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HR 1: Mike McCarthy Presser, Steelers Coordinators Speak · The Steelers Report

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: This is the Steelers Report with Brian Batko and Ed
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Troup on Steelers Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Audio Network.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Always good to come on the air in the week
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: after a Pittsburgh Steelers victory, that's for sure.
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: You ride it out for a few days. Right, Brian Batko?
• 0:29
  Speaker 4: Birds are chirping.
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: The sun is shining.
• 0:32
  Speaker 5: Everyone's got a little more pep in their step after
• 0:35
  Speaker 5: a big W, especially once the initial shock wore off.
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: That's right.
• 0:39
  Speaker 4: That game ended in Tampa. This is not geographically accurate
• 0:44
  Speaker 4: to say in Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay is technically not
• 0:47
  Speaker 4: a city.
• 0:48
  Speaker 5: That's the kind of.
• 0:49
  Speaker 4: Embrace that whole region there, though, by adding the Bay
• 0:53
  Speaker 4: onto it. And the Tampa Bay formerly Devil Rays headed
• 0:57
  Speaker 4: to the World Series. So I think the Bucks fans
• 1:00
  Speaker 4: would have loved to have beaten our Steelers on Sunday,
• 1:03
  Speaker 4: but not a bad consolation prize to have their baseball
• 1:05
  Speaker 4: team in the what they call it, the fall classic.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: The fall classic, the World Series, which now goes till,
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: I think they, I saw something this morning that it
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: should wrap up by October 31st. You know, there for
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: a few years, it was going into like the first
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: week of November.
• 1:18
  Speaker 5: That's no good.
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: Which was really weird to be watching baseball in early November, right?
• 1:22
  Speaker 5: That shouldn't happen.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: So I think the goal is to get it knocked
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: out by October 31st.
• 1:27
  Speaker 5: Brewers raise.
• 1:28
  Speaker 6: Yes.
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: How about that?
• 1:30
  Speaker 5: Who are you pulling for real quick?
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: I know, well, I think the Rays are maybe more
• 1:34
  Speaker 4: of an underdog, but the Brewers have never won one.
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: The Rays kind of have some aura, as the kids say,
• 1:42
  Speaker 4: in my opinion.
• 1:43
  Speaker 7: Yeah.
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: But the Brews, the Brew crew, they've got... Well, they're
• 1:47
  Speaker 4: a Pirates rival, so factor that in.
• 1:49
  Speaker 6: They are.
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: But TJ Watt, the Watt family, the Watt brothers, Riley Nowakowski,
• 1:56
  Speaker 4: all Brewers fans.
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: See how you pulled this all together?
• 1:59
  Speaker 5: I like it.
• 1:59
  Speaker 6: Keep going.
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: Keep going.
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: Come on.
• 2:00
  Speaker 5: Who else we got?
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: There's a lot of Wisconsin Badgers, but I don't know
• 2:04
  Speaker 4: that there's anybody else who's like an avid.
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: Brewers fan actually i've never even asked tj if he's
• 2:11
  Speaker 4: an avid brewers fan but i guess we'll have some
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: time now to explore that.
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: Sounds like it's a future steelers.com article to me.
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: I don't know if that's article worthy but maybe uh
• 2:20
  Speaker 4: maybe you'll see a tweet.
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: Oh there you go yeah sometimes sometimes that's a good use.
• 2:24
  Speaker 5: Of twitter in 2026 there aren't many of them but.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: That'd be one of them just maybe you know quick
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: hit out there just to say hey look here's what
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: tj likes baseball wise i'm sure i mean you grew
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: up in that region but that's an exciting time brian
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: to answer your question You know, I've never been a big.
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: Nick Herbig, did he fall in love with the Brewers
• 2:41
  Speaker 4: while he was in Madison?
• 2:42
  Speaker 5: I don't know about that.
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah, because he was born in Hawaii, right?
• 2:45
  Speaker 5: Yeah, so they don't have a team.
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: I don't think there's any baseball in Hawaii, is there?
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: Yeah, they're probably not even big baseball fans in general,
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: I would think.
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: I know there's not a major league baseball team there,
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: but you know what I meant, like an amateur team
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: or minor league or something.
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that would be a little bit tough to travel
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: across seas.
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: But to answer your question, you know, I've never really
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: liked the Brewers because of the whole NL Central thing. However,
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: I've grown to like them this year. They've been exciting
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: to watch. They've been a fun bunch. They won over
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: 100 games. The Pirates actually, for the first time, how
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: about this little tidbit, actually played the Brewers the best
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: this year.
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: Than they have in a long time. They beat them
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: a handful of times, too.
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: So imagine that. Now they go on to the World Series.
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: And as you said, they will face the Tampa Bay
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: Devil Rays, who are back once again.
• 3:28
  Speaker 5: Maybe I'll be watching it in Paris.
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: Yep, you're gearing up. This is either today or tomorrow.
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: We'll be our last show for the week here before
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: we depart for Paris.
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: Well, you will depart for Paris.
• 3:39
  Speaker 5: I'll be departing for Paris Wednesday night.
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: Yep, I will be here holding things down at SNR
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: doing various things.
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: Steelers Saints at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis or Saint-Denis.
• 3:51
  Speaker 5: Depends on how you want to pronounce it.
• 3:52
  Speaker 6: I like it.
• 3:53
  Speaker 5: I mean, we say Paris.
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: We don't really say Paris, which is how they say it.
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: So I don't know what to do with it. the
• 3:59
  Speaker 4: city where the Stade de France is. What would you
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: prefer me to say, Ed?
• 4:04
  Speaker 6: St.
• 4:04
  Speaker 5: Denis or Saint-Denis?
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: I kind of like St. Denis. All right. That kind
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: of has a nice ring to it, my friend.
• 4:11
  Speaker 4: Actually, I don't even know if it would be St.
• 4:12
  Speaker 4: Denis or St. Denise in English vernacular.
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: Well, that's your department.
• 4:18
  Speaker 5: Maybe I should just say Saint-Denis.
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: Maybe call our friend Uncle Tommy. Maybe he would have
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: a little bit.
• 4:23
  Speaker 6: You know what?
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: He'd definitely have an opinion on it, that's for sure.
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: He'd have the right answer somehow.
• 4:28
  Speaker 6: Oh, boy.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: Brian, yesterday Mike McCarthy spoke during his Monday press conference,
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: and he actually talked about preparing for the Paris game.
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: He said, I think just like anything, when the schedule
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: comes out, we're on a seven-day week flow here, meaning
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: basically they don't want to disrupt things.
• 4:44
  Speaker 5: It's football brain.
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: It's football.
• 4:47
  Speaker 4: Remember when we were going into the Thursday night game
• 4:49
  Speaker 4: against the team that shall not be named, but there
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: was a lot of talk that week about, hey, monday
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: is really like wednesday and tuesday is really like thursday
• 4:59
  Speaker 4: and friday and then wednesday is kind of like saturday
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: and then you go play sunday on a thursday so
• 5:06
  Speaker 4: coaches players in this game they're such creatures of habit
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: and you you're so used to structuring your week around
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: sundays that's i mean that's a huge difference from nba
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: nhl i mean i guess mlb's you're basically just playing
• 5:19
  Speaker 4: every day but those other sports your schedule shifts around
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: quite a bit and You have to prepare for back-to-backs
• 5:26
  Speaker 4: and things of that nature and the occasional neutral site
• 5:30
  Speaker 4: game when they go somewhere. But football is the one
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: where generally your body clock is timed for waking up
• 5:37
  Speaker 4: Sunday morning and I'm either playing that afternoon or that night. Now, obviously,
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: sometimes you get a Monday night, sometimes you get a
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: Thursday night, and sometimes you get an international trip, which
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: really throws things off as well. But it actually can
• 5:50
  Speaker 4: be the first international trip for Mike McCarthy.
• 5:54
  Speaker 5: He never did it with the Cowboys.
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: In his coaching career.
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: Yes, the Cowboys went twice, but before and after his tenure.
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: And then the Packers, I think, only went after his
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: tenure in Green Bay. But Patrick Graham has done it
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: three times, he pointed out. The defensive coordinator, of course,
• 6:10
  Speaker 4: Brian Angelico, the offensive coordinator, did it last year. He
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: had a most unique experience with it. The Vikings played
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: two international games in a row, if you remember that.
• 6:19
  Speaker 5: The first one, we love to remember. That's right.
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: I've got the hat on, the NFL Dublin game hat.
