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Transcript

HR2: More Football to Play · In the Locker Room presented by Neighborhood Ford Store (Pittsburgh Steelers)

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio. Brought to you
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: Ha, ha, ha, ha. Oh, you know what that sound is.
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: Oh, we know what it is.
• 0:41
  Speaker 4: What can it be?
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: It's the power hour. It's the power hour. Willie, you
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: had a break, Willie. You had Monday. It's back in
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: full action now.
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: We are back inside.
• 0:57
  Speaker 5: No, Willie brought us into the final trumpet.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Right, Willie? Willie embraced that part of it. And so.
• 1:08
  Speaker 6: Right now, as I'm trying to go through this, we
• 1:12
  Speaker 6: had a discussion about the blitz, about the play that
• 1:16
  Speaker 6: led to the 36-yard loss.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: Yes, and I was wrong.
• 1:18
  Speaker 6: I'm showing it up on the screen, and I don't
• 1:21
  Speaker 6: know if Rob just saw that, but there was a
• 1:24
  Speaker 6: re-mic ID. They switched it to the right side to
• 1:26
  Speaker 6: bring it strong. So Rico Dowdell was lined up to
• 1:28
  Speaker 6: the left. Aaron makes an adjustment at the line, brings
• 1:31
  Speaker 6: him over to the right because he's expecting Spillane on
• 1:35
  Speaker 6: the play. So as we see here, The initial, right,
• 1:40
  Speaker 6: you have it coming right here to him. So it
• 1:43
  Speaker 6: should be a full slide to the left because they
• 1:44
  Speaker 6: have five guys up on the line of scrimmage, and
• 1:46
  Speaker 6: you have Christian Ellis kind of walking around.
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: Spillane is up in the gap here.
• 1:51
  Speaker 6: So because of fear, Aaron moves it to Mike I.D.,
• 1:54
  Speaker 6: that guy over there, right, to bring him over there.
• 1:57
  Speaker 6: And they take those three, and you have one guy open,
• 2:01
  Speaker 6: but they don't take Ellis in that play. That's why
• 2:04
  Speaker 6: Ellis came free, and then Rico whipped on the block,
• 2:07
  Speaker 6: and that's how Spillane came free, and that's how you
• 2:09
  Speaker 6: got an Aaron Rodgers sandwich. But I just wanted to
• 2:11
  Speaker 6: show that because I know we were talking about it.
• 2:14
  Speaker 6: So I was showing the guys.
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: I know it's radio. Showing us on radio.
• 2:18
  Speaker 6: Yeah, showing everything on radio just so we could get
• 2:21
  Speaker 6: that clear because I was like, this is how I
• 2:23
  Speaker 6: saw it, and I wanted to make sure that we
• 2:25
  Speaker 6: were on the same page. That's where clear rules matter
• 2:28
  Speaker 6: because on that play, they had five guys walk up
• 2:30
  Speaker 6: the line of scrimmage. Back in our day, we would
• 2:33
  Speaker 6: have said five MDM and said, back, you've got to scan.
• 2:36
  Speaker 4: Oh.
• 2:37
  Speaker 6: Take the five most dangerous. Five guys on the line
• 2:39
  Speaker 6: of scrimmage, guess what? That's the five most dangerous men.
• 2:42
  Speaker 6: They are the closest distance to the quarterback. So you
• 2:45
  Speaker 6: take those guys, set it, and forget it. Spencer should
• 2:47
  Speaker 6: have had Spillane. Dylan would have taken Jones. Zach would
• 2:52
  Speaker 6: have had Williams. Barmore would have been Mason McCormick's guy.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: And you would have had Gabe.
• 2:59
  Speaker 6: Ackes as Troy's guy. And Rico, you got to go
• 3:04
  Speaker 6: find the other man. You got to go find Ellis.
• 3:07
  Speaker 6: And that's how you block up all six. They didn't
• 3:10
  Speaker 6: do that because I think, is it word salad sandwich
• 3:14
  Speaker 6: in there with the calls? Or is it one of
• 3:17
  Speaker 6: those things where you get into a moment where it's like, okay,
• 3:20
  Speaker 6: paralysis by analysis. Like there's so much going through my head,
• 3:23
  Speaker 6: I just freeze in the moment. That's where you have
• 3:26
  Speaker 6: to simplify it.
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: Make it easy.
• 3:28
  Speaker 6: Hey, five MDMs is an easy thing to cover in
• 3:31
  Speaker 6: a six-man pro. And let the bat go scan and
• 3:33
  Speaker 6: then get out.
• 3:37
  Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean, thanks for that, Max, because I think
• 3:39
  Speaker 7: you're 100% right. But also, I think, from a protection standpoint,
• 3:44
  Speaker 7: you know, we left Titus in the help to show
• 3:50
  Speaker 7: the protection, and they were still getting to us. And
• 3:53
  Speaker 7: so now you have to question, is it a timing thing?
• 3:58
  Speaker 7: Is it Aaron Rodgers holding on to the ball, looking
• 4:00
  Speaker 7: for big plays? You know, there was much talked about
• 4:03
  Speaker 7: him Mike McCarthy didn't want to become a dink and dunk.
• 4:07
  Speaker 7: They wanted to separate themselves from what they did last year.
• 4:10
  Speaker 7: And so you wonder how much ego plays a part
• 4:12
  Speaker 7: of that. And the communication, obviously, there was breakdowns throughout
• 4:17
  Speaker 7: the game. So I don't know. I think it's worth
• 4:21
  Speaker 7: asking where do the Steelers need, what do they need
• 4:25
  Speaker 7: to do going into this game?
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: And you know they're going to continue to throw the ball.
• 4:30
  Speaker 7: I think you just have to start highlighting guys who
• 4:32
  Speaker 7: have been successful for you. Getting the Titans involved, getting
• 4:36
  Speaker 7: Jeremy Bernard involved, being able to find packages where we
• 4:40
  Speaker 7: solely call their number and allow them to show up
• 4:43
  Speaker 7: for us. And up front, man, we've been talking about
• 4:48
  Speaker 7: it long enough. They just need to show up and
• 4:50
  Speaker 7: be better all the way around, Rob.
• 4:54
  Speaker 5: Do they need to make personnel changes? Because that's what
• 4:57
  Speaker 5: a lot of fans are thinking right now. We got
• 5:00
  Speaker 5: to get our rookie first-round pick out there this week
• 5:03
  Speaker 5: and possibly.
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: Think about changing them both. No. No.
• 5:10
  Speaker 6: This is the problem when you have a first-round draft pick.
• 5:13
  Speaker 6: Everybody wants to see the shiny new toy.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: And you know what?
• 5:18
  Speaker 6: As a kid, I remember I used to go through
• 5:20
  Speaker 6: the house all the time, Will, and I'm sure you
• 5:21
  Speaker 6: were the same way. When it got around Christmas time,
• 5:24
  Speaker 6: about December 20th, you're looking in closets, you're looking up–
• 5:27
  Speaker 6: You're trying to figure out, hey, where are the toys?
• 5:30
  Speaker 6: What am I getting for Christmas? I want to know
• 5:33
  Speaker 6: before it gets wrapped. You just start poking around, hanging around.
• 5:38
  Speaker 6: Maybe you don't go to bed as early as you
• 5:40
  Speaker 6: say you do because you're trying to figure it out.
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: Wait until Christmas Day and open the package.
• 5:46
  Speaker 6: It's not Christmas Day yet, and that's where I feel
• 5:49
  Speaker 6: we're not there yet.
• 5:50
  Speaker 7: Well, then when do we see Max Ahamature then? Because
• 5:53
  Speaker 7: I understand your logic, and I don't disagree with it.
• 5:56
  Speaker 7: Because I do think one of the things I remember
• 5:58
  Speaker 7: watching him in the preseason in a Buffalo game, he
• 6:02
  Speaker 7: didn't seem healthy. He seemed like he was just prepped
• 6:06
  Speaker 7: for that game. There's a difference. However, I did think
• 6:09
  Speaker 7: he was healthy enough to play all four quarters.
• 6:12
  Speaker 4: That didn't happen.
• 6:12
  Speaker 7: He played a half, and he was still kind of
• 6:16
  Speaker 7: figuring it out. It looked like he was out of shape. Now,
• 6:20
  Speaker 7: from all reports, we've heard that they're getting him in shape.
