia because this is the first time that we've spoken
3:17
Speaker 1: since the draft and free agency. How excited you to
3:20
Speaker 1: see Russell Wilson under center, and obviously as well justin
3:24
Speaker 1: Fiinz there as well.
3:26
Speaker 3: Well, I'm very excited. You know, with the addition of
3:28
Speaker 3: Arthur Smith, that offensive coordinator, You've got a power based
3:32
Speaker 3: offense that is coming out. You're going to see a
3:34
Speaker 3: lot of eleven and twelve and I'm sorry, not eleving
3:36
Speaker 3: a lot of twelve personnel, twenty one personnel, you know
3:38
Speaker 3: what I mean. You're gonna go with. You're gonna see fullback.
3:41
Speaker 3: He ran like thirty percent of his offense had fullback
3:44
Speaker 3: snaps in Atlanta. More under center, which I just love
3:49
Speaker 3: because I just believe in the power of you know,
3:51
Speaker 3: fake oation and being able to have good ball handling,
3:55
Speaker 3: ability to keep those inside linebackers frozen a little bit
3:58
Speaker 3: rather than sitting in the shot, gonna be able to
4:01
Speaker 3: read everything. You're gonna have jumbo, You're gonna go with
4:03
Speaker 3: big boys, You're gonna have multiple tight end sets. So
4:06
Speaker 3: I really like it. I think it's a it's a
4:09
Speaker 3: fist first offense. I think you're gonna come after you
4:11
Speaker 3: physically there's a mandate on moving the guy across from
4:16
Speaker 3: you from A to B against his will. I think
4:18
Speaker 3: that's it's gotten bigger. The cry has gotten bigger over
4:21
Speaker 3: the years, and I think this is gonna be something
4:22
Speaker 3: that you got to watch coming up this year in
4:25
Speaker 3: training camp. And then on the other side, man, we
4:27
Speaker 3: got a defense featuring Cam, Captain Cam coming back, the
4:31
Speaker 3: Lion King. You know, you got Obi wat Kenobi you got,
4:35
Speaker 3: you know, mister Jedi pass rushing, you got. Alex Smith
4:39
Speaker 3: is the other bookend Jedi there. I mean, there's just
4:42
Speaker 3: a lot to love. And then the inside linebackers, which
4:44
Speaker 3: were such a problem. I gotta tell you this about
4:47
Speaker 3: a Landon Roberts. Watch Landon Roberts. The hardest point part
4:51
Speaker 3: about watching him is that sometimes you miss the tackle
4:54
Speaker 3: because when he blows up the attempted blockers, that's more
4:57
Speaker 3: fun than the tackle. Just spectacular when he wipe people out.
5:02
Speaker 3: So there's a lot of good hitters on that defensive
5:05
Speaker 3: side of the ball, making Fitzpatrick and all. So I'm
5:08
Speaker 3: looking forward to it. I got a lot of greatness
5:09
Speaker 3: coming on.
5:11
Speaker 2: It really is.
5:11
Speaker 1: I can just feel your energy over the zoom call.
5:14
Speaker 1: I wish I was salling beside you at training camp.
5:16
Speaker 1: In a few weeks I met, I had the chance
5:19
Speaker 1: to meet Max Starks on Radio Row and he was energetic,
5:22
Speaker 1: So I can only imagine what your energies like, Craig.
5:25
Speaker 1: So we definitely have to meet at some point one.
5:27
Speaker 3: And I'm looking forward doing bro.
5:32
Speaker 1: Playing guard in your career. I'm sure you've seen during
5:34
Speaker 1: the draft. Obviously you've seen the pick with Mason McCormick,
5:37
Speaker 1: but for many people listening historic because that draft pick
5:41
Speaker 1: was made in Kerry in Ireland.
5:43
Speaker 2: It was really really cool.
5:45
Speaker 1: And the guard as well, which ironically a guard over
5:48
Speaker 1: here is a policeman or policewoman, so everyone found out funny,
5:52
Speaker 1: really slid pick though for the guys in the draft,
5:54
Speaker 1: and you know, really bolstering up that offensive guard position.