• 6:24
  Speaker 4: And the Steelers took care of the Vikings at Croke Park.
• 6:28
  Speaker 4: But then the Vikings stayed out there and went over
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: to London and played, I forget who, but I think
• 6:33
  Speaker 4: they won.
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't remember who they played either, but I
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: know they stayed out there back-to-back weeks.
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: Angelico said he would never want to do that again,
• 6:41
  Speaker 4: but it was an experience, I'm sure. And he said
• 6:45
  Speaker 4: one thing he learned from it is just the NFL,
• 6:48
  Speaker 4: its teams, they do a good job of making it
• 6:51
  Speaker 4: seem as much like you're back at home as you
• 6:53
  Speaker 4: possibly can when you're across the ocean and you're five
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: or six time zones away. It's almost they beat the
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: Browns in that game, by the way, the Vikings did
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: in London the week after the Steelers, and then they
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: mercifully got there by.
• 7:08
  Speaker 5: But I think that is the challenge of it. Of course.
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: However, what I was going to say was it's almost
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: become routine for these because they're so common in today's NFL.
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: Yep.
• 7:20
  Speaker 4: So many teams play in the international games. You have one,
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: it seems like every week for a stretch here. Once
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: you get to like week four or five and a
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: lot of the players and coaches who switch teams and
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: even people who are in charge of operations and stuff
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: like that, they've probably been a part of it at
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: some point.
• 7:38
  Speaker 5: So it's, it's not that foreign.
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: I suppose it will be different for McCarthy in that sense,
• 7:42
  Speaker 4: but he's coached, you know, he brought up the point
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: like he's coached in the super bowl. I mean, that's
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: about as strange of a schedule adjustment as you can make.
• 7:49
  Speaker 5: You get, A whole week off.
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: Including the game.
• 7:52
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you've got media day, game day, halftimes extra long.
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: It's a lot to manage.
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: So that's a lot to manage, probably more so than
• 7:59
  Speaker 4: an international trip. And he mentioned, too, that he's coached
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: so many Thursday games. He's coached Monday night games. So
• 8:06
  Speaker 4: Thanksgiving Day, Thursday afternoon games on tight turnarounds. There's logistical
• 8:12
  Speaker 4: challenges that are unique for all of them, but the
• 8:14
  Speaker 4: same for all of them as well.
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: Speaking of which, just to go along with what you said, which,
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: by the way, you can read Brian Bacco's article on Steelers.com.
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: It goes a long way.
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: It's a summary of yesterday's Mike McCarthy press conference. Your point, Brian,
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: he did say the reality is I always try to
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: stick to the basics, the hydration, the sleep, just to
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: make sure. That's going to be huge. It always is, right,
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: with these players. And just to make sure. You give
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: the men the best opportunity to prepare, to perform, and
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: then ultimately stay in a normal or flow of preparation
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: as you can. He also added, we looked at both
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: options and we clearly feel that this one, leaving on Thursday,
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: is the best one for us.
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: In other words, the Saints are already there.
• 8:55
  Speaker 5: They left right after. Yeah, both options as in go
• 8:57
  Speaker 5: early versus go later.
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: Later in the week.
• 8:59
  Speaker 5: This is always a topic of discussion for these games.
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: It was a big one in week one, Rams versus 49ers.
• 9:05
  Speaker 4: The Rams took it to the extreme. Well, the NFL
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: took it to the extreme by having that game in Australia.
• 9:11
  Speaker 4: The Rams took it to the extreme as far as
• 9:12
  Speaker 4: trying to keep their routine over here in the U.S.
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: and then basically flying over there at the last possible minute,
• 9:20
  Speaker 4: spending one night actually in Melbourne versus where the Steelers
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: will be in Paris for a couple nights before they
• 9:28
  Speaker 4: play that game. That was the schedule they used last
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: year in Dublin. Obviously, McCarthy wasn't here for it, but
• 9:34
  Speaker 4: It's not like they came out flat. They went out there,
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: and if anything, they started faster than they finished that game.
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: If you remember, injuries set in. I think Jalen Ramsey
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: got dinged up in that game. I forget who else
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: got dinged up in that game, but they were going
• 9:48
  Speaker 4: through it in the secondary. But they still found a
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: way to hang on and beat Minnesota. Peyton Wilson running
• 9:53
  Speaker 4: down Jordan Addison is burned in my brain from that game,
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: as is DK Metcalf's 80-yard catch-and-run touchdowns. So, yeah, I mean,
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: there's different ways to think through it from an NFL
• 10:06
  Speaker 4: team perspective. This game will be another data point for that,
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: I suppose, with the Saints going early, Steelers going late.
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: But McCarthy's viewpoint, obviously the same one that his predecessor had, is,
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: Let's have our normal Wednesday practice. Let's have our normal
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: Thursday practice on the south side with everything we need.
• 10:23
  Speaker 4: And then, yeah, there's no avoiding a long flight. Oh,
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: across the pond. Your body clock's changing. You're adjusting. You're
• 10:31
  Speaker 4: time traveling. But then as much as you can, you
• 10:34
  Speaker 4: try to sleep on that flight.
• 10:35
  Speaker 5: And you're right. Hydration's always key. Sleep's always key.
• 10:38
  Speaker 4: But I would venture to guess the people behind the scenes,
• 10:41
  Speaker 4: the trainers, the nutritionists, dieticians, all those folks... they're hitting
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: that even harder this week with the players of make
• 10:48
  Speaker 4: sure you are.
• 10:49
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 10:50
  Speaker 4: Double up rest recovery as much as you possibly can
• 10:53
  Speaker 4: get as much sleep as you can. Now just try
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: to get through this game and they'll try to sleep
• 10:58
  Speaker 4: on the plane. But these, a lot of these guys
• 11:00
  Speaker 4: are six foot five, 320 pounds, you know, probably difficult
• 11:05
  Speaker 4: even if you have the nicest planes around.
• 11:07
  Speaker 5: So the biggest seat, hopefully they can.
• 11:09
  Speaker 4: I'm good at sleeping on planes, but I'm a smaller
• 11:11
  Speaker 4: guy and hopefully they can get some shut eye and
• 11:14
  Speaker 4: then yeah, they'll, roll out of there and do a
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: little bit of a practice Friday. And then they'll probably
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: try to get some work done on Saturday, but it's
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: the day before the game.
• 11:22
  Speaker 5: So you also got to be smart about that.
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: We are recapping Mike McCarthy's press conference from Monday. And again,
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: you can go on Steelers.com and read. It goes a
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: long way. That's the title, Brian, for the summary of
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: the press conference yesterday that you have up on Steelers.com.
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: Tell us about the title.
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: I was going to say, I suppose you could argue
• 11:39
  Speaker 4: that rest and recovery and hydration and all that and
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: sleep goes a long.
• 11:42
  Speaker 5: Way for this trip, but That's not what it was about.
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: No, it was really about how these last couple weeks
• 11:48
  Speaker 4: that I've noticed in the photos and stuff tweeted out
• 11:52
  Speaker 4: and posted by the Steelers. Jamel Dean looked like he
• 11:55
  Speaker 4: was talking to the whole locker room after walking in
• 11:58
  Speaker 4: that trap and taking over that trap in Tampa. Michael
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: Pittman Jr. doing the same thing the week prior at
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: Accresure Stadium after a win over the Colts, even though.
• 12:05
  Speaker 5: He didn't play in that game. But I think we
• 12:07
  Speaker 5: talked about it on the air.
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: You're rallying around these new players who are new to
• 12:12
  Speaker 4: the organization and I'm sure there were some relationships that
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: a few guys had here and there with those two.
• 12:17
  Speaker 4: But by and large, the Cam Haywards of the world
• 12:21
  Speaker 4: and TJ Watts and Jalen Ramsey and Aaron Rodgers, they
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: never played with Michael Pittman Jr.
• 12:26
  Speaker 5: Or Jamel Dean.
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: So they're welcoming them into the Steelers. And then it
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: really goes up another notch when you go out there
• 12:33
  Speaker 4: and you get a win over Pittman's former team. You
• 12:37
  Speaker 4: go out there, you get a win over Dean's former team.
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: Dean was able to factor into it prominently. And when
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: I asked McCarthy about that yesterday, I think you could
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: just kind of see the grin forming on his face of, yeah,
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: that's what it's all about in the locker room. Intangibles
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: and guys liking each other, does that have any direct
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: effect on winning games?