• 6:25
  Speaker 7: It seems like he's progressing well. Dylan Cook hasn't played
• 6:28
  Speaker 7: well the last two games. A lot of people felt
• 6:30
  Speaker 7: like it wasn't Dylan Cook's position. It wasn't his position anyway.
• 6:37
  Speaker 7: That was really Max, but because Max Ahanachor got hurt,
• 6:42
  Speaker 7: Dylan's now the guy. I say this. Max Ahanachor gives
• 6:48
  Speaker 7: them the better option of being more run-dominant. I think
• 6:54
  Speaker 7: Not run-dominant. I think he's just best suited for them
• 6:57
  Speaker 7: to run the ball and get what they want out
• 7:00
  Speaker 7: of that from that aspect. But I also think, we
• 7:02
  Speaker 7: talked about this before, there's ways of protecting Max Ahana
• 7:06
  Speaker 7: while he's out there. Tight end help, chip help, slide protection.
• 7:10
  Speaker 7: There's things that you can carry him along where in
• 7:14
  Speaker 7: those gotta-have-it moments, those situations in football, that you can say,
• 7:18
  Speaker 7: all right, we're going to give you enough where you
• 7:19
  Speaker 7: can just get in the way and hold up. Because
• 7:21
  Speaker 7: he's more than athletic enough to do anything he wants
• 7:24
  Speaker 7: out there on the field. He's big enough for sure.
• 7:27
  Speaker 7: But the question I– and we talked about it before.
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: He has to play all four quarters, not just a
• 7:32
  Speaker 4: half of football.
• 7:33
  Speaker 7: And to throw him out there against a Bengals team
• 7:35
  Speaker 7: who's hungry and primed and ready, you got to figure
• 7:39
  Speaker 7: it out. But we are kind of hypocrites, Max, because
• 7:43
  Speaker 7: I've talked about my first start against the Baltimore Ravens.
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: When the Baltimore Ravens– we're the Baltimore Ravens. And they
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: threw me.
• 7:50
  Speaker 7: And they threw me right in the grease and allowed
• 7:53
  Speaker 7: me to cook. And I had to cook and figure
• 7:54
  Speaker 7: it out. You've been thrown in the grease. So as
• 7:57
  Speaker 7: much as we want the best for Max Ahanachur and
• 7:59
  Speaker 7: we want a great debut when he's asked to play,
• 8:03
  Speaker 7: I think we have to allow him to just get–
• 8:06
  Speaker 7: we got to allow him to cook. We got to
• 8:07
  Speaker 7: allow him to see what he looks like in the oven.
• 8:09
  Speaker 7: And I also think we just– I think the biggest
• 8:13
  Speaker 7: concern for me is not so much– his condition is one.
• 8:16
  Speaker 7: But two, what does– is how far along he is
• 8:18
  Speaker 7: with this neck injury. That's what you don't want to
• 8:20
  Speaker 7: set back in. Because if you said he had the
• 8:23
  Speaker 7: next situation, if he has a setback, now we're talking
• 8:26
  Speaker 7: about career-ending stuff, right? And he's too young and too
• 8:30
  Speaker 7: valuable to this organization for him to kind of have
• 8:32
  Speaker 7: that Rears ugly head.
• 8:35
  Speaker 6: I'm showing a picture right now to the guys on
• 8:38
  Speaker 6: our Zoom meeting. This is a spinal column, right? It's
• 8:44
  Speaker 6: a little acrylic version of that. In the middle, there's
• 8:47
  Speaker 6: a plate. There's a metal plate. That's what's in my neck.
• 8:52
  Speaker 6: The doctor gave it so I can always remember that.
• 8:55
  Speaker 6: As a guy who's had a neck injury, it's one
• 8:59
  Speaker 6: of those things where you don't want to exacerbate it,
• 9:02
  Speaker 6: but also you don't know until you actually play if
• 9:08
  Speaker 6: it's healthy enough. Now, when we got thrown in the fire,
• 9:11
  Speaker 6: both Willie and.
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: I was at the end of the season.
• 9:14
  Speaker 6: So we'd already gone through 10, 12, 13 weeks of
• 9:17
  Speaker 6: the season. I got my first start week 16. or
• 9:21
  Speaker 6: week 17 in a 16-game schedule, right, counting the bye.
• 9:25
  Speaker 6: Willie came in, was it week 15, Will?
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: I think it was week 15.
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: I only played two with Baltimore and Bengals there. Yeah.
• 9:33
  Speaker 6: So, yeah, so week 15. We had already gone through
• 9:36
  Speaker 6: a lot of time, and we had been established. And also,
• 9:39
  Speaker 6: we had an identity. That was a key thing. Going
• 9:42
  Speaker 6: into the games that we went into, we knew what
• 9:45
  Speaker 6: our team was. We were a run-first, run-dominant team. So
• 9:49
  Speaker 6: we were going to beat your butt up.
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: I almost said an FCC word. We're going to beat
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: you up. So there was a comfortability. Right now.
• 10:00
  Speaker 6: We don't know what the identity of this team is.
• 10:02
  Speaker 6: And Will, like you said, Max is more suited for run.
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: Well, guess what?
• 10:06
  Speaker 6: We've had 84 pass attempts in two games.
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: That's not a run team. That's not a run team.
• 10:13
  Speaker 6: So now you're having to protect Max for three quarters
• 10:17
  Speaker 6: of the game. That's not a recipe for success right now.
• 10:22
  Speaker 6: So for me personally, I would say Max is better
• 10:25
  Speaker 6: suited for if we're going into.
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: A buy or right out of a buy. That's what
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: I was going to ask you. The game before the buy. Right.
• 10:33
  Speaker 6: And then we got a week to work on it
• 10:35
  Speaker 6: to figure it out and talk about it. And now
• 10:38
  Speaker 6: I have two weeks before the next game if I'm
• 10:40
  Speaker 6: going to make that transition. I think it's still too
• 10:42
  Speaker 6: soon because, once again, I said it's going to be
• 10:44
  Speaker 6: five to six games before this line gels.
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: That's where I'm at with the patience of Max.
• 10:50
  Speaker 6: If I'm going to put him in a also by
• 10:52
  Speaker 6: five to six weeks, I know what that neck is.
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: I know what triggers him. I know what bothers him. Yeah. So,
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: so that that's me.
• 11:01
  Speaker 6: I don't think it, you know, and that's why I
• 11:02
  Speaker 6: did the whole Christmas Christmas gift analogy was because it
• 11:07
  Speaker 6: is something to say it's different, but this team doesn't
• 11:11
  Speaker 6: have any answers.
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: Like there's still a lot of questions.
• 11:14
  Speaker 6: So I don't want to throw him in the middle
• 11:16
  Speaker 6: of all those questions because and then now it ruins him.
• 11:20
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 11:20
  Speaker 5: Well, these are all good points. Now, I would also
• 11:22
  Speaker 5: say this. Would they put him out there for any
• 11:25
  Speaker 5: snaps if they were worried about his neck? I mean,
• 11:27
  Speaker 5: he got a snap in week one, and he got
• 11:29
  Speaker 5: a series at the end. Yeah, jumbo package.
• 11:32
  Speaker 7: Use him how they used Chris Spencer-Anderson last year, where
• 11:37
  Speaker 7: they can play him up and down the line on
• 11:40
  Speaker 7: the outside of the tackles, have him in motion.
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: Because he is athletic. He can move.
• 11:45
  Speaker 7: I mean, he's a big athletic dude. And you can
• 11:48
  Speaker 7: tell he played basketball the way he moves his feet.
• 11:51
  Speaker 7: I think, and Max made all very good points, so
• 11:55
  Speaker 7: respect to you, Max, on that. I just don't know
• 12:00
  Speaker 7: how long the Steelers can sit back and allow this
• 12:03
  Speaker 7: offense to look like this, especially with division games. So
• 12:08
  Speaker 7: as much as we talk about them not having an identity,
• 12:11
  Speaker 7: at this point, you got to find answers. And when
• 12:15
  Speaker 7: you talk about Aaron Rodgers taking the hits, him talking
• 12:17
  Speaker 7: about the lack of execution, him kind of not getting
• 12:21
  Speaker 7: what he wants out of the offense, and we've all
• 12:24
  Speaker 7: stated various reasons, something has to happen. So if you're
• 12:28
  Speaker 7: going to play Max, I do think what we did
• 12:32
  Speaker 7: with Spencer Anderson last year would be a good role
• 12:34
  Speaker 7: for him to kind of get acclimated into NFL football,
• 12:37
  Speaker 7: where he, to Max's point, he's not playing all four quarters,
• 12:40
  Speaker 7: but he has a role within the offense that you
• 12:42
  Speaker 7: can utilize, whether it's from a pass protection standpoint or defensively.