6:00
Speaker 3: No question about it. Think about it. You've got three
6:02
Speaker 3: offensive linemen you drafted Smash, Bash and Crash. Okay, that's
6:06
Speaker 3: what I call him. It couldn't apply to any of
6:09
Speaker 3: the three because the common denominator. When you put that
6:12
Speaker 3: tape on, you watch play after play, a couple things
6:15
Speaker 3: stand out. Number one is physicality. You know, whether it's
6:18
Speaker 3: Mason McCormick or Zach Frazier or Troy To All three
6:24
Speaker 3: of them are very physical, very very strong to the
6:28
Speaker 3: whistle guys you know, they block to the echo of
6:31
Speaker 3: the whistle the next valley over. And what I love though,
6:34
Speaker 3: there's a calling card offensive lineman lead when they've got
6:37
Speaker 3: the proper attitude. After you drop a guy, you might
6:40
Speaker 3: what we always used to call back in the day,
6:42
Speaker 3: putting a little jelly on your work. You might put
6:45
Speaker 3: a little elbow in the guy. You might kneel on
6:47
Speaker 3: him again. You might push off on his face mask,
6:49
Speaker 3: just letting them know it's coming. All day, buddy, I'm
6:52
Speaker 3: going to be right back here in the next play.
6:54
Speaker 3: So I like that. That's an attitude that you want
6:57
Speaker 3: because it carries over to the rest of the offense. Tough, physical,
7:01
Speaker 3: hard nos play. I think those three, all three guys
7:04
Speaker 3: are going to be able to share in.
7:05
Speaker 2: That perfect I love it.
7:06
Speaker 1: And when you had that situition where the guys come
7:11
Speaker 1: in and the new guys that you've talked about, you
7:14
Speaker 1: obviously have a chance to be closer to the team
7:16
Speaker 1: than most. What's the vibe like a royalts in mini
7:18
Speaker 1: camp as we now go in the training camp, is
7:20
Speaker 1: it can you really see that change that difference.
7:24
Speaker 3: Well, you know, there's a healthy vibe usually every year. Look,
7:27
Speaker 3: most ballplayers are fairly optimistic about, you know, this upcoming season,
7:33
Speaker 3: and certainly in Pittsburgh it's even more so because there's
7:36
Speaker 3: you've got that historical background of great players and legends
7:40
Speaker 3: and Super Bowls, trophies, everything going on. So there's always
7:45
Speaker 3: that sort of vibe. But you get Russ Wilson, and
7:48
Speaker 3: Russ is just such a great leader from the front.
7:52
Speaker 3: He's a lot of fun to watch because his interactions
7:54
Speaker 3: with the players. Players feed off his energy, players feed
7:58
Speaker 3: off the fact he's, you know, thirty five years old,
8:00
Speaker 3: and it's like that's boom, boom boom, let's go. And
8:02
Speaker 3: then one of the things I loved during the OTAs
8:05
Speaker 3: he's scadaddled up the sidelines. Right, he's just going fifty
8:08
Speaker 3: sixty yards and young Bucks were in hot pursuit. Okay,
8:13
Speaker 3: but here's the key. They weren't closing in on him,
8:16
Speaker 3: And I'm like, going, that's a pretty old man running
8:19
Speaker 3: up the sidelines. You got young Bucks in hot pursuit
8:22
Speaker 3: and trail and they you ain't getting that man. So
8:24
Speaker 3: I love the fact that he's still mobile, he's still
8:26
Speaker 3: got an ability to tucket and go. And this is
8:29
Speaker 3: the key to Michael. I think for me it's big.
8:32
Speaker 3: I looked up his stats last year in Denver. Thirty
8:35
Speaker 3: eight times Russ tucked the ball and ran for a
8:37
Speaker 3: first down, Kenny Pickett just twelve, And that to me
8:42
Speaker 3: is that's how you get that rhythm rolling early, because
8:45
Speaker 3: sometimes you got to do it upon yourself. You got
8:47
Speaker 3: to get your own legs and on a third and
8:49
Speaker 3: five or less, you got to tuck that thing and
8:51
Speaker 3: go because you're gonna help your offensive line. Get those guys.
8:54
Speaker 3: They can't have the years pinning back and coming not
8:57
Speaker 3: thinking about anything but going after the quarterback. They got
8:59
Speaker 3: to maining their past rush lanes. And it's good to
9:02
Speaker 3: see you've got somebody back there that has got that
9:05
Speaker 3: ability to be able to get those first downs, especially
9:08
Speaker 3: early on if you're not really rolling rhythmically yet.