• 12:56
  Speaker 5: Not necessarily. You need to go out there and execute.
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: And the scheme needs to be good, and you need
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: to outplay the guys across from you no matter what.
• 13:03
  Speaker 4: But it's just one of those things that it helps
• 13:05
  Speaker 4: you build a culture, and it helps you grow as
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: a team. And I think Moments like that can help
• 13:10
  Speaker 4: you get through these tough stretches in a season when
• 13:12
  Speaker 4: you're going from playing on the road in Tampa to
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: playing on the road in Paris back-to-back weeks.
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: Going across the Atlantic Ocean.
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: Mike McCarthy spoke about taking steps in his program, and
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: that's how he looks at it, Brian, taking steps and
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: building a program here in his first year coaching. And
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: he said afterwards, ultimately we're judged on our performance, but
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: the ability to give guys opportunities. He, meaning Jamel Dean,
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: was a captain this week, and then to have that
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: huge play in the game and win a game ball,
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: got the game ball afterwards.
• 13:42
  Speaker 4: Jeremy Bernard got the offensive game ball, too, he mentioned.
• 13:46
  Speaker 4: McCarthy's been pretty cool, I think, about pulling back the
• 13:49
  Speaker 4: curtain for us a little bit. Mike Tomlin would do
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: that here and there, but I'd say not as much.
• 13:56
  Speaker 4: That's what coaching's all about. He didn't say that. He
• 13:58
  Speaker 4: said that's what the locker room's all about from my perspective.
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: He wouldn't say this about himself, but it's kind of
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: what coaching is about, too, is pushing those right buttons.
• 14:06
  Speaker 4: We know that he's liked the weekly... captain idea and
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: yeah we have to yeah and you're just you're as
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: a coach at any level ed you've coached me not
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: so much maybe when my kids get older but you
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: will be you're trying to it's coming you're trying to
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: pull some strings right to get the best out of
• 14:22
  Speaker 4: your players whether it's something that you think is corny
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: or hokey or it's a little thing a minor thing
• 14:27
  Speaker 4: that you just maybe that gives us a little bit
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: extra oomph as far as a mentality standpoint now a
• 14:33
  Speaker 4: huge part of mike mccarthy's job is calling the offensive
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: plays designing the game plan and figuring out who he's
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: going to play and how much. But another part of it, too,
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: is that that which cannot be measured, as Mike Tomlin
• 14:46
  Speaker 4: used to put it from his standpoint.
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: Good stuff, my friend. Make sure you check it out
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: on Steelers.com. Brian Batko's article is up. Whenever we come back,
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: we're going to hear from the coordinators. What did Patrick
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: Graham have to say? Brian Angelico, maybe even Danny Crossman.
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: We'll hear some special teams talk as well as coming
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: up in our number two today. It's our top 10
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: moments and plays from this past Sunday. And then we'll
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: finish up the show today as we welcome in Jim Wexel.
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: That's right.
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: He's a Steelers.com contributing writer, also editor and publisher of
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: Steel City Insider.
• 15:18
  Speaker 6: He's back.
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: Oh, I'm troop.
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: It's the Steelers report right here on Steelers nation radio,
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: part of the Steelers audio network.
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: This is the Steelers report with Brian Bacco and Ed
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: Troop on Steelers nation radio, a part of the Steelers
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: audio network.
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: Double B. Jeremy Bernard earned a game ball yesterday. We
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: talked about Jamel.
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: Dean getting the defensive game ball. You mentioned it, the
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: offensive game ball going to Bernard. And Coach Mike McCarthy
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: said in his press conference that speaks volumes about where
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: he is and on his climb and his contribution to
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: the offense. You know, Jalen Warren was the hot topic
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: the last couple weeks for all the SNR shows. I
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: think Jeremy Bernard's probably now taking that top spot.
• 16:09
  Speaker 5: Yeah, man, he's on fire.
• 16:10
  Speaker 4: Um, if you're a fantasy football manager, if you didn't
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: jump on it early, you probably opened up your app
• 16:17
  Speaker 4: this morning. Who do you want to put in a,
• 16:19
  Speaker 4: a waiver claim for? And I bet G Bernard is
• 16:22
  Speaker 4: right at the top of your list. He's rolling right now. And, uh, it's,
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: it's great to see because, you know, I mentioned this before,
• 16:30
  Speaker 4: you know, you think back to 2026 draft and there's
• 16:34
  Speaker 4: so much, uh, talk around what kind of receiver should
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: the Steelers take how early how high should they take
• 16:41
  Speaker 4: one I think Omar Khan was was very patient on
• 16:44
  Speaker 4: that front but we spent a lot of time discussing
• 16:48
  Speaker 4: Jordan Tyson who ended up with the Saints but Steelers
• 16:51
  Speaker 4: probably won't see him this weekend he's on injured reserve
• 16:53
  Speaker 4: he might be back soon but His rookie career got
• 16:56
  Speaker 4: off to a snake-bitten start, unfortunately, because he was really
• 16:59
  Speaker 4: fun to watch at Arizona State when he was healthy.
• 17:01
  Speaker 4: But he had some issues on that front, too. So
• 17:03
  Speaker 4: still hasn't even made his NFL debut. There was Makai
• 17:05
  Speaker 4: Lemon was out there. He hasn't done much so far
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: with the Eagles, who their season has just been nightmarish
• 17:12
  Speaker 4: thus far. Really scary stuff with Jalen Hurts. Just from
• 17:17
  Speaker 4: a human perspective, you hope he's going to be okay.
• 17:21
  Speaker 4: Casey Concepcion and Denzel Boston, both of whom were taken
• 17:23
  Speaker 4: before Jeremy Bernard.
• 17:24
  Speaker 5: I think the Browns are happy with those choices.
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: Yeah, they've been impressive.
• 17:29
  Speaker 4: Yeah, but they were gone before the Steelers were on
• 17:30
  Speaker 4: the clock in the second round.
• 17:31
  Speaker 5: And then Omar Cooper was another one.
• 17:34
  Speaker 4: He missed four or five games there, but actually just
• 17:37
  Speaker 4: came back and had a big game for the Jets
• 17:39
  Speaker 4: most recently.
• 17:40
  Speaker 5: He was a first-rounder.
• 17:40
  Speaker 4: And then the Niners took Dajon Stribling with the first
• 17:44
  Speaker 4: pick of the second round, which stunned people around the
• 17:47
  Speaker 4: NFL draft ecosystem.
• 17:50
  Speaker 5: And he got injured, I believe, in week one.
• 17:52
  Speaker 4: Then you get to Bernard. And like we said yesterday,
• 17:55
  Speaker 4: he's been really as good as any of those guys.
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: Off to a bit slower start than Boston or Concepcion.
• 18:01
  Speaker 4: But he's starting to catch up. And, you know, Carnell
• 18:04
  Speaker 4: Tate was so out of reach. I think we kind
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: of knew that all along. And he's been good for
• 18:08
  Speaker 4: the Titans. But, yeah, we didn't know which of those
• 18:12
  Speaker 4: half dozen or so names that I just rattled off
• 18:14
  Speaker 4: there would end up with the Steelers.
• 18:16
  Speaker 5: I think they got a good one, though, Ed. And,
• 18:18
  Speaker 5: you know, I think we all kind of Saw that.
• 18:20
  Speaker 4: The more we looked into him upon the Steelers taking
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: him in the second round. And sure seems like Jeremy
• 18:25
  Speaker 4: Bernard's got versatility. He's got run after catch ability. He's reliable.
• 18:30
  Speaker 4: I think the drops, you're going to see those decrease
• 18:33
  Speaker 4: just the more that he plays. And Aaron Rodgers is
• 18:37
  Speaker 4: on the same page with the rookie, which is the
• 18:39
  Speaker 4: big thing to always wonder about for any rookie receiver,
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: but especially one who's playing with Aaron Rodgers where the
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: expectations and the standards change. are so high on all
• 18:48
  Speaker 4: the intricacies of what he does play to play.
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: 21 targets the last two games for Jeremy Bernard going
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: back to the Colts game this past week against Tampa Bay.