• 12:46
  Speaker 7: having him be somebody where we have signature runs where
• 12:50
  Speaker 7: he knows he's a part of that package and we
• 12:51
  Speaker 7: can go.
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: So that makes a lot of sense to me.
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: Let me introduce one thing, Rob, real fast.
• 12:59
  Speaker 6: I think, and I know we haven't mentioned this, I
• 13:03
  Speaker 6: think the Michael Pittman injury also set us back with
• 13:07
  Speaker 6: what we wanted to do.
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, for sure.
• 13:10
  Speaker 7: Yeah.
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 13:11
  Speaker 6: Yeah, so I think that's something that we talk about
• 13:14
  Speaker 6: going into this game. They probably had a plan, and
• 13:15
  Speaker 6: then you find out Pittman's not available on Friday.
• 13:18
  Speaker 4: He got hurt on Thursday.
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he got hurt Thursday. So now you're like, uh-oh.
• 13:23
  Speaker 6: Our two biggest install days, Wednesday and Thursday, a guy
• 13:26
  Speaker 6: who probably had a bigger role in this offense because
• 13:30
  Speaker 6: of what he did week one is now taking off
• 13:32
  Speaker 6: the table. And once again, we talk about that imposter syndrome,
• 13:34
  Speaker 6: like coming in and filling in for somebody.
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: That was Jeremy Bernard.
• 13:38
  Speaker 6: And I thought he did a great job of coming
• 13:40
  Speaker 6: in there And taking the role, but he was still
• 13:43
  Speaker 6: a rookie.
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: The now route bounces off his chest, bounces into.
• 13:47
  Speaker 6: The other guy's hands. They return it. But you saw
• 13:50
  Speaker 6: what happened when you started to integrate him. So I
• 13:51
  Speaker 6: think they were trying to figure out some things because
• 13:54
  Speaker 6: I think personnel has to be looked at at all phases, right,
• 13:57
  Speaker 6: every corner. And I think if you insert a Max
• 13:59
  Speaker 6: and say he plays a Tanyan-type role on 13 personnel,
• 14:04
  Speaker 6: that's a good way of introducing him. But once you
• 14:05
  Speaker 6: lost a receiving option, we had to go put that
• 14:09
  Speaker 6: fire out. And so they kind of let it, let it,
• 14:12
  Speaker 6: let it by the side.
• 14:13
  Speaker 4: Well, also say it is like Troy Furtado left that
• 14:16
  Speaker 4: he's been spotted with a boot. Right.
• 14:19
  Speaker 7: And so this is the second time that his ankle
• 14:21
  Speaker 7: and it's whatever situation he's dealing with. If that starts
• 14:24
  Speaker 7: to hinder his mobility, especially I left tackle and I'm not,
• 14:27
  Speaker 7: you know, listen, you're, he already, you know, it was
• 14:30
  Speaker 7: his guy.
• 14:30
  Speaker 4: That blew up Aaron Rodgers, right? Let's just call it space.
• 14:34
  Speaker 7: But if, if there's a situation where he's not, looking
• 14:37
  Speaker 7: like himself or he's not able to do what he
• 14:39
  Speaker 7: needs to do out there. Now that really expedites max
• 14:42
  Speaker 7: ability to go out there and play now.
• 14:44
  Speaker 4: All four quarters.
• 14:45
  Speaker 7: And we were not talking about him from a package standpoint.
• 14:47
  Speaker 7: We're talking about him now being a starter and moving
• 14:50
  Speaker 7: Dylan cook to left tackle.
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 14:52
  Speaker 7: And we, so it's, it gets interesting as we push along,
• 14:57
  Speaker 7: but I think if.
• 14:59
  Speaker 4: You're Mike McCarthy, the, the ability to run the.
• 15:03
  Speaker 7: Ball may have to go through adding extra extra linemen,
• 15:07
  Speaker 7: an extra tight end, and getting our fullbacks more involved.
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: Because right now, nothing's going to work. Nothing's going to.
• 15:14
  Speaker 7: Tie into what he wants to do about pushing the
• 15:16
  Speaker 7: football down the field unless we can be able to
• 15:18
  Speaker 7: run the football.
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: Is that something he does, though? Is that part of
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: his offensive philosophy?
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: Yeah, go back to the Dallas days. They ran the
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: hell out of football.
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: No, I mean the extra offensive lineman, Willie.
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: That's what I mean.
• 15:31
  Speaker 4: Oh, I'm sorry. I haven't seen it out of his offense,
• 15:35
  Speaker 4: to be honest.
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: I don't know if that's something he's comfortable adding.
• 15:38
  Speaker 4: Right? Yeah.
• 15:40
  Speaker 5: We saw with Zach Banner and Spencer and all these
• 15:43
  Speaker 5: guys here, but if he's not comfortable with it, if
• 15:47
  Speaker 5: that's not part of what he does offensively, okay. I
• 15:52
  Speaker 5: got more questions for you guys on this. For crying
• 15:54
  Speaker 5: out loud, we're going to get to it when we
• 15:56
  Speaker 5: continue here in the locker room here on the Steelers
• 15:58
  Speaker 5: Audio Network.
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio. Brought to you
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 16:28
  Speaker 8: You know, offensively, you know, we had, you know, we
• 16:31
  Speaker 8: had opportunities.
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: I didn't start fast.
• 16:33
  Speaker 8: You know, it's something I'd, You know, and I look
• 16:35
  Speaker 8: at the way we prepare, you know, in our weekly schedule.
• 16:38
  Speaker 8: You know, when you put time into the beginning of
• 16:40
  Speaker 8: the game, you definitely want to get some more return
• 16:43
  Speaker 8: on investment there. But, you know, we had obviously too
• 16:48
  Speaker 8: many punts. You know, third down for two weeks in
• 16:50
  Speaker 8: a row. I think any time you see common mistakes
• 16:54
  Speaker 8: or challenges that happen two weeks in a row, you
• 16:58
  Speaker 8: have to definitely focus on that. So we had manageable
• 17:02
  Speaker 8: third downs. pretty much most of the game, and we
• 17:05
  Speaker 8: didn't convert.
• 17:09
  Speaker 5: Yeah, a lot of third and sixth type of things.
• 17:12
  Speaker 5: That was a pretty common designation. You know, Max, we
• 17:17
  Speaker 5: talked about this yesterday with Willie. And one thing, so
• 17:20
  Speaker 5: I wanted to ask you, you talked about maybe putting in,
• 17:23
  Speaker 5: if you decided to make a move to Max Ahanachor,
• 17:25
  Speaker 5: maybe you'd do that during a bye. And I wondered
• 17:28
  Speaker 5: if after the Cleveland game, You know, they call it
• 17:32
  Speaker 5: the mini buy after the Thursday night game.
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: Would that be enough time?
• 17:36
  Speaker 4: One.
• 17:37
  Speaker 5: And the other thing is that we talked about yesterday,
• 17:40
  Speaker 5: you know, when you make a move, when you make
• 17:44
  Speaker 5: a personnel move. And when you've been with guys through
• 17:48
  Speaker 5: OTAs and through all these other things, like Spencer Anderson, right?
• 17:52
  Speaker 5: Spencer Anderson was battling Hoffman and Jennings Dunker for the
• 17:56
  Speaker 5: right guard job.
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: So he did that all through OTAs.
• 18:00
  Speaker 5: All through minicamps, all through the training camp and the preseason,
• 18:04
  Speaker 5: and won the job, right? So to me, you've got
• 18:09
  Speaker 5: to have some patience, right? Like, you chose him. Now,
• 18:14
  Speaker 5: if it was really, really close, and you really don't
• 18:17
  Speaker 5: like the way a player's performing, that's one thing. The
• 18:20
  Speaker 5: one thing we don't know and can't be sure, because
• 18:23
  Speaker 5: no one's going to tell us, about the right tackle
• 18:26
  Speaker 5: spot is, I know Max Ahanachor got hurt relatively early
• 18:30
  Speaker 5: in camp. But was he closing ground? Was he already
• 18:34
  Speaker 5: nipping at the heels of Dylan Cook to be the
• 18:37
  Speaker 5: starter and then all of a sudden he got a setback?