9:11
Speaker 1: Believe it or not, there are a lot of Broncos
9:13
Speaker 1: fans in Ireland and I know a lot of them,
9:15
Speaker 1: and they really talked last year about the jump from
9:18
Speaker 1: obviously year one or use of Wilson and Denver wasn't great,
9:20
Speaker 1: but the jump from year one to year two and
9:22
Speaker 1: how he really maintained but also improve his focus. And
9:27
Speaker 1: then I see him, like you said, their first hand
9:30
Speaker 1: experience of seeing him just.
9:31
Speaker 2: Have that energy, I'm really excited.
9:34
Speaker 1: I think when you've got that young guy and Justin
9:37
Speaker 1: Field as well, it's not just not just gonna have
9:39
Speaker 1: a situation where he's behind him learning, He's going to
9:42
Speaker 1: be able to compete as well. Like I mean, it's
9:45
Speaker 1: that situation for Steeers fans where they're going to be
9:47
Speaker 1: able to see really a quarterback battle, regardless of the outcome,
9:51
Speaker 1: and it's one that we can really get excited about,
9:53
Speaker 1: Like how excited are you to see Justin Field's and look,
9:58
Speaker 1: we can take our team hats off here for a second,
10:00
Speaker 1: really be given an opportunity to relax, learn, because sometimes
10:04
Speaker 1: when you're in a big media market like Chicago, it's
10:07
Speaker 1: difficult on he did, like I personally feel like there
10:11
Speaker 1: was times he just wasn't given enough of an option
10:13
Speaker 1: to grow. He's in no better place now as far
10:16
Speaker 1: as I'm concerned. He is a real opportunity to grow
10:20
Speaker 1: and to learn.
10:21
Speaker 3: Oh, I think Justin Fields it can so benefit from
10:24
Speaker 3: being around Russ Wilson This is exactly what he needs.
10:28
Speaker 3: He needs a calming period where he can look at
10:30
Speaker 3: a guy and that guy in the room is a
10:32
Speaker 3: guy that's already done it. He's won a Super Bowl,
10:34
Speaker 3: he's been in another Super Bowl. He's a pro bowler.
10:37
Speaker 3: The guy has been there, done that, and shown how
10:40
Speaker 3: to get it done. And for a young guy, sometimes
10:43
Speaker 3: you got to reload a little bit. Sometimes you got
10:45
Speaker 3: to set back and go, Okay, let me see what
10:47
Speaker 3: I can learn here. And it takes a little bit
10:49
Speaker 3: of humility, a little bit of humbleness. But you look
10:51
Speaker 3: at the great attributes that Justin Fields brings. He's got
10:55
Speaker 3: a cannon for an arm. I mean, I'm telling you what.
10:58
Speaker 3: Sometimes I think if he anybody in the face mask,
11:01
Speaker 3: the ball would wedge in the face mask, you know.
11:03
Speaker 3: I mean, he throws that hard. He's got an ability
11:06
Speaker 3: to run. Obviously, we know that he's been a you know,
11:10
Speaker 3: a dual threat quarterback. But he needs to refine his
11:13
Speaker 3: technique and he needs to have the ability to go
11:15
Speaker 3: through his progressions and know what he and and anticipate
11:20
Speaker 3: the routes a little bit more, I think. But look,
11:24
Speaker 3: Russ is going to be the guy. Russ is going
11:26
Speaker 3: to be a guy coming out and I think Justin's
11:28
Speaker 3: going to compete hard and we'll see what happens. But
11:31
Speaker 3: I think this is a great opportunity to hit the
11:33
Speaker 3: reset button for a great athlete like Justin Fields, and
11:37
Speaker 3: we'll see what happens in the future. But right now, Uh,
11:40
Speaker 3: this is Russ's team to get out there and go.
11:43
Speaker 1: And financially, it's such a good data for the Stators
11:45
Speaker 1: as well in short terms.
11:47
Speaker 3: So love it, love it, which I get that deal.
11:52
Speaker 1: Uh, we'll have a little discussion of this office podcast and
11:57
Speaker 1: let's see what happens. We like what one of the
12:00
Speaker 1: grief things in the offense that we have at him
12:02
Speaker 1: is that Jill Strap with Jailah Moore and Naji Harris.
12:05
Speaker 1: Obviously Naji going into a really important year, had a
12:08
Speaker 1: chance to meet him in Vegas and thy pretty quick
12:12
Speaker 1: guy Galen as well. How motivated do you think Nag's
12:15
Speaker 1: going to be going into this big.
12:16
Speaker 2: Year for him?
12:18
Speaker 3: Naji's always motivated, you know. I look at this ago.