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: He adds into that stat total 17 receptions, 11 of
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: those this past week, Brian, and 167 yards receiving. He
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: had his first career touchdown this past week. So Bernard,
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: has certainly earned that right now as a talk track. And,
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: you know, he can continue to take advantage of the
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: DK Metcalf situation. And when I say situation, you know,
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: DK is going to draw, at least for now, the
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: top defensive back on the other side, maybe even some
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: double coverage. And that's been what we've been stressing about
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: the number two wide receiver in this offense and how
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: important that is for them to be effective because that
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: might take some of the heat off DK. And now
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: all of a sudden DK gets open and it's not
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: as much stress on him from a defensive standpoint of
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: doubling down on DK. Bernard, I think, has a great
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: opportunity in front of him. In the last two games,
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: he's taken advantage of those opportunities.
• 19:45
  Speaker 4: And the coaches and players have talked from the beginning
• 19:47
  Speaker 4: about how confident he was coming in here how prepared
• 19:52
  Speaker 4: he was how mentally ready he was to pick up
• 19:55
  Speaker 4: on everything that goes along with the nfl game but
• 19:58
  Speaker 4: physically too i think it just goes to show that
• 20:01
  Speaker 4: he was ready for nfl football A lot of the
• 20:05
  Speaker 4: rookie receivers I just mentioned dealt with injuries earlier in
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: the season. Obviously, you can't always control whether you get
• 20:11
  Speaker 4: hurt or not, but Bernard's a sturdy guy, and we
• 20:14
  Speaker 4: saw that in his physique when the Steelers drafted him
• 20:18
  Speaker 4: and certainly in between OTAs and showing up for training
• 20:20
  Speaker 4: camp out at St.
• 20:22
  Speaker 5: Vincent College in Latrobe.
• 20:24
  Speaker 4: You look back, Roman Wilson, it stunk for him that
• 20:27
  Speaker 4: his rookie year never really got off the ground because
• 20:29
  Speaker 4: of that ankle injury early in training camp.
• 20:32
  Speaker 5: Bernard has stayed healthy.
• 20:34
  Speaker 4: The best ability is availability, but now he's getting a
• 20:37
  Speaker 4: chance to show all of his other abilities when he's
• 20:40
  Speaker 4: actually on the field.
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: And with that, you can also make the case that
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: DK Metcalf's production picked up this past week. 11 receptions,
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: 93 yards. Look, they can go also with the tight
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: end situation too, Brian. We talk so much about the
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: 3rd and 4th wide receiver in the injury situation. in
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: that room right now for wide receivers but you know
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: look you got two of the top tight ends in
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: the league too and they took advantage of that with
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: Darnell Washington this past week four catches 25 yards but
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: the important stat is that touchdown that he took in
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: did Darnell Washington this past week a key one a
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: five yarder there in the second half Pat Fryermuth was
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: was active the week before had five catches for 44
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: yards and two touchdowns against the Colts while this week
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: not as active two catches for only 11 yards but
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: I can see that going forward with the success of
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: Metcalf bernard and also washington and muth being part of that.
• 21:32
  Speaker 4: Yeah i wonder too how much pat was maybe limited
• 21:35
  Speaker 4: by the calf uh that's right he was banged up
• 21:37
  Speaker 4: questionable and i also wonder too some people highlighted the
• 21:41
  Speaker 4: stealer struggles in short yardage and then obviously uh mike
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: mccarthy mentioned this at his monday presser too that you
• 21:47
  Speaker 4: know he was asked about third downs again like third
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: and six he's like i want to be better at
• 21:50
  Speaker 4: third and one because they they didn't convert all that
• 21:53
  Speaker 4: but i do wonder you know what was the was
• 21:57
  Speaker 4: the Pittsburgh.
• 21:58
  Speaker 5: Pat plunge off the table because of that, that calf.
• 22:02
  Speaker 5: I don't know.
• 22:02
  Speaker 4: I'm just, I'm just speculating on that front because he
• 22:05
  Speaker 4: came in questionable and that's obviously a physically grueling play
• 22:10
  Speaker 4: to line up under center, take the snap and try
• 22:12
  Speaker 4: to push.
• 22:14
  Speaker 5: I mean, that's the biggest part of that play for him, right?
• 22:16
  Speaker 4: Is taking that snap and then pushing off that back
• 22:19
  Speaker 4: leg and, and trying to convert. So, um, I think
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: with Metcalf and Bernard, it's really a case of one
• 22:26
  Speaker 4: hand washes the other. Metcalf is attracting so much attention
• 22:31
  Speaker 4: that frees up Bernard to get single coverage or sit
• 22:35
  Speaker 4: down against the zone. But the more Bernard produces, teams
• 22:39
  Speaker 4: are going to have to account for him unless they
• 22:40
  Speaker 4: want to give up 11 for 87 again or maybe
• 22:43
  Speaker 4: even a more dynamic stat line as this season progresses.
• 22:48
  Speaker 4: That's really what the Steelers have been looking for. They
• 22:49
  Speaker 4: thought they were going to have it in Michael Pittman Jr.,
• 22:52
  Speaker 4: this season, bringing him in and free eight or via trade,
• 22:54
  Speaker 4: excuse me, from the Colts. Obviously he's on injured reserve,
• 22:59
  Speaker 4: so can't do much about that, but good thing. Bernard
• 23:02
  Speaker 4: has been ready and able to take on the mantle
• 23:05
  Speaker 4: as soon as it presented itself.
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: The other part of the Pittsburgh Steelers offense, of course,
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: is the running game. We know about Jalen Warren and
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: the success that he's had the last few weeks. He
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: had 14 carries for 50 yards on Sunday. Rico Dowdle,
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: first game back, Brian, I wanted to ask you about Dowdle.
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: We talked a little bit about him yesterday. But seven carries,
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: 40 yards. I thought he looked pretty good in his
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: first game back with that revamped offensive line. Remember, the
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: first couple games of the season, look, first, he didn't
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: get the looks probably as much as he could have contributed.
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: But a lot of that was the early looks he got.
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: He didn't really go anywhere.
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: But he was up against– he was using that old– well,
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: he wasn't using it. The Steelers were using their old
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: offensive line. Now enter Brock Hoffman, Maxi Onachor. We know
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: this was their fourth straight game together. I think Warren
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: has been able to take advantage of that, and now
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: I thought Rico Dowdle on Sunday was able to take
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: advantage of that.
• 23:53
  Speaker 5: Yeah, absolutely.
• 23:54
  Speaker 4: I don't think it's a negative that Jalen Warren's touches
• 23:58
  Speaker 4: were down a little bit. I think it's a positive
• 24:00
  Speaker 4: that Dowdle came back. We didn't really know what to
• 24:05
  Speaker 4: expect from Dowdle in his first game back. We didn't
• 24:07
  Speaker 4: see much in the first– Game and a half before
• 24:10
  Speaker 4: the toe injury, because that second half of the Patriots game,
• 24:12
  Speaker 4: he was obviously hobbled and just trying to play through it.
• 24:17
  Speaker 4: But we hadn't seen much. He didn't have much room
• 24:20
  Speaker 4: to run either. And then he misses three games. What's
• 24:24
  Speaker 4: he going to look like? Are those first carries going
• 24:25
  Speaker 4: to be kind of like, you know, he's he's not
• 24:28
  Speaker 4: he's far from 100 percent.
• 24:29
  Speaker 5: But that wasn't the case at all. He looked really good.
• 24:31
  Speaker 5: He looked spry.
• 24:32
  Speaker 6: I thought so.
• 24:32
  Speaker 4: And he looked even more explosive than we saw in
• 24:35
  Speaker 4: the season opener against the Falcons when he was fully healthy.
• 24:38
  Speaker 4: So he earned more carries throughout the course of that game.
• 24:42
  Speaker 4: And I know the catch 22 of this is you
• 24:46
  Speaker 4: want number 30 to get the ball a lot because
• 24:50
  Speaker 4: good things have happened. Just look back at the Colts game,
• 24:53
  Speaker 4: the Bengals game before that. But it's not realistic to
• 24:57
  Speaker 4: just run them out there for 100% of the snaps
• 25:00
  Speaker 4: every game. You can't do that with any running back.
• 25:03
  Speaker 4: So it's really nice to have Dowdle now as a
• 25:06
  Speaker 4: compliment to Warren. I would understand any Steelers fan or
• 25:10
  Speaker 4: certainly the people who are really hot under the collar
• 25:12
  Speaker 4: about this or the Jalen Warren fantasy coaches out there.
• 25:16
  Speaker 4: But I understand, hey, he needs as many touches as possible.
• 25:20
  Speaker 4: But you got to be realistic.
• 25:21
  Speaker 5: You got to be smart. It's a long season.