• 18:39
  Speaker 5: Because I think that makes it easier for a coach
• 18:46
  Speaker 5: to ignore the decision that's been made or go back
• 18:50
  Speaker 5: on the decision that's been made after six months of
• 18:52
  Speaker 5: observing players because it was really, really close or it
• 18:55
  Speaker 5: was going to happen anyway.
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying?
• 18:58
  Speaker 5: I mean, there's always these– you don't want to just
• 18:59
  Speaker 5: throw a guy out and say, well, he had a
• 19:01
  Speaker 5: couple bad games.
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: You're out.
• 19:02
  Speaker 5: Well, what about the last six months I put in
• 19:04
  Speaker 5: that helped me earn this job? So there's– I think
• 19:08
  Speaker 5: that's a question that I don't think we can know
• 19:10
  Speaker 5: the answer to.
• 19:12
  Speaker 7: Well, first of all, I do think it was a
• 19:18
  Speaker 7: competition battle. I think what derailed it obviously was the
• 19:21
  Speaker 7: injury to Max Honacher. But I do think the Steelers
• 19:23
  Speaker 7: traditionally don't have a problem with ushering out their first-round picks,
• 19:28
  Speaker 7: if they feel like they're ready. And I think if
• 19:31
  Speaker 7: you listen to a lot of the reporters, the beat writers,
• 19:34
  Speaker 7: they were saying this kid started off training camp on par.
• 19:38
  Speaker 7: He looked good, and then the injury happened. So from
• 19:42
  Speaker 7: my estimation, it seemed like if he didn't get hurt,
• 19:45
  Speaker 7: he was going to be the day one starter at
• 19:47
  Speaker 7: right tackle. And they were comfortable with Dylan Cook. being
• 19:50
  Speaker 7: that swing tackle that can back up him or Troy Fatano.
• 19:54
  Speaker 7: And now we're in a position where Troy is now
• 19:58
  Speaker 7: the one that's concerned because he seems to have a
• 20:00
  Speaker 7: lingering injury. Dylan Cook's not playing well or efficient enough.
• 20:05
  Speaker 7: And now you're dealing with somebody who we don't know,
• 20:08
  Speaker 7: Max and Honishore, We question his conditioning and what he
• 20:11
  Speaker 7: can do well and how much protection does he need
• 20:15
  Speaker 7: on the edge.
• 20:16
  Speaker 4: So the Steelers are in a pickle. That's just what
• 20:19
  Speaker 4: it is.
• 20:19
  Speaker 7: And if you're the offensive line coach, was it James Campman.
• 20:22
  Speaker 4: Or Jim Campman? I'm sorry.
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: James Campman, yeah.
• 20:25
  Speaker 4: James Campman.
• 20:26
  Speaker 7: You now have to do two things. One, get Brock
• 20:31
  Speaker 7: Hoffman playing right guard. And two, now get Spencer Anderson
• 20:35
  Speaker 7: taking more tackle reps because if– If Troy, if you
• 20:39
  Speaker 7: have to cool Troy off, put Dylan Cook to left tackle,
• 20:42
  Speaker 7: have Max Ahancho start right tackle, you need somebody like
• 20:48
  Speaker 7: Spencer Anderson because of his size and his versatility to
• 20:52
  Speaker 7: back up one of those tackles.
• 20:54
  Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying? So now you're talking about
• 20:56
  Speaker 4: you're really digging into depth.
• 20:58
  Speaker 7: And so the Steelers have, they got to figure out
• 21:01
  Speaker 7: what they want to do and how they want to
• 21:02
  Speaker 7: operate because you don't want to see Troy to continue
• 21:04
  Speaker 7: to struggle on the edge. You want to see more
• 21:07
  Speaker 7: out of what, you know, They need to be more
• 21:09
  Speaker 7: solid on the left side. But you understand it's a
• 21:12
  Speaker 7: new position for them. They're trying to work it out, yada, yada, yada.
• 21:16
  Speaker 7: But it's about the protection for Aaron Rodgers. It's about
• 21:21
  Speaker 7: him not feeling hurried, them being able to operate as one.
• 21:25
  Speaker 7: As you keep saying, Max, you don't want to see
• 21:27
  Speaker 7: five individuals out there. You want to see a collective
• 21:30
  Speaker 7: unit banging and scrapping and communicating and playing well together.
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: That's what you want to see. And in order for
• 21:35
  Speaker 4: this offense to work.
• 21:37
  Speaker 7: Because– of Aaron Rodgers' lack of mobility, they have to
• 21:42
  Speaker 7: be better.
• 21:43
  Speaker 4: You know what I mean?
• 21:43
  Speaker 7: Because he's not relying on his legs. He can't rely
• 21:47
  Speaker 7: on his legs. His legs aren't there no more. So
• 21:50
  Speaker 7: the five up front just has to elevate their game.
• 21:53
  Speaker 4: But they got to do it. They got to do
• 21:54
  Speaker 4: it now.
• 21:55
  Speaker 7: And so this week you really have to evaluate what
• 21:59
  Speaker 7: Max Ahanachua can give you and what does he look
• 22:01
  Speaker 7: like and put him in scenarios where you can kind
• 22:03
  Speaker 7: of give him an evaluation. I totally understand what you're saying, Max.
• 22:07
  Speaker 7: When's the right time to throw him out there? I
• 22:09
  Speaker 7: don't disagree with that. But I don't think the Steelers
• 22:12
  Speaker 7: have that time when you talk about what they have
• 22:15
  Speaker 7: coming down the pipeline as far as the Bengals, the Ravens,
• 22:19
  Speaker 7: and whoever else.
• 22:20
  Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying?
• 22:20
  Speaker 7: So they got a couple dogfights ahead of them where
• 22:22
  Speaker 7: they're an injury away from an office, a key office
• 22:25
  Speaker 7: line guy, whether it's Troy or whoever, that they got
• 22:30
  Speaker 7: to now reach into the depth of free who's going
• 22:32
  Speaker 7: to be a part of that starting five. So it's...
• 22:35
  Speaker 7: They got to put their foot on the gas in
• 22:37
  Speaker 7: this situation.
• 22:39
  Speaker 5: Yeah, like I said, they brought some guys in last
• 22:42
  Speaker 5: week to work out but didn't sign anybody. So they
• 22:45
  Speaker 5: don't have that sort of next tackle up on the
• 22:48
  Speaker 5: active roster.
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: I'm sorry, go ahead, Max.
• 22:51
  Speaker 6: No, I was going to say, yeah, I mean, now
• 22:53
  Speaker 6: you're getting into the hockey line shifts of offensive line, right?
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 22:59
  Speaker 6: Because let's say Troy can't go, but you wanted to
• 23:02
  Speaker 6: sit Dylan for Max, and now– You've now tanked his confidence,
• 23:07
  Speaker 6: and now you're like, hey, but.
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: We love you at left.
• 23:10
  Speaker 6: Can you go back to left and forget about that?
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: You're our guy. Rah, rah, rah. So that's where it's balanced.
• 23:20
  Speaker 7: Max, not to cut you off, this goes back to
• 23:22
  Speaker 7: why a lot of people are kind of scratching their
• 23:24
  Speaker 7: heads when you keep four quarterbacks. When you look at
• 23:27
  Speaker 7: the state of the offensive line, they should have kept
• 23:31
  Speaker 7: 10 offensive linemen for what they're going through right now.
• 23:35
  Speaker 7: Especially knowing that Max showed his card earlier by getting hurt, right?
• 23:41
  Speaker 4: Because now you're looking at.
• 23:43
  Speaker 7: All right, we got a couple dogfights down the pipeline.
• 23:46
  Speaker 4: We know what we're.
• 23:49
  Speaker 7: Kind of moving this thing around for, you know, as
• 23:50
  Speaker 7: far as moving the right side to the left side, yada, yada.