12:21
Speaker 3: The man's complete. He's nailed three one thousand yard rush
12:24
Speaker 3: seasons in a row. Nobody else has done that, right,
12:27
Speaker 3: and then over the same time period, that's spectacular, all right.
12:31
Speaker 3: I know that everybody wants to see the eighty yard
12:33
Speaker 3: run or the seventy yard run, but I'm telling you,
12:36
Speaker 3: this guy is a workhorse, and he is the ability
12:38
Speaker 3: and durability to get the job done. And he dropped
12:41
Speaker 3: some weight, which you know, you go back a little
12:43
Speaker 3: bit and there's a guy named Levon Bell who Mike
12:46
Speaker 3: Tomlin had a conversation with before the draft and said,
12:49
Speaker 3: you know, you probably could drop twenty pounds and better yourself.
12:53
Speaker 3: And I you know, Naji's the guy that has gone
12:56
Speaker 3: about the process of dropping a little weight, maybe a
12:58
Speaker 3: little bit quicker. He's a fabulous athlete. Jalen Warren is
13:02
Speaker 3: as well. I love the one two punch. The two
13:05
Speaker 3: of them together really create a problem. Defensively speaking, if
13:09
Speaker 3: you're sitting on the other side of it, you're the
13:11
Speaker 3: defensive coordinator. You've got to prepare for two exceptional running backs.
13:15
Speaker 3: And I love the fact that, you know, the Steelers
13:17
Speaker 3: go into the season having the ability to be able
13:20
Speaker 3: to let those two cut loose because and Arthur Smith offense, man,
13:23
Speaker 3: I think we're gonna have a lot of fun watching
13:25
Speaker 3: those two big time.
13:26
Speaker 2: It's one of the things.
13:27
Speaker 1: I'm really looking forward to this season and you must
13:30
Speaker 1: find it crazy because for a guy that's worked, you know,
13:34
Speaker 1: on the field off the field of this team for
13:37
Speaker 1: a generation, I will fie to see. You're waking up
13:41
Speaker 1: on a Saturday morning, Sunday morning and you see guys
13:45
Speaker 1: like Connor Heward over in Ireland with members of the
13:49
Speaker 1: Stats Organization, not only going over and checking out what
13:52
Speaker 1: the island of Ireland's like in both Northern Ireland and
13:54
Speaker 1: the Republic, but going to Belfast, go in the Cork,
13:58
Speaker 1: integrating with local teams and given hundreds of young kids
14:01
Speaker 1: a chance to learn football. I can tell you firsthand
14:05
Speaker 1: that's making a difference not only for their lives and
14:08
Speaker 1: the sport, but also more importantly, Wilfy, I think we're
14:12
Speaker 1: getting a lot of young staters funds over here.
14:14
Speaker 2: It's the next generation the staters. How cool do you
14:17
Speaker 2: think that is?
14:18
Speaker 1: Because we're coming into the second year of as deal
14:20
Speaker 1: and I obviously marketing, it's pretty awesome, isn't it It is?
14:24
Speaker 3: It's very awesome. I look at that ability to interact
14:27
Speaker 3: with the young people. I went to Monterey in Mexico
14:31
Speaker 3: this past offseason and interacted with some young people. I
14:35
Speaker 3: know what it's like. And so for the Steelers to
14:37
Speaker 3: be able to reach out to Ireland where you've actually
14:39
Speaker 3: got ownership, Irish roots, all those things coming together, the culture,
14:44
Speaker 3: it's just wonderful.
14:45
Speaker 2: That's that's the grafic about Ireland.
14:47
Speaker 1: Have minute both more for so if you've literally got
14:48
Speaker 1: you've got so many fans that I'm really seeing and
14:51
Speaker 1: that goes back to last year, five hundred Staelers fans
14:55
Speaker 1: a crow park and when I said, will be like
14:59
Speaker 1: even the restrooms that dot.
15:00
Speaker 2: In Cedar Scare, it was like you were in Pittsburgh.
15:02
Speaker 2: It was just next level.
15:04
Speaker 1: But to see so many funds sort of conger it
15:07
Speaker 1: and get together, it's pretty awesome and I think it's
15:10
Speaker 1: it's really unique as well. So hopefully we get you
15:13
Speaker 1: over here, you know, very very soon. You will have
15:16
Speaker 1: to maybe get over over the next few months, but
15:19
Speaker 1: hopefully you would.