• 25:23
  Speaker 4: Maybe he's earned more of a share of them than
• 25:25
  Speaker 4: we thought coming into it. But I still think Dowdle
• 25:28
  Speaker 4: needs to be a presence in this backfield.
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Dowdle seven carries for the 40 yards. So 90
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: yards combined, Brian, between Warren and Dowdle.
• 25:35
  Speaker 3: That's great stuff. The Steelers averaging four yards per carry.
• 25:39
  Speaker 3: That's up.
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: Well, it's been up the last couple weeks just because
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: of the dynamic of Jalen Warren and the numbers he's
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: put up. But if you look back when Warren and
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: Dowdle both rushed together those first two games. man, it
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: was like, what, 1.82 yards per carry. It was really down.
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: So now to see that number at four and probably
• 25:55
  Speaker 3: growing is a good thing. And I'm with you. We
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: mentioned it last week.
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: Jalen Warren, for as good as he is, any running
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: back in the NFL cannot take on that type of
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: workload for an entire NFL season. So when you enter
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: a guy like Rico Dottle and he can take some
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: of that off, look, I'm not talking 50-50 split. We
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: mentioned that going into this season. I think that's off
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: the table. I think Warren has earned more of the
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: share of these carries. But Rico Dowdle will keep him healthy.
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: And if something happens to Warren, now you have Rico
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: Dowdle who's ready to go.
• 26:23
  Speaker 3: He has the reps. He's not sitting on the sideline watching.
• 26:26
  Speaker 4: Two things Mike McCarthy made pretty clear Monday as far
• 26:29
  Speaker 4: as the running back situation. He likes both guys, which
• 26:32
  Speaker 4: we've known since they signed Dowdle, and wants both to
• 26:35
  Speaker 4: touch the ball. And two, he wants to run the
• 26:38
  Speaker 4: ball more. So it's not a matter of, hey, we
• 26:40
  Speaker 4: want to keep the same amount of carries, but we
• 26:42
  Speaker 4: want to give Dowdle a higher percentage of the split there. Like, no,
• 26:46
  Speaker 4: I think he wants more carries overall and that would
• 26:49
  Speaker 4: mean more for both Warren and Dowdlewood.
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: That was some of the offensive highlights from this past weekend. Defensively,
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: we touched on Jamel Dean in the last segment to
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: open up the show today, but Jalen Ramsey, my goodness,
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: two sacks, four tackle for losses, ten total tackles, finished
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: the game with the overtime sack on fourth down.
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: Look, Jalen Ramsey.
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: Not just playing at an AFC pro ball level, Brian,
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: he's looking like an all-pro type level so far this
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: season because I've been talking about it all year. When
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: you look at the backfield of an opponent, number five
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: is usually in the vicinity, maybe even in on the play.
• 27:26
  Speaker 4: Yeah, he is really good as far as making this
• 27:30
  Speaker 4: transition from playing on the perimeter in the NFL. And
• 27:33
  Speaker 4: this was something that the more I looked into it,
• 27:35
  Speaker 4: I mean, he'd started evolving really kind of at the
• 27:38
  Speaker 4: early part of this decade. Primarily when he went from
• 27:41
  Speaker 4: the Jags to the Rams, the Rams started using him
• 27:43
  Speaker 4: in some different ways and then the Dolphins as well.
• 27:45
  Speaker 4: But I think he's fully into this mode now with
• 27:50
  Speaker 4: the Steelers. And I think this was the plan from
• 27:52
  Speaker 4: the Steelers perspective going back to last year when they
• 27:54
  Speaker 4: traded Mika Fitzpatrick for him.
• 27:56
  Speaker 5: Then things happened.
• 27:57
  Speaker 4: A lot of things happened in the secondary and it
• 27:59
  Speaker 4: didn't really get a chance to materialize all the way
• 28:01
  Speaker 4: for Ramsey, at least not throughout the course of the
• 28:04
  Speaker 4: entire season because the safety play wasn't quite up to snuff.
• 28:08
  Speaker 5: Deshaun Elliott got hurt.
• 28:09
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 28:10
  Speaker 4: Now, though, I think the vision from last season, albeit
• 28:13
  Speaker 4: with a different coaching staff, is back because Jalen Ramsey
• 28:16
  Speaker 4: just fits so well into that role. Mike McCarthy called
• 28:19
  Speaker 4: him a multidimensional player. And the big thing, we talked
• 28:23
  Speaker 4: a lot yesterday, and I talked with Vince and Tom
• 28:26
  Speaker 4: on the Blitz about it.
• 28:27
  Speaker 5: His physical traits lend itself to that so well.
• 28:30
  Speaker 4: But both McCarthy and Patrick Graham really wanted to point
• 28:33
  Speaker 4: out his football IQ is is so high. It's on
• 28:36
  Speaker 4: the ceiling, and that allows you to move all around
• 28:40
  Speaker 4: the defense. I think it allows you to take some chances, too,
• 28:43
  Speaker 4: that aren't necessarily in black and white and schemed up,
• 28:47
  Speaker 4: but it's an instinctual thing.
• 28:49
  Speaker 5: It's a feel for the game.
• 28:51
  Speaker 4: Troy Polamalu was famous for that freelancing, and I think
• 28:54
  Speaker 4: the more Ramsey is in this defense, the even more
• 28:58
  Speaker 4: comfortable he'll get doing some of that stuff.
• 29:00
  Speaker 3: He loves the game of football.
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: You know, he's talked to, you know, during his interviews
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: this year and last year, at least here in Pittsburgh,
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: that he's just a baller. He's a dude that loves
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: playing this sport. And you can see it each and
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: every time. I loved when he took the helmet off
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: at the end of the game because the game was over.
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: Can't take your helmet off during the game.
• 29:17
  Speaker 3: That's a penalty. That's a no-no. So he knew the rules, too, there.
• 29:19
  Speaker 5: Football IQ.
• 29:20
  Speaker 3: It's overtime.
• 29:21
  Speaker 5: Game was over.
• 29:22
  Speaker 3: He knew what to do.
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: But a walk-off defensive ending to that game on Sunday
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: with Jalen Warren with the big sack. And remember, Brian,
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: he started his Steeler career game number one last year
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: in New York with a similar play. Knocked up the,
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: uh what was that Garrett Wilson I think was the
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: intended receiver.
• 29:39
  Speaker 4: It was ran uh it was Ramsey who hit Garrett
• 29:42
  Speaker 4: Wilson yeah to clinch that game yep he had three
• 29:44
  Speaker 4: sacks last season with the Steelers two in one game
• 29:47
  Speaker 4: against the Browns obviously had another multi-sack game yesterday I
• 29:51
  Speaker 4: gotta think that uh he's he's on pace to eclipse
• 29:54
  Speaker 4: that mark and Set a career high in sacks, considering
• 29:57
  Speaker 4: he never even had a sack in the NFL until
• 29:59
  Speaker 4: 2022 in L.A.
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: Just an amazing player and a big part of this defense.
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: And now you can start to get greedy. Does Deshaun
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: Elliott enter the picture as early as this upcoming weekend?
• 30:09
  Speaker 3: 21-day clock is ticking.
• 30:11
  Speaker 6: Yes, it is.
• 30:12
  Speaker 4: He posted on Instagram Tuesday morning a photo of him
• 30:15
  Speaker 4: hitting the Irish jig last year in Dublin and said,
• 30:18
  Speaker 4: last time we went across the pond. Obviously, he had
• 30:22
  Speaker 4: a big game that day against Minnesota.
• 30:25
  Speaker 5: He had a pick, and he was flying all over
• 30:27
  Speaker 5: the field.
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: We'll see if he enters this upcoming weekend for the
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 30:32
  Speaker 3: He is in that 21-day window. He's nearing the end
• 30:34
  Speaker 3: of it.
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: Brian, real quick before we go to break, I do
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: want to ask you about that 21-day window, though, because
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: I've seen two different reports on that. One is that
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: he has to be activated by this game on Sunday.
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: The other is when they started the 21-day window, it
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: was later in the week before that first game, so
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: they can technically wait until after this game as long
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: as it's within a few days to activate him for
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: the following game against the Browns.
• 30:57
  Speaker 5: The latter is the case here.
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: So I think that's being tangled up out and about,
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: maybe on social media, that he has to be activated
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: for this Sunday.
• 31:06
  Speaker 3: He does not.
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: He can actually not play this Sunday as long as
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: he's activated next week.
• 31:10
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's just straight up 21 days, I believe, is
• 31:13
  Speaker 4: the way that rule is written.