• 23:54
  Speaker 7: And now we're looking at a 42-year-old quarterback who looks
• 23:59
  Speaker 7: like he's aging by the minute. So we may have
• 24:02
  Speaker 7: to short protections and we may have to add more
• 24:04
  Speaker 7: enforcement up front to keep him upright. Once you made
• 24:08
  Speaker 7: the decision to keep Aaron Rodgers this year, you knew
• 24:11
  Speaker 7: he was going to have to operate where he was
• 24:15
  Speaker 7: going to be able to deliver the football from a well.
• 24:18
  Speaker 7: And protection had to be the first concern behind getting.
• 24:22
  Speaker 4: The run game going. So it's weird because, listen, you
• 24:27
  Speaker 4: want to keep four quarterbacks, keep four quarterbacks.
• 24:29
  Speaker 7: But now we're in a pickle where because we walked
• 24:32
  Speaker 7: into the season with, you know, lack of tackle depth.
• 24:35
  Speaker 7: Now we're leaning on our guards to kind of fill
• 24:37
  Speaker 7: some of those roles. Now we're starting to get thin.
• 24:40
  Speaker 7: And when you start getting thin against the, not having
• 24:42
  Speaker 7: quality depth, and I'm not saying Brock Hoffman, you pay
• 24:45
  Speaker 7: Brock Hoffman. I think he was, I think he's a
• 24:46
  Speaker 7: good ball player, but now you're leaning on not getting
• 24:49
  Speaker 7: Jennings Duncan involved. Right now you're starting to say, okay,
• 24:53
  Speaker 7: you pretty God, nothing happened to Zach Frazier. You pretty God,
• 24:56
  Speaker 7: nothing happens to Mason McCormick.
• 24:57
  Speaker 4: Right?
• 24:57
  Speaker 7: So, You start to dig, dig, and we're only in
• 25:02
  Speaker 7: week three when we start talking about scenarios. This isn't
• 25:06
  Speaker 7: a week 10 or week 12 situation. You want to
• 25:09
  Speaker 7: have this conversation if you have to have it in
• 25:11
  Speaker 7: week 11, 12, 13 because these boys have played enough
• 25:14
  Speaker 7: and you've won enough games. We're having this conversation in
• 25:17
  Speaker 7: week three. You know what I'm saying? So this is
• 25:20
  Speaker 7: why I mean if you're going to play max, then
• 25:23
  Speaker 7: where are you going.
• 25:24
  Speaker 4: To put it?
• 25:24
  Speaker 7: You have to speed it up. Because Troy's not dealing
• 25:29
  Speaker 7: with an ankle. Cook's not playing well. And you don't
• 25:32
  Speaker 7: know what you have in this young man. And now
• 25:35
  Speaker 7: Spencer Anderson hasn't played well. So now there's legit stress
• 25:38
  Speaker 7: and worry about what this fire can do, not only
• 25:40
  Speaker 7: as a unit, but who's going to be out there
• 25:42
  Speaker 7: for weeks that you can lean on.
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: Your starters are your swings. That's the problem. Because you
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: didn't go get another tackle. Because Maxiana choice only a
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: right tackle, right?
• 25:56
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 25:57
  Speaker 6: And Dylan Cook is your swing guy. And he's starting
• 26:02
  Speaker 6: at right tackle. And that's where the problem lies. You
• 26:05
  Speaker 6: don't have a backup swing guy. That's what Dylan was
• 26:08
  Speaker 6: a year ago. Dylan was, if Broderick went down, if
• 26:12
  Speaker 6: Troy went down, insert Dylan. You didn't have to mess
• 26:16
  Speaker 6: with the three-card Monty type of deal.
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: Now, because you put.
• 26:22
  Speaker 6: Dylan up, you trade Broderick, now you're saying, okay, we're
• 26:27
  Speaker 6: dressing Max every game to get him ready in case
• 26:31
  Speaker 6: we can throw him in at right tackle and now
• 26:33
  Speaker 6: Dylan has to go move to left. Or if something
• 26:36
  Speaker 6: else happens, I now have to pull Spencer, put him
• 26:39
  Speaker 6: in a different position to allow Brock. Now Brock gives
• 26:42
  Speaker 6: him a little bit more flexibility because Brock can play
• 26:43
  Speaker 6: the interior three. But now we're talking about, well, if
• 26:47
  Speaker 6: you're benching Dylan, Troy is injured, Max has to go right.
• 26:53
  Speaker 6: Do I move Spencer Anderson to left because I don't
• 26:55
  Speaker 6: trust Dylan Cook because I just benched him on the right,
• 26:58
  Speaker 6: and now I've got to try and get his confidence
• 27:00
  Speaker 6: back up to go out there and be an elite
• 27:01
  Speaker 6: left tackle on the blind side, and Aaron just got
• 27:04
  Speaker 6: blasted on his blind side. So if he's seeing it
• 27:07
  Speaker 6: coming from this side and you're putting a guy over
• 27:09
  Speaker 6: there to the blind side, that's not going to help
• 27:12
  Speaker 6: his confidence at all. So now maybe Jennings Dunker has
• 27:16
  Speaker 6: to go back to tackle, right? So now I've got
• 27:19
  Speaker 6: a guy that I've been practicing– guard and trying to
• 27:22
  Speaker 6: get him to be an NFL guard.
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: Now it's like, hey, I need you to go play tag.
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: Fire happened.
• 27:29
  Speaker 6: I need you to go over here. So that's the
• 27:32
  Speaker 6: problem that we have. When you don't get a true
• 27:33
  Speaker 6: swing tackle as your backup, this is now the shuffling
• 27:38
  Speaker 6: game that we're playing with all of this. And that's why,
• 27:42
  Speaker 6: you know, to Willie's point, you kept the fourth quarterback.
• 27:45
  Speaker 6: That probably would have been a slot for an extra tackle, right?
• 27:48
  Speaker 6: Or extra lineman on your offensive line, potentially.
• 27:50
  Speaker 5: Yeah, and you have Steven Jones, who's on the practice squad.
• 27:54
  Speaker 5: He's your only tackle.
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: Steve's a guard. Steve's a guard.
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: They list him as a tackle. I think he's the only.
• 27:59
  Speaker 5: Steve's a guard. He only played guard in the preseason.
• 28:01
  Speaker 5: You got Doug Nestor. You got Doug Nestor on the
• 28:04
  Speaker 5: practice squad.
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 28:07
  Speaker 8: Yeah.
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: And they still need a tackle.
• 28:10
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: Well, it'll be interesting.
• 28:12
  Speaker 5: You understand why they made the moves they made, right?
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: So to me.
• 28:20
  Speaker 5: you are trying to find out if one of these
• 28:24
  Speaker 5: young quarterbacks is your quarterback of the future. As we've
• 28:26
  Speaker 5: said before, that's so valuable because if one of these
• 28:30
  Speaker 5: guys is your quarterback of the future and one of
• 28:33
  Speaker 5: your guys is your backup of the future, that's, say,
• 28:36
  Speaker 5: a fourth-round pick you don't have to spend on a
• 28:38
  Speaker 5: backup or a fifth-round pick you don't have to spend
• 28:40
  Speaker 5: on a backup. And a first-round pick that you don't have,
• 28:44
  Speaker 5: if the Steelers finish where they want to finish, you
• 28:47
  Speaker 5: don't have the kind of first-round pick That's going to
• 28:50
  Speaker 5: get you your guy. You have to trade up and
• 28:53
  Speaker 5: get it. And we've talked about that before. What is
• 28:55
  Speaker 5: that going to cost you? This year's first. That third
• 28:59
  Speaker 5: rounder you just picked up. Next year's first. Maybe a
• 29:02
  Speaker 5: second rounder, right? So I've just named, you know, you're
• 29:05
  Speaker 5: hoping your first round starters, first round picks are going
• 29:08
  Speaker 5: to be, you know, really good starting players. Okay, we
• 29:11
  Speaker 5: just gave up two really good starting players. You just
• 29:13
  Speaker 5: gave up another really good starting player with a second pick.
• 29:17
  Speaker 5: He gave up another starter in the third round pick.
• 29:19
  Speaker 5: He just traded four starters, two of them stars, potentially,
• 29:22
  Speaker 5: of course, on paper for a quarterback. So to take
• 29:26
  Speaker 5: this gamble and hope that one of these guys is
• 29:30
  Speaker 5: going to be your guy, I think is a worthy gamble.