15:21
Speaker 3: I love that. I'd love that absolutely. Matter of fact,
15:25
Speaker 3: I don't know. I was researching and I don't know
15:27
Speaker 3: if this is actually gonna happen because I had a
15:29
Speaker 3: knee replacement. But I want to go have a go
15:32
Speaker 3: with the Denny Stones. You know my past, my history,
15:36
Speaker 3: I've trained. You know, I was in the World's Strongest Man,
15:39
Speaker 3: the NFL Strongsman all that, and so I was checking.
15:41
Speaker 3: I'm trying to get my searcheon, Okay, an opportunity to
15:44
Speaker 3: go because I thought, you know what I'd like to
15:46
Speaker 3: do that man like to go have a go with it.
15:48
Speaker 3: You know, you have a lot of very famous stones around,
15:52
Speaker 3: you know, England and in Scotland and Ireland and everything,
15:55
Speaker 3: and so I was checking that out.
15:58
Speaker 1: We'll see what we can make it happen. You've seen
16:00
Speaker 1: a number of guys and four players Alan Fanicas, Antonio
16:04
Speaker 1: Holmes play Hurland, so we will try and get you
16:07
Speaker 1: to do that also. And just before we go, just
16:10
Speaker 1: a couple of ones to sort of jump on before
16:12
Speaker 1: the end, as someone like you know, Look, the beautiful
16:16
Speaker 1: thing about the NFL is there's such a long offseason
16:18
Speaker 1: and there's such a long time to talk and to
16:20
Speaker 1: analyze and navigate around the league. We always talk about
16:24
Speaker 1: how good the AFC North is. It feels like it's
16:28
Speaker 1: just and I'm talking about every team here. It feels
16:30
Speaker 1: like every team is just taking a step up to
16:33
Speaker 1: see Derrek Henry for example, in Baltimore, what's your you know,
16:37
Speaker 1: Wolfies one minute analysis of the North as we get
16:40
Speaker 1: ready for the new season.
16:42
Speaker 3: It's a two chin strap division, man, two chin strap
16:47
Speaker 3: duct tape your mouthguard in. Get ready for a bust
16:50
Speaker 3: them up. I mean, you know, the Browns are going
16:52
Speaker 3: to be the Browns, but it's going to be the Ravens,
16:55
Speaker 3: it's going to be the Steelers, and it's gonna be Cincinnati.
16:58
Speaker 3: And when I say the Browns being the Browns, look,
17:00
Speaker 3: the Rounds are ever evolving with running game and everything.
17:03
Speaker 3: So watching how this offensive line, their offensive line is
17:06
Speaker 3: being built for the AFCY North, It's going to be
17:08
Speaker 3: competitive as always, it's going to be superbly competitive. But again,
17:12
Speaker 3: I think the Steelers are still well positioned because they
17:15
Speaker 3: draft so well. Number One is, you want to win
17:17
Speaker 3: your division, win your division, then you move from there,
17:20
Speaker 3: and that's what the Steelers have been doing, and I think,
17:23
Speaker 3: you know the opportunity. What bothered me was that they
17:26
Speaker 3: moved all the division games back towards December. That's a problem.
17:30
Speaker 3: That's the big problem for me, you know, because in December,
17:34
Speaker 3: when you start playing three games in eleven days, as
17:37
Speaker 3: the great Allen Fanica said, you can barely walk in December, normally,
17:41
Speaker 3: you know, getting up besides playing three games in eleven days,
17:45
Speaker 3: So that's going to be a challenge right there. I
17:48
Speaker 3: think more than anything, it's the gauntlet the NFL schedule
17:52
Speaker 3: makers have thrown the Steelers a way that's going to
17:54
Speaker 3: create some issues. But you know what, here's the thing.
17:59
Speaker 3: It's mind. If you don't mind, it don't matter.
18:02
Speaker 1: Maybe it's what they say over here is soccer and
18:04
Speaker 1: here like it's it's the Hallmarket Champions. If you can
18:07
Speaker 1: grind your way through those games. Man, six o'clock Christmas Day, Ireland,
18:12
Speaker 1: the Steelers on Netflix. That's that's pretty awesome. Like, I mean,
18:16
Speaker 1: I know it's one o'clock for you guys, but for like, honestly,
18:19
Speaker 1: we're ining on like a couple of podcasts for families
18:21
Speaker 1: to sit down and listen and watch it.
18:23
Speaker 2: And I'm sure we'll get the radio.
18:24
Speaker 1: One and I definitely listen to you guys as well.