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: And that's a smart way to go around that rule, right?
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: Wait until the middle of the week, activate it, and
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: then you get an extra game.
• 31:20
  Speaker 4: Yeah, because it factors into the roster decisions that you're
• 31:23
  Speaker 4: going to make for Sunday in Paris with practice squad
• 31:26
  Speaker 4: elevations and whatnot.
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: Whenever we come back, we will hear from defensive coordinator
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: Patrick Graham.
• 31:32
  Speaker 3: He spoke yesterday. Absolutely.
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: One of our favorite segments of the week is to
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: hear from Coach Graham.
• 31:36
  Speaker 3: That's for sure.
• 31:37
  Speaker 6: I'm E.T.
• 31:38
  Speaker 5: He's B.B.
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: It is the Steelers Report right here on Steelers Nation Radio,
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: part of the Steelers Audio Network.
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: It's the Steelers Report with Brian Batko and Ed Troup
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: on Steelers Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers Audio Network.
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: Wrapping up our number one here on the Steelers Report.
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: Flying right by Brian Batko and you're having fun, I guess, right?
• 32:06
  Speaker 5: We are flying by and I'll be flying out. to
• 32:10
  Speaker 5: Paris in about 30 hours, I suppose.
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you're closing in, my friend. What are you looking
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: for the most as far as food goes? You know,
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: I'm a food guy. You're a food guy, too. You
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: always like to check out the local stuff.
• 32:23
  Speaker 5: Oh, absolutely.
• 32:23
  Speaker 3: You got a plan?
• 32:24
  Speaker 5: I'm not very picky. I've got a pretty diverse palate,
• 32:28
  Speaker 5: I would say. I didn't used to be, though. So
• 32:30
  Speaker 5: anyone out there who's like me and your kids.
• 32:31
  Speaker 4: Are super picky and they only eat chicken nuggets and
• 32:35
  Speaker 4: french fries, everybody tells me that was me growing up.
• 32:38
  Speaker 5: And now I'll try pretty much anything.
• 32:40
  Speaker 4: Vince Williams and Tom Offerman and I were discussing this
• 32:42
  Speaker 4: on the Blitz yesterday when I popped on with them
• 32:44
  Speaker 4: because Vince is a well-traveled man, a cultured man himself.
• 32:49
  Speaker 5: He's been over to Europe, and we were.
• 32:50
  Speaker 4: Saying that we're not real big on the whole beef
• 32:53
  Speaker 4: tartare idea, which is sort of like just chopped up
• 32:57
  Speaker 4: raw meat, but they do that over there.
• 33:00
  Speaker 5: It's a delicacy.
• 33:01
  Speaker 3: You lost me at raw meat.
• 33:02
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 33:04
  Speaker 3: Even my steak, I like a little bit of red
• 33:06
  Speaker 3: but not bleeding.
• 33:07
  Speaker 5: I forget the other one.
• 33:08
  Speaker 4: Pate i guess which is kind of like uh meat
• 33:12
  Speaker 4: paste i've had that over here in pittsburgh you lost
• 33:15
  Speaker 4: me at meat paste not my thing foie gras is
• 33:18
  Speaker 4: another one okay all right which is like fattened duck
• 33:21
  Speaker 4: and goose liver you.
• 33:23
  Speaker 8: Lost me at liver i don't know that i've ever
• 33:25
  Speaker 8: tried for three for me a lot of this stuff
• 33:27
  Speaker 8: i've only been to paris once with my wife and
• 33:29
  Speaker 8: she wouldn't let me try a lot of it um
• 33:32
  Speaker 8: i would try foie gras i would and i would
• 33:35
  Speaker 8: try escargot and i would try caviar But I've never
• 33:40
  Speaker 8: tried any.
• 33:40
  Speaker 3: Of those three.
• 33:40
  Speaker 5: So I'm willing to.
• 33:42
  Speaker 4: As far as what I'm looking forward to, you can't
• 33:44
  Speaker 4: go wrong with steak frites, which is steak and fries
• 33:48
  Speaker 4: in France.
• 33:49
  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah. Now you're speaking my language.
• 33:51
  Speaker 6: Medium.
• 33:51
  Speaker 5: That translates across.
• 33:53
  Speaker 6: All continents, I believe.
• 33:55
  Speaker 3: You a medium guy.
• 33:55
  Speaker 6: On your steak? Yes, I am. Yes.
• 33:57
  Speaker 8: My man.
• 33:58
  Speaker 4: And then croque monsieur and croque madame. That's like their
• 34:04
  Speaker 4: ham and cheese sandwiches with like an egg on top.
• 34:07
  Speaker 4: What's the difference between croque madame? Croque madame is hot
• 34:13
  Speaker 4: ham and cheese sandwich with like a sauce on it
• 34:17
  Speaker 4: and then a fried or poached egg on top.
• 34:20
  Speaker 5: And then the croque monsieur.
• 34:21
  Speaker 3: Sounds like a Permanee Brothers sandwich.
• 34:23
  Speaker 4: A little bit, yeah, like French Permanees. Croque monsieur. Wait,
• 34:26
  Speaker 4: what's the difference here? I'm trying to figure this out. Oh,
• 34:30
  Speaker 4: maybe that one does not have the egg. I think
• 34:32
  Speaker 4: that's the case. I think you add the egg, it
• 34:34
  Speaker 4: becomes a croque madame.
• 34:35
  Speaker 3: So you're going to add the egg?
• 34:37
  Speaker 4: I had both when I was in France about a
• 34:39
  Speaker 4: decade ago, and they were both fantastic.
• 34:41
  Speaker 3: They're good?
• 34:42
  Speaker 6: Okay.
• 34:43
  Speaker 3: I might give that a try. I'm not a seafood guy,
• 34:45
  Speaker 3: so bread, cheese.
• 34:46
  Speaker 5: And ham.
• 34:47
  Speaker 4: I mean, regardless of what country is preparing it, I
• 34:50
  Speaker 4: think that's going to hit nine times out of ten.
• 34:52
  Speaker 3: By the way, I just said Cavalier, like the Cleveland Cavaliers.
• 34:55
  Speaker 5: Instead of what? Caviar?
• 34:56
  Speaker 3: Caviar, yeah. How about that? But anybody catch that out there?
• 34:59
  Speaker 5: Cavalier, that's like a French word too, isn't it though?
• 35:01
  Speaker 3: I think it is. And it is the kickoff of
• 35:02
  Speaker 3: the NBA season today.
• 35:04
  Speaker 5: I did not know that.
• 35:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it starts today.
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: And I think, and I'd have to look this up,
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: it's either on Peacock or NBC, but the way they
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: were advertising it this morning on the news was, I
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: think it's going to be on NBC.
• 35:13
  Speaker 3: There's like a triple header. Normally that's a Sunday triple header.
• 35:16
  Speaker 5: I just pulled it up.
• 35:17
  Speaker 3: Is it on NBC?
• 35:17
  Speaker 5: Celtics Pistons is starting momentarily.
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 35:21
  Speaker 5: Yeah, wow, 3 o'clock tip on a Tuesday.
• 35:23
  Speaker 3: On national TV, on NBC.
• 35:26
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 35:26
  Speaker 3: All three.
• 35:27
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and then Thunder Spurs. That's a pretty darn good slate.
• 35:31
  Speaker 4: Celtics Pistons, I don't, eh, whatever.
• 35:34
  Speaker 3: That's an old school.
• 35:35
  Speaker 5: They're a big brand. That's an old school one, yeah.
• 35:37
  Speaker 6: 76ers, Knicks.
• 35:38
  Speaker 3: Got LeBron now in Philly.
• 35:40
  Speaker 5: Le debut of LeBron.
• 35:41
  Speaker 3: In Madison Square Garden.
• 35:42
  Speaker 4: Thunder Spurs, which I think is going to be the
• 35:44
  Speaker 4: Western Conference Finals for the.
• 35:45
  Speaker 5: Next X amount of years.
• 35:47
  Speaker 3: I'm with you there. That's a good point.
• 35:49
  Speaker 5: It was last year, right?
• 35:50
  Speaker 6: It was.
• 35:51
  Speaker 3: It sure was.
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: All right, let's hear from Patrick Graham.
• 35:54
  Speaker 3: Maybe he talked about the NBA yesterday.
• 35:56
  Speaker 6: I don't know.
• 35:57
  Speaker 3: Or maybe he talked about.