• 29:33
  Speaker 5: So that limits you on the offensive line. Well, Jennings
• 29:36
  Speaker 5: dunkers making the transition. They love him as a guard.
• 29:38
  Speaker 5: They think he's a future guard, but they don't think
• 29:41
  Speaker 5: he's ready to play yet.
• 29:43
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 29:43
  Speaker 3: That's basically what it boils down to. They're working on him.
• 29:46
  Speaker 5: So you got Hoffman and you got McCollum and now
• 29:48
  Speaker 5: you've run out of room, you know? So I understand
• 29:51
  Speaker 5: why they've done what they've done. Um, And hopefully they
• 29:56
  Speaker 5: can make it moot by figuring out what's going on
• 29:58
  Speaker 5: with the offensive line. Because if they don't, then they're
• 30:00
  Speaker 5: going to have to scramble around and figure out what
• 30:02
  Speaker 5: else is going on. Because as I look around the
• 30:04
  Speaker 5: rest of the roster, I see nothing but good football players.
• 30:07
  Speaker 5: I see guys I do not want to cut from
• 30:09
  Speaker 5: this football team to make room for another tackle on
• 30:12
  Speaker 5: the squad.
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: I just don't.
• 30:13
  Speaker 5: I mean, I don't see a single, there's no flab
• 30:17
  Speaker 5: on this roster to me where you're like, eh, we
• 30:20
  Speaker 5: can just cut that guy and we'll be fine.
• 30:21
  Speaker 3: That's the way I see the roster.
• 30:24
  Speaker 7: Max, you threw out the stat yesterday, and I'm trying
• 30:27
  Speaker 7: to look for it because I know you put it
• 30:29
  Speaker 7: in our group chat.
• 30:30
  Speaker 4: How many times was he hitting pressure this Sunday?
• 30:33
  Speaker 6: Oh, 19 out of 44 dropbacks, they sent pressure on
• 30:37
  Speaker 6: Aaron Rodgers.
• 30:38
  Speaker 5: And he was pressured 38% of the time, which is
• 30:43
  Speaker 5: the most he's ever been pressured as a member of
• 30:44
  Speaker 5: the Steelers.
• 30:46
  Speaker 6: Yeah, and he went 5 of 17.
• 30:50
  Speaker 7: So what the NFL is telling you that not only–
• 30:53
  Speaker 7: Do they feel like they can pressure Aaron Rodgers? They
• 30:56
  Speaker 7: can get rid of y'all game plan early by relentless pressure.
• 31:00
  Speaker 7: They can erase what you're trying to do early within games.
• 31:05
  Speaker 7: And if you're going to constantly have to rely on
• 31:06
  Speaker 7: your defense to get you out of the building, in
• 31:09
  Speaker 7: which our defense has shown the ability by stopping their
• 31:12
  Speaker 7: opponents to throw in 13 points, now the NFL is
• 31:15
  Speaker 7: telling you you're more deficient than you think you are.
• 31:19
  Speaker 7: Because if all it takes is for us to blitz you,
• 31:22
  Speaker 7: and constantly bless you to erase your game plan in
• 31:25
  Speaker 7: the first half of football games, then you got bigger issues.
• 31:29
  Speaker 7: So as much as we harp on what this office
• 31:32
  Speaker 7: line needs to do and what needs to happen, man,
• 31:35
  Speaker 7: you're really trying to save the identity that you want
• 31:39
  Speaker 7: to portray. Because if the only thing they got to
• 31:42
  Speaker 7: do is erase Aaron Rodgers off the field, game over. Because,
• 31:47
  Speaker 7: you know, everybody behind him is not, you know, no
• 31:49
  Speaker 7: disrespect to Mason Rudolph or Drew Adler or Will Howard.
• 31:53
  Speaker 4: They ain't putting fear on nobody.
• 31:54
  Speaker 7: There's only one person that puts fear, a somewhat scary hour,
• 31:58
  Speaker 7: on people is Aaron Rodgers.
• 31:59
  Speaker 4: Because what he could do with the football in his
• 32:00
  Speaker 4: hand and his decision making.
• 32:02
  Speaker 7: So there has to be a need and an emphasis
• 32:06
  Speaker 7: on getting these five together ASAP.
• 32:10
  Speaker 4: Absolutely.
• 32:11
  Speaker 7: And it just, it has to happen. And this is
• 32:13
  Speaker 7: why I said it earlier and I wasn't trying to
• 32:15
  Speaker 7: be cute about it. This decision should have been made
• 32:19
  Speaker 7: right after the Jets' preseason game. Even if you wanted
• 32:24
  Speaker 7: to see Max, and you're still like, man, Max Ahancho,
• 32:28
  Speaker 7: that is. You should have just said, hey, man, we're
• 32:31
  Speaker 7: going to go with Dylan Cook, Spencer Anderson. Even if
• 32:35
  Speaker 7: Max would have went out there against Buffalo and looked
• 32:39
  Speaker 7: absolutely phenomenal. You still had opportunity to rest him knowing
• 32:43
  Speaker 7: that like he's least ready to go.
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 32:45
  Speaker 7: And let Dylan prove you. But Dylan, Dylan give you
• 32:49
  Speaker 7: a reason to sit him. You get what I'm saying?
• 32:51
  Speaker 7: Because you had a worthy guy. But now Dylan's not
• 32:54
  Speaker 7: playing well. And you're worried about where Max is at
• 32:56
  Speaker 7: from a physical standpoint and from a mental standpoint.
• 32:59
  Speaker 4: And so, you know, it's it's everything gets expedited right now.
• 33:05
  Speaker 5: And I just I just want to add on to
• 33:06
  Speaker 5: that real quick, Max. And, you know, we're talking about
• 33:09
  Speaker 5: teams bringing pressure. Teams have been terrified to bring pressure
• 33:13
  Speaker 5: on Aaron Rodgers because he's so smart and gets rid
• 33:16
  Speaker 5: of the ball and hits guys. And we talked about
• 33:19
  Speaker 5: this yesterday, Max, where I thought Pittman was a big
• 33:21
  Speaker 5: absence in particular when we saw the way the game unfolded.
• 33:25
  Speaker 5: They knew they were going to blitz that veteran guy
• 33:27
  Speaker 5: who just needs to get a step, make a catch,
• 33:30
  Speaker 5: pick up a first down, relieve some of the pressure.
• 33:33
  Speaker 5: Maybe that would have made a big difference. But I've
• 33:35
  Speaker 5: got to think other teams are going to be like, well,
• 33:37
  Speaker 5: wait a minute. We don't want to blitz Aaron Rodgers
• 33:40
  Speaker 5: because we think he's going to pick us apart, but
• 33:42
  Speaker 5: they just showed it can work. Maybe that's another tool
• 33:45
  Speaker 5: in our tool belt, which is the last thing you
• 33:47
  Speaker 5: want as an offense is to give the other guy
• 33:51
  Speaker 5: another quiver in the– what is it?
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: No, arrow in the quiver. Arrow in the quiver, man. Yeah,
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: arrow in the quiver.
• 33:57
  Speaker 3: I was mixing my metaphors there.
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: Medieval history, Rob. Medieval history. That's its finest. You know
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: what I'm saying, though, Max?
• 34:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I know.
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 34:07
  Speaker 6: But I also think, would we be having this conversation
• 34:12
  Speaker 6: if Michael Pittman was healthy?
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 34:14
  Speaker 6: And he was that guy. So that's why I'm like,
• 34:17
  Speaker 6: I have to see it.
• 34:19
  Speaker 4: I think we are.
• 34:20
  Speaker 7: Max, I think we still will be having a conversation
• 34:22
  Speaker 7: because the Patriots showed you, if they're able to play
• 34:25
  Speaker 7: men and with the movement they had within their defensive
• 34:30
  Speaker 7: line and their ability to come off the edge, like, yeah,
• 34:33
  Speaker 7: I understand Pittman is a great, intermediate route runner. I
• 34:36
  Speaker 7: understand he has a great ability to sit down in zones.
• 34:38
  Speaker 7: Aaron had no time to throw the ball. He didn't
• 34:42
  Speaker 7: have time to go through his progression. They were collapsing
• 34:46
  Speaker 7: the pockets and they were shooting blitzes up the middle
• 34:48
  Speaker 7: where he wasn't allowed to step up. So now you
• 34:51
  Speaker 7: saw him kind of retreating outside of the tackles, putting
• 34:54
  Speaker 7: our tackles in a tough spot because they were getting
• 34:56
  Speaker 7: holding calls and Aaron's not fast enough to outrun anybody
• 35:00
  Speaker 7: right now so he was taking unnecessary hits. collectively as
• 35:04
  Speaker 7: a unit, and I mean the offensive line, they weren't communicating.