18:27
Speaker 1: Just finally, I'm not going to ask if your expectations,
18:31
Speaker 1: but just just your ober all sort of thoughts on
18:33
Speaker 1: what to expect this season. It's always going to be
18:35
Speaker 1: a dogfight, and you've sort of half answered that. I
18:37
Speaker 1: radic it's a difficult stretch host. I think it's it
18:41
Speaker 1: that New York Giants scheme on Monday light football. It
18:43
Speaker 1: then gets difficult, but then at the end of the
18:45
Speaker 1: day at the AFC North guys are in the same position.
18:48
Speaker 1: It's just getting off to a good start and hoping
18:50
Speaker 1: that when that buy comes around mid season, you're just
18:53
Speaker 1: in that right position.
18:55
Speaker 3: There's no question about it. Again, it's good, it's much
18:57
Speaker 3: of it. It's so much How healthy are you as
19:00
Speaker 3: you make a stretch run. That's the problem, you know,
19:03
Speaker 3: trying to stay healthy throughout the season. You can't. You
19:06
Speaker 3: simply can't work out and train to prevent injury. Your
19:11
Speaker 3: training will prevent injury, but you cannot prevent all injurious situations.
19:16
Speaker 3: So you never know when the injury bug catches. Yeah,
19:19
Speaker 3: you know the days when people said, well he wasn't
19:21
Speaker 3: in shape and he got injured. Those days those days
19:23
Speaker 3: are over, you know, And it's just it's a highly
19:26
Speaker 3: volatile game, so staying healthy is mandate number one. You've
19:29
Speaker 3: got to stay healthy. As the late great my brother
19:32
Speaker 3: Ton jilk Can always used to say, the NFL landscape
19:35
Speaker 3: changes not just monthly, but weekly, depending on who's able
19:39
Speaker 3: to suit up and who's still at you know, high
19:42
Speaker 3: level performance wise, you know ability wise, So that's going
19:45
Speaker 3: to be a big, huge thing in my mind. I
19:47
Speaker 3: think defensively, we've got the opportunity to be voracious Kenu
19:52
Speaker 3: Benton on the inside with the Lion King Captain Cam
19:56
Speaker 3: you know. I love that matchup with those two guys
19:59
Speaker 3: in their career and a lot of havoc because bodies
20:01
Speaker 3: fly when those two get involved in skirmishes in the
20:05
Speaker 3: trenches up front. And then you've got the linebackers that
20:08
Speaker 3: I think they've done a great job, and of course
20:10
Speaker 3: you've got TJ. Watt, which is man. I mean, the
20:13
Speaker 3: guy is just a monster on the outside. Do all that,
20:17
Speaker 3: I think you flip it over offensively. If we can
20:19
Speaker 3: ground and pound more, we can get to that second
20:22
Speaker 3: half with the lead and start punching people in the
20:24
Speaker 3: face and just keep punching them and kicking them all
20:27
Speaker 3: the way down the field, and you get guys like
20:29
Speaker 3: friar Mouth being lit up more with more targets. I
20:32
Speaker 3: know that everybody's worried about a second wide receiver option,
20:36
Speaker 3: but Friarmoth to me, in my mind, can be that
20:39
Speaker 3: second wide receiver option target wise, in many ways. So
20:43
Speaker 3: the ability to be able to put all this together
20:45
Speaker 3: is going to be awesome. It's going to be great.
20:46
Speaker 3: But again, health is going to be primary. They've got
20:49
Speaker 3: to stay healthy and you've got to make sure that
20:51
Speaker 3: you're doing your preab reab each and every week.
20:55
Speaker 1: You get me ready to rock and roll. I could
20:58
Speaker 1: run through the wall. I'm not excited for just for
21:00
Speaker 1: the season and starting out a couple of weeks out
21:03
Speaker 1: from training camp and the tropes. If it's in college folks,
21:06
Speaker 1: well say, I'm sure we'll get you on during the
21:07
Speaker 1: season to chap just to see. Obviously, if people want
21:10
Speaker 1: to listen, check out Staelors Nation Radio and we'll drop
21:13
Speaker 1: the socials in the comments as well. Man Stead safe,
21:16
Speaker 1: I enjoy training camp. It's almost here and we'll chat
21:20
Speaker 1: to you again staying on the Irish Staters podcast.
21:22
Speaker 3: All right, hey, God bless you, bro, stay healthy, stay well,
21:26
Speaker 3: get ready to rock and roll. It's gonna be a
21:27
Speaker 3: great year.