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: The French cuisine that he will be trying to get
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: while he's over there this upcoming weekend. I'm not sure,
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: but let's hear what Patrick Graham.
• 36:06
  Speaker 3: Coach Pat, does he go by Pat? No, he goes
• 36:08
  Speaker 3: by Patrick.
• 36:08
  Speaker 5: I think the players call him Pat.
• 36:10
  Speaker 6: Do they?
• 36:11
  Speaker 5: Everywhere you see his name, biography-wise, it's Patrick Graham.
• 36:14
  Speaker 3: All right, there you go.
• 36:15
  Speaker 9: Well, it was a call that we– well, obviously we
• 36:18
  Speaker 9: had it up for the game and we've been doing
• 36:19
  Speaker 9: it for a long time. And it just was going
• 36:23
  Speaker 9: over some fine points because we were viewed as a group,
• 36:26
  Speaker 9: as a unit, just making sure, hey, just, hey, make
• 36:29
  Speaker 9: sure we get the guys telling this. Because the beauty
• 36:32
  Speaker 9: of the call– sorry, I take that back. The beauty
• 36:34
  Speaker 9: of what happened on the field was how the guys
• 36:37
  Speaker 9: did it all together. There's so many different parts and
• 36:39
  Speaker 9: aspects to that pressure. whether it was TJ and Alex,
• 36:43
  Speaker 9: how they did what we call a heels charge on
• 36:46
  Speaker 9: the tackles, really do a good job there. What Cam
• 36:51
  Speaker 9: and Herb did on the inside, going to touch to
• 36:54
  Speaker 9: try to prevent the slide from going. What PQ did
• 36:57
  Speaker 9: in terms of if the center were to double back,
• 36:59
  Speaker 9: he was in position to pin the center. Everything worked
• 37:02
  Speaker 9: out the way we wanted, along with Jalen and Peyton
• 37:06
  Speaker 9: getting on the edge and just trying to put the
• 37:08
  Speaker 9: back in a bind.
• 37:09
  Speaker 6: It was.
• 37:10
  Speaker 9: It was a fun play to watch. It was fun
• 37:13
  Speaker 9: to see them execute it in the game.
• 37:15
  Speaker 6: And we've used it before.
• 37:16
  Speaker 9: I think, you know, the third down against Cleveland in
• 37:20
  Speaker 9: the fourth quarter, we used that there before. But it
• 37:23
  Speaker 9: was beautiful to watch it play out. But the conversation
• 37:26
  Speaker 9: was just, hey, just a reminder to say, this is
• 37:27
  Speaker 9: what we're going to use it for.
• 37:28
  Speaker 6: And let's just go hit it with speed. And they did.
• 37:31
  Speaker 5: They did.
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: When your defensive coordinator or coach on your staff says
• 37:35
  Speaker 2: it's a beautiful thing, that usually means something good happened
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: on that football field.
• 37:40
  Speaker 3: Brian Becco.
• 37:41
  Speaker 4: Mike McCarthy pretty much said the same thing about that
• 37:44
  Speaker 4: Jalen Ramsey sack, about how everybody was doing their job
• 37:47
  Speaker 4: to a T, and all those little things allow a
• 37:50
  Speaker 4: big thing to happen.
• 37:52
  Speaker 3: That's exactly it, and that's what you have to do.
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: You have to make sure everybody's on the same page,
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: the communication's there. Communication with this team, was a bit
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: of an issue earlier this season, right? It seems like
• 38:02
  Speaker 2: they've cleaned that up here in recent weeks. Here's more
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: with Coach Graham.
• 38:05
  Speaker 9: About the blitz zeros, and again, that's probably where I'm
• 38:09
  Speaker 9: more familiar with in terms of just going with the zeros.
• 38:11
  Speaker 9: There's just so many details that go into it, and,
• 38:15
  Speaker 9: you know, you could have a playbook page, but, like,
• 38:17
  Speaker 9: some of the stuff has to happen to you, you know,
• 38:19
  Speaker 9: in terms of just, you know, like your aim point
• 38:21
  Speaker 9: when you're reducing, the look that it might present itself,
• 38:25
  Speaker 9: or just also being aware of, the things the offense
• 38:28
  Speaker 9: can do, you know, those three by what we would
• 38:30
  Speaker 9: call those three bio formations, because technically, you know, like
• 38:34
  Speaker 9: the guy, if he's nasty on, I'm sorry, I'm talking,
• 38:37
  Speaker 9: y'all talk football, y'all good. So like, if it's nasty
• 38:39
  Speaker 9: on the backside, he could get involved with the blocking. So,
• 38:42
  Speaker 9: you know, having the cover guys being aware, it could
• 38:44
  Speaker 9: be a throwaway, you know, just like all, all those
• 38:48
  Speaker 9: things that sometimes it's just, it's better. Like it happens
• 38:50
  Speaker 9: during this, you know, from experience, you learn a little
• 38:53
  Speaker 9: bit more with it, but, um, It's really crucial, especially
• 38:57
  Speaker 9: when you're talking about zeroing it out. There's nobody else
• 39:00
  Speaker 9: back there. There's no post safety. So you definitely got
• 39:02
  Speaker 9: to be on the same page.
• 39:03
  Speaker 3: Patrick, what is it about Jalen that allows him to have.
• 39:05
  Speaker 6: A game like that? You know, I mean, the physical attributes,
• 39:11
  Speaker 6: I mean, that's well documented.
• 39:12
  Speaker 9: In terms of the size, the speed, the physicality that
• 39:16
  Speaker 9: he plays with. We were able to bring him in
• 39:18
  Speaker 9: different ways, allow him to operate from different points in
• 39:23
  Speaker 9: terms of whether he's in the line of scrimmage. out
• 39:26
  Speaker 9: there on the slot, safety, different things. I mean, I
• 39:29
  Speaker 9: think it's a lot. Physical attributes, the willingness to do it,
• 39:33
  Speaker 9: and also just the intelligence. I mean, he's a smart
• 39:36
  Speaker 9: football player. He understands ball. When you talk to him,
• 39:40
  Speaker 9: he understands how he can manipulate the offenses and some
• 39:44
  Speaker 9: of their calls. So it's fun to have that. And,
• 39:46
  Speaker 9: you know, we have a few guys like that, and
• 39:48
  Speaker 9: it's fun to use those guys.
• 39:50
  Speaker 7: Two weeks in a row you had a team that
• 39:52
  Speaker 7: pretty heavily features just running back, guys who were averaging
• 39:54
  Speaker 7: over 80 yards a game, and I think you had
• 39:56
  Speaker 7: them both to 45. What does that say about the
• 39:59
  Speaker 7: way things are going for your defense right now, and
• 40:02
  Speaker 7: how much is that? I mean, you talked a lot
• 40:04
  Speaker 7: about being willing to change what your focus is from
• 40:07
  Speaker 7: week to week, but how much is stopping the run
• 40:09
  Speaker 7: always going to be on that list?
• 40:12
  Speaker 9: Well, I mean, again, the guys will tell you just–
• 40:17
  Speaker 9: Let me answer your first part of your question. It
• 40:19
  Speaker 9: doesn't mean anything for this week. This week is just
• 40:22
  Speaker 9: a totally different week, so we've got to refocus there.
• 40:25
  Speaker 9: In terms of stopping the run, to me, and this
• 40:29
  Speaker 9: has been my MO since I've been doing this, we
• 40:32
  Speaker 9: have to funnel the ball back to the big men.
• 40:35
  Speaker 9: If we don't do that, that's how you play run
• 40:39
  Speaker 9: defense in the NFL, unless you're just truly selling out
• 40:42
  Speaker 9: for the run game every single play.
• 40:44
  Speaker 6: To me, that's not a good recipe, in my opinion.
• 40:47
  Speaker 9: Just because you expose your perimeter in the passing game.
• 40:51
  Speaker 9: So to me, it's all about how we funnel the
• 40:54
  Speaker 9: ball back to the big men. Everybody has a role
• 40:56
  Speaker 9: out there on that field, and I know we've been
• 40:59
  Speaker 9: talking a lot about it and just really going back
• 41:01
  Speaker 9: and reviewing it, but I think that's been the focus,
• 41:05
  Speaker 9: just getting the ball back to the big guys.
• 41:07
  Speaker 6: What's that mean?