• 35:09
  Speaker 7: And so we talked about that. I mean, you just
• 35:12
  Speaker 7: had a whole display when you talk about their ability
• 35:14
  Speaker 7: to re-identify the mic. So they're not seeing the same
• 35:18
  Speaker 7: thing together. So it doesn't matter, in my opinion, who
• 35:22
  Speaker 7: the hell was out there. If the five's not seeing
• 35:24
  Speaker 7: what they need to see collectively.
• 35:26
  Speaker 4: It doesn't matter. I mean, you have Jerry Rice, Tim Brown,
• 35:28
  Speaker 4: and damn T.O. out there.
• 35:30
  Speaker 7: If you don't have time to throw the ball and
• 35:33
  Speaker 7: that five, and seeing what they need to see. Like,
• 35:35
  Speaker 7: I remember there was times when we went into the
• 35:37
  Speaker 7: games and we were not only identifying things, we were
• 35:41
  Speaker 7: anticipating things, right? But that also comes with the continuity
• 35:45
  Speaker 7: and chemistry. Because a lot of times anticipation helps you, one,
• 35:49
  Speaker 7: if you see a twist game, you know how to yell,
• 35:51
  Speaker 7: get out, you know, move, move, move, push, push, push, push.
• 35:54
  Speaker 4: This guy's coming over.
• 35:55
  Speaker 7: When they used to throw slot, when Baltimore used to
• 35:57
  Speaker 7: throw sloppy dogs at us and slant those tackles and
• 36:00
  Speaker 7: then have one guy come on the outside, We knew
• 36:02
  Speaker 7: what was coming on our side, so we would kind
• 36:04
  Speaker 7: of anticipate those things.
• 36:06
  Speaker 4: That's protection. These guys aren't.
• 36:08
  Speaker 7: There right now, so Aaron doesn't trust those guys up front.
• 36:11
  Speaker 7: So now his process is sped up. His mechanics aren't
• 36:15
  Speaker 7: on par, and now he's really just taking what the
• 36:17
  Speaker 7: defense can get him, and hopefully he can get a
• 36:19
  Speaker 7: spot on the next round to attack. I mean, the
• 36:23
  Speaker 7: offense is back up. So I just think there's a
• 36:27
  Speaker 7: lot of work to be done, man, but they got
• 36:29
  Speaker 7: to figure out how they want to move because the
• 36:31
  Speaker 7: next three weeks is going to be tough because they're
• 36:33
  Speaker 7: division games.
• 36:34
  Speaker 2: Yep, and bad news.
• 36:35
  Speaker 5: The Bengals look like they have kind of the kind
• 36:37
  Speaker 5: of personnel that can maybe do this sort of thing, which, again,
• 36:41
  Speaker 5: to the Steelers, which we'll talk about when we continue
• 36:43
  Speaker 5: in the locker room here on the Steelers Audio Network.
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: This is In the Locker Room with Rob King, Max Starks,
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: and Willie Colon on Steelers Nation Radio. Brought to you
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: in part by the Steelers Pro Shop. Get it direct
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: from the team at the Steelers Pro Shop at shop.steelers.com.
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: And by your neighborhood Ford store. The F-150 is the
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: official truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 37:22
  Speaker 6: Let it be known that this is the last segment
• 37:27
  Speaker 6: of the show today.
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: Hear ye, hear ye.
• 37:36
  Speaker 4: Yes!
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: Town crier mode. There you go, Rob. All you know.
• 37:44
  Speaker 5: See, Willie, this makes me laugh every time. Nobody has
• 37:47
  Speaker 5: more fun doing this than Max.
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: Nobody.
• 37:51
  Speaker 4: I mean, he's just a kid with big buttons to press.
• 37:54
  Speaker 4: That's what he likes to do.
• 37:56
  Speaker 3: You know, I wanted to talk about the injured quarterbacks.
• 38:00
  Speaker 5: Yeah, we might get to the injured quarterbacks, but guys,
• 38:02
  Speaker 5: I got to tell you, I mean, week three, I
• 38:06
  Speaker 5: can't remember a game that's felt bigger in week three
• 38:11
  Speaker 5: in years than this game feels.
• 38:13
  Speaker 3: And I know feelings aren't facts, right?
• 38:16
  Speaker 5: But this just, Man, Max, this feels like a big game,
• 38:20
  Speaker 5: and it feels like a big eight days coming up
• 38:22
  Speaker 5: against Cleveland. I mean, you know, the fear, I'm sure,
• 38:26
  Speaker 5: amongst Steelers fans is, oh, my gosh, what happens if
• 38:28
  Speaker 5: we're one and three and row and two in the
• 38:29
  Speaker 5: division and the Browns look better? And, you know, maybe
• 38:32
  Speaker 5: everybody's right out there that's got the Steelers way down
• 38:35
  Speaker 5: there in the power rankings, which we'll get to tomorrow.
• 38:38
  Speaker 5: Maybe everybody's right. Maybe this team, this sneaking suspicion that
• 38:42
  Speaker 5: I had, and, look, I know it's– You know, the
• 38:44
  Speaker 5: rational part of it says it's only one game. Let's
• 38:47
  Speaker 5: slow down.
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: It was New England. They're very good.
• 38:50
  Speaker 5: But it just suddenly feels like the next eight or
• 38:53
  Speaker 5: nine days loom very large for this football team.
• 38:58
  Speaker 2: It was division play. It's two back-to-back division games.
• 39:01
  Speaker 3: But it's week three, man. It shouldn't feel this way.
• 39:05
  Speaker 2: But this is the problem.
• 39:07
  Speaker 7: It's the division game, and when you start to look
• 39:11
  Speaker 7: towards When we get into December, you start to see
• 39:13
  Speaker 7: the dogfights we have ahead. You need these games to
• 39:17
  Speaker 7: give you the buffer, right? You need these games to
• 39:20
  Speaker 7: save you. Because when December comes, you can win those games.
• 39:23
  Speaker 7: But if you're not, if other teams are ahead, I mean,
• 39:25
  Speaker 7: you just, you may be out of it.
• 39:27
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 39:27
  Speaker 4: So you, you're trying to stack these dubs, man.
• 39:31
  Speaker 7: And you're trying to stack them while our teams are
• 39:34
  Speaker 7: continuously either trying to figure themselves out, coming off bad losses,
• 39:40
  Speaker 7: dealing with some injuries, you're getting them at their, you're
• 39:43
  Speaker 7: getting them when they're vulnerable.
• 39:45
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 39:45
  Speaker 7: Cause everybody's still trying to figure themselves out through the
• 39:47
  Speaker 7: month of September and, Compared to when September went, everybody's like, hey, man,
• 39:51
  Speaker 7: shoot them when you got it. When the desperation comes,
• 39:54
  Speaker 7: with tenacity, when all the grit and everybody's just dialed
• 39:57
  Speaker 7: into winning one game where the stakes are higher, guys
• 40:00
  Speaker 7: tend to play harder because one of two things. One,
• 40:05
  Speaker 7: if you're a team that has ability to play spoiler,
• 40:11
  Speaker 7: when you see a team that has a chance to
• 40:13
  Speaker 7: get into the playoffs, what does the spoiler team do?
• 40:16
  Speaker 7: They play hungry and harder. because they know they're going
• 40:18
  Speaker 7: to be evaluated for the next year. But if you're
• 40:21
  Speaker 7: a team that's on the hunt trying to get a
• 40:23
  Speaker 7: place at the table, now your margin for error is
• 40:27
  Speaker 7: very small, but holes get tight, and guys right now
• 40:31
  Speaker 7: start to press. So this is a good opportunity to
• 40:35
  Speaker 7: come out the gate and start stacking wins during the
• 40:37
  Speaker 7: month of September where everybody's kind of figuring themselves out
• 40:40
  Speaker 7: together while not having any catastrophic injuries, which is tough
• 40:44
  Speaker 7: to say because we've.
• 40:45
  Speaker 4: Watched multiple quarterbacks go down as of late.
• 40:49
  Speaker 7: But if you're the Steelers, you still have your quarterback.
• 40:52
  Speaker 7: And you still have your offensive line. It doesn't matter
• 40:55
  Speaker 7: how bad they're playing. They're out there. And you still
• 40:57
  Speaker 7: have a defense that's playing really, really well right now.
• 41:00
  Speaker 7: So you want to maximize why you got your healthy
• 41:03
  Speaker 7: dogs out there so you can start stacking Ws. Because
• 41:06
  Speaker 7: you know what November and December bring. A lot of
• 41:08
  Speaker 7: guys need things. Guys need rest. This is an older roster,
• 41:11
  Speaker 7: but a young roster at the same time. And so
• 41:14
  Speaker 7: you want to do You just want to be right
• 41:18
  Speaker 7: where you need to be when it's time to play
• 41:20
  Speaker 7: meaningful games.
• 41:23
  Speaker 6: Yeah, the earlier you stack them, the more margin of
• 41:26
  Speaker 6: error you have later in the season. And that's what
• 41:29
  Speaker 6: you're doing. You're trying to gather as much ammo and
• 41:35
  Speaker 6: stockpile so that you can weather the storm in the winter.
• 41:38
  Speaker 6: Because that's essentially what it comes down to, right? If
• 41:42
  Speaker 6: I could put six, seven victories on the slate, before
• 41:46
  Speaker 6: I get to this back third of the season, now
• 41:48
  Speaker 6: I have a little bit more room to play.
• 41:49
  Speaker 2: And that's what division games matter. Right. Because, you know,
• 41:53
  Speaker 2: division dominance precedes anything else as, as Mike T would say. Right.
• 41:58
  Speaker 6: And the, and that's the importance of it is you
• 42:01
  Speaker 6: want to have a leg up on the rest of
• 42:03
  Speaker 6: the division so that you can weather a bad streak
• 42:07
  Speaker 6: of games, a couple of bad streaks, because you know, Hey,
• 42:10
  Speaker 6: if we come out the other side of this, yeah,
• 42:12
  Speaker 6: we can drop one.
• 42:12
  Speaker 2: Or two out of, out of three.
• 42:15
  Speaker 6: And still be okay and not be, oh, man, we're categorically,
• 42:18
  Speaker 6: you know, mathematically out of the playoff run or we're
• 42:21
  Speaker 6: mathematically out of the division race and all these other
• 42:24
  Speaker 6: things that people want to say. And that's why these
• 42:27
  Speaker 6: games early on matter. But I remember we were sitting
• 42:30
  Speaker 6: here week three a year ago, and guess what? We
• 42:33
  Speaker 6: were one and one because, remember, Seattle came to town.
• 42:38
  Speaker 6: And Seattle beat the brakes off of us in our
• 42:40
  Speaker 6: own house week two. So– We're used to these type
• 42:45
  Speaker 6: of moments. And like you said, it's just one and one. And,
• 42:48
  Speaker 6: you know, in consecutive years, you play the eventual Super
• 42:50
  Speaker 6: Bowl champion a year ago. Then you play the defending
• 42:53
  Speaker 6: AFC champion this year in that week two slot. So
• 42:56
  Speaker 6: now how do you start to resurface yourselves? I think
• 43:00
  Speaker 6: with Mike McCarthy, it's just making it a little bit easier.
• 43:03
  Speaker 6: Like that should have been a slide. The one play
• 43:05
  Speaker 6: we talked about, as I'm looking at it again, that
• 43:09
  Speaker 6: should have been 14 slides. Push the line across.
• 43:13
  Speaker 7: Right.
• 43:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, push the line across.
• 43:14
  Speaker 6: Let the running back take Spillane right there in the
• 43:17
  Speaker 6: B gap, and everybody go left. Turn protection and pick
• 43:22
  Speaker 6: up Ellis and protect the backside. But that's what they
• 43:26
  Speaker 6: have to get to. They just have to get to
• 43:27
  Speaker 6: that moment where they can talk freely so that Aaron
• 43:30
  Speaker 6: has confidence in his lineman and has confidence in his
• 43:33
  Speaker 6: running back because he was a blocker in that moment.
• 43:35
  Speaker 6: Or if you don't, put Jalen Warrens behind him there.
• 43:38
  Speaker 6: Put Eli Heidreich. I'm sure Eli Heidreich can go in there,
• 43:41
  Speaker 6: and you give him an assignment– As a Navy man,
• 43:43
  Speaker 6: he'll go execute the assignment, whatever it takes. And I'm
• 43:47
  Speaker 6: not worried about, oh, my God, I'm worried about what–
• 43:49
  Speaker 6: we have to change the plates because guys are in.
• 43:51
  Speaker 2: So what?
• 43:53
  Speaker 6: I don't care if they know because at the end
• 43:55
  Speaker 6: of the day, I need you to block.
• 43:57
  Speaker 2: I don't care about what perception is. Perception is reality
• 44:00
  Speaker 2: right now.
• 44:01
  Speaker 6: And the reality is it didn't look good, so we
• 44:04
  Speaker 6: could throw out the cuteness and let's just play ball.
• 44:07
  Speaker 6: If the best guy's in the block, put the blocking
• 44:10
  Speaker 6: back in. Better blocking tight end. Put the blocking tight
• 44:13
  Speaker 6: end in. Put the pass receiver where the pass receiver's
• 44:16
  Speaker 6: supposed to go. It's not that hard now. Sometimes when
• 44:19
  Speaker 6: we get so fancy and so cute and so educated,
• 44:22
  Speaker 6: we forget about the simple brass tacks of execution.
• 44:25
  Speaker 2: We're worried about.
• 44:26
  Speaker 6: How we get to the point. Just get from point
• 44:28
  Speaker 6: A to point B. I don't need to go left.
• 44:30
  Speaker 6: I don't need to go right. I can do all
• 44:32
  Speaker 6: of that.
• 44:33
  Speaker 5: Alright, so look, we got 30 seconds left. So we
• 44:39
  Speaker 5: got to go yes or no here and then we'll
• 44:41
  Speaker 5: talk more about this, but.
• 44:44
  Speaker 2: I'll go first.
• 44:45
  Speaker 3: Yes or no, are you reaching for the panic button?
• 44:47
  Speaker 2: I am not yet. No for me.
• 44:51
  Speaker 5: Max?
• 44:53
  Speaker 4: No.
• 44:55
  Speaker 7: No.
• 44:56
  Speaker 4: No.
• 44:56
  Speaker 2: But I'm figuring out where it is. Willie?
• 44:58
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I am.
• 45:00
  Speaker 3: I am.
• 45:02
  Speaker 2: That's it. That's it. We're leaving it right there.
• 45:05
  Speaker 7: The Steelers have only scored one touchdown in 25 possessions.
• 45:10
  Speaker 2: Okay. Perfect. Perfect.
• 45:13
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 45:13
  Speaker 2: Perfect.
• 45:14
  Speaker 4: This ain't it.
• 45:15
  Speaker 3: We got all this to talk about the rest of
• 45:17
  Speaker 3: the week.
• 45:18
  Speaker 5: Love it, Willie. That's Willie Colon. We got Max Starks.
• 45:22
  Speaker 5: We got our producer, Justin Miller. I'm Rob King. Plenty
• 45:25
  Speaker 5: to get to tomorrow. We're going to have some fun
• 45:28
  Speaker 5: guests for you. We'll tell you all about that tomorrow.
• 45:30
  Speaker 5: By the way, we started taking phone calls yesterday. We'll
• 45:32
  Speaker 5: be taking them Monday, 4-1-2. 916 let me get no
• 45:39
  Speaker 5: 9191316 thank you 9191316 that's for next Monday but just
• 45:43
  Speaker 5: get it through because I know a lot of people
• 45:44
  Speaker 5: listen to this on a podcast you want to join
• 45:46
  Speaker 5: us live on Monday to get your phone calls in
• 45:48
  Speaker 5: and reactions to the game against the Bengals on Sunday
• 45:52
  Speaker 5: so again for our guys lots to get to intriguing
• 45:56
  Speaker 5: week for Max Starks for Willie Colon for our producer
• 46:00
  Speaker 5: Justin Miller and Rob King thanks for being with us
• 46:02
  Speaker 5: in the locker room here On the Steelers Audio Network.