• 41:09
  Speaker 9: Good firm edges from the outside backers, safeties, nickel, whoever's
• 41:13
  Speaker 9: involved in that, playing with good leverage on the second level,
• 41:16
  Speaker 9: making sure we get over on the motions, and then
• 41:18
  Speaker 9: getting downhill and having some violence in that C, D,
• 41:22
  Speaker 9: B gap, whatever we want to talk about, but just
• 41:24
  Speaker 9: having violence there and get it back to camp, get
• 41:27
  Speaker 9: it back to new, get it back to the interior pieces.
• 41:30
  Speaker 9: And we'll still be able to eat from outside, but
• 41:32
  Speaker 9: that's the most important thing to me in terms of
• 41:35
  Speaker 9: NFL football, if you can funnel it back inside. If
• 41:37
  Speaker 9: the ball's getting out to the perimeter and to all
• 41:39
  Speaker 9: the space in the run game, Yeah, these guys have
• 41:41
  Speaker 9: been carrying the ball since.
• 41:42
  Speaker 6: They were eight years old. I mean, it's just not
• 41:45
  Speaker 6: a good recipe for success.
• 41:48
  Speaker 2: Yes, when you funnel it inside, good things happen on defense, Brian.
• 41:52
  Speaker 2: You've got to contain on the outside, funnel it back inside,
• 41:55
  Speaker 2: make the defensive stop. Boy, I love hearing Coach Graham
• 41:58
  Speaker 2: talk these X's and O's.
• 41:59
  Speaker 4: Former D-lineman, former D-line coach. But he's coached linebackers, too,
• 42:04
  Speaker 4: in this league. He's always going to view it that way,
• 42:07
  Speaker 4: I think, Ed. And, yeah, it's just fun to hear
• 42:08
  Speaker 4: him talk ball.
• 42:10
  Speaker 2: The other thing, too, is you get momentum in these
• 42:13
  Speaker 2: football games, especially defensively, and then you can start working
• 42:16
  Speaker 2: in the blitzes and the splash plays and really start
• 42:18
  Speaker 2: to get aggressive. But you've got to get to that
• 42:20
  Speaker 2: point in the game, and when the team's throwing on
• 42:22
  Speaker 2: you left and right, as they were yesterday at the
• 42:24
  Speaker 2: start of that game, it was kind of hard to
• 42:25
  Speaker 2: get in that rhythm. Not yesterday, two days ago now
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: on Sunday. You guys know what I mean out there.
• 42:30
  Speaker 2: This past week against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, once they
• 42:33
  Speaker 2: got to that point, then they can start downing up
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: some blitzes, and they certainly did that more with Coach Graham.
• 42:37
  Speaker 6: Very pleased.
• 42:39
  Speaker 9: From that first run play that he had, the violence,
• 42:42
  Speaker 9: I mean, lockout, peek, shed, find the ball carrier, get
• 42:47
  Speaker 9: the TFL. You know, he's a 4-I there, so he's
• 42:51
  Speaker 9: inside leverage. He makes the play in the C-gap. I mean,
• 42:53
  Speaker 9: that's a dynamic play for a defensive lineman. And then
• 42:56
  Speaker 9: what he was doing in terms of the pass rush,
• 42:58
  Speaker 9: collapse in the pocket. You know, we talked about the
• 43:01
  Speaker 9: must for the game in terms of his role in
• 43:04
  Speaker 9: terms of collapse in the pocket. and being aware to
• 43:06
  Speaker 9: get his hands up versus a quarterback whose stature is
• 43:08
  Speaker 9: not as tall. I mean, I thought it was a
• 43:12
  Speaker 9: really solid game for him. And he's just, again, I
• 43:15
  Speaker 9: told you before, it was a pleasure to coach this guy.
• 43:18
  Speaker 9: Had him at the Senior Bowl when I was the
• 43:19
  Speaker 9: head coach at the Senior Bowl. I just love the
• 43:23
  Speaker 9: trajectory in terms of how the season's going for him
• 43:25
  Speaker 9: right now.
• 43:26
  Speaker 7: Peyton Wilson gave a lot of credit to him, why he.
• 43:28
  Speaker 3: Liked really all the defensive linemen.
• 43:30
  Speaker 5: As far as helping keep him, Patrick, clean, clean, clean.
• 43:33
  Speaker 5: How have you seen that chemistry of those guys knowing.
• 43:36
  Speaker 7: When to shed an attack versus when to stack the
• 43:39
  Speaker 7: double blockers and help your linebackers out?
• 43:41
  Speaker 9: Well, you have to teach patience in the run game. Luckily,
• 43:46
  Speaker 9: we have veteran players that have played a lot. A
• 43:48
  Speaker 9: lot of times when you're dealing with young players, you
• 43:51
  Speaker 9: have to– explain to them, like, listen, you guys in
• 43:54
  Speaker 9: college and high school, nobody really blocked you. So you're
• 43:57
  Speaker 9: so used to just the ball snap and you look
• 43:59
  Speaker 9: for the ball. Like here, there are going to be
• 44:01
  Speaker 9: grown men blocking you, so you got to be patient.
• 44:04
  Speaker 9: And one of the most fun exercises I used to
• 44:07
  Speaker 9: have as a D-line coach, like when all these rookies
• 44:10
  Speaker 9: were shedding and all that stuff earlier, I'm like, I
• 44:11
  Speaker 9: would pause the table. I'm like, you know the back
• 44:13
  Speaker 9: doesn't even have the ball yet. You know, like you
• 44:16
  Speaker 9: have time. Defeat the man in front of you first.
• 44:19
  Speaker 6: Lock him out.
• 44:21
  Speaker 9: Get your eyes in your primary gap and then look
• 44:22
  Speaker 9: for the ball. But it's a veteran group that plays
• 44:26
  Speaker 9: with patience. I mean, they got the best example I
• 44:29
  Speaker 9: could think of with Cam. I mean, again, it's just
• 44:32
  Speaker 9: hard to find plays where this guy's not doing football
• 44:34
  Speaker 9: the way football was meant to be done.
• 44:37
  Speaker 3: Coach Graham, two weeks in a row on the sideline
• 44:40
  Speaker 3: and two Steeler wins.
• 44:41
  Speaker 4: You think he's good for Steelers defensive linemen, especially the
• 44:44
  Speaker 4: young guys like Gabriel Rubio, Dwyer Black. Unfortunately, Derek Harmon's
• 44:49
  Speaker 4: out for the moment, but You know, they've got Domita Pecco, too,
• 44:52
  Speaker 4: as their position coach. Talk about encouraging for the development
• 44:55
  Speaker 4: of those guys. That's nice to hear.
• 44:57
  Speaker 2: And there's no doubt that the defensive line, really, Brian,
• 45:00
  Speaker 2: I mean, look at some of the runners they've faced
• 45:01
  Speaker 2: this year. They've shut them down rushing-wise, and that all
• 45:03
  Speaker 2: starts with your defensive line. How good are you against
• 45:06
  Speaker 2: the rush? And the Steelers' run defense has been excellent
• 45:09
  Speaker 2: so far this season.
• 45:09
  Speaker 5: And then later this season, they'll have to play the
• 45:11
  Speaker 5: big runner twice. Assuming he's healthy.
• 45:13
  Speaker 6: That's right.
• 45:13
  Speaker 5: You know the big runner. Oh, I do.
• 45:15
  Speaker 3: I do, from Baltimore. Yeah, you don't mention him by name.
• 45:17
  Speaker 3: And if you do, it's Mr. Henry, right? You got
• 45:20
  Speaker 3: to put that Mr. in front of there.
• 45:21
  Speaker 6: Mr.
• 45:22
  Speaker 5: Chubb is no longer in the AFC North, but King
• 45:24
  Speaker 5: Henry still is.
• 45:25
  Speaker 2: Whenever we come back, we're going to kick off our
• 45:27
  Speaker 2: number two on the show today with our top 10
• 45:29
  Speaker 2: moments and plays from this past Sunday. And coming up
• 45:32
  Speaker 2: at 2.40 today, it is, excuse me, 3.40. It's already
• 45:36
  Speaker 2: past 2.40. At 3.40 today, Jim Wexel from Steelers.com. And
• 45:41
  Speaker 2: he's a contributor there, and he's also the editor and
• 45:43
  Speaker 2: publisher of Steel City Insider.
• 45:45
  Speaker 3: We'll get our times right, folks.
• 45:47
  Speaker 2: I promise whenever we come back, Brian Bacco, Ed Troop,
• 45:49
  Speaker 2: right here on Steelers Nation Radio, part of the Steelers
• 45:52
  Speaker 2: Audio Network.